Easter zoo

Luke and mommy have been very busy lately.  On Tuesdays we have swimming lessons at 9. Classes last till 9:30, but they say we can stay and play however long we want.  So we stay and play around.  Then we go to Babytalk at 10:30.  It lasts till 11:00.  On Thursdays we go to Kindermuik which Luke loves.  It starts at 9:30 and goes till 10:15 or so.  And then the rest of the week, we grocery shop sometimes, go out to eat, or whatever else I can think of to do. 

Luke's first swimming class was this Tuesday.  To say he loved it is an understatement.  He is not the least bit scared of the water.  He took to it like a duck.  He will even stand on the edge of the pool and jump to me.  On one hand this is good, on the other it is bad because of the pool we have in our backyard.  He will have lots of fun this summer swimming and mommy will be worried about him because he is not scared at all.  He is just going to have to live in his life jacket for the summer! 

He is very active and into EVERYTHING these days!  He doesn't sit still unless he's asleep.  He pushes his CAT truck around the house a thousand times a day.  He can walk by himself, but at this point he wants to either crawl or push his truck.  He's so funny walking though because he holds his arms straight out and looks like a little zombie.  All the kids in his kindermusik class can walk and I think he wants to walk but just isn't so sure about it yet.  I'm sure one day he will just take off.  He is going to be quite the climber too. 

Over the Easter weekend, we went to a free Easter egg hunt at the zoo.  To say it was a zoo is an understatement.  Some of the "finer" people in Decatur ran around the 0-5 year old section dragging their kids practically pulling their arm out of the socket just to try and find eggs that rattled to get a free Easter basket.  Luke found one, sat down and started chewing on it.  Good enough for me.

Waiting to hunt for eggs

Love his little face

All denim lady was the one I was talking of earlier

Got an egg!

  The zoo was free that day too (I've decided I would rather pay and avoid all of the annoying people)  Luke rode the carousal.  I don't know he knew what to think of it.  He rode the cheetah

He loved to look at the animals.  I would point them out and he would look at them.  But he really liked the petting zoo.  There were goats running all over the place.  He was very interested in figuring out what these things were.  There were two baby goats and they were hiding (for good reason).  He did pet them.  The girl in the picture was going to just take his hand and take him away.  It was funny.

We also rode on the train which he just sat and looked around. 

On Sunday, the Easter bunny came and left some eggs in the yard and an Easter basket full of fun stuff.  He got a lawn mower, some Sesame Street books, an Elmo sippy cup, a big Easter bunny (which he wanted really bad when I put it in the cart, but didn't really care about it when he got it) and a popper pushing thing.  He liked hunting Easter eggs.  He walked around and picked them up.  He was very good at spotting them in the yard.  He even crawled in the grass, which if you've seen my other blogs, you know he's not fond of grass.  So we had a really good Easter.  I can't believe that in less than a month he is going to be a year old, which reminds me I need to get invitations out. 

Just a couple of days ago he really started saying "mama." And now he says it ALL THE TIME!  He walks around, pushing his truck just saying mamamamamamamama.  So cute!  He says random words like all gone Sunday when he was sitting in bed with us.  I have no clue what was all gone, but he sure said all gone.  He says "dada" too.  We're working on Elmo, and Ball.

Well my cheese sticks are here so I'm going to go eat.  They are not on our diet, but Joe and I have been sick this week and haven't worked out (yet I've lost 2 pounds and ate crappy....)

10 Months

I haven't wrote a blog in such a long time.  We've been pretty busy around here.  It has been unseasonably nice.  With temperatures in the 80's, Luke and I have been trying to play outside.  He is quite the character these days.  He is definitely going to be a climber.  Just yesterday he was standing on one of his toys trying to climb on the couch to get another toy.  He LOVES to be outside, but he doesn't know what to think of grass.  I set him down on it and he just sat there with a very confused look on his face.  And he wouldn't move.  Unfortunately I think he has acquired his daddy's allergies.  He has had a icky runny nose for a week or so.  It doesn't seem to bother him too much though.

Not sure what to think

Happy boy to be outside!

 

Looking out the window with Buttons

In an effort to lose my pudgy tummy Joe and I have started to ride bikes.  So we bought a trailer for Luke to sit in and crossed our fingers that he would like it.  He loves it.  He just takes it all in.  We also got him a very cute helmet.  It has construction equipment on it.

 

He is very into Sesame Street.  He loves Elmo and Cookie Monster.  His birthday is going to be sesame street.  I got everything for it last week.  I can't believe that he is going to be a year old in a month and a half!  Its very cute, we have an Elmo book and if I say where's Elmo, he comes and sits in front of me so I can read him the Elmo book.  He loves books.  Sometimes he just wants to open and close the book, or turn the pages, but sometimes he actually lets me read the book.  

He's starting to babble a lot more.  He say's mom, not mama, but mom.  I don't think he's quite associated mom to me yet, maybe sometimes, but not always.  He also is very demanding when it comes to food when we are in a restaurant.  I gave him some pancakes the other morning and he loved them and screamed and pounded his hands on the table if he didn't get any more quick enough.  He also did the same thing when we went to the Amish restaurant.  He loved their mashed potatoes and noodles.  

We started Kindermusic last Thursday.  It is just a thing that babies go to where we sing and dance and just have fun with other babies.  He's not the most social kid, he just kind of keeps to himself and plays, but I think that will change when he realizes he can play with the other kids.  

This weekend, we turned his car seat around.  Since he is such a big boy, he made the criteria to turn it around.  It was so hard to put him in their rear facing because he is so tall that his legs didn't fit anymore.  He likes to sit forward much better.  He can see much better and he just likes to look around.  He likes to have the window rolled down so he can feel the wind in his hair.

Helping dad drive

Joe and I keep saying we are scared to have more kids because he is so easy going and just goes with the flow, that the next one will probably be high strung.  Luke definitely has his moms personality.  He entertains himself like no baby I have ever seen.  He just crawls around and plays with stuff, sometimes he gets into the kitchen cabinets and starts pulling stuff out, but for the most part he either chases the dogs or plays with his toys.  His new obsession is balls.  He LOVES to hit them with his hand and crawl after him.  Unfortunately so does Buttons, so we have to watch her so she doesn't pop them!  I got plenty of balloons for his party because he likes those too.

My jewelry business is doing better.  I've had 5 or 6 sales just recently.  I am still in the process of updating my shop and making new things.  I can actually get things done now most of the time since Luke is so good.  So things here are amazing and we are looking forward to Luke's first birthday!  I don't know how I am going to feel about that.  I just can't believe it!

Frustrated

I am frustrated tonight.  Etsy is not working out the way I would like it to.  It seems I am not getting a whole lot of views for some reason like I used to.  I don't know why but I'm kinda pissed about it.  I put a lot of hard work into what I do and I would just like to see some payoff!  GRRR  So I think I am going to start a different blog with just stuff about my business and see if that helps.  I also just realized that I can post my listings to pinterest.  Don't know why I didn't think of that sooner, so I also hope that helps.  That's my rant for the night I guess.  I will post a blog about Luke (who you all come here to see anyway) soon.

 

I love this necklace, I got the beads at the Tucson Gem Show

I learned how to do resin at the show too

Beads, geodes, and everything in between

We got back from Tucson Monday afternoon.  I was sad to leave, I was having lots of fun with Joe's mom searching for beads and findings and everything else.  Joe's credit card was happy to see me go though I think.  I am worn out from this vacation.  I need a vacation to recover from this one.  When we landed Saturday, we went from the airport to two different gem shows.  The boys (Grandpa, Rick, Daddy, and Luke) all went home before we did.  Luke was being a fussy butt since he was in his "No one can hold me but mommy or daddy phase" which he eventually got over.  I was in shock at the tables upon tables upon tables of beads and sparkles.  I've never seen so many beads in my life!  Sunday after church we went to another bead show called TEP.  The boys went with us and did their own thing.  Grandma and I were on a mission to get out Wubbers (tool for beading thats really cool)  We even got to meet the lady who invented them and she showed us how they worked, which I have already forgot.  Thanks to youtube, I will be able to watch over and over again.  We found some more beads there as well.  We also got a very detailed instruction on Vicking Knit which is something new in the jewelry world, more detailed than we would have liked.  30 minutes later we both walked away finally.  When we found the boys, there were in geode heaven.  Joe had picked out some geodes for me to look at and when all was said and done, I think we walked about with about 6.

One of the geodes we got

Just a little geode

  But a couple were for other people (later in the week Joe, Grandpa, and Luke went back and got a few more :-)  It's all kind of a blur, but I think Grandma and I went to the Double Tree Hotel for To Bead True Blue show.  We were all pumped up about this because it was a show dedicated to jewelry making alone.  By the time we got there we only had an hour left, so we went in one tent and saw the Parawire people (they make wire in all shades of the rainbow) and met Franchesca and the two other men (who we became close with because we were there every other day buying wire)  By the time we were done at that booth, we only had a few minutes left so we walked around some more.  I also found an amazing crimp tool that was just invented by this lady.  Her company was called Om Tara!  It is going to make my life a lot easier.  So unfortunately the show was closing and we had to be done for the day.  Grandma had to work Monday and Tuesday, so I drug Grandpa and daddy and Luke out back to the bead show.  I was so excited for the rest, but ended up being disapointed because the rest of the show was SO expensive.  Grandma and I decided that was because they were all American's selling and not Chinese so they were more expensive.  Tuesday we went to Chuck E Cheese with Dom, Crystal, Logan, Will, Laura, Stella, Nick, Brenda, and Aurora.  It's so funny because Luke out weights all the babies by quite a bit.  And they are 18, 16, and 12 months I think.  Luke was kind of ho hum about Chuck E Cheese, but we all had a good time anyway. 

