Eli's First Day of School

But first...some playground fun from yesterday.
Eli and Inara get silly.
Eli talks Yaya into sliding Harry over and over and over and over...
Contemplating the slide.


OK! Now for our big excitement for the day (no, not childbirth). Today was Eli's first day of two day a week preschool. He was soooooooooooooo stinkin' cute.
He's been wearing his back pack empty all week. When I put it on him this morning full of school stuff, he toppled backward. Classic.
Backpack...check. Tiger lunch box...check. Harry...check.
My boy's all grown up.
He looks jazzed doesn't he?
Jazzed or petrified?
Delicious.
And...he happily went to playing. We said our goodbye. No tears from Eli. No tears from Mama.

Then, here's what we found when we came to pick him up. Notice Eli in the assistant's lap in the background weeping, and the teacher with that, "No really, he was fine most of the time." face.

He missed his Mama.
Here he is showing off the pink bunny he got for being a new member of the bunny class.
I think the caption to his photo includes some choice words. You can interpret for yourselves.
Wild-eyed survivor.
After pick-up Yaya and I took Eli to the park. He proudly clutched his Bunny Class bunny.
And, enjoyed a first-day-of-school Sunday.
Sweet sweet boy. I keep reminding myself that he's still just my little one-year-old. He's not off to college yet, even though he felt so grown up today. He still needs me and I still definitely need him. A lot. Even though while he was at school I got a leisurely lunch and saw a movie with my Mom, I still prefer to have him around.

And in other news...still no Tummy Baby.

A New New Camera

Here is some photo fun from the 4th new camera. Note to selves: stop letting Eli play with the camera. Mama Fun
Lawn Mower fun.

Popsicle and Harry fun.
Wild-eyed fun.
Yaya fun!!!


Toothbrushing fun.


Dada fun.
Awwwww.

Due Date

We love going back and reading the blogs from the days around Eli's birth. Today, when we were at the 40-week appointment, we were talking about this post from Eli's 40-week appointment. He was born a little more than 48 hours later.

Since I've heard from some of you that you're checking the blog lots lately, here's the update: there has been some progress since last Wednesday's appointment, and the stars--while not yet aligned--seem to be making their ways toward alignment. I have a hunch that he'll be born sometime between today and Thursday. Jessa just has a hunch that if he isn't born soon, she might lose her mind.

If nothing else happens, we have an induction scheduled for Sunday the 30th. So in a week, either way, baby will make four.

Friday Night At The Park

As the due date approaches (2 full days left), we're trying to enjoy life the way it is, with just the three of us. Tonight we went to orientation for Eli's preschool. He'll be going two days a week for about 5 hours a day. The preschool is in Eric's church, so it's not so bad. His teachers seem great. After that, we went out for some pizza and then took Eli to the park down the street from our house.

He had a GREAT time. Usually he's pretty timid about slides, but he was sliding away tonight. He even insisted in taking turns with another boy on the slide, and wouldn't go until the other kid did.

One of Eli's favorite games is something we call Night Night Wake Up. Basically he pretends to fall asleep and then wake up suddenly. He can't get enough of it. Here, he's grinning, because we added Tickle to the end of the cycle. He thinks the bottoms of slides are perfect for this game.
He's SO PROUD of his ability to hang with his feet off the ground. And frankly, it IS impressive. There's a far-off belly shot in the distance for Jodie.
The Mulch Monster.
Grinning because he loves climbing in and out of the tube (you can see the edge of it on the right).

I got tired of fighting with Blogger's horrible video upload feature, so this is on YouTube.

Super Fun

Eli's new favorite thing to do is be Super. Super Eli throws his arms into the air and runs around being super. Today, I made him a cape to match his superness. It made me feel super.
See? Super! (FYI - pants are not required to be super).
Super Eli showered in magic bubbles.
As we were leaving tonight, Eli took a little rest on the top step. He does this a lot, although it usually happens on the way up, not the way down.
Eli is getting ready to start preschool in a week and a half (unbelievable!). We bought a little fall jacket and sweet REI backpack for him today. These items made him (and us) perfectly giddy. He ran around REI celebrating his big-boy-ness.
He's ready for school - or to hike to A.T. He LOVES that his pack has buckles in front just like Dad's.
On CT result day Eli helped me bake a little celebratory cake. He ate it very seriously with a little fork. Cake, apparently, is no laughing matter.
But noses are.

