This sure beats Jennifer Hudson's version

This production was all Ben.  Another fairly long one, but worth it according to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtHUTIlJUSs

The Tournament

Luke celebrated his first March Madness this year by submitting his picks to the Harrison Family pool.  We decided to use his stuffed animal collection to help with the making of the picks, though sadly we are heavy on elephants, hippos and monkeys, and light on Jayhawks, Demon Deacons, and Huskies (at least there's only one set of Huskies this year).  He seemed to especially favor the little lion we called the closest thing to a wildcat, as he has both Kentucky and Villanova in the Final Four.  Once they were both there, we allowed our two wild cats to play the part of the respective Wildcats.  Luke went with Frank and Kentucky.  As you can see from the below clip, Luke put a great deal of thought into each pick.  In an effort to help him complete the picks on time, we advanced the top 4 seeds in each region to the sweet 16 for him.  He picked all of the remaining first round games, and all of the games from the sweet 16 on.  After day 1, he's tied for the most correct in the pool, and he's beating his father by 3 games. 
Go Duke!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_oMrroB7hU

A Helmet

As many of you are aware, young Luke has plagiocephaly, meaning one side of his head is a little flatter than the other. The doctors have recommended that a helmet be worn for some length of time, hopefully not exceeding a few months, to promote growth in the desired areas and round things out. Luke got his helmet last week, and his parents dressed it up a bit for him, though apparently they could have picked a more recognizable team. This past weekend, one guy thought the "D" stood for Dallas Cowboys, while another woman thought it was an Auburn football helmet. Seriously, Auburn?

yes, the kid will be allowed to pick which team to root for

practicing his fumble recovery skills by going after the remote

Durham

We wanted to belatedly post a few pictures of our Labor Day weekend in Durham, where we introduced Luke to Duke, Duke Football and several Duke friends.  As for the football, on Duke’s first possession, they had their punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, and things didn’t improve thereafter.  But the rest of the weekend was great!  Special thanks to Kyle, Stacey and Grant for letting us stay with them!

And of course the trip up I-85 through Charlotte would not have been complete without stopping at the Hendrick Motorsports Headquarters and Museum, home of Jeff Gordon’s and Dale Jr’s race teams. 

Tailgating before the big game

two handsome Duke fans

with Grant and his parents

for a pediatrician this guy isn’t bad!

 indulging his mother in front of the Jeff Gordon car

August and Everything After

We wanted to update y'all on the events of the past month, which has been a busy one! Luke continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and measured in at 16lbs 12oz and 25 1/2 inches at his 4 month physical, August 10th. No wonder the carrier with him in it is getting so heavy. He's also learned how to roll over from back to front, though he's apparently also figured out that if he does roll over he's stuck on his tummy; consequently he's pretty much lost interest in performing the trick.



Early in the month, Grandpa and Cathy came up for a weekend, and the highlight was clearly going around the art museum with Grandpa. We were concerned going in that we might be a bit noisier than the average patron, and figured that if we started getting upset one of us would have to forego Monet and his water lillies. We did not anticipate that the noise we'd be making would be squeals of excitement as Grandpa pushed our little art buff around.



Then, right after Kristina's boards, we rented a house on Fripp Island, SC. We met Kara, Kailey and Madison there and took advantage of the many island amenities-- the beach, the pools, the seafood, the boardwalks and nature trails, boating, the golf, the golf-carting, and gorgeous sunsets and wildlife from the porch. Luke especially enjoyed the walks and the golf cart, and did also enjoy some time in the pool and getting his feet wet in the ocean. He did not wish to go too far out there for fear of getting stung by a jellyfish like his father.



Alas, the summer is coming to an end, as Kristina started her new job today. We do have one final trip planned this weekend, up to Durham to reunite with college friends and take Luke to his first Duke game outside the womb, albeit a Duke football game. Go DUKE!

BBH's Current Home

Kristina has made a very nice home these past nine months for BBH. As a fetus, he's been able to do lots of things that would make other babies jealous. He went to Norway, and got to ride in planes, trains, boats and automobiles while he was there. He went to Walt Disney World. He was the star of the show at two different showers. He's had plenty of ice cream to eat. He's had cats that will snuggle up against him and help Kristina keep him warm. He got an early start as a young Blue Devil by going to the ACC tournament three days straight and cheering Duke to the title!

It is really no wonder that he's now apparently decided that home is too good to pass up and he's tardy leaving it.