It's so hot here in Texas!!

People....it's so hot. Seriously...I'm dying. Yesterday was so miserable on the front porch that Dh had to bust out the misters. TEXAS HOT.

note: CMS KIDDO's and/or hypotonic children are very prone to getting lethargic in great heat. Watch for this! Keep them cool and moist!

I must say, I cried last night watching the news. It's devastating. The heat has really affected some people here in Texas. I pray for them.

Here's a clip of me and Luke desperately trying to get cool.

note: I really don't think the heat misery is due to pregnancy. It's really hot this year. More than last year!!
Enjoy my baby mountain. I've passed up the word "bump". It's not a baby bump anymore!

3rd year wedding anniversary

Hi family, it's me & jon's 3yr Wedding Anniversary. We married this time 3 years ago in the Grand Bahama's on the beach. It was a Christian ceremony and very intimate with just 'us'. We had a huge reception in Texas thereafter for our family/friends. In case you don't know...I have a huge baby bump under this wedding gown. Yep...pregnant with Luke. (5mths) As you can see, I'm slightly bigger with Hannah at 5mths. (encouraging)

Water Baby routine

As most of you know it's been dang hot here in Texas. Like, can't breathe hot. Seriously...hot. Hot, hotter, and then hotter than HECK hot.

At any rate, we are stuck inside and have NOTHING to do. Luke does not do well in the heat and we all are pulling our hair out to figure out what to do daily to keep him from getting cabin fever. He gets so tired of being in the house.

So naturally, we bust out the water hose and we feed the plants, the porch, the driveway, the cars, and pretty much where he scoots and plants himself..we'll feed that area as well with water. WATER BABY BIGTIME.

He loves it! See pics I took from this weekend below. He's our little water hose mister.

P.S. The misters that Jonathan put on the front porch make no difference in the temp. until around 8:30pm. Bummer. We were hoping it would help. But...not until much later.

Enjoy the below. The pics are called "Crazy water boy". As you can see below, he'll get water in his eyes and it doesn't stop him. He just wipes and goes.

For all those special momma's and daddy's

Hi fam, this video is for all those special momma's and daddy's out there that put their children 1st. No matter what. God says "Children are a gift from the Lord". I watch this and pray.."Lord, please let me have the priviledge to treat my children as the most precious gift ever given to me". They are truly gifts. This father loved his son as God loves us. He's an inspiration and example of Christs love for sure. Thank you Jesus for the gifts you've given our family! Love you much! A

Weekend visit from Gma/Gpa...

Had a great weekend. It was busy and relaxing at the same time.

For starters, Friday night we had a visit with Aunt Ericka. We shuttled over to her house and me/luke snagged her and we drove to Willow Bend Mall. What a blast! Luke was in heaven as we found him a balloon PRONTO because he saw other kids with one and freaked! So, we snagged him one and it was all over. He was in Heaven!


Then, Saturday: Dh came home after a long sabbatical and I needed church. So, he spent some much needed time with baby and I sprinted to church with big belly in tow. Ericka saved me a seat and thereafeter we drove to Snuffers for dinner and had some seriously huge burgers! And cheese fries/fried mushrooms. Over the top good! I was thrilled to have some girl time less kiddo.


Then, Sunday: Pop drop from Grandma/Grandpa Skinner. (my dad and other mother) Of course, they brought the usual...amazing food for me, to die for books for Luke and homemade cookies for Jon. We loved the visit.

So, here's a glimpse of our weekend. There is much more to say...but I'm power blogging tonight. Got a big week of work. Love you all, A

LUKE and POOL TIME! ME and FATTY TIME! Yes, I know. I know. I look pretty.

ICE CREAM MAN CAME!

Luke sitting with dad and Jon.


FAT WET EXPLOSION WATER DIAPER BELOW. He could barely scoot because it was weighing him down so much. Yes, we have swim diapers. We just never take the time!

A cheese puff...

Hi, well, Lukers has been entertaining graduate cheese puffs. Yes, considered a solid food. Whewsie!

