This week has felt long. I keep thinking each day this week must be Friday. But tomorrow is officially Friday. Its Halloween, but I’m not sure that we’ll be bringing Eli out trick-or-treating. Eli has had a pretty rough week. We went to the doctor on Monday. With his fever gone, he seemed to be kicking the virus by Tuesday, but on Wednesday, he was really fussy during the day and was up six hours during the night coughing pretty continuously. So I brought our tired selves into the pediatrician this morning to discover that Eli has bronchitis or a sinus infection or both, which is exacerbating his asthma. So with the help of an antibiotic and nebulizer treatments, hopefully he will really recover this time around. I was very thankful that Matt was able to offer me some relief this afternoon so I could get some rest. Unfortunately, I now find myself fighting off a bug and have completely lost my voice. I thought I was doing well keeping myself as germ-free as possible, but I think Eli’s coughing episodes last night doomed me! Now I wish it wasn’t Friday in case I get worse through the weekend and need to visit the doctor. Its always a bit trickier being pregnant. So we’ll see. Oh, and I’m supposed to work this weekend, too. What a week…we could use your prayers for health! It feels like we are sick more than healthy…but I also know its a season of life, too!
28
2008
11:37 am
Our Doggie-Lover
No, we didn’t get a dog for Eli. But Eli sure does love dogs! One of his few words is “dog” and he just started saying “woof.” So Eli was delighted to see Wyatt this past weekend at Matt’s grandparents’ house! His cousin, Stephanie, stopped in and had her dog with her. Wyatt was such a great dog for Eli to be around and even tolerated Eli giving him a hug!
On Saturday, the three of us headed up to the outlet mall to do a little shopping. We found some great sales, my favorite being at the Osk Kosh outlet! We were able to get some pants for Eli for much cheaper than we’ve found anywhere around town! Matt also found a new pair of dress shoes!
Then we headed a little farther north for a visit with Matt’s grandparents. Matt was able to do some work on their computer, and we all enjoyed the time to catching up with each other. Eli enjoyed playing in the box of toys that Grams has and faithfully spread them all over the house! Despite missing his afternoon nap, Eli was in a great mood all day!
However, by the end of our visit, Matt and I were noticing Eli was coughing and wasn’t feeling very well. He cried most of the way home and moaned in bed for a couple hours when we put him down. The poor guy was miserable. He finally managed to throw up and felt much better. But that was the start of yet another nasty virus Eli managed to catch. We gave him a couple nebulizer treatments on Sunday night when we noticed he was wheezing. He was supposed to have a flu shot on Monday, but I decided to bring him in to be checked by the doctor instead…who agreed we needed to wait on the flu shot. Otherwise, we are doing all the right things. Eli had a fever and was so miserable yesterday, moaning and just wanting to be held all day. He took a two and half hour nap during the middle of the day (very long for Eli), and went to bed at 5:30 last night and slept until just after 7 this morning (minus waking up once during the night for milk). The poor guy is in a much better mood today, thanks to no fevers, but still is throwing up and coughing and has plenty of snot. We are giving him some echinacea to boost his immune system, and we think it seems to be helping. But time will tell. I went ahead and cancelled his speech therapy for tomorrow, but we’ll hopefully start back the following week.
Well, thats the scoop on our little boy and weekend! Take care!
21
2008
9:31 am
Update
Weekend: We were treated with beautiful, warm weather this weekend! On Saturday, we spent a couple hours at church cleaning up the grounds and interior. Eli ran around in the fenced-in playground while Matt pulled weeds around the fencing…it actually worked out much better than I expected! Then the three of us came home and worked on getting our own yard ready for winter. So basically, we spent most of the day outside, which Eli LOVED, and got a lot accomplished! On Saturday, Matt had a soccer game late in the day. There was a track around the field with sand pits, which Eli played in for most of the game! It was a treat for me because Eli entertained himself and I actually got to watch a lot of the game this week!
Speech Therapy: Eli had his speech therapy consult early Monday morning. The visit went well. He quickly made himself at home in the room playing with all the new toys. The evaluation included nothing surprising to me. Eli is at his age level or a little above in language comprehension, but below his level in language expression. The therapist does not see any signs of autism or other conditions that would delay his speech and thinks we are looking at a short term problem. She is recommending a couple weeks of speech therapy to work with Eli on imitating speech and sounds, but if he doesn’t respond, we will probably stop and evaluate in three months. The plan sounds very reasonable to Matt and I, so we’ll see what happens! Last night, Matt said Eli was making a “woof” sound imitating our neighbor’s dog barking. Hopefully we’ll continue to see more and more of that!
Baby Girl: I had my standard check-up at my OB last week. Our baby girl has been growing for 24 weeks now! Everything still looks okay. I am still managing to avoid maternity clothes, but I’m noticing my jeans are starting to get a little tight. So I wouldn’t be shocked to have to pull on the maternity clothes in the next month or so! Thankfully the nausea is not controlling my life this time around and I can still enjoy eating. I tried going off the antihistamine for my chronic hives, but they returned in a few days, so I am back on that medication again. Thankfully, the medication completely takes care of the hives. I cannot take the medication while breastfeeding, so I am hoping and praying that the hives will go away when I’m not pregnant anymore! Next month, I will have my glucose test next month. Then right before Thanksgiving, we are scheduled to have another ultrasound where they will check the baby’s growth. With the complications in my last pregnancy, I sometimes get a little anxious as the weeks go on wondering if our little girl will have growth issues like her brother. We are taking every preventative measure out there, so it is completely out of our hands and in God’s! I am very thankful for a knowledgeable doctor, who took great care of Eli and his complications while I was pregnant, and I trust he’ll do the same with our little girl.
15
2008
9:24 am
Life in a Nutshell
Blogging forces me to sit down and think about what has been going on in life. Life continues to move at full pace, and sometimes I find I have to stop and think what moments are worth recording and remembering!
This past week, Eli finally recovered from his terrible cold and has his heath back! So I called and scheduled his flu shot at the pediatrician’s office. Apparently they must be quite busy as our appointment isn’t until the end of the month. With all of us sharing bugs way too frequently, we’ve all decided its worth getting the flu shot this year!
Along with the weekend came a cold front. The leaves have been changing colors for a couple weeks, but the cool, crisp fall weather has finally hit. I packed up Eli’s summer clothes and filled his drawers with warm clothes the other day. We’ve begun the struggle of keeping Eli warm while he sleeps at night. As an infant, we could put him in a zipped up blanket. But now that he’s outgrown those and refuses to sleep under a blanket, he’s been waking up several times a night because he is cold. Poor guy. We’ve tried layering…but after three warm layers, he still isn’t warm enough. I must add, Eli is the type of kid that likes things just right. So, we gave in and found a heater for his room. It seemed to help as we all thoroughly enjoyed a good night of sleep (finally!).
Matt, not wanting to dwell on the cool, damp weather was anxious to fill some of our time this weekend with fun activities! It gets a little trickier to find inexpensive indoor activities that entertain all of us! Don’t laugh at us, but we started our Christmas shopping. Its always fun to spend money…especially already budgeted money…and especially on someone else! Its fun looking forward to being together with both of our families (and shopping when the stores aren’t yet overcrowded with people and things).
On Saturday evening, we headed over to the indoor swimming pool that is very close to our home. Eli has such a blast! To our surprise, he preferred the lazy river over the wave pool this trip as he enjoyed “swimming” in the water. He was kicking his feet and moving his arms to propel forward (with daddy and mommy holding on, of course!). In the past, he hasn’t liked to float on his back, but we made a little progress with the back float! He even enjoyed dunking his face into the water! I’m pretty sure we have a swimmer on our hands! Unfortunately, Matt has ended up with swimmer’s ear and has been a bit uncomfortable this week. He is looking forward the antibiotic taking affect to offer some relief.
Though he is still making lots of talking sounds, Eli’s vocabulary really hasn’t taken off. So I went ahead and scheduled his first speech therapy visit for Monday. We will see what happens! Its bright and early in the morning…but thankfully doesn’t interfere with his desperately needed nap times! I’m definitely looking forward to Eli using words instead of grunts and screams and the same three words of sign language for every need in his life!
08
2008
9:07 am
I Have a Toddler
More and more, we are realizing we are entering a new phase of life with our little boy. Though he’s been toddling around for about seven months now, we are noticing his independence and desire to make his own choices increase! He wants to choose his socks and shoes and will throw a fit if we choose for him. He wants to choose what he eats and when he is finished. He wants to choose the book. He wants to choose the jacket he wears outside. He wants to choose who and want and where and when he is playing. Basically, this kid doesn’t like to be told what to do and thrives off of choices. Its been interesting figuring out the balance of “I’m the parent, you are the kid and you do what I say,” setting boundaries, and adjusting our parenting style to help Eli thrive.
Well, the picture above made me smile. Eli has been pretty sick with a nasty cold for the past several days. Yesterday was a pretty rough day as he was super clingy and fussy. Well, at one point in the day, he sat on the stairs with his boots (that is his way of asking for his shoes to be put on). Going with the flow, I put his boots on. I ran upstairs to grab something, and came downstairs to find he put on a baseball cap. Then he walked over and picked out a coat. Then he walked over to the door leading outside and knocked (his peaceful way of asking to go outside). So maybe this combination of outerwear would not have been my first choice (though to give him credit, his choices were not all that bad!), but I had to laugh as I watched him running around outside wearing his choices!
Yesterday when we were sitting on the floor, I also noticed that Eli figured out the Indian style position of sitting. And the other day, Matt and I called Eli up from the basement. We peaked down the stairs only to watch him walk up, only using the wall to balance (he usually crawls up or walks holding onto our hand for balance). These may be small things, but they are everyday reminders that Eli is no longer a baby and is rapidly growing up!
06
2008
2:10 pm
Gran-B and Poppy
Eli also loved playing with their dog, Sadie, only increasing his love for dogs! We had a fun weekend and look forward to more time together at Christmas!
06
2008
1:53 pm
Fall in the Mountains
After the pumpkin patch, we took a drive up into the mountains to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall! The most vivid and widespread color is yellow, and it is stunning to see! We drove to one of our favorite spots in the mountains and took a short hike to some aspen groves. Though Eli was tired and not feeling well, being in the outdoors cheered him right up. He didn’t have a care in the world as he ran freely through the tall grass exploring pine cones, leaves, and big sticks! We had so much fun together!
Eli found these branches on his own, and Matt and I laughed hysterically at him as he tried to bring them with him on his explorations! The branches were bigger than Eli, but Eli was determined not to give up!
After the fun in nature, Eli quickly fell asleep in his car seat. Matt stopped at a yummy bakery on the way down the mountains and treated me with the most delicious cinnamon roll I’ve had in a very long time! What a treat! And what a fun day we had together!06
2008
1:26 pm
Colorado Pumpkin Patch
Eli loved playing in the corn! We literally had to carry him kicking and screaming away from it!
It took Eli a few minutes, but he quickly warmed up and chased the goats around the pen trying to pet them! Then we moved on to the hay maze…
“Oh my, how am I ever going to get through this thing. I don’t even know where to start!”
“I can see the end, but how on earth do I get there?”
“Maybe no one will notice if I crawl over just a few bails of hay to get through this maze.”
