We celebrated Eli's 4th birthday yesterday and so I am dedicating this post to our #4 for his 4th birthday. Eli LOVES birthday cake in any shape, kind, or flavor. He decided he wanted chocolate worm cake for his birthday. He has been talking about that cake for weeks and he told us he wasn't 4 until he ate his cake. He loved the cake and loved his present. Eli has always loved anything with wheels and a trailer and we were able to find him the perfect gift. His new tractor was a hit!! He pedals around and scoops up dirt and rocks and tows anything he can find in his trailer. He is in love. In this picture he is towing his gift from our neighbors...his own box of Twinkies. He goes to their house everyday and asks for a Twinkie (and they always give him one), so they knew this would be the perfect gift. He had a great birthday. I cannot believe he is 4. He has grown up so fast. He is such a great kid and we love him so much.
ALL ABOUT ELI...
Eli has been kicking our butts since the second he was born!!! He was my first natural/drug-free delivery. It was a horrific and amazing experience all at the same time. When Eli decided to make his entrance, there was no stopping him and he was delivered by my nurse. As soon as he was born, the nurses told me he needed to go to the nursery to have some fluid sucked out of his lungs. They told me it was no big deal...it turned into a HUGE deal. He ended up needing to be put on a ventilator and once he was stabilized, moved to another hospital. So, 6 hours after he was born, he was transported by ambulance to a children's hospital and Kyle and I followed. He spent a week in the NICU and it was one of the scariest and most spiritual weeks of our lives. Kyle and I were able to stay in Las Vegas with him (thanks to Kyle's wonderful parents that were able to stay with the other 3 kids and thanks to the Ronald McDonald House) and we spent the week next to his bed. We cried, we prayed and we talked. We talked about Eli, about how lucky we were that he wasn't any sicker (there were babies in that NICU that were so much worse off than him), about how blessed we were to have 3 other perfectly healthy kids, about how grateful we are for our knowledge of the gospel, about how wonderful modern medicine is and many other things. Kyle was able to give Eli a wonderful blessing with the help of a friend in Las Vegas and we knew he would recover. Our prayers were answered. It was something I hope I never have to go through again...seeing your child suffering is so unbelievable awful, but it is an experience I am so grateful for. It made us so much more aware of all of our blessings and so, so grateful for all we are blessed with. I have never prayed so much in my life or felt so close to my Heavenly Father. It was a trial, but one we needed and one we are grateful for.
Our poor baby boy. This is a picture I keep on the refrigerator so everyday I can think about how blessed we are.
A couple weeks after Eli came home from the hospital, we took the kids camping to try and make up for missing weeks of their summer. We were packing up camp and I had no place to lay him down...except in the suitcase. I LOVE this picture.
Such a good big brother!!!
He loves trains. 
Daddy's big helper.
Eli is so different from our other kids. He has been...shall we say, a challenge. Kyle insists it is because I am so wimpy when it comes to disciplining him. I have struggled with that because of all he went through when he was born. I just think of him as a fragile little thing...which he obviously is not. He is tough as nails and stubborn as a mule. He doesn't listen to a word we say and like I said, he kicks our butts. But we love him and he is a hilarious little boy with a lot of spunk. Eli has 2 switches: ON and OFF...there is no in between with this kid. I know that Eli will get whatever he wants in life...he already does. We love this boy so much and we are so grateful that Heavenly Father sent him to us.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY "E" !!!! We love you.
