Luke is 4 months

Dearest Luke,

On Christmas Eve you turned 4 months old.

And on Christmas Day I was reminded about how exactly one year ago on Christmas day we found out you were on your way. What an amazing Christmas present.

PERSONALITY

Your personality is really starting to shine and you are ALWAYS smiling. I mean...A L W A Y S.

You might be a morning person because as soon as I come in your room in the morning you are already smiling ear to ear- just happy. And it's so contagious and joyful!


You also have started to get upset when someone is showing you attention but then has to walk away. You don't get too mad but just whine like "where did you go?!"

SIZE

You, my man, are growing growing and growing! I can't believe your size! You are wearing 9 months and some 12 months and you are only 4 months! But you don't look overfed- just big! You do prefer to eat small frequent meals. When you take a bottle you only eat maybe 5 oz at a time if that. But you prefer to eat every 3 hours at least during the day.

You haven't been weighed in awhile but I would guess around 16 lbs.

We're learning more and more about cloth diapers. Every once in a while we run into an issue. Recently it's been ammonia buildup. I'm still glad we chose cloth diapers because there are numerous benefits however all of the trial and error isn't so fun. Sometimes you wear disposible diapers and you just moved up to a size 3.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

You don't take pacifiers anymore. You prefer to suck on two of your fingers on your left hand and always seem to have them in your mouth.


You can now hold toys and chew on them. You are starting to reach for things you see but still need some help sometimes grabbing onto them.


You continue to "talk" non-stop. You seem to like the sound of your voice and want to coo to someone as soon as you notice they are looking at you. We're definitely a family of talkers and you fit right in!

EATING AND SLEEPING

You still nurse like a pro and during Thanksgiving you quit getting up to eat in the middle of the night. My only theory is that you got so much mommy time while I was off work for Thanksgiving that you got your "mommy fix" and no longer needed to see me in the middle of the night. You have slept at least 9 hours straight ever since! I am so grateful for this since the sleep deprivation was really starting to make me make mistakes at work! The only down side is that now on work days I don't see you from the time I put you to bed til I get home from work. Which is 9pm one night til 5pm the next day. Sometimes it's really hard on me but it makes me cherish the days at home I do get to spend with you.



HEALTH

A problem with you preferring to suck on your left hand is that you always want to lay on the left side of your head. Hence...your noggin' is a little lopsided. Your daddy and I are doing everything we can to try to get you to face to your right more hoping that we don't have to resort to the helmet someday.


Your skin. Oh your skin. It's always something. I guess it comes with the whole red hair and light complexion. The eczema has improved greatly since I started using BabyGanics lotion and body wash.


However, now you tend to get some nasty rashes in all of your creases (armpits, behind knees, neck) I've tried aquaphor which helps a little but yesterday I tried triple paste and it seems to clear it up the most. I'm going to ask your doctor about it when you have your next appt. We keep it clean and dry but last week it still looked like this...

(don't worry- it looks much better today!)

BROTHERLY LOVE

No one makes you light up as much as your brother Nathan. In fact- Nathan doing the jumping jacks makes you crack up the most! It's pretty funny to watch. I love watching you two together.




(Nathan's eyes are closed but I still like this pic- look at that red hair!)

I love to watch you with your daddy too. You seem to have him wrapped around your finger a bit...


We love you little man!