Crazy but good

This week has been totally crazy. I feel like we are still catching up from being sick and sleep-deprived while trying to fit other, extra things in as well. We had a mini-date night the other night (which was awesome, btw) and last night I got a haircut, and tonight we will bring Elijah to PT/ST and then go home and pack for our trip. Tomorrow my stepmom flies into town and we will all drive up north for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. It should be a really fun weekend. Elijah is super excited to see Grammie P.

While dealing with some chaos in the past few weeks, I decided that I need to do something, daily, that will help me to relax. So I started taking baths before bed. AAAHhhhhhhh, heaven! I've done this almost every night for about a week now and it helps me out so much. I have found that I look forward to this relaxing, quiet time all day long. Last night I got home kind of late after getting my hair cut, so I figured I might just go straight to bed, but Dan already had everything ready to go for me. He had the bath ready, complete with bubbles, candles, a TOTALLY CLEAN bathroom, my book, and even a glass of wine. My husband is awesome. He knows how much I need this. I'm so happy I discovered my beloved bath. I'll miss you this weekend, Bathy, and I'll see you again on Sunday night!

Elijah has been doing really well this week. His cold symptoms are practically gone. He has been extra clingy/whiny, but we are hoping that fades a bit now that he's starting to feel better. He hasn't been in daycare for two weeks, so that probably isn't helping him to know that he isn't the only human in the world worthy of Mommy and Daddy's attention.

Still no pics...I'm sorry! Maybe I'll find some time tonight in between getting things ready for the weekend. Grammie P, please don't judge us if our house isn't clean. Because, our house isn't clean!

Healing

We had a really good, healing weekend, thank goodness. I am still coughing and congested, but every day I'm feeling a little better. Elijah's cough is practically gone. He is not wheezing anymore and has just a little bit of a runny nose.

We were able to make it to our good friends' house on Saturday evening. We put Elijah to bed in their cozy guest bedroom while we played games and pigged out on taco dip. Elijah decided to get up at 4:50 the next morning, so Dan and I are still exhausted from that. The getting up really really early seems to be a theme lately. Ugh.

Since we are going to be out of town for a wedding this coming weekend, we don't really have any Halloween festivities to bring Elijah to. I just couldn't stand the thought of no costume at all this year, so I bought him a lion costume, just to take a few pictures in. I put it on him on Saturday and he didn't like it so much. He made a sad, pouty face for about a minute and then started to cry. Maybe next year we'll actually be able to enjoy Halloween!

On Sunday we enjoyed some time at Elijah's little buddy Leo's house, celebrating his 2nd birthday. It was fun to watch the kids run around and play....as Elijah laid contentedly on the floor and played with trucks. By himself. He just really doesn't care to interact much with other kids yet. After about an hour, he was just DONE with being there. He threw a bit of a fit, so I packed up our things and left. The second we walked out the door, the tears stopped and he started saying, "BYE!" and giggling. Little stinker!

Tonight Dan and I have a Tuesday night date night! I can't believe it! We haven't gotten out of the house alone together in a really long time, so I'm super excited.

I have lots of pics to share, but I haven't had time to get them off my camera. I will do it soon, I promise!

Get your flu shot!

It has been quite a week for us. Elijah has struggled through one of the toughest sicknesses he has had yet in his life. Dan has stayed home all week with a sick, crabby, steroid-filled baby. I have been sick myself and I also worked all week. YUCK.

Elijah finally seems to be turning a corner. He isn't coughing through the whole night anymore, and he isn't working quite as hard to breathe. He took his last dose of steroids today (yesss!) and will continue with antibiotics for another couple days. I think maybe I'm turning a corner finally, too (hoping so, anyway). Elijah and I were on the same course until Wednesday night when my sickness took a bad turn and his thankfully didn't follow. I'm pretty sure I got some form of the flu on top of the cold I already had. So far Elijah doesn't seem to have gotten that leg of it and hopefully he won't.

As I was lying in bed on Wednesday night, feeling like death was near, I had a very bad feeling in my gut. Since Elijah's and my cold symptoms up to that point had mimicked each other, I thought for sure he was going be feeling as badly as I was at that point. I laid there knowing that if he had to go through that part of it, he would be going through it in the hospital. For sure. I knew his little body wouldn't be able to handle it without medical intervention.

I am pretty sure that I caught the flu and Elijah didn't. Dan and I have not gotten our flu shots yet. Elijah thankfully has. After seeing my little boy struggle with every breath he took this week, I am more convinced than ever that catching the flu (or worse, RSV) would be a very very bad thing for him. His heart just would not be able to handle it. Young children who have heart disease are at an increased risk for serious and potentially life-threatening complications from the flu. FLU SHOTS ARE VERY IMPORTANT.

The events of this week are making me rethink our situation. Is daycare best for our son? Is it worth it to willingly put him into an environment that is likely going to be full of germs throughout the winter, when he is still so young and susceptible to sickness? What about money? We definitely need another income, but what is more important? I hate it. I don't know what to do. All I know is that seeing my baby struggle that hard over a simple cold was startling. I cannot fathom what anything more serious could do to him since his little body already works so hard even when he is "healthy."

Sick Prayers Needed

Hi everyone, I just wanted to write a quick post and ask for some extra prayers for Elijah and Megan. Elijah had an okay day today torturing Daddy (I think his cold is getting better and today his extra "fun" behavior was because of the steroids that are kicking in) but Megan is quite sick and stuffed up. She's in bed now (looking as gorgeous as ever all tucked in and sniffling) and will hopefully be able to get some good rest tonight.
Elijah is snoozing too and we're hoping that he's on the downslope of this stupid cough/sickness.

Please for a good night for both of them, that Elijah puts this sickness behind him and that Megan is able to make a quick recovery!

Thank you all for your support and prayers, we are blessed to have such a wonderful group of people standing with us.

Sicky

Loving the wagon ride


Some swinging before dinner.....the swing always puts a smile on his sweet face.

Our little man has been pretty sick these past two days. That annoying cough turned into a tight, very frequent cough. Dan brought him into see our wonderful pediatrician today and she gave us the dreaded oral steroids to give him to help open things up. Steroids, yuck! This means that our next couple days are going to be filled with monsterish, beastlike behavior. Can't wait! No really, we will endure whatever it takes to make him better. It will be a rough week, but hopefully he will heal up quickly.



He hasn't been sleeping well at night and now that he has steroids in his system, he for sure won't be sleeping well. This morning we were all up at 4:00. I'm praying for a miracle for tonight because we are all really needing some serious sleep.


He always puts his right hand on the front of the swing and his left on the back

The other crappy thing is that Dan had work lined up for today and tomorrow and both days had to be canceled because of Elijah's sickness. We are paying for full-time daycare, living on one income and it is taking its toll. I'm hoping that daycare will eventually work out for us on a regular basis but so far it just isn't consistent because of hospital time, colds, etc.



Pray for Dan tomorrow because he will be at home with Beastly Elijah all by himself all day. Pray for Elijah, of course, too. Quick healing is needed! Thanks for checking in on us! Have a good week, everyone.


Chubby neck, watch out for Mommy kisses

Cough cough

Elijah and I spent quality time together today. Dan is at the dropzone jumping like a maniac and making us some money (yay!). The only thing we really did out of the ordinary today was get a visit from my awesome coworker who has been helping me out with my loads of work. She brought her CUTE 4-month-old baby Kade over for a visit. Elijah and Kade checked each other out from afar but that was the extent of their interest. Oh, I guess Elijah did grab his feet a few times.

Elijah was a good boy today. He has this lingering cough that seems to be at its peak right now. He coughed ALL DAY LONG. I put him down for his usual nap and he coughed the entire way through that, too. So, no nap today. He was just exhausted so I put him to bed super early and I can hear him in his room just coughing away. I have his humidifier running, so hopefully that helps him get some sleep. I am praying for sleep tonight! I have a feeling it will be one of those nights where I'm up a few times giving breathing treatments. Oh well, whatever it takes.

Here are some cute pics from the last few days.. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! xooxox


New hat and mittens for the winter! Except, the hat is too small (and I think we've lost it already). I bought a size 2T-5T thinking it would be plenty big and it's too small!




I love how grown up he looks in his new big boy shoes


Standing!


Right before I pulled out the camera here, he wasn't smiley at all. This is the first time he turned into a major cheeseball just for the camera. Look at that cheesy smile. I love it!


I know, Mama. I'm the cutest!




Pointing at the rainbow

Cath date and funnies

It's totally strange how this always works out, but Elijah's big dates (surgeries, big appointments, etc.) always seem to fall on dates that have other significance. Again, this is happening. His heart cath will be on November 26th, which is the day before Thanksgiving, which means we will probably be in the hospital on Thanksgiving for a bit. I guess the day before Thanksgiving isn't technically a significant day, but close enough. Hopefully we will be out of the hospital in time to eat some yummy food. Dan will cry big huge tears if he can't eat a heap of stuffing as tall as our house.

The plan for Nov 26th is that Elijah will have a flow scan done on his lungs in the morning, followed by a heart cath at 11:30. Please say prayers about this. Putting big dates like this on the calendar makes me anxious.

I owe pics! I don't have any right now, so I'll get some this weekend. Right now I have a few funny things to share about our silly boy.

Yesterday while we were chatting with Dr. G, a kid in the room next to us was groaning/moaning pretty loudly. We could all hear it but no one acknowledged it. All of a sudden Elijah started imitating him and groaning back. Dr. G asked him if he was copying his friend from next door. We all giggled.

Elijah has been trying really hard to say words. When I change his diaper every morning, he plays with the buckles that are on the straps on his changing table. His word for "buckle" is "gung-gung" and he repeats it over and over. He finds buckles fascinating for some reason. Buckles, wheels and doors.

I have been trying to teach him the meanings of "stop" and "go," so I will push one of his little cars around on the floor as I say, "Gooooooooooo....Stop!" Well, the other day he was lying on the floor pushing a crayon around like it was a car (he pushes everything around like it's a car) and he was saying, "Daaaaaaaaaaa....Da!" I think that is his version of Goooooo, stop!

I think I mentioned before his love for a song we hear on PBS a lot about shapes. Whenever I sing it, he does these jerky movements with his arms to "draw" out the shapes in the air like they do on tv. Now, any time he sees a circle, triangle or a square, he starts doing his little jerky arm dance without any prompting from the song. I have to get this on video soon. It is just the funniest thing. Have you ever seen Elaine dancing on Seinfeld?

Elijah and I have a pretty low-key weekend planned. I'm praying for fewer tantrums than we experienced last weekend. He and I both woke up sick this morning (again for him) so hopefully we can get rid of the gunk with some tlc. Dan will be working all weekend. We will miss him.

Dr. G saves the day

Elijah's cardiology appointment went well this morning, minus the contortionist act I had to do during his echo. He weighed 25 lbs. 3 oz., which is almost a one pound gain from last month! He certainly is not growing taller, though. He has been hovering right around 30.5-31 inches for about six months now. His oxygen sats were at 100%. I know, I couldn't believe it, either! I still get a little teary when I see such high numbers on that monitor that I dreaded looking at for such a long time. His blood pressure was pretty high. More on that in a bit. His heart function looked perfect, thank you, GOD, and no fluid retention was seen on his chest xray.

The only issue right now is the narrowing of his right pulmonary artery, and we already knew about this. Dr. G thinks that this is causing some disturbances in his body. This could explain the puffy eyes, and also the high pressure in the right side of his heart, which was revealed through today's echo results. The right side of his heart will always have to work extra hard, but right now the pressure on that side is even higher than his already high baseline is.

The plan is to get him to the cath lab in November or December (instead of January, like we had been planning) so Dr. G can widen the stent in his pulmonary artery. This will hopefully help blood to flow through the artery more easily which should decrease the pressure in the right side of his heart. In the meantime, we will give him Lasix as needed for his mild fluid retention, only when he is appearing extra puffy, and otherwise continue on with life normally (normally, ha!).

I feel a thousand times better after talking to our wonderful cardiologist and having him do such a thorough exam of our little boy. I still think Dr. G should just move in with us. We would even give him our bedroom!

