Christmas Celebrations

We had a great Christmas. Well, what I remember of it was great. I didn't feel well through pretty much all of our Christmas celebrations, but I toughed it out the best I could. I even went to Urgent Care Christmas Eve morning and begged for a steroid shot. I got the shot and felt better for about 24 hours. On Christmas Day I started feeling bad again. I woke up the morning after Christmas with a swollen lymph node. Like really swollen....like a baseball on the side of my neck swollen. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. Or that my family had ever seen. So, David and I jumped in the car and headed to Urgent Care while my parents watched Liam. Only, Bartlesville doesn't have Urgent Care available on Sunday mornings, so we went to the ER. Thankfully, there was only one other patient there and my visit was quick. The doctor guessed that a virus had settled in that lymph node, causing it to swell. He told me to continue with my antibiotics and to go to an ENT if the swelling didn't go away in a day or two. I'm happy to report that the swelling has gone down, and the pain has gone away. Phew!

Anyways, back to our Christmas celebrations. We started out celebrating Christmas Eve with David's family. Liam did a great job of waiting patiently to open his first gift.

Watching him open gifts this year was so much fun. He really got into tearing the paper off of each gift to see what was inside.
Liam had so much fun playing with his sweet cousins, Logan and Haley. Haley is like a mother hen to Liam. It's really nice to have her around to help keep an eye on him! I wish we lived closer to them!!!
We got back to my parent's house after Liam's bedtime and decided that if we were going to miss bedtime, we might as well do it right. So, we let Liam stay up and decorate cookies for Santa.
And then, we decided to open some gifts since we would be rushed to leave town in the morning. Liam helped his Nana hand out everyone's gifts.
This is Liam's stack of presents. He was so funny! He really got into opening the first few, but then he just wanted to play with all of his new toys.
His favorite gift was definitely his Yo Gabba Gabba blanket.
He liked his BIG, NOISY firetruck also. (My brother was determined to find the loudest truck possible! haha!!!)
Yep, that's my dad, hanging out inside Liam's train tent. Haha!!!
The next morning, we left to go to Missouri to spend the day with my mom's side of the family.
I love this picture of my mom and Liam. He wasn't feeling well while we were at my grandma's, so he spent a lot of time on Nana's lap.
While the adults played Dirty Santa, Liam had fun playing with the ribbons!
Although we had a great Christmas, I really wish I would have felt better. Christmas is always my favorite time of the year, but being sick really made it hard to enjoy myself this year. At least I have these pictures to look back on and think about all the fun Liam had. Because, that's what matters, right?

(((Yes, Liam has a black eye in all of these pics and a couple of earlier posts. He spent the Friday before Christmas break at my school. He got a little crazy, tripped over his own feet and went flying into a book shelf. Poor kid! He runs into everything!)))

Merry Christmas

David and I have been talking to Liam for weeks about sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what he wants Santa to bring him for Christmas. We've even gone by and talked to Santa a couple of times with hopes that being more familiar with him would prevent Liam from being as scared as he was last year. Here's this year's pic....


No way was he going to smile, but Liam went right to him! After the pictures were over, Santa asked Liam what he wanted. Liam said in the softest voice, "Choo choo please." I was so proud of him!!!! Not only did he sit in Santa's lap, but he was also polite!

We begin our Christmas celebrations today with David's family and tomorrow with mine. I love this time of year and the opportunity to spend time with our families.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!! And remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gingerbread Houses

Casey and Owen came over today to build gingerbread houses with Liam and I. We threw down a blanket on the floor so the boys would be able to reach better. Unfortunately, Owen was really into all of the new toys around him. So, Casey did most of the work on their house.

Liam, on the other hand, was really into helping with his gingerbread house. I did the building and he did the decorating.
I'm not sure how many pieces of candy he ended up sneaking into his mouth before we were finished!
The icing was so messy! Liam would put a little on the house (and end up with a lot on his hand!), and then ask me to clean his hand.
Liam had icing everywhere. Even on his little toes.
The finished product....it's beautiful, huh?!?!
Liam was so proud of his work. He showed David his gingerbread house as soon as David walked in the door. Then, he showed him over and over again until he went to bed.
After these two were finished building, it was time for some Oreos. Notice how Owen has chewed up cookie in his open mouth. I asked them to say, "Awwww" for the picture. Owen did exactly as I asked. Ha!!!!
Can you guess which was was ours and which was Casey and Owen's?

