Emails from Santa!

Amelia and Graham woke up to a surprise this morning. While we slept, Santa sent me emails for each of the kids! The video emails are personalized and even have their pictures-amazing, right? :) This is one of the cutest Santa things I've seen lately, and now Graham and Amelia know that I have Santa's email address and can communicate with him any time I need to!



Amelia's message:

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/877cdcac8a45b51fc68bf529c4e69d66



Graham's message:

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/a6d1f07bb1d56cc1dedfc2a7ff1f65e7

Mail Call!

Miss Amelia is one lucky girl! Today, she received yet another 'Get Well' card, this time from Auntie Catherine and Uncle Jon! Amelia loves to rip open the envelopes (actually, she loves to rip any paper to shreds) but she's unusually careful with the card inside. She studied the adorable Winnie the Pooh picture on the front for quite some time before this giant grin spread across her face. Thanks for the mail Jon and Catherine-you made Amelia's night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, and every day, we are thankful for our family. We're now scattered from one side of the world to the other, but we're thankful for you all!

Now, onto the pictures.....I'll admit that these aren't the best pictures, but with two sick kids, we did the best we could!

Amelia is modeling her new Japanese kimono style outfit. Her Grandpa and Uncle Peter decided it would be a fun adventure to fly to Tokyo for a long weekend and they were kind enough to bring back this adorable ensemble for our princess. I'm very impressed that they even got the size right!

Graham and Amelia with the wishbone..by wishbone standards, Graham actually won, but we didn't tell either of them that!

I really wanted a cute Thanksgiving picture of the kids, but I learned very quickly that it wasn't going to happen today. But, because I like to keep it real here, here are a few 'out takes' :)

Amelia: "Get away from me, Graham!"

Graham: "I'm going to lay on you until you're REALLY annoyed!"

"We'll stop touching each other for a cookie, but we aren't going to smile!"

Can't you just feel the sibling love pouring out of these pictures??? And yes, even on days like this, after being cooped up in the house with two sick kids, we are beyond blessed, honored, and thankful, to call ourselves Mommy and Daddy to our little miracles, Graham and Amelia.

She's Back!!! But....

We'll be back to the pediatrician this evening. This time for Graham. He's had a high fever for two days now, is so miserable that he hasn't slept for more than hour long stretches the past two nights (fun for all involved!), and is generally an unhappy little guy. What ever he has, I just hope the doctor gives him some sort of antibiotic. I'm ready to wipe out ALL germs from our house once and for all!

In happier news though, our spunky Miss Amelia has returned, and we're very thankful for that!

Back to the doctor...AGAIN

Poor Amelia just can't catch a break these past few weeks. We thought she was doing better this weekend. She was wheezing free, fever free, and the rash from her allergic reaction was just about a thing of the past. This morning she seemed fine. After lunch she threw up A LOT. After her nap she had a fever of 102.5 and was wheezing like crazy again. I called the doctor again. They told me to bring her in again. They gave her a nebulizer treatment again. They took a chest x-ray again. They tested her for H1N1 with negative results. After 2 hours at the clinic it was confirmed that Amelia has pneumonia again. This time in the other lung. We left there armed with a prescription for a new antibiotic, more nebulizer treatments, and a prescription for a maintenance wheezing drug that will also be administered through her nebulizer. We'll go back to the doctor again in two weeks for a recheck. Hopefully, we won't be back a day too soon.

Amelia understandably wants her Mommy constantly right now and because Graham has a cold, he also wants his Mommy constantly right now. Two sick kids and one Mommy...there doesn't seem to be enough Mommy to go around these days. I am sooooo ready for everyone to be healthy in our house!

Back to the doctor...

Amelia woke up with a pretty angry looking rash this morning. It was so bothersome for her, that overnight she was scratching herself so much to the point of making her skin bleed! I immediately called the clinic, spoke with a nurse, who told me she would talk to the doctor and call me back. The nurse called me back and told me Amelia needed to be seen right away. So, back to the doctor we went. As it turns out, Amelia is having a 'moderate' allergic reaction (to use the pediatrician's words) to her amoxicillian which is being used to treat her pneumonia. So, her antibiotic has been changed, she's currently napping drugged up on Benadryl, and if she gets no relief from the Benadryl, a steroid will be prescribed later tonight. Poor Amelia, she's really had a rotten week! I think it's time for us all to be healthy in our house!

Sorry, no pictures today...I don't think anyone really wants to see the rash that is causing Miss Amelia so much distress. I will tell you though, that it sure isn't pretty!

The Bird Show

I think we've set a record for the length of time between zoo visits. Between school and illness, I honestly don't remember the last time we visited the animals. So, that's where we headed this morning and when we pulled into the parking lot Graham repeatedly screamed "Zoo!" at the top of his lungs and Amelia followed suit and screamed "Oooo!" at the top of her lungs. As we walked in from the parking lot, Graham began talking about the bird show. I wasn't sure I wanted to sit through it with two kids, but since Amelia had never been, and Graham really wanted to go, we went. Let me just say that I think this was the last time we'll be sitting through the bird show for quite a while-at least with two kids in tow. Neither of them wanted to sit on the bench, neither of them wanted to sit on my lap, rather they both wanted to move around, and they wanted to move in opposite directions. It sure was lots of fun to corral two high energy kids with low flying birds diving around our heads!

Pictures of the kids trying really hard to sit still while waiting for the show to start...