We've actually been testing him over the last month. So, the following video is from last night in speech therapy. Our therapist Jennifer comes over at 6pm in the hopes he'll be somewhat hungry. Problem is, I forgot to tell my new nurse to cut his feeds that day. Oops!

At any rate, I wanted you to see him crunch down on "A" cheese puff. It's quite scary actually. Last week was seriously video worthy as he choked and I had to scoop it out of his mouth. Uggh. I'll spare you the details. The joy of a tube fed kid. For sure!

I will say, Luke is not orally defensive with foods and textures by God's grace for sure. That's a huge deal with a gtube baby. HE LOVES food and we are thankful for it. But, it makes it so hard for us as he wants to try everything we eat. So, we still hide out when eating and we never can sit down together as a family and have dinner. It's just our life.

So, that's our food update. He's just maintaining his cheese puff chewing and sometimes he'll swallow one. But, a few minutes later, I hear a 'crunch' noise. We think he's pooling it in the back of his throat much like he used to do with stage 2 baby food. However, the upside is he's eating 6-7 jars of stage 2 baby food with ZERO problems per day. We've come a long way. This is just another journey for us. Our big agenda is a SIPPY CUP as well. More later on that!

Ok..enjoy. This will scare Lulu. She's very protective over Luke. She's very 'choke' shy with him. So brace yourself Lulu...he did good. Love you, A

Oh, one more thing. All by God's grace and mercy below. Hugs, A

A visit from one of Luke's nurses

Wow ya'll, guess what? Wanda did a pop drop. (Wanda was Luke's RN nurse for a full year) Luke and I were thrilled. It certainly cheered me up and must say, SHE LOOKED AMAZING. So much so that I told her it looked as if she got a face lift. The recovery from her breast cancer has been amazing. She's got her hair coming in and it looked adorable. And..her eye lashes are all in as well. She's been giddy about that.

As you can see, Luke has grown up a bit since she's been gone and she just could not believe that. She even saw him turn the TV back on after I turned it off. That cracked her up! We miss the way Wanda loved our Luke. That's tough to find in a nurse. She grandma loved him for sure.

Below are pics I took of her on my porch. Doesn't she look amazing? We love you Wanda!

The picture below was taken by Lisa Allen! She was here and this was downloaded along with Wanda's pictures. This picture is called "Pouty Luke". LOL! I don't recall him being pouty when she took this picture, but it does look as if he's got quite the pout look!

Hope you enjoyed, love ya'll and thanks for praying for me. I can feel them this am. Hugs, A

A glimpse of the sono...

Hi....have fun.

Aunt Lisa took these and the video. You can see Hannah moving around. :) So strange to call my baby Hannah now? I'm in shock still.

On the video below you'll see that Lisa decided to video tape my legs being raised at the table. I thought it was great videography as you won't be able to see too much after that. So, enjoy my legs in full view.

After that is Hannah's hamburger. (that's what my friend Darci calls that name I refuse to type on my blog)I know, I know. TMI. LOL. Sorry, I can't help myself. I used to call Luke an apple with a stem. Ok, I'll blogup. (translation: shut up) Oh...and you will hear our excitement on the video for your viewing pleasure as well! LOL Hugs, A

It's a PINK BABY! Whoohoo

I can't believe it. We have a PINK baby. A GIRL. A GGGGIIIIRRRRRLLLL.

I could not believe it so much that I questioned the sonographer 3x.

"Are you sure?"
"How are you positive it's a girl?"
"Have you ever been wrong?"
"Can I see again?"

Bottomline, our little missy pop moved like 5x during the sono and she got a few different angles confirming that indeed there is NO APPLE SAC with STEM. NO STEM PEOPLE. Just 3 white lines and well...I won't blog the name. It's kinda weird to label that 'name' on the blog.

It rhymes with "FLABIA". Minus the "F".

You get the point. Now, I have a little mister and a little missy. I'm excited.

My blog poll proved to be correct! Congrats to those that guessed right. We are amazed and Jonathan is over the top elated. He's seriously excited. You can so hear it in his voice.

WHEW! What a wait. It's over now. Now...praying for healthy!

Love you all,
A

Haircut and wakeup time...

Happy Random Friday blog fam!

Luke desperately needed a haircut. Due to conflicting schedules with Aunt Lisa, Jon said "I can't take it anymore and drove him up to Cost cutters". Luke cried the entire time. He hates getting his haircut. I have no clue why? It does not hurt him one bit. It's quite the drama and if you've ever missed his meltdowns..then click on the following for a remembrance: Drama KING

Here's the before haircut picture below and this is Jonathan pulling his hair back so he would stop itching his forehead while watching Elmo. That's about when Jon cracked and packed him up to get his haircut.

The above pictures are me and Luke being lazy. I thought I'd give you a visual of what my weekends are like and how I literally have no energy to get on the computer or even blog browse. It's entirely exhausting the 2nd time around.

Don't you think I look attractive above? I really love my brown bottom feet and too small shirt. Sexy girl I am.

The following below is a video of Luke getting up and this will show you his new haircut as well. My friend Lori video taped her child getting up and I thought it was over the top cute. So....enjoy Lukester first morning wake up. He's a cutie Patootie.

Love you, A

Cms 'hmmmm'...and 4th of July recap

Hi, I know. I should have been back like 3 days ago. I do this all the time to my near friends and family. I say "be back". And then 1 month later, I'm back. Incidentally, that's pre-pregnancy as well.

So, ok...focus.

I have a little "hmmm" on my mind here. Meaning, I can't tell you how many times I've had a medical professional whether it be a Neurologist, MD, ENT, Pulmologist...or even my dentist ask me the following question...

"Did Luke move in the womb".

I would quickly respond "yes, yes, yes!". The kid moved all the time. Or....so I thought.

Interestingly enough, I have found that this new one in my belly is moving a lot. I don't remember Luke fluttering so much early on like this. Honestly, it could be just lack of memory. But, it's definitely prompted some "hmmmm's" in my mind.

Could this child in my womb not have CMS and the signs of movement are more apparent than with Luke? I have no clue but I'm starting to rack my brain if Luke moved like this and I honestly don't remember him fluttering away so early on like this. In fact, I've had to ask many mom's 'when did you feel your first kick'. I can't tell you how long it was for Luke? Not sure why?

With that said, I just wanted to share my "hmmm". Something to pray about and to remind you to please pray about this new one. I need lots of prayers.


Recap of the 4th of July party! Fun pics below + video. Have fun! I was amazed at how much fun it was. The kids played dodgeball in the street and played with the water hose. Wow..kids are so easy to please. I did learn from my 'seasoned' moms that I SHOULD NOT provide GRAPE juice JUICE BOXES. Note to self.

Husband playing fun music for the party

Lukers playing with the cones!

Me(mom)My 4th of July dress picture below. Big Polka Dot girl. Loved this dress.

Luke's swim fun

Hey everyone, Debsie and the kids came by this week and we had some fun swim time at the pool. We had the best time! Lulu came as well which made it all the more fun. The kids were so excited to see Luke and spend some time with him finally! It's been so nice to finally get him out and expose him to my BFF's kids! I loved it. Long overdue!!

NOTE: The swim time scares the Bajesus out of me. Mainly because Luke aspirates thin liquids. I really do not relax at all while sitting next to him at the wave entrance. I basically have a mild anxiety attack silently.

Ok, Below is Lulu and this hysterical picture of Luke. Then, me, Jordan and Jillian in our swimhug.

Ok now, the fun pictures. Well, as you know Deb came up with the greatest name for my obnoxious gingham swimsuit. She called it my "Dorothy Suit". (..from Wizard of Oz) SO funny!

So..Deb decides to bring my DOROTHY SHOES which are these RUBY RED FLIP FLOPS WITH GLITTER TO MATCH MY OBNOXIOUS ATTIRE. SO FUNNY!

CLOSE UP VIEW OF MY DOROTHY SHOES!

Unfortunately, my Dorothy suit is short lived because Niecer came through for me and sent my BLACK SWIMSUIT AND I GOT IT TODAY!! So..pics to come of that! I can't wait!!
Ok blog fam...love you, hope you enjoyed! I'm powerblogging this week and keeping things short/sweet! Got a huge busy day. Love you, A