Is there tryptophan in formula?

Like Grandpa, Like Grandson

So many outfits, so little time

Luke had three Thanksgiving outfits and only one day to wear them. We rotated outfits roughly every six hours. I think he enjoyed it as much as we did. He had a very nice first Thanksgiving at Aunt Shana and Uncle Earl's. He once again had a great time playing with Reece and Delainey. He loves watching them! My entire family was able to get together this year. There were 26 of us for dinner! It was so nice to see everyone and introduce Luke to the family. We had so much to be thankful for this year! Hope you all had a wonderful day as well!
Outfit #1-Thank you Aunt Loretta & Uncle Wally

Outfit #2- Thanks Aunt Brandy

Outfit #3 - Thanks Grandma Susie

Happy Birthday to me

Today is my 32nd birthday. Thanks for all the cards, emails, and phone calls! I don't feel too much different than I did yesterday-except my back does hurt. I can only assume that is attributed to my advanced age...For my birthday I got a super cool camera that's WAY too advanced for my skills. Luke is super excited about all the photo shoots we've had thus far and all the ones to come! No big plans for today. Luke and I are planning on venturing out for some Christmas shopping and then Alex & I will have a nice quiet dinner at home...until my new favorite show The Real Housewives of Atlanta comes on at which point I will ditch my husband and baby. It's the reunion show, can't wait to see NeNe and Kim battle it out! Of course, I have discovered a new show "Repo" that may take over the number 1 slot. It's insane, and I'm pretty sure it's staged, but man is it classy! I highly recommend you check it out, but don't watch for more than 5 minutes. I don't want it to be my fault that you'll never get those 30 minutes of your life back. I'll take full responsibility for 5 minutes, but no more. It is amazing the shows you discover when you are home so much of the day. I really really need to go back to work soon...

Enjoy some pictures with the new camera!

Lovin' the Bumbo

Smiley Mc Gee

It honestly was cold this day! I wasn't just torturing him for a photo op

And photo shoot over...

Not Me Monday

Okay, so at least I remembered it was Monday this week! Let's see how last week went...

I did not stay in my pj's until 4pm almost everyday. I did not then take a shower and get ready so that it would seem I had been dressed all day before Alex got home.

I did not dream that Alex was taking care of Luke, causing me to leave him crying in his bed for 15 minutes. I did not curse my husband for allowing him to cry that long making me get out of bed--only to realize it was 10am and Alex was at work. It was soooo real! And I was soooo mad at Alex! Poor guy.

I did not spoil my baby this weekend just because he had a little cold. I did not give the okay to let him sleep on our chests or in his car seat to ease his breathing. I wouldn't do that because, obviously, that plan was bound to backfire and ruin our sleeping plans. He loves sleeping in his carseat, and will not sleep anywhere else now.

I did not stumble around Hy-Vee crying after calling Alex because I heard how stuffy and congested Luke sounded. I obviously did not forget to take my Zoloft most of last week! Fear not, we're back on track!

I did not secretly enjoy leaving Luke with his dad while I went shopping. It was not so much easier without him. Even though it was not enjoyable, I still did not tear up at Baby Gap because I felt guilty. Again, Zoloft.

I think that's about it!

Smiley McGee

Cheeks McGee, you've been trying out some new smiles this week. You have about 4 distinctive smiles that range from "I'm somewhat amused, but too cool to let on" to an all out cheesy grin. Of course, I'm partial to the cheese! I love watching your personality change every day. These little moments of smiley time make those moments of sleep deprivation worth it all! Cool hand Luke
Mayor McCheese

The Bumbo

Luke gave his Bumbo Seat a try today. He loves sitting straight up which means someone pretty much has to hold him up for him to be happy. The swing doesn't do it, neither does his bouncy seat, the car seat comes close. Imagine my happiness when he loved his Bumbo! He really enjoyed being able to talk to all the animals on his mobile!

Luke, aka...

