Our little monkey's first birthday party

Well, we made through our first year as a family of three! What an incredible year it has been - so many sleepless nights, frustrating moments, learning experiences, hilarious memories...and so much joy. Definitely something worth celebrating. :D

Because Lukas' birthday, November 27, was the day before Thanksgiving this year, we decided to postpone his birthday celebration until that weekend, fitting in a small "party" between other family activities. We kept it low-key, with just my parents and immediate family there, not knowing how Lukas would respond to having too much attention. He did pretty good though - smashed the cupcake in his own cautious, methodical way, then asked to be washed off. Hmmm...we may have something of a neat nick on our hands. ;)

Lukas has had some sugar before, but only in small quantities. Call me an overly paranoid first-time mom, but I didn't want him to get too much sugar at once. I found a relatively healthy cupcake recipe on this blog, and made some adaptations. Then I tweaked an old family favorite for the frosting recipe. The cupcakes turned out surprisingly good, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. Here's what I ended up doing:

Healthified First Birthday Cupcakes 

5 ripe bananas (mine were frozen)
3/4 c. applesauce (I didn't have any sugar-free or plain on hand, so used some with cinnamon added)
3 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. butterscotch baking chips (could use chocolate, carob, or raisins) 

Mash bananas in mixer, then add remaining ingredients in the order listed, mixing each one in well. Pour into cupcake liners placed in a muffin pan, dividing into 12. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Healthified Banana Frosting 

1 stick butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 ripe banana (don't use a frozen one for this!)
Powdered sugar to taste (normally I'd use honey, but that's not supposed to be good for little ones either, so... :P The banana adds quite a bit of sweetening so less is needed than normal frostings.)
Carob powder (optional - I mostly used it because I wanted brown-colored frosting) 

Beat first 3 ingredients together well, then add sugar to taste, followed by carob powder. Don't over-mix it like I did! It won't fluff up, so just mix until ingredients are thoroughly combined and the mixture is smooth and creamy. 

Note: This makes a LOT of frosting, so if you are only doing the dozen cupcakes you may want to halve the frosting recipe. We ended up making a banana sheet cake, too, and putting the extra frosting on that.

I found some decorating ideas on Pinterest and had a lot of fun turning the cupcakes into little monkeys. :D A cheap cookie decorating kit from Big Lots supplied the eyeball candies and the red frosting, and generic vanilla wafers from Aldi made the muzzles and ears. It all tied in perfectly with some matching birthday hats, blow-thingys, and banner I found at Dollar Tree last summer. Just perfect for our little monkey. :D

More snapshots from the party:

Enjoying the singing!

"Am I really allowed to touch this, Mama?"

Isn't his shirt perfect? I was tickled to find it at the thrift store this summer, for half off $0.60. Couldn't pass that up. ;)

So solemn, almost guilty-looking...

There's a smile! Must taste yummy. :)

Ready to be cleaned up - no fun being this sticky!

One of Lukas' gifts was a little bubble wand. He had a lot of fun watching and "catching" the bubbles.

A chair his own size! Happy birthday, little man!

Lukas Paul Valour: one year old!

A cute but fake little smile for the camera. ;)

Twelve whole months! I can't believe our little man is already a year old. Our easy-going baby has morphed into a wiggly, emotional toddler with a stubborn streak clearly inherited from his parent (which parent that is depends on who you ask, lol).

This past month has been so exciting in terms of locomotion. Around the first week of November he (finally!) learned how to crawl properly, and he was a real pro right off the bat. This means we must be sure to go through the baby gate quickly, keep the bathroom door closed, and grab things out of the fridge in a matter of seconds - otherwise a little shadow is suddenly beside us, not wanting to miss out on any of the fun. :)

This is what most of our photo shoot looked like...no sitting still here!

Even more exciting than crawling has been the progress made towards walking. Though not quite to the point of walking by himself, Lukas cruises around furniture at amazing speeds, has a grand time pushing his little push-cart around the living room, and is delighted whenever anyone holds both his hands and lets him run wherever he pleases. He can almost walk with just one hand being held, but after a few steps he gets nervous. I'm just glad he hasn't yet figured out how to climb up on the furniture, haha! Soon enough...

All this activity obviously wears Lukas out every day, and he has been napping longer than ever in his life - sometimes as much as 2-3 hours a day. I know that's not much compared to some children, but after him napping only 20-30 minutes most days for months, I'm finding it amazing to have a little longer margin of quiet time for getting computer work done. It's a good thing, too, since he needs a lot more attention when he is awake. He has an unending fascination for my computer keyboard (I can't blame him, really, since he sees me giving it so much attention while I'm working), and we're still learning the meaning of "No." Ah, toddlerhood....so many lessons in patience! :)

Mr. Solemn. He wasn't in a very smiley mood the day we took these pictures.

