Christmas Photo Outtakes

 Every Christmas we send the grandparents a set of pictures of the girls.  I'd like to get professional ones taken, but it's just way too pricey, especially when we are capable of doing it ourselves!  It's definitely no easy task to capture a picture of both children.  Trying to get them to both look at the camera and smile at the same time is almost impossible.  It took three different attempts of taking the girls out to a nice spot to get their pictures taken.  It was rough this year because the girls both got sick and then so did I.  I did manage to get a few decent shots to choose from, but I thought I'd share some of the other shots I captured!

 The picture below would have been great if Riley wasn't being so goofy!!

 After I was done attempting to have the girls sit still for a picture I let them run around in the field.  Riley's new favorite activity is to tackle Hadley.  On this day Hadley didn't seem to mind!

Here are the final products that the grandparents received:

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning started nice and early for us!  Both of the girls were up at 6:30am, so Trey and I put on our Christmas morning happy faces!  Trey went downstairs first so that he could get the video camera ready to record the girls reaction(the video will be loaded a little later).  Once he was ready the girls and I headed down the stairs.  They were both excited to see all of the presents under the Christmas tree.  I was really excited to watch them both open their gifts.  Hadley wasn't really sure what all of the fuss was about, but Riley knew exactly what the presents were for!  As Riley started tearing into the gifts, Hadley watched and just started taking her presents from under the tree.  It was cute! 

Riley was excited for her TinkerBell paint set from Grandpa Prewitt!

Hadley started to open a gift and then decided it was more fun to watch Riley!

Yay, new Dora mega blocks!

Both of the girls enjoying their morning.  I was excited for the Leap Frog tag Junior reader for Riley.  I know she's going to love it!  

Hadley was having more fun with the wrapping paper than opening the gifts!

Riley had no problem tearing into the presents!  

Riley's top picks this year were her digital camera from Kiki & Po and her scooter from Poppy & Grandma Kathy.  She was literally taking pictures for the rest of the day and riding her scooter around the house all day! 

Nana got the girls the easel and Hadley loved to tear all of the letter magnets off the board and tried to eat them all!  

The girls got loads of gifts and we are all very thankful for all of them.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this Christmas special!  I was a lucky girl and not only received an Ipad, but also a new Canon Eos Rebel T1i camera.  It's awesome and I feel like a real photographer when I use it.  I have to figure out how to load the pictures, but as soon as I do they will be added to the blog!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Today was a pretty busy day.  We just found out a couple of days ago that what Riley really wanted for Christmas was Donald Duck.  I don't know where this request came from, but how could we deny her a gift that she so desperately wants?  There is only one Disney store here so we loaded up the girls and headed to Ala Moana Center.  I walk into the Disney store only to find that they have every character except for Donald Duck.  Go figure!  So I find an associate and ask if they happen to have any Donald Duck's in the back room.  The associate tells me they have been out of him for months, but she'd double check.  They did have a big Donald Duck, but that wasn't what I was looking for.  I wanted the small version, not some giant stuffed animal.  The store associate came out of the back room with about 20 Donald Duck's in her arms.  Hallelujah!!  I picked up a Daisy Duck and Pluto while we were there too!  I know we will have one happy little girl tomorrow morning.  After the Disney store I hit up Godiva(which is the only Godiva on the island) to pick up the last 3 chocolate Santa's they had in stock.  Phew!  We headed home and made some lunch.  I laid Hadley down for her nap and then ran out to pick up a couple of movies for Trey from the girls.  One of his favorite Christmas movies is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Can you believe that I asked 3 people to point me in the direction of the movie and they had never heard of it.  What?  It's a classic!  Oh well, onto the next store in search of the movie.  Luckily, Target came to the rescue and had the movie along with Marley & Me.  I was finally finished any and all gifts that I needed to get.  I thought I was done weeks ago, but then I forgot about the little things!  I was not having a good time running around today though.  Not because it was too crowded or anything, but the fact it was 87 degrees and humid as crap, made it miserable to be running around.  I was a hot, sweaty mess by the time I was finished.  

