sick

lucas is sick... he has his first ear infection. poor thing is just pitiful! we went to the dr tuesday and he has been on antibiotics since then. he weighed 14 lbs 4 oz, but he had clothes on and a wet diaper so i bet he's just about 14 even. he's growing so big! he will be 4 months old tomorrow. really hard to believe! anyways, it is day 4 of the med and i am hoping it kicks in soon. sometimes he is happy and acts ok, but sometimes he just screams and cries and whines. he had a fever for 2-3 days and i think that was part of the reason for him being so fussy. god love him! i really hope he gets to feeling better soon, b/c i hate it when my babies are sick! i just cried for him the other nite- i would take his pain if i could. but i've had enough of my own lately, i've been sick too. i am getting over pink eye- no fun! and i had a (thankfully short-lived) stomach virus wed nite/thur. ughhh. i just want us to be well so we can have a good weekend. it's gonna be a sunny one so i'm praying we can all enjoy it! more pics and hopefully a better post soon!

yep, it's monday, again! hope you enjoy reading what i did not do this week. and if you wanna see what everyone else has not been doing, just head on over to MckMama's blog!

for some reason, these are not all about trace... he is not the biggest mama's boy ever and i do not love him like no other.

i did not have to take 2 year old trace car to have his tooth pulled last week b/c it was absessed. and the thought never once crossed my mind that we would now have a "redneck baby." and i was not more nervous about this than i was when i gave birth to him. no way!

oh, and that sweet boy of mine is definitely NOT the cutest little snaggle-tooth boy that you have ever seen! he did not take it like a champ and did not hardly even cry!

i did not decide to try and take trace's passy away from him friday nite. i do not care that he is 2 and still takes one during nap time and at nite. i did not give in after only 2 minutes of crying b/c i was not very excited about the season finale of prison break. i did not give it to him just to get him to quit crying and go to sleep. not me! nate and i did not talk and decide that we like our sleep so much that we will just try and take the passy away later. nope.

i did not see trace pick up an empty cereal box, put it on his head, and announce "blastoff- goin' to outerspace". i would not even leave empty cereal boxes around the house and let him play with them, b/c i'm not that kind of mom who doesn't venture out to the garbage can when it's raining. and i don't take pictures of trace when he does those silly things.

i did not insist that we go to target on saturday, just to get out the house since it has so not been raining for the past 10 days. while we were not at target, i did not open a 5 pack of hot wheels to keep trace occupied. then when it came time to leave, i did not ditch the cars on a nearby shelf, remembering that we did not have 127 hot wheels already in the bottom of the toy box at home.

i did not insist that both boys had to have baths before church on sunday... it was not evident b/c trace's hair did not look like a rats nest. (and just in case you wondered, we did not put a hat on his head when we didn't go to target!) and it had most definitely NOT been a WHOLE week since we had given baby lucas a bath. gross. that would just be lazy and well, nasty. and lucas is not happy as a lark whether clean or dirty.

WHEW- glad to have gotten those things off my chest. so come on now, and tell me what you didn't do this week!

snaggle-tooth

so we noticed a spot a few months ago on one of trace's front teeth. i made him a dentist appt and didn't think too much more about it. well the week before the appt, meme noticed that the tooth was loose! uh-oh, not a good sign. i thought it was a cavity and it must have gotten really bad. but the kid loves brushing his teeth so i had no clue how he would have a cavity. so we tell him he's goin to the dentist, and he talks about it non-stop! the first appt didn't go as i had planned- imagine that! he took one look at the tooth and knew right away that it would have to be PULLED! oh yeah, i was freakin out! apparently trace bumped that tooth a while back and it was dead, which was the reason for the gray spot. not only was it dead, but absessed and infected! it had to come out! the dentist gave us 3 options: children's hospital, an oral surgeon, or he could pull it! we opted for door # 3... although trace would have to be strapped to a papoose board, that was a much better option than having my poor baby put to sleep! so again, we talk up the trip to trace. we had this convo for days! trace: the dentist gonna pull my toof? me: yeah buddy, the denist is gonna pull your tooth. trace: oh, ok. i play with school bus? me: yep, you get to play with the school bus! (there is a huge wooden school bus that was our saving grace at the dentist! trace was obsessed with it!) so tuesday rolls around, and we are on our way to the dentist. the convo was about the same, but this time trace says: the dentist gonna pull my toof NOW? me: (freakin out big time!) yeah buddy, the dentist is gonna pull your tooth NOW. trace: i don't wanna go to the dentist! me: yeah buddy, we're gonna play with the school bus. remember? trace: member :) ok... so we met nate at the dentist... had a few minutes "to play school bus with trace" and then it was time! we took him back to the room and saw the dentist. nate and i had decided NOT to stay back there with trace. we handed him off to dr massey (dr massey willingham, at trussville pediatric dentist... i would HIGHLY reccomend him. he was incredible with trace!) anyways. trace went to dr massey better than he goes to the nursery workers at church! they started looking at the dolphins painted on the wall and nate and i went back to the waiting room. i barely had time to pretend to read a magazine when the nurse called us back. she told us they were exhuasted and he was such a fighter. about the time i was trying to apologize to her, she said she was kidding and trace did GREAT! whew, i was so relieved. the minute we saw him hey said HEY MAMA HEY DADDY! and wanted to get up... he was strapped down in very colorful "bracelets" as the dentist called them. and he was still a little high from the laughing gas. he still had the gas mask on, which he loves to call his "piggy nose!" they unstrapped him and we held him for a few minutes while we talked to the dentist. dr. massey said he was a great patient and it went so well. he said it couldn't have gone better with a 20 yr old! PTL!! (or, as trace says when he waves his little hands in the air- PTH, praise the hord!) he is so funny... he talks all the time and i am constantly laughing at how cute he talks!

ok. so wow, didn't mean to go into so much detail, but since i was so uptight and didn't think it would be appropriate to take pics while at the dentist to have his tooth pulled, i don't have any pics from our first visit, and i had to tell ya'll everything :) so if you are still reading this, thanks for hanging in there! i'm almost thru with the story!

ok. drumroll please... the moment you've all been waiting for. let me introduce TRAAAACCCEECE CARTEEEEEEEEERRRRRR WHITTTTTTTTTT!

the cutest little snaggle-tooth EVER!!!!!!!

told you he loved his piggy nose!
he was so big and brave! now he's back to his normal silly self!
trace goes back next week for a cleaning... so glad we got the hard visit over with first! thanks for all the prayers, i know that is what helped things go so smooth. oh, and just to let you know, it took less than 10 mins total... we were thru so early that we were at publix by 8:30 to get his meds. too bad the pharmacy didn't open til 9. and too bad when we went back at 10, it took 35 minutes to fill his med. by that time trace was VERY tired, ill, in some pain, whiny, etc. ok. so that's another story! point is, it took way longer to get his meds than the trip to the dentist! yay for dr. massey... and yay for trace being so brave and strong!

proud mama

to the two sweetest boys ever who make me such a proud mama!
i love you to the moon trace carter and lucas james!

flashback time~ above: me and trace. below: yep, me and lucas

a BABY makes:

love stronger

the days shorter

the nights longer

savings smaller

and a home HAPPIER!

above: trace car. below: lucas

ok, i hope you can tell them apart by now :)

my cup runneth over with my sweet sweet boys!

i had a wonderful mothers day. i feel so blessed and unworthy at the same time! my boys absolutely captured my heart from the minute i found out i was pregnant. i loved them so much before i even knew them! when i saw their little hearts beating on the ultrasound for the first time at only 6 weeks in my womb, then to see them again on the ultrasound at 18 weeks, to see how much they had grown. i couldn't wait to meet them. but the moment that i will never ever forget and that brings tears to my eyes even now just remembering it, is the minute i heard their sweet cries and laid eyes on them for the first time! they are just perfect, or about as close to perfect as i think any of us are! god has blessed my family so much. i love my boys and i am so thankful to spend each and every day with them. i hope and pray i am a good mommy to them and that i make them as proud as they make me. i am also blessed to have nate as my wonderful husband, and their awesome daddy. i know that with him by my side, and god leading us, we can get thru whatever life brings us. motherhood is such a great adventure and i can't wait to continue on this journey that brings new surprises each day. god has truly given us unspeakable joy through trace and lucas. i pray that i can be a proverbs 31 woman. verse 28 says "her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." and as much as i want to make my sons and my husband proud, i pray that my actions and attitude make my heavenly father proud as well.

