Christmas

We headed back to Fort Worth for Christmas and we got to stay for 10 days! Mommy had to fly back and work on Christmas Day, but she came back on Christmas night. We had many Christmas functions and I learned what presents were and I wanted to open one almost everyday. I received too many good presents and I really wished I didn't have to wait for someone to take them out of the packaging.

TWO!!!

I had my 2 year check up and the pediatrician was amazed that we were ever worried about my growth. I weighed in at 28 pounds (50%) and measured at 35 inches (60%). So here is what I can do at 2, somethings I have been doing for a while others I have just learned:
- I can jump up with both feet. skip. run fast. climb up on pretty much anything (haven't tried to climb out of my crib yet, but I have learned to climb over the gate to the stairs). get dizzy by spinning in circles. hit a baseball off a tee. jump shoot many feet back and make a basket.
-I recognize all of the alphabet and know what sound many of them make, I can spell my name "L-U-K-E", some days I will count (with prompting) to 10, I know a few shapes, I know many songs including "wheels on the bus", "happy and you know it", "this little light of mine" (which I call green light), "itsy bitsy spider"
- My favorite things include Lightning McQueen, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, playing with cars, driving my police car, talking about "green balls up", talking mommy's ear off, reading books, chicken nuggets, pancakes, oatmeal, milk, apple juice
- I still love people, but tend to be shy at first. I love to give a kiss and a big hug. My temper tantrums are pretty frequent and I like to do what I want to do.
- I still like to eat fuzz, strings, and things like that. Mommy talked to the pediatrician and she just thinks it is a weird habit that I will hopefully get rid of soon.

It's my Lightning McQueen party x 2!

I was so lucky this year; I got 2 Lightning McQueen birthday parties! A few weeks before my party, mommy was trying to decide what theme to do. I was really into the show "The Backyardigans", but I also was very into playing with cars and trucks. Mommy decided to do a cars party and when looking for decorations, the best one were the Disney "Cars". Mommy had let me watch that movie before but I was not interested, but mommy thought it would be cool if I recognized the characters so she let me watch it again. AND.... I fell in love. All I talk about and want to watch is Lightning Mcqueen, Mack Truck, and Mator. SO I was very excited about my Lightning Mcqueen party!
We went to Fort Worth for Thanksgiving and we did my 1st party the day after thanksgiving. There were so many people there. I had so much fun and got a lot of presents. The highlight of my party was the cake! Once I saw the cake, that is all I wanted, NO dinner. It was my party so mommy let me do it. I ended up having 3 cupcakes and 2 suckers! THEN.. I had a horrible night and was up every hour because my tummy hurt. Mommy learned her lesson on that one!






I just had to go back for more cake...



We had such cute decorations and enough stuff left over from the party that mommy did a playgroup party for me. I had a goodtime and ate some lunch and ONE cupcake.








HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Halloween

Mommy and I went back to Fort Worth for Halloween. My halloween costume was a DINOSAUR. I got to wear it to a pumpkin carving party, and on Halloween, but unfortunately I was running a fever the night before Halloween so I didn't get to really do much. I went to a few houses just for the experience, but I really enjoyed handing out candy.

SORRY for the LATE introduction....

But I do not think I have introduced my nanny, Rebecca. She has been taking care of me since January when mommy is at work (and nonny and grammie aren't here). I have SO much fun with her. She plays a lot with me and enjoys teaching me new things. She is also very good at letting mommy know what I am doing during the day and she even sends her pictures and videos of me (which mommy loves)!

22 month UPdates

A few updates on what I have been doing:

- My desire for independence is at an all time high! I want to do everything myself. I want to put on my own shoes (mommy has resorted to letting me wear crocs all the time because these are the easiest to put on), I attempt to put on my own clothes and get frustrated when I can't but I get even more mad when mommy tries to help. I want to sit myself in the carseat and buckle my own belt (compromise is- I do the top latch and mommy does the buttom buckle). I get frustrateed because I can't do everything, but I am learning!

- At traffic lights, I let mommy know what to do. When the light turns green, I say, "Green Go". And if you ask me what red means, I say "stop".

- We went to the children's museum a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved the ball factory. Everyday for the past few weeks I have talked about the "green ball up, dada" and I add "dada" because he helped me put the balls in the tubes.

-My bottom 2 year molars have come in!

- Finally said good bye to the bottle. I have only gotten the bottle at night time, and mommy hated to take it away before my surgery, but now that I am fully recovered, the bottle is gone..... and I didn't even notice!!!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

I just might be the next American Idol!

