Oh, Hi!

Oh yeah, I have this blog.  Sometimes I forget about it.

Anyway, I need to do better about remembering it, because everyday I think to myself, "I should write that down... I'll probably remember it though.  Hmm, what was that funny thing that happened yesterday?"

Nothing extremely funny happened today... just the usual types of stuff, but I had better write that down in case one day I can't remember what was normal when Gabe and Luke were 3 and almost 2.

Luke got very upset with me today as soon as he realized he was hungry, and started "bossing" me around: "Mommy, I want to eat!  I want wunch.  Wight now Mommy!  Stand up now!  Go!  I wanta eat wunch!"

When he needed a diaper change, I asked him if he was poopy, and he said, "No, I don't want a diaper change, I just clean, Mommy.  It's play time."

When I handed Luke a toy he was struggling to reach, he took it and said, with gusto, "Oh, tank you, Mommy!"

Gabe is also very good about saying thank you, and he will often add "Good job pouring the milk, Mommy, you did that so great!"

When I told Gabe it was almost naptime today, he at first said "No, I don't want a nap!"  But then started saying, "Mom, is it night time?"  I told him it wasn't night time, but it was sleep time, to which he responded, "Oh, ok Mom, but I a-better eat a snack first, and then take a nap.  Maybe playtime first."

Gabriel is especially fascinated with my sewing machine and serger, which are off limits, but he gets into anyway.  If (when) I catch him opening little doors and turning little dials, I give him a little reminder by saying "What are the rules?"  and he will say "Don't play with Mommy's 'chines!  But I just want to close this door, Mom.  Can you close it for me?"


We just got back in town from Tayler and Heather's wedding.  We were so glad we could make it.  It was a crazy trip, but we all had a good time.  We didn't actually get to see much of Tayler or Heather, but I guess there will be time enough for that.  Heather is "Hedder" to Gabe and "Heddow" to Luke, and a princess to both of them since they saw her in her wedding dress.

While we were in Washington for the wedding, we were able to stop by and visit BJ's grandparents.  We only had about 2 hours with them (plus 4 hours of driving) but we made the most of it, the kids were pretty good, and I am so glad we were able to have that time with them.

Speaking of that trip, I wrote about the crazy part of the journey and the tender mercies we experienced as a result on my other blog.  Read about it here.

Conversations...

Gabe: "Mom, I just spelled my name!"
    Me: "You did?"
"Yeah, at Grandma C's house.  I did it on Anna's computer. Anna helped me,  Anna is so nice, huh Mom?"
    "Yes, she is."
"Anna loves me.  I love Anna.  Anna loves Mommy."
    "I love Anna too."
"Anna is so, so pretty.  I love Anna.  Anna is a nice... aunt.  I just want to give her a hug, and fives."

Gabe: "Mom, is that picture of you and Daddy?"
    Me: "Yes Gabriel, that is a picture from the day we got married."
"Mommy, are you a princess?"
    "Why yes, I mean, ahem..."

Gabe: "Mommy, I want to do prafts with you.  Can we do a train praft?  And a boat and airplane praft?  Please?" (praft= craft, FYI)



Luke: "Mommy, I all done now.  Want to get down, right now Mommy! I can't do it, it's too hawd (hard).  Help Mommy!  Help!  What doing?  Wheah ah you (Where are you?- even if I'm standing right there!)?

After time out for hitting.... Luke runs out of the room and says "Sorry Mommy.  Sorry hitting.  Sorry mommy.  I kiss it better.  Hug!"

Luke: "Coat on!  Shoes on! Go a walk!  Go a bye-bye car!  I wanna go home (meaning I want to go out- yes, really.)!"

October 2011

I haven't written in months, and I'm not even going to try to recap what has happened right now, but I need to record some things about the kids so we can remember all the funny things they do in the future.

Gabe
3 years & almost 4 months

I asked him what his favorite foods were last week, and here is his answer: "Cupcakes, fruit loops, chocolate, cheese sticks." Funny, we don't give him much of that stuff... at least he listed one semi-healthy thing.  He actually eats pretty much everything we give him, as long as it is room temp and not spicy.

Takes one nap, in the afternoon.  Learned how to pedal his tricycle this summer, and can mostly keep up with us when we go for a walk.  Loves to collect sticks on our walks.  Loves to go on walks and visit his friends Kimberlee and Ethan.  He's very friendly with all kids, although if it came to sharing his Thomas train, that would probably be a no-go. 

Says "okie-dokie-a-chokie".  Has been calling me his "baby mommy" and "little mommy".  Regularly says stuff like "What are you doing, Mommy?"  Oh!  Uhhhh... dat's cool, Mom."  Gabe knows mouth, nose, eyes, head, hair, ears, hands, tummy, and fingers in Spanish (our neighbor came over and did Spanish lessons for a while during the summer).  He also knows a few animals and random other stuff.

