December 2010 Updates

It is a busy time of year (as you know all too well I am sure) and I have been a bit of a slacker on the blog front...until tonight that is! Check out the posts below for some of our pre-Christmas happenings...I hope to post Christmas day pics early tomorrow and be up-to-date before the new year :)

Enjoy!

This is for the birds....

I was hoping to post some Christmas updates today...lots to share...but our day has been full of vomit!!!! I was in denial this morning--chalked the first two up to phlegm overload--but after Abby's fifth wardrobe change I am starting to wonder if this is her first case of the flu. I'll keep you posted...

Update:

Well, Abby got sick six times that day and I had to call the Dr. office because she couldn't keep a thing down--not crackers, not water. It was so sad to see her little face each time she would get sick, she just didn't know what was going on and it seemed to scare her a bit. It broke my heart each time. It is amazing that you really don't care about cleaning chunks out of the carpet (when you have all that hardwood that she could have vomited on....) or all the laundry you'll have to do when your baby is getting sick. You truly just want them to feel ok.

Abby seemed to be doing better around dinner time (hadn't thrown up in over 3 hours) and she was starving so I let her eat some crackers and such. Well, needless to say we had a visitor in our bed that night because about 3 hours after going to be her sheets were covered. The next day she was fine all day, other than being a sleepy little girl, but she yet again got sick in bed. Poor thing!

Thus far, I was in the clear. Come New Year's Eve, I was going on day two w/o getting sick so we went ahead with our dinner plans. Gramps and Grandma D came over to Abbysit while we went out for a nice adult dinner with friends. Just about the time the appetisers came it hit me like a ton of bricks out of NOWHERE! I have to say that I can't remember the last time I got sick in a public bathroom (maybe because I had had a bit too much to drink then...just saying...) and I never want to do it again! YUCK! Well, we didn't get to enjoy that meal, in fact I didn't get to enjoy any meal until dinner the next day :( So much for not getting this one from Abby!

I do have to say that this was an easy tummy bug--no fever, no body aches, no headache, no chills. It really could have been worse. I just look at it this way, I got my diet off to a good start! Happy New Year to me....

Merry Tooth-mas

After getting home from our Christmas Eve visits Abby crashed hard and MJ and I got busy prepping for Christmas morning. As always, there was some last minute wrapping (but not much this year), cleaning, and other odds and ends to attend to. But little miss Abby had other plans for Mommy and Daddy...around 11 pm or so she woke a not so happy girl and refused to go back to sleep on her own. So MJ took one for the team and went to bed with our Little Peanut. So, on I went with prepping for breakfast, filling out cards, and other elf like duties (I never realized just how hard Santa's elves have to work to get ready for his arrival!!!). I called it quites about 2 am. That is what I get for being a perfectionist/control freak!!

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that Abby loves to give herself gifts on big occasions...when we woke up on Christmas morning I decided to check to see if she cut her first tooth overnight since refused to go back to sleep on her own and sure enough the razor like tooth was there just above her gum!! So it is official, my 16 month old daughter has her first tooth! A quick "thank you" to Abby for making it so easy to remember these milestones ;)

Christmas morning was just perfect:

Family photo 2010
Let the opening begin!

Santa gifts first

Abby has the hang of unwrapping!

Play food complete with an apron

cutting board and crackers too

Daddy's girls

Then around 10 am we got a personal visit from Santa!!! We are so very lucky to get these visits, we hope he is able to come every year though we know it can get tricky ;)

Abby was excited to see Santa, but at the same time didn't want to get too close. Here she is checking him out from Grandma's lap.

She was interested in his bag and all the goodies it held

Santa was even nice enough to help with the bows :)

I love this one! You can see the "OOOOOOO" on her face

Puppets!!

What else you got, Santa?

Almost--close--enough--Got it!

I'm not sure if she is checking out Santa or her new tooth here

A new dolly! Abby loves the nose on this one...

Abby showing Santa how to push dolly in her new stroller

Reading a new book with Grandma D

I see you Santa...

After all that hesitation, Abby was sad to see Santa go. She watched him from the window and told him "bye" time and time again.

After our visit from Gramps, Grandma D then Santa, Nana and Papa came over for dinner and we Skyped with Grandmama in Virginia! It was a busy day full of love spent in our Christmas pajamas--perfect if you ask me!

This sums up our feeling at the end of the day: time for bed!

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve festivities started at the Johnson's at about 1:30 where we had yummy appetizers and opened gifts:

Gracie, Abby and Julia in their pretty Christmas dresses

Abby just wanted down to play with the toys...


Helping Nana open her gifts

Abby refused to put down Aunt Stacey's phone...

One handed attempt to open her gifts

Serious Abby

Gracie loved her backpack of coloring stuff

Off she goes! Too funny!

Julia loves to help Abby when ever she can

A doll!

This is Abby's "it hard" or frustrated sign--she squeezes her fists and shakes them while clenching her jaw...it is so funny to see in person! She just wanted to hold her doll and Daddy wasn't get her out fast enough

Can I touch her yet?

Almost time to hold my new doll

Time to open the next gift

Abby got so excited each time she opened a gift. She let out a little "yeaaaa" for each one.

Then it was time for a visit with Grandma Kat, Great Grandma Davis, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jason! This was a special visit since everyone but Great Grandma lives out of town and we don't get to see them as often as we would like. It was nice to get some one on one time with them during the very busy holiday visit.

Abby and Grandma Kat hanging out

Munching on some Goldfish with Great Grandma Davis

A little love from Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jason

After a long day of visits, gifts and food we headed home and got ready for the big day ahead of us!! I was so excited for Abby's second Christmas after the preview Christmas Eve gave us!

Christmas with Aunt Chrissy

Aunt Chrissy's family was headed to the sunny state of Florida for Christmas break so we got together on the 20th for a little Christmas fun! Here are a few pics of our evening!

Gracie greeted us with her usual good cheer and beautiful smile!

Play time on the climber

Julia hanging out in the fort...

Connor in his little fort of blankets

Dinner time at the kiddy table

Brendan LOVES to hug Abby...I'm not sure how she feels about this :)

Time to unwrap!

Pillow Pets for all!

Abby is pretty good at this!

Looks like Christmas morning will be fun for all this year!