Time Out

"You're in time-out, head to your room 'til you can cool off."  I say this to Shiloh and it almost always ensues with screaming and more tantrum throwing than you can imagine. Today has been a day of time-outs and Sorry mom's.  We are in that 2 year old stage here at our house (Well almost, next Wednesday it will be officially here).  

I was looking at Shiloh freak out earlier today, and listening.  I thought to myself, "When did going to my room and closing the door behind me turn from a reason to throw a tantrum to a relaxing moment of quiet and peace that I don't get enough of?"

I am not sure when it happened, but I miss having a time out here and there.

So... That's what I am doing.  

Dinner is in the oven. 

Eli is sleeping.  

Shiloh and Ken are in the front room building a road and driving toy cars.  

I am in my room taking a time out.

You should have seen Shiloh's face when I told him that mommy was going to her room for a time out because she was grumpy.

Priceless.

I wonder if he is expecting me to start kicking the door and bawling....... Sounds stress relieving to say the least!

Happy Thursday All!

A beautiful day!

 So, since this outing only a few short days ago, it has turned into normal winter weather, but we had a few days in the 50's and 60's here and there.  We decided that on Saturday we would take a walk on the Katy trail and take advantage of the abnormally nice weather.  We have been on few walks on the trail, but it spans almost the entire state, so we decided to drive to a spot not far from us that we hadn't explored yet.  

  It is mostly a biking trail.

Sam forgot to inform us that he is afraid of bikes.

If I would have known, I would have left him at home.

Wrangling two kiddos is enough work, but to add an unmanageable dog that barks and growls and yipes at every biker is just annoying.

That aside, the outing was great.  We decided to go on part of the trail that had a neat bridge over a smaller tributary river, and then takes you right along side the Missouri River, or, as it has been dubbed in our house by Shiloh, the "big big river", or sometimes, the "big big tubbie"

 

  

Shiloh LOVED Running up and down this big bridge!  It was such a neat bridge and I will definitely keep it in mind for some sort of photo shoot. You can see in the first pic the little red blob, which is the double stroller, and me and Eli.

 Here I am pushing the boys along.  Ken and I took turns with who had the CRAZY dog, and who had the big stroller.  I do have to say that since we thoroughly tested the stroller out on a four and half mile trek, that I am quite certain it was made for paved roads, not dirt and gravel trails, however nice and well maintained they may be.

Shiloh loved looking out at the big big river.  There was a steep hill right there and then a nice sandy beach below.

 Kenny decided to take an adventure with Shiloh and Sam to the sandy beach and river below. I stayed behind to feed the little guy.

What the above pictures don't show: Shiloh being covered head to toe with sand, Shiloh trying to scoot closer and closer to the River all whilst Kenny is yelling at Sam for jumping into the river and then rolling in the muddy sandy yuck at the edge, Kenny throwing Sam back in the River to get the aformentioned guck off, and finally Kenny having to drag wet Sam and sandy Shiloh back up an enormously steep sandy hill....

Gotta love the adeventures of 2 year olds and dogs.  Never a dull moment, I tell ya!

An Eli update...ummm I don't think I will be able to remember all of it, but I am gonna try anyway.

Eli....

There is so much to update you on.  He is still just as cute, as the last time I posted, but so much more grown up.  He sits up on his own.  He is oh so close to crawling.  This of course makes him angry, oh SO angry.

 

 

If there is one thing about Eli's personality that is very prevalent, and has been from an early age, it is that you know exactly what is on his mind.  He never leaves one guessing even if he can't speak yet.  When he is angry, he uses his whole body and lung capacity to tell you.  

On the flip side, when he is happy, he uses his whole body and lung capacity to tell you. I just can't get enough of the way he smiles with his whole body.

I venture to guess that this little guy is going to give us a run for a money.  He has absolutely no fear and no hesitation.  He would plunge off of a couch, out of your arms, into the bathtub head first, you name it he has tried it and he isn't even mobile yet.  Good thing we were always able to keep him safe.  We are going to be working on child proofing everything this weekend because, well, let's admit it, with Shiloh we didn't have to.  A stern, "No." was enough to stop him in his tracks.  Eli on the other hand, thinks that the word no is hilarious, the sterner the better.  He might even erupt into giggles for you if you say it just the right way.

