The Darnell Diary

Family Christmas Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:10:00 +0000

I love sending out Christmas cards. Before I was married, I handmade my cards. I continued to do that the first year that we were married, but then realized that I no longer had that much free time on my hands! Enter the birth of our first child in 2009, and any free time I had just flew out the window!

When you are short on time, but still want to send out really cute Christmas cards, there is nowhere else you should turn but to Shutterfly! They have a HUGE selection of Christmas cards to choose from. Whether you want a card with one picture or multiple, printed on photo paper or cardstock, a folded card or flat card -- their selection is second to none!

For me, the hardest part of the Christmas card process is narrowing down my selection and ultimately choosing only ONE card from the hundreds available. They have really sweet Christmas cards with a Christian message, adorable Christmas/holiday invitations for all of your holiday parties, and even New Year's cards if you just can't get around to sending them out until after Christmas!

I won't admit how many hours I've spent, just pouring over the Shutterfly site, trying to decide on a Christmas card design. I think, though, that I've finally narrowed it down to my top three design choices:

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card
I love the clean layout of this one, and the swirly design behind the monogram is just too cute! My only problem is finding enough pictures to fill in all of the spots!

Dotted Collage Christmas Card
I am a sucker for polka dots -- LOVE them -- so of course, this card sucked me in! I would make the main sentiment a bit larger, to stand out, but otherwise, this card is adorable!

Retro Plaid Christmas Card
The plaid on this card reminds me of a Burberry scarf...love it! Plus, the little Christmas tree and the simple design are so easy on the eyes.

However, no guarantees on if I'll actually use one of those three designs...as I was looking at their site just now to get the links, I found a few more that I love equally as much! Did I mention I have a hard time making decisions sometimes?

Shutterfly is currently having an awesome promotion, especially for bloggers! All you have to do is go to this link and fill out the form. Shutterfly will then email you details on what you need to do to receive 50 FREE Christmas cards! Can't beat FREE! For all you non-bloggers, there are still great deals to be had at Shutterfly. For a limited time you can save up to 30% on all cards and can also receive free shipping on orders over $50 (use code SHIP50). Check out Shutterfly today for all of your Christmas and holiday card needs!

18 Month Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Dear Luke,

Wow, what an exciting couple of months you've had! You took your first trip (including a plane ride) in June. We went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit some friends of ours. You did so great on the plane. I stocked up a backpack full of toys and goodies you'd never seen before, so as soon as you started getting bored with something, I just pulled out another new item. It worked like a charm! During our time in Florida, you got to go to the beach for the first time. Oh my goodness, it was PURE BLISS for you! You couldn't get enough of it! We were there for about 4 hours and you had missed your nap so you were SO tired, but you didn't dare sleep. You didn't want to miss one single bit of it! :) You loved to dig in the sand and fill up buckets with sand and water. You also really enjoyed sitting at the edge of the water and finding lots and lots of seashells with Daddy. We made sure to bring home a whole bagful for souvenirs!

(fun in the sand!)

(hanging with Mommy at the beach)

At the end of this month we'll be taking another trip...a road trip this time though! We'll be driving down to San Antonio to go to the wedding of one of your Daddy's friends. It's a 4 hour drive, so we'll probably have to stop and take some breaks. We are staying in a hotel on the riverwalk and I can't wait for you to see everything there. We will definitely be taking you on a riverboat ride and hopefully we'll also get a chance to ride the trolley over to Mi Tierra for breakfast -- YUM!

Your language continues to expand and you impress me everyday with more and more words added to your vocabulary. In just over 2 months, the list of words you know and say regularly has almost tripled! I am trying my best to keep a running list of the words and how you pronounce them (since that's the best part!). Here's what you are saying at 18 months (in addition to the ones I documented at 16 months):

belbow -- elbow

kneee -- knee

feeee -- feet

dank doo -- thank you

mooo -- move

goo me -- excuse me

mone -- come on

peee -- please

eye -- eye

mou -- mouth

gigi -- Grammie

poppy or bobby -- Poppy

bay-bee -- baby

poo poo -- poo poo

doo-choo -- fruit chew

yeth -- yes

nack -- snack

cracker -- much better pronunciation than @ 16 months

gen -- again

mo -- more

bee-bee -- blueberry

goo -- Luke

cocky -- chair (you think every chair is a rocking chair)

bai-per -- diaper

bat -- bath

boo coo -- Blue's Clues

buh -- bug

turt-ul -- turtle

bobble -- bubble

ga-gog -- hot dog

biiiite -- bite (you ALWAYS want a bite of whatever we are eating!)

melmo -- Elmo

Mommy

Daddy

Tonight before your bath, I attempted to get you on video saying some of your words...you cooperated a bit...(3 videos)

You are such a happy little boy. You are rarely every grumpy or grouchy and if you are, there is a reason for it. Either you're hungry, or you're tired, or you aren't feeling well. You have started having a few little fits, but they are very mild and pretty rare. Your Daddy and I are constantly communicating with each other so that we can always attempt to be on the same page with your discipline and what is acceptable behavior or not. I'd say that at 18 months, you are very well behaved. There is almost no place that I'd not take you. You do great at restaurants, you love to go shopping and sit in the basket, and generally just like being out and about. You also enjoy going to lunch with me and my friends -- you have your priorities straight! :) You start to show signs of going a bit stir-crazy if we're in the house all day, so I do make it a point to try to get out for a little bit every day (even if it's just to go down the street to visit Grammie).

