elijah & samson

Fixed eyes, a head injury and an M&M's addiction

2012-01-25T19:42:00.004-06:00

I have much to share! I'll start with the best news. Elijah got his new glasses! Could any kid be better-suited for glasses than him? They suit his personality very well, I think. He did ok with them today, but did not like the patch at all. He has to wear a patch on his right eye for two hours every day, and I have a feeling this is going to be quite a daily struggle (like we need more daily struggles). Patching his good eye makes his other eye work pretty hard, which is good (for his eye) and bad (for those who have to deal with the complaining).

Two days ago, I was upstairs working on my blog and Dan was downstairs doing the budget (his favorite thing). Sammy was taking a nap, and Elijah was having quiet time at the computer. All of a sudden I heard chair legs screeching on the floor, followed by a splat and a murderous Elijah scream. He had somehow fallen off his chair and landed head-first onto the tile floor. A huge bump formed very quickly on the back of his head. I probably would have been comfortable not bringing him to the hospital if the bump had been our only concern. A few minutes after the fall, once he had calmed down, he started complaining about not being able to see us. He kept saying that his head was "up and couldn't get back down," and then he would say, "Mommy, I can't see you!" I brought him to the ER immediately. I know enough about head injuries to know not to waste time when neurological symptoms are present.

The ER doctor said he had a good deal of swelling and because he had complained of vision problems, a CT scan was ordered. The results were normal. He had suffered a mild concussion, but nothing was structurally damaged. The nurse told me to expect him to be "off" for about a week, but those vision complaints within 10 minutes of his fall were the only "off" things we have witnessed.

He was such a BRAVE BRAVE BOY during the CT scan. He had complete trust in me when I told him that nothing was going to hurt. He had to get "tied down" pretty tightly for the scan, and he did great. He's maturing! Just a short time ago, he would not have done well with that. I was very proud of my boy. Then we sat together on a bed in Room 16 and snuggled and talked and hugged and sang songs while we waited for the results. I don't know exactly how to explain this, but it was a weird experience for me. Sitting in a hospital with that special little boy of mine always, no matter what we are there for, brings me to tears. Happy, sad, thankful, sorrowful tears. I tried to put it into words to explain to Dan, but I couldn't. I can't explain it. There's just deep-rooted emotion there that I don't believe will ever go away. Elijah + hospitals = emotional mama.

The bump on E's head is still there, but he seems to be doing just fine. It has not hindered his sass or pooping-in-pants at all!

Our sweet Sammy needs rehab for his M&M's addiction. I had some left over from a recipe I made the other night, so I gave the boys each a small handful after dinner. Ever since then, Sammy has been asking for M-N-M-N-M (stick your tongue out on the Ns) about every 5 minutes. He gets such a funny little concerned look on his face when he asks for them. He's an addict!

And in other news, since being unemployed (or I should say since being SELF-employed!), I have been a home-organizing lunatic! After literally YEARS of carrying the I-don't-have-time-to-take-care-of-my-home burden heavily on my shoulders, I finally have time to take care of my home! I am loving this! Dan has helped me to create an office for myself in our loft, where I have been spending a few hours every day doing blog work and photo editing. We have also gone through all of the boys' toys and put three large bags in storage (aka, our messy garage). I have also sorted through my ridiculous pile of cooking magazines and organized them. Today I washed couch and chair covers. I am consistently CAUGHT UP ON LAUNDRY, which is the absolute strangest thing on the planet. When I was working full-time, I was never ever caught up on laundry. NEVER. And the best thing of all is that I get so much quality time with my precious boys. Spending this time with them is very special to me. Getting Elijah on and off the bus every day is indescribable. Snuggling with Sammy endlessly on the couch is the best. I love having this time with my boys!

I have another organizational project for tomorrow that I'm excited about! I'll take before and after pics and share. Fun!

Thanks for checking in on us! More later!

Croup: Season 2, Round 2 (Sammy)

2012-01-19T19:30:00.004-06:00

I love this string of photos. Our boys do have moments when they appear to love each other. :)

Sammy woke up very early in the evening last night with a horrible croup episode. I didn't think anything could scare me more than Elijah's early episodes of croup, but this rivaled those times. It was scary! Thank goodness he didn't panic because he was really struggling to breathe, even being totally calm. Dan tried to take him outside, but it was freezing! Plus I don't know that it would have done much, so we opted for an epi neb which was a first for Sammy. The epi neb pulled through, like it always does with Elijah, and after about 10 minutes Sammy was breathing a ton better. We put him back to bed, but I was a nervous wreck of a mama. We have never gotten clearance from a doctor to give him oral steroids, so I wasn't comfortable giving him that. Not having the steroids as a "back-up" had me on edge for the entire rest of the night. This morning he sounded fine, aside from a bit of a cough. We're on our toes again tonight!

That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of the boy pics. :)

Limbo

2012-01-16T13:23:00.005-06:00

Ever since Elijah's eye appointment last Friday, his left eye has remained crossed almost constantly. I cannot wait to get his glasses so we can help his vision and wandering eye.

Aside from eye issues, there are two main Elijah themes in our house lately: POOP and behavior. If we're not cleaning poop out of his pants, we are dealing with some sort of undesirable behavior (talking back, saying bad words, hitting/yelling at Sammy). Most nights I go to bed feeling like a terrible mother because I always end up losing my cool at some point during the day with that boy. He is SO strong-willed and he pushes his boundaries to the very limits, and beyond. He is such a sweet, kind, caring little boy, but when he decides to exert that will....watch out!

The past two weeks have been quite an adjustment period. We no longer have daycare for the boys since I am home full-time now, so that in itself is an adjustment! Dan is looking for full-time work and we are making major decisions regarding health insurance and finances. I am also attempting to grow my food blog and also my photography business.

Yesterday at church we were reminded how different our boys are. We attempted to drop Sam off in the nursery for the first time ever. We got paged after 15 minutes because he had been CRYING THE ENTIRE TIME. It had gotten to the point where he didn't want anyone even close to him, so he was on one side of the room lying on the floor screaming and everyone else was on the other side, watching. The second I walked into the room, he ran to me (stumbling over toys in his path) and buried his little face in my chest (and sucked his thumb, of course) and stayed like that for twenty straight minutes. He wouldn't even let Dan hold him! Then there's Elijah. On our way down to Sunday School, he started yelling, "I COMING! HERE I COME!" He couldn't have been more excited to spend time with friends.

That's all we have for now! Sorry no photos today..

I can think of a thousand captions for these photos

2012-01-14T16:05:00.000-06:00

Eye appointment

2012-01-13T19:24:00.003-06:00

The opthamologist found three problems with Elijah's eyes this morning: 1. The vision in his left eye is very poor, 2. His right eye is doing almost all of the work, and 3. his left eye is turning inward periodically. The doctor feels that number 3 is the least of our concerns at this point. He feels that if we take care of 1 and 2, that 3 will likely fall into place.

We ordered a pair of glasses for Elijah today! We're thinking he will need to wear them for a minimum of two years, possibly more. In addition, we will be "patching" his good eye for a few hours every day for a period of three months (minimum). The hope is that these two things will greatly reduce the amount of eye-crossing.

Since his little eyes had been dilated, his left eye basically stayed crossed for the rest of the day which was a bit alarming. I kept forgetting about it and then I'd look at him and I wouldn't have any idea what or who he was looking at!

The doctor thinks it is extremely unlikely that the eye-crossing is occurring because of anything serious. He also thinks it is unlikely that any of this has anything to do with the rest of his anomalies. In fact, I have always had terrible vision in MY left eye and my right eye did most of the work for 29 years until I got lasik. So it is very likely that it is genetic. You're welcome, Elijah!

And here are the glasses he chose! We had a handful picked out that all fit him well and every one of them looked adorable on him, so we let him choose. They should be ready in approximately two weeks, and we will be ready to fix those eyes!

Croup: Season 4, Round 5 (Elijah)

2012-01-12T15:31:00.004-06:00

Elijah woke up with croup two nights ago. We did the standard procedure, and all was well. He hasn't had any symptoms since, aside from a few extra sneezes.

Thanks to a very kind doctor (who was probably sensing my anxiety more than anything), Elijah is scheduled to be seen by an opthamologist tomorrow morning already! His drifting left eye has caused some mama worry this week, so I am incredibly thankful that we can get answers so quickly. We are praying hard for GOOD news.

Back to the boy craziness. I just wanted to give a quick croup update. I will post details tomorrow morning after E's appointment!

New specialists and funnies

2012-01-10T18:38:00.003-06:00

Now that we have medical insurance worries on our brains, we are needing to add two more specialists to Elijah's list. He has been a really healthy kid for the past few years (you know, aside from an open heart surgery here and there), so I'm not complaining about any of this.

For the past year or so Dan and I have noticed that when we get down at eye level with Elijah, he starts crossing his eyes. We have always thought that he did it on purpose to be silly! The other day I was chatting with Elijah about some (never-ending) behavior issues and I noticed that his left eye kept turning inward. Then he would rub it and it would happen again. For the first time, I saw him getting frustrated about it. He wasn't doing the silly eye thing on purpose! I brought him to the doctor today and Dr. J thought we should get him in to see a pediatric opthamologist. It could be that he is already developing a little bit of farsightedness, or he could have something more complicated going on. We will see what the specialist says!

Also, E has had a freckle/mole on the middle of his back that has become slightly bigger and somewhat irregular in the past few months. Dr. J thought we should get him into the dermatologist to get it looked at.

I have officially completed my first full week of unemployment! It's surreal and awesome and scary and angering. I love being at home with my boys. I love taking naps with Elijah. I love having time to blog and cook and bake and not having to do all of those things late at night or squish it in over a lunch hour. I love seeing Elijah get on and off the school bus. I love not having a time limit when Sammy wants to snuggle. We obviously have some worries, namely MONEY and insurance. But we know there is a plan and that things will work out. I am thankful to have my family, and I can't ask for more than that.

I have been compiling a list of Boy Funnies in my head, but of course I have forgotten most of them. Here are a few:

- Today I laid down with Elijah, hoping he would nap with me. He has been soooo tired and crabby since dropping his naps, so we occasionally try to get him to sleep during the day when he needs it. Today he wanted to play and tickle and giggle in bed, so I wrapped my arms around him super tight. We were drifting off to sleep and he started to speak a little gibberish. He kept whispering HOT DOGGY into my ear. :) I knew if I laughed he would wake up, so I stifled the laughs and we drifted off to sleep.

- Yesterday Elijah said, "Mom, do you call me 'Wittle Man'?" I said yes and he said, "Ok, you're my Wittle Wady!"

- Sammy started doing a funny new dance move tonight (what is with my boys and their dance moves?) that looks like he is in the gym doing squats.

That's all my brain can come up with for now. It is decompress time! Thanks for checking in!

A fresh start!

2012-01-04T19:02:00.000-06:00

We had a fun, relaxing time in North Carolina over the long holiday weekend. It was wonderful to see family, hug family and spend time with family. I miss my family!

Elijah had a BLAST playing with Gwamps, Gwammie and Uncle Joel. Like last year, one of his favorite things to do was to play in Walgreens (Grammie and Gramps' bathroom). He would invite people in to shop and purchase items. Apparently all we need to do to keep Elijah occupied at home is build French doors in our bathroom!

Sammy was soooo snuggly with everyone, especially Juan the puppy! He loved to lay his head on Juan's back and snuggle up to him. Juan didn't think this was so much fun, as was evidenced by him running across the room AGAIN...away from the snuggly baby. :) It was pretty cute how much Sam adored him. And funny how much Juan did NOT adore him back.

We ate A TON of food while we were there, but it was all worth it. It was all so delicious! Isn't that what vacations are for? Gaining weight? And sleeping? And relaxing? And spending time with family?

Since returning home yesterday, the following things have happened:
- 10 pounds of snot have dripped out of Sammy's nose (yum).
- I have suddenly become unemployed.
- Elijah has had to sit in approximately 137 time-outs for saying the word CR*P and for being mean to his brother.
- We have set sea monkey eggs free into a container of water in hopes that they will hatch.
- I have started a new "diet," which is actually just a way to (hopefully) reduce my migraine symptoms (dizziness, brain fog, fatigue).
- I fell HARD on the sidewalk after slipping on a patch of ice while attempting to exercise.
- Instead, I decided on push-ups, jumping jacks and lunges inside where there is no ice.
- Elijah has sat on his new whoopie cushion (thanks, Uncle Joel!) 1,000 times, which is always followed by a string of giggling. Sam now sits on the whoopie cushion, too, and somehow that is just really funny.

So here's to a clean slate in 2012! We wish the absolute best for all of you this year.

Photos of my beautiful Sammy Jammy and what we have been up to

2011-12-28T16:54:00.000-06:00

Dan and Elijah ran some errands together the other day, leaving Sammy and me home by ourselves. It seems so rare that I get one-on-one time with either of my boys. When it does happen, I try to make the absolute most of it and give them as much love as a I possibly can. Oh, and take pictures. :)

Have I mentioned that Sam got a few balls for Christmas? And how he wouldn't pay attention to any of his other gifts because he was obsessed with said balls? He would show them to us again and again, saying, "BALL!" Yes, Sammy, we know! And he is already tossing balls around quite well. A natural athlete, perhaps?

Tonight we are packing our bags in preparation for our trip tomorrow! The four of us will be flying to North Carolina to visit my dad and stepmom for a few days. Elijah is so excited to see "Gwammie and Gwamps" that he can hardly contain himself. Every day he wakes up and says, "Today is Wednesday, Mama? Tomorrow is Thursday? On Thursday we go to see Gwammie and Gwamps? What we do on Fwiday?" and on and on.

I don't have much more to share right now, other than that we wish you all a wonderful and safe holiday weekend! May 2012 bring all of the wonderful things you dream of. We will be back after the new year, certainly with more funny boy stories and photos!

Building a home for Mr. Gingerbread

2011-12-27T20:16:00.001-06:00

Elijah kept telling me that the Gingerbread Man was inside his house washing dishes and folding laundry. I wonder if he would be willing to come to our house for a few days?

Christmas morning!

2011-12-26T20:11:00.001-06:00

Here are a few photos from Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T19:23:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! We hope you had a peaceful, wonderful, fulfilling day spent with loved ones!

Rudolph, I mean Elijah, says hello!

I had to post this photo because it made me laugh so hard I cried. I was trying to take Christmas Breakfast photos (see Dan's awesome pancakes?) and I captured Sam STUFFING his face. That's our Sammy!

And by the way, here is what Sam's eating area looks like post-meal.

And here's our little Linus, I mean Sammy, saying hello, as well.

Spinning world

2011-12-21T18:26:00.002-06:00

I have no idea which way is up. It has been a particularly difficult month for me and my mysterious health issues and dizzy episodes and general unwellness. Add to that the stress of Christmas and another unnamed stress and....(insert loud scream)! I have actually researched "luxury spa vacations," and do you know how much those things cost? Holy cow! I guess I'll look back into it when I'm a millionaire.

Elijah has just recently dropped his nap, so that transition has brought on some extra behavioral issues and earlier bedtimes. Sammy's little attitude has been blossoming lately, too. He is such a sensitive and strong-willed, yet LOVING kid. If he's not throwing himself on the floor and crying BECAUSE I TRIED TO HELP HIM PUT THE CAP ON THE MARKER, you can find him snuggling in my or Dan's arms, while sucking his thumb and holding onto his blankie. Picture Linus from Peanuts! This is Sammy to a T (only with a green blankie)!

We are still struggling with Elijah saying naughty words. Thankfully his "bad" words aren't terrible, but they still drive Dan and me crazy. Last night he was getting up onto his chair for dinner and his leg slipped. I heard him say, "CRAM!" He looked at me and said, "Mom, I said CRAM." Thanks for the reassurance, Elijah.

I have all of my Christmas shopping done for my three boys, and I am unbelievably excited to see them open their gifts this year! This is the first year Elijah has been really excited for Christmas. Every morning he asks me if I will tell him what his "surprises" (presents) are. I ADORED Christmas as a child, but I think I enjoy it even more as a parent. I'm giddy about it! It has been fun sharing the true meaning of Christmas with Elijah this year, since he finally can wrap his head around it. I LOVE that Jesus comes to his mind before Santa when we mention Christmas. Good old SC will make a stop in our home, but it will be a quick one and we do not make a big deal about him.

