Last Week....

Lukas was diagnosed with an ear infection on Monday. Yuck! I've determined that this child has got to learn to talk. I don't care if it's with signs, words, or smoke signals, but when I showed up at the doctor all I had to go on was "he's just not right". Thankfully, they were able to determine that it was his ears. He's been on antibiotic and is feeling ever so much better and getting into even more mischief now.

I'd have posted on Friday (which I'm trying to make as my traditional posting day) but my hard drive died. So my wonderful and amazing husband had to find a way to fix it...at least temporarily.

On March 8th (a couple Saturdays ago) we took Lukas to get his first haircut at Cool Cuts 4 Kids. They did an amazing job!! My original intention was to let them cut it the first time and then attempt to trim it up myself in-between visits so we didn't have to go so often. After seeing Lukas squirm all over the place trying to see what was happening on the back of his head I'm not going to attempt to do it myself. I sat there in amazement as he looked every which way, and the stylist calmly talked to him and kept clipping. They gave us a picture and hair clipping to take home since it was his first cut.







He also decided that he really likes feeding himself. Forget the baby food! Bring on the table food....he wants what Mommy and Daddy are eating!





We had our church Easter picnic this past Sunday. I can't say that Lukas had a clue what was going on, but he came home with quite a few eggs. He sat in the grass and would pick up an egg and then put it back. Eventually, I (Eric was behind the camera this time) got him to put some in his bucket, and then some of the older kids came to help him out.

This week in review...

- Teething is a bear for Lukas. I can't wait until he gets all his teeth in because I think only then will the screaming (on his part not mine) stop. He's teething so hard right now the doctor said he's having referred pain up into his ears. YUCK! I've said it before and I'll say it again...it's hard being a baby!

- On Monday he signed the word to request more puffs during his morning snack.

- We had a playdate on Tuesday with our wonderful friends Jill and Maddie Benfer.



Don't let this picture fool you, Maddie is about 6 months older than Lukas (he's just tall).



- When the pain wasn't too much, playing was certainly being done!





- Being cute is a must.



- Yesterday it snowed! Although the snow in our area was mixed with freezing rain and sleet, so it was very slushy on the ground. Lukas didn't quite know what to make of the snow. He just watched it very intently (as he does every new thing). I promise it is snowing in the pictures, even though it's hard to see.







- And being silly with Daddy! We didn't know what he was clapping at, but it was cute so we took a picture.

The Zoo

This past Saturday we had wonderful opportunity of going to the Fort Worth Zoo with our friends Alan, Rachel, and Kaleb Wages. We had a blast! We woke up bright and early (not that this is different from any other morning) so we could be there when the zoo opened at 10:00. Alan and Rachel brought their double stroller, so the boys were riding in style (as well as Kaleb being able to poke Lukas in the head). Lukas thought all the animals were cool, but the hit of the day was the waterfalls in all the habitats. He would stare at those much longer than the animals. We saw several kinds of monkeys, tigers, lions, several types of birds (although only the parrots got any attention from the boys), flamingos, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, elephants, and even the native squirrel. The weather was beautiful for our trip, so we all enjoyed plenty of sunshine. We even ended the trip with a train ride.

Lukas and Kaleb ready for the zoo!



Daddy and Lukas looking for the gorillas.



Trying out the shoulder sit...(Lukas actually really liked it, but I didn't catch a smile in the camera just a crazy face)



"More pictures?! Where's the animals?!"



"You see Lukas this is how you climb...."



A posed Lukas...



Lukas and Mommy...



The Swaynes



All the boys just hangin' out...(for a picture of course!)



Lukas after the train ride...



"Zoo's are exhausting!!"



The souvenir (a Colobus monkey)...



I'd apologize for putting up so many pictures, but you all know you enjoyed looking at them!

10 Months Old!

Lukas is getting to be such a big boy! He is more active than ever, and if we could somehow harness that energy we'd never have to pay a power bill again!

Lukas at 10 months:
- is still crawling anywhere and everywhere as fast as he can
- pulling up on everything and barely holding on once he's standing
- has stood all on his own for as much as 30 seconds (he's going to get the hang of the standing alone thing soon)
- has already had a bloody lip (from bouncing in his crib), a scraped chin (from trying to crawl to fast and "tripping" over himself), and many other bumps and bruises
- is babbling in "sentences"...he's starting to put inflection in his babble (it's really cute)
- is eating some table-style food (he likes to chew the food he's just not very good at picking it up)
- has mastered the straw style of sippy cup (and loves being able to drink juice all on his own)
- still eats almost anything we give him (the only thing he turns his nose up at cheese and so mac and cheese is out for now)
- loves to be outside
- still loves to swing
- reads books as if they are going out of style (although at this point he'll only wait long enough for you to say one or two words before he turns the page...but hey, he's "reading")
- thinks his mattress is his own personal trampoline
- thinks bath time is simply the best
- loves exploring...and not just exploring the house, he loves to explore his toys and make sure he knows exactly what they're doing and why
- knows the meaning of the word "no", but has decided that it's a game (don't worry, we'll get that worked out)
- has a very contagious smile and laugh (we have a lot of fun in our house!)
- love his Mommy and Daddy more and more every day

Some pictures from his 10 Month birthday:

Happy Valentines Day!

Lukas would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day!



And I might add that I have the best and sweetest husband in whole world! For the reason why go here.

Hope everyone enjoys the celebration of love that this day represents.

A Weekend Away

This past weekend we sent Lukas to Houston to spend the weekend with my parents so we could have a weekend alone. Now I love my son to distraction, but this was a much needed weekend of refreshment for Eric and I. We were able to sleep in and be lazy on Saturday as well as get some much needed things accomplished. Then Saturday night, thanks to my wonderful sister who won it in an auction last year, we were able to spend the night in a hotel and have a fantastic room service breakfast! And the best part is it was all free!!! The only thing we paid for was the in-room movie we bought. Neither of us realized how much we needed a weekend away until it was here, and then we just felt the stress melting off. Now we are refreshed and ready to go for the next round....and believe me it will not be another 9 months before we do this again!

Now I can't speak for Lukas but after seeing the pictures Mema and Grandad sent back I'm guessing he had a great weekend too. I'll let ya'll decide...

It's hard being a baby!

If we go backwards on last weeks events it went something like Lukas cut a tooth on top of coming down with Fifth Disease on top of an ear infection. The ear infection started everything at his 9 month well visit (on 1-21), so I guess it turned out he was not so well after all. Then a week later he started a fever. After talking to an on-call doctor on Sunday night, a trip to Dr. Naylor (his pediatrician) on Monday, and talking to Dr. Naylor on Tuesday after a rash developed we figured out he had Fifth Disease. Crazy little illness that by the time you can diagnose it the worst is over. Apparently you're only contagious with the fever but not the rash, however the rash is what tells the doctor what it is. Then after a couple days of him still not eating or sleeping well we ended up back at the doctor on Friday, and come to find out he cut a new tooth. So for those of you keeping count, he now has 5 teeth. I'm just glad I don't have to go through that much in a week all on top of each other! Thankfully he's doing much better and having a ton of fun now that he's well.