We are completely smitten...and sometimes have a hard time sharing!

This is gonna be one of several posts in close succession because there is too much scrapbook news to reasonably fit into one post! I'm gonna start with the easiest post: a "happy 6 months to Luca" post. I had to reign myself in because I could overload this space with adorable photos. It's amazing that any of them are clear as he is in constant motion much of the time. 

Pretty much any time we get to spend time with Luca at least one kid asks me before he has been gone 5 minutes when the next time is that we get to see/keep him. We had some false starts on a weekly schedule for Luca hanging with us do to covid interruptions, but this week enjoyed spending much of Thursday with our favorite little friend. The world becomes much more joy-filled, fun, and beautiful when he's around. Soon it will get more complicated too as this kid has places to go and he is currently able to go backwards but it won't be long before he can choose his direction. Watch out world!

All in one day we got to introduce him to our high chair, the outdoor baby swing and he gave us a piano concert. He also got to meet the ducklings, of which he was fond. 

I'm gonna have to take back that he sits still to listen to books. That's before he wanted to put EVERYTHING into his mouth. Now he mostly just thinks that books must be delicious and should each be sampled. 

Yesterday, he got to try the "puffs" that Kali had given to Alida for Christmas as a joke, since she loved them so much as a baby. When he could get them in his mouth and keep them there, he seemed to enjoy them a lot. 

Some of us have an easier time sharing snuggle time than others. Jason and Kali love him dearly also, but are less insistent on fair and frequent turns holding him. I admit that I'm in the other camp, though I did give up my spot at the table by him last evening to let Terah and Alida sit on either side of him. There's never a lack of willing arms and I will say that my heart about burst when I peeked into our bedroom the other day to see Alida rocking him while he drank his bottle and singing one of the lullabies that Jason wrote. Here's a few other photos I couldn't restrain myself from sharing!

We love our solo times with Luca, with the perk of giving his parents some two-handed-focused time. But we also love when the whole family joins us, as they did last evening. It's been awhile since we had a table of 9 spanning 4 generations (the 3rd generation - my parents - were missing this time around). Uninterrupted conversations of much depth are a bit hard to come by at this stage of family life, but just being together feels precious. After a dinner of the last sausage gravy over sweet potatoes until the next hog butchering, we enjoyed Kali sharing some of her Philippine photos and stories. 

Ps. I had to chuckle on Friday when Terah complained that she was sore from playing "push up and flop" with Luca! It seems he is a great playmate, an adorable snuggly baby friend, and also her own personal trainer. "Exercise" with Luca most definitely fit in the category of "joyful movement," which is what we are going for around here!