Thorns.

I have learned to appreciate everything I do for sweet little Eli. So many people will tell me "Oh! Don't waste any moment with him! He'll be grown before you can turn around!" REALLY?? I suppose thats true..., but there is ONE thing that I could SO live without doing.. and that is changing crib sheets. That daily activity - well, mostly a daily activity, since the little guy seems to be a pee pee factory... could cease at this very moment and I will delightfully NEVER look back for it. But alas, here are a few pictures documenting today's thorn.

DONE! :)

Until tomorrow.....

The Plague

Every time Eli gets sick, does that automatically mean that I will be sick too? Geez, Louise! This is the second round of sickness that he's had, and the second round of nasty cold that I've had. And naturally, it came the week of the Prodigal (Passion Play) Performances at church. Poor little baby - antibiotics, breathing treatments, skin oil.. the works!

Not only did I get a nasty head cold along with him, but Daddy did too! Brad and I have been married almost 6 years and dated 2 years before that, and I think I remember him being sick like this TWO times. He never is sick!! And yet he is worse than I am! I've got TWO sick boys! Atleast Jack isn't hacking and gacking like the rest of us.

Last week during rehearsals at church, I had to sit out for the final dress rehearsal because poor little baby boy was so sick. He's so sweet though - he doesn't let much make him unhappy, he's still all smiles and giggles and is sleeping pretty good to be so congested in his head and chest. I'm so glad. Instead of a night of dress rehearsal, we took a stroll around the community. Thats when I snapped this picture. ;)

LOL !

If you don't know what LOL means... well, then that means you aren't reading this, but.. it means LAUGHING OUT LOUD.

Guess what!!?!? Guess who LOLed? Yup! You guessed it! Baby Elijah LOLed last night!

What had happened was..

Daddy was gone to an out of town dinner meeting waaaayyyy up in Dyersburg, TN and in the meantime at home, Mommy was cleaning up Christmas Decorations and trying her darndest to entertain Little Mr. Harrell. After the videos on the ipad wore out their welcome, we resorted to the lay-the-blanket-on-the-floor-in-the-nursery game with lots of toys to look at and music and lights flashing. You know the drill. He was pretty happy and having a little fun looking and touching everything, then I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to read a little to him. Well, he was SO not interested in hearing me read to him! His fussiness lured Jack (the great dane) back to the nursery and while I had Eli on my left knee bouncing him a little to take his mind off of whatever it was that was making him fuss, Jack came in the room pacing back and forth trying to find a spot to lay down in.

I was shocked when my little not-yet-3-month-old babe just chuckled his little heart out looking at the dog! The dog! Hahahahaha... Love it!

Can't wait to hear that little laugh again!

Merry Christmas! And Welcome to Our Light Show!

Whew wee - were the holidays a busy time or WHAT? Let me just catch you all up on everything since November 15. On November 16, my sweet Bradley turned thirty years old. Oh yeah... middle age is coming on fast - we ain't seventeen anymore - although that was a fun year and in my heart I'll always be seventeen or twenty... haha. Anyway.. that reality hit, and so now we really are on the road to being grown ups. I guess.

I went back to work at FUMC - my church job where I was Director of Music. After two weeks of being back, I turned in my six week notice that I would be leaving for good. (Big frowny face.) Even after only doing it for 2 weeks, I could see it a whole lot more clearly that that job and driving and hauling my sweet tiny babe in swaddling clothes back and forth just was not going to work. I didn't like relying on my mother to keep him, although I think if it were up to her, I could just GIVE him over to her and she would happily spoil him for the rest of his days. Hahaha. Grammys.

But I didn't want to just walk out on them right before the start of Advent and Christmas. Oi. We got through the Christmas Cantata and all the other things that were going on and it turned out to be quite a success I might add. A bit of advice for all you other church music folks: don't do two cantata performances in one day, especially on a Sunday because you have all the regular Sunday morning grind, then rehearsals starting two hours later, and after the FIRST performance you're ready to roll over and take a snooze. I thought I was going to die that day. And then I went home and slept straight for about 26 hours. :) (Disclaimer: yes, definitely DO 2 performances or 6 or 8 or whatever you have in you, but just don't do them in the same day.)

Okay, where does that put us? Elijah happens to be doing quite well. That little piggy is eating and giggling and playing and sleeping his way through life. Can't wait until he's Dancing Through Life. Haha.. I love Wicked. Anyway.. Christmas was tough on the little feller. He was passed around like the little hot potato he really is, but that wore him out! On top of that, he got his first round of vaccinations the day before Christmas Eve. He seemed to do fine with that, we pumped his little booty full of Tylenol all during Christmas just to help him relax a little if he happened to be a little sore.

And now... for the traumatic happening during Christmas....

