A very Merry Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is over. It went by incredibly fast...actually, the entire month has flown by. I have to say, preparing for Christmas this year, with an 11 month old, was quite different than years past. It was more challenging at times (like when it came to shopping & decorating the tree...and keeping it decorated), but mostly it was a lot more fun! I know Avery didn't understand who Santa was, even though she could easily recognize him and even started patting her belly and saying "ho ho ho" because that's what she saw my dad do when he talked about Santa. She loved the idea of Santa and enjoyed seeing him from afar (the 3 times we attempted at a picture), but she freaked out when it came to sitting on his lap...as soon as one of us would pick her up and walk away she'd be fine and point and say "anta" and wave to him...oh well. She LOVED seeing all the Christmas lights. She would point and talk every time she saw them. We went to The Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier and it was so much fun for her to sit in my lap and point to all the lights while she danced to all the Christmas music. I love that she was able to enjoy things like that for her first Christmas, even if she won't remember it...i will :)

Christmas for us is very very busy. Since both of our families live in the same town we have lots and lots of visiting to do. Last year I was 9 months pregnant and absolutely worn out by Christmas night. This year I was just as worn out, if not more so than before. At least we have our schedule pretty much worked out...it's worked well for us the past 2 years, so hopefully it'll continue to do so. Christmas Eve we go to church with my parents, brothers, and their families. After church we head to Nana's (Brad's grandmother) for Christmas with Brad's mom's side of the family. As hectic as that is, it is nice that everyone is able to be together. Here's a few pictures of Avery in her Christmas dress at Nana's.

After Nana's we headed home to get Avery to sleep and get everything ready for Christmas morning. Brad and I decided to exchange our gifts to each other that night since we knew we'd be too into playing with Avery Christmas morning. And since we were supposed to be at my mom's by 10am, we were hoping this would make us feel less rushed.

Santa came :)

:)

Avery didn't sleep very well that night, so neither did we. We actually ended up waking her up around 9am so she could see what Santa brought her and then get ready to head out for the day.

she got a ball pit & loves to crawl in and out of it

her activity table that plays tons of music

interested to see what's in her stocking

showing me her new book

We got dressed and left Avery in her pj's for the trip to my parents house. We got there and had breakfast before getting into the chaos of opening presents. I don't think Avery had the first clue as to what was going on. Everyone just kept giving her presents (which she had no interest in opening), and after i opened them I couldn't get whatever it was out of the box fast enough for her to play with it.

Austin opening the present from us

He even yelled "oh, cool!" when he opened it...Transformer :)

The elephant that shoots balls out of it's trunk from Uncle Reece & Aunt Rissa

Peeking through the tunnel from Gran & Grammy G

Wesson was awake for the action <3

After presents at my parents it was definitely time for a nap! We loaded Avery and all of her goodies up and headed over to Brad's parents. She was asleep before we ever got out of my parents driveway. Avery slept for about an hour, and we exchanged presents with Brads family while she napped. When she woke up it was all about her...and boy did she get a lot of goodies...again! I didn't get any pictures of her at Grambino & Bubba's house :( Time kind of got away from me and I was busy helping unwrap presents & putting toys together.

We left Brad's parents and headed to Brad's aunt's house for the annual "White Elephant" game with Brad's dad's side of the family. I made out pretty good with that game...Starbucks gift card & a super soft zebra print throw blanket :) We had lunch and let the kids open more presents...shew! By this time Avery was exhausted again and we loaded her and her stuff back up in the car to head back to my parents house for dinner.

Avery slept for about 2 1/2 hours and woke up just in time for dinner. After dinner she played with some of her new toys, while I tried not to fall asleep! Finally it was time to go home and unload all of the goodies from the day. Avery fell asleep again...poor thing was worn out! We got everything out of the car and it looked as though we had now inherited a toy store.

All of Avery's presents!

It was a wonderful day...even though it was so exhausting. We are so blessed to be able to see both of our families on Christmas, and to have so many people who love Avery and us :) I have no idea what we're going to do with all of this stuff...and Avery's birthday is in 2 1/2 weeks!!! We're going to be overloaded with toys!!! Oh well, she's too cute not to spoil :)

Love,

LG

Thank goodness for Grandparents!

Avery is at her Grambino & Bubba's house tonight (Brad's parents), so I figured while I wait for Brad to get off work and come get me, so we can go enjoy a drink or two with some friends, that I would update my blog.

First off, we had our first ever family photo session done a few weeks ago, and for the most part, I LOVE how the pictures turned out! I'm very particular about the way I look in pictures (as I'm sure most women are), so I always wish I looked better, but...here is one of my favorite of the 3 of us :) Once I get the CD from the photographer I'll upload more.

Well, I don't know about you, but this has been one of the longest weeks EVER. Sunday night Avery and I went to my parents house (like we do every Sunday) for dinner. Around 5PM Avery started to feel a little hot and developed this little cough. I gave her some Tylenol and she took a nap. I was hoping she'd just sleep it off, but she didn't. Her fever stayed consistent, but the coughing got worse, and by around 10PM I was kinda freaking out. She would get in these coughing fits and because of those she had a difficult time catching her breath. Mom and I decided to take her up to the ER. I called Brad, who had just gotten home from work and was getting ready for bed since he was supposed to be at work at 5AM the next morning, and he met us up there. If it wasn't for my mom being with me I probably would have broken down...I was a nervous wreck.

Turns out she had croup. They did a chest x-ray to make sure she didn't have pneumonia or anything more serious developing in her lungs and once that came back clear they gave her a breathing treatment, and an oral steroid to help with the swelling around her larynx. Her fever finally broke a few hours later, and we were allowed to take her home. Avery pretty much slept the entire next day. Poor thing didn't have any energy, or any appetite. Slowly she seemed to be doing better, but the barking cough still sounded bad, and she was super stuffy. I took her to her pediatrician Thursday and after checking her out decided to prescribe her a 5 day steroid, an inhaler for the wheezing, and an antibiotic because she had developed an ear infection :(

She's been on the medicine for 2 whole days now and it has helped dramatically. She's still a little fussy because she still doesn't feel 100%, but she's eating again, and she's gotten most of her energy back and wants to play. THANK GOODNESS. Brad's mom offered to take her for the night tonight to give me a little break, and allow for us to go out for a little while! So, I hope everyone else has a wonderful night...I am off to enjoy my break :)