Luke's Eleventh Month!

Our precious one is eleven months old now. Oh my gosh. For real. Stop the clock. Hold up.

One more month until the big zero-one! (I better get planning!)

Okay, now that I have picked my jaw up off of the floor....

We took a trip down memory lane this month and came across this photo.

See any similarities? ;)

So, Luke's eleventh month... this was the month that we actually headed East toward our Florida home.

Dad flew with me and I seriously don't think I would've made it without him. Remember a few years ago when we got stuck in Texas? Well, it happened again. NO JOKE.  I don't make this up, y'all.

Luke was THE perfect traveler, as always.

But the weather.  Oh man, the weather.  Dallas had some gnarly storms that grounded every flight headed East.  It was a mess.  But you know what? We've got this traveling thing down, and we were good.

My poor dogs who couldn't go potty on the other hand.....

sigh.

After multiple flights being canceled, I booked us on a red eye flight into West Palm Beach (FOUR HOURS from our home!). By the grace of God, we each ended up with our own row of seats.

It was the ONLY Florida flight we could get on without having to wait an extra twelve hours in the airport.  So, we rented a car. And I had to rent a car seat (a big no no since you don't know the car seat's history...) But I had no other options.  They gave me an infant seat, which was fine because Luke fit quite comfortably.

But I made sure that once we were in Florida the following morning, Luke had a nice, easy, relaxing day. That evening we were scheduled to head over to Dustin's house in Jacksonville so mom would be close to the hospital where she would have her knee replaced the following morning.

Luke cuddled with his Momau that evening as we all de-stressed and prepared for the hospital-laden days ahead.

By the way, we were greeted in Jax with a warm welcome from Dustin and his girlfriend Abigail who baked some delicious organic, fat free brownies.  Luke (okay, we all) went to town on them!

Once we were in the hospital, and mom was taken back for surgery, Luke and I hung out with my Uncle David.  Then Luke and I went on a walk by the river.

When mom got out of surgery, they let us hang out in her room.  It was nice having some private space to relax in, and Luke enjoyed playing with his great Uncle David.

Later that day, Aunt Karla, Uncle Gene and Susanna came to the hospital.  This was taken the following day.  My cousin Susanna met Luke for the first time.

Luke went right to my Aunt Karla.  We think it was because she looks like his Momau.  He went to her but studied her.... "Something is different..." It was sweet to see them together.

After mom's surgery, we headed back to Alachua and mom began the healing process.  Luke continued to lift her spirits. (In fact, when mom came out of surgery, one of the first things she said, while pointing at Luke, was "I'll take two of you." Oh, anesthesia....)

Carl and Austin drove from California a couple weeks later.  Here we all are together.  Reunited and it feels so good!

While mom has been healing, my dad and I have been doing tons of renovations on our house.
Here's Luke napping in his was-going-to-be-future-bedroom until Carl decided to trade it for a home office. (Now Luke gets a bigger room, so all worked out!)


I love working with my dad, and learning how to do things under his watch.  We hired someone to do crown molding, and we hired my dad to paint most of the rooms in our house. Together, my dad and I have ripped out the carpet in our formal room and dining room and installed bamboo flooring, painted the closets, and now we are working on wainscoting and baseboards. It's so much fun seeing our house transform before my eyes!  And Luke is mesmerized by my dad's tools.  It's pretty funny.

"Get your own ratchet!" Luke says.

On our new bamboo floor, we needed an area rug so Luke would have a cozy place to play.  Mom ventured out with me, to a little shop, and used Luke's stroller as her walker.

I have been LOVING the daily afternoon storms we are being blessed with.  Ahh, home sweet home.

(Well, that's out our front door looking at our neighbors house...but you get what I mean.)

Know what else we have now that we are home? PUBLIX. Yes!!!

We've been in the car quite a bit... picking up different supplies at different stores... but Luke is such a good car-rider.  Check out those little crossed legs.  He was listening to "Ho Hey!"

We're enjoying being in our new/old house, and Luke is enjoying the bath tub in it.

Our sweet friend even brought us dinner one night. This was our first meal in our house.  Well....out of our house, since it was on our back patio. :) It's a selfie- so excuse my crazy face.  Also, Luke is waving at the camera.

A few firsts:

This month, Luke has taken off with his vocabulary! He's still got such a sweet disposition, and I really couldn't ask for a sweeter baby.  He gives kisses, and says so many things now! Some of my favorite things he says is "Bye bye" while waving his little hand in a circle, "Nigh nigh," "Pretty," and...get this... "I love you." (Which sounds like "alluhyou!" He says it before going to bed every night. One time, I was unpacking boxes and Luke's Auntie Laurel was holding him.  I walked by and I heard "alluhyou!" and I turned and saw Luke waving at me.  That boy can make his momma's heart skip a beat like no other. Ahh.

Luke also has started giving us high-fives. It's adorable.

Here, take a look at the little dancing babe. He's started dancing whenever he hears music. It cracks us up!

https://www.instagram.com/p/ppjAuKGSK5ho1XIb3LA0RrZMBWyogem-Lukus0/?taken-by=lindsey1020

Luke also says "Oooh" quite a bit.  And, "oh wow!" on occasion.  It cracks us up.  If you ask him a question, most of the time he nods and says "Yeah." He loves putting his lips in the "oooh" shape and often whistles when he inhales! It's hilarious! He's started doing it on purpose and changing the pitch even! 

Here's Luke playing with his bud...his Poppa.
https://www.instagram.com/p/pEbQHGmSDMXW-O4AAqihZtQGaLQhGA3Hq5bAE0/?taken-by=lindsey1020

This month has been SO busy! Luke has been such a little trooper, playing along side my many crazy projects and unpacking. Friends have come and given us a hand, and helped us settle in.  I can't wait till our house is in order and we can have people over for fun! 

Thank you for all of you who have been praying for this to be a smooth transition!

Luke's Tenth Month!

My little sunshine is ten months old today! (And, it's Mother's Day!)

Luke woke up at 4:30 this morning.  He's NEVER done that.  So, we made our way downstairs and packed up some boxes (after I had a cuppa joe, of course.)  My theory is that Luke wanted to wake up and spend extra hours on Mother's Day with me. We had breakfast together, cuddled together, and then I started doing a few things around the house. And Luke couldn't hold his eyes open.

I walked in and saw this.

So I seized the moment and snapped a few shots before curling up on the floor and resting my eyes as well.

Once the rest of the family woke up, Luke gave me a beautiful Mother's Day gift. Back story: Friday night at dinner, Carl asked Luke for kisses and Luke didn't oblige. So, I playfully explained "Kisses are for momma!" That made it's way onto a placard with some sweet photos and a sack of hershey kisses attached. Be still my heart. (And now my eyes are leaking again...)

This month sure was a busy one! In fact, while I am post-dating this post, you may have noticed that I am actually two months behind on publishing this.  Shame on me!  This month, we boxed up all of our belongings and prepared to move to Florida. 

My dad came to Turlock to help me pack up and bring me back home with our dogs. (These two are a couple of jokesters, let me tell ya...)

Although it was a busy one, I still treasured every moment.

Oh how I adore those little hands that tug on my dress. If I could freeze a moment...

In this post (http://loveissomethingthatwedo.blogspot.com/2014/04/moving-day-is-fast-approaching.html), I mentioned our friends were throwing us a BBQ as a goodbye dinner.  Such sweet friends we have. They had all of our favorites. Yummy!

On Luke's and my last Tuesday at our breastfeeding group, we took a picture with Wendy. Wendy is a wealth of information and one of the most encouraging women you could ever hope to meet. 

(Luke passed out shortly before the photo.)

On our last Wednesday in Turlock, we went out for ice cream with a bunch of our friends. Before everyone had little babies, we would go the local ice cream shop and hang out for a couple of hours every Wednesday after church.  This was a nice memory of our previous custom.

Luke's first:

Cinco de Mayo:

Trip to the Golden Gate Bridge:

We celebrated Luke's first Easter! (Photos courtesy of Little Mrs. W Photography)

 

Momma's blue eyed boy...

Look at their faces in this one....both with the full cheeks!

This one cracks me up!

Melt my heart.

In Luke's Easter basket, he got a lamb, a rubber football, a bib, a rubber baseball, a bunny (that was from my grandmother's collection... it is baby sized), and some candy.  Daddy ate the candy though. ;) Oh, and the lamb is a wind-up one that plays "Jesus Loves Me."

Oh, and on the side, he got kisses from Sugar. 

Here's Luke and Brooke on Easter Sunday at church. They're exactly a month apart (she's a month younger).

And here's our whole coordinating family on Easter. Yes, I made them wear light colors.

Luke's tenth month flew by.
Please, time, slow down.  I beg you.  I want my little baby to stay my little baby forever and ever.

<3 br="">

Moving Day is Fast Approaching

I’m preparing for our big move to Florida. With every box I tape up, I get more and more excited. I envision where our belongings will go in our future home. I wonder what our paint colors and new flooring will look like. I imagine Luke playing along side me while I decorate. I plan to take Luke on walks every morning in our neighborhood lined with sidewalks. I picture picking up my phone and calling my parents to come play with Luke and I in our backyard.  And I get SO excited!

Then I have my moments.

Like today. I left the breastfeeding support group I go to (which is more like a mom’s group with a lactation consultant in the room….we swap brilliant ideas, talk about childrearing, and encourage one another. And our babies get to play in a safe, neutral place).

As I was walking out the door, Wendy (our LC) said “You’ll be gone to Florida soon, won’t you?” And I nonchalantly, with a smile and a shrug, said “Yeah, I only have a few more weeks at the group! I will miss it!” And I walked out the door. I got home and was curious just how many weeks do I actually have at the group? I pulled out my calendar. One. I have one group day left.

And then I got a knot in my stomach.

