Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What's worse?

What's worse than Tummy Time? Naked Tummy Time.

What's worse than Naked Tummy Time? Someone photographing Naked Tummy Time?

What's worse than someone photographing Naked Tummy Time? According to Luke, not much.


Bye Bye Peace & Quiet, Momma's saving grace Pacifier! Let the Ferberization begin!


Because I have no idea how to raise a child, I get all my info from books. Most recently from "Baby 411" it's pretty much a how to for your babies first year. I also have invested in "Toddler 411". While reading the sleep chapter, I discovered that we do about 8/10 of the "don'ts" in regard to sleep. Despite this fact, Luke sleeps through the night. But the fact that I was doing something "wrong" according to Ari Brown, MD, I of course attempt to fix what ain't broken!

No more snuggling before bedtime until he is almost comatose.

Time to start a consistent nap/bedtime routine. Did I mention he has never had a problem sleeping? Naps or at night?

No more pacifiers. Dr. Ari says to stop at 4-6 months. Don't want to give him a "crutch". He really just used his pacifier to sleep. We put it in his mouth, his head drops and he's out. Every once in a while he loses it at night and squeaks a bit while looking for it. Inevitably Alex or I immediately go to his room, put it back and everyone goes back to sleep. We maybe lose 2 minutes of sleep. Oh, the sacrifices we make for babies! The torture of having a newborn sleep through the night since 2 months old! We have suffered dearly...It must stop!

We took his pacifier away on Saturday. He did fine during the day without it. Then it was time for bed. And here is where the Ferberization begins, and where it all goes downhill.

Dr. Ferber makes crying it out sound pretty cut and dry. Let them cry, periodically go in there room just to make an appearance, they fall asleep. AWESOME! Not so much.

After 5 minutes of crying, Alex went in. Another 10 minutes of louder crying, I went in, emerged in tears myself. I am not used to my baby crying. Did I already mention he sleeps like a dream baby, as long as he has a pacifier? Another 15 minutes of holy terror screaming, Alex goes in. I am now sobbing on the couch. Another 20 minutes of screaming I go in to find him frantically trying to find something to suck on, I apologize profusely, beg forgiveness, wipe away my tears that fell on his head, and leave him once more. Another 5 minutes...asleep. He slept all night, not a peep. And best of all when he woke up he still loved me!!

Night two, we lathered him up with lotion, put on his jammies, read him two books, put him in his bed and he was asleep with no protesting. Again, slept all night!

Last night, same thing! I'm thrilled, except I miss my snuggle time. I liked having him fall asleep in my arms. But we are all sleeping well again. That Dr. Ferber knows what he's talking about!!

I do feel a bit guilty, you know for torturing him for a night all because it's a pain to lose 2 minutes of sleep for a couple times a week. In the end, I suppose it's best to do it early and we'll be glad we did it in the long run. However right now, I could still cry thinking about how confused and hurt he looked when I wouldn't love on him. Poor baby.

Not Me Monday Tuesday


I figure, since I worked Monday, today is my Monday.

I did not throw my son out in the snow just so I could get an adorable picture of him. I would never do that! He hates being cold, and I am fully aware of that, so surely, I did not do that. And don't call me Shirley...P.S. He loved it!

I did not debate on whether to start feeding Luke solids because it sounded like a lot more work and laundry. Which it is, but still kinda fun.

I did not go to Old Navy last week on my "Zoeby Day" (One of my days where Luke is at daycare and I can go and do whatever I want!) and as I drove away, I did not look in the back seat and wonder, ever so calmly, "Now where did I put Luke?". It was the calmness that bothered me most. Kinda like "where did I leave my glasses?". I'm a good mom, right? Of course I am, because I would not have done that!

I am not on "blogstalking restriction". I do not spend countless hours days anxiously waiting for twitter updates from MckMama about the health of her baby. I then do not cry everytime I think about little Stellan and what he is going through. I then did not make the mistake of clicking on links to other peoples blogs where I read horrible stories about people losing their babies to SIDS and other random reasons. I now do not wake up every hour or so to make sure Luke is breathing and that there is nothing that might smother him in his crib. I am not an emotional mess. I do not need to restart my Zoloft for such a silly reason. And because I only allow two restrictions at a time. The "pajama restriction" has been lifted. So Luke and I will be doing some retail therapy today.

Luke did not finish dead last in the NCAA brackets. No son of mine would be LAST. His mother did not fill out his brackets for him. And she certainly did not pick teams by who had the most letters of his name in them. His Final Four teams were definitely not Louisville, Marquette, Duke, and Butler. And she did not pick Duke to win it all simply because it rhymes with Luke...nope, sure didn't!

I did not misplace my phone on Sunday. I am way too together to do that. I know where everything is all the time, except for Luke on occasion. I did not miss several calls from people I probably should have talked to. And most importantly there was not a broken up message from my sister-in-law where all I heard was "Crate and Barrel, couch, and discount". Sounded VERY important! Darn it!

Alex & I did not take away Luke's pacifier for our own convenience. It has not been torture for all involved.

We are not super excited that we will be spending Luke's first birthday (well, September, close enough) in Disney World! We are also not thrilled to be staying at the new part of the Contemporary resort. Yeah! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa G!

I did not buy Luke a fantastic speedo with bananas on it for our trip to Florida. I also did not decide to buy some super cool Hawaiian shirts. He will not hate me someday. Especially for the banana speedo.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Good Eats!



Luke had started his journey to "foodiedom"! We've moved on to green beans, and boy does he love those! So much so that he slaps his tray and yells at me for not shoveling them in fast enough. He then decides it's faster if he helps me by hanging on to the spoon- not really that helpful to either of us. Obviously, we need to work on our manners.
Next up, Naners!

A Winter, er, Spring Wonderland

A late spring snow was a welcome surprise to us. Except of course that it prevented Grandma & Grandpa T. from coming to spoil Luker! Despite that, Luke had a good time getting to play in the snow. It didn't even bother him to touch and hold it. Of course it was one last opportunity to put him in an ADORABLE hat! Unfortunately his cheeks are now too big to velcro the hat under his chin. Still cute in my opinion! It was good we hit the great outdoors early as just a couple hours later, all the snow had melted.
Now, I'm ready for spring!

Check out the sitting skills!


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The dandiest of all


While walking around outside with Luke, I saw something that made my heart smile. While Alex spends time and money to keep these beauties out of our lawn, I was happy to see it! I love dandelions! Did you know the dandelion represents happiness and faithfulness? And people are trying to kill that...shame. I, however, will embrace happiness - wherever it grows.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Feeling better


I think we are over the worst of it...thankfully, the worst was not that bad. If you didn't know him, you probably wouldn't know he was sick. He's such a good little patient. The only reason I thought something was wrong, other than the cough, was that my little Gandhi went on a hunger strike. Or maybe he was just preparing for swimsuit weather...I could learn something from him. He's fallen a bit off of the growth chart for weight, but hopefully we'll get back on track soon. At least he's still got those chunky cheekers for me to gnaw on.

We had no coughing last night-just squealing and singing around 4:30, thank you- and so far today we have taken all of our bottles. Keep your fingers crossed that he keeps it up! We are still on the antibiotic for the ear infections but got rid of that silly nebulizer. No more smokin' the fish for Luker. I was even able to return the 4, count them 4, unused boxes of xopenex (that's 75 doses) to the pharmacy. I did however have to channel Grandma Susie to get them to take them back. I was pretty impressed with myself. But hey, $280 is $280! However, I doubt I am welcome back to CVS. Oh well, it's worth it.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sittin' Pretty

Luke spent some time working on sitting up this weekend. He's getting pretty good. Not enough to trust him just yet-there was a minor mishap involving a slight rug burn to his forehead, but we've all recovered.