Totally annoyed

We got to the clinic in Minneapolis this morning and when we checked in, the lady at the front desk said, "Uhhhh, Elijah's appointment is tomorrow, the 16th." Dr. G's nurse told me on the phone, yesterday, to come in "tomorrow." I think that would be today, right? Arrgghhh!!! She said she would go back and see if "the doctor" could fit us in. We waited a while and she came back to tell us that another doctor, who we had never heard of, would take a few minutes to review Elijah's chart and then would be right with us. A few minutes to review Elijah's chart? Ha! Dan and I gave the I-don't-think-so look to each other and told her we would come back in the morning to see Dr. Gremmels.

So...thank you for the prayers. Could you maybe extend them one more day? Thanks! I'll post again tomorrow with actual news.

p.s. Elijah's eyes were NOT puffy this morning and his lips looked a lovely shade of light pink. Praying it stays this way and tomorrow's appointment confirms that nothing is wrong with our little man's heart.

Praying for a good report

Somehow we got fit into the schedule tomorrow, so we will be heading to Dr. Gremmels' office in the morning. I'm so thankful for this! I have been such a huge worrier lately and tonight I was dreaming up red (un-pink) lips, so we will see if I'm crazy or if that is for real. I have other worries to express as well, so I'm praying hard that everything checks out ok.

There's one really cute thing from tonight I have to share. Every night before I put Elijah to bed, I pray with him in his rocking chair. Even if he is fussy, I will allow him to fuss and squirm in my lap as I say a prayer. He has fussed and squirmed for most of the past eight or so nights, so tonight I was surprised when he laid his head on my chest when I started to pray. I usually pray for the same things, so I'm sure he recognizes what I'm saying as a prayer. Tonight, half way through, he pushed himself up, laid down sideways on my chest and folded his hands together. He looked up at me proudly with his hands folded. My heart melted onto the floor. Even though he has been a beast lately, he has such a sweet soul. He will always be my sweet little boy.

Please say a prayer for Elijah's card appointment in the morning. We believe that we will receive ONLY GOOD NEWS.

Thank you

I want to say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive in the past few days/weeks. We have received so many uplifting comments and emails, and we are so thankful for them all. We have such a wonderful group of people supporting us and praying for us. THANK YOU.

Now for some medical stuff. I talked to Elijah's pediatrician about the croup/breathing issue and she said that it was treated appropriately (steroids and nebs) but if we wanted to come in to discuss things further, we can. She didn't seem concerned, and I haven't decided if I should be or not. I am terrified of another middle-of-the-night episode happening again, but I don't know that there is anything we would be able to do to prevent it besides running his humidifier every night and giving him nebulizer treatments twice/day, both of which we do consistently.

For the past few weeks, Elijah has had slightly puffy eyes when he wakes up in the morning. I called Dr. G about 10 days ago and he said to call back if it was still happening in a week or two. It is still happening. I called him yesterday and he wants to see Elijah in the clinic soon. There is a possible opening this Thursday (really hoping we can get in then) and if that doesn't work, we won't get in till next week sometime. I'll find out today when the appt will be.

It is possible that he just needs to be treated with some Lasix since his pulmonary artery is a bit stressed right now and may be causing his body to retain a little bit of fluid. Hopefully this is the extent of it and we can go forward with our January cath plan. It will help ease my mind to get him checked out by the awesome Dr. G.

Thank you so much for checking in on us and for keeping our little man in your prayers. We love you all so much!

Our sweet monster

Today wasn't a ton better, but it was better. Elijah still made me want to pull my hair out, but at least I'm not going to bed sobbing like I was last night. This new attitude is just something we need to get used to and deal with as best we can. Dan came back from a productive weekend at the dropzone around 5:00 tonight and Elijah and I practically attacked him we were so happy to see him.

There are a few things I'm worried about. His breathing is a bit weird. When he laughs, and sometimes when he is just checking things out around the house, his breath seems really short. I don't know if it's just a new thing he has discovered or if he is really struggling to breathe...?? He also does this shivery thing every so often that he never used to do. I don't know if there's a reason for it or not, but it is a bit worrisome to me. Every couple of minutes his body will shiver, like he's cold or uncomfortable.

I'm always noticing new things, and I never know if these things are "normal" or if they are things to be concerned about. I cannot imagine being a parent of a healthy child. I cannot imagine not having to work REALLY REALLY HARD to get your child to do things that come naturally to most human beings, like crawling or speaking a simple word, and I cannot imagine not over-analyzing every single thing. I guess it makes us appreciate our boy and his milestones that much more. He is pretty amazing.

Monster Porta

Belly button


This is one of the exercises Elijah's PT suggested we do with him to help him strengthen his core muscles. Since he usually refuses to put weight on his legs, putting him on his knees is almost as good when it comes to building strength in his core. He actually tolerated this for a few minutes today.


Looks like maybe he's up to something?


He put the toothbrush in his mouth. By himself!

You would never know from these pictures that Elijah was an absolute BEAST tonight. He and I spent the day together while Dan worked at the dropzone. Everything was great until supper. We had a good morning visiting my cousin Trevor and his wife Angie in the hospital and meeting their new beautiful baby girl. Elijah was great at the hospital. He took a good long nap today, and afterwards we went for a walk and went to the park and everything was happy and sunshiney.

Then I sat him down for supper and this is when things took a sharp, wrong turn. I gave him a sandwich and I was going to also give him some spaghettios mixed with veggies (his favorite). He took one bite of his sandwich and one bite of spaghettios and one sip of milk and then decided to freak out. His cup was sent flying across the room, his sandwich was suddenly in my lap, his spaghettios were all over his face, his plate flew across the table, and his body was thrashing, causing his chair to rock back and forth. I was in complete awe. I was thinking, what in the world just happened? I gave him one chance to calm down and eat more of his food and explained that he wouldn't be getting fruit or yogurt if he didn't eat his spaghettios and sandwich. More body thrashing took place, so I removed him from the table and put him in the living room on the floor and walked away.

He sat in the same spot for a good 5 minutes and screamed his head off. I sat at the table, faced away from him, and cried into my hands. I know that disciplining Elijah is important, and we will do it, no question. It is just hard. The kid has been through so much. As I sat at the table, I thought of his strength and of him lying in a hospital bed and about how fragile his life seems to me sometimes and I just wanted to run over and give him whatever he wanted. But I didn't. I just sat there and let him work through it.

Eventually he scooted into the kitchen and contentedly did his usual opening and closing of all the cupboard doors. After a while I went over to him and asked if he wanted a hug from Mommy. I went to reach for him and all I got was another round of body thrashing and screaming.

He tried to get into the pantry, but I said no, so more thrashing and screaming followed. I brought him into the living room and sat him on my lap, facing me, which he usually loves. More thrashing and screaming. Again, I set him down and let him do his thing. After a few minutes he was playing with his toys but any change in his life (me trying to give him his nebulizer treatment or change his diaper or put on his pajamas) and he would totally freak out. I turned on Baby Signing Time and he was happy. In my gut I feel I shouldn't have let him watch it, but I think I may have pulled out all of my hair otherwise.

After that it was time to get ready for bed, and more crazy behavior took place with every little thing I tried to do. This is so confusing for me. I mean, I understand that we're starting the terrible twos, but really? Is it this bad? I'm sitting here wondering if there is something more. Again I'm worried that there might be something wrong. Is he not feeling well? Is it his heart? Is it nothing?

I had a bad dream last night. I have these a lot. I call them my PTSD dreams. I was feeding Elijah and there were a few people around us, watching me feed him. Suddenly I noticed that his breathing was different. It sounded a lot like it did before his last surgery in April, really stressed and shaky. I looked at his lips and they were a dark red color. I said to the other people, "His lips have changed, this isn't good," and I reached to pick him up. I was very calm on the outside but freaking out inside. I woke up in a panic.

It just plain sucks always wondering if something is really wrong with my baby. I'm so tired of it. I just want one week where I don't have to worry about his heart. If I knew his 3-hour tantrum tonight had nothing to do with his heart, I feel I'd be able to handle it much better, and without any tears (on my end anyway). So here I go, another sleepless night of worrying and wondering....

Cuteness and scares

Look at my big boy PJs!


Here's my belly button and my cheesy smile


Still got my belly button


Even when I'm on all fours, or threes

Every night since Elijah has had his very scary episode, I have been on my toes. I go into his room constantly to check on his breathing. Every time he cries, I hold the baby monitor up to my ear and listen as closely as possible. He has slept well all week, but tonight I had another scare. I heard him cry so I listened to the monitor and heard him struggling to breathe a bit. I though, OH GREAT, here we go again. Dan and I ran to his room and scrunched down by his bed to get a closer listen. Once he stopped crying, he sounded fine. So, now I'm wondering, is he fine or isn't he? What do I do? Stay up all night listening to him? The thought of experiencing another night like Sunday night is awful, so all I have been doing is crying.

