Eli's New DAFO's

This is Eli and one of his PT's, Alison.

DAFO's are Dynamic Ankle-Foot Orthotics.

Anyway, the purpose of these is to help stablize him.

They put pressure/stimulation on the bottoms of his feet

and keep his ankle at a 90 degree angle. They are supposed

to help him relax a little when sitting, and give support when we

work on standing. I wanted orange straps...and they ended up

this rediculous yellow. The ribbon on the one strap

has horses on it. I wish I'd chosen a different color. Oh, well.

Next pair, I'll know!

How I found Eli in his crib this morning.

Eli is doing great in his crib! I find him in all
sorts of funny positions in the mornings. Todays was
particularly funny because he completely rolled over and
backwards, and had his arm up with his hand on his face.
Too Cute! :)

Courage

I copied this picture from a friend's MySpace page recently

because I thought it was so cool. Who thinks this stuff up?

So, I want to make this my new motto.

"DO ONE BRAVE THING TODAY...THEN RUN LIKE HELL!"

Sometimes we need swift kick in the pants to get out of our comfort zone,

so we can be in a place where we are ready to receive the gifts God wants to bless us with.

What can you do today to get out of your box?

Shout Out to my Conover Friends!

Hey everybody! I hear I have some groupies at Conover?
hahahaha Yahoo!

Thanks for checking in on us...and keeping in touch.
Not a whole lot happening around here right now. So, I haven't been posting.
Sorry!
This week we are laying low and getting some projects done around the house.
Next wednesday my sister Shiela is coming up from John Day, OR and staying a couple days.
Lon and I have an "appt." on Thursday and she will watch Eli for us. First day away from my baby! Aagh! I'll go check on him on our lunch hour! Duh! :)

Then comes the rest of August...
Saturday the 18th - End of Summer Potluck at our house! (4pm, I think - we'll try to beat teh heat?) Bring your favorite dish to share. Oh, by the way - there will be a really cute VeggieTales BD cake there, too! :) Someone's turning 2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a family party to go to on the 26th, and also the Annual Berkheimer Picnic in Selah sometime in August. Busy Busy!

The first anniversary of my Momma's death is the 27th. :(

Talk to you again soon...
Amy

Thank God I'm a Country Boy

I went to a crop last weekend, and did three
LO's from Eli's "Antiquities" pictures that were
taken in April. Enjoy...

Cow Town Cutie

Li'l Cowboy

Story Time with Daddy

Every time I try to read Eli a book - he seems to hate it.
One night Daddy was holding Eli, and he was really figity
(as usual!) and so I said, "Here, read to him." Eli sat still
and loved to hear Daddy read him a story! It was so cute!
It was Good Night Moon.

(Eli's cheek is all red because he was fighting
an infection in his stoma and was on antibiotics
and he usually gets flare ups on his cheeks when
fighting a bug. Makes him look like a raggedy andy doll.)

Four Generations

This week, Eli and I went over to my Aunt Shiela's house to visit my Great-Aunt Wilma who came up from California. I have not seen her since my Gram's funeral in June of 1998. It was so wonderful to get to visit with her. She has such a sweet and gentle spirit just like my Gram, and it was like having Gram back for a few days. :) She loved my Eli, and was so happy to have the chance to meet him.

I decided that we could have a four generations picture taken! Who said the people had to be a direct lineage? Right? So here are Eli and I with my Mom's sister, and my Gram's sister.

Too Cool! I can't wait to scrapbook it!!!!!!!!

First Night in his Crib!

Well, Eli finally grew out of his play yard that he has been sleeping in for 2 years.

While I was out of town, Lonnie tore the crib down in Eli's room, and set it up in our room.

Tonight is is first night in his crib. It's weird, but it's almost sad, cause he's just getting so big!

He's NOT a baby anymore. I know this seems contradictory, because he should have been in his crib for the last two years, and be going into a toddler bed now, but this is just how it worked out for us...another in a long line of differences for us as parents.

I finally get to enjoy the nursery bedding I picked out...but it is way too baby-ish for him now!

Oh, well...he doesn't care...yet! :)

Bed Hog

The hot weather really makes Eli sleepy in the afternoons. Today was his second marathon nap.

:) I've been tired, too...so it's really worked out well for me, because I get to snooze with him.

When he woke up today, he was in such a good mood! Still a little groggy, and just mellow.

I just "HAD" to take a picture of him (and Peanut).

He is such a tall boy, and it really shows in this picture.

But, take a look at my little "ooma loompa" when he was about 6 months old....

What a little doll!

The Skunk Escapade

Well, the other night Max (one of our dogs) found a nasty skunk carcass down by the barn and decided to bring it up to the house. Gee, thanks!
We didn't know what to do with it...but all I knew was, dead or alive....he still stunk! Bad!
It was Sunday morning when we were blessed with this little present from Max, so I thought, "No problem, we'll just put it with the trash on Tuesday." Well, did you know that a dead skunk smell can go from bad to worse, when baking in 100 degree weather?
Oh, yeah! Hello!

It was so nasty! It stunk up the whole neighborhood. Lon finally took Pepe Le Pew for a ride in the back of his truck...and low and behold - he flew out while driving down a country road! Oops!

So, needless to say, we were happy to have it gone so we could open up our windows that night to try and cool the house down. Ugh!

4th of July

We've had an interesting week here at the Berkheimer 'cat farm'.

Lon got a sinus infection last weekend...and has been nursing it all week.
It's the hottest weather we've had yet this year, and he can't handle the air conditioning!

Ugh! Eli and I hang out in the living room and he's in the bedroom with the door closed.
Eli and I do OK as long as we stay cool :)

Our 4th of July was uneventful. I remembered we had three big sparklers from about 5 years ago when Fireworks were still legal...and so I dug those out and lit them after dark.

It was kinda fun.

Lon and I sat on the front porch with about 8 cats around us! They were intrigued by the sparklers! I sure miss the days of buying fireworks at a stand, and having a light show at home on the4th! Why do people have to be so stupid and irresponsible? Why do laws have to be made to take rights away from us intelligent folks? Why, Why, Why, I ask you!! It really bugs me.....but, I'll step off my soap box now :)