Thanks for coming over, Casey and Owie! Please come again soon!!!

Choo Choo! Liam's 2!!!

I know, I know. Liam's party was over a week ago and I'm just now blogging about it.

Regardless of the delayed blogging, Liam's party was perfect! He had so much fun and was in awe of the choo-choos all over the house that were just for him! The food was delicious, thanks to some help from my mom and grandma.

I did most of the decorating while Liam was asleep Friday night. Saturday, when he woke up, he just looked all over the house taking it all in. His excitement made all of the time I spent making all of this totally worth it!
David and I gave Liam a train table. He absolutely loves it!
Here are the goodie bags I made. I think they turned out super cute!
Owen was one of the first kids to arrive. He liked the train table, too!
Liam got a ton of train stuff for his birthday. He was so excited about all of it!

After Liam opened all of his gifts, it was time for some cupcakes. They were so yummy!!!

Liam's favorite part is definitely the icing....just like his mama!
Kaitlyn could belong to my family with that red hair!
Mom was such a big help preparing everything and cleaning up everything! I'm so thankful for her!
This is Ayla. She is growing way too fast!
Isn't she just a doll?!?!?
Liam really wanted to get his hands on the balloon, which made for the perfect opportunity for a picture of him looking at the camera!
Owen and Liam have so much fun together! It's fun to watch them wrestle and play ball together. Hopefully they'll grow up and be great friends just like Casey and I are!
Towards the end of the party, it was obvious that Liam was getting tired. He asked my mom to put his new jammies on him. A few minutes later, he was nowhere to be seen. So, I went looking and found him in a corner in his dark bedroom cuddled up with his blankie and arf-arf.
Happy second birthday, Liam! You are such a blessing to us!!!!

Thanksgiving and a Choo-choo

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! David had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, so my family came to our house to spend Thanksgiving Day with us. I don't think they wanted us to be alone on the holiday. Or......they just wanted to spend the day with Liam. Either way, I'm so thankful they came!

Liam loved watching the Macy's Parade. This picture makes me laugh because of my dad in the background snoozing away. Don't the men always sleep while the women are slaving away in the kitchen?!?!?

My mom did most of the cooking. I helped as much as I could, but as y'all know, I am a mess in the kitchen! Liam wasn't too interested in the Thanksgiving meal.
But, when it came for dessert, he was a hungry boy. (We usually don't have cupcakes for Thanksgiving, but I've been trying the perfect the art of baking cupcakes so that I'll be ready for Liam's party!)
On Friday, Liam and I traveled back to Bartlesville with mom after some serious Black Friday shopping. David met up with us on Saturday in Bartlesville for our second Thanksgiving celebration with his family. We had another great day and ate some delicious food! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.

Before we left Bartlesville, we took Liam to see the big choo-choo at the train station. He loved it!
Liam and Papa played with every handle, button and knob they could get to.


This week has been tough. I've been sick since Tuesday with a bad cold. I haven't been able to stay home, because there's a lot going on at school right now. In the evenings I've been attempting to get things done for Liam's party. To top it all off, Liam had a fever when I picked him up from the sitter on Thursday, so David stayed home with him on Friday. We took him to Urgent Care when I got home Friday evening and he has strep. Again.

Please send well wishes our way!!!!!

On another note, I wanted to say CONGRATS to my dad who retired this week! We look forward to many more visits from the amazing, "Stay at Home" Papa!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Shutterfly!

I'll be honest......I've never used Shutterfly before. I've looked at their site tons of times. On each occasion that I've taken a peak, I've fallen in love with their Christmas Photo Cards. There are so many choices. And, they are all adorable!!! (I think this one might be my favorite, but I've looked so many times and came up with a new favorite every time!) This is the year I am determined to use Shutterfly to order my Christmas cards. I'm NOT going to procrastinate. I'm going to order in plenty of time to receive the cards in the mail, address them, and mail them out. So, if you're on my list, be looking for a super cute Shutterfly card from our family!!!

