Merry Christmas!

Let me catch up on the prior week and Dec 20th weekend before I talk about our Christmas celebration.  The last posting talked about how we were all sick.  Well that continued through to the next week to make us sick 3 weeks in a row!  Matthew was getting worse so I took him to the doctor on Wednesday.  He had an ear infection and eye gunk in his eyes with a runny nose but no fever.  The dr prescribed antibiotics and eye drops so we started Matthew on that immediately.F  Fortunately, Matthew has not been sick too much so this is his 2nd time to take antibiotics.  On Thursday, Andy stayed home from work to tend to Matthew because he was still feeling puny.  Andy said that he was a good stay-at-home dad because he was going to the grocery store and playing with Matthew - it was a fun day for both of them.  I continued to feel worse and went to the doctor on Friday to get on antibiotics.  It seems like we had 2 different colds.

Over Dec 20th weekend, Andy & I went to the UT basketball game while Ana Paula babysat Matthew during the day.  It was nice to get out and do something for a change since we have been hermits with our sickness lately.  We raced home afterwards looking forward to spending some time with Matthew.  We bought a new stroller (the Bob)  so we have been taking Matthew out for walks and he loves it.  We went to breakfast with Matthew on Sat and that was the first time in a while.  We generally don't go out for dinner with Matthew because of the stage that he is in.  But on Monday, we were invited to eat with Taylor, Kristy, and Arden (2 yrs).  So we ate at Fernandos with them.  Matthew did pretty good.

We headed to Nanna and Papa Snider's on Wednesday.  Andy & I both worked and then we packed up the car and headed out of town by 6:30pm.  It was a 5 1/2 hour drive and Matthew cried 3 hours of the time.  He was over-tired and he just wouldn't fall asleep in the car seat.  He couldn't breathe very well out of his nose so he was frustrated with that.  And he wanted to sleep on his side so he kept fidgeting to get comfortable.  Andy & I just suffered through.  We tried to comfort Matthew but nothing worked.  We arrived shortly after midnight and we were happy to get some rest.  Matthew stayed in a crib in Nanna and Papa's room so that was nice to get a break.  Although, Rusty (our dog) was waking us up by whining every so often.  

On Thurs - Christmas Eve, Rusty seemed to be feeling worse throughout the day.  He didn't have much room in the SUV that we rented, so his hip was bothering him.  So on Christmas morning,  Andy took Rusty into the local vet to get it checked out.  Rusty was given a shot and he seemed to be without pain the rest of the trip.  

Matthew enjoyed seeing Aunt Lori and Uncle Mike and Nanna and Papa.  He didn't want to take his nap because he was afraid to miss something so he would go down around 1pm.  He played on the stairs, colored with crayons, ate, and played with Papa's toy train.   We took him to the park and he loved playing on the slide and running around.

On Sunday, we drove back to Dallas and Matthew did really well in the car.  He didn't cry at all.  He watched his DVD of Elmo and slept a little and looked out the window at the cows.  He was pretty exhausted from all the activity.  When we arrived in Dallas, we found a little snow on the ground.  We opened more presents from the Bruce's, the Durkin's, and Nana (Matthew's great grandma) and celebrated Christmas with just us 3.  Matthew loved all his presents and he was getting really good at opening packages by the 3rd or 4th time.  

We are so blessed with good health and loving family.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas!