Christmas is finally here!

So I'm finally getting around to posting Christmas. It's been a busy month, okay?

At the start of the month, Will had to have his adenoids removed and ear tubes placed. He had been having ear infections on a monthly basis for too long! Coming out of anesthesia was rough. The moment he began to come back into consciousness he went into his signature move from infancy--the angry alligator roll. The kid couldn't even open his eyes but he was rolling over and over and over so much so that the two nurses couldn't keep him untangled from the EKG leads, pulse ox, and iv tubing. By the time we got to the PACU, all his leads were off, he was mad, mad, mad, still couldn't open his eyes, and biting at the iv in his hand. I know he was a nightmare patient for those nurses! It took a dose of lortab, and two doses of morphine to calm him down and he finally began to chill out. They really wanted him to drink some fluid and once he calmed down he did. He was not interested in the yummy juice and only slightly interested in a melty Popsicle. What he wanted was unflavored pedialyte--yuck! He chugged about 10 oz of the stuff in about an hour or so.

  Because he is so young, we had to stay overnight in the hospital. Right after we got to our room, he immediately fell down and busted his lip. It made him cry so hard he turned purple to blue to black before he finally took a breath. My nursing instincts kicked in, but I was not in my hospital. My eyes darted to the wall for some oxygen, but alas, there was none there. Next I looked to the monitor for his sat reading, but they keep it on privacy mode so it can only be read at the nurses station. I looked for the nurse assist button, but again, none there. So I panicked a little bit--as any good stressed out mother should--and called out for help, but by the time they got there he had finally decided that breathing was, in fact, a good idea.  

Other than the fact that he hated being cooped up in the room the rest of the hospital stay was fine. Thankfully, they had a wagon for us. They helped us pad it with pillows and blankets, and this is what we spent a lot of our time doing--walking the halls over and over. We would walk for a while, then go back to the room for five or ten minutes and then get back in the wagon and go out again.

He only wanted to eat pudding and yogurt so when we got home I had to make a quick trip to super Target to stock up on those things. He is now fully recovered and we have not had any ear infections so far! Yay!

Last weekend I went to Houston for a nursing conference with one of my nursing buddies. It was so fun!

 So those are my excuses as to why I am just now getting around to posting Christmas pictures.

Foreword to pictures: Luke doesn't like to wear clothes right now. We have had to develop a few clothing rules in the house:

1.  You must have on at least underwear unless you are in the bathroom or in your room alone.

2. You must have on at least underwear and pants if there is anyone other than Mommy, Daddy, and Will at our house.

3. You must have on underwear, pants, shirt, socks, and shoes to go outside.

A lot of these pictures show shirtless Luke. Be assured he has on pants in these pictures even if you can't see them.  I don't have a ton of pictures of him to post because I refuse to share pictures of him in his skivvies on the Internet.

Starting with a moment of love and sharing. . . awwww, these moments are brief these days.

Christmas Eve my family came to our house after Christmas service at our church.

 Luke and his cousin Zoe.

Of course, Luke immediately lost his sweater and shirt the moment we set foot inside the house.

All the cousins ready to open presents!!

Luke has been wanting this guitar ever since we got it for his friend for his birthday in September. Aunt Kim and Uncle Matt got it for him and he loves it.

Watching him play is hilarious. I don't know where he gets it from but he acts just like a real rocker with it. He jumps up and down and has this rocker stance with it. I can't really explain it. If he would ever wear pants, I could get some video to share with you and you would love it.

I tried to get a sweet Christmas Eve and PJ's picture, but this was the best I could get. Will doesn't sit still long, and Luke doesn't have the patience to let me take 5,000 pictures until I get one that looks good.

On to Christmas morning. . .

Luke was up first. These days, he has been coming to our room around 7 or so and crawling in bed to snooze a little with us before we all get up. He has to go past the living room to get to our room so he got to scope out what Santa brought.

He was thrilled!

Santa brought Luke a scooter.

And Will got a turtle "scooter." Just what Luke had told Santa to get them. They must have been good boys this year.

And right after those pictures, my camera was immediately buried underneath wrapping paper and toys and who knows what else. So I don't have any more pictures of Christmas morning.

The next day, Grandma Juli came in and we celebrated Christmas with Gene's family. I'm not sure who got this hat, but Will enjoyed trying it on.

Whew! Tired mommy and her boys after everyone left.

This picture was supposed to go in my previous post but got missed. My little overachiever pulled his trusty yellow chair up to the the big recliner and climbed in. I will assure you he did not climb into the recliner in order to recline and relax. His real intention is to use the recliner to get to the table next to it to get the phone/laptop/remote control/magazine/glass of water, etc.

Think I'm pretty caught up now!