Luke eats applesauce

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

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

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

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!

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

Luke's first spoon feeding

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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!

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

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!

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

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...

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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