Welcome Baby Luke Party

When we first arrived in Florida, Luke was all smiles with his Momau and Poppa.  I think he might actually remember them from when he was born.  I know that seems crazy, but they picked up right where they left off.

Reunited, and it feels so good...


Check out that tongue again!


My mom threw Luke a "Welcome" party so he could meet her side of the family.  Family came from all over Florida to meet Luke, and it was such a wonderful day!  Let me just say a big THANK YOU to all of our family who came to meet Luke!

Here are photos of Luke's Welcome Party!

Luke with Aunt Cathy! (She is the one who made Luke's quilts that you have seen!)

Luke with Uncle David!

Luke was exhausted and started to fuss... Uncle David said, "Hey, you're breaking the rules.. you don't fuss when I hold you!"  Well Luke tried to suck it up.  Bless his little heart!

Luke with Dustin! (This is Georgia's daddy!)

Luke with Uncle Jimmy!

Luke with Aunt Janet!

Luke with Susie!

Luke with Jimmy!

Luke with Jason! (This was right after Uncle David told Luke about the no fussing rule!)

Luke with Aunt Eva!  (Luke is doing a muscle man pose, haha!)

Here is Luke hanging out with his Poppa!

And look, there's that tongue again!

My dad took Luke away from all the commotion for a little down time by the pool, while Georgia swam.

It was great to hang out and catch up with family.

Luke wants cake! ;)

Luke really cracked up with Dustin.

At the end of the day, Luke lounged in his Momau's arms.  It was a very busy day for him, but he did great considering how many people he met!



I really cannot tell you how grateful I am that our family made every effort to come meet Luke.  My cousin, Alex couldn't be there because he was helping with a fundraiser for a friend with cancer (so really, I couldn't be mad even if I wanted to be)...and Aunt Karla, Uncle Gene, Susanna and Gillian couldn't make it because of school and work (they live in Virginia).  But I am SO glad everyone else got to meet him.  Thank you all!  Love you guys!

Returning to California

Sadly, my trip had to come to an end.  I would've stayed longer, if I could have.  Luke and I had to go back to California.  Carl knew I wanted to stay in Florida (desperately) and made a comment to his coworker that he wouldn't be surprised if I "missed" my flight.  He was half-joking.  

My parents drove us down to Orlando to the airport and...get this... I missed my flight.  Ha!  I rescheduled it for the very next non stop flight before I even called Carl and told him.  It TRULY was an accident!

Well, since we were in Orlando and had to wait SEVERAL hours for the next plane, I called up Mia.  She let us come to her apartment and stay for the day.  We got to spend a couple of hours with her, and then she left us the key and her alarm code for us to let ourselves out since she had to go to work.

I'm glad she got to see her nephew one more time before we left!

It was actually a nice relaxing day, to the end of a whirlwind trip.  We were all exhausted and napped on Mia's floor and couch!

And we got to spend some time on her balcony which overlooks a lake.  It was SO pretty!

 

(Luke could get used to this!)

I had an awful headache for two or three days in a row, so leaving to board a six hour flight was super difficult on me.  I snapped this picture of Luke and I after we boarded the plane.  He slept the entire flight.  People around me asked if he was a real baby!

Once we made it back home to California, we went straight to bed.  We can't wait to go back to Florida and see everyone again.

Luke meets Georgia

Many of you have heard me talk about Georgia on several occasions.  She is my cousin's (Dustin's) daughter.  She is a DOLL.  She's sweet as can be, and too smart for her own good.  

We drove over to Jacksonville to pick up Georgia and have her stay with us overnight, so she could get to know her new cousin baby Luke (whom she affectionally refers to as her brother).  

When we arrived in Jacksonville, Georgia presented Luke with a gift (after putting a witch's hat on my mom, because Aunt Patty is loads of fun...).

Georgia helped Luke open the gift.

It's a book!  And a stuffed dinosaur!

Aunt Patty/ Momau read the book to the kiddos, and then we hit the road back home to Gainesville.  I prepared Luke a bottle before we left, since it was an hour and a half drive and I knew he would get hungry on the road.  After fussing for a few minutes, we were able to get the bottle and give it to Luke.  Georgia gave him the bottle.  Right after this picture was taken, she pulled the bottle out of his mouth and said "Here you go Aunt Patty; my arm is tired." 

Luke was very confused, and got mad pretty quickly, but I thought it was such a cute story.  Needless to say, Momau held the bottle for Luke with Georgia's help. ;)

Once home, the two kids hung out together on a quilt made my Luke's great Aunt Cathy, who is Georgia's Nana!

As you can probably guess, Momau/ Aunt Patty is in heaven with these two babes.

Luke meets Auntie Laurel

"Squirt," as Laurel lovingly calls him, got to meet his Auntie Laurel.  She's one of those salt of the earth people who you can't help but love.  She's been such a blessing to our family.  (And, she was the one who gave Luke that precious book of his first days!) 

Last December, Laurel and her daughter Emily came and played cards with Carl and I.  I was super nauseous, and thanks to Laurel I learned that white cheddar popcorn stayed down quite nicely!  The night after we played cards, I found six more bags of popcorn on my parents' front porch waiting for me! 

Since Luke has been born (and sheesh, even throughout my whole pregnancy), she has provided me with lots of advice!  She has three kids, so she's basically an expert.  ;)  

Luke slept through their first visit, but the second visit (which I didn't get pictures of unfortunately), he was awake to hang out.  Since he slept through the first visit, Laurel came a second time even though it was early in the morning (because our schedules were SO busy)...she brought yummy frappes for my mom and I!

I know I've written a lot of posts about specific people, and as I do so, I can't help but realize over and over how incredibly blessed we are to have so many friends who we consider family.  They truly are blessings to our lives!

Luke meets Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian

My sweet Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian came from Virginia to meet Luke.  I haven't seen them since my wedding day, so I was so excited to see them again.  My cousin Brian couldn't make it because he had to work, but hopefully next time I'll get to see him as well.

Aunt Cindy hung out with us, and went to Jacksonville with us.  She was only in town for two days, but we sure enjoyed every minute with her.

The night we got home from Jacksonville, Aunt Cindy helped us prep for a family gathering the following day... here's Aunt Cindy and Momau in the kitchen cooking!  Aunt Cindy was a HUGE help- she helped get so much food done, AND she painted Georgia's nails!

We had a great time!

Aunt Cindy, thank you so much for making the trip to Florida!  We love you!