We plan to spend time with Dan's family on Christmas Eve and time at home (just the four of us) on Christmas day. Next weekend we are traveling to North Carolina to visit my dad and stepmom for a few days. We are all very excited about that trip! Although, Sammy as a "lap child" on an airplane for three hours might get interesting. We'll survive!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for checking in and GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Family photos

2011-12-15T17:11:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of my favorites from the bunch my awesome and extremely talented friend Maren took for us!

Potty-mouth

2011-12-12T19:09:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo from Sammy's very first carousel ride!

I thought of one of the things I wanted to write about in my last post. I have mentioned the CR*P word that Elijah likes to use lately. We have been punishing him for saying it when it slips out. For the past few days, the little stinker has been lying to us about saying it!

Elijah: CWAP.
Me: Elijah, what did you just say?
Elijah: Um, I, uh, said, 'Wrap!' I'm going to wrap a Christmas present!

Other words that have covered for him: crack, crayon, rap and cram.

December uh-webben

2011-12-11T21:00:00.005-06:00

We actually got out of the house and did some fun things this weekend! Dan and I attended my company's holiday party on Friday night. Sunday we took the boys to the Mall of America (or as Elijah calls it, "the mall at 'merica"). We rode on a few rides and did a little bit of Christmas shopping. We splurged and had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

For the first time ever, Elijah LOVED the rides! No fear, just pure enjoyment. And Sammy showed no fear, either, which didn't surprise us. Our laid back little guy.

One funny thing from the weekend quick. Sammy has started doing something funny every time Elijah is put in a time-out. He will march back to the time-out corner, stand in front of Elijah while shaking his finger at him and say, "GAH-GAH-GAH-GAH!!" Then he will march back to the living room and look at us like, "Got it taken care of, guys!" Then he will go back to Elijah and do it all over again. Thanks, Sammy. As you can guess, Elijah doesn't like that so much.

I know there are a handful of other funnies that have happened recently but I've forgotten them. I'm sure there will be more!

Sammy 18-month well visit

2011-12-06T05:34:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note about Sammy's 18-month well visit yesterday. He is in the 90th percentile for height and the 57th for weight. He got one vaccination and, again, NO TEARS, nothing. Our boys are so drastically different! :) Everything else is fine with our Sam Jam.

More later..

December is here!

2011-12-01T18:30:00.003-06:00

I have no idea how it is Thursday already. And December 1st, too?! Will somebody do my Christmas shopping for me please? I feel like my head is spinning. Literally! This week I learned that the dizziness and extreme fatigue I've been feeling off and on since last summer is due to inner ear damage (??). My inner ear (balance) is not communicating well with my vision, and therefore causing a list of lovely symptoms that interfere with my everyday life. This week has been the worst of it, and I feel like I'm about to lose my mind! I've started vestibular rehab (very similar to what Elijah does, coincidentally), so I'm hoping this will eventually help.

Another disappointing part of the week is that Elijah is not only still pooping his pants frequently, but now he has reverted back to peeing in them, as well. UGH! I don't even have words to express how frustrating this is. I've had people say, "He'll do it when he's ready!" Well, yes, trust me, I understand that, but goodness, he's almost five! That and, he knows how to use the potty. He just chooses not to do so.

Sammy is in love with the Baby Signing Time videos. It is adorable! He asks to watch them constantly by doing the sign for BABY and saying, "BWAA-BWAA," which is his way of singing the baby signing time song. He can do most of the signs on the videos, and thoroughly enjoys watching them. They were always some of Elijah's favorites as a baby, too. In fact, Elijah still enjoys watching them!

A couple quick funnies..

Elijah has been reading like crazy lately. He even gives the tougher words a try. On the yogurt he was eating the other night, he was trying to make sense of "99% fat-free!" His first attempt was: "Ninety-nine dollars February!" :)

One of Elijah's recent hobbies involves watching videos I have recorded over the years of him and Sammy. He will sit at the computer and watch them repeatedly. He loves them! In one of the videos I took while he was in the hospital last summer, I tripped over some of his lines while filming and let a "Crap!" slip out of my mouth. Of course, our smartypants boy picked up on that and has been heard saying that very word in recent days. I've explained that I shouldn't have said it and that I don't want him saying it. The other day he tripped over something and started to cry, then stopped himself, yelled, "CWAP!" and continued crying. THEN, at the dinner table, he said, "So. Mom. What word you said?" I said, "I don't know what you're talking about." I could hear him sounding out the letters under his breath, "Cuh-Cruh-ah-ap," and then he said, "It starts with a C and ends with a P????? With an R and A in the middle????" Oh my goodness, it was so hard not to die laughing! Since then, we have been working on having him say BUMMER instead. So far there's about a 50% success rate. We'll keep working on reversing the damage I've done.

That's about all I've got today. Thanks for checking in!

Out with turkey, in with lights

2011-11-25T20:24:00.001-06:00

As Elijah has been saying today, Thanksgiving-time is done and Christmas-time is here. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with family yesterday, and now we are already thinking about the next holiday!

We got up this morning and picked out a Christmas tree for our living room. It's big and beautiful and partially decorated (so no pics yet!). Elijah loves it. Sammy is indifferent.

This was the first time both boys met Santa! Elijah acted shy at first, and then he was totally indifferent. I don't think Sam even noticed. He just wanted to be in mama's arms.

I love this photo. It's like Sammy is saying to Elijah, "Can you believe Mom is making us sit with this guy?" I'm sure there will be much more of that in our lifetime.

The boys had fun with their cousins this morning. We even got to see Santa's reindeer! I didn't get pics of them because Sam was being clingy.

And here is a family portrait with Santa!

Sammy had a pretty fussy day and had a low-grade fever AGAIN. Dan brought him into the doctor. Again. And, nothing appears to be the matter. Teeth? Perhaps. We hope.

I want to write just a few things and then I want to get my butt on the couch for relax-time..

Elijah and I had a sweet moment today. I laid down for a nap when Sam did, around 12:30. Dan put Elijah down shortly after, and in bed with me (he has been napping in our bed a lot lately so he and Sammy don't wake each other). When he got into bed, I heard a "loud whisper" say, "MOMMY?! MOM?" I peeked over at him and he smiled and grabbed my hand. We laid next to each other, holding hands, for 20 minutes or so. Elijah fell asleep and I stayed awake and watched his sweetness and thanked God for him and Sam. At one point he startled himself awake and his hand fell from mine. He realized what had happened and grabbed my hand again and fell back asleep. I love those moments! They make up for the ones that occupy most of our days involving poop, sass and sibling-hitting.

I will end with a very funny funny! A few nights ago all four of us were in the loft after bath-time. Sammy was reading a book and Dan and I were cleaning up a bit. Elijah came up to me with his hands on his hips and said, "Mom! Wook at THIS shaky body!" and shifted his little hips from side to side to side to side. Dan and I laughed for a long long time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Croup: Season 4, Round 4 (Elijah)

2011-11-22T17:47:00.000-06:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about this! This is how commonplace croup is in our home.

Elijah woke up with croup at 11:00 on Saturday night. I have been dealing with some exhaustion/insomnia (a lovely combination, let me tell you..), so my wonderful husband got up with him and gave him a neb. Well, I did have to see Elijah with my own eyes to make sure he was ok (he was; so thankful he remains so calm now), but then I went back to sleep. We tried to get rid of it with a regular neb (no epi) and cold outside air, but he was up again in another hour with another episode. Dan got up again and gave him an epi neb and that did the trick, as it always does!

And he has been just fine ever since. No cough or anything!

The first snow

2011-11-21T18:57:00.001-06:00

We were planning to get out much more than we did this weekend, but the snow/ice kept us inside for a lot of the time. We built forts and watched movies and did lots of playing and very little cleaning and laundry.

When Elijah looked out the window on Sunday morning, he said, "Mom! Wook! The snow got glued to the ground over night!"

This is Elijah's new look. Comfy pants with a t-shirt and one of Dan's old button-up shirts from when he was younger. And he likes having most of the buttons unbuttoned. :)

After spending a few days with my cuties, I have a few funnies to share!

Sammy is currently quite intrigued by belly buttons. He pulls his shirt up and peeks around his big round belly until he finds it, and then says, "Buh-buh!" Then he goes to the rest of us, one by one, and lifts up our shirts until he finds our belly buttons. Yesterday I caught him checking the wrong side of my body for my belly button, as he tried to pull my pants off!

Every night before bed, after books and prayers, Elijah and I sing songs. We have always gone in spurts where we sing the same sequence of songs every night for a period of time. Lately we have been singing Jesus Loves the Little Children THREE times in a row. The first time we sing it the "correct" way, the second time, we say, "red, yellow, blue and white," which is following by much giggling, and the third time we say, "red, yellow, purple and white," which is followed by even more giggling.

Elijah's conversations with himself are so funny. He can carry on with these self-chats for 20 minutes or more. Back and forth, talking about everything and anything. Our boy loves to talk! The other day in the car he was doing this, talk-talk-talking to himself, when he stopped and said, "I doing talk-podge!" Dan and I busted up laughing. What a perfect word for it! Talk-podge! I love it.

Elijah has also started doing a new laugh that cracks me up. The best way to describe it is a fake chortle. I have a hard time controlling my laughter every time I hear it.

That's all I can think of for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Mid-November tidbits

2011-11-16T18:26:00.004-06:00

Sammy's fever returned a few days ago, but on a much smaller scale (below 100 degrees). We had two different doctors check him out and they were not concerned. His ears looked fine and his lungs sounded clear.

Our lives have been fairly boring recently. So I'll fill up some space with some cute boy stuff, and sadly, still no photos. It's either feast or famine with me!

Elijah has been very interested in the time and date recently. He will stare at the digital clock in our bedroom and wait for the minutes to pass so he can read a new time. "Mom, it's 6:32? Soon it will be 6:33?.......Mom, it's 6:33! Next is 6:34!" And every day, he tells me the date at least five to ten times. "Mom, today is November sixteen! After November 16 is November 17! After November 17 is November 18!" and on and on... Also, he has been in tune with the weather and the sun and the moon and what they are all doing. "The moon is up and the sun is down? It's a cloudy day and windy, too? It's cold?"

This is super strange and we cannot figure it out, but there is a ball at daycare that Sam is TERRIFIED of. This is the kid who adores balls! The kid who talks about balls aaaaaall the time! But when he sees this one particular ball, he latches onto whoever is near and a complete look of terror comes across his face. ???

Elijah continues to tell Sammy not to say the things he likes to say so much: Brrrrrmm brrrrrmmm (when he sees a car or airplane), Mmmmmm (when he's eating), Issssss (means "shoes" or "hat" or "blankie"). Elijah often says, "No saying 'Brrrmm brrrmm' SAM!" The funny thing is that now Sam knows that it irritates him, so he will get right in Elijah's face and say it even louder: BRRRRRRMMMM BRRRMMMMMM! :) As you can guess, Elijah doesn't think this is very funny.

The boys are still doing their chase game around the house. They both love it. They run from the back bathroom, through the kitchen and into the living room and back if we're downstairs, and from the loft and down the hall to their bedroom and back if we're upstairs. And all the while, they are squealing and giggling.

Sammy still has a lot of stranger anxiety. Or, anyone-except-Daddy anxiety. He's so good at giving people the stare-down if they are getting too close. And only very recently has he started coming willingly to me when Dan is around. He's a tough one to crack! Lately, his thing to do is to turn around and scooch his butt into my lap so he's basically sitting on me. That's code for DON'T LEAVE ME, MAMA.

Elijah got to tour a fire station last weekend, thanks to our firefighter friend Joel. He even got to sit in the driver's seat and pretend he was driving! We got to watch Joel slide down the fire pole and we learned all about the trucks and equipment. It was fun!

That's all I've got for now!

Samma Jamma

2011-11-10T18:10:00.001-06:00

Now I'm out of pictures to post! Ahhh! A week ago I had too many and now I have none.

I wanted to post a quick Sammy update. He is doing MUCH better. His temp is gone, he is sleeping well and he appears to be feeling great based on his level of sass and spunk. :) He has even gotten a little bit better about taking his medicine. For the past couple nights when Dan and I put it in his mouth, instead of spitting it out he gargles it, swallows it and then smiles. Much better! Thanks, Sam!

Here are a few of Sammy's latest words:
magnet = GAAA!
open = DA! (he says this when he wants help opening a door or a book or a dvd case or a box or anything at all)
Elijah = uh-YA-YA (it is sooo cute to hear him saying Elijah's name...he stands up in bed when I get him in the morning and this is the first thing he says)
good-night = nigh-nigh
bib = bi (repeats this until we put a bib on him at meal times)

A couple more cute Sam things..
We have to be careful about putting on shoes/coats/hats unless we intend to go outside and bring Sam with us. If I put a pair of shoes on, Sammy runs to the stairs and grabs his hat and shoes and hands them to me. Then he points to his coat.

He finds it hilarious when we brush his teeth. The bristles tickle the roof of his mouth, so he giggles like mad.

We are LOVING having Dan home more often now that skydiving season is all wrapped up. This coming weekend will be our first full weekend with him in far too long. Can't wait! More later..

Boys' pizza night

2011-11-08T18:47:00.000-06:00

I went to a movie with a friend last week (Have you seen Drive?! Ohmygoodness, what an intensely awesome movie!), so the boys had their own fun at home. It was Pizza-Movie night!

Cardiology and a Sammy update

2011-11-07T17:40:00.000-06:00

Elijah had a cardiology check-up with Dr. G today. It went great! The ventricles in his heart are smaller, which means his heart isn't working as hard as it was before surgery. YAY! This is exactly what we wanted to hear. I told him that his endurance is much better than it was even six months ago (he never would have been able to walk around the mall back then like he did last week), and he said that was a great sign.

Most of the visit involved knock-knock jokes. Elijah told Dr. G some of his recent favorites (courtesy Yo Gabba Gabba):

E: Knock knock!
Dr. G: Who's there?
E: Lion!
Dr. G: Lion who?
E: Lyin' on your doorstep, can you let me in?!

E: Knock knock!
Dr. G: Who's there?
E: Sherlock
Dr. G: Sherlock who?
E: 'Sure lock your door! Somebody could break in!

E: Knock knock!
Dr. G: Who's there?
E: Interrupting Cow!
Dr. G: Interrupting c....
E: MOOOOO!

Then Dr. G attempted a knock-knock joke and got it mixed up, so Elijah and I giggled at him. He promised to practice and have a few better ones for us next time!

We will head back in six months for an echo, and likely another heart cath will follow. When we were leaving the office, Elijah kept saying, "Mom! We don't got (forgot) the gel!" He was trying to tell me that we forgot to get an echo. Next time, sweetie!

It's pretty amazing to watch Elijah strut around the halls at the heart clinic. I found myself thinking back to "old times" today. First of all, the really uncertain times back when he was just days/weeks/months old, when we had no clue what to expect. Then, fairly recent times, when he was afraid of the blood pressure machine, as well as anyone who even looked in his general direction. Now he's this big, brave boy who confidently walks around the hall saying "hi" to everyone and sitting patiently while his blood pressure and oxygen sats are measured. I'm so proud of how far our little man has come.

And Sammy is still improving, slowly but surely. We make him sooo mad every time it's time to take medicine, but we have to make sure he takes all of it. Pinning down his arms for medicine-time and watching his confused eyes plead with me is not fun. :(

Hoping for a healthy week for us, and for all of you, too!

Halloween 2011 and a Sammy update

2011-11-06T12:40:00.000-06:00

Halloween was a ton of fun this year! It gets more fun with Elijah every year, and soon Sammy will be enjoying it, too.

We took Superman and our little bumble bee to a nearby mall, where the stores hand out candy. It is a WARM way to enjoy trick-or-treating and Halloween in general.

Dan's mom and sister were able to join us for trick-or-treating, and that made it so much more fun. We were all happy to have them there with us! Thanks, guys, for joining us!

Elijah walked the entire perimeter of the mall (both upstairs and down) by himself! That was by far more than he was able to do last year.

When we got home, Sammy went straight to bed (sorry, Sam), and Elijah gobbled down loads of sugar. Thankfully being so tired from the walking overruled the sugar high, and he didn't have any trouble sleeping.

Before he went to bed, though, he was able to help us hand out candy to trick-or-treaters stopping by our house. I could tell he thought it was cool being on the other side of the door. I was glad he got to experience the giving-sharing part of a fun holiday!

Today Sammy is still running a temp off and on. Gradually the temps are coming down over time, but we are still dealing with 101-102-degree temps at times. We are hoping that today is the turn-around day! We have managed to get most of Sam's medicine in his belly...by force. Medicine-time is pretty traumatic. I wish he wouldn't fight it so much!

