My Birthday

Wow! I feel loved and wished well! From new plants, to hairdryers, to new shoes, to gift cards, to smelly lotions, to massage certificates, I have been spoiled! Thank you for all of the phone calls, emails, and text messages... I am a lucky girl to have you all in my life. And the answer to your question is... YES... I do feel older this year. And, it is ALL Luke's fault, that stinker! Brent took me to Benihana's for a Birthday Dinner before we left for Honey's! He knows the way to my heart!

Easter

As much as I LOVE celebrating Jesus's birth at Christmas, Easter holds so much more meaning for me... what a wonderful time for reflection on the sacrifice Jesus made on my behalf so that I can be with Him eternally! What an awesome love God has for me, knowing he would bring a Son into the world to live among the worst of sinners, letting them mock Him and beat Him. When all I do is think about how to protect Luke and keep him from harm, God GAVE his perfect, spotless Son knowing what He would have to physically endure. But, oh how proud the Father must have been to see his Son, rise from the dead, victoriously over death! Thank you Lord for saving me, thank you for resurection power!

Granna brought lots of goodies in a Thomas The Train Easter Basket:

Luke loves to stand up and look around:

Honey holding our squirmy 17 pounder:

Luke wearing his "Have You Seen My Honey" Overalls:

That Easter Bunny always finds us!

Ear Infection #4 buys Luke Tubes

We had a re-check for Luke's ears to make sure his last infection had cleared up-- both ears are still infected (or reinfected), so we have an appointment with a pediatric ENT later this month. Hopefully we can give our baby some sweet relief soon. What a little trooper...

Opening Day

In the 4 years of our marriage, I have never bought hot dogs to make at home... too many Food Science classes ruined them for me. Last week, Brent called me from work and told me to put hot dogs on my mental grocery list in a tone that I new I'd better oblige! (I don't mess with his love for his 'Stros!) So, we wore our Astros shirts and had hot dogs while watching opening day at home... it was a nice start to the season.

Brent and Luke "walking"

Every night for the past week, Brent and Luke "walk" down the hall while I fix dinner... I hear "A one... A two... A three... etc." Luke puts one foot in front of another as Brent coaxes him forward. As far as crawling goes, well... we will save that for the next post... it is messy!

Bluebonnets

It's Raining... HAIL

A hail storm came through our neighborhood Monday night... it is crazy that this stuff can fall from the sky. It sounded like giant men were pounding on our back windows. I ran to Luke's room to make sure his window had not broken... sweet baby slept through the whole 15 minute storm! We do have damage to the house- mostly cosmetic with windows, gutters, grill, our new table and chairs, etc. Our insurance adjuster comes out next week to check the roof-- roofing companies are out in full force with signs popping up in everyone's yards. Our deductible is "through the roof" (pun intended), so we are hopeful it isn't as bad as it looks.

Housewarming Party

We loaded down the car and headed to Houston for Chris and Christy's Housewarming Party Saturday afternoon. They had a full house where we enjoyed visiting, eating 3 kinds of cakes, and playing horseshoes! We had so much fun being loved on and Luke enjoyed extra attention from Grandma and Granddaddy. Luke also had his second trip to Lupe Tortillas!

Our trek back home started at 9 am and ended back at our house at 7pm! We made LOTS of pit stops and had 2 blow outs...not a car blow out, THIS kind of blow out:

We stopped off to have a steak lunch and play pool with Granna and Pops:

We also stopped in College Station to visit with our friends, the Walls, then we stopped again in Waco to take Luke to Rudy's BBQ... you can never start too early with these things, you know...

(This is outfit #2 of 3).

5 Months- Our Cup Runneth Over!

Luke, you have been busy this month! You rolled over, you cut teeth, you giggled, and you had 3 ear infections! It has been a month full of smiles and full of tears. You are giving us a preview as to how "on the move" you are about to become and we are excited, but hesitant to leave this familiar state that we are ending- mainly, leaving a room and you being right where we left you! Just one late night after you rolled over the first time, you came out of your swaddle, shimmied off your wedge and were on your tummy, sideways in your crib. As I turned you over, you looked up at me smiling as to say "Look what I did!" Wow, this is a sight I didn't expect to see so soon!

When we got pregnant, people said life would never be the same and we would "Give Up" so much. I would agree. Luke, your Daddy and I have "given up" our selfishness- you have made us team up together for the common goal of your wellbeing... together, we are trading off sleep, washing endless bottles, making up silly stories with weak morals at best, and "initiating bedtime sequence" for you, but as one. I have "given up" silly chatter that before you, I thought really mattered- who is dating who, who wore what, who said what about whom... it all seems so silly to me now. I have "given up" a clean house and I still daily have to come to terms with that. There is always a pile of laundry to do, always a floor that is dirty, always more dusting to get to, but it won't matter to me in 5 years that I put it all off to play with you, to hold you, to read to you. Yes, we have given up some freedoms- movie nights, date nights, shopping excursions, vacations, but we wouldn't trade any of it for a second without you! You have grown our hearts in ways that we never knew possible- you are making us better versions of ourselves and showing us how far we can really stretch, emotionally and physically-- so one day, when you begin to look at us as your role models, we hope you like what you see. We love you, sweet boy.

A New Kind of Sleep

Luke LOVES to roll now-- even while sleeping, so I have had to get creative on how to keep him in place so he sleeps soundly... the best so far is a sleep positioner- he still moves, but at least he doesn't end up on his tummy in panic mode!

Before sleep positioner (Ummm... is my child breathing in there?):

After sleep positioner (still working on not sliding off of the wedge):

(I realize neither look perfect, but the "After" is a BIG improvement- less thrashing at 2am.!)

On a Roll, It's Official!

Look who rolled over back to tummy FIVE times yesterday! (4 months, 3 weeks, 1 day old)
(Luke was paying back Granna for keeping her up all night)

Granna Saves the Day!

For the past few weeks, I have been running on empty- it seems like our family has been taking turns being sick and it has taken it's toll on me... I guess my mom could sense it because she called me Friday on her lunch hour and insisted she would come if I just said yes-- of course, we said yes since Luke has been fighting a cold, helping hands are never refused! Just after that phone call, I got a call from Luke's daycare saying he was running a fever and I needed to come pick him up- a trip to the pediatrician revealed that he has double ear infections from all of his cold congestion sitting in his head (this is his 3rd ear infection and looks like tubes are probably in his future). As we were waiting in the CVS parking lot to get medicine, I sat in the back seat trying to calm my screaming child with his bottle knowing full well he didn't want to suck a bottle with ears on fire. I resorted to singing "Jesus Loves Me", then broke into tears. Seems like at that moment, the song went: "Jesus loves me, this I know?? For the Bible tells me so." And with the second verse being a statement, I pulled myself together and faked a pep talk to both of us... Granna was on the way-- I could make it a few more hours! I did. Thank you Momma for helping hands and a full night's sleep... everything is clearer now! Jesus loves me, this I know!

The DEAL of the Century!

Diapers. What an expensive necessity. Like any other trip to Walmart, I went coupons in hand (Brent's mom mails me her coupons!), ready to save a little-- my box of 84 diapers was $20 and with my coupon, they would be $19. Throw it in the cart and head to the $25 formula, and on I went... as I got to the end of my shopping list, I forgot something in the baby section, so I doubled back to pick up one more item... as I got closer, I saw a cart freshly rolled out with a $5 sign posted at the top and SWARMS of people- I got closer and it was diapers!!! There were 2- 72 ct. packages of my Pampers left- I reached for one- examined it- looked good then reached for the second one-- it was gone! Oh well, I thought to myself... at least I got one package. I went to go pick up my other item that led me there in the first place and as I walked back by the cart, the Pampers Snatcher had put that second pack back!!! I got 2 packages of Pampers Swaddlers for $10... what a DEAL! But wait... there's more-- they let me use my coupons- both of them- getting my total for diapers down to $8!!! I walked away with double the diapers for less than half of what I intended to spend! What a day!

(PS- to all of my other friends with babies-- the other diapers on the rack were pull ups and gender specific, so I didn't think those were what you all use... otherwise I would have been that lady!)

Teeth!

Our baby's bottom teeth broke through the gums yesterday (4 months, 2 weeks, 2 days old)... what an exciting day! Luke has been feeling his sharp teeth with his tongue, with a puzzled look on his face- it is so cute! And, he was thrilled to let us have a feel too!

Cereal!

Luke just figured out how to hold his bottle, so we thought we should try cereal! He liked it, his Momma cried :) What a relief that we are starting something he can enjoy! He put his hands around mine and brought them to his mouth to control the pace... smart boy!

Aunt Jamie Visits

Luke's Aunt Jamie came up to visit for the weekend... the weather was not the greatest, but we made the most of her visit indoors :)
We sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in a round:

Jamie loved on her nephew:

And we hung out:

Luke and Daddy had tummy time:

Luke played in his Exersaucer! He likes it for about 5 minutes and then we pull him out before melt down... he may need a few more weeks to enjoy this toy to it's full potential:

A Sick Week- A Boring Post

We have had a very sick week in the Brewer household... as soon as we got Luke's ear infection figured out, I came down with a stomach virus, so Brent had 100% baby duty-- we now know why God designs the family with a Mother and a Father-- way too much to do when you go from 4 helping hands to 2.

So to close out our sick week, I thought I would write about how smart Luke is becoming on taking his meds... when he sees the syringe coming at him, he throws a royal fit, but he doesn't know his Momma is WAY more stubborn than he is (and my Dad swears this is a good quality for me :)

When we first started giving Luke medicine, I would shoot it in the side of his cheek and blow in his face to make him swallow... THEN he got wise to that and figured out how to hold it on his tongue and spit it out... we were going through way to much medicine with this method. So, THEN I changed it up... I went right past his tongue to the back of his throat (this being easy because he was screaming and the syringe was pretty easy to insert) and shot it down (this one scares me because of choking), but it worked... UNTIL he wised up and started crying with his mouth shut! I am not even kidding you- hysterical. So, we needed a new method fast! When we went to the ER, the nurse changed up sides, left- squirt, right-squirt, etc. This worked for about a day confusing him on which side the pink stuff was coming from, but THEN Luke started the tongue thing again. SO, again we change it up... NOW, I keep the syringe IN his mouth so he cannot get his tongue around the meds and has to swallow... it is working well for us at the moment! I am out of ideas, so hope this one continues to work!