Baby Lucas and Mr. Chef

This is what Sophie, our nanny's daughter, calls Lucas and Jeff. She is a sweet little 3yr old that comes to work with her mommy every day. Her mommy's name is Kristen. Kristen is the 2nd amazing nanny that our family has been blessed with this year. It was like it was meant to be. I started looking for a full time nanny around Thanksgiving of last year, thinking that was plenty of time. I emailed with several people, interviewed a few, and even turned two down...so over Christmas vacation we had no clue who would be watching Lucas when I started work just a few days later.

Lucas's Kindermusik teacher said she knew another Kindermusik teacher that may be interested in becoming a nanny so that she could spend more time with her daughter. I originally wasn't open to another child being in the house, but the more I thought about it the better it sounded. I figured it would be great for Lucas to have someone to play with and look up to, and it would give the nanny something to do during the three hours a day that Lucas is sleeping.

I called Kristen to introduce myself and she said that she was not planning on quitting her current job as a KM teacher until the summer. I told her that I'd keep her # and call her in the summer if I was in need of someone. A few days later I interviewed yet another young girl not capable of being alone with my baby, and was desperate. I called Kristen back and asked her if she'd reconsidered. A few days later we hired her!

Today was the longest amount of time that I have been away from Lucas (8 hours), and I was completely at ease and comfortable with having him with Kristen (and Sophie). She says that Lucas is a really easy and agreeable baby (haha). I think he must be entertained by Sophie. For the past two days he had played for 4 hours in the morning and then crashed for a 2.5 hour nap when he couldn't stay awake to play for any longer.

I told Kristen today that we couldn't be happier with the situation and that I wanted to make sure that she was always happy. She said that it's also been a blessing for her and that Sophie confirmed that last night by saying, "Mommy, we had a great day today." :-)

A Visit with Gina

This morning Lucas and I went to visit Gina, his first nanny (also a friend). Gina now lives in a historic district that is closer to downtown Raleigh. The neighborhood has so much character - I came home and told Jeff I wanted to move there. We had lunch at Gina's, went for a walk around her neighborhood, and then played around with the camera since her front porch was such a great setting. Gina took all of these except for the first two that have her in them.

Gina - I love these. Thank you for taking them!

and probably my favorite...

Baby Einstein

Thank goodness for Baby Einstein DVDs. Last night the only way we could get Lucas to relax enough to rest was for me to hold him on the couch while he watched the Baby Einstein, Baby Mozart DVD. He could watch it all day. This video has a lot of puppets in it. Lucas LOVES this little green lizard that they show a couple of times. He will be playing and not really paying attention to the video, but when it's time for this puppet to be shown he'll stop what he's doing and watch the t.v. with anticipation and then when the puppet comes up he gets the happiest, silliest smile on his face. The funny thing is that he does it every time as if it's the first time that he's seen it. Another funny thing is that the first day I noticed that he loved this puppet I thought that I had to try and order this puppet for him. I figured it would be about $20 + $5 shipping, which was a lot for a puppet, but I didn't care because he loved it so much. Later that day we were in Target and I saw that puppet there!! I was so excited, and it was only $4.99. I immediately took it off the rack and showed it to Lucas. Of course he paid absolutely no attention to it. It's not as cool when mommy does it. Oh well, saved some money on that one.

Here is a video of him watching the DVD. It's about 30 seconds long - he laughs at the end after I fast forward to that section.

Tough Week

This week our new full time nanny started, but she could only come in the afternoons this week, so we've had to shuffle others in and out to watch Lucas while we work in the mornings; My work hard drive crashed on Tuesday and I still don't have my computer back; and Lucas is cutting two, maybe four, teeth and it's really hurting him. Yesterday he ran a low grade fever all day and just wanted to be held (which I secretly enjoyed), but the exhausting part is that it carried over into the night, so nobody got much sleep last night. Today his fever is gone, but out of the blue he'll just cry out in this very pitiful little cry - I am assuming because his teeth hurt.

Last weekend we went to the gym with Jeff. Lucas, Tyson and I played on the playground while Jeff worked out. This was pre-teeth pain...

