Snow Much Fun!

As most of you have probably heard the Midwest had another ice/snow storm on Thursday and Friday. Thankfully we didn't get as much ice as predicted and so didn't lose power (we have buried power lines so I wasn't overly concerned about it anyway). All said, we have about 3/4 inch of ice and about 4-5 inches of snow on top of that. This morning Troy and I decided that Luke should have his first experience playing in the snow. He absolutely loved it as you can see in the video. Luke usually gets pretty upset when he comes inside but he didn't even fuss a little which is surprising given the fact that he didn't want to go in as seen in the video. I've included a few pictures too because Luke is just so cute! Luke did attempt his first snow angel but it didn't turn out too well.

Prayer Request

So, I don't normally post serious topics on here. This one is serious. I am asking for prayers for my Mom. She had a colonoscopy this morning and the results weren't good. The doctor was pretty sure he found some cancer. We won't know for sure until the biopsy results come in but either way she is going to have to have surgery to remove the growth. She is scheduled to have a CT scan on Monday to make sure there isn't anything else to worry about and she is meeting with a surgeon on February 9th to talk about removing the growth.

I have to say this totally caught me off guard- no one is ever prepared to hear the word cancer. Thankfully, the growth is small and it was caught early. My Mom is a strong lady and there’s no doubt that she will come through this just fine; however, all prayers and good thoughts are greatly appreciated.

In the Tub

So you're probably thinking bath pictures based on the title- wrong :) Luke got some Legos for Christmas and I bought a tub to keep them in when they aren't spread out all over the floor. The tub has become more fascinating than the Legos. Luke loves to climb in and out of it and sit in it. He barely fits so he gets into some rather interesting positions.

By the way, isn't Luke's shirt cute! I love the top left picture; I think Luke looks adorable in white!

Aunt Sarah's Visit

Aunt Sarah came for a visit over the weekend. She arrived late Friday afternoon and left early yesterday morning. We all had a great time with her. Luke loves to do anything with Sarah and he had a blast all weekend long. Thanks for coming Aunt Sarah and for babysitting so we could have a date!

Asleep in the Chair

I absolutely love what I am about to share! It has happened maybe a total of 5 times in Luke's life but today's event was completely unexpected. He fell asleep in his highchair during lunch. You might think that's not a big deal but it was so cute and so funny at the same time. It was totally out of left field because he was happily eating a cookie I had just given him when I picked up my plate to take it to the sink and I turned around and he was out. It was surprising for two reasons, one, Luke hadn't acted tired all morning and two, how do you fall asleep with a cookie in your hand? And, Luke loves his cookies, what kid doesn't? The situation became even more comical. After quickly taking a few pictures, how can you not, I went to load the dishes in the dishwasher and I woke Luke up which was my intention (we can not mess up the afternoon nap schedule now can we). He was startled when he woke up but he grabbed his sippy cup, took a drink of milk and continued eating his cookie. Well, at least he tried to- he fell back asleep for a second time. This time the cookie was still in his hand and his hands were pretty close to his mouth. I took a few more pictures and then woke him up. I had to rub his hand to keep him awake to eat the cookie which he really wanted to do because he went straight back to it the second time he woke up. Luke did finish the cookie and then played a bit before nap time but he went down for his nap early and I imagine he will take a nice, long nap this afternoon. I normally wouldn't post 4 pictures that are so similar but they show the progression so well and they are all so sweet. Enjoy- I certainly did!

Sick Again!

So Luke was sick again over the weekend. It actually started late on Thursday when I took Luke's temperature to find it was 102.5 degrees. It was too late to go to the doctor by then and I was really worried he had an ear infection because his right ear was bright red. Thankfully he slept relatively well only waking up twice. When he woke up on Friday morning his temp was 103.2- not good. The doctor couldn't see us until 12:15 so Luke had some Tylenol and we chilled on the couch. As it turned out, it wasn't an ear infection but an infection in his throat. The doctor didn't call it strep but I'm guessing it was similar. So off to Target we went to fill his amoxicillin prescription. Luke took a super nap on Friday afternoon and he slept through the night; however, Saturday morning was a little rough. Luke woke up at 6:45 am and still had a temperature and it seemed that his throat was really bothering him. Poor little guy was inconsolable for about 2 hours when of all things Goldfish crackers satisfied him. After his snack we all took a short nap before he woke up crying again. Thankfully he settled down pretty fast but he still didn't want to be more than a couple of feet away from me (your mom is always the best when you don't feel good). Another good nap in the afternoon and by dinner time he seemed to be feeling better although his temperature didn't break until during the night. Yesterday you could hardly tell he had been sick other than the extra nap he took in the morning. And today Luke is back to his regular happy, smiley self!

Finger Painting

Last Tuesday Luke tried finger painting for the first time. He wasn't too sure about it at first but once I showed him how to swirl the paint around with your fingers he really started to get into it. Unfortunately Luke thought he would try to taste the paint- bad idea. It's non-toxic of course but I'm sure it tastes terrible and he started crying so that was the end of his first attempt to paint. Oh, you can't really tell in the pictures but he's wearing one of Troy's undershirts and he looked absolutely adorable!

