Holiday Fun

Wow, I can't believe Christmas is over and I am now looking 2009 right in the face! What a fast year it's been. I have a lot to update.

First off, we spent Dec 16th all day at the Children's Hospital for Abby's follow up procedures for her kidneys/urinary reflux. I was very nervous about the appt and how the whole cathedar/IV process would go, how she would possible sit still for the scans, etc. She did not like it, Mike and I did not like it, but we made it through. She cried until she passed out, but it was worth it because we received great news. Her urinary reflux is GONE! When they did the dye test they did not see ANY urine refluxing up into her kidneys at all. It was amazing becuase last year when she was a newborn you could see the dye on the screeen shoot right up into her kidneys on both sides right away. This time, it just stayed in her bladder and then she peed it out (or out it went into her cath...) like it's supposed to do! Hooray! Her right kidney is still a little enlarged and holding fluid a little longer than it's supposed to, so they think she might still have a twinge refluxing that we did not see, but it's very minor. We have stopped the antibiotics and then just have to do follow up ultrasounds every year unless she gets a UTI! What a Christmas blessing.

I have to laugh, though, because no sooner did we stop the antibiotics that she got very sick! A fever of 103 and awful cold/caugh symptoms. So back to the dr. we went and they wanted to make sure she didn't have a UTI and were going to cath her again! I said NO WAY! We attached a little bag to her and waited for her to pee. She had her first taste of juice in the waiting room from a juice box they gave us and the stinker would not pee! I was there for 2 horus, finially drove home, got her out of her car seat, and she peed! So we poured the sample into the cup and brought it back. No uti- just a virus. It has since traveled around the whole family and is still lingering. Emma's voice sounds like a truck driver- it is so funny.

Christmas Eve was spent at Auntie Janice's house this year! It was so much fun! The girls opened thier gifts, we ate a great dinner, and then instead of exchanging presents, we decided to just play games this year. We played the game Boxers and Briefs. It is so, so funny and a great family game. I reccomend it- I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time. We brought Abby's pack and play and put her to sleep there so we could stay a little longer and hang with the family. It was a great night. When we came home we put Emma's cookies out for Santa and put the girls to bed. Emma did not sleep well, wanting to look out the window for Santa all night. This is such a magical age. Christmas has been so fun this year with her. Every little decoration sends her to the moon. "Look, mom a GOLD DEER! In the POST OFFICE!" "Oh my GOSH- look at that Christmas Tree!" It has been such a blast.

Christmas morning was great. Emma was so excited to recieve her Alexa and Leanna dolls (babrie's diamond castle- yuck) and her carriage with one horse! She also loved her new playdough, roller scates, ski clothes and helmet, and of course, she loved every one of Abby's gifts also. They are very lucky (ahem.....spoiled) girls. I was covered in hugs all day. Then we went to nana and papas for stalkings, more gifts, and a great dinner. It was so fun for the girls to spend the day with uncle Ross. Emma would not leave him alone. They do not see him to often, but when they do, especially Emma, she just lights up and loves him up all day. It makes me sad he cannot be a bigger part of thier lives right now, but he is still fighting his own battle to get healthy. Unfortunately, it has been too rocky of a road for him to be consistent in his role as uncle. But he was uncle #1 this Christmas, that's for sure, not for any gift, but just for being there.

Then after Christmas, we headed up to the cabin. We had so much fun playing outside in the snow. Going for walks through the snow, snowmobiling, tubing and skiing. It was so cozy inside the cabin and we read lots of books, played memory, and colored all weekend. Emma did great skiing and I am so, so sore from carrying her up the hill in one hand and holding onto the rope tow in the other....next time we need to head over to the chair lift. She was fearless and had a blast. I was so proud of her. We can't wait to go again and just went today and got a great deal on equipment for her. After skiing we went tubing and again she amazed me with her courage in going in her own tube down this CRAZY tubing hill that I was a little afraid of. Her little glasses were all I could see sticking out of the tube- expect for when she caught some air and her whole body popped out of the tube, with a gigantic smile on her face.

Mike had a great time on the snowmobiles and put on 50 miles, checking out all the trail systems and Pillsbury State Park. Emma had fun tooling around on the snowmobile too. Abby is now walking all over the place! She finially seems a little more confident and walked all around the cabin. It is bittersweet to me- it is so cute watching her walk and seeing how proud she is of herself, but now she can get into more trouble. Here is a link to a little video I made of the weekend. http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=151f01399728defe1ea73a&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Holiday fun continues.....

Fun Christmas had by all despite the nasty colds all 4 of us had/have.....we are up at the cabin for a few days, having some fun in the snow. I'm teaching Emma to ski today! Update to come once we get home with lots of pics :) Happy Belated Holidays to everyone!

Emma's Birthday Party

Emma had her 4th birthday party this weekend at our house. We had 7 of her little friends over for Christmas craft projects, a surprise visit from Santa (thanks to a great friend who was in costume anyway for a work party), princess castle cake, presents and crazy loud play, play, play! Chris brought over a big rubbermaid full of oatmeal and the kids got busy digging in it to find candy canes and run their trucks and shovels all over the place, flinging oatmeal all over my kitchen in the process, but having great fun. We had so many other kids we wanted to invite because of all Emma's new preschool friends, but I am SO glad we limited it to 8 kids. This was the first time all the parents dropped the kids off rather than staying. It was so loud in the playroom. The kids didn't waste time finding all the musical instruments and forming a band. I made Mike stay down there with the kids while I was getting the crafts ready. He taught them all some 80's dance moves and they all came upstairs doing the worm and the robot. I found out you can only fit 7 preschoolers doing the worm in my living room. Emma received some great books for her birthday and her most favorite, little pet shop playset from Hannah. It was a really fun day. The kids went to bed really early and Mike and I had a glass of wine and watched some great new DVDs on our new big tv!

Today it is freezing rain here and gearing up for a big blizzard. We went to Church and then came home and made our gingerbread house. Emma loved it. It is so fun to be able to do all these holiday things together. It makes this time of year so much more fun.

Messy Baby Days

Lately it feels like I cannot get anything done! Every mess I clean up, the girls undo or make another. I have been trying for what feels like forever, to teach Emma to clean up one mess before taking another toy out, crayons out, etc. She forgets or ignores.....so I have been reminding her by putting certain toys in "toy jail". Basically an extended time out for the toy. So far it is working. Usually if I give her a specific task she does ok "pick up 5 little ponies." But of course with Abby on the scene, all Emma's toys are much more interesting and the moment they go in the bins, her little hands dump them right out. Mike has been gone all weekend for a guys weekend in California. So, so jealous, but he really deserves it. He met all his high school buddies for a weekend of football games, going out and drinking. I was a little nervous about all these married fathers thinking they were 18 again and trying to out do each other in the bars....and sure enough, Mike was feeling no pain when I spoke to him the first night! It sounds like he had a blast and he is on his way home now. I have to say, I have NO IDEA how single moms do it! Mike has only been gone 4 days and nights and everything went pretty smooth, but I am just really itching for a little time away. Yesterday we were in the house all day and I was going crazy trying to get all these little projects done to no avail with the above mentioned little people following me....so I went to the gym and put the girls in the childcenter. Ah......2 hours of excercise followed by a steam, hot tub and long shower.....it was heaven and worth every penny of it's memebership fees. They were happy as clams, I went it to check on them a couple times and they were playing together happily! I think I have to win the best wife award this week. My dad and I went out together and I bought Mike a 42 inch flat screen HD TV, the blueray dvd player, and a new tv stand. He has been hinting at one forever. To me, a tv is a tv is a tv.....but I knew Mike was going to go out and buy one at some point anyway. Since I haven't managed to surprise him in the 10 years we have been together, I thought I would do this. My dad was so amazing to spend all day over here building the stand and setting it all up. So not only does Mike get to have an amazing, fun guys weekend in California, he gets to come home to a new big screen TV! Poor little Abby took a fall down the stairs this weekend. Yes, on my duty! Thank god we have a split level so it was only about 3 stairs, but she managed to scratch her eye on the wood railing. The thing is I was standing there watching her go down the right way on her tummy as we are teaching her and in about 1 split second, she turned and tried to sit up and rolled right down to me, scratching her eye in the process. Here is a glimpse of my messy baby and sassy 4 year old to sum up how my days are spent lately. Cleaning up Abby's face, hair, changing her outfit after what feels like meals every 2 hours, and trying to clean up Emma's attitude- you get the picture......





Ok- Could not get the video to load for some reason. Here is a picture of the new TV and Mike and Emma both fell asleep watching KungFu Panda. We are re-arranging the family room and the playroom. The girls just recieved a new table chairs set from Grandma Nona and have enjoyed having tea parties.