Speaking of sleeping, Lukas has been in his own room for almost a month now. The transition has been surprisingly easy, and he went from waking 3-5 times most nights to only once, sometimes not at all. Generally he sleeps from around midnight to 8, has a bottle and diaper change, then sleeps another hour or two. Joe and I usually manage to snag 7-8 hours in there somewhere, which has been lovely. Joe has been the one to most often get up and help Lukas if he wakes up in the night - after wrestling a 20-pound boy all day in addition to all the usual housework, cooking, and my design jobs, I sleep pretty hard. ;)

Our little man has quite the voracious appetite these days, usually eating two large meals of solid food plus snacks and bottles of milk and diluted juice through the day. Oatmeal, cheerios, pears, and avocado (no, not mixed together, ha) are his favorite foods, but he usually eats pretty much anything we give him. He's a pro at feeding himself now and can really gobble food up by the handful. He's usually pretty good about not throwing food on the floor, which we're very thankful for - our dining area is carpeted and our linoleum-floored kitchen is too tiny to hold his chair.

With Daddy's help we got some genuine grins and giggles. And look at that wild hair!

With all the focus on movement this month communication hasn't been a top priority. But he has definitely become more emotional and vocally expressive, and it's usually pretty easy to tell if his cry is caused by hunger, fear, pain, tiredness, or frustration. He has a shockingly loud scream that makes an appearance too often on grumpy days, especially if he's teething at the time. Often he'll make soft little whimpering sounds, like he's trying to tell a sad story or make us feel sorry for him - it's adorable! The most fun thing, though, is that he sometimes imitates various sounds we make. If we use a growly voice or a sing-song tone or a whisper, he'll often try to copy us. And if we repeat back the sounds he is making, we can have a little "conversation", usually ending in giggles. Apparently he knows what we're "talking" about, at least. ;)

Lukas' birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, so we had a small celebration with my family while we were together for the weekend. I'll write a separate post with details and photos of our little party. It was really special to have our first Thanksgiving with him, and to introduce him to all the out-of-state relatives who gathered for the holiday. We have so, so much to be thankful for, and right up at the top of the list is this precious little person that God has entrusted to us. What a treasure and privilege!

Lukas: the 11th month

 

It's hard to believe that our little man has already been with us almost a year! His ready smile and giggle, his sweet snuggles and silly games - all have brought so much joy to our formerly quiet home, and we are unspeakably blessed and grateful. Even in the middle of teething, when it seems he only communicates by ear-splitting screaming. And yes, even when it comes to explosive, nasty diapers. ;)

October has been a full month for us. We took a road trip out to the Cincinnati area for a week, spending time with friends and doing some sight-seeing. We tried to limit most days to no more than 5-6 hours on the road, and Lukas did really well for the most part. I will say that we definitely learned the value of a snack-catcher full of cheerios! ;) He was a trooper the days we carried him around the Creation Museum and other sites, and he especially had fun meeting a new little friend, Drew, there at the Museum.

Four teeth are easily seen now, and the other two on top will be showing soon!

Coming back home was a bit of an adjustment for all of us. Lukas had a week or so of fussiness, likely brought on in part by teething. He had his 5th tooth pop through the last day of our trip, and his 6th one made its appearance last week (both on top, beside his front two). They're sharp little toofies, and he sure likes to use them to chomp down on anything he can stick in his mouth (watch your fingers!).

The latest and greatest thing around here is that Lukas is now pulling himself up to standing on pretty much anything that holds still long enough (and he's fast now!). It's a scary thing for this mama to watch, seeing his shaky legs and knowing how easily he could tumble - and often does. But he's finally learning that he needs to keep hanging on to things instead of trying to jump around in his excitement...and he's also getting a lot better at catching himself when he loses his balance. Cruising around the furniture has started happening just in the past week, and he's one excited little man!

Most of our photo session consisted of him "talking and/or moving towards me, LOL.
The ball provided a bit of distraction to keep him in one place.

Scooting around the floor still happens, especially in the kitchen where there's nothing he can really hang on to for standing up. Sometimes he sits down and hitches himself along with his arms, other times he does a funny sort of three-legged crawl, like a lame puppy. :) I know he'll learn to crawl for real at some point, and I'm curious to see if it happens before or after he takes off walking. So much fun to see him learning new things!

Oh, and his absolute favorite game right now is "peek-a-boo". He's started grabbing at any kind of cloth - clothing, a blanket, a diaper, my skirt - and holding it over his face, just quietly waiting for us to notice and say, "Where's Lukas?" Then he pops out with a grin and a giggle, only to repeat it a dozen times. So fun! :D

Emptying cupboards and shelves is another favorite activity. Most of the lower cupboards in the kitchen are fine for him to play in, and he has a grand time pulling out all the pans and banging them around while I'm cooking. Makes for a little bit of work cleaning up after him, but it won't be too much longer before he can start learning how to put them back, too.

Our sweet little man. <3

Several of our friends, including a couple at church, have little boys around Lukas' age. We've seen them several times in the past month, and it's amusing to see how excited Lukas gets when he sees someone close to his size. He starts up a happy, friendly babble, wants to feel their clothes and faces and fingers, and has no qualms about sharing toys or even his beloved Cheerio container. Definitely no shyness here! We're thankful for these little "friends" God has provided already, and it'll be fun to see how he continues to interact as they get older.

