All healed up now!

Back in April, we took Luke to the zoo. While it was only a short morning trip, he had lots of fun. He wanted to ride the carousel so his daddy took him. However, once they got on, he just couldn't muster up the courage to stay on the horse. So the two settled for a good seat to watch the action.

We also went for a ride on the train. It seems that maybe there were a few too many people on the train that day as it was having some difficulties getting up some steam to go. We spent some long minutes sitting still--well, the train that is, toddlers NEVER sit still.

Then it was off to the hospital for Luke's tonsillectomy and other misc. procedures. After a long pre-op morning without any food, they finally came in to give him his pre-op sedation.

Before sedation:

After sedation:

He was in lala land. He always has loved circles and he was MEZMERIZED by this IV pole once those drugs kicked in.

He heard my camera beep for to take that picture, and his head back, his little drunk voice warbled "cheeese!" It was hilarious. He managed to peek his head up to see what I thought was so funny.

He is all healed up now and doing great. So far we have no more snoring, he is talking so much better already, and most importantly--no snot! He has been back at school and hasn't picked up anything! Hooray!

No more early birds!

This is a cry for help.

For most of Luke's life, he has been a late sleeper. Up until recently, we generally slept in until at least nine and it was not unusual to sleep until ten. For the past two months, though, Luke has been getting up earlier and earlier. He has been getting up at 6:45 am consistently. I am not an early morning person, Gene is not an early morning person. Our house is not very plesant at 6:45 am. How can we get Luke to sleep longer? It doesn't matter what time we put him to bed or how long his nap is the day before. Any suggestions out there? And, no, I am not locking him in his room to let him cry it out. That won't get me any more sleep, and I don't want to scare him. He has never been "locked" in anywhere, and rarely has he been left to "cry it out." Just the occasional whimpers at night--never more than five minutes or so. Even in his crib he was generally content to play with his toys until we came and got him. Now that he has discovered that he can get out of his big boy bed on his own, he takes complete freedom to come and get us up too.

Help! What can we do?

Two year old pictures

I finally got around to taking Luke for his 2nd Birthday portriats. Here they are. . .

My favorite:

Spring things

Things have been busy around here. My work schedule has been super crazy and I have been working extra shifts. It is so busy at work right now that I come home exhausted every morning. In between it all we have been battling another sinus infection with Luke for weeks. We finished antibiotics yesterday and his surgery is a week from today. Please, oh please, let it end the constant snot (and drooling.) Lately I have nicknamed him ooey-gooey.

Spring is here! Luke loves it and constantly wants to be playing outside. Outside? Outside? Outside! OUTSIDE!!! Outside? That is what I hear all day. Whenever he talks on the phone to his grandparents all he talks about is going outside. Provides easy entertainment for us, if only I could put him out there by himself, I could get a whole lot done around this place.

Watching him try to blow the fluff off this "flower" was funny.

My little farmer boy. Notice the extensive drool marks on his shirt. The tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy should make his airway larger and easier for him to breathe. He won't be such a mouth breather and therefore drool less. . . . so they say. Please let it be true!

Farm kid's got his boots on now. . . oh wait, those are mommy's boots. It was so funny to see him walk in these. He was a little wobbly but actually did pretty good.

Luke has taken on a new behavior--one of many that has sprouted since he has been two. I call this move "The Silent Protest." I believe he gets it from his Grandma Juli. When he doesn't want to do something/go somewhere, he simply lays down on the floor and says "sleeping!" Often he goes so far as to close his eyes and fake snore. Its funny until you really are in a hurry to do something/go somewhere, because he turns into a dead weight. He is a solid kid, pushing 34 lbs now, and I just can not lug that weight around all the time.

Luke is very interested in animals and feeding them. We went to PetCo today and he pointed out all the bird food, kitty food, fish food, mouse food, and all the waters in all the cages. He especially loves sharing his food with his Hank-dog. Although Mommy usually doesn't approve, this day he was sharing so sweetly (as opposed to throwing it around the kitchen and laughing when Hank went running for it) I just couldn't resist taking a few pictures before the sweet moment was over.

Cows gotta eat, too. Who knew cows liked teddy grahams?

Easter bunny, Easter duck, Easter puppy?

We spent Easter over at my parents. We went to church in the morning and grabbed one quick photo before changing into our play clothes.

You can always count on Zoe to bring the holiday themed head gear! Once again, she did not disappoint with the pink bunny ears. I love this picture because you can see Zoe behind Luke with her duck beak whistle. The bunny and the duck were chasing each other around and around the table. Luke had paused for a quick ear check.

My dad's cousins, Mary & Martha, were with us for Easter also. They brought the sweetest puppy and Luke was just enthralled with it. It was a great size for the kids because when she jumped up on them she didn't knock them down (like all the other dogs we know.) That evening Luke came home and found a stuffed puppy in his toys that was about this dogs size. He has been spending a lot of time with it--yes he made sure to feed it too (unfortunately the stuffed puppy got applesauce.)

