A first for Mom & Dad

Our first night out with a babysitter! Last night Erik and I went to a wonderful play while Luke stayed home with friends of ours. We had been out for an evening without him only once before when Erik's parents were in town; this was the first time with a non-family member taking care of him. We knew he was in very good hands and greatly enjoyed an evening without a diaper bag, car seat, and sometimes squirmy babe to cart around. We also appreciated being away from home just the two of us, a little encore of pre-Luke life. Upon returning we were glad to hear that the little guy had been on his best behavior. Our friends don't have children yet and so this was a little window into parenthood for them. Luke proved a stellar representative for the baby population!

Riding on the wave of such a successful evening, we left the little one in the church nursery this morning for the first time. He did pretty well for a while, but after a bottle he had some digestion issues which led to the need for a new outfit, which led to much trauma and crying over a clothing change. Lesson learned -- always leave the lad with a bib on so that if he spits up he doesn't necessarily need new clothes. And always dress him in easy-to-change outfits when we leave him! The poor little guy is not a fan of getting dressed.

Yesterday afternoon, minimal clothing was the goal as we took Luke for his first visit to the Albuquerque Zoo. It was toasty out, with the southwestern sun beating down and no arctic exhibits we could enter for refuge. Luke rose to the occasion and toughed it out by... falling fast asleep in his stroller. To keep him cool, we soaked a cloth in cold water and draped it on his head underneath his Yankee hat. Quite a fashion statement with his zoo-appropriate elephant shirt!

It has been a busy weekend for the little guy, so we decided that we wouldn't send him with his dad to yesterday morning's tiling workshop... but someday he'll make a great home repair assistant we hope! In the meantime we're checking out flooring options, motivated by the need to have something other than wall-to-wall carpeting underneath our only dining area. Today we're enjoying a quiet afternoon researching tile and laminate wood with the little boy, and we're also looking forward to our next opportunity for a baby-free night on the town!

Sitting up!

You would think that since I'm with Luke all day and his newborn stage was only a few months ago, there would be no reason for me to pour over his newborn pics. But it isn't uncommon for me to put him down for a nap and then go online or thumb through photographs just to see his brand-new baby self again. Not only do I love to see his little baby face and marvel at how much he's changed, it reminds me that this baby season goes quickly and to savor it! Check out his little face here when he was less than a week old. Don't you want to squeeze him? He still gives us that slightly worried look sometimes, communicating "Are you sure you know what you're doing? Where did you get your baby training?"

On Sunday, Luke turned five months old and in the preceding week he began to sit on his own! It's fun to practice sitting on our bed, but he's been successful in a range of locations. I just set him on his behind and hold his hands until he's steady. When I let go, he sways back and forth, looking like he's going to flop over each time, but somehow he usually manages to pull himself back into balance, allowing him to sit for up to a minute or so. He doesn't seem especially motivated to sit, so anything mildly interesting can cause him to lose focus and his balance. The key to making him sit for longer periods is to remove distractions. Here's proof of our little sitter, and we also posted a video yesterday.

Enfamil Light - because your baby is huge

We recently noticed that Enfamil is coming out with a new line of baby formula, Enfamil Premium. What other lines of formula might Enfamil offer the public?, we asked ourselves. As Luke finished his second bottle in under an hour, the idea dawned on us -- Enfamil Light. Across the top of regular Enfamil cans it says 'because it's your baby'. Enfamil Light could read 'because your baby is huge'.

Retailers could offer combination discounts on purchases of Enfamil Light with...

- the Home Depot back brace
- hydraulic lift high chairs
- strollers compatible with a 2" ball hitch
- a universal shopping cart wheel bearing replacement kit
- a super-size bumbo baby seat
- the baby bjorn equine package: baby carrier straps to hooved animals for easier transportation
- a hooved animal
- extension tabs for Pampers diapers

Now we don't seriously believe that any baby should be fed Enfamil Light. But we are pretty sure that at some point most parents feel their babies are stretching their physical limitations in terms of arm, back, and/or wrist strength and stamina. We certainly have felt that way at times! In those moments, you might find yourself contemplating the merits of Enfamil Light and whatever corresponding products you dream up.

