I'm waiting on some pictures of our trip to Kentucky...so here's a quick video of Lukas laughing at something on the television. (EDIT: Upon a closer listen, he's laughing at the girl squirrel in the part of Sword in the Stone where Merlin turns Wart into a squirrel.)
Tonight is the first of three birthday parties for this little guy. He had some breakfast cake in Kentucky, too, and I know there's a video of that, so I'll have to get to work!!
So, true to form, I took no pictures of the Gatlinburg trip. I'm waiting for my brother to send me a picture that the entire group, minus Peter who was at the cabin working on homework, took at the top of a 2-mile hike. That's about it.
It was a great weekend, though. It was so awesome to just hang out with my friends, something I haven't gotten to do since we moved to Tennessee. Seeing Lukie's Uncle Eric was pretty rad, as well, and even though Pete and I spent the better part of the weekend chasing Lukas around a 4-story cabin that was basically a baby death-trap, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.
So, on to the real reason for this post.
Lukie turns 1 year old next week. A long time ago, when I was having trouble feeding him, struggling with a baby who cried all day long, and wallowing in some serious post-partum depression (which really only started to lift around Christmas-time), I thought we'd never make it to 1 year. Then, he turned six months old, and things started getting better. He stopped crying so much. He and I settled into a feeding routine that has worked. He got a little bit of independence and started turning into this awesome, smiley kid that he is today.
Life has gotten so much easier since then. Lukas woke up every 1.5-2 hours between the beginning of November and the end of March. Think about that. I never slept more than 1.5 hours straight between November and March. Somewhere around 9 months old, though, he started sleeping for closer to 3 hours at a time, and now he's up to 2-3 wake-ups per night. For some mommies, that might be terrible, but it feels great to me. Lukie goes to bed at 8:00, wakes up around 1:30, eats, and then goes back down until approximately 5:00. I feed him again, and most mornings (though none this week), he sleeps in until 6:30 or so. I feel like a totally different person when he lets me sleep like that.
Lukas' one-year birthday marks another serious milestone for Mommy. I will have made it an entire year breastfeeding my son exclusively. I never thought I'd get there.
As a quick re-cap, our bf'ing experience started out rocky, to say the least. I experienced awful pain in the first couple of weeks, and when I realized that it wasn't getting better and I wasn't just "toughening up," I sought out help. It was really hard to find, but after a week of frantic searching and crying and feeling guilty and almost giving up completely, I found Katherine of BreastFeeding Essentials in Bristol, TN. I owe her so much (and any mommies in the East TN area-- seriously, if you are having any trouble breastfeeding, or even just want to learn more about it before you try-- give this lady a call! http://www.breastfeedingessentials.net/index.html).
Over the phone, through multiple tear-filled phone calls, Katherine diagnosed Lukas' extreme lip tie. He was biting me to try to stay latched on, never getting full (hence and needing to eat every 1.5 hours). His biting was causing me horrible pain. Katherine brought me to a cosmetic dentist who, in approximately 10 seconds, lasered Lukas' lip, cauterized it, and solved the biggest issue we were having.
My sweet little guy getting his lip tie fixed at 3 weeks and 2 days old.
Things didn't get 100% better from there, as I got a thrush infection that felt like I was on fire every minute of every day for a week. We went through a couple doses of medication and some seriously scary blue stuff to fix it...
Gentian Violet. It worked...but seriously...ew.
After we finally killed the thrush, things got better. I went back to work when Lukas was 8 weeks old. My depression started to lift a bit, and I settled into a routine of pumping 4 times a day (now 3) while at work and sending what I pumped to daycare with him. We had trouble with him taking bottles for months, and each Monday, after nursing all weekend, he would be a bit persnickety with the daycare ladies, but for the most part, it has been a really successful breastfeeding experience. I haven't had to give him formula since he was 2 days old and needed a little supplementation until my supply established itself.
Lukas has done so well on breastmilk. His daycare teachers notice how soft his skin is and how, even though all the other babies at the daycare have runny noses, neither he, nor the other baby who is breastfed, have them unless they have a cold. Which, by the way, has been remarkably seldom.
I don't judge moms who can't go for as long as I have. I've been lucky that pumping has worked well for me, that ultimately, my child was willing to go from bottle to breast and back again, and that I have a work environment that's supportive of my decision to breastfeed for an extended time. I'm hugely proud of myself, however, for sticking it out. It hasn't been easy, and it's been a source of stress, but I'm very, very glad I did it.
