Luke: Six Months

Weight: 14 lbs. 9 oz. (6%) 

Height: 27 in. (75%)

Wait: 6 months?! Didn't I JUST have this baby?? Everyone told me it would go fast with Peter, and I really didn't feel like it did, but this second baby--goodness gracious, it's flying by!

Our pediatrician was a bit concerned at his 6 month check-up because his weight gain has slowed down significantly and he's dropped to the 6th percentile in weight. I'm personally not concerned because A) he is still gaining weight (albeit slowly), B) he's mobile so he's burning more calories, and C) he's a happy, content baby. Babies are not polite; they let you know if they're hungry!

Luke is a little bit smaller than Peter was at this point, but not by much. I think we just have skinny babies!

Luke is still waking up several times each night to eat. The best part of this is that he's really snuggly after night-time feedings and will nuzzle into my neck and fall asleep on my shoulder. Six months of being up every few hours is definitely starting to wear on me, though, and I'm thinking we'll do some sleep training before too long so I can get some much-needed sleep.

He has been teething for most of this month, so he's a little more fussy than usual when it's time to sleep. His top gums are beginning to swell, so I hope they'll break through soon and give him some relief. 

It's so much fun to watch the relationship develop between Peter and Luke! They're getting to the point where they can interact and laugh together and it's the best. Peter will jump up and down and Luke just giggles uncontrollably.

At 5.5 months, Luke definitely became mobile. He's crawling/rolling everywhere. I can no longer leave him on a blanket and expect he'll be anywhere near it when I return. His crawling looks a bit more like an army crawl/inch worm, but it does the job for now. On Mother's Day, Luke was laying on the floor in his bedroom while Kory, Peter, and I ate lunch at the dining room table. We heard a noise and looked up to see Luke coming down the hall and around the corner to join us. It's such a bittersweet feeling to see that: exciting to see him growing and changing and meeting new milestones and also a little sad knowing that my tiny baby is now going to be getting into EVERYthing and my job just got more difficult.  

He's also sitting on his own really well now. I walked into his bedroom one day to get him from his nap and he was just sitting in his crib with the biggest smile on his face, so proud of himself. I continue to be amazed that my boys are hitting the same milestones at just about the same time...all of which are really early. I've just accepted the fact that he's sure to be walking in a few short months.

Peter LOVES to hold Luke but he has to be sitting down to hold him. This is how it ends every single time. Luke usually giggles and enjoys it but Peter can still be pretty rough with him, so it occasionally ends in tears. 

We're just starting solids with Luke now. I forgot what a huge mess they cause when they first start eating! Goodness--it makes a 2 year old's table space actually look fairly clean. Here's hoping he's as good of an eater as his older brother was at this age!

Quotable #5

*When I leave the room*

"Mommy, what are you go-getting?"

Baseball Tee = "I can hit the ball on my big T-Rex."

Cheese knife = "Mommy, where's my Cheese Wife?" 

*Daddy walks in the door from work.*

"Daddy!!! Can we go play soccer ball? And can we kick it with our foots?"

Me to Luke: "Hi, my sweets."

Peter to Luke: "Hi, my sweets."

Me to Peter: "Aww, is he your sweets?"

Peter to me: "NO! He is my bruuuuddder, Lukers."

Peter: "What's Daddy is doing?"

Mommy: "He's reading a book."

Peter: "Dat's not a book. Dat is an iPad. Deese are books." (He holds up two Dr. Seuss books.)

*He eats anything remotely spicy or maybe not spicy at all, like cantaloupe.*

"Oh, I no like dat. Dat's too picy for my mouf."

"Come ere. I tell you somefing Mommy. I be a beeeerrry good boy. So because why I need a treat. Two please. I good boy. Two treats." (Picture his head cocked to the side, one hand holding up 2 fingers and the other hand rubbing his belly, which is the sign for please.)

P: "Oh, hey, Mommy! I tell you what. I have a berry good idea."

M: "Ok, what is it?"

P: "I will have a paw-sickle for bweakfast. Stwawbewwy."

