Luke, Trips and Military Service

This past weekend, the entire Ben Tanner family went to Austin and Fredericksburg. Our best friends, Annie and Dave, live in Austin and we had a great visit with them and our other great friends Spencer and Brittany. Luke slept most of the visit and he was such a sweet sweet little boy. Annie is about to deliver her little Avery - to whom Luke is betrothed. :)

After Austin, we drove to the ranch in Fredericksburg to meet our fabulous friends Elizabeth and Taylor (and dear little Bitsy) for a weekend at Cuatro Estrellas and a photo shoot for little Luke. It was a gorgeous weekend and we had a great time. We did not do our research as to how to best take newborn photos - meaning our timing was off a bit. I guess he needed to be in a deep sleep to take the best photos but we tried. I will post some once they are ready to be shared! :) E Guess Photography is busy at work. We did find out that little Luke loves riding in the "Bad Boys" and exploring on the bumpy vehicles... hmm - taking after his dad already?

It was a fun Halloween weekend!

We did take a few pictures for my brother, Joe, who is deploying this Friday for Afghanistan. He is a 1st Lt. in the Marines - artillery officer. I am so proud of him and also a bit sad to see him go. This is truly his calling and he has wanted to serve this country ever since I can remember. He is so dedicated to what he does and I know he is ready to fulfill his service duty. We will miss him tremendously though. He returns in June. Here are some pictures we sent to him before he leaves.

Little Luke - 3 weeks old

The littlest Tanner is now 3 weeks old. Today we are packing for our trip to Austin to visit Annie and Dave, and Luke's first trip to Cuatro Estrellas. Cannot wait for our photo shoot at the ranch!

Check out the latest pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/HelenLukefahr/LukeAt3Weeks?authkey=Gv1sRgCPCUl_GJ7YK60wE

Sweet Husband!

My precious husband, BJT, and #1 support brought me a gorgeous bouquet of pink roses yesterday knowing I had a tough day with dear Luke. The roses must have made Luke extra happy too because today he was much better! I know each day is different with a child and I accept each day as a gift - whether he is crying or laughing or just hanging out! (I will probably need to reread that previous sentence a number of times throughout the next few months but that is definitely how I feel!!) I love you husband!

Dear Luke...

For the love and sake of your mother's sanity, please stop crying! I have no clue what you need at the moment. I have fed you more times than I ever imagined an infant would need to feed - you have sucked me dry yet you still seem hungry. I have changed your diaper 50 million times. You keep rubbing your eyes but you refuse to go down... I have already taken you for 2 drives... are you waiting for the third time to finally charm your sweet, dear mother and go to sleep? Even a pacifier soothes for just a minute... I rock you forward, backwards, side to side... Read you 4 books, swaddle you, unswaddle you. Now you are "feeding" again and surely it is just to be soothed because I doubt I have much milk after these every 45 minute feedings. This must be that growth spurt the pediatrician told me was around the corner. I am looking forward to daddy's arrival because then I can enjoy a glass of wine and hope that he has the magic touch. :)

I love you always and forever but PLEASE, for the love, stop crying!!!

Your fabulous mother

Maternity photos from the talented E Guess Photo Studio

My dear friend Elizabeth, who has a blog I follow called Guess Press, is quite the talented photographer. Her blog shows some of her work with her precious daughter Campbell, aka Bitsy... After a significant amount of arm twisting from E, I decided I would take some maternity photos. I have to admit that while I loved feeling little Luke grow inside me and the fact that I was carrying our child, I did not particularly enjoy the body changes experienced during pregnancy so photos were not appealing to me. I am so glad I did though. These photos were taken a few weeks before Luke came. I thought I would post a few.

Lazy Fabulous Saturday with my Boys

I have to say that I love every second of Saturdays at home with my boys - Ben, Luke and little Kodies. Sleeping "in" (according to Luke's schedule of course) - going on a long walk through our cute neighborhood in San Antonio - and hanging out with Luke watching college football and the Phillies in the NLCS. Love the Stros turned Phillies - Roy O and Brad Lidge. What a fabulous day - I love every minute of this day.

I tried to have photo shoot #2 with Luke but he lasted a whopping 4 minutes. I got a few cute ones though. Ben said he was probably mad because I put him in a dress... Actually it is a little boy gown - cute and masculine. ;)

Luke is 16 days old today and he is growing and changing each day. So amazing how just the smallest things change each day with an infant. Each day, he gets stronger and is able to have more head control. He seems to be able to focus or at least look more towards light and things in motion.

Love being a mom!!

A brief pause... Team Tanner is back.

I did not realize I have not blogged since September 12th! Quite a lot has happened since then. Most importantly, Luke Hause Tanner was born October 7th, 2010 at 3:59pm in San Antonio, Texas! Thank the Lord he is a Texan! :)

Luke came 3 weeks early. My water broke around midnight on October 7th after my dog, Dakota, started barking incessantly. Ben and I got up to see what in the world he was so upset about and my water broke shortly after! (I have to wonder if Dakota knew something was a-brewin...) Thankfully, we had just taken our labor and delivery education class, and I got the urge to pack our bag 4 days earlier. One thing I did not know (no one really explained this to me) - when your water breaks, it is not like one big pop with water and then it stops... Oh no - it keeps on coming until the baby comes! That would have been nice to know so I could prepare for the travels up to the hospital. (If I think of the physiological process, I should have known this - but still...) Anyways, my labor was a total of 16 hours including 4 brutal hours of pushing the little guy out. His face was turned to the side a bit making it harder for him to come through. Ben was the most amazing support and coach. He was incredible - more than I could have ever dreamed. He was there every second of the way - encouraging me, supporting me and almost reading my mind as to what I needed. He is the best!!!

So through all that, little Luke was born and he was precious, of course. He weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz. Unfortunately, he had respiratory distress and his lungs were not functioning properly. (Mainly due to the fact he was born 3 weeks - almost a month early.) So, he immediately went into the neonatal ICU and was there for 5 days. It was such a trying time for us but we were there with him - feeding him and reading to him when we could. The doctors and nurses at Methodist were amazing! He came home on October 12th and we have been loving him at home ever since. Here are a few pictures of his first 2 weeks.

Father and Son - such a sweet picture!