Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to friends and family everywhere! We are having a wonderful day and I am tremendously thankful not to have any plans. As a matter of fact, it is 12:24 here and everyone is still wearing their pajamas!

After a lovely service at MCC last night, the girls went to bed with zero arguement. This has to be my very best Christmas present! Morgan was just precious in a special Christmas outfit. She was the belle of the ball.



Madison and McKenzie were able to take part in the Christmas Posada, which was super cute. The whole service was geared towards the children, making the service special for children of every age.

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The girls woke up about 7:30 this morning and quickly woke us up. We let Morgan sleep in, since she is still recovering from her hospital stay, and began opening presents. Santa brought Madison an MP3 player, a School Days teacher set complete with 149 educational pieces (she is already teaching McKenzie her alphabet and expects her to be able to write her name by the end of the day!), a Barbie styling head to share with McKenzie, a Barbie movie, and some games.






Santa brought McKenzie a little brown stuffed dog much like the dog at Abby's house in Mississippi, only hers is real. McKenzie is loving her lipstick and Barbie doll. The Cabbage Patch doll Aunt Karen and Aunt Lisa gave her is a big hit. She and Madison have spent a great deal of time doing Barbie's hair and nails. Of course, bubble wrap never goes out of style!






Morgan has been sleeping on and off this morning. We took her to church last night, which was her first trip out of the house since coming home from the hospital. I think it wore her out. Kim helped her unwrap some presents. Note she is sitting up on her own now. It was fun to watch her play with all the toys. However, it makes us all a bit nuts for every toy to be turned on at the same time!







We are looking forward to a low key day together. I am sure we will get together with the neighbors later and we've been invited next door to celebrate Boxing Days with the Brits. I can hardly wait!

Nippy Noise

I think Morgan is getting teeth. She is now playing "music" on her pacifier, which is hysterical. Here she is playing and sucking and playing and sucking.

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Patient ID - M-O-R-G-A-N

Last Wednesday, Morgan was diagnosed with RSV. For anyone who isn't familiar with the condition, it is a respiratory virus in infants that is very dangerous. The virus makes breathing very difficult and the cough will rock you to the core. Morgan stayed home with me Thursday and Friday. On Friday afternoon, her breathing became very labored. Laying in my arms on the couch, I watched her chest "retract" in order to get the tiniest breath. I could tell she was exhausted from the process of trying to breathe. When her eyes began rolling back into her head, I called Kim at work to say we need to go to the ER.

Morgan was immediately admitted into the Dell Children's Hospital where she remained for the duration of the weekend. She received 1 breathing treatment, which did very little, and was then put on oxygen. She was so weak she didn't even fight the tubes in her nose. Morgan stayed on oxygen until Saturday night, when she was able to maintain a normal pulse ox. Normal is 92 or above. Morgan had been in the 80's.

Fortunately, we never had to have an IV. She remained on the monitors until we were discharged and the oxygen was necessary only through Saturday night. I stayed with her at the hospital while Kim came home to take care of Jordan. Madison and McKenzie stayed in a winter wonderland with Rebecca and Becki, godmothers extraordinaire. They had a blast while we sat nervously by Morgan's bed.

On Saturday, I was in a horrible mood. I hadn't slept well, the temperature in the room was inconsistent, we were having to stay another night on that awful little bed in the room, and I missed my other children. I stomped and snorted around the room for a while and then decided to go downstairs for dinner. Kim stayed with Morgan while I rode the elevator to the cafeteria. On the elevator, I met an Angel. I don't know her name or her child's name or what brought them to Dell. All I know is this woman had been in the hospital with her child for 3 weeks, where he underwent 6 surgeries. The Lord put me in my place in 30 seconds flat. I can't imagine how you live in a hospital for 3 weeks. I can't imagine how you watch your baby undergo 6 operations. I hugged this total stranger. We chatted through the salad bar line. We spoke briefly of Christmas. I wished her luck and told her she would be in my prayers. God bless the Angel on the Elevator and all the others I never had a chance to meet.





Morgan was released on Sunday and we were thrilled to be home. She is continuing to improve as the days go by. She is eating a little something at least once a day and is taking formula again. She has been so sick and we are so relieved we don't have any travel plans for the holidays. Morgan sleeps a lot and is playing with her sisters again. Life is good.

