Home Sweet Home

The boxes are unpacked, the furniture is in (almost) and most importantly, the surround sound is working on the TV! We are officially moved in to our new home. Notice I say home and not house. That’s exactly how we feel about this place. The area is gorgeous and green and the reason we wanted to move to the northwest. The neighbors are warm and welcoming and our house has turned out to be everything we were looking for. Luke is loving having a backyard to play in and always wants to go outside. Even in the rain! We’ve become true pacific northwesterners…we put his rain gear over his pj’s and off he goes!

Luke has become very proficient in hitting his ball off the tee. We think he’s going to be a lefty since he tends to hit less foul balls and more homeruns that way!

He has made some really nice friends especially the little girl next door. They are just two peas in a pod! With play dates every week they are bound to become the best of friends.

 

 

The month of October has been lots of fun with trips to the pumpkin patch and petting zoo. Luke was a little too scared to ride the pony but he was just fine giving him a good rub around the ears. Of course Luke’s favorite thing at the whole park was the authentic steam powered train! He wanted to ride it over and over and didn’t want to get off. Not even for the yummy hot dogs! The whole day was a ton of fun and the best part for all of us was when Luke picked out the perfect pumpkin for Halloween. Of course his method is a little unorthodox but it works!

Right before Halloween both Luke and I came down with the swine flu.( FYI, there have been no vaccines given out in Seattle due to the shortage.) But we were both lucky to escape complication free and most importantly, Luke was well enough to go trick or treating! This is very crucial to Amanda and I since our children will be our primary source of all things chocolate. Last year he was too young for the good stuff but this year he was rocking and rolling. It took a while but he got the hang of it. He didn’t say trick or treat but who wouldn’t give candy to a little monkey who looked like this?!

Finally….6 months later

It has been quite a busy six months for the Bishop family! We bought a house, spent lots of time in Colorado and watched Luke grow by leaps and bounds. From crawling, to walking to running anywhere he can. His personality has blossomed and he has become a sweet, funny and outgoing kid. He listens (relatively) well but just wants to be independent!

Our time on vacation with the rest of the family was fantastic and we are so glad that Luke is old enough to enjoy his cousins from Oklahoma. Luke is fascinated by older boys and he followed 4 yr old Brendan around like a puppy dog. Brendan was amazingly sweet with Luke. It’s a good thing too because they’ll be spending lots of family time together. On vacation, Luke learned to say fish (shish) which is a must since the property is named Fish Camp. Now all he has to do if tie a fly on and replace his tippet and we’ll be all set.

Here are a few more great pics of our amazing Durango vacation. There aren’t too many pictures of Amanda and I because we were too busy mountain biking up canyon walls and kayaking down the Pine and Animas Rivers to remember our camera! If you want to see more, go to the web gallery. There are also pics of our new house (Madison House). Ok Molly, I fulfilled my end of the bargain! Your turn…

P.S.  We’ll be moving into our new house in a few days so I’ll update the blog with new stuff then!

I’m One Year Old

Luke celebrated his first birthday this month! We had a great party at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Even Bubbie came in to celebrate the big day. Mo and Olivia made a special cake just for Luke and an even better version for the adults! Luke got some really cute presents but the best part was being able to celebrate with family and friends. Thanks all!

It is so hard to believe that a year has gone by but all you have to do is look at Luke to see how much he’s grown. He spends most of his days cruising around or walking/pushing his toy hippo around the apartment. He hasn’t taken his first steps yet but we’re pretty sure we’re only days away from that milestone. He loves to talk and I tell everyone that he gets it from his Bubbie (sorry mom!). He’ll talk to anyone…the man on the bus, the woman at the supermarket, even the dogs at the park. If they’ll listen, he’ll chat. It might not be cute when he’s older but it makes everyone who hears him laugh and smile. He’s one happy baby, or should I say toddler! He also loves the train that runs by our house. Every time he hears it, he races to the door and watches it go by. Between that and throwing anything he get’s his hands on he’s definitely all boy!

Luke started his second session of swim classes this week and he absolutely loves it. If he had his way, we’d spend all day in the pool. I think he must have been a fish in a past life!

As soon as we get in the water, his arms start flapping and he won’t stop until it’s time to get out. Watch out Michael Phelps!

We’re very excited at what this coming year will bring. We’re planning lots of trips including visiting GSB friends in May and lots of Durango time this summer. It will be an exciting year of adventure and growth. Don’t forget to check our web gallery for more pics and some video.

