Luke is WALKING!!!!

Well, Luke has been teetering around for several weeks now - but today was the day! He took his first REAL steps! His first steps were in our bathroom - I was drying my hair and he was playing on the floor with some of my velcro rollers (I know, mom of the year, but they keep him occupied!). He got one roller in each hand and then walked right to me! Of course, I had a minor heart attack because he was doing all of this on the hard tile floor, but he did just fine. He still prefers crawling as his main mode of transportation, but he is definitely on his way to being a full time walker! Life is about to get a little crazier around the Burleson household!

Excuse the upside down-ness and quality of (and the obnoxiously proud mama in) this video - I was afraid that if I got out the big camera, that he would get distracted and just crawl around to get the camera. He's not too impressed with my sad non-smart phone ;-)

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed....

This little monkey wasn't jumping on the bed, but he did fall down and bump his head! I got the call no mama wants from Luke's school today - they told me that he had slipped on the hard tile and face-planted onto the floor. He was such a big boy - they said that he didn't cry much except for when they put the ice pack on his head ;-) His teacher felt so bad - I told her that this was probably the first of many, many bumps for this active boy!

I called the pediatrician and they said that they wanted to see him, just to make sure everything was okay. They said that he looked just fine and that I should just watch him to make sure the swelling didn't get any worse and to monitor any change in his habits.

He got some extra love and attention all afternoon and we went to Target, where I proceeded to purchase about 300 pairs of gripper socks! No more slip and slide for this sweet boy!

Luke is ONE!

 Well, my baby boy is now ONE! I cannot believe that it has been a whole year since we met our sweet Luke for the first time! I can't remember what it was like to live life without him. One year ago, we went to UAB Hospital, not knowing if we would come home with a baby boy or a baby girl - I can definitively say that this little squirt is ALL BOY.

He has had a great month. Although his ears are still bothering him (boo!), he seems to be over the pneumonia and other illnesses that he acquired during September. I don't know what we are going to do about these ears - he had another ear infection last week, which brings the total to 5 since we got tubes the last week of August. The doctor said that about 20% of children will continue to get ear infections post-tubes, but I think there has to be something behind all of this. Allergies maybe? I am going to give it one more round of antibiotics and then we are going to head back to the ENT.

My once-chunky-baby has become quite the little stringbean! At his one year checkup, he weighed 20 pounds (15th percentile) and was 30.5 inches tall (75th percentile). His head continues to be off the charts (99th percentile) ;-) The doctor attributed his low weight to his recent illnesses and his lack of interest in eating solids - he wants us to keep nursing, but to limit it to 3-4 times a day. Luke just isn't a fan of big meals and I am not going to make mealtime a battle, so we will just have to ease into what he is comfortable doing. He LOVES pot roast, chicken, bananas, waffles, hummus, spinach, bok choy, green beans, cheese and turkey, he just doesn't eat a large quantity of anything. He will sometimes eat the little squeeze pouches of food, but seems to just like a sip or two and then he is finished. He feeds himself and can hold his squeeze pouches by himself, but he just likes to use the spoon as a toy. We are working on that one! He has learned to sign "all done" and lets us know when he's had enough.

He absolutely loves anything mechanical and is obsessed with the vacuum cleaner, the washer and dryer, phones, remote controls, the dishwasher, and anything else with buttons or lights. We were walking through  -Target yesterday and they had the Christmas lights on display - I think he could have stared at them all day long! He definitely isn't scared of anything!

Can you believe how much he's grown? The top picture was taken when he was 4 days old...the bottom one was at 11 months, 3 weeks. So many changes in just one year! He certainly fills up the chair now!

We had his one year pictures taken at the petting farm at Oak Mountain State Park - he was so cute with all of the animals. He loved petting the horse and didn't bat an eyelash when it snorted right at him! He would have chased the goats all over the farm if we had let him! He is very, very close to walking and will take a few steps now and then. He will walk while holding one of my hands, but prefers to crawl or cruise. He loves his little Melissa and Doug alligator clacker push toy and pushes it all over the house. He has learned how to turn it and steer it on his own, so he can entertain himself for quite some time with that! He can make almost anything into a push-toy - laundry baskets, chairs, you name it - he will figure out a way to slide it around the floor!

