Our Little Fishy

Our little fishy just finished his last day of swim lessons at Emler Swim School. He has been taking lessons since the middle of June and has loved being in the water! Although he hasn't quite gotten the hang of kicking his little legs in the water, he has done a great job with jumping (falling) into the pool from the edge, chewing on the rings, rope, crab mirror, balls, and other toys we use to distract him in the pool, floating on his back, sliding down the slide into the water, and holding his breath for 10 seconds underwater. Luke is definitely not afraid of the water and has enjoyed meeting up with his buddies Lily and Aaron every Saturday morning for class. 

At the start of each lesson, we always greeted each little one and their parent. Jeremy and I took turns each week with getting into the pool with Luke. I bet you can guess who took most of the pictures...

The start of each lesson. Luke seems pretty happy to be in the pool!

Our little guy enjoyed getting into his "motorboat", but then seemed more interested in drinking the pool water rather than practicing kicking to get the ball. I try not to think about what is going into his little body!

Motorboat time!

Luke was a pro at floating on his back. He really liked looking at himself in the crab mirror and chewing on it. 

Yum!

Next, we would move around to different stations. Luke spent time climbing or jumping/falling off of the tower, hanging onto the rope/trying to eat the rope, fishing for the rings/eating the rings, crawling along the wall or falling into the pool, and then practicing holding his breath underwater with Ms. Amber. 

Climbing the tower. Do you see his little fins? So cute!

I promise we feed our child!

Tasty!

Click on the link below to see a video clip of our little fishy holding his breath for 10 seconds underwater. Way to go little man!

Underwater Baby

Luke played "Humpty Dumpty" as he jumped into the water, turned around underwater, and then climbed up the wall (elbow, elbow, tummy, knee). 

We sang "London Bridges" as we floated under the bridge. 

We sat on the duck and practiced falling into the water again. 

Luke loved going down the slide and getting a big hug from Mama and Dada!

Jeremy was good at catching him, while I always got the big splash!

Click on the link below to see a video clip of Luke going off the slide...

Sliding to Dad 

At the end we always sang goodbye to each kiddo before hopping out and quickly hurrying out of the way for the next group of kiddos to start their lesson. 

Good job, little monkey! We had fun swimming with your this summer! We love our little water baby!

Luke's Baby Dedication

Our family gathered together to celebrate Luke's Baby Dedication at Wilshire on Sunday, May 26th. A good friend of ours (who happens to be a pretty great photographer) just sent us pictures that capture our experience perfectly! I have been holding off on publishing this post until I had our pictures. :)

I have always loved how our pastor, George Mason, does Baby Dedications and always seem to struggle holding back tears every time a baby gets walked up and down the aisles at Wilshire. I think what really gets me is that before handing a baby back to his/her parents, George tells the parents, "This child does not belong to you. He/She is a gift from God..." Wow! What a statement. Jeremy and I have been given a pretty big responsibility in raising a child in within the walls of the church AND in this crazy world. Our biggest challenge is now praying and hoping that Luke will choose to follow Jesus. I hope that we are able to model for Luke what it looks like to be a Christian and provide for him opportunities to get to know Jesus on a more personal level throughout his life. I know we will have great support at Wilshire and have loved helping Luke start his Christian walk with the help of a lot of wonderful people at our church.

Our pastor, George Mason, getting ready to take Luke for a walk up and down the aisles of the church.

Introducing Luke to his church family.

Asking the church to help raise our little man.

Praying for Luke to come to know Jesus.

Our sweet family who joined us.

What awesome role models and supporters we have in this journey of being parents!

Proud parents with baby Luke.

Look at that sweet face!

Luke was tired of taking pictures, but appreciated his Grandpa and Nana for being there!

No more smiles from this guy! Thank you, Grandad and Jammie for coming!

After Luke's Dedication we had our family over for lunch and were excited to be joined by my Uncle Ron and Aunt Linda. They really wanted to come to the Dedication, but Linda had only been home a few days after being in the hospital and decided that it might be best if they just came by the house afterwards. We are so glad they came!

I wish I had a picture of Ron and Linda with Luke, but love this picture of Luke and Ron.

Hanging out with Natasha and Diana.

Worn out from a fun morning with family!

We loved celebrating Luke's Dedication with our family and missed those who couldn't be with us. Now that Luke has been dedicated, we are continuing to introduce him to our Father and Creator and pray that he comes to love Him as much as we do!