On the Mend?

Well, we have about 25 hours to go before if is officially Eli's birthday. Yesterday, after 31/2 days of fevers, coughing and other yucky things, I took him to our wonderful pediatrician. She checked him over very thoroughly and said he had an ear infection, but his lungs sounded clear. He seems to have some upper respiratory problems. She started him on 2 IM doses of antibiotics and sent him home with the 10 day supply of "oral" meds. I am not usually thrilled about antibiotics, but he was so sick I just "knew" pneumonia was next. Today was still a very long day. He is still coughing a lot and still has a mild fever. This evening he is finally sleeping and I have been able to get him to keep stuff in his tummy. However he started a bad case of diarrhea and he is now on probiotics to counteract the antibiotics. I gave him a nebulizer treatment this morning and he smiled when he felt the cool air on his face. He even reached out with both hands and grabs the mouthpiece and pulled it closer to his face. He looked so adorable, but no pictures because Jeromy had the camera with him in Portland. Oh well, I guess it is a great opportunity to use your imagination.

So here I am late at night giving Eli his meds. I draw up the syringes and proceed to push them through his feeding tube only to realize they were coming out on the chair. PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME YOU HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE . I do have an explaination. He was finally sound asleep cuddled up on the big chair covered with a blanket. I had him set up on his continuous feed earlier, but I forgot I unplugged it during his last choking episode. I didn't want to disturb him by messing with his tube so I slid the medication Y from the blanket and began pushing the meds. it was then I realized his tube was not hooked to him. Yah, my nursing instructors would give me a big "F". Oh well after two years of tube feeding that is my first one of that particular oops. So, I drew up the meds I had dumped, but 2 of them look very similar and have similar doses. After checking the dose and taste-testing I opted to dump the look a like and start over. I didn't want to risk any more oopses. I have overdosed him on Cyproheptadine before and I will not make that mistake again, I hope. I know I never stand to get a real nursing job ever again after this confession but oh well. I love my kids and "my job" and I don't want another job anyway.

Yah and Jeromy is home from Portland. Yeah for a safe trip, I am glad he is home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A BIG THREE YEAR OLD!!!

" I'm almost 3"

chillin in the swing


"Guardianship hearing, Eli is ours!"

trying to kiss daddy

around Eli's 2nd birthday

just before Eli's 1st Birthday

I truly hope it is a happy birthday for Eli. He has not truly had a happy birthday yet. Birthday #1 was just over a month from his injury and he was so overly stimulated he could not hardly handle being out of his room. Birthday # 2 he ended up really sick with a cold. We actually woke him up to sing to him and give him a present. He was in no condition either time to enjoy any part of his special day.

I had big hopes for this year. Eli has had so many good weeks, laughing and smiling and cooing. But this week after many weeks of great progress and nothing but smiles from Eli, he has once again fallen into a bit of a slump. Back to seizures, retching, holding his breath and turning blue. He has ended up with a terrible cold and had a 100-103 fever for 2 days. I am praying he will recover quickly and be ready for a little birthday fun. If he is feeling well he might even get a taste of his own birthday frosting.

We love you sooo much Eli and we pray God will bless you with peace and joy. You have brought such an amazingly unexplainable joy to our lives and we hope you have a truly Happy Birthday.

Love Dad, Mom, Kaly, Ayla and Gavin

The Royal Festival

Kaly and Ayla with flowers from Gma Becky and Gpa Mark!

The girls were able to participate in their first gymnastics competition, The Royal Festival. It was so exciting to see them performing the skills they have been developing the last couple of years. Kali started her team off on the beam. I knew very little about the scoring, so when I heard the man next to us say in amazement that the score on the beam was a 9.0. I said "really that was my daughter, is that good?" He said yes that is great. That started the night with a lot of excitement.

Kaly's scores:

vault-7.7/9

bars-8.7/10

beam-9.0/10 5th place in her age group

floor-9.35/10

all around-34.75 7th place in her age group

Ayla's scores:

vault-6.6/9 5th place in her age group

bars-8.2/10 5th place in her age group

beam-7.9/10

floor-8.9/10 4th place in her age group

all around-31.6 5th place in her age group

Ayla's floor routine.

Kaly's floor routine.

Grandpa Mark and Grandma Becky and a friend all joined us for the event. We had a great time trying to keep track of the scores and watching all of the girls perform. It was very crowded and hard to get great pictures so we went to my sister Aimee's for a little photo shoot.