Happy Halloween

More to come here after the Halloween weekend is done. Lots of activities going on and Luka is very excited about wearing his costume: la coliforme des montagnes or the Monster Rock!

For now, Luka and Axel wish you a very happy Halloween!

Luka Three Year Check-Up

Here are the stats from Luka's three-year check up, the day after his birthday:

Weight: 30-1/4 pounds
Height: 36 inches (3 feet)

3 feet high means he can go on the "big" kid rides at Elitch's (if he even wants to, that is)! 3 years old and 30 pounds means he can do the climbing wall at REI!

His friends at school:
Kristin (and her older sister Megan)
Josh
Faith
Mackenzie
Zane ... and others

A funny story from swim class:
Luka takes swim class on Tues and Thurs, with usually one other little boy. Last time, we mentioned that Luka's birthday had been the day before. It turned out Connor's was the same date and year! He was also three. Then, his mom and I talked and it turned out that Luka and Connor are in the same class at their school. The moms hadn't even known they knew each other - ha ha. The kids confirmed they were in class together. Funny. No wonder they got along so well!

Axel Update

Axel is still showing signs of reflux, but it is getting better. He has some days where he hardly spits up at all. Then, others he seems very uncomfortable and barfs a lot. :( But, I think it is getting better. Hope so - poor little man!

He is getting more alert and smiley. Earlier today at music class, he was very alert - the teacher commented on it - and also very smiley. He had a good time, I guess! He stays awake now for longer stretches at a time, but is still a good day time sleeper. And, he still seems to get tired in early/mid evening and recognize that night time is sleep time, so that is very positive.

He is not sleeping through the night, but does a good 4 - 5 hours at the first stretch and then 1 - 2 hour stretches after that. We just moved the rocking chair from Luka's room to our room so I can sit up and rock him at night and then put him back in his bed. That worked pretty well. That way, I can sleep better because not curled up around him/trying to protect him, etc. It worked pretty well the first night. A littl harder on me, because I can't go back to sleep sitting up, obviously, but that is the point: he goes back to bed sooner!

He does not like the car lately. For no (apparent) reason, he wkill often scream when he gets put into his car seat. Sometimes, taking off right away will solve this, but not always, and we often have to stop and console/feed him and take him out for a few minutes. Sometimes just cuddling does the trick and he goes back. Other times, he wants to eat or whatever.

Today, at music class, two of the moms said to me (unprompted)that he looks exactly like me. Ha ha! If people know Reynald, they say they are "twins" (like Luka and Reynald too), but he must look like a Lindemuth too. I see the Lindemuth boys in him (my brothers). So, all the past generations get represented one way or another. :)

Luka Update & Pumpkin Muffins

Luka's birthday is really today. Wow! Three years old. I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for him to take to his school today to celebrate. (Recipe from Auntie Mona - see below). And, made sure to give him a big hug and kiss before he left for school. Sometimes we are so hectic, maybe I forget to do that enough. He was all happy. My man! Will be interested in hear how the day went. I am sure they sang happy birthday to him! He seems to really like his school and learns neat stuff there - developmentally and socially.

He is talking really well in French and well in English too. He knows when to speak French and when to speak English - according to whom he is talking. He will even translate for you if you need it. He is amazing that way - has a clear idea of "French" and "English" and has never mixed the languages up.

He is headstrong sometimes, but is sweet still. Stubborness has always been a trait he has shown, since he was little, and I consider it something positive that will make him self-assured and confident in life. Also, being particularly stubborn must be a sign of his age and developmental level. Also, while he loves Axel and is very proud of him, he is a bit jealous and that comes through in acting up a bit sometimes.

Axel wears a little fleece prince hat, shaped like a crown, (from Auntie Laura when Luka was a baby). Luka says, "Maman, Axel est comme un champginon !" when he wears it. (Mommy, Axel is [looks] like a mushroom.) Pretty perceptive - ha ha. He kind of does, but of course, he is much cuter than a mushroom!

Luka is taking swimming lessons twice a week this month at our local rec center. We have gone to three of them so far. He seems to enjoy it and will actually get his head wet for the teacher, as opposed to us at home in the shower: "Pas la tête, pas les cheveux !" ("Not my head, not my hair!") THe teacher is a young guy (early 20's or younger?) who seems really into the little kids and has good ideas for getting them all excited.

