Luke Scoop

White Out

2010-02-16T14:32:00.002-06:00

Friday we had over 6 inches of snow. It would have been beautiful had Charlie not been in Atlanta for a conference, and had I not been sick with a stomach virus. I did make sure that Macy got out to enjoy the snow. Although she was glad to get out of the house, I don't think she was that impressed with the wet stuff.

Do you see those beautiful curls peeking out from under her hat? Love it!

And now for some random bathtime photos. Her silly faces are the BEST!

Afternoons with Macy

2010-02-16T14:11:00.000-06:00

One day while Charlie was hunting, Macy & I decided to get out and enjoy the day. First, we went to feed the neighborhood ducks. At first, Macy thought the bread was for her.

She was a little leery of the ducks, especially the one who took bread right out of her little hand!

She is such a beautiful baby.

And very, very curious!

Is that an airplane??

I love sitting by myself!

Next we went to the park. She had a ball climbing around.

Sometimes when I am with her, I hear the chorus from that song "Theses are they days...the sweetest days we'll know...."

Christmas Part II (a little late)

2010-02-16T13:24:00.000-06:00

Here are some more photos from Christmas. I have gotten so far behind on this blog!

Stockings at Mema's house - Christmas Eve!!

Just arriving from Mema's house to Grandmama & Grandpa's house on Christmas morning. Looking at her goodies from Santa Claus!

Our family at Glaze Christmas

Arden, Layne, Avery & Macy continuing the tradition of singing Christmas carols at Mema's house.

Charlie's gift from Macy, which has been used on a daily basis. Probably his favorite gift ever! haha.

Macy petting the horses.

Macy missed the memo about the boots.

Macy playing with Sagen, Avery, & Jett at the Glaze Christmas.

How to keep children entertained for hours - iPhone Dora movie.

Holidays Part 1

2010-01-07T19:41:00.000-06:00

Macy & I flew to Texas on December 22nd because, let's face it, a 12-hour drive with a one-year old is not a pleasant idea. Charlie had to work on the 23rd, and planned to drive out after work that day. He got as far as Dallas when he stopped to stay the night. He woke up on Christmas Eve to head to Stanton, which should only have taken 5 hours at the most. Instead, he was caught in his first blizzard. I-20 was shut down with him on it! No one had any idea just how long it would be closed, and he said he couldn't even see the road. The snow was blowing in sideways and things seemed to be getting worse. After about 4 hours of sitting, they finally began to creep along. He saw cars and trucks in the ditches everywhere. He finally made it to Mema's at 7:30 Christmas Eve. He said he has never been so glad to get somewhere in his life. Here are some of his photos he took while killing time.

And here are a few photos from the weekend before we left for Texas.

Tracey's visit

2009-12-16T21:51:00.000-06:00

Tracey, one of my best friends since 3rd grade, and her little boy Miles came to visit last month. It's funny that we grew up in the same small town, and somehow ended up in Mississippi. Her husband is the campus minister at Ole Miss in Oxford, which is about 4 1/2 hours away. We had such an amazing time filled with lots of laughter. You can check out her blog, with links to her photography here: Beauty For Ashes. She has a gift when it comes to photography, and she took some awesome photos of Macy while she was here. Enjoy.

It turns out, Miles is already showing lots of the same talent. Here he is capturing Macy, and then his Mama & her silly friend.

'Tis the Season

2009-12-16T21:07:00.002-06:00

This is a photo of a photo, so it's not the best quality, but I wanted to share the magic of Macy meeting St. Nick for the first time. She sure thought he was neat from a distance, but didn't enjoy the close-up view.

This is our sweetie sleeping on the way home from the Jackson Zoo. We had her one-year photos taken there last month. I will post some to the blog as soon as I get a chance. She loved this little penguin so we brought him home with us.

Macy has actually grown really fond of stuffed animals lately. She picks them up and hugs them and carries them around. At daycare she moved up to the 1-2 year old room. She hasn't been really crazy about it. Add to that the fact that she is going through a clingy, hanging-on-to-mama's-pants-leg all day phase, and it can make for a real scene when dropping her off. They found that she attached herself to a teddy bear there. This morning she started to whine when I dropped her off, but I told her we would go get her bear. As soon as we got there, and they handed her the bear, she was off and playing. Kinda sweet, huh?

