Christmas 2012

Wow. What a month it's been. Month and a half really. Between Luke's birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas, this momma is wooooooo out! We got the Christmas tree and decorations put up this weekend and got the house back to normal. I'm already missing all the decorations though...

 

I seriously took hundreds (not playin...) of pictures since my last post so I'm going to try to pick a few of my favs to sum up the last couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago we went to the doctor and had Luke's ear checked to make sure his ear infection was better. The doc said the infection was gone but they did a test that showed there was still fluid behind it. He said it should drain on it's own but to come back in a month to make sure. This was the Monday after the Sandy Hook shooting so we both wore green in honor of them.

This is my favorite part about behind a stay at home mom. I can take naps with him and rock him whenever I want to. One day he wont want me to do this anymore so I'm trying to soak up every moment like this I can get.

 Luke has been cutting a BIG molar! That thing has been trying to come in for weeks now and it looks painful. Poor thing.

 Playing in Daddy's boots!!!! I lowered him down into them and he thought it was the funniest thing ever!

Visiting with Aunt Michele in Linden for the Ponder Christmas. He threw up twice this evening and I'm still not sure why. He was either sick to his stomach and didn't feel well or he got overwhelmed with all the new faces and commotion. We ended up leaving early because of this and he feel asleep before I could even get him in his car seat. We got home, I got him to bed, and Levi went and got us Chinese food.

 The next day we went to the Shoptaw family Christmas at Aunt Mary's house. He found a piano AND an organ to play. He wasn't as crazy about the organ though because it was way loud, but he enjoyed flipping all the switches.

 Opening presents with Mama J and Poppy on Christmas Eve! He really had fun with the tissue paper!

 Headed to church! We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with Mama J, Poppy, Mimi Points, Laura, Lucas, Landry, and Reagan at FBC. This was Luke's first time to go to church and he did pretty good! At one point though we had all the big guns out at the same time: the iphone, Mickey Mouse book, and puffs. We really enjoyed it.

 Putting out milk and cookies for Santa!

 We had my family over for Christmas day. I'm really upset I didn't take more pictures. I guess I was too busy stuffing my face with all the yummy food we ended up having!

IT SNOWED ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!! I was so excited! The first thing we did was bundle our little snow bunny up and take him outside to play in it. Look at that sweet face.

We went outside right when it started snowing so there's not much snow on the ground in these pictures. Around these parts, if it snows, it snows for like 15 minutes... so I was trying to hurry and get out there, but it snowed for 4 hours so we went out again a little later and let him stand in the snow.

Christmas didn't end on Christmas! We opened presents from Uncle Lucas and Aunt Laura and Patty and Bill yesterday! He LOVES his little red wagon! I think he likes pushing it around the house just as much as he likes riding in it. 

I know I left a lot out, but that's what I get for waiting so long to write a new post. I promise I'll do better now that all the "festivities" are over.

Slackin'

Ok so yeah I know I'm slackin' on my blog here lately, but we've been a little busy with the ten thousand Christmas parties in the past couple of weeks. I have lots to write about so stay tuned!!!! :D

short and sweet

Luke FINALLY recovered from his ear infection. Hallelujah. He was fever free and back to his old self all day Friday and Saturday so Saturday evening we went to play with Landry. They had a great time playing with Landry's toys while their moms and dads visited :) Landry is counting something on her fingers and Luke seems to be trying to figure out how that toy works haha

 Luke loves his Rubber Ducky! However, the last week or so he has NOT liked getting his hair washed?? He screams whenever we start rinsing the shampoo out. Any ideas of why that could be???

 I captured this super sweet picture while Daddy was reading Luke his night night book (Goodnight Moon). This was right before Luke gave him a big kiss :) My heart has melted so many times over the past 13 months I don't see how I still have one.

 Sweet, sweet sleeping baby

 What? Why are you laughing? Do I have something on my face or something?

 I have looked everywhere for alphabet magnets and can't find any so by George I just made some.

 12.14.12 Sad Sad Sad day. I still can't watch the news without crying. I rocked my baby to sleep for his nap and instead of putting him in his crib to sleep I just wanted to hold him. I guess with me being a teacher and a mom it is just really hitting me hard.

 Christmas Breakfast at Laura and Lucas'. Luke is keeping his eye on everybody.

 My little piano player! He had so much fun playing the piano at Mimi's Christmas party. He WORE himself out!!!

Short and sweet, I know, but I don't have much time today. I have to start cooking and getting ready for another Christmas party. Three down, six to go......

i miss him.

I miss him. I miss him a lot. And saying "miss" isn't even a strong enough word. Sometimes I want to scream, "ok! you can come back now!" It's like it still hasn't sunk in yet and it's been 13 weeks. I dream of him all the time and sometimes wake up thinking I heard his voice. He used to tell me that before I was born he would have dreams about me and him bouncing and playing in the clouds. Maybe he's up there doing that now and waiting on me to join him. He talked a lot about wanting to go to outer space. Maybe he has gotten to do that. Whatever he's doing now, I'm jealous because I know he's having a blast. And pain free. At night when I pray, I talk to God and then ask Him to put Bigdaddy on the line (like it's a phone) and I talk to him. I mostly tell him about Luke. He loved my son so much. Luke and I would go visit him once a week and he would always say things to Luke like "Boy, I wish I could be around long enough to teach you how to throw a ball." My response would always be something like "oh hush, you will be able to teach him all kinds of sports stuff." I really believed that.
I loved spending time with my Bigdaddy. Always have.. Even when I was a little girl. One of my favorite pastimes is sitting on his porch in Doddridge talking for hours. And sometimes we didnt talk, we just sat. We just enjoyed being with each other. There are so many memories of him that I will always cherish. Everything from fishing, diggin' tators, playing basketball, gopher and armadillo huntin' to making omelets, shaving his face, riding the mule, and picking berries. The list of memories could go on and on and I've been trying to remember everything. The memory that keeps breaking my heart is his last day. I went to visit him in the hospital after he started having complications from his surgery. When I got there they had him up and moving around which I thought was good. After we were alone I showed him a picture of Luke and he just stared at it and then stared at me. He didn't say a word. I knew it was not good at that point. When I was getting ready to leave my Memaw said something to him about "your granddaughter" and he "woke up" and started looking around for me. I gave him a big hug and joked about how I needed to shave his face for him and he closed his eyes and puckered up his lips. I gave him a big kiss and told him I'd check on him in the morning. I turned back around when I got to the door. I will never forget the look on his face. The look that I can't seem to get out of my head. The look that told me he would not be there in the morning. I cried from his room all the way down to my car and all the way home and the rest of that evening. The next morning I woke up to my phone ringing at 6 am. I had Luke in the bed with me and saw on my caller ID that it was my mom. I knew before I even answered it that she was calling to tell me. I answered, she told me, and I remembered just taking a big breath as my heart shattered into a million pieces. I didn't cry because Luke was right there. He cries if he sees me cry. Levi was at the gym so Luke and I got out of bed, I fed him his bottle, put him in his exersaucer to watch his cartoons, went to my bedroom and collapsed. Levi got home soon after, I got myself together, and tried to go about my day as Luke's momma. We planned my Bigdaddy's funeral, went to his funeral and went home. How my Memaw does it, I do not know. I still tear up every time I walk into their house and see his chair. I do feel pretty lucky though that I have him as my guardian angel now. I got a tattoo on my wrist the day of his funeral of an angel wing to remind me everyday that he is with me. I just wish he was with me in person. Maybe one day it will get easier, but that day sure isn't today.

He Slept a Lot...

