For your viewing pleasure

Here are a few fun videos that I thought I'd share with you.
The first is Matt blowing on Luke's belly, making him laugh up a storm!
The second is of Luke scooting around in his crib. (I have a longer/better video of this but for some reason I couldn't upload it onto the blog. I tried three times and then got frustrated and gave up, sorry this one will have to do) Luke can be quite restless when it comes to sleeping in his crib. He scoots around, rolls himself over, and gets himself in all sorts of positions. Yesterday I took the video camera in with me when I got him up from his nap and captured some of his antics. I hoped he would roll over from his stomach to his back (a rare occurance these days) but no such luck.
Enjoy!

Cousin Kristen and Tasty Toes

My cousin Kristen came to visit us this past weekend. She attends The University of San Diego so she was able to drive up on Friday afternoon and spend the weekend with us. It was so fun to have her. We pretty much just hung out on Friday night, doing 'exciting' things such as make dinner, give Luke a bath, put him to bed and then chatted until the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday we ventured out of the house in search of cooler weather and a bit more excitment. We packed up the baby bjorn and headed up to Oak Glen. We hiked (and when I say hiked I mean walked) around some trails up there. It was so nice to get a break from the heat - it was probably high 70's up there versus the high 90's/low 100's down here. We even got to enjoy some dark clouds and thunder, yes thunder! No rain though, oh well, I guess I can't have it all. How I miss summer showers and thunder storms from the midwest.
After our 'hike' we found a nice shady spot to enjoy the lunch we had packed. Kristen had never eaten at Panera (I think I've mentioned how I LOVE, with a capital L-O-V-E Panera) so we bought some sandwiches from there before heading up. It was delightful! After lunch we weren't quite ready to head back home. We saw signs for U-pick raspberries and decided to check it out. Matt, who spent numerous summers picking rasperries in Lynden, was not so thrilled about the idea but Kristen and I thought it would be fun. It was fun...for about 15 minutes. The berries were really picked over and those left on the bushes weren't quite ripe. It took quite a long time and some serious dedication for us to fill up our basket. When it was all said and done Kristen and I had aquired several scratches on our arms, backaches/knee aches from bending over (all the good berries were deep inside the bushes and low to the ground) and were pretty sweaty and dirty. All for about a pints worth of berries. I now have a new found appreciation for Matt, having worked picking berries for over 8 hours every day throughout his summers... not a very glamorous job at all.

Luke wasn't so sure he liked being in the baby bjorn at first but he did well.

He kept trying to suck on the snaps.

Luke was not very amused by the ducks in the pond....maybe when he's a bit older he'll care.
Cousins
Kristen and Luke - chilling after lunch.

Neither Luke or Matt were very happy to be in the raspberry bushes - they lasted all of 5 minutes then headed to the car for naps. :)
Kristen entertaining Luke

Thanks for hanging out Kristen! We had a fabulous time!

Luke was pretty worn out by all the fun of the weekend - going to Oak Glen, playing with Kristen, etc. that he slept for 8 whole hours on Saturday night! That is the longest stretch yet. I don't know what I'm going to do with those extra hours of sleep!

Just this morning Luke learned a new trick.... getting his feet into his mouth! He is definitely in the oral stage where he attempts to put EVERYTHING in his mouth and now that he has discovered he can grab hold of his feet it was only a matter of time before he started sucking on those toes. Yum.

Getting a hold of his toes...

....and in the mouth they go!
mmmmm. Tasty.

Tummy time is more and more fun these days. He is learning that he can scoot himself around and will pull his knees up under him and push himself forward! We're seeing more of his personality shine through also. He's becoming more animated and goofy..such fun!
He LOVES seeing his reflection in the mirror. I found this mirror/toy at the thrift store for $0.75. I cleaned it up and it will entertain Luke for quite awhile. Worth every penny.

He is still ALL about blowing bubbles and making 'fart' noises with his mouth - he is such a boy! You can see some bubbles on his lips in this pic. Check out that double chin and budda belly! He certainly is growing into a big boy!

He now thinks that diaper changes = play time. He is constantly laughing, playing with his hands, and trying to roll around when we're trying to clean him up... and this is just the beginning.

milestones

We have had quite the week here in the DeBoer house. I was busy all week helping coordinate dinners for SERVE at our church. For those of you who aren't familiar with SERVE- our church hosted a group of high school students from all over the United States and Canada. They came to Redlands to do various service projects around town, listen to an amazing speaker and have a great time overall. There was close to 100 in all (students and leaders) not to mention our worship team, our leadership team, helpers, etc. that we had to feed. It was quite the undertaking (especially with working full time and having a baby at home that is still getting me up throughout the night to eat) but it was fun and I am so glad that I was able to be part of it again this year.
Matt was fairly busy this past week as well - being "Mr. Mom" and heading into church nearly every night to help me out in the kitchen. It was nice for him to get out of the house. There were some high school and junior high students from our church there every night who were more than happy to help entertain Luke while we were busy in the kitchen.
However, perhaps the most busy one of our bunch this past week was Luke! He is getting so big and learning so much! It is such a thrill to see him study things and figure things out. Probably the most exciting thing he has figured out recently is rolling over! We knew he was close to rolling over (from back to stomach) because pretty much anytime we laid him down he'd roll to his side but would get his little arm stuck underneath himself and couldn't figure out how to pull it free in order to roll all the way over. Well, he figured that out pretty quickly and hasn't stopped rolling onto his stomach since!
These pictures were taken before Luke learned to roll over - see how he would roll on to his side and sleep that way. I don't know how he could be comfortable in that position, but when I tried to straighten him out and put him on his back, he'd just roll right over and get back into this position.


Here is a video of him rolling over onto his stomach (I think this was the second time I saw him do it). Please excuse the fact that I get extremely excited about this... I pretty much shriek with delight and make a complete idiot out of myself - you may want to turn the volume down on your computer prior to watching it in order to avoid hearing damage. :)



While it has been loads of fun to have him roll onto his stomach, we have quickly learned how this can be a royal pain in the butt as well since he would get himself on his belly and get stuck, not knowing how to roll back. This made nap time and going to bed at night a bit of a challenge since we'd put Luke down on his back (Doctor's orders) and he'd immediately roll onto his tummy, freak himself out and get all upset. So we would have to go back in to his room and roll him onto his back and attempt to calm him down so he'd go to sleep.
I am happy to say that this morning, however, Luke learned how to roll over the other way (from tummy to back)!! He's not the expert at flipping that way as he is from back to front, but he was able to roll himself all the way across his blanket we lay on the floor for him. We'll have to start really baby-proofing the house now that he's more on the go! I thought I'd have a few more months before I had a mobile baby...guess I was wrong.
Speaking of having a mobile baby, here's another video that shows Luke's extreme energy. He absolutely LOVES taking baths! He gets SO excited and kicks his feet like crazy. We used to fill up the tub and place it on the counter - not any more. He kicks and splashes so much that we have put him in his baby tub inside the big tub just to avoid a big wet mess. He's nearly too big for the baby tub now too.
Forewarning: this video contains brief baby nudity. We tried to keep him modest and covered with a washcloth but it didn't quite work as well as we'd hoped. sorry.





Now that Luke has strong enough neck muscles he loves to play 'airplane'.
This video doesn't quite capture it as well but Luke laughs and laughs!




Matt took a few random pictures of Luke this week....

All smiles - he has been smiling and laughing quite a bit lately. Such a happy little guy.

All that giggling and playing really wears him out.
LOVING his fingers - he rarely has his fingers out of his mouth these days.

One of Luke's favorite things these days is to suck on his lower lip.
He still won't take a pacifier very well but boy does he love his lip!


Along with learning to roll over, Luke is learning to sit up. He loves the new view sitting up brings. Here he is sitting on his own, so to speak, in his Bumbo seat. He can handle being upright in his seat for quite awhile, just looking around and sucking on his fingers.

In other news, today marks the first day of my new career as a stay-at-home mom! Yes, that's right, I gave notice at my job and am no longer employed. I am not going to say that I am no longer a working woman because I am sure that being a mom will be the biggest, most important job I'll ever have and will be plenty of work. I feel very blessed to be able to stay home with Luke and I am very excited about this new chapter in my life.

Part II

I just realized that this post lists as being published on July 4. It is NOW July 10... I have been working on this/trying to get it posted since July 4, wow.
I honestly thought that I would get around to posting "Part II" a LOT sooner than this - where does the time go? In my defense, I have been a bit busy enjoying time with family and getting back in the swing of things at work (sort of) -that and our computer has not been cooperating with me lately. Anyway, enough of my excuses.... Part II, coming at ya.

Blog worthy event #4: Grandma DeBoer and Aunt Andrea return!
Matt's mom and sister came back to CA on Saturday (June 27). We had hoped that his brother, Eric, would have been able to come too but it didn't work out. It was fun to see Mom DeBoer and Andrea's reaction to how much Luke has grown/changed since they were here last.

Proud Grandma and Luke

Luke (wearing his Broncos jersey - Thanks Stummers!) sitting on Andrea's lap and loving it!

