Jason and I had a date night tonight and went to see Michael Buble in concert - this was the third time we've seen him, and by far, my favorite. His songs have been important in so many parts of Jason and I's relationship - "For Once in My Life" was our first dance at our wedding, "Lost", "Hold on", and "Smile" were songs that helped us get through our struggles with infertility, and "Just Haven't Met You Yet" was our song with Luke. I love seeing them performed live.
Our seats were amazing - 10th row, to the front right of the stage. Basically we were just above being level with the stage - and in front at the same distance as the 3rd row floor seats. AWESOME.
Two of my favorite videos. The first is Me and Mrs. Jones - which was his first encore.
This one is A Song for You - which was the final one he did. The video starts with the lone trumpet out in the crowd - get past that and you'll see him sing, without the microphone. Incredible.
Our great friends Anne and Kyle welcomed their 2nd beautiful baby girl today. Eleanor Grace was born at 9:17 this morning, weighing in at 7lbs, 13 oz and 20 inches long. I was able to stop by this evening to see them all!
Luke had some finger painting fun at school last week and they just sent us a picture of it. I believe his artwork was done with some sort of baby food - any guesses as to which one? He seemed to love it - if the "paint" on his hands, face and the amount of drool means anything.
We've been using the "seat belts" in Luke's swing, bouncy chair, highchair, etc for awhile now and it's a good thing we are! He's decided he doesn't like to lean back in these things anymore and wants to sit up more.
Luke hasn't been himself at all the past several days. He would only sleep if someone was holding him and would start screaming if he was laying down. During the day he just wasn't his usual smiley self, but we just weren't sure why. Effects of 4 month shots, constipation from rice cereal, itchiness from eczema, cranky from being tired, going through the "4 month wakeful" ... the possibilities were endless. After the third night of no sleeping (that thankfully my mom and sister tag teamed and handled so Jason and I could sleep) - I took him to the pediatrician's walk-in sick clinic. Diagnosis = ear infection. We were actually so relieved to hear that - it's nice for there to actually be a reason. Poor guy! After tylenol, ear drops, and an antibiotic, he is well on his way to being himself!
This was the night before all hell broke loose.
This was Friday evening - he wasn't upset, but you could tell he just didn't feel good.
And then 7 seconds later ... (there was a time stamp on the picture)
Luke had his 4 month appointment on Monday and everything was great! He's right where he should be developmentally and they kept commenting on what a little flirt he was and how much personality he has. We talked some more about the rice cereal and how that's going. She suggested to keep with it for 2-3 more weeks and then we can start to introduce other stage 1 foods.
We also got confirmation that the poor little guy has eczema. We were originally told that the stuff on his head was cradle cap, but it's been on several parts of his body, gets worse in the heat, and the cortizone cream helps clear it up. He had a pretty bad flare-up on Monday so the pediatrician got to see it and after one look she said it was eczema. We have to put a cream on him twice a day to keep him moisturized and then use the cortizone cream when he has flare ups. Heat can cause it, as can different foods so we have to be careful as we introduce them. I've read that a lot of babies will grow out of it by the time they are 2, so we're hopeful that it won't last! We're just going to try to keep it away as much as possible so that he isn't so itchy.
Luke was pretty tuckered out after his shots and just wanted to lay around with mommy and daddy. We kept him home from "school" yesterday to get through the fever and crankiness.
When most people were probably in bed at midnight, Jason was outside taping this. (Although by the time he got the camera out it had died down quite a bit - this just shows 2 of the lightening flashes.)
This is Luke's new favorite game - flying through the air to attack me - open mouth style.
And here is an example of how loud our little boy is now. He loves to talk! (Make sure and watch the first 10 seconds - it's hilarious when he starts "talking")
Luke was a great helper! Then my helper decided to take a quick little cat nap - apparently relaxing in the pool wore him out. That's ok - he woke up in time to help finish these beauties!
Happy Father's Day! Jason has been such an amazing husband over the last 4 1/2 years and I'm now so excited to say that he's an amazing daddy as well. Luke and I have been looking forward to this day for so long to make sure that he knows just how special he is.
It all started earlier this week with his very first card from Luke. Luke worked really hard on it at school!
Then the big gift was a recliner! Luke was so excited about it that he caved and gave it to Jason a day early. :) It has been stored at my mom's house for 3 weeks and we had such a hard time keeping the secret until Saturday. And funny story about that - I put up our sectional on Craigslist Saturday morning while Jason was at work. (He had no idea this was happening!) I wasn't planning on actually selling it that day - I was just going to show Jason the recliner and tell him that I had listed the other furniture. 10 minutes later though someone contacted me! I was so excited that this was turning into an even bigger surprise than I thought. Unfortunately, Jason got home earlier than I expected - a drove up to see a strange truck and parts of the couch in our driveway. Oops! :) He was still surprised though and loves his chair!
And in case you were wondering - we don't have JUST a chair in our loft. I bought a matching couch (with recliners on each end) to go with it!
So all of this was before actual Father's Day. Today Luke and I decided to let Jason sleep in (until 8:15 - wow!) and then Luke gave him the pictures we took, where he was trying to be just like his daddy.
Then we went to Jason's favorite weekend breakfast join - McDonalds! After that we had a wonderful relaxing day.
Luke tried to figure out how to play his daddy's Xbox. He also learned to use the steering wheel on his exersaucer. Jason was so proud. :) We spent most of the afternoon relaxing on the deck with the baby pool. In an effort to have pictures to embarrass Luke with later on in his life, Jason "helped" dress him for the pool. Ahh ... so relaxing! Then we played in the shade. Then we let Jason stay outside to play with his Ipad and smoke a cigar while we went in to cook dinner. (That gets a whole post on it's own - coming soon!)
We have a 4 month old! These two pictures pretty much sum up what our last month has been like. Due to the two teeth that popped through, and the two that are on their way - someone constantly had their hands in their mouth. And most days we'd go from the smiley baby in the first pic to the concerned baby in the second. Always cute though!
His official stats will be on Monday at his appt, but weighed at home this morning, our chunky monkey is 16 lbs, 2 1/2 oz! His weight gain was just under 1 1/2 lbs this month. It had actually slowed down, and then this past week he gained 1/2 a pound!
The weight gain this week was probably because he suddenly decided that 28-32 oz wasn't enough anymore. We increased his bottle size to close to 7 oz, but he still wanted to eat every 2 -2 1/2 hours! For several days in a row we hit 40 oz! That lead to the biggest development this month - he's had rice cereal! The first night he took in about 2 spoonfuls. The second night he finished the bowl - go Luke!
Other fun things from this past month: - While he's still sleeping through the night for the most part, he's had several "bad" nights. It seems that his mama is the only one that can calm him down then. - He has found his toes! He does especially great toe touches at 3am. - He LOVES mornings. He wakes up so happy - most mornings it's him talking or laughing that wakes me up. - He's started using his exersaucer and jumperoo, and is sitting more in the bumbo seat. - He likes to buzz his lips and blow bubbles. That has replaced "mama" (I've tried not to cry too much!) - He still loves the water and I've started to bring him into the bath with me. It's easier to hold him and he can float/kick just like in a pool. - His favorite "toys" are his Sophie Giraffe and a spiral duck toy. They are the best things to chew on. :) - He still loves playing "baby in the mirror" with daddy - The new game with daddy is flying through the air - it mostly ends with mommy being attacked by the flying baby. - He was baptized! That same weekend he got to meet his great-grandparents for the first time. - I think his eyes are turning brown. Part of me is sad that they won't stay blue, but I love that they're probably going to match mine. - He has a lot of nicknames from us. Some of them are: monkey, big boy, turkey, lucas puke-as, and silly goose.
This month while trying to take his pictures he actually "found" his bear. It was like meeting a long lost friend who he could talk to, and of course chew on.
The plan was for Luke to start on rice cereal after his 4 month appointment. That actually isn't until next Monday, but after talking to the pediatrician today we decided to go ahead and give it a try. Luke was typically eating about 28-32 oz of formula a day (generally 32 oz is the most recommended.) Lately however, that just hasn't seemed to satisfy him - he's had up to 40 oz a day for almost the last week! The size bottles don't seem to satisfy him (even after we increased them) and he's hungry all.the.time. We know this won't be some magic fix, but it should at least start to help fill him up. It was funny because they commented that we aren't to let it replace any of his formula and that he should still get 24-30 oz a day. Um, were you listening to me earlier? He eats 38-40! We also thought he was showing other signs of being ready - very interested in us eating, mimicking our mouths opening and closing, and shoving the spoon in his mouth (not that that one means anything - he'll shove anything into his mouth these days!)
Anyways, we gave it a try tonight and I'm not entirely sure what the verdict was. See for yourself:
I get to eat something other than my hand? Cool!
I'm not sure if I should be excited about this or not.
WHAT is this stuff in my mouth?
Mom, do I have to eat anymore?
Ok, I'll try again.
Still not sure about this.
Hmm, maybe it's ok?
Nope, still not sure.
Ok, I'll try one more bite.
Maybe it's not so bad!
Nope, still don't like it
REALLY don't like it.
Just kidding! I might be ok with this stuff!
He only had about 2 spoons full that time. We tried again a little later when Aunt Karen was over and he probably had another 2 spoon fulls. In case those pictures weren't enough, here is a video:
