Kiddo Tag -- Luke Williams Smith

I am finally getting to Luke's kiddo tag, here are five things you may not know about Luke.

1. Poor Luke had a collapsed lung when he was in the NICU. His doctors put in a chest tube right away and it fixed the problem within a few days. Eric and I really never even had a whole lot of time to be concerned about it. We got there one morning not even knowing there was a problem and they had just finished up putting his chest tube in and said he was already doing better. It sounds scary but I really don't remember being that scared at all. What bothered us the most was how the chest tube looked. Poor baby has had more unpleasant stuff done to him in his whole sixteen months than me and Eric have combined in our 5o years. He has a lovely little scare on his chest now to remind us.

2. Luke has got to be one of the loudest kids you will ever meet. If we didn't know how bad his hearing loss is, I don't think I would believe it. He loves to sing and babble and yell extremely loud. During church we always have to take him out in the hall, not because he is being bad but because he is babbling too loudly. It occurred to us a few months ago that the most likely reason for this is he likes to hear himself talk, which unfortunately for us means he has to do everything really loud. He has one volume and that is LOUD!

3. We named Luke the day we found out we were in danger of losing him. I don't know about the rest of you but I have a really hard time coming up with boy names that I like. We had talked about a few during the pregnancy, Luke being one of them. When my water broke as you can imagine I spent a lot of time praying. I decided that I could not keep praying for the baby but that he needed a name so I could pray for what felt like my little son. Eric agreed so we decided on Luke. From that day on we have never called him anything else it made me feel closer to him to be able to give him a name. His middle name Williams was my maiden name. Lance's middle name is Eric and I really wanted to name a child after myself. Who knows if we will ever get a daughter so we went with giving Luke the middle name Williams.

4. Luke LOVES to cuddle especially when he is tired. He will let you sit and hold him for hours, and he just cuddles right in and sucks on his arm like a Binky. We always know when he is getting tired because that little arm will come up and he starts sucking away. What's funny though is he does not like to be rocked to sleep, and never has. He loves his bed and that is really the only place he will fall asleep in. Even as a tiny baby all you had to do was lay him in his crib and he is out like a light and sleeps all night. Which I must admit is so great for me as a mother, he is very low maintenance.

5. I think if their was a contest for the best baby ever Luke would win. Now I know I am totally biased as his mother but honestly he is an angel. I really think we could give anyone a run for their money. He is the happiest, most easy going, smiley, low maintenance baby there ever was. He never cries, even if he is tired he just kind off whines. He always has a smile and laughs at the drop of a hat. When he was little I almost would seriously have to remind myself he was there. He just watches everything and everyone around him and never gives me a moments trouble. It was probably good we had him after Lance. I love both of their little personalities but Lance is most definitely more high strung than Luke. I think Lance would have really shocked me after Luke. This way Luke was just a pleasant surprise after our little hurricane Lance.

Congratulations!

We have a new little nephew Joshua Spencer Smith born on April 28, 2008. He was 7 lbs 1 oz and 19 and a half inches long. Congratulations Gaby, Spencer and big sister Julia, we love you guys and can't wait to meet our new little buddy!

Is this what you've been hiding?

Last night the house was a little too quiet if you know what I mean, so I went out to the kitchen to find the boys and here is what I found. Cute little Luke found the licorice and had not one but five, yes five pieces in his mouth. It's one of those moments when they are just too cute, you can't even bring yourself to get mad. He looked so proud of himself that I even let him keep sucking on them for a few more minutes before I cleaned him up. You can't really tell in the pictures but his mouth was covered in chocolate, the front of his shirt as well. I even changed pajamas but this morning he still smelled like it. Probably should have put him in the bath again, but what can I say I'm a lazy mom and was not in the mood for that. Speaking of this licorice it was chocolate twizzlers, have any of you had this recently? I noticed on the package it now says made with real Hershey's chocolate. I don't know if they have always done this, but it was so good something is definitely different about it. I was quite sad that Luke destroyed the rest of my package. Oh well, I will have to get some more tomorrow!

