Note to Self

• Never see Santa at the mall the week of Christmas....we got to the mall and it was at least an hour and a half long wait so we just looked at santa and took pictures next to the snowman.
• Make sure to see the temple lights in the middle of December. The week of Christmas is just way too crowed for our liking. We enjoyed looking at the lights but was in and out pretty quick.
• The day I buy my Christmas gifts that I don't know anything about, put it together! We ended up borrowing a lawn mower toy from Ryan's brother. Drew loved it and through a tantrum when we made him open his presents that were under the tree.
• Always have formula on hand! We had to go back to our house to make Kylee a bottle before looking at Christmas lights. It got later than we thought and Kylee was hungry and telling us so!

We definately had a wonderful Christmas. Kylee's RSV is gone...YAY! And we are heading to UT in the morning. We had to delay it a day because of this storm that moved in today. White out conditions are not fun or safe to drive in. I will try and post pictures up in UT. I need to get packing and run some errands!

It's Almost Christmas

My sister-in-law, Mary, took this picture of Drew at my parent's house on Sunday. He will pose for her but never for me. Thanks Mary! Sunday was the start of our countdown to Christmas. We had our annual Christensen White Elephant Gift Exchange. It was so much fun. This year, we didn't exchange gifts with one another but decided to up the amount you spend on your white elephant and make them nice gifts. I think it was a huge success, and I think I liked it better. I was so excited to see what we would get. Ryan got scratcher tickets and Neilson's Frozen Custard gift certificate and I got a DVD set with the classic Christmas movies. Not as much arguing over gifts because pretty much all were awesome gifts. Again, I ate too much with all the yummy pizza and Cindi's famous popcorn.

Then yesterday was my laundry day and I was going to clean out our garage but then Kylee was fussy in the morning, which is so not like her. I touched her ear and she screamed. I went to touch it again and she screamed. I got her into the doctor and she has a really bad ear infection. Poor thing. So that scrapped my afternoon plans. She is on a really strong antibiotic and is feeling a lot better today. We are very grateful her RSV is almost gone. She had a rough night Thursday but got back to sleeping better by Friday night. She only had this nasty cough which is now just a little cough. She has been such a trooper lately. She actually slept her longest stretch on Sunday night, 7 hours, so I was pretty surprised when she had an ear infection.

So tonight we are going to the temple lights and take Drew to see Santa. With all the craziness of the kids being sick, we still haven't seen Santa. Hopefully it is not too crazy. Then tomorrow we have Christmas Eve dinner and go look at Christmas lights. I try to keep tomorrow low key but I am having issues with Drew's present from Santa. We got him a lawnmower but when we put it together Sunday, it was way too noisy for us to tolerate. So it is going back to the store and all the stores are sold out of toy lawn mowers. I don't know what to do. Hopefully it all works out. Anyways, can't wait for Thursday. It is so much fun when your kids are old enough to somewhat understand. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh ya...we got the green light to go to Utah the day after Christmas! And hopefully we will have a surprise when we get back! :)

My Worst Fear Came True

Kylee has RSV. Yes, it has been a rough day. I actually thought she was getting over the cold yesterday morning but then her nasty cough came right back and got worse throughout the night. I ended up having to hold her after her 5 AM feeding on the couch for a little bit, until she fell asleep, then transfered her back to her crib. I would have loved to have held her throughout the whole early morning but I have a stubborn 2 year old that likes my complete attention when he wakes up. I was so glad I got her into the doctor this morning because at her 9 AM feeding she started to spit up mucus and cough uncontrollably for minutes at a time. I was a little freaked out. Thank you Cindi for watching Drew at the last minute. Have I ever told you how much I love my doctor...he is the best, really. He was pretty sure it was RSV but wanted to do a swab test just to be sure and sure enough, it came back positive. So now we are staying home for the rest of the weekend and hopefully Kylee can kick this pretty fast. I caught it early, literally formed over night, and it is suppose to get worse before better. Our UT trip might be cancelled...it all depends on how quickly Kylee can kick this virus. Even though she is sick and doesn't feel well, she still loves to smile. I absolutely love her smiles and makes me smile everytime!

Quick Update

Both kids are sick and I am so tired but I have been meaning to write an update for a few days now. Kylee had her 2 month check up and is growing like crazy. I think she grew some more because she is looking so big lately. She is now just under 10 pounds and is 23 inches long. She is in the 60% for her height and 25% for weight. So yes, she is long and skinny and has a big head. Very similar to Drew but without the height. She will probably be taller than Drew if she keeps it up. Anyways, I am trying to get our Christmas cards out and pictures have been a nightmare. We had our family pictures 2 weekends ago and Drew was so grumpy and whiney. We didn't get any good ones. So this past weekend I did some more myself of just the 2 kids and that was insane. We got a few but still not the best. Don't you love Drew's face in the picture?

