Holidays, Birthdays & Updates

Our Christmas was wonderful. We did dinner and presents with my parents Christmas Eve. Matt and Tom spent the night with us Christmas Eve, which they haven't done in a number of years. They helped Bill put together the basketball game the kids got for Christmas. Christmas morning Bill's parents came over and we did presents. Brian woke up at 6:30. We were able to get him to sleep with us for about 45 minutes. About the time he decided he wanted to get up, Lucas woke up. By the time they were done opening their stockings, Bill's parents were here. We went to Bill's sister's (Kristy) house mid morning and stayed until about mid afternoon. Then we came home. Christmas was pretty relaxed, but still fun, this year.

New Year's Eve was a bit different. Bill was out that evening. The boys and I decided that to put together the ginger bread house Brian got from his teacher for Christmas. I know, I know...a little late on putting it together. We still had fun doing it. Unfortunately, Cara was sick. When I took her temp. at 6:30 it was 102+. Then at 7:45, when she vomited, I took her temp. again and it was 104+ (I had given her tylonel at 6:30, so theoretically, it should have gone down). I put the boys to bed and my parents came over to stay with them. I left about 8:30 and took Cara to the hospital. I tell you the time because we did not get into a hospital until 9:45. The Brighten Quick Care had just closed. When I got to Mercy hospital, they told me that it was atleast a two hour wait. So off to Maine Medical we went. they got us right it. They did x-rays on Cara's chest to make sure she did not have pneumonia, gave her a dose of tylonel and motrin. We left the hospital just after midnight. The verdict was...she just had something viral.

We had Brian's birthday party on January 26th. In the picture, he is holding his hands over his mouth. This is because they were telling him not to breath and blow out the candles while we were singing happy birthday. He was so excited that he could not not breath on the cake. So he put his hands on his mouth. The first gift he opened was THE ONE he wanted to play with and we had to keep reminding him that he had other gifts. Now my little boy is the BIG 5! He has not had his 5 year check up. So I don't know how much he has grown in the last year. I will say the outfit I bought him for his birthday was a 4T. He is still a little guy. However, we are doing much better on the night time potty training. He received his mid year progress report from school. He has some maturity issues (don't we all) but is doing very well academically.

I took Cara in for her 15 month check up. She is doing soooo good. She loves food but I think all of her calories are going to her teeth and hair. She has two bottom teeth and four top teeth, all in the front. She is 20 lbs and 29.75 inches long. She is still in 9 month clothing. She is walking very well now. In fact she doesn't crawl at all. She says mama, dada, papa, nana, eye, bye, hi, diaper, u-oh and signs please and thank you. She likes music and to "dance". Some of the things she understands are "no" , "hot" and "come sit" (usually when she is too close to the tv). She knows the juice is in the refrigerator! Unfortunately, she had to get 4 shots. At her 18 month appointment she will need to get 2 more and will be caught up with her vaccinations.

Lucas is doing very well in school. We have had a couple of phone calls from school, but where just one time incidents. Their school deals differently with behavioral problems than public schools, which I am actually kind of greatful for. He would eat constantly if I let him. He has gotten more creative lately with drawing and crafting things. He makes "houses" for his stuffed animals out of paper. The last one he made was for an alligator. It had a pool, bed, and a place for food. He seems to be growing out of everything. I thought they would get closer in size as they got older (they still may), but the size difference seems to be getting larger.

We had a Super Bowl gathering at Bill's parent's house. Because Bill's birthday was the next day, we did cake and ice cream, too. If the Patriots had won, that would have been the only thing he would have wanted.

Time to put the kids down for naps. I will post pictures later.