Baby 2 - Boy or Girl?

IT'S A BOY!!

We had our Level 2 ultrasound this morning and all looked good with the new little one. He was moving around like crazy. We did manage to see both his feet (crossed at the ankles like Eli does all the time), his hands, all the bone structure, organs, etc. We saw his heart pumping - very cool. All the checks for any abnormalities were good and looks like middle of the year, Eli will have a baby brother! I'm very excited to have two boys - God knew I couldn't deal with girl drama in our house so he made me a boy mom.

Today's picture:

Little people update - Eli + Baby 2

An update on the little people in our life:

Eli - He is doing GREAT now. You would never know he had been sick. We're so happy to have our sweet healthy happy boy back. He has been in the best mood all week and so loving. He has been chatting up a storm and, of course, trying to get into everything. He was very happy to be back at school and playing with his friends. His friends and teachers were also glad to see him back.

Baby 2 - Today I had a regular checkup and some bloodwork. I'm now 16-1/2 weeks. All looked good and we heard a strong heart beat. Doctor wouldn't make a guess as to whether it was a boy or girl - she said the heart beat wasn't too fast or slow, kinda hard to tell. Well, we'll find out FRIDAY MORNING what it is. We have our Level 2 ultrasound at 8am so we'll soon know if Eli is getting a brother or sister. I can't believe it's already time to find out. Of course, I'll post the answer with an ultrasound picture.

Dinner with a friend

Yesterday Eli's school had "Parent Appreciation" and made chili for all of us to take home for dinner. It was so nice and yummy. Eli & I took the opportunity to have dinner with Ryan & Carol after school. This allowed the boys to play together even longer - you'd never know they had spent the entire day together - and gave Tim some quiet time in the house. Eli & Ryan, as usual, had a great time running around like the crazy boys. Carol sent me this picture of the two of them at dinner. Just look how cute they are!!

Ryan loved the chili. Eli only cared about eating everything else off Ryan's plate.

House project update

Finally, an update on Eli's playroom - um, I mean our new bonus room. I posted some initial pictures last week. The guys got started last Wednesday and worked through the weekend. With pending rain, they're taking a break Wednesday but will be back at it hard Thursday. Here's the picture report so far...

1.24 - Saturday morning. Framing in the new front windows

1.24 - Saturday. Framing in the back wall and loading roof sheathing

1.25 - Sunday morning. Eli inspecting his new room with Daddy.

1.25 - Sunday. Front rafters complete.

1.25 - Sunday. Sheating on the roof.

1.25 - Sunday. Rear of house. Rafters are complete and sheathing almost complete when this was taken. They finished the sheathing before leaving that day.

1.26 - Monday morning. A quick shot before they started the day.

1.26 - Monday. Rear of the house.

1.27 - Tuesday. Gable end framed in. You can see our old roof line here and how much more space we'll - er, Eli will - have.

1.27 - Tuesday. Rear view with window framing and the gable end.

So as you can see, they're making good progress. Wednesday, our contractor will pick up the windows and take our plot plan to the Building Department (had to have a survey done last week - note to everyone: when you buy a house, always have the sellers give you one. We didn't.). Then Thursday and Friday, we expect windows to be installed and drywall stocked in the room. Once drywall is stocked, they'll close up the gable. Also, once windows are in, they can close up the front and back with siding. We also expect the roofer to be here Thurs/Fri and re-roof the entire house. So much going on!! It's pretty cool to walk out there and see what it's going to be like and we've already started trying to figure out what goes where. At this rate we expect they could be finished in another few weeks, maybe a month. Worst case 6 weeks. Then we'll paint the interior and do the carpeting so it'll be a little longer before Eli will actually get to use it. Also in this process, Tim's garage is getting an upgrade with a drywall ceiling (required by code under an occupied space) and while it's empty, we'll epoxy coat the floor and finish painting it. We'll post more pictures before the week is over.

Night and Day at home

Boy are we all glad to be home. Thanks again to everyone for the care and concern this week.

Eli had a great night last night. He slept 12 hours straight! The first full night of sleep in over 2 weeks. Tim & I can't remember the last one. Today has also been pretty good. We keep working on the eating and drinking. His appetite is not 100% back but it's on the way. The stubbornness and independent attitude are definitely on their way back! Although Eli is still kind of on home-quarantine, we made a run to Lowe's this morning to get out of the house and do some research for our house project (shingles, paint, carpet...fun stuff!). After lunch, he took a decent nap and then we went on a walk to the lake to feed the ducks. We went with his friend Ryan and Ryan's Mom, Carol. We wanted the boys to be able to say hi but also be cautious and not let them play too much together so Eli wouldn't make Ryan sick. They really enjoyed that time. That has pretty much been our day. Nice and simple AT HOME.

They're making great progress on our room addition. Will try to post some photos tomorrow and also write about the selection process for finish materials (who knew there was so much to choose?!). Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Bustin' out

Doctor just left and it looks like Eli is going to be discharged here soon. We're waiting for them to finish a few things up and we've got to pack our stuff. Eli just shed his hospital gown for "street clothes" and we're happy to be going home. He will still have to be on antibiotics for a little while to clear his ears but we're on our way back to good health!

An exhausting day

Eli has worn Tim & I out today - completely. He finally has some energy and has been up since 6:30am with NO NAP! Now he's to the fussy point of crying to keep himself awake. So an update: the RSV test came back negative (good news!) so it all points to pneumonia with dehydration. They capped his iv to see if he will eat and drink on his own. They're still monitoring his oxygen levels and his fever has pretty much been gone since this morning. The doctor came this afternoon and talked with us and if tonight goes well, we will probably go home tomorrow. No definite diagnosis yet and we may never get one but as long as Eli is getting better, we're happy. We're also very fortunate to have a wonderful support group of friends and family who have called, written and visited. Thank you all so much - we couldn't ask for more!

A balloon suprirse (with a bear) from Daddy's work

Balloons, a puppy dog and some tonkas from Mom's team at work

Eli's hospital toy stash - acquired mostly since arriving here!

Out for an evening walk with his iv pole - look at the cute gown!

Getting some exercise and happy to be out of the room

Picture update

Eli so pitiful yesterday. He has the iv in his left arm, an oxygen monitor on his right foot and the hospital security tag on his left foot. He hates all the cords and stuff on him. He kept setting the security tag off by messing with it.

Eli & Puppy Jim. Tim stopped and got Puppy Jim some scrubs so he could be at the hospital with Eli.

This morning - feeling better and sitting up on his own.

Yum, chocolate chip cookies for breakfast!

Hello Daddy - Eli uses my old Blackberry to "call" people.

Hanging out in the bed. It's definitely getting harder to control him and keep him from pulling his iv out. He is getting his strength back and wants to walk around.

Meanwhile....back at our house, the construction project has started.

Front view

Rear view

They will get the roof completely torn off, the new framing in place and "dried in" before stopping this week. Could be a long weekend!

Cookies for breakfast

Last night was a pretty rough night. Eli was restless here in the hospital and as soon as he'd fall asleep, they'd come in to check his temperature, listen to him or do something. Tim & I didn't sleep too well but that's to be expected. This morning he has had about an hour and a half of decent energy where he wasn't just laying on one of us. That brings me to the cookies. I was going through my trusty snack bag to see if I had anything he would eat and he went for the Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. He ate 2-1/2 cookies. So great to see him eating anything!!

Right now Eli is happily sitting up in bed watching 'Bob the Builder' finishing off a cookie. The doctor just came in and they're happy with his progress. Going to do a test for rsv to see if that's what it is. Also going to do some chest therapy (basically pounding his chest) to break up some of the mucus and junk. The compounding issue of dehydration seems to be getting better.

I do have some pictures but no way right now to upload them so maybe when I run home I'll get them posted. The good news is that we're making progress!!

Admitted

Today has been a very busy crazy day. Eli was admitted to the hospital at lunch. Tim took him back to the doctor because we just knew something was really wrong. He has lost a pound since Monday and has stopped really drinking anything. Very lethargic and doesn't even want to cry much. He was admitted to the pediatric wing of the hospital and so far they've done chest x-rays, taken a lot of blood to do blood work and he has an iv drip for fluids. After the bloodwork, they were going to add the antibiotic drip. Eli looks so pitiful and cute all at the same time in his little hospital gown. We're not sure how long we'll be there but it will be at least 48 hours. If I have wireless at the hospital, I'll be sure to post updates. Keep us in your prayers. The good news is that Eli is getting help and we hope he'll feel better very soon. Doctor will be back to see us at 5:30pm so we may get a diagnosis then.

(Not so) Fun Snow day

I know that we're not the only ones around dealing with sick kids and being cooped up inside (sorry Amy and SDS) but man, it sure sucks. I was soooo hoping that we'd have a good day with Eli and get to enjoy his first snow. That wasn't his plan. He has still been running a high fever and pretty much sleeping off and on all day. It bothers me that he's so lethargic and won't eat. He had a few moments of energy when he first got up this morning (thank you Daddy for sleeping with him last night so I could get a little rest) but those were brief moments and then we were back to the painful wails and crying. It was so cute to see him when he saw the snow. He kept wanting to look out the windows and saying "snow". We did try to go outside and you'll see how that went for us - not so good. Looks like he'll be home again tomorrow. Tomorrow will be Day 4 or 5 of this thing (I can't remember when he was normal last) and doc said if he's not doing better to come back. Viruses suck. I'd rather have the worst flu in the world than my little dude be sick.

