Today in Luke's pregnancy.....

....I was admitted to the hospital. It was New Year's Day, 2005. I was exactly 31 weeks pregnant and feeling very ill. We had gotten up that morning and my body had morphed into the Michelin Man's! I was HUGE with edema, in quite a lot of stomach discomfort and bearing the weight that something must be terribly wrong. We drove up to my parents house for the day to visit with my aunt and uncle who were in town for the holiday. I remember walking in the door and heading straight for the couch. Then the floor. Then the back bedroom where I remained for over an hour....repositioning myself every 10 seconds or so, trying to find a position that was somewhat comfortable. I called the 24 hour nurse advice line after a bought of sudden nausea washed over me and my belly began hurting more and more. After a LONG 45 minute wait on the phone to talk to a nurse, she assessed my 'symptoms'. She had asked if I had any visual disturbances. Nope. Any vomiting? Yes. Any migraine? Nope...only a slight headache. Any epi-gastric pain? Absolutely. Swelling? You bet! She suggested I head to Urgent Care for further evaluation. We got ready to leave and the migraine (complete with visual 'flutteries' as I call them) started before I even hit the kitchen. Was it the power of suggestion or the real thing? Either way, we were on our way to the clinic. Once there, they took NO time to see me, measure my blood pressure (which was something like 150/98) and check my urine for protein. Both came back high and I was calmly told by the Urgent Care doc. that he had spoken with my OB and I was to head over to Redlands Community for 'further testing'. Little did I know at that point that Luke would be born just 3 short days later!

Fast forward two and a half years. Today, I woke up (after not sleeping very well) feeling pretty good. A little groggy from the night of coughing and tossing & turning on the couch, but nothing out of the ordinary. I sucked down my one cup of creamer-diluted coffee while Luke watched Zaboomafoo on TV, checked my email and made us some breakfast. A pretty normal morning for us. After I showered and got us both dressed, we headed out for some errand running. First to the rental car agency to retrieve the garage door opener Ty had accidentally left in the rental car when he returned it, then to Meemaw's house to visit and have some lunch. Then a quick stop at My Gym to meet Krystal and Will, (who were there for the twin's class) and pick up some things they had for us. After that, it was a quick, but quiet stroll through JC Penny, where we scored on an almost identical curtain rod we had registered for at Pottery Barn Kids for just under HALF the price! Whoohoo! It was 1:00pm by the time we paid for our purchase, so we headed home after stopping to chat with an old neighbor who was outside the store. I got Luke in bed for a nice nap by 1:45 and here I am typing away. No tummy pain.....no swelling.....no nausea....no fear of impending doom!!!!! It's been a completely normal first day of my 31st week of pregnancy! Hallelujah and Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful feeling!

In celebrating the momentous occasion of making it THIS far without any foreseeable complications, I decided to do a belly-comparison collage. Here are the Belly O' Babies, both taken at 31 weeks, in as similar and untouched form as I could make them.


Notice how Lukey's belly is much lower than his sister's? If you could see me in person, you would say I was much more of a pear shape with Luke, carrying him low & lopsided, while I am more of a basketball shape with Lil' Girl McLaughlin. As everyone is telling me, I am "all baby" in there. I can assure you that I am certainly NOT "all baby". I am plenty of extra weight too, but I'll take the compliment nonetheless! I'm glad that people aren't brazen enough to say something like "Wow! You're sure getting big......EVERYWHERE!" Or "Even your face is filling out." or "HOW many more weeks do you have????" No.....my friends and family are much, much kinder and gentler than that! :) (Even though my cheeks are pudgy and my legs look like tree trunks!) So it goes, I guess. I'll gladly take tree-trunk legs and rounded cheeks (on both ends!) if it means I can spend more time at home with my family and LESS time in the NICU! Whatever it takes.......whatever it takes.

So....today I celebrate......as I will on Monday when day 206 of pregnancy rolls around and Luke's 'gestational birthday' passes uneventfully! :) Ironically, I have an OB appointment on Monday too, so I will post an update as usual. But until then, we will enjoy a pre-holiday weekend with my nieces here on Saturday night and a bbq with friends on Sunday. Nice and
n-o-r-m-a-l!!!!! :)

Am I a bad blogger, or what????