Gabe's teachers at daycare (he goes just a couple of hours each week) are always impressed at how smart he is.  He knows all his shapes, colors, counts to 20 sometimes, can accurately count objects (less than about 8), knows his ABCs, can identify all of them and most of their sounds, and knows tons of songs. 

Sings Thomas the Tank Engine songs and always requests them at bedtime.  Actually sings a lot of songs, all day long.  Loves Thomas shows, Dora, Caillou, Blue's Clues, and even "the purple dinosaur".  Yes, I let my children watch shows (on Netflix).
95% potty trained during the day, nighttime and naptime are another story.
One day at naptime I gave him his Thomas the Tank engine train and he said "Thomas is my best friend!"  Another day we had played and I gave him lots of hugs and kisses at naptime and he said "Mommy, you are my best friend!"  Melted my heart.

Naughty stuff: Gabe recently dumped a whole roll of TP in the toilet.  A few days later, he unrolled a whole roll all over the floor.  Not to much later, he pulled out every wet wipe from the wipes box.  He sometimes likes to chew on the wipes. (yuck) He and Luke are partners in crime and they like to shred wipes, TP, napkins, anything they can get their hands on.  They like to drink their drinks and spit them out- sometimes on each other (this is mostly just Gabe).  They like to pull things out of the kitchen drawers and cupboards, sometimes the garbage.  I have locks on the cupboards and the garbage, but they always manage to find something semi-dangerous that isn't locked up, so the kitchen is off limits, and we have a gate that closes it off. 

Luke
18 months

Sings I Am a Child of God and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (somewhat intelligibly) on his own.  Loves music and loves to dance.
Goes to sleep really easily most of the time, as long as he has his binky, blanket, drink, and a stuffed animal.  Starting to take only an afternoon nap and not his morning nap.  Loves all stuffed animals, but especially his zebra, cow, & blue teddy bear.  Cuddly, but he's a screamer- he has an ear-splitting scream that he's not afraid to use at any time if he wants to get his point across.  Started nursery last week- ran right in, played, no screaming at all.  What a relief for all of us, because church has been... not fun... with him for several months (maybe 6).  Hopefully nursery will continue to be a good thing for him.

Blows kisses and waves when daddy leaves every morning for work.  Loves cheese, bread, bananas, apples, applesauce, yogurt, all cereal, all sugary stuff (but usually not ice cream), most fruits, all crackers, pizza.  Sometimes likes broccoli and carrots (in ranch), beans, mexican food.  Currently hates noodles and rice (texture thing), usually peanut butter and most other sandwiches.

Luke loves to give kisses, but this time he was almost eating my cheek!

Says: Peeaboo (peek-a-boo), dit-de (binky), a-wight (alright), ok, ah-done (all done), ah-keen-ow (all clean now), poopoo, bum, eye, nose, mow (mouth), eah (ear), Babe/ Babiel (Gabe/ Gabriel), baby, Guke (Luke), mommy, daddy, Paw (Grandpa), Cah-kin (Collin), Ca-ya (Cara), Sessa (Marissa), Anna, Gook (book, drink, milk), eat, see-yal (cereal), nah-nuh (banana), be-ba (zebra), see ya, hi, hey-o (hello), bye bye, Ay-yuh-you (I love you), safe, don't, mine, want it, nie-ie (night-night), teeeee (teeth- wants to brush teeth), cah (car) goowuck/ cahck (truck), ah-side (outside), no, yes, yeah, uh-huh, uh-uh, no-way, icky, suuuuum (as in- I want some), lion, goggy (doggy), ti-tat (cat/ kitty cat), eh-pane (airplane), tain (Train), wow-ow (flower), messy, one-two-tee (1-2-3), sooooo (show- as in I want to watch a show).

He probably says more but I can't think of anything else right now.

Luke responds to most things we say to him- he understands and follows commands (if he wants to) and replies to questions.

At 16 months he:
Weighed 22.3 pounds (now he weighs about 25 lb.)- the 15th percentile.
Was 30.5 inches tall- 22nd percentile.
Had a head circumference of 19.2- the 86th percentile, down from the 96th when he was 9 months old!

Luke: May 2011

Luke is really at one of the funnest ages I have experienced with kids so far.  Each age is fun in its own way, but he is at the point where it is all fun from here on out, and way more hazardous too.  He is learning to get into cupboards and drawers, tries to climb into the bathtub, and he tries to take Gabe's snacks away almost as often as Gabe tries to take his away. 

He is doing things a little earlier than Gabe (though not exactly an early- bird)- just so he can keep up.  There is definitely some sibling rivalry developing here, though the boys clearly adore each other.  Luke can walk short distances, maybe up to 6 steps on average without getting scared and sitting down.  He doesn't fall much yet, but is very cautious, and would rather sit down before taking a tumble.  I'm sure he could walk much longer if he wanted, and I think he will be before long!  He still crawls with one knee and one foot, which is hilarious to watch.

He says a few words on his own (ma-ma, woof (dog, and the sound a dog makes), nana (banana, and any other food), da-du (thank you- yes, really, he says this after every time I bring him food)) and he mimics a lot of things we say (da-da, puh-puh (poopy diaper), ssu-ssu (Jesus), nuh-nuh (no-no).
Luke loves to be sung to.  He doesn't have a favorite song that I can tell, but if cuddling and rocking don't calm him down, just start singing too, and he will relax very quickly.

Nights are finally starting to get better.  He is now sleeping through the night- hallelujah!  I think we just had to get through some hard stuff and I had to stop nursing him when he woke up.  I think as soon as he realized he couldn't eat, and he got over some colds he had for a while, he stopped waking in the middle of the night.  Now he goes to bed anywhere from 6:30pm to 7:30pm or so on a normal night, and he wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning to nurse, then he usually goes back to sleep for an hour (IF I let him fall asleep in bed with me, otherwise he will just play or whine).  I try to get him to take a nap at 9:30 or 10 in the morning, and then another nap at 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon.  I think if I am more consistent with getting him down for naps, he sleeps better at night.

Luke has had his 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom) for several months and a few weeks ago started cutting molars (skipping the canine teeth).  He now has 2 molars that are mostly cut through, 1 that is close, and another one that is just starting to be swollen and painful for him.  It seems like these things always happen at the same time.

Luke can put food away like no other baby I have seen.  We were at a restaurant the other day and Luke ate the entire 2 bottles of baby food I had with me, and then continued to eat a bread stick and two small pieces of pizza, plus drinking his milk.  We joked that he ate more than my brother Tayler, who was visiting.  I guess he was just really hungry that day.  Luke loves fruit, cheese, bread, yogurt, and Hawaiian haystacks (chicken and rice etc.).  He is slightly more picky than I remember Gabe being.  He is very particular about the textures of foods he eats.  Also, just because he has eaten it before and liked it doesn't mean he wont spit a food out and refuse to eat it from that point on.  Usually if we can get the first bite in, he will decide he likes it and will eat the food.  He cracks me up!

Pictures from Luke's Birthday

Letter to Luke on his 1st birthday

My Sweet Luke,
Today you are one year old.  I cannot believe how fast that year went by, and yet how long ago it seems that you were born.  Oh, it has been quite a year!  You have brought so much sweetness, energy, curiosity and laughter into our home!  Your older brother loves you dearly, and I love to see the wonder and adoration in your eyes as you watch and follow him around, wanting to take part in whatever he is doing.  I love that you are happy by nature, in spite of rough days and nights from earaches, teething, and your desire to not miss anything exciting for something so trivial as sleep!  This birthday marks some happy milestones for you.  Today you took your first steps alone.  You were holding some stacking cups and you thought I was holding on to you, so you walked and were surprised to realize you had done it without help.  This month you have started communicating better with us.  It warms my heart to hear you say "mama" and "dada", "up", and even "woof".  I am delighted when you sign "more" and your daddy and I were giddy when you mimicked the way we signed "I love you".  I don't know how much you understand, but we can feel love just exuding from you.  You have so much love to give.  I smile every time you reach for me to pick you up and you rest your head on my shoulder for a moment.  I love those open mouth "kisses" you bestow, and the morning cuddles that never last long enough!  I'm just tickled to see you asleep under your blanket, holding tightly to your stuffed animal when I come to check on you.  There are so many things you do to give us great joy, and having you in our family means more to us than I can express.  I am still learning what it means to be a mother- a mother of two.  I am so grateful for the things you have taught me about patience, forgiveness, optimism, and God's love.  I am learning more about these things because of you and because of my opportunity to be your mother.  Luke, I love you dearly!  Happy birthday, Lukey- pie.
Love,
Your Momma

February

OOPS: 6/6/11 I just saw this in my posts today.  Looks like I wrote it at the beginning of March, but never published it.  It's old news now, but for the sake of journaling, here it is!

I can't believe February flew by so fast (well, looking back on it.  It seems like during the winter each day drags on so long... is it just me?).

