Having a Good Time

Warning: This video is loud so before playing you may need to turn down your volume.


The crazy thing is, he's having fun! He's smiling and every now and then he laughs, then he does this weird gaspy thing (which has made him gag once or twice because he's gasped so hard), and finally this: screeching to sound like I'm torturing him. He did it in the restaurant the other morning.

Before I had kids I would have been annoyed with a kid making that kind of noise in a restaurant. "Geez, teach your kid some manners!" Now it's just part of life, and I'm not embarassed when Luke is screechy. I don't even notice when other people's kids are loud. Luke has broken me in nicely, I guess!

Sweet Heart of Mine

I can't get this song out of my head, "Sweet Heart of Mine". It's from the Music Man. The barbershop group sings it and it just keeps going round and round inside my skull like those electric signs in Times Square. Yesterday and today we've actually been singing songs with "Ba" in them, because Luke has been enjoying that sound. So we sang Ba Ba Black Sheep and Barbara Ann (by the Beach Boys).

Luke has started playing peek-a-boo with me. I wish I had this on video, but all I had was my camera, so you get pictures of him pulling the towel up and then tossing it down and smiling at me. He has also started picking up tiny things, like crackers or bits of bread, and clumsily passing them from hand to hand. When reaching for the bread in one hand he often mistakenly grabs his own fingers and then pulls and pulls with his hands over his head getting more and more red in the face with frustration because the bread won't come, until finally he releases both hands and the bread falls in his face.

Breakfast Out

This morning we went out for breakfast with Jaime, Helene and Michelle (Derek's cousin). Luke sat in a high chair and ate pancakes, hit the table with his spoon, and played with Shredder (the stuffed dog that Tyler brought). The only down side to the outing was the fact that it was scheduled for 9:30 - Luke's naptime. He was one tired boy by the time we got back in the car at 11:00. He fell right to sleep in his carseat, and is now napping in his bed.

Is This a Routine?

I think we have struck gold here. I think this is what most people call a "routine". Just when I was about to go crazy with the madness of it all, something clicked and things began to run smoothly.

Luke is now going to bed at eight o'clock and sleeping until four a.m. He wakes up at four, eats, and goes back to sleep until eight a.m. At eight he nurses and then we play until nine. At nine we have breakfast (he eats cereal and banana). Nine-thirty is naptime and we get an hour and a half nap(but since I've had such a good night sleep I stay awake and actually DO stuff!). Eleven o'clock Luke wakes up and we run errands or play. Noon is lunch time (Luke eats some vegetables and apple sauce), then he nurses and we play for another hour. One-thirty is another hour and a half nap. I get lots done because once again, I don't need a nap! When Luke wakes up we start making dinner, he sits in his high chair and plays with crackers and bread or his sippy cup. He snacks while I cook, then he nurses and takes a twenty minute nap around five o'clock. At six we all eat (Luke has more vegetables, bread, and some fruit for dessert). Then we visit with Derek and eight o'clock is bathtime, nursing and bed!

I'm told that his schedule shouldn't undergo any huge changes until around the nine month mark. It's SO nice to know what to expect day to day. I guess we can't predict everything, but so far, so good.

My Kid Likes Garbage

On Saturday we had the whole family over to take individual family's pictures and Cameryn was NOT having a good time. She just didn't want to have her picture taken. So after much screaming and coaxing we decided to try bribery. I gave Jaime a fruit bar and Cameryn munched on it while I took pictures.

A little while later Jaime went into Luke's room to make sure Cameryn wasn't getting into trouble back there and when she came out Jaime looked concerned and said, "I don't know where you keep those fruit bars, but it looks like Cameryn got into them. There's several wrappers on the floor in Luke's room." There seemed no way around it; I was forced to admit that I horde garbage for my son.

Luke loves how those wrappers crinkle and crunch. While Derek and I sat in the living room last night I looked around and all the toys were neatly in the toy box, but I counted two fruit bar wrappers, one baby wipes wrapper, two mismatched socks, and several toys that have labels hanging off of them (He loves petting the silky tags) scattered on the floor. It's really not worth buying toys. This kid likes garbage.

