Life with a 2.5 Year Old

Can it really be true, we actually have a 2.5 year old!? Lately we hit a few milestones with Luke that really highlight how much of a big boy he is! In all honesty, I have gotten just a little bit sad to watch him become so independent but I know it's all part of raising kids. They are going to grow up and all we can do is be in each moment as best as we can.



Poo-Poo In the Potty*

Not fully potty trained, but getting good at staying dry almost all day at school and letting us know when he needs to go, even at houses other than our own. With this kid, candy as a bribery method doesn't really work so we have been using stickers and happy faces on his hands. He still has a little more to go before big boy underwear, but we've taken down the changing table and diaper set up in his room. I am so relieved to not change as many diapers, but I know I had better enjoy it while I can if we want more kiddos! ;0)

*We actually sing that on the way to the potty. It helps, I swear.

Big Boy Bed Time

Luckily, Luke has not once tried to climb out of his crib. He has been a great sleeper and really enjoyed his time alone in his crib. I know many parents who transition to a big bed far earlier than 2.5, but we really had no reason to. Nonni and Nonno got us a crib that could convert into a toddler/twin bed, but we failed to buy the converter kit along with it at the time (Kellie, I know you reminded me about that a long time again and I didn't listen!) and now it is discontinued. We figured the crib will still get other use, now going to our niece Emilie, so we got Luke a toddler bed from Ikea last weekend. At first, Luke picked out this "interesting" owl bedspread from Ikea and you should have seen my manipulation skills in action!





I just couldn't imagine that bedspread clashing in his blue primary colored room! Who's with me?! I had to do something and fast - so, I sneakily talked him into this cute white and bright colored car bedspread instead. Gino was laughing at my efforts to persuade him into the other bedspread and someday you may feel slighted Luke, but until then, I call the shots! =)





Say What!?

We've had a bit of a jabber mouth on our hands for some time now but things are really starting to get interesting and make us laugh. He's talking so well now and putting a lot of thoughts together, which is really fun. Here are a few of our favorites.

"No sun, go away. Mommy, the sun bit me." - Said in the car in the morning when the sun was bright and shining right in our eyes.

"I love Michael and Sully. Michael and Sully are my cousins." - Good to know he loves his cousins and Monsters Inc. of course.

"I a tiger. Mommy, you not a tiger." Me - "Oh, I am not? What am I?". Luke - "You a princess. You are Sofia." - Ok, I am officially wrapped around his finger. 

"There are monkeys at the zoo. The monkey has a boo-boo. He has a owie on his bottom. He needs a band aid." - Said when we were talking about what animals we would see at the Zoo.

Dear Jesus…

I almost always say a good night prayer in my mind when I lay down to go to bed. I don't really know when it started, but I can remember very far back saying prayers at night and feeling very comfortable with my own internal dialogue with Jesus and God. My household grew up Christian and we went to a handful of First Baptist Churches as kids. Luke will grow up with a Catholic foundation but no matter what formal religious affiliation we have, I want Luke to feel as comfortable with praying as I do so we have started to say our good night prayers together. He lies down, tries to close his eyes, and repeats a made up prayer after me but he always peeks through his squinted eyes and says the words with a big smile in a really soft voice…it melts my heart.

Feel Better Soon

Tonight is going on four nights of quarantine for the Sciandri household! I am going a little stir crazy, thus a long overdue blog post.

Luke has been sick with a really nasty bug since Wednesday night. Here's the rundown of our past 4 days. Since Luke turned one, we thought it was time to switch from formula to regular milk. Our daycare told us that it is good to switch to 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk. We started the new combination on Wednesday with his bottle in the morning and throughout the day. When Gino went to pick Luke up, he had a bottle and threw it up. We thought ok, well it was probably from the milk being introduced into his system. We spent the rest of the night with a sick baby that threw up about 6 times. At about 5:30 in the morning, we were so worried and the advice nurse on the phone was no help at all, we decided to take him into the ER with fear that he might be dehydrated on top of his fever. After some Motrin in the behind, anti-nausea medicine, and some paperwork, we left that ER visit armed with some good tips.

• The previous night, we gave Luke a full bottle and a full bottle of water to drink because he had thrown up so much and we were worried he was getting dehydrated. MISTAKE because he chugged it. Apparently we were only supposed to give very small amounts at a time, like tablespoons full at a time, not a few ounces. That was probably the reason for some much throw up. 
• It's ok to alternate between baby tylenol and ibuprofen and stagger to keep his fever down. We were always afraid of him having too much medicine in his system and didn't like giving him too much, but it really helps when they have a fever.  
• As long as they are getting water or pedialyte, it's ok if they don't eat. We were so worried that the poor little guy was hungry but in order to get rid of the bug, he just needed liquids to survive. 
• The Dr. we saw had never heard of the 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk approach and advised we just make the switch a little at a time to straight milk instead of mixing it with formula. We are waiting a bit to try the switch again.
• We use the thermometer to take his temperature under his armpit. We have the kind that you roll over the forehead but can never seem to get an accurate reading from that. With the armpit method, it is actually 1-2 degrees higher than the reading. 

So, Gino and I took our sweet, sick, little guy home and he slept. We alternated the day so we both could take care of him and work and he seriously slept for about 90% of the day, only waking to drink some water/pedialyte and poop. Later that evening he threw up 2 more times and was extremely lethargic. He could barely sit up and was so sleepy with a high fever. Our neighbor Jane, a nurse, came over to check him out and didn't dispute our thought to take him back into the ER for a second time. We felt a bit like over worried parents, but at the same time, it's so hard to know what their little bodies can't handle on their own. 

Thursday night we checked into the ER at 9:15 pm and were out of there by 1:30 am. That made for some really tired parents, a sleepy and sick baby, and some serious questions about the type of visits some people make to the ER.... that's an entirely different subject. Anyway, we opted not to do the IV because the Dr. said she wasn't extremely worried about his status, though he was definitely sick with a fever and moderately dehydrated. As long as he would still take liquids and we could keep the fever down, she thought he would soon get over this nasty virus. 

The next day I was working at home and it was a relatively easy day to get a lot of work done because he was still sleeping almost 90% of the time but his diaper numbers were on the serious rise. No throw up though, that was great! 

It's memorial day weekend and we had a lot of plans but ended up canceling them all to take care of Luke. I feel like we are nurturing a little baby bird back to health. He tries to get up and walk around and is so weak and wobbly that he just collapses. He needed all the time to recover and is still recovering. Yesterday we kept track of at least 20 diapers. Poor guy has a sore behind =(.  He is eating a little now and slowly getting more lively with fewer diapers. 

We are relieved by the few smiles we got today but this experience really gives us a true perspective for parents who have chronically sick children or children with serious illnesses. It's so hard to see a young helpless little thing go through something that is hurting them and we feel for those children and parents out there dealing with things like this on a daily basis. They are definitely in our prayers. 

So, despite all this we are able to see some positives and have learned a good deal about how to deal with a sick little one. 

