Our Luke at 9 Months

It has been more than 3 months since I've updated the blog... ugh... so much to capture, but we've been really embracing the living and sharing with each other.  I know it's going to be hard to capture all of Luke's growth the past three months in this one post, so I'll focus on who he is now and most recent developments.

First, starting off with pictures from the past 4 or 5 months!

Luke is the most content, easy-going and happy baby I’ve ever seen.  His favorite thing (and has always been) is to watch his two older brothers all day long.  He is constantly entertained watching them run around and make all sorts of noise!  He loves their sweet and silly interactions with him.  He enjoys playing with toys, but again, none of them compare to Gavin and Wyatt!  He has his favorites though; mainly a crinkly elephant, a strange bendy contraption along with a ‘block’ consisting of lots of tubes to chew on. 

Luke absolutely loves music; mainly classical or the xylophone played softly (unlike the way his brothers typically play).  He loves to play the xylophone too these days. 

Luke has been sitting up on his own since about 6 months… but… he WOULD NOT sit long AT ALL until about a month ago!  He’d pitch a fit and stiffen up every time I tried to make him sit to play with toys.  He only wanted to stand or lay on his back/tummy.  He started rocking on all fours right before 7 months.  He still is not ‘crawling around’, but has gone through many phases… rolling around the living room and cracking up, going backwards and round in circles, launching himself forward, etc.  Right now he takes a couple of crawling steps, but then lays down, so technically doesn’t go very far.  It seems to me he is quite content where he is since the entertainment is constantly all around in and changing all the time (GW!).  He also is contorting his body while on his tummy so he’s half on his side and back with his arms all weird… he cracks up at us while looking upside down. 

Luke loves his Mama and Dada too.  He is Mama’s snuggle bug and can’t get enough of laughing at Dada; no one can make him laugh like Dada. 

Luke also has really been enjoying the dogs lately too.

Luke can stand against something on his own, but his actions afterwards are always unpredictable still so I’m right there.  He LOVES his jumparoo too.

Luke is saying “Mama, Dada, Baba (for bottle in the mornings when he thinks he is starving), NighNigh (when he is beyond tired and just wants to go to sleep) and just the other day said Bye…ByeBye!  He only says these words at the appropriate times… never just as babble.  He says all the other baby babbling sounds for the rest of the time… his favorite which is blowing bubbles and what we call ‘his motor boat’!  About a month or two ago Luke woke up in the middle of the night pretty upset.  I went to his room and whispered to him as I picked him up, he immediately stopped crying and said, ‘Mama, Mama, Mama’ in the sweetest, softest voice while burying his head into my chest.  Oh… talk about melt my heart!!!  Other times he’ll be over tired and says over and over again, ‘NighNigh, NighNigh’ as he snuggles in.    

Once Luke’s colic passed after Christmas, he was able to sleep through the night as he so wanted to for a while.  He sleeps from 8 (sometimes 7 or 7:30 depending on naps that day) until 5 when he starts to grumble a little.  He puts himself back to sleep until about 6 or 6:30.  He still takes 2 naps a day (9/9:30 and again about 2), but the morning nap is very flexible because of all we do in the mornings.  He is a great napper and I typically have to wake him up from naps. 

Luke was an excellent eater until the past 3 weeks.  Now it all depends on his mood.  He has become VERY opinionated about his meals.  Some days all he wants is the table food we are eating, other days he only wants the purees I make fore him, other days he prefers the bottle, and some days I don’t think he even knows!  The other day he was having a major fit during meal time; I wasn’t sure if he was opinionated about what I fixed or if he was hurting from teeth… so I experimented.  I put the food down and went and got a fig newton… the minute he saw it he stopped screaming, laughed and banged his tray… yeah… I’d say he is growing up these days! 

The ‘training’ has begun slightly the past couple of months mainly at meal times and teaching him to have ‘self-control’ in the mornings when he thinks he is starving.  Since he isn’t crawling and is so easy going, that’s about it for training him these days!

Luke really likes TV and Baby Einstein.  Sigh.  But… I’ve learned with the boys all the great things that they can watch and learn from too. 

Luke was Baptized in March as well!  What a beautiful and special day for our sweet son!  I’ve made a special Baptism book for the three boys they read and love each day; it is filled with pictures and Scripture from their Baptism!

Luke is such an amazing snuggle bug with me.  He loves to snuggle his head on my chest, knees tucked in and hinny out.  He brings such peace and joy!

Luke has just started to become interested in picking up small pieces of food and trying to put in his mouth.  We’ve been working on mastering this and I’m sure he’ll be enjoying being able to feed himself soon.  He’s just so laid back, he hasn’t really cared to try until now. 

Luke is 19 lbs and 28 inches; in size 12 months clothes.  He seems to go back and forth between being 75% and 40% for height and seems to be pretty consistent about being between 30 and 40% for weight. 

His eyes are light, but seem to be more light brown than anything like his Mama’s; although they might turn hazel too.  But they continue to change so we honestly don’t know!

Luke got his first two bottom teeth about 8 months.  Right now he is cutting his two top teeth and possibly more.  He is such a trooper, but the top teeth have seemed to bother him a little more than the bottom ones.

There is so much more I know I’m leaving out and forgetting, but I hope to capture more often!  We love our sweet Luke so much.  He is such an amazing joy.  Everyone around him is captive by his disposition and happiness and snuggle abilities!  Thank You God for blessing us with our sweet Luke.