Catch up Posts

I have no new cute pictures to add; it has been a little bit insane around here. To recap the past couple of weeks:

On Dec 6th Katie, our miniature schnauzer, was put down. She was 13 years old and just was very sick. We will all miss her dearly. She was very sweet and during both of my pregnancies, Katie would ALWAYS lay across or next to my stomach. I guess that was the closest she became to being a mama.

This past weekend, I tried to play catch up with baking and candy making and shipping off five big ole' boxes to various relatives across the US. I did get some shopping done, but I'm not finished yet. It is a bit strange for me to look at our mantle with the three matching stocking holders and three matching stockings on it. It felt weird to just add a different stocking and holder for Spencer; the odd man out, if you will. It was just the three of us for so long, but I honestly can't imagine life without Spencer. I ended up ordering some really beautiful stockings and had our names embroidered on them. Now we are complete. This weekend we will head to the Hallmark store to pick out this year's ornament. Each year we, as a family, pick out an ornament with the date on it to help signify the past year. This has become our family tradition and our tree is made of various ornaments, each with a unique story behind them.

Justin has been studying like mad for finals this week. He is a bit stressed to say the least. He takes his last final on Thursday and there will be much rejoicing. Madison has her school Christmas party on Friday in which I am homeroom mom. I at least thought well enough ahead back in November and have everything planned out. I'm hoping what I have planned will entertain the 26 5th graders in her class.

Spencer went to the doctor today for his 4 month checkup. He weights 14 pounds 7 oz (50% percentile) and is 25 1/2 inches long (75% percentile). The doctor was very happy with his growth. We discussed his eczema - which really isn't eczema after all- and have a new regime for taking care of his itching and clawing of his scalp. Since Spencer has been on rice cereal since 6 weeks, starting solids is kinda tricky. I wasn't sure how much to feed him since he was getting so much in his bottle already. We discussed the plan to wean him off of his medications over the next month. Spencer needs to be on a good schedule of eating solids (oatmeal, veggies, meats and then fruits) over the next 2-3 weeks. Once he is eating well, we will remove one of his medications to see how he does. If he does well, we will wait a week and remove the other one. The pediatrician has pretty much left it up to us to determine what is manageable spit up and what is not normal (I guess he thinks we have become experts on puke). HA
He received 3 shots today and thus his nickname has begun. When Spencer gets REALLY mad he turns bright red instantaneously. Thus his nickname is Jack-Jack off of The Incredibles. He looks like him with or without the red face. It is hilarious. My friend Becky told me today that I need to somehow capture his "Jack-Jack Attack" on film. Maybe, someday.

That is it for now from the Lucas household. Hope everyone is warm, because it is freezing down here!