The Draft is Saturday!

(The draft is Saturday) Not that I care much, but Chris is excited! =)

On to catching up!

Jenny and Jamie came for a wonderful visit! We had SUCH a great time! The boys were SO funny together! At first Luke thought that Jamie was a new toy, so he wanted to touch and poke, but he was starting to get the concept of “gentle” by the end of the visit. Luke is still looking for Jenny and Jamie when I bring him down from his naptimes. He leans forward in my arms so he can look past the stair railing to see if they’re waiting for him – it’s so cute! I think one of the funniest moments was when we put them in the bathtub together. They laughed and splashed and laughed some more! I have never seen anything so incredibly adorable in my whole life! It was just so sweet and pure! We also took them to an indoor pool on post – both of their first experiences in a pool. They did awesome! They never cried or fussed the whole time we were there. They even started kicking their legs and paddling with their arms. We didn’t stay too long as we knew the pool was getting a little chilly for the boys, but it was SO much fun! Even though we didn’t get any swim time in, we were both famished and exhausted afterwards – funny how being in the water will do that to you. We also enjoyed a few meals out – at Teresa’s (my favorite Mexican restaurant that we frequent once a week), the Olive Garden and a cute little café named Boll Weevil’s where they have the most delicious desserts…yummy! We also attended the church where Jon and Jenny went while they were here as well as a bible study. Of course there was shopping…=) Chris was a trooper while we looked for a swim suit (my pre-pregnancy suit is not even a consideration anymore!) We had such a great visit and I feel so blessed that we were able to share in this time together and to fellowship together. Seeing the boys together was truly priceless and it made us both yearn to live close to each other so they could grow up best buddies! We were asked 3 times if they were twins – how cute is that! Here are some pictures:

In other news:

We still don’t know much more about when Chris will deploy, but we are really looking forward to going to Germany. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I feel blessed that we get to do it. We have a TON of work to do to get ready – and in such a short amount of time at that! I’ll try to keep the blog updated as much as possible, but as our deadline nears, I can’t make any guarantees on how available we’ll be. I’m hoping to get as much done now as I can so it won’t be incredibly stressful at the end…but we’ve never moved overseas before, so I’m not sure how much stress we can eliminate when we don’t know what to expect! =) Although we don’t look forward to the impending deployment, we are at peace and know that God will provide the grace and strength we will need to get through the 15 months. We plan to make videos for Luke to watch and to webcam if at all possible once he gets over there. It won’t always be easy, but we will put all of our fears and anxieties in God’s hands and rest assured in his Presence.

We had a not so good visit to the vet. I took Riley and Tiger in for a few concerns. Riley got checked over and she’s just fine. We think she may have some allergies (but really, who wouldn’t here…it’s the allergy capital of the world!) Tiger on the other hand didn’t fare quite so well. They ran some blood work and the vet called to say that something wasn’t right with it and that we should run a few more tests. So I took him back in and the news isn’t the best. He is suffering from Renal Insufficiency (which I think is a nice way to say Kidney Failure.) I knew I needed to be prepared for this to happen – especially since he’s 19 years old, but I’ve had him for almost my whole life – since I was 7. So the news is very saddening. I can’t imagine my life without him since he’s always been there. He isn’t in any pain, and I don’t know how severe or advanced the renal insufficiency is, but it has made me realize that I need to prepare myself for the inevitable. It can’t be cured and it’s terminal. I have to take him in again in a month to see if it’s getting worse. The only thing I can do now is to change his diet gradually to a special kidney diet. So that was pretty sad news. I was planning to take Little One in soon, but now I’m scared to do that – she’s 17 and has a few of the same symptoms! Yikes!!!

Oh, I forgot to tell you the story of actually getting to the vet! (Jenny you’ll get a kick out of this! =) ) So, I had set up an evening appointment so Chris could help me since I was taking both Riley and Tiger in…and the thought of doing that with Luke seemed impossible. Unfortunately, that happened to be the one night of the whole week where Chris ended up staying late. So I get the animals ready, get Luke strapped into the car and head out by myself. Well, the car was running on fumes, but when I turned it on, it registered as full and the digital screen said there were 397 miles of gas left. So I just assumed that Chris had taken the car to PT and had filled it up with gas. So I head out passing the gas station that is right next to our house. Soooo, (I know you all know what’s coming next) I pick up the phone to quickly call Chris about the directions and the car begins to shudder. Now, I’ve run out of gas before, so I knew exactly what was happening. At first I was baffled because when I started the car it had registered a full tank of gas, but as the car began to shudder I look down again and see that it’s completely out of gas. So I quickly yank the car on to the shoulder. Luckily, I was able to pull completely off the road. So there I am, a baby, a cat and a dog sitting in a car with no gas in 90 degree weather. By the grace of God I was able to reach Chris and he had to leave a meeting he was in and bring me gas. What makes this funny is that both Jenny and Chris urged me to get gas…and I didn’t. =) So I deserved what happened. I’m just glad that neither Luke nor the animals got overheated because of my oopsie.

Alrighty, on to Luke facts -

We are still having a bit of trouble getting him to eat what he should be eating. He would be happy to eat Cheerios and Macaroni and Cheese for every meal, but we’re trying to find ways to sneak in fruits and veggies. He does like to suck on oranges – maybe he’s getting a little vitamin C that way! =)

He’s doing well drinking out of a sippy cup now and he’s even able to drink out of a straw.

Yesterday, he started putting little shaped blocks into the proper shape cut outs– I was so impressed! We also spent like 20 minutes today playing with a book that has tabs you push in and pull out. We would go through it once – I would pull out all the tabs and he would push them in. Then I would close the book and he would rip it back open again…so I would pull out all the tabs and he would push them in. I was amazed at how long it held his attention, since he’s such a wiggle worm.

He’s also started waving. He’ll wave Hi and Buh-bye and Ni-Night. I didn’t realize he was working his way up to waving. At first he would just walk around rotating his hands around and around. Sometimes with toys and other times he would just watch himself twirl his hands. Then before we knew it, he would lift his arm up and rotate his hands around. Soon after that he was doing a full on wave! It’s amazing how fast they learn!

He’s trying to share a lot these days and it’s just so adorable. He’ll give us food and toys and we’ll respond with an enthusiastic “Thank you.” I know he doesn’t quite know the concept yet, but I definitely want to encourage good behavior. =)

He’s walking really well now. He’s even tried to run and jump a few times. He likes to walk to the far end of our couch, and then poke his head around or up and over the arm and play peek-a-boo with us. It’s too funny! Tonight, Chris was giving him some yogurt for a snack. He was feeding him in Luke’s play area. So Luke would walk up to Chris, open his mouth wide, get his bite, turn around and start to walk toward the end of the couch, we would then say “buh-bye” and wave, he would turn around, wave and say “buh” then go hide behind the couch to do peek-a-boo over the arm, then when he had finished his bite, he’d come out and do the whole thing all over again. It was hilarious!

He’s still not sleeping through the night, but he’s doing well with his naps (knock on wood.) He LOVES his bath time. He splashes and splashes and splashes…gets washed…then splashes some more! Maybe he’ll be a swimmer! =)

Let’s see…oh yeah, he’ll bring us books now so that we can read to him. I don’t know if he’s just trying to share or if he really wants to be read too, but I like to think he likes to be read to.

That’s all I can think of for now. I do hope all is going well for everyone! I need to upload photos and make supper, so until next time – Have a great week!

Here are some pictures of our other babies:

Here are a few fun pictures I found from our college days! =) I only have a few on the computer, but someday I'll have to scan more in to post. First Floor South Rocks!!!

I'll leave you with a funny picture of Chris and Bobby...