Grandma and Grandpa gave the big boys a giant trunk full of dress up clothes for Christmas. You would not believe how much fun we are having. My boys would rather play pretend than any other thing. For example, if I get out the legos in hopes of building something elaborate with them, they build for approximately 3 and a half minutes before their brains turn OFF builder mode and into "what can we pretend these legos are instead." So they aren't going to be architects....
My favorite thing they pretend recently is "The Exodus." The other day I walked into the living room where they were dancing to music. Elliott promptly informed me that they were getting married.
"You can't marry your brother," I replied.
"No, Mom." He retorted. "I'm Zipporah. Caleb's Moses."
Stay tuned for a series of pictures from the trunk.
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them." Psalm 127:3-5
Showing posts with label Elliott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elliott. Show all posts
January 7, 2011
November 1, 2010
Deep Sea Diving
It all started a couple of months ago when Caleb asked Ben how much a submarine costs. He had decided earlier in the day that he wanted to drive one when he grows up. After explaining that they are very expensive Caleb promptly told me, "Mom. I can't spend any more of my money buying icees at Target. I need to save all of my money up for a long time so I can buy a submarine." (Isn't it incredible how he has a long term saving plan already???? Ha!)
So when I asked Caleb what kind of costume I could make him last week he quickly suggested scuba diver. So that is what we did. It was a very inexpensive option with the base of the costume completely reusable for the rest of the winter. Awesome!
The boys dressed up in their costumes to give out candy yesterday. They had a blast! We encouraged them to give generously (and in return we let them eat a bunch of candy while they were doing it.) It was a fun night!
Without further ado, here are my little Scuba men:
And here is my little pumpkin man. I didn't make him a matching costume (though I was tempted) but isn't he so cute? He melts my heart!
So when I asked Caleb what kind of costume I could make him last week he quickly suggested scuba diver. So that is what we did. It was a very inexpensive option with the base of the costume completely reusable for the rest of the winter. Awesome!
The boys dressed up in their costumes to give out candy yesterday. They had a blast! We encouraged them to give generously (and in return we let them eat a bunch of candy while they were doing it.) It was a fun night!
Without further ado, here are my little Scuba men:
 |
| Looks like he found a treasure while he was under the sea--two bags of skittles! |
And here is my little pumpkin man. I didn't make him a matching costume (though I was tempted) but isn't he so cute? He melts my heart!
September 30, 2010
What he says...
Elliott said like 3 words at 18 months. Not kidding. And they were mostly variations of the same sounds. "Stuck." "Tucker." and "Duck." For a few months he said "Daddy" but then he stopped. And he never said "Mommy."
Shortly after his 18 month check-up he started saying all kinds of words. And now, right at 2 years, he talks all. the. time. And clearly, I might add. Like the other day when I walked in his room to get him up for the day and he said, "It's not really very dark out anymore, mommy." Slightly taken aback by the number of words in that thought I replied, "Well, no, no it's not, Elliott."
I'm glad he talks now. Mostly because he says the FUNNIEST things. His littly spunky personality finally has a little spunky mouth as well.
Here are some conversations we had today:
(This was in the middle of a conversation after he got disciplined for running into the street.)
Me: "Elliott, you are a sinner. You need a __________." (this is where he should say "Savior")
Elliott: "Binky."
(This was as he was crawling down the stairs on his belly, face first while I was reading a book to Caleb.)
Elliott: "I'm not gonna kill myself mommy."
Me, as I look up to see what he is doing: "Huh, Elliott? Oh my goodness, be careful."
Elliott: "I'm not gonna kill myself. I'm ok."
Indeed, he did not kill himself. But I about died laughing.
Shortly after his 18 month check-up he started saying all kinds of words. And now, right at 2 years, he talks all. the. time. And clearly, I might add. Like the other day when I walked in his room to get him up for the day and he said, "It's not really very dark out anymore, mommy." Slightly taken aback by the number of words in that thought I replied, "Well, no, no it's not, Elliott."
I'm glad he talks now. Mostly because he says the FUNNIEST things. His littly spunky personality finally has a little spunky mouth as well.
Here are some conversations we had today:
(This was in the middle of a conversation after he got disciplined for running into the street.)
Me: "Elliott, you are a sinner. You need a __________." (this is where he should say "Savior")
Elliott: "Binky."
(This was as he was crawling down the stairs on his belly, face first while I was reading a book to Caleb.)
Elliott: "I'm not gonna kill myself mommy."
Me, as I look up to see what he is doing: "Huh, Elliott? Oh my goodness, be careful."
Elliott: "I'm not gonna kill myself. I'm ok."
Indeed, he did not kill himself. But I about died laughing.
October 16, 2009
Elliott's 1st Birthday (Two months later)
Elliott Paul's 1st Birthday
September 5, 2009
Nana Joyce & Elliott
Family Picture
September 5, 2009
It has been quite a few weeks since we celebrated Mr. Elliott's big day but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to post about the fun weekend we had! Want to make sure I record it somewhere! It was perfect that it landed on Labor Day weekend so both of our families could come help us celebrate! Though Elliott wasn't feeling quite himself after coming down with a cold, he still managed to have a fun time and so did we!
Before I get to the party, here are some things you might want to know about Elliott at 12 months (remember, this is outdated by now and most things have changed!)
Weight: 18lbs 12oz, not even big enough to turn the car seat around yet, 3rd percentile
Height: 29 1/2 inches
Favorite foods: popsicles, french fries, (can you tell he's not the first born???) soy yogurt, pears, toast with butter and jelly, eggs!
Dislikes: most food that is healthy, dairy (well, he probably likes it but it doesn't like him) and he's officially allergic to bananas, and whole wheat seems to make him spit up
Nursing: still twice a day--first thing in the morning and last thing before bed
New skill: walking and running everywhere, climbing on top of anything (including finding ways to get on top of the kitchen table and inside the refrigerator and up on a shelf)
Signs: more, all done, hi, bye, up, puppy, flower, ball,
Words: Dada, that
Routine: Sleeps 8-7, takes one morning and one afternoon nap, plays hard in between
Loves: dogs, driving Caleb's hot wheels cars, playing outside (especially in the front where it's completely unsafe since the street is like 4 feet from our front door!), and DADDY! Daddy is his all time favorite of all people and all things! Nothing trumps Daddy!
Without further ado, here are some pictures of the weekend:
Before I get to the party, here are some things you might want to know about Elliott at 12 months (remember, this is outdated by now and most things have changed!)
Weight: 18lbs 12oz, not even big enough to turn the car seat around yet, 3rd percentile
Height: 29 1/2 inches
Favorite foods: popsicles, french fries, (can you tell he's not the first born???) soy yogurt, pears, toast with butter and jelly, eggs!
Dislikes: most food that is healthy, dairy (well, he probably likes it but it doesn't like him) and he's officially allergic to bananas, and whole wheat seems to make him spit up
Nursing: still twice a day--first thing in the morning and last thing before bed
New skill: walking and running everywhere, climbing on top of anything (including finding ways to get on top of the kitchen table and inside the refrigerator and up on a shelf)
Signs: more, all done, hi, bye, up, puppy, flower, ball,
Words: Dada, that
Routine: Sleeps 8-7, takes one morning and one afternoon nap, plays hard in between
Loves: dogs, driving Caleb's hot wheels cars, playing outside (especially in the front where it's completely unsafe since the street is like 4 feet from our front door!), and DADDY! Daddy is his all time favorite of all people and all things! Nothing trumps Daddy!
Without further ado, here are some pictures of the weekend:
Grandpa Lyle and Elliott
Nana Joyce & Elliott
Family Picture
Uncle Matt & the boys
Grandpa Lyle & Nana Joyce
Grandpa Kenny & Grandma Lou
Cute!
Elliott loves wide open spaces. He ran back and forth across this bridge forever.
All the cakes--"pup"cakes, Elliott's personal puppy cake, and the large puppy for everyone to share!
Bare feet in the backyard is our families favorite. 
All of our ride on toys ready for the kids to play with at the party. I think we need a few more, don't you???
Don't you love this?
Some birthday attendees: Papa Red & Owey
The world's best babysitters: Sarah & Rachel Poel
Caleb's buddy Zach
Olivia & Tali
The Poel's, Mrs. Andrea & Nana
Ethan & Abby
Opening presents
Stripped down and ready to eat some cake
What a mess! He ate SO much cake but a lot was just smashed in front of him!
So the next day Elliott was very sick. He had a fever and was just not himself at all. He was so exhausted from all the festivities. At one point during the day I went to the kitchen to get a piece of cake to eat and he took one look at it and threw up everywhere. I think he had bad memories. Later that day I was holding him and walked by the cake and he gagged. Sort of funny yet pretty sad! I think that is what you call too much of a good thing! We thank God for Elliott Paul and for blessing our family with such a happy and busy little boy. We love you, Elliott! Happy 1st Birthday!
July 15, 2009
Mad Libs
Are you ready? We're going to play a little game. Remember those old word games we used to play called Mad Libs where you insert some words and it makes a funny story? Do they even make those anymore?
Ready? Here we go.
#1 _____________
name of small animal
#2 _____________
preposition
#3_____________
noun
#4_____________
preposition
#5_____________
noun
#6_____________
same small animal as above
Now fill your words into the paragraph below:
Once upon a time there was a young boy. This boy was rather small in stature, so small that his dad would come home from work, look at him and say, "Why is our (#1)_____________ standing on his back legs playing with toys? Oh wait, that's Elliott." This boy, of small stature, liked to rapidly move around the house seeking adventures. On one particular Wednesday morning (not much different than any of the others) in a matter of minutes Elliott could be found (#2)____________ a (#3)_____________ or (#4)_____________ the (#5)______________. Meanwhile, his mother offered up prayers of supplication to a faithful God for protection for her (#6)_____________, I mean boy. The end. (Well, hopefully not!)
So, I wanted to provide you with a correct list of words for the above scenario that is in fact (constantly) true. Ben has referred to Elliott as a cat before, saying that guests will come into our home and ask while looking at Elliott that very question, "Why does your cat stand on its back legs?" You can mix and match the following prepositions and nouns to describe places Elliott has gotten himself recently (no help needed). Trust me, it will most likely apply :)
Ready? Here we go.
#1 _____________
name of small animal
#2 _____________
preposition
#3_____________
noun
#4_____________
preposition
#5_____________
noun
#6_____________
same small animal as above
Now fill your words into the paragraph below:
Once upon a time there was a young boy. This boy was rather small in stature, so small that his dad would come home from work, look at him and say, "Why is our (#1)_____________ standing on his back legs playing with toys? Oh wait, that's Elliott." This boy, of small stature, liked to rapidly move around the house seeking adventures. On one particular Wednesday morning (not much different than any of the others) in a matter of minutes Elliott could be found (#2)____________ a (#3)_____________ or (#4)_____________ the (#5)______________. Meanwhile, his mother offered up prayers of supplication to a faithful God for protection for her (#6)_____________, I mean boy. The end. (Well, hopefully not!)
So, I wanted to provide you with a correct list of words for the above scenario that is in fact (constantly) true. Ben has referred to Elliott as a cat before, saying that guests will come into our home and ask while looking at Elliott that very question, "Why does your cat stand on its back legs?" You can mix and match the following prepositions and nouns to describe places Elliott has gotten himself recently (no help needed). Trust me, it will most likely apply :)
- on top of a toy tool bench
- under the crib
- over the recliner
- inside the washing machine (ALMOST...I caught him mid-dive)
- within a small box
- behind two shoe racks in the corner of our closet
- beside the toilet
- beneath the toilet
- below the computer desk next to the paper shredder inside the garbage can (all at the same time!)
- through the spokes that run horizontally on our chairs at the kitchen table
- on the seat of a kid's bike (standing up, not sitting mind you)
- up a full flight of stairs (while mom was wiping the breakfast table--we're talking 10 seconds tops!)
June 8, 2009
So Big, So Little!
Caleb and I like to work on signing with Elliott during lunch. Caleb remembers most of the signs we taught him as a baby and likes to carefully show Elliott how to do them. Sometimes when we're working on one Elliott will start banging his hand on the high chair tray and while I sternly tell him "No." Caleb instead will say, "Elliott, that's not more (or whatever sign we're doing) that's patty-cake!" When we were showing Elliott "so big" with arms above your head Caleb kept insisting, "Elliott is not so big. Elliott is so wittle." Though E-man has been doing this "so big" thing for quite a while, Caleb almost always still comments that Elliott is not big but is, in fact, little. There is some truth to that....
Saturday Doctor's Appointment Stats (like promised):
9 Months
16 lbs 12 oz (around 5th percentile)
27.5 inches (around 25th percentile)
There is some concern because our little guy hasn't gained any weight in at least 6 weeks and has dropped down in percentiles. The doctor, though, is not concerned because this has occurred at the same time as Elliott became mobile. He's using more energy during the day without a big increase in food intake. She is insisting that he is perfectly healthy and that children until they are 2 jump all over the percentile scale until they settle into their genetic disposition. Of course we are not being wise or fair to compare Elliott's size to Caleb's, they are literally opposite ends of the size spectrum, but it's hard not to.
At this point we've been instructed to put aside the food guide pyramid for little Elliott and give him whatever it is that he'll eat, even if that means he only eats 2-3 oz of vegetables and then has 10 crackers, rice chex, and part of a muffin. We're hoping to introduce some milk products back into my diet soon and see if he is bothered. We may even just try a little yogurt for him so that we'll know for sure if his tummy can handle them. If he does well digesting them, Lord please make that happen, we will definitely start giving him more fatty things like yogurt and cottage cheese.
We are praying that Elliott will continue to grow, that he will continue to thrive (he's doing awesome at meeting the milestones so far), and that we will have wisdom in how best to feed him. This little boy is so sweet, so cute, and so loveable. The Lord was definitely sovereign over having us choose his name, Elliott Paul--remember that Paul means small? Like Caleb says, "Elliott is not so big. Elliott is so wittle." But we love every little bit of him!
Saturday Doctor's Appointment Stats (like promised):
9 Months
16 lbs 12 oz (around 5th percentile)
27.5 inches (around 25th percentile)
There is some concern because our little guy hasn't gained any weight in at least 6 weeks and has dropped down in percentiles. The doctor, though, is not concerned because this has occurred at the same time as Elliott became mobile. He's using more energy during the day without a big increase in food intake. She is insisting that he is perfectly healthy and that children until they are 2 jump all over the percentile scale until they settle into their genetic disposition. Of course we are not being wise or fair to compare Elliott's size to Caleb's, they are literally opposite ends of the size spectrum, but it's hard not to.
At this point we've been instructed to put aside the food guide pyramid for little Elliott and give him whatever it is that he'll eat, even if that means he only eats 2-3 oz of vegetables and then has 10 crackers, rice chex, and part of a muffin. We're hoping to introduce some milk products back into my diet soon and see if he is bothered. We may even just try a little yogurt for him so that we'll know for sure if his tummy can handle them. If he does well digesting them, Lord please make that happen, we will definitely start giving him more fatty things like yogurt and cottage cheese.
We are praying that Elliott will continue to grow, that he will continue to thrive (he's doing awesome at meeting the milestones so far), and that we will have wisdom in how best to feed him. This little boy is so sweet, so cute, and so loveable. The Lord was definitely sovereign over having us choose his name, Elliott Paul--remember that Paul means small? Like Caleb says, "Elliott is not so big. Elliott is so wittle." But we love every little bit of him!
June 2, 2009
Update (minus photos because I can't get my camera to upload on the computer...)
I wrote this post like 5 days ago and have been waiting to post it until I added pictures. Well, I've tried to upload all the recent pictures from our camera like 43 times today and it's not working so you're getting a post without pictures. Sorry! I'll post some when I can get the camera to work.
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Where has the time gone? I did not mean to abandon this blog for over 2 months but apparently I did. Life has been full for the Krueger's. Though I'm pretty sure it's full for everyone.
We are doing so well, praise God! He continues to faithfully shower us with kindnesses. Though our time together as a family is more limited now than ever due to Ben's work, we continue to thank Him for providing a job for Ben here so we could move out here and be a part of our church. Through the faithful care of many that we now call "friends" we have seen God refine us and sanctify us more than ever. We are humbled that He called us to this area to be recipients of such wonderful care, good counsel, and faithful friendships. Because of the work He continues to do in us we are experiencing a more loving marriage, more compassionate & consistent parenting, and an increased desire to see the Gospel go out and transform others. We wouldn't trade what God's been doing in us (even though it meant LOTS of hard, not fun trials) for the world. With that said, we still miss our Iowa friends and family, small towns, big yards, and ice cream shops that you can ride your bike to in 10 minutes instead of drive to (aka sit in traffic) in 15 :)
Now what you've all been waiting for--an update on the boys!
Caleb is 2 1/2 now. He is tall, I have no idea how tall, but he towers over all of his similar aged friends by 3 inches at least. He weighs around 37 pounds. Wears 3T's and 4T's depending on what it is and has a size 8 shoe. He is BUSY! He loves outside more than anything and will frequently pray to ask God to make it stop raining when it is raining. He could swing in his swing all day if you'd let him. But if you won't, he's just as happy to play in his sandbox. While in the sandbox you will find him pretending to be on a building site with his trucks OR making pizza or some other food with various sand toys that we have in there. His love for all things equipment continues as well as his obsession with lawn mowers. He can tell you all of the parts of a lawn mower and I seriously think he can hear people 3 miles away when they start their lawn mower.
Caleb's love for books continues. He will stop everything to read. He especially loves it when we read from one of his Bible story books. We are praying that this love, especially for God's word, will continue all of his life. He has a keen ability to make connections between texts that astounds me every time. This has been true all his life. At 10 months old during play pen time he had a stack of books in there and when I came back he had 3 of the books opened and sitting there--they were all opened up to a page with an owl on them. It freaked me out then but it excites me now. I am teaching him signs that we used when I taught to show me (or more politely interrupt!) that he has a connection. It's fun.
Caleb is still good with a scissors but not so awesome with crayons or pencils. We're STILL working on trying to draw circles but that's been a tough one for him. He knows most of his letter sounds and names. Numbers not so much. He can count to 20 but usually needs help with one of the teens, usually 15 or 17. And he spell his name like this "C-A-E-B". Close. We're still working. He has troubles with some sounds and gets frustrated when we try to practice them (unless he's swinging--the neighbors probably think we're crazy having speech lessons in the swing outside EVERYTIME!) He struggles with /j/ /l/ /r/ /s/ /v/ /y/ /z/, especially when they come at the beginning of words.
During the day, Caleb will most likely be found pretending that an object is something else and that we are somebody else. His imagination is awesome. However, it sometimes plays itself out at rotten times. For example at lunch, "Mom, this plate is a pancake. This fork if a fwipper. I'm going to fwip it over now. Don't touch it; it's hot." We're working on that, too!
Did I tell you that he is potty trained. I mean, did I tell you that he was potty trained. I mean, did I tell you that he is currently potty training again :) At the beginning of March he totally trained himself in like 3 days. He always told us, never had accidents, and even would stay dry all day and night. It was a blessing handed to us straight from the Lord. We couldn't believe it. After a bout with a horrible flu that took out the entire male population in our house, we sort of back tracked. Anyway, long story short, he was potty trained, experienced a brief regression (that made his mother crazy!) and is now back on his way to independence again. Praise the Lord!
Now for Elliott! Elliott is just shy of 9 months. I have no idea how long he is either but will update you after our next appointment (Saturday). The last time he was at the doctor, probably a month ago, he weighed 16.5 pounds. He wears mostly 6-9 month clothes (probably because that's what size Caleb's clothes were for this season) but still fits into most of his 3-6 month stuff. He wears size 2 diapers. He is full of new tricks everyday. He started crawling in April and man is he fast. He gets where he wants to go and he gets there quickly. Shortly after he started crawling he started pulling himself up on everything. Last night as I was cleaning the kitchen and he was playing in the toy room, the big guys ventured upstairs. I heard a pitter patter and decided to go check and he was up 2 stairs on his own. Uh oh! Gotta keep 2 eyes on him all the time now! And just today he stood in the middle of the room by himself for like 10 seconds. I thought I was going to fall over in shock, but then he did ;)
Elliott is still hit or miss with eating and sleeping, much to our dismay. He is against all things green and for all things orange. Unfortunately he spits up a lot when he eats peaches so we avoid those and he projectile vomits bananas even though he loves them. So he basically eats the same thing everyday. Breakfast--oatmeal and applesauce. Lunch--carrots & barley. Supper--sweet potatoes & prunes or pears. I still offer a multitude of other fruits and vegetables but usually end up dumping them down the drain since he refuses to eat them. He is quite skillful at feeding himself and prefers sweet potato puffs (he could take or leave any other kind of puff you give him), cheerios, kix, watermelon, and crackers. He would eat an entire sleeve of crackers if you let him I think. Today he ate a rice cake and you would have thought I'd given him a chocolate cupcake or something the way his eyes lit up when I gave him more. He may or may not have tasted popsicles at this point and he may or may not LOVE them so much that he'll bolt across the room and pull on your pants until you pick him up so he can snag a lick. At this point I am still avoiding milk in my diet for Elliott's tummy's sake but with much urging from Ben, I will be starting to add it back in and see if he can handle it.
As far as sleep goes, we had some ROUGH nights a few months ago trying to get him to sleep through the night. The training paid off and he started to sleep much better. Though he still has some nights of crying, he more frequently sleeps peacefully all night! He typically goes from 8pm-6am and wakes up. I feed him and he goes back to sleep until 8 or 8:30. Then he takes a 1.5-2 hour morning nap and a similar afternoon nap. On the nights he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will usually just wake up once and cry for what seems like forever. Sigh. Someday, right?
Elliott's favorite toys are Caleb's. A ride-on choo choo train toy is his favorite. It has a lot of bells and whistles. He also prefers to chew on shoes as a past time. Don't worry, you don't have to take them off your feet. He doesn't mind just chewing on 'em right there while you're wearing them. He is infatuated with his pacifiers. Though we usually keep them in his bed, if he sees one while he's somewhere crawling around he will smile, laugh, grab it and then insert it into his mouth. Today he actually stole the neighbor girls out of her mouth and put it in his. He hyperventilates and shakes with excitement if you open ANY door in the house because he thinks he gets to go out. He, too, likes to swing but also loves to just crawl around in the grass or play with Caleb's outside toys. He thinks it's a blast to throw sand (and hasn't tried to eat it yet) and has eaten at least one dandelion. Apparently they're not poisonous. He's still alive.
Some of my favorite things Elliott does include tilting his head to the side and batting his eyes when you say, "Be sweet, Elliott!" At first I was horrified that he had a terrible tick or something because he started doing in ALL THE TIME when I was feeding him sweet potatoes. Then I realized it was because I kept saying sweet. Too funny! He also likes to wave "hi" and does it in 2 different ways--actually waving and also opening and shutting his fist. He is saying these sounds now: dada, nana, yaya, gaga and my personal favorite, eye yi yi! They don't mean anything at this point. We're working on signing more and he is pretty consistently doing it after being prompted. Othertimes he will continue to scream in anger or bang on his tray. We're never at a loss of things to work on here :)
For some reason my children are really affected by the whole stranger danger thing. Caleb went through the stage too. Because Elliott's personality is so different, I didn't think he would but he totally is. He has a bottom lip that an ostrich could perch on before he lets out a scream. Caleb was pretty much a momma's boy but not Elliott. His allegiance is to his daddy. He gets SO excited when he sees Ben. Will stop whatever he is doing, literally chuckle, and sprint crawl to Ben. If I am holding him and Daddy comes into sight, he throws himself out of my arms towards Ben. I can only imagine that this is a pleasant thing to come home to each night after a long day's work. Then, if Ben has the audacity to say, put him down so he could eat his supper, there are many tears.
And these boys that I've just blabbed about, well they love each other so much too! Caleb could drop kick Elliott and Elliott would laugh. Similarly, Caleb watches out for Elliott and includes him all the time. He is the first person he either says hello to in the morning or asks about if he's not with me. May they always be the best of friends!
We so enjoy these two little guys and praise God for them. They are SUCH a blessing. I cannot imagine life any different now. I take that back, I can imagine some visitors. Whose up for a visit to our house?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where has the time gone? I did not mean to abandon this blog for over 2 months but apparently I did. Life has been full for the Krueger's. Though I'm pretty sure it's full for everyone.
We are doing so well, praise God! He continues to faithfully shower us with kindnesses. Though our time together as a family is more limited now than ever due to Ben's work, we continue to thank Him for providing a job for Ben here so we could move out here and be a part of our church. Through the faithful care of many that we now call "friends" we have seen God refine us and sanctify us more than ever. We are humbled that He called us to this area to be recipients of such wonderful care, good counsel, and faithful friendships. Because of the work He continues to do in us we are experiencing a more loving marriage, more compassionate & consistent parenting, and an increased desire to see the Gospel go out and transform others. We wouldn't trade what God's been doing in us (even though it meant LOTS of hard, not fun trials) for the world. With that said, we still miss our Iowa friends and family, small towns, big yards, and ice cream shops that you can ride your bike to in 10 minutes instead of drive to (aka sit in traffic) in 15 :)
Now what you've all been waiting for--an update on the boys!
Caleb is 2 1/2 now. He is tall, I have no idea how tall, but he towers over all of his similar aged friends by 3 inches at least. He weighs around 37 pounds. Wears 3T's and 4T's depending on what it is and has a size 8 shoe. He is BUSY! He loves outside more than anything and will frequently pray to ask God to make it stop raining when it is raining. He could swing in his swing all day if you'd let him. But if you won't, he's just as happy to play in his sandbox. While in the sandbox you will find him pretending to be on a building site with his trucks OR making pizza or some other food with various sand toys that we have in there. His love for all things equipment continues as well as his obsession with lawn mowers. He can tell you all of the parts of a lawn mower and I seriously think he can hear people 3 miles away when they start their lawn mower.
Caleb's love for books continues. He will stop everything to read. He especially loves it when we read from one of his Bible story books. We are praying that this love, especially for God's word, will continue all of his life. He has a keen ability to make connections between texts that astounds me every time. This has been true all his life. At 10 months old during play pen time he had a stack of books in there and when I came back he had 3 of the books opened and sitting there--they were all opened up to a page with an owl on them. It freaked me out then but it excites me now. I am teaching him signs that we used when I taught to show me (or more politely interrupt!) that he has a connection. It's fun.
Caleb is still good with a scissors but not so awesome with crayons or pencils. We're STILL working on trying to draw circles but that's been a tough one for him. He knows most of his letter sounds and names. Numbers not so much. He can count to 20 but usually needs help with one of the teens, usually 15 or 17. And he spell his name like this "C-A-E-B". Close. We're still working. He has troubles with some sounds and gets frustrated when we try to practice them (unless he's swinging--the neighbors probably think we're crazy having speech lessons in the swing outside EVERYTIME!) He struggles with /j/ /l/ /r/ /s/ /v/ /y/ /z/, especially when they come at the beginning of words.
During the day, Caleb will most likely be found pretending that an object is something else and that we are somebody else. His imagination is awesome. However, it sometimes plays itself out at rotten times. For example at lunch, "Mom, this plate is a pancake. This fork if a fwipper. I'm going to fwip it over now. Don't touch it; it's hot." We're working on that, too!
Did I tell you that he is potty trained. I mean, did I tell you that he was potty trained. I mean, did I tell you that he is currently potty training again :) At the beginning of March he totally trained himself in like 3 days. He always told us, never had accidents, and even would stay dry all day and night. It was a blessing handed to us straight from the Lord. We couldn't believe it. After a bout with a horrible flu that took out the entire male population in our house, we sort of back tracked. Anyway, long story short, he was potty trained, experienced a brief regression (that made his mother crazy!) and is now back on his way to independence again. Praise the Lord!
Now for Elliott! Elliott is just shy of 9 months. I have no idea how long he is either but will update you after our next appointment (Saturday). The last time he was at the doctor, probably a month ago, he weighed 16.5 pounds. He wears mostly 6-9 month clothes (probably because that's what size Caleb's clothes were for this season) but still fits into most of his 3-6 month stuff. He wears size 2 diapers. He is full of new tricks everyday. He started crawling in April and man is he fast. He gets where he wants to go and he gets there quickly. Shortly after he started crawling he started pulling himself up on everything. Last night as I was cleaning the kitchen and he was playing in the toy room, the big guys ventured upstairs. I heard a pitter patter and decided to go check and he was up 2 stairs on his own. Uh oh! Gotta keep 2 eyes on him all the time now! And just today he stood in the middle of the room by himself for like 10 seconds. I thought I was going to fall over in shock, but then he did ;)
Elliott is still hit or miss with eating and sleeping, much to our dismay. He is against all things green and for all things orange. Unfortunately he spits up a lot when he eats peaches so we avoid those and he projectile vomits bananas even though he loves them. So he basically eats the same thing everyday. Breakfast--oatmeal and applesauce. Lunch--carrots & barley. Supper--sweet potatoes & prunes or pears. I still offer a multitude of other fruits and vegetables but usually end up dumping them down the drain since he refuses to eat them. He is quite skillful at feeding himself and prefers sweet potato puffs (he could take or leave any other kind of puff you give him), cheerios, kix, watermelon, and crackers. He would eat an entire sleeve of crackers if you let him I think. Today he ate a rice cake and you would have thought I'd given him a chocolate cupcake or something the way his eyes lit up when I gave him more. He may or may not have tasted popsicles at this point and he may or may not LOVE them so much that he'll bolt across the room and pull on your pants until you pick him up so he can snag a lick. At this point I am still avoiding milk in my diet for Elliott's tummy's sake but with much urging from Ben, I will be starting to add it back in and see if he can handle it.
As far as sleep goes, we had some ROUGH nights a few months ago trying to get him to sleep through the night. The training paid off and he started to sleep much better. Though he still has some nights of crying, he more frequently sleeps peacefully all night! He typically goes from 8pm-6am and wakes up. I feed him and he goes back to sleep until 8 or 8:30. Then he takes a 1.5-2 hour morning nap and a similar afternoon nap. On the nights he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will usually just wake up once and cry for what seems like forever. Sigh. Someday, right?
Elliott's favorite toys are Caleb's. A ride-on choo choo train toy is his favorite. It has a lot of bells and whistles. He also prefers to chew on shoes as a past time. Don't worry, you don't have to take them off your feet. He doesn't mind just chewing on 'em right there while you're wearing them. He is infatuated with his pacifiers. Though we usually keep them in his bed, if he sees one while he's somewhere crawling around he will smile, laugh, grab it and then insert it into his mouth. Today he actually stole the neighbor girls out of her mouth and put it in his. He hyperventilates and shakes with excitement if you open ANY door in the house because he thinks he gets to go out. He, too, likes to swing but also loves to just crawl around in the grass or play with Caleb's outside toys. He thinks it's a blast to throw sand (and hasn't tried to eat it yet) and has eaten at least one dandelion. Apparently they're not poisonous. He's still alive.
Some of my favorite things Elliott does include tilting his head to the side and batting his eyes when you say, "Be sweet, Elliott!" At first I was horrified that he had a terrible tick or something because he started doing in ALL THE TIME when I was feeding him sweet potatoes. Then I realized it was because I kept saying sweet. Too funny! He also likes to wave "hi" and does it in 2 different ways--actually waving and also opening and shutting his fist. He is saying these sounds now: dada, nana, yaya, gaga and my personal favorite, eye yi yi! They don't mean anything at this point. We're working on signing more and he is pretty consistently doing it after being prompted. Othertimes he will continue to scream in anger or bang on his tray. We're never at a loss of things to work on here :)
For some reason my children are really affected by the whole stranger danger thing. Caleb went through the stage too. Because Elliott's personality is so different, I didn't think he would but he totally is. He has a bottom lip that an ostrich could perch on before he lets out a scream. Caleb was pretty much a momma's boy but not Elliott. His allegiance is to his daddy. He gets SO excited when he sees Ben. Will stop whatever he is doing, literally chuckle, and sprint crawl to Ben. If I am holding him and Daddy comes into sight, he throws himself out of my arms towards Ben. I can only imagine that this is a pleasant thing to come home to each night after a long day's work. Then, if Ben has the audacity to say, put him down so he could eat his supper, there are many tears.
And these boys that I've just blabbed about, well they love each other so much too! Caleb could drop kick Elliott and Elliott would laugh. Similarly, Caleb watches out for Elliott and includes him all the time. He is the first person he either says hello to in the morning or asks about if he's not with me. May they always be the best of friends!
We so enjoy these two little guys and praise God for them. They are SUCH a blessing. I cannot imagine life any different now. I take that back, I can imagine some visitors. Whose up for a visit to our house?
March 12, 2009
Elliott--6 month update
It seems impossible to us that Mr. Elliott has graced us with his presence for a little over 6 months. We thought it would be fun to share an update on Elliott and all he is doing at this stage (and also get it recorded somewhere before it slips away!)
Weight: 15lbs 6.4oz (13th percentile--I know, I know, you're intimidated by his size!)
Length: 26.5 inches
What he's doing: rolling everywhere, sitting up by himself, scooting backwards which leaves him very frustrated because the toys suddenly get out of reach, eating baby food (well supposed to be eating, see below...), jabbering all of the time which usually turns into loud screams which may or may not indicate anything depending on the look on his face
Favorite food: Sweet Potatoes...and by favorite I mean the ONLY food he will open his mouth for to allow in though we try green beans, peas, rice cereal, squash, applesauce, and pears regularly. The rest of the food involves gagging, spitting "raspberries", pursing his lips shut so you couldn't jam a spoon in if you tried, or whining. Eating is not his preferred activity unless there are yummy sweet potatoes on the spoon!
Here he is gagging on peas:
Schedule: Eats at 8, 12, 4 & 8. Naps from 10ish to 12ish and then again from 2ish to 4ish. Sometimes he cat naps in the early evening. And we're still working on the night...pray for Elliott and us as we don't know what else to try and are just trying to trust the Lord with this too.
Favorite toy: Doesn't matter as long as he can put it in his mouth.
Exhibit A: Curious George.
Exhibit B: Corn on the cob.
He loves his exersaucer and Caleb's Little People Town too.
What makes him laugh?: Being tickled, riding on Daddy's head, Caleb talking to him, Mommy singing silly songs.
What makes him mad?: Mommy not coming in to feed him in the middle of the night, laying on the floor for too long because he wants to sit all of the time now, not being able to reach toys, people trying to feed him anything other than milk or sweet potatoes
Favorite activity: Bath Time--he's a splasher!
Teeth: not so much.
Mood: Happy! We are praying that the joy he exudes right now would continue all of his days. What a blessing!
Elliott -- 6 months
January 19, 2009
Long time, no see!
Wow! I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted anything. Time has flown for sure. We had a delightful Christmas though it required lots of traveling here, there and everywhere. We especially enjoyed the simplicity of our extended family Christmas celebrations--no big gift exchange just simply enjoying conversation and fellowship with each other. It brought me MUCH joy to see Caleb pick up where he left off with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He thoroughly enjoyed interacting with them which made his mom and dad very happy!
We are enjoying our little boys more than ever. Everyday I'm pretty sure they are cuter and smarter and funnier. Caleb has turned into a little pretender. Elliott has revealed that he wants to be heard--he'll "jabber" and make noises loudly while he's playing in his bouncy seat. I would summarize them both as delightful these days!
So what's new with each of them?
Caleb is loving to pretend--he likes to play pizza delivery with mom (funny thing, too, because I'm pretty sure we've never had pizza delivered to our house!) He likes to play doctor--he pretends he's his friend Tali and I'm the doctor. He will tell me he fell of and bonked his head--"Wike Humpty Dumpty!" He is still in love with his farm toys. He pretends each room of our house is a different field, the living room is beans, the toy room is wheat, the family room is corn. He will drive the combines all over the room "picking" the crop and then drive his tractor and wagon next to it to empty the hopper into the wagon. When he is all done, he'll drive his machines into the canvas box where we store them (their "shed") and say "Doodnight Combine! Doodnight tractor 'n green John Deere wagon!" My favorite pretend scenario was this one from last week:
"Mommy, may I Taywub peese hab that buck buck (bucket)?"
Sure Caleb, here you go.
"Fanks Mommy.....in case I pit (spit) up."
Runs into the other room, grabs a block, pretends it's an onion and pretends to eat it. Then he fake pukes in the bucket and runs to the bathroom and dumps it in the toilet and flushes while yelling:
"Taywub pit up. Fush down pah-dee. Bye bye pit up."
Then he literally just dropped the bucket on the floor and kept on playing with his toys like it never happened. Meanwhile I was in the kitchen rolling on the floor with laughter at how funny it was!
He has been healthy for a few weeks now--we had one crazy high fever after Christmas but nothing since then and it is so nice to see my little man's personality as it is instead of masked by the yuckiness of high fevers and how awful it makes him feel. Praise the Lord for a healthy few weeks! We do have to go see a specialist tomorrow to get something checked out that he's had since birth. I'll update more on that tomorrow after the appointment.
Caleb is SO hilarious. Everyday he says new phrases or words that I've never heard him say that make him sound so grown up. For example, "Oh doodness. My Taywub's i-peem-poem (ice cream cone) fall off. Oh bumma!" {That was a pretend situation as well.}
Or there was the situation when he decided to pretend my cell phone was a boat in a cup of water. OOPS! As I was lamenting to him that my phone was broken and oh no what are we going to do he says, "Mommy, go to store and buy new phone." I said, "Caleb, we can't just go to the store and buy a new one, phones cost money and we don't have that much money to just buy a new one." He replies after a brief moment of pondering, "Mommy go to store. Hab Taywub's piggy bank. Use Taywub's peemees (pennies) buy new phone." I have no idea how he even got the concept of money--we've never even told him that his pennies could buy things at the store. What a generous boy! By the way, he didn't get in trouble for that incident. He had no idea that dunking it in water would cause it to break and I was the one who let him hold my phone in the first place.
Caleb's newest achievement is putting together puzzles. My mom sent a puzzle for him the mail a couple of weeks ago. I kind of scoffed when I saw it thinking, "Caleb is HORRIBLE at puzzles." We have many puzzles and it seriously makes me want to pull my hair out when I do them with him because he has NO concept of how to place the pieces or move them slightly. He just didn't ever get them. Sure he can do peg puzzles but jigsaw puzzles (even the ones that say for 18 months) that have 4 pieces--he cannot get. But I showed him the puzzle anyway. I knew he'd like it because it had construction equipment on it. He did! And let me just say that he became instantly obsessed with it. It took 2 or 3 times of me helping him put it together and he could do it. Now he can do it completely by himself in like 30 seconds. This morning I got out the old puzzles and he did awesome at those as well. Here are some pictures of him doing his new one:
(P.S. I am in love with these wooden jigsaw puzzles--they were just what he needed to figure it out! They are sturdy and really helped him get the concept easier than the cardboard thin ones. I highly recommend them!)
Now for my Mr. Elliott. He is so delightful. He giggles and laughs at anything, nothing, and some strange things--Daddy coughing, Mommy making her lips pop, Caleb doing anything. He is ALMOST rolling over but not quite. He is quickly learning to sit unassisted. He grabs at anything you put in front of him and puts it immediately to his mouth. He is working on a tooth. He is figuring out how to use his left thumb as a soother. He would rather stand in your lap then sit in it. He looks like a baby bird because he always has his mouth wide open--either to smile or to try and get something in his mouth. He still is not sleeping through the night after an agonizing week of letting him cry it out with absolutely no progress. He still wants that 3:30 feeding, much to his mother's dismay. With our pediatrician's advice in mind (she originally told us to give it a try but then said if it wasn't working after a week that we should not force it), we are waiting another month or two until we try that again and hopefully we won't have to. Hopefully he will do it on his own. Here's hoping...
He is SO tiny! He was 13 lbs 15 oz at his 4 month check up--25% for all you numbers folk. We about peed our pants when we heard that stat. Caleb has never been below 75% for anything in his entire life--and the 75% was a rarity. He is usually riding on the 90-95% mark. So Elliott is just a teeny tiny babe. As a matter of fact, on Thursday of last week he wore without a problem the outfit that Caleb wore home from the hospital at 2 days old. Hilarious!
He still loves his daytime naps during and falls asleep so easy. The routine is that I bring him upstairs, swaddle him up (with one arm out!), give him his pacifier, sing him a verse or two of a song and put him down. The whole process takes about 3 minutes. When I put him down he is drowsy but sometimes (even after only a verse) he will already have his eyes shut. It's like I couldn't have laid him down awake if I tried. Anyway, it's such a joy to put him down for a nap--no fighting involved! He's like his momma--he'll take any opportunity he can to catch some winks! Did you know when I was little I would tell my parents that it was time for me to go to bed and ask them to please come tuck me in in a few minutes--no lie! This week he has started waking up from naps super early so I'm having to let him cry it out in the middle of naps but I'm thankful that he doesn't cry at the start of them. Praise the Lord for that extreme kindness!
Here are a few pictures of or littlest man:
(he's trying to suck his thumb in this one!)
And for the finale, here is a shot of the both of them taken right before Christmas:
We are enjoying our little boys more than ever. Everyday I'm pretty sure they are cuter and smarter and funnier. Caleb has turned into a little pretender. Elliott has revealed that he wants to be heard--he'll "jabber" and make noises loudly while he's playing in his bouncy seat. I would summarize them both as delightful these days!
So what's new with each of them?
Caleb is loving to pretend--he likes to play pizza delivery with mom (funny thing, too, because I'm pretty sure we've never had pizza delivered to our house!) He likes to play doctor--he pretends he's his friend Tali and I'm the doctor. He will tell me he fell of and bonked his head--"Wike Humpty Dumpty!" He is still in love with his farm toys. He pretends each room of our house is a different field, the living room is beans, the toy room is wheat, the family room is corn. He will drive the combines all over the room "picking" the crop and then drive his tractor and wagon next to it to empty the hopper into the wagon. When he is all done, he'll drive his machines into the canvas box where we store them (their "shed") and say "Doodnight Combine! Doodnight tractor 'n green John Deere wagon!" My favorite pretend scenario was this one from last week:
"Mommy, may I Taywub peese hab that buck buck (bucket)?"
Sure Caleb, here you go.
"Fanks Mommy.....in case I pit (spit) up."
Runs into the other room, grabs a block, pretends it's an onion and pretends to eat it. Then he fake pukes in the bucket and runs to the bathroom and dumps it in the toilet and flushes while yelling:
"Taywub pit up. Fush down pah-dee. Bye bye pit up."
Then he literally just dropped the bucket on the floor and kept on playing with his toys like it never happened. Meanwhile I was in the kitchen rolling on the floor with laughter at how funny it was!
He has been healthy for a few weeks now--we had one crazy high fever after Christmas but nothing since then and it is so nice to see my little man's personality as it is instead of masked by the yuckiness of high fevers and how awful it makes him feel. Praise the Lord for a healthy few weeks! We do have to go see a specialist tomorrow to get something checked out that he's had since birth. I'll update more on that tomorrow after the appointment.
Caleb is SO hilarious. Everyday he says new phrases or words that I've never heard him say that make him sound so grown up. For example, "Oh doodness. My Taywub's i-peem-poem (ice cream cone) fall off. Oh bumma!" {That was a pretend situation as well.}
Or there was the situation when he decided to pretend my cell phone was a boat in a cup of water. OOPS! As I was lamenting to him that my phone was broken and oh no what are we going to do he says, "Mommy, go to store and buy new phone." I said, "Caleb, we can't just go to the store and buy a new one, phones cost money and we don't have that much money to just buy a new one." He replies after a brief moment of pondering, "Mommy go to store. Hab Taywub's piggy bank. Use Taywub's peemees (pennies) buy new phone." I have no idea how he even got the concept of money--we've never even told him that his pennies could buy things at the store. What a generous boy! By the way, he didn't get in trouble for that incident. He had no idea that dunking it in water would cause it to break and I was the one who let him hold my phone in the first place.
Caleb's newest achievement is putting together puzzles. My mom sent a puzzle for him the mail a couple of weeks ago. I kind of scoffed when I saw it thinking, "Caleb is HORRIBLE at puzzles." We have many puzzles and it seriously makes me want to pull my hair out when I do them with him because he has NO concept of how to place the pieces or move them slightly. He just didn't ever get them. Sure he can do peg puzzles but jigsaw puzzles (even the ones that say for 18 months) that have 4 pieces--he cannot get. But I showed him the puzzle anyway. I knew he'd like it because it had construction equipment on it. He did! And let me just say that he became instantly obsessed with it. It took 2 or 3 times of me helping him put it together and he could do it. Now he can do it completely by himself in like 30 seconds. This morning I got out the old puzzles and he did awesome at those as well. Here are some pictures of him doing his new one:
(P.S. I am in love with these wooden jigsaw puzzles--they were just what he needed to figure it out! They are sturdy and really helped him get the concept easier than the cardboard thin ones. I highly recommend them!)
Now for my Mr. Elliott. He is so delightful. He giggles and laughs at anything, nothing, and some strange things--Daddy coughing, Mommy making her lips pop, Caleb doing anything. He is ALMOST rolling over but not quite. He is quickly learning to sit unassisted. He grabs at anything you put in front of him and puts it immediately to his mouth. He is working on a tooth. He is figuring out how to use his left thumb as a soother. He would rather stand in your lap then sit in it. He looks like a baby bird because he always has his mouth wide open--either to smile or to try and get something in his mouth. He still is not sleeping through the night after an agonizing week of letting him cry it out with absolutely no progress. He still wants that 3:30 feeding, much to his mother's dismay. With our pediatrician's advice in mind (she originally told us to give it a try but then said if it wasn't working after a week that we should not force it), we are waiting another month or two until we try that again and hopefully we won't have to. Hopefully he will do it on his own. Here's hoping...
He is SO tiny! He was 13 lbs 15 oz at his 4 month check up--25% for all you numbers folk. We about peed our pants when we heard that stat. Caleb has never been below 75% for anything in his entire life--and the 75% was a rarity. He is usually riding on the 90-95% mark. So Elliott is just a teeny tiny babe. As a matter of fact, on Thursday of last week he wore without a problem the outfit that Caleb wore home from the hospital at 2 days old. Hilarious!
He still loves his daytime naps during and falls asleep so easy. The routine is that I bring him upstairs, swaddle him up (with one arm out!), give him his pacifier, sing him a verse or two of a song and put him down. The whole process takes about 3 minutes. When I put him down he is drowsy but sometimes (even after only a verse) he will already have his eyes shut. It's like I couldn't have laid him down awake if I tried. Anyway, it's such a joy to put him down for a nap--no fighting involved! He's like his momma--he'll take any opportunity he can to catch some winks! Did you know when I was little I would tell my parents that it was time for me to go to bed and ask them to please come tuck me in in a few minutes--no lie! This week he has started waking up from naps super early so I'm having to let him cry it out in the middle of naps but I'm thankful that he doesn't cry at the start of them. Praise the Lord for that extreme kindness!
Here are a few pictures of or littlest man:
(he's trying to suck his thumb in this one!)
And for the finale, here is a shot of the both of them taken right before Christmas:
December 16, 2008
Happy Baby
Elliott is one of the happiest babies we know. He can be starving, exhausted, and cold and still be cooing and smiling. He's had a very upset tummy the last couple of days but you would never know it by his demeanor. We praise God for the joy the he exudes.
Elliott has recently been falling in love with Caleb. Even when Caleb is across the room paying no attention to him Elliott will smile. Here are some pictures of Caleb doing goofy things to make Elliott smile. It worked :)
Caleb flapping his finger back and forth on his lips to make a funny noise:
The result:
Elliott has recently been falling in love with Caleb. Even when Caleb is across the room paying no attention to him Elliott will smile. Here are some pictures of Caleb doing goofy things to make Elliott smile. It worked :)
Caleb flapping his finger back and forth on his lips to make a funny noise:
The result:
September 30, 2008
And Then There Were Four
Many of you are probably wondering how things went with Elliott's birth since Caleb's was sort of...well, difficult! I thought I'd share some of the details just to brag on God's kindness. Wow! He sure did amaze us.
Since Caleb was so big and stuck for 4 hours before I finally pushed him out, the doctor was adamant that we not have a repeat scenario. An ultrasound done at 34 weeks indicated another big baby so we went ahead and scheduled the induction 9 days before my due date. I was hoping that the baby would decide to enter the world on its own accord and we not even make it to the induction date. At 36 weeks when I was already dilated and effaced I was very hopeful that baby would come on its own. Since we wanted to wait until after the 1st of September to have the baby (insurance switched that day) Ben insisted I not do anything to help that baby come before then. So I laid low (well, as low as you can with a BUSY toddler boy!) Anyhow, September 1st came and went and so did the 2nd, 3rd & 4th. No baby. Bummer! I was very disappointed! Poor Ben had to put up with all of my emotions. He's a good sport!
We went to the hospital on the morning of the 5th and were right on time for our 7:30 appointment. Needless to say we were the only ones on time. We got everything checked in, they hooked me up the the IV, blood pressure monitor, and baby heart monitor. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. I started to get antsy knowing how long it took with Caleb--we started at 7:30am with him and it was 9:45pm before he was born. My doctor had been on call the night before and had quite a few deliveries so she went home to sleep. She asked another doctor to come break my water but that doctor was a no show. After 2 hours of waiting I started to cry. The nurse, feeling badly, decided to call the doctor again. She then proceeded to call another doctor to come break my water. And we waited some more. Finally, at 11:10, my doctor came in herself and did it. I was having a blubber fest when she arrived but I tried to pull it back together. She apologized a zillion times and then broke my water. As quickly as she came she was gone.
So here we were with my broken water and the directions to wait for an hour to see if any contractions start on their own. After 30 minutes of nothing, the nurse encouraged us to start the pitocin. We agreed. I was more than ready to get this show on the road! It took about an hour before the contractions got really intense. Then it took me about 20 minutes to convince the nurse to let me out of bed. (She was wanting me to get the epidural immediately--I wanted to wait since it stalled me out when I got it with Caleb.) Ben and I worked through the really intense contractions for about an hour and a half. The bad part about being induced is that you go from nothing to full born labor in a matter of minutes. So you have no contractions and then you have the strongest contractions possible every 1.5 to 2 minutes for the duration of your labor. There is no build up--just immediate intensity! So after an hour and a half of that I decided to get the epidural. After I got it I think my exact words were, "Why did I ever consider not getting this? Don't ever let me do that again, Ben!" Since I was more comfortable, we both took a nap. Hilarious, I know! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this entire time I never dilated anymore than I was when I got there...I was stuck at 4. My doctor told me to expect a baby about 9:00. So the epidural came at 2:30, the nurses switched at 3, and everything from then on was AWESOME! The epidural didn't cause me to stall out this time but instead pushed me full stream ahead. Yeah hoo! The doctor was WRONG!
I started to feel some pressure around 4 but it felt like my catheder was coming out or something. The new nurse (who was fabulous) checked and made sure it was in there correctly. It was. When she left I decided to start watching--everytime I felt the pain was at the height of a contraction. Interesting. I called her in and told her that I thought it was the baby. She checked--I was almost complete. By the way, my epidural with Caleb was so strong that I never ever felt any pressure. I couldn't feel how to push with him. And so this was a new experience. They quickly prepared the room and called the doctor to let her know. Well, the doctor informed us that she had to step out for a class or something and that I had some choices. I could either a) start pushing now and I had an hour to get him out before she'd have to leave; b) wait and labor down and push when I felt like I needed to push and hopefully she'd be back by then; or c) wait and push and there would be another doctor there to deliver me. Well, I was not about ready to start pushing. I remembered far to well the 4 hours of pushing with Caleb and I wasn't going to start pushing early just so my doctor could make it to her appointment or whatever. At this point I didn't care if she delivered me or not...p.s. Why would you schedule a class on the same day you scheduled an induction? I don't get it! Anyway, I said no way. But the nurse was equally adamant that I try to push 2 times and she would monitor to see if the baby was coming down. If it was, then she'd call the doctor. If I wasn't, we'd quit and wait until I was ready. I reluctantly agreed.
So it was 5:10. She had me push once and screamed..."Cross your legs. Promise me you won't push. I have to get the doctor." Then she ran out of the room. Ben and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. Are you serious? So the nurse, the tech, and the doctor all come running in. They get the mirror ready so I could watch. Everyone was giddy and dumbfounded. They told me to start pushing. I pushed twice and they announced, "It's a boy!" I just kept laughing and saying, "Are you serious? I pushed him out in two pushes? That was crazy!" We were so joyful! Wow! What a beautiful memory.
So we got to enjoy Elliott for a couple of hours before they weighed or measured or bathed or tested him. It was sweet. He breastfed like a little champ. We called people to let them know that he arrived but we didn't know any of the stats yet. All we could say was, "We think he's smaller than Caleb was." He was much smaller. 7lbs 15 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. That compared to our 10 lb .1 oz, 22 1/2 inch first child. No wonder it only took two pushes.
So the entire pregnancy we didn't agree on boy names. Neither of us could find one we really liked. We brought a couple of names to the hospital with us in hopes that we'd figure it out while we were laboring. We decided on Elliott at about 4:45! However, it was supposed to be Elliott Lucas Krueger but when he was born Ben decided it would be Elliott Paul. We liked Elliott because it means "My God is Lord" and Paul is my dad's middle name. We also hadn't even thought of the spelling until about 4:45. We wrote it in cursive and print a few times and Ben decided on 2 L's and 2 T's at the same time he decided on Paul. In the hospital that night I remembered that Paul means small. I think that is humorous since Elliott seems so tiny to us. He is just so small! Newborn diapers fit him, newborn clothes fit him, you have to support his head, he has a tiny baby cry, etc.
That's the story! Elliott's pregnancy was much more difficult than Caleb's but his birth doesn't even register on the same chart! We were overwhelmed by God's kindness to us. We only stayed in the hospital for 25 hours and then came home. I felt awesome, Elliott was doing great, and Ben would sleep much better in our bed then on the pull out chair thing in our hospital room. My recovery wasn't much of a recovery--I didn't even really feel like I'd given birth. The only thing that was sort of hard was the shrinking of the uterus. Apparently it hurts more after every birth. OUCH! It hurt this time. But that only lasted 2 days.
More posts later on how we've been doing since we've come home! Hope you got all the juicy details you wanted! Here are two pictures showing our family growing--one was taken on Labor Day, a few days before Elliott was born. The other was taken the day after we came home from the hospital.
Since Caleb was so big and stuck for 4 hours before I finally pushed him out, the doctor was adamant that we not have a repeat scenario. An ultrasound done at 34 weeks indicated another big baby so we went ahead and scheduled the induction 9 days before my due date. I was hoping that the baby would decide to enter the world on its own accord and we not even make it to the induction date. At 36 weeks when I was already dilated and effaced I was very hopeful that baby would come on its own. Since we wanted to wait until after the 1st of September to have the baby (insurance switched that day) Ben insisted I not do anything to help that baby come before then. So I laid low (well, as low as you can with a BUSY toddler boy!) Anyhow, September 1st came and went and so did the 2nd, 3rd & 4th. No baby. Bummer! I was very disappointed! Poor Ben had to put up with all of my emotions. He's a good sport!
We went to the hospital on the morning of the 5th and were right on time for our 7:30 appointment. Needless to say we were the only ones on time. We got everything checked in, they hooked me up the the IV, blood pressure monitor, and baby heart monitor. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. I started to get antsy knowing how long it took with Caleb--we started at 7:30am with him and it was 9:45pm before he was born. My doctor had been on call the night before and had quite a few deliveries so she went home to sleep. She asked another doctor to come break my water but that doctor was a no show. After 2 hours of waiting I started to cry. The nurse, feeling badly, decided to call the doctor again. She then proceeded to call another doctor to come break my water. And we waited some more. Finally, at 11:10, my doctor came in herself and did it. I was having a blubber fest when she arrived but I tried to pull it back together. She apologized a zillion times and then broke my water. As quickly as she came she was gone.So here we were with my broken water and the directions to wait for an hour to see if any contractions start on their own. After 30 minutes of nothing, the nurse encouraged us to start the pitocin. We agreed. I was more than ready to get this show on the road! It took about an hour before the contractions got really intense. Then it took me about 20 minutes to convince the nurse to let me out of bed. (She was wanting me to get the epidural immediately--I wanted to wait since it stalled me out when I got it with Caleb.) Ben and I worked through the really intense contractions for about an hour and a half. The bad part about being induced is that you go from nothing to full born labor in a matter of minutes. So you have no contractions and then you have the strongest contractions possible every 1.5 to 2 minutes for the duration of your labor. There is no build up--just immediate intensity! So after an hour and a half of that I decided to get the epidural. After I got it I think my exact words were, "Why did I ever consider not getting this? Don't ever let me do that again, Ben!" Since I was more comfortable, we both took a nap. Hilarious, I know! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this entire time I never dilated anymore than I was when I got there...I was stuck at 4. My doctor told me to expect a baby about 9:00. So the epidural came at 2:30, the nurses switched at 3, and everything from then on was AWESOME! The epidural didn't cause me to stall out this time but instead pushed me full stream ahead. Yeah hoo! The doctor was WRONG!
I started to feel some pressure around 4 but it felt like my catheder was coming out or something. The new nurse (who was fabulous) checked and made sure it was in there correctly. It was. When she left I decided to start watching--everytime I felt the pain was at the height of a contraction. Interesting. I called her in and told her that I thought it was the baby. She checked--I was almost complete. By the way, my epidural with Caleb was so strong that I never ever felt any pressure. I couldn't feel how to push with him. And so this was a new experience. They quickly prepared the room and called the doctor to let her know. Well, the doctor informed us that she had to step out for a class or something and that I had some choices. I could either a) start pushing now and I had an hour to get him out before she'd have to leave; b) wait and labor down and push when I felt like I needed to push and hopefully she'd be back by then; or c) wait and push and there would be another doctor there to deliver me. Well, I was not about ready to start pushing. I remembered far to well the 4 hours of pushing with Caleb and I wasn't going to start pushing early just so my doctor could make it to her appointment or whatever. At this point I didn't care if she delivered me or not...p.s. Why would you schedule a class on the same day you scheduled an induction? I don't get it! Anyway, I said no way. But the nurse was equally adamant that I try to push 2 times and she would monitor to see if the baby was coming down. If it was, then she'd call the doctor. If I wasn't, we'd quit and wait until I was ready. I reluctantly agreed.
So it was 5:10. She had me push once and screamed..."Cross your legs. Promise me you won't push. I have to get the doctor." Then she ran out of the room. Ben and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. Are you serious? So the nurse, the tech, and the doctor all come running in. They get the mirror ready so I could watch. Everyone was giddy and dumbfounded. They told me to start pushing. I pushed twice and they announced, "It's a boy!" I just kept laughing and saying, "Are you serious? I pushed him out in two pushes? That was crazy!" We were so joyful! Wow! What a beautiful memory.
So we got to enjoy Elliott for a couple of hours before they weighed or measured or bathed or tested him. It was sweet. He breastfed like a little champ. We called people to let them know that he arrived but we didn't know any of the stats yet. All we could say was, "We think he's smaller than Caleb was." He was much smaller. 7lbs 15 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. That compared to our 10 lb .1 oz, 22 1/2 inch first child. No wonder it only took two pushes.
So the entire pregnancy we didn't agree on boy names. Neither of us could find one we really liked. We brought a couple of names to the hospital with us in hopes that we'd figure it out while we were laboring. We decided on Elliott at about 4:45! However, it was supposed to be Elliott Lucas Krueger but when he was born Ben decided it would be Elliott Paul. We liked Elliott because it means "My God is Lord" and Paul is my dad's middle name. We also hadn't even thought of the spelling until about 4:45. We wrote it in cursive and print a few times and Ben decided on 2 L's and 2 T's at the same time he decided on Paul. In the hospital that night I remembered that Paul means small. I think that is humorous since Elliott seems so tiny to us. He is just so small! Newborn diapers fit him, newborn clothes fit him, you have to support his head, he has a tiny baby cry, etc.
That's the story! Elliott's pregnancy was much more difficult than Caleb's but his birth doesn't even register on the same chart! We were overwhelmed by God's kindness to us. We only stayed in the hospital for 25 hours and then came home. I felt awesome, Elliott was doing great, and Ben would sleep much better in our bed then on the pull out chair thing in our hospital room. My recovery wasn't much of a recovery--I didn't even really feel like I'd given birth. The only thing that was sort of hard was the shrinking of the uterus. Apparently it hurts more after every birth. OUCH! It hurt this time. But that only lasted 2 days.
More posts later on how we've been doing since we've come home! Hope you got all the juicy details you wanted! Here are two pictures showing our family growing--one was taken on Labor Day, a few days before Elliott was born. The other was taken the day after we came home from the hospital.
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