my men

umm....see any resemblance? (luci gave gus a flower to hold...you can see how well that ended)

and here with my dad? at the very least they share the same hair style... ;)

all that ails

Last week (before the baptism weekend) was one of those weeks....but long term we'll all be fine so that is what we are (doing our best to keep) focusing on.

On Tuesday Clay found out he tore his ACL. A complete tear. He also has a host of other issues with his medial meniscus and other parts of the knee...none of which I understand. Reconstructive surgery is scheduled for May 6th. He'll be on crutches for 2 weeks, and out of work for a minimum of 6 weeks. Until then he's working as much as he can. There will be no running for quite some time. If you know Clay very well, you know this is a big deal. It also ruins his plans of hiking the Grand Canyon again (this time with a buddy) during his week of vacay in June. Boo.

I had a monster headache that lasted for days. Two Saturdays ago it was so bad I had blind spots in my vision. It wasn't getting better so I went to the doctor and he gave me some kind of miracle shot. Seriously...I felt better than I had in weeks. Apparently I had a sinus infection that was in my non-cheek sinus area. I hadn't been able to see well for weeks...but after the anti-inflammatory shot I could see again normal again for a couple of days (must have been putting pressure on my optic nerve?) but now the vision issue is back. Despite the allergy meds, antibiotic and nasal steroid. Ugh. Wish I could get that shot again....

Luci had a giant canker sore in the middle of her upper lip so she wasn't eating. Then came the virus complete with fever (while everyone was here)...which broke Wednesday night I think. Unfortunately she's still on an eating strike. It is very unlike her, so I'm trying not to get too worked up about it. I'm sure when she's feeling 100% better the appetite will come back too.

Mr. Milo, our cat, had a cat bite wound that got infected, abscessed, and ruptured. After nearly $275 of vet bills on Wednesday, they declared him on the road to recovery...his human mama knew better. I took him back in on Friday when he was still far from his usual self. After another $170 they declared him still on the road to recovery...it was supposedly just taking longer than they had thought. Then the next day we saw that another abscess (that we & the vet were unaware of) had apparently ruptured. He seems to be doing better since then. Poor lil guy. Poor wallet.

Luckily, (and knock on wood), Gus and Miss Tallulah (our other cat) appear to have weathered the bad luck storm unscathed.

Unfortunately I did another craptastic job of getting photos when we had our wonderful family down so no photos today. Boo.....

Gus' Baptism Weekend

Sweet baby boy...he may have been the only boy in a gown...but I thought he looked handsome...

The Pierse Family...thanks for coming Aunt Lee!!!
The Rosonke Family...

It's been a busy weekend...we've been blessed to have family down from both Iowa & Indiana. My dad hadn't been here since Luci's baptism so that was an extra special treat. Aunt Lee also came down making it a doubly special treat :) Luci loved having so much family around and kept saying, "hello everyone! hi everyone!" Thanks everyone for coming down!!

hands & feet

i brought out the highchair not because he's eating (i'm in no hurry this time), but because he likes to be up where the action is...and this is a safe way for him to sit up & be included in the kitchen. i usually put a toy or two on the tray and then he's generally content to hang for a bit. he now will reach for toys but still can't quite get them to his mouth...usually his arm just flails about until the toy is lost. he does get his hands in there though & he finds them to be quite tasty :) and this morning i saw him grab a toe, but i'm not sure he knew what it was...i'm guessing it'll only be a matter of days and he'll have it figured out!

should've known

when I said, "why don't you go play in your playroom" that her "okay!" response was too good to be true...

I think she was attempting to 'trace' the letters. Maybe I shoud look at it as good practice?

Happy Birthday & Happy Easter!

Happy belated birthday to the grandpas & to Uncle Keith...all of whom celebrated a birthday yesterday! We are sad that we didn't get to talk to any of you despite a few phone calls up north! You must be busy men!

And a Happy Easter to all!