I want to remember some of the things Gabe has said recently (he has really made large developments in his verbalization skills since Christmas):

"Mommy, where's my helicopter?" and "Mommy, look! A yellow helicopter up in the sky!" -But "helicopter" could be pronounced "fly-a-copter", "blue-a-copter" (one of his helicopter toys is in fact blue), or "hey-a-copter"

"This is MY bike" (bike pronounced "bikel" like bicycle shortened.)
"You so hungry, fweet-haht?" (sweetheart)

"This is fun game, Mommy!"

Gabe has quite an imagination and he likes to make his animal toys play and talk to one another.  One day this week, he took apart his train tracks and brought the pieces to me as "popcorn", "ice cream", "cake", "peanut butter sandwich" and "phone".  I frequently hear Gabe singing to himself too, and he makes up new words sometimes; for example he loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and he will add things like "the dogs on the bus go woof woof woof", and sometimes mix the words up a little, so now "the babies on the bus go woof woof woof".  He loves to sing "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" and a bunch more from his mp3 player that he doesn't really know all the words for but tries to sing along anyway.

For a while it seemed like Gabriel was done with his stuffed monkey, but now he loves it again I guess, maybe because we brought home a big Curious George book which he loves to hear stories out of.  During those stories he has to go find his monkey and hold it while he listens, or he will have a little breakdown.  Same for any story about trains, teddy bears, etc.  If it reminds him of a toy of his, he must go find it. Heh.

From time to time Gabe gets curious about me nursing Luke.  We talk about why I am nursing Luke, and he understands that Luke is drinking milk, and that nursing will help Luke when he is hungry.  He usually comes over and points to Luke and says "Mommy nursing Luke" while I am feeding him.  A couple times Gabe has climbed up on my lap and said "Gabe nurse now?"  I had to laugh and I just said, "No, nursing is for babies to eat; you're a big boy and you drink from a cup and eat with a fork!"  He seemed pretty satisfied with that, and went back to playing. 

Luke is cruising around the furniture as of last week.  For a while he was just standing and playing at the train table, but now he walks all around it, and goes back and forth between the couch and table, sits down, pulls himself back up, etc.  He still will not crawl.  We occasionally try to have crawling practice in the hallway and I have tried all sorts of things as enticement to get him to crawl, with no luck.  He whines and cries until I let him pull himself up to a stand, and he will then walk to get what he wants, while I help him.  Sometimes he will roll until he can get to what he wants.

The tables have turned a little bit at naptime.  Gabe is now my good napper (this was the baby who would never nap for more than 30 minutes or so at a time) sleeping from 1.5- 3 hours almost every afternoon.  Luke was a great napper until the past month or two... now he often wakes up prematurely and is very cranky for the rest of the day, but he refuses to go back to sleep, even if I rock and rock and rock him, which I don't have time to do! (If I try, Gabriel usually takes advantage of the unsupervised time and destroys something in another room or gets into some sort of mischief.)  I am thinking about taking away the morning nap and just having him take one nap per day, but it seems so early to do that!  He is only 10 months old.  I need to figure something out, because the afternoon is no fun for any of us if naps are prematurely ended.

Luke is a smiley, happy kid.  He turned 10 months old last week, and I can't believe how much he has changed.  He is still very small in size, though.  He is in the 19th percentile for height, the 18th percentile for weight, and the 96th percentile for head circumference.  I'm guessing that is why people always tell me Luke is so big.

Luke: January 2011

I think the stage Luke is at (9 months old this past week) is one of the cutest and funnest stages of babyhood.  My Lukie-pie is just so sweet.  He is getting very curious about what Gabe is doing, and he wants to be in on the fun.  He doesn't want to lay down or sit down, he just wants to stand.  He is starting to try to walk (with help).  He is super wiggly!  This kid has a smile that could melt anyone's heart, and I'm afraid he has got us wrapped around his little fingers!

Favorites:
Foods: Cheerios, any fruit (especially applesauce, apricots, peaches, pears, and fresh bananas), sweet potatoes, and carrots, and rice husk crackers.

Toys: Luke likes toys that make sounds, have wheels, or which can be chewed on, or anything that Gabe is playing with.

He LOVES things with buttons, so any remote, cell phone, or toy with buttons is an Luke- magnet.  Bonus points if something exciting happens after pushing a button.

Activities: Peekaboo and Pattycake are very entertaining, as are tickling and cuddling (sometimes).  We took this video of Luke about one week before he turned 7 months old, where he is playing peekaboo all on his own.  We were so surprised when he started doing it, but he loved all the laughs he got, and he continued doing it for quite a while that night.

Luke loves to watch Gabe run around and play, and he is beginning to want to be part of everything Gabe does. 
We recently got out this jumperoo thingy and Luke has got the hang of bouncing in it and he is happy since he always wants to be standing.

