Summer Busyness

This is Tarren writing. I always feel funny being the one to post since this is technically Pete's blog, so we will soon be changing our blog to include two moderators. We just haven't gotten around to it yet. As I write I have a little girl standing beside my chair yelling at me to replenish her goldfish crackers about every 15 seconds, so if thoughts are random or incomplete please forgive me...that is one reason we don't write very frequently...there is always a child vying for our attention.

With prompting from one of our faithful readers, I decided it was time to give the mid-summer update. T-ball has been going very well and is nearing its end. Lucas has been a model student. He's always the first to run after a batted ball, even if it's on the opposite side of the field from his position. It has gotten to the point where some of the other children cry that Lucas always gets the ball. The coaches have tried to tell him he has to stay at his position. On the one hand I understand that will be important as he gets older, but at this age I don't want to discourage his enthusiasm. The fact of the matter is if the other kids would be paying attention and get in gear as soon as the ball is hit, Lucas wouldn't stand a chance, but most of the time they have no clue where the ball is until the coaches yell at them to go get it. Batting has not proven to be much trouble either, but they bat off a tee so I guess that's not much a testament of skill. He just REALLY enjoys playing.

Lucas' other summer activity has been swimming lessons. There was a two week stretch where he went everyday with his cousin, Sarah. At first he was not thrilled about being in the pool. The instructors were very patient with him, and by the last day he was able to complete almost all of the skills. He can enter and exit the pool alone, kick on the wall, swim assisted, float on front and back while assisted, and blow bubbles. Not bad for a 3-year-old. We took the kids to mom's hotel (or show and tell, as Lucas calls it) the other night, and he swam all around the pool with floaties on his arms. Before swim lessons he wouldn't even leave the steps of the pool, so I'd say the lessons were worth it. There were a couple of days when Lucas had to attend both swim and baseball...we had a very tired boy those evenings. It's been good for him to be busy,though.

Our other busyness has included our "staycation". Many of you may have heard this term. Instead of spending money on gas to go on vacation, some people are choosing to stay home instead. We are those people. We decided to spend our money going to visit some of Chicago's attractions that we wouldn't normally go to. It makes perfect sense to vacation in Chicago...lots of people choose it as their destination. We live here and have never seen many of the sites (plus this way we could still sleep in our own beds, a real benefit with small children).

So, our staycation began on Friday with a trip to Navy Pier. We saw a chinese circus called Cirque Shanghai that was very good. The people were extremely talented, and it held the kids attention for almost the whole 75 minutes. After the show we ate at a restaurant called Riva, rode the ferris wheel, and took a boat tour around the pier. The ferris wheel was quite scary with our children (they weren't scared...we were). The gaps beneath the doors of the cars were big enough for Grace to fall through! We told her that even if she screamed bloody murder she was going to sit on Daddy's lap...she complied. I held on tight to Lucas, and we all made it down in one piece. The boat tour was kind of tough with the kids as well, but once they settled in it was a nice ride. All in all a great day! On Saturday, my mom came to watch the kids so Pete and I could go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was nice to be able to spend time looking at the exhibits, and we had a great time. That afternoon we attended a Christmas in July party at the home of one of our members...very enjoyable, and then that night once the kids were in bed we headed down to Navy Pier again to see a French group (Transe Express) that performs a musical show while suspended very high in the air. It was an amazing show! They had instruments (big drum sets) up in the air with them and people flipping around trapeze bars. There is a website that shows the show. If you "google" Transe Express I'm sure you could find it if you're interested. It's definitely worth it. Anyway, after the show we got some ice cream and watched the fireworks off the pier. Pete didn't enjoy the loud music that accompanied the fireworks, but I didn't mind. We got home at around 1:00 am. Oh, don't worry we didn't leave the children home alone...Greg and Amy Lyon were here so that Greg could preach for Pete the next day. Greg stayed with the kids, and Amy joined us. Thanks again Greg!

So, that brings us to Sunday of staycation. We got up at our normal time since our children had not gone to bed any later than normal. We were very tired but went to church in Lake Zurich. From there we went on to the Illinois Train Museum. We took a long train ride and watched a few trains go by but then decided we wanted to go home. I wasn't feeling very well and the kids were getting ready for naps. Monday, we went miniature golfing with Duane's family and our neighbors. Lucas thoroughly enjoyed that! Tuesday we went to Milwaukee to babysit cousin Aaron while Kelly took Alex for some doctor's visits. That evening we went to Mom's hotel where Lucas did his swimming. Wednesday I took Lucas and Sarah to our children's museum where they had a great time pretending to be vets, librarians, daycare workers, Potbelly sandwich workers, and grocery shoppers. That concluded staycation!

