Prayers and a Sneak Peek

It's crazy how after you've been through a tough situation it seems like you see stories similar to your own so often.  I'm quite sure the number of babies with health problems hasn't increased since Logan was born, I just take more notice because I've been there.  So today I'm asking you to pray for three babies who need the prayers.

First is baby Blaze Johnson.  His dad is a friend of ours.  Little Blaze was born early and has a problem with his heart.  He is scheduled to have his 3rd open heart surgery on Monday.  He and his parents could use all the prayers they can get through the weekend and on Monday.

Next is Halle Scott.  Her mom was only 18 weeks pregnant when she started dilating.  Halle Scott was born at 24 weeks and weighed only slightly less than Logan weighed when he was born.

Last but certainly not least is a baby not born yet.  Several weeks ago I happened to click on an ultrasound pic on facebook.  I thought it was a picture of a friend but turns out it showed up because my friend had commented on the picture.  It was actually a picture of a friend of her's.  Anyway, when I clicked on the picture  I noticed the profile picture of the poster was a tiny little miropreemie.  That made me very curious so I clicked to the profile.  Turns out this woman had a preemie born on Logan's 3rd birthday. God doesn't make mistakes people!  The ultrasound picture was of her rainbow baby.  I sent the woman a message telling her my story and that I was praying for her and her new baby and that I was there if she wanted to talk.  We've been talking back and forth ever since.  She is about 21 weeks and has been put on bed rest because of contractions.  Please pray that she makes it to term or at least far enough along that sweet baby breezes right through the NICU.

On a different subject, I told you already that in April we had our pictures taken by MckMama, well she posted a preview picture of our session and I personally think it's adorable :)

Easter and "Love You"

What a weekend/week we've had!  Last Friday we went to my parents' house for Easter.  Because we had the most time to spend with them on Saturday we decided to go ahead and let Eli do his Easter then.  First thing that morning Eli got his Easter basket which had a book, a couple of animal figurines, a coloring book, one little chocolate bunny and a stuffed dog.  He also got a bubble machine from my parents.  We went outside to play with the bubble machine and he loved it!  He kept saying "pop", every time he popped a bubble.

After his morning nap we "hid" Easter eggs in the front yard and let him find them.  He really enjoyed getting all the "balls" :)

 I put some small animal figurines in some of the eggs, had to come up with something other than candy.  He loves playing with the little figurines and they are perfect for car rides and at church, plus they don't take up much room in my purse.  We've been practicing on animal sounds so I got farm animals to help him learn which animals make which sounds.

Saturday night at dinner we let him have his chocolate bunny.  He only ate about half of it but he loved every bite!

Eli also helped Doug and my dad do some work around the house.  He has become such a big helper.  One of the things we did while we were in Birmingham was buy a toy box.  Up until now we've just been using little baskets and piling toys in one corner of the room but it was a little confusing for Eli when we asked him to help clean up.  Now, with the toy box, he does much better.  Last night I asked him to pick up and he put almost everything away without any help from me!  With my sister and brother-in-law moving in soon, we will have to do a better job of picking up the toys and I think the toy box is really going to help with that.

 On Sunday morning we all got dressed up and went to church.  Mass was beautiful, Easter has always been on of my favorite Masses of the year.  Doesn't he look sooo cute in his little suit!

Then Sunday afternoon we took Eli to a park.  This particular park had different areas for all different ages so we were able to let him play on his own for the most part.  It took him a while to warm up to the slides but once he got the idea he was zooming down them and clapping when he got to the bottom.

He played and played and then all of a sudden he sat down in the middle of the playground, just looking around and watching all the other kids.  He sat there for a couple of minutes and then stood up and starting wave "bye" to all the kids he saw.  We took that as our cue to leave!

Last night was a wonderful day because Eli said "love you" for the first time!  He's been signing it for a little while now but hearing him say it is so much better!!!

Getting this post up has been kind of crazy!  I was too busy on Monday to even think about it but yesterday when I went home for lunch I remembered that I wanted to post some of these pictures.  I grabbed the camera card and threw it in my pocket so I could look at the pics when I got back to work.  Unfortunately, I completely forgot that the card was in there until I got home and went to put the load of laundry (that included the pants I had worn to work) in the dryer.  I fully expected to see the card in the washing machine but after a lot of searching all I found was a paci (that we thought we had lost at my parents' house).  Doug and I talked through my whole day trying to figure out where I had lost it.  I even drove back to work to look around the parking lot, halls, bathroom and my office.  By the time we went to bed I had resigned myself to the fact that it was gone for good.  Then when I got to work this morning I had an email from a former professor of mine who works in the same building.  He had found the card on the floor and recognized Eli in the pictures!  I was so relieved to have it found and by someone who knew me!

I realize this post is kind of disjointed, but disjointed pretty much describes our life right now :)

Nothing Much

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted.  The truth is I really haven't had much to talk about, and also we've been super busy.

