Look who is walking

Lukie...you went from walking 2 steps to literally taking 20 steps. So crazy how that happens. And now you are not content being in your stroller, or in your highchair. You want down...you have recently become a screamer. However, you are doing really well with using sign language to tell us what you want. You sign "more", "thank you", and sometimes "milk". You will blow kisses at us, that is my favorite! Yesterday your brothers and daddy were wrestling and they let you join in. It made me so nervous, but you LOVED it! You would get in the middle of them and just roll to your back and laugh! I love to see you enjoy life! You currently love raisin toast and milk. We just found out you are allergic to milk, so you drink soy milk now. Max & Sutton went with me to the store last night just to get you your special milk. I thought it was so sweet because Max knew you needed something special and went to get the exact one you use!

Max asked me the other day if you could stay a baby forever, because he loves seeing you as a baby! I told him that the more you grow, the more you all can play together!

Luke, you love the splash park! You really like anything that we will let you do on your own. You are finding independence and you love it. Gosh, it's hard to let you grow up. I want you to need me forever!

I am so thankful for you, my littlest man. Each of my boys brings me such happiness. I know God is my true sourch of happiness, and I am thankful for my little gifts of each of you!

Happy Walking Lukie!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to our baby! I can't believe he is one already. Disclaimer on this photo: the scab by his eye is from Sutton...he did it on accident and cried when he realized he hurt his brother. Poor Luke...I think when he gets older he is going to be a pro at wrestling. He already tries to get in on the action!

All of my boys have the best eyelashes...I love Luke's eyes, and his cute "toothy" smile. Oh, and the cheeks with dimples...those are yummy! We have two family parties this weekend to celebrate our little man, but yesterday we did a few things as well. We took him to get his first donut...got him some donut holes. He liked them, but he was acting sluggish. Then we went to swim class for Sutton and Luke was cranky the whole time. I realized later he was getting a fever and that his ear infections were coming back. So, he spent the second half of his birthday napping in his crib. But, we'll make up for it this weekend.

Luke is almost walking...he crawls around everywhere, and he does it quickly. He loves to pull up to stand on anything. He babbles and says a few words. He says "dada". I will ask him to say "mama" and he will say back "dada". He thinks it is funny and we do it over and over again...

Luke loves his brothers, and they love him. Lately both Sus and Max will pick him up by the armpits, from behind, and walk him somewhere. It's quite dangerous, and I have asked them to stop, but it's also cute to see them trying to care for their little brother.

He is in the 30th (ish) percentile for both weight and height. I kind of like that at this stage of his life, he is small. Helps me not to be so sad that my baby is growing up!

Happy Birthday Lukie! We love you!!!

10 months old

Well, my baby is almost 10 months old...gosh I can't believe it! Luke is 19 pounds 5 ounces and I have no idea how long :) He is such a sweet baby, but changing more every day. He loves food, and wants to eat what we are eating. He is crawling everywhere and is a wiggle worm when you hold him. I love holding him, rocking him, and feeding him his bottles. When I feed him a bottle, he plays with my hair or touches my face...and it's such a sweet time :)

That brings up a funny story...the other day I got in the rocker to read Sutton a story and he told me to scoot over in the chair. I told him that I couldn't...and he told me that my bottom is too big! Well, he is right, but come on buddy!

I love this pic of Luke...the red spots on his face are from him rubbing his face...he was tired and you can see it in his eyes. I love the swirl in his hair...and you can't tell in this picture but his hair is turning curly! It's so cute.... And this picture made me laugh out loud! I love his teeth! So maybe he did get a few of my qualifies...one being BIG teeth! I love his dimples in his cheeks and his chin! Oh sweet boy, you are a treasure. We love you Lukie!!!

Great Wolf Lodge

We have been able to do LOTS of fun family filled things this summer, and going to Great Wolf Lodge was one of them. I heard about this place from my sister Molly, and we decided to go when we went to Dallas to visit Max's doctor. This place is so neat, that pictures just can't capture all that is there. We had a BLAST and will plan on going back every year! At night, they have storytime and the boys loved it. They had sent us an email telling us to bring pajamas and slippers, so we had fun getting everyone in their pjs!

Here we are at story time, waiting for it to begin! There were TONS of kids there...SO fun! Max had his spiderman slippers on and Sutton had his Elmo! Sutton looked at me and said, "Hey you didn't fix your hair!" I cracked up because he was so right! The bad thing about short hair is there's no quick or easy way to pull it back....but I didn't care!

Here we are after I got in the lazy river with the boys. We asked a random lady to take our picture. Poor Luke was a little hot because they keep it warm in there so that you aren't freezing when you come out of the water. Overall, he was a trooper and a fabulous baby!

Hi baby Luke! Sweet thing....he lived in the stroller, in the baby bjorn, or in my arms. It was so fun just holding him and enjoying family time together!

My boys in the lazy river...having so much fun! This place is amazing! They even have slides for adults that Greg went back to ride by himself when the kids went to bed! I love that he enjoyed it so much!

Max loved what he called "monkey bars" and was so proud of himself for being able to do this. There were a few times that Greg would take Max to ride the slides that only he was tall enough to do. And I would take Sutton to play in the kids area, with Luke strapped to me. I wore a swimsuit thinking that I would never see anyone there that I knew....well, I was wrong! AHHH! This body is not swimsuit ready :)

This is Greg and Sutton in one of the outside pools and we are waiting for Max to go on the monkey bars....

Here is our room! It was so fun....they had bunk beds for the boys with a tv in it! They thought it was so cool. Around the wall, is our part of the room, but it was fun to have it a little divided and for the kids to feel like they had their own area. This place has thought of it all! For coffee lovers, they have a Starbucks INSIDE the hotel!

Here is where we stayed (and Luke too). The bunk beds are on the other side of the wall. We had a blast at this place, and highly recommend it to anyone. My biggest piece of advice is to go during the school year....prices are more affordable and I assume less people.

Baby "Uke"

Here are some new pics of baby Luke in his new onesies! As you can imagine we have lots of baby clothes, but since Luke was born in a different time of year, I actually needed to buy a few onesies for him. And yes, I bought him a shirt that says, "I love mom!"

Our little baby Luke is growing up....and around here he gets called "Uke" by Sutton. It's pretty cute! Luke is doing well, he smiles and giggles with us, and at the funny faces we make at him just to get him to do so. It feels so good to be a family of 5 and so good to be a mommy to these boys.

Summertime Movies

Each summer our local movies offer FREE movies for the kids, so if the movie is free, then you have to buy popcorn and pop, right??? We have been to a few this summer and have enjoyed the time. I took my camera the last time we went so that I could get a few pics of our time there. After this movie, Sutton enjoyed running around and going from seat to seat.....and eventually got stuck in one! Check out the look on his face :) Here are my little movie buddies...and another friend of mine that you can't see is Haley. She is our babysitter that comes over to help me out (and keep my sanity). I like to call her "Best Friend Haley"....because she does help me so much!

I asked my niece Ann Marie to take this picture of me and the boys. I was holding Luke through the majority of the movie to keep him quiet, and was enjoying our snuggle time. When another little man of mine wanted to snuggle too. It reminded me that although Sutton is getting older, he does still want to be cuddled, and even sometimes treated like my baby (but don't tell him I told you) I have noticed this more since Luke has joined us....and that's okay and totally normal. I don't mind it one bit, I actually enjoy knowing that he needs me and loves my hugs and kisses! We sat like this for a good hour....and my body was numb, but my heart was full!

This guy....

I love this little guy. I love his baby cheeks and the cute way he talks. I love how he still wants us to carry him and how he likes to cuddle when he wakes up. I love how he is so physically strong, yet is a sensitive little guy.

I love the funny things he says. The other day when the boys woke up from nap, Max's hair was crazy. Sutton took one look at him and said, "Max, your hair doesn't look so good!" I laughed out loud because it was so funny coming out of his mouth. Of course, that hurt Max's feelings so we had to talk through it all. But, Sutton really is a character.

Sutton, you love your brothers. Right now, you are wanting to follow in Max's footsteps in everything he does. You love four wheelers and motorcycles, even though your momma has tried to keep you from liking it! But, you all do have it memorized that you have to be 31 years old before you can ride a dirt bike. That's how old Daddy was, so that is our rule! We got you a motorcycle shirt and you want to wear it every day...or at least every day that your Elmo shirt is dirty :)

You notice four wheelers and dirt bikes everywhere we go. We went to the pool and you saw one in the parking lot AND insisted we drive by to take a look....so we did!

You love candy (but it sounds like "tandy" when you say it). You like to wake me up in the morning and ask for a snack or "befast". You love for me to sing to you. Your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me and The Monkey Chased the Weasel. I sing all three every day at naptime. You love for us to scratch your back and then spell your name with my finger across your back.

You love to jump on the furniture! You jump from the ottoman to the couch over and over. Then you push them further apart to test your jumping abilities. It's actually quite funny to watch.

I took you all to the movies this week and you seemed to love it. I don't know if it was the snacks and pop, or what, but it was fun watching you have fun. You are wanting more independence and love it when you get to do things by yourself.

You are a pumpkin. I called you "babydoll" the other day and you looked at me and said, "Babydoll?" I tried to explain that it was a nice name and that I wasn't being mean...but you were offended :)

I love you little buddy. I can't believe you are almost three! I have always said with you that I feel like I have been ripped off! You have grown up way too fast!

Sweet Face

I can't believe I caught this sweet face! Luke was drifting in and out of sleep....and he kept smiling. Somehow, I caught him smiling and looking at me at the same time. This picture just melts my heart. I can't believe I am the lucky momma of three boys! Luke, I love how you have the cleft in your chin like Daddy and Max...and you have dimples in your cheeks like Daddy and Sutton! You are quite the combination my little guy!

Luke, your brothers can't get enough of you. They wake up and run downstairs to our room to see you, kiss you and they fight over who will hold you. Max knows how to calm you....and when you cry Sutton will say, "Mom, Luke wants you!....He is cying!" (The way Sutton says it is so cute because he leaves out the "r")

You are adored and loved little Luke! I still can't believe you are here...It's like I am living an awesome dream.......

Family Pictures!

We asked our friend to come over and take pictures of our newest little man, and our family together. It's fun to see our new family of five. Quincie is the one who took our pictures in the fall, and my favorite part was how she caught the boys just being themselves.

So, it didn't surprise me how absolutely patient and creative she was when she took these pictures! You can see our proofs at www.quinciescreations.com
Click on "Proofing" then put in "laura" as the password.

I will have to "talk" to Quincie because there is one on there of me that is SOOOO bad! Don't worry, you'll find it :) Greg and I died laughing! So, the parents don't look the greatest...but we love how she caught the boys in their true state!

Notice how Sutton is so intently looking into the camera...she told him to watch out for the monkey in the camera. We cracked up because you can tell he is really looking for that monkey!

Thanks Quincie! I love that our moment in time was captured forever!

Baby Luke

How cute is that face? Oh how wonderful it is to see our precious baby face to face! I have tons of pictures that I want to add, so I'll have to do them little by little. This picture was from the day we left the hospital. I love this picture because it shows how much Luke resembles his brothers, but yet has his own look too. I know I'm biased, but I think he's adorable! I love his dark hair and skin. I love his dimples on his cheeks and his chin, just like his daddy.

The addition of our third little man makes our family complete. The other day I was in bed and soon was joined by Max & Sutton. As Max held Luke and Sutton was in my arms, it felt so good to have our family of boys! Greg walked in and just laughed!

Boys, you have the greatest daddy. He gives you every extra second of time he has...and more. He's always coming up with some fun thing to do, or some place to take you. You are a joy to both of our lives...and we have so much fun ahead of us.

Luke, welcome to the fam! We are so happy you are here....Thank you Lord for this sweet blessing!

Please pray......

Turn your speakers on so you can hear this song. I added a song to my blog so you could hear the song by Natalie Grant, "Our Hope Endures". I heard the song on the way to church a few weeks ago, and God brought to my heart a sweet friend that has had more than her share of heartache. I had heard this song before, but had not paid attention well to the words.

My favorite part is this....the song says, "Our Hope Endures the worst of conditions, it's more than our optimism. Let the earth quake, our Hope is UNCHANGED!"

Wow, that really hit me.....

The song goes on to say..."Emmanuel God is with us! El Shaddai All Sufficient....we NEVER walk alone! And this is our hope....."

So if you fast forward to today, you'll find my family grateful. We found out yesterday that my Dad will have to have a heart bypass on Monday. My dad is the picture of health....and this is a shock to all of us. However, we consider this all a blessing. We are so thankful that we were able to find out in advance of any problems.

So this song now means even more to me....MY hope endures the worst of conditions! I CHOOSE to have hope....I know my Dad is in God's hands....and my God loves my Daddy more than me! How could it be? But it's true!!!

When I went to college, my mom and dad left verses all around my dorm room, and this one was on a post it note right by my bed in my mom's writing. This is a slightly different version that someone gave me, but I will always remember it....

"I will not worry about anything, but I will pray about everything and thank God He hears me. I cast all cares on the Lord because He cares for me, and I let the peace of God which passes all understanding keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

So, mark your calendars and pray with us! My dad's surgery is April 6th...and the following Monday, April 13th we will get to see our little Luke in person. Today we got to see him on the ultrasound....he was moving, breathing, and he has HAIR!

Please pray for our family....it's going to be a crazy few weeks.

I hope this song blesses you like it blessed me!

What a great hope we have!!!

Luke Update

Little Luke man...I realized that the last time I wrote you a note was when we found out who you were! You have done a lot of growing since then, and you're almost ready for your arrival! It's amazing to feel you move inside of me...and sometimes you move so much that it makes me feel sick to my stomach! I think you move more than Max or Sutton did. And since you are my last pregnancy, I am trying to soak up every minute and enjoy it.

I am curious...REALLY curious....who will you look like? Red hair, blonde hair or brown? Are you bigger than your brothers? The space we are currently sharing feels very tight! I keep wondering if you are breech, like your brothers were. I feel a lump in my ribs and I don't know it it is your head or your bottom!

I have enjoyed our time together, but I am counting down the days to see your sweet face in person. We have your room ready....we have tiny little diapers, your new diaper bag (with your name on it!) We even have your stocking ready for Christmas....all we need is you now....

Your brothers have been waiting for you for a long time, and they don't understand why it is taking so long for you to get here. So the other day we went to the store and bought a white poster and made a "Countdown to Baby Luke" poster. We wrote a verse from the Bible on it, and then wrote down how many days we have left until you get here. Every day, we go to our chart and mark off. I told your daddy that I didn't know if it was more for mommy, or for the kids. He said it is for all of us. We just can't wait to meet you!

Dr. Thompson said we can see you on April 13th....the day after Easter. So, as of today that is 24 days away! I am trying to keep myself busy so that the time passes quickly.

I saw this mom today who had three little boys. I wanted to tell everyone that I too would soon have three little boys....I did get to tell one lady that sat next to me. She asked, and I gave her an ear full!

So, little man, we are praying for you. We look forward to seeing you soon. We pray for your safety, and your health.....

Love you always,
Mom (& Dad)

Our New Family

We like to do "crafts" at our house....I think Max got that word from my friend Carrie! She is really good at crafts. This day Max made our family out of index cards. With a little glue, some stickers and crayons, he made each member of our family.

So please notice me...the large one on the left! And notice that he drew a baby in my tummy! Then notice Greg next to me....he told me that daddy is tall (hence the long legs!) I'm not going to take it personally that he made me three times the size of daddy! (Or at least I'll try not to!) Here is our whole family together....mom and dad on top. Max and Sutton are next and then baby Luke is at the bottom! I like how baby Luke made it into the picture twice....he's both in my tummy and a baby outside of my tummy!

I put these up at my office, it's hanging on the wall behind my desk. I love looking at it, and I crack up when I see it! Oh, and I show it to anyone who will give me a few minutes to tell them about it.

Thanks for the Craft Max! I love it and wanted to take pictures so that I would always remember our family!!!

Forgiveness and Stuff

To my sweet children...to the two boys I have OUTSIDE my body and to the little man that is growing inside me. God has been revealing some great stuff to me lately, and I had the thought today....that I want to make sure that the one thing I get right as your dad and I raise you, is to make sure I tell you and teach you about God and his son Jesus.

You know, I try so hard to make your birthdays so special, and to have fun everyday...and to teach you how to write your name or sing your ABCs, and to take trips to the zoo, to have fun family days, to sing, to play, etc...I usually feel inadequate in all of it and compare myself to other moms to make sure I am doing you a good job.

But, I have to make sure that the ONE thing I pass along to you is that you believe in Jesus. I have to make sure that I make this #1...that I show you what I have learned...what daddy has learned and how God is still teaching us through what we go through and the people we deal with.

The last six months have been a lesson for me in forgiveness. I have been thinking about how to write this and how to "sum up" what my experience was. Here are the nuts and bolts...because if I forget to tell you this story in the later years, I want you to have a record of what I learned...

Through our work, we have had some frustrating people to deal with. And the offenses seem to keep growing. Over time, my heart started growing bitter....my dad (your Papa) told me that I needed to ask God to help me deal with my bitterness. That stung my heart...but I knew he was right. And I did ask God (half-heartedly) to help me...and I saw the bitterness lessen, but still heavily there overall. Another frustration came and there was my bitterness again...because I still had more to learn about forgiveness.

I can't tell you all of the details to the story in this post, and it doesn't truly matter. But, the idea is the offense left me feeling beaten and left for dead in the street. You know...I have forgiven many people over the years. But, usually under the terms of someone asking for my forgiveness, and then me saying, "Yes, I will forgive you." But, I have not had to forgive someone who hurt me, may still be trying to hurt me, or didn't care they hurt me. Now, that one is harder....

So to make a really long and amazing story short, my dad came to me and said...."God wants us to go make this right....to reconcile...to forgive..." Huh??? Okay, dad..I know you are right but gosh this stuff is hard! So there my dad and I sat, we made a list of the verses in the Bible where God asks us to forgive, to reconcile...no matter what. You know, it didn't say that they had to deserve it. Matter of fact, it said that we had to forgive 70 times 7 times. Funny thing is that after about 2 forgivenesses, we're impatient. Or at least I am.

The most amazing part is that my dad was showing me, at 31 years old, that we BELIEVE our Bible is truth. Not only do we believe in it, we must "believe" by acting on it. And since our belief is so strong, we do act! Even when we don't feel like it, even when they don't deserve it. We do it because God commands it!

I started thinking of all of the relationships in my life where I had shown "conditional" forgiveness. The one that came to mind first was with your dad in our marriage. God used this incident to show me that although I may not "believe" Greg deserves my forgiveness, it doesn't matter....I don't technically deserve my salvation, not in any way at all.

This forgiveness was amazing! God used this to shake me (in a good way) and I hope to never forget it. And I want to make sure I pass this on to you boys. The other day we were decorating the Christmas tree and Sutton broke a special ornament Max had made for us as a little boy. Max was devistated...literally, he told Sutton "you broke my heart". And Max, you really meant it. You were heart broken. But, God reminded me about my lessons in forgiveness and it was so cool! I told Max that it was okay to be upset....but that God wants us to forgive Sutton...even though we are upset and it doesn't feel like he deserves our forgiveness. I was so thankful that I had truly experienced my new understanding of forgiveness. I saw the rage and anger in Max...and through our talk, I am hoping that I taught him a small sliver of forgiveness. I hope that in weeks, months and years to come that I will be reminded to tell you more.

So, Daddy and I may not get this parenting thing perfect....actually, we'll probably screw up lots of times. But, I want to be transparent with you in our faith and to teach you what God says.

Guys, I love you and just wanted to make sure I wrote this down so that I could share it with you. I can tell you the whole story...and about how scared I was to "forgive". My knees were literally shaking....but we did it! And God has healed my heart.

Love you,
Mom

Luke William Grunewald

Today, we got to see our 3rd SON on the Ultrasound! I just caught myself smiling as I write this.....

Luke, we are so excited to meet you in person. I feel you move inside of me, and I can't wait for Daddy to feel your kicks too. Today was so much fun as we went to the Imaging Center...and we took your older brothers, Max & Sutton with us! They loved seeing you on the computer, and Max was especially enjoying the sound of your heartbeat! Max has told me for the last few months that you were a boy...and today we saw it for sure!

Today after the ultrasound, Max said this to me, "Mom, you know...God knows what we need..and he gave us another brother. See, when you have two brothers then God knows that you need another one..." (I wanted to cry....I love hearing things out of a child's mouth!)

I was thinking today....God has entrusted us with three boys, who we wish to raise as Godly men. I wonder what kind of plans God has for them....I wonder what they will decide to do in the future. Either way, boys...Daddy and I love you....we are so thankful and grateful that God decided we would make good parents for you.

I asked the kids today at lunch what they are thankful for since it is Thanksgiving tomorrow....Max quickly told me, "My baby brother Luke!"

That sums it up....Luke, we are so excited to meet you in April! Max thought today was "the day" and asked me if he could hold you. Soon enough, we will be holding you. And, I wonder....who will you look like? Will you look just like Max & Sutton? Or will you look totally different? I can't wait to see you! We are 18 weeks pregnant, so we've got more time to be together....but I'll be counting down the days until we can hold you!

Praying for your health everyday!