Let the Christmas celebrations begin!!

We started our Christmas celebrations at Papa Terry and Mama O's house. It is so nice to have EVERYONE together. Man, our family has gotten big! :-) It was a fun day. The kids played for a while until it was time to open presents. The kids were, of course, spoiled! But, the adult we're pretty spoiled too. We are all invited to go on a Disney cruise as a family as our Christmas gift this year. I'm pretty excited for that!! So, after we opened gifts, the kids all wanted to play with their new toys. Jameson was pretty engrossed in his new Percy train set. We took out annual "elf" photo. D wasn't too impressed:

This is a stage we're going through. Delilah isn't happy unless I'm holding her. Hopefully it passes quickly... :-) We all ate pizza for lunch and hung out for a while. Well, except Russell, who was napping - shocking, I know. Although, in his defense, he only got a few hours of sleep.

After we left Lake Manawa, we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with Russell's family. Jameson was so excited to show his trains to Gigi! We had a good time with the Lincoln family. We ate too much and laughed at all of the funny things that the kids did. The most exciting thing that happened while we were in Lincoln is that Delilah took her first steps!! She has been cruising for quite a while and I knew she would venture out before too long. So, Russell and I sat and tried to coax her to walk between us and the little stinker did!! Fortunately, Russell's uncle was filming at the time, so now I just need to get a copy for that tape!! Exciting stuff happening over here!

Ear Infection...round 2!

So, it seems Delilah has caught the cold that is traveling throughout our house. She's been kind of sniffly the last few days and then this weekend her eyes began getting puss in it. I spoke to the nurse on Friday and she said I didn't need to bring her in because she wasn't running a fever, she was sleeping okay, and she was sleeping well. I figured she had caught big brother's cold, but I've heard that some kids get a little cold when they are teething. That never happened for Jameson, but I say it over and over again that they are so completely different that I never know what to expect.
So, last night D was coughing junk up and choking on it. I decided that was the last straw because she scared me every single time!! Fortunately the cough seemed to go away when she went into deeper sleep, so I've still be able to sleep...well, for the most part anyway! :-) But, we made a Doctor appointment for this afternoon. Turns out Delilah was starting to get an ear infection also. Poor baby! So, hopefully we're on the road to recovery. Except it appears that Russell may be getting it next. The good news is, he can say something if HIS ears hurt!
Monday and Tuesday I worked 8 hour days. That was JUST the reminder I needed to appreciate that I am able to work part-time. I complain about wanting to be a stay-at-home mom, but I truly feel that I have the best of both worlds. It didn't help that I had a dream that Delilah came running up to me after work. So, I was thinking about that alllllllllll day. Plus I was getting updates from Russell all day. It was torture being gone that long! Here are some pictures I received:
Tuesday, Jameson didn't get his afternoon nap. I called Russell when I was on my way home from work at 5. Russell was telling me what a terror J had been. He also said he had just put him in bed and now he was asleep. So around 7 or 7:30 I sent him upstairs to try and wake J up, so that there was a chance he would sleep that night. Russell came downstairs and said Jameson would be down in a few minutes. About 15 or 20 minutes pass by and there is no sign of J. Russell goes back up and says that apparently he was not getting up. Jameson ended up sleeping all night!! The good news is, he did NOT get up at 3am, like I feared. The bad news is I did not see Jameson AT ALL on Tuesday! :-( Yet another reason I am grateful to be working part-time.
The kids (Russell's siblings, not OUR kids) are all leaving for college this week or next week. We went out to eat for Becca's "last dinner" at Taste of Thailand. It was delicious, as usual. And I consider it a success because no one fought, cried, or threw up. There was a theory discussed that it was because Russell wasn't there, but *I* didn't say that. :-) Anyway, Jameson ate a lot of Thai food and enjoyed his dinner with Aunt "Becha." For some reason, her name was the most difficult for him to say. But, it seems that he has it figured out and has been using it quite frequently. His language is definitely expanding!

Sorry Becca, apparently I did not get the best picture!