Sick Sick Simraks

Thursday brought with it a nasty virus. Eli brought it home from who-knows-where and he then passed it on to me. Dan, luckily, is still in fine condition. I don't know what I would have done without him on Saturday, which is when I was laid up. Anyone who's been sick with kids (not sick of kids) knows how devilishly hard it is to care for them when you can barely stand. Much less, when you're afraid you'll vomit the minute you move. So having Dan around on Saturday was a Godsend. Sunday, I felt much better, but poor Eli is still battling the poops, and it's the end of Monday. The doctor says it could last up to 10 days. That's something to look forward to. He's barely eaten anything since Thursday. But at least he's drinking. We were in the ER on Thursday night as he was vomiting so much, I was afraid of dehydration. They were able to stop it by feeding him fluids through an IV and they gave him baby-safe anti-nausea medicine. It worked. At least until the next day. But thankfully, it wasn't as bad as the night before. He's been spending most of his time either in bed, on the changing table, or in my arms. The poor kid's not feeling well at all. It breaks my heart.

New Year's Dinner at Applebee's

For New Year's Eve this year, the Gregson Clan went out to eat. Where? None other than the fine dining of Applebee's.

Rocking Horse

Earlier in the year, Mom and I found a small rocking horse at a thrift shop for $2. We brought it home and showed Dad who said that he could fix it up for Eli. They gave it to him for Christmas. Here is a picture of Eli on it when they gave it to him. Below, is a video of him riding it this morning.

Eli Walks A Wagon

Nana bought Elias a toy wagon filled with big "leggo" blocks. It also serves the purpose of a push toy to aid Elias in his learning to walk. Here is a video of him pushing his wagon this morning.

Pictures from the past few days

Bath Night

I just had to put this up. I decided to give Eli a bath when we got home to help him unwind and get him all clean for Christmas Day. I decided this just as I was undressing him and changing his diaper. So instead of putting a new diaper on him, I just brought him with me to the bathroom naked as a jay bird. He stood by the tub as I got his bath ready. As I was getting his little tub filled with water and toys, I noticed from the corner of my eye that he was looking down. Sure enough, he took a leak right there beside me as he stood by the tub. And he noticed that he did it too, because he looked down to see what happened.
It was the cutest thing. I didn't even mind cleaning it up.

Christmas Eve Party

Here are some pictures of this evening at our party.

Merry Christmas!

This evening, we went to the Laings and enjoyed an evening of mingling with others. Eli wasn't feeling well, so even though he was promptly taken from my arms the minute we entered the door, I saw him periodically throughout the night. He was fussy and so ready to go home to bed. It was a good excuse to get home a little early to enjoy our Christmas Eve alone.

After Eli was put down for the night, soon to be dreaming of sugar plums, we did a little straightening for tomorrow and took this picture of our third Christmas together. It's hard to believe that it hasn't been longer when you consider everything that has transpired in those years. On the other hand, it's hard to believe we're here, when it seems only yesterday that we first fell in love.

We look forward to many many more Christmases to come.

Our Christmas Eve

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
~Burton Hillis

Christmas Eve began a little later than planned. We were intending to walk to the first service this morning which begins at 8:00 am. But seeing as how I woke up at precisely 8:07, it looked like we would have to choose between the second and third services. We decided to walk to the second service which begins at 9:45, but before getting ready, I brought Eli to bed with us and gave him his morning bottle there. Dan put on How The Grinch Stole Christmas and we watched the first half of it all cuddled close in bed. Eli's attention span didn't last the whole movie even though it's only 26 minutes long. So just as the Grinch stole away with his kind-hearted dog Max pulling all the belongings of Whoville - and after Cindy Lou Who was no more than two was tucked soundly in her bed - we turned it off and proceded to get breakfast.

The day is just beautiful with the sun shining brightly through the bare trees, but unfortunately there is no hope of having a white Christmas here in Bucks County, PA. It's about 40 or so outside and the wind this morning was strong (somewhat strong to make our walk to church a pleasant stroll). The house has been quiet for the past couple hours since returning from church as we've all been reading and napping. Eli is just beginning to stir at 2:00 in the afternoon. Dan is still snoozing on the couch. This evening holds joy and cheer as we join our friends at the Laing's for a Christmas party.

Last night, we enjoyed a party at the Fichera household where many of our church friends gathered. Dan and I have been reflecting how awesome it is to spend time at the holidays with our community family, and how after three years, we have really grown close to many of the people in our church.

Steps Away From Walking

While I don't have a picture or video to show it off to the world yet, Eli is taking steps without holding onto anything. He's still wobbly and falls after the first or second step, but it could be a matter of days when he's walking short distances. We'll see. He definitely prefers walking to crawling. If he can grab hold of a finger or pant-leg, he'll walk where he wants to go. If, of course, he needs to get there quickly and there's nothing around to help him along the way, he will naturally, crawl. And he does crawl very fast.

He's been playing this new game - it's so cute: He'll start crawling away from us. When we say, "Where are you going?" or "I'm going to get you!" he crawls faster, giggling all the way. It's so cute.

I think he's about done with baby food, too. He seems to prefer chunks of food to being spoon-fed. So now, I have to get creative.

IF ANYONE HAS TODDLER FOOD IDEAS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

I'd like to get the book, Super Baby Food. I borrowed it from someone for awhile, but I gave it back hoping to buy a new one for myself. So if I don't get it for Christmas, I'll just have to find a deal and go get it. It has so many ideas and tells you how to do everything. A lot of the stuff is over the top for me (I doubt I will EVER roll out my own crackers!) but there are a lot of really great money-saving and food ideas for babies, toddlers and older kids.

Eli accounts

When we were young, I remember how my brother, Tim's, socks used to always come partially off his feet so that they were hanging off his toes. This morning, I noticed that Eli's socks were doing the same thing, and I couldn't help but take a picture.


Here's Eli eating his breakfast: an oatmeal bar. I know. I know. What kind of a mother would give their 10-month old an oatmeal bar to eat for breakfast? Well, I'll tell you what. If he refuses to eat everything else you give him for days, you get to the point where you have to get him to eat something. And an oatmeal bar just happens to be healthier than some things; so that's what he got this morning. As you can see, he was quite pleased with the little bit he ate. I think he was more smiling for the camera than he was for the food, though.

I don't know if he's teething where I can't see it, or if he's just sick and tired of the food I've been giving him. I don't know if there's some other hidden reason why he refuses to eat. The thought has crossed my mind that maybe with the hustle and bustle of everything going on recently and my having to leave him a little more often than usual, he's just refused to eat. But in every other aspect, he seems fine. He's fine with me leaving him and although he's a little clingy, it's not really much more than normal. Oh well. It could be that he's just sick of baby food and wants real food. But even then, he doesn't always eat it. We'll keep trying!


Here's Eli looking through a box we brought home from Dan's parents' house after helping them clean out their basement. He found his daddy's old trophies!

Johnny's Back

Our boy, Johnny, is home from California for Christmas break. In August, he moved out there to go to The Masters' College; so he's home now, and is presently sitting in our living room with Dan playing their guitars. Johnny has a lot of access to new worship music, so he brought some home to play it with Dan.

The "PopPoperazzi" Does It Again

Last night, Dan took me out for my birthday so we left Elias with Nonie and Pop Pop. While Nonie was excited about playing with Baby Elias, Pop Pop was excited about another opportunity to take more pictures. (The grandchildren don't recognize Pop Pop without his camera.) Although I know it was frustrating for Nonie to keep him in positions when she just wanted to play with him, I'm glad she commiserated because I happen to love these shots. If I ever get a Christmas letter written and sent out, I think I'd like to try to send this Christmas picture of Eli with it. I just love it.


And don't you just love his hair?

Thanksgiving Pictures

I got these pictures of Thanksgiving weekend from Melissa .

Uncle Tim and Eli...


Maremy, Mom and others at Thanksgiving Dinner...



Aunt Melissa and Elias...

Thanksgiving with the Gregson Clan

2006 was the first Thanksgiving that the Tim Gregson Clan has been together in years. I don't remember how long it's been, but it's probably been since Tim II was in college. Tiffany (a.k.a. Aunt Biff) came home from college. Tim and Melissa (affectionately referred to as Tilissa) drove in on Wednesday from Aurora, IL. Mary and Jeremy (affectionately referred to Maremy) drove in from Abington, PA on the same day. Dan, Eli, Angela (a.k.a. Aunt Peg) and I drove in late Wednesday night from Bucks County, PA. We were all together until Saturday. It was a great time. We look forward to Christmas where we will all see each other again, though not for as long a time and not until a few days after Christmas Day. But we look forward to it, nonetheless. We are becoming accustomed to splitting ourselves between other families and still maintaining some semblance of family tradition. But I suppose everyone has to adjust to these things when the kids get married and join other families. It fun, though, beginning new traditions and doing new things. I look forward to many years from now when we have our own family traditions with our kids during the holidays.

Here is a picture (I'm the one taking it) of the whole family at Thanksgiving Dinner. Dan is purposefully making an undigified face.

More Fun Eli Pictures

With the decorating for Christmas and finding room to put up our tree, we've been forced to put the highchair away and have graduated Eli to a booster seat. I actually love the concept even if it's not the style I would choose. It's strapped to a chair so you don't take up anymore space than a regular chair would. Eli has taken to it quite easily as you can see below.


Bath fun...



Just a silly boy being silly. In this picture, you can actually see his sixth tooth that had just come in that morning. It's the tooth next to his two front teeth on his right side.

Abigail Sorensen Visits

Friday night, Abby Sorensen came to visit us. If you recall back when Eli was born, there were two other babies in our Home Fellowship born within two weeks of him. Abby is four days older than Eli, daughter of Josh and Becky Sorensen; Reed is nine days younger, son of Paul and Wendi Johnson.

Anyway, Abby came to visit while her mommy and daddy had a date night. After dinner out, they came back to the house to visit with us. It was a very enjoyable, and much-needed time together. I caught some adorable pictures of Abby while she was playing. Eli went to bed as soon as she arrived, the lazy bum. He just can't stay up late. He needs his sleep, which is A-Okay with me!

Hangin' with Nana on a very warm December day...


Eating graham crackers at Nonie's house...


Aunt Mary reading books to Elias...


Decorating for Christmas...