Photo Week(s) in Review

Because we've been in the muck of sickness and being tired from sickness, I've been extra lazy about getting my camera out and pulling off pictures.  So, here's a review of pics from the weekend after New Year's, immediately following my stomach bug but before the current round of sickness.

Jacob's lacrosse team was doing the pregame tunnel and playing at halftime of the Knighthawks' season opener, hence the urgency to get there despite my illness.  Thankfully I felt so much better on Saturday so we could make Jacob's regular game in the afternoon and then head off to the Knighthawks game that night.  It was time for yet another banner raising...third in a row (and judging by the start of this season, probably the last for a while)...

The team got to be on the field to welcome the players out to the turf.  You can't really see them, but Jacob's team is in white to the right of the dancers (in black and teal).  The girls team was across the way in orange.

Here's Jacob ready to go out at halftime.  He was excited, of course!

They did a bit of a free-for-all out there like they did last year, so he ran in to take shots and actually was mixing it up with his teammates a bit.  Boys...any chance for a battle.  They were fine, just silly rolling around on the turf.  Here he is taking a shot...

Meanwhile, Carter was snacking away and smiling at the people above us in the stands.  Everyone loved his tiny jersey, which is getting ever closer to really fitting him.  It is pretty darn cute.

Finally, I had been meaning to take a picture like this since early December, and I finally remembered last week.  This is a view of the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester from my office.  Every year at Christmas they put lights on the cables attached to this piece of artwork, and it really does look pretty.  One of these years I'm actually going to get down there and take pictures from the base.  My boss actually did an awesome Christmas card this year with her abstract photo of it.  I just liked the look of the photo at twilight.  Not bad from 16 stories up, a couple blocks away, and through a window!

In other news...last night was another rough one, with Jacob up in the middle of the night again.  I think the virus must have shifted south...either that or his medicine is wreaking havoc on his system.  Luckily Craig was there so it wasn't just me, but it was yet another night awake for an extended period of time and I am really exhausted today.  This whole couple months of illness has been really draining.  From rough nights to work-related stress (for what I'm not there to be working on) to general stress about the kids' health to worrying about the next thing (which I only started doing recently, given this crazy series of illnesses we've had), it's all been pretty exhausting.  Add in the holidays and the end-of-year/new year stuff at work, and it's been one heck of a challenge.  I'm just ready for some smooth sailing, you know?  Seems like it's been far too long since that was the case, but in the grand scheme of things we're still pretty blessed.  Tired and germ-filled, but blessed.

More Medical Madness

Sorry to do this again, but this stuff keeps writing itself.  Here's the latest on our ridiculous medical drama. 

After an uneventful day yesterday, bedtime foreshadowed what would become a tough night.  I noticed at bedtime that Carter's low-grade fever was back.  In addition, Jacob didn't seem quite as comfortable at bedtime as he seemed for the rest of the day.  Still, both went down well and I stupidly stayed up later than I should have just because I wanted to get all of the ornaments off the Christmas tree.  I really wanted to get the tree down this weekend, and once I started the ornaments, I really needed to finish them because they're such a mess of boxes, tissue paper, and fragile items.  I probably didn't fall asleep until close to 1am, and almost immediately I was woken up by Carter's frequent whines and whimpers in the night.  Lately he's had a really hard time sleeping--naps have been interrupted, and his nights have been full of pathetic-sounding noises every little bit.  I'm not sure if that's just all of his congestion, or if the underlying cause of the head/ear issues that prompted last week's doctor visit are to blame, or if his molars are torturing him even though they're not even close to coming through yet.  It's a little worrisome, to be honest, but he's back at the doctor in a month anyway so I can nag them then if it's still an issue.  I'm keeping an eye on his coordination and things like that in the meantime, because him complaining about his head scares me.  I guess it's one of the downfalls of having friends whose little girl is in the end stages of brain cancer. :(

Anyway, Carter was constantly making noises, and I was finally able to block them out enough to sleep....only to realize at one point around 2:30am, I think, that Jacob was calling me.  I went down to his room, already exhausted from the previous night on the couch where I barely slept, and encountered a very unhappy little boy.  He was complaining that he was uncomfortable sleeping on his floor (as is our setup when he's sick).  I told him that he'd been fine for a long time, so if he wanted to sleep in his bed, he was probably safe to do so.  But he wasn't comfortable with that and we spent at least an hour with him writhing around on his floor, miserable.  He complained about his stomach and then back pain.  He thought he was going to be sick, but he was OK...and eventually he calmed down and went back to sleep.  It was still a rough rest of the night and I decided to turn off my alarm set for church, assuming that between Carter's fever and Jacob's mess, we wouldn't be making it.

