Christmas in Springfield

Well, the beginning of our trip to Springfield didn't start out too well! On Christmas night, Josh and I noticed that Laney had some spots on her. We went ahead and put her to bed, hoping it'd be better in the morning. Yeah, well, it wasn't! In the morning it had moved from just her tummy and back, and was all over her face and head as well! So, since we were headed to Springfield, and we didn't want to expose Leila to anything, we really wanted to make sure that we knew what was wrong with Laney. Well, of course, our doctor's office was closed since it was the day after Christmas, so we had to go to another doctor, where I spent an hour in a tiny exam room with no toys except the few little ones I had in the diaper bag, and uncovered outlets!! Seriously, who has uncovered outlets in a pediatrician's office?! Needless to say, it was not a pretty doctor's visit; Laney and I were both about to pull our hair out by the end of it! You can only sit in an 8x8 room for so long before going stir crazy! Anyway, the verdict was a "drug eruption," which really just means she's allergic to Augmentin. Thursday (Christmas) was her last day on that antibiotic, so it's funny that it showed up then. And she's had it before, so I thought that was even funnier. But the doctor said that a reaction like that may show up the first time you take a drug, or the hundredth, but once it shows up it will always happen. So, no more Augmentin or Amoxicillin for Laney! She was really a trooper, although you could tell she was uncomfortable. So, she spent a lot of the weekend drugged up on Benadryl, but really handled it pretty well!



I left my good camera at Mom & Dad's house, so I didn't get great pictures of the leopard look, but these will give you an idea...

Anyway, despite the hives, we headed to Springfield on Friday afternoon, and went straight to Grandma & Grandpa Holt's house to open presents there. Again, I didn't have the good camera, so I didn't get any good pictures while we were there. But we had a good time hanging out and talking, and looking through old pictures!



Saturday we had breakfast with the Lootens, plus Jess, Luke & Leila. We ate lots of good food, and got LOTS of good presents! Laney's favorite was the baby doll that Grandma & Grandpa got her, complete with two bottles! Laney carried that baby around the whole weekend! She loved it, and it's just amazing to me how instinctual baby dolls are. I mean, we've never really shown Laney a baby doll, and it's not like she sees us taking care of a younger sibling. But, as soon as she got that baby and the bottles, she was feeding it, carrying it around, patting it on the back. It was so cute!



We really had fun shopping for everyone this year; Josh and I love to look for the gifts that will make our families excited when they open them. One of our favorites this year was getting a dvd for Josh's dad called "Dr. Syn and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." It was an old TV show that he watched as a kid, but when we tried to order it, it was on backorder. So we were looking for something else to get, when it showed up on our doorstep. So it was our little "Christmas Miracle." And we even watched it with him on Saturday night. It was actually pretty good!

Laney and Grandpa, watching Dr. Syn... and feeding the baby, of course... in their new flannel pj pants, courtesy of Ellen (Grandpa's have King Kong, Laney's have dogs in the bathtub).

Sunday morning we headed to church. But not without feeding the baby... are you seeing a pattern here?!

Leila and Jess met us at church, and the girls showed some cousin-love afterwards! They were pretty funny to watch thist time, because they're finally both mobile. So Leila was VERY interested in everything Laney was doing, which didn't really please Laney too much!

Note the expression on Laney's face... we've discovered, she's not so good at sharing toys! She's finally gotten a sense of "Mine" (complete with saying "MINE!") and wasn't keen on sharing with Leila!

Once, Laney was playing with her baby, and Jess grabbed Tigger to show Leila. Well, Miss Lena decided she didn't want Leila playing with Tigger, so she went over, picked Tigger up, and put him on the coffee table. Then, she went back to playing with her baby. Yeah, that didn't fly so much with Mommy... Mommy got Tigger and went back to Leila. After which, Laney watched me very closely while Leila and I played with Tigger. Not happy, but wasn't going to cross Mommy! Maybe it's time for a sibling...


Cute Momma and baby, hanging out in the kitchen Sunday afternoon!

As I said, Laney was a "Mommy" all weekend long. And, like any good mommy, she knew her baby needed a quiet place to take a nap. Not sure DFS would approve of a potato bin, but a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do! :)

Laney has been learning new "tricks" at record speed, it's amazing how fast she picks up new words and phrases. If I can ever get caught up with holiday posts, I'm going to do a Laney update with her fun new "tricks" and words and quirks! But this video was just too cute to pass up! We've taught Laney to say "PawPaw" for Grandpa. But we just can't get "Gamaw" down. So, instead, Grandma Looten worked up this new trick! The audio's not very good (again, old camera), but Laney's yelling "I do!" Pretty darn cute...

It was great to spend the whole Christmas weekend with so much family! It was a whole new experience this year with Laney running around like a wild animal! I get the feeling she's only going to get more and more excited about Christmas as the years go by. We're in for quite the ride!