This shouldn't all be negative. The snow IS beautiful and it has been forever since we've had snow here. Tim + I did enjoy seeing it today and it was neat to see all the neighborhood kids playing. Pictures.....

Checking out the backyard snow

Not liking it at all

Still not liking it - TAKE ME INSIDE!

Our front yard

The back yard

Snow Day

How fun to wake up to snow today! We're all hanging out here at home for a bit. My doctor's office is closed so no Baby #2 appointment today. I decided to wait until later to try to go into work. Looking very much forward to taking Eli outside to play in his first snow. He has been looking out the windows saying "snow" so hopefully he'll have fun. I didn't believe the weather forecast when they said possible snow - it never really snows here in NC - but it's nice to see. Pictures of our fun snow day later. Hope everyone has fun in it!

Life as a Yo-Yo

Whew, life feels like such a yo-yo right now. Have you ever felt that way? You feel like you're at the end of the string and then, boing you bounce back, even just slightly. There's so much going on right now that it's hard to process it all. There's the "virus" issue with Eli, a busy work schedule and changes there, Eli's school had a sprinkler line burst (so even if he had been up to it, he couldn't have gone to school today), other family things that I won't mention here, our house project starting up and oh yeah, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm 15 weeks pregnant!

So to Eli.....he had a better night last night. He slept in the bed with me waking often but always in good spirits asking for a drink and then drifting in and out of sleep. No serious crying or pain just awake a lot. I did try to keep the Tylenol flowing per doc's recommendations. This morning, tired and going down the yo-yo string, I caught a glimpse of my sweet happy boy. We had about 2 hours of happy time. He was walking around (which he hasn't really done since Sat) and talking to me. But close to the 2 hour mark, he fell completely apart and cried for hours.....non-stop. I'm not talking about a screaming crying fit, I'm talking about a painful wail that makes your heart break. The fever started going up again to 102. When Tim called at lunch time, he could tell that I was having a hard time (I did really good with my patience but emotionally I was breaking down, I cried some with Eli b/c I hated to see him hurt) so he came home early to give me a break. I called the nurse line at the doc's office since he seemed to be doing worse and they set him up for a 4pm appt. I decided not to give him his 2pm dose of Tylenol (oh yeah, he did throw up a bit on me today too - the fun eh?!) and after talking to the nurse, I gave him Motrin. From 3p-5p, we had a totally different happy boy. I swear I felt like an idiot at the doc's office. The doctor appt revealed nothing new but it did confirm that ear infections have not developed - we were told that that could happen starting the drops. Once we got home, Eli started getting into his fussy mood. His temp climbed again - this time to 104. More rest and he seemed to get out of that funk. We finally did get him to eat some goldfish crackers about an hour ago (he hasn't really eaten much since lunch on Sat which concerns me but doc said is ok) and then bath time. Tim is putting him to bed now and we're hoping (fingers crossed tight) that he'll sleep some in his own bed tonight. Doc said that viruses can last 3-5 days so we hope that we're almost out of the woods on this one. I do hope that he feels better tomorrow as Tim will be staying home with him and I'd like for them to have a good day together.

So my yo-yo thing with Eli, just as I was falling apart inside and feeling so bad for him, he showed us his normal self just for a bit to make us smile and laugh and know that he's still our sweet happy boy.

As for me, I go back to the doctor to check on Baby #2 in the morning. Funny story - it was on 1/18/07 that we went for our first ultrasound with Eli and it snowed that day. From the news, it sounds like it may be snowing tomorrow when I go - not the exact day but close enough to remember back. I'm looking forward to hearing that little heartbeat and knowing that all is ok. I'm not feeling baby kick yet so I look forward to these appointments. Then next Friday - the 30th - we answer the boy / girl question! We'll keep you posted.

Yo yo boy 1 - feeling crummy
Yo yo boy 2 - maybe an hour later with much more energy and happy

102.8 + pink eye = lack of sleep + one cranky toddler

Sleep in our house is really lacking. This past week Eli has not been sleeping well and we thought it was due to his canines coming in. Other than sleep issues, we had no other real indication that something was wrong. Friday night Eli was up for a few hours in the middle of the night and he was burning up. I thought it was due to how I dressed him so we down-dressed and got him back to bed. Yesterday he seemed not quite himself but still had fun with Ryan at the library. Well, it all came to a head last night. His temperature started climbing and his energy started dropping. Into the night, his temp got to 102.5 degrees - the highest we've seen for him. We had a plan of attack and Tim + I tag teamed the night to get us all through. I think we each managed to get 3 hours or so sleep at a time. This morning the wait for the doctor's hotline seemed like forever. We got an appointment this afternoon and his temp at doc's office was 102.8 - and this is under the arm without adding a degree! He definitely has pink eye - that was an easy diagnosis. They took a blood sample and checked his white blood cell counts. Those came back ok so that ruled out pneumonia. But then, that led us back to a viral respiratory infection (he's also coughing and breathing laboredly). Ugh, viral - that means no drugs will help him. We did get the antibiotic eye drops to help the pink eye and are just using Mommy + Daddy TLC and doses of Tylenol to combat the rest. I'll be staying home with him tomorrow so hopefully we're heading out of the woods on this. Tonight we've seen glimpses of our happy little boy and he's starting to talk to us again. He has been very lethargic so this is good.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we'll have a decent night - or at least the patience and tag-teamness to make it through. This parenting thing stinks when your kids are sick and you can't do anything about it. I feel so bad for Eli and it makes my heart break to see his little crusted up eye and snotty nose knowing I can't just fix it.