I called Elijah's pediatrician today and asked the nurse what she thought of this whole situation. She seemed a bit worried and thought we should either take him into the clinic to get his lungs checked out, or maybe even bring him in to see his pulmonologist. She's going to call me back in the morning.

I am praying very hard for an eventless night. I am considering camping out in Elijah's room and sleeping on the floor.

A few fun things... We had Elijah's speech/physical therapy tonight and he did really well. He worked really hard. His PT (who is awesome) got him to use his core muscles and legs a lot, and that is a huge feat. His speech therapist was working on doing the sign for MORE. He has done it once or twice in front of Dan and me, but nothing more than that. She kept blowing bubbles and then asked him to let her know that he wanted more of them. At first he just grunted and pointed, but then he started taking HER hands and pushing them together into the more sign. So, he wouldn't sign it himself, but he would force her to sign it. He had us all rolling on the floor laughing.

This morning before I left for work, I sat down with him as I always do to play for a few minutes. He scooted over to me and grabbed my hand. I had no idea what he was going to do with it. He placed it on his cheek and held it there and then laid his head down on my leg, with my hand still cupped between his hand and cheek. It was the sweetest thing.

Elijah started a new daycare today and it seemed to go very well. I was a nervous wreck all day because this is such a huge change for all of us. It was all fine, though, and I think this is going to end up being a really positive thing for him.

I'm going to go try to sleep. I'm not sure how restful it will be, with me worrying about my sweet boy, but at least tomorrow is Friday, right?

NEWSNEWSNEWS!!!!

Thanks, Heather, for taking this cute pic of Elijah and me last weekend

So, last night I was sitting in the living room with Elijah before we put him to bed. He was up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth, and....he just decided to start crawling! He only took a couple steps, but MY BABY CRAWLED! Of course, I cried a little. I'm so happy. There were days when I thought this would never happen. I'm such a proud mommy.

Lots of pics to share

Sitting in the back of Drew's truck. He was so content back there. Oh, and check out the most beautiful face in the world.

I promised some fun things after this morning's depressing post. We actually do have some amusing stories from our hospital experience last night. At 9:00 last night, when we first noticed that Elijah was having a hard time breathing, I was a mess, and much more than just emotionally. I hadn't showered in almost two days. My hair was greasy and my eyes were bloodshot from getting very little sleep all weekend and from being in a car for so long. When the paramedic told me we needed to get Elijah to the hospital quickly, I ran upstairs and pulled on the first pair of jeans I saw. I didn't realize until I was sitting in the ambulance that the pair of jeans I had chosen had a HUGE hole in the butt. I can't imagine what they must have thought of me. I hope they weren't judgmental people.


Eating a banana, watching cartoons, and calling his friends from the hotel on Saturday morning.


Kings Pointe has an awesome indoor waterpark. I thought maybe Elijah would enjoy it, but he did not. At all. I took him in the water but it was just a bit too cold for him. The entire time, he either screamed, or pointed toward Daddy, who was on dry land.


Someday these water toys will be enticing. This time they were not.


Dry me off!

Dan and I noticed that while the nurses and doctors were poking at our poor little man in the hospital last night, that he found an object that gave him comfort. He has never been one to cling to an object before. He doesn't really have a blankie (outside of his crib) and he has never liked pacifiers. He does, however, have...HIS BELLY BUTTON. When someone would start disturbing him, he would search crazily for his belly button. Once he found it with his finger, everything was suddenly ok. We noticed that he has been doing the same thing all day today, too. It must pacify him. His belly button is his comfort object.


See? He's got his belly button!


Storm Lake is in the background. We took a walk along the lake on Saturday morning and went to the park.





We had such a fun time in Iowa last weekend. We go back every year for Buena Vista's homecoming. This year, four of the six of my roommates made it back. We had tons of fun. I love those girls so much and it is always so sad when we leave.

Elijah has been a total monster today. I would like to attribute it to the steroids he was given in the hospital last night, but who knows. He has been cranky and throwing things and overall unpleasant to be around all day long. We are hoping this wears off soon. We are missing our sweet boy.






I love that big chubby neck.

Another ambulance ride

A lot has been going on for us in the past few days. I'll start with the bad and save the good for another post. We got home from a weekend in Iowa yesterday afternoon. We were all exhausted, so we took a 2-hour nap. The rest of the afternoon/evening went normally and we put Elijah to bed a little bit early because of some sleep he had missed over the weekend. I noticed throughout the day that he had been sneezing a bit more than usual and that his nose seemed slightly congested. Other than that, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

About two hours after Elijah went to bed, we heard him struggling to breathe over the baby monitor. We both immediately recognized the sound because this same thing happened a few months ago. Dan got Elijah out of bed while I got the nebulizer ready and turned on the shower. After giving him the neb and sitting in the steamy bathroom for a while, we realized that he was really having a hard time breathing. I asked Dan if I should call 911 and he said yes. When Dan says yes to that question without hesitating, there is a concern. The paramedics came and assessed the situation and said, "We need to take him in!" His heart rate was super high and he still wasn't breathing normally. I got into the ambulance with him while they got an IV line started in his arm. Dan followed us in the car to Childrens. That was our first ambulance trip where they actually drove fast and used sirens. They were worried, so that made me extra worried.

Once we got there they gave Elijah steroids through his IV line which helped to open up his airway. His croupey breathing started to sound a bit better almost immediately. His heart rate came back down. His sats hovered around 95-96%, which is a bit low for him, but nobody seemed too concerned. After a clear chest xray, it was decided that he was not holding onto any excess fluid, which has actually been a concern of ours for the past couple days. He has had slightly puffy eyelids in the mornings, so I've been worrying about fluid retention, which would most likely mean heart failure. So this news was a relief. We sat in the ER for quite a while as they monitored him. He threw up once all over himself and me, but other than that he was in pretty good spirits. He stayed awake and watched cartoons for a long time. In the wee morning hours they decided to let us go home. Of course Elijah had JUST fallen asleep so he was a mad baby when they started messing with him.

We got home and put him to sleep. I didn't get much sleep because I kept checking on him to make sure he was breathing normally. He did fine and, amazingly, even after missing most of the night's sleep, still woke up at his usual 6:00 time. His internal clock is amazing! It's the most sophisticated system I've ever seen in my life.

Dan watched Elijah while I got a nap this morning. Dan is walking around like a zombie so I'm going to watch Elijah while he sleeps for a bit and then I'll head into work (yes, missing more work time that I DON'T have). Our little man could use some prayers. Last night was a scary night. Sickness is very bad for him and it's so hard on his little body. Thanks for checking in on us. A more positive post to follow, with really cute pics...

My new tractor!

I have four more hours of work this week and then I am FREE! My boys and I are going to head down to Iowa tomorrow afternoon to visit my wonderful college friends and I cannot wait. I get the best of both worlds. I get my BOYS, and I get my GIRLS, too.


Check out my new tractor! I'm such a lucky boy.

Elijah has been a pretty ornery boy this week. Every day I wonder if there is something "wrong," but I'm realizing that he is just in THAT stage. He fusses a lot when he doesn't get his way, but I believe this is all normal stuff. It is sometimes frustrating, but it is a part of his development.

Our good friend Cara brought him a toy tractor/trailer that he has fallen in love with. He has cried the last two nights we have taken him to bed because he hasn't wanted to part with it. Dan said that at breakfast this morning, while eating his oatmeal, he spotted the beloved tractor in the living room. He started pointing at it and grunting and wanting it badly. Dan had to drape his shirt over the tractor so he would focus on his food, but Elijah kept pointing in the tractor's direction, whining and upset. He loves this thing. We will most definitely be bringing it with us this weekend. Thank you so much, Cara and Gary, this is a HUGE hit with our boy.


Here you can imagine him doing his BBBBBbbbbrrrrrrmm brrrrrrrrmmmmmmm sound that he does whenever he sees a car, truck, tractor, airplane, train or anything with wheels.

Have a good weekend, everyone. We wish you all happiness and peace and goodness. Thank you so much for checking in on our precious boy.