Dear Sick Gods, Please Don't Come To Our House Anymore

Monique called me on Thursday and said Elliott woke up from his nap with a fever and bad cough.  We took him to urgent care on Saturday and they sent us home with an oral steroid and breathing treatments.  I took him back to the doctor on Monday after a nearly 5 hour coughing attack.  My heart ached for him and I couldn't stand watching him cough so hard.  They gave him antibiotics for an ear infection and sent us on our way.  After a night of 13.5 hours of sleep with almost no coughing we brought him back to Monique's.  She emailed me an hour after I left and said that he ate a whole bowl of quinoa with blueberries and flax seed.  The little squirt has hardly eaten anything for us in 5 days and Monique gets him to eat after one hour!! I think a day of normalcy at Monique's was the prescription he needed!

A huge thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Currie for helping us out this weekend!  We had Mark's work Christmas party on Saturday night so they offered to come down and watch Elliott.  We pretty much got home from urgent care and handed him to grandma and grandpa and walked back out the door.  Grandma was a big help making meals all weekend and did all of our laundry!  Sure is nice to have extra hands when you are caring for a sick little one!

Mom, please make this icky cough go away.  

Getting tested for pneumonia.  I'm pretty sure he hates doctors with a passion now! 

Feeling much better after spending a day with friends at daycare. 

Weekend With Pops and Mimi

Pops and Mimi came down for a fun weekend of relaxation.  Mimi helped us pick out tile for our next project, fireplace renovation!  We went to church on Sunday and to brunch afterwards.  

Sesame Street Live

We took Elliott to Sesame Street Live on Sunday at the Sprint Center.  He enjoyed the first 38 minutes, but did not want to sit still after intermission so we ended up leaving a little early.  Apparently Cars is the only thing that will grab his attention for that long. :)

Wow!! That's Elmo! 

We picked Daddy up from work before the show.
Elliott thought he would teach Dad a thing or two about building bridges. 

21 Months

Elliott LOVES the movie Cars.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I have never seen a kid watch a movie so intently.  I used to dream of something that would keep my child busy for just 10 minutes so I could finish dinner, blow dry my hair, or go to the bathroom in peace.  I finally found it.  This kid could honestly watch the whole 2 hour movie if I let him.  I hate to admit it, but I will turn it on in the mornings if I am not done getting ready yet.  The other morning he got up at 6am so I set him in front of the t.v. and went upstairs to finish getting ready.  I came back down 45 minutes later and he hadn't moved.

Elliott is in super learning mode. His word count has skyrocketed and he is learning new words every day.  Take that pediatrician. :)  He knows the color blue and is pretty proud of himself when he can pick a blue crayon out of the box. 

Knock on wood, but his sleep habits are probably the best they have EVER been; minus the occasional 5:30 am wake time.  He gets in bed at 7:30, gives us a hug and kiss good night, lays his head down on the pillow and falls right to sleep.  His nap is pretty consistent from 12:30 - 2:30. 

No matter how hard I try, this kid will not look at the camera.

 

50 degree Weather At Last

After some brutal cold days last week, we finally got to see the sun and some 50 degree weather this weekend.  Elliott was itching to get outside when we got home from church.  I think Mom was just excited after getting cabin fever last weekend.

Motherhood

http://vimeo.com/66058153

One of my best friends sent this video to me the other day and I thought it was extremely adorable and worth sharing.  I share a lot of the same feelings as these moms, especially the patience.  I know Elliott isn't old enough to talk like the children in this video, but when I picked him up today he greeted me with his usual hug and kiss and I realized that I was actually doing something right after all!  The video also made me think about my own mother.  Now that I'm grown and have a family of my own, I find myself appreciating my mom so much more. :)  Love you, Mom!

Another Merry Christmas In the Books

This year we had 5 Christmas gatherings in just 9 days. Yes, FIVE! The Christmas madness included the following: 1) Lageschulte's in Storm Lake 2) Mark, Angie and Elliott's in Kansas City 3) Currie's in Odebolt 4) Lorenzen's in Ida Grove and 5) Scheonherr's in Ida Grove.  We had an amazing time seeing all the family and we can now successfully mark another great Christmas in the books!

 

Lageschulte Christmas 

Sharing apples...kind of

Coloring with Pops

Family Picture

Someone loved their book

Bedtime reading

 

Family Christmas

We decided to start our own family Christmas tradition this year.  We went to our church's Christmas Eve service for the first time since we have lived in Kansas City.  It was amazing and surprisingly Elliott sat relatively quiet through the service.  We picked up Chinese on our way home, of which Elliott ate only two bites so we ended up giving him cereal.  So much for our idea of creating a family tradition of Chinese food on Christmas Eve.  We made cookies for Santa, Elliott opened his Christmas jammies, and then he was off to bed.  Apparently Elliott knew Santa was coming and just couldn't wait to open gifts, so down the stairs we went at 5:30am!  After opening presents we were of to Iowa again.

 

Peanut butter cookies, because that's the only recipe Mom had all the ingredients for

Someone was pretty excited for his Christmas jammies

Cookies and milk for Santa

Taking inventory of all his loot

 

Currie Christmas

 

Reading his new "Harvest Book" that Grandma made for him

Playing guitar with Uncle David

The boys got out their old farm set and Elliott was in heaven 

I sure hope he gets the Currie music gene

 

Reading with Great Grandma Olympia....Priceless!

Schoenherr Christmas

Classic...Addison mad because Elliott won't sit still

Monkey See Monkey Do

Someone got a lot of trucks and tractors for Christmas