Trey had to go in to work this evening but was home after a couple of hours.  Riley was anticipating the arrival of Santa just a little too much.  I didn't get her to bed until 10pm.  And that was after I sat next to her bed and rubbed her head until she fell asleep.  Trey and I were trying to get all the gifts out and she kept getting out of bed and creeping down the stairs.  I was about to give her a shot of tequila!  Just kidding, I would never.  But I was exhausted and wanted to get to bed myself.  Once she was asleep, I finished putting all of the gifts under the tree and Trey put together all of the big stuff.  Here is a shot of what they girls will see in the morning.  The picture is missing Hadley's cozy coupe car and their radio flyer wagon, but you get the point!

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!

Santa Claus

I've been wanting to take the girls to see Santa Claus for the past couple of weeks, but as you know they were under the weather and now I've been under the weather.  Last night after dinner, Trey and I loaded the girls up in the car and took them to see Santa.  Riley understands about Santa this year which has made talking about him fun.  I love when Riley says "Ho, Ho, Ho!"  Riley was excited to go see Santa this year and tell him she's been a good girl.  We walk up to get in line and Riley sees Santa and jumps into Trey's arms.  I guess talking about him was more exciting than seeing him in person.  I sat Hadley on Santa's lap and told Trey to put Riley on his lap.  Trey replied, "but she doesn't want to."  To which I replied, "put her on his lap!"  We couldn't get any smiles out of Riley, only a mean mug!  It's better than last year with Riley screaming in the picture!  I'm happy that she sat there until after her picture was taken.  I don't think you can really expect much more out of a two and a half year old.  I'd like to think the visit with Santa was successful!

Fighting the Sickness

 After almost three weeks of Riley being sick she is back to being a healthy little girl again, thank God!  Once I was able to get her to start taking her antibiotic she seemed to feel better pretty quickly.  Riley would only take her antibiotic if she gave it to herself though.  So I'd fill up the syringe and she'd suck on it like a straw.  She was so proud of herself every time too!  As long as she was taking the medicine I didn't really care who was giving it to her.  I just wanted Riley to be healthy again.

Hadley's reaction to her MMR shot went away after about a week.  The diarrhea continued for about another week but finally subsided.  This excited me because I couldn't take much more of the nasty diapers.  I mean, they were enough to make me gag!  Hadley's rash went away for about 3 days and then it seemed to appear again.  I took a picture, but it doesn't do the rash justice.  This time the rash only lasted 2 days and it's been gone since.  I'm not a fan of my children having reactions to immunizations.  It makes me not want to take them for any more, but I know it's better for them to receive them.  Hadley has been back to her normal self for a little over a week now.  Her and Riley are back to playing, laughing, and fighting together.  You know, that typical sister love!

I have been absent from blogging because now that my girls are back to being healthy I've been sick.  I caught Riley's nasty cough and I've had it for just over a week now.  It sucks to be sick.  It really sucks to be sick and pregnant.  I am completely limited to what medication I can take.  I've been taking Robitussin and using cough drops.  Neither are really helping too much, but I'll take the little bit of help I'm getting from them.  It's definitely not fun being sick around the holidays either.  With the girls being sick and then me getting sick I was rushing around trying to get every one's packages together and shipped off on time so that they'd arrive by Christmas.  This is the first time in 3 years that I've been really sick.  Trey tells me that I sound like I've been smoking for 20 years.  My cough is awful and flemmy(just in case you were wondering).  I'm trying to rest as much as possible but we all know that's limited with having to keep up with Riley and Hadley.  I'm hoping by Christmas I'm not coughing anymore.  That's all I want for Christmas!!

I Can See the Light!

