Christmas Festivities

Luke had an eventful Christmas holiday season. December 23th we went to his great grandma Pat's for a family Christmas on Dana's side. He met Grandpa Dana for the first time as well as everyone else who was there! He looked very cute in his Santa Baby onsie our neighbors bought for him.

Christmas Eve we had Kyle's mom and husband, sister and her family, and Grandpa Wilbur and Georgeanne over for supper. This was Luke's first time to meet his Grandma Vicki.

Christmas Day, Kyle's sister, Bridget and her family, who had been staying with us left and we had Christmas day together, just our little family. We tried to open presents with Luke, but he fell asleep so we bravely carried on with out him.

Luke is also getting very good at holding his head up during "Tummy Time". He can get his little chest all the way off the floor and his head high enough to look you in the eye! He's playing with his Kangaroo toy he got from Traver.

Today, the day after Christmas, Luke's Grandma Olson is coming AND it snowed today! Kyle took a video of Luke and I out in the snow. He threw his first snowball and made his first snow angle.

I also included a bath picture, just because it was cute.

2 moth Dr. Visit

Luke was 2 months old on the 18th. So today, the 20th, we went to see his pediatrician, Dr. Stephens. It was a good visit. Luke is growing along. He now is 22 in long and weighs 11lbs 4oz. We talked about night sleep schedules. At any point I'm ready I can start letting him cry it out at night and make him sleep all night long. He's started waking up once to eat at night ( most of the time anyway!!) and I'm doing fine with that so I think we'll coast here for a while. Perhaps after the new year we'll try for all night. Luke also got 3 shots and one oral. Dr. Stephens said he'd prolly be fussy and feverish. Well he was right. Poor baby has a temperature 99.8 and is fussy when not asleep. Good news: he's been sleepy today!! I thought I had infant Tylenol at home so we didn't pick any up while in town. However, we got home and I realized I'd bought Childrens Tylenol (ages 2-11) ...which is not for Luke. So Kyle went back into town to get some medicine for Luke and he's feeling much better. He is able to deal with lifes struggles, like tooting and burping, diaper changes and moving around.

The Sandovals are coming over tonight for supper and to exchange gifts. Cindy's bringing me her shirts that she wore while she was nursing her boys that no longer fit. I'm excited. Maybe I can stop buying clothes that I KNOW will be too big when I'm done nursing!!

Luke's a big boy!

Yes it's true. Luke is no baby any more. Yesterday morning I decided to put Luke down for his first nap upstairs in his crib. Then I came downstairs, looked at his pack n play in the living room--where it's been for 8 weeks--and decided I couldn't look at it there another minute. So, I took down the pack n play yesterday. Luke slept upstairs in his crib for all his naps yesterday...not a first. AND! slept up there all night last night. After we laid Luke down for the night, and began our nightly huge fit throwing, we adjusted the monitor in our bedroom to the quietest level that we could, while still being convinced we'd hear him if he cried. Well, I can still hear him sqeaking through it, but no more than I could when he was in the living room. We were both a little nervous to have him upstairs while we slept for the first time, but it went very well.

Luke had another first last night. He only ate ONCE during the night. He ate at 1:45am. He started squeaking, grunting and fussing around 4:30, so I went up and patted him until he went back to sleep. I figured it wouldn't work or last, but it did! He did some more grunting at 6:30 this morning, but stayed asleep until 7:30 when I woke him up for his "morning" wake up time.

The Big Weigh In

I took Luke to the Pediatrician to get him weighed. You can do this anytime, I found out on Sunday. You call in and get a "Weigh Check" time and then show up! For FREE! So Luke and I went today and he weighs 10lbs 11oz. He'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow. My little guy is getting slightly less little.

Thanksgiving!

We had a great extended Thanksgiving holiday. Mom and dad got here the 16 and dad left the 18th and then came back on Thanksgiving Day. They both left the 25th. Michael, Audra and Solomon got here on the 20th and left on the 24th. Mom and I got quite a bit done Monday and Tuesday before everyone got here. It was nice to have the help.

This was Luke and Solomon's first time to meet. Luke didn't notice much, but Solomon was so excited he konked Luke in the face at their first meeting. Solomon is 5 months older than Luke and has many more tricks. He tried out many of Luke's things. The biggest hit was a Taggies ball. Solomon is teething and he chewed and sucked on those tags like there was no tomorrow!

Thanksgiving day we went to Ponca City and Luke met Great-Grandma and Pappaw Key for the first time. He also met his Great-Aunt Marjorie for the first time. Luke was a hit. Of course everyone thought he was cute and tiny. And he is!

First Smile!

We had our first smile this morning! Kyle was at the gym so he missed it. However, it turned out that after Kyle got back, and Luke woke up from his nap and had a snack, he was ready to smile again! We got several out of him and Kyle did a great job getting really good pictures of the event. Here they are!

Baby Dedication

Baby Dedication went very well. Luke was awake for the entire dedication and then fell asleep as soon as we sat down and slept all the way through church. We went to class as well as church and were 15 minutes late, but I thought we did pretty well considering it was our first trip to church. I got to be in class for about 15 minutes and then I went to feed Luke so he would be a happy baby for the dedication. It worked out quite well.

One couple with a new baby as well, are professional photographers so they took family portraits of everyone, and we all get one 8X10 for free, with the option of buying more, of course.

A friend from Body and Soul got Luke his first rainboots. They are toddler size XS, but still way too big for Little Luke!

3 weeks old!

There isn't really much new going on here, it doesn't seem, but we've been busy. I think it's been a week of firsts.

Monday morning I took Luke to my Body and Soul aerobics class (we went when class was over...I'm not attending yet!) to show him off. He was a hit of course. The ladies were so sweet, there were several gifts there waiting for us and they'd prepared and frozen soups and goodies for us to stock our freezer. We've been getting meals from people at church 3-4 times per week, with the last one scheduled for November 14, and then mom is coming down on the 16th, plus my frozen goodies....I may not have to cook until NEXT YEAR! It's terrific!!!

Tuesday, we went to the mall, our first trip. I got Luke a new outfit from Baby Gap for New Baby Dedication at church this coming Sunday. I had a gift card, and while paying, was reminded why I don't shop at Baby Gap! Too many Rachel dollars for me!! BUT! Luke will be one cute little baby boy Sunday morning.

We went to church for the first time Wednesday night and ran into Larry Schwab, one of our elders, who happened to have a camera on him (I didn't ask him why, but am wondering about that now!!) and he took a picture of our Luke First Church visit. Luke slept the whole time. We went a little early and interrupted the Precept class and I showed him off there. He was a big hit. Then we went to our class together and then it was home again, home again! Below is the picture Larry took.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store with Luke in the morning. He ate and as soon as he was done, I put on sweats and we headed out (without showering) and I was nervous the whole trip that he would wake up and get hungry before we made it back home. I felt rushed the whole time. Never again will I forget to wear my watch! I can't handle the stress. hahah.

And tonight (Friday) Kyle and I are going to go out to eat. We're going right after Luke eats again. He is one hungry child. I don't think there will be any firsts tomorrow, but who knows!!

Sunday will be our first trip to church. We've been staying away because pneumonia has been going around the city and church and I don't want Luke to get sick. We will go this Sunday, because as I mentioned, it's New Baby Dedication. There are going to be 16 new babies this Sunday!! A huge group. Kyle and I will be taking the camera and camcorder to record the festivities. One of the couples with a new baby are professional photographers, and they're going to take pictures after worship and give each family 1 8X10, and we can order more if we like. Kyle and I are going to do that as well.

Our baby announcements came in the mail today. I stuffed all my pre-addressed envelopes this morning and they will go out in tomorrow's mail, so one could be showing up to a mail box near you soon. Not to brag....but they turned out WONDERFUL!! I chose one of the pictures that Johnny took. I'm so happy with them.

I'll post sometime next week with pictures from this Sunday hopefully. We'll see. 'Til then!!

Gettin' Big

Luke is doing great and getting bigger! We went to our second visit to the pediatrician this past Thursday and he weighed 6lb 8oz (yes, he gained 10oz in 1 week!!!) and was 19 in long. Both measurements are in the 10-15% range for his age....but seeings as he's not supposed to be here for another week yet, I'd say he's doing great!

He has spit up a few times at night in his sleep, which makes me extremely nervous, and so our pediatrician told us to put him to sleep on his stomach, and so we have been! He spit up one more time since the tummy switch, but at least it just went all over the Pack N Play!

Our friend Johnny Sandoval (you may remember that he took our wedding pictures) came over Thursday night and took pictures of Luke for us...our first professional ones. They turned out GREAT!! I've put one of my favorites here, and will work on getting them all posted on Kyle's website. www.VirtualFSBO.com/Luke for those of you who want to check it out. I'll work on getting that done this week. Also, I'm going to post on the website two sizes for each picture. The large one would be the one to download and get printed off, but the smaller one will load faster, which will help those of you with dial up or DSL. I'll try to get the pictures already on there in the smaller size as well. I'll have to have Kyle teach me how.

Luke is still waking up to be fed every 3 to 31/2 hrs at night to eat...even though we're now allowed to let him go 4 hrs at a time. He must not have gotten the memo. Kyle helps with the evening and morning feedings allowing me to go to bed early (usually before 9!) and sleep late. That's really helped me a lot. I generally don't need to take a nap during the day then. I usually do rest a while though, and even if I don't fall asleep it sure does help!

I guess that's all that's new here!

Our Baby Burrito is here!

Here is my last pregnant picture! I have already had my epidural, so that smile is GENUINE!

Here is Luke right after delivery getting some Oxygen. He didn't enjoy being born so much. Even after he was in such a hurry to do it!

He's just a little guy!
This is what he looks like most of the time. A sleeping Baby Burrito!

I really don't think I'm biased when I say he is THE CUTEST baby ever!!

Here is Dr. Shanbour with Luke and the nursing team from the NICU.

My water broke Oct. 18 at 3am. Since it was 3 1/2 weeks early, I didn't know what was going on, and after some debate we decided to go to the hospital, fully prepared to have them tell us to go home. But they didn't! My water had broken, but I hadn't had any contractions or anything yet, so at 5:30am they started me on Petocin to induce labor. It worked. I got my epidural put in about 1pm and immediately felt a lot better and decided that the anesthesiologist was my best friend. I felt A LOT better after that! I highly recommend them. Around 3pm I was ready to go, but Luke wasn't quite convinced yet. He has his head turned in such a way that part of it wasn't doing what it was supposed to. So we waited. And waited. And then about 5:30 my Dr. showed up, very apologetic. He hadn't had a clue that I was in the hospital...and while they had called him upon my check in and he'd had them start my petocin, he had been asleep and had no recolection of that phone call! Hazzard of being a baby doctor I guess! Luke was born at 6:02pm. He flunked his Apgar with flying colors the first time...he got a 2!...but he quickly improved and ended up with a 9. We'll see if this continues to be a life pattern! haha

We left the hospital on Saturday. Mom and dad were there to help Kyle and I Saturday and Sunday and then went home on Monday morning. Then my friend Cindy came Tuesday evening and she just left about an hour ago (Friday). So I'm on my own now!

Luke had his first appointment with his Pediatrician yesterday. It went well. I had a whole list of questions that I brought with me and basically the answer to all of it was, he's fine, relax. I'm going to have to work on that! He also weighed in at 5lbs 14 oz so he's almost back to his birth weight, which is good. We have another appointment next Thursday.

Our nights have been going pretty well overall. I had 2 rough nights in a row, Monday night and Tuesday night, but luckily Cindy was here to help with the 2nd one, so that was good. He's pretty typical, I guess. He eats, sleeps, and makes dirty diapers! We're currently have difficulties getting him to burp, and he's been spitting up, so the doctor has him sleeping at an incline for the time being, which seems to be helping. We have had 2 HUGE projectile vomitings, which I did NOT enjoy. AND they created A LOT of dirty laundry! I guess that's all for now. Luke's set to eat again in about 30 minutes. While pregnant I kept track of time in weeks, and now I'm keeping track of time in "minutes until it's time for Luke to eat again".

The Big Reveal

THE NURSERY IS FINISHED! We've been working on it slowly, but surely and we finished up last night....and I must say, it looks great! Luke doesn't know how lucky he is! haha Kyle did all of the painting and it took forever, because it was a lot of work, and it looks great. This was one of those times when it was great to be married to a perfectionist! The above picture is a view from the doorway.

Before

Here is Kyle working on the priming the changing table. During. After
Here is the crib. I never found any baby bedding I really liked so I got this twin size quilt instead. I really like it. It's more little boy and not baby-ish.
Here is the the door to Luke's bathroom. My friend Aubrey, who is very crafty, custome-made the letters for me. They look so great. She also did his initials that are on a shelf in the built ins. Aubrey does TONS of different things and has great ideas. She's even gone into business. You should check out her website. http://www.blessingsandbows.com/index.html

This last picture is of the changing table and the chair we found. I'm thinking I'll end up spending quite a bit of time there. We'll see.

I went to the Doctor this morning. Routine. Nothing exciting. I do start going every week from here on out. My "safety" date is October 21...less than a week away, so he can come anytime after that. Hopefully he'll keep cooking at least until November. I've committed to helping at church on Halloween and some of my friends and I are going to a HUGE craft/decorators show on the 27th.

4 weeks until my due date!

The nursery is coming along GREAT. It is SO CLOSE to being done. I think it will be completely finished tomorrow or perhaps Tuesday. So....no pictures for you guys yet! I want to wait until it's all finished to have "The Big Reveal".

I've also been working hard trying to get a few things finished up around the house. I managed to pick out fabric for the breakfast nook and the formal dining room for curtains mostly all by myself. My friend Shanna's grandmother is a curtain maker and she's done all the curtains in the house so far, and after this last installment, I think we will be done. I just dropped the fabric off to her yesterday so it'll probably be November sometime before they get installed. I chose a more brightly colored striped fabric for the breakfast nook that she will make into Roman Shades for me. I think it'll turn out pretty casual, and a more subdued silk stripe fabric for the formal dining room. She will make cafe curtains out of that. I'm excited to see it all finished...and to not be blinded by the setting sun during supper every night.

Kyle finished painting the changing table today. He put the car seat in my car and our extra base in his Nitro this past Thursday....all we have left is to let the changing table dry, put it in the room and hang Luke's name above the bathroom door. I think our hanging marathon will be tomorrow. And it WILL be a marathon. We don't like to hang just one or two things at a time. Oh no. We hoard until we have a bazillion things and then do it all at once. So, that's on schedule for tomorrow, and then Tuesday we'll finish hanging all the things we didn't get done the day before because we found out we needed a little something to hang it with that we didn't have. It always happens. I'm prepared this time.

I also had good news from my mom this week. She had thought she wouldn't be allowed to extend her Thanksgiving break (she teaches 3rd grade in Randolph, NE) to come and see Luke longer, but she formally asked this week, and got approved to take her SICK DAYS!! (instead of personal days) even! So, she'll be able to be here from the 16th through the 25th. Dad won't be able to come that long, I assume, but he'll come later for Thanksgiving. He had a birthday this past Friday, the 12th, by the way! Happy Birthday!

Since I'm withholding nursery pictures for the time being, I'll include a picture of my brother and sister-in-law's ( Michael and Audra) baby, Solomon Isaac for your viewing pleasure.

The Belly

Kyle has been working hard on the nursery this week doing touchups. I think they will be the most time consuming part of the project. I finally got some pictures of him working on it.

We went to our last Prepared Childbirth Class last night. It was the session I'd been waiting for since before I was even pregnant! Kyle go to wear a 25 lb belly. I had to explain to him, while it was a nice example, it's still not reality. The same amount of weight on him and me...well, it just won't feel the same. Also, at 6' he has more room to put a belly than I do on my short torsoed 5'2" body. But I had a good time watching him wear it anyway. We were supposed to have them do something that's hard for us. Really, I've pretty well felt like myself and life isn't too tricky for me. Not like other pregnancies that I've heard about. However, the floor has gotten farther away and getting in and out of our very tall bed is no small feat in and of itself. So I had Kyle lay down on the floor, roll from side to side and then get up again. Not the same, I know, but the best we could do.

This week Kyle also realized that if I'm sitting on the couch reclined, you can rest a cup on my belly. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE IF I'M STANDING UP! My belly isn't THAT big!! So to even things up from his belly pictures, I'll include one of me. *Sad face

That's all that's new here! I worked on a "call list" today and packed the hospital bag. We're not ready for Luke to be ready yet, but we're getting there!

Dr. Visit

Today I had a doctors appointment. It wasn't anything big. I did, however, learn that Luke is head down. And while I wonder if all that blood rushing to his head is a good for his little head, I know it is a good thing...because maybe now he wont' be breech. Dr. Shanbour also said he thinks he's a little over 5 lbs. Which I certainly believe, and felt every pound of two nights ago when he was training for some unknown Olympic event. I think he may be considering going pro. My baby book says that I should be feeling Luke move about 10 times every two hours. No exaggeration...it is more like 10 moves every 20 minutes. If this is ANY indictation of what is to come...well I'm going to be a very busy girl here in a few weeks. My next appointment is in two weeks (Oct. 16) and then I'll be going every week after that.

A Baby Divided

Kyle has been happy about his OU baby clothing finds at a local consignment sale. He was NOT as happy about the package that came in the mail today from Michael and Audra. This is deffinately going to be a case of "A Baby Divided". I think we're both lucky King Solomon isn't around to try and cut him in half to solve the problem!

It feels like there is not a lot new going on around here. I've been trying to catch Kyle painting, but I think he purposefully waits 'til I'm gone to go an work on the nursery. So no luck on that front yet...but I'll get him. He got the navy stripe painted in the middle and has done a few touch ups. I took off the tape on the floorboards and ceiling so there are even MORE touch ups for him now!

Here's the wall so far! It looks great if I do say so myself. Kyle has done a great job painting. He's a perfectionist and I like it! I went today and bought all the supplies for the last step...combing a taupe glaze over the entire thing. We need to make a "sample board" first to make sure we like it, for some practice before the real deal, and to make sure the final product can be cleaned easily if needed. This is going to be a little boys room after all!

Last week I went to a consignment store and I bought a cheap, used changing table for Luke's room. Kyle volunteered to paint it green to match the crib, so it will much cuter when it's all finished. I bought the supplies for that project today as well, so we're all ready to go. Here's a before picture. The after will be posted later.
While I haven't done a good job at catching Kyle painting, he did catch me in the kitchen the other day, looking very large and in charge. So I'll include that for your viewing pleasure as well.

I guess that's all that's new for now. Only 6 weeks left until my due date and 21 days until I'm considered "full term". I tell Luke regularly about his window of opportunity for arrival. We'll see how well he can follow directions.

Getting Ready!

