A Merry Christmas?

Christmas Eve started off fairly uneventfully. Jeff, Elise and I opened up our presents and stockings in the morning because Christmas morning we were to drive to Medina. Luckily Santa knew were leaving town and made a special stop over at our house a day early. What a guy! He scored a hit with his blue 'Wahoo' doggie-- something for Elise to sit on and bounce as she does this with her balls (or real dogs!)around the house.

We put Elise down for a nap but she had a tough time falling asleep but eventually did. Thirty minutes later she was up. When I got her up, I noticed she was having problems breathing- she was wheezing and labored to breathe normal. We got her up and she seemed to rally even though she still was wheezing. It sounded like her cold was settling into her lungs but she didn't know how to clear all the thick mucus in her throat and nose. We ran to the store and bought everything we could: a humidifier and Vick's chest rub. There isn't anything over the counter for a 2-year old to take. Because of her good spirits we decided to head over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for presents and dinner.

At Grandma and Grandpa's house we opened up stockings and some gifts. Aunt Amy gave Elise a talking tea set. After their tea party and a few more gifts, we took a break for a yummy dinner. During dinner, Jeff and I made the decision to head to the hospital ER as it was getting harder for Elise to breathe, especially when she was trying to eat. We figured it could be a long night at home if Elise didn't have something clear up her chest. So, we left without finishing up opening our presents or even anytime to play with our new toys.

So, at 6:30... we arrived at the hospital ER. To summarize everything up, Elise was quite a sport! She enjoyed playing all of the hospital games like: wearing the pulse-ox sticker on her
finger, taking pictures of her chest (x-ray) and breathing the cloudy mist (breathing treatment x2). Plus, she got to take some really yummy medicine for her fever and steroids for her chest. And who would have thought that they have tv's in the rooms that play Cifford.. our new favorite show. Our young resident even admitted watching Clifford as a child. Jeff and I realized that he was younger than us since Clifford wasn't on tv when we were little! Are we old or is he young? Hmm..

The diagnosis: Upper Respiratory Infection. We were sent home with multiple prescriptions and the name of the only pharmacy open at 10pm on Christmas Eve. And, we even were given our own nebulizer as a souvenir for the night since we have to continue giving breathing treatments here at home.

As the evening wore on and as our bedtime came and went, Elise finally started wearing down. By the time we got home, showered and in bed, we were almost 2.5 hours past our bedtime.

So, this essentially sums up our Christmas 2010- pajamas, Cheerio snacks, and movies. Merry Christmas and hopefully 2011 is a bit healthier and happier for us! We cancelled our trip to Medina but Elise needs a few more days of rest. She obviously isn't feeling well and still is a bit wheezy with a slight fever. We're sad to have missed the rest of our Christmas and hope this is the first and last year we are away from our families...

As for our Christmas dinner, we will pay homage to the 'Christmas Story' movie and order Chinese. It's either that or another meal of spaghetti-Os and lunch meat sandwiches!

Children's Wonderland

Donning our 'I believe in Santa' shirt and a runny nose (yes, again!), we took a family outing to the Children's Wonderland in Sylvania. Jeff used to see the indoor light display every year as a child. And it truly was quite a wonderland!












Elise loved all the lights- probably because we've already corrupted her into loving everything Christmas. The highlight was riding a train around a display of Santa and the North Pole. Mommy was a trooper as I was the only adult riding. I must admit that I look a bit giant-like but I know Elise enjoyed the company. She was sad to see the ride end and gave us her best sad face.

























Before leaving, we took family photos in a photo booth and even got a Santa ornament to make later at home. And we even saw a school bus outside! Bonus!





















A trip to Target yesterday scored us some fancy new holiday shoes. Yes, they are made of diamonds in case you were wondering. It's amazing that Elise loves them and actually wears them as she's pretty particular in her footwear. So, if you see her out, make sure you pull out some sunglasses as these shoes are bright!




Here we are, showing them off. Look how serious Elise's face is... and the fuzzy hair!

Our Christmas Card

Cane Column Christmas

Turn your photos into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Family Christmas Pictures

Now that our Christmas cards are finally getting out, I wanted to post some more family pictures we took with Santa- one of which is on our Christmas card. Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here!

Cured...

I meant to post these from the other day... Elise and I were fighting colds but we found a cure... a muffin top and milk at Panera. We thought we'd pass this along if anyone else needed help fighting an ailment.

Snow Day

A winter storm changed travel plans for both Elise and myself as we had planned to go to Medina visit Nana and Poppa as well as best friends Sarah and Riley (who would have been up from Columbus). Rather than stay home, housebound, we dug out last year's snow suit and played outside. Yes, I hadn't yet bought Elise new snow pants so she squeezed into last year's 6-9 months size! Either Elise is

small or those pants were just big... I choose the latter. Daddy got into the festivities with several sled trips around the yard before starting up the snowblower.

Afterwards, we all headed inside and had hot chocolate. Elise was happy to stir the warm milk until it was ready. Daddy and I had mugs of hot chocolate while Elise was content with a glass of warm milk with a 'splash' of chocolate seasoning along with a graham cracker.























On a side note, Elise is starting to tell us she's tired and ready for bed! Daddy likes to snuggle and read Elise books each night before bed and over the past several nights, she's been pointing to her bed before the book reading is over. He asks, 'Are you tired?', and then Elise shakes her head 'yes'. Fabulous, I say! Now, if only she would do this for naps... heck, if only she was a consistent napper! We've been in a phase of 20-minute naps so it's no wonder she wants to go to bed a night!

Santa Pictures

This weekend we took our family picture with Santa Claus. Jeff and I formulated a plan ahead of time to optimize pictures with the Big Guy.. first we'd take a family picture and then we would attempt Elise's pictures with Santa. Luckily we stuck to the plan as Elise wasn't too sure about Santa. Maybe he was hiding something under that beard? Back at home we snapped a few pictures of her in Christmas dress. You'll have to wait for the official picture after we send them out in our Christmas cards... but I'm throwing in a teaser for now.





















We also decorated our tree... one of my favorite Christmas events (complete with Christmas music)! Elise loved decorating the tree because it entailed organizing which is something I like to think she inherited from me. All of our 'non-breakable' ornaments are down low in case Elise decides to touch up her job over the Christmas season. She even put the star on top.

Thanksgiving

Where has the time gone? Thanksgiving has come and gone in no time!









We celebrated Thanksgiving first in Medina on November20th with Nana, Poppa, Uncle Rik and both great-grandmothers: Granny and GG. Of course the food was fantastic and Elise gave it two thumbs up.













After the great-grandmothers headed home, we took Elise to her first parade up on Medina's Square. They had a gospel choir that Elise absolutely loved. She danced and danced and danced (watch the video!). The parade was a lot of fun as well although Elise feel down and gave herself a puffy lip. She didn't seem too upset as Christmas lights always cheers a girl up!


















On Thanksgiving day, we hosted Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amy and Uncle Chris at our house after we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (which seemed pretty similar to Medina's minus a few balloons!). Again the food was fabulous and we enjoyed every one's company- especially Elise who is always up for a party!

And of course the Buckeyes wrapped up another fabulous Big Ten season! O-H!









Yesterday Elise had a bit of a runny nose. She took it upon herself to grab a piece of toilet paper to take care of the problem. She came running into the family room only to have the entire toilet paper roll trailing behind her... Too cute!