Friday, November 30, 2012

Five is Fun

I have this book called "So You Want To Raise A Boy" (I got this after having Mike, and for obvious reasons, has been a great resource for me!).  It is a fabulous guide on how to raise boys by their age. 

The title of the chapter for a five year old  is "Five is Fun".  It says that 5 marks a happy new plateau of maturity.....five is alive, five is fun. A five year old is still a "mama's boy" and depends upon her for his comfort and companionship in most situations.  It describes a five year old boy at having two qualities that compete with each other--gabbing and grubbing.  As a result, it is common to see a boy of this age trying to talk at top speed while eating a huge plate of potatoes and gravy.  The life of a 5 year old boy is happy and lovable.

See what I have to look forward too........

Holding to my tradition, here is the story of Luke's birth. My labor started at around 1:00 in the morning. Brian and I had a party we went to the night before that I helped with and we suspect that is what put me into labor. We went to the hospital and I was dilated to a 3. So they wanted me to walk around and they even had me sit in a warm tub to see if I would dilate so more. After an hour, I was almost a 4 so they decided to admit me and get things going. And then the waiting began. We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. I just wasn't progressing. The doctor finally checked me and discovered that Luke was trying to come out the wrong way; he was face up. So he tried to turn him four times so he was coming out the right way, and he just wouldn't stay. So the doc said that I would just have to get Luke out that way. So I pushed and pushed and pushed and he finally came into the world at around 4 o'clock.  He was a little squirt at just 6 lbs. 6 oz., but we were thrilled to have him here!

And we are still thrilled to have Luke in our family forever!


Happy 5th Birthday our Cookie Lukey!  We love you and miss you more than words can express!!





Sunday, November 18, 2012

Oh My, How You Grow

So Benjamin hit 20lbs. this week.....yea, he's a BIG boy!  I wanted to know when my other boys hit that weight, so I pulled out all the baby books.....he are the results:

Josh:  6 1/2 months
Mike:  6 months
Luke:  13 months
Ben:  5 months 1 week

All this reminiscing got me thinking that if Dr. Seus wrote a book about growing up, it may go a little like this:

Oh My, How You Grow

Look!
You have grown today.
An inch.....a foot.....a yard
You're off and away!

You can sit on your bum,
You can roll over too.
You can eat pureed plums,
and bananas, it's true.

Oh my, how you grow!
You're on your way up!
Before you know it,
You'll drink from a cup.

And then, oh then,
the things you will do.
Like walking and talking,
And, probably, stumbling too.

Who'll be there to catch you?
Why, ME of course!

No matter the size
That your body gets to,
I will always be there.....
The one who will love YOU!


                                               Super cute, right?!?!



Thursday, November 1, 2012

Dancing With a Limp

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.”
― Anne Lamott  


It has been 3 years now since our Luke passed.....and we are continuing to learn how to deal with the grief and pain.  It is a lot like dancing with a limp. 
 
This is the very last picture we took of Luke 3 years ago....
 
 

Halloween Night......he was so cute.  He said "Thank You" to everyone who put a candy in his pumpkin.

The next night, he learned to crawl out of his crib. 

The morning of November 3rd, he crawled out of his crib, and knocked on his brothers' bedroom door to wake
 them up. 

By 4:30 P.M., he was gone.


“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.”
                               ― Sarah Dessen

Our grief has anchored us in a way I did not think possible. There is no more time to second guess what I know......I need.........want.........and will get back to him!

And so, this is this Halloween. 


We just keep dancing.

There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go.
~ Author Unknown