12 Things I Love About Luke (the first 6)

1. He's so free! I found him like this the other day during his nap! What's up with that? He just took his diaper off while sleeping. Wow.


2. He LOVES puppies. He's not scared of them. He wants to pull their fur, get in their face, sit on their back, etc. He saw our neighbors dog this morning and nearly flipped. I'm not getting him one yet, but I love that he LOVES puppies.


3. He's not afraid to tell us how me feels. Luke is very expressive. When he's happy, he shrills with delight. When he's sad, tears are there, and then Momma's sad too! When he's mad, he does "acrobatics" as Grammy calls it. Tantrums, they are here. But I love my Luke, acrobatics and all.


4. He's easily entertained. He likes to makes noise or make a mess!


5. He makes anybody look good. Doesn't he? :)


6. He's a manly man. He likes tools, fixing things (after he breaks them), and mischief of all sorts.

My Baby's Going to School!

Me and Lukey! Snuggly!

Lukey in his oBeralls!

Baby BedHead

New teether!

Aren't we the cutest?!


I really need to keep up with blogging because when I don't I either have five million things to say or I forget all of the funny little things that happen.

The latest:
1. Luke is very possessive over his Boppy pillow all of a sudden. If I lay on it, he comes and sits in it to push me out. He uses his feet and kicks me out if necessary.
2. Luke is terrified of the springy thingy behind the door. When it makes the BOING noise, Luke looks as if he's been shocked with electricity. He crawls/walks by it and stares it down.
3. Luke mocks people's laughs. No matter what laughing (or crying) sounds I make, he usually tries to replicate them. He mostly gets the same rhythm, not the pitch.
4. My baby's going to school on Monday for the first time! When we went to orientation on Friday, he hammed it up and stole the show. He saw so many new toys and wanted to play with them all. He also met some new friends that are a bit younger than him. He wanted to touch them (with his pointer finger), which I totally discouraged for my and the other parents' sake. He's not exactly gentle. But, he loved staring at himself in their mirror and smiling back at me. I'm just wondering if it'll all be okay when he stops playing and realizes he doesn't know anyone there. :( Poor baby! But they'll be learning Sign Language, Spanish, English (of course), and doing arts and crafts! I'm so excited for him, but I'm missing him at the thought of it.
5. Luke likes black eyed peas. The food, not the group. But who knows, he likes to dance to Lady Gaga!
6. Luke is getting two more teeth in on the bottom, both sides at the same time!
7. Luke knows how to throw a ball! YaY Luke! But he also uses this skill to throw his bottle, pacifier, spoon, or anything else he has in hand and decides to fling!
8. Luke bites me, A LOT! I know he's teething, but it really hurts! He bites in and then pulls back with my skin still in his teeth! Come on now! He also pulls my hair. It's like a game for him. He jumps up to get it because I always have it pulled up away from him!
9. Luke has definitely developed object permanence. If I have the remote control and he sees it, even when I hide it, he'll try to find it.
10. Luke is a fearless climber. The latest scheme was moving his noise-making bongos over by the couch so that he could step up on them to get into my bag on the couch.
11. Luke still LOVES to eat leaves. I pop his hand, yet he never cries.... but when he bites me and I pull away he cries when I say "OUCH!" I don't get it!

There's certainly more, but I'm getting super tired. I'll be sure to post this week!

Picture Post...

These are Luke's new shoes!





So messy from "eating"...


Then he needed a bath!



I'm going to bed... I'll gab tomorrow!

Chew On This...

Gorgeous, I know! Luke decided that he was going to bite into his crib railing, over and over again. It might have been around the same time he was pitching a fit and throwing his pacifier on the floor. Maybe not. Who knows what goes on during naptime and night-night time. My Mom has told me that my little brother used to wait until she thought he was asleep, and then he would make little inventions and things out of Lego's. Though I know he's not making inventions, I'd still love to be a fly on the wall during what little time my eyes aren't on him!
He's so silly. His Daddy taught him to dance by wiggling his little 25th percentile head around like Ray Charles. We sing, and he smiles and wiggles his head. Sometimes he does it out of nowhere for no reason at all. Even when I try to be as serious as I can sometimes, he can giggle, and then I'm laughing regardless. The other night I was drinking orange Gatorade and playing with Luke. He wanted to drink some Gatorade from the bottle, I could tell because those little eyes were zoned in on it. I started to feel like I was going to laugh, with the drink in my mouth. I quickly swallowed and thought, "that was CLOSE!" I gave him a sip, it of course spilled down the front of his shirt. I went to take another sip, got a big gulp, and he made a goofy, teethy smile... trouble. I laughed and spewed Gatorade everywhere and felt it come out of my nose. There was literally a puddle of liquid in my lap. Wow! I was so glad that Brian wasn't in the room because of two things: 1. He would've really made fun of me (though I wouldn't blame him) and 2. He is super carpet protective. Luckily, I got it mostly cleaned up before he was back.
By the way, this sleep training thing isn't getting easier yet. He now fights his sleep worse during the day for naps. He had the worst fit today. I'm so over this. Seriously.

