4

It's very hard for me to believe, but Luke turned 4 yesterday. It just doesn't seem possible that four years ago I was in the hospital with my brand-new baby boy. What a funny little guy he has become! He has brought so much joy into our lives, and I feel thankful and grateful that God blessed us with him. I certainly have my bouts of frustration with him, but overall he's a sweet, loving, funny, smart, precious little boy. Here are a few pictures from his big day.

A new robe from Mimi & Jerry
Luke is very into Spiderman, so a lot of the gifts were of the Spidey variety, including this umbrella.

Having a blast at Pump-It-Up!

We of course had to have a Spiderman cake. My friend Donna made it for Luke, and she also made spiderweb cookies to go in the goodie bags.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Fun in the tub

I love bath time for a few reasons:

-It signals the end of the day. My boys are precious . . . they're even more precious when they're quiet & sleeping!

-Luke & Noah both love being in the bath, and it's fun to see them together.

-There's nothing better than a clean baby (and big boy) in PJ's.

Luke

Luke got an early birthday present this weekend - it's a combination 3-D View Master/Binocular. While he was looking at one of the View Master discs of fish, he told me some of their names . . .
-"thin, water, spike-eater crocodile"
-"two, underwater sea plant tangle-vines fish"
-"fish plant scaly lives in a plant"
What an imagination!

Speaking of imaginations, this morning Luke "decorated" his room with all the stuffed animals from his bed. Believe it or not, he sleeps with all of these!

7 months

Noah is 7 months old today! His latest trick is sitting up - he's still a little wobbly when he sits up, but he's got the basics of it down. He's been trying to get up on his knees when he's on his tummy, so I think crawling may happen sooner rather than later. While we were at the beach, he started saying, "Ba ba ba", and just yesterday he said, "Ma ma ma." I know he's not really saying "mama", but it sure does sound like he is. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but that's OK because I love his toothless, gummy smile! He is still very content (except when he's hungry, and if he is, you better feed him NOW!!) Everyone at the beach kept commenting on how much he smiles and how happy he is, and that's basically Noah in a nutshell.

A few more pictures

One of the sand dollars we found.
We had an early birthday celebration for Luke.

Although we're glad to be home, we already miss being at the beach. I think this was one of my favorite trips to Edisto; Luke had so much fun playing with the other kids that I actually felt like I could enjoy myself. It was a week filled with friends, food, & fun.

Part 3: Edisto

We finally made it to the beach on Sunday! The weather was perfect all week, we ate lots of great food, and enjoyed being with our beach friends once again. Luke particularly liked playing with Josie. They spent hours reading, coloring, and playing on the beach. She is a sweetie pie, and her sister, Margot, is a riot. Luke & London got their own room and had fun building forts out of the quilts.

Noah's first dip in the ocean.

Gary told me not to post this picture on my blog, but how could I resist?

Luke, Josie, & Margot

Josie, Luke, & London

Luke learns the finer points of crabbin'.

Luke & Margot found lots of hermit crabs and even a few sand dollars.

Part 2: Columbia

They boys and I got to Columbia on Friday, and Gary flew in later that evening. Needless to say, the Chumleys were excited to see Luke & Noah. Luke's 11-year-old cousin, Grayson, and his Uncle Greg both tried to beat him at memory, but neither one succeeded.

No one can beat the master!

Lauren, 14 & Grayson, 11

Noah found a soft place to take a nap.

Part 1: Greenville

We had a great time in Greenville! Both boys did very well on the plane, something I was grateful for since I was by myself. Noah basically slept the whole time and when he was awake he was pretty good. I charged the battery on our portable DVD player the night before, but I forgot to turn it off, so the battery was dead by the time we got on the plane. Luke took it pretty well, and he entertained himself for most of the trip.

Once we got there, we were able to spend lots of time with my family and also saw one of my dearest friends Tonya and her two children. Luke did his first sparkler on the 4th of July . . . he was a little hesitant at first, but he was soon waving them around. Here are some of the pictures from this first part of our trip.

Luke played everyone in at least one game of Spiderman Memory . . . he never lost.

Uncle Cam got to meet Noah for the first time.

Mimi and one of her boys.

"Crazy" cousin Ethan (that's what Luke calls him.)

Traveling

The boys & I are headed to South Carolina today to see my family. We're staying in Greenville till Friday, and then we're meeting Gary in Columbia. We leave for Edisto on Sunday. I'm a little anxious about flying with both boys by myself, but it's a direct flight, so I expect we'll be OK. Since we haven't been to the beach in two years, I'm really looking forward to seeing our beach friends and relaxing on the beach (yeah, right!) I know we'll have a good time - I just hope all this rain doesn't follow us to the beach. I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back in two weeks.

