Santa Pictures

Today was the Children's Village Christmas party, and Eli got his picture taken with Santa.
His favorite song right now, is "This Little Piggy Went to Market" by the Oinker Sisters from Sesame Street. So, I took his little CD player, and that CD...and got a couple little funny "smile" faces out of him.
I don't think Santa knew what to do with him...looks like he had a pretty tight grip! haha

Sixty Five

(Christmas 2001 - the "hide the double chin" pose)

Today, my Momma would have turned 65.
Happy Birthday! I love you.
Aim

Loving his Bronco!

Eli loves hanging out in his Bronco. He can watch his DVD player [upright], take rides around the house, join me in the kitchen, and he's even used his feet to push off a little! Yeah. That was the point...and he's doing it!

Bye Bye Wilson

Wilson - our foster dog got adopted today! Some nice people in Auburn came to get him this morning. I'll miss him, but I'm glad he's going to a home where he gets to be an inside dog and get lots of love and toys and treats! He was our best foster dog ever. What a cutie, too!

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

We were supposed to go to Seattle today for Eli's pre-op appointments, but when it started to snow yesterday afternoon, I called and cancelled. Good thing, because this is what we woke up to!



Lonnie took a different route to work this morning and saw that trucks and cars were all backed up on the freeway...so there must have been an accident, or the normal super bad weather on Manastash (the pass between Yakima & Ellensburg). The website showed Snoqualmie pass wasn't bad....just turns out the weather is on our side of the Cascades this time!

His appointments were rescheduled for January 11th. We'll see what the weather does then!

A Thanksgiving Table

My sister-in-law Diana set a beautiful table for Thanksgiving. The food was awesome, as always, and we had a very nice time visiting. :)


THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR:

1. Eli is healthy right now, and has been in such a great mood lately.
2. A loving husband who is trying very hard to ride my mood swings with me.
3. A roof over our heads...and the hunt for a new one! :)
4. My dear family. I am so blessed!
5. Incredible friends!
6. My new Cricut machine (for Scrapbooking).
7. DSL Internet! Why didn't we get rid of dial-up a loooong time ago?
8. Cold weather - so I don't feel so guilty for keeping my fleece PJ's on all day.
9. Enough money to write out Christmas cards every year.
10. The good nights of sleep Eli has let me get this month!

God bless everyone as we enter this wonderful CHRISTmas season...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's wishing you all a wonderful and VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

May the fond memories you make with your loved ones live on in your hearts forever. We only get one lifetime...make the best of it! :)

I hope you took lots of pictures!

The Freaky Cat People

IT'S FEEDING TIME....AND THEY'RE HUNGRY!!!!


Pictured: Scruffy, Otie, Monkey, Lily, Maizy, Tigger, & Shasta.

It Snowed!

November 18th and we have snow.
YUCK!
It's very wet so it should melt quick and easy...I hope.
Lon's excited..he looks forward to snowboarding...and driving up in the snow.
Whatever. I'm locked down for winter. Hibernation has begun. HAHA!

Maybe today will be a good day for shopping for my Thanksgiving groceries? Some people might stay home because "of the roads". Hmmm...

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone! Can you believe Thanksgiving is a week away? Holy Cow! Where did the year go? That means it's less than six weeks until Christmas!

We are staying in Yakima this year, and having dinner with Lonnie's family. I am taking a garden salad for Lon, and two hot veggie dishes. I looked up some recipes in my "Cooking for the Seasons" cookbook and came up with Broccoli Meringue and Pink-Sauced Beets.
Yum! (My friend Tammy is probably gagging up her breakfast right now! haha)

I will post the recipes later, in case they sound good to anyone!?

My mother in law, Opal, makes THE BEST sweet yams you've ever tasted. They are from scratch, and have tons of butter, brown sugar, and marshmallows! Mmmmm...I can't wait!

Amelia Sketches Eli: [first pose]

My niece Amelia is an Artist. I love her work! While she was here visiting recently, she decided to do some sketches...and Eli got to be the subject :)
Here is a photo of what she was looking at, and then her sketch. It took her about 10 minutes.


This sketch has a copyright on it.
Please do not copy or save.

Amelia Sketches Eli: [second pose]

Here is the second sketch Amelia did of Eli.

This sketch has a copyright on it. Please do not copy or save.

Trick Or Treat!

In his pockets are: a duck, a pig, & a cow. At his feet are: a horse & a sheep.

I took Farmer Eli (aka "Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Eli-Eli-Oh")

trick or treating at his Nana's house, and then we went to our church for their Fall Carnival.

He started crying at Nana's and then screamed the whole time we were at the church!

I think he was overstimulated with all the kids, and people, and noise and different lights.

As soon as we got outside, he was fine! He fell right to sleep when we got home and I fed him dinner. I sure hope he gets a good night's sleep...to make up for the energy he exerted tonight!

The hat and bandana didn't last long! The bandana got soaked from his drool, and the hat was just plain annoying! He was soooo cute, though!

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!


It ain't Halloween without carved pumpkins and
"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" on TV!


I carved two pumpkins. This is the only one I'm willing to show you. The other is without a doubt, the worst pumpkin I've ever carved. I was trying to be creative, but I think my muse is on vacation...'cause it's awful! Really! Awful.


I know! I know! Someday Eli will ask me, "What the heck were you thinking, Mom? Those pajamas are so silly."
And I will say, "They were cute. I loved the black cats with the pumpkins. And they were 50% off!" That is my story, and I'm sticking to it. :) I'm just a nerd at heart.

