Christmas Eve

Surprisingly I was all ready for Christmas this year! I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of this holiday with two kids business. Well, maybe I wasn't fully prepared, we did miss going to see the lights at Winterhaven and we only baked 1 batch of cookies, but you can't win 'em all! 

This year we spent Christmas Eve at our family friends house, the Lopez'. We got all dressed up and spent a few hours enjoying the company of long-time friends. Like 30+ year friends. 

But did I get any pictures of these events? Nah. Just a few of the kids before we left the house.

It's always all about Reesey's outfit and this one did not disappoint. Thanks to Lola she was the cutest thing on the planet. All I supplied was the headband and tights. Tights! Love a girl in tights. 

Each kid had their own idea of where they should be for the picture. Reese insisted on standing. Jaxon insisted on sitting. At least they were close enough to get in the same picture.

Ta Da! I'm the cutest thing EVER!

This makes my uterus hurt. I'd have a million more of them
if they were always this angelic. 

Umm. Red shoes? Yes. Please.
Thanks Vida! 

Everyone is looking!
Sorry to be so vain, but I do have a pretty good looking little family
:) 

Like any cute party girl, she lost her shoes half way through the night.

She was walking like no other so the shoes had to go! 

She'd walk from Lola to me and back.

We came home and did the traditional Christmas Eve...

Open 1 gift, leave cookies for Santa and food for the reindeer

Jaxon chose to open the present from Evelia.

Animals! "the best Christmas EVER!"

8 carrots for 8 reindeer

Gingerbread cookies for Santa

Yay for Santa coming!

A Christmas Visitor

We have a new member to our family. Well, a temporary one anyway. We are taking care of the preschool pet, Rocco the Rockstar Rabbit. Rocco belongs to Ms. Courtney and she asked me to take care of him while she went home for Christmas. How can I say no to our favorite teacher? Plus it would be super fun to have a sixth 'person' in our house.

He's so stinkin' cute!

Jaxon has been so very responsible for Rocco. Every morning he reminds me to feed him, check his water, give him hay and change his litter box. In the afternoon we give him a carrot. In the evening we turn on the light so he won't get scared. Jaxon even requested we put him in the guest room with the door closed so that he is safe from Lucy and Reese. In his words, "Lucy may eat him and Reese might bite him." He's not too far off actually.

He knows his sister well. She's trying to get into his cage.

Rocco can come out, but only if we make a 'big circle'. That must be how they do it in preschool. It's kinda hard to make a big circle with 3 people, well 2, since one of those two won't exactly sit still. 

Here I'm holding Rocco to allow Reese to pet him.

She was doing well until she found his paw and pulled it.

That didn't end well for me. Thumper has claws! 

From them on, Rocco only comes out when Reese is napping.... per Jaxon's orders.

 Jaxon is so cute with him. I have found him in Rocco's room playing with his toys just to keep Rocco company. 

Reese loves Rocco. She would spend all day standing by his cage. She particularly likes to bang on the top. Poor Rocco. I figure he spends most of his time with dozens of 3, 4, and 5 year olds so a few minutes of Reese hitting his cage can't be so bad for him right?

Don't worry, Ms. Courtney, we don't let her bang more than once or twice. 

Rocco's visit hasn't been without a little adventure. Christmas Eve morning, before I went to the gym, I stopped in his room to say goodbye to Jaxon. Jax wasn't in there and neither was Rocco. Holy crap Rocco escaped! He can be a 'free range' rabbit, but I'm not comfortable with a rabbit roaming around our house. Rabbits poop. A lot. 

Brian found him hiding under the treadmill. Whew! We figured, Brian will lift the treadmill and I'll scoop Rocco up and deliver him back to his home. Wrong. Rocco liked his new freedom and wasn't going down without a fight. Dude is fast. We chased him around the room for like 10 minutes. Me laughing to the point I almost peed my pants, Brian cursing, and Jaxon jumping on the bed giving non-helpful advice. It was pretty hysterical. Courtney, does that remind you of anything? :) 

Once I pulled myself together, we were able to lure Rocco in the right direction and he happily hopped back into his cage. I do think he was pretty pleased with himself.

Just so you know, Rocco isn't Houdini. I forgot to close the door to his cage. Ooops. He does have a little fence in front of it, but he was able to find a little opening. He's a smart bunny that Rocco Rockstar. 

Can you Hear Me Now?

Starting in August Reesey has been plagued by double ear infections each month. She's a tough cookie because most of the time we didn't even know she had them. We'd show up at a well visit and low and behold... a double whammy. 

At her 1 year check up Dr. Goldberg told us if she had another one she'd be a perfect candidate for tubes. We were crossing our fingers that she'd get one before the end of the year since she met her deductible back in February and it would be free to us.

