Luke has begun his final month as a baby. 11 months old. He will be one next month. He has been such a delight this year and we couldn't imagine a better addition to our family. We are so thankful for our children. We are so thankful for our son. Our sweet, charming, smiley, sly little baby boy. He steals our hearts and fills our arms day in and day out. We just can't wait to see what his future holds for us and are looking forward to shepherding the heart of another toddler.
I can't help but tear up when I hear songs written about Mary holding her baby boy this time of year. There are some really great ones; both old and new that play frequently on my way to & from work. I am in awe of how perfectly God created mankind in HIS image and how beautifully and wonderfully made we are. What child is this? God's child. Someone whose body is so perfect it seems to replace it's cells 500 times each minute. A little boy whose body contains 60,000 miles of blood vessels. The surface area of his lungs is equal to a tennis court and whose strength, pound for pound is greater than that of an Ox. Everything about the way Luke was made is perfect and astounding and we cry out in gratitude to a sovereign God for appointing us his parents. We've loved watching Luke grow in his baby year and will enjoy one last month of it. Not sad to see the baby stage go but only excited for what's to come.
Carly almost always calls her baby brother "Lukey Boy" and so that has become his name. "Buddy" & "Bubba" are a close second in the realm of nick names. She adores him and includes him almost all of the time. She is annoyed when he steals her toys but who could blame her? When we were asked what he needed/wanted for Christmas...my answer was almost always, "whatever Carly is playing with." Did I say she adores him? I mean't he ADORES her. Our nanny texted me last week..."Luke loves watching Carly play! I love watching him watch her." Lukey Boy is pretty content if sissy is around, that's for sure!
Luke understands quite a bit these days but has not really begun constructing words. He is very good with vocal inflection but no real words on any regular basis (except Dada). It is quite obvious that he has four main vocal cues: "yes," "feed me right now," "stop it you are being super annoying." and "I am so excited I could just jump up and down except I can't yet." His favorite activity is climbing up the steps & wrestling with the pillows, followed by drinking his bottle, eating acorns (ya I can't take my off him for even a second when we are outside), taking Carly's toys, emptying kitchen cabinets, trying to find the toilet, standing and clapping simultaneously and he is finally starting to enjoy books! He grins from ear to ear when he is read a peek-a-boo book. He really loves Rachel, has no stranger danger, always cries when I leave for work, claps when he is dropped off at the church nursery and is happiest when there are other kids & babies to play with. He is VERY social!
Luke eats just about everything but this week as preferred a bottle since we introduced whole milk! He thinks it is quite delicious and would say yes to a bottle at any time any place during the day (or night). He nurses twice, has two 5oz bottles of cows milk & 2 6oz bottles of formula each day. (I know I said my goal was to be done nursing by 11 months but I tried to substitute a bottle one morning and he was so incredibly offended. He drank the bottle and just begun the saddest cry as he nuzzled into my chest to nurse. So....not yet. ;) He will almost always eat eggs & bananas but literally everything else is hit or miss. He still has a very strong aversion to cheese!
Luke takes 2 naps; varying in length but usually totaling 3 hours between the two. He has absolutely no consistency at night. To give you a little glimpse: in the past 7 days he slept through the night for the first time ever, followed by a night he woke up twice, the next night 3 times, the next night was up for 2 hours in the night, day 5 waking up at 6am for the day and day 6 & 7 only waking up once; eating and sleeping until 7:30am. I'm like--it's whatever at this point--but I know I have other friends out their pulling their hair out wondering why their babe wont sleep and just know you aren't alone. I know he will sleep eventually...because that's just how God made us. :)
Can you believe it...I've been so loyal to taking standard posed monthly photos of my kids and I skipped this month! Just ran out of time! Tis life! ;)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord Jesus for blessing us with Luke Brian!