Lukas: Our little man at 10 months

"Little man" does seem to be the perfect name for Lukas these days, as he has grown up so much in the past month. Not only has he had a physical growth spurt, gaining 1 lb. 4 oz. and growing an inch taller, but he's acting a lot more grown up in other ways, too. Suddenly our cuddly baby has been replaced by a wiggly almost-toddler who must look and feel and taste everything in sight, until he drops from exhaustion. :)

Lukas is very gradually making strides (almost literally) in mobility. He's not very fast at it yet, but he's figured out how to scoot around on his bottom. Once in a while he'll try scooting on his tummy, usually backwards, but generally he prefers the sitting position. This has allowed him to check out all the kitchen cupboards, explore under the dining table and under Mommy's desk, and find all kinds of fun things to play with. :) It's exciting to see him checking out our home in new ways, and we are gradually baby-proofing so he can explore more freely. We feel spoiled to have gone 10 months without doing any baby-proofing at all!

 

Standing up is the latest and greatest when it comes to excitement. Oh-so-thrilling! He still needs a lot of support, but enjoys walking around the house while we hold his hands. Lately he's been pulling himself up to his knees on any available objects (Mommy's legs, a footstool, the toilet...), so it likely won't be that much longer before he makes it all the way to his feet and starts cruising in earnest. The days of pretty stuff on the coffee table are numbered! :)

All this increased activity has made naptimes more essential. The last couple weeks I've been making a point to lay him in his bed with a bottle around the same time each afternoon. Though that never satisfied him before, now he will usually go to sleep very quickly and easily, often sleeping 60-90 minutes at a time. Since he has never napped regularly before, and rarely napped more than 30 minutes at a stretch even when little, this is amazing! I've been really grateful for the chance to get a few more things done around the house in that window of time. He's still waking 2-3+ times a night for food, but as long as it's not every hour or more as it has been a few nights we can live with that. For now. :)

Communication has been an exciting area of development again. In last month's update I wrote about Lukas' fascination with the neighborhood dogs and imitating their barking. We can now ask him, "What does the puppy say?" and 90% of the time he promptly answers with his soft little "Woof-woof". So adorable! He still hasn't made the visual-audio connection yet, but we recently got several board books with lots of puppy illustrations and I'm sure he'll be enjoying them.

 

Toys continue to be a lot of fun. His favorites are a tractor and a truck - spinning the wheels occupies a lot of time! He also enjoys flipping through board books, and rolling/throwing avocado pits (clean, large ones) across the kitchen floor. :) Pretty much anything new is interesting and must be examined closely. Sure would be fascinating to know what's going on in his little mind! Oh, and he now clearly recognizes himself and both Joe and I in photos or video, which is a lot of fun. I suspect the photo books I put together for him on Shutterfly are going to be very popular reading material. :)

Lukas is enjoying his solid food a lot more these days. Oatmeal is a new favorite, along with peaches, pears, and avocado. He's especially been enjoying the miniature peaches and pears from Grandpa and Grandma's farm! We try to give him two meals most days, and he's getting more consistent about eating a fair amount each time. He's very clear when he's done, though: the lips are locked shut and he shakes his head in a definite "no". ;) Nursing is gradually tapering off as my supply continues to dwindle...an emotional thing for me, but I'm thankful we had as many months as we did.

 

This month's challenge was a couple weeks or so when Lukas was apparently testing out his lungs, subjecting us to large amounts of ear-splitting SCREAMING at the tiniest frustration or for no reason at all. This wore Mama out pretty quickly! To our relief, this past week has been much better in this regard, the turning point being...

...two new teeth popped through! He now has 2 on top and 2 on bottom, so much chomping is in order. ;) We hadn't realized they were so close to coming through, but it does definitely provide an explanation for those extra difficult two weeks! Since then he has been practically angelic, the sweet little easy-going fellow we've come to love so much. We're hoping this continues for our upcoming road trip early next month!

Lukas Paul Valour: 8 months old

Lukas' 7th month was a little bumpy in some ways. After going to visit my family for a long Independence Day weekend, he spent a week on a nursing strike as well as dealing with extra teething pain and some constipation. Not a fun time for our poor little Bubby - or for Mama or Daddy! We were all super thankful when he finally started feeling better and wanted to nurse normally again. We missed our normally-smiley, easy-going little guy!

Lukas is now a full-fledged "sitter", to the point where he does not like to lay down. Don't you know that's for babies? :) He's doing really good about reaching for toys and then pushing himself back up into a sitting position, so we're able to let him sit pretty much anywhere on the floor - no need of pillows to catch him in case he tips over.

 

Toys have become a very important part of life in the past couple months. Amongst his favorites are a large tractor and dump truck that used to belong to Daddy and Uncle Kyle, a toy accordion that actually plays music (this was scary at first, but he likes it now), and a screen-mesh strainer from Mommy's kitchen. He also likes playing with Mommy's water bottle and her necklaces - special privileges that are usually reserved for church. With such distractions he does pretty good, and more often than not will stay quiet enough to sit through the entire service. We'll see how long that continues... ;)

Other new experiences this month include getting to sit in a high chair at a restaurant, and sitting in the seat of a grocery store cart. So thrilling to our big boy! Several warm days have found us out on the deck with a cake pan and some water - a great way to get soaked and cool off a bit! He also has great fun jumping wildly in his jump-a-roo, eagerly showing off to anyone who will cheer him on and applaud. And yes, his legs are quite muscular from all that activity. :D

 

Solid foods are on the menu pretty much every day now, and most of the time it's a lot of fun for all of us. Bananas, green beans, and peaches are his top favorites so far, with yellow squash, apple, and sweet potato at the bottom of the list. Peas, carrots, and cucumbers are so-so. It's interesting to see his likes and dislikes already taking shape, though we hope he'll grow up wanting to eat pretty much everything, like Daddy. :)

We live just a couple miles from an airport so many planes go overhead each day. Lukas has taken to looking around each time, trying to discover the source of the noise. We're teaching him the sign language for "airplane" and don't think it'll be too long before he makes the connection. :) He's also all boy in his interest in car and trucks that go by outside, and one of his favorite things to do each day is sit at the window and watch Daddy get in the car and drive away to work.

