Gulbranson's

Sitting

1:49 PM by Josh and Erica

Our little man is 6 months old already... I can hardly believe it! He has gone from such a sweet, quiet bundle of joy to a wonderfully happy little man. We went to the doctor yesterday and found out that he is 27 1/2 inches long and 19lbs and 8oz and she thinks he is going to be a big boy... nice and tall like his daddy! He is learning many new skills, he can now roll over; and prefers to sleep in his side at night. He has learned to shriek at the top of his lungs; he doesn't seem to want attention from it, he just likes making the sound. He cares very much if I leave the room. And the best of all his new skills is his ability to sleep up to 9 hours at a time and go to sleep in his own crib, by himself.

One thing that he still doesn't really understand is sitting up on his own.

Here he is at the aviation museum at Robins AFB, sitting very well, but he is strapped in...

He can sit on his own for 30 seconds to a minute or so, but we're not quite sure that he knows he's doing on his own.

Sometimes I prop him up in hopes that he get the concept.

He has started eating more solid foods now, and that means he gets to sit in his big boy chair!

Here we are at the commissary, and Luke has made himself very comfortable in the seat. Although he can't seem to sit up straight, he can get his feet up on the handle bars. Some day soon I know he'll get it! He is such a smart little boy!

Savannah Georgia

12:07 PM by Josh and Erica

After Christmas, but before New Years, we were pleased to be able to make a trip to the very historic Savannah Georgia. It is a two and a half hour drive, so it makes a nice day trip but you could easily spend many days there. We spend one whole day and didn't even see one fifth of everything I would have liked to see just in the down town historic district. There is also the ocean, many house museums, civil war battle fields, estates outside the city, and the Terra Museum (Gone with the Wind). I am sure there are many more things that I didn't even know about that would be worth seeing... One thing that we did know about and wanted to make sure we saw was the food networks Paula Deen has a restaurant there called Lady and Sons. It just so happened that when we rolled into town here sons where there, at the shop next to the restaurant, signing cook book and taking pictures... Well I love cook books, so we got one and our picture taken, and we had a pretty good start to our trip.

Us with Jamie and Bobby Deen. I'm sorry I really don't know which one is which. They have their own food network show, which I have never seen, sorry to say.

River front road, still decorated for Christmas.

The bridge to Tybee Island, and the beaches of Savannah. I wish we would have had the time too see them.

We took a trolley tour, which was awesome! We learned many things and saw stuff like the place where the bench scene that is all throughout the movie Forest Gump was filmed.

There are so many beautiful historic buildings.

Here we are eating at Lady and Sons. We originally had reservations for 9pm, which were made that morning. That was the first time they had a available because they were so booked. Keep in mind that this is a three story restaurant. We were looking in the shop near by at about 6:30 and we stopped and asked if anything sooner had opened up, and they said they could seat us right away! It was wonderful, because we still had a two and a half hour drive home. And let me tell you, the food was so great. I would have waited until 9 to eat that food!

There is definitely a return trip in our future.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

6:01 AM by Josh and Erica

Luke's first Christmas officially started with his first trip to see Santa on December 23rd! We were expecting to get a picture of him crying on Santa's lap, but he is the best baby, and is not afraid of strangers... yet.

Here Luke is will all of his loot from Christmas Eve. He did get more on Christmas morning and even the day after, but I don't have a picture of those things. Among the things he loves the most are anything that plays a song or makes noise, like his piano. And now, as I type this paragraph with Luke sitting in my lap, he has found a new love for the computer key board and the sound that it makes.

Luke trying out his new piano.

Looks like he got exactly what he wanted!

This is how all his gift unwrapping looked. He is at the stage where if he can see it and get his hands on it he will put it directly into his mouth.

We had a wonderful family Christmas, just the 3 of us! The next day we were pleased to welcome half of our family into our house for the next week. We would have loved to have filled our house with both sided of our family but we were very thankful for the time we could share. We did a lot of fun things between Christmas and New Years including a day trip to Savannah Georgia, which I will not include in this post, but the next one.

Here is Luke in his new Happy 2009 tee shirt, all ready to party!

Getting th party started with some yatzee!

Making some noise with Dad!

My sister-in-law and I dressed alike! This was only partially intentional.

Happy 2009!

Missing snow

6:48 AM by Josh and Erica

I know it doesn't seem right... or even possible... to miss the snow. And I'm not going to tell you that I miss the snow for the whole winter, because I don't. When it gets to be February and March and it's 75 and sunny, I'll feel really good about the weather. But right now, when Christmas is approaching, this is when I miss snow the most. Even more this year because I want Luke to experience everything about Christmas, and I'm not going to lie... it's just not Christmas without snow...
So I went through all my pictures and found a few with snow. Keep in mind these are old, but bare with me...

This is from a sledding experience in Grand Forks, ND. We had a big snow... 10in or so... After sledding we tried to play on playground

But by that time everything was already starting to melt, because it was March, and we didn't have any real snow gear on, so we just got wet

This one is a way back picture... Yes that's me in the front, sledding with all my cousins on my Dads side... Corey, my sister Annie, Allison, Tanya, and Jeff.

Here is Josh flying in the winter time. He went flying with his friend Tim. Flying in winter is something he is pretty used to, he got his licence in the middle of winter, on his 17th birthday. Temps in Minnesota in January can easily be below zero.

Lastly, here is a view of the airport from the air.

I can't wait for the first time that Luke will get to play in the snow. Some of my best memories were made in a snow fort or on a sledding hill.

Mmmm... Squash

3:20 PM by Josh and Erica

Today we took Luke to the doctors for his 4 month check up. He had to get some shots, that he did not enjoy. No teeth yet, and not really anytime soon. The doctor also told us that he was probly ready for some more solid foods. We decided to start with squash, because if he is anything like mom and dad and we start him with fruit he will never want to eat his veggies...

He wasn't so sure about it at first.

But after a few tries he was enjoying himself, and even getting upset if I took too long to get him his next spoonful.

He ate quite a bit of it and probly would have finished the container if I had let him.

What a messy eater! But I think that he is excited about his new food. Next sweet potatos and carrots!

Getting ready for Santa

12:58 PM by Josh and Erica

After thanksgiving was done, and we had eaten all the turkey we could eat, it was time to start getting ready for Santa to come!

We were able to find plastic ornaments so that we don't have to worry about Luke or the cats breaking any of them.

I don't think Luke quite understands that Santa is going to bring him toys. It would help, of course, if Luke played with his toys.

Here he is looking a little happier.

Our little present, under the tree...

I have to show him how to put decorations on the tree so that next year Dad and I won't have to do any work.

As always, his favorite part was looking at the lights.

Thanksgiving day

11:39 AM by Josh and Erica

In preparation for thanksgiving we got Luke a Bumbo chair, which he loves. He likes sitting up like a big boy.

He helped Mom in the kitchen for a little while, until he decided that he wanted to hang out with the manly men!

Luke loved sitting outside with Dad and the boys, talking, picking up pecans, and shooting a bow and arrow.

In the morning Luke watched that Macy's Thanksgiving day parade from his new chair

Yay! first thanksgiving and 4 months old!