Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July! Both of our little firecrackers are doing very well. Luke is growing quickly and is such a great baby. Last Wednesday he lost his umbilical cord (day 13) and we were very happy to see it go! On his two-week birthday he had his second well-baby checkup with a nurse practitioner at the pediatric clinic. He was up to 8 lbs, 5 oz. Just 5 ounces short of his birth weight. He has been eating well and had obviously grown so they were not concerned that he had not yet regained the weight he lost after birth. He is now 21 1/2 inches long so he grew 1/2 an inch in just two weeks! His head circumference grew an inch and a half too. We don't recall the exact percentiles his stats put him in but he was somewhere around the 79th percentile for height, 35th for weight and 46th for head circumference. He literally seems bigger every day!

During the early part of last week I caught a cold- just like I did after Will was born. I was so worried that I would get Luke sick (as I did Will). But so far he hasn't shown any signs of being sick. At his doctor's appointment everything was normal and he's been healthy since. I'm feeling better so I'm hoping I'm not still contagious. The nurse practitioner didn't feel the hip click in his left hip but she said his hips did feel pretty loose. Luke has an orthopedic appointment at the end of July so we'll see what they say. Overall, though, Luke got a clean bill of health.

Luke is a good eater over the course of the day. Individual feedings, however, can sometimes drag on until one blends into the next. He likes to take about an ounce at a time with a nap in between until he gets to about three ounces. Some nights we can keep the night feedings to about 45 minutes to an hour long. Other nights the feedings can last closer to an hour and a half. He burps easily and hardly spits up at all. Once he goes down after feeding at night, after he's finally done eating, he usually sleeps 3-4 hours at a time. The first week or so I think I was running on adrenaline and the night feedings didn't bother me too much. By the end of last week, however, the fatigue really caught up with me and I was in a major fog on Thursday and Friday. Now that David is off for a long holiday weekend we've split the night feedings and I'm getting more sleep so I feel better. Luke is starting to have more awake and alert time, usually in the evenings, but for the most part he still sleeps the majority of the time he's not eating. It's the toddler who is really wearing me out!

Will and Luke got to spend last week with Grandma and Grandpa Crockett. Then yesterday Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson came to town so Will has had a steady stream of playmates. Still, he is starting to show some signs of sibling rivalry. He still has episodes where he gets upset when I am feeding Luke or when I'm holding Luke and Will wants my attention. But then other times he seems to be genuinely interested in Luke. Will likes to look at him and whisper "Baby Wuke."

As you can see from the pictures, Will still thinks the dress code around here is pants optional. Also in these pictures you can see my attempt to get a picture of Will in his "Big Brother" shirt alongside Luke in his "Little Brother" onesie. I wasn't too successful at getting a good photo but maybe I'll try it again some other time.

Tomorrow Will gets to go to the Fourth of July parade in Castroville, TX. Then on Tuesday we were thinking of taking him to see Cars 2 in the theater. We're enjoying the rest of our four day weekend with David home. We're also wrapping up some loose ends on finding housing in Maryland. We have found a house in Dunkirk, MD, where we wanted to be, that we think will fit our needs pretty well. We've passed the credit check and all that is left is to review and sign the lease. It's in a pretty rural area and is less than ten minutes from Chesapeake Beach, on the water. It's a relatively easy commute to Andrews. There is plenty of space for us (5 bedrooms!) including an unfinished basement for storage and a huge back yard with a large deck. The town center of Dunkirk, where the shopping and restaurants are, is about 5-10 minutes away. There is not a whole lot there but enough for our basic needs. Annapolis is about 20-30 minutes away so we may end up there for bigger restaurant or shopping trips. We have less than a month until we leave San Antonio so we're getting our ducks in a row and enjoying our last few weeks as Texans.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July!