Our Christmas

The best picture we could get (supposed to be a Christmas card pic)

This Christmas was a good Christmas, different, but good. Hudson's doctors told us he does not need to go out, travel, or be around other kids until his first shots since he has this viral lung bronchiolitis. It is getting better, just very slowly, I guess because he is so young and little. His breathing is better, but he has a really bad cough that shakes his little body. We pray this gets better really soon! And that he starts to eat better, too! So, instead of going to Brian's family on Christmas eve or my family this weekend as planned, we had a nice little at home Christmas at our house.

Lilly and I made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. On Christmas morning we got up and got everyone fed (Brian made yummy pancakes for us!) and then we opened our presents. Lilly really enjoyed her Loving Family car to go with her doll house and the intrument box. She loves opening presents, unless it is something that really catches her eye and you have to pry her away to go on to something else. Hudson slept through most of the present opening, Lilly got to open most of his presents too.

Nina and Papa came over for the day, they had already been around Hudson over the weekend, so we felt that would be okay. They brought a yummy Christmas lunch and we opened presents again from them and Brian's brother and sister's families. We had a good day of playing.

Even though our Christmas was not with all of our families (who we did miss very much!), we are so thankful to have each other. We are thankful for our 2 kids - Lilly and Hudson - and to be able to enjoy spending time as a family in our own home.

Hudson turned 1 month old on Christmas day! Even though this month has been a sick one for him, he is such a trooper. He still has his beautiful blue eyes and dark hair right now. He enjoys being in the swing to rock out and continues about a 3 hour stretch between feedings. He loves his big sister I can tell. What fun sharing a month birthday with Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sick Days

So our past week has been filled with many sick days and visits to the doctor. To start us off, Hudson began having not so wonderful poop diapers on Monday morning - let me say it was something that was definitely not supposed to be coming out of there. So after monitoring for a day like the doctor said, I proceeded to collect a days worth of yucky diapers and take them to the doctor on Tuesday. After taking the samples, they confirmed that he is allergic to milk proteins. He never cried about any pain or anything! Now Hudson is on a hypoallergenic formula and the diapers are now back to normal (much quicker than the 4-6 weeks they said it may take).

Now, I got a phone call on Tuesday morning after the visit to Hudson's doctor and Lilly had a fever at MDO - so I go pick her up. She had the yuckies for 2 days and was able to go to her Christmas party at school on Thursday. She still has a cough.

Silly hats on sick days

Hudson had been getting congested throughout the week, but by Friday, he was really struggling to breath - panting really. Saturday I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis - inflammation of his lungs basically with mucous and yucky things making it really hard to breath. They prescribed an inhaler with a mask to give him. On Sunday the breathing gets worse and I take him to the ER. He had several chest xrays, blood work, breathing treatments, among other things. The xray came back clear, thank goodness! So basically he had a very yucky virus for a 3 week old and it is going to take some time to heal with the inhaler and nebulizer treatments. Please pray for our little guy to get better and be able to breath better really soon!

At the ER, I really saw a wonderful picture of servanthood that touched my life. A mom (I think a single mother) comes in with her little baby that is screaming and sick. She sits down and proceeds to try to calm him down, but had no success. A man, a complete stranger to her, asked her if he could take the baby to try to calm him down. This man, I have to say, he must be a man of God, took this little baby in his arms and immediately the child calmed down. This man walked with a complete strangers baby for 2 hours up and down the emergency room hallway. He did not know them or have to do this at all. I don't really even know why he was there. But for that mom, this man was her angel. After talking to her, the baby had been screaming all day at home, and what a relief to see her little boy calm down by this mans selfless act of kindness. Things have been tough this week, but this was a reminder that God is there for us, he shows himself in and through so many different ways.

Busy Times

So, we are settling into somewhat of a routine at home. Last week, Brian's mom came to help out Wed - Fri, which was so nice. Lilly's 2 year old party was Friday morning in the freezing cold weather at the park (we all looked so silly out there all bundled up in gloves, hats, but I think the kids had fun playing. Needless to say, we did not eat the ice cream - BRRRRR! Saturday we had our adoption picnic. It was so nice to see some people in our adoption group, some still waiting and to see the other babies that have been placed with families in our group. Hudson was the youngest one there, but he did really well and ate a bottle and slept most of the time.

My mom flew in on Monday to help us for a week - how wonderful! I had finals on Tuesday and needed help watching the kiddos while I graded. She helped us clean and took some of the late night feeds. Thanks a bunch to both moms for helping us with little Hudson.

Hudson really is doing well, he is eating great and sleeping pretty good. Some nights he will do 4-4 1/2 stretches, others he is back to 3 hours on the dot. He was pretty funny the other day - he was having tummy time and all of the sudden started rocking and turned from his stomach to his back! Pretty cool!

Lilly is doing well with him as well - she does have her moments - but all in all, is very diligent about making sure where the baby is. She is quite the helper too! I can't believe my little girl is two! She has grown up so fast! She talks so much and loves to play. She especially loves her babies and now likes to do with them what we do with Hudson - changes them, puts them sleep, rocks them in the swing. Lilly loves to read and will sit in her chair while I get ready in the morning and read to herself. She also loves to dance and sing!