Cold Days

We had a little breather, but now it's very, very cold again. Here is Luke in his jacket and toque. He also has toasty warm Emu boots!

Four days in a row my car said 29 degrees Fahrenheit. This morning when Luke and I ran to the grocery store the car said -5 Fahrenheit. It's much harder to get around when it's this cold. For starters, Luke has to be bundled up really really warmly. And then there's stupid cold factors like the fact that the car door wouldn't latch closed because it was frozen, and I couldn't open the trunk to put the groceries in because it was also frozen shut. Luke's new carseat exposes him to the cold more than his infant carrier, and this morning while I was putting him into the carseat he spit up on the latch, but before I could wipe it up it had frozen! Yuck.

Since I was just going across town I knew the car wouldn't warm up, so I got out on the highway and drove a bit before heading into town to run my errands. I was about to express to my Mom how cold it is here by saying, "It's freezing cold!" and then I realized it's not. It's WAY colder than freezing cold!

There is a beautiful side to the winter, though. When it warms up like this and then freezes again we get gorgeous icicles. Last night the wind blew and blew and stirred up all the little ice particles, and this morning the air was literally sparkling, and when the sun came up we had little rainbows hanging in the air everywhere. It was truly magical! It was too cold to take my camera out to get a picture of the rainbows (the battery freezes up), but here's some of the icicles.

Field Trips

The other day Luke and I went to the post office, and since he's in his new car seat I have to take him out and carry him in with me, wherever I go. I really had my hands full trying to address and mail four letters, pay the postage and keep the squirmy guy in my arms. Finally the lady behind the counter offered to take him and she gave him a tour of the entire post office - even the back where they sort the mail! He had a wonderful time and was asked to, "please come back, you can be postmaster anytime!"

Then yesterday we went to Altona to visit Gramma Penner (Helene's adopted Mom, sorta...long story for another time). She is going to be 98 on February 22nd, and she's still doing fantastically, in fact she just started using a walker! She really enjoyed meeting Luke and said, "I love all the little children and would take them home with me except *sigh* they all have mothers of their own", which made us all smile and feel loved. Luke was chilling on her bedroom floor for a while and several residents and nurses were drawn in to adore his chubbiness. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon.

Silly Songs with Laura

Luke is going to know lots of nonsense songs after growing up with me for a Mom. I thought you might enjoy hearing his laughter in this video. Lucky for me, I got a son who has a WONDERFUL sense of humor. My jokes nearly always get a laugh. And Luke's laughter is 100 times better than anybody else's laughter. He's got such a good belly laugh.

Last night was our first bad night in a week! I am disappointed, even though I'm impressed that the good sleeping lasted as long as it did. I had almost convinced myself that it could stay that good forever. My dreams = shattered. Oh well. Someday I'll get to sleep again. But for now I'll live off the laughter.

Sitting Solo

This video is of Luke's newest screechy sound. He sounds angry or frustrated but he's usually very happy while he screeches away.

This morning I put Luke in his crib with some toys and I went to the basement to put some diapers in the laundry. Normally I leave him sitting looking at the Itsy Bitsy Spider toy hanging at the end of his crib propped up by blankets, and by the time I'm back upstairs he has rolled down onto his belly. This morning when I went down to wash diapers I left him sitting up with only one blanket loosely laying behind him where his head would be if he fell straight back. When I came back upstairs he was still sitting!

In this video you can see he falls backwards because he has started bouncing while he talks. After he fell over he paused as if to decide whether or not that hurt, sent one big crocodile tear scurrying down his cheek with a shout and quick as a cricket was smiling again. He doesn't fall sideways anymore, but rolls out of the dive smoothly onto his belly, what a talented kid!

