An important anniversary

Wednesday seems to be my day for updating! Another week has flown by. In the past week we have noticed some changes with Elijah. Certain behaviors are getting difficult to manage, so we have had to get stringent. It seems like this is necessary every few months or so. Sleep is still overall SO MUCH better than it was two months ago. There was a stretch of time during the winter when I honestly do not know how we all survived! We were consistently waking up FOR THE DAY between 2:00 and 3:00 am. Now it is more like 5:00 or 6:00. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later, but a MUCH better scenario overall.

Guess what today is?! It is the 7th anniversary of Elijah's second open heart surgery - the big one! Every year on this day I experience a host of emotions. That was such a huge, important, intense surgery that had an incredible outcome. If I could travel back to April 15, 2008, and tell myself what present-day Elijah is like...I don't know if I would have believed myself! Super-spunky, smart, friendly, huge vocabulary, great big brother, silly, strong-willed, great reader, snuggly, fun.. I don't know what it was I was expecting for him in the years that followed that surgery, but he is doing better than I ever could have imagined. I think in those early years we were so focused on baking the cake (keeping him alive) that it was difficult to imagine that we might be able to put frosting on top some day. And sprinkles and cherries and gummy bears.

The boys have been fighting more than usual lately. They both have such strong wills and they clash pretty often. MOST of the time, though, they adore each other. If they are apart for more than an hour they start saying, "I MISS MY BROTHER!!!!"

Ironically, Elijah has been super interested in Veggie Tales again. It's ironic because that was his FAVORITE thing during the heart surgery that we are remembering today. He saved up birthday money this year and bought a Veggie Tales sing-along CD. We owned it years ago but watched it (and played with it) so much that it got scratched and cracked. I couldn't believe how excited E was to get a new copy and how many times he wants to watch it...over and over and over. Sammy isn't as interested in it, but he knows the words to all of the songs (don't we all).

The boys also both love Captain Underpants books right now. Elijah has read every word of every one of the books. Dan and I have considered so many times taking them away because potty talk has definitely increased since the discovery of these books. But...he reads! A ton. He doesn't read any other book with such interest. There are days when he will literally read for two hours. Book time trumps potty talk. :)

As always, Sammy has a constant stream of hilarious material spilling from his mouth. I can hardly keep up! Here is a sampling (the ones I write down!)..

- We were running to the car in the wind one day and he yelled up to me, "I'm a natural kite flyer, kid!"

- Enduring my daily onslaught of hugs and kisses, he said, "Ok, ok, enough with the hugs and easy on the kisses!"

- I told him "Great idea!" about something and he said, "Yep. I'm always thinkin' in my head."

- Yesterday he said to me, "Mommy, I love you more than anything in the ENTIRE Univers......al Studios." :)

- A load of laundry was spinning like crazy in the washing machine. Sammy said, "Is it gonna blow? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" When he realized no one else was alarmed, he calmly said, "I don't think so, Sweetheart."


That's about all for now!