You know, (big sigh), there is always some sort of drama going on during the holidays. I think its because everyone has a crazy family and when multiple crazy people get together, then its almost like as crazy as a loom. (Loooommmmm.....orrr.... dump truck??) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. okay, only about 4 people get that one. But here's what had happened:

Picture this: freezing cold Thursday night, December 23. About 6:00pm. Dark outside. Wind blowing. (A little background for the story: everyone knows we happen to have a very large Great Dane - he's not THAT big, like Big George the Great Dane, but Jack is unusually tall for the Great Danes he goes to school with.. haha. The daycare had lost his leash, and on top of that my husband had misplaced his gentle leader - which is a contraption that we affectionately call his "G-String" because its a collar that wraps around the back of his big boy ears and goes on his nose, like a horse thing - maybe a bridle? Anyway, the gentle leader helps you control the large dogs, because they won't pull AT ALL when their control is from their nose. *would you pull on something that was going to yank on your nose? nope. not us either*) Okay. so back to the main story:

I was taking Jack out on his normal evening outing to take care of business. This young man is walking by with a small dog, maybe of the Shih-tzu Breed or something of the like. Now, you know, Jack loves little dogs, in fact, he really thinks he's a Shih-tzu since he was raised around one. He loves their quick movements and especially their bark - they just get his motor running if you know what I mean. lol. So, I forgot to mention that I had him on some kinda thread leash cheapest of the cheap thing that the daycare gave us since they lost his heavy rope lead. Oi. Let's wrap this up, Rach -

Jack is pooping. Just as he finishes, the little dog is walking right by out on the street. The little dog yelps. Jack lunges, and I try, oh gosh did I try, I TRIED to hold him, but when 150 pounds of dog decide to run, and you don't have something trustworthy to hold him with, guess what? He runs. The poor guy - I had never actually seen before walking his dog, although I know his face from living in our community, but I really don't think he had ever seen our big Jack before. Jack scared the living daylights out of him because he was running, full speed ahead, towards him and his little dog.

One can only imagine what insued in the following moments. Screams from a man, screams from a little dog, and a very loud and joyous BARK from Jack filled the cold night air at 1792 Appling Oaks Circle. I went on about my business taking Jack's business in the house for flushing, and then something completely startled me! It was the man! He was yelling at me! At ME! Oh my, and what he was yelling at me was not a melodious "Merry Christmas!" Oh no, it was not. It was more like something you'd hear from a crazy and gory rated NC17 movie down at the discount movie theater on summer ave. I was in shock! My shock was in shock! No one talks to me that way!! Especially on Christmas Eve Eve! The nerve.

Well, the scourging ended and he merrily pranced his way down the street after my large and wooly husband stood in the front door and looked all mean at him. Ha! Serves hi right! The big and almighty Dr. Harrell scared the mean man away!!

Speaking of scared, that whole thing SCARRED my whole Christmas weekend!! But, in hindsight, I suppose, if I were an unassuming individual walking my cute little puppy on Christmas Eve Eve and enjoying all the Christmas Lights (especially ours!) and then suddenly a GINORMOUS dog came bounding across a yard at me... AND the owner did not seem to do much about it, I suppose I'd scream obscenities too. I knew Jack wasn't going to hurt them. But THEY didn't know that. I should've thought about that. That would've been neighborly.

But then.. I haven't really been known for being neighborly.. OR thoughtful at all for that matter...

The Hormone Highway... or, Love and Respect

Greetings, readers! I am happy to report that Elijah slept in his big crib for the first time last night. I must admit it was a little scary leaving him in another room - even if it is directly outside OUR bedroom - but we made it and he did great!

Last night was a Wednesday night and Brad dutifully went to orchestra rehearsal at church as he normally does. The entire hour before he left, I was breast feeding Elijah, then the little piggie cried for more.. then he cried for more.. then he cried because of a poopy diaper,.. then he cried because he was wet, then he cried because he was wet, then he cried because he was wet, then he cried because HE WAS WET!!! Have I mentioned that this baby is a pee factory?

Okay, on with the blog I meant to write..

I would just like to say that in the last 4 weeks - yes, its been 4 weeks since little Eli squeezed his way down the birth canal, and left his signature next door, that I have been on QUITE the emotional rollercoaster. I knew it would be considerabley noticeable that after giving birth, I'd have several emotional breakdowns just because I've never been just 100% together when under a lot of stress and pressure, but I just had no clue.

It all started to hit me the moment we started packing up our things to leave the hospital. I cried when I got in the truck, I cried in the drive through at Krystal's, and I especially had a nice hard, long cry when I walked into my forever-changed little condo and saw this freshly squeezed baby lying in that crib that had been waiting for him for so long!!!

Boohoo.

I cried when he wouldn't breastfeed right; he gets like a crazy wildman when he can't get it together in the feeding department! (The app doesn't fall far from the tree!) Oh! It was just crying off and on ALL the time for nothing at all!! The nurses told me I'd do that. I have no idea why I didn't believe them. Haha.