The Grandma Jan's playing on the floor with Luke. It was so funny to watch how a baby can make grown ups do such silly things - making faces, goofy noises, etc.!

Blog worthy event #5: Meeting Great Grandpa and Great Grandma DeBoer!
Matt's grandparents drove down from Denver, CO to be here for Luke's baptism. We were SO thrilled that they were willing to make the trek out here for this special occasion. It was great to be able to introduce Luke to them - a very proud moment indeed.

Great Grandpa DeBoer and Luke The DeBoer Men

One big happy family!

Luke had fun playing with his feet on Great Grandpa's lap
Great Grandma, Aunt Andrea and Luke

Blog worthy event #6: Meeting the Schalliols!

My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Mark drove out from the Phoenix, AZ area. Their daughters, Heather and Kristen, both live in CA - Heather is in LA (for a few more months) and Kristen is finishing up college in San Diego - so they met up with the fam here in Beaumont too. We used to see each other maybe once a year when the Schalliols would come to IL to see family. Now that Matt and I live in CA we have been able to see them more often, which has been great! It really meant a lot to us that they were able to be here for Luke's baptism as well.

Great Aunt Marilyn and Luke

The cousins and... second cousins...? First cousins once removed?...how does that go again?

The WHOLE group went out to dinner at Gourmet Pizza Shoppe for dinner on Saturday night. That is probably our favorite place to go to eat when people are visiting- it's fun to watch them study the menu and ask "on a pizza?". We ordered a bunch of different pizzas and had a jolly good time sampling all the variations.

Blog worthy event #7: THE MAIN EVENT!!! LUKE'S BAPTISM!

Sunday, June 28 we had Luke baptized. It was a really special event for us. Matt's mom brought us the outfit that Matt wore when he was baptized so that Luke could wear it also. And if that isn't special enough - Matt's mom made the outfit out of her wedding dress! We also had a baptism bonnet made from my mom's wedding dress. Luke didn't wear it at church since a bonnet goes on the head and, well, the head gets wet in a baptism so we opted out of that one (and the bonnet made Luke look kinda girly) Luke's Denver Broncos socks finished off his outfit - we couldn't resist. :)

Our pastor, Will VerHoef, baptized Luke with our family surrounding us and the church family looking on. It went perfectly. Luke didn't even flinch when the water was poured on his head. All those 'practices' in the bath really paid off!

We had a total of 10 family members (all from out of state) come in for Luke's Baptism...how awesome is that!

After church we were able to take some pictures of our family
Proud parents, proud grandparents, sleepy -freshly baptized-baby

Luke in his baptism outfit. The quilt behind him was made by Carrie DeBoer - a labor of love!

He was a bit sleepy so we didn't really get a good smile. oh well

I'm bummed this picture turned out blurry - I am not much of a photographer, sorry. But you can see the bonnet... and how it makes Luke look a little feminine. Matt kept apologizing to Luke, saying "mommy makes you look like a girl" and predicting that these pictures may come back to haunt him in years to come. I don't care. It is special that he is wearing both our mom's wedding dresses...ok that is a bit weird to say, but special nonetheless. :)

Later we changed Luke into some more 'boyish' clothes. Matt was much more comfortable with Luke looking like a golfer than like a girl. We were given an outfit and a pair of baby shoes from a woman from church and HAD to put them on him. He kept looking at his feet as if he was questioning what these strange objects were. So cute.
And, of course, no outfit is complete without a Broncos hat or some Broncos gear.

We had hoped that Uncle Bill Bierling (who happens to be a pastor at our church) would be able to perform the baptism. Unfortunately, Bill and Harriet were on their way home from an incredible trip to Isreal so they missed it. However, Bill brought back water from the Jordan River (the river Jesus was baptized in) and we had our own 'private' ceremony, so to speak, on Monday where Bill washed Luke's feet with Jordan River water. It was the coolest thing - I still get the chills thinking about it. Bill talked briefly about a passage in 1st Peter that talks about 'walking in the ways of the Lord' and following in Jesus' footsteps. He then prayed over Luke and our whole family and blessed Luke. It was a really incredible moment. We are so blessed to have be surrounded by such amazing believers!

The washing of Luke's feet

Such a beautiful sunset to top it all off

Thanks so much Bill and Harriet for doing that for Luke and for us. It really meant SO much to us. (and we still have the Jordan water frozen in our freezer...waiting for babies yet to come!)

Blog Worthy Event #8: A week with Grandma DeBoer and Aunt Andrea!