SURGERY

The big day finally arrived. I was scheduled for surgery to remove my tonsils, adenoids,and hernia repair at 8am on 8/31. The ENT was Dr. Bonilla and my general surgeon was Dr. Doski. We arrived at the hospital at 6am; I actually was in a good mood for getting up that early. After I was registered, we were taken back to the pre-op room. I played in the room while mommy and daddy spoke to both doctors and the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist was very concerned about my runny nose and cough; in fact, she did not want to do the surgery. She talked to the ENT who told her that I wasn't getting well and that is why they were doing the surgery. She came back into the room and said they were proceeding with the surgery, but because of my congestion I was at higher risk. Of course, this made mommy and daddy worried, but they knew I was in good hands. The surgery nurse came and gave me some oral medicine to keep me calm and took me by the hand to take me off to surgery. Mommy, daddy, and nonny went to the waiting room. After an hour or so the ENT came out and said everything went well, and my adenoids were so large that they were completely occluding the back of nose. He took out my tonsils right back to the muscle, but did not remove the tonsil capsule under the muscle because he said on children as young as me, that the tonsils still serve a immunological function. About 45 minutes after the ENT came out, the general surgeon came out and said everything went well and they were waking me up out of anesthesia. After 30 minutes, mommy went and asked if they could come back and see me. They let her and daddy come back, when they got back to the recovery room, I was still out of it and they had some oxygen blowing in my face. Mommy was very sad to see me like this. They anesthesiologist was at my bedside and said she hadn't given me very much pain medicine because she was worried about my congestion, but she said I didn't show any signs of pain when I was in surgery. She then wanted to make sure I was coming out of the anesthesia so she rubbed my sternum until I woke up. I woke up wining and then it turned to a cry. I was very hoarse. The nurse let mommy hold me and she gave me a Popsicle. I ate 2 1/2 Popsicles and drank a juice. I would still crying a lot and the doctor let the nurse give me a little morphine, but it was such a small dose that it didn't seem to make a difference. They transferred my up to the pediatric floor and I was still in SO much pain. The nurse up there gave me some oral narcotics, but I was still in a lot of pain and very agitated. I hated the pulse oximeter, my IV, the blood pressure cuff, all of it! Mommy crawled into the baby bed with me to try to get me more calm. Daddy went a bought me a Yo Gabba Gabba video. I cried and cried, but would drink juice and eat Popsicles and jello. Finally after 3 1/2 hours of crying, I fell asleep, but only for 20 minutes. The rest of the afternoon, I was miserable, but because I was taking in fluids, the nurse took out my IV and I was discharged from the hospital about 6pm. I was finally able to get comfortable and go to sleep when we got home.
The next 7 days, I was miserable! I watched a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba, ate a lot of Popsicles, jello, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and juice. Because I was in so much pain, mommy tried to give me my narcotic every 4 hours, but i HATED it. Not only did it taste bad, but it burnt my throat. When I would see mommy with the syringe, I would go and bury my hand and start bawling. When mommy would get me, I would cry so hard that I would turn blue and then when she gave it to me, I would choke and sputter. No matter what mommy mixed it with, I hated it, but without it, I was miserable, and would not swallow anything.
On day 7, mommy and daddy noticed that my lymph node on the right side of my neck was enlarged.Mommy called the doctor and they switched my antibiotic to Augmenten for 10 days. After 2 doses, there was finally noticeable recovery and by 2 weeks, I was completely back to normal.
Since my surgery, I can breathe SO much better! I no longer sound congested all the time, I can sleep an my back, and I am not all over my bed when I sleep. I am glad I had it done, but hope to never have to go through that again!!!


On the way to the hospital, hoping they wouldn't recognize me




Waiting for them to take me back





In the recovery room



On the pediatric floor


Hiding from the pain medicine

My late 18mos pics

Mommy was late getting my 18mos pictures done, so I am actually 20mos. Our friend, Melissa did them and boy do I look cute! :)

Colorado Vacation

We went to Colorado again this year for vacation and grammie's family reunion. Unfortunately, daddy had school so he was not able to come. Mommy and I flew into Fort Worth and we drove from Fort Worth to Colorado (we stayed in Amarillo 1 night so it wouldn't be so long in the car). It was me, mommy, grammie, pa, john, aunite ann, ava, bradie, and kristy. We had to take 2 cars so we all could fit. Out of the 3kids, I was the most demanding. I needed things constantly changed because I got bored. But grammie and kristy took good care of me while mommy drove.


We had a good time at the hotels swimming. We stayed in Denver one night and I got to go to the Denver Zoo.



We then went to Estes Park for 2 nights for the family reunion. I got to play with my cousins and even roast marshmallows.