He loves Sam, the dog.  He loves jumping in the jolley jumper.  He LOVES his brother Shiloh.  He can't wait to keep up with him.  His nickname is Springs. Even if you are holding him on your hip, and his feet aren't touching anything, he still moves his legs up and down as if he were bouncing.  He bounces all of the time. He also loves his mommy.  He loves drawstrings...I know, it is a bit weird, but hand him a sweater with a tie on it and he may be entertained for a good 20 minutes or so.  It can be a real life saver.  He also loves bath time, or mostly splashing and sucking on the wash cloth.

He doesn't sleep through the night yet, but he is getting closer and closer.  It seems that there is always some sort of hiccup to hinder the process.  Two steps forward, one step back.

He has his two bottom teeth.  I couldn't find a good pick to show you, so you will just have to imagine. 

Eli really is a little bundle of fun.  Some days, I am not sure what I am going to do with my little house of boys, but I sure wouldn't trade it.  Eli adds so much happiness to our home, and I really am glad that he came to us. He also teaches me a lot, and, I am sure, has a bunch more to teach me.  Can't wait!

Our Christams Letter

Just thought that since I am on a roll with this whole "get my blog back up to date and whipped into shape" thing, that I would post our Christmas letter.  Here it is for all of you who did not get one in the mail because I was too sick, or my kiddos were too sick, or <insert any other lame excuse here>. Love ya all and enjoy!

Williams’ Family 2012 Perspectives

This year was quite an eventful one, to say the least.  There have been a myriad of changes in my life.  I have switched cities and homes.  This is a great thing.  I love it in the country in our small little town of Tebbetts.  I love the fresh air and the space.  I LOVE the space.  I was pregnant when we moved so I felt like I didn’t help out much.  I more or less watched Ken and our friends paint our house and move things in.  What a good husband I have! I had Eli at the end of May.  It was a wonderful experience.  I had him at home with my hubby.  I definitely wouldn’t have done it any other way.  I also got to take a trip to my parents’ home in Utah in August.  I took the boys, and with the help of my family, I got some much needed R & R.  I have to say that the adjustment from one boy to two has definitely been a doozy for me.  I anticipated it being difficult, but I had no idea what I was in for.  On the bright side, I love them both immensely, and I have been given the opportunity to rely on, and get to know the Savior more through this grand experience called motherhood.  In the past month or so I feel as though I have fallen into motherhood with two a little more easily and things are feeling normal as opposed to new, and I like that.  I wish you all, my friends and family, a Merry Christmas.  I hope the light of the Savior shines bright through your holiday.  Have a blessed year to come!              ~Brittani~

This year has been an adventure for me.  After moving across the country in August of Last year to Jefferson City, Mo I packed up my family again and moved out of the city and into the country.  It is still only a 15 minute commute, but it feels like our little piece of heaven out here.   It is quite peaceful and very beautiful.  Our closest neighbors are the 12 cows that live next door.  I have met other neighbors, but the cows are Shiloh’s favorite ones, and I quite like them too.  This spring I planted a nice garden, and despite the worst drought in decades I still managed to bring in a pretty good crop.  Work has been challenging, but good.  We got a new Food Service Director so there have been some changes.  Despite the other two managers not liking Him and quitting, I don’t mind the Guy.  He was a Chef before and that is helpful to me.  With Eli joining the family that makes it so the boys outnumber the girls three to one.  I guess, if you count the dog, it is really four to one.  Me and the Boys all took a turn at the hospital this year.  Shiloh and I with Hernia’s, Eli with RSV, and Sam getting the snip snip(neutered)  I thought that with the Home birth we would be staying out of the hospital this year.  NOPE.  Well Life is good.  My favorite things about our adventures this year are Tractor rides with Shiloh, watching Brittani give birth to our new son here at home. (Brittani is amazing), and bouncing up and down in unison with Eli in the Jolly Jumper.  I love my Family and I love the My Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!      ~Kenny~

