The hernia

Most of our last few weeks have seemed to revolve around Luke's hernia. He had a right side inguinal hernia for a couple of months. It started out small and then slowly got bigger. It didn't seem to bother him though. We had scheduled his surgery a couple of weeks ago but had to reschedule since we all got a stomach bug. So, we were scheduled to go again Friday morning. As luck would have it, we ended up in the E.R. on Thursday evening, a few hours before his scheduled surgery. His hernia would not go back in and was causing him a lot of pain. Previous to this we would be able to push it back in if it was protruding. So, the surgeon had to give him morphine and push it back in with all his might. NOT fun holding Luke down for the few minutes it took to do this. We're just thankful that Luke will probably not remember all this down the road.
Luke finally had his surgery Friday morning and it went fine. The surgeon did say it was the biggest one he had seen in someone Luke's size. Luke is doing pretty well. A little sore and cranky but overall pretty good. Here are a few pictures from his little ordeal.

In the E.R...


We couldn't let Luke eat or drink anything while we were there and he was starving. He finally got some crackers and water after we were done and was one happy boy...
Luke got this cute little backpack filled with goodies for being a good boy in the E.R...
SURGERY DAY
We were told to put Luke in a gown while we were waiting. That didn't go over too well...
The only way he was happy was in his diaper and tennis shoes. He wouldn't let us take his shoes and socks off...
We finally got him to agree to wearing a shirt since he was getting cold...
They gave him some woozy medicine before surgery and he thought sticking his finger in his nose was the funniest thing ever...
Daddy got to go back to the O.R. with Luke until he went to sleep...
Luke's I.V. after he got out of surgery...
Eating a popsicle to prove he could go home...
Sorry for the quality of some of the pictures. My camera battery went dead so some of them are from my phone.

January

Looks like I didn't do too well posting last month. Here's a recap of the month.


Luke loves snuggling with his puppy and giving her kisses...



Two of Luke's favorite Christmas gifts- his Mighty Dump Truck and his mp3 player...

Luke's getting a lot better at feeding himself...
He's loved his Legos since the day we got them...
Mr. Potato Head occupies a lot of Luke's time and he gives them kisses...
He walks around with his canteen from Nana and Papa quite often...
He can find almost anything interesting if he's in the mood. Case in point, the garlic press...
He loves to pull his chair up to the couch and watch t.v. with Daddy. Usually only lasts for about two minutes though...
Loves to dance it up on the coffee table...
Loves to put food on his head while he's eating...
Loves to feed the puppy and kitty when he's eating...
Loves coloring on his easel...
He's such a Daddy's boy sometimes...
In the evenings, he looks like this a good amount of the time. Evenings are not his best time of day...
This boy would be outside constantly if he could...
We've spent quite a bit of time at doctor offices lately. Luke had a inguinal hernia. We finally got it fixed yesterday. More to come on that later. I thought it was hilarious in this picture that the word "hazard" shows right beside his head. He IS a huge hazard when medical equipment, drawers, a computer, phone, and paper are in his reach...
TRUE LOVE...
Although it is hard to resist with a face like this...
Ever since we got our Wii, we've been playing it on a 19 inch tv I've had since college. Drew recently found a used tv on Craigslist. We thought it was going to be a 27 inch, but it was 36 when we got it home. We barely got it to fit, but it's been so nice to have a bigger one. Drew loves it.
We did manage to go driving up in the mountains one Saturday. We should take advantage of this more often...

Christmas with Nana and Papa

I got copies of pictures of Christmas with my parents a while back and finally getting around to posting them!

Here's Luke jamming on the piano...


This was Luke's favorite spot while there...


We arrived on our anniversary so Nana and Papa took us to Cheddar's. It was A-MAZ-ING! Luke loves to help Daddy eat...


Eating Nana's wedding cake replica...

Drew got me a new camera! Loved my old one, but it was starting to act up.


We got Luke this latch board. It's really neat with six different types of latches on it. He plays with it a lot and had all the latches figured out in no time!

Our loot from Nana and Papa. We are so spoiled!

Luke relaxing after a big evening in Uncle Ryan's rocking chair...

Our time together was awesome, but too short!

Christmas

We made the trek to Missouri for Christmas this year. We had a lot of fun to say the least. We stopped by Stacy's parents' first. We arrived on our anniversary (3 years already) and Stacy's mom had made us a mini replica of our cake. It was delicious! We then had a yummy dinner at Cheddar's. They stupidly do not have Cheddar's in Colorado. We opened gifts with Nana and Papa on Christmas Eve day. I don't have pictures of any of this unfortunately. I got a new camera for Christmas and somehow deleted the pictures I took. Anyway, we had a short but great time in Joplin! Thanks Nana and Papa!

We then headed to the lake to see Drew's family. All the siblings were there and all six grandbabies. It was a blast to see everyone together!


Grandma had to remove the glass inserts from the coffee table because a certain someone wanted to take them out himself and climb around...

Luke gives kisses, but only on his own terms. He wasn't quite in the mood with the cousins...

We woke up Christmas morning to a beautiful blanket of snow!

Three of the cutest little bums on Christmas morning...

Roxie with the loads of gifts...

Grandma and Grandpa got each family a Wii! We couldn't believe it! We've had a lot of fun with it so far...

The beautiful Christmas tree, showcasing Grandma's nativity scenes on the levels below...

Dance party after we opened the gifts...

Time for some fun in the snow! Luke wasn't a huge fan though.

We ate so much wonderful food while we were home! Here's Christmas dinner...

The famous Buttermilk Pie...

Grandma feeding the grandbabies buttermilk pie...

Don't forget the eggnog shakes!

Roxie had a blast! She went on a very long hike with the guys, played chase with the kids, and loved playing & running in the snow. She was one tuckered out puppy at the end of each day...

Drew brought everyone an American flag from Iraq. Each one flew over their base for at least a day...

Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids...

Jon and Carrie taught Avery to do the "robot". It's a favorite dance move of Drew and Jon's. I love how Caroline is posing in the background.

The whole gang!Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a wonderful time! We wish we could be back there right now!

Luke did a great job in the car on the long ride. You can't really tell that well, but he loved busting a move to the music...