Snow Day

As anyone in the Midwest knows today is a big snow day! It is impossible to go out and measure the snow fall because the wind is so strong and the drifts are huge; however, the news is reporting 10 inches for us. Our temperatures are in the low single digits and the wind chills are around -15. It is COLD! It's a huge bummer for a toddler that wants nothing more than to go out and play in the snow. Thankfully we've been able to occupy Luke and distract him a bit. It's been awesome to have Troy home even if he is working from home. And his office is also closed tomorrow which is a big deal--a weekend in the middle of the week (sort of)=YAY! So the plan for the next few days is to stay inside, stay warm and enjoy some extra family time.

The backyard

The sandbox
The frontyard--the only evidence of the street is the curb visible because of the mailboxes blocking the snow

A must have on a snowy day (along with the grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup we had for lunch)

Working from home

A bit of chill time on the couch

Big Fork

Last night for dinner I fixed broiled pork chops with sauteed apples and roasted sweet potatoes. I wasn't too sure how much if any Luke would eat. It didn't start out great. Luke had a tantrum about getting in his chair and then just sat in his chair playing with his food for a while. I decided just to ignore him and then he starting eating the apples (I figured he would at least eat these). After a few more minutes he tried the pork which he thought was chicken--we didn't correct him. He ate only one bite of the pork and then refused it for a while. In a bit of frustration I tried to feed him a bite off of my fork. It worked! He was excited by my "big" fork and insisted on having his own. I figured if it would help him eat I was willing to try. Not only did he eat the rest of his pork but also all of the sweet potatoes that I had put on his plate! Hooray for a "big" fork!!! Below is evidence that my son actually ate solid vegetables!!!

Fort vs. Cave

The other day after my "Cave Boy" post (click here to see it again) it was suggested that Luke's "spot" under the bed should be considered a fort rather than a cave. I figured as this suggestion came from a guy and Troy agreed with this guy I would ask Luke about it today (because clearly my female brain didn't understand this concept).

A quick side note: I went to check on Luke during his nap to see if I could get a picture of him asleep under his bed and no luck. He was sound asleep on top of his bed. So, maybe my assumption that he actually sleeps under his bed was wrong. I plan to check this again.

Okay--back to fort vs. cave. When Luke woke up today, as usual he yelled, "MOM!" I could tell that based on the sound he was under the bed. (Another side note: I would really like to know how he moves all of his animals and diapers under the bed without making a sound.) So, I went upstairs with the plan of asking Luke about his fort.

Our conversation went like this:

Luke: Mom, I under here. Come and see me.
Me (laying on the floor to see him and laughing): How do you like your fort?
I had to move some animals to see Luke and he was concerned about that.
Luke: Mom, don't move my animals. They have to stay under here!
Me: Okay, sorry. So, is this your fort?
Luke: Um, yeah.
Me: Or is this your cave?
Luke: This is not MY cave, Mom. It's a pteranodon cave.
Me: Wow, a pteranodon cave! Did you meet some pteranodons?
Luke: Yep! Mom, you need to hide with me. There's a bear.
Me: I can't hide under there I'm too big.
Luke: Well, hide. There's a bear.
Me: I'm going to go back downstairs and hide. You can come down when you're ready. Yell at me if you need help. Bye.
Luke (after I'm downstairs): Mom, I need help.
Me (back upstairs on the floor): Are you ready to get out?
Luke: No, I just wanted you to come back up here. You need to stay with me.
Me: What am I going to do?
Luke: Sit in the chair and rock.
Luke (after a long pause): And read your books, not my books, your books.
Me (big, big smile)

So, per Luke and his wonderfully awesome imagination, it's not a fort and it's not even a cave. It's a pteranodon cave. (Pteranodons are the dinosaurs from Dinosaur Train and the "p" is silent.)

Love this boy and his imagination!

More Art

Here are Luke's most recent creations from MDO. The first is from 2 weeks ago and the bottom one is from today. It's unfortunate that we missed out on last week's project. Enjoy!

Circle Polar Bear

Marble Paint Snowflake

Cave Boy

Or maybe "sleep under the bed boy" and pretend it's a cave. I'm only assuming here because Luke has yet to explain why he has slept under his bed the past 3 days during naptime. Well, he tried to tell me today, "I was walking around Mom and you weren't here to read me a story." I guess that's sort of an explanation for the books anyway. I can't imagine it is very comfortable but maybe if you get as much stuff under there as he has it could be okay. In the top picture you can see his doggy pillow pal in the corner so at least he has that. I asked him to get back under the bed this afternoon so I could take these pics. I need to try and get one of him actually asleep under there. Sleep tight :)

Long Week

This has been a LONG week. Thankfully we don't have them too often around here and this one definitely could have been worse but I just need to vent about it a bit.

Starting on Sunday afternoon Luke started coming down with what I thought was a cold. As it turns out, he was exposed to RSV. (I'm so sorry that Ashley got sick--she really had a tough road and couldn't do much because she's pregnant on top of having a toddler to take care of too. So glad she's starting to feel better now.) So Sunday night I went to the store in an effort to be more prepared for the week rather than risk not being able to go if Luke got worse.

Monday morning Luke was coughing more and his nose was really starting to run. We did not leave the house. Tuesday morning was the same so again we didn't leave the house. I did call the doctor to see if there was more I could do to help Luke and was told that unless his temperature went up or his cough got really bad we just had to wait it out. Thankfully I had Bunco Tuesday night so I was able to get out and enjoy some girl time. Wednesday Luke did not go to MDO and I had to cancel a dentist appointment because Troy couldn't come home because of a meeting. Luke seemed a little better so we did venture out to Target to pick up a few things. It was wonderful to get out!

Yesterday morning I called the doctor to get an appointment because Luke coughed a ton during the night and I was worried he was developing something more. We had a snow day here yesterday so I was praying the roads would be okay to get to the doctor. Thankfully we had no problems and with very few exceptions the roads were clear. The doctor said she could hear some stuff in Luke's lungs but nothing too serious. She gave me a prescription for an inhaler which she said only to fill if he got worse. SO glad she did. Luke had a very rough nap--he had a coughing fit about every 15 minutes. He woke up quite unhappy, rightly so, and wanted to just sit with me and rock in the chair (that speaks volumes about how bad he felt). I decided then that we needed the inhaler. I picked it up after dinner and I must say it was beyond ridiculous how much it cost (insurance didn't cover the "spacer" as they call it--plastic tube the inhaler sprays into with a mask for over the nose and mouth). We let Luke look at it and play with it a bit before we gave him the medicine. That did not go well! He was okay with the mask on but once the medicine was sprayed in it he freaked out. I think we did manage to get him to breathe in some of the medicine though because he didn't cough as much during the night.

Today has also been rough. My facebook post at about 10:30 this morning read, "I want a redo to this Friday already. Luke has thrown up from coughing too hard, my computer is refusing to connect to the internet, the dvd player won't play the movie Luke is insisting on watching and I'm getting a cold. UGH!" The day has improved since then and I think Luke is starting to feel better. He still is not taking the inhaler well at all and he crys so hard that it makes him gag so I'm worried he'll throw up again but he's been coughing less so I suppose I'll take it.

Here's hoping this weekend is amazing! :)

Laundry Helper

Here is my big helper at work on the laundry. It's too bad it can't be this fun for all of us :)