Step Back

I am from a family that owns and operates a funeral home where death is present and part of regular conversation, but when a sweet, young 7-year-old is the one who dies, it really hits me hard. A young girl named, Annie, passed away from meningitis this past week. I had never met Annie, but her mother was a Midwife at Stillwater Medical Group when I was pregnant with Luke and saw her a couple times when my OB wasn't available. Her mom is a very sincere, kind and gentle person, and her daughter looks just like her. People die every day, hopefully we don't know many of them because it is not easy to deal with. But this particular story is not fair.

I came home from work and read the obituaries like I do daily and found hers. My heart just broke. I couldn't help but begin to run everyone through my mind that I am so thankful for and especially Luke. As any parent will tell you, until you have children, you have not experienced love for someone like that and I think it is completely true. I could be with Luke all day when he's cranky, change his diaper every ten minutes and chase him all over the house and would be content because I am with him. He is my life and cannot fathom if something were to happen to him.

The funeral service was yesterday and as I drove to work in the evening, the streets from St. Michael's Church to the cemetery (about 7 blocks) were lined with pink balloons. Just like when you pass flowers, crosses and stuffed animals on the side of the road, it makes you take a step back to appreciate life.

With Annie on my mind, Luke and I went outside to have some fun and enjoy ourselves. We went to Teddy Bear Park and now that he can crawl, it was much easier, and fun!

 So bright!

 You can't be sleepy, we're at the park, buddy!!

Swinging at the park near our home.

He learned to crawl two weeks ago. He has already figured out how to pull himself up on things. Good thing he's a smart boy and went right for the toy basket!

He loves his ABC/Music table.

At our haven, The Adams' pool! We are signing the little man up for swimming lessons in mid-October. It's the Water Babies class that gets the munchkins used to water and splash around. I don't think Luke will mind, he loves the water and splashing!

Give your family an extra hug and kiss today and don't forget to say, "I love you!"

PANCAKES!

Today we did one of my favorite things. My grandparent's have an outdoor grill; no, not like a Weber. They have a limestone grill built into their patio. When family comes into town, we will often make breakfast (my absolutely favorite meal) on the grill. My uncle, Jim, from Seattle came to little ol' Stillwater this weekend and he cooked us scrumptious pancakes. Yes, we make the guest cook if they're a good cook, and Jim is. We had Lowell Inn pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs on the grill and it was delicious! And thankfully the weather was just perfect this morning. We could not have asked for a better day.

Working on his wave with Peggy.

Tonia, Meghan, and John enjoying the delicious breakfast outside while Steve is looking a little off and Grandma her funny-self. :)

Jim cooking many, many little pancakes!

Luke and his buddy, John.

Hopefully will pick up better on all the sports skills Peggy has to offer than I did. Looks like he's off to a good start!

Happily cuddling.

YES! He's out for a nap :)

8 months!!

My last post was saying how fast the summer has gone and now I can't believe that our little man, Luke is 8 months old already! I am loving every minute I spend with him (which is many, many minutes), even when he's crying or from teething and he's yelling, "yi yi yi yi yi yi yi yi yi". He's still cute and lovable, obviously! ;)

He likes the tube even more now that he can actually crawl into it. Plus, the carpet was cleaned today so Luke has a clean ground to cover.

Happy 8 month birthday, Pumpkin!!!

Tackling the grass through crawling too!

Not his best but he covered 7-8 feet!

Have a good night!

Seriously? It's August??

Well that title is pretty much how I feel. I cannot believe how fast summer has flown by, which then makes me think, "Luke will be walking, starting kindergarten, and playing sports before I know it!" Yeah, I know, probably not how one is supposed to think, but with how fast these past 7 1/2 months have gone with the little man, I'm allowed to have those crazy mom thoughts.

I apologize I have not posted lately. I can't exactly say I have been busy doing anything in particular, but when I wake up every day and feed, bathe, play with, feed, read books, clean and eat during nap time, feed, play, feed and put Luke to bed, time goes pretty fast, plus working. Luke is doing awesome. He has popped two of his bottom teeth through already!! I knew it was coming soon, although, he's been drooling since March, so at that rate I thought he would have a mouth-full of teeth by now, but nope, just two little chompers.

See 'em (surrounded by drool of course)?? He was a champ when they finally broke through, nothing more than a little fussing. Hopefully it will stay that way for the rest.

Since I haven't posted in a couple weeks, here's the photo marathon!

Jamie set up a boom and a bunch of our friends came down to the river for a BBQ with some rolling too.

This was supposed to be a nice photo of our friend, Katie and Luke, but Luke was clearly distracted with Jamie running the boom behind him. I wonder how many more years it will be until Luke can boom run??

Luke learning to log roll from LaCrosse's best log rolling coach!

Swinging at Pioneer Park.

Now Luke and I swinging.

Jack is always next to Luke keeping an eye on him.

"You put a duck in front, a cow behind, put them together, and what did you find? A duck cow, that's silly!" One of Luke's favorite games.

He's learning to crawl and he really enjoys this ginormous plastic tube we have added to our living room for him to play with.

Playing games with Great-Grandma O'Brien.

He loves his lobster! Thanks, Anna!!!

Talk about flexible; he is strapped into his high chair and he can still reach and put his foot in his mouth.

Playing Luke's other favorite game through the tube.

Luke woke u p from his nap and wants to say something....

  jmbndc,bv ];ll';
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=    r

:)

Maybe Luke will be crawling by the next time I post! :)