The Loyd Family

Luke is 19 months old!

2011-01-26T12:33:00.002-06:00

Today Luke turned 19 months old. He's really turning into quite a little person! Several friends from my moms' group at church suggested that I write down all the words he can say at some point, so here goes:

Daddy
Mommy
Hailey ("Lee-lee")
dog ("dah" or "DOOOOOOOH") like you would say "dough." There's a long emphasis on the O.
school ("coo")
shoe ("sue" a very s sound on this)
tree ("tee" with a point at a tree)
night night ("ni-ni")
bye
hi
ball ("bah")
spoon ("spoo")
car ("ca")
sit (to the dogs)
go
me
mine
no (one of his favorites!)
bath (more like "ba" but he says it in context)
Grandpa ("pa-pa")
Grandma ("na-ma")
Nannie ("nah-nee")
Robin ("Ba-ba"... we joke that she's Aunt Bob)
Meme
Amen ("A-bee"... always at the end of a prayer)
Cold (Ko)

Many of these words have an up-swing in the sound. Like Nah-nee will always end up higher in tone. There are probably more that we're not quite recognizing yet, too! He also likes to sing in church when we sing hymns, even though he doesn't know all the words yet.

A day at the park

2011-01-08T12:37:00.000-06:00

We had some beautiful Texas winter weather and decided to stop by a park for a while so Luke could run around. He has been on a slide before, but wasn't really confident about going down by himself... until now. He went up the playscape and down the slide like a CHAMP!

Christmas Eve Eve 2010

2010-12-23T21:07:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty low-key Christmas celebration at home on the 23rd.

Luke got lots of art supplies to go with his new art easel...

...lots of new clothes...

...a mug... hey, wait, that's Mommy's mug!

...a new soccer ball (or is that football?) from our friend Chris...

...and a new percussion set! We must be crazy! Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Santa visits KVUE

2010-12-07T21:01:00.002-06:00

Every year, Santa Claus comes to KVUE, where Sarah works, to tape a special Christmas show that airs on Christmas Eve. All of the kids at the station and their families get to come for the taping, which means Ryan got to sneak behind enemy lines and enjoy some holiday cheer.

Everything went really well, as you can see above, until Sarah got the bright idea to take away Luke's candy cane...

...which did not go over very well.

I believe he's giving Mommy the evil eye here. Yep, moral of the story - taking candy away from a baby is HARD. And will result in an hour-long meltdown. Don't do it.

Autumn in Texas

2010-10-30T20:57:00.000-05:00

Behold, the confident stride of Luke at 16 months!

And his smile, as sunny as the Texas sun in fall!

He is indeed his father's pride and joy, and looks great in jeans.

We love playing outside in the fall!

NXNW Oktoberfest

2010-10-16T20:46:00.002-05:00

Ryan and Sarah love beer and never miss an opportunity to raise Luke right.

That's right, Luke is too cool for Bud Light.

We went to the North by Northwest Brewery Oktoberfest to enjoy some local beer...

...yes... we enjoyed most of it before we remembered to take a picture...

...and we also got to check out the polka bands, although it was a little too crowded to dance. But we all enjoyed the music!

Luke got the opportunity to show off his many faces to our fellow revelers.

And he tried out the bounce house...

...although he didn't get much beyond the entrance and never got up to jump.

But we did meet up with Adolfo and Pinty the Bear! We'll definitely be back at NXNW next year!

Best Burgers Tour

2010-10-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

This fall, Ryan embarked on a quest to find 7 of the best burgers in Central Texas. He went all over Austin and even way out to Copperas Cove to check out all kinds of burgers!

Luke likes to go out to eat, and will usually try new foods.

On our trip to Cafe Canela, Ryan and Sarah enjoyed burgers and Luke mostly stuck to black beans.

Yep... this one made the list. Maybe when Luke has more teeth, he can enjoy sinking them into a Cafe Canela burger, too!

Luke's personality

2010-09-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

Luke is developing quite a personality. He loves making faces and showing off!

He has a great smile, even though he's still working on a mouthful of teeth.

A day in Spokane

2010-08-12T22:24:00.000-05:00

We drove from Montana back to Spokane the day before our flight back to Texas. We enjoyed an hour or so at Riverside Park downtown, where Luke enjoyed running around...

...looking around...

...and riding around!

He also got to check out the geese in the river...

...and walk over a bridge all by himself!

We had a great time in Spokane for the short time we were there, and followed up our trip to the park with Thai food with my cousin, his wife and their daughters. Lovely end to a lovely trip to the Northwest!

Family reunion, part 3

2010-08-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

As the reunion came to a close, we gathered together for some photos. Some gathered a little easier than others.

Luke managed to stay in the vicinity of his cousins for long enough to snap a picture or two.

The grandkids were able to hold a little more still.

But my grandparents were happy to surround themselves with the great-grandkids, too.

We also got all of us together in the meadow - one big, happy family.

Luke had a blast with Gramma Anna and Grampa Ed. He got to spend a lot of time running and climbing and getting dirty and chasing his cousins around. I'm so glad he had the chance to visit my grandparents at their wonderful home.

Family reunion, part 2

2010-08-10T22:37:00.000-05:00

We drove around Flathead Lake and visited a couple of other breweries the next day while Luke stayed at the house with Grandpa John. First, Flathead Lake Brewing Company in Woods Bay, where we picked up a growler and shared a couple of pints around.

Then, we visited a quilt shop and an antique shop. No, there are no pictures. Sorry!

After that, we drove further around Flathead Lake and found Tamarack Brewing Company in Lakeside. We had some excellent food and excellent brews, followed by some excellent photo opportunities outside the brewpub.

Family reunion, part 1

2010-08-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

We went to Polson, Montana for Sarah's family reunion - although it's definitely Ryan's family now, too! One of the stops we always make is at Glacier Brewing Company in Polson, where they have a lovely beer garden with a little stage. Luke and his cousins Sonja and Annabelle ran around together and all had a blast while the grownups had a drink and ate pizza.

Downtown men, part 2

2010-07-17T23:07:00.001-05:00

Luke likes going downtown... there's always a lot to look at! Today we went to Katz's Deli on 6th Street for lunch and had a pastrami sandwich. (That's right... just one... they're enormous.) Ryan was going to introduce us to the famous owner, Marc Katz, but we didn't have a chance. Still, Luke brought the ham to the Jewish deli. Whoops!

Luke walks!

2010-07-16T20:46:00.001-05:00

Luke is taking off on his own two feet! He has taken a few steps at a time already, but tonight he was really walking. He walked across the kitchen, and as you see here, walked from our bedroom to the dining room where Ryan was bribing him with an iPod. (Ahh, shiny gadgets, works every time.)

Sarah turns 30!

2010-07-15T00:14:00.003-05:00

What?! Sarah is 30??

Yep, Ryan invited some of our good friends in Austin to come out to Polvo's for some tasty Mexican food, margaritas, and hanging out to celebrate! Luke got to meet Carl and Katrina's daughter, Laura, and they enjoyed showing each other their eating skills.

We had a good (and diverse!) group, including Carl and Katrina (from TLU), John and Jose (from the local TV scene), Pastor June and Carey (from church), and Sara (one of Sarah's high school classmates). And Ryan and Luke, of course!

We ended up staying out very, very late and Luke ended up falling asleep at the table.

But we had a great time, and we're so glad everyone could come!

Landon Winery for Mom and Dad

2010-07-04T00:10:00.000-05:00

Ryan and Sarah left Luke with Grandma and Grandpa Lonnevik on July 4th for a few hours to catch up with our dear friend and Luke's godmother, Janette. We hung out at Landon Winery and drank some delicious wine, and generally enjoyed our time in downtown McKinney!

Luke's 1st Birthday

2010-06-26T23:59:00.003-05:00

Luke turned 1 on June 26! He had a lot of presents to contend with...

...including some that weren't wrapped. (Whoops!)

He got the hang of opening gifts a lot better than he did at Christmas.

Oh look, a Corn Popper! (As seen in church nurseries across the country!)

He also got to try chocolate cake for the first time! He wasn't really sure what to do with it... but he had some help.

Happy birthday, Luke!

Luke sneaks a drink

2010-06-22T23:49:00.002-05:00

Luke has taken to drinking from our glasses when we're not looking, so we have to be careful what we leave on the table!

Luke the mimic

2010-06-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

Luke is starting to mimic sounds or motions that we make... tonight he was trying to imitate Ryan's growly-snarly noise.

Luke's early birthday cake

2010-06-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

Luke is almost one year old! We decided to have a little mini-party/cake tasting while Grandma and Grandpa Lonnevik were in town. Luke wasn't too sure about the cake at first...

...but he quickly got the hang of it and started shoving it in his face by the handful.

He managed to eat most of it, except for what he decided to rub into his eyebrows. Yum, yum... why can't we have cake all the time?

Luke and his grandpa

2010-06-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

Luke got to spend some quality time with Grandpa John while Sarah's parents were in town for portraits. Grandpa reminded everyone why they call them "bouncing baby boys."

Family portraits

2010-06-12T21:32:00.000-05:00

Two weeks before Luke's first birthday, we had some family portraits taken with Luke's grandparents, great-grandmother, and godparents.

This was the first picture that was taken - he looks great in front of the quit Grandma made for him!

Here's our little family.

Luke had some great poses!

And here is everyone together. We're so glad some of Luke's big family got to come to Austin to take pictures with us!

Luke's first haircut

2010-06-05T21:21:00.000-05:00

A week before we took some family portraits, we realized it was time for Luke to get his first haircut. At 11 months old, he was getting quite shaggy.

So we took him to Birds Barbershop in Austin, where Ryan and Luke would both get a haircut. They even give you beer while you wait!

We had only made it through about half of one beer when they called us back. Ryan got caped up and held Luke on his lap.

Finally, it was time for Julia to start snipping.

But the snipping didn't last long - Luke started fidgeting and I had to put the camera down while Julia quickly worked some magic with her clippers. Soon she was done, and Luke looked great!

Luke's first swim in the pool

2010-05-23T00:26:00.001-05:00

Luke had his first swim in the pool... it was a little rough in the water at first, but once he discovered he could splash and play water peek-a-boo, he really had a great time!

Downtown Men

2010-05-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

We went downtown to check out the Austin Farmer's Market and eat lunch at Frank, and it was such a nice day! Ryan and Luke looked so hip, being all downtown-y and stuff.

Luke's fishy face

2010-05-13T00:34:00.007-05:00

Luke is learning to make lots of interesting faces... he particularly enjoys smacking his lips and making fishy faces.

Naptime

2010-05-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

Luke had a rough afternoon one day and Ryan went in to comfort him. I heard Ryan shushing Luke, but after a while I didn't hear anything anymore. I peeked into the room and this is what I saw: two worn out guys passed out together.

Saturday at Independence

2010-05-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

Luke sure likes going to breweries. Ok, it probably doesn't look like we're at a brewery, but we're at the First Saturday tasting at Independence Brewing right here in Austin. We had some tasty samples, even though we kinda didn't have a wristband. What can I say... nothing stands between us and our beer!

It's a small world at Minute Maid Park!

2010-04-24T23:51:00.000-05:00

We went to an Astros game while we were in Houston (sans baby and dogs) and look who we ran into!

That's right, it's our good friend Rachael! We discovered she was at the game and met up with her and her students.

We were pretty high up, but look! There are players down there!

We did have a great view of the Houston skyline.

Aww, look how much fun we had! Yay Houston! (And they beat the Pirates, too!)

St. Arnold Pilgrimage

2010-04-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I got to go to Houston, all by ourselves, for a little overnight getaway. So of course we went to the St. Arnold Brewing Company!

We got there right before 11am, when the tastings opened.

Ryan had lots of questions for the volunteers in charge of dispensing tastings.

Honestly, I'm not as think as you drunk I am.

Check out the awesome beergarden/tasting room!

Here's Ryan, with Brock Wagner, the founder of St. Arnold Brewing Company. Isn't that a great picture? Everyone looks good, nobody looks drunk or blurry...

...well, almost nobody.

Bye, St. Arnold! We had a great time!

Ryan's enchiladas

2010-04-12T23:39:00.001-05:00

Ryan likes to take his lunch to work now, but he doesn't like eating leftovers most of the time. And he definitely doesn't like to be bored.

So late one night, he decided to make some enchiladas. Here they are, about to go into the oven... covered in cheese... mmm...

What was I talking about?

Oh, here they are, all yummy and gooey out of the oven. They were delicious, and I ate the leftovers.

From Ryan's enchiladas

Luke claps his hands

2010-04-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

Luke showing off his hand-clapping skills! First time I was able to catch it on video.

Pretzels and wine

2010-04-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

We took a trip out to Driftwood (okay, it's pretty much South Austin) to Mandola Estate Winery. Ryan and I sampled some wine, and Ryan and Luke sampled some pretzel sticks. I think they're both enjoying themselves.

From Mandola Winery

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T23:28:00.000-05:00

For Easter, we went down to San Antonio and visited with Nanny, Aunt Robin, and Meme. Luke got to eat ham, and wear shoes! No Easter egg hunt this year, though... maybe next year.

Luke goes shopping

2010-04-03T23:26:00.000-05:00

We didn't buy this... just took it for a test drive.

Future Legacy Bulldog

2010-04-03T23:24:00.000-05:00

We got Luke all dressed up in his baby Bulldog gear. As the place where Ryan and I met and later got married, obviously Texas Lutheran University is pretty important to our family! Maybe one day Luke will go to TLU... no pressure.

Cruising

2010-04-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

Luke can cruise pretty well by holding on to furniture, toys, people, subwoofers, baby gates, bathtubs, or whatever he can manage to pull up onto. We spent a day at home on Good Friday and he did his best to get into as much trouble as possible, searching through all of the goodies on the changing table even when I'd pulled his exersaucer up close in an effort to block him. Shows how well THAT worked.

9 months old

2010-03-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

At 9 months old, Luke can say "Da-da," and "ba-ba," though we're not sure what that means yet. He can pull himself up to standing (and does, often). Most mornings, we go in to find him standing up in his crib ready to greet the day. He's also getting pretty good at waving if someone waves at him first.

He has two bottom teeth now, and at his 9-month checkup his pediatrician said he has four top teeth on the way in. He weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz and was 28 inches tall.

Luke's favorite things right now: he loves to eat cheese and Cheerios, but will generally try just about anything he can pick up by himself (chicken, chunks of vegetables, etc.). He likes to play peekaboo and run in circles on his exersaucer.

Luke is still pretty good at sitting through church, although he does like to try to make the people behind us laugh with his silly faces and smiles. He is starting to make noise during the hymns, like he wants to sing! He also likes to go places with us, like wineries (here he is at Georgetown Winery).

Luke feeds himself

2010-03-25T23:43:00.000-05:00

The night before Luke turned 9 months old, he decided it was time to feed himself! He took the bowl and just started going to town.

The way I see it, a messy baby will turn into a great independent eater. Someday. Right now, he's just funny to watch.

Bathtime!

2010-02-27T19:26:00.001-06:00

Luke loves bathtime! He doesn't mind the soap and doesn't get too mad about water on his face, as long as he has toys to play with and chew on. He also really likes splashing around in the water and getting squirted with toys, too.

His hair is getting long enough to soap up into a kewpie doll 'do. I think there's some biological compulsion to do this to your kids at a certain age.

Oh look, you can almost see his tooth!

Luke and his godparents

2010-02-20T22:17:00.000-06:00

Luke's godparents, Todd and Rachel, came to visit from San Antonio for pizza and games. Of course, seeing their godson was part of the fun.

I wish I could say that I got a better picture with them together, but I didn't. But they were here, and it was fun. :)

Green stuff for dinner

2010-02-19T16:13:00.000-06:00

Luke is getting more and more independent, and likes to hold a spoon while I feed him dinner. Sometimes he likes to grab the spoon I'm feeding him with, which already has food on it, and smear whatever he's eating all over. I don't get upset, because I know he's learning to feed himself (some of that food does get into his mouth).

On this particular evening, Luke was eating pears with some avocado mixed in, and little chunks of cheese. Of course, the fruit/veggie combo (well really, all fruit, right?) was an amazing shade of green, perfect for getting all over the place.

Luke's First Tooth

2010-02-15T22:25:00.000-06:00

Well... you can't see it yet. But while we were watching Daddy on the news, he was gnawing on my finger and I felt something... sort of sharp and scratchy.

When Ryan got home we looked at his gums. Sure enough, on his bottom gum, just right of center, there's a little top of a tooth peeking out!

We'll try to get a picture of it when it decides to show up better. Right now, you can just take in his pretty eyes and the gallons of drool that comes with teething.

Luke is on the move!

2010-02-14T22:20:00.000-06:00

Our baby is crawling - almost! He hasn't quite gotten the hang of a full-blown "official" crawl, but is getting quite proficient at the army crawl - pulling/pushing himself along with his arms and using his toes to give himself a little oomph. He particularly enjoys crawling under the table and going after the dogs. He even crawled over and untied my shoes while I was making dinner one night.

Look at him go!

Luke loves cheese

2010-02-14T22:19:00.000-06:00

Luke is getting pretty good at feeding himself things like Cheerios and little chunks of cheese. Mmmm, he really loves cheese.

First Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T22:14:00.001-06:00

For Valentine's Day, Luke and Ryan took me to Cafe Monet, a paint-your-own-pottery studio in Austin. I picked out a mug and they painted it for me (okay, Ryan did most of the work, and I helped), and put both of their handprints on it.

It was a little harder to get Luke's handprint on it than we thought, but we were pretty successful in the end and I can't wait to see how it turned out. I have to wait until Thursday to pick it up!

More pictures below. Yes, that does say "The Hands of My Mans" and I love it!

From Valentine's Day Mug

Luke's suit

2010-02-12T22:12:00.001-06:00

Someday Luke will really be able to rock a suit. For now, though, we'll stick to diapers and onesies. Also, suits don't hide the drool very well.

Luke's belly laugh

2010-01-27T22:09:00.004-06:00

Luke and Ryan played peek-a-boo together and it had them both in stitches! Watch:

Luke on hands and knees

2010-01-26T21:56:00.006-06:00

Luke turned 7 months old on January 26th and by this time was getting pretty good at pushing himself up on his hands and knees, and even getting his toes underneath him and pushing himself into a "downward-facing dog" position. He was turning himself around in a circle and sort of inching along, but wasn't very mobile yet. He was also sitting up by himself very well and grinning a lot. No teeth yet though!

Butternut squash!

2010-01-04T00:34:00.000-06:00

Luke has tried several new foods! He's had applesauce, acorn squash, bananas, avocados and now butternut squash. He's really loving the bright orange, sweet squash. Combined with his new enthusiasm for eating, he is starting to make quite a mess when he eats. But it doesn't bother him a bit! And more frequent baths just make it easier for him to fall asleep at night, so no complaints here.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T22:53:00.001-06:00

We rang in 2010 at home, just like we rang in 2009. But this time, Luke was on the outside, so I got to enjoy some grown-up beverages. Hooray!

Our friend Adolfo came over for our impromptu New Year's Eve party. I made barbecue meatballs, bacon-wrapped brie-stuffed dates, bacon-wrapped pineapple, and bread pudding. We also had a cheese plate with brie, gouda, and some very stinky and strong goat cheese. And of course, some Asti Spumante and other beer and cidery things.

We watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin (that naughty lady!) until 11pm, then switched over to watch Ryan Seacrest (only because he wasn't Carson Daly) until midnight. Then we rang in the New Year very quietly:

It worked, because Luke stayed asleep. Happy New year!

From New Year's 2010

Luke eats applesauce

2009-12-30T00:06:00.002-06:00

Luke has been eating applesauce for about a week now! He is also picking up on acorn squash and bananas. He's a pretty neat eater so far, but Mommy and Daddy are doing the feeding. Things will probably change when he gets a hold of the spoon himself.

Luke's First Christmas

2009-12-30T00:02:00.000-06:00

We spent Christmas Eve at home in our apartment, and Luke got to open up a few presents. He got some blocks, a toy camera, some socks, a few bowls and a new sippy cup from Mommy and Daddy. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the action but managed to hold it together pretty well before he went to bed. Next Christmas should be really exciting when we have a toddler on our hands!

Luke also turned 6 months old the day after Christmas and has his checkup coming up on New Year's Eve.

Luke and Delaney

2009-12-16T23:59:00.000-06:00

Luke got to hang out with his friend Delaney during the Mothers of Young Children meeting tonight! They stayed on their respective blankets but smiled and laughed at each other as they recognized that there was another baby in front of them. Luke showed off some of his new upper body strength and did some baby push-ups. He must have been trying to impress Miss Delaney!

Meanwhile, the moms swapped cookies and may have sampled a few. We're so glad Kari and Delaney got to stay and visit today!

Luke meets Santa

2009-12-07T23:58:00.000-06:00

Luke got to be a part of the Santa Claus special that will air on Christmas Eve on KVUE! He enjoyed listening to the music and watching all the big kids dance, and was totally fascinated when Santa Claus walked in, ringing his jingle bells. He listened to Santa read "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" and even got a Christmas present!

After the show taping, Luke got to meet the man in red, and couldn't take his eyes off of him. He even got a fistful of beard and determined it was real!

Luckily Luke has been a good boy for the almost-half-year he's been with us, so we think this won't be the last time Santa visits!

Sitting up!

2009-12-01T23:44:00.000-06:00

Luke has started sitting up on his own, although it's usually only for a few seconds at a time. He is getting better and better at holding himself up, but he slowly starts leaning forward until he is sucking on his socks. He's learning to enjoy holding a toy and chewing on it while he sits in place. The Bumbo and the high chair are still getting a lot of use, though!

Luke-powered playtime

2009-11-25T00:33:00.001-06:00

Luke's first spoon feeding

2009-11-12T01:36:00.001-06:00

Luke tried rice cereal for the first time on November 12, 2009. We mixed about a tablespoon of cereal with about a quarter-cup of formula, and he seemed to enjoy it for the most part. He got the hang of opening his mouth for the spoon and closing his mouth around it, but couldn't seem to keep it in his mouth. Of course, he got it all over himself and his high chair, and I had it on myself as well. It was mostly just for practice (for all of us!).

Check out the video of his first few bites below:

Wurstfest 2009

2009-11-07T01:29:00.001-06:00

While Darin was in town, we took him to New Braunfels' 10 Day Salute to Sausage, better known as Wurstfest! We went on the last Saturday night of the whole shebang, which meant it was beyond packed with sausage and beer lovers. We braved the lines and the crowds to get our fix of overpriced (but delicious and cold) Shiner Bock, our annual Wurstkabob from New Braunfels Smokehouse (that's five kinds of wurst on a stick), and Ryan's Wurstfest hat got to make an appearance as well. Luke wore the baby lederhosen I crocheted for him (which I guess makes it NOT lederhosen, but yarn-hosen or something) and a great time was had by all.

From Wurstfest 2009 (with Darin!)

It was also nice and warm this year, as opposed to last year when I was pregnant and it was freezing cold and I didn't get to have any beer. It was just better all around this year!

Luke Visits the Capitol

2009-11-07T01:24:00.002-06:00

On November 7th, we visited the Texas State Capitol in downtown Austin with Sarah's cousin Darin. Darin was in Texas for some training and managed to get to Austin from San Angelo to see us!

We took him to see the State Capitol, and it was Luke's first visit as a new Texan also. We explored the House and Senate chambers (we are in the Senate chamber here), peeked down into the legislative library, and checked out all the floors of the Capitol building itself. Luke even had an Official Diaper Change in an out-of-the-way corner outside of the Governor's press room. (I found it somewhat fitting.)

We also went underground to the Capitol Annex, where Ryan told us all about getting to work inside the Capitol when he covers events there. We marveled at all the pink granite and strolled through the gift shop, of course.

Luke has now made his pilgrimage, and we're glad that Darin got to visit the Capitol with us too!

Luke's First Halloween

2009-10-31T22:24:00.000-05:00

Luke had a pretty uneventful day, especially considering his first Halloween was on a Saturday. But Daddy had to work and deal with all the crazy Halloween revelers in downtown Austin, so Luke and Mommy hung out all day.

He started the day dressed up as a pumpkin, complete with green pants and candy corn socks, but as the day wore on the drool won the war and we had to retire the pumpkin shirt. He did get to wear his super-Halloween-y outfit to the library though!

In the afternoon, Luke changed into a baseball uniform, but he took too many slides into home plate and had to change into his away uniform. Luckily the third outfit made it - a pitcher of course, because we had a ball but no bat.

We got buckled in and went to visit a couple of moms from the MYC group at church. We went by and saw Carey and her family and her very spooky neighborhood, and then went and visited Kari and her mom and baby Delaney. Kari gave Luke a bunch of Butterfingers, even though he only likes eating his own fingers right now!

Luke was pretty tired from all the trick-or-treating when we got home, so he took a nap and then we read THREE books before he went to sleep. What a day!

Luke o'lantern

2009-10-28T01:46:00.000-05:00

With the pumpkin we bought at the pumpkin patch, I decided to commemorate one of the scariest things of all - parenthood! So I designed a pumpkin carving template in Photoshop and carved a jack o'lantern with Luke's face on it. I think it's pretty spooky!!

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-25T22:26:00.000-05:00

The day before Luke turned four months old, we went to visit a pumpkin patch at a church! They had all kinds of pumpkins - big ones, little ones, and even white ones and warty ones! It was a nice afternoon to be out - sunny, warm, but a little windy. Luke was a bit tired so he wasn't his usual smiling self, but we picked out a pumpkin anyway.

Visiting Sherman

2009-10-17T22:20:00.001-05:00

We went up to Sherman recently to visit Gramma Mary and Grampa John, and see everybody at the church where Sarah grew up. We went out to lunch at Firehouse Subs and Luke got to try on a fireman's hat (well, a fire-kid's hat, anyway).

From Hanging out with Gramma Mary

Storytime with Daddy

2009-09-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

We like to read to Luke every night before bed, if we can. Sometimes Luke is very tired and doesn't make it too long, but it helps when we are reading about grammar and parts of speech. (Why this is in the "Dangerous Book for Boys" I'm not sure... but of course there's nothing more dangerous than a good writer.)

Luke's Baptism

2009-09-27T22:38:00.001-05:00

Luke was baptized on September 27, 2009 at St. Martin's Lutheran Church. We were proud to have lots of family and friends present with us at church! Grandma Mary made Luke a special romper from the fabric of her wedding dress. Luke's godparents are Janette Klein and Todd and Rachel Wright.

The church gave Luke an engraved medallion to remember the day, and a special book called "Water Come Down" that we read to him before bed that night.

It was wonderful to have so many of our loved ones with us as we celebrated Luke's new birthday in the church!

Austin Museum Day

2009-09-20T17:58:00.001-05:00

On September 20, many of the museums in Austin were participating in Austin Museum Day and opening their doors for free! We decided to take Luke to the Austin Children's Museum, even though he's still too young to participate in the hands-on things the museum offers. He seemed to enjoy looking around at some of the colorful exhibits, but the whole scene was pretty loud and chaotic, and he was pretty tired after church and brunch. We'll definitely be bringing him back when he's ready to get into everything! They even have a play area especially for babies and toddlers, so once he can get around and sit up he should have a good time. Check out some more of the pictures from our visit below!

Austin Museum Day

Hook 'em!

2009-09-19T17:52:00.000-05:00

We busted out Luke's "Hook 'Em Horns" onesie the day of the UT-Tech game and took him to Flying Saucer, where he had lots of admirers in burnt orange. And the Horns won their revenge over the Red Raiders! Yay!

Tummy time

2009-09-16T17:50:00.000-05:00

Luke is starting to tolerate tummy time much better. He's learning to hold his head up a little bit at a time, but still gets pretty upset after a few minutes. I guess once he figures out how to turn over, he won't be so upset about it anymore!

Ryan is 30!

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

Ryan turned 30 on September 9th, and the next weekend we got together with some friends to eat barbecue, watch football, drink beer, and celebrate him being the first one to reach that milestone. And I made him wear a silly hat, because I'm mean. But I think he had a good time anyway.

Port Aransas trip

2009-09-07T17:44:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I had the chance to go to Port Aransas over Labor Day weekend while Luke stayed with Grandma Sandy, but because of some scheduling problems we were only able to spend one night down at the coast with our friends. Still, we managed to see everybody and had a lot of fun hanging out on the beach, swimming in the ocean, making s'mores, and visiting a brewery. It was the first time we'd all been together in a very long while, and we had a blast.

Working on sitting...

2009-08-31T23:34:00.003-05:00

Luke is starting to get very strong! He is holding his head up almost all the time now, and when we carry him against our shoulders he likes to hold his head up by himself and look around. He's working his abs really hard to get them ready to sit up by himself. Meanwhile, he's doing really well sitting with help from one of us. We'll either hold him by his sides, put a hand behind his lower back, or let him hold onto our fingers and pull himself into position and use them to steady himself.

He's also getting a lot more smiley... making funny faces at us while changing his diaper, and smiling with recognition when he wakes up and we get the day started, or when I pick him up from day care. It's really sweet to see that look on his face that he knows who we are!

Baby fun time!

2009-08-27T10:30:00.002-05:00

Last night after Luke's bath, the three of us got out his playmat that we haven't really done much with yet. Now that he's getting older, he is starting to take more interest in things he can see and hear, like the mirror in the picture and the zebra with the rattle in it (you can see the zebra's tail next to Ryan's face). He's starting to learn how to shake his hand a little when we put a rattle on his wrist, and while he doesn't know how to grasp things and hold onto them, he seems more interested when I take his hand and help him touch different textures of toys. It's fun to watch him grow into a little learning and playing machine.

He's not really enjoying tummy time yet - mostly he just kind of lays there and buries his face in the playmat and screams. But it's important, so we make sure he can breathe and let him scream it out for a couple of minutes before we flip him back over. He recovers pretty quickly, and since he's already doing well at sitting up (with support of course) and holding his head up, I know it will be pretty soon that he's able to push himself up while he's on his tummy!

Two months old!

2009-08-27T10:20:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, Luke turned 2 months old! We celebrated - ha - by going to see Dr. Alberts for his 2 month checkup. He weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz (up from 7 lb 11 oz back in July), was 24 inches long (he's grown 3 inches since he was born!) and his head circumference was 38.5 cm. Dr. Alberts said he looked happy and healthy, his sleeping and eating habits were good and normal, and she told us to keep doing what we're doing because he's doing great!

Luke also had to get his 2 month vaccines - an oral vaccine for Rotavirus, and 3 injections (Hep B, Hib and DTaP) which he was very unhappy about. I cried a little bit just from seeing him so upset! After the doctor, he had to go straight to day care and clueless parents that we are, we didn't have any baby Tylenol on hand to take with us. I ended up having to take half an hour in the afternoon to swing by HEB and pick up the Tylenol to deliver to the sitter, but he seemed to calm down when he saw me in the middle of the day. Since then, we've been keeping up with his Tylenol every four hours or so (except while he was sleeping!), and he had a bath last night to help relax him before bedtime. He seems to be feeling much better and slept really well last night.

This morning Luke saluted the Longhorns and wished them good luck in this year's hunt for the national title!

Dance, dance, dance

2009-08-24T00:50:00.003-05:00

Luke was wide awake Sunday evening, so to wear him out a little bit I put some toys on his wrists and let him flail around in his crib for a few minutes.

The Sunday Morning Diaper Challenge

2009-08-24T00:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning I got up and started getting Luke ready for church. Usually it's a pretty simple process - take off his cloth diaper, put him into a gDiaper, and get him dressed. But this time was quite a challenge. (What follows may be graphic to those who aren't parents, but will probably be funny to those who are...)

I took off his pajamas and found that his diaper was just barely wet. Not bad! So I loosened his diaper and started stuffing the insert into the gDiaper, when I heard a grunt. I looked down just as he let go of a big poop and a stream of pee flew into the air and landed back on the changing pad. Luckily I still had the diaper underneath him! I took the diaper out from under him and put a clean cloth diaper under him while I started cleaning him up, and he sprinkled the area two more times before I managed to get him covered and cleaned. I put the gDiaper on him and had almost gotten it fastened when I heard another grunt and he dirtied ANOTHER diaper. I took the gDiaper off, shook the insert into the trash can, stuffed another one in and managed to get it onto him this time. Luckily, he was completely empty by then so I didn't get sprinkled again.

All told, the changing table casualties were 2 cloth diapers, one diaper cover, a gDiaper insert, five wipes, and the changing pad cover. I hadn't put his clothes on for the day yet, so it was no big deal that the pajamas had to go into the hamper. Still, quite an exciting morning for changing a diaper!

Out and about

2009-08-24T00:29:00.000-05:00

We had a long day out on Saturday! We started out with lunch at Titaya's Thai Cuisine, where Luke wanted out of his car seat so he could look at all the interesting decorations on the walls. After lunch, we headed up to IKEA in Round Rock, where we walked through the whole store without buying a single thing! Ryan and I checked out the bed frames, but Luke was more interested in all the bright lights. We wrapped up our big day with a trip to Grapevine Market in Round Rock for a wine tasting, where Luke finally started to get fussy (probably because he can't hold a wine glass yet). It was hard to get him to fall asleep Saturday night, but when he finally did, he slept for nearly nine hours! Whew!

The critic

2009-08-24T00:22:00.000-05:00

Ryan has been working very hard on his podcast (it's up now at his website, Speak Podcast) and Luke decided he would help Ryan out. We may have to spring for some baby-sized headphones, but I think I see a successful producing career in his future. (Just like Mommy!)

A bath in the sink

2009-08-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

Friday night Ryan gave Luke a bath in the sink. Up until now, all of Luke's baths have been in the bathtub with Ryan, but now that he's able to hold his head up a little better it seemed like the sink would be easier. He fit in our bathroom sink pretty well - it was like it was made to be a baby bathtub! Luke's enjoying his baths much better now - it's just the after-bath routine of getting lotioned up and dressed again that he doesn't like.

Lukleberry Finn

2009-08-24T00:15:00.000-05:00

Luke looks so cute in his hat, especially when he wears overalls!

Another week flying by

2009-08-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow our little boy will be 8 weeks old! I can't believe it's been 8 weeks already... the time has really flown by. This week Luke started smiling more, but he is usually very smiley while I'm changing his diaper, so I don't generally have a camera handy.

Luke has been sleeping through the night all week, and I'm very thankful that he decided to do that the second week I returned to work. Monday morning I woke up and realized that I hadn't had to get up to feed him at 5:30, and he was just starting to wake up when I got up at 7:30. Part of it, I think, is that we have started putting him down to bed in his crib instead of in the pack and play in our room. We're also not putting him down when he's absolutely asleep most of the time - instead, he's starting to get drowsy, so we swaddle him and lay him down, turn on the little sound machine on his crib, and turn out the lights. I think he's really starting to get the idea, although I wonder if there's a time down the road when he will start waking up again. I'll just enjoy the extra rest while I can!

Luke and I went to the Mothers of Young Children group at church again this week, which I really enjoyed. I brought Luke's stroller in this time so that he could be up a little higher and see what was going on. We all played "Are You Smarter Than A Preschooler?" and I think Luke got a kick out of watching Mommy act like a big dork - I caught him smiling and almost laughing a couple of times! The group has been really nice - it's great to meet some other moms who are not only around my age, but have kids that aren't too old (but still older so I can benefit from their experience!). We've been talking about activities for the upcoming months and I'm particularly excited about the retreat in January that everyone was talking about last night.

Ryan got the news this week that he'll be switching to a dayside schedule in a few weeks. While that means Luke will be going to daycare all day, it also means that we will all get to be together in the evenings, and won't have to stay up until all hours to enjoy one another's company. It'll be nice to get Luke into a routine that involves both of his parents when we're all together.

I'm looking forward to a low-key weekend here in Austin with Ryan and Luke... we'll try to take lots of pictures!

Statistical analysis for mommies

2009-08-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

Today I discovered babybix.com, which is a site that lets you track your baby's habits. I should have been doing this all along... I've got nearly two months of missing data now! Basically, you input the baby's diapers (along with what was in them), sleep and awake times (including times you've put the baby down but he's not sleeping... also known as "transition time" or "attempted naps"), feeding times and amounts, measurements, and immunizations. The site aggregates the data and after a little while, you can start to look for patterns in baby's routine.

I think this will be really helpful as we gear up for Luke's two month checkup on August 26th, but also as he gets older and starts eating more, sleeping longer (or not as long, as the case may be)... and even when he gets into eating solid foods. Now that I'm back to work, it's also helpful because Ryan and I can both track Luke's habits (if I can get him on board with my new data obsession), plus I can input what happened while he was at day care, and we can both see his patterns as they develop.

There's also a journal function to track milestones and firsts, although I prefer to use Blogger for journaling, but it might be a nice way to jot down some notes! If you're a baby mama or daddy, you've got to check it out!

Fun out of the sun

2009-08-16T23:28:00.000-05:00

For some reason, on Friday I was bent on getting Luke a sunhat. I thought I'd pre-shop on the internet before actually venturing out to a store, but wasn't able to turn up any hats that I actually liked - most of them were pink, or ruffly, or elastic, or just plain ugly. And none of them could be had for less than $15, and many of them were only available online. So I decided instead that I would dig out the sewing machine that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was in college and make one!

I picked Luke up from day care and we circled back around to JoAnn Fabrics, where I browsed the cute cotton fabrics and vowed not to spend more than $10. I ended up with half a yard of blue fabric with white polka dots and half a yard of brown fabric with white polka dots, and some blue thread to match, and spent about $7.50. (I think the thread was the most expensive part - isn't that always how it goes?)

I liked the look of the tulip hat, and the fact that it only had one pattern piece. All I had to do was measure Luke's little head, do some math, draft the one pattern piece and voila! I'd be stitching in no time! Well, that was true - I drafted the piece, cut out 6 of the blue and 6 of the brown, and in about two hours I had a finished hat. That was way, way too small. It was probably slightly larger than a beer koozie, except it wasn't flat on the bottom, so I couldn't even use it for that. (In hindsight, I think I neglected to leave enough for seam allowances.) So, into the trash it went, and I went back to the drawing board.

I also liked this little bucket hat, but again had to measure his head, do math, and draw some pattern pieces. But, there were only four pieces to cut out of each fabric, so there was a lot less margin for error. I was kind of grateful that I'd warmed up with the too-small tulip hat, since the bucket hat involved pinning and stitching CIRCLES. Oh, man - I hate that. But after a minor mishap in which I sewed the brim on wrong (and at Ryan's suggestion, ended up leaving it on and sewing on another piece, stiffening the brim), I finished it in about three hours.

And the result was this:

Okay, so it isn't perfect by any means, and my zigzag stitch is horribly uneven and the brim may be just a tad ruffly, but it actually turned out kind of cute.

I need to take a better picture of Luke actually wearing the hat, but I was pretty pleased with my efforts. Last night I took another crack at the tulip hat, but it ended up being way too big. I guess it's not meant to be.

Grandparenting in the digital age

2009-08-16T16:46:00.000-05:00

We live about five or six hours from my hometown, where my parents still live, and as such it's really difficult for us to make the trip up there in a weekend when you consider that Ryan doesn't get home from work until 11:30pm on a good night, and I have to be at work at 9am. So we've been chatting with my mom from time to time via Google Talk. Really, we're chatting from within Gmail, which has a simple, straightforward video chat function built right in.

It's funny to think that even five years ago, this functionality was available but would have been difficult and expensive for us to set up. And ten years ago, we probably wouldn't have been able to get our hands on what we needed to do it, let alone have enough bandwidth to see one another. It's nice that my folks can see Luke via webcam, even if we aren't close enough for frequent visits.

My mom went up to Oklahoma City this weekend to visit some of her family, and we were able to show off Luke over many miles just by clicking a button. It's no substitute for hands-on grandparenting, of course, but it's a nice way to use the technology we have now.

The new normal

2009-08-11T10:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first day back at work. It was a little bit of a weird day - Luke woke up around 6am, so rather than feed him and go back to sleep, I fed him, got ready to go, and ran a couple of errands before I went in to work at 7:45am. Then I spent the next hour trying to remember my computer's password.

It was a good day at work, and I went home on my lunch break so that Ryan and I could take Luke to his first afternoon with our new sitter. We loaded up the spare diaper bag with all of his "school" things and drove over to her house. We rang the doorbell and took him inside. We told the sitter about his gDiapers (which she had agreed to use) and his formula and gave her all of his paperwork, and... that was it. No tears, no drama.

Everyone kept telling me how hard it would be to go back to work, but truth be told, I was eager to get back down to business. We knew that I would be going back to work all along, and that Luke would be going to some kind of day care or babysitter, so there was no wrestling with whether it was the right decision or not. It's what's right for our family right now.

After work, I picked Luke up, got the daily report from the sitter (who seemed to really like the gDiapers!) and we went home. I changed him, we walked the dogs, and then he was very sleepy, so we laid down and took a nap. We'll learn our new routine as we go along.

Naptime

2009-08-06T12:04:00.000-05:00

You know you've had a good lunch when you fall asleep and don't even bother to stretch your legs out. (Nearly 5 ounces!)

Mommy's night out... and shoes!

2009-08-05T23:36:00.001-05:00

Luke and I ventured out for a night out at our church tonight, where the Mothers of Young Children group was meeting. I decided that since Luke will have to get used to wearing shoes when he goes to day care (whichever one he ends up going to), we would give shoes a try. It took me longer to put the little shoes on his feet than it took me to outfit him in a fresh diaper, his shorts, and a tiny pair of socks. I discovered that it's really hard to tell which baby shoe goes on which baby foot... I'm not sure if it even mattered which was left and which was right, actually.

We drove downtown in rush hour traffic, but managed to make it to the church on time and got settled in. I introduced myself to a few of the other moms in the group, and met some of the other kids - Luke was definitely the youngest in the group, though! One of the moms made a delicious couscous dish and brought a chocolate fountain with some fruit and other goodies, and after dinner they played "Sex and the City" on the projector. Kind of an interesting choice for a church moms' group, but it was more of a moms' night out kind of situation, and we all had a good time. I left before the movie was over because I needed to get Luke into his pajamas and settled down for the night, but I think I'll probably go back to check things out when they meet again in two weeks. It's nice to meet some other moms!

Choosing a day care

2009-08-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

Next week I'll be back at work, which I'm excited about, but the thing that I'm not too excited about is that we will have to send Luke to be cared for by people we don't really know in the afternoons. I realize that there are people whose job it is to do this, and have much more experience in caring for babies than I do, but it's still terribly unnerving to think about, and I'm glad that Ryan will be the one dropping Luke off every day, and not me.

We have a day care all lined up, deposits paid, start date set, forms filled out, etc. But this morning I got a phone call from another small day care that's run by a church and happens to be loosely affiliated with our church, saying that they have an opening in the infant room on September 1st. Now that we have a choice, it's a tough thing to wrestle with.

The first day care is close to where I work. They don't have a half-day program, which means we're paying for all-day care, even though we only plan on taking Luke there in the afternoons. On the other hand, we would have the flexibility of having a full day available if, for some reason, Ryan gets called in to work dayside. Since we're paying for all-day care, it's a bit more expensive.

The second day care is nearly downtown. We would only be using the afternoon care, which makes it a little less costly, but we wouldn't have the flexibility of having the mornings available just in case. But I went and toured it this afternoon, and I have to say, I just feel better about this place. The first place seems perfectly adequate, but there have been a couple of things about them that have seemed weird to us. A couple of times, when we've called them, they just answer the phone with "Hello?" - if they answer at all - and then seem cagey about identifying themselves. They told Ryan that it was because they thought he was a solicitor. But if you're running a business, shouldn't you answer the phone every single time and answer a little more professionally than that?

I'm also a little more inclined to go to the second day care because it's affiliated with a church, which appeals to me. The teacher-to-child ratio in the baby classes are the same (1:4) at both, but the teachers in the baby class at #2 are a married couple who have been at this place for 17 and 18 years. That slow turnover is pretty amazing, and it's a big plus to me.

The biggest thing, though, is that the place that called today just gives me a better feeling. I can rationalize the pros and cons all day long about each, but a big part of parenting, I'm learning, is that sometimes your gut just tells you what to do (or what not to do). And with a decision like this, I think that going with our guts may be the most important thing we can do. I guess we'll talk it over tonight when Ryan gets home from work, and see where our guts lead us.

Measuring progress... what have I done today?

2009-08-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

One thing I'm learning as a new mom is that it's easy to feel like you haven't done anything, or done enough. It's easy to fall into the "to-do list" mindset of wanting to accomplish everything, but it's just impossible. I've read several blog entries lately, including a great one from a blog called New Mom Help, about thinking instead in terms of a "what have I done list."

Thinking like this reminds me that I can't do everything, but I can instead focus on doing what's important. It's nice to have everything clean and picked up and put away, but sometimes it doesn't all get done. But each task has lots of mini-tasks, and I can do the most important mini-tasks and feel like I have accomplished something.

In the past day or so, I've actually gotten a lot done. Sure, there is folded-up laundry on the table, and a baby bottle sitting in the living room, but I did manage to wash the cloth diapers (very important!) and put them away on the changing table, do another load of laundry and fold it up (it's not all put away yet, but I will get there), make the bed, get dressed (a biggie!), and Luke has been well cared for today (the most important of all).

If the only thing I do all day is feed and change Luke, then I've still accomplished a lot. We have a good stockpile of gDiapers, so if I don't manage to get to the laundry task and we run out of cloth diapers before I get them washed and dried, it's no big deal. If for some reason, I blew through two dozen cloth diapers and 120 gDiapers without stopping to do laundry, the grocery store is just next door and I can get some more.

Thinking in terms of what I have accomplished instead of what's left undone at the end of the day really helps to put things in better perspective.

Cooking with Daddy

2009-08-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight Ryan made pork chop suey for dinner, and Luke helped. Well, at least Luke hung out in the sling with Daddy for a little while. He was having kind of a fussy night, and finally settled down in the sling for a bit until stir-frying with a baby on became prohibitive for Ryan. It was a nice change of pace for Luke to be carried around the kitchen by someone else!

Trying out the recliner

2009-08-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

Yes, someday he'll ask his wife for one of these for his birthday. And then someday she'll end up sitting in it instead.

Bath night

2009-08-01T02:44:00.000-05:00

Ryan and Luke's tradition together is bath night. Luke gets a bath every other night or so when Ryan gets home from work. It's a nice way for Ryan to unwind and spend some good bonding time with Luke, and Luke gets good and clean and gets a slathering of baby lotion so he smells oh so good!

Luke didn't like the bath too much at first, but he's grown to enjoy it more and more, especially when Ryan doesn't use the bath seat and just holds Luke in his lap in the warm water. He's gotten to the point where he only gets upset when he's not in the water or in a hooded towel. As long as he's covered up with water or something fuzzy, he's a pretty happy boy!

After bathtime, Luke gets re-diapered and we put on his pajamas, he gets one more feeding and then he usually sleeps really well. It's nice for all of us!

Luke at home

2009-07-31T00:41:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I (mostly Ryan) took some pictures of Luke last weekend that turned out really cute... check 'em out!

Napping in the big bed

2009-07-31T00:22:00.000-05:00

I've been staying up way too late at night lately, mostly because after Ryan gets home from work it's the only time I get to hang out with a fellow grown-up after being alone with Luke all day. He gets home around 11:30pm most nights, so lately we've been going to bed around 1:30 or 2am. It caught up with me this afternoon, and I couldn't get Luke to fall asleep in the bassinet. He kept spitting out his pacifier, and even though he was dry and full and swaddled and drowsy, he just couldn't make the transition to actual sleep.

I picked him up and laid him next to me in the big bed, and laid down with my body pillow watching him, and within about two minutes he was perfectly asleep, pacifier dangling out of his mouth. I let myself drift off, and we slept for a good hour and a half before I woke up and watched as he slowly fidgeted himself into a happy state of wakefulness, and we got on with the rest of the day.

The sling's the thing

2009-07-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

Before I was pregnant, I don't know if I ever could have seen myself as a sling-toting, baby-wearing kind of mama. But I have really enjoyed wearing Luke in the sling! It really calms him down if he's being fussy, and it makes getting things done hands-free so much easier.

I have a Moby Wrap that we bought locally at Austin Baby. It's taken a little practice to get the wrapping part down, and I still can't wrap it as pretty as the people on the Moby website, but I can do it in just a couple of minutes and get Luke in it nice and snug. I've used it every evening to take the dogs out for their PM potty break, and wear it for a little while after that to load up the dishwasher, fold some laundry, or just "hold" Luke hands-free while I catch up on my friends on Facebook. Luke mostly sleeps in it, and when he starts wiggling and making noise it's usually because he needs a diaper change or he's hungry. He seems to be very comfortable with hanging out in the sling.

Today I needed to go to HEB for a few things (including formula, which means no more getting out of HEB for under $20) and decided that instead of bringing the car seat into the store and having to finagle it into the shopping cart, I would just wear Luke in the Moby Wrap. It was a little tricky crawling into the back seat of my little Kia to get him out of the car seat, but he enjoyed being in the wrap and spent the first half of the shopping trip looking all around at the produce, deli and bakery. He was asleep by the time we left the store, but I think that he probably enjoyed being in the wrap and actually being able to look around more than he can in the car seat (when he gets a stunning view of the upper shelves and the fluorescent lights in the store). We got a few "oh, he's so cute" comments as well.

I did feel a little self-conscious wearing the wrap, but this is Austin and people wear much weirder things at the grocery store. I'm feeling more comfortable with it every day, and I think it will be a great investment as long as my shoulders and back can handle the weight of this growing boy!

(Apologies for the terrible picture - I was sort of shooting and running through the produce department!)

Schedules

2009-07-28T18:25:00.001-05:00

Just when I think Luke is getting on a regular schedule, he decides to break up his feedings into a million mini-meals and throw things off. But overall, things are starting to even out a little...

6:30 or 7am - wake up, diaper change, eat
8am - go back to bed
10:30am - wake up, diaper change, eat
11:30am - hang out in a lap while we watch the news
1 or 1:30pm - diaper change, eat
2:30pm - take a nap, if I'm lucky
4 or 4:30pm - wake up, diaper change, eat
5:30pm - get in the sling to walk the dogs
6pm - sleep in the sling while I make/eat something for dinner
7pm - wake up, diaper change, eat
8pm - hang out in my lap or nap for a while
10pm - wake up, diaper change, eat
11:30pm - bath/daddy time
12:30am - eat
1am - sleep for the longest stretch of the night!
6:30 or 7am - start all over again

I guess things are pretty regular for the most part, but I'm still getting used to his little peculiarities. Today he's just been a little off... I'll change his diaper and he'll want to eat, but then he'll only eat an ounce or two and then nod off and not want to eat anymore. Then an hour later, he'll wake up fussy and hungry, and finish the bottle, and then wake up an hour later wanting to eat again. So I feel like I've had a bottle in my hand all day, and not the nice, relaxing grown-up kind.

