Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year, it was just our little family at home.  We had a really good time together and are thoroughly enjoying each other's company.  Reid has off until after the new year and we're excited for that time with him.

On Christmas Eve, Kai helped me to make cookies for Santa.  We made M&M cookies, since they are Kai's favorites.  Kai also went outside to play in the snow with his daddy in his new snowpants.  Unfortunately, the snow was not good sledding snow, but they had fun with the snowballs.  Most them went up and fell back on Kai's head--he loved it!  His little face was all red when he came in.

That evening, we went to a friend's home to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner.  They had invited another family and so there were 16 people in all (counting Finn).  The dinner was delicious and the company fantastic.  Reid spend most of his evening in the basement with all of the kids watching them play as Kai was slightly hesitant to go by himself.  I, however, got to converse with the adults and snuggle with Finn. After dinner, the family had a short program that included trumpet and piano pieces, story reading, and sing-alongs.  It was fun.  The evening finished with pie and hot wassil.  Yummm!  Finn was a hit in his Santa suit.



We got home for the Christmas Eve festivities around 8:30pm.  Kai quickly got ready for bed and laid out cookies and milk for Santa.  Reid and I did not make it to bed until much later, but we were able to see Santa arrive and watch him set-up the toys!  So fun!  Shhh....don't tell Kai, he'll be sad he missed it.

Christmas morning was fun.  Kai slept in until about 7:30 and then got up to find that Santa had come and eaten all of his cookies and milk.  Kai also found some fun toys in his stocking and under the tree.  Kai had asked Santa to bring him trains and a baby doll stroller.  Under the tree was the stroller, but then Kai asked "Where's the doll?"  Apparently, Santa did not get the memo about the doll and thought that Kai just wanted the stroller to push around his other toys.  So, we told Santa that mom and dad would take care of that later.

After opening all of his presents, Kai and I were playing upstairs.  Suddenly we got a call from Daddy to come downstairs and see what he found.  Kai was happy to find a train set that he had wanted all set-up in our basement.  He has spent HOURS with that train set already!  Santa was very good to Kai this year and he was very happy.

As promised, the day after Christmas, we all went out to get Kai a baby doll.  Now Kai can say his Christmas is complete.  To sum it up, he got an airplane, race cars, books, trains, playdough, a slinky, and a stroller and baby doll.  What more could a little boy want!!

 Note the leg up.  This is a required step to launching

       any car, didn't you know??  :P

Oh and Finn got a few things too, but you'd never know--both Kai and Reid have enjoyed his toys more than he has! 

We are so very blessed to celebrate this time of year together as a family and to remember the Savior's birth and all that it means to us.  For me, this year was a bit more tender as I thought about how the Savior's birth ultimately lead to his atonement and resurrection.  With Finn's health condition, those blessings seem so much more essential and special and I am so grateful for them.  I look forward to teaching him about the promised blessing of a resurrection with a perfect body, not one burdened by CF, and the joy that will be his when it is finally received.  What a wonderful plan and gospel!  I thank the Lord for Christmas!

9, 9, 9!!!

Finn is 9 weeks old today!  WOW!  It's been a long, but good, 9 weeks.  In celebration, he had his 2 month well-baby check yesterday.  It was his 9th doctor's appointment.  And that's just doctor's appointments, not labs or anything else.  No wonder the 9 weeks seem to have gone so quickly.  The most exciting part of the doctor's appointment was his weight.  Finn weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce!!  Go Finn!  He gained a whole pound in just 11 days.  It's weird that we don't have to go back to the doctor until after the New Year, but it'll be a nice holiday break. He's growing so fast, I wonder how much he'll weigh at his next appointment.

Well, I don't have any pictures right now, but they'll be coming soon.  Just wanted to put up his 2 month stats.

Height--20.5 inches (2nd percentile--yes, he's on the small side)
Weight--9 pounds 1 ounce (5th percentile)
Head--I don't have the exact number right now, but it was in the 50th percentile.  So, even though he's little, he still has a big head just like his brother.

If you Chance to Meet a Frown....

Poor Kai can't seem to catch a break.  The Monday before Thanksgiving he started in on a cold that lasted nearly two weeks.  Now that he's been cold free for just a matter of days, last night he started in on the stomach flu.  He was running a low-grade fever and threw up several times throughout the night.  Reid camped out in his room while I stayed in our room and took care of Finn.  By the time I got to Kai's room this morning, he was sleeping on towels and garbage bags and wearing clothes because he had run out of jammies.  Poor kid.  He's been watching TV all morning while I've been doing the laundry.  He's also asking for food, but the only thing I've given him so far is a Pedia Lyte.  It seems he's keeping it down, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

While Kai is not doing so well, Finn was full of smiles this morning.  Do you think someone told him that he weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce on Monday??  Hmmm....or is he just happy that he left a load in his pants for me?  Unfortunately, I think it's the latter.  But I love the smiles!!

Sorry it's so dark.  I didn't want to flash

the camera in his face.

Kids say the Darnedest Things

While sitting on Reid's lap this afternoon to get his shoes on Kai says, "Sometimes you have to sit on a man's lap to get your shoes on and say "MAN I NEED MY SHOES ON!"

I was laughing so hard I cried! It was just what I needed this afternoon.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we stayed in, just the 4 of us. It was the first time in our marriage that we had not had a Thanksgiving dinner with another family. We had agreed to split up the cooking duties, but in the end Reid ended up making about 90% of it. Am I a lucky woman or what??!


We enjoyed our dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, egg nog, sparkling drinks, and pumpkin pie. Kai couldn't find a single thing on the menu that he thought was worth eating. Ugghhhh...hopefully he'll come to appreciate it in the next few years.


As Kai managed to pass his cold on to Finn, Finn spent the day in his carseat sleeping. You could tell he was just not feeling good. The doctor has actually put him on an antibiotic, as coughing could stir up the bacteria in his lungs. It seems the cold is passing and I'm grateful for that. Having a sick baby is scary, but it seems to be even more scary to me with Finn's CF.

Weighing In

Finn has had several opportunities to be weighed in the last few weeks.  Here are some of his stats.  As you can see, he's gaining weight!

Finn at one month

November 19--At Children's Hospital--2.9 kg, or 6 lbs. 6 oz (we think their scale is a little screwy)
November 20--Pediatrician's office--6 lbs. 13.5 oz  (this is the scale we've been using all along, so we go with this one.  It was his first weigh in where he was above birth weight!)
November 27--Pediatrician's office--7 lbs 6 oz

Our next weigh-in will be at his pulmonologist appointment on Monday.  I'm shooting for a number that starts with 8.  Wish us luck!

Kai's foot is small for his age, and Finn's foot is just tiny!