Hangin' out on his couch. Feet crossed, totally comfy...
You would never know this happy boy has a cold and infections in both ears!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Conversations with Luke

Luke has become a Soprano, and not the New Jersey kind, the Vienna Boys Choir kind. He's become very vocal these days and loves to hit those high notes. This is a little snippet of what we hear throughout the day and bright and early in the morning. Love it!


I am loving this little Flip video! It's the most awesome digital recorder. It's just a smidge bigger than my cell phone so it's easy to throw in the diaper bag and have it for all those instances where Luke is so adorable, it must be captured in video form. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Friends

Luke and his giraffe had a rocky start. The first time he saw it, he screamed for quite some time. Now they are practically inseparable. Now, he cries when his giraffe is out of arms reach. They are quite the twosome.


The not so happy meeting

But now...
He kisses his head

He kisses his...uh...other parts
He can play with his feet and his giraffe at the same time!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

This is it...

...this is the last package of diapers we have that fit Luke. We made it over 5 months without having to buy diapers! Thanks to all of our friends and family for what may be the greatest gift ever! I have since decided anyone having a baby is getting diapers from me! Thank you everyone!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A wild and crazy guy!

Mom's been dying to get me into these pants for months! Much to my joy, they finally fit! I have a feeling I will be sporting the awesome plaid a lot for the next few months.
Please, just no striped shirts with them.

Shenanigans!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Luke spent his first St. Paddy's Day the way most young men with the slightest bit of Irish in them do. He wore an awesome green shirt, had a bottle in his hand most of the day, he passed out, then woke to find he had wet himself and needed a change of clothes. That's my boy! You do the McGinnis clan proud!

A bit tipsy??

Monday, March 16, 2009

A busy week

Luke had a pretty busy week last week! Here are just a few things he did...

He turned 5 months old!


He looked adorable in his overalls


He ate cereal and LOVED it! Go figure.
He rode the carousel and could have cared less.


He got sick & is getting breathing treatments, which he hates. It's a shame to spend close to $400 for something and not enjoy it. I could think of many things more enjoyable than inhaling mist from a fish head. Sorry kiddo.

He got his hair spiked. Being sick is no excuse for not looking stylish.

He played with his new favorite toys.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Oops!

I would like to apologize for the profane posting this morning. I hope no one was offended. It's amazing how the tone of a post changes just because you forgot the "r" in "shirt". Crazy. Thanks to all of you for pointing that out to me...it meant a lot. Especially you Brandy, for your understanding for what was an honest mistake, and not hysterically laughing at me. That is why you are my friend.

Catching up photos

I've been a bit busy this past week, so not many posts. Here are just some random pictures, because they're cute...of course.

We are working on giving up the swaddle blankets. He still wants a blanket up to his face to fall asleep. Of course, this FREAKS ME OUT!! So I pretty much stand at his door until he falls asleep and then take his blanket away from him. He's doing pretty well at falling asleep with his arms free. Finally!
Luke helping his dad with some work. He is pretty intrigued by those computer keys.

This boy is anything but Naughty like his shirt implies. However, he does somewhat resemble the monkey on it...Love those cheekers!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

First Blood

Well, I finally did it. I caused Luke's first injury. He was playing on his changing table while I dressed him, I had just lathered him up with lotion and went to stand him up when that slippery little bugger slipped right out of one of my hands and he hit his head on one of the frames on his wall. It was quite traumatic. Luke cried for about 20 seconds total. I cried every time I looked at the scrape, knot, and bruise on his head. I don't know that I have ever felt so bad about anything in my life, until the next injury, I am sure.

Look Ma', No Hands!

Our little genius has figured out that it's much easier to honk the horn on his car by using his tongue instead of his hands. He will sit in that car licking that steering wheel forever...Brilliant!




"I can't put my arms down!"

It was a pretty frigid weekend here. We bundled Luker up to brave the outdoors only to find he was way too big for this bunting. Reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story. Still, adorable.

Yes, those are feet sticking out of the bottom