I still sometimes pinch myself when I realize Jon and I have been blessed four times now to welcome a new person into our family. The "big" kids, as I have found myself referring to them, have been amazing these past months, helping with, getting to know, and loving on their new baby brother. I know (from experience!) that before long, our little baby Luke will be a busy toddler, then an exploring preschooler, then....well, you get the idea. So, I'm going to live in the moment and be so very grateful we've been blessed with another opportunity have have a baby in the house. I love it! One of the best parts of having him is watching Drew, Aden, and Anna interact with him. The last photo of them smiling at him is really representative of what these seven months have been like.
I want to write Luke's birth story, but not tonight. Here's my attempt at a recap of the last seven months' worth of Luke's milestones: Sleeping through the night came earlier than I expected (in the first month!), and he has continued to be a great sleeper. He sleeps on his back with his arms behind his head, which is what I think he wanted to do from the beginning, because he's never loved swaddling other than as a tiny newborn. He was seven pounds and 11 ounces at birth, so wore newborn clothes for a few weeks, but quickly gained enough to move into 0-3 months. We used newborn diapers for exactly two weeks. He was in size two by the time six weeks rolled around, and that was when I started using our cloth diapers. His first non-doctor related outing was at six weeks old to take Drew to the orthodontist. He has been really easy to be out with, and was very happy in the sling as a newborn/young baby. The kids and I gave him his first real bath when he was around three weeks old. He cried, but has loved bath time ever since! He's a great nurser....has been from the start, and has had no other food as of yet. He prefers to hold my finger while he nurses, which I totally love! He reached for someone (Drew's baseball coach) at 5 months, but really hasn't done it much since. He got his first bottom tooth at five and a half months, I think, and the other bottom one and two front top ones followed soon after. Luke has no interest in crawling yet...he is not a fan of tummy time! Aden witnessed him rolling over once a few weeks ago, but he hasn't repeated that feat yet. We've realized he gets held so much that he hasn't had much of a chance to practice! At 6 months he became really good at grabbing things. His hand control has changed so much just in the last few weeks. He loves to pat things, and loves to handle mine and Anna's hair...he's pretty gentle for the most part! He outgrew his small Fuzzibunz diapers by six months, and now we're mostly using Flip covers with prefolds or inserts. We took his first big road trip at 6 months and covered lots of miles, meeting all his family along the way. His new trick at seven months is blowing lots of bubbles....noisily! He also loves to talk, and will hold out a sound until he uses up all of his air, almost like he's singing. It's pretty funny! Luke loves to play, and just this week has begun to enjoy peek-a-boo. He's also just started being more aware of who mama is. He finds the tags on toys just like his brothers and sister did. He sometimes starts to cry when we lay him down to change his diaper, but we can easily distract him with a toy or singing. He sits pretty happily for awhile in his exersaucer, and also likes the doorway jumper. He's loved the bouncy seat since he was a newborn, and still enjoys it. Until recently, Drew could easily get him to sleep by putting him in it and gently bouncing him. We've never used the vibrate part. He was never really into the swing, so I gave it to a good friend who has a newborn. This is opposite his siblings, who loved to swing! At church last Sunday, I realized he was purposefully dropping a toy, then waiting for me to retrieve it, then dropping it again. He can sit up alone, but still frequently falls over if not supported. He's wearing 9 months clothes right now, but can wear a lot of 12 months as well. He loves to get others' attention by smiling at them, then lays his head against whoever's holding him as if he's shy, then looks up and smiles again.
Next post, I need to write about the actual events of the past seven months. There's baseball, the chorus trip (Drew and Aden got to go with Jon), and our summer road trip to document, as well as just everyday life in our family. It's been an amazing year so far! I've said it many times, and I'll say it again...we have so much to be grateful for.
