Srubar Family - Life as we know it

Valentine's decorations and 18 month well check

2010-01-27T18:24:00.003-06:00

Well as much as I loved having my Christmas decorations up, I was so ready to take them down and put up Valentine's decorations. Now that I have kids I like to decorate for EVERYTHING. I don't go all out and actually try to make most of my decorations. So here are a few pics of what we have out for V-Day. I couldn't put out our candy bowl yet because all of us would eat it up so the candy will not be bought until the week of (more like the day before).

I took Caroline to the doctor on Monday (the day she turned 19 months old) for her 18 month check up. She is doing wonderfully and growing up right before our eyes!

Weight: 26 lbs 14 oz - 75-90%

Length: 34 3/4" - Above 97% (did anyone expect anything less?!?)

Head: 18 3/4" - 75%

She is like a little parrot now and can say SO MANY words and truly loves to copy whatever Luke is doing. They are playing together better and better although Luke still tries to get attention good or bad if they are together. We rejoined our playgroup we used to be in so that we can make Caroline her own little friends and Luke can reconnect with some old friends and make new one's as well.

Luke is doing great and really LOVES school now. We have decided to put him in preschool 3 days a week next year and Caroline 2 days a week in MDO. I have been taking the kids to a nature outing on Wednesday mornings where the topics vary - todays was nature sounds and they get a little tutorial on the topic, story time, we sing a couple of songs, make a craft and then go on a nature walk. The place is incredible!!! It takes place at a log cabin that was built in 1932 and once you are there you do not feel like you are even in Houston anymore.

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile... we are all doing great, but staying really busy.

35 and 16 months

2009-10-27T10:48:00.003-05:00

Where has the time gone?!? My little babies turned 35 and 16 months on Sunday and I can hardly believe it. Luke will be 3 next month and he has loved "planning" his party for soooooo long now and everytime it is someone else's birthday he will say "no it is my birthday now." We are letting his hair grow out a little on top and his vocabulary and imagination continue to amaze us daily. Caroline is all over the place all day long now that she is walking/running. She continues to be my little monkey as we find her on top of the kitchen table, the coffee table and really anything that she can climb. She is very loving but if she decides there is something she wants - she wants it yesterday and will let everyone know about it. Although she doesn't say her words everyday she continues to add more words. Right now she can say - mama, dada, apple, all done, robot, shoes, socks, pants, eye, mouth, nose, bye bye, hi, Pop Pop and she will try to repeat most anything.

Both kids LOVE being outside and with the cooler weather we have been going to the parks a lot and playing in the backyard or just riding big wheels (C in the wagon) to get the mail. Luke got to fly his first kite at the park last week and thought it was the best thing!! However, we did not take a camera with us in order to capture the moment.

Luke is really getting into school now, it took him awhile to warm up to his teachers but he loves his new friends and really enjoys bible study on Wednesdays. Caroline however is NOT so fond of being left with anyone other than family and cries a LOT when I leave her but she is getting better each week..... time will tell. It just breaks my heart though when I see her so upset. When I pick her up she hugs me and pats my back like, FINALLY.

I hope you all have a very blessed Tuesday!

Tough evening.......

2009-07-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

Our day started off fine, we went to a friends house for a playdate and when I was getting Luke dressed he insisted on wearing his new superman t-shirt (which was one of his prizes for going potty like a big boy) and he insisted on wearing underwear!! Now I'm sure you all are wondering why this was alarming to me, well I have never let him leave the house in underwear - just pullups and although I bring extra everything with us I was nervous. However Luke did awesome all day - no accidents and he went potty actually 3 times at his friends house.

Both kids took about a 3 hour nap and I took about 1.5 hours and it was much needed - I have been feeling extremely drained lately and I'm not sure why (and before anyone asks I am positive that I am not pregnant). I decided to fix a family dinner (Luke usually just eats one of his handful of meals he likes) and that is where it all started to go downhill. I made chicken potpie which Luke used to eat like crazy and he would not even taste it. I told him if he would take just one bite that I would make him something else. Well, I finally got a bite in his mouth when he was crying and told him if he spit it out he was going to time out and no books at bedtime... I am so tired of making dinner and he not wanting to eat it. Well, out came the food and time out here we went... while he was in his chair he cried that he just wanted to go to bed his wish was granted. Now I feel like a terrible mom because this is two nights out of the last 5 that he has gone to bed without really eating... but I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do.

If anyone has any suggestions I would so love to hear them... we have tried it all.

I am so tired after the dinner saga that I am about to head to bed early.

WE HAVE POO POO IN THE POTTY!!!!

2009-07-13T14:37:00.002-05:00

Just as I decided to not worry so much about WHEN Luke would finally decide to poop in the potty, today rolls around and while he was eating lunch he said "oh no mom I need to poo poo in my pull up." (which he was already wearing) So I grabbed him and said let's go sit on the potty and you can get your big prize!!!! Well after I sat in there with him, then he asked for daddy to sit in there and read him a book - and let me tell you they were in there awhile!!! James finally said why don't I give you some privacy so you can concentrate on going potty. Not 3 minutes after he was alone he was so excited yelling for us to come and there and look at what he had done!!!! Now I realize it might not happen again for awhile but I will take it - baby steps I tell ya.

