First Christmas Times Five

5 Christmas Celebrations
5 Cities
5 Outfits
30+ Presents
400 Pictures
Luke's First Christmas: Priceless

Luke's first Christmas was packed full of family, travel and lots of presents. We had 5 different Christmas celebrations over the span of 5 days in 5 cities. (Corpus, Alice, Kingsville, Austin and Georgetown)

Luke got so many gifts. Although, he did not quite understand the concept of unwrapping, he loved playing with the paper. If we opened a toy which played any type of music, he was mesmerized and uninterested in any other gifts. Needless to say, our house now looks like all the toys have taken over. Everywhere you go there is a toy. Luke loves it. I am trying to get over the constant clutter and mess.

Tonight was the first chance I had to download the pictures from my camera. I took more than 400 pictures. That is a lot of pictures to sort through. I included the greatest hits below.

I am sad Christmas is over, but I look forward to the future celebrations. It will be exciting to leave cookies for Santa and see Luke's face light up as he opens his gifts on his own. Until next year...

Standing By Myself

Luke is very mobile these days. You cannot take your eyes off him for a second. He is very fast at getting into all the things we want him to stay away from. If it is a cord, he wants to pull it. If it is plugged into the wall, he wants to unplug it. If it is a room with the door closed, he waits for you to open the door so he can make a mad dash toward it. He is very smart and patient I might add.

Lately, he has gone from army crawling to crawling on all fours. It is extremely hard to get a photo. Believe me, I tried. I am most proud of the fact he is pulling up and standing on his own. I always try to motivate him with items I know he loves. This time, it was my computer. As you can see, he tried and tried until he was standing on his own in order to reach the computer. The smile on his face shows how proud he was of his accomplishment.

Easily Entertained

Open Close Repeat...

I get asked a lot if I enjoy being a stay at home mom. The truth is I do. At times, I miss the adult interaction of the office. I miss putting on makeup and real clothes each day. To be honest, I really do not need to do that for Luke. He does not know the difference. He actually has a harder time recognizing me with my makeup on. I am sure he is saying, "who are you and where is my mommy?".

Then I think about all I would miss if I were not at home with him. He is learning so much these days. He crawls to a sitting position, moves toys from one hand to the other, bangs them together to make sounds, pulls up on the couch and is learning to give kisses and wave bye bye. These are all little things we take for granted, but for Luke they are all firsts. I love that I get to share that with him and take some credit for teaching him.

This morning was a first. He learned on his own that a door can open and close. His face was so amazed at this small task. I had to catch it on camera. I sat there for 30 minutes as he opened and closed the door over and over again. Smiling and laughing each time he did it on his own.

It is these little things that make me smile each day.