Elijah Overload

So I was sitting around tonight, just waiting for it to get late enough to be justifiable to go to bed, when I thought that I should post something on my blog.  I then started thinking about my blog and realized that I haven't posted anything for a long, long time, and that I had a decision to make.  Either start posting more frequently, or give up the blog all together.  By the fact that you are reading this post, I guess you can tell that I've decided to try to keep blogging and to do so more often.  There is a lot to catch you up on, lets see how I can do.

So last you heard, Elijah was born and we celebrated Christmas and New Years.  I'm now going to zoom through the past eight months, so prepare yourselves, it is probably going to be a bit crazy!

Also, as a disclaimer, the next photos/videos aren't going to be in perfect order. :)  Also, there is probably going to be a bit of an "Elijah overload,"  but hey, it's my blog, and he is my son, so I guess I have the right to overload on him once in a while. :)

So to start off, here is how much Elijah has grown month by month.  He is a wonderful child and every day I am so thankful to have him in my life!

Picture 5 is in a different chair then the others because we made an emergency trip to Utah two days before Elijah's five months mark.  That trip will be explained later in the blog.

So there you have it.  Elijah by the month.  The helmet will also be explained in a bit.

This next little segment is going to be a bunch of "firsts" for Elijah.  There are several videos and tons of pics, so be prepared!

This is Elijah and me watching "The Music Man" which was his first musical.  It's hard to believe he was once so small!  (for Elijah)

This is Elijah's first time outside in the snow!  We had to put him in his bumbo covered with a sheet so that is why he looks so awkward and uncomfortable!

This is Elijah after his first round of vaccinations.  The poor kid was so loopy and fell asleep in this position, something he has only done this one time.

These are pics that Elijah sent out for his first valentines day!

This video is the first time Elijah successfully got something in his mouth all by himself.  The little animal Muppet used to be Kevin's, but not anymore! Lol.

This is Elijah's, (and my) first blackhawks hockey game!  It was AWESOME!  The best part is Kevin got free tickets up in the seats from a guy he works with, so we had the best seats in the house, and free food!

This is Elijah's first time riding in the front of the cart instead of being confined to his car seat.  He absolutely loves being out and being able to see!  And now he doesn't even need the coats to prop him up. :)

This is the first time Elijah rolled over.  We were lucky to get it on tape!  My favorite part is how we cheer like the winning goal of some sports game has just been made!

 

This isn't the first time Elijah laughed but is the best laugh we have on tape.

 This is Elijah's first Easter!  The Easter Bunny brought him TWO baskets!  Guess that's how it goes when you live with Grandma and Grandpa. :)

We went over to our good friend's the Bostroms for Easter dinner, where Elijah became acquainted with Casey, the best dog ever!

This is the first time Grandpa let Elijah play his ipad.  Elijah has been addicted ever since!

This is the first time Elijah really took to a teether.  Now he chews on them like they are candy.  He has six teeth currently and is still working on who knows how many more!

During Elijah's first conference in April 2013 we had to take a dinner break, but thanks to ipads and technology, we were able to continue conference on the ipad while he ate!

This is the first time I took Elijah to a park to ride the swings.  Obviously he didn't find it too exciting, but I had a good time taking him!  He enjoys it much more now.

 This is his first time eating out with the family like a big kid!  He got a quesadilla and loved the fruit cup that came with it!  The restaurant is Uncle Julios.

This is the first time that Elijah figured out that he is not confined to stay in the same place where we sit him down.  He started scooting like this with his hands, then quickly went to his belly to army crawl like he mostly does now.

This is the first time Elijah pulled himself up.  We were outside shingling our roof so we had him down on the grass with this gate around him, and he decided it was time to stand up and get a better view of things.

This was the first time we put him in one of those shopping cart cars.  He loved it so much we decided to get him his own!

And here he is cruising around in his very first car!

And just last week we took Elijah to his first Chicago Cubs baseball game!

The next segment of pictures are from our emergency trip out to Utah in April.  Heidi's father, Grandpa Chris, was not doing well, and very quickly deteriorated.  Doctors soon found out that he was suffering from cancer, and so we packed up one night and headed out to drive the 26 hours to Provo Utah to see him before he passed.  It was a sad reason to have to go, but we are grateful that we were able to make it before he passed on to the next life.  The following pictures are from that trip.