We have had some much cooler temperatures here in the south lately, even getting snow one morning. Macy loves to be outdoors, so even on cold days I occassionally have to let her play outside for a few minutes.

Macy's buddy Taylor turned a year old last week, so we went to his party where she had a blast. He got this hand-knitted hat from a woman at church who also knitted Macy one when she was a baby. We stole Taylor's for a few minutes. I thought she looked cute.

The holiday season has been a lot of fun this year. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends next week and celebrating the most precious Gift of all!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-10T21:05:00.003-06:00

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had back in Texas. Little Macy was able to see all of her cousins on the Adams side of the family earlier in the week.

Playing outside. Dirt is so much fun!!

Tumbleweeds.

On Thanksgiving Day the Glaze family got together as usual, and Macy had a ball playing with some of her 2nd cousins!

Will she play football like Daddy?

Here is a cool shot of Macy & Jett with BigDaddy both last year & this year.

Macy & I enjoyed a whopping 10 days back "home" and loved it. I spent some time hunting with Dad, but didn't see a single deer. Once Charlie arrived we did some hunting. That's where I shot my first buck - an 11 point!

Charlie was with me when I shot it, and was with Misty 2 days before when she shot a 7 point. I think he was even more excited than we were. Michelle also shot a deer the day before Misty - all using Dad's gun (which he'd thought of getting rid of, but is now finding it more endearing). It is now Julie's turn. She kept seeing the big buck we now affectionately refer to as "ol' half-rack" because he has a massive rack...but only on one side!

We hope you are all enjoying your holiday season!

Christmas photos already

2009-11-04T10:43:00.002-06:00

Macy's Daycare had Christmas photos today. She looked so cute in her little outfit & new frames that Johneen got her for her birthday.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-03T20:56:00.005-06:00

There was a little party at Macy's daycare a few days before Halloween. It was a day I don't normally leave her, so we just went for an hour. Here's a picture of her dressed up.

Halloween night we took her to a few houses around our neighborhood before it got too dark. Although she is too little to really enjoy the "treats", it was fun to get her out.

Macy had the most fun watching all the trick-or-treaters come to our door. A few of them made her cry, but she was quickly over it when the next little cutie would come strolling up the sidewalk. Her monkey friend Taylor came to visit.Macy the bee & Anna Kate the butterfly checking each other out. She also entertained herself by buzzing through the candy bowl. It was a fun night!

Happy Birthday, Cupcake!

2009-10-27T20:33:00.008-05:00

Macy celebrated her first birthday Saturday! Mom, Dad, Misty, Julie & Avery all came in from Texas for the event. Lora & Sidney were there as well. We are blessed with so many great friends, who made the day extra special. Her good buddies Anna Kate, Taylor & Lexi were there to join in the fun. Here are some pictures.

Singing Happy Birthday!Avery finally gets his cupcake!

The sweetest sugar!She delicately picked at her "smash" cake. She was overwhelmed with gifts!It's hard to believe our sweet baby is a year old. What tremendous love & happiness she has brought our lives over the past 12 months. We love you, sweet girl!

Pumpkins In Focus

2009-10-17T22:00:00.008-05:00

For those of you who may not know, we recently discovered Macy is very hyperopic (farsighted). Ironic, isn't it? We made her a pair of glasses out of the smallest frame we had. We are in the process of finding more frames so she'll have a variety. Macy has amazed us with how well she wears her glasses. Ocassionally she will still look over the top of the them, prompting us to call her "professor". She rarely takes them off.We took our little pumpkin to a pumpkin patch set up at a local church. She loved it and didn't want to leave.Just one more week and our sweet baby girl will turn a year old! Happy Fall!!

First Steps & Play Dates

2009-10-05T20:22:00.004-05:00

This past weekend Macy took her first steps. We also switched her from formula to whole milk, so we felt like we just had a weekend full of our little baby growing up. I don't have any photos or video yet, but I will try to get some soon.

Last Saturday Macy got to play with her friend Taylor a little bit. This was while Daddy went on his playdate with Ben (Taylor's daddy) to go fishing on the coast. They caught quite a few fish, & a few sharks. Here is a picture of some of their catch.

It is fun to watch Macy & Taylor interact more these days. Sunday when we got to church, he was sitting a few rows in front of us. He'd squeal & laugh at her, and she'd do it right back. It was too cute. Does this look like trouble or what?When we had our fish fry, we let the kids play in the back yard. Macy likes grass just about as much as she likes sand. The only way she would play is on a blanket.