It last about 10 days - then we started to get into somewhat of a routine - we can NEVER be too routine - its not in our DNA, then life began to settle a little.

Its rough traveling on the Hormone Highway, which I have some to the conclusion that it was built by MEN!

Men have it easy. They take things as they are or blame us women for it. Simple. Women's brains never stop working and are constantly thinking of atleast 10 things at once. I took a brain-based learning course last fall at Union University and in the text book, which is in sight at the present because I loved that subject so much, there is plenty of research stating that men can ONLY think of ONE thing at a time. Its the way they are wired.

How did I get on THAT?

Brad picked up a CD at church the other day that was an excerpt from the Love and Respect conference that came to our church earlier this year. The speaker was talking about the neverending discussion of Women vs. Men. He said... "women look in their closets and say "I have nothing to wear!" when they actually mean, "I have nothing NEW to wear!" Men look in their closets and say, "I have nothing to wear!" when they actually mean, "I don't have anything clean to wear! She ain't washed my clothes!""

I have laundry to do.

Eli and the swing

Elijah is so sweet. He's spent quite a bit of time in this baby contraption that eats batteries like candy and plays really watered down music box versions of a couple Beethoven and Mozart piano pieces. But he seems to love the music. Ahhh. What a relief! He kind of had a "scrappy" day. Meaning.. he wasn't happy all the time.. he fussed a little bit. Not the whole the day... not like a week ago Sunday.. my Lord.. if today had been like that, I would have no hair left on my head. And neither would he for that matter. Even Brad might even have yanked out a strand or two of his precious tresses. But I digress..

It's 10:21pm on a Friday night. I've been sitting here doing homework on the computer - yes, something I really should have done MUCH earlier this afternoon - but I couldn't tear myself away from baby Eli. Actually, he couldn't tear himself away from ME. Finally at 4:30, we gave in, packed his little buns in the car seat and drove around for 2 hours. Hello, sleepy baby! Also, hello baby who will not sleep tonight! Haha.

Anyway, so in his sleepiness, we came home, I fed him while Brad ate supper, I ate cold mac and cheese much later, and then put him in his little swing while I worked on homework.

Here's to a night FULL on sleepy restfulness for ALL!

Factor Z

Today begins the 11th day of being home with Eli. We are actually getting some sleep! I can't believe it! Everyone kept telling me.. "oh, you'll never sleep again! Just get ready.. if you think you've been losing sleep now..." Please! I knew Eli would be the exception! Ha!

I better shut my mouth now before I jinx it.

We had had a couple of rough nights. It seemed as though little 7 pound Eli wanted to eat 7 pounds worth of breast milk each feeding - which took FOREVER! He was especially never satisfied in the middle of the night - of course. Breast feeding is SOME phenomenon! Let me just tell you, if you've never experienced breast feeding an infant before, its HARD! Well, its not that hard, but when the little bugger just will not cooperate even though he's plainly telling you he's hungry, then you want to throw his cute little butt in the garbage can !!! AGHHH!!

The first full day we were home, (Sat. Oct. 23) I had taken a couple of doses of hydrocodone (I guess thats how you spell it... thanks, kindergarten phonics) to ease a little pain I was having. Well, the next day - Saturday - little Eli was too drunk to function! He wouldn't wake up, he wouldn't eat,... so by 3pm when he STILL would not wake up to eat, I called the nurse. She said to force feed some formula down him just to keep him from getting dehydrated.

I thought - nope.. no formula for my baby! But alas, he would just not arouse to breast feed or anything, so we had to shove a bottle in his mouth and force him to eat. Turns out, the hydrocodone I was taking made him drunk! Geezz... why did they prescribe that to me? For goodness sake. So I suffered through pain so my three day old kid would not be buzzing on NARCOTICS!

Where was I going with this..?

Oh yeah, so we fed him with that bottle. It was terribly easy. AND we could make sure of how much he was actually ingesting. Hmmmm..... so with all of his little tempers he was throwing because he couldn't seemed to get "latched on" enough to breastfeed (he only did that in the middle of the night, naturally!), I thought, well, I can pump and he can just take it in a bottle.

We have done that for the last 48 hours, and my, my, my what a difference a bottle makes! I AM proud that I lasted until he was 10 days old to give him a pacifier or a bottle, but still. He breastfeeds when he wants to, and when he doesn't he has the mommy milk in his bottle. How perfect is that?? Temper-throwing does not occur in this house - baby or no baby, breast or bottle! Whew! Its completely NOT what I had planned on doing with him, but hey, you gotta do what works for you, right?

If I can sleep for 4 and 5 hours at a time, and so can Eli and Brad, hey, who's to say there's anything wrong with that? Everyone wakes up in a good mood and we all go on our merry way to have a fabulous day!

Cheers!