Play with me!

Luke is so happy to have someone other than his mother to look at. 

Why nothing ever gets done...

this is what I see everyday. 

All grown up...

I thought I would do this monthly update on time.

Luke began his fourth month of life with a long road trip from Alabama to our new home in Houston, making Luke a very well-traveled little baby who has visited nine states in his short little life, ten if you include the time he and I spent in Colorado on a layover. On our way through Louisiana we stopped and visited the beautiful state capital building and saw where Huey Long was shot. Some of the staff we met thought Luke was just the cutest thing they had ever seen.

Luke keeps getting more active every day and has started to show unfortunate symptoms of boredom.  He has become very frustrated with his little immobile body but has learned some body signals to help us understand what it is that he wants, i.e. arching his back to be picked up and leaning forwards when he wants us to stand. He is extremely curious and is always looking around, and now has enough hand-eye coordination to try to grab whatever it is he sees (his new favorites being faces, hair, and glasses).

And if nothing else suffices, Luke will talk.
And talk.
And wiggle.
And screech.
And talk some more.

In fact, everything Luke does is loud. His bowel movements have become the stuff of legends in relief society, since he always picks the quietest moments to grunt and do his thing. The first week we attended a kind lady I hadn't met yet walked up after the meeting, smiled sweetly and exclaimed, "My your baby sure is loud!"

Luke loves his bath time and has recently learned how to splash, flailing all four of his limbs until he has enough water in his face. He also loves being outdoors, and will calm down instantly if I take him out onto our balcony or out for a walk. He is showing a preference for music, and will listen quietly when I play the piano or when his daddy sings. Luke enjoys being read to and talked to and tickled and doesn't seem to mind loud noises or bright lights or quick movements. He doesn't like being put down for a nap or swaddled, but flails too much in his sleep to graduate from it yet, and now refuses to take a binky at all. He still isn't sleeping through the night (and has, in fact, regressed in that department) and has included his father in the nightly wakings by kicking him in the face or tooting loudly in his general direction while nursing. But on the whole Luke is just a smiley, happy, wiggly little guy. 

Three Months and Counting!

Since our little guy is turning four months at the end of the week, I thought I would squeeze in a three month update before it's officially outdated. 

In his busy third month of life, Luke spent almost all of it with Mere Mere, Uncle Matto, and Opa D in Alabama. He took several road trips to Tennessee to visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage and Gatlinburg and grew very sick of his carseat in the process. 

*on the left, Luke is having his diaper changed in the gardens at the Hermitage*

He smiled much more readily, though usually still preferred his serious scowl, and wiggled a lot more than he used to. He became much more dexterous with his hands, being able to occasionally grab onto toys if they were close enough, and was able to focus on people's faces and objects more easily. Luke loved sitting in Mere Mere's little baby seat to check out what was going on around him and still enjoyed laying by himself on a play mat. Luke enjoyed attending Sacrament Meeting and kicked off his first Alabama ward attendance by loudly messing his pants in the middle of the Sacrament prayer. He also had the unfortunate experience of getting his tongue clipped to see if it would help with his breastfeeding, which he did not enjoy but handled like a trooper. He started out the month sleeping for seven hours a stretch, which mom was extremely happy about, but then decided he missed her too much to go for that long and went back to waking up two or three times. With all of the attention and company and fun, he definitely misses the fun time he had in Alabama!

Water Baby

A rainy (unsuccessful) day at the pool.

Two Months

After Seattle, Luke spent a month with the Shaner side of the family in Boise getting to know his two uncles and grandparents better while his daddy studied for the bar. He also spent a few days in Buhl, ID getting to know his great grandma and grandpa Whitt.

Over the past month, Luke has developed an unfortunate sense of who is currently holding him, and has decided that he dislikes people he doesn't know, particularly when he is tired or hungry. He is awake for a big part of the day now, taking naps every couple hours or so, and is practically sleeping through the night, going down at 9 or 9:30 and sleeping until about 4:30 in the morning, then going back to sleep until about 8:00. He still despises tummy time, enough to roll over a few times from his tummy to his back a few weeks ago, an ability that unfortunately didn't stick since he hasn't done it since. He still enjoys looking at light fixtures, but is focusing much more on people's faces as long as they aren't too close. Luke is also smiling! Albeit still pretty stingily. He thinks his daddy is hilarious, though, and Ken can get a smile from him more easily than most people (including his mother). Luke usually talks quite a bit if he's in the mood for it and is very good at finding his mouth with his hands. He has very expressive eyebrows and deep blue eyes, and his hair is slowly but surely gaining lighter and possibly reddish highlights. Luke has also decided that a pacifier isn't for him after taking to it so readily when he was younger (much to the chagrin of his parents), and will only take it occasionally if extremely upset and coaxed into it by someone holding it firmly in his mouth. He will suck on his hands if he can find them, and once managed to suck his thumb for a good thirty seconds before accidentally pulling it out of his own mouth and becoming extremely mad that he had lost his treat. For the most part, however, Luke is extremely mellow and rolls well with the punches.

See Luke Grow!