At his 8-month checkup July 29, our little man weighed 17 lb. 11 oz. and measured 28" - slightly above 50th percentile for height, and a bit below 25th percentile for weight. Mommy is glad he isn't growing any faster, since he's heavy enough as it is. Why don't childbirth classes include a weight-lifting regime? Seems like it'd be even more useful than Kegels and squats in the long run...anyone agree? ;)

A new blog for a new era...

Hello everyone!

Many of you are friends with me (Joe) on Facebook, so you've already been seeing my posts over there, but I wanted to let the rest of you know that I have a newish website/blog that has been up and running since 11/14/2012. It's over at www.jwexperience.com and is where I make my primary non-Facebook Internet presence felt. I don't have a ton of posts up, even after seven months, but I'm working to correct that.

The site is definitely a personal site in many ways, and I am using it to share reviews of books I've read, mini-articles I've written, and reflections on life, but I'm also building it into a platform for my writing career. That career is slowly building, with five co-author credits currently in print and a sixth one hopefully coming out this year, as well as several solo projects in various stages of development. I'm not sure if I will get a story published this year or not, though that has been my goal. The more up-to-date information on my progress will be found at my site, as well as my Facebook author page, http://www.facebook.com/joewestbrookauthor. Come around to both, become a fan/follower, and you'll be forever in the know (a position you've wanted all your life).

Beyond blogging and writing news, it's exciting to share that I've been back on the evening shift since June 18th after roughly three months of working overnights. The overnight schedule isn't the awful monster that a lot of people make it out to be, but it's not ideal when you have a little one in the house and your spouse thus has to be on a different schedule than you. In order to get the necessary sleep, I was making use of our spare room and guest bed for the duration, a setup neither Abi nor I particularly enjoyed. Leaving early from my last overnight shift and catching a quick nap did wonders to help me switch back, and in just two weeks I've felt such a difference in my energy levels. We are quite thankful for me having a job at all, so a temporary less-than-desirable schedule wasn't the worst we could have endured.

Financially we continue to hammer down our debts, this month getting our total down below $40,000. We've paid off almost $9,000 this year alone, which is quite an accomplishment! I'm hoping to maintain or even increase the pace for the rest of the year. We've been helped along by a student loan repayment program through work that is covering $5,000 in increments of $192.80 paid every two weeks; this payment schedule will run through next March. I'd like to receive at least that much when I apply again this fall, though the maximum annual allotment of $10,000 would sound even better.

There is a strong possibility that I could hit day shift hours even sometime this year by taking a position to train as a replacement for one of my coworkers that will be retiring by the end of next June at the latest. The hours would be 8-4:30 with roughly one weekend in five, which would be 7-3:30. The way everyone talks, the position is basically mine if I want it and depends primarily on when they get it posted. What we see as the primary benefit is the ability to get together with friends in town pretty much any evening of the week, even if just for an hour or two, and thus create and maintain a greater degree of connection with people, something we have sorely lacked and greatly desired ever since we got married.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for further updates on the homefront!

Lukas turns seven months old!

This seventh month has been a big one for Lukas. He has learned and done so many new things, and thinks he's quite the big boy any more. ;) Here's some of what he's been up to:

This is the first of Lukas' birthday pictures taken sitting up all by himself - big boy!
Joe was standing above the camera and coaxed out this irresistible grin. :D
You can see his baltic amber teething necklace here; it seems to help with his teething pain.
No teeth through yet, though!

 

~ Rolling over. The evening of his six-month birthday, Lukas celebrated by rolling over (tummy to back) for the first time. He sure was proud of himself! Within the next week, he quickly perfected the art and figured out how to roll over within a matter of seconds of being laid down on his tummy. Goodbye, tummy time! :D Since then he has managed to roll from back to tummy one time as well. He could do that more often but since he prefers laying on his back he doesn't have much motivation for going onto his tummy. Oh, and he's also discovered how much fun his feet are - to hang on to, as well as to chew on. Pretty hilarious. ;)

~ Beginning to maneuver around the house. It's slow going yet, but the other day he managed to make it several feet into the kitchen, rotating around several times in the process. Another day he got one of the kitchen cupboards open for the first time while laying on his back in front of it. Soon it will be time to start locking things up, methinks!

