New Party Trick

Here's his new trick:

Yep, he'll be extremely mobile soon. And then KC better really watch out!

Silly Boy

So... here's how Luke likes to crawl.

Yep, with rings in his hands. Too cute.

9 months

 


9 months seems to have snuck up. I know it's uber typical to proclaim, "Where has the time gone?", but it's completely accurate. I've had my little man for 9 whole months now, and it seems like just yesterday we brought him home.

BUT I will proclaim that he is SO much more FuN and ExCiTInG than he was then. I mean, newborns are the purest form of human possible, but they don't make you laugh until you cry with an odd-looking smile.

I LOVE, LoVe, love my Lukie, and I feel special beyond words to know him and even more special that I get to spend every day with him.

I know for sure that this has been (probably until kid #2 happens) the absolute hardest 9 months of my life. A friend told me before I had him that she feels that having a baby and then caring for a newborn breaks you down completely so that you can then be built back into a parent and your 'new' self. I would have to agree with her- the hard has yielded the most wonderful, mind-opening, awesome, most loving time of my life (probably until #2 kid happens). Being married taught me how to trust and depend on someone fully, but having a child has taught me how to love fully. I love my family more deeply than I ever could have imagined.

So, moving on from the sappiness and onto the updates!

If his 8 month theme was Lukie's on the move, his 9 month theme is Lukie's REALLY on the move. Actually, I think he's changed more this past month than any other one. He's developing and doing something new every day (which also makes this stage so much more fun!). 

• He weighed in at 17 lbs. 4 oz which makes him only in the 10th percentile. Yes, he's a little man.
• His height is 27 inches which makes him between the 25th and 10th percentile. 
• His head circumference was in the 25th-10th percentile also, but I don't remember the measurement.
• He crawls everywhere! He looks like a doll when he crawls because it's such a perfect, upright, gliding crawl. I've never seen a real baby crawl like he does. It's not just me who sees this either, others have commented.
• Before he truly crawled, he did what I called the "tripod". He would crawl but he left one of his legs stuck straight out to the side. It was easier for him to get from that position to sitting, but it looked rather funny.
• He says a couple of words. He will say "Hi Kitty". It sounds more like "Hi Iddy", but it's there! We also got him to say "doggy" over Christmas. He also says mama and dada, but doesn't really say it to us; he'll just say it.
• He can shake his head 'no', but he has no idea what this means, so it's pretty funny.
• He throws things. He can't throw hard or far, but he'll toss balls and things like that. 
• He can pull up to his knees and once, when he was mad in his crib, he pulled all the way up to standing.
• He's still in 9 month clothes, but 12 month clothes are not far off. I need to start shopping! We have nothing in that size (except for 1 pj).
• He eats solids all of the time now. He has perfected the 'pincher' grasp.He eats cheerios, grapes, bananas, toast, green beans, yogurt, blueberries, pasta, avocado, and pretty much anything that can be chopped up or smooshed a little bit for him.
• He's still nursing, but we're down to about 4 times a day.
• He wears size 3 diapers when he's in disposable, but we're still mastering the cloth on a regular basis.
• We're keeping busy with MOPS where he is a favorite in his Moppette room. The ladies call him their buddy, and I regularly come to pick him up and find him being rocked because they like to cuddle with him. We also belong to a MOMS club group which meets weekly. I've met some other moms who are very nice and Luke has met some other babies who are right around his age, so it's a win-win! They all live on the west side of Richardson, so everyone is super close which makes it very easy to meet up. I feel like I've finally meeting some mom friends which makes staying home much more enjoyable. I've found the key to not going crazy is having places to go and to see other people! I was not made for staying in my house all day!

Overall, we're doing well and making things work around here :)

It's been an adventure so far, and I know it will probably get even more adventurous! I'm gearing up for the 'fun' to come!

Christmas 2011

Luke's 1st Christmas was a success!

You wouldn't now it from his Santa visit,

Yes, I took a picture of this picture because I was cheap and didn't spring for the digital copy.

or when he opened his presents,

but I think he enjoyed all of the festivities as much as a (almost) 9 month old can.

I was excited about it, though. So excited, I made stockings for all 3 of us.

Even thought we had absolutely no use for them this year, they still looked pretty. And it was a fun project for me :)

We celebrated with my parents the week before Christmas, since we were heading to Alice for the big day this year.

