Sunday, November 28, 2010

Game Day @ James & Missy's

This afternoon we headed to James & Missy's house for a "game day".  We got over there around 4 in the afternoon.

We hung out, ate chili, had pecan pie, roasted marshmallows on the backyard fire pit, and had a good time.  Luke rocked out on the Paper Jamz guitar, Tim & James played Wii Sports Resort, and Missy & I chit chatted while we watched the boys play.

I like our game days.  They are SO relaxing!

Thanksgiving 2010

Nov. 23 & 24
Tuesday and Wednesday pre-Thanksgiving were spent cleaning the house & getting things ready to take Grams to live with Mom & Dad.

Mandy came over on Tuesday night and we baked some cookies together.  I made a pot of sauce for dinner.  We pretty much did our thing around here and not a whole lot more.

When Tim got home from work on Wednesday we really started getting the car loaded & things packed.  Tim & Luke took a nap together so I could work without interruptions & that was good.

I think it was about 5:30 when we finally got the cars loaded and closer to 6 before we got McDonald's dinner & got on the road.  We borrowed Mandy's Envoy to get all of Grams' things loaded.

Our trip to Emporia was uneventful, Luke slept the whole way.  When we got there, we got all the stuff carried in & unloaded, I unpacked Grams some and we hung out a bit before bed.


Nov. 25
Mandy & JC drove out on Thursday morning to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  Tim, Dad, and Frankie had to work on the ramp outside, because it was supposed to rain on the weekend & Dad didn't think they'd have time to finish it.

So, Mom, Mandy & I took turns working in the house, cooking dinner, cleaning, looking through ads and tending to Luke throughout the day, while Tim, Dad, and Frankie all worked outside.  Mom served turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and shrimp salad for dinner.  There were dinner rolls but Frankie dumped them on the floor.

Dessert was cookies (Chocolate Drops made by Mandy...mmm mmm good!)  and chocolate creme pie.

After dinner everybody got all stressed out & pissy, so Tim & I loaded the boy, the dogs, and our stuff and headed home.

Only we didn't go home.  We ended up going to Tom & Peggy's house.

Tim's brother, Loren, proposed to his girlfriend on Turkey Day, so we got to see them & the ring.  I looked through my ads some more & prepared to head out for the start of our "Black Friday" shopping.

Around 8:55, Luke and I headed to Toys R Us.  The line was wrapped all the way around the building (its a strip mall too!  Toys R Us, DSW Shoes, Office Max, Heavenly Ham, a skate shop and a couple other stores!)  and I was in the end!  About 9:30, they moved the line forward some so they could fit more people in, they also started passing out "tickets" for the hot ticket items.  We were there for books & Thomas the Train Early Engineers, so our items weren't "big tickets".

We got into Toys R Us at 10:10 and left at 11:00.  Luke was a TROOPER.  He was tired & hungry, but managed to nurse in the Mei Tai.

When we got to the car I called Tim and asked him to meet me at the Wal-Mart, so I could feed Luke.  We headed over there & I gathered up the things we were getting there (picture frames, pjs for Luke, and storage containers).  I settled Tim into the line around 11:40 and then Luke & I went to Tom & Peggy's.  I was expecting Luke to nurse & go to sleep, but instead he played!

Peggy picked Tim up at 12:30 and we relaxed for a bit before heading home around 1am.

We all went straight to bed when we got home.

Nov. 26 Black Friday
In rare form, we all slept in!  It was 8 am when Peggy called and woke us up! We took our time getting ready & getting packed up.

Around 10:30 we left the house.  We went to the Post Office to mail the diaper I made for FSOT on Diaperswappers.  (my first official SALE!) Then we hit the BF sale at JoAnn's fabric.  I bought 8 1/4 yards of fabric, 2 packs of Dylon, 2 skeins of wool yarn, and 2 spools of thread for $30!

When we left there we headed to Rack Room Shoes, but Tim didn't find any shoes he liked.

After that we hit the Macy's sale.  We had the $50 gift card from Aunt Dolly for Luke's birthday to spend!  The Melissa & Doug toys were all on sale, so we got 5 puzzles and the train, PLUS a pair of Carter's jeans & a long sleeve shirt!

From Macy's we went to JC Penny.  Tim got a new pair of sneakers there for an awesome price!

Finally, we ate some Taco Bell lunch before heading to Tom & Peggy's to rest for a bit.

We hung out there until 3:30 or 4 and then went home to meet up with Mom.  Mom was WAY late though, so it was like 6:30 before we headed to Emporia.

I had a pretty awful migraine by that time, so when we got there I went straight to bed.

Nov. 27 (Saturday)
Tim, Dad, and Frankie worked on the ramp all day.  Mom and I tended to Luke and went shopping at Wal-Mart.  I got Luke's picture taken with their Santa.  I also got him a fleece outfit for $5!  I can't remember what else I bought there but I spent $15.
We had hamburgers with gravy for dinner & then headed home late last night.  When we got in, we all vegged out in the bedroom on our computers (Luke watched Wiggles & Thomas in his high chair).
After Luke went to sleep, I got on my sewing machine & made a case for the iPad, so that it can hang up in the car to watch movies while driving.  I also ordered myself a new iPad hard back snap on cover with Amazon gift cards I'd gotten from Swagbucks!!

Nov. 28 (Sunday)
I skipped church to clean & re-organize the house.  We are supposed to be going to James & Missy's today, but that will depend on how sick sounding Luke is when he wakes up.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

No Haircut

So, my kid has crazy hair.

And he always has.  Here he is at about a week old.  He had CRAZY long hair in the back & was pretty much bald everywhere.  (I'm so glad I took this picture!)



Here he is at a month old & you can see that he is pretty much bald.  He didn't even have eye brows!



Here he is at about three months.  It's kind of a bad picture, but you can see that he BARELY had any peach fuzz on his head.  



Fast forward to 6 months old & he has a TINY patch of hair on top.  Around this time, he has 4-6 strands of mega long hair & the rest was pretty short/flat.  We'd just comb those crazy hairs down.  Anyway, I loved those crazy hairs & refused to cut them off!  Eventually it all evened out & he looked perfect!



Check out all the hair Luke had grown by 9 months old!  He was finally starting to look like a little boy, his hair needed combed after EVERY bath, and it was just perfect when brushed forward!  




And, over the last few months the boy's hair has just started to GROW!  Here he is on his birthday in the tub. It's wet, so that's how long it was combed forward.



 Here are a few pictures of Luke this weekend (13 months).  This is pretty much what his hair looks like unless I wet it & comb it down several times a day.
There is no wind.  It just sticks up like that. 


Here it is from the back.  You can see in a turtle-neck that it touches his collar.  It 'grazes' his collar in a regular shirt.  

I personally think it's cute.  Endearing.  He's one for crying out loud.  I'm still holding out hope that he'll get a few baby curls in the back.  (It was curling a bit after his bath yesterday.)  

It doesn't help that he plays with his hair while he's nursing....so, there's no point in combing it before nursing him.  

Anyway, I am NOT ready to cut his hair.  I want him to continue to look like a baby a while longer.  

We are not going to wait "until X date" and then do it, either.  When I feel like he NEEDS a hair cut (I won't let it grow to his shoulders!) we'll get him one, by a professional, in a salon.

This is fair warning that if ANYONE goes near my child's head, with scissors, you will lose your rights to seeing him.  Just so you know.  Mmm'kay?  







Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Talk about a bad-blogger!

Well, I have so seriously neglected this blog it isn't even funny.

BUT, in neglecting this blog, I've been spending quality time with my son, my husband, crafting, and taking care of my home & family.  So, I'm not really upset by it.

However, I do fully intend for this blog to serve as a reminder of our life & I LOVE blogging, so I'm going to once again try to get it all caught up & then maybe stay on top of things.  How does that sound!

