Where do I even begin??? There was family, fevers, an urgent care visit, presents, not a lot of sleep, and a death in the family. And a partridge in a pear tree. Last Monday was a beautiful day, so we went out to lunch and to the park with all the kiddos. Sarah, Brian, Tommy, Eleanor, and Grandma Rita were all staying at our house the night of the 23rd so that we could spend all Christmas Eve day and evening together.
Emmy’s cold got worse, and she ended up developing a fever by the time we got home from the park. A late afternoon nap for this little lady is a very rare occurrence.
The nap seemed to help, and Ems woke up happy and ready to play with her cousins.
That’s Eleanor in the doll stroller!
Brian had Taco Bell delivered around 8pm. The guys were pretty excited about it.
We got all four kiddos down, and we all hunkered on the couch for some drinks and to watch Christmas Vacation. It never happened for me, though.
The girls started coughing and didn’t stop all. night. long. I bounced back and forth between their rooms for most of the night, and I felt so bad about so many things:
1. That both girls were coughing nonstop.
2. That the rest of the family had to listen to them all night.
3. That I most likely exposed my niece and nephew to something more serious than just a little cold.
4. That due to the girls not feeling well, I hadn’t even made it to the grocery yet to get the food for Christmas Eve dinner!
Being up all night with my thoughts is the worst!
Emmy took the brunt of it and ended up throwing up in her bed because she was coughing so hard. By early morning her fever was high, and she kept asking what was wrong with her ear. Off to urgent care we went.
She tested negative for the flu, thank goodness, but definitely had an ear infection. This was us about five minutes after we got back from urgent care.
Because the girls were seriously sick, we decided it was best to cancel our Christmas Eve celebration. #bahhumbug We opened gifts with the kiddos while Emmy snoozed, and then everyone packed up and went back to Rita’s house for Christmas Eve.
Our little family spent Christmas Even playing with a few new toys and having lots of rest time on mommy and daddy’s bed.
The plan was to have lasagna and homemade bread for Christmas Eve dinner. We passed on the lasagna since it was just the four of us, but Matty still made his delicious bread.
We set out cookies and carrots, read The Night Before Christmas, and put the girls to bed.
Matty and I brought up all the presents, got everything ready, and called it a night early because this mama was running on zero sleep.
The girls woke up feeling slightly better, so we had a quiet Christmas morning before deciding to head down to my parents’ house to celebrate with my family.
I did not take very many pictures at all. The lack of sleep must have gotten to me! We don’t even have a single picture of the four of us on Christmas. Oops! Andy got a really cool virtual reality game from Santa that we all enjoyed trying out.
I know nothing about eleven-year-old boys, but I’m pretty sure a card game called Exploding Kittens is something Andy would like!
My parents got the girls these adorable sleeping bags. Here they are watching a show before bed on Christmas night . . .
. . . and then watching a movie the next day!
We stayed home and played/rested all day long the day after Christmas.
The girls enjoyed their new toys; Matty and I enjoyed some cocktails.
Aunt Donna bought the girls these star lights for their rooms, and Emily is obsessed!
Unfortunately, Matt’s Uncle TJ passed away the day after Christmas. The girls have met him a few times, and even went to visit him a few months ago when he was very sick and unable to walk or talk. Matt’s sweet Aunt Judie let the girls play with the buttons on Uncle TJ’s automatic recliner, so our last memory of Uncle TJ is of him lying on the chair being jerked all around while Aunt Judie giggled and let the girls push the buttons. Uncle TJ couldn’t respond, but we like to think he was laughing on the inside. They’ve been talking about that a lot over the past few days.
This stay at home mama’s wardrobe doesn’t really have any funeral attire, so Matty played with the girls on Friday while I ran to the mall to grab something to wear. He made them apple mustaches, which were a huge hit.
We went to our friends’ house for dinner and a playdate Friday evening. The girls had a blast driving Amelia’s new car around the backyard. Don’t tell Emmy, but we’ve already got one of these exact same cars purchased and stored away for her third birthday in March!
Lucy had a random fever on and off Friday night and Saturday, but we got her outside to get some fresh air, sunshine, and to help take down the Christmas lights.
Yesterday morning we were getting ready to go to the funeral home, and I couldn’t find my black boots. Look who had them!
We are one week into our two week vacation, and Matty and I feel like we’ve been playing with/taking care of the girls NONSTOP. They’ve also been bickering quite a bit. Last night we decided we needed a break and sent both of them to their rooms to play quietly for a bit while we relaxed on the couch. It lasted about ten minutes before they made their way downstairs and on to the couch with us.
And that brings us to this morning.
We have Uncle TJ’s funeral this morning, and then no plans for the rest of the vacation. We are HOPING that the girls can be cold-free and fever-free for a few days in a row so we can do fun things like take them bowling or go see Frozen 2.
And I am so ready to take down the Christmas decorations! I might start later today when we get home.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Here’s hoping 2020 is our best year yet.
I’ll be back on Thursday with my 2019 Year-in-Review post. Or, as I’m now calling it, my most anticipated post of the year . . . because Matty’s asked me like two times if I’m going to do it. 😉
XOXO
Leave a Reply