A Kid by Any Other Name Would Be As Cute...

But maybe not quite this cute!

I realize I'm a biased mother, but I think my kid is adorable!  I feel all proud inside when other people stop and smile at him.  I'm like, "Yeah, I know.  He's a heartbreaker."

And when people ask his name, I'm so glad to say it's Luke.  (Short aside:  In Utah, when I would tell people his name, they would always jump to Starwars.  Here in Virginia people ask, "Like the Bible?")  Anyway, I think Luke is one of the best names in the world.  I just don't think he'd be as cute if his name was Fred.  Or Dagwood.  Or Wolfgang.  But who knows?  Anybody out there know a good looking Wolfgang?

And while Luke IS his name, he is actually called by other names quite often.  Here are some of his nicknames.

• Lucas (Jared and his spanish!)
• Lucasito (Ditto!)
• Cachorro (It means puppy or cub)
• Chanchito (piglet)
• Woocas (Another one of Jared's)
• Lukeman
• Lukester
• Lucas Magucas (because it rhymed and, well...who really knows why?)  And then look what that led to:
• Mr. Magucas
• Senor Magucas (Only Jared calls him that)
• Gucas (Only I call him that)

Still not done yet!

• Lukey (Pretty much only the Beans call him that)
• Pipsqueak
• Squeaky
• Squeaky-man
• Bug-a-boo
• Bug-a-bushka (Maybe because it sounds Russian when you say it fast?)

Poor kid!  I'm surprised he can figure out his own name.  I'm pretty sure he knows it's Luke.

Why We Can't Get Rid of the Binky

Luke is admittedly too attached to his binky.  At first he didn't care too much one way or another if he had it or not, but lately he puts it in his own mouth all the time.  He reaches for it when he sees one, and does this when I pull it out to take a picture:

For about a week, I tried to keep it away from him except for in his bed and in the car.  He was more whiny those days (which was annoying), and a few times I gave it to him just to plug him up.  But for the most part I resisted.  Until I realized how dangerous he is without it in his mouth.

See Luke with his binky?  He's holding the phone, and the phone is (for the most part) safe.  But if you pull out the binky, that phone will go right into his mouth.  How do I know this?  Because EVERYTHING goes right into his mouth.

Books

Shoes

His Blanket

And everything else!  

Yesterday, Luke was standing by the window looking outside.  I saw his head moving back and forth in front of the sill but thought nothing of it until I realized his movement was accompanied by a scraping sound.  I pulled him away from the window and found white paint flecks on his lips and chin.  I fished around in his mouth and pulled out a few flakes.  Well, I went and found the binky and put it right into his mouth.  And then I debated about calling poison  control.  Seriously, it worries me how much ends up in his mouth.  And for all he may need an increase in orthodontics because of the binky, at least it will keep out the paint.  So, Luke, suck all you want!

New Things! Woo Hoo!

I love new things, and this month we acquired a few.  

First, I got this book by Malcolm Gladwell.  It was recommended to me by my friend Nicole, and I thought it sounded interesting.  So I picked it for our family book group, and even though it isn't March yet, I'm halfway through.  I love it!  It's crazy to think about what determines why and if a person succeeds.  His theory is that it depends on talent, yes, but also on circumstance and opportunity.  Some people really have more opportunity than others, so some people are more "set up" for success.  I like it because it helps me understand what I can do to "set up" Luke for success.  I recommend this book.  

I got one more deck of rook cards (So now we have 3).  I have decorated two decks leaving one as is.  I have gotten one deck a month for 3 months, and now we have enough to cajole some friends over and make them learn how to play Nertz/ Pounce.  If flattery doesn't work, we'll kidnap some people because I want to play!

