Santa stopped here!

Luke was soooo into the holidays this year and really looking forward to Santa Claus visiting our house. He loves Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and knows tons of songs. We visited Santa when he was at the mall the week before Christmas and Luke asked him to bring him some cars. Well, I guess Luke was on the good kid list because Santa did not disappoint. He got a kitchen with lots of accessories.

I'm not sure if you know this, but this kitchen actually serves another purpose other than for kitchen play. It is really great for parking cars in! For the first few days, he kept emptying it out and filling all the doors with his expanding collection of cars.

Luke is really good at talking Gene and I into buying him little Hot Wheels when we are at the store. They are super cheap--usually less than a dollar, and its an easy reward when he's being extra good. The only thing Luke likes more than getting a one car is getting a multi-pack of new cars! Here he is getting a 20 pack! Lucky dog!

Playing cars in the aftermath of Christmas morning. He is going to be a GREAT valet driver someday.

Will fell asleep in the middle of all of this.

The only thing left to do was bundle up and go play in the snow!! Luke was really excited about playing in the snow.

This is my favorite picture of the whole day!!

Daddy & Luke having a snowball fight!

They even made a snowman!

Portraits of Will

Luke went to spend today with his Nammy & Pop pop, so I decided to take Will to have his pictures done. After missing our first appointment due to a bit of a rough morning, we made it to our second appointment. Here are some of the results. . .

Strictly Will

This post is just for pictures of Will. I will post our Christmas Pics next time--there are a ton! I promised I would post some pics a few days ago but I was having trouble with uploading them. I don't know if the problem is completely fixed yet, but I got them uploaded for now. Sorry they are a bit late.

We are still getting to know our little guy and figure out his likes and dislikes. This is what we know so far.

1. He likes to eat.

2. He likes to poop.

Beyond that, we are pretty much clueless.

I am convinced that the La Leche League fairy snuck into the nursery at the hospital and whispered sweet nothings into my baby's ear while I was sleeping because he is like their poster child. Not only is he a champion breast feeder, but the kid's favorite sleeping spot is right on the chest--he doesn't have to be eating, he just wants to lay his head right there--skin to skin. Also, this is really the LLL kicker, he HATES pacifiers, HATES them. It seemes as if he takes it as a personal insult to even bring one near his face. In the first few days he didn't mind them, but now--oh boy, you had better keep that thing far, far away from him. Luke didn't reject his pacifier until he was six weeks old which gave us six weeks of misery waiting for him to find his thumb. Thumb sucking seems so far away for us now.

Will doesn't much care for too much swaddle either. Luke loved to be swaddled--tightly. Most babies at the hospital love to be swaddled as well. I like to swaddle. I think it's cute and I like that it keeps them tucked in and asleep. Well, it really ticks this kiddo off--especially if you don't leave his hands out. Once he gets in a good sleep, he likes to throw his arms up over his head.

Moral of the story--if you really want to upset my kid, swaddle him snugly and stick a pacifier in his mouth! Really, what other newborn has this personality???!!!???

Let it snow,let it snow. . .

Merry Christmas Eve!

As tradition, we spent Christmas Eve at my parents. Just like the rest of the nation, we got to experience some of the crazy winter weather.

Never in my life have I seen it snow around here like this! This was the first blizzard warning this far south in Texas--EVER!! And of course, we had to go out and drive in it. The trip to my parents usually takes about 45 min, but it took us an hour to get there and two hours to get home. Once we got home, it took us three attempts to get the car to go up the incline of the driveway--and its not that steep!

Will got all bundled up for the trip out to my parents.

One of Luke's favorite gifts he got on Christmas Eve from my parents. Here he is enjoying it on the floor of their kitchen. He is really, really into cars--Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Cars Movie. . . all of it. He got this giant semi truck that holds a ton of cars and came half filled with cars. Immediately he unloaded the cars and assumed the position. He always lays down like this to line all his cars up in parking lot rows.

The Cra-Z-Art set from Luke's cousins was also a winner around here. As soon as we got home we had to whip out some paper so we could try out all the colors.

Due to the weather, we decided to skip Chrismas Eve service so we could head home before it got too late. We went ahead and put on our church clothes and took a family picture anyway. It took quite a few shots for us to get a family picture in which Luke was not a blur. Its hard for a two year old to stand still. This is one of the best ones we got.

Luke & his Pop Pop

This is what we came home to--a thick blanket of snow covered our backyard.

