Santa visit

While we were up in Portland for Christmas, we took the boys to see Santa. I was very surprised that there were no melt downs. Jake walked right up to Santa and sat on his lap for the picture. (Maybe it helped that I told him he could have a piece of candy. The whole way there he was saying candy... whatever works!)

4 months

Luke is 4 months already! I really cannot believe how fast these past 4 months have gone. He is such a wonderful baby. He is happy almost all of the time. He just looks around waiting for someone to look at him and then he gives them his big dimply grin. At night, he is sleeping a 9 hour stretch, and then he eats and goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. I feel so lucky to have a baby that sleeps! He is still breastfed and eats every 2-3 hours during the day. He rolled over for the first time from tummy to back on Christmas day. He has started sucking and biting on his fingers. Luke has really started to notice Jake. He watches him very closely. He loves to lay on his play mat and hit at his toys.

I'm not sure what his height/weight stats are, we go to the Dr. in a few days.

Here are a few pictures from 4 months.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we made the drive up to KC to spend the holiday with Kirk's family. It was a long drive with 2 kiddos, but we made it! We both agreed, that no matter how much money it saves us, we won't be driving again, we will fly. It was wonderful getting to spend time with the whole family. Here are some pictures from our trip.

The whole crew!

Grandmother Leslie and Luke.

Such a good natured little boy!

Uncle Clay and Luke

Uncle Connor and Luke.

Eva and Jake playing. They thought it was funny to wear the toys as "hats".

Grandad meeting Luke for the first time.

Grammie visits

My mom came to visit the week before Thanksgiving. We are trying to get our house ready to put on the market and she was a HUGE help to me!

Jake being silly. He wanted to wear my glasses, and then wouldn't take them off. I think he looks pretty good in glasses!

Grammie and Luke.

Grammie and Jake.

Halloween

I have gotten horrible about blogging, so I will just try to catch up!

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Jake was Superman! We went trick or treating at a nursing home, a fall festival at the Y and on Halloween night. Luke was a baby for Halloween, and he did a great job being a baby! :)

Luke out trick or treating

Practicing trick or treating.

My handsome men at the fall festival.

Jake is all about trucks right now, so he was very excited to be able to sit in a real firetruck!

Farm with Kirk

We had just been to Lucky Ladd Farms with my mom and sister, but I really wanted to take the kids back with Kirk. So, last weekend we made the drive down to the farm. We had a great time. Jake loves Kirk so much and he had a great time hanging out with him and playing. This trip, Jake pretty just wanted to play in the corn pit. When we would try to get him out and play with something else, he would just run back to the corn. He also liked going down the slide with Kirk. Here are some pictures from our day.

Luke and I watching Jake play in the corn.

He had corn everywhere! Even behind his ears.

So much fun to ride with Dad!

Kirk is such a great dad and you can tell by how much Jake loves him!

Haha... Jake wasn't too sure about this.

Petting the animals. Jake fed a pig and it kind of scared him, and so he didn't want to feed any more animals after that.

Compare

So I was starting to think the boys didn't look very much alike, but after looking at these pictures, I think they do really look alike.

Luke 7 weeks

Luke 7 weeks

Jake 8 weeks

7 weeks

It is hard to believe it has been 7 weeks since I had Luke! The weeks are just flying by. These boys are definitely keeping me busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I had forgotten how much I love having a little one. There is nothing better than the sweet snuggles from a little baby. I am just trying to savor every moment that Luke is this little, because I know how fast it goes by.

Luke is doing great. He is really starting to "wake up" and look around. He is also looking at us and smiling. He is such an amazing sleeper. He usually sleeps from 8pm-3am, he eats and goes back to sleep until about 7. It is so nice to only be getting up once during the night.

We have been trying to enjoy this last bit of warmth by being outside as much as possible. We take Jacob to the park almost every day and Luke just rides along in the Baby Bjorn. Luke usually has a fussy period from about 6-8 in the evenings. I'm not sure why, but other moms seem to think it is pretty common. We go to the Dr. next week for a check up and some shots. I don't think Luke is as big as Jake, but we will see!

Surprise!

I knew my mom was coming for a visit, but had no idea that Stacey and Connor were going to be coming as well. It was such an awesome surprise! It was so good to spend time with them and meet my precious nephew. Here are a few pictures from their visit.

Luke with Connor. They were born only 11 days apart. They will have so much fun growing up together.

We took the kids to Lucky Ladd Farms. Jake had so much fun!

They had a huge slide I took him down. He would have gone down the slide all day if I would have taken him.

Milking a cow.

Stacey and I with the babies in their front packs.

Jacob with the pumpkins.

Grammie with 3 of her 4 grandsons.

Sweet baby boys.

Stac and I with the new babies.

18 months

Jake is almost 18 months and we just went to the Dr. for his check up. Here are some of his stats.

-36.5 inches (our Dr. told us he is probably their tallest 18 month old. He is way off the charts)

-31.5 lbs

-Saying a lot of new words. His newest words are- juice, umbrella, koala, Luke, baby, bubble. He also makes all of his animal noises and signs please, thank you and more.

- Loves to go to the playground and climbs all over the jungle gym. Likes to hang from the bar and swing.

- Has a ton of energy! A lot of evening, he literally runs in circles around our living room.

- Sleeping from 8pm-7:30ish every night.

- Gives Luke hugs and every once in a while a kiss.

- Still loves to read books. Reading is about the only time I can get him to sit still.

- Likes to go to the YMCA and play with the other kids while I workout.

- Is very social and not shy at all. At the playground he likes to go up to other kids and try to play with them.

- Loves his cars and pretends he is driving them all over. Also likes to pretend he is going to sleep and that he is eating things.

- Is a pretty good eater, but is kind of picky. Won't eat meat or vegetables.

I can't believe it has been a year and a half since we brought Jake home! He is a sweet little boy and we are blessed beyond belief. We love you buddy!!

So in love!

Kirk and I are so in love with our new baby Luke. He is such a wonderful baby and we feel so blessed to have him. Here are some of the things we have been up to...

-Luke is eating every 2-3 hours during the day and at night every 4 hours. I really don't feel that tired because I feed him at midnight and 4am and he has been going back to sleep each time.

-He rolled over from his tummy to back twice when he was 2.5 weeks old. It was probably just a fluke, but I sure wasn't expecting such a little guy to roll already!

-He has probably 3 good awake times during the day. The longest is usually in the evenings for 2-3 hours. He isn't fussy though, just nice and quiet.

-Luke had some jaundice, so we have been to the Dr. probably 5 times already to get his levels checked. It seems to be resolving itself though.

- Jake is doing really well with Luke. He usually just goes about his own business, but he has given him a few hugs/kisses.

- We have been spending a lot of time at the local parks. Jacob loves to play and I love to get some of his energy out! We go at least once, sometimes twice a day. Luke just hangs with me in his front pack.

So awake. He has dark blue eyes.

Me and my boys!

My new little man.

Lucas Scott McCullough

Lucas Scott McCullough came into the world at 10:38pm on August 28th after a nice short 4 hour labor and delivery. We are completely in love!

Baby time

Well, things were going so smoothly this pregnancy until this week. Wednesday night, I was up most of the night with contractions, headache, nausea. I thought it was just me being uncomfortable in my pregnancy, but I took my blood pressure and sure enough, it was 146/92. This is exactly how I felt when I got sick with Jake, so I put a call into the Dr office and they had me come into the office. When I got there, my blood pressure was still elevated. They wanted to make sure the baby was doing fine, so I had an ultrasound and he looked great. They also did bloodwork on me to make sure I didn't have pre-eclampsia already. The bloodwork came back Thursday night and everything was fine, but they had me come back in Friday morning to check my blood pressure again and see how I was feeling. So, Jake and I went back in and my blood pressure is still elevated, and I am still having a headache that won't go away. My Dr was going to send me over to the hospital to be induced right then, but I asked if we could wait just a few more days to get things in place. She agreed as long as I stay on bedrest this weekend. So, Sunday evening at 5pm I will be headed to the hospital to be induced. Luckily my parents are going to be able to fly into town last minute to be here. My dad will be able to watch Jacob and my mom will be in the delivery room with Kirk and I.

I am really frustrated/scared that this is happening again. I hate the feeling of not being in control of my own body. I was very confidant that this wasn't going to happen again since I am not working and have been able to rest a little during the day, but I guess my body will just do what it wants. I will be 37 weeks 2 days when I deliver, so I just pray that our sweet man has had enough time to develop. Please keep the baby in your prayers that everything will go smoothly and he will be a healthy/strong boy.

Connor Allan Evridge

My sister Stacey and her husband Allan welcomed their first son, Connor Allan Evridge into the world on August 17th. He is so precious! Congrats Stac and Allan!!!!

Prayers

My brother-in-law was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and will begin chemotherapy tomorrow. Please keep him and the family in your prayers.

Here is his CaringBridge site if you are interested in keeping updated with his progress.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/connormccullough.

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30 weeks!

I cannot believe I am at 30 weeks already. This pregnancy is flying by! I am still feeling good for the most part. I'm getting a little uncomfortable here and there, but it hasn't gotten too bad... yet. I am getting tired again, so I having been napping almost every day. It doesn't help that Jacob wakes up around 5:30 or 6 every morning! I'm still exercising 5-6 days a weeks. Nothing strenuous but we usually walk 3-4 miles or go to the YMCA and do the elliptical. I am going to the Dr every 2 weeks now. She said I only have about a 20% chance of having pre-eclampsia again and it should help with me being at home now and not working full time. I sure hope I can carry this little guy a little longer than Jake.

Kansas City trip

Last week we took a vacation to Kansas City to see Kirk's side of the family. Jacob, Mel and I drove up on Tuesday. I was very nervous to drive the 9 hours by myself, but Jake was perfect. In fact, we had to stop more times because of my pregnant bladder, than for him! We got to KC about 5:30 in the evening. Kirk flew up on Friday evening after work. We had so much fun. My sister-in-law was there with her baby, Eva, and her husband Gerard came a few days later. My in-laws have huge yard, so Jake had a ball running around and playing on their swing set. We also got a kiddie pool so they could cool off a little. One of the neighbors let us use their pool, so Carolyn and I took Jacob and Eva swimming one afternoon. We also visited the Deanna Rose Farmstead. I used to go to the Farmstead all the time when I was younger, but they have changed it so much. It is a wonderful place to take the kiddos. On Sunday, July 3rd we had a family picnic to celebrate the 4th of July. Jake got to go swimming again and run around. He even lasted long enough to see some fireworks. We had a wonderful time visiting with Kirk's family and hopefully we can get up there again soon!

This summer is flying by! Up next... in 2 weeks we are flying to Portland and Kirk will take off from there for a fishing trip to Alaska and I will stay in Portland and hang out with my family.

Jacob and Eva cooling off.

Sweet Miss Eva.

Wild man.... I am sure he was running away trying to hide from me in this picture.

Cousin story time.

Such a cutie pie!

Uncle Clint and Uncle Clay playing the piano with Jacob.

Petting the goats at the Farmstead.

This billy goat was huge! Jake liked his beard. :)

Family pic.

My men.

Sweet boy.

Beautiful picture of the Spexarth family.

He looks so innocent, but in fact, he thought he was being naughty by holding onto that monitor so he was running away from me.

Grandmother Leslie and Grandaddy with Jake.

Kirk, Jake and Clint.

Swimming with Uncle Clay. He could have stayed in that car all night long.

Carolyn and I at the 4th of July picnic.

Sparklers

Watching the fireworks.