Here Comes Trouble!

Some of the places we've found Luke now that he is crawling:


Checking out Winnie's bowls




In the basket of dog toys...




Helping Mommy unload the dishwasher




Here's our mischievous man in action:

9 Months

Today Luke turns 9 months old, and you should see the monumentous crowds that turned out in Washington D.C. to celebrate his 3/4 birthday! It is amazing to be an American on this historically significant Inauguration Day, and although Luke will not remember it, I am grateful that my child is alive for such an incredible occasion. We watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States this afternoon and the excitement and energy in the air was almost palpable. It is certainly a great day for our country!

We started off our morning with Luke's 9-month pediatrician appointment. As expected, Luke is still practically off the charts for his age. He is over 31 inches long (99th percentile!), but has lost some of his baby rolls and fat recently, decreasing to the 86th percentile in weight (still pretty big). The doctor was very pleased with all of Luke's motor and social developments, as our big boy is officially crawling now, waving, and says, "Ma Ma", "Hi", "Ba", and "Da". However, when I reported that Luke STILL has not slept through the night, despite our implementation of the Ferber method to let him "cry it out" several months ago, the pediatrician was surprised that Luke still wakes up at least 2 times each night. There's really nothing we can do, but my favorite part of the 9-month developmental hand-out that the doctor gave me today states:

"9-month olds have a lot of energy and it requires a lot of energy to take care of them. Make sure you get enough rest. Ask friends and family for help so you can take a break and rest. If you are rested, you will be better able to take care of your child."

I am absolutely convinced that whoever wrote this has either never been a new parent or had a baby who slept through the night at a few weeks old. Any other sane person would realize that the law of nature for raising a 9-month old is that you will not be well-rested, but will survive anyway. I don't think that I will ever sleep through the night again, but will be happy to take the advice of the hand-out for any volunteers for the 3 a.m. shift at our house. We're happy and fulfilled, so that's all we can ask for!

I've been meaning to write a couple of funny stories about all of the unsolicited advice and feedback that strangers seem to give new parents. At the grocery store a few months ago, as Luke practically gnawed a hole in his toy during a particularly rough teething day, the cashier asked me in all seriousness if I had given my child a chicken bone yet to help with teething. I looked at her incredously, pretty sure that I didn't see "chicken bone" listed in my American Academy of Pediatrics Book as an acceptable food for a 6 month-old, (maybe it was under the "choking hazards" section instead), but the cashier assured me that she did it for all 6 of her children. Then she gave me a big, toothless grin as I thanked her for her advice and checked out...

Also, today in CVS, a man stocking shelves turned to Luke and asked, "Where is your shoes?" (in a slight passive-aggressive tone as if to say, "What kind of mother takes her child out in public in the middle of January without shoes on?")

1) The question is gramatically incorrect, which is a pet peeve of mine, so do we really have to answer it?
2) My 9-month old child can not answer that question, as he does not have expressive or receptive language abilities mastered quite yet, but thank you for asking him directly.
3) Again, my trusty AAP book tells me not to put shoes on my child until he is walking, as shoes restrict foot development and growth at this age, but we appreciate your curiosity, and I know it's cold outside... that's why we are wearing socks.

And lastly, my favorite:

Luke and I were out to lunch with a friend and her baby, and an elderly gentleman approached us and said to me in a very thick Southern drawl, "That's a mighty fine young man you've got there!"
I could tell by the hearty slap on the back that I received and the way that this gentleman was beaming that he had just bestowed a compliment of the highest nature to us, so I thanked him (secretly pleased with myself for understanding even a little bit of his accent). And then, in an attempt to make Luke smile, the man popped out his dentures and did a little trick sliding them in and out of his mouth, about 6 inches from my baby's face. Luke promptly burst into tears and began wailing at the frightening sight.


As a parent, you just do the best you can, and smile politely at all of the very helpful strangers that you meet along the way. And then you go home, and write about them on your blog!

A Lazy Saturday

Spending the morning in our Demon Deacon attire,
excited to watch the WFU game this afternoon...

Hello World!

Guess who learned how to wave "Hi!" today?!



Luke requested that this video be posted so that he can say hello to all of his loyal blog followers!

Snot and Stuff

Well, we've kicked off the first full week of 2009 with Luke catching his first cold. I am extremely thankful that we have had a healthy child for this long, and it was inevitable that Luke got sick sometime, but it was so pitiful to see his red, watery eyes, runny nose, and to have our usually cheerful baby be so unhappy. After several very LONG nights and days, Luke is now back to his usual, sunny self, and his cold seems to be much better. Since I have been known to be a bit of a hypochondriac, I was proud of myself for minimizing the thoughts of potential pneumonia or complications, tried not to worry about the possibility of an ear infection developing, and I didn't even call the pediatrician! Additionally, we are now the proud owners of a cool mist humidifier for the nursery, several bottles of Infant Motrin & Tylenol, and a few boxes of Puffs Plus with Lotion. Mark and I have survived the angst that every parent feels when their child is sick... that feeling of wanting to do anything to take away Luke's misery and to take on the illness for him if possible. We've also now confirmed the rumor that your own child's snot and sickness is not nearly as gross as seeing other kids with runny noses out in public. I learned this week just to wipe Luke's nose with the end of my shirt sleeve and thought nothing of it... kind of like how changing your baby's dirty diaper doesn't faze you, but other children's poop is still very disgusting.

The bright side of Luke's cold is that now that he is feeling better, he seems even more cheerful and adorable. The below photo was taken the night after his fever broke and Luke couldn't stop grinning and squealing with glee as we tried to wrestle with him to get changed into pajamas. It's also one of the first pictures that we have taken where you can successfully see his top front tooth that came in last month. The arrival of this tooth right before the holidays had us humming and singing "All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth" for weeks, and if Luke was physically able to, I'm sure that he would have rolled his eyes at us for being such corny parents. His other top tooth has just about broken through the surface this week, too, which I can only imagine added to some of the misery and fussiness associated with Luke's cold. But we figured that it might as well all happen at once and be over!




In other news, Mark's craziest time at work (being in finance) always falls around this time as he busily closes the books for year end at GE. And since finance guys usually are interested in taxes, Mark especially likes the below bib of Luke's (as you can see, eating is getting messier!). In fact, I bought it to give to Mark as a Valentine's Day present when I was pregnant with Luke. Romantic, I know! We made sure to have Luke wear it on December 31 to remind Daddy of "how much money we are saving" this year by having a baby in 2008. Ha-ha! Maybe we'll get a refund back at tax time instead of having to owe $, which would be nice!

Davies Visit

We had a wonderful time hosting Brian, Beth, and Baby Kate Davies this week. Brian is one of Mark's best friends from childhood, and the Davies family flew from Michigan so that we could spend New Year's Eve together. Beth and I were pregnant at the same time, and even before our babies were born we joked about Kate and Luke being bethrothed to each other. We took tons of pictures of the adorable couple, and hope you enjoy them!


Have you ever seen such cuteness in the bathtub?



It's hard to believe these grown up dads were once little boys who played together!



The kids went on their first date while the Davies were visiting. Here is a photo narrative of their evening:


Pre-date, the babies were dressed to impress!



The evening continued with a chauffered ride to the restaurant, complete with 2 baby car seats.



Luke wooed Kate with his refined table manners...



But Kate shied away from Luke's attempts to make a move!




A slideshow of more pictures from the Davies visit:

Happy New Year!

Our dear friends, the Davies, came into town to celebrate New Year's Eve with us. After much anticipation, Luke met his bride-to-be, Baby Kate, and the kids had a great time last night. Here they are, after a little too much partying! Happy 2009!