Cruisin'

I can hardly believe how quickly Luke is learning new things. I feel like he is on fast forward. Not only will he attempt (and usually succeed) to pull up on anything higher than 4 inches off the ground, but on Friday, he started cruising! Granted, he is very slow moving right now, but he is doing it nonetheless. I saw him pull up on the couch in one location, and when I looked back, he'd moved himself down to the end - of course, reaching for something I'd put up there, thinking it was out of his reach. My babyproofing is seriously being tested already!

Spring in February

So, the calendar may not say it is springtime, but the past several days sure have felt that way around here. Jacob and Daddy took advantage of the warm weather and even washed the car...

While Luke looked on....

Tooth #2 makes a breakthrough

On the eve of Luke's 7 month "birthday," his second tooth finally cut through. Maybe now the constant finger chewing (his own and anyone else's who puts them near his mouth) will take a break....at least until tooth #3 gets close.

Sorry, not a post about my kiddos...

...but these were a couple of neat videos we captured on our walk this morning, so I thought I would share them.

Bird....lying in wait:


Bird....catching his lunch:


If you listen closely, you can hear Jacob talking in the background on each video.

In the first, he is talking about the bird waiting to catch a fish and about mama scaring the bird. We actually saw him catch (and then drop) one just minutes before I started videoing. He thought it was great.

In the second, he simply says "oh no" then talks about the bird being scared away.

Home Sweet Home for the Superbowl

The end to a tough week is here. As I already described in an earlier entry, it has been a week I'm glad to leave behind.

Luke continues to improve. His cough is much more sporadic and his runny nose is mostly cleared up. Now if we could get his eating and nursing back to normal, I would feel pretty good about the situation. Because he isn't eating much, I continue to nurse him anytime he wants, which unfortunately, seems to happen 2-3 times each night. I hope to pick up our sleep training with him soon, but I have to wait until he's eating as he should be.

Jacob on the other hand, is still struggling to feel better. Once he started on the antibiotic, I expected a quick turnaround, but no such luck. He's had a tough weekend. As long as we keep the Motrin in him, he's ok, but once it starts to wear off, his fever climbs back up to the 101-102 range and he's pretty miserable. Like Luke, he has no desire to eat either. Thankfully, he's happy to drink water and juice, so he's intaking some calories. Hopefully this week will be better for him.

Luke watched his first superbowl today (a half anyways) at home with the family, since we had 2 sick boys who couldn't go out.

There aren't a ton of pictures this week with a sick kid or two taking my energies all week instead...but here they are.

Look what I found...

This is what I found this morning when I went in to get Luke this morning:
Guess it is definitely time to lower the crib mattress....

Getting Faster and Pull-Up Proof

Here's a quick video of Luke and his quickened crawling. When he has a purpose now, he can really scoot.

And here are a couple of pictures I snapped today of Luke showing off his pulling up skills. He would pull up, play a minute, tumble down, cry a tear or two, and then go right back up.

Bring it On

OK, actually, I'd rather not have anything else "brought on." This has been one tough week. Actually, it has been a tough month.

So, as feared, Luke's RSV test came back positive. After reading up on it a bit, I feel more informed on the virus and not quite as worried about Luke. Yes, he will likely be coughing for 3-4 weeks and yes, he is contagious while he is coughing, so yes, we will be in semi-quarantine until his symptoms subside, BUT, it isn't life-threatening to him, so that is good. It does leave the door open for secondary infection to set in since his immune system is compromised with the virus plus he has a bunch of crud sitting around in his ears/sinuses/chest festering. After he seemed to take a turn for the worse on Wednesday afternoon/evening, I took him back to the doctor yesterday to be checked out again. He had an ear infection in both ears. He's now on his first antibiotic, and wow, what a turn around. He's still coughing and not eating much, but he's sleeping better, has a lot less snot, and is in a MUCH better mood.

Meanwhile, when I picked up Jacob from school yesterday afternoon his teacher said he began coughing midday and it just got worse and worse. He came home and fell asleep on the easy chair almost immediately. He slept in until 7:45am (really late for him!) and was crabby and fussy all morning. He asked to take a nap at 10:00am. I took his temp and it was on the rise. So, off to the doctor we went for the 3rd time in 4 days. Turns out, Jacob has an upper respiratory infection (hence the coughing and wheezing) and strep throat. So, now he is also on breathing treatments and an antibiotic. I hope his turnaround will be just like Luke's and he'll be himself again soon.

Don't you all wish you could have been in my place this week? :)

If it isn't one thing, it's another

We had some more unseasonably warm weather in Houston last week, and we took full advantage of it. We played outside during a playdate at a friend's house and also one at our house with a trip to the playground a couple of days in between.

Jacob's school had a petting zoo and siblings were invited to attend. So Luke and I went to ride the train and the horses with Jacob. I was surprised J actually rode on the horse and enjoyed it. He rode the train at least twice too. He still had little interest in the actual petting zoo part, but that was no surprise to me. He told his teacher "I don't want them to bite me." I'm not sure why he has this fear as he's never had an incident with any type of animal.

Luke has picked up speed in his crawling skills and now pulls up often too, especially when he thinks there is something he is missing out on and needs a better view. He also cut his first tooth last Saturday. Growing up fast!

Jacob had success this week in that he pooped in the potty for the first time. We haven't put much effort into potty training (ok, no tried and true effort to speak of), so I was surprised when he actually did it over the weekend. No success since though.

Luke and I now have "the crud" and though I think I'm on the mend, his seems to have gotten the best of him and has settled in his chest. The doctor thinks it is viral so no antibiotics can help him heal. Poor guy is miserable I really wish there was something we could do to help him heal faster. We will start breathing treatments today and go back to the doctor for a recheck on Friday. If he hasn't improved, it'll be off to the hospital for chest x-rays to check for pneumonia. 2 years ago to the week J was diagnosed with acute pneumonia, so I'm hoping for a better outcome with Luke. The other possiblity is RSV, which would almost be worse. We'll find out about that in a couple of days. I'll keep you posted.

Here are the rest of the pictures for the week.

Luke's First Tooth

So, I know you can't see it in the picture, but Luke finally had his first tooth cut through yesterday. I was "brushing" his teeth (using my finger) in the bath last night when I noticed it. If you were to look at his bottom gums anytime in the last few weeks you would have sworn he already had teeth. The outline of the teeth through the gums was so prominent, but they just wouldn't cut through. Jacob cut his first one at 5 1/2 months, so Luke is about 1 month behind him in that category...