Some of Luka's favorites songs lately:

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Oh, Susanna (as in Suz-ANNA after his beloved cousin)

Luka memory: when Luka was little and nursing, I always called it the "boobie". Not very elegant, but there you have it. My sis-in-law Tammy counseled me that when he could talk, it would be embarassing when, in public, he wanted to nurse and screamed, "I want my boobie!" However, I just lucked out. When he started talking, he called it his "Baby". And, sometimes, he did scream for it, but it ended up being a code word. So, have to remember that for Axel - get him to call it his baby instead of boobie! :)

PUMPKIN MUFFINS
courtesy of Mona

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Shortening
1-2/3 cup Flour
l cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1 cup Pureed, cooked pumpkin (if you triple it is one of the big
cans-29 oz)
1 Cup Cinnamon Chips (Mona advises: I use chocolate chips instead, too weird with cinnamon)
[Eve note: maybe add cinammon, nutmeg or pumpkin spice as a variation? I did it without any of these though and it was still yum.]

Preparation Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream shortening and sugar.
3. Add eggs and mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients...mix well.
5. Add pumpkin...Mix well
6. Add cinnamon chips Mix well
7. Grease muffin tins or use paper liners.
8. Bake at 350 for 20 to 23 minutes, or less for mini muffins.

Luka's Third Birthday Party

Saturday, October 15th we celebrated Luka's 3rd birthday party at the Denver Firefighters Museum (www.denverfirefightersmuseum.org) with 11 of his "closest" friends. :) 4 kids from school were able to come (Josh, Zane, Faith and Kristin) and Kristin's sister, Megan, and then our friends' kids: André, Melanie, Joel, Liam, Tristan, Ada. We had a Spiderman cake, which was VERY important as Luka had been talking about it for weeks. It had a cool toy on top too of Spiderman duking it out with Dr. Octopus that he has been playing with since too. We had vanilla ice cream and apple juice. The kids ate first and then they played on the fire truck and tried on fire gear (just their size). They also got to slide down a pole. Luka got to do it first since he was the birthday boy and he just ran over there, he was so excited. They kids also liked playing with the computers that had special fire games on them - dress the fireman or whatever. There were also some firetrucks and phone toys (call 911!). The party lasted 2 hours. I thought it would be too short, but it was just right. When the kids left, they each got fire hats. They were really nice and much heavier than the ones you normally get for kids at a fire education function. Luka also got nice presents from his friends that we opened at home the next day. He got a really neat dinosaur set, a fire truck, a big snake, a fun Snoopy Halloween coloring book and lots of other great stuff. It was funny because at first he said, "Mommy, these presents are for Axel" because Axel has been getting so many gifts (to celebrate his birth). Boy, was he thrilled when he found out they were his! :) He also got to open a gift later that arrived from Grandma. A fun little tractor he gets to build and then play with. A very fun birthday! Our little man is already three!

Ode to diapers, diapers and more diapers

There are cloth diapers and there are disposable diapers. I have used them both. Cloth diapers make kids' bottoms look huge (but they are not, of course). We used a cloth diaper service until Luka was about 8 months old. The cloth diapers leaked a lot though and sometimes, stuck to his bottom. :( And, it was a bit complicated to take all the stuff with me in the diaper bag when we went out somewhere (you can't just throw dirty ones away...) We liked the idea of cotton against his skin, but it just got too complicated to keep track of them all for the service, etc. And, they are quite bulky. I love my kids, but there was no way I am washing and cleaning cloth diapers myself!

Axel has used disposal since birth - the first ones were so tiny. They were "newborn" size. They were teeny weeny and very cute. However, they kept leaking when we first brought him home. All diapers leak sometimes, but this was ridiculous! One of the doctors said her brother had twins and he said to fan them out before putting them on. Luckily, that worked because I was thinking of going back to cloth!

He grew out of this within 3 weeks or so. You can't those at Costco and for good reason. The babies grow so fast at that stage that you may get stuck with 200 newborn diapers that are too small! Now, we are using size 1. Costco sells these and I just got a box. They will last about 3 weeks. Axel, at this age, is using approximately 70 diapers a week.

Luka is still in Pull Ups at night for pee pee. He was awesome with potty training and really is out of that stage now and just goes to the bathroom like a normal person. He was pretty much trained a few months after he turned 2. He has done so well. I am so grateful not to have to change a big kids poopy diapers (ick). Axel's are like nothing since he is breastfeeding. They do not even smell (yes, I mean the poo). When he starts eathing solid food they will, but still, they won't be too gross for a while till he is bigger. Hopefully, he will follow his older brother's example and potty train fast and early. For boys in the US, that is.