Thank goodness she got another double whammy last week. I know that's awful to say, but we knew this would be the best for her. It can't be good to be on antibiotics for two weeks out of each month can it? Plus, we were starting to notice that she wasn't responding to her name, wasn't learning simple signs such as 'more' or 'all done',  wasn't learning body part names, etc. What does that have to do with ear infections you ask? (Because I did). Her ears were so full of fluid she had a hard time hearing.

Ok, back to last week. So on Friday I called the ENT recommended, got lucky and scheduled an appointment for Monday.

Monday came, she saw the ENT and he said, "Oh yea. She needs tubes in a bad way. Take her to the audiologist for a hearing test and the scheduler will call you to schedule the tubes."

I went in during the hearing test with her and poor baby failed miserably. She only responded once to the sound and that was delayed. Apparently she had so much fluid all sounds were muffled. We felt like such bad parents. How did we not know she was practically deaf? Ugh. The audiologist said that it wasn't a permanent hearing loss and once she had the procedure she would be back to 100%.

Thankfully, the scheduler called me before I even got home and scheduled the tubes for that Wednesday at 7:45 am. YAHOOO! 

A sleepy & hungry Reese being carried into the surgery center.

Waiting patiently for our turn.

I have to admit, I got teary eyed when I had to hand Reese over to the nurse. I knew the procedure would only last 15 minutes, but what a weird feeling to hand your baby over to a complete stranger. 

Not even 20 minutes later, we were in recovery with an upset and VERY hungry girl!

After a 3 hour nap at home, she woke up ready to have a hearty breakfast.

She was a different child immediately! I was amazing. I am still amazed. She was alert, engaged, attentive, vocal. Music came on and she immediately started dancing. I would say something to her and she'd try to imitate my words. She was so much happier. Well, I should say 'is'. The "new" Reese hasn't left us. She is here and ready to make up for the past four months of living with a head full of water.

Christmas is upon Us

The Pearsons have FINALLY brought Christmas home. 

We started by having a movie night with Jaxon, complete with popcorn & lights out. Our traditional Christmas kickoff movie is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It's definitely a Pearson favorite. 

This weekend we trekked to Brian & Kelly's Christmas Tree lot to get our tree from Brian's best friend, Mike. 

Brian & I have very differing views on what a perfect tree is. 

Brian likes tall, skinny and sparse.

I like tallish, fat and full. 

I really wish I would have taken a picture of the tree Brian wanted. It was ridiculous. It was probably 9 feet tall, but had like 5 branches. No joke. It was sad. 

 So we have to compromise. 

I can't say that I'm thrilled with it, but it smells good so I'm happy.

Part of my willing to compromise was the fact that I was so thrilled to be choosing a tree with all 4 of us together. Last year I was so sad knowing that my sweet girl was in a hospital by herself, with the possibility of spending Christmas without us. This entire month I can't help but think about last year and what a terrible feeling that was. I am beyond thrilled to have feisty little Reese share in our Christmas traditions. All I can say is that she has done very well! 

Hard to believe this is the same girl.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist a little then & now)

Wow! How much babies grow in a year.

She actually was happy to be held by her brother

But all good things must come to an end.

Love my Santa helpers.
Seriously, can't get over how much she has grown and how far she's come!

Then off to home went to decorate it.

Reese was happy to pull things out of the boxes.

Who can resist a chunky ruffled baby bottom? Not me!

Ta daa!
Look mom no hands!

Love this picture. Wish it wasn't blurry.
I should really learn how to take pictures.

Trying to get a picture of the kiddos in front of the tree.

Little girls apparently are too busy to sit still for a picture.

Once the cranky lady went to bed the 3 of us decorated the tree. I absolutely love this! I love looking at each of our ornaments and remembering the year we made it or bought it. 

Years ago I bought a star to top our tree. I left it at my parent's house and forgot about it. This year my mom found it just in time. 

Too bad that it doesn't fit well. Brian had a heck of a time putting it on the top and now it's super crooked. Oh well. Who's going to tell him to take it down? Not me.

Again, I need to figure out this camera.

Sally the Elf showed up at my parent's wearing a skirt. Isn't she cute?

To top off our Christmas kick off weekend we visited Santa. 

Checking out the elf.

Wondering why the little girl on Santa's lap is screaming her
head off. 

Right about now, Brian & I started to wonder how Reese would do. Neither one of us had given it a second thought.

Brian handed her over to the Big Guy and she was thrilled! She took to Santa right away. No tears, no squirming, just in total awe of this magical man.

The official picture.

I have a video of Jaxon telling Santa he wants ocean animals and that Reese wants lots of dolls, all the while Reese is admiring him. But. Blogger won't post it. Grrrr!