Mama ~ I'm stuck.

So. Luke has been potty trained for about 4 months now. He only wears a diaper overnight. Now that it is cold out he wears one of his fleece sleepers to bed every night on top of his diaper. In the morning, we come down stairs, and while I get coffee and breakfast going he insists on unzipping his sleeper, taking off his diaper, and zipping back up his pajamas. He eats breakfast that way, and then we get dressed for the day.

This morning all was going according to our ritual. I was nursing Julia when I heard, "Mama, I stuck! I stuck Mama!". I told him to wait a second, assuming that his foot was tangled up in his sleeper, as some mornings he chooses to take the sleeper all the way off to get his diaper off. About two minutes later he yelled "Mama I stuck Mama come help me!!". I put Julia down to go untangle Luke.

When I got there I was aghast to see that it was not his foot that was tangled up in his sleeper. He has successfully taken off his diaper, and was halfway through zipping up his sleeper when, uh, something got stuck in it. Boy parts sort of something. I stayed calm (outwardly) as I did a quick and simultaneous unzip and yank move, freeing his poor tender boy parts from the teeth of the zipper. I instantly got tears in my eyes. He cried for a quick moment and then hugged me and patted my back saying "Thank you Mama, my pee pee all better now".

Time to reevaluate the morning routing. I forget that he has different parts than me. Time for a heart to heart between Daddy and Luke regarding penis protection, as clearly Mama is incapable of protecting the poor thing.

Dirty Dawgs

This is the end result of an entire day of playing outside. I actually had to fill the tub, drain it, and refill it to wash the kids as the water got so disgusting. We had a great play group this morning, and I learned that there is absolutely nothing funnier than putting a sliding board into a kiddy pool ~ The hilariaty was contagious watching the kids slide wet and slippery and squealing into the quickly filthy water. We came home for their naps, then I took the kids for a run (pushing 76 lbs of children in a 30some lb stroller is WORK, let me tell you) then spent the rest of the afternoon at the park right behind our house. I made my first batch of popsicles, which I gave to the kids after stripping them naked. Popsicle stickiness mixed with a mulch toss between Luke and Jules resulted in these pictures. Notice that my son is not put off by a little dirt, and swooped right in for a kiss on his sticky mulch encrusted sister.

I'm having a hard time finding balance lately. It's hard to find the right mix of doing for your kids, and doing for your house, doing for your husband, and doing for yourself. I seem to have weeks where all we do are play dates every morning, which is both awesome and terrible for me ~ awesome because I am with my girlfriends and the kids are playing with other kids, but terrible because I have learned that if I don't go to the gym in the AM, I don't go. I seem to have weeks where I to the gym every day except play group day, but then at the end of the week find I am missing my friends terribly. So I go on a play date frenzy, meeting up with someone every morning somewhere (park, playground, moon bounce, Please Touch Museum, Zoo etc) and don't get to the gym at all except to use the pool with the kids. It's always such a work in progress. My new goal is to try to map out gym mornings and play date mornings at the beginning of each week, so that I mix things up better. Summer is in full swing, and I love the freedom of being outside all the time. I am trying not to dread the fall, as it is my favorite season, but lurking stealthily behind fall is the dreaded winter, of colds, and jackets, and too much time inside.

In other news, Luke has officially embraced "I" and "my/mine/me". Up until now he only talked about himself in the third person (you know, like TO)~ "Luke want that", or "Luke likes that". Every day new phrases tumble out of his mouth. Little gems like:

~ But Mama, I don't like dat one big bug! (a spider)
~ Yeah, me too! (which still makes me laugh every time he says it)
~ My finger is in Julia's yogurt Mama!
~ Oh my gosh, its rainin Mama!

The oh my gosh thing also immediately made me laugh out loud. My baby is using slang. He is already endlessly entertaining, I can't wait to see what this fully conversational little person has to say.

