Category Archives: Luke

>Then and Now

>We had a big weekend of milestones and one of the biggest was Jack’s first haircut! It’s always so bittersweet when a baby gets their first haircut. With just a few snips, wisps of baby’s sweet downy hair become the bangs of a little boy. As the hair gets taped into the baby book, you realize how fast those nine and half months have flown and you realize they will be in kindergarten before you know it. (Or maybe you realize that you haven’t really started the baby book and it’s impossible to tape baby hairs to a blog.) It’s nice that his hair is out of his eyes, but so sad that my snuggly baby is growing up so fast. Or maybe the sadness, the melancholy, is just summer turning into fall, the days shortening, the steady march of time towards the long, dark, night of winter. Or maybe the problem is that his haircut is quite terrible. And really, it’s hard to be seriously sad when I find myself laughing about it a lot. In a laughing at you sort of way. Poor kid. He slept through the haircut, which the barber though would make things easier… I’m not so sure.

Luke before his first haircut:

Luke After His First Haircut:


Jack Before his First Haircut (also note how much he is eating! That was just his first helping):
Jack During:
All the boys getting their hairs cut:

Jack After and Foreshadowing about Tomorrow’s Post:

>The Balance Myth

>I have a lot to say about the B word. (Balance.) But I don’t really have time to write the whole post now. I was thinking about it on the way to a work meeting at around 7:10 am this morning, at Jack’s 9 month check up, on and off during work, while I was riding my bike to the school meeting where I volunteered to be the kindergarten liaison, and I thought some more while I was nursing Jack to sleep, and then while Dave and I were picking up the house. Then I rode my bike to Andrea’s house to make a peanut butter sandwich for Luke’s lunch box since she lives halfway to the grocery store and we were out of peanut butter. So ideas are percolating about the balance myth. Just an FYI about what I am working on, in my little, sleep deprived brain.

Jack Report: He is meeting milestones like a champ, and he weighs 17 pounds, 6 ounces. This is slightly below the 10% percentile. He’s been right at 10 for his whole life and a little drop at 9 months is to be expected since he is so active. Of course, he is 9.5 months, but whatev. 50% for height and 25% for head size.

Luke Report: He did not get the milk! My powers are not as strong as I thought. I am just going to get him a thermos, I guess. At the meeting today a subcommittee was formed to discuss why 15 minutes isn’t enough time for lunch and what can be done about it. If Luke doesn’t want to waste precious eating time, trying to buy milk, I guess I can deal with it. He also came home yesterday and the day before in a very good mood and he made a friend at after school care so all is right with the world. (He now has $29.50 in his online account but I suppose he can use that up over the next 12 or 13 years.)

Megan Report: Speaking of milk, the daycare has been saying I am not sending enough milk and I have been stressing. Jack’s weight drop stressed me even more. I asked the Dr. about it, and I said the only thing I can think to do is add a late night pumping session. He said mother nature is in charge and Jack is doing fine. Whatever I pump is enough and I would be better off going to bed instead of trying to pump one more time. Yea! A tremendous weight has been lifted!

>What’s Jack Into These Days?

>So what’s Jack into? Oh, the lazy susan. He literally got into the lazy susan. He was wrist deep in the potted plants, he got his stomach in Bean’s water dish, he crawled under his crib when the side was down, and under Luke’s bed. He napped quite a bit on Wednesday, which was good because when he was awake I could only work in 10 second intervals.

What is Luke really into though? Playing with his cousins! Yea! The cousins are here! Pictures to follow as the weekend progresses.

P.S. Jack had roseola last week – that was what caused the fever and the rash. Febrile seizures are a side effect of roseola, which I did not know until the danger had passed. But I did think that Jack felt hot, and immediately gave him tylenol. As he was swallowing the fever reducing nectar like a baby bird, I was remembering what a febrile seizure was like and hoping to never observe another one. Which reminds me! Happy half birthday to Luke! In six months he’ll be too old for a febrile seizure. At 14 months, it was not at all a relief to hear that the seizures stop at 6 years. I am glad that there was just the one!

>First Day

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I had everything perfectly organized. But I should have known it would all go horribly awry when Jack woke up (again) at 5:30. He was supposed to wake up at 6:30: after I had done my knee exercises, but in time to be changed, fed, and dressed before Luke got up. So I made Dave go in and get Jack to sleep again, which he did. (Now if only that would occur to me at 1:30 am.)

The next problem was that Dave set Luke’s alarm to radio instead of beeps. Then Luke bumped his knee, then he became aware that he had a cough. All things that would be cause for angst on a normal day, but today culminated with him pulling up a chair to the toilet and preparing to barf. Poor boy, the thought of school didn’t give me stomachaches until at least 3rd grade.

He didn’t want to eat the pancakes that I made, but he managed to choke one down. Then I remembered about the wee one. Jack! By now it was 7:15 or so and I still needed to get Jack fed, and dressed in his coordinated madras plaid shorts that I had ironed in anticipation of the front porch picture. So I woke Jack up, fed him, took off his pajamas and realized we were within minutes of inaugural arrival of the school bus. Cancel the group shot, hand the baby over to Dad. Run out the door with the shoes and wait on the porch with the camera for Luke to cross the threshold. Snap photo of frowning boy, only to notice later that Dad was in the background, shirtless, in bike shorts. Plan to put photo in baby book anyway.