So much for sticking to my idea of blogging more often! It's already been quite a few days! Oops! Sorry, ya'll! So much to do..........

By the way, just in case you're counting along with me.......FIFTY ONE days left!!

Okay....now let's get down to business! :) The weekend turned out to be simply wonderful! The shower was phenomenal...there were about 15 friends there...just the perfect amount to make it intimate but also not too small. We ate yummy, yummy food (brunch stuff! Mmmmmm...my favorite!) and had a wonderful time chatting and sharing. And then of-course, there were the gifts! Oh how I loved opening all those PINK gifts! :) We were really, really blessed to have received so many wonderful things and are now pretty much set in terms of being prepared for her arrival. Thank you, my friends (and family!)! :) Her closet and dresser are now stocked full of a plethora of pink and white clothes (all washed, I might add!) , her bed is nearly completely assembled and diapers are set for the ready. We picked up a few final things at Target on Sunday and all there is left to do is hang things on the walls and pick up a couple things at Pottery Barn. Whooooohooo! I cannot begin to tell you how comforting it is to me to know that if she arrived tomorrow (which she won't, of-course!) that we would be more than prepared for her. I didn't have that with Luke. We were scrambling even as he came home 35 days AFTER his birth. But not this time. I set out from the very beginning to be 'ready' and now we are. Phew! As soon as I get just the last few things hung on her walls, I will reveal her precious little nursery via some photos. I just want to have it ***perfect*** first! :) You know me! :)

The shower lasted until about 3pm on Saturday, and afterwards my mom and friend Kelli came over for a bit to help me unload the goodies. :) Ty was away overnight at a concert, so once Kelli and my mom left, I was flying solo with Luke for the evening. Luke and I were both a little wiped out (me more than him, I think!) and we nibbled on leftovers from the shower for dinner, watched a video and hit the hay pretty early. I spent a little time in the nursery sorting through her gifts, but exhaustion soon overcame me and I headed to bed.

On Sunday, Luke and I hung out on the couch much of the day. He began coming down with a cold on Friday...sniffles and a cough....and when I awoke on Sunday, I had been hit with it full force! I felt pretty terrible! So we lounged around, nursing our aching and sick bodies until Ty came home after lunch. We dragged ourselves to Target late in the afternoon (we all must've looked like the walking dead!) and were home quickly thereafter for another impromptu dinner of PB & J sandwiches, scrambled eggs and my random craving of corn on the cob. Wierd, I know. But it tasted sooooo good! :)

After dinner, Luke was an eager beaver to get outside and try out 'his new' bike. Our neighbors across the street (who have two boys of their own) were kind enough to bring over a small training bike for Luke that one of their boys had outgrown. Of-course, we LOVE hand-me-downs and this bike is in great shape! How lucky are we! :) A cute little story....the neighbor brought the bike over in the afternoon, as Luke and I were outside for just a minute to get the mail. It was too dang hot to be out much longer than that! When Luke first laid eyes on it, he was immediately taken with it! Being the tired, not-feeling-well, overheated mommy that I was, I quickly put the bike next to the wall in the garage, thanked our kind neighbor and hurriedly encouraged Luke to walk with me (quickly!) to the mailbox. I headed down the driveway, but when I turned to make sure Luke was with me, I found him standing next to his new bike, hands positioned on the handlebars, looking at me with longing eyes. "Ride da bike, mommy!" "Peese???!!" Oh, if you could have only heard the desire in his little squeaky voice! It was to die for! But I was hot and tired, and in NO mood to stand, hunched over my two year old, sniffling and coughing, to try to teach him how to maneuver it. Mean, mean mommy that I am! (And selfish at the moment too!) I softly told him that we could try it out when daddy got home. "Nooooooo, Mommy!!!!! Ride it NOW." "Oh baby, not right now. Soon." He started to cry. Yes, I felt horrible, but I was still not budging on the riding thing. "Do you want to just stand there next to it while Mommy goes to get the mail?" "Uh-huh" he said, shaking his precious little head up and down. Okay...fine....whatever works. So I hurried to the mailbox to retrieve the mail and when I returned a couple of minutes later, he hadn't moved a muscle!!!! He was STILL standing there, hands glued to the handlebars! He was just SOOOO excited to ride that bike! It was the cutest thing I've seen! A little boy's desire to ride a new, shiny bike!

