Luke Luke Luke

Aaaah! He is just so dang cute I can't even stand it.

(like the drool on Seth's thumb?)

Kathleen Karen Shaw Bluth

Toddler Kathleen

High School Kathleen

Obviously I've been scanning old photos today. It's so much fun to look back at old pictures. My mom had a birthday while we were in Utah. It was the day before my brother's wedding so we didn't do too much to celebrate. My mom is a great example of the kind of mom I want to be. She will do ANYTHING for her kids and not because she feels like she has to, but I think she really likes to. We give her a hard time sometimes reminiscing about her less-than-perfect moments (we think those moments are funny, she does not) but all my siblings agree that we wouldn't want anyone else for a mom.

Look at these cute boys...

Makes me excited for a few years from now when Taft and Luke are good buds.

Lukester is Four (and a half) Months Old

Another month of Luke's first year has flown by. Luke is getting close to rolling from his back to tummy but can already roll from his tummy to back. He recently discovered that sucking on his fingers makes a good substitute for a binky, it's usually his index and middle finger. He drools like crazy, I swear there should be teeth popping up, but his gums are still just as gummy as ever. He seems to be more interested in Taft and might even think Taft is funny sometimes. It's kind of hard to tell, but I think Luke might be a momma's boy which I think I deserve because Taft is definitely a daddy's boy. Luke hasn't decided he wants to sleep through the night yet, which surprisingly I'm okay with. Although, this week he's had some rough nights that involved several wake ups. I'm okay with one feeding in the middle of the night, but that's it. He usually goes down around 7:30 or 8:00 and isn't up for the day until around 8:00 the next morning. I think this kid might appreciate sleep more than his older brother. Luke is such a smiley boy and I still have to try really hard not to squeeze his cute little guts out. I think he looks like Seth so sometimes I call him Little Seth. I love having a baby in our home and I kind of wish there was a safe, healthy way to stunt his growth so he could be a baby forever.

Iron Girl Las Vegas

(I just wrote this post and it got deleted so I have to rewrite it. So annoying)

For starters, Seth is doing a rotation in Utah this month, so we're staying at my parents for 4 weeks. This past Friday we loaded up the car at my parents house and headed to Las Vegas where I did my first ever triathlon, the Iron Girl Las Vegas sprint triathlon.

The boys did pretty good on the way down but once we got into Vegas Luke started to lose it. We pulled up close to hotel, but passed it and had to turn around. Since Luke was acting like he was going to die, I decided to get out with him and get us checked in to the hotel. The doors were locked so I asked Seth to hit the unlock button on the key remote. He did and and our car completely shut down. We were able to get it out of the way of traffic and a nice guy stopped and tried to jump start it but it didn't do anything. I was starting to stress because A) car problems are always stressful, especially on vacation, especially the night before a race and B) I had to get to registration by 6:00 p.m. and it was 4:30 p.m. My friend Abbie was doing the race too so I called her to see if she had left to get to registration and luckily she hadn't left yet. I took the boys up to our hotel room while Seth lugged all of our stuff from about a block away. Luke was screaming, Taft had shut his fingers in the hotel room door so he was screaming, and I was stressed and had a very large headache and I started crying too. It was not a pretty sight. Abbie and her husband came to pick me and Luke up so we loaded up their car with our gear and bikes and took off for registration, while Seth and Taft were left to figure out the car problems. Abbie and I had 30 minutes to get to registration before it closed and it was about 30 minutes away. Luckily we got there just in time, got checked in, set up our bikes, and were good to go for the next morning. Meanwhile, Seth was on the phone with the tow truck place (who went to the wrong location), different mechanics trying to see who was open, the mechanic who installed the keyless system, and all the while trying to keep Taft entertained. The tow truck guy finally arrived but told Seth he was only allowed to take one person in his truck. After getting the guy to feel sorry for Seth, he agreed to let Seth and Taft ride in the car while it was being towed. The car was taken to an auto parts store and Seth was able to fix everything by changing out a blown fuse. Four dollars and a few hours later the disaster had been averted. By 8 o'clock we were all back as a family, none of us had eaten dinner, and miraculously Taft was still in a good mood. The day after all the drama Taft said, "Car broken, truck awesome".

Despite the traumatic events of the day before, I LOVED the race. I definitely want to make this an annual event for me. Best news of the race: I faced my fear of swimming in open water and risk getting eaten by a fish/shark/sea creature AND the icing on the cake was I didn't even come in dead last!! GO ME!! It was only a sprint so: 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.2 mile run, but it was still awesome. Seth was my "trainer" and cheerleader. He wrote up a training schedule for me and made sure I stuck to it. He was a huge help on my longer training days...training for something with a nursing baby can be pretty tricky. Seth made it to the race before the start with both boys in tow and was even able to keep Luke asleep until I finished. Luke will not take a bottle so I was really worried he'd be starving and would be screaming the whole time.

My friend Abbie (we worked at DCFS together) did freaking awesome and placed 2nd in our age group. I won't tell you my place because then you'll feel sorry for me. Abbie didn't even train for this race...but she's training for a marathon right now, is super fit, and just rocks. I wish I was like Abbie in like a million ways.

And because I know you want to see me in a wet suit and swim cap....

This picture doesn't really capture how blazing fast I was, and I'm not wearing white leggings, those are just my legs

Seth, the boys, and I stayed in Vegas for a few more days after the race and just swam and semi-relaxed. I say semi because how relaxed can you really be with a baby and a toddler?

The Condo That Could Have Been

Luke did fabulous on the plane ride. Taft and Luke both took their first flights at around 3 months old. 

Mid-April Little Luke and I took a trip to San Diego to begin the house-hunt. My mom met us there for a couple of days and it was great to have her along for opinions and help with Luke. On the second day of the search I found a fantastic, fantastic place: totally move-in ready, new carpet in bedrooms, hardwood floors in main living areas, washer/dryer, attached garage, only one shared wall, updated kitchen and bathrooms, 2 bed, 2 bath, close to Seth's work, and right across the street from the park. Practically perfect. I called Seth about it and we decided to make an offer. The morning I was leaving I signed the paperwork for the offer and right before leaving for the airport I decided to do a drive-by. 

I should mention that the first day we saw the place we noticed a bunch of homeless people at the park. The social worker side of me thought, "Homeless people are welcome at this park, they're just like you and me, but they live outside. Life has dealt them a bad hand, let's be compassionate and understanding." But the Mom side of me thought, "Homeless people are crazy, drug-abusing, alcoholics". The first day I tried to ignore the Mom side because I liked the place so much, plus the homeless people weren't by the playgroup so we'd be safe, right? 

Well, when I drove by the place the morning of my flight I noticed two police cars at the park. I decided to stop and ask them about the area. I told them we were thinking about buying a place right across the street and their answer was a big, fat, emphatic "DON'T DO IT". They validated my Mom thoughts by confirming that the majority of those homeless folks living at the park were in fact crazy, drug-abusers, alcoholics, and to top it off, prostitutes. Sweet. 

We were very bummed about it and realized we should put the house-buying plan on hold until we're more familiar with the areas we can afford and that are close to Seth's work. We had spent so much time looking at places online and were super discouraged when I got home. Our realtor told us that if we wanted to take our time looking, she'd rent an apartment that she owns to us, month to month, until we find a place. The great part is, it's on Coronado Island (or I guess technically it's a peninsula but either way it's awesome). We're thinking we might not want to move once we're there! 

Did you know that probably the main reason I picked our current apartment in Spokane is because I liked the kitchen cupboards and thought my dishes would look cute? I'm 100% serious. Isn't that the dumbest reason to pick an apartment? I picked cute cupboards over a washer/dryer, dishwasher, 2nd bathroom, and covered garage. The worst part, they don't even look that cute. I told Seth I was going to try really hard to place functionality above potential cute-ness during the house hunt. 

Here are some pictures of our Spokanian apartment. I never decorated because when we moved in I was sick as a dog being pregnant and then by the time I had energy we only had a few months left. So, it's boring, but here it is:

Note to self and others: Don't pick an apartment based solely on the cupboards

Note to self and others: carpet in a dining area is the dumbest idea ever if you have kids

Note to self and others: Light colored couches are also a terrible choice if you have little kids