Sam taught Elijah and I a few new dances today. He does the chicken dance, which goes: chin to chest, chin up in air, repeat (walk while doing this). He also has a new arm dance, and his standard ear to shoulder dance. Elijah finds Sam's dancing hilarious, as do the rest of us. About every ten minutes I hear Elijah say, "Sammy, pwease do your chicken dance! Sam, pwease dance for us!"

We are off to take much-needed naps! Have a good day!

Oh my little monkey

2011-11-05T11:13:00.002-05:00

We just got back from the doctor. Sammy has pneumonia in his left lung. We will be treating it at home with strong antibiotics. The doctor said to expect another two days of high temperatures. Now if only I had a magic way to get the medicine in his belly! He already spit out half of his first dose! Back to the sicky..

Movie-popcorn night pics and a sick Sammy

2011-11-05T07:43:00.005-05:00

This is one of the cutest things I've seen in a while. Brothers sharing a bowl of popcorn!

These pictures were taken a few days ago when Sammy was feeling much better! Today he is a sick little guy. I thought we had gotten his fever under control last night before bed, but he was up talking in his bed at 8:45p which is highly unusual for him. I checked on him and he was totally burning up. I took his temp and it was at 105.2!! Oh my goodness that was scary. After talking to an ER nurse a few different times, I decided to treat him at home with Motrin and Tylenol. Dan's mom came over since I thought I might need to take him to the hospital, and we were up until 11:00p doing everything we could to cool Sam down. We got his temp down to 100.5 before putting him back to bed. I checked on him every hour (or more) throughout the night and he stayed pretty cool. At 5:00a I took his temp and he was back up to 104. So here we sit, after another round of meds, and only able to get that temp down to 101.5. We will be heading to the doctor in a bit here. More later...

Pumpkin carving and more misc (almost caught up!)

2011-11-04T19:11:00.001-05:00

Here are some photos from our pumpkin-carving night. As you can see, the boys are still not too interested.

It was still fun, of course. Elijah has always loved the finished product, when the pumpkins are finished and lit with candles. Oh, and apparently he likes having a pumpkin head, too.

And again I will write about things that have nothing to do with the photos surrounding them!

Elijah got his cavity filled this week. Thanks to the laser (and nitrous), it was painless. It was a little traumatic for him to have someone prying his mouth open, and he didn't like the sounds of the tools. It's finished, and we will continue to brush and floss those little teeth religiously. Especially during this post-Halloween week!

I got to accompany Elijah and his preschool class on a field trip this week. This is the third field trip I have been on with him, and it is such a special little thing for us. Well, for me, anyway! We went to Lowry Nature Center (our second field trip to this location) and saw a puppet show and some animals and we talked about what animals do in the winter-time. We walked through the woods and looked for acorns and smelled leaves and Elijah got to hold a snake! He wasn't even a teeny bit afraid and started crying when his turn was up. Last year he fearlessly held a cockroach at this same place and grossed everyone, including myself, out. I'm glad he is fearless when it comes to creepy-crawlies! He can be my bug patrol! One of the things I love about these field trips are our bus rides. Elijah adores riding the "big yellow bus," and it's so much fun to see his happy little face. He thinks it's the coolest thing in the world. And thankfully he's not shy about loving Mommy, because we snuggle like crazy on our bus rides. For the third time (100% track record), he fell asleep in my arms on our way back to school after the field trip was finished. The only thing better would be to have Sammy there, too! And Dan, of course. :)

I realize this is turning into an Elijah-only post, but with as much as that boy talks it's hard not to have constant funny things to report! Something he has been doing a lot lately is asking us, in public, what everybody's name is, and RIGHT IN FRONT of said people.
"Mom, 'member that guy's name?"
"No, sweetie, I don't."
"Is he mean?"
"No, I'm sure he's not."
"He's nice?"
"Yes."

The other day we were somewhere in public, I can't remember where, and we passed a bigger-framed fella. Elijah said, "Wook at THAT guy!" Thankfully, "that guy" thought it was funny and started laughing. Oh the things kids say!

Dan is hunting this weekend and the little boys and I are hanging out at home. Sammy has some sort of virus that he is hopefully about done with. It has involved a high fever, a bit of congestion and a lack of appetite. Poor guy. It doesn't help that he REFUSES to take medicine. We have tried mixing tylenol with chocolate syrup, applesauce, yogurt and chocolate milk, and every time he tastes the medicine and refuses another bite/drink. We even tried pinning him down and using a syringe to get it into the back of his mouth, but he would use his tongue to push it right back out. Thank goodness our kid who HAS needed a lot of medicine in his life is the one who opens his mouth like a hungry little birdy and then says, "Yum! That was good!"

Enjoy your weekend and the rest of the pics!

Cutest little face EVER

2011-11-03T18:04:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, I could just nibble on his cuteness for days on end!

Looooving Ken

2011-11-02T17:02:00.000-05:00

Introducing the newest member of our family, Ken Porta. The guy who sleeps in a casket on our kitchen table and who wears a very....nice...blue sweater.

Corn maze 2011

2011-11-01T21:02:00.001-05:00

Well here we go, photos from...two weekends ago? There is a very cool corn maze about two miles from our house that we had never been to before. Dan was at work that Saturday morning, so I figured I'd load up the boys and go check it out! It was awesome! Elijah cried huge alligator tears when it was time to go.

The actual maze part was intricately created. And a little bit creepy. I had visions of The Shining flashing through my head as Elijah led the three of us through. There was also a kid maze made out of hay bales so parents could easily spot familiar heads. It was HUGE. Elijah ran through there for 20 minutes while I did my best to keep my eyes on his quickly-moving, colored hat. Every once in a while I would lose sight of him and start to panic. I didn't get pictures of this because both my eyes (Elijah) and arms (Sammy) were busy! There were also animals and other fun kid things at the corn maze. We will definitely go back again next year!

I have some more boy cuteness to share. There has been so much cuteness gushing from our boys lately. The other night before bed I noticed that the top of Elijah's hair was wet. I asked him if he had gotten up onto his stool and gotten into the sink. He looked at me and said, "NO, Mom! It's from the toilet!" Great, Elijah.

Some cute Elijah sayings:
Instead of "I forgot something!" he says, "I don't got somefing!" forgot=don't got
When I ask him to do something and he needs a second, he says sweetly, "A minute!"

Sammy is currently learning some lessons about not getting everything he wants. He has an absolute fit when we tell him no about something. He is super sensitive so after we say NO, he will either hide and suck his thumb or he will sit in a corner by himself and SCREAM. He never lets us comfort him afterward. And he still gets mad at me when we don't spend a lot of time together (after a week of working). After a weekend together, he is back to normal. He is a sensitive little guy.

Elijah is more interested in Sammy than he ever has been. The other morning Elijah was awake first (surprise!) and Sam was still sleeping. Elijah said, "Where's Sammy?" I told him he was still asleep and his lower lip came out and he started crying. "I want Sammy to wake up!" Wow! I never thought I would hear that come from his mouth. He also likes to play chase with Sam around the house. They both giggle like crazy. Sam likes to do his right ear to right shoulder dance a lot lately and it makes Elijah laugh soooo hard. "Wook at Sammy dance! Do your dance again, Sammy!"

Sam still loves to play peek-a-boo. It makes him laugh like crazy. Usually he uses a blanket to play, but every once in a while he will cover his eyes with his hands. Except, he covers his ears instead. :)

Sam's word for Elijah (uh-YA-YA) is the cutest! Even Elijah loves it when Sammy says his name. Lately Sam has been learning body parts, too. He will often walk up to Elijah (or any of us) and innocently poke his finger into one of his eyeballs and then up his nostril and then into his ear. Then he will point to his own parts.

And just like that, it is my bedtime! More cuteness later. Enjoy the rest of the pics..

Apple orchard 2011

2011-10-28T17:49:00.001-05:00

Please forgive me for the zillions of photos. If I keep posting them in installments, I'll be posting Halloween pictures on Christmas!

Last week we did our yearly apple orchard outing. Last year it was unseasonably hot during our orchard outing. This year wasn't hot, but it was crisply beautiful! We have had two years in a row now of beautiful fall weather. I hope the trend continues! I do NOT hope the freezing cold winter trend continues.

Sammy seemed to enjoy his time at the orchard. Although, I have to say, he definitely assesses every situation before enjoying himself. If he is unfamiliar with a place (this applies to people, too), he will stand/sit in one spot and give his deadpan Sammy look around. Once he understands that we aren't going to leave him and that no one is going to abduct him, he lets his guard down a little.

Elijah is and has always been so different in this way. And look! He climbed up a huge pile of hay with no prompting or need for encouragement. His gross motor skills and confidence have improved so hugely. I get so proud of "little" things like this all the time. Me: LOOK! HE'S CLIMBING A PILE OF HAY! People in earshot: SO WHAT?!

I have been jotting down a few cute things that happen or are said in our family, so I'll write out some of those now. Sorry, they have absolutely nothing to do with apple orchards or giant piles of hay.

The other night we carved pumpkins (pics to come...hopefully before December), and I noticed that Elijah kept saying that we were "carmeling" pumpkins. I thought it was adorable, so I didn't correct him. I tend to not correct him when it comes to anything he says that is incorrect, by the way. He will get it eventually, and I want to enjoy the cuteness of learning a language for as long as I can! Anyway, after we had carmeled the pumpkins, we were chillin' in the living room. I asked Elijah if he liked the pumpkins we had carved. He said, "MOM. It's CARMEL, not CARVE." Got it.

The same night we carmeled pumpkins, we had a friend over for dinner. If you have ever been over to our house you know that Elijah immediately becomes your best friend and wants ALL of your love and attention (and most people give it to him because it's pretty hard to resist). Well, we had dinner and had been hanging out with our friend Casey. I brought Elijah into the bathroom to go potty before bed and he said, "Mom, do you think Casey loves me?" I said, "I'm sure he does! Why don't you ask him?" We went out to the living room and started getting pajamas on and Casey walked in the room. Elijah said, "Casey, DO YOU LOVE ME?" We all busted up with laughter. Thankfully, Casey replied with, "Heck yeah I do! I love you!"

Sam has been doing an extremely cute thing lately. He goes to Elijah and pats him on the top of the head and says, "YA-YA." Then he goes to Dan and pats him on the top of the head and says, "DADA." He won't come to me and do it for some reason. In fact, even though he understand that I'm Mama and can say MAMA, he doesn't ever call me Mama.

A funny little thing about Sammy.. First of all, the kid LOVES his sleep, and he loves comfort. When he is upset, he hides behind our footstool and sucks his thumb while lying on the ground. If his blankie happens to be downstairs, it will be included in that scene. So I noticed the other day that not only does he love to snuggle with his blanket when he sleeps (or wants comfort), but he likes to be holding one of the corners in one hand while using the other hand for thumb-sucking. Not just an edge, but a corner.

And while I'm on the Sam topic, he has found himself a little attitude! If we take something away from him that he shouldn't have (but that he wants), he will scream his little head off. Not only that, but he walks away from us and sits across the room. If we try to comfort him, he will run away from us. Looks like we have another strong-willed Porta boy!

My mom made two adorable little knitted dolls for the boys (pics to come...in January), and Elijah particularly has been loving them. They came with cute little names: Harry Hairy-Head and Vanessa Vinegar. The first few times Elijah attempted to say Vanessa Vinegar, it came out Buster Bigger. :) Again, no correction!

Here is Sammy assessing the situation at the orchard with apple in hand. He would not move from this spot on his own. He had to take it all in first! We eventually had to put him in the stroller.

I am running out of things to write, so you'll have to enjoy the rest of the photos sans words. We have a few fun things planned for this weekend while Dan wraps up skydiving for the season. We'll report back in a few days with corn maze pics! Thanks for checking in!

Installment 4: The Dirty Face Brothers

2011-10-25T18:03:00.000-05:00

This is my last Dirty Face Bros post! I'm still very far behind with posting pics, which I guess is a good thing. It means I've been taking a lot of photos!

We attended Elijah's IEP meeting this morning, and it went very well. Elijah has made HUGE strides in every area of development: social, gross motor, speech, fine motor. His teachers had many positive things to say about his progress and about him as a student and person. He still has catching up to do in most areas, but not as noticeably as a year ago. They are going to spend this year preparing him for Kindergarten in hopes that he will be much more self-sufficient by this time next year. KINDERGARTEN?! How the heck did that happen?!

His teacher mentioned that he has started initiating interactions with other children, which is AWESOME. He still has his favorite little friend at school, Laura (Woe-yuh). She also said that he is a well-liked little guy, and that academically they have zero concerns. Apparently when they were asking him to count, he started counting backwards. :) I asked his teachers if they knew he was starting to read and they seemed surprised. His speech therapist mentioned that he seems to catch onto concepts a lot more quickly than the other students. So, yay for a great IEP meeting! We absolutely love his teachers and therapists to pieces.

Elijah earned enough potty quarters to get his Ken doll. Ken dolls aren't what they used to be! They are so fashionable these days, with the Justin Bieber hair and all. Elijah loves it, though. I hear him occasionally explaining things to Ken. "This is how you go potty, Ken. Pull down your pants and then you sit on the potty chair!" Ken is learning a lot! And he "sleeps" in a casket on our kitchen table every night. It's actually the plastic casing from the package he came in, but it looks like a casket. It's a little bit creepy to see that early in the morning.

My sweet Sammy and I have been having some special bed-time moments lately. He allows me to sing to him again. For a long stretch (the entire summer/fall), he just wanted to be put in bed. The boy loves his sleep. So it has been nice being able to hold him for a bit again and sing and snuggle before bed. When I put him into his crib, we play a form of peek-a-boo involving pig noises. He laughs so stinkin' hard. It's difficult to stop because he gets so sad when the game is over, but luckily he forgets quickly and goes to sleep.

Dan has TWO more weekends away from home and then we get him back! I cannot wait for an entire weekend with all of us together again.

That's about all for now. I have apple orchard and corn maze photos to share I'll try to catch up over the weekend.

Thanks for checking in on us! (This is Sammy's new favorite place to sit in our house.)

Installment 3: The Dirty Face Brothers

2011-10-22T10:22:00.002-05:00

I didn't even make him do this! Elijah has been spontaneously being nice to Sammy on occasion, which is AWESOME!

A conversation that has occurred a handful of times in the past few days:

E: Mommy, are there four of us at home right now?
Me: Yes! Isn't it nice to have us all home at the same time?
E: Yes! Can there be five of us?
Me: You want five people in our family?
E: Yeah, I want a wittle sister!
Me: Oh. Hmmm.
E: Can I have a wittle sister, Mommy? We'll name her SUBMARINE.
Me: Oh, that's lovely. Um, why don't you ask Jesus what he thinks.
E: Ok. "Hi, Jesus? Can we have a wittle sister?" "Sure, ok, Elijah!"
Me: What did he say?
E: He said yes.
Me: Elijah, did Daddy just pass out? Check his pulse.

We took the boys to an apple orchard last night. It was a beautiful fall evening! Elijah had fun picking and testing apples and walking up and down the rows of trees. He also climbed a huge stack of hay, which was impressive! Sam just took it all in. Pics to come on that adventure..

I don't have much more to share at the moment, so I will let you enjoy photos of the cuties. Have a great weekend!!

My new favorite photo

2011-10-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

I LOVE THESE BOYS!

Installment 2: The Dirty Face Brothers

2011-10-20T19:36:00.001-05:00

Here is part 2 of my Dirty Face (and arms and legs) photo session with our boys the other night.

Our oldest beautiful-eyed boy has his first cavity! :( I was hoping we could dodge this bullet, but alas. He's following in him mama's footsteps. Actually, the cavity is super teeny, and we are going to take care of it right away so hopefully it won't be too traumatic. The dentist won't even need to use novocaine or needles, thanks to laser dentistry. Crazy!

Elijah's quarter jar has ONE quarter in it currently. Yep, that's it. Apparently Ken is not enough motivation to keep poop out of his pants. We'll keep trying.

So here are our upcoming big dates in the next few weeks:
Oct 25th: IEP meeting
Nov 3rd: Dentist
Nov 7th: Cardiology appt

I haven't mentioned this in a while, but Elijah is still in weekly physical therapy. He loves to go "pway" at Vicki's "house." We are glad he finally sees it as "playing," as that has not always been the case. I remember the months and months of TEARS that occurred before he realized that we weren't trying to torture him. He also gets some PT and speech attention through his school that we believe hugely benefits him. His teachers and therapists are truly awesome! I just saw a note on Elijah's daily report the other day that said they were teaching him to get up from sitting on the ground using a kneeling transition (as opposed to using just feet and hands with butt up in the air). I love knowing that the people caring for him are keeping THAT close of an eye on the details. I know I always say this, but he is in the best hands!

Let's see, what else. Elijah still begs us to be tickled constantly. He loves saying goofy nonsense words and giggling his head off. He is still into knock-knock jokes (please tell us some new ones!). He and I have a new thing where we go lay in the grass after Sam is in bed and find pictures in the clouds. As much as this little boy pushes my buttons and tests his boundaries, I love him (and his cute, snuggly little brother) to pieces!

Installment 1: The Dirty Face Brothers

2011-10-18T20:53:00.001-05:00

This first photo is an exception to the title. Elijah and I went to his cousin Kaleigh's birthday party last weekend. That boy was in HEAVEN, getting all kinds of love from his cousins and aunties. He had tons of fun in the bounce-house, too!

I have about 50 Dirty Face Brothers photos to share, so I will start with this first batch of Sam. Who is his Mother, anyway, and why doesn't she wash off his face?!

I'll start with sharing some words Sam is saying...
up (UMP)
Yo Gabba Gabba (oo-GLLAHLLA-GLLAHLLA...still with tongue sticking out of mouth)
Elijah (uh-ya-ya or uh-da-da)
magnet (da-de)
raisins, blueberries and cereal (BRRrr...???)
cheese (deez)
shoes and hat (iss...add a cute lisp to the "s")
airplane and car (brrrm brrrrm)
puppy (uff uff)
cow (booooo)
Dada
Mama
go (GGgooooooo)
play (bay...and he simultaneously does the sign for it, which is so stinkin' cute because he just wiggles his fingers all around)
eat (he says this when he is hungry OR thirsty)
all done (ah-duh)
peek-a-boo (uh-boo)

Sam started doing a funny dance the other day. He leans his head over to touch his right shoulder, and then smiles. That's it. It's simple, but hilarious.

And Elijah...oh, our strong-willed little Elijah. Some weeks it seems like we are making Potty progress. Other weeks, we regress. He knows when to go and what needs to be done. He just doesn't do it. But he's great at telling me, "Mom, I pooped mine pants!" It is sooo hard not to get frustrated, especially when I KNOW that he knows. Ever since Kaleigh's birthday party on Saturday, Elijah has been obsessed with the idea of having a Barbie doll. He asked me a thousand times on the way home if he could get a Ken doll. So we are using that as incentive. If he goes pee in the potty, he gets one quarter. If he goes poop in the potty, he gets two quarters. If he has an accident in his pants, one quarter gets taken away. If he gets TEN quarters, we will go shopping for a Ken doll.

School is going really well for Elijah so far this year. He has made many leaps with social skills. The other day his teacher wrote that he spontaneously was asking other kids questions, which is just huge for him. I noticed at Kaleigh's birthday party that he was doing the same. I heard him ask her, "Kiwi, what's your teacher's name?" and then, "Kiwi, what's your favorite color?"

The other night I was in the kitchen making cookies and Elijah was helping. I was having him put M&M's on a few of the cookies. I heard him say, "One pwus one equals two! One pwus two equals fwee!" I said, "Elijah, are you doing MATH?! What is one plus three?" He said, "Four!" I called over to Dan and said, "DO YOU HEAR THIS? Our four-year-old is doing math!" What the heck!

Skydiving season is getting slower and slower with each passing week. Things for me have been, well, nutty. I won't get into that or my brain will explode.

Elijah has an IEP meeting next week and a cardiology appointment coming up in early November. All will go great, we pray!

Installment 2: The Dirty Face Brothers coming soon!

Croup: Season 4, Round 3 (Elijah)

2011-10-14T16:54:00.002-05:00

Not kidding, Elijah had another croup episode last night. For the third night in a row! Dan got up with him and had to give him half of an epi neb, and after that everything was fine. We had to get a refill for racemic epinephrine today since we had depleted our stash!

Hoping for no more of the croup crap, as I call it!

A quick funny..
I think I mentioned that Elijah is going to be Superman for Halloween. He looks ADORABLE in his costume, and can frequently be found zooming around the house with it on. He has been asking me what the rest of us are going to be, and I keep saying I don't know. I asked him what he thought we should all be. Here were his thoughts..
Mommy = Spiderman (we could be superheroes together!)
Daddy = SuperDan! (love it)
Sammy = A ball
So apparently we are all destined for superherodom except for Sammy the Ball. :) I found a cute bumble bee costume for Sam to wear, and I could tell Elijah was a little bit disappointed that I didn't find a ball costume. That is, until we all saw Sammy wearing his costume and could hardly stand how cute he looked! Even Elijah was gushing.

Hope you are all healthy! Enjoy the weekend!

Croup: Season 4, Round 2 and Round 2.1 (Elijah)

2011-10-13T06:31:00.000-05:00

Elijah was up at 9:30 with croup again last night. And then again at midnight. We gave him a neb each time. This morning he still had stridor, although it was sounding better. Sammy still has a bit of stridor, too.

These boys!

Croup: Season 4, Round 1 (Elijah) and Season 2, Round 1 (Samson)

2011-10-12T17:27:00.000-05:00

How did we get so lucky to get two boys whose bodies love to get croup? Elijah had his first round for the season last night, but it was extremely mild. An epi neb wasn't even needed, and this morning he seemed just fine. He did do a bit of coughing in the middle of the night, but not the typical scary coughing we normally hear.

Sammy, on the other hand, has had croup since Saturday. There is quite a difference in the boys' varieties. Elijah's croup is usually intense and scary, but it lasts a short time (with the help of medication and cold air). Sam's croup is not as serious, but nothing we do gets rid of it! It's not serious enough for epi nebs, so we have tried cool air, steamy bathrooms and regular nebs. None of those things help one bit. I took him to the doctor yesterday because I wasn't comfortable with the stridor I was hearing still after three days. He got a shot of steroids that has seemed to relax his airway a bit.

I'm hoping it's a promising sign that Elijah's croup was so mild and that he waited until mid-October to get his first episode! Usually we've seen three rounds by this point in the year.

Catchin' up...again

2011-10-09T20:03:00.000-05:00

I'm behind! Waaaayyy behind! On everything! I'll attempt an update in between some recent photos (Sammy was in bed, so forgive me).

This past week has been an odd one. My Grandma Ruth passed away, which has been a sad thing to understand. She lived a long, great life, which we are all thankful for. It is still strange to contemplate the end of a life. I have such fond memories of my grandma from when I was a kid. I spent some time with her at her (then) cabin in Northern Minnesota, and I will never forget the smells that emanated from her kitchen. She made the BEST brownies and cinnamon rolls. She was an awesome lady and she will be missed! Heaven was lucky to receive her!

In addition to that, we have just been plain busy. Dan is trying to work as much as possible as the skydiving season winds down. I'm trying to do about 5,000 things at any given time. The boys are busy and curious and exploring and inquisitive and sassy and sick.

Well, Elijah is finally healthy, but now Sam has croup. He handles it with much more grace than Elijah (less drama), thankfully.

Elijah is getting excited for Halloween. He wanted to be a "scary witch," but we have talked him into Superman instead. I got him a cheapy little Superman costume today and he fell IN LOVE with it. He put his costume on and watched his reflection in the tv as he zoomed by. It was super cute. I'm not sure yet what Sammy will be for Halloween this year. Nothing in the Target aisles screamed to me.

I keep forgetting to mention that Elijah's bald patch has started growing back! About a month ago, I noticed some hair growth on the spot on his head that had grown bald after his recent heart surgery. Since then, the circle has completely filled in. THANK GOD.

Some more exciting news is that Elijah can basically read! He needs help with the bigger words, but can read most little words on his own. The other day he said, "Mama, this says, 'little!'" That's when I knew that he was serious about his reading.

Sammy is still obsessed with balls and airplanes. He tries to say "Elijah" now, which comes out "uh-DAH-DAH." He also does the "How big is Sammy?" "SOOooo BIG!" Which sounds like, "DAAAHHHHh! DA!" Our sweet Sammy. He is such a sweet, snuggly little guy.

Thanks for checking in on us! I will try to do a better job of posting on here. Thanks for being patient..

By the way, Elijah wakes me up in the middle of the night to tell me that it is pink frog's birthday. My response? "HAPPY birthday, frog. Now go to sleep!"

A day of parenting that I will not forget

2011-10-03T17:05:00.002-05:00

Friday I photographed a wedding for a friend while Dan worked, so Dan's mom picked the boys up from daycare and kept them overnight. Saturday morning I picked them up, feeling quite exhausted and a little bit sick myself. When I got there Elijah started grabbing his ear and saying, "What's that sound, Mama??" Elijah never complains about sounds (unless it's his brother), so I knew something was up. I loaded up the boys and went straight to urgent care. The story that follows is something that will be forever etched in my mind..

The line at urgent care was long. 'Tis the season for sickness! I kept Sam in my arms because I knew that setting him down would be like opening up a lion's cage. Twenty minutes later, I had to set him down. My arms were killing me. Sammy immediately ran down and around the hallway where I couldn't see him. Ugh! I told Elijah to stay in line and I ran and got Sam, who kicked and screamed about being in my arms.

We got sent back to a room pretty quickly when the lady at the front saw how much pain Elijah was in. But then we waited for the doctor for 25 minutes. By this time, Sam had explored every part of the room and had grown bored. Elijah was having a hard time staying upright and kept asking me, "Mommy, pwease take care of me!" He wanted me to be holding him and he kept pressing my hand over his ear, but I couldn't do that consistently when I was also making sure Sam wasn't trying to crawl into the trash cupboard again.

The doctor came in and took a look in Elijah's ear and said, "Sooo, he must have been up all night crying?" I said, "No, I don't think so!" Dan's mom had said that he had slept great the night before. The doctor said it was a bad ear infection and that he was surprised he hadn't complained about it until now. Poor guy. Elijah kept asking the doctor to make "that sound" go away. The pressure inside his ear was causing it to ring.

We went out to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription and before we got to the counter I looked down and saw Elijah's "puke face." I didn't act quickly enough and suddenly vomit was everywhere. All down Elijah's coat, and on the floor of the pharmacy. I tried to clean it up with Sam in my arms, but just couldn't do it so I set him down. I grabbed some Starbucks napkins from the counter and wiped the carpet and removed Elijah's coat. As I was wiping Elijah down, I saw Sam run by like the wind with a box in each hand. I scooped him up, took away the boxes (one of which had already been chewed on) and grabbed Elijah's hand. I went to the counter, Sam wailing, Elijah asking me to "pwease take care of him" and a pukey jacket tucked under my arm. I asked for paper towels, a plastic bag and to please fill our prescription quickly.

We went back to the waiting room to wait for the prescription to be filled. I sat Elijah on a chair, where he wobbled back and forth. I set squirmy Sam down and he ran around the room in circles until he got bored, 3 minutes later. At that point, he kept arching his back and falling onto the floor and writhing and crying. Nothing I did made him calm down. So I held Elijah and we, along with a handful of other people, watched the Sammy Circus.

I saw Elijah's puke face again, and this time I picked him up and ran to the bathroom. Luckily, at this point Sam happened to be writhing on the floor near the bathroom so I ushered him in, as well. Elijah made it to the toilet just in time. I washed his face and hands and we headed out to the waiting room for more of the same.

When our pager went off, we went to the pharmacy to pick up the medication. Again, I had to set Sam down because I couldn't juggle everything. In the time it took for me to pay, Sam had found two Carmex containers and was finding great joy in banging them together while cruising up and down the aisles. I removed the Carmex from his happy little hands, which quickly turned unhappy. I got the three of us to the car as quickly as possible.

The car ride home was quiet. Either Elijah was enduring his pain in quiet, or some sort of miracle had happened. I hadn't dared give him his medication since he had vomited twice. When we got home, I got him situated on the couch with a "frow-up bowl." I did some unpacking and cleaning and looked over to find that I had not explained the throw-up bowl very well. Items dirtied in Throw-Up Episode #3: all articles of clothing on Elijah, all articles of clothing on myself, three separate blankets, the couch, the carpet, the rug and the foot stool. The throw-up bowl remained sparkling clean.

After this, I figured he was done throwing up for a while, so I put him down for a nice long nap. When he woke up, he was ready to eat toast and drink water and take medicine. He has been feeling fine ever since!

See? A day I will never forget!

Minor sickies

2011-09-27T19:14:00.005-05:00

This is how we know when Sammy isn't feeling well.

He's not tearing around the house!

Sam had a little bug for a few days last week. That, combined with getting some shiny new molars, had him feeling out of sorts. He has been sleeping A LOT. In the past week there have been a handful of days when he has slept from 6:00 pm until 8:00 am! Whoa! Elijah, take note!

On the weekend mornings when Sammy slept in, Elijah and I were able to spend some quality time together. Breakfast, tickle-time on the couch (his favorite), knock-knock joke sessions and reading books. Then, the second Sam got up, Elijah would break down and start whining about everything. So it clicked for Dan and me this week. It's Sam! A good chunk of this behavior we have been seeing from Elijah is stemming from having to share us with Sammy. Now that Dan's work schedule is slowing down, we will have more time for one-on-one Elijah and Sammy lovin'.

What else has been going on.. A friend of ours was seriously injured last weekend, but he is doing great, considering the trauma he endured. We are hoping and praying for good news with each passing day. I am shooting my first wedding on Friday! Aaahhhh! I'm nervous, but so incredibly excited about it! Dan is trying to skydive as much as possible as the season winds down. Elijah woke up with a bit of a cough this morning (boo). Sammy can now say "play" (comes out "bay"). We are loving this yummy fall weather!

I will end with a few of Elijah's favorite knock-knock jokes..

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Al!
Al who?
Al give you a kiss!

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Howie!
Howie who?
Howie gonna eat our ribs tonight? (and I proceed to "eat"/tickle his ribs..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Doe!
Doe who?
Doe-n't show me your armpit! (and I proceed to tickle his armpit..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Bee!
Bee who?
Bee careful or you'll get tickled! (I think you can guess what follows..)

Knock-knock!
Who's there?
Cargo!
Cargo who?
Cargo beep beep!

Proud!

2011-09-23T16:50:00.001-05:00

Can you see what on this page made me cry tears of happiness?

Handsome boys

2011-09-20T20:02:00.002-05:00

This is what Sammy does when I ask him, "Where is Sammy's nose?" Close, Sam!

And he's starting to draw/color now! Instead of eating the chalk and crayons.

Playing together? Nah...just playing in the vicinity of one another. I'll take it.

Playin' outside.

HANDSOME boy!

I caught Elijah drawing with chalk in the garage and asked him what he was writing. He said, "Wook, Mom! It's me and you!"

Hunger, destruction and laughter

2011-09-19T17:15:00.001-05:00

Any chance he gets, our Sammy fills his deliciously chubby belly with food. :)

Overall we had a good weekend. Elijah and I experienced some very low lows on Saturday. His behavior was off the charts for a chunk of our day. It made me question my parenting skills and at the end of the day I was feeling pretty beat up and sad. Sunday was much better, thankfully. He is so incredibly strong-willed and he pushes his little limits as much and as often as he can.

I did make note of some more funny things that came from Elijah's mouth. During one of our weekend meals, he dropped a spoonful of yogurt onto his ankle by accident. He said, "Oh no! Mom! I spilled yogurt on my temple!"

Since he drinks soooo much whole milk, we have started serving him almond milk on occasion as an alternative (he's not a huge fan). Every time I put a glass of milk in front of him, he asks what kind it is. The almond milk we got over the weekend is vanilla-flavored. He has a difficult time saying the word "vanilla," so he says, "Mom, is this whole milk or gamilla almond milk?" It's so stinkin' cute and I refuse to correct him.

He has started doing this thing that drives me crazy. I will say a sentence to him or to Sam or to myself. An example..we will be in the car, and I'll say, "We're almost home, Sam!" Elijah will copy me and say, "'We're almost home, Sam!'" and then he'll say, "Who said that?" "Uhhm, I did, Elijah." "Oh. Mama said it?" "Yes." So the other day on the way home from the dropzone, Elijah asked me how long it takes to get home. I said, "About an hour!" He repeated me, using this gravelly, old-man-ish voice: "'About an hour!' Who said that, Mom?" I just about died laughing. Great, so I sound like an old man who has smoked his whole life?

And Sam continues to demolish our home. Our living room becomes a war-zone in about 10 seconds. He works on the destruction between eating breaks. He constantly wants a pile of raisins on the chair that he can graze and for the Fruit Loops box to be on the floor and to remain open so he can scoop his hand into it.

Our boys are keeping us busy! They are so much fun, even while they are making my grey hairs sprout like crazy. I wouldn't change a thing!

Preschool Year 3 has begun!

2011-09-15T19:46:00.001-05:00

Our biggest boy started his third year of preschool this week! I cannot even begin to explain how much Elijah loves school. AND how good school is for him! There are definitely exceptions to the statement I'm about to make, but overall, his behavior was much-improved this week. There were a handful of times when no whining occurred when he was asked to use the potty. There wasn't as much angry yelling at Sam. And he even did strange things like throw away his garbage without being asked.

Like I said, the week wasn't ALL good. He hit his good friend Paige at daycare yesterday, so we made a very big deal about that. Last night he got no privileges and lots of talks about how hitting is never ok.

I have compiled a few more Elijah funnies to share. He got a toy from the prize drawer at PT this week, as he does every week, that is a monster figure (Mikey) from the movie Monsters, Inc. When Elijah got home from PT that night, he insisted on watching Monsters, Inc. We turned it on and Elijah got situated in "his spot" on the couch and set Mikey on his lap. When the movie started, he said, SUPER excitedly, "WOOK, MIKEY! IT'S YOU!" That made Dan and I giggle.

Then later, he was wearing his Big Brother hat from Grandma (Sammy has a Little Brother hat), and he asked me very seriously, "Mom! Where is Mikey's 'Big Monster' hat?"

And I haven't forgotten about Sammy! He has been into EVERYTHING. I call him my little tornado. I will be getting all of the books put back onto the bookshelf that he has pulled off with his chubby little hands, and I will turn around to find that all of the toys have been removed from the toy box. Elijah has never been like this, so it is a different experience for us!

Sam is officially finished with his bottle and morning naps. I was a bit sad to put the bottle away. My baby is growing up! He is starting to look more like a toddler and less like a baby. This is a very fun age. I love his warm, chubby sweetness. And all of the words he tries to say. And the way he says BRRRM BRRRM and signs airplane every time he hears anything that sounds like an airplane. And the way he rolls around with his blankie like it's the best thing on earth...while sucking his thumb, of course. And the cute way he walks. And they way he tackles Elijah because he loves him so much (despite the fact that the feelings aren't always mutual). And the softness of his skin. And the fact that he runs to his chair in the kitchen after he hears me say, "Let's have some lunch, boys." And the way he attempts to say Yo Gabba Gabba every time the tv is turned on. And even the way he squirms and screams when his diaper is being changed.

I am planning to bring the boys out to the dropzone for the night on Saturday. We haven't been out there much this last part of summer. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city. Other than that, we just plan on staying low-key and enjoying each other! Thanks for checking in. I'm off to do that thing that I love so much called RELAXING!

Sammy's 15-month well visit...and a few more funnies..

2011-09-09T17:46:00.001-05:00

I brought Sammy to his 15-month well visit today. I could not keep that boy contained in the waiting room. If I turned my head for one second, he would run down the hallways and into the rooms. I used the fish tank as a distraction, but he still managed to slip away from me.

He weighed 24 lb 15 oz (55th percentile), he was 32 inches tall (75th percentile) and his head circumference was 18.8 inches (66th percentile). All of his activity has brought him down a bit on the weight chart, but that is normal.

As always, the only concern was the little bump on the side of his face. It has changed in size and color in the past few months, so we need to get back into the derm in the next month or two to get it looked at again.

When it was time for shots, I held his little arms down so he wouldn’t fight. Well, guess what. He didn’t even flinch. No crying, not even a single blink. And there were three separate needles! Tough Guy Sam. It’s so funny to constantly see how different Elijah and Sam are. I’m sure we will see more and more as they grow that Elijah is our dramatic, emotional child and Sam is our easy-going, unemotional child. But he still certainly knows what he wants. If a toy is taken from him that he really wants, he will most definitely let you know about it.

Dr. Judy gave Sam the tongue depresser after peeking inside his mouth, so he had it in his hand on our ride back to daycare. I turned around and Sammy was poking it into his eye (ouch!) and then in his ear. Checking everything out, just like the doctor did!

I remembered a few additional things I wanted to include in yesterday’s post…

For the past few months, Elijah has acquired the knowledge that “dangit” is not my favorite word for him to say. Dan and I have let him know that we don’t want him saying it, which of course attaches negative meaning to it and provides an opportunity for boundary-testing. Our clever boy has stopped saying “dangit,” but has now started saying, “bangit.” Close, but not the same word, Mom! I have banned “bangit” in the past week due to malicious intent and over-use, so now he will say things like “schplangit” or “pa-kaynit.” That boy..

I have mentioned many times before how much Sammy loves his food. When he eats, you can hear a constant stream of “Mmmmm-hmmmmm-aahhmmmmm-mmmmmmm-ohmmmmmm” coming from his side of the table. Elijah gets tired of it, so I will hear him whisper, “Stop saying ‘MMMmmm,’ SAM!” Poor Sammy. Innocently enjoying his food and his brother is telling him to be quiet. :)

We are looking forward to a beautiful weekend! We have a few fun items on the agenda. School starts Monday, so we are looking forward to that routine for Elijah. He is soooo stinkin' excited! Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for checking in.

Cuteness

2011-09-08T19:55:00.000-05:00

I'm playing catch-up again. I hate neglecting to write down all of the cute things the boys are doing and saying.

Elijah has been Mr. Inquisitive. Here is a typical conversation:

"Mom, remember that guy's name?" (referring to a guy driving a truck next to us at a stop light)
"I'm not sure what his name is. We could make one up for him."
"Remember his name?"
"How about Ralph."
"Mom, where is Ralph going?"
"Hmm, maybe he is making a delivery?"
"What delivery he gonna make?"
"It looks like he's driving a truck with groceries."
"Where is he bringing the groceries to?"
"Probably to the grocery store."
"Then where is he gonna go?"
"Probably home."
"Where's his home?"

And on and on... He's curious about the world! The funny thing is that everyone is "that guy." The little girl at the park? That guy. The puppy walking down the sidewalk? That guy.

The only tv show that Sammy seems to enjoy is Yo Gabba Gabba (Isaac would be so proud!). Every time I turn on the tv, Sam attempts to say "Gabba Gabba" in his cute little Sammy way. Imagine saying it while sticking your tongue completely out of your mouth for the Bs. It sounds something like GLAUHHLA-GLAUHHLA.

Last night we stopped by Elijah's school for open house. He is sooo excited to start school again. He played for a bit in his classroom, said hi to his teachers and was not at all happy when we had to leave. I am not kidding when I say that he asked at least 100 times on the drive home when he could go back. The boy loves school!

Sam has been obsessed with two things lately. Balls and shoes. Well, he has always loved balls, but the shoe thing is new. He asks for balls ALL THE TIME. He opens his palm to the sky, as if to say, "Where could all of the balls in the world be?" When we are at home, he walks over to where our shoes are by the door and points and says, "ISS." "Yes, Sammy, those are shoes." First he picks his shoes up and shoves them toward his feet, continuing to say "ISS" until I put them on him. Then he will bring me my shoes, one at a time, and point to my feet until I put them on.

Sam also says UP now, but it comes out MMP. Every time he hears an airplane, he makes the sign for airplane and says BRRRM BRRRRMMM. I'm convinced that he is mad at me for leaving him last weekend. He has not been the same with me since.

There's more, there is always more cuteness to speak of, but I'm out of time. More later..

State Fair and more

2011-09-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

This may be close to the longest I have ever gone without writing a post! We have been busier than usual, it seems. Dan and I went on a long-weekend, no-kids getaway. His parents graciously agreed to watch the boys while we were gone. Everyone had fun, all around. It was good for all of us.

We were able to make our yearly trip to the State Fair again this year, and we had a great time pigging out. Here are some photos from our adventure..

Sammy, crying for more food..

Posing with Oink Booth crowns. Sammy's first!

Beautiful eyes..

And another set of beautiful eyes..

Elijah loved the carousel. So much that a meltdown took place 10 seconds after this photo was taken. You can see the meltdown beginning to form..

The slide was a hit, but only after it was done. Can you see the terrified expression?

Ok, getting tired. Getting reeeeeally tired..

And both were out, just like that.

Both boys are doing well. Sam is growing like crazy, in every way imaginable. He is still obsessed with balls. He constantly asks for "BA?!" He is starting to attempt more words. And I swear he is mad at me for leaving him over the weekend. He hasn't given me the time of day since we returned. :( I hope he gets over it soon.

Elijah, our strong-willed little Elijah, oh how he continues to push our buttons. This potty training thing is getting ridiculous. Imagine a full-blown whine-fest/tantrum every time we ask him to go sit on the toilet. And we are still cleaning our share of poop out of underwear these days. I feel like it will never end! He starts school next Monday, and I am so thankful that his teachers are willing to take on poop, as well, as opposed to putting him back into diapers. They are wonderful for agreeing to that. Actually, they didn't even agree to it. They offered!

What else is going on...Dan's work should start slowing down soon. I have been keeping busy with work, boys, photography, cooking and blogging. The boys are keeping us on our toes. I feel like the summer was oppressive in so many ways and that that is finally lifting. THANK GOODNESS. I was not The Summer of 2011's hugest fan.

I hope you all are doing well! Thanks for checking in on our family. More later...

Mmmm basagna

2011-08-27T19:35:00.003-05:00

Had to write this down quick..

We are at the dropzone tonight and I just put the boys to bed in our trailer. When I was putting Elijah to bed, he said, "Mama, what you making for food for you and Daddy?" I said, "Lasagna." He said, "Ohh! What will you eat after that?" I said, "Maybe some garlic bread." I kissed him goodnight and he said, "I hope you enjoy your basagna and garden bread!"

Brothers and other

2011-08-26T20:01:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to report that I have seen some (teeny tiny) bits of improvement with the Sammy-Elijah bond. There are actually moments when Elijah will tolerate being slobbered on or crawled over. The other night at dinner Sammy was making his back-of-the-throat piggy noise that makes us all laugh and Elijah let out a genuine giggle and said, "Sammy's so funny!" Up until now, we haven't heard him say much of anything about Sammy that was positive, so I loved hearing this!

Speaking of that Sammy, he's quite the little comedian these days. He insists that we put all of our cereal boxes on the floor and open them up so that he can reach in and grab a handful of Fruit Loops or Kix whenever he feels like it. If I put the boxes back up on the shelf, he will point at them and whine until I bring them back down. The other day Dan and I were making fun of his whiny-pointing, and Sam thought it was hilarious. Now he makes fun of himself! He does the point-whine and cracks himself up.

Another funny thing from Sammy.. he loves to go over to the door and grab his shoes and shove them toward his feet and then look at us like, HELP! Get these things on! He does this until we put on his shoes for him. Also, when he falls or runs into something, he will point to the body part that he hurt, while giving me a concerned look, so I will kiss it. He has been making a funny kissy sound lately, too. If I ask him for a kiss, he'll make the sound and smile.

Elijah has been loving the movie Tangled lately. There's a part in the movie where Rapunzel threatens to hit Eugene (or Gene, as Elijah calls him) with a frying pan. So now Elijah walks around the house with either his toy plastic pan or a spoon, pretending to hit everything (and everyone) he sees. Great.

This week has been....well, it has been an interesting one. There are lots of things going on with us in just about every aspect of our lives. My dad and stepmom spent some time with us this week before they headed back home to North Carolina. We also got to see other family that we don't see nearly enough. We've been trying to wrap our heads around a few other things, and now we are looking forward to a weekend and the dropzone and the State Fair. Dan and I are taking a much-needed adult-only vacation next week that we are getting excited for. So, yes, lots going on. I hope you all are doing well! Have a great weekend..

Our little star!

2011-08-23T16:41:00.000-05:00

Our happy-faced little boy donned the cover of the St. Francis mailer!

Family time

2011-08-19T08:56:00.008-05:00

The boys had a great time in Iowa visiting family. Elijah and Sammy even got an entire day and night with Grammie and Gramps!

Elijah fell in love with the lake. He loved "swimming" (wading/kicking/splashing).

It is so much fun to see our boys bonding with my dad and stepmom and other family members, as well. I think it's so important for them to feel love from not just us, but other people, too.

It took Sammy a while to warm up, but it happened! He did great without Dan or I there at all on that last day.

Elijah has made great strides with potty training, even on vacation. Granted, we have had our share of accidents, but we are getting closer. I refuse to put diapers back on him (except at night), so we are getting accustomed to cleaning up our share of messes.

Now we are back at home and attempting to get back into a routine. I reached a bit of a breaking point this week as far as having a bit too much on my plate. It gets really tough during these summer months when Dan works most of the time. Add to that some post-surgery stress, a full-time job, two blogs, photography and miscellaneous and....you have one burnt-out mama. Plans are in the works to alleviate some of this..

That's about all we know for now! School starts in a few weeks, but we have a lot of fun stuff on our schedule before then.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately and thanks for checking in!

Playing "buckets"

2011-08-11T19:17:00.006-05:00

Here is a small sampling of photos from the other night at home. We are spending time with family this weekend, getting and giving lots of love.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Updateless update

2011-08-10T05:30:00.001-05:00

I am behind! Sorry for the lack of posts. We have been busy. I'll come back soon to write an update. For now, boy pics..

I think we chose the perfect name for him

2011-08-03T19:25:00.001-05:00

Sammy has a thing about picking up large or heavy objects and toting them around the house. I walked into the kitchen the other day to see this..

He walked through the entire downstairs portion of our house carrying the toaster, and then turned it upside down to unleash the crumbs. So I took it away from him..

Everything that he can lift, he does lift. And carry.

He started pointing the other day, which I think is adorable. If he hears an airplane, he will point at the sky and go, "BBbrrrrrr!"

He is getting good at making animal noises. Cow=booo. Duck=ga ga. Dog=uff. So stinkin' cute!

Another fun thing we do is our chasing game. I say, "I'm gonna GET YOU!" He laughs hysterically and runs away from me. It's a fun little game the two of us like to play.

And my oh my, what a good little sleeper this boy is. He sleeps from 6:30 until 6:30, sometimes 7:00 and even 7:30 or later on occasion. The latest Elijah has ever slept is 6:50, and I think it happened once.

One other cute Sammy thing. He likes to sit down with a book and flip through the pages as he whispers, "Dada. Dada. Dada." I say, "Book?" He whispers, "Dada."

Weekend full of ben-chures

2011-07-31T09:13:00.009-05:00

As Elijah would say, we went on two "ben-chures" (adventures) yesterday. We finally got to the splash park. Elijah loves that place. He now goes down the "bear swide" all by himself!

Sam was indifferent. He explored when we first got there, but then just wanted Mama. And food.

We took a little snack break and continued watching Elijah make friends. ADULT friends, that is. He approached just about every adult in the area. "Hi! What's your name? I Elijah!" As usual, he ignored all of the children.

After our spwash park ben-chure, we went home to take a nap and then headed to my cousin's house to see some family we hadn't seen in a while. Elijah fell hard for a toy race track, so he cried half the way home. "Waaannnt to cooome back to Tweeeeevor's hooooouuuuse...pwaaaaay wif caaaaar twaaaaaack."

We might head to the dropzone for a bit this afternoon, but haven't decided on that yet. For now, Sam is napping, Elijah is making food with play-doh and I'm catching up on blogs.

A quick couple of tidbits..

Elijah had been talking a lot about his "baby sister Sam." Dan and I kept correcting him, saying, "No, Sam is your BROTHER." Elijah kept insisting that he was right. Then I realized he was talking about his babySITTER, whose name happens to be Sam. So his babysitter Sam is his "baby sister Sam."

I realized today that Sam has absolutely zero interest in television. When Elijah was his age, he was already a full-blown Veggie Tales addict.

When I called Dr. G to get Elijah cleared to go swimming, he said it was fine for him to be in a pool but that he should do no diving. I started laughing hysterically! Diving?! The boy who won't take a 2-inch step down without holding onto someone's hand? Ok, Dr. G, I'll make sure he avoids that. :)

I have a super funny photo to share that I haven't gotten off my camera yet. I won't totally spoil it, but I will just say that Sammy constantly likes to show us how strong he is. :)

Catchin' up

2011-07-26T20:14:00.001-05:00

Catching up on writing down some cute things the boys have been up to lately..