M: "That's your good idea?"

P: "Yep. Is my favorite idea I ever have."

Luke: 5 Months

(Second child problems: the monthly update almost never gets posted on time. Sorry kiddo!)

Weight: 14 lbs. 0 oz. 

Height: 26 in.

Luke is a living emoji. 😜😜

This was a big month for both of us! We FINALLY stopped using the nursing shield!! 🙌 It's such a relief to not have to keep up with that thing anymore and make sure we have one with us at all times. Luke nurses much more quickly now--maybe 10 minutes total and he's done. 

He also started sleeping in his own bed, which was a huge relief for me. He's not sleeping through the night, but he is usually only up twice a night and goes back to sleep fairly quickly. A typical night schedule looks like this:

8:30 in bed asleep

12:30 awake, eats, back asleep by 12:50

5:00 awake, eats, back asleep by 5:30

9:00 awake for the day

When I stopped co-sleeping with Luke, I decided to try allowing him to sleep on his tummy, since he seemed to be outgrowing swaddles, and his flailing arms were waking him up pretty frequently. This made a huge difference in his sleeping patterns!  I think one of the biggest reasons is that the mattress helps hold the pacifier in his mouth. He could not keep one in before now, so he can self-soothe and go back to sleep while sucking on the pacifier. 

Luke still takes 3 naps per day: mid-morning, afternoon, and a shorter one in the evening. If I can time it right and pay attention to his "sleepy cues", it's pretty easy to get him down to sleep. I turn the sound machine on, lay him on his tummy with a pacifier, put blankets on his back, and leave him to fall asleep on his own. Sometimes, he needs some pats on the bottom to help him settle down and get to sleep. 

He is wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes. He's so long and lean that pants are often too short for him while still being way too big around the waist. Peter was in cloth diapers at this age, so he had a lot more diaper to fill out these pants than Luke does with the disposables. 

Some of his current favorite things:

*Spitting/blowing bubbles

*Tummy time

*Grabbing/pulling my hair

*Standing up

*Eye contact from anyone

*Tickles on the bottom of his feet or under his chin

His bottom two teeth popped through this month! He didn't even fuss or cry in the days leading up to it, so it was fairly easy. However, after they came in, he had a lot of teething symptoms. I can't see any others close to the surface, but I'm sure they'll be coming in before too long. 

Luke has just started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He hasn't figured out crawling yet, but I don't think it will be long until he's mobile. When I set him down on a blanket, he always gets off it quickly because he rolls around and spins himself in a circle while on his belly. 

If I lay him down on his back, he pretty much immediately rolls over onto his belly. It's so fun to watch him as he watches Peter and tries to figure out how to keep up with him. Luke has to be a tough baby to endure the "love" that Peter showers on him every day. 

Luke: 4 Months

Height: 26 in. (83%)

Weight: 13 lbs. 9 oz. (11%)

Head Circumference: 16.8 in. (75%)

Well, the main story of this past month is that I am tired. Luke has slept terribly. I'm sure a lack of routine and consistency is partly to blame as we spent two weeks traveling and seeing family in TX and NM and I did a really bad job of maintaining a routine for him. We also were in two different time zones and had the Spring time change on our trip, so my sleep was pretty messed up as well. He spent almost every night in my bed, which means he nursed a LOT in the night and I didn't sleep well at all. As you can see, he's still happy as can be, regardless of his lack of sleep.

He's in 3 month clothing, but the arms and legs are starting to get too short on him. 3-6 month clothing fits better for his limbs, but is still pretty big for the rest of his body. Like Peter, he's long and skinny. Luke's wearing size 2 diapers and is still in disposables because we're still using diapers that were given to us. I think I'll start putting him in cloth diapers when we finish this last box of Luvs.

This month, he discovered his feet and is working to figure out how to grab them and get them in his mouth. He's also started chewing on his hands and anything else he can reach. I can see a couple teeth just barely showing on his bottom gums, but they don't seem to be bothering him yet.

