Busy Blog Post

We've had a busy week, leading into a busy weekend. It seems like there's a lot less downtime now that I'm back to work, but we're enjoying the time we have.

This past week went by very quickly, but so does the time off. Dillon thought he might have to work yesterday so we were kind of sad that our weekend would be spent apart, but the weather was on our side and it rained just enough Friday night and Saturday morning for them to cancel any scheduled work. Dillon came home and we headed out to breakfast and to run some errands. When we got back home we got our needed downtime and napped and watched American Ninja Warrior (our new guilty pleasure. I'm amazed at the strength of those people. Pretty sure I'd bust my face at the first round.) 

Yesterday evening we headed out with the Sullivans to go downtown to the supposedly last Bele Chere. We all said once we got down there that we remembered why we never, ever go to that festival. I remember it being a lot more fun when I was younger, so I'm not sure if it's my age or the fact that it just kind of sucks now, but whatever it is, I won't be returning if it takes place again. Plus, I think taking a baby may make it harder. Eh. I didn't even take any pictures. 

Today, my mom and dad came down and we went to church at Oakley United Methodist Church, which I believe is the church Dillon and I will be joining. Luke will be baptized at the church on August 18th and I think we'll be joining the same day. Luke went to the nursery today and the little ladies just loved on him so much. Everyone at the church is so nice and it's a place we can see ourselves belonging to. 

I've mapped out our crock pot menu for the week... If you're interested in the recipes, I've listed them below! Just click on the name of the dinner and it'll take you to the website. This seems to be the only way we get a good meal in during the week because I'm just too tired to worry about it when I get home. 
Beef Stew
Crockpot Pineapple Chicken
Chicken Broccoli ALfredo

And this recipe I've had for awhile that I've fixed several times and don't have a link to, so I'll just write it out. 

Working Woman's Best Stroganoff
2 lbs. lean cubed beef
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg of fresh sliced mushrooms (the recipe calls for a can of mushrooms, but I like the fresh better)

Put all ingredients into crockpot and add a cup of water, mix and cook on low for 8 hours (no peeking for full time) Stir in 1/2 cup of sour cream and stir well. 

The recipe calls to serve over rice, but I always serve ours over egg noodles. Eat up! 

We always have a date night on Friday, so that's why I only plan on 4 meals for the week.

Gearing up for a new week and getting into our new schedule. Hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Lola's new pal

Hey Dad!

I love toys!

Tummy time! Lifting my head like a champ

The dogs like tummy time too

Hey Grandma and Grandpa! 

Uploading pics to Facebook ;) 

Select a color!

And a video for your viewing pleasure! 

Teeth?!

Oh man. This part is not fun. TEETHING. Grumpy babies that feel awful and puke all over their daycare worker. Woops... Luke has been super moody since Sunday and after further inspection he's got some little white bumps on the top of his gums. I kept feeling on his bottom gums, but Dillon felt around and said "Well, his top gums are bumpy." Sure enough, I lifted up his lip and there were the little white buds of teeth getting ready to come through. He's been very fussy and drooly. It also seems to cause him to spit up a little bit more and when I went to pick him up today, John (who works at the daycare) was so nice but said sweetly "I think Luke's tummy's upset. He had quite a significant spit up today." Which means, "Your kid projectile vomited all over me while I was holding him." Sorry about that 
:-\ Even though it's hard having a not so happy baby, it's still better than anything I've experienced. I'm pretty sure having a newborn was way harder but I look back and think that it wasn't that bad. It's all going by so fast and I'm looking forward to see the little person that Luke will become, but I wish there was a way to freeze time or at least re-visit these times so that I could hold him in my arms always. 

And of course, I know most people are tired of hearing about it, but I was so excited for the royal baby. It's so silly, I know. An almost (in a few years) 30 year old woman is stoked for a baby that I'll never meet and only see in photographs. I've always loved the royal family. When I was 13, I bought all the magazines with Prince William on the front and daydreamed about visiting England and him falling madly in love with me (sorry, Dillon. You are my one, true love, but at 13 I didn't know this yet). When Diana died, I bought all the magazines and followed the story religiously. Then, when William became engaged to a brunette named Catherine, who majored in art history, I was a little jealous. (Sorry, again, Dillon. We were married by this time, but I mean come on! She was going to be a PRINCESS). Then, when I was 3 months pregnant, it's announced that Kate and Will are too. I feel like I traveled the pregnancy road with her almost, although she looked way cuter and was able to afford better maternity clothes. When she said yesterday that anyone who's just had a baby knows how they feel, I think that's true, but I'm glad that my son will never have to face things that her son will. My boy will be able to go for hikes and walk down the street without everyone watching his every move. He'll be able to decide what he wants to do with his life while little Prince George has his life already planned. I know that Dillon and I may not be able to provide little Luke with everything that their baby has, but I do know that he'll grow up in a house full of love and in the end that's all that matters. 

