Sweet brother

Eli showed interest in holding his brother Ben yesterday.

It was SO sweet! he was holding him and 'shooshing' him to sleep, just like daddy & mommy do. Then he gave him kisses. UGH! I was adorable. I'm so glad he's taking to Ben so wonderfully, so far. We'll see how he feels here in a month or so. I'm sure he'll be thinking ' uh, can we take him back now?' :)



Proud big brother!

We're doing well here. I'm only on my 2nd day of being without Justin and day 1 wasn't too crazy, thank God :) One day at a time!! Now, if I could just be healed. I'm DYING to go for a walk!!

Big Ben

Hi friends,
Well, we're happy to announce the birth of our 2nd son Benjamin Ryan Courter.

He weighed in at 9lbs 14oz and 22 inches long. It was a looong labor, but well worth it!





As you can sort of see, he's got dark hair and darker skin...is this my kid?! after having a little Scandinavian boy like Eli, it's fun to have this guy be so different and unique :)

We're home and doing well; adjusting to being a family of 4 which we're taking one day at a time!

Thank you so much for your prayers, provided meals and love. We're truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.

Justin, Jaymie Eli & Ben

a new bed!

Yesterday we picked up a toddler bed for Eli! we love CL

He seems to really like it and did really good at taking his nap in it today. We're not sure about night time yet-tried it last night and he woke up balling at midnight :( poor guy. maybe a night light is in order here.

look! even Daddy fits



This photo looks like he's posing a little too much, eh?

your own car buddy :) he even just goes in his room to sit and play on it. We'll see how the transition goes.

New haircut & the Aquarium

A while back we gave Eli his 1st buzz cut :) Isn't he handsome!!
He did so great...just stood there very still as the clippers did their work.



We also made a trip to the zoo for my neice June's birthday. I cannot believe she's 4!!










Just as we left the sun was coming out and we enjoyed some yummy Ivar's Fish & Chips! It was a fun day with the cousins.

Eli's rash update

Eli is doing better. Thanks for your prayers and words of comfort as this was a little scary for us!
Here is what he looked like 2 days ago, progressively:


This was the only way to get a really good idea of how much it covered him :(
He kept kicking off the wash cloth so I just fuzzed out the X rated spots :)


yesterday morning:

Still some puffy eyes but the redness was much better all around.

His cousins came for a visit and that really cheered him up. Here's Eli's 1st encounter with worms!


Today he is looking MUCH better. His face looks almost normal again and the blotches are faded.


We're very grateful that the turn around has been faster than expected. The Dr. said it could take up to 3 weeks for it to be gone. She diagnosed it as E.M.-the minor version and that it was probably caused by a viral infection that he had had, which sounds really bizarre but it happens more often than we hear. She's not convinced it was the penicillin's fault as he's had it once before and did not react, but we're staying away from it just the same.

So we don't know what kind of infection caused the reaction, which is the scary part-that it could happen again, but we're exploring other areas such as food allergies and what might be causing his excema flare-ups, which could lead to an infection as well.

Ahhhh..... in the meantime, he still has an ear infection (which isn't ruled out as the cause) and we're not able to treat it with other meds until his rash is completely gone. Please be praying for the comfort of his ears. The many Dr.'s office visits has given him a distaste for taking any meds/vitamins by mouth, where as before he was just fine with it. So we're having to pin him down, poor guy. He is not very happy with me afterwards, as you can imagine. I just hope I'm not ruining any trust between us :( that would make me very sad.

Thank you again for your prayers for our little man. We're so thankful for good friends & family :)
love,
The Courters

Poor guy :(

Eli first started out with a double ear infection Tues. of last week. The Dr. prescribed amoxicillin and a week later these little guys showed up:


My first thought was allergic reaction to the meds but no photos online or anything I could find could confirm it. Also, it was 8pm and the Dr. was not in. I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed.

I got him in the morning and he looked like this:

He was still a happy camper, but itching and scratching :(


So, this is when I panicked and called the Dr.'s office right away. I explained that his eyes were puffy and he had the rash nearly all over his body. They were able to see us right away.


They gave him Benadryl right away and said to keep a close eye on it. They said too that sometimes it's an allergic reaction to not only meds but to food, so we're going to start by taking out cow's milk.

I feel so bad for him and HELPLESS. We have another apt. to see his Dr. tomorrow to see how he's mending.

Please be praying for healing for Eli and that it's not anything serious. I'm so sad for him and wish there was more I could do. Thanks for your prayers :)

Jaymie

Ten on Ten...how bout' that?!