Mema's visit

Lucas is finally feeling better. We have had a rough 4 days. So now I am backing up and blogging some photos from my mom's visit right before Lucas got the stomach flu. My mom came for a few days and we had a blast. We had one nice warm day, so we took advantage of it and went to Central Park.






Here are a few other pictures of the boys:

Still sick...

Poor Lucas is STILL sick. He threw up again today. Poor little guy.

Poor Lucas...

We just had a wonderful time with my mom in town for a very short visit. Lucas is now potty-trained, thanks to her help, which is a huge deal. It was almost 65 degrees outside yesterday so we went for a carousel ride in Central Park, then to lunch. It could not have been a more perfect day.

And then 11pm rolled around. Both boys had been fast asleep for hours when I heard Lucas stirring. I went in to see what was wrong and he was flopping from stomach to back to stomach to back. Then he was cold, then he was hot. I could tell something was up. I told him to try to go back to sleep and I tucked him back in. Then I had a feeling I should go back in, so I did...just in time to be drenched in vomit. Poor, poor Lucas. He has never really been sick with a stomach bug (once at 18 months, but he threw up once while we were out and that was it), so this was our first vomit-in-the-night experience. He was very brave, but was totally scared and did not know what was happening to him. He kept trying to hold his hands over his mouth.

Doug was at work, so as soon as I got Lucas in the tub, I called him and he came home. All of the commotion woke up Sam so we were all up for a few hours. Lucas had a few visits to the tub and threw up through the night. (Side note and *warning*, this is gross: I put the sheets and clothes in the washing machine in the night, but I didn't know that putting throw up in there was going to be a terrible idea. Basically what came out was clean sheets and clothes, and clean chunks of food. Gross! )

Today Lucas has a fever and hasn't eaten anything really. Poor little guy...seeing my son sick is the saddest thing. Every time he would throw up he would say, "I spit up again." He kept asking me why he was spitting up so much. I hope he feels better soon! He has been incredibly brave.

One of my favorite sights...

FAMILY NIGHT and other news...

For Family Night, Doug and Lucas made sweet rolls. They were delicious...




In other news...Lucas is potty training, which is fun:


And Lucas went to a birthday party:


And here are some pictures of sweet Sam:



Sam loves to slouch in the broken bouncy seat. It's pretty hilarious:

Sam is eating solid food

We gave Sam his first solid food a few days ago. He is still making "yucky" faces but he eats it. I am sure he will start to love it eventually.

Sam loves to laugh

He has been laughing for awhile now, but we just barely got a great video clip of it. Enjoy!

How old is Sam?

This morning Lucas and I were talking about age. Of course Lucas knows that he is 3. It was funny to watch Mackenzie try to convince Lucas that she was 25. But the funniest part of the conversation was when we started talking about how old Sam was. It went like this:

Lucas: How old is Sam?
Mackenzie: 4 months.
Lucas: (confused look)
Me: He is not even 1 yet. He is 1/2.
Lucas: (angrily) No he's not. He's together! We don't want to tear him apart!

The 4-month Stats...a few weeks late

I decided to delay Sam's 4-month check up until after our trip to Minnesota. Today I took him for his appointment and he weighs 14 lbs 8 oz and is 24 1/2 inches long. As Dr. Lewis said, "he is average sized." He is healthy and happy and we love him. Especially when he does stuff like this:




And this is how my boys "hang out."


The other day Lucas was dancing in his room and he didn't know I was watching him. He was sporting his "American Idol" head set and rocking out. Then he stopped and looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I look like a train conductor." He is hilarious.

Our trip to Minnesota for Scott & Sarah's Wedding (March 7, 2009)

It has taken me a little while, but here are the pictures...(thank you to Julianne for retouching and organizing them)...

I will include a recap of our trip leading up to the wedding. We had never been to Minnesota and it was a wonderful trip. We flew from New York to Minnesota through Cincinnati. In Cincinnati we met up with Julianne, Becky, Greg, Olivia, and Geneva. We then flew to Minneapolis together. Here we are on the flight together:





Of course, both of my boys fell asleep just as we were landing:


We went a few days early to see some sights before the wedding. Minneapolis and St. Paul are great places with lots to do and see. Thank you to Becky for doing a lot of research and planning out some great activities. We started with The Mall of America, where Doug, Lucas, and Grandpa Burton spent most of the day riding rides while Grandma Jo, Julianne, Becky, Greg, Olivia, Geneva, Sam and I did some shopping:



(And yes, that is the horse that Lucas chose on the Merry-Go-Round)

There was an Aquarium at the Mall of America that we checked out (but we didn't actually go in):


We visited the Weisman Museum, which was very cool:


We also spent some time in the hotel pool:





We also hung out in the hotel and visited with family:



My kids are not used to being in car seats and did not enjoy the car very much, so this was a nice moment:


The day before the wedding (Friday), there was a family lunch. It was at the Machine Shed and it was delicious. We met Sarah's family and had some time to get to know them a little better. We had a wonderful time.






On Friday night, Scott wanted to spend some time with his siblings, so they went bowling. I stayed at the hotel with Sam (who was asleep), but Lucas took a long afternoon nap that day so I let him go. He had a blast and was so excited to get to go bowling again.



