Our Christmas Day Part 2

After the girls went to bed we waited for a little to make sure Charlotte would stay down. At about 830 we thought it would be safe to get started. We had discussed taking the tree off of the table just for Christmas morning. We kept saying this is going way too smoothly! So when were all done it looked like this...

It is darn shame those girl's didn't get anything!

Chris and I went to bed hopeful to get to sleep until at least 6am. We got till 7AM! It was a Christmas Miracle!!!!

We ushered the girls into our room and opened stockings! They had something to drink while Daddy went to go get everything together. Lily thought that Santa was here then! Her eyes were SO big! She knew something great was about to happen!! Rdette was happy chewing on her new toothbrush! Then the time came.

When Chris called us out she could already see out tree and she just glazed over! We went over everything, the key was now on the inside of the house right where we said Santa would leave it, there were only cookie crumbs, and a small bite of carrot. She was completely amazed! Rdette ran right to the tree and well remember the People's Court post? Well here is exhibits A-B!!!




They both were very overwhelmed! They started in, after about an hour we took a break for breakfast. Blood sugars were starting to drop a little, as it was already an hour or so past their normal breakfast time. It was pretty funny they each were just fine with going to the table for a little bit.

I was waiting for a comment to be made about Cinderella. She had already opened a few things that she thought were her. She looked happy with everything, but once after we asked what something was she said Cinderella then turned it over and in a little disappointed voice said "oh, it's Roury." (Princess Auroa) It was hard not to feel bad but we knew that Santa had wrapped Cinderella in completely different paper as well as a present for Rdette that we deemed as her special thing. It was the very last thing all the way in the back.

Rdette also was very happy once we started putting things together for her. After that she basically played and Daddy opened her things for her!

I think I talked about Lily's Crocodile on here. We knew it was going to go one of two ways...







Say hello to Sam the Crocodile! She LOVES HIM! We have already had to kiss his boo boos like on Dora, and jump over him- her not us!

Then we got to the 'Big Present' - we think that is so funny the thing that means the most, cost less then $5.00! No kidding! Here is the big moment...





Priceless!

Rdette wasn't all about the whole sitting still for pictures thing, so here are the best of the quick smiles!

It really was a great day! Last night when Chris went to check on the girls he called me to bring the camera.




Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Day Part 1

Was a blast!

Our fun started on Tuesday night. After dinner we got the girls jammies on and headed to see The Lights on The Bay. Chris and I used to do this every year and couldn't wait for them to see them! It was just great every two seconds Lily was yelling "guys turn round look, Santa!" or "look what tis it?" This was asked about a crab that she immediately associated with SpongeBob, which made her VERY happy! They also have some of the scenes set to 'jump' over the cars. So we would pull up right under it and she would watch it through the sun roof. Her little mouth couldn't have dropped anymore open if she tried! Miss C seemed to like it as well she would just stare and squeal out every so often. On the way home Rdette did however make it quite clear that she was done with the whole experience!

On Wednesday morning Chris had a project to work on with Lily. He wanted Rdette to be part of it but after finding out that it included painting something, it was quickly decided that she needed to go out for a little bit! So she and I headed to the store. Once we got home and had lunch, and naps. While Rdette was napping (Lily basically rests on our bed) Chris and I headed upstairs to finish up the last few things for Santa. We had gone round and round as to what to put in the girls' stockings. We finally rested on a small sampling of the different snacks and they both needed a new tooth brush.

While we were getting these couple of things we kept hearing a strange banging sound coming from the downstairs. Chris set out to check it out. To go back a little we do keep a baby monitor up there so I could hear quite clearly as Chris opened our bedroom door. Lily had decided to become a monkey and was hanging from our poster bed and the wall! All I could hear was Chris "what in the hell are you doing?!" We do not curse at them ever. Around them we do try to limit but we are human and sometimes the filter doesn't always turn on! So to hear him say this made me pay attention! When he came back up stairs he said it scared him because when we walked in the bed was empty.