~ Sitting up. I'm not sure what technically counts as being able to sit up, but Lukas sure has been doing pretty good in that department this month. He doesn't pull himself into a sitting position yet, but if I set him down he is able to hold himself pretty steady and (usually) to pull himself back upright if he tips over. I usually let him practice on the bed while I'm there pumping - he's a safe distance from the edge and surrounded by a few pillows to give him a little leverage in pulling back up. He thinks it's pretty much the greatest thing to play with his toys that way - and to grab at everything in sight, especially Mommy's laptop, lol! For a guy that's normally very easy-going and unmotivated, he's shown a real stubborn streak sometimes if he decides he really wants to check something out, lol.

~ Eating food. We gave Lukas his first taste of solid food about a week after his 6-month birthday. Banana was the item of choice, and his reaction - a decidedly "yucky" face - was hilarious! He's gotten a chance to try several other foods since then, including sweet potato, apple, cucumber, and cantaloup. He even got to try a pickle (not Mommy's idea!), and shocked us all by how excited he was over it. Definitely takes after his daddy! The more he gets used to new flavors, the more he seems to enjoy food, and it's fun to see him sucking and chomping away at his mesh feeder. It's all just for fun now, as I hope to continue nursing him at least through his first birthday, but we're enjoying it. :)

I had him lay down for a few shots, too. This was taken mid-squeal, thus the concentrated expression.
He sure can get loud sometimes, usually when he's all excited and happy, or hyper. :)

~ Noticing pretty much everything. It's fun to watch Lukas tuning in to more and more of his surroundings. He'll notice tiny little specks on a shirt or on his booster seat tray, and each one has to be thoroughly investigated. Patterns in fabric, jewelry, buttons...everything is fascinating. Airplanes flying over our house are a new source of interest. We can't see them very well, even when out on our deck, but they can be quite loud. Sometimes they scare Lukas, but lately he's found the noise more exciting than anything and we're trying to teach him the ASL sign for "airplane" (as well as a few others).

Our adventures this month included a long weekend in Wisconsin, visiting quite a few relatives and friends of Joe's. Lukas got spoiled from the constant attention, but did pretty good on the whole trip. A few days later, we took him to a local amusement park for a day - and again, he behaved wonderfully, just hanging out in the stroller watching everything that went on. He's such a good baby almost all the time...he makes us look good as parents, lol. Guess God knew we couldn't handle anything more. ;) We're unspeakably grateful for the gift of this delightfully sweet-natured little boy!

Lukas: The first half year

It's so hard to believe that our little man has already been with us for 6 months! A year ago at this time we had just made our pregnancy news public (on Mother's Day weekend), and I was still in the thick of morning all day sickness. So much has happened since then, and our lives are fuller and happier than ever.

This month has been a quiet one at home. I came down with a very bad cold the first of the month and thought perhaps Lukas would experience his first sickness, but he remained completely healthy - thank God! He has been growing by leaps and bounds, and learning lots of fun things. Here's some of what he's been up to:

~ Learning how to sit up. Well, not completely unsupported, at least not for more than a few seconds at a time. But he's quite excited to sit up like a big boy in our laps, and has lots of fun spending time in his Bumbo or booster chair. The latter is especially fun since it has a tray. He'll spend an hour or more chasing an orange around the tray, or carefully picking up a teething toy, putting it in his mouth, and changing it from hand to hand.

~ Spending time outside. Several of our neighbors have moved away recently as the apartment complex instituted a new rule to not allow any smoking out of doors. This has allowed us to make much more use of our tiny balcony, unbothered by secondhand smoke. What a blessing! Lukas and I have spent quite a few afternoons out there when the weather has been nice. I bring along my book or a journal, and he plays happily on a blanket beside me, so glad to be outside. Soon I think he'll start noticing the birds, cars driving by, and things like that.

~ Teething. His two lower teeth are still working on coming in, but haven't quite popped through yet. He's had a few not-so-happy days when they've obviously been bothering him more, but overall he's been handling it pretty well. He sure enjoys his frozen teething toys, and will spend hours playing with and chewing on his ribbon-tagged blankie. He also sucks on his lower lip fairly often - I think it must feel good to those sore gums, but it gives him a sort of goofy, thoughtful appearance. :)

~ Grabbing everything. Lukas is no longer content to merely observe the world: everything must be touched. It's so cute the way he wants to feel our faces (Joe's fuzzy goatee is particularly fascinating to him)! He likes to touch my iPod screen, and the other day managed to take a self-portrait when I had the camera app open. The Jumparoo is a source of wild excitement - SO many things to grab and play with all at once! And of course we have to be extra careful to make sure he's not grabbing for things he shouldn't play with. Just wait until he starts crawling around, haha!

~ Playing little games. Peek-a-boo is a big favorite now, eliciting lots of giggles if he's in the right mood. He's also starting to have a lot of fun "flying" as Joe lifts him high, bouncing on our knees, or being kissed/tickled on his neck. He always smiles real big when we give him a hug and say "Squeeze!" :) And what a sense of humor he has! The other day he was fake coughing/laughing, making a "heh, heh, heh" sound that he knew sounded really silly. Recently he's begun wrinkling his nose a bit when he grins sometimes, which gives him such a mischievous look. We're really enjoying watching his personality develop!

~ Reading books. We've read several board books to Lukas this month, and he's getting to the point of wanting to help turn the pages, to feel the pictures, and so on. Of course if we let him hold the books himself, they go immediately into his mouth...so his level of literary appreciation is rather suspect at this point. ;) We do look forward to continuing to teach him how to love good books as he grows older.