Sleep Training is TORTURE

What is sleep training exactly? Basically, it's doing (or NOT doing) whatever it takes to get your child to fall asleep and stay asleep on their own. BOO! Not my idea, but the doctor says it's best. We are trying, but it is so hard to hear him cry!
We were instructed to NOT rock him to sleep because he then feels that the only way he can fall asleep is if someone is rocking him, and cuddling him and playing with his hair and breathing in his sweet babyness. When he's had his bottle, we need to say our love you's and give kisses night night and then sweetly place him in his bed. Oh and we have to leave him there.
He cried 11 minutes the first night, but they were heart wrenching minutes. Tonight is night number 2, and I think it was only 5-7 minutes, but it was so sad. He was crying to where I could hear him choked up in his breathing. He was ALL worked up. Brian broke his stern facade and had to go check on Luke, which made none of us feel better in the end. Luke still screamed, Brian had then seen the saddest face on earth and had to leave him there, and I just sat here on the couch knowing my baby wanted me to hold him. Terrible.
Supposedly he will "sleep up to 12 hours," and that's something to covet when you love sleep as much as I do, but I'm not sure it's worth the sacrifice. Luke has been in his crib since he was 6 weeks old. I've always tried to do what's best for him, but I'm tempted to take this one for me. I love rocking him to sleep at night.
At his appointment he weighed in at 20 pounds exactly. He's perfectly healthy, and he only had to get a finger prick this time! Next time, more shots. We have to try and feed him his cereal in the mornings again because his iron was low. He did alright with that this morning because I mixed some fruit in with it.
Thank goodness he's starting to find some things he likes! Lately, he eats mostly:
Baby Cereal or Oatmeal
Yoplait yogurt (he really likes the lemon kind)
Cheese grits
Mashed potatoes
Grammy's lasagna
Jennie-O Turkey/gravy
Bread or buns
Chicken salad from Chik-Fil-A
Scalloped Potatoes
Cheesy Crunchy Baby Snacks
Strawberries, Grapes, Melon
So I plan our meals around finding something he can eat. That's a task!

Uh-Oh, Where's the Diaper Bag?!

“My presence of mind is frequently absent." -Rain Bojangles

Poor Miss or Mr. Bojangles. Not only are they as HORRIBLY FORGETFUL as I am, but they also have the last name Bojangles. Geez! Yeah I have forgotten the diaper bag at home on two occasions now. Both equally important in having it there.
Today, it was just shocking that I didn't remember it. No bottles, diapers, pacifiers, wipes... nothing! At the mall I had him all strapped in and went to grab my purse and the diaper bag to realize there is no diaper bag. PANIC. Okay, think.
I trekked my baby boo in his jogging stroller over to the Toys'R'Us, which, thankfully, was within (long) walking distance. Dodging traffic and ramping all of the curbs we made it there without any major meltdowns, on his part or mine. Sweating like a pig, I swing in there to the baby supplies area where I knew the formula was and what did I find??? Yay! I new surprise! They make ready-to-go 8 ounce bottles of Similac Advanced! Callou Callay! (See Alice and Wonderland with Johnny Depp) I snatched two of those puppies and another container of formula and raced to the counter. They asked me if I wanted "any batteries with my purchase?" To which I replied, "UH, no!" I'm thinking Luke will squeal at any moment; it's been hours since he's eaten anything. I paid and was outta there quick as lightning!
Easy PeeZy! I got some shopping done, none without prayer that he didn't have a poopie diaper, and a lot of bribing Luke with the chance to hold (chew on) my cell phone. I found some super cute stuff from Baby GAP for him (30% off y'all)! I found some clearance stuff from Ann Taylor Loft for muah! And I found a fab knee-length jean skirt at Coldwater Creek. (don't judge, they aren't for old ladies! Sorry, MOM!) No sale on that one, but it was so worth it!
Um, I have beef with the workers at the Starbucks in the mall. I ordered the LIGHT Mocha Frappucino with whipped cream, and the guy giggled. He's like, "you want the light...with whipped cream?" ("YES I DO!") I just nodded. I'm spreading out the calories...GEEZ! Haters.
Prayers regarding diaper issues were answered, and we made it out without a total a huge fit, though I was carrying him by the time we got to the car. I think that was a pretty good workout for today! Also, I am tempted to put a backup diaper bag in the car for good. Today really could've been disastrous!





Look at those teefers!!!

What A Morning...