Soon after all that drama naps were over and we got started on making cookies for Santa. Momma got smart and bought toddler friendly just add an egg, and mix cookies! I highly recommend these! It was fun to make, and the mess was minimal. Lily is at the age that she doesn't really care how we get to the end as long as there are cookies! WORKS FOR ME! LOL Rdette really could care less as long as she gets one!

It was sweet to listen to Lily talk about Santa. She asked Chris what his Christmas Wish was. He told her that his wish was to be home with us. She asked me next, I told her that it was for her and Rdette to share their toys, and not to scare Daddy back to work early! That earned me a "you a silly mommy" from Miss L! We then asked her what her wish was, she again answered what she has asked for since August, a Cinderella baby doll. Chris said later that it made his heart smile to hear her say that.

After a sticky dinner of pancakes (we are very non-traditional) the girls got in the bath. While I worked on removing the now concrete that was once a yummy pancake out of Rdette's hair, Chris got out the few things we were going to let them open. We decided that we would open our things from the girls. Lily and I painted a dish for Chris to hold change at work, and Chris and Lily painted a box and put recipe cards inside for me. Just what we wanted! We also let the girls open their gifts from each other. The only present Chris and I take credit for is the new PJ's everything else comes from the Big Red Man. So they got to open all that and put their new jammies on! Matching of course!

Saying Thank You to each other!

Soon after that it was time to get ready for Santa! Earlier in the morning we made Magic Reindeer food to sprinkle in the yard. Out we went... We let Lily stand on the pavement and toss it into the yard (it is a mixture of dry oatmeal and glitter) she even let Rdette have a turn! Then Lily requested that we give a little to our reindeer in the yard so she sprinkled a little for him and a little for our blow up penguin! Then we came in and got out our Special Santa Key (we don't have a chimney, he has to get in somehow!:-)

Rdette wanted the Key!

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Lily putting the key on the door

Daddy explaining about the Key



Then it was time to get the cookies and milk together. Who knew the fun a 14 month old would be with this! Oh my! Well Lily the ever ready helper girl wanted to help with each step. She picked out which two cookies, and thought that 2 carrots would be good for Rudolph. Then held the cup for the milk. Then, Mommy and Daddy pushed it a little far!!! We wanted to have pictures of Rdette as well. I'll let the pictures tell the story..... LOL

Picking the best one...

Head in the carrot bag!


Found just the right one!

Sweet right?? HeeHee!! Watch Rdette!
First she tries to eat the carrot then...

SHE STOLE THE COOKIE & TOOK OFF RUNNING!!



It was great and she was quick!! She ran into the hallway laughing her tail off and then she took a bite took! Lily was quite offended that she didn't get to have a bite too!! After that it was time for a long winter's nap!

For a few nights Rdette has been having problems getting and staying asleep. We were worried that it would be a problem again on Christmas Eve, but thankfully they both hit their bed sleeping! Then Santa got to work!

Take it Lily!

Nuff said for now! More to come...

Changes

I always love to look back over at the pictures we have taken. The girls change almost month to month! Check out these from the past two years!

Christmas 2007

Lily 23 months, Charlotte 2 months

Christmas 2008

Lily 35 months, Charlotte 14 months! T-10 days and counting until the big day!

On the Mend

So I am hopeful tonight. Rdette went to bed tonight with the most food in her tummy then she has in 3 days. So far so good. She ate about a half bowl of soup for dinner. She wanted more and let us know that loudly. Tomorrow, if all goes well tonight, we will increase again.



She did have 3 wet diapers, but no more diarrhea. We really are letting ourselves think that we might be out of the woods.



Lily is being watched like a hawk. So far no signs of anything. Every time we ask how her tummy feels she tells us "good, it only hurt a tiny bit." We know that there isn't anything to that though, Lily has figured it out, Rdette gets to eat Jello for breakfast! Smart kid!!



This past weekend we were supposed to host a Christmas Party for my side of the family. It has been postponed until this Saturday, and then on Sunday we are hosting Chris's family. So it is going to be a fun filled weekend for sure! We were going to take the girls to see the Lights on the Bay tonight, but we decided that we would give Rdette a few more days grounded at home. We are planning on doing that now on Friday night. As a lead in to a great weekend of family and fun!



Lily is bordering on Santa overload. She and Chris were on a mission this afternoon in Wal-Mart and ran right into their Santa. Chris said she glazed over! Then asked Chris to go back to tell Santa 'don't forget me presents'.



This year is a lot of fun Lily understands it now. Her favorite Christmas song is Jingle Bells. She runs through the house singing it. She knows that we leave cookies and milk out for Santa and a carrot for reindeer. We have also been working with her understanding the concept of giving. She is catching on because when she plays she will wrap a toy up in blanket and bring to one of us as a present. Today while they were out Chris let Lily pick out a small gift to give to Rdette on Christmas. She picked a Rdette sized ball. It is really cute.



When they got home Lily proudly showed me what she had picked. I told her to put it on my bed and that we would wrap it later. When Rdette got up from her nap she was still very excited about it and ran into our room and brought it in to show Rdette! Chris redirected her back out of the room and again told her that it was a surprise!



The next week and a half is going to be great!

There She Blows

This week Chris, Rdette and I battled a nasty stomach bug. Chris and I were pretty much done with it 24 hours or so. Rdette however got it much MUCH worse. It started on Wednesday night when we went to go check on her we found her covered in vomit. I'll save all the really great details from that. She went on to vomit about 6 more times from about 1045 that night until 245 Thursday morning.

Thursday she was really tired but was ok. We didn't let her have much to eat and she was fine with that. She had a couple of bouts of diarrhea but nothing crazy. On Friday through the day was more of the same. We kept her on light foods and gave her plenty of fluids. That night for dinner we figured that because she was looking better we would give her some oatmeal for dinner. She didn't really want a lot of it and ate only about 1/4 of it. We were happy with that and didn't push it. The girls went to bed normally. About 830 that night we heard her cry out and cough that is when it all hit the fan.

Poor baby started to vomit, over and over and over again. We called her doctor and made sure that we were doing everything right. She reassured us that this was probably just a bug and it would have to work its way through her system. We were fine with that and just took her down to her diaper wrapped her up in a towel and she sat with me. But she just kept on vomiting. I will admit that normally I don't get worried over too much but this was scary.

After vomiting upwards of 10 times in less then 2 hours her little body decided that it had enough and she started to vomit something with a brown in color. Chris and I looked at each other and I started to say to Chris that it looked like old blood. He immediately picked back up the phone to page her doctor again. This time her doctor said to take her over to the ER to be looked at. As she was still vomiting this brown mess.

She and I went over first. She was as white as a sheet and becoming more and more lethargic. I had to pull over as soon we got in the hospital parking lot because she was doing it again and choking on it. Chris called my Aunt Tracy and asked her to come and sit with Lily.

They took us right back. She was so over it at this point and was just crying. This is when I really was scared because as she cried there were no tears. She was that dehydrated. They looked her all over and said that they were going to take samples to test for blood. They also gave her a medication to make her stop vomiting. But also warned us that is she wouldn't stop they would have to put an IV in. They gave her the medicine and we had to wait 30 mins to see if it was going to work. Thankfully it did.

The doctor came back in to check and told us that the test did show that is was blood she was vomiting. She said that because she had done it so much she had irritated her esophagus and that is why. She also said that she was honestly surprised that she kept the medicine in. She saw how hard and frequently she was vomiting.

They went ahead and gave her a frozen pop. She was so tired all she could do was sit there and suck on it. It was pretty sad. When she kept that down we moved onto liquids. We had to use a syringe and give her 5 cc every 5 mins for a hour. When she did well with that and her color looked better. She also started to act more like herself so they let us take her home. In the end she vomited 17 tims.

We got home at about 3am. Once we got her in she slept until we woke her up at 9am. Then we pretty much nursed her with the syringe they had sent us home with. We could up it to 10 cc every 3-5 mins. We called her doctor again because she still wasn't peeing. But I did get one lonely tear. She told us that as long as her mouth was wet to just keep forcing the fluids and give her a little more time. She finally had a wet diaper at 230. It was celebrated like we won the lottery. Lily kept telling her "good job Rdette!" and gave her high fives! It was cute.

Yesterday we kept her on fluids. She had Jello for dinner, she was happy as long as she could feed herself. This morning she woke up signing More. That is a universal sign for food with her. We tried to give her crackers, but she used them like throwing stars. Then we tried toast. Gus (our dog) liked it! Finally we tried noodles. She liked those and ate about 6 or 7 before I cut her off. She is peeing better, still not as regular as her normal but I think we are getting there.

We are going to keep on a reduced diet for at least another day before I start adding. She has lost some weight you can see it in her face. She also has burn marks on her chin and lips from the stomach acid. We are keeping that as moist we as can.

Right now though she is happily napping. Chris and I need a stiff drink! As for Lily she is doing well. She has been acting up a little because so much of the attention has been put on Rdette. Chris took her out for one on one time yesterday and again today. She is happy she gets to pick out her present to give to Rdette for Christmas. So that helps.

Before I go Chris and I wanted to thank our family for being so supportive.

First a Big Thank You to Chris's Dad for helping us get Chris's car running again. Chris would not have been able to be there with Rdette and I if you hadn't helped us. It meant a lot to both of us.

Second Big Thank You, to Aunt Tracy. Not all Fairy Godmother's would have left their warm bed. Lily was very surprised to find out that you were here!

Lastly to my Mom for making us feel like you were in the room holding my hand as I held my sick baby.

Thank you all for always being there for us!

Christmas Tree V. Charzilla (Aka Rdette)

Insert The People's Court Theme and typewriter typing...



The Defendant: Rdette



The Charges:



Count 1- Conspiracy to commit De-decoration

Count 2- Attempted ingestion of holiday symbol

Count 3- Attempted abduction of one Mr. Snowman



Judgement: Sweet but guilty on ALL counts!



Sentance: A retaining table will be used to keep Rdette at least 3 feet away from tree at all times. Any violation of this table will result in immediate detainment in the nearest Graco Pack and Play Penn, while parent cleans up the mess!



Chris and I knew that Rdette was going to be one with the Christmas Tree this year. So we needed to find a way to make them co-exist somewhat peacefully. Now, if we could figure out a way to do this for free even better!



The week before Thanksgiving our nerves got the best of us and we decided to try out our idea. So up went the tree.... well half of the tree.... on our old kitchen table. Weird we know... free and keeps the baby safe yes.



This was our first time having to deal with this. When Lily came home we kept our tree up for a totally of one day. Just long enough for her to open her belated Christmas presents. The following year Rdette was 2 months old and Lily was almost 2 years old. As long as we left a few ornaments that Lily could play with freely she was happy and left it alone. This year was not going to go as smoothly.



In the end we think the tree has never looked better even in half! Lily came still reach a few ornaments, and Rdette is safe. Oh... Lily's favorite part of the tree is that each time we turn it on one of Chris' Star Trek ornaments speaks and I quote ' This is Captian Janeway of the Federation Vessel Delta Flyer. We are on a mission of peaceful exploration.' - Yes, we have had it for many years! Anyway, Lily thinks that it is SANTA talking! She will shout out " Santa right there in my tree!" Rdette likes to point at the tree and say "this, this"



Next year I think that out tree will be whole once again. When Santa comes this year he is going to take away the table for Christmas morning. Then it will appear right after breakfast! ;-)



We did have the tree skirt on the table, it is really pretty... each time we put it up Rdette walks right by and pulls it off.