(having a conversation with your lion)

Dare I say it...but your sleeping improved TREMENDOUSLY at about 17 months old. You started sleeping through the night consistently -- and I mean THROUGH THE NIGHT. As in, not waking up at all! This is HUGE for us, and I don't think I can emphasize how excited I was when this started happening. At first, I thought it was just a fluke...but then it became your new norm. You even slept through the night while we were in Florida and you were sleeping in a Pack 'n Play. That's when I finally realized that it was probably the real deal. I can't tell you how happy this makes me and how much more rested I am these days. However, in the past few weeks you've started getting a new tooth, and so it has affected your sleep somewhat. You've been waking up once a night, but I can usually get you back to sleep in 15-20 minutes or so. It also seems like you're sleeping more hours at night now. You used to only need about 9 hours or so at night, but more and more, you are getting 10 and even sometimes 11 hours of sleep in a night. I love it when we have 8am wakeup times! Happy mommy!

(napping with Daddy)

Oh and on the topic of teeth, you have a whole mouthful of them! You have 12 (and a half) teeth right now. You have the 4 center ones on top, the 4 center ones on the bottom, and your 1st set of molars on the bottom and top. You've been working on getting your first incisor/canine tooth on top and it's been a booger -- it's taking FOREVER to come through!

You're a pretty incredible kid when it comes to mealtimes. I don't know if you take after me and your dad or what it is exactly, but you are a GREAT eater. You like so many things and you'll give anything a try at least once. I'm making "specific" food for you less and less, and more often you are just eating whatever it is that Daddy and I are eating for dinner. Just this past Friday night, we had steak, asparagus, zucchini, and squash and you loved it all! You also love almost any kind of fruit and eat some at every meal. Your favorite fruits right now are strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. You also love pecans and sunflower seeds. You really like to snack throughout the day, so I always keep a snack cup filled for you with your favorite things -- goldfish, wheat thins, dried cherries, raisins, pecans, etc. But even with all of your eating, you're still pretty trim. I haven't taken you in for your 18 month checkup yet, but according to our scale at home, you're just over 21 lbs! I do think you've grown significantly taller though, because you are easily grabbing things off the countertops these days! I think part of the reason that you don't gain a lot of weight is that you never.stop.moving. EVER. You go go go all day long and you are busy busy busy.

(trying asparagus for the first time)

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much sweet boy. We cherish our "goo hug" (group hug) at night before bedtime and the multiple kisses we get before you go to sleep. You have enriched our lives more than we ever imagined and we wake up each day excited to spend it with you and to see what you will learn and explore next. I love you Luke Jackson!

(hanging out under the barstools)

Love,
Mama

Sleepin' through dinner!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:59:00 +0000

I was looking through all the pictures and videos on my phone tonight and came across one that I'd nearly forgotten about! I can't believe I never uploaded it before now, but it is just too good to pass up! Watch for yourself! (Video from iPhone, so the quality is less than stellar.)

The poor little guy was SO tired, but we needed him to eat dinner before he could go to bed. I feel pretty sure that this will be one of the only times that ever happens!

16 Month Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Wed, 12 May 2010 03:58:00 +0000

Dear Luke,

I know I haven't been very diligent in updating this blog about all of the exciting things you do everyday...it's just that you are SO BUSY all the time! It's all I can do to just keep up with you! I did want to take a few quick minutes to document what is going on with you at 16 months old.

It seems in the last couple of weeks that your vocabulary has really started to take off. You mimic so much of what we say and you'll try to say almost any word we ask you to. Here are some of the words you are saying right now:

Cah -- car, truck, bus, etc

Cah-cah -- tractor

Nana -- banana

Wah or wah-wah -- water

Bah -- ball

Buh -- book

Cack -- cracker

Mama (you also draw it out lately and say maaaaa-ma in a sing songy voice -- so cute!)

Dada (same as with mama)

Pop or pop-pop or papa -- Poppy

Niiiice -- nice

Nee -- Annie

Hi -- you say this in the proper context, and also wave while doing it

Bye-bye -- same as above

Haa -- hat

Nooooose -- nose

Gaagaa -- glasses

You also are understanding SO much of what we say to you. If I ask you if you're hungry and if you want to eat, you will run over to your high chair and hold your arms up for me to put you in. When I ask you if you need your diaper changed, you know what it means and usually run the other direction! When I say it's time to go bye-bye, you run to the garage door. When I ask if you want to go outside you run to either the front or back door.

You've also started testing limits. Recently you started trying to reach up onto tables and pull on the bases of the lamps. I have told you 'no' when you do this, so now you will go over to the lamp, put your hand on it and say "no." Sometimes you will go put your hand on the lamp and look at me and say "hi", as if it will distract me from what you are really trying to do! Silly boy! You also know that you aren't supposed to stand on your books, so just yesterday, you laid a book on the floor, stood on it, and then looked at me and said "nooo" with a big smile on your face. It's all I can do to not crack up laughing when you do this stuff!

