Oh Fuuuudddgggeeee......

The Soter's...starring in "A Christmas Story"

So it wasn't all bad.  But I'll re-cap here. 

Our "A Christmas Story" adventure started right on cue with a totally blown out tire on our way to the Christmas Eve celebrations at Aunt Sandy's.  5 degrees, and two kids and a dad all dressed up. We got there right about bed time.  Great.  When we arrived, although I didn't shoot my eye out, I did almost get a broken nose.  Believe it or not, smelling my kids ass.  Won't bore you with details, but blame it on Grandpa. 

The evening went well.  Christmas morning was alright.  Had a great yummy breakfast.  BUT I didn't think about the rest of the day. Ate eggs and chips.  Thought about Chinese, since that's what they do in the movie, BUT, we really didn't have a car!  My jeep has been acting ugly for months and wouldn't even start and we were nervous to drive Jason's because the blown out tire damaged some other thing.  Yup, that's the technical term.

Got some great presents, no Red Ryder Gun or fuzzy pink bunny pajama's but we did get this (see pic below) apparently it is a potato bin, and most of our family got one :) But it took us a long time to figure it out! Well, actually we didn't figure it out, a facebook friend did.  Now that I know what it is, makes total sense.

Back track to the morning.  Jacoby opened his "Grapple" (Toy Story Tri County Landfill) and absolutely would not open any more presents.  We just finished up this morning, two days later.  Didn't even touch his stocking.  See more detail of our actual Christmas celebrations HERE. (after you read this blog of course) It wasn't all bad :)

Now fast forward to after nap.  Jacoby woke with a 103.3 fever and was feeling really sick.  He  was just out of it.  Which may explain the morning's stalling of the present opening.

Bed time: as I was feeding Garrett his bottle I was reflecting on the past few days and the humor of it all.  Then when I turned him over to rock him, I patted his cute little butt and found a large bow.  I immediately thought, none of it matters, this is what the holiday's are about, babies, kids and family.  It really made me feel calm.  BUT yet again, Santa had one more gift for us.

Jacoby woke us up around midnight VERY sick.  I knew at 2:00am that he would be going to the doctors as soon as they opened.  Well, they didn't open.  Ugh.  Had to take him forty five minutes away, got great service, and sent to the emergency room.  My poor guy was not well and it was pretty scary for a time.  Read more details about Jacoby's first trip to the hospital HERE.  I DID get chinese on the way home, GD it I had to finish the movie out right!

Now, Jacoby is doing better but his meds are making him batshitcrazy.  Wish me luck y'all.  I will leave you with this.

Soap pppoooiiisssiiiooonnniiiinnngggg....



 

Fra-gee-lee

Ho Ho Ho!

So I think we had about FOUR Christmases.  I actually think this was good because it spaced out the gifts and gave the boys a chance to actually play with the toys for a bit and not be so overwhelmed.  Our first Christmas was with my extended in-law family.  I forgot my camera that day but we had a good time as usual and did our traditional Yankee Swap.

Next, we did a Christmas with my MIL, FIL, Aunt Jacki, Uncle Herb and Aunt Jamie.  The theme to these gifts were music.  The boys (Jacoby) LOVE having concerts and playing in bands.  It is a daily activity here.  Jacoby got a great guitar and a CD player with microphones.  Garrett got a drum filled with other lovely noise makers.  They also got a wagon (can you believe we didn't have one?) which they LOVED to play with.  Here are a few shots of the "Soter Brother's".

Next we had traditional Christmas Eve at Aunt Sandy's.  Read about our start to this day HERE.  We also did a Yankee Swap here.  It was the first year, and a big group.  It went pretty well without too much stealing and arguing.  Here are a few shots of Christmas at Aunt Sandy's with my extended family.

Lauren and Garrett

LOVE!!!

Yankee Swap getting heated!!

Jason and his sis Jamie

Yankee Swap Crowd

Meghan and Garrett

And finally, Christmas morning.  Jacoby got up like normal and didn't even once mention Santa.  We finally had to get him excited to come down.  This kid is ANYTHING but materialistic.  He never asks for anything and never begs to open presents.  I hope this trait stays with him.  Once he opened his "Grapple" Toy story Tri County landfill, he was done.  We had to persuade him to open any more gifts, he took 2 more days to finally finish opening.  The big hits were the landfill obviously, the cash register (surprisingly), more large cardboard blocks, cleaning kit and Garrett enjoyed his new hardhat.  Here are just a few snapshots.  Enjoy!

Santa Came, I love the Lovey's laid out by the boys, this was not staged :)

The "Grapple"

Working hard on their new picnic table

Garrett finally gets a hard hat to wear

He just enjoyed putting the bows in the "bow bag"

Love their profiles! They are the same :)

All Xmased out, observe the Lovey's.  Awwwww

Little Man Down

So Jacoby had his first hospitalization besides his birth week in the NICU.

He's had a cough, little kids are gross and boogery, we get that.  I am NOT a paranoid mom that runs to the docs.  I hate going there, it is not fun.  But on Christmas Jacoby was not well.  He woke up later that night and was really struggling to breath.  He was gasping for breath and his temperature was burning up.  Again, I didn't panic and was just waiting around for the doctor to open.  Although it never crossed my mind "should I take him?" it also never crossed my mind to take him to the ER.

Well apparently that is their holiday, so only one of the offices was open and that was 40 minutes away.  We had great service and got right in.  After taking a look at him she sent us right over to the ER.  I wasn't prepared for that in any way! Mentally or physically, I didn't have any good stuff in the diaper bag for a long day.  Oh well :)

His fever was still really high, his oxygen saturation levels were not optimal, his heart rate/pulse were extremely high, he was looking gray and having lots of trouble!  They got us right into the ER, I even heard them tell some people that had been waiting a long time that they appreciated their patience but they had to take a child over them.  Surprisingly, that was us.