6-month stats

Here are Noah's official stats from his check-up yesterday:

-length: 27 1/2 inches (90th %)
-weight: 15 lbs., 9 oz. (20th %)
-head: 17 inches (49th %)

He is a string bean! I took him to the doctor for a sick visit about 3 weeks ago, and we were there again last Thursday. In that amount of time he gained a whopping 2 ounces. From last Thursday to yesterday, he gained almost 5 ounces! The doctor wasn't at all concerned with his weight; he's meeting all his developmental milestones and is a good eater. He just happens to be built like me (or like I used to be built.)

When we got home from the doctor, I had to look at Luke's baby book to see what he weighed at 6 months. The difference is unbelievable! Luke was 27 1/4 inches long and weighed 19 lbs., 4 oz. His head was 18 inches. I'm sure that extra inch of head circumference must have added some weight, but he weighed almost 4 pounds more when he was this age. It's really amazing to see how two people's genes can mix so differently!

Smooches

Noah's latest trick is to grab my face and press his mouth either on my nose or my mouth. He's done it to Gary a couple of times, but he does it to me all the time. I'm not sure exactly what he's doing, but I like to think he's loving on me. I end up covered in slobber, but it's absolutely worth it!

I spy

Another funny sleeping picture of Luke. This is his new favorite book, a Spiderman I Spy book. I guess he got so exhausted looking for something that he decided to lay his head down to take a rest and ended up falling fast asleep. We found him like this about 10:00.

Roly poly

Noah has discovered he can get around by rolling. He started off on his mat with his head pointing the direction his feet are pointing in the picture. He kept rolling to his right, turning the corner at the mat, until he ended up here. Doesn't he seem pleased with himself? After I took the picture, he kept rolling another couple of feet till he got to the tile near the kitchen. He's already a mover and a shaker!

A few new Luke stories

Yesterday during one of my MANY conversations with Luke, he told me his finger hurt and that he had prayed to God to make it better but God hadn't done it yet. I then had the challenging task of explaining the idea of God's time versus our time (a concept I still struggle with). I'm not sure he quite got it, but I still think it's sweet that Luke prayed for God to make his finger feel better.

This evening while he was in the bath, Luke asked me to say a special prayer for him so that God would make his cough go away. I thought he meant right there on the spot, but he meant after we said our prayers before bed. So we said a special prayer for him and for Noah, both of whom have a cold or allergies or something that's making them cough and sneeze and just in general be gunky.

Luke has recently started telling me about his dreams. I guess he's actually dreaming and remembering them, because the stories he tells me are really crazy. He had a dream with the Backyardigans (a TV show he likes), and he also had a dream with his friend Landon in it.

6 months

Today Noah is six months old. How hard it is for me to believe that six months ago today we had just met our sweet baby for the first time. Boy am I so very glad it's today and not six months ago! Here are a few more fun facts about Noah:

--He is now sleeping for 10-11 hours at night. After taking a bottle around 7:00, he's usually asleep by 8:00 and doesn't eat again until 7 or 8 the next morning. How wonderful!

--Not only does he still want something in his mouth all the time, he likes to hold something in his hands all the time, too. Many times when I go to check on him when he's sleeping he has either an extra pacy in his hands or he has grabbed hold of his clothes or PJ's. When he's awake he's constantly grabbing and trying to hold whatever he can.

--His legs are starting to get chunky, but he's still a long, skinny baby.

--He is a good eater. He has liked everything I've fed him so far, but his favorites are carrots and pears. I'm often surprised by how much he eats. He still doesn't like water and makes a funny face when he happens to get some out of the sippy cup.

--Noah is a happy, agreeable baby. If he's fussing or crying, you know there's something wrong. He smiles all the time and is such a sweetie. We all are quite in love with him!

A wild ride through God's word!

We did indeed have a wild time last week at VBC! Close to 550 children attended, and we had more than 200 adult and youth volunteers. This is the third year I've been involved with VBC at our church, and I still get goosebumps when everyone is singing and praising God. The theme this year was Avalanche Ranch, and the kids learned that God is real; God is with us; God is strong; God is awesome; and God is in charge. Wah-hoo! Luke was in an actual class this year, and he had a great time. I asked him a couple of times what his favorite part was, and both times he said, "Snack." Oh well, he did learn the songs and the motions and even sang in church this morning. Here are some pictures from the week.