shameful 1 year gap

A picture from a few weeks ago when we went to see the animals at Tilden park.
Hard to believe it has been a year since my last post. Lukas is now 17 months old, almost 18 months. Time just whizzes by when you've got a toddler.
Lukas is now saying "Thank You" and "Peese" (Please) and "I do'n know" (I don't know) appropriately.
We get a good bit of joy each day - what a blast!

July 3rd, 2008

Today I had a hellacious day at work - our reference librarian took a (well-deserved)
vacation day, and it seemed like everyone wanted something, super
rush. There were so many people coming to my door (unusual) that I
wasn't able to go and pump for my usual 1:00 pm session, and didn't
make it to pump until 4:00! I was pretty uncomfortable by
then, and will have to make a special effort to pump on schedule and
nurse often this long weekend so I can keep up my supply. Keeping up
with Lukas's need for 4 - 4oz bottles a day is a lot harder than I
hoped it would be. I'm finding I only can pump 3 - 4 oz bottles, so I
have to keep at it in the evenings.

Because my day was so busy, I asked my sister to go and pick up
Lukas. She picked him up and said he was sitting on a mattress
surrounded by little toddlers who were enjoying the Baby! Lukas
enjoys them as well, but evidently as soon as she picked him up, the
caregiver said to them, "OK, you can jump on the bed!" So while they were
enjoying Lukas, they were probably wishing he would leave so they
could JUMP ON THE BED!

I left work (finally) at 7:00 pm (still not completing an
unbelievable number of research requests) and my sister picked me up
at the Bart station. Lukas was very happy to see me, but had to tell
me how displeased he was that he had to stay in the car seat until we
could find a parking space. After nursing him in the front seat, he
played with the various front seat toys such as the air conditioning
vent, the blinker, the keys, and all the various dash gadgets. We let
him play a while then put him back in his car seat.

We decided on Pizza for dinner, and I've been wanting to
go to Zachary's so off we went. While we waiting for our table, we
went shopping at Trader Joe's next door. I had Lukas in my sling, and
I found a cart in the parking lot. Lukas was so excited about getting
in the shopping cart seat that he started lunging out of the sling to
get in. I had to tell him to wait until we got in the store. Once in
the seat, he was so happy that he babbled joyfully, bounced around,
waved, and swung his feet and body the entire time we were shopping.
He made many friends as people had to stop and chat. Trader Joe's had
set some lemon tart pieces out for sampling, so I got one for myself.
Lukas was so interested in it that he kept trying to lean up and grab
the plate out of my hands. I decided if he wanted it that bad, he
could have a taste. Sure enough, he loved it, and happily ate the
rest of the lemon curd filling from my tiny sample. I have discovered
that there are very few things for babies to eat at Trader Joes. We
found bananas and apple sauce, and that is what Lukas had for dinner
at the pizza place. (Well, that and the lemon curd appetizer.)

Tonight we spotted the other front tooth making its way to the
surface - so 2 teeth are erupting, right on schedule!!

Lukas fell asleep in the car, but woke up for another hour, and we
all watched swimming Olympic trials on TV. Lukas fell asleep on
my sisters lap and I put him to bed.

We are so unbelievably excited about the 3 day weekend!!! Tomorrow we
go to the Alameda 4th of July parade, then head to my brother's
to celebrate my niece's 6th birthday a day early. Lukas will be 6
months old tomorrow, so a day of sixes to celebrate!

Apricots are yummy

Tonight we gave Lukas a small piece of fresh apricot in a mesh baby
feeder. He got the hang of the device right away, sucking on it
like a champ. You can see apricot juice on his shirt - I hope it
comes out! We are so new to this, we forgot we should use a bib.
Still trying to hold out on major food items until 6 months, but
Lukas is very anxious to try food, he tries to grab at plates and
is very very interested in what we are eating. I hope a little here
and there once a week is okay for his tummy.
I had to make a phone call related to the Portland Law librarians
conference (we are going up to Portland for the weekend in mid-
July) this evening, so my sister took Lukas out on the porch to
hang out. We bought him his own special chair for porch sitting,
and he likes it very well.
We got blueberries in our organic food delivery box this evening,
so made blueberry pancakes for dinner. I made a quick apricot jam
with all the apricots my friend picked up for me at the
Alameda farmers market last Thursday. Super delicious!
If there are more apricots this Thursday, I'll buy a whole bunch
and make some jam and can it for the rest of the year. I love
apricot jam and store bought never even comes close to home made.
We didn't do much tonight, just came home, made dinner, cleaned,
watched a tiny bit of TV, played a little, then off to bed for Lukas.