10/27 - Eli is feeling better

So here are a few pictures I took before Eli went to the hospital. The one above is too cute because it looks like Eli is praying. The one below is Eli relaxing/sleeping in his swing. He has such fat cheeks in this picture.
The picture below is Eli the day he went to the emergency room. I had taken all his clothes off to try and cool his temperature down.

The picture above was too funny because his hand was resting up against the side of the box. He was so much bigger in the box then he was 5 weeks ago! In the picture below, the red stuff on his foot was holding on the oxygen saturation thing. I'm so glad he's done with this medical problem. We got no rest in the hospital. They never figured out what was wrong with Eli but they know what's not wrong with him right now.
Eli's hands are sticking straight up ... it was too funny. He's feeding like a mad-man over the last few days so I can barely keep up with him.
This is Aiden's halloween costume. He looked super-cute. We are going to our church on Saturday night to do trunk-n-treat. It should be fun.
He was mad because he couldn't fly!!

The video of Aiden is him helping daddy unload groceries tonight. Brad went through dozens of groceries today to find some stuff I can eat (no dairy).

The video below is Eli just moving and looking around.

10/24 - Eli in hospital - update 3

Brad took these pictures this morning and sent them to me. Thank you Aunt Pat for the ISU clothes. That hat in the picture above is way too small (it's supposed to be a skull cap). The picture below is precious. My sweet Aiden. He's so good (usually).
OK. Now an update on Eli. He must be feeling better because he actually opens his eyes now and will wake up and interact with me. Unfortunately he wanted to do this at 10:30pm last night. We don't get a whole lot of sleep with nurses coming in to take blood pressure and temperature checks (he really hates those since they only do rectal temperature). He decided to pee all over me and the nurses last night and this morning. That said, it's difficult to change his outfit because they have to stop the IV and Eli clots VERY fast. Hopefully we can change his outfit soon because he smells. They are also in every few hours to give him his antibiotics which takes an hour. Last night, his oxygen saturation kept going crazy and alarms were going off all the time. His temperature has come up some but overall, he's feeling better. He's been nursing well since last night and has been alert. It looks like Eli might fall asleep so I'm gonna sign off and get a little shut eye since I didn't get much last night. Thanks for the prayers and please continue praying.

10/23 - Eli in the Hospital - update 2

Eli is in the hospital for at least another night. He was awake for 1.5 hours today which is the longest he's opened his eyes in a long time (maybe the longest ever). He's pretty much stayed asleep for the past 3-4 days so that is a good sign. He still has a mild fever and his breathing is a little all over the place so they are monitoring that right now. The two antibiotics are preventing an infection from the spinal tap and maybe even killing something that he has. He does have H1N1 or RSV (I can't remember if I wrote that before). He's still not nursing so well but that is probably because he is so congested. He has some nose drops to try and help with that. I think he looks so much bigger in the box now than when he was born 5 weeks ago!! He's such a little trooper. Thank you for all the prayers as we try to figure out what is wrong with him. When he does eat, he is in a ton of pain. His pediatrician thought it might be an allergy to dairy that I consume so we cut out dairy a few days ago (that is rough). We still don't know why he has all the stomach discomfort but hopefully is starts to subside soon.
Brad came to the hospital after work today and stayed with Eli while I traveled a little south to Michel's house (his daycare provider). I spent a little time with him and we took a walk down the block. The picture below I took while he was playing/teething on the bike, in her yard. It was good to see him again. Can't wait until we can all be together again!!

10/23 - Eli in the Hospital

This is gonna be brief because I'm tired. Brad and I took Eli to the ER yesterday afternoon. After some bloodwork and consultation with the hospital pediatrician, they decided to do a spinal tap to rule out a few things. They did that yesterday and Eli is now on various antibiotics to prevent infection from the spinal tap. The doctor should come talk to me this morning about some of the test results to find out what it wrong. Eli has had a fever all night despite medication so we are hoping that goes away soon. His appetite is doing better which is good. He's been poked so much yesterday (4 times to get an IV that didn't clot), a heel prick, and spinal tap and has been so good. I will send an update about the test results. Thank you for the prayers.

10/18 - Grandma Hoyt is gone

The picture above is Aiden at 2 weeks and below is Eli at 2 weeks. They look so similar in the face.
The pictures below were at 4 weeks (white card - Aiden; yellow card - Eli). They are both about the same weight at 4 weeks too.On Wednesday we went to a farm. Aiden, although he was pretty sick, had lots of fun. He got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.
Aiden got to see goats and was so scared at first. He finally saw that it was okay and ended up trying to pet them a few times.
It was pretty cold out ... in the high 40's/low 50's. We got all dressed up in our warm clothes and I put Eli in the front carrier and carried him around so he stayed nice and warm.

The video below is Aiden going down the slide. He walked up this really steep ramp all by himself and then sat down to go down the slide. He is getting so independent (which has pros and cons).

The picture above was from last night in the bath when daddy gave Aiden a new hairdo. The picture below is Eli chillin out in the boppy. Eli did really well for 2 nights and then went on a feeding frenzy for a few days. We are back on track although Aiden has had a few rough nights since he's been so sick and can't breathe.

We went for a walk last week to a nearby nature park that I love. They have this whole section of bamboo that is so cool. Aiden loved playing with it and walking around (when we let him).

The picture above is too cute. I love Aiden looking in over his little brother. He does such a good job and helps out whenever we ask him. Yesterday I had to take my van in for an oil change and Aiden and dad were hanging out together. Brad sent the picture below on his phone. They were outside playing in 48 degree drizzling weather. Aiden needs to get outside once a day and it's been raining for almost 4 days straight.

The picture above is Eli not wanting the paparozzi to take pictures. The picture below is Aiden seeing the ducks on Eli's outfit and going to get a duck for Eli. You can see Aiden has a good heart by getting Eli a duck but you can also see it air born leaving Aiden's hand to land on Eli. It cracks me up.

Above is Aiden sitting in Eli's chair. He was playing around in there tonight. Eli had his one month well baby appointment on Friday and is doing great. He weighed in at 8lbs and that puts him in the 10th percentile. He was 22 in long which places him in the 75th percentile. What a tall boy so far!!

Finally, this is Aiden helping daddy cleaning up by putting his toys back in his bins. He is getting to be such a good helper. The video below is Aiden vaccuming tonight. He's so darn cute. He's starting to try and talk and can say 'more,' 'teeth,' 'truck' and 'duck.'

10/10 - We miss sleep!

It seems like forever since I posted to the blog and I'm sorry. Brad and I experienced two nights of pretty good sleep and then the past couple have been pretty tough. I've had lots of grading to do for my on-line class and haven't had much leisure time on the computer to do the blog.

The picture above is from a visit to Ann Marie Gardens last weekend. It was a great day and we spent the afternoon walking around. The picture above is Brad being one of the statue's and Aiden being scared of all of them. The picture below is Aiden playing with his new Mr. Potatoehead Spiderman version. Grandma Hagan sent this in the mail to him and loves playing with and putting the body parts on.

Also last weekend we went for a walk down by the water. It was so beautiful out and we took the whole family (Bronco included) down the street to the water. Aiden tried walking up this hill for the first time by himself. He did pretty good but needed help in some of the spots. The picture below was a box that Brad opened up and Aiden was playing in. We got a cute video and some more pictures but I can easily see how empty big boxes will be one if his favorite toys and will entertain him for hours.