Nov. 22
I had a migraine last night & today.  I was pretty useless until about 3pm.  Luke did have therapy.  He showed Miss Dana how he follows 2 step commands.  "Luke give Miss Dana your ball."  He had to go get the ball & then throw it to her.  It was about the cutest thing ever!  Until, I told him to blow his nose for her & then of course, THAT was the cutest thing ever!

Nov. 21
At dinner last night, (I made lemon pepper chicken & mashed potatoes), Grams said, "I have to blow my nose, sorry."  and then proceeded to do so.  Luke picked up the napkin (he'd been wiping up his mashed potato mess), held it to his nose, and blew raspberries into it, while wiping it across his nose.  Absolutely freaking adorable.  We all had a great time telling him to blow his nose.  I even got some video of that &of him doing his signs.  He knows and uses correctly the signs for more, all done, mom, and milk.

After church and before dinner, we went out to see Harry Potter 7.  It was good.  Luke only slept through about 1 1/2 hours of it, which means that neither of us got to see the end in full, but we took turns and I think it was worth it.

We also went to church at The Gathering UMC yesterday.  I haven't been in a while.  I honestly haven't been "feeling it".  I was pretty upset about the whole "don't breastfeed in church incident" (9/8/10ish) and it has taken me a long time to recover.  Then I was really upset when I realized I've pretty much been cut out of the leadership of the church.  I'm not sure how I'm dealing with that one, but it's life and there's nothing I can do about it.  Obviously what's meant to be is what is going to be.  I am still the liturgist scheduler, and that's taken care of for quite a while.  Tim is still doing a lot for the church (sound tech & on the financial committee) and I'm on the fence about that.  It takes a lot of his "personal" time and he already complains that he doesn't get enough. He enjoys helping out the church and getting to be involved in that area, and really, there's nobody else to do what he's doing, so of course it's fine.  I just have to come to peace with the time he's spending there.






Nov. 20
Tim was in Emporia helping Dad & Frankie build the handicap ramp.

Lucas and I went to Matti's birthday party at the Hunt Club.  It was a nice party.  Luke got to see chickens, pigs, llamas, goats, and sheep.  He played on the slide and watched Matti open his gifts.
















After the party we went to Alpha Music to get some stuff for the church.
From there, we picked Tim up (at Regent) and then headed to Tom & Peggy's.  They babysat so that Tim and I could go on our weekly date.  We went to Olive Garden.

Nov. 19
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Nov. 18
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Nov. 17
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Nov. 16
Lucas and I both had doctor's appointments.  Luke went first.  He has a "down there" yeast infection.  It has caused a rash on the insides of his thighs that is red & bumpy.  He also is getting red & dry patches on his penis and his butt that come and go.  He was prescribed Nystatin diaper creme 4x a day for about a month.  He weighed 21 lbs!

My doctor's appointment was to treat thrush.  The midwife who saw me didn't really look at me or anything, I explained the situation and she agreed.  So, I was prescribed Nystation Oral Suspension.  Supposedly I should be using 5 mLs 2 times a day, but that's not happening.  First of all, it's a sticky mess.  About 1/2 a mL covers and coats my nipple area.  And, its sticky.  So I haven't been good at using it.  I have been taking 40 billion units of probiotics 3x a day, which has helped immensely.

Tim had band practice for church.  Luke saw Holly playing her guitar.  The next evening, we caught Luke "strumming" the Rock Band/Guitar Hero guitars!  He is such a smart little boy!  The video evidence isn't great, since when you WANT him to do something, he hams it up & cheeses too hard to actually DO the thing!





Nov. 12-15

Pigeon Forge Tennessee, with Melanie & the kids

I was invited to go on a mystery shop with Melanie.  Luke and I loaded up and drove down there, with pretty much no idea what we were getting into.  All we knew was that we'd get to swim.  So, with that being our only expectation, it was a good trip.  Luke LOVED playing in the baby pool.  Here are lots of pictures and video of him having a blast.



























