Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas 2010

Christmas at our house was good, except Keira was not feeling well. Friday evening, while we were at Wade and Pam's house, she began complaining of a belly ache and then climbed on the couch beside me and went to sleep. It was not long she was running a slight fever. So, Christmas morning we do our gifts and then she feels so bad, she gets on the couch. She really was not interested in playing with her toys. She complained of headache, belly, and fever. As the day went on, she was not improving. The fever began getting high and she kept complaining. At 9:30 that evening, Brandon loaded her up and took off to the ER at Children's. Due to the poor weather of snow, we decided it was better for him to drive. It broke my heart as I kissed her goodbye and she was asking for me to take her. I stayed home with Brock, waiting. By 10:15, they had been in triage and Brandon is texting me with every update. Thankfully, the ER was not busy. They tested for strep,flu, bladder infection, did xray, and a cat scan . The dr. assumed appendix and I began trying to mentally prepare myself for the possibility of surgery. Not an easy thing to do. She had many of the symptoms of appendix at this time. The night goes on and I could not sleep. Of course, all kinds of possibilities run thru your mind at this point. What if's began to come. Finally, morning comes and we are no closer to an answer. My dad comes up and stays with Brock, while Papaw and Mamaw Leffew take me to to the hospital. We arrive just as they are about to take her to a room. I see my little girl, hooked up to an IV, looking so sick, and it brings the tears. We go to the surgery floor, waiting on a surgeon. Mid-morning she arrives and she doesn't think it is appendix. So, more waiting. We see a dr. and she thinks it may be something viral. They noticed something on the xray or scan in her GI tract. So, we are eventually moved to another floor, more testing, etc. . Long story short, we ended up spending 3 nights in the hospital, with a final diagnosis of adenovirus. They told us this is contagious, but thankfully, no one else has come down with this. We are so thankful no surgery or anything else was wrong. Things like this put into perspective for me just how quickly our lives can change.
Thank you, Lord for your protection on my child and for guiding the dr. to the correct diagnosis.
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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Eve evening

We went to Uncle Wade and Aunt Pam's house for the Ray family Christmas. What a good time! Henry, who is only 4 weeks old, was passed around and loved on. The kids had a blast playing. Good laughs had by all. Uncle Wade and Brock opened fire with a nerf gun and were blasting us all. I think Wade enjoyed it more than Brock. The only down side of the day was that Keira began feeling bad and went to sleep on the couch. She was running a slight fever and complaining of a headache and belly ache. We ended up coming home earlier than usual to get her to bed.
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Christmas Eve morning

All of us worked on the zhu zhu pet playsets.
He loved the dinosaur he got!
Checking out a gift
Papaw Woody and Mamaw Peggy with the kids
We got to my dad and step-mom's home Christmas eve morning and have a wonderful breakfast and enjoy family time up to the afternoon time.
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Duncan Christmas 2010

My grandfather, 88 yrs old, cracked his hip over a week ago and is having to stay and rehab at a facility. He was not able to make it home, so the staff let us use a room close to his room inorder to celebrate Christmas. We had a good evening, despite not being at home. Just being together makes it all better. Some of the grandkids and great-grandkids
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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Grammie playing Simon Says with the kids
Sat. we celebrated Chrsitmas with my mom's family. My aunt and uncle purchased a wedding chapel a couple months ago and they decided to host our get together at the chapel.
We had good food and good company. The kids ran around playing and my mom entertained them. The kids got to open some gifts and were thrilled to get pillow pets. Then, we did photo shoots of all the family and then some of each family. Fun times!
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Saturday, December 18, 2010

New tradition

Friday evening we had some friends come over (we missed you guys that couldn't come) to celebrate Jesus. We had a birthday party in honor of Jesus. We ate, did some crafts, and then I told the story of Jesus by wrapping "gifts" and letting the kids open them as we got to that part of the story. I went thru the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
We also made up gift baskets for 7 widows. The other moms and I want to establish giving to others early in our kids. So much of our lives are focused on self and the world tells us that is ok. I don't want my kids to be selfish, my desire is that they want to share Jesus with everyone they come in contact with.
We had a wonderful evening and my kids love nothing more than having friends over. Sunday, we plan on giving the baskets out and I hope the kids enjoy this part, too!!
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Sunday, December 05, 2010

Keira's first Nutcracker

Love, love the mice!! They are so cute !!
My little girl making her debut in the Nutcracker!
We just wrapped up this afternoon Keira's first experience being in the Nutcracker. She loved it! I can't believe this is my little girl, on stage, who a yr ago never would have done something like this. She even told me "I can't stop smiling on stage." Keira wanted to be in the party scene, but I thought it best to only do one part this year, as this is all new to our family. After auditions in late Sept. the rehearsals begin in early October. So, the dancers and staff put hard work into this production. The show is performed Thursday-Sunday. The week before the show begins, they rehearse every single night. You think the kids would be tired of it, but they love it.
Honestly, I was not a fan of ballet, but once I sat and watched all this rehearsal and just how talented these girls are, I couldn't help but grow an appreciation for ballet. I have enjoyed learning about dance the past couple yrs and look forward to the spring recital already!
Keira was blessed to have all her grandparents, her 88yr great grandfather, some aunts, cousins, uncles, and special friends come watch her. I hope she realizes how loved she is!!
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