Sunday, January 4, 2009

Late Holiday Update

I haven't blogged in a while, and I would love for this blog post to be a positive one. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it will be. All in all, we were able to weather the holidays pretty well.

This blog is about Jake, however it is also about my entire family, so other details always creep in. We've been very very sick and very very busy, so when giving the run-down of what Jake, and the rest of us, have been experiencing these past few weeks since the Holidays, it may not be the most uplifting reading, but I will try.


Because we were traveling to Macon to stay with friends on Christmas, we decided to have "Santa" on Christmas Eve morning. The boys got a toy each and handmade pants from Mom and ID bracelets along with sweet treats and chocolate. Jake was absolutely stunned to receive a Buzz Lightyear doll. Jake loves TV and books and develops great fondness for his favorite characters. However, the first feature length movie that he's ever taken an interest in has been Toy Story. Steve convinced me to get him a Buzz Lightyear action figure for Christmas but I was skeptical about his possible reaction. When opening the package he saw a picture of Buzz on the back of the box (Jake loves to handle and hold video packages or pictures of his favorite characters.. but I guess he's never really met any of them in real life, as he was about to do), and exclaimed "Buzz!" and looked quite happy to know that he was about to open a Buzz related gift. His stunned to silence reaction when he saw the toy is best seen in this video:





After we opened presents we packed luggage, kids, dogs and a turkey that Steve smoked earler that morning into the car and headed for Macon to stay with Kevin and Ariane, our good friends. We had pretty much invited ourselves to their home for Christmas and we were seeking solace from the rigors of a high-pressure family gathering. It was wonderful to be there in their peaceful home and they were amazing enough to share their space and family traditions with us. Even though we'd invited ourselves down for Christmas eve night, they asked us to extend our stay to Christmas night and we were planning on an evening of revelry when disaster struck.

Just as dinner was starting Manny started vomiting. He was sick a few times within that hour and a quick decision was made to take the kiddies back home despite the three hour drive. It was a good decision.

Manny was sick for 6 days and lost a lot of weight. I got sick on Sunday and was sick for a week (I lost a little weight, but its not so much of an issue with me). Jake got sick soon and was throwing up violently until New years. It just wasn't a great holiday for us. I mean.. it was.. but .. well.....

Now, after a week to recover, I am looking forward to OT with Cindy tomorrow and the arrival of OUR NEW NANNY! Yay! I posted an ad on craigslist and after talking to a few prospects decided to hire a sweet lady named Lacy. She is a darling and has already been here one day. After a rocky start she played happily with the boys and wore them out. She's going to come 3 mornings per week and I will groom dogs two days and sew in what is left of the time so that I can hopefully afford to pay her a little better than the small amount that I was able to offer up-front. I am VERY happy about this development.

More about the holidays and specific events later, but this is my best attempt at an update.