Nov. 11
Tim and I did a mystery shop at a bar, while Tom and Peggy babysat.  It was a good night, late, but fun.

Nov. 10
We received our tie dye custom shirts from Leslie of Joyful Tie Dyes.





Close up of the boo-boo he got at Mom & Dad's.





Unfortunately, the red/green/blue one doesn't match his Woodland Tale longies, but we've decided to keep it anyway.  He'll wear it for his Christmas jammies instead!

He also learned to rock his rocking horse all by himself!

Here he is modeling the bibs I have been making him!







Nov. 9
Luke had a swallowing break through!  He just suddenly started swallowing his foods!  It's great!

While we were at Tom & Peggy's Luke had some fun playing with grocery bags.






Nov. 8
Luke graduated from Physical Therapy with Miss Kerry.


We are extremely happy and glad that we went through CHKD for Luke's torticollis physical therapy.  Without Miss Kerry we are sure Luke would not be walking as well as he is.

Nov. 5-7
We spent the weekend in Emporia helping Mom & Dad build their ramp.

Nov. 3-4
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Nov. 2
Election Day!  Dad and I voted!!  Woo-hoo!

Nov. 1
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Oct. 31
Luke's 2nd Halloween!!!
We dressed him up as Charlie Brown and headed out for our Trick or Treat fun around 4:00.
Our first stop was Pembroke Mall.  Luke was asleep, briefly, and then had a good time "trick or treating" in the mall.
After the mall, we headed to Food Lion for some groceries.
Our next stop was to Lineberry Road in Virginia Beach.  We visited all of our old neighbors, including Mr. & Mrs. Upton, Mrs. Lipscomb & her daughter Jeanie, Mrs. Taylor, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
When we were done there we headed over to Tim's neighborhood and visited with Mr. Witt.  We tried to see the Loggins family but they weren't home.  We took Luke to a couple of Tom & Peggy's friends' homes and then back to their house.  We had a mega-late dinner and headed home after 10 pm.
My camera was stuck in Emporia so we didn't get ANY pictures ourselves!


Oct. 26-30
Luke & I stayed at Mom & Dad's to help with unpacking & organizing the garage.  Tim drove up on Friday after work.  Saturday morning we got a few more things done & then headed back to Chesapeake for lunch with James & Missy at CiCi's


Luke snuggling his Pap

While we were staying at Mom & Dad's house, Luke played "car" with the handle of their dining room cabinet.  It was pretty cute, but the video doesn't do it justice.  Either way, he's a cute kid & I never get tired of watching his videos!

Oct. 25
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Oct. 21-24
Carolynn hung out with us
On Sunday, we drove out to Mom & Dad's to help with unloading the truck!




Luke's first experience with (dairy, egg, soy, gluten, & nut free) spaghetti!  He didn't eat any, but he thoroughly enjoyed playing with it.  In all honesty though, these pictures were taken after we'd gotten him & his high chair all cleaned up!  Miss Dana (his OT) realized it was a picture worthy moment, so we gave him another scoop & let him have at it to get a few pictures!

My beautiful niece.



Carolynn going for a ride with her crazy driving cousin!

Get out of my car!

Argh! Taz is eating me!









Babywearing at the Mac!  That's manly!


Caro sleeping in a cut-off 3T hand-me-down sleeper.  It worked.  I'll add length & sleeves when Luke starts fitting into 3T stuff so that he can wear them as jammies (depending on the season--I might just finish them as shortalls).  

Oct. 20
Dinner at the Geisha to celebrate Mom & Dad closing on their house, Carolynn came home with us

Oct. 19
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Oct. 16-18
Luke's birthday celebrations, see separate post

Oct. 15
Crazy busy day trying to get ready for Luke's birthday party.  LaToya & Matti came over in the evening to help us get a lot of stuff done, they are awesome & we are forever grateful!






Oct. 10-15
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Oct. 9
Pumpkin Patch with the whole family!



















Oct. 5-8
I've got nothing.



Some of my recent sewing projects: