Croup: Season 7, Episode 4 (Elijah)....and a few other things

Yesterday I heard a familiar cough from Elijah and I had the thought that croup might be in our future. He woke up at 1:00am barking like a seal. We spent 15 minutes in a steamy bathroom and he sounded good enough to go back to bed. At 3:00 it was worse, so he and Dan did a round in the bathroom, followed by a dose of oral steroids and a trip outside. It got a little bit better and it was nowhere near as severe as it usually is, but he had moderate stridor even after our efforts. So that I could listen closely (and obsess), I brought him to bed with us. After 1 1/2 hours of Elijah sleeping soundly and me not sleeping at all, I retreated to the couch. Early morning sleep is so touchy with him and I did not want to do anything to wake him up once he was out. He still sounded barky in the morning, so we kept him home from school today.

I loaded Elijah up with essential oils tonight (thieves and frankincense!) and also gave him a preventative dose of steroids in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last night.

(Sammy is the cute little green guy in the middle with the red socks..)

This week has been BUSY and (mostly) fun! It was so much fun watching Sammy at his first soccer game on Saturday. He was hesitant to go out onto the field, but once he was out there he ran around and loved it. Every time he was running fast down the field, he would look over at me with a huge smile and give me two thumbs up. :)

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was incredible. My boys spoiled me with breakfast in bed, precious cards and gifts, flowers, a NAP, lunch out with Dan's family and tons of love and snuggle time. I think Mother's Day should happen every week!

Tuesday was Elijah's second grade track and field day. It was COLD! We were all bundled up in coats, hats, mittens, SCARVES and blankets. Elijah did so great at his events and tried his best. I was a proud mama! Minus a 15-minute stretch when the boys would not stop tackling each other in front of Elijah's classmates, it went smoothly and we had fun.

Here is Elijah and a friend of his getting ready to do the shoe kick! Super cute!

He did the hippity-hop relay again this year. He was behind the rest, but finished valiantly!

And this one was a total surprise to me.. he stacked cups! 

And of course they ended with a tug-of-war. The whole event was so fun to watch.

A few other tidbits from our week..

Dan and I celebrated nine years of marriage yesterday! Nine years. So much has happened, but I love my wonderful hubby more than ever. I don't know what I would do without him! Our traditional dinner out was one of the most delicious ones we remember.

I find lovely little nuggets on my phone such as the following all the time. Nice..

A neighbor of ours got out his mini 1959 Corvette last weekend and let Elijah sit in it (Sammy refused). It runs and everything! So cool!

That's enough excitement for one week, I think! I'm looking forward to the weekend when we can all relax and prepare for a couple of crazy weeks coming up. I'll be working in Cannon Falls for the next few weeks, so some other things will need to be shelved for a bit.

Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend!

Our anniversary and our fiercely independent Sammy

Sunday was Dan's and my sixth wedding anniversary. Last night we got out for our traditional lovely dinner, and afterward we sat on our patio pondering the past six years. Six years ago we had no idea what kinds of adventures were in store for us! It has been quite the journey, and I realized last night how very very very blessed I am to have had Dan next to me through all of it. There were times in the past year (I'm talking months at a time) when Dan was VERY patient with me through some very dark and scary crap. Honestly, if roles would have been switched, I don't know how patient I would have been. To think about it now makes me realize how much Dan loves me and what a patient and incredible husband he is.

I woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to share more about the past year, and I wrote a lot of it out...but I don't want to freak anybody out. :) I will sleep on it. (I see that I accidentally posted a portion of it, so some of you got the story! So there it is! I guess it was meant to be that some of you know about the craziness. :)

So let's talk about Sammy for a bit, our FIERCELY independent young man. He certainly has his own ideas all of the time. A few examples..

He woke up from his nap today INSISTING that he wear "BOO SHIRT!" as seen in the below photo. Ok, Sammy, but it's warm outside, and... "BOO SHIRT!" Okie dokie, so on boo shirt went. Then we came inside and he said, "BOO SHIRT OFF!" Ohhh-kaaay, off blue shirt went. "WOBOT SHIRT!" And on went robot shirt..

And the puzzle you see in the background? He insists on putting that puzzle together all by himself, except, well, he can't. If I try to help him he yells, "NOO! NOO!" and runs away. So what I've started doing is putting the correct pieces next to each other but not snapping them in and walking away. Then he will happen upon it and click the pieces together and say, "'ook!" "Oh wow, Sammy! You did it!" Then I'll sneak back and set a few more pieces up for him.

Sammy and I often frequent the grocery store together. We usually do it while Dan is at work and Elijah is at school. But it's a bit stressful, even with just the two of us. He will NOT sit in the front seat of the cart without screaming his head off, so I usually end up putting him in the main part of the cart on his butt. The only thing that will keep him on his butt is if I set an open container of blueberries next to him. I always pray that the person checking us out will have compassion (some don't) and understand that it was necessary to eat them before purchasing. Because every time, ALL of the blueberries are gone before we get to checkout. I'm just glad it's blueberries and not candy!

Today Dan and I took the boys to a park for a picnic and park play. We could tell Sammy was a little bit extra tired. He went running across the playground toward the swings and I ran after him. He tripped and fell hard on the rocky pavement, hitting his face on the ground. He cut his lip and was bleeding a bit and cried sooo hard. :( He has scratches on his nose and upper lip. Poor guy. I hate seeing my boys in pain!

That's about all for now. We have beautiful weather this week in Minnesota, and we are loving it! We are excited for the weekend. Lots of fun adventures ahead. Thanks for checking in!

Lost post recovered and an anniversary

Apparently blogger crashed and many people's posts were lost during that time, including the one I posted the other day with the boys' pics. So, here they are again!



Today is Dan's and my 5-year wedding anniversary! And so far I have spent the day cleaning up the vomit of our two little ones.



Sammy started his sickness last night. He kindly gives us a coughing warning before each time he throws up (very considerate), so we can get him to a bathroom. Even in the middle of the night I heard the cough and was able to get him to the bathroom in time.



Elijah just does it. No warnings from him, so that usually means clean-up is involved.



Anyway, Elijah is finally starting to eat again and Sammy hasn't thrown up for quite a while now so Dan and I might just be able to make it out for our anniversary dinner after all! We shall see.



That's all for now. Enjoy these smiley pics!! xo

Four years

There have been way too many photos of me on this blog lately. I have filled my quota for the year! No more for a long long time.

Today is Dan's and my fourth wedding anniversary! We had our picture taken for this reason, but I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by also posting a shot of my belly.



Tomorrow I get my last progesterone shot. That means things should start to get interesting soon. Tomorrow also marks 36 weeks! This is the exact point I went into labor with Elijah, so it feels like things should start to get crazy any time now. And it finally feels SAFE. Aaaahhhhh, it feels so incredible to be at this point!



Elijah caught a tiny little cold. I heard a couple little coughs this morning and a couple more after he went to bed tonight. I'm praying that's the extent of it and that it doesn't turn into anything worse.

We have two awesome visitors coming to visit this weekend. I can't wait to see these two people and I can't wait to post photos of their visit!!!



We saw this pretty double rainbow tonight!

Three amazing, scary, fun, intense, adventure-filled, tiring, wonderful years.

My (bare-footed) husband, waiting for me to walk down the "aisle" (grass).


(Wearing shoes and) excited to get to him!



We took the chance of having an outdoor wedding and reception in May. In Minnesota. It was a cold (45-degree), rainy, windy day. We took it in stride, though. I refused to put anything on over my very pretty dress, and I didn't complain once! We danced to the music the band played and we enjoyed our time to its fullest. Many many friends and family members came to share our day with us. They were troopers, enduring the cold along with us. As Dan says, "'Twas cold outside, but warm in our hearts." :)



Lately I've been thinking a lot about our wedding day. I believe that God was giving us a glimpse of what our life together would be like. The conditions weren't ideal, there was some discomfort but we had a ton of support from loved ones and we persevered and remained happy and focused on the good things. Sounds familiar!



A lot has happened in three years. More than I ever could have imagined, as I shivered in my shoes on May 13, 2006. The pregnancy complications, the uncertainty surrounding Elijah's outcome, the premature delivery, the heart surgeries, the other surgeries, the hospitalizations, the panic attacks, the anxiety, the amazing way in which our loved ones, and most importantly GOD, carried us through all of that.. It hasn't been easy, but all of it put together has created some pretty cool things. Isn't it interesting what it takes for some people to "get it"? It has taken a lot for Dan and me (well, I speak for myself here). I'm thankful for the jostling, though, because I am very happy about where we are at right now, and I'll admit, I needed it.



I hope this doesn't come across as sounding insincere since it is such a cliche thing to say. I mean this very sincerely.. I could not have walked this incredible 3-year journey with anyone except my amazing husband. We are like two giant puzzle pieces who fit perfectly together. Any other puzzle piece wouldn't have worked. It had to be him and me. That's what God intended.

Happy Anniversary, Husband! Now, let's go to dinner!



p.s. Got Elijah's MRI results back already today. Good and bad news. His brain is perfect, his spine is not. I'll explain tomorrow.

Elijah's special heart day

Beautiful boy (pointing at the grass that he doesn't like).

Since this is Elijah's big anniversary day, we decided to make it a special day for him. I got a bunch of red and heart-shaped balloons and we had a fun balloon fight tonight. Then I scraped the white frosting off the cupcakes I got from the bakery (I don't have time to make cupcakes!) and put some red frosting in place of it. We had fun getting messy with the cupcakes after dinner. Elijah wasn't too sure about putting it into his mouth, but he took a few licks and did a good job of smearing it everywhere. I got a few other fun red things for him to enjoy tonight, to go along with the heart theme. We had a really fun evening. The weather is awesomely perfect outside today, so we went for a walk tonight and Elijah walked with his walker on the sidewalk for the first time! Big boy! He has had sooo much energy in the past couple days. It is wonderful. The fact that he has energy to expend is such a great sign and it makes me giddy to see it.


Red cupcakes and pretty red flowers.

One year ago, Elijah's body was in great distress. He was adjusting to his new anatomy post-surgery and Dan and I were scared and exhausted. Thinking back makes me so very very grateful for where we are at right now. It is amazing what a year (and a surgery) can do. We thank God for everything we have been given and all of the progress our little boy has made in the past year. Happy heart anniversary, Elijah! We love you sooo much.


Going crazy with the balloons.


Here, you try, Mama.


Hmmmmmmmm.


What is this on my lips.


Look at him go! Sooo proud!


Throwing his new ball.


Silly-face man pointing at the grass. He was not a fan of the grass touching his skin, as I suspected would be the case.

Stuff

Please make your vote to the right! (You love curly hair!!)

Yesterday was Dan's and my SECOND anniversary! Can you believe it? I feel like it has been 10 years... only because we have been through so much. It's hard to believe that a year ago, we hadn't even been through Elijah's first surgery! A lot has happened in our two years of marriage.

I was jealous because Dan went skydiving today and I was sitting at my boring desk at work. AND...his first jump, he got to jump with JOEL! Not fair!!


SOBIG... I got to spend a fun evening with Elijah. He is so proud of being SOBIG.




Yeah, he is the cutest..




TWO years?! We have been married for two years. WOW!