Summer Fun

A quick review of our summer:

*Memorial Weekend:  My cousin and her family came to hang out for the weekend.  The weather wasn't great but we all had fun anyway.  Luke and Hannah love playing with Emma and Mary.

*May 30-June 11:  Trip to Tybee Island, Georgia--our first trip to Mom's new house there; we had an awesome time with Grammy, PawPaw, Sarah, Dave and Barbara.  We drove which was an adventure.  Troy flew home and the kids and I stayed a few more days and then Sarah drove home with us.

First time ever on the beach and seeing the ocean!

 Trying out a little beach golf...

*We had season tickets to our local baseball team, the Redhawks.  Both kids really loved going (despite H's face below)!  The last game that we went to Luke was picked to be a junior announcer and did a fantastic job announcing #4 Matt Duffy.

*Both kids went to Vacation Bible School for the first time.  Luke absolutely loved it and asked how long it would be before he could go again.

*Both kids had private swim lessons here at home.  Ally did a great job with both of them and they learned a bunch.

*June 23-27:  Luke spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson.  They went to the Richter farm, the zoo, the park and had a fun week!

*Grandma and Grandpa J brought LJ back home and spent the weekend with us.  We had a fun trip downtown to Myriad Gardens.

*June 24:  Hannah started potty training!!!  She caught on very quickly and is still going strong.  (I have a couple of cute pics but they're probably not appropriate for the internet.)

*July 6:  I severely hurt my back and was out of commission for about 2 weeks.  It's better now but I still need to be very careful and know when I've done too much.  The ordeal was very tough on all of us but especially for Hannah.  The first couple of weeks I was pretty much confined to bed and in order to spend some time with me Hannah brought me some lunch in bed :)

*July 10-13:  Luke's 6th birthday celebration weekend!  Family dinner on the 10th for his actual birthday and a dinosaur swim party on the 12th.

*July 18:  We finally sold and closed on our other house!!!  And yes, you better believe we took a picture :)

*Luke took golf lessons.  He really had fun and improved a lot.

*July 27-August 1: LJ was in KC with Grammy and PawPaw.  They went to a train exhibit at Union Station, the park, swimming and they also went to the zoo.  On Friday, Aunt Sarah took Luke to the Schlitterbahn water park.  Apparently he had no fear of anything.  

*August 1-4:  We were all in KC for the weekend.  My mom and I took the kids to Kaleidoscope one morning.  Not quite as I remembered from being a kid but we still had fun creating all different kinds of art stuff.

*We had a summer fun list with 114 things to do.  We completed 88 of them!  And it's technically still summer so maybe we'll get a few more done before it's over.  These are pictures from our Summer Pinterest Party which checked off many of our boxes.

Hannah's first mani-pedi--also on the list.

*I finally had a fairly successful vegetable garden.  I grew corn, okra, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, sugar snap peas, carrots, zucchini, squash and green beans.  Everying produced except the last three and there are currently flowers on the green bean plants (although it's probably too hot for them now).  We've had fresh tomatoes all summer--SO GOOD!!!

*There was lots of time spent in the pool.  

*There was lots of time spent building and playing with Legos.

*There was lots of time spent making bead necklaces or other art creations.

*There was lots of time spent playing in the driveway and riding bikes.

*And there was lots of time spent laughing and cuddling and being a beautiful family of four!

Kindergarten

Luke's first day of kindergarten was last Thursday, August 14.  He was so excited but also a bit nervous.  We had talked about going to a new school and wearing a uniform and getting up earlier all summer.  And the day finally came.

There was an open house on Tuesday night so that the kids could drop off their supplies, meet the teacher, see their classroom and get a bit more familiar with what was going to happen on Thursday.  At that point, we already knew that Luke's teacher was Mrs. Cave.  (How awesome is that for two geologist parents!  We definitely won't forget LJ's kindergarten teachers' name.)  Luke didn't much care about spending time in his classroom or talking to his teacher; he wanted to go outside and play on the playground.  

I have to say that I was more emotional on Wednesday than I was Thursday morning.  I got tears in my eyes numerous times Wednesday thinking about what was about to happen.  My baby was going to be in kindergarten.  He really is growing up and it goes SO fast.  I wonder why it has to go so fast?  Only God knows.

Wednesday night we decided to have a special dinner.  Luke requested steak, corn on the cob, bread and cantaloupe.  I threw in some Caesar salad and it was an awesome dinner.  Grandma and Grandpa H came over to enjoy it with us.  We had fun talking about what Luke's first day was going to be like and everyone was wishing him a fun and happy day.  The "party" didn't last long though because after all it was a school night.  Lights out was about 7:50.

School starts at 8:05.  I've been worried about that all summer.  We started about a month ago getting up earlier and earlier.  The few days prior to school starting LJ was getting up about 7:15.  I wasn't too sure what to expect time wise on that first day.  I wanted to have plenty of time for pictures at home and also at school.  So I set LJ's alarm for 6:20 fully expecting to have to go up and bug him to get up and ready.  Well, I was way wrong.  At 6:23 Luke walks into my bathroom cheery as can be, dressed and ready to go.  He even told me to hurry up so that he could eat breakfast before school.

I ate breakfast with Luke.  I had a few moments where I was very quiet thinking about the day ahead of both of us.  I was proud of myself for not showing Luke how emotional this all was for me.  I didn't want to worry him which my very considerate boy would have done.  I asked Luke how he was feeling.  As I mentioned above, he said he was excited but a bit nervous.  He also kept asking how long it was until we had to leave.  

I opted to let Hannah sleep rather than get up and eat breakfast with us (she ate when we got back home).  I got her up about 7:10.  We all headed outside for pictures about 7:20 and then we got in the car to head to school.  

Quick side story: In the shower the night before school, Luke grabbed my razor.  It cut his finger pretty good.  It was very difficult to get it to stop bleeding.  We didn't want it to start up again at school so he had this big gauze bandage on his finger for his first day.  Thankfully it was on his left hand.

We weren't the only ones who were there early.  There is a drop off line for everyone but I wanted to walk Luke into school that first day.  I wasn't the only mom with that idea.  After some outside pictures, we went to the cafeteria where the kids have "walk and talk" before going to their classrooms at 8:05.  A teacher asked Luke what class he was going to be in and told him where he could put his backpack.  After he put his backpack down she asked Luke if he wanted to tell me bye.  Okay, so that's when I teared up (and am doing so again right now thinking about it).  I gave him a big sqeeze which he returned equally and then he gave me a kiss.  My sweet boy!  Oh that was a bittersweet moment.  

Then the teacher asked a random girl who was a few years older if she would walk with Luke.  Luke kind of looked at me and then off they went holding hands as they walked around the cafeteria.  Luke told me after school that he didn't think that was too cool.  I stuck around to watch him go to his classroom.  That was another hard moment but I didn't tear up then.  He looked so grown up with his backpack on walking in a line with his classmates.  And then he was gone.

I was back to pick LJ up by 2:45.  School gets out at 3.  There is also a pick up line and it just couldn't move fast enough for me.  I was so happy to see Luke's smiling face as he climbed in the car.  

The first words he said, "This school is fun!"  

A big internal sigh of relief on my part.  I asked him tons of questions.  I didn't get as many answers.  Here's what I gathered since then about his first day.

--They had chapel first and introduced themselves.  Luke didn't really enjoy that part.

--There are lots and lots of rules.

--Lunch went pretty well and he sat with Kensie (a friend from his class last year).  I packed his lunch; he ate about half of it. (They have 25 min to eat.)

--Recess was fun.

--Luke's favorite part of the day: nap time.  And yep, he took a nap.  That really shouldn't be surprising if you know LJ.  He did tell me that he needed a small pillow so he could be more comfortable during nap time.

So, now Luke has been to school for 7 days.  He is really and truly loving it!  Some observations/thoughts/events from these first few days:

  --There has been only one morning he hasn't gotten up with his alarm.  The poor guy is quite worn out when he gets home and bedtime has been creeping earlier and earlier as this week has gone on.  

  --Luke has music class on M, W, F and PE on T, TH.  He also has library on TH.

 --We found a lunch that is easier and fastest to eat than a peanut butter sandwich and he's been finishing all of it on the days he takes his lunch.

  --We signed LJ up for some school lunches a while back.  He had school lunch two days this week--french toast sticks with scrambled eggs and bacon and a hamburger with fries and veggies.  He said he enjoyed them but I wasn't thrilled with how little he actually told me he ate of them.  We'll see how this continues to go.

  --Luke brings home a blue folder each night with his daily work and any homework if he has it.  So far we've only had one homework assignment and we've had all week to complete it.

  --His favorite parts of the days:

        Last Friday: art

        Monday: recess

        Tuesday: "Mom, you can't ask me that every day!"

  --Luke told me this morning he still doesn't really like "walk and talk."

  --Each student is allowed to have a water bottle with them in class.  Luke has really enjoyed this and I think it's a great idea!

  --In chapel this week they learned about the Creation Story.  Luke has come home every day singing part of a song they have for helping them remember it.  We were reading tonight before bed and there was a picture of the ocean and sky with the sun.  Luke pointed out each thing and told me the day that God created them :)

  --This week they have also been studying vowels.  Luke has been pointing them out a bunch.

  --I'm so glad that is enjoying school so much.  It obviously makes things easier when you like what you're doing.  

A Time Gone By

Luke starts kindergarten in 16 days!!!!  This momma is freaking out just a bit about that.  The last day of preschool was hard in May but I know it's going to seem easy when August 14 rolls around.  Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for LJ and all of his new experiences and learning and growing BUT my baby is going to be gone for 5 whole days of school each week.  I'm going to miss him!  

Last year, he and I had Monday afternoons together and also mornings on Friday.  It was our special time to do stuff together while H was napping on Monday.  Friday mornings were usually pj days just relaxing together at home.  Those days are gone.  Now on Friday afternoons Luke will be the only one not home as Troy has 1/2 day work days on Fridays; that is going to be very strange!  

My dad and I were talking this past weekend about how it's never going to be the same.  That sounds dramatic but it's true.  From now until Luke leaves for college, we'll only have the weekends, summers and school breaks together.  It's a bit disheartening.  And it makes me want to cherish these last days all that much more before school starts! 

My Back

I elluded to this in a previous post but here's what's really going on with my back.

On July 6, I was out in the backyard doing some weeding and garden work.  I was in a crouched position and pulled on a weed and apparently that combo along with a twist put me in immediate and very acute pain.  I could hardly lower myself the rest of the way to the ground to sit down and there was definitely no way I was going to stand up.  I wasn't close to the back door; I didn't have my cell phone on me; and Troy was taking a nap.  That all overwhelmed me more than a bit.

After resting for a few minutes, I tried to scoot to the edge of some concrete steps thinking if I could get my legs down a few stairs maybe I could try to stand up.  Well, it was excruciating to move at all.  I'd scoot an inch or two and then take a break.  After what seemed like an eternity, a few bouts of crying, and some prayers, I was sitting on the wall by the stairs and had my legs where I thought I could rock myself up and grab the shovel that happened to be upright in the grass at the bottom of the stairs.  I was going to use the shovel as a crutch.  I'm really not sure how I managed to get the shovel and stand up but I did.  And then I saw Troy walk across the family room, thank goodness!

I waved for him to come outside which of course he did.  He later told me he thought I had broken something from the pained look on my face.  I explained what had happened and told him I couldn't really walk.  He was a support on one side and I used the shovel for the other side.  I took baby steps and that might be an overstatement.  It took us 30 minutes to go maybe 75 feet and up some stairs to get into the house--something that's normally done in a few seconds.

We decided to try laying down on the floor in the family room.  We quickly determined that wasn't an option because I couldn't bend to get down.  So we walked to the bedroom so I could lay flat on the bed.  That too was a slow process and a painful one at that.  The relief was overwhelming when I was finally laying flat on the bed.

The rest of the day was spent laying as flat as I could with my knees propped up on pillows using ice packets on my back.  My dad and step-mom came over to help Troy with a few things and also to see me.  They have also both been suffering with back problems and I heeded their advice and appreciated their sympathy.  My first trip to the bathroom and back to bed caused so much pain and I remember telling Troy it was worse than the labor pains I had with Hannah.  I truly didn't think I was going to be able to get back in bed.  Troy was trying to convince me to go to the ER but I knew there was no way I could get in the car much less sit in the car.  I told him if things were still as bad in the morning we would call for an ambulance to come and get me.

I took a hydrocodone that I had left from after Hannah's c-section around 8 pm.  I don't think it did anything to help my pain.  I tried to sleep but that was pretty much impossible.  Around 4 am, I decided to take another hydrocodone so that maybe I could get a little bit of sleep.  I think I managed 2-3 hrs of fitful sleep.  When I woke up around 7, I had to go to the bathroom again.  Troy helped me of course and as I was sitting on the toilet I told Troy I was either going to throw up or pass out.  Well, I passed out and scared Troy to death.  When I came to (which was a good while later according to Troy), Troy was talking to 911.  I managed to get back to bed and put some pants on before the EMTs arrived.  Dad and Frankie also came over to watch the kids so Troy could follow me to the hospital.

The EMTs gave me some narcotic (I don't remember which one) so that I could tolerate the ride to the hospital.  It was an uneventful ride and I remember thinking to myself I can't believe this is happening.  Once at the hospital, I was feeling much better.  It took a while for the doctor to come and when he did all he did was ask me what happened and how I was feeling.  That was the only time I saw him.  I was not impressed looking back on it.  Before they released me, Troy left to come home and get my car rather than his so I wouldn't have to lower myself into the car.  While he was gone I got a morphine drip.  Once that was done and Troy was back they released me--no x-ray or MRI was done.  If I had been more with it I would have requested one.  They did give me a prescription for a muscle relaxer at least.  