Spring in February

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past month hanging out with good friends and watching Luke grow by leaps and bounds. He is a crawling machine, trying to explore every inch that he can possibly reach. The weather hasn’t been too bad so we’ve been trying to get out and do some hiking. This picture was taken on a hike in Issaquah with our friends Darcy, Amy and baby Zoe. You can see Mount Rainier and the cloud cover behind Luke, which blanketed the whole area all the way down to Puget Sound. The awesome part was that it was a gorgeous spring-like day on the mountain and cold and rainy at our apartment. The perfect time to be out doors!

When not out and about, Luke and I spend a lot of time going to play dates and enjoying the city life. We started swim class last week and he is CRAZY about it! He’ll spend the whole half hour trying to get as much of himself in the pool as possible. He is starting to actively play with Stormy, throwing the ball and climbing all over her, and uses every opportunity to grab the cat. Poor Angel! It’s a good thing she has a lion cut or she’d be missing patches of fur.

Luke is now trying to expand his vocabulary beyond just “Mamma.” He likes to say dog  when he sees them around town and will try to imitate words that we say to him. He understands signs but has yet to make them back. All in due time. He sure does love to talk though and does his baby babble everywhere we go. He must get that from Amanda .

The first week in February marked our annual snowboarding trip with our So Cal friends. As we all know, last year I sacrificed my snowboarding season in the name of motherhood. This year, we had enough babysitters that both Amanda and I could be out on the slopes shredding it up together while Luke was bonding with his aunties. We stayed in Copper Mountain, Colorado in the most tricked out house any of us had ever seen. It was amazing amounts of fun and it really helped Luke’s separation anxiety which seems to be lessening every week. If any of you are interested in looking, the pictures and video of our trip are on our web gallery: gallery.mac.com/thebishopfam.

Future Cover of Rolling Stone

Here’s our future rock star! Who needs Christmas presents when all you really need is a box and some drumsticks. He is showing off his professional banging skills which, according to him, always make the ladies swoon.

Since we’ve been home Luke has had a couple of firsts. To begin, he was sick for the first time with a fever and cough. He was not a happy camper but made it through like a champ. On a happier note, he also had his first haircut which went a lot smoother than we thought it would. We had to wait for him to overcome his initial excitement before the cutting could commence. He really liked the little car seat and kept shaking the steering wheel! His hair still has a crazy cowlick but at least it’s manageable. Amanda was not confident in her hair cutting abilities having skipped that class at the GSB so we decided to try someone professional. We think it was a wise choice and it worked out very well!

Also, we wanted to let everyone know that we posted new pictures and a video on our web gallery: http://gallery.me.com/thebishopfam – “Christmas 2008″, “Luke 6+ months”, “Luke and Stormy”.

The End of a Fantastic Year

A lot of time has passed since our last post so I’ll try not to get bogged down with too many details. Christmas has come and gone but we had an amazing time in Colorado. While we were there, Luke officially started to crawl. A few days before Christmas, we were playing on the floor when he threw a toy and realized it was too far to reach. He then just up and crawled to get it! It was the first time he put all the steps together to actually move someplace. I was so startled that I tried to get him to do it again but I seem to forget that this child has a will all his own. By the time we got home to Seattle, he was motoring all over the house. Good thing we baby proofed before we left!

The day after we got to Colorado, a snow storm dumped 18 inches at the house and 30 inches of powder on Durango Mountain Resort.

The roads were closed to the resort so we all decided to head outside and enjoy the snow as a family. The driveway made a perfect hill for sledding!

As soon as the weather allowed, we headed out to the mountain for some snowboarding/skiing. Durango Mountain Resort has a great day care so that allowed both moms to enjoy some much needed shredding time with the older kids. Luke also got to spend some time away from Mommy which was a little hard for him at first but ended up working out. There were lot’s of other babies and staff to keep him occupied and I think he had a good time overall. By the end of our trip we received a total of 3 feet of powder. Neither Amanda nor I have ever been in so much snow and it was an experience we’ll never forget and it completely made up for missing out on last season.

When we weren’t digging ourselves out of fresh powder, we were spending quality Bishop/Schmersal family time. The Durango house wasn’t finished when we were there this summer so we were so amazed at how gorgeous it turned out to be. We have totally fallen in love with the Fish Camp and are counting the days until we can go back. It is a place that we are looking forward to making many, many more memories  in the years to come.

Making Up For Lost Time

We’re sorry for slacking on the blog posts. It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Bishops! Poor Luke started with separation anxiety and is having a hard time when Mommy gets out of sight. He’s also got his top teeth and by the time the first one came through, he was a wreck. It was like night and day when he woke up smiling one morning with this sharp little white nub poking through his gums. You could tell in his eyes that he was so much happier! His second top tooth came in a little easier and he now has four teeth and the funniest toothy smile! We’re trying to get a photo of it but he’s so squirmy it might be a lost cause. You can see his two bottom ones in this picture but when he grins, you can only see three of the four. It is a lopsided smile and SO funny!

