Nathan's Hospital Stay

While Christmas was a perfect, wonderful day, the day after Christmas was pretty terrible.

Nathan had taken a little spill Christmas afternoon at my mom's house. He was on his knees at the chair at his table, lost his balance, and fell over, managing to land on his head on the ceramic tile. Matt and I both saw it happen, and I commented to Matt that it looked scary, but Nathan seemed fine. He cried for a minute or so, and then was over it, and acted completely normal the rest of the day.

Since we stayed so late at my parents' house, Nathan stayed the night, and my mom was planning to bring him over the next morning on her way to work. She text that morning and told us that he was sick and had been throwing up and also didn't have any balance when he tried to walk.

I just assumed he had caught a little bug, but Matt reminded me of his fall the day before and was especially worried because of his problems walking. I called and scheduled a doctor's appointment first thing that morning, and we headed over to pick up our little guy.

The doctor initially diagnosed him with a virus, and told us to keep him hydrated. When Matt told her about his fall, she did a quick neurological exam and told us he seemed fine. She did bloodwork that came back normal, but asked to see him walk before we left her office. He stumbled around, and I could tell her concern heightened after she saw him try and walk.She went ahead and sent us home and told us she would check in with us later that day.

She called around noon and asked how he was doing. Although his vomiting had improved some, he still couldn't walk without falling, so she told us to take him to the emergency room. Those were some scary moments for a mommy, hearing the doctor use words like "possible brain bleed". We packed a few things, dropped Samuel off at my mom's work, and headed for Nathan's first trip to the ER.

We got great care at the Emergency Room. We didn't have to wait for a room, and the doctors were prompt and helpful. I was relieved. I had been worried we would be stuck in the waiting room for hours, but our care was wonderful.

Nathan was so sick at that point and exhausted from dehydration. The doctor ordered a CT scan. By the time they came to take him, he was sleeping so soundly that he slept through the entire procedure. Praise God! I had been worried about how scary a CT scan would be for him, but he was out of it the whole time.

We made it back to his room, and they started fluids to rehydrate him. The IV was so traumatic for him. Matt and I were crying along with him as the nurse was putting it in. Absolutely terrible. He managed to go back to sleep and took another nap while we waited for blood and urine results.

The CT scan came back clear. We were so relieved. However, the blood results revealed pretty significant dehydration and that combined with his neurological problems led to an admission for the night.

By the time they transferred us to a room in the children's hospital (around 6:00 that night), Nathan had received two bags of IV fluids and had perked up significantly. He was acting more and more like himself. Baby brother and Grammy and Papa Joe came to visit that night (and bring us some necessities for our overnight stay). They took a wagon ride around the hospital floor. Nathan told me that he missed Samuel. Sweet boy.

My parents were so kind to keep Samuel overnight for us, so Matt and I could both stay with Nathan. Neither one of us wanted to leave his side, and I'm glad we didn't have to. My parents are a blessing.

We saw several doctors and had interruptions all night long with neurological exams and all the other monitoring that comes with a hospital stay including a blood draw at 6:00am (talk about a rude awakening for all of us). We did manage to watch Monster's University before bed that night. Nathan enjoyed that.

His bloodwork was back to normal (thanks to the iv fluids he received), and the doctor on rounds that morning sent us home. Most of the doctors were in agreement that he had received a mild concussion from his fall on Christmas Day. He was still pretty wobbly on his feet, but otherwise was back to his normal self.

We stopped for ice cream (and lunch) on the way home and made it home around noon on Friday. He has improved each day since then, and we are so blessed that he is healing. He did refuse to take off the arm band from his IV for a couple days. He was worried it would hurt. Anytime they messed with it in the hospital, it did hurt, so I understood his reasoning. Bless his heart. I finally took it off Saturday afternoon, and after a brief cry, he realized it didn't hurt anymore.

We were overwhelmed with prayer support and encouragement during our stay. I was thankful for each text and phone call we received checking in and offering help. Walking around the hospital with Nathan reminded us to be especially grateful for the health of our children. God has been good to our family. Now no more trips to the hospital for awhile, okay.

Christmas Day

We made it to my mom's house a little after 10:00 that morning and geared up for more presents. We hardly made it through the door before she scurried us in the Living Room and started handing out packages. Gifts are definitely her love language.

Nathan's big gift from my parents was a kitchen. He and Samuel played with it all day. I'm so glad we have a play room in our new house for all the new toys!

And how adorable is the chef outfit?? I love it.

Samuel got a fun crawl around car. It's really cute and perfect for his age. They all got a million other things too. We had fun being together with Jeremy, Anna, and Amelia too opening gifts and visiting.

Matt and I got a new surround sound system for our new house. Yay! and some other fun things too

Becca and Bryan found these matching footy pajamas for our family, so we surprised my parents and showed up on Christmas morning wearing them.

The boys and Amelia played with their new toys while we cooked lunch.

Notice that Nathan is playing with Samuel's present. He must realize that by next year Samuel will be big enough to stop him, so he's taking advantage of it now :)

Barry grilled steaks for everyone for lunch. They were sooo good and all the sides were delicious too. Such a great meal.

The kids were spoiled with every treat imaginable at Grammy's house! It was so fun to watch Nathan and Amelia playing together. I thought they shared well and had a great time playing with each other. I wish we lived closer, I think they would be best buddies!

We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and visiting. We played Seven Wonders, Catan, and Rook, ate more delicious food and watched the Little Ones enjoying Christmas. It was a great day!

Christmas Morning

We made it back into town late afternoon on Christmas Eve. We got the car unloaded, the boys changed and fed and headed to our church's Christmas Eve service. This was the first year we have been able to attend, and I'm so glad we could. It was a really special service to focus our hearts on the true meaning of Christmas.

Nathan is singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in this picture.

We came home, bathed the boys and put them to bed. Nathan was so excited for Santa Claus to come visit him. I had a fun little conversation with him before bed.

Me: After you go to sleep, Santa Claus is going to come.
Nathan: He'll bring me presents
Me: Yup, Do you know whose birthday is on Christmas?
Nathan: Baby Jesus
Me: That's right, and Jesus is the best gift in the whole world
Nathan: Santa Claus made Jesus?
Me: No Buddy... God made Jesus
Nathan: God is Jesus, Mommy
Me: You're right, Buddy.

There's the trinity summed up by a two year old.

After the boys were in bed, we stuffed their stockings and organized their presents.

I also made a lemon poppy seed cake for breakfast on Christmas morning.

Sweet sleeping angels on Christmas Eve

We had a really fun Christmas morning. We kept gifts pretty low key. Although I guess you could say we went all out this year and bought the boys a new house! But what we wrapped and put under the tree was simple. We let the grandparents do most of the spoiling this year.

The boys each got two bigger gifts and then several small stocking stuffers (we wrapped most of them though because the stockings were small)

Samuel got a gumball machine toy and a red tractor, since he plays with Nathan's green tractor all the time.

Nathan got a firetruck set with fireman, a building, and a cat to rescue and an airplane that he can take apart and put together with his own electric screwdriver. Then they also got new bath toys, treats in their stockings, a new book, and Nathan got a sticker pad and two board games.

That morning, he told us his favorite present was Samuel's red tractor. He has since changed his answer to his firetruck, but he does play with Samuel's tractor a lot. Matt and I also went low key with a few small gifts and we always exchange coupon books. He gave me some good ones this year!

We ate breakfast as a family and enjoyed celebrating with each other and talking about our fun morning.

Samuel got some Gerber cookies in his stocking. He was a fan!

After breakfast, we all got dressed and headed to  Mom and Barry's for more fun!

Christmas in Weatherford

We had a really great week celebrating Christmas. It's just such a special holiday when Little Ones are involved. There's been a WalMart commerical on a lot this season with kids opening presents to a song about not ever growing up. Oh, I get teary-eyed every single time I see it. I want my babies to stay little forever.

We spent the first part of Christmas in Weatherford with Matt's parents. We made it into town Saturday afternoon. My parents were in town visiting too, so we had a fun get together with everyone Saturday night.

Sunday after church we had Christmas lunch and opened presents. Nathan had fun passing all the gifts out and opening Samuel's gifts too.

He seemed to enjoy Samuel's gifts more than his for most of Christmas. Poor Sammy isn't quite big enough to stand up to Big Brother yet and had to play with leftover toys that Nathan wasn't playing with.

This was the best picture in matching jammies I could get. Just keeping it real...

Samuel got a fun ride on train for Christmas. Most of the time Nathan was riding it, and Samuel was crawling after him to try and get on.

On Monday, we went to Granny and Grandaddy's for lunch. It was a really fun afternoon. Nathan gets extra spoiling for Christmas. This is his cake and ice cream for a "snack" (He had already had some for dessert after lunch). He loves it at Granny and Grandaddy's house.

Monday evening we drove to Cordell to spend time with Brandon and Mindy and their kiddos. We ate supper with them and played with the kids. Nathan had fun playing with all of Carter's toys, and I had fun snuggling with this precious baby girl!

We miss the Evetts' family so much and always enjoy the time we get to spend with them.

We headed back to home Tuesday morning to continue our Christmas fun.

Dinner and a Movie

A couple of years ago, Matt and I started a little game for date nights. It started when we saw Kung Fu Panda 2 in the theater and then ended up eating at an Asian buffet for dinner afterward. We laughed about how the restaurant matched the movie, and ever since, we've tried to have a theme to our dinner and movie dates. We don't always succeed, but here are a few of our dinner and movie dates.

Kung Fu Panda 2- Chinese buffet

Cars 2- Steak and Shake

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- White Lion (Authentic English Pub, props to Erica for that one)

The Help- Shiloh's (Southern comfort food restaurant)

The Hunger Games- Texas Roadhouse

Brave- Baker St. Pub

Wreck it Ralph- Dave and Busters (Our favorite dinner and movie date!)

Gravity- Full Moon Cafe

Catching Fire- The Silver Flame

Our date nights are always a great time, but this fun little twist adds an extra element of fun.

Tis the Season

We have been having a great December, making memories and enjoying all the fun the Christmas season has to offer!

The weekend of the Thanksgiving we put our tree up. Nathan was so excited to put the ornaments on the tree. He was asking all weekend when it was time.

 This is what happens when a 2 year old helps decorate the tree. (I love it that way!) I know I'll be sad twenty years from now when our kids are grown and all the ornaments look perfect on the tree.

We also pulled out our Little People Nativity. Samuel likes to chew on all the pieces. Nathan plays with it some. He told me that we needed to go to Wal Mart and get batteries for Baby Jesus. I still laugh about that comment sometimes.

 And we have FOUR stockings on our mantle this year. So very blessed!

We've been doing a few other fun things as well.

I saw the idea on Pinterest to wrap 25 Christmas books and use them as a sort of advent. Nathan gets to open one each night before bed, and we read it. I checked all ours out from the library, so it was much more affordable than buying new books. Nathan really enjoys getting to open a present every night. He asks every day when it will be time to open one. He doesn't understand the Christmas theme with the books and usually asks to open a Thomas book. I ended up checking out a few non-Christmas books I knew he'd love. This is definitely a tradition we'll continue in the years to come.

We've also enjoyed looking at Christmas lights. It's magical for Little Ones. We've been to Rhema once, and surprisingly Nathan wasn't too impressed. He enjoyed the train made out of lights, but he has seemed more interested in driving around and looking at the lights. We've done that a couple of times. He is always on the look out for Frosty. He watched Frosty the Snowman at my parents' house, and is obsessed with him this year. There is also a house in our neighborhood with a train made out of Christmas lights, and we drive by it daily.

Nathan's been learning and singing a few Christmas songs. He knows We Wish You a Merry Christmas (That one line anyway) and Jingle Bells. It's so cute to hear him singing.

Of course we baked Christmas goodies to give to family and friends. I look forward to that every year.

Nathan had a fun little Christmas party at his school. They had yummy treats and a book exchange.

School parties were always a big deal to me when I was little, so it was fun to watch Nathan experiencing the fun.

He said the cupcake was his favorite part!

We have lots more fun ahead of us in the next few days!

December Weekend

I think the month of December has the best weekends! This past one was certainly wonderful.

My grandparents came to visit us and keep the boys for me while I attended a continuing education training Friday morning. We all love when they visit. The boys adore them, and I love spending quality time with them and all the help that Granny gives me. I always save baskets of laundry for her, and she gladly folds all of them for me. She is the best!

Friday evening we ate dinner, relaxed, and played with the boys. Nathan wanted all of us to pretend to be train cars and "hook on to him" and chug all around the house. Oh, the energy of two year olds. After the boys went to bed, we played a game of Rook that lasted until way past my bed time.

Saturday morning we said goodbye to Granny and Grandaddy and geared up for a fun day. My parents came over and brought all the decorating goodies for Christmas cookies. My mom and I spent the morning and afternoon rolling, cutting, baking, frosting, and sprinkling Christmas cookies. It's always a fun December activity.

While we baked, Papa Joe took Nathan to see Santa Claus. Nathan loved visiting him and told him he wanted a fire truck for Christmas.

They came home and Nathan wanted in on the cookie action.

Our hard work:

After the cookies were decorated and the kitchen was clean, my parents took the boys home with them, so Matt and I could have our annual Christmas date. We try and make our Christmas date a little more elaborate than a normal date night.

This year we went to the movies and saw Catching Fire. We both thought it was an excellent movie. It followed the book closely, had great acting, and good graphics. We were both impressed, except for the group of teenage girls behind us who talked very loudly about how their world was ending because of the cliffhanger at the end of the movie. Matt and I set a rule that we are not taking our boys to movies based off of books, unless they have read the book.

After the movie, we headed to a new restaurant for dinner. I found an online deal for a steak and shrimp dinner for 50% off. I'm so glad we tried it. The food was incredible. Matt said it was the best restaurant steak (excluding filets) that he has had. We were stuffed by the end of the night.

My parents are awesome and kept our boys (including our non-sleeping, teething 9 month old) overnight, so Matt and I had the house to ourselves and got a full night's sleep. It was glorious. They also kept them most of Sunday too since we had Sunday lunch plans that required a babysitter.

Sunday morning we went to church without having to dress, feed, and wrangle two kiddos. It was a nice break. I am always thankful for the craziness that comes with the blessing of children, but I do savor the simplicity of our kid free days every now and then. After church, we went to a Christmas lunch hosted by one of our favorite couples in our church. Allen and Linda certainly have the gift of hospitality, and we had such a great time eating and fellowshipping in their home. We stayed until almost 3:00 and then headed back to pick up our boys and give my parents a break. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and then headed for a walk to our neighborhood playground. The weather has been so cold lately, that we haven't been for a walk in several weeks. We all soaked up the sunshine and the outdoor fun.

We came home, ate dinner, tried to entertain two tired boys until close enough to bedtime to put them down. They play hard and don't nap well at Grammy and Papa Joe's.

We are looking forward to the coming December weekends!