I'm also interested in using Shutterfly to make a calendar for some of our family members for Christmas. If it's as easy as I've heard, it won't take very long to design the calendar. That is just what this busy mom needs! And, check out these coffee mugs! LOVE THEM!!!!!!

I passed!!!

I am a National Board Certified Teacher!!!!

This is a huge accomplishment. I am so proud and still a little shocked that I passed. We celebrated on Friday with dinner at Olive Garden. Then, on Sunday I celebrated with treating myself to some time at the nail salon.

When I came home, Liam was so happy to see me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to his playroom. He just couldn't wait to show me what he had been up to. He was so proud of his tower. He (with a little bit of help from Daddy) had used all of the blocks to build the tower.

I'm not sure who was more proud.........the builder or the mommy!

Movin' on Up

David was so excited to have last Thursday off for Veteran's Day. He had big plans of playing with Liam all day long. Well, it didn't turn out that way. On Tuesday, Liam's allergist called and rescheduled his appointment for Thursday. On Wednesday, we decided that Liam needed to go to his primary care doctor due to a cough and runny nose that has been around for over a month. They couldn't get him in until Thursday.

So, the boys began their day at Dr. Harmon's office. She diagnosed Liam with a sinus infection (again) and heard wheezing in his lungs. The only positive news she gave us was that Liam had gained a little weight! He had moved up on the growth chart from the .31 percentile to the .34 percentile. That made his doctor very happy!

After the first appointment, David and Liam came to pick me up for the appointment with the allergist. We were under the understanding that the allergist was going to do a challenge, which means that they would feed Liam peanuts to find out just how allergic he is. We were soooo nervous going into the appointment!

Once the allergist finally.....I'm talking an hour and a half later.....came in the room, he talked to us for about 30 minutes. We told him about having to find a new home for Maudie because Liam's reactions to her had worsened. We talked about Liam's runny nose and cough that was lingering. We talked about his non-stop sinus infections and occasional vomiting episodes that only occur in the morning. Then, the doctor looked at Liam and listened to his chest.

He disagreed with our doctor. He didn't think Liam had a sinus infection, just that everything was swollen due to his severe allergies. And after listening to Liam's chest, he got serious and told us that a challenge wasn't necessary. He only does challenges on children who he thinks will pass the test. Liam isn't one of those children.

He told us that Liam is in the midst of the Atopic March. He explained that the Atopic March begins in infancy with eczema, which Liam had, then proceeds to food allergies, which Liam has, then moves on to nasal allergies, which apparently Liam has, and moves on to asthma, which the allergist said explains the wheezing in Liam's chest. That's putting it in simple terms. You can learn a little more about it here.

He then explained that people who go through the Atopic March typically do not grow out of the food allergies and that the allergies and asthma worsen. Not at all what we hoped to hear. So, we now must avoid all nuts....just in case his food allergy has worsened like the dog allergy has.

He also told us that Liam's vomiting episodes and "sinus infections" were most likely side effects of his allergies. AND.......that once Liam starts taking the meds he prescribed he'd probably start feeling better, causing him to eat better.....AND TO GAIN SOME MORE WEIGHT! That's good news, right?!?!

I hate that my baby is going through all of this. I was a mess after the appointment and into the next day, until a sweet friend said to me, "Liam's your miracle baby. He's already made it through so much and he'll make it through this just fine also." She's right. He's definitely a fighter. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a fighter.

So far, I'd say the medicine has helped Liam feel better. He's been eating really well. I'm thankful for that. For dinner tonight we had left overs from Chileno's. Liam loves, loves, loves rice. He's usually a very clean eater. Not tonight. He was a mess and made an even bigger mess!

He thought the mess he made was sooooo funny. I didn't agree.
After I was forced to undress Liam to do some serious Spray and Washing, he wanted to put on his daddy's shirt. Cute, huh? (Yes, it'd be even cuter if it was orange!)
Speaking of orange, HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS?!?!?!?!?!?