houpley

Jackson grab that lunch box to take your lunch to camp today. This one? The Toy Story one? Yes Is it mine? Yes. To keep? Yes. To keep forever? Yes. Forever and ever.

I always did wonder how Bert and Mary Poppins knew each other. Well, Bert is a scallywag.

I have been waiting to put together an update because Eli had his Echo, EKG and two month appointment today. To catch up, Eli had his SoonerStart assessment last week. It was quite a process and exhausted him (and me!). While he has made a lot of progress physically, like being able to hold his head up when on his tummy, he still ended up qualifying for SoonerStart care. He does not display a few reflexes, particularly the walking reflex. While he did not track for them (he has for me at times at home) he did however show excellent hearing. They will begin coming to the house in January for therapy sessions. In the meantime, we are to start working on grasping, reaching out, smiling, tracking and more tummy time. Eli also had an extra appointment last week at the pediatricians due to an infected tear duct and a herniated belly button.This kid cannot catch a break. On a positive note, while getting some drops for his eye the doctor and I discussed his spitting up and constant crying. S...

Best. Christmas. Ever. Wishing you all the joys of the season.

Mama! Did you see that train? No. The blue and yellow one? No. I didn't. But I thought you said you had eyes in the back of your head.... Oh. Right. Well...uh... I guess I didn't have them turned on?

As if on cue for his one-month birthday Eli began tracking. As if suddenly awake, Eli has begun checking things out. He seems to notice us more and more. His big blue eyes stare at our faces as if trying to figure out who these people really are. Of course this happens for about 15 minutes and then he is back to discussing dinner or sleeping. It takes a bit of convincing - but he does eventually sleep for a bit. In the meantime, Eli is still spitting up a lot. He is quite fussy when it comes to eating. He is either not happy because he hasn't gotten enough, or he is grumpy because he is so uncomfortable until he spits up what seems like half of what he has just eaten. Then he is furious because now he is hungry again since half of breakfast is down his shirt. And so we start all over again. It is has been really hard to get him on any kind of schedule with this unpredictable mess. Plus it is no fun to see your newborn so unhappy. This morning was the worst as he got so upset he sp...

1. Vacuum cleaner 2. Bathroom vent 3. Hair dryer 4. Clothes dryer

Before leaving for school this morning Jackson made sure to tell me: Mama, if Eli spits up or throws up you just call me at school. You just tell them at school what happened and they will come get me and I will come home to help, ok? You just call me.

Well I made it almost three days. My parents left Sunday morning and I made it until this afternoon before taking Eli to the doctor. He has had some congestion and I swear I keep hearing him go back to making those tiny grunting sounds that he made when he was born and had such trouble breathing. Eric heard the grunting sound over the phone and I consider myself lucky to have a spouse that encouraged me to call the doctor instead of telling me I was imagining things (entirely possible we all know considering our situation). So I took him in and the good news is that Eli is gaining weight. He is now 9 pounds. The bad news was that Eli probably does have a cold. However, the doctor decided to be extra cautious and take his pulse ox which was 98 - good news. Also at this time his lungs sound good - however since he is more susceptible to respiratory distress, the doctor wants to keep an eye on his little cold. As if I'm not keeping a crazy eye on him all the time anyway. When my paren...