We are still working on your sign language and you are learning the signs very well! Whenever I introduce a new sign, it's just a matter of a day or two before you have it down! So far, here are all of the signs you know and do on a regular basis: milk, more, cracker, bird, banana, water, baby, and eat.

You can identify all of the parts of your face -- eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Your favorite thing to do the past couple of days is to show me your nose, as well as the nose of anything you can get your hands on. My nose, daddy's nose, Grammie's nose, Poppy's nose, your Superman doll's nose, the pull-toy puppy's nose, etc! And you say it soooo cute -- "nooooose".

And I can't write an update about you without addressing your sleeping. Oh my dear precious Luke -- why oh why don't you like to sleep? I've finally accepted this fact, but I don't have to like it! Honestly, you do great for a couple of nights, and then you'll have a lousy couple of nights. I guess you just don't want us to get too comfortable with anything! You typically sleep anywhere from 8-10 hours at night total. If you sleep in one long stretch of 8 hours, then that'll be it for the night -- you're totally rested and ready to go! If you are up a few times throughout the night, you tend to get more like 10 hours of sleep total...I guess it's not quite as restful for you that way (I CAN RELATE!). I also think that you are slowly starting to give up your afternoon nap. Some days, such as today, you still need it, but more often than not you just take one nap, usually around 11am or so. And of course, keeping with your style, that nap can be anywhere from 45 minutes to over 2 hours long! Thankfully, I most always lay down with you for that nap, so I that I can get caught up on my sleep somewhat too!

There is never a dull moment with you, sweet boy! You keep me on my toes, you keep me laughing, and you give me more joy than I ever thought possible. I love you bunches and bunches baby boy!

Love,
Mama

Blogging from my phone

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:32:00 +0000

Testing to see if I can post to my blog from my phone.

And just for grins, here's a cute bedhead pic of Luke after his nap the other day. :) Love that kid!

Posted from my iPhone

FREEZE!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:30:00 +0000

One night several weeks ago while we were giving Luke a bath, he started doing this silly little pose, over and over! We were laughing so hard and once he saw that he was making us laugh, well he just kept on doing it. We wanted to come up with a word or something so we could get him to do it on "cue." So Tommy said "FREEZE!" And from then on, when we say FREEZE, Luke does his silly pose. Video proof below (during dinner last night). :)

One Tough Cookie

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:44:00 +0000

What a crazy weekend we just had! We were so excited on Thursday night, when Daddy finally got home after TWO long weeks of travel for work. We couldn't wait to see him and had a fun weekend planned, with lots of quality family time together.

Luke had been running a low fever for the 24 hours before Daddy got home, so we headed to the doctor's office on Friday afternoon, just to get him checked out before the weekend. Thankfully, we found out that he just had a sore throat (strep test was negative) and should be on the upswing of it soon.

Saturday morning we enjoyed a fun family breakfast at IHOP, then just hung around the house for most of the day. We ventured out once in the cold to stock up on groceries and snacks for the Super Bowl the next day. Luke seemed to be getting over his sore throat and was pretty much back to his normal, smiley self. I had prepped our Super Bowl food for the next day and it was cooking away in the oven. Luke and Daddy were playing while I got dinner ready...we were settling in for a relaxing Saturday night at home. And then it happened.

Let me back up a second. Luke has pretty much turned into a full-fledged walker. He walks about 95% of the time -- FORGET that crawling stuff, it's obviously for babies and he's a big kid now! So, when you think about your toddler having an accident, you would think it would involve walking. Nope, not this time!

So, back to Saturday night. Luke is sitting on the living room floor, next to one of the columns. (You can see the column I'm talking about at the end of the video where Luke is "playing soccer.") He sits next to these things ALL the time. Tommy is standing right above him. Somehow, Luke either lunges or falls forward and his forehead smacks directly into the corner of the column...right on the sharpest possible part. I'm in the kitchen and didn't know it even happened...until I hear Tommy say "Oh no!" I look over to the living room. Tommy has scooped Luke up and is rushing over to the kitchen. At this point, Luke hadn't even cried yet...he was still taking that BIG breath, gearing up to let loose with an all out scream. Sure enough, he gets into the kitchen with Luke and I take him. I look at his forehead and try not to freak out. He's got what looks like a puncture hole right above his left eyebrow. It looks kind of deep and immediately I think he'll probably need stitches. It's bleeding some, but not terribly. Tommy thinks quickly and picks up the phone to call our friends Krista and Dave down the street -- she's a nurse practitioner and he's a nurse anesthetist. Thankfully they were home and Krista came right down to check Luke out. Amazingly enough, Luke only cried a couple of minutes and then he was completely fine. So by the time Krista got here, Luke looked like he was pretty much ok -- well, with the exception of the hole in his forehead, I guess! Krista took a look at the cut and said that she thought he could definitely use a couple of stitches. She said it would heal fine on its own, but without the stitches, it would probably leave a pretty good scar. We trusted her judgment and decided to make the trek to Cook Children's ER.

