2009

2009 had it's good and bad days but it was lots of fun. Joel kept me on my toes mostly with all his quirks. He was into so much since the running, walking, and climbing came in full force shortly after his first birthday. Took him a couple of times to the hospital for nasty head falls outside on the sidewalks. He was beginning to really show his individulity more and more. He was also becoming quite independant as well.

 He was also starting to have favorite things like Elmo, playing with cars. He even began carrying a little stuffed Curious George everywhere he went, but he was okay if he left it somewhere on accident. Joel and I loved doing many things together. He even loved playing on my computer.

Big Hospital Stay

  About a week after his 1st birthday Joel got the flu bug really bad. He had to be put in the hospital over night because he was so severely dehydrated. No matter what I tried the little guy just wasn't keeping the fluids in. I had actually seen a couple of doctor ahead of time for a couple of days in a row, but all the doctors said he will be fine. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer because my happy go lucky boy was just laying in my arms not wanting to do anything, and he had not had a wet diaper over 48 hours. So, I made an appointment to see his regular doctor. Dr. Boonstra just looked at him and knew for sure that Joel was too sick, but did test anyway on him. He had the nurse draw blood. While we were waiting on the blood work to come back the doctor had us go over to the pediatric infusion side where they put in an iv to get some fluids in him since oral was not working. Joel didn't even hardly cry when they put it in.
   After about 3 hours Dr. Boonstra came over to check Joel out again, and tell us the results. Since Joel still was not perky, and the blood work showed that he was severely dehydrated; plus he blood sugar was so low he decided to admit him to the hospital. I was so greatful that he really took the time to take care of Joel.
  That night Joel mostly just slept with his IV in his arm. They gave him IV bolus of glucose to get his blood sugar up too. By midnight Joel was feeling a little better enough to take in a little fluids by mouth. It wasn't a whole lot, but enough to make me happy. That morning around 2 am his IV somehow came out. We had blood everywhere. It took 3 nurses plus me to hold him down, and get the new IV put in. By that afternoon he got to go home. I was so happy that he didn't have to stay the night. Child life and the hospital staff were awesome.

The 1st Birthday and 1st Vacation

  October 2008 we celebrated Joel's first birthday along with one of his grandma's 76 birthday. It was a blast. Many of our church family and family came. Even our grandparents from Arkansas came up for the special night. Joel has his own little seat where everyone could watch him make a mess. Indeed he did. There was spagetti everywhere. When it came time for the cake he was not too keen on the whole frosting thing. He wouldn't even touch it. He got gobs of toys and clothes for his birthday. Some he couldn't wait to play with even before they were out of the box. It was so much fun. Joel even crashed out hard that night when he got home.
  The next day he had his one year old check up, and shots. He did very very well. Thank goodness for tylenol. The doctor was very impressed on how well he was doing. He also said he was going to talk to an ENT specialist about Joel's frontelum that he had that was causing trouble.
  The same day Joel and I went on his first vacation to Kansas with our grandparents to visit our relatives there. Joel did very well even with just having shots. He slept a good portion of it on the way there. He tried to play with his cousin Blake a little but mostly just wanted mommy because it was new people. When we got to our Aunt and Uncle's house in Salina, Kansas we were all tuckered out but we sat and chatted for a bit. Aunt Nan rocked and cuddled Joel until he fell back to sleep. We took Joel to a park. He played for hours with grandma and grandpa on the playground equipment. Grandpa and Uncle took turn walking him in a stroller up and down the street a couple of days. By the third day post shots Joel spiked a fever and wasn't feeling good. Aunt Nan and Grandma took good care of him. Many warm baths, chicken noodle soup, and a lot of TLC. They told me to relax that it was my vacation. Joel did good on the way back as well. It was a blast. I think he missed his family back in Iowa because when we saw them he wanted them right away. I think that they missed him too.

Joel's First Fairs

   July 2008 Joel got to enjoy his first county fair. Do to my being sick and in the hospital the first couple of days he went with church family. They showed him the animals and things. I guess he loved it. I got out of the hospital in time to take him to the Mud Races. He really didn't know what to think. He had fun though.
  August 2008 went to the Iowa State Fair with my brother and his friend one day of the fair, and one day we took one of the teens from church that helped with Joel several times. Joel had a blast both times. He got to sit down by a baby calf and touch it with his Uncle Matthew, and he got to ride on an elephant with Nicole. He was still very young to take it all in but he had a blast. It was hot both days so he basically was in a diaper and shorts.

  Joel also enjoyed going swimming and even got to enjoy VBS. He was with his Grandma in the nursery but he had a blast. The summer was so enjoyable with many of his firsts happened that I enjoyed. Yes I missed his first county fair, but it was good to know that our church family got to experiece it with him.