Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Elden's 3rd Birthday

Yes, it happened!  My little baby turned three!  Guess I should stop calling Elden, "Baby Elden".  I still find myself calling him that!

A train cake was in order for the big day. 
March 11 2012

March 11 2012 (2)

Sunday morning (Elden's birthday) we snapped a few pictures before church.
March  11 2012 Elden

March 11 2012 Clark Elden Shanna

March 11 2012 Cal Elden Shanna

March 11 2012 Cal Elden

The crew with Reed!  He's practically a sibling!
March 11 2012 Shanna Cal Reed Elden Haley Clark

March 11 2012 Shanna Cal Haley Elden Clark

March 11 2012 Shanna Cal Haley Elden Ruth Clark

March 11 2012 Elden Cal

March 11 2012 Elden Cal (2)

March 11 2012 Cal Elden Lee Haley

Aside from the bad exposure, I thought this picture was SO sweet and cute! They could be boy/girl twins!
March 11 2012 Shanna Reed

Don't pay too much attention to the detail Nathan, but I am sure you already noticed my mistake of mis-placing the coal.  Lee told me it didn't belong where I put it haha...  Guess the coal was too heavy...
March 11 2012 (3)

March 11 2012 Elden (2)

March 11 2012 Cal Lee Elden

See all the "presents" behind Elden?  The kids had a blast running all over finding toys and wrapping them.  It was really cute. He did get a few gifts from us, Blake and Reed.
March 11 2012 Elden Clark

March 11 2012 Haley Elden Reed

He enjoyed his cards from his Grandparents...Thank you!
March 11 2012 Elden Reed

March 11 2012 Elden Reed (2)

March 11 2012 Elden Reed (3)

March 11 2012 Elden Reed Clark

March 11 2012 (5)

We had a fun, family weekend with Lois and Jeff.  I love that they can come to share these special events with us!  And of course Lois spoiled us and made truffles again.  Oh so good!!!! Thanks for coming Heits!

If you so desire, a sneak peek of Elden's little journey.

Elden's birth day.  Not the happiest day in my life.  But it was nice knowing that he was born and I would someday leave my hospital bed.
Picture 77

Lee and Elden on birth day
Picture 84

March 13 2009 Elden

Picture 107

March 26 2009 Elden

Mar 29 2009 Elden and inches

Mar 29 2009 Elden and bottle again

Picture 93

A visit from Grandpa!
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Elden's LAST day in the hospital! YAY!  It was such a liberating day. I went up to the antepartum unit to show Elden to one of my favorite nurses.  She saw me almost everyday for five weeks before he was born.
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This picture has nothing to do with Elden, but this is all the milk I pumped that I had to throw away. (There was more stored elsewhere too.)  Since I had a transfusion the milk bank wouldn't take it.  One funny story....Lee and I drove to Memphis to pick up Shanna and Haley after a two-month stay with Lena.  I left Elden in the hospital, didn't have a choice obviously, for a week.  I wanted to get the girls adjusted to being back home before a new baby came home.  (It took the girls about 24 hours or so to warm up to me!) But anyway, I left a lot of breast milk at the hospital for Elden.  When I got back the nurses were feeding him formula-which is totally fine; but hadn't I left A TON of milk for him?  They said it was all gone, which I thought was weird.  Sure enough, the nurses hadn't checked the other freezer and lots of my milk was still in their.  I am sure you aren't busting up laughing, but it was amusing to me, he he.
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With lots of love, prayers, blessings and a little physical therapy, he did just great!
April 19 2010 Elden (5)

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June 28 2010

Aug 7 2010 Elden

He still loves to sleep....
June 22 2011 Elden sleeping

He still loves vehicles....
May 10 2010 Elden (3) - Copy

He still loves to snuggle....
May 28 2011 Nathan and Elden

And can you believe it?  Elden is starting toilet training on Sunday.  AH!  Fifth time around and I am still kind of nervous and am dreading it too!  But, I am very excited about this fact: last time potty-training.  Now that makes me happy!  Happy birthday Elden!

7 comments:

Nostrebor said...

I think it's so funny that he's plugging his ears for the candles on his cake! It's not like we play with fire crackers. I don't know what he thought they were going to do. :-)

Annelise said...

Happy third birthday! What a journey, cute cake! How many weeks were you when he was born? I was trying to remember and couldn't.

Annelise said...

Happy Birthday Elden! What a journey! Cute cake! How many weeks were you when he was born? I was trying to remember and couldn't.

Andrew Bosley said...

Has it been THREE YEARS???!!! Wow, time really does fly. And what a happy, sturdy, healthy boy. Congrats!
love,
maren

Becca said...

Hey Ruth! I don't know if you remember me, but we were in the Marshall branch together for a short time way back in the day! But, I found your blog through a link from Britt's blog. Anyway, I saw your birthday post on Elden and was intrigued by your birth story which looks like it was somewhat like mine with my son who was born at 31 weeks weighing 2 lbs, 8 oz. How early was Elden & how much did he weigh? How long did he have to be in the NICU for? Did you have pre-eclampsia? My little guy just turned 18 months & isn't walking yet, but does PT,(along with speech therapy & occupational therapy for that developmental stuff), so seeing your little guy doing so well at age 3 gives me so much hope! Happy Birthday to your little guy!
Becca

Sarah and Todd said...

Happy Birthday to him! And very cute cake, Ruth!

Lee-Ruth-Clark-Cal-Shanna-Haley-Elden said...

Becca, let me know if you get this message! I am not sure the best means to reply back to you. Are you on facebook? Wow, sounds like you had quite the journey with your boy too! And just recently! I had placenta previa and was on bedrest for 5 weeks in the hospital before he was born. He was born at 28 weeks, 2 pounds 9 ounces. Elden was in the NICU for two months...almost exactly. He had some minor problems but thankfully they all cleared up. He was under the bili-lite forever and had some brain bleeds. (Which cleared up.) After he got out he had physical therapy. He leaned his head to one side a lot for a while I remember. Elden crawled on time (for his adjusted age) but he didn't walk till he was about 18 months old (non-adjusted age). He was able to stop physical therapy close to his 2nd birthday. We never put him in speech therapy as he seemed to progress normally in that. Wow, you sure are busy! I hope all of the different therapy sessions are going well. I remember coming home from the hospital thinking, okay, we're done with doctors. HA. That was a joke. They wanted Elden to come in once a week for weight checks and then they gave him some shot during the winter months, and they wanted me to come in once a month for that. And of course we started physical therapy later on and that went for several months. It can be draining! But it was great though that he received such great care and was able to get the help he needed. Good luck with everything Becca!!! I would love to find you on facebook or something. My sister Deb lives near you--about an hour or so away.