• It's pretty easy to get frustrated with each other when you are both asking each other what the other thinks you should do. In our case, we both didn't know what to do so we had no answers. As first time parents, it's ok that neither of you have the answers. Be open to each other's ideas and go with your gut feelings. 
• It's ok to call your Moms at any time. We ended up calling both our Moms in the early morning for the first ER visit and they wouldn't have it any other way. The re-assurance is nice and someday if Luke needs some advice from me with his child, I would want him to call at any time. Our Moms have both obviously been in our shoes before and they had way better advice than the advice nurse we called who wasn't allowed to technically give us medical "advice".  
• Trust your gut. Our guts told us to make 2 ER visits. Chalk this up to being first time parents, or stress cases, but either way, we felt better with an expert opinion then and there and felt better to play it safe than wait too long to be sorry. If your gut says to go get pedialyte at 3:00 am, do it. If your gut says to bring them into bed with you even if they throw up all over the sheets, do it.. =)  
• WASH YOUR HANDS ALOT! We are both ok so far and have all our fingers and toes crossed that we haven't caught what captured our little one. 
• Keep track of everything while they are sick (throw up, wet diapers, poop diapers, food, water, etc.) it comes in handy when the nurse or Dr. asks you questions. 
• Baths are a good distraction. We had to give Luke a few because he threw up all over the place, but while he was in the bath, he seemed relaxed and at ease. 
• These are some foods we have had success with over the past 2 days: 
• Saltine crackers
• bananas mashed with applesauce
• risotto
• mashed potatoes 
• mozzarella cheese pieces 
• yogurt
• yogurt with rice krispy cereal 
• Walks are good! We went on a really long walk today and it seemed to help get him out of the house in fresh air. He was content just looking around and watching Ponzo. 
• Let them sleep. You might worry they are sleeping too much or that they won't sleep at night but despite how long Luke slept during the day, he still needed just as much sleep during the night. 
• Change their diaper as soon as they go. We were to the point of a diaper every 15 to 30 minutes but in order to keep his little behind feeling at least just ok, we needed to change him time and time again. Diaper cream is our best friend at this point. 

The benefits of this weekend despite the fun times we missed out on:

• clean house
• laundry done
• cars washed
• QT time with each other (Mom & Dad) once we got over the initial "what do you think? I don't know, what do you think? I don't know, I have never done this before. Well, neither have I!" discussion
• A very snugly baby 
• Did I mention a clean house
• Time to write a blog post! 

This is all part of the parenting game and we willingly signed up for it. I am glad we are almost out of our first really rough battle so we can better deal with the next. Overall, it's been a pretty decent weekend =) 

Luke 11 Months

Luke turned 11 months on April 16th. What an 11 months it has been! I mentioned in my last post that it is hard to realize it has already almost been a year, WOW.

Luke is doing great! He is standing on his own and has taken some unofficial steps but is not walking yet. He started standing on his own a few weeks ago and we thought for sure walking would soon follow but he is content for now with just standing. I do think he will be taking steps by the time his birthday rolls around!

He is teething ALOT and it has been making him quite uncomfortable lately so I can't wait to get through this stage for his sake, that has just gotta hurt!

One other strange thing happened recently which I actually think is a blessing in disguise. Luke has sucked his left thumb since he was just a few weeks old and we have always attributed his great sleeping habits to his ability to soothe himself with his thumb. If he was tired, he would just turn his head to the left, suck his thumb, and fall right asleep. Well, over Easter weekend Luke got a pretty bad infection/chewed up his left thumb. It was a rough couple of days because it hurt him so bad and I constantly had medication on it. He physically could not suck his thumb anymore and now that his thumb has healed, he forgot all about sucking it. This isn't to say the habit won't pop back up sometime but it has been 2 weeks and he hasn't even tried to suck his thumb. So, I guess we don't need to bribe him to stop when he is older =0) Falling asleep isn't as easy as it used to be but it is good enough for us!

Luke 9 and 10 Months

Big sigh.... Luke turned 11 months yesterday. I think it hit us like a ton of bricks that our baby is almost no longer a baby! I love watching him grow and change but can't believe how fast time goes by.

Sorry, I am a bit behind on the updates. Today you get 9 and 10 months and either tomorrow or Thursday I will post 11 months with more about how he is doing.


I just love these photos all together to see him change. I still love Week 12 the best, such a cute face =)

