Merry Christmas!

Did we really just celebrate Addie's fourth and Landon's first Christmas? SERIOUSLY?!

We had a blast. We started off the week by having dinner with my family on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, we went to Nana and Papa's for a "dessert drop-in" - soooo yummy and fun! Then they watched the kiddos while we went to a wine tasting hosted by Lynn and Leslie. It was such a cute idea! Each couple brought two identical bottles of wine. One was put in the "reserve," and the other was covered and marked with a letter. Lynn had made scorecards where each wine would be rated 1 through 10, and everyone went to tasting. All the points were tallied, and then the person who brought the highest scored wine went home with all the reserve bottles! Genius! Okay, I had never been to a wine tasting, so I thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. I still thought it was cool even though our wine didn't win. Ha!

Fast forward to Christmas Eve - annual Logan's lunch! We have officially outgrown a booth with four adults and two high chairs (yes, Addie still prefers a high chair when we go out to eat, and I admittedly love that she's "contained"). I'm trying to remember how this tradition got started, and I can't! I guess that's when you know you've truly got a tradition...

That evening, Mimi and PawPaw and Nana and Papa came over. Addie was bouncing off the walls, and Landon was pretty cute, too, of course, even though he's still been having some tummy problems and hasn't quite been 100%. The kiddos got Christmas books and new Christmas jammies (SO CUTE!) and the grownups got new Addie (and Landon, starting in March) calendars for 2010! THANKS, NANA!!! I think I speak for all of us when I say this is our favorite Christmas gift :)

Addie was super-excited for Santa to visit, but surprisingly went to bed without any trouble! We slept in a little bit (7:00) on Christmas Day, and were so excited to get Addie out of bed! She came downstairs and seemed a little confused, but then she announced, "It's a baby carriage!" That is the one gift she had asked for over and over. Precious.

We continued the day by going up to Nana and Papa's, then Gran and Pop's, then down to Mimi and PawPaw's before settling back home. It was a long day, but one of the best days ever. It's definitely the best Christmas I've ever had! Seeing Addie's face light up was just so exciting. Of course Christmas isn't about the gifts, but watching my little girl being so innocent and happy was just priceless. In fact, it actually was a constant reminder of the true meaning of the day!

Addie "helping" open Landon's first ornament

I promise I was not about to drop Landon, even if it looks like it.

Addie going through her stocking

"Seriously? For me?"

"Christmas can't be over already!!!"

Getting all better

We have had a yucky week. We got a call from Landon's teacher last Friday that he had thrown up and had three loose poopies (after two at school the day before), so we had to pick him up. John Michael actually got the call, so he went down there. He called me once they got settled and said Landon was acting completely fine and playing like normal. Yay! Or so we thought. We woke up to Addie whining/crying around 11 p.m. (yes, we were asleep that early on a Friday - don't judge ;)). I went up to check on her, but she was still asleep so I went back down. Repeat at midnight. Then, at 1:30 a.m., I heard her get out of her bed and she was screaming and crying. I nudged JM for his "turn" to check on her, and before he was even upstairs, I heard her screaming, "I throwed up! I throwed up everywhere!" Sure enough. We brought her to bed with us and she got sick three more times throughout the night. She woke up at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, good as gold! We even ended up going up to Nana and Papa's for JM to cut down our Christmas tree (and help Papa with theirs) and had a great day playing, but taking it easy, just in case. Poor Landon was still having...um...diaper issues, but seemed to feel fine. We came home and ate dinner, and were looking forward to decorating the tree on Sunday!

But then it started all over again. Addie woke up puny and threw up Sunday morning. She spent the day on the couch and was so, so pitiful! I have never seen her so weak-looking in her life. We talked to the pediatrician's office about three times that morning to go over both her symptoms and Landon's. Poor kiddos. But the nurses didn't seem concerned at all since they were both willing/able to take in fluids. Addie did start to perk up a little by Sunday evening, so she got to help with the tree a tiny bit!

We kept both babies home Monday, because Landon was STILL not back to normal and Addie had said she needed to stay home. The cutest thing ever happened - I put Landon down for a nap at around 8:30 that morning, and starting at 9 a.m., Addie started asking if we could wake him up. She was saying, "I think he's poopie! I really think we need to go get him!" I kept telling her no, that he needed to sleep because his tummy wasn't feeling good. She finally said, "I stayed home from school today so I could play with my baby brother and all he is doing is sleeping!" Hehehehe.

Anyway, Addie was 100% Monday and went back to school Tuesday. Landon's poopie issues were still there, so he stayed with Mimi. She said he was really fussy and tugging at his left ear, so I made him an appointment to see Dr. Hood for Wednesday morning.

*Sigh.*

So, he continued to be fussy and have tummy problems throughout the night, and on into Wednesday. Dr. Hood was not at all concerned about the now-weeklong diarrhea, but did put him on a probiotic to try to help things. She did check his ears, and the left one was good. The right one had to be cleaned out (seriously, holding a nine-month-old while they take a WaterPik to his ear does NOT equal fun. Just in case you were wondering...), but sure enough...infected. Sooo...we're headed down the same path and it's time for Landon to visit the ENT doctor. The sweet boy had a later start with his ear infections, but he's a competitive one and decided to try to make up for them in a shorter timespan.

Boo.

Although, I must admit, I'm relieved when I think about how much Addie's tubes have helped her, and hopeful that if (ahem - when - let's be honest) Landon has to have them, they'll be just as successful.

So, that was our week in a nutshell. Poor little man's tummy is still having problems, making almost ten days. They said that viral diarrhea can last up to two weeks. Does that seem INSANE to anyone but me?!?! He's eating and drinking just fine (we still have him on a very mild diet, though - no baby food except bananas, plain yogurt, rice cereal and puffs) so that's good. We can't really tell if the probiotics are helping, because with the antibiotic for his ear infection, we don't know if the virus is still clearing its way out of his system or if the medicine is causing the problems now. I will be SO GLAD when he is feeling better. So will our water bill ;)

Unwrapping her Little Einsteins ornament



Poor sweet girl


Helping with the tree!



Snuggle time to recover from decorating

Landon "helping"

JM's year for the tree - it's huge (but yes, it's pretty)

All better and baking gingerbread!

Ooh, it's Christmastime!

We went to see Santa tonight after Landon's appointment! As I think we've done at least twice before, we managed to show up rightwhen Santa had to take a dinner break. HOW?! Anyway. We caught a quick dinner in the food court at the mall and headed back down to wait in line. Addie was SO excited to see Santa and tell him what she would like for Christmas. She said over and over that she was going to ask for a baby carriage and a new baby doll. When it was our turn, she hopped up on his lap, smiled really big for the picture, and then told him she wanted a baby carriage. After we left, she said, "Oh no! I forgot to tell him I want a new baby doll!" Daddy consoled her by telling her we'd just write him to give him the update :) Cute.

Landon was juuust about done for the evening, and his pants somehow got bunched up, but I'm still gonna deem this one an overall success (Addie's hat-head and Landon's deer in the headlight look and all ;)).

Nine months

Chubby McChubsters has apparently slowed down just a little bit! We went today and he weighed 19 pounds, 13 ounces. Now don't get me wrong - I cannot believe he is almost 20 pounds (I mean, I can, because I've HELD him...geez...), but he had been on the 50th percentile curve and he dropped slightly below this time. Addie's 9-month checkup was when she dropped from the 50th percentile to the 25th-ish, too, so I thought that was funny. He was almost 28 inches long (25th percentile) and his big noggin looked to have stayed on the 50th.

Anyway, Dr. Hood asked the typical questions and deemed him perfect! He showed off his standing and pulling up skills while we were there and she was quite impressed :) He also giggled practically the whole time we were there. What a charmer. It was easy for him to be entertained because his little monkey of a sister was bouncing off the walls!

While we were there, they offered the H1N1 vaccine, so we got the kiddos' second shots. Talk about feeling like the worst mom ever, since I had been telling Addie over and over that she wouldn't get any owies at the doctor's office. Oops. Both kiddos cried. Double oops. But - Landon was a CHAMP during his anemia test. He didn't even flinch for the finger prick. What a trooper!

So...at nine months, Landon is:
* pulling to stand
* sometimes taking a few "cruising" steps holding on to furniture
* crawling on all fours about half the time (army crawling the rest)
* "talking" all the time! He's added "baba" for bottle and "bye-bye" to his vocabulary for a grand total of three words (mama still being the most common :)
* EDIT: I did forget that he's been saying "momo" for "more" and Dada. Poor JM - I didn't mean to leave this one out! It was a happy day!
* plays peek-a-boo like a pro! He played with Cece by ducking below the arm of the couch and popping back up over and over.
* a human clock. He goes to bed - without fail - every night at 7 p.m., and wakes up - also without fail - at 6:30 a.m. You could also set a clock by his diapers, but no need to be any more descriptive than that ;)
* as happy as ever! He's a smiley, giggly boy.
* still a mama's boy
* the proud owner of three teeth (two on the top and one on the bottom)
* in 9- and 12-month clothes
* in size 3 diapers still
* wearing size 3 shoes!
* my precious little boy. I can't get enough!
* 100% a bottle boy now. He started nursing a few weeks ago, pulled off, looked at me and said, "Baba?" *Tear.*
* a table food king! We tried him with some red beans last week and he LOVED them! He's had bananas and lasagna (crazy, I know) since. I can't believe he is ready for this. I feel like we went so much slower with Addie, but since he was showing the signs, we gave it a shot.

Aw, shucks.

Yummy!

Speaking of chompers

Addie had her first dentist appointment today! Of course, we have been meaning to take her for months now, but since I was studying for the bar this summer, let's face it: all non-emergency appointments were pretty much on hold. Anyway, so the other night I was helping her brush her teeth and I took a peek at her molars. They were a MESS! I completely flipped out. It looked like one of them was broken and it was really rough to the touch. I was convinced that I was going to be awarded the "Worst Mom Ever" award because I was positive it was a huge cavity. I told JM about it and he said it was probably nothing, but the next morning, I showed him and he got quiet and said, "Oh my gosh." It really looked that bad. So I called yesterday and got an appointment for her today.

We went to Franklin Pediatric Dentistry and I was SO impressed. Addie walked in the office and her eyes lit up. Everything was so kid-friendly! She immediately went over to the coloring table and sat down. When they called us back, she was still pretty excited. Overall, she did well. In fact, she was very cooperative with the dentist (who was AWESOME) until the end of her exam. She took a little coaxing to get her teeth cleaned but ended up opening wide for the marshmallow-flavored toothpaste :). Unfortunately, for the fluoride treatment, we did have to hold her down. But we had to have that done. It turns out that Addie's "huge cavity" I saw was really enamel hypoplasia. In short, she has little to no enamel on her molars, and the enamel on the rest of her teeth is malformed. The dentist explained that this is usually due to some event that occurs when the teeth are being formed (likely, a high fever). Interesting, huh? He also said that we are doing a great job taking care of her teeth and to just keep going with what we're doing. She will be very prone to cavities because of this, so we'll have to keep a close eye on it. We are so blessed that she has no cavities at this point, because we would have likely been facing a surgery to cap all of the molars with crowns (the surgery due to her age and need for sedation, not necessarily the damage to her teeth).

Because I was so worried about this appointment, I didn't bring our camera!