Drew has had a cold for about a week and a half and it got worse this past weekend. Then, Kylee woke up Saturday morning with a cough and gradually got worse. Sunday was even worse for both kids. Drew woke up this morning with a fever and I am just praying Kylee doesn't get a fever because I am so worried about RSV. Hopefully we can get rid of this cold in our house and have a better week!

My Monkey is 2

Wow, can you believe that Drew is already 2?! I can't. My little rascal is growing up way too fast. We are so blessed to have Drew in our family. Some days are better than others, but you know what, I wouldn't trade him for anything. I don't know what I would do without him.

So at 2 he has become quite the climber and will get into everything...whether it be on the floor, entertainment center, or counter. He will take his tractor and push it to where he wants to climb and stand on the wheel and climb up. It is horrible. He thinks it is the best thing yet he has figured out.

He is finally starting to eat more foods other than chicken nuggets and hotdogs, THANKGOODNESS! I hope he continues to try new foods and like them. He is finally starting to talk using more words, which I am glad to see and saying more phrases...YAY. I was getting a little worried. I can't wait till he starts saying sentences. Also, he is now in a toddler bed. He transitioned pretty well and really hasn't had any problems. He sleeps better now than he did just before I made the switch. He is all about his freedom. Drew is definitely a total boy and loves to play in the mud, dirt, and rocks. I seriously can't keep his clothes clean. But I can't deny him his favorite place to play: the backyard. He loves to be outside. He loves anything that has to do with cars and loves to ride on any ride-on toy.

Funny/Scary Story (depending on how you look at it). The day after we lost Gizmo, we were at my mom's house putting in some laminate flooring for her. I let Drew outside in the backyard to play and was watching him. I decided to check my email, so I checked the gate and it was closed so I went inside on the computer. Seriously 2 minutes later I checked on him and he is no where to be found and the gate was wide open. I go in the front yard and can't find him. I start freaking out. We had just lost Giz and now I was picturing Drew getting hit by a car. I scream for Ryan to help and we search the neighborhood. I finally found him 3 streets down riding one of the cars my mom has in her backyard, down the walk way of someone's house. He was in heaven, just riding around in this new found freedom. I picked him up and just bawled. I didn't even spank him, I just hugged him tight. I was just so grateful nothing bad happened to him. Yes, that is my little rascal.

Even though he tries my patience, he is the sweetest boy. He gives the best hugs and kisses and loves to blow kisses. He has the cutest wave and I love how he says bye. He is also a great brother to Kylee. He is very concerned if she is crying and loves to help me give her a bath. He likes to help in everything! What a cutie. Today we took Drew to Chick-fil-A for lunch. It is one of his favorite places to play and I like it because it is so clean. They gave him a free ice cream with chocolate and strawberries on top and he ate it all. He gets his cake tomorrow! Happy Birthday Du!

I wrote this post yesterday and saved it because I wanted to take a few pictures of Drew to add to my post. I then forgot to publish it!

Brighter Days Ahead

This past week has been a tough one for our family but we are finally get past it and looking to the bright future. Friday night and Saturday were really tough. Gizmo is a total snorer and it was so quiet sleeping Friday. Neither one of us got much sleep. Then Saturday we had a lot of firsts that we normally do with Giz that we had get past. We were finally getting closure Saturday night and then we told Drew Giz had to go bye bye and he got upset. All day Sunday, he was looking for Giz and whining. He wouldn't even go to nursery, which was a first and completely out of character for Drew. When Drew got up from his nap, he was so whiney and asking for Giz, I just broke down in tears. Ryan was at church doing tithing settlement so I was home by myself which made it even harder. That night, we took my parent's dog, Sundae, home with us and it helped. Drew has excepted the fact that Gizmo is in heaven and won't be back. On Monday, I asked Ryan to take the day off. I didn't want to be home by myself quite yet. That night we buried Gizmo in my parent's backyard. He had been stored in our big freezer that happened to be empty thank goodness until we knew what to do with him. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends. We really felt your prayers this week and appreciate the flowers, text messages, emails, and just your love and support. It truly has felt like we lost our child but we are finally moving on. It's still hard especially all the little things you forget about like dropping ice from the dispenser that Giz would eat, him coming and laying down next to me during nap time, eating up Drew's crumbs and food he would drop, and getting the mail with us everyday, but we know we will see him again some day! Now, we are looking for another dog for Drew to tease and hug. No dog will ever take the place of Giz but will help fill the void. Hopefully our next dog can be just as great as Gizmo!