Eli is 6!

Ok, its just crazy that our Eli is 6 already! On this day, 6 years ago, Eli came into this world at 5:45 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 11 oz, and was 20 3/4 in long, and was perfect (of course)! He has changed our lives, for the good, in SO many ways! What a blessing he is! Now our Eli loves sports, and I mean LOVES sports! He basically eats, breaths, and sleeps sports lol. Which reminds me so much of my brother, and from what I am told Ross was the same way too lol. He also loves Ninja Turtles, playing with his siblings, and his cousin, and buddy from school, swimming (he is a little fish), hugging (he seriously gives the best hugs), playing video games, and scotch-a-roos. The little man he is turning out to be amazes me. He can try to push my buttons (which of course, what kid doesnt) but he is such a good kid. He is loving, and for the most part patient with his brother and sister, especially with his sister. We are so proud of him! For his actual birthday we aren't doing anything in particular since we are celebrating his birthday tomorrow (on Saturday) with family! He has requested scotch-a-roos instead of cake, and a Ninja Turtle theme party :) So thats just what we are going to do! Since Eli was 4, I started asking him the same 20 questions on his birthday, so here are this years 20 questions....

1. What is your favorite color? Green

2. What is your favorite toy? Purple ball (Its the only ball he can play in the house with, its SUPER soft and light)

3. What is your favorite fruit? Banana

4. What is your favorite tv show? Rabbids

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Ramon noodles (he does not eat those much)

6. What is your favorite outfit? Ninja Turtle shirt

7. What is your favorite game? Donkey Kong

8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? A Lion

10. What is your favorite song? In the Summer

11. What is your favorite book? Drummer Hoff

12. Who is your best friend? Cousin Ben

13.What is your favorite cereal? Peanut Butter Captin Crunch

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swimming in the pool

15. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas 

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Water

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Sandwhich

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Be a doctor

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY! We love you more than you'll ever know!!! 

Our baby is one!!!

Awwww our sweet girl is one today!! I really can't believe it! So I will say at 8:40 a.m. a year ago, we got to meet our sweet, chubby, 7 lbs 11 oz baby girl. She was 20 1/2 inches long, with a head full of beautiful black hair. She stole our hearts and took my breath away. I had hoped for a little girl for so long, and here she was in our arms! Now she is one :) I tell you time goes faster and faster the more kids you have. What a year we have had with Elle! There have been some scary times, to absolutely wonderful times! She has made us laugh, and cry (in a good way). She loves her family, pink things, Disney princess things, Her Disney princess little people castle and klipity klop stable, any kind of food mommy is eating, ice cream, babies, the movie Frozen, and the Frozen soundtrack, playing outside, swimming/playing in the water, bath time, feeding herself, swinging, helping mommy with laundry (especially diaper laundry), and giving us kisses. What an absolute joy and blessing she is! Man she is a onion (meaning she makes my eyes water with her cuteness and love).

What a bitter/sweet milestone this is for me.....no more "babies" (even though all my kids will be my babies, even when they are 45). We had her Disney Princess birthday party yesterday and what a fun time we had! We (me, and the kids) have been battling a cold, so Elle was pretty miserable sounding, but made the best of it, and enjoyed most of her party (as long as mommy had her). We had lots of fun with family, and friends, and I had so much decorating her party!

Today for her actual birthday we are celebrating hers, Eli's, my dads (cause it is his birthday today too), and Ross' birthday's with my dad, his girlfriend Jamie, and my brother D. A great day to spend at home. Love you baby girl! Happy Birthday!!

                                                       Only 2 days old at the hospital

One week old photo shoot

First photo as a family of 5!

                                                                      3 months old

                                                                     6 months old

9 months old

                                                             At her birthday party :)

Our last appointments in Ann Arbor

I have been meaning to do a blog of how Elle's appointments went at Mott's at the end of May, and it went good! Our first appt was with the ENT. The purpose of this appt was to do a hearing test, and to talk about if we should do tubes or not during the surgery (even though we already said we are doing tubes no matter what, with Elle's history of ear infections).

So we went into a sound proof room, with two little tv screens in the front corners of the room and below the tvs was a puppet and lights, and there was a large window for the doctor doing the test, to see Elle. So I had Elle on my lap, in a chair, and the doctor doing the test had a head set on with a microphone and would make a noise out of one side of the speaker, and if Elle would look over to that side where the sound was coming out from, she would then light up the puppet and lights, and sometimes the tv. It was hilarious because the very first sound the doctor made Elle looked over to where it was coming from and the turned right around and looked at me like "what. the. heck." LOL. It took all I had to not start laughing hahaha. After we did the hearing test, she also did a test to see if she had fluid in her ears. All they do for that is put little "ear buds" in her ears, and those push a small amount of air on the ear drum and if the ear drum doesn't move much, then that shows them there is fluid behind her ear drum, and if it moves a lot then there isn't fluid behind her ear drum. Now we knew she had a little bit a fluid in her ear all the time with the ear test she had done when she was 2 months old, and from all the ear checks she has had from her doctors office. So after those tests were done we talked with the doctor and were told that she has "minor" hearing loss due to the fluid that is in her ear. She said some days she could have more fluid in her ears then other days, and the days that she has more fluid, she is hearing everything muffled, like being underwater, and the days she has very little fluid she hears more clearly. When I heard her describe that, it kinda bugged/hurt me, because here she is not hearing me/us clearly call an object every time, and this is the age that is so important for development in language. So that being said they said that they would recommend us getting her tubes done. So we got that set up with her cleft surgery. After the ENT appt we met up with the speech therapist and filled out a bunch of questions, and talked with her, and then we seen her surgeon for any last questions we had about the surgery, since this was the last time seeing him before her actual surgery. We also had to go register Elle in the hospital, so she was all set up for Aug. 5th. It was a long day, but everything went good!

I am ready for her surgery, but at the same time, I am not. I am really not looking forward to seeing her go through any of this, but at the same time, I want to get it done with, and move past this, because I know it has to be done. We have known she was going to need surgery since she was born, and this last year, with prayer, and God, I can feel him giving me strength and peace for this event that is coming. Her surgery is less then 3 weeks away, and I have a wave of emotions when I sit and think of it. So I just try not to think too much about it. My mother in-law sent us a video a couple weeks ago, thinking we had saw it (which we hadn't) and I am glad she did. It was really emotional and hard to watch at first, but it has helped prepare me, even more for what to see and expect with Elle. For our friends and family that pray, please keep Elle and us in your prayers, please. Pray for peace, comfort, and patience for whats to come, and pray for her during surgery. I will be posting updates on Facebook, the day of, but your prayers and thoughts are very appreciated! In the mean time we are just enjoying our summer!! Having lots of fun, and getting ready for Elle's and Eli's parties!!

Here is the link, for any of our friends and family, that want to know what Elle will be going through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=Yi3LWWnEhew&app=desktop