Shorts and Flip-Flops

My cute friend Jaimee had a similar post a few days ago on her blog, I thought it was so darling I kind of stole the idea. Sorry Jaimee! Hers was titled Pigtails and Flip-flops, however my boys most certainly do not have pigtails but they most definitely have flip-flops. I totally agree Jaimee, there is nothing cuter than flipflops in the summer. I bought the boys both a matching pair at Children's Place a while ago and could not wait for them to wear them. Teri if you are reading this Lance was not so sure about them at first -- the whole inbetween your toes thing--but after telling him Carson had a pair just like them, he was then all for the idea. I guess now I know how to make Lance do something he doesn't want to, just tell him Carson is doing it as well. I also think little kids are just about the cutest in shorts, I love them! I have been meaning to get out the summer clothes for weeks now since we have been having 80 degree weather for two weeks straight. I always feel so guilty when we go to the park and all of the other kids are in shorts and t-shirts and my poor kids are still wearing pants and long sleeves. Since Eric had an afternoon off yesterday I conned him into helping me because it's a nightmare carrying those big totes out of storage by myself. So here are the first shorts of the season, don't they look cute! They are both wearing last years stuff, I have this weird thing about saving their new clothes for special occasions. The problem with this is I always wait to long and by mid July they still have not worn half their new clothes. HOORAY for shorts season!

Bye Bye Baby

I have come to the realization over the last few weeks that my baby will very soon not be my baby anymore. Does this break anyone else's heart like it does mine. I don't remember being quite so sad when Lance was outgrowing the baby stage but, then I was pregnant with Luke at that point. So I knew very soon I would have a new little baby to cuddle and love. However now we are not entirely certain that what happened with Luke will not happen with another baby. So this may be my last baby, who knows? Obviously it is too soon to say right now, we have to give it a while to get geared up to give it a try again. So what I am trying to say is that this may explain my reasons for being sad that Luke is daily turning more into a toddler than a baby. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love watching him grow and learn new things but it puts a pain in my heart at the same time. Here are just a few examples of my little baby saying hello to becoming a toddler. However I am going to tell myself that until he officially starts walking, he is still my baby, after all how can he be a toddler if he doesn't toddle yet.
What is it about little one year olds loving to "help" with the dishwasher. I seriously wonder how bad can his hearing be when he can be clear at the other end of the house and hear those dishes start rattling and two seconds later look who is there to help.


We just got his big boy carseat a few weeks ago, and he absolutely loves it! He thinks he is so cool facing forward. It is music to my ears hearing him and Lance chit chatting the whole way to our destination. I don't think I have ever heard quite so much giggling going on since we have flipped him around. Doesn't he look so cute in his new little chair?


Lance has been counting down the days to when we could go to the grocery store and ride in the incredibly cool cars with his brother. I thought they would both die of happiness when I put them in this for the first time. However, I cannot stand these cars. I have to go early Monday mornings when the store is deserted, otherwise I run into just about every other person there. They are so hard to maneuver --you have to seriously plan every turn just right and forget backing up. Not to mention, I think I have hit every display unit there is to hit. While I am on annoying things at the grocery store, I have to go off on a tangent here for a minute. Are the rest of you as sick as I am of all of the characters plastered all over everything in the store. I feel like I spend the entire time their saying; "no we cannot get the Toodles ice cream cones, no Nemo jello, no Incredibles string cheese". It is so annoying, there are certain aisles I avoid all together. For instance the baby aisle; diapers, sippies, toothbrushes, bubble bath. My goal is too go as fast as I can so Lance doesn't have time to register all he is seeing. It never works, but I give it a good effort. I have to laugh at the look on Lance's face he can't make up his mind about what he would like to have the most, he just sits there and stutters about everything, it's hilarious.

So there you have it, my little big boy Luke, at least he still has those chubby baby cheeks. I think I will seriously lose it when those are gone too. Thank goodness he still loves to cuddle with me the -- little sweetheart, oh we love that boy!

Waveland State Historic Park and Kiddo Tag

This morning we went to the Waveland State Historic Park with a group of mommies from our ward. I am not exactly sure what it is, but it has a great park and a little gated flower garden and most importantly a little wooden house that was a big success for all the children. There is some kind off tour you can do of the building but unfortunately it costs money, which none of us had. Oh well, I don't know that my kids would have liked that any better than playing out in the gardens and the park. Lance had so much fun running around the park with all the little kids. Luke was happy standing at that little window in the little house for at least a half an hour. Lance would pop up on the other side of the window and say BOO and of course that was just hilarious to little Lou. Too bad for me, Lance had a little too much fun, when it got time to go home for naps two hours later he through the absolute biggest fit of his life to date so far. Please tell me you other mothers have occasions when you are not having very nice thoughts about your children and would really love to just leave them crying in the parking lot. It took me twenty minutes to walk to the car and get him in his car seat, he is unbelievably STRONG, and I am probably unbelievably weak. It was a pretty fair match between the two of us, thank goodness I eventually won. What a little turkey he is, I had to calm down for an hour before I did this next post because it's all about how darling he is. Sorry I am too lazy to make them separate.


KIDDO TAG -- LANCE ERIC SMITH

Lance's cousin Carson tagged him this time which is actually kind of fun, I have done lots of tags for myself but never my kids. What a great way to share all the cute things your kids do, now that we are friends again, that is. He wasn't so cute this morning! All you have to do is list five things about your child that others may not know. Luke was tagged too, but I'll do that another day. I don't want to overload everyone with random information about us.

1. First of all, my little Lance is extremely shy. If he knows you really well then he is his usual crazy self, but around people he doesn't know he clings to my legs and won't do a thing unless I go with him. The worst is large crowds of people; family reunions, holiday parties, playgroups none of these activities ever go over really well. So if any of you ever come in contact with Lance don't feel bad if he won't even say hello or look at you. It's not you, he is like that with everyone. Sometimes I have to watch myself to not get frustrated with him, my mom informs me I was the same way as a child. Even now I can't say I am a fan of large unfamiliar crowds, he comes by this naturally.

2. Lance is huge mimic, he mimics every thing I do these days. Here are my favorite two examples that he is currently doing. I have found by giving him choices it leads to less fights, I am sure you have all figured out this trick too. So I always ask him which drink he wants, or what shoes he wants to put on. So he now thinks he has to give me options with everything as well. If I ask him to get a diaper for Luke he brings out a mickey mouse one or a Winnie the pooh diaper and asks which one. If I tell him to go get in the car he asks which door he should use. It's so funny, I always have to pretend like it's a really big decision and really contemplate my choices. My other example is I am always calling him honey. So lately he has taken to honeying Luke. The other day Luke woke up crying from his nap and I found Lance in there patting his head saying"Oh Honey, it's okay, oh Honey" It's so funny!

3. He loves to read! Kentucky has this great program sponsored by Dolly Parton where kids under five get a free book every month in the mail. We have so many books, it is getting a little crazy. Lance's all time favorite is Llama llama red pajama, he has every page memorized. We always put him to bed at 8:30 and it's not uncommon for him to stay awake for an hour or so looking at his books or laughing to himself. Sometimes Lance and I will spend a good hour or so reading book after book. I love that he loves this, if I am reading a book he goes and gets one for himself and sits right next to me and we read together. So cute!

4. He is fantastic with directions. Any time we get in the car after just a few turns he knows exactly where we are going. You better watch out if it's not one of his favorite places; the park, his best buddies house, or Kroger and not just any Kroger it has to be the Kroger by our house. Every time we leave our subdivision we always turn left if we go right we are usually going to his friends house. One day I turned right to go to the gas station, not a good idea he was devastated we weren't going to Dallin's.

5. I saved this one for last, because it is my most favorite thing about Lance. He is such a great big brother! I had my doubts when we first brought Luke home they are only eighteen months apart. However I honestly don't know who is more in love with the other. The best way to describe their relationship is Lance is Luke number one protector. Luke has an at home health care nurse that comes once a month to give him shots to prevent RSV. Lance despises this lady the minute he sees her he goes and wraps his little arms around Luke and screams at the lady "No". I usually have to go sit him in our bedroom with cartoons to wait it out until she leaves. He is always the first one to quite literally shove her out the door. He loves to play with him and gets very mad at me when I take his buddy away from him. He is so sensitive to Luke, he is always giving him hugs and kisses and hates it when Luke is upset. He will start crying just because Luke is and goes and holds him. I honestly think there was a reason Lance was first then Luke. I worry that Luke will get made fun of with his hearing aids and possible cochlear implant as he gets older. However I don't think any kid will get away with this as long as Lance is around. I pray their relationship never changes at least not in this way.

We are now tagging Gehrig Marble, Kalea and Kobe Woodyatt, Faye Meldrum, and Isabel and Axel Nordfors. Okay I know that is six but it's only four families, so it averages out. No pressure you don't have to do this if you don't want to.

TAGGED AGAIN YIPPEE!

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Let's see, ten years ago I was 15, and a sophomore at Northridge High School in Layton , Utah. I had a huge crush on a kid in my pre-calculus class. Sad thing, I actually found out years later he liked me too, it's so sad being so not outgoing. I was spending all my time with my weird friends or my even weirder sisters. We did quite the goofy things back then, like I am sure we all do at 15. That summer I got my first job at America First Credit Union as a 10 hour teller, it was the perfect after school job. I spent all my money on new clothes or books. It was not a big deal to go blow a whole paycheck on all new things for myself. My mom and sisters were my very best friends, I would love to go back in time and just have one day with it just being the four of us. We loved shopping, eating out, going on walks, watching girly movies and of course spent hours of our time in the bathroom usually making Ashley do our hair for us -- sorry about that Ash.