I can't imagine life without this precious little man! We look forward to seeing what God has in store for the next 6 months.

Lukas: our little man at 5 months

 

 

Oh, dear! I was certain that I had posted a 4-month update for Lukas, but apparently that happened only in my head. So sorry about that! And here I am over a week late for his 5-month update already. Crazy how fast the time goes.

But yes, our little fellow is now a grand 5 months old. He has grown up so very much in the past two months, and continues to bring much joy to our home every day!

 

New things he's doing:

 

~ Almost full head-control now allows Lukas to sit up with some support - most often in our arms, but sometimes in the Bumbo or propped up with pillows. He finds this great fun, and I think it makes him feel like a big boy. :) He has yet to roll over completely by himself (though he's getting closer!), and I am wondering if he will actually sit up first. Guess we'll see!

 

~ Hand-eye coordination is also improving quickly, and he is now able to quickly grab a toy from us when we hold it within his reach. So he's been putting our small toy collection to good use every day, and we're grateful to those who picked these out as gifts. Another favorite is his special blankie, with ribbon "tags" all around the sides. That keeps him occupied for hours at a time.

 

~ Over the past month, his sweet little baby coos have changed into more of a baby-babble: lots of "ma-ma-ma-ma" and other similar sounds. I like to pretend he's trying to call me, but I know he hasn't made that connection yet. :)

 

~ Giggles! That's another sound we've been hearing a lot more often over the past month. He's becoming increasingly ticklish and is beginning to enjoy other little games. So much fun!

 

~ Almost exactly on his 4-month birthday, Lukas decided he was old enough to start the laborious process of teething. We've had quite a few fussy days since then, but the amber teething necklace I got for him does seem to be helping. No teeth have popped through yet, but they're getting closer! Thankfully it has only seemed to make it difficult for him to nap in the daytime, but nights are still uninterrupted.

 

~ And yes, you read that right: he has been sleeping through the night (at least 6-7 hours, usually 8 or occasionally 9) for most of his fourth and fifth months. I feel really blessed, knowing that most babies don't do this good at his age. And even when he wakes up in the morning, it is almost always a slow, happy process - giving me enough time to slowly wake up myself and sometimes grab a bit of breakfast to eat before I nurse him. So thankful, especially with the weird schedule we've had to keep since early March (Joe on night shift, Lukas and I on evening shift).

~ Nursing is about the same, with SNS usage required pretty much full time (or bottles when in public). We're now taking him for cranial-sacral therapy only once a month and his palate seems to not be dropping much further: still higher than normal, but a lot better than it was! A couple midwife friends checked him out when we were down in MO last month and we ended up opting for a frenotomy (clipping of a tongue tie). His case was very mild, though, and we have seen few changes since the clipping. We aren't sure if he just needs to re-learn his ways of sucking, or if normal nursing will never be an option for him. Ah, well - we are just thankful he is healthy and continuing to grow!

 

~ And continuing to grow he is! Weighing in at 16 lbs. 6 oz. a few days after his 5-month birthday, he is one chunky little man. I'm not sure what to do with the rolls on his thighs, hehe, since none of my siblings had them - never had to wash them out before. ;) Yep, we definitely don't have to worry about whether or not he's getting enough food!

So that's what he's up to these days! I'll check back in around the end of May with another update, Lord willing.

A Day in My Life

Just a little snippet of life in my corner of the world: quiet and unexciting, yet very full. This day wasn't fully typical, in that Lukas rarely naps that long any more, and I don't always have hours worth of design work to do. Nor do I have so many loads of laundry to tackle every day, thankfully. But this is pretty much how our schedule has been working out since early March when Joe had to go back to night shift. Seeing so little of each other is tough (even on his days off, we only get a couple more hours together), and we're counting down the days until he's able to return to evening shift - only 7.5 weeks to go!

8:44 a.m. - Lukas makes enough noise to wake me. He wakes up slow and gradual just like I do, which is great - I have time to get my eyes open, stretch, and use the bathroom before he gets too anxious for breakfast. I got 7.25 hours of sleep this time, which feels amazing since 6 hours is more typical on this schedule.

9:00 - I take load of laundry downstairs & get it started. I open the shades to let in the cloudy sunlight and take the chain off the door so Joe can get in. While water is boiling for my lactation tea, I fold yesterday's load of towels that has been air-drying around the living room (I avoid using the dryer when I can) and put it away.

9:20 - Back upstairs, Lukas is still only half awake. I help him wake more fully and we play a bit while I change his cloth diaper. He always enjoys diaper time, so I look forward to it, too. He's recently become very giggly and ticklish, punctuating the laughter with many squeals - so fun!

9:30 - Joe gets home from work - yay! He brings me my tea that I'd left downstairs because my arms were full of laundry, and we talk a bit about how his night went.

9:45 - Lukas is hungry now so I start nursing him and Joe heads into the other room to do his Power 90 exercise DVD. I pull out my iPod and do my daily Bible readings. I miss using a real Bible, but the iPod is working perfectly for this season in my life - I like the way the reading plan is integrated into the app, and the fact that I can choose to listen to the daily selections. Makes it much easier for me to get the readings done while nursing.

