Thanksgiving Events

We are back from our Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio and I am exhausted! We left for San Antonio Thursday morning thinking traffic would be a breeze. Apparently when you live in the larges city in Texas, you can never escape the traffic. After a rather stressful drive, we made it in time to eat a snack and put the girls down for a nap. My sister Grace and her husband have moved to San Antonio and are living with my parents (when we are not in town. When we are there, they go and stay with Eric's parents) until their house sells. Grace had been helping my mom cook all morning and the house smelled amazing! My siblings Andrew, Johannah, Jennifer and her husband Wes and baby Taylor, and Christy and her husband Nathan all came over for Thanksgiving dinner. I love spending time with my family and the food was great as well. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the feast or the table because Emily had major melt down #1 during dinner. Ally enjoyed her second Thanksgiving feast and she liked all of the attention she got as well. Friday we stayed at home for most of the day not wanting to try and fight the crowds out shopping. Emily had major meltdown #2 that morning. My mom, Grace, Johanah and I got to go to lunch together Friday afternoon. My parents also watched the girls while Dave and I went out for a late dinner and a movie. This morning Dave and I decided it would be best to come back home tonight due to Emily's major emotional, physical draining meltdowns. After the decision was made, my mom, Grace, Emily and I went out to shop a little and I got the brunt of Emily's major meltdown #3. We had planned to go to my all time favorite San Antonio restraunt Alamo Cafe for a late lunch before we headed out of town. We decided at the last minute to just go some place closer to my parents house and on our way out of town due to both girls having behavioral issues. We went to Texas Roadhouse and actually had a great time. The girls exceeded our expectations. Then we hit the road and made the long drive home. Here are some pictures I did manage to take in between trying not to strangle Emily and eating turkey.

One of Emily's finer moments at lunch today.

Ally enjoying the food and the crayons.

My mom and Grace.

Ally looking cute.

Taylor!

New mommy and baby Taylor. Jennifer looks exhausted!

PIE!!

Emily helping out.

Despite some events I would rather never experience again, this week was a great week. I am so thankful for all of my family and the different aspects they all bring to our gatherings. Grace is such a great cook and she takes a ton of pressure off my mom by helping out with the meal. Christy graciously cut Emily's and my hair. Andrew celebrated his 24th birthday on Thanksgiving. And Johannah catches me up on anything and everything going on in SA.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I know that it is technically not Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving anyways! I hope everyone is able to spend this special day surrounded by the people they love and are thankful for.
(This picture was taken during Emily's class Thanksgiving party. Those are turkey legs on her head!)

Update on the girls: Ally is doing great. She doesn't have a fever or ear ache in site. An occasional cough and runny nose is about the extreme for her. Emily on the other hand is not doing so great, yet. I took her back to the doctor today because she kept me up half the night last night crying that her ears hurt. The doctor said it looked like the medicine was working because the swelling had gone down a lot and she didn't have a fever. He said it is just taking a bit longer to heal than most ear infections. Emily was not too happy about the doctor looking at her ears and I had to pin the upper part of her down while the doctor basically sat on her lower half. It was a very traumatic appointment but Dave was able to go along to help out. I am hoping for a good nights rest for Emily tonight and that her pain would subside.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YA'LL!!!

Sickness strikes again!

