School

Here is the little man at school with his wonderful, wonderful teachers. That's him in the middle of the group picture... with his fist in mouth (as usual). He will be four months old on Tuesday - hard to believe how fast he has grown up. He already looks like a little boy to me.

Elizabeth, I know how you feel - where has my newborn gone?

Survey!

So, I stole this idea from Annie's blog - thanks, Annie. I thought this was a cute survey... and I never do these. So, here goes:

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while blogging?
Some of my favorite snacks/indulgences are Ben & Jerry’s, Pringles, and Edamame – not limited to ‘while blogging.’
2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?
My husband. If he doesn’t count as a thing, food.
3. Beach, Mountains, or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
Farm? Why is farm even on this list? Mountains – too cold. Definitely beach.
4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?
Vacuuming. (This was a tough one – I hate everything about cleaning the house – except the clean house that comes as a result of it).
5. Who do people say you remind them of?
It’s always someone I don’t know. “You remind me of my friend’s cousin so-and-so.” And then, they will look at their friend and say, “Doesn’t she look like so-and-so.” And the friend will say, “Oh, YES!” I never know if I should be flattered or insulted.
6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying home with the fam?
Staying home with the fam (shocker) … especially with my new baby boy!
7. What's your all time favorite movie?
Of all time: The Shawshank Redemption. Other favorites: Father of the Bride, Meet Joe Black, Family Man, Love Actually, and Stranger than Fiction.
8. Do you sleep in your make-up or remove it like a good little girl every night?
I remove it – love that clean face feeling.
9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it?
I have always wanted to learn to speak another language fluently.
10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?
Picking which security line will move fastest at the airport.
11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
How handsome he is… and that he worked at Pine Cove.
12. What is something you love to smell?
Fresh cut grass and my baby. I think Heaven will smell like a combination of the two. Annie – I also think I have a super-sense of smell. Maybe I should add ‘smelling’ to #10.
13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.
I’m not good at making – or even returning – phone calls!
14. When you have extra money, what's the first thing you think to do with it?
Buy William something fun.
15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest? Usually silent. Philip makes me laugh!
16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
HEB, Banana Republic, Loehmans, and…. Nutcracker Market!
17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time?
Work out.
18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
Depends on the day. Usually frugal.
19. Who is your favorite character of all time? (from a movie or a book, can't be real)
I have always liked Jane in Pride & Prejudice (all Jane Austen characters for that matter. Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth….) I also love Hugh Grant’s character in Notting Hill and Tina Fey as Liz Lemmon in 30 Rock.
20. Would you want to be famous?
No way. I wouldn’t mind doing something to deserve fame. Like write an amazing book, or inventing something incredible, or saving someone’s life. But being famous for the sake of being famous would be terrible.

My Little Pumpkin

What a great Halloween! My little pumpkin looked so precious! As his Pops said, "He's his Mommy's little doll..." And he was. This will probably be the one and only year I get to pick his Halloween costume, so I took full advantage. Plus, as a friend recently suggested, being a pumpkin for Halloween is like a right of passage.

William was pretty happy the whole day, but didn't quite know what to think about leaning against a pumpkin while 7 people oohed and aahed over him. He kept looking at me as if to say "Is this Ok? Should I cry?" Both of our families spent the day with us. It was such a good Halloween that nothing could spoil it...

...Not even the fact that we only got three groups of Trick-or-Treaters (wah-wah.) And not even the PLETHORA of creepy Halloween decorations in people's yards throughout our neighborhood. Not even the fact that I ate the entire contents of the first round of (chocolate) Halloween candy I bought, and had to buy more (non-chocolate) the day before Halloween.

In other Halloween news, I learned this year that October 31 is also the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church, which began the protestant reformation. Thanks to William's school, Memorial Lutheran School, for the tidbit!

The Best Day of His Life

Pictures from the past month:

Pictures from October 25:

At 14 weeks old, I think William had the best day of his life today - literally! He was SO happy to be with his family and friends! All in one day, 'Uncle' Adam came to visit, we went to see Mimi and Papa, and Auntie Annie came over and brought him a new hat.

Mimi played patty cake and got the little man laughing - which melted all of our hearts! And he seems to like his new hat too!

In addition to a good day, we have had as exciting past month. William got to meet 'Aunt' Mel and Miss Kim, hang out with his buddy John Marshall, be 'shown off', meet his Uncle Cams, and wear blue jeans for the first time. Enjoy the photo collage of our fun memories!

This week was Mom's first full week back at work, and William's first week at school. More on this to come!

WORLD Wide Web

Thanks to all of you friends and family who read this blog! I recently made the blog private because of a little incident with 'Google Alerts' - not because I don't want any of you to read!

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You tell Google Alerts which topic you are interested in, and you provide your email address. Google searches the web, and each it finds the topic you listed, it sends a notification to your inbox. I have one set up for my company name (and so do most of the 1,800 employees) so that I can learn when and how my company is 'in the news.' And... a couple of weeks ago, a Google Alert for my company's name picked up MY blog (because I have the company name listed in my profile.) This means that MANY of the employees got an email with a link to my blog!

I am such a private person (blogging for friends and family is a big step for me anyways) and I was SO embarassed! Alhtough I love my company and my colleagues, I didn't intent this blog to be a company-wide event. Thus, taking the blog private is my attempt to keep some sense of privacy - a rare commodity in this informtion age!

But I love that you are here, and I love your comments! Read on.... and if you know of someone who read the blog but who has not gotten the invite, just let me know (preferrably, send me their email address) so that I can add them to the list!

And certainly, thanks so much to my sweet friend who provided the tip on how to make this blog private - you know who you are! I think you are a blogging guru and goddess, but I will not announce you to the world, for fear that you would become a blogging 'help desk'!

7 week photo shoot

So... we had William's pictures taken this week - by Chris W, who did our wedding a little over 3 years ago! We love the pictures and a few highlights include:

• Us learning that Wiliam does NOT like being undressed
• William peeing on me - twice. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes with me - which prompted Philip to call me a Boy Scout. Hey, there is nothing wrong with being 'always prepared.'
• Having to feed the little man in the middle of the session (thanks for being patient, Chris!) It's a good thing I was 'prepared' with a bottle

We understand the strong possibility that William will soon be rolling his eyes with embarassment at everything his parents do... and thus, we are trying to get in all of the family portraits and sweet kisses while we still can!
Here are a few of my favs:

The Last Dr Pepper

So, this baby weight is sticking around. I thought that all of the pounds would magically fall off by now. (Isn't breastfeeding supposed to help with that?)

But, since they haven't, I have decided to make some adjustments to my diet (currently: terrible) and exercise (currently: none.)

The first thing to change? No more Dr. Pepper. I developed a new love for it when I was pregnant... and just haven't stopped drinking it. I could probably write a whole post on why I love the sugary caffeine goodness so much - but I digress.

Just in case cutting Dr. Pepper doesn't help me drop ALL of the baby weight, future posts could include: "No More Ice Cream", "I love salads" and "Hitting the Pavement."

But as my wise friend recently reminded me, baby weight is "9 months up, nine months down."

William's To Do List

For those of you that know me, and if you are reading my blog, I assume you do – I love lists. To-do lists, grocery lists, etc… So, I have created a list that sums up 6-week old William’s days. In even as little time as a week, I am sure this list will be different – so its main purpose is to help me remember what the little guy (and consequentially, I) was up to at this point in time.