Water baby

For the first time Erik, Luke and I took a swim together! After a prematurely attempted departure we put Luke down for a nap since he didn't seem quite ready for the excitement of the pool. When he awoke, I found him avidly licking his arm. Clearly the foretaste of poolside -- sunscreened limbs -- was already a thrill.

The water felt wonderfully refreshing after a hot Albuquerque afternoon, but Luke didn't quite surrender to the relaxation of being towed back and forth by Dad. Mostly he looked a little uncertain and gazed alertly at the water lapping up against him and the people swimming around him.


But when Xinmei and Jingwen swam up to him, his face would burst into a big smile and he'd even laugh. We knew the girls and their parents in Princeton but hadn't seen them since they moved to Indiana two years ago. So when we bumped into them in the lobby of our church, we were delighted to hear that they're in Albuquerque for the summer!


Everyone enjoyed our first pool toy -- a baby float! It met all of Luke's lounging needs, gave him a safe space to splash, and a new surface to try to chew. Erik and I enjoyed the freedom to move our arms a little more freely. It was recommended for children age 9 mos-2 yrs, but Luke didn't seem to have any trouble filling it up!


View our most recent gallery for more swimming pics and check out this video!

leaping into cyberspace!

This past week has been filled with so many 'firsts' for Luke that I just can't put off setting up a way to formally chronicle them any longer! His baby book is already filled with fun memories from his first few months, so this recent spurt of development requires a new method of documentation. We decided to leap aboard the blogging bandwagon and journal Luke's stories this way.

To get caught up on all the recent Luke news without making this entry too long, I'll just give you a list...

- His widow's peak, a signature feature for a month or so, is becoming less distinct.
- He's been rolling both ways (front to back & back to front) for some time, but he just started rolling multiple times in a row a few days ago. We're not sure if he consciously does this for transportation, or if he just enjoys rolling and likes to do it successively!
- He can sit up for a few seconds at a time unsupported. But you have to keep in mind that this isn't prim and proper upright sitting but rather a slouched over toward his feet position. Being near his feet, he soon decides to reach for them in an effort to place them in his mouth, thus undermining his ability to sit!
- He's begun baby-talking to himself. For example, when he's awake and in a nice mood in the car, he'll babble away in the backseat trying out different sounds.
- Solid foods! We think he's quite an impressive eater, polishing off one jar of baby food over the course of 2 feedings in a day. At first solid food frustrated him because he didn't like the time between mouthfuls (in contrast to liquid food which offers continuous eating) but now he seems to be gaining patience and skill in eating from a spoon. In fact when he's in his high chair and he sees one of us coming toward him with his spoon and baby food, he gets excited!
- More snuggles. He more consistently plays a sweet game that he came up with a few weeks ago. When you look at him with a silly smile, he'll flash a big grin and then hide by tucking his head down. He soon looks back up at you and repeats the game.
- First camping trip! Last Friday we enjoyed a fun campout with Princeton friends, Erik & Andrea. We went to Montosa campground near the Magdalena mountains, about 2 hours SW of ABQ. We brought a travel baby bed but we were without the faithful 'shushing machine' which lulls the little boy off to dreamland each night. To our delight, Luke slept fine and didn't seem at all fazed by tent accommodations.
- Which brings us to another exciting change, sleeping through the night (sometimes)! The doctor told us he should be able to sleep from 10 pm to 6 am, and while we haven't had him go that far, we have begun putting him back to sleep without feeding him when he wakes up around 3 or 4 am. We always wake him up to feed him around midnight when we go to bed, and a few times he's slept through until 6 or 7 am. It's a wonderful feeling to get so many hours of zzz's in a row!

A blog also gives us a way to alert you when when we upload new pics to our photosite. Visit our recent pics tab to see many new photos and four videos all uploaded last night! Next post, I'll work on adding links to the photopages in the blog entry. I also thought it would be fun to try to include a favorite recent photo in each blog entry, so here you go... Luke enjoying carrots!