We were really worried about how Elijah would do on the drive out there, but he shocked us all and drove himself!  :)  He did really well, sat patiently the whole way and was absolutely wonderful.  It was a true blessing.

Thankfully we were blessed to make it in time so that Elijah could meet his Great Grandpa Chris.  We were all so grateful to finally be in Utah after twenty-six straight hours in the car.  The trip was adventurous though.  Kevin got pulled over for speeding and following too close, and before that we literally coasted into small town in Wyoming because we were literally out of gas.  We made it though, and it was good to be with Great Grandpa in his last days.

This is a picture that hung on the wall in Great Grandpa Chris's house.  It is a picture of him and his wife, Della.  She passed away about three and a half years before Great Grandpa.  It was sure interesting to watch Elijah just stare at her picture, It was clear that our little Elijah remembered her.  He even kept reaching out to her, as if he wanted her to hold him.

After making the trip to Utah I wasn't coming back to Chicago without seeing my family too!  I was blessed to be able to see my grandparents as well.  Elijah loved meeting his great Grandma and Grandpa Fillmore and his Great Grandma Stokes.  Sadly we forgot to take a picture with Grandma Stokes!

I was also able to make it to Idaho for just a few days to my parents.  It was really fun to be with them even though the circumstances for being there were sad.  Elijah loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa Stokes, and as you can see, Grandma even shared her ipad with Elijah.  That is a sure way to make Elijah your instant best friend!

We also got to see Uncle Brandon while we were in Idaho!  Sadly he was working so we didn't get to see him for long, but it was good for Elijah to meet his uncle!

While traveling we ended up stopping at lots of McDonalds to take advantage of their free WiFi and outlets for our bottle warmer.  Feeding Elijah in a restaurant high chair was interesting, and he usually ended up looking like this when he was done, covered in food!

The trip home was a little harder for the little man than the trip to Utah.  He really started getting wiggly the last few hours.  This picture has been added because he actually put that block up there all by himself as if to say, "look Mom, I'm so bored I'm balancing blocks on my head.  Are we there yet!"

We finally arrived home safe and sound, only to discover an animal had crawled under our side porch and died, leaving a very smelly carcass that needed to be removed.  Long story short, Heidi and I ended up digging it out, and it was GROSS!  I won't share the story though unless anyone reading this has recently eaten.  To sum it up, it was DISGUSTING, and if it ever happens again, the boys are in charge of removing it!

Anyone bored yet?  If so, go ahead and stop, we are only about half way done. :)  This is why I need to blog more often.  The next set of pics are completely random and in no specific order.  They are just fun memories and moments that I want to share.

Just a good classic smile from the little man.  This picture also shows how bad Elijah's Torticollis is/was.  Torticiollis is a condition where one side of the neck was underdeveloped in the womb, leading to a tilt in the head position after birth.  We have been and are continuing to go to physical therapy to help his neck get better, and thankfully it is working wonderfully!  Also, due to the torticollis, Elijah had plagiocephally, which basically means a misshapen head.  This is currently being fixed by a cranial helmet, which you will see in some pictures in the next little bit.

This is Elijah helping me cook dinner one night.  He was in a very clingy mood so I ended up just toting him around while I did my chores.

Elijah really liked sitting down with his Dad while he did homework.  He even has in own keyboard to practice on!

This is just a cute picture of me and my little man!

When Elijah still slept in his cradle we often would walk in to get  him in the mornings and find him like this, all buried in his blankets and peeking out. So cute!

We took Elijah to get some professional photos done, and this was the best result.  He looks like quite the little mobster!

One day during the spring it got REALLY hot, and we came up with this goofy picture.  The club comes from of our family games called "Ugh Techt."  I highly recommend the game for anyone looking for a good, fun, family friendly and relatively easy game!

This is Erik's and my favorite picture of Elijah!  I was trying to get a good smile with my phone camera, and this is what I got.  Talk about possessed!  It makes us giggle, especially when we are having a bad day!