5 things on my to do list today?

1. Go to Target for odds and ends where I am sure I will spend way too much money that I most definitely do not have.

2. Go to McDonald's and get me a diet coke and Lance a kids meal, it was one of those kinds of mornings, I need that coke!

3. Get a scrapbook page done while boys are napping, maybe two if I have time.

4. Put together Luke's hearing and speech therapy sound box. A little box of different animals and toys that make sounds. I have been meaning to do this all week long.

5. Take boys outside to play, it's another absolutely gorgeous day, hooray!


6 Snacks that I enjoy?
1. Black raspberry chocolate ice cream -- the very best there is!
2. McDonald's snack wraps, parfaits, or a coke, basically anything off the dollar menu (what a great invention). Might be possible that me and the boys go there too often. Is once a week too much?
3. Kid's puddings, fruit snacks , string cheese. I claim I buy these for them but it's really me who eats most of them.
4. Popsicles
5. Pepsi, not exactly a snack but I do love it!
6. If I am in the mood to be a good girl I do like bananas and oranges occasionally.

If I were suddenly a billionaire?

I have nothing very creative for this one. Pay off student loans, buy a house with a garage, basement and a scrapbooking room all for me. Buy Eric a new car and what the heck myself a new one too, I like my car, but I'm a billionaire -- might as well. Travel with my family; Caribbean cruise, Hawaii, England and Italy are my top choices right now. Invest at least half of it, and give a ton to the church and other worthy causes. So exciting I know.

5 places I have lived?

1. Tremonton, UT until I was 8.
2. Layton , UT in one house until I was 18.
3. Layton , UT in another house for 6 months until I was married.
4. Ogden, UT for the first two and half years we were married.
5. Lexington, KY for the last three years.

5 Jobs I have had?

I have had a very boring work experience so I am really stretching here.
1. Babysitter
2. America First Credit Union
3. Wife and mother -- by far the best!

5 things people may not know about me?

Like my sister Teri, I too did a tag not too long ago about 6 random things about myself. It was hard coming up with 5 more but I did my best.

1. I hate all sports. HATE them, I have horrible memories of being forced to play kickball, volleyball, and soccer. I think I was probably the only kid who tried to talk her mom into letting her stay home on Fun Fridays in elementary school -- why did the other kids always want to go outside and play kick-ball? No one ever wanted to have a read-a-thon with me -- boy I am a loser. Not only do I not enjoy them but I am terrible at them, an example: at my wedding reception I threw my bouquet twice -- the first one hit the ceiling , the second hit my dear Granny O in the face, sorry Gran.

2. I occasionally like to read the Babysitter's Club Series. I should totally not admit this, very embarrassing. I'll admit I have not done this in a few years, mostly because like my old pictures, they are stowed away in my mom's basement. However, if I had them with me I so would be reading them -- they are so happy and carefree. If only we could go back and realize how simple life was at that time. I love them, I really do have the whole collection!

3. I really do not like anything chocolate. Brownies, cake, candy bars -- none of these things tempt me at all. If Eric would allow me, I would make chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. However I love all fruit candies: starbursts, skittles, licorce, and DOTS are my absolute favorite.

4. I would have loved to live in a different era than the one we are in now. When I was younger I used to wish I was Colleen on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Does anybody even remember this show? I loved it! I think I would have made a really excellent pioneer, and I always thought it would be fun to wear dresses every day. For Halloween one year I made my mom make me a pioneer dress. I also would have loved to be in the Gone With The Wind era, and wear those huge dresses, so fun!

5. I have no desire to ever go back to work. I don't think I have ever worked harder than I do now staying home with the boys. But it is such a great kind of tired at the end of the day. I love thinking everything I have done in that day was to benefit my family, friends, or loved ones. Hopefully I will be blessed to never have to, but you never know what may happen. So I guess we really should just live in the moment and be grateful for these wonderful memories I am making with my children.

5 friends to tag?

I really hate tagging people. It seems like the people I tag never see it, or they just don't want to. I don't want to inconvenience anybody, so if you are reading this and think it looks like fun, go for it and consider yourself tagged.