Luke is definitely on the move these days! He's rolling and scooting all over the place. I can set him down on a blanket and come back a few minutes later to find him half-way across the room. When I lay him on his back, he rolls over to his belly almost immediately. He really loves tummy time and will stay there for a long time. He's even started trying to get his knees under him and get up on all 4's. I'm afraid this means he will be an early crawler, but we'll see.

His eyebrows are SO expressive! I love all the different faces he's making these days. His hair appears to be much darker than Peter's, including his eyebrows. 

He just recently started blowing raspberries/spitting, which is cute, but then Peter tries to copy him and ends up just spitting everywhere. haha :)

We found a couple ticklish spots on Luke and can make him giggle now. It's my favorite!!

In just the past two days, he's started falling asleep for naps with a pacifier in (though you can see it fell out in the picture below) and without any bouncing/rocking from me. I'm really hopeful that this is the beginning of him learning to self-soothe and sleep for longer stretches. Until then, I'll enjoy my time with these boys and keep making nap time a priority for all of us. 

Luke: 3 Months

(I started this post in February, but was getting ready for our trip to TX/NM and never got it finished.)

Height: 25 in.

Weight: 12 lbs. 3 oz.

Well, I made the mistake of bragging about what a good sleeper I had when Luke was tiny. He is not really a fan of sleep right now. At the beginning of the month, he was sleeping in his own crib for 6 hours at at time when he went down for the night. Last night, he was in my bed the entire night and woke up 5 times. I really need to work with him to get back on a good schedule, but we're flying to TX and NM next week, so I feel sure his schedule will get wonky with that trip anyway. 

His naps are only 30-40 minutes long, which is not enough time for me to get much done! Plus, he takes a long time to fall asleep. I have to swaddle him and bounce on the yoga ball and get him completely asleep and then VERY carefully lay him in his crib so he doesn't wake up. I'm looking forward to the days when he can fall asleep on his own, or at least with less help.

Despite being a bad sleeper, he's really not a fussy baby. He only cries when he's hungry, sleepy or needs to be changed. Granted, that happens many times in the day, but when he's awake and fed and clean, he's content to just lay on a blanket or bounce in the bouncer. 

He is rolling both directions now: mostly front to back, but he has done back to front probably 5 times now. He really likes tummy time and is pretty strong. He can hold his head up for what seems like a very long time while laying on his tummy. I'd hoped that he wouldn't reach the physical milestones quite as quickly as Peter (rolling, crawling, walking), but it looks like he's going to be another early bird with all of that.

He got his first shots just after he turned 2 months and they were not a big deal at all. I was so grateful for that! He cried right when they gave him the vaccinations and then stopped as soon as I picked him up. He didn't cry again and didn't act like he was bothered by them at all.

He's started to put his hands in his mouth ALL the time. Inevitably, this leads to people asking if he's teething. Babies this age start drooling and chewing on their hands, teeth or no teeth, so I think it's more developmental than anything. He's still a very smiley baby and loves for you to talk to him or make faces with him.

Luke still won't take a bottle or pacifier or drop the nursing shield--he's a stubborn little guy. I had really hoped to have at least one of these things mastered by the time we flew to see family, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

I can't help but compare him to Peter at every stage. Luke has more hair than Peter did. His head isn't as big as Peter's and he seems to like cuddling/being held much more than Peter. They've both been SUCH smiley babies...it is good for your self-esteem when they smile every time you make eye contact! :) 

Peter has started getting a little more aggressive towards Luke, so I spend a lot of time protecting Luke from his big brother. I think it's when Peter is wanting my attention and I've been busy working around the house or on my phone or with Luke more than Peter would like. Thankfully, Luke is a pretty tough little guy and he doesn't cry unless Peter really hits him hard. One of these days, he'll be big enough to fight back! 

I really love this stage of babyhood. He's still small enough to hold and rock and cuddle, but is getting quite a bit of personality and it's fun to interact with him. It's definitely going by quicker the second time around--the last 3 months feel like a (tiring and wonderful) blur!