The Polar Express

On Dec. 18th, we went on the Polar Express Train ride. Emma Catherine was so excited to go on a "real, big" train and we had so much fun with our friends, the Creekmores. The train was a trip to the North Pole where the kids would get to meet Santa. Along the way, they read the Polar Express, gave all the kids gingerbread cookies and chocolate milk, and sang Christmas carols. When we got to the North Pole, Santa got on the train and rode back with us to the depot. He sat with each family as we traveled. It was such a neat time for Emma Catherine and we would highly recommend this for any family. I think there are Polar Express rides all over the country.

They were so excited to leave the depot.They are waving at Santa as we approached the North Pole. (look in the left of the picture and you'll see Santa)We couldn't believe we actually got Emma Catherine to sit on Santa's lap.

Preschool Christmas Party

Emma Catherine had a Christmas party on her last day of preschool and Ryan and I were both able to attend. We didn't know how she would act with us there, but overall, she did very well. They did a craft, ate their "chickala" lunch, and listened to a Christmas story. The children were all supposed to bring a small present or stocking stuffer for the other children in the class. Emma Catherine gave a princess book to the girls and a Curious George book to the boys. I also thought I would make a cute treat to go with the present.

A little while back some friends brought Emma Catherine a marshmallow snowman on a stick and I tried to recreate them. I let Emma Catherine help put the marshmallows on the sticks.

I then covered the marshmallows with white chocolate and made faces on them.

The gifts she brought to school looked like this:

Emma Catherine and Mrs. Janice

The Zoo and Santa

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Chattanooga Zoo to see their Christmas lights and to see Santa. We had never been there and weren't sure what it would be like, but we were pleasantly surprised. It wasn't crowded and Santa was great. There were no lines for Santa, you could take your own pictures, and he gave them a jingle bell and color wonder coloring book. Emma Catherine wouldn't sit on his lap but Bailey did. Then Emma Catherine decided to sit "beside" him. At the end of the night we took Emma Catherine for a ride on the carousel. We had it all to ourselves but she wouldn't sit on it. We let her pick any animal to sit on and she would not do it. I thought I would try to use Bailey to coax her on, but that did not work either, so Bailey and I took a turn. Emma Catherine then said she would like a turn but she picked the non-moving frog to sit on. She is scared of so many things right now and we hope that she grows out of it. We have done some other fun Christmas things and I hopefully will get to blog about those soon. Merry Christmas everyone! "For unto us a child is born!"

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is Ryan's 30th birthday and I know he doesn't always remember to read our blog but I just wanted him to know how much I appreciate him. He works hard for our family and is a great father. Since we have been married, I have tried to make an effort to make his birthday separate from Christmas. We celebrated on Tuesday night. He chose to have steak, potatoes, and salad and he wanted a yellow cake with chocolate icing. I ended up making yellow cupcakes because I thought that would be easier to eat for Emma Catherine. We had a great time celebrating.

New York

Again, I have so many things that I want to blog about, but I am trying to find the time between activities, shopping for Christmas, wrapping, catching up on laundry, Ryan's birthday, and keeping the girls out of trouble. Maybe I'll get caught up someday...

Every year we go to New York the first week in December and I always look forward to it. Some people have asked how we are so lucky to do that. I have to say that I have a very generous grandpa, who takes us. It all started when my grandma and grandpa went to New York in December to shop, see plays, and see the city at Christmas. My grandma died with I was in 6th grade, but she wanted my grandpa to conitune the tradition. He took my mom and my aunt when I was in 7th grade. After that my aunt decided to not go back and since I was the oldest grandchild, I got to go for the first time in December of 8th grade. Ever since then, we have continued going. My sister started coming when she was in 9th grade, and a couple of years I wasn't able to make it in college but my grandpa and mom have been every year. When Emma Catherine was 10 months, she went with us because I was nursing and Bailey went this year because of nursing, but usually it is my grandpa, my mom, my sister, and me.

This year we had such a fantastic time. Bailey was such a trooper flying, being in the cold, and not on her regular schedule. We spent our time doing a lot of shopping and we love to see the people and all the Christmas decorations. We went to see the play, Wicked, and it was incredible. I can't even tell you how much of a help my grandpa was. He watched Bailey the first night so I could go to the play with my mom and sister, and then each afternoon, he would walk Bailey back to the hotel to take a late afternoon nap, and my mom and sister and I would stay out shopping for a couple more hours. It was so neat for them to get to spend special time together and he took such great care of her, putting her down for a nap, etc. I couldn't have asked for a better trip.

She's all bundled up

Papa and Bailey are about to walk back to the hotel

We are standing on a stairway right in the middle of Times Square (which happened to be right across from our hotel)

The Rockefeller Christmas tree is the in the background

Bailey's first trip...