I found an aebleskiever pan on Amazon!  Since I'm the only married person in my family who doesn't have one yet, I figured I better jump on the bandwagon.  I actually looked it up because I thought Luke would like them.  Pancakes are one of the few foods he will eat.  (So, Monica, thank you for the Ihop gift card!  We got 2 meals out of it.  Hooray for all you can eat pancakes at $4.99!)  We're going to try them for the first time on Sunday.  Some good pictures are soon to come.

Chocolat

When Nora found out I'd never seen Chocolat, she gasped as if I said I'd never seen a drinking fountain.  Okay.  Why I compared it to a drinking fountain I don't know.  She was just surprised.  "Stacy," she said, "you have GOT to see that movie."  So she ordered it on Netflix, and we watched it together.  SO GOOD.  I loved it!  It has some romance in it, but mostly it's a sweet and beautiful story about acceptance, learning, and love.  I strongly, STRONGLY recommend it.

The Virginia Living Museum

For Valentine's Day, we planned a family trip to the Virgina Living Museum in Newport News.  This was an excursion that I've wanted to do since Thanksgiving.  It was great to be together as a family.  So even though the day was not particularly "romantic," it was the best Valentine's present Jared could have given me.  I really enjoyed watching Jared watch Luke.  It's sad that as a father and student, he doesn't get as much time with Luke as I do.  This was a special day and a special place for them to share.  

Excuse me, those of you who live around here and have been there, but I'm going to give a brief explanation for family.  The Virgina Living Museum is a combination of outside zoo/wildlife preserve, and inside aquarium, planetarium, and museum/rotating exhibit.  For Luke, it's a real-life Baby Einstein video.

Luke and Jared looking down at the alligator exhibit.  Luke smiled when he saw the alligator below and almost let the binky slip.  I swiped it before it fell.  That would have been an interesting thing to explain to an employee.  Of course, maybe it's happened before...

We looked at several of the exhibits inside (like the alligator and fish) before going outside to see the "zoo."  Luke enjoyed looking at the fish.  He talked to them a little bit, and he liked being able to walk right up to the glass.  The fish exhibits were pretty dark inside, so I didn't get any good pictures.  But I did get a video of one animal that had been in a cage way too long...

After it warmed up a bit, we headed outside, and Jared took control of the camera.  He got some great shots!

Luke and I looking at the water birds.

Cool looking birds.

There is a large wetland outside where wild birds come to nest during the winter.  I don't know if these birds are year-long residents or visitors.

Luke watching the ducks in the water.

Bald Eagle

Bobcat

Red Fox

And what kept Luke mesmerized the longest?  Was it a bird? A plane?  No!  It was...

The ceiling fan!

All in all, a wonderful day.

Baby Einstein is Sooo Funny

I meant to post this a long time ago. It's a video of Luke watching "Baby Monet." He LOVES the zebra puppets!

Some Things Luke Has Learned

Luke has finally figured out how to bounce a ball.  He loves it!  Well, you saw the video, right?

SIDE NOTE:  In looking at this post as well as older posts, I realize that there are an inordinate amount of pictures/ videos of Luke where he isn't wearing pants.  I want to assure all my avid readers that Luke DOES own pants and USUALLY wears them.

Luke learned how to knock. He loves knocking! He knocks on doors, windows, books, toys-- basically, whatever will make a noise. And he thinks it's a really good joke when Jared or I says, "Who's there? Oh! It's Luke!"

While I was trying to get some good pictures of his knocking, Luke saw the camera. He decided he wanted it. And that leads to another thing Luke has learned.

See this face? I get to see it at least 20 times a day. Why? Because Luke has learned how to beg. I hate it. He comes up to me and whines to be picked up. It began because he's discovered a whole new world up on the countertops. But it's a world out of his reach unless he has help-- that's where I come in. I understand, but I can't spend my entire day holding him while he explores the higher world. I will admit, though, that his excitement in his new discoveries is incredibly adorable. He laughs and twists all over the place the second he is picked up.