People: Luke loves his Mommy and Daddy and Gabe tons, and he recognizes and is delighted to see Grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Luke seems to pick up on and react to "love vibes"- or in other words he can sense when someone likes him, and he will cuddle right up- even if they are a stranger.  This happened in church last week when a grandmotherly lady held him for a moment while I had to lead some music.  He stared at her for a minute, then began smiling and snuggled right up in her lap.

Luke is happy any time Gabe is nearby, and thrives on attention Gabe gives him.  He puts up with quite a lot of poking and prodding from Gabe too...

Stats:

Luke began consistently sitting up by himself for longer periods of time when he turned 7 months old.

• Luke still has 7 teeth (he had all those by the time he was 7 months old), but I believe that is about to change.
• Luke is NOT interested in crawling.
• After we came back from Oregon for Christmas, Luke started pulling himself up to stand so that he could see what was going on up on Gabe's train table (8 months old).  Maybe he will skip crawling all together and go straight to walking?

I frequently walk into a room and find a picture like this- both boys just chilling together, often in unusual positions, and just content and jabbering to each other. 

Brotherly Love

This morning as I was getting the boys changed and dressed, I laid Luke down in Gabe's room while it was Gabe's turn to be dressed.  The boys are always aware of each other inasmuch as Luke watches Gabe's every move, and Gabe likes to know where Luke is, what he is doing, and he likes helping him be happy and entertaining him.  Anyway, when Gabe was done, he became absorbed in playing with his toys in his room, and I took Luke out into the front room with me.  A little bit later, I was blow drying my hair, and I heard crying.  I quickly turned off the blowdryer, and found Gabe who was crying in his room.  I asked him what was wrong, and he sobbed "Luke... where Luke?!"  Relieved that he wasn't hurt, I took Gabe by the hand and we went to the front room, where he was able to see for himself that Luke was doing just fine, at which point he went back to playing and all was well.

6 months old (Luke)

Luke turned 6 months old last week, and I thought I should probably document all the most important things about his life so far...

Some Stats:
Height:  26th percentile
Weight:  17th percentile
Head Circumference: 90th percentile
Teeth: 2

Likes:
Tickling- Luke is soooo ticklish.  He gets the biggest grin on his face and just giggles so cutely. 
Peekaboo- Lots of delight whenever we play this game (several times each day).
Watching Gabe play (Luke is intensely interested in whatever Gabe is doing, and is not happy if he can hear Gabe but not see him).
Binky- Luke still sometimes goes to sleep with his binky in his mouth, or just likes to play while he is sucking on it.  I think Gabe was pretty much done with the pacifier by 6 months old, but Luke seems to like it a lot more. 
Diaper changes (truly, this kid never cries during a change, and usually looks very happy to be freeeeeeee)
Rice cereal is starting to finally become a "like". Luke has been a bit slower on the uptake (or intake!) with solid foods, but I think he has caught on and is enjoying eating.  I started him on some carrots this week and he isn't sure what to think about them yet.
Water- filled teething toy that has been frozen.

Dislikes:
Drinking from a bottle (but will sometimes take one after a few minutes of cajoling).
Waking up from naps (super grumpy).
Being in his swing, walker chair or bumbo seat for more than 10 minutes. High pitched squealing and back arching start at that point.
Being on his tummy.  He immediately rolls to his back when we attempt tummy time.  I am pretty sure he can roll to his tummy but he just wont do it.

Luke is sitting up by himself but wobbles over after a little while.  Luke likes the bathtub, loves grabbing things and chewing on them, and being held.  He is in the stage where he wiggles on my lap when I hold him, trying to get his hands on things, but if I put him down, he realizes his mobility limitations and wants me to pick him up again, until he wants to be put down again....

 Luke has the cutest little chubby cheeks that are so nice to kiss!  He grins when we kiss him too, which is just adorable.

Luke is a very social baby.  He hasn't yet become anxious around strangers; he will grin at anyone and be content in their arms if they want to play with him.

Luke loves watching Gabe play, and he is very entertained by everything Gabe does.  Luke is very aware of what Gabe is doing.  I think when he is old enough to crawl he will follow Gabe around as much as he can to try to be part of the action.

We all love Luke dearly, and feel that he is a wonderful part of our family.  I almost can't remember what it was like (or at least I don't want to!) to not have him with us.  It is true about your heart expanding and your capacity to love increasing as your family grows. 

Blogging Delinquency

I have been not so good at blogging lately.  Oops.  I have posts that I have started and not published.  I guess I will try to catch up.  Part of the problem I think is that there isn't a ton of stuff going on that I could write about.  So I guess that leaves me with writing mostly about the boys, which is fine, since they are pretty much the biggest most interesting parts of our lives right now.