Now the prize he got was a kids horseshoe game for outside which he didn't seem all that excited about until he realized that he could "pretend" the stakes are drumsticks and he found something to drum on and then kept saying "mommy you want to watch my rock-it band?" Where does he come up with this stuff? He danced and sang and put on a show and got a popsicle as a second prize which seemed to be the best idea to him!!!

Potty training update - day 5

2009-07-10T11:19:00.002-05:00

So, although this has been the DREADED week it has gone by pretty fast (even though cabin fever is setting in). Overall Luke has done better than expected - he goes "tt" in the potty just about everytime we take him but still is not at all interested in going poop in the potty - this is the main area that needs some major work but we have tried every "trick and bribe" that we can think of. He has had 3 accidents in his underwear so today I made him go to time out and told him we would continue to do that with each poop accident.

Although I am a bit discouraged he has come a long way and he wants to wear his underwear and is slowly starting to tell us when he needs to go.... so we will forge on and hope we get there all the way before preschool starts at the end of August.

1 year stats - Caroline

2009-07-10T11:12:00.003-05:00

We finally had Caroline's 1 year well check appointment and the doctor is very pleased with her. My little peanut is growing up and we can no longer call her that!!!

She weighed 24.4 lbs which is 90%
She is 31.5 inches long which is 97% - would you have guessed anything different in our family??
Her head is 18 1/4" which is 75%

She had to endure 3 shots and got her blood drawn from her arm - and although she cried as expected she recovered really fast - especially since we let her keep a tongue depresser in her mouth the whole time - she loves to "hold" things in her mouth (we threw it out on the way out of the office).

We don't have to go back until the end of September - thank goodness!!

Pics from C's actual birthday

2009-07-07T22:12:00.004-05:00

I realized when I was looking at pictures today that I did not post any from June 25th which is Caroline's actual birthday. That day we let her open her presents from us at home and then we went to Memorial City Mall to let the kids play at the Castle and ride the Carrousel and that night she got to dig in and eat a cupcake.

Day 2 of week long potty training

2009-07-07T22:05:00.002-05:00

Luke had another fabulous day - basically the same as yesterday, but today he was much more proud of himself and talked about his underwear a lot. He only had a minor slip up but it wasn't his fault - my dad watched the kids for a couple of hours while we slipped away to a movie and I told my dad to keep him in a pull up while we were gone and not to "ask" Luke if he needed to go potty but instead "take" him to the potty. Well, that is not what happened and Luke was apparently really upset when he peed in his underwear. The other "misunderstanding" from my dad is that when we got home Luke asked if he could have a rainbow popcicle and I said I bet you already had one while we were gone - and my dad said that yes he did, in fact he had 3 of them as well as a pudding - WHAT!?! I said why in the world would you give him so many popcicles and pudding and he said well you did say he could have whatever snack he wanted.....!!! I meant Luke could pick out whichever ONE snack he wanted. Oh well, I guess I am going to just have to start leaving notes again even if people tease me about them. However, both kids had a GREAT time with their Pop Pop and was so happy he was here with them.

Day 1 "official" potty training

2009-07-06T23:23:00.002-05:00

I thought I would spare Luke the later embarassment of posting pictures of him on the potty, but I have to say I am a pretty proud mama for the first day ofpotty training. Luke got 10 stickers on his potty chart for going pee in the potty - he only had 1 accident which I totally expected - he pooped in his underwear and I could hear him tell his daddy "daddy I went poo poo in my underwear and I need new underwear right now!" Too funny!!!

I went and bought some inexpensive "prizes" for him for when he gets x amount of stickers and then I bought better prizes for when he starts really getting it.

Yeah Luke!!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you, even though you resisted a bit you did it!!! You are growing up so fast in front of my eyes and I love you so very much!

Well it's been awhile....

2009-07-05T17:01:00.004-05:00

I have so much to blog about I don't really know where to begin so this will be a bit of a random post.

The kids have been doing really great, Luke finished up his first year at Mother's Day out in May and he really misses his friends from "school" but has been having a blast with his other friends this summer. He loves playing in any pool he can and is really starting to enjoy Caroline so much more now that she can somewhat play with him. Luke has grown taller and slimmed out alot but is still my super picky eater - oh well what comes around goes around I was the pickiest kid in the world!!! We are going to start full on potty training tomorrow but I am going into it knowing we will have to really work at it because he has regressed and tells me that he is supposed to poo poo in his diaper NOT the potty - GREAT!! So I will keep you updated on that one. Also, Luke is still weighing in about 34 lbs, I don't have his height but he is tall.

Since my last post Ms. Priss (Caroline) has turned the big 1 year old and has come so far. She had a great party with friends and family and is eating everything she can and is so close to walking but not quit there yet, but she crawls so fast so I'm sure she feels there is no need to walk. Caroline also loves to splash in the water and for the most part still thinks her brother is great except when he is taking her toys away from her - he better watch out when she can walk because she will be after him. She still has 8 teeth but I can feel where 2 more are about to break through anytime now. We go for her well check on Thursday so I will have more stats to post then but I believe she still is weighing in around 23-24 lbs. Her favorite new thing to do is give kisses, it is so sweet but it especially melts her daddy's heart.

