Christmas Joy

Wow - can we say someone got a little spoiled this year?? Actually we probably need to say we ALL got a little spoiled this year. We had a wonderful Christmas!! I think I'll try telling it in pictures to keep this post from dragging on and on!!

We started out Christmas Eve morning by explaining to Daniel what the empty stocking meant and hanging it up for Santa to fill up that night.

Next we took Daniel to day care for a half day so we could assemble the train table and train tracks we got him for Christmas. It took us forever to get the train set just right. (No picture, we were too frazzled!!)

After picking him up from day care we drove about 2 and half hours to Troy's parents for Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family. Then we opened gifts with them. Can we say Granny and Grandpa are so organized. Each of the three grandsons had tons of gifts and they were color coordinated. Daniel got green wrapping (my favorite color)! He got tons of stuff - shirts, pants, a slinky dog, Octopus paydoh set, a handmade quilt from his great grandmother Doris in FL, and the best was the safari wagon from Granny and Grandpa!! Boy that was a big hit (and still is!) We've even been informed that we are going to a zoo with Daniel's Aunt Amber, Uncle Stephen and cousin Parker in the spring because the safari wagon has to go with us! Sounds like fun to us!

After having to tie our trunk down for the drive home, we managed to fall into bed and the next morning we woke to see this...

We took Daniel out of his room and told him Santa came to fill his stocking. He knew just where to go. Doesn't he look excited?? In fact he didn't want to open anything, just hold it until I explained there might be a train or something in there he might like to play with!

After we all finished our gifts, we told Daniel we had one more gift for him from Mama and Papa. We took him into his room and Papa pulled back the white sheet (we are creative right?!). The look on his face was so worth it. Both of his hands were full and when he realized what he was seeing one hand slowly opened and toys started falling on the floor and then the other hand opened. It was like slow motion and Troy and I were so cracked up.

So, remember how long it took us to assemble the train tracks (hint: forever). It took Daniel about 3 seconds to take it all apart!!

We finished out the day with dinner with my mom (grandmom).

What a wonderful Christmas it was!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Wishing you all the best!!

Under the Weather and Bad/Good Behavior

Daniel has been under the weather for the last week. It was the usual runny nose that he has every other week since he started day care. Thursday night however, he coughed himself silly and finally after propping him up and drinking warm drinks etc. he fell asleep. He woke up Friday coughing and with a swollen face. By swollen, I mean stuffy under his eyes and across his nose, but it was obvious. I called the pediatrician and we went in to see her.

Needless to say in the waiting room a lady approached me to say how much Daniel looked like me. I almost laughed, but I don't feel like I need to tell everyone Daniel's back story, so I simply smiled and played along and said, "If you think he looks like me, you should see my husband and him together." I thought that was end of it until she started asking me if he was born with black hair, like mine, and if it was lightening up now or vice versa. Well, hmmm...I wasn't sure quite what to say so I said a vague "umm humm" to which it did not really answer her question. I quickly changed the subject to other topics and that was that.

The pediatrician said Daniel's ears were cloudy, but not infected, thank goodness, but that he had a pretty good respiratory infection so she gave us an antibiotic and sent us on our way.

Well, the day really began when I took Daniel to fill the prescription. We stopped by my favorite store, CVS. If you don't know why I love CVS, check out my other blog. Anyway, I dropped off the prescription and the lady proceeds to say "Your coming back when?" And I think...Ummm, I'm not coming back. My kiddo is sick and I'm waiting on the prescription. What rubbed me the wrong way was that she assumed I would come back. After I tell her I'm waiting she proceeds to tell me in a frazzled vioce it would be twenty minutes so I started wandering the store with Daniel.

Normally Daniel sits in the front of the cart all strapped in, but because he was feeling bad I let him sit in the back part of the cart and I had brought an electronic book knowing we may have to wait. We are going along nicely when all the sudden Daniel flings his toy to the front of the cart and starts kicking it. I calmly tell him no and move closer to the pharmacy desk to see how busy they were. I noticed the lady was on the phone jabbering away about NON pharmacy stuff. So I sit there and Daniel starts kicking again. I tell him if he kicks again in the back of the cart, he's going to put in the front and strapped in. He knows I mean business. One warning and that's it. My son would, thinks he should and probaly could rule the world at the ripe old age of two. He's incredibly intelligent and very stubborn so he fits right in to the family (def. in the stubborn area!). My mom said I have met my match finally. Anyway he kicks, I pick him up and he goes in the front and he starts crying very, very loudly and bucking against the seatbelt.

