Video for Daddy

Giggles

Just thought I'd post this super cute video of Luke giggling and squeeling.

Bell Witch Cave

My parent's just made their annual trek to North Carolina and stopped by on their way to NC and on their way back. Garen' sister Kristen also came to visit recently and she brought her adorable (albeit crazy) puppy Charlie with her. Luke didn't know what to do with all of the attention and a puppy in the house. Poor Nilla was afraid to come inside.

Speaking of Nilla...a few weeks ago Garen let her inside and he came and told me she was bloody. She had a 5"-6" long, 1.5" wide patch of fur missing along her back and the spot looked like it had been burned. So I took her to the vet and they think she was hit by a car. I'm not sure what happened to her, but I am pretty sure she wasn't hit by a car. She never goes in the street, plus there was nothing else wrong with her. Well, she is fine. The patch is very slowly healing and looks disgusting. It's like raw-hide is slowing peeling off. I wouldn't be surprised if it is Thanksgiving before the wound is healed.

So while my parents were here this last weekend, we went to Bell's Witch Cave, which is about 20 minutes down the road. Apparently this family, the Bell family, is haunted by a witch who predicted both world wars and the end of the world...oh yeah, and it poisoned Mr. Bell. There is probably more to the story, but we didn't pay for the entire tour - just the cave, so we only heard part of the story. The cave was pretty cool. They recently had a geologist out to look at some of the formations and it look like this area was a ocean millions of years ago and in particular - a coral reef. It really did look like coral reef that we were standing under. There were other oceanic fossils in the cave too. We took Luke with us. A very young spelunker!

I took Luke in for his 6 month check-up last Friday (he won't officially be 6 months until Thursday) and he weighed in at 16 lbs 12 ozs! He is almost double his birth weight and he has turned into a bit of a chunky monkey. He is 26.5" long, which puts him in the 50% for weight and the 50% for height. Dr. Roads says his heart murmur is still gone, but we are still taking him to Vanderbilt for a final "clean bill of health" in November. Luke can sit up...well, he can't get into the sitting up position, but if we sit him down, he can stay sitting and he can catch himself if he starts to fall to either side. But if he falls backwards, he is down for the count. He can also walk. Okay, not really. He can hold onto our fingers and walk. He has no balance and his feet are not coordinated, but he has a purpose, and we don't help him much. He gets mad if we help him, he is very determined to do things on his own.

Our trip to Destin

I'm a little behind (okay, a lot) in writing this week because we just got back from our trip with Garen's family to Destin, FL. We had a really nice time and it was fun to show off Lucas and meet his cousin Ava. Of course, it was great to see the other 2 cousins also - Reece and Riley. Reece is probably the smartest "almost" 3 year old I've ever met! He was spelling red and blue to us! Riley is 11 months old now and she is a character! She is walking already and is a beautiful little girl. Ava has the squishy baby-rolls, but I think they are absolutely adorable. She is much more laid back that Lucas is. I was very jealous of her behavior, although her mother swears it was a fluke (we don't believe you Heather!).

The car ride down was pretty easy. Luke did great and we made the 8 hour trip in 9 hours! We were both very happy with that. But because Luke was a grump while we were there, we left Friday night and drove 1/2 way and spent the night in Birmingham, AL and came the rest of the way on Saturday. Thank goodness we did! Luke was not a happy baby on the trip home. I swear he crapped himself ever hour just to make us stop the car! I sat in the backseat with him on both trips and overall he really wasn't awful.

Luke wasn't a big fan of the beach. Because of the storms in the gulf, the water was pretty cold and every time it touch him he started crying. The first and last days we were there the ocean was nice. It rained really bad and they closed the beach one day, and the rest of the days it was "red flag" (rough waves and a strong under tow). Not to mention the jelly fish! I think everyone got stung at some point, but not badly. Emily, the youngest SIL, got stung the worst. She came up from a wave with one stuck to her face! Yuck (and ouch). But when we were out at the beach, the temperature was perfect and the company was fantastic. Garen and I took turns most days, one stayed inside while Luke napped while the other went to the beach. We took him to the pool a few times too. He liked that much better. I have an inflatable turtle for him to ride in and he smiled and kicked and liked the pool.

Garen's friend Adrian came down for a few days also. He took our Engagement pictures and we asked him to take some family photos while he was there. They turned out really nice. If you'd like to see them, go to http://www.eventpix.com/guest/events/index.php?_function=search and put "Nichols" in the "Photographer last name" field. Click on "Harshbarger, Patterson, Grashot" and the password is "destin". Yeah....we did the khaki and white thing. I love it. I think the pictures are wonderful. THANKS ADRIAN!!!

We spent our evenings watching the Olypics and Michael Phelps (and the gymnastic girls). Who knew ping-pong was an sport!

Wonderful News

Luke had his 4 month check-up on Tuesday. He weighed in at 12 lbs and 11 ozs, in the 25th percentile! They said he is 24 3/4" long - let's just say 25"! His legs weren't completely stretched out anyway. So his length is in the 50th percentile. His head is apparently a bit small though, it is in the 3-5 percentile! But that is still within the normal range. I don't think his head looks small, I just think it is growing up and not out (does that make sense?). It will catch up.