He is really good at entertaining himself - he will play with his toys and can figure out little games to play by himself. He loves chasing the cats and looking out the windows. He loves to open and close any cabinet or door and loves to empty any box/laundry basket/cabinet that he can find. He loves to "read" his books and can point to some of the animals and objects. He knows "kitty", "pig",  "sheep", and sometimes "bear". He loves to point at the lights and say "maahht" and calls everything that is round a "baaah" (ball). We love to ask him, "How big is Luke?" and he responds by throwing both hands way up in the air when we say "SO BIG!" We also ask him, "How old is Luke?" and he (sometimes) responds by holding up one finger. I don't think he has any idea what it means, he has just learned to do that somehow. It is very cute!

He is still really enjoying his stroller and loves to go walking in the neighborhood. We got our first little snap of cold weather (which is now gone :-(), so I bundled him up for a stroll. This proved to be a bit of overkill, as he was burning up about 4 minutes into the walk. I thought he looked so cute in his little hat! Of course, the ear flaps didn't fasten all the way around that big noggin, but at least his head was warm!

He has started to sleep pretty well at  night. He wakes up a few times, but he can get himself back to sleep without me. He has started to wake up very early in the morning, but we don't go get him until about 6:30 or so. He will usually play or go back to sleep, so we are quite grateful for that. We are going to start working on learning to fall asleep unassisted - not looking forward to that! I have always nursed him to sleep and it has worked very well, but he needs to learn how to fall asleep without me. He sleeps in the swing at Mother's Day Out, but that is not a habit that I want him to get used to. His napping is kind of erratic right now. He will usually take one good (1 hour or so) nap and then one small (20-30 minute) nap. Sometimes he only takes one nap, so I am trying to figure out if I need to keep him up in the morning or just let him sleep when he is tired. Our pediatrician is very supportive and gave us tons of information on how to help him fall asleep on his own, so we are going to get going on that once we get the all-clear on his ears.

I just cannot believe my little man is ONE! We had a fun party for him (I will post on that later!) and it was just so cute to see him interact with everyone. He is definitely not shy and loves to be in the middle of the action. He is all joy and we are so amazed and grateful for his little spirit. This has been the most amazing and special year of our lives and we can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet Luke.

Eleven Months (and a few weeks...)

Whew! What. A. Month. I am a couple of weeks late posting this 11 month (I still cannot believe he is 11 months old) update, but we have had SO much going on around here - most of it not fun. Since getting his tubes on August 27, Luke has had THREE ear infections, a cold, and pneumonia - scary stuff. It turns out that one of his tubes was blocked by fluid, so we had to go to the ENT and get that suctioned out - so sad. I don't know if he just picked up some germy germs at Mother's Day Out or just when we were out and about, but suffice it to say that Luke's immune system has gotten a good workout over the past three weeks! I am so grateful to have a pediatrician that is cautious and takes us seriously - he really cares about Luke and does everything he can to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep him well.

To top it all off, I got strep throat over the weekend - mama just cannot be sick - ever! K was sweet enough to take Luke on a little father-son escapade, so I got a few hours of solid rest, but it was a rough time! Fortunately, I think all of the Burlesons are on the mend - hopefully we can keep K from getting sick and we can head into October all happy and well.

As for that little 11 month old boy - wow. He is on the move and is SO close to walking! He will let go and stand all by himself and has taken a few little tentative shuffles. I don't know how the timeline goes, but I think we are close to having a walking boy!

One of his favorite things to do is to open and close doors/cabinets and to take everything out of the cabinets. He likes to climb into certain cabinets and into the refrigerator - I think he could play in the refrigerator all day if I let him. We put cabinet locks on the cabinets that have dangerous stuff in them, but left him a few doors to open!

He is LIGHTENING fast when he crawls and loves to crawl outside in the grass and in the driveway. Dirt/pinestraw/rocks/bugs don't seem to deter him at all and he just loves to sit in the grass and put his hands through it. I am so glad that it is finally cooling off around here so that we can spend more time outside. There are several parks that I really want to explore and some long walks that I want to take. He still loves his Bob Stroller and just goes into a kind of baby trance whenever we go on a walk. One of the funny things he does when he crawls is to hold something as he crawls around. It really doesn't matter to him what the object is, but he usually has something in his hands while he is scooting around!

