A Visit with Uncle Ben & Aunt Linda (& Happy Birthday to Linda!)

It has been way too long since Luke got to spend quality time with his favorite Uncle Ben and Aunt Linda, but the wait was over with a wonderful visit this week.  Ben and Linda were in town for a wedding and we snuck in a visit Thursday night before they headed down to Indy for the nuptials.  It is Linda's birthday today, May 24th, so we celebrated a little early last week.  We had another special guest for dinner that night, too.  Uncle George was in town from Washington DC visiting Aunt Irene, and we were happy to introduce him to Luke and show him our house.

Saturday after music class we headed over to Grammy and Boyd's new digs for a visit.  Aunt Diane, Justin and Orrin happened to be there too - so we all had a very nice visit.

Matt & Luke with Cousin Justin & Orrin

Orrin, Grammy & Luke

Luke & Boyd

Later that day we had Luke's first, 1st birthday party!  My friend Angela's daughter had a first birthday party that was amazing.  It had tons of kids, toys, music and fun.  She gave out adorable sandpail goodybags too.  Luke had a blast playing with toys, and observing all the big kids.  He zonked out the minute we got him in his carseat.

Luke & I, Angela & birthday girl Lorraine

Sunday was the annual planting day at the Baranko household.  We planted about a dozen flower pots with beautiful annuals.  I planted our garden and Matt planted three plants - my rose bush from Mother's Day, my birthday clematis from Isolene and a blue hydrangea that I bought for myself!  The 80 degree weather made for a wonderful day to spend outside.  Luke even had his first splashes in the pool.

In Luke news, he is getting his top two teeth!  They have almost poked through completely and they really do make him look like such a big boy.  He also has been getting better at standing on his own, and if you ask Isolene he has taken a step too.  I'm not sure it counts, but he can sort of step forward before grabbing on to something, so it is a start.

Daddy giving Luke his bottle before bed:)

My first bites of CHEESE - I'm a Wisconsinite at heart!

Playing with my pirate ship from Shelley, Rob & Alyssa

Lukeasaurus Rex

Go Sox!

Birthday Girl

I had an absolutely fabulous birthday.  After an extremely busy few days at work I was so happy to be able to still take my birthday, May 12th, off.  Matt planned an awesome day of fun for us, and we lucked out with gorgeous weather too.  Great job honey, thank you so much!  Here was the agenda:

Play with Luke, Breakfast out at our fave place Egg Harbor (on a weekday - fun!!), Play with Luke, CANOEING! down the Des Plaines river right near our house with Donna & Emil's scanoe...so beautiful and relaxing!, shopping spree, Play with Luke, Dinner out al fresco, Birthday celebration with D&E complete with yummy Atomic cake:) 

What a perfect day, huh?! I'm such a lucky girl.

We also had a fun weekend.  Friday night Matt's Aunt Bertha came over for dinner.  She is in town from Tacoma, WA visiting Matt's other aunt, Aunt Irene, who is in the hospital.  It was great to see her and introduce her to Luke.  

Saturday we were so excited to welcome Katie for the weekend.  We had a mini-swim reunion with a few of our girlfriends from the good 'ole Purdue swimming days.  Jenni (Bean) Trautvetter was kind enough to bring her little girls too.  It was SO great to see everyone! 

Sunday the Carpenters came down to visit with Katie.  We had a nice lunch out and the kids had some serious toy playing with the hundreds of toys strewn throughout the house.  

On Monday our pool was opened for the season, yay!  Isolene and Luke watched the action.  Summer is just around the bend and we want to make sure our pool is ready for it.  The tulips have already made our front yard beautiful.  Luke went exploring in the jungle that was our backyard, and he looked so adorable.

Here are a few cute shots of Luke from the week.  He is now standing up on his own for several seconds at a time.  His balance gets better and better everyday.  

I want some wine!

This was cute because you can see his two little teeth on the bottom.

I want to give a huge shout out to our dear friend Shelley Nolden, who is bravely fighting and WINNING a battle with leukemia.  She is home from the hospital after almost 5 weeks of treatment and doing awesome.  Keep up the great work Shell - we love you!  

Shelley and her little girl Alyssa last October

1st Mother's Day as a mother!

I apologize for the delay in last week's post.  Here it is!

Last weekend we celebrated Mother's Day twice.  First, we went to Downers Grove to celebrate with Donna.  We had a nice afternoon, walking to the park and watching Luke play with his toys.  Donna and Emil gave me a rose bush for my first Mother's Day (my favorite flower).  It will be so special to watch it bloom every year and think about its meaning.

Saturday night Matt and I went out to dinner to celebrate Andy Bullock's birthday while G&G B babysat.  Fun!

On Sunday we went up to Brookfield to celebrate Mother's Day with some other important mothers - my Mom, my Grandma and my sister.  It felt really special to be in the "club" this year:)  We had a nice brunch at the Seven Seas in Hartland, then went back to Mom and Dad's house for more fun.  In addition to our Mother's Day festivities, we also celebrated my birthday a few days early with presents and cake.  It was a lovely day!

Grandma made me a lovely set of kitchen towels for my new kitchen!  Thanks Grandma!

Fell asleep on our walk - that is the umbrella stroller from Kristin and I's childhood!

In Luke news, he is continuing his mobility training.  His walking with the walker is reaching new speeds and agility.  He is super smiley and happy all the time.  I haven't commented on his sleeping in a while, because there isn't much to report (that's good).  He's sleeping pretty much from 8:30pm to 5am everyday.  Not too bad.  He goes back to sleep most mornings after some milk, then wakes up between 6:30-7am.  

In my makeshift ball pit, great idea Daddy!

Go Purdue!