Yes, it is back to work I go (actually went).  I went back to work on Tuesday, they were much happier to see me, than I was to see them.  I know that my boss gets these updates (Hi Bonnie) but she understands.  I actually started crying a week before I went back and then basically all night Monday night and then dropping Luke off at Joan's and then I decided to sweeten my return to work with donuts for everyone who covered for me.  So I pulled myself together enough to go in the bakery (yes, I was the crazy lady buying donuts in her sunglasses) and then I was kind of okay.  I didn't cry at all the rest of the week so I was pretty proud of myself.  Did you know in Russia maternity leave is 3 YEARS!!  That is the only good thing I know about Russia or I would move there  🙂 

Luke's daycare is awesome and the other kids totally love him.  It is only a block and a half away from our house and Joan is a friend of Ryan's Parents so it wasn't as if I was leaving him with a total stranger, imagine the wreck I would have been ….   Anyway, the first night we picked him up and took him home and got his diaper changed and all settled in and he had lots of smiles for us and then the cooing and jabbering started and he was "talking" for about an hour, it was hysterical.  I don't know what he was telling me, but it was good.  I interpreted it as, "I missed you and this is what all the kids were doing…"  Then the 2nd night he came home ate and crashed, barely saw him with his eyes open.  Day three, had to wake him up to eat and go, basically put him in his car seat asleep, Ryan got a few smiles that morning, but it is really hard to go to work without hardly seeing any smiles!  

With all the kids and fun chaos at daycare he wasn't really napping, so finally Friday he figured it out a little and napped and he was a very happy baby last night.

Aside from daycare Luke started batting at the toys on his bouncy seat this week, this is really funny to watch and a God send for getting a few things done, I parked him in his chair in the kitchen and made my dessert for tonight, it was awesome!

All in all, I think daycare will be good for us.  I went 9 hours without being puked on and he learned it is okay to sit in his chair and amuse himself a little, he is also getting better at putting himself to sleep.  If only we could lose the 2 am feeding we would be good.  He did skip it last night, it was great I got 8 hours of sleep in two 4 hour chunks, I am a new woman!

 Okay, that is this weeks novel.  Happy Easter Everyone, I am sure we will have Easter pictures to post sometime next week.

Kathy

As far as percentages go, I know that 97% is an A. 

Luke had his two month check-up today and he is in the 97th percentile for weight – he is 15 pounds, 7 ounces.  He is in the 90th percentile for length, he is 24 1/4 inches long.  I am going to have some pipes when this kid is 1 from lifting him 🙂

He had to get 3 shots and he really did not like the needle, must get that from his Grandpas.  But he eventually got over it.  But he had the crying hiccups for the first time.  Once he is done crying he is usually done, but not today!  He is sleeping it off now, but I am sure he will wake up when our dinner is ready!

I still need to learn the fine art of picture resizing, but I took some cute ones this week so I will have Ryan upload them this weekend sometime.  I am happy to report that we have no plans at the moment, so we can all hang at home. 

More Later! – Kathy

I have had a very busy week, I don't know what Mom was thinking traipsing me around all week, but it wears a little guy out!  Here's a recap and some pictures of my travels…

 First we had Mommy & Baby class on Monday – Mom really likes this class, I think I do, but I can take any one of these kids with 1 hand!

Then Monday night we went for our first walk to Joan's house, she's really nice but I'm not so sure about that Dave guy across the street, here's me and Daddy getting all bundled up.

Then on Tuesday we went to surprise Grandpa Pat at work, being St. Patrick's day and all, he's 100% Irish, but I don't know how much I am yet because I haven't learned math.

Who is this guy a leprechan or something? He kinda scared me for a sec, then I realized it's just Grandpa Pat…

Then on Wednesday Mom & I hung out at home, but this crazy friend of Mom's – Martha I think her name was – came over and took her for a couple hours, but Dad & I did OK…I decided to be nice to him and not puke at all after my bottle, but when Mom got home and fed me next time I got back at her and puked all over her…hehe

Thursday came around and after an uneventful day (Other than me puking on Mom…I was still mad from Wednesday night) I went to see Grandma Kathy & Grandpa Steve for a couple hours, I think Mom & Dad went to Home Depot AND Mendards, and Dad even said something about Gander Mountain…I'm not sure what this place is yet, but I think Dad really likes this store, maybe he'll take me next time…I think I'm gonna like it.

Jeez if all that wasn't enough on Friday Mom & I were relaxing and she got a call from Jaime and she wanted to come over with Leon, I told her it was OK, I like Leon…we chilled on the floor together, just wait until him & I can run around and terrorize our mothers!

