LUKE

Luke thinks he's hot stuff(& he is)since he can now pull himself up onto the sofas. His walking is getting better each day. He goes further each time...soon it'll be all walking.
I'm afraid he's going to be upset in the next few weeks(or month or so) when I start taking care of Wayne's helper's baby. I'm not looking forward to Luke's jealousy but I am looking forward to the added income. They are in the same boat as us(financially) & adding a huge daycare cost doesn't fit into the budget. I'm only charging them $125/wk...very reasonable. Before I ended up staying home, I looked into daycare for the 2 of ours. It's outrageously priced(at least down here in South Florida). The "cheapest" I found was like $435/wk. I guess it's not bad if you have a great paying job. However that was not the case w/mine. I was lucky if I was bringing home $750/bi-wkly....therefore I'd have been working just to pay for daycare & still end up not making enough. Thus why I became a stay at home mom.
I love my boys! They can get on your "last" nerve sometimes BUT for the most part they are the sweetest. The best is Luke's precious smile that can melt away all your "woes" & Matthew's unexpected(not asked for) hugs & kisses. I truly love & cherish every moment I have w/them. I love them so very much!

Luke's 1st B-day Party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Luke's B-day Cake

The little bitty cake is his "smash" cake. I took the "bubble" part of the cake(that had to be cut off) & used it to make a little cake so he'd have something to "smash". Not to "toot" my own horn but I think I did a pretty good job....lol

1 YEAR AGO

I still can't fathom that it's been a year since my little Luke was brought into this world. He is such a blessing to me; to all of us. At this point a year ago, I was getting ready to be wheeled into my private room....still waiting to see & hold my baby for the first time. I can still remember the whole thing; being prepped for surgery, realizing I could see everything they were doing(looking into the lights & seeing my "insides"...gross), not being able to breathe when they were trying to manipulate him to get his head out, seeing him briefly before they "jetted" him to the nursery, finally being able to hold him for the first time, etc, etc. Luke Austin is such a wonderful blessing. He can melt your heart when he smiles. I love him so much!
Luke walked about 15' last night w/out falling down....YAY!! He's doing so good. He's doing this much faster than Matthew did. They both are sweet, sweet boys but yet different as night & day. I love them so much! My life became complete w/both of them.

Christmas 2009

Our church played "Santa" to our family this year. What a wonderful surprise that was! They are so wonderful to us.

We spent Christmas eve at Wayne's parents. PaPa Rippel plays Santa every year. At age 2(almost 2 1/2), Matthew figured out it was PaPa. Sad :(

Christmas day found Melody cooking her first Christmas meal ever. It was an experience! An exhausting experience...lol....but one I would repeat.