Mr. Luker T. Dukerson

That is what we call Luke these days.  Lukers.  Luker T. Dukerson.  Mr. Dukerson.  Any number of variations of that.  Great fun.

We think Luke was experiencing a growth spurt the past couple weeks, which is why he was waking up so often to eat at night.  That seems to have been just a phase because, thankfully, last Friday he started sleeping through the night again.  Knock on wood, but for the past few nights he's only woken up once or twice per night (vs 6!).  We think the other reason he's sleeping better is that he's able to roll himself onto his stomach at night.  It seems to be his preferred sleeping position.  We put him down in the normal position on his back, and within minutes he is sideways (he just barely fits, he's as wide as the mattress) on his tummy sound asleep.  We'll take it!

Last weekend we pretty much laid low.  Saturday we went to little Drew Conklin's house to celebrate his 1st birthday.  On Saturday night Grandma and Grandpa Baranko babysat Luke while Matt and I went to a formal dinner dance for Matt's work.  It was at the Hilton downtown and was very fun.  Sunday Matt & Luke watched the Bears game.  Luke didn't care for the outcome, as you can see from the picture below.

Luke sitting quietly listening to Matt play piano.
Matt plays almost every night and Luke loves it!

Hanging around with Dad

Tonya and birthday boy Drew on Saturday

At Matt's work dinner - Jade, Jenny, Kelly, Dana

Look, my favorite ball.

He's getting so good at tummy time

Isolene is taking Luke to story time at the library on Fridays

 

Protesting the Bears' loss on Sunday

Scootching myself down in my chair and pretty pleased about it.

eating my giraffe, as usual

then my fingers

then my shirt

Where's Waldo?

Can you find Luke in this picture?  Hint:  he's the only human baby.

Not too much to report this week.  Luke continues to progress with his motor skills.  The other day I went to get something out of the fridge with him on my hip and he grabbed (and dropped on the ground) a half empty bottle of salad dressing!  Little stinker:) Let the octopus arms (as Kristin would say) begin!  He also can stand, assisted, for a bit.

He also found his feet recently.  They are his new favorite playthings, besides his fingers that is. He likes to shove all of his fingers in his mouth at once.  Actually, pretty much anything and everything is going in his mouth these days.  

In his free time, Luke Baranko enjoys long walks on the beach, making model airplanes and reading. 

Saturday we attended a beautiful birthday party for Matt's Aunt Irene, who turned 70, at Kinzie Chophouse.  It was a surprise party and all of her 6 kids were there, along with their kids, reunited from far and wide.  It was Luke's first time in the city, first time meeting a lot of his Baranko side cousins and his first surprise party.  Matt was holding him, and he seemed ok with the darkness and quiet, but then did NOT care for the sudden brightness and shouting of "Surprise!".  The shock was too much for him, but he recovered pretty quickly.  On the other side of the coin, Matt's cousin Irene sang opera for the group, and Luke LOVED that, smiling broadly at her and listening intently.  I think we have a music lover on our hands.  For those who were at our wedding, you know how beautifully she sings.  It was a great night!

On Sunday we had a nice visit with Aunt Kristin, Uncle Cory and PJ, who came down for the afternoon.  Then Grandma and Grandpa Mackus stopped by for dinner on their way home from their weekend in Chicago.

1/1/11 and our baby is #1

He's #1 in our book at least.  Not sure what he's #1 of....maybe of all babies in the universe?  That sounds about right.

This week was fun!  Luke is becoming so much more vocal.  Check out this sample:

On Friday night I had the good fortune to host 4 of my Purdue swimming friends for dinner.  Patricia was in town from New York, fresh off landing her NEW job as a nurse, and so it was a perfect reason to get together with our other IL area buddies Missy, Ashley and Leah.  The night included wine, cheese, dinner and lots of laughs.

Missy, Patricia, Ashley, Leah, Kelly

Saturday the whole family took a road trip to Indy to visit Katie and Joe.  It was Luke's first long car trip (3 & 1/2 hours) and he did great, despite only sleeping for about 45 minutes of it.  Katie & Joe hosted a wonderful dinner party for us to give Luke the opportunity to meet our friends from Purdue Ken & Michelle and Brian & Erica.  Sunday we headed home and Luke actually slept for almost the entire trip.  Good man!

Yummy dinner with Ken & Michelle

Erica snuggling with Lukers

Playing more Yahtzee on Sunday

Spumoni liked seeing his dog friends Kessler and Brewskie

Kessler (aka pretzel dog) sitting in front of the heater

I almost forgot!  Luke had his 4 month doctor appointment yesterday.  The doctor says he is doing great.  It turns out that he is not as giant of a baby as I had thought.  I still say he's big, wearing 6-9 month sleepers already!  Here are the stats:

Length: 25 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 6.5 ounces (50-75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 43 1/4 cms (75th percentile)

Now if we could just get him to sleep through the night.  Total regression when it comes to sleeping.  Last night he woke up every 1 & 1/2 like clockwork, he didn't even do that when he was a newborn!  Teething?  Congestion?  Hunger pangs?  Or just liking Mom and Dad coming to visit several times a night?  Only he knows.  Time to start reading all those books Kristin gave me on sleeping techniques I guess.

Smiley Pants

Welcome 2011

It is a brand new year!  A year we are sure will be filled with the wonderment of our baby reaching milestone after milestone and growing way too fast.

We rang in 2011 with Donna and Emil and Ben and Linda at our house.  We had a fun dinner, followed by a competitive game of Yahtzee then a champagne toast.  The next day we got to spend the day with Ben and Linda before heading over to the Baranko's for one last dinner with B&L.

My family flew back from Mexico Saturday night and we picked them up from the airport.  Kristin, Cory and PJ went right home, but Mom and Dad stayed the night so we got to have a nice brunch with them the next morning.  From the pictures we saw it looked like fun times were had by all in Puerto Vallarta.

Sadly, the tree and all the Christmas decorations came down on Sunday.  It was a great holiday season, now back to reality!  But everyday feels like Christmas when you get to wake up to a sweetie like Lukers.  Here are some cute shots from the week.

Out for a walk on that nice 50 degree day we had New Years Eve

Music concert - Ben on keys, Matt on guitar, Donna on vocals (just kidding)

Preparing for our New Years toast 

Where's my food?!  trying out the high chair that Daddy and Uncle Ben used to use

Hanging at the Baranko's house - Eskimo kiss 

Luke's new thing is that he likes being walked around in the Bjorn at night, Spumoni likes it too

I'm such a big boy, I can stand up all by myself (when leaning on something)

Snuggling in my new blanket from Dana, thanks!