10:45 - Lukas is done eating so I start pumping. He plays on the bed beside me and soon falls asleep - the sound of the pump is rhythmic and relaxing. I start up the laptop and check email, Facebook, and coupon sites, while drinking my tea. It's always fun to see what deals and freebies are being posted for the day. I order a totally free Chronicles of Narnia CD from Tyndale (their reward program is great!). Ooooh, and maybe I was fast enough to win a free can of olives!

11:30 - Joe is done exercising and comes in to say "goodnight" before he heads to bed. Lukas wakes up when he hears us talking and we play with him a bit.

11:45 - I go downstairs and fix myself another cup of tea, also getting a bowl of cornbread, goat milk, and honey - a yummy, easy, healthy breakfast. I change the laundry from the washer into the dryer and lay a few pieces out to air dry.

12:00 - Lukas is ready for second breakfast, so I come upstairs and nurse him a bit while eating my breakfast and catching up on this time log. Facebook is distracting, but I try to not get sucked in.

12:30 - Time to freshen up and get dressed for the day! I'm not one to want to put much time into primping, but it really does help me feel more motivated if I'm not in PJs all day. While I'm in the bathroom I wash out a few baby bottles and leave them on the counter to dry.

12:45 - I take a couple minutes to post on FB and check email. Things for work are rolling in, so I need to get moving here! Lukas gets another diaper change and we head downstairs.

1:00 - Lukas gets some tummy time on the floor beside my desk, and I settle in at my work computer to start sorting through emails. Yep, lots to work on for the magazine today! Facebook gets shut down and I turn on some music to listen to while I'm working - www.otcradio.com is cheerful and I enjoy singing along. I fire up my time-logging app and sign in.

2:30 - Lukas is getting noisy and I realize he's hungry again. I'm getting hungry, too, so I come to a stopping place and log out of my time-tracking app. I move Lukas to his bouncy seat near the kitchen and he's happy to watch me for a bit. I put some leftover chicken pot pie to warm up in the oven and pull out a container of leftover green salad. While water boils for another cup of lactation tea, I check the laundry in the dryer (needs a little more time) and do a bit of menu planning.

3:00 - My food is warmed up so I carry it upstairs and then come back down to get Lukas. It sure would be handy if I could nurse him downstairs, but since he still needs the SNS to get a proper meal I've found it easier to keep that up by the pump and just feed him there each time. He settles in nursing and I eat also, skimming through emails, FB, and some blog posts. Yay for multi-tasking!

3:30 - Lukas is done nursing so I lay him on the bed beside me and begin pumping. I exchange a few text messages with my sister and catch up on this log.

4:00 - I'm done pumping and Lukas is almost asleep, so it's time for me to see if I can sneak back downstairs and get some more design work accomplished. I turn on some quiet instrumental music on the laptop first, to help Lukas go back to sleep if he stirs before he's gotten enough rest.

7:00 - Whew! Getting a lot done on the magazine design, but there is more yet to do. I run upstairs to check on Lukas and see he is starting to stir around. I restart the music for him and turn on the light since it's starting to get dark. Heading back down to my work computer I finish up a few things and try to export the whole file for editing.

7:20 - I get an error message in the exporting process, and by now Lukas is calling for me (as much as a 5-month old can...he's not crying, but he's clearly feeling lonely) so I decide I'll have to finish the job later. Before heading upstairs I pour myself a mug of goat milk and blackstrap (yum!) and grab the laundry out of the dryer.

7:30 - Lukas is glad to see me and we have fun changing his diaper. He's hungry after his long nap, so I sit down to nurse him and check FB again.

8:00 - I begin pumping and my sister calls to tell me about her weekend. We talk for over an hour, and I use the time to do some surveys-for-points online as well as washing baby bottles and folding/putting away the load of laundry. I should have cleaned up the bedroom, too...

9:15 - Lukas and I head into the other bedroom to wake up Joe and chat a bit about our day. It's hot and stuffy in there, so I open up the window a crack. It's sprinkling outside but is fairly warm.

9:30 - Time to go make supper. Joe gets on his computer, and I take Lukas downstairs and set him in his bouncy chair where he can watch me working in the kitchen. I get brown and wild rice cooking in one pan and steam some asparagus in another while making a cup of lactation tea and cleaning up the kitchen. I decide to mix up a quick batch of pizza muffins (or bars, actually, since I don't like using the muffin pan) and get those in the oven - they're for our trip later this week and will make a good snack tomorrow, too. My tiny kitchen has nowhere for dirty dishes to pile up, so I do them as I go along.

10:25 - Joe comes downstairs and goes out to fetch the mail. Lukas is getting fussy so Joe plays with him while I finish up supper. Leftover chicken gravy gets mixed with the rice to make a quick casserole, cheese and butter is added to the asparagus, and I pull some leftover cranberry/apple/pineapple salad out of the fridge. Along with raspberry-peppermint herb tea, this makes a pretty decent meal and I'm thankful it was so quick to put together.

10:45 - We sit down to eat, and I nurse Lukas a bit because he's hungry too. Joe and I are both too tired to talk much, unfortunately, and he has to eat fast.

11:00 - Joe goes upstairs to shower and get ready for work, and I finish eating. Lukas doesn't want to be set down, but I manage to calm him down long enough to wait for me while I pack Joe's lunchbox, put away the food, and do up the rest of the dishes.

