Did someone press fast forward?

Was it seriously three weeks ago that I said that I would put a new blog up later that week?? I swear it was like three days ago.

It's not a suprise to anyone that this time of the year just flies by, and blogging has toppled right down to the bottom of my to-do list. It makes me sad though. I love my blog.

So let's see, things that have happened since Eli's party...

The following weekend, our nephew, Nolan was baptized. Matthew is his Godfather, so you'd think that I'd have some good pictures of the ceremony- but nope, Eli decided to shriek like a banshee, so we observed from the cry room. It was a lovely evening, and I do at least have cute pictures of Nolan from his party :)

Isn't he just the cutest?? I just love him and he has such an awesome personality to match his sweet face!

This guy was awfully cute too though- doing some light calculus reading before the party :)

After we got back, it was time for Owen's halloween party at school. Jodi was an excellent sister-in-law and came over to watch Eli so that I could go help with the party. Those kids were so stinkin' cute, it was ridiculous. I was also reminded of the fact that Owen's teachers are magic. MAGIC! I say! They have 20 four-year-olds towing the line and never even raise their voices. Owen adores them, as do the rest of the kids from what I gather.

Owen is in between the Ninja Turtle and Wonder Red on the front row.

Then it was Halloween for real. We took the boys trunk or treating at the church, and we totally thought that we were off the hook for actual trick-or-treating, until Owen asked us when it was going to be "dark Halloween". What exactly is, "dark Halloween", I inquired. He informed me that it's when it's getting dark so that the houses turn on their lights and you go knock on their doors for candy. Hmmmmm, can't pull the wool over his eyes anymore...

Then we bought a mower. It's awesome. It was a long time coming!

Sara and I took the kiddos to the zoo and Sara got to experience the awesomeness that is cool, fall zoo day. Our day especially rocked because my neighbor, TJ, who is interning in the Oceans building showed us around and even fed the penguins so that the boys could watch him. TJ is totally their hero after that!

Then, Holy Geez, it was Thanksgiving! We made the trek to Southern Indiana and spent the holiday with our Gessner family. We also got some quality Koenig/Fleck/Dilger time as well.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we spent the day with my Toschlog family. It's always great to see all of them, but it was even more special, because we were able to take my Little Sister, Michelle, along- as well as her little one, KaeLynn! I just love those girls, and I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like!! It was so great to be able to spend the day with my sis, and snuggle that sweet, sweet little girl! (Why don't I have pictures of this day!?!? I have no idea!)

Next up was Owen's Christmas program at school. It was SUPER cute, and Owen was seriously the cutest little guy there. This was confirmed by completely non-partial third parties such as Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sar!

No, seriously- tell me he doesn't look ridiculously handsome!

Last Friday/Saturday, we got our first snow of the year.

The boys were excited, and Owen especially loved playing in it. Eli however doesn't love being bundled up in all of his snow gear.

Eli layed there like a slug. It was his only defense.

Saturday, we got to babysit Cooper for the first time. We had a great time, and the boys loved loving on Cooper. Owen informed us that he would be a good big brother to Cooper... Not Eli... Cooper.

Eli expressed his love by putting Cooper in a headlock/strangle hold. Fortunately, Cooper didn't seem to mind too badly. He's working on toughening up by spending time with my two hoodlums :) He is just so gosh darn cute. We're loving this aunt and uncle gig!

Last Sunday we celebrated St. Nick's day at St. Susanna with the St. Nicholas breakfast. Jodi and Cooper joined us for the event- and Cooper even got his picture taken with St. Nick (Who has apparently been doing Weight Watchers!)

That night, we took my my mom and dad to their first Colts game at Lucas Oil. It was a fun evening, and I'm thankful that they were able to go with us!

Well, now you're all caught up. That's what we've been doing. You better have something to say about it in the comments section, so that I feel missed and like I should write some more blogs! ;)

I'll do my best to get a couple more blogs up between now and Christmas, but I need to buckle down and get my elf hat on, 'cuz I've got some gifts to make between now and then!!

Dear Baby

Dear Eli,

My precious, precious boy. I can't even begin to tell you what a joy you have been in our lives these past two years. You have brought a fullness to our lives, and filled a space that we didn't know was empty. Every day is special with you. Because of you.

You are such a funny little boy. You make the best faces, and you can always make me smile. You can light up a room with your silly ways. You still have very few actual words, but you are incredibly communicative. I rarely have trouble figuring out what it is that you want. :)

My absolute favorite thing about you is your sweet, loving nature. You love to snuggle, read books, and get belly rubs. When I ask you if you're "Mommy's baby", you give an emphatic head nod to assure me that you are.

You bring the sunshine into our world.

We love you.

Happy Birthday!

Mommy

Will we ever return...

...To the Land of the Living???

We have another week of vomit under our belts. I can't believe it. This week, it's only been Eli that's ill, but Owen still "doesn't feel good". They're sleeping a lot and pretty whiney. Eli threw up Monday, Wednesday, and then again today. It's the weirdest thing. The doctors are running some tests on them to determine if they have been exposed to e.coli, salmonella, or a variety of other nasty things.

This picture sums up Eli's activity level over the past week pretty well.




Over the weekend, we were in a "vomiting remission" of sorts. No one threw up during the 48 hours of Saturday and Sunday!! (WOO HOO) So we did a mini-Halloween, so that Owen didn't miss out all together. We trick-or-treated 3 houses in Sara and Todd's neighborhood and called it an evening.

Eli was too funny because I don't think that he realized that he was wearing anything out of the ordinary. He just kept looking at Owen like he couldn't figure out why on earth *HE* looked so funny. We got a kick out of Eli staring at Owen like this!

Sunday, it was beautiful and we were all tired of being stuck in the house- so we took a short trip down to Oliver to enjoy the beautiful weather. We had a lovely time with our best friends who love our kids even when they're sick and whiney. (We Love You Guys!) The boys and I were exhausted by the end of the day, but all in all, we had a wonderful time!

Monkey see-Monkey-do

As you can see, we had a really lovely day.

...Too bad Monday brought the puke-bug back to our house in full force.

Hopefully we'll be over this soon!!!

I lied...

Eli's throwing up again. Poor little thing.

Please God, just let us get through this!

Back to the land of the living... Hopefully!

At the writing of my last post, I really thought that my family had a rough week with sickness. Boy was I wrong. It got soooo much worse. For Owen, this all started LAST Thursday night, not this past one, but the one before. He threw up in the night, and then several times on Friday. I luckily still had some Zofran in the house from our bout with Rotovirus last spring, so I gave him a dose of that and he seemed to perk up some.

By Saturday, he seemed totally fine. He ate, drank, and played. I thought that he was better. We went to Jodi and Brett's on Saturday night for game night, and Owen was fine. Eli however developed a fever while we were there. We went home, and I took Eli's temp... 102.8! (Owen hadn't been running a fever) I gave him tylenol and kept him up until the fever came down. I put him to bed around 1:30 am.

3:30 am rolls around and Owen wakes up screaming his fool head off. He had thrown up in his bed. Matt and I both roll out of bed and deal with the mess. We get him cleaned up and back to bed.

Sunday morning- Owen seems fine again. Eli, however has respiked his fever. We fought the fever most of that day and into Monday. He also just wouldn't eat-- and if you know Eli, you know that is NOT normal!

Monday- I took the day off from watching the kids because I was worried about my kids still being sick. (Although the D. kids had already been sick before mine). Lo and Behold they seemed pretty much fine. Eli still didn't want to eat much, but other than that- no fever, no vomiting. We were golden!

Tuesday- I started coming down with it. By Tuesday evening, I felt terrible. Tuesday evening is also the day that Eli first vomited. (While I was at RCIA- poor Matthew. He had a *REALLY* bad evening!) I came home and and Eli and I went straight to bed.

Wednesday. No one vomited, but Eli slept 20 hours. I felt like sleeping 20 hours, and Eli and I didn't eat anything.

Thursday- I took Owen to his Halloween party at school. He seemed pretty much normal and hadn't thrown up since the middle of the night Sat/Sun. I felt really bad during the party and had to step outside because I felt so queasy. Eli slept 20ish hours again, but finally started eating some again. That night, we put Owen down for bed, and about an hour later- he threw up AGAIN!

Friday- Owen seemed fine again. Eli was much improved and my sickness seemed to be lifting.... Until that night when- ELI THREW UP AGAIN!!!


ARRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully, my mom was here to help me Thursday and Friday. I was getting so run down. We've done a collective 40+ loads of laundry since this all began!!


This weekend, everyone seemed a little better. We even got out of the house finally!! We did have to miss Matt's cousin's wedding, but we didn't want to get that far away from home with all that we had going on.

Hopefully, we're on the upswing. No one's thrown up since Friday- so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's over!

I'll be back later to post some photos from our weekend.

The day my life changed forever

We can say that about many days in our lives. The day we were married, the day our child was born, September 11, the day a loved one died. Our lives are marked with these days. Some are happy, some are sad, some are bittersweet. Some are simply indescribable; unfathomable to anyone who hasn't walked in those shoes.

October 12, 2007 turned into one of those days for me. We were preparing to leave with our best friends for a trip to Tennessee. We were going to spend the weekend in a cabin there to celebrate Matthew's birthday.

After some concerning events through the previous afternoon and night regarding my pregnancy, I went in to see my OB on the morning of the 12th. I had an ultrasound that revealed a teeny, but normal little baby. For the moment, my fears were somewhat calmed. I think in my heart, I still knew that things weren't okay. They also drew blood to check my HCG levels.

That afternoon, I got the phone call that changed everything. My OB called to inform me that my blood tests indicated that my pregnancy was terminating. I cannot describe the helplessness that consumed me at that point. The pain that pierced my heart was unimaginable.

The following days and weeks were some of the worst of my life. It was a difficult road to walk. I felt so alone. I was angry and hurt that God would let this happen to me. But like always, God has a plan.

I ended up meeting an amazing group of women who had also suffered losses around the same time as me. These girls have been wonderful blessings in my life, I still speak with them daily, and feel extremely close to all of them. The ties that bind us now are much deeper than the initial tragedy that brought us together.

The other blessing that comes from this is Eli. Eli wouldn't be here today if I would have carried that pregnancy to term. I am thankful everyday for the blessing that he is to our lives.

I will never understand why my angel was taken from me so soon. My heart will never be completely healed. But I have learned a lot these past two years. I am a different, and better person than I was. I have a deeper appreciation for the miracle of life, and a better understanding of just how precious and fragile life really is.

So today my prayers are with many of you.

To those of you with earthly children, hug them, tell them how much love them, remind them how precious they are to you.

To those of you who are pregnant or trying, my prayers are with you and your unborn children.

To my friends who have suffered losses, my prayers are with you. Always. We know that our angels were simply too beautiful for this earth. We know that one day, we will finally get hold our heavenly children in our arms.

I love you girls very much.

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels

By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees

And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting

And I know she's smiling saying

Don't worry 'bout me

(Chorus from Alan Jackson's, "Sissy's Song")

On this day...

On this day, two years ago, I found out that I was pregnant.

Scratch that.

On this day, two years ago, two pink lines confirmed that I was pregnant... In my heart I already knew.

On this day, I set about making Owen an "I'm going to be a Big Brother" shirt so that I could share the wonderful news with the proud papa when he arrived home. I was ecstatic about this pregnancy.

On this day, I called my OB, and they gave me a due date of June 7, 2008. All that I could think was, "What a perfect birthday present."

On this day, I was as certain as the day is long that this baby was a girl.

On this day, our family celebrated a new addition-to-be. We couldn't be more excited to bring this new life into the world.

On this day, I was happy.