Luke has learned to climb "mountains." He has discovered that I pile our pillow shams next to the bed when Jared and I go to sleep at night. Luke LOVES to climb on these pillows and roll off. He dives into them, runs into them, and belly flops onto them. He especially likes it when we chase him towards the pillows. It makes the end pillow flop more dramatic, I guess.




Below is a video where you can see BOTH Luke's begging and his running mountain climb.



Luke has learned how to shut doors. He thinks it's really funny, and he laughs when the door closes. The only problem is that (as you can see), he can't open them, so he's taken to shutting himself into rooms lately. I always hear him before he cries for very long.  To tell the truth, it's usually his knocking that lets me know he's shut himself in somewhere.

Congratulations, Jared!

Jared might not want me to blog this to the entire world, but I am excited to announce that Jared made the moot court team at William & Mary. Way to go, Babe! It was a long and grueling process-- three weeks of tryouts. I'm glad it's over. And I'm even more glad that it was worth it!

Driving with Dad

I've always loved watching dads playing with their kids, but I ESPECIALLY love seeing Jared and Luke play together. This is one of their new games. The laundry basket becomes a car, and Luke gets to drive (with Jared's engine power)



READY, SET...




GO!!!

Pandora Radio

For those of you who are either on the computer a lot or have a computer in a common room, Pandora is the greatest thing ever! It is online radio that has NO commercials and you get to (kind of) pick the songs.

Just go to Pandora.com and create a radio station. My current favorite is Dolly Parton radio. Since creating this station, I have fallen in love with Loretta Lynn. Anyway, try it out.

Family Picture Adventure

The weather yesterday and today has been absolutely beautiful. On such days as these, it's impossible to stay inside.

We decided to go on a picnic (or picky nicky as Jared calls them) before church. We went to Wallermill, and I was really wishing we could jump on a paddleboat. Anyway, while we were there, we decided to try for a family picture since my dad requested one. We brought our not-so-nice tripod and hoped Luke would cooperate.



Set up shot. Jared was trying to figure out where to position the tripod. Right away, we could tell the pictures wouldn't turn out quite right. The shadows were all wrong.



This was the first sign that Luke wasn't going to cooperate. We tried a few (that all looked like this) before we gave up and let Luke run around. He had only one object: to try and get in the water.



Luke loved watching the geese! He would laugh when they flapped their wings, but mostly he just stared at them very intently. I was glad they showed up because the only time he wouldn't fight me to run into the water was when the geese were right in front of us. With them so close, he was content just to watch them.

Before we broke into lunch we decided to try for a family picture one more time. These are the only 3 that turned out okay. I like the last one the best. Of course, we need to do some editing to fix some shadows. We'll try cropping these for you, dad, to try to get them in the portrait orientation. I'll send them to Wal-mart when they're done along with a family picture from June.

The Danger of Bread

For two weeks, I'm not supposed to eat any bread or fruit as part of my diet. I admit that I've cheated. I just can't give up bread, even for two weeks. Well, OKAY, I could. But I don't want to. So in an effort to motivate myself, I googled an old article I remember seeing in college. It's about the dangers of bread. Check it out!

The Dangers of Bread

It Takes Two!!

Luke has been looking shaggy for a while. I wanted Mom Orton or Mom Wilkerson to cut it over Christmas, but since he was sick and cranky, we never got around to it. His hair was driving me crazy! So on Tuesday, I talked Nora into helping me cut it. I brought my camera to get pictures of his first real haircut, but he was so upset that it took two of us. My job was to calm him as much as I could, and Nora's was to cut whenever she got the chance. Adam was witness to the haircut torture. I think he was probably wondering what kind of cruel mother I am. I didn't care that Luke was screaming. I wanted his hair out of his eyes. So whenever Nora looked at me with a , "Should I keep going?" look in her eyes, I would just nod my head and tell her to try to finish. With all the drama, this probably was not the best cut of his life, but Nora did a great job under the circumstances. So thanks, Nora!



