Happy 1st Birthday, Luke!

Luke turned one last Sunday! We had a birthday party for him the day before with some close friends and family. Of course, a first birthday party is really more for the parents than the baby, but he did have lots of smiles for us. He played in the icing of his cake, but needed a little help to get a taste. He definitely didn't dig-in like Eliana did on her first birthday.




Luke had his 12 month appointment this week, and although we had some concerns about his lack of movement (not crawling or anything yet!) and his lack of weight gain since his 9 month check up, he got good marks from the doctor. There's a big range of what's considered normal for moving around - taking up to 18 months is still considered normal, so we don't have to be worried about that just yet. Even though he weighs just over 20 pounds (same as at 9 months), his height continued along the same growth curve of about the 75th percentile, which is good. He's my little peanut, but he's healthy and happy!

Luke's 1st Sick Visit

Poor baby boy has a double ear infection. I'm not used to having a sick baby. Eliana didn't have a sick visit until she was about 2 and a half, but I'm sure Luke's having a big sister who goes to pre-school makes a difference. Luke's had a fever since Saturday, been either fuzzy or lethargic, and then today wasn't eating and pulled on his ears a few times. So we went to the doctor...when Stu came home with Luke's prescription, and nothing for Eliana, she started complaining that her ear hurt! She has had a pretty relentless cold/cough this winter, but she's been as energetic as always and hasn't said anything about not feeling well or having an ear ache. Eliana went to Luke's appointment today and didn't say anything then either about her ear hurting. So we figured she just wanted what Luke had. They both went to bed early - Luke at 6:30 and Eliana at 7:30, and around 9 Eliana woke up crying and crying and saying her ear hurt! Argh! So I guess Ellie'll need a trip to the doc tomorrow, too. Luke's been moaning or crying out about every half hour since he went to sleep, so I'm anticipating a rather sleepless night for everyone. Poor kids.

Our Little Drummer Boy

Luke's almost a year old and although he isn't crawling or have much interest in moving around, he loves to sit and flail those arms! He can keep a pretty steady beat, too!

We got SNOW!!

On Saturday, January 30th, our area saw more snow around here than in the last twenty years. Since D.C.'s 30+ inches a few days ago, our 9 doesn't seem like much, but it was still quite a beautiful and exciting sight. Eliana, especially, had lots of fun, although we weren't really prepared with proper snow-gear, so her bouts out in the snow didn't last long. But they were frequent.


A blast from my past growing up in NJ: Snow Cream! Snow, milk, sugar and vanilla. Or another nice variety: snow, milk, sugar, rum extract, and coconut. :)


It was really nice having a cozy day snowed-in. We enjoyed a fire and ended the day roasting marshmellows and making s'mores.

The following day, Uncle Jason had more luck building a snow man with Ellie than we did. Thanks, Uncle J! Schools closed the Monday & Tuesday and had a delayed opening on Wednesday. I only had to work Thursday that week!

Eliana's 4!

She's been four since late November, but I've gotten so bad about blogging that I'm a couple of months late...sorry, Ellie. I did want to reflect a little on Eliana and her four years. She is a talkative, social, energetic girl, who only runs out of steam when we force her to go to bed. This has been her first year in school, and she absolutely loves pre-school. She also loves being a big sister. Luke's her little "Choey Boy" (no idea how she came up with that name), and she's excited that mommy has another baby in her tummy! One sign of Eliana's maturing over this year is that she understands that this baby could be a boy or a girl (and is okay with that), and as much as she wants a sister, we don't know what God is going to give us (those are her words!).
Here's a fun little look back at Eliana from birth to now...