Happy Valentine's Day!

I really love Valentine's Day...not for the gifts, though Mitch never fails ( I love you!). I love making homemade cards with the kids, making cookies, making a special meal for dinner. But I really love telling and showing my family how much I love them. I'm so blessed and so thankful! Here's what's for dinner tonight, minus the chocolate pie (I'm making oreo pie).

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/

The Girls

I wanted to share a few pictures of the girls. Lauren has lost both of her top front teeth now, which always cracks me up--I tell her to say "super silly string" 5 times in a row. It's cute, and yes, her hair almost always looks like that--hairdresser I'm not. She'll be six in a week!! I think I've mentioned before that Erin salutes Mitch and I often when she's told to do something. Who knows where it came from, but it's hilarious!

Lukey, Benny and poor baby...

First of all, a big Autryville welcome to Nana and Pop!! We know you're out there now, so send us a message!:)

Poor, poor Luke. I'll resist the tempation to call him Lukey, becuase it makes Ben cringe. For some reason at every sporting event Ben does, I call him Benny when I holler from the various sidelines. He played indoor soccer this weekend and I just can't help it...it comes out before I know it. So, I know he doesn't want Lukey--uh, Luke, to suffer as he does--"Mom, could you please not call him Lukey??" Anyway, back to poor, poor Luke. As Ben and his buddies were settled into a major Star Wars party in the basement to celebrate Ben's 9th birthday, Luke instantly fell ill with the worst nasal congestion and cough that any of my babies have ever had. It really scared me, which doesn't happen often. I spent a sleepless night with him while Mitch manned the party in the basement (it was a sleepover), and as soon as the sun came up, Lukey (oops), Aunt Mo (who had come over in the middle of the night because I was so worried about him), and I headed to the hospital. Thankfully, it turned out to be a bad baby cold. Bronchiolitis. After 4 rough days, he's all better.

Nana Judy came over on two different nights to sleep with him so I could rest, for which we're all so thankful for! Pictures are of Benny's (oops, did it again) party and of Nana Judy and sick Lukey (oops).

Sweet Sleep

According to my clock, it's 6:53 AM, who knows what blogger's clock says. The good news about 6:53 AM is that Luke is still asleep! That makes 2 days in a row that he's slept later than my alarm clock...ahhhhh, sweet sleep! I think the last two nights are my first full night's sleeps since the summer(I didn't sleep well during my pregnancy, which is unusual). Yesterday, when my alarm went off, I'm sure it was record time that I got to his room to check on him. It really is a little frightening at first...until you see that sweet profile with a little fist by the mouth, and hear the nice, even breathing. That uncertainty quickly changes to, "hallelujah, they slept all night!" It's taken Luke longer to sleep all night as a bottle baby than it took my other three breastfed babies, but he's forgiven.:)

One milestone down, many more to go--though I know we're not in a hurry this time!

Today is the first day of a new session of ballet for the girls and Ben's Birthday Week continues with a sleepover (do boys call it that?). Ridiculous. He's never had a birthday in his entire life. It always ends up being more like a week or two.

Luke picture coming soon, along with ballet and birthweek.:)

**edited 2/2/08: Luke had a rough night last night and had some difficulty breathing, enough so that this mom who's normally the "oh, you're fine" type took him to the ER this morning. Diagnosis is bronchiolitis, which is basically a cold, but he's miserable. He really can't breathe comfortably, and he's pitiful. Nana Judy is staying with us tonight so I can rest some (thanks, Nana!).