Where will we go, nursing-wise, once Lukas turns a year old? Pete and I have been discussing it, and I think we're going to start weaning him off breastmilk during the day at the end of July, once I've had time to talk to his doctor and find out what we should use in the breastmilk's place. My goal is to eventually get him off of daytime feedings, or at least cut my pumping back to once at lunch time, and then feed him in the morning and night every day until he decides he's done breastfeeding. It'll give me the solution I want: let him be the final decision-maker as far as our breastfeeding relationship goes, but make it easier for me as I work and live a slightly more flexible lifestyle.
Here's my big, beautiful, chunky kid. I'm proud of every pound of happy!
(And no, those aren't teeth in that second photo. Still no teeth. Just swollen little gums.)
Time flies, huh? I'm writing a quick birthday post with lots of pictures today because I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off to get the family ready for a trip to Gatlinburg. Six of my best friends from high school (including my brother!!!) are meeting us there and we're going to have an awesome weekend! Expect another update with lots of pictures in the near future!!
Lukas was being IMPOSSIBLE when we tried to get pictures of his dessert...which was blueberry bread that I baked that afternoon not realizing my friend Suzi was going out of town so it was our last chance to do a birthday dessert. It wasn't that good, either. Sad. Also, that's a "1" candle and green "7" candle that I chopped up. The whole thing's a bit ridiculous. But, oh, well. We got the pictures.
Lukie LOVES climbing the stairs right now, which scares the pants off of me. He wants to go into the hallway all the time to climb the stairs, and he gets LIVID if he can't get to them. Daddy has to follow him up, and he is always very proud of himself afterward.
There were also some shenanigans with a cardboard box a couple of weeks ago...
And we (just barely) managed to get his birthday pictures. It's getting harder and scarier every time, and Pete gets frustrated with me when I want to re-take them because Lukas keeps launching himself off the chair. So...that's why there are no perfect ones this time around. Pete's going to edit them just slightly to make them square so they look like his other ones. Next month, when Lukas is a year (gasp), I'll create a big long thing of all of his monthly photos!!
There'll be more in a few days. After all, Lukas turned 11 months old this week! I just don't have access to the photos to show them off, yet.
Lukie is VERY chatty lately. He's waiting for Daddy to come home in this video. I think he's starting to get DADDY and MOMMY, but he also makes these noises all the time. He makes the MAMAMAMAMA noise, though, when he's distressed, so I'll tell myself he's trying to get my attention.
A couple of weekends ago, we got him his first kiddie pool. He was a little anxious at first. Why was the bath outside? Why was it not warm? Why is Dixie in here with me??? He has since warmed up to the idea a bit more.
I'll post birthday pictures soon! And hopefully a video of little kiddo walking...he takes like 6 steps on his own now!
This post is mostly about Lukas eating things...a fact that is just an outgrowth of the fact that the vast majority of photos I have taken of him lately are of him eating. Except for a few. So we'll do those first.
Last week was a little weird. Lukas started getting these little red bumps all over his belly on Tuesday or so. By Thursday, they were everywhere (I mean EVERYWHERE) and he spiked a fever, so on Friday, we went to the doctor. It was just a viral rash, not itchy, not inflamed, just spotty, but I was glad to see the spots retreating over the weekend. I don't have many good pictures of it, but here are a few from my phone.
It's hard to see, but that ruddiness in his cheeks? Yeah, that's made up of hundreds of tiny red spots. They were that thick on his tummy, rear end, legs, hands, everywhere. I'm glad they're gone now.
In other news, Lukie continues eating basically everything. There have been few times when I've given him something he really just DID NOT LIKE. Most of those things, though, he has tried later and found that he liked them. Guacamole was one. Pumpkin was another. He hated strawberries the first few times he tried them, but last night he was eating strawberry pieces as fast as I could get them into his mouth. Which is good because...
...I am taking advantage of strawberry season.
I love strawberry season in Tennessee and it is almost over (the farmer's market sign said 7-10 days left). If there is one thing I really enjoy about this state, it's the abundance of roadside produce and the fact that it is always stocked with something that just came into season: berries, peaches, tomatoes, melon, you name it.
When I was pregnant, all I wanted to eat was fruit, and I bought truckloads of berries and peaches at the farmer's market. I'd shovel them into my mouth and head back for more. I was just informed by one of the farmers at the market last week that my favorite blueberry sellers should be there in a week or two. I'll be eating them by the handful in no time. Lukie better hope I share.
Last night, we had pasta in a roasted veggie sauce and beets roasted and then baked with goat cheese and caramelized onions. My kid trucked right through every bit of food I put in front of him. He was even smacking his lips (a new skill he has picked up in the last few weeks).
There are some fun photos of him after eating his dinner, too.
I'll include the recipe I made up for roasted veggie pasta at the end of the post. It was a great way to get Lukie eating a ton of vegetables, and a super healthy meal for Mommy and Daddy, too!
Finally, he's been playing, like really playing, a lot lately. Here's a picture of him playing peek-a-boo with his teacher at daycare:
At home, he and Daddy roughouse a lot. And his favorite game to play with me involves one of those giant orange bouncy balls you can buy at Walmart. He rolls it to me, and I grab it and fold it up in my arms and legs, kind of hiding it from him. He thinks that is hysterically funny and tries to get the ball out. But the minute he succeeds, he gives it back to me!
One last thing, and it's so awesome. Lukie was NOT a cuddly newborn. He did not like to be held tightly and he would NOT sit still. He wanted to be held, but he wanted you to walk around and show him things, never obstructing his view or limiting his movement. He was a really difficult guy to keep happy, especially once your arms and feet started hurting from holding a giant infant and walking for hours to keep him from screaming.
That seems to have changed a lot lately. He loves to be held and sometimes when we're on the bed watching a movie, he just lays his head across my lap and stays there. He melts my heart when he does that.
Peace out, everybody. Oh, and here's that recipe. It's great for any mommy trying to get her kids (or husband, though I have zero trouble getting Pete to eat vegetables) to eat some more veggies.
Roasted Vegetable Pasta
serves: 6
1 medium eggplant, top and bottom cut off and cut in fourths lengthwise
4 summer squash, cut in half and scored
4 large ripe tomatoes, cut in half and stemmed
2 large carrots, peeled and cut in half
1 large onion, skin removed and cut in half
olive oil for rubbing the veggies
3 garlic cloves
drizzle balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese (could substitute feta, which would be awesome!)
12 oz. whole wheat rotini pasta, cooked al dente
Rub olive oil on all the veggies and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Roast in oven at 400 degrees F for approximately 40 minutes, turning once, or until browning and cooked through.
Transfer all veggies to a food processor, add garlic cloves, drizzle of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and half the Parmesan cheese. Process until silky and smooth. Add chopped basil at the last minute.
Put pasta in a 9X13" pan and pour sauce over the top. Mix the sauce in with the pasta, and then top with the rest of the Parmesan cheese. Put in oven at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until cheese browns.
Next time I make this, I'm going to add a couple handfuls of spinach. You could substitute other veggies, too-- I think zucchini would be delicious, as would some colored peppers.
Oh, my gosh, I have some catching up to do! It's been weeks since I posted a real blog post!!
For starters, my mom visited. I always forget to take lots of pictures when she or my dad are around, but we had a great weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we took a trip to Asheville on Saturday. Originally, we had planned to go down mid-day, eat some Indian food, bum around downtown while Pete when to the wood shop, and then go to an Asheville Tourists minor league baseball game that evening. Well, we got all the way to the bumming around downtown part (including listening to some awesome street musicians which just entranced Lukas), and then just decided to go to Trader Joe's and then play at the park for a while before heading home. I love baseball games, but we were tired and so was Lukie, and everybody was ready to head home, have a drink or two, and eat some of the tasty stuff we'd bought at the store (including TJ's pesto...oh, my gosh, if you don't have enough basil to make your own, their pesto is awesome!!).
While playing at the park, we put Lukie on the swings. He had been in them before, but not really been all that impressed. Something must have changed between visits to the swingset, though, because he loves them now! I love how his little legs pump just like he's running!
Lukas turned 10 months old last weekend, too, so on Tuesday, our friend Suzi came over for traditional pie night. I made sour cream rhubarb pie for the first time, and it was very tasty!! Lukie, however, was a squirmy wiggle-butt kid that whole time, so it was difficult to get a good picture!
And yes, I got my hair cut. I don't like it in these pics because it's not styled, but basically, Lukas has taken to pulling my hair while nursing, so its shortness had to be directly proportional to the length of his arms. So, it's short for a while!
We also took his white onesie pictures. Another challenge! I'll put them all together in a big comparative thing when he reaches 1 year, but for now, here's his 1 month and his 10 month!
Also, last night, Lukie was wired right at bedtime, so we were just letting him crawl around on the bed after nursing. This is how he finally fell asleep...
Thankfully, he let me move him around 10 minutes later. My right arm was being crushed.
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