Thanks Santa! (aka Grandma L)

Luke just loves his new rocking horse, Ted. We learned quickly not to let him bounce too soon after eating. He loves to get Ted moving!

Beeline

Ahhh Luke. Of course the one place you want to go is the kitchen. It is where you can get into the most trouble and it is where you are consistently locked out of. So it is no surprise that when the door is unintentionally left open, you make a beeline for it.

Playing with Kacie

Grandma Linda had an old video of Luke and Kacie playing last August in San Francisco. Kacie ran circles around Luke, of course. It was the "golden time" for Luke - when he could sit, play with toys and be entertained, but not crawl and get into trouble. I think it lasted about two weeks. Those were the days . . .

Clearly, all Luke wanted to do was chew on tissue paper. No noisy toys for this boy!

Reminiscing . . .

 

As we are approaching the end of year, I've been flipping back through old pictures of Luke. It's hard to remember this stage of him, compared to where he is now. Granted, I was working on no sleep, so that does play a part. But there is little Luke, with his dark hair and patented "ooh!" look. And now he's running around like a crazy man and turning one next month. How time flies!

A Cuttin' We Will Go!

While my worst fears of Luke attacking a Christmas tree like a cat flowed around in my mind, I simply could not justify an artificial tree or missing out on the experience (read: photo op) of cutting down a Christmas tree. For better
or worse, we were just going to go for it and hope for the best.

It was certainly cold out in the middle of PDN (Po-Dunk-Nowheresville) but we stuck a silly hat on Luke's head, gave him some mittens that were too small and made him mad and were off to find the perfect, somewhat reasonably priced tree.

We let the little stinker run around and there were some mighty face-plants.
True to form, Luke didn't cry or fuss, just tried again. I love how determined
(read: stubborn) he is and just keeps trying.

We found our beautiful little tree and decided to adopt him and take him home. While the decorations weren't put on for a few weeks, our tree was giving our family tree skirt. I love this tree skirt and have to laugh remembering that I personalized a tree skirt with "The Bickels" before I was even married to Todd. At least I was engaged! Now we really are the Bickels since we've added Luke to this crazy mix!

We took our Christmas card photo with our tree (Finally! A reason for a photo card!) but have decided against publishing it, for those 3 folks who read this blog to have a surprise.

Giving Thanks

It was wonderful to spend time with the Bickel/Wire/Castillo clan for Thanksgiving this year. Luke, as always, love to "work the room," making sure all eyes were on him. He loves to laugh and nothing gives him more happiness to see others laughing. Now that Luke is walking around and clapping, everyone around him is always laughing. It was wonderful to see Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma having so much fun with him.

Generations together.

Thanksgiving time is also Great Grandpa's birthday. Luke loves wrapping paper and tissue paper, so he was thrilled to have a birthday party too!

Great-Grandma's Thanksgiving dinner for Luke - he loved it! He loved the turkey and the stuffing. And of course, Uncle Joe's sweet potatoes. The brown sugar made them especially delicious!

Daddy gave a few bites of Cool Whip as a desert - such a spoiled boy!

Going out! Part I.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Rosbrugh, we were able to attend a friend's wedding. As much as we love Luke and love spending time as a family, we do enjoy getting out and enjoying our time alone. When Luke was first born, it seemed our hands were always full, always busy. It was rare that we weren't busy in one way or another. Anytime our hands and arms were empty, we would happily look at each other, say "We should hug!" and obviously hug. It kept us strong and reminded us that even though things were hectic, we still loved each other very much. And I always think of that when we're out alone - We should hug! And we do.

Playing at the Park

While the weather still isn't too cold or rainy, we decided to go to the park and play for a little bit. Luke is now walking (though rather tentatively) which made roaming around the grass pretty fun. He always hated the feeling of grass on his hands, so he would refuse to crawl.

Luke is still not too sure about the swings, but he enjoys going down the slide with daddy. We're hoping to squeeze in a few more trips to the park before the weather becomes too "wintry."

Fall Pictures

We decided to send out Halloween cards this year with pictures of Luke. We had planned to go to the pumpkin patch, but between a tight schedule and rainy weather, we simply didn't make it out. But I was bound and determined to get cute fall pictures so the front yard would simply have to do.

