Our Little Baby Blog

Christmas Update (or how Anna learned to say Open It! and then also a tale of how our entire family got really sick)
(by Mike)

So Maggie is curled up in bed today, recovering from her second bout with the stomach flu (more on that later), and I figured before we get too far out from Christmas, I need to recap our adventures in Missouri over the holidays.

I should preface this by telling everyone who doesn't know that I had knee surgery two weeks before Christmas, and am on crutches for at least 6 weeks, so anything physical has to be done by Maggie. This means everything-changing diapers, moving anna into and out of her carseat and crib, and helping me with stuff-everything, so Maggie's workload has increased a ton.

The week began on Christmas Eve morning, with Anna bundled securely in the back of the car, content to watch Cinderella on her DVD player as many times as we would let her on the way to Grandma and Papa's house. Christmas Eve was uneventful, although Anna absolutely loves seeing her Papa and Grandma these days, so she was on cloud nine most of the night.

Then, Christmas morning arrived. My family (really, my mom), loves to give lots and lots of presents for Christmas, so Anna had a pile under the tree to open. Each present was opened very, very slowly, as Anna was just learning how to open the paper at each end by tearing it. I'd say she had roughly 20 presents to open between Santa, grandparents, and her two aunts.

It took roughly 2 hours for Anna to open her presents, at least partially due to the fact that each present inside a box was immediately met with cries of "Open it, open it" or "open open open open open." Most presents were pretty easy to open, but Santa brought Anna some Little People toys, including a barn and Noah's Ark, and I learned that those toys are secured better than Fort Knox. Seriously, can't they just put all the figures inside a bag? Does each one have to be attached to the package with 6-8 inches of rubber coated wire? Is shoplifting that bad on those things?

Anyway, the rest of Christmas Day was pretty uneventful, although Anna wanted to open every present later in the day at the Freese family Christmas. The next day was likewise uneventful, although Mama and Dada finally got to sneak away at night and see Slumdog Millionaire.

Saturday thought, things took a turn for the worst. I woke up with the stomach flu at 630, and spent the day in bed, quarantined from the rest of the family. Sunday, I woke up feeling fine, while Maggie felt a bit queasy, but we decided to try and make it back to Chicago. Unfortunately, our normal 7 hour, 325 mile trip quickly stretched out into a 9 hour, 325 mile trip, as the flu caught up to Maggie about mile marker 190. Suffice to say, Maggie can now tell you about every gas station at each exit from Pontiac through Bolingbrook.

We finally made it home, nervous that Anna would get sick next, and sure enough, at 8:30 we heard the sound of Anna lose it, followed by screams and crying. She had enough on her to justify a bath, which may have been the worst bath she's ever had. The night, and our Christmas week, ended with Maggie, sick as could be, rocking Anna back to sleep in her diaper.

All in all, it was a good Christmas, although it made us miss Missouri even more than normal. I know everyone at home loved seeing Anna's face when she figured out that some of the presents were for her, and she loved seeing her Grandma and Papa for such a long period.