no pics

Ok, so I don't have time to post any new pics right now, it's been very busy lately as I noted in my last post. I may be able to while we are gone next week but probably not. In the mean time My sister has been here for almost a week and I can't believe it is already over and she is going home tomorrow. I have spent at least a little time with her everyday she has been here, and it is fun watching her and Luke. He loved her again almost immediately and they have been having a lot of special moments together. She has taken several great videos that I hope to see on her blog soon!!! It is also interesting seeing Luke through her eyes, especially seeing his relationship with me through her eyes. I'm not sure exactly how to put it into words, but it is good. Thanks Becca for being such a great aunt to Luke and such a wonderful sister to me!!!

Saturday, July 19 my cousin Mark married a wonderful girl, Amanda!!! It was a beautiful wedding and hopefully I can put up a few pics soon. It also brought a lot of my cousins from far away close again, but for way to short a time. It's so much fun to catch up and see how life is challenging them, what new people, jobs, etc have come into their lives. They are a diverse group but I really enjoy all of them and I think I learn something from each of them as well. We took a big family picture the day before the wedding, just a few people missing. I wonder when/if we will ever have everyone together for that kind of picture again. I can't wait to see how it turned out.

Well, I need to get back to the packing before Luke wakes up to eat or I fall asleep in this chair! Have a good week!

Vaccines

So last week and this week Luke had his 4 month check up and vaccines. I make them spread them out but was not quick enough withresearchign the vaccines to really decide if I wanted to keep him from getting certian ones or to have them wait on a few until later or what. After the first two shots last week he had a low grade temp for two days, even with the tylenol, and he and I spent most of the first day in bed napping and nursing together almost constantly to help him through it. I know the temp is normal but I hate it, and so I was talking to some friends at work about what they have learned about vaccines.


In the US up until 1985 kids were only given 12 vaccines before the age of 5, currently we give 35 and the number of vaccines required for kindergarten is climbing. Denmark on the other hand continues to only give 12 and spaces them out more so that it is not as hard on the small child's body. Also the consensus seemed to be that some vaccines are good and very necessary, think about how awful polio was, or tetnus, but that others were unnecessary and more of a convienience item at best, so that kids wouldn't be home from school withthe chicken pox for example. Also I personally don't think that vaccines cause Autism, but I do think there is a link, perhaps vaccines trigger it in children who are already at risk. Just think about this, when a child is diagnosed with Autism shortly after having vaccines they treat it the same way that they treat vaccine toxicity and some kids they even manage to bring back to normal in this way. Anyway, this web site has good information and some helpful sugestions. http://www.generationrescue.org/vaccines.html


It is all a little daunting, thinking about talking to your Dr. about not doing what is currently the norm and recomended course, especially since I didn't start off on this course, but I am Luke's mother and it is my decision, not the government's or the Dr's. Currently the only way to send your child to school with out all the extra vaccines is to either get your Dr to sign a paper saying that your child cannot have them for medical reasons like an alergic reaction, or to sign a paper yourself that states that your religious beliefs do not allow you to give your child those vaccines. It's a lot to think about.

In the mean time my baby is still healthy and mostly happy, though a little sore from the shots. He is weighing in at 16 lbs already and is 26 inches long. We are looking forward to playing with Aunt Becca when she gets here on Thursday!!!!

New hat!

Well, we are busy busy right now! Saturday was our Sunday School class' turn to host at the homless shelter and most people were on vacation and for once I was not working and I felt like Luke was old enough that he would do ok and I wouldn't have to stay in the ofice with him the whole time so we went! There weren't a ton of people there but it was a good evening. I wasn't sure quite what to expect, sometimes there are up to 20+ people there, sometimes only a few, sometimes they want to talk and sometimes they don't, occasionally there are issues with people, but usually things are calm. When Greg, Luke and I got there the supper crew were just finnishing putting things away and were ready to go home. There weren't more than 10 or 12 residents there. It was interesting in that unlike the salvation army shelter we had been to before these people were residents of the shelter, they had their own bed and linnens to take care of, did their own laundry, each had chores they were responsible for and there were rules to live by and for the most part it really works. They make sure the chores get done before bed time, they check their mail, they pretty much do their own thing. With Luke there most of the residents came up to talk to him at some point, or at least watched him and smiled at him from accross the room. Greg also brought some of our games along and ended up playing with a couple of residents until lights out. A few more people from our Sunday School class came, mostly my cousins, and when Luke was hungry I took him to the office to eat and after lights out all my cousins who were left came back there too and we talked while Luke slept. Anyway, it was fun and educating.