Luke 8 Months

Luke turned 8 months old on January 16th. He is getting so big that I had to switch the onesie in the photo to a bigger long sleeve onesie! Here are a few updates.
Eating
We have been trying all kinds of different foods along with rice cereal consistently since 6 months. In the beginning he like the rice cereal but gagged a lot on all the baby food I made for him. I tried sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, bananas, bananas and blackberries, apples, peas, carrots, and probably some more but he would gag so much the first few months of trying food. Now that he is 8 months old, these foods are going down a lot better and I keep trying to introduce different and new fruits and vegetables. We have done a little chicken but for the most part make fruits and veggies. He's getting there.
Crawling/Standing
Luke had his army crawl down to a science and can go really fast! He doesn't actually crawl on his hands and knees but will rock back and forth on his knees while propped up on his hands. He has literally just started standing and pulling up on things within the past week. Yesterday during his nap, I had the door cracked opened and looking into his room. To my surprise I see our baby standing all the way up holding on to the side of the crib! Not to worry, that crib was lowered to it's lowest setting last night but it's crazy how things change within just a few days.
Sounds
Luke makes all kinds of cute sounds. He still is a little stingy with his laughs and giggles but makes the "ma ma" and "da da" sound a lot. When he is crying or crawling around looking for me he often says "ma ma" but we aren't 100% convinced it is intentional.
Luke is a very sweet and smiley baby. He smiles at strangers behind my back and has a lot of friends at daycare. It's so nice having a smiley baby because no matter what we do, we can easily make him light up and that makes me light up!

Luke - 6 Months

Can you believe it?! Our little baby is six months old tomorrow, the 16th. Time has gone by so fast and I hear from a lot of other parents to cherish these times because they are so short. No kidding! We have enjoyed every ounce of our little bundle of smiles, almost giggles, hugs, drool drops, and more. Now that we have reached the half year mark I am going to do the rest of the year by month.

Apple Hill

We spent a lovely day at Apple Hill last weekend with our good friends Alli & Levi. I left the Apple Farm planning up to Alli and we hit up the spots best know for apple donuts, apple pies, and beer! We had a great time and Luke was a little trooper all bundled up to stay warm.




I loved the wood burning stove not to mention the heat it generated!

Look, a scarecrow.

A pumpkin?


Luke loved the animals.



Last stop of the day, Jack Russell Brewery.

He was such a good boy!

The happy newlyweds.

Harvest dancers.

And finally, a cozy nap after a long day.

Memorable Moments

Dear Luke,

                These are just 2 pictures of some of our most favorite moments so far in your nearly 6 months of life. We cherish each and every hug, snuggle, and relaxing nap with you. These sleeping snuggle moments moved quickly to the top of my list of favorite times with you from the very beginning. When you were a newborn I would feed you 2 times a night and after the last feeding around 5:00 a.m. I would bring you into the bed and let you sleep the next hour or so on my chest. I will always cherish the cozy feeling of these times. You sleep in your big boy room now and we wake you up when we are ready to get you up for the day, but we still get some sleeping snuggles in on the weekends. I wonder how long you will be so comfortable sleeping in our arms? I hope we have a few more years =)

Love, Mom & Dad

Luke - 24 Weeks

24 weeks (almost 6 months) and changing so much!

Luke - 22 Weeks

Our baby boy is getting so big. He's almost 6 months old!

Bright and Cheerful Nursery

I finally got around to taking some photos of Luke's nursery. We originally had that room painted blue and were going to keep it blue regardless of if we had a girl or a boy. I wanted his room to be bright, cheerful, and fun. Gino had a lot of input and in the end it turned out just right!

View from the doorway.

Wall Decal from Etsy.

Lots of books to read in a bookshelf from Ikea.

I made the curtains from Ikea fabric. Fast, easy, and no-sew required.

I made this mobile from scrapbook paper.
There are endless color and pattern combinations for any nursery. 

One of the various designs I created for the room.

Changing station and more personalized designs.
I used fabric left over from the curtains to cover the small drawer to the side of the dresser.

These Sesame Street Car toys were Gino's when he was a little boy. 

My talented sister knit this puff mama foot stool that matches with the room colors perfectly.

She followed this tutorial. 

Our nursery wasn't complete without Giants gear.

Luke already has a lot of stuffed animals and the teddy bear is actually Gino's childhood teddy bear, so sweet. 

We originally were going to get Gino's Mom's rocking chair but it was too big for the room so we went with a non-traditional style chair instead from Target (I don't think they have it anymore). 

The Cabbage Patch is an original from the 1980's that my Grandma saved.
I just love the old school toys.