After not feeling well for several days (both of my ears were hurting, and the pain was radiating over my right eye and down my neck) I decided to go see the doctor. He told me I was having a TMJ episode. He asked if I was under stress. I guess the toddler still screaming at me from beside my chair as I write this would qualify as stress, yes! With that said...my update is complete and I'm going to take some Aleve!

T-ball

Yesterday marked a milestone for Lucas. He had his first t-ball practice. We've been telling him for months now that he was going to start playing baseball. He's been a little apprehensive and when probed about it has said, "But I don't know how to catch the ball." We've been telling him that the coaches would be there to teach him how to play. The real reason for his anxiety became apparent when he said, "So you'll watch me on T.V.?" We then realized that he thought he was going to play baseball with the Chicago Cubs (Daddy's favorite team). No wonder he was scared! Talk about performance anxiety! So, he was very happy yesterday to find out that he was playing with other children, most of whom were smaller and less coordinated than he. Lucas did a great job of running the bases, fielding, throwing, and batting. They will start playing mini-games in a couple of weeks. That should be interesting!

On another note...Grace had an endoscopy done on May 30. The biopsies all came back normal with no inflammation. Since then we have felt comfortable with being a little more persistent with feeding her solid foods, since we know she's not in pain. She now eats just about everything except fruit...go figure, a child who prefers broccoli over bananas. We're very happy that she seems to be turning the corner, and we hope we can soon try to get her off the reflux medicine as well.

A First Birthday

A year ago today we received a very real and tangible gift of Grace. She's grown quite a bit in the past 366 days. We have grown, too ... attached to her, that is. We thank our Lord Jesus for a happy and healthy first year.

Here's a video that takes us down memory lane: Lucas meeting his sister one year ago today.

Here are brother and sister pictured just recently (Grace, by the way, has begun to stand on her own for about ten to fifteen seconds at a time. She'll be walking soon.)

The Evil Reflux Monster Update

As those of you who have been reading our blog from the beginning know, Grace has gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. She has been on medication for this since she was 4 weeks old. She has always been on the highest possible dose and sometimes doesn't even respond to that. Because treatment doesn't seem to be working for her as it does for other children with GERD, her GI doctor, thinking food allergies could be the culprit, referred us to an allergist. Testing revealed that she does indeed have some food allergies (milk, peas, nuts, and barley).

As we've been trying to make the transition to solid foods, we've noticed that Grace has a hard time eating anything with any texture to it at all. She'll basically only eat liquified food. She'll attempt to put pieces of food in her mouth but then gags and pulls them out before swallowing. On the latest trip to her allergist (last week) the doctor suggested she may have a condition called eosinophilic esophagitis. This is an inflammation of the esophagis caused by allergies (and also probably by the acid that has been refluxing since she was born), and it would make her feel as if she has something always caught in her throat which would in turn make her not want to swallow anything "chunky". The only way to find out if she has this condition is to do a procedure called an endoscopy in which they would stick a tube down her throat and take a biopsy. The doctor didn't want to put her through that, but he recommended starting her on an inhaled steroid anyway, the same kind used for patients with asthma. It is supposed to reduce the inflammation. Two days after that appointment I received a call from the allergist's nurse saying that the allergist had talked to Grace's GI doctor, and the GI doctor was not in favor of the steroid and to discontinue using it. But it seemed to be helping already! She was actually starting to swallow food! But I followed doctor's orders...and sure enough she's back to pulling wet, mushy food out of her mouth. So today I talked to the GI doctor who said she is not in favor of having kids on these steroids without doing an endoscopy, and she's not in favor of "scoping" kids under one. But it was helping! She still wants us to wait and see how things go... very frustrating, to say the least, when doctor's disagree on treatment...but, I trust this doctor and value her opinion. So, for now, we'll continue the liquid diet!

On another note, here's a cute Grace story. As we were returning from a somewhat long drive today (for most of which Grace was pretty fussy) and pulled onto our street, a little voice from the back said "Duh" which is Grace's word for done. Pete looked at me with a sentimental smile and said, "Now we can never move away from this house." It's incredible that she recognizes home before we even reach the house. She's becoming such a little person! =)

Recent Pictures

The first few pics are from our Atlanta trip... Grace with her Great Grandma Pat.



The weather was perfect for the park.