I only have about 7 weeks to go now...to be more accurate, I have 7 weeks and 2 days to go. Kyle and I have been busy getting ready. It has been fairly painless, especially with all the great gifts people have generously given us/Luke. In the picture above is the gift Michael and Audra sent. That brother of mine sure put a lot of thought and effort into it! haha! We all know it was you, Audra! They sent my diaper bag filled with everything I knew I'd need in it, plus other things I had no idea I would need. I think it helps that Audra is currently very much using a well-packed diaper bag.

Kyle's job is to paint the nursery. My job is to tape. I missed a picture of just the tape job, which involved a whole lot more than just tape! I needed tape, a ladder, a pencil, a level, 2 yard sticks....and in the end Kyle. I just wasn't tall enough. I also missed getting a picture of Kyle actually paining, but as the job isn't finished yet, I'll get one...or two! I'll post a painting job so far picture at the bottom of the post. It's not finished yet....stage 1 is complete, with two more to go....You'll get pictures of that later.

Last night Kyle and I went to a children's consignment sale. I did not get the 2 big things I wanted, an exersaucer with lots of toys on it, and a changing table. They did have a foot-push John Deer Tractor with attachable wagon. Kyle wouldn't let me get it. He said it would be too long before Luke used it. He was right, but I think Luke needs to know about farm-life early on. He will, with the help of Marsha and the farm book she gave him. However, we did get him a toy to push and walk behind....for in the far future and some really cute clothes. All-in-all...the evening was a success.

On a sad note (and one not baby-anything) Liam the fish died this morning. The rumor that fish float upside down when dead did NOT hold true in this case. Liam enjoyed to float at the top, on his side, appearing to be dead, but in fact, very much alive. We did have one false alarm. Kyle and I thought he was dead, and so we were in the guest bath, fishbowl in hand, ready to fish Liam out and send him to his watery grave, when...behold! He moves! That was several weeks ago. Liam hasn't eaten since then. Quite impressive, really. Anyway, he died for real this morning. He took a nose dive to the bottom of the tank. On the To Do List after finishing this post....clean both fish bowls and put in replacement fish. These shall live forever....they're colorful glass fish, not really very life-like at all, with glass bulbs attached to the top of them to make them float in the water. I'll have 3 in each bowl. A regular aquarium....one that needs no cleaning...or feeding! Perfection.

Our friends Johnny and Cindy are coming over tonight, along with their 2 boys Damian (3yrs) and Isaac (2 in Dec) to watch the OU game. It should be good times. Their boys are SO CUTE. Luke will have a hard time competing.

8 Weeks left!

I've been told that blogs are great. Especially when you have family that's far away and they would like to keep up with your lives. Let's be honest here. No one wants to keep up with MY life so much. We all want to keep up with Luke's life now.

So, we'll give it a try. I had my baby shower last Sunday. Or should I say Luke had HIS baby shower last Sunday. It was thrown by the girls in my connections group at church, and organized mainly by Shanna Hayes and Aubrey Kingcade. They did a REALLY great job. Everything I wanted in a shower. Simple, low-key, and no fuss. Perfect. PLUS! Mom and dad drove all the way after Mom got out of school Friday and they left OKC immediately after my shower at 4. It was a marathon weekend for them. Mom's sister, Marjorie, and parents, Pappaw and Grandma Key also came. Kyle's Grandma Pat and cousin Mandy came also, along with many other friends. Kyle and I left the shower with a Nitro loaded full of things Luke will need, and will need to look cute.

I've spent all this week putting together, putting away, and purchasing remaining needed items. His crib is all put together...with bedding!

Tomorrow I will officially have 8 weeks left to go. According to my book, Luke should be around 4 lbs and 15-17" long. He's becoming less see-through, becoming bonier, and getting some layers of fat.

Kyle is going to the OU game today. It's a 2:30 game, so that means that he's feeling late because it's already 9:30!! and he hasn't left yet! haha! While he's gone, I'm going to be taping in Luke's room so Kyle can begin painting this week.