Grandma and Grandpa finally came back from Colorado at the beginning of the month. Luke has had the opportunity to spend quality time with Grandma while his moms and Grandpa go to Seahawks home games. We all spent some time cruising on Lake Washington recently and Luke is almost ready to take the helm thanks to Grandpa’s great teaching!

Luke is also well on his way to crawling and Amanda and I are enjoying our last few weeks with an immobile baby. With how antsy he is now, we can only imagine what’s in store for us. He’s a trouble maker!

Thanksgiving was a really fun and memorable event. Aunt Ali came all the way from San Diego to be with us and Luke loved hanging out with her. Luke’s moms cooked dinner with Grandmas help and then went house hopping for dessert. He’s still not keen on turkey but we’re thinking by next year he’ll attack the stuffing with the same passion as his momma!!

Post-Halloween Pictures

Sorry it’s taken us so long to update! We’ve been loving where we live and are trying to get the lay of the land, enjoying our proximity to all things hip and cool. Luke loves to be in his stroller and there is no shortage of neat things to look at downtown. Here is a picture of our kitchen for you all. Ignore the little rascal trying to get your attention.

We are loving our view and realize that you can never get tired of watching the sunset. We are also loving the changes in the Olympic mountains as the rain down here dumps snow up there.

It seems that Luke is getting bigger by the second. His personality comes through more every day, and it seems he wants to learn about (and put in his mouth) everything he sees. He has become more interested in Stormy, and the elusive Angel makes him squeal every time he catches a glimpse of her. What great babysitters! On the down side, he has no interest in daylight savings and is determined to stay an hour ahead of everyone else. He seems perfectly okay waking up at 4:30 but I’m going to have a melt down soon if he doesn’t start learning to sleep in more. I’ll have to remember that when he’s a teenager and won’t get out of bed before 3pm!

Now, I’ve been getting some pokes and prods about Halloween so here are some of the pics you’ve been waiting for. If you want to see more, head to our gallery.

3 New Videos

By popular demand, we have finally posted 3 new videos on our web gallery (link is in the sidebar to the right) documenting months 2-7 of Luke’s life. They are titled “Luke 2-10 Weeks”, “Luke 4-5 Months”, and “Playtime at 7 Months”. Enjoy!

Fun in the Sun

This has been a really fun week and we’ve done a lot of new things. On Sunday, we went hiking with our friends Darcy and Amy and their absolutely adorable 3 month old daughter, Zoe. It was quite a workout for mom since Luke is now 18lbs and getting bigger by the day. It was a beautiful, cool day and the lower Cascades had a gorgeous canopy of green that dappled the sunlight as it came in. The hike was steep but worth the effort because the view at the top was unbelievable!

Well, Luke has finally come of age! He is now old enough to be in the bike trailer with his new helmet and boy does he look cute. We were a little worried that he wouldn’t like it because he pitched a fit while Amanda was sizing it to his head. As it turned out, Luke didn’t mind the helmet as long as we were moving. In fact, he liked it so much he even fell asleep for a majority of the ride. He’s now officially a triathlete in training.

In our PEPS (mother’s group) this week, we did baby massages for the first time. It was really cute to see all the babies in nothing but their diapers!  Luke is definitely a fan of the massage and I was surprised that he was able to sit still long enough for me to get my hands on him. I think we’re going to try and work that into our weekly routine. I mean, who doesn’t like a massage once in a while? For those of you interested, we used Burt’s Bees Apricot Oil instead of a nut oil since we’re not too sure about nut allergies

Living downtown has been fantastic since we are so close to so many wonderful things. Pike Place Market is only a 15 minute walk for us, so on Tuesday Luke slept in the Ergo Baby while Amanda and I spent the morning getting fresh produce. Afterwards, Luke and I walked to the Seattle Aquarium to meet up with Jett and Denise. Luke liked watching the animals there, especially the giant octopus and the colorful fish. We’re hoping to instill in him Mommy’s love of animals!

On the developmental front, Luke has also started making a rocking/scooting motion that convinces us he is on the way to crawling. It’s really cute how he rocks forward but he almost always lands on his face on top of a toy. Needless to say, he’s not too happy about that, but it doesn’t stop him from doing it. He is definitely wanting to move and I can tell he wants to run away when Amanda comes close with the tickle fingers. Sometimes I feel like he’ll surprise us one day and just get up and go.