New Scenes...

I write tonight from the lovely Marriott in Omaha, I am away for work, just for a couple of days this week. Sean and Luke are enjoying a "guys night" which I am sure includes a wagon ride, wrestling, climbing stairs, and of course Luke emptying out all the kitchen cupboards while Sean gets his dinner ready! Below are a few new scenes around the house. So excuse me if you ever just "stop by" our house and there are pots, pans, potholders, towels, tin foil, and plastic wrap all over the floor. Luke has lately become obsessed with opening and closing the drawers, along with emptying out the cupboards. He hasn't yet become obsessed with putting things back though!

dish towels accent a kitchen floor very nicely

along with tin foil, baggies, plastic wrap, and Tupperware containers


Did I mention throwing pillows everywhere? This is right before Luke cleared the pillows off

...and one of Luke's favorites, standing at the front door checking out what is going on outside his little bubble! It is hilarious, the instant Gunner barks, Luke runs to the door to check out what is going on!

On another note, I had to share Luke driving the dump truck at the mall. On his long list of recent obsessions are trucks. He will hear a truck from outside and he will run to the window saying "truck".

Of course Grandma had to give Luke money so he could "drive" the truck! He loves it

Apple Orchard

Today we enjoyed a beautiful Fall afternoon at the local Wilson's Apple Orchard. It was absolutely beautiful, tons of families, little kids running all over, music, balloon animals, and plenty of delicious apples to pick from. Oh, and a homemade apple turnover, yum! We have enough apples to make lots of applesauce and a few apple pies, only if I feel ambitious. My parents brought a bag of apples down with them yesterday, so I better get cooking!
65 degrees and sunny, can't beat that for a perfect Fall day to visit the apple orchard. Luke loved seeing all the kids, running in the orchard, and helping pick apples.

Luke trying to decide which pumpkin he should get. We will come back in a few weeks to pick out a pumpkin or two.

"I kinda like this one!"

Mommy and Luke picking an apple


Daddy sharing his apple with Luke. Luke absolutely loves chewing on apples

"Dad, can I have this one?"

Luke loved to put the apples in the basket

Looking for the perfect apple

Enjoying a beautiful Fall Sunday

Sean enjoyed 'jumping' for apples

My boys!

Lazy Saturday...

I apologize for my absence in the blog world. We have been pretty busy lately with work and finalizing details on the house. Today however, we are enjoying a very lazy, but yet productive Saturday! Luke has started sleeping until 7:00 a.m, which is a HUGE milestone in our house! For the past several months he was ready to rock n roll at 6:00 a.m which made for very early weekend mornings. It was so nice to "sleep in" until 7 this morning! We got up, made some blueberry pancakes, Luke's breakfast of champions! He loves his blueberry pancakes! I made a big batch of chili this morning, it sounded so perfect for this dreary, rainy day. I thought we would enjoy a warm bowl of chili and sit in the comfort of our home to watch the Hawkeye's destroy Ball State. My parents and brother Mitch are at the game...I kind of feel bad for them! It hasn't stopped raining since 10 this morning.

Luke is still taking two naps, which we are thankful for. During his morning nap I hit up the gym and took a drive by our house. They have the whole back of the house sided, along with one side. They have started stoning the front and it looks great! I am so excited. It is hard to get a good feel for how everything will look when you pick things out via samples and pictures. But we are very happy with the way the stone and siding are looking. The deck is complete, and they started texturizing and priming all the walls. We finalized our cabinets and flooring this week, so we are on the home stretch! It is looking like Thanksgiving time frame we will be in our new home and we can not wait!

I don't think I shared with you that Luke has retired from bottles. About two weeks ago he had his last night time bottle. We had been weaning him off for about three weeks and we were down to just one bottle a day when he turned one. I was dreading the bedtime bottle because he just seemed so relaxed and ready for bed after his bottle. We started with milk in a sippy cup for a few days while we read bedtime books, now he very rarely even takes any milk at all before bed. I was surprised how well he took to bedtime and going down so nicely without his bottle. However, these past few nights have been a chore. Luke has been so hard to get him to wind down, the kid could play for hours. We get through about 3 books then he wants to take over turning the pages, tearing pages, and then throws them...nice! We are working on bedtime to go a little more smoothly.

We are hoping the weather clears up tomorrow so we can take Luke out to a local Apple Orchard for some pumpkin and apple picking, and maybe a little hayride.

Here are a few pictures from last weekend, we spent the weekend up at my parents and it was so wonderful!

Luke and Daddy

Luke's 1st of many four wheeler rides

Luke loved the rocking horse at Grandpa & Grandma's

Enjoying the tree swing! He would say "weeee"

Luke and Grandma on the tractor. Luke loved the farm, he kept grabbing his shoes and going to the door, he just couldn't get enough of being outside

a typical morning

we read books...

Love to Read

... and we have SO much fun playing!

Wordless Wednesday

(taken from my phone)

Random

Once again, I am writing from the Minneapolis airport. My work has taken me away from home a bit more than I like or enjoy. It makes it hard to enjoy my job when I travel more than usual because all I can think about is being home with my family, what I am missing, and how inconvenient I am being to my husband, son, and babysitter. Most days I do enjoy working and what I bring to my team and organization, however, today is not one of them. We have been battling a double ear infection with Luke so our nights are severly interrupted with his painful scream, so not only am I exhausted from caring for him in the wee hours of the night, leaving for the airport at 4:45 a.m doesn't add anything to the cause. Sorry to be a downer...but I am having one of those days! Yes, we are all entitled to one of those days. I like to manage my schedule so that I have overnights every other week, unfortunately meetings have come up that have made me travel the past four weeks:( I am thankful to have such a wonderful husband that is getting very good at playing Mr. Mom! Not to mention, it gives Sean and Luke a great opportunity to have some "guy time"!
Sean just informed me that Luke crawled up and over his gate! I guess his crib will be next!!! Do we get one of those crib tents to keep him confined?!?!? ha! We have some great video of him crawling and standing on his little car as well. This kid loves to climb and then he stands and jumps proudly of his accomplishment.

This weekend we are heading up to my parents place and we are so looking forward to a pleasant Fall weekend on the farm. Luke is going to get his first or many tractor rides and we are going to enjoy the quietness and simple life of the farm. My favorite season is Fall and there is nothing better than spending these weekends at my parents beautiful farm. If you haven't ever been there, I can't explain, but I can surely try! Allamakee County has to be one of the most beautiful parts of the state, so venture out. You travel down a mile of gravel road winding side to side, up and down hills, all amidst the beautfy of colored trees hanging over the road. The gravel road is lined with leaves, only leaving a gravel path where the car tracks have paved a way. It is breathtaking!

So you ask, but the leaves haven't changed yet??? No, they haven't and I sure wish they would, just for me this weekend. Unfortunately our weekends in October and early November are occupied with football games, visitors, and MOVING!

On that note...we are targeting a move in date of the 1st or 2nd weekend in November. They have started to dry wall and should be working on the exterior shortly. The only decisions we have left to make are the flooring and light fixtures. The building process has gone about as smoothly as one can imagine and we are SO excited to know that Santa will be stopping by 167 Auburn East Lane to visit the Merrick's!!!!!!

all the windows are in, the roof is shingled, the front door is in, insulation installed, now its time to dry wall

a view of the living room looking down from the upstairs

"Bryan Bear"

Here is a recap of our growing little boy over the past year. Luke received a bear from his Uncle Bryan and Godmother Kate when he was born. The photographer at the hospital took a few photos of Luke with his little bear so I thought that every month we would take a picture to see how much he has grown compared to his little bear!

Newborn

2 days old
one month old
October 4, 2009

2 months old

November 4, 2009

3 months old

December 4, 2009

4 months old

January 4, 2010

5 months old

February 4, 2010

6 months old

March 4, 2010

7 months old

April 4, 2010

8 months old

May 4, 2010

9 months old

June 4, 2010

10 months old

July 4, 2010

11 months old

August 4, 2010

1 year old

September 4, 2010

ONE year old

2 days old

1 year old "Bryan Bear"

"here mom, you can hold him"

"who do you think is going to win today, Iowa or Iowa State?"

