Parties parties and more parties

Our first week back from vacation was busy. You would think we would take it easy to get back into the swing of things, but oh no, not us. The Sunday after we got home, we went to a birthday party for a dear friend's little girl who turned 1.

On Tuesday we went with some friends to cool off at a pool/splashpad playdate.

On Wednesday we went to a a 1st birthday party playdate with one of our playgroups (4 babies, including Luke, turned 1 in a 10 day span).

Thursday was pool time and lunch with my sisters and Friday was prepping and cleaning for Luke's party and dinner with the family to celebrate Jeremy's birthday.

Saturday morning was Luke's 1st Birthday party with family and a few friends. We had nearly 30 people at our house and I've decided that is about the max our little house can handle when it is 100 degrees outside so we can't really use the outside patio for seating and visiting space. The party went great and we were so happy everyone was able to come. Luke enjoyed his cake, but didn't make nearly the mess he made with his cake at the beach.

Saturday night a new friend had a 4th of July party at her house. We were so excited to get to attend a party where everyone else was going to be in the same boat as we were - chasing after a 1 year old and nearly 3 year old. The kids had so much fun and we had some great fellowship with some new friends.

And to finish out the week, yesterday was a "Boys of Summer 1st birthday BBQ" with our other playgroup. There were 4 of us enduring the wonderful June/July heat last summer while 9 months pregnant before giving birth to our boys. Since we all had boys turning 1 around the same time, we had a little party to celebrate. It was fun to see the boys interact as well as the dads, who rarely see each other. Luke is walking a ton now, but still not all the time. I sometimes get frustrated that he just won't make the plunge and quit crawling, but I have to remind myself that I don't want to rush him growing up. He started on milk last Monday and also started sleeping until 5:30am or later without eating! I don't know if there is a correlation there or not, but I'll take it. I'm not weaning yet, but taking the first step by trying to drop a feeding. He's not making it easy on me.

Tuesday was Jacob's last dose of his antibiotic for his last ear infection and by Friday he was on one again with yet ANOTHER ear infection. David took him to the doctor this time and asked her about tubes since he seems to get these infections way too often. She wasn't fully convinced. I would love to talk with her about it when we go back to re-check him. On a positive note, we took Jacob to the allergist for a re-check of his egg and cashew allergy and a full panel test of the environmental allergens. Much to everyone's surpise his allergy testwas 100% negative. No more egg allergy! Or any allergy, for that matter. It has us a bit stumped as to why Jacob has a runny nose, ear infections, and wheezing all the time, but still great news.

To see the rest of the week's pictures, go here.

**And yes, these blog posts and pictures are all out of order, but I thought I would stay on top of what happened this week, then catch up on the previous one.