Luke is ONE

I can’t believe it’s been one whole year since they laid your chubby, crying, pink little body into my arms.  One year since I got to lay eyes on this little face that resembled so much of your older brother.  One year since we brought you home to a place we weren’t even considering home yet, in Louisville.  It seems like only yesterday we were anxiously waiting your arrival and I was trying every (and I mean EVERY) wives tale in the book to put myself into labor, only to be induced (AGAIN). You were instantly a source of joy in our family.  Your big brother and sister just fawned all over you, wanting to give hugs and kisses any moment I was willing to put you down.  They have been anxiously waiting for the day when you could play with them, but even a simple smile at them would satisfy their desire to play with you.  That WAS playing with you, and they were happy that you were happy.  Your first few months were a rocky time for our family – new house, new city, new way of life.  Things were new, different.  Not bad, although I may have said otherwise in the moment.  But you were such a welcomed interruption into our lives – a perfect little addition to our family and you fit in so well.

You became a super flexible baby from the start – not having a nursery, but sleeping in a pack ‘n play in the office or in the swing in the living room.  The constant traveling back and forth to Cincinnati forced you to be a great car rider (and we are soooo thankful for that!).  As a big baby, you learned to sleep well very quickly.  Living in a small house with two older siblings, you learned to sleep through a lot of noise and function with little breathing room (heck, we all did!).  Although I do have to apologize for getting mad that you weren’t sleeping through the night at 3 months like your older siblings, but took you until about 6 months to make that leap. I’m sorry for not giving you credit for being a great sleeper, because you absolutely were (and even better now!).  You just had high standards to live up to since Seth & Emma Jo were SUCH great sleepers.  I’m very thankful for your sleep habits! And even now, at a year, we joke that we have Luke sightings because you grace us with your presence just a few hours a day – to eat, play, and poop.  Then it’s back to sleep you go.  You spend more time asleep than awake!  For awhile, that was really good for me, because you were so into everything and so heavy to hold, my back and my sanity couldn’t take too much awake Luke time.  (Love you!)

But oh the joy you are when you are awake.  You may like to get into everything (and I mean EVERYTHING), and get bored quickly with one toy and want to move on, but you always do it with a smile.  You are always laughing, giggling, smiling, etc.  You are curious, but would never get mad when we’d pull you away from the DVD player, or mommy’s cameras, or whatever it is you can’t touch.  You would simply, in a baby way, shrug your shoulders, and move on to the next thing.  And now that you are one, you are showing so much personality, always trying to make everyone laugh.  Just the other day, you did a really funny (and kind of maniacal) laugh that got all of us laughing.  You stopped, looked around at all of us to make sure we were still paying attention, then proceeded to keep laughing.  You did this over and over, as if to check and make sure we were all still watching you and laughing with you.  I can see that you are going to be the family clown!

What a privilege it has been being your mother this past year.  And even though you’re not getting to keep your baby-of-the-family status for too long, you will always be my baby boy.  We may laugh and joke about your size, envisioning future college scholarships for football, but you are still my little man and I am so thankful for you.  We have prayed for you and will continue to pray for you, that you continue to grow and thrive and find the true joy that fills our hearts.  I pray that your joy and zest for life will develop into a joy known only through our Lord and Savior and that your contagious smile will continue to bless those around you.  We love you, Lukey, dudey man, and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!!