Sam is starting to say words aside from MAMA DADA and BALL. Last night I had him saying CHEESE (food, not cheesin' for the camera...yet!). The other day he was attempting BLUEBERRY. It sounded like BUH-BUH. If I ask him what a cow says, he will say BOOOO! If I ask him what a duck says, he will say GA! GA! GA! We're working on other animal sounds. He's been doing this for a while now, but if Dan leaves, Sammy will open and close his hand and say, DA-DA DADA, which in Sammy speak means, BYE BYE, DADA.

Elijah is doing well with potty training. If we stay on top of reminding him, he can stay dry all day, even through naps. Poop? Still zero progress. I started trying to "persuade" him with lollipops, so now he gets fixated on that to the point where it is maybe doing more damage than good. The first thing he does upon getting out of bed in the morning is gaze longingly at the bowl of lollipops. This is followed by a huge dramatic show filled with tears and the whole works. "I want wowwy-pops!" I tell him that I want poop in the toilet. So he sits on the toilet and tries soooo hard to make himself go. "MOMMY! HELP ME POOOOOOP!" So, the lollipops aren't helping. Not yet.

Sam is walking EVERYWHERE. It is now his main means of getting around. It is so stinkin' cute. Elijah never went through the wobbly walking stage, so it is really fun. I took the boys to the park last night and loved watching Sam wobble up and down the sidewalk. While attempting to eat rocks. :)

Elijah is very attached to his stuffed monkey Nemo that Auntie Debby gave to him before surgery. He takes Nemo (along with Ladybug and "soft bwue polka dot bwankie") out of bed with him every morning. Nemo sits downstairs with us all day, and he even accompanies on park excursions. The other day I caught him rubbing Nemo's head and saying, "Awwww. Nemo so soft. I wubbing Nemo's hair. Awwww. I wuv Nemo! Nemo wuvs Elijah!" :)

Sammy = CLINGY. If we are in public (if anyone besides Dan, Elijah or me is within sight) Sam refuses to be set down. He often gives people the "hairy eyeball," as my friend Heather calls it, from the safety of Dan's or my arms. He will stare people down with the most serious face, never blinking or averting his eyes.

I feel like we haven't gotten out much this summer because, well, we just haven't. Between our weekend dropzone visits and everyday life and post-surgery blues, we just haven't done much. I've been trying to make more trips to the park (Sam suddenly hates swinging..??) and I'm looking forward to getting my boys to the pool and zoo, as well.

That's all I know! More later..

If only it weren't blurry...

2011-07-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

Videos from OHS #3

2011-07-22T15:33:00.002-05:00

Before surgery, after Versed.. :)

The first time we got to see him after surgery..

Sleeping, that first night..

Sammy came for a visit..

Playing with his favorite hospital toy, which happened to be a....toy hospital!

Discharge day!

The newest cooking network star

2011-07-21T17:43:00.001-05:00

Elijah has needed his share of discipline lately. This kid is SO. STRONG. WILLED. The way we need to discipline him daily is the way my parents had to discipline me...I don't know, twice. One of the things he has learned to do when we are talking to him after a time-out is to distract us. One of his distraction methods involves crossing his eyes. It drives me crazy!

Most of the time when I'm with Elijah, I am smiling. Here is something that has made me smile lately..

I occaaaaaasionally like to turn on a cooking show. A few weeks ago, instead of asking to watch Despicable Me or Little Einsteins, Elijah has started asking me if he can watch a cooking show. :) He even knows all of the hosts' names. He knows that Paula Deen likes to say, "Y'all," and he knows that Rachel Ray likes to make burgers. The other day he said, "Hey Mom, will you please check if 'Guy's Big Bite' is on?" Ok, I didn't even know that was the name of his show!

I do enjoy lounging on the couch with my oldest boy to enjoy a cooking show with him, but what inevitably follows our viewing is a re-enactment. Elijah goes into the kitchen and gets out bowls, spoons, measuring cups, tomatoes, cheese, sugar, whatever his little hands can reach. I will hear, "Ok, y'all, now we want to add one cup of sugar. And a wittle bit of cheese. And there, we will pop it in the oven!" This is all great and cute unless it coincides with dinner-time, when his meal becomes part of his show and his apple sauce is being mixed in with his milk, which has been dumped into his mac & cheese.

The other day I was making something in the kitchen, and E decided he wanted to make something right along with me. So he did his little cooking routine and asked me, "Mom, what show is THIS?" I said, "Hmm, I think it's called the Mommy-Elijah Cooking Show!" He thought that was great, so now every time he "cooks," he tells me that I'm watching the Mommy-Elijah Cooking Show.

Someday we will make that happen! :)

A weekend at home

2011-07-17T20:27:00.001-05:00

I'm glad the little boys and I decided to stay in our COOL house and not go to the dropzone this weekend. We missed Dan, of course, but it was nice to be home on a weekend for once. I actually caught up on things like laundry, dishes, cleaning and POTTY TRAINING. The poop still does not at all click. 0% clicking. Aside from that, and those fun messes, Elijah can keep his underpants dry ALL DAY LONG. Even if we run errands and take naps. We'll keep working on the other.

One of our sweaty weekend excursions was the Flying Cloud air show. I have taken Elijah to this air show every year since he was born, so it's a special event for us (or, maybe just me). I got a killer workout pushing the double stroller through bumpy and sometimes muddy terrain. Elijah adored his time in the bouncy maze. So much that we had a little tantrum when it was time to leave. Sam chilled in the stroller, as always, and absorbed it all without a peep.

We visited some friends at Children's this morning. Our little friend Eli had his third OHS last Tuesday by our very own Dr. M. It felt so good to give his mama a huge hug. There's nothing like a heart mama bond. I also think it's good to bring E to the hospital for visits so he knows that hospital time doesn't always equal torture time. He did great with being there! He was actually excited to go (??) and kept asking if we could go back to room four-one-one-zero. I cannot believe he remembers his room number from over a month ago, but more than that I cannot believe he wants to go back.

That's all for now. I hope you all had a great weekend! Here are some photos from the air show on Saturday..

Cardio check

2011-07-14T21:59:00.004-05:00

I took Elijah to his cardiology check-up today. He was nothing but cute for three-quarters of the appointment (don't ask about the other quarter of the appointment). When he was getting his echo, he said about a hundred times to the ultrasound tech, "Where's Dr. Moga??" Finally she said, "You want to see Dr. Moga, huh? Let me find him!" She made every effort to find him, but he must have been in surgery because he never showed up. She went to his office, sent him an email, sent a page... That's ok, E was pretty excited about seeing Dr. Gremmels.

We got nothing but good news. We are dropping all medication (woooo!), we don't have to go back for 4 months (woooo!) and E's next heart cath won't take place until next spring (woooo!). In addition to that, his heart function, based on the echo, looked great. His new valve looks much "happier," but his pulmonary arteries are still small. They will always be small, which is the reason why heart caths will unfortunately always be a part of his life.

I showed Dr. G Elijah's bald spot and asked for his thoughts. He thought it looked like ringworm (hmmmm), and thought that because he has so much hair (he had to dig and dig to find it) we just have not seen it until now. Hmmmm....who knows.

I have been wanting so badly to leave a voicemail message for Elijah's pulmonologist ever since surgery. He devised a "plan" for Elijah that would reduce the risk of him having croup post-extubation. This happens to be a doctor that Dan and I (and Elijah) LOVE. Honestly, he is one of the most amazing, caring individuals we have ever known. He has gone above and beyond his call of duty with our boy. His PLAN kept our boy from experiencing croup post-extubation...after open heart surgery! This is something that we didn't think was possible.

But it happened. Our Dr. K pulled through and drew up a plan that basically saved our little boy. I have felt emotional about him since surgery, and just incredibly grateful. I constantly wish I could give him a giant heartfelt squeeze. He didn't have to help us in this way, but he did.

I happen to know one of his nurses, through a sister of a friend of a friend. She gave me his pager number and I knew it was finally time to leave him a message. I thought it would be ok, but it was a bit difficult for me still. "Hi, Dr. Kurachek. This is...Meeeeeggggaaan Poooo------rrrrtaaaa calling. Uhhhhmmm.....Iiiiii am calling to just.....you know, thank you, for, you know, being so....aaaaaa-----wesome, and for caaaaaaaring so much for our son and for....sniff sniff.........devising such an ammmmaaaazzing...wah wah wah....plan for him..." It went on and on and it was a bit embarrassing. I hung up regretful, thinking he would think I was crazy.

Two days later, on my way to the dropzone with my boys, my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Porta?"
"Uhhh, yes?"
"Hi, this is Dr. Kurachek!"
"Ohhhh. Hi, Dr. Kuracheck!"
He told me that he was grateful for my heartfelt message, but mostly he was calling to make sure I was ok. :) It was a good conversation. He counseled me through some feelings (he is an intensivist, as well as being a pulmonologist, so he sees it all). It was nice to chat with him.
I told him at the end, "Dr. K, we love you and Dr. Gremmels and Dr. Judy and Dr. Moga! Not only are you amazing doctors, you are all amazing human beings." He said, "Wow! Can I put that on my resume? That's the nicest thing that's ever been said about me!"

It's true. Elijah has been blessed in so many ways...one of them being that he has THE BEST doctors looking out for him.

I will sleep peacefully tonight. More about that later....it has been a peaceful, healing week.

Sam, the Walker

2011-07-10T18:34:00.001-05:00

My assistant

2011-07-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

My boys

2011-07-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

Photos, funnies and a walking boy!

2011-07-07T17:56:00.002-05:00

First of all, I have to share with you all that SAM IS WALKING! He still falls and stumbles, but he can take 10-12 steps at a time. It is soooo cute, and he is sooo proud of himself when he does it. YAY SAMMY! We are out of tapes for our video camera, but I have it at the top of my to-do list this week. I will record his walking cuteness and share soon!

This is Elijah's angry face. This usually comes out when he is yelling at Sammy, unfortunately.

How could you ever be angry with this sweet boy?

Elijah is still doing wonderfully since surgery. His energy continues to amaze us. I can still only see the one bald patch on the back left side of his head, and I'm praying that is all we will ever see.

E has a cardiology check-up a week from today with Dr. G. He will get an echo to check heart function, and I'm sure we will re-evaluate meds and blood pressure, as well.

Dan has been doing a lot of skydiving, but mostly when people are strapped to his chest. I was able to capture one of his rare solo jump landings the other night.

And here is my favorite photo from last weekend. When I went into our trailer to peek on the boys, this is how I found Elijah sleeping.

I have been keeping a mental list of Elijah funnies that I will try to remember (soon Sammy will be talking and I can add his funnies, too!)..

I have had to start limiting bedtime stories and songs for Elijah because his kiss requests take up so much time. "Mommy, kiss my nose, forehead and hair." I do, and he reciprocates. "Ok, now kiss both cheeks and mine chin." I do and he reciprocates. "Ok, now kiss mine eyebrows, ears and eyewashes." I do and he reciprocates. "I wuf 'oo, Mom. Good night, Mom."

Speaking of bedtime, Elijah has come up with a pretty cute standard prayer that he says every night before bed and that Dan and I add onto when he's finished. It goes, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Sammy, Elijah. Thank you for Elijah at school and Elijah at Sandy's (daycare). Thank you for cars to drive, food to eat, toys to pway, toys to share." He usually tacks on at least one random thing at the end, like, "Thank you for doors and drawers," or "Thank you for pictures and windows."

He has still been asking for tons of snuggles. He likes to lay his head on the blue pillow on the couch and have me put a blanket over him and then lay next to him and wrap my arms around him. Then he'll say, "Mmmmm, I wuf 'oo, Mama. I wuf 'oo sooooo so much."

That's all I can think of for now...more later!

4th weekend

2011-07-02T19:36:00.008-05:00

I just put both boys down to sleep for the night in our "tway-wer." I have major blog work to catch up on while they fall asleep and while Dan finishes jumping. This week has been a bit insane for me. I feel, for about the third time in the past three months, like I have hit my emotional and mental rock bottom. When I found the bald spot on Elijah's head, that sent me to a very dark place. I have never felt so sad and defeated and discouraged before. I spent most of my week sulking and crying. Everything has officially caught up with me. I feel exhausted beyond words. I can feel it in my back, stomach, chest, brain, heart, soul, everywhere. I am tired to the core.

So last night I packed up the boys and headed to the dropzone, our escape place. I love being here. The fresh air and friends and country life does wonders for my spirits, but I don't get great sleep here which I'm sure doesn't entirely help my situation. The good most definitely outweighs the bad.

I noticed yesterday in the car on the way here that Elijah was twirling his hair tightly and repeatedly in his fingers. I have never seen him do this before. Could it be the reason for the hair loss? I suppose. A perfect bald circle, though? Not sure. I am keeping a close eye on it, and praying all will be well. So far I can just see the one bald patch. As my wonderful dad told me on the phone the other night, "Elijah is one of the most beautiful people I've ever known..inside and out..and I will love him no matter what happens to his hair." I love my dad.

Elijah is counting himself to sleep right now...in Spanish! He got bored with counting in English, so now he's onto a new language. He can get up to catorce and gets stuck. Not bad!

Sammy had a great day. He crawled all over the place and drove his Jeep (soooo stinkin' cute) and made about 100 people smile.

Tomorrow we have some great friends stopping by the dropzone for a visit. I can't wait to see them! I pounce on anyone who wants to spend time with us these days! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th weekend! Thank you all for checking in on us. We love you..

Hair loss

2011-06-29T10:23:00.000-05:00

This morning as I was feeding Sammy his bottle, I watched Elijah run around the room with all of his crazy energy. Underneath all of his flowing hair, I spotted a bald patch on the back of his head about the size of a golf ball. My heart sank. I called the doctor and got him an appointment right away.

The doctor thinks that the most likely scenario is that he has stress-induced alopecia, the stress obviously being his recent surgery. There is a good chance that he will lose more, but there is also a good chance that it will grow back.

I realize there are much worse things to have happen, but I'm feeling sad and defeated. My heart is heavy and I don't feel like I can handle this. Not now. I want to lock myself in my bedroom and cry.

So that is our story today..

....still healing

2011-06-27T22:13:00.001-05:00

Lately when I come here to write a post, I sit down and think.....poashigoauwerhgiuehgah. I don't know what to say anymore. I'd love to tell you that we are all doing great. Well, I CAN tell you that Elijah and Sammy are doing great. And I don't want to speak for Dan, but I would not always describe my state of mind as "great."

Intermission....cute cute Sammy...

He's so stinkin' sweet. We love this little boy to pieces. He is SO ATTACHED to Dan and me. It is good and bad. Good when he is wrapping his chubby arms around our necks, but bad when we have to leave him at daycare. :( Or leave him in another room. He is only happy when he is in our arms.

Intermission done.

I have never in my life experienced such intense emotion. The months leading up to surgery were insane. The anxiety was indescribable. Then, surgery happened, and it was a breeze compared to our last two times. And then we got home and.....what the heck?! I didn't know what to feel. My tanks (emotional, physical, mental, everything, etc.) were on empty, so I (not speaking for hubby) have been doing the bare minimum. Care for children, shower and get dressed, be a good wife, eat food..

We have been spending some time at the dropzone, which has been very therapeutic for me (and I hope for all of us) but at the same time it has made us all tired just because we're not sleeping in our own beds. I feel like we are on a path toward peace, but we aren't quite there. This is a tough road. One that cannot be explained unless you have been through it.

Thanks for checking in on us. We appreciate and love you all so much!

Wots of snuggles

2011-06-22T20:11:00.001-05:00

Elijah's post-surgery check-up went great today. Dr. G thought he looked amazing! I mentioned the blood pressure concerns and he took me seriously (LOVE him). Even after the nurse had checked his BP in both his arm and his leg (by my request), Dr. G checked it again himself. There was still a discrepancy, but he felt ok with it. He confirmed that the pressures in his arm are the most important, and Dan and I both felt good hearing that from him. We talked about this on the way home...there is just something about hearing comforting words from Elijah's very own doctor. It means so much more than hearing it from anyone else. We adore Dr. G.

An aside: Elijah has been asking more than usual lately for snuggles. "MOM! Pweeeeease come snuggle wif me! Please wub mine hair!" I NEVER NEVER EVER turn down this request.

Elijah's xray looked great today. His new valve function looks great and he has no fluid retention, which is all awesome news. His incision also looks perfect. We are cutting his Lasix dose in half and continuing with the Enalapril until we see Dr. G again, which will be in four weeks. I asked about sending Elijah to daycare and he said it is ideal to hold off for one month from the date of surgery. We will do our best to make sure this happens.