In my last post I told y'all about Luke running fever and teething. Well, after 3 hours of crying and kicking and screaming at bedtime Monday night, I knew something wasn't right. He woke up Tuesday morning with fever again (making that the 3rd day in a row with fever) so I decided it was time to take him to the doctor. Doctor said baby had a really bad ear infection in his left ear. This is the first time he's been sick since June!

He did NOT like to sleep flat (his ears hurt worse when flat), so I let him sleep propped up on my chest. This is how our week has been....

 

Monday he slept a lot on top of me

 

Tuesday he slept a lot on top of me

Wednesday he slept a lot on top of me

 

Thursday he slept a lot on top of me

 

And then a miracle occured on Friday. He woke up with no tears and no fever! After breakfast, I decided to get the Christmas decorations back down and put a few more ornaments on the tree and let him play in a strand of lights. I think these may be my new favorite pictures.

 

Look at that happy, pain free boy :)



 I am so happy he is feeling better. This week might have been just as hard on me as it has been on him. It hurts me when he doesn't feel good. I hope I'm not jinxing him by writing all this "feel good" stuff.

 

Oh, and notice you don't see any ornaments on the tree. I stopped them about a few inches higher than you can see in the picture so Luke couldn't get them. This way he can touch the tree all he wants and I don't have to stay on him all day. Our tree is pre-lit so he can touch the lights and not mess those up. And the presents you see..they're fake. I want presents under the tree, but I also don't want to sound like a broken record and say "No, don't touch those" a million times this month. So, I just wrapped some empty boxes with heavy books in them (so he can't push them around the house like he does everything else). He can touch and play with them all he wants and I don't have to worry about them getting messed up. The real presents will be kept in our bedroom. That little ribbon that you see hanging down... yeah, he's pulled at that a few times but no biggie. I was really fearing the whole tree thing with a one year old, but it's worked out very nicely. Well, I need to go be productive now that I (Luke) slept all night last night and I have some energy today!

Medicine and Love

Luke and I have been pretty lazy the past week. I guess we've been resting up from how busy we were the week before. But of course, we make sure to swing everyday! I just say the word "swing" or "outside" and he gets so excited! 

 Eating time has become one of my least favorite times these days.. He's still not too fond of the whole "big boy food" (table food/food that he has to pick up and chew) On this particular morning he decided to smear bananas in his hair. Even though I had to re-wash his hair, it was pretty funny.

We read Boogie Monster and put on our Boogie Monster legs that came with the book! I think he liked them!

 Bath time has been a tad bit challenging lately because he doesn't want to just sit on his booty and play with his toys anymore. He wants to crawl all over the tub so you have to wash whatever body part is facing you at the time. Check out the hair...

 Our new favorite game is "I'm gonna get you!!!!!" I get on my hands and knees and we crawl around the house chasing each other. He laughs so hard sometimes he gets choked up!

Look who started walking! Something just clicked the other day and he started walking with his walker and behind his motorcycle.

 The cute little mullet got chopped off Saturday. ---RIP little mullet---

 At the barber's shop waiting to get their hair cut. "Are you sure about this, Daddy?"

Baby's first haircut! He did NOT like it. Poor thing cried the entire time.

No more mullet. He's lookin like a little man now. We had more errands to run after he got his hair cut, but we had to come home and give him a bath. His hair was stuck all over him because of his tears.

Getting a haircut is EXHAUSTING! He fell asleep on my shoulder while I was talking to Memaw on the phone and telling her all about it.

I just think this picture is cute. I was giving him some medicine right before we ate and he spilled it all over his shirt so I had to take it off. He's licking the medicine off his lips.

 Sunday and today he has been running fever and teething. The only thing that makes him semi happy is reading books and watching cartoons while laying on top of me.

He was feeling so bad this morning, moaning and groaning, so I started rocking him and he fell asleep while chewing on his hand.

He seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon. We'll see if his fever comes back when the Tylenol wears off here shortly. This teething mess is for the birds. I hate when I know he feels bad but there is nothing I can do but give him medicine and love on him.