We were totally blessed that Krista was able to call ahead to the hospital and talk with a doctor she knows in the ER. They were expecting us when we arrived! We only had to wait a few minutes and they got us back to a room right away. The doctor came in and checked out the wound -- sure enough, she deemed stitches necessary. The wound care tech got Luke set up with a cotton ball band-aided to the wound with some sort of numbing agent on it. He let that sit for about 30 minutes and then it was time for the sewing to begin! This was the worst part for mom and dad (and actually, probably for Luke too!). They basically straitjacketed Luke so that he couldn't move while they were doing the stitches. Tommy and I did get to be right there next to him though, so that helped a tiny bit. Those wound care techs know their stuff (they are trained by plastic surgeons) and they are QUICK! From start to finish, it probably took them only about 5 minutes to stitch Luke up. As soon as they finished, I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture before they put the bandage on.

All cleaned up and with 3 blue stitches:

Then they bandaged him up and handed him to me. He calmed down as soon as I was holding him and then he got to experience something for the very first time -- A POPSICLE!! As you can imagine, he loved it, and was going to town on it. I pushed aside my OCD-ness and let him enjoy it...drippy, stickiness and all! Well, I only let him enjoy it for about 5 minutes, and then I couldn't handle it any more. It was getting ALL OVER HIM and plus, I didn't want him to have too much sugar since it was already close to his bedtime and he's not used to sugar like that! We changed him out of his popsicle-soaked clothes and into his pajamas. The last thing left to do was to sign our discharge papers and head home. My mom and dad were out in the waiting room when we walked out and couldn't wait to see the little guy. They couldn't believe how tough he was and how you'd never know what he'd just been through if not for the band-aid on his forehead!

We made the short drive home and by that time were all ready for bed. I had Daddy snap a quick picture of me and Luke (who was all smiles):

All things considered, we had a pretty restful night of sleep. We expected to wake up the next morning and find Luke with a black eye. However, to our surprise, there was NO bruising whatsoever! Amazing!

Now, on to the good stuff -- pictures of the tough guy!

Hanging out with daddy:

All smiles with Mama (even after I pulled the band-aid off!):

Squeaky clean after a bath:

Happy boy in a high chair:

Playing hard:

We have been praising God that Luke's little accident turned out not to be so bad after all. Luke hasn't slowed down one bit, so I think it's safe to say that he's feeling A-OK! We go back to the hospital on Friday to have the stitches removed...well, at least that's the plan! We are scheduled to have snow and sleet tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to get to the hospital without incident and get these bright blue stitches removed!

More fun with paper towels!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:45:00 +0000

I had to share this video from the other day...it was just too cute!

Luke is (obviously) still loving the paper towels. In fact, tonight we were over at my parents house and I was holding him and walked into the pantry to get something. He looked up and saw their extra paper towels up in the top of the pantry where they store them and got SO excited! He was pointing to them and talking up a storm. I LOVE this silly boy of mine!

Unrelated, but in the last 3 days, Luke has progressed to pretty much being a FULL TIME WALKER. Today, I only saw him crawl about 3 times...he was walking the rest of the day. My little boy is growing up! More pictures/videos and Luke updates soon!

Future Soccer Player?

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Luke was cracking us up last night, walking all over the living room. His cousin Annie was over and he LOVES her so much! He can't get enough of her -- constantly giving her hugs and wanting her to pick him up. Here's a pic of them hanging out together in Luke's playroom. (Annie had "mismatch day" at school, hence the random camo pants!)

And of course, Luke wants to keep up with Annie, and since she's always running all over the place, never sitting still, Luke does the same thing the entire time she's at our house!

They were playing with different balls in the living room, and then Luke realized that he could walk and "kick" the ball at the same time! We attempted to get some of it on video, but of course as soon as the camera comes on, he stops doing it as well as he was doing it before! But this is the general idea. (Oh, and note the close call at around 25 seconds in...we have HUNDREDS of these close calls every day!)

Eating With A Spoon!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:27:00 +0000

Don't let the title decieve you...it's not like Luke is actually feeding himself completely with a spoon! But, in the last day or so he has gotten pretty interested in *attempting* to get some food into his mouth on a spoon. It started when my mom was feeding him some salad last night. She put a piece of tomato on the spoon and handed it to him. He put the spoon in his mouth and ate the tomato! Then she tried it again and he repeated the same thing! She tried it with a piece of lettuce as well and he even munched on it some.

So this morning, after Luke had eaten most of his breakfast, he was finishing up snacking on some Cheerios. I thought I'd try putting a Cheerio on his spoon and seeing what he would do. Sure enough, he put it right up to his mouth and attempted to eat the Cheerio off the spoon! Now of course, most of the time he couldn't figure out how to keep the Cheerio on the spoon while he moved the spoon to his mouth, but it's definitely a start. I'd say out of trying it 6 times, he probably got the Cheerio in his mouth ON the spoon about 3 times. Not bad!

Of course, I still have my issues with him getting overly messy while eating (as well as my floor), so for now we'll stick to fairly "clean" type items to eat with a spoon. Cheerios...grapes...blueberries...etc. I can just picture the mess if I let him go to town with a spoon and some yogurt. ACK!!!! My blood pressure just can't take it!

Oh, and I must mention that Luke has decided in the past week or so that he doesn't want to be a good eater anymore. I must have bragged too much on what a good eater he was, because nowadays mealtimes are a bit stressful for this mama! I described what used to be a "typical" meal in his 1-year checkup post from the other day. I need to amend that to show a typical meal for the past week -- Cheerios (he'll always eat Cheerios...ALWAYS), maybe one grape, yogurt (he'll ALWAYS eat yogurt), squash (only sometimes), grated cheese, and water from his sippy cup. That's it! Yes, the boy who used to have 8 course meals, varying from orange roughy to beets, is now turning his nose up at most everything. Oh, I almost forgot, he'll also eat pickles. We found that out the other day while eating lunch at Jason's Deli and trying to get Luke to eat SOMETHING.

