Some Excerpts

These are some excerpts from my journal this week, and my favorite pics from this month. Yesterday Luke had his third round of shots and he handled those needles like an old pro. He was also weighed and measured: 21lb, 12 oz, 29 inches! Eight months, baby!

I am so excited at each new development Luke makes. Yesterday he was making the spinny toy on the exersaucer spin by pushing it with the knobby, bead toy. He was using one toy to work the other! I was pretty impressed. Most of his toys are in his bedroom now because Sookie can’t distinguish her toys from his. It goes both ways really. This afternoon when I took Sookie outside to pee I came inside to find Luke chewing on Sookie’s rope toy. They take turns. Sookie especially loves Luke’s exersaucer. She loves that his legs are so chewably convenient, but she also likes to jump up on the edge and make the toys jingle and lick Luke’s face or fingers.

I want to hug him close when I carry him, but he always wants to look out so he props one arm on my shoulder and pushes the shoulder closest to my chin out and turns around to see where we’re going. It makes it difficult to carry him with two arms (which is the most comfortable since he’s SO heavy). I need to invest in a chiropractor. I remember the first time I took Luke for his shots I carried him into the hospital in my jelly bean carrier with him facing me. He was so incredibly tiny and trusting. He had eyes only for me. Tomorrow he will face out, sitting on my hip and he will want to grab things and shove them into his mouth. He will want to stand and hold onto my hands. He will sit forward in my lap instead of leaning back against my belly. He will yammer on about, “Dadadada, and Bababa, and Mamamama” and he may even burst into his song about, “Cooo, Coooo” in his adorable little girl-y voice when he holds something close in front of his face and turns it slowly from side to side. My funny little man.

Luke's feet are getting flatter now that he’s standing so much. He wants to pull himself up on everything and gets grumpy when he can’t, but he can’t hold himself up steadily for very long and he ends up falling over, so I’ve got to be beside him practically all day long just catching him when he falls. It’s tiring, and I’d rather snuggle, but he wants to stand. His legs are getting so strong, and he’s grown so tall now! He’s really stretching out these last few weeks. I’ve noticed the neck in several of his sleepers is stretched when he puts his feet in. Those sleepers were still too big for him at Christmas. They were still too big for him at the beginning of this month. And now he’s too tall!

We’re so proud of him crawling, but soon he’ll be zipping around and I’m already sad to say good-bye to my lap-baby. Such independence! Who needs Mom anyway? At least we still have nursing. I love nursing him. And this week while he’s been sick he’s been nursing more than usual. It’s such a close time. We are staring at each other and holding each other.

Luke’s been sick with a cold these last few days and he’s been very snuggly. He even sat on my lap while I read him a book the other day. That’s very unusual. Normally he’s far too interested in sucking on the book to spend much time looking at the pages or leaning back against my shoulder while I read. I feel so sorry for him, that he’s wiped out and coughing his lungs up, but I really cherish these times when I get to cuddle my sweet baby boy. The cuddling went by too fast. Now he’s on the move.

He smells so sweet. I took him out of the car this afternoon and he’d been sleeping. He was a little sweaty and his neck smelled like shampoo and…like him. Like Luke. It’s a beautiful, soft smell. Of course sometimes Luke smells like poop, and then I do not want to nuzzle him and breathe in deeply. But this afternoon when he was all warm and sleepy I just wanted to hold him forever so small.

CRAWLING!!

Need I say more?



I accidentally uploaded this video too, so enjoy the double feature!

Ferile Cats

Well, you get another old picture today, because it is wearing taking care of two sick boys. Derek took the dog for a nice long walk last week, and this is them coming up the driveway. The new picture is of the sick boys laying on the couch watching Gilmore Girls yesterday.

As you can see the couch cushions don't match! That's because our couch cushions are at the upholstery guy having their velcro turned around. The velcro on the couch goes horizontally along the edge of the material, but the velcro on the cushion goes vertically; which means that only one square inch of velcro is ever touching; which means our cushions are continually sliding off the couch. And they're not just slipping out from under us anymore, the rough, hooked side of the velcro is actually beginning to rip the soft material on the couch as it slides back and forth. So the upholstery guy is turning our velcro, and in the meantime we have the cushions from the basement couch on the couch upstairs. Because what are sick boys going to do without a couch to lie on?

I don't actually have anything to say about ferile cats, but that phrase came to mind when I was trying to think of a title having to do with the females in the house being the only healthy ones...female, fertile, frisky, ferile. Where my mind goes no one can follow.

