Little Straws: February 2012

Whoa, whoa, whoa, life needs to slow down...did Elliot really just turn 1?

I need to start by apologizing to the moms out there that I have made fun of in the past. I have ALWAYS thought it was so cheesy when moms would write their one year old a letter about their little ones first year and get real sentimental...well although I haven't gone the letter route, it definitely crossed my mind this past week. And who am I to talk I put the chees in cheesy in this blog. Even driving home from work yesterday I got a little teary eyed just thinking how far our little family has come this past year.

I personally, like I have mentioned earlier, dreaded that Friday we found out the news about Elliot...we now call it "black Friday" and I have to say that this "black Friday" we survived! The only surprise we had was that I had a snow day and had the day off to spend with Elliot. At about 10pm that night, Byron and I both looked at each other and just smiled, thinking, wow we made it and it was a normal day just like any other. Then on Saturday, February 4th we decided to have a Birthday party for Elliot to continue with making new, better memories for that weekend. We celebrated with friends and family and had such a good time. Elliot had a Cookie Monster cupcake cake that he gobbled up once he realized how delicious sugar was and while everyone was signing "Happy Birthday" to him I almost broke into tears, but held it together so I didn't look like a lunatic a child's party, haha. It was a good time had by all, especially Elliot!

Despite fighting a nasty virus for the past week and his mother freaking out about it and taking him to the doctor twice he is hanging in there and growing everyday. He is getting better and better with pulling himself up and even mastered pulling himself to stand in his crib. Needless to say, Byron had to lower his crib to the lowest setting so I could calm down and not have a coronary about him falling out of the crib.

So, today is the day that our baby was born at 8:03am. Since we had to take him to Children's for an appointment...yes we have totally gone full circle and the poor child has to go back to where he started a year ago, ha, we decided to make a day of it with a family trip to the Denver Aquarium before his appointment. We showed up at the Aquarium at the same time as probably 50 preschool kiddos...it was a tad CRAZY. We made our way through the masses, had an early lunch and then went back through later and it was just us, the fish and a bunch of senior citizen (it was like a nursing home had a field trip). We then headed to Children's. We were early so we decided to take a visit to the NICU and see if our favorite nurses Sarah and Morgan were working and oddly enough, they were both working and they were joking that they were in the same pod that Elliot was in when they were both his nurses last year. It was so fun to show Elliot off to them and of course they are both super cute so he flirted away.

His appointment went well, no new surprises. The abscesses were evaluated and they could still happen for the next month, but no big deal, it seems so small when compared to everything else. They took some new photos that we should be able to see by next week and that will determine how much longer they think he should wear the helmet. We brought cupcakes to all the doctors, nurses and receptionist in the neurosurgery clinic and they smothered Elliot in gifts too. Brooke the craniofacial surgeon and her nurse Maureen gave Elliot a GIGANTIC stuffed bear that is about 5 times the size of him. The receptionist gave him another bear and our favorite Nurse Jane gave him a beanie baby...like the child needed more toys, haha. Elliot had such a long day with only a 15 minute nap and he really held it together through his appointment and let everyone poke and prod him head. He even pulled out all the tricks and showed them all his new moves.

Byron and I couldn't be proud of this child and I think we were beaming from ear to ear all day just thinking wow we made it! So here's to a BORING, NORMAL 2nd year!