PHOTOS! Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with Family

Jeff and I are not the best photographers when a lot of activity is happening, but here's a few from our time with the Revlett's and Springer's. (By the way for those of you curious about Brandon's casts, I haven't downloaded photos to the computer yet. They will make it here eventually.)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and a few photos from days later:

A shot of the gathering at the Revlett's. Goldie slept thru the gift distribution and finally got up when all the opening and chaos began. We had a fantastic time and everyone was happy! This was the only photo worth posting from Christmas Eve Day. Sorry Revlett family! I guess we'll have to take photography lessons in our spare time! ha

This is Brandon on Christmas morning. He had already had breakfast because we waited for Gunner to wake up. He was so happy and I think he knew what to expect. This was the third time to open gifts!

Both boys before they got to get started! Gunner had already been looking for his presents.

Brandon was having a great time and Aunt Jill was helping him open his gifts.

Daddy was thrilled! ha ha He doesn't like to have his photo taken, but I got it anyway! He liked the shoes by the way.

Jeff loves Christmas morning!

OKAY, Gunner loved this gift the most I think. A pirate ship from Aunt Jill. He couldn't wait to get all the pieces out. The cannons are sooo cool. He now plays with it alongside the castle from us. Santa brought a Transformer, because that was what he asked for, but it just wasn't the hit of the other things.

Here we are with Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw (Jeff's grandparents). I have no idea what the "spot" is by Paw-Paw's head. It wasn't in the other photos.....it's just my luck. Oh well, I had the timer set to take 5 photos in a row and this was the best except the spot. At least it wasn't on someone's face.

Best shot of Mom while we were there. She would kill me if I posted the photos of her in her nightgown on Christmas morning! I wouldn't do that to you Mom.

Aunt Jill and Brandon. He was just all smiles for the camera. Jill is a bit photo shy too. Finally caught ya! :)

Well, that takes us thru the visit with the Revlett's and Springer's. Next up will be Gunner after we got home......I'll save the details for that post. It's late and I'm finally sleepy enough to hit the hay. Goodnight to all and hopefully and I can get back in the groove of posting.

PHOTOS! Week of December 18

These are photos from our family Christmas. We opened our gifts to each other on December 18 since we were going to be very busy before heading out to see our relatives on December 22.

The Revlett family's 2007 Christmas Tree before the opening began on December 18.
It was hard to get photos of Gunner this year. He was just so excited to open and start playing, plus the fact he made lots of really goofy faces! This is one of the better ones.

Sorry for the no makeup look, but I couldn't resist posting this great smile on Brandon! He was at such a great stage for photo ops at Christmas.

Gunner opening his Imaginext Castle....he was really studying the package!

Another great baby smile! It was still quite "gummy".

Brandon survived the bows, paper and excitement!

Gunner's Christmas program at school. It was dark in the chapel, but these were the best photos I got. Jeff videotaped, but I am unable to download to the computer. Got to get that figured out someday........

That concludes the week before Christmas Day. More to come!

TODAY: Head Colds, Letter "S" and Voting

OK, so I'm finally writing again. This is my "slow" week. Jeff left on business today and will be home Thursday night. Tonight, I had Gunner in bed by 7 pm and Brandon by 8 pm. That was a miracle!!

Both boys have been quite ill with head colds since the weekend. Gunner just goes on and deals with the runny nose thing and reminders to get tissues and wash hands. Brandon, well....

• Sat. night he was awake and crying from not feeling well from 10:30 pm til 1:45 am.
• I went to bed at 2 am
• He was up again at 4 am.
• Finally went back to sleep around 6:15 on the floor of his room and so did I.
• I woke up around 8 and went to my bed as Jeff was getting up.
• I got in about another hour of sleep because Brandon was back up around 9 am.....needless to say, we did not go to church.
• Brandon did not take any naps all day and finally went to bed around 8 pm.

During these "waking hours" Brandon and I were up playing, looking at books, rolling the ball on the floor, etc just trying to keep him from crying, crying, crying (and keeping up the rest of the house members)....these are the times I struggle with mom duties. I want to be able to soothe & comfort the hurts for my kids and Brandon is just not a cuddly child and wants to just sit on the floor and scream. I do not function well with this personality - I've got to get this figured out. The poor little guy just has too much going on these days....the casts on his legs, teething and now a head cold! I felt awful for not being able to "make it better". On the other hand, Gunner is my cuddly child. I can hold him (although he's just about too big for my lap!), hug him, kiss him and everything's all better very quickly.

Yesterday and today were better. He slept thru the night, but didn't nap well during the day. I forgot to mention, they didn't have fevers, but I alternated Tylenol & Motrin for Brandon, thinking it would help him with his discomfort and to rest -- WRONG!!! I think it was like giving him caffeine. Tonight I'm so tired, but just don't sleep well when Jeff's gone. I hope to be done with blogging by midnight.