Library Rhyme Time

With the cold temps today, we opted not to go for a walk but instead to try Rhyme Time at the library. Eli's buddy Ryan (and Mom Carol) went with us for the boys' first library visit. They enjoyed running through the library stacks and looking at all the books. Rhyme Time was fun - full of songs, rhymes, stories and bubbles. We think the boys enjoyed it. After that it was off to Chick-fil-a for lunch and home for nap time.

Wow, look at all the books

Checking out the audio library

Trying to grab bubbles

2 pooped out little boys

Burrrrrrr

11.3 degrees outside at our house this morning - burrrrrr

Breakfast with "Baa" and "Moo"

Eli LOVES his animals. Now he has started having breakfast with "Baa" and "Moo". He asks for them when he gets to the table if they're not there. What's even cuter is that he tries to feed them his food. He especially loves "Baa" and takes him on rides to school in Daddy's truck as well as most night to bed with him. Aunt Val, bet you never thought the birthday farm would get this much use?!!

Eli and his two breakfast mates

"Moo" tries some cheerios

Weekend Recap and Catching up on pictures

Whew, things have been busy at our house. Grandma C came up this weekend to hang out with Eli while Tim & I emptied out the attic and garage. We are going to convert our walk-in attic to a bonus room so everything had to be removed for the contractor to start. Friday, we had a 'Pack-Rat' delivered and it now resides in our front yard. Grandma C arrived at dinner that night and took Eli off our hands - put him to bed and let us run out for some play time at Barnes & Noble. (yes we're nerds!) Saturday morning we started pretty early going through the attic deciding what to keep, what to trash and what to donate. It went fairly smoothly and we got a lot done. This morning we worked on the garage and got most of it taken care of. Just a few things for Tim to do this week and we hope to start on the room in a week. Like we don't have enough going on, we're adding this chaos to the mix!! They'll tear off the roof and structure over the garage, rebuild it, reroof the entire house and then finish out the new bonus room space. We're hoping it will only take two months - and yes, there will be picture updates as we go. It's very exciting!! Eli will love having his own playroom and lots of room to roam. Thank you very much Grandma C for coming up this weekend - you were a HUGE help. Now for pictures....

Eli in Daddy's big shoes

Our sweet little farmer riding his John Deere

Who needs a horse when I can ride Belle?

Playing with Grandma C

Starting to unload Saturday morning - all the stuff at this point was baby stuff!!

Play-doh fun with Grandma C

Friends

This afternoon Eli's friend Ryan came over for a bit after his Mom & I took a yoga class. The boys were so funny pushing each other around on toys. Eli pushed Ryan in the big Tonka truck and Ryan pushed Eli on the tractor. These two are like little peas in a pod - I can only imagine the trouble they'll cause as they get older!

Wheeeeeee - faster Eli, faster!

Eli's tractor gets a boost from Ryan

Welcome 2009

Happy New Year everyone - Welcome to 2009!

Today was a fun day for our family. Last year we did a 5k and at that time said we'd do it every New Year's. Well, it was VERY cold this morning so we opted to not go to the official 5k BUT Eli & I did our very own 5k around the neighborhood. We got all bundled up - Eli in his snowsuit with the shield on the stroller - and off we went. Proud to have started the new year off with a little exercise.

For lunch we, along with apparently multiple other area parents, went to Chick-fil-a. We let Eli play in the play area for the first time and he really had fun with his new friends. He wasn't sure about going down the slide so Mommy had to go up and slide with him. Then a quick trip to REI and Babies R Us and back home for nap. Kind of a low key family day.

Been thinking about what 2009 is going to bring us. I've deemed it the year of chaos for us - adding a baby to our house is going to be crazy, not to mention that Eli will turn 2. But I've also started focusing on a word for the year. A scrapbooker whose blog I follow always chooses one word for her year and tries to let that help guide her. I think I've chosen "Simple" for me this year. I need to learn to keep things simple and focus on what matters most to me and my family. We don't make resolutions in our house (don't believe in them) but I do think keeping my word in mind will help me as I go throughout the year.

What will your word be?

Bundled up for our New Year's Day 5k

Now you can see Eli snuggled in there