So now here we are on Saturday Dad & I chilled for a while this morning while Mom slept (I kept her up for 2 hours between 5 & 7 talking and smiling at her – so Dad & I let her sleep for a bit longer…

So now we are about to head to Le Sueur (after I get fed!) for a Porch Crew Baby Shower (I think it means more presents for me) and then a St. Patrick's Day party…wait a minute that was Tuesday…oh ok I get it, any excuse to have a party…fine by me…

Look out Le Sueur…here I come!
Luke

P.S. Oh yeah, despite my best efforts of puking on Mommy all the time, she managed to shower every day this week, quite an accomplishment for her!

Wow, my baby is 7 weeks old today!!!  How did that happen?  Everything is going really great, we are slowly moving toward a schedule – Luke's time – but it is getting a little more predictable so that is helping my sanity.  My only baby complaint is that he really is a puker, I'm not talking a little spit-up, I'm talking ounces of puke – yuck!  But he usually has big smiles afterward – he is very proud!  Funny thing is his smiles are even bigger when he covers Ryan!!  hee hee

I went in to work on Monday and confirmed that I will be going back on Tuesday April 7th, can't say that I am excited about it, but Luke will be in good hands at his daycare.  And I should go back while they still miss me.

Yesterday, Luke's first St. Patrick's Day, we went to Le Sueur and surprised Grandpa at work.  We told Grandpa it was take a Leprechaun to work day!!  He was surprised.  We visited Grandma too and then we went to The Bar for dinner where we learned that Luke is not a big fan of polka music.  At least not at that volume!  Grandpa said it was because it wasn't Sunday!   (he listens to polka in the car on the way home from church on Sunday – thank God we are only a couple blocks from church)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone I will try to get some pictures up soon.  Luke and I were both in our "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirts – he got more kisses than me, but that is okay this time!

K

Well Week 5 of Luke's life was kinda tough.  Luke and I both got a cold.  Thankfully, I got it worse than he did, but neither one of us can take any medication so we are finally just about past it now.  He also has a little cradle cap and some baby acne and his 3 month clothes are getting too short for him to straighten his legs or reach around his budda belly and he didn't see Grandpa Pat. 🙂  But on the up side, as you can see from the pictures that Ryan posted, Luke is smiling now and cooing.  I have been waiting for that for about 10 months now so that is way fun for me.  Ryan and I also got a "date night" last Wednesday – we took Ford along, but left Luke with Grandma Kathy – he puked all over Grandpa Steve and then Luke got a bath!  Not sure about Grandpa…?

We had our 2nd Mom and baby class yesterday and I really like them.  The other moms are really nice and we seem to mesh really well and it gets me out of the house.  It is funny, we all look pretty cute and so do the babies – yup, the old "yeah a reason to not wear sweats!!" routine!  I remember this phenomenon from my factory working days! 

Better go, I am running dangerously low on burp clothes and with little "Puke-y Luke-y" as I call him, I need to throw in a load of laundry! 

Well Kathy & Luke are both sick with a cold that I'm trying to avoid getting! but here's a couple new pics

Apparently Luke likes Survivor! 

 
OK Grandpa Pat you win – that's an actual smile with one foot sticking out!

We had our one month doctor appoinhtment yesterday and everyone is doing great!  Luke is now 23 inches long and his head is 15.5 inches (no wonder those newborn hats are getting tight) and he weighs 13 pounds 1 ounce.  Everything looks good, I did get scolded for putting him on his stomach to sleep and the doctor said I need to stop doing that, I didn't.

 I won't tell you what I weigh, but it is 20 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant, I recommend pregnancy and breast feeding!! 

Luke is starting to smile back and coo, this is just happening in the past couple of days so that is pretty fun.

Yesterday was a pretty big day, we also had lunch with Jodi and then we went to our first Mom and Baby class.  I think I am going to really like it and Luke said that all the babies were nice, but he could take them if he had too, yup, he is the biggest!  It is a 6 week class at the hospital and there are 6 Mom and Babies, interesting fact, we all ended up with C-Sections and all but one of us is nursing and most of us are also going back to work so we have a lot of common Mom things in common to talk about.

More Later – and we will have to get new pictures up here soon.  Luke is wearing a 6 month sleeper today (he is getting SO big!)