The ride home was awful.  Before we even pulled out of the parking lot I told Troy I thought I was going to get sick.  Thankfully, I keep a plastic trash can in my car.  I threw up twice and also had the dry heaves on the way home.  Let me just say that when you're having tremedous back pain that wretching motion is no where near comfortable.  I think it was so bad because I had so much medicine on an empty stomach.  

We got home and I got back in bed.  I was quite happy to be in my own bed again.  Frankie was still here taking care of the kids; it was so nice not to have to worry about them.  I was able to eat some lunch which settled my stomach a bit.  Later in the afternoon Troy took me to the chiropractor that Dad and Frankie have been seeing.  I wasn't too sure about this and didn't know what to expect.  They took a whole bunch of x-rays and came to the conclusion that I had two locations of at least a bulging disc (between L3 and L4 and also between L4 and L5).  The chiropractor gave me an adjustment, OUCH, and then I came back home.  Dad and Frankie stayed through dinner and then everyone went to bed early.

Tuesday morning I went back to the chiropractor and already I was walking a bit better although still not completely on my own.  He wanted me to have an MRI so the full extent of the injury could be seen.  After another adjustment which didn't hurt near as much, Troy took me to have an MRI.  The chiropractor called later in the afternoon to tell me not only were the discs bulging but there were slight protrusions as well.  He explained it all to me but I had a hard time following it all.  The one thing that stuck in my mind was he said he didn't think it was bad enough for surgery--hooray!  Frankie had come to stay with the kids again until we got home and then my mom arrived from KC around Hannah's nap time.  This situation would have been so much worse if it had not been for our families helping out and taking care of the kids.  

And now today, eleven days after I initially hurt my back I am doing so much better!  My mom and step-dad have been here all week taking care of all of us.  I am still going to the chiropractor every day and I truly believe that is why I am doing as well as I am.  I believe I turned a corner last Monday and I've gradually been doing more throughout the week.  Don't get me wrong, I still have a ways to go and I have to be very careful with my movements but I'm definitely headed in the right direction.

The hardest part of all of this was not being able to pick up or hold my kids for those first several days.  Hannah was constantly saying, "Mommy is sick" or "Mommy's back hurts."  On Tuesday afternoon after the chiropractor showed me a safe way to do it, I was able to pick Hannah up for the first time in over a week.  She got a huge grin on her face and said, "Mommy not sick!"  It brought tears to my eyes.  This is definitely not how I wanted to spend these weeks of summer especially since Luke starts kindergarten exactly 4 weeks from today but I'm very grateful to be on the mend and we'll make the most of these last few weeks before school starts.

6 Year Old Questionnaire

Tomorrow is Luke's 6th birthday!  Wow, so hard to believe he's already 6 and getting ready to start kindergarten in August.  There are some unusual circumstances for Luke's birthday this year.  I severely hurt my back a few days ago so I'm currently laying flat in bed asking LJ all of these questions.  We will have a small family celebration tomorrow night complete with ice cream cake and then on Saturday we're having a dinosaur swim party.  Luke is beyond excited!  Now on to the questions….

How old are you? 6

How tall are you? Um, about this tall (patting his head).

How much do you weigh? Let me go check in the bathroom (disappears to the bathroom).  Comes back and says 43.5. And then he disappears again to double check.  Comes back and says I must have grown because now it says 44.0.

What is your favorite toy? Robber Hide-out Legos

Favorite book? I'm not sure.  Then he says i-Pad stories.

Favorite movie? Frozen

Favorite TV show? Wild Kratts

Favorite food? french toast and pancakes

Favorite fruit? cantaloupe and apples

Favorite snack? fruit by the foot

Favorite drink? crystal light and plain milk

Favorite activity? go to a park and play on the park sets (his words)

Favorite color? green and red

Favorite sport? soccer and basketball

Favorite song? Frere Jacques

Favorite animal? giraffees and elephants

Favorite game? slap jack, Lego City game

Favorite outfit? I can't figure it out.  Well, I like to wear my dinosaur and shark shirts.

Favorite holiday? Christmas and Halloween

What do you need in bed when it's time to go to sleep? diapers and my music
Best Friend? Nick (Pitman) and James (Parker)

When I grow up I want to be? a bone finder (paleontologist)

Nicknames? Munchkin, Lukester, Lukey (from friends), Dude

Thing I am really good at? helping and building Legos

Some other stats:

Clothing size: a few 4T and mostly 5T pants and a 6/7 shirt

Shoe size: 11

Height:   at 5 1/2 he was 43 3/4 inches so I'll guess about 45-46 inches

Weight: 44 lbs

Updated on 8-22:  We had Luke's 6 year check-up on the 18th.  He weighed 45 pounds (47%) and was 46 inches tall (57%).  Everything else looked great!