Week by week 4

John-Luke had a good week. Mostly sleeping, eating and being loved on by his brother, mommy, daddy and grandma. It was super fun. Here are a few highlights from the week.
Tuesday: Sleeping at the pateaugoire (free wading pool for little kids) while Bimmy played.Wednesday: Eating induced sleep coma.
Saturday morning: Sleeping at the park while Bimmy played in the water, sand and on the slide.
Saturday mid-day: Sleeping in his crib while Bimmy took a 3.5 hour nap. (We play big and we sleep big around here).
Saturday evening: At the pateaugoire again. This time looking concerned that what he is sucking on is NOT what he was hoping it would be. He was a good sport and we got all the way home without any crying. What a great baby!
That is about it. John-Luke's life really does consist of mostly sleeping and occasional quiet wakefulness and a few feeding frenzies before more sleeping. Loving it! Perhaps I could have more than 2 kids if they are all this easy. Well, ask me about it again when my help (mom) is gone. Stay tuned for some 1 month stats after CapN's 1 month appointment this week. Any guesses on how much he has gained/grown?
Don't forget to check out the all Bimmy post below. He really isn't a forgotten first-born. We still love him more than ever!

18 months & counting

I am officially the worlds biggest slacker. James turned 20 months on the 15th and here I am finally posting about him turning 18 months old. I feel like I pretty much ignored the last 6 months of his life on this blog except for posting about trips that we have taken as a family. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I was overloaded with school but that isn't really a good excuse. All I can say is that I swear to be better in the future. Now, about the last 6 (really 8) months...
James has gone from this... (taken the day after he turned 1). to this in 6 short months. (taken the day after he turned 18 months).Basically he turned from a crawling baby into a running little boy!
Some of his major accomplishments are...
1. Walking at 14 months and running shortly thereafter.
2. Going to a "big boy" bed at 17 months. (Yes, he does sleep with his little bum up in the air).3. Talking up a storm. His favorite things to say are body parts and animal sounds. And he loves to talk about bugs and outside things like dirt and trees too.
4. Climbing everything.
5. Being generally a happy, lovable little guy. He loves giving out kisses and saying "hello" to everyone he meets. He also loves having his picture taken so that he can see himself.
6. He still thinks that daddy is the coolest person in the whole wide world as you can tell from the following videos.

On the bright side of things, I did have a photo shoot done of James which was taken "on location" in downtown Geneva by my friend Harmony who happens to be a great photographer as well. Here is a SMALL sampling of what she took. (Please excuse the 8 month pregnant belly).
Didn't they turn out great? Thanks, Harmony!

Week by week 3

This week I had a hard time taking a lot of pictures of John-Luke. Mostly because James really likes to have pictures taken of him. He smiles right on cue every time the camera comes out as is evidenced by this picture of him. He then insists on seeing the picture and announcing to everyone that it is a picture of "Bubba" as he calls himself. Despite the camera hogging that happens around here I was able to take a few pictures of John-Luke. This week while Bimmy was watching bugs crawl on the ground behind our apartment, John-Luke was... yawning. And while Bimmy was playing at the park, John-Luke was... sleeping in his Sleepy Wrap. He actually quite likes it and is generally content to fall asleep when we go out. Lucky for me. And last but not least, while Bimmy was smiling for the camera, John-Luke was being "hugged." So now y'all know what we all do during the day. I take pictures while James smiles and plays and while John-Luke naps.
And this week John-Luke officially rolled over again (last Sunday) and grew out of his newborn clothes overnight. Literally. I put him in a sleeper one night and by the next morning it was just too small. Overall, John-Luke has been great this week. He is still a great sleeper (a habit that I hope continues forever) and just really doesn't cry. Talk about ideal. Now if only I could have my house magically clean itself life would be perfect! Oh, and if the pregnancy belly would disappear overnight that would help too!

Week by Week 2

Week 2 pics of John-Luke include: Big brother, Bimmy, watching him have some tummy time. James is quite fascinated with the baby at this time. Hopefully the charm doesn't wear off anytime soon.Sleeping at his first BBQ in the park. He did really well and we all had a lot of fun.Wide awake during some tummy time. John-Luke (aka. Captain) doesn't really prefer tummy time and has already rolled over to escape it. He officially rolled from his tummy to his back when he was 8 days old. Brian, his 2 grandmas and I, all witnessed it but I think it was a fluke as he has not done it again. Captain is still sleeping really well. He really only wakes up once at night. He has been about as easy as I could have ever hoped for. Easier in fact. I didn't know babies got any easier than Bubba has been but I guess they do. Either that or I am just that much more capable.
James is still liking the baby pretty well and gets very concerned about the baby when he isn't right there with us. He also thinks that the baby is going to be too hot in his bed and is always trying to take his blanket off. He likes to give him little kisses but he also likes to "meep" his nose. Meeping is pinching someone's nose while saying "meep" really loudly and Daddy taught James how to do this. It has been hard to teach James that the baby can't be "meeped." Otherwise, things are going great. I'm feeling pretty darn good too since I've been able to sleep some at night.

Week by Week 1

I have decided to post a couple of pictures of John-Luke each week to document his first year of life. This idea comes from my friend Harmony who is doing the same thing. It also comes from the fact that I am an "undocumented second child." There are almost no pictures of me when I was a baby or even a small child. And there are pretty much no pictures of me alone as a small child/baby.
So here I am starting. Here are a couple of pictures of John-Luke from his first week of life. Here he is in his first photo with his monkey that I will be using each month to document his growth. And here he is with his Grandma Shelley (Brian's mom). She has the magic touch. John-Luke really likes to snuggle up for a nap.
The first week actually went really well. John-Luke slept about 20 hours a day which really made things easy. James has been pretty good with him so far and we had lots of help with Brian's mom here. So far going from 1-2 kids has been easier than going from 0-1 kid. I wish I would have known that before as it would have saved me a lot of stressing. Stay tuned for more weekly posts.