Now an update about Eli. He's doing much better. All his boils have dried up and he still has a bit of a rash. We did found out it was a staph infection!! Last Wednesday Eli weighed in at 6 lbs, 1 oz. On Thursday of this week, he weighed in at 7lbs, 1 oz. He's weight gain is awesome although he's gonna be a huge fat baby if he keeps gaining a pound a week!!! He is starting to fill out his skin and look more like a normal baby.
He only has 2 premie outfits that still fit although his newborn clothes are huge on him. With the way he is growing though, he'll be into newborn clothes soon and then moving on the 0-3 months which look huge right now when we hold them up to him.
On Thursday this week I got to go to a consignment sale and bought a bunch of stuff. I bought some 0-3 month long-sleeve outfits for Eli and a bunch of long-sleeve 18 month tops for Aiden along with 2 jackets for him. We also got some 12 month jeans for Aiden (he has such short legs). He also got some new toys. His favorite is the toy below. They have something similar at church and lives on it.

Today we went to an art festival that is downtown on Solomon's Island and Aiden was playing in a lighthouse they had in the museum. Aiden loved it and had tons of fun. See his jersey!!! I love it. My friend Jessica sent it to us. She sent Eli and outfit too but he has to grow in to his.

We've worked with Aiden on signing for months and he hasn't been interested at all. He suddenly decided he'd give it a try. He can now sign "more" although he thinks it means food in general so we are working on when to use that. He can also do "bath." He's babbling a lot more and we are encouraging him to talk. Some of the things he says sound like words but he can't pronounce them clearly yet.

The video above is Grandma Hoyt pushing Aiden around in his dump truck and stopping to wave hi to Eli. He's doing pretty good with Eli. He likes to throw things when he gets frustrated and that makes us nervous but he tries to bring Eli toys. Overall, things are going well although Brad and I could definitely use some more sleep. Grandma Hoyt leaves next Saturday and we will be very sad. She's a lifesaver right now and the only way I can take a nap in the morning to try and makeup all the sleep I didn't get at night.

10/2 - Eli to the ER

I haven't been posting to the blog as much because .... I have a newborn and am getting no sleep and going to lots of doctor appointments. We got a call a few days ago that said Eli's PKU test was inconclusive. That's a test which looks for rare metabolic and genetic diseases. Eli's needed to be re-done because the results were not consistent. When I took him in (on Wednesday) I also showed the doctor what appeared to be a blister by his diaper area on his leg. They did a biopsy of it and sent it off to the lab. The picture above is Eli with his eyes open ... this is rare!! Below is Eli sleeping in after the rest of the house was up and running earlier in the week.
By Thursday morning, he had one more boil/blister and by the early afternoon he had yet another one. By the last evening, he had a dozen total. I called the on-call dr and they said to come in first thing in the morning. I took him in this morning and the dr promptly sent me to the ER with Eli. He had even more this morning all over his private area. We spent 5.5 hrs in the ER today. His white blood cell count came back okay but they still don't know what is wrong with him. They took another sample and are testing it for a virus and the bacteria sample should be back today or tomorrow. They gave us some ointment to put on it but it has already started spreading from his private area to his low abdomen. Please pray for him and this bacteria/virus to stop spreading. We have to go back to the dr tomorrow morning for a check up and to see if the bacteria results are in.
Eli did get his first the other day. He did pretty good ... we learned some lessons of what not to do for a first bath with Aiden! Below is my cute little Aiden in his Halloween pj's riding his Tonka truck. He is so cute and doing pretty well with Eli. He's gotten really possessive of the burp clothes (which are his blankies too) so we've had to get some new ones that look different.

Mom Hoyt is having fun with Aiden and had to watch him almost all day today by herself since I was in the ER and Brad was at work. Our goal over the past few days was so keep Eli awake during the day. It's very hard to do and we haven't been able to keep him awake more than 3 times a day but we are working on it still. He has his days/nights confused which mean Brad and I are not getting any sleep.
The picture below was taken this morning as everyone was getting up. The boys are so cute. Eli is sleeping in a contoured pillow and has room to grow. He did weigh in at 6 lbs, 1 oz yesterday at the breast feeding group.
The picture below was taken tonight. Aiden didn't want to sit still and Eli wanted to eat but it's a close as we can come to a family picture right now.

The picture above is grandma Hoyt and Aiden playing hid and go seek around the couch. Aiden was having a ton of fun tonight.