Fun-Filled Fort

Jolene and Sarah came over Saturday afternoon and Luke and I had the best time visiting with them! The way we talked about life and shared our stories, it was just like no time at all had passed. Luke hadn't met Sarah yet, and he was really impressed with her hair. He just grabbed at it all night long! He was also really interested in what was inside her shirt (!) but was told sternly, "You've gotta wait twenty years before doing that" by his loving auntie. When I heard that my first thought was, "Whoa, he's gotta wait way more than twenty years." My second thought was, "Hey Laura, pull back a little, twenty years is about right. Don't spaz."

After Luke went to bed the real fun started. We probably should have done it while he was still awake so that we could blame it on the child in the room, but it was not the child, it was the child in each of us. Somehow we got talking about forts and...before you know it we were building one! The entire living room was covered in blankets and chairs. We opened a hole up so we could see the T.V., gathered some junk food and pillows and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls in our fort. It was the most fun I've had in quite a while.

Sitting on His Own

Luke's nose is stuffed up and while he’s eating, the snot in his nose blows around and makes him sound like a lawn mower or a weed eater.

Luke is doing really well sitting on his own. He still rolls right over if he gets distracted by something just outside his reach. He hasn’t figured out that he’ll fall over if he goes for it. Somehow it’s like he thinks he’s just going to walk towards it or it will come to him; it’s like he doesn’t know he can’t walk or crawl or use his jedi powers to draw things to himself using only his mind. But he has learned to catch himself so he doesn’t bump his head on the floor. Useful skill, that. He rolls down lightly. I try to put blankets around him still so that there’s something soft to land on, but he ends up grabbing them and pulling himself down anyway. Oh well. What’s a mom to do?

This morning I set Luke down on the rug by the back door so he could look outside and he sat there by himself while I wandered around cleaning up. When I sat down behind him at the kitchen table he looked over his shoulder at me, gave me a big wet grin, looked back out the window and flapped his arms like a little bird too fat to take flight.

Still-Sick Thursday

Look at our pretty snow! Can you see the lines that make the snow look like the bottom of a lake and the water has slowly receded? Those are from the wind and sometimes they can get a foot tall and the top edge gets sharp and thin. We haven't had any brutal wind lately though, so they're shallow.

Luke is still sick, so we're both in our pajamas. Who am I kidding? It's not just because Luke is sick, although there's something about still being in my pajamas at 11:30 in the morning that really makes me feel like a slob. There's still a little part of me that wants to believe it's possible I might go back to bed soon, if Luke decides to nap. So I stay in my jammies until almost noon nearly everyday, then I start to feel guilty and gross, change into clean, day-time clothes and...Luke goes back to sleep.

Luke has been eating "big boy food" for about a month now. At first we were JUST doing rice cereal and he went through a very short phase of enjoying rice cereal - about three days. Then he seemed interested in my sandwiches at lunch, so I'd give him a tiny bite of bread. I even mushed up some banana with the tips of my fingers and let him suck it off. I was sort of nervous about him having an allergy, but even more nervous about him wanting to stop breast-feeding. I really enjoy nursing him and didn't want him to decide there are better ways to eat than having to snuggle with Mom. I didn't want the "big boy food" to go to his head - he's still my baby!

Then we went to California and it's so hard to keep your eye on him when ten adults are constantly passing him around. I am certain he ate many things that week while my back was turned. But these are the things people admitted to feeding him: grapefruit juice, tea (he really likes drinking out of cups), banana, crackers, a bite of potato out of somebody's breakfast casserole, a bite of a fritter (Aunt Deanna made them...delicious!), and apparently he chewed on Aunt Laurie's cheek (which doesn't actually count as food, but it was a new flavor wasn't it?).

Right after we got back from California we had a doctor's appointment and the doctor said, "Feed him whatever you want, as long as he won't choke on it or have an allergic reaction". So since we've been home Luke's tried stove top stuffing, barley cereal, pizza crust, ritz crackers, raisin bran muffins, rice and roasted carrots. His favorite was the stovetop, but really who can blame him? Thankfully Luke has continued to breastfeed - just one less feed a day. It is so much fun to feed him off my plate and STILL get to nurse him. We now have the best of both worlds. Do you have to grow up, Luke?