I do think that a large part of it has to do with him teething. He's getting in his first two top molars and those suckers are BIG! He's been a little more fussy overall as well, so I feel sure that his teeth are bothering him. We've been using the natural teething tablets and they seem to help a bit. Luckily he'll still eat those! (I know I wouldn't...they taste like CHALK!)

1 Year Check-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:44:00 +0000

This morning we had Luke's 1 year check-up with the pediatrician. Our appointment was at 9am, but seeing how Luke is normally up by 7am AT THE LATEST, I didn't figure we'd have a problem getting there on time. Also, Tommy was off work today so he was around this morning to provide an extra set of hands to get us out the door quickly!

We all grabbed a quick breakfast before changing out of our PJs and getting ready to go. Here's Luke walking into the kitchen for breakfast. Note his utensils of choice still continue to be the spatulas. :) (And unrelated, but is it possible to see a little one in footie pajamas and not smile? SO sweet!)

We got to the doctor's office without incident and were back in the exam room pretty quickly. First things first -- had to get Luke stripped down to just his diaper for his big weigh in! The look on his face pretty much describes his attitude about the visit -- "I'm not super thrilled to be here, but since it appears I have no other choice, I might as well destroy this tissue paper they have on the examining table." :)

Quick flashback -- at Luke's 9 month check-up, he weighed 19 lbs 5 oz and was 28 1/4 inches. Tommy and I had a conversation prior to this 1 year check-up and agreed that we thought Luke would weigh in around 22 lbs or so...after all, we both carry him around a bit and he does NOT feel light!

Ok, back to today's appointment...we get Luke on the scale and the nurse fiddles around a bit and then announces -- "19 lbs 1 oz!" Tommy and I looked at each other with disbelief! In 3 months time, Luke had LOST 4 ounces? We both saw the scale though and the nurse had the weight correct. She then measured him from head to toe and we were happy to see that he had grown an inch and a quarter -- now measuring at 29 1/2 inches.

We then waited for a few more minutes and soon enough the pediatrician was in to do his examination. Luke was very wary of him but didn't get upset at first...that is, until the doctor wanted to actually TOUCH him, which is sort of necessary during an exam! Luke tried his hardest to convince the doctor that he could make better use of the stethoscope, but in the end, wasn't successful. :)

The exam went as expected and everything looked normal according to the doc. He did ask about his eating habits and had me give him a rundown of what a normal day's meals consist of. (Lately they are something like this: Breakfast -- cheerios, grapes, blueberries, and prunes or yogurt, Lunch -- broiled fish, carrots, beets, peas, squash, grapes, Dinner -- usually the same as lunch with maybe some variation on the veggies. He's also still nursing.) Luke is totally on table foods now, with the exception of the baby food prunes that he eats with breakfast (I use the prunes or yogurt to mix in his probiotics that he takes daily). He does a pretty good job of feeding himself most of the time. The doctor seemed pleased with his meals and not overly concerned. I did mention that for the last couple of months, Luke really never stops going. If he is awake, he is busy, busy, busy! Crawling, walking and playing NONSTOP. I feel sure that he's just burning off the calories as quickly as he eats them. The doctor agreed and also said that it could just be the way Luke is made. He definitely doesn't look scrawny (see the belly in that pic above!) and is as healthy as can be. Just for monitoring, however, he'd like to see us back in about 3 months for a quick weight check.

And a couple more pictures from after the exam..."whew, I'm glad I got my shirt back on...I was feeling a little exposed!"

And I know this one is blurry, but I loved the "action" shot -- he was having the BEST time obliterating that paper on the exam table!

Then we came to the dreaded part of the appointment...THE SHOTS. :( Luke never enjoys them, but thankfully, gets okay pretty quickly once I pick him up. He also had to get his finger pricked so they could test his iron levels (I think). I think that might have been worse than the shots, the way they have to squeeze his finger! BLEH! I was glad when it was all over for sure!

Luckily we made it back home without him falling asleep in the car. Once home, he took a nap of epic proportions (for him) of almost 2 HOURS. He woke up in a much better mood (he was cranky on the ride home) and was ready to play. We had a fun afternoon hanging out with Daddy -- took a walk around the neighborhood and then Luke watched/laughed as he watched us attempt to shoot some hoops in the driveway. I bet he's going to have some sore parents tomorrow!

Tonight may be a bit touch and go with his sleeping -- I think his legs are sore from the shots, so I'm praying it doesn't disrupt him too terribly much. We've actually had a good several past nights of sleep! He was pretty clingy and a little fussy before bed, which isn't the norm for him. He went to sleep very quickly tonight (he had a long day), but he's already been up once. I think this Mama needs to get off the computer and get to bed too!!

Help With Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:58:00 +0000

My little guy was a great help with dinner tonight...spatulas, dishtowels, and all!