I was literally dragging Luke down the driveway until it occurred to me to offer a piggy back. We piggy backed down the driveway and turned towards the bus stop where Luke saw all the kids and slid off my back and started walking. We got to the bus stop at 7:29, the exact time the bus was supposed to arrive. I confessed to the parents there that I planned to bike to school to meet Luke when he got off the bus and the other parents said they planned to do the same, or already had a spouse on the way. We waited. And waited. Finally the bus arrived at 7:45. Great, what if we were the last stop? Hopped on bikes and pedaled away hoping to beat the bus, which we did, easily.

From there it was no big deal. Luke got off the bus and got a bracelet that marked him as a bus rider so the teachers would know where to send him at the end of the day, and we walked to the playground. Luke was pretty stoic and he just stood next to me, not letting me take his picture until it was time to go in.

We said our good byes and he walked in the door.

Another mom hugged me and asked how I was doing and I teared up a little, but pulled it together.

After school he was all smiles and full of “You know what? Guess what!” which was good because I quickly wasted two of my five questions:

“How was it?” “Good.”
“Did you eat your lunch?” “Yes.”

Information gleaned:

* We went on a search for the gingerbread man! And we went in the office, to the gym, the music room, the library, and back to our room! And I think the search for the gingerbread man was just a way to give us a tour of the school.
* We went to see Coach L. He’s the teacher of maybe P.T.? Yeah, P.E.
* I had to go to the bathroom and I didn’t say anything, but then the teacher said, “Bathroom time!” And the same thing happened right when I felt thirsty! It was time for a drink of water!
* Everyone colored on the gingerbread man, but I didn’t color anything I just wrote my name.
* Mikey took the rocket I was playing with, and then I started playing with his, and I put a guy in it, but then Mikey took that one back. I guess he wanted a rocket that had a guy in it.
* There is a girl named Clara in my class.
* I had lunch with Kobie and Kaj and I played with Elsa on the playground a little.
* The kids that didn’t bring their lunch had pizza!
* We had nap time, and I took a green mat, but when I laid down on it it was so tiny! Only my body and arms fit. And we didn’t nap, it was just quiet time
* The teacher has a disco ball, but it doesn’t hang from the ceiling, it sits on the floor and that’s the light we use during quiet time
* I rode on the bus!
* When I say “guess what” you always say “what” but you are supposed to guess!

We retook the first day of school picture at the end of the day, and that worked out well.


So we survived, but considering the amount of effort that went into that one day, I’m not quite sure how we’ll pull it off on a daily basis. I supposed I can skip the pancakes, and the photo ops.

>How About 5?

>Alarm is set, clothes are laid out, pancakes are pre-made to be heated up in the morning, lunch is packed, backpack labeled, lunch box labeled.

Still on the to to list: Fill out Parent/Student worksheet, charge camera, get after school care (oops), label shoes?

At bedtime I said, “Try to remember some stuff that happens tomorrow because I am sure I’ll have a million questions.”

Luke replied, “A million? A thousand? A hundred? Ten? Five? Two? How about five? Can you try to only ask me five questions tomorrow?”

I guess I should be lucky he was so generous. I may have ended up only being allowed two questions.

>Congratulations Class of 2008

>Graduation was today, and I found myself simultaneously getting teary-eyed and scoffing at the concept of getting teary-eyed at a preschool graduation. But, you know what? Luke spent longer at this school/daycare than he will in high school. All the major baby milestones were shared with the staff there and, well, they have helped us raise Luke. I have trusted them with my first born. I didn’t read the card from the director yet, because I knew it would get me. So tears were shed, but not by me. Poor Luke split his lip right before the ceremony, and I think he had a harder time recovering than he normally would, because he was a little emotional too.

As much as we love our crunchy granola daycare, I could do a whole post about how to survive the potlucks. In a nutshell, I get the fried chicken from king soopers, some sort of pre-washed delicious fruit from the produce section, and this year I splurged on all natural chips and really unnatural french onion dip. It’s important to get the right mix of all natural/organic foods and really unhealthy food that people will wish they were eating too. Oh, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Back to the party: These three go way back. Way, way back. It seems like just last summer that they were throwing down in front of the outdoor screening of Karate Kid. Yeah, it was last summer. I taught them this oldie, but goodie, courtesy of my good friend Krista: Cheers Big Ears, Here’s the to Good Years!

And I fear that if I blink, we’ll be at the Congratulations Preschool Class of 2013.

>Kindergarten Assessment

>Luke had his assessment today at the kindergarten and we found out he is in the afternoon class with the new teacher. No daycare kids, but two neighbors are in his class. He didn’t share to much about the assessment, but he did say, “She asked me to count and I counted to 20. I thought about counting to 30 but then I figured it would take too long.”

Tonight is the pre-school graduation – so I am sure I will have pictures to share later.

