10 months

Luca came out of the bedroom after his nap today, when I got home from work... and he practically told me a story. He made little sounds that had different inflections and intonation, he hit his hands together, he touched his head, he looked in different directions.... oh my gosh, it was the cutest thing ever.

He also played lots of peek-a-boo with me. He actually cried when I folded up the blanket, because he wanted to play more! He takes every toy and hides his face with it, or tries to put it on his head.

I started eating dairy and soy again, last Monday. So far so good- no blood. Oh boy does it feel good to eat butter. I feel COMPLETE again, with butter. That glorious bit of fat makes all food feel like it lasts longer.

Finally found some things Luca does NOT like to eat: eggs and tomato. He spit out both yesterday. I'm not sure why he likes beans so much! They pass through undigested, still. We tried one nursing break instead of two for one shift. My boobs almost exploded, but Luca was fine.

Here he is eating black beans at Elmo's:


Here he is walking (with assistance from the red car):

A great couple of days

Saturday marked the third day in a row that I had worked, and the first two days I had worked both morning and night. Luca's 6th tooth came in on that third day, and that, in combination with not seeing me very much for three days, really got to him. He was crying a lot that day. Daddy was exhausted. After I got off work at 330, we relaxed and ate a bunch of food. Luca at tons of Shepard pie! Luca fell asleep at 5:30 and woke up at 6pm. We got in the car and drove to Southern Village for a movie on the lawn. He didn't cry the whole way there (35 minutes?). When we got there it was about 6:45 and the movie didn't start until sundown (after 9pm?), so we hung out on the lawn and listened to a mediocre band play. We walked to Weaver street and got some indian food, which he ate while standing up on our blanket. He has never stood up so long by himself!! He made friends with neighboring babies. Then we walked around, ate some frozen yogurt (mom got sorbet, baby had fresh raspberries), bought our movie tickets ($4 each), hung out on the blanket, etc... he had a great time. The movie (Hunger Games) started at about 9:45. He was feeling a little crazy. He was making loud baby noises at the sky, at people, at the movie screen. At one point he just laid down on the blanket and yelled at the stars. Then Ash took him on a walk in the carrier and he fell asleep. He slept on the blanket THE ENTIRE MOVIE. And then we put him in the car, and he slept THE ENTIRE WAY HOME. Today was our day off, so we went to my parent's house and chilled and watered the vegetables. We shot a bow and arrow for a little while. Then the baby napped for OVER TWO HOURS and I napped along with him. I couldn't believe it. He turned 10 months old yesterday. I'm so excited about him growing up!! He has only woken up once or twice at night, several times in the past two weeks. Everything is finally starting to get a little easier.

My Big Boy

Some great things happened today!

We dropped Luca off at our friend's house (Danielle and Greg and baby Leo) to run errands for a couple of hours on our own (and have a nice date for our 3rd anniversary today!). We watched their baby on Monday for a couple hours while they did the same. Hopefully we can make this trade every month, or more often!

When we left him, he cried so bad. It was so hard to leave, but I knew lingering would make it worse so I didn't. I cried as we drove away, I couldn't bear the thought of him being sad because I wasn't there. We thought surely we wouldn't get more than 30 minutes before they would have to call us. But that call never came.

First, we were giddy with our newfound freedom. Then we were surprised by our lack of relief... we actually were weirded out by his absence. Then we accepted it and started to enjoy the quiet, and reminisce about the days when this feeling (of wandering and doing what we wanted to with our day) was normal. What on earth did we do with all our time back then?? We ate a sandwich and talked and held hands. We scoped out some cardboard and building materials in the dumpster. We picked up my server training manual at work. We had pur-erh tea and played a game of chess. We talked about life with a baby and how much we have changed as people since having Luca. We smiled and walked with enjoyable jitters down the sidewalk, from our tea. We wished each other happy anniversary and declared how much we missed our baby and couldn't wait to have him back.

We returned to find him sitting on Danielle's lap in the grass, and he smiled as we walked up. I gave him the most genuine hug and kiss I ever have. He shrieked he was so happy to see us. And then Greg and Danielle told us all about it... about how he cried whenever Leo was sad. About how he wouldn't let Greg hold him. About how he held the same leaf in his mouth for several minutes. About how he cried until Danielle nursed him for 25 minutes (afterward he apparently decided to trust her and he had a great time!). I was so relieved that he let Danielle comfort him in that special way, and that Danielle was brave enough to try it (even though we had already given each other the go-ahead on it). She even nursed both babies at once... a taste of what twins are like!!


We got home and I put Luca down so I could use the bathroom, expecting him to cry and crawl after me as he usually does. But he didn't. He happily crawled away from me and toward his toys. He has NEVER done that. And he continued to play all by himself while I typed this. He fell asleep at 6pm. Danielle, I think you have magic milk.

Edit: Here are pictures and video from when Leo came to OUR house without his mommy and daddy!





Edit two:

Here is Luca in his own bed!

Weird dreams

Luca slept 1.5 hours in a row, during a nap, both today and yesterday. He has even been playing on the floor for up to ten minutes, all by himself without crying. We gave him the first dose of that generic prilosec today. We had to get the prescription filled at a special "compound" pharmacy, which I didn't even know existed!

 I can't blame these dreams on the Valerian, I stopped taking it.

 Last night I dreamt Ash and I were driving around downtown Durham in a jeep with no top. We picked up my sister and brothers and were going to visit some friends. But then, the sky got all dark and the weather looked so bad, I didn't think we would make it home before a tornado struck. So we drove into a parking garage for shelter. As we neared it, I realized something weird was going on because there were tons of people in this parking garage, so many that they were spilling out onto the streets. People were remarking on how the toilets inside were "full" so you'd better pee on the street before going in! We went inside, ready to watch the storm, but soon several planes and helicopters were visible, sealing in the surrounding buildings with gray matter, ending with the building we were in. I realized the "gray matter" was billions of tiny spiders, which were spinning a protective web around the building to keep us from being hit by flying matter during the storm. I took out a notebook and pencil and started jotting down all the things I wished I had kept in the car, like army meals and a first aid kit, for situations like this. But then we realized things were really quiet, and that they weren't going to let us out not that the storm was over. Rumors started circulating that we weren't ever going to be let out, but had been captured for a government time travel program. Apparently there was a massive die-off in the future and they had come back in time to collect people to replace their dwindling population. So pretty soon we were being given iPads with instructions of how to blend in with our new lives. We were given nice cushy jobs depending on our skills (Ash and I were working in agriculture), and we were all given uniforms because everyone over the age of 16 in the future is automatically in the army. The uniforms were like in "Avengers" (which I have only seen on the internet, I have not seen that movie). Ash and I kept turning into Andrew bird and his wife, who were playing us in the filming of the the movie version of what was going on. Then we disembarked and saw our new home: adorable little cottages by the sea... the ocean was now right up against downtown Durham, which was surrounded by desert as far as the eye could see. The houses had multilevel platforms on the inside, which served as beds and eat surfaces. It was a very efficient use of space, I remember thinking.

 Then this morning I had a nightmare that Luca was chocking on some chicken that I chewed up for him. I looked at him and his lips melted off his face. I kept "waking up" in bed over and over but I really wasn't awake. A round, older hispanic woman told me "babies may give you stretch marks, but they do WONDERS for your legs!" I tried looking at the clock but it was encased in a diamond so I couldn't read it. My blankets were suffocating me, wrapping tighter and tighter, and I screamed and screamed until I finally woke myself up.

play date

We played at Danielle, Greg and Leo's house! Luca loves Leo. They love being naked, ECing babies together!! The next day, we went to the Museum of Life and Science with my siblings.

puzzle pieces

It seems that maybe reflux was a big problem all along. We have been giving him slippery elm during the day, and before going to bed. He started sleeping 5-8 hours every night at a stretch! Then yesterday we forgot to give him the tea and he woke every 1-2 hours like he normally did. I'd say that's pretty good confirmation that the tea is working for him.

 Our house plans are done! Our friend Greg made these in sketchup, since he knows what he is doing and I do not. And then he is going to teach me how to build this thing!!

 Originally, that left side of the house did not have the roof overhang extended out to the side like that (on the 2nd story), but I wanted to be able to sleep outside so I asked him to draw it covered. Looks a bit awkward right now, maybe with railings on that upper deck it will look more natural?

 The overhang on the left side, bottom story is for our outdoor kitchen!

Happy Mother's Day!