What a Year!!!!!!  I finally learned how to walk on these two legs of mine, and I am telling ya, life has never been better. I like to RUN RUN RUN RUN.  There was a bit of a hiccup in the running in March when I had to go to the hospital. OUCH!  Hernia surgery is not for babies.  My mommy’s tummy was getting really big earlier this year.  She kept telling me there was a brother inside.  I had no idea what I was in for.  One day in May, I went to my friend Ryker’s house in the morning, and in the evening after dinner, I came home and there was my mom with this tiny thing she kept calling Brudder.  She talks to him in a high pitched voice and mom and dad seem to get a kick out of it if I do it too, so I give them what they want.  That Brudder, or I-lee, (what kind of name is that?) seems to be getting better at being fun.  At first he just cried and cried and he took the attention away from me.  I am so darn cute that I didn’t think it was possible for mommy and daddy to look at anything but me, but Brudder, he sure can get loud!  I love making him smile though.  I also learned how to talk really well this year, but mommy and daddy seem to need me to say everything a few times before they will do what I say. Sometimes I take a cue from Brudder and talk really loud.  It helps me get what I want.  If mom and dad would just do what I said the first time, I wouldn’t have to yell. Merry Christmas everyone and don’t forget to turn on your Christmas lights 24/7, it makes me really happy.      ~Shiloh~

Splash! That’s how I came into this family. With a splash, in a kiddie pool in my mommy and daddy’s front room.  Besides spending a week in the hospital for RSV at 3 weeks old, life has been pretty smooth.  My parents even get up to play with me at night still. These guys don’t have a clue, so I have to break it down for them real simple.  WAAAAAAAAHHHH.  That means FOOD. NOW.  MMM MMM MMM  put a little growl with that and you’ve got “I am WAY past tired.”   I have gotten really good at the art of pathetic so that my mommy will pick me up.  I just think everyone should carry me around.  I mean I am really compact.  Who wouldn’t want to hold me and my cute face ALL DAY LONG.  I am a pro at the jolly jumper. When I smile I use my whole body to get the point across.  I think Shiloh is hilarious.  He is the only one who gets how funny spitting is.  I am learning to sit up on my own.  These guys keep putting all of my toys just out of grasp.  I don’t get it.  It must be a grown up thing, but don’t worry. I let ‘em know it isn’t ok with me.  I do the simplest things and they cheer and clap.  I am livin’ the life I tell ya. Happy Holidays, and I promise next year to be into everything.  ~Eli~

Woof! I was born on the fourth of July, but my family didn’t find me until September.  Things are pretty simple here for a dog.  The only thing I can’t seem to figure out is the difference between the rope on the ground and those darn socks.  They are both fabric and they smell the same to me. What’s the big deal if I keep stealing them?  The little people keep giving me things and then the big people keep getting and taking them away.  Sometimes I wish they would all just decide what was right and wrong in this house.  It gets so confusing! I mean if you had to eat dog food, and then a little person gave you string cheese and crackers, wouldn’t you choose the latter?  For some reason the bigger people don’t get it.  The smallest one doesn’t say much, but he sure likes it when I lick his face.  I have to be quick about it though, otherwise he might get a fistful of my fur. YIKES! The next to the littlest one has me confused for a bed or a bench or something.  I didn’t think it was that hard to tell the difference between a DOG and a piece of furniture, but alas it must be. Merry Christmas everyone, and don’t forget to send me a bone or a sock.    ~Sam, the dog~

The Winter post...and bringing us up to speed.

Man do I feel much better about my blog. Granted, it's not the way I anticipated the last 6 months of our life going on the blog, but hey, it is all on here. I will try and do some more posts that highlight specific events or something, but I am making no promises! Winter has been eventful. We have had a lot of fun and A LOT of sickness. We have had snow and handful of times, and then we have also swung back up in to the mid 60's, and every temp in between. We have tried to venture out as much as possible, but with sick kiddos, we have been playing it safe. I am done with sickness for the winter I tell ya. Christmas was quiet with just our small little family here and no visitors. We did things a little unconventionally, but we loved it all the same. Kenny managed to get some time off of work for a day or two in all of the craziness, so we were happy to have him around. Here's to having a more caught up blog. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Family Photos and Pics of the boys

When we were in Utah, a family friend of ours (and great photographer)Emily, took some pics of the boys. They turned out so cute. Then for the sake of finally having a decent picture of the fours of us, Kenny set up his new camera and got a few shots of us. They turned out pretty cute, but getting Shiloh to cooperate in his terrible two's state was a feat. I may have thrown in a couple of blooper shots just so you could see the tantrums and the wind that we were dealing with.

