In October, we took Eliot to an event that our previous Realtors hold every year. They had a ton of pumpkins (literally!) free for the taking along with apple cider, pony rides, cookies, etc. Eliot was super tired because he had missed his nap and refused to put his costume on. He picked his pumpkins and had some cider anyway. Eliot also refused to wear his costume on Halloween, which was a bummer because it is an adorable shark costume. We spent Halloween night with some friends, just relaxing and hanging out. We did manage to get Eliot into his Halloween pj's, though which were also very cute.
The weekend of October 20th, we stayed at my parent's house in Roberts, Wisconsin with the rest of my family and celebrated Thanksgiving. In past years, it seemed that someone ALWAYS got caught in a snowstorm on the way home, so we decided to celebrate early this year. Since we were all together in the Twin Cities, we also decided to have family photos taken. We had a fantastic weekend. We all ate way to much, the guys played their annual game of Monopoly and we had a few more crying babies to get used to. Fun, fun, fun!
At the beginning of November we took a trip to Canada to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday. Very cool! I hope I make it that long! The weather on the way there was a bit scary, including freezing rain and snow, but we made it safe. While we were there, we also celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of my family. We get to see everyone there so seldom that we really cherish the time we spend there.
Eliot somehow came down with a pretty serious cold while we were there, which lasted for a couple of weeks. We took him the doctor when we got back from Canada and they found that he had pink eye and possibly pneumonia, but our physician was comfortable letting us watch it and he cleared up within a couple weeks without us needing to use antibiotics. Once he was feeling a little better, we had his nine month photos taken (late, as usual).
Eliot somehow came down with a pretty serious cold while we were there, which lasted for a couple of weeks. We took him the doctor when we got back from Canada and they found that he had pink eye and possibly pneumonia, but our physician was comfortable letting us watch it and he cleared up within a couple weeks without us needing to use antibiotics. Once he was feeling a little better, we had his nine month photos taken (late, as usual).
On November 17th, Jason left the YMCA and started new job with a division of United Healthcare called Optum Health. He had been having concerns about job security at the YMCA and as a result, started pursuing other opportunities. Fortunately, one of our friends was in a position to line Jason up with an interview which ended up in his getting a management position at Optum. Just after starting his new job, there was a major reorganization at the Y which would have had Jason reapply for his job. We feel very lucky to have dodged that bullet, especially considering the economy right now!
The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Eliot gave us a huge scare. We had a great day at home playing with Eliot and getting ready for the week. Around 6:00 pm, he started getting a little fussy and we thought he was tired. He kept playing on the floor. At 6:45 pm, Jason picked him up and we noticed that his eyes were red and glassy and he seemed to be "out of it". At first, we suspected that it was pink eye recurring but then we noticed that he seemed to be warm and have a fever. We gave him a dose of Advil right away and I ran upstairs to get the thermometer to take his temperature. Before we had a chance to take it, he lost consciousness in Jason's arms. It lasted for about 5-10 seconds and he came out of it, but there was clearly something very wrong. We decided to drive to the hospital, but before we could even leave the room it happened again. Jason took Eliot to the bathroom and splashed water on his face and he passed out a third time. This all happened within a minute and a half or so. By this time, I was on the phone with 911 and a firetruck arrived at our house within three minutes. The ambulance and paramedics followed within another minute or two. They took me and Eliot to the hospital via ambulance and Jason followed in the car. My parents met us there a little while later. We stayed in the ER for about four hours while they did some tests, but they didn't find anything conclusive. They called what happened an Unexplained Life-threatening Event and decided to admit us to the hospital for observation. Eliot's temperature, which was about 103.7 when we arrived at the hospital, stayed high almost all night. They checked it every hour and were giving him Tylenol and Advil alternately on the hour also. Finally, near morning, it broke. We talked to the doctor in the early afternoon and made it home by late afternoon. We all crashed and didn't get up until the next morning. Eliot stayed home with me all that week and by the end of the week was feeling better. There's been no issues since then and we pray that it was a one time deal. It was very scary to be in the hospital with him and not know what was wrong. We're so grateful and happy to have a healthy, playful boy today.
On December 5th, we saw the Broadway Play, WICKED, at the Orpheum theatre with some friends. We had a very nice dinner out before the play and got to enjoy some rare "adult time". The play was fantastic! If you get the chance to see it, you absolutely should! If not, the book is even better. You can pick it up at Amazon. Then on December 7th, Jason turned 33! I know! He's old, right? Just kidding, baby! We celebrated his birthday and a late Thanksgiving with his family and had a great day!
