Luke ate what?

Luke ate spinach and mushroom stuffed jumbo pasta shells for dinner! YAY! He ate some new solid veggies! Of course they were surrounded in cheese and covered in tomato sauce but he still ate them and that's what counts. I was totally not expecting him to eat it but he did. IT WAS AWESOME! I have to say they were mighty tasty- so glad I tried a new recipe :)

A Good Sign!?!

Yesterday after Luke's nap he kept repeating potty. That's not terribly uncommon. We have a "potty" for him in our bathroom that he has occasionally sat on usually with pants still around his waist. On Monday I bought a "potty seat" at Babies R Us in the hopes that we would get more interest from that. It has Elmo on it so that was pretty much the attention getter on Monday. So after changing Luke's diaper yesterday and still hearing a repetition of potty, potty, potty, I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty. He said yes! Totally surprised me! He took off for our bathroom which surprised me even more because we were closer to the guest bath by the kitchen. So in we go to our bathroom. I put the Elmo seat on the toilet and Luke sat there for 15 seconds maybe. Nothing happened but that's okay. I was totally thrilled that he asked to go in the first place! So let's hope that's a sign of good things to come! By the way, I'm not crazy for being excited about my child not needing diapers any more (they are expensive and let's face it who likes changing diapers anyway). We have a long way to go but we definitely took a tiny step forward yesterday. Way to go Luke!

Mud Pies

One activity that didn't make it in my post below was Luke making a mud pie on Wednesday while Troy was grilling dinner. He was so proud of himself and thoroughly enjoyed getting totally muddy and dirty. Luke is definitely all boy!

A Summary

Of last week that is. We had a rather eventful week. Monday was our low key day at home just chillin' after the busy weekend we had. Monday night after dinner though we had a nice surprise. Our friends the McBride's came over asking if we wanted to go out to get ice cream. Hum, no thinking required on that one.

On Tuesday, Luke and I went out to lunch with Ashley and Benjamin and the rest of the day was spent getting ready for my mom's arrival on Wednesday. After dropping Luke off at MDO Wednesday morning, I ran a few errands, got my hair cut, ate lunch in the car by Lake Hefner (it was a totally random decision and I really enjoyed the quiet time eating my lunch) and then I drove to the airport to get my mom. We drove home quickly and then went to Ann Taylor Loft because they were having a big sale. I was excited that we managed to get in a little shopping before we picked up Luke. Luke was very excited to see Grammy and ran right to her when we picked him up. After coming home for a snack we went back out to a newly discovered park for Luke to run off some energy. He had great fun showing Grammy how he could go down the slide by himself and watching the ducks at the pond.

Our plan for Thursday morning was to go to the zoo; however, when we got there all we could see was school buses (we later learned about 5000 kids were there) so we decided to pass on the zoo for the day. After debating our options for a while, we decided to go to the OKC Art Fest downtown. This turned out to be a great decision. Luke had fun with a balloon, getting a train painted on his arm, running through streamers and people watching. Mom and I really enjoyed the art and we each bought something. We ate lunch there which was interesting because of all of the people and trying to find something for LJ to eat but we managed and Grammy bought Luke strawberry dippin' dots which were a huge hit.

On Friday we called before heading to the zoo. We arrived about 9:30 and headed straight for the new children's zoo. Luke loved it! We splashed in a rocky stream, watching monkeys eating their breakfasts and we got to pet goats and a rabbit. We toured quite a bit of the zoo and saw tons of different animals. One of my favorites though was the merry-go-round that Luke and I went on after lunch. He picked out a zebra to ride and once we got moving he was all smiles :) Grammy got some great pics of us together!

Friday night we ordered pizza rather than going out as we had planned because Luke's allergies were really bothering him. His nose was runny and his eyes kept watering plus he was a little on the fussy side but I couldn't blame him because he didn't feel good. After Luke went to bed we all watched "The Informant." Troy loved it and Mom and I were less than enthusiastic about it.

On Saturday morning I took Mom to the airport before heading to the farmer's market. Then I came home and Troy and I did some yard work in the back while Luke played with his golf set and bubbles. Saturday afternoon was rather nice because I was able to scrapbook for a bit. And then Saturday night we went to the McBride's for dinner. Ashley and I enjoyed not cooking because we ordered Pei Wei rather than try to come up with a meal spur of the moment.

Yesterday was a definite chill day again. Troy played golf early and was home by 10:45 and then we all had lunch before the boys took naps and I scrapbooked again.

