When my son is a druggie...

...You can reference the following pictures.

In case you are actually wondering what's going on, we are administering a breathing treatment with an anti-inflammatory drug, NOT using some sort of baby water bong!  Not that you could tell that he wasn't stoned out of his mind in the next picture.

TOKE, TOKE, PASS MAN!  Messing up the rotation!

And last, but certaintly not least, is my Christmas present for my lovely bride.  I think she needs to learn how to defend herself in our dangerous neighborhood.  Some would even call it "Tha Hood!"  Tell me what you think.

Pink even!

Random Stuff

Hello!  I know, I know, it's been a while, but with Luke in the hospital with pneumonia, Thanksgiving, Melissa being out of town, there just never seemed to be a good time to do a blog!  Well, we saw something funny today that Luke was doing, so we figured now would be a good time to post.

First things first!  It turns out that Luke has an addiction.  It's serious.  It really begins with our addiction.  You see, Melissa and I feel as though we need to ensure the local Starbucks stays in business...single handedly!  Well, once or twice we have gotten their berry coffee cake.  If you haven't tried it, it's great.  The real problem is, Luke thinks so too.  So now, we can't even go through the drive thru because he KNOWS that's where we get the coffee cake and demands his own!  It's an issue we are working through.



The next video we have is one from him using his walker at the hospital.  You can tell he was feeling SOOOO much better than he had a few days before that.  He really loves to stay mobile!




The last one we have is from tonight.  Luke loves Ralphie and he wishes he was stronger so that they could really play together, but since he isn't we get to help them interact.  Ralphie loves his blue rubber frisbee, so all he wants is someone to throw it for him!  Like I said before, we help them...




In the mean time, Luke is getting much stronger since we've had him on his anti-inflammatory that we got at the hospital.  We are controlling his allergies a lot better and all in all he is MUCH more energetic and strong.  He is even MORE interactive than he was before we went to the hospital!  It's kind of like Donkey from Shrek:  "It's not getting him to talk that's the trick...IT'S GETTING HIM TO SHUT UP!"

Halloween Extravaganza Part 1

Well, Grandma Godinez has come and gone.  She came up for the week while Melissa was gone all week and I was gone the beginning of the week.  She got to snuggle with the Little One the whole time!  She loves to play with Luke on account that he is just about the happiest kid ever.  Right up until Grandma leaves, then he becomes a bit of a butt again.

BUT, this is the Halloween Extravaganza Part 1!  We have had a few ghoulish like events the last few weeks that we wanted to share with you guys.  The first one reveals Luke's costume for Halloween....COOKIE MONSTER!




Well, it seems that the costume choice was ideal, since it turns out that Luke LOVES Halloween cookies!  This one is about 5 minutes long, but worth the wait!




Now, of course Luke is a mess from all of that frosting and sprinkles.  So, we, as National Parent of the Year Award 2011 nominees should do, decide that there is only one good way to clean our son after he tore through the cookie!




So there you go.  Luke seems to love Halloween.  So go to www.beenbooed.com and go "Boo" your friends!

IT'S A GIRL!

Hello all!  I know it's been a while.  But while we haven't posted, we sure have been video taping things around the house.  We just haven't gotten around to putting them on the blog...UNTIL NOW!  Get your excited pants on (I know I do!) because we have a few good ones to share!

This is Luke riding on his "air-pane"!  Some good friends of ours got it for us and he just loves to ride on it.  He occasionally likes to tell us all about his adventures flying around the world on it.  Enjoy it!

\

This is another good one.  This is Luke standing up after bath time.  We are trying to get him to take a few steps (we call him Bambi) but he has yet to do it on his own.




That's it for videos for now.  We will have a pre-Halloween extravaganza of videos.  We already have three so far, but for now all that you need to know is that we are having a girl!  See!  I know it's hard to see, but if you tilt your head right and squint, you can see that it says "IT'S A GIRL!" over and over.  You can even see a little arrow pointing to some "girl parts".  Thoughts on what my first handgun should be?  DON'T JUDGE. I need to warn the boys later that their lives are in danger when they take my little girl out.  I just need to make sure I'm good at it between now and then.

So many pictures!

We've been busy!  So, first thing's first.  We were in DC two weekends ago and the trip made both Luke and Melissa SOOOOOOOO tired.  So they took a little nipper after waking up.  Being a good (and quiet) daddy that I am, I sneaked and took this picture so I could share it with you:

Shhhhhh!  

Then the other day, our next door neighbor, Emily, brought over a beautiful cake for Melissa's birthday.  She is thinking about starting a cake business.  Turns out she can do some amazing stuff with fondant.  She made this crazy cool Jayhawk cake for Melissa!  She even got the colors spot on!  Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do it justice!  But see, it doesn't matter, because it was delicious!  As you can clearly see:

NOMNOMNOMNOM!

Such a happy little Dude!

And then, of course, since he had some sweets, we figured now would be a good time to start brushing his little teeth!

Get those molars!!

But that wasn't really even the funniest part of the weekend.  So this morning at church, our normal guy singer wasn't there.  An older lady was filling in.  Typically, Luke sings a bit, but kind of keeps it to himself.  Not today!  Nope, he decided to sing with the choir!  On the first song, he really got into it.  Dancing and singing and generally entertaining THE ENTIRE CHURCH.  So, ok, we figured it was just the first song...but nope.  It was the next two songs and then we finally took him out of the church so he could sing his heart out.  Melissa had to actually take him outside because they have speakers in the foray.  He just kept singing.  LOUD.  One of his church grandmas came out to go to the bathroom, and mentioned how good he was singing to Melissa.  After communion, we took him to the car right away and there was a guy getting into his truck.  He just laughed and said that he was singing better than most in the church.  That's when we lost it.  We almost couldn't put Luke into his carseat because were laughing so hard!  He is such a showman!  Just like his parents.  Always up for entertaining!

Some new tricks for Baby Luke!

Nothing much to update, except that daddy is home again.  Our long 6 weeks of traveling for both of us is finally over!  Now Melissa only has a trip at the end of October.  So that's good.  Our frequent flier and hotel miles could use a rest.  But in the mean time, we have taken videos of our kid's every waking second.  It's just so easy now that we can use our phones.  Just wait until we get the new iPhone next spring!  Should be even sharper!  Ralphie is excited to say the least!

Here is Luke playing in the bath for you.



And here is his newest trick! Brand new today!

BUSY past few weeks for a little dude!

Whew! Luke has been a busy little dude! Although the pictures are a bit out of order, Crazy Uncle Mike and his friend, Lisa, came to visit over Labor Day weekend. Our plan was to go hang out on the boat, but of course it rained. No big deal though because we had a great time chilling around the house. Mommy was still pretty tired from Baby CJ, so Crazy Uncle Mike did a good job keeping Luke entertained. Usually they wrestled on the floor, but sometimes, Luke just wanted to snuggle with him on the couch. After he left and Mike called, I would put him on speaker and he would smile and wave to the phone. I think the two of them are going to be dangerous when Luke is older!

The next week it was off to D.C.! My best friend, Jennai, was getting married, and I was matron of honor. It poured and poured when we got to D.C. Poor little Luke had no idea what that stuff falling from the sky was since it has been so long since we've seen it here in Louisiana. Luckily, the weather cleared and we had a beautiful trip. You'll notice the little green froggie in the pictures. Patrick volunteers at a local school, and the frog gets to go on trips with special guests. He got to see all of the monuments in D.C., and apparently, the frog thought it was more exciting than Luke who slept the entire time (no complaining here!).

Jennai's wedding was FABULOUS!!!! It was at a beautiful resort on the water, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Plus, I got to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was just a great weekend overall.

Then, Patrick had to leave straight from D.C. to head to Arizona to present a paper he wrote. Luke and I headed home to attempt to get into a routine again. Poor little guy couldn't keep his eyes open after his first day back at school and occupational therapy. Thankfully we have some time together here at home as a family before the next trip....

That means more blogs  :)!!!!!!

Sometines, Luke just likes to kick back...

And have a little fun.  Case in point: we got this really cool rocker from some friends of ours!  It's a big plush bi-plane that has little buttons on it that sings songs.  I put the little Duder on it to see if he appreciated rocking, and you can guess what the result was!



Well, that's not all!  After a long day of playing with his rocker and a few of his trucks, Luke decided that he was going to try his hand at playing fetch with Ralphie!  Now, he didn't take into account that he can't actually stand yet or really throw any sort of a distance, but there is something he can do...HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE!



So all in all, we had a pretty good weekend.  Melissa is ready for her first trimester done with.  She is super tired, but I leave her be and take a bigger share of work.  Although, I have to admit, she is way better with Luke than I am, so the Duder and I are in survival mode until she gets her energy back.  Ok, well that's all for tonight.  Hope everyone is doing good!

Busy Busy!

As you can imagine, things have been so busy around here!  But Melissa and I have been on the road opposite of each other for the last month or so.  In the mean time we have gotten DirecTV (love it! Melissa can even watch DVR in the bedroom!) kept our grass alive, kept all of our bills paid, and found out that Melissa is pregnant.

WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!?!

That's right!  Melissa is pregnant!  Yay!  The two kiddos will be just a few weeks shy of two years apart.  It seemed like a good round number.  We find out what the sex of CJ is in October.  CJ stands for Claire or Josh, so until we know, CJ it is.

Being a good big brother in training is hard and it has taken it's toll on Luke.  You can see him resting here:

The future gymnast!

And here you see his favorite place to put his foot when he is dreaming of Ralphie!