James is still at home with us and is enjoying getting to be with the kids everyday and seeing what they are up to.... but I pray he starts looking for a job soon so when the school year gets here we can all get on a better schedule.

I am now a student for on online college called Allied Medical College and will start classes next week to be certified as a medical biller and then will take a class on coding so hopefully I can start in that industry about the time Luke is in full time preschool. I am very excited about this new chapter in my life.

We had a great July 4th, we had a birthday party we went to and a bbq in the evening and the kids loved every minute of it!!! I will have to post pics of this later.

Kids exploring....

2009-04-20T22:27:00.003-05:00

Well, as I type this post as I'm sure you can tell I am new to posting pics on here and I ended up posting them from newest to oldest in regards to how our week went.... oh well, I am too tired to fix it tonight.

The kids had a great week last week - Luke enjoyed being back at school with his friends and got to go on a few playdates. Caroline is getting more and more mobile she still inch worm crawls but she is FAST, she does get on all fours to sit up and to pull up on things to a standing position. She walks some now behind a walker and when we hold her hands but she isn't yet standing unassisted but will be any time now. Luke has done LOTS of projects/crafts this week but I didn't think to take any pictures - he played playdough, painted, built with moonsand, sprayed ants with his "water gums" (water guns), played games with his daddy etc... in the meantime Caroline has been getting better with her sippy cup (she likes the bigger ones), working on crawling through the tunnel and walking with the walker (again I didn't get a pic of that).

This is Luke trying to "play" with Caroline in the tunnel - ie, he wants to show that he can do it
just as well as she can!!

Caroline being so proud of herself making it through the tunnel.

Her big girl sippy cup AND one of the few pink things that she owns!! HA, and I had to sneak that in the house - I was getting their cups mixed up and when they were both sick I wanted no sharing of sippy cups!!

Luke enjoying the rain over the weekend - why I didn't think to put his rain coat on as well who knows but he had a blast puddle jumping in front of our house.

One of the few times we let him play in the street!

Caroline holding Bessie Mae's bottle (she is the 3 week old calf that James' parents are bottle feeding). Sometimes at night I wish we could feed Caroline a bottle this big to make sure she sleeps all night!!

Luke thought this was the coolest thing ever to feed the calf - he got to do it 3 times before we went home. The calf is really sweet and he got to pet her as well.

The kids love to go to the farm but they always love getting back home as well... like I said we have been busy busy with crafts and projects - Luke amazes me how good he is with his crafts and he focuses on what he is doing and is pretty neat with it and lets me know when he is finished - the only difference is now we have to put him at the kitchen table instead of the kids table in the playroom since Caroline wants to be up in his business now!! He better watch out she is on her way to take over his world!!! HA!!

AND the big highlight of today which I so should have taken a picture of but didn't really believe it would happen..... Luke at not one but TWO HOTDOGS for lunch (not with a bun)!! Why are you wondering is this so great - the child does not try new things and today he was all for it!! I've never been so excited for him to eat kid food as I was today! I had already cooked chicken nuggets and tator tots so James got to eat those for lunch.

I'm always open for good breakfast/lunch ideas from those of you with little ones .....

What is your kids favorite food??

Easter

2009-04-20T21:51:00.003-05:00

Happy Belated Easter Everyone!!!! We had a wonderful Easter weekend at the farm and spent some really quality time with the kids and James family.

We left on Saturday morning trying to give Caroline another day to heal from her illness (herpangina - or sores in the back of the throat and top of the mouth). The kids did great in the car although I am so ready for Caroline to be in her big girl car seat so that she has more room. It should be here tomorrow so I am so excited to see that UPS truck show up at my house. The Easter bunny did visit the kids at the farm however we had to emphasize to Luke that he came and left presents and hid the eggs but was long gone and we would not see him - if you remember from the older post he is terrified to see the E. bunny but is obsessed with looking at him in pictures!!! The kids as usual got way too much but they loved every minute of it and they got some much needed spring/summer clothes from their aunts/uncles.

Luke loves his family so much he played so hard and neither one of the kids took a nap Easter Sunday. Caroline also did not sleep either night so I took the liberty of taking a nap in their place and let them have fun with the family. Thankfully however she has been sleeping since we got back home and back in her own bed.... don't you just love to get back in your own shower and bed after an extended trip?!?

This is Luke and his cousin Sydney they are checking out some of the goodies inside the eggs.

Caroline enjoying her plastic egg and watching the others run around.

Luke and Sydney taking a rest in the hammock - Luke thought this was so cool!
He now wants one in his yard and poor thing we have no trees in our yard (Ike took care
of the one big one we had).

Luke, Caroline and Sydney on their wagon ride.

Luke and Sydney after church at the egg hunt.

Sydney was trying to show him the ropes!!!

