So, before it gets any further into the new year, I need to record the events of our Christmas so that the details don't get lost in our memories somewhere! Warning, this is really long...but, there is no real way to shortening it!!
So back in September we got the great idea to go see the great-grandparents for Christmas. We figured it would be a great opportunity for the kids to meet the great-grandparents and vice-versa! So, we booked the tickets and the trip was set for December 22 - 27. Fast forward to December 17th the day after Rachel's 6th birthday we had a well "baby" check for both Rachel and Cooper (15 month shots - which included the chicken pox vaccine). Well, unbeknownst to us, Cooper had an ear infection...so we started him on antibiotics, thinking all should be fine by the time the trip rolls around! Fast forward to Monday morning in the wee hours, Cooper throws up from what we thought was the pain of his ear drum rupturing (still not sure if that was why or not). By the time I got home from the Y and was able to call the doctor to say he has bloody puss coming out of his ear it was too late to go in, but was able to start antibiotic ear drops that afternoon and Tuesday we went in to confirm the rupture...yep...rupture confirmed. Joy! Second round of oral antibiotics started that afternoon.
When I got home that afternoon, Eric was asleep and Rachel was still at school. I tried to stop Cooper from going in and waking up Eric, but he was already down the hall. As I ran after him, I see a huge puddle of throw-up in the hall and thought, oh no--Coops again. Eric wasn't asleep and quickly corrected me that he was the one to throw up! Oh no...so, I cleaned up the mess, cleaned up Eric and tucked him in. Daddy came home early to work on a project so I took Rachel and Coops across the street to a friends house only to come back 40 minutes later to Eric in the bathtub and more throw-up in his bed and all over everything!! Ugh...why does my tummy feel so icky!? Dinner on the table doesn't look so good...and then it comes...I start throwing up around 6pm Tuesday night. Luckily, I had packed almost everything, but sweet Brooks had to finish everything up while I laid on the floor and spent the evening throwing up! Blahhhh...
So then, we set the alarm for 3:30am because we planned to leave at 4:30. Well, instead we got a 3am wake up call from Rachel who started throwing up! Good grief...her bed was a mess and she was miserable. We quickly showered up, got everyone going and along with Nana and Papa were on our way to the airport. FYI, the 22nd of December is VERY busy even in OKC at 5am!! Mom and I took the big kids and our 13 pieces of luggage and got in line. Why 13 pieces? Stroller, pack-n-play for Cooper to sleep in, three car seats, two suitcases for the McMullans, two for the Jennings, and our four carry-ons. The line was almost out the door and we were a bit stressed (and still really sickly). Dad, Brooks and Cooper went to park the cars and LUCKILY, before they got back to us mom realized...we were in the WRONG airline line! Are you kidding me? We struggled over to the SWA line just in time for Brooks and Dad to wonder why we hadn't progressed very far. I confessed at a later time! :)
We did make it just in time. We weren't body scanned and we did all get to sit together, what a blessing. In the mean time, Rachel has been throwing up, and Brooks and I are very nauseous. We made it to Denver to realize that Cooper is now experiencing explosive diarrhea. Outfit one, down. And, Eric...who hasn't had an accident in about a month, has an accident. Outfit, number two down (actually, Rachel threw-up on her shirt, but we didn't have a clean shirt for her to change into)!
Fast forward to Sacramento and Cooper's being bathed yet again and changed into another outfit. We get all our luggage and find our rental and load up. Off to Fairfield to see the Eyres for a quick bit! We show up and Cooper has dirtied yet another outfit...we are down to a diaper and one of Eric's shirts. Rachel and Eric are starting to feel like themselves and our nausea is starting to taper a bit too. Off to Sebastopol to spend the next few days with the Jennings.
As we walk in the door, Cooper is in need of yet another change...so, while the men bring in the luggage and Nana helps get dinner on the table, I bathe Coops in the sink and change him yet again! Finish that up to Eric saying, "Mommy, I need a band aid." He says he burned his fingers and I see nothing, but he persists. I took him to the bathroom, sit him on the sink and ask him to show me...as he turns his hand over, I'm appalled to see two massive blisters! His fingers where SO burned. I immediately put them under water and the pain starts to register. He had touched the fireplace...sweet boy carried around a cup of water with his fingers in it for the next hour or two. Time for dinner. Brooks is holding Cooper, sits down only to have the leg of chair fall into the air vent on the floor! Are you kidding me?! What else can happen!? Oh my goodness...is the 22nd over yet??? Yes...it is!! Good night!
We wake up the 23rd to a mostly uneventful day. Oh, except that Cooper is all confused and decides to wake up around 4am and scream (we are in a 1600 square foot house and there are nine of us). Thanks, Coops! So, g'ma and g'pa are up by 6am and decide to have coffee at the table next to the pull out where Eric and Rachel are sleeping. So, time to get up. We decide we need to get the kids out, so we bundle up and head to the park just down the block. It's foggy and cold. And the park is WET. But, we need to burn some energy...so the kids end up soaked and cold. Not good, adventure over and the second load of laundry is ready to be washed! We sit down to a lunch of triscuits and cheese...
Nap time comes, kids go down, Brooks and I head to the high school and enjoy a nice 30 minute run around the track and have a wonderful mile walk home! Dinner comes and goes...good night again!
Wake up call on December 24th at 4am! Thanks, Coops...he has officially put us on the great-grandparents bad list!! G'ma wakes up with a bought of nausea. So, we leave and visit one of dad's old friends to get out for a bit. Great visit! Come back to lunch and a weak g'ma. She's started to prepare our big Christmas Eve dinner but doesn't feel good. So, Nana is a hero and steps in (after LOTS of insisting)! Nap time...Brooks and I head out for our run again. Fantastic workout, and relaxing walk home. Until! A block away from the house, Scooby the dog comes running out of his house and bites Brooks on the calf. YES! Bites him. The family asks if he bit him, we say yes. They load up in their car and drive off as I yell, "Is he up on his shots?" It broke the skin and left a nice little bruise.
Still gotta get home and get cleaned up for dinner. Check. G'ma still weak and shaky. Check. Nana gets dinner finished. Check. Dinner on the table and we all sit down to eat...then g'ma gets up and goes to the bathroom just as we start to pray and starts throwing up. Awesome!!! We all end up NOT going to church that night. We get the kids all settled and Santa's cookies are put out. Off to bed...it's been two really long days!
One am..."help!" "Somebody help me!"
Grandma is in the bathroom completely out of it. She is so sick from both ends. Mom and I end up spending over an hour with her, cleaning her up. She was a mess and g'pa was clueless. Oh, did I mention that Papa is starting to get sick at the same time in the other bathroom. PRICELESS!!! Two thirty am...back to bed! Merry Christmas everyone!!
So Christmas morning does arrive and g'ma and dad are still pretty puney...but, we have a lovely time opening gifts and celebrating Christmas morning!
As we are cleaning up and trying to put the beds all back together, Brooks starts to move the coffee table back in place. G'pa insists on helping and we are insisting that he not! Well, he decided to help anyway right as Brooks is putting his hand to the table. G'pa moves the table just right that it hits Brooks' pinky finger and pops it totally out of socket! He's so tough...he moved the table, and then went to the bathroom and with a loud grunt, popped it back in place. Sorry, babe!!
We were supposed to see dad's sister, but she has a weak immune system and so with all the sickies, we ended up not getting to see them. We were also supposed to leave at 12noon. But, decided we had lots of laundry to do for g'ma. There was a lot of soiled towels and linens after our 1am wake up call. So, heck, let's just wash all our linens too. So, while packing up, I first stripped our bed and threw the sheets in the doorway...you know...out of MY way! Only to have Papa bring me something from the other room, try to step over the sheets, miss his step, jam his foot into the door frame and yes, he broke a toe or two!!! And...now it's pouring rain outside! It hasn't rained once since we were there, but now that it's time to pack up the car...it rains!! Are we cursed?
Laundry is done, we are packed, we say our good-byes and off we go back to spend a few days in Fairfield with the Eyres. We arrive in time for a great Christmas dinner supplied by my mom's sister. All was nice until aunt Sherrie accidentally forgot to take the cover off the pie and we started a small smoke incident setting off the fire alarms. Though, it's very comforting to know that in community housing that the Eyres live, when an alarm goes off, they call to check on my grandparents. Good! All was fine. We did not stay with the Eyres...so, off to our hotel on base. What a nice two bedroom suite. Se slept SO well!!!
The 26th was a great day with the Eyres! Wow...how nice to have an event-LESS day! We went to church and watched g'ma play her keyboard organ. We listened to a nice sermon. Then had a fantastic brunch at their big formal dinning hall. It was YUMMY!!!! And the kids loved hitching a ride with g'pa on his scooter! G'ma and g'pa had lots of energy and really perked up with the kids around. It was really fun to watch g'pa light up around Cooper! I think they have a bond! :) We also went shopping for more diapers b/c Cooper had gone through all the diapers and the extras we brought. Thanks antibiotic!!! Oh, and did I mention, that Eric continued to have a few accidents, so we had to buy more pull-ups for him...in addition to a new piece of luggage to get all the new stuffed animals home!!
The 27th arrived, we packed up, said our good-byes and headed to the airport. Somehow, we were running a bit late...not sure how or why. But, Cooper was still pooping through EVERY thing, so we had to stop at a drugstore to get some more diaper creme...poor kiddos bottom was SOOOOO raw that it was bleeding. Poor guy! Anyway, we made it to the airport and got on our delayed plane just fine. We had a very short layover in Vegas and with the delay, we knew we were going to have to run! So, we managed to be at the front of the plane and when it landed, we got out as fast as we could and started running!! Well, everyone knows a three year old does not run in a straight line and Eric managed to find himself up under Brooks' feet causing him to trip and throw his back out. It was really painful and I think the passer-bys thought he was having a heart attack. Brooks literally fell to the floor and was moaning so loudly that several people stopped to help. All that, we make it to the plane...THAT WASN'T EVEN THERE!!! Are you kidding me? Why didn't they let us know that on the boards that our plane was late?? Brooks spent the next twenty minutes on the floor stretching out and tried to work out the pain. It didn't really work...poor guy! Well, we did make it home and finally got in bed around 230am on the 28th.
At 10am, we hosted a wonderful Christmas brunch at our home for some family who was in town. We got to see my cousin Will and his wife Stacy who were here from Africa and his mom (my wonderful aunt Gloria)! My cousin Kelley, her husband Dave and daughter Lucy were also in town from New Mexico. My parents also joined us...it was really nice, but man we were tired. Oh...but the day was far from over. It was time to spend Christmas with the McMullans. So, off to the McMullans and we had a really fun afternoon with all of Brooks' family! It was great...oh how we love seeing all the cousins together!!
So, we thought all was over only to find out that we spread our mighty tummy bug to the following: both grandparent Eyres, our nephew Jake, and my cousin Kelley. Not to mention how many people on the plane we probably gave it to?! I'm sure there are more, but we don't want credit for any more!!
We did get to enjoy a family Christmas and did you know Santa comes on the 28th during nap time, too?! Well, he does!
We also did a fun Christmas with my parents on New Year's Day. After which we watched the Sooners win!! Yay!!
Oh, and remember that chicken pox vaccine?! Just over two weeks later, cooper showed up with chicken pox. He was one of the few who get it from the vaccine (he was NOT contagious)! Lucky us...in addition, he ended up with RSV and we've spent the last few days doing one nebulizer treatment after another and spent plenty of money on doctor appointments and meds!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! Ours in not so much of a nutshell!!
(This post is too long to try to do pictures with - so, the coordinating pictures are above)!
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