"Big boy" bed!

Ok, a little more catching up to do... A little while ago (obviously pre-haircut) I took the front off of Luke's crib to make it into a "toddler bed". "Look at me in my 'big boy' bed!"

He was so tickled about this new set up and practiced over and over again climbing in and out. Well, climbing in was a piece of cake but climbing back out took a little work before he finally got the hang of it. The funny thing was, he would always go all the way over to the left side to climb in...
...then stand up......and walk all the way over to the right side......before trying to climb down out of the right side.(After watching him struggle to maneuver with his pants in the way, I took them off to make it a little easier for him. Besides, with all the climbing, he was working his way out of them anyway.) As soon as he was down it was right back over to the left side to climb back up again. He did this over and over and over and over and over and... you get the idea. Much to his dismay, I put up a side rail "thingy" before bedtime so he couldn't fall out in the middle of the night. It's quite large and actually meant for a regular bed and it aaaaaaaalmost covers the whole front side, but it is only a few feet tall and much easier for this preggy body to bend over for goodnight kisses and such.

I originally had it centered in the middle with a little gap on each side. One day after a nap, I thought I heard him making different noises than usual before I went in to get him up. I opened the door to his room and guess who had squuueeeeeeeezed through one of the gaps and was now covering the floor with his books? He only did it that one time, but ever since then, I kept having these mommy-fears about him trying to squeeze out and getting wedged in the little gaps and not being able to breathe. So, last week (I think?) I finally moved the guardrail up as far as I could to the head of the bed to make a still-small-but-Luke-sized gap at the foot of his bed. I knew I was possibly putting an end to my lazing in bed on the weekends, catching a few extra zzz's while I listened to him happily chatting and playing in the safty of his "baby cage", but my paranoid mommy brain just couldn't shake the thought of death by guardrail. He had only gotten out of bed once since the change but it was at a decent time and I was already on my way to get him, so everything was fine. Then there was last night.

Hubby and I were watching some Tivo'ed stuff after putting Luke to bed last night, and I kept hearing some noises that didn't seem quite right. We would pause the Tivo and listen, decide it was just his normal moving around and fiddling with things in his bed before falling asleep, and then continue watching our show. Later, when we were heading to bed, I snuck into Luke's room (as I usually do) to re-tuck him in and maybe just take in some of his sweet, snuggly sleepiness before heading off to dreamland myself. As I opened the door, I heard his quiet, slow breathing... and smelled the strong scent of some cleaning/disinfecting wipes I had used in his room earlier?? I wondered why I was smelling them so overwhelmingly, but thought maybe I had forgotten to throw them away and left them on top of his diaper pail or something. I walked across the room and slowly turned up the light dimmer a little to reveal the faint view of my froggie-pajama'ed little man fast asleep, complete with blanket and a few stuffed animals... in the middle of the floor. Over against the wall, I could make out the canister of cleaning wipes and a trail of still attached wipes that our little cherub had pulled and pulled and pulled out, like a pint-sized magician pulling out his string of kerchiefs.

It was so stinkin' cute I had to go get hubby to come and see. I gathered up my sleeping babe and put him back in bed while hubby stuffed the guts back into the wipes container. I'm wishing I could have gotten some pictures, but I'm sure there will be plenty more of this to come. Oh, what trouble we're in when he gets tall enough to reach the doorknobs!

First haircut... x3

Luke's 1st haircut came in 3 rounds, you could say. Round one: My mom used to be a hairstylist and has cut my hair since I had enough to cut. When she was visiting a bit ago, she tried "sneaking" up on him, snapping pieces here and there while we tried to distract him with one of his noisy books. It actually worked pretty well and he was only slightly curious/irritated that we were messing with his hair.After a short time he decided he was done with sitting still so we called it good, at least for now. It looked pretty nice and he already started to look more like a little man. *Sigh* But as the day went on, I realized that unless it was swept over in just the right way, he looked kind of like Jim Carey's character on Dumb and Dumber. (You know, with the really short bangs that were cut straight across?)
Round 2: The next morning, I tried MY hand at cutting. Keep in mind, however, that I was never a hairstylist and the only cutting I do successfully is on hubby when I buzz it all off with the clippers. This was my first attempt at using just scissors, my fingers and a comb like I've watched my mom do. Lucky Lukas.I was pretty excited with how well it turned out!! Pretty good, considering he was in a high chair and I could barely get behind him, huh?

Well, o.k., there were a few spots in the back that were a bit choppy. But still, not too bad, right?

My goodness! Look at how old he looks now! (And fed up with all the hair cutting and picture taking. Poor guy.)


Buuuuuut... anyone who knows me knows how much of a perfectionist I am and I couldn't leave well enough alone. Soooooo, later that afternoon... Round 3: Out came the clippers. He was a little fearful of the clippers but trusted me just enough to get a bit done. (Foolish child.) I just had to try and even up the sides and back to get rid of those choppy areas...and instead he ended up with a few little bald patches. (See the round spot right above his ear, showin' a little too much skin?)"Mommy, PLEASE tell me your finally done now!"

Ok, ok, I'm done... at least until it grows in a little more.

Prayer request for fellow blogger...

Sorry guys, I do have some posts in the works, but this is very important. Prayers are needed for another little boy (and his family) over at My Charming Kids. He's having some scary heart issues and is in the hospital. While in his mommy's womb, he had the same heart problem and they were told he would die in utero. He miraculously proved them wrong and was born a perfectly healthy, full-term baby boy, with no sign of heart problems until now.

Please, join with me in prayer for little Stellan and spread the prayer request!

I'm bAAaaack....

I have to say, I have been touched and surprised by you, my bloggie friends out there. The fact that you were concerned about me/us and were wishing us well during my rather long blogging hiatus, let alone the fact that you even noticed I hadn't blogged in so long warmed my heart. Isn't it amazing how you can form friendships across the country, even across the globe when you've never even met?!

A lot has happened since I last posted... my birthday, my mother-in-law's passing, Luke turned a year and a half, had his first haircut, and has learned lots of new things. I'll bring us up to date over the next few posts.

My 30th birthday, (which also happened to be Superbowl Sunday... my, aren't I a lucky girl,) came and went, somewhat uneventfully. With my mother-in-law's condition, we didn't get a chance to get out much, (especially all of us at the same time) and even if we did, we would probably be too pooped to party. I got to spend the day before out with my mom and Lukas, where Luke got to experience the play area at the mall for the first time. (Pictures to follow...) The day of my birthday, I spent the day (well, ok, the morning at least,) out with my little man. We celebrated in our own, low-key way. First, we picked us up some DQ and went through the drive-through car wash.

Laugh, or take pity on me if you must, but I love to go through the drive-through car wash. Oh sure, I may try to act like I'm running an "errand", but inside I'm squealing, "Wheeeeeeeee!" When my brother and I were little and my mom would take the car "out" to be washed instead of doing it at home, I hoped with all my little might that it would be the drive-through kind. As far as I was concerned, it was like we were going on an amusement park ride. (Would you be surprised to learn that I had never been to a Disney theme park until about 5 or 6 years ago?) I would even play "car wash" at home by swirling around a couple of pompoms I had and having my brother pretend to be the "car", driving between the "brushes".

After our trip the the amusement-park-on-a-budget, we were off to do a little grocery shopping and I picked myself up a bouquet of bright, cheerful flowers while I was at it. That was about all the excitement Luke could handle, (I mean, who could blame him,) so it was back home again for a nap.

The very next day, on February 2nd, Hilda went home to be with the Lord. She thankfully went more quickly and peacefully than others I've seen or heard of passing from cancer. We thought we were just coming into the beginning of the very end and were preparing ourselves for the last, most difficult stretch of the process, but rather than spanning days, (or even a week or more) as we've known others to go through, God mercifully took her in a matter of hours.

My hubby is, in many ways, a very private person and asked that I not spread the news of his mom's passing right away, (hence, the beginning of my blogging hiatus. You know me and my big mouth.) I think he just wanted a little time of quiet, rest and privacy before he was ready for condolances. Her passing also meant that he had to take a trip to Germany for a few weeks to wrap up her affairs there. Since my laptop was over there with him, and I didn't have much time (or energy) to spend downstairs on the computer while Luke was asleep, the blogging continued to take a backseat.

Now here we are, hubby's safely back from Germany, the latest Luke pictures have been uploaded and sized for posting, and we are getting back to "normal" for the next few months before little sister arrives and our sense of "normal" (and a "night's sleep") are changed yet again.

As promised, here are the pictures from our time in the mall play area:

Even with all the fun, colorful things to play with, on, under... nothing was as enticing to Luke as his own stroller, (and everyone else's, for that matter.) He just loves to play with the straps, buckles, latches, etc.He's the same way when it comes to cars. I took him to the park the other day and instead of playing on and around all the toys, he made a beeline straight back to the car to walk around it and pat the head-, tail- and blinker lights waiting for them to "magically" blink and/or honk at him, (ie, mommy pushes the lock and unlock button on her keys.) Oh, the joy and entertainment that could go on for hours! Hey! I have another idea, let's to to the CAR WASH!