Photoless in Minneapolis

Please don't stone me for not providing cutie photos! I have a few cute Elijah things to share...

Today he thought it was hilarious to call me "Mommy Salami." Funniest thing ever. :)

When I brought him to bed tonight, he said good-night to Dan and then said, "See ya next time!"

Melissa (left hand - imaginary friend) has turned into Whompus (Wampus? Whampus?) and I heard a mention of Hops, too, so this is likely the friend to replace poor Whompus.

We had a BUSY weekend. It was way busier than we are used to. Lots of baking, cooking, galavanting, dining out and socializing. We are all tired and ready for another weekend to recuperate! Ha!

I will take pics of our handsome boys soon, I promise!

Oh the difference a year makes!

I have had an illness for the past week that I'm going to call Sore Throat Disease. No drainage, no cough, just a KILLER sore throat. I envision little people hanging out in the back of my mouth, juggling letter openers. I sat in the doctor's office twice this week and nothing definitive was wrong with me. I was not a treatable case. Today is the first day since last Saturday that I haven't started out by googling "throat transplants."

The thing that prompted me to write a post today is that one year ago, I started my 4-month period of bed rest when I was pregnant with Samson. I remember feeling so bummed out and defeated, but look at what a year can do! Now Sammy is almost 8 months old, he is supremely handsome and smiley and he leaves a trail of slobber with every turn of his head.

Sam, I thank God for you every day. I love how cuddly and warm you are after a nap and how much you love your brother and the way you laugh when Daddy "eats" his Sam Sandwich. I love you, Sammy Jammy!

Oh no!

Something terrible may have happened to Melissa (Elijah's left hand/imaginary friend)! Jee-non still talks to me and gives me good-night hugs and kisses before bed, but Melissa does not. For the past few nights when I have turned to say good night to her, Left Hand slinks away and Elijah says, "No, is not Mewissa." "Ohhh. Is Melissa ok?" "I don't know." Oh dear, this doesn't sound good..

p.s. Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I'm still an ill mama..

Sickness, sassiness, slobber and smarts

What is the reason for a no-cooking, no-blogging, lots-of-napping Porta house over the weekend? A sick mama! It is rare that I get hit hard enough to not be able to stand up, but that is just what happened to me for 24 straight hours. I'm still not feeling totally normal, but I feel like a million dollars compared to yesterday at this time.



Sam has been such a chill kid, and Dan and I both have the sense that this will be the trend. Sam=fussy baby, chill kid. Elijah=EASY baby, dramatic/not-always-so-chill kid. (Don't get me wrong, Elijah has some unusually good characteristics for children his age.)



A funny thing from Elijah's mouth:

[After Sammy had doused Elijah's arm with slobber] "MOM! Wook! Yuck! Mine arm is soggy!"



Our smart 3-year-old can write and spell his own name, he can spell a handful of other words and today he wrote out a paper-full of letters for me. "P goes down and around!" Then he drew me a picture of a face, in amazing detail, and then wrote M-O-M on it. How did our little boy get so smart? I asked him in the bath tonight how to spell "Sam." He thought really hard and spelled it out in his head. "Ssss..S!...aaa...A!...mmmm...M! SAM!"

We are back to our routine tomorrow. Thanks for checking in..

From the parents' mouths

"Elijah, no more yelling at your hiccups!"

"Elijah, those fruit loops are not for you! Feed them to your cat, please." (And if you must know, we do not have a cat. Don't ask.)

Imagination at its peak

Elijah is such a good imaginative and independent player. He makes up entire pretend worlds in our home. He will whiz by me mumbling under his breath, "Oh, ok. Gotta go brush teeth in mine home. Ok, close the door quick. Bye, Mom." "Um, bye?!" I peek in to see this..



"Oh, hi, Elijah! I'm so glad you're brushing your teeth!" "Hi, Mom! Come into mine home! Close the door quick!"



And then suddenly our world turns into a grocery store or a gas station or a Lowe's or a pirate ship. I just go with the flow!

I bought a huge, fresh head of garlic recently and I vaguely remember seeing Elijah toting it around the house. He has recently learned how to get into the refrigerator, which has both its benefits (he can get his own milk) and downfalls (my garlic goes missing). I went to put three large, delicious cloves of garlic into a soup I was making on Sunday, and it was nowhere to be found. Who knows where in our home it might be, and won't that be fun to find in 3 months?

