outtakes

so how hard could it be to get a few good pictures of the boys? the one above is GREAT, in my opinion. and of course the single one from yesterday's post was pretty darn close to PERFECT! but i thought i would show you just a few of the many outtakes we had just to get a few good pics!

what sweet and silly boys! they sure fill my life with laughter and joy!

handsome much?

i love these handsome boys to the moon...

and back.

NOT ME! Monday

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.

lucas has not recently started throwing professional style WHITT FITS! he does not scream and cry and flail around on the floor when he doesn't get his way. and i would never take pictures of him during his fits instead of spanking his hand.

i am so not in denial that my precious fit thrower is about to be one. i have not been reminiscing this past week about those first few days at home with him, when our little world had been rocked to it's core. in case you don't remember, i did not let lucas spend the night with his meme when he was ONLY 4 brand new days old, and then with his bitsy the next night when he was 5 days old. nope, i'm a super mom who had NO postpartum and was not overwhelmed in the least taking care of our 22 month old and his newborn brother. i totally had it ALL together! :o)
this is NOT the first time the sink was empty this week. i would NEVER let dirty dishes overflow from monday-sunday. i did not finally give in and wash them when there were no more sippy cups clean. i always wash the dishes every night so they don't stack up in the sink.
and lastly, trace did not recently discover his newest obsession: scooby doo! he does not know the names of all the characters (scooby, shaggy, freddy, velma, and daphne.) he does not beg to watch scooby every minute that he is awake. and lately, i do not give in b/c it keeps him occupied. no, not me! i know that studies say kids should only watch an hour or less of tv a day, and i always do what studies suggest. i mean, what kind of mom do you think i am? (ok seriously, do NOT answer that outloud!) ha.
whew! it feels so good to get that off my chest! so what have you NOT been doing this week?

all smiles?

* peek-a-boo *
so last week it was super cold outside, so we stayed in as much as possible... which led to bored little boys at the whitt house! lucas is always under my feet when i am in the kitchen, or either trying to pull stuff out of the cabinets. so i finally gave in and let him play with several pots, pans, and bowls! 3 wooden spoons later, and the boys were having a good ol' time!

1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4! trace would count it off and hit his wooden spoons against each other, and then start playing a "rock and roll!" song. it was too cute. i videoed some of it, maybe i will try and load it on here!

i really think trace is going to be musically inclined. he takes after his daddy for sure, b/c i can hardly clap on beat, much less play any type of instrument! :) trace was going to town on these drums. he had the best time. he would fuss at lucas when lucas messed up his drum set!
the boys have little rocking chairs that they love! lucas is getting brave, and trying to crawl up in his. i actually caught him crawling in it, then standing up backwards! i was too scared he was gonna fall to take a pic... so here are just a few cute pics of the boys posing!
sweet smiles!

trace, however, gave me silly smiles and faces!


notice the fleece pj's... the boys wore them all weekend. not just at night, during the day too! i am all about being comfy and cozy!

and this one just makes me laugh! my lil pop-eye!
i wish i could say things have been all smiles around our house, but it's not so. i took lucas back to the pediatrician bright and early saturday morning. and guess what? he has an ear infection! that's right folks, tubes on monday and ear infection on saturday. grrrr. poor thing also has an upper respiratory infection. so he has new antibiotic ear drops as well as an oral antibiotic that he hasn't been on yet. i am praying this little cold and infection were already setting in, even before tubes, and it's not a sign of what's to come in the future post-tubes for lucas. he has been fussier than normal, and yesterday the ONLY nap he took was before church. it was a long day for us, but fortunately he was so tired from not taking a nap that he slept all night. and with some help from my friend mr. tylenol pm, so did i! :o) i am praying these meds start helping him soon, and our sweet smiley boy is well for his big birthday bash. can you believe in less than 2 weeks he will turn one??? wow!

here's the video of my little rock stars! sorry it is so blurry, i took it on my cell phone... and i'm not sure if you can even hear it. but i bet you get the idea! :o)

