Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day, we headed up to Jonathan's parents' place in northern Michigan. We had beautiful weather and a great time hanging out with his family. On Monday, we decided to do the annual Mackinaw Bridge Walk. It was a little crowded and chaotic, but we were glad we did it. Luke successfully made the five mile walk (in his stroller) and even got a certificate to prove it! :) He actually slept through most of the walk except for the last 1/2 mile or so, when he decided he'd had enough and was ready to eat!Is this supposed to be fun?

Starting the walk

Halfway there!

We made it!

Man am I glad that's over!

Luke and his cousin, Julia.

Handsome boy!

Fo' shizzle

Jonathan and his brother playing a little Dance Dance Revolution.

Updates

Just a couple updates. My mom starts her six month chemo treatment this week. Please continue to keep her in your prayers, as she isn't sure how she will react to the medicine.

Peyton came through her surgery okay. She is recovering well now, though we can't keep the bandage on her for the life of us. She keeps messing with it. My husband, being the cheapskate that he is, didn't want to forge over the $12 for one of those cones to put around her head to keep her from touching her leg. So this was his solution:

Poor Peyton

Tomorrow Peyton has to have surgery on her back right leg. It's been bothering her for a while and when we took her to the vet, he said she has a torn ligament which can only be fixed with surgery. Hopefully everything goes well and she has a quick recovery!

Luke and Daddy

So I was folding laundry yesterday and Jonathan decided that Luke's arms and legs were cold. He helped him out by putting on some socks. Too bad they were Jonathan's socks and not Luke's. haha (By the way, Luke's onesie says, "If you think I'm handsome, you should see my daddy". It was Jonathan's Father's Day present.)

Here are some more pictures of Luke and his daddy:

I had to include this picture, too. The other day, I was getting ready to jump in the shower. I told Peyton to watch Luke for me and when I got out of the shower, this is what I found:

Bad News

My mom met with the doctor today and the tumor was malignant. Now she will meet with the chemotherapy doctor next week Wednesday. We aren't sure yet whether there is any cancer still in her or if they got it all out during the surgery, but they did find some in a few of the lymph nodes they removed. We're hoping it didn't spread anywhere else. Please pray not only for my mom but for dad as well, as he lost both his mom and sister to cancer. This whole thing still seems surreal to me. We really covet your prayers during this time.

Too Cute Not to Post!

We went down to Indiana this weekend to visit my family and check up on mom. She is doing pretty well and feeling good. Please keep her in your prayers, though, as she goes Tuesday to find out the results of the tests they did on the tumor. Luke went to church today in his outfit from Auntie Em and I must say, he was sooooo cute, I almost couldn't stand it! Hope you enjoy the pictures we got of him today.

Luke's One Month Picture

Luke is five weeks old today, but we took these pictures on his one month birthday. He looks so big now! He is so adorable, I can't get over it!! And I'm not biased or anything....

Update on Mom

Sorry it has taken so long for me to get an update. I know lots of you have been praying, which is awesome and so much appreciated. My mom had her surgery on Thursday and the doctor couldn't believe how well it went. Her recovery has gone well, too. She is still in the hospital but is hoping to get home tomorrow or the next day. They removed a lemon-sized tumor that was completely blocking her colon. It is being tested to determine if it is malignant or benign. Your prayers are still appreciated as we don't know what the future holds with this. I've been able to talk to my mom every day, though, and she is in good spirits and feeling pretty good, all things considered. I'll continue to keep you all updated...

Prayer Request

Please pray for my (Amanda's) mom. She had a colonoscopy today and they found a tumor. She is having surgery tomorrow morning and they will know more after sending it to the lab for testing. Please pray that the surgery goes well and that it is not cancerous. My mom is my best friend and this is really really hard on me.

4 week check-up

Wow! Luke is four weeks old today! He had another doctor's appointment today and things look great. He is now 9 pounds 4.5 ounces (up from 8 lb. 10 oz. two weeks ago) and is 22.5 inches long (he was 21.5 at birth). The only thing is that his cord stump is still on. It just will not fall off! We're going back Thursday to have it removed if it doesn't fall off before then. Other than that, everything is normal and he is a healthy growing boy!

Luke's Road Trip

Well, we took our first trip this past weekend to northern Indiana. My folks have a place on a lake and we went to see everyone. Luke did great and seemed to enjoy being held 24/7! :) Here are some pictures from the weekend.Chillin' with Uncle Jacob

Nothing beats a nap with grandpa

Check out that blond hair!

You have to zoom in on Luke's face--it's hilarious!

Play With Me!

When Jonathan got home from work today, he was pretty exhausted (thanks to a little boy who kept us up for part of last night!). He decided to take a nap on the floor, but Peyton had other ideas. She demanded his attention and would not leave him alone until he threw her toy for her. She is too funny!

Just Some More Pics

Tummy Time! Luke is doing really well with holding his head up. This was the first time I actually put him on his tummy to play and he did great!

"I love my daddy soooo much!"

Our first Sunday at church (yes, we actually made it there...and Luke did great!)

Get Your Tickets...

to the gun show!

Precious Baby Boy

Being a Daddy is Hard Work!

Two Weeks Old!

Wow, I can't believe my baby boy is two weeks old already! Time has sure flown by. :) Luke went back to see Dr. DeLapp today for his two week check-up. He is up to 8 lbs. 10 oz., which is great. He is right at the 50th percentile for his weight and age. He's still eating like a horse and Jonathan and I are struggling to get much sleep, but we absolutely love being Luke's mommy and daddy!

Luke Loves His Family!

Luke got to meet some more of his family this weekend when the Moore gang came up for a quick visit. He was such a good boy...he even slept through most of the night! Our good friend Elisa came along for the visit.

Grandma Cathy
Aunt Emily (aka Auntie Em)
Uncle Jacob
Mommy and Daddy on our first outing to get pizza. :)
Luke wasn't exactly thrilled for this picture...oh well.

My Birthday

Well, I was finally able to celebrate my 26th birthday this weekend. It was a little overshadowed by Luke's birth. :) My family came up for a quick visit and we were able to have some turtle cheesecake and I opened some presents. It was an enjoyable time.

Luke's Doctor's Appointment

Luke went to his first check-up on Tuesday. Dr. DeLapp wanted to see him to check his weight. Luke lost 10% of his birth weight while in the hospital (the maximum amount they want a baby to lose) so he had to come back early to get weighed. He was 8 lbs. 5 oz., which is good because he was down to less than 8 lb. 1 oz. when he was discharged. So he is gaining back the weight, which was a relief to me. He'll go back for his next check-up on his two week birthday, which is next Monday.

Luke seems to be eating a LOT. Sometimes he wants to eat every hour on the hour. When he nurses for 40 minutes, that gives me about a 20 minute break before he wants to nurse again! It can be tiring, for sure. Jonathan and I have worked out a system at night, though, which seems to be working well. Jonathan usually will nap or relax in the evening and I will have Luke until midnight or 1 am. Then, I pass him off to Jonathan and get some rest. Jonathan will give Luke a bottle of formula at night so I can get the extra sleep, which is great. Then he'll wake me up for Luke's next feeding (usually around 5-6am). I'll then get up and Jonathan will go to bed. The past couple nights Luke has been willing to go to sleep in his crib after the 5am feeding, letting me go back to sleep for a couple more hours. I really appreciate that! :) Jonathan only worked Monday and Tuesday and took off the rest of the week, which has been a huge blessing. I think he's doing the same thing next week, too. We are enjoying our time together with our son.

We Love This Baby Boy!!

Here are some pics of Luke with his mommy and daddy and Grandpa Moore. (More grandparent pics to come hopefully!)

Peyton & Luke

Some of you have been wondering how Peyton has been adjusting to Luke. She is just enamored by him. She loves to be near him and doesn't seem bothered by his crying. The other night, she slept in his room right by his crib. It was so sweet. She really wants to check him out more, but we aren't letting her get too close yet. She seems to know that he is part of the family and takes her job protecting him very seriously. She is such a good dog!

Luke's First Bath

Luke had his first sponge bath at home the other day. It was a little traumatic, but he survived!

Details of Luke's Birth

So, I have a few minutes to fill everyone in on our exciting week so far! I woke up about 4:15am Sunday morning and informed Jonathan that I thought my water had broke. So, away we went (again) to the hospital. We were in triage for a while, as they had to do some tests to make sure my water had broken, since it was just a leak. After a couple hours they determined my water had broke and they moved us into a labor and delivery room. My contractions had started shortly after 4:15am, but they weren't by any means hard yet. My parents came to the hospital around 10am and we just sort of hung out, playing euchre and what not. It took FOREVER for me to make any progress. I was dilating about one centimeter every four to five hours. Around 2pm they decided to start the pitocin. That didn't really speed things up too much, unfortunately. By 5pm, though, I was ready for the epideral! Once they got that all in place, I was good to go for a while. :)
Sometime after the epidural, they kept increasing my pitocin and broke my water the rest of the way to try and speed things up. My contractions just weren't close enough together to do much. Needless to say, it was a LONG day! Sometime early Monday morning my nurse (who was so amazing!) told me I was dilated to nine and that she was calling my doctor. I started pushing at 3:30am. After about a half hour, Dr. Delapp told me I'd have to have my epideral decreased since I wasn't feeling enough to push well. Once they decreased my epideral, I began to think my life was going to end. I was in so much pain and was absolutely exhausted! After nearly three hours of pushing, Luke did finally make his arrival at 6:10am. I was so tired, I could not even keep my eyes open to see what they were doing with him. All in all, I did survive, though at the moment I never want to go through that again!
I was discharged from the hospital late Wednesday night (right before midnight) but Luke had to stay until Thursday. Because my water broke, they were concerned about possible infection and did a routine blood test on Luke right after he was born. It showed his blood was contaminated, so they had to start him on anitbiotics and do another blood test, which wouldn't show results for 48 hours. I spent the night in the waiting room Wednesday night so I could still nurse him through the night. Fortunately, the test came back fine (Dr. Delapp thought all along the test was just a false positive) and Luke was discharged early Thursday afternoon. We were so happy to bring him home!
Wow, that is quite the post, so if you've made it this far, kudos to you! :) We are doing pretty well with Luke at home. My parents are here until tomorrow, which has been a blessing. He is sleeping somewhat at night, but I am going on little to no sleep. Maybe I'll go take a nap right now! :)