Pictures From Christmas!

Luckily on Christmas Eve, Moose started feeling better. He took a good nap, and his coughing got much better. So we decided to start a new tradition: bake and decorate cookies to leave out for Santa!Of course, we ate a few...

Just a few...

The Christmas Outfit.

Moose and Nana at Christmas Eve at the farm.

We think Santa had a good time setting up the Safari Set.

Moose woke up around 8, and Cory got him up while I got ready with my camera in the living room. I took this shot:

And then my camera died. WORST NIGHTMARE! Luckily Cory was thinking coherently enough to grab the batteries out of the remote and jam them in.

The new Thomas Track Rug...how great?!
No track to mess up! It's always fixed!

The monkey seemed to be the favorite!

Very happy with M&Ds presents and Santa's gifts.

We had a wonderfully relaxed Christmas. Cory and I had already exchanged, anticipating our Wisconsin trip, so Christmas morning was all about Moose. I made biscuits and gravy, as requested, and we lazed around most of the day, watching Elf and Claymation Christmas, our traditions we started last year.

I Found My Christmas Spirit

Moose is still sick. He seems better, he acts pretty fine during the day. As long as we keep him entertained, he is OK. We have watched so much TV, I'm a little embarrassed to show my DVR que. But it seems to be one of the only things he wants to do. Cuddle and watch TV. I guess that's what I usually want to do if I'm sick too, so it makes sense.

His fever is gone, so we have heavy lingering congestion, and cough. His throat must be hurting, because he is drooling like it hurts to swallow. He hasn't wanted to nap for the last four days, so imagine our surprise today, when he is still sleeping at this moment, on hour three of his nap. He did not sleep well last night, waking up minimum seven times from 7PM to 11PM. Both Cory and I are exhausted, and picking at each other. Funny how a sick child can affect everyone in the house. Even the dogs have not really left the bedroom where we keep their beds.
I actually had not finished my Christmas shopping yet. I had planned to go shopping with Alice in Wisconsin and do Moose's stocking and pick up a few more things. Yesterday it was sunny and 60 degrees outside here, today it is sunny and 36 degrees. Quite a difference. Yesterday, I could not imagine Christmas being only a few days away. It was so warm and I had been all geared up for Wisconsin. Plus, I already did Christmas with both my family and friends, in anticipation of our trip. So, on Christmas? We don't have any presents to open! (not that it's all about that, but to be honest, it's definitely one of the things I look forward to:)

So early this morning, as to avoid as much traffic as possible, I slipped out of the house and ran up to Target. I wanted to pick up some travel-sized toys for Moose's stocking, to create a "restaurant bag" that could keep all those toys in it, for when we are out and about. Charing has one, and it is awesome and very entertaining. They seemed like the perfect stocking stuffers. I found two other very cool big things, that I am so excited for Moose to find under the tree.

Then I heard Christmas Canon on the radio on the way home, and my Christmas spirit switched on like a light. Especially because the temperature actually dropped while I was shopping!

Picture Friday 12/21

Sick little boy.First Happy Meal! I wasn't there, so there's no pictures of him eating:(

He was chasing Cory down the hall while they were home today,
and he fell and busted his head.

Cory took Moose in to the doctor to make sure his croup had not turned into anything serious. We got his chest x-ray back very quickly, everything is OK. So all this horribleness is strictly the croup. We're hoping he'll feel better soon, he needs a good night's sleep very badly.

Croup, You Are My New Arch Nemesis

I have heard of croup before, but I had no idea what it was or how bad it was, until Moose got it this week.

croup (krōōp)
noun. A pathological condition of the larynx, especially in infants and children, that is characterized by respiratory difficulty and a hoarse, brassy cough.
[From dialectal croup, to croak.]

Basically? Liquid Hell is in Moose's chest and nose, and is coming out by the bucket. His harsh cough rivals that of an old man, his poor little nose is rubbed raw with all of the snot and Kleenex wippings that it has endured. He is absolutely pitiful, carrying Doggie under his arm, and following me around the house like a puppy.

