What We Did in Utah in Pictures

Ate at Jo Mo's (Joe Morley's BBQ)

Blessed Luke. My cousin's little girl, Claire, holding Luke.

Went Frog Surfing at the Aquarium

Nana and Lanx came too.

Had some Tummy Time

Played at Discovery Gateway

Taft got a job.

And picked up some groceries for us.

Luke met his competition for Cutest Baby of the Year, Cashus Miller.

Hung out with the Herway cousins.

Seth was with us for the first week and he enjoyed lots of skiing and a BYU b-ball game. The little boys and I had lots of plans with friends but EVERYONE got sick while we were there. Friends got sick, I got sick, my dad and sister got sick, then finally the boys got sick and that's when we went home. Bummer. I was able to catch up with some of my most favorite DCFS co-workers, an old friend I went to Russia with, and two of my best friends from elementary/middle/highschool, and of course lots of family time with my parents and sister.

Lukie Pookie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

 About a week a half ago while in Utah, Taft started getting sick. He had a cough, a fever, and an ear infection. After two days and about ten coughs right in Luke's face (he can't help it, he just loves his little brother), Taft had passed along his sickness to is teeny tiny brother. Seth was already back in Spokane by this point and was nervous about Luke and flew the three of us home earlier than planned. It was a good thing too because Little Lukie got progressively worse over the past few days and last night we found ourselves in the ER with an RSV positive baby.

Earlier yesterday we took Luke in to the pediatrician and he sent us home with a nebulizer and some medicine. About an hour after the treatment Luke was still sounded bad, maybe even worse so we took him in.

He tested positive for RSV and was admitted to be monitored overnight. He got his very own hospital room with his own teeny tiny hospital bed. Luckily, he responded well to all the treatments he received and we were given the go-ahead to take him home this morning.

He's doing lots, lots better. It's absolutely awful to have sick babies, especially when they are still so brand new and tiny. We haven't gotten much sleep these past few days but we are so so so glad that our little Lukie Pookie is doing well.

Can I just say that the Children's Hospital is one of the saddest places on earth? It was so sad to hear little kids crying all through the night, asking for their moms, and just feeling awful. I feel so lucky that my boys have been relatively healthy and we've only had to go to the hospital once. I can't imagine how emotionally and physically draining it would be to have a chronically sick child.

What Not To Wear: Taft Edition

My most favorite Taft picture to date.

Lukas aka Baby Model

I got a sneak peak at a couple of Luke's newborn pictures and I'll share them with you. (Aren't you lucky?) You should check out the girls website who took these. She hadn't done babies before but from these two shots I think she did great! Her stuff is really beautiful and I think she does really great stuff. She's in Spokane right now but is from Utah so she does come back occasionally and does shoots in Utah if you're interested.

Seth is not a fan of the globe picture. This led to a long debate on whether he was artistically creative or not. (Guess which side I was debating) :) He said, "It's not realistic. Babies don't sit in globes." True. However, I like it and this is how babies shoots are done now. Scrunch them up and put them in a basket. Put them on a suitcase. Put them in a net and hang them from a ceiling. Put them in a globe.

Background for the globe idea: The photographer asked what we liked to do because she likes to incorporate things about the family/people into the set up. I told her we liked to travel and voila! Globes. I really liked the picture when I first saw it but Seth's starting to ruin it for me. However, I love his eyes in the second picture. To die for. Luke is starting to smile and it is so so sweet.

photos by Easy Dreamer Photography

(p.s. The photographer doesn't read our blog so if you by some really weird chance know her personally, please don't tell her Seth doesn't like the globe idea.)

(p.p.s. FACT: Ikea duvet covers (two separate ones) which were formerly on our bed were both used in Taft and Luke's baby pictures. Interesting? No? Just to me? Whatever.)

Blessing Day

We were able to have Luke blessed in my parents' ward on Sunday. We thought it would be a good time to do it so we could have some family be apart of it. Seth gave Luke a really great blessing and Luke didn't let out a single peep. We had family over afterward for a little brunch. In addition to my dad and Seth's brother being in the circle, we were lucky to have my uncle, John, and his two sons-in-law Brady and Brandt.

One Month Old

Lukeulele is is now one month old. Right now Luke loves to be held and demands it during his awake hours and sleeps better if he's held. We've been getting a lot of use out of the Moby Wrap. I love how much of a snuggler he is. In fact, he's asleep in it while I'm writing this. Luke is a good eater and is most alert right after eating. He seems to be really interested in Taft even though Taft has started being a little more rough with him and is seeing what he can get away with (i.e. drive cars on Luke's head). We're in Utah and I forgot Luke's little stuffed animal that his growth will be measured against, so we had to use Taft's monkey (Don't tell Taft. He'll flip) This picture is the first time Luke wore jeans, isn't he handsome? Even though Taft is pushing limits right now he's still super sweet with Luke and "baby" is the first thing he says in the morning.

The Many Faces of Luke

Photo quality kinda stinks because it was taken with an iPhone. No, not my iPhone, I'm not that cool.

Binky Brothers, Nana, and Lanx

Binky Brothers. We had been on a good streak of Taft only using his binky for sleeping but that's gone out the window as of late. Maybe I'll start fighting the battle again in a month or two. Or three. 

Luke has been very busy lately keeping up with his sleeping schedule. 

See, he's working really hard at getting the whole sleep thing down. 

Awake for a minute. I love those old man, wrinkly eyes.

And back to sleep. 

My mom left today. What a HUGE help she was. We had her for a little over a week and she pretty much took care of Taft's every need. She got to see all his true colors over the week but she still loves him like we do. Aside from all the cooking, cleaning, and playing with Taft that she did, she got up with Taft each morning so both Seth and I could sleep in after being up in the night with Luke. 

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Lanx  and Taft in our "The Shining"-esque apartment building hallway

Lucky for all of us Auntie Lanx is here for the rest of the week. She has already said that she thinks she'll just choose to be an aunt forever but she still likes Taft and Luke a lot. 

T-minus 6 days until Seth and I have to attempt parenting two kids all by ourselves. Yikes.

For Pop, Grammie, and Granddad

because only grandparents really care about a video of a baby sticking out his tongue.

Some Videos

Luke

Meet the world's newest heartbreaker...

Lukas Wilson Herway

12/31/10

4:56 p.m.

7 lbs. 8 oz.

20 inches

The morning started off by walking from our apartment across the street to the hospital. Did you know I have now walked to deliver both my babies because we've literally lived directly across from the hospital both times? We think it's pretty cool. 

My induction was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. We got settled quickly and the morning hours went by really fast. My contractions weren't too bad but I still ended up getting my epidural too early I think. I shouldn't have gotten it as early as I did but the contractions were making me have to go the bathroom and it was a pain to get unhooked from the machines each time. By the late afternoon I was starting to feel sick from the anesthesia and just felt really yucky. Around 4:30 it was finally time to start pushing and at 4:56 Luke graced us with his presence. Seth helped deliver Luke just like he did with Taft. It was of course a miraculous experience impossible to describe. This time around I began crying just while pushing because I knew what was coming. It's such an overwhelming, beautiful experience. I had an absolutely wonderful L&D nurse and my doctor was really great too. 

first picture with dad

My mom and Taft came over shortly after Luke was born. Taft is so sweet and soft with Luke and I think he's going to be a great big brother. He's had a rough couple days with the changes and he's a little sick and a tad overly emotional but he loves to see the baby and is great at being soft with him. 

first family picture

proud nana

ready to go home!

Luke is a sweet, sweet boy. He kind of looks like Taft but also has his own look as well. He's definitely lighter than Taft was and his eyes seem like they might be blue or at least lighter than Taft's. We're so glad he's here and in our family now. 

It's Time

I should be in bed right now but I can't sleep or even begin to settle my mind down to try to sleep. I'M HAVING A BABY TOMORROW!

Today Seth took the day off so we tried to spend some extra fun time with Taft. We took him to the children's museum which normally he loves but since kids are out of school for the holidays it was kind of a zoo. I'm feeling a little guilty about having another baby and that Taft has no idea what's coming. My brain knows I shouldn't feel guilty at all because siblings rock and it's much better to have sibling relationships than to have one-on-one attention from your parents your entire life. Still though, part of me just wishes Taft were a little older so I could explain the huge change that's coming.

My mom got in tonight which is a huge relief. She'll take care of the Taftman until I'm back from the hospital and will stay about a week to help out. Then Auntie Lanx comes to provide additional assistance for about another week. Seth's on-call tomorrow night which in a way sucks but in a way is good timing. We'll both be at the hospital and instead of sleeping in the on-call room he can sleep on the pull-out in my room in Post-Partum.

I'm kind of in denial about all the negative post-partum effects that are coming my way. I HATED the physical recovery with Taft and for some reason I just keep thinking it won't be nearly as bad this time. Let's hope I'm right. I just remember the day after feeling like I had literally been hit by a semi-truck. For some reason my back was so so sore I couldn't stand up right. I won't even mention all the other physical effects that seemed to last forever and I thought surely I would die from. My mom asked if I was worried about anything i.e. not getting much sleep. I've thought about this a little but at the same time I just keep thinking I'm a pro or something and it's going to be a piece of cake. I'm totally out of my mind.

I need to get myself sleepy because I have an early curtain time tomorrow morning. I think I'll take a hot bath, make some tea, and watch an episode or two of Friends.

Nighty night. I'll report back in a day or two. Be prepared for a seriously cute baby boy.

Our Christmas

Like I said in a previous post, we tried to take advantage of as much free holiday stuff as Seth's schedule permitted. Lucky for us, Seth was able to take two days in addition to Christmas Eve and Christmas off. Christmas Eve afternoon downtown was offering free carriage rides. I stood in line for about an hour while Seth kept Taft entertained walking around the mall and outside. Taft loved the 5 minute ride and flipped when we had to leave.

Carolers!

We came home to have a nice dinner with just our little family, opened our Christmas pjs, broke out the C. Kay Cummings chocolates, put Taft to bed, then read the Christmas story and started to watch The Nativity Story movie but got too sleepy about 20 minutes into it. It's a good thing we went to bed early because Taft woke up at 5!! He's been doing that for about two weeks now and it's really getting old. But since it was Christmas morning I was happy to be awake to get the present opening started!

What a haul! 

Christmas morning was really fun with Taft. He really liked his gifts although I think he was definitely overwhelmed. We were several hours into the morning and he still had presents he hadn't opened. I made my first ever cinnamon rolls FROM SCRATCH. Probably the most ambitious thing I've ever made. I used Pioneer Woman's recipe and they were pretty bomb if I do say so myself. I probably could have cooked them a tad longer to get the middles done a little more but they were still really good. We took some to a friend later in the day and he texted Seth the following: "Tell Heidi those cinnamon rolls blew my mind." Why thank you. (I share this information because usually I'm not a very good cook). We skyped with my family later in the morning, had a conference call with the Herways and Missionary Steve-O. In the evening we had a huge Christmas meal with a few of our friends who also stayed around for the holiday.

Christmas Sunday - I'm as big as a freaking house.

Handsome Bow Tie Little Boy

We had a great, great Christmas and although we missed family we really enjoyed having it just our tiny family this year. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Now here comes  a New Year and a New Baby!