Now on to the great news - his heart murmur is gone! Dr. Roads listened and re-listened and he couldn't hear it, so he is confident that the holes have closed. We will still have to go to Vanderbilt in November for another check-up, but Garen and I are so relieved! Our little boy his healthy.

Last Sunday we had Luke's pictures taken and some family photos too. If anyone cares to look at them, the photographer's website is http://web.mac.com/dawnlombard/iWeb/photo/Lucas.html If you open them in internet explorer the color and quality looks poor, so if you have another browser, use that.

Nothing else really happened this week. We stayed home and did a lot of playing. This week will be a lot of the same. We are leaving next Saturday morning for Destin, Fl. with Garen's family. Joanne and Richard and all of the sibling will be there, which will make a very full house! The total will be 9 adults, 1 toddler, and 3 babies under 1! I'm excited to see everyone and I can't wait to put the babies together and see how they interact.

Ummm...Real Food Good

In the last 2 weeks we decided to start Luke on some real foods. I've been itching to start and I thought he was ready. We started with the traditional rice cereal. The box said to give an ounce at the first feeding and that they may not eat but a few bites. Well...Luke ate the entire ounce and screamed for more while I mixed it up. He ate all of it too! So we did the rice for a few days then moved on to carrots. I'm giving him canned organic carrots. I wanted to make them, but I read something that said baby food carrots should not be home made. Apparently carrots absorb a lot of the nitrates in the ground in which they are planted. So organic or not, you can't be sure of the level of nitrates in the carrots you prepare. Baby food companies test for nitrates and only use carrots that are low in them. So the canned stuff tastes and smells like crap, but he seems to like them. We did the carrots for a few days then started on the peaches that I made. The peaches were hilarious! They are a little tart (but oh so good) and after his first few bites his head kind of twitched after every bite. He is used to the tart flavor now are really likes the peaches. Those are the only foods he has tried so far. I'm hoping to introduce sweet potatoes this week, if I can find some organic ones. Then maybe apples after that.

Luke's turned 4 months this last Friday. He has his 4 month check-up on Tuesday. I'm anxious to see how much he weighs! I'm starting to see a little bit of chunk on his thighs, and his diaper tabs aren't over lapping anymore. Oh, and his 0-3 month shorts aren't too big on him either. I don't notice that he is any heavier, but I'm sure he is! He is definitely longer too. His rise has him almost out of his 3-6 month clothing and into the next stage. He does need to slow down a bit in the length department though. I have some 6-9 month long sleeve stuff that is really cute and it would be a shame if he never gets to wear them.

On a sad note, I found out this week that a girl from my college sorority lost her 5 month old baby on Tuesday. It doesn't say how he died, just that he died in the hospital. I can't even imagine what she must be going through.

A Day at the Zoo

Luke and I went to the zoo in Nashville last week. He absolutely loved it! I didn't think he would get much out of it, and while he didn't really focus on the animals, he loved looking at all of the plants and listening to all of the sounds. It had just rained when we got to the zoo and it was VERY humid and hot, which must have woken up the animals because they were very active. The elephants even went swimming in their pool in front of us. We went to a larakeet garden, which is an enclosed room with a bunch of birds that will land on you. One tried to eat my hair, but Luke thought they were pretty neat.

Luke and I are feeling much better. After I posted last weekend, Luke felt really warm. We took his temp and it was 100.8, so we made an emergency Sunday appointment. Apparently when babies have head colds and they start to get well, it will often turn into an ear infection. I wish they would have told me that at the doctor the week before, I would have been looking out for it! When they took his temp at the doctor it was 101.4 and he had a pretty bad ear infection. They gave him an antibiotic (not fair! I wanted one too) and he is great now.

Luke is figuring out his hands. I'm not sure that he knows what he is really doing yet, but I am more confident that he will. The little toy in the picture below is great. It has thin enough parts that his hand can grasp them. A lot of toys are still too thick for him to grasp well. Heather's (my sister-in-law) little girl, Ava, found her feet this week. She is a month older than Luke. But now Garen keeps trying to get him to find his feet. I just tell him, one thing at a time.

I decided that when Luke is old enough to eat solids, I will make his baby food. It will be cheaper and probably taste better. It turns out both of my SIL's Heather and Melissa make their baby food too. Heather said she just made and froze a bunch of peaches since they are in season now so I decided that was a great idea and I would do the same. So on our trip to Nashville, I went by The Turnip Trunk, which is an organic food store and bought 7 lbs of peaches and a bunch of plums. I borrowed my friends steamer and spent last Friday making baby food. It was really easy and I am so anxious for Luke to try real food. Garen let him try cantaloupe the other night (Garen held the long slice and let Luke suck on the end). I've started giving him rice cereal if he takes a bottle. At his next appointment at the end of the month I hope we are given the go ahead to start on solids.