Hats, Hats, and more Hats

Eli has such a fun imagination and likes to make-believe in lots of different ways. Sam and I got him a dress-up hat collection (that includes a viking hat, construction hat, pirate hat, firemans helmut and race car driver helmut). He loves to wear his hat and have us wear them too...Even the dog has worn a hat. Eli loves to share his favorite things (poor milo wishes he wouldnt share quite so much). In addition to his fun imagination, he has started to sing and hum. He is such a musical and creative guy!

The Shedd Aquarium

We took a mini-road trip this past weekend to the awesome Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Eli, who we all know is a fish maniac, thought the aquarium was even more amazing than the farm he plays at every friday. The aquarium had some amazing exhibits, but we all loved the Beluga whales the best. The aquarium has a baby beluga named bella who was too cute, and one of the adult beluga's was flirting with Eli. All in all, it is one of my favorite family days ever!!! The car ride actually went very well, except for the last hour but that is to be expected when you have a tired and cranky toddler, a tired and cranky little baby, and a very tired and cranky mom.

But we made it home safe and sound and had a day to remember.

HAPPY 19 MONTHS ELI

Eli had his 19 month check up last week and he continues his role as the most massive toddler ever!!! Our Dr. thinks that Eli looks like a 3 year old. He is 36.5 inches (WAY WAY WAY OFF THE CHARTS) and 32 pounds (which is barely off the charts...we are trying to beef him back up). He is a healthy and happy toddler and he is always on the go. Our favorite words of Eli's right now are Bunya (for bunny of course) and his very special way of saying truck (he says it F*ck). HA! We love when he says truck in public. It is hilarious and a bit disconcerting to see that sweet cherub face spew that very dirty word. His vocabularly is enormous and he has an amazing imagination (he loves to make his blocks into airplanes and fly them around with noises). Eli is such fun.

BIG BEAUTIFUL BRAVE NATE

Nate, the brave little man that he is, had a very tough week. Last friday morning we noticed that Nate had little broken blood vessels (pin prick looking dots) all over his arms legs face and tummy so we headed in to the dr. After a quick look and some fast blood work our Dr. notified us that Nate had a platelet count of 5000 (normal is 140,000 to 440,000). Nate and I were rushed by ambulance 3 hours to St. Louis Children's hospital where he immediately received a platelet transfusion...and there we stayed until Tuesday. Randomly, after contracting a cold, Nate developed a clotting disorder (ITP) that took 2 days to diagnosis conclusively and then another 2 days to make sure the medication worked. This was without a doubt the single most terrifying experience of our lives and a very harrowing week.

The great news is that Nate is on the mend his platelet counts are at 200,000 (what a champ). The poor little love will have weekly blood draws for the next 3 months and then monthly for another 3 months as this can rarely pop back up.

Nate was such an amazing baby in the hospital (he is always amazing but he was even more amazing than usual). He only fussed the first night at 1 am when they put in his IV for the transfusion. He was such a brave, happy boy for all of the blood draws (except for finger pricks which he hated). Nate was the darling of our hospital floor and the nurses and dr.'s would all come in to visit with him or take a turn holding him so I could grab a shower. He even kept to his usual sleeping and eating routine!!!!

Sam and Eli (milo too) held down the fort here in Urbana. Sam is such an amazing Dad and he and Eli had a blast here. We were all so relieved when Eli and Sam came to St. Louis to pick Nate and I up on Tuesday afternoon. We are settling back in and are beyond thankful for Nate's recovery and all the good wishes from friends and family.

We would like to say here, because we will never be able to say it often enough, that my brother Chris was a life saver. He talked to all of Nate's Dr.'s everyday and updated us and answered any questions we had. It was a relief to know that Chris was on our side and fighting for us too! Nate sends a big thanks your way Uncle Chris.

Momma and her little guys

I love my boys! I have two sweet, snuggly little guys who make every day something special (and crazy, hectic, hilarious, bizzare, and perfect). Its hard to believe they are already 2.5 months and 18.5 months old.

Rock n Roll Nate

Nate rolled over from his front to back today...it was amazing! Sam and I both got to see this special milestone, which made it all the more special! In addition I have nicknamed Nate my little lion because he is so loud when he talks and chuckles. He is such a love.

Conversations with chickens and tractors

"making a very important point about bunnies and ducks!"

"This turkey talked back...loudly"

"one of the animals"

"My buddy, the chicken, loved my antics"

"This is one serious tire "

"I loved this tractor so much I sat on the ground, kicked my feet and screamed like a maniac when I had to let someone else take a turn...MINE!"

Today was touch-a-tractor day at prarie farms (a replica farm with tons of animals and tractors and such). Now we started off at the Tractors because we knew that Eli would love sitting on the tractors, honking their horns and steering the wheel...we just didnt anticipate how MUCH he would love this. He loved it so much that after he had to get off the first tractor and give another child a turn he threw a full blown toddler tantrum, even though we were headed to a different tractor. Things got better with each subsequent tractor sitting ( Eli thinks he is a midwest farm boy at heart) but we still made a break for the animal section of the farm pretty fast to avoid another war.

So we went from super tractor toddler to super " I am a nut and cant make up my mind which animal I love best and why wont the animals talk to me when I say hi and why is everyone staring at me as I run from enclosure to enclosure squealing, talking, gesticulating, and generally being a wild man" toddler (there is no punctuation in that phrase because that is honestly the only way to describe Eli this afternoon). Eli is the reason that every animal pen has a sign that reads "please dont yell at or touch the animals". The highlights of the animal section were a chicken that liked Eli's talking and antics and hung out with him by the fence, a turkey that wanted to eat all the kids, and the two minature ponies that took the petting zoo to an x-rated level with their attempts at procreation! What a day.

Honestly, today was our favorite family day since we moved here. We went to the farmers market and library this morning. This afternoon in addition to tractor days we met up with my friend Amy, her husband and son and daughter at an ice cream shop to beat the heat (their son matthew is 6 weeks older than Eli and their daughter Zadie is 4 weeks younger than Nate). It was an all around king family adventure.