Feeding frenzy

2009-07-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

I made the decision to breastfeed very early on in my pregnancy. I was really excited about all the money we would save not buying formula, about the prospect of bonding well with the baby, about all of the health benefits I would be able to pass on to Luke without spending any money. It was something I felt really strongly about, and my mind was absolutely made up.

Luke did great in the hospital, and took to breastfeeding like a fish to water. He seemed to have a good latch, especially whenever the nurses or lactation consultants were in the room. I dutifully woke up every two or three hours to feed him, which took up to an hour at a time, and occasionally even longer. He didn't even lose much weight in the hospital, and I felt really confident in our feeding relationship when we went home.

But after a few days, we had to make a day trip that ended up being pretty strenuous, especially considering that I'd had a C-section and had only been out of the hospital for three or four days. The next night, I had a fever and chills, and by the next morning (Sunday) I was running a 104 degree fever. We put a call in to the OB nurse, and they advised us to go to the emergency room, where I was diagnosed with a painful case of mastitis, given IV antibiotics and a prescription for 10 more days of medication, and advised to rest.

We went to Luke's second appointment with the pediatrician the following Thursday, and he hadn't gained any weight since his first appointment eight days earlier. I cried all the way through the rest of the appointment, which really irritated me because the nurse kept asking if I was all right... but I was just frustrated and felt totally inadequate, which was only reinforced when the doctor advised us to supplement Luke's feedings with formula, visit a lactation consultant, and buy a $300 breast pump.

The next day, Friday, I went to my OB office to have my C-section incision checked, and the nurse practitioner also checked on my mastitis and prescribed a (pricey) compound prescription to help heal things up. She also recommended a lactation consultant, and the expensive breast pump, and to keep trying...

My parents were in town during this time, and so they watched Luke while I went to the pharmacy to pick up the expensive prescription. On the way home from the pharmacy, I kept thinking about how I was having such a hard time with breastfeeding, how I was sleep-deprived and losing my mind, how what was supposed to be the "free" and natural way to feed our baby was turning into an expensive, overthought, overwrought process that I was still going to have to supplement because I wasn't able to feed our baby as much as his growing body needed.

So I made the decision on the drive home to quit breastfeeding. I got home, pulled out the bottles that we had and sanitized them, pulled out the canister of formula we'd gotten at the hospital, and made the switch right away. I had a couple of days of discomfort, but the harder part was that for that whole weekend, every time I sat down to feed Luke a bottle I would feel like crying. It took me a few days to mourn the decision, but I kept trying to remind myself that it was what Luke needed to grow into a healthy boy, and my body was just not keeping up - in fact, it was worn out and losing steam.

By the end of the weekend, I felt much better - my mastitis was nearly healed, I had caught up on some lost sleep by having the luxury of handing some feedings off to Ryan, and I was starting to feel like myself again. On Monday, Luke and I both had follow-up appointments. Luke had gained 11 ounces in just five days, and the pediatrician was so pleased with his weight gain that she gave us the okay to let him sleep as long as he wanted at night, instead of having to wake him up every two or three hours to eat. In the afternoon, the nurse practitioner told me to just finish out my antibiotics and let them know if the mastitis returned.

I still have occasional pangs of guilt that I gave breastfeeding up, but it has been great for our family. I am not a sleep-deprived, crying mess of a woman, and can even enjoy a beer or a glass of wine every now and then (I'm still a lightweight from 9 months of tee-totaling). Ryan can feed the baby while I sleep sometimes, although I'm still taking on the early morning feeding out of habit. But most of all, I am able to care for myself and for my son because I have the mental strength to do it, which I was losing very quickly. I'm glad that at least I was able to feed Luke for the first two weeks of his life, and we will just take the rest as it comes.

Birth announcement

2009-07-28T00:34:00.001-05:00

My mom made an online birth announcement for Luke when he was born... click to check it out!

A month of learning

2009-07-28T00:15:00.000-05:00

I've been off work for the past month, and have two more weeks to go before I am back at the daily grind (and Luke goes to day care). It's been a month of on the job learning, and some of the things I've learned are things that they either don't write about in the baby books, or don't underscore heavily enough.

For the first week or two after going home from the hospital, you will forget to eat. Remind yourself, or you will turn into a monster very quickly.
When they say that if you don't rest enough, you'll get mastitis and be miserable, THEY MEAN IT. They should put this in giant, bold letters in the What to Expect book. It should have its own chapter, because it's that miserable and should not be a footnote.
We are cloth diapering at home, and the biggest thing I've discovered about this is that the poopiest diaper in the load will be the first new one after you've put a load in the washing machine.
Also, cloth diapering is not as hard as everyone says it is, even with the washing and stuff, because it would take just as long to take out a full trash bag as it does to take the diapers out of the dryer and stack them up.
The thing that you want the most about being a mom will probably be the thing that goes the most wrong. In my case, breastfeeding... more about that later.

I'm sure there are much more things to learn as we go along, but that's what's jumped out at me so far. It's only been a month... we have years of tidbits to pick up.

How we got started...

2009-07-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

We're a family of three now! Our son, Luke, is a month old now and I'm already behind in documenting his progress as a person (at least in this info-on-demand world). I do tweet pretty frequently about how things are going, though, so if you want to go back and read all about Luke's first month of life outside the womb (and even some before), feel free to go back and read my Twitter page.

However, I did tweet my way through part of labor, beginning the night before Luke arrived when my labor induction was begun, and after Luke's arrival (not the part where I was having the C-section, of course):

Been at the hospital for about 2 hours now. Apparently I'm actually having contractions and just didn't know it. Plans may change! #fb7:14 PM Jun 25th from Tweed

By the way, I hate having an IV. Never had one before and it sucks, big time. #fb7:46 PM Jun 25th from Tweed

I've been dosed w/Cervidil (instead of Cytotec) and the nurse just told me I'm "contracting right along." Ambien + sleep soon. #fb9:18 PM Jun 25th from Tweed

http://twitpic.com/8fkhu - Baby's heartbeat on top; contractions on the bottom. #fb

Kind of awake... slept pretty well, considering. Mom and Jake got in about 2 hrs ago. Ryan is sawing logs after a restless night. #fb6:10 AM Jun 26th from Tweed

http://twitpic.com/8gjmt - Breakfast of champions! #fb7:40 AM Jun 26th from TwitPic

Took a shower, 2 laps around the L&D ward and now I'm watching Golden Girls with my new frenemy, Pitocin. #fb9:11 AM Jun 26th from Tweed

@ryanloyd http://twitpic.com/8h1xr - Ryan is an awesome coach!!11:49 AM Jun 26th from TwitPic

Epidurals really do rock. I think I'll go back to sleep for a while. Wake me up when it's time to push... #fb1:37 PM Jun 26th from Tweed

At last check, dilated 4. Baby's head seems to be moving down. Ryan is catching some well-deserved ZZZs and I'm going to do the same! #fb4:25 PM Jun 26th from Tweed

5 cm/80% effaced. Made 1 cm progress in an hour, so that's good news! Let's go, cervix! #fb5:01 PM Jun 26th from Tweed

Still hanging out, hoping my cervix gets down to business. If I haven't progressed next time they check me, they're talking C-section. #fb7:38 PM Jun 26th from Tweed
(At this point, I had that C-section, and Luke was brought out into the big, bad world at 8:21 PM.)
RT @ryanloyd: http://twitpic.com/8jg66 - Introducing Luke Isaac Loyd!!!!! 7 lb 3 oz 21 in 8:21 pm #fb12:59 AM Jun 27th from Tweed