18 Months Old!?!?

Really is Luke that old already?!? I've said it many times before but time goes so fast. I can not believe that Luke is a year and a half old as of yesterday.

So, what's Luke like at 18 months old, you might ask? Well, here is a summary. I could never put into words what a joy he is every single day and how much more Troy and I get out of life because Luke is our son. What a wonderful blessing from above!

*Luke still loves bath time and will rush into our bathroom to turn on the water himself if we mention the word bath. I've noticed though that he does it like it much if water gets in his eyes.

*His current favorite toys: Legos (or any blocks really), guitar, puzzles and a set of 12 tiny books. He also loves to sit at the picnic table he got for Christmas and draw on his magnetic drawing board.

*Luke's newest words include: apple, nana (banana), see ya (one of our favorites), up (as a request), cracker (I hear this one probably 30 or more times a day), okie (cookie), be bop (as in the song), b-ball (basketball), diaper, spoon and many more I'm not thinking of right now.

*Luke is currently going through an incredibly picky eating stage. The reason I hear cracker so much is because that is his favorite food group right now and yes crackers are a food group just ask Luke. There have been a few days were he has eaten little else except for goldfish crackers. We are still have a very hard time with veggies- he'll eat the baby food kind occasionally and as for the real thing, next to impossible. Thankfully he loves milk and has 2-3 sippy cups a day.

*He has been trying to open doors for a while now but it's becoming more frequent. If Maggie is outside, Luke's hand is on the doorknob.

*He will let us know when his diaper needs to be changed. He will even lay down on the floor for us before we ask.

*Luke's current favorite book: "Pat the Bunny" He will go through all the actions including rubbing your face to feel the scratchy beard (he gets better results on this one if Dad is reading it).

*He loves going to MDO and playing with the other kiddos.

*Luke has been singing a bunch lately- nothing we know or understand although sometimes it sounds like the ABC's.

*Luke loves to help us. Closing drawers, cabinets, the refrigerator or even picking up his toys will always get a smile. One of the cutest things he's doing is saying uh-oh every time he sees something open or out of place. He also says uh-oh if he sees something he's not supposed to touch like the tv remote or a cell phone.

*Finally, Luke is still a very happy go lucky, smiley little boy that makes us smile every day.

I can't forget to show you what an adorable little boy he is now can I. Here are some pictures from over the weekend. I picked up the bouncy ball at Target on Saturday and Luke loves it!

Christmas with Family

December 29th the 3 of us drove to Topeka so that we could see all of Troy's extended family. We celebrated with them on the 30th and then after Luke's nap we drove to Kansas City for the rest of the week and weekend. We celebrated there with both my mom's and my dad's side of the family. Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we went to spend New Year's Eve with my Dad so there aren't any pictures from that celebration. We had a great visit with everyone and Luke got way too many gifts! We were glad to make it home yesterday after Kansas City got another 3" of snow on Saturday night. The roads were a little rough in a couple of places but we made it.

Luke got a Nutcracker piggy bank from Grandma and Grandpa. It was pretty funny because we passed it around for everyone to see and it came back filled with all kinds of coins and even a dollar bill.

Trying to put more coins in the piggy bank.

What goodies can I find?

Playing with one of the goodies- Luke loves this little basketball hoop

The girls plus Luke

Luke got Legos from Grammy and PawPaw- Mom and Dad were just as excited as he was about it.

Helping Mom open a new puzzle.

The Snow

These pictures don't show really how bad it was. There was a record snowfall of 14" on Christmas Eve. The entire city was pretty much shut down and travel was highly discouraged. As I mentioned below almost every church service was canceled for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We were all very grateful to be warm and have plenty to eat. There was one being who enjoyed it though. Maggie absolutely loves the snow! Troy played with her outside for a while the day after Christmas and she was one happy dog!

Christmas at Home

So these are just a few (of the huge quantity) of the pictures from our Christmas celebration at home. Troy's parents and my sister were here from December 23 until the 27th. Thankfully they made it before the huge snow storm hit on Christmas Eve. We were unable to go to church because the roads were so bad and almost all services were canceled. We ended up watching a service on-line from Kansas City on Christmas Eve. We all decided it's much more meaningful to actually be in the church.

This is actually a week before Christmas when Luke finally decided the Santa hat was pretty cool.

Luke had a terrible cold the entire week of Christmas. This was taken on Christmas Eve and I believe shows exactly how he's feeling- poor guy!

We let Luke open 2 gifts on Christmas Eve.

Reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Santa duty for Dad and Grandpa

Luke was pretty overwhelmed Christmas morning. It took him a while to get in the groove of ripping open his gifts.

Luke loves Thomas the Train and Dad HAD to buy on Oil Derrick for Luke's train set.

Opening a gift with Aunt Sarah.

Grandma reading a new book to Luke.

This is the picnic table that Troy and I got Luke. He loves it!