These pictures are just to show off the supper cute hat Kristen made for Luke! It's so adorable, I hope he doesn't grow out of it too fast!

It took quite a while to get him to look up!

So, why are we so busy? I think we just procrastinate too much. We are going to visit family in Indiana at the end of July and next weekend is my cousin's wedding plus my sister and several other cousins will be here from far away so we want to spend lots of time with them. In the mean time I haven't gotten anything lined up for our vacation yet. The dog needs to go to the vet and I need to find a place for him and our rat to stay. I have to go to Wichita for several errands that can't be put off much longer. Both the cars need to be cleaned and we are trying to decide whether to fix the airconditioning in one or to rent a car while we are gone. I think we are running out of time on some of these things. I also need to line up child care for after we get back since my parents will be out of town then. The list keeps going. I guess we will do what we can and forget the rest. People always come first on my agenda and I am really looking forward to spending lots of time with a few I don't get to see much!

A few fun things, maybe I'll take pics later.... We went to an estate sale and found a few treasures! An antique potty chair, a few cool puppets and toys Luke will enjoy, an old sewing machine and a comfy roking recliner, to name a few. I also resently got a few cool nursing shirts, wearing one in the pics above, and found a great recipie for lactation cookies! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/LACTATION-COOKIES-1252680

Happy Monday!

baseball

White sox game!

Greg and Luke watched white sox game the other night and Luke was really enjoying it, if you watch closely Greg has to lift his far leg a little to get him to look at the camera at all. (-:

funny video

At mother wear there is a breastfeeding blog and if you godown to the June 23 date there is an extreamly funny video of a baby who doesn't like his bottle! Very short, definitely check it out!

http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/

Talking!

Today I was at my mom's dropping Luke off and he just started making this new sound! Until now he mostly only talks when he is starting to get unhappy but this was when he was feeling really good, he just figured out how to do something new and he wanted to do it over and over again. It was pretty funny watching him, the drool running down the side of his face. Hope you enjoy!

pics to go with the videos

Here are a few pics I didn't have room to post with my last blog. Enjoy!

A good day

This was a good day, but also a long and tiring day for Luke. I'll talk about the good stuff later, but first I'll explain Luke's day. All day long I think he got in two 45 minute naps and a handful of cat naps that only made it harder to fall asleep because he was so frustrated. So for a good part of the day he was fussy but he always seemed to put on a smile when it counted and now that it is done and he is finally sleeping soundly and won't be disturbed I can say that over all it was a very good day.

This morning Luke and I went to visit my grandma and great grandma with my mom. Great grandma woke up soon after we got there and Luke tuned on the charm for a good 15-25 minutes until she fell back to sleep and he began to realize just how tired he was. Luke and Great Grandma had a nice chat together and shared lots of smiles and kisses on both sides before we left!

We spent most of the afternoon at my Mom's house and got the first nap in right around noon. Then at home he got a second good nap in around 3:30 and was up again for quite a while before Greg got home. Then we headed to Wichita to do a little shopping and then visit Amy, Derrick and Glen. He was supper tired and fell asleep a few times briefly in the car but always was woken up by something or other. When we got to Amy and Derrick's I thought he might go right to sleep if we laid down together and nursed a bit but after filling his tummy all he wanted to do was look around. Amy and Glen had been sitting and nursing in the same room with us so when I realized he wasn't going to sleep we sat up and talked and he was very interested in Glen.

He was fine until we were all done taking pictures of the two cute babies and then he just started crying, poor boy, he was so exhausted! Amy, Derrick, Glen and Luke and I decided to take a walk since it was so nice and cool outside and we hoped it would help Luke fall asleep. (Greg was tired too and opted to nap at the house while we walked.) Poor sweet Luke finally fell asleep halfway through the walk but got woken up when I tried to lay him down after we got back. He nursed again and then played with their obliging cat until we decided it was time to go home. I think as soon as we hit the road he was out! He has been waking up only long enough to eat ever since!

Hope you enjoyed the videos!