We took a trip to Greenville, SC over the weekend. That's Greenville without an -e. We met friends of ours who live in Statesboro, GA. It's a short trip for each of us, and neither family had particularly involved plans for Easter, so we decided to spend the long weekend exploring!
We got to Greenville at about noon and had a delicious lunch at a cafe before meeting Larissa, Raphael, Gabriella, and Nathan at the Greenville Children's Museum. The little kids had fun playing on all the awesome exhibits, and Lukie had a great time watching them having fun! He also loved the water table made for little guys like him!
We met friends from Champaign-Urbana for dinner at a Persian restaurant, where Lukie ate everything in sight, and the next morning, we took Lukie to the swimming pool. He wasn't particularly happy when I first got him in there...in fact, he clung to me like a tree frog and cried. Eventually, though, he relaxed a bit and started to have a little fun watching the other kids and spinning around in the water.
And then this happened...
We had camera trouble the rest of that day, so we don't have pictures of the beautiful park we visited, or the ducks that Lukie watched, or the lunch where we all ate gelato...but we had so much fun!
Today was Lukie's 9-month doctor's appointment. He weighed in at 24 lbs. 15 oz, and measures greater than the 90th percentile for weight (the doctor guessed at 97th) and greater than the 75th for height. He's a BIG boy, and the doctor said that give my height, Pete's build, and Lukie's measurements (including his MASSIVE feet-- seriously, baby shoes do NOT fit him), we'll likely have a very big boy on our hands.
What a lovely weekend. Seriously. It comes as no surprise, I'm sure, when I say that Pete and I MISS home so much sometimes. We miss the wide-open space, the wind (I know, Illinoisans, you think we're crazy, but the wind just NEVER blows down here!), the grid-system roads...but Tennessee, I'll hand it to you. You do spring RIGHT.
Saturday was a great day of just hanging out at the house and getting work done. We had planned to go to Johnson City so that I could buy a swimsuit, but I found a cheap one at TJ Maxx in Morristown on Friday and...well, I hate shopping...like HATE it...so we called off the shopping trip. The only problem with that? We had planned to meet my Tennessee BFF, Miss Suzi and her daughter Jamie, for pizza. So instead, I made homemade pizza with some awesome grilled artichoke hearts that my mom sends me from Illinois, and we had a backyard pizza picnic! Pizza and hanging out outside...it's a win-win!
The pizza crust recipe is one I stumbled on last week, but we've had it twice in the last week! I used to make a yeast-risen pizza crust all the time when I was home (before I found a job here in Tennessee), but that took like 2 hours! This only takes 20 minutes and is still really great! I see a lot of pizza in our future.
Lukie couldn't wait for the pizza to be done...obviously...
He's been doing that funny grin with his eyes all squinted up a lot lately. Knucklehead. And I look forward to years of him checking what's in the oven. That thing on the stovetop is a custard tart...he likes that almost as much as he likes pizza!
Sunday was another awesome day. We took Lukie to his first baseball game (just one of many, I'm sure)! We went to a 2:00 game of the Tennessee Smokies near Gatlinburg. Little buddy slept the whole way, was an angel while we were in Bass Pro Shop, the Chocolate Monkey chocolate store, and the stadium, and then slept the whole way home. It was sunny and breezy and beautiful the whole time.
We can't wait until the age when he gets excited about going to a baseball game and eating hotdogs!
And, as promised, here is a video of Mr. Go, as he is now called.
I think that calls for a giant bowl of banana pudding!!
And probably a photo shoot!
And possibly a backyard barbecue, in which Tennessee Grandma Suzi tries to feed Lukie some pickles...with mixed results...
...followed by a post-baked-beans bath...
...and some playtime while watching The Lorax, Lukie's favorite movie.
Okay, some of these photos weren't taken on the same day...but you get the picture. We had a great Sunday afternoon birthday barbecue with Suzi and her family, including son Jordy, who is in from Nebraska and met Lukie for the first time!
Oh, and Lukie has learned a new skill! He waves "hello" and "bye-bye" now! I'll try to get it on video soon!
Happy Birthday, Little Lukie. We love you and are amazed by you every day!
Every night when Lukie takes his bath, we sit and chat about what happened that day. I sing to him (lately it's been "Skid Row" from Little Shop of Horrors), and then he tells me about whatever it is he's doing...
It's pretty incredible how many things are just clicking with him lately. He started crawling last Friday, March 28th. He's been sleeping for a longer period at the beginning of the night lately (he went from 9:00-2:15 the other day! I know that doesn't sound like much but if you knew how bad of a sleeper he's been since November...I was SO excited!). He's happier with a little more mobility, and he has figured out waving bye-bye and hello, too!
I'll post pictures soon-- Lukie turned 9 months old on Thursday! That's 3/4 of a year!
