half a year

luke is 6 months old today. i can't believe it! i feel like he's still my little newborn but he's clearly not. if you've seen him in person you know that he is a BIG guy! i think his hefty weight has kept him a little behind mary in the milestone department. :) he started rolling over about a week ago and can't quite sit up yet, but he's getting there. he still lights up a room with his smile and let's you know if you leave his line of vision. sometimes if i'm trying to get something done (like pack lunch for the park or get the diaper bag ready) i station mary in front of him and she sings songs or pats his head. he's happy as ever as long as someone is there with him! he really is such a sweet little guy.

here are a few pictures i took of him this weekend while downtown. i almost didn't take the time to do it, but i'm so glad i did. he's so smiley and easy to take photos of now because he's actually still (unlike his very mobile sister).

a glimpse of his ideal schedule: 8ish wake up and eat. 10:30-11:30ish nap time (often times this nap is at the park) and eat. 2-4:30 nap time and eat. 6:45-7:15 nap and eat. 9:30 eat and bed time. though tonight he kind of boycotted his evening cat nap so he went to bed at 9. i think he's about done with the third nap. we'll see.

he is still affectionately known as "baby yute" or "bubba yute" by his big sis. she has continued to be pretty sweet to him, though she does test her boundaries with him a bit. she loves to talk to him, make him laugh and kiss him. it's so sweet.

luke, we love you more than you know. we are so thankful for your sweet, sensitive little personality. i hope that you will always smile as easily as you do now. we love you!

ears and duck tours

mary had a great weekend with everyone here! she got all of the attention she could ask for. she loved being with michael, and she especially loved his facial hair and his ears. weird, i know. when she was on his shoulders she put both fingers straight in his ears. it was a tad uncomfortable for michael, but he was a good sport. i don't know what she was doing here.

mimi helping mary eat her hummus and pita chips, compliments of the half marathon expo.

speaking of half marathon, it was a rough one. i think i got about the same time as i did on this same race last year... when i was four months pregnant! i'm not sure why it was so terrible because my training runs were pretty good and much faster... maybe it was the heat. luckily, none of us cared about our time so we just jogged along. thanks for running, dad, dylan, carolyn and sarah!

danny, looking very serious, was feeding our boy while i gave my body a rest in the grass. he also took mary on a little walk around this grassy area (by the north end). apparently a duck tour bus pulled to the side of the road to have everyone say hi to mary as she walked by. she waved back with excitement (she loves saying hi to strangers) and then the driver handed her a roll of duck tour stickers. she was really excited about the stickers and proceeded to put them all over danny's arm hair. nice work, mary. she has quite the personality these days... so much fun!

boston's public garden

we are so excited that we got to welcome some family to boston for the weekend! my parents and brother and sister-in-law, michael and kathryn, are here to enjoy the city.

mimi and papa

michael and kathryn

looks like my kids really enjoy talking to their uncle michael

make way for ducklings in the public garden... luke wanted in on the playing, can't you tell?

we have some full days of touristy stuff and eating ahead of us... and a half marathon that my dad and i will be running tomorrow. hope we make it!

i love...

mary

luke

danny

and Jesus!

i often ask mary, "who do i love the most?" she responds... "money (mary, not $$$), yute, dada and JESUS!" it's cute.

speaking of loving danny...

as many of you know, we're moving to indonesia in a less than two months. in preparation, we have been going through everything. yesterday i found my stash of notes from danny... mainly from when we were dating/engaged (yes, the above picture is from when we were engaged.... so young and in love. we still are.). after reading his sweet notes, i sat on his lap and said to him "do you still love me with every fiber of your being?" he romantically replied, "yes, and i've gained weight since then so now i have more fibers to love you with." then he started dying laughing. he's a charmer, that danny.

**danny is a wonderful husband and shows his love in many ways... just not as many notes these days. instead he does things like clean the kitchen and watch the kids so i can have some girl time. he loves me and knows what i need. :)

mary and jude

we went to the park last week with one of mary's buddies, jude knight... whose mom just happens to be one of my good friends too. mary loves being with jude because he's such a fun kid and has so much energy. she watches him and mimics everything he does.... except scratching his back. :)

doesn't this look like jude is waiting to propose to mary? ... like he has a ring behind his back and she's on a mission to get it. i think it's cute.

a possible record?

today luke had on 5 outfits... two he pooped through and two he soaked with drool and he is going to bed in a clean one. he also went through three swaddle blankets (same substances), three burp clothes and two bibs. i mean, is that even possible?!?! oh, and he spit up on his play mat, while on his belly and then slid all around in it before i saw it. awesome.

oh, just kidding.... he's not wearing a clean bedtime outfit anymore and neither are my sweatpants. he just spit up on both of us. i love him. really, i do! and i love that they play in the bed together every morning. usually they are clothed, i'm not sure why they weren't this particular morning. that's how we roll around here. :)

mary and lily

this is mary and lily. they are great buds and have been since, well, they weren’t even a thought in our minds. meghan, lily’s mom, and i lived together when we were engaged and have walked through these fun stages of life together. they now have a baby boy (sam) also. the girls love each other, and especially love one another’s baby brothers. yes, we are constantly talking about sharing and refereeing them, but i know that if they had the capacity to be selfless (which one day they will) they would be to one another. :) lily is really affectionate and mary concedes occasionally. this is evidence.

my sweet girl on the big kid swing... with stickers on her sausage legs. love.

perfect picture of lily's fun, spunky personality.

this isn't a great picture but it is one of my favorite memories of them actually playing together, like really interacting and entertaining one another. they were playing "boo" at the park and lily would turn her head around and make mary laugh. they died laughing for about 10 minutes. it was SO cute!

this will be them again in 15 years, driving down the road together talking. most likely there will be only one steering wheel (and which side of the car it is on will depend on if we're still living in indonesia or if we're back in the states) and hopefully one of them will be looking at the road when they are driving. hopefully.