Hi-Bye

The title to this post pretty much sums it up lately! Sean and I have been so busy with work and travel that I feel like we barely have enough time to say Hi before we are saying bye again. We work very hard on coordinating our travel & meeting schedule so that one of us is home every night to put Luke to bed and see him up in the morning. With that in mind, we coordinate our schedules so tight that if and when are travels coincide one of us is arriving home while the other is walking out the door. This week I was off to Sioux Falls, SD Tuesday & Wednesday, and Sean is flying out Thursday for Dallas. Fortunately/Unfortuately my flight was canceled yesterday morning after I sat in the plane on the tarmak for nearly two hours. Fortunately I got to come home to my boys, unfortunately I missed a few meetings. Next week, I head to Florida on Wednesday arriving home on Friday, while Sean flies out Friday morning and returns the following Tuesday. So in between all of this crazy work travel you would think we would want to enjoy a quiet weekend at home...not so much! We are off to Wisconsin Dells this weekend to take Luke to the Wildneress Indoor Waterpark. We visited there this summer and he had a blast. I am really looking forward to seeing his excitement when we arrive on Saturday morning. We are meeting three other families with young kids, so while the waterpark will be pure joy for Luke, playing with the other kiddos will be even better than playing with "just" mom and dad! Luke has recently started showing off this "really excited, I can't control it grin", and I absolutely am in love with it. It melts my heart to know that he is truly over joyed. Today his fisher price lawn mower arrived, so when I opened the box tonight, that "really excited, I can't control it grin" came out and I about lost it. He was so excited that when it was time for dinner, he tried to pull his lawn mower up with him in his high chair. I leaned it up against his chair and that did the trick. At the end of the day it is all about finding balance. While many days it might be more challenging to find it, it makes it pretty darn easy to find it when I get to come 'home' to my wonderful, healthy boys that make me smile and laugh endlessly.

One of my favorite pictures of my sweet BOYZ

The Big turnaround

Yay! My mom finally turned my car seat around!!!!

Yes, it has been long overdue, nearly 18 months old and 27 lbs, we (or I) decided it was time to let Luke see the world from a different view during road trips. He really never minded rear facing and we figured if he isn't pitching a fit or giving us a hard time we would keep him rear facing as long as possible. This weekend I made the switch mostly because his poor legs were getting cramped. He certainly enjoys seeing what's going on. This little boy loves to go "bye bye" and now his trips are much more enjoyable!

Last night we decided to get out of the house, as Luke hadn't left the house for a couple of days due to the bad weather. Who needs a museum when we have Scheel's?!?!?! This little boy is mesmerized by all the Buck mounts, bear, mouse, mountain lion, turkey, and fish. (above he is checking out the "bish") We took a little trip to Scheels, road the carousel at the mall, and then enjoyed dinner at one of our local favorites, Red's Ale House.

Luke takes on Chicago

Last weekend Luke enjoyed his first experience of "big city life". We planned a special weekend for Luke with his Godmama Kate and Uncle Bryan, who live in the heart of downtown Chicago. From the moment we arrived at the building Luke was filled with pure joy and excitement of all the tall buildings. We stayed at their building Aqua across the street from Millenium park, just two blocks off Michigan Avenue on the 21st floor. Luke loved looking out the windows at the all the tall buildings and cars below. Not to mention run the halls of the building. Our day started off with lunch at a great sandwich and pizza joint. Next up, Shedd Aquarium. Luke you should know your mom, dad, Uncle Bryan, and Aunt Kate, love you so very much. We waited in line forever and fought the zoo of a crowd all for you! You loved watching the "bish" swim, especially the real bigs ones. Your favorite was watching the dolphins! Uncle Bryan would tease you, holding you real close to the window, and you didn't like it when the big fish swam up to the window. After Shedd we went back to Bryan and Kate's and they took you swimming. You had so much fun splashing around, I know you will enjoy the swimming pool so much this summer. Uncle Bryan and Godmama asked to watch you so we could enjoy a nice dinner out with our dear friends, Joe & Carly Slattery and Chad & Sarah Erwin. You got to eat pizza and watch the backyardigans until Kate cuddled you to sleep. Sunday morning we took you to the gym at their building and you played lots of basketball and ran around like a crazy little boy. You loved the big city and your weekend visiting Bryan and Kate. We plan to take you back again this summer so you can enjoy all the Parks, Zoo, and outdoor swimming! We enjoyed our weekend, it was exhausting, as you ran endlessly all weekend, but it was so great to see you have so much fun! When we left Chicago on Sunday you were asleep before we even were two blocks away!

Luke takes on Chicago
Amazed by the tall buildings

Daddy & Luke at Shedd Aquarium

Watching the big turtle

Uncle Bryan showing you the big fish!

Luke with his Uncle Bryan & Godmama Kate

(the only picture I got of you three)

Happy Heart Day!

Enjoy the sweetness of today!

Luke's room

Finally, I am getting to Luke's room. Well, it's been 17 months and he finally has a decorated room, well almost done. Luke has not had a decorated room because we moved from Kalamazoo when he was 7 weeks old. We were living in our townhome, which was "temporary" so I didn't want to go through all the work. Well, finally a year later, we moved into our new house! Let me just say that his room is the first room in the house to get some attention. While it is not totally done, it has been started. When he grows out of his crib into a big boy bed, we have a sports comforter from Pottery Barn Kids set to match the rest of his room. Luke is obsessed with football, basketball, baseball, soccer ball, you name it!"

I bought wooden letters from Hobby Lobby and painted them navy blue

I painted the All Star to match the navy "LUKE"
Luke loves to run to this area and point to the "balls"

Luke reading in his chair, he loves to sit and read books!

I found this football lamp at hobby lobby and thought it would go perfect with his picture sitting in Coach Kirk Ferentz's office!

The view from the doorway

Any the toy room! We love that all of Luke's toys stay in here!

17 months old

Luke Michael Merrick
17 months old

2.04.11

One of Luke's many bumps & bruises

I have been meaning to do this post for many days because it has been so long since I have given an update on "what Luke is up to". Where has the time gone, my little boy is 17 months old and let me tell you, our house is as exciting as ever with his little feet running around like a crazy man. We love his never ending energy, his expanding vocabulary, and his determined personality.

-you are wearing size 5 diapers, 6 at night

-you are wearing mostly 24 month clothing these days after taking a huge growth spurt a few weeks ago

-you weigh 27 lbs

-you are still taking two naps, we have to wake you in the morning after an hour, and you sleep again for two hours in the afternoon

-you go to bed at 8pm and usually wake up around 630 am

-you are somewhat of a picky eater

-you love fresh fruit, hummus, cottage cheese, and mostly pizza (we have Sunday night pizza night and you get so excited)

-you love to drink your milk, we are working on drinking out of "real cups"

-you just started to get peanut butter and it is your new favorite food

-you love to play with Gunner, pull on his tail, use him as a step stool to get on the furniture

-you love to read books and to be read to

-your vocabulary grows daily, a few of your words are: book, ball, basket, Gun, peas (please), bye-bye, truck, tractor, Bop (Grandpa), mama, daddy, bear, buck, and pizza

-you point to your eyes, ears, nose, head, toes, and mouth when we ask

-you follow direction very well

-you are obsessed with the deer in our backyard (all of them are bucks to you)

-you have just started to watch a little tv, your favorites are Curious George in the morning, and the Backyardigans at night

-you have just started singing "itsy bitsy spider" and you do action along with it

Luke, your energy amazes us and you brighten our whole world. We love you to pieces and enjoy watching you discover and learn new things each and every day. We love your hugs with the pat on the back, and your big sloppy kisses. You are a very determined and smart little boy using your sign language or taking our hand to show us what you want. We love you so...

Absence

Pardon my absence from the blog lately. Our house has been hit with sickness, well Luke & I have been. Luke came down with a high fever of 103 last Friday and ended up with crupe. It was a very long week taking care of a very sick little boy. He was feverish for nearly four days, finally took him in on Monday just to make certain he didn't have pneumonia because we could feel his lungs rattle when we would rub his back. Thank goodness it was nothing more than crupe. But still bad. Poor guy could barely breath, then when all the crap started to loosen and he would cough so hard he would throw up. Last Wednesday I changed outfits four times and we had Luke in six changes of clothes. Aside from caring for a sick little boy...we received close to a foot and a half of snow and were literally snowed in all day Wednesday. That was ok with me because Luke and I weren't going anywhere. Ms. Judi couldn't get in our subdivision anyway, so it was a family snow day! Luke is doing much better now, he is coughing still but he is back to his crazy self. I on the other hand am sporting a box of Kleenex as an accessory these days. My nose is raw and my sinuses are killing me. Sean was gone Thursday through Saturday night, since he has been home he has taken over all duties of the house...THANK YOU! I got to sleep in until 8 a.m. yesterday which was exactly what I needed. I am hopeful this doesn't hang around too long and that Sean immune system can fight this bad boy off.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Sean shoveling the sidewalk

Thank you to our wonderful neighbors for plowing out our driveway

Sean has now invested in a heavy duty snow blower!

Our subdivision did not get plowed out until 7pm Wednesday night. Neighbors came together and used their snow blowers/plows to try and make a pathway for people to get out and get to to work.

Luke loved to watch the snow blower

Luke helping me get some work done on Wednesday

(This was taken from my phone)

One of Luke's latest obsessions

"bushing" his teeth!

I recently purchased a pack of 6 toothbrushes because Luke is known to go through our bathroom drawers searching for a toothbrush

Luke keeping himself preoccupied in the kitchen while I make dinner!

Our sick little boy...all he wanted to do was watch TV (that's when we knew he was really sick because this child does not like to sit for any reason, let alone watch TV)