Sweet dreams!

P.S. Happy Birthday Nammy!

One more night, hopefully

The home health nurse came to draw Will's blood early this morning. They called aroun one to tell us his level is down to 9.2 now. On Saturday, they told us they were looking for less than 10 before turning off the phototherapy. Because it is just barely below 10, we have to keep him under the lights for another day. I am really hoping that this is the last night for this as Will HATES being in the phototherapy bed because he has to be naked and can not be swaddled. Last night he didn't go down until 4am--I was in there trying with him for four hours! Exhausting! We go to the pediatrician tomorrow for our level check and--cross your fingers--I am hoping they will tell us we are done!

Bilirubin bulletin--

We went to the pediatrician this morning. Will's bilirubin is coming down with the phototherapy. While it is not low enough to stop it yet, it is moving in the right direction. As long as it continues this trend we will not have to go to the NICU. Yay!! Better yet, tomorrow the home health nurse is coming to our house to check his level, so we don't have to bundle up and head across town to get him checked. Double yay!!

Will is here!

Just like when Luke was born, I went into labor in the wee hours of the morning on the day I was to be induced anyway. We got to the hospital around 4am on Tuesday and I was having hard contractions. I stayed pretty uncomfortable until I got my epidural around 9 or 10. After that it was smooth sailing. I started pushing about 1230 and at 1244, William made his arrival. We came home Thursday afternoon and Luke couldn't wait to meet him. (Small children aren't allowed on the hospital floors right now thanks to swine flu, so Luke hadn't been able to meet him yet.) Luke adores him and we are working on gentle ways to touch baby Will. Also just like Luke, Will is jaundice. We went to the pediatrician today--I didn't want to waste any time as I suspected this might happen. Luckily, we are still early and we have started our phototherapy at home. The home health agency came this evening to set up all our equipment and we will have his bilirubin checked again tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will bring it down and we won't have to admit him I don't have much time to write, just wanted to post some pics.

To everyone we told he was 8lbs 9 oz, well I found this evidence--he's 8 lbs 10 oz.

Proud daddy!

Tired & happy Mommy!

No, he's not crying--he's hungry! Kid is eating like a champ!

Big Brother's first glimpse of baby Will!

Brothers finally get to meet.

Getting some sunshine for that darn jaundice.

Luke loves his brother! He wanted his picture taken with him.

His two favorite things--Will and cars.

Getting his snooze on in his phototherapy bed on the kitchen table. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so thankful to be doing this at home this time!

You have five days to vacate the premises. . .

This is a formal eviction notice presented to Mr. William. You are hereby ordered to vacate the premises immediately. Due to persistent complaints in regards to excessive use of common living spaces, late night disturbances, and physical aggression with the landlord, we feel we no longer meet your needs for habitation. If you fail to vacate in five days, medical proceedings will commence immediately and authorities will remove you from the premises.

In order to speed your transition, we have pre-arranged transportation to your new living quarters. You will be more than comfortable in a newly redecorated first-floor room. Freshly painted and with a beautiful chair-rail hand cut and installed by dedicated Dada. You will enjoy vaulted ceilings and ample storage. Amenities include adjacent laundry facilities, full kitchen, free room service, personal hygiene assistant, and round-the-clock concierge services. Linen service provided daily with door-to-door trash pick-up.

Okay, okay. This is my retarded way of saying--I'm ready to be done!! If this baby doesn't come out before next Tuesday, I will be headed to the hospital early Tuesday morning for an induction. Will's room is pretty much completed except for hanging a few things on the wall. Tuesday--dang! I still have to work two more shifts and attend a work party. My Dr. has been promising me all along that I wouldn't go this far! What do dr's know anyway????

Weekly Baby Update...

Hoping this is the last one of these types of updates. . .

