Merry Christmas!!

Yes, I'm posting on Christmas. The kiddos are napping and Brent is out walking the dog, so here I am! We've had a great Christmas so far, and it's not over yet! We spent the past weekend with family in Illinois and did Christmas as a family today. We will be returning to Illinois for Brent's side of the family soon. Caleb is doing much better with the traveling since we decided to not stay anywhere for an extended period of time. Here are some pictures of our Christmas time so far.



Useful lesson: Don't leave your garage door open overnight if it's going to snow and have 30-40mph winds.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I absolutely LOVE this time of year, but it is so easy to lose track of the real meaning of Christmas. The business of getting things ready, and running around to see family can be exhausting at times! This past week was no exception! Brent spent the week in Little Rock, Arkansas for training for work. I decided I wasn't keen on staying home alone with a newborn and a toddler for an entire week, so I packed up the kids and the dog and went to my parents' house. Here's the reader's digest version of the week:

Monday: Caleb woke up with a cold and barky cough AGAIN. We got out of the house in really good time, about an hour before I was planning. I figured I must have forgotten something, but wasn't willing to hang around to figure it out (later figured out I forgot ALL of Caleb's stuffed toys for sleeping with). We stopped at Grandpa Bing and Grandma Anita's for the day. We cut our visit a little short since fog was supposed to set in and I wanted to get to my parents' house before dark.

Tuesday: Caleb woke up with pink eye. Just my luck...we're an hour and a half away from his doctor. Oh...and did I mention we were in the middle of an ice storm? Yup...couldn't leave the house at all. So...I called Caleb's doctor, got permission from them to see a doctor near my parents' house, called the insurance company to also notify them (don't you love having to jump through hoops?) and followed Caleb around with a can of Lysol in hopes of keeping him from passing the pink eye on to everyone else in the house.




Wednesday: Got Caleb into the Same Day Care place...sat for 20 minutes before the nurse practitioner came in and wrote a prescription for antibiotics. Did I mention the N.P. was in the room less than 5 minutes? Frustrating that they wouldn't' just call the script into Walgreens for me to pick it up. Now I get the joy of pinning down a toddler and giving eye drops every 4 hours for a week. Came back to Mom and Dad's and took Dad Christmas shopping while Mom watched the kiddos.

Thursday: Didn't do a whole lot, which was kinda nice.

Friday: By this time, Caleb is asking for Brent constantly and wanting to go home. Brent got back to Madison in really good time and came down to Illinois a night early to surprise Caleb.

Saturday: Helped throw a surprise 40th Anniversary party for Brent's parents. It went really well, and I think they were at least a little surprised. Caleb even got into the swing of things and started dancing with our nieces. We had a really good turn out despite the bad weather...we got almost 4 inches of snow that night!



Sunday: Home sweet home again!

Abby's Theatrical Debut...

Well...we made it to the Cantata. I would say it went VERY well. Abby slept through the whole thing, stage lights and all! You see, Abby was Baby Jesus. We went to the dress rehearsal on Tuesday night, and she cried the WHOLE time. She started crying before she got on stage. I got to the church a little early today and took a LOT of time rocking her while she was swaddled. I guess it worked because she never made a peep the entire performance. Of course, now it's difficult to convince people that a doll-double wasn't used. I guess most people didn't see the pink pacifier! Hehehe...we had her in white, but I didn't think about the pacifier color until we were at the church. Oh well!


Oh, and did I mention Abby has started smiling!!

I love winter. (OR NOT!)

Ugh! I'm supposed to be driving back from Rockford after having attended a friend's baby shower. Instead, I'm stuck in my house watching the freezing rain. We've gotten 4 inches of snow today and are expecting about 1/2 inch of freezing rain on top of it. I do love winter...just not the storms and bad driving conditions.