Christmas Eve

A few pictures from Christmas Eve at Granny + Papa's house. We are all sick at this point, except Papa. But we managed to keep our spirits high waiting for St. Nick.

Ava wearing Papa's headband light:
Making cookies for Santa, with Mommy's help:
Opening presents on Christmas Eve...jammies!
...and slippers:Livi gets into the gift opening:
Messing around with Papa:And Granny:Wondering when we'll finally get to open all these presents!!

House of Sick....The drama continues

Just wanted to give an update on the sickness. Unfortunately it got worse before it got better around here, and somewhere in the middle we celebrated Christmas.

Thanks to everyone for their nice comments, and concern, on our previous post. It's nice to know family and friends are thinking, and praying, for us. Well, it got truly dramatic on Christmas Eve...we went the the ER. Not because it was a crisis, but because that was our only option in rural Oklahoma while staying at Jeff's parents' house. We did call our pediatrician that morning and the nurse said to go, and I'm glad I did. Livi had 2 more ear infections...or the same ones that didn't go away! Ahhh! We did have a nice Christmas, Santa was good to all of us, but we all felt miserable. Will post pictures of the girls later when I get organized. Busy sanitizing now.

The doctor did call when we got home, the day after Christmas, wanting me to bring Livi in. I brought them both in to be checked, just to make sure. Looks like we're on the upswing, but still healing those little ears. All I ask for now is to get better in time for our trip to Florida for New Years...the doctor said we should be healed completely by then. So just laying low this week, cleaning, packing, etc. Looking forward to reading my other blogs and everyone else's happy holidays!

** Oh, just wanted to mention that I told the doctor I was thinking of starting Livi on formula, since I will be headed back to work full time in the new year (more on that later). He said she would be fine at 9 months old, and gave me some pointers. I feel a little guilty, but it's been hard on me with Ava being demanding too. I certainly will miss the breastfeeding, although I will try to continue at morning & night, but I need my body back too. It's just been too stressful to be supermom when we are all sick. Anyway, thanks to Anne for the post on formula, and the mention of the brand she used. I got some yesterday, and to my complete surprise Livi loved it!! Hooray, a transition that might actually be smooth!

House of Sick

Yep, you guessed it...we (the girls + I) are sick again. Will this never end? What am I doing wrong??? Why do I deserve this punishment?? I just don't get it. The really sucky part is that I just adore the holidays, especially Christmas, and I just can't quite get into the spirit. All I want is to be healthy!

You can see how sad their little eyes look, it just breaks my heart. You see the sickness, this time, started in our eyes. Livi first; poor baby had so much mucus in her eyes, they would even matte shut after sleeping. Sleeping, ah sleeping...or lack there of; I guess that should have been my first clue unfortunately I didn't pick up on it because she is also teething. Got 4 teeth in about two weeks! Anyway, after the eye junk spread to me, and the lack of sleep continued, I called the doctor. Actually I was able to double up because Ava was due for her 30 month well check. Somewhere I have those stats...about 26/27 lbs., and 36 1/4" tall. Petite. Here are a couple of pictures of Ava breastfeeding "Feeper", her baby doll, at the doctor's office today.

Livi's prognosis (is that the right term? I can't think): ear infections, in BOTH ears. Ahhh!!! We just got over these at Thanksgiving!! Anyway, let me sum this up because I'm running out of stream....mucus reached Ava's eyes, bad, and so I called the doctor today. Two more ear infections!!!! Lots of snot, crying, fevers, sticky medicine...blah, blah, blah. Oh, and to top it off I have a blocked duct (breastfeeding thing)...VERY painful! Thank goodness for family though; Jeff's mom came down to help us today and tonight. I hope our family & friends have happy holidays, and stay healthy!!!

Santa Claus is coming!

We've been to see Santa a couple of times now, but still unsuccessful in actually talking to him. Ava might even talk to him this year; she saw another little girl sit on his knee + that's all she could talk about tonight. I really want to get a picture of Livi with the big guy, especially since it's her first Christmas. Last week we went to story time with Santa, with Melanie + Kiley, but didn't stay for pictures. We just cruised the mall with the girls, it was good therapy; it was just nice to get out of the house. And the girls were really good! Here is Kiley + Ava messing around:




So today I went back, in hopes of getting at least one picture with one little girl on Santa's knee. No dice. They said we probably wouldn't get to see him until after 5:30 in the evening...are you kidding!! I can hardly make dinner without a meltdown, let alone round up two little girls, dressed up, and get them to behave in line around that time of night. I'm shooting for Thursday now. Livi has also just sprouted two teeth in the last week and a half, and I can see numbers 3 + 4 coming; she may also have a cold...damn those rectal thermometers though, I can't get a good reading. So it's probably bad timing to take her to Santa anyway...but I'm not giving up yet.

However we did stop to see the miniature train display at the mall. Just a little walk around tour, but Ava was so excited. Livi even got to enjoy some down at her level.

Holiday Cards....still working on it!

Uhhh, this is going to take a little more work than I anticipated...hoping to get our Holiday Cards out this year, preferably before Christmas.

Two going on fourteen...

The funniest thing happened a couple of nights ago with Ava, and I have only myself to blame. I had just finished bathing the girls and was combing through Ava's hair while she looked on in the mirror. All of a sudden she let out a big yell, and started smacking the top of her head saying, "AAAHHH! It's curly! Mommy comb it!"

What??? Surely she didn't just have a fit about her hair...at TWO YEARS OLD!!! But yes, I nonchalantly scrunch her wet hair after I comb through it in hopes that it will curl a bit as it dries. Apparently she caught me this night. I reluctantly combed through her hair again to straighten it out.

And yes, Mom, I can hear you laughing 1,000 miles away! And no, I still don't wear my hair curly.

Good to be Home

The girls are excited to be home, you can just tell. I'm excited because now it's officially time to get into the "Christmas mode". We celebrated the next week by wearing red and decorating our own gingerbread house. Mine was a kit, courtesy of Uncle Andy, so please keep that in mind...I don't want any credit for being Martha Stewart. I know when to cut corners. Ava had a great time! She was the best little candy-placer around...Livi was napping so she didn't get much of a chance. And we were trying to enforce a "no licking the candy before placing it on the house" rule, which I'm sure Livi would have a problem with. Maybe next year, Liv.


When sissy did wake up from her nap we danced around to holiday music and took some sister pictures...Mom's favorite.
Yeah, I know, I'm starting to push it with the last picture; you can see it in Ava's expression. I can hear my parents and sister laughing at the face that is the same as one I had with forced pictures with my little sister. Sorry Lis, I really do stick up for the little sis now!

Our finished house:

Cookies for Daddy, made by Ava + Granny:

Ah...Rediscovery!

A great little high for me has always been putting on some pants, or a coat, and discovering some small amount of money left in the pocket. For Ava I think she gets a similar feeling when discovering old toys. By "old" I mean something that has been out of her sight anywhere from two weeks to two months. She gets so excited, and it's fun to watch her make the rounds. Well imagine her delight in rediscovering the toys that were left behind at Me-you's house when we moved to Texas. Notice the headband and boots, put on by herself, in the pictures below...all taken during the first few minutes in Grandma + Grandpa's house.



During Ava's nap: Where do we put Livi now that she outgrew one of the pack-and-plays??? The tent!..Big sis would've had a fit, but she was sleeping too!

"Got anything in there for me, Grandma?"...No, Livi! Ava helping Grandma make a gingerbread house. A LOT more work than Grandma anticipated, but Ava was a big help. I'm sure next year Grandma will look for the "kit" verses the "from scratch" method. Unfortunately they didn't get to finish the house, but it sounds like Aunt Lisa took over and they did finish it...can't wait to see pictures!
I mentioned the girls were getting sick at Thanksgiving, while in Oklahoma. Well I ended up taking them to our old pediatrician in Indiana while we were there. Thanks to Mom keeping on me about it...turned out to be a good idea. They both got ear infections! I took Ava first because she mentioned her ear hurt once or twice, she got some antibiotics; then I took Livi in too just to be sure, since we were flying home in a couple of days. Livi didn't have an infection yet, but there was fluid in her ears....could turn into an infection. More antibiotics. We survived the trip home, but barely. All was good until the landing...I had to wrestle both little girls while they screamed. I swore I wouldn't travel alone with them again. However, it's coming...but more on that later. All in all our two week "tour de grandparents" went well, but probably a little too long for the girls. Thanks again to all the family for the hospitality and great memories!

Thanksgiving at the Lake House

We spent Thanksgiving at my sister's lake house in Oklahoma. All of my immediate family was there, except my husband. Poor Jeff had a deadline at work and couldn't take the time to travel. But my younger sister, Lisa, was there with her fiance, Andy; my parents; and my sister's (Teresa's) family - Ken, my niece Sunnie, her boyfriend, Brock, and my nephew, also Brock. I only took a few pictures, but you can see more from Lisa's post.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving it happened..again. We (my girls + I) got sick, real sick. It was a mess, another cold/virus. However, considering how miserable the little girls felt, they seemed to have fun with the family. Lucky for me Teresa works for a pediatric lung doctor, so we had lots of meds in the house & good advice too! Oh, we also got to celebrate my mom's birthday too. Our gift to her....the virus. It stuck with us while we traveled back to Indiana in my parents' motorhome. Long trip.

Here are the only pictures I took; Ava + Livi playing with their cousins, Brock + Sunnie. Miss them already!