a little bit of Luke

My baby boy is growing.  And changing.  So. Very. Fast.

This afternoon he waved 'bye bye' for the first time - waved to my dear friend Susan, so fun that she got to be the recipient of one of these "firsts". 

So many of you have been kind to ask about me, and him, and the sleep issues.  I *think* that the worst of his reflux is behind us.  We never did get medicine that helped, but he seems to be growing out of his reflux.  Much less spitting up, and he rarely cries out in pain when he is sleeping.  And three nights in the past two weeks he has slept 11 hours!  woohoo! 

Even when he is up in the night now it's more like "normal baby awake in the night" - and while I would love a consistent long night from him, I can handle "normal baby awake in the night" for now!  No more long hours holding a half-crying, half-sleeping fitful baby.  Already I look back at the first eight months of his life and wonder how we survived.  We got so very little sleep. 

I laugh and tell Matt I could hibernate this winter.  I'm serious.  I think I could sleep til Christmas Eve.  It feels so good to lay down in the bed at night anticipating rest. In the thick of the worst reflux issues I would lay down at night and feel nauseous, dreading the long dark hours ahead.  But now, oh now is so much better.

He's improved on other fronts too.  About three weeks ago he started eating solid foods and hasn't looked back.  He was eating at Thanksgiving and sampled about 15 new things in one meal.  I got him Cheerios a few days ago and he took to them like a fish to water. 

I've said it before, but it needs saying again.  Luke is a giant.  That's an 18 month size sweatshirt he's sporting.  This evening I changed him out of a pair of pajamas and thought "I'll wash these and put them away, I can't squeeze him into them one more time."  I very clearly remember Isaac wearing those exact same pajamas on our flight to America - Isaac was 15 months old!  So Luke at 8 months just outgrew the pjs Isaac wore at 15 months. 

If he continues growing at this pace he'll be the largest boy in our family by his second birthday!  He definitely got the "big" genes.  [Oh, and maybe? maybe? the blue eyed genes too?  He's kept striking blue eyes til now, and my others eyes were already turning to their grey/green shade by this point.]

And one last non-Luke picture that will surely put a smile on your face.  I put Luke up in the rocking chair to take photos and John Paul saw the photo shoot and wanted to get in on the action.

I mean, really?  He is such a joy-filled little guy.  And check out his pose.  Somebody around here is pretty dang observant, huh? 

[We took him to see a child therapist for an evaluation and she said his 'problem-solving skills' are exceptional.  The therapist calls it 'problem solving skills'.  In mommy-speak we say "he will outsmart you all day long and you will hover between slap-frustrated that you cannot keep one step ahead of him and flabbergasted that God ever created a toddler as smart and resourceful and ingenious as this one".]