Toothy Grin

I'm sorry I've been too busy to post lately.

Will update you later regarding Eli's surgery.

New Email Address

Effective Tuesday, October 23rd, we are finally getting DSL internet.
Our new email address will be:
3berks@fairpoint.net

Another night in ICU

Friday night at 8:25 pm, Eli woke up in respiratory distress. We were prepared with some new tools this time, and things went a lot smoother than the August event! First, I wouldn't let them put a mask on him for oxygen. I made them just give me the tube and I held it in front of his face. Second, I made them give him an "Epi" shot while in the ambulance, and that saved him from getting so bad off before we could get to the hospital. They also give him an albuterol nebulizer treatment. When we were about 5 minutes from the hospital, I he coughed up a "mucus plug" and then he was doing much better. By the time we got to the hospital, it wasn't such a traumatic experience. There was only about 3-5 people in the room, instead of 20!

He started sounding bad again, and hacked up some more gunk. They gave him more breathing treatments, a mucus thinning nebulizer drug, and used an ugly vibrating mallot looking thing on his back to try and loosen up the junk in his lungs.

We finally got up to a room in ICU at around 11:30 pm. Eli gets so wired from all the Epi treatments, that his mind is tired, and he tries so hard...but his heart was just keeping his body from relaxing. So, we had to stand over him with hands on him, trying to keep in asleep. Finally, at 3:30 am he went #2, and after that diaper change...he went to sleep! But only until 5:30 am! Ugh.

He did great in the hospital that day, and was moved to a room in the Pediatric Unit at about 11:00 am. We hung out in there "under observation" through the afternoon. Dr. Bartlett wanted keep us another night, just to see if Eli was getting sick (with a cold, because he was really snot nosed), but I asked to go home. We have home suction, so I can keep his nose clear. Plus, we have a nebulizer, so I can give him breathing treatments. I knew we would all sleep better at home, and that would mean healing quicker!

I get a sore throat everytime we spend the night in the hospital! Germs are everywere! Especially in the ventilation systems, I tell ya! So, I am going to try some Airborne next time! It will go in my hospital bag that I keep packed and in the van.

Eli is doing much better. They thought he might be getting the cold "that is going around". (when isn't something going around?) But his snotty nose was better today, and he was in a fairly good mood considering.

I know many of you are wondering what ever happened with the pH probe results. Well, he has "excessive reflux". But it has taken all this time for Dr. Harthcock (Eli's pediatrician) and the surgeon at Children's Hospital (Dr. Gow) to talk and discuss options. We will meet with Dr. H this week, to decide what to do. Most likely will be getting the Nissen Fundoplication surgery, just not sure when. Will update the blog when I know.

Happy Birthday, Shiela!

Happy Birthday to my sister Shiela!

I love you!

Theives Among Us

The cat food hasn't been lasting through the night lately...and we had our suspicions as to who might be the culprit! Well, Friday night Lonnie walks out the back door to find THE THEIF!

Skunks are soooo cute. It's too bad they are sooooo stinky!

pH probe, a private room! and giraffes.

The doggy was a gift from the admitting staff. The frog was a gift from the nurse who put the pH probe in. Nice gestures, huh?!

Eli did so great at the hospital! When they put the probe up his nose and into his esophogus, he coughed and sneezed a little...then when I fed him...he had a couple little sneezing fits...and then he was settled and was so happy while we were there. He was content with his movies and music. Relaxed in my arms when I fed him. Took his naps. Slept through the night!
Hello! What's up with that? He's been sooooooooo fussy at home for a long time now...and the car trip over was not fun for him, but then the hospital environment makes him a happy kid?

Hmm. We are really pondering this one. First on the list, is we are going to rearrange his little "world" he lives in. His mat, TV, toys, etc. Maybe that is a major bore to him?
The drive home was not fun either, but we made it.

We stopped in North Bend at bought a few pairs of pajamas for winter, and got back on the road again. Did I ever tell you I LOVE CARTER's at the outlet mall? Gosh they have the cutest stuff, and it's all so soft and comfy for Eli. I just love going there. They always have what I need for him. He gets too hot in those fleece sleepers, and so far each Fall they have footie/zippered PJ's that are just a thin cotton. Perfect for my boy! :)

We couldn't believe it. A ROOM OF OUR OWN! Hallelujah! The room we were to have was a shared room, but wasn't ready when we checked in (we were a little early) so they let us have the private room! It was fabulous. Our best night in the hospital ever.
The cafeteria at Children's is awesome. It is not your average hospital food. It's more like a buffet restaurant. So, the whole experience was good. I met a gal in the cafeteria who was pushing her little girl in a stroller like Eli's, so I stopped to talk to her. We discussed the faults of the stroller, and our kids issues, and exchanged emails. You just never know who you are going to meet there!

Finally, we were staying in the Giraffe wing of the hospital. Lonnie also ended up in room 103 at Ronald McDonald House, which is the room we stayed in when Eli was there after birth. It had pictures of Giraffes on the walls...so I took pictures of them this time. I also bought Eli a cute stuffed Giraffe at the gift shop. (Hey, it's a tradition I started. Everytime he spends the night in the hospital I buy him a little gift) I still have a puppet I was given at age three when I was in the hospital after my appendix burst and I had it removed. These kinds of things are special to me.

So, we find out results from the pH probe later this week. Will post info when we know something...