Wednesday Randoms

• It's a 2 cup 'o coffee day for this girl, Diet Coke will commence after lunch.....
• I'd be OK with bedtime at 5 PM tonight...
• Dear Baby Luke, I cannot wait until you get over this awful cold you are dealing with! I know you are so frustrated with coughing and I wish I could just take the sickies away from you and give them to me. 
• Luke refused to fall asleep in his crib last night. Every time we would go in and "Bink" the baby, he would spit the pacifier out, cough and then cry because he was coughing....repeat. So I brought Luke into bed with me while I was watching TV. I was really wanting to go to sleep earlier but knowing that Luke wasn't sleeping, meant that Mommy wasn't going to go to sleep either. He slept on my chest like he had done as a newborn (seriously, when did he get so big!?!) for a little bit. I then had Andy pick him up and let him sleep in the Rock n Play in our room that night. I thought that him sitting upright would help him get the congestion out of his lungs and nose. I thought WRONG! I swear he slept worse last night than he had in previous nights. I don't know if it was because he was right next to me and I heard every single sound coming out of him or if he really was doing worse. 

• The dilemma of keeping Luke home with a cold is just an awful dilemma....I decided that since he didn't have a fever that he should go in. My time off hasn't accrued back yet (I have very little time and need to save it just in case he is not allowed to be in daycare due to a fever). 
• Why do people no longer have manners....I never hear "Please" or "Thank You" anymore and it's starting to become upsetting to me. I will teach Luke to use his manners, you can quote me here! The sad part of this, a LOT of my co-workers no longer have manners. I don't expect a red carpet for going out of my way 
• Gas prices in St. Louis are AWESOME!!!!  I just got gas for $2.09 this morning!
• My co-workers are killing me coming into work sick.....it's like the plague is following me everywhere! Lysol, hand sanitizer and Emergen-C are my new best friend!  

• I hit my 3 GB limit on my data plan with T-Mobile yesterday. I reset on the 12th which is only a day away. I am having a hard time believing that I did use all 3 gig's....I never hit 3 gigs when I was on with Sprint.
• Can it be the weekend already?!??  Please??

And because he's just so gosh darn cute, a photo of my Luke!

Luke's Christmas List - 5 on Friday Edition

This Christmas is extra special because I get to share the Christmas joy, love and spirit with Luke! I told Andy that I am going to start a new tradition with Luke and we are going to donate a toy every Christmas to a child in need. The Toys for Tots collects toys for children in need and I really want to have Luke share with a child. This year we are going to start with him, even though he's too little to understand what we are doing.

Here is what's on Mr. Luke's Christmas list this year:

ONE - 

VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker

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I have heard nothing but great things about this toy.  Luke LOVES all toys that light up and sing and this toy would be perfect for him.  It is also great because once he is standing and walking (which won't be for awhile....) he can push this around.

TWO - 

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Rock-A-Stack

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I remember these as a kid and thought Luke needed some too! :) 

THREE - 

Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Puppy

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How cute is this laugh and learn puppy!?!  I see these things everywhere and think Luke will really like this too! :) 

FOUR - 

Num Num Dips

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Once Luke starts to eat baby cereal and baby food (how is he getting so big so fast!?!), I heard that these utensils are great at helping kids understand how to feed themselves.

Munchkin Soft-Tip Infant Spoon

 

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We also will be in need of some infant spoons so that we can feed Mr. Luke also!

FIVE - 

Carter's Pajamas

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Oh Mr. Luke how tall you are!  We are needed to start getting you some 9 month sleepers and these paw-print one's are just plain adorable!!!

When the Daycare calls you at work.....

Luke has been dealing with a stuffy nose for 2 weeks now and I really thought we were getting to the end of the snot, but I was wrong.  I went out on my lunch to run an errand and when I got back I literally sat down in my chair and the receptionist is telling me that my daycare is on the other line.  "Are you kidding me...."  

I was told that Luke had a low-grade fever (99.6 degrees) and that RSV is running rapid throughout the daycare.  There are 7 cases of it and 1 child is in the hospital because of it. The director said he didn't have to go home yet but if his fever starts to rise anymore that I would have to come get him. She also told me that they got out some gunk from the nose which was helping him breathe a bit easier.  I immediately called Andy to let him know what was going on and he wanted to go pick up Luke now rather than wait until 4:30 PM, when we got off work. 