1.5

Well, Kiddo of mine, you are officially 18 months old. You had your 18 month appointment today, and boy have you been busy. You weighed in at 27 lbs 15 oz and 33.75 inches tall. 84% for height, 72% for weight, and your big ole brain (head, actually) at 90%. We celebrated half-birthday-eve yesterday with a trip to the zoo with Jenny and Kelly. We took in the kids concert, then walked around and saw the animals and played in the "tree house". Today we spent the day at playgroup at Erin's pool with your friends, then a much deserved nap, your Dr's appointment, and then a great hour of swimming at the pool at our gym with your Dad and I. I feel like I will always and forever remember just how sweet, just how funny and just how stinkin loveable you are right now.........but when I need to look back at this blog from a year ago to remember how you were "then" I know that years from now all of the details of this wonderful funny little critter you are now will be so so blurry to me. Here are some of the little nuances that make you the kid that you are at 18 months.

*You are always happy. Honestly, I don't know where you got your cheerful, easygoing persona from. You shake stuff off. You don't sulk. You don't hold a grudge, or throw tantrums, or hit/grab/bite/push. When other kids might take your toys or hit you you neither run to me crying, or push them back.....you just sort of give them a look like "Dude, whats that about?". I love it.
*You eat like a champ. You eat the strangest foods with a gusto. Tilapia, king crab, scallops, sauerkraut, endamame, okra, WHATEVER it is I put in front of you you enjoy. The only exceptions to that rule are blackberries and raspberries (which is a shame, as we have a plethora of delicious ones growing on Buddy's farm right next door.)
*You are enthralled with others being "night night". When you see that Jules is asleep in her car seat you make sure to tell me (several times, at your maximum decibel level!) "Night night! Night night!" While pointing to her. If you see someone sleeping at the pool, or at the beach, you have to make sure that everyone (EVERYONE!) around knows and appreciates the fact that someone in our vicinity is "night night".
*Speaking of sleeping you do it so well little guy. You still take two naps a day. All told, you sleep for about 3.5-4 hours a day, then sleep from 7 or 7.3o until 7 am. You go to bed with a kiss and a joyful countenance. You never fight us or need any sort of rocking/routine/endless cuddling to go to sleep. When you are tired, you want to go to bed, and its great, and easy. Lately, when I say your prayers with you, you say amen along with me.
*Talking. All of a sudden you are a little parrot. You love to talk. Your sweet little raspy baby voice just melts my heart. You probably have about 30 or so words that you say regularly. My favorites are Becca and Buckle (which sound like Bec-Eck and Uck-Uck......although my attempts to phonetically spell what you say fall woefully short. You sound like a native German speaker swallowing their tongue. I don't know how else to describe it, but its darn cute).
*You love your sister without one iota of jealousy or malice. You kiss her. You baby talk her. You smile and laugh and play with her when she is in her exersaucer. When we are walking around in the double stroller I frequently look down to see you holding her hand. Sometimes seeing that brings tears to my eyes. I was so worried about how you would react to a sibling sharing your attention when you were still so young, and you have far and away exceeded my wildest hopes for how you would adjust.
*You think that "shhhh" has something to do with your nose. Instead of putting your finger in front of your lips and saying "shhhhh" you press on your nose with your finger and say "shhhhh". It makes me laugh every time.
* You love to have dance parties in the car when I am driving and a good song comes on. I only wonder what the other drivers think when they see me dancing along with you.
*You dive into the water. You love the "beach" part of the pool at our gym. You run into the water and then belly flop in, laughing all the way. You blow bubbles. You lay on your stomach with your hands on the bottom in the shallow water and kick your feet. You are brave.
*You only say "no" right before you are about to so something you know you ought not do. You say "no" then climb on the coffee table to host a dance party. You say "no" right before you throw food. Maybe its willful disobedience, but it seems more like a disclaimer. Almost as though you are saying "I know this is wrong but my little toddler self simply MUST do it anyway".
*You kiss like a European. Somehow you don't seem complete unless you kiss both cheeks.
* You nod "yes" with your entire body, not just your head. I love your enthusiasm.
* Nothing is funnier to you than being chased.
*You get so excited every time I open the freezer as you know I will give you an ice cube. The fact that you then share that ice cube with the dog used to bother me.....now its just part of your joy of ice and I have given up fighting it.
* You love love love books. You especially love your Richard Scary book at the moment. If I have to say "that's a pickle truck" another hundred times I may gouge my eyes out with boredom, but you love it.
* You love to build with blocks. You are really good at it. When you are especially proud of yourself you stand back and laugh with glee while pointing at your newest creation.
* You have found a way to make "Dat" mean three different things. "Dat?" "Dat!!!!" and "Dat Dat Dat Dat!!!!" all have distinctly different meanings.
* You love us. You love your grandparents. You love strangers. All in all, you love.
* You are so the mayor, Luke. You love to say "hi" and Bye Bye to most every person, animal, or inanimate object that you see. You are an infinitely like able kid.

