my sweet little man

Sometimes, he humors me and allows me to take pictures without closing his eyes and turning away in disgust. And, when he does, I am able to get some truly sweet shots of my little man...

Eliobbies

Do you like my made up word? Just call me the next Rachel Ray. Eliobbies are Eli's hobbies. Ha! Great, huh!

Anyways, my little man a few things that he really enjoys...

mighty machines...

shoveling dirt

Teagen likes to watch him

This is the look that he gets when he then dumps dirt as close as possible without crossing the "I'm gonna get a time out-line"

loves his sand box

swinging on his tummy...with his tongue out!

legos...again, the tongue out helps the concentration

absent

I have been absent from blogging...forever. Honestly, the past 2 months seem like a big blur. Like those first weeks with a newborn but worse. It has just been some of *those* months. Those months where you want to crawl under your bed and come out when it's all over. Those months when you want to scream not out of irritation but out of pure exhaustion. Yes, those have been the last months around here.

It all started some weeks ago...don't remember the 'exact' timeline here but Eli came down with a high fever virus that lasted for 6 days. Nothing but a fever and cranky and more cranky. Many sleepless nights and days spent cuddling with my little man. Then, it finally broke. We had 2 days of bliss...then, we heard it. If you have ever *heard* it before then you will never forget it. I, unfortunately have heard it WAY too many times. That seal barking, jump up from bed to make sure that no-one is dead, cough. It will scare you to your inner soul. Fortunantely, I have been there before. It ain't our first rodeo. We knew it was croup. The following day came the fever. After 2 nights I thought we were in the clear with a little daytime cough and a lingering fever. But, then I noticed that he was having some 'stridor' when he was breathing. Off to the Dr. and, sure enough, airway constriction. Set of steroids and we were on our way. That lasted about 6 days. Then, about 3 hours of break(no, I am NOT kidding) and Teagen was hit with a fever that lasted 7 days. I will go into that more on her blog but, seriously, a train wreck.

I didn't leave the house for 7 days until my mom came to help me out(thanks, Mom). I am hoping that we are on the mend but am not putting all my hope on it.

Anyways, I don't think I posted Christmas pictures...awesome!

we made these cute little 'suckers' for our friends new years eve party

passing out everyones gifts

Thomas...he got the whole thomas set...

taking it all in

sweet memories

I am looking through old pictures and ran across these from some time ago...

there is a first time...

There is a first time for everything. I have never once let Eli sleep in bed with us. He wasn't that kind of kid. It wasn't his thing. He has always slept so well in his crib/bed. However, Adam was out of town for a week and, of course, Eli got sick. I ended up at the after hours clinic with both kiddos and Eli had some sort of high fever virus. I was extra grossed out when all the kids in there were wearing masks because of 'flu' like symptoms. Thank god we were in and out in about 5 minutes because the germs floating around were enough to send me over the edge. Anyways, the past month has been filled with illness around here and I have been working a ton. Sleep has been minimum. I was already tired but with Adam being out of town, I was plain worn out. So, when Eli couldn't sleep with his 103 temp... I just told him to come sleep with me. We did this for 2 nights. The last time he was sick, I just slept in his twin bed with him but I couldn't move my neck for the next 3 days. Wasn't about to let that happen again. So, all night, he laid on top of me. Yes, my 35 pound almost (gasp) 3 year old snuggled up on his mommy. Around 4, I finally fell asleep but I spent the majority of the night rubbing his back, dosing him with advil and motrin and watching infomercials. But, I won't lie, I secretly enjoyed every minute. They just grow up so fast and sometimes it's nice when they don't need anything or anybody but their mommy.

On another note, eli got this fun book for Christmas where is has the pieces that you put together to make letters. I put them down for him to play with the other day and came back in and this is what I saw. How cute is that??? And, he even got the dot on the i...that's his favorite part. I was so proud!!!