Hello, February!

Whoa! What happened to January?! I can hardly believe it's already passed us by!

So February it is! I like February...Valentine's Day... my dad's birthday... a short month....the soon-to-be ushering in of spring! :) Its a good month! :)

Hmmm....what's happenin'??? We had a nice weekend...seemed pretty busy though! Luke had his first tumbling class on Friday afternoon! He was SO excited before we left! He kept walking around the house saying "Tumble? Tumble???" Here's a cute little snapshot of how excited he was right before we left:


There were only two kids (including him) in the class, and the other little girl was about a year older and much more adept, but it turned out okay. As with most new things, Luke was a little slow-to-warm at first, and really didn't want to interact or follow any of Ms. Cheryl's directions, but by the end of the class, he was running and playing with the best of 'em. They had lots of different activities out to work on various skills (fine motor, gross motor, following directions, etc) but Luke's favorite was scooping up the plastic balls and placing them into the buckets and then this:


He was pretty fluent on the beam by the end of the session! And at the closing of the class, he sat quietly on his star next to Ms. Cheryl and listened attentively to her goodbye song. And THEN he threw a bit of a tantrum because he didn't want to leave! Next week, buddy....we'll be back next week! Actually, Ty will be taking him this Friday, since I will be headed out of town for my friend Heidi's baby shower in Northern California. It will be a boys-only weekend 'round here!

Anyway, back to this weekend....I worked on Saturday and then Ty and I headed out to a yummy dinner with some friends for the evening while Mamaw watched the Lukester. It was a late night for him...he didn't get to bed until 10:30 since Mamaw didn't have a pack-n-play at her house and we didn't expect that dinner would take THAT long! Whoops! Oh well...he did great! On Sunday, since it had been such a late night, we opted to stay home instead of heading to church. Luke 'helped' me tape off the hallway for some more painting that I am planning for tomorrow and Ty worked in the baby's room awhile. After that, we headed up to Krystal and Will's house for the Super Bowl! There were several kiddos there for Luke to interact with and even he was interested in "floopa" (remember, that's Luke-ese for football). He played well with the other kids and had fun bringing toys to the twins! Too bad the Bears lost! :( I was the only one rooting for them...everyone else was going for the Colts. But hey...most of my family are Chicago native and my sister lives there now, so Chicago was the only choice for me! It was a good game either way though, and we had fun watching it together!

We stuck around home this morning for the twins and Krystal to come down for their 9 month little photo shoot. They are growing SO much! It's hard to believe that they are nine months already, but then again, I say that about every child! They really are just little for a Moment! This afternoon, since the weather is so warm and sunny (it's 75 and clear today....absolutely gorgeous!) we are heading over to a different friend's house for a nice, long stroller walk with the kids. I'm in some desperate need of exercise and I'm really looking forward to some time outdoors! Yay for sunshine!

BTW, thanks Kristin and Taylor for your comments on my last post! :) Guess the rest of ya'll are either to shy to speak up or just not checking in like I had hoped. :(


Well, before I sign off for today, I thought I'd share a cute story with you....every night before dinner we usually pray. We all hold hands and say grace over our meal before we begin. Well....the last week or so, we've slacked off a bit :( but the other night, as we started to eat, Luke just sat there and looked at Ty and I. He sits in between us, with his highchair pulled up to the table, so he's at eye level with us as we eat. So here Ty and I are, digging into our meal like hungry animals, and Luke quietly looks at us and tells us "Pay?"
Puzzled, I looked at him for a moment...not sure what he was saying. "Pay? Pay, what,
honey?"
"Pay!" he insisted again, looking at ME like I was crazy.
"Pay? What's 'pay'?" I asked.
Looking a little annoyed, he thrusts a hand out to each of us and says firmly "Pay, Mommy.
Pay!"

PRAY! I finally got it! (duh!) Ahhh...to be humbled by such a little child! He melted my heart right there on the spot! What a blessing to have your child usher in prayer! We thanked God for that reminder that night and every one since!

Alrighty, that's it for me today! Happy Monday!

Bronchitis, Pneumonia AND and ear infection!