Our Saturday BBQ

Yesterday was a wonderful day in our home. We had friends over for a BBQ and truly enjoyed the companionship. The Dolezal's drove over from Tulsa and the McBride's came from about 7 minutes away (they just moved to Edmond from Pennsylvania). Everyone arrived in time for lunch and then all the kids (Henry and Rosie Dolezal and Benjamin McBride and of course Luke) played while the adults enjoyed a break from entertaining young kids. The best part for me was the girl time. We snuck away for a bit and it was so nice to get out of the house with good girl friends and without kiddos. Troy would say the best part was the ribs he grilled. They were mighty tasty! We enjoyed those, sweet potatoes, salad and bread for dinner along with a few tasty desserts. Needless to say, we were all thoroughly stuffed!

The connections among our three families is really quite amazing:

Patrick McBride and Darin Dolezal went to college together at West Virginia.

Patrick and Troy worked together at Unocal in Houston.

Patrick and Darin worked together at Dominion in Pennsylvania.

Troy and Darin worked together at Samson in Tulsa and Erin and I became quick friends there.

And finally, the McBride's moved to Edmond so Patrick could take a new job at Chesapeake.

And I know that Ashley and I will also become quick friends here because in the 10 days they've been here we've spend part of 4 days together already!

The boys: Benjamin, Henry and Luke.

Rosie was MIA.

The gals: Me, Ashley and Erin.

I didn't manage to get a picture of just the guys but you can see Patrick, Troy and the top of Darin's head in this one where we all enjoying the pictures of peopleofwalmart.com.

It was so awesome to hang out with good friends and good food!

Watering His Toes

Luke has really been interested in helping me water all of my flower pots on the patio and also the tomato plants that will hopefully produce tomatoes for the summer. The problem has been that my watering can is much too heavy for him when it's full so the other day when I was at Target I found this little watering can just the right size for Luke. Well, now the problem is that he likes to water his toes rather than the plants. I guess I'll have to keep watering in order to get those tasty tomatoes!

Don't Forget

I have thought of a few more things Luke has been doing lately that I don't want to forget.

Other New Words:
*windy
*golf
*Benjamin (a new friend that just moved from Pennsylvania)
*snack
*rock

New Foods:
*strawberries
*grapes
*pulled pork
*animal crackers
*peanut butter (not that new but eating more of it)
*still not very many solid veggies (UGH!)

Random Things:
*Luke's eyes are changing color- they are turning brown. I was really hoping that he was going to keep his blue eyes.
*blowing bubbles- it's funny because Luke puts the wand against his lips- he occassionally makes a bubble or two which makes him very excited.
*Luke loves to go out to get the mail with who ever is going out to get it.
*He loves to watch Troy mow the grass. He liked to last summer as well but now whenever he hears a lawnmower he says, "Daddy?"
*Luke helps us put on his shoes and he can take them off by himself.
*Luke is counting to 4 and then doing an activity. He loves to count and run or count and have us swing him by his arms.

Mom's Decision

So, Mom had an appointment on Monday with a different oncologist to get a second opinion. My step-dad and sister also went with her to this one and they all agreed that this doctor was much more thorough and more personable. He also had a different view about what to do than the first doctor. He believes that if Mom does do chemo it would have a 15% benefit versus the 4-9% the other doctor said. The protocol that he is recommending is also quite different than the first doctor. He would like her to do a more aggressive chemo which involves a treatment once every 2 weeks and have a total of 12 treatments. Mom would have to go into the office for 3 hours and then take a pump home for 48 hours. The pump requires that she have a port put in. Based on all of the information she gathered, Mom has decided to do this more aggressive chemo treatment. The doctor believes at her age it is important for her to do it. He also believes that she will tolerate it okay. They will give her anti-nausea meds before each treatment along with having acupucture which the doctor believes will control her nausea well. I pray that he is right. Other side effects include being tired, numbness in her fingertips and a heightened sensitivity to cold. The positive is that she should not loose her hair. Currently, Mom is scheduled to have her port put in on April 29th and should start her chemo treatments the following week, the first week of May. If that schedule holds, she will be done the first week of October which I told her was great because she will be feeling back to normal (hopefully) before the holidays start. Continued prayers for her well being are greatly appreciated. I pray that she will tolerate the treatments well and that all goes well with putting in the port.

21 Months Old

Luke was 21 months old on Saturday. HOLY COW my baby is almost 2! He is such a blessing in our lives. I am amazed at God's wonderful generosity every time I look at Luke. I could not imagine my life without my precious little boy.

So, what is Luke up to these days? It's more a question of what is he not doing. Luke loves everything- he is very inquisitive. He is always pointing at things out the car window or around the house and asking, "That?" His way of asking what is it.

His vocabulary is definitely beyond count. Luke's newest words include Elmo and Abby of Sesame Street, light, please, thank you, excuse me (he is very polite- it is good to know he's paying attention when we try and teach these things), me walk (he only likes to be carried if it's his idea now), mess (anything that is out of place is considered a mess), loupe loupe (cantaloupe), milk, big step (going up or down stairs), open and close. The 2 most recent new words are my absolute favorites though. Luke is now saying, "Love you." It truly melts my heart. Occasionally he will say it on his own but it usually follows a prompt on our part. He is also very good at giving kisses. Luke is such a sweetheart!

Luke's current most favorite word though is outside. If we are inside, he is asking to be outside from the minute he wakes up until he goes to bed. Luke absolutely loves to be outside and when it's time to come inside we can almost always expect some sort of trouble getting him back through the door.

Other recent developments include: walking up the stairs on his own while holding the banister (before it was on his knees but now he's actually stepping up each stair), helping to brush his teeth, using a napkin, telling us when his diaper needs to be changed, helping us do all sorts of small tasks (throwing items in the trash, carrying things, closing the refrigerator & other doors, watering my plants inside and outside, giving Maggie a bone), washing his hands, picking up his toys before bed, reminding Daddy to say excuse me if he forgets (too funny), pushing things around especially his stroller and a new tricycle we got from a generous neighbor, throwing more tantrums if he doesn't get his way (oh joy), climbing up on furniture (he's finally tall enough to do it), talking more on the phone (before he was just listening mostly), and he is singing more songs including Baa Baa Black Sheep, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Thomas and Friends song from the TV show.

Here are a couple of pictures from the past few days. Luke is taking after his father in his love of golf.

Recent Pictures

Luke looked so adorable in his tie and vest Easter morning. The only problem was he wouldn't let us take any good pictures of him.

The highlight of our Easter weekend was probably the visit to the Richter Family Farm. Luke absolutely LOVED the cows. He said moo too many times to count. Luke also thought the tractor was pretty cool. The chickens didn't interest him much because they ran away but he did try and talk to them for a bit.

Another egg hunt at Great Aunt Rosie and Uncle Bill's house in Leonardville, KS.

Feeding the geese and ducks with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson at Lake Shawnee. Luke kept saying, "Quack, quack."

Eating a chocolate peanut butter egg- yummy! It was the first time we let Luke eat a piece of chocolate candy. He enjoyed it for a while but eventually spit it out because I think it was too rich for him.

Coloring Easter eggs and then hunting for them- Luke loved both parts of the process. His favorite thing though was dumping all of the eggs out of his basket after he had gathered them all.

Checking out the Easter characters on the Plaza. Luke liked the fountains a whole lot more than the animals.

Trying to figure out how to make the sit-n-spin work.

Eating his first popsicle! It was warm enough March 31 for him to not have a shirt on- amazing!

Shopping with Grammy and Aunt Sarah. There was music playing and Luke was having an awesome time clapping and dancing.

Another Update on Mom

Mom was finally able to leave the hospital on March 7. Because she needed time to recover and heal after such a long ordeal her appointment with the oncologist was moved back to last Monday. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers because her situation is so rare. The doctors do not know for sure if she is lymph node positive or negative. If she was negative, it would mean no chemo and if she was positive it would mean chemo. As it stands, there is a 20-25% chance that the cancer will come back regardless of whether or not she does chemo. This next piece of info really surprised me- you would think it would be more beneficial. If she does do the chemo, the benefit is only 4-9%. That means if there were 2 groups of 100 and one group did chemo and one didn't, only 4-9 more people in the group that did chemo would remain cancer free. Because of all of the problems she has had with nausea, that is also a consideration. The doctor wouldn't tell her which way to go but was okay with either decision and said she could also start the chemo and if she got too sick she could stop. This coming Monday she is going to get a second opinion and then make her decision. I pray that she is able to make a decision without too much stress and also one she will be happy with in the long term. More than anything though, I pray that she doesn't have to deal with any more cancer ever.