Let's see, BJ has been playing tennis quite a bit this summer/ fall with his brother in law Andy and is looking forward to playing racquetball as the weather turns wet and cold.  He has also been playing a little church basketball.  He is enjoying the exercise he gets from doing that- it is hard for us to find the time to be active with little kids and busy schedules, but we try!
I have been working a tiny bit in the cancer screening clinic at the Health Department, and also spending time working on things for my craft blog, which will soon move from its blogspot address to its own, new address.  My favorite projects from the last couple of months would probably be making a regular shirt into a nursing (breastfeeding) shirt, sewing infant scratch mitts, and recycling shoe boxes and magazines to make great wall art.
I have also been going to Zumba classes for the past few months, and I love it!  I can only get away 1-2 times a week to do it, but it is amazing the difference it has made in my energy level.  I feel really good.
Gabe is just too cute.  He says the funniest things.  He often calls BJ "honey" or "buddy".  It cracks me up.  He also occasionally calls us by our first names, which is also funny (for now).  He has a slight lisp that is cute and he has some trouble saying certain short words, like "green", but has no problem pronouncing "dinosaur".  He loves Luke, and Luke obviously loves him.
Sometimes it is hard to nurse Luke because he just wants to watch what Gabe is doing.  He is very entertained by Gabriel's antics.  Luke is a smiley baby.  He takes great naps but is not doing so great at sleeping at night.  We need to figure something out to help him sleep better.  It has been hard because he has been sick for a couple of weeks, so we have a smiley but somewhat grumpy baby.  It is kind of a bummer to not be able to use medicine to help him, but some of the things that have helped us make him more comfortable are the humidifier, "Little Noses" saline drops to thin those nasal secretions, letting him sleep in his padded carseat (it keeps him more upright, which makes breathing easier), and The Nose Frida (a kind of weird but very effective tool for aspirating baby noses).  Luke hates tummy time.  He doesn't cry any more, he just rolls over onto his back as many times as I put him on his stomach.  He is getting stronger.  He can almost sit up without help- well, he can already do it, but not for very long.  It's kinda hard to do when your body is in the 20-30th percentile for height and weight and your head is in the 90th percentile, you know?  Haha.  Luke loves playing peekaboo and snuggling with anyone who will hold him.  His cousin Marissa had him laughing hysterically last night at our family Halloween party (thanks, Danielle and Kirk for putting that together!) just by talking to him in a cutesy voice and pointing out things on his and her costume.  I love how cuddly Luke is right now.  He is also very grabby and wants to put everything in his mouth!  He has been teething like crazy.  He has two bottom teeth which came in a few weeks ago.  He will be 6 months old in a few days. 

We took some pictures of the boys in BJ's parents' photo studio.  BJ did a great job photographing them.  Gabe knows the drill for picture taking.  Luke was tired and on the verge of tears the whole time, but did pretty well too.



Love those boys!

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!

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.

3 Months Old

I can't believe my little baby Luke is already 3 months old.  That seems so crazy to me, and it makes me wish I could slow time down a bit.

On the other hand, I love interacting with him, and all the grins and coos he gives, and other vocalizations that are so cute.  He started laughing a few days ago, not quite a giggle yet, but a more explosive laugh- a ha-ha, like he doesn't quite know what is happening to him.  It cracks me up.  He smiles a lot at Gabe when he comes close.  Gabe imitates me and in his sweet, high little voice says "Hi baby Luke" over and over and pets Luke's head.  He will sometimes try to stick Luke's binky in his mouth, or share his toys with Luke.  He knows how to work all the buttons and switches on Luke's swing and bouncer chair.

Luke holds his head up on his own and likes to be held upright, not so much cradled, unless is going to sleep.  He still sleeps fairly well, although lately it has been not quite as great because of the teething.  Bleh.  The poor kid and his swollen gums.  I can still feel a corner of a tooth popping out, but it hasn't changed much from last week, so I wonder how long it is going to last. 

Bottles aren't his favorite things, but Luke takes them pretty well.  He also seems to like his binky more than Gabe did.  He doesn't want it all the time, but he likes it when he is starting to get bored, hungry, tired, or having aching gums.

I love my little Luke!  I'm so in love with him, just like I was with Gabe- it's really true, more kids doesn't mean dividing up your love, it means more of it to go around!

2 1/2 Months Old

I have been meaning to post about Luke; funny how my days just seem more packed with "stuff" and I don't get as many chances to blog as I used to.