Eli is full of tricks lately:

• This morning he sat on the train table with a Sesame Street book and recited one of the jokes Ernie tells, complete with gheee gheee gheee Ernie laugh at the end.
• He also loves to do the piggies on his own toes or on Harry's. He goes through all five, from market-going to wee wee weeing.
• Tonight at the Spaghetti Factory (yum) we heard the wait staff sing Happy Bithday at least four times. All the way home Eli sang himself and Harry Happy Birthday.
• He asks us every ten minutes if we're "Ready to Go?" He loves our new place because there's so much to do - as long as you're willing to scale the three flights of stairs. He has figured out the key - frequent rest breaks - and as soon as I can get down that low again, I will join him in his little sidewalk naps.
  

Big Head Fred

It may weigh me down, but everything inside my big ol' head is A-OK!
Whew. That's enough head nonsense. Let's eat some cake.

The Saga of the Big Head

Ok guys, I know I've mentioned Eli's recent head trauma, but I can't remember if I have given all the details here or on Facebook or what. And to keep people from worrying, here's the scoop. It's really not a big deal.

So, since he was a wee bean in my belly, he's been a bean with a giant noggin. His head always measured a week older than his body and gestational age on ultra sound. Then, I gave birth to him, and I can attest, his head was large then too.

Every pediatric visit since his birth has gone like this:
~The nurse takes us back and does all his measurements (he hollars).
~The doctor comes in and whips out the laptop to show us his growth charts. He gets to the head growth chart and says, "This can't be right."
~The doctor measures his head again and sure enough, it's really that big.
~We discuss further testing. It goes a little something like..."His head is crazy big, but his development is right on...so...let's wait until the next appointment and see if his growth curve actually begins to curve."
~And we go in every 3 months (instead of every 6) to have his gourd measured.

All this extra attention has made him super anxious around anything medical. He freaks out at his appointments, my ob appointments, and even haircut appointments. If someone even looks like they might want to touch his head, he has choice words for them.

So, at his last gourd measuring appointment, the jump was too big to ignore. His growth "curve" is a straight line, and he has gone from being considered "99+ percentile" to "100+ percentile". So, his doc scheduled a CT scan, looking for mass, cysts, or fluid, but expecting to find nothing but brain in there.

CT attempt #1 went as we expected. He screamed, he flailed. They rescheduled us at the Children's hospital for a sedated CT.

CT attempt #2 was a dud. The sedation order never made it to the hospital, so they attempted it awake again. It was just like attempt #1, except he's getting smarter, which basically means he starts freaking out sooner (in this case, at the admission desk, when the lady tried to put his hospital bracelet on. She had to put one on Harry Elephante just to talk him into letting her put one on him).

Today was our third attempt and I almost blew it! I followed the order that he could have nothing but clear liquids this morning. BUT, I forgot to cut him off at 9:15. Thankfully, they were able to shuffle some things around to push ours back a bit. We went back to the waiting room for about another 45 minutes and then they got him prepped. Whew!

It was a little dicey while they took his vitals and prepped him. Then it was real dicey when we all went to the CT room and they administered the happy gas. But it was quick. I held him while they put the mask on him (and he screamed) and in a minute or two he was out. Eric and I waited about 10 minutes in the waiting room and then they came and got us and he was awake and content. He named all the animals on the door to the room where he was prepped. We made glove ballons.
Isn't he cute in his little gown!
Hangin' in there.
Taking a little pre-sedation nap.
This school bus was a hit.

So, it is finished! Thankfully. We expect results in a day or two and we are really not worried at all. There are no other concerns that would point to trouble in his head. He's developing beautifully - some days, in fact, he's too smart!

Here is a fun one of Eli as godzilla destroying tokyo while we waited for the gatorade to clear his system. Good times.

Since they were able to do the scan with just the gas (they were ready with an IV and IV sedatives if needed), the rest of our day was normal and nice. He was not groggy or "floppy" as they warned he might be. He was a total trooper and does not seem any worse for wear.

Thanks for all your support and well wishes. We'll let you know what we find out.