Sounds great, right? It was - until our normally quiet street turned into a popular thoroughfare. Luke is all about cars (Daddy's boy) so every car that passed caught his attention. It was a moth to a flame. We really had to carefully time the pictures, and even then it was difficult.

What I loved about the pictures was his intensity - about everything. The cars, the grass, the leaves. I was impressed - not once did he try to crumple the leaves. Luke kept turning it over and over again. He held the leaf away from him, he held it close. He held it with one hand and then with two. But always very delicately. As rough and tumble as Luke is, he's still a thinker. I love that.

Halloween

We had a difficult time this year deciding on a costume for Luke. He has such a personality that a typical baby costume just didn't seem fitting. I knew I would make something, but there were just too many ideas to choose from. Originally we were all going to dress up: Luke as Popeye, Todd as Bluto and Noella as Olive Oyle. But as we weren't going to a party, that just seemed like too much work. Since Luke turns as red as a tomato when he gets angry, we always call him "Jack Jack" from "The Incredibles." So we finally decided on that. We took Luke over to Trick or Treat at Grandma and Grandpa's house and they loved it! He played the part well - turning red and yelling when he was excited. Instead of candy, Luke trick or treated for Cheerios!

Great Grandma's Birthday

We all went to visit Great-Grandma for her birthday this last October. We had a great time driving up to Gridley with Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy. Grandpa's new ride is pretty sweet! Great-Grandma was so excited to finally meet Luke. Having everyone together for the weekend was wonderful.

We remembered all of Luke's things but completely forgot our own suitcase. Oy. There was a late night rush to Kohls just for a few important things. What a weekend . . .

The process . . .

With Luke being so active, there is absolutely NO down time. That kid goes ninety miles an hour ALWAYS. That being said, he is in love with the computer's screen saver. So what follows is Luke's attempt to get the computer and play with the mouse before Mommy can stop him.

Will he make it? Can he fit the whole mouse in his mouth? Only time will tell . . .

Playdates

While going to our Las Madres playgroup has slowed considerably since going back to work, they are such an awesome group of women that once a month, we have a weekend playdate.

Our first weekend playdate was a family event, all the dads came too. It was wonderful to meet everywhere (the "other half" of the genetic code, as it were).

Luke is wonderful to watch - he is so observant of what goes on around him, he has since he was a little tiny thing. I wonder about everything that he takes in, wonder how he processes the information, wonder what it is like to see things for the first time. His eyes are so curious, so determined. I can't wait till the day he is able to share all of his thoughts and feelings.

Baby blues and baby teeth . . .

... happiness in a nutshell.

Happy Guy!

He's almost ready for rollercoasters . . .

Playdate with Kacie!

We went up to San Francisco to visit GrandMary, Neil, Melinda and little Kacie while Grandma Linda was in town. The kids had so much fun together, as did the rest of us! Kacie was very curious as to what Luke was all about.

The Grandmas had a wonderful time taking the two little bears out for a walk in Golden Gate Park, while we were all given the gift of "adult interaction."

Neil set up a variety of college mascots for Luke, letting him pick which mascot he liked the most, therefore determining which college Luke would go to. As much as I wanted him to go for the lion (Go LMU!) and Todd wanted him to go for the little Irish doll (Go Notre Dame!), he went for the . . . tree. I guess Go Stanford! At least it's close by!

We had so much fun visiting and letting the kids play together!

Such a pouty face . . .

Luke sure likes to laugh when Mommy laughs, but when she stops - the quivering chin begins. Of course, we whip the camera out as fast as we can. It's hard to catch the pouty face - as soon as the camera is out, the smiles begin. At least we caught one pouty face!

New Discoveries

I didn't know this was here . . . it's squishy and sticking out . . .

Luke discovered his belly last week and was impressed. Now Luke's first tooth has just started to break through.

Luke just had his 6 month check up and is doing so well! He was patient and still while the doctor examined him, which the doctor was very impressed with. He also growled at the doctor, which everyone found quite entertaining. So at 6 months, Luke is 18 lbs. 6 oz. and is 27 inches long.

We're enjoying learning how to play hide and go seek.