...to the ER. Well, here we go again. It was not too long ago that Emma Catherine made her first trip to the ER and last night I was back with Bailey. Last night my precious Bailey was crawling around the kitchen while I was cooking dinner and Emma Catherine was throwing a fit over cleaning up. I was just about to get our dinner out of the oven and I opened the oven and then turned around to try to diffuse Emma Catherine's fit. Why I did not go ahead and get the casserole out of the oven, close the oven, and then turn to Emma Catherine, I will never know, and I will always feel horrible and sick to my stomach about what happened next (because of my carelessness). I'm sure you can see the writing on the wall...Bailey pulled up on the open oven door and burned the whole palm of her right hand. When I realized what I had done, I turned around to see her standing there and I grabbed her up. It's a miracle that both hands were not burned because they were both on the oven, but only her right hand burned. At first we weren't sure how bad it was, but we soon realized she needed to see a doctor so I raced her to Children's hospital. She cried most of the way there, which was agonizing for me because there was nothing I could do. As I drove I felt horrible because I knew I had caused her not to be able to suck her beloved right thumb, which is the only thing that soothes her. By the time we arrived she had cried herself to sleep, and she was very calm. The nurses that checked us in were very surprised at how calm she was acting. Once again we had a great experience and all the nurses and doctors were great with her and with me. I was crying and they were so kind and reassuring to me. Bailey has 2nd degree burns on her right hand and they gave her a special cream to put on the burns twice a day. We also have to keep it wrapped up for at least a week. I'm really not sure how she is going to sleep without her thumb. She has never used her other thumb or a paci. She did sleep last night but before we left the hospital, they gave her a dose of Tylenol with codeine, so it knocked her out. Nap time may be interesting for awhile.

Bailey has been doing well this morning. She is moving by using her elbow on the right side and she is still trying to pull up. I have to be careful though because she doesn't have great balance and she falls easily. I thought she may have been fussy, but so far this morning she hasn't really been fussy at all. Poor girl, my heart just breaks for her because I know everything is more difficult for her. We would definitely appreciate prayers for her, that it will heal quickly, that she will not be in pain, that there will not be scarring, that she will be able to sleep, that there will be no infection (that is a concern with any burn), and that there will be no motor development issues with her hand or fingers.

Our family cannot seem to stay out of the doctors office/hospital these days. Since Emma Catherine's ER visit, Bailey had an ear infection, I had a bad sinus infection (that still hasn't fully gone away), Emma Catherine had walking pneumonia, and on Wednesday Bailey was at the doctor because she has pink eye. It has definitely been crazy to say the least.

On the way home last night as I was praying to the Lord for Bailey and thanking him that she was going to be okay. The Lord brought to my mind some friends of ours, the Grubbs. Garrett was the youth pastor at Ridgecrest while we were there, and he now lives in Albany, GA and is the youth pastor at Sherwood Baptist. (The church that made the movies, Facing the Giants and Fireproof) Their new baby, Gabe, is fighting for his life. He was born very premature and having some complications. I thought, "Lord, my baby got burned and it was a horrible thing, but at least she is alive and doing great, and my friends are praying for their baby to live." I cried out for baby Gabe and the entire Grubbs family, and I am praying that God will completely heal baby Gabe. Will you join me in praying that for this family?

These are pictures of her hand wrap. In the first picture, it looks like she is showing it off. In the 2nd picture, she is still smiling, which makes mommy happy.

9 Months Old

Bailey turned 9 months a couple of weeks ago, but things have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write a new post about her. I honestly can't believe how quickly she is changing. It was just a short time ago that she would stay in one place and now she is all over the house. She started scooting about 3 weeks or so ago and now she is full on crawling. She can get anywhere she wants to go, which means I have to be a lot more careful about what we leave on the floor. She especially loves to play in Allie's water bowl. She is also pulling up on everything, but she isn't pushing anything yet. She is still a generally happy baby and a great sleeper. At her doctor's appointment she was 18 lbs 14 oz (75th percentile) and 28 inches (80th percentile). Because she was getting close to 20 lbs and that is our car seat limit, we moved her into a big girl car seat. She looks so little in it compared to Emma Catherine. I'll be glad when we can turn it around to front-facing. We are starting to give her table food and she seems to like what we give her. During meal times, I can already see a little bit of a temper, when she wants us to give her more food. We're hoping she'll be a good eater, like her sister...so far, so good.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We always decorate our house for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving since we are gone for all of Thanksgiving, plus we like enjoying the smell of a real tree. We debated over whether or not to get a full size tree for fear that Bailey might get into it or pull it over, but in the end we decided to go ahead and get a full size tree because Emma Catherine was so excited about getting a tree and Christmas in general. Every morning she looks from the top of the stairs down to the tree and says, "My Christmas." (not Christmas tree, just Christmas) The first morning she laid down in front of the tree for about 15 minutes, just staring at it. So far, Bailey hasn't really even paid attention to the tree. We just distract her with toys if she even gets close to it.