Time with Family

We had a great Christmas. This year we weren't really focused on gifts, but cherishing the time spent with loved ones. Hayden was a little under the weather. He was a bit crabby. I am not sure if it was too overwhelming. We did have four Christmas's in one day. David went to work on Friday and I drove to my Aunt's house to see my Dad and Step Mom. We are having lots of fun. Hayden has been feeling so much better. He is even sleeping better (at someone else’s house too). He is going to other people now and doesn't really cry for long if I leave to go take a shower. Hayden loves Alex, my brother. I know that it is probably a boy thing. I told him that in a year or two, Hayden would follow him everywhere. My aunt gave us a wagon. Hayden loves to be pulled up and down the driveway. David is getting lonely, we miss him tons! I am ready to sleep in my own bed. I have lots of work to do when we come home. I need to pack away all of the Christmas stuff. I will be going to school to reorganize my classroom to get ready for another semester. I am ready to go back to work. I have really enjoyed the time off. Hayden and I are spending quality time together. Tomorrow we are going to my grandma Husenica's house. We will be helping her pack

Don't Tell Dad

As I have said before Hayden loves to copy me. The other day he found some chap stick on the floor and this is what I found.


It was so hilarious to watch him put it on. He was hiding in the bedroom. When I was packing I was going between the rooms trying to gather everything. I had a few shoes out in the closet. I realized it had been a while since I saw Hayden. I called him a few times and he didn't come. So I went looking for him. In the closet he had my black high heel shoes. He was trying really hard to get them on. Once I went to get the camera he walked into the living room.


I am so surprised that he made it that far in heels. David is going to hate this post. When Hayden does things like that David tries to give him his shoes or clothes to wear. This was truly a cute moment.

Dancing Dude

I had to post these videos of Hayden dancing. They are so funny. I love how he dances even when there is no music playing. The first one is him dancing with his guitar. He loves to push the buttons that plays songs and dance to them. The second is him dancing to the Battlefield Bad Company game. This is one of David's games that he plays on his Xbox. Hayden will go over to the Xbox and try to turn it on. He will eventually get someones attention and say more. I am not sure why he loves the tune but he asks for it all the time.


We will be leaving sometime tomorrow to go to Houston. I am so excited to celebrate the birth of Our Father with family. I am also grateful that David does not have to work. Today we went to run some errands. There were tons of people out. It took me 45 minutes to get to Old Navy (it is only 5 miles from the house). When we got home I needed to bake a cake and 2 sweet potato casseroles. It has been a busy day. Hayden is feeling a lot better. It seems that his ear has stopped draining. I am praying that the ear drops work. So we won't have to use antibiotics.

A Little Better

Hayden is feeling a little better. He slept so well last night. He slept from 8 until 4:30, then had a bottle and went back to sleep. He has been sleeping with me so I can check on him. During the night his left ear ruptured. I didn't notice it until we were at the doctor. There was dried fluid all along his ear. That means that the tubes are doing there job. They are there to help drain fluids in the ear. Anyways, we left for the doctor at 9. The doctor checked him out. The thing that he she was concerned was that he has had fever for a several days (although he didn't have any there). She listened to him and said he was wheezing. There was a lot of drainage in his throat and ears. She sent us to get a chest x-ray, to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. While we were at the hospital we went ahead and did a RSV swab. I got a call this afternoon and everything was negative. Praise God! I am guessing all this is from his the ear infection. We were out all day. We left at 9 and didn't get home until 1:30. Hayden seems to be feeling better. He has played a lot today. I am hoping that he will be better by Christmas. Hayden was helping we wrap presents today. He was so cute! I would write the names on the tag and he would scribbled along the tag and the paper.

Santa Came

We opened gifts eariler! It was a lot of fun celebrating and enjoying our own Christmas. Last year we opened a few presents in Midland and then the rest in Houston. I like savoring the moment of celebrating as a a family of three. You could see the real emotions of Hayden's excitement. This Christmas was a lot of fun because Hayden could participate. Although Hayden was sick, he enjoyed it. It was so cute, he wanted to play with each gift he opened. We had to hide a few so that he could open the rest.


His favorite was his Santa Gift, which was little thing that he rides on and it makes noise. He loves pushing the sound buttons and moving the bucket up and down. I thought it might be to big because it was for 18-36 months. It fits him just right, his feet touch the ground. David and I are blessed with good jobs that allows us to spoil Hayden and each other. Although this year I set a budget and I shopped the sale ads to allow my dollar to go further. David did all of his shopping online! Hayden got tons of clothes (mostly from Old Navy because I had a 30% of coupon), a lot of new books and one that makes animal sounds,

3 puzzles (they are Melissa and Doug brand, these are durable and easy)
4 Tonka Cars, he loves to push them. The big cars make noise when you push them.

A guitar that plays different songs, (this was a big hit too, since he is into dancing), and some other things.

David got a fancy tool set which I know nothing about. I went to Home Depot and asked for help. By the time I walked out of there I spent 400 dollars. I have no idea if that was a good buy or just stupid. David says its a great set, based on what he read. He got an Ihome. I didn't buy the right one. It does not play the Iphone correctly. He also got some clothes, a book, and other tool stuff. I already have a pile of returns for Hayden and David. David is so cute. I will tell him things I need or things I have been looking for. I don't think he is actually paying attention but he is. One of the things, I have been looking for is a knife sharpener. We have a great set of knifes that we got as a wedding present. It has a knife sharpener. I don't know how to use it correctly because it never works. So he bought me this fancy sharpener that sharpens different types of knife and scissors. I am a gadget queen so I loved it.

A really neat George Foreman grill. It is a 360 degrees grill. I can make anything with it. I can't wait to find new recipes to try. I think I am going to make homemade quesadillas. I also got the Purpose Driven life book. I am planning to start if after Christmas. What made the book even more exciting was that David wants to read it too. I am glad that we will be going through that journey together. My favorite gift is my diamond earrings. I didn't think I would get them. I am not a fancy jewelery person, but I like small little things. I love my wedding ring and the band I got for Valentines day. David also got me a small diamond necklace that I wear every now and then. I kept telling him, I need a 1/2 cart pair of diamond earrings. I wanted something small and dainty. I love them! I don't think I am going to take them off anytime soon. This last picture is so precious. I look forward to many more of these. Hayden wanting to be just like Dad. There a not words to describe how amazing my husband is. He is truly a Godsend and I love him dearly. I love the fact that he loves Hayden as much as I do. He would do anything for this kid. See, his new present he can't even look at it without his shadow coming. David just lets Hayden live in the moment...


**Update

Hayden is still running a fever. Today, I did 3 breathing treatments. I seemed to help. His nose was running like crazy. I kept on suctioning it. His diareha isn't that bad anymore. We are down to 2 or 3 today. He is drinking a lot of Pedlite. This is helping. He is having a lot of wet diapers. The doctor called this morning. They can't find anything yet. They are going to let it grow and we will hear something around Tuesday. Even if his fever breaks tonight or earlier in the morning we will still be going to the doctor. I want to make sure that he is fine. Please pray for him. He has been a little trooper. He has had a lot of Motrin and Tylenol the last few days. I am hoping that I can stop tonight. I would like to not give him anything. If I don't, his fever gets really high. Tonight was the first bath he has had in days. He enjoyed it and hasn't woke up yet either. We will be in Houston soon. I will post sometime tomorrow, after the doctor visit.

The Story in Pictures

As many of y'all know I love to capture Hayden's moments. I always save pictures by the months so here are some for December.

Hayden loves to climb. He likes to pull out whatever is in the dryer and then climb on. I am waiting for him to figure out how to climb to the top of the dryer.


Hayden like to wear these sunglasses. He loves for me to put them on. I love the smile! He has such a cute baby face with all of his curls.


Hayden has pulled off a few of the cabinet locks. I figured since the ones that he can get into won't hurt him let him have fun! Hayden knows when this mixer comes out something yummy will follow. I let him lick the wire whisk. The one I use to make whip cream or frosting. In another picture, he has the wire whisk attachment and is licking it, even though there is nothing to lick on it.


This is Hayden in his Christmas outfit. He wasn't cooperating this day so this is the best one I have. I love his Converse. I was debating if I should have gotten the high tops. I wished I did because his fat chubby feet keep sliding out of the back of the shoe. At least he can wear these in the Spring (if they still fit).



These two are so funny. Hayden decided to climb into Holly's kennel when she was in there. He got stuck. I had to take the thing apart so I could get him out.


This is Holly being held by the principal. She had a hard day of playing with everyone. Since I have been home she has missed playing with all of the kids.






This was taking on Friday when Hayden was sick. He is having a lot of fun. He loved me chasing him with the camera. I guess he thought it was a game. Hayden liked to hide behind the bush. I couldn't see him through the bush, but he could see me.

*Update
Hayden is doing a little better. He played more this evening. The afternoon was rough. Hayden would cry and cry when he was about to go to the bathroom. Hayden was crying and crying. He would clinch his body really tight and hold on to me really tightly. David was working so he told me to call the doctor on call. I did and she wanted to get a sample of his stool. David ran the diaper to the hospital so that we could find out what was wrong. No word yet, she said probably we would hear something in the morning. Hayden finally stopped crying after he went potty (peed). If his fever isn't gone by Monday we will go the the doctor to get blood drawl and more lab work done. He has really bad diaper rash. I ran to the store to buy cloth diapers and cloth training pants for him to wear. He was feeling a lot better when he wore those. Please pray for our little guy. I have been making a point every night to lay hands on him and pray his health and wisdom for me and David.

Virus Bug

Poor baby boy. He is so sick. Hayden started with a cough Tuesday afternoon. When he went to bed, he threw up because he was coughing so much. I thought it was allergies or just a cough. So I gave him some medicine and he went to daycare. On Wednesday, when I picked him up they said that he coughed so much that he almost made himself throw up again. So I called his doctor, they couldn't get him in on Wednesday so he had one on Thursday afternoon. He was running a low grade fever so we gave him some Tylenol and then he went to sleep in our bed. In the middle of the night he started crying, he was so hot. I took off his clothes and we checked his temperature. He had 103 fever. He wasn't sleeping really good. So I took the day off and got his appointment changed to an earlier time. The doctor said that he probably has a respiratory virus. He needed to be swabbed for RSV. We would have to go to the hospital for that. I figured since the treatment was breathing treatments that it didn't matter if we knew. I know the signs and symptoms of RSV. I stayed home today and stared Hayden on breathing treatments. He is not feeling good at all. His nose and lips are red from all of the wiping. I am hoping he gets to feeling better by Christmas. On top of all the cold stuff, he started having diarrhea again today. I am glad that I am off for the next two weeks that gives him to to get well again. So pray for him that he gets over all of the junk. David and I and trying to make Hayden comfortable. David has been coming home for a long lunch break and leaving earlier to help me out. It is nice to have a second hand when he is sick. David is now coming down with a cold. It always seems that Hayden and David get sick at the same time. They must pass it between them. They only thing that Hayden loved doing today was playing outside. He and Holly would chase each other. He loves climbing steps. Hayden likes to run through the leaves. I can't wait until we buy a house and the two of them will have so much fun in the backyard. I have a lot of pictures of Hayden that I am going to try to upload this weekend. I will make another post because Santa is coming earlier.

Copy Cat

I have a copy cat kid. Hayden always makes me laugh but this has topped my list, along with a few others. Yesterday I was cleaning up an accident that Holly had. I got a few paper towels and cleaned the area and then fussed at Holly and threw them away. I had left a few extra paper towels on the floor. Hayden picked one up and then squatted down (he grunted while doing this). Scrubbed the carpet then wadded up the paper towel. He went to find Holly was saying something to her and then threw away the paper towel. I wondered if this is what I looked like to him. It was so funny to see him do this. I was cleaning the kitchen while Hayden was playing in the living room. I usually put my robe and slippers on when I take out Holly. Hayden put the slippers on and then attempted to wear the tie from the robe around his body. He was rolling on the floor trying to get the tie to stay put. He eventually got frustrated and threw the tie on the ground and jumped on it. David is back from being offshore. He hasn't been so busy since it is the holiday season. It is nice to have him home more. Hayden and I are enjoying spending time with him. Mimi (David's grandma) is in the hospital please pray for her. I am not sure when we are going down to Houston. School is over on Friday for me.

Adventure

We had an eventful day, on Sunday. I made breakfast. Hayden loves biscuits. He ate a whole one and oatmeal with applesauce and a bowl of Cheerios. So we all got ready for church. I dressed Hayden in his Christmas outfit. He looked so handsome. We got to church early. I asked for a beeper because last time he cried the last 10-15 minutes of service and I didn't know. Hayden went with the nursery worker with no problem. So we left and found our seats. We heard one worship song and the pager went off. So I went to check on him. He was crying a lot. I got him calmed down and he was playing. David shows up and say well, I will stay with him if you want to go back to church. As I was walking to leave someone said that they have a family service. (They ask you not to bring your child with you to the main service so that you aren't bothering others). So we walked around the church and went to family service. We were basically watching it on a TV. There were other familys there too. We sat down for about 3 minutes Hayden is climbing on the chair next to me. The chair tips back and the lady behind him catches it. Then we I went to stand him up on the floor he took a few steps and fell and hit is head on the brick wall. So we got up and left. Church was an adventure the 15 minutes we were there. David was so embarrassed. I told him people understand that's what happens when you have a kid. I am not sure why he has been so clingy lately. Maybe he just needs more time with us, which is fine. I love being needed by him because there will come a day when he doesn't. I have been busy at work. We are making cookies and decorating them this week. That is going to be fun! Hayden said stop at daycare today. I haven't heard it yet. I rarely call him by his first and middle name. Only when he is doing something naught. So today, I was talking to him and he was ignoring me(this has been his new thing and pushing your face away when you ask him for a kiss)so I said Hayden David I am talking to you. He stopped playing and looked right at me and then ran away. He was calling da (Dad). He then went and told David something and came back to his room. I did it again to see what kind of reaction I would get. He started yelling da da. I did it one more time to be sure. I am thinking that he doesn't know that his middle name is David. That it is only his Dad's name. It was priceless to see him problem solve. Hayden loves to dance. I love Christmas music so me and him will dance to it. His favorite move is swinging his arms from side to side really high.

Party

Today we went to a Christmas party for work. We had a pretty good time. Hayden was the star a usually. He loved playing outside. There were a lot of little girls there. He would play their "baby". He would climb into the stroller(the one for the dolls) and wait for the girls to push him. I made twice baked potatoes. I forgot how long and time consuming it was. They were so yummy, I loved the skin. We are going to go to church tomorrow. It will be the first time in a long time that we have been as a family. Hayden is going to wear his Christmas outfit. He looks so precious. I bought him some black Converse to match. I was going to buy a pair of black dress shoes. I had a hard time finding wide width. I figured he would get more use out of the Converse then dress shoes. It is hard to believe that he will be 14 months in a few days. He amazes me every day. David and I were talking about how much he has figured out just by watching us. When I am cooking I will let him lick the beater when I am finished. He crawled into the cabinet to get the beat so he could lick it. I guess he wanted me to make something. When I was gathering all of the stuff to be recycled he would help me by finding the plastic bottles since that's what I was sorting. Lately, he has been trying so hard to wear walk in my heels. It is so funny, because they are so big and it is hard to keep his balance.

The letter P

Today was such a fun day! At work I did absolutely nothing. My kids have been working extremely hard on a Christmas play. Last night, they sang and told baby Jesus what gift they would give him. My favorite was the cutest little boy in my class that said, "I will pedal Jesus's love all around my neighborhood." His talent was biking riding. The kids were so funny. You would think that they would behave since their parents were watching. They were awful. Many parents asked "Is this how they behave for you"? Of course I said no, they are really good in school. My parents appreciate all that I do for their child. It melts my heart and I know how truly grateful and blessed I am because of my students. Okay, so for a reward for all of their hard work we had the letter P day. We got to wear pj's, eat pizza and popcorn, and of course play with the puppy. We watched Polar Express and played today. Hayden has been really tired today he crashed while drinking his bottle. I think he is teething because, he is having really bad diarrhea. Today, he had 15 dirty diapers. His bottom is so red. I let him run around necked in the kitchen. He loves that. We are only letting eat "approved" food, (rice, toast, crackers, applesauce, and bananas). I am hoping it will get better after 24 hours. If not, we will go to the doctor Friday morning. I am getting ready for Christmas. If Hayden is feeling better we will go visit Santa on Saturday. It was so cold today. We might get some snow here tonight. I hope that it isn't to bad because I don't want to miss school. We are out of bad weather days. Hayden has been doing really good sleeping in his bed. We are on week 2. We started last week with patting and rubbing his ears. We now progressed to sitting next to his crib. Next week, we will try moving away from his crib. We are taking it day by day and trying not to make to many changes at once. That is working really well. I have been reading and studying different ways to get your child to sleep by themselves. I am not a fan of crying it out. I am thinking it will take about 4 to 6 weeks for us to be out of his room and just letting us place him in his crib.

