Just a Couple Things...

First of all, please pray for Tommy's sister Sherri and her family. Sherri lost her husband Jeff on Monday when he lost a battle against aggressive cancer at just 42 years old. Sherri has two children, Krystal and Hunter, who thought of Jeff as their father, and Jeff has two children, Derrekk and Darlyn who have lost their father very, very young. They need all the support they can get to make it through this terrible time.

Secondly, next week is drop-off week for Operation Christmas Child. If you're interested in packing a shoe box for a child in need, check out their website here. They're a great Christian organization who brings the message of Christ along with a shoe box full of toys and goodies to children all over the world.

And, finally, Chrissie took some Christmas pictures for us today. I wanted to get it done early before the holidays get too crazy. Here's a couple adorable ones of our boy.

Halloween, Part 2

We were visited by the beautiful Katie and Claire butterflies

Luke did not want to keep his hands out of the candy bowl!

Alexa visited with her Mommy and Daddy and told us “HI!” and “thank you!”

we had mummy dogs for dinner

and Luke double fisted his french fry in one hand and cereal bar from Princess Alexa in the other.

It’s been a great Halloween so far! It’s 7:30 and we’ve had about 50 trick or treaters so far. Luke loves standing at the door watching the kids walk up. He’ll be going to bed very soon. He’s had a long day. Hope you’re all having a great holiday!

Fall/Halloween Pictures

Chrissie came over today to take some updated pictures of Luke and us.  I love them!! 

I can’t wait for the trick-or-treaters to start showing up!!

Flashback- Halloween Edition

Here’s some shots of our little pumpkin last year.  Many more pictures to come for this year!  I can’t believe how much he’s changed!!

Venus

So do y’all who read Kelly’s Korner remember when she posted about Blanche?  Blanche is a mannequin who was always posted in the back door of a house near where she lived and she was always dressed up.  Kelly posted about her one time, and intended to continue posting about her, but then the house was sold and Blanche disappeared.   The Blanche post made me immediately think of my parents neighbors who have a Venus de Milo replica statue on the side of their driveway, and always dress her up.  Well, when I went to snap a picture after I read about Blanche, she was naked :(  They didn’t dress her up all summer, and to my excitement today when I left work I noticed that she’s all decked out for Thanksgiving!!

She definitely needs a name.  Any suggestions?  Some of my favorite outfits have been a coconut bra and grass skirt, a back to school get up complete with backpack, and a red cape and holly head band for Christmas. 

Wow...

...where to begin?? Let's start with the star of this blog- Baby Luke updates.
*Luke is 14 months old and is wearing 12 month clothes and a size 3/sometimes 4 diaper. I, like fellow blogger Brandy, bought Luke's whole fall/winter wardrobe in size 18 months. What was I thinking? He can wear the shirts, but the pants just fall off of him and are 6 inches too long. Saturday I had him in a size 18 months shirt and vest with 6 months pants on him! They were a little bit short, but pretty much still fit from last winter!
*He still only says a couple of words (baby, something that sounds kind of like cracker, mama, dada) but it is very clear that he understands everything that we say. If you ask him to do something like put something in the trash, or go get a specific toy, he does exactly what you ask. It is so strange to realize he can understand us after feeling like I'm pretty much talking to myself for the last year!
*He shakes his head "no" no matter what question you ask him. I hope this passes soon because it's very confusing.
*To dance he shakes his head and flails one arm, sometimes two, around wildly.
*He is a full time walker and is getting very, very fast. He's borderline running.
*He goes to bed between 7 and 8 and normally sleeps through the night, but he just cut another tooth and now has a little cold, so the past couple of weeks we've had some frequent wake ups in the night.
*He loves his bat, his ride on fire truck, balls... and anything that's not a toy. This still baffles me. Pens, spoons, coat hangers, hair brushes, pretty much anything he's not supposed to have.
*He loves to brush his teeth, but he does NOT like to have the toothbrush taken from him afterwards. He wants to carry it around for the rest of the day.
*It takes him a while to warm up, but once he does he's very giggly and smiley. When he first gets around new people he has a very serious look and is very quiet. But after a while he opens up and laughs and plays and talks.
*He still uses his pacifier and I was kind of freaking out about when to take it from him, but after reading Angela's blog about getting rid of Carter's, I'm starting to think I should wait until he's a little older and I can explain to him and he understands.

Okay, so now on to what we've been doing this past month.

October 8th was Tommy's 28th birthday! We had softball that night so I brought cupcakes to softball and afterwards everyone went to Applebee's, but I headed home with the baby because he had wet through his diaper and we were unprepared with a spare outfit.