On a better note, Gunner had a great day at school! This week's letter is "S". He told me one of the rooms at school has been transformed into space. They have stars, constellations, planets, space suits, etc. all set up for them to play. I doubt I'll actually get to see it, but Gunner was so excited to tell me about it today. He is a big fan of outer space.....Buzz Lightyear, space shuttles and rockets. It's going to be a fun week for him.

Today was the primary election here. I took Brandon with me to vote, poor sick little guy. At least the ballots were very simple and I knew my choices. Although he cried the whole time he was in the stroller, I did not have to wait in line and was there less than 5 minutes. Some may think I'm crazy for taking him out, but I had to pick Gunner up at school anyway. Voting is a very important thing for me. Lots of people have fought and lost lives over the fact that we have a democracy and have the ability to vote. I don't always like the candidates or the issues, but I do make the best decision I can.

Now that I'm done rambling, I'll make another posts with photos! Lots of you are asking for them.

Quick Update

Well, it's been over a month since I posted! Sorry to all you blogging friends, but things have just been crazy since our return from the holidays. I plan to catch up with Christmas to present sometime next week with photos.

We have been in out of doctors offices all month, so my daytime hours when Gunner's in school have been spent driving, waiting, etc. Evenings are just trying to get supper prepared and baths. I'm just tired! I've started weaning Brandon, so I am gaining a little bit of time during the day.

So here's a quick update on us.........

Jeff:
Was in Vegas for 6 days earlier in January for the annual sales meeting. It seemed like weeks! We survived though. It was so good to have him get home safely. His spring semester for the MBA program started back last Saturday, so it is back to studying weeknights for him. He's doing very well.....I'm SO proud of him! :) Also, while in Vegas, he was officially titled District Manager for this district. More responsibility on the work side of things, but that was the reason we made the move here in the first place.

Gunner:
Getting back in the swing of things after Christmas break was a little challenging. He's doing better now. We had a lot of middle of the night waking (AGAIN) and being scared of the dark. I think we're getting past it (AGAIN) because he has not come in my room during the night in over a week. We are working thru sibling jealousy issues now. I'm open for suggestions on how to deal with this one. It's due to the fact that Brandon is now actually accomplishing things and receiving attention for more than just feeding, diapering, etc. He and I had a great time making chocolate chip cookies yesterday while Brandon napped. He still loves being a cowboy, Superman, or sheriff. Did I mention he wore his Superman outfit (from Halloween) to Target and the mall? He loved the attention from everyone. I just grinned and thought, what a character this child is! Took him roller skating during Christmas break and had a blast! While Jeff was in Vegas, Gunner and I saw the new Veggie Tales movie. He loved it.

Brandon:
He has become a very fast crawler and loves pulling up on everything. He also tasted Goldie's dog food the other day since I didn't realize it was still out. (I'm such a bad mom - it now gets put up when she's not in the house) Earlier this month we saw a pediatric orthopedic doctor regarding his standing on his toes -- not his tippy toes, but literally the ends of his toes. The tendons in his feet are extremely tight, but will move. It was suggested to put casts on his feet to stretch these muscles so he could stand alone. Jeff and I discussed it and yesterday, the casts were done. Oh, he was so crabby and I felt bad. Today was much, much better. He started back to crawling again this morning and by this evening was crawling with his belly off the floor again. He will not stand with help yet, but I think he will in the next day or so. These casts will be on til Feb 14, unless he develops any problems from rubbing. At that appt. they will evaluate if it has helped, is helping, or did nothing. Then we will go from there. Surgery is a possibility, but not likely at this point. I'm not as nervous about this as with the craniosynotosis, but still very concerned.
His favorite thing is playing with a ball. When he sees one, he has a fit and says "ba, ba ba". Put him on the floor and he's off pushing and chasing the ball throughout the house. He now has two teeth on the bottom completely grown in and 3 on top that are still growing in. One more on top is about to break through (all this just since Thanksgiving!) BUT, this boy sleeps at night! :)

Me:
Finally made it to the dentist! The one we chose does an initial visit for consultation and xrays then you go back for your cleaning. At my 1.5 hour consultation & xray session, he found two fillings needed to be replaced. Today I had that done as well as my cleaning. No new cavities! After not seeing a dentist for 1 1/2 years, I thought that was great! I'm still trying to get back "on schedule" since the holidays myself. The house is a cluttered mess....we just put the Christmas decoration boxes in the attic last Sunday! (footnote: the decorations were taken down before Gunner went back to school) Next week we have no appointments, just a regular school week.....that's when I hope to get some photos on here for everyone to see! Also try to get caught up on reading other blogs & getting rid of the clutter in my house!

Goldie:
She's still our wonderful Golden. Gets quite ancy if she doesn't get at least one walk per day. Got to go goose hunting on Christmas break, so she was happy. She enjoyed our trip and all the acreage to run on while we were with our families. It was hard keeping her happy while Jeff was in Vegas, but I did manage at least one walk thru the neighborhood everyday.

That's it for now......................