Horsey

Lucas' first horse ride was from his bedroom to the living room to say 'yeehaw' to Grandma. As you can see he actually brought his feet up so they wouldn't drag, smart kid. Here he's just enjoying the bright colors of his new friend. I wonder how long before he's pushing this thing around the house?

Flames

Lucas' flame converse that I bought while pregnant almost fit him. Jeremy isn't in love with them, but I am! If I recall correctly a $10 gift certificate came in the mail to a shoe store when we lived in Texas. So we went to see what we could find. These shoes just happened to be exactly $10, but when we went to get them, only one shoe was in the box. NOBODY could find the other shoe. I was bummed but we eventually left. Several weeks later we went back, and low and behold TWO shoes! I was only about 3 months pregnant, and it still hadn't been confirmed that we were having a baby boy. I'm sure glad we got them while we had the chance. I'm looking forward to putting them on him when they actually fit him :)

T.P.

He heard the bath water running and crawled in there naked. To my surprise he went for the toilet paper instead of the tub. It didn't take long for him to have a nice little pile on the floor. Oh the joys of a curious little boy. First the baby wipes, now the toilet paper. I can hardly wait to see what new adventures tomorrow will bring.

Surf Shoes/ Chunky Legs

This is just too cute not to share. What you can't see is that he's wearing a surf shirt too.

Avid Reader

This is the big book he got from Grandma on Christmas.

Wipe Waster

Today he discovered that if you pull on the wipes, more come out. Half a box later and some very adorable video, he finally lost interest.

Bon Appetite

I can't decide which picture is cuter, so I'm just posting both of them. Lucas decided to help himself to the food in the fridge while I was making myself something to eat. His eyes are bigger than his stomach, he still has very little appetite.

Tub Time

Here we are washing off all the icky hospital germs...yuck! Lucas is playing with one of his Christmas presents. Foam letters. Of course they serve more as teething toys than anything else. I think it's pretty cute seeing all the tiny little teeth marks in them.

Blue

Is Lucas' face blue because
A.)He needs more oxygen
B.)The nurse gave him blue powerade to help him pee

The answer is B. He LOVED it, I couldn't pry that cup away from him...and it worked. He went to the bathroom and avoided an i.v.

Monkey Bars

Literally... can this really be classified as a crib? I mean come on now, it's a metal cage with a mattress in it. Needless to say, Lucas did not sleep in there, instead I slept sitting up in the hospital bed provided for the parents. Lucas did however enjoy playing in the "crib" when I needed a few minutes to myself to brush my teeth or use the lady's room

Peek-a-Boo

Cool table Grandpa

The Christmas Pageant

This is a chain letter I received. Merry Christmas!

My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time)for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby.I decided to do some serious praying and promised God
that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty.

We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and
I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding...
when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see
how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother -I didn't even come close...
I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God. I knew I was missing the mark
just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man.This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes." My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes." A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur." The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes. "For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.

Merry Christmas

The Traylor family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. And because I don't like waiting for things longer than I have to, I jumped at the opportunity once again to open presents a day early. Somehow we managed to make it through the entire evening without one single family picture or picture of me. But there a few good pictures of Lucas playing with wrapping paper, and some cute pictures of the boys. Lucas got some fun new blocks, a train set, a hammer like daddy and a few piece of his big boy bedding for his new room (when we move). Oh and I can't forget the awesome BIG HUGE pillow book. I'll have to post a picture of that later. Jeremy got an original Nintendo. Courtesy of his loving wife ;) The best pictures of the night are of Jeremy playing Super Mario, and Lucas very intently watching.

Emergency Room

Yesterday Lucas' dry cough quickly turned into trouble breathing and deep chest congestion. This morning when he was starting to act lethargic, we naturally became concerned with all the viruses that are airborne this time of year. After talking to the on call doctor over the phone we were told it would be best to have him seen as soon as possible, so off to the ER we went. Luckily we didn't have to wait long and our entire visit there was less than 2 hours. We were told however that our poor little guy was high risk for RSV, Pneumonia and Croup. Which means no visitors or visiting for us the Christmas, no more running last minute errands, and lots of hand washing! Hopefully with a few extra prayers and the use of some wonderful things like humidifiers he'll be back to feeling like himself in no time. Until then, we'll just enjoy how adorable he looked in his hospital gown.

Go ahead...Help yourself!

I guess Lucas thought that because we had left over Hershey's Kisses from a friends party the other night, that it was his cue to help himself. Yes he pulled the bag out of the diaper bag, and yes, he does in fact have a mouth FULL of candy. And yes... he did scream when I did the finger swipe to get them all out. I have to say, he is cheap entertainment :)

Busted

Here is the little sneak trying to escape before anyone sees who is to blame for the ripped packages under the tree.

It was only a matter of time...

Before Lucas discovered the oh so fun door stops. He bumped it on accident at first, then stared at it for about a minute unsure of what to make of that weird noise. Then he hit it again, and it made that weird noise again. Then about five minutes later I got up to get the camera. Watching him discover new things is so much fun, I wish I would think to take pictures of all of the little things that I want to remember.

Cell Phone Pillow

Here is our big fat lazy cat enjoying a leisurely nap on my cell phone.

Getting Ready for the Party

Tonight we went to have a Christmas get together with some friends in Nashville. I got Lucas all dressed in his best winter attire (haha). I just think he looks so adorable all mismatched. In this picture, to no ones surprise, he's playing with the fish tank....again :)

Full Moon

This is what happens when you try to change a diaper next to a pile of freshly wrapped presents.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Tonight I finally took Lucas to see Santa. Because I didn't want to pay $20 to take his picture with the 20 year old imitation at the mall, I held out for the real Santa at the multiples Christmas party. (I know I don't have multiples, but I've babysat for half the families there.)

Jeremy and I have been debating whether or not our perfect little angel would throw a fit on Santa's lap or if he'd sit nicely like the wonderful child that he is. I of course was routing for the latter.

As you can see by the picture, Jeremy was right, I was wrong :(

But, in all fairness to myself, and to Lucas, it was bedtime and he had fallen asleep in the car only moments before arriving. I had to get him out of the warm car into the freezing rainy night and drag him into a crowd of people. Then expected him to sit politely on some strangers lap. I know I know, wishful thinking.

...It was so cute the first time, I even made him go for round two. I'm such a mean mom ;)

Superman

How stinkin' cute is this?

That's my Name

I didn't realize how bad this picture looks, he's not really that tall, and this picture was taken only a few minutes before lowering his mattress. It was just so cute that he learned how to stand up in his crib and that he's discovered his name on the wall. Hopefully he doesn't pull the letters down :/

Potato Fun

I think this is self explanatory, but in case it isn't, we let Lucas have fun feeding himself potatoes yesterday during lunch. Of course this morning he didn't want to eat from a spoon.

Family

I think this may acutally be the first 'family' picture we've taken since the day Lucas was born.

Presents!

Lucas and his best friend Ethan

Mom and Baby

Here we are sitting in front of a HUGE fireplace. I was enjoying the warmth, while Lucas was enjoying watching the flames jump.

Christmas is Coming

Yesterday we went to Opryland Hotel in Nashville with some friends to take our Christmas card photo. While we did end up with a few decent family photos, we ended up with more adorable pictures of Lucas. He was so good too, he loved riding in his stroller enjoying all the beautiful decorations and lights and people. Here he is enjoying the rain while we waiting for our friends...

Daddy's Way

Of taking care of Lucas so that mommy can sleep in for the first time since he was born.

7 Months

I can't believe it's been 7 months today since Lucas was born. It's amazing how time just flies by so quickly. So far our day has been pretty eventful. We went to church, came home and got into comfy clothes, then played with Cheerios. This is a big deal, because Lucas is just learning to pick things up with two fingers and actually make them into his mouth. As you can see, more ended up on the floor than in his mouth by a long shot, but it was a joy to watch him learn and discover something new.Then as I came in here to upload the few pictures I had taken, Jeremy brought him in for a visit, riding in his own personal Chariot of a laundry basket. He thought that was pretty funny!Everyday it never fails to amaze me how just a few months ago he was so tiny and helpless, depended on me for everything, and now everyday he's becoming more and more of a little boy and less and less of a baby. I guess it's a good thing they grow gradually.