It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Hello everyone! Yes, we know that it has been quite some time since we updated our blog. Much has happened over the past few months and needless to say, we have been very, very busy. Lucas arrived on September 28th, two days before his due date. Everything went fantastic and we were able to come home only 36 hours after he was born! He was 7 pounds 14 oz and 20 and 3/4 inches long at birth. He has been growing at an astonishing rate! At first we were a little concerned, because at his 1 month visit he was only in the 35th percentile. However, at his 2 month visit (he was actually only 7 weeks old), he weight a whopping 11.5 pounds and had moved up into the 65th percentile. Go Lucas! We were super excited about this. In the past few weeks he has really started to make strides developmentally. He now smiles, giggles, and coos at us regularly. He loves to lie on his playmat and stare at the animals that hang above him. A few times, he has been able to grasp one of the animals that has a rattle attached to it. He also can roll from his belly to his back. He has tried on occasion to roll from back to belly, but he still has a little ways to go on this. On a daily basis he does something that amazes us. He and Molly are getting along quite well. At first, Molly was a scared of him, but she is known to be a fraidy cat. I think she's realized that he is harmless and now she enjoys licking his hands and feet and giving him kisses when she gets the chance. I'm not sure if Lucas understands what's going on yet, but I think he's in love with Molly already :) Who couldn't love our fur baby!

Something that we started a few weeks ago with Lucas was the "EASY" method. Thanks to my good friend, Jess, we started reading the book "The Baby Whisperer". Let me just say that this book has given me back my sanity, and this is chiefly due to the regularly nap routine that we have developed. Lucas doesn't necessarily nap at the same time every day, but he does seem to follow the routine: eat, activity, sleep, and then Mommy gets times to herself. We are still working on our nighttime sleep pattern. For a few weeks he was only getting up once per night, but in recent weeks we have gone back to two feedings at night. I'm not sure if this is our fault, or if he's just too young. We're working on reducing this back to one feeding, I'll let you know how that goes.

We are in quite the Christmas spirit here at the Manicke household. Lucas as visited Santa and attended two Christmas parties already (Nick's and Granddaddy's). The Christmas tree and Christmas villages are up and music is often being played that involves Rudolph, snow, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

I am going to try to be a better blogger. We'll see how this goes...

What a day!

I was hoping for a nice, relaxing day off today. Nick and I had worked hard over the weekend painting the living room and hallway, so I had no plans for today. Unfortunately, my day involved waking up with a sick doggie and then taking her to the vet, sitting there for 2 hours, then being told that she needed surgery for a bowel obstruction. I then cried for an hour or so before they called me back saying surgery wasn't necessary, praise the Lord!! Needless to say had been in quite a state of distress. Nick is at a conference, so I was the lone doggie parent today. The surgeons requested that an ultrasound be done just to confirm the obstruction. Thankgoodness that they requested this, because the U/S showed that there was no obstruction! They kept Miss Molly for the afternoon for observation and gave her some IV fluids. I was able to bring her home this evening. She still is one sad puppy, but hopefully she'll be feeling better tomorrow. I think she may get to sleep with Mommy tonight!

On a happier note, I did receive a shipment of clothes for Baby Manicke that I had ordered from Crazy 8. This was a nice end to a crazy day. I absolutely love them, especially the little jacket. I must admit that I have an obsession with baby clothes though. I am going to restrain myself from buying anything else...at least for a few more months :)

Good times with an old friend

Tonight I drove to Crawfordsville and met up with my best friend and former college roomie, Kalie, for dinner. We had not seen each other since December! Although we talk on the phone often, it was great to be able to chat in person. Of course we had to do our fair share of discussing Baby Manicke :) Kalie bought the baby some super cute things - thanks roommate!! It's fun to think back on our days at USI in our stylish room. We must have been destined to be roommates, because we had the exact same bright green and pink flowered Tommy Hilfiger bedding. Long gone are the days of afternoon naps with the windows open and late night runs to Krispy Kreme for donuts. However, some things will always remain: some wonderful memories and a forever friendship.

Baby Manicke

Since our last post two years ago, quite a bit has happened. In July 2009, Molly joined our family. She is a sweet and precious soft coated Wheaten Terrier, who I almost chucked out a window today because she ate one of my shoes. In the same month, I was able to transfer to the Clarian Arnett system here in Lafayette to a new job. Eliminating my 2 hour plus commute everyday was life changing. In December, Nick graduated from Purdue with his PhD. He's currently doing a one year post-doc, which will end in December. Yes, all of this was exciting news, but our biggest news thus far has been finding out that we are going to be parents! And not just to a dog, but to an actual baby! In early January, we discovered that I was pregnant. Then, on January 21st, we went for our first ultrasound, and found out that we were 6 weeks along. Hearing the baby's heartbeat was an indescribable feeling and it made us realize that "yes this is actually going to happen". I wish there was a better term than excited to describe how we felt. We kept the secret from everyone until my mom's birthday on February 19th. It was great to be able to tell them in person and share in their excitement. So yes, you may very well see my mother at the mall up to her ears in baby clothes :)

On May 13th, we went for our 20 week ultrasound. I had myself worked into such a tizzy prior to this appointment. I was excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. I cannot describe how relieved I felt to hear and see that everything with our baby looked perfect. The ultrasound technician was also able to get some great 3D pictures of the baby's face. She remarked about how he was an usually cute baby. Nick's response was "of course". Yes, I do believe that we have one very proud dad! We had the technician write the gender of the baby on a piece of paper and put it into an envelope so we could open it up at home together. Nick made me put the envelope in my purse and then he put my purse in the trunk of the car to assure himself that I wouldn't open it up on the way home. Of course I would never do something like that ;) At home, we were able to open the envelope up and learn that we are having a baby boy.

Since learning that we are expecting a boy, nesting mode has kicked into full gear. Nick spent today completely redesigning the nursery closet to make it "baby" friendly. Now it's just waiting for us to fill it with all sorts of cute baby stuff. Although, I must admit that I'm pretty clueless about all of this "stuff" that we're going to need. I have made some big decision though. A couple of weeks ago we ordered our nursery furniture. Let me just say that this was no easy task. It took three trips to Kids Room and hours of scrutinizing websites to finally pick it out. Your can click here to see our crib, changing table, and bookcase. The next biggest decision was definitely the bedding. I have looked at enough crib bedding sets online, that I actually had dreams about baby bedding last night. However, I talked to my mom today, who made the decision so much easier. Thanks Mom!! So I think we're going with a nautical theme from Pottery Barn.

Click on the Baby Manicke picture link to see pictures of nursery closet, ultrasound pics, and other baby-related things!