Comp Time

Everyone's home sick today except for me and Sookie - we're just home. So today I am taking some comp time, which means I am not going to post any new pictures. But I'll put a few pictures from last week up that you may not have seen. That's all for now, I'm just a little too ragged to do much else!

Pics: Mara and Luke hung out on Saturday night. Luke ate peas.

Sick Days

We are having sick days. Well, not "we", but Luke. I've never seen him quite so out of it. He sits in his exersaucer and stares around him with his eyelids half-closed, and his mouth hanging open since he can't breathe through his nose. Hardly any food goes in since he has such trouble breathing. And his cough is powerful enough to compete with a fog horn. His face gets all red when he coughs and there's so much mucus that he can't cough it all up and ends up gagging. So I guess we're both sick after all. Luke is sick with a cold, and I am sick over Luke being so sick.

Luke actually fell asleep while I read him a book yesterday. Normally he is too interested in grabbing the pages and chewing on the book to pay attention at all. Then in the evening when we were over at James and Jaime's, Luke was so grumpy and nothing seemed to help. So finally I layed him down on a blanket on the floor and shoved him away from me and then pulled the blanket back. He quieted down right away, but my arms got tired fast. Eventually I ended up just walking around their living room, dragging Luke around on the blanket on the floor, and he fell asleep! Poor kid.

Just Under the Wire

It is ten pm and I am just getting around to blogging! I almost missed it today! It's been a long day and I kept telling myself, "As soon as such and such is over I'll do the blog". But Luke has been really clingy today and sort of grumpy, and Sookie has decided to chew everything(including Luke), and we were in Winnipeg for the entire morning (left home at 7am, got home around 12:45).

Sookie has decided that Luke's exersaucer is the perfect hangout, and the perfect place to store her toys. She wiggles between Luke's legs, lays down beneath his feet, and jumps around in there when he's not sitting in it too. For some reason she is particularly fond of that exersaucer.

This afternoon I just sat and watched Luke roll around on the floor. Sookie was also rolling around on the floor and was pretty interested in whatever Luke was doing. She kept taking Luke's toys away - not playing with them herself, just carrying them away from him and coming back to sit next to him. Then she put her mouth on the radio cord (she knew not to chew it when I was looking), Luke followed suit and grabbed the radio cord. A few minutes later Luke was running his hands along the floor vent and before you know it Sookie was sitting practically on top of the floor vent chewing at the lever. Then Luke decided to grab the toy box handle, and of course Sookie helped. Interspersed in this strange four-legged play/learning activity were lots of friendly kisses from Sookie to Luke. It was a very interesting interaction to observe.

ROFL

ROFL is text-ese for "rolling on the floor laughing", and this is literally what is happening in this video.

Today is Auntie Lissa's last full day in Winkler, so we are going to live it up. We're going to hit the grocery store and cruise main street as well as go over to Harv and Helene's for dinner. It's pretty cold out here this week, so we're not going to go for a walk to the park or build a snowman, but we're hoping she has experienced Winter at it's snowy-cold best.

What a Night!

Pictures: Luke is taking baths in the big tub now and he sure loves splashing around! He likes laying on his belly and kicking kicking kicking with his legs. Last night his feet were raisins before we took him out, and he would have liked to stay in longer!

With that title you're going to think we had a horrible night, but the truth is the dog didn't make a peep all night long, the baby slept straight through until 7:15 and I slept until 5:30 without waking up once...PLUS I went to bed at 9:30! What a night is right, what a beautiful night! I don't remember the last time I got this much sleep in one stretch. It sure makes me hesitate to have more children. Having another baby would mean giving up several months of good sleep. And oh! How I've missed it.

Derek is having great success potty training Sookie, and we're having a lot of fun getting to watch a puppy romp around our living room. Sookie has decided that one of her favorite places to relax is under Luke's feet in the exersaucer. She gets under there, walks all around his legs and sometimes between his legs before settling down curled around his feet. Then of course when Luke starts to jump she looks up at his bum as if she's thinking, "Geez! Just when a girl gets comfortable."

I threw the tennis ball for Sookie the other day and she waited until it came to a complete stop, crept up to it and then pounced on it as if she were afraid it might try to roll away again. Then yesterday she pounced on the tennis ball as it lay beside the couch and the tennis ball rolled away to the side, her feet slid under the couch and her face mashed against the side of the couch. For a moment she just sat there in shock before trying to extricate herself.

Luke seems really interested in Sookie, but doesn't like it when she tries to lick his face. He can't move his head away fast enough, but he has figured out how to put his hands up in front of his face. He blinks tightly, raises his hands and turns his head when Sookie decides to display her affection publicly. For the most part Sookie is gentle, but when she gets really playful we have to stop her from pawing at him. Luke cranes his head around to watch her from up in the high chair, and he loves to grab big handfuls of soft fur. A few times he has tried to put her tail in his mouth, but that's where we draw the line.

Everyone Wants a Nap

Well it's 10am, which is Luke's naptime, and we are all feeling ready for a nap. The roads are not good, and Derek really wanted to get Sookie potty trained, so he ended up dropping his class in Winnipeg and staying home this week. I am relieved and disappointed. Relieved that the dog is no longer my responsibility and disappointed that Derek had to give up his class.

It's pretty strange having three adults in the house during the day though. Normally I am all by myself and plan my day with just myself and Luke in mind. Yesterday I was pretty overwhelmed with all the noise and activity in the house. It's actually been many years since Derek and I lived alone, but I guess I've been re-sensitized spending so much time home alone with Luke since last Summer. I'm still getting used to the noise of the dog, having two more adults in the house, and being responsible for at least two meals a day. Today Derek, Luke and I have each had naps.

Luke is consistently sleeping through the night now - at least 11 1/2 hours!

Family: Old and New

Pictures: Sookie, Luke and his new puppy, Sookie helping Derek install a gate, and Sookie and her siblings out on the farm where we picked her up.

Here is Sookie. Our new dog. I know, we had a dog, right? But Ally just wasn't cut out for this kind of weather, so now she's happily toasting herself in my parent's sunny dining room. Derek and I have always wanted a big dog, but have never had the space or the time. We've had our eye on the papers for years, and last week there was Sookie! With her seven chocolate labrador brothers and sisters. Derek and I already had a date night scheduled, and we have a history of not knowing how to go out on a date, so we continued in usual form by going to see some dogs while Harv and Helene baby-sat for us last Thursday night. Both of her parents are chocolate labradors...but sookie is golden.

We picked her up on our way home from Winnipeg on Saturday where we also visited Luke's one and only Nona (our neighbor Connie from Mulvey), picked up a baby-gate and...Auntie Lissa! Luke was pretty happy to see his Auntie Lissa. She flew into Winnipeg Saturday afternoon and we had dinner at a nice restaurant before heading back out to Winkler. We all slept pretty good that night, except for Sookie. She is having a tough time adjusting to being apart from her siblings, but who can blame her?

We had a very fun outing last Friday night with Luke. We took him to the pet store to pick out some toys for the puppy, among other gear. Luke squeezed all the squeakers until he found just the right one. He picked out a Canadian goose that honks instead of squeaks, which I find to be a pleasant alternative. He also picked out a rope toy that has three little bits of rope strung through a brightly colored rubber tube. Turns out he likes that one better than the puppy does!

This week I may be posting later in the evening because Derek is in Winnipeg taking a course on the gospel of Matthew and he might take the computer every now and then. It will be nice to have Melissa around this week with the new puppy and Luke to keep my hands full and Derek on the road so much. As I'm typing this she's reading a Cooking Light magazine and doing that annoying thing that Dad always does, reading out loud while other people are trying to ignore him. But I'm getting sucked in because she's reading recipes out loud, and who can resist commenting on "Spicy Stir-Fry Tofu with Snow Peas, Peanut Butter and Mushrooms". Geez.

Welcome Tooth!

Finally we see the tooth
that kept us all awake,
Pushing itself up by its roots
To see the light of day.

We could not see it's shiny whiteness
Until Luke took a drink.
Instead of hearing a slobbery sip,
We heard a resounding clink!

Then poking and prodding
And laughing and shouting
We celebrate the tooth!
That joined us after so many tears,
Pushing itself up by its roots.

It's nearly impossible to get a picture of Luke's new tooth. I just get blurry pictures of a tongue and my finger! Well, as soon as we can we will show you the shiny white addition to our family, which only joined us after two LONG sleepless nights. Last night Luke returned to his schedule with a nice eleven hour sleep. We are definitely thankful for a reward after all our effort. Growing teeth is hard work!

Baby Blues

Don't Give Him the Keys to the Car

This is perhaps the type of thing a parent should not publish, and perhaps I won’t... It’s one of those stories that you only tell when your child is grown and moved out of the house and is obviously not brain-damaged. Well, now I have to tell you, don't I? I wrote this in my journal yesterday:

Today is laundry day. Tuesdays usually are. However, the Growing With Mom program was cancelled this morning due to ice, so I thought I’d get more than just laundry done. I vacuumed and blogged and cleaned up the kitchen all before Luke’s first nap. He sat happily in the middle of the living room floor with his red truck and some toys the entire time I buzzed around him. He even smiled and swatted at the vacuum cleaner.

Then just a few minutes before Luke’s naptime, I went to the basement to start the first load of laundry. Apparently once I left the room Luke decided he also wanted to go to the basement to do laundry, and followed me...down the stairs.

He just made it down the two stairs into the entrance before he decided stairs weren’t all they were cracked up to be. I heard a “Ka-thump-thump”, and then a wail. My heart dissolved inside me as I tore back up the stairs and nearly tripped over my son in the entrance. I swooped him up into a hug and he stopped crying immediately. Then he pulled my hair, as if he was ready for another go-round. The only sign of his “Stair Mastering” is a red line on his chin where he must have hit the edge of a step on what I am sure was an ungraceful tumble down the stairs. It's time to get a gate.

Luke is definitely getting around now. The other day he pulled all the cables out of the back of the VCR. The day before that he got wedged between the couch and the end table and became stuck. He has now gotten into my crocheting, the bookshelf, my camera drawer, and...down the stairs. When my Dad heard this story he said, "You better make sure and hide the keys to the car!"

“I’m gonna master those stairs. ‘Cuz I’m the stair-Master! I’m gonna show those stairs who’s boss. When I’m done with those stairs they won’t know which way is up!” from the movie Shrek.

Riding the Red Truck

That title sounds like some kind of metaphor for doing drugs. But in this case it's just what it sounds like. Luke is riding his red truck. He's got enough balance now to sit on it on his own (surrounded by blankets), and he's figured out how to push some of the buttons so it will make noises. The picture of the back of his head is just for you, Mom.

My son is a multi-tasker. Last night he was holding a wooden spoon in his mouth, a plastic, orange cell phone in one hand, a soother in the other hand (Cameryn gave it to him and he decided it's pretty fun to chew on), chattering away while watching the television.

Odd Assortment

Good news with the scheduling! Last night Luke only woke up once, and at 5:37! Not bad. I'm feeling very encouraged (not to mention rested).

This is an odd assortment of pictures. There's one of me and Luke, the day we took family pictures. This was a test fire to make sure we got at least one of Luke smiling. Then there's some pictures of the muddy front yard, and my dissolving snowbear, and the icy icy street. Today it's raining and the streets are like an ice rink. There are icicles hanging from every available surface - including each and every break in the siding. I saw some guys across the way breaking ice off the side of a house so that they could start installing siding. The neighbor across the street was chipping ice off his car with a shovel, and any sloped surface (like our driveway) becomes impassable with a thick sheet of ice across it.

Derek's truck is rear-wheel drive, which makes it even harder. On his way home for lunch he slowed WAY down to make a turn and still hit the curb on the opposite side of the street. Jaime came over this morning and she said just going down her driveway she lost control. When it's this icy, there's pretty much no control. You spin the tires, get the car moving, hope it stays going in the right direction and pray it stops before you hit something.

Yesterday was beautiful though. It was sunny and the sky was bright blue, and it was WARM. Which means it was right around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We took Luke out for a nice long walk, and there's a few pictures of his rosy cheeks and nose when we came home.

Ske-dooly Update

I had a hard time picking pictures for the blog today, so you just get lots :) Luke is eating a banana bran muffin (he doesn't eat the raisins, but he tries to put them in his hair.) He takes a handful of muffin, puts it in front of his mouth and sucks on his fingers for a while, hand tightly in a fist. His hand wanders up above his head and only THEN does it open...muffin all over his head!

I thought I should update you on our progress with the schedule. Thankfully I have very few horror stories, and several positive signs of collaboration from Luke. Yesterday afternoon, after our delicious 2 1/2 hour nap, he refused to take an afternoon nap. He cried for an hour. Then he slept for 1/2 hour. But last night was beautiful. He slept from 8:30-5am. Ate, went back to sleep and I had to go in and wake him up at 8am! At 10:15 this morning when I laid him down for his nap he cried until 10:30, but I kind of think I'm figuring out that he doesn't need 2 hour naps. He needs two 1 1/2 hour naps. He wakes up and eats at 8am, noon, 4pm and 8pm, with no nap between 4pm and 8pm, and so far the evenings are really improving.

The picture above is one of the many attempts we made at keeping Luke awake on Wednesday night. It was quite a challenge. But last night was much easier, and since he's getting good naps and eating well today, I have high hopes for tonight. I am so thankful that this seems to be working so quickly. Yesterday I almost had a breakdown while Luke was crying for an hour. I was ready to give up. It is so stressful listening to a baby cry. I put the TV on, I turned the dishwasher on, I tried to keep busy. But I was still tense and tired. Finally I called my Mom and got the kick in the butt that I needed, "You've got to follow through otherwise you'll never know if it would have worked. And he won't cry forever." So thanks Mom, it really seems to be paying off!

Look What Luke Can Do!

AMAZING. Luke had a 2 1/2 hour nap this morning. And so did I.

Also amazing: this kid can stand up, and will reach for your hands to help him up. It is so endearing to be wanted.

We are a Scheduled Family

We are a scheduled family. As of today. You can be praying that it stays this way. Derek and I decided on a plan to implement a schedule that allows Luke the same amount of sleep that he gets now, but makes it more regular and fits it into the day so that I get more sleep, myself. Starting today, and until Friday, I will be working very hard to keep Luke's daytime sleeping and eating on a tight schedule. Friday night we will tackle the night-time routine, and I predict several sleepless nights. My hope is that once we've got the days down the nights will come easier.

This morning Luke woke up at 7am, but he's not supposed to get up until 8am, so I left him in his crib where he talked to himself, getting progressively louder. Finally he found his Itsy Bitsy Spider toy under the blanket (I hang a blanket over the toy so that it doesn't distract him while he's trying to get to sleep, but so that he can take the blanket off when he wakes up). I sat up in bed when I heard the toy play the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Luke has only ever made it play the song once or twice, and totally by coincidence.

As soon as the song was over he pulled the spider down again and the song played again! I shouted at Derek, "You hear that?!" We were so excited and proud, he had figured out the toy! I laid back down in bed hoping Luke would stay happy at least until 7:30, now that he was playing with the toy. He really gets a kick out of toys that make noise, and his enjoyment makes me waver on my "No noisy toys" policy.

I am so proud that my son is figuring out how to work complex toys. But Luke kept pulling the spider down...and the song kept playing...and then he pulled it down and the song kept playing...and playing. I was less and less proud as the minutes wore on. I remember now why I don't like toys that make noise! Finally I got up and took him out of the crib just to make the music STOP, even though it wasn't in our schedule to get out of bed for another half an hour. Let's hope we can do better with the rest of the day.

Creepy Crawling

The newest move: creeping.

This is one of the many videos I took yesterday of Luke creeping over the living room floor. All he's got to do to turn this into crawling is push his tummy up at the same time he pushes with his legs. He does them alternately, but has yet to coordinate his movements. It's so funny how he pushes his bum way up in the air. It almost looks like he's going to do a somersault and then, at the last minute, he pulls his arms up and sliiiides forward. You almost don't realize he's moving, except that I've put something out of reach and all of a sudden he's got it in his mouth!

This moving thing is most dangerous for the cameras, the remotes and the telephone which we are trying desperately to teach Luke are "not toys". He is fascinated by the things we have made off-limits. I guess that's natural.

Speaking of off-limit things, this morning while I was reading Luke scooched over the the bookshelf and ripped two pages out of my children's dictionary of rhyme before I realized what he was doing. The letter O. O.

Auntie Sarah's Star Pupil

Over Christmas, while we were visiting in California, Auntie Sarah started teaching Luke a very complex, three syllable word: banana. We’re pretty sure that Luke caught on right away and was able to repeat the word and link it directly to it’s tangible manifestation within hours, but was keeping his intelligence a secret…until now(We have yet to identify his plan for the information he’s withholding, but it’s under investigation).

A few days ago Luke looked right at Derek and said, “Dada”. That should have been our first clue that he was way ahead of the curve. But we shrugged it off, said, “it’s a coincidence” and went along with our business. Then suddenly, Friday morning Luke said the word banana. He said it clear as a bell, like he’s been saying it for years. He tossed it out like it was nothing, like he’s got a whole repertoir of words in there that’s he’s just storing up to keep us on our toes and amaze us when we’re least expecting him to bust out with a new word. Wow. He’s so smart and so with it. He likes bananas and eats them every morning with his cereal. Luke is familiar with bananas, and now he named them. He said banana!

He said it while looking at Mortimer the Moose (pictured above), but I’m pretty sure they were talking about the benefits of a balanced diet, so it all makes sense.