Thankfully my boss has been so supportive with taking care of Luke and she told me to go and don't worry about it. I called the pediatrician's office to find out if I should bring him in to be seen just in case. The lady who answered the phone at first didn't understand why I was leaving it up to my doctor to bring in him or not, but with his blood disorder and him being only 11 weeks old, I wasn't going to take any chances.  Plus, if his fever were to get worse in the middle of the night, I wouldn't know how much Tylenol is OK to give to him. The nurse called me back and said to bring him in to be checked out since there were so many cases of RSV in the daycare.

Luke did great in the doctor's office and they did the swab for RSV.  Poor kid did not like the swab up the nose, but who can blame him?  He now weighs 14 pounds, 8.5 ounces (73% in his age range) and I can tell that he is taller too, we just didn't measure him.  The RSV test came back negative, THANK GOODNESS and his temperature in the doctor's office was 98.1 but that was under the arm and you are suppose to add 1 degree onto that....I think.  

Heyyyyyy cutie patootie! :)

He was smiling at me in the doctor's office, what a silly goof!

Looking out the window and keeping baby distracted while we waited on the RSV test results. Whatever works!

Napping on our walk out of the doctor's office and to the car.

Some tummy time that evening.

All in all, he is feeling good and was giving us lots of smiles.  I can handle lots of smiles!  :) This morning he went back into daycare and I am hoping he wont catch that nasty virus. As much as I would LOVE to just stay home with him today so that he wouldn't catch it, I can't. I have very little sick time to use and need to save what I can for when he really does get sick and I can't send him to daycare. 

How can I squeeze in one more thing in my day?

This week marks 3 weeks back from maternity leave and its really starting to hit me how much I am missing Luke.  Time just flies by and work is really dragging me down.  

Our routine is the same every morning Monday through Friday: 

4am(ish) - Luke wakes up to eat and we change him into his "day" clothes

5am - my alarm goes off and I get in the shower

5:50am - we are out the door and head to daycare

6am - Luke is dropped off at daycare

6:40am - Andy is dropped off at work

7am-3:30pm - I am working

3:50pm - Andy is picked up

4:30 - Luke is picked up

5pm - dinner is being made and eaten

7pm - Luke gets a bath and bottle

8pm - Luke is passed out in bed

8-9pm - watch TV or just go to sleep

Start day all over again around 4am.....

I don't know if it's starting to hit me how hard it is to get things done around the house during the week or if my post-pardum body is starting to bother me.  Am I lazy?  I wouldn't exactly say I am lazy. I just have 10 million other things to do.  Do I want to workout?  Yes!  But I'd rather spend what little time I get with little dude rather than work out.... I'm just really at a loss of words in how to get everything done in one day that I want to get done.  For now I am going to leave you with a photo of my little guy because he's the only thing I can think of right now.

Fell asleep with "angry eyebrows"

Thanksgiving 2014

What a difference a year makes in one's life. Last year was one of the hardest year's of my life that I ever had to experience.  This year has been so exciting and I am so thankful for Luke coming into mine and Andy's life.  I can't even remember how life was without Luke and I don't want too because he is the joy in our lives!

We started out Thanksgiving morning with a wake-up call from Luke at 7:30 AM.  I can handle a wake-up call at 7:30 AM, it's the 5 AM wake-up call and ready to play that's tough! Luke had a bottle and Mommy had a granola bar.  Thrilling, I know!  We then played for a bit on our activity mat and then stared at the fun black and white blanket.  Nap time was around 9:30 AM and then we both got dressed for our day.  Of course Luke had a "Turkey" outfit to wear, DUH!  He had a Turkey butt and Turkey toes.  I'm glad he was able to wear his outfit because it was just barely too small for him.  He is just so tall!

Happy Turkey Day Luke!

Turkey Butt!

Mommy and Luke

Snoozin on Mommy

We had a breakfast brunch over at my in-laws consisting of french toast casserole, potatoes and sausage, orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, fruit, oatmeal and juice. It was all so tasty and good!  We then spent time with his family.  Andy's Aunt and Uncle came in from Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with us and they got to meet Luke for the first time too!