Cute, that is, until I had to PRY his hands off the bike to go inside and he began wailing. Yeah. Mean, mean Mommy! I know. You don't have to say it. But I really didn't feel well. And I knew Ty would be home in an hour or so. And he was. When we arrived home from Target and the weather had cooled , Ty lowered the seat, put on the training wheels and Luke was off down the street with Daddy before you could say helmet! I was shocked to see how well Luke could ride that bike! The first time I saw it, I thought it would be quite some time before he would be big enough to ride it for sure. I was wrong. Here are come cute pictures. We call Luke the Mushroom Man when he has his helmet on. You can see why! :) To us, he kinda looks like those Mushroom Men thingys from Super Mario World! :)



"Bad boy, bad boy...whatcha gonna do...." Doesn't he look like a he's a tough guy in this shot?!

Look Ma! No Hands! He looks like he was trying to be 'cool' here


Cute kid, huh! :) Love him!

Anyway, that was our Sunday! :) Monday was much of the same as far as nursing our sick bodies goes. We didn't leave the four walls of our house that day. Just stayed home, did massive amounts of laundry, cleaned just a little, and napped for much of the afternoon! Luke actually took a world-record FOUR hour nap yesterday! Guess his little body needed the rest! Mine did too!

Last night, my sister Jenn came to stay the night before we took her to the airport this morning for her trip to Hawaii! After we dropped her at the airport, we stopped by Babies R Us to buy our diaper pail and Luke picked out a cute stuffed caterpillar to give his baby sister when she arrives.

We headed home after that for both of us to nap (and hopefully get rid of this nasty, hacking cough/cold thing!) and then it was lunch and playtime. Here is Luke's new toy that Aunt Jenn brought from her house for us. It's an old rocking horse that I believe my grandfather made for us girls when we were little (he made each one of us something.....Jennifer got the horse, I got a toy chest and I think my sister Kim got doll beds. I probably have them out of order, but you get the picture. The horse is OLD!) hehe :) Luke loves, loves, loves it! He hasn't gotten off of it for nearly an hour now! He's still on it as I type!


The fireman's hat was his idea, by the way! :)

Well....I think you're all caught up for the last few days! Time to go get some things done around the house while my medicine is working well and I feel pretty good! :) Pray for a quick recovery! Colds are the pits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially when it's already tough to breathe from baby-pressure! Blegh!

Welcome to the first day of summer!

June 21st! Whoa! How time is flying by! Summer is upon us! We will be cradling our little munchin in our arms in just eight short weeks from today! Wowzers!

And speaking of this precious babe......thank you for playing along in my little voting game! It was fun for me to see the comments come in and read through your thought processes! I deliberately didn't post all week, so as to give you all a chance to cast your opinion. And you did.....thanks! The vote, as most of you saw, was highly skewed toward Ellie, which is what it has been all along, with just one (Diana) voting for Lainey and 2 (my mom and Jenny) voting for Paige as the first name. 70% Ellie, 10% Lainey and 20% for "Other". The final call is still up for debate here in the the McLaughlin house. Funny thing is that we have hardly discussed it since the voting started. We haven't had much 'together time' though in recent days, so maybe sometime soon? Don't be surprised though, if her name isn't decided upon until we see her sweet face in person. It may just take that long! :)

Wow.....a week since I posted last?! We've been busy this week! Lots to recap!