I haven't mentioned since surgery how grateful we are for Dr. K, Elijah's pulmonologist. His PLAN, the one that kept E from getting post-extubation croup, was a total success. I will never forget walking into Elijah's room after extubation and seeing a completely croup-free boy and being totally blown away. I looked back and forth between the nurse and the respiratory therapist like, REALLY?!?!!? A huge blessing is knowing one of Dr. K's awesome nurses, so I asked her what the best way to thank him would be. She suggested leaving a nice voicemail on his pager, so I plan to do that this week. Hopefully I can hold the tears back. He is one of the most amazing doctors we have ever met. His dedication and love for his job is inspiring. There are not many people like him!

And we still have to think of ways to thank our beloved Dr. G and Dr. M.

Despite the good appointment today, Dan and I are feeling a bit more down than usual. This has been such a life-changing experience and we aren't quite sure how to handle it all yet. We continue to pray for peace and normalcy. Thanks for all of your good thoughts and prayers. We appreciate you all so much.

Healing

2011-06-21T19:42:00.000-05:00

Elijah, one week after OHS. Incredible!

The past week has been surreal. I still can't believe things went so smoothly with Elijah's surgery and part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop. The amount of anxiety I experienced between mid-February and June 10th is gross. So now that surgery is done, I'm left with....what? Where does all of that anxiety go? Does it turn into something else? Does it just go away? I still feel a good deal of sadness, but I also feel relief and happiness. Hopefully with a bit of time normalcy will return.

We have gotten out of the house a tiny bit since returning home, and we have even spent some time at the dropzone (Elijah's favorite place).

Elijah is doing great. Most of the time he has crazy amounts of energy and he runs around like a wild man. He has a post-surgery check-up tomorrow with Dr. G. I'm curious to see what his blood pressure is at and if there is still a big difference between his arms and his legs.

Sammy has been great, too. He is such a good baby. He is very patient with his big brother's sassiness and unwillingness to share.

Sam has been sucking his thumb more than ever. If anything upsets him, his thumb goes into his mouth immediately. He likes to crawl into my arms and snuggle up to me while he sucks away at it. He can say "BA" for "ball," "DA" for "Dad," "MA" for "Mama" and "AH-DUH" for "all done." He is taking tiny steps on his own. He can successfully take two steps and then he will fall down and giggle.

We are slowly working at removing the sticky tape residue from all over Elijah's body. It is hard to get off! And Elijah screams any time I even look at it, so it's been a slow process. It looks like we are a family of vampires!

That's all for now! Thanks for checking in..

Battle wounds

2011-06-16T21:41:00.007-05:00

I am not the mom who comes home from the hospital and attempts to immediately wash off all of the "hospital dirt." Removing stickers and tape and anything sticky from Elijah's body is traumatic for him, so I tend to just let it be. He has been through enough. The stickiness will come off eventually.

Elijah found his toy stethoscope this morning and had it in his ears for most of the morning. I asked him, "Hey Elijah, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He has never had an answer to this question before, but today he said, "DR. GWEMMELS!" :)

It was a beautiful day today. Totally deliciously beautiful. Elijah went back and forth between wanting to be outside and wanting to be on the couch. He has done an amazingly good job of limiting himself and listening to his body. There were times when he would sit his bottom on the couch and ask for a movie and chill for an hour or two. And there were other times when he was all over the place, playing like a crazy man. A couple times today I looked at Dan and said, "Really? He had heart surgery less than a week ago??"

Sammy has definitely been affected by our broken schedule for the past week. He is extra clingy and not being his usual happy self. Every time I hold him tight to my chest, he sucks his little thumb for comfort. That's something he usually only does at bedtime. Hopefully in the next days/weeks he will realize that his family isn't going anywhere! We love our chubby Sammy so much.

We are in the throes of surgery aftermath. Unless you have experienced it, you might think it sounds crazy. We should feel nothing but relief, right? After surgery #1, I was blown away by the emotion that followed hospital recovery. After surgery #2, I had forgotten about that emotion until it happened again and then I quickly remembered. This time, I knew it was coming, but that hasn't made it any easier. Every time I look at Elijah I thank God a thousand times. I have been crying a lot in the past few days. Happy tears, tears of relief, tears of sadness, tears of total joy and painful tears plague me all at once and all the time. This is an indescribable experience.

I saw on the doctor's discharge orders yesterday that Elijah is not supposed to return to daycare for four weeks. Four weeks?! My first reaction was not a positive one, but then I thought of the reasons for having such rules. And those reasons were confirmed today when my friend Jess graciously came to our house to bring us lunch. She almost picked Elijah up under the arms, so I had to quickly share his limitations. That just shows that it is instinct to want to pick up a cute little boy. Dan and I have to be Elijah's constant advocates right now. He has to be in the best care possible...with us! So, we will figure something out.

Elijah is doing great. He is so funny and full of energy. He is constantly making us laugh. Every night before bed I say prayers with him and sing songs. Here's an example of one of his recent prayers: "Thank you, Jesus, for this day. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Elijah and Sammy. Thank you for Gwammie and Gwamps and Gwamma and Gwampa. Thank you for cars to drive and food to eat and toys to share. Thank you for comfy beds and for our new tway-wer and our new wittle kitchen. Thank you for drawers and doors. Amen. OH! And thank you for curtains. Amen. OHHH! And thank you for pictures! AMEN!"

That's all I have for now. We continue to heal as a family in so many ways. Thank you so much for the prayers and support. We couldn't have gotten through all of this without you all!

So long, hossa-pi-doh!

2011-06-15T16:57:00.002-05:00

We are home. I'm in disbelief. The blood pressure discrepancy (the difference between pressures on E's arms and legs) has me feeling slightly uneasy, but we talked to a cardiologist before we left. She said the only reading that truly matters is the one from the arms. Because I'm crazy, I think I'll call Dr. G when he's back in town (he left us to go to Brazil) later this week to get his thoughts.

I have some thoughts brewing in my head, as always after a big surgery, but for now I will let the following photos from the past few days speak for themselves. Thank you, everyone, for the amazing support, whether through prayer or help with food or by visiting or writing or calling or reading this blog. THANK YOU. We feel incredibly loved and we are feeling so very grateful right now for all of you.

5-day hospital stay?!

2011-06-15T09:14:00.004-05:00

I arrived at the hospital this morning only to learn that....WE ARE GOING HOME! Apparently Elijah's blood pressure, when taken on his right arm, reads way differently than when taken on his legs. Leg pressure reads between 120-130. Arm pressure reads between 90-100, which is an ideal BP for him. His neck line has already been removed and he is totally free of wires and tubes! I still want to talk to the doctor about the discrepancy between the arm and leg pressures, but it sounds like they are comfortable with it.

Elijah is in great spirits, as usual. He's watching Toy Story 3 and playing with his toy hospital (that happens to have a plastic Dr. Moga and Dr. Gremmels) while we wait to hear when discharge will occur.

He will go home on lasix (fluid retention) and enalapril (blood pressure) and reevaluate both meds next week when we go in to see Dr. G.

I'm still in a bit of disbelief, and haven't processed things yet. Hopefully our next update will be from HOME!

Bittersweet

2011-06-14T18:48:00.001-05:00

I'm hanging out at home tonight with Sammy while Dan spends the night with Elijah in the hospital. It was really difficult for me to leave the hospital this afternoon. I have never spent a night away from Elijah while he has been in the hospital. One thing made it easier, though. Sam! My cute, chubby Sam. When I picked him up from daycare, he grabbed onto my shirt and wouldn't let go. I think he was pretty happy to see me, and the feelings were most definitely mutual. I can see that this ordeal is affecting him a little bit, too. He isn't eating well during the day (when he is away from us), and he is exhausted. I could see it in his eyes right away. He was asleep by 6:00 tonight.

Elijah's blood pressure is definitely a worry at this point, and it is the only reason he is still in the hospital. He is now on two blood pressure meds, one IV and one oral, and he is just barely keeping his BP where the doctors want it to be. The goal is to wean him from the IV med, but he is still on the max dose so we need some answered prayers. Dan and I are extremely grateful for how well E's recovery has gone so far, so we can't really complain about this hiccup. Being totally sleep-deprived and drained, though, makes every little issue seem insurmountable.

If you saw Elijah right now, you would NEVER know he just had open heart surgery or that he is dealing with high blood pressure. He is full of energy and appears to be feeling like a million bucks. Anyone who steps into his room will most certainly get their ears talked off and will leaving giggling and smiling.

I'm not allowing myself to feel much tonight. I assumed I would have my usual post-hospital breakdown upon arriving home, but apparently I'm not ready for that yet.

Here is an exciting thing! Elijah got to take his first post-surgery walk last night through the hospital! Dan's mom snapped these cute photos..

I'm so proud of my amazing boy! BOTH of my amazing boys. I will be one happy mama to have all of my boys at home together again.

Thanks so much for the prayers! Please continue to pray for that darn blood pressure to cooperate.

OHS #3 day #5

2011-06-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

The Dr. M team just stopped in. Wow, there were a lot of them today! The only issue that remains is Elijah's high blood pressure. He is going to have to start another bp medication because Dr. M isn't comfortable with where it's at. His words: "And hopefully he doesn't have to be on it long-term." The possibility of this is a bummer, as E has never had to be on medication long-term. Praying hard for things to work themselves out.

We had a good night, considering. I've found that having an early riser in the hospital is a tiring combination. Elijah was up bright and early (4 AM!) talking and ready to play. Many people have commented on how funny and talkative he is so early in the morning. Yep, that's our boy!

It's 9:20 and Elijah has had 2 neck dressing changes, 1 echo, 1 unnecessary blood draw, 4 glasses of juice, 1 glass of water, 1 bagel, 2 crackers and we are on our 5th movie. Is it time for bed yet??

OHS #3 day #4

2011-06-13T19:54:00.003-05:00

Day 4 is done and it was overall a good one. We got rid of Elijah's oxygen (yay!) and the other line in his hand. The only things left to ditch are a handful of meds, his high blood pressure and his neck line. We kept his diet bland for the last half of the day and he didn't throw up after noon. We'll take it slow with the eating again tomorrow. If we can get his blood pressure under control, I can see us leaving here very soon. Every hour when his BP is taken, I stare at the monitor intently, think of home and pray!

Elijah was hilarious today. He had so many people laughing. He's such a little character. His nurse this morning asked me if he was having a reaction to a medication. Uhh, nope! He really talks this much! :)

Dan is home with Sammy tonight. It's hard for me to think about. I miss him so much. I know we have had pretty much the best case scenario for this surgery and recovery, but I still just want our family to be all together again. I feel incomplete when we all are not together. I miss that chubby little boy!

Elijah is drifting off to sleep next to me. I'm going to read for a bit and then head to bed myself on this delightful thing they call a bed.

Hourly blood pressure just taken...109/52. Still too high. Praying for better numbers tomorrow.

Tummy troubles

2011-06-13T12:49:00.001-05:00

Elijah is having a hard time keeping food down today. The doctor thinks it could be his body's way of dealing with all of the medication that has been in its system. Please pray for him to start keeping food down again!

Update

2011-06-13T07:26:00.002-05:00

Dr. Moga and the crew stopped by for rounds just now. He was hoping that E's blood pressure would've gone down through the night, but he wasn't too concerned at all. He said that we'll just leave him on his BP medication for another day. He expects E's body to adjust and the pressures to normalize by tomorrow.

Elijah is in a very good mood and seems to be feeling fine (minus a little throw up session he had a little bit ago) while he watches "Despicable Me"...again.

Megan and I are swapping naps for the last few hours we have the sleep room. We're tired but feeling very grateful for how well things are going overall. One of us will leave this afternoon to get Sammy and be with him at home and then we'll rotate until Elijah gets to come home.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers!

Could use some prayers

2011-06-13T05:49:00.001-05:00

Elijah is maxing out on his blood pressure meds and his pressures are still higher than desired. We need some specific prayers for low blood pressure! Thank you!!

A visit from Sammy

2011-06-12T16:57:00.003-05:00

I haven't said much about what Sammy has been up to for the past few days. Dan's mom has been gracious enough to watch him over the weekend. I miss him terribly. I keep reminding myself that I'm away from him for a very good reason, but it's still hard. I can't wait to have everyone back together in one spot...home!

Grandma and Sam stopped by for a quick visit yesterday. It was so good to see him. I hugged his chubbiness tightly until it was time for him to leave. I can't wait to see him again.

Elijah treated Sammy about like he usually does...he wasn't overly kind. And Sam, like usual, was curious about everything his brother was up to.

I love this sequence of photos where Sam goes in for Elijah's medical ID bracelet.

E was pretty patient for the first little while.

Sammy!

Elijah's exact words were, "SAMMY, NO SWOBBERING! NO EATING MINE BWACEWET!!"

Aahhh, brotherly love. I know that deep down, Elijah was happy to get a visit from his little bro.

Elijah is doing wonderfully tonight. He's napping right now. They've lowered his blood pressure meds so his BP has gone up a bit again. Pray for that to stay low! Everything else is looking great.

More tomorrow....thank you for checking in on us!

Great progress

2011-06-12T13:41:00.007-05:00

On top of having his arterial line (accidentally but thankfully) removed, Elijah also had his chest tubes and catheter removed today! He has even already gone potty a few times, which is awesome since he's had a hard time with that in the past. We got him out of bed and he took a few steps to the chair to sit up for a bit and watch a movie. I just can't believe how well he is doing.

Dr. Moga did mention E's slightly higher than desired blood pressure, so we've been keeping an eye on that today. Just in the past hour, it has started to come down a bit. His oxygen sats are getting better, as well. All steps in the right direction!

He is in MUCH better spirits today, but still remains Sassy Elijah. He's pretty content chilling in his bed and watching movies. Dan just got back from a nap, so I might go take a turn, as sleep has not exactly been plentiful. Thanks for checking in!

OHS #3 day #3

2011-06-12T07:19:00.003-05:00

Elijah had another good night, and is much more himself today after being weaned off some drugs. His arterial line had to be removed at midnight (quite the ordeal) because it was bent in half (??), and ever since then his blood pressure has been higher than they want it. He is still wearing the nasal cannula for oxygen because his O2 sats are in the low 90s. His heart rate is a little higher than it has been, too. Dr. M and crew will be making rounds shortly, so I'm sure we will hear their thoughts on everything soon. We heard yesterday that his chest tubes might be removed today, which would be great!

Dan and I took turns sleeping in our very nice RMH room last night, but we are still exhausted. Starting tonight we will take turns going home and being with Sammy. Hopefully sleeping in our own bed every other night will help a bit.

We are thankful that our friends and families have been taking such good care of us! Thanks, everyone, for keeping our monkey in your prayers, and for loving all of us.

More later, once we hear from Dr. M..

OHS #3 day #2

2011-06-11T13:25:00.003-05:00

So long to the Sweet Elijah. Oh my, has he been a crabby guy today. Not that I blame him one bit. Lots of talking back, asking to go home repeatedly, telling anyone who says anything at all, "DON'T SAY IT!" and swiping at Mommy. He has been fighting sleep all day and just finally fell asleep. I sent Dan down to our room at the Ronald McDonald house on the floor below us so he could nap, too. So I have time to upload photos!!

On our way to the hospital yesterday..

He wasn't happy about having to stop playing before surgery..

Immediately following surgery. Honestly, this is the best he has ever looked after surgery before. I think he looked absolutely wonderful! You know, considering what he'd been through.

Getting some Mama love.

After his successful and drama-free extubation! He still has the canula in his nose, providing him with oxygen as he recuperates.

Surrounded by his animal friends (all of these plus a few sleep with him in his bed at home every night).

I think his animals help to make him feel secure.

I took this photo about 20 minutes ago. He is already sitting up in bed, eating graham crackers and drinking juice! We are so excited about his amazing recovery so far.

Tired but doing well

2011-06-11T08:47:00.003-05:00

I'm typing with one hand because E needs to be holding the other at all times. Dan and I are taking turns napping on the couch-bed thing. Elijah had a really good night. All of his stats have looked great, which is amazing! He asked for juice all through the night and finally got some, along with a popsicle, this morning. Now he is asking for food. Hopefully that wish will be granted in a few hours.

Our night nurse commented on what a sweet and patient 4-year-old he was. He really was..we are so proud of our big boy.

We're waiting to see Dr. Moga this morning, and otherwise will just be hanging out and healing and resting. And hand-holding.

