Bah! Humbug! and Merry Christmas!

Eli and Ezra both caught colds the weekend before Christmas and Eli's developed into a nasty ear infection. He had a fever from Thursday through Monday and was miserable. We were all miserable truth be told. I think this was as sick as he's ever been with the possible exception of the time he had the croup. Not a nice Christmas present.

Ezra got over the cold pretty quickly, but Santa brought him his two front teeth for Christmas. These are not really very good as presents despite what the song says because teething hurts.

So there's our Bah! Humbug! list, we'll move along to happier things.....

Ezra has learned to pull up and is exploring all over the place now. He's eating puffs and Happy Melts like they are going out of style - he's basically been eating us out of house and home for the past several days. He had a very good Christmas as paper is one of his true loves.

Although he felt terrible, Eli still enjoyed his Christmas too. He got his fire truck, plus a fire fighter's outfit and lots of other fun things. Plus, we had family here Sunday and Monday and you know how Eli loves a party.

Fire Truck!
Grandma and her Helpers

Ooo! Presents and Paper!
Eli and Vicki enjoying a story

Merry Christmas!

Annie

We lost our sweet Annie-cakes on Tuesday. She had had kidney failure since early April and the vet had warned us that the treatment (semi-nightly injections of fluids) would likely not be effective for more than a year. Her last months were good ones, however, so we were glad that we were able to do that for her.
She was only 8 and a half years old, but we believe that her kitten-hood aged her beyond her years. We named her Annie because she was a little orphan we found under our neighbor's deck. She weighed only 1.5 pounds though she was already about 8 weeks at that time. She was so tiny and so scared when I finally caught her (by throwing a jacket over her). We bathed her and discovered that she was not, in fact, solid gray. Afterwards she was so tired she crawled into a little pail I was using as the bathroom trash can and fell asleep.
She grew into a sleek, ultra soft, slightly chubby cat in no time. She loved to play fetch with paper balls (putting them in her water dish was the best part). She loved to lay on us, but in classic cat fashion, only on her terms - preferably in the middle of the night after vigorous patting. She loved to eat the ribbon off of presents and the leaves off of house plants. She especially loved to beat up on our other cat, Seamus. Even as a tiny kitten she would jump on him and pound him with delight. Being the weirdo he is, he loved it, and would invite her to rough-house. We will all miss her, but Seamus may miss her most of all.

50 Years!

No, neither Chris nor I turned 50, though we both feel well past that plenty of the time (the cycle of snotty noses and a baby who likes to just make sure we're still there in the middle of the night is killer).

Actually, it was Grandpa and Grandma's 50th Wedding Anniversary! I'm pretty sure that Eli still has no idea what an anniversary is, but he figured out it involved a party and cake so it was all good.

Eli took this photo - we know what his priorities are. . .

-December 17, 1961-
-December 17, 2011-
Then. . .

And Now. . . (we think they are the first couple to celebrate their wedding and their 50th Anniversary inside our church.
Happy Anniversary!

P.S. Chris and I are celebrating our anniversary today, but we've got a ways to go before we hit 50 years. . . hope Eli and Ezra get us some cake.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

So Ezra is crawling, at least that's what we're calling it - really it is more of a rocking/scooting kind of thing. You'd be amazed at how far and how fast he can go on his behind (those cloth diapers apparently give lots of good padding and just the right amount of traction).

He's really funny right now, copying all sort of things we do. Clapping is his favorite. All you have to do is say "Yay!" and he'll start clapping. He's also saying "da, da, da," which is ultra cute of course.

His 9-month check-up stats are: 30" and 20lbs. That's right, thirty (30) inches! Totally off the doctor's charts, while the 20lbs just middle of the road. Chris brought home a sheet of high-calorie foods to feed him. I can honestly say that I never thought skinny kids would be the problem we'd have, but we have two of them. Go figure.

Anyway, here's a video of Ezzy doing his scootin' thing. Do you think Eli still has a bit of jealousy?


And here are some photos of Eli helping me decorate the Christmas tree. He is sooooo excited about Christmas. He told me the other day that Santa is going to bring him a fire truck. Santa will be up in the air and toss the fire truck down and Eli will catch it. Okey-dokey. Maybe we better read the Night Before Christmas again.

Hmmm. How can I get a piece of this action?

That's what I'm talking about!