Grace's first time on a swing. She loved it!

Lucas and cousin Nathan at a bonfire with the next-door neighbors.

The kids hanging out around the house...

We're Back

After a long break, your favorite Morton Grove family is back!

Over the past month much has happened in the Prange family. First was Lent and then Easter (busy times for the working man in the house). The Monday after Easter we left on a 13-hour drive to Atlanta to visit my family. The trip down was pretty rough for Grace as learning to walk and being confined to a car seat don't mix very well. So, we made a lot of stops! Lucas did great on the other hand which made it a little easier for us. Once we arrived, our vacation really began with home-cooked meals and lots of time visiting as the highlights. It was very nice to spend an extended time with the Atlanta family! Pete and I also went to the Georgia Aquarium one day while Grandma Pat watched Lucas for us. At the end of the week Pete and Lucas drove home, leaving Grace and me for a few days more of vacation. It was really nice to have "just the girls." Grace is a lot more outgoing without her brother to act as entertainment. I think Grandma would have kept her! Since I wasn't willing to adopt her out, though, we flew home on Tuesday. The flight home was a lot easier than the drive down (Grace made fast friends with the 17-year-old boy sitting next to us).

It was a nice trip, but it's also nice to be home! We're finally back in the routine, and we've even had a few days of nice weather to enjoy. Lucas is getting some practice helping Dad with the grill, and the outside toys are getting their first use of the year. We're loving it!

Pictures are coming soon!

Tarren

Jazz and Paper Lover

Besides Mommy, Daddy, Lucas and food, there are two things that Grace seems to love more than anything else: music and paper. She enjoys hopping into Dad's lap while he's sitting at his office computer and listening to music. She especially likes it when he manipulates her arms wildly, as though she was directing the orchestra or ensemble.

The other great love is paper. Whenever she can get her hands on it, it goes in her mouth.

Here's a short video that proves her love for both (for those who can't hear the music in the background, she "bopping" to Dave Brubeck jazz).

Because It's February 29

How often do you get to blog on February 29? My next opportunity is when I'm 39 years old (if I make it that long!) so I better grab my chance while I have it.

My sister Beth and nephew Nathan arrived yesterday afternoon by train. Lucas has enjoyed having the "other Nathan" around (he has two cousins named Nathan). While the younger (and closer) Nathan is still his "little buddy," Lucas is excited to have a bigger boy around. Lots of laughing and jumping around. I've mentioned the past couple days - more than once - that the Apache Indians have the same word for "boy" and "lightning" (perhaps that's an urban legend). Anyway, if it is indeed true, the perceptiveness of that connection has been unmistakable in our household over the last 24 hours. Not much inactivity!

Don't believe me? Check out this video!

Lucas Music Videos

We haven't been able to capture any of Lucas' spontaneous singing on video, but you can rest assured that he likes to sing. He's becoming even less camera shy, as he realizes the fringe benefit of seeing himself on the family blog. Hopefully we're not preparing him for a future in Hollywood in front of the camera!

Here are a couple of his singing treasures from the past two days.

In the Bleak Midwinter

Winter continues to hold us in its cold clutches, though it was actually a tad warmer today. Many places not too distant have experienced an all-time record snowfall in the past months. We probably haven't had it quite that bad, but we have had a steady succession of storms and cold. We will be happy to smell the thawing earth in the weeks ahead, a happy portent of the coming summer breezes and days in the warm sun.

Even in these still-dark days our children provide light to our lives. Lucas' verbal skills continue to improve and increase on a weekly basis. Grace is able to scoot across the floor with ever-increasing agility and speed. Lucas had a passing fancy helping his Mom and Dad play Yahtzee; he still enjoys assisting during rousing games of Battleship. Grace had a fussy period for a couple weeks. We were uncertain of the origin (teeth? ear infection?). Finally Tarren began to wonder if perhaps she was hungry. We began to increase her caloric intake, and it has seemed to do the trick. She's once again the smiley, cheerful chirper to whom we had grown accustomed.

I'll add a couple pictures, just in case you forgot what they looked like! I'll also insert a short video for your viewing pleasure.

Those Stairs

Now that Grace is crawling, she's finding new places to explore. One of her favorites routes is to come around the corner from the living room into our home office. She's like a little train, as she "blows her whistle" (hooting and hollering) announcing her impending arrival. Her favorite hang out, however, is the landing of the staircase that leads upstairs. She will crawl over to it, pull herself up and spend several minutes listening to her little voice echoing up the stairs.

