December

December flew by.  I'm a little sad about that.  As always, I had all these plans that never quite happened.  Making ornaments, decorating sugar cookies(although Connie had us over to make some of those at HER house, thankfully)


I planned on gingerbread houses, crafts, and just lots more listening to Christmas music. We did have a LOT of peppermint hot cocoa and other random chocolatey and pepperminty treats though.  Mostly at home, but a couple of times we picked Paige up and instead of an after school snack at home we got drive through hot chocolate(or chocolate milk for the weirdos who didn't want it hot)

Reed and I did enjoy the Christmas tree each night while Jess read stories to the big kids at bedtime.  Reed would stare at it and smile.

The big three have been awesome about crafting all on their own lately though.  Even when I was busy feeding Reed, they would get out the stuff and make up their own Christmas crafts, or just draw.  

Cason did the sweetest little Nativity of all time, that I still can't believe.

Speaking of Cason's crafts, it wasn't a Christmas one, but he made a medal for Reed to wear.  He's a gold medalist in being cute.

We went to church to watch the Polar Express one weekend, and the kids met Santa.  Every one of them did it this year.  Nobody chickened out or cried.  :)  Cason was a little shy, and Reed was mildly interested in Santa.

 

 

He was one loveable Santa.  He obviously really liked kids, and was especially happy to hold Reed.  So I love the man.

Then we went home and took some pictures together.

Oh, and Reed was loveable.

We tried to spend a little more time outside.  For some reason there was a lot of tying up of Cason.

Still played lots inside too.  Neely convinced Cason to dance a lot.

One day Grama Trudi took the granddaughters on a date, so my boys and I had some alone time.  It was fun.  Cason got to move up to the middle row and sit next to Reed, which pleased him greatly.

We cruised all over town, got some Panda Express for lunch, and went hunting for Reed's first ornament.  All of the kids have one of those "Baby's First Christmas" Ornaments with the baby sleeping on the moon. 

We tried several places, and finally gave up, accepted that I'd have to order one online, and went for a hot cocoa instead.

It was so nice having some alone time with my little men, even if one of them did sleep through the whole thing.

Then the girls came home, being secretive about what crafty things they'd been doing in preparation for Christmas.

A few days later Jess started his Christmas break.  We loved having him home, and did lots of relaxing together.

 

 

 Apparently took brother selfies...

...and some of us napped.

 Christmas Eve rolled around, and we started the day with Santa pancakes.  (I saw them online somewhere and Jess made it happen)

This year for my dad's birthday/Christmas Eve we all went bowling(I took no pictures) and then back to Dad and Trudi's for gifts with the Bradleys and Cassons.

 

Reed met his aunt Cassie for the first time that day.  (He shares her birthday)

Then we went to church, and back for the kids to open their gifts from Grampa and Grama Trudi.  They also had some fun with their cousins and aunties.

Then we headed home to put out cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, and got cozy in the living room to fall asleep to the Grinch who Stole Christmas.  

 

I will be back tomorrow with a Christmas post.  :)

Big Sisters and Brother

Paige is funny with Reed.  I thought she'd be so excited to have a baby in the house, now that she's older and can do more to help.  She LOVES Reed, and thinks he's so cute, but she actually pays less attention to him than Cason and Neely do.  I think because she's our most independent child, and likes to have her alone time, and Reed spends so much time asleep.  He's also a pretty quiet guy when he IS awake, so I think she almost forgets he's here sometimes.  Ha.  The more he interacts with us the more she's paying attention to him and telling me "He's SO cute!"  She gets so excited when he shows any interest in trying to accomplish something, like trying to roll over.  A couple of weeks ago she asked to hold him, and he was smiling at her.  I was about to take a cute picture of them smiling at each other, when he cooed at her in the cutest voice, and with the sweetest look on his face.  She whirled around to tell me how cute it was just as I took the picture.  I got so lucky to capture that moment.  So cute.