Leaves are falling all around...or have already fallen and been covered by snow, but this is our Fall 2012 post.

This fall brought a renewal of life for our family. I know that Spring is usually the beginning of, well, new beginnings, but for me I was finally starting to get the hang of being a mom of two. To top things off, I also Love everything about Autumn, including Halloween. We ventured out and had many Autumnal excursions. We had a Halloween party with my good friend, Kaci, and her hubby and boys. This was such a highlight of the season. We also went to the Hartsburg pumpkin festival. This is quickly becoming a family tradition for us. We went to our friends church and did trunk or treat. We actually won the car decorating contest. We carved pumpkins. We went for walks in the woods to look at the colors of the leaves. We really just enjoyed being back together as a family, enjoyed friends, and enjoyed the really great weather.

What a Summer

Yes, you read that right. What a Summer.... I am finally blogging about my life. It isn't as detailed as I want it to be, but in the interest of me not pulling out my hair from how stressed and behind I am in my life in general, I am opting for the quick overview to catch us up. Here is an AWESOME slide show to show case our summer. We did everything from go to the county fair, in which we witnessed our first figure eight race (it was awesome and had lots of car crashing), to the state fair with my parents,to going to Utah to get some much needed R&R for me and the boys for about a month, and everything in between. ENJOY!

I bet you thought my computer died or I moved to third world country with no internet connection.....

Hello!  Yes, I know, it has been quite some time since I wrote.  I am just letting you all know that i am still alive.  I did not, however, move to a third world country.  I just have two kids 1 and under and a puppy and a  husband who just had surgery, and, needless to say, I am little crazy.  I have a goal though. Never fear! I am going to try and blog once or twice a week.  I know that it is a truly ambitious goal for my current situation, but blogging is important to me.  For one, I want to chronicle all of the things in my kiddos lives and my life and Kenny's life.  Second, it is a great "me-time" thing, which, as of late, is in high demand, but quite scarce around my house.

Looking forward to updating you, slow, but surely....  Happy Tuesday all!

Shiloh the Pacifist

This is what happens when I have to go to the bathroom and the baby is crying. Shiloh's little heart can't handle the crying. He also knows that it is an extreme No No to shove the binky is Eli's face. I guess the wrist is sufficient.

Brother Tummy Time.

Shiloh hated tummy time as an infant. Eli LOVES it. It is the only position I can leave him in and have him be happy in for more than 5 minutes. These two pics are almost the same, but they are just so darn cute that I had to put both of them on.

Now that Shiloh is older, and has a buddy to do tummy time with, he also loves it.

We do have to make sure that he is supervised, but isn't this an adorable pic of my two boys?

Sometimes he even likes to do it all on his own.

Here is a video of the boys for your viewing pleasure. I know, I really need to put more videos on here. I will work on it.

There is nothing significant about this video other than it was taken at the same time as these pictures and that it is a true indication of both of their personalities. :)

Fleeting Smiles

I captured one of Eli's smiles on camera. They are fleeting, so they are hard to catch. I also am bad at taking pictures, as in they never turn out quite right, but I thought I would pass it a long anyway.

Staring at Daddy....

Almost there.....

And got it!

Such a handsome boy. He usually smiles bigger than that, but I couldn't get a pic.

The day I realized that I might not need any more kids. (a post meant to be taken in jest.)

Wow! What a great picture, huh? I am sure you are saying to yourself, "Now what in the world are you doing posting that picture?" I actually think it is hilarious.

The picture is actually the end of the story. Let me start from the beginning.

I am drowning in messes pretty much every minute of every day of my life currently. Most nights I go to bed thinking that I should have cleaned up more of the toys, and inevitably, I step on something in the middle of the night, reaffirming the previous thought.

You see, Shiloh is a miniature cyclone. He literally loves to spin in circles, and most of the time whilst spinning in circles, he is bumping into things and knocking things off of shelves. He is also figuratively a cyclone in which he tears things out boxes and drawers and shelves, not in a circular manner, by any stretch of the imagination, but the after math looks as though a cyclone had made its way through my living room

The other day, I went to a Mary Kay party. It was a lot of fun. Then someone asked me how many kids I had. I told them two. Then they asked this little diddy of a question, "How many more kids do you want?" I told them I wasn't sure, but that I might be okay with just two. (She was a Mormon... I have found that people of other faiths never ask that question when you have a 2 month old.)