Enough raving. I know I am biased. But I'm his Mom. It goes with the territory.

I cant believe that as of tomorrow morning, Luke will be closer to two than to one. It just flies by.

Kiddo, thank you so much for blessing your Dad and I with a joyful 18 months. We love you.

Sneaky like Me

So Luke has the sneaky gene, just like his Mama. (I would like to say that Nate plays a part, but Nate is such a bad bad liar that I really cant even categorize him as sneaky. He gives himself away before he even has the chance to be sneaky) (That is a compliment Nate :)) Anyway. Luke has this new face. I see it whenever I turn around and catch him right after he has put a piece of dog food or some other contraband into his mouth. He honest to God affects this "innocent" big eyed look as he shifts the offending item into the side of his mouth. His face just SCREAMS, "absolutely nothin to look at here Mom, no siree.....nothing going on here at all" as he locks his jaw to keep my probing finger from fishing out whatever the item is. Then he affects total moral outrage that I feel the need to fish out the item. It completely reminds me of the "gum shift" that I used to do frequently when chewing gum in class during highschool. God help us.

We are boxing up the computers today, so I may not be on here as frequently in the coming couple of days. The movers come tomorrow, and then we settle on both houses and move into our new house on Friday. I cant wait. The house is done, just getting cleaned at this point, so we are ready to go. We still have some last things left to pack up but all things considered we are in great shape. Luke is going to playgroup today with sweet Laura who offered to take him so that Nate and I could get the rest of the house packed away. Im so jealous but so happy that even if I cant go he can go hang with all of his little buddies. HUGE thanks again to all of the friends and family who have helped us this past 2 weeks.

OH! Luke took 4 steps in a row last night ~ our kid is WALKING!

TOUCHDOWN!

So the Eagles stink, and the Jets really stink (sorry Nate) but at least Luke is cool. He learned how to do "Touchdown!" yesterday ~ We say TOUCHDOWN and he gleefully thrown his arms over his head as we get inordinately excited (essentially the "Who's so big?" version for athletic families). If our teams were better maybe he would have learned this months ago, there simply have not been enough opportunities to celebrate touchdowns this season ;) The pic is of him yesterday watching football with us.

The other pic is my big guy in his new carseat......he loves it. Packing madness continues around here. The big move out is Thursday......move in on FRIDAY!

First Steps?!

So, what does a milestone make?

Luke has been taking one step for a couple of weeks now. He is fully comfortable standing around on his own not holding onto anything, and that one step would come occasionally before a dramatic happy dive into Mom or Dads waiting arms. As of yesterday, he is now taking two steps at a time. So I guess Luke has officially crossed the 'first steps' threshold. I really think of the milestone being more "walking", but when I was talking to my Mom about it today she said "how incredible, have you put it in his baby book yet?" to which I had to sheepishly reply no. (Although I have a baby book for Luke, I really think of this blog as more of his baby book.) So hear ye, hear ye. A new milestone under the belt. First steps. Wah~hoo little Luke! I can't even believe that you have gone from the pink screaming little newt that you were on your birthday (above, moments after birth) to a funny little critter who walks upright in 9 short months!

I also experienced a milestone lately. It's officially my "SECOND PREGNANCY" as I totally spaced out on an OB appointment last week and was a no show. Last go round I could have told you to the day how far along I was, how many days were left until my due date, and the date and time of every upcoming doctors appointment. Nothing about the awe pregnancy gives me is different this go round ~ those moments laying on the couch after dinner when Deuce is kicking around for Nate to feel and being in bed in the middle of the night feeling kicks and rolls are just as magical and awe inspiring to me, getting to watch my belly grow and change still produces the same fascination in me.....but some of the day to day pregnancy obsession/fixation is gone. Sometimes I forget I am pregnant. In the same way someone who uses a cane or wears glasses forgets that they have them with them, after being pregnant two years in a row I sometimes forget about my protruding belly.....