Jacob woke up around 7-7:30, and although he called for me, he kept himself occupied and didn't really bother me.  Carter woke up a bit before 9am, and I finally dragged myself out of bed at 9.  As I was in the bathroom taking my morning pills, Jacob came in.  And immediately I noticed that his face was pink.  And then I looked at the rest of him...and realized he was full of raised pink hives.  HIVES.  Oh sh**.  Pardon the language, but after everything else....that was all I could think.  I immediately freaked out (calmly) and called the doctor.  They wanted us in right away, so I had to get two kids ready alone and rush over. 

The hives were scary, bright pink from his face down to the tops of his thighs.  It hurt to look at him.  I knew it wasn't an allergy thing because he hadn't had anything new recently, so I figured it had to be a virus (sort of like the roseola he had as a baby) and probably was related to the stomach bug.  The nurse said a few other rashes had already come in this morning, so perhaps this is going around! 

This is sort of a weird picture because I took it quickly at the doctor's office with Jacob protesting.  He was on all fours with his head ducked down and his back arched.  It's looking up his back, with his skinny shoulder blades sticking way out and the back of his neck is hiding in the space between them.  This is just a taste of what he had.

The tops of his thighs were solid pink.  His stomach was covered.  He was very itchy.  The doctor wanted to give him a shot of adrenaline and follow up with prednisone and Benadryl.  The shot worked faster than anything oral, so we went that route.  And Jacob promptly got sick.  Poor kid.  But he recovered from that quickly and we waited a while to make sure things were getting better.  It started to fade and we stopped at Wegmans for the rest of the medicine before heading home.  Shortly after lunch he realized it was getting worse again, and while I figured it was just the adrenaline wearing off before the rest of the stuff kicked in, I called the doctor again anyway.  It was normal, and despite the itching (most of the rash came back in spots where it wasn't previously), Jacob took a nap.  When he woke up, all of the hives were gone!  What a relief! 

He'll be on the drugs for a bit yet and we're still on the fence about school tomorrow, but I'm glad the worst appears to be over.  For this round, anyway.  Still feeling cautious about the rest of us avoiding it, and still mildly concerned about Carter's sleep misery, but I keep hoping that one of these illnesses will be the last for a while.  Fingers crossed this is it.

No, Seriously, SO SICK of This...

We are once again the sick house.  I don't know what the heck is going on here, but I'm starting to lose it.  It's not like we're just recycling the same germs, as every illness is different and too much time passes between the vaguely similar ones, but one way or another, those germs just don't want to get out of here. 

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk working away, and my phone rang.  I saw daycare's number flash on the caller ID and I immediately panicked.  Sure enough, Carter had a fever.  His fever was over 103, just like Jacob's was right before Christmas.  He was a little on the sad side, but other than a runny nose, he didn't seem too bad.  In fact, for a while I couldn't even get a fever on the thermometer, but it did come back later.  He had to stay home today because he got sent home with a high fever, so Craig and I split the day.  He took the morning shift and I took over when he had to leave for this weekend's Knighthawks' road trip. 

Carter napped for the first couple hours I was home, but he was coughing himself awake and looking awfully pathetic when I'd go in to rub his back and help him back to sleep.  I managed to de-Christmas most of the house in the meantime, getting down all but the tree.  It felt good to get it done, even though it's always a little depressing to lose some of the color and pizazz around here.  As I was finishing up, the phone rang.  It was the afterschool program, calling to say that Jacob was very upset because his stomach was hurting him.  Now, his stomach tends to hurt a lot--between his Celiac disease, minor constipation, and nerves, sometimes it's hard to tell how serious things are.  He probably has panicky nauseous episodes once a month on average, I'd guess, but very few of them turn into anything.  So...I wrapped up a couple things at home and headed over sometime after 4:30. 

