Monday....Weigh In

Since Luke's two week check up we have been keeping our fingers crossed that he was gaining weight. My friend Virginia came yesterday to help me take Luke to the doctor for a weight check. I think everyone in Goodlettsville was at the doctor! It was so busy. We had to wait a really long time but Luke did great and only got fussy toward the end. The scales don't lie....Luke now weighs 8 lbs! He had gained 1 1/2 lbs since his two-week visit! We were thrilled. So, we are doing something right. Dr. Patterson was very pleased and said he is doing great which was very evident from all of our cheesy grins in the pic above.

Virginia spent the day with us which was great. She also played photographer which I very much appreciate. We still don't have a picture of her with Luke yet. Monday night a friend from church brought us supper which is always a big help.

Luke's Newborn Pics...

Today has been another pretty relaxing Saturday. One thing that we did today was have Luke's newborn pictures done. Kelly has been debating between getting them done or not since he was born. I told her it didn't matter to me if she got them made or not. She decided that she really wanted to have some so she got one of Andrew's high school classmates to do them. She has a photograph business on the side (www.mattiecallahan.com). She came to our house and took pictures for over an hour and Luke hardly ever made a peep. I just knew he would be whining the entire time. She asked if we wanted to take any of him without his diaper, and both Kelly and I looked at each other and said it wouldn't be a good idea, because Luke tends to pee about every five minutes. Well we decided to give it a try and he did great! We didn't take any pictures while she was taking them, but here are a few other ones. Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Lovin' Bath Time

For some reason every 3 days or so Paul and I begin to dread bath time. Or, maybe that is just me. I don't know why I dread it because the more bath times we have the more Luke seems to like it. Tonight was one of those nights. Luke didn't make a peep during the whole process. He seems to enjoy the warm heat we have blowing on him and getting his hair washed and combed. Yes, we comb the little hair he has. It has a tendency to stick straight up if we don't! So, I am putting some more bath time pictures on here. They are some of my favorite.

Luke and Lauren

There have been very few days since Luke has been home that we have not had company. It is nice for me because it breaks the day up and it is good to have adult interaction if only for a few minutes! Today was special because Luke got to meet his cousin Lauren. Lauren was out of school a couple of days for the MLK holiday. She spent the night with Nana and Grandpa last night. They came by to see Luke this afternoon. Lauren was a little shy and didn't want to hold him but we convinced her to get her picture made with him. It won't be long before Luke will be running around chasing Lauren!

Tummy Time

When we were in the hospital the nursing staff stressed to all the new parents the importance of "tummy time". You are supposed to put your newborn on their tummy a few times a day to promote development of their neck muscles. Since the recommendation came out years ago that all babies should sleep on their backs there has been a decline in development of infants specifically their neck muscles. So, we are trying to have "tummy time" as much as we can. Last night Paul and Luke were lying in the floor and Luke raised his head up and moved it from one side to the other! Needless to say we were thrilled. He also played in his bouncy seat. We put him in it last week and he seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the brightly colored toys that hung in front of him. Well, what a difference a few day makes. He reached for the toys and held on! It is amazing how quickly they change and develop.

Trip to Sunday School

Well, even though Sunday was one of the coldest days of the year we decided it was time for Little Bit to go to church. Of course, in our haste to get all three of us out the door somewhat on time we forgot the camera to document the occasion. Luke slept through most of the lesson from Psalms. He was a big hit with all of our friends. When it comes to trying something new with the little guy we decided baby steps is the way to go. So, we will attempt "Big Church" another day. All in all it was a good Sunday morning and we spent most of the rest of the day recuperating from our trip! My good friend, Virginia came to meet Luke Sunday afternoon. She just moved back to Nashville this weekend after a 5-year stint in Boston. We are glad she is back and will be a part of Luke's life!

Relaxing Saturday afternoon...

Although I love working outside on Saturdays when the weather is nice, I also love when it is cold outside and you have an excuse to not feel guilty for sitting inside all day. Today is one of those days. This morning we got Luke bundled up and headed out for a quick outing. Kelly needed to run some things back to Target and Wal-Mart, and I needed to run something back to Sam's. So we got all of that done. Luke did great. I really think he enjoys riding around in the car. When Kelly was a baby and she wouldn't calm down her parents always took her out driving and she would fall asleep. She is still like that to this day, five minutes out of the driveway on a road trip and she is out like a light.

The only thing on my to-do list today is to watch the UT-Ohio State game at 2:30 and do a little straightening up. Hope you all have a great weekend!

A few new pictures...

Thanks for all the food...

Thursday night Mr and Mrs. Morris, Kelly's friend Laura's parents, came over and brought us a ton of food. She brought a roast, potatoes, green beans, rolls, a pie and a coffee cake. It was all delicious! Kelly and I are truly blessed with the help that our friends and family have showed us the past few weeks.

Visit to Dr. Patterson

Today was our first "official" visit to Dr. Patterson at Goodlettsville Pediatrics for Luke's two-week check up. He did great! He passed his hearing test with flying colors as well as all of his other newborn screenings. We were thrilled to learn that he has gained 8 oz and is almost back up to his birth weight! Dr. Patterson gave him a thorough going over and declared him "perfect"! What a relief to the nervous, first time parents. Whew! We are doing something right! Dr. P asked us to drop by in a week or two to recheck his weight and then we do not go back until he is two months old. I know that time will fly by. What a blessing to have a healthy baby boy....

