Leaving on a jet plane...

Send out a little prayer for us as we head off to Santa Barbara. My brother is coming tomorrow like we are and the rest of my family is coming Thursday. I feel very sorry for the person sitting next to us on the first flight (maybe there will be empty seats and they can escape). Luckily the flight after that we're alone. Here is an example of Eli's "singing". If you ask him to sing this is what he does. In this video, he still has his rash, and if you're wondering what he's eating he was chowing down on some green crepes my mom had brought us for St. Pat's Day.

Eli dancing!

This is Eli's dance studio. It's our upstairs room that we're going to re-do this summer to be Eli's room in the future but for now it just has boxes for storage. He loves to go up there and see the gorilla mural and dance to some music from my keyboard. He actually has a new style of dancing now that is a little different from this video that I need to catch on film. Now he kind of does the "sprinkler" with one arm going from side to side and my brother's personal favorite when he wiggles his hips from side to side. We love to ask him to "swim" when he's in the bath tub. He starts kicking his legs really fast. You can tell he thinks he's an amazing swimmer. I'm curious to see if he will like the ocean or be scared of it!

Welcome back Spring...don't ever leave again!

Eli and I have had a wonderful day so far! After being stuck inside for days, Spring decided to show its face again so we were able to take a wonderful walk and play outside. Over a foot of snow and ice is pretty much gone already from the glorious sun. Maybe I'll actually come back from California after all :-) Eli loves playing with the big ball seeds off our sycamore tree. They are a wonderful natural toy. He'll play with them for hours outside or throw them around on the porch. We were playing in our driveway and he discovered the melting snow running out of the gutter. I was waiting and waiting for him to notice it because I knew he would be thrilled...and he was! He was overjoyed to play in the water and kept trying to lay down in it. He loved picking up the wet leaves and splashing in it. Finally he did kneel in it before I could stop him, so we had to head back inside muddy and I had to strip him at the door. Great fun! I'm afraid to see what toll this storm has taken on our plants, flowers, and trees. It caught everything by surprise. Brandon and I were spreading seed like crazy out for the birds during the storm and after. We have several pairs of nesting birds in or around our yard and house (one of our favorites a pair of doves we call Cello and Viola). Considering we couldn't even spot a single bird when we moved in, we are so happy! We have a couple feeders and feed the squirrels corn cobs, which actually does keep them out of the feeders for the most part. I just gave Rica a bath, and Eli was laughing his head off at Rica looking like a drowned rat. They really are buddies. It's pretty sweet. My cousin is going to stop by daily and take care of Rica while we're gone. Rica will be glad to get some attention for once ;-)

Snowed in!

We had a huge storm this weekend that dumped several inches of ice pellets and up to a foot of snow on top of that! We have been trapped inside since Friday. None of us slept on Friday night with ice pellets pounding the windows all night. Eli enjoyed watching all the action. Luckily, after the snow ended yesterday afternoon everything started melting. I'm hoping it will all melt soon. The roads are a mess. We took advantage of being stuck inside and played, cooked some delicious meals, cleaned house, and finished packing for our trip this Wednesday. We're sad because Eli has come down with a cold. I should of figured it was too good to be true that we were all healthy. We'll just make the best of it! Eli's favorite color is blue. He loves to say "blue" and is learning how to distinguish it from others. He's accurate most of the time. We're excited to get out of this winter wonderland and head to the beach!!

Why my husband ROCKS!

Tuesday afternoon I started feeling dizzy and exhausted. By the time Brandon came home I was laying on the floor with a pillow letting Eli wrestle thinking this was a fun game. Needless to say I just had severe exhaustion. Eli just doesn't sleep at night when he's teething. It's been two weeks since I've actually slept more than a two hour stretch. Wednesday I woke up with a horrible headache and was still exhausted. Brandon was awesome and offered to stay home so I could nap and rest and actually feel human again. It was a great day and I felt a lot better by the end of it. Yesterday Brandon babysat so I could go out with my friend and shop a little with some gift cards I still have from my birthday. We had a great time, and Brandon had fun with Eli. He took him to the mall play place. I laughed because Brandon made a total "woman" comment. He said that some lady asked how old Eli was, and when he said a year, she remarked at how small he is etc. The kicker is that Eli was playing with her daughter who was a year older and only like an inch taller. I laughed because that is so something that I would have mentioned to Brandon. Also, Brandon mentioned what a chick magnet having a baby was. He said he was practically fighting the women off ;-) ;-) Our family dog Clara died yesterday at 13. She has had cancer, so it wasn't unexpected, but we will all miss her smile and hugs. When my friend Courtney was over yesterday Eli was a total flirt. He did anything and everything to show off. He would fake laugh every time she laughed and was running from one end of the house to the other to show how fast he was. It was so hilarious. Even Brandon was surprised. We've never seen him turn on the charm as much as he did last night. I think he has a new girlfriend!

Bama and Donna

For some reason Eli has taken to saying Bama and Donna. Bama we think might be from saying Obama (but we hardly say that, just when talking about the news, so who knows). Donna started from Done, which he still uses often, but he made a variation. Donna is good because that happens to be Brandon's mom's name! In the car, he said "OH YEAH!" yesterday. Brandon was thrilled because he always jokes saying that.

Spot

Just call Eli spot. His rash came back on Sunday and is almost gone today. I called the doctor of course, and now they don't think it's Baby Measles and definitely not the vaccinations. It's either a virus, or a food allergy. I made sure to stop giving him anything with blueberries because that is the only new thing I've introduced before the rash. Since it's almost gone again today I am not worried, but it is frustrating to not know what it is. I waited all day yesterday for the CDs. Guess what time they arrived....8:00 P.M.! After Brandon and I put Eli to bed, we literally waiting on the porch we were so excited. Everything arrived okay and they look great to us! We won't be selling them until our CD release party, but it is a huge relief to have them here. We are just finishing setting up all the digital distribution and other details of the concert.

Eli is completely spot free. The rash went away in a couple days, and he didn't have any issues with it. He is getting his 6th tooth, so he's been up a lot at night and has his whiny moments during the day, but we're getting through it. When he's teething he has a lot of "toddler moments". Hitting is the main issue. He understands "no" and usually cries if we say "no hitting" or "we don't hit". He definitely is testing his limits more. Sometimes I do kind ignoring (one of the awesome techniques I read about). It's basically denying him attention for half a minute or so just like a mini time out. He hates it. It's literally like 20 second of not paying attention to him and just turning my back or whatnot, but he totally understands. We went and took Elijah's one year pictures yesterday and even got family picture taken. He hated it, but as soon as we started saying "boy" he smiled enough to get a couple good pictures. Brandon got a guitar amp that he's been really needing (he keeps having to borrow one from a friend). It's like his dream toy. All the guys were drooling over it last night. We had our band over for a pizza dinner and to work on a live acoustic version of our song Africa. Eli got to play with his friends Ethan and Lillie. It was cute to see them all play. The only issue I had to deal with was Eli trying to play with Lillie and Ethan's hair. He loves playing with my hair, and hasn't quite gotten the concept that he can't just play with any hair he wants to :-)

P.S.-TOMORROW THE CD'S ARE SHIPPED TO OUR HOUSE!!!! The UPS guy is my new best friend!

Baby Measles

So, we now know why Eli had a fever last weekend and was miserable. He has Baby Measles or Roseola. It had nothing to do with the vaccinations, thank God. It is a virus that is more common in the Spring that causes a really high fever for a day or two and then a bad rash (that doesn't itch or hurt) for up to a week. There is no vaccination for it yet. On Monday he had a couple little spots on him, but it just looked like he'd scratched his stomach. Yesterday, he had a few more so I called the doctor and they told me to keep an eye on it. Today, he's COVERED (only his arms and legs are rash free...even his throat has it)! We took him in this morning and they filled us in on all the details of Baby Measles. He was mostly contagious to other kids during the fever, so I'm so glad we never left the house. I'm definitely not taking him anywhere until the rash is completely gone (which could be up to 4 days more). He doesn't act like it bothers him at all. We got through the bad part of it last weekend. There's really no way to know where he got it because it can take 5-15 days to get it, so I can't really narrow it down to any certain place. I'm just glad we know what is going on!

Vaccinations

Many people are in fear of vaccinations recently and have altogether stopped vaccinating. Of course I'm always wary of everything and do tons of research before I decide anything when it comes to Eli. Brandon and I agreed together that the vaccinations are important to us. The risks from the vaccines are WAY lower than the risks of getting the illnesses. I know the MMR shot has gotten a bad rap recently in association with Autism, even though many scientific studies show there is no link. We decided to go ahead and have Eli get it, as well as the Chicken Pox vaccine. Here are the reasons why:

1. Our church is full of very natural/hippie/home birth type people who don't vaccinate their kids. Thus, Eli is very likely to catch diseases/illnesses from the kids at church or the toys in the nursery. Even the kids of our closest group of friends aren't vaccinated with the MMR. Also, people are constantly bringing their kids to the nursery sick (which pisses me off). Someone actually brought their kid to the nursery with Foot and Mouth disease. Point taken!
2. All the diseases that had been contained with vaccines are on the rise because people have stopped vaccinating. There was a death recently (a baby Eli's age) in the news from Measles or Mumps I can't remember which and it was spread to about 7 other unvaccinated kids before it was stopped. Once Eli enters preschool etc. he's going to be even more exposed to unvaccinated kids. Also, I am worried about him getting something and passing it on to me that could cause defects or death in our next baby during my pregnancy or even after while the baby is unvaccinated.
3. Although Thimerasol has been removed from the shots since 1999, Autism is still on the rise. A California study showed that autism increased after it was removed. Even though vaccinations are lower than ever and the MMR shot is being refused more and more, the autism rates are still rising. Less vaccines but more autism? It doesn't make sense. It it is mercury, like some claim...shots aren't the only things that have mercury. There is environmental mercury as well, such as the pollution from coal plants and other industrial sites. It's complicated.
4. Although there is less autism amongst the Amish people (who usually aren't vaccinated...but also grow their own food, drink unpasturized milk, less pollution, no preservatives etc.), there still are cases of autism in unvaccinated kids. Good luck finding the unidentified environmental trigger/factor because they know part of it is genetic, but they can't find the trigger. It's going to be near impossible because there are so many factors.
5. You may reason that we all had chicken pox, so what is the big deal. Well, if you can prevent chicken pox, then you can prevent Shingles. Ask anyone who has had Shingles. They would have done ANYTHING to have been vaccinated!

There are so many other reasons, but these are just a few!

Fever

So....I was so relieved last week when Eli had no reaction whatsoever to the vaccines he got. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the fact that she said the symptoms would begin 5-7 days after the shot. We definitely were greeted yesterday evening to a not so fun fever exactly 6 days after the shots. I gave Eli Tylenol and hoped for the best, but when I checked on him at midnight he had a temperature of 103...felt like he was burning up. I gave him Tylenol and rocked him until his temperature started to go down. Needless to say, between midnight and 5:30 Brandon and I got sleep stretches of about 20 minutes. It was horrible and Eli was miserable. He had a fever all day today, but it was only 102 at the highest. He was so red, flushed, and hot. Once in a while he would have chills and his balance was off. This morning he was so tired from not sleeping and felt so horrible that he would only lay in my arms with his head on my shoulder all morning (he wouldn't even go to Brandon, so my arms felt like they were going to fall off). We were worried...we've never ever seen him act this miserable. He was whining/crying the entire time he was awake until I finally got him down for three/four naps, and around 1:30 p.m. we had a turn around. Brandon and I slept every time he did...we were all exhausted. His fever finally broke around 3:00 today (almost exactly 24 hour after it started like the doctor said it would). I had used Tylenol every 4 hours since it started. What a relief. I can tell he's still worn out from the whole ordeal, but he's actually playing and not wanting to be held. We even went outside and enjoyed the beauty. Eli has taken a liking to our back deck, which we love because we can work on the garden. I am so glad this all occurred while Brandon was home and on a weekend we had nothing going on. Praise God! We feel like fever experts now...we're so used to his usual temperature that even when it's slightly off we immediately know! Eli kept saying "baby baby baby baby" yesterday all day long. We'd say, "Do you want a boy or a girl", and of course he'd say "boy" considering that's the word he can say! He's so funny.

Exploration

We've had a fun start to the weekend. During Eli's morning nap, Brandon and I worked on our garden and yard. We finished planting red and white potatoes, as well. Now we just have to wait until April and May to plant the rest of it! I'm sure Brandon is dying to plant his beloved peppers. We just got home from the Exploration Place. We went to see the whale exhibit, which was really interesting. Of course Eli loved the kids area. He played forever with this water table and got soaked! He also liked the bubble wall. The photo above is Eli's monkey face. I finally got a great picture of it. He does this everytime he's really excited. Isn't it hilarious?

Twilight

This has been a Twilight week for me. I read the whole series this week during Eli's naps and after he went to bed. It was fun, and I was sad when I got to the last page of the last book! My favorite books were definitely the first and the last. We've been trapped inside this week (except for short runs out to the mailbox or to water the garden) with the cold weather back. It is snowing today...yuck! Poor Eli wants to be outside so bad. Eli can now point to his hair, tongue, and nose when asked. He likes to hit his head if you say "bonk", and sometimes he will think he's bumped his head and start patting it to get some sympathy. Brandon taught him to say "tee tee" last night. I've never heard him make a "t" sound before, so what the heck! It was pretty funny. If he screams and I say "shhh" he will do it back at me. He's doing a lot better with wanting to drink his whole milk out of a cup, so we're really working on distracting him from nursing. It's really hard and slow going. Believe it or not, he just decided to start clapping this week and finds it very amusing. I gave him blueberries mixed with pears for the first time yesterday and he loved them. I need to cut him up some fresh ones soon. My throat is a little red today, and I'm annoyed to death. If I get sick then Eli will definitely get sick. Just shoot me. At least we'd hopefully all be better by our vacation. I'm looking forward to a weekend where we finally have no obligations. Yay for weekends!

12 Month Appt.

Today was Eli's 12 month appointment. There is one word to describe it....DRAMA! He cried about everything. I could barely even get him on the scale to even get his weight. If anyone so much as touched him or looked at him it would set him off. It was so dramatic Brandon and I were laughing. Seriously. We had to pin him down for the doctor to even listen to his heart. He cried more over all the stuff that doesn't hurt than the shots! I could tell the doctor was impressed with all the words he's saying. The whole time she was trying to check him over he kept crying and sobbing, "ALL DONE!" "ALL DONE!". The nurse said that from 1-3 kids are horrible at the doctor, and usually at 3 they start cooporating better! We'll see! He weighed 18 lbs 7 oz (6%) and was 29 1/4 inches (25%) tall and his head was 18 3/4 (76%, he must have a large brain ha ha). We were hoping for 20 lbs so we could turn his car seat facing forward, but oh well. I was a little concerned about his height because people are always telling me how short his legs are, but we looked at his chart together and he's perfectly on track! I was glad to get it over with. I have a feeling it's going to be a rough recovery from the vaccines because they both were live viruses. He will probably definitely get a fever and maybe some other not so fun symptoms. I'll definitely be staying on top of the Tylenol for the next 24 hours! It got cold again this week, but I'm still enjoying the view of our back yard with our tree blooming a beautiful pink and a bush blooming white. They are giving me hope for spring.

Last few days....

Here's what we've been up to the last few days:
1. Computer keeps crashing, so no time to blog.
2. Warm weather, so trips to park, playground, and first shorts
3. Bought and read through book Twilight in 2 days...then went to the movie by myself today to escape
4. Brandon led worship....Eli didn't even make it through 1/2 an hour at church b/c he was traumatized by me leaving him in the nursery for 5 minutes and went ballistic
5. Craziest bed head yet!
6. Visited weird statues at Art Museum several times, which Eli loves
7. Tilled and planted the first part of our vegetable garden (asparagus, potatoes, and broccoli plants)
8. Eli's face met cement for the first time...just a little mark thank God!
9. Eli is teething again, so lots of screeching and tantrums today (especially when we'd bring him inside from playing outside)
10. Had a lot of fun with Granny!
11. Pulled out goldfish pond...no chance of drowning.
12. Brandon took Eli out shopping to give me a break (long weekend with Brandon being gone for practice and 5 hours of church)

Today the high is 84!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, we'll be outside all day. Eli's napping now, but after I feed him a healthy lunch ;-) we'll be headed to the park! I'm meeting one of my friends, Christina (who was my nurse when I had Eli), and three of her kids. I really miss seeing her. When you have 4 kids, it's often hard to do things with other people (especially when two of them are twins), so I rarely get to spend time with her. I'm disappointed because my sister and Joel were supposed to come today and spend a few days with us, but Becca came down sick. Tonight my cousin Ellen is playing a viola duet with the chamber orchestra at Friends. I'm really looking forward to it (especially because Brandon's staying home and babysitting). Yesterday we were all excited to go the Garden Show at Century II....let me just say...it SUCKED. It was the worst $22 I've ever spent in my life. Eli enjoyed the fountains, flags, and the stuffed dead birds on a stick, at least. I guess we were expecting more plants, flowers, vegetables, bird baths (of which there were none) and less JUNK. If you're looking for: jewelry, crafts, your teeth whitened, tons of massages, tours of Kansas, travel agencies, rock collections (okay so these were kind of cool because there were metiorites), mustard, soups, dips, steel palm trees, flags, car drawings, windows, siding, blah blah blah etc. by all means go to the garden show. If you're looking for flowers just go to Johnsons Garden Center.

We've spent the last couple of days recovering from a very busy and stimulating weekend! Eli definitely has been off schedule, but I think things are getting better now. We're still working on weaning, and it is going very well. He tried beets and strawberries for the first time. You can't give berries until after they turn one. He ate the beets, but LOVED the strawberries. I was just holding them and he would run and take a bite then run and play. I swear he ate like five. He's really working on words with "p" in them. Twice he's actually told me when he's pooped...seriously! Of course I praise him like crazy. He also tries to say "Top", "up", "boy", and "Spoon". One of the cutest things he says is "Oh MAN!" Brandon started saying that when he'd miss a basket playing basketball...Eli picked up on it really quickly.

Birthday Bash!

Eli had a wonderful first birthday party. Brandon and I made animal cupcakes to go with his "Old McDonald" theme. We made sheep, pigs, frogs, lady bugs, turtles, and mice. We had Raspberry Sherbet punch, a cream cheese/chocolate chip ball with graham crackers, strawberries and fruit dip, and ended up buying tons of pizzas for everyone for supper! It was a great party. Our guests included: My parents, sister and brother, and his friend Chris, Eli's closest friends (Horsts and Racchinis), Brandon's parents, and Brandon's sisters family (including our nephew Gavin). All of the kids played really well together. We opened up all the presents and let the kids play with all the new toys. They had a blast! We gave Eli his first cupcake. He was hesitant at first, but then ate a few bites of the frosting and called it quits. Brandon and I were wrong in our prediction that he would throw it on the floor! It was wonderful to have Brandon's family here from Texas. I was afraid they would have a horrible trip up (6 hours with a 3 1/2 year old) and never wnat to come again, but they had a really good trip and Gavin had a blast playing at "Cousin Eli's house" as he kept saying. I couldn't stop laughing last night because Brandon's dad fell asleep on the floor when we were playing in the basement and was snoring. Gavin just came out and said, "Papa's a pig!". His snoring did sound similar to a pig noise. We were all cracking up. Overall, everything couldn't have gone any better. Eli held up really well in all the stimulation and craziness. I was so proud of him!