funny picture

I just had to post this picture, this was such a funny moment. Both Julio and I were home, and Luke and his friend Liam decided it was climbing time. Luke got up there completely on his own, with much encouragement from his dad! I'm sure we'll regret encouraging this kind of stuff someday, but for now, we just think it's way too fun.

Socks and other (mis)adventures

It's a funny thing, watching you kid try to do something you know they won't in a million years be able to accomplish. Like putting on socks, for example. Today I was watching Luke trying to put on his socks after he had just pulled them off, and as he sat there and dangled the hole of the sock over his toes, and sometimes managed to get one little toe in only to have it bob off again, I thought, is this cruel of me to just sit here and let him fail? But then I had to laugh as he just giggled while trying and eventually just abandoned the project. I love how he handles failure, it's awesome.
And then there's dirt. Julio was working outside the other day, putting dirt all around our house and so Luke and I decided to go out and "help". Luke had a blast. He just giggled and crawled around on each new pile of dirt Julio laid down, and eventually just had to have a taste...here, see for yourselves...




And then there's walking...our boy has now successfully taken 23 steps, but mostly he thinks walking is one big joke. He'll only do it when we prop him up and get him to walk in between us and then it's usually walk walk walk...dive! (and we usually get a good squeezer hug out of it!). But he eagerly turns around again and keeps going, until something more fascinating captures his attention. Mostly his crawling is just so incredibly fast that I don't know why he'd ever be motivated to walk. But I now do find myself urging him to walk, even though I always thought I'd be so low-key about it, if he didn't walk right away. Especially knowing that he can do it! Of well, you can't rush these things I suppose.
So, there you are, an update on our little Luke. Did I mention he's going to be a big brother in April?!?

Boy in a Box

Luke loves boxes. Ever since he has been mobile, boxes have been an awesome toy for him. Just today, I was busy doing something and I looked over to find that he had flipped over a big storage box, pushed it toward the door, and was sitting on it, looking out our screen window. And often we'll find him contentedly playing in one of his little toy boxes while rummaging through another. And then there's the odd moment where he lets someone else join in... So here's a glimpse of our boy in (or on!) a box.

Luke's First Birthday

After two parties, many cupcakes, some presents and several doting cousins, our Luke is officially one year old. It sure is nice to be on this side of it all!
Luke's first party was an impromptu affair on the August long weekend with his birthday twin, (a friend from the lake who was born an hour or so before him!), at my parents' cabin with deep 'n delicious cakes and two cute and messy boys. It was so fun to be able to celebrate with Asher (his twin) and our other lake friends. I still marvel that they are truly only hours apart, and yet such different kids! Asher plunged into the cake with gusto and Luke just kind of dabbed his fingers in the icing and seemed grossed out by the stickiness. The cake on his face is only due to the fact that we forced him to eat it. How ridiculous!














The second party was the planned family event that happened on Monday. The weather was gorgeous and so all my (slightly uncharacteristicly thorough) house cleaning gets to be preserved because we were able to do the whole thing outside. Thank goodness. With 14 adults and 10 kids, our house would have felt too full too fast. It was a fairly predictable one-year-old party I'd say, with Luke being relatively oblivious to the presents, looking like a deer in headlights when we sang to him, not having a clue what this candle is all about and why we wanted him to blow it out, and playing with his cupcake like it was play-doh. A perfectly successful party, I'd say! Actually, he was smiling most of the night, mostly due to all his doting cousins that absolutely amaze him. And after it all, Luke wasn't ready to go to bed right away so he happily played with his new toys for a bit before it was time to say good night, and first thing this morning he was right back at it.

(This is Luke with his cousin Eli.)

Our weekend getaway

We just got back from a fun weekend with another couple and I thought I would share some highlights...
The big excitement for us was the opportunity to go fishing! I haven't fished since I was a kid and it has been about 5 years for Julio, so it was quite fun. What made it all the more fun was having a child-free hour and a half, as our friend, Shonet, graciously looked after our little Luke for us. By some miracle she even got him to go to sleep! So, sadly there are no pictures of Luke and Shonet's fun time, but here are some of ours...