My favorite days were the next few days because we went to a really cool inside amusement park and we went to an outdoor amusement park in Colorado Springs called, The North Pole. I absolutely LOVE rides and the faster, the better! The only downside to the North Pole is I got running too fast a took a really hard fall on my face. :( It took me a little bit to get back into the fun, but after ice cream, I was ready for some more fun. I am really looking foward to getting taller so i can ride more rides!




THE NORTH POLE

I doce

Lately I have been letting mommy know when I have gone pee or poop. I point at my diaper and say "I doce" translation "I gross". I do not like to be in a dirty diaper, and I let mommy know about it because I keep telling her until she changes me. Here is a video of mommy getting me to say "bikes" which I say very Texan and then I let her know "I doce".

The Terrible 18 months!

What a day I had today!! I was so ornery. First, it started when daddy left his Dr. Pepper in the living room this morning. He left the room for only a few minutes and when he realized he had left his DP in there, I had drank 1/2 the can! It was so good, I had it all over my mouth. Mommy and daddy were afraid it would send me into warp speed, but I couldn't tell it did much more to my normal craziness.

After nap, mommy let my color with markers at my art table. I started trying to color on other things, so mommy took them all away (or so she thought). While she was cooking dinner, I got a marker and colored all over the couch. He, he, he.

What a day!~

Visitors

Auntie Ann, Kristy, Ava, and Bradie came to visit me this week. We had such a good time, but I had a hard time sharing my toys. Ava and I have a love/ hate relationship. We can play so well together, but we fight alot too. We all had a good weekend. We went to the zoo (and daddy even came because he had the weekend off before school started), we went to Sea World twice, and they even took me shopping the day mommy worked. I hope to have more visitors come see me!

Tantrums

I have been throwing tantrums for a while now, but for some reason, mommy will not respond. Here is an example of a tantrum, but a minute into it, I forgot why I was even throwing the tantrum!

Surgery...

Well, I have some BAD news... My runny nose keeps coming back with a vengeance despite antibiotics, so I am going to have my adenoids taken out. I go see a new ENT on August 4th to decide when to do the surgery.
AND... at my 18 month check up, I was referred to a general pediatric surgeon because I have an inguinal hernia. The earliest they could get me in is August 12th.
SO... needless to say, August is going to be a doosy! And mommy gets very sad when she thinks about it. Hopefully, everything goes smooth and recovery is fast. We will keep you posted!

18 months

I went for my 18mo. check up and I weighed 24 pounds, 4 ounces (40%), and 32 3/4 inches (60%). Develpmentally I am doing great. I have at least a 30 word vocab, I know where most of my basic body parts are, I follow commands, I know many opposites (up, down, near, far, front, back, hot, cold, slow, fast, etc) I know what a cow, sheep, dog, and duck say. I love "if you're happy and you know it", "head and shoulders", and I will sing (ahhhhhh) twinkle, twinkle little star. I nap usually from 2 ish- 5ish. And I go to bed at 830pm and get up around 9am. I am a picky eater and do not eat much when I do eat. I have become quite a challenge for mommy, but a still smile and laugh ALOT and that helps her through!

Graduation, Birthdays, Family Reunion...busy, busy!

On Friday, we left for Fort Worth. I did OK in the car, but not as well as I used to. I want to RUN and not be strapped to a chair. That night we went to Colton's graduation. On Saturday night, we went out for Grammie's birthday and I got to eat some yummy mac n cheese and some cake! Mommy and daddy left after dinner to go home because daddy had to study and mommy had to work, but I STAYED THERE. 3.5 days and 4 nights without them! I was such a good boy for nonny & grandude and grammie & pa. BUT when mommy arrived on Wednesday, I remembered she had left me, and boy did I make her pay! I even started sucking on Bradie's pacifier. And that evening we went out to eat with the primas and I threw the biggest TANTRUM of my life!!! Nothing mommy could do would chill me out. I was screaming, crying, arching my back.... We had to leave and did not get to enjoy dinner. The next day we went to NRH2O and that was a lot of fun. Then on Friday, we left for Nonny's family reunion. I had a good time because pretty much everything was outdoors. But I was still SUPER clingy to mommy. We finally made it back home on Monday night, but that was over 8 hours of traveling in one day! It feels good to be home, and we'll see if I let mommy off the hook.

Grandude and I at Colton's Graduation



Taking a bath with Ava and Bradie


Finding a love for mac n cheese!


Helping blow out the candles


At NRH2O



THE FAMILY REUNION

Found a love for pop tarts, I call them "pop pop"







Pushed a chair to the counter and climbed up to get the cheese balls!!