Yesterday Luci & I colored eggs for the first time! I stayed up late on Friday night & hard boiled 12 eggs so they'd be ready on Saturday morning. One of the eggs floated & I thought that was odd so I threw it out. I boiled the remaining 11, and then tested one of them to be sure it was properly cooked (it was :). So as planned, on Saturday morning when Gus went down for his first nap we colored 10 eggs. In my head I had it built up that she was just going to LOVE it (I do this a lot with activities I loved as a kid). She liked it fine enough I suppose, but wanted to know what was IN the eggs (lotsa plastic eggs filled with candy these days)...and when I finally had her convinced that there were EGGS in the EGGS, she wanted to crack them RIGHT.NOW. Once I got her over that we colored them, but she didn't want to do any eggs that were say half pink & half yellow...she wanted them to be all one color. humpf...not so fun. and of course after we dyed the 10 we had the drama started because she wanted to color 'just one more'. Somehow no matter how fun of an activity I think we have planned, it almost ALWAYS ends in tears.

Luci was delighted to find that the Easter Bunny left her a basket...she wasn't really expecting it because we haven't really talked much about the Easter Bunny or what (s)he does. This year the Easter Bunny collected items over a period of few weeks when Luci-coveted things caught her eye. And this year the Easter Bunny was in bed the night before Easter with the lights out when she realized that she forgot to assemble & deliver the basket. And I'm not sure why the Easter Bunny decided a $1.99 flute was a good idea...who wants to listen to that all day?

The biggest hit of the basket was a set of 5 Tinkerbell lip glosses with a little tin 'box' container as she calls it. She carted it around ALL day...even sneaking one lip gloss (minus the top) into church! The kid has been putting on lip gloss ALL.OVER.HER.FACE...ALL.DAY.

feelings

Thanks to Ni Hao Kai Lan (a show on Nick Jr.), Luci is learning lots about feelings. There is a new episode that we saved where a friend gets mad & hits, and then has to sit in time out. Then it talks about how when we get mad we use our words instead of hitting. It is kinda AWESOME to have something we use all the time shown in cartoon format. Luci is mesmerized by the Kai Lan episodes that deal with emotions she seems to regularly experience. This morning I overheard her as she picked up baby potato head & cradled her sweetly..."she lost her feelings, no, she hurt her feelings, i want to take care of her feelings, [insert hug], okay, her feelings feel better."

In other news, the big boy went for a ride in the stroller this morning for the first time without the car seat! Yaay big boy!

everybody's favorite chair

hahaha...i know...if you are over 45 years old you think this chair is TERRIBLE...but i'm sure you did things with your kiddos that i would probably think were horrible...and i'm sure luci & gus will do things with their kiddos that i will think are no good...such is life!

and not to be left out...
Is she gorgeous or what?

i took these photos over a week ago, and since then he's become all about sitting up. no more reclining & chatting with mama for this boy...he wants to be sittin up like a big boy all.the.time. he really moves his head around to look at whoever is talking. today clay was telling me a story & he caught gus looking at him with big eyes as if to say, "really? tell me more dad!"

Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the annual Cottage Green Easter Egg Hunt! Luci was so excited she couldn't sleep at nap time today. She did a great job finding her 12 eggs and ate a ton of candy...after Clay & I had agreed she'd have only just a few pieces. As I was listening to the just one more whine, Lesley pointed out that she'd rather her girls eat 12 pieces of candy at once than listen to the just one more whine for the rest of the day. And I decided I agreed. So I gave a few pieces of candy away when Luci wasn't looking, and just let her eat the rest. And the whine was over. Surprisingly, there wasn't a stomach ache later.

Running down the alley screaming, "here we come Easter Bunny!" And yes, she stops at the corner & waits for us :)
huntin eggs with Dad

she found a ton under there...

two guesses how this is going to end...
yep...

sure did...
and all the while the boy just hung out in his stoller :)

3 months

smiley boy... surprise face...
look! stripes!

and feet!

and sister!

our gus is a happy lil fella most of the time. unlike his big sis, who used to focus on activity until it was conquered, our boy just wants to be included. when he starts to fuss all he needs is a lil chat with mama or sister & he's good to go. he LOVES to be talked to.

he just started drooling, and loves to blow little raspberries. he also likes make the wet razz noise. we also just broke out the jumperoo and he's a big fan.

here is our handsome lil man on his way to church yesterday...too bad those 6M jeans look more like capri pants...

and a few funny faces...

another one

not sure why all of the sudden i feel the need to document these little luci moments...oh yes, wait, i do. i find myself often going back to check & see what we were up to when luci was gus' age...and i'm so glad i documented the seemingly little, insignificant details...cause i can't remember them for the life of me.

this morning, while i was rocking gus for his second nap of the day at 10a (our day started too early to mention), she came upstairs using her newly perfected quiet voice, and asked if she could eat a smashed cereal bar (a big treat in our world) she had found in the diaper bag. i told her yes, opened it, and upon realizing just how smashed it was, asked her to go down & eat it at the table. and i told her i'd be right there.