And then there were the games...I bought a new game the day before we left for the lake and it was a big hit. We played it at least every day if not a couple of times a day. It's called Bohnanza and is a card game about planting and harvesting beans. Quite fun actually!!



















We went for a hike on Sunday morning to a little lake about 20 minutes away. We did the Mantario trial with this couple and another one a few years ago and this felt like an abridged version of that hike :) (Quite abridged!!) Luke took a good nap on the way down as you can see. It was a lovely spot to hike to.




















So, here's a glimpse into our vacation-in-a-weekend!

Our summer thus far...

It's been a while since my last post and with just cause. These past few weeks have been a blur of sickness, heat, and a thirsty garden. So let me recap a little on what's been going on at our house...
First of all, we all got varying degrees of a nasty flu bug that has been going around. Luke had it the worst, and there were many days when we thought he might be an only child. A sick kid is just not fun, let's face it! Not to mention feeling absolutely terrible for him, knowing that he feels rotten and doesn't know what to do about it. And it's hard to know how serious to take things when they're so little and can't talk. But I'm extremely happy to report that our giggly little boy is back and life is much more smiley around our house. This week he has been an entirely different boy, and I'm loving the change. I think he's making up for lost time too, because he keeps getting into these crazy giggle fits where I keep wondering what's so funny but just have to join in. It's been great. Along with his new-found energy has come some new determination!! He climbed up on the couch this evening all by himself, while grabbing onto his Nannie for support. So cute and so scary! I'm afraid we have a climber on our hands. But of course, as much as I don't really love the idea of him climbing all over high objects, I have to sit back and marvel at how smart he is and am secretly egging him on in my mind. It's just so cool to watch him conquer these things.
But enough gushing and onto more news. Luke's cousins are back in town, the North Carolinan variety. My sister and husband were in the States for a year and it's been great to have them back, for my sake and Luke's! They have sure loved him up and he has loved them right back. So here's a few snapshots of some good cousin moments.



And then there's the garden...for our first year at it, I think we've had our work cut out for us. Never before have I ever wanted it to rain SO BADLY as I do this year! Hauling water to our garden is quite the procedure, and it never seems to be enough. But I must say, the garden has been amazing in some respects. I have never thought so much about the miracle of plant growth. From a tiny seed, some dirt, sun and water, FOOD grows. That's amazing. And I can't credit that to anything I do. The growth of the plants, even though I play a part in watering and weeding, is a complete miracle. And it has made me think, when Jesus was talking about the parable of the sower, how many of the people listening went back to their gardens, or farms, or whatever afterwards and just mulled these things over? It's incredible to think that Jesus used parables that people would be forced to think about every day, because they probably dealt with farming ever day. I have thought about how Jesus said the Father would prune those plants which did not bare fruit, and as I pruned our tomato plants the other day, I prayed that I would bear fruit and not be pruned. And on another occasion, our tomatoes were looking sickly for lack of water and I just felt so sad. And I thought about how my role is to water, and God will do the rest, and I have such an easy part to play so why don't I do it so I can sit back and watch the miracle of growth before my eyes? And more importantly, am I watering the relationships with people in my life, especially with those who don't know the wonder of the Father? My role is so easy, I just need to play my little part and God will surely do the rest, He always does. And then there are the weeds. Especially when our little plants were smaller, it was so important to not let the weeds get too big or else they would choke out what we really want to see grow. But again, do I make sure to get the bad stuff out of my life so the good things can grow? Because once there is more good than bad, the bad doesn't stand a chance. I've seen it. We hardly have to weed anymore because our plants are so big and hearty now. So even though it may be tempting to ask if it's worth it, after shelling what feels like a million pods and seeing only a tiny bowlful of peas, or picking a ton of beans and spending what feels like hours cutting and blanching them, or wondering what to do with yet another zucchini, I thank God for our little garden and the lessons I've learned. And that's why when Julio asked if we should buy a bunch of half priced seeds for next year I eagerly agreed. There is just something wonderful about having a garden.


