An overdue Christmas update!

Thank you to everyone who replied to the post below, or has offered support on Facebook recently, or emailed us. It's always overwhelming how much love I feel from people I've only met online. You guys who "get it" are awesome. Thank you for being my friends!! :)
This spinning top toy is Emily's favorite Christmas present. She loves it! The music and animal sounds are so easy to activate, by just touching the animals around the edge. She plays with it non-stop.

Sitting on Daddy's lap, watching Jacob open Christmas presents.

Okay, so my pictures are not in order. LOL This was the Christmas tree, before the opening started!

Christmas Eve afternoon, Daddy putting together Emily's new bike. This was a HUGE success, it fits her perfectly! Now we just need to figure out some straps to keep her feet on the pedals. She loves it!

Jacob, making his giant gingerbread man cookie from Trader Joe's. This is the first year we haven't made a gingerbread house. He says that this was NOT a suitable exchange. ;)

Jacob really wanted this Lego Harry Potter set, but I had convinced him he wasn't going to get it. He was so surprised!

The weekend before Christmas, my sister and her husband brought over fresh crabs for dinner. Jacob had a blast cracking the shells open and digging out the crab meat. It was a lot of fun. :)



What would Christmas time be without a future blackmail picture? I came to the living room from the kitchen and this is how I found Emily. These pants are a little too big, evidently!


That was our Christmas! Everyone came over for breakfast at our house, I made a make-ahead breakfast casserole and creme brulee french toast. We opened presents and had fun. Everyone went home for a while, and then we met up at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We have had dinner at this restaurant every Christmas day for years and years now. It's a yummy tradition!

Emily has an appointment today to get her seizure helmet. I am not excited about this, although I know it's necessary. I don't think she will need it at home, our carpet is thick enough. She doesn't stand up, which this time is a blessing. Her drop seizures happen a lot, but she's so close to the ground already. She falls over, but since our carpet is soft she doesn't hurt herself. School is another thing though - the floors are not soft. She will wear the helmet anytime she is sitting on the floor at school, so I guess I better make her wear it at home sometimes to get her used to it. I do not think she is going to like this at all! I will update again soon on the rest of her medical junk. I am going to sign off on this update while it's still happy. :)

The Christmas update will have to wait ...

I keep sitting down to upload fabulous photos and describe the wonderful Christmas we had ... and not getting very far. Damn seizures will not give my girl any peace. So intstead I spend hour after hour just holding her in the rocking chair and watching the stupid cartoons that she loves so much. Soaking up her giggles at her favorite characters as I try not to go insane at DJ Lance Rocks. At least if we're in the rocking chair together, she doesn't fall over with each seizure.

Perhaps I can update later, when her nurse finally arrives.

GREAT DEAL!

I have lusted after this tricycle for Emily for literally MONTHS. They are normally $200, so it's always been beyond our budget. A fellow blogger, Dream Mom, posted a link to this FANTASTIC sale - it's only $49!! It has free shipping, but it won't arrive before Christmas. Luckily Emily doesn't understand Christmas or gifts, so she won't be sad when it comes after the holiday. And if you want it here on time for the big day, you can pay for faster shipping. I cannot WAIT for it to get here, she is going to love it!! Thank you Dream Mom, for posting the link!

Winter Break!

Winter break starts today. We have no school for two weeks. It's raining, and supposed to rain for the next few days. I foresee some pajama days in our future! :) I am glad for the break from school and to just relax.

Now if Emily could just get a break from these damn seizures .... life would be good.

December Fun

We have been very busy lately, but it's a good kind of busy! We have been decorating, finishing up the Christmas tree, baking lots of cookies, shopping, and just BEING! Emily's seizures are pretty tame lately (knock on wood). We have been loving the weather here, today it was almost 80 degrees!

Jacob kept telling me to take his picture today. This series is him posing. There were many, MANY outcasts .... :)
I have baked many cookies - oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, strawberry with white chocolate chips, forgotten cookies, and finally sugar cookies! I think my husband likes decorating sugar cookies almost as much as Jacob does. It was a blast, I love family time like this. I made sugar cut-outs, but Jacob insisted on animals. So we have an assortment of cookies. :)

Emily's wheelchair is decorated for Christmas, it is so cute! Everyone we see comments on it, and she just smiles and smiles when someone talks to her about it. It's cute! Of course, she wouldn't smile for me in the picture, as she was watching Barney at the time. Mommy has nothing on Barney! The one smile I managed to capture was only because Barney was doing something silly. I guess I know where I rank ... hehe.

We have also been busy loving on our newest family member! My sister's little girl is a week old now and SO cute. Jacob is madly in love with her, and is convinced we need another baby in our house. I am glad to snuggle, love, feed, and hand her back. :) I love me some baby, but I am glad to be past the newborn stage for sure!

Today we did some rearranging of furniture and trading rooms and such. Jacob's turtle now lives in the living room, so that all his toys can be in his room. I am tired of seeing them scattered all over the living room. Isn't the turtle cute! And yes, that hideous wall behind his tank is rock. I know, it's fugly.

So, our house is decorated .. the tree is up .. the cookies are baked. Bring on Christmas! :) Tomorrow night are are going on a holiday boat cruise with Make-A-Wish. It should be fun! It's supposed to be fun, food and entertainment. Yay!

Finally got our cards made online!

Bright And Merry Christmas Card

Shutterfly Christmas cards

View the entire collection of cards.

I have never been this behind in getting my cards sent out! Ugh. I finally made them online which was SUPER easy thanks to Shutterfly! Now I just wait for them to arrive so I can send them out. If you would like to exchange cards, PLEASE email me your address! I love sending and receiving holiday cards. :) waffle1313 @ gmail. com

I have a niece!

My sister was due on Thanksgiving and finally had her little girl yesterday, Saturday! I have been offline most of the week, back and forth to the hospital. She was going in daily for nonstress tests and ultrasounds to monitor her fluid levels. Finally on Friday at noon she was induced, and she labored until 5pm on Saturday. She had a strong epidural in place so she was comfy, but definitely tired. Eventually they decided to do a c-section for failure to progress.

Kaitlin Allison is finally here! She is 8 lbs 3 oz and was face up, which they think is what stalled her labor. That is exactly what happened with Jacob, who was 8lbs 4 oz and delivered by c-section after 18 hours of labor.

My sister's husband is Chinese, and Katie looks just like him. She has light skin but very Chinese features, and a bit of dark fuzzy hair.

After the c-section my sister was taken up to the postpartum floor, and her husband went home to shower and such. I stayed with her, poor thing was puking non-stop. I got to snuggle with the (2 hour old!) baby and keep my sister calm. The nurse came in with a bottle for the babys first feeding, since my sister is on epilepsy meds that they can't decide if the baby should get through breastmilk or not. Anyway, I got to feed Kaitlin her first bottle. The little munchkin immediately sucked down 15 mls. Just like that!

Wow. That is more than Emily has ever taken orally in one sitting, in her entire life. I was blown away. I know it's normal and expected, but it really hit me hard.

I think watching a "typical" little girl grow up in the family is going to be a bit tough. I am over the moon excited for my sister though, and can't wait for her to go back to work in 2-3 months. Then I am babysitting Kaitlin! :)