Luke was coming to show me what all he had found.

Luke is still singing Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

Easter party

2009-04-05T11:36:00.004-05:00

On Saturday I took the kids to an Easter party/egg hunt at their friends Awbrey and Claire's house and it was fantastic!!! Our friends live out in Hockley and live on a couple of acres so there was plenty of space for a huge egg hunt. Before the party got in full swing the easter bunny arrived and Luke was TERRIFIED to say the least and Caroline just stared at him. It took about 30+ minutes of hard crying for Luke to calm down and start enjoying the hunt - and although he was crying he really picked up the most eggs - go figure!!! He loved seeing all of his friends that we haven't seen in awhile and got to burn a lot of energy which is always good. Caroline is still under the weather but she tolerated the party well and did great when I decided to take some bluebonnet pics when we left the party on our way to the doctor. Both kids will hopefully get in to see their regular pedi on Monday to see if Luke has or had what Caroline has -- not fun.

9 month update and sick kiddos

2009-04-01T22:19:00.002-05:00

Caroline had her 9 month well check yesterday - she turned 9 months on the 25th of March - and she weighed 21 lbs 10 oz (90%), is 29" long (95%), and her head measured 17 3/4" (75%). What can I say we have tall healthy babies!!!! She did extremely well at the doctor, never cried once and mostly laughed and "talked" to the nurse and doctor. Both Caroline and Luke have had colds and today I think they were competing to see who could have more dirty diapers!!! I think I changed 8 total dirty diapers (and a few others just wet), poor Luke has the runs - not fun for anyone but mostly him since it has left him with a terrible diaper rash and I am praying that Caroline is not getting the same thing since she went potty so much today as this is very unusual for her....

I am praying for a speedy recovery for Luke's tummy so that he doesn't have to miss any school - he loves his friends at school and his teachers.

My favorite picture....

2009-03-25T22:57:00.002-05:00

This is about a month or so old but I had to share because it is a favorite of mine of my silly monkeys... hence my new layout!!!! This is still when Luke would ask to "hold Caroline" and now he just loves to be right up in her face.... oh happy days! :)

Time flies.....

2009-03-25T21:16:00.005-05:00

Here are some recent pics over the past week and today on their "month day!" Enjoy...

Caroline is so wanting that soccer ball....

She is giddy with delight - she had just drank her first yogurt drink and was in heaven!!! Happy 9 months baby girl!!!

This is at Zube park after we rode the trains, she had to stay in her stroller since she has her mama's fair skin - but she still had fun and loved riding the train!

Just kickin' back enjoying the day....

I was trying to let Caroline be part of the "farming" experience while Luke was gardening with his cousins - he was having a blast.

Caroline was showing off her clapping skills at granny and popo's

This is Luke's first ride on the big tractor and HE LOVED IT!!!

Me and my friend Melissa in Austin right before we were headed out, we had a great time and are already planning for the next trip.

Melissa and Zachary after there craft - the place we went is so cool and has free crafts every Saturday - like 5 different kinds - I wish I could find something like that in Houston.

This is Luke being silly in Zachary's funny glasses.

Enjoying one of the beautiful days in Houston recently.

Well I can't believe it but Ms. Caroline is 9 months old today and Mr. Luke is 28 months old. It seems so surreal to me that my kids are getting so big so fast - especially Caroline, the second time around is truly a whirlwind. I don't have her "official" stats yet we go to the doctor next Tuesday but we weighed her and she is about 21 lbs, she has 8 teeth is very long and babbles like crazy - dada, gaga and to my delight her newest is mama!!! Caroline had a lot of first's over spring break - she started inchworm crawling (and she is getting really fast), pulls up to her knees and once has pulled herself to standing.... so I have a feeling this next month we are in for a fully mobile baby - and much to Luke's dismay she loves to crawl into his room and pull all the books off the shelf and play with his cars! Too funny, he so does not get how his life is about to change!! However he loves his "sweet caroline." Luke has been busy as well and seems to be getting taller. He had a fabulous spring break - we started off in Austin with some friends and he got to play with a lot of cool toys, make fun crafts and go on an adventure in the woods - THEN off to granny and popo's farm where he got to work in the garden, ride a BIG tractor and help move wood around and play with his cousins - he could not have been happier.

Since being home we are getting back into a routine and Luke was excited to get back to school yesterday and James and I are working on projects around the house with high hopes to actually get them completed before he starts working again - which will help our stress level a lot!!! I should mention that these "projects" have been on our list of things to do for over a year so now we have run out of excuses and need to get things organized.

Eating and our kids are still a challenge in our household... we are trying to get Luke to try new things daily and it seems like our friends can get him to try so much more and you know who you all are!!! He has done better in some areas and even ate some of the dinner I made for the family tonight (baked chicken with rice and gravy) and we put this same dinner in a grinder for Caroline and she gobbled it up as well as had some homemade fruit puree that I made for her. Yesterday she ate refried beans, rice and a small taste of taco meat and loved it... now baby food we have to almost make her eat it so I think she is read to make a almost full transition to regular food. She also now loves Luke's yogurt drinks. I am trying hard to not have a second picky eater.

We have had well kids for awhile now which has been a blessing but tonight Luke went to bed with a slight runny nose and I am hopeing it was due to his crying from being overtired (he wouldn't take a nap today) and not him getting sick.

There are lots of babies out there in nicu's around the US that I have been praying for so I ask all of you to please include all babies in the nicu's for peace and recovery - especially Jonah (who has a very rare skin disorder and has blisters all over his body), Stellan (who is 4 months old and who is in very serious condition with his heart in svt and has a severly high heart rate - in the 200's). And I've said it in the past but give your kids an extra hug and kiss and be blessed that your kids are home to annoy you when they are acting up because we are blessed!!

Life

2009-02-11T21:31:00.002-06:00

Since my mom passed away (2 yrs this coming April) I miss her so much and not a day goes by that I don't think about her or wish that she were still here to witness me being a mother to my children and for her to love and play with them. I am always talking to the kids about her but James and I truly believe that she is their guardian angel - especially Luke - she adored him and he was only 5 months old when she passed away and up until the very end she would ask about him and want to see him and touch his face. During the next months after she was gone to heaven we would hear Luke call out "Mimi" over the monitor, which is what the grandkids called her and a couple of times James felt like he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting in the glidder in his room but it was gone fast and he would just dismiss it. Also, different family members have since told me how happy my mom was that I had a son and that she hoped we would hurry and get pregnant again and have the daughter I have always wanted and then came Caroline!!

So after talking to a dear friend yesterday she brought up my mom and the strength that I have had since my mom is gone and it has really made me think about angels amoung us.... ironically enough this morning when I went to get my watch out to put on I came across this saying in my drawer and wanted to share it:

----Angels----
I Believe in Angels
That they're Always
Hovering Near,
Whispering Encouragement
Whenever Clouds Appear,
Protecting us from Danger
and Showing us the Way,
Performing little Miracles
Within our Lives each Day.

I also found this one which I just really love as well....

---The Train
Our Faith is like a Train
That travels on a Heavenly track
And when you get on board
You never will look back.

Rest in the Holy Spirit,
There's nothing you should fear
For God's the Staion Master
And Christ the Engineer.
Cheryl White

Two steps forward and TEN steps back

2009-02-11T21:21:00.002-06:00

Okay so I pray for every child out there that they NEVER get any form of rotavirus!!! Caroline is through the rough part (and the doc said she had a mild case since she was vaccinated for it) however her diapers are still major YUCK and she doesn't care for the soy formula we have to have her on for about a week. Along with this she is no longer interested in ANY veggies/fruits but instead only wants her cereal and/or rice snacks. Luckily during the day she is still in a good mood but when the lights go out at night I don't know where my sweet angel has gone. We went from finally sleeping through the night (for about 1.5 weeks) to now waking up a lot at night to be comforted.

And on top of this Luke has decided that it is in his best interest to wake up at around 1:30 every night (or morning depending on how you look at it) and come to our room get on the bed and he tells me "mom here I am" or "I'm here" and he hugs us and snuggles down for the rest of the night. I always said I would NEVER allow my children to sleep with us and for the most part we have stuck to this motto HOWEVER when you are as sleep deprived as we are you tend to roll over and go with the flow.... we are now working on him staying in his room all night and hopefully we will be back to normal within the week.

I pray that Caroline has a full recovery soon and that we can all get a goods night rest. I hate to see my baby not feel well and especially when there is really nothing that can be done for her except to love on her and comfort her.

And I have to say that I do love to snuggle with Luke and when he wakes up he typically tells me "good morning mom, happy birthday" or "I want to watch cartoons and drink my milk." He is so full words these days and uses full sentences most of the time. It is so amazing to me to see his brain/memory working and how much he loves to learn - he loves when we play school at home to work on things.

Children are such a blessing!

Our Heavenly Father

2009-02-09T22:45:00.002-06:00

I am obessed with reading blogs and keeping up with my friends and even people I will never meet especially when their blogs deal with their children. I have been praying more than I ever have in my life for children and families going through so much and some have happy endings and some end in tradgedy. I read just today about a 10 month old precious baby girl named Cora that was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with cancer and she passed away today and is now living with Jesus and all her angels.

It really has me thinking that life really is so precious and short and that we never know when our time will be up or that of our loved ones. So I am really trying to calm down and not sweat the small stuff that I do on a regular basis and I want to start living knowing that I am protected by HIM and that I don't have control over everything in my life. I love my kids and family so much and love making memories with them daily. We laugh so much and love so much and I pray that we will always be close.

So my message tonight is to hug those around you and tell your loved ones that you love them and don't hold grudges life is too short and just be happy. If something is not going in the direction you like in your life change it and do something you love!!!

I am so excited about joining a new bible study in the fall with a new dear friend of mine and I hope to meet many other moms going in the same path I am and that our children can grow together.

Tonight please pray for the Mcclenahan's as they mourn the loss of their baby Cora Paige. Also pray for Harper Stamps who is almost 4 weeks old and is now doing well after being told that she might not make it through her first night in this world... for more on her story and for a very inspirational blog please read her mom Kelly's blog at: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Have a blessed evening!

