Christmas Festivities

This afternoon Dustin, Henry and I got back home from Columbus.

We got to Columbus on the 23rd. It was our original plan to spend the 23rd and 24th in Edgerton with Dustin's family, but at the last minute his sister got the flu. It was just a short bug (no H1N1, thank goodness), but since Henry is still too small to have gotten the flu shot, we just couldn't risk it. (Thankfully, he'll be getting a regular flu shot at his 6 month visit in January.) So instead of going to Edgerton, we just headed to Columbus a little early.

We spent Christmas Eve running errands and making sure we had last minute gifts together and then me, Michelle and my mom baked and decorated cookies. We sent Dustin and my Dad out to the store to get some food coloring, and they brought back Neon colors (men!). We had a fun time making the most wonderfully ugly cookies I've ever seen.

Christmas morning went really well. Henry was definitely more interested in his gifts and toys than I had expected. He's really been reaching, grabbing and putting everything in his mouth lately, so Christmas morning he was having a ball. He liked the toys, but he had the most fun chewing on wrapping paper.

Dustin and I had the most fun putting all of our bows on his head.

 

Henry got a play cell phone, a 'Laugh & Learn Puppy', clothes and soft balls and blocks. He has been enjoying everything, but especially loves the puppy. My Dad also got Henry a proof set of 2009 coins. It's the start of his coin collection, just like his grandpa!

Dustin got a digital picture frame, a new drill, clothes, gift cards, laptop riser, and a bunch of geeky computer stuff from my parents.

Dustin got me a very practical and very awesome gift for Christmas -- a remote starter for my car! This is a must-have when you live in Michigan. I'm so excited to have it installed tomorrow! He also got me a tennis racket and tennis balls (so that we can play together in the spring). My parents got me a food processor, lots of fun kitchen gadgets, a Cricut cartridge, a bee necklace and other little fun stuff.

Overall, it was a great Christmas!

We had yummy steak and baked potatoes for Christmas dinner and birthday cheesecake for dessert. Speaking of her birthday... my little sister is now TWENTY! I made her a quilt for Christmas with Heather Ross Mermaid fabric. My sister is a huge 'The Little Mermaid' fan, so I made her a grown-up version.

We got to spend time with Eli, Abby and the twins Christmas evening and we visited Amy and Jim on Saturday. On Saturday evening we went to dinner at Mongolian BBQ to celebrate my Mom's birthday (the day after Christmas). Sunday morning Dustin, Henry and I went to breakfast with Tasha, Josh and little Zoe. It was so strange to see Henry and Zoe next to each other! Henry is only a few weeks older, but he looks like a giant compared to her! (Tasha... you gotta email me that picture you took.)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot one of the best parts! Dustin and I bought the new Super Mario Brothers for Wii. We played with my sister for HOURS. It was so fun because all three people can play at the same time. We were going after each other for the first few rounds, but then we learned that the only way to be successful playing with three people is to work together. I think on Sunday night we played for at least four hours... it was so much fun!

Of course, we didn't get to visit everyone that we would have liked, but I should realize by now that that's just how it goes. I think if I were in Columbus for a month, I still wouldn't be able to. Stuff always comes up and we just never have enough time. That's definitely one of the most frustrating things about living so far away.

The next part of this post gets kinda gross. I'm warning you all right now that I'm gonna talk about my son's poop. I'm even going to include a picture. I want to remember this because it's funny and gross and something I can tell him when he's 17.  It's a little story I like to call, 'The Stink-tacular Poop-splosion'.

On Sunday morning, Henry woke up crying. He wasn't crying normally, he acted as if he were in serious pain. On a hunch, I checked his diaper and there it was: a gigantic hard turd stuck in his little tiny tushy. I held him to try and soothe him while he worked on it, but it wasn't working. Dustin and I took him downstairs and showed my mom. I tried to help him by pulling it out (yes, I know... gross). I tried to massage his tummy, but nothing was working. I held him so that he was standing and Dustin spread his little legs apart and tried to pull it out for him, but it wouldn't work standing up either. We got Vaseline and lubbed up his little pooper to try and get it to slide out. (Thankfully by this time my Dad had brought me some latex gloves.) Finally, Henry cried so hard that he pushed it out. It was VERY hard and in two huge chunks. We all felt so bad for him. It made his sweet little tushy bleed! I had never known that little babies could have been bound up so bad. We made sure to give him some prunes that afternoon that he could get his little bowels all loosened up. This brings me to my next poop story. Later that day we noticed that his back was all wet... you guessed it. Those prunes worked their magic and he had a MAJOR blowout. He had poop up his back all the way to his neck and shoulders.

It was one of those blowouts that sends him straight to the bathtub. We definitely had a day with two extremes! Thankfully, everything seems to be in proper working order now. 

Tonight I've just been putting everything away, cleaning and getting ready for Dustin's family to come stay with us on the 30th. We're going to have our Christmas together and then we're going to go to Detroit together the next day to spend New Year's at Dustin's Aunt and Uncle's house (a tradition). It's going to be a great time!

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting about, but Henry is awake from his nap and requires my attention. I'm going to go back through my photos for the past few months and post some things that I forgot to post on here in the next few days, so stay tuned!