He is one of seven kids from daycare that are out with this. I guess this is the big negative with daycare-getting infected with hellish diseases.

As most of you know, this weekend is our big weekend. We celebrated Christmas early with my friends and family so that we could drive up and spend the holidays with my in-laws in Wisconsin. Well, last night, as we listened to him sobbing in his crib, we had to make a very hard decision: Do we chance an eight to nine (ten?!) hour car ride with Moose being this miserable? I left the decision up to Cory, even though I knew what the obvious choice was. And he made the right choice, the only choice we could make, really. We have to put our trip off.

This really sucks double, because, last year? We had to do a very similar thing. We had just bought our house, and Moose got sick. I was off several days while he recovered, eating up my vacation days. In the end? We didn't have any vacation time to go, so we had to reschedule our visit for January, during a long weekend.

I'm not sure when we will be able to come up for the rescheduled visit. We have talked about February, because there is a concert that Cory wanted to go to, and to celebrate Cory's brother's birthday as well. So that might come to fruition. We will see.

Right now, our priority is getting the little boy better. I am back in the office today, Cory is home with Moose. We decided to take Moose in to the doctor again, today, just to make sure that the croup has not turned into anything additional, like an ear infection. We want to nip it in the bud if possible, because of the upcoming holiday weekend, and I'm pretty sure the pediatrician's office will be closed.

I'll keep you updated, keep Moose in your thoughts.

Second Holiday Party!

All the ladies of ZPO were able to attend our annual Xmas Party this year. (which was a record event, I don't think we've all been able to come to anything, since maybe last New Year's Eve!) I wish we could have gotten a group picture of everyone there, our little group has grown to include our boys' friends and their girlfriends.I'm so annoyed this is blurred, my crafty handiwork... had to put it in anyway, it's still cute:)

Playing with the train set at Charing's house.

We had a great time due to Charing's fabulous hostess abilities, plus everyone's great food that we brought. We had a sit-down dinner this year, complete with ham and the fixin's. They did a Secret Santa gift exchange, and it is so funny how well we know everyone. The girls all got gifts for the boys, so Moose got some really nice new toys, and a very cute outfit from Carter. (plus a really cute toy that I want to take a special picture of...stay tuned for that)

Our busy weekend is not at a close however, because of our absence next week, we are celebrating Christmas with my family this evening. I will hopefully have some more pictures to share shortly.

First Holiday Party of the Year!

Today we had our Agency Christmas party. Our whole group took off a few hours and drove an hour or so to a very cool local inn for lunch. We had a blast, I really love my co-workers.The main inn is an old women's college. It was very cool. It was the first time I had been there, and it was beautiful, I imagine it is even prettier in the Spring. Some of the bedrooms upstairs have the original windows that have the initials and dates of the former occupants' engagements carved with their diamond rings.

The front porch.

The ladies of Corp F.

At lunch.

The whole crew, including our VP.

Back in our office, with our tree.

We have a busy weekend planned, things for every day. My personal camera's batteries are having issues, I have to charge them all the time now. I think I need to replace them with some new rechargeable ones (they can only be for so long, right?) so they are constantly charging. It might also be due to the fact that movies take more power than pictures, and I take a lot of movies lately, because the Moose is always in motion.

I will try to have pictures from the other two upcoming Holiday get togethers that are this weekend as well. Stay tuned!

Footloose & Cancer Free

I received my biopsy results back today, and they are totally normal. Which, honestly kind of shocked me a bit, but we're pretty happy about it around here.

And, in celebration:

One Hundred!

How fitting that my 100th post on this site, be a picture post! Okay all, here is Picture Friday rescheduled.

Cory has started on my car...

Pictures from my birthday... surprise, I cut my hair!

... and so did Jenn!

My new birthday coat, and boots!

Moose and his first cinamini's.

Sittin' back with Pooh.

Tickle! Tickle!

Wishin' it was nice outside, and not rainy...

We all glance through my Woman's World, thanks Alice!

He loves when I flip my hair over for some reason.
And likes to fluff it with me.

I made Emily's famous Mint Cookies for Cory today, and that is really all we got done this weekend!