Merry Christmas!

Gary, Andrew, and I had a wonderful time in Memphis with our family for Christmas. We were a little nervous about the long drive for Andrew, but he did great! On the way there, he got a little restless about an hour before his bedtime, so we stopped at a gas station and let him have a break from his car seat. After that, he was asleep for the night, and we made it to Memphis at 1:00AM.

We were so blessed to spend 8 days with our family, and it was so hard for us to leave. On Saturday afternoon, we got on the road with a car load of presents :) As we got on I-40, we saw a couple pass us as they smiled and stared at our vehicle full of toys and bags. Andrew was a lot of fun things to play with now that we are home. Thanks again everyone!!! We made it back to Wake Forest at 2:00AM today.






Andrew with his cousins, Blake and Eric

We went to a University of Memphis basketball game with our family and the Penrose family. We had an awesome time, and Andrew seemed to love looking around the arena.



Andrew was exhausted at the end of the game.

Christmas Eve at the ER
Andrew had quite an eventful 1st Christmas Eve. The day before, we noticed that he had a few bumps on his face that appeared that night. At first, I thought he may be having an allergic reaction to something. We tried to take him to urgent care on Christmas Eve, but everywhere was closed early. He continued to get worse even after trying benadryl as we were advised by a nurse practitioner and a pharmacist. The spots around his eyes were getting pretty swollen, and we were ready to take him to the ER. Gary and I spent about 4 hours at the ER as they took blood and a urine sample to make sure he didn't have an infection. It was really hard to sit there and watch them poke him. At about 9:30PM, the doctor came back in the room and told us that Andrew's white and red blood cells looked great and that he didn't see any issues with his kidneys. This was great news! He was able to diagnose the condition as erythema multiforme, which is an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, and Andrew was taking an amoxocillin for an ear infection. The crazy news was that this might take 4-6 weeks to go away. He prescribed a steroid for Andrew and told us to follow-up with our pediatrician as soon as we got home. We are hoping to get an appointment early tomorrow morning. Andrew was a little trooper during this whole process. The rash never really bothered him, but the steroid has had some side effects. He's been very fussy, extra hungry, and very tired, but his spots look so much better. Praise God!

This was the beginning of the spots.

The ones around his eyes started getting worse and more swollen as the day went on and his right arm was completely red.

All of the spots in this picture are difficult to see because they were so big and starting to join together. His skin was really warm, but luckily, he didn't have a fever.

Christmas morning as he was starting to get a little better.....

Christmas in NC

Gary, Andrew, and I opened presents with our family of 3 last night since we are headed to Memphis this afternoon. We decided that we are driving the 750 mile trip (12 hours) to Tennessee, and we are hoping to travel most of it while Andrew is sleeping. We are so excited about seeing our family for about 8 days.

We had a lot of fun watching Andrew try to tear open his gifts. We had to watch him closely because he wanted to eat the paper!

He was definitely more interested in the paper than the gifts :)

Andrew just opened a Busy Ball Choo Choo.

This is the only picture that we were able to get with the 3 of us.

Little Buddies

This is a picture of Andrew and his little friend Brody. I just had to post it because I thought it was so cute! Jana took this picture the other night when she was babysitting Andrew.

Christmas Photo Shoot

Amanda Penrose took these pictures for our Christmas card this year, and she did an awesome job! We were outside at the beautiful seminary campus.

Talking

Andrew has said "Ma Ma" and "Da Da" for a little while, but it was always really random. Starting this week, he has been saying "Da Da" all day long. He woke up really early a few days ago, and as soon as I came in his room he was saying...."Da Da, Di Di, Da Da...." I have been trying to get a clip of him talking for our parents, but he always gets quiet when he sees the camera or wants to grab it. Today, it finally worked while he was playing with his daddy. If you listen closely, he will say it on the video.

Decorating for Christmas

The Christmas season is by far our most favorite time of the year. This is our 11th Christmas together, and it just gets more fun every year. We are so blessed to have Andrew enjoy it with us this year. Gary and I put up our Christmas stuff a little early this year and started listening to Christmas music in the early part of November. We had everything up except our tree by the 15th of November, and we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. We getting so excited about our big trip to Memphis to see our family on December 19th!

Andrew is examining our family ornament for the year.

We just love our little family of 3!!

Our Christmas tree

This is the beautiful wreath that was given to me by one of my preschool students named Reese. Her mom made these for me and Michelle, and we were both so excited about them!!

Jewelry Party
I also added some pictures of our apartment as it is decorated and rearranged for my jewelry party tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gary and I decided that we were going to stay here in NC for Thanksgiving rather than making the long.....12 hour drive to Memphis. We were sad that we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with our family, but our friends, Brian and Jana invited us over for a meal with their family. We are so grateful for them and their friendship!

We have SO many things to be thankful for this year! Just to name a few......

Jesus Christ and for His gift of salvation
The Lord's provision and faithfulness
Our son, Andrew
Our incredible family
Our friends
Our church
Our jobs

Gary and I had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at the Kohout's, and Andrew enjoyed a few bites of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole.

Jana and Brian

Brody just finished his Thanksgiving meal....

I think this was round 1....

We were all stuffed after eating, but we managed to squeeze in some pumpkin and peanut butter pie!

I think sweet potatoes are one of his favorites.....

Jonas and Melissa's precious baby was dressed for the occasion. Luke was 11 days old on Thanksgiving. We were so glad they spent the day with all of us.


Gary went and got us a paper early on Thursday morning, so we could look over all the sales for Black Friday. We love looking through all the deals, and Andrew had a great time playing with the paper :)

1st Tooth and 1st Boo Boo

Andrew's 1st tooth finally came through last week. It's really hard to get a picture of it, but if you look closely on these next 2 videos of him eating puffs, you can see it on the bottom (mainly in the 2nd one). Also, you will probably see a small bruise under his left eye. Andrew was reaching for a toy the other day, and he did a face plant onto his barnyard toys. It was so sad to see him so upset when it happened, but he bounced back really quickly. I know that this is just the 1st of many bruises and scrapes that he'll have......

This is a picture right before nap time. You can see his little bruise on his cheek :(



Andrew still likes to play under his activity mat (or beside it), and he's rolling all over the floor. This week he learned how to flip the mat over, and I just sat there and laughed! I think he was pretty proud of himself :)

Playtime with Daddy

I love watching Andrew and his daddy play together. Even after working 10 hour days, Gary comes home ready to get in the floor and play with Andrew or help me with stuff at home. He is such an incredible husband and father, and I am so thankful for him!!