And no, I have no idea what that silly look is on his face in the last picture! :)

Headed to bed now...gotta get up bright and early for Luke's 1 year doctor appointment in the morning. Can't wait to see how much he has grown!

Fun With Paper Towels, etc

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:05:00 +0000

Luke's newest "game" involves our extra stash of paper towels that we keep stored in a cabinet in our hall bathroom. The game goes like this:

- Crawl into bathroom (preferable while mama is cooking dinner and can't immediately come check on you!)

- Stand up, walk to cabinet door and pull open

- Proceed to pull out all of the rolls of paper towels from the cabinet

- Close cabinet door

- Open cabinet door to see if there are any more paper towels in there that you might have missed

- Close cabinet door again

- Pick up paper towel rolls...bite them, hug them, etc.

- Repeat

Video evidence:

This happens multiple times each day. If I am doing something in another room (very quickly) and I realize that Luke has crawled off...I can almost always find him in the bathroom with the paper towels. :) Ahhh, I am loving these days when he finds such joy in the simplest of things. I know the days of him being content to play with paper towels, spatulas, plastic containers and such are limited, so I'm enjoying it now! Oh, and how could I forget, what fun it is to drag out and play with mama's pantyliners and breast pads too!! Hey, what can I say, I needed 5 minutes to get dressed and put on makeup and this kept him entertained. :)

Look Who's Walking!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Back on December 27th, the Sunday after Christmas, Luke surprised us by taking two steps all by himself! He had been standing up and balancing for long periods of time, but had yet to take any actual steps. It was amazing that both Tommy and I were both looking at him when he did it, but sure enough, we were! And of course, no amount of coaxing or prodding or encouraging him could get him to repeat his actions that day.

The next day, and every day since then, he has repeated his newfound skill, but ONLY on his terms. He would only do it when he was good and ready, and would never do it "on cue." We were ok with this, obviously, we knew it would come in time.

Fast forward to today -- Luke is walking more and more every day! At times he has walked distances of 10 feet! He still prefers to crawl when he is really on a mission to get to something, however, here in the last several days he is getting more and more brave. He will walk from toy to toy, from windowsill to a chair, from kitchen cabinet to refrigerator. One of the funniest parts about it is that he actually seems to do better with walking when he's carrying something in his hands! You would think the opposite would be true, and that he would do better by using his hands/arms to balance himself, but that's not the case! I guess when he's holding something and then starts walking, he isn't really thinking about the walking part and it just comes naturally. There is no scientific reasoning behind that theory, but just something that seems to make a little sense to me.

We've yet to get a good video of him walking, simply because once he sees the video camera in our hands, he wants to get down and crawl and get to it RIGHT AWAY! However, here's a little video of him in action last night. And although unrelated, how cute does he look in his little onesie? I am so used to him wearing "big boy" clothes, so he looks like a baby to me when he's going old school and wearing just a onesie! Check it out!

The Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:50:00 +0000

I know I haven't finished up my rundown of months 8-12 in my last post, but I will get to it eventually!

We held Luke's 1st birthday party this past Saturday, January 9th. We invited a handful of people to celebrate with us and it was such a fun time! Luke didn't know what to think at first. He would kind of look around like he was thinking, "Who are all of these people and why are they in my house?" :) He eventually warmed up to everyone though and went along with his business as usual (read: GETTING INTO EVERYTHING). He wasn't much interested in helping me open his presents, that is until he realized that his neighbor friend, Trey, was playing with one of his new toys that I had just opened. Luke came over and pushed him right out of the way! Poor Trey started crying and I had to pick him up and console him. Looks like we need more playdates so that Luke can work on his "play etiquette"!

After presents were finished up, we got Luke all situated in his high chair and it was time for cake! I had lovingly stayed up until after midnight the night before, baking and decorating his first birthday cake. At first, it looked as though my efforts were in vain. Luke immediately plopped both hands down onto the cake and then once he realized that they were covered in icing, he started to get upset. I thought to myself, "Sheesh, what are the odds that I spend all this time on his cake and then he ends up not even tasting it AT ALL?" Luckily, he eventually realized that the gooey stuff on his fingers was edible and he spent a little bit of time licking it off. We didn't let him ingest too much of it since he's never had sugar like that before! In fact, I think the only kind of sugar he has had up to this point was sugar from fruit! (Ahhh, if only I could eat as healthy as my son!)

Oh yes, part of the reason I was up until after midnight the prior night was because I was also making cupcake bites for our guests (or as Tommy calls them, "babycakes"). I got the idea and recipe/instructions from the awesome Bakerella. They turned out great, but WOW, are they time consuming! And unfortunately, I was too busy at the party to get any pictures with my camera...luckily my brother was on hand with his fancy camera, documenting everything. So as soon as I get pics from him, I will be sure to post them! Tommy did get a couple of videos...one of me/Luke opening his presents, and one of Luke attacking his birthday cake.

UPDATE: I forgot about my Vimeo account...I was able to upload the entire birthday present video there...all 12 minutes of it. If anyone is interested in watching it, you can see it below.

Luke's birthday presents:

Luke's Birthday Party -- Opening Presents! from Tommy and Brea on Vimeo.

Here's Luke and his birthday cake:

I think the party turned out to be a great success and a really good time!

