My sweet little child Elliot will most definitely be the death of me.  In Harry's almost 3 years of life, I think we have taken him to the doctor 3 times for something other than a well baby visit and called the on-call service once.  In Elliot's mere 1 year of life, we have called the on-call service I think 3 or 4 times and taken him to the ER once.  Add that in with his continuing peanutty size and I'm starting to feel like one of "those" parents!  At the end of last week, he started running a fairly high fever, had a runny nose, was lethargic, and overall seemed basically miserable.  I didn't think all that much about it, after all, babies get sick, it was probably a virus, and the Tylenol/Motrin combo was doing the trick for the fever.  Then Friday night rolls around and as I was getting him ready for bed I noticed some faint red spots on his belly.  Strange, I thought, but babies get weird stuff like that all the time!  He was up and down all night (of course, I had to get up at 5am Saturday morning to be at work--thanks Buddy!) and Saturday Travis called me to report that the strange rash was now all over his body.  So of course, I told him to call the doctor and see what we should do.  Surely someone would want to see my poor, suffering, spotted child??  But the nurse that called back thought it was the virus still hanging around, and she said to take him somewhere if he started to show signs of dehydration.  I think this is definitely one of the most frustrating things about being a parent.  Deep down inside you know there's probably nothing that you or a doctor can do and you hate to be a psycho parent who freaks out over every little thing, but it is still nice to have someone confirm that you are doing everything you can for your little sickling.  By Monday, he was back to his normal self and wolfing down any food we put in front of him.  We are extremely blessed to have 2 such strong, healthy boys, but Elliot really needs to stop it with the fluke medical conditions!

The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster behavior-wise with Harry.  Most of the time, he is such a loving, funny kid and is so easy to be around.  I am so proud of him...I can't think of a single time that he has received a bad report at school or daycare.  He is constantly asking for hugs and kisses and is generally very sweet and gentle with Elliot.  Then out of nowhere, if one little thing doesn't go his way WATCH OUT!  Your eardums might burst from the screaming.  The most frustrating part is that nothing seems to help.  Time-outs chill him out for the immediate situation but they don't have staying power.  Taking things away really makes him mad, but then he forgets about it since we have so much stuff so that doesn't seem to help that much either.  Yesterday, he went to time-out 3 times in rapid fire succesion because he wouldn't stop being defiant/screaming and crying over nothing/not listening.  I did something really awful to him yesterday...I took them outside to play!  However, I didn't take him where he wanted to go so that set off a tantrum.  He calmed down and I pushed him in the swing for a while, then I got him out so I could put Elliot in since that is the only thing he can really do on our swingset.  Of course, that really set him off.  Ignoring him wasn't working, so I finally told him that I know he doesn't act like that at school and I don't want him to act like that at home.  That helped out until it was time to go inside which started a whole new battle.  Ugh.  I was actually grateful to go to the grocery store last night by myself after Travis got home.  Going the grocery store is a break??  That is sad.   Life with a toddler...never a dull moment.  I have a sneaking suspicion though that we have it pretty good.  Since he is in a preschool class that only has kids that are within 6 months of his age, I see how all of the other kids behave.  It's not necessarily that they are behaving badly because they aren't....they are just WILD.  I can only imagine what they are like when they are upset!  The threes should be a thrilling new horizon for us!

It is official...my baby is one!  We spent the second half of the week doing little else but celebrating the big event.  Tuesday was his actual birthday, and since that is usually my night to work late I switched with one of my coworkers so we could spend the evening together.  We started out by heading to the mall to go to Build-a-Bear where the boys got to, you know, build a bear.  Harry picked out a panda bear, dressed it in a fireman suit, and creatively named him Bear.  For Elliot, we picked out a black bear, dressed it in a polo shirt, and let Harry name it for him.  He chose the name Spiderman.  The toddler mind never ceases to amaze me!  We then headed to the shoe store to get Elliot some shoes as part of his birthday (okay, Harry got some new Crocs too for spring and summer which he insisted on sleeping with that night), and went to dinner at Johnny Rocket's.  The boys split a kid's cheesburger meal, and I'm fairly certain that Elliot ate Harry under the table.  The kid loves to eat!  While we were at the mall, we got the news we had been waiting for all day...baby Nathan was born that evening!  How cool is it that Elliot and his cousin will be sharing a birthday??  Four boys in the family spaced less than 3 years apart...what have we gotten ourselves into??

The next morning we headed out to Elliot's one year checkup.  We were heading to Great Wolf Lodge to spend a few days afterwards, and Travis was going to wait out in the car while we went inside.  We were anxious to be able to turn his car seat around to face forward and I was going to text him after the weigh in to give him the okay.  Here were his latest stats:

• Weight:  18 lbs 10 oz (5th percentile..shocker!)
• Height:  29 1/4 inches (50th percentile)
• Head:  47 cm (I think this was 50th percentile too, I was so floored by his weight that I was having trouble concentrating!)

So, no carseat turn around for Elliot.  The only reason we were looking forward to being able to have him face the other way is because he realizes Harry is facing the other way, and it is so hard now to get him buckled in with him squirming and arching his back trying to sit the other way.  But of course, we will do whatever is safest for our kid.  I knew it would be close, but I really was surprised how small he is especially when I see day in and out how much Elliot eats!  The doctor wasn't overly concerned since he is on track developmentally, and she gave the go ahead to start whole milk.  This is something he is not too sure about.  We've cut him down to 2 bottles a day, and we are trying to get him to try the milk during the day.  I don't think he is sold on the taste, and he is very excited when it is bottle time.  This may be a challenge for us!  It looks like we need to get as much of the fattening stuff in him as we can!

Great Wolf was a lot of fun!  Harry had a blast and was more adventurous than the last time we went, and Elliot enjoyed sitting in the shallow water and playing in the small fountains.  Harry went down a few more and bigger slides than the last time and when asked if he wanted to go down them again, he answered with an emphatic "No!"  One of his very favorite activites was located in the arcade.  They had 2 duckpin bowling lanes which he LOVED.  We will have to find a good one around home to take him to since he loved it so much and was actually pretty good at it! 

Yesterday was the big birthday party!  We are so blessed to have so many friends and family that want to share in our son's special day!  He had such a great time and received such awesome gifts and cards.  And...he loved the cake!  It is hard to explain what a blessing he (and Harry!) is to our lives.  He is perfect, and God is so good.

I'll have to post some pictures later...the weather is so awesome that we have to get outside!!   

Monday and Tuesday were Harry's first 2 days of preschool!  We visited the school last Friday for about an hour so it wouldn't be a total culture shock.  He seemed to have fun, and we talked about going to school all weekend.  "I gotta go to school!" is what he repeated over, and over, and over again.  Monday morning rolled around--the big day.  I had to work in the morning, so Travis had the job of getting both kids ready and taking them to 2 different places (I would not have wanted to switch roles that morning with him!)  He said when they pulled in to Katrina's neighborhood to drop Elliot off, Harry was protesting that no, he had to go to school!  I was so anxious to leave work and pick him up to see how his day went.  He got such a good report both days!  His teacher said he participated in everything and was a good listener.  He has also learned a lot in the short time that he has attended school.  He has learned the frog cycle (egg, tadpole, frog!  Big frogs have no tails!), the butterfly cycle, and has painted both days.  That is something I have never been brave enough to try.  I thought it was pretty cool that he has learned things that he was obviously ready to grasp, but I don't think I ever would have thought to talk to him about.  Numbers and letters, yes, frogs and butterflies, not so much. We went out to lunch today with Esther and and one point he was saying, in a not very inside voice I might add, "cocoon, cocoon, cocoon!"  Once this kid gets ahold of something, he never ever lets it go!  So far, we have been very pleased and my greatest hope is that he continues to enjoy it, have a great time, and learn all kinds of things that he won't stop talking about.  Oh yeah, and get potty trained.  That would be nice.

My Big Boy heading to school on Monday

Harry's manner of speaking has totally been cracking us up lately.  Everything is "I gotta...." as in I gotta go to school, I gotta walk (hates riding in the stroller or a cart now), I gotta have a snack, whatever.  It is usually said with an urgent tone, which makes it so much more funny.  He also adds in some dramatic flair when trying to find something.  "My 20...I'll never find it!"  This is hilarious for 2 reasons.  Of course, he would be currently attached to a foam 2 and 0 that he carries around everywhere calling it his 20.  He also says it in a most pitiful tone while he is wandering around aimlessly not actually looking for his beloved 20.  He would prefer me to stop whatever I'm doing and search for the 20 for him.  He is too much!

Elliot will be one in less than a week and it is really throwing me!  I can remember this exact weekend last year, how awful I felt being so pregnant and so sick with a sinus infection, how I fell down in the snow walking out to my car and losing my cell phone in the process, how work was so horribly busy and having one of my techs call in and not being able to find a replacement, and how I had so wished I would have done what any normal and reasonable person would have done and said...sorry, I am overdue and I don't think I need to be working this weekend.  What was I trying to prove anyway??  We have such a wonderfully normal weekend planned this year and for that I am grateful.  I am also a little nostalgic though.  As horrible as that last weekend was, the next day ties for one of the 3 best days of my life.  The anticipation of meeting my new little baby was so great, I would be lying if I said I didn't miss that feeling.  Not enough to try for another yet, so don't be getting any ideas!   

Elliot's new favorite game--dumping and stacking coasters