Lunch with Play Group Friends

We got together with our friends from Lucas's play group today. I always refer to them like this, but by now they have become some of our closest friends in Raleigh, so I'll have to quit saying that. Anyway, it was a really fun time with all of the babies. It was the first time that nobody was cranky from being tired, over-stimulated, or whatever. They were all tired by the end of the lunch, but they all just kept playing with toys and each other. It was really pleasant. Lucas was a champ. He was due to go down for a 2 hour nap at 11:15, but the lunch started at 11:30, so he powered through naptime. He played hard until 2pm and was asleep in his carseat before we got out of the neighborhood. When Lucas wakes up from a nap his cheeks are always rosy. Today as he got farther and farther away from his scheduled naptime, his cheeks got more and more red. He looked like he was wearing blush by the end of the day. The babies are so fun now. They crawl over each other, push, grab toys away from each other, give kisses, and even talk in their jibber-jabber baby language. The big news this week is that Nora is walking. She's so cute. Here are a few pics...

Lucas doesn't like to be held still in one position, so here you can see him squirming to break free, and maybe even stepping on Jeff's foot! We never get to practice walking with him because as soon as we try it he raises his arms and tries to slide out of our hands - my mom called it his wet noodle move.

Check out his cool, big boy outfit. SaSa got him the shirt, so I had to go out yesterday and get him a pair of jeans - they even have a whole in them for the "cool dude" effect.

Sweet Nora showing off her new skills (her mom would probably want me to add that she had on stockings and a blouse at the beginning of the day).

SaSa's Visit

We're sad to say that SaSa left this morning. We really enjoyed her being here for the past week. I think she had a great time with Lucas - she said that she felt like he was her little buddy this week. By Monday morning when I had to go to work, they had fallen into a routine and SaSa was even able to get him to take naps on her watch. During lunch SaSa introduced Lucas to asparagus and baked chicken - he's been such a good little eater lately now that we've gone back to making all of his food. I can't blame him for preferring fresh over jars. SaSa also invented a new game with Lucas. When he gets frustrated or mad he clinches his fist, grits his teeth and screams or grunts (kind of like the Incredible Hulk used to do). Every time he would do this SaSa would put her fists to his and tap knuckles. Lucas likes it.

For some reason when family is here I forget about the camera, so we didn't get many pictures. Here is Lucas telling SaSa that he likes the book that she is reading...

The Faces of Lucas

Just playing around on the computer last night (like I have nothing better to do)...

4 Big Ole' Teeth

Kind of hard to see in this pic, but Lucas's top two teeth are coming in. They seem so big for such a little face, but his friends look the same, so I guess that's just the way it is. This is also his silly, crinkle-the-nose laugh...

Lesson for Today

The blog may look a little different because I upgraded to the new Blogger format. I spent many moments wondering how my friend Kelly got the "About Me" sidebar to be smaller and in a different font. I wasted some time trying to figure it out. At the same time, every time I logged onto the blog I'd get the option to upgrade, but there was a warning that any HTML changes I'd made in the past would be removed (but saved if I ever wanted them back). I didn't have the nerve to hit that button and risk losing all of my work (this was not a risk, but I'm paranoid). Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and hit the button. Of course this is how Kelly changed the size and font.

So the lesson is to not be afraid to try new things.

Power Rangers

On the first day that my mom was here last week, she picked Lucas up and he did this move shown below. My mom said, "Power Rangers!", and it has stuck. She said that she thinks Wesley used to do this and they would say that, but she's not 100%. Anyway, now if we say Power Rangers! and hold out our arm he will copy us (most of the time).

Great visit with Grandma

We had such a good time with my mom this week. She was in town because I started back to work full time and our nanny doesn't start until 1/22. Jeff's mom (Sandy/SaSa) is coming in town next week.

Grandma was such a big help - she watched Lucas and helped me to organize some things while he was asleep. She also taught Lucas how to say uh-oh, wave bye-bye, bark, and raise his hand like a Power Ranger (more to come on that one). It was good to have her around when we were trying some new sleep things with Lucas - one more person to bounce ideas off of everyday.

I guess she also taught him how to "run". Here they are playing "Grandma's going to get you!"

Lucas's version of "uh-oh"

Finally!

For the past two months we have been working really hard on Lucas's sleep habits. Last night, for the first time in his life, we put Lucas to bed and didn't see him again until the morning, 11 hours later. He actually woke up three times, but put himself back to sleep before we went into his room.

