Here's a picture of my baby Luke at 7 months hanging out with his buddy Heidi:
His 7 month stats are:Height: 25.5" - 5th percentile
My little baby is following his own growth curve, but the Doctor says he's not worried about it! I guess Luke's just a little guy! He can sit on his own now, his favorite foods are sweet peas and applesauce, and he rolls all over the place to get what he wants! He's very much into feeling different textures and is interested in everything around him. Instead of napping right now like he should be, I can hear him in his room clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth - his new favorite sound. haha.
Oh yes! And we had some excitement in church yesterday. We were sitting in Sacrament meeting when I noticed Luke had little bug bite looking spots on his legs. Then I saw one on his arm too. A few minutes later, I noticed a red spot near his ear. A few minutes later, the red spot was getting bigger and bigger. The spots on his legs were growing too! The redness on his face went from pea-size to a dime to a quarter within 10 minutes. I started moving his clothes around to look for more redness. As soon as I pulled his sleeve down, I realized 25% of his little baby arm was covered in a giant, red/white hive. I showed Adam, and we were both freaking out at how rapidly his hives were growing. We immediately left church and took him to the ER (I love military insurance!). They took us in right away. His hives reached their peak when they were first examining him. As we were waiting for the Doctor in our room, his hives completely vanished. Adam and I think that Luke might be allergic to a brand of dryer sheets that I just switched to (even though they're fragrance free...). I was pretty freaked out, but I'm glad he's okay now!
Okay, on to physical challenge number 1 (unless you count hives as a physical challenge. lol.) Last Friday, the base had a giant picnic, including an Ultimate Challenge event that Adam participated in with one of his buddies. This video was taken after the challenge was over, hence the lack of urgency, but this was one of the obstacles they had to do:
Adam and Richie:
It was pretty entertaining to watch.
It was pretty entertaining to watch.On to challenge number 2. For those of you who don't know, Adam and I signed up to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) with his Dad and brother. We will be running that race in St. George, UT on October 2nd. As luck would have it, I found a half-marathon in Spearfish, SD that landed on the same day as my scheduled training run of 13 miles! So last Saturday, Adam and I woke up at 4:45a.m. for the CASA Half Marathon. It was my first real race, so I was pretty excited. The great majority of the route was slightly downhill, and it twisted through beautiful Spearfish Canyon. I started feeling the heat around mile 8, but I was surprised at how good I felt while running! I pushed myself to only stop and walk for a minute at the water AID stations (there were 5 of them). This is my plan for the full marathon, and it seemed to work out well for me. Adam finished the race before me at 1 hour 37 minutes, so he drove back a few miles to take some pictures of me :). 
My finishing time was 2 hours and 24 minutes. My goal time was 2 hours and 35 minutes, so I was pretty pleased. 
I've never liked running. In fact, I was absent on the day of the mile run in high school (on purpose). However, Adam has always been a runner and enjoyed it very much. I decided that it would be cool and fun for us to work together on a common short-term goal. Plus, it gave me something to do while he was deployed that would take my mind off things. Adam has been so awesome and encouraging. I know I never would have made it this far without his coaching. He always tells me how proud he is of me (and trust me - he KNEW how much I hated running before this...haha!)
Me and my first medal:
Adam doing some post-run stretches:
I've decided that I like running now. It's a sport where you're only competing against yourself (unless you're super fast and can possibly win). I think it's probably 40% physical and 60% mental - sometimes even more mental than that, depending on the circumstances. I'm looking forward to the full marathon now, and the more I run, the more I feel like I might actually finish it!
I've never liked running. In fact, I was absent on the day of the mile run in high school (on purpose). However, Adam has always been a runner and enjoyed it very much. I decided that it would be cool and fun for us to work together on a common short-term goal. Plus, it gave me something to do while he was deployed that would take my mind off things. Adam has been so awesome and encouraging. I know I never would have made it this far without his coaching. He always tells me how proud he is of me (and trust me - he KNEW how much I hated running before this...haha!)Me and my first medal:Adam doing some post-run stretches:I've decided that I like running now. It's a sport where you're only competing against yourself (unless you're super fast and can possibly win). I think it's probably 40% physical and 60% mental - sometimes even more mental than that, depending on the circumstances. I'm looking forward to the full marathon now, and the more I run, the more I feel like I might actually finish it!
Luke's first time in a swing!