Not Me! Monday!

so i'm trying something new... it's from stellan's mom- mckmama's blog. it's really fun and i love reading hers so i thought i'd try a Not Me! Monday post. here's how the idea started... she thought it was funny to 'fess up about some embarrassing things she'd done one week...by pretending she totally did not actually do them! then she blogged about it, got a great response, and thought it would be even more fun to hear everyone's not me! monday! stories!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

ok.... here goes! Not Me! Monday!

recently at the stadiumfest concert, i did not try and jump up and down with chris tomlin and try and be "young and cool." i didn't forget that i have had 2 babies, and i certainly didn't start losing control of my bladder. no, not me! and if i did that while tomlin was on stage, i would have never tried jumping again when my all time fav jeremy camp came out. never!

and at caden's birthday party, i would have never spent $2 on a neon green ninja turtle popsicle from the ice-cream man. it wasn't 80 degrees outside, and the last 1/4 of the popsicle most certainly did not melt off the stick and fall down into my... you guessed it. cleavage. never. and i would never admit to that. not even if some in my family witnessed it. no, not me. and of course i don't have the bright green stain on the top of my shirt to prove it!

oh, and something else i'd never do. when trace, my 2 year old, got sick last week, and vomited in his room, i would never be more concerned for him than the bright orange vomit in the middle of his beige carpet. i would not let it sit until my husband got home and let him clean it up. and i definitely did not find a whole 'nother spot of vomit hidden behind his rocking chair 3 days later. that's just gross. ahem. no, not me!

:) so how did you like my not me! monday! post? i would love to hear about things that you have never done, said, taken responsibility for, etc! it's so much fun, and a great way to forget about how not fun mondays can be!

M.I.A.

too sweet for words, right?

wow... we have been super busy lately, so i feel like i have been MIA! i have tried writing this several times and it just never happened! since it's raining cats and dogs right now, and trace is down for his nap, i think i'll finally blog! also, i so meant to update everyone on stellan sooner, i apologize for not even doing that! stellan is finally back home- PTL! although his heart ablation surgery was only 65% successful, which is technically a failure, he is doing well. the drs in boston found an oral medicine that seems to be helping him. i am so relieved... it's amazing how many ppl have asked about him and when ppl say, "do you know him" my answer is no, but i feel like he is my son! nate and i both have been addicted to his moms blog recently..... the MckMiracle button is on my sidebar at the top. check it out and see how god's hand has truly been on that sweet family and at work in little stellan's life! to god be the glory for sure!!

so now an update on our real life family :) last weekend was stadiumfest, and it was awesome!! josh knows scott dawson b/c he taught his son, so he got the hook-up! he was a volunteer and since he was at samford at 7 am on saturday, he threw our blanket on the ground to save our seats- we were FRONT AND CENTER BABY! as close as you could be. it was so much fun! all the acts were awesome. chris tomlin is well, just tomlin. he's great... so were rick and bubba, louie giglio, scott dawson, rush of fools... and who else? oh yeah, JEREMY CAMP! he is by far our favorite, man i love him! and since josh has the hookup, he actually picked jeremy up from the airport- how awesome is that? so after the show we got to go back to where his bus was and meet him. nate had drawn a picture of his 2 girls, so it was cool to give that to him and adie. we also got a group picture made... he was running on 3 hrs of sleep so we didn't get to talk to him much. but he's a great guy and it was the most fun we've had in quite a while!!

jeremy camp BABY!!!

chris tomlin

other than that. what's been goin on? just workin and stuff. church. you know. birthday parties- a surprise party for josh, he turned the big 3-0! and my nephew caden just turned 3. still so hard to believe! baby showers, just all sorts of extra fun things. and some not so fun stuff, we've all been battling sinus problems... some more than others! nate always seems to stay well, and i am so thankful! trace has been snotty and sick for a couple of weeks, tomorrow marks 1 week on antibiotics and he is finally getting better. lucas on the other hand... i took him to the dr wednesday and they said it's just viral and has to run its course. man, i hate to hear "let it run its course!" my lil man is so stuffy and is having trouble breathing... and he's got this cough that seems to bother him most when he's asleep (like right now, he's snoozing beside me on the couch!) but hopefully he will be better soon as well. me, i've been on antibiotics since wed for what i self diagnosed as a sinus infection. i was off work with lucas on thursday, and when i went back to work on friday, i had to go to the dr to verify that i didn't have swine flu. seriously, i know it is a big deal but ppl please, it's just a sinus infection for me! hopefully we are all on the road to recovery very soon!

can't believe you are 3... happy birthday "cade whitt" (that's what trace calls him. first and last name. ALWAYS :)

my boys are sooo handsome, don't ya think?

oh and guess what? my baby is 3 months old as of april 30- i can hardly believe it as i type! he is just getting so big. he weighed 13 pounds 2 ounces at the dr last week. (and a side note, mason, my other nephew, went for his 8 week check up. he got a great report, and weighed 12 pounds 7 ounces. so great to see him and remember the miracle god has done in his life.) back to lucas... well he smiles all the time, and has recently found his voice and loves to squeal and coo at us all the time. it's so funny. and trace loves it when lucas talks and laughs at him. every time lucas smiles and talks, trace says to me and nate "wook, he's waughing at me!" it is adorable!! trace is also getting so big. he talks non-stop. although he still says his l's like w's, things are becoming more clear each day. he is so smart and is cracking me up more and more. we are trying to teach him his colors right now. my friend amy says colors and shapes with elmo helped jack learn, so i think i'm gonna try that! oh, and trace has his first dentist appt on tuesday... more details after that. let's just say- pray for the little guy, b/c he doesn't take to strangers well, especially when they wanna poke and prod him. i completely understand.

to wrap things up... here are some recent pics... can you believe how big my babies are?

just a playin... and holding his head up! he is getting so big, and strong!

i absolutely LOVE when nate pulls out the guitar. did i tell you i let him buy a new one? with a few stipulations... one being that he plays it more at home for me and the boys. they adore him and are absolutely captivated! of course trace has to go get his guitar. and he wants a pick too! these are the days!!

we love bath time... trace really thinks it is cool when lucas takes a bath with him. and i think it kills two birds with one stone! of course, lucas just gets a bath about 2 times a week, the other days we smother him in baby lotion :) trace is too active, and therefore stinky to do a fake out bath! HA. come on, you know you did the same thing when your babies were little, esp if they spit up EVERYWHERE right before church. baby lotion and we're good to go. oh, and an outfit change. for both baby and daddythis bassinet has been lucas' bed for the past 3 months... he has almost grown out of it, but it still works, for now! it's in our bedroom and perfect for middle of the nite feedings. which lucas has decided to sleep thru a few of lately. YAY lucas! trace loves to look over the edge and check on his brother. so sweet he is!

the phones and internet went down earlier while i was in the middle of this post. so if it's everywhere, i'll just blame it on that! oh, and since i didn't have a computer to play on, i started reading dr. james dobson's "bringing up boys." trace is totally two these days and i'm beginning to see i need all the help i can get... from other parents who have raised boys, from books, and most of all, the bible and god. our pastor has been doing a series on parenthood and it has been so great. i've learned a lot. today he said "discipline is not something you do TO your children, it is something you do FOR your children." great point! anyways... i was trying to end this so i will shut up now! hope everyone has a great week!