They got him right into x-ray, started an antibiotic, prednasone and breathing treatments.  Jacoby was an AMAZING trooper and very cooperative.  I'm sure it was his fever helping him be complaisant. 

Eventually everything they were doing helped to stabilize his breathing so much that after 5+ hours or so we were able to go home and continue the treatments at home.  I was surprised how quickly they were able to manage his breathing from how he was when he came in.  When he left his oxygen levels were back up to normal and his heart rate and pulse had slowed down some.

He was diagnosed with Bronchilitis caused by RSV.  We were very lucky to be able to go home and he seems to be improving here.  What they didn't tell us and we learned in our follow up today is that the prednasone will make him batshitcrazy and grouchy and the inhaler will hype him up.  Today was a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG day.  He was more 3 than he has ever be!  It's a tough call because he gets so hyper but then he starts hacking.  It seems like a catch to me.

So that concludes the story of Jacoby's current illness.  Hoping for a quick recovery.

My poor baby.  He REFUSED to wear the Johnny.

Just when you think why, oh, why me?

***Disclaimer...kind of mushy....for me***

Just when I think, why me? Are all kids this crazy? I am going back to work! I have moments like these that make me unbelievably grateful that I am able to be home to witness:

1. A day of the same conversation over THIRTY times that goes like this: "Mommy", "Yes, Jacoby", "I love you so much you don't even know."  (feel free to awwwww inside)

2. Garrett discovering something new and looking up at you like "wow, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen." His big brown eyes discovering this world is amazing to witness!

3.  Jacoby sitting by himself with a pad of paper and you hear "J-A-C-O-B-Y, look mom that spells Jacoby!"

5. Watching the boys play together (nicely of course) and you look at them and think "Dude, I did good!"

6. Getting ready for nap time and you say one book, then he picks a pile of 10, how can you say no? The dishes can wait.

7. When you are driving in the car and you hear with the most excitment ever "Look mommy, a backhoe working, and look, a skid steer, what do you think is in that tractor trailer? Maybe backhoes?" (He's obssessed)

8. Another in the car moment....the boys cracking up at each other, well basically anytime the boys crack up with each other, it's the best sound in the whole world.

9. Listening to the boys when they don't know you are listening.  Garrett babbling in the crib, Jacoby reading his own book to himself or independently playing.  I could listen to them for hours.

And possibly the best moment (not to get too mushy on ya'll) is when....dun dun dun

10. We hear Daddy's big work truck backing up the driveway and the boys RUN to the door with hugs and kisses for Daddy and they don't leave his side for the next two hours :)

What's your favorite moments with your kids?  Feel free to comment away and enjoy your families.  (Bet you guys didn't know I had a soft side?)

A man's Christmas!

Growing up, my Christmas was PINK PINK PINK.  Barbie car, barbie kitchen, barbie barbie barbie.  Fast forward 25 years, change a few letters and you get Bruder.  Bruder Backhoe, Bruder Bucket Loader, Bruder Crane and this years special guest...Bruder Skid Steer Loader.

What do you do when your three year old is browsing his library book (the 65 page one he picks out that is all technical workings of machines) and say's..."it sure would be nice if I had a skid steer loader"? You think, "what the heck is a skid steer loader", go online and buy him one because apparently the 1000 yellow trucks in your playroom aren't complete without a skid steer loader.  I know he'd just be the happiest kid if I could score him a feller buncher (google it) but at $50+ and an 8yr+ age limit, I'm putting my foot down.

Other fun items he and Garrett will be getting; construction vests, a working landfill with a "grapple", garbage truck, steam roller (the machine kind :~)), cd player with microphones, guitar, cash register and a cleaning kit.  See there is some variety!

As for me...I'll take a wrapping fairy and an electric heating blanket.  K.thanx.

Oh, and because I am feeling giving....a Feller Buncher :)

Trees and boys, oh my!

So we got our tree early this year. We are thinking earliest ever, which, frankly, seems kind of insane considering we have a pre-schooler and a toddler to terrorize the darn thing for 3 weeks now! Luckily we scored a free gate which has been clutch.  We also got a pretty tiny tree so that it fits snugly in the corner.  With cutting the peanut butter toast correctly, and playing servent all day, I just don't have the energy to police a tree for weeks.

We truly did have a great time getting our tree.  The best part??!!! We got it on Grandma and Pee-Paw's opening day of their Christmas Tree Farm!  This season was invitation only but we were so lucky to be joined by some of my best friends and their families.  Lot's of little boys running around, chasing chickens, collecting eggs, helping daddy saw, watching the tree "shaker" and bagger.  THAT is what Christmas is all about.  Not the ugly gate and the pretty ornaments still in the tote for their safety.  Here are a few pics, enjoy this special time of year all!

Avery and his Grandma

Avery and Daddy cutting their MONSTER tree!

Grandma & Garrett

Jacoby playing his favorite game of hide and seek on the farm

Our little tree :)

Jacoby and his BFF Meghan

Daddy and Jacoby sawing off the excess

The bagger

Our Tree :)

Pumpkin First Birthday

So I can't believe my baby is one already! We had an amazing party with so many wonderful friends and family in attendence.  Thanks so much to Ouellette Photography for capturing all the great memories so I didn't have to worry about a thing (photograph wise).  I will say, I am glad this is our last first birthday party :) Man, those are a lot of work.  Well at least I make it a lot of work.  I could really go to town if my measly budget was increased.  The theme for G Dawg's birthday was "Our little pumpkin is turning one, please join us for some birthday fun"

Instead of posting lots of photos I will post the amazing video the Ouellette's made of the best shots.
Garrett's First Birthday Slideshow