Luke Austin Windels

Luke had a great time when Grandma Jennifer and Great Aunt Sue came to Chicago for a visit. Being the big ham that he is, Luke soaked in all the love and attention he was getting. Plus, as an added bonus, he got a one-day visit from Grandpa Bill and Aunt Katherine.

Bill, Dan and Jennifer hang out near Wrigley Field as the Cubs take on the White Sox.

Grandma Jennifer and Great Aunt Sue give Luke his morning bottle.

Luke and the family travel downtown on the L.

Everyone enjoyed the trip downtown.

While downtown, Luke got to hang out at Millennium Park.

And he enjoyed seeing his reflection in the big bean.

Abby enjoyed the trip with Grandma Jennifer as well, because she got to go to the beach!

Luke was happy and exhausted by the end of the whirlwind visit. He can't wait to see his grandparents again!

Luke is now exploring new things, and he has a whole array of facial expressions to let us know just how he’s feeling at any point in time.

Thoughtful Luke ponders the meaning of life

Unimpressed Luke says this toy is for babies.

Happy Luke just rolls with the punches.

Cool Luke is a hit with the ladies.

Hungry Luke says "There's no meat on this bone."

Intrigued Luke isn't sure what to think about grass.

And this Luke has had about enough of Mom and Dad's shenanigans.

In the world of “firsts,” Luke hit a pretty big one last week when he started sitting up on his own.  While he hasn’t quite got it perfected yet, he seems pretty excited to see the world from a non-horizontal perspective.  In order to practice his technique we sat Luke down in some deep grass over the weekend (his first experience with grass as well).  Fortunately for us, grass was not only an endless toy as Luke tried to pull it all up, but it also provided him with a soft landing when he toppled over.

Casey & Lauren brought a little bit of Louisiana up to Chicago last weekend with their crawfish boil.  Casey flew in 50 lbs of live crawfish from Lafayette and cooked them up like a pro.  

Luke was completely mesmerized by the crawfish. In fact, it's one of the first things he has not wanted to grab and put into his mouth.

Casey dumps boil #1 onto the table.

Dinner is served!

While the adults ate crawfish, Luke got his first taste of watermelon.

It left a lasting impression.

We’ve quickly discovered that Luke now considers just about anything he can grab to be a toy.  While this makes it easy to keep him entertained, it also means that a stuffed animal or plastic ring is pretty much on equal footing with an empty pitcher of beer when it comes to sheer entertainment value.   

Luke grabbing the biggest cup he's ever seen.

Not sure if there's a pint sized "sippy cup" on the market, but Luke would definitely be into it.

Our friend Karen from Dan's work in Austin visited on Thursday. She brought Luke a much more age appropriate stuffed toy...although we're still wondering how it fit into her suitcase.

Kasey introduces Luke to "Cooper" the stuffed Texas Longhorn that Karen brought up from Austin. At first Luke was a little taken aback by the larger than life toy.

However he quickly warmed up to his new toy once he realized it tasted pretty good. If only Gerber had Longhorn flavored baby food.

This weekend we packed up the new CRV and headed out to the suburbs for a beer festival in Warrenville, IL.  The Two Brothers Brewing Company was celebrating the release of their new IPA so naturally we had to go check it out.  Of course with Chicago traffic the 30 mile drive turned into a 60+ min. commute each way.  Fortunately we stocked up Luke’s travel bag so we were set for anything.

Luke's stroller proved to be perfect for holding both his baby bottles, as well as our beers.

Luke opens wide for his favorite beverage...formula.

If you think this looks funny, you should have seen Dan changing Luke in the Jetta.

Obviously Luke enjoys the comforts of CRV as well.

Luke's reaction time is getting faster each day. Here he is making a move for the camera.

It's pretty amazing what Luke finds entertaining. Here he is peaking through some tall grass trying to see Mom.

Luke and Dad having fun wading through the baby sized jungle of grass in Warrenville

One of Luke’s favorite toys is his LSU Football.  He gets so exicited when he sees it.  Not only can he reach out and grab the football with both hands now, but he can also roll over multiple times without dropping it.  We could have a future football star in our midst. Although based on Mom and Dad’s height, hopefully there’s an opening for a punter or kicker. 

Luke practicing his "catching" skills with his LSU football.

Luke trying to figure out how to open his book.

Luke demonstrating how many toys he can grab at once.

Last weekend we took advantage of the nice weather to hit up two Chicago festivals.  Saturday was the German “Maifest” in Lincoln Square, and Sunday was the “Do-it-on-Division” festival in Wicker Park.  While we weren’t sure how Luke would respond to large crowds, he seemed to love all the energy and attention. Highlights for Luke included German Polka dancing and empty PBR cups.

Blog Note: The comment section and links to full size pictures should be working again.  

We went to Sunday's festival with Dustin, Therese, and Viggo. Here's Luke and Viggo hanging out.

Luke and Dad on Division St.

Luke plays with his new favorite toy...an empty PBR cup.

Even though we forgot Luke's hat on Saturday, we "McGivered" his burp cloth to fit the bill. Luke of course loved it!

Luke seeing how much slobber his toy pig can absorb. Verdict, a lot!!

The past couple of weeks Luke has been in a great mood from morning to night.  While he’s still perfecting his laugh (which is currently a loud screech), he’s figured out that those strange little contraptions at the end of his arms are pretty useful for grabbing anything and everything.  His favorite objects to latch onto (in no particular order) are Mom’s hair, Dad’s hat/sunglasses/ears, his spoon, his bathtub, and any beverage cup Mom and Dad are drinking out of at the time.  

Luke sporting Dad's Saints hat.

Luke making a grab for the camera