With big families in different cities and states, our Christmas celebrations ended up being spread out over a couple of weeks, which just extended the holiday fun! Jason's family is so large that we ended up renting the Monticello community center to be able to include all 35+ people. It was nice to be able to see all the kids (who are growing up very quickly) and the new babies who joined the family in the past few years. The weather was bad that day, so we ended up having a scary ride back home on very icy roads but made it safe and sound.
Our next Christmas was in Sioux Falls. Again, the weather created travel issues for us. We contemplated not going due to blizzard warnings and tons of snow, but rescheduling wasn't an option so we just braved it. We had an awesome time playing Wii (I kicked your butt, Miah!) and Eliot got to see Santa for the first time with his cousin, Behr. It was so much to see all the boys playing (kind of...) together and Charlie is getting to be such a big girl. We also started a new family tradition by each writing a nice note about everyone else and sharing the notes as part of our gift giving. It was a great weekend!
On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with Jason's dad's side of the family in Blaine. Eliot was adorable while opening his gifts, exclaiming "oooh" and "aaah" as he opened each one.
On Christmas morning, we celebrated our family Christmas. Jason made us a delicious breakfast of eggnog pancakes, a savory egg bake and champagne - no champagne for Eliot, of course. He had eggnog instead, which he loved! Breakfast (made by Jason) is one of our new family traditions. The only problem with celebrating on Christmas morning is that we all have bedhead in the pictures! After breakfast, we opened gifts. Eliot liked all his gifts, but his absolute favorite was a push cart that he can put toys in and walk behind. He plays with it every day and is getting so much closer to walking on his own! Christmas night we headed over to my parent's house and had a delicious sirloin steak supper after which we all vegged on the couch all evening.
Finally, on New Years, we did nothing. That's right... no party for us. We stayed home, drank a bottle of champagne, watched some t.v. and went to bed around 12:15 am. Eliot woke up right around midnight so we got some cute video of him being all sleepy just as we entered 2009. It was a great night!
Our next Christmas was in Sioux Falls. Again, the weather created travel issues for us. We contemplated not going due to blizzard warnings and tons of snow, but rescheduling wasn't an option so we just braved it. We had an awesome time playing Wii (I kicked your butt, Miah!) and Eliot got to see Santa for the first time with his cousin, Behr. It was so much to see all the boys playing (kind of...) together and Charlie is getting to be such a big girl. We also started a new family tradition by each writing a nice note about everyone else and sharing the notes as part of our gift giving. It was a great weekend!
On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with Jason's dad's side of the family in Blaine. Eliot was adorable while opening his gifts, exclaiming "oooh" and "aaah" as he opened each one.
On Christmas morning, we celebrated our family Christmas. Jason made us a delicious breakfast of eggnog pancakes, a savory egg bake and champagne - no champagne for Eliot, of course. He had eggnog instead, which he loved! Breakfast (made by Jason) is one of our new family traditions. The only problem with celebrating on Christmas morning is that we all have bedhead in the pictures! After breakfast, we opened gifts. Eliot liked all his gifts, but his absolute favorite was a push cart that he can put toys in and walk behind. He plays with it every day and is getting so much closer to walking on his own! Christmas night we headed over to my parent's house and had a delicious sirloin steak supper after which we all vegged on the couch all evening.
Finally, on New Years, we did nothing. That's right... no party for us. We stayed home, drank a bottle of champagne, watched some t.v. and went to bed around 12:15 am. Eliot woke up right around midnight so we got some cute video of him being all sleepy just as we entered 2009. It was a great night!
I had two weeks off over the holidays and Jason had just about a week off so we got to spend some serious quality time with Eliot and each other. It was so nice and such a change from only getting to spend weekends and a few hours each evening with him. We played and played and played some more. He is getting to be such a big boy and we cannot believe he's almost a year old! The past year was no doubt the fastest of both of our lives! We can only hope that 2009 is as blessed a year as 2008 was for us!
Hugs and kisses to you all!
Hugs and kisses to you all!
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2 comments:
Oh my goodness! Reading the specifics on when Eliot had to go to the hospital made me tear up! How terrible and scary. I love all of the pictures you posted, as well as the updates on your travels. Wow, your family was busy! I hope Santa was good to you!
Great update... very newsy and fun photos. Scary about Eliot and the hospital. Hopefully you'll never have to revisit that again! Good luck on your weekly blogging endeavors.
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