Have a great week!

Eleven Months of Sweetness

2009-09-24T15:35:00.006-05:00

Today our Macy Joy turns 11 months. That means just one more month until the big birthday! This does not make any sense to us. How could that much time have gone by? It just isn't possible.

Macy is now standing on her own and contemplating walking. She just hasn't quite decided to take that"big step".

She has begun to develop quite a sense of humor, too. She even has what we call her "fake laugh".

She is very sweet & loves to get up in our laps to snuggle. She began to blow kisses this week, and I'm hoping to get a video soon. She has 4 teeth now, so she likes to eat more good stuff.The child loves the outdoors, so we went out this morning & took a few shots. sueños dulces (sweet dreams)....or maybe crazy ones???

Beach Baby

2009-09-11T20:55:00.011-05:00

Our weekend beach trip was wonderful! We went to Orange Beach, AL (which is right on the FL state line) and stayed at a resort we'd enjoyed back in the days when we could sleep-in & play as we pleased. It was a different kind of trip having Macy with us. No parasailing or snorkeling as before, but we had to agree it was so much more fun! Macy was not a fan of the sand. She didn't like being too close to the waves coming in either.

Seeing as this was a spur-of-the moment trip, we didn't have time to try & find someone to take photos. We thought we'd do it ourselves...with a only a tripod...and an infant. Need I say more? We didn't have any huge keepers, but I'll throw in a few for fun.

It was a bit overcast at times, but the cooler temperatures made it more enjoyable. In fact, after everyone cleared out on Labor Day, it was as though we had the whole place to ourselves! We sat out on the balcony at night listening to the ocean, and looking in on our little sleeping beauty. What a great way to celebrate two years of marriage! Some people weren't even ready to leave as check-out time rolled around!

Day Trip

2009-09-10T14:48:00.007-05:00

Two weekends ago we loaded up on a Saturday morning and headed an hour and-a-half south to Gulfport and Biloxi. We didn't even think about it at the time, but it was the anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina hit 4 years ago. The coast has come a long way since that time, but it still has a ways to go. It is strange to think of the huge casinos being gone. You can still see many brick steps, chimneys, and huge oak trees that once belonged to beautiful, old, grand homes sitting alone now.Our first stop was Mary Mahoney's. Everyone around here knows about this amazing restaurant, but I first read of it in a John Grisham novel. The French house was built in the 1730s and was at one time home to the commander of the French territory. It survived Hurricane Katrina, when the water got as high as the mark you can see on the balcony in this picture.This tree sits outside and is over 2000 years old!
Being the history nerds we are, rather than spend most of the afternoon shopping at the outlet mall in Gulfport as planned, we stopped at Beauvoir instead. This beautiful place was the last home of Jefferson Davis. It suffered a great deal of damage from Katrina, but has just been reopened to the public. Macy loved the front porch, which has been completely rebuilt. It has a great view of the ocean.

These front doors survived with minimal damage & are original to the house.

What you see here is PAINTED...it isn't actual woodwork or anything. They had a color specialist come in after the hurricane & after 4 months of analysis going through layers and layers of paint, these are the colors they decided were most original.

A few more quick shots.

Did Macy enjoy the trip? Or will she one day cringe each time we pass a historical marker? Hopefully she will share our loved for history, although she may prefer we save places on the coast for months other than August!

Sweet Patient

2009-08-30T14:04:00.005-05:00

Well, we survived Macy having tubes put in her ears 2 weeks ago. It was a very quick procedure, but the crying as she was coming out of the anesthesia is what nearly had us in tears. She calmed down once we got home and went to sleep for a few hours. She woke up as though nothing had happened. Let's hope this is the end of ear infections! Our sweet work family sent her a teddy bear with balloons signed "Your Eye Care Nannies".

Now she is back to her job of seeing what she can get into.

Happy Trails

Happy Days

2009-08-26T13:12:00.008-05:00

One Saturday we decided to venture out to the Hattiesburg Zoo. It is a small zoo, which is good, because with the heat and humidity, we only lasted about 20 minutes. One of the coolest things was getting close to some peacocks that wander the grounds. That is, until we accidentally stood between a mama peacock & her baby.
I think Macy's favorite part was cooling down with an ICEE.She still isn't a pro with the sippy cup, but we discovered she REALLY likes Coke. We were in Williamsville last Saturday which consists of an old general store that is actually owned by Peyton & Eli Manning's grandparents. I think they even bagged groceries there some back in the day. You can get anything from a new pair of Nikes or brand name clothes, to saddles, or even bacon sliced while you wait. Anyway, they have the old fashioned Coke machines where you can still get the bottled cokes. We wanted to introduce her to this little treat, not knowing it would lead to what might very well have been her first word (besides "Mama" and "Dada").

You can hear our surprised little gasps as we looked at each other thinking "Did she just say that?" She sure can kick those little legs when she wants something.

Daily Adventures

2009-08-14T19:40:00.006-05:00

Macy is always ready for a new adventure from the time she wakes up....

It may be shopping with Mama, where she gets aggitated sitting the "normal" way in the cart and must turn so that she can always see what is coming... Or maybe the adventure is a stroll around the neighborhood..

It may be going new places and trying new things. A little artist?

Or a musician? "This one goes out to all the babies!!"

She is a little less adventurous when it comes to food, which is why it surprised us when she LOVED salsa tonight at Mi Casita (don't worry...it was fairly mild, and she is half TEXAN).Whatever the adventure, we are so blessed to be sharing them all with her. Every now and then, something will happen out of the blue to make Macy giggle like crazy. We were out back the other night, and Charlie swatted at a mosquito. She started to cackle. Luckily, I had the camera on hand to capture the moment:

We can't wait to see what adventures we will share next!

Much love,

The Lukes

9 Months Old

2009-07-30T09:21:00.003-05:00

Macy had her 9 month check-up this morning. She is 29.25 inches long, and 22 lb, 9 oz. The nurse asked if daddy was really tall, because Macy is so "tall" for her age. :) She is crawling everywhere, pulls to standing, points all the time, and if you ask where mama or dada are, she will look for the correct person. So much fun. Now if only we could get her sleeping through the night.

Her right ear still had a little effusion. She saw an ENT specialist Monday. He recommended tubes, but said there were a few things we could try first. We go back in 3 weeks.

Macy is quite the little flirt. She loves guys and will smile really big, then bury her head into whoever is holding her. She also loves to watch little kids. She was laughing out loud at a few in the waiting room this morning (while mama wanted to laugh out loud at some of the names of the children)! Hasta Luego!

Cousins

2009-07-22T20:30:00.009-05:00

We had such a great time going home to Texas this past weekend. Macy loves her cousins! We got to see Avery for a little while, since Julie & Gary were "stuck" in Italy. Arden loves to play little mama, and I think Layne likes to have someone else be the "baby" that he can boss a little. Macy loved to laugh at Layne as she watched whatever he might be doing. Well, usually...

Macy was babbling what sounded like "Du-du" and Arden looks up at me and says "Macy just said 'what tha'"! It was too funny! I took Arden with me to visit with Amanda's family, as Belinda has a little one Arden's age. Her name is Mahalia. We were sitting around the table and Arden was talking to her. She said "Hey. Mama-mia. Mama-mia." If that wasn't funny enough, Mahalia later was trying to get Arden's attention and said "Garden! Garden!"

It was so fun to look back & see all the kiddos. This is how we roll...

Sisters (minus the poor lil' ol' sister stuck in Italy):

Stealing pens from cowboys:

Macy loved getting spoiled by Grandmama & Grandpa. She was really a "Grandpa's Girl" this weekend.

We had originally planned on attending the Wallace reunion, but it didn't work out. So we went by the Glaze reunion for a bit.

Macy did great on the flight. Everyone goes crazy over her red hair & blue eyes. Daddy sure was glad to see us step off that plane! Now it is just a crazy week of watching her crawl, pull to standing, babbling, playing peek-a-boo, etc. She is such a sweetheart!

Music to My Ears

2009-07-09T21:49:00.004-05:00

Macy has been babbling "Da Da" for over a month now, along with some other syllables here & there. Today, I finally got what I have been waiting for: Macy said "Ma-ma"!!! We were in the store, and she was sitting in the cart. I was holding a "conversation" with her as I usually do (I think it is really just an excuse to finally talk out loud to myself without it seeming so strange), and suddenly she said the magic word! Everyone within a few aisles of us probably knew what happened too, as I was so excited. She said it a few more times with a smile (of course, by now it was more of just a "ma-ma-maaaa-ma-ma" but I didn't care). I called Charlie to share the news & he gave me a hard time saying he didn't believe it. However, he hadn't been home ten minutes this evening when she said "Ma-ma" again. Ahhhhhhh....I love it!!

