Life With Luke: Week Three

Day 15

On Monday, Luke had his two week appointment at the health center. He did so great! He hated being stripped down to be weighed, having the nurse stretch out his legs to measure him and the cold thermometer under his arm, but he calmed right down as soon as he was back in my arms and no one was bugging him anymore. His two week stats: 8 pounds 8 ounces (he gained 15 oz. from his birth weight and even more than that over the first two weeks because he lost 5 oz. in the first two days after he was born) and 21.5 inches long (an inch longer than his birth length).

The doctor checked Luke out from head to toe and everything looked great. He was especially impressed with Luke's ability to hold his head up. He's been doing that pretty much from birth and it is very impressive considering his giant head and tiny neck. Luke didn't cry once while the doctor was shining lights in his eyes, putting a tongue depressor in this mouth, sticking things in his ears, and generally just making the little guy uncomfortable, which the doctor was also very impressed with.

We also had to get Luke's blood drawn for a few tests. Poor Luke was minding his own business, sleeping in his car seat when the nurse pricked his heel and took several drops of blood. He cried for a second, but calmed down and went back to sleep almost immediately. I was so proud of my little boy.


Day 16

On Tuesday, Luke slept all night in his crib for the first time. After the first couple of nights home from the hospital, Jeff started sleeping out on the couch because he needed to get sleep in order to get up early for work each morning and he was waking up whenever Luke did. We wanted to try and keep Luke out of our bed as much as possible, but with Jeff not there and my strong desire for sleep, it was really easy to let Luke sleep next to me on Jeff's side of the bed. He was sleeping really well (3-4 hours at a time) and I tried to convince myself that I wasn't starting a bad habit by telling myself that since Luke was sleeping on his own a good foot or two away from me, it wasn't much different than if he were sleeping in his crib. However, on this night, I finally decided I'd see how Luke did sleeping in his crib. Jeff wasn't going to have to go up to campus every morning pretty soon and he would be coming back to sleep in bed with me so he needed his half of the bed back. And guess what? Luke did just as well sleeping in his crib as he had done sleeping in bed with me: 3-4 hours at a time. Such a good baby! And now he sleeps in his crib every night.


Day 17

On Wednesday morning, Jeff fed Luke from a bottle for the first time. One of the things Brooke gave me was a pump and I had put quite a few bags in the freezer. Luke took the bottle right away, no hesitation. I had heard some people have a really hard time getting their babies to start taking a bottle so we were very happy that Luke did so well with it. He easily makes the transition from Mommy to bottle and back again. It's wonderful. This way Jeff can feed Luke when he takes him on the mornings I need a little more sleep, when I am working out, when I'm busy making dinner or any other time it's inconvenient for me to feed him myself. It's been a big help.

That night, I also used our elliptical trainer again for the first time since Luke was born. I took it easy, but I felt great and I've been doing most nights since without any problems. While I was working out, Jeff and I started a new show on Netflix called Lie to Me. If you haven't heard of it, it's a great show. Check it out.

Luke all sprawled out in his crib. For the first week or two, he had to be swaddled to sleep because otherwise he would wake himself up by hitting himself in the face or kicking really hard. But sometime around two weeks, he started sleeping like this.

Day 18








Day 19

After a particularly long night of Luke waking up every hour or two, I needed Jeff to take him in the morning, but he wasn't quite ready to get up either.

Friday night, Jeff and I took Luke to Carrabbas, another restaurant my mom got us a gift card for. We both had delicious chicken caesar salads. While we were there, Luke had a dirty diaper and he demanded it be changed. It was our very first diaper change in a public place. Luke was not a fan of the hard plastic changing table in the bathroom. He cried and cried the entire time, but he was okay once I finished changing him and got him off of it.

When we got home, we put Luke in one of the adorable outfits Brooke gave us and had a little photo shoot.

Day 20

No pictures from day 20. We spent most of the day home as Jeff worked on writing his thesis. We took a little break to go to Wal-Mart and pick up a baby carrier (the kind you wear on your chest) and the first box of diapers we had to buy ourselves. We couldn't believe Luke had already gone through the hundreds of diapers we got from our family and the hospital. This kid seriously goes through a good 20 diapers a day. We really need to buy in bulk at Costco to save some money. Unfortunately, there isn't a Costco near Flagstaff so we will have to stock up as best we can before we move and then settle for Wal-Mart until we move to Phoenix.

That day, I also discovered that Luke likes head massages almost as much as his dad.

Day 21

On Sunday, we took Luke to church for Sunday school and just long enough to take the sacrament again. We dressed him in the cute outfit Brooke gave us (see day 19) and people went crazy over how cute he looked in his little tie.

After church, Luke and I took a short nap, during which apparently, he decided to grab my nose. Jeff noticed and snapped a few pictures:

We had to take a couple of pictures of cute Luke sucking on his finger in his sleep.