MDO Surprise

I had a very nice surprise today when I picked Luke up from MDO. He had made me a Mother's Day gift! It is very sweet and I love that it's made with his handprint. I actually did a scrapbook page the other day with his handprints because I don't want to forget how small and perfect they are. The saying on the flower pot is:

I am like a flower

That's raised with love by you.

You help me grow up

big and strong.

Mom, thanks for all you do.

I have it hanging in the kitchen on one of the cabinets. It's going to brighten my day every time I see it!

Mom's 1st Treatment

My Mom had her port put in last Thursday which went very well and her first treatment started on Monday. Each treatment consists of 2-3 hours in the doctor's office and then she has to have a pump for the next 48 hours. That means she went back to the office today to have the pump removed. As expected, she was anxious to learn more about everything on Monday and have the first treatment done so she knows what to expect. The main side effects with her protocol include tiredness, diarrhea, mouth sores, a sensitivity to cold and a feeling of numbness. Thankfully nausea isn't a major side effect although it can't be ruled out. As of this morning, Mom has experienced a few of the above. Monday night her right hand felt numb and while she was drinking a cold beverage the liquid felt like fire going down her throat just as the nurse had explained it might. This is a real bummer for my mom who loves cold drinks and munching on ice; however, she has said she would take that over vomiting any day (I know I would too). The next few days will be the real test because the doctor said most side effects appear after the medicine has been in the body a few days. So far, pretty good all things considered. As I have said before, she is a strong lady and I know she will get through this. Thank you for your prayers and support!

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!