{A Happy Boy}

After days of being sick and then a busy birthday weekend, Luke is back to being a happy boy loving being outside (I think he would live out in a tent if I would let him)! The weather was beautiful today so we met our friends Whitney and Cooper at the park and we went with them for some frozen yogurt at Swirl. Luke LOVED the park (and the yogurt!), especially the swings and the slide...although he liked trying to climb up the slide....over....and over....and over again. He wore me out!

It really made me see what I am in for with Luke. He is so physical...he wore me out! He all of a sudden realized all the fun stuff at the park and the physicalness of everything. He was climbing and going all over the place...he was working hard. Even after an hour, he was not ready to leave...as he let me know when he screamed as I pulled him off the slide. Don't worry Luke, we'll be back!

P.S. Look who is wearing his shoes?!?!?! Today was the first time he wore shoes for more than 5 minutes without pitching a fit. Yay! Hopefully there is more of that to come. Baby steps!

{Until Tomorrow}

Luke's birthday party was wonderful! We had so many family and friends there to share it with us. I think it truly was the best ending for an amazing year with a special little boy. I have pictures from the party to post this week, but until then...Happy Birthday Luke!

{Update}

Luke is fever-free! He woke up this morning and I immediately felt relief when I picked him up and he wasn't hot. Phew! We are still waiting to hear back on the results from the urine culture just so we can see what he had, but I am at least happy he is back to himself.

So the party is on!

{Happy Birthday to Luke}

I can't believe Luke is one today! I just looked at the clock and in one minute this time (3:37 pm) last year Luke entered the world and changed our lives forever. This last year has been one that I will never forget. I have never in my life got as little sleep as I did this past year, but I have never experienced love like this before. I know it sounds corny, but it is the truth. Luke was the best thing that Chat and I ever did and we are so happy that we are celebrating his first full year with us!

In other news, Luke's fever is going down. We had a rough night with him having fever around 102.5+, but by the morning it was down to 102 and then around noon it was down around 101. He is making huge strides!! I am hoping he will be fever free by tomorrow and that we can continue with his party plans for Saturday. But most importantly, Luke is back. He is toddling around, playing and showing us that he feels better. He still has his moments of pitifulness, but when I saw him smile at us today, I knew he was on the road to recovery!

He ate breakfast well so we decided we had to run to Avalon Diner for a special (late) birthday lunch. We made sure that Tylenol was working, that he felt good and that the lunch crowd was gone. This is the same diner that Chat went to on his first birthday and those to follow. It was tradition...so we had to go! And Luke loved it....especially his very special birthday strawberry milkshake!

{An Unexpected First Birthday}

And not in a good way. Luke is sick...very sick and his birthday is tomorrow. He developed a fever Monday night and it hasn't left since. It spiked all the way up to 103.4 last night scaring me to death. I spoke to the on-call doctor shortly after, promised him to wake Luke up every 4 hours to take his temperature and give him tylenol and to go into the doctor's office first thing today. And then the real fun started....

After waking up with 103 tempertaure this morning, almost 3 hours in the doctor's office, 2 blood draws, one catheter to get a urine culture (horrible!) and 2 shots later, we left battered and shook up. I have never felt my heart hurt that much for our little guy as it did today. He was a trooper, but man was it tough. His fever is still high days later and we still don't have answers. We hope to find out more when his urine culture comes back Friday morning. It is determined it is bacterial due to the high level of white blood cells, but other than that, we still don't know. I just hope and pray we wake up tomorrow with a feverless little birthday boy.

Side note -- It is times like this that I think of the pioneer women and how they handled days like this -- without doctors, without medicine, without all the luxuries we have today. It was hard to keep him comfortable with all that we have this day and age...I really don't know how they did it. Hats off.


So our days are spent cuddling, loving and trying to get this boy comfortable and through this tough time. Luckily Chat has been off today and tomorrow. We thought we were going to be bringing Luke to the zoo tomorrow to celebrate his big FIRST birthday, but it now will be spent at home trying to get him well (and softly singing happy birthday to him all day).

I am not even thinking about the birthday party planned for Saturday that we may or may not have now. At this point, I just want my little man well. Until tomorrow...

{Future CEO}

Tonight at my parent's house, we celebrated my sister's birthday! My brother-in-law went off with Luke around the house and all of a sudden we got this picture and this caption via text from the study...

Future CEO

Luke loved sitting like a big boy at the desk! He is growing so fast with only about 5 days until his big FIRST birthday!!

{4 Years}

Wow...it has been four years since Chat and I got married. I look at this picture of us kissing for the first time as husband and wife and it feels like it has been forever since that day....that moment. It was the start of the rest of our lives and today, with Luke in my arms and Chat by my side, I have never felt more appreciative for that day that brought us together.

We are celebrating with a night out at Brennans tonight! You might remember we did that last year (click here if not!). SO much has changed since this day last year. We were childless (one week later, Luke was here!), we didn't have to have a babysitter to go to dinner, we drove to the restaurant in our little Audi (which we had to sell since the car seat didn't quite fit), we had no idea what was in store and how much our lives were about to change. It was just the two of us for the last time. And now, it is just the three of us and we couldn't be happier. The last year was tough, but it was so good. So very good.

{Refusal}

What does it mean if your child refuses to wear shoes and pants to be happy? Luke will throw himself on the floor and cry if I put his shoes (his CUTE shoes might I add) on him. He refuses to walk in them. And to make matters worse, he now hates pants. I think I am in trouble...

{Monday}

Since Chat worked all weekend, we had our 'weekend' on Monday since he was at home. And we spent it hanging out at the house looking out the window...Luke's new favorite activity to do with the puppies!

{The Apple}

Clearly the apple does not fall far from the tree. Luke is proving to be more like me every day with his eating habits (aka he eats everything). He now LOVES mashed potatoes (just like his mom!). What's wrong with a little tater up the nose??

{On the Move}

Luke started to walk about 2 weeks ago and in those 2 weeks, he has come a long way! You see him walking a bit at the end of this video (he looks like a little drunk man!), but the beginning of the video shows a new thing Luke is into...moving the furniture. Luke loves to move all the dining room chairs across the room to his toy area. We do this. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes they will all pile up and he just waits for me to move them all back. I think I have my work cut out for me with this little bruiser...