We then had our Thanksgiving dinner over at my brother's house.  I am SOOOO Thankful that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with him.  With him being a police officer and us living in the St. Louis, we were not sure if he was going to be called out or not.  Dinner consisted of turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, fruit salad, and punch.  Claire was so excited to see "Baby Luke".  He was sleeping in his car seat and she "showed" him how to use an iPad. It was so cute!  We were even able to get a photo of Jackson, Claire and Luke together.  It was adorable!

3 Generations!

That smile just melts my heart!!

Stuffy Nose

Poor little dude experienced his first stuffy nose.  It could have been worse, but it still wasn't fun to see my little guy not being able to breathe very well. I noticed that on Friday morning he was getting stuffier than normal and then his sleep began to deteriorate. He was sleeping from 8pm to 4am straight through days earlier and then he began to wake up every 4 hours. Friday night/Saturday morning he went to sleep at 8pm, then awake at 12am and 4am and 6am.  6am I decided that we will go downstairs to sleep on the couch because sleeping in the crib was beginning to become pointless.  

Saturday we snuggled lots on the couch and got a couple things done around town. We were even able to get out to purchase Luke's Christmas presents! That night when we put him down for bed we plugged in his humidifier to help with his congestion.

Sunday morning I got up with him at 12am and Andy got up with him at 4am.  From 5am-7am Andy tried as best as he could to make Luke happy but he just wasn't having it.  He was stuffier than the day before and Andy just wasn't able to help little dude out.  Bless his heart he tried as hard as he could to let me get some sleep.  He did a great job none the less. :)  I thought having him sit in the bathroom while I showered would help clear him up a bit, which actually did! I also went out that afternoon and picked up a Vicks Plug in for his room. I read that you weren't suppose to use Vicks BabyRub on babies under the age of 3 months and Luke is currently 10 weeks old.  So what I did was mix a tiny bit of the baby Vicks with his lavender lotion and put that on the bottom of his feet.  

Luke fell asleep pretty fast that night and woke up at 12am with no congestion.  His room smelled like a spa and it made the rest of the upstairs smell pretty good too!  At 4am he was still not congested.  He ate and I put him back down without any troubles!  

Thankfully we didn't have any issues with a fever and he seems to be clearing up just fine. I don't know if it's because of being in daycare or if it's because of the silly weather us Missourian's deal with.  Whatever the cause is, it really doesn't matter.  What matters is, we survived!  :) 

He has little rosey cheeks here.

Here are a list of the following things that helped us survive our first stuffy nose.  

1.  Vicks Starry Night Cool Mist Humidifier

2. Vicks Plug-In Waterless Vaporizer

3. Vicks Rosemary and Lavender Scent Vapo Pads

4. Vicks BabyRub

5. Up & Up Baby Lotion - Nighttime

6. Nose Frida Nasal Aspirator

As much as I hate to admit that I use this, 

its worse to admit that I think it does a great job!!

Looking forward to the weekend

I DID IT!!

I made it through my first week back from maternity leave and Luke made it through his first week of daycare!  Oh how I cannot wait for 3:30 PM when I get off work, pick up Andy and Luke and then head home to spend all weekend with my little family!  The weekends will be even more cherished now that we have a little one.  

ONE

How can you tell that one is a "new mom".  Just look in her purse!  I picked this awesome Petuna Picklebottom purse/diaper bag up for $20 on a buy/sell/trade site on Facebook 2 months ago and couldn't wait to use it!  I have stashed in here my usual Jessica things: chapstick, wallet, hand sanitizer, lotion, nail clipper, and keys.  But I also have my new Mom things: 2 diapers, some wipes, an extra pacifier "Bink", and a bottle with formula in it.  I didn't want to carry around Luke's usual diaper bag around as my purse also, so I have these things in my Mom purse so that I am prepared at any moment!

TWO

Wednesday morning I decided that I needed to decorate my office for Christmas.  :)  I got out my little fiber optic tree and purchased some $1 garland from Target!  

THREE

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Christmas jammies for Luke!  Oh how I love jammies and Christmas jammies are even better!!  So far Luke has 2 pairs of Christmas jammies and he may even get a third.....LOL!

FOUR

This is what shopping with a baby looks like now.  We just pile all the groceries around Luke.  :)  This was our Sam's trip on Thursday night.  Lots of goodies including formula.  

FIVE

Mommy and baby snugs on Thursday night.  I can't believe how fast Luke is growing.  I love picking him up from daycare because he just lights up and smiles and Andy and I.  Melt my Heart!