Catching Up

I've been meaning to sit down and type up a blog entry for days, but I keep putting it off because I seem to have so much to say that I know it will be a long post and I just don't quite have the time. But by putting it off day after day, the needed post keeps getting longer and still not written. So what I'm going to do is just start with updating on current things and if I have a chance to backtrack a little, I'll do that in subsequent posts. But I would hate to see this blog become completely outdated because I feel that there is just too much to write at once!

So Luke is 4.5 months old now. He is definitely enjoying lots of playtime. We've been doing quite a bit of tummy time on the floor which he will usually be happy about for a good chunk of time. Although he had rolled over from tummy to back a few times, it hasn't been something he's done a lot. But in the past few days, he's been rolling over a couple of times a day, so it looks like he's really starting to get the hang of it and also the desire to do so.

But rolling from his back to his tummy still hasn't happened quite yet. He tries. He tries really hard sometimes. He can get onto his side, but either his arm gets in the way or he doesn't kick his leg over far enough and he goes right back onto his back. But I think the roll in that direction will happen really soon.

He also seems to be starting with teething. Although I can't see or feel anything in his mouth yet, his drooling has really kicked in a lot and his new favorite toy is the small Sophie the Giraffe which he puts in his mouth quite frequently. He also has taken to gumming anything that he can get into his mouth, which means we are keeping a sharper eye on what is within his reach. He also has some moments where I can tell he's in pain, poor baby, because he gets fussy and cries a little. So I'm checking for teeth each morning, but like I said, nothing in evidence quite yet.

He's also getting to the point where he is fighting his naps sometimes. I can tell that he's really tired but he doesn't want to let himself go to sleep. It's gotten to the point where he's made associations with things that put him to sleep and he fights against those, too. The main one is nursing, so he'll really start to cry if he's tired and doesn't want to sleep and I try to nurse him. I know he's also hungry at that point, but I just try to rock him and get him to fall asleep and I can nurse him when he wakes up. He also knows that when I'm holding him while I'm sitting down, he's more likely to fall asleep, so he'll fuss or cry until I stand up. I tried this to see if it was just my imagination the other day. He started to cry so I stood up. He stopped crying. I sat down. He started crying. Repeat a few more times. Yup, he seems to associate me sitting down with him going to sleep. Usually if I just rock him he'll give in and let himself sleep. Other times I let the swing do the rocking and that works as well. And he's always in such a better mood after he wakes up. He does go to sleep at night pretty easily, which I'm very grateful about. And he doesn't always fight his naps.

When he does fall asleep, he sleeps hard!

He's babbling quite a bit these days, especially with Daddy. One of his favorite sounds is "Ah-goo" which in my mind, I've taken to translating as "I love you." Hey, why not? He also seems to make a sound that is like "Hi" which is not too surprising because it's a word that both Daddy and I say to him quite a bit. And one toy, Crinkle Puppy, likes to kiss him and give him a hug, so when I hear Luke babble, "Huuu," I imagine that he's trying to say Hug. Maybe he is, maybe he's just repeating sounds, maybe it's just coincidence. I don't know. But it's fun to try to figure out what he might be "saying." He can really get going with his "talking" sometimes. It's so fun to listen to.

He also really likes to be in his jumperoo and over the weekend, I went to a clothing/toy sale and picked up one of those jumpers that you hang in the door frame. And I'm so glad that I did because he just loves it! One of the moms from my moms' group is letting us borrow this padding (looks like a giant diaper) to help him fit into the jumper a little better and it has definitely helped. He was spinning around and bouncing and grinning from ear to ear for quite a while yesterday afternoon.

Luke is wanting some attention now and I also need to squeeze in some lunch, so that's today's update. I still have lots to say about our travels over Christmas to Texas, but that will have to wait for another time. At least I was able to get a few little updates in for now.