Pictures

Here are some pictures that have been on my camera for a few weeks. The first 3 are pictures of Luke with his new love, Watermelon. Every Summer it seems he has a new favorite fruit to eat. 2 years ago it was blueberries, last year he couldn't get enough of strawberries and this year it's watermelon. He still loves all the other fruit but this is his favorite right now.

The next two pictures are from the night he decided to go pee pee in the potty and got his Thomas and Friends Cranky set. Daddy set the whole thing up on his train table, which by the way, my dad made for him last year. That's the best he would give me for a smile at the camera. He was a little preoccupied.

The following picture is of the lilies that Eric's coworkers gave us. Once the smell was too much for us to deal with Eric went and planted them under his grape vine out back. I think they have since died, but since I never go out back I wouldn't know.

The next three pictures are from my very quiet birthday on the 10th. It was the day after my surgery so things were pretty somber around the house. My mom made a cake (raspberry jello cake) for me. Eric, Luke and Jonathan had fun putting lots of candles on there. I then remembered that I had the 3 and 2 candles from Luke's past birthdays and since I was turning 32 I thought it would be fun. As you can see I had lots of help blowing out my candles. Yes, there is cake missing from the pan, thanks to my mother for keeping a little bit for herself and my dad.



Here is Luke showing off his new underwear. I love how he is looking back at them. I may be silly but I just love his little tushy in underwear.

You know something is up when you see a face like this. What did you do Lukeypants?

This is what I discovered after seeing him in the above picture. I guess the NASCAR cars were hungry or maybe unfortunate to find themselves in a downfall of crumbled up chips.



These next pictures I had actually taken before I read Doni's post about Ty. They are of Matthew playing Disney Pixar Cars on the Gamecube. The first one he is pretty serious about what he is doing and is actually sitting quite nicely.

This is how he is usually playing. He jumps around and talks the whole time he is racing. Sometimes Jonathan joins in but this day he was tired and decided to just sit on the couch like a good boy.
I tried to get him in the air but it didn't quite work. Yes, that is Luke napping on the floor. Believe it or not he stayed out of harms way and slept there for almost 2 hours. It's so nice to have boys who can sleep through most anything. How I wish I could do that.

Potty Training Update.

Luke has been doing a great job with his potty training. Last week he decided he was ready. We didn't switch him over to underwear until this week because of all that happened last week. Monday he didn't really know quite what to do about the underwear and had an accident on the carpet, but yesterday and today he has kept his underwear dry all morning until nap time when I switch him to a pullup. He is very proud of himself.
He has also figured out all the fun stuff he can get as well. Daddy took him to get a new Disney Pixar Cars car last Friday after he went pee pee in the potty a few times for him during the day. Monday morning a good friend of ours, Ms. Sarah (not me), came over and went with us to Toys R Us to get a new Cars King play set that she and I had promised him way back in April. He was very excited to have Ms. Sarah come over.
That same day he got to go to Target with my mom and get a couple more Cars because she and my dad had told him they would take him to the store to get something if he pee peed in the potty at their house. So now he thinks he needs something every time he goes. We have narrowed it down to getting something if he keeps his underwear dry all week and then we will probably do something for number 2 in the toilet, as well. Then he will just have to learn that it's just something he needs to do.
I am just so happy that he decided to do this when he did. What a blessing it was for me last week. I do have a few pictures from the past month that I am hoping to get posted within the next few days.

PS. I am doing well and life is back to "Normal."

Joy in the Midst of Pain.

As some of you may know, Our little unborn baby died last week and we found out this week. Today I had surgery to remove the baby and all went well. It was a little hard to go through all the pre-op stuff as it was almost all the same things I went through for both c-sections. It also occurred to me that both c-sections were on Wednesdays and so was this surgery. Everyone has been so nice and I appreciate all your prayers and all your love.
It has been a very emotional week for us but life goes on when you have 3 boys needing your love and attention. So last night Lukey told me he needed to go potty and off we went to sit on the toilet and voila he DID IT!!!! I was so proud of him and we made a big deal about it and he got his Thomas and Friends Cranky. It has been sitting in a box in my room for a week and he knew he had to "pee pee in the potty" to get it. Last week he was still so stubborn about the whole thing. This week he has been at my moms 3 days in a row and she had him sitting on the toilet but nothing ever happened. I am so glad he did this for me last night. I still have him in pull-ups but plan to start the underwear again next week when I am feeling better. Luke has always been a very intuitive little boy something that is amazing for his age but really needed for his brothers. He has known that Mommy hasn't been having a good week and has added me to his prayers at night all by himself without prompting. As much trouble as he is, he is equally if not more such a joy. He had to give me kisses and hugs all afternoon and was really gentle with me. I love my Lukeypants and am really praying that this is the start of no more diapers!

From Mommy to Mom

Well, it has happened. Jonathan now calls me "Mom." Every once in a while when he gets hurt or really needs something of me he still calls me Mommy. But for the most part it is just Mom. This is a little sad for me. I love being Mommy and am not real thrilled to hear my 6 year old calling me Mom. The way he says it is quite funny. It's really long when he says it. I don't know when he discovered that he could just shorten my name but I guess it was eventually going to happen. I think the tough part is the fact that they never called me Mommy until they were almost 4. It was a dream come true and now only 3 years later one of them has stopped and I am sure the other 2 will pick up on it real soon.
The good news in all of this is come January I will have another little one that will call me "Mommy." So I know I have a few more years to hear one of my most favorite words.

Another story along the same lines. Luke overheard Eric call me "Bear" which Eric has called me since we got married. Luke got real upset by this and had to set Daddy straight. "Daddy." Luke said "She's not a bear she's a mommy." All weekend if Eric called me any term of endearment we have heard this same sentence. Luke is very determined to teach Daddy that I am Mommy. Isn't that sweet?