-Joy

Oh, and here's another picture. Can't resist. She's focused on the t.v.

Independence Day

2009-07-06T10:49:00.004-05:00

The title of this blog has double meaning. While we celebrated our country's independence this past weekend, we also saw our little girl gaining more independence by CRAWLING for the first time! Are we ready? I guess we have no choice! As of today, Macy will crawl about 4 or 5 "knees" forward. She is so fun to watch, and will probably be trying to keep up with her cousins when we go home to Texas next week! (Thanks for the little dress Johneen!)On July 4th we celebrated with our good friends Johneen & John. Johneen made an awesome cake & star-shaped cookies. Charlie grilled ribs & smoked a Boston butt in the Green Egg. Mmmm... Once it was dark & Macy was in bed sleeping, we sat on the back porch & watched the fireworks they put on each year in the field by our subdivision. Such a great night. Although Charlie & I often feel disappointment over the direction this country seems to be heading since the last election, this was a night to remember how blessed we are and to feel pride in our country's past. We still have hope for the future! May God Bless America!!

8 Months Old

2009-06-24T21:25:00.003-05:00

Wow! Could it really be 8 months since our lives were changed forever? Eight months ago we laid eyes on the most BEAUTIFUL thing we'd ever seen. Little Macy Joy entered this world and made it a better place. She is the best of both of us.

She has been sick the past few days, so we appreciate the little smiles and laughter even more than ever since she has started to feel better. She already has such a great personality. Our little lovebug is very curious about EVERYTHING. She loves to be outside. The funniest things make her laugh, and her laughter is more beautiful than any music ever written. Our friend Johneen says she seems like an "old soul" - like she's already been here a while. She is very laid back. In fact, for the past 8 months Macy has hardly cried. She is easy to please and we realize that we have been VERY lucky in that department. She is just happy to be tagging along with mom & dad.

We have taught her to make a "mean face" where she squints her eyes and grins really big. Today she was sitting between Charlie & me on the floor, and I was looking over her talking to him. She turned to get my attention and made that face, because she knows I will crack up & she has my full attention.

We thank the Lord for such a beautiful little piece of sunshine and pray he will continue to bless our little family.

First Father's Day

2009-06-22T12:40:00.007-05:00

It was only appropriate to celebrate what a great "Da-Da" Charlie is, seeing as he is Macy's favorite person on earth. She gave him a mug with her handprint on it that she & Mama made at Doodlebugs.

We also gave him some framed photos from our photo shoot with Steen Tompkins in May; a calendar they made for us with Macy's photos, and another with the wedding photos.

Charlie is such a wonderful husband & father. He is VERY involved with Macy and takes such good care of both of us. He puts his family first and is a man of faith. He supports us in such a way that I am able to have the best of both worlds - I get to play doctor 2 days per week, and play with Macy the other 5! I thank the Lord for such a wonderful fella!

Here are a few shots of Macy after a hard day of playing and as a little messy monster:

Her new hairdo:

Just kidding, but we are able to do some fun things with her hair, now that it is a little bit longer:

We are just cherishing each moment of this precious time in life!

Entering the blogger world

2009-06-17T20:24:00.013-05:00

Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at posting to our new blog. I am hoping to update fairly often to make it easier to stay in touch.

Our precious Macy is now 7 months old! She has blessed our lives beyond measure. Each day is a fun adventure, waiting to see what she will do next. She is babbling "da-da, ga-ga, buh-buh" etc. and is on the verge of crawling, but hasn't put it all together yet. Once she starts moving, it will be hard to keep up!

She can be very intense when looking at new things and people. She puts her head down & looks up at whatever she is studying. It is the most serious look.

We've also discovered as of the past few weeks she is DADDY'S GIRL!! When he gets home her little legs start kicking and she just almost goes into a fit waiting for him to pick her up. Once he does, she clings to him and won't let go - not even for Mama. He will turn around and say "Wave bye-bye to Mama" when they head outside. She starts kicking because she knows where they are headed, and her little arm starts pumping up & down as she grins the biggest grin.

We enjoyed a GREAT visit with Mom & Dad last month. It rained almost every day, so we were able to do a great deal of much needed visiting and RELAXING.

I will try to post more news & photos soon.

Lots of love from Mississippi