Here's what we've been up to

Since Makinlee was born, I have taken a ton of pictures but haven't posted any. Don't really know what I was waiting for really. SO without any further waiting, here is what we've been up to around our house with a new baby.

Daddy catching some shuteye...

Don't mind the date stamp, haven't figured out how to change it yet...

Big boy cousins Nixon (left) and Dawson

The DeClerck side of the family had a reunion this summer and Great Grandma DeClerck came over to portland from La Grande. It was great to get all the family, cousins and everyone together!

Gerti DeClerck with her Newest Great Granddaughter.. Kinlee!

Gerti and Kinlee only 2 weeks old!

After the Reunion on the DeClerck side of the family, we also took Kinlee to this years Warrior Dash up at Hornings Hideout. Ryan and I ran this crazy 3 mile race last year. Sadly, we were just spectators this year.  Hopefully we will be up for being Warriors again next year!

Labor day weekend we went swimming at my dad's condo, poor kinlee is not a fan of cool water!

We also walked in the Susan G Komen Race for a Cure in September. Kinlee and daddy in PINK

our little Pink Warrior

Real men wear their babies.  Our favorite way to pack around the baby

Kinlee Cuddle time

Pumpkin patch fun!

Griowing up so fast!  Happy Thanks Giving!

Kinlee on Christmas morning. We had her blessed in church and she looks just like the Christmas tree topper Angle!

When I get around to it I will post all the pictures of the fall and winter things we have done





Falling leaves...a big fat hole

In my heart that is. I dis like this time of year greatly. The ugliness that comes after fall depresses me.  The turning colors of the leaves, the cool mornings and warm afternoons, the crunchy sound the leaves make on the sidewalks, all things about fall that I loved growing up.  Sadly living in thee NW, that doesn't seem to be the case for fall.  Yes the leaves still turn pretty colors. But it happens later and later every year, and doesn't last as long because it starts so late.  The cool mornings around here, turn into cool afternoons.  And there is no crunchy sound of leaves when everything is soggy! soggy rainy grass, soggy leaves, soggy pumpkins.  SOGGY.

I feel a little happier about the changing seasons this year than I normally would because this year, I have the sweetest pumpkin ever to share everything with. And its a year of firsts. Baby's first fall, Baby's first Halloween. It's much easier to put a smile on your face and wade through soggy fields to find a pumpkin when you know how cute your baby will look sitting inside it!


Ryan surprised us with an early Christmas present last night. I'm very excited to say we are the owners of a new computer.  Really its just a new tower, but what a world of difference it has made already. Our old tower was a self built model that got Ryan through college, 8 years ago.  It made the office sound like a helicopter would be landing outside any minute.  It also was so old, that I couldn't download Itunes on it.  Not a great thing when you have an Iphone that must have access to Itunes to be used well. 

It has a ton of great features and I'm so excited to be able to get all the pictures of my sweet baby, and the fun things Ryan and I did prior to baby up. So be ready for lots of catch-up posts this week! 

photo opt

Makinlee had her pictures taken when she was 4 days old by amazingly talented friend and co-worker Jill. (You can find her on face book under See Jill Run Photography.)  We had a great time and Im so happy that we had this chance to capture her amazing newborn days at home. Here are some of my favorites.

 

First family photo

 Chipmunk Cheeks

 Tiny little head

 Mommy and her angle

 Daddy's little girl on the tractor for the first of many occasions

Thank you a million times over to Jill Browning for her talents and time away from her own family to be with ours.  It was an amazing day, and one I won't soon forget.

The Grand Entrance

I figure if I don't hurry and write it all down, i will forget every little detail that seems so crystal clear right now.
Week 35 of pregnancy started off a little on the rough side.  I was at work on Monday morning like always, doing my job when I started to notice that I was getting pretty consistent contractions. Consistent and painful enough for me to take notice and start timing.  By lunch time I was having more than 5 in an hour and called my doc, who of course always just says, come in and lets check it out.


I went in and was monitored on the NST for a while and they could watch the contractions. I was 70% effaced and getting soft and ready for labor. Doctor told me I could go back to work and just take it easy. Probably just Braxton Hicks contractions and I would be fine.  Monday night at home was terrible. Awful painful contractions every 15 minutes or so. No appetite, nausea and I couldn't sleep to save my life.  Tuesday at work, I left an hour into my day to go home and attempt to sleep.  Trying to not go into "real Labor" as I was only 35 weeks along which is not full term and baby just isn't ready yet.  By wednesday I was feeling much better and worked the rest of my work week.. Thursday night when Ryan got home from work we had a good dinner and went to bed later than usually after staying up to watch a movie.

I woke up at 2:20am needing to potty, as many pregnant women who can't sleep through the night do, and my water broke.  I stood next to the bed totally soaking the floor and having no real idea what I was supposed to do next.  I woke Ryan up and told him what had happened.  He was so good. Calm and ready to take action. We called the hospital to tell them we were on our way in, then called my mom, (at home in Utah 800 miles away) and told her to get in the car and start driving. I wasn't currently contracting and thought as this is my first child it could be a long day of labor.

We got to the hospital about 3:30am and were put in a Triage room where the nurses have to verify that Im really in labor and my water really was broken.  Bad idea.  The nurse who did the exam told me that there was no evidence of water breaking and I had probably just not made it to the bathroom in time.  Looks like they were sending me home.  By this time i was contracting again and i was in a lot of pain. The nurse said i was to early for them to induce labor, but they would watch me for an hour or so and see if i made progress on my own. If i did, they could admit me and we could have the baby today, if not, i was being sent home to wait for real labor.

The only problem was, the nurse didn't believe i was in labor yet and wanted me to hydrate myself so she kept pushing me to drink more water, drink more water, take a sip of water between contractions.  Well, any women in labor, or who has been through labor before knows that drinking or eating can make you nauseous and want to puke, which is exactly what happened to me. I got so sick i was crying from the contractions and vomiting between them.  The nurse returned to check me at 5:30a and said i had dialted and they could admit me. So off to a real labor room we went.

Just before 7 am my doctor came to round and said I could finally have the epidural, just wanted to check me first and see where I was. In less then an hour I had gone from 2cm to 9 1/2 and ready to push. The epidural lady came in and started her thing, which took way longer than I ever thought possible. Im sure it wasn't really that long, but it felt like it to me.  In the middle of what she was doing I felt the urge to start pushing which scared me pretty bad. Knowing you can't move while they place the epi, and feeling like your baby is going to drop right out is not comforting at all.

Sadly after 2 &1/2 hours of pushing baby girl got stuck. She was sunny-side up, which is upside down for a proper delivery, and her head was tilted just a little bit to the right so she was not gonna make it through.  After trying and trying to rotate her and make it work we opted to stop trying and save her from any more swelling on her little head and me from un-needed stress of doing the impossible. 

Makinlee DeClerck was born 8/5/11 at 11:49am by C-section.  6lbs 9oz, 18.5 inches long and brown hair. With my amazingly supportive husband Ryan by my side we survived the surgery and i even got to do skin to skin with my baby girl just a minute after they got her out. It was the best of both worlds.

My mom made it to Oregon just as we were moved from recovery to the post partum floor.  We were in the hospital until Monday afternoon. My mom was able to be here with us for 9 days. I can never say thank you enough for all the help she and my little brother and sister gave us.  Perfect little baby, perfect little family!

From counting UP...to counting DOWN

Saturday will mark 34 weeks.  Its an exciting day in the grand scheme of things and I must admit there were many times in the last few months that I never thought I would make it to this point. 

The week of the 4th, we had family over on Sunday to celebrate my Mother in-laws birthday. I woke up not feeling real great, but screwed on the smile and greeted family and played Host the nephews and enjoyed a good day.  I had a sudden attack of nausea that left me running for the bathroom, only to end violently vomiting.  It only happened once, and I seemed to feel much better once it was over with. Family left, we cleaned up the house and laid down to rest on the couch for a while.  Ryan notice as i was going to bed that night that I had a very large, dark purple spot in the corner of my left eye.  Nothing to worry about, I figured if I couldn't feel it, it was fine. 

The next day at work, I had another sudden nausea/ vomiting attack.  I called my Dr. at the request of the nurse's i work with.  "Come over and let us check you out", the constant response anytime I call on them.  So, over I went.  I was put on the NST monitor again to watch little Bambina and see how she was doing.  Her heart rate started in the 120's and never got any higher.  about 10 minutes into the monitoring the heart rate started to have "variables" which basically means the heart rate was dropping down into the low 90-80's.  Not a good thing.  It was happening repeatedly in the monitoring. I ended up having to have another Ultrasound, and the drops in heart rate were being seen again there.  Dr. was not thrilled but was unsure how significant it was.  His plan for me.... off the labor at delivery at the hospital for extended monitoring.  I was admitted to the triage room at St Vincent hospital and hooked up the NST monitor all over again.  Ryan came as soon as he got of work and waited with me.  He is such a great man and will be an amazing father. Lots of waiting and watching the strip print out of the machine.  Bambina did not have any more heart decels while i was being watched and they let us go home after about 4 hours.  Again on strict instructions to drink plenty of water and rest as much as possible. 

Week by week I wait and wonder.  This child may just be the death of me before she even arrives.  Thankfully, baby has been very happy and well behaved since the trip to the hospital. I'm still seeing the Dr. weekly and having testing done at every visit.  the goal is to make it all the way to 39wks.  we shall see. 

Maternity Pictures

I have a friend who just hapens to be an amazing photographer. She is starting up her own business on the side and I was happy to be her willing modle for some maternity pictures.  We had them done the weekend of the 4th at a park in North Portland called Catherdral Park. Its a really nice random park underneath the St. John's bridge. I was 31 weeks at the time and Jill did an amazing job.  Here are some of my Favorites.

We had excellently hot weather and I spent the whole time trying not to glisten...  Ya right. We also had some funny pictures taken of the dogs, and an attempt at a family Picture.

My Big beautiful beast Harley, 16 months, and Kiya, 8 months.

Can't ya just see what a big happy family this is going to be very soon?



Baby blog....Turned Journal

I have had many people in the last few weeks ask me if i was writing down everything about this pregnancy. Keeping track for posterity and what have you.  I thought i was.  "I have a blog" I tell people.  Sad truth of the matter is, I have a blog that is lucky to see a monthly entry. 

While i try to explain away my slackerness, I will just start writing. And keep writing until this little bambina decides to grace the world with her presence.  

I turned 30 weeks pregnant last week, and promptly spent the rest of the week at home on bed rest.... Yet again.  It started last week on Wednesday when shortly after lunch time I realized that I hadn't felt her moving much at all. After much prodding and prying from the loving nurses I work with, I finally called in to my Dr's office.  I was asked to come right over and be seen. So that's what I did thinking the whole way there that it would just be a simple check for heart beat and back to work I would go. 

I was put on the NST monitor, or Non- Stress Test machine where they watch babies heart beat and the uterus for any activity like contractions.  In a normal test in someone 30+ weeks along, the strip should show baby's heart rate increase a small amount 3-4 times in a 20-30 minute time period.  Bambina failed this test miserably.  Her heart rate remained low and steady the whole time.  I was ushered into and Ultrasound room for a scan of baby that would look at her Biophysical Profile.  Basically watching her gross muscle movement, muscle tone, amniotic fluid level and her diaphragm for breathing movement practice.  she gets 2 points a piece for each of these things, and she has to show them to the US tech in a 30 minute time period.  she narrowly passed this test.   Her fluid level should be between 10-20 at this time, and we were rockin it right at 9.7.  The very low end of normal,  I was told. And on top of the low fluid thing, it took baby the whole half hour and some vibration stimulator thing to make her do the breathing movement. 

SO needless to say, I was stressed out, and then told by my lovely DR. that I was being sent home with strict instructions to lay low and drink PLENTY of fluids.  that's the only way to build up amniotic fluid.  Great, two more days off work that I don't need and a whole lot of time on my hands to sit and stew about baby and what could or could not be wrong with her. 

I was allowed back to work on Monday after a restful weekend laying on my couch drinking more water than the lake can hold.  Baby was nice and active all weekend and I wasn't to worried about her by the time i went back to work Monday.  By Tuesday at 11am, I facing Deja Vu!  Baby was again not moving at all!  I hadn't felt her move since going to bed on Monday night. 

Doing what the Dr.'s and nurses had told me last week at my impromptu appointment I call them again to tell them, she was MIA in movement.  Back to the office I went. more NST's and another US after she failed the test yet again.  On the bright side this time, her fluid level was up a little bit just over 10.  so the rest and hydration was doing its job slowly but surely. 

Its so very frustrating to worry about something that A- you have absolutely no control over in the long run, B- you can't see to check on or have any sort of reassurance, and C- that the Dr.'s seem to think all will be fine when you feel like your little world is falling apart. 

So, here I am, wishing there was a window into the womb.... 37 weeks can't come soon enough

Headaches + Pregnancy = MISERABLE mama

I always knew that being Diabetic would add challenges to being pregnant. I accepted this with the first positive test and I have become accustomed to the twice daily injections and all the finger sticks to check my sugar. I've even gotten used to missing out on dessert and staying away from the carbs I so dearly love.  What I was not prepared for, however, is the ever growing list of things that have made this pregnancy more than memorable and not for the best reasons. 

Having to been seen emergent-ly at 15 weeks for bleeding, never a good thing.  Being sent home from work for a week on bed rest at 23 weeks because of high blood pressure, never a good thing.  And then there has been this week.  27 weeks pregnant and I have been fighting a Migraine headache so bad I'm going cross-eyed.  I have a list of medications and home remedies to try, as headaches can be a common symptom of pregnancy.  However, after the first 5 or 6 that make you nauseous and cause blurry vision you start asking for something a little stronger from the Dr.  At first we assumed that the headaches were related to the Diabetes and I would get less headaches if the blood sugar was in better control.  Then it was bad headaches because the blood pressure was to high.  Now both of those two oppositions are well controlled I have no excuse for the headache that its rapidly approaching the end of day 2 with me. 

After fighting through blurry vision and dizzy spells at work for a day, i finally got up the nerve to call the doctor.  Nothing is ever and easy phone call with them, so half an hour later, I was sitting in an exam room waiting to see the big man.  Hearing the nurse tell you that you have gained almost 5 lbs in a week when I've gone almost 28 weeks and only gained 9 total is shocking and disturbing.  That's about the same amount of fluid an average IV fluid bag holds.  Swelling in my lower legs and feet was starting to show, to the point of being able to push on my calf and have your finger print stick around a while.  I was given two options. Go to Labor and Delivery at the hospital and get started on IV fluids and IV pain medication to get on top of the headache, or get sent home with Narcotic's and strict instructions to rest, as well as being started on blood pressure medication.  I choose option #2 and went home, or rather straight to the pharmacy to drop off the new list of medications to be filled. 

Somewhere, I'm sure, there is a breaking point in me. Luckily I haven't found it.  I'm ready for baby to make this easy for mama. I'm having a very hard time this week imagining why women would ever want to go through this more than once.  If you have any idea's, or words of encouragement to help me realize my lot is not that bad, and I'm sailing through pregnancy more easily than other women, I'm all ears! 

learning to take it "EASY"

Every pregnancy has its hiccups, as i was so comfortingly told by my Dr. last week.  You just have to roll with the punches and learn to listen to your body, and Learning I am.
After a busy day at work on Monday i called the Dr. to let them know what my sugars had been over the last week, and mentioned some cramping and pressure i was having at the end of the day.  Silly me to think it would just be pushed aside and i could continue on my merry way.  After confirming with the on call Dr. I was sent for monitoring at 5pm. After a quick Ultrasound to check on baby and make sure all was well, i had to see the Dr.  My blood pressure had sky rocketed. 150/90.  i was told to go home and rest, and check my pressure again in the morning. 

After our staff meeting the next morning, I had my manager check my pressure again. 158/94. Needless to say I was sent home from work with strict instructions to lay low and rest, no work, house or otherwise and to follow up with the Dr. again on Friday.  So after a few tears, and trying to make sure my shifts for the week were covered, i went home. 

Its very difficult to rest.  Being laid up on the couch when you don't feel bad is so hard.  It was a major lesson in patience. I am so very thankful for my husband and all the extra he did around the house while i was unable to do it.  I am also so very grateful for the amazing friends i have that checked up on me and made sure i was surviving. 

Thankfully my appointment on Friday morning went great. My pressure is back down to normal and i was ok'd to go back to work under strict instructions that I check my blood pressure often and take it as easy as possible.
Today's the first day back, wish me luck!

The Great Name Chase

Being an expectant mother brings on more emotions than one person should be allowed to experience at one time.  Its both wonderful and cruel.   I work in an OB/GYN office so I'm surrounded daily by mothers, small babies, and the hormones of all the above.  One would think that after a few years, you would become accustomed to the hormones and daily changes in feelings.  Just wait until it happens to you.

Know that we are for sure this little person will be a Girl, the name chase is on.  How does a mother and father go about naming a child?  Are there stead fast rules that must be followed? is there a guideline somewhere that lets you in on all the little secrets that a first time mother should be aware of when naming a tiny person?   The more you ask around, and the more you search on the Internet....the more terrified I have become. 

Everyone has an opinion and everyone has that one perfect name.  I unfortunately have neither.  There are a few family traditions I plan to stay with, like giving the first boy the fathers name for his middle name.  While I love my job, I often drive home wondering what kind of drugs some parents where on when they picked out the name of their new little life.  I don't want my kindergartner to struggle learning to write his/her name on the paper and making it fit on the line. I also don't want the playground bully picking on him because i choose a name no child should have to live with.

These are the kinds of things i stay up at night thinking about.  The dreams of a nameless child wondering through life... the thought of "what if i pick a name and the baby comes out looking completely different"  "what if i can't agree on a name"   Am I alone in the name chase? completely over-hormonal and emotional to pick a name and be happy with the way it sounds and flows?  What will my nameless baby be?

Big Changes are a comin

I realize that this blog takes a backseat to the rest of my life. Its been neglected and left out many times. I should feel bad about it, but I just can't seem to muster up the energy to care that much.

 Life moves forward at an alarming rate these days. Christmas has come and gone, spring is here, although in the NW we have yet to see it. Its still raining daily with cold weather keeping us in jackets and long pants.  No gardening has happened as all my flower beds are mud puddles.  The deck furniture can't come out of storage because it would always be wet...not very conducive to outside sitting in a soggy chair.

On a very bright and shiny note, Ryan and I will be welcoming the newest member of our little family in August. We are expecting our first, a little girl the end of the summer.  I'm 18 weeks this week and finally starting to feel her move.  Its the craziest and most amazing feeling.

Little hand in front of her face

Lucky me, being Diabetic makes this a high risk pregnancy and I'm being followed by a maternal fetal medicine specialist and I'm on insulin injections twice a day for now.  They are keeping a very close eye on both of us.  At the end of April i have to have a fetal Echo cardiogram done to make sure the diabetes hasn't caused any heart issues with her. 

Poor Ryan, he will be sorely out-numbered but he is going to make the most amazing dad. I am so very excited to bring this little person into the world with him. 

We have also finally finished painted.  Our bedroom is finished and i will get pictures up as soon as i find my camera.  The nursery has a fresh coat of paint and thanks to my amazing Co-worker Natalie, we have a natural wood crib waiting to be put together.  Nat had twin girls that will be three this summer and are moving into big girl beds so we get the old crib.  Very exciting news after looking at how expensive they are brand new. 

We also got new light fixtures for our bedroom and the back bedroom. Ryan also updated all the locks and door handles on all the outside doors so i feel much safer in this old house. 

Kitchen Floors and puppy baths

I realize that these two things probably don't belong together. But in the crazy world of our little house, they really do.  I don't know many people who would be willing to have carpet in the kitchen, but on top of just carpet, we have really pretty red carpet.  In the grand skeam of things, i was really pretty content to let this be one of the last things we changed in the house because it really is the newest looking floor in the house.  Ryan thought differently when he found an amazing deal on craiglist and could get hard wood pine flooring for way cheaper than the Depot could get it for us.  So the project started. 

Not having any idea what kind of flooring was underneath the beautiful red carpet..Ryan went full force ahead and ripped out the carpet.  What we found was only a tiny bit scary.  Laminet flooring that has been down for only heaven knows how long. The subfloor was generally ok except in front of the dishwasher so we lucked out not having to completely replace the kitchen floor.  It only took an hour or so to get the floor ready for the new stuff.  With some Christmas gift cards and our sweet Craigslist deal we were off and running with what was supposed to be a cheap and easy upgrade.

4 boxes of new floor measured cut and layed down we came to a screeching hault. 2 of the 6 boxes of flooring were not the same. Different pattern, different color, different size.  It was terrible.  Just about 3/4th of the floor had been done. The stove was in the middle of the kitchen as only half of the cubby underneath it had been done, the fridge was in the dinning room. We were at a stand still.  Home Depot looked at us like we were crazy when we told them we needed to match the floor we were putting down. Why didn't you bring your recipt and we could match the UPC numbers? Where did you buy the first 4 boxes? That kind of flooring has been discontinued.  Of course it has.  Because nothing is ever easy.

 After many internet searches and many phone calls to the maker of the flooring we learned that they upgraded the flooring type and were no longer making the kind we had already put down in the kitchen. We would need to order two new boxes that would match the color and just hope that the locking fit would be close enough to hold them together.  The old stuff required you to lay down some insulation padding first. The new stuff comes with the pad already on the back of the floor piece.  Oh, and lucky Us, Depot would have to special order the flooring and it would take 7-10 business days to arrive in the store.  SO... that left us with a half done kitchen, a lopesided stove and a fridge in the dinning room for what could be two weeks.  Good thing I'm a go with the flow kind of women. Besides, with a kitchen torn apart, I don't have to cook dinner.

We finally got the call that the new floor was in and Ryan went and picked it up that same day.  The kitchen is finally finished and it looks AMAZING. Totally worth the wait and hassel. We also finished the paint in the dinning room and front room and hung pictures up on the wall. It looks like a home now and I love it.  I owe many thank yous and much appreciation to my wonderful Husband for all his hard work.  I would be lost without him.  Here are some pictures of the process.

The old laminet flooring and tac strip. Really pretty yellow color isn't it?

Notice the darker yellow spots and the green boarder...

In front of the dishwasher had to be replaced because the sub floor had rotted out. we can blame the leaking pipe from the dishwasher for that one.

Don't mind my Giant puppy Harley, but this shows that red foam pad that was under the new floor and how only half the room was finished for 2 weeks while we waited for the new floor to come in.

Finished product! 

Isn't it so nice? Its a dark pine. I love it. we put a white tall floor board around the cupboards.

I tried to find a picture of the red carpet that was in the kitchen when we started but i was unsucessful.

I have to throw in a picture of Kiya's first bath time in the kitchen sink.  She looks like a drowned rat. poor thing.  She really loves the warm blow dryer after the bath though. Makes her look like a giant fluff ball.

Poor Kiya. good thing Mama loves her.



January 2011, its here and its all brand new and shinny clean.  There are so many things the new year brings. Millions of people jumping on the wagon, joining that gym, eating better, making thousands of millions of promises to ourselves and others that in reality may never see completion.  But its new, and its all own to make of it what we want.  We have much to be thankful for with the coming of a new year.  A roof over our heads, Jobs to go to whether we like them or not, cars to drive us to work and to play, and family and friend to enjoy the ride with. 2010 was a rough year, and brought many painful and terrible things to many of the people in my life, and its exciting to have a fresh start.  I hoping for every ones sake, that the miserable things we endured last year have only made us stronger and much more ready to enjoy the blessings of 2011.  Happy new year to my loved ones. you mean more to me every day.

Christmas

I read the blogs of my friends and family and think to myself that there are so many amazing writers among us.  Why our blogging community is not on the New York Times best sellers list I'm not sure.  I enjoy getting lost in the lives of people around me. Makes it much easier to deal with the day to day of my own life.

My cute little nephew celebrated his 6th Birthday on 12/12/10.  We had a family party at his house with his favorite food lasagna. He opened lots of presents and we had cake and ice cream.  Dawson is very into Yo-Yo's and rocks.  All he asked for was one red light up yo-yo and millions of rocks.  Easy to please right?  Here are some pictures of the adventures.

I apologize for the blurriness. I had 2 year little brother Nixon in my lap and it was not easy to hold him still and take pictures.

 Another year passed and I didn't not make it home for Christmas.  Another holiday spent on the phone wishing loved ones Merry Christmas instead of sitting on the front room floor of my grandma's with all the cousins and aunts and uncles waiting for Santa to come and bring us pj's. Or waiting oh so impatiently for mom to take a picture of the tree and all the Santa goodies before claiming the perfect present opening spot on the sofa.   Its this time of year that reminds me like a cold slap in the face how much I miss being in Utah with my family. 

Don't get me wrong my in-laws are great and do a wonderful job of filling in the void. Brady was even here with my Dad for the week so I was able to spend time with him.   Christmas eve we had a feast at Ryan's mom and dads house with Stacey and her family.  We exchanged gifts and sang Christmas songs and read the night before Christmas.  Here are the pictures from this adventure.

Dawson and Papa getting the Chestnuts ready to roast

Dawson rocking out on his new Paper thin Guitar while dad and Kaelin watched in amazement

Daw and Papa reading the night before Christmas

Our attempt at Stacey's family picture. Nixon in the chair all alone, Dawson facing the wrong way, and everyone else just trying to smile.

On Christmas morning I woke up to a gift, a new addition to our little family.... A puppy!  I know it sounds crazy, but we brought home a little Pug/Yorkie mix that we named Kiya.  She is a whooping 2.4 lbs and will probably max out right around the 8-10lbs mark.  She is incredible sweet and loves to cuddle. She is also very brave and not afraid of her big sister Harley or the cat Stella.  It took a day or two but all three of them seem to playing nicely together and so far, Kiya has not been stepped on by the big dog. 

Kiya needed a sweatshirt so she wouldn't freeze.

I love her face

Harley 10mo and Kiya 11wks

We had a great christmas even though I didn't get to see family and there was no snow.  Hope all of you had a great holiday season!