I have one day left to see the fellow mamas who have become such good friends with me.
I have one day left to walk down the halls of Emanuel and remember the excitement that last summer brought…the touring of the Labor and Delivery ward, the pre-registration for Luke’s birth, the being rushed to L&D, the Mother-Baby ward, the staying in the NICU (yes, that was a sad and scary time, but we came out with a healthy baby so the excitement still pulls at my heartstrings).
And I still remember my first time going to the breastfeeding support group. My mom drove me and even went in with me. Taking Luke out of the house by myself made me nervous… I hadn’t done this before! (Plus I wasn’t allowed to drive for six weeks.)

And here we are nine months later, on the flip side of the group going not for help as a new mom but to help other new moms. To be the encouraging voice they might need to hear to press on and nurse even if the baby seems hungry every minute of every day. To be the “been there” voice on nursing in a baby carrier. To help adjust those tricky straps that no one realizes moves in the Ergo.

And I cry.

I’m all sappy and then it dawns on me- yes, I will miss all of these things terribly, but what I will really miss about Turlock is that this is the place where I was born. My “wife who clings to her husband” side was born. My “wife who knows how to run a house” side was born. My “daughter who lives three thousand miles away and must be independent” side was born. My “momma” side was born. I became part of the person that I was meant to be in California. And for that reason, California will always be a special place to me.

A little over three years ago, I wrote this a post about us moving.  Let’s take a look at the second half of my post when I share good news about moving.

But.  There is good news.

    1.    I know God has a plan for me and my family.  This is part of His plan, and I choose to trust Him.  It's good to know that God has a plan for little old me, but I feel strongly that part of Him moving us across the country is to teach me to trust Him more.
    2.    My husband and I are learning to cling together more than we ever have before.  And I didn't think that was possible, because we already have more respect and love for each other than I could ever dream.  Moving so far away from our known little world in Florida will undoubtedly enable and even force us to cling together even more.
    3.    Financially, we'll be a lot safer than we are now.
    4.    I've always (as long as I can remember) wanted to be a Proverbs 31 (see verses 10 through 31 if you are unfamiliar) woman, and I feel that having a "fresh start" so to speak will allow me to create who I want me to be.  (Not that I couldn't do it here in our Florida home, but it's almost like a New Year's Resolution type thing... fresh starts can be helpful.)
    5.    Our small groups from church have helped me become friends with some amazing women.  Women that lift each other, that glorify God, and love one another with a genuine love.  We've grown so close through small groups, I'd feel blessed if Carl and I could put the idea of small groups in our future church's mind.  It's such an opportunity for growth.
    6.    If any of our friends would like to go to California, we will  host you in our home.  Any of you.  Seriously.  Hello, free place to stay!
    7.    Blogging material!  Need I say more?  Maybe I'll even go to the BlogHer '11 Conference!
    8.    Moving!  It's gotta be kinda fun, right?  I've never actually done that.  (How crazy is that?  When I "moved" from my parents home to my husband's home, it was more like "Come home from my honeymoon and my new home is full of my things"....that I didn't pack.  Yep, family moved me in to my new home.  It was such a blessing to come home from our honeymoon with no moving to do!)
    9.    We're going on an adventure.  That's always fun, no?  Carl and I always have so much fun when we're sightseeing together, exploring a whole new town is bound to be a blast!
    10.    Planes make traveling easy.  We don't have to take 5 days to make the cross country drive, we can hop on a jet a fly home for holidays.  (This gives Christmas music a whole new meaning... think: "I'll be home for Christmas.")

When I wrote those words, I never knew how true they would be. Looking back at the past three years, here’s an updated list.

1. God sure did, and still does have a plan for me and my family! I never knew how much I would grow as a person by moving to California.
2.  My husband and I cling together more than I knew possible, and now I also know that we will continue to cling together in the future in ways we can’t even fathom now.
3.  Still true.  And by the grace of God, Carl is able to telecommute so our income should remain the same. And we will still have insurance!
4.  Having a “fresh start” in California to bloom where I have been planted has helped me be the woman, wife and mother that I have wanted to be my whole life. I’m not perfect by any means, but I’m growing daily and for that I am thankful.
5.  We didn’t start small groups through the church, but the amount of times we get together and fellowship with our families in Christ here have been so wonderful. We learned the true meaning of hospitality. One family has opened their doors every Saturday night for a bunch of families to gather at, and another family is known for their willingness to open their doors on the spot, despite it sometimes being a “messy” house (that no one cares about anyway!). I hope to be able to do those things one day. Getting together in their homes have given us so many wonderful memories I hold dear to my heart.
6. We did host some of our Florida friends in our home! Not very many, but that’s okay!
7. Blogging material. HA! NEED I SAY MORE!??!
8.  Moving…. um, do you remember our adventure out here?! I pray that it isn’t so “fun” on our return move! HAHA!
9.  The last three years HAVE been an adventure…. learning California laws, taking day trips around the state….it’s been a blast.
10.  Planes do make traveling easy, but after my flight home I am hoping to not be in the air for a while. I’m a little tired of planes.

God has been so so so good to us.

This upcoming Saturday, our dear friends are hosting a BBQ as a goodbye party for us. We are so incredibly blessed.  Words can’t even explain!




As hard as it is going to be leaving our friends and our life here in California, I trust that this is the right move for our family.  I hope to be a blessing to a future family the way our California friends have been such a blessing to us.