Family Blog

It is Wed. already!  Yay!!   Don’t you just love the short weeks?  

Picked Luke up yesterday and the other teacher in the infant 4 (Different class of Luke’s age-play together but eat and nap separately) , Tracy, was out and the sub was a lady that used to be in Sharon’s class but had a baby- her 4^th I think-and hadn’t come back.  She was in school and has 4 kids.  She came back because she was trying to work at night and it just wasn’t working.     She is really sweet.  She had been gone 10 months.  She said “ I knew who most of the kids were, but when I saw Luke, I said, is that a new kid?” When they told her it was Luke she just couldn’t believe how much he had grown.    They were out in the hall with the toddlers and Luke was just loving being with the big kids and after a minute or so finally realized I was there and came running to me.   

There was a problem with making the South of the border casserole last night!  Since I had switched my meal plan around, I hadn’t gotten the hamburger out of the freezer—duh!!  It actually worked out good, I had to use a meal for next week but I had all the stuff for it—Queen City Mets and tater tots (Matt’s favorite) and we had baked beans left over from Monday so it worked out fine.  We’ll do the casserole on Friday.      Oh well, the meal plan is nice but we have to be flexible.  I am making a crockpot meal Thursday night because my plan is to go to jazzercise.    I did find an easy recipe on the Gooseberry Patch site today:

Fall is all about casseroles and soups and comfort foods.  Gotta Love it!

I didn’t try Luke on the mets so I got out some fish sticks I bought (thinking this would be a good way for him to get the fish that we don’t normally eat when we need something to feed him).  He shocked me because he did eat a fish shaped “fish stick” and he ate several tater tots and some baked beans.  I was just so proud!    

Today, I stopped into the Pleasantree to get tickets to the fashion show on Sept. 18^th to benefit Children’s Hospital.   I got a cute Halloween figurine to go with the others I have and a candle and some fall Harvest tarts.  I have one on my desk and it smells so good!!  They had a few cute things but I was a little disappointed.    They are having big sales Sept. 15-21 with 20% off things all week.   

It is so hot, I am hoping this is summers’ last hurrah! 

We’ve had a pretty good week last week.    Luke has been healthy, except for the usual bit of congestion/cough/drainage that seems to be pretty typical after giving him anything with milk in it.   We have had fun playing with Luke at night.  He is so much fun at this age.  He is very inquisitive and wants to know what everything is.  He will try to say things or make sounds or movements like we do but they just don’t come out right just yet.    I got the kitchen fairly clutter free and organized and the floor cleaned.  I got the living room straightened and moved around a bit and we got the carpet cleaned on thurs a.m.   They did a great job!   It looks great!  I had a lot of things that were half completed or sitting around waiting to get finished so, I got some returns and a package of clothes that a friend lent me shipped out that have needed to be mailed for the past couple of weeks.    

You know how you have all of this stuff to do and it just kind of drags you down and hangs over your head until you have time to do it?  I feel so much better!   And, my favorite time of year is coming up!  I love fall!   We have a lot of fun things coming up in September and October and I love decorating for fall and the neat smells of fall, the pumpkins and spicy scents!  I think I will start getting my fall stuff out this weekend!!

We had a fun long weekend.    It started off on Friday night.  Matt wasn’t home when we pulled in so I thought, why not just take Luke to sign up for swim lessons?  I figured once I got home and settled I wouldn’t want to do it, so we went down to the Y and got all signed up.  The problem is that we are the only ones signed up for this class so far.  I am hoping that at least one other pair sign up or we may be shut out.  This is the only night they offer the 6-18 mo. Class.  She did say that we may be able to go to the next class up since he is close to 18 mos.  It is the same night, just ½ hour later at 6:30.    Luke was really good while we were there.  I am getting excited about the class, it starts on the 8^th. 

While we were finishing dinner, Matt’s mom called and she and his dad came over to bring some tomatoes and get a Luke fix.    Luke acted a little shy at first, but before too long he was sitting on grandma’s lap reading a book.  

Saturday, I had to work at Jazzercise and Luke had his 15 month checkup (postponed a week because of going to KY)   So, I met Matt and Luke at the dr. at 10.    I love that Dr. Co has Saturday a.m. appts.    Anyway, he is doing really, really good.   He was 24.8 lbs and 34” tall.  The nurse said he was in the 50% percentile for height and weight but when I plugged in the numbers from several websites, he is actually in the 75-95% for height.  The weight was right at 50%.    I thought the height seemed off because on most sites when buying clothing, he is in the weight for 18 months and height for 24 months clothing (which is making fall/winter clothing shopping interesting)     Dr. Co said he seems to be right on target and that we are doing a good job.    I asked about the eating situation and when is it ok to put food out and if he doesn’t eat it then he doesn’t get an alternate meal (within reason).    I don’t want to send a message that I will always cook him something different.  Up until now, it has been kind of necessary and of course we will have things for dinner that there is no way he will eat.   Plus, he will still let me feed him some baby food which is practically the only way I can get him to eat veggies.   He said go ahead and start that now because there are no weight issues so if he doesn’t eat that is ok.  He said to look at his meals over a 2-3 day period and as long as he has the 4 food groups between those 2-3 days that is ok.    He said it is ok to baby food still up to about 18-20 months or so as long as he lets us give it.    He also said “May the force be with you, Luke” when he left.    Too funny!

Sometimes he is in the mood to try new things.  He ate carrots yesterday at lunch and also tried a grape.  He really liked strawberries on Friday night but wouldn’t eat them Saturday.    The dr. says this is typical toddler behavior.  I hate it.  I want him to eat good things and like them.  I can’t understand why he likes those nasty meat sticks, yet he won’t try corn or fruit or veggies.  Hopefully, if he learns that he isn’t getting an alternate, he will start eating what we eat. 

Saturday, we laid low the rest of the day because Luke got shots.  Sometimes he gets really tired, or has a fever or is cranky so I didn’t want to plan anything.  Mom and Holly came over and Mom wanted to treat Matt to a nice meal for watching Abbey while we were gone but he just wanted tacos so that’s what we had.      I managed to finish most of my laundry which had started to pile up from being gone the weekend before and not feeling too hot most of the week. 

Sunday, I took Luke to the pool for a while and Holly watched Luke for a few hours while Matt and I went out to dinner.  We ate at Rafferty’s and had a really nice meal.  I had a “melt in your mouth” filet and Matt had ribs.  It was nice going to a different restaurant besides Frisch’s or Bob Evans and not have to pick up food off of the floor before we left!    We stopped at Target to pick up a few things. 

Monday, I ran to Carters.   They were having a big sale.  I didn’t get anything for next summer, they had very little 2T for summer, but they did have 50% off just about everything else.  I got him a couple of pairs of pants and jammies for winter and a couple of pairs of shorts to get him thru the rest of the season.    I stopped at Pier 1 and TJ Maxx but didn’t find anything.  By the time I got home, Luke was finished napping and so he ate lunch and Mom, Holly and I went for the last day at the pool.  We had a good time and got a little sun and we hung out in the baby pool and the big pool was cold but felt good.    We went home and we had an end of the summer cookout with burgers, potato salad, baked beans and corn on the cob—yummy! 

In my effort to get organized, I found a couple of websites to help.   www.orgjunkie.com has good organizing tips and on Mondays, bloggers submit their weekly menus.  Sometimes they also share recipes too.  This is a good way to get ideas when you are struggling to figure out what to eat on a weekly basis and to see what the rest of the world is feeding their families.    It is called Menu Plan Monday.    She also let us know about a website called www.listplanit.com.  It is a site that has all kinds of lists that you can print off.    I did join because she was running a special 6 months for $9.95.    There are lists for just about everything:  packing for a trip, shopping, cleaning, menu planning,  etc.  If you see any that you’d like to have, just email me and I will send it to you!      I was tired of going to the store and aimlessly wandering around and trying to come up with what to fix for dinner.   Right now, I have a menu for the month of Sept. posted on the fridge.  Matt is very impressed that he can look on the fridge and see what we are having for dinner.    It also made my grocery shopping easier and I spent less money too.    I will also start trying to post a recipe each week also.  This is a recipe that I am going to try tonight:

  South of the Border Casserole

1 pound of lean ground beef
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed from half, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
28 ounce can of whole tomatoes (fire roasted tomatoes, if you can find them)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons of cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sour cream
8 oz penne, ziti or any small pasta
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup cilantro, minced

In a large deep skillet, brown meat until no longer pink. Drain fat, if necessary. Add the olive oil, peppers, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook on medium-high heat. Saute until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin. Add the can of tomatoes, breaking up the whole tomatoes with a spoon, but still leaving big chunks. Add sour cream, stir until mixed. Add pasta. Cover and cook until pasta is al dente, about 25 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently so the pasta doesn't get stuck to the bottom. Serve with the cheddar cheese and cilantro sprinkled on top.

I am also going to be going to Jazzercise one night per week to the 5:15 class.  I will try to go on wed, but this week I am going on thurs. since Matt has an appt. this week.   For that night, I am going to make a crockpot dinner.   That way, we can eat by the time I get home.    On Mondays, while we are at swim lessons, Matt will make dinner or if he wants to come and watch, I will do a crockpot dinner or try to make a casserole or something on Sunday so we can just heat it up. 

I posted a few new photos to the site in August-photos of Luke helping Mommy and a few of our trip to KY.  

Have a good, short week!!

Pat and his wife came over Thursday night to install the new fan in the kitchen.  It is smaller and so quiet.  It really brightens up the kitchen and it is perfect.  They are very nice people to take time away from working on their house to do this for us. 

We had a fun weekend with Aunt Holly.  Mom and I picked Luke up from daycare about 1:30 and got on the road about 15 min later.  He was still asleep, so his teacher changed him and he was happy to see us.  We put him in the car and he didn’t sleep but he was really good.  We made good time, around 2 hrs.  We got there before 4.     We stayed at Holly’s friend Heather’s mom’s house.  She lives in TN, but lets people stay as a ministry in the house.  There are new people set to move in next weekend.  It is in a pretty nice neighborhood and it was a pretty big house.  We each had a bedroom and Luke and I slept in the master which had a twin bed, recliner with small tv and a bathroom.    This was nice because I wasn’t sure how or where he would sleep.  

We got situated and let Luke run around a bit and then we headed to Heather’s house, across the street.   We were anxious to see how Luke and Layna (2 weeks younger) would act with each other.  Layna was very jealous of Holly holding Luke and kind of kept in between them.   She is used to kids being rough with her and taking things from her so whenever Luke approached her she would hold her hand out and scream in a very high pitched scream.       She seemed like she kind of liked him but didn’t want him to sit in her chair or use any of her toys.   They played a bit together but Luke really liked her older sister Kaia.   She is 3-1/2 just a month or so younger than Ephriam.  She is kind of shy but warmed up to us pretty quickly.  She is all girl and is very smart and talkative.    Camden who is 6 I think had a friend over so we didn’t see as much of him.  We ate dinner and then the kids played downstairs in their playroom.  They have a nice family room and playroom in the basement.   Luke enjoyed going thru a tunnel, playing with big leggos, pushing around a baby stroller and jumping on the little chairs that each child had.    We left after 8 and gave Luke his bath.  It took him til about 10 to get to sleep and then he woke up every hour in the pack and play.  Eventually, I tried holding him in the recliner and putting him in bed with me.  Of course, he was sprawled out so I was on the edge of the twin and so I didn’t get much sleep.  He also hit his head on the wall that the bed was pushed up to and woke up and cried.  So, a very long night.      He was up super early the next morning.  Once we all got up, we went to breakfast and then we went to Gabes.  Didn’t find much, was disappointing.    Luke took a nap in the car for a bit.  When we got home he played and then took a nice nap in the pack and play.   We left for the church festival around 6. It was similar to our Block Party.  They had inflatables and carnival games, food and a concert at 7.   They showed a movie at 9..  We left before that.  Luke was into walking around and he was getting tired and it was hot.   We gave him a bath and then he slept just about all night in the pack and play, so we got a better nights sleep.

He took a nap in the morning after breakfast so we could go to church.  Holly took him out to the nursery during the sermon and he liked going down the slide.  After church, we went to Culvers with Heather’s family and Sarah’s family (jazzercise instructor).     We got home around 4:30 and we were tired!  Luke slept most of the way home. 

I am on a quest to get the house organized.   What will help us is to have this yard sale.  It is scheduled for Sept. 13^th.    I am going thru the house and sorting out what to keep and what to get rid of.     I am tired of all of the clutter and just want to simplify everything.  I have worked on the family room and the kitchen.  We are getting the carpets cleaned Thursday morning and I can’t wait.  They are just so dingy.      The money that we make on the yard sale will go towards new bedroom furniture from IKEA.    We are selling all of our furniture in the bedroom.  I am just sick of it.     There are also a lot of little appliances and stuff in the basement that we are getting rid of too.  If we haven’t used it in the past year or 2, it is gone! 

Luke loves going outside now.  Matt has taken him out and he likes to walk around.  Last night he was carrying a stick and finding spider webs to touch with the stick.  He likes to watch the birds and squirrels in the backyard.  He is so curious about everything, he is fun to watch.      Matt was trying to whistle and now he is trying to also.   It is really cute to see him try to do this.  He is grinning so big, he can’t keep his lips pursed to try to whistle.  He likes to run and jump on big pillows on the floor.   He loves to climb.    He is really good about giving kisses to mama.    He still loves books!    

I am excited to sign up Luke for swimming lessons.  They start Sept. 8^th at the Y.    Monday nights at 6:00 for ½ hour.    

He has his 15 month appt./shots on Saturday morning.  Interested to see his weight and height and make sure he is on track with his development.      Looking forward to the long weekend to go to the pool for the last time this summer, to get caught up on things around the house and maybe get some things on sale!    

We have been up an about the past few nights.  It has been either coughing or last night it seemed like gas or upset tummy.   Matt kept going in until he went to bed and then around 1 I went down.  Matt said he thought it might be gas.  When I got down there he was standing up, very awake and had thrown his froggy over the side of the crib onto the floor.  He didn’t seem to want to lay down and wanted me.  So, I cuddled with him awhile and tried again.  Same thing happened.  So, I gave him some natural tummy “medicine” (with chamomile and ginger) and a drink of water and we sat in the chair for awhile and then about ½ hr later went to sleep and slept the rest of the night.    I am wondering if he will sleep in the pack and play this weekend.  Our last experience wasn’t that great with it….he never liked it when he was a newborn either.  He liked to sleep in the changing area but didn’t like the main part of the pack and play. 

I talked to his teacher yesterday and she said he noticed today that they had forgotten to send up the fruit that was for their lunch.  They got it for their snack but he knew he was supposed to get fruit and he wasn’t getting it so he got upset.  She said he also sees her get the jar of applesauce out and he won’t eat anything until he gets his applesauce!   He will do that at home too, so I give him things in stages and don’t show him the next “course” until he is done eating the first thing. 

He likes to help mommy sweep the floor.   Last week he pushed the little broom around and then I made the swiffer shorter and he did this for over ½ hour.  Last night he wanted to do it again so I didn’t argue.    Matt said if he wants to do this, might as well give him the swiffer so he is actually getting the dust off of the floor.  He is so happy to do this and help out.  He also likes to “help” me fold laundry which consists of him taking what I have already folded and throwing it in the floor or back in the basket or things from the basket to the floor.

Last night, Pat the electrician came over and changed our dryer plug so we can stack it in top of the washer and helped Matt stack them.   He also fixed the speeds on the ceiling fans in the family room.   He likes Luke a lot since that is his dad and brother’s name too.   It was a little crazy because I was trying to make dinner and Luke was getting hungry and running around while Matt was trying to help Pat.  I got a new fan for the kitchen so he is going to come by and do that tonight possibly.     Crosby Electric 856-8291.

I made an appt to have our carpet in the family room cleaned professionally.  The carpet cleaner just isn’t working properly since I tried to clean Chris and Faith’s carpets.  It kind of pooped out on me while I was doing theirs and I didn’t get theirs done like I wanted to.  It just isn’t worth getting it fixed for the one room we have. It desperately needs to be done with some spots and just looks dingy and also just because Luke plays on the floor and people track in things and also because the lady we bought the house from had a cat and this may be part of the allergy issues.  Grandma got hers done and I called this company and it is a family company and they will only charge me $60 to do the room.  They are coming next week.  They will also move all of the furniture which is wonderful.  Chafin Carpet Cleaning, Fairfield.     868-0858   A lot of places wouldn’t even bother with my one room but I told him I’d spread the word. 

We leave tomorrow afternoon to go to see Holly.  Mom and Luke and I are leaving around 1:30.    We are going to dinner at her friend Heather’s fri night and they have an event at their church Saturday night.  Other than that, we’ll just have fun! 

Ok, looks like we are back to normal on the blogs.   With the updates and virus’ it was hard to get things posted, but I am assured that we are back in business.  Can’t be too picky with a free website can we?  It doesn’t happen too often.

We are having a good week so far.   Luke is a little congested and has a bit of a cough, but that is pretty typical for him, especially after having some type of milk product.    I talked to some other parents and their kids are suffering too with allergies.  It has been a bad year for most of us with allergies.

