The Landry Family Odyssey: 8 months... 2/3s...

I nearly hyperventilated as I feel like I JUST wrote about Luke being 7 months (but then I remembered that post was several weeks late...)

Side note: I feel like my blog posts used to be a bit more profound and now they feel a lot more detail-y. But that's life lately - in the details. But let me try to be more poetic.

Here's a good snapshot into life right now.

The beautiful flower. My friend Toy gave me this sweet, simple vase and I aspire to keep a flower in it. It has made me appreciate our year in France and our time in Seattle where markets abounded and I could have easily picked up one flower. I'm now settling for the small Gerber daisy bunches at Whole Foods and spreading them out in small vases. It feels important to make the effort to put beauty and order into our midst in whatever way I can and I've been getting lots of pleasure from my flowers.

Our blessing cube (best stocking stuffer ever, thanks Mom) and the kids' prayer cubes they made at church. I love watching them roll their cubes. Jack knows what each side says and keeps rolling until he gets the sentence starter he wants. Cora ignores what we say she rolls and says what she wants. Sometimes their prayers are super superficial and other times kind of profound.

My weekly calendar (or one of them) which I heavily rely on.

My computer - I have a love/hate relationship with technology at the moment. I use it a lot and find it useful and fun, but I also think it's sort of evil :(

Peeking out is one of Jack's writing projects (there are many). This one was especially cool to me as it is ten pages and is his science writing about a shell he was exploring at school. I tend to leave things out until we've all had a chance to look at them and he still wants to read this one to his daddy.

On to the main course: LUKE LATELY

Lutey-Lou at 8 months

Luke has Jack's sensitive skin. Not sure what caused the face rash, but it has since cleared up.

In the week before 8 months, he both got his first tooth (bottom) and started to crawl! J & C had teeth much sooner but started crawling at exactly this point. I predict he'll "follow in their footsteps" and start walking at 12-13 months.

The launch

Drooly Crawler

It's amazing how quickly things change once babies can crawl. One week after beginning to crawl, Luke can move from room to room! We are so not baby proofed yet!

In the week after 8 months, he got his second tooth and started clapping his hands on cue. We do a lot of name chanting over here and so right now you often here "Lutey, clap your hands, Lutey clap your hands!"
He is happy to be partaking in meals with us and is getting better at actually eating. His favorite foods are still ones he can grip easily and gnaw the heck out of: broccoli, squash, and apples. He will love himself a warm vegetable, but be less enthusiastic the next day when it's cold. He still acts disgusted by foods on a spoon, with the occasional exception of applesauce.
He still sleeps 12 hours at night. He's a little more challenging to get down for naps in the last few days, due possibly to a cold and possibly to the fact that he can now turn himself around in the crib, grab both rails, look pitifully up at you, and cry out something like "why are you leaving me here?" Naps at day care continue to outright suck (30-40 minutes!!). I keep him home for his morning nap when I can (2.5-3 hours!)
He loves LEGOs :) We are now at phase 1-B of Luke on the move. Phase 1-A was singing our Luke Patrol song and making sure there was nothing dangerous within reach. Now that he's moving, we've declared the dining room a small-item-free-space. LEGOs (the chunky ones) aren't considered small items, so there are always LEGOs out for him to hunt down (and chew on).
Luke loves Jack and Cora :) Jack and Cora love Luke :) This is my balm for the vicious sibling rivalry that has cropped up between J&C. They frequently make the other cry and Jack is especially good at getting Cora to make the most grating whining sound, which ends up getting them both in trouble. But so far, Luke is like Switzerland (unless they are fighting over him.)