Thanks for all of the amazing support, everyone. You all are wonderful. xo

Answered prayers

2011-06-10T18:44:00.002-05:00

Holding back many happy tears right now. I am in disbelief as we sit here with our extubated, non-croupy boy. NO CROUP. No croup. And extubated! I still don't believe it. The first thing he asked for? Mama. Second thing? A snack (sorry kid, not for a while yet). Third thing? To say a prayer (awwww). Fourth thing? Despicable Me. :)

He's on pain meds and in and out of sleep. He is doing great. Beyond great. The doctors are amazed and impressed.

Dan and I will sleep here in his room with him tonight. We are so thankful for all of you who check in and pray and send good thoughts and messages our way.

Done!

2011-06-10T13:47:00.003-05:00

We just got visits from both Dr. G and Dr. M. Surgery is done, E's chest is closed and he is in the ICU. Everything went great! He now has a 16-18mm human valve, but Dr. Moga isn't certain that this will be his last open heart surgery. :( He said it could be, but most likely will not be. We should have another 5-10 years before deciding that and I will take that. 5-10 with no open heart surgeries seems absolutely heavenly.

Elijah's old bovine valve was at the very end of its life, so it is good we are here now. We even have pictures of it (gross and hard to look at, but kinda cool). The valve stretched so much to accommodate his increasing pressures that it was distorted and large. Replacement was most definitely necessary.

We should be able to see him in a little bit, although he will still be on the ventilator. Depending on how he does in the next few hours, he'll either come off the vent tonight or in the morning. I'm praying so hard for him to be well enough to to be extubated tonight because the less time the breathing tube is in his airway, the less severe his croup will be. His post-extubation croup is a concern, so please send that up as a specific prayer!

We have one hurdle behind us and now we will focus on recovery and making our brave boy as comfortable as possible. Thanks again for the prayers!

Surgery update

2011-06-10T11:46:00.002-05:00

We just got a visit from Dr. G and everything is going fine. Dr. Moga is sewing in a human valve that is close to adult-size. If Elijah stays small, that means that this could possibly be his last open heart surgery! Did you hear what I just said??? Dr. M should finish up with the bulk of the surgery within a half hour. Chest closing should take place within an hour. We should hear back from Dr. G before then, and we'll keep you posted!

Thanks so much for the love and prayers, everyone!

Headed back to "sur-gee"

2011-06-10T08:36:00.001-05:00

Elijah charmed everyone again this morning, and then got upset when he had to park his little fire truck and sit in my lap after getting his sleepy drugs. We had a nice chat with the anesthesiologist and the OR nurse and Dr. Moga, as well. Our boy is in good hands today. He went back to the OR at 8:00 on the dot, so now we wait for news! Dan and I have an awesome group of supporters sitting with us today as we wait, and I'm so grateful for them!

I am feeling an overwhelming sense of peace today, which I have been praying so hard for.

We appreciate the love, support and prayers so much from all of you!

Pre-op day

2011-06-09T20:17:00.004-05:00

It's been a busy day! I'm just getting to the computer after more time at the hospital than we anticipated and an evening at Grandma's and packing at home. Elijah's pre-op went really well. He checked out great, so we are on for surgery in the morning. We will arrive at 6:30 and surgery will start at 8:00. Dr. G is guessing it will be 5 hours from "kiss to kiss." The thing that will take a significant amount of time this round is getting through the scar tissue in his chest that is there from previous surgeries.

We are hoping that an adult-sized valve will fit in his heart. If this is the case, his next valve replacement can be done via cath! Amazing! Dr. G thinks it's likely that this time he will get a pig valve.

We had a nice day together. Elijah is such a special little boy, and he was incredibly brave today. Every nurse/doctor who interacted with him gushed about his cute little character and personality. Our main nurse gave him a clipboard and a pen, so Elijah went around taking orders from everyone, asking what they would like to order for food. He'd scribble down the order and say, "Oh. Ok, that sounds great. Anyfing else? I'll be wight back wif dat."

When it came time to take blood, Dan and I made absolute sure that there was not a recurrence of the last traumatic time. The best blood-drawer in the unit was able to hit a vein in ONE POKE. Thank you thank you, GOD. Minimal tears, minimal stress.

We chatted with anesthesiology about airway concerns, so we feel like we are all on the same page about that. Overall, we feel very peaceful and comfortable with the next few days. Of course, mommy worries creep into my head and of course, I wish we didn't have to do this at all, but it will be good. We are anxious to have it behind us.

We have no shame in asking for prayers for our little boy! Please pray for protection over him and for the surgeons and doctors and nurses to be at their very best. Thank you...we will post tomorrow as soon as we know anything.

Sammy turns one!

2011-06-07T21:57:00.010-05:00

Can you believe our Sammy turned one last weekend?

It seems like just a few weeks ago that we were welcoming him into the world.

He is such an amazing light in our lives. His totally chill attitude and silly faces make us smile all the time. We love him so much.

We invited some friends and family to the dropzone to celebrate his birthday and we enjoyed the nice hot day. Summer birthdays are the best (I would know this).

Sammy got REALLY messy. We weren't exactly prepared for this, as Elijah refused to touch cake until he was three years old. Sammy dug right in!

Sam even enjoyed eating his plate..

..he was full of frosting and cake..

..but cute as could be..

..and messy..

..and naked..

..and ready to be washed off.

The aftermath.

Once he was clean, he enjoyed spending time with friends.

Opening presents and sitting in comfortable laps.

And playing with balls.

And wondering why his big brother doesn't like to share.

And saying goodbye to Daddy.

And playing with family.

Elijah enjoyed the playground with his cousin Emma.

He is getting so good at going down the slide by himself.

And strutting around the dropzone.

Going down the slide on his own is a pretty huge deal!

Here's the beautiful Emma! We love you!

This is how well Elijah sleeps in our new awesome trailer. With his pet rat.

Sammy is always happy and ready to go in the morning.

By the way, Elijah said to me the other day when we got to the dropzone, "Mom! Let's get the party started!" Hmmmm, what??

We are preparing for the big surgery on Friday. I am strangely feeling more peaceful as time passes. It's funny how that happens. We ask for your prayers for our little man..BOTH of our men...as it it going to be challenging caring for both of them separately.

At Sammy's well visit today he weighed 23 lbs. 7 oz. (60th percentile) and he was 31 inches tall (84th percentile). He got two shots and cried very little. He is a super chill kid!

Thanks for checking in! xo

Absence

2011-06-02T18:25:00.001-05:00

I haven't updated our little blog recently for several reasons. The first reason is a good one! We are owners of a new (used, but very awesome and livable) trailer at the dropzone! The dropzone is a getaway place for all of us (except for Dan during working hours), so I tend to not bring my computer or "work" of any kind out there with me. Here are Elijah and Sammy enjoying their first lunch in our second "home!"

Elijah LOVES our trailer. We stayed in it for two nights over the long weekend and since returning home we have heard him say, "Go dwopzone? Go to new tway-er?" somewhere around 500 times.

Another reason I haven't written much lately is because when I'm not working or caring for boys, I have been sleeping! No, I'm not pregnant. :) I feel like I have finally reached the point of being emotionally and otherwise exhausted. Hopefully I can feel somewhat caught up by next Friday.

And the most obvious reason...there are a lot of emotions surrounding this time that I am honestly just tired of dealing with. I'm tired of crying and worrying and being a mess. I want to get past this surgery, but more than that I want to run backwards up my calendar. I know, people go through this, or worse, all the time. Something I've learned, though, is that that doesn't make my feelings any less real.

Sammy's first birthday is on Saturday and I'm doing my best to make sure it is a fun day. I cannot believe our little munchkin will be one already! What the heck happened to that time? Sam has been such a chubby ball of sunshine for us. The way he shovels food into his mouth by the fistful and the way he clacks his tongue and then does his cute squinty smile-laugh and the way he has to find a ball (BAA!) in every room we enter and the way he nuzzles his entire body into my lap and sucks his left thumb when he's tired...all of it makes me smile and feel so grateful! I love that little boy!

We plan to spend more time in our new "tway-er" this weekend, so you may not hear from us until next week...THE WEEK! Yikes!

A bad date and anesthesiology, thankfully not at the same time

2011-05-27T20:02:00.001-05:00

Elijah and I went on a date today. Unfortunately it did not go very well. Halfway through the movie, he started screaming and hitting. The entire rest of the day involved similar behavior. Ugh.

I got a call from Dr. A today, the anesthesiologist we requested for E's heart surgery. He was calling to tell me that he wouldn't be able to be his doctor that day. :( Holding back major tears, I told him not to worry about it. He told me, "I totally know who Elijah is, and I know who you are, and I want to be there for you that day. I hope you understand.." I do. But I'm sad. The airway issue is a big one this time, and having an anesthesiologist that we have the utmost confidence in is important. Really, though, we've never had a bad, or even just a good, anesthesiologist. They've all been great. No, excellent! I know whoever we get assigned to on June 10th will take very good care of Elijah.

I started to tell Dr. A why we were so concerned with anesthesiology this time. He stopped me and said, "Oh, yeah, I know about his airway issues. In fact, I've already talked to Dr. K twice about Elijah. The anesthesia team will form a solid plan and they will talk to the intensivists in depth, along with Dr. K himself. Elijah will be well taken care of." Tears were flowing at this point, but I managed to say, "I just want you to know how much we have appreciated the amazing care you have given to our little boy. You have always made us feel comfortable and we absolutely love you.." He appreciated that, and I meant it.

I'm sad. But I know things will work out as they are supposed to. I'm just glad we have such caring, intelligent people taking care of our boy.

Love

2011-05-25T21:11:00.006-05:00

I'm thinking our Elijah needs a little extra love these days. He WOULD NOT LET GO OF MY NECK today when I picked him up from daycare. He kept calling me "Superman" and asking me to "save" and "rec-scue" him. He has been a little extra naughty for the past few weeks, hitting, kicking and talking back a lot. It is so easy to get caught up in the frustration, but Dan and I have agreed that he just needs LOVE. We are going to start doing "date nights" with him and let him know individually how much we love him. Hopefully that helps a bit. His teacher even emailed me today, saying that he has been "screaming" at all of his teachers when they ask him to complete a task. This is just not our typical Elijah, so we need to get to the bottom of this. Especially before the trauma of surgery arrives. I hope that boy knows how intensely he is loved!

My two boys are in bed, my husband is on his way home and I am going to go photograph some food before sleep-time. Good night, everyone! Thanks for checking in!!

Rainy days

2011-05-23T18:49:00.001-05:00

What's going on in that little head, do you think?

I think I caught him mid-cough.

Sammy has a new skill! He can clap! Any time he hears music, he smiles and starts clapping. It is the absolute cutest thing.

Yesterday morning we were feeling a little stir crazy at home since it had been raining off and on for a lot of the weekend. The boys and I did one of our favorite rainy-day activities. We went to the play area at the mall early, before the mall stores opened and before two hundred other kids showed up.

Elijah was a blur, running around and around and yelling, "IIiiiiii wwwwuuuuunnnnnninnnnnggggg!" Sometimes I want to call Dr. G and say, "Are you SURE he needs surgery??"

In order to get a picture of Sam I had to set him down and RUN away from him to take his picture quick before he crawled back to me. We had the entire area to ourselves and where did he want to spend his time? In my arms. And that is not a complaint. :)

There were no bullies in the vicinity, and I was happy about that.

Dan was able to spend half of Saturday at home and the other half of Sunday at home due to the crazy weather. How sad that I pray for terrible weather on the weekends so we can have him with us!

I want to share a quick funny before I sign off. Since Elijah was born, he has always had such a chubby, juicy little neck. It's the best. He even calls his neck "juicy neck" because he hears me say it so much. "Mama, pwease come tickle mine juicy neck!" So, the other day we received Dr. K's dictation from E's most recent pulmonology visit, and Dan and I both laughed very hard when we saw "Neck: Is supple" written in the report. Yes it is! Love it!

I'm embarrassed to admit what it is that I'm really excited for tonight, but if you're excited, too, you know what I'm talking about. :) Enjoy your evening, secret activity or not!

Park bullies

2011-05-21T17:45:00.003-05:00

Today we had a little experience at the park that left me shaking. After we got home safe and sound and once Elijah and Sammy were buckled in their chairs and eating dinner, I retreated into the bathroom to cry for a few minutes.

We were at the park, swinging. I was pushing both boys and they were giggling and having a great time. There were four or five older kids playing on the playground equipment pretty roughly with one another, so I was hoping Elijah wouldn't ask to go down the slide. Just as I had that thought, I saw a little boy (about 7 or 8 years old) tackle a girl (about 6) to the ground and put her in a choke hold. Hmmmmm. I had the thought that maybe they were siblings and if that was the case I would give him a pass. A few minutes later, though, I heard this same kid ask the same little girl how old she was. Ok, so they didn't even know each other. Red flag.

Elijah said, "I want to go down big green slide!" Oh boy. "Ok, sweetie, let's go quick." I got E out of his swing and he ran over to the playground and crawled up to the slide, in between kids darting past him. I grabbed Sam and we stood just below where Elijah was sitting at the top of the slide. I encouraged him to come down, but I knew that with all the kids around, he would hesitate. And he hesitated. A few minutes went by and one of the kids came up to him RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and pushed him in the chest. HIS CHEST. His chest. Do not touch my boy's chest. It wasn't a hard push, but enough that I said, "HEY! EXCUSE ME! THAT IS NOT OK!" The three boys that were up with Elijah looked down at me like I was crazy. I said, "Where do you guys live?" One of the boys said, "Don't you wish you knew!" Wow. I said, "Nice respect, guys. Elijah, come down right now."

Of course it is not ever ok to tell Elijah to promptly perform a task that causes him anxiety. So, with Sam in my arms, I ran up the equipment and grabbed Elijah with my free arm. Meanwhile, Bully #2 was crawling up the slide so that we couldn't go down it. This is when I realized that I was being bullied by a 7-year-old. Awesome. I put Elijah on my lap and the three of us went down the slide, just missing hitting the bully (wouldn't have cared if I would have hit him). Elijah had NO IDEA that anything was amiss (aside from the chest shove), and wanted to "pway wif kids!" I pulled on his sweet little arm until we reached our stroller. He fought me the whole way, not understanding what was going on. When we got home I explained to him that I wasn't upset with him, but that those kids weren't being very nice. He gave me such a surprised look, like, Really?! I wanted to play with them!

Once we were home, I kept thinking of what I should have done differently. Should I have called the police? Should I have demanded that they tell me where they lived? Should I have stayed and followed them home? I don't know what I should have done, but in the moment I felt threatened by three young boys and wanted nothing but safety. I am in disbelief that such young people were so incredibly disrespectful and mean. It makes me sad for what my boys may have to face. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from when I say this, but...I especially worry about Elijah.

We hear all the time about bullying and how terribly out of control it has gotten. It's such a heartbreaking thing. Just another thing for this mama to worry about!

And by the way, I hope next time Dan is with us at the park when we see those kids (that's my second wish, next to never seeing them again). Hopefully the mean teacher in him will come out and he'll put a little fear in their heads.

Shedding sickness

2011-05-20T16:45:00.002-05:00

In case you're wondering, never EVER wonder out loud why you haven't caught the bug that has been running through your childrens' daycare. 'Cause guess what? You will catch the bug that has been running through your childrens' daycare. I was in quite a bit of discomfort for about 36 hours this week. I did a lot of resting during that time, which apparently my body needed.

Enough about sickness. Let's talk about the beautiful weather! Ohhhh, it has been so gorgeous this week. FINALLY. We have been taking daily trips to the park and it is Elijah's absolute most favorite part of the day. When we wake up in the morning: "Mommy, can we go green park?" And when I pick him up from daycare: "We go to green park now??" He is so proud of himself because he can finally go down the big green twisty slide ALL BY HIMSELF. This is a pretty big deal for our cautious Elijah. I'm so proud of him and I love seeing his happy, excited face.

Sammy has an intense love for anything resembling a ball. He can spot a ball from a block away. "BAAA! BAAA!" When he gets a hold of it, he tosses it up in the air and watches it fall in front of him. Repeat a dozen times. Elijah never cared for balls, so this is new for us and it is so stinkin' cute. And Sam, oh Sam, he still just loves to be in Mama's (or Daddy's) arms ALL THE TIME. He certainly loves human touch!

One quick cute/sweet Elijah thing and then I'll sign off. Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

I usually go into Elijah's room at least once during the night because he has either had a bad dream or he wants a sip of water or he just wants to show us who is in charge. :) At 2:00 this morning I heard him say, "I WANT MOMMY!" I went in and asked if he was ok. He said, "Yeah. Mom, pwease scwatch mine hair." Awwwwww! He wanted me to run my fingers through his hair like I do all the time when he is falling asleep. So of course I did.

I love my boys.