CHRISTMAS 2013

Christmas did not go as planned this year!

We started our celebration at my sister's house for Christmas with my dad and stepmom.

Grandpa with all of his grandchildren....that is a whole lot of girls!!

Grandpa, Nana, my stepbrother, my sister's family, and my family

Bennett won the award for most excitement over a present! 

After multiple attempts, we were finally able to get in to see the Big Guy.  Maggie was not too sure about it while we were in line so I am THRILLED with the results of our picture!

The kids were so excited to make the gingerbread houses this year.  We chose to make them while Maggie was taking a nap. :)

Bennett drew this picture of the nativity

Christmas Eve started out normally.  I took food up to the hospital for our families that were inpatient.  Craig and the kids continued their tradition of making gingerbread cookies for Santa.  Maggie had been coughing, but that was not unusual.  She has the worst allergies and constantly has a cough and runny nose.  She was down for her nap when I got back from the hospital.  When she woke up, I went upstairs to her room.  Her face was really red and she felt very warm.  Being that it was Christmas Eve, I decided to take her in to Urgent Care to make sure that whatever was going on with her wasn't contagious since we were going to be around so much family.  Thank goodness I did!  We are usually pretty laid back and don't immediately go to be seen.  We got called back into a room and she had temperature of 101.  Then he checked her sats....ummmm....she was satting 95-96!!  It never once crossed my mind to get that!  It was then that I noticed that she did have labored breathing.  The people were so nice!!   They brought in a nebulizer to give her a breathing treatment.  She wasn't very sure about the whole process.

This one breaks my heart

After the breathing treatment, she had not improved any.  It was at this point that I realized that our Christmas Eve plans had to be cancelled.  We sat and talked to the doctor and her breathing hadn't changed so they brought her another breathing treatment.  At this point, I started talking about Grace which ended up being a good thing.  Maggie was finally diagnosed with a form of walking pneumonia.  Because we had a nebulizer at home, the doc felt like I could manage her at home and didn't admit us to the hospital.  We finally left the clinic 3 hours after we got there...and an hour after they were supposed to close.

We didn't have any food at home since we were supposed to be gone every single day.  So, I started looking for somewhere open where I could grab food....that was still open.  We finally found Dickey's so I got food and headed home.  Not too long after we ate, my stomach started hurting.  This is not uncommon as I tend to have lots of stomach issues.  However, by 10 pm, I couldn't stand up.  It was terrible.  I was literally curled up on the floor in tears.  We had already put the kids to bed and I could tell that this wasn't going to get any better, so I decided to drive myself to the stand-alone ER.  I barely made it there.  They got me in very quickly.  I honestly can't remember what they diagnosed me with.  I do remember that they gave me an IV and oral meds.  They wouldn't give me pain meds because I had driven myself to the ER.  I finally got home after midnight and Santa had not come to our house yet.  

Luckily, Santa made it to our house!!

Grace's loot

Maggie's pile

Everyone's goodies

Maggie and I were both feeling a little better.  Maggie had been deemed okay to celebrate so we decided to head to my aunt's house.  I miss my grandmother so much.  I know that she would love to see all of her great-grandchildren.  It was so nice to spend time together!

Granny's great-grandchilren

Granny's grandchildren and spouses

I made it okay until late afternoon.  By then... I was totally spent and my stomach was starting to bother me again.  So, we left early so we could head home.  We did stop by my mom's for a few minutes since we missed Christmas Eve, but I didn't get any pictures.

The next day, we headed to Terrell to celebrate with Craig's family.  

I LOVE this cross my mother-in-law found for Grace

Grace got her first American Girl doll!  Grandmama gave it heart surgery too.  

Christmas crackers tradition makes for silly pictures!