This is Luke after his haircut. You can (maybe) tell that the sides are shorter than they were. By the time Nora was ready to do the top and front, Luke was pretty upset. He would cry and try to duck his head when we reached toward him. Nora trimmed the very front by his forehead, but she couldn't do the top. (I finally gave her permission to stop.)



Today, I noticed that there were some uneven spots by the front of his face which is quite understandable given the fact that he won't keep still for a second! So, I tried to even those out and trim the top as well. Unlike Nora, I don't really know what I'm doing, so I clearly botched it in some places, and the top of his hair isn't even. I tried to use the comb to check lengths, but Luke kept turning his head. I didn't want to pin him down because he gets more upset, so I followed him around the house as I tried to cut. Most of his haircut today took place by his book boxes while Luke read. As a result, there was hair all over his room, but I think his hair looks a little better in the front now.



The back of his hair (cut by Nora)



The side of his hair (also cut by Nora)



The front of his hair trimmed by me. Not a good picture I know, but Luke would not cooperate in front of the camera today.



A better view of his hair. Not the best view of his cute little face.

My Current Obsessions

Obsession #1

Jared and I pretty much never go to the movies, so we never know what's playing or what's coming out. But over the Christmas holidays, I went to see Marley and Me with my mom, sister, and sister-in-law, and I was reminded that Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince is coming out in July. Well, for those of you obsessed like me, that's a sign to get your tush in gear. Because, if you are like me, you'll want to re-read the sixth book before the movie comes out. And, if you are like me, you can't quite keep all the details straight, so that means you've got to do a little extra reading. I read #4 in January, and I'm currently re-reading #5.



This is, admittedly, the worst of the Harry Potter books because it is slow and filled with obnoxious, though understandable, complaining. Not only that, but one of my favorite characters (Sirius Black) gets killed off which really irks me. But the fifth book is important for setting up the last 2.

And for those of you interested, here's a link to the trailor for movie #6--only 5 months to get ready!

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/

Side note: While going back to re-read and edit my blog posts, I always notice that I use a lot of commas. I think commas are one of the most confusing thing about writing. I don't exactly know when one is required. I kind of take the angle that when in doubt, just stick one in.

Obsession #2



"Excuuse me, Officer? Do- you- know- who- this- man- is?"

Maybe I'm just missing my sisters (who also love this movie), but lately I've been thinking about Troop Beverly Hills-- one of the stupidest, yet funniest movies of all time. It is one of the few movies that I could honestly watch over and over again. Is that embarrassing to admit, or what? I just found it on Amazon for $7.49, and I am very tempted... Yesterday, while getting dressed, I was complaining in my head about not having any shoes to wear, and I thought of that scene where Shelley Long is standing in front of a HUGE pile of shoes. She points and says, "This one and this one...out! I'll take the rest!" Oh, sweet fantasies!

Obsession #3



I have officially started my new diet (which is probably not exciting for most people to read about), but I am so excited about it, so I'm writing about it anyway. The first two weeks are a little brutal, but I'm cheating a little and eating 1 piece of bread every other day. My mom did that, and she still lost tons of weight. Enough said about dieting, but when I reach my target weight I will proudly post "Before and After" pictures.

Obsession #4

Our ward (church) has yearly goals of preparation. I honestly have never thought much about food storage and such things before. When we lived in the Yorgason's basement, there was very little room to put food storage, let alone any other emergency supplies. But since January, I have become interested. I stocked up on water and canned goods, and I also started 72 hour kits. On our budget, we have to get things little by little. My February goal is to create first aid kits. I made a list of some things I wanted to get at Wal-mart, and then I remembered Megan telling me that you can get band-aids at the Dollar store. So I decided to try there first. I saved so much money! I found baskets to store stuff in, rubbing alcohol, band-aids, ace bandages, ibuprophen, and hydrocortizone creme. And our first aid kits are almost complete. Woo Hoo!