Domestic Bliss?!?

2009-02-09T22:24:00.003-06:00

This is a mini me picture of James and Luke

Although Luke new it was his daddy's birthday he kept saying it was his birthday and then in the middle of the night when he woke up he asked James "where's your birthday cake?" Guess we know what he was dreaming about.

Luke learned to eat his first fun dip candy (much to his daddy's dismay, but he loved it) with his cousin Audrey who he ADORES, he thinks she hung the moon!

Mommy and her princess!!! I'm taking advantage of dressing her the way I want right now before she can tell me otherwise - my luck she will never want to wear dresses and that is exactly what I did to my mom! Ha!

Yesterday was James' birthday and since we have been nit picking each other since we are now together 24/7 I decided to invite some family over and cook him a requested meal. He chose beef enchiladas and tres leche cake (I also made pinto beans and mexican rice). If I say so myself the meal came out wonderful and there were hardly any leftovers (darn!). All of a sudden I have been feeling very domesticated and feel like making homade dinners and doing stuff with the house that I don't normally do - very Leave it to Beaverish - however the feeling doesn't always lastlast too long!

Caroline looks like such a big girl sitting on Luke's car (she can't ride it yet, we just sat her on it and she LOVED it).

We had a great day with everyone that was here and fell very blessed that my cousin Heath came home safe from Iraq where he has been for about the last 15 months. Luke also loves him and asks for him often he calls him "Heaf."

Happy Birthday James we love you and really do like having you with us each day and sharing in all the memories we make each and everyday!

I love you!

Still playing catch up.....

2009-01-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

Okay so I've picked some pictures to just show updates of what has been going on with us and just some cute picks of the kiddos.... This one above is our future cowgirl - L is obsessed with C wearing his cowboy hats!!! So cute and it makes her laugh everytime.

This is my 6 month old lil' punkin - we had her well check today and all went well, she weighs in at a whopping 18 lbs 4 oz (95%) and 28" long (97%). She is very tall for her age and already has 5 teeth which makes her look older. She has started rolling over but doesn't do it often, she loves her activity center and stands in it a lot and plays with all of her toys - that is if L doesn't steal them away and say that they are his toys.

C has graduated to her bath seat and she loves it and loves to play in the water, makes bath time so much easier!!

This is my silly monkey!!! He loves his new monkey towel he got for Christmas we have so much fun together - we love to make each other laugh... and now L loves to make C laugh and then tell us about it.

This is the day after Christmas at Granny and Popo's house while the boys let mommy take a much needed nap. They put together his new train set he got and he had so much fun helping his daddy.

C is sitting in her daddy's high chair from when he was a baby - I know it is still standing!!! :)

I've been told it was red and white when James and his siblings were babies and Granny redid it later on. We have pics of L in it as well - it is really cool I think to have pictures like this.

This is one of the pictures from the Christmas playdate that we hosted at our house - we had a lot of fun and all the kiddos got along very well that day especially in this stage of "mine."

I so love this picture, as I said L loves for C to wear his hats and then while we were playing he kissed her and told us "Caroline beautiful." I thought that was sooooo sweet they love each other so much. That is except when L gives C a toy she loves and then rips it away!!! Fun times await us!!!

Well, to all of our buddies out there, we hope to back to playing this week... everyone in the family is well and I am slowly starting to be on the mend. I finally went to urgent care yesterday and got a lovely steroid shot and an antibiotic and some allergy meds. I started feeling more human today and L is so ready to play with his friends.

I am so excited that MDO is starting again tomorrow and that we are all getting back on our routines.

Although this message is very late we all hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!! I have so many resolutions this year and so far as of day 5 I am doing pretty good.

Catching up with The Srubar's

2008-12-27T21:51:00.000-06:00

Okay so I know I am WAY behind in my posts and I have no excuses since I have the time to read all my friends blogs....

So I am going to try and do a little catch up time tonight.

Let's start with Luke's birthday, my big boy turned 2 yrs old on Nov. 25th and we celebrated his big day on the 22end with a party at the YMCA with friends and family. A good time was had by all and it was so fun to see L so excited to see his friends and to play with all of them.

L is also still adjusting to his "cowboy bed" as he calls it and we had a very rough week (about a week ago) with him going to bed just fine and then waking up around midnight and wanting to sleep in our bed AND if that wasn't enough to interrupt our sleep C was sick during the same time so there was very little sleep going on in our house hold. L loves stickers so last week I started rewarding him with a "superstar sticker" every morning that he made it all night in his big boy bed and let me tell you it is working!!! He made it all last week in his bed.... I hope it continues now that we are back from our Christmas trip and being off schedule and him having a cold - we shall see.

Oh and for my friend Melissa here is a picture of the new tiles in Luke's cowboy room (I haven't downloaded C's yet).

On Saturday December 6th we had Caroline baptized in our new church and it was such a special and beautiful event. We had a private baptism which was much nicer and faster than the group one we had for Luke. We had about 25 people there to celebrate this special sacrament and then had a reception for her back at our house which turned out wonderfully.

Caroline was 4 months old at her baptism and weighed in at 15 lbs!!! She will be getting her 6 month well check next week so I will post more stats then. For christmas she got her two front teeth!!! so she now has 4 teeth. I will have to catch up more later once I download my Christmas pictures, but with the exception of everyone in my family being sick we had a wonderful time and Luke so loved all his santa gifts - and Caroline's everytime I would show Caroline something of hers he would look at it and say "no Luke's toy." What fun the 2's are!!!

Big Boy Bed

2008-11-12T16:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, so in a spur of the moment decision we have decided to move Luke to his full size big boy bed - emphasis on big or should I say tall!!! James went to buy the mattresses yesterday and we got his room all set up and got Luke super excited about his new bed, well once it was set up the mattress and box spring are so tall that his bed is the highest in the house. It feels like you are crawling up into a bunk bed.... however it didn't bother Luke in the least, he LOVES it.

So we haven't hit 24 hours yet with the new bed, but bedtime was a non-event last night but we did not sleep that well because we (more me than James) was afraid that Luke would wake up and get out of his room and then be scared. I put night lights everywhere to help him, but he slept until 7:30 this morning.

So onto naptime - this is what I was more worried about since I live for naptime!!! Lucky for me I was able to get Caroline down in her swing for a nap and then Luke and I crawled up in his bed, read a story and then I layed down with him. Luke thought it was so funny I was laying with him and he kept checking to see if my eyes were open, then he circled my face and eyes with his finger whispering "circle" and if I opened my eyes he would whisper "mama go night night close eyes." So after several minutes of this I decided to roll over and face the wall and pretend to sleep. Well after a few minutes he layed down next to me and put his arm around my back and patted my shoulder until he fell asleep - soooooooo sweet!!!! I then very carefully removed myself from his bed and he slept for 2 hours!!!!

So I have to say we have had initial success and although I have no doubt that it won't last, I am pretty proud of Luke so far to make this big adjustment so quickly. So now all day we have heard "come on mommy (or daddy) Luke's room" he wants to play in his room and either dance on the floor or get up and down off his bed.

Caroline enjoys laying on the bed with Luke next to her laughing - it is so cute!!! She is doing so much better this week with her tummy time and holding her head up while on the floor for longer periods of time and then rolling to her back. She is also taking naps a little bit better this week, still not for super long periods of time but anything is better than nothing. She is back to sleeping through the night at least 2-3 nights a week and I'm now trying to just give her a pacifier if she wakes up to break the habit of the one bottle and it seems to work so far.... so there is light at the end of my sleepless tunnel.

Add on to Top 4 (to make it 5)

2008-11-03T22:32:00.000-06:00

I thought of my other top 5 item of the week and it is a good one!!!

5. Caroline slept through the night twice last week and only woke up once during the night the other days. So things are looking up for us in the Srubar household - and I can't wait until she is sleeping all night every night. Now if I can just get her to take her naps somewhere other than on me for longer than 20 minutes we will really be doing good.

I am really going to try and update more regularly now at least once a week... because I really enjoy reading everyone else's blogs and keeping up with their kiddos.

Top 4

2008-11-03T21:53:00.000-06:00

Okay, so my friend has given me a hard time for being so behind in my blog so she gave me an idea to post my top 5 things going on in my families life right now to try and catch everyone up.... so here we go, however I made it my top 4.

1. My sweet baby girl turned 4 months old on 10/25 and is growing by leaps and bounds. She is babbling and cooing like crazy and already has her two bottom teeth!!! I can't believe she has teeth already, she got them right before she hit 4 months. At her well check she was 15 lbs (75%), 25 3/4" (95%) - we grow big tall babies in my family!!!! Caroline can roll to her side but doesn't love being on her tummy so I don't think the full rolling over thing is going to happen real soon. She is eating or should I say wearing her cereal now and will be starting on veggies at the end of the week.... I am going to try making her baby food this time around and try to make this child not so picky like her big brother Luke and I SWEAR that she will NOT ever even taste a gerber graduate meal and get stuck on them like Luke.... that is still pretty much all he eats for lunch and dinner with the exception of chicken nuggets/green beans and tots - that's it!!!

2. James has been working from home for the last week and that has been a pretty big adjustment for all of us. He gets distracted and wants to see what the kids are doing and therefore is not in the office much and therefore my routine is totally out of whack!!! It is nice having him home but it is nice having a routine as well (and to be able to keep the house picked up). Luke loves having him around and wants him to play cars with him whenever possible.

3. My big boy is going to be 2 years old this month, I absolutely can not believe it - where has the time gone???? Luke is talking up a storm and now speaks in small sentences and can count to 15 (which I think he learned from Sesame Street) and sings the ABC's, actually he LOVES to sing any and every song and catches on rather quickly. His favorite right now is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and he sings it ALL the time and as loud as he can at times.... he wakes up singing it. He is at such a fun age but at the same time I can def. see the terrible two's headed straight at me!!! He also is just not acting out sometimes with Caroline but loves her so much at the same time. If she cries he runs up to her and tells her it's okay and kisses her. He loves to lay next to her on her playmat etc etc.... They are too cute together.