Sleep has been a little hit or miss lately - with him not feeling well, it has been tough to keep him on any kind of structure. He hasn't been napping very consistently and it makes me wonder if he is trying to drop one of his naps. When he has felt well, he has slept through the night, so that gives me great hope for the future. The garbage trucks and other construction vehicles in our neighborhood seem to come through during naptime every day, so that has made it tough for him, as he wakes up with those very loud noises!

And, speaking of noises, Luke has been making all KINDS of sounds and noises! He has finally started to babble very consistently and it seems like he is trying to talk to us. I am having him evaluated by Early Intervention to see if he has some sort of speech delay, as he isn't really associating words with objects quite yet. With all of the trouble we have had with his ears, I am not certain that he has been hearing well. Once we got all of the fluid removed from his ears last week, his babbling improved dramatically - I hate it that he might not have been hearing us well all of these months!

One of my very good friends is a speech therapist and she assures me that he will catch up quickly if he does have a delay, so that is good to know. In the last week, he has started saying "Mama," although I don't know if he is saying it to me or just saying it (although I know what I want to believe!) He does look to some objects when we name them (light, kitty, ball, diaper, drink) and points to things he wants, but just isn't quite into saying anything quite yet! He follows commands sometimes, my favorite one being "Give mama kisses" and then getting sloppy kisses from my sweet boy!

He is not a big eater (other than nursing) these days. He still loves finger foods and will eat almost anything we put in front of him, just not in large quantities. He is still refusing to be spoon fed, but we still try most days to see if he will take it. So far, no luck. He also still refuses to drink anything but water from his cup. I don't know how long I will nurse him, but it doesn't look like we are going to be stopping anytime soon (although I have heard that babies sometimes just decide all of a sudden that they are done!). His favorite things are hummus and flatbread, spinach, green beans, chicken, carrots, bananas, graham crackers, waffles, and cheese. He really does like a large variety of foods, so I am very grateful for that!

Because of his sicknesses, he has dropped a little weight this month - I am hoping that he will put some weight back on, as he seems a little spindly compared to his usual chunky self. I think he weighs around 20 pounds and is close to 30 inches long. He is wearing mostly 12 month clothes, a size 4 diaper, and fits into a size 4 shoe (although, much to my mother-in-law's chagrin, I don't put him in shoes quite yet).

Diaper changes continue to be an Olympic event. He just takes off as soon as we get his diaper off, so we have to come up with a strategy for that. I have gotten lots of advice about baby "discipline," so I am trying to figure out what we are going to do - there are so many options - just need to figure out what works best for us!

He loves to read his books and loves to play with his toys. He has a little basketball goal that he just is obsessed with - he loves to put the balls through the goal over and over and over. We also got him a little walk-behind toy that he just adores. He can now steer it all over the house and has figured out how to get out of corners/dead end streets/etc. He has figured out how all of his toys work and loves anything with buttons and lights. He has figured out how to get his sound machine off of the table in his room and loves to push all of the different buttons and listen to the different sounds. He also loves to drop things through the bars of his baby gates and watch them bounce down the stairs. Speaking of stairs, he loves to climb the stairs - we have to make extra sure that those gates are latched tightly!

We are in the process of planning his first birthday party - hard to believe that it will be taking place two weeks from Saturday - I think it will be a good time, but there is much to do!

This little man continues to be more joy than we ever thought possible - the absolute light of our lives!

First Day of School!

So today was the big day! Luke started a Mother's Day Out program at our church - he will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 until 1. I have been a nervous wreck, worrying myself crazy about how it would go today. He has only been away from me a handful of times and never for more than 2-3 hours at a time. He always seems to enjoy being around other people and goes to anyone who wants to hold him, so I figured that he would be okay, but STILL!!!!!!

I packed his bag last night, got everything labeled, made his lunch, and got all teary as I saw everything sitting out on the counter. I made sure that he had a change of clothes, diapers, sippy cups, snacks, pacifiers (although he won't take one), a bib, and his cold pack.

We got there right on time and I took him into his classroom. It was so cute! They had all of the kids' names on little apples on the door. He had a little cubby for his bag and other things, and had a special bulletin board with his name on it where the teachers can write anything that I need them to know. His teachers are Mrs. Christy and Miss Linda and he seems to really like them! Mrs. Christy has been keeping this age group for 20 years, so I feel like he will be in very, very good hands! He crawled right on in and started playing with the other kids. I gave him a quick kiss and left - SO hard! I cried just a little, but pulled myself together before it got too bad ;-)

I met two of my friends for coffee at Panera (we had all dropped our babies off this morning) and I felt much better after that. I ran a few errands and then it was time to go pick up my boy! When I got there, he was being held by Mrs. Christy - she said that he wouldn't eat :-(, but that he had taken a good nap. She said that he did eat a few of his snacks, but wouldn't eat his baby food or drink his milk - I didn't expect him to, so that wasn't a big surprise.

We got in the car and he babbled the whole way home - it was like he was telling me all about his day. It was so cute! He didn't fall asleep for about 2 hours, so he must have been really wound up. Of course, no long nap this afternoon - he slept for about 45 minutes and then he was ready to go again!

I think this will be a good time for both of us - I need to get back to the gym and do the errands that are getting to be a bit tough with an active baby - I missed him like crazy and am glad that we have a few days before Tuesday rolls around!

On the Road to Recovery

Yesterday, we got up SUPER early and headed to Children's South for Luke to get tubes in his ears! Over the past six months, he has had four ear infections, so the ENT and the pediatrician told us that it was definitely time.

We had a bit of a wait (even though we were first in line) - we got there at 6, but the surgery didn't start until 7:55 - luckily it was over by 8:04...not that I was watching the clock or anything. In the two hours that we had to wait, Luke had a great time playing with the toys in the surgery center - he was such a trooper - he was so tired and very hungry, but you would have never known it - such a big boy! I am shocked that I actually allowed him to touch anything, but desperate times called for desperate measures - managing a squiggly baby for 2 hours granted a temporary lapse to my germaphobia.

They let us take him to the big double doors outside of the operating room and then a sweet nurse took/pried him from my arms and took him back. Of course, he was smiling and giggling and waving - I was tearing up, but mama managed to hold it together.

When the surgeon came back into the room (9 minutes after they took him back), he said that everything went well and that I could feed him and take him home as soon as he was out of recovery. I heard Luke crying in the recovery room and that was about all I could take - luckily, the nurse brought him in before I broke down the doors. I fed him, he perked right up, and we went home. We then slept for almost 3 hours - oh happy day!

I am hoping that this will help him feel better, as the surgeon said that his little ears were full of fluid. So far, he has seemed like his normal cheerful self - I am wondering if the fluid was impacting his hearing, as he has been babbling and "talking" about twice as much since these tubes went in. Of course, Kasey says that it is all in my head, but I think I'm right ;-)

Plans are underway for the first birthday party - I am planning a Barnyard Brunch - isn't he a cute little farmer?

TEN Months Old!

What. A. Month! It seems that this month has taken Luke from a baby-baby to an almost-toddler! At the beginning of the month, he was just mastering his army crawl and was starting to realize that things existed in the plane above his head. Fast forward to now and he is moving as fast as lightening (as evidenced today when he beat me to the laundry room and had the cats' water bowl emptied before I got to him!) and is climbing on EVERYTHING. He is cruising from his activity table to his tool chest to the ottoman to the sofa- he can pretty much get anywhere he wants to go. He doesn't like being contained in his pack and play (or in anything else, for that matter), but mama has to make dinner somehow!

He weighs right at 20 pounds and is about 30 inches long. He is wearing mostly 12 month clothes now and is still in a size 3 diaper. And speaking of diapers, oh. my. goodness. I think it would be easier to diaper one of the cats. When I put him on his changing table, he immediately flips over and tries to climb off. If I change him on the floor, he just crawls away with that little nakey booty up in the air. I've found my best technique is to change him while he is standing up - I cannot wait until he can wear the size 4 diapers - I will FOR SURE be switching to the type that just pull on.

He NEVER sits still and is always on the go. He wants to know what I am doing at all times and wants to hold/touch/eat whatever I have. He seems to have no fear and will go to anyone or investigate anything! In the picture below, he is trying to eat the camera. It is so fun to see him be so curious!

One of his favorite little tricks is to pull things off of shelves and cabinets. I have moved everything (I think ;-) that is dangerous to shelves that he can't reach! He will pull up on anything that he can get a grasp on and then will explore whatever it is that he finds! He loves to play with his books, loves to turn the pages, and loves to point to different things on the pages. He smiles when I get his favorite books out and gets so excited when he turns the pages.

One of the cutest things he does is at bathtime - we have been pretty consistent with his bedtime routine since he was about a month old, so he is starting to know the drill. Once we take his clothes and diaper off, he now crawls into the bathroom and pulls up on the tub and tries to climb over the edge - he LOVES his bath! He kicks and plays and would stay in there for hours if we would let him. He likes his bath toys, but his favorite thing to play with in the tub is the stadium cup we use to rinse him - he puts his whole face in it and then talks and squawks - he likes to hear how his voice sounds from inside the cup!

Unfortunately, he has had two more ear infections over the past six weeks - we are meeting with an ENT tomorrow afternoon and I think tubes are in our immediate future. I know that tubes are a very routine procedure, but it still scares me to think about having to put him under anesthesia. I don't want to continue to need antibiotics all the time, so I guess this will be a good solution. He starts Mother's Day Out in September, so I hope that the tubes will prevent every little cold from turning into a raging ear infection. We will see!

His two bottom teeth are almost completely in and his two top teeth are making their entrance! The top right tooth is in more than the left and it is just SO cute. Cutting these top teeth has been quite the production. It seems like the bottom teeth just popped up...not so with the top ones. They seem to have caused him quite a bit of pain and discomfort - sucking on his washcloths and some of his teething rings has seemed to help - hopefully we are in the home stretch on this!

He has started to babble more and more. He says dada and baba and kihkih - I don't think he is actually associating those sounds with anything specific, but he sure loves to say them. He also loves to yell out and make very loud noises! We were in the grocery store last week and he just randomly yelled out - it was hysterical. He kept doing it throughout the store - he got tickled at himself and just did it more and more.

He has also started to look at some objects when I say the names - he definitely knows "kitty" and "dada" and "book" - we are working on adding more items to his little vocabulary every day!

A few days ago, Luke was playing in the hallway and things got a little too quiet - I quickly investigated to see what he was up to and found that he had discovered the toilet paper. Great. He had the best time unrolling it and then playing with it. We are now taking extra precautions to make sure that all of the bathroom doors are closed/toilet lids are down/etc - who knew the bathroom could be this much fun?

He is still nursing like a champ (about 5 times a day) and is a huge fan of finger foods. In fact, he refuses to be spoon fed - he wants to do it himself. He eats pretty much everything that we do and has liked everything he has tried. He loves chicken and is a huge fan of waffles. He has started to drink water from a sippy cup or through a straw quite well, although he still refuses to drink milk from a cup or a bottle - hopefully he will get the hang of it before Mother's Day Out starts next month! 

I have about given up on him sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. For a little while, he was sleeping from 7-4, then from 7-5, but now he is back waking once or twice. Between the ear infections and the teething, I haven't wanted to push it - he relaxes immediately once I pick him up - I just can't resist. Once we're on the mend, I might try to push him through, but for now, I am just not going to worry about it. On a positive note, he is napping much more consistently! Sometimes naps push past the hour mark, but they are usually at least 45 minutes - enough time for me to get at least one chore (or a quick nap - ha!) in.

Speaking of chores, one of the funny things he is doing right now is chasing the broom and vacuum. He is OBSESSED with both of them. When I sweep, he chases the dirt pile around and tries to touch the broom. He wants to be on top of the vacuum and loves to play with the cord. Needless to say, he has to stay in his pack and play while I am cleaning these days!

I simply cannot believe how fast time has gone. I am currently planning his first birthday party and just cannot believe it is time to be doing that - how did this happen?

We love him more and more every minute - we are just so grateful for this little man!