Our Family

Luke's Family
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

Kerianne so generously did a "family session" for us recently, and she has a slideshow of the session posted on her blog....we just love the images and video so much:))

9 1/2 months old!!

9 1/2 months old!!
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Here's the little guy (actually big 23 pound guy!) yesterday chilling in the house-it was rotten weather, so we just stayed inside and played:)

classic

classic
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

Here's Mr. Luke from today's session with Kerianne!! He was so cooperative for his photos...what a good boy considering hwo much he's teething!! Love you so much, Luke xoxo

9 months old!

9 months old!
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Here's the little guy just before he turned 9 months old....he's a wopping 22.5 pounds, very tall (wearing size 18-24 month clothes!) and just after turning 9 months old he cut four teeth on top, plus one more on the bottom!! He was a trooper for it, though...he was still happy baby on his recent trip to Victoria:)

Luke inspecting the daisies

Luke inspecting the daisies
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Here's Luke having fun just before we left for our trip to Victoria in a daisy field by our house...he even tried to eat one;)

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Daddy-Baby Fun

Daddy-Son fun
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Luke and Doug having a blast at the park a few days ago! I love my boys:))

Springtime!

Springtime!
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

Here's the little guy at almost 8 months old!! So nice to be outdoors:)

cheeky boy

cheeky boy
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

This gorgeous sweater and hat set was knitted for Mr. Luke by his great great aunt!! The only drawback of warmer weather is not being able to wear cozy clothes like these:))

lambie friend

lambie friend
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

I just love this pic Kerianne took last Sunday....when he's focused on something, he looks so deep in thought....this image captures that expression perfectly! I feel so lucky to have amazing images such as this one....I'll be able to look back at it and remember that adorable expression! xoxo to Kerianne:)

charmer

charmer
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

had to share this image with you from Sunday....i know i'm biased, but isn't he the cutest thing? love you, baby boy!!

Luke is sitting!

Luke is sitting!
Originally uploaded by Kerianne Brown

Here is my little guy sitting up like a champ!! He loves to sit and play-he much prefers it to tummy time now!

This was taken yesterday during our visit with Kerianne and Courtney-so exciting that their little one is due so soon!! Luke can't wait for his new playmate to arrive:)

Luke enjoying a morning bath today:)

Luke enjoying a morning bath today:)
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

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Sitting on his own!

Luke is officially sitting up on his own...he started on Easter Sunday, and is now a pro! He loves playing from his new vantage point!! He looks like such a little boy (and less of a baby) when he sits up!

We just returned from visiting our good friends Erin and Colin (and their 2 boys!) in Toronto and both Luke and I are recovering from colds, but I'll post pics from our trip soon!

xo S

Happy Easter from Luke!!

Happy Easter from Luke!!
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

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Luke's teeth:)

Luke's teeth:)
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Here's a pic from a couple days ago of Luke's first teeth....it's tough to get a good pic, but this one shows them coming in nicely!! I can't believe he has them already....

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Blowing bubbles;)

Blowing bubbles;)
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

On Friday, I decided to try some of Luke's Spring clothes on....much to my surprise, the 18 month Carter's jumpers fit NOW!! So much for outfitting him all summer with those....oh well, more shopping!

I thought this pic was cute of him blowing bubbles-one of his current favorite things to do, besides chomping on his fingers non-stop!!

On a different note (well, maybe not...the chomping is likely because of what I'm about to share!), his two bottom teeth are starting to come in!! There are two tiny buds-I tried to get a pic, but he wasn't loving that photo shoot...have to wait to show you:)

:)Sam

Happy Boy

Happy Boy
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

Luke laughing at Daddy on Sunday:)

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Luke LOVES his monket puppet!!

Luke LOVES his monket puppet!!
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

We had a blast yesterday with his monjkey friend!!

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Luke post-walk today:)

Luke post-walk today:)
Originally uploaded by samantha.covert

We went for a long walk today with Luke's friend Jack. It was a beautiful sunny day-he needed a knitted hat + one for sun shade:)

Help!

For some reason, every time I go to upload pictures, write in italics, it's doing a Html code instead of what I want...anyone have any clue how to fix that? I'm really not tech-savvy AT ALL.....thanks for your help:))

Baby Signing 101

Luke and I attended an "into to baby signing" class today. It was just a 45 minute group session offered at the local Apladia indoor gym, so I figured we'd give it a go. Learning the different signs was fairly strait-forward, however remembering what they all mean, and then putting them together in a sentence/song would take a lot of practice! The instructor said that if you start signing to babies early (3-4 months) they may start signing back to you by 8 months.

I do think it would be helpful to try and teach Luke the "essential" signs like "milk", "more", "I'm full", "diaper", etc, so I'll give it a go! I think he liked the singing part of the class (plus smiling and cooing at the other babies) the most...not sure if a full 8 week course is in our future, but ya never know:)

Next on my "to do" list of things I want to try with the little guy is swimming!! My back is just starting to feel almost back to normal, and I see the Osteopath tomorrow who will hopefully give me the green light to start some mild exercising (aka swimming with baby!).

:)Sam

A visit from Grandma!

Hello!!

We were so lucky to have Doug's mom visit with us from Victoria, B.C. for 10 days at the end of February. She loves Luke so much, and is always so much help! Doug and I even got to do a night out at a nice local Inn, which was amazing:) We were sad to see her go, but hopefully we'll be able to make it out to B.C. late Spring.

Here are a few pics of Grandma with Luke, plus some others we took of Luke at 4 1/2 months old:)

Hope you are having a great week!

:)Sam

Great Giveaway!

Check out this great giveaway from Little Star Greetings! They make adorable birth announcements and birthday cards! Not that I want Luke's first year to fly by, but I can't wait to design his first birthday invites through Little Star Greetings!! Check them out @ Littlestargreetings.com, and enter the fabulous giveaway over at mommybrainjen.blogspot.com! Good luck:)

Sam

4 months old!

Hello!

Sorry the posts have been minimal lately...I pulled my back out 12 days ago, and have been pretty much confined to the coach, icing ever since. It's slowly getting better, but I still can't bend very far, can't pick Luke up, and can only hold him for short periods of time before the pain kills me...hopefully I'll be back to almost 100% capacity soon. Poor Doug has had his hands full working, looking after Luke AND me:(

Luke has also had a nasty cold for the past week, so that has just added to the stress level...poor little guy is so stuffed up, and is constantly coughing. It's so hard to see him that uncomfortable! He had several nights of no sleeping, but the past 2 nights have been better, so hopefully he's on the mend. He had his 4 month appt and shots on last Thursday, and he's still a big boy! 17 pounds, 17.5 inch head circumference, and 26.5 inches long puts him in the >97% percentile for everything except weight when adjusted for length...he's a lean, long boy!!

Being out of commission has been really hard, so I'm hoping this week I'll be back on my feet! Luke misses his playdates:) I haven't been taking many pics, but I'll get back to it this week. Here's a cute one, though from our playdate with Kerianne a few weeks back-I'm so glad he's really liking tummy time:)

:)Sam

Happy Friday! Luke and I are very excited to have Daddy back after his week in Cape Breton! We definitely kept busy, which really helped. We had a playdate at Kerianne's Wednesday morning, and she managed to snap a few pics for us, which we absolutely love!! Here is the pic I sent to Doug as his "Wednesday Luke fix" pic...he got spoiled that day for sure:))

Luke and I are all alone this week-Doug is working in Cape Breton until Thursday. It's so hard for Doug to not be here with us-I know he misses us terribly (and we miss him!). I am sending him a jpeg every day so he can "see" him:)) Thankfully, I have lots planned this week in terms of playdates and other outings, and my mom is spending the nights with us as well, which is great help and company.
Luke is such a little ham now-all smiles and giggles, which is so much fun!! We tried him in his jumperoo for the first time about a week ago, and he loves it! No real bouncing yet, but he loves the music and lights. I just picked up a jolly jumper, but he's a little wobbly yet for it. He is getting really good sitting in his bumbo chair, though-I can't get over how strong his neck is getting. He's been sleeping well lately (knock on wood). He's still going down late (b/w 11 to 11:30) but he's not getting up until 7 or later (today was 9 am!)

Here are some pics of the past week-we had a nice dinner at our friends' place Saturday night, and Luke got to play with his friend Ben (who's 6 months). Ben LOVED Luke....the second pic is of him giving Luke a scalp massage:))

First time in Jumperoo:)

3 months old

Luke turned 3 months old yesterday! He's really developing quite a little personality, and is so active now! He kickes all the time, and likes to roll over on his side whenever we lie him down on his back, and loves to roll right over from front to back.

We don't have a baby scale so I don't have a really accurate weight, but he's definitely gotten a lot bigger than last check! He's about 26 inches long now, and wearing size 3 diapers comfortably. He is really starting to focus on objects for longer periods of time, and likes to bat at his friends on the activity mat, plus stare at the incredibly handsome baby in the mirror:) He brakes out a huge smile for whoever gives him a happy face, and is starting to laugh and giggle...it is the CUTEST sound I've ever heard!!

In terms of eating and sleeping, he's a bit all over the place right now b/c of jet lag and getting over his first cold, but in general he sleeps 6-7 hours strait at night, followed by a feed (usually 4-6 oz per feed of formula plus what he gets from nursing), and then he'll go back down for a nap for about 1 hour. After that, it depends on the day, but he's usually up and active for all but 3 naps (that range from 30 min to 2 hours). When we first got back from Victoria he wound't go down at night until 2:30 am (they are 4 hours behind us), but we now have him going down around 11:00 pm, so hopefully we can get him to consistently go down before 10:00 pm soon. He has "slept throught the night" for 9 hours a few times (apparently sleeping for 6 hours is called "sleeping through the night" when babies are under 1 year, but that doesn't sound like a good night's sleep to me!), but in general we are lucky to get 7 hours....we are thankful he gives us that long, but can't wait for when he'll go down all night:)

Here are a few pics we took yesterday...looking so grown up!!







:)Sam

Quick Holiday Recap

Happy New Year!

We're back from our Christmas vacation from Victoria, and I can't believe it's January! The holidays flew by so quickly, but we had a blast. Luke got spoiled rotten for his first Christmas, and he was such a good boy for the plane rides to and from B.C. He slept the entire leg of the flight b/w Toronto and Victoria (over 5 hours!) going, and coming home didn't sleep a lot as he was feeling under the weather, but was still an angel. I, unfortunately caught whatever he had, so I'm feeling miserable, but hopefully I'll be all better soon:)

It was so nice to see Doug's family and have them meet the little man, and also to spend time with my sister and her family-now all the cousins have met Luke!

Luke will be 3 months old on Jan 10th, and I am astounded at how much he's changed just in the past few weeks! He is holding up he head so well now (he can even sit in his Bumbo for a few minutes with a steady neck!) and has rolled over from front to back every day since his first roll over at 11 weeks! It's so neat to see him learn and develop. I can't wait to break open the exersaucer and jumperoo....I may need to wait a month or so for those though:)

I'll do his official stats on Jan 10th-he's definitely a big boy!

:)Sam