Juli & Co.

still recovering, but alive. we are all over the tummy virus, but now i think i have a sinus infection. i am so stuffed up and can't breath. fun times. as soon as i get my house back to some state of "normal" i will post about christmas. nick was good to me. really, really, REALLY good to me.

so olivia has an ear infection. she is miserable, can't sleep, and has been fussing all day. the only time she is happy is if i am holding her or letting her nurse. i'm exhausted to say the least. and if that's not enough, luke starting throwing up right as we were about to start eating all the snacks and cookies i made for our early christmas party with nick's parents. i'm surprised anyone still had an appetite after seeing luke projectile vomit all the way from the living room to his bathroom. so after cloroxing just about everything in the whole house, we are finally back to square one. both kids are finally asleep. thank goodness. but, i'm not expecting that to last long. since the first puke episode, luke has been throwing up about every 30 minutes. and he is such a little trooper. he was literally opening up presents and taking breaks in between to go throw up. fun times, let me tell you.

well, olivia is sick. she was up last night with a 102 degree fever, a horrible, congested cough, watery eyes, and snot just pouring out of her nose. poor baby. this is her first time to be sick, ever. since she was in no condition to go to church this morning, i stayed home with her while nick and luke and grandma and pawpaw all went. olivia just finally passed out. she has to be sitting up or she can't breath and starts coughing and choking on all of the congestion.

we are waiting for acute kids to open. i thought for sure they would be open this morning but apparently they don't open until noon. so here i am updating the blog, bouncing olivia in her bouncy seat with my foot, and drinking my much needed caffeine.

tonight we are doing "chris-chris" with nick's parents and may go see the christmas lights in deerfield this evening. that is if olivia is doing any better. otherwise, it is going to be a long next couple of days inside the house with sister.

i seriously cannot get enough. i keep looking through the pictures from his session and can't help but edit another. there are so many that are my FAVS and so many more to show. i must stop for now. seriously.

just one for now. such a sweet boy.

as it turns out the "healthy sleep habits" was a bust. at least as it pertained to luke. olivia seems to be doing great on it and, in fact, she slept from 8:30p to 5:10am this morning. but with luke, not so much. it was more of a game for him and with his endless supply of energy and persistence, we were just not going to win. so, we went back to our original plan. get out of bed and you get a spanking. the only difference is that we no longer threaten it, we just do it. the first night it took three spankings in a row for him to know we meant business and things were a changin'. the second night was about the same and then the third night on he has been sleeping all night long! he wakes up about 7:30a and just calls for me from his bed. and when i go in to get him he is in a great, happy mood and is usually singing or playing or has something silly to tell me. this morning he told me to "not go to work with daddy. stay home with lukey forever and ever and ever." we are also putting him to bed earlier (7:00p) and that seems to be helping too.

getting a little sleep at night really changes your entire outlook on the world. i am still waiting on olivia to wake up (it's 8:24a!) but when she does i think i will take the kids to see santa.

okay, those footie jammy guys were really starting to sick me out so I had to take down that post. sorry, girls, I know you are disappointed.

okay, so this is my niece and nephews santa pic from last year. it's pretty funny even though both kids have a look of shear terror. anyhoo, so why am i posting this, you ask?? well, my sister entered it in a "bad santa pic" contest with GMA and the producer called her today and asked if it would be okay if they use it on the show tomorrow. too funny! i can't wait to see it. i think they may be doing some kind of contest on the show, but really, i have no idea.

I started reading this book a few nights ago and realized that we have totally messed up with Luke. The kid just hates to sleep. I am finding myself getting up several times a night to deal with Luke not Olivia. Something is wrong with that.

So, two nights ago we implemented the "silent return to bed" technique. The first night was a fluke since he actually stayed in his bed all night. So last night was the first real night of the new rules. And also by some fluke Olivia decided she wanted to eat 4 times last night instead of the usual one. So starting at about 3am Luke began the nightly ritual of trying/bargaining/sneaking/scheming his way into our bed. After about 25 "silent returns to bed" he finally just got back in himself and went to sleep without a peep. I was up several more times with Olivia, which is why I am exhausted, but I am so pleased with how well this method worked with Luke. They say night two is the worst, so I am dreading that, but by night three it's supposed to be significantly better.