But with all of the extra attention from people finding out he is becoming a big brother, Luke has become a little camera shy!

But his biggest thing is that he needs to keep up his strength!  In order to do that, he eats so much now!  He is even trying out this whole "spoon" thing.  We will see how it goes.  Plus we are trying on looking like Harry Potter!  Bring on Voldemort!

Back to Reality

Poor little Luke....it is time for him to get back to reality. A few weeks ago, he got to spend the week in Kansas with Grandpa and Grandma Malone while Mommy worked out of her Atchison, KS office. Then, she had another trip to Houston this past week, so Grandma Godinez came down for a visit to spoil the little dude. They played, took a bath every single night, snuggled, read books, and the list goes on. When she left on Sunday, Luke cried the entire day because he was SSSOOO lonely!

Then, to make his life even more dramatic, it was time to get back to school yesterday! He graduated from Ms. Tina's room, so now he spends his day in the big kid room with Ms. Mary and Ms. Brittany. On his first day he colored a picture of a school, worked on standing, sat very nicely during circle time, and worked on feeding skills in the cafeteria! I don't know who was more traumatized - Mommy or Luke. Our little baby isn't so little anymore :(

More pictures to come soon...

Too hot to post!

So it seems like we only posted once in the month of July.  Wait, no, that's right.  We did only post once last month!  So sorry fanbase!  Anyway, we thought we would check in with everyone.  Luke has been, how do we put it...like a real kid now.  Let me explain: Luke has always been such a good little dude.  Always happy, always a good traveler, ate whatever, petted the dog, etc.  Well, now he is trying to figure out how he can best get mommy and daddy's attention!  Crawling to the dog's water bowl and splashing in it, pulling mommy's hair non-stop, throwing his food and sippy cup on the floor, you get the idea.  But when he is done for the day and fussing because he is sooooo tired, I get to get a movie like this:



But the best part, is when I go back to the living room, wait for him to start crying again (telling me he is done with his bottle)I realize that he hasn't peeped in about 30 minutes!  So I sneak into his room and I see this his little fat leg sticking out of his crib!  So funny.  Well, Grandma will be here next week, so Luke will be held the whole time!  Anyway, we promise we will post again next week!

Minot Reunion

FINALLY!!!! Two years after leaving Minot, we finally managed to schedule a reunion with some of our best friends. Although we were disappointed that Patrick couldn't swing the trip, it was awesome to see our friends. M-Rod and D-Rod (Molly and Doug Rodriguez), and B-Rod, their baby in the oven had Luke and I to stay the weekend in Warrensburg, MO. 

David and Angela Scott and their two beautiful twins, Anderson and Callie, met us for the weekend. To top things off, Lisa and Pat Hook and their kiddos, Jack and Charlie, invited us over for dinner Friday night. Our friends Maria and Joe McKenna and their kiddos Joey and Luke just moved from California to Leavenworth, KS, so they drove over for the evening as well. Somehow we all managed to throw Molly and Doug a little baby shower without them having the slightest idea!!!

All of the kiddos LOVED playing together!!! Luke was so lonely when we finally made it back to Shreveport Sunday afternoon.  Not only was he tired from the weekend with his new friends, but he had just spent a week with Grandpa and Grandma Malone while I worked out of our Atchison, KS facility.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from our trip:

Um.....Did that just happen? YES, THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Best 4th EVER!!!

BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!! Friday was a rough day....Patrick had the day off, and poor me and Luke had to go to school and work. Around 2:00, my boss (who works in Vancouver, WA), e-mailed me and told me to get the heck out of there since it was a holiday weekend....SAY NO MORE! CYA!! After stopping for a frosty beverage with my co-workers to kick the weekend off right, the weekend just went uphill from there.

After a busy day at school, Luke couldn't wait to get out to the lake. Unfortunately, it was so ridiculously hot that we had to wait until late Friday evening. However, our picnic dinner and sunset cruise as a family was really fun.  It was so much fun that we went out all day Sunday.....and Monday :) We spent the ENTIRE Weekend out there because the weather was just perfect. LOTS of friends came out to swim with us, including the Carlson's who are down house shopping. Luke's favorite new toy in the world is his new raft. It has a little mesh ring/diaper to hold him up in the water, and and inflatable ring around the edge keeps his head above water. It is even complete with a little baby canopy to keep the sun out. Luke actually took his nap IN THE FLOATIE while everyone swam. 

When we weren't at the lake, we were out partying at BBQs in the hood. On Saturday night there was a huge block party with a 3-story high waterslide. Yes, you read that correctly. It was AWESOME; however, Baby Luke was still a bit too small for the ride. He was the hit of the party and made lots of new friends! In fact, he helped mommy and daddy meet people in the hood that we hadn't met yet, but who are really fun to hang out with. These parties in the Tib (Our neighborhood is Tiburon, fondly called "The Tib") are starting to get out of control!

And speaking of parties in the Tib, we topped the weekend off with a little BBQ of our own. Check out the last picture below. Luke was so tired from his other social engagements over the weekend that he didn't even stay awake for his own party. It's a rough life, but someone has gotta do it!

Luke's New Trick

So my son can do several things now.  I'm sure that you have heard about or seen him blow kisses and wave which is great entertainment for all of the old ladies at church!  Just hysterical!  What's interesting is that he seems to know when he should do it...like when Melissa picks him up from school and Luke turns and waves to his teachers as he leaves!

Well, turns out that Luke has been working on his crawling.  He can really motor around the house, in fact we got him to crawl from his room to the office, which is about 10-15 feet!  Pretty impressive!  But then, a few days ago, he was in the bath and surprised both of us!

So yay!  Luke can pull himself up now!  And what's more, he loves to do it!  All you have to do is hold his hands and he will pull himself up.  Such a big boy!

Weekend fun

It has been a hectic month in the Godinez household, but here is the latest update:

1. Luke is army crawling ALL over the place! His favorite location is the dogs' water bowl. This isn't funny.
2. The eye doctor says we have to wear our glasses 100% of the time...we'll still probably need eye surgery in the future. We're going to shopping for baby goggles to see if they are more successful than the other pair...
3. We're praying for our friends in Minot...had we still lived there today, we wouldn't have a house. Burlington suffered horrible losses on our end of town. Hopefully the neighborhood will successfully rebuild.
4. Luke had his 1 year evaluation for Early Steps (OT/Speech program). We're lacking a little in gross motor, but communication and fine motor are doing great! We couldn't do it without our weekly visits with Anita and Megan.
5. Luke is getting a walker! He'll get to use it until his legs are strong enough to walk independently.
6. Grandma Malone came and spent a week spoiling Luke!
7. Some of Melissa's best friends, Laura and Brian, got married!!
8. ...and some of Patrick's best friends, Aaron and Ashley, got married!!
9. Luke and Melissa got to spend some time shopping with Grandma, Tricia and Maddie in Dallas.
10. The house is nice and clean so we can kick back, relax, and enjoy the upcoming weekend finally as a family!!!

More Flippy Floppies

So this weekend, we really meant to go out to the lake.  Saturday we went to the Parade of Homes and then Sunday we were going to the Lake.  Well, long story short, we didn't go to the lake so we could clean, go to Target, and finish up the last day of the Parade of Homes.

Don't judge us about the Parade of Homes!  We don't bother with the houses that we could actually afford.  We go for the $500K and above.  You know, from the "within our reach sooner or later" to "we better win the lottery twice to afford this crap!".  It was a good time and our house really needed to be cleaned.

So long story short, we left work early (just a little bit) and went out to the lake armed with a few beers, some sandwiches, cheetoes, and some mac and cheese for Luke.

Luke having a bit of fun pre-Mac and Queso and Turkey.

Then we got brave.  We got Luke into his life jacket, I went into the water and Melissa handed him to me.  At first I stayed by the ladder and he seemed alright with the whole proposition, leaning towards the "not liking this" side.  

You better not let go of me dad!

Then I wanted to see if he was cool with me going away from the boat.  He seemed to be calming down, but even if we were looking at each other, I'm not sure he was totally ok with what we were doing...

So we brought him in.  He wasn't screaming ever, just not real comfortable.  I think the more we take him in there he will like it.  It was nice and warm, so that probably helps.  Hopefully, things will go a bit better next time!

Grandpa and Grandma's Housse

Sorry we've been away from the blog for so long! Luke and I took a little two week vacation back to Kansas. Turns out, I am pretty sure I have the best job in the universe. Northwest Pipe has another facility in Atchison, KS, which is only about 45 minutes from my parents' house in Topeka.  My division was holding a meeting, and luckily my boss didn't care that Luke bummed a ride on my lap on the airplane ride home. To top it off, I managed to schedule a trip I needed to make to our Vancouver, WA office immediately after my Kansas meeting.  That way, Luke could spend several days with Grandpa and Grandma Malone!

The timing couldn't have been more perfect because it was Crazy Uncle Mike's 22nd b-day, and it was the week before he left for Ireland! The Lucky Duck is studying abroad in Dublin for the summer and working for a marketing company....maybe I need his job....

Luke LOVED his time in Kansas. Each day, Grandma spoiled him rotten! Grandpa's friends, Mike and Holly, finally had the chance to meet Luke as well. Holly works with kids with special needs, so it was great to hear her advice about Luke. Of course, he enjoyed the attention, so he and Holly became fast friends.

Now, we're finally back together as a family in Shreveport. It was great to see the family, the work meetings went well, and being back in Kansas was awesome, but it sure felt good to get home.