Christmas & More

Christmas:

Christmas was so exciting this year. I thought Christmas was exciting when I was a kid, but I think I enjoy it 100 times more as a parent. I couldn't wait for Aubrey to wake up on Christmas morning! She was really into Santa Claus this year & asked everyday if Christmas was here yet so she could open presents. I finally had to wake Aubs up at 8:15am, I couldn't wait any longer! With the first present, she was still kind of out of it. It didn't take her long to get into the groove though! She was so cute! "What's in it?" she would ask as she was opening each present! She was very excited about all of her new things. Nana & Papa got her clothes, slippers, dvds, & went in half with us for her big Santa present. Aunt Lee Lee got her tons of Dora stuff, including Dora games, a Dora snuggie, & Dora tattoos. Uncle Kurt got her a Barbie car, which was a BIG hit! Me & Nathan got her clothes, some different toys & games (walking/barking puppy, toy toaster, Dora memory game, Candyland, Chutes N Ladders, easel, etc). Nathan's mom & stepdad got us some dvd players for the car. Her big Santa surprise was waiting outside :) Santa (aka Mommy/Daddy/Nana/Papa) brought her a brand new swingset!! She had the biggest smile on her face when she saw it! Now, whenever she wants to go play on it, she says "I go outside play on Santa surprise!" :) I was taking her outside to play on it Sunday & she said "I close my eyes again, Santa surprise!" hahaha I made her close her eyes when I took her out there on Christmas morning ;) So, all in all, Aubs is spoiled rotten, our house looks like Santa threw up, & we have one happy little girl :) We were very glad to be able to spend the day with my family!

More:

One of the scariest things ever happened this past week. Me, Nathan, & Aubs were goofing off & I had Aubrey on my back & I was on Nathan's back. Well, Aubs went to get down so I backed up to our bed so she could lower herself down. I was still holding onto her arm & she kinda pulled back & popped her wrist pretty hard. She started crying of course, so I was holding her & trying to calm her down. All of a sudden, she went totally limp, her head flopped back, & her eyes rolled into the back of her head. It was SOOOOOOO SCARY! I started freaking out!!! ALL nursing skills went out the window & Mommy freak out skills took their place!!! I tried shaking her & she wasn't coming to. By this point, I am bawling, scared to death!!! Nathan grabbed her from me & kind of shook her/hit her on her back & she came to. Oh my gosh, seriously, soooo scary. I'm not sure if it was some weird reaction to pain or what, but I hope I never have to see that again!!!

The same night as the passing out episode, I accidentally let Aubrey see her Barbie car from Uncle Kurt. Ooops! Nathan was putting it together in the living room. We had put Aubs to bed already. I heard Aubs on the monitor, so I went to check on her. She said she needed her medicine, that her mouth (throat) was hurting. I said okay, let's go... and let her walk right into the living room, the SAME living room where Nathan was putting the car together! I hurried her back to her bathroom & said "She didn't see anything!". Seconds later, Aubs said "That's MY pink car!!!" LOL. The next day she asked where her pink car was & I told her she was dreaming ;) LOL!!

I tried to take Aubrey's paci away on Christmas Eve, but that was a failed attempt, LOL. I was hoping that since it was Christmas Eve, I could bribe her to go to sleep without it "Santa won't come until you go to sleep!" Unfortunately, this did not work out in my favor. It all began earlier in the night when she noticed her paci had a "boo boo". Somehow it got a lil tear in it. I told her that she should throw it away. She carefully placed it on top of the trash can lol. When she wasn't looking, I took it. When she asked for it again, I told her she had thrown it away. I put her to bed at 7:15 & over two hours later, at 9:30, she was STILL awake. I finally gave in & gave it back to her. She was asleep within 5 minutes. It's crazy to me how fast just a lil piece of rubber makes her go to sleep! We had gotten bad about letting her have it all the time again when she was so sick. So, we have her back down to just naptime & bedtime. Hopefully we'll be able to kick those soon enough. It's HARD!! We tell her during the day when she asks for it that Swiper swiped her paci's. She thinks this is hilarious during the day. At night, if we try telling her this, she no longer finds it funny, at all. Sigh.....

So, last night, Aubs randomly started calling her baby doll "baby sister" hahaha! It's the funniest/cutest thing ever. She talks to her baby & says different things like "Come on sister, time for bed!" or "I want to take baby sister to school with me". She switches between saying her baby's name is "Baby sister" or "Balerie". lol! I'm really not sure where the baby sister business came from. Too bad that's the only baby sister she'll be getting for a while. I would love to have another baby in the next year or so but daycare is too expensive for two little ones & we have way too many bills for me to just stay at home. Boo. Maybe in another couple of years or so.

We're going to Texarkana this weekend & I can't wait. I'm ready to hang out with my BFFs!!! :) We always have a great time together! We will also be visiting with some of Nathan's family. Well, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

The Whole Family on Christmas :)

Aubs seeing her swingset for the first time!!

She LOVES her new car!

"Dreams" do come true!!! ;)

Opening presents!

A picture we took before Aubs popped her wrist & ended up passing out. UGHHH SCARY!!!

Good Day

Today was a very good day. Aubs is feeling a lot better, yay!! She is still running a low grade fever, staying right around 100.5-101.0, but at least she is acting like herself again! We had a great day as a family today! We spent lots of time watching Dora, as usual. She counted to 5 in Spanish today which is something I didn't realize she knew how to do, lol. Since she was feeling so much better, we decided to go eat Chinese & then go look at Christmas lights afterwards. Aubrey is in LOVE with Christmas lights this year! It's so cute to hear her gasp & oooohh & awww over all the different lights. :) She has been so cute & funny today. Sometimes I wish I could keep a constant video camera on her!

Some funny things she said today:

With a very pitiful face, she came into the living room & said "Mommy, Daddy told me nooooo".

On our way to dinner, "Mommy, my mouth doesn't hurt anymore. It's ALL BETTER!"

Me, "What's your name?" Aubrey, "Aubrey Williams Claire" hehehe... when I asked her again later she just said "Aubrey Williams" which is pretty much the cutest thing ever to hear her say :)

I know there was more, but that's all I can remember right now. This is why I wish I had a constant video camera on her ;) Hope everyone else had a good day! Here are some pictures from today!

I love her eyes!!

Cutie pie!

:)

Christmas Fairy ;)

Eating Chinese!

Catch Up

As usual, I've gotten behind in blogging =\ Ughhh!! I hate when that happens. Things have been crazy the past few months here. Like I said in my last post, Aubs had been super sick since October 25th. After my last post, Aubrey had 9 days where she was off of antibiotics & then she got strep throat. I called her ENT to tell him about Aubrey being on antibiotics almost non stop since October 25th & he said it was time to take out her tonsils & adenoids & reinsert tubes in her ears. So, that is what we had done this past Tuesday, on December 14th. It was quite an experience. We had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am.

Aubrey was happy as could be. Poor little thing had no idea what she was in for! (right before they took her back!)

Her surgery began around 7:10 & her doctor came to give us a report about 7:50. He said her tonsils were "rotten". Once they got her into recovery, they brought us back. It was heartbreaking!! I have never seen Aubrey look SOOO pitiful!! While in recovery, she started to desat (oxygen saturation dropped, normal is 95-100% & her's dropped to 85). That was a little scary to watch! The nurses rushed around & got oxygen on her asap. Thankfully it came back up pretty quickly. Since Aubs is only 2 & so little (she only weighs 23 lbs), she had to stay for at least 8 hours after the surgery. She was not drinking or eating anything, so we ended up having to stay overnight so she could keep getting IV fluids. As long as she had her pain meds, she did okay.
(high on pain meds!)

You could tell when the meds were starting to wear off though :( She would get so sad/fussy/mad! When she woke up on Wednesday, she drank some chocolate milk & ate a little bit of pancakes & scrambled eggs. This was enough to get us a discharge from the hospital! We got home around 8:45am Wednesday afternoon. She has done pretty well the past few days. She is slowly starting to eat & drink a little more. Her diet has mostly consisted of pudding, yogurt, ice cream, milkshakes, & popsicles. She started running fever (100.8) last night & it has continued to tonight. I called her doctor & they said to just make sure she was getting plenty of fluids. Hopefully, once she is completely healed from all of this, she will barely be sick anymore!!

Christmas is right around the corner & I can't believe it! Aubrey has a ton of gifts under our tree already. It's just so hard not to spoil her! I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning :) She is really into Christmas this year. She LOVES Santa Claus. Sometimes she calls him Santa Claus, other times she will say "I sat on Christmas' lap" lol If you ask her what Santa says, she quickly replies, HO HO HO! If you ask her what presents she wants Santa to bring her, she either says "HO HO HO!", "Christmas tree", or "Christmas". lol!

(click to view bigger, crazy how much she grew/matured from last year to this year!)

I can't believe she is almost 2 & a half!!! WHERE IS TIME GOING! My baby is getting so big! She is so smart, it amazes me! I know all moms think their kids are smart, but she really is very advanced for her age. Makes this momma proud!!

Well, as usual, I'm really going to try to be a better blogger!! So until next time... :)


P.S. Please pray for Nathan's cousins baby girl. Reagan was born on November 21st & is at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Her heart valves are reversed & she has holes in her heart. They are doing heart surgery this week sometime. I can't imagine how scared/worried/stressed Nathan's cousin Ryan & his wife Ruth are. Any thoughts & prayers are very appreciated!!