He did it!

Luke started crawling today. Our house is fairly child proof, but it's so hard when Jack takes his tiny toys all over the house (single tiny legos, tiny magnets, and his play screws and bolts). I'm always trying to pick them up and tell Jack to keep his stuff upstairs away from Luke, but he just can't seem to follow directions. In our home, Polly Pocket, Barbie, legos, magnetix, and any other tiny toy live upstairs. They're not suppose to come down stairs. We have bigger more appropriate toys for downstairs in the playroom, but I guess Jack hasn't read that memo yet.

Sweet Dreams

Here's Luke's new mini crib. I love it so much and so does he! It fits perfectly in the corner of my bedroom, so he's still close. I've never had any of my other children sleep in my room this long. There are obvious pros and cons to it, but right now it works for me.

I had to special order his crib bedding online. It's heavenly soft, it feels like he's on a cloud. The sheet and bumper are made out of chenille and his new blanket is dreamy (it's like a faux fur). It's a cream color so it will match where ever we put it pretty much.

He was tossing and turning while I was taking pictures. He eventually woke up, but he's fast asleep again.

Even though it's a mini crib, there's still plenty of room. It's the same size as a portable crib, but this crib does not fold in any way and the railings are stationary. I'm SHORT (5ft even) and it's easy for me to reach in and pick him up. If anyone is tight on space and wants something sturdy and nice for their baby, but can't sacrifice the space (all my friends in Okinawa especially) then a mini crib is the way to go.

Our Saturday Morning

Saturday morning we got to work and finished our chores before noon.

The kids were a big help and were eager to help.

Howie - vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned the trash out of the van

Erin - vacuumed and dusted inside the house

Jack - stayed out of our way (VERY helpful!)

Luke - napped, watched us outside for a bit and then finally enjoyed some Baby Einstein

Mommy - tilled the front flower beds, mowed the back yard, lightly went over what the kids missed, cleaned up the back patio.

We all cleaned the outside of the van and pulled weeds together!

The older kids also took turns spending time with Luke when he got fussy.

I really love my carport...it's not hot and stuffy like a garage and it keeps my van cool even on the hottest days.

Nicely cleaned out flower beds, now I just need to get some flowers.

Any suggestions for autumn/shade flowers???

One of my favorite things about our house is that we have a tree in the front, side, and back yard! That's a LOT of shade. We get about 3/4 full shade all day long...it's great!

Luke hardly watches TV and so I was really surprised that he liked it so much this morning when I put it on. We got a digital converter box for our TV and an antenna, but it's not very good quality (probably from all those trees blocking our signal) and we don't have cable, so we mostly just watch movies when we feel like watching something. I miss AFN television so much! There's just too much junk on regular TV.

Oh So Close

Here's another video of my cutie pie...he's so darling.

Almost Crawling

Here's a video of Luke that Howard has been requesting. Enjoy!

In Love

I was going through our photos tonight and editing/deleting/labeling them and I came across this one. Howard and I were fortunate enough to have been able to go on a 6 day vacation up to Tokyo and Kyoto WITHOUT any children about a year and a half ago. We had a wonderful time and I relive it in my mind often. My dear friend Amy watched all 3 kids (when there was only 3) out of the goodness of her heart. What a sweety...I sure miss her. Anyway, the point of this post was to tell Howard how much I love and miss him. I tell him everyday on the phone, but now he knows, again.

Us in front of the Imperial Palace outer gardens

A Peak at My House

I've had some requests to show my home, but it's STILL a work in progress, so here's a peak.

Here is our dining room...I love having a separate dining room, this is my first. I also love that the back door is red, that's why I decided to reuse my old curtains (for the 3rd time), but this time I cut and re-sewed them, I also added pleats. We are currently lacking artwork or pretty things on the wall, but they will come in time when I find what I am looking for. Howard always has good input when it comes to decorating, so I'm also partly waiting on him to return. I also don't want to over do it or rush into a purchase that I might regret later. It's really hard for me to make up my mind, so I'm being patient until my mind is made up. I hope that makes sense.

This corner of my living room is done (it's a very small living room), but the others aren't quite right. I'm looking for a nice artwork to go over the couch to replace our mirror we've had for years, but I just haven't found what I'm looking for just yet. Through the pocket door shown is my dining room. The color of this room is called Nutria and is a pale green.

What a Big Boy

Luke is now 6 months old. I don't know how much he weighs, because I haven't taken him to his well baby check up yet...I will soon. He is moving around so much now, he rolls every which way and scootches backwards on is tummy. He's NEVER is the same place I leave him anymore.

He can sit for a little while with a Boppy's help, but her prefers his tummy.

Getting ready to eat yummy food

He's eating 2-3 meals a day now, and is really showing a preference for which foods he likes. Sometimes he even turns his nose up to breastfeeding and instead wants baby food. I don't like it when he does that, but it's something I'm going to have to accept whether I like it or not.

He's a side sleeper and LOVES to cuddle up to me at night. I put him to bed in his bassinet (his crib hasn't arrived in the mail yet) and he sleeps there about half the night, but he eventually ends up in my bed to eat and he ends up staying there. I LOVE it, but Howard doesn't so much, so I just have to break the habit before October. Mmmm...we'll see. Maybe Howard will want to snuggle up to him in bed when he returns and I won't have to change a thing. I can hope anyway.

First Day of School

We are fortunate to have school start so early here in Oklahoma...I have a few jealous friends, but please do not forget that my children got out of school a whole month early because of our PCS. So really, they had the normal amount of time off from school. Summer break starts before Memorial Day weekend here.

Anyway....here are a few photos the morning before school.

They picked out their own outfits.

Erin is in 1st grade and Mrs. Shepherd is her teacher. The first day didn't go very well, but I spoke with Erin's teacher this morning and I hope everything was resolved.

Howie is in 2nd grade and his teacher is Mrs. Richardson. She's been teaching long enough to have been my 2nd grade teacher.

Howie & Erin walked with their friends, Ava & David. We knew them in Washington and they played together as babies.

3 more days...

I just joined the YMCA and I've been going to their water aerobics class during the week and we've also been getting ready for school to start...haircuts, new shoes, school supplies, etc. Thursday is the big day and I think I'm more excited than the kids. That's all we've been doing, just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I've also been getting the boys room put together (in my mind at least), I've purchased everything online and now I'm just playing the waiting game for it all to arrive. We needed a dresser, bunk beds, a crib, and linens. Can't wait for it to get here. They've been sleeping on their mattress on the floor all summer and Luke is STILL in the bassinett (when he's not in bed with me).

Day at the Museum

Today we all went to the Natural History Museum in Norman, OK. (Just 30 minutes south of OKC.) It was FREE day so what a great opportunity for us to get out and explore. I went with Heather and her kids (Heather is my good friend that I knew at Fairchild AFB when we first started having babies.). Heather left after lunch with her 3 boys and I kept her daughter Ava, since she gets along so well with Howie and Erin. Luke napped in the afternoon, so that made it easy. It was much easier than going to the zoo, since it had A/C and padded benches everywhere. It was a fairly small museum, but the exhibits were well done. I really enjoyed myself. Since I have a sucky camera, these pictures don't do the exhibits justice.

Daniel, Jack, and Deacon (l-r) playing with the dinosaurs in the discovery room. I was an interactive room with a lot of hands on activities for the kids. Also, a great place to nurse Luke.

Howie and Ava

Lucas even got down and played (with my help).