Though she's not as noisy as she can be, here's a video of little Grace exploring her favorites digs.

Back to Frigidity

After spending nearly a week and a half on vacation in relative sunniness and warmth, we have returned to breathing arctic air. We were greeted by temperatures in the teens and wind chills in the below-zero category. But we do have sun! The drive was relatively uneventful, besides the day of driving in rain (sometimes quite hard) yesterday, and my spilling coffee on our portable DVD player, which seemed to render one of our two screens unusable. We'll see what happens after it "dries" out, but I'm not hopeful.

We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. The highlight of the trip was seeing all three of Tarren's living grandparents. Naturally, they all had the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with their great-grandchildren, which was nice. It was a busy set of days without much down time. The biggest drawback was having children sleeping next to us nearly every night, due to Grace's unwillingness to sleep in a pack-n-play. It will be nice to have her and Lucas in their own beds tonight; we won't mind being in ours either.

Perhaps I will get a chance to post a few additional pictures in the coming days, but I thought I'd share a couple right now (one with some of the children I've had the privilege of baptizing in the past 3+ years and another with Tarren and her godchild Hanna).

Checking In

It's my understanding that, even though I have been quite delinquent in posting anything new, there are still some people who check this blog out from time to time. Perhaps more feedback from "viewers" would encourage me to blog more often (do you see how I managed to blame YOU for the lack of news on this page recently?).

Just a few updates before I add a lovely video of the kids ... Grace saw a allergist yesterday, and it was determined that she's allergic to peas and nuts and probably to dairy products as well. Tarren will be eliminating all dairy and soy from her diet over the next couple weeks to see if there is marked improvement both with Grace's reflux and chronic congestion. Both the doctor and nurses wanted to keep her after the appointment; she wins them over pretty easily with her quiet charm. She's also begun to crawl in the past couple days, so we need to be a little more vigilant about what we leave lying around now. I suspect that she's going to be a quiet mischief maker (unlike Lucas, whom you can hear coming from a mile away).

Lucas continues to be the doting big brother (you'll notice his fondness for Grace on the video). We've registered him for two days of preschool beginning in the fall; we're pretty sure that he'll enjoy that and benefit from it.

It's cold today, with the prospect of even colder temps tomorrow (highs in the single digits!). It's about time to go someplace warm for a few days!

Here's that video:

Christmas Preparations

As is normally the case with parish pastors, the last several weeks have been extremely busy as we travel through the season of Advent and prepare for our celebration of Christmas. Besides my normal pastoral duties, I've had Wednesday evening services added to my already busy schedule. Add in an unusually snowy December (and my snow-shoveling duties), and my schedule has been really quite busy. So here I am after a nearly one month hiatus getting back to the family blog.

I can report that in the past week and a half Grace has managed to begin sitting very regularly and steadily (I'll drop in a picture at the end of this post to illustrate). She's offering more and more chatter almost by the day, and we're beginning to wonder if she'll be as noisy as Lucas is, who talks constantly! She's also beginning to exhibit pretty routine separation anxiety from Mom and Dad. She'll even cry for us when Lucas is still in the room with her, which is unusual since Lucas tends to be her number one form of entertainment. Her mother and I continue to be of the opinion that she's the most lovely baby we've ever seen, but perhaps we're biased.

Lucas is ready for Christmas to come, though not in an overly-eager way. He has spent several weeks dreaming about the different Thomas the Tank Engine toys that he may receive as gifts. Dad has been scouring Ebay for a couple months finding some ridiculous deals on a whole host of items. He should be pleased, if not somewhat overwhelmed. He won't be getting the things I've purchased all at once. One thing that has perhaps kept Lucas from becoming impatient as he waits for Christmas is that we haven't really put any gifts under the tree yet. Without that visual reminder/temptation, it doesn't seem quite as imminent.

We wish everyone a very blessed Christmas. For those on our Christmas letter list, you should be receiving your letter and picture from us soon.

Jesus Loves Lucas

Update on Lucas

I realize that it's been a few weeks since I last blogged. It's not because there hasn't been anything happening; just the opposite. A busy few weeks for me personally and family-wise. So I thought I'd jot down a few lines while my confirmation kids take their quiz on the Ninth and Tenth Commandments.

