A Boy and His Very Small, Sissy Dog.

Luke is terrified of all dogs except ours (and maybe my parents dogs who are my dogs siblings). And he's not only not scared of ours but loves to throw their ball for them, harass and boss them around. Go figure.

Actually, I know the fear is probably because of his poor vision and that he knows what to expect of Lola and Rocco whereas other dogs are strangers and he doesn't trust them. Fair enough. I'm sure he'll grow out of it.

So my newest our dogs/Luke struggle (usually it's just "Luke- don't push Rocco" or "Luke- stop throwing the ball directly AT Lola") is he wants to sleep with Lola at nap time. While this is very cute, Lola usually uses Luke's nap time to do anything but sleep (freedom from the ball-throwing 3 year old!) so it's not an option. But Luke and I discuss/debate this in depth daily. And Lola makes matters worse by coming up on his bed and looking so sweet... I actually gave in the other day but then Lola BOLTED out of the room the moment I started to close Luke's door. Smart girl.

Very cute. Who could say no?

Who can resist this sweet little face? 8 years old and Lola still looks and acts like my feisty puppy.

Rocco on the floor in front of Luke's bed. Probably trying to figure out where the nearest bridge is so he can throw himself off of it (Rocco is VERY needy and cannot be left out). He's just a cuddly teddy bear of a dog.

I was informed that I had to take a picture of "just my face."

I can only imagine how nuts things are going to be when baby shows up in February (c-section scheduled for February 22 at 12:30pm!) We're so fortunate in that the dogs are very low maintenance (no shedding, don't require lots of walking, super sweet and loving) but still- they want a piece of mommy whenever they see I've got a free lap. Hard to believe I'm going to have 4 "babies"!

America's Next Top Toddler.

Luke insists on "driving" my car everyday after therapy or school. "Driving" to him is kneeling behind the wheel, messing with my controls and pretending to honk and yell at other drivers. I have no clue where he gets that last part from...

I had a scarf on the other day and Luke informed me that he "needed" it to drive. And suddenly he was less interested in driving and more interested in doing a high fashion photo shoot.

Give me FIERCE!

Fun-loving and fabulous!

Santa is OK.

Happy to report that Luke saw Santa and he didn't cry! He didn't crack anything close to a smile either but baby steps, right? Santa was very patient and spoke a lot to Luke and he answered Santa a couple of times. But for the most part, Luke was just completely into the small candy cane that Santa immediately gave him (smart Santa) and that was about it.

Luke! This is Santa! Ok, I'll just take the picture.

My parents are forcing me to talk to you.

Candy required.

The funniest thing is Luke often mentions that he wants a pair of boots when he sees me putting on mine. So I told him to tell Santa that's what he wants for Christmas and maybe (definitely) Santa will bring them for him Christmas morning! I kept reminding him to let Santa know that when he sits on his lap but of course, he clammed up and didn't say a word about it when the time came. 30 minutes later we're in the car and Luke exclaims "OH! I didn't tell Santa I wanted boots! We have to go back and tell him!" Alrighty. We promised to sent Santa an email about it and fingers crossed he'll bring Luke boots (he will) Christmas morning!

Bed Troll.

After breakfast, Luke likes to tinker with Daddy in the garage but before breakfast he's what I now refer to as our "bed troll." After he wakes up (in his own bed,) goes potty and takes his medicine, Luke wants to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed. But he really has no interest in sleeping, just hiding in the covers and dictating who must "sleep" where. And we all must remove our glasses. The curtains cannot be opened until HE says so. I'm waiting to be charged a toll.

"Sleeping" on Daddy's pillows.

Don't let the smile fool you. He's king of the king sized bed!

Garage Groupies.

Matt has about a million home projects to complete before our little princess arrives so he's in the garage for at least a couple of hours every weekend. Because Luke is a total daddy's boy, Luke also "needs" to be in the garage for a couple of hours every weekend. Fortunately, Dad is very patient and often invites Luke to join him. It helps that Luke has his own tools/equipment and recently acquired his own work bench from his cousins.

In full gear.

Luke prefers up close up and personal. They were building a step stool for Luke's new room this day.

Hard at work. Matt putting together shelves for the closet system in Luke's new room. Luke... hammering something?

Thanksgiving 2010- Fresno!

We went to Fresno for Thanksgiving this year and had a nice time as always. We relaxed, ate a delicious meal and played indoor baseball with Luke- constantly. Our little man LOVES baseball and I think each one of us indulged his passion throughout the few days we were there.

Uncle Dave catching, Cousin Maggie batting and Luke pitching.

A Luke/Daddy collaboration with Cousin Kaylene getting in on the action.

Luke, Uncle Dave and Cousin Maggie.

Mommy doing what she does best and already putting Baby Sister to work.

Park Stop

Luke's therapy was canceled the other morning so we ran errands and hit up a local park. Luke loves nothing more then steering wheels and slides. So we did a whole lot of steering and sliding.

2 steering wheels?! Paradise!

Luke is the master of slides.

Ask for a smile and this is what you get.

Luke had to take a picture of the both of us.