Breakfast with the Works

I have a huge list of sights I want to see before we leave Kentucky and Breakfast with the works at Keeneland has always been at the top of the list. Every spring and fall during horse racing season, they have what is called Breakfast with the Works at the Keeneland race tracks. The Kentucky Derby is just three weeks away so when better to go to this fun sight than now. On Saturday Eric and I took the boys up to Keeneland and we had such a great time. Any of my Kentucky buddies who have not done this yet, really need to go before it's over. They serve you an all you can eat breakfast and you get to go out to the track to watch the horses warm up for the races they have later on in the day. Keeneland is such a fun place to go in itself, you feel like their is so much history all around you. But to get to watch the horses, enhances the atmosphere even more.
It starts at 7:00 am and goes to 8:30 am, which was very difficult for me. Me and the boys are never out and about that early, I am usually lucky if we have even had breakfast by 8:00. Not to mention it was so cold that morning -- there was definitely a chill in the air. We decided however, that it only made the whole atmosphere of the morning even better. Sometimes I like to imagine I am a little cowgirl myself out on my ranch. I know I am so weird! I always thought it would be fun to be a horsegirl though. Anyways Lance loved the breakfast they served and thought it was fantastic to eat right in front of the horses.

I love when you plan a family activity and everyone really seems to enjoy themselves. We have been to the Kentucky horse park a number of times, but Lance has never really seemed all that interested. So it took us by great suprise that he absolutely loved this experience. After we finished eating, Eric took Lance right up to the track and he was in heaven. He sat on that little post watching those horses for a good 20 minutes, which is very unlance like. He never holds still for that long. Eric said every time a horse came around he got really excited and would say " there it is daddy, there it is". We had to drag him away because Luke and I had turned into popsicles after awhile it was so cold.
I am not sure poor Luke had that much fun, he mostly hung out in the stroller and gawked around at everything. He wasn't being fussy or anything but he kind of had that same expression on his face the whole time like are you guys done yet?

We did have a great time though, I feel like I have another little piece of Kentucky history to put in my memory. It is so great being able to see different sights around the country, what a blessing to be able to have spent the last three years here in Kentucky!

Blast from the Past - A Walk Down Memory Lane

Here is Luke the day he was born Dec 27, 2006. He is six hours old in this picture, they would not let us in the NICU until almost 1 in the morning and he was born at 7:02 pm. It was a long six hour wait, to get to meet our little son!

Here I am holding Luke for the first time, he is 3 weeks old in this picture. He did not do very well with this, I had only been holding him for 2 minutes when he started turning blue and they whisked him away again. It was another week and a half before they let us try again. However, it was one of the best two minutes of my life!

Here is Luke a few hours after they took him off his ventilator and he is breathing on his own. He is a little over a month old here, we were so proud of him that day!

This is Luke's very first bottle, he is about 7 weeks old in this picture. He had a hard time with this too, he got reflux really bad and could keep nothing down. It was another two weeks before we got rid of that darn feeding tube!

This blast from the past can hardly be called a blast -- it was anything but fun -- but I have had a lot of new old friends want to know why Luke was so early. Since I am unable to make any long story short, I thought it would make a good post. I am sorry to a lot of you that lived this with us and know the story as well as we do, and feel free to skip this if you would like. However, if you are like me I occasionally like to think back, on so far what has been the greatest trial of my life and remember all the lessons I have been taught. The memory that stands out the most to me is being in complete awe of our Father in Heaven. Miracles do happen and I have a little Luke to prove it. So if you would like take a walk down memory lane with me and read on about my angel baby! I must warn you this will be long.