Germs have attached our house yet again. So far Dave is the only one who has not gotten sick this week, but he is not safe yet. Last Tuesday I noticed Emily had started a nasty cough. The kids in my class had been passing around a cold-like virus and I heard rumors of ear infections, fevers, and such. I was hoping that the girls and I had already had this illness, or that we had built up our immune systems from all of the other times we had been sick this year. When Emily started coughing, I really didn't think anything of it. As soon as her cough medicine kicked in, she would be fine. Tuesday night after her bath, she was crying and shaking because she was cold. I couldn't tell if she had a fever or not. I canceled plans for an outing I had on Wednesdays in case she woke up with a fever or her cough had gotten worse. Wednesday she was acting fine, no fever just a bad cough. Thursday I debated whether to take her to school or not, but her class was having a pizza party, it was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, and my class was having a celebration as well, so I took her. She coughed all the way to school but once we got there, her medicine had kicked in and I didn't hear her cough again until 30 minuted before school was over. She came into my room hardly able to talk because of her cough. I gave her some more medicine but it took an hour to settle her down. After getting some harsh looks from parents in my class, I decided my decision to take her to school was probably a bad one. But she still had shown no other signs of a fever and she wasn't acting like she was in pain. Friday morning I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I was achy all over, my throat felt like it was on fire, and my nose was running like crazy. On top of that, I noticed Ally was starting to cough. I pulled it together long enough to do my once a week grocery shopping and after that, I am not sure how I made it through the day. Dave has to close every Wednesday night at work, and one Friday a month. This was his Friday to close so he didn't get home until after the girls were in bed. Unfortunately he also had to work Saturday for a pre-inventory work day. Friday night, Emily kept crying and coughing. She woke up at around 1:30 am complaining that her ears and her stomach hurt. I took her temperature and it was 103.1! I knew I needed to take her to the doctor so I stayed up for the next 2 hours looking for a place that would be open on Saturday. I finally get back to sleep but Em kept waking up and crying in pain. It was a long night. I still felt miserable when I woke up on Saturday. Ally's cough had gotten worse and her nose was now running. Emily was in terrible shape. I made her an appointment and we spent the morning getting ready for that. Once at the doctors office, we waited in a hot crowded waiting room for over an hour. When they finally called us, it was after lunch time and we were all hungry and cranky by then. Emily cried when the nurse wanted her to do anything and then the nurse left and we waited for the doctor for another half hour. The doctor came in and looked at Emily's ears and throat and told me she had ear infections in both ears. She mumbled some stuff I didn't understand and then left the room before I had time to say anything (she was in the room for less than 3 minutes). We waited another 10 minutes and a nurse came in and gave me Em's perscription. I asked as many questions to her as I could think of and then we headed home. I had hoped the doctor might take a look at Ally as well, but I didn't even had time to mention anything to her. I knew I would probably be back at the doctors the next day so I was very frustrated and upset. The rest of Saturday was spent trying to keep the girls comfortable and getting better myself. After the girls went to bed, Ally kept waking up and crying. I was praying she wasn't as bad off as Emily. Dave and I brought her into our room to sleep so that Emily could get a good nights rest. I turned on the humidifier and that seemed to help Ally sleep better. Sunday morning I called and scheduled Ally's appointment at the doctor. Dave was able to watch Em so I could take Ally alone. The wait was only about 20 minutes to get into the room and the doctor came in about 10 minutes after that. She checked Ally out and gave me some good news. Ally had no ear infections, her throat wasn't red, and her runny nose was clear fluid. She said Ally had more cold-like symptoms. She didn't need a perscription and everything I was doing was good (humidifier, saline drops in the nose, Tylenol). Today the girls seem to be about the same. Emily is still cranky but I can tell her medicines are working. Ally is still coughing and cranky but she doesn't have a fever. I am feeling a ton better as well. Hopefully by Thursday we will all be in great shape.
Our plans for Thanksgiving are to head to San Antonio on Thursday morning. Dave and I have learned our lesson about trying to leave Houston after 5 pm. There is way to much traffic and it is just not worth it. We will be spending Thanksgiving with my side of the family and we will probably come back Saturday or Sunday.

Birthday Boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!!

Dave,
I just wanted to let you know how much I love you and appreciate everything you do. You are a wonderful husband, an amazing father, and my best friend. Thank you for getting up and going to work every day to support our family and to allow me to stay at home with the girls. I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I love you!

