One Year Gone

Twila Anita Knight - age 4


Feb. 06, last pic before diagnosis of lung cancer

Yesterday, Aug. 27th was the one year anniversary of my Mom's death.
I did particularly well. I was more sad on Sunday morning, as she died on a Sunday. I know she is in a better place. Her life was hard and miserable most of the time. She made many bad choices that she regretted until the very end. She didn't see how God could forgive her "on her deathbed". She felt she wasn't deserving. I tried to explain to her that it's never too late to accept Christ as your personal savior. The benefit is: the sooner we do it, the more we get to enjoy the benefits of His love while we are on Earth!

Look around. See the beauty in his creation. Recognize the daily blessings that come your way. The green light when you're in a hurry. The bird flying by your window putting on a show. A new checkstand opening just as you walk by looking for one. Your loved one calling just to say, "Hi". Finding the best sweater ever on the clearance table. They are everywhere!

GOD is so good! He can help you make it through the most painful seasons of your life, if you just let Him. He's always there, waiting for you. If you don't know what to say, just say, "Help me". He will.

I am so thankful for the awesome family and wonderful friends He has brought into my life. The love and support is what has helped me get through this last two years.
I love you all dearly. Thank you for being a part of my journey.
Aim

Eli and Sam

We put Eli's new seat in his wagon, and he loves going outside for rides. Here he is saying "Hi" to one of his furry brothers: Sam.

VeggieTales Birthday Cake

Happy 2nd Birthday, Eli!

How cute is this cake?
VeggieTales featuring: Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.
We had it delivered today. White cake with raspberry filling. Yumm-O!

Eli got a Train Set!

This is the cutest little train set! Eli had so much fun with it in therapy yesterday.
When you press the conductor the whistle blows and you hear a train sound as it goes around the track. There is a Monkey and an Elephant riding in the traincar, and each makes the appropriate sound when you push them.
Eli liked to grab the train and derail it. Typical boy, huh? He like to grab the conducter out of his seat, too. It was great!
See his hand on the little monkey?

Here is Karla - his PT - working on his trunk control so he can "sit and play".

Eli's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had a great turnout for Eli's party. Thank you to everyone who came!!
The potluck food was fabuluous.

We had a little mishap with the cake. It was all MY fault! I ordered the cake a long time ago, to beat the summer wedding rush with the cake lady. I had planned to have his party on the 25th...and then needed to change the date to accomodate another family party. Oops! I forgot to call the cake lady and change it. So, she is going to do a smaller version of the VeggieTales cake and deliver it on Thursday - Eli's actual birth day.

I'm glad I made cupcakes - for pictures sake, anyway. Only two people at them.

But there was ice cream...and that made the kids happy!

Here is the Bob the Tomato pinata that I made. The kids had a blast ripping into him and getting the bounty of goodies: Teddy Grahams, Fish Crackers, Fig Newtons, Cars Gummy Snacks, Fruit Rolls, Kisses, and mini candy bars. The kids ranged in age from 1 to 14, so I had to be creative with the pinata stuffers. The adults loved the Fig Newtons! haha

The weather was perfect...PTL it didn't rain...He saved it for Sunday instead!

Eli's New Seat - The Special Tomato

Here is my happy boy sitting in a seat! Yahoo!

His therapist brought it on Tuesday for us to try

out for a few days. He loves it! It has wheels so I

can take him around the house with me while I do

stuff. It's great! This will give him so much more

input...about life in general. He has no idea what I'm

doing most of the time. Now he can be a part of things.

We have to return this to the therapy center and wait

for ours to get approved by insurance, ordered, and delivered.

So...unfortunately, we can't make much of a routine out of it

just yet. For now, I'm making it fun. Just hanging out.

Eventually, though, we hope to be able to put him in it

to feed him. Like a big boy! :)

Eli is doing well. Thanks for all your prayers, emails, and phone calls!

The next step is to go to Seattle and have a Ph probe test done.