I was eighteen weeks pregnant with Luke when I woke up one morning soaking wet like my water had broke. It was a Sunday and we had 9:00 church, Eric had already left for an early meeting and Lance and I were just going to meet him there. I of course panicked the second I got out of bed and realized what had happened, and immediately called Eric to tell him to come home and take me to the emergency room. I could not stop crying as I was so sure I was losing my baby; I called my mom while I waited and she tried her best to reassure me. I was not having any contractions or anything, but was still soaking wet. Eric got home and we left to go to the emergency room, where they did an ultrasound, and told me everything was fine and the baby still had plenty of fluid. They really gave me no good reason as to why this was happening and sent me home feeling even more discouraged. Over the next few days I was still leaking fluid, I had a Dr's appointment that week and still kept telling her my concerns, which she shrugged off. A week later, now 19 weeks pregnant, I had my scheduled ultrasound where they check everything on the baby and find out what gender it is. They told me it was a boy, and then the tech left, saying the Dr. needed to talk to us. Eric and I weren't thinking much of it -- my doctor kept insisting everything was fine, so we were just laughing that it was another boy while we waited for the doctor to come in. They do the ultrasounds at the high risk clinic at UK hospital, so the doctor we saw that day was not my usual. She came in and told us they were concerned with the amount of fluid around the baby -- there was only 4 centimeters and normal was 10. She said there could be two reasons for this: one, my water has ruptured or two, the babies kidneys aren't working and making enough. We were shocked and explained to her what had been going on the last week and that we still to this day can't figure out how they missed this before now. She ruled out there being a problem with the babies kidneys, they looked fine and it was pretty obvious what the problem was. She told us there was a chance that it could reseal itself and that it was a good thing I had not gone into labor. When your water breaks most women go into labor within 24 hours, so it was encouraging that we had made it a week already and she thought it was a good sign that maybe I was resealing. I was put on bedrest and told to come back in a few days to see what the fluid was then, with hopes that it had resealed. Thank goodness, my sister was there visisting me and was able to take care of Lance until my mom flew out a few days later. It became apparent over the next few days that I was still losing fluid, and my original doctor called me to say I was switching to the high risk clinic as they were very concerned and I should prepare myself to lose the baby. I hung up with her in tears and called Eric, who probably did one of the greatest acts of love he has ever done for me. He refused to believe that all hope was lost and went straight to the high risk clinic at UK and demanded to speak to Dr. Hansen (our all time favorite doctor, who constantly gave us hope). She spent 30 minutes or so talking to Eric and then she called me herself and explained that I should not prepare myself to lose the baby but hold onto hope, she had seen this before, never so early as me but she had seen babies who had made it. She told us that without a doubt the baby would be early, but how early we would have to wait and see. I was 20 weeks pregnant at this time and I was put on total bedrest. My wonderful mother took off a month of work to come and be with me and to take care of Lance. Finals were approaching for Eric and the poor guy had no choice but to keep going. I went for ultrasounds every few days to see what the fluid level was at. Sometimes it was good, other times not so good. Our original goal was to make it to 24 weeks the point at which the baby has a chance of survival, although not great, but a chance. When we reached that point I was admitted to the hospital and still on bedrest, but at this point they began worrying about an infection so they wanted me close in case they had to take the baby. Our new goal was 28 weeks the point at which the baby has a 90% chance of survival. On December 17th my mom had to go back to Utah because her leave was up and we made the decsion to take Lance with her. Eric was still at school and friends are great, but I couldn't very well ask them to take Lance every single day. That was probably my lowest point. For the most part, I tried to stay upbeat and positive but on Christmas Eve I was sitting alone in the hospital, Eric was home making our christmas dinner and I just sat there and sobbed for at least an hour. The unkown terrifies me and there were so many uncertainites in this whole thing. That for me, was the worst part of the whole experience: not knowing how this would end. We had a countdown on the board in my hospital room to when I reached 28 weeks, it was a Wednesday. That morning I woke up thrilled that we had made it that far, not ten minutes later I felt the first contractions start. 10 hours later my little Luke was born at exactly 28 weeks to the day. He was 2 lbs 6 oz, a good size for 28 weeks. He was the tiniest thing I had ever seen. They held him up for me to see then he was gone, Eric got to touch him and say hello before they whisked him off. He spent ten weeks in the NICU, which wasn't fun, but for me, I was so grateful to have him here at all that I don't remember that part being particuarly hard. I just couldn't wait to have him home and be a mother to him. We had a few scares in the NICU but for the most part he just had to stay and grow and on March 2nd we were able to bring him home.
I warned you this would be long, if you stuck with this, I am impressed. I mostly did this for my benefit to have this whole experience documented for my children, and myself. I know without a doubt we are not given more than we can endure, and our Father in Heaven has his hand in everything. Prayer and faith will get us through our darkest hours, sitting alone in the hospital gave me a whole lot of time to pray and read the scriptures and nothing would have gotten me through this without that. We are so grateful to have our Luke, but even more grateful that we are an eternal family. Where would we be without that knowledge? The day after I had Luke one of my doctors came in to say goodbye and to tell us that we were without a doubt the exception to the rule. To make it 10 weeks with my water ruptured was a miracle, and that he was sure it was our faith in God that preserved Luke's life. It is so true that we learn from our trials, I have learned too much to not be grateful for such an experience. Miracles do happen they happen every day, to people just like you and me.