Went to the OB today. I am now at a three, almost completely thinned, and very low. Still having tons of irregular contractions and on & off cramping. I am ready to be done. I have started having trouble sleeping just because I can't get comfortable. We three are walking in the turkey trot tomorrow, so maybe that will get things started for this little turkey! Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Update

I visited my OB yesterday and am now dialated to a two, thinning, and the baby is very low. She doesn't think that she'll have to induce me or that I'll make it to my due date. I haven't had anymore episodes of contractaions that are regular. Even though I already had the swine flu, I wasn't tested for it so I got the swine flu shot yesterday. Luke has been running a fever since Tuesday and we got him started on antibiotics yesterday. The doctor thinks it is just a sinus infection. (Thank goodness it is not the flu!!) My mom came over on Wednesday to help us get the house closer to ready. Once I finish the laundry today (hopefully) all we will have left to do is fixing our new office/guestroom and straightening up the garage--which took a major hit with all this cleaning out/unpacking/rearranging we've been doing. Will's room is 95% ready to go. I have to work all weekend. We'll see if history repeats itself--at this exact point in my first pregnancy, I worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (three in a row) and went into labor Sunday night/Monday morning. I am working three in a row--maybe we'll have a baby on Monday or Tuesday!

Tricks and Treats

Tricks:

Not too surprised, but the contractions turned out to be false labor. I never went to the hospital--just stayed at home waiting for them to get painful. After about 13 hours of regular contractions, they dwindled off. I am back to having irregular contractions. I have been having irregular contractions since I was about 17 weeks along, and since I was about 33 weeks or so they have been as often as once an hour--but not regularly spaced and not painful. That means they are just Braxton-Hicks contractions and not real labor. I worked on Friday night and about 2am I started having some painful contractions but they were not regular so they don't qualify as real either. They lasted until I went to bed around 8am. I think I was having those just from the irritation of being at work. I remember last time with Luke, I had this really painful spot on the biggest part of my belly that would actually be sore after working. It is from where my belly hits the edge of the beds at work. This is where all my contractions were starting from and radiating out. Once I stopped banging my belly on the beds at work my contractions stopped. I don't know when Mr. Will is going to make his appearance, but I don't think we'll make it another four weeks. One thing the false labor did for us was get our butts in gear and get this house ready for a baby. Although we aren't quite there yet we made some giant progress this weekend. My mom is coming over on Wednesday to help me finish up and I'll have Thursday to work on it too before I have to go back to work.

Treats:

I love, love, love the state fair. I love everything about it--the corny dogs, the stinky animals, the midway filled with hooligan teenagers. I have only missed it a few times in my life and that was during college when I lived in Waco. This was Luke's third state fair, and I think he had the most fun so far. We spent around an hour in the petting zoo--which Luke loved up until the goat ate his feed cup. This resulted in lots of tears and shortly thereafter we left that petting zoo. Luke got to have his own Fletcher's corny dog. He didn't care too much for the corny part, I think it was too hard for him to eat. He picked the breading off and was happy to eat the hot dog inside. Like any good American kid, hot dogs are one of his favorite foods.

Luke really enjoyed Halloween! I think this is the first year he is truly going to "get" celebrations and holidays. He's real into parties right now. We had a bunch of birthday parties followed by Halloween parties followed by birthday parties. I know he has the association down that birthday party = cake. Kid loves cake. I was trying to get a picture of his Halloween shirt that he wore to his Halloween party at school but he was too busy eating his crackers. I think it's a cute picture anyway.

Trick or Treating:

The actual night of Halloween was great for Luke. I was still trying to fully recover from my flu (but not contagious, just tired and weakly). Luke loved putting on his costume, loved carrying his pumpkin bucket, loved trick-or-treating, but most of all--loved the kids trick-or-treating at our house. In a crafty mood this year, I made his costume. Not the work of the worlds greatest seamstress, but I think it turned out okay for a two year old. I decided to spare him this year and not force him to wear anything goofy on his head. If you remember, his first Halloween he was a pea pod and last year a penguin. Baseball player it is! He already wears his baseball caps willingly. (Ignore the messy playroom in the background. I am sick and weakly, remember?)

Making goofy faces for my camera.

Nope, he's not looking for the ball. He is checking out the fairies in the front yard across the street and BEGGING to go over there. They were out having their pics taken too. Luke was fascinated that they had a pink pumpkin bucket and a purple pumpkin bucket and was just dying to go check out those pumpkins. (Or the fairies, not really sure which one.)

This is him telling me "I want to go over there!!" to check out those fairies pumpkins.

Practicing for later.

His agent took him out for some door to door action.

After they had enough, the boys came home and helped me hand out candy. Luke loved the kids ringing the doorbell and parked himself right by the door until we shut it down. Later that night he woke up crying and I went to his room. After he calmed down all he could talk about was the kids at our door. I guess he was dreaming about them. Man, if he liked Halloween so much, what is he going to think about Christmas??