These are a few of my favorite things.....

What does Luke love?

1.  His hands.  He waves them, chews them, sucks his thumb and grabs at whatever interesting things that are near him.

2.  Faces!  Maybe it's teething, but Luke is often eager to give open-mouth 'kisses'. 

This was my Mother's Day embrace from my little guy.  The awesome egg omelet was from Matthew.

3.  Toys......with lights.......and noise.   This particular gift from Mimi is a hit.

4.   Hair.  Check out Luke's expression as he delights in holding onto Matthew's hair. 

And he's going for a dive - yum, yum!  Matthew truly has a wet patch of hair when Luke's finished.  :)

The Biggest Gainer

That's what we're hoping Luke will be.  At Luke's 9 month well-child check last Wednesday, he was under the 5th percentile, weighing in at 16 lbs., 4 oz.  Granted, he had been sick and threw up all morning, which lowered his weight a little. Still,  he should weigh a little more.  

So, we're spending a lot of our day working on e-a-t-i-n-g.   

This can be slow and frustrating when he's just not interested in the solids I'm offering. 

Our strategy is to increase how often I offer solids, make sure we're giving higher calorie foods and to let him nurse as often as he's interested.  Some days he's more interested than others.  

Luke was an eager eater after his morning nap.  Yay!

But,
then he got tired of it,
so I used my 'hair' trick.....
I lean down so he can grab my hair.  As he opens his mouth to put my hair in, crafty mama shoves a mouthful in!  Usually works for 5-6 mouthfuls.
My hair may be messy, but it's worth it! 

We're also giving extra breast milk from my friend Ha's freezer.

The plan is to beef up Luke, then go back to the doctor's in one month and see what he's gained. We pray he'll be 10th percentile or above.

Finally - 

Happy Mother's Day!

My lovely mother, Elaine, with her children!  Love you Mom!  Being a mother myself now gives me a much greater appreciation for all my mom and all moms do.