The following day we headed to Brian and Lauren's wedding! It was an absolutely GORGEOUS wedding. Beautiful centerpieces, lighting, lounge areas, s'mores and jiffy pop table to roast over the fire, candy bar. It was just perfect. Brian and Lauren looked great and we had SO much fun. My parents brought Luke back to their house around his bedtime, and Tommy and I stayed and partied way too late. Shew. We were feeling it the next day.



They literally didn't stop smiling all night

family pic. Luke ate alot of graham crackers to keep him content :)

how adorable is Katie in her tutu?! Each flower girl wore a different color

beautiful table

Luke looked very handsome :)

Tuesday, October 12th was my 26th birthday. We had dinner at my parents. Tommy surprised me with gorgeous diamond earrings. But, he actually gave them to me on Saturday so I could wear them to the wedding. He kept saying while we were getting ready "I really want to give you your present!" I kept telling him to wait, because I had no idea it was beautiful jewelry!! So he called my Mom and asked if she thought he should give me my present. She said yes, and when I opened the box I understood why! They match the Journey necklace he gave me for Valentine's day a few years ago.

October 17th was Bonnie's bridal shower. Special shout out to blogger Mandi who helped me secure the Community Center! Thanks girl!


table setup- flowers, mini pumpkins and gourds, mini pumpkin pies as favors, and cards to share a story or advice with Bonnie

Andrea and Luke are wearing matching outfits!!

Bonnie opening gifts. I have since cut Luke's mullet off.

Grandma holding baby Andrea

I LOVE TISSUE PAPER!

And for the final even for this month, Bonnie's bachelorette party was this past Saturday. We had so much fun! We met up at Sarah's, the bus picked us up, took us to El Dorado for dinner, and then we headed to the State Theater in Falls Church to see the Legwarmers. They're an 80's cover band, and we were in full 80's attire! After the show we walked to Becca's and then left Sunday morning. The Legwarmers were awesome, I highly recommend them for a fun night out!

our favorite Legwarmer on the right- Booty Jorts

my amazing sisters

To finish out the post, just some cute pictures of Luke from the past couple of weeks.


I love seeing what this child's hair looks like when he wakes up

wearing his halloween pjs... death grip on his toothbrush

he got into my laundry and apparently wanted to wear my pink tank top


Mommy, why are you making me take this picture?

Okay, sorry for the marathon post, but that's what's been going on in the world of Baldwin for the past month. I promise I'll get Halloween pictures up ASAP!!

Three Weeks Behind!

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I blogged!  Once I get behind it’s hard for me to get back in the swing of things.  I’m trying to think of what’s been going on… Okay, so the weekend of the 18th my family went to Ocean City.  We left straight from our softball games on Friday night (where I acquired a black eye that is still hanging around) and got there around 3am.  Saturday we went to the boardwalk and won 2,800 tickets in the arcade to win Luke this awesome fire truck.

It was so funny.  I had left the arcade and was just kind of strolling around with the baby and my Mom and my sisters were NOT coming out of the arcade.  I finally went back in to see what they were doing and they were frantically trying to get a hold of 800 more tickets to win it :)

There was a hair show in Ocean City so Sunday I was in class and then my sisters and Luke came and picked me up and we took a quick trip to the outlets.  We had to swing by the Steelers bar where Ryan and Tommy were watching the game, and everyone in there wanted to eat Luke up in his Steelers jersey!  Kind of odd to find a Steelers bar in Ocean City, but it’s tucked up in there and it was CRAZY in there. 

And here he is showing that he knows where his feet are :)

Then, very early on Monday morning, at 2:06, Amanda had baby Andrea Jane!!!!!!!!  I kept assuring her that nobody has the baby on their due date and I would not be in Ocean City when she had the baby, but I was :(  So, Monday we got up and started packing and cleaning and headed out around noon.  We got home, dropped our stuff off, let the dog out and headed right over to visit them in Fredericksburg. 

On the way there, Luke started saying his first non mama/dada word… BABY!  He said it over and over.  Once we got to Amanda’s room though… nothin’.

me and the sweet new little love bug

proud Mommy

Luke was NOT happy.  Every time me or Tommy held the baby he would whine and reach out to us.

Andrea’s mad that she’s being unwrapped

opening her eyes to say hello

I can’t wait to see her again!!

Sunday we went to the St. Mary’s County fair to enter Luke in the baby contest, but we were too late for his age group :(  Oh well, I know he would have won :)  So, we just ate, watched the pig races, and went home. 

Here’s Luke wearing an adorable little baseball hat that Lynsi crocheted

Isn’t she talented??  Here’s a little girl hat she made

If you’re interested in having something made, just let me know and I’ll get you her info.  She JUST started doing this and I think she’s doing so well!

Yesterday I let Luke feed himself his yogurt.  He definitely made a mess, but he was getting some in his mouth and I guess that’s all that matters