Happy 2nd Birthday Luke

My dearest Luke,

I cannot believe how fast these two years have flown by with you.  You started this year off as a sweet gentle little baby still and are ending this year as a fun loving, energetic little boy!  There has been so many changes, hardships and learning experiences for our family in the past two years but you continue to be an amazing source of joy throughout it all.

Last year we celebrated your first birthday as we also celebrated Pentecost.  It was so much fun to celebrate your big day along side of the birthday of our Church!  We enjoyed our last few weeks living in Minnesota and then packed up to move back to our hometown in Nebraska.  With all of our car trips back and forth from Minnesota to Nebraska during your first year of life, you got to be such a good little rider in the car.  You had such a fun summer last year trying so many new things and keeping up with your brothers.  You love to be in the water and play with anything outside in the sunshine. 

 

Mid-summer you started taking your first steps and by August you were a pro at walking.  At two you are a very active and very busy boy!  You started talking early as well and never stopped.  You listen to everything your brothers say and try to repeat it all.  At two years old you now are saying 4-6 word sentences and talk about EVERYTHING!

We started homeschooling this past fall and you love that we are all together all day and to join in with our learning fun!  You have learned so much so fast this past year.  You can count to 5, sing your ABC's, know most of your colors, a few shapes and pretty much all of your body parts!  You love "doing" school with us or playing in the playroom and listening to it all. We always find you around the house looking at your books.  You are such a good little learner.

 

 

You had so much fun with fall activities of going to the pumpkin patch, picking apples and celebrating Halloween.  You take it all in with such curiosity and excitement!

You have jumped right in with your big brother with your love of sports.  You scream "Win, win, win, WIN", as you throw your arms up in excitement!  You loved to go to the Hockey games this winter and especially loved baseball games this spring (although maybe it was because of the yummy peanuts that your Daddy introduced you to!).

 

You absolutely adored celebrating Advent and Christmas this past year.  We would find you sitting by the Christmas tree or the Advent wreath just looking at the lights.  You love baby Jesus so much and would sing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus and walk around with the baby Jesus' from our manger scenes.

 

We didn't have a lot of snow this winter, but what we did have you loved.  We spent a lot of time cuddling and just soaking your little personality up as you continued to grow into your own little self. 

 

You loved breastfeeding and your special time with Mommy.  We decided to start weaning when you were about 20 months old and you did great with the adjustment.  We always make sure to have special time together the two of us no matter what we are doing!

 

 

 

Your big brothers cherish you and you have developed such special relationships with both of them.  You learn so much from them (the good and the bad) and love playing with them all of the time.  The first thing that you want in the morning is to know where your brothers are and the last thing you want at night is hugs and kisses from them! 

 

You love learning about Jesus, Mary and the Saints.  You fold your hands together in prayer, have learned the sign of the cross and always say "Amen" at the end of prayers!  You are still sometimes a challenge at Mass and have Mommy and Daddy praying for special graces, but you are also working on getting better and better each week.  You always know what is coming next during church; bringing money to the priest at the offering, giving the sign of peace or going up for communion. 

 

  

You loved learning more about Jesus during Lent and Easter and had so much fun learning that you have a new brother or sister on the way this next fall.  This is the first time in our family that we have had someone make it to their 2nd birthday without another baby in the house and I think for now you are loving being the baby for now!  You are equally excited though for the new little baby to come along and always kiss Mommy's tummy and say "Hi, baby!"  You will be a fantastic big brother!

 

This spring we continue to have fun outside and you have been loving riding your trike and now your new balance bike and watching your brothers play sports.  You also love to play and cuddle with your puppies.  After seeing your brother potty train you decided that you should join in as well.  You are not fully potty trained but are doing a great job!  You are getting so big, so fast! 

 

 

 

 

You are such a joy and blessing to our family and I cannot wait to continue having the honor to watch you grow and learn.  Happy 2nd birthday to our sweet little Luke.

I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy