Bye Bye '08

Wow 2008 will be over in a few hours. What a year it has been. It seriously is already a blurry haze - hospitals, baby, sleepless nights, evacuation, rebuilding, ear aches, spider bites, etc. Nathaniel's arrival is obviously the greatest blessing. The rest, I will NOT be sorry to see gone. We have been truly blessed by family and friends more than we deserve. We eagerly anticipate all that is in store for 2009.

We will be ringing in the New Year - asleep, hopefully (what party animals we are these days). Nathaniel just went down. He got another shot today and has to get two more in the following days. Ted still sounds horrible and I am begging him to go in to urgent care (again) tomorrow.

Nathaniel did eat his first finger foods tonight to celebrate. He was not too sure about them, as you can see. Which is rather odd when you think about all the junk he seems to enjoy picking up off the floor and putting in his mouth.




His absolute favorite activity now is bath time so I will include a few pics of splash-mania as well. This is a sure-fire way to cheer up a cranky boy. It is soooo much fun to watch him go crazy.

Much love to all our family and friends....and best wishes for '09.

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

So we finally managed to go a week without taking Nater-Bug to the doctor...but to fill in the gap Ted went to urgent care twice and managed to take Chico in to the emergency vet as well (both are doing better now). Nathaniel's fuss factor has drastically increased in the past few days so I am sure he has now mastered his immune-ability to his latest round of antibiotics and a visit to good ole pedi clinic awaits. Ahhh...good times in the Yancy household!

The much anticipated tube placement date has been set for Jan 7. In the meantime, Ted's mom is scheduled to have major surgery tomorrow but is having some complications so it may be postponed, Ted's grandmother is having multiple complications yet doctors keep telling her she is too old to do anything about them, and Ted begins a new job next week. Through all of this I continue to stand amazed at Ted's ability to remain sane. He is a rock. I had no idea how truly great he was the day I married him and am more in love with him through all the twists and turns 2008 has brought us than I ever have been before - ok enough mushy stuff! I will close with a pic that has absolutely nothing to do with this little rant and rave, but I think it is a cute one - he is always our silver lining!

Advanced Peek-a-boo

The favorite gift for Nate, from his parents....was NOT the new, luxurious, $200 car seat but was of course, the box in which the car seat came.

Peek-a-boo goes to the next level when you can open the box and say it rather than just cover your eyes and say it.

Christmas Day

EXCITED ABOUT CHRISTMAS!!!!

Granny got a day pass from the hospital again so we were able to spend Christmas day with Ted's mom's side of the family.

We had a delicious lunch at Great Uncle Mose and Gram-Aunt Peggy's



and Nathaniel's great-grandparents were there as well.

He again LOVED ripping paper and spent quite a bit of time chasing a red ball around the house. He is officially crawling now (I will try to post a video later). It was a nice day for all.

Christmas Eve

Nathaniel's first Christmas Eve was so fun. We went to Grandaddy and Grandma Yancys - where he got spoiled rotten. Some of the most special gifts he received were from his cousins Ryan and Emma, they saved their own allowance to get him a fun block and a Got Milk? bottle. He felt so loved! They are such sweet girls.

He also got to learn all about the excitement of Santa as he watched them decorate cookies for Santa and keep tabs online of where Santa had been and how close he was getting to Texas! It was quite exciting. We also had a blast watching them open presents and squeal with delight over their American Girl dolls and their matching PJs.





3 generations of Yancy males

Last Christmas Eve was when we found out we would be adding another boy to the Yancy clan. We had our sonogram earlier in the month but waited until Christmas Eve to open it to find out if Nathaniel was a boy or girl. We could not imagine it any other way. We are constantly amazed at how much fun Nater-Bug is!

Right vs. Wrong

My sweet and innocent baby!

"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." Romans 7:16-17

It plagues humanity from the beginning, as evidenced by Nathaniel's uncanny ability to make the "wrong selection" every time with a little experiment I conducted this evening. I put down one object that I would prefer him NOT to touch by one that he is encouraged to play with.
And look at what happened.....

Nathaniel's phone vs. Mom's phone

Nathaniel's toys vs. the remote

Nathaniel's toys vs. the kleenex

Nathaniel's toys were ignored. I hope this is not foreshadowing of things to come.

Beware

Beware dust bunnies, the TermiNATEor is coming!!!!
Despite all Mom's attempts to keep Nathaniel immobile...he is teaching himself to crawl (YIKES, I really better "baby-proof" soon). It is more Commando style right now but is he getting around, nonetheless.

Update and Eliyah

The saga continues....

Daddy took Nate to the doc on Friday because he is STILL not feeling well and he was seen by a nurse practitioner. She decided to up him to stat status for tubes. As soon as an appointment is available, then away we go to get tubes placed.

This is my light at the end of the tunnel. I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement everyone is sending our way about tubes, etc. However, if it does not work....I think I will loose my mind.


I do not want this to be Nate's future (and at the rate we are going, it feels like it might be):




On a much happier note, we got to spend the day with Eliyah. This is one of Mommy's co-workers kiddos. Eliyah is 2 weeks older than Nathaniel. Although their main form of interacting with one another was stealing toys, it was a lot of fun to watch them together. It was also fun to have such a little petite girl in our home. We are not used to pink and frilly! And, Nicci my hat goes off to you being able to do this daily!

Grrrrrrrrrr

2 shots and 10 full days of oral antibiotics and my son is still suffering from earaches. What kind of mutant strain does he have???? We went back to Urgent Care tonight. He has been very cranky the last few days but fever broke this evening and was 102.3 at the clinic. The MD on duty said he has a bad ear infection bilaterally. How can this be? He has been on meds the last 10 days.

Had Nathaniel not been screaming bloody murder, I probably would have asked 1000 questions. I do not understand why we cannot kill this bacteria. I am afraid we are damaging his liver and/or kidneys in the process. Anyway, he got another shot tonight and will go another 10 days of oral meds. Keep your fingers crossed....and pray we can make it until the first week of Jan without losing our minds (that is when he is supposed to get tubes placed). I cried several times on the way home. Although the doctor, Ted, and my mom said we are doing everything right, it is soooo frustrating. Why can't I just give him a kiss and make it all better? It always seemed to work when my mom did that.....maybe Grandma should move down here (hint, hint).

Snow?!?!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas...even in South Texas!


After life group last night we stepped out into snow-fall. It was great. This is such a rarity here. However I think Nathaniel enjoyed the sleet more than the snow. He was not too phased by the white stuff falling from the sky. Maybe next time it snows he will take greater interest...he will probably be 8 or 9 years old at that time, that is about how frequently it snows down here :)
Here is a pic from our Christmas party- see the spider bite is healing nicely...just not fast enough.

Additionally, we did go to an ENT today. Nathaniel's hearing is fine and he is tentatively scheduled to get tubes during the first week in Jan. Although I am a little nervous about the anesthesia, I know he will do fine and hopefully will have an easier time in life. It has got to be miserable to have an earache for half of your life time...poor Nater-Bug.

Butt paste

So Nathaniel got his second shot of antibiotics and some oral meds to take for the next ten days....and I am already sensing it will be a long ten days. Bring on the butt paste....if you know what I mean. Yuck. We went through this with some other oral meds about a month ago and it was miserable for everyone involved. Diaper rash has to be the worst possible side effect for these little guys. Additionally, we got the go ahead to have him see an ear, nose, and throat doctor....so pray that goes well. We will keep you posted.

Another one....

You guessed it....another ear infection. In all actuality, it is the same infection - just another trip to the doctor, and another co-pay. We went in for Nathaniel's follow up flu shot today (infants have to get 2 shots a month apart). Just for good measure I asked them to check out his ears. The doc came in and looked....when she did not immediately say everything looks fine, my heart sank. So little man not only got his flu shot today, but also got another antibiotic shot. And these shots are horrible. It is a huge needle with a thick antibiotic that hurts going in. Nathaniel barely cried with the flu shot,but was much harder to console with the second one. He has to go back tomorrow for another antibiotic shot. Even though it is for his own good, it makes you feel like a bad parent allowing someone to hurt your child. I wish this phase would pass. However, it really makes me realize what an awesome kid Nathaniel is. Despite having an ear infection for the past 3 months, he is typically a happy kiddo that loves to smile and loves to make people smile.

Thanksgiving Weekend

After the feast with Ted's side of the family we drove up to Rockwall to hang out with Sybil's side of the family. It is always fun having the cousins get together. Logan and Isabella are so sweet with Nathaniel and Craig. It is still quite amazing the difference 5 weeks makes between the boys. Craig is crawling and pulling up on furniture. We are counting our blessings that Nathaniel is still just in the rolling around phase. Yet we know, this too shall pass.....

Here are some pictures from the get together. We also did our Christmas exchange during Thanksgiving weekend since everyone was together...so be not confused when the Christmas pics show up :)

Sticking my toungue out with Grandma and hanging with Logan

Happy to see crazy cousin Craig...and loving presents!

All Craig wants for Christmas is....my ear!

Carol taught me all about computers, In fact she even bought me myfirst one!


Auntie Leslie and Logan tried to teach me piano.

Logan is doing really well with his lessons.

A family divided!

Partied until I could take no more!

Thanksgiving Lunch

What a special day this was.
Great Uncle Mose and Great Aunt Peggy hosted a wonderful lunch.

Granny got a day pass from the rehabilitation hospital so we were able to share our Thanksgiving day together. In fact,the first time she ever got to feed me, was my first Thanksgiving meal!

My Great Grandparents were also there. I love being able to see them. Great-Granny seems to have a special knack to keep me calm whenever she holds me. We think those magic powers are also in her rocking chair at Great Uncle Mose and Aunt Peggy's house, That is where Great Aunt Peggy can always rock me to sleep when she watches me on Fridays.

It was a nice day and a great time to have four generations together.

We have so much to be thankful for this year!