Everything Old is New Again...

When I was looking for something for Luke to wear for his 3-month pictures and his baby dedication Paula offered for me to look through some of Paul's baby clothes. Even though I didn't find anything for his pictures I brought several things home for Luke to wear. Paula did a great job keeping the boys clothes in wonderful shape all these years. This morning we put Luke in one of Paul's outfits. He looked adorable! It is hard to find cute outfits like this anymore. Paula made a lot of the boys clothes. I can't wait until Luke wears one of those.

Two Parties!

Emma and Luke did not want to
cooperate with the photo taking!

Emma was not real interested in the
birthday cake and singing.

Luke and Paul posing at Audrey's
Graduation Party.

We had a really busy Saturday. Paul and I finished up mulching the yard that morning. Emma Louw's 1st Birthday party was that afternoon at the Nashville Zoo. She had it with 2 of her friends from daycare. It was a lot of fun. We had never been to the zoo so we took some time after the party to go exploring. We think Luke will definitely enjoy it when he is a little older.

From there we headed over to Mt. Juliet to our friend Audrey's graduation party. She graduated from law school yesterday so her parents wanted to celebrate. We had a great time. There were so many people there and the food was fabulous! Unfortunately I was not the best photographer and only took one picture all night. Luke did great all day until close to 8 o'clock when he let us know it was time to leave and go to bed! We were so glad to have a fun-filled Saturday!

Luke's New Skills

Luke has done several new things this week. One morning while Paul was feeding him his bottle he started holding it on his own and stayed like that until Paul tried to snap his picture! Another morning this week when Paul went in to wake him up he was on his tummy. So, he had rolled over during the night. Paul also tried to capture this but Luke was in the process of rolling back over. You notice that I missed both of these milestones due to being on the other side of the house getting ready for work!

Name That Flower....

This shrub has buds all over it. If it goes unidentified
I will post again when it blooms.

These purple flowers seem to only be open in the morning
and have a yellow center. They are very tall.

I know the plant on the left is a hosta but am not
sure about the one on the right.

When Paul and I moved in our new house last fall we knew we were in for a lot of work with the yard. The lady that owned the house previously had put in extensive landscaping. There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to what she planted or where. We have spent much of the spring trying to determine what everything is so we know how to care for it! I decided to enlist the help of our blog readers to determine what some of the mystery plants are. If you know the identity of any of the above plants please let me know.

Cool Shades

We picked Luke up some sunglasses recently. We tried them on him today. They didn't seem to bother him at all. He hasn't actually worn them outside yet though.

Too Little Sleep

Since Luke has been teething the past week or so his nights have been really messed up. He has been waking up every 3 hours or so which has not been fun for any of us! In addition to teething he has had a cold/cough for over three weeks. We have taken him to the doctor and called several times but there is nothing they can do. It is supposedly a "summer cold". This weekend he has run a temperature off and on so we have spent most of the time around the house. Luke and I went back to bed yesterday morning which seemed to be the best sleep he had all night.

Paul brought a load of mulch home Friday after work so Saturday my mother came and kept Luke most of the day so Paul and I could work out in the yard. It was really nice to work outside. It was absolutely beautiful in Nashville. We still have a lot we want to do in the yard but that will come in time.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Paul is able to get tickets to the Sounds games through work. We had tickets for Thursday night. It rained most of the day and we weren't sure if we would be able to go or not. Luckily it cleared off an hour before the game and we headed to the ball park. Luke loved it! He didn't get fussy at all and just looked around and took it all in. We stayed until the 4th inning. Little did we know the Sounds ended the game with a no-hitter. Oh well! This will probably be the first of many hours we will spend at various ball parks. We hope to go to see the Braves next year!

Cute Bath Pics

We have made so many pictures of Luke the past 4 months but my favorites are still bath time ones. Luke loves to have a bath now. He splashes in the water and likes to kick his rubber duckie around. We know there will come a day when he doesn't want to take a bath even if he is covered head to toe with dirt!

First Food

Last Tuesday Paul and I decided to try cereal with Luke. At our 4 - month check up with Dr. P she said we could start some solid foods with the little guy. We only got one picture because it took both of us to get him to eat it! He didn't really know what to think and only took a couple of bites. We have tried twice since then and he still doesn't seem to know what is going on. We are going to keep working on it.

Special Mother's Day

We posed for some pictures before the service began.

All of the fathers held their children while kneeling to pray.
It was a very special time.

The entire family was there to share this special day with us!

Today was a very special day for me for several reasons. First of all it was my first Mother's Day. It is still hard to believe I am a mom sometimes. Second of all we chose this day to have Luke dedicated at church. The ceremony is more of a commitment that the parents make to raise their child in a Christian home and to hopefully someday see them commit their life to the Lord. There were twenty one children dedicated today! It was really special to have most of our immediate family with us to celebrate this special occasion.

Luke did really well through everything. He babbled a little bit during the prayer but never cried. We were so proud of him. Afterwards we took him to the nursery were he slept until we went back to get him. Everyone came back to our house for lunch which was really nice. Paul and Luke let me take a nap this afternoon and then we have spent the rest of the day playing with the little guy. I had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Now, That's Entertainment!

Before Andrew and Mandi came over Saturday night we decided to put Luke in the Bebe Pod again. We have set him in it several times but he usually leans over to one side and has shown no interest in the little toy at all. Last night he suddenly discovered the little wheel in front of him and went to town with it! He kept spinning it around and around and laughing at it. It took a lot of concentration to keep it going. We captured a short video of him playing with the toy.

We also discovered that he is teething! He has been drooling a lot more lately and sure enough he has two little humps on his bottom gum line. He has been a little more fussy and is trying to put everything in his mouth to chew on it.

Florida Surprise!

Andrew and Mandi completely surprised us by coming up this weekend. They showed up at Mom's house late Friday night. I didn't find out they were in town until Saturday afternoon when Andrew called to see if he could take us to dinner. I told him that depended on if he was going to come to Tennessee or if we had to go to Florida! When he told me they were here I couldn't believe it. He and Mandi came over and brought supper that night and we hung out for a while. It was a great surprise!

Daddy and Me

We had a busy day Saturday. I had to work Saturday morning and then we had several errands to run to get ready for Mother's Day. Paul went to the Vanderbilt vs. Georgia baseball game with the guys from Sunday School that afternoon. When he got home I handed Luke to him who was awake at this point. He nuzzled down in Paul's chest and fell fast asleep! It was so cute! There was no persuading, no rocking or anything. He must have been a tired little guy.

Story Time

Friday afternoon Luke's first book from the Governor's Books From Birth Foundation arrived in the mail. Every child in Tennessee is eligible to receive free books until age five. We received "The Little Engine That Could." Paul wasted no time in reading it to Luke. Since he was in the Baby Bjorn he had no choice but to listen! Luke does love being read to. Luke also watched his first Baby Einstein Friday night. He was completely enthralled for about 15 minutes and then he lost interest.

Luke's Little Friends

In the past few weeks Luke has started to take more of an interest in some of his toys and stuffed animals. He especially likes "Moo" who is just his size. He likes to hold on to him and pull his tail. We aren't sure that Moo appreciates that! Today when he feel asleep on our bed he snuggled up to "Jackson". Jackson was brought back from Jackson Hole by Nana last year. When Luke was beginning to wake up I noticed he was patting on Jackson. So sweet.... On another note Luke's bib always ends up covering his face. He likes to hide behind it.

We went this morning to have Luke's 4 month shots. While we were at the doctor's office Saturday Dr. Patterson went ahead and did everything she would do at the 4 month check up so all we had to do today was drop by and get his shots. Luke did OK. He cried for awhile but was better once we got home and he had some Tylenol.

Luke now weighs 15# 10 oz and is 24 1/4" long. He is still in the 50th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height or the "Buddha" phase. My mom found my old baby book and I weighed 15# 6 oz at 4 months. I thought that was pretty cool.

Old Friend....

This past weekend my friend Julie was in town from Canada. Julie and I met when I started working at the hospital over six years ago. She was a social worker on the same floors I covered. She is such a hoot. Since then she met Peter and moved to Canada! It was so great to see them and play catch up for a little while. Thanks for a great afternoon Julie!

Another Scare...

Yesterday afternoon I was playing with Luke. He was starting to get a little fussy, and normally if you throw him up in the air (of course with your hands under his arms) he likes it. Well yesterday I decided to try that right underneath the foyer light fixture. I put my hands under his armpits, and shoved him in the air. The next thing I heard sounded like glass breaking, as he had knocked the glass globe off it's support. By the time I looked up he had busted out crying and the first thing I saw was the small ball on the bottom of the lamp right in his eye. I immediately thought the worst of course, that I had poked his eye out or at least done some bad damage. Well he cried pretty hard for about ten minutes, and since he was due to eat anyway, Kelly went on and fed him. Well he quieted down and never made another pep about it, and he was actually pretty playful even. We never could find any kind of red spot or bruise on him. I told Kelly I was amazed at how tough that little guy is. I am sure that is only one of many "scared to death" moments we will have with him.

To the Doctor

Well, we had to make a trip to the pediatrician today. Luke has been sneezing and coughing for a week now. He coincidentally developed it after only a couple of days in daycare. We had called the doctor and did what they told us...saline drops, sits in a steamy bathroom and so forth. To this point he had not had a fever. Last night before we were getting ready to put him to bed Paul decided to take his temperature since he felt warm. It was 101.4! It freaked us both out so we called the pediatrician's on-call service. We were told to give him Tylenol every 4 hours and go to the doctor this morning. The crazy thing through all of this is that Luke has been acting great. He is in the best mood, very playful and not fussy at all.

We went to see Dr. P at 11:30. She drew some blood to check his white blood cell count. They were normal. If they had been high we would have known he had an infection; if they were low he had a virus. But, it was perfect, right down the middle. She told us just to watch him and see if his fever continued to be high. The times we have checked it today it has been around 99. Hopefully it will stay that way. We know this is just the beginning of all sorts of illnesses. We will have to wait and see how he does tomorrow to determine if he will be able to go to daycare Monday or not.

On a lighter note, Luke watched his first Kentucky Derby this afternoon and seemed to really enjoy it. It could have been that I was bouncing him up and down and making horse noises. Virginia was there so I can't wait to hear all about it!

4 months...

Today is Luke's four month birthday. It is hard for Kelly and I to believe he is already 4 months old. In a way it seems like forever ago and in another way it seems like just last week he was born. We are still enjoying every single day with him and he is growing stronger and more alert everyday.

We bought the little chair for him to sit in and we decided to try him in it tonight. He did pretty good, but had a little lean.

He goes next Wednesday for his shots, lets hope he does as good with them as he did with the 2 month shots.

Farmboy...

Well, I am pretty sure Luke is going to follow along with the family farming interests. Here he is wearing his first pair of overalls, and of course he has his John Deere shirt on underneath. He just looks natural in the outfit doesn't he? I can't wait for the time I get to take him out on his first tractor ride!!