Sick Baby

We have a sick little baby boy on our hands. We've been in Florida for the last week for work- and we were staying in a large vacation house with all of the other members of our Lifelines national team. Our friends, Mark and Alicia, brought their little baby boy (just two days older than Eli) and while we were there he got really sick and tested positive for RSV. It was so sad to watch him be so sick. Well, now we are experiencing the same thing. We didn't have the boys together much so I hoped that maybe Eli might somehow stay healthy, but that's not how it's worked out. The last couple of days we were there Eli wasn't eating or sleeping very well, but the night before we left we could hear the congestion set in and we knew he was sick. Thankfully he still did okay on our flight to Wisconsin (we are here visiting my family)- but I can only guess that the flights made everything worse because almost as soon as we got to my parent's house Eli seemed to get much more sick very quickly. He barely ate or slept at all yesterday and he was congested and fussy. Last night he slept okay and ate a little better (but still woke up a number of times during the night). This morning you can hear the congestion in his chest even when he is breathing normal, he is coughing a lot, and now the runny nose and vomitting has set in as well. It's pretty much exactly what our friend's baby had (that we were staying with) so we are pretty much positive that he has RSV. My poor baby boy. Please pray that he would recover quickly without any complications. I am especially hoping that he is better (or mostly better by the time I fly home with the kids in 8 days). I am grateful that we are with my mom who is a nurse- that makes me feel a bit better. I'm sure he's going to be just fine, but there is just nothing more sad than a sick baby.

P.S. I have lots of pictures and stories to share from our trip to Florida- but because we don't have wireless internet at my parent's house and since Joe will be taking our computer home with him in a few days anyway (the kids and I will stay here for 6 days after he leaves)- it will be a while before I am able to post anything. I'll try to post an update on Eli in a few days, but you will have to wait for the Florida pictures for another week or two!

My Sweet Pea is Growing!

My little sweet pea is growing up. In fact he is quickly growing out of this little bunting (so I'm happy that I got these pictures just in time)! At almost three months old he is smiling a lot, grabbing and holding onto things (like his little plush monkey), eating during the day every two and a half hours (which is an improvement from every two hours), and has slept through the night a few times (the other night he slept 9 hours straight, woke up to eat at 6:15a.m, and then slept for 3 more hours)- way to go little man!

Valentines

The week before Valentines Day Lily and I made salt dough heart ornaments. I have to say that it was one of the best little projects we have done in a while. Lily used the little kid sized rolling pin that my parents got her and she actually rolled out the salt dough all on her own (and was able to use the cookie cutters on her own a few times with sucess)- she did such a great job! And in case you are wondering all you need to make salt dough is a 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water. Mix and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes (we also let them dry out by the wood stove for a day or two). Then a few days after Lily and I painted the ornaments. We painted for over an hour and Lily could have kept going for a lot longer if we hadn't run out of hearts to paint. I had no idea that she loved painting so much, but now that I now we will be doing this much more!

Fire and Ice Festival

Above: Eli all bundled up for the cold

Below: Joe learning to harvest ice

When you live in Maine and you have little ones it's pretty tempting to stay bundled up inside all the time. And not that this would be wrong (I love to snuggle up next to the fire, watch videos, color, craft, play and bake the day away as much as the next person)- but we are also a family that needs to get out!! This has been even more difficult this year since it's hard to get out (at least outside) with a little little one. But a week and a half ago we decided to go for it and we headed out to the Fire and Ice Festival and the Fields Pond Audobon Center!

As soon as we pulled up to the frozen pond it was time for Eli to eat so while Joe and Lily headed down to the ice I stayed in the truck and fed the baby. And wouldn't you know it, just minutes later Eli had a major poopy diaper!:) So I put on a happy face and just laughed as I finished feeding the baby and then struggled to change his messy diaper in the front seat of the truck! And just as I finished putting layer after layer of warm clothes on our baby Joe and Lily came back to the truck because Lily wanted to go home! Grin. I refused to leave though until I had at least made it out onto the ice for a few minutes. So Joe drove the truck down onto the frozen pond and we convinced Lily to head back out for a little bit. For about 10 or 15 minutes all four of us enjoyed watching the ice harvesting demonstration/lesson. Then the children and I headed back into the truck to warm up. Because Joe parked the truck on the ice we were able to watch the ice harvesting from the relative comfort of the truck. Lily munched on cheesy popcorn (which made her very happy) and I was even able to nurse the baby. Now how many women can say that they have nursed their baby in their truck parked on a frozen pond?:) Lily would head out from time to time with Joe and then come back inside with me. After a little while we all headed up to the Curan Homestead to watch a blacksmith lesson and then headed to the warmth of the Audobon Center where we had lunch and Lily got to play in the hands on kid's discovery room!

