Friday, May 14, 2010

Four eyes

Luke likes my four eyes!  Today, he not only grabbed my glasses, which he's done before, but he also pulled them off my face!  Wow!

Today, he also grabbed a toy and held it for several minutes.  He has not done this before.  His actions seem more purposeful these days.  He's really growing up!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Big changes

I was writing a few sentences each day in a journal for Luke.  I wanted to remember what we did on the first days of his life, and for the most part, I have been successful in keeping up with my writing.  In the past couple weeks, with all the craziness, I have missed some moments, and so I wanted to take some time to remember some of the big changes that have occurred over the last couple weeks.  I recently posted that he went to bed a newborn and woke up a bigger baby.  That's when the big changes happened. 

At around this same time, he developed a mommy attachment.  I noticed this when we had Laura, our totally awesome friend and babysitter, come to help me get some thesis writing done.  Unfortunately, Luke decided to voice his mommy preference during Laura's first babysitting day with us.  He went on to show this preference with Granny and Papa, and even a bit with Daddy.  He is getting better, but we have worked on it a bit.  I am hoping Luke will develop natural attachments with other people in his life, not just to give Mommy a break, but to help him bond with other important people who will be a lasting presence in his life.

Luke also has developed sustained eye contact.  He holds eye contact during a "conversation" without being distracted by external stimuli.  He focuses on faces and responds appropriately.  He smiles when we smile; he shows confusion when we frown or look angry (but we don't do that too often).

Luke also holds his head up on his own for minutes at a time.  Even just two weeks ago, he was unable to do this, but he has developed significant neck strength and can hold his head unsupported.

Unlike his newborn behaviors, Luke now looks from side to side at will.  He doesn't only look to follow an object or look for a sound.  He chooses what he wants to see and focuses on it until moving onto something new.  I mean this in no derogatory way, but he kind of looks like Stevie Wonder when he does this.  It's just a visual to help other parents identify this behavior in their own children.  (And we actually love Stevie Wonder, with "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" being our current favorite song.)

Luke has a new routine now as well.  He wakes up in the morning and fusses a bit to let me know he's ready to wake.  I usually try to get him to sleep a bit longer, but if he persists, up I get.  I always lean right over him and say, "Good morning!" as enthusiastically as I can.  He offers a huge smile as if to say, "Thanks, Mommy, good morning to you, too!"  This is so rewarding, as I usually want to stay in bed a bit longer, but seeing that smile gets me going better than coffee.  This routine has been going on for about three weeks now.  I love that he is such a pleasant baby to be around.

My favorite of his new changes is his new ability to laugh.  Yes, Luke had his first laugh on Friday morning.  He was being changed by Granny when he laughed at her!  I was not there to see it, but I heard it from the kitchen.  I knew for a few days that he was building up to a laugh, just as he had built up to his first smile for a few days.  He has not recreated this for me yet, but I am not too worried.... I know I have many years more to enjoy his laugh.

That's my Luke... a big boy now, growing more every day.  I don't want to miss any of these changes, as each seems so special and significant. 

Our crazy life

Our family has had a busy month.  Let's be honest; it all really started two months ago after Luke was born. 

1. My mom and I planned Colleen's bridal shower for March 20, when Luke should have been one month old.  In reality, he was two weeks old.  So in the week before the shower when we were working on scrapbooks and favors and buying drinks and getting organized, I was also dealing with my newborn baby.  It was crazy, but we got through it!

2. I was also writing and finalizing my thesis for graduation this semester.  I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to do it this semester, but I guess I figured that I would need to do it with a child one way or the other, so I might as well do it when I had maternity leave and an immobile child, at that!

3. Our wonderful Aunt Arlene came with (our equally wonderful) Aunt Anna to visit us in the hospital after Luke was born.  Shortly after that, she had bad news from her doctors: there were no other treatments they could give her.  One month later, we had a benefit for her, and she saw how truly loved she was.  On April 21, after a long and admirable battle with ovarian cancer, Aunt Arlene passed.  We celebrated her life, and mourned her loss.  While we miss her, we can feel her presence in our lives, and know that she is looking after Luke in a special way from heaven.

4. We celebrated Luke's baptism on April 25.  It was important for us to have his christening while Chris's parents were in town, especially since Chris's dad is Luke's godfather.  We had a small celebration at our house after the ceremony, but plan to have a bigger party to honor the event in the summer. 

5. Colleen and Rob were married on May 1!  This exciting event was preceded by many other fun activities, like Colleen's hair and makeup trial, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, pre-wedding bowling.  Then, of course, the main event was a big, long (but fun!) day for us.

6. We had Chris's parents visiting us throughout most of these events from late-April to mid-May.

Chris, Luke, and I are very much looking forward to life returning to normal.  Once graduation is over, life will be quiet for a few weeks before I go back to work.  Then summer comes!  We are so excited about a nice relaxing summer.  Hopefully our life will be a lot less crazy then.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Luke at Nana and Grandpa's...


Propped up on a pillow and taking in the sights...




Falling over but still watching the camera!




Nana is saying, "Is it possible to get too many kisses?!"  She always says this while kissing Luke.




Bundled up on the patio.  Luke really enjoyed sitting outside on this beautiful day!




All smiles on this trip to the shore!

I am two months old today!

Yes, we are a couple days late, but he's two months old.  Where has the time gone?!

Boring....

Bored again...

Finally enjoying our photo shoot!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Luke in the Heat Wave

With the incredible heat these past few days, we have been reluctant to swaddle Luke at night, thinking he'd be too hot.  We have a very light cotton swaddle, but even that seemed too much.  On Sunday night, Luke was up most of the night, eating the whole time.  I awoke on Monday thinking that he's either (1) going through a growth spurt, (2) helping my body catch up with his intake needs after a crazy week of bottle feeding last week, or (3) a combination of those the first two.

It wasn't until last night that I realized what was actually happening on Sunday night.....

Late Monday night, Chris took Luke to bed.  We had a light cotton onesie on him for sleeping.  He tried for half an hour and was unable to get the child to sleep.  In our arms, he would nod off, but on the bed, no way!  I took a break from my thesis for a while to help Chris.  I saw Luke kicking his legs and waving his arms, and fussing as he did so.  This was exactly what he was doing on Sunday night during his binge.  He would move around and fuss, I'd feed him, he's fall off, then fuss again.  Repeat 754 times, and that was our night!  So, fast forward to Monday and me seeing the flailing limbs.  I thought, "Hey, maybe this kid doesn't like to have his arms and legs free."  After all, he's not used to that for nighttime sleeping.  We dug out the cotton swaddle and within 3 minutes, he was fast asleep.  We had the fan on so he wouldn't be too hot.  Thank goodness for that swaddle!  We were able to sleep for a good long chunk last night - all of us! 


Big Boy

At some point last week, Luke went to be a newborn and woke up an older baby.  After bathtime one night, I said to Chris that I thought Luke looked very much like he did at birth.  I was looking at photos taken at 3 weeks, and I didn't think he looked all that different.  That night, we put Luke to bed, and something happened in those 8 hours.  When I got up with him in the morning, his face looked older and his body looked bigger.  I don't know how it happened!

Now that things are quieting down a bit, I hope to blog about some of the changes Luke is going through at this stage of his life.  I plan to post about it in the next few days.  For now, though, I am off to bed.  


Wedding

Colleen and Rob were married on Saturday!  It was a beautiful day.  All were happy!  Pictures to follow soon....