Kathy

Howdy all – so we left the house today and it was pretty great!  The sun is shining and it was warm (ok 35, but warm for us Minnesotans!) So we went and had lunch with Ryan and then visited work.  We were there for about 3 hours and Luke managed to poop thru an outfit but otherwise Luke slept thru the whole event.  We made it to just about every floor (missed 5th since Jodi was at the food show) but we even ran in to Auntie Kari so we visited her office too!  Now we are home and Luke is wide awake and happy and is almost smiling and almost cooing.  Gotta Love it!

Apparently Luke learned how to email last night with Grandma…Here's his writing (courtesy of Grandma Rosie)

Dear Momma,

I just want you to know that Grandma Rosie told me I was a good boy last night.  We had fun once I figured out that I was still going to be fed.  I was a little concerned at first when I woke up hungry and I didn't hear your voice and you didn't come to pick me up and feed me.  Grandma Rosie did fine though.  In fact, she cuddled me and rubed my head and cheeks and sort of sounds like you.  She told me that she was your Momma!  Get out!  Really she's your Momma?   

I was hanging out in my crib last night with Blue (oh that's what Grandma called my bear) while Grandma went to wash her hands and I found out that his ears are fun to chew on.  He didn't even care that I was chewing on them.  So he's a good pal and I'm glad we like each other because I see him hanging out in my crib a lot.   I suppose you are wondering why I was awake and in my crib?  Well I had a very dirty diaper for Grandma Rosie.  I thought I better give her the works to see if she could handle it, so I filled my pants with some really smelly stuff.  You would have been proud of me, heck I was proud of it!   Grandma took one look at it and she said "Phew you're a stinky boy!"  She was saying other stuff too, but honestly, I was screaming because I didn't want her to think I enjoyed getting my diaper changed.  Secretly, I kind of like those warm wet things and a dry diaper, but I didn't want Grandma to know that.  As soon as she zipped me back in my jammies I decided that she passed the poopie diaper test and I had to come up with something else to challenge her.  That was easy, because by that time I was starving!  Grandma told me that I wasn't starving and she was sure I would live and then magically there was a bottle in my mouth!  Grandma was right, I wasn't dying and it was actually pretty good.  I tried to diddle around and be cute and doze off.  I figured if I pretended to be asleep she would go away, but all of a sudden she tweaked my nose!  I mean really!  How many tweaks can my nose take before it's all gone?  The nerve of her!  I decided since the nipple was still in my mouth I would take another slam and pretty soon Grandma was banging on my back and telling me to burp.  I'm telling you Momma, that when Grandma tells you to burp you should just burp because she is going to keep banding on your back until you do.  The nerve of her, she even pulled my leg down too!  I mean really, can't she tell I like my butt sticking out so I just gotta scrunch my legs up under me?   I was just about to be mad at her and tell her to quit pulling my leg down and OMG, I let out a very big burp.  I thought my head was going to snap off it was so big!   Grandma said "I knew you had to burp" but she still wanted more.  Man she can be demanding, but I burped again and then she seemed proud of herself too.   So my advice to you is to just do what she says!   

After she changed me and fed me I decided I would stay awake and keep my eye on her.  We talked and she looked me over and told me I looked a lot like you and that I reminded her of Uncle Mike.  That really confused me, but I figure Uncle Mike must be some really cute guy because I know how beautiful my Momma is and every one tells me how cute I am so I figure that Uncle Mike must be too.  But then Grandma said that Uncle Mike was a really good baby, so does that mean that I look like Uncle Mike too or that I act like Uncle Mike?  I'm confused, but I think it means that I'm a good baby AND I'm cute too.  Sweet!  Grandma told me that I have aunts and uncles and I would have fun playing with them and my cousins too.  I'm not sure what aunts, uncles and cousins are, but Grandma made it sound like they were good to have and they are lots of fun to hang out with.  She even told me that I have another Grandma AND another Grandpa too, and that everybody loves me and that I am a pretty lucky little boy. 

I gotta tell you, I was a little concerned when you and Daddy left me all alone with Grandma Rosie, but she cuddled me and kissed me and told me that she loves me and we talked about a lot of things and I think hanging out with Grandma was pretty okay.  Grandpa Pat even called and so I think he loves me too.  This life so far is pretty cool and I think I'm going to be fine if you and Daddy should ever need to leave me for a while.  Now that I've given you a night out and you came back to me we can probably do it again sometime.  Hey, Grandma said something about baseball.  It sounded like fun and I think Grandma likes baseball so can I play baseball someday, I mean when I'm bigger?   

I love you,
Xoxoz (the z is a zerbert, Grandma gave a zerbert.  Scared the daylights out of me but I think that's one of those things I better get used to, because she laughed and laughed.)