Gorgeous Weather

Lance, Luke and Dallin Lebaron

We have had the most beautiful weather the last two days, sadly it is now in the forecast to rain the next few. Monday and Tuesday we had friends call us up to go play at the park. We took full advantage and enjoyed the warm sun on us and spent hours there. I did not get much done on my to do list this week yet, but how can you pass up playing at the park with friends. I am sooo excited for summer! What is it about a bright sunny day that just cheers you right up. I find it hard to ever be in a bad mood when the sun is out. We even bought our first popsicles of the season and have been eating them like crazy too. I know you can buy popsicles year round but I really don't enjoy them unless it's warm out. Heres to gorgeous weather with the hope of much more to come!

Conference Weekend

I have always loved conference weekend! There is nothing better than having girls night out during the Priesthood session. Eric and his dad and brothers have a tradition of going to Outback Steakhouse afterwards, so he of course loves that too. Then who doesn't love lounging in their pajamas all day, sleeping in, making breakfast and listening to all the wonderful speakers. It is such a great day, I really look forward to it twice a year! When we moved to Kentucky we of course had a lot of adjustments to get used to -- and unfortunately that meant conference weekend too. However, I am pleased to say that after three years here we have finally gotten it down to where I can almost enjoy as much as I did in Utah. First of all, the priesthood session is from 8:00 to 10:00 here, so in order to go out to dinner we have to go before. Eric still misses Outback with the boys and I still miss girls night, but we found we do enjoy going out as a family just as much. So we went to Applebee's with the boys before Eric left. Then in order to watch conference we either have to go to the stake center where they broadcast it, or our little family can crowd around Eric's laptop. We usually opt for the latter because trying to get two kids to be good for sacrament is difficult let alone four hours of conference. Luckily we just got a wireless router so we were able to take the laptop into the front room instead of sitting on uncomfortable chairs in the office. I know by this point aren't you all just feeling so sorry for me, we have it so rough here. I know these are really stupid arguments for missing Utah but the first time conference rolled around after we moved I really was quite sad and homesick for good old Utah. Anyways we really did enjoy our wonderful weekend. Below is picture of breakfast we had on Sunday. I know it may look weird , but it is really good. They are called German Pancakes and if you have little ones they really love it. Lance thought it was hillarious when I pulled it out of the oven. The sides get really big and puff up, they do deflate after a minute, but Lance kept saying " Whoa mommy, Wow!" He was very impressed.
I think my favorite part of conference was President Monson's talk. I am always skeptical when we get a new prophet. Well not skeptical but I just can't imagine having anyone but the current prophet presiding over the church. It was amazing to me once he began talking to see how the mantle really had passed onto him. In one instant I knew without a doubt that he was a true prophet of God and is meant to lead the church at this time. I also loved Elder Ballard's talk to mother's -- that was incredible as well. I don't know about the rest of you but I made about ten new commitments to myself about what I can do better for my children and for our family. Such a great weekend, I can't wait until October!

German pancakes try these you will love them!

3 eggs whipped really good
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 and a 1/2 TBL butter

Preheat oven to 450, melt butter in the bottom of a 8x8 glass baking dish in oven being careful not to burn butter. Pour batter into baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes. So good! I doubled the recipe and our little family with two small children ate the whole thing. Such pigs we are!

Who Needs a Daughter?

Who needs a daugher when I have my little Lance to scrapbook with me? Don't get me wrong, this is the only girl activity he likes to do with me, I think it mostly has to do with getting to play with glue and stickers. What two year old doesn't find that fascinating? The last two days here in Lexington have been so rainy and cold, and when the weather gets like this, I always want to stay inside and do some crafty project. Who wants to go outside in the pouring rain when they are warning us about flash floods, certainly not me. Lucky for me I didn't really have any reason to have to leave the house unless I wanted to, so Lance and I had a scrapbooking marathon. Sadly, since I started blogging, my scrapbooks have been very neglected. I really want to get caught up with them before we move this summer. Lance and I made hot chocolate and scapbooked for four hours yesterday. I love that Lance will do this with me, he is so darling. He gets so excited when I start pulling out all of my stuff. We had gone to the scrapbook store the day before, and I let him get a prize for being a good boy while I looked around. Surprise, surprise he chose Buzz Lightyear stickers and was really excited to use them. I most definitely hope to get a little daughter one day to teach how to cook, clean, sew (not that I know how to sew, but it's a nice idea), and to do mother/daughter things with, but for now I enjoy at least doing this favorite activity with Lance.

Lance's finished project!

My finished project, well one of them. Sorry about the funny picture I wanted to scan it on the computer but of course it wouldn't fit -- so yes it's being propped up by my drier.

Blast from the past/present?