Last night I was gathering all of the ten Swimmy's fishies to send back to preschool today, and four were missing. "Elijah? Where are Swimmy's fishies? We have to return them tomorrow!" "Ummmmm...fishies in fwidge!" They were enjoying themselves in the cheese drawer.

Two minutes later, Elijah informed us that his little dvd player wasn't working. "It not works!" So Dan and I went over to investigate. Every time we put a dvd in, it would make a clicking sound and nothing would come up on the screen. I finally walked away, as I saw no hope. I heard Dan say, "Well THIS might be a problem!" I peeked around the corner and saw him holding up a piece of edamame. "Honey, green soybeans do not go inside your dvd player!" "Oh, ok. Sowwy, Mom."

Someday he might like him

Elijah: "Sammy, NO TOUCHING! NO LOOKING!"

Sammy: [touching, looking and drooling, major drooling..] Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba! (translation: "I love you, my big brother!)

Croup in the genes

Well? Sammy got croup again last night, his second time having it. He differs from Elijah in the sense that his croup isn't as scary, but it doesn't go away. Standing in the cold or in a steamy bathroom does nothing for him. He coughs and struggles all night long, and even into the day. Poor guy. I stayed home with him this morning and Dan was with him this afternoon.

I have to say this, though. I'm so glad, after being away from home so much lately, that sickness occurs while I'm here as opposed to it happening when I'm not here. I want to be here for my sick babies!

I'm so glad my voice can't be heard

Video from our Malibu photo shoot this past weekend. FUN!

Home sweet home

Some things that have occurred since my return from sunny California:

Elijah has asked me about a hundred times if I'm leaving again. :( "Mommy, where you going? You leaving?" Awwww, this breaks my heart.

Sammy tried to consume the tag on his crib bumper in the middle of the night.

Elijah told me that his wing was broken (as his elbow stuck up in the air).

Sammy cried for more milk after guzzling 11 ounces before bed.

Elijah informed me that my new name was "the letter N."

Ahhhh, I love it. I love the funny stuff. I love my boys. It has never felt so good to be at home. I was more homesick over the weekend than I have ever been in my life. Now I don't want to leave our house unless I absolutely have to (work). I'm going to be a homebody for a while!

It sounds like Elijah and Sam had a good weekend. Dan had fun with his friends in the woods. California was mostly good for me (aside from the homesickness), filled with new experiences, beaches and warm weather.

This week will be a major catch-up week (sleep, blog 1, blog 2, work, time with boys, editing photos). I'm not quite feeling normal yet, but soon things will settle back down. I love normal and I love home.

The sun and beach were great, but nothing...NOTHING...compares to being with my boys

Croup: Season 3, Round 4

I have been at work meetings yesterday and today and that means I was not at home last night. Yesterday morning Elijah had a tiny cough and I told Dan, "HIGH ALERT FOR CROUP!" After dinner was done last night, I tried to call Dan and he didn't answer. I got into bed and had a weird feeling in my stomach. I knew, I totally KNEW. Dan called back a few minutes later to tell me that Elijah had had a croup episode.

Everything turned out fine. I guess he ended up throwing up, which isn't typical for him, but the medicine did what it was supposed to do and Dan was able to put him right back to sleep. He is home from school today and coughing a bit. I feel terrible that I wasn't there for him during his episode. He needs his mama when that happens. :(

Cannot WAIT to see my boys tonight! I am going to love them up because I leave town tomorrow again for four nights.

We have two new members in our family

I've mentioned this before, but Elijah's hands have been his little imaginary friends since he was a baby. Since he's been around a year old, his hands have "talked" back and forth to each other. And to him. And to Dan and me. It has always been cute, and over time the talking between them has become more discernible. Over Christmas vacation, we noticed that Hands would climb to the top of a box and jump off and hurt themselves. Or they would fly through the air. Or say something silly. Or whatever. Suffice it to say they were active.

Last night as I was putting Elijah to bed, he started talking to his hands. Then he looked at me and showed me his right hand and said, "Is Melissa!" "Oh, um, hi, Melissa!" Then he showed me his left hand and said, "Is Jeenon!" "Nice to meet you, Jeenon!" He seemed a little nervous about it, like he didn't know how kindly I would take to officially "meeting" his hands. Little does he know about my imaginary-friend-filled past! Mimi, Susie, Tenspeed and Vodka occupied my head until I was at least 5. Imaginary friends are something I most definitely understand!