The kids had an egg hunt. Can you really call it a hunt if the eggs are just scattered in plain view? It was too soggy outside so we had to spread them out indoors. While Zoe was into quantity, Luke and Maya were definitley into quality. Luke made sure to open each egg as he found it to examine its contents. If he approved, he ate it on the spot. If he didn't like it so much, he dumped it on the floor and kept on walking. Maya was a little less discriminatory. If it had something in it, she ate it. Towards the end, she was smart enough to shake the egg to see if anything was in there before opening it.

Sweet Maya polishing off the last of an egg.

Doctor, Doctor!

See those big red tonsils? Found out today that they are coming out May 1. Poor little baby. . .

Oh, and he's getting ear tubes too.

Quack, Oink, Moo, Luke is Two!

Today was Luke's second birthday party, even though his real birthday isn't until next week. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun! Luke is very into farm animals right now and asks for his "farm tv" (Baby Einstein's Baby MacDonald) almost every day. In one swift move by super mom (with help from super dad) we transformed this place into Luke's own personal farm, well, as close as we could get it without going broke or springing for real animals. Heck, we didn't even spring for real hay. Anyway, I think everyone had a good time, I know Luke did.

At the beginning of the month, I whipped out these little invitations:

The barn doors opened to read "Oink, Oink, Moo Moo! Luke M*** is turning two. Join us in cowtown for the celebration!"

Just a few short weeks later it was party time. Our little man woke up ready to party today. Grandma Juli was here which made things extra special. Luke LOVES his Juli. When Juli is here, Luke's world IS Juli. Here he is getting in party mode early.

Mama made some pretty realistic decorations. Luke tried to sit on each animal--somehow though, none of the animals would have it. (Sadie made sure I knew that those animals weren't real.)

Cousin Zoe, whom Luke talks about almost every day, poses sweetly in her cowgirl hat. He says it "Zohhhh-Eeeeeeeee.

I was a little nervous about games. Last year we didn't do any games/activities, but this year I felt like we should. I was nervous about getting the kids interested, but I learned all you need is Sadie or Madie. Get one of those two going, and everyone wants to see whats going on. Make sure they are on your invite list if you need a hoppin' party. Sadie helped Luke and little bro Connor at the henhouse. Each nest was full of eggs and you had to find the eggs with your sticker on it. All the eggs had a prize inside, candy, stickers, super balls, etc. She was really good at finding the matching stickers, and her favorites were eggs that had candy inside.

Cousin Maya was riding this horse like she was in a rodeo! I see some barrell racing in her future.

One attempt at getting a family picture. Do you know how hard it is to get a two year old to stand still?

I truly believe that Luke's favorite element of any party is the food. The fact that our parties are generally buffet style, and almost always have chips, is like Disneyland to him. Not only did he eat the fruit and crackers out at the beginning, but once lunch was served, Luke & Maya split two plates. Then Luke proceeded to eat all the fruit dip off Juli's plate before just taking it away and polishing it off. I got him a second plate which he was hard into when I realized the party was nearing its end and we had yet to open presesnts or cut cake. I had to take his plate away to open presesnts. What other kid do you have to take the food away from to get them to open presents? If you remember from last year, this is pretty much the same food story.


Luke opened his presents slowly. As like Christmas, Luke takes the time to enjoy each gift as he opens. It was a little hard to take away his new toys and "force" him to open another one. He has really enjoyed getting to know his toys after the party.

Then it was time for cake. . .

MMMMMmmmmmm! Creative Memories Bakery provided us our delicious (and cute) cake!

We've been practicing singing the Happy Birthday song and blowing out candles so Luke thought it was great.

A second attempt at family photo.

Luke enjoying his cake.

Sadly, the party, and the all-you-can-eat buffet, had to end. Luke with his Great-Grandparents who had driven a long way to celebrate with us. It was wonderful to have them here.

Luke helped Aunt Kim get ready to leave. They tied on their cowboy hats together.

The party's never over until we have a silly picture of daddy.

Haha! I didn't make you suffer through any compare Luke now with Luke last year. But if you enjoy it, you can check out our birthday post from last year by clicking here.

Dallas Blooms!

We went to Dalls Blooms! at the Dallas Arboretum this week. It was so much fun! There was a petting zoo, lots of play houses, a teepee, and tons of space for the kids to run free in. Luke talked about the goats for the rest of the day. We had a picnic lunch and got to spend time with our friends. We also met little baby Quinn who slept almost the whole time. The flowers were beautiful. I'll never figure out how they keep that place so gorgeous despite the stampedes of children running through there. Thanks go to Cari who suggested we visit during Blooms. The weather was perfect!

Luke playing in one of the houses. He kept crawling up on the bed, wanting the covers, and saying "nite-nite." Then doing his pretend sleep for about 5 sec before popping up.

Our friend Ryan.

Our friend Kati.

These boys look like they are up to something. . .

Lunch Time!

Luke brushing a goat.

Chasing each other around.

Moments after this shot, Luke was stuck in that tree.

Our friends Kati and Amy.

Sweet angel children.

(psst. . .someone hold up the baby's head. . .) Ahh, much better.

Ty chasing bubbles.