After the Baptism we said goodbye (again) to Grandma and Pops Thomson, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa DeBoer and the Schalliol family. BUT we still had another week to spend with Grandma DeBoer and Andrea! It was so great to have them out again, this time for a longer period of time. We are really getting spoiled with having family come out this frequently!

Monday Matt's mom and grandparents went "Birding" out in Palm Springs, my parents left for the airport, Matt and Andrea went golfing, Luke slept most of the afternoon and I was able to relax at home a bit. Then we had the washing of the feet that night.

Tuesday Matt's grandparents took off back for Denver. The rest of us (Matt's mom, sister and our little family) went down to Newport Beach for the afternoon. It was Luke's first visit to the ocean. We walked around a bit and took naps on the beach. I think we all dozed at least a little.

Luke napped in his stroller - the rest of us napped on blankets in the sand.

Luke sporting his sun hat. Its a bit on the big side, even for Luke's enormous melon.

Wednesday and Thursday I had to work. Matt, Mom DeBoer, and Andrea spent the days relaxing at home, entertaining Luke. Thursday night we went out to visit more with Bill and Harriet Bierling. It just so happens that the Bierlings live on a golf course where they (and guests) can play for free. Sooo, Matt, Andrea and Bill enjoyed a nice round (9 holes) before dinner. The Bierling's back porch faces the 8th hole so Mom DeBoer, Harriet and I were able to watch them play that hole. Luke and I ventured out when they were done putting and posed for a few fun pictures.

Luke's first golfing experience.. Tiger, eat your heart out.

I think I may have officially lost BOTH my boys to the golf course.

On Friday, I had the day off work (for the 4th of July) so our clan went down to Temecula for some wine tasting! We went to a Vineyard/Winery/Resturant called Ponte. For $12 a person we each received a complementary wine glass and tastes of 6 wines of our choice. It was pretty crowded - I guess it must be a popular thing to do on holidays. Matt and I had never gone wine tasting before, we've talked about it alot, but never actually went. It was a lot of fun. We have decided that we'll need to go back sometime when it's less busy...and preferably without a baby in tow. :)

Tasting the wines...delish. (notice the wet spot on my shoulder where Luke spit up on me...very classy)

On July 4 we went to a park here in Beaumont and basically camped out all afternoon. I bought a little half tent/ sun shelter thing so we set that up and had some relief from the hot sun... although it really wasn't that hot . It was nice to have a place to lay Luke down when he fell asleep, however, he didn't really do well with taking naps that day - it was MUCH too loud. I ended up holding him and basically covering his ears as I rocked him in order to get him to sleep at least a little. He did alright - probably napped for about 45 minutes or so. We packed a picinic dinner and brought along my new favorite game - Dirty Board (aka Joker, aka Heartland Strategy).

In the park, waiting for the fireworks, playing dirty board- Matt and I were partners and completely dominated.... which redeemed us a little since Andrea and Mom DB swept us the night before.

Ok, now for the most exciting part of our 4th of July adventure in the park... AIR SUPPLY. Yes, that's right, Air Supply - rock band from the 80's - performed for us, live, in Beaumont CA. We enjoyed listening to some amazing love ballads such as "All Out of Love", "Lost in Love", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" and many more. Matt was particularly pumped about Air Supply... which, in all honest, really surprised me. When I read that Air Supply was going to be performing I envisioned Matt rolling his eyes and saying it would be lame. Boy was I wrong! Matt went right to Pandora.com and started playing Air Supply songs, just to wet his pallate. I guess that just goes to show that I still have much to learn about this husband of mine. :)

Luke and Aunt Andrea - Dancing away to Air Supply songs

All that dancing tuckered Luke out.

Listening to the love ballads on Andrea's shoulder is a pretty good deal

After Air Supply finished their set we were ready for the fireworks display. It has to be said that Air Supply did a good job but I was seriously distracted by the fact that these guys are probably my parents age, yet they were dressed in jean jackets with sequin (yes, sequins) and leaping around the stage - as if they were still trying to be 21 year old rock stars. Very amusing.

Luke was all decked out in red, white and blue. We even found some baby socks with stars on them - very patriotic.

The fireworks weren't set to start until after Luke's bedtime. It was a bit of a challenge to get him to sleep during Air Supply's performance, but we did it. Luke then slept through the fireworks, right up until the grand finale. It helped that he was 'sheltered' a bit by my sweatshirt. I think it helped muffle the noise a bit and kept him nice and snug.

phew... I think that's about it. It took me long enough to get this post finished! I honestly think I've sat down at the computer 7 different times to get this sucker done. seriously.