Who Are You?

I'm referring to Luke. He didn't act like his normal, happy, easy-going self all weekend. That's obviously slightly exaggerated but seriously it was a rough weekend. Changing diapers, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, following directions and even just playing nicely were cause for total meltdowns. I don't get it but Luke is 2 so maybe that's all I need to understand. I planned to wake up this morning with a better positive attitude but when I went upstairs to get Luke he had another meltdown about changing his diaper. Not the greatest way to start the day. I'm trying to hang on to my positive attitude but it definitely took a hit already. I guess this is all part of the terrible twos. This new attitude of Luke's just came out of nowhere so I'm assuming that's part of why it is causing me so much grief. I'm praying for another unexplained shift back to my happy-go-lucky little boy :)

Goin' on the Potty

Luke did just that tonight before his bath for the first time. Way to go Luke!!! Troy actually suggested that he sit on his little potty but Luke wanted to sit on the big potty or as he put it, "Sit on Elmo, Mom." So we went to sit on Elmo. Luke wasn't too excited to be there at first but we talked to him for a few seconds and then he went!!! We were SO excited! We were giving Luke high fives and yelling way to go. I actually think we scared him a bit because we were so loud. We then shared the news with all the family to make an even bigger deal out of it. Grammy was here so she was able to give Luke a high five too. There is still a long way to go but we've had success for now and I'll take what I can get. Yay Luke!!!

Good-bye Sarah

Sarah is my sister for those of you that don't know. I had to say farewell to her last night since she is leaving Sunday and will be out of the country until Christmas. I knew saying good-bye would be tough and it was but it's still really hard now just typing this (tears are running down my face) and that I didn't expect so much.

For those of you that have a sister and have a close relationship with her you know what a sister means. I have the best sister in the world and I'm going to miss her terribly. Thankfully we'll still be able to keep in touch although at this point we're not sure how often. I'm hoping for weekly Skype sessions.

You might be wondering where she is going and what she will be doing. I can only partially answer that. She will be starting in Belize and she is hoping to do "help exchange" work with organic farmers. Basically she works for free and gets free accommodations and food. At this point she doesn't know how long she'll be in Belize or where she'll go from there. It's a very open ended trip (definitely not something I could do).

I wish her all the best for a wonderful, SAFE trip. I want her to know that I will think of her often and wonder what adventure she is currently taking on. Enjoy your trip Sars!!! I love you bunches!

Randomness Again

Okay so it's been a good while since I've posted. I couldn't tell you why other than I just haven't really felt like it. I'm not sure I really do today either but I'm going to try and get some sort of update on here.

My last two posts were on August 10 about my mom and the heat. I can most gladly say that the heat wave has passed for now at least--thank goodness! My mom had her 8th chemo treatment on Monday and I was with her as I had traveled to KC on Sunday to spend the first part of the week with her. She drove back to OKC with me this morning to spend some time with Luke. We are both anxiously waiting for him to wake up from his nap.

My time in KC consisted of time with my mom (obviously) and other family members. I enjoyed 4 new restaurants while I was there--quite a bit of eating out but it's always fun to try new places. The weather was also awesome while I was there; the highest temperature was about 82. I also had to say good-bye to my sister which was really tough. I'm going to do another post on that though so I won't say much now.

As for Luke, he has been a busy guy lately too. Last week Aunt Sarah was here and this week while I was gone Troy's parents were here. And now my mom is here so next week when it's just Luke and I during the day he might wonder what happened to all of his entertainment. Hopefully the cooler weather will hold so we can be outside!

Also another big thing for Luke right now is his vocabulary. It's beyond amazing. We can now have full conversations with questions and answers from Luke. He is not shy about sharing (more like demanding) want he wants and also what he wants you to do. I still hear at least one new word a day and I'm anxious to see what he's learned while I was gone.

Troy is still really loving his new job but currently he's been looking forward to FF (fantasy football in case you didn't know). He is in two leagues this year and his first draft is tonight. Since I've been gone I haven't totally felt the loss to the computer yet but I'm sure it's not too far off. :) Troy would tell you that I also like to keep up on the scores of his players which is true but only to see how it's going so I can share the winnings if he does well.

So, that's what's up for now. Hopefully I'll get a bite from the blogging bug again soon.

Go Mom!

I just want to say that I'm really proud of my mom. As of tomorrow morning she will be half way through her chemo treatments. She is definitely not side-effect free but she hasn't been complaining too much. The two biggest side-effects are her sensitivity to cold and more recently she has been very tired. Unfortunately those are two things that are hard for her because one she is already cold sensitive and who wants to have to wear a pair of gloves to get stuff out of the refrigerator and two she is so active normally. She has been a trooper through this and I know she will continue to be but just in case she needs some encouragement-- GO MOM, YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

Heat Wave

If you have paid any attention to the weather at all lately or even if you've just stepped outside you know it's ridiculously hot. I have said this numerous times lately but I'm so ready for some fall weather!!!

