Fun With Family

February was awesome.  We got to enjoy Luke at home with us for the better part of the month, and we just soaked up the time together.  The kids were especially happy to have Luke home.  Whenever Luke was feeling up to it, they took the opportunity to play with him.  Especially Johnny.  He had definitely been missing his little brother.  

It was so fun to see Luke just playing at home.  He loved having all the toys to choose from!  He got sick when he was just shy of 6 months old, so we never did get the chance to see him start to actually play.  It was awesome to watch.

Luke just played and played and played!  But what goes up, must come down! :)

Having Luke home with us only had one tiny downside.  Lack of sleep.  We sure do miss those night shift nurses!  Because we weren't sleeping much, Danny didn't make it to work much.  And if you can't work, you should definitely play!  Danny, even though he was completely exhausted, found some time to play catch with Johnny.

Luke being home also provided a good time for family to come and visit.  Everyone was anxious to see Luke when he was doing so well!  Grandpa Richard and Grandma Ruth Ann came to visit, and they brought with them delicious burritos and cookies for the kids.  They made a sweet visit even sweeter!

Luke really loved being with Grandpa Richard.  He seriously spent the better part of an hour just sitting with Grandpa.  My Dad loved the attention from his special little guy!

It's nice to be so close to Grandpa Richard and Grandma Ruth Ann!  We love their visits!

And if that wasn't enough, Luke had more special visitors.  Cousins!  It crazy to think how sheltered Luke has been.  He hasn't seen any other kids than his siblings in months, and definitely not another person his size.  When Ava and Lila showed up, Luke was basically beside himself!  He tried to eat Ava...

He learned pretty quick that cousins aren't really good for eating.  He played it cooler with Lila.  

He played it real cool.  Luke can definitely do cool... :)

He also got to meet Aunt Heather for the first time.  It was so fun to have her and her family out from Cincinnati!   

But Luke wasn't the only one to have a blast with cousins.  Claire, Sophie, and Johnny had so much fun with Isabelle, Eli, Baron, and Roman.  When the twins left that afternoon, Claire sat on her bed and cried for a half hour.  She was so sad that it would be so long before she would see Baron and Roman again!  I love seeing my children have such a fun relationship with their cousins.  Growing up, I really didn't see my cousins much.  My children are fortunate to always have friends in their cousins.

So far, Luke had seen a lot of cousins on the Vigil side.  But what about the Call side?  There are two cousins that Luke has never met.  Lucy and Liam.  It's going to be a while before Luke and Liam get together, since Liam lives in California.  But Lucy came over to our house with Grandma Call one day to watch the older kids for us while we took Luke to a clinic visit, so Luke got to play with her for a few minutes when we got home.  He was completely enamored with his cool new toy!  

These two are too cute with their round fuzzy heads. :)

At first, I think Lucy was a bit overwhelmed by Luke's enthusiasm.  But she eventually warmed up to him.  So much so that she decided to see what that weird yellow thing was that was dangling off of Luke's face.  In a matter of no time flat, she had pulled the NG tube right out of Luke's nose!  Luke was fine, and everyone had a good laugh.  Except maybe Luke when we had to put it back in.  But in the meantime, we loved kissing his cute bare cheeks!  

And thanks to our little Lucy Lou, we got a cute picture of Luke with no NG tube!  A precious rarity these days.  Thanks, Lucy!

We really do love our time with family.  And I think we've come to appreciate it more.  Luke being in the hospital doesn't only keep us from being together as a nuclear family, but it keeps us pretty separated from extended family as well.  We miss our times together, watching the kids play.  We look forward to making more memories together...all together...soon!