Eli's second birthday, and other updates

On the train at the zoo

Riding down the big slide at the carnival with Pappy

Eli and Daddy watching the parade

From here down are from his birthday party

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Well, every time I post, I say I'm going to update this thing more regularly, and every time, I go several months before the next update. Eli is now 2 years old. He turned two on the 11th and we had his birthday party on the 20th. It was a fire truck party as he is obsessed with firetrucks! We were even able to get the local volunteer fire department to drive a fire truck down to his party!

He hasn't been to his 2-year-old well-baby checkup yet, so I'm not sure of his weight and height, but it seems like he's been getting a little taller and looking more like a little boy and less like a chubby baby these days. He's quite the picky eater, but some of the things he likes right now are pizza, hot dogs, FRIES, GRAPES, cereal, toast, and ice cream. But who wouldn't like those things? Other than fire trucks, he likes any kind of vehicle--helicopters, trains, boats, school buses, motorcycles.... He loves books too. I'll often go to check on him to find him sitting in our recliner with a huge pile of books on his lap. He enjoys looking at them himself, but prefers to be read to. He will let you read to him for hours.

Some of the other things he loves: His cousin "Baby Toey" (Chloe), dogs, his Aunts, Uncle, and grandparents, Oscar the cat. The moon-he is always looking for the moon at night. He'll ask me, "Mommy, the moon at?" And I'll say, "I don't know Eli, where is it?" He'll usually either say "up in sky" or "hidin' tees," which means "hiding behind the trees." He's been doing very well at communicating and puts together simple sentences on his own. The other day I was surprised by the way he answered me when I asked who made a mess: Daddy did. Not just "Daddy," but "Daddy did." He also said something in the past tense not long ago: I saw it. The little guy's clever!

He's been starting to sing a little bit. He won't sing if asked, but I'll often hear him when he thinks no one is listening sing "bitsy bitsy spider" or "twinkle twinkle hittle star." Sometimes when I'm singing him to sleep at night, he'll sing the next line to me if I pause.

The terrible twos are here, but for the most part, Eli is a very well-behaved kid. The only time he really misbehaves is when he is tired. And then he really likes to throw around the words "no" and "mine." Boy, do I hate "mine!" Speaking of tired, the sleeping schedule is just as crazy as it's always been. Most days, I can't get him to go down for a nap, so he falls asleep around 7 or 8 and then gets up at 9 or 10 and won't go back to bed until after midnight. Then of course he sleeps in the next day. It's something we've been trying to work on for a long time, but any time we seem to make progress, things somehow manage to go back to this schedule. I was hoping to have him on a more normal schedule by the time his baby sister gets here, but it's not looking like it's going to happen; she is due in less than 7 weeks. If this were my pregnancy with Eli, he would be a month old already. It's really hard to believe!

a List.

I've been meaning to do this for a while. This is a list of all of the things Eli says now, at 21 1/2 months. If his pronunciation differs from the real way to say something, I am going to put it in parentheses. I don't want to ever forget the way he talks now!

Mommy
Daddy
babe, which he sometimes impatiently calls Daddy!
honey, which he often calls Mommy
dog/doggie
kitty
duck/ducky
fishies (sishies)
cows (tows)
Brutus (brutus or bru-ass)
Zeke (heke)
hay
frog/froggy (srog)
baby, and also baby cows, baby ducks etc
truck (tuck)
firetruck (siretuck)
sleep (feep)
Peek! I see you!
up
down
please (peez)
thank you (day cue, day coo)
you're welcome (alcommm)
drink (dink, deek)
bite
eat
cereal (seer-ull)
fries (sies)
candy (tanny)
M&Ms (Ems)
cookie (tookie)
chip/chippy (pitchy)
apple
Bri (B)
Mic (Bic)
Pappy
Grammy (Bammy), also calls her by name, Jody
Sierra (Si)
Baby Chloe (Baby Toey)
Brandon (Bandon)
Uncle Jeremy (Uncle, although he often gets confused and calls him Brandon)
Terry (Tury)
Susan
Oscar (okker)
Todd
Hunter
Parker
house, and also So-and-so's house ie. Si's house
ball
block
book, sometimes bookie
phone (sone)
box
bye/bye-byes (byes)
night (hight)
nice (hice)
outside (side)
walk (hawk)
no
eyes
ears
ice
milk (hook or ilk)
juice
stars (sars)
again
all done
sorry (sawwy)
bath (bas)
empty

