Valentine's Day 2005

Luke turned 7 months-old on Friday! It is CRAZY that he is already that old!!! Where is the time going?! He is sitting alone like a pro-- with only the occasional collapse. He has a head full of baby fluff that is a people magnet! People just can't avoid commenting on his silky spikes and how cute he looks! He is still a great sleeper and napper and eater. His personality gets more and more defined each day.

We had a great Labor Day weekend with my parents-- very relaxing! It is so fun to watch them with Luke and to see him react/respond to them. It still amazes me that my mom spent an entire month with us when he first arrived! We never would have made it without her....

Daddy took Luke on his first tractor ride (a grandkid ritual now)-- complete with protective ear wear! Luke just stared with his big eyes and didn't even flinch. I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed it more!

Mom and Dad also had fun "showing him off" to everyone at church. They call him "Mr. Westerman" because he has always been such a big boy. He started getting a little fussy when the actual church service rolled around-- it was his naptime. So Mom took him back to the nursery. She had a great time with him although he never did go to sleep. He just laughed and played.

Both Mom and Dad constantly remark about what a good boy he is and how good-natured he is... and I won't argue with them! I think he is pretty great myself!

Luke is one blessed kid to grow up with SO many people who love him to death- from wonderful grandparents, to amazing Aunts and Uncles and cousins-- He just couldn't be more cared for....

I don't think Scott and I have truly come to realize how blessed we are to have such a supportive family when it comes to Luke since we haven't really started to take advantage of the babysitting pool yet. We have tended to take him with us everywhere instead of leaving him. This mainly had to do with the whole nursing component, but now that he eats real food and will take a bottle, that isn't really an issue anymore. We just like being with him and sharing the experience with him.

Lately we have decided that we need to start doing the "date night" thing at least once a week-- this all goes back to trying to focus on our marriage and keeping the relationship good between the two of us. Plus, we have people on all sides lining up wanting their turn to keep him-- what a great problem to have!

I can remember leaving Luke for the first time on Valentine's Day-- he was only 11 days old, but my Mom and Dad were staying with us, and I really was happy to be getting out of the house. I was still recovering from the traumatic delivery, c-section, blood loss, and anemia-- but I really had no idea at the time just how much I was still impacted by all of it. In fact, it took me months before I could really get enough distance to see how mentally and emotionally off I was during that time. Anyway- I remember pulling out of the driveway with Scott that night and feeling so odd. Just 2 weeks before we were driving around in our pre-parental state without a care in the world! Now we had a beautiful baby boy that we had no clue what to do with and TONS of responsibility. I told him that I felt like our lives would never be the same and how there was a part of me that wished it was still the two of us. I was terrified that we would lose that special bond that we had together because we would become more focused on Luke than each other. I can admit now that for a few fleeting moments, I didn't want to return home! I wanted life to go back to the way it had been for the past 12 years of our relationship! That didn't last long-- and obviously, I now realize that we are the most blessed people in the world to have such an incredible boy! But, it is still funny to think back to those days that almost seemed to blur by-- those days of fear and lack of sleep and tears and exhaustion and stress and anxiety.... We learned so much about each other and about ourselves during those first months-- We are still learning. What a difference a few weeks and months make!

Today I put Luke in his first real pair of overalls, and I just couldn't believe it! He was no longer my baby, but truly my little boy! He has just grown up right in front of me-- yet, it has happened so subtly from day-to-day that I can hardly even see that it has happened until I look at some photos or the moment just strikes me like it did today when I plopped him down on the couch in those overalls. Everyone told us that we should treasure each second because it goes by so quickly. I even find myself telling new moms-to-be the same thing now-- knowing that there is NO way they can even begin to imagine how true it is until they experience it for themselves. We couldn't, but it is so heart-breakingly true!

They also told us each stage gets better and better and that each stage has its own rewards and upsides-- we are learning this, too. He just continues to amaze and delight us in ways we never imagined! What a fun six months we just finished up! I look forward to each new milestone and memory that lies ahead of us!

When the next Valentine's Day rolls around, I'm sure I will think back to so many of these days and smile. We will drop off our one year-old at some lucky relative's home, and Scott and I will go out and celebrate what a wonderful year 2004 was for us!