I have seen this done on so many blogs and I think it is such a fun idea, I have been wanting to do a blast from the past for awhile. However, sadly I realized all of my childhood and high school pictures are somewhere in my mom's basement in a box all packed up in Utah. So if I want to do this I have got to be somewhat creative, until the next time I go to Utah and dig out all of my old pictures. So my first blast from the past is actually a blast from the present, but it reminded me of my high school days. That is why this post is a blast from the past/present. I really hope that made sense. Anyway, this picture was taken about two weeks ago when my mom was here visiting us. We two girls got to go out and have a mother daughter date night, not once, but twice while she was here. The first night we went and saw The Other Boleyn Girl in the movie theater, and the second night we went out to dinner at PF Changs. We had to split it up between two nights because we felt too guilty leaving Eric with the boys for so long. We did feed them and get them in the bath before we left and Eric was a good sport to get them to bed. My mom and I have loved going to dinner and a movie with each other for as long as I can remember. There were so many weekends in high school when my sisters would both have dates so my mom I would be each others dates for the night and go out and have our own fun. I have always been the kind of person who would rather be home than at a party or on some awkward first date. Every time I did go out, I really spent the whole night wishing I was at home. My sisters were just the opposite -- they hated when they had nothing to do for the weekend and both of them had dates all the time. You would think this would bother me, but it never did. Occasionally I went out of my comfort zone and said yes to someone who asked me. But for the most part I really had to be talked into going to stomps and girls choice dances. Obviously I had no choice to boys choice -- it would have just been rude to tell someone no, and I did try to be a good sport occasionally. Anyway, going out with my mom made me think back to those days of just me and her doing our own thing. Needless to say, I was very grateful to get married so I could put myself out of the misery of first dates. And as you can see, my mom is still one of my best friends. We like the same style of movies, she doesn't complain that the popcorn is too expensive or try to sneak in our own candy and tell me I really don't need that coke. Eric is really not the funnest person to see a movie with he constantly makes fun of the shows I choose, he's forever complaining of the prices and always pretends to forget my drink. Mom you are still and always will be my best movie going buddy!

April Fool's Prank

Okay, I just love a good prank and when better to pull one than on April Fool's Day. I think I pulled a pretty good one this year but I have been accused in the past of being the only person who really thinks my jokes are funny. Well, my sister Teri and I have the same style of humor, so hopefully we are not the only ones who think this is funny. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you think I am the biggest dork ever. But here goes. My sister and I have really gotten into blogging since we started about two months ago. One of our favorite things is when we have old friends comment on our blogs and we are able to catch up on their lives and keep in touch. Every time one of us gets a comment from an old friend we automatically call each other and inform the other of what is going on in that person's life. So my idea was to comment on her most recent post from an "old high school friend". Here is my comment, word for word:

Teri,
Hey, I can't believe I found your blog! Wow, what a cute family. I can't believe you and Thiago got married. I hope you remember me. This is Jessica Nielson (now Haprifod). We went to high school together, remember child care. What a blast! Well, we are in the process of setting up our own blog. When it's up, can we add you to our list of friends? I will let you know the site so you can check us out. Your little boy is so cute. I have a girl who just turned two and we are expecting a boy in July. Anyway, so great catching up with you, talk to you soon.
Jessica

Knowing my sister, I knew this would absolutely drive her crazy not having a clue as to who this Jessica Haprifod was. It was Eric's idea to use the last name Haprifod, if you will notice it sounds a lot like Happy April Fools Day, combining the first syllables of each word. Sure enough, not five minutes after she had pulled up this comment, I got a call from a very frantic Teri asking me if I had any idea who this girl was. Well I must congratulate myself on being a very good liar--we spent the next ten minutes searching the year book and our brains trying to figure out who this was. She hung up with me very irritated that she had no idea who this was. I was going to finish the prank there but my darling husband had the idea to actually set up a blog under the Haprifod name. Okay I know what you are all thinking that we have way too much time on our hands, but honestly once I get going with a joke I can't stop. So yes we are total losers, but the end result was too funny. Take a look at the blog we created. We told Teri (as Jessica) to take a look at our new blog. When she did, she had this staring her in the face:

haprifodhouse.blogspot.com

I'm sorry Teri. I didn't pick the most flattering picture, but that is why it's so funny. You have that deer caught in the headlights look about you--the look we thought you probably had throughout this ordeal. Hopefully you are not too mad at us but Eric and I really had a good laugh at ourselves.

There you go, that was our prank. If any of you had any funny jokes you did on April Fools, I would love to hear them. Leave a comment or post it on your blogs. I'm sorry if this really isn't funny and you have felt like you just wasted five minutes of your time reading this. Like I said, occasionally I am the only one that finds me funny!