Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with my mom, who came up from Yuma. We relaxed a lot and got to spend a lot of time with Eric, which was great. We also played a few games of Settlers of Catan (my mom's favorite).In spite of our best efforts, we still cooked a rather large, but delicious, dinner which (much to Eric's dismay) we will probably be eating for a while. We really do have so much to be thankful for and in the spirit of the season, I thought I would mention that I am really so thankful for my wonderful family: my supportive and always encouraging husband and our two beautiful kids who keep me smiling (and on my toes)! What more could a person want?
On Thanksgiving, Eric got together with a bunch of people (t-birds and people from church) for a turkey bowl (football).

Ethan is pushing up two little white teeth on the bottom. They haven't poked through yet but there are definite bumps and he's been pretty fussy. We expect them any day now.
In other news, after two weeks of persistent coughing, we took Ethan in to the doctor today. He has bronchiolitis.

For all of you who are curious, here is the difference between bronchiolitis and bronchitis (I didn't know, so did a little research):
Bronchiolitis is a respiratory disease in which the lower airways in the lungs become inflamed and swollen. It is an acute viral infection of the bronchioles seen mostly in infants and young children, caused most frequently by the respiratory syncytial virus.
What's the difference between bronchiolitis and bronchitis? bonchiolitis should not be confused with the better known bronchitis, which is an infection of the larger upper airway in the lung (the bronchi), and mostly affects adults, particularly those who smoke.
The result of this is that Ethan is now on breathing treatments of Albuterol every four hours (even in the middle of the night)! Considering he screamed for the almost ten minute duration of the first treatment in the office, this is going to be a fun two nights. The doctor said it's likely he has RSV, but he doesn't know for sure and the treatment is the same. He goes back in to the doctor on Monday morning, but the doctor said if he gets worse to take him into the ER. We are definitely hoping he improves with the treatments. Here's a pic of him with his little mask prior to treatment. We didn't think a picture during treatment would be possible because it takes two of us to hold him still! Man he is strong when he is mad! However, the third time we did the treatment, he gave up and went to sleep. (Bottom picture)I guess I should write something about Elia. She is just growing and getting smarter and more independent. When there's a semi-crisis, like with Ethan's sickness, it seems he gets all the attention, but really, Elia is so great. When Eric went to play football on Thanksgiving, I went with him and played soccer with a group there. For about an hour and a half, Elia entertained herself by playing in the dirt and climbing on things on the side-lines. She is also doing a lot better staying in her bed at night, though one morning, we found her laying outside our door with her blanket on. That's a new one. As always, she is Ethan's care-taker and will remind us by saying, "I'm in charge of Ethan!" How could we forget! During the break, she especially loved playing with Papa. She loves it when he takes her swimming because he does all sorts of fun things like this:

Eric had fun too, though was a little annoyed with the water dripping off Elia into his eyes. (At least he hopes it was water:). Last time we went swimming, Elia even did a little version of the butterfly stroke. She wants to be just like her Papa and wants HIM to buckle her and HIM to push Ethan and HIM to... I guess second place to Papa isn't too bad. :) At least Ethan prefers me, though I'm not sure if it's me or the food.