Luke Warm

Here is our demure rock star son, Luke. Providing us with a large round of indifference.

Makes me wonder about where the expression "Luke warm" came from. It likely originated along with a host of name related descriptions that turned the noun that is a name into a descriptive adjective. Luke warm is the only surviving reference in the late 19th century to a name describing a condition. A few of the failed name adjectives were: Jebidiah angry, Constantine cold, and Hesther hysterical.

Luke warm stood the test of time in the same way that the Fig Newton was the only surviving cookie name from a generation of regional cookie companies that named their products after the region of the factory - i.e. Kennedy Biscuit Works in Newton, MA 1891 - we lived there! In 1898 Kennedy Biscuit works merged with others to form the National Biscuit Company (later NABISCO). Failed regional cookies were from Shrewsbury, Beacon Hill, and Harvard, MA.

Okay, the name story is bogus, but i doubt many people are reading this any way! The fig newton story is correct, actually and insipired my blog. The real scoop on Lukewarm is attached here: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/lukewarm.

Whatever, he is becoming very cute!

Cowboy Up!

Here's Luke with his grandfather - Haylen's Dad, Donald. His other grandchildren call him "oppie" and he got along famously with Luke! You may remember pics from a trip Oppie, Jack and Joey all with Haylen and myself to the Grand Canyon - helicopter ride to the bottom and a walk on the new 'sky bridge' - a glass half circle 4000 feet directly over the canyon floor!







During Christmas Luke really enjoyed the family and is just now recovering from a cold he started on Dec 30. We have been to the MD three times, chest X- ray (negative), RSV test (negative), and no signs of bacterial infection (so no antibiotic indicated), just 2 + weeks of unhappy baby.. In fact, he was only sleeping 15 minutes at a time for almost a week. It turned out that he wasnt breathing properly - 'viral bronchiolitis' inflammation and spasm of the small tubing within his lungs - so sad. We admit, we thought he was messing with us and crying in order to get us to hold him. After 5 days of this discomfort, we had had it.. We didnt know he couldnt breathe well until the MD treated him with a nebulizer and Luke immeadiately fell asleep..





We now trust that every cry is for a legitimate reason and we have the earned the parent guilt of not being enough for our child!





During the illness, Luke had a backed up intestine (called an illeus) causing him to throw up more than usual -which is really saying something! We had to cover ourselves with blankets, he had a bib on and at least 2 spit up rags ready.. It all looked like the TV series "Dexter" where the main character sets up a 'kill room' with plastic everywhere to catch all the blood - see picture below... Even so Luke managed to spit up past the bib, under the towel and into the inside leg of my boxers! I need to rewatch the TV series to learn where I went wrong..

Brokars Family Christmas

We had an excellent time in Philadelphia where Luke was welcomed as a member of royalty. We are grateful! First pic is my niece, Alison and her friend Mara (who only looks at pics and doesnt read my amusing commentary, sadly). Ally is waiting on college acceptance letters, which are a formality, because she is a a genius. (evidenced by her deep affection of Uncle John...)

Here, Luke is with Margo, the 9 month old cousin of Luke from John's Cousin Joe and wife Larissa. Luke is absolutley dwarfed! This may not last, however, as Luke is on an all protein diet and working out his legs and arms every day. He now is over 12 lbs and getting quite long.

Dee Dee (John's Mom) and Mary Ann are doting on Luke, as they did all week. There was general approval of Luke as a new member of the family and the in-fighting as to who holds him next (Lori, Alicia and Chris - John's sisters) was kept civil and with minimal resentment.. We were truly overwhelmed with how everyone loved Luke and made such a big deal. I mean, he's our kid so we love him. Amazing how others love him too!

He did great in Philly, slept, ate and interacted with 45 people in an evening! Hopefully, my relatives will send us more pictures of the event so you can see the size and scope of a Brokars get together!

Last, but not least, Alicia (John's Sister) and Gerry and their children Liam and Alana, had personal time with Luke and us at their home. Liam has some skills already at 6 and 3/4 years old. Of course, it amused him more to move the basket up and down as we shot hoops, rather than shoot them himself. He is a smart little boy and sometimes a rascal, like his father, Gerry!

Clearly, you can see that John still has 'ups' and moves in basketball as he showed Liam what a 'slam dunk' looks like. John is, in fact, freakishly tall. Thank God that basketball and rowing are still sports to use the skills of a boy from the island of 'misfit toys'. Luke may have to learn how to channel his awkward body into events that suit him as well..