So yeah, it wasn't easy. It didn't turn out exactly as we hoped. And our truck looked like a tornado of winter gear and popcorn hit it, but Joe and I decided that it was still better than sitting at home all morning. So we'll keep trying to get out there and I'm sure we'll have many more stories of our little family adventures!

P.S. Thanks again to our friend Tessa for the pictures (especially the rare one of all four of us)!

Sweet

We hope that your Valentines Day was sweet!

Lily's First Lifelines Trip!

Apparently Lily loved being dragged around on the ice!

Yesterday Lily went on her very first Lifelines trip! That's right- Joe took her on an ice fishing trip that he was helping to lead! I wasn't so sure that this was a good idea but Joe wanted to give it a try. So, while Eli and I stayed home Joe and Lily headed out onto a frozen pond with a group of students and our two Lifelines interns. I thought they would be back around lunch time (if not sooner)- but they didn't get home until almost 3p.m.- and Joe said that Lily didn't want to leave! Apparently she had a blast!! One of our student leaders brought his 5 year old nephew and they had a great time playing out on the ice together (I think he did a lot of pulling Lily on the sled). It also helped that Joe set up his portable ice shanty (and put his little heater inside)- so this helped to keep our little girl toasty! They did catch a couple of fish- initially this made Lily a little nervous. By the time they got home, however, Lily was pretending to go ice fishing (she was driving there in her car around our living room). My little ice fisher girl. Way to go Lily (and Joe for being brave enough to take her)!

P.S. Thanks so much Tessa for the pictures!

My Sweet Pea

I just realized that I never posted these pictures of my little sweet pea! I took them back in December, when Eli was just a few weeks old. I didn't post them right away because we used the last picture for his birth announcement and we wanted to keep it a surprise! Oh well, better late than never. And in case you are wondering-it was my mom who made Eli this adorable little sweet pea outfit!

P.S.- I took some new pictures of him today in his sweet pea bunting- I'll post them in a few days!

Score!

Did you enjoy the Superbowl this year? We sure did (even though neither of our teams made it in)! We enjoyed a fun Superbowl party at our friends, Laura and Wade's, house. Laura made lots of tasty football food, our kids had a blast together (and consumed far too many doritos), we enjoyed being with our friends, and the game itself was pretty entertaining! Laura happens to be a huge Colts fan- and the rest of us (including her kids and husband) were cheering for the Saints- so that made it fun too (especially since the Saints won)! I wasn't able to take any pictures during the game- my hands were pretty much full the entire time with either delicious food or an adorable baby- but before the game I got these cute pictures of our future little football player!

Up her nose!

