200

200 hundred posts that is--yay for me! I have really enjoyed blogging the past few years. I now consider it a form of scrapbooking even though it's more just memory keeping. It is a great way to record the daily stories of Luke's childhood and our lives that would otherwise not get preserved because I don't have as much time as I would like to do the real scrapbooking.

I debated several possible ideas for my 200th post but I finally decided on one last week. I just had to find the time to be able to sit at the desktop rather than my laptop (I still haven't called Geek Squad). Enjoy and here's to the next 200 :)

*Luke at 200 days old (January 26, 2009)

I have to say I was thrilled when I discovered this picture fell on this day--this is one of my most favorite baby pics of Luke. I absolutely love his chubby cheeks and fuzzy hair plus he still had his blue eyes then.

*Luke at 200x2 days old (August 14, 2009)

This pic is actually from August 16. On the 14th Troy and I were on our way home from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Luke was staying with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and Troy and I drove there from the KC airport and arrived well after bedtime. Luke happened to wake up in the middle of the night saying, "Momma, momma." When I went to get him he was so happy to see me and it brought tears to my eyes.

*Luke at 200x3 days old (March 2, 2010)

This one is from March 4. I believe that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were still here because I had just returned from KC to be with my mom while she was recovering from her colon surgery (so thankful that ordeal is over now).

*Luke at 200x4 days old (September 18, 2010)

This is actually September 20. Luke was totally into his trains last fall. He still likes to play with them now although it's no longer an every day thing. Now if we have a train track put together his cars also interact with the trains and the railroad crossing over the road is the hot spot so the cars can see the trains go by.

And just in case you were wondering what Troy and I were doing a long time before Luke came along.

*Troy and I 200 hundred days into our marriage (April 30, 2003)

We were living in Lawrence, KS as Troy was working on finishing his thesis at that other Kansas school we don't like to mention too often. I was working at Black & Veatch in Kansas City and not really enjoying my job too much. I don't have any digital pictures from then so you don't get to see how young we looked then but I know we've definitely aged a bit in eight years.

A few hours after the above:

Okay so I found a pic of Troy and I in one of my scrapbooks. This is a picture of the picture so it's not the best quality but it works. It's from Easter 2003 which was April 20.

Less Frequent

Okay, so for those of you few people that follow my blog consistantly, you may have noticed I haven't been posting as much this month as I did the previous couple of months. It's not that I don't want to or that I don't have stories to tell you (believe me I have plenty of stories--Luke provides several a day). It's because I'm having computer problems. My Dell laptop that is barely 6 months old will only operate in safe mode. Needless to say, I will never buy another Dell computer and I suggest you don't either. Their customer service is terrible. They know what the problem is but they want $300 to fix it. I'm not willing to pay that. I am going to contact Geek Squad but haven't gotten around to that yet. I suppose since I can still access my email, facebook and do web searches the situation is not dire enough for me yet. However, since I can only operate in safe mode I don't want to download any pictures to this computer because I don't want to lose them. Hence the less frequent blog posts. Yes, I do have another computer but it's a desktop and it's in the office so it's not as convenient as my laptop. So until I no longer have access to the internet or I get around to calling Geek Squad, please forgive the less frequent posting.

Escape Artist

I apparently jinxed myself the other day when I said Luke hadn't gotten out of his room during the night. It wasn't during the night per say but about 20 minutes after we put Luke to bed last night, Troy and I were sitting in the family room and in walks Luke. Um, hello, what are you doing downstairs? I had to do a double take, really I did because we didn't hear him open or close his door at all (which we normally do if he gets out). Luke told us he wanted some water. All righty then. So as we're walking back upstairs we talked about staying in bed and going to sleep. After a drink of water and getting tucked back in, Luke was quiet for about 5 minutes. Then we heard his door open. I had put the gate up on the other side of the door so he wasn't able to get out this time. Troy went up to tell Luke again that he needed to stay in bed and it was time to go to sleep. Apparentely Troy scared Luke when he opened his bedroom door because he was running back to his bed when Troy came in. Thankfully Luke stayed in bed after the second reminder although it took him forever to go to sleep.

This morning was another surprise. Luke has slept in until 8:45 the last two mornings so I was thinking I would have plenty of time to get up and ready if my alarm went off at 7:30. I hit snooze twice I think and just as I was getting out of bed I heard Luke wake up at 7:45. He was an hour early (of course I should know by now that there are no guarantees when it comes to a toddler). This has happened before so I thought I would quickly take a shower before going upstairs to get him. Wrong again! Just as I was about to turn the water on I heard Luke walking down the stairs. What?!?! How did he get around the gate? I met him at the bottom of the stairs and asked him just that. He looked at me like it was absolutely no big deal and said, "I went through the closet Mom." That means he went through the jack-n-jill bathroom to the other bedroom and opened 3 doors along the way. Ugh! My child has figured out the art of the escape. I grabbed another gate while we were at Target this morning. I won't mention any more about that to hopefully prevent future jinxing.