Happy 1st Birthday Luke!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:33:00 +0000

Tonight at 11:37pm marks a full 365 days since our precious baby boy entered the world. In many ways, it is completely shocking that a full year has already passed since he made his grand entrance into the world. I can still remember his birth as though it was yesterday…and yet the pains of childbirth that I swore I would never forget seem to have escaped my mind. It’s funny how you do forget how painful it is…people always told me that, but when I was in the middle of labor I remember thinking “there is NO way I will forget how this feels!” Ahhh, just one of the many things I did not believe that people told me before I had a child of my own.

I knew that having a baby would change our lives but I don’t think I realized just exactly how much it would change. And to be honest, until you are a mother yourself, I don’t think you can truly understand the transformation that happens. I’m thinking back and chuckling as I remember a conversation I had with my mom about a month before Luke was born. She was telling me how nervous she was as a first-time mom when my brother was born. I remember listening to her describe it and then telling her, “You know, I don’t think I’ll really be all that nervous with a new baby. I mean, I’ve worked in the church nursery for years and I’m really comfortable around babies.” Bless my mom–she just smiled and nodded her head, but at the same time must have been thinking “Oh sweet daughter of mine…you have no clue!” I laugh at myself now, thinking how I believed that working in a nursery had prepared me to bring a newborn home. Granted, it DID teach me how to change diapers and how to feed a baby a bottle (too bad you can only truly learn how to breastfeed once the baby is here and you are in your post-partum, sleep-deprived, hormone-raging stupor). However, what I failed to realize is that when caring for babies in a church nursery, you see 1-2 hours of their day. It’s really more of a novelty than anything else. Even if they are screaming their head off, it will only last 2 hours max. Then your job is done and you can go about your day as usual. Oh and don’t forget that you’ll still be able to get your full night of sleep (plus a nap anytime you feel like it)! I think that in my mind when I thought about having a baby, I pictured all of the “good” moments…forgetting the harder parts, such as middle of the night feedings, blow out diapers, and our greatest personal challenge — a baby who just doesn’t sleep much. Now don’t get me wrong, there a million “good” moments everyday…and they are what keep me going. But the hard parts are there too, and sometimes they are very, very hard.

I really didn’t mean to get off onto that tangent. I guess though, when you’ve been “meaning” to blog for a year but haven’t gotten around to it, a lot of things just start tumbling out of your brain and onto the keyboard. Like I said, I’ve been “meaning” to blog. Every month would come and go and pass by and I would tell myself, “Well, next month it will get a little bit easier…and then I’ll have a chance to sit down and blog about what is going on in Luke’s life.” But as you can probably guess, it never really slows down or gets easier. I think that maybe certain parts get easier, but then there is always something new to deal with…constant change and growth! Since I haven’t blogged any of Luke’s first year (and also have done a TERRIBLE job of updating his baby book), I am going to attempt to document some of the highlights of his first 12 months here. And then, maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to keep updating this regularly in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Month 1 — Wow, we still can’t really believe that you are here and that you were created from the two of us. I spend a lot of time just staring at you, nursing you, and holding you while you sleep. Grammie stays with us for the first 3 weeks of your life and it is such a blessing. You sleep quite a bit, but it is in small stretches, so I am very sleep deprived. I take the advice of everyone and sleep when you sleep. Nursing has been a challenge since early on. You are gaining weight well, but it is very painful for me. I am determined though and continue to stick it out. At your one month checkup, you weigh 10 lbs 2 oz, up from 8 lbs 12 oz at birth! Your full head of hair that you had at birth, while beautiful, makes me a little crazy. It is soooo baby fine and it seems like your oil glands are working overtime. We will wash your hair and it will look soft and clean and wonderful for about 45 minutes…and then it’s oily again.

Month 2 — You have really started to show your personality this month. You are smiling and laughing a lot and you seem to be such a happy baby. You love to grab your ears while you are nursing and sometimes it looks like it hurts because you are pulling them so hard! You don’t seem to mind though. You rolled over from your tummy to your back this month for the first time (at 6 weeks). I think you even surprised yourself when you did it! We make sure to give you plenty of tummy time and you actually enjoy it. I went out for the first time by myself since you were born (to get a pedicure) and Grammie stayed with you. It was hard for me to leave you…I cried! You slept the entire time I was gone though, so I don’t think you minded. You are still nursing well, but it continues to be very hard for me. There are lots of tears on my part, but I am not giving up! Luckily, my milk supply is great and you continue to gain weight. You weigh in at 11 lbs 6 oz at your two month checkup. Your hair is still oily and making me crazy, although now it will stay soft and clean and wonderful looking for about 2 hours after a bath. Your longest sleep stretch at night this month was 5 hours and 15 minutes, but you’re not consistent at all yet!

Month 3 — You found your hands this month and figured out how to put them in your mouth…so of course that’s where they are all the time. You grab for toys and things so well and you love to grab the musical frog on your bouncy chair. Speaking of the bouncy chair, it is an absolute blessing! If not for it, I would not get to eat any meals! Your crazy baby hair has started to fall out and we are finding hair everywhere — your tub, your swing, our bed, your clothes, our clothes, even your poop! Once this month when I was changing your diaper, you pooped and it shot out about 3 feet and splattered all over the wall. Gotta love that liquid breastfed poop! On the breastfeeding topic, I finally broke down this month and contacted a lactation consultant. She came out to the house and spent a LOT of time with us. We have lots of new things to try! This month your daddy and I went out on our first date together since you were born. You stayed with Grammie and Poppy and did wonderfully. I resigned from my job and am now officially a stay-at-home mom…WAHOO! You have had several nights with nice long stretches of sleep…7 hours straight some nights. Still nothing consistent though.

