3 months old!

Luke is 3 months old already! 

3 months old!

In true third child fashion, I totally missed his two month "birthday." I still took the obligatory crib growing pictures, but in the midst of crazy life, I missed sitting down and writing about him. So, hopefully, from now on, no more missing monthly milestones! 

2 months old!

Luke is truly a joy. He is happy, he goes with the flow and he is starting to come into his personality. He likes to giggle at daddy, he's started to roll from belly to back and he's interacting more with the world around him! He loves looking up at his toys, batting at them, and grabbing them. I can tell he is probably going to be another orally fixated kiddo like his big sister Natalie is/was. 

To catch up a little on events happening in his little life, right after he turned a month old we found out he has a dairy and soy intolerance - meaning his gut doesn't like to digest the large proteins found in dairy and soy, which cause inflammation and subsequently blood in his stool. A lot of kiddos who have this sensitivity and intolerance have reflux issues, are very cranky, and may not grow well. Thankfully we don't have to deal with any of the other symptoms, we just have to deal with keeping his inflammation down and the blood out of his stool. So that means I can't have any dairy products or milk protein, along with soy. And I don't know if you realize how much soy is in everyday products! Its quite challenging to navigate this new diet change at times, but I've found my go-to products and its working out okay! Eating out is quite difficult and near impossible minus a couple places, so its a lot of home cooking and 'real food' so its not a bad change at all. I feel the greatest I've ever felt without dairy and soy in my system, and I know Luke feels better without it! 

So our happy little guy is growing faster than his sisters and to us, seems like a chunk! In chunky baby standards, he is far below that, but we love his cheeks and his mini rolls. 

We celebrated his first Easter with my parents in the past two months and his big sister Natalie turned 2! 

He finally met my grandparents who were living in Florida until the beginning of May, and he of course loves meeting everybody and likes to have 'conversations' with all of them. 

He really balances out the crazy of the girls as he just seems to go along with whatever we're doing as a family. He loves to go for walks and runs in the double stroller. He looks back at me in his carseat, he smiles & giggles the whole way. He is our first kiddo to like the car and sleeps in his carseat pretty much all the time whenever we're in the car. 

I'm still often times in shock that we have a boy. I just said the other day, its starting to feel like he's a boy. Up until now he was a baby, and all babies pretty much act the same and its sometimes hard to see past the blur of the demanding newborn phase. Lately I've been thinking of all the things he will do that will bit a bit different than the girls. The things him and Jordan will do as a father/son combo. And how my role of being a boy mom will differ from being a girl mom. 

I'm excited to see where this journey and life with Luke takes us, and I can't wait to watch him grow! 

Until next month.... 

Love you as high as the airplanes fly! 

Natalie turns 2!

My baby girl. My fiesty, slightly challenging and beautiful blue eyed girl. My Natalie Jane. 

TWO! 

Two whole  years have gone since we welcomed her into our family, and so many changes have happened in our lives. Natalie is so full of life and we are so lucky to call her ours. The past year has seen a deployment & a new family member, but the one constant has been Natalie's silly and busy disposition. 

Natalie feels big. Her happiness is big and her sadness is big. And we always know how she's feeling. I honestly don't think I can say it enough, she keeps us on our toes for sure. She finds things to get into that would never cross my  mind as something a child would be interested in. She's that kid that if she's quiet, you know trouble is happening. She still enjoys picking up stray pieces of dog food and munching on them. I'm not sure how that is still appetizing to her! Thankfully, she has stopped putting small toys and other things in her mouth, I guess we'll keep working on the dog food thing, haha. 

She is a rough and tumble girl. She packs a big punch in her little 22lb frame. She is tall for her age, but doesn't have much meat on her bones - probably because shes so busy! She falls down, wipes her knees and gets right back up. Her determination and strong will are quite obvious already. She likes to climb up over the ends of beds and flop down on the mattress. She will climb over the couch, throw the cushions off and jump for hours if we let her. She climbs to the highest tower at the park (just to give me heart attacks) and acts like its no big deal. She is quick and it is hard to predict what her next move will be. If I take my eyes of  her for too long she'll surely do something that she shouldn't. I now understand why they invented backpack leashes for kids. And I've totally thought about getting one, she's the type of kid they make them for, lol! She will follow Evie around and pretty much tackle any physical task Evie is doing and she keeps up with the big kids in the neighborhood and at Evie's preschool. She thinks she is done being 2!

In contrast to her big sister, she couldn't be more different and I absolutely love it. She is funny, witty and knows how to turn on the sweet to get what she wants. Her little voice and vocabulary melt my  heart and I love when she starts saying new words. Lately its "Mama, watch." or "Daddy, watch". She has this quiet little pause in her words that I don't ever want to forget. Luke is "baby Oote" and her favorite phrase "Baby Oote - sad" (she is quite observant!). She's gaining new words and phrases daily and soon will be speaking in full sentences - at which point I'm sure she'll never stop! She loves her baby brother and Evie is her favorite play mate. They typically play pretty well together and for that I am extra grateful. 

I can't go without saying that Natalie has taught me so much about being flexible and pushes my limits of sanity at times. She challenges my type A parenting skills in many ways, and makes me question if I'm doing a good job with her. I've learned that I must learn to parent her the way she needs, not the way *I think* she needs. Techniques used for Evie probably won't work for Natalie -  and those probably won't work for Luke. But to raise thoughtful, kind & productive children I must adapt along the way. And without Natalie, I'm not sure I would have learned that so quickly into this parenting journey. For that I am thankful for her (along with many other reasons). 

Natalie lights up every room she is in and people take notice of her. Her smile & personality can captivate everybody around her. She is our spirited child and so full of life. This world would certainly be more dull without her in it. I can't say what I think she'll do one day, but I know whatever she will breathe life into it, spread joy and excel. 

For all of her silliness and challenges she can bring, when she is sweet its the absolute sweetest. She gives the best snuggles, is the biggest daddy's girl and loves giving hugs and kisses. Her dad, Papa & Grandpa are for sure  her favorite people and literally run and scream for them when she sees them. The little moments when she gives Luke a hug, grabs my hand, gives big kisses are the best moments in my day. Her tender side isn't always on display, but it sure is awesome when it is. 

Happy Birthday my sweet Natalie Jane, I am so proud to be your mommy! 

Luke is 1 month old!

How is this even real? This has been the fastest month of my life - Luke is already 1 month old!!!

He truly completes our family. He is snuggly, sweet & goes with the flow of our crazy house! 

He doesn't sleep very well for me and is up every 2-3 hours, which makes for some long days for me, but somehow we are all surviving. I think because we're *pretty sure* he's our last, I'm trying to savor every little detail of newborn life and soak it all in. Being grumpy doesn't change the fact I'm still not sleeping, so I try and focus on being happy. 

His big sisters adore him - probably more than he likes! They are such big helpers and have really taken well to the fact they have to share mom. At least as well as a 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old would be expected to do. 

He has already made three trips over to the west side of the state - newborn pictures, power outage trip & a wedding in GR. Yeah, about that power outage. We had a pretty serious windstorm when he was just about two weeks old. We lost power for 4 days, in the winter, in Michigan. The first night we stayed in our house hoping it would be a quick fix. We woke up to a 55 degree house and realized it was the biggest power outage in Michigan's history - over 800,000 people in the state didn't have power. We packed up and headed to Kalamazoo to stay at my parents until our power was back on. It was quite an adventure for a 2 week old! 

Luke is simply newborn squish perfection.

He might actually be our first chunky baby - I guess time will tell us that! 

He is starting to smile and he tries to make cooing sounds already.