11.30.2009

luke's 1st thanksgiving...gobble, gobble, gobble!

Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.

luke had a great first thanksgiving! he enjoyed the car ride out to schaumburg as we took turns saying what we were thankful for this year (from the mundane things we take for granted like running water, to the very special birth of our little boy). once we were out in the suburbs, luke took to the warm comfort of family and enjoyed all the different arms he was held in. he is a blessed little boy and we are so thankful for him!

here are just a few pictures from the day.

luke all dressed up in his thanksgiving best. thanks to ryan and laura for the adorable argyle sweater, hat, and corduroy pants. his uncle ryan is the king of argyle and is dressing luke to match!

matching argyle hat...

what more can a 7 week old be thankful for? he is already learning how to win over the woman in his life! thanks amy for the sweet onsie.

my two men. again...so much to be thankful for!

11.17.2009

a week in the life of luke

early intervention therapy:
as part of luke's follow-up after his diagnosis of having an infantile stroke, the state of illinois offers to enroll luke in a therapy program called "early intervention." as part of this program, a team of four therapists (physical, occupational, speech/language/eating, developmental) came to our home last week to evaluate luke and see how he is doing in each of those areas. as part of the evaluation results, luke will be starting physical therapy once a week and occupational therapy once a month.

for the physical therapy he is showing some left side preference as he loves to lay on his left side and look towards his left verses looking and laying both directions equally. luke needs a little help with his overall mid-line alignment to make sure he is "centered." however, he did impress the therapists with his right and left arm/leg movement as well as how he performed when he was on his tummy (see below for how impressive he really is). since the stroke was on his left side, it is super important that he doesn't show any preference for his left side, so we're encouraged with how he moves his right side. this will be something we continue to watch as he grows.

for the occupational therapy, we need to make sure he is reaching all the fine motor skills developmental milestones (tracking objects, reaching for objects, etc). again, something we need to make sure he is doing equally on both sides. what's so fun about the occupational therapy is that our friend missy is going to be luke's therapist! luke is going to have so much fun with her and we are looking forward to seeing missy at least once a month.

now, here are some pictures from the last week or so of luke's life. he is one busy boy!

luke's official "one month" picture that we took on 11.6.09. we found these cool stickers from www.pickysticky.com to just put on a white onesie and document luke each month. stay tuned each month for months 2 through 12!

this is a bit of a "rewind" picture, but i had to post it. this is from luke's first pediatrician appointment with dr. t. on 10.14.09 (the day after he came home from the nicu). he looks super happy, doesn't he?!? :)
that blue "light saber" on his arm was something he wore for a very short time. as part of his nicu visit, he unfortunately received an IV burn on his right hand when his vein blew open while he was receiving some antibiotics. part of the treatment for that burn included putting some ointment on the burn every day. the hand doctors worried that luke might get the ointment in his mouth, so they created this little splint for him to wear so he couldn't get his hand to his mouth. let's just say we decided that the little guy couldn't wear it and just covered the wound site with gauze and tape instead. i mean, he'd been through enough without having to now wear a splint! however, it does make for a cool star wars reference!

luke continues to impress us during tummy time. watch for yourself and be impressed too! oh, and try to guess who plays the voice of "mr. catepillar."

luke showing off for his bug cheering crowd during tummy time.

and now, those same bugs are on his feet and wrists providing some rattle and crinkle entertainment (thanks gram)!

we went for a walk around the city on a warm sunday night in november (11.8.09)...
this was luke's first visit to wrigley field outside of the womb (and certainly not his last).

this was his actually his first visit back in mid-september.

luke got his picture taken by the brick that his mommy and daddy have on the sidewalk outside wrigley (can you see it to the right of his stroller?)

we stopped and got a coke slurpee for mommy - something she loved during her pregnancy! and now the straw color is officially blue! (back story: since we didn't know what we were having, every time i went to get a slurpee this summer, the color of the straw that i got for that slurpee would predict the sex of our baby - i.e. pink straw, we were having a girl; blue straw - a boy; green/yellow straw - still unknown. now we know it should have been a blue straw all along!)

luke and his friend grant started the green paci gang. they're just hanging out on the corner on a warm sunday night way past their bedtimes. rebels already!


luke meeting our friends, dave, courtney and sloane vanecek for the first time. we had such a great time catching up and introducing our little ones.


wow, after that busy week, luke shows us how tired he is. luke is great at giving us the "popeye" look every time he yawns. melt your heart funny!

11.06.2009

who can resist...

...this cute little face?

oh, and today i am officially 1 month old!

busy week for LQJ!

luke was a busy little dude this week! he laid on his activity mat, did tummy time until he cried, saw his (and his parent's) favorite pediatrician ever, visited dadda at the office, and met more friends. whew! i'm tired just thinking about it.

luke's best "blue steel" face while spending time on his activity mat.

luke and his dadda practicing tummy time. dadda has luke on "two-a-days" with the tummy time.

luke, dadda, and dr. t. at luke's 4-week check-up. dadda and dr. t. have been friends since they were 5 years old! dr. t. is the best pediatrician ever and i'm not just saying that because she said i am doing great. i did find out that i now weigh 9 lbs, 10 ounces (up 1 lb, 8 oz from when i left the NICU).

luke's a big fan of tv guide network and tvguide.com. yes, stormin' forman put him up to it, but it's for a good cause.

luke meeting our friends, josh and brooke fosburg for the first time.

11.02.2009

rubber ducky, you're the one...

luke enjoying his bath time (and showing off how well his hand is healing).

thank you gram for the green frog sponge towel! it helps keep me warm and keeps dada from getting any incriminating photos of me - just in case i want a political career down the road. :)

dada warming me up with my ducky towel from the orozco family. don't i look so cute?

11.01.2009

luke loves visiting with family and friends

luke with his Gram the day she left to go back to georgia after being with us for three weeks.

luke with his Gramps the night he was born.

luke with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Tony.

luke with Grandpa Frank and Grandma Kathy.

luke with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Laura.

luke with the Bowman Family.

luke with Miss Kimberly.

luke with Miss Jessi, Miss Amy and Miss Missy.

luke with Miss Monnie, Miss Emily and Miss Erica.


luke's 1st halloween!

luke had a fun first halloween that involved three different festive outfits, plus posing next to his first pumpkin that dada carved for him!


already a "mummy's boy."

aunt christine got this cute pumpkin costume for luke. great photo opportunity, but he didn't last long in it.