Month 4 — One of your favorite things to do this month is to pull MY hair…OUCH! You also love to suck on your fingers…usually your pointer and middle finger together. You started getting a very strange rash this month, all over your feet/toes/legs. The pediatrician said they looked like flea bites, but we don’t have fleas! I have started avoiding everything peanut related to see if that helps anything. You started rolling over from back to front this month. You love doing this and do it all the time now! The hardest thing that I’ve had to do so far in your life happened this month. We took you to an ENT doctor to get your frenulum clipped, as you had a slight case of tongue-tie. It bled quite a bit and you cried so much. Luckily I was able to hold you during the whole procedure. Having this done should help us with your nursing, and I am praying that it does. I don’t know how much longer I can stand the pain. Your sleep is still very inconsistent, but you went 8 and a half hours straight one time this month! At your 4 month checkup you weighed 14 lbs 5 oz and continue to stay in the 50th percentile.

Month 5 — This month I got to celebrate my very first Mother’s Day with a take out dinner at home with you and Daddy — it was wonderful…I love being your mom. You are now sleeping in your co-sleeper at least part of the night. What can I say, you just like to snuggle up with your mama and daddy more than anything. Your longest sleep stretch this month was 7 hours, but still nothing consistent yet. Nursing is FINALLY starting to get easier and not nearly as painful as it once was. You’re going about 3 hours or so between “meals” now. I think you may be in the early stages of teething, as you’ve had some really fussy nights. No teeth to speak of yet, but I keep watching for them to pop through soon! You grab your feet/toes ALL the time now and a few times you’ve even managed to get your feet into your mouth! I’ve been reading up on making homemade baby food as I’m looking forward to starting you on some solids at some point next month.

Month 6 — Oh what a scare we had this month! You had a fluke accident resulting in a fall and we ended up in Cook Children’s emergency room. You came out of it with a skull fracture and an overnight stay in the hospital, but by the grace of God, no serious injuries. Thank the Lord for watching over you! You are definitely one tough cookie! You are starting to sit up by yourself now! You can’t get to the sitting position on your own yet, but when we sit you up, you can stay there for a little while before toppling over. With this milestone, however, comes the retirement of your beloved bouncy chair. You try to sit up while in it and I’m scared you will topple over! You love to play with your toys while you are sitting up. We put them in front of you and you will reach out and grab them. Your hand-eye coordination is getting really good too and you can pass the toys between your hands without skipping a beat! You are still in our room at night, but sleeping much better in your co-sleeper. You set a record this month, although I wouldn’t be too proud of it if I were you. You went 14 days without pooping. It sounds much more extreme than it was though…at that point you were still exclusively breastfed and so I wasn’t super concerned. I think your little system was still thrown off from your fall last month. Oh, but when you finally went, BOY DID YOU. And of course you didn’t do it in the comfort of home…what would be the fun in that? You did it while we were eating lunch at Subway. Luckily Daddy and Grammie were there too, to provide backup while I changed your diaper. WHOA! Once you finally got back on track with normal poops, I decided it was finally time to try solids. I am making your food myself and for your first food we tried sweet potatoes. You seemed to like it ok, but made some of the funniest faces! At your 6 month checkup you weighed 16 lbs 8 oz…nearly doubling your size from birth! Your daddy got to celebrate his very first Father’s Day this month too!

Month 7 — You went swimming for the very first time this month! Daddy and I took you to Grammie & Poppy’s neighborhood pool and you had a great time, making sure to splash everyone around you! You also got to see your first fireworks this month on the 4th of July! Daddy and I left you in the church nursery for the first time this month and you did pretty well. You only cried once, and it was only because all of the other babies were crying. But then on your second stay in the nursery the next week, you didn’t like it so much. You ended up being pushed around in a stroller most of the time though, and that kept you mostly happy. We had your follow-up appointment with the neurosurgeon to check on you from your fall last month. He gave us the A-OK, all clear and that you looked great and were a happy, healthy baby boy! Praise the Lord! Later in the month, you and I started “swim lessons” — which is really just a “Mommy & Me” swim class where we splash around in the water together. We have a lot of fun and you love to be in the water! You are doing great with eating solids…you eat sweet potatoes, pears, and peas now. Your best sleep stretch this month was 7.5 hours, but you still don’t like your mama to get too much rest, so you continue to keep me guessing on how much you’ll sleep on any given night!

**OK, I know I’m not quite through all 12 months of highlights yet, but it’s late and I need to get to bed…I will finish this post up in the next few days, but wanted to get most of it out here and published on his actual BIRTHday!**

A New Year, A New Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Brea) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:44:00 +0000

Well, after a year of procrastinating and "never getting around to" blogging on my old blog, I decided to start anew with a clean slate. So...welcome to The Darnell Diary! I hope to use this blog to chronicle our everyday lives, which mostly revolve around our precious son, Luke! No promises on how often I'll post, so you'll just have to wait and see!