Happy Holly

We named the dog Holly. She is so precious. Hayden and her have a love hate relationship. He only wants to play with her on his terms. I try to put Holly in his lap and he pushes her away. When he first was trying to pick her up. He tried many times to figure out the best way. He would touch her belly then walk around her squat down and attempt to pick her up. He did this several times then finally put both hands around her. She is a whiner. She has been sleeping with David and I. She loves to get into the blanket to sleep. She went to school with me today. The kids loved it. She didn't have any accidents. She is really smart. Every time that she goes outside she will go potty. She loves to chase Hayden and nip his diaper. Hayden brings her toys and food to her. I am going to enjoy them growing up together. Hayden has now discovered how to use the trash can. He will throw things in there. Many times it is toys that he is done playing with. He also knows how to turn the tv on and off with the remote. Today, I went to mail the presents to China. They will be there in time for Christmas, which is exciting. Shipping is very expensive. It cost more to ship then what we spent on the gifts.

Growing

Today flew by... David and I take turns sleeping in. Almost always Saturday's are my day to sleep in. Today was an adventure. Hayden got up at 5:30 (that is late, he usually gets up at 5). David gave him a bottle around 7:30 Hayden was sleeping on top of David on the couch. He sits up and throws up everywhere. David is yelling for me to get up. I am sound asleep. I finally go in there and throw up is on eyerything. Hayden and David are soaked the couch too. It was a nightmare trying to clean up everything. After that I went back to sleep. Hayden fell asleep again and David put Hayden in bed with me because there were ants in his bed. We spent the afternoon finishing up our Christmas shopping. We bought the cutest little dress up outfit for Leah. We also bought the Foster home 2 sing along movies. The stores were crowded and traffic was horrible. On our way to Sams we saw a sign saying puppies for sale. I told David lets stop and look on the way back. So we did. Long story short we got a new puppy. She is so cute and loves to cuddle. She is half cocker spaniel and half king caviler. Hayden likes her. He kept on picking her up. He did drop her on her head a few times. We are having to watch him "play" with her. We don't have a name picked out any suggestions?

Sycamore

We went and spent 2 1/2 hours yesterday getting Hayden tested for allergies. They doctor could only test for 12 of the common allergens. He is to young for the whole round of tests that they will do when he is two. The could news is that right now he is only allergic to Sycamore trees. To do this test they prick your back with a tray of needles dipped in each allergen. If you are allergic your skin will turn red and whelp up. Hayden didn't even cry. His skin was red for hours after that. It was neat to see what things could irritate him, so we can be prepared. The Allergist changed his medicine and gave us a list of things to avoid. Hayden also needs to be tested for some time of something (I can't remember what it is called) that makes his body not produced the correct amount of immunities to fight off infections or viruses. I never heard of this but since many allergist also deal with immunology it would make sense. We are going next week to get blood taken. Hayden has been getting into everything. He is so destructive. He does not know how to be gently. I guess that's because he is a boy. I am going shopping tomorrow for Leah and getting a few things for the children at the Foster home in China. I am going to try to ship it on Saturday. I don't think it will be there by Christmas but its okay. David and I are thinking about taking Hayden to the zoo on Saturday. They are going to have the festival of lights. If it isn't to cold we will go. Hayden has been doing really good sleeping in his bed. It is nice to not be squished or "kicked" off of the bed. I miss snuggling with him though!

More

Hayden has begun to say and sign more. It is so cute! I love the sound of more, its sounds like mr mr. Hayden loves to copy us. So today, I gave him a cup of water to drink. He loved it. He spilled a lot on him which then dripped down the high chair. He kept on handing me the empty cup an asking for more. We have been struggling with Hayden taking the ornaments off of the tree. Hayden loves the circle ornaments. We tell him no, and try to distract him. We went and visited Grandma Gilbert on our way home. She had two rocking horses for Hayden to ride. He climb up and laughed the whole entire time. So she let us take one home! He has been riding it like crazy. He loves to climb up when he is wearing a diaper. He stands up and tries to rock. Tonight, I put Hayden in his crib and patted him down. He did really good and didn't fight me. I guess we are going to have put him to bed when he is exhausted because he was to tired to fight me. David is enjoying his vacation. Here a few pictures of our Thanksgiving trip to Houston. Enjoy!