in HIS hands

praise the lord, the tubes are in- and lucas is doing great! it went so smooth, as everyone told me it would! thanks to those of you who prayed... i really felt god's peace this morning! i was impressed with children's south, and dr. shirley who is lucas' ent. the nurses and everyone there were so friendly. i loved how lucas got to wear his pj's the whole time! and how he got to stay in the room with us right until his surgery. he played and was mostly happy, considering we had to wake him up at 5:15 and he couldn't have anything to eat or drink! i think the hardest part was when i handed lucas over to the nurse and she took him through the doors to the OR, but i didn't even cry! :) and neither did lucas, thankfully, or i know i would have lost it at that point! (and of course nate didn't cry either!) ha. lucas was only away from us for about 15 minutes. he was fussy when he came back in, from a combination of being hungry and sleepy i'm sure. we saw the dr. and he said everything went well. they released us, and nate headed in to work. lucas and i came home, with plans to crash! lucas remained fussy but didn't want to go to sleep at first... so he took a bottle and played for awhile, and finally slept for 1 1/2 hrs. i was expecting/hoping for a good 3-4 hr nap, but oh well... he woke up very HAPPY and that's all that matters! :) he ate lunch, and has played hard since then. i just gave him ear drops and tylenol, and a bottle. and now he's back down for another nap! i am praying that these tubes help tremendously and we are on the road to recovery! so far, so good!

the nurse was great with him. he was so curious when she was taking his pulse and bp, but he sat still the whole time and never cried! such a big boy!

this is in our room, room # 14


there was a playroom, and several wagons/riding toys. nate and i took turns walking him up and down the hallways while he enjoyed riding in the wagon.

getting some snuggle time with mama. sweet sweet boy! we played and laughed, prayed, and sang jesus loves me! and of course posed for plenty of pics! :) (thanks nate for humoring me!)
this next picture is when he came back after the tubes. he was fussy and a little out of it. :(
but it sure didn't take him long to get happy again! this is after his nap... he was playing and being so sweet and silly, as usual!

lucas and trace both have a yucky cough and runny nose, despite my efforts of keeping them in out of the cold all weekend. i am praying they both clear up soon and it's nothing major. praise god for a quick and easy surgery today. i am so thankful for his peace and love that surrounded us. again, i know tubes are very routine and not a big deal, but it can be scary when it's your baby! as a friend on facebook reminded me last nite, he has the whole world IN HIS HANDS... even the itty bitty babies! thank you jesus for keeping us all in your hands. there is no place i'd rather be!

tympanostomy???

can anyone guess where this cute little guy is??

lucas took his first trip to the ENT! he had his consultation visit on wednesday. and it looks like he will be having a tympanostomy procedure done on monday, january 11. that's just the fancy name, the huge scary name that's the title of the informational brochure that the nurse gave me. i prefer tubes in his ears. easier to say, and not so scary sounding!

i am not gonna lie, i am a little anxious about the surgical procedure. i know that around 1 million ear-tubes insertions are performed by drs each year. but now that my baby is included in that statistic, it is more real. i read that most children will have at least 1 ear infection before they are 3. that seems about right, i think trace has had a grand total of 2. and he will be 3 in just 2 short months.

lucas on the other hand... (as best i can remember, and it's very possible i forgot a few appointments, phone calls, or trips to the pharmacy) has been treated for numerous ear infections in the last 6 months. he saw the dr for his "well visit" at the end of july. that was for his 6th month check-up. i think he was "well" for about a month. then we saw the dr twice in september for ear infections, and he also had an additional medicine called in during october. then we saw the dr twice again in november. and we saw the dr once in december, with an additional medicine called in the week before christmas. correct me if i'm wrong, but that's a total of 5 dr visits in 4 months, and a total of 7 different rounds of antibiotics! not to mention more than $300 for co-pays and medicines. wow. when i look at it that way, tubes aren't so scary, and monday can't come soon enough!

if you are wondering... here's the top 5 signs that lucas has an ear infection!

#5: he gets a cold. green snotty nose, crusty eyes. then the cold turns into a cough.

#4: he becomes very fussy, and cries out in pain for long periods of time.

#3: he has a reduced appetite, especially not wanting to drink bottles

#2: diarrhea (yuck i know!)

and the #1 sign that lucas has an ear infection:

pulling/tugging at his ears!

our usually happy-go-lucky lucas definitely lets us know when his ears are hurting! i am thankful for that though, that god gives us the sign that something is not right with our little man. i was actually shocked when we saw the dr yesterday, to learn that neither ear is infected right now. this may be the longest run in months. although it's only 2 weeks, i'll take it! but the dr did say that both ears have fluid on them! which i'm sure hurts as bad as an infection! i am beyond ready for my sweet boy to get some relief! so we should get a call friday to tell us what time to be at the hospital on monday morning. i've heard a lot of great things about tubes, and i know it's an outpatient surgery and is very quick. but it still scares me that lucas, my little baby, will be put to sleep with general anesthesia. i know it is all in god's hands though! nate and i both really liked the dr and nurses that we saw yesterday, so i know lucas will be in good hands!

please say a little prayer for him... that his ears stay clear until monday and we can have this surgery asap. pray that it will heal his little ears and the tubes will work wonders (for lucas and my checkbook- ha!) and also, while you're at it, i would appreciate any prayers for the mama and daddy too. thanks so much!

(and i'm sure it comes as no surprise that i will definitely take pictures and do an update post later monday afternoon.)

eleven months

happy 11 months to lucas!!

i can hardly believe that he is eleven months old. in less than a month, he will turn one. my little man is getting so big!! i keep remembering back to dec 30, 2008, when i was put on bedrest for pre-term labor. i was only 34 weeks pregnant, but i was already 2 cm dialated and 60% effaced. CRAZY! so i rested for the next month, and on january 30, 2009, lucas was born. healthy and happy! and he has definitely stayed HAPPY since then. and healthy too, for the most part, other than these stinkin' ear infections! we actually take him to the ENT this wednesday, to see if he needs tubes. if they will give my poor baby some relief, i am all for them! anyways. happy and healthy, he is our little eleven month old! these pics were taken in december, at kenley's birthday party. lucas was LOVING her birthday cake... so much that he would steal the spoon when nate fed him the cake! it was SOOO funny. you can tell, he thinks he is pretty cute. we definitely all agree!

i wonder if he will do this with HIS OWN BIRTHDAY CAKE at the end of this month? oh wait, probably not, b/c who uses utensils for their smash cake? it's all hands and maybe face first baby!

i took lucas down the slide a few times, and he loved it. or maybe he wasn't too sure about it, but i loved it!

then i went with lucas AND trace. not THAT was double the fun! :o) as you can see, they had matching shirts on. but you probably can't read them. they were SO CUTE and i can't believe i didn't get a pic of them together. but they say "MY BROTHER IS THE NAUGHTY ONE!" haha! i bought them last year at target on clearance. i love getting a good deal like that! and i LOVE my 2 sweet boys! naughty or nice, gotta love em!

so a few fun facts about lucas this month:

- he is SO active. he pulls up on EVERYTHING (cabinets, chairs, walls, dressers...) and can cruise up and down the furniture. he will stand using just one hand to hold onto something, and he is working on his balance! it won't be long before he is WALKING! hard to believe. but for now, he is the FASTEST crawler EVER! seriously, he doesn't let his size hold him back. he hangs with the big kids all the time!

- he LOVES to eat table food. some days i can sneak in a jar of baby food, b/c i know he still needs those nutrients! but for the most part, it is chicken, pizza, pasta, french fries, whatever we are eating! he loves yogurt and cheese too!

- he will hardly sit still long enough to drink even a few ounces of his bottle. he loves drinking juice from a sippy cup... he has been known to steal the big kids cups and chug their drink while they aren't looking! he could care less whose cup it is, or what is in it! :o) he is also drinking some formula out of his cup too at meal times.

- he still loves to sleep! he usually takes a short morning nap, and a decent afternoon nap. depending on what time he naps after lunch, he may even go back down for a few minutes in the late afternoon. he is almost always in bed by 7 pm, and sleeps all through the nite, and lately i've had to wake him up in the mornings!

- he has 8 teeth and may be working on a few more. he puts ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in his mouth, esp little toys that belong to his brother! i catch him with toys, trash, food, all sorts of stuff in his mouth! he loves to chew on something (ball, toy, etc) and crawl around while it's in his mouth, like a little puppy dog. it's so funny!

- he is still the happiest, sweetest, smile-ist little boy ever! for the most part that is. but he loves his mama like you wouldn't believe... and he can throw a fit in an instant if i put him down, or even walk to the other room! he LOVES to be in my arms!

- he also loves his daddy though... and says DA-DA all the time. this weekend he starting saying BYE-BYE on command, it's so cute! every once in a while i'll get a mmmmm- ma-ma! but usually it is all about his da-da! and he loves trace so much too. we are working on him saying BU-BBA!

- he wears a size 3 diaper most of the time, but sometimes is in a size 4. i think 4's are closer than we think to fitting him best! he wears mostly 12 mo or 12-18 month clothes. he is still long and skinny!

- he HATE shoes and socks... but i have a few pair of soft sided shoes that he has no choice but to wear, b/c he can't get them off by himself, no matter how hard he tries!

- he has my heart. and so does trace! (and they KNOW IT!) they are both such wonderful blessings to me and nate, and have i mentioned that they might both be spoiled rotten? :o)

we thank god for them daily!