Checkup and Solids

Luke went to the doctor for his checkup and second set of shots on Tuesday. He enjoyed smiling at the doctor and looking at the pretty lights. He weighed in at 16 lbs and 15 oz. which puts him in the 75th percentile for weight. He is growing like a weed though...his height jumped up to 27" which puts him in the 95th percentile! Of course, he objected to the vaccinations. His crying was fairly short lived compared to last time. They recommended starting him on some cereal. Luke's not too keen on the idea yet. Most of what goes in his mouth comes right back out!

Rolling the Other Way

Luke is growing up so fast! He has been working to turn himself over in his crib and finally succeeded last night. He managed to get his legs stuck between the crib slats in the process. He's anxious to start moving and can scoot several inches. He'll be crawling before we know it! Luke is now able to sit by himself for about 5 seconds before he topples over! We're just amazed each day at the new things he is able to accomplish.

We're working to get rid of his swaddle while sleeping, but he likes to move so much that it doesn't always work. He has decided that he prefers sleeping on his side. Despite the fact that we always put him to bed on his back, he twists and wiggles until he has himself completely on his side and then he goes to sleep.

I'll post some new pictures since he's finally getting some hair back! My scale also says that he's up to 16 1/2 pounds!

Growing up

Luke is a giant. He's just over 4 months old, and he's wearing 6-9 month clothing. Maybe the formula has made him grow faster, or maybe he really will be an NBA star. I'm hoping the latter.

Luke's settled into a pretty good sleeping routine. He's asleep by about 7:30 every night, and sleeps mostly through the night. We usually wake him between 10 and 11 to feed him one more time, then attempt to sleep. Most nights, he makes it until about 5:30-6 the next morning. Lately, he's been up at odd hours; we think it's due to the frenzy of colds going through our family.

Melissa has been fighting off several colds over the past month or so. Her kids at school are walking diseases, so it's amazing she isn't sick more often than she is. I only had one cold. Luke had a slight fever last week, which kept Missy and I both on edge and exhausted. He slept all through the day, and there were a couple days where the ENTIRE time he was awake he was crying. It was not fun.

Luke continues to become more aware. He searches for your voice when he hears it. He will stare intensely at you when you're making noises. He likes to look at bright things, especially TVs and computers. He continues to try to sing / talk to us, but unfortunately his favorite sound is a loud screeching noise that would probably make an opera singer faint. His mother and I are competing to get "Dada" or "Mama" as his first word.

His diapers are more routine, and downright scary. Formula diapers are incredibly nasty. Maybe this is a wake-up call for solid foods, but yikes. He's grouped the "poopy" diapers more now. Usually once every 2-3 days he lets it go, and it's usually in a set of three. Three COMPLETELY FULL diapers. It's a solid test of your constitution to change one of them.

His walking instincts seem to be kicking in. If you guide him he will make the walking motions a lot better now than he used to. We got him a bouncing toy to get his legs stronger, but we usually walk him all over the place every day anyway. The sooner he's walking, the sooner he's running, and the sooner I can train him in cross country!

Melissa nurses him about 1-2 times a day now, and the rest of the feedings are formula. He seems okay with the current formula, but we tried a couple different types and brands and he rejected them. Sometimes he's really odd and rejects even Melissa's nursing. He eats small amounts, which is surprising since he's growing like a balloon. It's still usually 4-6 ounces per feeding.

He had a good time at Thanksgiving. He got to hang out with his cousin. They had a great time together. He seems happy sleeping anywhere and in anything, which is fine by us. He usually dozes through car rides too.

I'm got hands!

Luke has become more aware of his environment on a daily basis. He has discovered more about himself and his surroundings. And boy, is he getting big!

He has a slobbering problem. I'm not sure what his motivation is, but he drools almost constantly now. Usually he has a hand, toy, or pacifier in his mouth. The hands in the mouth is the worst, because the slobber usually ends up everywhere afterwords. We like to kiss his cheeks, but I'm definitely cautious about it, otherwise it might be slobbery and gross.

His interest in his hands go beyond being in his mouth. We've taught him to grasp things, and he's starting to try it on his own. He has a couple of toys in particular where his first instinct is to try to grab stuff. It's quite amusing to watch. He intensely stares at his hand and whatever object he's holding. He seems to be noticing textures he feels, and he makes a note of it.

He's very observant in a new environment. Any time we take him out, he quietly takes in the world. He seems very curious about store aisles in particular, noticing all the merchandise we pass by and hearing all the noisy crowds. The neat thing is he's so interested that he doesn't fuss or even make a noise. Good for us!

Luke also seems more aware of Melissa and I. He recognizes our voices and will try to look around and find us. He definitely enjoys our entertainment. He still likes any strange sounds I make. Missy has a kissing game that he thinks is hilarious.

He actually has a "laugh". Not like a happy noise, I mean a real laugh. It's tough to get out, but is very funny to hear. He usually will do it during the "kissing game" or sometimes I can tickle it out of him.

He's growing out of his clothes! He's gained a lot of weight since we've switched to formula. He seems to be okay with eating it, but formula doesn't seem to have the "sleepy drugs" effect that real nursing does. Not that he isn't sleeping, but he doesn't pass out while feeding as much.

He's trying to talk. His noises are becoming more varied daily. Unfortunately, a lot of them are like high-pitched screams or squeals. Hopefully he learns soon that there's other, quieter, more peaceful sounds to make.

Discoveries Galore

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Melissa has started back to work, so the workload has picked up a bit at home. Luke is getting his daycare from Melissa's cousin Debbie. We were worried that Debbie's own young children would have jealousy issues with Luke, but they really seem to like him.

Melissa hasn't been overly thrilled to be back at work. She misses Luke a lot. Fortunately, her days are busy enough that she's back with him before she knows it. Unfortunately, evenings and weekends seem short, too. Luke goes to bed early at around 8:00 at night, so a late evening at work means you don't really get to see much of him.

Work has taken a toll on her nursing ability. Pumping milk and feeding Luke takes a ridiculous amount of time (Luke thinks nursing is a seven-course meal and likes to feed in no less than sixty minutes). Since she has to do this in the morning, she's sacrificing almost ninety minutes of early morning sleep to get Luke ready. I don't know how many of you are morning people, but I'd personally give up a pinky toe rather than get up that much earlier.

We're starting Luke on formula. We're going to attempt to use formula during the day, and breast milk at night. This should save Melissa a lot of time, which she really needs more of. I'll keep you updated.

Luke has finally realized that humans are interesting. He will now make an effort to look at the people around him. He especially responds to the voices of his parents. He really seems to like us, as he smiles every few seconds at us regardless of what we're doing. It surprises me sometimes. I'll be doing something routine like brushing my teeth, I glance over at him and he thinks it's hilarious. Then I'll dance like a monkey and he looks at me like I'm insane.

Luke even liked his reflection in the mirror, which is quite funny. Remember how cool you thought mirrors were when you were a kid? I remember many times wondering if it were some kind of alternate universe. You didn't think that? Oh, I was just kidding, I never thought that...

He is starting to become attentive to changes in his surroundings. When we go for walks he becomes quiet and observes. He seemed very curious at all the singing going on at church. He glanced at Melissa and I occasionally to make sure things were okay, then continued watching.

He's also learning how to play. The other day I put Luke's hand on a toy while he watched. He learned, and now will try to play on his own. Melissa has trained him with other toys. He is now very self-entertaining. He has a short attention span, though, and he will let us know when he's bored or frustrated with a certain toy.

Unfortunately, he's also learning how to use his voice. One time last week, I was about fifteen minutes slow on getting his bottle ready. My ears are still ringing from the encounter. I almost couldn't believe a person that small could be so loud. I was scared at times that there was something really wrong with him, but he was instantly satiated once he was feeding.

About that car seat...

The proper age and size to turn a car seat around is 20 lbs and a year old, so I guess there will be no seat flipping anytime soon, sorry about that.

That means our car midget, Ralph, who is 19 lbs, will never get his seat turned around. Although, he does prefer the backwards Racer at Kings Island...

I've Got Hand, First Shots, and Memory

Luke has been growing in leaps and bounds, both physically and intellectually. He's almost 24 inches tall now, so he's about to reach Melissa's height chart (which she placed 12 inches from the ground...) I don't remember his exact weight, I think it's about 14 lbs. We're almost to the point where we can turn his car seat around. I tell you one thing, carrying the car seat with him in it is a laborious task, and I'm not THAT scrawny.

Luke has definitely taken an interest in his hands. We should have named him "Harry", but after Houdini, not Potter. The swaddle blankets we put him in are basically straightjackets, but somehow he still ends up with his hands in his mouth. I've tried to watch this process before, but he refuses to reveal his secret.

Anyway, once he gets his hands out, he will actually hold them up in front of his face and just stare at them in wonder. He also will try to eat them to the point of gagging himself. We've been giving him toys and fingers to stimulate his hands, and he seems to like it. He particularly enjoys a blue monkey that Melissa gave him. Fortunately, it's a nice, quiet toy, unlike a certain alphabet singing frog, who's repetitive song has been permanently burned into my brain and laughter will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

Luke's first shots were last week. A lot of people have told me how horrifying this is for a parent. I can definitely understand that, but honestly it wasn't too bad for me. I think it helped that our nurse had all three injections completed within 5 seconds.

Luke's reaction to the shots was as expected. When he is in pain, he definitely gets the pain grimace, but he forgets to breathe, so he's just sitting there with this horrified expression on his face for what seems like an eternity. When he finally takes a breath, the screaming begins.

He definitely wanted to nurse on mommy directly afterwards, and he took a long time to calm down. He was pretty restless that night, but not too terrible. He seemed to recover within 24 hours.

Okay, so as I was playing with Luke the other day, and I think he may have associated a noise with me. I was making "pbbbb" noises while sticking my tongue out. He started making the exact same noise! Granted, his noise wasn't quite the same, but he had the right idea. Then, the next day, he did it again, but this time, he did it without provocation, almost like he had remembered and associated that noise with me. I was dumbfounded, but managed to not fall immediately into the fetal position. Anyway, I'm working on "dada".