One Year Old!

On Nov. 14, 2011,  at 8:54 a.m., our precious baby boy, Luke Brennan Holleman, was born!

8 lbs. 7 oz. 20.25 in. of pure cuteness!

Still one of my all-time favorite photos of the boys.

Lukey, your Daddy & I just cannot believe a year has passed since you were born.  You have learned LOTS of new things this past month.

You love your brother.  You are always trying to do what he is doing.  You could spend hours in his room with him,  playing trains, cars, trucks, hide-and-seek, reading books, building blocks...you just love to be with him!  A few weeks ago, I walked in on the two of you doing a puzzle together.  JJ was helping you and saying, "That's it, Lukey!  You got it!  Good job!"  Made my momma heart melt!

You said your first word, "Yay!" and have now started to say a few more:  "Dada, Dadd-eeee (we can't get you to repeat this one, but it was ssssooo cute!), Mama, baba (bottle), buh-buh (buh-bye) and Hi-yeeeee (hi)."

You clap and say "yay!" when you are excited about things.  You shake your head no when we say, "No no."  You give the BEST, slobbery kisses, although sometimes you bite us in the process!  You love to give high fives.  You point at things and babble, but we have no idea what you are trying to say.

You still have 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on the bottom.  I think a couple more must be trying to work their way in, because lately you have been gnawing on your hands like crazy and a little fussier than usual.

You squeal and giggle at pretty much anything your big brother does.  You have recently discovered you can tease him while he is in time-out.  It's funny, but kind of defeats the purpose of time-out because he just laughs and laughs at you.  We are either going to have to find a new time-out spot, or make sure you aren't in the same room while he is taking a time-out!

When you are about to do something you shouldn't (like pull the fake grass out of the pot of Momma's fake tree for the one MILLIONTH time), and I say, "No, no, Lukey..." you squeal and giggle and crawl as fast as you can toward the forbidden item, knowing I will chase you down and grab you.  You love that game!

You are wearing mostly size 24-month shirts and 18-month pants.  Size 4 diapers.  Size 4 shoes, although you HATE shoes and always take them off.  I often don't even bother putting them on.

You seem to be a little obsessive compulsive when it comes to things being on your high chair tray or the coffee table.  You will not feed yourself if I put food on your tray - you pick up every single piece and drop them onto the floor!  And if anything is on the coffee table, you will clear it off.  Remotes, coasters, toys, books...apparently, you like things clean!  LOL.

We recently changed your nap schedule.  You started fighting your morning nap, so we decided to try omitting it altogether.  After a couple days, you were completely fine with this, and now you take just 1 nap in the afternoon for about 2-3 hours.  The afternoons when I can get you and your brother to nap at the same time for the same amount of time are GLO.RI.OUS!  :-)  I have actually found time to read a couple books lately!

You pull yourself up onto your knees and sometimes your feet, but haven't tried cruising around furniture or taking any steps yet.  I am definitely not in a hurry for that, little buddy!  Just this week you started doing this hilarious move where you bounce on your bottom all the way across the room.  It is SO CUTE.  And man oh man, you have got to have some strong ab muscles to do that!  We started calling you our little kangaroo!

We went to the doctor this morning for your well-baby visit.  You weigh 25 lbs. 2 oz. (94%), are 31.5 in. tall (96%), and have a head circumference of 18.75 in. (88%).  You are a big, healthy guy!  You had to have your 1-year immunizations as well as the flu shot today, and boy were you a trooper!  I am hoping an extra-long nap is in order this afternoon as a result of the shots.

You are into EVERYTHING.  Your favorite toys in the kitchen are spoons, cups, containers of Gerber Puffs and pots and pans.  When I take you into the bathroom with me while I'm getting ready in the morning, you love to play with my plastic curlers.  Who needs toys, anyway?!  ;-)

You are really becoming a copy-cat.  It is so cute to hear you try to mimic words and sounds.  You were playing with a book the other day that has buttons for the numbers 1-10.  It would say, "One," and you would try to repeat.  You were really concentrating on saying those words!  So sweet.

You have just started throwing "tantrums" when something doesn't go your way.  Most commonly when your brother takes a toy from you.  The other day, Joshua asked to watch the Lorax.  I started the Blu-Ray player, thinking the Lorax was already inside, but your Praise Baby DVD started playing instead.  I took Praise Baby out and put the Lorax in, and you started crying and whining because you wanted to watch Praise Baby!  Too funny.  You also cry when we take you out of the bath tub; you just love splashing around in there!

We have been working on the transition from bottle to sippy cup, but haven't really found a sippy cup you like yet.  Momma has bought quite a few, but you just aren't interested.  We'll keep working at it!  You are now getting 2% milk in your bottles and drinking about 24 oz. of milk per day, plus eating 3 solid meals and usually one mid-morning snack.

 Luke Brennan, we are so very blessed to have you in our family!  You are such a sweet, happy baby and we love watching you learn and grow.  Even though it sometimes makes me sad how quickly you are growing up, I can't help but be excited about and proud of the little boy you are becoming!  Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with two such sweet little boys!  God is good!  Happy birthday, precious Lukey!