When I got to the school, he looked miserable and was freaking out about how sick he felt.  I rushed him into his boots and coat, and we headed out.  Two steps out the door and he puked on the sidewalk.  Well, at least it wasn't inside, right?  And even more, it wasn't in my car!  I raced home and we had a few nervous moments near the end of the drive, but he made it out of the car and into the house without a problem.  We hung out in the bathroom for a while, but eventually he seemed OK and wanted to go lay down in the living room.  I pulled out the bucket and the comforter so he could take his spot on the floor, as is our custom.  He watched Scooby Doo and drank water for a couple hours and seemed fine.  I gave him some Gatorade mixed with water early in the evening, and just as I was getting Carter ready for bed, he came upstairs in a panic.  I assured him that I was going to get Carter in bed and be in to help him, but he got more frantic while I was reading books, so I had to rush through the end of bedtime and get into the bathroom. 

By then he'd had some diarrhea and looked upset again so I quickly grabbed the garbage can and handed it to him, just in time, in fact.  He had quite the episode and seemed to get out most of whatever was left in his belly.  Poor kid.  Still, once he finished up he was downright giddy, probably because he felt so much better.  We headed back downstairs and he fell asleep almost immediately.  That made me a little nervous, as did the shakes he got shortly afterward in his sleep, but for now he's sleeping soundly.  I'll probably have to get him some water overnight at some point, but he's always tough to wake up so I'm hoping he'll rouse himself a bit later.

In the meantime, I'm sitting on the couch with one ear on the monitor listening to Carter's noises...congested snores, lots of tossing and turning, and some coughs and cries.  Part of me is nervous he'll get this bug, even though he just had one.  Same goes for me.  Craig is on the road until Sunday, so I'm understandably nervous about how all of this might go down.  I'm figuring that I might just let Jacob sleep on the floor in the living room tonight and I'll sleep on the couch nearby.  Easier and less germy than me sleeping on his bed, I suppose.  Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow, but something tells me it will be a low-key day close to home no matter what.  We'll be playing the waiting game, too, to see if anyone else gets anything (including, God forbid, Craig somewhere in Connecticut).  I'm short on backups this time around, too, so I really need to stay healthy.  I've already used one-fifth of my sick days one week into the new year, so I really need all of us to get healthy ASAP and stay healthy.  We've had every sort of virus running through here in the past two months, and we really just need to not be sick anymore.  I'm tired of missing work and it's getting depressing to assume someone else is going to get sick and be right.  I don't know how to up our immunity.  Carter is starting vitamins as soon as I can get to the store (his doc didn't really recommend them and I was waiting until he was two to start chewables, but I think we're going to start a few weeks early), but the rest of us take them and we're doing what we can diet-wise.  I'm just at a loss.  This would be laughable at this point if it wasn't so darn miserable.  I don't mind taking care of my kids, but this has just gotten ridiculous.  I am SO over it.

Please pray.  Please.

The Name Game

So...I always wondered when it would happen.  Well, I wondered "if" it would happen, but I sort of always figured it would be a matter of "when".  Jacob wants to be called Jake. 

Over the years people have called him Jake now and then.  Of course, in daycare he was called "Rybi" for a while, because there were two Jacobs in his class and he had the last name more ripe for a nickname, I guess.  He never loved the nickname, or so he says, but he dealt with it.  Since he started school he's been the only Jacob at daycare when he's gone back there, so the nickname got dropped and he was Jacob or Jake, depending on the teacher.  But here and there throughout his life, Jake has popped up once in a while.  Teachers, grandparents, friends...and more often than not it made me cringe a bit.  Not sure why, but he's always been Jacob to me.  At home he's always been Jacob, and officially at school, he's always been Jacob. 

But now....Jake is slowly but surely seeping in.  He signs his school papers like that, his teacher calls him that, and he named his Wii Mii character that.  He likes it better now for some reason.  But I just can't call him that. 

