And out of the blue...

So, this is what happens when you let a baby boy air-out for a few minutes sans diaper.

This poor (rental) couch has suffered greatly since we moved in!

Guitar 101

Showing Mommy how it's done.

Baby loves to strum

Hopefully Luke will take after his Dad when it comes to musical know-how and interest, 'cause Mommy's musical ability ends at downloading from iTunes.

So far, so good, it seems, as Luke enjoys watching, listening to and trying to help --or hinder-- Keith play his guitar.

Luke has his own little toy guitar, but --surprise!-- he prefers Keith's real one.

Anytime the door to Keith's man-room is open, Luke sprint-crawls to get in there, pulls himself up to the guitar (which is on a stand), strums the strings a few times and giggles. On a good day he doesn't knock the thing over... though that's not usually the case.

From someone who has no idea how to read or play music, Lukey's little strums sound pretty good, especially for an almost-10-month old!

Super baby strength

We've always known that Luke is pretty strong; he was practically holding his own head up in the birthing suite at 15 minutes old, for crying out loud (it's true; my parents witnessed). So I guess it's not surprising that he can now pull his own body weight up on an open drawer or stool or table -- pull up style.

I just had to take a picture (well, two pictures). However, since it can be dangerous and we don't want to encourage it, from here on out I'll be immediately pulling him down and saying "no, no, no" ...to which he usually responds by laughing or crying in my face.

New look for Spring!

Incase you didn't notice :-) I changed the look of 3 Duffys.

I've been visiting lots of other blogs for a work project and it became painfully clear that my template was wicked boring. So, here's an attempt to spruce it up... just in time for Spring.

Spring cleaning needed

All this darn sunshine really brings out Luke's fingerprints on the windows! I guess it's time for Spring cleaning.

First day of Spring

First day of Spring is a beauty in Vancouver

19.5 pounds of craic

Yesterday was Luke's first St. Patrick's Day - a holiday that we celebrate around Duffytown with more gusto than some other, more important holidays, such as Easter.

To celebrate, Luke wore green, and he also had his 9-month doctor's appointment, where we discovered that he now weighs 19.5 lbs. Carrying him around, you'd think it was more!

So, on to the St. Patrick's Day part. Incase you're not aware, "craic" (pronounced crack) is an Irish word that is used to describe a good time, when you're having fun. And hanging with this little guy is definitely always good craic.

Yesterday was Luke's afternoon with Renee, our wonderful two-afternoons-a-week-sitter, and I headed out to do some work and hit the gym. Well, Keith managed to get out of work at 3:30 pm (I told him to tell his boss he needed to get out early on account of being 100% Irish; guess he listened), so instead of working or working out, we did what any self-respecting Irish American (living in Canada?) does on March 17th - we went out for a pint of Guinness!

It was delicious. It was the first time I've consumed an entire pint of Guinness and it was delicious.

Then, since it was such a lovely evening, we packed up little craic boy and went out to dinner. Keith had the special lamb stew and I had short rib (people reading this who know me are probably thinking "whaaaat?") Well, just like the Guinness, it was delicious.

Sadly we had to miss the Irish step dancers that were due to perform in the restaurant at 8 pm, because Lukey was getting tired and on the verge of a melt down. Oh, and wait - I just realized that it was the first St. Patrick's EVER that Keith didn't even pick up the bagpipes. I guess Grandpa Duffy made up for that by playing in the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade on earth... I guess we're covered.

So, not the perfect St.P's but pretty good craic anyway.

Peekaboo

Hours of fun for a 9-month old... here's 53 seconds.

One day of Winter

Winter finally arrived at Cypress Mountain (you know, the Olympic venue that shipped in snow from other locations), so we went snowshoeing. Luke started out crying and had us wondering if we should pack up and go home. But before long he was back to his happy-go-lucky self.

9 months

This post is almost a week overdue, but on March 7th Luke turned 9 months old!

It's amazing to us how far he has come in such a short time!

Florida

Yesterday we returned from a wonderful week visiting my parents (aka. Luke's Grammy & Grampa) in Florida.

In addition to really enjoying playing with his Gram & Gramp, Luke had many new experiences including: staying overnight with G&G for 2 nights... taking a Duck Tour around Miami Beach... wading in the ocean waves... playing in the sand... charming lots of old, leathery people... celebrating Grammy's birthday with her... and, for the grand finale - traveling home on a 6-hour cross-country flight without melting down even once.

He also figured out how to play peek-a-boo. Holding onto a coffee table, he would crouch down a little, duck his head and close his eyes for a few seconds. Then he'd pop up, open his eyes and start laughing as you shout "peek-a-boo" at him. He did this, without any coaxing, with our friends Dick and Debby, as well as with Auntie Anne and Uncle Lou. I must say, it was pretty cute!

Anyway, here are a few snapshots from our week.

Blowout!

One of the highlights (or rather, low lights) of our week in Florida was the stomach bug Luke endured for the first few days, when he had a series of remarkable blowouts. And I mean, the oozing out the sides of the diaper and ruining the clothing kind of blowouts; the type he hasn't had since he was a baby-baby.

There were two that stick in my mind.

One involved him soiling every article of clothing he was wearing, plus Keith's pants, while we were sitting in Dallas airport en route to Miami. I am still laughing at the image of Keith carrying Luke out of the men's bathroom into the crowded terminal, wearing just a diaper. We did find (and unfortunately had to buy) a Dallas Cowboys jumper for Luke to wear for the remainder of the trip.

Number Two (forgive the pun:-) happened in a lovely beachfront restaurant with my parents. Since I somehow forgot to bring spare diapers (that NEVER happens... to ANY mom!), I had to go MacGyver style, rigging up a homemade diaper fashioned from a was of paper towels, a cloth dinner napkin and a plastic bag:

The poor guy fell asleep on the way home from the restaurant, so had to finish his nap in the homemade diaper contraption.

The photo is courtesy of his Grampa, who thought it was hysterical and (we now know) snuck into the bedroom to take this picture.

Mom, I'm trying to drink my bottle

Laugh... drink bottle... why not do both?

Maybe Luke will be a master multi-tasker like his Mom!