Sometimes I leave Clara unattended when I need to get something done, 

quick, without her, like go to the bathroom.

I try to do this when Luke is already preoccupied with something else.

 Luke absolutely adores his sister.

He always wants to be by her.

 I can always tell if Luke has figured out that I have left momentarily unattended.

He gets this silly little laugh,

its borderline evil sounding,

like he's about to do something,mean to her.

Usually he just leans over her,

and laughs in her face.

Today I saw her smiling back at him.

Then he was trying to hold her hand.

If Luke could talk better,

I'm sure he would tell me he can't wait until she older,

so she could play with him!

Couponing:
my new favorite hobby!
Everything in this photo was either FREE
or ridiculously cheap,
most less than $.50
Everything less than $1.00

I secretly look forward to double coupon Tuesday
every week at WalMart!
Monday nights I make my list,
and I get giddy about all the great deals I am going to get!

Today I got free BBQ sauce and Tabasco sauce,
I get great deals on snacks for Luke.
I love using FREE toothpaste,
especially FREE dish soap!

You should try it!
A shout out to my cousin Natalie, who got me hooked!
Thanks!!!

It's fun to have a girl, and get her all dressed up.
Gilbert just thinks this is silly.

Clara has a double chin.

Combined with some chubby cheeks!

You know you want to squeeze them!

Luke was mad that he wasn't dressed yet to be in the pictures,
so this is how he got his picture taken.
He's been trained well,
whenever he sees a camera he says
"CHEESE"

Operation: Cold Turkey Binki
Day 4: Success!
We haven't had any binki's for 4 days,
and we are not turning back!
There has been lots of whining and complaining,
and bed time takes forever,
but we will make it!

Luke's favorite: swings!

Operation: Cold Turkey Binki
Day 2: Success
Definition of success=
Mom did not give in.

Today we are starting something new.
Luke has always been a big worry for us.
He has always struggled with acid reflux, and simply just doesn't eat.
We never could figure the kid out.

In November of last year, we took Luke in for some testing so see if they could figure out why he continued to throw up and why he wouldn't eat. The tests came back vague, which was not what we were hoping for. There were some possible food allergies, but he was only 14 months old at the time and some were too early to tell. We came away regretting putting him through the tests since nothing helpful came from them. Since then we have done everything we know to do to help our child. It's so hard to be told by a doctor that your child is malnourished, and there's nothing we can do about it.
Then there are the people who do not know what we've been through with him, and make the naive comments about how small Luke is or how he doesn't eat a lot. Gilbert and I have conversations every day about what Luke has or has not eaten. We count every bite, every calorie and have since he was born. It's been a huge stress and worry in our lives.
We recently repeated these tests to see if anything new could come from them. It was both good and bad. The good was that his body wasn't showing signs of any allergies anymore. So whatever was bothering him before, he has grown out of or acclimated himself to. The bad was, that his body was still showing signs of reflux. The poor kid has probably had a stomach ache his entire life or simply not felt well.
So he is back on acid reflux medicine, to hopefully rectify the stomach ache. However, there is still the issue of his lack of desire to eat. Nearly every person I know has a love affair with food. We buy Luke anything and everything food wise, just in case he will eat it. He simply isn't interested. There have been several days where it is now 2 or 3 in the afternoon and Luke hasn't eaten a single thing, and has no desire to.
We have seen pediatric dieticians, and pediatric feeding experts. We've had his diet analyzed and countless trips to the pediatric gastroenterologist. We are thinking his lack of desire is now a behavioral problem. So our new method to attack that is a medication to help increase his appetite to show him food is SO YUMMY!

So today we started our new plan of attack to help Luke. This plan includes new medications, and cutting out the binki cold turkey. Luke has always been addicted to his binki. I am thinking he used it to help curb his appetite and sooth himself to forget about his tummy ache. We are nearly 24 hours without the binki, so day one is a success! With all these new actions, we are hoping to see some results. We are hoping our little boy will have a normal appetite. We are hoping he will gain some weight. We are hoping that he will start growing at a normal rate and not be so little.
One day, hopefully, we will be able to stop worrying so much about his food intake.
For now, there is a glimmer of hope that we can do something for our child or have answers enough to make an action plan to help him.

For now, we officially have the cutest kids in the world!

For those of you who think Clara looks like Gilbert,
here are some more comparison shots for you.

For those of you who think Clara looks like me,
here's another comparison photo.


Either way, she is one adorable little girl,
who we LOVE!!!

cute kids

Everyone thinks their kids are cute,
but mine really are the cutest kids EVER!!!

Luke walks around saying "cheese"
He knows the drill!

my cute Clara smiles at me!

My cuties actually like each other.
Sometimes Clara doesn't appreciate all the noise,
but I don't blame her.

Luke has incredibly long, gorgeous eyelashes.
Compliments of his mommy.

Luke likes to give Clara kisses!

look alikes

Above: Gilbert
Below: Luke

Above: Clara (I know its not the most flattering pic)
Below: Brandi

What do you think?
Who looks like who?

enjoying some summer corn!