Getting Up

Usually Luke is his most active first thing in the morning, getting up on hands and knees several times in just a few minutes. So I tried to capture it on video for you and was highly unsuccessful. Whether it's because he's still feeling a little sick and tired, or because he just wasn't in the mood, we did not get a video of that amazing new skill of his. Still, I thought it was a cute video, and you get to see him wiggle around a bit.

Today is incredibly cold. All of our plans are cancelled because of the cold, and that's just fine with me. The last two days we haven't left the house, and today makes three. We keep busy around the house together. Yesterday Luke even helped me make and eat raisin bran muffins! We also really enjoy just laying on the floor looking at toys and talking to each other.

I went grocery shopping last night, but I didn't take Luke (don't worry, Derek stayed home with him). It was strange to go out without him. The car felt quiet and I felt so...NOT weighed down by a huge car seat! It was really nice to walk down the aisles with just a basket to grab the milk, celery and bananas we needed. I was footloose. Most days when I take Luke out with me I try to just make one stop because it's hard to get him in and out of the car, especially if he's grumpy (and according to our doctor's appointment last week he weighs 20lb, 8oz). But last night I could have made like four stops, it was THAT easy to get around!

Tomorrow's news: Eating Big Boy Food

Stealth Video

This video was taken with the camera under my arm and my back turned so that Luke wouldn't see the camera and get distracted from his conversation with socks. I was doing laundry and hanging up clothes (hence the mess) and sat Luke down on the bed with a pair of socks who were apparently very good conversationalists. They talked for quite a long time before I even got out the camera. And since Luke is now sitting on my lap trying to type too, I will end this befoiu y it gets out of handh m

Full Dimples

Luke is eating on his own quite a bit now. He's chomping away on crackers and bread with his gummy mouth. This morning he had sucked a cracker down to a slimey stump before losing the cracker between his legs (lovely messy pants!). He left the goo all over his face, his seat, his shirt, and I even found some in his hair. I thought it was funny that the dimples on his knuckles are deep enough that there was room for slimey cracker to fill even them!

Luke's friend Mara came over on Saturday evening, and they took turns getting baths in the sink before going to sleep. Yesterday we visited with Luke's cousins Roehn and Cameryn, but I didn't get any new pictures.

Luke has had this funny little cough for the past few days and I've been thinking it was his new sound, but yesterday his nose was really congested too and it looks like he's got a full-blown cold this morning. Poor kid. Thankfully it hasn't seemed to dampen his cheer, and his naps today have been nice and long.

This morning Luke got up on his hands and knees and rocked back and forth for about twenty seconds before falling on his face. The face-plant didn't seem to phase him and he tried it one more time before crying, rolling over and doing this adorable new trick he's picked up: holding his arms out to be picked up.

Sheep Bear

Sorry this post is so late today. I was watching Cameryn this afternoon and wanted to post some pictures of her and Luke together, so I waited. Cameryn just went home for her afternoon nap, but while she was here she was insisting that the polar bear was a sheep and when I said, "I think it's a polar bear" she said, "Sheep-bear". That works, too.

Luke has had 3 wonderful night's sleep and very predictable day-time naps. This has been wonderful for morale among the troops and fantastic for running errands and getting things done around the house. Luke continues to go up on all fours several times a day and bends his head way down like he's trying to see his toes. It is really amazing to see his belly come off the floor. The down side to this new talent is that he is arching his back while you hold him, which makes it difficult to keep a grip on him. Mostly he arches his back when he's tired though. We still get to cuddle plenty. I am trying to get as much snuggling in as I can before Luke takes off crawling and walking and doesn't have to sit on my lap whenever I want him to.

The weekend will be full with visiting and working on the house. Derek is going to put up more drywall in the basement (he's got one whole wall finished since we got home) and we're having Dan, Jen and Mara over Saturday night. Then on Sunday we are going to visit James and Jaime. It's been over two weeks since we've seen Roehn and he's now over a month old!

Feels Like Home

I started the Harry Potter series and am already on book 2. Derek read them a couple months ago and really wanted to discuss them with me, but I stopped reading them at book four years ago because they got too dark and scary for me. I know, I'm an English major, I should have read them by now. But I have nightmares and scary images from my imagination keep me awake at night, so I avoid that kind of thing. Finally Derek convinced me to read them though because he says there's a deeper and very important theme of love and reconciliation and friendship that transcends all the evil in the story.

Luke had another good night sleep, and we have just had a wonderful few days of laying on the floor, playing with toys and visiting. It's been so sunny and cozy in our little home that we do not mind the cold one bit. I absolutely love being a stay-at-home mom. Especially with such a welcoming home, and such a lovable kid. It just felt right with the sun coming in on our blanket on the living room floor yesterday afternoon. It feels like home.

Sunny Wednesday

It was a beautiful sunny wednesday morning in my kitchen where Celeste, Luke and I sat and drank tea. And I am only so perky about the lovely day we're having because Luke also had a lovely night's sleep. He only woke up once, which meant that I was alert and cheerful enough in the morning to not feel like throwing him in a snowbank...not at all like my sleep-deprived, grumpy morning yesterday.

Luke is really enjoying his crackers. And I am enjoying letting him feed himself. Last night I woke Luke up from a long evening nap and fed him at 8pm. Then he had a long warm bath with some tub toys he got for Christmas, got into his jammies and we walked around a little to ready him for "Ni-night!" (how did I become one of these cutesie talkers?) Walking around didn't seem to be working though. He kept swatting his hands around. Then he tried to suck on my neck and pulled my shirt down. When he returned to swatting I realized that he was swatting at my chest, and had been before. The boy was trying to tell me something! He was hungry again!

I fed him another full feeding and he slept straight through until 2am, ate, and slept again until 7am! Not only is he learning to feed himself, he's learning to tell me when he's hungry. We are going to really kick-start the sign language now. It's obvious he's ready to communicate.

Losing Ally: Part Two

Look who's up on hands and knees!!! How did he learn that? I didn't teach him that one. How do babies know what muscles to develop and how to move? Is it all experimentation? I am just amazed. Luke is one enjoyable surprise after another.

We drove to Grand Forks in the darkness of Christmas morning and Ally sat in her dog bed, under a blanket on the back seat. Luke slept. We got the stroller, the baby, the dog, the diaper bag, the camera bag, the baby toys and blanket, the backpack and ourselves through security and onto the plane just fine. Ally got through the day like a champ...no complaints. In fact, she was a big hit with lots of the kids at the airport, and even some of the adults. Especially when she did her tricks.

We got to Los Angeles, waited and waited and finally got all of our luggage and the car seat, and then set out from the terminal to wait for the Hertz bus so we could go pick up our rental car. Of course it's pouring rain for the ten minutes we have to wait outside. Luckily we have an overhang. The bad part is that Ally is freaking out from all the traffic. She hates those air brakes and as soon as we walked out of the terminal someone put on the brakes - and so did she. She wiggled right out of her collar, turned around and ran back into the terminal! I thought for sure we'd lost her when I felt the leash dangling loosely behind me.

I whipped around and swooped her up just as she passed through the automatic doors, and thankfully there was a woman standing in front of the stroller who caught it before Luke rode serenely in front of a moving vehicle. I just about had a heart attack.

Whew.

We got to Lyons Parkway and stopped for a burger. Ally was so happy to be in the warm climate that even though the grass was wet, she went potty AND poop! I was so excited! I'd never been so excited for a dog to go potty and poop before.

When we got to my Mom's house everyone was in shock at how much weight Ally had lost. They all said she looked "like a holocaust dog". Then I felt just terrible. We weighed her and she had lost three pounds in six months. I had been trying to convince myself that she didn't look too bad, that maybe it was just the stress from having to go out in the cold, or the stress from having another person in the house. But when everyone's reactions were so strong I began to prepare myself for the worst: maybe she had leukemia and was going to die in a few months. We made a vet appointment right away.