Not being fussy!

Lunch downtown on Sunday

Finding my hands

And, for your viewing pleasure... a video of Luke before he went to bed. :)

3 Months!

Wow. Has it really already been three months? It all seems to be going by quickly. Luke is now wearing 3-6 month clothes. I packed up the too small clothes today and pulled out the ones that I think will fit. All the ladies at daycare tell me how strong they think he is with his neck control and being able to pull himself up to standing. He's starting to be more alert and notice things. He enjoyed watching "Wipeout" this afternoon with all those people falling into the water. It even made him laugh! Luke's starting to notice the dogs, he reaches out to them and tries to talk to them even though they are still ignoring him. I feel that will come to an end soon when he starts grabbing for puppy dog tails. He likes everyone at daycare. Every day I go in to pick him up, they are holding and cuddling him and he's always smiling and talking to them so it makes me glad that he's not upset being away from us or from home. 

Our family survived my first week back. When I took Luke to daycare on Tuesday, I called Dillon and he said he's never felt so sad knowing that someone else was watching Luke that day. I did fine every day until Friday and it was all I could do to not just turn around and go pick him back up. The weekend's making it even harder and I can hardly stand to think about going back in Monday. For some reason, I never thought about how hard and demanding it would be going back on our schedule. The house gets dirty and there's huge piles of laundry to do. It all backs up because there's no one home to take care of it and then when we get home there's feeding the baby, bathing the baby, getting him ready for bed and then we crash. I didn't make dinner one night this week and am not quite sure how I'm going to work that in. Cooking and cleaning takes a good 2 hours and sometimes Dillon's not even home until 6 or 7 which makes cooking hard to do with the little one. Meh.

I've also contracted the awful cold that's made it's way through our entire family. The baby had it first and then Dillon and I thought I had made it through without it until the baby sneezed directly in my mouth. I'm pretty sure that's what did it. So now we all lay around the house coughing and sneezing. That doesn't make things any better. 

I know it's hard right now and it takes some time to get a schedule. I keep telling myself that and I hope it's true. I just know that the best part of my weekdays are when I pull into that daycare to pick our baby up. 

sleepy boy

how he acts most mornings when he wakes up :) 

Outtakes from my phone from the 3 month shoot

First day back at work.... aghh

Taylor & Kenzie spent some time with Luke before going home to Richmond

Outtakes from the camera

I laugh every time I see this... He spit up and Dillon caught it as it was happening :-\

Being so very Asheville in his tie-die onesie. I never realize how much he looks like Dill until I see these pictures! 

First Day Back!

I survived! Even though Luke was still at home with Dillon (and Kenzie & Taylor) this morning. That made my return to work super easy. Tomorrow may not be quite so easy. First day of daycare. And why is it that everyone thinks that daycare is just awful. I'm sure it is when you've found a nasty daycare, but the ladies who watch the babies at the daycare Luke is going to are really sweet. And I know that they will just love on him all day. I know that it's not ideal... what would be ideal would be for Dillon and I to have so much money that we could stay home with him all the time. Who wouldn't want that? God has honestly blessed me with the job that I have now and I really feel like I can't give that up and make my family struggle to survive on one income. We probably could make it on one paycheck, but it would mean cutting back on a lot of things we enjoy and a lot of opportunities for Lucas. Soooo I'll go back to work. I actually enjoyed being at work today and being busy and challenging my mind. AND I didn't cry! (Ok, today. I cried last night. A lot. Whatever. But I didn't cry today!) 

This past weekend was super awesome, too! Dillon's sister, Mackenzie and her husband, Taylor came down and stayed with us, giving them a good opportunity to hang out with Luke. Kenzie got a camera just like Dillon's for Christmas, so our weekend was spent with both cameras out catching the best pictures. We got to do lots of stuff that as residents of Asheville, we usually don't get to experience. We went on a trolley tour and tried new restaurants. We took in the sights of the Arboretum and we sat on the patio and talked all afternoon. I just want to say that I am so thankful for them. For purely selfish reasons, they made this weekend a lot easier for me than it could have been. If they wouldn't have come to visit, I probably would have sat on the couch and cried all weekend about returning to work. But we got out and saw some awesome things about our town! And I'm glad they got to spend a lot of time with Luke. It's hard having all of our family out of town so we really enjoy when we get together! 

Here's some of my favorite photos from the weekend: 

Taylor reenacts Kenzie falling

What Kenzie does best!  

Taking care of Luke

I love these pictures of Dillon and Kenz... they always have a good time together

Kenzie's a good photographer

Family Photo!

Baby bath! 

Sucking boogies out his nose

She was so sweet to get lots of pictures of the 3 of us

Smilin' Uncle T 

Trolley tour!