Luke Michael Merrick, you turned ONE year old last Saturday, September 4, 2010. Mommy is a week late getting this updated, but it has been a very busy week and you have been a very sick little boy. You woke up on your birthday with a runny nose and we thought you were getting your two front teeth. The next few days it was just a runny nose and lots of drool, for sure we thought those teeth were coming. Unfortunately, as it turns out by Wednesday night, mommy knew something wasn't right. You had spiked a high fever Wednesday morning of 103 and it never went away. I had to be out of town on Thursday/Friday so I ended up taking you into urgent care Wednesday night and sure enough, your very first ear infection, double ear infection. Needless to say, mommy and daddy took turns sitting up with you all night long. Luckily, you slept better for daddy on Thursday night while mommy was away for a meeting in Des Moines.

Today you attended your first Iowa Football tailgate, and you LOVED it! You loved all the people, and you even got your picture taken with some cheerleaders. We left when the game started to come home for a nap, while daddy, Grandpa, & Grandma stayed for the game.

So, Mr. Luke what are you up to at one year old:
-you are getting just one bottle of whole milk at bedtime, we are working on letting that go
-you love to eat fresh fruit
-you drink out of sippy cups and you love drinking out of big boy cups too
-you are wearing a size 4 diaper
-you weigh 22 lbs
-you wear a size 5 shoe
-you are wearing 12-18 month clothing, some 9 month still
-are run everywhere, your preferred mode of transportation
-you like to push you car around
-you love to play with Gunner
-you are saying "mum, dada, please, book, brrrm (tractor), truck, neigh (horse)"
-you wave hi and good-bye
-you give high fives
-you love to blow kisses with your back hand
-you love eating turkey burgers, sweet potatoes, and yogurt
-you like to ride in the cart at Target & the grocery store and wave Hi to everyone you see
-you are sleeping 11 hours at night and taking 2 naps a day
-you like to walk outside and see the trucks
-when we ask you to read books you run to grab your favorite monkey book
-whenever you see a tractor you say "brmmm"
-you still like to jump in your jumparoo
-you like to help unload the dishwasher
-you feed yourself really well
-we are working on going down the stairs
-you run to mommy & daddy to give hugs to all the time and it melts our hearts
-you have a fake laugh that is to die for
-you just stared to pout, you will drop to the floor and lay face down
***I am amazed that we have a one year old and when I think back to a year ago today, I know exactly what we were doing. Sean had Luke laying on his chest while we watched the Iowa/Iowa State football game living in Kalamazoo. Becoming a parent has been the most rewarding and amazing experience we have enjoyed. We are amazed everyday at how much Luke is learning each and everyday. When I was pregnant friends would explain to me how great being a parent was, and I never could have ever imagined how it would feel. We have truly enjoyed this year to the fullest and while I am asking for time to slow down, I love watching Luke learn new things everyday. He is a very curious little boy, loves to laugh and smile, loves to make people laugh, and gives lots of free hugs and kisses! We love this little boy more than we could have every imagined and can't imagine what we use to do with our days!
Everyday is such a great day, nothing beats starting your day by walking into Luke's room and he is standing in his crib with the biggest smile. He will start jumping up and down when he sees us and then run a few laps! I love it!
Luke, you have filled our lives with such great joy and we have so much love for you. Thank you for being the sweetest boy!

Luke's 1st Birthday Bash Pictures

Luke's Smash Cake which he devoured

We had a football theme in honor of opening day of College Football

Happy Birthday to Luke

Loving the idea of getting to play and eat cake

Such a happy little boy

To say he enjoyed the cake is an understatement

That is what a "smash"cake is for!

Luke sharing with mommy...

....and daddy

"come on mom, have some..."

Such a blessing this sweet little boy is

Birthday morning

Luke opening his very first birthday present from mommy & daddy

Enjoying his All Star Play set from mommy & daddy

Happy Birthday Luke

Mommy & Daddy Love you SO much

With your grandparents who love you so...

Uncle Mitch, Godmama Kate, & Uncle Bryan

Uncle Bryan & Godmama Kate

Before they all headed out in the morning for the Iowa home opener

With Great Grandpa & Grandma Hackman
Great Grandma Einck

You and Grandma thought something was funny!

I thought I would share a peak of what fun we had celebrating Luke's 1st birthday this weekend. It has been a very busy week as I am preparing for a District Meeting that I put on every quarter. I owe Luke so much more than a late nigh blog post as I am winding down. He deserves nothing but the very best and that is what I will give him. I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I do everytime I look at them!