We found out about 3 weeks ago that my sister and brother-in-law had an offer on their house.  Since they are going to be building their next house they will be moving in with us at the end of April.  So we've been busy little bees trying to rearrange everything to make room for them. 

Last weekend I went to my last consignment sale for the spring.  I got quite a few things and spent less than $35.  After we left the sale we went to visit a good friend who just had a baby and then headed home for a birthday party for one of Eli's friends from daycare.  Unfortunately, just a few miles away Eli started throwing up.  We had to stop and clean him and his car seat as best we could.  His clothes were soaked so I ended up taking them off completely and we headed home.  Thankfully he only threw up one more time and was feeling better by Monday. 

This weekend was originally set aside for finishing up some projects we started a while back.  I'm determined to catch up on things before we add two more adults to our household because I know we probably won't get them done while they are living with us.  But then I found out that MckMama was going to be doing photo shoots in Birmingham.  She is Stellan's mom and I've been reading her blog since shortly after Logan died.  So I set up a time and now I'm hoping I get most of my projects done on Saturday because we'll be having our pictures made on Sunday.

Anyway, not much is really going on.  We have about 4 friends getting married this year and several other friends having babies so I don't think things are going to slow down any time soon :)

Eli Update

It seems like it's been a long time since I've done an update about Eli and all he is doing so here goes.

Eli is just a few days shy of being 17 months old.

He was around 32-33 in. tall last time we were at the doctor's office and holding steady at around 25.5 lbs.  These numbers are vague because we've been to the doctor so many times since 2012 started I stopped getting exact measurements from them.  It all started when we got back from a trip to Kentucky in mid-January.  First it was just a cold.  Then Eli started running a fever and the doctor was worried about RSV and the flu since they were going around.  Eli tested negative for both of those so they decided it was a viral cold.  Then I got sick suddenly, also tested negative for the flu, but ended up developing pneumonia.  That same weekend, Eli developed c. diff and we ended up having to put him on an antibiotic for that.  This whole time I continued to run a fever so I had to go back to the doctor for a follow-up x-ray, they didn't find anything so they didn't understand the fever but told me not to worry unless it got above 101.  Then Eli started running a fever again out of nowhere for several days with no other symptoms.  The doctor did a CBC and a follow-up c. diff test but everything came back fine.  Finally, on Sunday morning Eli and I both went a whole day without a fever, it felt like such a victory!  I really hope both of us can stay well for awhile now.

Eli wears some 12 month clothes but mostly 18 month.  He wears size 5 diapers and size 6 shoes.

He loves to climb and run and throw balls (and sometimes other toys and food), he can catch a balloon but still misses the balls for now.

He still loves music and dancing and has come up with his very own dancey dance (if you don't get this, you've never seen Yo Gabba Gabba).  His favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus and he even does the motions.

He's starting to doodle with crayons and on his Aquadoodle, but it still doesn't keep his attention for long.

He can sign "more", "all done", "thank you", "please", and most recently "love" which we are using to say I love you.  He also combines the "more" and "please" signs to ask for things.

He's learning new words all the time so I doubt I could list them all, but some of the most common are: mama, daddy, pappaw, doggy, ball, car, knock knock, out, please, cheese, more, blankie, hi, light, thank you.  He also clicks his tongue when he sees a picture of a duck or you ask what a duck says.  He hasn't learned to say no yet, which is probably good for our sake :)

He loves books, both playing with them and letting us read to him.  He still enjoys bath time, at least when it comes to playing in the water.

He is using a fork and spoon pretty well although food on the floor is inevitable.

I've said this before, but it is so amazing watching him grow. He does new things that surprise us all the time.  This past weekend he spent about 20 min. building with his mega blocks and when he finished he brought his building to me.  It was only 3 or 4 blocks tall but he was so proud of himself and so was I!

He LOVES blankies.  We have little security blankets that he carries around most of the time but he's really not picky, any blankie will do in a pinch.  He's always trying to grab the extra blankies we have in the house so the other day I went in his room and got every single baby blanket we have and dumped them in a pile in the living room.  Eli loved it!

Onesie vs. T-Shirt

It's such a little thing really... that small amount of fabric that turns a t-shirt into a onesie.

For a long time I was completely against Eli wearing t-shirts.  I hated how they always pulled up when I carried him around.  So I chose onesies every chance I got.

But now that Eli's walking... I'll take a t-shirt any day.  I now hate having to undo the snaps on the onesie when it's time for a diaper change, much easier to simply pull down the pants and not have to worry about anything else.

And for whatever reason, Eli looks so much more grown up in a t-shirt than in a onesie.  I don't know how that little piece of fabric can make such a difference, but it does.

Of course part of the reason he looks more grown up is because he is getting to be such a big boy.  He has started "helping" around the house and particularly loves doing laundry and dishes.  It's nice being able to ask him to do small tasks and so fun watching him grow up right before our eyes!

