I Get A Kick Outta' This

During my pregnancy with Luke, I was so excited about the idea of having a baby that I though about my pregnancy and my unborn child about 23/7. Because this pregnancy was a little bit of a surprise, and because I already have such a wonderful little guy to keep me occupied, this time I have to keep reminding myself that I really am pregnant and that we really do have another wonderful little package on the way.

This has all become much easier to visualize as just this weekend, I began to feel the baby kick ... for sure. If you've ever been pregnant, you know that when you are finally sure you are feeling the baby kick, you know (or realize) that you have actually been feeling it for a while, but that you couldn't be sure (or didn't know) that was what you were feeling. When the baby is first big enough to make its presence known, the little flutters feel about like bubbles of gas, or a faint pulse of your heartbeat just below your belly button.

Anyway, I loved this time with Luke and I am loving it again with baby #2. It's kind of special because at this point, while the little movements are strong enough for me to feel, they are not yet strong enough to be felt on the outside (i.e. by Matt or others). It's kind of like our little secret - just me and the baby!

Speaking of secrets, we still do not know the sex of the baby. We do, however, have an ultrasound schedule for the afternoon of March 22. Hopefully (Lord willing and baby cooperating) we will be able to tell the gender at that appointment. Check back for a posting some time that week.

Breaking News!

Well, this post isn't technically about Luke, although the information contained herein will certainly affect him. The big news is that we are expecting another baby in August! We (the baby and I) just had our 12 week check-up last week and everything looks great, so we have been spreading the news. Please pray for us (for me especially) as I have been super low on energy, though this has been gradually improving over the last week or so. Also, it means that next fall, we will have an infant and a one year old - an exciting, but somewhat intimidating prospect!

Our 20 week appointment should be at the end of March, at which time we would like to find out the sex of the baby, if he or she will "cooperate". Speaking of "he or she", if this baby is a boy, we will name him Thomas Charles after an 18th century Welsh preacher whose writings Matt has greatly enjoyed. If we have a girl, she will be named Emma Caroline (the same name we had chosen for Luke, had he been a girl).

Sitting ... and Standing!

Last night after evening church, a bunch of the kids where helping Luke to sit up. It was precious! The were sitting in a circle around him so that they could give him a little boost if he leaned in one direction or the other! He actually did some sitting up on his own, and has done a little more today. I have noticed, however, that if he gets particularly excited about a toy and begins to shake it, he is prone to throwing himself over backwards!

The newest development occurred today at his early afternoon nap. I put him down around 12:30 and around 12:40, I heard him crying. I recognized it as the cry that says "Hey, I'm really tired and willing to go to sleep, but I have flipped myself over and now don't know what to do." I peeked in to see if that was in fact the case. It was not. Instead, Luke was standing (yes, in a sleep sack) holding on to the edge of the crib. The reason for the familiar cry was the fact that he was not sure how to get back down! Once I laid him down and tucked him back in, he fell off to sleep, and I called Matt to inform him that we would definitely need to lower the mattress tonight!

P.S. I actually got a short video of this last acrobatic feat, so if I can figure out how to post video to the blog, I will share it.

Crawling!!

Well, Luke had his six month check up this morning. As usual, he was weighed, measured and given a few shots. What was not "as usual" was that he actually started crawling right there in the doctor's office! The nurse had gotten all of his vitals and we were waiting for the doctor. Luke was up on the exam table (which is covered in that sticky-feeling vinyl/plastic type fabric). The nurse had laid out one of those blue and white paper and plastic square pads for him to lay on, but he was intent on eating it. I moved it to the other end of the exam table ... and he crawled to it! I couldn't believe what I had seen so I moved it to the other end ... and he crawled back! Eager for still more action, I put him on the floor, and he proceded to maneuver around the floor, wobbly but definitely crawling. Apparently he was intent on checking out each of the white floor tiles in a mostly blue/green tiled floor.

When we got home, he continued his little act. He crawled for his Nannie and his Uncle Joshua when they came to visit, and he crawled for his Uncles Ryan and Ben when they came bearing raisins. And most importantly, he crawled (smiling and happy) for his daddy when he got home from work. I will need to completely change my perception of his mobility for the future. I walked into the kitchen to put a tissue in the trashcan, leaving Luke playing with a toy near the rug in front of our fireplace. When I returned, he was attempting to pull the lights off of our Christmas tree! (Yes, I decided that this anecdote was too precious to omit, despite the fact that it reveals that our Christmas tree is still up as we sail merrily into mid-January!)

You may wonder what the best "carrot" is to motivate him to move. Is it the sweet voice of his loving mother calling him over? Is it the excitement of all of the new, colorful, lighted and sound-making toys? Or perhaps the cats which he so adores? None of the above. Want to see Lukey crawl? Drop a piece of paper on the floor. Yup. Paper. An empty envelope from junk mail. The instructions to one of the oodles of new Christmas toys that have been recently opened and assembled. Even the phone book. Yes, our child is a paper fanatic. A crawling paper fanatic.

Knee Scooting

Well, the latest development in the almost-but-not-yet crawling story is "knee scooting." As far as I know, this is not an official term, just one I made up for this blog. Now, instead of using his hands to pull himself along as he slides on his belly, he is using his hands to pull himself along as he slides on his knees. So at this point, he is in exactly the right position for crawling (on his hands and knees) and his arms are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing (moving one at a time, in a forward motion). And actually, I'm not sure what his motivation would be to get the knees in gear, because on our hardwood floors, knee scooting seems to be just about as effective as actual crawling!

As a side note, Luke has also started to do a lot of what his Nannie (my mother) says is trying to sit up. While in the crawling position, he gets one leg under him and winds up kind of sitting sideways on one thigh, resting his weight on one hand. He seems to prefer this position for playing with a toy, once he has reached and obtained it. Up until this point, his common MO was to drop to his belly once he got to a toy, meaning that playing with it was difficult since he needed both hands to hold him up (he usually just resorted to elbows), and the toy was only inches from his nose. Now he has one hand free to wave, bang, squeeze or poke!

More updates on these exciting developments will be posted when they become available!

Teethin' and Movin'

Well, Luke's second tooth made it's debut yesterday with a little more fanfare than the first. He had been a bit more fussy recently and seemed to have more difficulty with cutting this one. There is bigger news to share, however:

- Luke can now pull himself along the floor with his hands, and
- Luke rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time today!

We are not exactly sure when Luke actually accomplished the first. For a while now, he has been able to turn himself in a circle by employing a kind of hand-over-hand method. He can also slide himself backwards, though this is mostly accidental. These two in combination have meant that for a while he can wiggle himself around a little and get into things that you didn't realize he would be able to reach. But today for the first time, we watched him purposefully and accurately scoot himself along the floor to reach a rattle. We're not sure if he was able to accomplish this because of or in spite of the fact that he was on the hard wood floor and wearing his sleep sack (like footie pj's except with a sack at the bottom).

It was while doing this scooting that he accomplished his second feat. Matt and I were watching television while Luke was scooting around on the floor playing with his toys. He managed to get himself flipped over onto his back. Instead of turning him over right away, we let him struggle it out a little. Before we knew what had happened, he was belly-down again and scooting towards another toy! Again, we're not really sure if this was helped or hindered by the sleep sack!

First Tooth

It's here! I discovered the very tip of a new tooth this evening. From Luke's perspective, it's the bottom left tooth in the front. It arrived without much fanfare, and we are hoping the others will do the same!

First Snow

Yes, it snowed today! This was our first snow of the year and Luke's first snow, well, ever! We've had about three inches so far, and the roads are good and slushy. The only thing that could have been better about this snow day would be if Daddy had gotten to stay home with us! Luke and I wanted to wait until Uncle Joshua was home from school before we went out to play. He got home early, as did Uncle Ryan because both Hanover County (where we live) and Chesterfield County (where Ryan teaches) closed schools early. We walked down to see Nannie and the Uncles and they all came out to play with us a little and take some pictures. Also, Nannie, Luke and I went to Granny and Granddaddy's house to say hello. By this point, Luke was already pretty worn out, and he ended up falling asleep in Granny's arms!

So, Luke's overall reaction to the snow? If it takes this many layers, no thanks!

(See more pictures of First Snow! here, including pictures with Granny and Granddaddy).

TWO Amazing Accomplishments

Luke's second amazing accomplishment, as you can see here, is that he is now able to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. Since early on he has been able to use his arms to push his chest fully off of whatever surface he was on, and he has also recently learned to get his knees under him, though before today he has never really been able to do both at once and lift his whole torso up off the ground. This means that crawling may be in the not so distant future! (And yes, he was actually doing it with his head up as well, but by the time I stopped watching long enough to get the camera, he was getting a little worn out!)

So, you may be wondering why he is nearly naked. That leads me to his first amazing accomplishment of the day. The outfit (and diaper) that he had been wearing when he woke up this morning were both completely ... let's just say ... ruined. How did I know this? By the gooey yellow stain showing through his outfit ... on the SHOULDER!! Yes, his shoulder! Upon further inspection (i.e. changing the diaper and outfit) I discovered that the mess did indeed originate at the back of the diaper and had somehow made it's way up his back to his shoulder. This may not be a first for babies in general, but it is certainly a first for Luke! Though I supposed we should give credit where credit is due. This amazing feat could have had something to do with the fact that when his Daddy got him up this morning, he was playing with our boy by picking him up by his ankles so that he was hanging upsidedown! Oops!

(View more pictures of Trying to Crawl ... sorry, no shots of the other amazing event. )

Early Days at Home

OK, for those of you who were disapointed because you expected the last post to be about Luke, here's another "Flashback" to those early days at home. This post is actually more of a collection of photos, and just a little background on each set.

Of course, we took lots of pictures of Luke Sleeping ... or sometimes not sleeping when he was supposed to. My favorite was the time that he wiggled and fussed so much that he worked his little layette down around his arms. The minute we walked in with the camera, he stopped fussing and looked up at us as cheerful as could be! Our little boy in a straight jacket!

Luke has always been Daddy's Boy. We have lots of pictures of him doing various things with his daddy, such as working on the computer, drinking coffee, and of course, reading Russian novels.

We also have some pictures of Luke with Mommy. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Matt is much more of the "artsy" photographer, so these pictures have much more of a "feel" to them than most of the "capture this moment" pictures I take.

Enjoy the pictures!

P.S. Uncle Ryan, this post was just for you. ;-)