The day after Luke and I arrived, Adam had a special mini-trip planned for us. As soon as he got home from work, we caught the ferry to a little island called Vieques. Adam had arranged for us to go see the bioluminescent bay that night. We snapped this cute little number while waiting for the ferry:
Adam had arranged for a "tour guide" to pick us up from the ferry. I say "tour guide" because once we arrived in Vieques, we were greeted by a man named Din Din, who said he would take us to the BioBay in his van. Now, this van was obviously a work van that was unmarked and white, without normal seats in the back. There were two seats that had been taken out and set in the back sideways, and another "seat" that was a tire with a pad on top. We lifted Luke and his entire stroller up and into the half-empty van (as there was nowhere to buckle him in anyway). Mind you, it was about 11p.m., and our little family was in the back of a creepy van being driven to the middle of nowhere by two Puerto Rican men listening to loud Spanish music. 
It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The water was so clear that you could see every single fish lighting up the microorganisms as they swam away. I'm talking hundreds of neon blue fish. Din Din took us out to his fishing net, where he piled it onto the boat, along with a dozen or more fish. When we made it back to the van, his companion tied the net up in a tarp and tossed it in the back...with us...right beside Adam. We couldn't help but laugh about the whole experience. Din Din was kind enough to take us to our little hotel room on Vieques that Adam had reserved. It was really fun and cute. The next day, we took a stroll down to the beach: 
Adam rented some snorkel gear and swam off to the little island in the distance, where he was told there were a lot of tropical fish:
I, on the otherhand, did NOT swim to the island, as I would have been sure that a shark would eat me, and I would have drowned out of sheer, unnecessary panic. We headed back to the hotel and relaxed on the balcony while waiting for a taxi to take us into the city:
We toured around the town and headed back to the main island. While in Puerto Rico, we introduced Luke to the swimming pool!
He actually seemed to like being in the water with mom and dad!
Here is a cute picture of Luke and Adam on one of our beach strolls:
One day we headed into Old San Juan to see the forts that were built in the 1600's. While crossing one of the bridges, I saw something come up for air in the water. Adam thought I was just being paranoid because of my fear of sharks, but a minute later, it surfaced again! It was a manatee!
After viewing the main fort, we headed to another one where hundreds of people go to fly kites. Adam decided to join them:
It was so neat to see all of the different kites flying in the air. It reminded me of the book, The Kite Runner (read it!) Luke was more interested in the grass than the kite:
When Adam had let the entire spool of kite string out and the kite was really high in the air, he handed it off to a random person as we were leaving. I think they were confused...but happy! haha. Here I am by one of the old fort lookouts, which are symbolic of San Juan:
While Adam was at work, Luke and I relaxed on the beach. It was hard to try to keep him shaded in the hot Puerto Rican sun!:
My sunblocked baby:
One night we went to a VERY local BBQ joint called Bebo's, where no one spoke English. Here's Adam with our 1/2 chicken, plantains, and Spanish-English Dictionary:
Honestly, it was the BEST chicken I have ever had! So good...mmm...
I had never been snorkeling, and I was absolutely amazed by how many hundreds of fish we saw! The water was so beautiful and clear, and I even saw a stingray!
On the catamaran back to the dock, we saw a humpback whale! (not an amazing picture, but you get the idea!)
One of the last days in Puerto Rico, we visited the El Yunque Rainforest, where we hiked down to one of the main waterfalls.
The rainforest was amazing, and I was very tempted (and prepared) to swim in the waterfall, but we had a pretty long hike back, which I knew wouldn't be fun wet:
Luke was pretty worn out by the end of the hike!
It was so wonderful to visit Puerto Rico, and I feel so fortunate that I was able to go see my husband while he was deployed. (The virgin Pina Coladas every night weren't so bad either!) He should be home June 10th, and I can't wait for our next adventure!
And the Grand Finale ----Luke started laughing last week! The beginning is a little cut off, but he was sucking on the socks I put on his hands...you'll get the idea!
Luke with my brother Sam - he really did love Sam, but this picture cracks me up! :
Sara and I went on a picnic at the park. Her big toes were chilly so she borrowed Luke's socks:
Luke touched grass for the first time! I think he liked it...
Here is my sister Sarah, who's having a baby girl in June. I'm pretty excited that Luke will have a cousin his age on my side of the family!:
This is my brother Adam and his fiancee Annie. We decided Luke kind of looks like Adam...I think it's the hair: 
Luke and I went for a stroll for the first time without his carseat attachment. I think he prefered being able to look around at his surroundings rather than my face!
Tired boy for Grandma:
