1 Year Later

It was one year ago today that our life changed forever in a very sudden, unexpected and ultimately wonderful way. Lucas Alexander Hemmer was born at 2:35pm at an extraordinarily tiny 12" and 1lb 5.9 oz. Nothing could have prepared us for everything we would go through between that day and now, but looking back, we have many amazing memories and the hard times, while not forgotten, are far overshadowed by the countless moments that filled our hearts with joy. Words can't really describe how blessed we are and how lucky we feel. We couldn't have done it without the amazing support from family, friends and even many good hearted people we barely knew.
It's hard to believe that a year has already gone by. Luke is doing extremely well and constantly surprises us with new faces, sounds or something he learned to do. He loves to crawl around, exploring every corner and everything he comes across and pulls himself to standing every chance he gets, usually followed by a soft plump onto his backside. It's amazing to watch him grow and it seems he gets bigger every day.
He still has his medicines for reflux, asthma-like symptoms and to continue to heal his lungs, but before long those will be distant memories as well. Everyone that sees him says how amazing he looks and you'd never know  he had such a rough start.

To commemorate Luke's first birthday, we put together a little photo and video collage of Luke's first year with us. We hope you enjoy it.

Luke's 1st Halloween

When Luke was a baby he made such funny sounds and we would call him "baby dragon".  So it was only fitting that we dressed him up as a dragon for his first Halloween.  Her are a few pics of him.  He didn't enjoy the hood part very much because it kept covering his eyes.

Almost 1 year!!

In a few short weeks, Luke will be turning 1 year old already. It's sort of mind boggling. He's getting big so quickly and he's doing new things all the time. Since the last update, he has begun the early stages of crawling. He does his own version of the "army crawl" and will get up on his knees, but hasn't quite figured out how to move forward once he's on them. Soon enough we'll be chasing him around. We also think he'll be getting his first tooth soon as he has started doing a really funny thing where he opens and closes his mouth over and over, sort of like he's chewing gum. We'll try to post some video of it soon.
That's it for now. We'll post some new photos and maybe some video on his birthday so check back soon!

Laugh Out Loud

Luke is doing new things each and everyday.  He has been laughing for awhile now, but never like this. Watch the video to see Luke giggling so loud with the help of daddy.

Trust Your Instincts

So the cough that Luke had sounded like more than just a cough.  We decided to contact his lung specialist who squeezed us into an appointment.  They did a chest x-ray on him.  His doctor said that he had an inflammation in his lungs and his cold triggered an asthmatic reaction.  They gave him a steroid shot which helped him right away.  He was put on an inhaler to open up his airway.  We go back at the end of October to have him rechecked.  He sounds good now.

Under the Weather

So it was inevitable that Luke would eventually get sick.  This past week not only was Luke sick, but also John. They both were sneezing, coughing, and had runny, congested noses.  Not to mention fevers.  For his first time being sick Luke did pretty well.  He kept up with his eating and overall was still a pretty happy baby.  He still has a cough that sounds pretty bad, but we are keeping an eye on him.. Doctor says give it a few more days to clear up.

Today we had an eye appointment.  This was our first one with the general ophthalmologist since we were released from seeing his specialist.  It was interesting to see how they tested his vision.  The doctor would hold up different lenses as well as a light up to each eye and based on a reflex she would see is how they would determine how well he was seeing.  She said that Luke is near sighted in one eye and far sighted in the other.  She said if you don't do anything to correct it eventually the brain will choose one eye to use and the other can become a lazy eye.  Therefore, she said he will need glasses.  We go back in a month to recheck his eyes and she said he may get them as soon as then.  I can't imagine our little baby with glasses.  We are hoping that he won't need them that soon.  It will be interesting to see how he will keep them on.  We will let you all know how the next appointment goes.

Here Comes the Airplane

Luke, who is now 9 months old as of August 26th, is enjoying his introduction to the many different types of fruits and veggies.  So far he has taken pears, peaches, apples, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas.  The only one he has not liked is the peas.  He let us know right away that he didn't care for them and refused to open up for another bite.  As mentioned last time he has started his physical therapy to help with his gross motor skills.  It is amazing just to see how much he changes from week to week.  He has been able to roll from his belly to his back.  We often see this when he wants to be done with tummy time.  However, just the other day he was able to go from his back to his belly.  He is also doing better in the sitting position.  He can hold himself there for awhile, but once the momentum gets going watch out before he takes a nose dive.


Today Luke had a follow up with the cardiologist and it was all great news! All the tests looked ok and the doctor said we won't have to come back. Always good to hear.


Finally, we think Luke might be ready to write his own blog entries. Watch the video and let us know what you think. ;)