Update on Aaron Wyatt (5 mos old, parents Todd and Delores from Park Avenue):  I talked to Delores on Monday night.  Last thurs. he started wheezing so the dr. prescribed the inhaler with tube like Luke has.  That evening, he was worse and was screaming so the dr. said to take him to FF Children’s urgent care.  They immediately took him by ambulance  to downtown Children’s because his airways were almost blocked and he was struggling to breathe and oxygen levels were low.  Scary!  So, they did breathing treatments every hour and then every 4 on Sat.  then, he got worse again and had to do every hour.  Finally, by Sunday afternoon he had 2 consecutive 4 hour treatments so they sent him home.   He was doing ok by Monday but they have a nebulizer at home right now and he hates the treatments.   I am so thankful that Luke’s breathing problems never got that bad!  How scary for such a young baby!   No ear infections so they may postpone tubes a month or so.   Continue praying!

It is getting more fun to feed Luke now that he is eating more things gradually.  I am able to buy some of the Gerber Graduates items and he will eat a lot of them and I don’t feel like I am throwing money down the drain when he won’t eat it.  He likes the Pasta pick ups which usually has some meat and veggies in them.  The other night he had the mashed potatoes with veggies and he really liked them.    He still likes his meat sticks.  He is eating the blueberries I bought.   Fixing dinner is challenging because when you start cooking he knows what is going on and he wants to eat immediately!   The past couple of nights I gave him a few blueberries while I was cooking and this seems to satisfy him for awhile and also is healthy. 

Went to Old Navy today and they have a lot of their clothes at 50% off for summer.  He doesn’t need anymore summer clothes for this year.   They also have 20% off with card.  I got him 5 prs. of summer jammies for next summer for $5-7 each and a few long sleeved t’s for fall and a cute vest and a baseball cap.    I didn’t have a ton of time, but I thought I’d go back in a couple of weeks and maybe I’ll get some more bargains for next summer.   I don’t really like the new collections they came out with for “back to school”-they look kind of chintzy.     I am hoping the more fall and winter stuff is cuter.   I will have to get over to Carters in the near future too.  I won an auction for some winter jammies on ebay from the Gap and Old Navy.  I love their 2 pc sets.  They wash good and they are comfy.    Just trying to think ahead! 

Need to get a new fan for the kitchen tomorrow at lunch.  Pat is coming over thurs night to fix the speeds on the ones in the family room that he put in this spring.  All of the speeds aren’t working right.   While he is there, we are going to have him move the plug for the dryer so we can stack our new washer and dryer and also install a new kitchen ceiling fan.  The one we have is old and on the low speed it makes a terrible noise. 

Sorry for the blog-less days.  I finally got everything updated and then the site was doing updates so I couldn't post...

Last week, we had a pretty good week.   I got my hair cut and foiled on wed night while Matt took Luke around in the wagon.  They stopped to see Nanny and he ran around her back yard for awhile and he got to pet Abbey only while Mom was holding her head away from him.  He seemed to love her even though she doesn’t like him.     Luke’s yeast diaper rash started coming back so I got some Lotremin AF after reading in toddler 411 and also his old teacher Sharon mentioned this the last time he had it.  It saved a dr. visit, although the medicine is more expensive than the prescription we got last time (with insurance) but still less expensive.  So, I thought I’d give it a try first to see if we can avoid having to go to the dr.   It seemed to help after a few days but he is still kind of itchy.   Poor guy, it is always something. 

We had a good weekend.  Friday night, the Harrison’s came over with Richards.    Emma (almost 5), Keller (2 in nov.) and Luke ate spaghetti.  Yes, even Luke.   I wasn’t sure if he’d eat it or not.  I tried a gerber mini spaghetti last week and he barely touched it.  Maybe he saw the other kids or maybe because the noodles were bigger.  I don’t know, but he ate garlic bread and spaghetti!    The rest of us had sandwiches and salad.   After dinner, we loaded the kids in a wagon and walked to Flubs.    Luke sat on  Emma’s legs with her holding onto him.  He was just grinning and he sat there so good and loved it.   I got Luke strawberry sherbet which has a little less milk.   We came back and the kids played.  They were just having fun when Keller fell and hit his head on one of the toys and that signaled a tired kid so they had to leave.     We had a really good time!     

We did find out that Aaron Wyatt had to go to the hospital for breathing problems but we hear he is home now.  I will try to call them tonight and see how they are doing.     Please pray for them.   We also hear that John Eshelman is trying to find a job, so pray for them.  They wanted to come back to this area but nothing so far.  Maybe a job in Memphis, Tn. 

Saturday,  I worked at jazzercise in the a.m. and then when I got home, Matt went to work.  Luke took an early nap because he got up kind of early for a Saturday and he was up at about 11.   I gave him some pasta pick ups (little raviolis with meat and veggies) and he just ate them up.  I have tried these before and he wouldn’t eat them.   We went over to visit with Grandma Buhi for awhile.   He ran around outside a bit and was having a good time showing off for Grandma and her neighbor Wanda.   A little bit later, Grandpa Buhi came over to see Luke and they played awhile.   He was lifting Luke up in the air and then flipping him over.  He loved this so he wanted to do it over and over.  I think he wore out his grandpa!    Uncle Ethan came over to do a job for Grandma outside.  We didn’t get to see Nikki and cousin Sarah because her brother was in town.    We went home, Luke napped and then met Grandma and Grandpa Walker at Bob Evans.  Luke was really good and he got a treat, Pancakes for dinner and then we went to their house and played for awhile.     

Sunday, we played and then Luke and Nanny and I went to the pool for an hour and ½ or so around 3.     We had a good time playing in the baby pool.  The big pool was kind of cold so we didn’t stay in in too long.    He did manage to skin both knees before we left.   We got home and Luke napped for a little while and then we ate dinner and played.  Luke ate the rest of his spaghetti!    He also ate blueberries!!  He is getting better about trying new things.  

He loves to be chased and chase you.  He is running now.  He loves to run and dive onto pillows from the couch that we put on the floor for him to climb on.   He still loves books.  Last night Matt put on some music and we were all dancing.  He was running around saying “AAAAAAHHH!” and also moving his legs up and down and swinging his arms.  I just love when little kids try to dance!

Friday night/Saturday

Friday night we decided to take walk, so we loaded up Luke in his wagon and walked the neighborhood.  We swung by my mom’s house and she was home.  She brought out Abbey for Luke to see but she just barked and she couldn’t get near him since she is old and not into kids.  We decided to go to Frisch’s for dinner and mom came with us. 

Saturday, I woke up early and went to the Farmer’s market for fresh white corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and sunflowers.   We debated on going to the pool all day.  It was on the cooler side and the sun was behind the clouds for most of the day so we decided not to go.    We grilled pork chops and enjoyed our fresh corn and the best salad ever with the fresh home-grown veggies! 

Monday, Luke was in a good mood and was excited to be at daycare.   I let him walk to his class and he got to walk thru the gate and he thought this was really neat.  He made noises to his little girl friends and he went right in and started playing with the vacuum.  There are 2 other boys but they get there a little later.  The girls obviously have him trained, ha ha!!    When I came to pick him up where was he but sitting with the toddlers again eating another snack that the teacher gave him.  He was sitting there like a big boy looking at the kids and watching a video.  He finally spied me after he finished his graham cracker and we went home.    We decided since it wasn’t that hot to take him to the park.  We went to Millikin woods and he went on the swing and on the jungle jim.   He really liked this and was all grins after going down the slide with mommy and daddy.   He got pretty tired during the last swing session, it looked like he might fall asleep.    We got home, ate dinner, played, watched the Bengals and had a bath.   A very good night!

His eating is better.  He is more into trying new things.    One thing I read has really helped.  Offer him several items for dinner.    At least one of the things needs to be something he really likes.  This way, if he doesn’t eat the other things, he at least gets something to eat.   Last night, I tried giving him meat sticks which he likes, peas and carrots (iffy), mandarin oranges (typically likes) and pasta from our stir fry.   He ate the meat sticks, actually ate quite a few peas for once and no mandarin oranges.  He tried one pasta but didn’t want anymore.  Since he did so good I let him have some cheerios too.    This takes the stress out of the meal, they are at least eating something with out having to prepare a totally different meal.   Right now, I still have to prepare something different for him, but hopefully soon he will start eating chicken and stuff and things we eat.  I need to get some new, quick and easy recipes and hopefully he’ll start eating the same thing we eat.      I bought some of the graduates meals and hoping he’ll eat some of those.  We eat a lot of salad and grilled food right now and he isn’t interested.    If anyone has a recipe that your little ones like, please let me know. 

He is really trying to say things.  He says bye bye, baby, quack quack and of course mama.    He looks at the kitty salt and pepper shakers on the shelf in our dining room and says ees?   Like kitties.    He loves the commercial with the giraffes for the Cincinnati zoo.  I can’t wait to take him and let him see them.  Anytime there is an animal on tv he stops and points.      He likes to watch the Reds and we make the sounds  and say “charge” and put out our arm and he does that too-sometimes both arms!    He loves to be sung to-anything!    We were doing head, shoulders, knees and toes last night and he wanted it over and over.    We are having lots of fun!! 

We had a pretty good week.  Tuesday, I had to pick Luke up early because he had a fever of 101.  It only lasted the one day.  It may be teething.  I thought he had already gotten all of his teeth that he would get until he got closer to 2, but he does get his teeth 3-6 months earlier than average.  His clothes have been just soaked in the front from saliva and he has been waking up multiple times per night, etc.   He has had a bit of congestion and a cough.  Not sure if it is related to the teething or the ice cream he had at Matt’s birthday.  He seems to always get sick when he gets teeth…We have been giving him breathing treatments with the inhaler to loosen things up so he doesn’t wheeze so that’s been helping.  I have gotten very little sleep all week with him waking up so much.  Last night (Thursday) he was up for awhile coughing so I put saline In his nose, gave him some natural cough medicine with honey in it and finally he stopped so I could put him back into bed.  He is such the social butterfly.  He likes to run up and down the hall when I come pick him up and “talk” to the other kids and look into the other rooms with his old teachers.  He also scams another snack from the toddler teacher.    

.     He can climb up on his school bus on wheels now.  He is figuring out how to put his leg over and sit and move a little bit.  Sometimes he ends up facing the wrong way!  He is pretty good about getting off of it himself too, but last night he took a spill backwards and missed the coffee table leg by an inch.  He’s really into climbing.  To get it out of his system, I have been taking the big cushions off the couch and putting them on the floor and letting him climb on them.  He just thinks this is the best thing.  Last night, I gave him his dinner, with things that I knew he liked and he wouldn’t eat anything but one piece of pear. Normally, I give him other things but I figured if he was hungry he would eat.  He didn’t seem too upset when I didn’t offer him alternates so I guess he wasn’t really hungry after all.  He has plenty to eat during the day and seems to try more new things at daycare.  Part of it is that he knows he won’t get an alternate meal and the other is seeing the other kids eat.  I decided I didn’t want to breed a picky eater and have to always make an alternate meal each night-“become a short-order cook”.  He needs to learn to try new things and he doesn’t always get cheerios or bunny grahams or something else he really likes unless at least makes an effort.   I read that you should look at their meals in a week’s time and they don’t always eat a balanced meal every day but over the week it should be fairly balanced.    I also think he is testing me too.    I didn’t make a big deal out of it, just cleaned him up, said all done and he went in to play.

Looking forward to a nice weekend and going to the pool! 

New photos added under Aug 2008 album…

We had a fun day on Saturday.   I went to jazzercise early and before I left I made sure Luke was up early so we could get a nap in before we left for Children’s.  It was perfect timing because he was up by 10:30 after about an hour nap so we could have him ready by 11 to leave with Chris, Faith, Ephriam and KC to tour the new Children’s Hospital Liberty campus.  They have a 24 hour ER, outpatient surgery, therapy, testing and more there.  It is very colorful and fun and everyone was very nice.  They had clowns, firetrucks, games and food.   We ran into Mike and Deb Scott and their 2 boys there and it was nice catching up with them.  It will be nice to have this so close to home.  It will be a lot nicer than going to a regular hospital ER.    Luke had a fun time with his cousins and we went to McDonald’s afterward.  Luke wouldn’t eat any of the food, which is fine with me, some day he will beg us to go there!   I had a few snacks with me so he ate some peanut butter crackers.   He was giving KC hugs before we left.   He fell asleep on the way home and then took a 2 hour nap since his morning nap was earlier and shorter.    We just hung out on Saturday night and he ate a good dinner since his lunch was just a snack.   I made cupcakes for Matt’s birthday party on Sunday. 

Sunday morning, I took Luke to Walmart with me before his nap.  I had to pick up things for Matt’s party and some other odds and ends we needed at home.   He was really good.   I don’t take him to the store much because it is just easier to leave him home.  He likes to ride in the cart and look at everything.  We went thru the toy section and looked at some things.  He really liked an Elmo doll that he saw and some farm sets.  I didn’t get anything this week, but some day I won’t be able to go thru this section without him begging me to buy him something.  They have a really cute new Fisher Price zoo with animals that I think he would really like.   When we got home, he took his nap and I put the groceries away and got things together for later.  I also decided since it wasn’t too humid and hot that I would take him to the pool for a quick visit since it was his first time.  I didn’t want him to get too much sun or wear him out too much since we had a party to go to later.     Of course, when I want him to wake up early from a nap, he sleeps later than usual!  He ate his lunch and we got to the pool around 1:45.    We headed to the baby pool and there weren’t any other kids there so we had it to ourselves.  Donna, the lifeguard was so excited to see us.  She had been bugging me to bring him.  She first started taking her son to the pool at Luke’s age.  The biggest issue with bringing him is that you can’t take the stroller or wagon because there are too many steps-there is no easy way to get to the pool unless someone would open the gates.  They used to keep them open, but then the neighborhood kids would sneak in.     They had just filled up the baby pool, so it was a little cool.  At first, he didn’t like it, then he got used to it.  I brought some of his bath toys and stackable plastic nesting blocks and he stood in the pool.  He didn’t want to get in, and a couple of times he lost his balance and fell back and he looked a little scared.  The water came up to about his chest so he isn’t used to that deep of water.   

.      There was a cute girl about 6 or 7 who came in and played with Luke some and he seemed to like her a lot.  She has a baby brother so she knew what would make him smile.  She was a big help.     I had bought a floaty thing that he could sit in that had mesh and a couple of inflatable sections that can also be folded up.  It has a little canopy that you can put over it too to shade him.  It worked out really neat.  The big pool was really warm and he loved it!  He just grinned and giggled and kicked his feet.  I would go under water and come up and he just laughed.   The lifeguard and the other ladies who I have seen there for years just thought he was too cute and he just had a ball.    We hated to leave but we had to get home to get ready for Matt’s birthday at his parents.  Plus, I didn’t want him to get too tired or get too much sun the first time out.   We got home after 3 so we didn’t have time to take showers/bath so we just cleaned up and changed clothes. 

We had a really, fun time at the Walker’s.  All the brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, my mom and Matt’s grandma were all there.   It was the first real time Luke got to run around and interact with all of his cousins.  You could tell he was having a great time.  He spent some time with Caleb playing catch and Joe was showing him how to catch and hit a baseball.    They got the sprinkler out and Luke just ran right up to it.  He was surprised when the water hit his face, I wish I would have gotten that on tape.    He wasn’t afraid or anything.  I didn’t let him stay out there too long-the sun had gone down and it was getting cooler.  It wasn’t a super hot day to begin with .   He would just stand in the grass and clap his hands.   It is so cute to see him finally clapping.  Whenever he hears someone clapping he joins in.  We had a really nice cookout and we all really enjoyed our evening together.    He was pretty whipped by the time we got home around 9 and he had his bath. 

I was having trouble putting a blog entry in so I emailed support and they had to put a limit on characters because of a virus, so I will have to split up my blog from Aug. 1st.   

Sorry so behind on the blog.  I was in meetings all day, all week, even lunchtime.  I got to eat some cool lunches but would have rather just have had my normal lunch hour to run errands or catch up on blog or emails or whatever but it is over now and a nice diversion but now back to the routine!

Anyway, we had a good weekend last weekend.    We went to the fair with Chris, Faith, Ephriam and KC.  We went early, at 9, in between all the kids naps so the rides weren’t open but we were able to see all the animals.  We saw cows, pigs, chickens, roosters, ducks, bunnies, goats, and ponies.  Luke just looked at everything and pointed and he got to touch some bunnies.  He put his little hand up to the cage and they would smell his hand.  We got to hear a rooster crow and he thought that was neat.  It was very hot though and very smelly.  We did get to see the Stidham family from church and Adam and Natalie.  There wasn’t much going on other than the animals but it was nice because it wasn’t crowded and we could take our time.  Luke fell asleep on the way home and then took his nap.    Later that day, we went to Dan and Tricia’s house for a party for her brother Todd and family to wish them well since they are moving to Florida.  We enjoyed seeing everyone and they all were amazed at how big Luke is now and they all loved his curls.  He did really good walking around in the grass with sandals on.  It wasn’t real even and he only fell a couple of times.  He is just getting used to wearing shoes, but is getting along nicely now that I have found the right size and some good sandals for him to wear.    We left the party around 8 so we could get him home and have a bath. 

Sunday the 27th , we had my family over.  My aunt Donna and cousin Eric were in from Florida.  We had everyone over for a cook out around 2.  We had a really nice visit.    It was good to see Eric, he hadn’t been to Hamilton in quite a few years.  It was cute to see Luke and Sarah play together.  She is walking some now and he was showing her all of his toys and they played a bit together.    Ethan had to go into work that evening so they left shortly after dinner.  We had a nice visit and Luke was showing off for everyone. 

He loves to play with the summer curtains that I put up in the dining room.  They are a kind of like a netting material so you can see thru them.  He goes behind them and hides and walks forward letting the material slide down his face until he is out of the curtains and he just grins and giggles when he does this.  He likes you to chase him and he loves going up the steps now. 

He had a nice week at daycare this week.  He did have 2 ouch reports though from falling and hitting his noggin.  Has a few bruises from that.    His old teacher Sharon had to quit because of health reasons and her last day is today.  We gave her a Vera Bradley coin purse/keychain with a photo of her and Luke that I took a couple of weeks ago. She was trying hard not to cry.  She is going to visit and still come and paint the windows-she does a wonderful job of that so she will come and see the kids from time to time.    His teacher now, Andrea, told me yesterday that she is pregnant and she is due the end of March.  Hopefully, Luke will be out of her class before she leaves.    He really loves Miss Andrea. Whenever we see her in the morning, he just grins at her.  She is really feeling sick right now.  It probably is hard to feel so sick and deal with the heat and the kids. 

Luke is doing better eating-wise, except for veggies.   I have tried all types and they end up on the floor, but we’ll keep trying.   I try to still give him some baby food and he’ll eat some.     He ate hamburger this week at daycare, he ate oven baked fries at home, but only after Matt held out the whole fry for him to look at.  He is also eating canned pears and peaches.   He still loves his meat sticks but we did have a leftover hot dog from Sunday and he did eat some of that and he inhales mac and cheese.  It isn’t something I will make much at home, but we will have from time to time at cookouts and gatherings. 

In one of his sesame street books, it talks about bubbles.  His favorite page says Bubbles, Bubbles float on top, bubbles,  bubbles POP POP POP!    He says POP now and loves that part.  He gets mad if you don’t read to him when he wants to look at books.  I need to find more books, the ones he has I am sick of already!  I found a box of 12 tiny fisher price books at gabes for $2.  He loves these books!  They are all about a farm and farm animals. 

He is basically running now.  He has done well at night, only waking up once in awhile.  I think he just wears himself out from running around all the time.   If he does wake up at night, I turn on his ipod, give him a kiss and tell him to lay his head on his pillow and he falls back asleep.  This has been great. 

Tomorrow I have jazzercise in the a.m. and then we are going to go check out the new Children’s in Liberty Twp with Chris, Faith, Ephriam and KC.    Sunday, we have Matt’s birthday cookout at his folks house so we’ll have a good weekend! 

I got to have a ladies’ night out on wed.    I brought my mom and mother in law to a Tastefully Simple party at Joan from church’s house.   They had this wonderful frozen, slushy sangria (which I bought) and we got to taste test lots of neat dips, etc.  It would be easy to go crazy, but I did pretty good.  Got several things that will last me awhile and of course the beer bread.    We also laughed a lot and had a nice visit.  I just don’t get out much anymore.  Of course Luke didn’t like the fact that mommy was leaving, he cried and made a big fuss.  Matt said he was like that off and on all evening. Plus, he has still had the poops and that didn’t help since his butt is still sore.  He had his last dose of antibiotic wed so I am hoping that will end.   He went about 8 times yesterday and I had a messy one this morning.    We have been eating bland stuff at night like toast and pancakes, bananas, applesause, etc. and I have been giving him small doses of yogurt every other day or so.  

He will eat bananas at daycare but not at home.  He will eat babyfood bananas at home but if you cut them up he won’t eat them.  I asked his teacher how she cuts them and she told me and that’s what we have been doing. She even said that most of the kids including Luke like to bite it off the whole banana.   We have tried that too. 

When I picked him up Thursday he was so funny.  I put him on the floor in the hall so I could fish his hat out of his bag.  He started running up and down the hall and was just giggling and thinking he was such big stuff.  He ran over to where the bigger kids were watching a video and he charmed the teacher into giving him a graham cracker and then he ran over to the infant room where he used to be and looked in the window and the teachers there came out to see him.   It makes me feel good to see how happy he is and how well loved he is.  

Monday at Dr. Co’s office (to follow up on the infected toe) he was walking around the office in the waiting area.  There were several other kids playing at a little kiddy table where there are lots of books.   He wa

Friday we started off what I call POOP DAY.   He had a terribly messy one when he woke up-all over the jammies, down the leg, etc.  If we had had time, I would have put him in the tub.   Then after I got him cleaned up, he was sitting in his seat for a few minutes so I could get myself together and when I checked on him he  had gone again and had leaked out of his diaper into his seat.  I got him cleaned up again and dressed and we had to go.  I warned the daycare and sent extra clothes in case and to call me if it got worse.  They knew it was from the antibiotic not a virus.    I had Matt rinse the seat out and I was going to wash it when I got home.  Well, easier said than done.  Our washer decided to stop in the rinse cycle and not spin so it finally died altogether.  We’ve been limping alog with me manually putting it into each cycle.    When I picked Luke up they said that he had one really bad one and they got better as the day went on.  They still didn’t have air conditioning that day.  I had Matt pick him up when he got off work at 4.   I stopped at lunch to Target to get diapers and found the Fisher Price choo choo train on clearance for 20.00 so decided to get it since he loves animals and it comes with a giraffe, elephant and monkey.  He loves the cow, horse, pig and duck that came with other fisher price stuff so much.    He loves the giraffe and has carried him around the house all weekend.

We had a good weekend even though we were pretty much stuck at home.    This antibiotic that he is on is doing a number on his system so all we did Saturday and Sunday was change diapers.  This also aggravated the already red butt and he had the worst diaper rash I’ve ever seen.  It almost had little sores kind of like when he was in the nursery at Mercy after he was born.  He doesn’t have real sensitive skin anywhere else thank goodness, but after all of those bm’s he was bound to get worse.      I went to Jazzercise early Saturday.   After his nap, Mom came over and watched Luke for a little bit so we could go out looking for a washer.     They were having a tent sale at HH Gregg so we started there.  They had nothing under the tent.  We went inside and weren’t really impressed with what we<

Luke seems to be healing nicely in the diaper area and the toe looks like it is drying up.  He is on an antibiotic again for the toe and he is having very sticky, messy bm’s again like when he was a little baby so I bought some yogurt today at lunch to help give him some healthy bacteria so this rash doesn’t start to grow back again.  There are a few spots where it isn’t completely healed but we are still putting the cream on.   

He seemed to really feel good yesterday.  His nose and congestion and cough seem to be pretty much gone for now-hoping the yogurt doesn’t start it all over again.  I got the kids’ size so we’ll just give him small doses over the next few days.    He went right to Nancy in the playroom and she was just tickled.  This morning when I dropped him off, Sharon said, I hear he went right to Nancy yesterday so you can tell she was happy about that. 

When I picked him up yesterday, he was so cute.  For the last ½ hour of the day or so until all the parents pick the kids up, they let the toddler class sit in the hallway and watch a video.  His playroom is right by the hall where they sit and watch the video-he is in the infant 4 class.   He was sitting with the toddler class next to a little girl watching Barney (I know, that part I didn’t like but can’t help it).   He didn’t know I was there, he was just sitting there eating a graham cracker and every now and then he would look at the little girl next to him and smile at her.  He finally noticed me and came crawling over to me.  He was the only kid his age sitting there with the big kids, it was really cute.     We have been letting him watch Sesame Street this past week too.  He watches bits and pieces of it.  We can access old episodes thru the cable on demand since we aren’t home when it is really on.    

Matt said that when he picked Luke up yesterday for the dr. appt. he was upset because his teacher Andrea left early and Tracy was holding him and loving on him a bit.   When they were walking out to the car some of the ladies that were on the playground with the older kids were yelling, Bye Luke!   Everyone is so nice there.   When I was dropping of his new medication forms for the cream and antibiotic this morning one of the teachers of the older kids kept saying how handsome she thinks he is.  He is very well loved there for sure.  I was telling Sharon how much he likes to read books this morning and she went into the room and got a book and started reading to him.  She is really sweet. 

When I got home last night, we had to soak Luke’s feet in warm soapy water for a bit and then put the cream on.    He was not liking this at all.   We have to do this 3 times a day for 10 days.    Even though he doesn’t act like it hurts when he is playing or walking, he sure doesn’t like you to mess with it at all. 

He seems to be adjusting better to the one nap a day.  He has been sleeping just about the 2 full hours each day around 11-1  and he isn’t as tired and cranky at night.   He still has his moments, but for the most part things at home at night are good.  He typically wants mommy when he gets home but he likes playing with daddy and “watching” the Reds.   Since it is summer, especially on really hot days we have been doing a bath every night.  It settles him down and he seems to sleep better.   He has been waking up a little less at night now that he isn’t coughing as much.  He still coughs a bit after waking up but that is getting better. 

Last night he did so good at dinner.  He ate a jar of Gerber chicken and carrot meat sticks.  He tried a few bites of carrot, bu

Ok, had to call the dr. office again today.  I was almost embarrassed because we had just been there Thursday.   As soon as I identified myself, the nurse who answered said what is going on with Luke now?    I feel like the worst parent ever.    All in one week he has a yeast diaper infection, he is wheezing and now an infected (ingrown toenail) toe.      They want to see him of course and I am sending Matt this time to the dr.  I figure that the toe is self explanatory and if he has to do something to the toe I’d rather not watch that.    I am anxious to see if the wheezing is any better.  I’m sure Dr. Co will think we are back because of that.  We gave him breathing treatments all weekend and I can tell it was breaking it all up in the chest and nose.  He has gotten to the point where he doesn’t even fight having the treatments anymore.  We sing itsy bitsy spider twice x 2 and if I am doing the hand motions, he is even smiling behind the little mask that goes over his nose and mouth.  I just hope it is gone for now and we can go on and we don’t have to do any more steroids or further treatments with a nebulizer.  I guess we should each time he has any type of sinus or drainage to just give him a couple of treatments to keep him from wheezing. 

His rash is just about gone.  It was amazing after just 1 day it looked so much better.  There are a few spots but we have to continue the cream for the next 7 days so it doesn’t grow back.   

We had a good weekend at home.  I stayed with him Saturday while Matt worked.  We decided to get out of the house a bit and called Matt’s mom and dad and met them at Frisch’s after they got out of church.  They came over for a bit afterwards.  Luke was showing off big time for grandma and grandpa.   He has started swinging his little arms when he walks, it is really cute.     He ate some peaches and pears at Frisch’s which was great!    He loves pancakes and he also ate some of a turkey sandwich and tried some mac and cheese.  I found some organic mac and cheese that you can make small servings of in the microwave.    He also tried some past

Saturday, July 5

I worked at Jazzercise early and then came home and tried to do some things around the house.  Holly came over and played with Luke for awhile and then Matt and I got some much needed work done on the front of the house.  I had bought mulch back in May but no time to get it spread.    The weather cleared up for us to do this.     We had to weed it real good and then spread the mulch and then put the preen down and then water it real good.  Mom came over too and we grilled pork chops and had a nice dinner together. 

Sunday, July 6

We tried going to early church this week.  We kept Luke in church with us until the sermon then he got chatty and Matt took him down to the nursery to let him play a bit.  This seemed to work pretty good as far as his naps go.  By the time we got home he was ready for a nap.    I decided to try to go to the pool and I was there by about 1.  Of course I was there about ½ hour when the dark clouds came out.  Pam was there so I got to visit with her a bit.   I still haven’t been in the water!  I was just getting hot when it started to sprinkle.     I got home and then mom and Holly came over.  A little bit later, we were hungry so we ordered the pasta from Pizza hut and Matt got a pizza.  I have to tell you that the pasta is as good as they say!!    We watched some of SNL Will Farrell and then Holly had to leave to go back to KY.  We really had a nice visit with her.   Luke sure loves his aunt Holly!   

Over the weekend, Luke had about 10 bm’s on Saturday and ended up with a really sore irritated bottom.   He was also starting wi