End of year Awana

Awana has come to an end for the year.  We had a nice program at church for the Cubbies.  They got to sing a few songs and they each got an award and then they were able to go to the "store" and use their shares to get a prize.  Caleb chose a build a bear and Isaac chose a Thomas train and some foam dinosaurs for the bath.  Both boys looked nice for their program and did a great job.  I had to stand in the back with Lucas for a while until Grandma took over so I could see the boys sing.  Next year Isaac will go on to Sparks and Caleb will do one more year of Cubbies.

Easter 2013 and some photos!

Lucas enjoyed his First Easter!!!!  The day before Easter we went to the Egg Drop at Sunshine.  Lucas and I stayed in the van while Ross and the boys waited for the Eggs "ping pong balls" to drop from the roof.  Each ball had a number and each number corresponded with a prize.  The boys didn't make out as well as they had hoped.  Caleb won some Egg cling ons for the window and Isaac won a bag of jelly beans.  Oh well maybe next year will be a little better.  After that we went to Island Park to see if they were having the Egg Hunt but apparently that was not happening until later in the afternoon.  We tried to get some pictures of the boys.  Isaac and Caleb were less than thrilled to take pictures and it was a little too chilly for Lucas so we left him in his warm carseat.  That afternoon we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Kooiker's house and dyed Easter eggs with Aunt Gina and Cousin Caden.  It was a good day.

Easter morning we went to church and had breakfast and then we went to Grandpa Winter's house for Easter dinner.  Lucas was a good baby and even let us eat most of our meal.  He was held by a lot of different people and handled it just fine!!

Here's some Easter pictures and some other pictures taken the month of March!  Little man is growing like a weed!

2 months old!

 

Goofy brothers!

Happy little man!

Look at his lashes!!!!

Caleb needed a family picture for a project at school.  I believe Grandma
Kooiker took over 40 pictures and we only had about 2 that were decent!

Isaac loves his baby brother!!!  He always wants to hold him.

I love this sequence of pictures.  First one Lucas happy as a clam,
giggling and smiling and cooing!  Second one, Daddy came inside
and he was looking him over good trying to figure out who he was. 
Third picture, it clicked, you're my Daddy!

Bright eyes!

Little Burito baby!

We would change Lucas diaper every night around 10:00
and I would feed him before I went to bed.  He didn't
like to wake up and would stretch out like this when we unwrapped
him from his swaddle :-)

And some Easter photos!

 

2 month check up

Lucas had his 2 month check up.  He is growing like a weed. 

Measurements:

Height: 24" (87%)
Weight 12 lbs 4 oz (47%)
Head 16.5" (100%)

He got 3 shots in the leg and one oral vaccination.  Poor boy cried hard, but I'm sure it was harder on me then him.  He did run a fever for a couple days but it didn't seem to affect him too much.  He is sleeping better at night and loves his Rock n Play sleeper and loves to be swaddled.

2 and 3 week photo shoots

We had a girl that is going to school for photography come to our house to take some pictures.  However, Lucas was not very cooperative at that time so we didn't get a lot but what she did get was pretty cute.  I wanted a lot more pictures so I ended up taking Lucas to JC Penney for some more pictures at 3 weeks of age and we had some with Mommy and Daddy since we did that with each of the other boys when they were newborns.  Again Lucas wasn't the most cooperative but we did get some pretty cute pictures!

ACID REFLUX!

Lucas is a pretty easy going baby for the most part, but he cries A LOT!  It's not so much the crying that has us concerned, it's the constant arching of the back, straightening of the legs, choking while nursing, etc.  At first I thought maybe my milk flow was too fast and he couldn't keep u which would account for the gagging/choking.  But he screams in pain a lot and he is not constipated at all.  I finally decided to take him to Sioux Falls to see a pediatrician who would be more familiar with Acid Reflux as I had suspected it.  The doctor examined him and concluded that he thought it was more than just a case of colic!  He agreed he probably has Acid Reflux or in Lucas case "Silent Reflux" because he doesn't spit up much.  He put him on Zantac and said it would take up to about 4 days before we notice a difference.  In the meantime he said we can give Lucas adult over the counter Maalox when he's in pain.  We can give it to him every 4 hours as needed and he gets 1/2 tsp.  He also said that if the medication does not work it could just be a bad case of colic or something in my diet. 

We started the Maalox that day and we noticed immediate improvement after giving it to him.  He would basically relax after giving it to him and stop screaming.  It is so hard for a Mom to see her baby in pain.  After about a week we noticed a big difference in his mood and sleep.  He was a much happier baby when he wasn't in pain all the time.  The doctor said if we saw immediate improvement with the Maalox, that was a sure sign that the culprit was Reflux.

Hopefully this will be the end of his tummy troubles and the meds will continue to work for our little guy.  On a side note:  at Lucas appointment he weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and in the 52nd percentile!  Skinny boy!

A smile is worth a millon bucks!

Lucas started smiling at 4 weeks old.  I caught a few good pictures of him smiling.  I couldn't even remember when the other boys started smiling but I thought it was more like 6 or 7 weeks.  You could tell he recognizes me because as soon as I look at him and smile he smiles right back.  He hasn't done it to anyone else yet so that makes Mommy pretty proud!  He is growing fast and such a happy baby when his acid reflux isn't acting up.  Love you baby boy!

I just had to post this picture of Caleb!

Caleb was getting ready to go with Grandma and Grandpa Kooiker to Village West for a couple days.  He had his coat on waiting for her and then he picked up his dart gun.  He told me he was looking for some rabbits!  I thought it was the funniest and grabbed the camera.  I told him to say "I'm wooking for some wabbits".  I should have captured it on video.  Oh Caleb Benjamin you make me smile!

Happy Valentine's Day....Love Lucas!

Oh how I wish I was good at taking pictures....oh well.  He's pretty cute no matter what!

Okay pictures are done now!!!  It's so cute, when he gets mad the

birth mark on his forehead gets redder and redder!

Lucas is 1 week old!

Things at home are well...crazy!  Isaac doesn't want to let Lucas out of his sight and is in his face constantly.  Caleb doesn't  pay much attention to him but seems to be feeling a little left out I guess.  Ross has been a big help in taking at least one of the boys with him so I don't have all 3 of the boys at home.  Lucas has been a really good baby.  He sleeps a lot right now and I have to wake him to eat during the day.  At night he goes about 4 hours between feedings so it's not so bad right now.  He likes to be tightly swaddled and close to us.  We can't get him into the pack n play.  He doesn't sleep well in there.  Right now he's sleeping in a safe and secure cozy travel bed between Ross and I.  He certainly likes the closeness.  Nursing is going surprisingly well.  Hopefully it continues.  Lucas did have jaundice levels when we were discharged so we had to go to Rock Rapids and have his bili levels checked a couple times.  Thankfully it normalized on it's own without needing to do anything.

Here's a few pictures of our newest little guy!

This guy is so skinny that all his clothes are too big

Precious boy with his ducky outfit

First smile caught on camera!

Zonked out in his cozy sleeper!

Big eyes!

A little jaundice but so cute in red!

Hanging out in his bouncy seat!