Rice Cereal

Luke had his 4 month appointment with the pediatrician a little over a week ago.  He is healthy and strong as can be.  He is also HUGE!  He is a little over average in weight (15.7 lbs., 60%ish), but he is way off the charts in height (28.7 inches, way >97%)!  At 4 months old, he is over the average height for a 9-month-old!  I don't know where this kid gets it, but it looks like he is going to be one big guy!

At the appointment, the doctor told me it would be a good idea to start Luke on solids.  I had been struggling to keep up with his appetite on my own for a week or two so I was happy to get the green light for a little help.  

Mom came up to visit for the weekend again.  She arrived the night of Luke's appointment and the next day, Luke tried rice cereal for the first time, providing some serious entertainment for Jeff, Mom and I.  Luke was a little unsure about the first couple of spoonfuls and he made some great faces.  Pretty soon, though, he started leaning into every bite with an open mouth.  This little guy just takes new things in stride.

 Jeff was only interested in getting pictures of Luke's funny faces so that's about all we got.  He snapped away at the beginning and stopped when Luke started to like it.

 Luke has some grabby little hands these days.  He reaches for anything in front of him and he's got quite a grip.  We're wondering if he might be left-handed since he seems to favor that hand most of the time.

These next two pictures are from Luke's third rice cereal feeding.  He's already a pro.  We can't wait to try fruits and vegetables.

The following pictures are from the past week ...

 Trying on Daddy's hat

When Mom was here, she took Luke and I to Target and bought us some exciting new things: the high chair Luke is sitting in in the rice cereal pictures, baby formula, a couple of big boxes of Huggies, the adorable little snow suit pictured below, and three long sleeved shirts and a sweater for me).  She also babysat while Jeff and I went on a date.  We went to dinner and used the free movie passes we got from our neighbor to see the movie Red (funny!).  It was so nice to be out on our own, chat, hold hands everywhere we went and not have to pause the movie every few minutes to entertain Luke.  I love that husband of mine.

It is freezing here now (it makes me want to cry).  We finally gave in and turned up the heat a little bit, but Luke and I usually still have to wear long sleeves and pants in our chilly apartment.

Before we broke and turned up the heat, we endured some pretty cold nights.  We dressed Luke in warm clothes for bed so he wouldn't freeze, but he got a little too warm in his snow suit so Jeff let him cool off a little bit before we changed his clothes.

 Mommy and Luke

 Luke doesn't have any teeth yet, but they feel really close to the surface.  He is teething like crazy and his newest thing is to chew on his bottom lip all day.  He is still a little more needy and whiny at night, but it's been a long time since he's gotten so worked up that he's inconsolable.  He is actually still pretty happy at night a lot of the time.

 A couple of mornings ago, Luke and I were sitting on the couch while I worked on my laptop.  I turned around and saw Luke just lounging in this position.  It was so funny and he even gave me a little smile when I got out the camera.

 This boy sleeps in the funniest positions.

 Chewing away on that bottom lip