9 Months!

Here is a pic of our little (growing) family 9 months into this whole parenting thing. I cant believe that Luke is 9 months old today. He has made it so very easy and enjoyable for us.

Luke has had a few milestones lately.....

*He takes a step now, just one or so, before diving into your arms. Walking is right around the corner.
*He officially ate his first piece of dog food. I would like to say that it will be his last, but I have no illusions. He seemed to like it as it has only increased his fervent need to run crawl to the dogs bowl whenever he spots it on the floor.
*He has tasted Mahi Mahi, meatballs, pork and all sorts of other delicacies in the past two weeks. My little blond hair blue eyed part Italian baby really seemed to dig the meatball. Go dego baby, go.
*He has learned to point. Its a weird sort of point, one where he holds up his outstretched hand almost as though he is singing opera and hitting a high note. He plays around with his fingers, occasionally getting one to stick out in a pose not far off from a real legitimate "point". Sometimes its his middle finger that he is pointing with, which adds another element of humor to the whole process.
*He has become aware of his boy parts. I feel like a bad mother writing about this, but, well, its just funny. We had him naked on the beach in Grand Cayman feeding him lunch in the shade one day when he got this funny, glazed, far off look in his little eye.......suddenly I realized where his hand was and nearly fell off of my chair laughing. His life is really just beginning. You boys are strange creatures. Lovable, but strange.
*He wont stop talking. The Dad Dad Dad song is a near constant lately.....interspersed with the Na Na Na chant, the Moms and the blah blah blah, its always interesting. He also dances. He gets so excited that he bounces up and down and bobs his head like a small diapered lunatic. Its awful cute.

Nate is away and little man is upstairs sleeping. Its a big day here as we hope to wrap up the negotiations with the buyer of my house for repairs/credits related to the inspection. I have been praying for a number that works for everyone so that we can nail down the final deal on what we are buying.......will update tomorrow.

What Color

What color eyes does or will Luke have?

If you click on the picture I think that you will see a bigger version. Feel free to comment with your opinion :). My blog is comment lonely of late.

Luke the helper

Here is a pic of my helpful son with some paper towels.......another favorite in Luke's life. OH the things he can do with just one roll of those sweet sweet paper towels! In addition to how much fun the white storm of paper is when he unwinds an entire role, there is nothing quite so delicious as a mouthful of soft fuzzy paper towel. Mmmmmm.
Here is another one of him climbing up our stairs (supervised, of course, for all those out there longing to call those people who take away unsupervised kids a'la Britney Spears). While the dishwasher has lost none of its luster in Luke's eyes, it has some competition.....the TOILET! So shiny and white, with its cool porcelain and the loud and exciting flushing action.......ahhhh the toilet. Unfortunately for Luke we keep it safely tucked away upstairs, so the little bugger has learned to scale the entire flight of steps to reach his princess. (Again, supervised, of course).

In non baby news, we got an offer on our house yesterday, after just the second showing. We are hashing out the terms now, but hopefully by the end of the day we will have reached terms that are amenable to all parties involved (but most importantly, to US!) Will update.

Bad blogger, bad

So busy right now.......the house goes on the market on TUESDAY when we host an open house for brokers/realtor's. Anyone looking for a great house in the borough please let me know! I have found a house that I really like, its so close to the borough, and ACAC, and family......and is in the WC School district which we are happy with.....Nate is going to go see it with me on Monday and we will go from there.....who knows but it just may be the house for us! Exciting. Last week I went and looked at houses on Tues, Wed and Thursday....good exercise doing that and toting around a 20 lb kiddo. No wonder I have not yet gained any weight this pregnancy. (Yes, that was me giving myself a pat on the back, thank you very much).

Luke is in rare form lately, just so easy and enjoyable. He plays, eats,sleeps, chases me and the dog around the house, and is now cruising around the furniture. His favorite trick in the whole world is to "walk" while holding on to your hands. He walks up and down the dining room while Nate sings some ridiculous song.......his whole little face just lights up with pride, its absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. He picks his feet up so high, and sticks out his little chest, and WALKS.

Anyway. Nate is off to a bachelor party today and I to play golf ~ New babysitter coming this afternoon who I am hoping will turn into a more regular sitter for us. She is a sweet and adorable college student and loves kids. Something is wrong with the USB cord that connects my camera to my computer (could it possibly be the little MOUTH that sometimes sucks on it???) so no new pics until I find another one.
In the interim here is one from the vaults, Luke taming his first wild Rhino.

My Son, the Swinger

Mum's The Word

Yesterday was FALL! It was cool, and crisp, and absolutely lovely. The little man loved a walk up to the Restaurant Festival, where he dozed and took in the mad crowds of eager eaters jamming the streets of our lovely town. We ran into Joanne and Mike (Hi Jo you newlywed beauty you!), Debbie and Greg, Brad, Jeannine, Chad and Adam etc etc.....could not swing a dead cat without running into someone we knew. It made me sad to know that this was (VERY) likely the last year that we would simply be able to walk up from our back door to attend the festival, or first Fridays, or any other WC event. The Halloween Parade will likely be our last HURRAH as borough dwellers. I am so sad about that, and it makes me cry randomly (I am starting to think that I am having a girl as I swear my emotions are way more all over the place with this pregnancy......ugh! Poor Nate!!!)

In good news, we have narrowed down exactly what we want as far as our new house. A new construction, 3500 sq ft house in the borough with giant Master Suite with sunken tub, stand alone shower, dressing room, walk in closets, 4 bedrooms (preferably with a jack and Jill bathroom for the kids) a beautiful office with custom built in's, a large eat in kitchen to entertain in, and a formal dining room for holidays. In the borough of course, as we love love love this town.

In bad news, that house does not exist. At all. Ever. No new construction in the borough, and we just cant justify spending mad amounts of money for a borough house with a tiny tiny living room, or only 1.5 baths. It just makes no sense with our expanding brood and family and friends that we long to entertain.

In weighing our options, much as we love the borough, we have to expand our search area. I went through a list of 240 houses yesterday that met our school district, price, size and age requirements and (somehow) narrowed that down to 14 that I want to go see. So this week will be spent finishing up details on our house, and hitting the streets with the realtor to find something new. Its scary, and exciting, and honestly, a little overwhelming to me in my hormonal pregnant nursing state. I think that I am driving Nate nuts with my stress, but I am working on it. To all of the friends who I am not calling, or seeing, or getting together with, please forgive me, its just a crazy busy time right now. Hopefully this shall pass quickly, this house will sell fast, we will find something we love, and life will just keep on keepin on.

In baby news, Luke LOVES all things BALL. I have to simply pick up his new love (the red sparkly ball) and he starts SCREAMING with joy. Its hilarious. He starts racing towards me, and we play catch! It makes me crack up to see this little critter so animated over a cheapo red ball. It also makes me so happy, as I would love nothing more than to be able to share my love of sports with my son. I already want to buy him his first tiny set of golf clubs for Christmas.....but maybe we need to wait until he is at least walking......This was Luke on the porch with the Mums yesterday, wearing the sweater that Jenny knit for him last year and gave me at my baby shower ~ he fits in it now and its my new fave item of the fall line up ~ thank you Jen! I think that we need to turn our Friday morning lounge on the porch sessions into stitch and bitch time where you teach me to knit like you!

Home again home again jiggety jog

After a great time in Myrtle Beach we find ourselves back at home. It was a wonderful trip, we had so much fun with Carolyn and Tony, and Luke absolutely fell in love with the warm ocean. He is the 'Splash King' and really has the whole "splash around until you get way too much stingy saltwater into your own eyes and then rub them, making it hurt worse, then get really mad" thing down pat. Seeing him play and laugh in the ocean makes me so happy, I love the fact that the little guy is getting to grow up on the beach. Myrtle was both exactly like I pictured it, and nothing like I pictured it. I literally saw each and EVERY chain or "concept" restaurant ever invented by man. There were a lot of herds of men clearly there sans wife on "guys" trips........and you rarely saw a person on the beach without a beer in their hand or cigarette in mouth........those were the things that I expected. What I did NOT expect was how beautiful the ocean would be, how incredible the golf courses, or how absolutely perfect the weather would be this time of year. After all of the hours we spent painting the past couple of weekends, this getaway could not have come at a better time. We returned home relaxed, refreshed, and ready to get back to work. I think that we have decided to list this house in the next few weeks, so its time to get busy making it look like somewhere that someone would want to live ;)
The only sad thing was getting home at 12.45 on Sunday with food in hand, so excited to crash out on the couch and watch the Eagles................WHY? WHY do I forget EVERY YEAR what we Philly fans go through? Its sheer torture. And year after year I do it again.

Luke had his well baby visit yesterday for the last round of shots until he is 1. Went well, the kiddo is 19.5 lbs and 27.5 inches long.....70% across the board for size and weight. He was a perfect gentleman while being poked and prodded, and the Dr was happy with his progress. We are supposed to introduce a third meal/day now, so I have to get cooking today as my baby food stash is rather low. Luke gave me a special treat at 3.30 AM...................there is nothing quite like sitting in the dark in a quite nursery feeding your baby. They you sleepily and tenderly pick up that sweet baby to burp/hold them for a moment before you put them back in their crib.....and then they unleash a torrent of very warm, not even partially digested milk ALL OVER YOUR mostly unclothed body. Luckily Luke does not spit up a heck of a lot, but I have become pretty nonchalant about spit up. It happens. Give it a wipe, or call the dog, or WHATEVER it takes to get rid of it, and go about your business.
But there was something utterly DISGUSTING, and invasive, and just foul, about getting covered in warm milky baby body fluids at 3.30 AM in the dark.

Barbarians at the Gate

Here is my little barbarian clamoring to get into the kitchen. I have learned that emptying the dishwasher is impossible with the little monkey trying to climb inside it, so now I toss him on the other side of the baby gate while I am filling or emptying it. As the dishwasher is such a thrill, he immediately climbs to standing in order to simply get a glance inside at all of the glorious wonders it holds within. He literally rattles the bars of the baby gate like a prisoner at his cell door. I expect him to start swaying and singing "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" while running his drinking cup over the bars next.

Here is a quick list of things that are no longer easy. Just tossing these off from he top of my head.

*Anything that involves the filling or emptying of the dishwasher.
*Diaper changes. Luke is hell bent on crawling away. They become mini wrestling matches.
*Me taking a shower while the critter is awake. (there is simply no safe place to put him)
*Me getting dressed, putting on make up or doing any other sort of womanly beauty maintenance task while Luke is awake. Yesterday while I was trying to put on makeup he systematically pulled each and every shoe out of our closet. Every one! He has a dedication to task that is impressive.
*Eating dinner. Luke is now trying to "cruise" between the couches and the coffee table. He does this with varying levels of success. Dinner usually entails at least one fall/head bang/wail/consolation session.
*Feeding Luke. He wants to do it himself, and he has also perfected the art of spitting. He "blows raspberries" with a mouth full of peas, or carrots, or some other equally bright colored mush. I end up with it in my hair. Sexxxxxy.
*Being in any room with an outlet, at any time. Luke makes a beeline for outlets. Not kidding. He cannot resist the siren song of any shiny object. And one mounted a mere foot off of the wall? Fuggettabout it.
*Being in the office. Yesterday Luke reached up, grabbed hold of the drawer pull on Nate's desk, the drawer opened, and I looked down to see Luke suddenly and unexpectedly hanging by one arm from the then open drawer. His entire body had lifted off of the ground and he was supporting it all with just one hand on the drawer pull. To his credit, he neither let go nor cried, just looked up at me totally aghast. I rescued him. The office is simply a jungle of wonder, with wires, papers, drawers, and all sorts of shiny things.
* Eating with Luke on your lap. He is unbelievable in his ability to throw his entire body at, and connect with, whatever it is I am eating or drinking. Simply put, he want what I got. Whether it is coffee, vitamins, food WHATEVER. And he is really adept at trying to get it!
* Reading a book or magazine while nursing. No way, no how. Mr. Curiosity has to have it, who would want to NURSE when you can shove magazine pages in your mouth???
*Allowing the dog access to fresh water and food is a thing of the past. Perhaps the ONLY thing that Luke longs for more than the dishwasher is the dogs water bowl. Thus far he has shown no interest in eating the dogs food, but oh, the water bowl. Before I learned to put it up on the hutch Luke crawled over to it and tipped the whole thing over no less than 5 times (wow Mom, way to go, only 5 huge messy water incidents to teach you to put the bowl out of reach, can't say I am a quick learner:) Now Mully has special times to eat ~ meaning, whenever Luke is asleep or napping.

