Merry Christmas 2011

What an awesome year we have had and the last three days have been icing on the cake for us. We have enjoyed every moment we have had with family since our holiday started Friday evening! To say that we are lucky to have what we have would be an understatement.

As I sat in church last night all I could think about was how blessed we are to have Jesus in our lives and to have the family we have in our lives. As I got the presents ready for the kids last night and ate a cookie for Santa I was giddy with excitement to see Taegan's face in the morning. Walking downstairs with her this morning I could hardly wait to see her smile and watch her mind process it all. Rocking Laekan to sleep for his morning nap today while at my parents with them all opening presents was priceless. Enjoying Taegan as she danced and sang for us today with her new Barbie microphone was fantastic. Coming home and unloading our gifts into our living room was overwhelming. Putting the kids to bed and having them both cry tonight was frustrating, but humbling at the same time. Holding Laekan as he calmed down and just breathing him in was breathtaking. Tucking Taegan in for the fourth time and having her say "Mom I sure do love you a lot" after I had got short with her, stole my heart. Watching the Cats play tonight with Justin as we wind down from a very great Christmas-relaxing!!!

We hope you all had a great Christmas this year and had a chance to take in the day! Love you all.

Surgery Day...

On Thursday of last week we headed to Children's Mercy in Kansas City to have a pre-op appointment for Laekan's minor surgery the next day. We decided since he would be having the surgery early Friday morning we would just stay the night at Sheraton Suites at Crown Center and make a weekend of it!!:) Lucky me! Laekan did great for the ride up there, the appointment, and then napped while we headed to an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Once we got done there we headed to the mall to make him a build a bear Dr. for his surgery and then back to the hotel to relax and watch the Cats play basketball.

I was a bit worried about how it would go with him not being able to eat after midnight and having to wait until the surgery. Laekan eats at 8 at night and sleeps all night and eats at 8 the next morning. I was NOT about to wake him up in the middle of the night to feed him and start that awful schedule to try and break that when we got back home. So I took the chance, fed him at 8 Thursday night and knew that the morning before surgery might be awful! Boy was I wrong-he was an angel!!! He flirted with all the nurses, laughed, played, and then fell asleep in my arms until they came to get him at 9:15 for surgery!!!

Got him in his gown and he is waiting with Daddy.

His cute socks...

Sound asleep with Mommy until surgery.

We loved Children's Mercy-everything was organized and run so well. We waited in the waiting room and it had plenty of space, drinks, tvs, and wifi so I could work some! We weren't there long because surgery didn't take long. I had hopes of getting a picture of him when we rejoined him in the hallway-he was a mess. That was the worst part of all of this, watching him wake up from the meds. He was so out of it and crying and coughing and mad. Broke my heart. They put him right in my arms and he seemed to calm down some. It took about 20 minutes or so and then he started eating and we were able to leave. We headed back to the hospital and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon relaxing waiting on my parents and Taegan to get there to have some fun playing and shopping at Crown Center. Laekan only needed 2 rounds of pain meds that day and he hasn't had any since! Such a strong boy.

Playing the next morning on the hotel bed before we headed home!

Although this surgery was minor, it made me realize that I am lucky God has blessed me with two healthy kiddos that don't need surgeries. Handing him off was tough, the worry was tough, the watching him wake up was tough, I'm just not cut out to watch my kids in pain. I will say that there were NO tears from any of us before the surgery and only tears from Laekan after the surgery-although I was close a few times. Thankful to be back home and done with this!!!

7 months old...

Laekan Harper-You are one busy little man lately and we are doing our best to keep up with you! Each month that I sit down to write this I think it is the best month yet and it just keeps getting better. I remember with you sister that we absolutely loved it when she started getting her personality and interacting with us more. Now we are loving that you are interacting with her as well-our hearts are so full watching you both and we are eager to see what you two are like when you are a bit older and can talk back to her!!! Oh what a ride we are in for....but we can't wait. You continue to steal our hearts and your sisters heart-she LOVES you to pieces and more. Your last month was busy and your one up ahead will be so fun with Christmas. We are so blessed God chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy. Here is what you are up to as of today:

*You are wearing 6-9 and 9 month clothes. You are SO long!
*You just had a minor surgery at Children's Mercy...you weighed 20lbs and were 29 inches!!!
*You are still in size 2 diapers and size 3 at night.
*Same schedule for eating and sleeping.
*You are eating oatmeal mixed with fruit for breakfast and a veggie at dinner. We will start this week eating food at lunch too.
*You are napping great in the morning and in the afternoon-we love it!
*You are sleeping better in the morning, waking around 7:30-7:45 and I just let you talk and jabber in bed until Taegan and I come get you.
*You do have a bit of a cold right now, although it hasn't stopped you from anything!
*I would like to say you are still eating 28 ounces a day, but that wouldn't be accurate. You are starting to drink less with the onset of more baby food. You are around 26-28.
*You tried puffs a week or so ago and made a funny face, but then wanted more. We are putting them on your tray and letting work on getting them to your mouth. You do okay with this!
*You are a rolling machine-all over the place when you are playing!
*You are sitting up all alone and will do so for very long periods of time. We just put you on a blanket with lots of toys and you will play and laugh.
*You are loving your exersaucer as well. You will bounce and bounce in there.
*We put you in the jumperoo between Taegan's door frame and you had a great time with that. You bounced and were entertained with her.
*You aren't really into your thumb much anymore, sometimes but not nearly as much as you were.
*You are however, very into your little blankie. It goes everywhere with us and you need it to drink your bottle. You will rub it and rub it on your face. So sweet.
*Sophie is still your main toy-although just about anything you can chew on will work.
*You have two teeth, your bottom middle two and you show them off everytime with your smile.
*Your smile and laugh are fantastic and they can change our mood very fast!
*You are up and rocking on all fours...Mommy isn't quite ready for that yet.
*We have tried giving you a sippy cup with water in it and you know how to hold it, but only chew on the spout part.
*You tried some mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and liked them.
*Pictures this month were nearly impossible...
What a neat sign-this was right before he headed to his mouth with it.
Showing off his friend Sophie...and his First Christmas shirt!
I could never get him to look at me with the sign there!

We love you Laekan and are so excited to share the holidays with you!!!

Trying something new...

Tonight while we ate dinner we decided to let Laekan try some puffs while we were all at the table. I wasn't sure if he was ready for this, but thought it was worth a try. He actually did great with his fingers and grabbing the puffs. He would use his whole hand to pick them up and then get them to his mouth. The puffs, however, are made to dissolve when wet so his slobber would cause them to stick to his hands and he couldn't get it into his mouth because it would stick! Once I could get it to his mouth he chewed and loved them...I think they were a hit!
Concentrating very hard on picking them up.
Getting them to his mouth...kind of!!!
Loving them:)