She usually asks to hold him when she comes home each day.  She'll hold him for several minutes and either decide she is done and goes off to play, or HE decides he's ready for a meal.

Speaking of Paige and babies, they were playing a game with Alex and Faith one day, and Neely was their baby.  She LOOOOVED being held, and babied, and carried around by her oldest cousin.

Alex also did Neely's hair for her, and she was pretty happy with her braid.

 As usual, Cason and Neely obsess over Reed.  If he's in his swing or on the bed or whatever, and gets upset, they rush to console him while I hurry to finish whatever I'm doing.

Cason does most of the consoling, and Neely yells at me that "Reed is SAD!" or "Reed wants you!" or "Reed is hungry!"  She does NOT want him to wait more than a few seconds.  Then again, neither do I.  

He gets what he wants.

1st E.R. Visit

Last Friday, Cason was getting ready to spend the night with Grammy and Grampy.  It was his first time sleeping over somewhere without Paige along too.  Grammy picked him up at around lunch time.  He was nervous at first, but I could tell he got excited as soon as he saw her.  

 He'd been feeling better for a couple of days, and so had Paige.  Neely, Reed, and I were the only ones still a bit sick, but I was just thinking to myself that morning how this one had been really easy.  No fevers, nobody seemed to feel that bad, just coughs, and we even slept well.  Nobody's cough got worse at night or anything.  The only thing was that I had to clear out Reed's nose for him at night so he could breathe easily.  

Then Friday afternoon, a while after Reed woke up from a nap, his cough got a lot worse.  He had this coughing fit that lasted what felt like forever, and he could barely get his breath and was kind of choking.  It freaked me out and we took him to the E.R.  Of course, we sat there for three hours and he coughed maybe 4 or 5 little individual coughs.  No scary fits at all, so I looked like a crazy mom.  Jess didn't come in back with us, because Neely wanted to sit in every germ-ridden chair the E.R. waiting room had to offer, and wouldn't listen when we told her to sit still.  So he and Neely left, and Paige and I took Reed back.  

Paige was not that excited about it, because she was missing seeing Frozen at the movies, like she was supposed to.  Her night got better though, when she saw there was a Jessie Christmas episode on the tv that she wouldn't have been able to see at home.  Ha.

After a few hours they sent us home, and before we even got home he had another one so bad we had to stop the car and take him out of his seat so he could catch his breath and stop coughing.  

I expected a really rough night, but he surprised me and slept perfectly, except for a few coughs when he was up for a meal anyway. 

The next day he still had the cough, but was sweet and smiley as always.

The girls went on a date with daddy to see Frozen, since they'd planned to the night before, but our ER visit ruined their plans.

 

 Then Cason came home and told us all about his fun.  ATV rides, the hot tub, cookies, dominoes.  All kinds of fun stuff that must have been way better than our night.  Ha.

 Since it was clear Reed was fine, that evening I took Neely on a date.  

 

She needed some new shoes and a coat.  On the way I told her "I love to go on a date with my girl."  She goes "I love to go on a date with my girl too!"  First we went for shoes, and she picked a pair that she LOVES and runs way faster in.

 We failed on the coat hunt, but she was obsessing about finding some marbles.  Cason brought some home from his sleepover and Neely had to have some too.  We tried about three stores and never found marbles.  On our drive we saw a bus all decorated, on it's way to the parade.  That pleased my date.

My last attempt for marbles was Walmart, and Neely wanted to be held.  I picked her up, and a minute later realized she was completely limp.  She didn't even seem sleepy a minute before, but now she was OUT.  

I had to look for a few things, once I gave up on the marbles, and she was sleeping SO deeply she felt especially heavy.  I thought I wasn't going to make it out of there.  (Don't mind my bloodshot eyes-rough night the night before, ha!)

 Somehow I checked out and made it to the car and got her door open JUST as my arms went numb.  Guess we'll be buying marbles online.

Here's a picture I'd like to finish with, because it makes me happy.