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there are at least a few more. If I think of them later, I'll edit this!

Yet again, I've succeeded in neglecting this blog! I've recently started to get involved in the March for Babies, as well as some online message boards supporting women who also had pProm (preterm premature rupture of membranes), and it made me realize that it's time for an update!

Eli is now 21 months old. It's hard to believe that he'll be two in 2 1/2 months. I'm so proud of him, and I love to tell his story to those struggling with pProm. Eli started taking steps back in October. He was about 16 months. He now runs and walks well, and loves to push the stroller instead of riding in it.

Speaking of pushing a stroller, Eli will be getting a little sister! I'm 19 weeks pregnant now, due 8/13. Actually, today I'm 19 weeks 3 days, and that's exactly 4 weeks farther along than I was when my water broke with Eli. My new OB and her team are amazing! They tested my cervix at 9 weeks for a bacteria that has been associated with pProm. I tested positive for it, and received antibiotics to kill it. They retested me last week, to make sure it was gone and ease my paranoia a bit, but I don't have the results yet. There is another new baby around, too. Two actually! My best friend had a baby boy, Braxton David on March 9, and Seth's sister had a baby girl, Chloe RaeLynn on March 13. Chloe was also premature--4 weeks--but thanks to God, had no complications! Eli seems to like her, but doesn't really know what to think just yet. He calls her "baby Toey."

Back to Eli! He says so many words! I'm going to estimate that he says somewhere near 75 words (this includes people's names) that he uses well, without prompting, or with little prompting (like for thank you, I usually have to say "what do you say?"). There are other things that he will repeat, but doesn't use frequently. His newest language improvement is 2-word phrases/compound words. He most often uses this skill to show posession, i.e. Brandon's truck, Daddy's drink, Mommy's phone. He also says big truck, firetruck, Peek! I see you!, thank you, baby cows, and baby duckies, but no "baby sister!"

His favorite things right now are rubber ducks, dogs, cows, and fire trucks. He has loved dogs and duckies for quite some time. He often sleeps with several rubber ducks, and carries them around all the time. He also has some of those zhu zhu pets (hamsters) that are popular right now, and loves them. He got two for Christmas and we named them Rosey and Hammy. He called them by name and took good care of them. When we got two knew ones, they also became Rosey and Hammy, so now there are two Roseys and two Hammys. He is absolutely obsessed with cows! He takes about cows morning, noon, and night. My Mom and her husband have a dozen or so cows that Eli loves to feed when he visits. We feed them produce when it starts to go bad, as well as leftovers and kitchen scraps (as long as it's not meat or onions!). Eli then goes and tells people "Cows, eat, apples, Brutus, hay." He also loves to visit the new babies, aka "baby tows."

At Eli's 18-month visit, which was actually just last week due to weather and other scheduling issues, he was on the charts for size. He weighed 23.4 lbs, which was down a little from the last visit, but he had also just gotten over being sick. That put in him between the 20th and 25th percentile for his weight. He is only 31 inches tall, which puts him at the bottom of the chart, but Seth was always short for his age as a young kids, and is now 6-feet, so I'm not worried by that.

Here are some pictures that have been taken since the last update. I don't have many recent ones on the computer, though.

Daddy (Seth) with Eli, meeting his cousin Chloe for the first time.