One day back in December (when Eli was just a few weeks old) Lily stuck a foam circle up her nose! Joe was gone (ironically testing to get his EMT certification), I was taking a shower, Eli was napping, and Lily was watching a video (or so I thought). As soon as I got out of the shower Lily came running into the bathroom claiming that she stuck something up her nose. I looked and couldn't see anything, but she kept saying that she did and that it hurt. So I got out the flashlight, looked up her nose, and sure enough way up there was a little purple foam circle! It was a part of the foam alphabet set that Lily and Eli got in their Christmas mittens from church. I imagine that it was the center of the "B" or the "O"- something like that. The purple foam was way to far up her nose for me to try to get it, and being unable to reach Joe, I called and made a doctor's appointment for a few hours later (it was the earliest they could get us in). Thankfully though the foam up her nose kept making her sneeze and the sneezing moved the foam closer and closer. Until...just 20 minutes before we had to leave for the doctor the foam had moved down so much that I was able to get it with a tweezers (while I was nursing the baby none-the-less- talk about multi-tasking)!
After this we had a number of conversations about how we shouldn't stick things up our nose. Apparently these conversations didn't leave much of an impression. Because... just a few nights ago she did it again! I had started throwing these foam letters away as I found them, but apparently she had a few lurking under her bed. Well, on Tuesday night at around 8:30p.m. I went upstairs to turn off Lily's lights (she is becoming afraid of the dark). She was still awake and not happy that I was turning off her lights- when she declared that she stuck foam up her nose. To be honest I thought she was making it up at first- maybe it was a creative ploy so that she could stay up longer. Or I thought that possibly she was just remembering the time she did it back in December. But once again she insisted that she did it that night and that it hurt. I got out the flashlight again, but after many attempts to look up her nose I couldn't find anything. So I turned off her lights and she finally went to sleep. Really I thought she was making it up. But still I mentioned it to Joe when he got home from his meeting that night. So, when she happened to wake up randomly at 10:30p.m. Joe took the opportunity to get out the flashlight and look for himself. And sure enough- there was foam up there (red triangle shapes this time)! But this time it was REALLY far up her nose. With me holding her down Joe tried to suction it, tried to get it with the tweezers, and even tried blowing in her mouth (and closing one nostril) to get it out. We didn't have any success and Joe was nervous that if we let her go back to sleep that it could work it's way loose on it's own and go down her mouth and choke her (I hadn't even thought of that). So at 11p.m. that night Joe and Lily headed to the Emergency Room. It took a pair of nose spreaders and 3 people holding her down to get the foam out of her nose this time. Joe didn't think it was really hurting her, but apparently she was quite scared and pretty much hysterical. My poor baby. I'm so happy that I didn't have to be there to watch. By the time they got home at 1:30a.m. she was just fine and asking if she could have her special M&M snack!:) Joe had a good talk with her right after the procedure about how she should never stick anything up her nose again- hopefully this time there was more of an impact!

Future Musician?

Here's Lily playing the drums at the Brazil exhibit at the Children's Museum. She kind of looks like a natural!

Dancing Queens

Above: Lily got a little too into her dancing and took a little fall! She got right back up and kept dancing!

Below: Grampy dancing with the girls

When Lily and her cousin Brenna get together they love nothing better than putting on a tutu and dancing to classical music! They are just too adorable!

Sorry that the quality of these pictures isn't better- it was evening and I was having some problems with my flash- but you still get the idea!

Big Sisters

These are my two beautiful nieces Brenna and Lacey. Now they are both big sisters! Love them!

Holly Marie

Yesterday I became an aunty again! Joe's younger brother, Donald, and his wife, Mary welcomed Holly Marie into our growing family last night! This is their third little girl (in 3 years)! We drove down last night and got to meet our newest niece this morning! She is so little and precious. And as you can see she has a full head of beautiful dark hair. We had a great morning visiting with them, enjoying a celebratory lunch of takeout chinese food, and letting the older girls run around (and hopefully wear themselves out)! These girls are going to have so much fun growing up together! Our poor little Eli surrounded in a sea of four beautiful, pink ballerina girls!:)

Sleep Training

This morning we started sleep training! No, not for the baby, but for Lily! Since the baby was born Lily has taken to getting up earlier and earlier! She used to get up in the morning around 7:00 or 7:30 (and she would stay in bed until we came to get her). Those days are gone. Ugghhh. The last couple of mornings she has woken us up at 5:45a.m.- too early (for her and for us). Last night she actually tried to wake Joe up at 4:30a.m. Needless to say Joe put her back tp bed. So this morning we began to implement the new morning rule- which is that she has to stay in bed or in her room playing quietly until the light in her room comes on (Joe put it on a timer to turn on a 7a.m.). I did have to escort her back to her room 3 times, but it was only the first morning! Our hope is that she will gradually start sleeping a little later again (which will help all of us feel better rested). We will actually be buying the night light pictured above- which glows blue like the moon when it's time to sleep and glows orange like the sun when it's time to get up (it's on a timer). We are getting the night light so that we can bring our "sleep training" with us when we travel. We'll let you know if it works!