So you know how Luke's been sick with that mysterious fever that transformed into a cough and cold last week? Well, on Sunday, his little cough became pretty nasty and his poor little congestion was terrible, with yucky, really green boogies. On Monday, I almost called the doctor for a sick-child appointment, but decided against it when Luke seemed a little better mid-day and was still active and playful. But by Monday evening around dinner time, Luke had hardly eaten a bite of food ALL day, was reluctant to drink even his favorite juice and at dinner, started touching his right ear and telling us "owies". His lungs sounded horrible and gunky and by bath time, his fever had returned. :( My poor kiddo. I was pretty certain he had an ear infection. I gave him some Motrin and some decongestant for bedtime and he slept pretty well until about 12:30am when the Motrin had worn off. He awoke crying, thrashing around in his crib and when I came to him and asked if he wanted me to hold him, he climbed up into my arms so quickly, as if he was telling me "Take it away, Momma!" He cried a bit as we rocked there in the dark and he asked for more "med-cin" for his ear. Once the Motrin kicked in again, he slept through until morning, but he awoke again crabby, although not tugging at his ear anymore. I called for a same-day-sick-child visit and we were seen right before lunch. And thank goodness! Upon listening to his chest, the doctor said that he definitely has bronchitis and a slight pneumonia on the right side. She also said that his right ear looked "horrible"....retracted, inflamed and just "nasty". Poor child! The crazy thing is that you really wouldn't know it by lookin' at him! Yes, he was coughing, and snotty nosed, and yes, his cheeks were very pink with fever and from hacking. But he continued to be playful and active...he spent the morning playing with his toys and even running around my bedroom as I got ready. The only thing that he ever does to let on that he feels stinky is that he pretty much refuses to eat. Yesterday for breakfast he refused the bowl of oatmeal he had requested and ate maybe a half of a yogurt. For lunch, he only played with his chicken and applesauce, and then for snack ate maybe 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 1 cracker. Same with dinner. :( BUT MAN! This kid is tough as nails! If you've ever had an ear infection, you know how incredibly painful they are, and I know that bronchitis and pneumonia make you feel terrible. My kiddo must just have an incredibly high pain tolerance!! He's one tough cookie! Here are a couple of pics from Monday and Tuesday, when he was at his worst! Looks like a sick kiddo, huh!

Playing in his firetruck:


Goofing off with Daddy(who's inside the truck) before bed...this was the night his ear started hurting! They were throwing toys (gently, of-course) in and out of the firetruck at each other:


And last....wearing Daddy's underwear around his head before our trip to the doctor (like the bed-head???):

Looks like a kid with brochitis, right?!


The doctor placed him on Zithromax (all cillin's are banned now since we had that fun allergic reaction last winter!Remember this?



And today, Luke is on the mend. When he woke up this morning and I asked him how his ear felt he said "bedder". Awww....so cute! The brightness in his eyes seems to be back and he just seems more himself. I'm so glad! We headed out this morning to pass the good news of my pregnancy on to my boss and coworkers and hung around the hospital a bit visiting. Then it was on to Target for diapers and some necessities and now we are home for the afternoon! It's gloomy and drizzly today, so it's a perfect afternoon for some lounging around! I think I'm finally going to be brave enough to bust out the finger paints Luke got for Christmas! I know he'll enjoy that! We tested out the Play-doh last week and it was a BIG hit! Maybe he can make an artistic creation for Daddy! We'll see! It's Ty's late night (he won't get home until 9 or 9:30!) so we have to keep ourselves busy this afternoon! The day DRAGS on if we don't!

Tomorrow is our three-time rescheduled play date with Luke's new friend Rachel and Friday is our first Parent-Child movement class at the Yucaipa community center, so we're looking forward to those! Gotta make sure we're all healthy! Not sure what to expect from the class, but it supposed to be kind-of focused on toddler tumbling, so that should be fun!

I'm off now to prepare for our finger-painting session! Until next time.....

Oh, that reminds me....just outta curiosity....how are ya'll liking the new blog? Are you checking in more often now that I'm posting more? Did you know that you can add comments or just say hello by hitting the "Comments" button at the bottom of the blog???? (hint...hint!) :) The only two people I KNOW are checking in fairly regularly are my mom and Kristin.....(thanks, guys!) Send me some 'lovin' via the comment page, would ya??? :)

A few extra minutes....

Luke's been nappin' for 1 hour and 50 minutes so far! Whoohooo! That may not seem like a big deal to you, but for me, it's close to miraculous! My kiddo, much like his mommy, has an keen internal clock that seems to strictly regulate his sleep cycles and wake times. It's kinda crazy. He almost never naps longer than precisely an hour and a half (usually to the minute!) and every single morning, I usually wake to hear him playing or pounding on his crib and as I look at the clock, it's 6:54! Strange, I know, but its true. At-least I can count on him to be consistent! But today, the story is a little different. He's sleeping longer, which leads me to believe he's not feeling his best. After our mysterious fever of two days last week, he developed a slight cough, which then became a nasty one, along with a goobery, runny nose. Did someone say it's cold season???? Have I ever told you how much I hate colds??? Luke is such a crank when he's got one. Everything makes him fuss or whine and it's just simply NO fun! Not to mention, we've already had to cancel or reschedule 2 play dates last week due to illness and I'm thinking I'm going to have to reschedule our rescheduled one for tomorrow AGAIN! Grrr! Sorry to rant...just a slight irritation of mine! But whatcha gonna do? Not much.

On to other things....

The long nap has had it's benefits though! I was able to nearly complete the first coat of paint in the downstairs bathroom in just under an hour flat! Pretty impressive, huh! ;P We painted to kitchen about 2 weeks ago and still had half a gallon of paint leftover, so we decided to use the same color in the guest bathroom. It actually looks pretty nice! I'm pleased with how it's turning out. I purchased some fabric on Thursday for the new shower curtain that will go in there too, so hopefully that room will be completed before the end of the week! Hooray! (Yes....I'm actually going to sew my own shower curtain....with the help of my mom, of-course. They don't make shower curtains that are long enough for what I want in there, so it had to be a do-it-yourself kind of thing!) Are you doubly-impressed now???!! Hehehe. :) I'll post a pic. when it's all done...just for fun!

Well....nap time has now lasted 2 hours and 4 minutes! I expect him anytime now, I'm I'm just going to sign off while I'm still ahead! As soon as Luke wakes, we'll be heading down to Ty's mom's house so that Ty can change the oil in my car and Luke, Tess and I will head to the nearby park for some playing. Hope you're enjoying your Sunday too!

TGIF!

It's Friday! Hooray! That means that we can look forward to some family time with Daddy! :) We love the weekends solely for that reason. Unfortunately though, I am scheduled to work tomorrow all day, so Luke will get some special one-on-one time with his Daddy. I think its good that they get that time. Its important to them both!

Speaking of Daddy, as we speak, Luke is standing on the chair looking out the window as Daddy takes the trash cans out for trash day. My little pajama-clad, bed-head boy is just so stinkin' cute standing there right now, silhouetted by the bright morning sun, and knocking on the window to capture Daddy's attention! Cute picture...too bad the camera isn't handy!

Anyways.....So what's on the agenda for today? Hmmm...let's see. We plan to just get ourselves ready this morning and head out around 10 to drop off the photos I took on Saturday to my 'client'. (Kinda funny to say it that way...she's really a friend of a friend, but technically she is my client now that I'm officially a little business. Silly.) After that, Luke and I will pick up some sandwiches from our favorite little deli and meet Auntie Krystal and the babies for an impromptu picnic in the park. It's been beautifully sunny and warm the last few days, so we thought we could ALL benefit from a little fresh air. Looking forward to seeing them AND enjoying one of my most favorite sandwiches! BLT! Mmmmm! Yes...I am most certainly pregnant! Absolutely EVERYTHING sparks my interest in food! No sickness for me! I'm still eating like a horse! But even that seems to have tapered off a bit in the last week or so. Things are starting to normalize in that department! I am nine weeks today. (9 1/2 if you're going by the computer, but the OB says nine, so I'm going with that one.) A random thought from yesterday...I was thinking how crazy it is that I am nine weeks along and that is just about how early Luke was. Nine weeks is a LONG time.....at-least these last nine have been. They've gone by slowly. I'm looking forward to time picking up the pace just a bit and anxious for this belly to pop out so I can enjoy it! I'm one of those who LOVES a pregnant belly! I can't wait to more obviously show!

Sorry...kinda got off track there! Let's see....oh yeah....after our picnic, we'll head home for a nap and wait for the the window covering guy to come for our design and estimate appointment at 3:30. We've been in this house exactly 1 month and 10 days and we STILL have not put permanent window coverings up! That's one thing that I need serious help with....window coverings are NOT my thing. So hopefully, this guy will have some good ideas for us.

Guess that's 'bout it for today! Time to grab some breakfast and 'shake a tower' (that's McLaughlin-ese for take a shower, by the way!). Hope ya'll enjoy your weekend!

Better, but still mysterious...

Luke is doing better today, but still is hanging onto this lingering fever. It's been running about 101 all day, but was finally down to 99.8 right before his bath tonight. Still no sign of illness, aside from a vary sporadic cough. He's got some kind of bug. But, the blessing of it all is that he's been acting pretty normal...still interested in playing and eating, so that's good. Since we kept ourselves pajama clad and at home all day yesterday, I needed a little fresh air today, so we decided to head out for Luke's MUCH NEEDED 3rd haircut and a little grocery shopping. I'm always surprised at his reaction to our hair lady. He goes immediately into her arms and up into that big chair for her, like he's known her for ages. He sat quietly watching her the entire time, and was as good as can be. He was excited 'bout the promised sucker after the cut, and again went right into Tracy's arms to go pick out his prize. He's only met her twice now, but apparently she's made an impression. :) So here is what my little Mullet Man looked like before the cut:


And here is my handsome devil afterwards:


He really did have a bit of a mullet thing going on. It was pretty bad! Anyway, the rest of our day was spent here at home, playing in the playroom
cleaning up, organizing and catching up on chores. :) Looking forward to another, hopefully not ill-struck day tomorrow!