Thank goodness. This was Lucas's best night of sleep ever, but it was followed by his worst night. The night before last Jeff and I were sitting by his bed for nearly three hours trying to comfort him back to sleep. I told Jeff that if he didn't sleep well last night that I was just going to put him in the sling and wear him until he turned five and doesn't want to be near me anymore. I say this because we determined earlier in the week that he wasn't hungry at night, he just wanted mommy. After this night I sent a desperate note to our doctor asking him what to try next. He told us to wait five minutes before going into his room to give him a chance to soothe himself back to sleep. For the past two months we had gone in there immediately because we wanted him to know that we were there for him. Every baby is different and apparently all this did for Lucas was wake him up more and make him mad when we left the room.

My friend warned me this morning that sometimes you take two steps forward and one step back, so I'll try not to get disappointed if tonight doesn't go as well, but we are definitely celebrating this little victory at our house this morning!!! Yay Lucas!!

Big Day for Development

Grandma must be a good influence on Lucas. Yesterday after I posted that he was barking, my mom also taught him how to say "uh-oh" and how to wave bye-bye. I bet he was trying to do these things before and we just didn't pick up on it. I told her that today she needs to teach him how to say ma-ma.

Update a few hours later:

A friend called and said she was impressed that Lucas can say the "oh" part of "uh-oh" because her daughter just says "uh-uh". I laughed because this is exactly what Lucas is doing. As a matter of fact, anyone that wasn't listening for him to say it wouldn't know what he was saying. It sounds like a grunt...uh-uh...but he says it at the appropriate time and it sounds the same every time.

Ruff, Ruff

We now have 2 barkers in our house. Thank goodness my mom is in town and gives Lucas more credit that we do. When Lucas is in his high chair and Tyson barks to go out, Lucas makes little grunting noises. My mom said he was barking and so we paid attention and he only does that sound after Tyson barks. Here's a not very good video. Listen up when I zoom in towards end of video. It may not sound like a bark, but I promise it is :-)

Future King of Timeout

Lucas is going to set the record for timeouts when he's a little older. We are just starting to have to tell him "no", mostly when he crawls towards dangerous things like wires. His favorite spot is underneath the computer desk in our office. Yesterday we were all in there playing and he crawled under there over and over again. Jeff kept telling him "no" and would hold his arms by his side for 5 seconds (Dr. recommendation) so that he would see it as an unpleasant outcome and not do it again. haha, it doesn't work with Lucas. Sometimes he would even grin at us. Little stinker!

Body Pillow

When I was pregnant I got this body pillow and it really helped me to sleep well. One night it got in the way and I tossed it in the corner...look who uses it now!

"Gosh Mom, are you still taking pictures?!"

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep..."

19lbs 2oz

Everyone in our little family lost a little weight this week due to a stomach virus that was going around. Lucas was 19lbs 12oz two weeks ago, but the doctor said not to worry about it. Here is a picture of little Lucas getting weighed. This is unsure, about to cry face.


We had a really great visit with Dr. Wiles and Nurse Janet this month. Here are some of the the helpful things that we learned...

Sleeping: Lucas gets up at 1am and 5am to nurse, but sometimes gets up at 11pm and we have Jeff go in and soothe him. Dr. Wiles said that Lucas can't tell time, so if he wakes up he figures he might as well cry and see if it's the time that mom comes in and feeds him. He suggested that we get a night light with a timer and set the light to come on at 1am and 5am. This way if Lucas wakes up and the light isn't on, hopefully he'll learn that it's not time to eat and will go back to sleep. I'll die if this actually works. We'll keep you posted.

Tantrums: Lucas has started throwing tantrums! It caught us off guard at such a young age, but the doctor actually brought it up and said that it's normal at 9 months. He said that we should think about how Lucas sees every situation and not unintentionally encourage tantrums by rewarding him with a neat toy. He suggested that we say something like, "Lucas, I'm sorry that you're so upset right now. I'll be playing over here when you're finished"....and then go and play with another toy so that Lucas will have to make the decision that he'd rather quit throwing a fit and see what mommy or daddy is doing that is so fun.

