Deja Vu

We noticed the similarities immediately...

Luke's newborn photo



Brad's newborn photo



And if I had one of Josh, I bet it would look the same :)

Trip to Gainesville

We trekked on down to Gainesville to watch the Gators take on USF (where Josh went to med school) for the first time ever. We had a nice weekend away from Atlanta and Josh even took the day off on Friday so we had a 3 day weekend. We stayed with his aunt and uncle in Ocala and Josh's brother Matt also joined us for the weekend. On Saturday everyone but me and Luke headed to the game. I just didn't think sitting outside in the hot sun as pregnant as I was then and also with a 3 year old who can't really sit through a game yet was a good idea. So Luke and I headed to Gainesville to meet up with my doctoral mentor Ann and her family. My friend from UF Melissa and her son Logan also met up with us at Ann's house and we had a great afternoon watching the game and having a delicious lunch. We took the boys to the playground in the neighborhood and it was so hot that I couldn't keep Luke out of the pool so I stripped his clothes and he went in in his pull-up! I can't believe I never once took out the camera and I have no pictures of the fun afternoon :(
The Gators won so everyone was happy! We went back to Ocala and met up with my parents and my brother and his fiancee Ansev for dinner. It was back to Atlanta on Sunday. Quick, but fun weekend away!

Josh's uncle David works with the Florida Highway Patrol and has a cruiser of his own. Luke was so enthralled with it and he just had to get in it. This I did take a couple of pictures of :)

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend, Josh's parents and brother came up for a visit. We had never taken Luke to the Atlanta Zoo and so we all decided it would be fun to do. It was a hot day and the zoo parking lot was full so I was worried this was going to be a crowded place and really hot for pregnant me, but surprisingly, it didn't seem very crowded once we got inside. It is a pretty big zoo and had a great kids area.

Looking at lions



Our family by the giraffes



Searching for apes (we were looking at the apes forever!)



Luke's favorite (and mine) the orangutans. These two were hilarious, the little one kept trying to get the big one to play with him and the big one just kept pushing him away!



Luke for the first time ever in life climbed into a tube! He has been terrified of such things in the past, but he got in this one several times...a big deal!!






Josh, Luke, and Grammy



Petting Zoo! Luke loved brushing all the goats and sheep, I think he would have stayed there forever.







Luke got to ride on the carousel with Grammy. This was his reward for using the toilet in public for the first time ever. The zoo has great little toddler toilets in the women's bathroom. Another big deal!



We had a great time, just had to get going to get Luke home for a nap. We didn't quite make it to see all the animals that day so I guess we'll have to go back :)

Due Date

So if you haven't heard the news, baby Brad was born 13 days ago already! Today was my original due date with him. I'll get to the telling of his birth in time, but it is odd how my need to go in order on this blog is preventing me from skipping ahead to the present. We have lots of new pictures of Brad but I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. It is good enough for me that I am finding this time to get on the computer and that I feel well enough today to do it. So I leave you with one picture of the new little guy and a classic picture of Luke and his silliness :)

Brad:




Silly man Luke (8/30/10):

End of August

At the end of August, we were blessed with a visit from our good friends, Marcus, Anna, and their two boys Ian and Owen, from Birmingham. They were in town and stayed with us for a night. The boys had fun playing together and we took a fun trip to the aquarium. It had been nearly a year since we had taken Luke to the aquarium and I think he really enjoyed it more this time. Thanks for visiting us Marcus, Anna, and boys!!

Belly picture

I haven't remembered to take many belly pictures, but we did manage to get one.
This is from 8/28/2010, I was 30.5 weeks pregnant at the time.

August Pictures of Luke

Recapping the rest of August through a few pictures.

Luke got his first hand painting done! He'd been hesitant in previous attempts at face/body painting, but one Saturday at Atlanta Bread, the children's artist had just the right approach to him and he allowed her to make him a balloon animal and painted a cool gator on his hand. He loved it!



Luke using chopsticks for the first time. Pretty creative!





Luke starts wearing big boy underwear! His teachers at daycare started really trying to get the kids to use the potty at school in mid-August and we started at home then at the same time. Until then, Luke had not really been interested at all. One Saturday we just let him run around with no pants on and encouraged him to use the potty. By the end of the day he knew what to do :) It's been a process, over the last month and a half, but he has done great. He is potty trained for #1 (other than night time) but not so much for #2. We are still working on that, wish us luck!



So, we had 3 things we were hoping to accomplish with Luke before Baby Bop arrived. Using a big boy bed, potty training, and getting rid of the pacifier. 1 and a half out of three so far :) Luke loves his new bed, hasn't looked back at the crib since we got it. The paci, well it is still here and I don't think we'll be getting rid of that before the baby arrives. I think he'd just want it again if he sees his little brother using it anyway.

Loving the new bed!