the activity table play thingee

Before Luke was born, Keith and I had decided that we wanted to get him some sort of play center/exersaucer thing for him and decided on one that has a table in the middle and has a seat attached that the kid can walk around the outside in. We first saw this when our niece/cousin Lillie was using one when she was little and loved the concept. Well, its about time for Luke to start in the thing, so I bravely attempted to put it together all by myself. This is what it looked like starting out:

so many pieces!


I persevered and put the entire thing together on my own, with the exception of putting the batteries in. That dang cover would not come off! The final product:



I was pretty impressed with myself! For someone who is admittedly not too handy, or I should say not handy at all, this was a big accomplishment for me! Here is Luke in it at the very beginning. He's not too sure yet.

What is this thing?!?


He also wasn't quite sure what to do with his feet. He didn't realize that he could put them on the ground.



After a few minutes, he stared to figure out that parts light up, have music, spin around, and are generally fun. I am so glad that he likes it!

this will make keith proud

I'm not one to ever consider myself anywhere near interested in politics or anything politically related, but yesterday I changed my mind. Or at least I'm beginning to change my mind since McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin for his VP. ***From what I've read and seen*** she's seems to be a pretty amazing woman. I love that she doesn't come across as gruff or hard like Hillary, but she also doesn't seem like a lady who will fold under any pressure. She stands up for what she believes in and doesn't let the fact that she has kids,or one with special needs for that matter, slow her down or keep her from doing what she believes is right.

I found this blog for Meghan McCain, John McCain's daughter tonight. The pictures taken before and after the announcement speech make me like Sarah Palin even more. She uses Costco baby wipes and uses Medela bottles which are bpa free and are typically used in conjunction with one of their breast pumps. She just seems so identifiable, friendly, and unaffected by the whole situation.

I hope I continue to like her and I know that Keith hopes that I continue to like her so that he'll continue to get me to watch all the news and political coverage with him. We'll see...but as of now, so far so good.

we're working on it

Since we went to Luke's four month check-up, his pediatrician recommended that we work on getting him to sit up on his own. I'm pretty sure that Luke is a fairly independent kid and, much like his mother, wants to know what's going on with everything. He would much rather be standing up where he can see all the action than be forced to sit on the ground. This hasn't made his practice sessions easy, so I came up with the solution of practicing first on the couch around pillows and cushions to help protect him. (Don't worry, I'm with him the entire time and will not leave him up there unattended!) This is how he's doing so far:


Leaning a smidge to the left...


...now to the right...


...centered with some help...


...gave up trying so he could blow bubbles...


...and then found his toes. Practice session over.

This is our typical practice session, but he is getting much better at sitting up without my help. He's getting so big and strong!

its only 7:48

yes, it's only 7:48 and it feels like it should be 1 in the afternoon. Luke woke himself up at 4:30 this morning and I've been up ever since. Somehow, he manages to get himself out of his swaddler (that's getting too small already) and can't get himself back to sleep too quickly. He's never woken up like this ever so I start listening to the monitor to hear what's going on. Although he just talked to himself for the first half hour, I still wasn't able to sleep for fear that he would start crying. Of course, when he went back to sleep I still couldn't sleep because I was afraid that his swaddler was wrapped around his face. I did go check on him to make sure he was okay, which he was, but at this point, I know I'm not going to get back to sleep. Dang.

At 6:00, when its time for him to eat, the kid is sleeping so soundly that he slept all the way through a 35 minute nursing session and woke up just in time to inhale a bottle in 5 minutes. Completely unprecedented.

A few minutes ago, as he was getting sleepy, I went to change him to put him down. Crazy kid peed on me as I was trying to put diaper cream on his rear. Twice. He peed on me twice. Like once wasn't enough, he had to do it again and laugh at me the second time. He even got himself so good the second time that it landed on his binky which he continued to suck. I feel like we both need a good scrubbing, but I think that we both need naps more. Scrubbing will come later.

This is going to be an awesome day. I can just feel it.

