I realize that I have not posted to my blog in almost 2 weeks. Please forgive me. However, if you knew what we've been up to, you would kindly disregard my absence from the cyber world. For you see, sometimes the best laid plans of men are altered in ways we didn't deem imaginable. Not that anything bad has happened; on the contrary, Christmas this year was awesome. But the days before our yule tide cheers and present openings was a bit bumpy.
Brayden and his Mamaw
Drew and I celebrated 6 years of marriage the weekend before Christmas. We had everything planned out; the dinner, the movie, the babysitter. We were SO looking forward to our night out on the town sans-child, that we could hardly stand it. But on Sunday, December 20th, Brayden had a different idea. Well, it wasn't really his idea... I mean, who wants to get sick? He woke up from his nap running a 102 fever. Plans were quickly scrapped, and I ran to Walmart to get ibuprofen, pedialyte and tylenol. I figured we needed a backup plan on our anniversary date night, so I ran by Sam's and got us a pizza and 2 redbox movies. Hardly close to the Chili's, movie and Cold Stone we were anticipating, but a baby changes everything. What was even more disappointing than the anniversary plans being altered was that Drew's family was planning on coming in the next day and B man felt pretty terrible. Drew's fam had never met Brayden either, so we were super sad that their first encounter was with him lethargic and clingy.
Drew's family did end up getting in late Monday night. By that time Brayden's temp had been up and down, but never truly broken. I had the forethought to go ahead and get a doc appointment in the event he woke up Tuesday morning with a fever. Sure enough, Tuesday he woke up burning hot and resembling Bob the Tomato, so I packed B, myself, Drew's mom and brother in the car, and off we went to the doctor. Turns out he had a double ear infection, which was causing the fever. Poor dear! I am leary of antibiotics and drugs, but the doc assured me that Brayden's ears were bad enough to constitute a round of antibiotics. After a day of those bad boys Brayden's fever broke, but his ears got a bit worse before they got better. Thankfully they are now completely healed (so I think anyway-- no signs are pointing otherwise).
Brayden loves his Papaw-- especially that white beard!
Wednesday we decided to go to the mall and meet Santa since B's fever had finally broken. I stood in line for more than an hour just for the 5 minute ordeal. Thankfully I had inlaws and a husband who took turns entertaining Brayden, so when I finally got to the front he was still happy and alert. He LOVED Santa, and kept pulling on his beard and gloves. The smile on Santa's lap was worth the 1.5 hours I waited in line watching all the other kids have mental breakdowns from the white bearded fellow. If you haven't seen the Santa picture, you can see it on this post.
B-man and Uncle Nathan... he loved playing with Uncle Nathan!
Christmas Eve was filled with preliminary cooking, more card games and the Christmas Eve service. I was kind of nervous about the service since someone had told us the kids service is crazy, but we really enjoyed it. It was a candle light service, but they give the kids glow sticks so there were all kinds of neon colors throughout the room too. Brayden liked all the music, but tuckered out till the end. Before we left for the church service, we let Brayden open up his Christmas Eve gift-- a book and pj's from Santa!This will be a yearly tradition in our home... I was so excited to start it this year with B!
opening up his pj's
ofcourse he'd want to eat them
Brayden sitting like a big boy at church before the service started
The best part of Christmas Eve this year is that it snowed! Not just a little snow, but enough to make the ground white and give us our first white Christmas in 30 years!
Our white Christmas-- and yes, all of the black birds kind of weird me out.
Brayden was less than thrilled with the cold weather and snow we tried putting in his hand. Oh well.
Grandad came on Christmas Eve... B-man was excited to see him!
Christmas morning we started our own family traditions. We read the Christmas story, prayed as a family and then each took turns saying something that we were grateful for that God had blessed us with this year.
Sunday Drew and I took Nathan (his brother) out to take some senior pictures of him. He's a drummer, and dressed the part. We found some fun textures and settings to pose him around, and braved the chilly 25 degree wind to snap a few shots. I am still in the process of sorting and processing them, and will try to upload a few when I am finished. I feel so bogged down right now with editing; I've got my brother's senior pics, Nathan's senior pics and a family shoot to edit! Makes me tired just thinking about it.
Drew's mom, step dad and brother all stayed here through Monday, so we've been recuperating. Our house is a disaster, and we're all pretty pooped. We were thankful for Drew's family getting to come though, and thankful they were all able to meet little B. We'll be keeping it real for New Years by chilling on our couch and going to bed before midnight :) See you in 2010!
When I was little, dad would always set up the nativity on the bible for Christmas morning. We decided to keep this tradition going with our family. It was a bit tricky with B-man since he is into EVERYTHING!
Afterward we each took turns opening gifts. Brayden enjoyed the paper and bows more than any present he got :o) Brayden was more interested in Toby's bone, and Toby wanted Brayden's new football and soccer ball. Apparently I got their Christmas lists mixed up :)
After gifts we ate cinnamon rolls, pigs in a blanket and started cooking. I was thankful for Drew's mom's help, otherwise I am not sure I would have been able to do it all! We cooked a ham, turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy, stuffing & cranberry sauce! Drew's sister and brother-in-law were able to make it despite the snow, and we all ate dinner together and then enjoyed each other's company that afternoon. Brayden really took a liking to Drew's sister (whom he also had never met until Christmas), and promptly fell asleep on her for an afternoon snooze. Brayden with Aunt Eleanor
Playing with Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Jim
Being snuggle-buggle
And.... he's out :)
Even Mamaw got to get some snuggles
We wrapped up Christmas with a good game of Settlers with Jason and Susan. This time, I got pictures of the fun (I always forget to pull out the camera when we're playing). Sunday Drew and I took Nathan (his brother) out to take some senior pictures of him. He's a drummer, and dressed the part. We found some fun textures and settings to pose him around, and braved the chilly 25 degree wind to snap a few shots. I am still in the process of sorting and processing them, and will try to upload a few when I am finished. I feel so bogged down right now with editing; I've got my brother's senior pics, Nathan's senior pics and a family shoot to edit! Makes me tired just thinking about it.
Drew's mom, step dad and brother all stayed here through Monday, so we've been recuperating. Our house is a disaster, and we're all pretty pooped. We were thankful for Drew's family getting to come though, and thankful they were all able to meet little B. We'll be keeping it real for New Years by chilling on our couch and going to bed before midnight :) See you in 2010!