Father's Day turned out great! Luke and I woke early (as always!) and let Ty sleep in for quite awhile before we began cooking his yummy breakfast. Luke was really into helping me prepare the veggies for our herb and veggie scramble, so we pulled a chair up to the counter (a typical place to find him these days when I am cooking) and I gave him a 'safe' butter knife to help me dice up some tomatoes and bell peppers. He did great (and it kept him away from the stove and me for a good, long while! hehe!)


Once breakfast was complete, we arranged Ty's tray with all the goodies and snuck quietly upstairs to wake him.

He was already awake though...having smelled the aroma of breakfast cooking downstairs. We shared our meal in bed anyway, and Luke was SOOOO excited to tell Daddy how much he helped cook his meal! We played awhile afterwards, and I caught a bunch of cute pictures of my boys, but this one was among my favorite.....just snuggling.

The rest of the day was quite mellow. We ran out to Home Depot for a bit to pick up some items Ty needed to begin work on his new work bench in the garage and then we spent the majority of our afternoon working (and playing) out front, while Ty sawed and hammered away on his bench. A prickly little creature ventured into our garage at one point, and Luke investigated him for a long, long time.


It was a furry, little caterpillar (Luke had never seen one up close before) and he enjoyed watching him scurry around the garage floor, and even picked some leaves to give him as he took the little creature for a ride in the back of his tricycle! :) Cute boy! After awhile, we decided the little guy (the caterpillar, I mean) was probably homesick and needed some rest, so Ty helped Luke take him to the planters in the front of the house to 'release' him. We met some of our new neighbors after that, and Luke quickly forgot about his little friend.

Monday brought another OB appointment for me. I am extremely happy to report that all is well! My blood pressure was nice and low (116/58!) and there are ***still*** no symptoms of the dreaded pre-eclampsia!! Hooray! There were a couple of small concerns I brought up to Dr. Hage though. One being that I do seem to be putting on weight a little faster than I think I should be for what I am eating. It's not drastic at all, but just something I have noticed. I don't have swelling though, so were are both pretty sure it's nothing to worry about, but Dr. Hage will run a blood test just to be sure there isn't something more brewing under the surface. The other concern I had was the amount of Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been having lately. Some afternoons they are pretty intense and go away if I lay down, but soon return once I'm on my feet again. Yet other days, they are mild or non-existent. There is no pattern to them though, and I have read enough to know what to look for in terms of pre-term labor, so he recommended for me to rest more and take it easy (is that possible with a toddler and a house to run???) and then to keep a close eye on them from here on out. Despite those two things, I left his office with another renewed sense of optimism about the pregnancy going to term! It seems that the closer I get to the end, the less worried I become and the more confident I feel. It's a nice change from the looming worry I had in the beginning.

On Tuesday, we had Gym in the morning, and then took a trip over to the hospital for Luke to see where we will go 'when its time for the baby to come out of Mommy's belly." We toured a post-partum room, where we talked about Mommy and Daddy staying 'night-nights' in the hospital with his little sister, and we even got to visit the cafeteria! Whoohoo! (Just kidding!) Luke loved the elevator and the trays in the caf. the best, I think! We also visited our old NICU buddies, had our picture take for their Wall of Fame, and I got to show Luke where he spent so many nights when he was first born. I took along his NICU photo album and showed him pictures of him in the isolette, and then pointed out one in the NICU. We talked about the nurses who took care of him and then talked with the ones who were working that day. We looked at pictures on the wall of our buddies Brayden, Jamie and Shawn and talked more about the whole experience. Then we handed over a bag full of Luke's old preemie clothes and preemie book we wanted to donate to them. The nurses were grateful for the clothes and I was happy to be able to share them (and get rid of them!!) since we will ****ahem**** no longer be needing them. :) Before we left home with the bag-o-clothes though, I had to snap a picture of Luke with one of the little outfits...just for comparisons sake.

It is crazy to remember that that little outfit (given to us by my friend Roni) was actually BIG on him! All of his preemie clothes were in the beginning. But look at him now! You would never know! :) Thank God for miracles! :)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we invited Sarah, her boys and Krystal and the twins over for a morning at the pool. We had a fun time splashing and playing! The weather was perfect for swimming....warm and dry, but not too warm. Just right. They all joined us back at home for PB&J sandwiches, Mac-N-Cheese and lemonade for lunch before we were all zonked and in desperate need for a nap! What a fun morning!