***personal note: research extra large swaddlers so days do NOT start like this again***

tricky luke (part 2)

Once upon a time there was a boy named Luke.



Once again, he found himself starving. He decided he needed to find something to eat while he was playing.



The binky just wasn't cutting it anymore. He looked towards his feet and his plan was hatched.



Seeing as how he was becoming quite the large boy and his toes had filled out nicely, he would use said toes as a nice snack until it was time to eat a full meal later. He began his first attempt to nibble on his toes:



Things didn't quite go as he planned. His grip on the toes slipped and his hands ended up in his mouth instead. Darn!



Luke was a resilient kid and didn't give up easily. Hope fully his next attempt would fare better for him...



He did it! Toes made it into his mouth and he was happy... for another minute or so until he realized the taste left something to be desired. Oh well.

happy birthday ta ta!

Today is Keith's Dad's birthday and we just wanted to wish him a great day!

a fabulous weekend

Keith, Luke, and I had an amazing weekend.

We started off Friday night with trying to figure out what to do for dinner. This seems to be a very popular conversation in our house seeing that we have to eat dinner every night and we *try* to change things up every now and then. We got stuck on Friday night and had a very difficult time making the decision (meaning Keith couldn't decide). Finally Keith offered to make pancakes after he turned down everything I'd suggested and I held him to it. Like he promised, we had the best pancakes ever on Friday night.



I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but they were tasty!

We went to sleep late on Friday night after trying to watch as much of the Olympics as we could, so I tried to catch up on sleep a little during Luke's morning nap on Saturday. I vaguely remember getting a phone call from my mom saying they were coming to visit that day. I called Keith and he confirmed it! They were going to surprise me, but after remembering how well I deal with surprises, they called Keith and I to let us know. We also invited Keith's mom over on Saturday night. Luke was excited to play with some of his grandparents that night!

Happy to spend time with Nonna!

Playing with Grandma...

...and big kisses for her!

Goofy faces with Pop

Luke trying to pick his nose

On Sunday we woke up early to make it to church. Luke, Keith, and my dad hung out around the house afterwards while my mom and I went shopping. Apparently Silver City is not quite the shopping mecca and their options consist of a Wal-Mart. That's it. I guess that means Mom will be down here more often! When we got back my parents headed back and we prepared for dinner with Jeannie, Holly, and Corey at Joe's Farm Grill, one of our favorite places. So yummy! We finished the evening off by playing Wii (super addictive...I schooled Keith) and giving Luke his usual bath.

Nothing too exciting this weekend, but great nonetheless.

olympics and keith's inability to dress/undress our son

As someone who hasn't really followed the Olympics in year's past, I can say that the Waltemeyer household has gotten swept up in the excitement of Michael Phelps and the gymnastics controversies. I have new high hopes that Luke could be an Olympic swimmer someday in the near future and I'm pretty sure that Nastia was robbed last night of a medal that should have been hers. Alicia too. Keith thinks that the US should boycott any future games until the scoring system is fixed to prove a point. I don't know how far that would actually get them, so I'm pretty sure its safe to say that won't be happening anytime soon.


Here are the boys watching track and field (not nearly as exciting of a competition...yet):

On a completely different note, I thought this picture was pretty funny. It seems that after 4 months, Keith still hasn't figured out how to get Luke dressed...or undressed...I can't remember which this was. Hopefully someday my memory will return.

happy birthday andi!

Today is Andi, Luke's Godmother and all around fabulous person's birthday. Luke and I decided to make a trip to visit her at work seeing as how she's there for a very long time today. This was the first time Luke and I have gone to see her at work...and definitely not our last time either!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDI!

better late than never...4 months

I'm a little delayed in posting Luke's 4 month pictures because it has been a busy weekend in the Waltemeyer house. With Keith's birthday falling in the middle of the week on Wednesday, we celebrated with his family on the weekend instead. Good times at Arriba's and Texas Roadhouse. I think I've gained at least 5 pounds this weekend. Oh well!

Back to Luke...