Playing in the tub, about 19 months

New toy box for Christmas, hand-made by Uncle Todd, with help from Pappy Edgell

Daddy, Mommy, and Eli on Christmas Eve

After his first haircut. We distracted him with ice cream :)

Recovering from the surgery for hypospadias repair.

Holding his stats at his 1-year corrected-age developmental checkup at Children's Hospital back in September

Playing on the front porch last fall, when he was beginning to become very mobile

Not so happy to be having a photoshoot in the leaves.

Halloween 2009-biker boy!

Duh!

Eli totally understands the meaning of the word "dog" now. Up until this week, I would prompt him: "Do you see the dog? Say dog!" Now, we go for a walk and every time we pass a dog, he says "dog," which really sounds more like "duh!" The other day, we were even inside the house and could hear a dog barking and he said it! I was so proud of my smart baby!

He has been repeating a lot lately. Every time I hang up the phone, he says "bye," or "bah!" Pretty much anything that starts with a 'b' is "buh!" There are some slight variations in the tone or the sound of the vowel. Ball and block are both "buh!" Bath sounds normal, but without the 'th,' and buck (as in, the deer his Pappy has mounted in the den) is also "buh!"

Oh, and rubber duck? It sounds pretty much like dog :)

I was playing around with my new camera and got this. I love it!

Corrected Age Birthday Party

The cake was supposed to be made to look like blocks,
but I ran out of time and didn't get to add the detailing

He was much more interested in cake this time around

He was trying to get on the 4-wheeler before it was even unwrapped!

On Thursday the 27th, our little man turned a year old corrected age, meaning had he been born on his due date, this is when he would have turned one. It also means that he is developmentally like a 12-month old. We had cake to celebrate this birthday, as well as the anniversary of him being home for a year. He came home from the hospital on August 22nd, 2008 after 10 weeks of being in the NICU. It's hard to believe he's been home for so long, and such a blessing to be celebrating his corrected age birthday!

The party turned out really nice. All of his grandparents came, plus his Auntie Bri, Uncle Jeremy, Crystal, and Gage. Everyone enjoyed watching Eli play as we reminisced about how far he has come. He got all of his current favorite things as gifts: blocks, cars, and balls. Mommy and Daddy got him a small ride-on 4-wheeler, which he just loves!

Mommy got a present on Thursday, too! Seth got me a new camera. My regular digital camera broke when Seth and Eli dropped it a few months ago, so I have been patiently waiting for the day that we could afford a new one. Seth is supposed to be getting a profit-sharing check from work, so I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D40! All of the pictures from the party were taken on it, but I had just received it about 30 minutes before the party started and hadn't had time to practice. It's a DSLR, so it's going to take some playing around before I become a better photographer. I'm already improving though. More to come! :)

Home for a year!

Wow... it's been almost 4 months since I've updated this site. I've been super busy, and after it had been so long since I updated, I kind of gave up. For some reason, tonight I decided to get started again, so here is the rundown!

In May, Eli started to get a stuffy nose, and rather than rush into the ER like the crazy-first-time-Mom whose kid just has a cold, I decided to keep my eye on him. For days, he seemed fine--nothing but a stuffy nose. One night, though, he took a sudden turn for the worse. I took him to the ER when he spiked a fever and was breathing heavily, as if it was a struggle. His temperature was 104.8 and his oxygen saturation was only 73% when we arrived. Our local hospital determined that he had pneumonia and we traveled by ambulance to Columbus and Eli was once again admitted to Children's Hospital. It was a relief to feel that we were in good hands, and for a second time, the Ronald McDonald House became my home away from home.

Eli was stable within 24 hours, and he was feeling better after a few days. He ended up being treated for a viral infection and not pneumonia. He was put on oxygen and inhaled steroids. It took a while to get him weaned off his oxygen, so we were in Columbus for almost 2 weeks. In the mean-time......he began to try to crawl!

Once we were home, Eli was feeling as good as new. It seemed like it was just a few days before he was a pro crawler. After only 2 weeks of being home, however, poor Eli started to show some of the same symptoms he had been showing before I brought him to Children's. This time I was able to spot what was happening earlier, and I brought him to the ER before he got as bad. This time, we were admitted to our local hospital and only had to spend 5 days there.

Unfortunately, he was discharged the day before his big birthday party, so we decided it would be best for him if we cancelled it, which was a dissappointment to me but honestly somewhat of a relief. Who knew how much work it was to play a first birthday party?! Instead, we had a smaller get-together with some family at his grandparents house.

June and July were busy for Mommy and Daddy. Seth was in the hospital for a month, during which we only got to see him twice because he was 3 hours away. Now that he's home he's feeling better than ever, and it really shows. I put in my two-weeks notice at Walmart back in June when I got a job working at a nursing home. I was put through a 2-week course to become a Certified Nurse's Aide, and have since become state-tested. I worked full-time as an aide for the rest of the summer on the 6 a.m.-2 p.m. shift. It's a tough job, but all-in-all I like it, and I love having my evenings free to spend with my family. Today I started taking classes at a nearby community college. I plan to apply for the nursing program next fall to be an RN. It feels good to be back in school! Now that I'm a full-time student and Mommy, I'll be dropping down to 3-4 days per week at work.

My family reunion was at the end of July for a full week at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. Seth, Eli and I went for the final weekend and Eli spent his first night in a tent. He loved it of course, because he loves being outside. When it rained the next night, Eli stayed in the cabin with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins while Mom and Dad got wet in the tent. All of the family loved visiting with Eli, and he adored the attention. I have some great pictures, but they are on my sister's camera, so maybe I'll post them later.

Eli had his 1-year well-child visit in July, but was sent home because he had a low-grade fever. Last week was his resheduled appointment and he weighed in at 21.6 pounds, a pound and a half heavier than he was at his July appointment. He is on the charts for both height and weight for his real age. He is just below the 25th percentile for weight, and at 29 inches, he's just below the 5th percentile for height. He also had his vaccinations for MMR, Hepatitis A, and chickenpox. He didn't like that too well, but he only cried for a minute. In September, he'll go for his developmental assessment at Children's Hospital. He'll be 13 months corrected age, so they will make sure he is on track for that.

Today, Eli is 14 1/2 months old. This past Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of his homecoming, and in 3 days, he'll be 12 months corrected. We plan to have a cake to celebrate, so hopefully I'll update again after that. He is walking around furniture, but has yet to take his first steps. He sometimes lets go of whatever he's using to balance, and had stood alone for maybe 10 seconds. It won't be long. He has no trouble getting around, or getting into everything, though. He loves to climb. He loves the outside, and I swear sometimes he gets cabin fever. He will fuss and carry on, and the only words of comfort are "do you want to go outside?" or "wanna go for a walk?" His favorite toys are blocks, balls and cars. He drives his cars around and says "brmmmmmmmm." He also likes to ride (we push him, he can't reach the pedals!) on his Harley Davidson trike he got for his birthday. He says a handful of words, including Mama, Dada, PapPap, ball, truck, stuck, dog, and uh-oh. He's finally getting some hair. It seemed to be growing quickly for a while, but now it's just kind of stuck. It's still very blond, and in the sun it looks white. He has six teeth now, and he eats pretty much anything. He's not very picky. I still don't allow him nuts, too much sweets or "junk," or drinks other than milk, water or the occasional juice. He's a big fan of food! His favorite thing is definitely popcorn! He drinks from a sippy cup most of the time, but can drink from a straw, a water bottle, and still has a bottle of 2% milk before bed, but I'm trying to get away from that.

Oh yeah, he can play cards, too. Here's a video fI took tonight on my phone.




Here is a link to the slideshow I made him for his first birthday: Small-fry turns one. It turned out really nice, so check it out!

And here are some random pictures:

Peek-a-boo!