Luke's Life Lately...

My FIRST MONTH of Life has been pretty eventful, so here's what I've been up to lately...

Since a baby's main jobs are to eat, sleep and soil diapers, we'll start there. I eat like a champ and took to breastfeeding right off the bat. Mom's providing good stuff cause I'm growing like a weed and really starting to fill out and that's with usually only eating on one side each feeding. I get full and fall asleep, but I know I'll get to the other side the next time I'm hungry. I also like to suck on a pacifier when I'm in the mood to suck but not really feeling hungry yet. It amazes mom because my brother never liked a paci since he thought it should produce milk and when it didn't he'd just get mad. I find my paci to be pretty soothing and sucking on it often lulls me to sleep. Even my pediatrician was impressed with how hard I suck and that I could keep my paci in my mouth even when he moved me around and turned me over as he was examining me at my two week appointment.

Speaking of falling asleep while eating...I've actually slept A LOT this past month. My parents are amazed by how much I sleep. I wake up a couple times a night to eat but then I fall right back to sleep because growing is exhausting people let me tell you. Lucky for them I didn't even have my days and nights too confused when I was born. I just like to sleep all the time. I know Mom and Dad are thankful since they have my big brother to keep up with during the day. Mom gets really nervous when I sleep a bunch during the day because she doesn't want me to be awake at night, but I've gone easy on her and slept pretty well at night too even on those days. This leaves her AMAZED! I'm told my Mama LOVES sleep, so I guess I take after her.

Other than loving sleep like my mom, I really take after my dad. I have dark hair like him and LOTS of it that I was born with. You probably noticed that. It's been said my hair is almost like a bad toupee...someday I'll understand what that is...I guess since not many babies are born with a full head of thick hair. My mom is finally figuring out how to style it because I have a pretty strong calick. I also have my dad's darker coloring and I definitely have his laid back personality. I am a chill guy. I go with the flow whether we're riding in the car or hanging out at home. I don't mind sleeping in my swing, bassinet or even on my playmat. I'm told my brother hated the car, but I don't mind riding around one bit. It probably helps that I have my brother's company in the back seat. My brother also wasn't a big fan of the stroller when he had to ride in the carseat,  but I don't mind that either. I actually really enjoy strolling around town starring up at Mommy. Maybe it also helps that it's been fall and it's not freezing cold out yet cause I might feel differently if I was born in the middle of winter like my brother, but probably not because I'm just a relaxed little guy.

I've been wearing newborn sized clothes since I was born but right around my one month birthiversary I had outgrown those duds, so I'm moving on to 0-3 month and 3 month outfits. I have tons of cool clothes that were my brothers and some special outfits that mom, friends and family picked out just for me. Mom loves to dress me because I don't have any strong opinions yet about what I want to wear. It's funny to watch my brother get dressed because he definitely knows what he does and does not want to wear and he makes sure mom knows it too.

I've gotten to meet a lot of special people this month starting with my mom and dad of course and then I met my big brother, Levi. He came to the hospital with my parent's friend Julia. Levi and I have been buds ever since. I really look up to him and love that he wants to hang out with me, show me how to do fun stuff and even hold me from time to time. It was great to meet Julia and later Katie at the hospital too...they are a couple of my parents friends who also work with the church's youth. Later that first night I got to meet my Nana for the first time. She even spent the night with me and mom at the hospital so dad could go home to be with Levi. The next day my Tati surprised us at the hospital too. She flew in from North Carolina to meet me and it was really special getting to spend some time with her. A few days later my Grandma and Grandpop arrived and we got to spend a few days of quality time together too. Later that week I was introduced to our family's small group, which was fun because they are some of my parents'  closest friends in Boston and there are other kids that I know will become my best buddies. The next week mom was feeling really good, so she took me and Levi to her Thursday morning Bible study and I got to meet her friends there too. 

To top off meeting people, I flew to Virginia with Mom, Dad and Levi for cabin weekend right before I turned one month old. I got to meet so many awesome people at the cabin! I started out the visit meeting my Great Granny Herndon at her house and then my Great Aunt Cindy and Great Uncle George stopped in to meet me. Then we headed off to the cabin at Graves Mountain Lodge where I met my Mommy's best friend Aunt Haley, her mom Leslie, her husband Justin and my buddy Sawyer.  Later that night I met my Mommy's best friend Aunt Thais who drove all the way from Chicago with Isaiah, Sammy and James to meet me! Tati and Uncle Chris arrived late that night too and I met some of their best friends as well. This was also my first chance to meet my Uncle Chris in person.

The next morning, I met my cousin Sarah and her kiddos Sophia, Henry and Everette. Everette and I share a name, which is pretty cool. I also met my Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle Mark. Later that  day I met my mom's friends Aunt Blah, Mr. Blah and also Ms. Celeste and her girls Arianna and Ivey. It was a full day of meeting the amazing people that are apart of our family's life. I feel like such a special boy knowing so many people were excited to meet me and I can tell how much I am truly loved. I am one lucky boy! Nana, Grandpop and Grandma were with us all weekend too, so I gave lots of cuddles and there were plenty of chances for bonding over diaper changes. I hope I haven't missed anybody cause as you can tell I met a bunch of people over the course of a short weekend, but it was really special to be there and see everyone. We did lots of the typical cabin stuff, but I dozed on and off throughout, so the highlight for me was definitely getting to meet everyone and share cuddles. 

I know I mentioned sharing my name with my cousin Everette. It's actually pretty cool because he was born just a few months before me. He was names after our Great Grandpop Everette and I got my middle name from my Grandpop Everette who got his name from my Great Grandpop Everette too. My mom and dad knew that they wanted my middle name to be Everette after Daddy's dad and then they went searching for the perfect first name. They did the same thing with my brother Levi because his middle name is Sheldon after Mommy's dad. They pretty much only considered Biblical names again once they knew I was a boy and Luke seemed perfect. Luke wrote the third Gospel and the book of Acts, which is one of Dad's favorite books of the Bible. It also fit perfectly with Everette and it sounded good with my brother's name Levi, so Luke it was. My parents kept my name a secret until I was born. It's funny though because a couple people guessed that might be my name. Cousin Sarah suspected it might because Mom mentioned my name would sound good with Levi and Mom's best friend Shelby guessed it because her neighbor's kids have the same names...pretty funny! Mom and Dad didn't do the "L" thing on purpose, but it's kind of cool because Mom's first Mother's Day gift was an "L" necklace. I think it's pretty special that my brother and I have our grandfathers as namesakes. 

You may notice from my pictures that I'm a pretty serious little guy thus far. Dad laughs because he thinks I look disgruntled when I'm awake. I'm holding out on smiling, but don't worry I really am a happy guy, I promise.

There have been many firsts lately...

      Met family and friends for the first time.

      Visited my parents' small group for the first time.

      Got my picture taken professionally for the first time.

      Road in an airplane for the first time.
      Visited Virginia for the first time.

It's been a great first month of life out of the womb and I know I have LOTS of cool first life experiences to look forward to. Lately, it's been a RELAXING FIRST MONTH of life.