He is one amazing kid and its so hard to believe that he's already 4 months old. I know I probably say this every month (probably even everyday), but after wanting him to come for sooo long, I just feel so blessed that he's here. He's started to play peek-a-boo on Friday. He has these huge grins and has started to really laugh when we play this. Luke also loves to hear us sing Wheels on the Bus. He's also becoming such a strong little guy. We put up his play center thing and he's enjoying that, and although he doesn't quite get how to move around in it quite yet, he loves the lights and musical parts of it. Luke is definitely a mover and doesn't like to be in the same position for too long, although he isn't too vocal about it. He'll make this long, low pitched screech that's hilarious to hear. He starting to figure out that he has a voice and that its fun to test it out...in every situation. I can't wait to see what this next month holds!

The pictures:

The standard chair pictures for each month.

Cutie-pa-tootie!

Luke has also stared trying to figure out who and what Rosco is. Rosco is such a trooper too!

Not quite sure at first...

...but figured out quickly that he liked it!

I think that the play gym thing requires more of a post than this so I'll have to do that later. Off to feed the little man!

another bathtime, another movie

Seeing as how I've been trying to keep myself extra busy lately so as not to have to deal with my parent's move, I've figured out how to now edit the video that I can take on my camera! Yay! Here is my first attempt at editing. This clip originally had a shot of Luke's backside at the end, but I didn't want to post that on the internet. Maybe its just me...but I don't think anyone else really needs to see Luke's behind. Anyways, I figured out how to cut that part out and add beginning and ending transitions. I'm kind of proud of myself right now. :)

The only downfall I can see is that it takes FOREVER to upload the dang video...

the high chair

Seeing as how today is Luke's 4 month birthday and I'm assuming he's going to be starting solid foods soon, we thought we'd start to get him accustomed to his high chair early. I just don't want to throw too many new things at him all at once.

We got the chair as a gift from Keith's sister Holly (thanks Aunt Holly!) as a Christmas gift and we've been waiting patiently since then to use. Luke seems to like it so far and almost fell asleep during dinner the second night he was in it. So far so good...we'll see what happens when we actually have to feed him food in there!

poop on new mexico

The majority of my family officially moved to New Mexico today and although I know it is for the best, I am NOT happy. In fact, I'm really upset about it. I can't really say much else, so that's it for today.

another fabulous keith picture

As if I haven't shown enough of Keith's awesome picture taking ability, I had to show this one too. Holly came over this week and happened to be wearing a matching outfit to what Keith was wearing. I had to take a picture....and this is what he does.

our first trip as a family of three

**Let me start off by saying, who knew that you would have to pack SO MUCH for such a small child?!?**

This past weekend, we went to Show Low for my cousin Rob's wedding. If we didn't have the excuse of going to a wedding, I don't think that Keith and I would have planned to take a trip, but I am so glad that we did. The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was so nice to get to see a lot of my family again. My parents drove in from New Mexico so I was super excited to see them.

Luke wasn't quite sure of the car trip and managed to coast by with very short 15 minute naps instead of his typical 2-2.5 hour naps. He still seemed to do well without being too fussy and slept well that night. Keith and I were sure that after the crazy day, we were in for a night of crap sleep, but he proved us wrong...what a champ!

I took my camera, but forgot to take a lot of the pictures that I wanted, but here are some of the ones that I did manage to take:

Luke's first time in a hotel room...had to take pics with Mom and Dad!

Pop and Grandma came from NM!

This is how you deal with a fussy baby who refused to take any of his usual naps during the day: hold him until he crashes and then put him in his car seat. Proceed to stuff burp cloths around his ears so that he will *hopefully* not hear anything and remain sleeping. (This worked all the way through the noisy introductions, clapping, and hollering. As soon as the slow father/daughter dance came on, he totally woke up. Go figure.)

This one just because I remember how much I love feetie jammies. He wore them for, like, a day when he was born and then it was too hot. Show Low had perfect feetie jammie weather...Yay!

This last addition is just because I think Luke is adorable and because I just figured out that our camera has the ability to record video. Yippee!

Although we had a great time, its always nice to come home. So glad to be home!