Some assembly required

Christmas has come and gone and New Years is fast approaching. Daddy spent a good 30 minutes putting together your excer-saucer this morning. That thing sure had a lot of parts! Although you are still a little young for this (your toes just brush the floor) you seemed interested in the lights and sounds it makes. You even showed us a hint of dance moves to come when the jazzy music played a rag time song. We've spent the better part of today putting away all of our gifts and reading your new books. You are no longer just interested in black and whites but all the colors now. You have become quite the talker as well. You continue to coo and smile all day long which makes me melt EVERY time.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Luke!

This year is your first Christmas and it was so special. This morning we went over to Nana and Papa Schneider's house for breakfast and gifts. As always we opened our socks from Santa first! You got a cute outfit, some spoons (because you'll be eating real food soon!) and a little zebra teething toy. Santa was good to you! After socks you were ready for a nap which worked out perfectly for Mommy and Daddy. While you were sleeping we ate the feast Nana had worked so hard to prepare. It was delicious! It was time to open gifts and you were still sleeping. I think you were still pooped from all the activities last night! You got so many nice things. Lots of books and cute outfits, and exercise activity thing, blocks and something to protect you from the germs on the carts when we go to Costco. This all sounds like a full days worth of activities but we were just getting started!
After a quick trip home to let Macy and Sakai outside we headed over to Pops and Grammies house for dinner and fun. Pops had great fun showing you all the pretty ornaments on his tree and reading you Christmas stories in between cooking a great dinner. Once again it was your nap time and off to sleep you went. We tucked you up in Uncle Patricks room so you could catch some quality z's. You slept clear through the opening of presents to awake just before dinner. Grammie, Pops, your three uncles, along with your great Grammie and Papa gave you many nice gifts. Lots of cute outfits and special ornaments to remember your first Christmas. We all had a great time and left with full tummies!

Christmas Eve

Christmas is such a busy time of year for us. Once you get a little bigger you will see what I mean! On Christmas Eve we started out at Nana and Papa Schneider's house. You were such a good boy. You talked to so many people tonight. To name a few: The Fosters, Nana and Papa S, Uncle Mike and Aunt Suzanne, Cousin Will and Cate! And this was just the first stop. Mommy and Daddy filled their tummies and off we all went to our second party. Let me tell you little Luke you were a hit. The second we walked in the door you were snatched from your car seat and the kisses began! Your little chubby cheeks were red with lipstick kisses by the end of the evening. You couldn't have been a better boy tonight. You talked to all the ladies and snuggled quite a few of them as well. This is a picture of you with your second Cousin Claire. She was in love! What a good little helper she was :) By the time we made it to the car you were pooped and off to dream land you went. You slept so well Daddy had to wake you up the next morning to get the Christmas festivities started!

Welcome Olivia Claire

Just in time for Christmas! Ambrey and Tim welcomed to the world little baby Olivia Claire.

She weighted in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long.

She is beautiful.

Luke and Olivia meeting for the first time. Luke maybe next time you can open you eyes and flash Olivia that great smile of yours!

Meeting Santa

Who would have ever guessed that Santa would show up at Great Grammie and Papas house! Every year just before Christmas we go to Great Grammie and Papas house for a Christmas party and this year was no different. You were dressed so cute in your little red Baby Gap outfit fit for the holidays. We were all hanging out visiting in the front room while the children played with the train that went around the big beautiful tree when a loud knock on the door caught every ones attention. We were all shocked to find SANTA at the door! Santa came inside and talked to all the children and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. Each one sat on his lap and whispered in his ear what they wanted this year. Mommy was a little nervous that you might not find sitting on Santa's lap much fun but you did great! You sat just long enough for several pictures to be taken and you only cried a little when you'd had enough.
You were even a good sport and squeezed into a Santa outfit to have a few more pictures taken! And I mean squeezed!

Your First Christmas Tree

It took Mommy and Daddy a little while to get out and find a Christmas tree but once we finally did what a fun day it was! We packed you up in the baby Bjorn, your favorite mode of transportation and went off in search of the perfect tree. It didn't take long before we found your first tree. It was prefect! Nice and tall, fat and very green. Uncle Matt even commented that it looked fake! But it wasn't. We tied it to the roof of the car and took it home. Once inside the smell of Christmas filled the house. You watched very closely as Daddy put on all the beautiful white lights and cooed and talked to the tree while Sakai promptly began to eat it!


Not the best picture but here it is!

Your first ornament was this little solider from Nana and Papa E.

Christmas Came Early

Since Nana and Papa Eschinger are going to London this year for Christmas we celebrated a little early! Your favorite gift was your giggling cow. It dances and plays music which really seemed to catch your attention. You also got a very neat ball that lights up, changes colors and plays different sounds and songs. You are just starting to pay attention to toys and Nana and Papa got you some great ones to start out with! You also got your first Christmas tree ornament, a little solider. As soon as we pick out a tree it will go on up top for everyone to see. As usual you were a great boy all night. You can see from this picture that your beautiful dark baby hair is starting to fall out. We are all anxious to see what will grow in it's place. Be it dark or blonde you will always be adorable!

Inspiration

I've been inspired to change up the blog a little bit. From now on instead of writing the blog to you the readers I'm going to write to Luke. I've been printing off the entire blog as an addition to Luke's baby book and it just seems fitting to write to him now. Continue to enjoy and follow along as Luke grows so big!

Three Months already

It seems like just yesterday he was 7 pounds of little baby boy and now he's 16+ pounds of a huge baby boy! How time flys. Luke is doing great. We hate to comment for fear of jinxing ourselves but he is the best baby ever! Luke now sleeps 10 hours a night and gets a few naps in during the day. Sometimes we luck out and he takes a 3 hour morning nap! His awake hours are spent smiling, cooing and kicking up a storm. He is such a joy! With all this sleeping he is getting he is far less grumpy when he is awake. He continues to eat like a champ, love bath time and is mesmerized by the TV....something about that football!

Who knew Luke loved football!

I was hoping that Luke would be a Greys Anatomy fan but it turns out he loves to watch football. We were testing out Luke's new bouncy seat and he seemed to be more impressed with the Patriots than the monkey and frog!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Luke's first Thanksgiving was spent with Nana and Papa Eschinger, Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Ambrey. Good food and fun was had by all! We were sorry to not have the time (or energy) to go visit the Schneiders or Jacksons. We are so thankful this year to have such a happy and healthy baby boy, a knee that is on the mend and a bimonthly paycheck! Life is slowly returning to normal and we love it.