That's just wrong!

Normally I'm not in any of the pictures that I post. Mostly because I am the one taking the photos.

You should be glad. Because when Dan gets behind the camera this happens:

YIKES!

Or this:

That is a ginormous belly!

Sometimes Luke has not so adorable photo moments as well:

That is his old man/whaddyawant look.

He wasn't as into the Cowboys at first as his daddy wanted him to be.

This picture cracks me up everytime I look at it!

We've come a long way...Happy 6 months Luke!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It has been HOT, HOT, HOT in Charlotte!

This is how we deal...

That's right...he is naked. (He being Luke,  not Dan) :)

That is a cute naked bum!

Luke LOVES the water. He slaps at it and then looks up at us in surprise when water gets on his face. Then he does it again. It is a viciously cute cycle!

That smile, those eyes, those cheeks (both sets)...I could eat him up!

Yum!

Stumble Upon...

I have stumbed upon the greastest time waster EVER! Stumble Upon has been my go to for the past few days. Little man is sick so we are stuck without playdates or bible studies! :(

Here are the best crafty websites/blogs that I have come across:

Grace Violet (my favorite so far)

The Purl Bee

Make and Take

Pizzazzerie

Out of Order Design

Handmade Charlotte

I seriously want a sewing machine now! (Don't choke Mom!) :)

At the very least a craft room...? Yeah right!

Here are the best cooking websites/blogs that I have come across:

Baking Obsession

Bakerella

Aggie's Kitchen

Picky Palate

Love and Olive Oil

Our Life in the Kitchen

The Parsley Thief

These websites have inspired me to become a better homemaker!

Enjoy.

Meet Dallas...

Dallas is "Dan's dog". I know, I know, Dallas is both of our dogs. The whole marriage, oneness thing. But, Dallas was Dan's before I met him.

Anyways, Luke is enthralled by Dallas.

Notice the book: Spot Loves His Mommy...:) He sure does!

Luke gets a BIG smile on his face when Dallas comes around.

You may remember this picture...

He wasn't as fond then.

One of the highlights of Luke's day is when/if Dallas stays still long enough for Luke to pet her. Or hit her. Or pull on her fur. We're working on those motor skills!

However nonchalant..I had to google that to make sure I spelled it correctly...Is there such a thing as being chalant...

Back to life, back to reality. However nonchalant Dallas tries to seem around Luke. She secretly thinks that she is his mother.

Maybe I should be jealous.

But look at that sweet face!

Swing, swing...

Dan decided that Luke needed a swing. I think that Dan needed Luke to have a swing! :) Dan is so much more excited about Luke's toys than Luke.

Luke LOVES this toy! Loves, loves, loves this swing. It is our go-to when he is being kinda fussy or antsy.

The heat has been almost unbearable lately! So I can only stand to be out there for about 20 minutes until I turn into a total GROUCH...

It's totally my father's fault! I promise.

This has been one of favorite toy 'investments'.

By investment, I do not mean that this was at all expensive...try about $20. I mean that we are of the mindset that we should borrow as much as possible, as far as baby gadgets go!

We would be broke if we bought everything we have been able to borrow from friends/family! So Thank You friends and family! :)

Looks like naptime!

Swimming!

Luke's first swim was at Nana's pool.

Which is so appropriate! I had countless birthday parties at this pool. Spent many, many summers here...

He loved every minute of it! I can't wait for Luke to be able to have his own memories at Nana and Papa's pool!

We bought him this crab floatie. You know, in honor of Maryland...?

 I'm not quite ready for the whole bathing suit thing, so Dan got in there with him!

Look at that smile! :)

Luke has an awesome dad and I have an amazing husband! We are so incredibly blessed by him!

What better way to finish a fun afternoon!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer! We are!

REALITY...

Warning...do not be eating while you read this post!

It is extremely gross...

So why do I post it?

Because, reality isn't always pretty.

The reality of being a mom...