1. Eat – usually 8 times a day for about 20 minutes each. Mom takes most of the feedings for now, but usually Dad feeds William a bottle once a day.
2. Make dirty diapers – usually around 10 a day! Who knew?
3. Change clothes – we usually can’t get through item #1 or #2 without getting the clothes dirty. I think the most we changed William’s clothes was 6 times in a day…. Before I stopped counting! When I was pregnant, one of my co-workers (who has 2 boys) told me she does 3 loads of laundry a day. I thought she was crazy. Now I get it.
4. Play – How does an infant play? I wondered this myself when we first brought him home. “What should I DO with him when he is not eating or sleeping?” Now, playtime is my favorite time with him. Some our favorite things to do are: read books (never too early!), go on short walks around the block, ride in the car (he LOVES the car!), sit in the bouncy chair (and kick, kick, kick), have tummy time (he doesn’t like tummy time yet, but we still do it), and “sitting up” – he loves to be propped up on our legs to face us. Most of the time, we just stare at him, talk to him, and love on him… and we consider that play time too!
5. Sleep – He is in a nice little schedule of Eat, Play, Sleep. He sleeps anywhere from 1-5.5 hours, with the shorter naps being during the day and the longer ones being at night. God must give a special grace to new parents. I LOVE my sleep, but am somehow able to tear myself from it at least twice a night to feed the little man.

6. Bathe – William took his first real bath about a week ago (after his cord fell off). We bath him every day (usually) and he loves them! (I almost forgot to add bathe to this posting... I'm glad I remembered. Wouldn't want anyone calling CPS thinking we don't bathe our child!)

7. Grow – William is constantly growing and changing! Most recently he has starting kicking, cooing, and even smiling at us! It’s still hard to tell who he looks like most, but he sure gets more handsome every day. And my Granny put it best when she said, “He looks like himself.”

8. Make my parents fall more in love with me...

4 weeks

William will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! Here are a few pictures...

Touched by Prayer

One of the most special things about these past few weeks is getting to spend time (even if brief) with so many loving family and friends. It is so special to see how much love William is surrounded by. And to be honest, I have been humbled - my soul has been touched - by how much love Philip and I are surrounded by.

One of the things that has made the biggest impact on me over the past few weeks is how many people have said "I prayed for you" or "We prayed for you" or "My prayer list prayed for you" or "So-and-so has been praying for you." How can I respond to so many and such sincere prayers that were lifted to the Lord on my behalf? The 'do-er' in me feels a bit frustrated that I can't DO anything in response. I can't send everyone who prayed a thank you note. I can't even repay everyone with reciprocal prayers. The only thing I can do is humbly and gratefully accept these prayers... knowing that there is nothing I did to deserve them, but that my life has been forever touched by them.

And... I can 'pay it forward.' Prayer has taken on a new meaning in my life. Knowing how much I have been touched by the prayers of others, and truly believing that the Lord hears our prayers, has given me renewed vigor and joy in praying over others. So, I would like to send a heartfelt "THANK YOU" to all of these prayer warriors who have blessed me so much.

And, as a quick update... we are doing great! William went to the pediatrician today and is healthy and growing. I am healing great and feeling well!

"Do we not find our minds wandering and ourselves even a tad bored in prayer at times because we wonder whether our words are bouncing off the ceiling? How differently would we pray if Christ appeared bodily and sat in a chair across from each of us, leaning forward to concentrate on what we are saying? Beloved, if only we would realize that although He is invisible to us, that is in essence what He does!" - Beth Moore

William with the Grandparents

William with Mimi on 7/17/09

William with Papa on 7/20/09

William with Lollie, Poppie, Uncle Ant & Daddy on 8/1/09

William was two weeks old on Friday! Here are a few pictures with him and his loving, wonderful grandparents (Mimi & Papa and Lollie & Poppie)...and his cool Uncle Anthony.

Also, I am having trouble figuring out how to comment on other people's blogs... something may be wrong with my computer or blog settings. But most likely, it is a user error. When Annie comes over next, she can teach me what to do! Until then... thank you all for your messages, warm wishes, and kind words! They are a blessing to our little family!

Complete

I just wanted to fill you all in on some of the amazing details of the past few days. William and Philip and I are home and doing great. A new baby is such a joy, and of course, we think little William is perfect. A few pictures are attached – I’m sure there will be many more to come! Giving birth to William was the most amazing experience of my entire life. The experience, and William’s life so far, has helped me understand in a new way just how good our God is. He is faithful to answer prayers. He is great enough to be the author and sustainer of life. He always knows what he is doing – truly, His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And, oh, how He must love his children! Here are a few details on how God has provided for our little family over the past few days.