After Mary Kay, I went grocery shopping. I had to pick a few things up, and one of the things I had to pick up was.... wait for it..... *gasp*.... sorry mom.... condoms.

Now here is where all of these stories come full circle. Shiloh is a cyclone who got into grocery bags, and, therefore, into the condom box. He brought me some. (Reference the first pic for visual) I thought that maybe this moment was an omen. My 18 month old was telling me something. The lady at the Mary Kay party was trying to get me to realize it too. The forces of the universe had combined at this moment to help me admit what I had already been thinking, but was too afraid to say out loud. They were telling me, that maybe, I might be okay with just having two kids(*).

You may say to yourself, "Lots of people have just 2 kids."

Well, I am Mormon, and it seems to me, that other Mormons tend to have a lot of kids, they also keep asking and asking you about when you are going to have the next and the next. They did it after Shiloh, and they have started doing it now after Eli. Well people, just look at my pics and ponder what you think the universe might be trying to tell me.....

*I have not decided officially, and I am subject to change my mind, but I wouldn't expect that change for at least another 4 years or so..... Just sayin' that I don't want a bunch of posts trying to convince me to have more kiddos. When it is your decision I will ask you about it :)

The New Normal

I got up at 3:30 this morning to feed Eli. He decided that he wouldn't go back down until 5:50. From hiccups to smiles to crying to just plain refusing to be put down, we just didn't make it back to bed for over 2 hours. I laid my head on the pillow. It felt like I blinked. Granted, it was really 20 minutes later, but it felt like a blink, and along comes mister Shiloh; bright eyed and bushy tailed, talking about "carsh" (cars) and berries and "nyoke"(milk). As he walked in, I tried to be pleasant. I also had a slew of questions and thoughts enter my head:

When am I ever going to get sleep again?

Did I shower last night or the night before?

Dang it! It's Monday. Kenny has to go to work.

I don't know if I can do this by myself today.

Did I wash the diapers last night?

What am I going to make for dinner?

Am I going to have time for dinner?

When is my life going to go back to normal again?

The train of of thoughts stopped dead in their tracks at this last inquiry as I realized the answer. The answer made me shiver a bit. (If you are wondering the answer to that question....it is never.) I know that all of you are thinking, "Come on now, Brittani! You just had another baby and you have an 18 month old, didn't you realize that your life was going to be permanently altered?" To some this may have seemed obvious, but to me I was hanging on to that shred of hope that maybe my life would go back to some resemblance of the life I had prior. This morning, though, I came to the realization that it won't. It will be forever different. These realizations crashed around my somewhat fragile psyche.

This is the new normal for me. I know that eventually Eli will sleep through the night, that his colic will go away, that Shiloh will start understand more of what I am saying, that Shiloh will get used to having to share the spotlight, but that all happens after some time. And these things won't all happen all at one, but little by little. Yet again, I reiterate, this is the new normal.

I know that some of you are thinking, "What? You got on here to complain again?!?!"

Well, not necessarily. It seems that I can move on with my life now. I think that maybe holding onto that hope of things returning to how they were was holding me back from picking up some of the pieces and moving on to make a beautiful new life. One that includes Eli. One that includes new adventures, and, for sure, a lot more tears. I mean, it is not all rainbows and butterflies right now. Things are still hard, but something about waking up this morning and knowing that this is what life is for me right now, and knowing that I have to live in the moment and learn to thrive in chaos and trial, and that this is the new normal makes it a little bit easier to look forward.

Looking forward most definitely makes moving forward easier than looking back. Not rocket science, but for some reason it is always hard for me to remember.

Where as yesterday=FAIL, today=SUCCESS

Going places with 2 kids is a task, and enormous task.

We had a doctors appt. yesterday, in the evening. We were just going to have both of the kiddos get their well-child check ups.

Kenny had a catering get moved to the evening yesterday... that meant that I was going to Columbia by myself.

This was to be my first outing with both kids By. My. Self.

I tried to amp myself up for this. "I can do this" I would repeat to myself. "Eli is going to sleep and be content in the car."

YESTERDAY:

We get into the car. Shiloh starts whining. It is grating my nerves. Eli starts whining. I hit construction. I am running late now. Eli is screaming. I pull up to the doctor's "office". It is an old house with wooden stairs. I get the diaper bag out of the car and half of its contents fall on the ground. I grab the stuff and put it into the bag. I grab the carseat with screaming babe inside. I unbuckle the grumpy 1 year old and hold on to his hand. I drag him across the parking lot as I hoisted everything with me. Next come the stairs. Trying to quickly get all of my stuff and a one year old up a narrow wooden stairways quickly is nigh unto impossible.

We get into the office. Eli is hungry. Shiloh makes a mess with all of the toys. They both poop. Eli keeps fussing and spitting up. We leave. The office was still a mess and I was embarrassed, but my hands were full. The dragging back to the car was much like the dragging to the office.

Eli is all ramped up. He won't calm down. He won't take the binky. Shiloh is yelling over him, "cying! Cying! Car! Beebee! Cying! Wahhhhhh Wahh!" Imitating the timbre of Eli's cry exactly and then repeating the phrases over again. I pull over. Try to get Eli to take the binky. No dice. We drive for 20 minutes. Eli is losing his voice from screaming so much. I pull off of the highway onto a dirt road. Take him out of the carseat. I bounce him up and down. Meanwhile, Shiloh is now screaming in the car saying "OUT! OUT! OUT! " Eli calms down. He falls asleep. We continue to drive in silence for 10 minutes. About 5 minutes before we get home, Eli starts it all again. and so does Shiloh.

I get home and get the stuff out of the car. Shiloh starts playing. Eli starts nursing. I start bawling.

TODAY:

I get in the car to go to a friends house in Fulton. I load everything in the car. Shiloh sings and talks to himself and drinks his milk. Eli falls asleep. We arrive 45 minutes later. Eli stays asleep for 3 hours. Shiloh plays. We eat lunch. Shiloh plays. Eli nurses. Eli smiles. Shiloh gets sleepy. We get in the car. Eli falls asleep. Shiloh falls asleep. I listen to a book on tape. I get home. Shiloh stays asleep and is now in his bed. Eli stays asleep and is still in the car seat. I blog and feel more empowered than drained.

I am not sure the difference between today and yesterday, but I sure as heck know that I would much rather have outings go like today.....

Hospitals and Grannie and the Fourth of July and Cute kiddos (this is nothing short of a novel in length...sorry)

Well this is sort of an all encompassing sort of post. I am way behind, way way WAY behind. I had all sorts of cute posts planned for some of these pictures, but then life happened. I am not talking about the sort of life that happens when you have 2 kids and you are trying to adjust (which, by the way, is way harder than I could have ever imagined it would be, and I was imagining that it would be pretty rough. I wasn't imagining rainbows, people! I was imagining storm clouds, but instead got a hurricane I think.), but the kind that happens when your 4 week old gets sick with RSV in the middle of June and you end up in the Children's hospital for 6 days. So instead of a lot of little cute posts a long the way, I am opting for the "one really really, super long post" with a smattering of pictures.

That's right! Eli got RSV, which I wasn't even aware was an issue in June, but the poor kid caught it and it was sad, and terrifying!

Now the story of how he ended up in the Children's hospital in Columbia.

Well Eli was acting really sick. He kept having a hard time catching his breath. We took him to the urgent care on the last Monday in June. The doctor there was a complete putz and told us that there was nothing wrong with him and sent us home. I was still worried sick about him. He had to be sleeping on chests with us in an upright position for him to be able to breathe, and we had to pat his back for him to be able to breathe. He also had started to puke up everything he was eating and that night he just stopped eating altogether. This kid is an eater too, so it was really worrisome for him not to be nursing at all. The next day I decided to take him to a pediatrician. The nurse practitioner was the only person available, but I just felt like he really needed to be seen, especially since he wouldn't eat anything still. So we went in. We weren't expecting anything long, just a visit to the doc, so we brought Shiloh. The nurse practitioner didn't seem to feel comfortable diagnosing Eli. She went and talked to the pediatrician. The pediatrician then started running tests on his stomach. We did ultrasounds and blood work. They didn't find anything. Eli still wasn't eating and pulse ox was really low. So she was worried. She decided to try and feed Eli a bit of formula to see if she could get him to drink anything before we left. This is when all Hell broke loose.

Eli drank maybe a quarter of an ounce, and then he vomited, then he proceeded to turn blue and stop breathing altogether, and went completely limp. She starts yelling for nurses to bring oxygen an the crash cart. She is patting his back and blowing in his face trying to get him to breath. They had to put a bag on him and start pumping it to breath for him and start blowing oxygen in his face. They are clearing out his nose and throat of the mucus that is stuck there.

They get him to start breathing after about 30 seconds. Meanwhile, I am a complete and utter wreck. I had to walk out of the room. I collapsed on the floor and immediately start praying, half out loud. They get him stable. They call an ambulance and then we wait for them to get there. They tried to get an IV going. He was too dehydrated. They blew several of his veins, poor guy.

I ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital in Columbia. Worst. Ride. Ever. One that I do not intend on ever having to take again. We were admitted into the pediatric ICU.

Meanwhile, my great friend Kaci takes Shiloh for the night and I don't have to worry about him.

Eli makes great strides, but he was being fed through a tube down his throat to try and get him hydrated enough for an IV. Once they finally get an IV in him, 24 hours later, we were moved out of ICU. Let me tell you people that pediatric ICU is also a place I never plan to visit again. The people are nice, but poor Eli was hooked up to so many cords, it made it hard to hold him, and he just looked so miserable. I was glad that he was "upgraded".

One blessing in this disaster of a week was that Wednesday night, the night after being admitted into the hospital, Kenny's mom was already scheduled to fly into town. What a blessing!!!!! The other blessing is that there was a hotel across the street, so Kenny and his mom and Shiloh had a place to sleep and hang out for the next 5 days. Otherwise there would have been an hour and a half round trip excursion everyday, maybe a couple of times a day for Kenny. (Thanks Dad for putting them up in the hotel!)

Well we lived through it. Eli is still congested, but doing much better. I will post pics of Eli in the hospital later... I didn't bring my camera, and so Kenny's mom is going to get them to me. This is an experience I will never forget, and one that I never ever want to repeat.

We were home in time for the fourth of July and Kenny's mom was still here, so we decided to head out for a couple of hours and enjoy the festivities in Jeff City. Well it was HOT and HUMID! Like 105 degrees and like 60% humidity. We walked for a bit, but mostly just ate nasty, greasy, yummy carnival food in the shade and sipped on pure sugar shaved ice.

Here are some pics of Grannie and the boys

In the heat we have been spending some time outside lately running through the sprinklers and putting Shiloh in the pool. Shiloh seems to only enjoy the sprinklers if he can be completely soaking either Kenny or I, which I don't mind really. It is quite fun and funny to watch.

Shiloh is quite the sleeper. We often check on him before we go to bed, not to see if he is ok, but to see what positions he has gotten himself into. They are always, to say the least, interesting.

Shiloh is quite the ham, especially when he eats, but all of the time. His little personality is blossoming and he is such a sweet and funny little character. He is also into EVERYTHING! I thought he was into everything before, but now he really is, and I am sure I will say that again. The other day he asked for a piece of bread. I go to the cupboard, take the bread down and cut a slice. I was not procrastinating or taking my sweet time. I was being quick. I turn around he is gone. I yell his name. I hear water running. I found him in the bathroom in my tub with it plugged and the cold water running. He looks up at me and says, "wah-der?" Wow!!! Stellar parent of the year award goes to me. Also, when I was nursing Eli, he ran away and wouldn't come back into the room. When I was done I came into the kitchen to find a whole entire toilet paper roll spread from the bathroom to the front room. Moral of these two stories: Close the bath room door. One day I will be able to pay more attention to him, poor kid.

Another thing I failed to blog about was Shiloh's Father's day present. It is a paper weight and he put the rock in all by himself. He was sooo proud to give it to daddy. It was adorable.

Here are a few pics of Eli and how he is changing. He cries a lot, so we try to take pics when he is happy, which is rare, but there are a few. Plus, the two brothers together. A noteworthy something is, that Eli cracked his first smile last week (5 weeks and 1 day old). It is amazing such a sad little guy would smile so early on. but we will take. Warms the heart really.

Well, if you got to the end of this, consider it an accomplishment. I wish I had been able to do the cute little individual posts as I had planned, but I do feel better that I at least got it done.