December

I've been slacking... a whole month and no posts!  That is practically an eternity to a child.  What a fun, crazy month December was... It started on a low and ended with a bang!

The first week in December Joel had two interviews in Ohio.  We decided it would be most economical for him to take the one car we have and drive up there for three days.  Had we known what was coming we would have changed our plans.

Norah started the first day off by throwing up in her crib, (sorry, this may get a little graphic) followed by an entire day of wet, messy diapers- I won't go into detail on those.  Needless to say I did a lot of laundry that day.  I thought it would never end.

The next day was more of the same.  Norah was not getting better.  I was worried that she was getting dehydrated and, after a few failed attempts to find someone home that could run to the store for me, I decided to bundle Norah up and walk to about a mile to the store to get pedialyte. It was frigid and I was worried the entire time that the trip was just going to make Norah worse!  Thank goodness we made it there and back without any occurrences. A lot of good it me- she wouldn't even drink it! I did manage to take these adorable pictures of her in her hat when we got back though.

Doesn't she look happy?!  It doesn't end there.  The next morning I woke up feeling nauseous- five minutes later I ran for the bathroom and emptied all the contents of my stomach.  I ran out to a crying Norah, attempted to calm her down and ran back to the bathroom.  This was a pattern that day.  Norah was still not completely better and it made it much harder to keep my stomach settled when I had to change (and smell) her diapers.  Joel got home that night and he was sick too!  What a week!  Eventually we did all recover but I pray I never have to repeat that weekend.

The month gets much better from there.  On the 17th we hopped on a plane and flew out to Utah for Christmas!  Norah was in heaven staying at "Bampa's" with "Sass-Sass", "Jo-Jo" and "Wah-Wah" aka Grandpa, Kassy, Jonas and Lauren.  Since we have been home she still repeats their names over and over. In spite of all of the kids getting nasty colds, we had a great time.

Some highlights included: seeing the lights at Thanksgiving Point, me having dinner with friends from Jr. High that I hadn't seen in 15 years, spending Christmas Eve with my mom's family at Karen and Harolds, watching movies with my mom and sisters, Joel taking his board exam,  getting snowed in on Christmas day, spending time with Tyler, Kristen and family, and being with my grandparents and dads family for the family Christmas party.

Here are a few pics from the trip:

Kyrstin, reading a fascinating story to Norah and Jonas.

Sarah, having sweet dreams...

My beautiful sister, Kassy, and her adorable kids.

I managed to convince them it would be great to go outside in the frigid weather and take pictures. Thanks for humoring me!

Emma and Lauren

Kassy and Sarah

Norah on Christmas morning. She had a great time unwrapping presents and playing with all of her new toys but she looks so sad with her puffy eyes and her red cheeks- stupid cold!

I think her favorite thing of all was the lights on the tree.  She would constantly point to them and say "yights"!

 

Jonas, unwrapping his tool set. It was hilarious!  What a little man.

Thank you to everyone who made our time there great!  We didn't get to see everyone as much as we wanted (Tyler's family, Cami's family and Grandpa and Grandma K) because of snow and sickness but we were grateful for the time we did have.  We love you all!