My life has been rather hectic for the past week, so let me catch you up.  I took Hadley in for her one year check-up on Nov. 22nd.  The doctor said that she is developing normally and appeared to be doing great.  Hadley is now weighing 21lbs 11.3oz and is 29 in. long.  Hadley was a perfect angel, once again, during her appointment.  She let the doctor do whatever she needed to do.  No fussing or crying from this girl!  It's always a relief for me when my child doesn't scream when the doctor tries to touch them! 

After her appointment I had to take her over to get her immunizations.  She had to get her MMR and Hep A vaccines.  My poor pumpkin screamed on both shots, but I calmed her down pretty quickly.  

Last Monday, we had to miss Riley's gymnastics class so that I could take her in to the doctors.  She had been coughing for almost a week and it was getting worse.  Riley wasn't able to sleep through the night and was sleeping in my bed!  Riley is not an easy child to have at the doctors office and never has been.  I had to sit her on my lap and beg her to open her mouth so the doctor could look into her throat.  I'm pretty sure she only opened her mouth for a nanosecond.  The doctor said her throat looked fine, but I seriously don't know how she saw anything.  Riley had her ears and nose checked too, and everything looked fine.  So basically I was told Riley was fine but was given some Robitussin for her to take a bedtime.  Ok, but she's coughing all day long so I wasn't really sure how that was going to help.  I gave Riley her cough medicine at night and after her first taste of it, I had to force her to take the rest.  She told me it was yucky!  After two nights of using the Robitussin, Riley was still waking up in the middle of the night with horrible coughing fits.  Trey went out at 3am one night to get her something else.  He picked up some Triaminic which is for children 6 and older so I was a little hesitant to give it to Riley.  But the poor girl needed something.  So I only gave her a few ml's and it seemed to do the trick and helped her sleep.

Last Tuesday, Hadley started to run a fever.  I just assumed it was from teething.  She was extra fussy and only wanting to be held by me.  I mean I couldn't put her down for a moment without her screaming bloody murder.  Her fever lasted all week.  It never exceeded 100, so again, I seriously assumed it was her teething.  I just kept giving her Tylenol in hopes that her teeth would cut through soon so that she would get back to normal self.  The constant crying continued all week long.

Thursday Trey wound up having to go to the ER.  He was having some major stomach issues and his doctor thought his symptoms might be appendicitis.  So Trey went to the ER while I was at home caring for my two under the weather children.  I was exhausted from my two sick babies and now worried sick that my husband was now going to have to have surgery.  I mean when it rains it pours!  After Trey had a CT scan it appeared that it wasn't appendicitis, but just a really bad stomach virus.  I was relieved.  

Saturday Riley was still coughing like a crazy woman.  I mean it was an awful fluid filled cough.  My heart broke every time I heard her cough.  It appeared to have gotten worse and she had been coughing for almost two weeks at this point.  Trey took her to the doctors and came home with some antibiotics for her.  This is the very first time Riley has ever been on an antibiotic.  While they were at the doctors I was at home with Hadley who was napping.  When she woke up from her nap I got her dressed.  I noticed an awful rash all over her chest.  It was time for her to go to the doctor because something wasn't right.  I took her to the doctor and found out that she was having a reaction to the MMR vaccine she received.  Reactions can occur 5-12 days after the vaccine.  So I was just instructed to keep giving her Tylenol for her fever and keep her hydrated.  My poor Hadley had the rash all over her chest, stomach, back, and forehead at this point.  I just wanted to cry.  Why is she having a reaction?  Reactions aren't common which totally concerns me for her next dose.  I took a picture of my poor pumpkin after we got home from the doctors.  She looks so miserable!  I tried to take a picture of her rash, but my camera died.  If her fever and rash aren't gone by Tuesday I was instructed to bring her in so they could run some tests.  I don't know what tests, but I guess that's what I will do.

So here we are now on Monday.  Hadley seems to be in a little bit of better spirits.  Her fever has gone down to almost normal and her rash isn't as bad.  Riley is still coughing but not as frequently.  I finally feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Of course now I feel like I have a cold coming on.  Go figure.  Perhaps I should have been wearing a mask for the past two weeks!