Not only do I not like these temperatures because it makes it miserable to just step outside but it is also hard on Luke. We should be going to the swimming pool (to use the season passes I got), playing outside on the new swing set and with all the other fun outside toys he got for his birthday, exploring the backyard for mysterious creatures (Luke has recently been really interested in bugs--joy), playing frisbee with Maggie and just generally letting Luke be a kid. Luke gets so hot so fast that it is not worth the tantrum about going inside he has after being outside for only 15 minutes because he needs to cool off.

Luke knows it is hot--he tells me all the time, "Momma it hot outside." He tells me when we get in the car after it's been sitting in the sun while we run our errands or even just when I open the door to let Maggie in or out. I feel bad for him because we could go out in the early morning when it hasn't heated up too much yet or later in the evening but those don't work because Luke is asleep in the early morning and in the evening he gets attacked by mosquitos (so do Troy and I for that matter). Maybe I'm being an overly cautious mom but I just don't think it's smart to go outside when we're under a heat advisory. So for now we have to be content with inside activities. I just wish we could get some rain and a break in these temperatures!

Good Night Big Boy!

It is official--Luke is currently sleeping away in his big boy bed. As I said on Monday, this was a hard one for me. I took pictures this morning and after nap time of Luke's last 'sleeps' in his crib. I almost cried when I took him out of his crib after his nap. You wouldn't think something that simple would be so tough or maybe I'm just a sappy mom. Either way it was hard.

The above picture is a great example of why Luke is moving to a regular bed. He hadn't yet managed to get over the crib rail but I have no doubt that he would have soon. I told Luke this morning and after his nap that he would be sleeping in his big boy bed tonight. Both times he looked at the bed and seemed excited. About 7:30 tonight we went upstairs to put the bed rail together and get everything situated. When Luke was getting his pj's on he told us that he was going to take a nap in the bed. I took that as a good sign. So we got his cloth diapers (his comfort item) and a couple of stuffed animals and climbed in. I read him two stories while Troy watched from the end of the bed and then we all said goodnight. It was so easy--too easy in fact. I know at some point we will have a problem with Luke getting out of bed but as of right now about an hour into sleeping in his big boy bed all is well and no sounds can be heard. Here's hoping we all get a full nights sleep and that Luke doesn't fall out of bed.

Slow Down!

Over the weekend Troy and I bought a new king size bed (Troy has been wanting one forever so he finally got his wish). That means that we are rearranging our beds. Our queen will be moved to our guest room--more room for them :) The double bed that was in the guest room is going in the currently unused bedroom and the 2 twin beds that were in that room will be moved to Luke's room. Did you follow that?

What's my point? Well, after Luke woke up from his nap yesterday we moved one of the twin beds into his room. Troy told Luke it was his big boy bed and he would be sleeping there from now on (oops!). Luke really liked the sound of that and immediately wanted to lay on it and pretended to go back to sleep. Our thought was that we would put the bed in there so Luke would get used to seeing it and maybe he would pretend sleep on it for a while before we let him actually sleep in it. After pretend sleep was over Troy commented that Luke was going to want to sleep in the big boy bed last night. I agreed but said that it wouldn't be that big of a deal to just put him in his crib for a few more nights because one I'm not ready to have Luke out of a crib yet (that makes him way too old) and two more importantly we didn't have a guard rail for the bed which is necessary because the mattress is pretty high.

Okay so fast-forward to after bath time. The moment we walk into Luke's room he points to the bed and says go night night. Uh-oh! I calmly told Luke that he would be sleeping in his crib for a few more nights. Well let's just say that didn't go over very well. Luke all out screamed and sobbed for 15 minutes that he wanted to sleep in the bed. Troy was definitely right! Finally Troy said he would take the mattress off the bed so it wouldn't look like a bed anymore. Thankfully that stopped the tantrum and Luke went to sleep in his crib. However, the first thing he said to me this morning when I got him up was go night night with his finger pointing at the bed.

So this morning Luke and I went to Babies R Us and bought a bed rail so that we can get the bed ready for him to sleep in. Troy and I decided that we'll probably wait until Friday night to try letting Luke sleep in bed just in case we're all awake more than we want to be but that's still so fast for me. We've been talking about moving Luke to a bed for a while now but yesterday afternoon when I saw him laying there it totally brought tears to my eyes. It is definitely hard for me when Luke reaches one of these big milestones like this. I want him to grow and be healthy but man oh man does it pull hard on the heartstrings. It definitely makes me appreciate all the little milestones more too!