First Molars

Luka has been pretty irritable lately. All week I've been checking his gums to see if maybe he's been teething and is in pain. Finally yesterday I felt two little bumps on the upper part of his mouth, and one has a tooth protruding. Ouch. First year molars are on their way! Poor little thing- he always had trouble with teething (some babies I hear have no problems at all). He did have a little fever earlier this week, but no cold... so I figured some new teeth might have been the cause. Soon Luka will have a mouthful!

Crystal Springs Rhododenren Garden

Just the 2 of us

Eric is in Washington all week! He's back with his old employer and he his doing an install job, so it's just been me and Luka.  I love when 4 o'clock rolls around and Eric comes home just in time to relieve me and entertain Luka (who is getting tired off being around his Mama allll day). But this week I don't get that... on the other hand, though, it's nice not to have to worry about dinner (and dishes)... and when I put Luka to bed I get the whole place to myself! But we miss Eric and can't wait for him to get home.

Toddle toddle toddle

An old movie

Since I only just figured out how to post a video, I want to share this one of Luka that is REALLY old... He must have been only 4-5 months since he is not sitting up yet. I just love his laugh, and it still sounds almost the same, so here it is...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Eugene

Eugene was interesting.  It took us a little over 1.5 hours to drive from Portland and through the Willamette Valley... a lot of farms, rolling hills, and vineyards.  We tried out Eric's new GPS, and it was pretty cool knowing where we were going, even though we didn't really know where we were going.  First we drove up to the UO campus and then decided maybe we should check out downtown first. So we parked and hung out at the Saturday Market for awhile near the stage and ate lunch. After that we walked around a bit, and looked at downtown Eugene. The people were nice and interesting, a lot students, a lot of young families, and a lot of "granola eaters" (if you know what I mean). After we walked around we went back to the car and GPS'd our way to the Rose Garden and Skinner Butte. Skinner Butte was pretty incredible- from the top one looked over the entire town of Eugene, and off in the distance was the snow-covered Mt. Jefferson. The vegetation in Eugene is already so much different that Portland... it seemed much more rugged and dry. When we finished up there we drove through the UO campus, it's big and the neighborhoods that surround it are very nice. We looked at a couple housing areas, which we may apply for. A lot of decisions need to get made! Anyway, here is a link to the few pictures we took while in town: Eugene

Easter

...there are more own our picasa albums: Easter

Very exciting (and scary)!

If you haven't heard yet, I have been accepted to the University of Oregon's Art and Administration graduate program in Eugene, OR. I can't believe it... I really was not expecting to get in. So Eric, Luka, and I are facing some HUGE changes... the most obvious is relocating to Eugene, the second most obvious is me going back to school! It's scary, slightly stressful, and completely great at the same time. I'll be getting a master's in Arts Management, which I am really looking forward to. I'm scared out of my mind... and both Eric and I have a hundred "what if" questions and concerns. We have to make some tough decisions like, will Eric stay in Portland if he does't find a job in Eugene... will I find good child care for Luka in time... will I be able to manage a full-time curriculum with being a mom... can we really afford all this??! Of course we will work it all out (we're good at that). I'm so happy to see some of my future unfold. Having been unemployed for the last 14 months (granted I've been taking care of my Luka) and unable to land a new job made me question my abilities and talents... I'm so happy the University sees something in me. Phew, my head is spinning... so for now I'm just going to concentrate on Easter this weekend!!

Could it be??!!

The weather forecast says is will be in the low 80's on Monday!! I really hope so. This weekend we have had such beautiful weather, and so many trees are in bloom. I was really getting tired of the gray, rainy, cold winter and early spring. 

The Children's Museum

Yesterday I took Luka to the Portland Children's Museum, and I was amazed by it! I had so much fun watching Luka explore and toddle around.  There was a treehouse for Luka to climb through, a ton of little nooks, and gadgets for him to play with. There was water room, a mini grocery store with carts and checkout lanes, a mini diner, hospital, woodworking shop, etc. There was also a theater where Luka stood on the stage with the other kids, while us parents all sat in the audience. At point the curtains were drawn and I had to wonder what was going on... after 30 seconds they reopened and there was Luka just curiously watching a girl beat the drums. There was a mini garden were you could pick cloth flowers and re-plant them, a babies garden, a twilight trail, and a Bob the Builder exhibit. The place was packed with such cool things to do. I wished so bad that I had brought my camera with, but I'll have to go back again with Eric and take picture of Luka and Eric working the table saw.

A tiny tot

Luka has graduated from "Book Babies" and is now attending "Tiny Tots" at the library. This last Thursday a mom that I have come to know came up to me and said that one of the other moms there had just learned her son was also born with a tethered spinal cord, and was scheduled for surgery this coming Tuesday. So I started talking to this mom, who's son is the same age as Luka. It turns out he is also having it done by Dr. Selden at OHSU, so it was really nice to get to relate with this woman and also ease her worries. She was also relieved to see that Luka is such a good walker, because her son Henry only just recently became able to sit up. Apparently his tethered cord has really affected his physical abilities, so I am happy Luka never had to go through that. I'm hoping everything goes great for them this week, and I look forward to seeing them after his recovery! 

Hallo, Ich heisse Susan.

I enrolled into a "Keeping Up With German" course that is taking place every Wednesday evening through the Portland Community College. I really hope it helps... but now I am beginning to wonder if I'll be able to continue it because Eric is (oh by the way) going back to work on Monday for his old job, and he will be doing some out of town traveling during the week. Meaning I'll have to find a babysitter for Luka while he is gone. I'm sure we'll work something out.

Communicating

As of now Luka can say:

"dada" for eric, anything he associates with eric (guitar, t.v., etc.), or anything exciting. 

"mama"for me, but it really just means he wants milk or comfort. 

"ba"for ball.

"bir" for bird.

"da"for dog.

"hat" (whispery) for hot.

"lishh" which is "licht" in german (light).

"dat" for that- which is what he does when he points to things.

And he LOVES to say "uh oh!", he purposefully drops things just so he can say "uh oh".

He is also doing new things to communicate. Instead of speaking he has developed some of his own signs, such as opening and shutting his hands when he wants to be picked up.  He also does this thing where, say for instance, he wants me to pick up a ball and put it in a cup. He'll grab the ball, then grab my hand, put it in my hand, and then push my hand towards the cup. Or if Eric and I are looking in a different direction and he wants us to look at him he'll grab our nose, hair, ear, or anything he can and pull our face towards him (or vice versa to get us to look away from him).