>Grandma Takes a Fall

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My mom plays hard. I think she and Luke were playing non-stop for 3 days in our basement. They played pickle in the middle with Jack, some wii bowling, pretend restaurant, and I really have no idea what else. Since I was working and missing out on all the fun, I decided to take Wednesday afternoon off to play, and to take them to the pool. And not just any pool, but the fed-by-artesian-springs, since 1905, Eldorado Springs Pool. Here is the thing, my mom does not come to Colorado for the scenery, she comes to see her grandchildren. She doesn’t even pretend that she is here to see me, so the fact that I was making Luke and Grandma stop playing and go to the pool was really just something they tolerated.

Luke and Jack and Grandma and I put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool while Grandpa settled down for a nice summer’s nap. It was a hot day, but brrr, that water was cold. Way too cold for baby Jack. So I took one for the team and sat in the shade and held baby Jack while Grandma got in the pool with Luke. In the shallow end there is a little corner with a little metal fence around it. They call that the baby pool. On the other side of the fence is a ledge for sitting or jumping into the slightly deeper water. Apparently, the baby pool side is a different depth than the ledge side. At least that is what Grandma said after she tried to go from the ledge to the baby pool, and tripped and fell, landing with an “AAAAAHHHH!” and a little splash. A mom and dad were trying to help her out while Luke and I stared with our mouths gaping open, and the life guard was saying, “NO Splashing IN THE BABY POOL.” And my mother was laughing and telling the bystanders that she was OK, and turning the life guard and saying, “Are you talking to me? I wasn’t splashing, I fell in! I’m a grandma!” He was not, in fact, talking to her.

I finally decided to be a good daughter and let her get out and hold the baby and warm up while I got in. I’m not a “just jump in” type of person. More of a “eeeh” “oooh” “brrr” “eeek” person who gets in 1 inch at a time, suffering all the while. But that day, I thought, “what the heck? I’ll do a cannonball off the diving board.” As I was walking to the diving board I was thinking, “Huh, how long since I’ve been on a diving board? 19 years? 20?” I almost chickened out until I noticed the kid in front of me in line had only one leg. OK, I can do this. And at the end of the board as I was jumping, I sort of remembered that I have a knee injury, shoulder pain, back issues, and various and sundry other problems that maybe make the quick cannonball movement, and powerful cannonball landing an ill advised maneuver. But I was already in the air, so I did a half-hearted attempt at a cannon ball and then swam to the side to confer with the judge. And Luke said, “That was the worst cannonball I have ever seen.” (Ironically, I am watching Olympic Swimming as I type this.)

After a while, we left, and crossed the little bridge over the tiny creek from the pool to the parking lot. Grandma declared the view magnificent and if I had just agreed and walked to the car, I would be $7.00 richer, and Grandma wouldn’t have those two new gray hairs. But I thought, “Hey! Let’s drive through Eldorado Canyon State Park! And maybe go for a hike!” My mom doesn’t like heights, or curvy roads, so what could be better than a canyon? You are at bottom, so no heights to worry about! The road through the park is about a mile long, so no time to get car sick! The speed limit is 15 mph. I drove 5 mph, which apparently still made it seem like we were careening towards the little creek. Let’s just say we didn’t make it to the visitors center. As soon as I could turn around I did, because Grandma was curled into the fetal position saying, “No, go on! I’m fine! You just spent $7.00! I’m fineohmygodanothercariscominghowwillitevergetpastusturnaroundturnaround. No, I’m fine. Keep going.” I turned around without crashing into the creek. Of course, on the way back, I did make everyone go on a little hike with me. And everyone was happy when I went to work the next day.

Sorry Mom!

I shouldn’t tease, but I can’t help it. That is how I was raised. In fact, before my parents showed up, Luke said to me, “Mom, when Grandma and Grandpa are here, I don’t want you to tease me. Because Grandpa is going to be teasing me a lot. So I don’t want you to tease me. But it’s OK if Grandpa teases me.” So, basically, I was forced to tease my mom. So blame Grandpa!

>Party Time

>I have a great Now and Then post but it will have to wait for tomorrow because the videos are taking forever to upload and I want to go to bed. So instead I am going to talk about a really fun party we attended on Friday.

The party was for a bunch of people who used to work together, (pre-layoffs and outsourcing) and that is great for me because I do my best networking with a beer in one hand and a baby on my hip. “Sure it’s a 24×7 job, but don’t you really need someone to work just until 3:00 pm? My customers love me, you know that!” And this wasn’t just any beer, this was Michelob from the kegerator on the porch. The kegerator next to the cotton candy machine.

Oh, and did I mention the zip line that went across the pool?

We stayed until about 9:00 (late!) and Jack fell asleep at his normal time like a good boy.

OK, I’ll be honest, this post is just to annoy my co-workers (one of whom is knitting a voodoo doll as I type) by flaunting my sleeping baby. Speaking my my co-workers, it’s time for another get together with Baby Katie, aka Pinchy, because I get a lot more hits when I feature Jack’s girlfriend. I mean because we have such a good time!

And I am sure I am jinxing the sleeping through the night thing that we have going on!