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Saturday, January 31, 2009

My Son Declares - "I'm Not A Democrap!"

This morning Scott, Eli and I were talking about Eli moving back to his big boy bed. Since the birth of Ian, I have just brought Eli to bed with us when he woke up at night as I didn't have the energy to do anything else! Well, this morning we were talking about how he is going to have to start sleeping in his own bed all night. He didn't like the idea. Scott asked him if he was a big boy. Eli answered "I'm a good boy". They went back and forth with this and Scott told Eli he was a democrat because he wouldn't give a straight answer. Eli said "I'm not a democrap Dad!". My husband busted out laughing. My husband is ultra-conservative and just loved Eli's spin on the word!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

My John Deere Boys




Here are some pics of the boys in their John Deere garb. This is the first picture that I have gottten of Eli in a while...he is hating the camera lately!

MIA....

So last summer when my husband bought me a laptop for my birthday, I thought it was kind of ridiculous. I was even contemplating selling it, just because we have too much "stuff".
However, you may have noticed, I haven't posted since this weekend. Why you ask....my husband hogs the desktop! I now think that his birthday purchase was sheerly for his benefit (he wouldn't have to share) and there is no way that I am getting rid of my laptop! I have been without it because the power cord frayed and I was not able to charge it, but we are up and running again!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I've been tagged!!!

So, Melissa tagged me to list seven random facts about myself. This is my first tag, and I layed in bed last night thinking about what I was going to share with you. So, here it goes!

1. I hate condiments. I don't use ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing or anything like that. I eat my cheeseburgers plain and my salad dry.

2. Because of my dislike of condiments, I hated to eat fast food when I was a little girl. I didn't know you could order things without ketchup and mustard and really didn't like fast food until I was in high school!

3. I do dip my french fries though....in applesauce! The combination of salt and sweet is wonderful! Now my boys do this, but they use ketchup too!

4. My niece looks more like me than my own children do. Eli looks nothing like me and Ian only has my mouth and dimples.....but when I have been out with my sister-in-law and niece, people always assume that she is my daughter.

5. I don't have pierced ears. Well, I did have, but they have grown shut. They would always get infected. I have tried all different kinds of gold, silver and stainless steel. Nothing would work, so I just got used to never being able to wear earrings.

6. For a short time when I was growing up, one of my chores was to milk our goat. We only had her for a short time, but I can say I have milked a goat!

7. Eli came home from the hospital on our ten month wedding anniversary. My husband and I were engaged for a year before we got married and we found out that I was pregnant about two months after we were married, but people were still questioning if I was "with child" when we got married.

And now I get to tag 7 people to share 7 Random Facts.....



1. Life As A Mom at 21
2. Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird
3. The Redfern Family
4. Zoey's Mommy
5. Mommy and Wife: What A Woderful Life!
6. Little Brady Faith
7. Flanigan Fam

Tricycle or Binky?



What's this you ask? Why, it is Eli's new John Deere tricycle. He got it because he told Grampy and Grammy that if they got him a John Deere trike, he would give them all of his binkies. He cried when they first brought it to our house. He doesn't want a tricycle either....he wants his binkies.

Now he has both! I told them maybe they should just take the tricycle home with them for his birthday. No, they have other things they want to get him for his birthday.....

So now my son has learned that with Grampy and Grammy he can have his cake and eat it too! (I THINK that he might have already figured that out!) I guess that is what they are for!

Monday, January 19, 2009

3 Months Old!!!!











Here are some pics of Ian from yesterday! Love those cheeks and dimples! I can't believe that Ian is three months old already! He is getting to be so much fun! He loves his hands! He is constantly chewing and sucking on them and has started to bat at things and actually picked up a tag toy and shoved it in his mouth! He loves to smile and coo and has even given us a few belly laughs. I can't believe how much he has changed already. He is nursing like a champ, still trying to avoid the bottle when I am gone, won't take a binky and loves his brothers. Most nights he sleeps all night long, some nights he will wake up for some extra nutrition! He is just a precious gift from God!







Sunday, January 18, 2009

Prayers Please

Not that I have a lot of followers, but all of the prayers this family can get will help! One of my younger brothers friends (actually the mom was my brother's first girlfriend!) family has recently found out that one of their four year old twins has cancer. They have started a care page and I just wanted to share it here. Please pray for Jenna and her family. They are great people and I know they are thankful for all of the prayers they receive.

A Dream I Had...

Let me begin with the fact that I hardly ever remember any dreams that I have. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I can't even explain my feelings... I was excited, terrified, proud and elated all at the same time. Looking back now, thankfully it was all just a dream!

My dream as I remember it: I was working at our computer desk and was pregnant, due at any time. I started to have some contractions and thought I should rest, but thought it would feel best if I knelt on the ground and fell asleep with my arms crossed on the seat of our computer chair. When I woke up from sleeping on the chair, I felt an odd pressure and felt between my legs and there was a baby's head coming out! Just as I tried to yell for Scott, I finsihed delivering another baby boy. I quickly grabbed a blanket, went and showed Scott, called my mom and then waited for Scott to get ready so that we could take the baby to the hospital to be examined. I was excited and proud that I had a natural delivery (although I would never choose to deliver at home), terrified and elated at the same time that I had another baby boy. Right now though I am hoping that the Mirena is as effective as they say!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

McDonalds Playland - not so fun for adults!

This morning we had a playdate scheduled at my friend's house who has a son that is just four months older than Eli. The kids were having a great time and getting along so well, but it was getting close to lunch time. We decided to take the kids to McDonalds and eat and then let them play in the Playland area. Now, this was Eli's first time there (I have always been a bit leary of the area....I am sure it is a germ's fantasy), but I decided to go with it and just wash REALLY well afterwards and hope he didn't lick anything! Well, when we finished eating we went into the play area and he just jumped around. He wasn't so excited about going up the tubes. I finally talked him in to going up with my friend's older daughter and he stayed up in the "room" as he called it and was having fun looking around and jumping. When it was time to go, I told him to head down so we could go home to see daddy. He froze! He wouldn't come down! He kept calling for me to help him. My friend's daugter went to try to help, but he wouldn't come down with her. Another little girl who was there tried to get him to come down. No go. I had to go up. Let me just tell you that playland tubes are not designed for 5'9" plus sized moms who still look like they are five months pregnant! I kept hitting my head, my knees are killing me and I could barely "bend" around the curves in the tubes!!!! Thankfully there was only one other family there, but I am sure that watching me heading up the tubes was a site they won't soon forget and probably provided a good chuckle for them! But I saved the day and rescued my little boy and he is now fast asleep on the couch.

Maybe this is a sign that I need to work more on my other resolution to get in better shape!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Bicycle or binky???

Eli and I were talking today about bicycles. He REALLY wants one. A blue one. One that is his size, not Joe's. I told him that it would be a great birthday present for him and that if he really wanted one, we could get him one for his birthday. He was very excited and all smiles.

Then I told him that boys who have bicycles can't have binkies.

Guess who wants nothing to do with a bicycle now? He quickly told me that he DOESN'T want a bicycle, he wants his binkies.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ian's Appt


Well, at our doctors appt this afternoon, he still heard wheezing (which I knew he would, as I can still hear it) but he said it is MUCH improved and should be all clear in another week. So for now we are all done with medicine (the steriods were awful!) and were instructed to use the nebulizer as needed. He also advised that I keep the nebulizer on hand. He thinks that we may have breathing issues again and that it will be helpful to have it available if he starts to have breathing issues on the weekend or the middle of the night. He is up to 14lbs and we have his four month well baby visit on February 17.

What's going up dad?

This is Eli's cute mix up of "what's going on" and "what's up"!!!!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Poor Baby Ian, update

Well, as you can see it has been a few days since I have had a chance to post. Ian is finally feeling much better today! He has been smiling and laughing and you can just tell he is getting back to normal. We are still doing nebulizer treatments regularly, and he now has a cough. It sounds awful, but our physician told us to expect that. We have a return appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully he continues to improve until then.

The Boys I am Braving....


So I thought I should share a little about all of the boys in my life. My husband Scott is four years older than me and was born and raised in the area, as was I. I met him through mutual friends. I knew him for several years before we started dating, but when we did start I quickly knew that he was special. We were engaged in July 2004 and got married July 2, 2005. Scott has a son from his first marriage, Jordan who is 17.

Jordan is a senior in high school and is a typical teenager. He loves sports and can tell you the stats of any football player, past or present. He will graduate in May and is planning on attending a community college and then transferring to a four year school to receive his bachelors degree. After that he is hoping to attend law school. He adores Eli and Eli loves his "Jordy". Jordan is getting more interested in Ian now that he can hold his own head up, he is just unsure of babies! He really is a good big brother and I'm not sure what Eli will do when he doesn't see Jordan as often.

Scott and I started trying to conceive as soon as we were married, as I was almost 31 and he was almost 35. We found out that I was pregnant on August 27, just two days before Scott's birthday. I was so excited to be pregnant and really loved the experience. We chose not to find out if we were having a boy or girl and it drove everyone crazy! I developed pre-eclampsia and was put on bedrest for the last weeks of my pregnancy. I have a wonderful OB who monitired my situation very carefully, going to twice weekly non-stress tests and weekly OB visits. I was able to carry the baby to 38 weeks before having to be induced. I was induced early in the morning on April 29 and Eli was born early in the morning on April 30. He came home on our ten month wedding anniversary. I was so blessed and loved being a mommy. Eli has been such a joy and is a wonderful gift from God. He is so bright, it continually amazes us how quick he is. He is such a loving, kind and caring young man. He is very gentle with his little brother, but can be the orneriest thing around! He loves tractors (thanks to Grampy) and being outside. He spends a lot of time at my parent's farm and loves to help Grampy. He also likes to camp and boat and is still asking, even though we have snow on the ground, if we are going camping soon! He loves to read, in particular with his daddy. They read together every night in our room and if I enter the room, he will tell me to leave! I love that he loves books and that he wants daddy to read to him!

When Eli was six months old, we brought Joe in to our family. Joe is our nephew and needed a new home. He has mild mental retardation, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and he was a drug affected baby. When Joe first came to live with us he had a lot of behavioral issues and was struggling in school. Joe has grown so much in the last two years. His behavioral issues are almost non-existant (well, as non-existant as they can be for an eleven year old boy ;). He is a very loving and friendly young man. He is so helpful and just wants to be a part of everything. In June of 2007 we were granted permenant guardianship of Joe and he is here to stay!

We started to try to conceive again in April of 2007. I just assumed that I would get pregnant again quickly, as I had the first time around. It took us ten monthes to conceive Ian and it quickly became very trying. All of our family and friends were asking when we were going to have another baby, as they all new that I wanted to have more right away. I never thought that it would take ten cycles to become pregnant again. I finally got my posititve pregnancy test on Super Bowl Sunday (February 3,2008)! I was ecstatic! I again had a wonderful pregnancy, but I just couldn't get the thought of pre-eclampsia out of my head. I worried about it for several months and finally realized that if it happened, it happened, I would just have to deal with it. Again, we chose to not find out the gender of our baby. I was due with Ian on October 10, 2008. That day came and went. I was finally induced eight days after my due date and Ian was born October 18. He has been a true joy also. He is just staring to grab at things with his hands and realize all that is around him. I am sad that he is my last baby, so I am trying to embrace every little minute of it.

The Lord has truly blessed our family and we are so thankful for all of His gifts.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Oh boys!

Well, Ian is slowly starting to feel a bit better and was even cooing and smiling for a bit this afternoon, but we are dealing with another fun hurdle. Ian won't take a bottle anymore. He was doing great before Christmas break and would even take a bottle from me. Now, he will scream and thrash about any time my mom even thinks of giving him a bottle! I teach preschool, and while I was home for Christmas break, didn't even think of giving him a bottle...and now I may be paying for it. I have only worked a few hours this week because he has been sick, but he has gone over four hours without milk! That is a marathon amount of time for him as when he is with me during the day he generally nurses every 2 1/2 hours! My mom tried four different bottles and different flow nipples today and nothing! I told her tomorrow to try putting sugar on the nipple to see if that helps....let's hope!

Tonight Joe, our 11 y/o nephew who we are raising, was asking Eli to leave his stuff alone. Joe said something like "I don't want you to touch that. Do you hear me?" Eli's response: "No Joe, I don't hear you!" I'm not sure what I am going to do with him!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Poor Baby Ian, Day 2

My baby is still so sick. I just feel terrible for him. At times there is nothing I can do to comfort him. We had a recheck with our physician today and he said that his lungs sound worse, but that is a good thing because his airways are more open and he is moving more oxygen. So, we are continuing breathing treatments every four hours and have started oral steroids twice a day. We return next Tuesday for another recheck.

Eli has been feeling neglected and he is letting us know! Our poor dog took the brunt of his actions today. Eli stepped on him, took his toys away, kicked him and forced him off of the couch! Poor puppy.....

Yesterday at the doctor's office Eli put his hand on our doctor's knee and said "You make baby Ian Scott feel better?" He really does love his baby brother.

Did you notice in the previous paragraph that when Eli was asking about his brother her referred to him as 'baby Ian Scott'? This is how he ALWAYS refers to him! Even when he is talking to him it is "Hi baby Ian Scott!" and he talks to him in the sweetest "singy" voice....I will have to get it on video!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Poor Baby Ian

Well, last night after I finished posting my blog about my mom getting sick (she is much better now), I went to pick up Ian and he was burning up. He has had a bit of a cold for a day or two, but it was like he all of a sudden was SICK. He had a fever of 101.7 and started gasping to catch his breath and he really wasn't interested in eating. He was very fussy and had a hard time breathing all night and continued to spike a fever whenever the Tylenol wore off. I called our physician first thing this morning and they got him in right away. They did blood work and an RSV swab. He could hear wheezing and so they did a nebulizer treatment while we were in the office. The RSV test was negative, but he has a bronchial virus, something similar to RSV. They gave him a steroid shot to help reduce the inflammation in his lungs. We are also doing nebulizer treatments every four hours. We have a return appointment tomorrow to check his progress, so I will update more then.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Not so fun afternoon :(

Well, this afternoon I had an appt with my OB to check the placement of my Mirena. My OB is about 45 minutes away in a much larger town, so my mom and I were going to spend the afternoon shopping before my appointment. We loaded up the boys and headed out. We were about half way there and I looked over at my mom and she didn't look well. I asked if she was alright and she said she was fine, but she got very quiet. She has had a cold and I thought maybe that was just bothering her. Anyway, as I'm turning to go to the mall, I look at her and know that she is going to vomit. I quickly grabbed a large ziploc out of the diaper bag and just as she gets it open, she vomited. She had a migraine. They hit her like a ton of bricks. While I went in the mall with the boys, she stayed in the van and curled up in the back seat. She has medicine that she takes when she gets migraines and about an hour and a half letter she was feeling a bit better, but I just felt terrible for her. She kept apologizing that she ruined our shopping trip and I kept apologizing for dragging her along. I hate to see my mom sick...she has always been such a strong person in my life that seeing her weak and frail hurts me. I almost cried. It really scared Eli. He kept saying "Grammy need to go to the doctor?"

Anyway, all is well with my Mirena. So far I really like it and haven't had any side effects. It is a great option for us as I think we are all done having children, but I am not ready to say we are absolutely done!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

A weekend of playoffs!

We are a football family! We all love it! So, hopefully if my boys' are interested in sports, they play football! I can't wait to watch my team (The Giants....love Eli Manning...may be where Eli's name came from ;) next weekend and hope they make it to the big game! Although Scott's team, the Colts, are out of the hunt for the Superbowl, I wanted to share some pics I took yesterday of Ian dressed up for the day! He is starting to be such a ham, already cheesing it up for the camera!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Of course I do!

This morning I was in the living room with Ian when I heard Eli waking up back in the bedroom. I headed back there to see him and here is the conversation that ensued:
Me - "Good morning Eli."
Eli - "Good morning Mommy."
Me - " Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
Eli - (Looking at me as if I am totally crazy) "Of course I do!"

Friday, January 2, 2009

My New Year's Resolution!

I've been saying forever that I need to start a blog. I'm not sure that anyone will even follow it, but I am doing it! I love sharing stories about my boys and this is the perfect place to do that! I am sure that this will be a learning process, so please be patient! My husband always asks why I take so many pictures, save little things like the outfits the boys wore home from the hospital, a lock of hair from Eli's first haircut, etc. He thinks that they won't even care about these things....maybe not, but I know that some day my nice, beautiful, kind daughter-in-laws will love it! I am finally "coming to terms" with the fact that I won't be raising any girls. I always imagined that I would have a daughter, so this has been something to swallow. I love my boys with all of my heart and would never dream of my life without them, but I just always pictured my daughter and I doing crafts together, shopping together, planning her wedding...things that my mom and I have done. I am reimagining my feature now, and I think I am in for a ride! Eli is only two and is already asking for a motorcycle! Scott is ready to start shopping for one too! Anyway, I am forseeing a life of dirtbikes, wrestling, football and smelly, ornery, wonderful boys! Sounds like fun too, I just hope that I can make it through!