Cars, Fish and some Superheros

I'm referring to the movies we watched with Luke this weekend since he didn't feel well. Friday night we watched "The Incredibles" and then since I was sick of watching the same 3 kid friendly movies we have over and over I bought 3 more at Target Saturday morning. We watched "Cars" after nap time on Saturday and yesterday we watched "Finding Nemo." Based on Luke's reactions I think he liked "Finding Nemo" the best (it's one of my favorites too). Thankfully, yesterday afternoon Luke's temperature broke and he started acting more like himself. The weather is supposed to be awesome this week so hopefully we can enjoy some time outside rather than being in front of the TV.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Last weekend we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday at their house outside Branson. It was a relaxing weekend, one because that's how dad wanted it to be and two because the weather was yucky and cold so we didn't go out. Luke had fun playing with his cousin Wesley and we all enjoyed watching the basketball games. We ate way too much good food and enjoyed the family time.

Random

I haven't posted in almost two weeks. It's not that there hasn't been anything interesting going on I just haven't made it to the computer with enough time to type. So here I am and I'm not sure what to write about today thus the random title.

I've been thinking a bunch lately about how fast Luke is growing up. That's not a new subject for me but it always amazes me and also bothers me at the same time. Luke is 20 1/2 months old. His 2nd birthday is less than 4 months away and it makes me sad. Don't get me wrong, I love this age (when have I not loved the current age). I can just see certain baby traits disappearing and I know I'll never experience those again with Luke at least.

A couple of the newest things Luke has going include talking in sentences (not always understandable but sentences nonetheless), saying no way more than he should (nothing new for a toddler) and not wanting to be carried anywhere unless it's his idea. I am still frustrated that I can not figure out a way to get him to eat solid vegetables other than sweet potato fries and the occasional green bean. Ketchup and ranch dressing are great to lick off of veggies and then spit them back out. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Luke currently has another cold. He has been sick so much this winter. I can't wait for the warmer weather to come and stick around for a while. Overall, Luke deals pretty well with not feeling good. He gets a little more clingy and fussy but he's usually still pretty happy. The unfortunate thing for him is that he always seems to have a nasty cough to go along with his colds. Neither of us sleep the best when he's coughing because I'm lying awake listening and worrying and Luke is coughing so much he can't stay asleep. We were up last night from 3 am until 4:30 am- ugh!

Speaking of last night, what a game K-State played against Xavier! Troy and I were none too impressed with the refs because they definitely cost us the win in regulation time by not calling a non-shooting foul. Thankfully, we managed to pull out the win in the second OT. Troy and I were a mess during the OTs and had a hard time calming our nerves so we could go to bed. Who would have thought that KSU would be in the Elite Eight and KU would be out before the Sweet Sixteen? Definitely not I but way to go K-State!

Go K-State!

This year has been especially good for K-State Basketball. At one point we were even ranked #5. Tonight is the Big 12 Championship game and Troy and Luke are all set to cheer on the Cats! I didn't realize they had matching shirts until I pulled Luke's out this morning. Let's hope that's a sign of good luck! GO KSU! Oh, in case you were wondering, Luke can say: Go Cats, Go K-State, Purple Power and he pumps his arm to each of them! What a smart boy he is :)

Sesame Street: 1 2 3 Imagine

Troy and I took Luke to see Sesame Street: 1 2 3 Imagine this morning. I knew that Luke would enjoy it but I never would have guessed that he would have liked it as much as he did. From the moment the show started until intermission 45 minutes later, Luke did not stop clapping, dancing, smiling and saying Yay! It was SO fun to watch his reaction to everything. He sat on my lap during the first half of the show and then he sat with Troy for the second half. The second half was a bit more low key but Luke still danced and clapped his hands through most of it- I think he was also getting a bit tired at that point. Throughout the show, if Elmo wasn't on stage Luke would ask, "Where's Elmo?" The lady sitting next to me even commented on how much fun Luke was having. It was a very special event for all of us and one I definitely won't forget.