Christmas Eve Update

Wow! A lot has happened in 24 days! I can barely keep up myself, much less keep you in the loop! So, here is a re-cap:

Our month started with a fabulous holiday party for our Parenting Across Colors group. The cookie decorating party was the biggest hit of the day as you can see here. Apparently, McKenzie didn't catch onto the idea that a cookie was suppose to be involved.



The girls enjoyed wearing their new Christmas dresses for church the following day. Here they are in front of the tree. FYI, only the big girls are sporting holiday attire. Stay tuned for Morgan's gown tonight!




We also made Christmas cookies for the neighbors, teachers, etc in our lives. We have always enjoyed making cookies during this time of year, especially since we missed last year with the move to the new house. It was about 80 degrees outside when we started baking, making the kitchen seem like a balmy 95 degrees. This is what we call Christmas Cookies in Texas.




As most of you know already, we lost our beloved Noah, aka Bubba, on November 24. He was almost 15 years old and the greatest dog a family could ever hope for. It has been difficult adjusting to life without Bubba, especially for his sister, Jordan, who has never been without him. We are taking extra care with Jordan these days and loving her every chance we get. Madison doesn't talk about Bubba's passing much, but McKenzie does. She prays for him every night at dinner and wants to write him notes. She has a need to confirm where Bubba is by re-telling the story which goes something like this, "Bubba was very sick. He went to heaven to live with Jesus. He died. Jesus is going to bring Bubba back soon. He will drop Bubba off from heaven and Bubba will fall from the sky like rain. Mama can catch him. Mama is strong. Mama may need an umbrella. Mama needs to stand out front to catch Bubba." As sweet as this is, it hurts to hear it every night. Poor Kim is reduced to tears daily when McKenzie tells the story. We all love Bubba and miss him terribly. He will never be forgotten.

Madison the Comic

Sitting at the breakfast table this morning, McKenzie asks for a tissue. As she begins to blow her very stuffy nose, Madison casually asks, "Do you know how to make a tissue dance?" All of us stop what we're doing and say no.

Hold on.

This is good.

She is 6. It is her first joke.


"You put a little boogie in it."

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

This marks our second year in the new house for Christmas. Of course, last year we were nuts with the move, a trip to Chicago, and an adoption. This Christmas is proving to me much calmer. We decorated the tree yesterday and it was a lot of fun. The girls didn't get into the decorating too much last year, but really enjoyed it this year. We had fun looking at the decorations and the girls were shocked to discover that I, too, was once a little girl when they saw my personalized ornaments from childhood. Kim and I feel we have discovered the right formula for tree assembly and that is to put all little people down for a nap while we assemble and light. When they wake up - presto! The tree is here!

Later that evening, we loaded the whole family into the car with hot chocolate for a tour of Christmas lights in the neighborhood. We even took Jordan with us! It was a lot of fun and something Kim and I have always enjoyed doing. I love not being frantic and stressed. I only hope it lasts a while longer.

Winter Carnival

Friday night was the Winter Carnival at Madison's elementary school. I wasn't sure what to expect since I have not attended such an event before, but let me tell you, it was fabulous! There were bouncy houses, inflatable slides and obstacle courses, tons of arts and crafts, tons of games, cookie decorating, a petting zoo, cotton candy, and so much more. I was in complete shock over how much was offered for students and their families. Even the older kids in our neighborhood who have moved on to middle school came back for the big night. We had a great time and I am so glad we participated. And did I mention it was actually cold? Yes, even here in Texas where we normally decorate the tree in shorts, it was cold for the Winter Carnival!

I think our favorite part of the carnival was the petting zoo. Madison and McKenzie had so much fun picking up the little bunnies and feeding the goats, chickens, and even little piglets! Kim went with McKenzie too help and had a minor altercation with 1 small white bunny. The bunny is fine but Kim has a few scracthes. Madison had to be strongly encourage to leave since each group of kids were only allowed a limited amount of time in the petting zoo. From that experience, I now know Madison is the kid to take with me if I ever win a 10 minute shopping spree in Wal-Mart!















And who doesn't love a bouncy house??





We decorated cookies ... and ate them of course! Truth be told, the children merely added cookies to sprinkles.




And they made reindeer hats.