There's A New Sheriff In Town

A couple of my friends on Facebook  talked about making popcorn balls today...so I thought, "Hey, that would be fun!"  So I parked Eli in the kitchen with me....and cooked up a batch.

WHAT A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!

That stuff is HOT.  You should see the blister on my finger where I got burned!  Ouch!

I'm glad I didn't have little fingers wanting to help me out...because I'd hate for him to get hurt.  And to top it all off....I about pulled a filling out trying to eat one of the dang things....and it didn't really taste that great!

What a bummer.

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Moving on.

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My darling hubby was kind enough to wear this fabulous costume my friend Erin found for me at Goodwill.  He looked awesome......

....but his horse was having some issues!

So, off came the horse costume and we just had three cowboys!

Aahhh - much better...

Thanks Lon for being such a good sport!!!

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We ended the day by carving a pumpkin.

(Eli was so tired, but I was trying to keep him up until 7:00 pm, in hopes that he'll sleep in until at least 5:00 am tomorrow....which will then be 4:00 am with the time change!!! UGH!

 - - - UPDATE:  Eli slept in until 6:10 (old time) today.  It felt wonderful! - - -

He really enjoyed playing with the guts!

Excuse my deer in the headlights look - but I just loved Eli's mouth in this picture:

And cue the bedtime music....Eli's ready for bed....

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!!!

Eli's Elusive Laugh - VIDEO

I FINALLY GOT IT ON VIDEO!!!!!

It's my absolute favorite sound in the whole wide world!

(The ocean has been moved to second place.)

Reflux Revisited

Eli is struggling with reflux, again.  Well, he always has....but...

Last year in November 2008 started a four month journey through h#!! with him being so sick we ended up driving 2 1/2 hours to the ER at Seattle Children's Hospital to try and get it figured out.

Finally, in March of 2009 we got him on a new formula, new feeding plan, and started giving him Ativan to help his body stay calm.

We had the best Spring and Summer ever!  But all good things come to an end I guess. :(

Then the reflux showed back up again about 2 weeks ago.  His body starts arching, and twisting and contorting into shapes that aren't normal for him or anyone for that matter!  He can't relax to go to sleep, and it's awful to watch.

We are working with our doctors to try and figure out what to do next.  Looks like we might be changing to a G-J Feeding tube.

It's emotional exhausting to see him in so much pain.  It's mentally exhausting to try and figure out what we need to know to make good decisions for him.  It's physically exhausting because he is hard to hold.

I just don't have a lot of energy right now....and blogging has taken a back burner.  I'll be back as soon as I feel up to it again!  Thanks for stopping by :)

The Coat Arrived....And It's Going Back!

Well, you guys know I love Giraffes...but as my friend Nicole said, "that's not a color in the crayon box."

ORANGE is our favorite color around here!  So, of course I chose a coat with orange in it!  Here it is:

Unfortunately, the 3T is HUGE!!!!!  So, we'll be sending it back.  It's probably a good thing because we've pulled Eli out of pre-school while the swine flu runs it's course....so he doesn't really need a coat now anyway.  Next year!

Anyway - the winners of my contest, for guessing the correct color, ORANGE, are:
My dear local friend from MOPS:  Nicole!  
And because my sister and I are so generous....we are giving a pair to the only other person who guessed right, my dear bloggy friend:  Katy, from Bird on the Street.

So, Girls - tell me YOUR favorite color and email me your address at:  3berks (at) fairpoint(dot) net and you'll get a fabulous pair of homemade earrings from my sister Shiela at From Shi's Garden.

Thanks for playing along!!!

Dressing Up

Halloween is around the corner!

Oh, how I loved Halloween as a kid. FREE CANDY! I was never too proud to beg! I loved Trick-Or-Treating. I lived in an apartment complex, so me and my neighbor friends would get together and hit all the apartments....then start down the road knocking on houses. I grew up in a VERY SMALL town in Eastern Oregon and it was still safe in the early 80's! Sometimes, if it was really cold, we'd pile in a couple cars and our moms would drive us around to hit some of the "good" neighborhoods.

No. Not the rich one's.

The "good" one's! The middle income people who spend a day's wages on chocolate bars to hand out to begging goblins! :) You KNOW what I mean, right? People in the rich neighborhoods gave out Dum-Dum suckers. Yuck! Why do they even make those things!?

Eli hasn't had a great experience with Halloween yet. Someday he'll party like the Great Pumpking gang!

His First Halloween he was 2 months old. I took him to visit my former co-workers and to show him off in his pumpkin pajamas:

His Second Halloween, I donned his Giraffe costume (gift from a friend) and we went to lunch at Olive Garden with my two friends and their kids....Elmo and a Kitty Cat.

His Third Halloween, I dressed him up like "Old MacDonald" ... who had a farm...and as we say around here .... "E-li, E-li, Oh!" I took him to our church party and he screamed for about 20 minutes. Guess he was over-stimulated. We left his friends Cookie Monster and Puppy behind to play in the jumpers....and we went home.

Last year, Eli's Fourth Halloween, he had Swim Therapy that day. So, we dressed him up in his Pirate costume and I got to show him around the Therapy Center. He wore his costume for about 30 minutes. That's why I won't pay more than about $5 for a costume!

This year was supposed to be his big "halloween experience" year! Carnival party at the Civic Center in our small town. A night out amongst his peers. Maybe we'd see kids from his preschool. He'd get to watch all the kids run around and play. I was excited.

Then a stupid Oinking Flu had to hit our world! Grrrrr!!!!

But thanks to some of my awesome friends, I have a fabulous costume planned for Eli and his Dad - but you'll have to stay tuned to find out what they might be! Only two more weeks to go!

Do You Think We Could Market This?

Doesn't EVERY dog need their very own

PLANTER as a PILLOW!!!???

Catching Up...and a Give-away!

Lonnie took Eli out to the car for preschool last Tuesday...he looked like such a big boy with his hoody on.

This is the first year we've used a jacket for him! He's always been such a hot kid, he's never needed one in his carseat! Preschool and recess have made it a new necessity.

So, I got to order him a really cute coat, hat and gloves on Old Navy.com. 

I can't wait to share them with you! 

Guess what color they have in them? 

Leave a comment with your guess, and IF you guess correctly - you'll be entered into a drawing for a beautiful pair of earrings made by my sister Shi. 

Check out her website, she sells earrings and Tamari's to raise money for Sabu Help.  My niece's husband started it to help his village back in Ghana West Africa.  It's a wonderful project I've been very happy to be supportive of!  I hope you take a look, too!

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I honestly can't remember if I've shown you guys Eli's new carseat cover!  Giraffe 'skin' :)

Anyway, here it is:

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Bought Eli a real towel for bath time.  Had to take pictures!

Why does the blurry picture always have to  be one of the best one's?

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It feels like Winter is setting in.  I guess we don't get Autumn this year!?

Buddy melted his way into my heart...he slept in the house last night!  He likes to lay by Eli :)  He gets as close to Eli's mat as he can without being ON it!  Good dog!

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I haven't posted about my great nephews in a while.  Here is my new favorite picture of my nephew Adam and his son Asher, age 4 months:

I haven't met him yet, but don't you just want to eat him up?

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And here is my nephew Matthew's son, Ashten, age 2:

He lives far away, and I don't even know if my nephew is still with his mommy.  Thank goodness for MySpace...I can go in once in a while and see how he's grown and steal a few pictures!  What a beauty - look at those blue eyes and toe head!  Just like his daddy!

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Next is by niece Montana's son, Anongba, age 1 1/2:

His Daddy is from Ghana West Africa, that I mentioned above!  I've only got to see him twice, and it's NOT enough!  I need some kisses from that baby!

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Here is Elisiah, age 10 and 3/4.  The 3/4's is important at that age right?  Or is that just a girl thing?  hee hee

I don't get to see him much either, but he is like an old soul.  You forget he's a kid when you talk to him!

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I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful family!  I just wish they didn't all live so far away!

Bathing - Leckey vs. Otter

Bathing has always been hard, but as Eli gets bigger and stronger it's getting worse.  He wants to roll over and drown himself, and I get a little freaked out at the idea!


We are now trying to decide if we should get a bath chair. I was thinking of the Otter Bath Seat - as it's less expensive, and seems to have enough straps to keep him safe:

But our DME supplier is recommending the Leckey Advance Bathing Seat:

I like the leg support....but it's over twice as much money.  And it seems bigger.

Of course, for last night's bath, I came up with a fabulous new way to prop his head up so it's out of the water, so even if he does get his face to the side it won't end up in water!  Now we might not need a chair for a while longer....we'll see how it goes for a few more baths.
 
We are thinking having this big chair to deal with in our bathtub might be a bit of a pain in the 'you know what'.
 
ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE?