Battle wounds

Our poor Lukey has had a very rough last couple of days, especially yesterday. First off, he woke up Saturday morning with a fever of 102 and was sick all day. We took him into InstaCare Saturday evening and luckily there was no infection, just a bad cold virus. So we took him home for a rough sleepless night of a high fever and not feeling good at all. Poor guy, I feel so bad for him when he is sick and so helpless since there really isn't much I can do but comfort him. Sunday was a little better, his fever wasn't as high. Since then it has turned into a horrible cold and yesterday turned into a really bad cough on top of that, getting probably even worse today.

So yesterday was a tough day with him not feeling well. I woke up achy and with a sore throat and started feeling really bad for our guy realizing that he must have been feeling like this all along, on top of his visible symptoms. He was really out of sorts yesterday...fussy, clumsy, just not doing well. So yesterday evening we we outside in the back yard playing, outside he is a happier guy. Living here in my grandma's basement it is a walk out basement and when you go out the back door there is a cement patio with three steps going up to ground level. Luke crawls up and down these steps all the time. Cory and I were sitting on some lawn chairs and Cory was on the phone while I relaxed not feeling well. Luke walked over to the stairs and threw a tennis ball down and then started whinning and pointing for it like he wanted it. He does this a lot, usually meaning he wants us to go get the ball for him. I looked over at him doing this and before I knew it he had fallen face first down the concrete stairs! He must have gotten too close to the edge and leaned forward pointing and lost balance! I was freaking out and jumped up but of course it was too late and all I could do was go and get the poor kid who was screaming and crying and laying head down with his body still up the stairs. At least he was concious! I lifted him up to find that he had a huge scrape from the top of his scalp down the side of his face, a scrap in between his eyes, and a big bruise forming in the middle of his forehead. I'm not sure how he hit but he must have hit a couple of the stairs at different times to get all these wounds in different places.

Poor poor Lukey was a mess. He was so upset! I was scared, but luckily we got him to calm down enough and he looked like he was okay, so we didn't feel we needed to take him to the emergency room or anything. Then, to top it all off, about an hour later when we finally got him settled down he was walking over to sit by me on the couch and tripped on Cory's foot (Cory was also sitting on the couch and had dosed with his legs stretched out). Luke stood up from his fall and I could see blood coming from his lip! Not another wound! When he had fallen his tooth had cut the inside of his lip. This topped it all off, and the rest of the night was chaos, non-stop crying. We finally had to take him on a car ride, which finally settled him down and he was so exhausted he fell asleep in the car and it was only barely 7:00pm. So we got him home and put to bed early. Poor little guy. It was a very tough day. Today has been hard too, at least he has forgotten about his battle wounds but it seems like he just keeps getting sicker...the nose was runnier and the cough was even worse and more deep into his chest. Hopefully he gets over this sooner than later so he can get back to his normal happy self.

His face looks so bad, I am seriously hesitant to take him out in public! I can only imagine what people will think of what a horrible mother I am! These pictures don't even do it justice, he looks pretty bad!

I took these two last night

Today we broke up the day by going outside and helping daddy with some yard work and having a picnic on a blanket on the lawn. He always loves to help his daddy.

And loves to eat dirt! I try to get him to stop, but there's not use!

I was trying to get some pictures of the wounds all day today but could never quite get some with him holding still and that show how bad they really look. These are probably my best ones, when I had him confined in the bath! He loves bathtime so at least he is smiling and happy here.

Easter & extended St. George stay

We went down to St. George the week before Easter thinking we would stay through Easter and probably leave Easter or the next day, but we ended up staying through the next weekend which made our stay down there about 2 1/2 weeks! The weather was really nice versus the snowy weather up north, and with our time freed up with no work for Cory to get back to we thought, why not! It was a nice long stay and I'm sure the Ferguson's loved having Luke around for so long.

Luke had tons of fun playing in the sandbox at Cory's aunt and uncle's house and had his first experience in a swing! He really liked it! He was in that swing for probably a half hour!

Luke woke up really sick one morning a few days into our stay. He was burning up and was not his usual self at all. He would just lay limp in my arms and whine and cry...I knew he was sick. This was sicker than I had ever seen him. I knew I needed to take him to a doctor down there. He had an ear infection and of course everything turned out okay and he was doing much better being on Tylenol. After a day or two he was on his way to being back to himself. Poor boy. I hate seeing him sick, I can't imagine in the olden days when they didn't have medicine and couldn't do anything for their babies when they were sick, it would be so hard to have to be so helpless. 

Back to our St. George stay...the entire time down there Luke loved being outside and playing with Cory's dog Sophie. She is such a good dog, nothing Luke does can bother her. She is pretty old so I'm sure that helps but she is just a really good dog. The second we would mention Sophie he would run to the door so he could go outside and play with her. Here is a picture of Luke feeding Sophie a treat.

Saturday night Luke decorated Easter eggs with Cory

Easter morning was fun. The Easter bunny filled Luke's basket with yummy healthy treats. He had fun hunting for Easter eggs...we helped him spot them and then would tell him to go get them and sure enough he would!

Before church on Easter Sunday

We were going to take off after Easter, but then the weather got so warm we couldn't leave! We enjoyed some nice warm days at the pool. Luke had fun swimming.

Cleaning guy

Luke loves cleaning utensils! He loves vacuums, brooms, mops, dusters, rags, you name it! He loves to play with them and "help" me clean up. But he usually ends up getting frustrated because the broom or the vacuum he is using is too big for him to maneuver. But in St. George he got a hold of the perfect cleaning item...a swiffer duster. Not too big, not too small, the perfect size for him to dust the floor and other things around the house without being too big to frustrate him or to small (like a rag) to get boring. The night he discovered the swiffer duster he held onto it all night, wouldn't put it down. It came time for bedtime and I decided not to try to put up a fight and take it away from him, so I laid him down in his bed with it and sure enough he snuggled right up with swiffer in hand and fell asleep. After about an hour I snuck into the room and got this picture of him sound asleep before carefully slipping it out of his hand.

15 month check up

Luke had his 15 month doctor's appointment yesterday. He was sick at his appointment so it was kind of a rough one, but the good news is he is a growing boy and doing just great. He had grown height-wise a lot in the last three months. He was 24.5 pounds (48th percentile) and in the 78th percentile for height (can't remember the exact inches). 

He is a healthy, growing boy and we love him so much. I love this age. He is at such a fun time, I have said this so many times but I seriously wish I could just freeze him in time and always remember him this way. He is such a sweet, silly, funny, determined, fearless, and loving little boy. He has always loved giving kisses and he has recently learned to give closed mouth kisses which is a little less slobbery! He loves to snuggle up with us in bed in the mornings and gives us kisses after kisses. 

He is learning so much. It's like the last few weeks I all the sudden feel like he really understands what we are saying when we are talking to him. I can tell him to go get something and he usually knows what I am talking about. He points to people and objects when we say their names. He doesn't really say any words other than mama, mom, dada, and dad too much, sometimes "yeah", but he babbles a lot, his favorite is "Duba Duba". Duba Duba can mean many things. But I'm sure once he decides he wants to talk he will be talking quick. We love him so much! I've always heard this, but I can't imagine how I will ever love another baby as much as I do Luke, but I know I will. It will be really fun to see Luke with this new little addition to our family and I am excited for him to have a little sister to play with. We love our boy so much and are so blessed to have his sweet spirit in our lives! I have to say, my baby is the cutest and the best. :)

He loves to ride in his car and play with his "tiger" (it's really a cheetah or a lepard but somehow we got calling it a tiger when he got it and it has stuck!)

Ice cream!

Luke LOVES ice cream! Since my ice cream cravings lately we have been getting it a lot more often and Luke has fast come to love it! This time we were on our way back from dairy queen and Luke was in the backseat. I gave him a bite and it was all downhill from there. The second he swallowed the first bite he was yelling and grunting for more! He is so funny. As you can tell, Luke and ice cream always ends up messy. Next time I think we'll just get him his own cone and let him have at it. He would be in heaven!

Conquering the stairs

Luke is obsessed with climbing! We usually have a gate at the bottom of the stairs to block it off so he can't climb them. But the second we take that thing down, he races to the stairs. He's actually really good at climbing the stairs. If he would just climb up like normal it wouldn't be that bad but he thinks he has graduated to walking up and down the stairs like us. This usually ends up in disaster...I don't think that is is physically possible for him to walk up and down, his legs are too short! So we'll give in once and awhile and walk him up and down with us holding his hand and him half walking, half slipping down. But once and awhile he'll try to take that first step by himself...scary! So we have to keep the gate up!

Anyway, the other day Cory, my grandma, and I were talking on the stairs so we let Luke get over the gate and crawl up and down with us standing right there. With all of us there I guess we weren't watching him as close as we should have, he was at the very top and I'm not even exactly sure what happened it happened so fast, but he must have taken a step by himself and the next thing I knew he took a front face dive down the stairs and did two sommersaults all the way down!!! I just about died! I hurried and scooped him up, he was of course crying. I inspected him and there was a red mark on his head but he seemed to be okay other than being hysterical. Then, after no more than 20 seconds, he started squirming and whinning to get out of my arms and trying to get back on the ground. I was confused at what he was trying to do, but I set him down, and that little stinker ran right back to the stairs, climbed back to the top where he had fallen from, and stood up looking down! I could just see him thinking...you haven't conquered me, stairs!! Cory and me and my grandma didn't know what to think! We were all shocked! He just did a complete roll down the stairs, but he wasn't even scared, in fact he was back for more! It kind of scares me how brave he is and how he will just keep going back for more!

This is right after the tumble...after he had started climbing the stairs again I ran and got my camera. I love the look on his face here.

And there he goes again...

First real tantrum

The other day Luke had his first real tantrum. He has had times where he gets frustrated or mad and throws a little fit for maybe 30 seconds or so, but never has it turned into a full fledged tantrum. But the other day we hit this milestone! He was having a tough day to begin with, he had bumped his head a couple times and it was late afternoon so he was getting worn out. Then he needed a diaper change and this poses a problem in and of itself! He has been putting up a big fight about diapers and diaper changes lately! He hates having to sit still for the diaper changing process and he hates wearing diapers so the second I get one on him he tries ripping it off (he has figured out how to undo the velcro!) So we can't just let him run around in his diaper anymore, which he loves to do, because if we let him he will be running around diaperless in no time. We have to make sure his pants are back on, or if he has a onsie on, make sure it's buttoned up.

Anyway, back to the story...I had just struggled with him through a diaper change and gotten the new diaper on and his onsie buttoned. He was furious! He wanted that diaper off but he couldn't get to it because of that onsie! So he flung himself on the ground, started screaming and crying...just hysterical. I couldn't even get him to stop and look at me. He was kicking and rolling around on the ground, face bright red, I wasn't even going to try to put his pants back on. I tried to settle him down but he wanted nothing to do with it. After a minute I decided it was no use, so I left him in his room to get it out of his system. After a few minutes I thought, I might as well document his first tantrum, so I went and got my camera. After about 10 minutes or so he was settling down, but whew it was exhausting! And that marks our first experience of what we have ahead in the terrible twos stage..oh joy!

This was once he was settled down a little...but still not a happy camper

Embrace the mess

The last few weeks Luke has started to refuse to let us feed him with a spoon. Most things he eats with his hands off his tray but he loves yogurt, I give yogurt with granola in it a lot, so I was still spoon feeding him that. But he wants to do it by HIMSELF now, no more help from mom and dad! I resisted for a couple weeks wanting to avoid the mess of him trying to learn to use a spoon all by himself, but he just kept getting frustrated and wanted to hold that spoon, so I decided it was time to embrace the mess! Here he is eating his yogurt and granola by himself...messy guy...but of course loving it.