This is Elijah reading stories with Grandpa.  I loved his little feet sticking out!

Just a little mini shopping cart we saw in a bookstore

 Before Elijah was moving around and such, he HATED tummy time!  This is one of the few times I got him to do it without completely losing it.

This pic is one of our favorite memories.  Elijah was just chillin in the bumbo playing away, when he just started falling asleep!  So funny!

Phew!  Tons and tons of pictures!  next is an overview of the trip Elijah and I took to Idaho in July.  A few weeks before the trip, I was personally in a really dark place.  My depression was out of control, worse then it has ever been, and I was really searching for happiness again.  In my search, a counselor reccomended that I make a trip to Idaho to see my folks, and it was exactly what I needed!  We were able to figure out a way to get me there, and for that I send out a huge thanks to my Mom and Dad!

The next few pictures/videos come from our trip to Yellowstone Bear world.  We went because I wanted to go, not because we thought Elijah would like it.  He was too young to appreciate it, but he sure liked riding in the front of the car for a while and looking at all the buttons on the dash board!  At the end we took Elijah on his first carnival rides, and he was "quite amused" by them as you will see in the following videos.

Also while we were in Idaho we were able to see Uncle Brandon again!  We took him dinner from Olive Garden and had a good time catching up while we ate really good food!

We also spent some good quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Stokes!  It was also really fun to take Elijah to church and to see all the many people that taught me as I grew up.

Also, while in Idaho we were able to help Grandma and Grandpa cut down the huge pine tree that use to be in our front yard.  Elijah was able to watch from the sidelines with Grandma while Grandpa, Brother Balls, and I took the tree down!  Here is the remains after our heard work!

The trip to Idaho was wonderful but all good things must come to an end!  On the flight home Elijah had some issues with being really fussy on the planes, but I did get this one cute picture before the plane filled up!

Even with all his crying on the flights we made it home safe and sound.  It was a wonderful vacation, and truly helped me feel much better!

The next set of pictures are just showing how much our little man likes water!  The first time we tried swimming it didn't go to well, he screamed like a maniac, but ever since then he has loved going swimming and bath time!

And we are in the home stretch!  Here is the last set of pictures.  These are the most recent pics and videos of Elijah!

In the past month or so Elijah has really learned how to crawl/scoot.  He started by doing this army scoot, then he learned to crawl, and now, even though he has the ability to crawl, he prefers to scoot like this!  I think a big part of it has to do with the wood floors!  He cracks us up!

The next photos are of little Elijah with his cranial helmet!

 In this one Elijah is downing his lunch of peaches and avocados!

 This is how I found him one day after our drive home from physical therapy

 Now that he can pull himself up he loves looking out the windows

He also loves to climb in the dishwasher.  We try to stop this whenever he gets close to doing it!

These last three pics were taken at a park near our home.  It was a beautiful day so we took advantage of it and snapped some photos!

So there you have, the year of 2013 so far in a nutshell.  If you are still reading this, then cudos to you for enduring to the end!  Erik and I are happy and are doing well.  Last Tuesday we were blessed to be able to go to the temple where we both received a strong impression that even though our lives aren't going as we thought they would, that we are on the exact path that God needs us to be on, and that he is watching over us a guiding us.

As for a quick update on Erik, he is now officially done with his master classes!  He is now working on his thesis and then he will have his masters degree!  He is currently in the process of gathering research to finalize his proposal.  He is doing his thesis on the interaction/relationship between religion and politics, and he is very excited for it!  I love seeing him excited about his school work.  Now that he is done with classes he is also out hunting for a full time job, so we are praying for that to come through!

As for me I have started teaching piano lessons and absolutely love it!  With a little of the extra income we are debating on starting me on some voice lessons, just because I would love it and feel that there is so much more I can do with my voice.

Basically life is hard, but good, and we are sticking through and learning more and more every day.  Thanks to all of you who are our cheerleaders, we appreciate it!

Lacey Miller

Year End Review

Year End Review

This year has been a wonderfully crazy one for Erik and I.  It's been full of trials and struggles, but also full of miracles and blessings.  I've been horrible about keeping our blog updated, so I will do so now with a year end review.