I have gotten in the habit of giving Luke different little names. I can probably count the number of times I have used his real name on one hand. I should probably start using it more, or he will never know his name. He is more commonly known around our house as: little man, big man, Cheeks, Cheeks McGee, Toots McGee, Stinks McGee, Luker, Lukie, Cutie Patootie, Fluffernutter, Pumpernickel, Pumpkin, Bobble, Monkey, Sweet Pea, Peanut, Beautiful, Critter and Sweetums. No matter what we call him, he's our sweet baby!

Oops

I did not forget that yesterday was Monday...

I did not spend a very snuggly day with my baby sleeping on my chest for a good 3 hours. Nope, not me, because it's very important to me to get my baby's sleeping under control. He is not horribly cute and warm and snuggly, so I would not have done that.

I did not repeatedly stick Luke's pacifier in his mouth, knowing full well he was hungry, so that I could finish decorating my Christmas Tree. That would not have been respectful of his feelings, even though it was only 15 minutes.

What a year!

Yesterday was our 1st anniversary. In some ways it's hard to believe it's been a year all ready, and in other ways, I can't believe it's only been a year! What a year it has been. I don't think either of us expected to be spending our first anniversary with our new baby boy, but what better person to spend the day with? We did get some much needed time to ourselves thanks to Aunt Loretta and Uncle Wally a.k.a. "The Nannies". We had a nice dinner and a movie and I refrained from calling to see how Luke was doing. I only sent one text message to say when we would be home-because that's all Alex would let me say. Since Mr. Sunshine has given up on sleep, he had a rough evening, as did The Nannies. Let's hope they'll come back sometime, he's usually very sweet...

Luke's first computer lesson

Who is Luke's True Love?

True Love's kiss has awoken our Sleeping Beauty. Our three nights of blissful sleep were apparently Luke's way of saying, "Just kidding". When I find his true love, I have some choice words for that person-but first, I need a nap.

Sleeping Beauty?

My extremely brilliant boy has been sleeping superbly well! Three nights in a row of sleeping through the night, thank you sweet baby. However, during his nap yesterday he would randomly scream a scream that was not described in the Baby Whisperer, so I had no clue what it meant. Being the good mother I am, I responded, not rescued, and every time I peeked at him in his bed, he was sleeping. Continuing on with my chores, yes the dirt under the rug is gone, I would again hear the scream, and again he would be a sleep. I finally stayed in his room to observe what was going on. It seems my brilliant boy wraps his fingers around a chunk of his hair and pulls quite hard, screams, and lets go. Again, being the good mother I am, I took a picture of this. He did this three more times while I watched him before I wrapped up his arms. He's so smart...

Road Trip Part Deux

Since Alex was out of town this week, I decided to head to Topeka for a sleep over with my sister-in-law, mother and niece and nephew. It was just an over night trip so surely I wouldn't need that much. I just took his pack n' play, his stroller, his diaper bag, another diaper bag with bottles and formula, and of course some burp rags, an extra package of diapers and wipes, because you never know he might go through 44 diapers in one night. Then there was his suitcase, which had three changes of clothes, 5 pairs of socks, 3 sets of jammies and one blanket. I also had my suitcase, an extra blanket, and then 4 more extra blankets, in case I got stranded in a snow storm, you know Kansas weather is so unpredictable. In the end, I had more than I did on the first trip...I'm learning.

Our first road trip

This past weekend we took our first official road trip to Wichita to see Grandma and Grandpa T. I considered taking a picture of what our trunk looked like for this 48 hour excursion, but my embarrassment stopped me. We decided this would be a test of what one does and does not need to take for a baby. Hopefully the next trip will be a whole lot lighter, but I doubt it. We had a nice visit and Luke got to see his first Christmas Tree - sorry Grandma Susie! His 3rd-20th trees will be at your house :) Luke was a very good traveler and slept all the way (thank goodness for J&J lavender bath!). But I don't know that we're ready to hit the road again too soon!