11:20 - I let Lukas nurse a little more while I sit at the computer and (on my own time) try to figure out why the file wouldn't export properly before. Thankfully it works great this time and I write up an email to the rest of the magazine team.

11:30 - Joe comes downstairs and gathers up his stuff. No time to pray together tonight, unfortunately. That's always the highlight of my day and I really miss it when it doesn't work out. He tells us goodbye and heads out the door. I finalize my work email and get it sent off, then bring Lukas upstairs. His diaper needs changing again, and I give him a fresh sleeper, too.

11:45 - I fold the load of diapers that was drying on a rack all day, and then sit down to give Lukas his proper bedtime meal - the "snacks" downstairs only barely tided him over and he's still pretty hungry. Time to get caught up on this log, and I skim over FB, too.

12:30 a.m. - Lukas is still nursing so I log into Netflix and watch an episode of White Collar. I feel guilty for not reading or journaling, or doing something productive, but I'm too tired to focus on anything much at this point. And I've accomplished a lot today, so it seems more easily justifiable.

1:20 - The episode is over, Lukas is asleep in his bed, and I'm done pumping. Once I have the day's last round of bottles scrubbed up I'll get ready for bed and hopefully be asleep by 2:00. :yawn: Just a few short hours, and I'll start this cycle all over again...

Decidedly Indecisive

One of the things Joe and I have had to learn about each other, especially since getting married, is that we both have very different approaches to decision-making. Joe can usually make up his mind pretty quickly, unless it's a situation where he doesn't really care one way or another (quite frequent). I, on the other hand, prefer to check out the options at least a bit, to be sure I am making a choice I will be completely happy with - and in the end I do usually have a pretty distinct preference. Thankfully this hasn't been a real source of conflict, but we've both definitely had a chance to learn patience with each other. :)

The funny thing is, before I got married I thought I was decisive and able to make up my mind quickly. Ha! I'm realizing now that I was comparing myself to my family and...well, let's just say that they tend to take a while to decide on pretty much anything. ;) Guess that's what happens when two second-borns get married, hehe. Growing up in that environment definitely taught a lot of patience to this naturally go-to, decisive firstborn - God knew I needed it to become more balanced. :)

This familial indecisiveness has resulted in some hilarious experiences over the years, as I recorded in a journal entry from 2004 (a few of you may remember seeing this on LJ back then). Names have been changed to protect the innocent. ;)

Scene: A vanful of 10 people, three generations. Characters are tired from a 4-day trade show; most have head colds in various stages. Time is 7:00 p.m. on a dark winter evening.

The trailer is finally packed with booth remnants and characters load into the van. Amid noisy protests from Tired People, Hungry People cautiously bring up the idea of getting something to eat before heading home. Head Of The Family is favorable to the idea, especially when a sub sandwich coupon is found. Hungry People's hopes rise.

Driver finds Subway in the maze of the unknown city and parks vehicle. An observant Tired Person points out that the coupon in hand is not actually for Subway. Head Of The Family suddenly remembers that "gobs and gobs" of crackers and granola bars are already somewhere in the van, and suggests that Hungry People eat them.

Hungry People want something besides crackers and granola bars, but resign themselves to such if that is what the Head Of The Family wants. They don't have to have more food. They will survive.

Head Of The Family reconsiders, saying that maybe Subway will accept the coupon anyway and asks who will go in and find out. Finally two Hungry People and one impatient Tired Person go in to Subway with the Head Of The Family. After ten minutes of reading the shockingly high priced menu, they come back out and announce that Subway does not accept the coupon. Hungry people sigh and resign themselves to starvation.

Confused Driver starts van and heads for the highway. Head Of The Family sees a grocery store and tells Confused Driver to stop. Do the Hungry People want to see if the deli has something reasonably priced? Do the Hungry People want to buy bread to make sandwiches? No, even crackers and granola bars sound better than deli food. Tired People's hopes rise.

Confused Driver again turns van towards the highway. Head Of The Family sees a pizza shop and realizes he has a coupon for it. Do the Hungry People want pizza? One Very Hungry Person replies with a definite affirmative. Head Of The Family tells Confused Driver to stop, but it is too late. They must go all the way to the end of the busy block and turn the awkward rig around in a small parking lot.

Finally back at the pizza shop, Head Of The Family goes in and orders a pizza. The next ten minutes are spent deciding if the Hungry People, the Tired People, or the Head Of The Family should pay for the pizza. The Tired People end up paying for it, even though they have no plans to eat any themselves. Hungry People feel bad for bringing up the idea of food in the first place.

Head Of The Family goes in and fetches the solitary pizza. It smells good, but the crust is literally cracker-thin, the cheese is sparse and runny, and the hamburger is represented by distantly-spaced lumps. Even the Hungry People vehemently agree that it wasn't worth $10.

Confused Driver quickly consumes a flimsy piece of pizza and then finally turns the van homeward, much to the relief of Tired People and Hungry People alike.

...and now you all know why we usually end up taking all our own food with us on trips. ;)

So, tell me: are you decisive? Do you think it has anything to do with birth order or upbringing, or just the way God made our personalities all a bit different?