Eating: Lucas isn't a big eater. During meal times I sometimes give him a toy to play with so that I can shovel the food in while he's distracted. Dr. Wiles said that we should be concentrating more on teaching Lucas the relationship between hunger and food and worry less about the calories, especially since he's still nursing on demand. Again from Lucas's persective, if shutting his mouth and turning his head gets him a neat toy, that's a great outcome for him and he'll probably do it again. The doctor suggested being more laid back about it by putting food on his tray and if he doesn't want it then assume he's not hungry. For lunch today I just held the spoon full of food close to me until he opened his mouth telling me that he was hungry and wanted to eat. He ate well and it wasn't a hassle.

That's about it. It was good to be able to ask questions and make sure Lucas is growing well and is healthy...

9 Months Old!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm giving Lucas too many kisses. I try not to get to sappy on this blog, but I have to say at least once that I'm crazy in love with Lucas. Everything he does is amazing to us. It's just normal stuff like stand alone for 3 seconds, but if you were at our house when he does something new like this you'd think he'd just done something that had never been done before.

The past nine months have been an experience like no other. It's hard to describe how you can love something so much and love being something (a mom) so much, but at the same time you're exhausted, your back hurts, you're behind on everything, you have time to do nothing completely and you feel sometimes like your life is out of control. But that's how the past nine months have been for us...the greatest but quite possibly the hardest. I heard that before Lucas was born, but didn't relate until recently. Anyway, I think we are now moving into the next phase of "I think I have this under control and things are getting easier". (I'll probably regret saying that).

The biggest contributor to this is sleep. It took all of 9 months, but we are finally into a routine and Lucas has learned how to soothe himself, most of the time. At 8 months old we started a new thing with Lucas where we'd put him into the crib awake and sit by the crib until he went to sleep. The first couple of days he cried a lot, but now we're to the point where we can lay him in the crib and walk out of the room. About half the time he goes right to sleep and the other half he screams for about 10 seconds and then goes to sleep. We still have a ways to go. He will only sleep for 3-4 hours at a stretch. When he wakes up we go in to comfort him immediately and he usually goes right back to sleep. He usually goes down at 7pm, wakes up at 11pm (Jeff comforts him right back to sleep), nurses at 1am, nurses at 5am and up at 7am. We're going to start working on eliminating that 5am feeding this week. His record of consecutive sleep is 6 hours. We're making progress.

Lucas's strong personality continues to surprise, entertain, and amaze us. We read about Lucas's personality in a book by Dr. Sears a few months ago and the term "High Needs Baby" describes Lucas to a tee - "..these babies crave physical contact. They like to be held constantly and will protest loudly when put down. They are supersensitive, intense, have difficulty self-soothing, and can be very demanding and draining on parents. These babies, however, are generally very happy when their needs are met. They are blessed with persistent personalities that encourage parents to keep working at a caregiving style until they find one that works."
I love this description. Lucas challenges us to get to know him and understand him. He has a lot of energy and our job is to teach him how to put it to good use.

We can tell from Lucas's play group friends that he is on track developmentally. He can crawl like a pro now, climb stairs, stand for a few seconds, slowly walk behind a toy with wheels, say da-da and ba and ma occasionally, communicate when he wants down, when he wants to be picked up, and when he is sleepy. He gets a huge kick out of peek-a-boo and when we take his binky out of his mouth and put it in ours. He's shown signs of kindness by putting some of his food in our mouths or sharing his toy with Tyson. Our latest "trick" is that he gives Tyson his cookies...although yesterday I looked down and he had taken the cookie back and was about to eat it himself.

I hope that it shows through this blog that we love Lucas and love being his parents. Lucas, if you are reading this when you are older, we love you so much!!!!

Happy Birthday SaSa!

Happy New Year!

Last night we celebrated the New Year with your friends that we met in our birth class, just about one year ago exactly. Believe it or not, we had a sleep over. Everyone brought pack-n-plays for the babies to sleep in. We actually had about one hour where all of the babies were asleep at the same time. Lucas was the only baby that was up for the countdown at midnight. We had a great holiday, but are now looking forward to getting back into a sleep routine.

Mommies and babies (Lucas and Nora switched mommies)

Tyson was completely exhausted from keeping up with the babies and all of us all night...
Carol, me and Lena (all babies were asleep!)