Its now Thursday morning, and Luke and I will either head to Circle Time at the 'brary or do our massive Costco shopping excursion this morning. Haven't decided which. The library is certain to be more fun, but we pretty much have NO food in our house, so maybe Costco is more of a necessity?

I'm looking forward to the weekend and my shower....errr Sprinkle....that my girlfriends are giving us. Sprinkle.....isn't that cute?! That's what Sarah called it, I think. Just a little sprinkle of gifts, since there isn't much we need for her arrival.....just girlie stuff and bedding. A celebration of this little life brewing in my belly! Ohhhhh! It should be so much fun! I'm excited! I'm so relieved and THRILLED to actually be pregnant for this one! A rite of passage that all pregnant mommies look forward to! I'm glad I get to experience it the 'normal' way this time! Not that my shower for Luke wasn't awesome....it was! And I was (and still am) incredibly grateful to have been given one, but in my heart, it just wasn't the same, since he had already arrived. Both a blessing (I got lots of boy stuff!!) and a little bit of a sad thing too. But....not this time around....this time around it will be normal, normal, normal! Yay! I got a super cute new dress to wear too! Fun!

So.....I think you're all caught up now. Sorry to cram so much into one post! Its kinda overwhelming I bet......a lot to read. I'll try to update a bit more often now, so as to keep it short and lessen the amount of 'skimming' you need to do! :) Until next time....enjoy the start of summer! :)

Solo Saturday night

I'm flying solo tonight. Part of Ty's Father's Day-of-choice was to spend a little pre-festivities time with his brother tonight. They are hunting tonight. Yes...you read that right.....hunting. Remember how I told you awhile back that Ty is now into bow hunting? Well, there are really big, scary looking wild boars that live in the canyons near our house (Ty and Rod have several pictures of them to prove it! I'll have to post one or two sometime!) and they have spent quite a few evenings camped out in their special little blind (a tent-like camouflage used for hunting) in their little secret spot, as they wait for a little (er....big) piggie to mosie their way. So far, of the 5 or so times they've been out, they have been within shooting distance of a piggie two or three times, but have had no luck in killing one. And I'm not complaining about that AT ALL! I'm happy to have them bond over the 'thrill of the hunt' since it is one of the few things that they do together that reminds them of precious time spent with their dad while he was alive, but I am not so thrilled about the prospect of wild boar meat in my freezer! Ty tells me its the best pork I'd ever come across, as it is much healthier than their grain-fed counterparts from the farm, but I just don't think that I will be able to overcome my mental block about it. Eeewww!!!! So while I eagerly listen to him talk about the adventures of the night, I am also secretly thankful that they did not make a kill. Yuck...yuck...yuck! I can still be a supportive wife and still not be over the moon about the prospect of a stuck pig, right?

Anyway.....'nough about that. My point in saying all that is that Ty is gone for the evening and I am here, typing away in silence. Luke is in bed, getting a MUCH needed and hopefully LONG night of sleep, the house is picked up and the dog is fed. Phew! We had a good day today, but towards the end, Luke was a tired boy, vacillating between giggles and tantrums like a sleep-deprived schizophrenic! Ugh! He was driving me crazy!!!! But I sent him to bed peacefully, and hopefully he will awaken in the morning a new boy!

So what did we do today??? Well....this morning we headed over to Sarah's house to have my 'belly' pictures taken. :) Luke and Ty were there too, and we got some great family shots as well as some really fun ones of just me. I had a blast! And am so thankful to have such a talented friend! (Thanks, Sarah!) When I was pregnant with Luke, I had always dreamed of having maternity portraits done, but both money and his premature birth stole that opportunity from me. I was very sad about that! So, to have them done today was extremely precious and meaningful to me.....even healing in a way! It really meant the world to me! It's a little awkward to have the camera turned on me for a change, but I had a blast nonetheless! Ty took Luke home around lunchtime, while I hung around Sarah's awhile longer to take some more shots, review the pics and chat a bit over lunch. Such a fun morning for me!

Once I made it home, it wasn't long before Ty headed over to his brother's house to 'prepare' for their little adventure, and Luke and I headed back out to prepare for Father's Day! At Ty's request, we will stay home tomorrow (its been an awfully long week for him with having to work Monday through Saturday due to a training/presentation he had to give today) so he is very much looking forward to some R&R with us at home tomorrow. He requested fillet mignon, broccoli (a random choice in my book, but whatever), garlic bread and Newcastle beer for dinner, so we had some grocery shopping to do today. I'm planning on breakfast in bed for him too, so we scooped up a few extra items for omlettes in the morning. In trying to add a little special twist for dessert, Luke and I drove up to Oak Glen to pick up a very yummy, homemade dutch apple pie. They sell the best apple pies up there! MMMMM!! I ended up picking one of for my own dad too....thought he might like that! We stopped at a little country candy store on the way out and Luke picked out a chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick for his special treat, while I opted for the old Oak Glen standby....a carmel apple. Yum! We sat outside in the sunshine and tried to enjoy a little mother-son time, but that schizophrenia I spoke of earlier decided to rear its ugly little head just then, and Luke threw a fun little tantrum 'round the picnic table. Nice. That kinda ruined 'the moment', but oh well. We dropped by my parent's house after that to deliver the pie and wish Grandpa a Happy Early Father's Day, and then it was to the grocery store and home. A busy day. And I'm feeling it now as I sit here. Phew! I think it will be an early night for me.

But before I go........
I'd like to propose a little vote. Wanna play along? Many of you have asked whether or not we have officially decided on a name for the baby yet, and the truth is, we haven't. We have narrowed it down to two, with the middle name being the same for both, but we are both so completely undecided about which one we like best that we cannot seem to make a decision! We really like both names and vacillate almost daily as to which one we like best. Some days I'm sure its one, then the next its absolutely the other. Ty's been the same way. Back & forth and back & forth we go! We've tried asking Luke which one he would prefer, and he always just chooses the last one we say. No luck there, I guess. We've polled just about everyone we know and there seems to be a consensus among you, but I thought it would be fun to have you all vote formally online, just for giggles.

Now....let me just say, that we are in no way choosing the most heavily voted for name simply because it is the favorite.....it can still go either way, but I'm curious to know what you all like. And since I like them equally, well.....I'm just interested in your answers. So here is the deal......if you are a willing participant, you need to click the 'comments' button at the bottom of this posting, choose between the two names I provide, AND tell me WHY you are choosing that name. The 'why' part of it is just as important to me as the choice itself! Also....are there any weird rhyming 'issues' or reasons why we may not want to choose the other name? Simply telling me in person (if I see you or talk to you regularly on the phone) will not suffice this time. I want your answer on the blog for me to keep track of! (Aren't I being a little demanding?! hehe!) And......if you don't like either one, its not nice to tell me so or offer other suggestions! ;) It will be one of these. So.......with all that said, here are your two choices:


Lainey Paige McLaughlin
or
Ellie Paige McLaughlin


Let the voting begin!

29 weeks today!

Today marks my 29th week of pregnancy! Whoa! 29 weeks! It is going by so fast! (I know, I know! I keep saying that, but its so true!) It's a little surreal for me to think that in 13 short days with Luke's pregnancy, he was here! THIRTEEN days from now?! Crazy! I, in no way, feel that this baby will be here in 13 days! HORRAY! Physically, I feel pretty good..keeping in mind that most women at this stage are all experiencing some level of discomfort. I am no different. I am sleeping very poorly at night due to my alternating crushing rib pain or insomnia. They seem to like to take turns. For the last week or so, I think I've probably only netted about 4 nonconsecutive hours of sleep each night. :( Blegh. But last night, I went to bed a little early (I was actually asleep by 10:10) and when I woke for my nightly pitstop around 1:30am and the rib pain was intensifying, I opted to arrange my pillows for a night of sleeping sitting up. That probably doesn't sound like much fun to you, and if I had the choice, I wouldn't prefer it either, but I was SOOOOO thankful that it took away my pain!! I actually slept on through until Luke came in at 5:45! YIPPEEE! SLEEP! :) Oh! The mental difference between sleep and no sleep! I feel like I can conquer the world this morning! Praise God! Along with my sleeping woes, this little girl has brought me the dreaded pregnancy heartburn (which I never experienced with Luke....not even once!) and lots of other small ales. Varicose veins, lots and lots of Braxton-Hicks, and a few unmentionables. :P BUT.......in the scheme of things, I care not one bit about those things if it means I can get closer to term with her! In fact, when I was talking to Ty about them the other day I even said, "I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining too much. Yes, I am uncomfortable at times, but at-least I'm getting the opportunity to experience the things I didn't with Luke." That is truly how I feel. Hopefully, I don't sound like TOO much of a whiner!

Okay......enough about pregnancy.....almost. Before I end that topic for the day, here is a picture of my Luke-belly at 29 weeks.....just for comparison sake. Do you think I look the same, smaller or bigger????


Speaking of Luke....the cold that threatened him earlier in the week turned out to be not-so-bad! He still has a little bit of a runny nose, but it never really progressed past that! Yay! And so far, I've managed to avoid it. Yay again!!!

He did the sweetest, most compassionate little gesture last night that I have to share with you because it just melted my heart. We work a lot on compassion, kindness and concern for others around here, since most toddlers are naturally very self-oriented at this age. We want to teach him, (over time of-course) that he is not the center of the universe....that other people and their feelings are just as, if not sometimes more, important than himself. And we're working on the whole 'sharing' thing too. But anyway......back to last night. Ty was at bible study late, so Luke and I were flying solo for dinner, bath and bedtime. After our dinner of yogurt, salad (for me) and fruit (that's what he wanted, so I obliged!) we headed out front to ride his bike to the mailbox and to play for awhile. We've been taking short walks as a family after dinner lately, or just spending time outside once the weather has cooled off, and we typically include Tess too. Well....last night, I didn't feel like bringing Tess along, but she got super excited as we headed outside...thinking that she was going to go too! Well....apparently she got TOO excited and when we climbed the stairs to head for the bathtub after our little play time, I discovered that she had piddled on the carpet at the top of the stairs. A VERY BIG NO-NO and something that sparks instant anger in me! She knows better, but when she gets excited like that and hasn't gone outside for awhile, she has been known to piddle. Grrrrr!!!!!

So, as rage against her engulfed my heart, I tried really hard to not loose my cool in front of Luke. Instead, I sternly scolded Tess, placed her in her crate and gathered the rags and cleaners for the cleanup. As I'm sitting at the top of the stair, grunting as I scrubbed the carpet (the belly is definitely in the way now!) Luke says: "Bad dirl, Tessy. Pee'd on the tarpet. Bad dirl!" "Yes," I said. "Tess was naughty and pottied on the carpet instead of outside. That made mommy feel very angry at Tess. Mommy doesn't like it when Tess does that!" And that's when Luke, who was sitting to my left at the top of the stairs, wrapped his little arm over me, rubbed my back in a circular motion and said "Mommy feels angry....its otay, Mommy." And then he leaned over and kissed my side. Awwwwww! My sweet, sweet child. I felt such a mix of pride at his behavior and guilt for the level of anger and frustration I was feeling inside. I rally had wanted to throw a tantrum! I was so mad! But his little reaction was so humbling and comforting. I stopped what I was doing and gathered him into my arms for a hug....thanking him for being so kind and telling him how much better he had made me feel. I don't think I'll forget that moment for a long time. It was just one of those that sticks with you....a teaching, humbling moment from such a tiny child. He had a heart of gold just then! Well...he has a heart of gold always......it just shows through sometimes more than others.

I think I will end my post with that today. Its breakfast time and the natives are restless. :) As I look forward to the weekend ahead, I hope that yours is wonderful!