Updates from "Camp Turner"

I think it's pretty funny that I read some blogs almost daily and am disappointed when there's nothing new...yet I go two or three weeks without writing anything.  Oops.

We've pretty much just put our heads down and plowed through the past couple weeks.   There's been lots of changes and I feel like things will FINALLY calm down.  That's always asking for trouble though, right?  I mean, as soon as you think you have things under control -- BAM!--- that's usually when chaos strikes in our house. 

So...what have we been up to since Luke's party?  Well, our nanny quit.  And gave us four days notice.  Then our A/C broke and it took five days to get it fixed. Kelsey's mom came to visit to help out with Luke until we could find a replacement to watch Luke, our cable went out, we had a huuuuge lizard in the guest room (while my mother-in-law was in bed, of course, and there was a massive Godzilla gecko on the guest room ceiling!) my mom had surgery, we hired a new nanny (and it's working out great!), and we've been working like dogs.  Whew!  I got tired all over again just typing all that.  Ok, so maybe it doesn't sound like all that much but holy moly.  It was a little like summer camp between the no A/C, no TV and the outside coming inside...Camp Turner!  Hopefully, things are status quo now and we can just cruise into fall (oh please, please please bring on the fall weather...I'm so excited to pull out boots and sweaters!)

I feel like I haven't been documenting Luke's accomplishments like I should and since that's the true purpose of this 'ol blog, here goes:

From his first full day with Dawn, his new babysitter.  Seems happy to me!

He's really "talking" more:  Mama, Dadda, Bye-Bye, Baby ("BayBuh"), Meow.  It's incredible how excited we get when he even tries to mimic our pitch but doesn't get quite get the sounds out.  We think he's genius even when he fails.  I suppose that's pretty close to the definition of a parent, huh?

Luke's definitely standing on his own.  And now that he's figured out how to sit down on his own...he can even catch himself when he starts to fall!  With the darn hardwood floors throughout our house, it's a huge relief.  I just know he's going to be walking around soon though and we'll have another learning curve.  I'm ready for it.  But I'm so not.

He's a wild man in the bath tub.  Flipping onto his tummy and kicking and splashing, standing up, trying to rip the soap tray off the wall.  We usually have to tag team the tub time.  On our list this weekend is to buy one of the no-skid pads for the tub.  I told him the other day, "You and Grandma Alberta [my grandma] are going to be twins!" and I don't know what it was but he got a huge grin and laughed and laughed.  So, we'll be getting a tub mat.

But, putting his lotion and his diaper on after bathtime...FORGET IT! By the time he's clean, in jammies all cozy and ready for bed, I usually need a shower from my work out.  But overall, he loves the water and I think he just gets upset to get out of the tub.  He loves the pool too.  I hope that next summer he still loves the water this much because it's been so fun to take him to the pool all summer. 

With fall coming, we are excited to take him to a high school football game.  We're still trying to figure out how to accomplish this since most games start at 7:30 and he can barely make it to his 7:00 bedtime.  But we're determined to find a way!

We've also entered the cabinet phase.  You know, where the only thing he wants to do is pull everything out of the cabinet?  Yep, our house is constantly a wreck.  He takes everything out, puts it back in, takes it back out...over and over.  But always ends with it out.  Funny thing is that Kelsey asked me the other day if I'd ever heard of any other babies getting in the cabinets like this.  I said, "yep, I think it's kind of a phase most kids go through".  Then as if he didn't believe me, he's all "then why do they make cabinet locks?"  Oh, sweet daddy.  Because we only let him in CERTAIN cabinets...the Luke-safe ones.  Sweet, sweet, daddy...always thinking, that one!

Have a great weekend!  We are taking Luke out to dinner tonight and then he has a little friend's birthday party tomorrow.  Other than that, we'll just be maxin' and relaxin'...and sleeping sprawled out like a teenager!