It's that time again...What didn't I do last week?

I did not and am not currently, continuing to eat Halloween candy. I wouldn't do that because I will be going to a gala the first week of December and I have absolutely nothing to wear.

I did not decide that it is much easier to let Luke spit up on me than on himself. It's much faster for me to change clothes than to change Luke's, and it's less traumatic with less screaming...well, that's not entirely true...but for the most part.

I did not decide that I have no idea how to raise a child and bought numerous books on Amazon. One of those books would not be "The Baby Whisperer". I have not been irritating Alex by constantly berating him about not honoring our baby's "circle of respect"- sarcastically of course.

I did not give Luke a bath, sending him into a lavender induced coma just prior to our trip to Wichita. That would not fit into his "circle of respect", even though he slept the entire trip. Good baby!

Oh, and I still would not look under the kitchen rug...I'm getting to it today :)

Hope you all didn't do too much this week!

Hi Grandpa!

See you this weekend!

Changing more than diapers today!

Changing the world is exhausting!

Luke's Room

I've had lots of requests to see pictures of Luke's room, so here ya go! Enjoy your virtual tour. I'm hoping someday he will spend more time in his room. Perhaps it's the "prison jumpsuit orange" paired with the "prison cell gray" that scares him...I think it's a good idea to get him used to these colors, just in case.

Stylish and comfy!

My favorite chicken rug!!!

"Not me!" Monday

So in the course of my blog stalking, I learned about this fun little thing started by www.mycharmingkids.net (Thanks Molly). She has a fantastic blog, but bring your box of tissues with you! (or I could just be hormonal). This will be a weekly confession of my personal and parental shortcomings. So no matter what you may have seen or heard, I did not do any of the following things last week. I hope you enjoy!


This week, I did not eat half a pan of rice krispy treats and attempt to justify that by saying it's cereal and if I had a glass of milk with it, it's a perfectly healthy breakfast. I would not do that because I've started my diet and that's no way to lose baby weight!

I did not try to have a rational discussion with my 2 1/2 week old son at 3:30 a.m. as to why he shouldn't want to eat, instead he should want to sleep another 30 minutes so that I could in turn sleep another 30 minutes. That would be wrong on many levels.

I most certainly did not sweep the floor and then decide it was too much of an effort to bend over and use the dust pan to remove the sweepings and instead swept it under the rug in the kitchen until I have the energy to clean it up. I would not do such a thing, because that would be incredibly lazy.

I have not spent more time trying to figure out how to change the margins of my blog, than cleaning, cooking, and laundry put together.

I did not have a very wonderful lunch date with my friend Molly and future daughter-in-law Ainsley. I did not eat Chick-fil-A nuggets and fries, again, the diet. I also did not savor every breaded fried goodness of it!

Additionally, I did not get caught at Chick-fil-A by my Aunt Loretta and Uncle Wally, so if they say they saw me there, I don't know what they are referring to.

I did not passive-aggressively whine to my husband about the margins of my blog, until he spent about an hour figuring it out for me...that's love, baby!

In the course of typing this, I did not continually eat left over Halloween candy. If you look at my coffee table, you would not see 5 Charleston Chew wrappers...again, that darn diet!!

Wow, I didn't do a lot last week.
So, how was your week?

Happy Halloween!

Luke's first Halloween was not all that exciting. He peacefully slept through all the trick or treaters that continually rang the doorbell. Oh, to sleep that soundly! He did not at all mind wearing his Elvis costume (Thank you Aunt Loretta!) and didn't even mind the wig all that much. However, having his picture taken with his pumpkin was the most traumatic thing in the world to him! After about 15 pictures of him screaming with his pumpkin, he finally fell asleep and I was able to get one more picture before he woke up, saw the pumpkin and promptly began screaming until it was removed from his person. Here's hoping Christmas goes better.
Bless his heart...

Little Elvis, sort of a snarl

Luke was very excited with his pumpkin