A Day at the Farm

Luke and I had a playdate today to go apple picking with my friend and her baby. I had visions of quaint, idyllic rows of apple trees covering rolling hills of an orchard. However, our trip turned into quite an adventure when we realized that Nivens Apple Farm is more of a rural, down home place than we thought. (See the smiling face in the middle hole of the picture above!) The farm was complete with scarecrows, a pumpkin patch, corn mazes, giant tractors for hayrides, and baby farm animals. The young calf was appropriately named Bubba, which just allows you to feel the vibe of the place. We found that we were the only guests at the farm, and the four of us had the entire place to ourselves for most of the afternoon. I guess people besides stay-at-home moms have other places to be during the middle of a weekday! Later we did encounter 2 van-loads of senior citizens from a nearby retirement community, who sweetly cooed over our babies. My friend's baby slept almost the entire time, missing out on her first "farm" experience, and I toted Luke from sight to sight, taking tons of pictures to photodocument our funny rural adventure. It was a true South Carolina family farm, and we ended up buying bags of pre-picked apples from the country store when we realized that lugging the strollers through the fields was not as feasible as we had naively imagined. Even though the reality of our "apple picking" trip was not what we had originally pictured, we had a great time and loved our day at the farm. Here are some highlights of the day:


Our little pumpkin


We're not in Kansas anymore...


Even Luke looks sheepish about posing with Bubba, the baby calf!



We really were down on the farm...


Luke giving his friend the "Heisman"

Our fun baby

Luke has been so much fun this week, and is so entertaining to us! We started putting him in his ExerSaucer, and he loves being upright to look around and play with his toys. He has also started to sit up, which is a huge development! Here are some pictures of our 5-month old cutie this week...




Doesn't Luke look like a mini-Mark in this picture?
I think Daddy has the same yellow golf shirt and khakis!




Luke loves smiling at the handsome baby in the mirror
of his Activity Gym



Brother and Sister playing together

Big Boy!

Today was a big day for Luke! He turned 5 months old today, and we began feeding him rice cereal this morning. More cereal ended up on Luke's bib than in his mouth, but he opened his mouth for the spoon and only made minimal funny faces when experiencing the new texture. I was very excited about preparing for this big day, and carefully chose Luke's bib, fed him from his special silver cup from Linda S. and his spoon from Mama B., and had the date marked on my calendar in preparation for weeks. Luke didn't seem to understand what all the fuss was about, and Mark and Winnie practically rolled their eyes at me, but I enjoyed this special occasion. Here is a video of the big event:



Another exciting weekend activity occurred this morning when we went to Babies 'R Us (one of our very favorite places!) to buy Luke's big boy car seat. He has already outgrown his infant carrier, and we have spent way too much time as obsessive first time parents researching what car seat to buy next. The new seat is absolutely enormous, and it took us about 10 minutes in the parking lot to try to figure out how to fit the box into our car! This does not bode well for when we actually unpack the car seat and try to install it...

Here is a picture of the day we brought Luke home from the hospital in his infant carrier, and one from today. It's incredible to me how different he looks and how much he has grown and changed in 5 months- Happy Birthday to our big boy!


Luke in his infant seat (10 days old)



Luke in his infant seat (5 months old)

Miracle Milestones

It seems as though every week, Luke acquires new skills and grows. Mark and I have commented on how miraculous it is to observe these changes as they occur. One of our favorite new developments is that of our baby giggling. He thinks that we are hilarious at times, and it makes our hearts melt to hear that sweet laugh. Below is a video of Luke giggling at me. He worked himself up so much that it turned into hiccups!


Also, Luke learned how to intentionally roll over today. He hates tummy time, and often gets frustrated being on his stomach. This morning, he learned how to roll onto his back to "escape" tummy time! We hope these videos help our family and friends who live far away to feel as though they are able to witness these miracle milestones along with us as they occur, and see Luke grow and develop!

Just too cute!

Since Luke's birth, Winnie has been struggling with issues of jealousy regarding all of the attention her baby brother has received. We have tried to make her feel special (remember, this is the same dog who used to eat Puppy Ice Cream regularly and go to Doggie DayCare), but it has definitely been an adjustment for our puppy. However, recently Winnie has assumed the new role of Nanny in our house, and she rarely leaves Luke's side. When I am in the nursery rocking or feeding Luke, Winnie lies beside us at the foot of the glider. If he cries, she comes to Mark or me, with a look that seems to say, "Hey guys- the baby needs you!" When Luke spends time on his blanket playing with toys, his "Nanny" is right beside him, supervising his every move. It's very cute to see how the two of them are becoming fast friends. Here are some pictures of the new buddies, and the general adorable-ness around our house this week:

Deacon Magic!

What an incredible weekend we had in Winston-Salem! We had VIP seats for the Wake Forest football game thanks to our friend, Brian, and watched the Deacs defend their home turf against the Ole' Miss Rebels. The game was a nail-biter and was thrilling up until the very last second, when WFU kicked a field goal to win! Luke was a perfect baby at the stadium, smiling and cheering, and we even got a picture of him with Demon Deacon (which was a dream of mine)!




Here are the kids, in our hotel room, exhausted after the football game. Since Winnie and Luke took up the entire king-sized bed, Mommy and Daddy flipped a coin to see who would sleep in the Pack N' Play, and who got the dog crate for the night.





It's a WFU tradition to "roll" the quad with toilet paper to celebrate victories in sporting events. Winnie was ecstatic, as she thought that the entire campus was covered in tissue paper for her to rip apart!





Here we are, as a family of 4, in front of Wait Chapel on the WFU quad. It was very sentimental for Mark and me to bring our baby to the campus where we have so many wonderful memories.




Baby Luke was wiped out after our exciting weekend, and slept the entire trip home- Hooray!




Here is a slideshow with more pictures from our wonderful weekend (which can be viewed larger by double clicking on these photos or by going to our "Winterhoff Family Photo Albums" link on the right side of this page). A great time was had by all!

Are You Ready For Some Football?!

Luke is very excited about the the football season beginning, and he asked to wear his favorite NFL Team Uniform today- Go Skins! In addition, the Winterhoff family will be attending the home opener at Wake Forest on Saturday in Winston-Salem, NC. Much to my family's dismay, I've packed coordinating outfits for everyone and will be sure to take plenty of photos to commemorate Luke's first attendance at his future alma mater. Let the football begin!!