I was just reading an article in the paper this evening and it said a lot of cultures around the world potty train their kids by one year old. I believe it - especially in native cultures. I have always wondered how native kids carried on the back by Indians, aborginals or Alaska natives deal with going pee pee or poo poo. It is a weird thing to wonder about, but pretty basic for survival. We have to have somewhere to eliminate... So, that was an interesting article. (It still didn't answer the question of exactly what happens to poo when a baby is in a leather pouch on his mom's back, but I am sure I could find out if I really tried. We could learn a lot from more "native" cultures and avoid using diapers at all, probably. Disposal diapers do have that fakey plastic smell :(

Sometimes, Luka asks me to put on his pull-ups at night like a diaper (you can open and reclose the sides). This is "regressing" as a game because he sees me change Axel's diaper. Thank goodness he doesn't take it farther and actually go poo poo in his own pants - some of our friends had a problem with that with their older child.

We also have doll diapers. Before I was even pregnant with Axel, Luka liked to put his own dipaers on his Baby (doll). They would never stay on because they were too big. So, I bought him some doll diapers to use. In general though, his Baby just "runs" around naked - we should put her winter clothes back on since it is going to snow any time now.

Diapers, diapers, diapers. They aren't so bad. Some day, I will be both glad and sad to never have to change one again.

Steven and Angela's Visit

Steven and Angela came to visit for the long weekend from Omaha. It was great to see them. It was a quick trip - they had to leave at 7 a.m. today - but we all had a good time. Luka was excited to see them and they were glad to see him - he is such a big boy now! I was very glad they could see Axel as a tiny man too. They even saw Reynald a bit as he dashed out the door for a biz trip.

We also had our fourth and last (whew!) free trip to Elitch's this weekend with our friends Corinne and Ada. Ada and Luka were great buds - holding hands and going on lots of rides together including the boats (Luka's favorite), the truck convoy and the train. And, of course, Luka spent a lot of time in his adored ball room. Ada was a bit overwhelmed by that one. I am Elitch'ed out for this year. Thank gosh we never have to pay! :)

Axel slept 6 hours straight last night!

Big milestone - on October 2nd, Axel slept 6 hours straight. Pretty good for a little guy who has such tummy troubles. Since then, he has slept varied amounts, but I think as soon as his tummy issuse resolve, he will be a great sleeper like Luka and his mommy and daddy (that woudl be us). Axel is oriented toward evening anyway like a "big" person and gets very tired in the evenings, so I think he will be sleeping through the night soon. Stay tuned for that developing story...will he, or won't he? More to come!

Nursing on the Run

When Luka was about six weeks old, my sister Laura came to visit in early December 2002. I took her to Whole Foods - awesome grocery store - in Boulder. We were walking around the aisles and tiny Luka began to cry. I realized he was hungry. I couldn't really sit down at the moment, so decided to feed him (nurse him) while I walked around the store. When he was little like that, it was fairly easy to do while walking. He was happy and I was because he was. I was probably pretty well covered up, but even if not, who in Boulder in a health food store would dare say anything?!! :)

Skip ahead 3 years or so, we took a walk on our neighborhood trails the other day (the trail that goes south). Luka, now almost 3 was walking and Axel, about six weeks old, was in his stroller. He was having none of that. He wailed and we carried him. But, it seems he wanted to eat. So, there was Mommy (that'd be me), nursing him walking on the local bike trails. It worked okay, but my arms fell asleep after a while!

This past Saturday, I took Luka and Axel to Costco to pick up the photo invitations I made for Luka's third birthday party at the Denver Firefighters Museum. We also took advantage of this to get a bunch of other things. (That included a Princess 1st Reader book for Luka...) Luka was in the cart and Axel was on me in the Baby Bjorn carrier (he does not like to "stroll" lately in his car seat). When we were almost done and in the frozen food aisle, Axel began to cry, meaning he was hungry. So, here is me, pulling one kid in the big, heavy cart stuffed with food and other goodies, holding Axel in one hand and nursing him at the same time - going down the big main aisle at Costco toward the cash register. [Note: Reynald was out mt. biking during this episode - what is wrong with THAT?!]

Yesterday, we went to Walker Ranch in Jeffco open space for a 2-mile loop hike after visiting some friends who live near there. Axel was happy to be on Papa in the front carrier until about 2/3's of the way done. Then, he seemed hungry. So, Mommy hiked and fed him at the same time. I was very careful - the trail was pretty smooth at that point, but surely did not want to fall. Before that, Luka said he was tired (normally he is an awesome hiker and "wants to do it himself" - this was the first time I have carried him on a long stretch of hiking), so I carried him on my back for most of the hike. About 5 minutes after I put him down, Axel came on board.

So, rereading this, I guess a conclusion could be, I should just stay home with my kiddies? On one hand, that is just not practical (gotta go to the grocery store) and, two, I think it is good for them and us to get out - and as long as they are small enough, breastfeeding while walking is not too bad for Mommy or them. Another conclusion could be that I (like many other moms, including Dianna) am super mommy! That I will agree with.