Luke is two months old! I am sure the parents reading this will understand me when I say parenthood is an absolute treasure, and it’s really something you only truly understand after you have kids. The first two months have flown by and our little baby has already grown so much! Thanks, Matt, for putting together this cute little video of our memories with Luke so far.
Luke’s Two-Month Updates:
- He loves to smile at Mom and Dad in the mornings;
- He now wants to explore his world more – he likes to be carried around the house rather than laying in someone’s arms;
- He has accepted that diaper changes are a part of life, but now cries when the bottle of milk empties or when Mom and Dad take a break to burp him;
- He still wakes up every 2-3 hours throughout the night. His new thing is being super smiley during his 3:00 am feeding. I tell him,”if you are smiling you aren’t tired enough”;
- He can still roll from tummy to back and is working on rolling from back to tummy; and
- He likes going for drives and staring out of the window or sunroof.
Two Months with MCADD
For those of you who read our previous posts, you know that Luke was diagnosed with MCADD on his newborn screening test. This means he cannot fast for more than 3.5 hours right now because he cannot break down a certain type of fat for energy. If he doesn’t eat on this schedule, he can go into metabolic shock. Scary consequences for something that seems so simple.
So far, Luke’s MCADD has been extremely manageable. Matt made a spreadsheet that we use to track all of Luke’s feedings so that we always know the latest time we have to feed. This means if we are driving or out and about when this time occurs, we have to pull over or stop what we are doing, even if Luke does not appear hungry, to feed him. If Luke is too sleepy, we have to resort to extreme measures to make sure he eats – such as starting with a diaper change, undressing him, or blowing cold air on him. It sounds harsh, but if Luke doesn’t eat on his schedule that means an immediate trip to the Emergency Room. Thankfully, we have not had any issues and the little guy loves his milk.
Luke’s schedule unfortunately also means we will not be sleeping through the night anytime soon. Matt and I are pretty good with trading off throughout the night, but most nights Luke wants to eat even more than every three hours. Needless to say, there are some sleepy mornings around here, but we’re happy to do it for our sweet little boy.
Matt and I are also fortunate to be working with a specialist team from the University of Minnesota that is familiar with children that have MCADD. We have a follow-up appointment later this week and will discuss whether Luke’s fasting window can increase and resources for when Luke goes to daycare in the fall. Like I said, so far things have been manageable so we hope they continue on that path!
Luke in the Great Outdoors
Because of COVID, we have not had the opportunity to do too much publicly with Luke but he did get to try out his first swim and boat ride last month! Luke did not love the cool (82 degrees) pool water at first but warmed up to it after we swam around with him a little. Dad also dunked him under the water (after blowing in his face to get him to hold his breath) and he handled it very well.
To celebrate the Fourth, we went out on a boat with Matt’s family on the St. Croix River. Luke was a trooper in his life jacket for a few hours and seemed to love the breeze on his face and rocking of the boat.
When we aren’t on the water, we take Luke for walks to Afton State Park or around the neighborhood. He will also sit by us if we have a fire in the backyard. He likes to get outside and is pretty content as we walk around. He has also met the neighbors who say they are excited to have a little baby in the neighborhood since most of the families around us have teenage kids.
Day to Day with Luke
Matt went back to work at the beginning of July which means Luke and I get to spend a lot of time together. Again, because of COVID, this means most of our time is spent at home. Being with Luke all day has been such a joy because I really get to see real-time of his little developments, from learning how to smile, to grabbing his toys and rolling over. Some of the things Luke likes doing at home include:
- Waking Mom up at 6:00 a.m. with big smiles;
- Listening to Mom sing Taylor Swift, Waylon Jennings, and Christmas songs (for some reason I am not up to date on my lullabies);
- Playing on his play mat and (maybe intentionally) hitting the hanging animals;
- Napping on Mom and Dad;
- Crying so that Mom and Dad walk him around the house and show him things and let him look out the windows;
- Staring at the ceiling fans and stair railing;
- Taking warm baths; and
- Hanging out in his swing.
We also go for car rides (we don’t have many errands to run) and visited Dad at work last week (in the parking lot). Last weekend Luke also watched his first Formula 1 race with us and we think go-karts may be in his future.
I am lucky enough to not go back to work until this fall and I have been cherishing every moment with our little man. Being a parent has already become such a big part of who I am and I am so proud to be Luke’s mom. I love watching him grow and learn and while I don’t want him to grow up so fast I also can’t wait to see the next thing he will learn or do.
For those of you that just read to see cute baby pictures, here is our Luke!
-Kristin