9 MONTHS OLD!!

 I can't believe my baby boy is 9 months old already! He is growing up so fast!

He seems to be doing something new everyday, and it is so much fun to watch! He weighed 18 1/2 lbs and was 28 1/2 inches long! My big boy!

Luke now can pull himself up to standing on pretty much everything, and walk along the furniture. He also has discovered the stairs and can go all the way up the stairs with out help, but with a worried momma following close behind, because he thinks he is just so cool and turns around and tries playing on the stairs too. He loves to explore and find everything he is NOT supposed to play with. :) Luke eats like a champ, he eats just about everything now, and can eat a lot of solid stuff too that he can chew on with his gums. Still no teeth though. He talks all the time, just jibber jabber though. He does say momma a lot, but I still am not sure if he quite knows what he is saying now or not. I just tell myself that he knows what he is saying :)

I am not quite sure what the deal is but the last 4 days or so he will NOT take his afternoon nap, it is quite frustrating for me since I am used to having the extra 2 hours to get things done or relax myself in the afternoon. I am hoping this is just some weird faze that he will be out of soon. He turns into the hulk in the evening if he doesn't get his nap, so here's to hoping this nonsense will stop :)

Luke loves bath time now!

My little fishy.

This is what happens when we start choking on water and bubbles because he like to swim around and suck up the water 

He is just too cute

8 MONTHS OLD!

I have not been very good at getting these posts out on time, but Luke was 8 months on 5/9. He is growing up SO fast! I can't believe it!

Some of the new things Luke is doing as a big 8 month old right now are
-eating more solid foods like the gerber puffs, cheerios, yogurt puff things, and a little chunkier foods. I am still making most of his food, but have started buying some jars of food, he eats so much now, it's hard to keep up with him!
-Luke is CRAWLING like a pro now! He has been pulling himself up onto things, and we have found him a couple times standing up in his crib.
-Luke loves being outside now that it is spring/summer like weather, he is so cute when he first touched grass, I just love watching him learn all this new stuff and experience everything for the first time, it is amazing to watch.
-He walks around in his walker now, he is getting so much taller, we will get his height at his next appt for 9 months, but we did get him weighed last week and he was 17 lbs!
-Luke is now drinking formula, he started a little after 7 months, I wish I could have kept breastfeeding, but he was just not interested at all, and my milk supply decreased so now he LOVES his bottle, it is so cute to watch him, he gets so excited when he sees his bottle.
-He is into everything now! We really should have listened to the doctor when he warned us months ago to have the house baby proofed because he really was right, the day Luke realized he could really move, there is no stopping him now! :)

Chilling eating some mum mum snacks at the zoo :)

I will remember you.

This has been a really hard and trying couple of weeks for me. I found out I was pregnant early april, then lost our baby on friday May 6th that I instantly fell in love with that april morning. I know it is very common to have a miscarriage and I know so many who have been there and gone through it, but what I didn't know it what it felt like to love someone with all your heart, and before you even get to hold that little miracle in your arms, they are gone. I loved this baby, and know that one day I will get to hold him/or her in my arms, but for now, God will take great care of this sweet child of mine, I am looking forward to the day that I get to meet my sweet baby.

This song used to be one of my favorites when I was a teenager, but listening to it now, it has so much meaning to me.

Sarah McLachlan " I Will Remember You"
http://youtu.be/uHooH4464dQ

I will always remember this baby...I will never know why this happened, only God knows the why, but I have faith that he will bring me through this a stronger woman.

Another song that has constantly been on my heart is His Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture, and it simply says "Nothing can separate, even if I ran away, your love never fails...You stay the same through the ages, your love never changes, there may be pain in the night, but JOY comes in the morning. And when the oceans rage, I don't have to be afraid, because I know that you love me. Your love never fails. The wind is strong, and the waters deep, but I am not alone in these open seas, your love never fails. The chasm is far too wide, I never thought I would reach the other side, your love never fails. YOU MAKE ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR MY GOOD"

Jesus Culture "Your Love Never Fails"
http://youtu.be/IoezWBPGRAc

God knows there have been many times that I have wanted to run away from him, I have been angry and cried out to him that this is so unfair, but he is still there to hold me, and his love never fails. I KNOW that he works all things for the good of those who love him, it is just so hard for me to see right now in the midst of all this pain. But one day when I finally meet Jesus, I will get to meet the sweet baby and get to spend eternity loving that baby with all my heart!

7 Months Old!

So I am reallly late on this one, Luke is almost 8 months old, but I wanted to update on how the little man has been doing.

*Luke can now sit up really well
*He eats 3 meals a day
*Luke no longer breast feeds, he drinks formula now (and he LOVES his bottle)
*He sleeps great through the night, we put him down at 7pm and he wakes up about 7:30, most nights without waking up at all now! Yay for sleep for mommy! Even though I stay up late and wake up super early for NO reason. =(
*Luke takes 2, 2 hour naps, most days, his morning nap is always done, but sometimes we skip the afternoon nap if we are busy, and that night I am usually kicking myself in the butt for not giving him his afternoon nap.

He is such a big boy now and sits up on his own very well.

Still bald but the cutest little bald guy ever!

Really mom and dad? More kisses and pictures?

Luke LOVES his daddy

Watching daddy's soccer game =)

Cutest little Cubs fan!

Luke was ready for the Cubs opener, too bad the Cubs didn't show up too! Hope we can do better the rest of the season, I don't want to disappoint my sweet little boy ALREADY!

Only about 7 weeks to go!

So I mentioned before that I was running a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. I only have a little less than 7 weeks to go! I am getting so excited and can't wait for this new adventure. I have been pretty healthy so far, just shin splints bugging me. I am going to a chiropractor today to see about fixing this problem, I don't want a bump in the road of my training! I am LOVING that I can run outside more now, so much more fun that running on the boring treadmill. We got to use the jogging stroller a week or so ago, we went for a family run. Jared was running ahead of me of course because he is quite a bit faster than me.

I am running a 10K on April 17 in Naperville at McDowelll Forest preserve, I am pretty excited about that too. That I know I can do, it's 6.4 miles, which I am already running more than that now, so I should be ok. I just haven't made it to 13.1 miles yet. Still have a few weeks till I have to do that though.

I have a goal for myself to get back to my pre-Luke weight by our anniversary, which is in June. I hope I can do it, I have the working out part down, I just need to get more disciplined about eating healthy.

Daddy's got a new job!!

So Jared has been testing to be a full time fire fighter for over 3 years, probably closer to 4. He has taken a bunch of classes, received his paramedic license, along with associates in fire science and tons of other certificates, and has been working as a full time paramedic/fire fighter for the town we live in for a year, it's confusing but he was not employed by the actual city, he worked for Metro, which is a smaller company of Superior Ambulance company. So anyways, to make a long story short, he has worked so hard for this and FINALLY got a job as a full time fire fighter/paramedic for the city of Hinsdale! I am SO proud of him! He starts this friday April 1st. WE are so blessed and are so very thankful for everyones prayers and encouragement on this LONG hard road, where most days, I wasn't sure there would ever be a light at the end of the tunnel! But God made it happen and we are so grateful! Now I will actually get to see my husband and he won't have to work tons of extra hours! YAY!!!