Luke 11 months old, Sienna 3 1/2 years old

 

I can't believe my baby boy is almost one! So crazy.  Just thought I'd post a few little things about the rugrat. And, yes, this is going to be a crazy run-on paragraph.  Well, first off, my easy little dream baby is not 100% easy anymore.  He's still super smiley and super cute, so I guess he's off the hook a little.  Luke is just a determined and spirited little soul. He knows what he wants.  Luke is, generally speaking, a super friendly, happy baby.  He is definitely a little (ok, a lot) clingy, but I'm hoping it's just a stage.  I'll set him down with a ton of toys around him and sprint to my room to get changed or to do my hair, and within seconds-minutes that little guy has army-crawled his way into my room and is climbing up my leg to be held. Today Luke started bawling when I walked by him and Sienna pipes in and says "You mean mom, how dare you walk away from him!?"  So funny, because that's totally what Dan and I say. "What a mean dad, how dare you walk away from him for a second!".

He's super busy and squirmy and is just a typical boy--wanting anything he is not suppose to have (i.e. cell phones, power cords, remote controls, ANY electronic device).  He  LOVES any kind of ball. He HATES when you lay him on his back to change his diaper or when you put him in his car seat and he screams and cries, like you're torturing him.  He does the whole throwing his body, arching the back-tantrum, which always makes me laugh (does that make me a mean mom?).  Lately he's been throwing his head down on the ground like you have just broken his heart. This little guy is super dramatic.

***Not sure what happened to all the photos that I edited?  I rotated them all and when it uploaded into blogger, it flipped them back around. I'll have to try to mess with it later. Sorry!  Kind of annoying...

Luke generally prefers guys.  I guess he's just a "guy's guy". :)  He really likes Dan, but his favorite person in the world is my dad. It's so cute.  He army crawls as fast as he can whenever he sees my dad and once he's in his arms, he holds on for dear life.  He just loses it when someone else has to take him.  My dad loves it.  And the rest of us try not to be offended. :)

 

He is still a pretty good sleeper, especially at night.  He's a much lighter sleeper during the day and his naps have gotten shorter and less frequent. He's got a bunch of teeth and always seems to be teething, which has got to be rough.  He still has no desire to crawl, and is still slinging through the trenches, army-style. I love it. It's the cutest thing.  He gets around though.  And he's just recently started pulling himself up to standing position and moving from the ottomans to the couch.  He says "Dada" and "mama" and just started waving bye. He's not the most consistent on that one, we gotta keep working on that trick.  My babysitter Scarlett says that he says "Da" whenever he sees their dog. 

Luke is a good little eater and seems to like just about any food we give him, maybe not in love with bananas? Can't tell just yet. He's loving table food.  Last week we discovered he does have Hanson in him after all--he LOVES Mexican food!  He downed pretty much a whole enchilada, rice, beans, the works.  I gave him eggs the other day and he completely broke out in hives and a rash all over his body, so not sure what that means for future allergies. I should've gotten a picture of him, his ears and face were just a little swollen, so he just didn't look quite like himself.  Poor little guy. Dan said it was like he was a really good imitation of Luke.   His MD just said not to give him eggs for at least another 6 months, so we shall see!

 

His eczema is still pretty bad. His body looks much better, but since he sucks his thumb he just rubs his little cheek raw, so he always seems to have this bad patch on his right cheek. We have found that Cetaphil cream, essential oils (lavender & melalueca (sp?) and a little cortisone cream occasionally seems to be the best concoction for him. We have to lather him up morning and night.  And we'll put aquaphor on his thumb when it gets super dry.  The dry air in Utah doesn't help either. I hope he grows out of it, it's got to be so uncomfortable.   Today he was such a handful at church and I realized I am in that new fun stage--just 7 more months until he goes to nursery and then I'll be able to sit through class, actually listen, learn something, feel the spirit....wow, what will that be like? :) 

And Sienna....she is still the world's best sister to Luke. She just loves him to pieces and can't get enough of him.  With as much as Sienna smothers and oogles over him, he's a trooper.  He did get a bit annoyed one time and bit her on the leg.  We've tried to use that as a good learning experience in terms of personal space. 

I tried to get a good picture of this, but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  Sienna started to get a splash of "spreckles" across her nose. I love it. It reminds me of her Aunt Debi and her cousins Claire & Cassy.  So cute!

Sienna loves being outside and loves playing with her friends.  She loves drawing and coloring and loves arts and crafts.  Still loves her chocolate milk, still a super picky eater, still super cute.  She is taking dance class, which she loves most of the time. She's hilarious, though. My little girl has the worst attention span ever and just does not focus.  I don't know how many times a day I say the words "Sienna, look at my eyes" to get her to hear what I am saying.  She has a dance recital this week and I can't wait to watch her "dance" (stand around watching everyone else and occasional bust a move).

She is spunky and fun and likes to be silly. She, too, LOVES her daddy and totally prefers him to me.  Maybe someday I'll get a kid who likes me. :) We just started doing a reward system, since she was getting pretty tough, just not listening and having melt-downs over nothing.  We had her decorate a mason jar and then we have "fuzzies" that she can earn when her behavior is on-track.  She can also lose the fuzzies. When she fills up the jar she said she wanted to go to the Disney store and pick something out.  It seems to have helped, so hopefully it will continue to do so!