It was pretty difficult trying to stay "mechanical" and not smile or make eye contact. Especially when he was grabbing both of my cheeks in his hands and trying to turn my face to look at him. He would say "big smiles, mama" and "please talk to me, mama". I realized that all of this getting out of bed business is his way of getting more attention from us. I am going to try to devote more time to just do some Lukey and Mommy things during the day when sister is napping and also spend more one on one time after dinner.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we have been "sleep training" sister for the last week or so and she is doing awesome, well except for last night. She is getting pretty good at self-soothing when we first put her in her bed for the night and is "protest crying" less and less. I have no idea what happened last night. :)

i attempted for a second time to get a good photo of the kids for our christmas card. i don't know if i am just feeling the pressure because it is already a week into dec and i usually have my cards done by nov, or if i'm just having a hard time making decisions or maybe i am just being too picky. getting a good shot of one of your kids is one thing. getting a good shot of two of your kids, together, is a whole other story. i am exhausted. so since we will not be using any of these on the card, i thought i would share some of my favs. i have decided now that we will make attempt #3 tomorrow morning as a family. it should be a real good time.

our pudgy little princess.


and look who's almost sitting up!


this one is cute, but you can't see luke's face very well, so it's a no-go for the card.


buzz lightyear all cleaned up.


and this is the smile i get now every time i pull out the camera.


cute, but i can't be sending out a christmas card with my two year old's snake tattoo peaking out of his shirt sleeve. and the bag of candy just screams 'i'm a little stinker and my mom had to bribe me for this cheesy smile'. nice.


so stay tuned for 'take three'.

before the surgery.


getting prepped for surgery.


laurin making everyone laugh in the pre-op room.


laurin gets to hold avery for the first time since the surgery. she started to cry and said "he's so cute".


another after bath shot. he looks like my sister.

my nephew is finally here. all 9 pounds 7 ounces of him! he is just beautiful and has blue eyes and blonde hair. i am so glad he is here safe and sound. and, laurin did an awesome job, no anxiety attacks, no passing out, no retarded hands, no lying on the floor in the fetal position, and no emotional breakdowns. i must say, she shocked us all (including herself, i'm sure) with how gracefully she handled everything and i am so so proud of her.

the first pic. michael, the proud new daddy, escorting little avery down to the nursery.


meeting the grandmas (and the rest of the fam) for the first time.


laurin doing great in recovery.


sweet baby avery right after his first bath in the nursery.


watching for his mommy from the nursery window. so sweet.


and no birthday would be complete without a surprise visit from none other than buzz lightyear himself (insert laser shooting sound).


lots more pictures coming so stay tuned!

this year we decided to go out to the elves' christmas tree farm in denison to cut down our own christmas tree. we were so excited and by "we" i mean me. i am pretty sure nick and luke could have had just as much fun picking out a tree from the "he-po" (home depot). and even though we had to drive to oklahoma (almost) and we paid three times more for the same tree we could get at home depot, the complimentary apple cider and hayride made it all worth it...haha.

hayride


more hayride


luke with his saw


luke found the tree he wanted and began to saw


luke standing in front of a possibility


on the hunt for the "perfect tree"


cannot find the "perfect tree". back on the hayride, headed to get a precut tree. how disappointing.


at last, the "perfect tree"!

fyi...babystyle is doing 30% off your entire purchase and free shipping through Monday.

the coupon code is GOBBLE30. i got olivia eight dresses for $90 for christmas.

these are my favs, but there are a few more i think you will like, erin. enjoy!

this is luke being a "big helper" today and holding up my grey card for a light check.



and this is luke showing ava how to smile.



luke had a hard time watching me take pictures of other kids today. he whined and cried and threw himself down on the floor a couple of times. rough life. poor kid.

okay, i have to take a second to first off, brag on how adorable my niece and nephew are, and secondly, what an awesome job my sister and her husband did in taking these pictures. i am so impressed and just love what they did. they took lots more awesome shots like this one, but i just decided to steal one for now. :)

anyone else have this problem?? you want to display your kid's artwork on the fridge but your stainless steel fridge is not magnetic. i've been looking for a solution to this problem for months and yesterday i found it. i stopped by the container store to check out their gift wrap "wonderland" (not so much) and came across this little do-hicky. and i must say, i was a little skeptic that it would work, but my goodness, it's wonderful. it's so cute (matches my apple green curtains perfectly) and sticks to the fridge like a magnet. and you can move it around and restick it over and over. it leaves no residue to clean off and holds luke's artwork very securely. how have i not know about this???



oh, and after checking out may fair lane online, i discovered that they also make adorable photo frames. i can't wait to order some.

enjoy!

this picture cracks me up. he was acting all zoolander and totally came up with this pose on his own.

{luke at 2 yrs 9 months)

here it is. or at least one of them. i love this one with luke and his lolly pop (that he was so proud of himself for "earning") and olivia, just waking up and trying to figure out what is going on.