Then Elijah started using different voices for each friend, and that had me a little weirded out. Melissa has a nice, high voice and Jeenon has a deep, gravelly, redrum-like voice. Hmmmmm.

When I put him to bed, both Melissa and Jeenon said "good night" to me, and I found myself saying, "Good night, guys! Oh, um, I mean, good night, Elijah." This morning when I got him out of bed, he thrust both hands in my face and said, "Good morning! Good morning!" Oh, good morning, guys!

Life with a wildly imaginative and smart little boy is so much fun!!

2011

2010 is done, can you believe it? It is surreal to think back to a year ago. Elijah had JUST started walking. I was a few weeks away from the beginning of a 4-month period of bed rest. Sam was a tiny little growing peanut in my belly.

Now, Elijah is RUNNING around our home like a screaming tornado. Bed rest is long done, thank goodness, although I am still battling with the few extra pounds I added to my thighs during that time. Samson is no longer tiny. He is our chubby, cute 7-month-old babe whose smile makes me melt.

A lot happened in 2010. It was difficult and stressful at times, but also rewarding and fun. I always think it's cool to think about timing and how God times things in our lives juuuust right. 2010 is proof of that for us. We were told a handful of times that Elijah would need heart surgery in 2010, so we worried about how that would work with the birth of a baby and caring for a newborn, etc. Well! We didn't have to worry about any of that because heart surgery did not need to occur in 2010! This is a good reminder for me that things will work out the way they are supposed to. Worrying is so silly, yet it seems impossible for me to stop doing it.

I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring! We know that Elijah has a heart cath on February 17th, which will help determine his next big surgery. Based on the amount of energy this child has, I cannot imagine it will need to happen soon. We will see what the cath reveals, though.

Today we got back to our usual routine. Elijah got to see his friends at preschool and his best bud Paigey at daycare. I was back at work. Routine only for a few days, though, because the last part of this week will be a bit out of the ordinary. I am traveling to Los Angeles with a friend to help her with a photo shoot from Friday through late Monday night. Dan will be retreating to the Northern woods to spend time with friends. And the boys will get a few nights with Grandma.

Thanks for checking in! Happy 2011!

My boy's funny faces

Silly face..



Scared face..



Surprised face..



Weird face..



Happy face..



We have been enjoying our time together these past few days. We're back to work and preschool tomorrow. We have another "off" week this week. I will be away from home 5 of the next 8 nights. I am sad about being away from my boys, but some fun opportunities lie ahead so I have no complaints.

Thanks for checking in! I have a lot to share but I'm tired. More later..

Asheville vacation recap

Even with snow, the Biltmore Mansion was BEAUTIFUL. Dan and I are in love with all 8,000 acres of this place.



Of course we had to be a little bit silly, right?



These beautiful flowers were found inside the conservatory.



These, too. Nothing could have lived in the Arctic wind-swept land that we toured.



Last time I took a photo of the gargoyle he did not have ice hanging from his cold cold mouth.



See?



We decided to venture out onto the trails again, despite the snow.



Who needs dry feet, anyway?



We wondered, "Is this...bamboo? Can it survive here?"



Dan made this exact pose in this exact spot two years ago. Except, then, it was HOT. And dry.



See?



I made Dan stop so I could get a shot of his eyes.



We headed down toward the waterfall and almost slipped down the hill getting there. This was one of the only photos that survived that little adventure.



The grounds are beautiful.



Even trees that have been trimmed are beautiful. That's what Dan said when I asked him to stop the car for a photo: "But, it's been trimmed!"



We stopped at the winery for a few tastings.



And found a few wines we liked.



We explored the farm area and the new Antler's Village.



We sat atop the tractors. Again.



We did not bowl, but did you know that in 1895 George Vanderbilt innovatively constructed a bowling alley in the basement of his mansion?



The sunset was beautiful our last night there.



The grounds were decorated with Christmas lights.



And our horse riding adventure never happened because "a horse could break a leg on this ice!" We were bummed about this, but we certainly didn't want any horses to break any legs. Next time.