Needless to say, this doesn't bother me. Should it? I don't know. I am of the opinion if a child is screaming in a store and the parents are obviously in control then no big deal. All kids throw a fit in a store at some point or another. If the parents are out of control, then it's another story. Well, at this point, the lady is still jabbering away and so I nicely took the cart in front of her register and let Daniel scream and cry and kick right in front of her while I feined interest in chapsticks like I've never seen them before. She finally gets off the phone and then the pharmacist comes out from behind the counter and starts jabbering away about NON pharmacy stuff to someone else. So I gently eased my cart in his direction. Needless to say I got a funny look and then "POOF" my prescription was ready a moment later. When I checked out, Daniel was "all done crying" as he likes to say and we had moved on to looking at a doggie calendar so I looked at and told the lady, "It's not so much fun shopping when you have a little one who's sick." She agreed.

For once I actually apreciated Daniel's little fit! I know - I'm shameless.

Decorating the Tree!

We finally put our Christmas tree up last Wednesday night and we had such a fun time decorating it! We assembled our tree (yes, it's a fake and I love it!) while Daniel was in the bath and then surprised him when he was all dressed for bed. We spent the next 45 minutes decorating the tree. Since then Daniel has decorated and re-decorated the bottom branches about a hundred times!

First Visit with Santa Clause

Monday night we took Daniel for his first visit with Santa. One of my good friends, Tammy, is the photographer for the Santa at the local mall. We set it up to come when they hopefully wouldn't be too busy and since Daniel knows Tammy, we had hoped it would help with him not being afraid of Santa.

Daniel was cautious to say the least, but the Santa was really nice and just let Daniel stand in front of him and they talked. Santa asked him what he liked and I helped out by mentioning trains and Santa knew all about Thomas and friends. He also gave Daniel a coloring book and showed him the reindeer. I finally asked Daniel if he wanted to sit in Santa's lap, and I got a 'what are you talking about look' but Santa scooped Daniel up. It was rather funny after that. Daniel sat for a minute, but he made absolutely sure to tell Santa, pointing included, that I was his Mama, several times. Then he got down. We got one photo with our camera and even though my friend got a photo of Daniel and Santa looking at each, we didn't buy it. Daniel's day care will be taking a field trip to see Santa and they will be doing pictures then.

Speaking of pictures, we got Daniel's day care Christmas photos back and they are wonderful!!! There were two poses and both photos turned out fantastic. I was so pleased and we can't wait to frame them!!

After the whole Santa escapade, Daniel had some fun playing in the mall playground! He loves it because he can jump off of anything and the floor is soft.

As for an update on Troy, he went back to the doctor Monday and thankfully his ear infections are gone and he is starting to gain some hearing back. It's still hollow sounding and his ears still ring, but he is doing much better. The doctor said is he doesn't keep improving that in two to three weeks they want to do a hearing test. We are hoping, and praying, for the continued improvement. Thank you all for the prayers you sent up for us. We really appreciate it!

Thanksgiving and More

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving. The three of us headed over, armed with a green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and bread, to my older sister's house, where we enjoyed dinner with her and her husband and their new son. Eli slept long enough to allow us to eat which was a real treat, especially for my sister.


Silly me - I didn't take a single picture. Part of me is thinking how in the world did I not take a photo of Daniel's first Thanksgiving and the other part of me is thinking that I usually don't take Thanksgiving pictures anyway so it's no big deal. I think Daniel was glad to have a break from the camera at least. He even got out his play camera we bought while in Russia and actually played with it telling me to say "cheese"! I think he's figured out he can boss me around when he has a camera in hand. After all, how can I not say cheese, if I expect him to all the time!?!

Speaking of photos, Daniel's daycare did holiday photos a couple of weeks ago and I am looking forward to receving the proofs back from those. One thing we haven't done is have any professional pictures done since we have been home. I felt bad about it until my mother put in her two cents and made me realize that who needed the professional photos when I had about two thousand (and that's no exaggeration!) photos sitting in piles to be scrapbooked in our guest bedroom!

We haven't started decorating for Christmas yet. We have a couple of birthdays to get through first. Once those are over, we'll break out the Christmas tree and other decorations. I have started reading Daniel some books about the birth of Jesus because I want him to understand that we aren't celebrating Christmas for presents and Santa, but for the birthday of Jesus. My mom gave me a pop out book that is the song to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" which I can sing to and show Daniel the photos. The last photo is of Jesus in the manger with angels above and the animals around Him. Just yesterday when I was getting ready for work, Daniel ran into my bedroom and showed me "Baby Jesus" in the manger. It made my day! Don't worry - we'll still be introducing Daniel to Santa this year and I'm sure Santa will be visiting our house!

Lastly, Troy could use some prayers. He got a severe ear infection about a week ago and had to go to ER Sunday night. His eardrum actually ruptured and the doctors are not sure that he will regain the hearing in his ear back. Sometimes the eardrum can heal spontaneously and other times, not at all. So far, he's not having any luck and is experiencing a ringing in his ear constantly, which is keeping him up at night and is very uncomfortable. We are hoping this pass and that he will able to hear out of the one ear again soon.