Since the day he was born, to us he's been Jacob.  It was mostly a conscious decision to keep him as Jacob and not start calling him Jake as a baby.  I don't think we had a real reason, at least not outside of wanting to avoid "Jake the Snake" references, but we just stuck with the formal version and left it at that.  He just always seemed to be more of a Jacob to me than a Jake.  Like I said, I figured that at some point (high school, at worst) he'd end up as a Jake, but I guess I never knew how it would happen.  But now it is.  And I'm still resistant. 

He was born my little Jacob, and he's always been my Jacob.  To call him a new name after six years just doesn't jive in my brain.  I hope he doesn't take it personally now that he prefers Jake, but I just don't see it happening...at least not anytime soon.  I'll leave that to other people for now. 

I guess this is just one of those steps of getting older.  Before I know it he's going to be seven, going on to second grade, and then on to a whole new school.  Then it's going to be a few quick years until middle school, then high school, and then who knows what.  He's getting older and some days I don't know what to do with that.  This is just one of those things that's going to shape who he is for years to come.  We need to get used to him expressing himself in ways like this, I suppose.  Probably the least of our worries...but I guess it's a good warm-up.

Still, to me he's just Jacob.  Always has been, probably always will be.  We've got a lot of years ahead, God willing, so I suppose anything is possible, but he's my first baby...and for whatever reason it's a lot harder to divert from "the plan" with your first one.  The plan was Jacob.  And for now, I'm sticking with it.

Getting Sick of This...

Literally, I am so sick of this.  Adding to a long line of sickness, now I am sick.  Originally I thought it was the same illness as Carter had, but this is acting quite different than his.  From start to finish the worst of his was at most eight hours, and it was all throwing up.  After that he seemed fine, asking for water and food right away and having tons of energy.  And then there's me.  I woke up at 3am feeling pretty crappy.  Not to the extent I thought I would end up feeling like I do now, but crappy.  It started as a lower-half problem, but after a couple hours of that, I had one vomiting episode.  Luckily there wasn't much there so it was short-lived, and I felt much better afterward.  But things went downhill from there.  The lower half issues continued--not quite as bad, but not great--and no amount of hydrating seemed to make a difference.  I tried water and a water-Gatorade mix.  I've been consistently drinking all day and I'm still feeling dry.  I ate a couple cups of Rice Chex, then moved along to a banana and some pretzels tonight.  Nothing has come back up, but I'm still getting some gurgling.  I'm exhausted, a little dizzy when I get up, and having some muscle aches that I'm treating with Tylenol right now.  I just don't feel much better, which is discouraging.

Add into the mix that Craig's season officially starts tomorrow, and this is a recipe for disaster.  He's actually out tonight taking care of some media stuff, and I had to leave a screaming Carter in his crib at bedtime because I couldn't risk handling him too much.  He wouldn't leave me alone, kept chewing on things, and basically was the poster child for how illnesses get spread.  So I changed him and put him to bed as quickly as possible.  I felt terrible, but I didn't have much choice.  Jacob can mostly do his own stuff, but it's still a challenge being here alone with them.  Tomorrow Craig has to work most of the day.  Jacob has a lacrosse game, and his team is playing during halftime at the Knighthawks opener tomorrow night.  I have no idea how we're making any of that happen right now.  I'm mostly just praying for a quick overnight recovery.  It's just discouraging when you feel like you're doing all the right things and it's not helping.

I feel like it has been a constant stream of illness in this house for the past few months.  From Craig's shingles and his cold-like illness that he got just before the one I got in November, to my cold that stuck around for six weeks, then pinkeye, now this.  Jacob had his gluten exposure, lots of congestion, and then the fever before Christmas.  Carter has had colds, his Christmas fever, and then his stomach bug.  I feel like it's been an unprecedented series of sick days all along.  My boss probably thinks I'm making it up by now.  I really hoped that the new year would bring better health, but this is not a good start.  I'm worried about anything getting passed along to Craig for the opener or Jacob getting something just in time to go back to school.  Not only would either of those scenarios be awful for them, but it could mean more time off of work that neither of us can afford to take. 

I just don't know what to do next.  We take vitamins, we attempt to eat healthy, and yet one thing after another seems to find us.  Such a bummer way to start the new year...again.

Finishing Up

Sorry it's taken me so long to do this.  It's turned into an interesting week and this is the first chance I've had.  When I left off we had finished up Christmas in Buffalo and headed home for some time as a family.  We kept things pretty low key, just venturing out here and there but mostly sticking close to home.  Saturday was a rather warm day (pleasant and in the mid-50s) so I took some time to do some raking and cleaning up of our flower beds that probably should have been done a couple months ago.  We gave Jacob a test run on his bike...

Still a ways to go with the riding.  Pedaling is still a challenge for some reason, but we made a little progress.  Coordinating the pedaling AND the steering is new for him.  He can cradle a lacrosse ball, but bike riding...we shall see!

...and Carter got to reunite with his favorites, the lawn mower and the big wheel.

We also figured out that Jacob's bike helmet was too small for him, but it fits Carter!

Always mow safely!

On Sunday my parents came into town, fresh from their trip to Portland, to do our Christmas together.  I was excited because it was my first big family meal I'd ever done.  Seems crazy, but when you're always the one coming into town to the rest of your family, you don't often get the chance.  But I even got to use my grandma's china and I took care of the whole menu--ham, cheesy potatoes, broccoli-rice casserole (left over from Christmas day), corn, gluten-free biscuits, jello with fruit cocktail, and chocolate pudding pie.  My mom brought some gluten-free peanut butter cup cookies, too, and everything turned out great.  It was a low-stress meal and it was fun to host for a change!  Carter was very excited to eat, as evidenced by this picture below... 

Trying to climb into his seat!

After we ate we dove into opening the presents.  I was excited because I knew I was getting new sheets (ones that are deep enough for our mattress) and a new laundry sorter to replace the PVC one we've had since we got married (that Carter has systematically dismantled once the plastic aged a bit).  We all got some great gifts, though, and the kids were excited.  We also opened gifts from my brother's family.  Jacob got a Team France soccer uniform...

...and Carter got a Bills jersey, which you'll see in a bit.  I'll admit that Jacob was in a bit of a funk during present opening because he wanted toys (despite the fact he had so much amazing stuff in his room already!).  He got some books, clothes, and some stocking stuffers, before finally opening his big gift, yet another Playmobil set that goes with other sets he got.  He was very happy!

Carter got a Big Wheel of his own--a smaller one that he should be able to ride more easily than Jacob's old one.

He's wearing his Bills jersey and is holding a set of Lego-esque silverware that he loved!

I was very excited by my gifts for my parents this year.  I first gave my dad a magnet of his favorite painting at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.  I saw it when I was there on my birthday and thought it was a nice gift to remind my dad I'm thinking of him, every day when he walks to the fridge!  We also gave them a Keurig as a birthday-anniversary-Christmas gift.  It's something they'd almost never buy for themselves, but I knew they'd both enjoy it...particularly with the reusable K-cup I got them, as well.  They were pretty excited, so that was fun!

Monday the boys went to daycare so I could have a day to get things done.  They were excited to go, so I didn't feel guilty at all.  Craig and I had a lunch date and I headed out to do some shopping, which was moderately successful.  Yesterday I was home with the boys, and while it's tough to drag Jacob away from his Wii...

...we still had a relatively good day, in part because Carter took a marathon nap, which allowed Jacob and me to watch "A Christmas Story" (Jacob's first time) and I cleared out a ton of newspapers that had piled up.  All was well until after bedtime when we heard a weird cough from Carter's room, and sure enough...he had thrown up.  Sigh.  We tag teamed the cleanup (I did laundry and Craig did a bath) and I slept in Carter's room overnight.  We set up a comforter on the floor with some towels and kept a bucket handy.  He probably had about five or six episodes from 10:00pm to 4:00am.  At one point he hadn't had one in over an hour and a half, but then he had one again.  Then we tried a sip of water later on when he started asking for it, but that came back up shortly thereafter.  That was it, though.  He woke up perky and we were cautious with the water, then Gatorade and water, then small cups of Rice Chex...and he kept it all down.  It was hard to get him to rest, in fact!  Fingers crossed that it doesn't come back--to him or any of the rest of us!  Wouldn't be New Year's around here without someone being sick!  I'm glad it passed quickly, but I hated seeing him so sick!  Here's a pic I took yesterday of him once I finished putting together his new wheels...

We kept a low profile for New Year's Eve, of course.  Craig worked half the day and I ran out this afternoon to use some Kohl's coupons that needed to be used and pick up a couple things at Wegmans.  I came out to see some unexpected snow falling--a few inches so far!  Our dinner plans got thwarted multiple times (first by Carter's illness, then by a couple closed restaurants), but we got through and did a quick toast with non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice right before bed.  Once the boys were in bed I signed us both up for new gym memberships (my gym closed suddenly and a new gym nearby had a great deal ending tonight) and wrote this post.  Midnight is just around the corner and I can't wait to fall into bed after last night's very limited sleep.  But New Year's Eve only comes once a year so I will tough it out!

Hard to believe we're wrapping up another year.  I'd say this year was a little better than last year (Jacob's behavior and Celiac diagnosis were major downers despite Carter's birth and our trip to Disney), but we definitely had more low points this year--Craig's Nana and uncle passed away, my dad's surgery, continued challenges with Jacob, general health issues--but last year was so much harder for me overall.  I won't be too sad to see this year go, but I feel like we're at the point in life where there's always apprehension that each coming year could bring more challenges than good things.  Everyone's getting older, parenting gets harder, and it doesn't feel like we have any big, good stuff on the horizon to specifically look forward to.  But as always, I pray that this year will bring amazing things for us.  We have two amazing kids and great families, and I suppose that the fear of losing any of that can overshadow dreams of how things could get even better.  I guess that's the downside of having so many blessings.  You no longer need to dream of bigger and better because you have enough...but it's easy to worry about losing what you do have.  I don't mean for that to sound like a glass-half-empty thing, but I guess it does.  There's just less need to look ahead when right now is so full of good things.  Hard to explain, but trust me--I am well aware of the many, many good things we have and despite our challenges, I know we have it good right now.  Will a new year threaten that?  Or will we peak too soon?  I guess that's my concern at the end of every year.  But I do hope for the best for all of us.  So here's to 2015...may it bring wonderful things for all of us! 

Christmas!



After all of the craziness with Jacob being sick and the many late nights of shopping and wrapping leading up to the big day, we made it to Christmas.  Well, Christmas Eve Eve, anyway.  Because of our travels to Buffalo, we always have to do our home gifts early.  There just isn't enough space or creativity to get all of the presents there without "Santa" gifts being seen, so we have no choice but to do them at home a day or two early.  This year we were at least able to be home until Christmas Eve morning, so we could do a real "Christmas morning" at home.  It was much better than what we've done in the past, where Santa comes while the kids are at daycare so we can leave that night and still have a normal morning routine before daycare.

 

We set out some cookies and carrots with milk for Santa...

And once the kids were in bed, the rest of the presents got wrapped and the tree looked like this...

The boys actually slept in pretty good on Christmas Eve morning.  Jacob was up at 7am, and we told him we had to wait until Carter woke up, which happened around 8am.  Carter, of course, woke up with a cough, but he was happy enough so it was time to open gifts!  First the traditional picture on the stairs...

Jacob got a sneak peak of his big gift when he ran to the bathroom first thing in the morning and was excited to finally see it up close...

A bike!

On to stocking stuffers...

Carter probably could have stopped after the first couple stocking stuffers and been happy, but we continued on.  Jacob excitedly hit up his big gifts...one was a Playmobil rock band and stage...it lights up and it hooks up to an MP3 player!

And then he moved on to the other big one, and I happened to catch a great reaction when he opened up the front of the package...

It's a Playmobil castle that he really wanted but was a bit out of the price range until one of Santa's elves found a great deal out of the blue...

For some reason I didn't get pictures of Carter with his big gifts (a Duplo train and a Little People plane), but he loved them and I'll try to catch him playing this week.  One of the favorite gifts of the morning was actually a joint gift--a Hover Ball, which you may have seen on TV.  It's a soccer ball with a flat side that's made for kicking on rugs.  I wasn't sure it would work, but decided it was worth a shot because both boys could enjoy it together.  And for a brief moment, they did!  It worked perfectly and it's a very nice indoor ball alternative since it stays on the floor!  Hopefully there will be more joint playtime to come.

We packed up as quickly as we could and headed out with just enough time to make it to Craig's parents' house and change for 4pm mass.  The service was very nice as usual, with the added bonus of our family presenting the gifts. Ironic, of course, because I can't actually take communion there...but it was nice nonetheless. 

Afterward we went to Craig's aunt's house for the big family gathering.  It was a little different this year without his Uncle Mike, who passed away a month ago, but we still had a nice time and we all got some nice gifts.  Then it was time to head back to Craig's brother's house for the big exchange with the boys' cousins.  Jacob got both of the Lego sets he really wanted...but of course he blinked every single time I tried to take a picture...

Then he got a Playmobil set he really wanted...

He was so excited!

Carter did well, too.  He got clothes, a little train with Ernie on it, a little Duplo set, a whole set of dinosaurs, and a whole set of safari animals.  Both boys did very well.

Carter is kissing the elephant...silly boy!

We had a rather late night that night, not just because of the gift exchange but because of a stand-off with Jacob.  We forgot something at home that we really needed, and he freaked out when we suggested some alternatives.  The stand-off kept us up quite late, past midnight.  Once that was settled I couldn't sleep because there was a terrible windstorm outside.  Most Christmases around here it's cold and snowy, but not this year.  We had wind and thunderstorms instead!  The wind was terrible, with gusts at 65mph.  Two buildings in Buffalo partially collapsed!  We had a couple friends in Rochester with some property damage, though luckily all we came back to was the pinwheel in our front yard missing one petal! 

I finally fell asleep sometime after 3am, and the boys slept until after 9.  We had a lazy morning for the most part, just getting dressed and me preparing a casserole to take over to Craig's brother's for lunch.  Normally we have to leave by 11am to make it to my parents' by noon, but they were spending the holiday in Portland with my brother's family.  It's the first time ever that I've been apart from them on Christmas.  It was fine as I was happy that my niece and nephew got to be with them, but it was definitely...different.  Oh, and did I mention that our sister-in-law was sick with the flu and we didn't see her for even a second over the two days?  That was a bummer, as well.  But we had a nice time nonetheless. 

After a quick lunch we headed off to my extended family's gathering.  It was the usual chaos...lots of people, lots of food, a couple dogs, and the usual big gift exchange.  Jacob got an iTunes gift card that he really wanted and Carter got an awesome dinosaur toy that turns into an excavator (I actually almost got him another one in the line myself, after I got one for my nephew--they're super cool).  Then, some gifts from Santa arrived for the youngest kids!  It was not our doing, I will say that much!  We gave our OK for the special delivery because a couple of the cousins needed a boost in their belief in Santa, but the gifts our kids got were as much of a surprise to us as they were to them.  And boy, did Santa go all out!  Carter got a Leap Frog Innotab 2, and Jacob got--get this--a Wii!  If you recall the Wii U debacle from a couple weeks ago, this was not that, but it was a Wii nonetheless...a refurbished one, at least.  Santa went way overboard, for sure (though the main target of this little plan got an iPhone!), but Jacob is, of course, thrilled.  Carter just goes with the flow.  He spent most of the day with a bit of a fever, but he was in a good mood and I caught this adorable picture of him playing with his cousin Jordan's phone...

We also snapped the annual picture of the next generation (minus a couple who were at their other side of the family this year)...

We headed out after a late dinner and came directly home.  Due to the stand-off the previous night we opted to head back to Rochester instead of staying at my parents' empty house like we originally planned.  It was just as well, I guess.  It gave us the whole next day at home to sort through the gifts and clean up a bit.  We've had a relatively lazy couple days since, which has been much needed for all of us.  Carter is still congested but his fever was gone when he woke up on the 26th.  My throat is finally not sore for the first time in a couple weeks.  Tomorrow my parents are coming in to do our Christmas, and I'm cooking and might actually use my china!  It should be fun to hear all of their stories from their trip and finish off with a few more gifts. 

It was such a crazy rush leading up to the holiday and I'm savoring every moment of not having to do anything right now.  My dishwasher is fixed, we're all home together (for one more day), and I finally have a little time to think!  Of course I have a long list that's been waiting, but I'm not going to stress out.  This week is all about rest and recovery, and that's what I aim to do first and foremost!  Hope everyone had a nice Christmas...enjoy the last week of 2014!