Low Key

This week has been super low key. Luke and I haven't done much because all of us have had some form of the stomach bug that seems to be going around. I left last Friday morning for KC again to visit Mom because she was still in the hospital (she's much better now and has been home since Sunday). Friday night Luke didn't eat anything for dinner and a little while later he threw up all over the coffee table in the family room- yuck! Saturday morning he was in his high chair and had a major blowout! Troy really got a good dose of being a dad while I was gone. Unfortunately, early Sunday morning Troy was really sick too- throwing up and going to the bathroom every 15 minutes. He didn't go to work Monday and came home early Tuesday. I got the mild version of all of this and just haven't felt right all week. None of us have had much to eat until yesterday. Thus the reason behind our low key week.

Luke didn't even go to MDO on Wednesday much to his disappointment. It's amazing to me that he knows what day that is every week. In an effort to still make the day special and cheer him up, I got out all of his wooden trains. We don't play with them very often because they are still a little beyond his age and he needs constant supervision so he was totally psyched to have them out! We had a lot of fun putting together a track and Luke really enjoyed pushing the trains up and down the bridge. I love Luke's smile in the bottom picture- it really shows how much fun he is having!

Recent Pictures

We finally had some warm enough weather to get outside. Luke loves going down the slide and he figured out that he can climb the steps all by himself because they have a short rise. He was quite proud of himself. 2-27

This is same tub that Luke loves to sit in- he's found a new fun way to play with it now. Aren't my boys cute?!? 2-25

Luke loves the book "Hop on Pop." He also thinks it's great fun to act out the name of the book. 2-21

Playing with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson- they watched Luke while I was in KC with my mom. 2-21

Looking cute and having fun wearing Mom's sweatshirt. 2-21

The very adorable owl hat that Great Aunt Barbara made for Luke that he finally decided was cool enough to wear. 2-20

We have to have 2 spoons at every meal- one for Luke and one for whoever is feeding him. Luke decided he needed both spoons to see if he could speed up the process :) 2-18

Just chillin' with Mom after naptime. That's always the best time of the day for snuggling. 2-17

Playing trains with Dad and Mom on Valentine's Day. 2-14

A coworker of Troy's has a large outdoor train that we took Luke to see. He was beyond excited! 2-13

Update on Mom

Life has been a little stressful and hectic lately. I have been focusing most of my thoughts on my Mom. She had surgery on February 17th to remove her right colon- it went very well with one very unexpected hiccup which I will describe below. She ended up staying in the hospital a little longer than expected because her recovery was slow but I was in KC to bring her home on the 23rd. Her recovery was going very well, she was not in any pain and eating rather well so I came home on the 25th. Later the same day, Mom went back to the hospital because the doctor was concerned she may have a blood clot in her leg. It turns out she did but it was small and they sent her home that night. Unfortunately, her stomach decided to act up and gave her fits all night along with some rather severe nausea. She was back in the hospital on Friday because of dehydration. Her symptoms did not improve over the weekend and she is still there today. Yesterday was the first day she felt better although she is still on a clear liquid diet. The doctors do not expect her to go home before the end of the week. They have run numerous tests to determine the cause of the problems but nothing has been identified yet. There is a possibility she just had a very nasty bug that hit at a really bad time. Going back to her surgery and the hiccup- the doctors removed several lymph nodes from outside her colon which where all cancer free- yay! However, there was a lymph node inside her colon under the tumor that turned out to be cancerous. It is extremely rare for the lymph node to be inside the organ like that. The doctors are concerned because there is a possibility that the cancer could have been sending out signals to other lymph nodes in her body. She has an appointment next week to discuss options and a treatment plan but there is a high possibility she will have to go through chemo. This was definitely not something she was anticipating having to deal with and after all of her problems with nausea lately this is not good news (obviously). So, I ask you for continued prayers for my Mom's quick recovery and a positive outcome regarding the hiccup.