13 months old!

We're a little late with this, but he turned 13 months old while we were in Florida!

Age: 13 months

Weight: I think just under 26 lbs

Length: not sure

Size: Size 4 diapers, and mostly 18 month clothes. Poor little shorty legs make the 18 month pants too long, but 12 months are a tad too short.

Hair: blondish and he's starting to get lots of curls in the back - just like his daddy when he was little.

Teeth: Not quite 11 - 3 of the molars are working there way through the gums but are taking such a long time! 1 seems to be completely through, 1 halfway, and the other just poking.

Sleeping: Goes to bed at 7 and wakes up around 6:30. Nighttime is so easy! Naps are a different story. Although they told me that at school today he slept on a cot!

Eating: I have been so amazed with his eating. Once he got the tubes in he became such a different little boy. He hasn't had pureed baby food since before the surgery. He's trying all sorts of new things - spaghetti, hot dog pieces, chicken nuggets, burrito with rice/beans, turkey/cheese sandwich, chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes, green beans, peas .... he still doesn't seem to care for fruit unless it's fruit flavored yogurt or puffs or yogurt melts. He's also 100% on milk out of his sippy cup.

Movement: He's finally getting SO close to walking! He walks behind his lion all the time and can now walk next to us just holding onto one hand. He's also started standing on his own for longer periods of time. I think he'll be taking his first steps in no time! (I actually think he sort of did while we were Florida but Jason says we can't count it because he was kind of falling at the same time.)

Talking: He's babbling a lot more now - still says a lot of mama, dada, and ba! (ball). He still signs "milk" but it now means "want and more" He'll point to something he wants and sign milk furiously with both hands. He also has signed sleep to us the past few nights before bedtime.

Milestones: I feel like everything he's doing right now is hitting a new milestone as we enter this fun new toddler world.

Favorite toys/activities: Playing outside, walking behind his lion, and playing with balls

Dislikes: taking naps

Disposition: He is such a great little guy. I thought he was happy before, but he has been a different child since the tubes. He is certainly starting to test boundaries though. He's hit my face, pulled my hair - and laughs when I try to get him to stop. He can be quite ornery. I pointed my finger at him the other day when I said no - and he pointed his right back at me!

Vacation!

We went to Orlando last week for a vacation with Grandma and Grandpa. They have a timeshare/condo and go every year - it's been 8 years since Jason and I have been!

Luke had SUCH a great time. I think he loved having mommy and daddy to himself for a week.

Luke and I flew - we figured that a 2 hour nonstop flight would be better than a 15+ hour drive. He did great! On the way there he got a little restless during the descent, and on the way back he cried for a little bit mid flight - but otherwise was great! I'm not gonna lie - I was exhausted by the end of them, but he did really well!

Here are (hopefully!) some slideshows from each day that we were there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And just for fun - a year ago!

A new way to crawl

Miscellanous videos

Walking behind his lion ...


A new favorite pasttime - climbing up the stairs .... the entire way up. I need to get a gate for that, pronto!


And lastly, as we've been working on table foods, he's been wanting to feed himself more and more. This makes for a messy meal, but he tries so hard! (Until he gives up and either licks the bowl or just uses his hands.)

Children's Museum

I forgot to blog about this, but to finish up Luke's birthday weekend we went to the Children's Museum with some friends.





Driving the tractor




On a date??


And this is what happens pretty much everytime we try to get a group picture with Luke in it. I'm pretty sure he's thinking "Get me away from these girls!" Too bad Josh was sleeping and couldn't help out.

Trip to Chicago

We went to Chicago last weekend for a quick visit with Matt and Alli. We had a great time checking out their apartment and going to the Shed Aquarium.

He didn't really care about the fish in the tank - he mostly wanted to bang on it and yell.


They had a cute play area where you could dress up like a penguin and slide down a slide.

Double Trouble

Jason bought this shirt at Target years ago - probably around when we got married, if not right before. I happened to see the exact same shirt in the kids section and even though we were a long way from that point, I bought it. I finally remembered it today and got pictures of them both in it. (And just in time too - it was a little snug, on both!)

ENT appointment

We had an ENT appointment for Luke today and the result is that he'll be getting tubes next Wednesday! I never thought I'd be excited about it, but I am. I'm just so tired of him not feeling well with his ears. I'll probably have a freakout Tuesday night though. The whole tubes process doesn't bother me, it's the anesthesia that sort of freaks me out.

Anyways, there really wasn't a question. The 5 ear infections, several rounds of antibiotics, the fluid still behind his ears, and his hearing doesn't quite fall in normal all pointed towards it.

The hearing test was kind of funny. He sat in my lap in a little room, facing a corner. There were sounds coming from that corner, and the ones to our right and left. He was so confused at it all and would whip his head around to figure out WHAT that noise was. (Some were a toy, some were when the lady was talking to him.) When it got quieter he wasn't as good at turning the right way. Then she did a test where she blew in his ears and between the two he just wasn't quite normal. she said that she wasn't surprised, given the fluid behind the ears.

When they found out we were flying to Florida in a few weeks they said that we really had to get it done before then, which was a relief to me. My ears pop bad enough on a plane - could you imagine a baby with an ear infection?

We go in at 6am (he can't eat for 6 hours beforehand) and the surgery is at 7am. They said it would take less than 15 min and then we'd be there for an hour afterwards and then would go home. Yay!

We also got fitted for some ear plugs to use while we're in Florida. After about 3 weeks that won't matter as much, but it's important not to get extra fluid in there at first.