Anyway, there's the shortlist.

I could also make a list of things that are way more FUN these days, but this is already long and boring enough as it is. Luke is funny. He is just a funny little guy. He loves to laugh, and it makes our life more fun.

He went to his very FIRST football game last night. Garnet Valley vs. Penncrest at GV. Got to see Rich coach, and I am happy to say that GV thumped them. Luke seemed to enjoy the game and the partying ~ by partying I mean staying up a WHOLE 2 hours past when he usually goes to bed. He was a good sport about it. He woke up this morning with a COLD. Ugh. He hasn't had a cold in a long time. (Am I a sicko to confess that I get a surge of personal satisfaction akin to the joy I used to get from closing a large deal at work every time I get a big mother load out of the nose sucker???. How far I have fallen..............)

6 Month Portrait

My guy.

Weekend Woes

I suffered from "Panera's Revenge" all weekend. Lost 5 lbs the not fun way. Ate at Panera for the first (and last) time in my life on Friday with Maryanne and Jen, and spent the rest of the weekend very sick. Ugh. Saturday was spent on the couch entertaining the baby and trying to keep down toast while Nate slaved away painting the house in the 100 degree heat. Luke is a great companion while sick, he is such an easy going little guy who vacillates between playing by himself on the floor, crawling everywhere, standing up and falling over, and then coming over for cuddles on the couch. His weigh in last Thursday at my nursing group showed that he gained a pound and a half in less than two weeks, so my guy is getting big. He had stayed at the same weight for about a month, so it was nice to see him gain. 18 and 1/2 lbs now. Wow.

We have been listening to the new baby's heartbeat with a Doppler, it's so amazing to hear that little heart thumping away in there. It makes it start to feel more real to me that we are having another baby. (One would have thought that the fact that I am already having to wear maternity clothes might have done the trick....but no, hearing the heartbeat is making it hit home) As I was so sick I was a little panicked on Friday night about it harming the baby, so its great to hear that heartbeat, very reassuring. For those that put any stock in the old wives tales, this baby's heartbeat is way higher than Luke's always was in utero. (Luke was always 145-150, this baby is in the 165-170 range.) We also listened to Luke's heartbeat with it, much easier to find now that he is sitting on the couch instead of in utero :). We were cracking up to hear it, then us laughing got Luke laughing, and his heart rate went up. We are easily entertained in this household.

I need some help. I am sick of referring to the baby that I am pregnant with as "the new baby", "The baby that I am pregnant with" "the coming arrival" etc etc.....
Please help me give this little peanut some sort of reference name. Something relatively genderless. That way I can specify if I am talking about Luke, or this baby. Anyone can play. I know lots of my friends and family read this, so please, add a comment! Please? There is a place to add your comment right at the bottom of this post. Thanks in advance :)

Singlemindedness of Purpose

I am officially annoyed that I cannot make this sequence of pics come up in the order I want them too......but oh well. Look at the pics from the bottom up. This was Luke last Monday, on his 1/2 birthday, at the beach. He WANTS the yellow slobber fetch ball. He NEEDS the yellow slobber fetch ball. He crawls to the yellow slobber ball, only to have the long arm of Mom snatch it away out of reach.

This is what my son's day looks like these days. He chases the dog, or me, around the house, all day long. The dog totally humors him, lets him get right up to him, maybe even allows a little fur grab or two, and than backs up about 10 feet and lays down again, looking at Luke with this bemused "I bet you cant do it again" on his bearded dog face. I have a little ankle biter constantly pulling up against my leg while I am cooking, or emptying the dishwasher (and lets not even talk about the fascination with the dishwasher.......its his mecca. All of those lovely SHINY things inside (like knives).......)Its a bit like living with a Crow.

And I love it.

