What is sleep?

Sorry, there are now cute photos or updated pictures on this post, just rambling of a very tired and worn out mom. I actually have pictures, but I'm too tired to get them off of the camera and upload them. The past week has been going non stop and I would like to get off the roller coaster sometime soon.
It started last Thursday with a phone call from daycare that Spencer had pink eye. We had one person on vacation at work and if I left that would only leave one person in the lab. Justin wasn't available, so I left to get Spencer, knowing I would have to go back in to work later that evening. Justin and I worked out a plan that he would work from home on Friday and stay with Spencer. I went home and waited until Justin came home and headed back to work.

Friday:
Justin is SICK, very sick. He wasn't going anywhere or taking care of anyone but himself. I called my boss, who graciously agreed to let me bring Spencer to work with me for a couple of hours until I could take him to daycare. He would be allowed to go to day care if his eye was not discharging any goop. Spencer did great and slept for about an 1 1/2. Once he woke up, he said hi to the ladies in the office and we left for daycare. I went back to work (only a 1/2 drive each way) and finished up until early evening. Once I got home, I had to prepare for a baby shower that I was co-hosting the next day. Off to Wally World for a few groceries and to purchase makeup for Madison's dance dress rehearsal on Monday.

Saturday: Justin is better, but still not great. Spencer now had a barking cough and BOTH eyes were now red, goopy and sealed shut! I was off to host a baby shower for my dear friend Christina and returned about 5pm. We did the usual stuff, dinner, dishes, wash laundry, fold laundry, put laundry away, make bottles, and prep medicines. Spencer was up multiple times during the night fussing.

Sunday: Spencer was very fussy and his eyes still have goop in them. He is coughing and not eating well or taking a bottle. Madison has dance practice from 2-3pm and I was able to pick up all of the remaining items I needed for her dress rehearsal the next day. I went back to pick her up and we are given 288 more rhinestones (I had already been given 144 rhinestones earlier in the week) that have to be glued to her costume. We got home and Spencer was still being really fussy, he ended up sleeping on me for about an hour. We got dinner and dishes completed and decided to put in a movie. I was going to glue rhinestones during the movie. THREE hours later I had accomplished the task. It was 10pm and I was so sore from focusing on the tiny rhinestones. I have pictures, I will post them later. Spencer cried for almost 2 hours straight later that night; he was miserable. He only slept for about a 1/2 hour or so at a time. I don't think I got 3 hours of sleep that night.

Monday: Justin is still sick and Spencer went to the doctor. After the visit with the doctor it was determined that he had pink eye in both eyes, a virus and an ear infection in his left ear. Justin headed to the pharmacy to load up on prescriptions and went home. I came straight home after work (home at 6pm) to get Madison prepared for her dress rehearsal which was at 7:30pm. Her hair was a pain in the butt because it is supposed to be in a 1/2 pony tail and her hair is just too short. LOTS of bobby pins and hairspray. Her make up wasn't so bad, but the fake eyelashes (yes, I said fake eyelashes) were a bit tricky. We learned later on that I need to use more glue. Off to the dance studio and kudos from her teacher with my gluing expertise with rhinestones. By the end of the night it was decided that their costumes still didn't have enough sparkle, thus we have to add an additional 216 rhinestones to the front of the costume! Happy gluing.

Tuesday: Spencer's eyes look much better and he headed off to day care. He fussed and puked up a lot of mucus during the day. Justin stayed home and made a doctor's appointment to find out what the heck is wrong with him. He has been off and on sick for about a month. He needs to get better because school starts up again on Tuesday. I fed Spencer and tried to put him in pajamas. I went through three pairs of pajamas until I found a pair that fit him. He is getting so long. He only weighs 15 pounds, but I'm afraid we are going to have to break out the 6-9 month clothes because of the length. The poor little guy has jeans that will fit his legs, but he has no tummy or butt to hold them up. They just slide right off! I went through his 6-9 month clothes and took tags off the items that he received for Christmas. Thus, more laundry.

Wednesday: I worked late while Justin picked up Spencer and Madison to take her to the district science fair. The projects had to be set up today by 7pm. Spencer is doing better, but still coughing and he has lots of mucus. He is also eating better. Dinner was Chinese take out and it is amazing how good food tastes when you don't have to cook it.

Tomorrow Justin and Madison have dentists appointments and we have to pick up the science fair project. Friday is supposed to be a girls night at Chili's with my friends from Girl Scouts. Saturday is a two hour dance meeting, haircuts and more laundry. Sunday and Monday is dance practice again.

I'm tired, goodnight.

Holiday Break

I am finally getting around to posting Christmas pictures. We went to Iowa to spend Christmas with my family. The weather wasn't best, but we have driven in a lot worse. My new van was great. We had an absurd amount of stuff and the DVD player was very handy for Madison. The cool LED lights made it really easy for her to read at night as well. Spencer did great, slept almost the entire way.


On Christmas Eve we set out the cookies and milk and Carly (my niece who is 3) went to bed excited to see what Santa would leave for her. This is a picture of what the tree looked like after Santa had visited. We all settled down to sleep until Spencer decided to wake up at 3:30am to eat. Justin and myself were sleeping upstairs and Spencer was in his pack n play in our room. Justin went down ahead of me to get his medicine and bottle ready. I got Spencer and headed down the stairs and then....
panic as I held onto Spencer with both arms, I felt myself slipping and falling down the stairs. I landed with a huge thud, waking my brother and Madison up. Justin hurried back around to us. Spencer was fine and Justin took him and then the adrenaline wore off and the pain in my toe and foot began. Madison came down the stairs to help me while Justin fed Spencer. Madison was such a help in getting me an ice pack and staying with me. I stayed in the chair with an ice pack until early morning. My brother got up to make breakfast for everyone and got me a new ice pack.
The rest of the household got up and we enjoyed watching the kids open presents and Spencer played with the bows.
My brother had been fighting a stuffy nose and cold when we arrived and by the end of the night, I to was stuffy and beginning to get sick. The next day I was still stuffy, but took lots of OTC medicine and it kept the worst of it at bay. Saturday came and my head cold was gone, but my stomach was queasy. I spent all of Saturday either in bed or in the bathroom with a stomach bug. Pepto bismol was my best friend. We were supposed to leave on Sunday, but once again, I spent it in bed. I was able to eat by the end of the night and felt well enough to go home on Monday. Needless to say, I WON'T forget this Christmas, but I can say I've had better! The pictures are in no order, just a recap of the week in Iowa.



Spencer asleep in Grandma Connie's arms holding tight to her finger.

Madison on Christmas morning, showing off a new electronic toy.

Spencer in his "Little Man" shirt for Christmas day.

Spencer playing and talking with his new friend, a stuffed bear.

Carly watching Madison play with her Nintendo DS.

Spencer talking with Great Grandma Colleen.

Madison, Carly and Spencer on Christmas morning.

Spencer playing with the ribbons and bows of his packages.

In short, we had a good trip. It was long and a little odd, but it was with family. I hope everyone had a good holiday. It is now Monday and we all have to get back into the swing of things. Let the organized chaos begin once again.

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!

Dress Up

Madison wanted breakfast for dinner. It is difficult to cook eggs, pancakes and bacon with a 4 month old wide awake, so I made Madison a deal. She had to watch and play with Spencer while I cooked dinner. She agreed and to my suprise, I didn't hear him fuss at all. What I did hear was Madison giggling - ALOT!
I went to investigate and thus, the pictures explain it all.

Spencer hanging out with his big sis.

"Joe Cool" with his bling sunglasses!

Big sis was playing...DRESS UP!

We both giggled and Spencer was so chill about it, he really didn't care.

4 Months Old

Spencer is 4 months old today (12 weeks).

He weighs about 14 pounds. He still takes medicine daily for her GERD and scratches the eczema on his head. He eats about 4-5oz of formula thickened with rice cereal about every 4-5 hours. He will sleep for about 7 hours through the night. He has learned how to fight getting his medicine and he grows stronger each day. He doesn't vomit anymore after feedings, just has spit up. I am dreading the day we begin to ween him off of his medicine.

He has beautiful blue eyes and long black eyelashes. His hair is brown in the back but coming in blond. He is very laid back and LOVES to flirt with all of the ladies at daycare. He talks, squeals, giggles and smiles most of the time. He can have an entire conversation with the other baby at daycare. They sit in swings next to one another and carry on like to old men.

He can rotate himself 360 degrees on his back. He is SOOOO close to rolling over except for this darn thing called an arm that gets in the way.

He grabs for toys and pulls his pacifier in and out of his mouth. He still loves to cuddle with mom or dad when he is sleepy. He likes to investigate his blanket and suck on his fingers. He is generally a very happy baby.

Harley and Katie facinate him. His eyes get big when they come around to sniff him and he reaches out for them. They generally leave him alone and really don't do much around him. Harely of course always wants attention and he thinks "baby talk" means "you want to play with me!"

Spencer is a not a napper (just like Madison). He will take 20 minute power naps throughout the day; rarely sleeping longer than an hour. He will then crash into the evening and at night.

Science Fair WINNER!

Okay, this post is a wee bit behind, but that is life. The science fair was a week before Thanksgiving and as usual, we were putting it together the night before it was due. Everyone was cutting and gluing paper onto cardstock and hoping we could fill up the space correctly.

The science fair projects had to be at school by 9am the next day (Thursday). Justin dropped Madison and her project off (along with the 500 or so other parents) into the mass chaos of a gymnasium. We were supposed to go and view the projects that night from 5-7pm, but that didn't happen, so she was had to get her project the next day and bring it home.

To her surprise she had a blue ribbon and a certificate on her project. We were all very surprised, but very happy for her. She will now compete in the district science fair in January!

Do you know the Mitten Man?

Do you know
the Mitten Man,
the Mitten Man,
Do you know the
Mitten Man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

We have had to pull out the newborn mittens to keep Spencer from scratching his head. He has eczema all over his scalp and he has scalped himself! As if having the GERD wasn't enough, now we have eczema to try and combat.

Below are some of the battle scars that he has left upon himself.

Sometimes at night he is able to get the mittens off and he just digs in! We find blood underneath of his fingernails in the morning. Poor little guy.

So I am convinced that all of the "They Sayers" are going to come after me. "They" say not feed your child solids before 4 months of age. Well, Spencer has been on cereal since he was 5 1/2 weeks. "They" say to start putting your baby down into the crib while he is awake to promote good sleep habits. Well, Spencer has to be kept upright after his feedings, so he falls asleep in my arms. He surely isn't going to stay awake for 1/2 hour to have his little cheeks touch cold sheets; he is going to snuggy up to mommy and fall asleep since she has to hold him for at least 1/2 hour after he eats! AND now, "They" say to let baby experience all kinds of touch and put things into his mouth to learn about textures. Well, Spencer has mittens on his hands, so how in the heck is going to experience different textures. If nothing else he will know the different fabrics used to create his mittens. So, I am convinced that the "They Sayers" are going to come after me for doing everything NOT by the book!

The picture below has nothing to do with the above post. It is simply to cute to pass up. Harley desperately wants to fit into the boppy. He hasn't figured out he is the length of a basset hound and weighs 40 pounds. Needless to say, he still tries to squeeze his body into the boppy, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.