TBT-Birthday Style!

The day has finally arrived!  Today is Luke's 5th birthday!  He has been counting down to this day for weeks and is so excited that it is finally here.

I can't believe that Luke is turning 5.  Time goes by so fast!

I have always called Luke our "Bonus Baby".  There are a little over 6 years between Ellie and Luke.  To put it in perspective.....In the 10 year span between Mike and Ellie I gave birth to 7 children!  So 6 years was a really long time.  We thought God had finished growing our family.  But, obviously, He had other plans....

Ellie went to kindergarten in the fall of 2008, and for the first time in many, many years I had no one home with me.  My parents had offered me a part time job working for them, which worked out great because I could still be home to get the kids off the bus.  Plus, if someone was sick, I didn't have to worry about my boss being upset because I needed time off!;)

That transition was really hard for me.  I was feeling depressed and a little loss...like I had no purpose.  Change is hard....but as I began settling into my new routine that also included some me time on Mondays and Wednesdays, it actually felt pretty good.  I started to embrace the new road I was on....

....and then, (Surprise!), there was Luke.

Once I got over the shock, we were all really excited about having a new baby.  Thanks to being on a dreadful low carb healthy diet because of gestational diabetes, Luke was the smallest of our healthy children at a whopping 7lbs. 2oz.  He seemed so tiny....especially since it had been a while since we had a new baby!
His newborn screech sounded like a seagull!  But it felt great to have a newborn baby in our arms again!

Proud Daddy!

 We didn't know how having a baby would affect the teenagers....especially Mike.  The three older boys were 16, 14, and 13 at the time.  Luke actually brought all of us closer together because the older boys wanted to be around to see and hold Luke.  They all wanted Luke to know them....so Luke kept them attached to home more than they would have been if we had never had another baby!

Our family September, 2009

Ellie was THRILLED to be a big sister!
Sarah was 10 at the time and loved having a new baby in the house.:)

It helped that he was pretty cute!

 The boys taught him all kinds of things!  Luke could dribble a ball by 18 months even though he could barely run steadily!  Luke knew how to swing a wiffle bat, too.  Mike, our sports nut and Luke's godfather, was thrilled!

"Shooting" hoops with a little help!

Unfortunately for Mike, when Luke was about 2 we had to have our septic system re-done.  Luke ditched his sports focus and began obsessing about trucks.  He loved all kinds.  When we found a local building site, he would love it when Jay or I drove him to it and parked on the side of the road.  Luke would watch the trucks working and talk about all the different kinds of trucks.  He loved it!  The truck obsession branched out to include a Lego obsession by the time he was 4.(of course, he used the Legos to make trucks....especially his favorite, excavators!)

In the last few months, his truck obsession has been replaced by a Transformers obsession.  It started with the Transformer Rescue Bots and then grew to include the Transformer Generation bots, which are the same bots from the cartoon Jay watched as a little boy.  (They're bonding:)

Luke is super lovable, very goofy, and all boy!  He still climbs into my bed every night and sleeps best with his foot touching my leg.  We are working on being more independent, but it's a very slow process with Luke!  I know it won't be forever...and someday I'll miss this!  Just this morning, he gave me a hug and said, "You're the best mommy ever!"

...I'm going to get that on tape for when he's a teenager!

I can't imagine our lives without this little guy!

Happy Birthday, Luke!  We all love you very much!