Playing the the monster truck

Luke, Logan, and Stella

Luke and Stella, not sure what Luke is thinking LOL

Wednesday was a big day for the ladies.  After Grandma got off work, we went to the Gem Mall and JOGS both of which were wholesale shows.  We ended up going back the the Gem Mall just a few more times :-)  I think by far it was out favorite.  The parking lot was so big, they had shuttles to pick you up and told you to walk at your own risk.  We got a lot of good deals there!  JOGS was a little pricey and upper class, but we did happen to find one booth that had crystals for .79 cents a strand and TONS of findings.  It was a good find.  I think Thursday is when we went to the Holidome.  It was also a wholesale show.  We didn't really find a whole lot there, so I think we may have went back to the Gem Mall.  We probably also visited Franchesca and the parawire boys too.  I can't even remember what we did Friday, I think it was Gem Mall and TEP.  We found an awesome booth we missed the first time we went there called Kent's Tools.  He had the one thing I hadn't been able to find yet and I was super excited about it.  Saturday we went to the parawire booth, back to Gem Mall, the back to doubletree hotel where we took classes the rest of the day.  We took a class on how to make Resin pendents which was very fun, then we took a class with Diane Whitting, who is a Swarovski crysal embassador, and she taught us how to crochet wire.  It was very frustrating at first, but once I caught on I loved it!

These are the resin pendants I made

This is the crocheted bracelet, I love it

Saturday night I had decided I needed to make one more round before I went home, so I think we went to the Gem Mall and got some more stuff.  I forgot about ED.  He was at the 22nd street show and he had GORGEOUS strands of gemstone beads.  We went there twice and became good friends with him.  He said thanks to us, he had a good show.  Not too sure I wanted to admit that or not!  Sunday night was of course the superbowl and we went to Dom and Crystals house for the first half of it.  We left at half time so we could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, pack and make sure Luke got a good nights sleep.  He was not happy when we woke him up at 5 the next morning to go to the airport.  He screamed the whole way there!  But he was good on the plane.  He got antsy when we landed a couple times, but he was an angel baby for the most part. 

We also got the meet the newest member of the Karasch family; Abby.  She's the new corgi.  She was the sweetest girl and I would have stole her and brought her home if Joe and his parent's would have let me.  I called her gabby abby because she liked to bark at everything!  She is also like Jazmine in that she loves to steal socks!  We weren't even home yet and Joe's mom texted that she found a pair of my socks!

Luke also got to experience Grandpa's famous bubby baths!  He LOVED to take them, we even got him some spongebob bubbles.  Grandpa made him very cute hairdo's with the bubbles.  Luke even threw a fit once when he had to get out!

Tomorrow the boxes we shipped home are supposed to arrive.  I cannot wait!  There are 4 and I think the lightest one is 34 pounds!  The UPS man is going to HATE me!!

Luke helping pack the boxes

I think this is long enough for now!  Sorry if I bored you in the earlier parts about jewelry, but I am so excited!!

6 days.....

Till we are in Tucson!  I hope the weather is in the 70's like it has been.  This morning we had black ice from freezing fog and tonight we are supposed to have severe storms.  Only in Illinois.  No wonder I can't get rid of my runny nose!!  I am so excited to go and visit and experience my first Tucson Gem Show!!  Grandma sent me pictures of tents going up today. 

I guess you could say Luke is crawling now.  LOL He doesn't do a whole lot of it, I think he would rather scoot around.  He does yoga though.  He will put his legs straight out and stand up with his hands out in front of him.  That's how he gets around.  He is very good at moving.  He also about to cruise.  He's so close, but when I try and get him to he just laughs and falls in my lap.  He's been so good at entertaining himself lately again.  He's also really close to being able to pull himself up.  It won't be long at all.  I think he also knows what kind of stuff he is not supposed to bother and goes after it.  (It just thundered by the way)  I think he kinda knows what NO means, but he just chooses to ignore it.  Sometimes I catch him playing with something he shouldn't and I will yell LUKE and he jumps.  Its funny.  And sometimes when he's doing something he's not supposed to and we yell at him, he just completely ignores us.  I think he may be one to throw a temper tantrum because even now he cries when we take away what he shouldn't have.

