What We've Been Up To

Riding the turtle

All better after cake!

Sara and me

With my two girls!

It seems the time that lapses between blog posts is getting longer and longer. We already have this upcoming weekend booked and I am just now getting around to blogging about last weekend's adventures. Last weekend was full of rain! We can not really complain because we have not had any measurable rain in quite some time. It just so happened it all came at one time though.

Saturday morning we went to a birthday party for my boss' daughter at Monkey Joe's. This was our first experience with the place. We thought Luke would love it, but he did not want to take his shoes off (a requirement to play on the bouncy toys) or be put down. We carried him around for about an hour to all the different riding toys. He would get on and immediately get off. Luckily we never put any money in them. Once we had the actually party, aka. food, Luke was energized. He ate pizza, drank juice and ate cake. Two of those things he rarely gets so he knew he was getting a treat He was all systems go after that. He wanted to play on everything and started crying when we made him leave. All in all, I don't think we will be rushing to go back to Monkey Joe's anytime soon.

Saturday afternoon I went to a baby shower for one of my best friend's sisters. Virginia and I went and helped Laura get ready for the shower the night before. We had a great time seeing how everything turned out. Sara is having a little boy in May. Laura and her other sister, Martha and I are all due on the same day - August 27th. Laura and I are having girls and Martha is having a boy. We know that more than likely none of us will deliver on the same day it is still cool to share the same due date.

Paul and I went for another ultrasound on Tuesday and Baby Girl Troutt is perfect! They were able to "see" everything they needed which was a relief! The doctor talked to us about the probability that baby girl could come early like Luke did. Since I really never had any signs of labor with him she is going to keep a very close eye on me. It is hard to believe how quickly this pregnancy is going!

Spring Supper

Luke smiling for the camera

Hanne loves to eat!

Now, Emma smiles for the camera

Sunday night the Louws came over to enjoy the nice weather. We have been wanting to get together for some time, but the timing never worked out. It is great to see Emma and Luke really playing together now and enjoying each others company. Hanne is getting so big--she will be 1 soon! She loved watching the big kids play. We did make your own pizzas and grilled them. For some reason the crust was a bit burnt but we still ate them! Katherine brought strawberry shortcake for dessert. I love the Spring when fresh fruits and vegetables start to come in season. The kids played long and hard and were cranky when it got time to say good night. The first thing Luke said yesterday when he woke up was "Emma come play with Luke's toy?" We know there will be many more evenings like this one...

Fun Weekend

Where did the water go, mom?

Fun in the water

Helping Daddy

This weekend's weather has been absolutely beautiful! We have spent a lot of time outdoors. Friday night we went to Home Depot and picked up a couple of perennials and a little Dogwood tree. Saturday morning we decided to plant everything. Luke is in that mode where he wants to do everything exactly how you do it. He wanted to wear gloves like Mommy and Daddy. He does not have any gardening gloves so he wore some winter ones; he did not seem to mind. He used a little spade of mine even though he has his own set of gardening tools. When Paul stepped on the shovel to dig a hole, Luke stepped on his little shovel, too. It is very cute to watch him mimic Paul.

Yesterday Luke stayed at Nonna's in the afternoon while Paul and I went to look for baby furniture. I realized I have failed to mention we are having a BABY GIRL! We are very excited around here. Paul and I were very surprised when we had our ultrasound and the tech gave us the news. I think we both thought we were having another little boy. Once the surprise wore off reality started to set in. Pink dresses and hair bows, dolls and ponies, first dates and so forth. So much to learn and so much to look forward to! We do not have a name for baby girl Troutt yet. When you ask Luke he says to name her "baby boy". Not sure that the fact we are having a baby girl has set in with him yet. He still loves babies and loves to look at babies and talk to them. We know he is going to be an excellent big brother!

Easter with the Troutts

Papa helping Luke with his Easter presents

Ready, set, go!

Nene helped Luke find the eggs in
the tree house

Kitty spotted an egg Luke missed

Luke wanted to go look at the tractors

Bubbles are always a hit!

Jon and Kristen reading to
Luke before we left

Even though Luke kept his temperature off and on he felt fine and really wanted to go to Nene and Papa's. He asked to go to their house at least once a day, usually when he first gets up in the morning. He loves it there! We enjoyed an egg hunt and grilling out that evening. The weather was perfect. Everyone is so glad that Spring is here and we can spend time outdoors.

Easter Morning

What's all this?!?

Checking out the goodies

Inside the Thomas Tent

Our Easter started out unexpectedly. Luke woke up at 1am calling for me. When I went in to check on him I realized he was burning up. I took his temperature and it was 102.5! Yuck! I knew right then our Sunday would not go as planned. I gave him some medicine and rocked with him for about an hour and he went back to sleep. He slept until the morning and got up ready to go! He was very excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought him. Of course, the first thing he noticed was the Thomas tent. Nothing else mattered after that point! Since he had been running a fever we knew he could not go to church. Luke and I stayed home and Paul went to church in Gallatin. While Paul was gone Luke and I both took a nap. Luke continued to have temperature off and on that day but acted like he felt fine. We alternated Tylenol and Motrin.

Notice that Luke is wearing the same Cubs shirt he had on at Nanny's the day before. He would not take it off! It was the first time he had worn it and when we told him Papa had brought it to him that was all it took for him to want to keep it on!

Easter at Nanny's

Taking a walk with Cynthia and LeeEllen

Luke got a lot of entertainment out of
an old walking stick he found.

He loves his corn on the cob

Last Saturday we went to Tullahoma to see my family. We opted to grill out instead of the traditional Easter fare. Luke had a great time running around outside. LeeEllen brought a bubble machine for him to play with. He loved it! Everyone was surprised at how much he grown and how much he is talking now. Here are some of Luke's latest accomplishments and favorite things to do:

• loves to be outside and swing on his new playset
• obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine!
• can count to 11 by himself!
• still loves to sing and dance - knows most words to several songs
• consistently recognizes all colors, shapes, animals and some letters to the alphabet
• talks in sentences and can say most anything and loves to repeat what he hears!
• loves spending time with his Nene, Papa and Nonna
  

Egg Hunt, Egg Hunt

An attempt at a family pic

Getting some eggs

Luke insisted on wearing one
of his Kitty hats to school

All smiles with his loot

Luke has been to 2 egg hunts so far. The first was at Dollar General corporate where Nonna works. They host a huge egg hunt every year. Luke wanted nothing to do with having his picture taken with the Easter bunny. He did enjoy the egg hunt and playing on the play ground. Thursday was the egg hunt at Luke's school. I was able to get there in time to see him hunt eggs. He went up in the Noah's ark and hit the jackpot. There were a ton of eggs up there and no one else went there. Luke kept saying "more eggs, more eggs".

We are going to Tullahoma today to see my family and tomorrow evening we will be at the Troutts to celebrate Easter. Hope everyone has a blessed Easter holiday!

A Typical Night

Yummy!

All done

Chillin' before bedtime

On most week nights we eat supper between 5:30 and 6:00. Luke does a great job feeding himself and is usually very neat about it. Pasta night is the exception! Luke loves "noonles" as he calls them and loves them even more because they are so messy! On these nights he usually goes straight to the bath from the supper table. One night this week I cam upstairs and found Luke sitting in his beach chair with his feet propped on the ottoman, like he was Mr. Cool or something. Too funny! He had gotten a boo-boo at school that day after bumping heads with one of his friends.