August

Here are a few pictures from the goings- on of August.  By way of explanation, we had my family here for almost a week while they dropped my sister Cara off at school.  We loved having them stay with us.  And we love having Cara nearby now.  I will post more updates soon.

4 months old- Luke

This is Luke in a nutshell:

Loves being tickled, playing peek-a-boo, being held, going for walks in the front carrier, being part of the action going on at any given time, and watching Gabe play.  He is a pretty "go with the flow" kind of guy- as long as he's getting attention, he isn't too picky about what's going on.

Likes binky, car rides (usually), sitting upright, being wrapped up tight to fall asleep, the baby swing, playing in the baby gym, trying to put toys and fingers in his mouth.

Dislikes: being cold, hungry (well, don't we all?), um, can't think of anything else at the moment that he doesn't like.

About half the time, Luke sleeps around 7 hours at night, but he also frequently wakes up at 4am to eat.  He would probably go back to sleep if I didn't get up and feed him, but you just don't think of these things very clearly in the wee small hours of the morning when your baby is STILL IN YOUR ROOM.  (What am I thinking?  It is definitely time for Luke to move to Gabe's room.)  He is a fantastic napper, however.  I love that he takes 2-3 decent naps a day (1-2 hours each).

Luke is a pretty happy guy.  It is easy to make him smile and laugh, and he seems to be trying to be happy even when he is not feeling well (like last week when he was super congested and struggled at night for several nights).  He, like Gabe as a baby, is serious about eating.  He gets hungry and he must eat right now!  He is pretty solid, and all that chub makes for delicious cuddling and cheek smooching!

Luke now has a head of fuzzy hair, and I get the feeling he is going to have my complexion: the reddish hair, the freckles, light skin, the whole bit.  

It is such a miracle the way babies so quickly entwine themselves into your heart and you almost cant remember what it was like without them.  I so love my little Luke, and his smiles just melt my heart.  Life isn't necessarily a bed of roses all the time, but those smiles help me get through the crazy puke-and-multiple-blowouts-in-public days when I have to take him home practically naked because he messed every single outfit in the diaper bag while we were out.  Not that that ever happens to me.  Ha. Really though, Luke radiates love and happiness and is really delightful to have around- we love him so much!

Anniversary

We celebrated our 6th anniversary a few days back.  Time does seem to fly.  To celebrate we went out for dinner and to a dessert cafe which was yummy, and I surprised BJ by taking him golfing, or letting him take me golfing, however you want to look at it.  He has been saying for some time that he wanted to teach me to golf, and I thought this might be the perfect time, since I was planning the activity and knew that he would never expect me to choose this for our anniversary.  I had a fun time teasing him about what we were doing, and at different times during the evening he thought we were going to the movies, to a play, an outdoor theater, and dancing.  Haha.  It is the first time I have been able to pull off a surprise for him without totally giving it away.  Anyway, we did have a fun time golfing, despite a minor sprinkler incident for which we were refunded our money (but that's a story for another time perhaps).

I'm glad that after six years, BJ is still my best friend, my sounding board, my stand up comedian, my debate partner, cooking companion, and a patient and engaged father to boot.  There are a hundred more things I could say, but I will spare you the mushy-ness for now and just say that it has been a good 6 years with BJ, and I couldn't be happier about the next 60 (at least!).

Funny Stuff

The other night I went to check on Gabe and he was talking in his sleep.  He kept saying "Hlay. Daddy! Hlay!"  "Hlay" is how Gabe says play, and he says that to me many many times over the course of a day; i.e. "Gabe, do you want to eat some lunch?"  "No! Hlay!"

I went to an exercise class this week and I put on a brightly colored headband.  Before Gabe went to bed, he said, "Mommy!  Cool hat!"  He also loves to wear his hat I made him this week.  It is a big boy hat. 

Gabe is finally starting to speak in short sentences at times.  When BJ leaves in the mornings to go to work, Gabe usually says "Bye Daddy! I love you! Daddy bye-bye- car."

Luke has been laughing more and more this week.  He thinks that blowing rasberries/ the elephant sound is especially funny and he tries to imitate.  He blows bubbles and gets drool all over himself but he just grins so big like it is his favorite thing in the world.

 We put Luke in the baby gym thing with music and toys and lights.  Just like with Gabe at first, it was a bit overstimulating.  He was so excited; with his gasping and kicking and flailing he looked like he was going to fly away.  Luke has also started grabbing toys with purpose.  He has some spinning toys on his chair that he bats at over and over.  Gabe tries to get in on the fun too.  

I have had a hard time getting Gabe to eat new foods this week.  However, he sometimes brings a toy or stuffed animal to his chair when he eats.  I have been able to get him to eat something after pretending to feed it to his monkey or bear or cat first.  He laughs and laughs and opens his mouth to eat it.

Bumbo seat: Is it worth it?

Photo from http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3433615

Has anyone used a Bumbo Seat for their baby? Luke is 3 months old and wants to be sitting upright most of the time, but the baby seats we have for him are reclining.  I did not have one of these with Gabe, so we have never tried one out.  They cost around $40 which seems like a lot for a baby seat that will only be used a couple of months.  I guess I am wondering if it is worth it? What are your thoughts?