I'm a lazy blogger

I admit it, I'm a lazy blogger. Recently I've had a hard time with sitting down to blog about Elliott or our lives around here. We've been busy with birthdays and holiday celebrations the few weeks with more to come this weekend. Last Saturday we spent the day in Wilsonville decorating sugar cookies with Dan's family and then going to my sister, Amy's, house for Christmas with their family. Amy and her family are in Sacrament until the 28th (I think) so we celebrated and exchanged gifts early with their family.

The bigger kids decorated a Gingerbread House - it collapsed:


Finally a cousin picture that almost worked out well (Josh is hiding):


We had a great time celebrating early and playing with all the exciting new toys!

Elliott is walking all the time now, sometimes even trying to run. If he does run he'll usually fall down pretty quickly, he isn't 100% stable. His new favorite book is Dr. Seuss ABC, specifically the letter L. There is a picture of a lion on that page and he'll growl at it. I'm not sure where he got that from, maybe I did it once? It's hysterical though. I do have a video of it but I'm not sure how to upload it on our new computer. I'll have Dan do it tomorrow.

E is also starting to sign a little more. We got him to do "please" this past weekend. He was being bribed with reeces pieces and doritos at first, but will now do it most of the time when we ask him to. A few times he will sign "dog" and at least 3 times he's done that sign as well as said something that sounds like "dag". He also knows what a door is now and will sort of say "door". There is a difference between how he says door and dog, surprisingly. Right above his changing table is a picture of a turtle. When we are very lucky he will sort of say turtle. That one takes a lot of coaching and most of the time he'll just point to it. Of course, we think he's a genius, I'm pretty sure every parent thinks that their child is one :) It's fun that he'll communicate in his little way. I'm really looking forward to knowing what he's thinking all the time.

I think maybe part of the reason I'm a bad blogger is because I feel like Elliott and I don't do too much. It's been rainy which means we are spending most days inside. If we go out it seems to be to go to the pharmacy or the hospital for me. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis about 5 years ago and this past year - basically since Elliott was born - had been a tough one. I had a mild "flare up" in February, a really bad "flare up" in June and another now in December. (A flare up is basically the reaction my colon has when it attacks itself. Many different lovely symptoms are included that I don't really need to go into, though I will say that on some lucky days I was in then bathroom at least 15+ times a day) I'm on 4 different medications at the moment and take a record number of pills a day to deal - 19 a day! The most recent medication is called Imuran and I have to do weekly blood test to monitor liver function, etc. Last week I had to go in for a Bone Density scan to see if I've lost any bone mass since I have been on and off Prednisone for close to 6 months. Good news - no loss since 2007 (when I first went on Pred.). Thankfully the Imuran seems to be working and things are finally calming down. I'm hoping to get off both Imuran and Prednisone quickly as both have horrible side effects. I guess the only upside to this all is that I've lost all my baby weight plus about 10 lbs! :) I'm back in my skinny jeans! I feel like we don't do too much because I do have to be aware of where a bathroom is pretty much all the time. So, that's why there isn't too much to write about. Sorry. :(

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays. We are looking forward to lots of good food and time with both of our families this weekend.