4. We had a great time on Halloween, we started the day at a Halloween playdate at Luke's friend Carter's house. Luke was a pirate and Caroline was dressed in pumpkin stuff and after we took all the kids pics (Luke, Carter, Bella, Awbrey and Emma - we did the babies seperate) we stripped them all down to their diapers and let them paint pumpkins. Luke had such a great time. Later that evening (after I waited two hours in line to vote) we went to James sisters Halloween party and had a blast - Luke loves his family SO much and went trick or treating and played with his cousins.

Back to normal

2008-09-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well, we are finally back home (we came back on Saturday) after spending almost a full week with James' parents at their farm. Our power went out at 9 pm Friday before the storm and didn't come back on until Thursday night. Although we missed our regular routine at home Luke and Caroline LOVED being with their Granny and Popo all week and was pretty spoiled. Luke got to play outside all day and Caroline was held alot by her Granny. Luked "called" cows (and they actually came up to him) and played with the dogs, a frog and his Popo's cowboy hat. He amazed everyone with how much he can talk now and how many words he is actually putting together. Our house had no damage, we just had a big pine tree fall over and take out some of the fence.

I think Luke is ready to get back to normal this week and he will start back to MDO tomorrow (YEA!!!) Caroline and I have a lot of errands to run so we are ready too!!!

Hope everyone came out of the hurricane okay.

PROUD MAMA

2008-09-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I have to brag on my big boy!!! When I picked him up at MDO today he saw me and said hi mama and the teachers told me "what a sweet boy he is," now if that doesn't make a mom's heart swell.... I couldn't believe it but he ACTUALLY took a nap for them on his napmat that my dear friend Deana made for him (www.deanassewcrafty.net) and they said he slept for about an hour. Now for those of you that know my son know that he doesn't take naps very well anywhere but in his own bed so this was a miracle in itself!! He got a good report card for his first day and he has been trying to tell me about the playground since we got home, he keeps telling me "mama I slide." So I do believe that the first day of school was a BIG SUCCESS!!!

Now if I can just get Caroline on a good daytime nap schedule I will be all set!!!

First day of MDO

2008-09-02T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well, today was Luke's first day of Mother's Day Out (MDO) or as we call it at home - school!!! He had his backpack on as we left this morning and I dropped him off without much incident - he really didn't even cry!!! Good for him, and it made me a proud mama because he is growing up so fast. While we were waiting for the door to open for his class he was watching some other kids and he said mama hand, we had let go of our hands and he knows he is supposed to hold my hand if he gets to walk - it so made me smile. Now Caroline on the other hand was the one who had a meltdown at the church and a lady that works at the church came over to assist me and hold her while I got Luke dropped off - thank goodness for all the kind people out there. I can't wait to pick up Luke to see how he did and will def. blog later to give everyone an update and to download his first day of school pics!!! Being a mom is so gratifying and makes your heart swell everytime you see your kids do something for the first time.... :)

I am getting A LOT of stuff done around the house and already ran several errands - that's why MDO is so great!!!

My first blog.....

2008-08-28T21:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I am blogging for the first time ever!!! I have been reading several friends blogs about their families and adventures and decided this would be a fun way to keep our friends and families caught up on what is going on in our lives.

I know you all know how much I LOVE to talk and tell stories about my kids so this is a perfect venue for me to get it all out and not take up someone's voicemail as I have been known to do.

Luke is now 21 months old and just amazes me daily on is thirst for knowledge and his comedic acts he performs for me everyday. At times I think his goal in life is to make me laugh - he really works hard at it and I find myself laughing often. Last weekend we went to "the farm" which is James' parents house and he had the best visit EVER!!! He saw his first real snake and kept calling it a "nake" and going sssssss - of course it was dead at the point he saw it because it was a big "nake." I add a pic later. He also tried to feed the cows sticks and grass through the fence and didn't appear to be scared of them at all. His popo got a new puppy named blackie and told Luke it was his dog and he played with it every chance he got.

Caroline is now our big girl at 2 months old and I can't believe how time has flown since she has been born. We are def. still adjusting to life with two but it is getting easier everyday and I'm sure James is happy as my shopping has slowed down a lot as I don't get out of the house near like I used to. I took her to the doctor today for her well visit (although she has a cold) and she weighs in at a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz and is 24" long (97%) so it looks like she might be following in her big brothers foot steps. The doctor was super impressed with her weight gain since she has reflux so bad.

Luke still loves his baby sister as he calls her and every morning when I go to get him from his room he tells me "shhhhhh baby sleeping" even if I have her in my arms. Or he will go find her and say "morning big girl" because he hears me call her big girl, it just cracks me up. Caroline tolerates Luke really well, he kisses her non-stop and has even licked her head on occasion and gave her "knuckles" yesterday and tries to share his milk and snacks with her.

Well, I think this is enough blogging for the first entry... I will be trying to blog weekly or more often and will be adding pictures next week.