Last night we let him feed himself since he needed a bath anyway.  He had a fun time with it, and if you put food on his spoon he would put it in his mouth, with his left hand.  He is going to be a lefty.  He uses his right hand like and accessory to help the left one.  Its pretty interesting to watch.  He also discovered a few days ago that he could eat the "puffs" we give him.  The gerber star shaped ones.  Before he would just play with them and throw them at the dogs, now he CHOWS down!  If you sit him on your lap with a bowl of them he gets two handfuls and starts chowing.  It is so funny!  It also keeps him VERY happy, so we will be taking plenty of puffs on the airplane with us!

I think I sometimes take for granted how good of a baby he is.  Just seeing friends postings on facebook, like today a good friends baby just quit sleeping through the night and wakes up every hour, I don't know how she does it.  Luke has been the easiest baby! (wow it just thundered real loud)  I'm scared of what number two will be like LOL  Being a mom has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and my life is amazing with my two boys!  (and 3 fluffy girls!)

Crabby Paddy

Wow this week has been rough!  I don't know if it's because Joe was at home for so long and went back to work or if Luke is going through a growth spurt or trying to teeth, but he has been an absolute BEAR!  I cannot set him down to play or leave his sight without him screaming!  It is starting to wear on me.  And unfortunately Joe has been very busy and coming home late all this week.  I am exhausted and just want some time to myself!

There are a few rare moments when Luke has been pleasant and in these moments I have learned that he can walk!  Shock of my life.  Usually when I hold his hands up and try to help him walk he won't bend his legs to move, but yesterday I held his hands and he just took off!!  I was shocked!!  He is VERY proud of himself.  He cheeses the whole time he is walking around.  He tries to let go of my hands as if saying I can do it myself, but he always falls forward which he thinks is funny.  The only time this week he is really happy is when he is standing at his activity table.

He is so excited he can stand up now!

He also loves to "scoot" around on his cat truck which he also just learned yesterday

 He still is not technically crawling, although he does some really funny acrobatics.  He can also sit up from a laying postion which he figured out how to do today in his crib, so this weekend will be baby proofing the house and lowering the crib.  Gosh he is growing up so fast!!  In just 4 shorts months he will be a year old.  Tear! 

We are going out to Tucson at the end of January to visit the grandparents and the gem and mineral show, which grandma and I are super excited about!  I've never been to anything like it, so I am super excited to check it out.  I hope Luke does as good on the plane as he did the first time!

Trying to get the flash from my camera, he wasn't happy when I wouldn't give it to him

This is the face I have been dealing with all week

But he's happy here

Santa came, and so did the sick bug

Luke's first Christmas could not have been better.  He had a great time opening presents.  On Christmas Eve, we skyped with Joe's parents while Luke opened their presents and some of ours.  He got tired though so we fed him and he went to bed.  He got to open all the rest of his presents Christmas Day, except for the clothes.  If it didn't light up or make noise when he opened it he was on to the next toy.  He also got mad when I would take away one toy he just opened.  But soon figured out there was a lot more to come.  Joe, Gracie, and I stayed up and finished opening our presents.  Luke, Joe, and Gracie all got up Christmas Day and went to church (I went with Joe and Luke on Christmas Eve) while I stayed home and started cooking.  Becky and Steve came over and ate before Gracie had to go to work.  That was a change since we are always going over to their house to eat.  I made a ham, mashed potatoes, and Becky came over early and made her homemade noodles.  I also made this dessert called The Ultimate Chocolate Trifle.  It was AMAZING if I do say so myself.

Doesn't it just make your mouth water

I think Luke's favorite toy by far was his Cat truck he can ride on.  Its just like daddy's truck he works on at work.  He loves to honk the horn on it.

His Aunt Gracie got him a huge stuffed alligator (don't ask how she got started on the alligator).  He loves it also, although in this picture he looks like he's trying to get away from it.

So overall, it was a great first Christmas for Luke.  There are so many more pictures that I have on snapfish or I will put on facebook.

Unfortunately along with Santa came the sick bug.  I felt like I was trying to come down with something for a couple days before Christmas, but I was taking vitamin C to try and kill it before it got started.  Luke came down with a cold the day after Christmas and he was pretty miserable.  Poor guy.  I hate when he's sick because I feel so helpless.  The day after that I came down with a cold that I am fighting hard now.  And today Joe says he feels like he's getting a cold.  So it has made the rounds around our house.  Gracie was here yesterday, I wonder if she got sick too?  Joe and I never got sick before we had Luke, but babies don't have as good immune system as we do, so now he passes his stuff on to us, which is fine.  I would take getting sick any day over him suffering.  So much for all the organizing we were going to do over Christmas break. 

This is all for now in this blog.  Luke's asleep so I am going to get some sleep too!  I feel tomorrow will be a long day!