Lucas has been eagerly awaiting the time when the leaves would begin to fall and snow to fly. The reason for this is quite simple: his father has been reminding him that Christmas won't come until the leaves fall off the trees and the snow begins to make its annual appearance. Both events have transpired in the past few weeks. We held onto our leaves longer than normal, it seems. A late fall provided for that, no doubt. But when they began to fall, they fell quickly. The church provides for a lawn service, for which I am truly thankful. The men worked for more than three hours this past week cleaning up our front and back yards (which aren't large), and they had all the necessary power tools to do so. If I had done the job they did myself, it would have taken me at least twice as long. Then on Thanksgiving Eve we had our first real snowfall. I didn't really think that we would see any accumulation based on what the weather folks were saying, but as it turned out we did have a sprinkling of snow that stuck. When I threw up the curtains in Lucas' room on Thursday morning, he got a glimpse of our newly-whitened neighborhood and declared that it was now time for Christmas. Naturally, I had to break the news to him that he would need to wait, but that Christmas was getting closer. I always try to use any mention of Christmas by Lucas to remind him about the Christ Mass. He seems to be catching on.

Lucas' anticipation of Christmas, however, has more to do with his looking forward to receiving additional pieces for his wooden train set. His favorite pasttime remains looking at Thomas the Tank Engine items on "Dada's computer." He pulls out his "train map" (little flyers that come with each engine) or his "train book" (the larger catalog) and works his way through requesting to see on my computer just about everything he finds in those. His memory is pretty impressive, and the fact that many of the engines are numbered has also helped him in identifying his numbers. When a cousin, whose not familiar with all the different engines, was calling each of them "Thomas," Lucas quickly corrected, "That's not Thomas; that's Diesel 10," etc. His father and he have become quite the "experts."

Besides his memory, one other thing that impresses us about Lucas is the relative ease with which he expresses remorse. He's a pretty sensitive kid, so when he says, "I'm sorry," it's pretty clear that he really means it. We don't usually have to ask him to express his sorrow about things. What's even more interesting, however, is how quickly he says, "You're forgiven." For instance, when he's been playing on the floor before, I've accidentally swiped him with my shoe as I stepped over him like a klutz. I'll say, "I'm sorry, Bub," and he'll say, quite non-chalantly, "That's O.K., Dada. You're forgiven." I haven't been around enough three-years-old to know whether or not they usually understand the concept of expressing forgiveness so readily, but we're happy to see that he's catching on.

Lucas had lots of fun playing with his cousins over the Thanksgiving weekend. He actually had the opportunity to play with cousins Sarah and Nathan for an extended period on four straight days. He and four-year-old Sarah finally have begun to mesh in their play together, as Lucas has seemed to catch up with her on a imagination level. The past two evenings were spent "going to school" and "making meals" in our downstairs playroom. While there is still the occasional fight over this or that item, those fights have begun to take place much less frequently. It's obvious how much Lucas has begun to enjoy this play time because when it comes to an end he has an emotional meltdown (though he recovers quickly).

That's a little update on Lucas. An update on Grace is coming soon!

Standard Time & Costume Critique

It was nice to "fall back" into standard time the other night. The only drawback these days is that children can't figure out the difference, of course. Lucas was asking to have someone get him at 5:30 A.M. this morning. I broke the news to him that it wasn't time to get up yet. He took it like a champ and kept quiet for another half hour or so (though I'm sure he didn't fall back to sleep). Grace, on the other hand, is still sleeping at this point (my suspicion is that she's going to be the type of girl that we have trouble getting out of bed when she's a teenager). Our two children continue to be a study in contrasts.

When one of the members of my Wednesday night Bible study arrived this past week on the evening of October 31, he gave me some instant feedback on Lucas' Hallowe'en costume: "Lucas was really cute." Judge for yourself. (He's Buzz Lightyear for the "Toy Story Uninitiated")

Reformation Trick-or-Treating

As a Lutheran pastor especially, I always stress that today is first and foremost a celebration of the Church's Reformation, marking the anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg (October 31, 1517). Naturally, the world knows this day as Hallowe'en or All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day (November 1), when it was thought that the souls of the dead would return to this world and haunt the living (Jack o' Lanterns were put on the doorstep to spook these spirits away). Luther's posting of his Theses was calculated since he knew that the next morning a large gathering would assemble at the church for the All Saints' Day Mass, though these Theses (points designed to provoke debate) were written in Latin and not meant for the common German people. Within weeks, however, Luther's document was translated into the language of the people and circulated throughout Germany and eventually all Europe. The Lutheran Reformation had begun.

With that short history lesson, I will also report that Lucas will be gathering candy this evening masquerading as Buzz Lightyear. Grace will go along for the ride, dressed in a blaze orange outfit with a little black cat on it. Best of all, we'll have some candy in the house!