More Randomness

More random thoughts and happenings:

*We grilled hamburgers last week and Troy asked Luke if he wanted to try a pickle. Luke LOVED it! Since then he has requested them for almost every meal including breakfast.

*Luke has started telling us stories. I love this. It generally goes like this.
L: I have a story for you guys.
Us: Okay, please tell us a story.
L: It used to be really really cold. (pause) Then it gets warmer and warmer. (pause) Then a little boy gets to go outside. (pause) And play in his sandbox!
Us: Is the boy Luke?
L: Yep

*Rather than yelling for me when Luke wakes up from his nap, he has figured out how to open his door (with the supposed child-proof handle on it) and come downstairs on his own. I have to say I kind of like this. There's no yelling on his part and he seems to come downstairs in a better mood. We still have the gate up overnight so he can't get out of his room during the night if he were to wake up.

*Daylight savings time has helped us get back on our normal schedule--YAY!!! I may be saying that a bit early but I was so excited that Luke slept until 8:45 this morning and took over a 2 hour nap today and yesterday.

*Today is Benjamin's 2nd birthday so Happy Birthday to Benjamin. He and Ashley came over this morning for a while so the boys could play together. They have so much fun together. It always makes me smile watching them play.

*I'm ready for spring to really be here and for the colder temperatures to go away completely. Luke gets very upset and frustrated by some of these colder days we're having because it's too windy and cool to go outside to play.

*Yesterday afternoon we all watched a movie after Luke got up from his nap. It was a lazy, cozy Sunday afternoon and Luke's allergies are making him feel a bit under the weather. During the movie, Troy said that he loved the running commentary we were getting from Luke. Luke was describing every scene for us as if we weren't watching the movie with him. It was awesome!

*Two of Luke's most favorite activities right now--playing in his tent with Dad and being chased or chasing Dad. After dinner each night these activities are repeated over and over. I love watching the two of them play together. It brings joy to my heart :)

*This is post 197--only 3 more until I've done 200. I'm excited by that.

Have a good week :)

Why?

Motherhood is full of absolutely wonderful tender moments, some moments that we wish we didn't have to go through at all and a whole bunch in between. Currently I'm going through an in between phase neither good nor bad of wondering why.

Why on the only morning of the week that Luke has to get up does he decide to sleep in?

Why does my 2 1/2 year old think he knows how to drive and tells me when to go, slow down, speed up, watch out and turn that way?

Why do toddlers eat super awesome one day and absolutely nothing the next?

Why does not listening seem to be a theme right now?

Why does Luke have 3 awesome days of going on the potty followed by absolute refusal to go near the toilet?

Why (very seriously why) do I have to have theme songs for kid shows memorized?

Why does pouring sand all over yourself seem like a good idea?

Why do you know how to make me so, so frustrated and at the same time pull hard on my heartstrings?

The real answers don't really matter. It's enough to be able to ponder these whys and simply know that I get to experience the purest joy in the world, motherhood.

Recent Pics

Some recent pics. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures this past weekend when my mom was here to share (not sure how that happened). We had a great time with Grammy though.

Playing in the sandbox today.

Napping with the cars--notice all the vehicles are on their sides sleeping too. 2-24

This is Luke's current favorite inside activity--lining up his cars. 2-21

This is a rare smiley pic actually looking at the camera. 2-21

When Luke is really concentrating he sticks his tongue out just a bit. 2-19

We took Luke to the park to feed the ducks a couple weekends ago. This is another favorite activity right now. 2-19

MDO Art

Here is Luke's creation from MDO yesterday. I love it! Anything with fingerprints or handprints is so awesome in my eyes!

We also got our very belated Valentine card from Luke yesterday. His teachers were very sorry it was so late but it's so fun late or not. The saying at the top is, "I was dreaming...that you would be my Valentine."

New Schedule

So the last few weeks Luke has given himself a new schedule. Let me be the first to say that I'm not a huge fan. We have been hugely blessed with our child and his sleeping abilities but I'm afraid that our luck has run out.

The Old Schedule:
Get Up: Between 8 and 9
Nap Time: At least 2 hours usually more
Bed Time: Between 8 and 8:30

The New Schedule:
Get Up: No later than 7:30 (this morning was 6:50)
Nap Time: Lucky if it's more than 1 1/2 hours
Bed Time: Still the same

Now by no means is the above schedule bad or horrible (I know a few that are still not as lucky as that) but when you're adjusted to the first schedule it's tough to change. At least for my body it is. I like my morning time when I can take a shower and not rush or listen to a child yelling, "Mom, I awake," repeatedly for 10 minutes while I finish getting dressed. I also don't really want to have to get up at 6:30 to accomplish this. I'm okay with 7 but anything before then is pushing it (Troy would whole-heartedly agree with this).

All of that said I might be the first mom of a toddler to say that I'm looking forward to daylight savings time. It's March 13 in case you are wondering. I'm hoping that pushing everything ahead an hour may help Luke sleep until at least 8 so I can have my morning time back. If not, well, I'm not ready to think about that yet.