Luke is such a great addition to our family.  He is so mellow.  Gabe adores him, and Luke is so tolerant of all the hugs and kisses he gives him.  I love Luke's smiles.  They are so radiant, and sometimes he just scrunches up his little nose while he grins and coos and it is about the cutest thing.  I love when babies start smiling socially.  That has probably been going on for 3-4 weeks. 

Like Gabe, Luke loves to be held and doesn't seem to like (actually hates) tummy time, so I'm trying to figure out what to do about that.  He has spent a fair amount of time in the front pack when we go on walks, and it cracks me up that he falls asleep in less than a minute after being put in the baby pack.  However, if I put him in and we stay around the house (i.e. no constant walking, just doing chores or something), he starts whining and squirming.

He sleeps pretty well; he takes a couple of naps during the day, anywhere from 45 min to 2 hours at a time.  At night it depends.  Some nights he will sleep about a 4- 5 hour stretch, and some nights he will sleep 6 or 7 hours in a row.  It just depends.  I try to be pretty consistent in the bedtime routine, so I really have no idea what makes him sleep longer sometimes.

Luke has plugged tear ducts like Gabe did.  It's not really a problem, but his eyes sometimes get goopy, and it predisposes him toward eye infections.  Fortunately, we keep antibiotic eye drops on hand, so we can take care of it quickly. 

We finally got out the baby swing and Luke seems to like it.  So does Gabe, unfortunately, so we are doing our best to teach him how to act around the swing when the baby is in it- i.e. leaving it alone.  Luke likes being in the swing best when I am very near him, and he can watch what I am doing.  It is my favorite place to put him while I clean, cook, or fold laundry because he is high enough that he can pretty much see everything, and he is happier and I can get more done.

5 Weeks old

 I know I said this when Gabe was a baby, but it's still true- the days seem to go by so slowly, but the weeks and months just zoom by!  I can't believe that Luke is already 5 weeks old.  He has already changed so much.  

He is holding his head up for longer periods of time, and looking around, watching Mommy and Daddy, and of course Gabe as he runs around the room.  He takes a bottle and his binky pretty well, which is a relief.  He seems to prefer nursing but at least he doesn't reject the bottle.  He is starting to smile more, which we love!  Those smiles are so precious!

We usually put Luke down to sleep for the night at around 11:30pm after one last feeding, and then he will sleep for several hours, waking up anywhere from 3:30am to 5:30am to eat again.  Luke is a pretty mild- tempered little baby.  He does fuss a bit in the evenings, not so much crying as whining, grunting, and grimacing as he tries to find a comfy position.  He also rubs his face which is not good since he has sharp little fingernails.  He seems to have trouble getting burps up, and he also gets hiccups that BJ terms "ferocious" quite often.  BJ is really good at helping him in the evenings- Luke cuddles right up to him and calms down better than he will for me at that time.  

I made these little mitts to keep Luke's face from getting all scratched up.  I made a pattern and tutorial which I posted here for those interested in making some.

 Thankfully Luke is very tolerant of Gabriel's love for him.  He gets squished a few times a day before I can run over and save him from the hug Gabe is giving him.  He also gets lots of kisses on the head and pats all over as Gabe says "sass" (soft) over and over again.

I love watching Luke grow, but it kind of makes me sad at the same time.  I love that newborn smell, and the way he just melts into my shoulder when I hold him.  I love his rolly-polly chubbiness, and how soft his skin is.  He has the same fuzzy hair that is long in the back and nearly bald in front that Gabe had as a baby.  His umbilical cord stump finally fell off a few days ago- it took quite a bit longer than Gabe's to fall off, and it was a bit of a shock, since I had just checked it minutes before, then had to change his diaper while we were in the car in the zoo parking lot- and it was gone!  I found it in my lap... ew.

Luke in the front pack at the zoo.

 Luke loves riding in the front pack.  He just relaxes immediately and goes right to sleep.  He was happy for several hours that way at the zoo on Monday, and we often go on walks outside with Luke in the front pack and Gabe in the stroller, which works really well for me. 

I'm not exactly sure how much Luke weighs now, but I'm guessing it is between 10 and 10 1/2 pounds. 

I love this sweet little boy!

Luke's Birth Story

Well, I wrote out the events of Luke's birth as I remember them, and I was about to copy and paste it into this post, but realized it was waaaaay too long.  Instead, I will post an abbreviated version here, and for those who are interested/ fascinated with childbirth like me, I will post the link to the whole thing at the bottom of the post.

So Tuesday night I was feeling very anxious to go into labor since Wednesday was my actual due date and I wanted to have the baby before Marissa and Richard left on Thursday, and my mom came to help on Friday.  We tried all sorts of things to get my labor started, but nothing seemed to be working, so we laid down to go to sleep, and finally the contractions started coming.  We timed them for an hour and when they were 4-5 minutes apart, we called Marissa and Richard over to stay with Gabriel while we went to the hospital.  They monitored me for an hour or so then admitted me around 3:00am-ish.  We waited for things to start picking up, but instead my labor seemed to stall.  We were kind of disappointed but looking back, I think it was a blessing because it allowed us both to get a few hours of sleep that night.  I was able to be put on intermittent monitoring so I could walk the halls and try to get things going, and it probably helped a little bit, but in the mid morning I hadn't progressed past 4+ or 5 centimeters (I was 4 cm when I was admitted) so we decided to allow the doctor to break my water.  I felt no change for the next hour, and then BJ and I decided to use some of the childbirth hypnosis techniques we had been practicing, and BJ helped me visualize my labor starting up again, and allowing the contractions to become strong and do their work.  It worked; almost immediately after we started doing that, my contractions picked up, and things got intense fairly quickly.  Things continued to intensify and progress for the next 4 hours or so, during which time BJ was my main support, talking me through each contraction and helping me visualize being relaxed and calm.  I also listened to a few hypnosis tracks on my iPod, but mostly I preferred having BJ help me- he had a very calming influence on me, and he was so helpful in keeping me comfortable and relaxed.  It seemed like every time the nurse or doctor checked me, I had hardly made any progress, and I was feeling a little discouraged, thinking that I couldn't go on much longer, and I would have to have an epidural.  I was also fighting the "urge" to push (eventually not just an "urge"- but a sensation that my body was taking over and overriding what my mind was wanting to do) for about an hour since I wasn't fully dilated.  Then, it seemed like all of the sudden the doctor was telling me I could go ahead and push, which was so much more comfortable than trying not to.  I pushed for nearly 15 minutes, and Luke was born at 3:42pm, being 9 lb. and 19 inches- quite a chubby baby!  It was such an amazing feeling to look at him and know that he was finally here and that I was able to avoid having an epidural and forceps and many other interventions that we had when Gabriel was born and which I had wanted to avoid so badly.  The doctor actually said that she didn't think I would have been able to push such as big baby our on my own if I had gotten an epidural, so I was glad that it worked out the way it did.  Unfortunately, Luke was not breathing well at first so he was taken to the NICU to be put on a CPAP machine and have surfactant put in his lungs to help them stay inflated better.  After a while, I joined BJ and Luke in the NICU for a while, then we headed downstairs and got settled in our new room.  Luke finally came down to the well- baby nursery about 8 hours after he was born, and we went and saw him get checked by the nurses and took pictures of his first bath.  It was after midnight by the time we were able to bring him in our room with us, but it was sweet to have him to ourselves finally.  I was able to get up and walk around on my own, albeit a bit slowly, and I really felt like I was already healing much faster this time.  Luke nursed like a champ, and had no further issues with breathing.  We feel very blessed to finally have him with us and doing so well.

Gabe came to see his new baby brother the next morning, and he was fascinated for about 1 minute, then was more interested in the balloons and toy tractor in the room.  BJ stayed with me in the hospital until Friday, and we were so grateful to Marissa and Richard, and BJ's parents who watched Gabriel so that BJ could be with me and the baby.  BJ picked my mom up at the airport on Friday, then came back and took me home from the hospital.  It was good to come home and be able to wear normal clothes, and sit in our much more comfortable chairs and bed, and start figuring out a new routine.  It was nice to have my mom here to help for nearly a week.  We have mostly stayed close to home since Luke was born, and I am getting into a new rhythm of taking  care of two kids.  So far, although I am definitely busier and more tired, it hasn't been hard.  Luke is a really good baby, sleeping quite a bit during the day, eating well, and usually sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at night.  Most nights I only have to get up to nurse him twice after going to bed (refreshing! Gabe woke up every 2 hours all night for quite a while).   Hopefully that continues!  He is also growing well.  After loosing 10 ounces in the hospital, he has gained it all back and then some- at his 2 week appointment yesterday he weighed 9 lb. 7.5 oz., and was 20 1/4 inches- wow, over an inch growth in 2 weeks!  He is so mellow and easy going.  I guess Heavenly Father knows what each of us need individually- I figure he must want me to have more children in the future!

Anyway, that is the story of Luke joining our family.  Click here if you would like to read the much LONGER version of the story. 

Welcome baby Luke!

We are a little late in this announcement, but better late than... later, right?

Luke Stanley Taylor was born at 3:42pm on April 28th, 2010.
He was 9 pounds and 19 inches.

Luke is doing great, and I am recovering quickly. 

We will post pictures and more about the birth (for those interested) shortly.