3-5 minutes later i head downstairs to find her sitting happily at the table, eating said cereal bar. i commended her on her excellent listening skills & told her i was very proud of her for sitting at the table like i had asked. she replied with, "sure mom. what is this called again?"

and i had one of those, she's only 2...how can she be so big already? moments. slow down a bit lu...there is no hurry.

luci quote

scene: changing her diaper on the ottoman. i accidentally hit her head with her feet trying to keep her tights & ballet dress on while changing her.

me: oops! did i bonk you on the head with your feet? that is kind of silly!
luci: no, that is not kinda silly. that is kinda very frustrating...

my girl

you can still see her little baby profile in her big girl profile...i hadn't noticed until these photos!

i talked her into getting her hair trimmed a few weeks ago (did i already blog about that? can't remember & too lazy to go back & check)...the lollipop got her in the chair...and at the end they put glitter in her hair...and it is STILL THERE. like 3+ weeks later. anyone know how to get glitter out? washing & combing isn't working...

see the bruise on her forehead? she fell face first onto some huge rocks at the 'mountain park' a few weeks ago...yes, i said a few weeks ago....

and in case anyone doubted that she still needs a nap...this is how i found her after putting gus down for his afternoon nap, before putting her down for hers...

gus @ 12 weeks

we made it! 12 weeks has long been my 'you can do it' goal...with luci everything seemed to get much easier at about 12 weeks...and here we are already with gus (as of tomorrow) and sure enough, many things seem easier.

notes at 12 weeks...

-within the last week he has found his hands. it started last week - he was bringing them together on his own a lot...and just within the last few days his hands have found his mouth! he can't get enough of this hand eating...

-he will often grab my hands or arms when i'm changing his diaper or feeding him a bottle (which i do every night before bed...i call it my relief feeding)

-nursing is getting easier, but i'd say the feeding business is still harder at this point than it was with luci because of his reflux. he is a serious spitter...drenching entire burp cloths with one spit up...and often one feeding has 3 or more spit-ups. luckily the prevacid is helping & for the most part his pain seems fairly well managed.

-because of the reflux he doesn't get much time flat on his back. he could do without luci's beloved star, and doesn't seem entertained by objects floating above him. the exception to this is the mobile in his crib. his crib has an elevated head so maybe that is what makes the difference.

-if you catch him at the right time (over 90 minutes since a feeding & just up from a nap) he enjoys tummy time & does a pretty good job pushing himself up.

-he's pushed himself over a few times from tummy to back, but i'm still not convinced it is a voluntary movement.

-he's in 6-9 mo pjs

-his 1-2 diapers are much too small but i'm still squishin his lil booty in them cause we bought too many of them

-not many of the 3-6mo clothes fit anymore...we are mostly in 6mo or even some 6-9mo/9mo

-he's just starting to get some new hair growth in on the top of his head & it is blond. he still has quite a bit of his birth hair though, and it is very dark.

-his eyes are an amazing shade of blue. they are darker and more intense than luci's, although shaped differently. his eyelashes are long & curled and his eye brows are very light...just like his daddy's.

-he has rosonke ears, and a halvorson mouth. he has my mom's smile all the way....and it is ADORABLE.

-he loves to be spoken to...and usually he'll talk back.

-he's thinking about giggling...he gets close, but no full on chuckle yet.

-he usually takes four naps...two 30-45 minute ones in the AM and then a longer one starting between 1p and 2p and last for 90-120 minutes. he usually takes another cat nap before going down to bed between 7p and 8p. he usually gets up between 7a and 8a.

-he's usually up between 2a and 4a for a feeding. he had a great few nights of 5a, 5:30a and even 6:30a wakings, but he hasn't repeated since then. about 50% of the time he goes right back down and the other half of the time he's awake for up to 90 minutes. ugh.

-he's soothing himself to sleep now. our routine is upstairs, close the curtains, change a diaper, wrap in the miracle blanket, sing a song while rocking, and then rock for 2-3 more minutes. he does a combo of talking/fussing/crying usually. i often go in just once to soothe (paci) after 5 minutes of crying and then he usually falls asleep after that.

-he started the wet razz & blowing raspberries last week.

-his mama thinks he's the sweetest lil guy around ;)