So...

So...there is this girl I know. Her name is Tamara, and she is the strongest girl I have ever met. She is battling a virus right now with 0 white blood cells and she is fighting so hard. She makes me proud. She is my sister, and my sister in Christ. Those make her extra special to me. There is no cancer bigger than God and His plan for our life.

James 2:18 "I will show God my faith by my works..."

Afternoon in the sun!

Its been a beautiful spring day! And whats better than a Flavor-Ice in the sunshine?!?!

I am so ready for Spring&Summer!

Toddler-Ism

So...we have entered the new "Terrible 2" stage all of my mom friends have warned me about. I always thought- "no, not my sweet boy" to which my mommy friends always reply"JUST WAIT"! Well, it has come. From Sunday night to monday morning I have a new son lol. Still sweet, but also verrrrry testing. Everything I ask Luke I get the same response, "No Way". (It was cute for a minute.)

For example of Terrible 2's

Luke through a 30 minute on the floor screaming fit this morning because he was not done brushing his teeth. This was 15 minutes after he started. He has never done that before and it shocked me. All I could was just walk away so he could not see me laughing. I think I need to refresh my reading on "How to have a different kid by Friday" =)

St. Patricks Day!

St. Pattys Day is a big deal in my life! It is part of my heritage, it is part of me! My grandmother has educated myself&my cousins growing up on the Irish Catholics and we have heard many Irish Blessings in our life.

Tuesday, Luke&I spent the afternoon tie-dying green t-shirts. It was a fun activity that we both liked! It was really easy for Luke to help thanks to tie-dying bottles. They worked so well and we got them from Michaels MJDesigns.

St. Pattys Day we wore our green shirts and we played w/all kinds of green hats, necklaces, paint, etc! It was a GORGEOUS day outside so we spent a lot of time outside too! We had some friends over and had some beers&margaritas and just enjoyed the fun holiday! God Bless my grandmother and her heritage. And thank you Gramma for passing it on to us!

Many faces of Luke...

Luke spent this past weekend in Dallas w/his Aunt T & Nanny. They went on trips to the Aquarium and the zoo! They also spent the day fishing & hanging with cousins on our families land&lake. He had a blast! He has been telling us stories since he got home on sunday about the sharks,monkey, tigers, lions, bears, fish and his cousins! It was a little tough for me tho. It was my first time to ever spend 2 weekends away from Luke in a row. It is usually a month or 2 in between over night visits for us. Last weekend I had a girls night on saturday&this weekend he was in Dallas. But, he handled it so well and he had so much fun! Justin&I repainted our house-went on dates to eat-hung out with friends-played games-watched movies and just talked. It was so quiet in the house...And we definitely missed our Luke and all his faces!

Very Excited Face!

Concentrating Face

Sleepy Face

Smiley Face

Just chillaxin' face

Serious Face

& his flirty face! (This face has had old ladies on seperate occasions buy him toys&treats at wal-mart because they thought he was a "cute lil flirt". I dont fall for it as easy as I used to lol)

*My sister took these pics of Luke over the weekend! She would send them to me throughout the day and I loved it! He is quite the characted&I love him so much!

Girls Night!

I spent the weekend at the ranch w/my besties! It was a fun weekend=)...a really fun weekend! Brie's families ranch is outside of San Angelo...its an easy 2 1/2 hr drive for a fun&relaxing time. I love spending time w/Brie&her family at the ranch. I met Brie at the end of summer 2001! We pledged the same sorority&instantly became best friends! Most of my best college memories involve Brie in some way or another lol! Brie is getting married this summer&I am a bridesmaid&Luke is the ring bearer! Hilary is also a bridesmaid! &her daughter Ava is the flower girl! Which works out perfectly because Luke&Ava are best friends...more like bro/sis! They see eachother almost daily-but always weekly. Hilary&I stay home so we get to spend lots of time together during the day! Hilary&I met through Brie, but we have all best great friends for almost 9 years =). We spent the weekend working on flower arrangements for the wedding!, fishing, loving on Brie's new nephew Kasen Tate, having wine, napping and mostly telling stories and laughing =)=)=)

Me w/Kasen! He is 9 days old and just a sweet&content baby. I never heard him cry 1 single time the entire weekend lol

Sunday morning fishing is awesome!

Hilary-Me-Brie&Carol (Brie's momma!) We were toasting to the new, happy&healthy baby!

My bestie-Brie

Being silly & enjoying girltime&wine =)!

**So, this was my 1st weekend to ever leave Luke&Justin at home alone. We were going to leave friday-but we decided to leave saturday instead. I was hesitant to leave with Luke being sick. But, Justin was so sweet about everything. He knew we had this weekend set up for a long time&he did not want me to miss it. He gave me no choice but to go&have fun. I am so glad I did, I feel refreshed&made some awesome memories with girls who have become my family. ((On a side note--I did come home to a NEW&MUCH BIGGER FLAT SCREEN TV on the fireplace lolol--i swear i was gone for 36 hrs lolol. Justin did use football to sale it to me..."Babe think of how much more awesome footballl will be now" lol))

Get Well Soon

Luke got some fun "get well soon" packages on Friday from his Nana&Aunt Tamara! He was feeling so awful&just sitting on the couch for almost a week-running a fever&coughing. It was so sad--awful =(.

Aunt Tamara sent Luke a "LiLion" (as he calls them lol) Luke lovesssss lions. He always says "LiLions Rawwwrrrrr" its so cute! He also got a new spongebob book&some gummy bears!

Luke's nana sent him some play-doh, books, gummy bears, m&ms, and a motorcycle that Justin has taken over lol. It like flips all the walls&fun boy stuff i guess lol...

Luke is feeling so much better--thank goodness. RSV is not a fun bug at all. Luke is still doing breathing treatments&taking antibiotics but he is back to his normal self! He has picked up something new lately...DINOSAURS! He watches Land before time...&he asks for it allllll day. He always carries his dinosaur pop-up book too. And he saw a shirt at Gymboree that had a dinosaur on it &he flipped over it lol. And we had to put it on there at the store. I have a feeling we are going to be having a dinosaur themed 2nd bday party =)

Big boy&his nebulizer!

Luke has been doing a great job at his breathing treatments! I am so proud of him!

Lol =) stopping for a sec to talk to Curious George on TV
We had to take the block out of the middle of the nebulizer. Luke doesnt want to do it the "normal" way, he wants to breathe it in backwards. Hey- I say whatever- as long as he is taking his medicine in its fine.

So proud of him!

RSV

My poor baby has RSV =(. I am glad we finally know what is going on with Luke though. Besides the first 3 months of living in the hospital with Luke when he was born, we have NEVERRRR seen our baby this sick. Its awful. He has been running 102 temp- he sounds like a dragon is living inside his chest- and he alternates btw extreme fussiness and sleep. Except when he sleeps- he coughs the entire time.

We went to the dr. this morning. His pediatrician was going to put Luke in the hospital-except there was not an open room at either hospitals in Lubbock. Apparently, many children in Lubbock are sick with RSV, bronchitis, tonsilitis, etc. We had to purchase a nebulizer and we have 2 prescriptions. 1- for antibiotics and 1 for the juice for the nebulizer. We go back in 2 days and Luke will get another X-Ray of his chest. If it still looks as bad as it did today- he will have to be hospitalized. So, we are really hoping he responds well to medicine&breathing treatments.

Luke is trying to be the toughest boy though. He is very fussy&does not want mama to leave him for a second. But in between cries, he says "momma luke sick", & "lala uuuu" (thats an i love you with snotty nose&no energy). Justin&I are just praying for him- we have all the confidence in the world in our Father- The Healer. We also have so much faith in Luke. He is a really tough boy with a sweet heart&soul. I know he is being so strong!

Sick Luke =(

This breaks my heart into a million pieces. I hate seeing my baby sick. Luke has a dr appt at 8:15 tomorrow morning--thank goodness.

Weekend Update...

Luke was busy with his friends this weekend. (Pics are in reverse order??)

Sunday, we watched the Mens Hockey Olympic game at our good friend Laura Lee's. Their daughter, Gracie, and Luke play so good together. Us adults all watched the game & ate pizza while Luke & Gracie played! Gracie is a girly girl..so Luke had no choice but to play with pink everything lol ;)

Playing on cars in the yard!

Saturday morning, Justin&Luke surprised me with purple flowers at breakfast =). They knew my heart needed to see some pretty purple flowers.

Saturday, on a random get up&go, we decided to join Laura Lee&her daughter Gracie, and Hilary&her daughter Ava on a trip to the zoo in Abilene. Ughhh Lubbock just does not have a lot of fun family activities. Oh well, we all loaded up in Laura Lee's suburban and took the kids for a fun playdate at the zoo&lunch in Abilene. The kids were soooooo good all day! We all gave them an A+ for awesome behavior!

In the pic above- Luke&Gracie were looking at the Lions. Luke is getting so much better pronouncing his "L's". He calls Lions- LiLions lol! He is so funny.

Us mommas&our sweet kiddos taking a break at the zoo. It was a beautiful day outside.

One of my favorite pics of Luke ever! This picture just matches him. He LOVES animals, he is so independent and very curious.

Sitting on the fence by the zebras&ostriches (sp?)

The kids got to feed the animals crackers and the loved just sitting up there and throwing the crackers to the animals over and over again!