Boy in a Bubble

Not content to simply crawl, Luke now wants to be standing up as much as possible. Slight issue......... he has the attention span of a flea. One of his latest most ghastly tricks it to crawl over to anything taller than his head (which is most things), pull up to standing, then promptly get distracted by either the dog, a noise, a breath of air, WHATEVER, and crash dramatically to the ground. Sometimes this creates the lovely spectacle of the "Double Bang" whereby first his face crashes into whatever he was holding on to, then the back of his head hits the floor.

As a mother I have two distinctly different, yet equally insane reactions.

One is to immediately get him fitted for a plastic bubble, insert him in it, and then reintroduce him to the world at large in another 6 months or so. Maybe 6 years.

The other is to play the "don't look directly at him and talk in an overly enthusiastic scarily high pitched happy voice" game when he falls down, hoping that he simply keeps on keeping on, picks himself up and climbs yet again..... and doesn't fall victim to the 'cry over everything because you have a hovering overprotective mother who treasures your beautiful still-scar-free-unmangled face' syndrome so common amongst children.

Drat. The little critter is crying. Must go. He will be standing in his crib looking for me. Ah. That reminds me that I have a little story to tell about the "lowering the crib mattress" debacle. I will do my best to delete the worst of the obscenities from the story as I know all of Luke's Grandparents read this.

5 Months Old!

Here we are big guy, you are 5 months old. You had your first "solid feeding" last night, for a multitude of reasons that I will get into later we have decided to intro solids now rather than waiting until 6 months. You have been so interested in food for some time now, grabbing and staring at ours when we eat.......and you did just great last night eating. We fed you organic baby oatmeal, my lactation consultant recommends it over rice cereal, so we gave it a go. You were reaching for the spoon between bites, and didn't make the "ick face" once. A lot came out, but a lot went in, too. We fed you in your bumbo this time, although Dad later put the highchair together and gave you your first spin in it, you seemed to like it just fine. (The highchair is on wheels, so you literally got a spin in it).

I have to admit that I cried afterwards. I'm so enjoying watching you grow up, but there is something so heart wrenching about no longer being your sole source of food. Isn't that horribly selfish??? I can't help it. I mean, its not like I planned on nursing you as you walked out the door on your way to college, or during a time out in your high school football game, but this point has just come too fast. Nursing has been one of the most intimate and enjoyable experiences of my whole life, and in a totally selfish way I loved being the only one who could nourish and sustain you. Its like one tiny step away from me, and I miss you already. Hormones. I'm crying as I write this. If you are reading this you are probably thinking that I am a nut, but I cant quite explain how it feels unless you have nursed a child yourself. Even then, maybe you don't understand how I am feeling, I have lots of friends who hated nursing and could not wait to stop. Personally, I loved it, and took pride in how effortless it was for us, and I'm going to miss it once we actually stop. Right now we are just doing one solid feeding a day. We will go up to two in about a week. I could go on and on about this, but there is no point~ Luke is growing up, and I am so utterly proud, and just a little, selfishly, sad too.

I know that Luke is wearing a JETS onesie in this pic, it's just me humoring Nate until football season starts. Then its all E~A~G~L~E~S on the child. Lookout.

Welcome back!

Sleep, that is. Luke is upstairs sleeping away and its 9 am ~ you never realize how much you love and need sleep until you have a few nights without it. This past week has been tough, no place on earth can be as lonely as a baby's nursery at 3 am ~ you feel impatient, and worried, and then angry at yourself for being impatient......and then your neck and back start to hurt from sitting in the glider nursing and falling asleep at the same time ~ your head falling forward, you jerking it back up, over and over and over. You start to feel as though you may NEVER sleep again, when in fact it has just been a few tough nights. I guess, like anything, you just adapt, but man do I have a new gratitude for how great of a sleeper Luke has been since day 1. I'm guessing that the ear infection is clearing up.
Last night we were treated to "the Luke show" ~ He sat in his 'saucer entertaining the two of us for about an hour. We were both sitting on the couch, and he was facing us from a few feet away ~ simply delighting in looking back and forth between Nate and I with the biggest, gummiest grins I have ever seen. He is big into eye contact all of a sudden ~ a simple thing like looking around, but not at him, while saying "wheres the baby" ~ and then locking in on his eyes can send him into utterly ecstatic spasms of joy. Its so nice to be able to entertain him so easily ~ I already dread the days of "Mom, I'm bored" "Mom I want a gameboy" etc etc...