(This is Luke helping Julio with our beans.)

And now for a few pictures...

Luke cleaning the bathtub with his dad...














Reading stories with cousin Claire and amazing Tante Folle, I mean, Auntie Robyn.














Eating rollkuchen for the first time














Playing catch with Nannie














Gardening














And a couple of other recent favorites...

Not what I thought

A friend of mine told me years ago that parenting wasn't what she thought it would be. She said that no one can really prepare you for what it will be like, and that it is harder than you can imagine. I have to agree these days. I think it's the all-the-timeness of it that makes it hard at times. Luke has had a cold for several weeks and has been waking more frequently at night, wanting to nurse more, etc, and it has been a bit draining. But the wonder of parenting is that in all of these moments, I wouldn't trade it for a childless life ever. Love is a funny thing. I love Luke so much that I think about him most of the time and can become obsessed with his "success" at each stage of his life. And I worry if he's not "succeeding" and I'm elated when he does. I'll explain. For example, I decided about a week ago that it was time that he mastered the sippy cup. We're starting to give him a bit of milk and I've had people tell me not to give him a bottle, but to go straight to a sippy cup (to avoid "double-weaning"). So I spent several days giving him the sippy cup, without the valve, with the valve, without the valve, with the valve, so he would understand that stuff comes out of the spout. Well, for several days he didn't suck on it when the valve was in, and it was stressing me out! I thought, oh no, he'll never learn this! And then one day, he just started sucking on it and it worked and now he can use it just fine. So much stress for nothing. But I tell you, sippy cups had never been so much on my mind then for those few days! And now it's eating...he's decided that all he likes is quesadillas. I'm thinking that it's because we had a guy from Mexico stay with us for a couple of weeks and it had a profound effect on him. I'm not sure. Sounds funny, maybe, but it's been a bit stressful! He doesn't want to be spoonfed, he doesn't want to eat any vegetables and he's just figured out in the last couple of weeks that if he doesn't like food, he can actually spit it out. So, my life has become one quesadilla-filled culinary adventure. Luke has now had, not only cheese quesadillas, but also rice, peas, chicken, yogurt and cheese quesadillas and the latest, squash and cheese quesadillas. Julio and I both thought the squash quesadillas weren't that bad actually...
So I guess one of the reasons why parenting is hard is because you don't want to mess up and you don't want to mess your kid up. And you don't know what to make a big deal of and what to relax about. But here are a couple of things I'm learning about Luke: forcing him to do things is not highly effective. If he doesn't want to eat, he won't. When he's hungry, he will indeed eat, even if it is only quesadillas. Another thing: "no," to him, is probably the funniest word out there. He giggles immediately almost whenever I say it. And it makes whatever he's doing all that much more enjoyable. I haven't quite figured out the answer to this conundrum but today, when he was reaching for the lamp and I said no, his giggle and smile were so cute that I had to laugh for a while too.
All the stress and parenting disillusionment aside, Luke is a great kid. Tonight Julio and I watched him for about 20 minutes just play with a pen as he was "writing" on paper and babbling away. It was amazing. I can't get over how smart he is, how curious and independent he is, how he finds humour in things that I can only wonder at, and how somehow by the grace of God, I get to be this amazing kid's mother.

The latest on Luke

Luke has had a busy past couple of weeks! He has really gotten going in terms of crawling, climbing, standing, getting stuck in tight places, maneuvering over and under things, etc, etc. It’s so fun to watch, I’m just so continually impressed with his curiosity and drive to try new things. Today we were at a play group with a couple of other moms and their kids, and I was all of a sudden struck by the realization that he's a KID now! He's chasing the other kids, pulling hair, eating paper...he's one of them! I can truly say that I am enjoying this phase of his life. The trick now is to savour it and not wish it away...I'm not sure why we do it, but so often we think and dream and plan of the next stage of our lives instead of savouring the one we're in. So here's a few snapshots of Luke's latest endeavors...swimming lessons with dad, going to the zoo with Belen, and then swimming at the lake this past weekend. He was really into the beach and water this past weekend, it was great! I'm looking forward to being there a lot this summer and seeing him become more and more of a beach bum...

One night at the lake

We went to my parents' cottage for the weekend and had a blast. It was so cool to see Luke go from looking at the sand, to feeling it between his toes, to moving his feet around in it, to grabbing it, to playing with it, and the inevitable, to eating it! We had a lot of fun and my parents even let us have a sleep in morning and took care of Luke for us. We'll be back, for sure! Here's a few pictures of our weekend...

City farmers?

We recently embarked on a new endeavor...gardening! We rented out a garden plot, 25x50 ft large to do some gardening this summer. We're looking forward to the challenges and joys of what this summer can bring, and already one day when Julio came home I said excitedly, It rained today, hopefully our seeds will germinate! And he said, I know, I was thinking about that too! I must admit though, our first day of planting was slightly overwhelming (at least for me). We had been out there for probably half an hour, chatting with our garden neighbour and friend from church about how to do things, and I looked at all that needed to be done, looked at Luke who was wandering off his blanket into the mud, and thought, what have we done! Are we in over our heads? Just as I was thinking that, no joke, Julio said to me, isn't this great?! He had such great gardening spirit and energy that day and once he said that I felt so much better. We worked for 3 or so hours that day, and then Luke and I went home, and Julio continued on for another couple of hours. I must say too, that Luke had great gardening spirit and even took time out for a nap on his dad's back.
A couple of days ago we went back to plant some tomatoes and I was struck by how easy it would be to get garden jealousy/intimidation/pride/etc, depending on how good your garden looked. Some people had obviously tilled and raked and added compost and manure and all sorts of lovely things to their garden plot, and we kept having soil envy. But Julio was able to strike up a conversation with a fellow gardener who let us know that our plot wasn't very well cared for last year and that it will take a little TLC to get it looking better. My only conversation with a fellow gardener was with an Asian man who smiled at me, from his lovely rows of lettuce, and said tomatoes? I said yes, yes, we're planting tomatoes, noticed that he didn't have any tomatoes planted yet and wondered if we were over zealous. I just said, yes, we're hoping the frost will stay away, and then Julio and I noticed that no one else had planted tomatoes yet. We're hoping we're not secretly getting mocked for our little tomato plants!
And today we will plant potatoes, zucchini and squash, and try to fill up the rest of the garden. So now when the rain falls, I won't grumble and complain wishing for a lovely, hot summer day, I'll smile and think of our garden.

Mischief!

Luke is now officially getting into mischief. In fact, as I write, he keeps going for the reset button on the computer and loves the flashing modem lights. I now know how to turn my modem on and off, thanks to him! I also know how dusty it is under our computer desk as I went hunting for his little ball...we have officially entered into a new phase of parenting!
This past week has definitely been the beginning of a whole new era. He loves our carbon monoxide detector and loves our reaction when he starts taking off for it. It's a plug-in thing with a shiny little reset button, which he has found already several times, and which makes an incredibly loud series of beeping noises. He'll start going for it, look back at me, smile, I'll say "no Luke" and then he scurries off. If he manages to get to it before I stop him, he'll press the button and the beeps will go off, and then sometimes he'll try to imitate the beeps with his own high pitched screeches! It's way too cute, to be honest.
Yesterday he did two fairly adventurous things...firstly, he had his friend Liam over and was chasing him around the house as Liam is a bit older and quicker than him! All of a sudden he is underneath a dining room chair, and then managed to get up onto the little wooden beam and over, and kept crawling away! Later on that evening, Julio was hanging out with him and he managed to climb onto the bottom shelf of our entrance way shelf unit, just lying there. This kid is always on the go! And now we are at the standing and rocking in the crib phase. It's amazing how all of a sudden he has just taken off, literally, with all the things he can do! Is it a coincidence that he's sleeping better lately too?!?