Road Trip

We had the chance to visit some family and friends in Kentucky this past weekend.  It's always a long drive and a busy trip but I feel so blessed to have two grandmothers to visit.  We left on Friday as soon as I got off work, made a pit stop at my parents house to eat dinner and give Eli some play time and a bath and then hit the road.  We got a hotel around 3am and were back up and driving again by 8am.  We actually got to spend most of the day visiting my Grandma, we played dominoes and just generally had a good time.  We even got to see two of my aunts and two uncles while we were there.  Yo Gabba Gabba is Eli's favorite show so we took a DVD with us.

  While we were at my Grandma's we put in the DVD for him to watch while we played dominoes.  My grandma has an older tv and it sits in a cabinet so it is practically on the floor.  Eli was absolutely amazed that he could touch Muno and DJ Lance! We kept pulling him away from the TV and he would just go right back up to it :)

When we left there, we had a two hour drive to get to my Grandmother's house.  We spent all day Sunday with her.  Most of the time when we visit we have to run in and run out but this time we just sat around the house.  We got to see another of my aunts and an uncle and Eli had a ton of fun playing.

Before we left on Monday we went to visit one of my very best friends (and Eli's godmother) and her little girl.  Eli and Lily played so well together, I only wish we lived closer so that they would actually get to grow up together the way we did.  By the time this picture was taken Eli was exhausted and ready for his nap on the way home.

Simplifying in 2012

Happy New Year everyone!

We have had such a wonderful break that I almost hate to see 2012 begin because it means that very soon we'll be going back to work.  Doug has been off since Dec. 16 and I've been off since Dec. 22.  We have had so much wonderful family time, with my family, Doug's family and just the three of us.  We always have grand plans for our time off and this break was no different.

First we went to Doug's grandmother's house for Christmas on the 22nd.  Then my parents came down to help us with some projects around the house.  My dad built our entertainment center not long after we moved into our house.  It was built for a big, old TV (not at all flat-screen) so it was really, really deep.  A couple years ago we got a flat-screen TV and hung it on the wall so the depth was no longer needed and Eli kept climbing into it and hiding a ton of toys behind things.  So while they were visiting my dad cut off almost half of the entertainment center.  It is amazing what 9 in. will do in a room!  Doug and my dad also ran all kinds of cables in our attic so that Doug could actually use the SlingBox I got him for Christmas.

We went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve which was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas in my opinion.  Then we came home, put Eli back to bed and got everything ready for Santa's visit.  The next morning was one of the best parts of the whole break.  Eli came into the living room kind of hesitantly but soon he was playing with every toy in sight.  I can't wait to see how fun it will be next year.

After Eli had some time to play we packed up the van and hit the road headed for the beach.  We had a great time!  We have been going to the beach in the winter for 3 years now and our little tradition is to get in the room and unpack everything and then go for a walk on the beach.  As soon as we got to the sand I put Eli down so he could walk... big mistake!  He did NOT like the sand at all!  I think it was because it was so unstable and he probably didn't feel confident walking on it, but suffice it to say, he was terrified of it the rest of the time we were out there.  The waves were pretty rough too so it was kind of loud by the water, we didn't stay long.

We got home from the beach on the 28th and have spent the past few days just being together.  The one thing we did get accomplished is part of our family's resolution for 2012, simplifying.  This past year we got to talking about whether or not our house is big enough for the family we want or if we need to eventually get a bigger place.  At first, both of us were on the "need a bigger place" plan.  We would like to have two more children so our little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house is definitely too small for that, right?  That's when I realized that we had such a materialistic, bigger is better view and we really needed to simplify our lives.  Both of my parents grew up in large families (one with 9 kids and one with 11) so they didn't have rooms of their own.  Even my sister and I shared a room for a while as kids, by choice.  The fact is, if we are blessed with two more living children, all three of them could sleep in the same room or we could have one in a room of their own and two sharing.  Having a small house will simply force us to be together, our living room will be our play space, our TV space, and our fighting space (I'm sure).  And when our children are grown and gone, our house won't be too big either.  We will have the perfect space for a guest bed or two and an office.

The one thing that is important though when you don't have a large space is storage and organization.  We have a nice big attic that is partially floored and we use it for things that we don't use a lot.  But the truth is we also have a lot of unused or not efficiently used space in our house.  Doug and I have his and her closets in our room and they are both big walk in closets.  The truth is there is more room in either of the closets than is really needed for two people.  I mean how many clothes do you really wear?  I know personally I tend to pull out the same 10-15 outfits every time I get dressed.  So as part of our simplifying, Doug and I went through all of our clothes and pulled out everything that is either too old or we weren't wearing.  We trashed some things and took a lot of clothes to the Christian Mission.  Then we reorganized our dresser, allowing us to put some things that had been in the closet in drawers and finally, we combined our closets.  We chose to use the bigger of the two closets although it is still bigger than we really NEED.  Everything is neatly organized in our closet and we even put our extra towels and some blankets on the top shelves.  At this point, the other closet is really just being used for storage and it isn't really organized all that well, but when we find ourselves in need of some more space we'll be ready.  We've even toyed with the idea of putting my crafting stuff in there and making what is now my craft room a playroom.

I am so looking forward to what 2012 has in store!