Luke has learned how to sit up!

So Luke did a little Skyping with his grandparents tonight.  He does a pretty good job keeping his balance (as you can see) but he does still flop back.  We have had a few faceplants.  He's fine, we promise!  He likes to play with his toes which seems to keep him balanced too.  Whatever it takes!  His therapist has told us that he is the earliest Downs sitter she has ever had.  Only 2 within the last 25 years have come close to Luke, but that was it.  We are really proud of him!  One day, we will finally get that saddle on Ralphie and Luke can ride him like a tiny horse!  (Don't delete this Melissa!)

Top 10 of 2010

It has been a big year for the Godinez family. Here are our Top Ten Memorable Moments of 2010:

1. Luke joins the family! - Nothing changes life like having a baby for the first time. After years of dreaming about having our first baby, Luke was finally here. Despite the rough start with his health, the 20 days we spent in the NICU reminded us to never lose faith in God, strengthened our relationship as a family, and showed us of the support and love of our family and friends.

2. Luke comes home from the hospital. - No more plugged in baby! After countless hours in the yellow room, staring at the monitors, and praying for a quick recovery, Luke was finally home for good. That's where we started the real test of parenthood :)

3. Graduation! - After 6 months of intense studying, ridiculously long hours, and lots of trips away from home, Patrick graduated from Weapons School. He and I got a little vacation in Vegas thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Godinez coming to spend the weekend with Luke.

 

4. Baptism Fiesta - We don't do things on a small scale in the Godinez family. Why just have close family at a baptism when you can invite all of your family and friends. Since everyone had put in so many hours talking to the Big Man to help Luke get better, we thought that it was only fitting that we celebrated his baptism in true fiesta style.

5. 1st Christmas - Even though he is too little to have any idea what the excitement is all about, there is nothing better than having a little kid around at Christmas. Luke may have been more interested in eating the wrapping paper this year, but everyone enjoyed spoiling the heck out of him.

6. Thanksgiving - We defied all social odds in the entire world, invited both families to Thanksgiving, forced two grandmas to share a baby, and WE ALL SURVIVED!

7. 4th Anniversary/Michael Buble concert - Ironic that Melissa got to see her Canadian boyfriend for her wedding anniversary. Despite Patrick's doubts about spending an evening with Michael Buble, even he agreed that it was a sensational concert. Luke enjoyed a quiet evening at home with Grandpa and Grandma Godinez.

8. Frequent Visitors - Living in Minot for three years makes us value the time we now get to spend with family and friends.  Whereas we used to be separated by 16 hours or boring highway and usually ridiculous amounts of snow, our family is just a short car ride away.

10. Quiet evenings at home - Nothing is better than quiet evenings at home with just us and the dogs.

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve/Patrick's B-day

Last year at this time I looked like this....

And this year, we looked like this...

Although ringing in 2010 last year in New Orleans was a good time, nothing really beats celebrating with friends. On Thursday, Luke and I took Patrick out to dinner at Baja Tacos for a family birthday celebration.  Then, we started a new family tradition (something we picked up from some other professional party throw-ers we know -- a.k.a: Patrick's parents), and threw a neighborhood fiesta for Patrick's birthday/New Year's.  It was perfect because no one had to drive, no expensive babysitters were needed, and who better to celebrate with? The night was even complete with a White Elephant Gift Exchange. Let's just say the house was filled with fairy ferrets, gnomes, racy dice/handcuffs, and a butt-shaking snowman - enough said.

Christmas 2010 at OneTrueMedia.com

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'Tis the Season....for chaos

December is always a busy month. That was an understatement for this year (hence the lack of blog posts). We're usually a pretty boring family, but this was a month filled of Godinez accomplishment.  Most importantly, Luke is officially a baby room graduate. Although I am very proud, it makes me cry! My little baby going to the big kid room means that he isn't a little infant anymore.  Well, I guess we knew that since he's working sitting and standing up!

Speaking of graduation - The chaos of the last 6 months is FINALLY over! Patrick is officially a Weapons School graduate.  It was a long 6 months of intense training 6 days a week (with super long days), but he finally made it. Luckily, Grandpa and Grandma Godinez were able to come spend a few days in Shreveport to spoil Luke so I could enjoy Vegas baby-free.  It was a fabulous reward after all the long hours and time away from each other.

Well, the fun didn't get to last too long because I had a large work project which started the day after I returned from Vegas.  I can officially say that I work for an official business because we passed our audit from the American Petroleum Institute.  Other than the last day of my first year of teaching (which was the biggest relief in life), this was probably the most epic day professionally for me. Although I loved teaching, it was fun to write our technical manual, see it come to life, and have it audited and approved on my first try.

Now, we don't know what we'll do with ourselves. Patrick is on leave, Christmas shopping is almost done, my finals are turned in, and other than a short trip to Kansas for Christmas, our lives are wide-open.....You know us; this probably won't last :)

My favorite time of day....

Every morning I wake up and hear the sound of Luke's soft breathing on the baby monitor. You would expect to find a little baby snuggled nicely in his crib. Unfortunately for Luke, he has his mommy's sleep habits. Go down the hall toward his room, and you'll realize that soft breathing is actually snoring. Although I had originally put him at one end of his crib, covered nicely, this is how he woke up... at the other end of the crib :)

Busy Lazy Weekend

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has been a few days since the last post. It's been busy around our house since all of our Thanksgiving company left. Patrick is wrapping up his LAST week of Weapons School out in Vegas...FINALLY! Since graduation is next weekend, I have extra incentive to clean, finish finals, wrap up work projects, etc. I'll head out to Vegas on Thursday, and Grandpa and Grandma Godinez will be here Wednesday to spend the weekend with Luke! I'm sure they're excited to not have to share the baby with a single person for an entire weekend :) Luke is counting down the days until he gets spoiled again. In the meantime, he's working very hard on sitting up, and we're soooooo close to having it figured out!