15 Months

Over super bowl weekend Lukie clocked in at the 15 month mark.  At this age he is still very silly and mostly chilled out, but he's definitely starting to show signs of sass.  I remember the attitude I got from his sister at 18 months and thinking, ok, this parenting thing is not getting easier.  Little man is growing up!

At his 15 month appointment the other day he came in at 22 lbs 12 oz, a whopping 12 oz heavier than his 1-year appointment, and 31.75", 1.5" taller.  Of course there is no exact science to this but at the 30th and 75th percentiles, he's a string bean and probably always will be.  He can still easily fit into 12 month pants, except for the whole 'length' thing but better to have pants that stay up than fall down.

Luke has been walking for three months now and we love to watch him chase after GG.  Those little legs get crankin' and he does this kind of robot-style leg swing where his knees don't totally bend.  Hilarious!  We've got all 16 teeth and have had a couple more ear infections over the last three months.  His eyes are still blue-ish hazel-ish which remain a genetic mystery.  But the blonde locks are courtesy-o-mom.

Over Christmas he actually had his first haircut. Matt said he was getting too much of a mullet.  I resisted but ultimately gave in.  Luke was a total gem in the barber's chair and barely noticed anything was going on.  The first thing Matt said after seeing his newly shorn big boy?  "I don't think I was ready for that."  

stylin and profilin.  notice the diaper which is his favorite lovie.  we call it a chewy.  he started chowing on them when the back teeth were coming in and hasn't really give up.  beats the orthodontics off a pacifier!

yo!

freshly cut kiddos

Luke has taught us that he is a total climber, and that we better beware of anything left anywhere.  I've found him in all kinds of crazy cubbies and corners, and busted him climbing on stuff that would never cross my mind to use as a launching pad.  I'm looking forward to getting him outside in spring and letting him take a few more years off my life via the play set.

oh wait, you can see me?

hi! mom, don't worry, i'll just get the elmo book myself.

yes, i sure do know that i'm not supposed to be up here

cheeky.  literally.

um NO.

He's still not very verbal (words so far include pretty caveman style versions of dada, mama, GG, Ralphie, and more) but this child gets his point across.  For example slapping the refrigerator door and screaming "meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!" means, may I have some milk please?  He loves to do anything that big sis is doing - which is starting to annoy the bejesus out of her.  There are a couple books in his routine that he cannot get enough of.  One is a bunch of common kids songs and I have witnesses who can attest that, although he's not singing the words, he can absolutely sing the tunes to Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Your Boat, and Three Blind Mice.  Most of all, he l.o.v.e.s. his nightly ritual of playing tackle with daddy after bath.

big man in the tub.  the best is when he points to his belly button, which he can't see when he bends over, and inevitably points to his little manhood.  hilarious.

double teaming daddy

oh here dad, i help you up (beware when he helps mommy up, there is always serious pulling of the hair)

mom, i pinned him!

He also seriously, like in all honesty, loves the vacuum and vacuuming.  Like, loves it.  

want to keep him busy for 20 minutes?  bust out the hoover

or for that matter, the dirt devil

Our little man is a decent eater - not the best, not the worst.  He will eat a pint of blueberries if you let him which leads to some delightful diaper presents.  And although he can be a little peckish at times, I've found that a lot more makes it down the hatch if he's given utensils.  He just loves to be a big boy.

notice the left handed tendency.  matt's dream of a southpaw might come true yet

he may not have a ton of words but he knows exactly what we are saying.  for example, luke, go throw this in the garbage please

ok mama!

let me just chew on the side of the can here while i check to make sure it's gone

Lukas and Genevieve are really starting to play together nicely.  The other night she and he were done with dinner well before Matt and I, so we released them both and told them to go play.  Which they did!  It was awesome.

two valentines

hanging at the children's museum.  crazy driver on the loose!

i wonder if i can get him baby mike holmes overalls

just your average crazy

snow day!

do you see what i see?

And despite our never ending game of sleep-of-fortune (what will you get tonight?  11 hours of glory or up every other hour?  tune in to find out!), there are of course those moments that just make you forget it all. 

the light is on because this cheeky monkey turned it on before crashing.  what a freshie!

Super Bowl!

Super Bowl XLXWhatever crept up on us in absolutely no time this year.  Matt and I have been so insanely busy with work that it was hard for me to wrap my head around the seven hour drive that was in our near future.  So the last week of January arrived and I panicked and had sixteen lists in four different places of stuff to buy, stuff to cook, stuff to pack, and stuff to do right before we left so that missing my 'off' day the next week didn't cause havoc.  Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

K&K graciously took Ralphie for a doggy spa weekend, so I ditched work at about noon on Friday, hit up the grocery store, and packed the car.  Our plan was to pick the kids up at 4 and hit the road right away.  When Matt was still not home at 3:45 I chose to put my increasing anxiety to good use and changed all the sheets and vacuumed the house.  Voila, checked 'don't go nuts next week' off the list. 

So we finally grabbed the kids and settled in for a loooooooooooooooong ride.  Luke must have had a rough day because he fell asleep pretty quickly.  To our shock we managed to make it to the Dells before the kids melted down for dinner.  To the Golden Arches we went, adding to my list the number of places I have changed my kids into their pajammies.  It was muther loving freezing and poor little Luke made the most pathetic little whine when the wind hit him in the face.  He fell back asleep without much fussing and G kept herself busy with books and coloring (although there was already a fair amount of 'I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired.  I don't want to be in the car anymore'.  Like nails on a chalkboard).  We had to stop just north of Eau Claire for gas (holla, Blugolds!) which woke Luke up.  At that point I was pretty sure it was going to be a scream fest for the rest of the trip, but they did both manage to fall asleep after just a few more miles on the road. 

So we drove.  And drove.  And kept driving.  You know you're close when the tree lines start to change.  Finally we rolled in to the Harms Estate around 11 (or later?  Can't even remember).  And while my hope was that we would just wisk the kittens inside and snuggle them in their beds, the fact was that the -10 without windchill weather wasn't going to let that be an option.  So we bundled them up and dragged the littles into the house, and managed to get them back down within probably half an hour.  Not bad.  But so worth it to finally see everyone again!! 

The next morning we got up and believe it or not managed to get all 17 of us out the door by 11 a.m.  Jeez, I can't even do that some mornings when it's just me and the kids.  We took a brief tour of all the bowling alleys in the greater Duluth area and ended up at a place with good kiddie lanes, a few pizzas, and my new delight, a pitcher of hard cider.  Yummy.

i'll just stand here and wait for my fingers to get crushed

ready...aim...

fire!

ready to roll

not sure whether she got a strike here or not, but let's just pretend she did

northwoods visitors

don't worry, i'm still over here

99% not amused

Before heading back to the Estate we stopped at this restaurant which was featured on Diners Drive Ins and Dives, the Northern Waters Smokehaus.  The guys ran in to grab some smoked fish to go while the moms and kids hung out in the warm cars.  We snacked on it after the kids went to bed later that night and it.was.awesome.  Hellllllllllllloooooooo trout, I love you.

While we had fun stuff to do, the fact is that with littles you still have to do all the normal scheduled stuff.  So there was general playing chaos at most times during the weekend with a minor catastrophe about every half hour or so.  Overall the kids did amazing with each other.  Although it's funny to see how the gap between the sexes is growing.  Miles, Henry, and Ethan were ready to make everything into a gun or sword, or to beat each other up, while GG, Alana, and Addie were all about the princess gear and dressing up.  And man alive was there a lot of dressing up to be done.  I'm willing to bet that Scott never in a million years imagined there would be that many tutus and pom poms in his home. 

do not cross this man!

 Saturday night was bath night for everyone.  3 tubs-o-3?  Pile in, friends! 

hello, we are the littles (reece, elle, and lukie)

yeah man, get that girl outta here

meanwhile...sundaes for everyone!  yahoo!

next up!  six little buns, all in a row

feeding the pack

mandatory group shots...moderate success

how old is everyone? (notice elle working incredibly hard on that "1" motion!)

luke continues to hate his pack and play with the red hot passion of a thousand suns.  since we came straight from daycare we happened to have his nap mat.  i mean, his new travel bed.  he did ok on it, although we were awakened sunday morning by genevieve hollering that lukas was sitting on her head

Sunday was of course Super Bowl day.  The boys went out to their favorite Duluth greasy spoon and we ladies hung with the tots.  By about 4 we were all whipping up our tasty delights and as per usual there was NO shortage of food.  Or beer.

is this how this goes?

luke and reece sitting on my lap, lukas decided that reece did not need his socks.  then they got into a screetching match which was the CUTEST!

here you go my friend

Monday we repacked the car and braced ourselves for the ride home.  Once again we stopped in EC for lunch and to let the kids burn off some steam at the mall.  Let me assure you that in all the hours and all the years I spent working at the old Structure at the mall, never once did I imagine I'd be back and praising the gods for the kiddie play land.

The kids did well on the way back until about an hour away from home, at which point it was melt down city for both of them.  What has two thumbs and can't gain weight or else she won't be able to fit between the two carseats in the back of the Pilot?  This gal.  Then to realize that the Cinderella video I packed was Blu Ray and not standard DVD?  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Thank god for the 911 goldfish crackers which I was handing out like a junkie hitting the morphine button.  But we made it and had an awesome weekend to remember.  Hit me!