The wedding day consisted of two parts. First Scott and Sarah got married in the St. Paul Temple. Then, there was a formal dinner at the St. Paul Hotel. Here are the pictures from both (I am putting them all together for ease. And there were many, many more pictures but we could not post all of them.) Enjoy! We sure did.

Sam is growing up...

...and grabbing everything he can get his hands on. He really likes this rattle.

MoMo & Karen

I don't think Lucas will ever be the same after our visit from MoMo and Karen this past week. He is in love with "the sisters." MoMo and Karen, we miss you already. Thanks for everything!

Lucas & Karen:


Sam & Mary Ann (MoMo):

FAMILY NIGHT

Tonight for Family Night we painted a picture for Amy Jo, who just entered the Missionary Training Center. She will be serving a mission in the Argentina Cordoba Mission. We thought writing to "our missionary" would be a great idea for Family Night. Julianne joined us and we had a great time.


We sang "Do As I'm Doing" while we painted. Here is Lucas doing the hand motions:


And our masterpieces:


And here is Sister Amy Jo Miller (Hermana Miller):

Lucas loves to make Sam smile

A funny song

It's funny how kids really do listen. Even when it appears that Lucas is not listening, he is. I sang this song a few times to him and then he started singing it to me, which is kind of amazing since it's a gibberish song. My grandmother used to sing it to me. Here are the lyrics:

Me, my wife, and a bobtail dog
Sing song kitty can't you call me-o
Cross the creek on a hickory log
Sing song kitty can't you call me-o

Hee moe High moe Dime-o Wall
Heem Hime
A-roma-stick-a-foddle-diddle
Set-back-polly-can't-ya-wink-Tom-knit-cat
Sing song kitty can't you call me-o

Two adorable boys...

Sam falls asleep in some pretty cute positions...like this one:


Daddy & Lucas:


Has anyone seen our missing girl? Of course not, because she went down the bath tub drain last night. Lucas was so sad - he cried for a good ten minutes about "my lost girl." Sadly she is gone forever (and I could not find a replacement on ebay).


Our bouncy seat is broken (hence the string). But Sam doesn't mind. In fact, even when he is about to fall out of it, he still doesn't complain. He just sticks his legs straight out to balance. But seriously, I need to get rid of it before he falls out of it:

Baby Quilts for Lucas and Sam

When Lucas was born, Becky and Julianne made a quilt for him. We picked out the fabric together while I was in Denver (a few months before Lucas was born). After Sam was born, Becky said she wanted to make a quilt for him too. She made it and brought it to me in Minnesota. Here they are side by side, Lucas's is on the left and Sam's is on the right.
Thank you!!

March 4, 2009 - Sam is 4 months old

Welcome back to us...

I have a lot to catch up on. And...I can't do it right now. Maybe tomorrow. We just returned from Scott and Sarah's wedding in Minnesota and I need to post pictures.

However, for now, here are 2 funny Lucas stories:

1 - We were sitting on the airplane waiting to take off and Lucas yelled to me across the aisle, "Mommy, when are we going to blast off?"

2 - While on our trip, Greg said to Lucas, "Hey Lucas, you came all the way from the Big Apple to the Mini-apple." Lucas was quiet for a moment, then looked at Greg and said, "Actually, I am from New York."

Doug

Of course, I posted that last post in jest. Doug is hilarious and I also laughed when I saw the pillow carefully curved over Sam's head. Also, Doug was right there the whole time. I actually had to make him scoot back so I could take the picture without him in it. Maybe I am just jealous because he finds ways to make Sam happy when he is not being held while I tend to think my only option is to hold him and do everything else slower. We are very different but I think that is the point! Doug, you are a great father - the best I have seen. I only hope our kids grow up learning to think outside the box like you do!

This is why Doug is not the primary care taker...

Imagine my alarm when I walked into the bedroom and saw this:

To be fair, it looked like this from the other side:

But seriously, this is why Doug goes to work and I stay home with the kids. Yes it's true that I told Doug that Sam goes to sleep faster when the light is not in his eyes, but this is not quite what I had in mind. This is right up there with why I can do multiple things at once WHILE holding Sam, but Doug cannot do anything while holding him. He said it's because he doesn't have four arms. I reminded him that he DOES have two.

FAMILY NIGHT

Yesterday was an especially busy day for us, so Family Night was short and sweet. We picked up Chipotle for dinner and ate together as a family (a rare event);

As you can see, Lucas is very particular when it comes to cutting up his quesadilla. He likes to have circles, rectangles, squares, triangles, and other "silly shapes."



Poor Sam got stuck in front of the tv, but as usual he did not complain.

Me & My Boys

A much needed haircut for Lucas

Before:

After:

Our Sweet Brown-Eyed Sam

We think Sam's eyes are starting to change from grayish-blue to brown. They might be turning green but it is hard to tell for sure.

I cannot imagine a sweeter or easier baby than our Sam. He is so happy and easy to please. He is a sleeper and I am so grateful for that! Now he loves to grab and hold things too...