I'm super tired this morning. Luke woke up around 2 am, then 6:30-ish, and finally for good at 7:15. He's been pretty clingy, wanting me to hold him or be right next to him. Usually he'll play and explore on his own for awhile in the morning. I'm almost positive that his teeth are driving him crazy. (Me too!)
He still won't eat much of anything. If he does eat, it's done by force or I somehow catch that teeny tiny window of opportunity that doesn't always present itself. He's totally over veggies, unless they're starchy. Anything with bread/noodles is out. Moms, any advice you have on getting picky eaters and non-interested eaters to actually eat, I'm listening!!
I entertained well enough to get him to eat 3/4 of a container of the Gerber fruit medley Smoothie whatever. I sang, made sound effects, tried to sneak it up on him, really did everything I had energy to try. I consider breakfast a small success.
Afterward, we were chillin in the living room, and he got a little fussy again. So weird. So I tried to play and give him some of his fave toys to distract from the teeth issue. He was smiling and hung out by me for awhile, and then he went over by the kitchen to the baby gate. He pulled up and was just looking around. It was almost peaceful... I should've known.
He must've had a rumbly in his tumbly because I heard the explosion in the diaper. Nothing out of the ordinary here lately. I planned on giving him a minute or two to finish and then tackling the mess. Sweet Jesus, I wanted to cry when my eyes saw the scene as I went to get him. He was sitting by the baby gate SPLASHING HIS HAND IN A PUDDLE OF POOP that had leaked out the side of his blasted diaper! SICK! GROSS! BARF! EWWWWWW! And it was all over his leg, splashing hand, and adjacent arm! WoW!
So, I snatched him up, carefully, and sprinted us into the guest bathroom, where all his bath stuff is. I stood him in the bathtub and started running the water, and then I removed the nasty diaper and his night shirt. I held him under the water and rinsed him off, then stood him up and filled his little bathtub so I could bathe him good! (Yes, the tub will have to be scrubbed, but there was nothing a pre-tub wipe down could've done. Seriously.)
He had a blast in his bath. I could still smell the diaper, which I tossed into the sink because I didn't know what to do with it. When he was finally clean and dressed, I had to get to the poo-poo puddle and clean it up. Eww! Luckily it was almost exactly the color of our carpet. Eww again.
All this, and it wasn't even 9 am yet.

I Might Be A REDNECK...

Sonny's after church seemed like a fine idea. They didn't have their chicken and dumplings, so some of our crew was disappointed, but nonetheless the salad bar was a hit. Luke didn't like the mashed potatoes, luckily I had some fruity baby food in the diaper bag from previous trips that he did take a liking to.
Brian was nervous about Luke having ANOTHER blowout, tummy troubles lately, so he thought he'd go check the diaper. As soon as he picked him up out of the high chair, it all started to fall apart. He said Luke felt wet, meaning his clothing, and he assumed poopie pants leaked onto his clothes. Both of us leave the table to go out to the car to assess the damage, and Brian asks the lady at the front counter if they have any scissors he can borrow. (Why? Weird.)He then explained that he didn't want to get poop all over Luke, so he was going to CUT HIS OUTFIT OFF OF HIM. (Say WHAT?!) Needless to say I shut down that idea quickly. It's not like he was wearing a onesie, it was a cute collared romper. Are you kidding?
At the car we see that it seems that pee pee leaked out. He was no where near covered in poop, but (no pun intended) the outfit was wet. Brian took the outfit off him, and then we realized that we had NOTHING for Luke to wear. (Daddy packed the diaper bag.) WoW! I refused to accept this as happening to me. We couldn't possibly go back inside a restaurant with Luke in only a diaper. So redneck. I searched the car in a total panic, looking for ANYTHING he could wear. I even considered one of Brian's potentially dirty t-shirts that would've been ginormous on Luke, but in the end I was forced to accept that there was nothing acceptable for him to wear. Oh the embarrassment.
Walking back into the restaurant was horrifying for me. Thank God it was near closing time, and many people had already left. Our waitress made a joke as we walked in with him, "No shoes, no shirt, no service! Haha!" If she only knew how thoroughly embarrassed I was at this point.
We sat down, some people at the table had some laughs, I hid. Luke had no problem chillin in the diaper. He yelled his "Laalalalalalalalala" louder than ever it seemed. Attention all on him. Thanks, Luke. Then our waitress showed up and said that she wanted to know if we wanted to have her black shirt she had gone to get out of her car for Luke to wear. She "just felt so bad for him." OH MY GOD! I slumped down in my seat. I don't think a Junior's size 3/4 sleeve shirt would help the situation any... but it was the thought that counts (right).
I really didn't think it was funny. There will be back-up clothes in every car and every bag forever more.

Pictures... FiNaLLY!

We've been missing the cable that uploads pictures to the computer, so there were 88 random pictures from various gatherings on the camera. Today we found a gadget that is not the cable we were missing REGARDLESS I can finally take pictures and upload to the blog again! ~I'm boring myself explaining, but I thought you might wonder why it's been so long.
Luke is growing leaps and bounds right now. He learns so much so quickly. He can "give me five" and blow kisses (such a charmer). He's also waved bye-bye a few times. Mostly he babbles and blows raspberries while crawling and climbing on everything in sight. If we aren't super careful, leaves will come in when someone walks in the front door. And guess who finds a nice snack? Yep, Luke!
He giggles and smiles. We laugh a lot and play in the living room. Since I got my new jogging stroller (YAY) we go for walks every day if the weather's good. I have to be careful because I tend to get over zealous and overheat Luke and myself. But I love going on walks with him. He loves being outside and listening to all the sounds. It's really nice because he's usually worn out and ready for a nap after our mid-morning walk.
The only time I really spend away from Luke is when I'm sleeping or when I go to ZUMBA. I go 2-3 times a week, but I've decided to pick it up a bit and add in a daily walk/jog even on my ZUMBA days. I really want to lose some weight while I have time to focus on it. Once school starts, I know I'll be so involved in work and Luke that I won't have as much time to devote to the cause. It's on now! I'm serious about it, and hopefully I'll have some pics to prove it soon enough!

Splish Splash

We went swimming with friends today, and Luke had a blast! He played and played until his little toes were shriveled pruny. I swear I've never seen a baby be so unafraid in the water. He even tries to put his face in the water, mouth wide open. Scares me to death, but I try to leave that bit of "room for exploration" instead of holding the grips so tightly, as I'd like to.
I've heard people say that they believe God made some angels especially for babies. I can see where they'd come up with that, just with seeing Luke gag on food or whatever. I go into FREAK OUT mode, afraid he's falling apart. He just coughs whatever up and goes on. Sometimes he bonks his head, but he's okay. He's a perfectly healthy little boy, and I love him immensely.

Oh, CRAP!

That Luke is just too much lately. His little personality shows through more every day it seems. Poor thing has been dealing with a torn up tummy ever since he was put on Augmentin (sp?) for his ear infections. I've been told that it's a super strong medicine, and that I believe because I've seen his chubby red tushy. He's supposed to have the antibiotics for 10 days, and after 3 the redness showed up. It hurt him so bad that he wouldn't even let me use wipes on him. He'd scream. Put the Desitin on, more screaming. It's to the point where when he goes poopie I have to put him in the bath and splash the mess of his bottom. Then he crawls around naked after a dab dry, which he's started to enjoy a lot. (the neckid-ness that is)
I'm trying to get him to eat some banana yogurt baby food so that he won't have an upset tummy ALL THE TIME. He's not so interested in food. He likes bottles... and juice in bottles. But I'm continuing to try. Brian got him to eat some baby food banana and vanilla custard, which is very good. He's gotten out of the habit and kinda lost interest. He likes the idea of finger foods. He's definitely a hands on baby. He loves to try and eat tiny pieces of leaves from our shoes by the door, but no food. Hmmm.
He had an accident the other day and his diaper leaked all over the carpet. We need our carpets cleaned badly. He was with Dad at the time, so I got a text regarding the incident while I was trekking away on the treadmill at the gym. Evidently Dad had to bathe him and give him the full treatment. I was just glad it wasn't on my watch. I must say that I was glad someone else had a turn bathing him by themselves... no names will be mentioned.
Anyhoo, that Luke is super cute and oh so funny. Grammy says I need new and updated pictures on here, so I guess I'll have to hop to it on that. (right.) The summer is officially here for me, so I have more time to blog and more time with Luke so more to blog about. He's coming over here now to try and chew on the cords, so I guess that's my cue!

Ear Infections= No Fun

Poor Luke started getting sick over a week ago. We hit up the doctor's office a little too early, it seems, because we found ourselves back there for a "recheck" a few days later. Double ear infection along with some wheezing with his cough. The fix: antibiotics and breathing treatments (with the nebulizer).
How's that going? He HATES having some funky smelling fog shot at his face from a weird blue tube that's connected to a machine making a loud noise. More than that, he HATES having to sit still long enough to get the treatment at all. He usually fusses, which leads to crying, which is followed by him falling asleep in his high chair (at least for his nightly treament).
How about the feeding these days? Not so much. Luke isn't hungry, nor can he breathe. He's far from interested in eating anything. When he's super hungry, he'll take a bottle, and he's let me feed him some fruit a few times. I'm pretty sure he's lost a little weight.
He hasn't lost his desire for adventure. The boy loves to climb on and to anything. If a door opens, the afterburners are on, and he's there in a millisecond. Dad was even construction a "demolition tower" for Luke the other morning. He'd pile up empty water bottles so Luke could crawl over and knock them all down. He LOVED it!
My favorite update is that he has been saying mamamamamamama.... which sounds like Momma to me!