We are waiting to hear back from Children's Hospital when they can get us in.

Their GI Dept. is busy, and booked out for a long time. We hope to get an appt.

as soon as possible. He will spend the night in the hospital and they will but a "string"

down his throat into his stomach and it will measure the acidity in his stomach. It will also, tell us how often he is refluxing and how high it goes in his esophogus.

If it is really bad, we will have to make the decision of whether to put him through a Nissen surgery to help him. Yikes.

Don't forget about the Berkheimer Bash this weekend!

Saturday, August 18th - 4:00 pm - our house

Potluck

Dessert and Drinks will be provided

Eli's ER Visit

August 10, 2007

As most of you know, Eli gave us a scare Friday Morning! At about 9 am he woke up from a nap, and started coughing a croupy cough and spit up some thick secretions....and went into respiratory distress. I called 911 and we took an ambulance ride to the ER. He spent the night in ICU, and then Saturday afternoon in the Pediatric Unit...to make sure he wasn't getting a virus. He didn't have a fever or any symptoms of illness, they believe this happened when he had some reflux come up and it was thick, and he aspirated, and it sent his esophogus into a spasm, and his airway constricted. Due to his Tracheal Malasia (sp?) it can happen quickly for him because his airway is already compromised.

It was the scariest experience we have had so far! It took them a half an hour to get him stabilized. I was terrified. God was with us, but he sure did make us learn a little patience that morning. They got an IV in his arm, but it didn't want to work...and they needed to get the drug in him to help him breath! I was starting to get a little worked up, and the Doctor threatened to make me leave "if I caused a problem." Yeah, Ok. Get the handcuffs, then...and drag me out!

Anyway, after that, I just held Eli's hand and leg, and hunkered down beside the bed (trying to get out of the way of all the arms reaching in to him) and prayed until he started breathing again. I never want to go through that again. Please, God, hear my prayers...and let my son be healthy.

This picture was taken after they got him stablized, of course!

I had my camera in my purse, and decided to document

the event in Eli's scrapbook. A couple people looked at me funny, the Dr. included, but one woman knew why. She said, "are you a scrapbooker?" :)

There were 12-15 people in the room working on him. A few had left, but it was an interesting site, when I walked out of the room, and looked back in. I just had to have pictures.

We came home Saturday evening, and Eli is doing well. He's a little congested, and needy.

He has bruises up and down each arm from where they poked him so many times to get IV's going...and then redness when all the tape gets pulled off. Poor baby!

He's on Prednisone for two days and it keeps him wired, so naps are hard.

Keep praying for us everyone. Thank you!

Montana and Doctor

Montana and Doctor - the little lovebirds.
They have a baby due in February 2008.
(She's my niece, he's from Ghana, West Africa)
They both attend Eastern Oregon University
in LaGrande. I thought my family might like to see
this picture. :)

Gift Ideas for Eli's Birthday

Ok. Now here's the deal. Eli doesn't need any presents for his birthday.
I am not having a party to solicit gifts. However, some of you are so stubborn,
that you won't take "No!" for an answer. So, here are some ideas...because I know
it can be a challenge thinking of things for him. Crayons won't work, unfortunately.

• Receiving blankets - cotton/flannel - We can't have enough of these!
• Onesies - size 24 months.
• Crib Sheets
• Boppy covers - Eli still uses his boppy several times a day while digesting his food.
• Music CD's. Fun kids songs.
• Anything that plays Elmo's voice.
• Pants - size 18 months. sweats or soft cotton. No jeans please.
• or just your presence at his party!!!!!!! :)

LOVE TO YOU ALL!
An embarrassed Mom.

Chipboard Alphas

Here are some chipboard letters I made.

They range in size from 2½ to 3½ inches high.

Chipboard is really popular in scrapbooking, and so I decided

to make my own embellishments. I adhere paper to chipboard,

trace letters I printed on my computer, and then cut them out and

decorate them. It's fun!

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! :)