NXNW Oktoberfest

Ryan and Sarah love beer and never miss an opportunity to raise Luke right.

That's right, Luke is too cool for Bud Light.

We went to the North by Northwest Brewery Oktoberfest to enjoy some local beer...

...yes... we enjoyed most of it before we remembered to take a picture...

...and we also got to check out the polka bands, although it was a little too crowded to dance. But we all enjoyed the music!

Luke got the opportunity to show off his many faces to our fellow revelers.

And he tried out the bounce house...

...although he didn't get much beyond the entrance and never got up to jump.

But we did meet up with Adolfo and Pinty the Bear! We'll definitely be back at NXNW next year!

Luke and his godparents

Luke's godparents, Todd and Rachel, came to visit from San Antonio for pizza and games. Of course, seeing their godson was part of the fun.

I wish I could say that I got a better picture with them together, but I didn't. But they were here, and it was fun. :)

Luke and Delaney

Luke got to hang out with his friend Delaney during the Mothers of Young Children meeting tonight! They stayed on their respective blankets but smiled and laughed at each other as they recognized that there was another baby in front of them. Luke showed off some of his new upper body strength and did some baby push-ups. He must have been trying to impress Miss Delaney!

Meanwhile, the moms swapped cookies and may have sampled a few. We're so glad Kari and Delaney got to stay and visit today!

Wurstfest 2009

While Darin was in town, we took him to New Braunfels' 10 Day Salute to Sausage, better known as Wurstfest! We went on the last Saturday night of the whole shebang, which meant it was beyond packed with sausage and beer lovers. We braved the lines and the crowds to get our fix of overpriced (but delicious and cold) Shiner Bock, our annual Wurstkabob from New Braunfels Smokehouse (that's five kinds of wurst on a stick), and Ryan's Wurstfest hat got to make an appearance as well. Luke wore the baby lederhosen I crocheted for him (which I guess makes it NOT lederhosen, but yarn-hosen or something) and a great time was had by all.

From Wurstfest 2009 (with Darin!)

It was also nice and warm this year, as opposed to last year when I was pregnant and it was freezing cold and I didn't get to have any beer. It was just better all around this year!

Ryan is 30!

Ryan turned 30 on September 9th, and the next weekend we got together with some friends to eat barbecue, watch football, drink beer, and celebrate him being the first one to reach that milestone.  And I made him wear a silly hat, because I'm mean.  But I think he had a good time anyway.

Another week flying by

Tomorrow our little boy will be 8 weeks old! I can't believe it's been 8 weeks already... the time has really flown by. This week Luke started smiling more, but he is usually very smiley while I'm changing his diaper, so I don't generally have a camera handy.

Luke has been sleeping through the night all week, and I'm very thankful that he decided to do that the second week I returned to work. Monday morning I woke up and realized that I hadn't had to get up to feed him at 5:30, and he was just starting to wake up when I got up at 7:30. Part of it, I think, is that we have started putting him down to bed in his crib instead of in the pack and play in our room. We're also not putting him down when he's absolutely asleep most of the time - instead, he's starting to get drowsy, so we swaddle him and lay him down, turn on the little sound machine on his crib, and turn out the lights. I think he's really starting to get the idea, although I wonder if there's a time down the road when he will start waking up again. I'll just enjoy the extra rest while I can!

Luke and I went to the Mothers of Young Children group at church again this week, which I really enjoyed. I brought Luke's stroller in this time so that he could be up a little higher and see what was going on. We all played "Are You Smarter Than A Preschooler?" and I think Luke got a kick out of watching Mommy act like a big dork - I caught him smiling and almost laughing a couple of times! The group has been really nice - it's great to meet some other moms who are not only around my age, but have kids that aren't too old (but still older so I can benefit from their experience!). We've been talking about activities for the upcoming months and I'm particularly excited about the retreat in January that everyone was talking about last night.

Ryan got the news this week that he'll be switching to a dayside schedule in a few weeks. While that means Luke will be going to daycare all day, it also means that we will all get to be together in the evenings, and won't have to stay up until all hours to enjoy one another's company. It'll be nice to get Luke into a routine that involves both of his parents when we're all together.

I'm looking forward to a low-key weekend here in Austin with Ryan and Luke... we'll try to take lots of pictures!

Mommy's night out... and shoes!

Luke and I ventured out for a night out at our church tonight, where the Mothers of Young Children group was meeting. I decided that since Luke will have to get used to wearing shoes when he goes to day care (whichever one he ends up going to), we would give shoes a try. It took me longer to put the little shoes on his feet than it took me to outfit him in a fresh diaper, his shorts, and a tiny pair of socks. I discovered that it's really hard to tell which baby shoe goes on which baby foot... I'm not sure if it even mattered which was left and which was right, actually.

We drove downtown in rush hour traffic, but managed to make it to the church on time and got settled in. I introduced myself to a few of the other moms in the group, and met some of the other kids - Luke was definitely the youngest in the group, though! One of the moms made a delicious couscous dish and brought a chocolate fountain with some fruit and other goodies, and after dinner they played "Sex and the City" on the projector. Kind of an interesting choice for a church moms' group, but it was more of a moms' night out kind of situation, and we all had a good time. I left before the movie was over because I needed to get Luke into his pajamas and settled down for the night, but I think I'll probably go back to check things out when they meet again in two weeks. It's nice to meet some other moms!