Perhaps we'll shoot a few pictures and post them in time.

Settling Back In

Our family is settling back in after ten days of vacation. We had the pleasure of spending several days with family and friends in remote places, but we also got the chance to unwind over the past couple days at home. We loved every minute of it. Most of all it gave Tarren and me an opportunity to get away from our very busy every-day lives and to spend some quality family time together. We are refreshed and ready to go.

We had the chance to do plenty of driving and saw some beautiful places in our beautiful country. Many places we visited were beginning to take on the colors of autumn. Surprisingly many of the trees in our hometown remain perfectly green. The weather has been mild, so I suppose that's the leading factor in keeping the trees looking summerlike. We hope to see the dazzling reds, yellows and oranges soon!

An update on the children ... Lucas is perfectly potty-trained. He has been accident free for at least a couple weeks and continues to do very well. His logorrhea can be wearing on the nerves (it's a relief to our ears when he finally hits the hay), but his imagination is endless and his boyish enthusiasm fills our family life with joy. Currently his favorite pasttime is to look at Thomas trains on Dad's computer. During vacation he got his first chance to experience bowling; it was a hit (see pictures below).

Grace simply adores her brother. It's funny to listen to her squeal as she is being carried upstairs, watching Lucas climb the stairs right in front of her. For some reason she gets a real kick out of that. Right now she's suffering from a slight cold, but she's obviously developing both physically and mentally right on schedule. Every day she's becoming more nimble in her ability to grab things and manipulate them the way she wants. And her grip is made of steel!

Here's a few shots from our vacation:

Where have you been?

Perhaps some check this blog from time to time, and you've been wondering outloud: Why haven't they blogged? Actually, my wife asks me this question about every other day. I've told her repeatedly that she's can blog herself, but she demurs. So the simple answer as to why you haven't seen anything new on this blog recently is this: I've been a busy man. Conferences, meetings to prepare for, meetings to attend, with pastoral work in between; a visit from my sister Beth; a birthday for Lucas; and two sick kids.

I won't bore you with details about the professional aspects of my life over the past several weeks, but I will expand on Beth's visit and Lucas' birthday. My sister came last Tuesday on the train and was able to be here for Lucas' birthday. We took Lucas to Toys 'r Us so that he could pick out a birthday gift from his aunt Beth. He chose a Thomas the Train set that ended up not being built very well. Tarren returned it the other day, and Lucas picked out a couple wooden Thomas trains instead. Beth's visit was short, but we enjoyed the time we had to spend with her.

Lucas officially turned three. We had a small party the weekend before with Tarren's family; a nice, cool afternoon. Naturally, Lucas got many more presents than he needed or deserved (can someone who is leaving their "terrible two" year behind really deserve anything?). He's at the point where he appreciates the gift he just opened for about a nanosecond, and then he wants to open another one. Once he has all of his unwrapped gifts in front of him he's able to be a discerning judge as to which is his favorite, though I can't honestly tell you what judgment he's made. As of this moment he seems to enjoy the wooden Thomas trains that he picked out last week best. Actually, the gift he asks most about is the Toby train that Tarren and I purchased for him for Christmas when we were at Toys 'r Us. (For the uninitiated, Toby is one of the engines from Thomas and Friends). They had a nice sale, so we decided to buy a few. He wonders daily when he's going to get Toby, and we tell him that he needs to wait until Christmas. So, of course, now he wonders daily whether today is Christmas. He's beginning to make more and more of those types of logical connections these days, and his Mom and Dad are noticing. He's growing up to be a nice, three-year-old boy!

After the birthday festivities came to an end, both of our children received one last "gift," an upper respiratory virus. Grace was running a fever around 102 and had a dry cough. One day she slept for about 18 of the 24 hours, which was a little cause of concern, especially for Momma. But once again, we noticed a difference between our two children. When Lucas is sick, we often have trouble getting him to sleep. When she's sick (granted, this was her first real bout with illness), she sleeps. And even though she was sick, she was quite liberal with smiles.

Lucas got it next, and he developed croup. He sounded pretty bad for a few days, but now he's almost entirely cleared up. One thing that was surprising to me was that the doctor didn't prescribe any antibiotics. I'm not complaining about that, but we've become so used to running to Walgreens in this family that I expected yet another trip. But both children have overcome without any prescription assistance, which is just fine by us!

So there's the update. I'll add a couple pictures since it's so easy to do.