January

The new year started with me beginning my last semester at BYU-Idaho and with Erik continuing to work his job at Prosper.  He really disliked the job but it was definitely paying our bills so he continued going everyday while I finished my degree.  I was working for BYU-I cattering part time while attending school, and we were doing well.  We weren't sure what was going to happen after I graduated or where we would go, but we knew that God would guide and direct our path. 

We also decided (with much persuasion from Heavenly Father) to begin trying to have a baby.  With my past medical history doctors were sure it would take quite some time, so we figured we would start the process now, and maybe in a year or two we would be blessed enough to have our first child.  

Neither of us were prepared for what came in February.

February

Half way through February I was sitting at the catering pick up office at work when I began feeling REALLY sick.  I was exhausted even though I had slept well the night before, and I was feeling nauseous, which for me is really rare, I hardly ever feel nauseous.  I wondered if I was maybe getting the flu, when I had the thought, maybe you're pregnant.  I brushed it aside, there was no way it would happen this fast, and I continued on with my day.

After a few more days my exhaustion and naseua were accompanied by hot and cold flashes and insane cravings for french fries.  Once again the thought entered my mind, but I brushed it aside, there was no possible way.

During the middle of all of this, Erik lost his job.  We really began wondering what on earth we would do after I graduated, and how we were going to make ends meet.  I felt confident in my ability to find a job with all of my work experience in food services, so once I graduated  maybe I would be able to do that.

A week later it was finally time for a pregnancy test.  I bought three, and all of them came back with the same answer.  Contrary to what my doctor was saying was possible so soon, I was pregnant.  I came out of the bathroom with tears of shock and joy on my face and told Erik.  He could barely believe it.  That night we just laid in stunned silence at the news.  We hadn't expected this, and we weren't ready for it, but it had happened.  Me finding a job now was out of the question, no one would hire a soon to be mom with no plans of continuing to work once her baby was born.  We realized it was time to plan our future.  Over Christmas break Erik had had an interview while we were in Illinois and we were in hopes of a job starting in March or April.  That was now our new plan after I graduated.

The next 13 weeks were insane and will be explained below.  I continually waited for something to go wrong with my pregnancy, there was just no way everything would work so well this soon, but aside from being EXTREMELY nauseous and other physical problems that only concerned me and not the baby, everything went perfectly.

March

March brought with it new trials and struggles.  I was really sick due to being pregnant, but other than that I was doing well in school and Erik was continually job searching.  On March 19th though everything changed.  I was walking into my class up at the Ricks building at 7:45 AM when suddenly my feet slipped on some ice and I fell hard on my side.  My head then proceeded to smack the pavement, and I had a huge gash above my eye.

After a dramatic visit from the ambulance EMT's I was cleared to go to urgent care and get stitches.  My head was throbbing but the real problem started two days after I fell.  My right shoulder began hurting, but due to being pregnant I wasn't able to take medication to help, and I wasn't sleeping at night.  It made for an interesting end of the semester, but with the help from my wonderful husband, everything got done, and I was cleared to graduate.  During all of this Erik continued to job hunt, but to no avail.  Finally we decided to see if we could get him into grad school, so he started the application process.

April

April was a CRAZY month for our little family.  At the beginning of the month I graduated school and Erik got accepted to the June semester at school in Naperville Illinois at North Central College.  We started scrambling for where we could stay, with Erik being out of work for so long our savings was dieing down.  We were still in high hopes of the job in Illinois coming through, so Kevin and Heidi told us we could stay with them until we got enough for an apartment.  After I graduated we started packing up our apartment and then headed out east.  It was a long drive for both of us, but especially for Erik.  Due to my pregnancy and my arm I wasn't able to drive the moving truck, so Erik had to drive every single mile.  Half way through Nebraska we hit some really strong wind, and it was a scary drive.  We made it to Illinois though, and it was good to no longer be in the truck.  Once we settled in though we found out that our hope for Erik's job working out wasn't going to happen, so Erik started the job hunt.

May and June

May and June were both filled with Erik job hunting like crazy and me getting bigger every week.  In June we found out that we were having a boy, and we were so excited.  We had picked out the name Elijah for our first born son, and we were so excited  to meet our little man.

July

July found us with luck at last in the job hunt.  Erik finally found employment at Kraft foods stocking shelves.  It wasn't definitely the dream job he had been looking for, but it was a job, so we took it.  I was able to fly home to Idaho for ten days to visit my parents.  It was a blast!  We spent the week and a half shopping, fishing, and eating pie at my favorite pie place, Homestead.  It was a great little vacation and I had a great time.  I also caught a nice sized fish, so that was great.  

August, September, October

The next few months followed with nothing major happening except for Elijah growing bigger and bigger and Erik working and going to class.  Our spare time was filled with getting the nursery ready and trying to mentally prepare ourselves to be parents.  Near the end of October I had another ultra sound to check for Elijah's size, the doctors were concerned about him all ready being over eight pounds, and they were right, the ultra sound showed that he was already 8 pounds 2 ounces, and most of that was because of his large head. I began really hoping that Elijah would come early, I was starting to experience a lot of pain and couldn't wait to get him out.  The little man held out strong though, and made it past his due date in November. 

November

November was by far the most exciting month of our year.  With Elijah's due date getting closer and closer my depression started coming back and getting stronger.  The last doctor's appointment before Elijah's due date I told my doctor that I was beginning to worry about how I was doing mentally with the depression coming back.  After a very frank discussion he decided to set an induction date the day after my due date.  I was due the 12th so on the 13th I was scheduled to go into the hospital.  The morning of the 13th came and as we were getting ready to go in the hospital called.  A lot of women had come in during the night in labor and they were out of beds.  We were asked to wait until the next day.  That was by far the longest day of my life!  The 14th came though, and Erik and I headed to the hospital ready to greet our little man.  I was so ready to be done being pregnant!

Once Erik and I got settled in they doctor started the labor.  After a few hours of my foolish attempt to go naturally, I asked for an epidural which was by far one of the best decisions I made all year!  After the epidural Erik and I just chilled and waited for the doctor to tell us that it was time.  After 11 hours of labor the doctor realized that Elijah's head was just too big to fit through my body, so a c-section was scheduled.  After receiving a priesthood blessing I was wheeled into the operation room.  At 6:45 pm Erik and I heard Elijah's first cry, and he was born.  He weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long.  It was a long day but Erik and I were so excited to welcome our son into this world, and it was truly beautiful.

The next few days were full of snuggling and getting to know our new little one.  After three days in the hospital Elijah and I were released and headed home.  My mom and dad were able to fly in the very next day to spend a few days with Elijah and to have Thanksgiving with us.  It was a blast!

Having to watch my mom and dad leave after their visit was really hard, but we all knew that they couldn't stay forever.  We were just so grateful that they were able to come when they did.

December

The last week of November and the first week of December were very hard ones for me.  I struggled greatly with post-partum depression, and my anxiety was through the roof.  I was able to learn a lot about the pure love of Christ though as I watched those I live with help me and do things for me that I couldn't do for myself.  It was a hard experience but was also a truly strengthening one.  After some doctor visits things started leveling out, and Christmas was quickly approaching.  We were all excited to celebrate Elijah's first Christmas, and it was a good one.  Christmas Eve was slightly rough, Elijah wasn't feeling the best and was up almost the entire day, but he made up for it on Christmas day when he slept basically all day long.  We did get an adorable video of him on his gift from Santa Clause though, a rocking moose!

We ended the day with having some friends over and eating a wonderful turkey dinner.  We also had the same friends over for New Year's Eve.  We ate lots of good food and played games till about 11:30 when the new parents, AKA Erik and I, had to turn in because we were just so dang tired!  It was a great last day of the year though, and a good ending to such a busy year.

So all in all it was a good year.  We learned a lot and experienced many hardships and trials, but that is what made it a good year, was experiencing those trials and then moving on from them.  We are so grateful for the loving family that we have, and for the gospel in our lives.  We hope you enjoyed our year update!  We are already enjoying our new year and are looking forward to all that will happen!  We will try to keep you all updated!

Lacey Miller