...it isn't all cute! :)

You're welcome!

Luke's Baptism

Little Man was baptized this past weekend!

I realized how truly blessed I am to have the family that I have! As far as our physical families go, we had about 20 + people at church on Sunday morning.

This is the Swiger side of the family...

This is the Emmons side...

The 'gown' that Luke wore was the dress that Nana (my grandmother) made for my baptism 27 years ago!

It was the first gown that she made and I think she ended up making around 14!

I love watching babies be baptized, in general. I especially loved watching mine! It is such an awesome reminder of the family we have in our own church and in the invisible church.

At Uptown, our church, the fathers will write and read a blessing for their child. Dan's was beautiful! When he started to read it, he got choked up. That's a big deal...he didn't even cry at our wedding!!

This is Dan's blessing:

John 12:46-47
46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.

Luke,


You nor I, nor anyone here today deserves what you have been given. The Lord your God came not to give you what you deserve. He came to pull you from the darkness by giving the perfect gift; by giving his life for you.
Today we bring you before the covenant family of those who have seen the light and know the hope that Jesus has brought. Although we vow to speak truth into your life, we cannot bring you to the father.
I do believe in the power of the One that loves you so perfectly. I have faith in Our Savior who offers hope and salvation. My desire for you is that you would trust in The God of love who came not to condemn but to save his children. My hope for you Luke, my first born son, is that you would know the greatest blessing you could ever know, you would know Jesus.

We are so grateful to be a part of a church that loves us so well and that loves our child so well! I am also grateful to serve a God that includes children in the covenant blessing.

And I am oh so grateful for our friends and family who came over for lunch to celebrate our little one!

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Becoming a Big Boy!

Little Man has hit some milestones in the recent past! Unfortunately I don't have pictures of all of them...

Luke has started eating baby food. He loves his fruits and orange veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potatoes). But he HATES peas and green beans! I always send those with the babysitter! She has a magically ability to get him to eat those!

*It could be that she has 4 kiddos of her own* 

**By the way, Lori is an angel! I couldn't have made it through the past 3 months without her!**

We also went on our first family of 3 camping trip!

Dan and I had to put our compromising skills to the test with this one. He wanted to backpack into a campsite. I wanted to have the flexibility to leave in the middle of the night (in case of any emergencies) without hiking in the dark...with a baby...and the dogs...and our stuff!

We found some pretty cool drive-up campsites in Pisgah National Forest in Brevard, NC thanks to the recommendation of a friend of Dan's from work!

It was beautiful and perfect!

Little Man slept better than we did!

Isn't he adorable?!?!

Luke has also started squealing in a pterodactyl sort of way! I love it!

He also rolls over...front to back and back to front. My boy is so multi-talented.

And the lastest milestone....

HIS FIRST TOOTH!!!

Thankfully he hasn't been too fussy! :) He is good to his momma!

I'll put pics up of the tooth as soon as I can get that skilled!

Bye-Bye Working World...

I am about 2 weeks away from becoming a stay-at-home momma! I'm excited and scared all within the same moment!

Wow! Who wouldn't want to stare at this face all day?

For reals though...I want to become the best mom, wife, homemaker possible...

Here are a few tangible goals:

1. Have weekly playdates (for me and for Luke)

2. Try out at least one new recipe a week

3. Never go grocery shopping without a coupon (this is going to be hard for me!)

4. SERVE, SERVE, SERVE...I want to use my more flexible schedule to love and serve the people that God has put in my life!

More to come...

Happy Groundhogs Day!

This is Luke's babysitter...her name is Gammy. When she babysitts Luke he never gets put down. I don't even think she goes to the bathroom when she is with him!

This weekend Dan and I are signed to go to Barnabas Training (http://www.thebarnabascenter.org/) at our church. I signed us up because Gammy (my mom) was planning on coming up on Friday night for the first session and staying through the day Saturday. Then tragedy struck...

