Our Beach Trip

We just got back from our summer beach trip to Orange Beach, AL. We went with all of Lisa's family - Nanny, Poppy, Uncle David, Aunt Kristi, cousins Taylor and Riley, Uncle TJ, and his girlfriend, Lacy. We had a fabulous time! It was Luke's first time to the beach. He thought the sand was okay, but he didn't care for the water at all! It was my fault though b/c I just stuck him right in the water - after he started screaming, I remembered that when Elijah was a baby, I sat him in the sand and let the waves barely reach him so that he could crawl into the water himself. So Luke did not like the gulf. Elijah, on the other hand, LOVED it! He loved running through the sand, which was super soft, and jumping all in the water. Searching for sea shells was his favorite thing to do! We had a blast at the pool and hanging out at the condo with all of the family. We went to Lambert's, which was really fun for the boys. Elijah caught a roll, which was rather hot, and Luke was content gnawing on one all throughout dinner. On the last night, Elijah got to ride go carts for the first time. He had a really good time riding w/ Mom and then Poppy (until he took of his seat belt...) The vacation was wonderful and altogether too short!

I have a crazy story to share from this morning - Luke got his arm (from the elbow up)stuck through one of he and Elijah's chair rungs. He was hysterically crying and I could not get it out. I started freaking out a bit... I got Elijah to grab my phone and then afterwards I said, "Run to the refrigerator and grab the butter!" Like a 2 year old could do that! To my surprise, he found a bottle of spray butter within 5 seconds and I sprayed it on Luke, immediately releasing his arm. Then Elijah said, "Sheesh, that was a close one!" LOL It was a scary situation, but how funny and amazing did our little guy react in the heat of a stressful situation!

Oh and an update on the gulf waters with the oil spill..The gulf was so warm and beautiful. Every now and then, you could see some oil residue on the beach, but it was not enough for us to justify keeping the boys out of the water. One day, we could see some oil patches from our balcony, but that was really it. The clean up crews were on the beach the last day we were there. But it was kind of nice going down to the beach in the middle of the summer and having the beach not really crowded. So if you're thinking of going down to the beach, don't delay it b/c of the oil rumors.

Happy Birthday to Luke!

Our little Luke had his first birthday on Saturday! I cannot believe how quickly a year has passed. It seems like just yesterday, and forever ago, at the same time, that he was in the NICU and we were praying for him to come home. But here we are, one year later, and he’s as precious as can be. He no longer has to wear his helmet (as of Thursday)! Woo hoo! That is truly an answered prayer. His head looks good. He is walking all around and getting into trouble, as you can imagine. =) We now have gates inside our double sided fireplace b/c he thinks it is so funny to get in trouble when he tries to play with the rocks in there. We have to keep Sage’s water and bowls behind a closed door when he’s awake b/c playing with them is just so much fun! His little personality is just so cute! He’s making a lot more sounds now, but hasn’t got the whole talking thing down quite yet. He’s sleeping much longer at nighttime, going to bed at 7:30 and waking up after 7. At his one year check up, he was 50% in height and weight, and a little above average in head size (just like big brother!) So all in all, we have a wonderfully healthy, happy one year old!

His birthday was such a fun day! We woke him up singing, “Happy Birthday” and then went in Elijah’s room to wake him up. Then we asked Elijah what day today was and he said, “It’s Luke’s Birthday Party Day!!!” and proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to Luke! We had his party at 11 – just family and a couple close friends (who are practically family!) The theme was first birthday all-star (yes, we reused Elijah’s decorations!). But this time, we had concession style food – hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos in the little plastic trays, bags of popcorn, soft pretzels, sports cupcakes, and ice cream in little baseball cap ice cream cups. My friend, Holly, who owns and runs HollyDays made some stickers for the caps that all said Luke. Then the kids that came to the party had their own caps with their names on them. They were really cute! Outside we had a pool and slip n slide set up for the kiddos (however, after trying it on Sunday, myself, I have to admit, it’s fun for adults too!) Elijah decided to prematurely get in the water with all of his clothes on, and then proceeded to strip down after he was all wet… That’s our boy! =) Luke had a lot of fun, and a lot of help, opening his presents. He got some really great toys! Among them were some squeaky shoes that he got to sport for a while and sounded so cute as he walked… “squeak squeak, squeak squeak, squeak squeak,…” Too funny.

(The above picture is cousin Hayden Burns, future daughter-in-law Bella Grace Monroe, Elijah and Luke, cousins Taylor and Riley Swearengin, and Cameron, a friend of Luke’s Grammy)

Cake time was a blast as he dug into his baseball smash cake. He loved smashing it up, but didn’t really eat much of it. He smashed it outside, so it was incredibly convenient to clean him off in the baby pool (and you can see in the picture below, Elijah's just loving the slip n slide!) By that time, he was quite ready for his milk and nap. The party kept going for a little while after he left and we had a lot of fun. We got to take some pictures of him after he woke up. My sister, Kristi, made him a sweet little outfit , bib, and birthday hat, so if you’re ever needing something special, I’m sure she can help you out!

Luke, along with his big bro, is a precious little boy and we are so blessed to be his parents. We’ve grown a lot as a family this year and it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but it is a blessing to have these sweet boys and this great family. We are so thankful for everything the Lord’s blessed us with and we just pray that our household can serve Him well.

And, of course, a couple Elijah stories to make you smile:

It’s naptime and Luke and I are in Elijah’s room tucking him into bed. Luke tries to climb in bed with Elijah and then…

Elijah: I think Luke wants to sleep with me today.

Mom: Well, when you and Luke are bigger, you can sleep together sometime.

Elijah: I think he’s big Mommy. I think he can sleep in my bed with me.

I just read a book that Luke received in the mail and I was showing Elijah that it was Luke’s book…

Mom: It says “Luke Burns”

Elijah: I think it says Me Burns… see? “Me Burns” (as he moves his finger under the words as if he’s reading it). It says “E-L-I-J-A-H.” See Momma?

Our Baby's Walking and Our Big Boy's Trilingual

We'll first start off by showing Luke's first haircut... I had called our friend, Jennifer, who cuts mine and Elijah's hair, but Stephen didn't want to wait and took the clippers to his head. I can't really say much since I didn't do a great job when I attempted to cut Elijah's hair for the first time. We'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...
Because we were going out of town before Jennifer was able to fix his hair, we had Taylor's hair dresser fix it up in Huntsville... He looked so much better!

We can finally say that Luke is walking!!! A few weeks ago (I think June 28th), he started to take 8 or so steps at a time here and there. Since then, he has steadily increased the amount of steps he'll take. Yesterday he walked from the far side of our den fireplace, all the way to the oven in the kitchen. So I think we can officially say he's walking now. Elijah was such a dramatic shift from crawling to solely walking in one day. But Luke likes the variety of crawling and walking.



He's getting more talkative, but still not saying anything really besides momma and dadda... I think at times he says duck, banana, more, and ball, but nothing incredibly consistent. He has dropped two feedings, so now he just eats breakfast, lunch, whole milk before his nap, dinner, and nurses at bedtime (snacks in btwn of course). He's been quite fussy when it comes to eating dinner - the boy hates his veggies. We're also convinced in just a matter of time he's going to either turn into a banana or a blueberry with the amount of fruits he's eating. We are gearing up for his birthday on Saturday! It's so hard to believe he's ready to turn one!



A few sweet Elijah stories...
Every time before he lays down to sleep, we sing him a lullaby. It started out with "I'll love you forever," then it changed to "Brahm's Lullaby" with us making up words. Here's an example.... Lullaby and goodnight. Go to sleep sweet Elijah. While you're sleeping mommy and daddy, and Luke will go to sleep too. And while you're dreaming, dream of airplanes and helicopters too. But for now, close your eyes, and know that mommy and daddy love you." And we always change up what he dreams about - and the wonder in his eyes as he's getting exited about dreaming is so precious! But lately, he's been wanting us (well, Mommy) to sing the "German Lullaby," which is just Brahms Lullaby in German. And I asked him to sing it to me the other day and he sang most of the words correctly! So Elijah is now trilingual - he can speak in English, sing his Spanish ABCs, and sing in German. :) lol

Every time Elijah hears a fire truck, ambulance, or police car, he insists that we pray for them (so sweet!). So we'll pray for them together and then he will always add "And please help them not to get boo boos on their knees. Amen." [A little background on that - Mrs. Debbie at church was the first to pray for a fire truck with him and it just so happened to be after Elijah got a boo boo on his knee. So I guess that's something he associates with praying for them.]