Cute Pictures....

Luke enjoying "tummy time" after a bath.

Paul and I have taken so many pictures since Little Bit arrived! I love to scrapbook but our first order from SnapFish was 98 pictures! I don't see how I will ever get all that done. I am not going to let that bother me though and will keep snapping away!

Daddy's Home!

Every day when Paul gets home we are so happy to see him! He usually takes Little Bit and has some male bonding time in the rocking chair. Sometimes they even take a nap which if you know Paul is unheard of! Since Luke has been in our life our sleep pattern has been seriously disrupted but we don't mind. He is worth it.

Shower for 5

One of our gifts was a unique blanket made by one of our friends. It is Auburn on one side and UT on the other. How appropriate!

Paul and I are truly blessed with a wonderful church home. We absolutely love our Sunday School class at Hermitage Hills Baptist Church (www.hermitagehillsbaptist.com) . Even though we have moved further away we intend to stay at HHBC as long as we feel led. On Sunday afternoon our Sunday School class hosted a "Baby Shower for 5". There is a baby boom in our class! Five of us were expecting within about 8 weeks of each other. Instead of doing a shower for each, we had a combined shower. Two of us have actually already had our babies, both of which arrived early. The main focus of the shower was a time of prayer, praise and celebration of new life. Each of us moms submitted specific areas in our lives that we wanted prayer. We took turns sitting on a sofa and being surrounded by the ladies in our class who prayed aloud for our specific needs. It was very moving and really meant a lot to me. It was the first time I had been away from the little guy and of course I was reluctant to leave. Paul had babysitting duties which he did beautifully.

Busy Day, Part III

Saturday night, Jon, Jim and Claudia came by and brought supper. Jim and Claudia hadn't seen Luke since the night he was born. I think he has changed quite a bit. We all had fun relaxing and watching some football. Paul, Luke and I were all worn out after our busy day. But it was fun getting to see everyone.

Busy Day, Part II

My boss, Cindy, came by Saturday afternoon. I was supposed to have a shower at work on the 8th. Well, needless to say, I couldn't make it. So, Cindy brought the shower to me, which was very sweet. She brought by the gifts and visited with Luke for a little while. It is weird to think I don't have to go back to work until April. You won't find me complaining though!

Saturday, Busy Day

One thing Paul and I have learned very quickly is that having a baby changes your life, especially when it comes to visitors! Everyone wants to visit Luke. We had a very busy day Saturday. My grandmother, aunt and two cousins from Tullahoma came for lunch. It took us forever to eat because everyone was watching him. So, now Luke has met all of his great-grandmothers. I think they all agree he is a sweetie.

My first day back to work...

I can't believe Luke is already over a week old. When I told my boss that I was going to take off work when he was born I wasn't sure how long I would need off. So I decided to take a week and go from there. Well as of yesterday my week was up and I was back to work. It was really tough leaving Kelly and Luke because the three of us had been together 24 hours a day for the past week. When I was leaving we all teared up a little bit, but the day ended up going pretty smooth for all of us. Kelly's mom came yesterday morning and stayed with her. I think that really helped Kelly out a lot to get a few things done and be able to relax!

Just a few pictures...















pretty darn cute little fella















mom and dad would you please hurry and change my diaper!















right after the second bath
















I wish you all would just leave me alone!

Luke meets MeMaw...

This afternoon we headed up to Gallatin for MeMaw (my grandmother) to meet Luke. This was our first day out of the house with Luke other than last Saturday when we went to the doctor. It was quite an ordeal just to go up the road to stay only about an hour. I guess this is just the beginning of how much this little guy really is going to control our lives. But you won't hear any complaints out of us.

Luke meets Kitty...

This afternoon Dad brought Kitty, my grandmother, over to see Luke. When she got here I told her she had to hold him. At first she said she didn't like holding newborns, but I pretty much made her hold him. I think she really enjoyed holding him, she held him for almost 30 minutes.

Because we had four generations of our family at the house today I couldn't pass up a great photo opportunity.

While Kitty was here she told some stories about Dad when he was a baby. She also told Kelly some stories about how I was when I was a baby.

Luke's first time outside...

On Monday morning I told Kelly that we needed to go outside and go for a short walk with Luke. The temperature got up to 71 degrees that day, and I knew we should take advantage of the nice weather, because it could be a long winter. Of course Kelly was a little nervous about having him out his first time. There was some wind, but the stroller can block most of the wind. So we bundled him up like it was 10 degrees outside and took him for his first walk.














Kelly covering him up in the stroller.

We were only gone about fifteen minutes because of Luke and Kelly. She is not supposed to do any extrenuous exercise for at least two weeks. So we took it nice and slow. She started pushing him but passed him off to me when she started to get tired. Luke did great, I think he enjoyed getting out and seeing the big world for the first time.














Me pushing the stroller. Although my face doesn't look it, I really
was excited to be out pushing him. This is the first of many walks I hope
we take.

Luke's first bath

I don't know who was more nervous Kelly and I or Luke. Right before we left the hospital they gave us a quick lesson on newborn bathing. But that still didn't make it seem very easy. Luke was due for his first bath this morning. After the initial shock wore off Luke did great, and he seemed to actually enjoy it. He is too young to put in bath water, so we just gave him a sponge bath.