Big Boy Bike

My dad bought Luke a bike a while back and from time to time Matthew has let Luke ride (meaning Matthew pushes him around the culdesac.) Tonight Matthew put the training wheels on and Luke got to ride all by himself. He was so proud!


It just kills me that he is already so big. I still feel like he's my baby and then I see pictures like this and it hits me that he's growing up so fast.

Lily loves to watch her big brother. Her eyes followed him everywhere he went.

And when he got off, she toddled right over and tried to swing her leg up. Why do I feel like I'm going to blink and when I open my eyes she'll be three?

New Camera

I have been looking forward to getting a new camera for months and now that I have it ("it" being a Nikon D5000) I can't stop taking pictures. I absolutely love it. Here are two of my favorite pics of Luke and Lily.

Tired Baby

This is what a really tired, crazy haired baby girl looked like when her Mommy went in to wake her up from her nap today.



Probably no one else will get this, but when I see her like this she just melts my heart.

The Bartkowiaks Paint!

Luke's room is finally done! Matthew painted on Saturday (I helped!) and then yesterday we hung everything on the walls. Luke really likes it and has actually slept really well the last two nights. Here's hoping that's a sign of good things to come!

Luke's dresser wall - he picked out the picture himself.


His bed and chair.


I'm happy with the way it turned out - thanks to those of you who helped me decide on colors!

Luke and Lily also painted today. Luke loves to paint, but honestly this is the first time I've let Lily join in.

Here she is hamming it up for the camera.


And here's how she really feels about having paint on her hand.


Can you tell she's a little bit of a priss?

And one last shot of my sweet Luke just enjoying himself.

Benign Murmur

We got good news from the cardiologist this morning! Luke's heart murmur is definitely just a benign murmur that will likely go away as he gets older. We had been to see Dr. Reddy at Texas Children's at St. Luke's when Luke was one and he thought that the murmur sounded like an innocent one. He wanted to see us back when Luke turned three so that he could make sure that the murmur was fading. We went this morning and had an EKG and then Dr. Reddy listened to Luke's heart. I had a few panicky moments when Dr. Reddy told me he wanted to get an Echo done because the murmur wasn't fading. The fear was short lived though and Luke was a champ during the whole thing. It turns out that it is just an innocent murmur and that either the hole is not ever going to close (which is fine) or that it just sounds loud because Luke is such a skinny kid.

We are so thankful to have two healthy kids!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Today is my sweet Luke's third birthday! Aside from being sick and having to go to the doctor's this morning, he had a pretty good day. Tonight we had a family party and he got to open tons of presents and play with all of his grandparents and uncles. It was so nice to see him having fun after he had been so miserable this morning.

This next little snippet is something that happened this evening that I hope I will always remember. It is a perfect example of why I love Luke so very much and why I think I am so blessed to get to raise him.

After dinner, when Luke started opening his presents, the second one he opened was from his sister. When I told him it was from Lily, he puts it down and starts to walk over to her (she was still getting cleaned up in the kitchen.) Then he stops, comes back, picks up the present and walks back over to her. Before he even opens it, he tells her, "Thank you Lily for my nice dinosaur present." It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen and it makes me so grateful that they have each other and that they love each other so much.

It's amazing that as a parent you really do love your kids more every day. I remember thinking when Luke was born that I had never loved someone so much. And now I love him a million times more than I did then.

Happy third birthday Luke!

Lily's Family Party

On Lily's actual birthday we had all the grandparents and uncles over to celebrate our sweet girl turning ONE! She had such a great time being the center of attention and it was a perfect end to an already perfect day. Here are just a few of the pictures we took.

The cupcakes I made for little miss.


It took her a minute to figure out that she could pick up the whole cupcake, but she caught on soon enough.


And then went to town on it!

Having fun opening presents.

I can't believe my baby is one already. She is still not walking but she babbles to us all day long, with a few identifiable words, the two most common being Mama and shoes. She does love her shoes! She is a little mimic and always wants to be in the middle of whatever big brother is doing. She is still a great sleeper and she loves pizza and grilled cheese but hates all veggies (Surprise!). She has a doctor's appointment next week with Luke so I'll post about how much she's grown then. She is still a sweet snuggler and sometimes she'll let me just cuddle her on my chest until she falls asleep. As much as she is getting to be a big girl, she's still my baby and I'm going to cherish every moment with her!