Not really, it just turns out that my future sister-in-law, Meredith, has her first bridal shower on Saturday. So we lost our babysitter.

I have never experienced having to find a babysitter...I have always been the babysitter! It is also complicated when the baby that is being sitted (that doesn't sound quite right) is only 5 weeks old. There is childcare at the training, but not for those who have only been in this world for less than 6 months...

What to do? It might be easier if this was only for a few hours on Saturday, but this was a 8:30 to 5 job for someone! I wasn't sure if I was ready to ask anybody who wasn't family to commit to this...I actually wasn't sure if I was ready to let anybody who wasn't family watch him for so long! Not that I don't love or trust my friends! It is just a tiring job. There is a reason I get a maternity leave! (Besides recovering from giving birth to my HUGE baby)

Well, we didn't have to give up this training thankfully. Dan and I are really looking forward to going through it! We decided to make Gammy's heart sing. She is sacrificing herself (yeah right) and taking Luke back to Greenville with her. Dan and I will just drive down after our training.

What a big hassle this little munchkin is...

But he is so darn cute, isn't he?

Okay, more about this training...

Barnabas Training Basic -a weekend seminar (Friday night and Saturday) designed to provide participants with greater confidence and capacity to love and care for those around them. Includes teaching on a Biblical model of people and an interactive small group experience.

I am so stoked to get some tools to help me develop the relationships that I have and to start new ones!

I let you know how it goes!

On a side note, I type this blog like there are a billion people reading it. When, really, the only readers that I have are my husband and my momma...who else do I need! :)

SNOW!!!!

It finally snowed when they said it would! A grand total of about 3 inches! Enough to cover almost everything.

We...I use that term generously... painted our house! Thank you Dan, Jason, and John! It is the exact same color as another house in our neighborhood. How do we know that it is the exact same color? Because Dan went up to their front door, knocked, and used his good looks and charm to coerce the name of their paint color out of them. Not really, they gladly told...apparently they had done the same thing to someone else!

Back to our snow day...

 

And I finally had a good excuse to put Luke in one of his fuzzy, bear outfits...for the whole 30 seconds that we were outside. It was more for the 300 picture photo-op that we had with him...:) Super cute! Thanks Talia!

Crystal, yours is coming out with the next snow/ice!

Goodness gracious I love that face!

It almost makes me forget about the 4 times I had to get up last night...almost.

One Crazy Wonderful Month

This past month has been one crazy wonderful month! One month ago today I gave birth to my little man, Luke William!

 

Our life has changed so much! We have become first time parents, we have made our parents grandparents (again for Dan's parents), and we have fallen more in love with each other and our son than we could ever imagine!

I'm not sure why I am starting this blog. Partly because I have so many friends blogging, partly for our parents to hear updates and see pictures, and partly because I want a place to record our journey. 

 

 

Being a mom is awesome, humbling, and completely overwhelming! Only through the grace of God do I make it through each day! Don't get me wrong, Luke is so fun, but to be so physically needed is exhausting! I am his source for comfort, protection, and food. He is so needy that it makes me realize my own neediness.

At first, my neediness was focused on Dan. Poor guy...not only was he a first-time dad and working full-time, but his wife turned into a sobbing, pathetic mess! 

Thankfully we serve a loving, gracious, and patient God! As amazing as Dan is, he couldn't meet these needs... I 'needed' to feel capable, I 'needed' to feel rested without getting much sleep, and I 'needed' to feel pretty again. All those 'needs'...what I really needed to was to turn to my Father.

 

Just look at that face!

One of the things that Luke does that I LOVE...besides smile at me every now and then...is his fake sneeze. One day I will catch it on video and post it because it is so stinkin' cute!

I am praying that as Dan and I walk through the journey of parenthood that we would be an encouragement to our family and friends, that our lives would be a testament to the truth of our Saviour, and that we would be willing to do whatever our Father asks of us.

Thanks for being a part of our journey!