My water broke at 2 am Friday morning, the very day of William’s due date. Philip and I headed to the hospital, me rejoicing that our baby was soon to arrive – and laughing that he was right on time! Although my water had broken, by 6 am, labor wasn’t progressing much on his own. They gave me Pitocin to speed up labor, and the Dr gave me my epidural shortly thereafter. Thanks to the epidural, labor seemed so fast, and I was able to enjoy it and keep up my strength (I strongly recommend that any woman having a baby give herself this gift). By 3:30 pm, I was ready to start pushing. So far, it had been a typical "textbook" labor according to my L&D nurse. William was delivered at 4:15 pm, a healthy baby boy weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and measuring in at 21 inches long.

After William was delivered was when things got scary. I began having a lot of pain, as the Doctor and nurses kept ‘massaging’ (aka, pushing really hard on) my uterus. I noticed that they hadn’t brought William to me, but had sent him over to the little warmer in the corner of the room. I overheard someone comment that I was bleeding a lot and they needed to stop it. Very quickly, the room started buzzing and the number of people working on my went from 2 (Dr and Nurse) to 8. I was fully awake… and started getting scared when I heard phrases like “Do we need to get her an Operating room?” “may need a blood transfusion” “blood pressure is 60/40” and “may have to do an emergency hysterectomy.” I started getting really weak and just turned my focus on 1. Praying and 2. Breathing. The Doctors sent Philip out of the room to go with William to the nursery, and provide our families with an update. One of the people working on me (from anesthesiology) told Philip to kiss me goodbye before he left. That was an emotional moment for both of us. Philip

Our parents and friends in the waiting room immediately kicked into prayer mode – and I was at peace knowing that I would be covered in prayer. I was even told that one of the doctors prayed over me! The Doctors were able to find the source of the bleeding, and stop it. The situation stabilized, and despite a big scare, the loss of a lot of blood, and some extra soreness for the road ahead, I am completely fine. Praise God!

I think that my mom summed it all up with words better than I can:

So here's what I've learned:
1. A hospital like Tx. Women's in the Medical Center of Houston is awesome. Pregnancy, labor, delivery--none of it is routine. It may seem like it is these days, because it most often is, but as Lauren's L&D nurse said, "This is why no one should ever even consider having a baby at home."
2. The value of friends, family, friends of family, family of friends, friends of friends, and even complete strangers who will drop everything and pray is unbelievably powerful. Many of you texted messages to us like "2 prayer teams from 2 churches praying" and "praying non-stop" and "lifting L, P, W up in prayer." On July 17, 2009 we personally witnessed the power of prayer, as well as God's healing touch. There is no way we could have done this alone.

I will leave you with a moment from late the night of William's birth that I cannot thank God enough for and one I hope that may enable me to get a bit of rest, that of tears streaming down Lauren’s pale, exhausted face, her holding William, looking at her tired, tearful husband and saying, “Our little family is complete.”

Feeling Real...

So, I am the worst blogger ever. I should probably change the blog name to 'Every Month...'

Regardless, a few highlights from life as-of-late:
1) My sweet college friends throwing me a baby shower... it was so fun to see everyone. And all of the precious gifts made this baby seem so much more real.
It is hard to believe there are three of us (me, Jill & CeCe) that have babies on the way! I'm glad I can set the benchmark for growth and pounds gained!
2) Nesting! As soon as I got home from the shower, I HAD to have a place for everything... (we'll see how long that lasts.) So, Philip and I worked on the nursery: finished painting the chair rail, hung the drapes, and put together the dresser. I was so excited when I found the dresser at Ikea... but had no IDEA how much work it would take to put together. 3 hours, and what seemed like 3,000 parts later, Philip and I finally had it assembled!
3) Time with Annie and Jeffrey!
4) 'Passing' my glucose test
5) Applying for life insurance. Nothing says 'I'm grown up' like having a life insurance policy!

Spring is here!

What's new with the Lukefahrs? We recently got back from Hawaii, I (Lauren) am getting over the flu (don't feel too sorry for me - I have been feeling plenty sorry for myself!), and we (Philip & Frankie) are planning to paint the nursery this weekend! Best parts about Hawaii:

* Private dinner for two by the beach
* Laying by the pool
* Virgin Pina Coladas
* Wearing flowy, comfortable clothes...everywhere
* Getting away together, pre-baby
* Feeling the baby kick - from the outside of my tummy - for the first time
* Sweet Sis taking great care of Mama cat when we were gone
* Coming home to spring - the azaleas here in Houston were in full bloon and just as beautiful as anything in Hawaii!

Wish us luck painting the nursery... especially since A&M is supposed to play in the NCAA tournament the same day we are scheduled to paint! We are planning on painting the walls two shades of blue - darker blue on bottom, light blue on top, with a white chair rail in the middle.

Good Idea/Bad Idea

It's time for another round of Good Idea/Bad Idea. Good idea: be in your dear friend's wedding. Bad idea: assume that the bridesmaid's dress you bought before coming pregnant will still fit at the wedding.

One of my best friends, Alison, got married this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding, she was a beautiful bride, and I am so happy for her and her husband Paul.
Here are a few pictures from the special day... including my and my baby bump at 20 weeks.





Philip and I had one more good idea this weekend: join Second Baptist church! We are so happy to have finally found a church home with a Sunday school class we both love. Want to learn more about the church? Ask us! Or...click HERE

Over reacting to say the least....

So... I wish I could say that as a pregnant woman, I have maintaned all sensibility and steered clear of irrational thoughts and actions. But, I can't. However, if I can't be rational, at least I can laugh about it afterwards...

Philip and I had a good laugh last night about my most irrational pregnancy moment so far. The story ends with me accusingly asking Philip, "Love, WHAT are you doing with your hangers??" Apparently the story begins with me doing laundry, looking in his closet for hangers, and finding not as many as I needed. In my irrational mind, my husband MUST have been doing something with his hangers... something to purposely irritate me. And he had been hiding it from me... maybe he was secretly taking them back to the dry cleaners without telling me. And I was going to get to the bottom of it.

The best part is that my wonderful husband didn't even accuse me of being riduculous (at least, not in the moment.) He simply promised that he wasn't secretly hiding hangers. I guess 'the bottom of it' is that a wise man knows to pick his battles carefully with a pregnant wife!

Baby Lukefahr is a BOY!

We found out last week that we are having a boy! Philip and I could not have been more excited... or surprised. Everyone who shared their opinion thought this baby was a girl. Not one single friend or family member thought this was a boy. But the neat thing is that Philip and I thought it was a boy from the very beginning. We even had a boy name picked out! We are so happy to know the baby's gender and, according to us, he is already starting to take on a personality! So far, I have felt him kick during LOST (twice), during the Superbowl, and while listening to Dave Matthews. Looks like he is fast becoming his father's son!

New House!

Here are some pictures of the new house (new to us.) It gets less new and feels more like home every day. We moved in around September of 2008 and have loved decorating and making it 'ours.' We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful home.

...and that's the magic number

"A man and a woman had a little baby
And there were 3 in the family
And that's the magic number"

Philip and I are so excited that we have a baby on the way, and that soon, our family will be three. I am 16 weeks pregnant today, and am counting down the days until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am ready to begin my planning frenzy, which will no doubt consist of painting a nursery, buying bedding, buying clothes, and lots of other things!

So far, Philip has done a wonderful job taking care of and catering to me (pregnancy is a job for two!) The strangest thing to get used so far has been my appetite change. I used to LOVE food (anything but musrooms and tofu), and now, just about nothing tastes good. So, I would say that I have more food aversions that cravings... and anything that sounds even remotely good (e.g.: fruit juice/smoothies, pancakes, applesauce, Pirates Booty, Granny's chicken and dumplings, Schlotsky's, bean burritos from Taco Bell), I eat it!

More pregnancy updates... and pictures of the new house... coming soon!