Back in Texas

I cannot express how awesome it is to be back in Texas and able to visit family whenever we want. Being in Georgia was a great experience and I wouldn't have changed it for anything (especially the wonderful friends I made and was able to learn from over that short time) but I missed my family so much. I lived in the same house for 20 years, I went to the same school for 13 years, and I went to the same church for 20 years. I was always around my family, and since I have 6 brothers and sisters, it was hard to have any privacy. At one point, I shared a room with 3 of my sisters. I am not complaining by any means, I loved having a big family and living in the same place all of my life. Moving to Georgia was an incredibly scary experience for me. I had never had to try and find a new church or new doctor or new grocery store. Even living in College Station, everything came easy to me. I had friends I grew up with around and everything from church to doctors was recommended to me. Moving to Georgia made Dave and I realize how much we want our families to be involved in Emily and Ally's lives. The reason I am writing about all of this is because this weekend I was able to meet my second niece for the first time. Dave and I were able to plan a trip to Dallas on less than a weeks notice and we saw over half of both of our families. I am so thankful to be living in Texas and so close to both families. Now I just need to convince my friend Amy from Georgia she needs to move to Texas :).
I know you all are dying to see pictures of Taylor (my new niece), but I foolishly forgot my camera. I will tell you she is soooooo cute and sweet and very calm. I got to hold her for 2 hours while she slept soundly on me. As much as I loved holding her and cuddling her and looking at all her adorable baby parts, I was thrilled to be able to give her back to her momma to change her diapers and feed her during the night. I am excited to see Taylor grow and hopefully one day play with Emily and Ally.
While we were in Dallas, we got to spend a good deal of time with Dave's parents. I treasure the times we have spent with them, seeing them interacting with the girls, eating home-cooked meals that I do not have to prepare, and talking late into the night. We had an early celebration of Dave's birthday and Dorcas made him his favorite meal with his favorite dessert. Thank you Jeff and Dorcas for everything (and for the much needed work shoes!).
Last week after Emily and Ally had been sick, they still were not eating food really well. Ally had not eaten a good meal in a couple of days, so I finally broke down and went to the store to buy some baby food. I came home and fed her and she ate 3 big jars full! Immediately the next day I noticed her mood change and she was not following me around the house crying all day. I was worried that feeding her baby food would make her not want to eat solids again but this weekend she proved me wrong. She ate anything and everything people were giving her. Last night we stopped at Jason's Deli for dinner and she ate 2 jars of baby food, part of my sandwich, more than half of Emily's grilled-cheese sandwich, a bag of soup crackers, chips, and some ice cream. I think she would have kept going if we had stayed any longer. Emily ate really well this weekend as well, so I am hoping they continue doing well.

IT'S A GIRL, AND SHE IS HERE!!!

At about 4 am this morning I woke up to my phone ringing. It was my pregnant sister Jennifer letting me know that she was at the hospital and in labor! I called my mom right before 8 am and she said that the baby had just been born, it was a girl, she weighed 9 lbs, and Jennifer was doing well! Jennifer wasn't due for another 2 weeks so everyone was surprised, but my mom and my sister Grace made it in time for the delivery. I can't wait to meet my second niece!

Halloween horror

Our Halloween turned out to be not so much fun. When Ally got up from her first nap, she was super thirsty. She drank two whole glasses of water. I was holding her while she was drinking and all of a sudden she started throwing up all over the place, including me. I felt so bad for her! I changed her clothes, and mine, cleaned up the kitchen, and began to make lunch. Ally kept resisting everything I would give her to eat or drink. I got her to drink a couple of sips of yogurt and milk but that was it. As I was beginning to take her out of her high chair, she throws up again. I didn't know a girl her size had so much fluids in her. Again I had to change her but this time she needed a bath. She seemed to enjoy being in the bath and after that I sat her and Emily down to watch Dora so I could clean the kitchen and myself. The rest of the day, Ally didn't eat a thing and she drank very little. Dave and I had been planning to go to our churches Fall Festival but we decided it would be best to just let Emily trick or treat around the neighborhood. When Dave got home he took Emily (who decided to be a carebear again this year) and Ally around the street trick or treating. The came back and Emily had a bag full of candy. I was suprised to see how much she actually got. We let Emily eat some of the candy and then put the girls to bed. Dave and I took turns handing out candy to the kids in our neighborhood. We had a ton of kids come to our house. I guess we are not used to that because we have never lived in a real neighborhood like we do now. This morning I woke up at 6 am hearing Emily throwing up in her bed. I had to change her sheets, her pjs and put her back to bed. An hour later she was yelling that she had to go to the bathroom so Dave went and got her up. By this time, everyone is awake and so we all get up. As Emily is using the bathroom, she runs out telling me she has to throw up. She made it to the bucket in time though, so there wasn't a huge mess to clean up! Ally seems to be doing better today although she is unenergetic, probably from lack of food. Emily has thrown up once more about an hour ago and now she has fallen asleep next to my chair on the floor. I know Emily is sick because I keep asking if she wants juice or crackers or candy and she says no to all of them! My poor babies! I can't say that I didn't see this coming though. Thursday, three kids got sent home from school because they were throwing up. One of the teachers told me there was a stomach bug going around. I was hoping and praying we wouldn't get it. I am thankful that they got it quickly because it is the weekend and we don't have any big plans to fulfill. Also, Dave is home and he can help me take care of them. I am really dissapointed about not going to the fall festival at our church or getting any pictures of the girls dressed up. But I know there are more important things in life, such as making sure my girls are comfortable as they can be while they are sick.