So we've been a bit busy these past few weeks. We've... Helped give Sage a bath....
and got quite wet in the process!
Learned that Luke loves corn on the cob...
and he has started giving us a thumbs up when he's done eating! too cute!
Played with Uncle Jay, Aunt Beth, and Bella Grace...
We had a short but sweet playdate w/ Bella Grace, sporting her MSU gear, while Luke (& a sleeping Elijah) sported their UA gear. (Note: Bella Grace did wear her Auburn outfit the day after AU beat MSU...)
Tailgated at the Alabama/Penn State football game....
(it looks like Elijah's trying to get on our good side!)
Stephen, the boys, and my dad went to ttown & got to see some friends for a little bit as the rain came pouring down! After a little rain delay, we headed to the A-club for some dinner, and Stephen & boys headed home.
Mommy got to go to the game with Poppy... It was such a fun game! We had a blast watching the game and it was so neat to see Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, and Nick Saban all together on the field before the game! ROLL TIDE!
Played on the playground with friends from our Sunday school class...We had a fun time at Veteran's Park with friends today... however, our lunch was cut quite short b/c of a group of bees that wanted to join in on our picnic! And if you know me, you know I freak out around bees! But we had a blast, other than that!
And how can we have an outdoor outing without Elijah dropping his shorts b/c he has to tinkle... Here he is, running to the restrooms with his shorts around his ankles... our sweet Elijah...
So today, I introduced Luke to the world of finger painting... I had introduced Elijah to it when he was about 14 months old - right before Stephen came home from Africa, we made a big "welcome home" banner..so sweet! But while Elijah had kept his paci in his mouth (way back when), Luke kept spitting his paci out in hopes that Mommy would look away so he could sneak a taste of the super enticing turquoise paint. (As you can tell from the picture, he didn't like it too much!) But he was able to finger paint some flowers for a future craft project, and then he kind of painted his name. Elijah did a great job on his flowers, which he basically did all by himself, and then he decided to use a paint brush on his name. I was quite impressed! LUKE Luke has taken way more of an interest in books. He still likes to walk around a lot while we're reading, but lately, he's sat in our laps so much longer and has been really interested in pointing the pictures and trying to say the words. He is now forever dropping his cup in his highchair, just so he can say "uh oh!" (the 'oh' part isn't really there... it's just "uh uh..." but w/ the inflection of 'uh oh'). We started our classes at the library this week, and as I was singing the hands up song to him today, "Luke, Luke, if you're there, put your hands up in the air," he put his hands up! And he did it time and time again! So cute!
Now for the so cute, but not so cute... Elijah has been knocking Luke down and pushing him lately. And while Luke is smaller, he is not going to take it! When Elijah knocks him down, Luke has no change in his facial expression, but he just puts his hands up and opens his mouth (think godzilla) and just rams his mouth into Elijah's shoulder and stays there. I don't think he's biting down, but he's just going at him w/ all his body weight. It is SO HARD not to laugh while Elijah is freaking out that his little brother's going after him. So we've had to talk to Luke about how to respond to Elijah's behavior (and, yes, we've had to talk to Elijah about how not to push and hit)
ELIJAH I don't know what he'll be when he grows up. He is such a smart little guy. But he has a knack for all things related to God. As early as he could talk, he could tell you that we go to church to learn about God. And if you asked him who God was, he'd say Jesus, and vis versa. Well, in the Lord's Prayer, he was saying one line wrong since day one, but we never really corrected it - "as we forgive those who have trespassed against us". Well, we corrected him maybe 2 nights in a row and he says in perfectly every time! It's the sweetest thing to hear. In church, they've been learning the verse "There is no one who does good. Not even one." Well, I said to him yesterday "There is no one who does good..." and he said "not anybody...Only God does good all the time." It looks like his sweet Sunday School teachers are getting through to him! He prayed before his nap yesterday and this is how it went... "Dear Lord. Thank you for Mommy. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Sage. Please protect her tummy from the peanuts. Please keep daddy safe while he's driving. Please help him drive home safely. Please help him be fuccessful (successful w/ an "f") at work. Help him to trust in the Lord. Help him to trust in the Lord. Amen". I love it!
Tonight, we put Elijah in a footed, zip up pajama that we bought him. It was the first time he'd been in a onesie pj since he outgrew his 18 month clothes. He LOVED it! He was dancing around his room, dragging his rubber padded feet along the carpet, with the biggest smile on his face. Too cute!
Every night, we go into the boys' rooms to check on them when we go to sleep. We shine the light from the monitor on Elijah's face as we kiss him and tell him "I love you." Both Stephen and I try SO hard to get him to say "I love you" back in his sleep. He says it every few nights and it's so precious.
And just to show how much both the boys are growing up - we were at the playground yesterday and I said "Okay boys. If we want to play soccer, we need to head over to the tennis courts b/c it's getting late." We were at the stairs at the time. Elijah immediately walked to the tennis court gate to hold it open, as Luke walked to the stroller, grabbed the soccer ball out of the back, and walked w/ the soccer ball into the tennis courts. It was so precious!
We'll watch Buzz, Woody, Rex, & Ham on the giant screen and then...We'll race along the sidewalk, I'll chase you and you'll chase me. Side by side we'll stroll along, smiling oh so cheerfully.
Then how about some ice cream while we talk about the show? We'll have fun being silly, until it's time to go...Our next date we'll bring Dad, and your little brother too. But today I'll enjoy our Mommy date, with only me and you.{Love the book, "Let's go on a Mommy Date" by Karen Kingsbury (Thanks Carol!)}
So I thought I would share some sweet stories of Elijah, followed by Luke, during my 10 minutes of down time before cleaning up... Elijah is getting so sweet and charming. A couple times, he's looked at me, rubbed my face so sweetly, and said "You're the kindest mommy in town" (and the same to daddy). He absolutely LOVES to laugh and to make people laugh. He is his father's son... Story #1: Elijah apparently saw someone say "Do you want a piece of me?!" maybe in Toy Story or something. So the other day, after his nap, he bowed up and said really loudly, with a smile of course, "Do you want a piece of meat?!" LOL I said, "what?!" and he repeated it over and over... You'd correct him and say "me" but he just thought it was too funny saying "meat." And if you ask him, he says "yes" like, where is it?! Story #2: For as long as I can remember, Stephen's grabbed my cheeks w/ his hands, pushed them together to make my face look fat and chubby, and has said "Do you want some cookies?" It cracks him up. Well, Elijah, now loves to squeeze our faces and say "Do you want some cookies?...Do you want some chocolate chip cookies?...Do you want some cookies w/ sprinkles?" in this deep voice. He loves it as much as his daddy! Story #3: He loves to run. He can run all day long. When we go for a jog or leave the pool, I usually let him run along the stroller up the hill to our home. One day, he found several sticks along the side of the sidewalk and he was picking them all up to take home. After about 5 sticks, he said "Let's leave some for the other boys and girls". too sweet Story #4: Somebody call the zoo b/c there are animals on the loose! Elijah sees tigers, alligators, lions, etc all over the place. We will be jogging and he will yell, "Mommy, Daddy, stop! There's a tiger in the road?!" or he will frantically run downstairs b/c an alligator is coming. And if we ever really need him to listen, all we have to do is tell him there's an alligator coming and he will run as fast as he can to listen. Story #5: Elijah hates my hair in a ponytail. I mean, hates it. It's not a big deal if I start out the day in one, but if I ever go to put my hair up, he yells, "NO! Don't! Don't put your hair in a ponytail!!!" and will tear up! It's pitiful. Story #6: I put both of the boys' milk cups in the microwave at the same time. Well, they were spinning around on the carousel thing in the microwave and all of a sudden, Elijah said "Look! Luke's milk is chasing mine!" lol
So Luke has changed in the past 3 or 4 weeks. He has turned into a boy who knows what he wants and will not sit quietly anymore until he gets it. He points at everything and calls most thing "dat" (resembles "that") or "da" or "na" or "ma"... not so much on the words yet. Still just mama, dada, banana,... But he has some lungs boy! He will holler loudly until you hand him that cup that he's pointing at. The other morning we were doing flashcards during breakfast, and I was doing some numbers (for Elijah), and I would say "what number is this?" and Luke would say something everytime before Elijah and he was quite confident in his answers...not so much when we got to Luke's flashcards, but it was still cute. He is walking everywhere, getting pretty fast. He loves to watch you run after him when he's just about to get in trouble - he'll crawl over to the dog bowl or the step latter in the bathroom (which he LOVES to climb) and he'll just wait until you look at him and he'll just smile at you! I took Luke to an allergist on Wednesday to have him pricked 20 times. Poor baby! During the pricking process, he was pinned down on his belly on the table, and I was holding his hands and my head was flat on the table next to his, trying to look him in the eyes the whole time to let him know it's okay. I must have looked so silly...It turns out that he's only allergic to eggs (well, of what we tested). So no cooked eggs and no products with eggs - no baked cookies, no mac n cheese, no pasta... That's going to be fun when we go to publix and pass by the free cookie in the bakery! So now we have to be pretty diligent in what we purchase and prepare for him to eat. Hopefully this will stop his little rash breakouts on his face and we'll have a perfect complexion from here on out.
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.
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?
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.]
Our family started way back when Stephen and I got married on June 11, 2005. =) Then, we had our first sweet baby boy, Elijah, on December 11, 2007. We became parents of two on July 17, 2009 when we welcomed little Luke into the world. Life is just a blast with our sweet little boys. God is so very good and has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams!
(it looks like Elijah's trying to get on our good side!)
We had a fun time at Veteran's Park with friends today... however, our lunch was cut quite short b/c of a group of bees that wanted to join in on our picnic! And if you know me, you know I freak out around bees! But we had a blast, other than that!
We had a fun time at Veteran's Park with friends today... however, our lunch was cut quite short b/c of a group of bees that wanted to join in on our picnic! And if you know me, you know I freak out around bees! But we had a blast, other than that!