We opened presents and then had a lunch of beef tenderloin with rhubarb chutney for dinner. It was delicious. I love this meal my mom cooks.

Trey and I fresh off our 24 child free hours!

Luke loved his high chair that my mom saved from when I was a baby. My grandfather finished it, so it's cherished :)

Luke loved his activity table the first (and second) time he opened it.

He also enjoyed his new bath toys from Uncle John. Excuse the blue bow, we were trying to be funny.

At the end of the day, Luke was worn out from the festivities.

A couple of days before Christmas, we headed down to Alice at bedtime like we did before Thanksgiving. It was pretty successful and we made it with no issue.

During the days we played with Luke, chatted with the family, gave Radar some attention, and then played with Luke some more.

Sharing a laugh with Grandpa

Eating cheerios with Grandma (and Radar)

We even got artsy during playtime.

Trapping Luke so he couldn't wander off

This boy has hair!

He showed off all his cool tricks which I'll put in a separate blog post, but it's becoming impressive to see all he can do, or maybe it's just the normal development of a baby, but whatever it is, he's a genius at it!

Christmas morning was a little overwhelming for him. He mostly liked to wave the tissue paper in the air.

He got a pair of shoes from Santa. Kind of lame, Santa. I've already told him to be more 'fun' next year.

See, he loved them so much, he immediately threw them.

Luke got a great 3-in-1 sports activity center, plastic keys, and a rubber duckie from Grandpa and Grandma J. My parents and Lauren & Jason both gave him this fun activity table. He loves it, nonetheless.

After his morning nap, he was a little more ready to enjoy his fun new toys.

Trey's mom and dad barbequed a brisket and made the normal fixin's- potato salad, spanish rice, and beans. The best part was the dump cake for dessert. It was great, and I helped myself a few times to that one.

The rest of our visit was fun and pretty lowkey. There's just not much you can do with a 9 month old.

Overall Christmas was excellent. I'm excited to next year's because it will not resemble this one in any way. Except for sharing the holiday with family. Luke will not resemble himself in any way. He'll be running around like a madman!!

First Christmas, success!

Random Pics

Who me? Crafty?

Yep, that's right!

So the baby boom continues, and it seems I have more friends that are pregnant right now than not. It's very exciting, but expensive times ;)

I decided to try to be crafty and sew some fun prints with ribbon borders on burp cloths for baby gifts. I received some of these from different people, and I LOVE them. Gerber makes the best plain white burp cloths, but they're a little flimsy, so when you add the fabric, they're perfect.

Here's my first go-around. These are for Katie Taglione Mallette and her baby girl, Madison.

I thought the pink and green were pretty together.

Close up of the 'packaging' I created.

It's fun to do, and I'm excited to do it for more people!

8 months

Lukie's 8th months old!

 

I feel like we're on the downward slope to his 1st birthday which is somewhat hard to believe. 

Luke's been very busy this past month, and by that I mean, he's busy moving all over the place.

• Now he's a fast army crawler. He pretty much goes wherever he wants to know. Usually if he's taking off, it's to chase KC.
• He can easily go from laying down to sitting up now. 
• We often find him sitting up in his crib waiting for us to get him up.
• I bought him a 'wearable blanket' because he gets out of his blanket we wrap around him swaddle-style.
• He's fully in 9 month clothes now. The six month one are finally too short.
• He wears size 3 diapers when he's in disposable, but he wears cloth most of the time.
• He can say the sounds ba, da, and ma.
• He's working on pulling up. He kind of tries, and he can get on to his knees sometimes.
• He's eating three meals of solids a day. I've made some chicken recipes for him that he loves which makes me happy. He likes most of what we put in front of him.
• He still sleeps really well. We're down to two naps a day, usually about 9ish and then again around 1. He goes to bed about 6:15 and will sleep until about 5 or so, get up for a feed and then go back to sleep for an hour or so. I don't mind that schedule too much.
• Luke loves being around other people. He talks to them and laughs.
• He know screams at the top of his lungs all of the time. He's quite vocal on a regular basis. I think he'll be a talker.
• Luke is still a very content baby. He doesn't give us much trouble at all. We're really lucky that he has such a nice personality.

We love him very much, and we're so happy to have him here!