In the meantime Ally laid in the sun by the sliding glass door and wagged her tail at Nelly (my little sister-dog). She ran in the yard and was swatted by Oleander (the cat) and barked at the neighbor's cow. Seeing her so happy made me realize that even if she didn't have leukemia or something equally as horrible, she belongs there in the sun, with another dog and a beautiful yard to run around in. I tried not to let myself hurt too much over losing her, and remind myself that she would be happier in California. But she was happy there, there was no denying it. She was happier than she'd been in a long time. She even chased a tennis ball!

The vet said that we wouldn't lose Ally anytime too soon. He seems to think it's a hormonal abnormality like Cushing's disease or hyperthyroidism (both of which can be treated). The tests haven't shown anything for sure yet, but it looks like we won't have to say our final good-byes for a long time. We did have to say good-bye to her on Saturday though. And that was hard.

Once again I tried not to think about it, but when we got home after a long day of traveling and there were no scurrying feet on the laminate floor coming to greet us I just couldn't help it. I started to cry and tell Derek all the wonderful things that I will miss about Ally, how much Luke loves her and how hard it will be to keep the floors clean in the kitchen without her around to lick them up. And just as I was about to launch into sobbing over her funny quirks and unique intelligence Derek spotted it. Another reminder of our tiny girl. My tears turned to, anger? disbelief? But I laughed as I followed his gaze to the living room floor and saw it.

My theory is that somewhere in all of the busyness of packing and getting out the door that morning, Ally had sneakily left behind a little message to remind us that she is happier and healthier in sunny California. For the last time, we came home to poop on the living room floor. It's hard to be sad after something like that.

Losing Ally: Part One

Before I address the title of this blog I should tell you that we made it home safely on Saturday night. The roads on the way home from the airport were slippery and often covered in small drifts due to the blowing snow, but we got home in one piece...or three rather. The trip home was long but Luke was much more content since we had crackers for him to suck on (and the flight was an hour shorter). He got SO many compliments! "What a little trooper you have!" "You have a delightful child to be on the plane with." "That boy was the best child on the plane." "He is such a handsome boy." So thanks for your prayers, and you'll be hearing more about our trip in the days and weeks to come...there's so much to report! Today however, I need to write about my dog and her "trip". And Luke is getting antsy, so this is from him:
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Several months ago my Mom called and told me that if Derek and I wanted to bring Ally down to California for Christmas, she would love to have her. And by have her she meant keep her. I had shared with Mom some of my troubles with Ally since Luke was born. At first she would go outside and race back in with muddy feet before I could stop her and clean her paws. Sometimes while I fed Luke she would try to wiggle onto my lap between us. I would get frustrated and say "Get lost."

Then she started making messes in the baby's room. And when we closed that off to her she started making messes in the living room. When winter came she decided she did not want to go outside at all because it was too cold. Several times I forced her outside and stood by saying "Go potty" and she would shiver and look at me with sad pitiful eyes and stubbornly refuse to "Go" until her feet were so frozen she could hardly stand. When Derek heard the news that she had pooped in the house, or worse, found the poop himself he would say, "Want to go to California little dog?" or, "Sometimes I wouldn't be sad to see you go!" Still I couldn't bear to part with her. She's my dog, and when Luke started showing interest and delight in her the thought of giving her to Mom was even harder to consider.

Then I noticed Ally was losing weight. I fed her more food, but it seemed to drop into a bottomless pit and just give her more ammunition for messing on the floor. I felt sorry for her in the cold and began to imagine a happier, warmer dog laying in the sun in my Mom's house in California. The thought that she might be healthier with my Mom finally made me seriously consider taking her there. Three days before we were supposed to leave for California I took Ally outside and stood with her until she was frozen and finally let her inside without going potty. I felt sorry for her, so instead of putting her in her crate like I had been doing the last two days I let her lay in her dog bed under a blanket and I went to do dishes while Luke lay on the living room floor. When I looked over Ally was in her dog bed, but there was poop on the rug not far from Luke. I was so disgusted with the stubborn, sneaky mutt that as soon as I cleaned up the poop I got online and bought her a ticket to join us on our flight...one way.