Christmas Party Recap

We had our annual Christmas Party Saturday night. It was incredible. We had some great friends over, delicious food, the REAL Santa Clause, and lots of fun.

Todd and I really enjoyed the Christmas Party we had last year, so we decided to do a repeat. My theme this year was "Wild and Crazy" because I could not describe our past year (7 weeks) any better. We made 3 kinds of chili: our friend Terry made his famous chili that is made with a stew meat, Todd made a chili with ground beef that was served with fritos (frito pie) or on top of hot dogs (chili dogs), and I made a chicken chili (which I LOVE and will post the recipe soon).

We asked all of the parents to bring their child a gift (and sneak it into Santa's bag). We also adopted a needy family and asked all of the kids to bring things for the needy family. All of those gifts went under the Christmas tree. (I will do a seperate post on the family and the wonderful Christmas that our friends helped us give them).

Santa was amazing. After he was attacked by all of the kids in the yard (some of them even attacked him as he was getting out of his vehicle and trying to put on his Santa suit) he came in and really entertained the kids. He had them singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, told them a story about his keys, and then showed them the magic key that he uses to open doors when there is no chimney.

Hello Santa... I have been very good. I promise.

Santa explaining all of his keys (one for his house, one for his sleigh, one for the toy shop, and one for the reindeer barn). Then he had a magic key for opening houses with no chimneys or in case there is a fire in the chimney. Who knew Santa had so many keys????

Kaelin was just mesmerized with Santa. She could probably sit there all night listening to him and asking 1000 questions.

Kaelin was telling Santa her Christmas wish list and I think she gave him a list of about 100 things. I am quite sure he won't be filling all of her list.

My two favorite girls sitting with Santa.

This is where Macie spent the majority of the night- in Mamaw's arms. I don't think either of them were complaining.

When Macie wasn't in Mamaw's lap, she spent her time with Pawpaw.

Santa and Trip just chillin' North Pole style.

Chicken Chili Recipe

We had several requests for the recipe for Chicken Chili that we served at our Christmas Party, so I decided to just post it. (I doubled the recipe for the Christmas Party and it barely fit into my large crock pot)

Chicken Chili (thanks to Gary Lowry)

3 cans Northern Beans, undrained (can use 4 cans if you want)
1 can chopped green chilies (found by the Mexican food)
4 to 6 chicken breasts (I use about 6 large ones)
6 cups of chicken broth (or 3 cans of broth)
3/4 cup of onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
2 T. Olive Oil
2 t. cumin
1 1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2-3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (1 lb. block shredded)

Cook chicken breasts in water seasoned with salt and lots of black pepper until tender. Reserve broth if wanting to use. (I recommend using the broth from cooking the chicken rather than the cans of broth.) Let cool and skim off fat from broth. Cut up chicken and set aside.

Saute onion in olive oil until transparent. Add garlic, green chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Bring out the big pot. Add the undrained beans, broth, chicken, and the saute'd mixture from above. Bring to a slow boil. Cook on low heat for an hour. Add cheese a little at a time during this hour.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Best if made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Heat on low heat before serving (or warm up in your crock pot). Garnish with chopped cilantro or green onions. (makes it look pretty, but I don't do it if I am serving a large crowd).

7 weeks

Macie turned 7 weeks old this past Friday.

Wow... where has the time gone. I have to return to work this week (only 2 days, but it still makes me SUPER sad).

Macie has had the best week so far. She is sleeping AWESOME (going to bed between 9 and 10 at night and not waking up until 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning). That is a schedule that I can work with.

She is eating like a small horse. She would be happy if you would feed her about every 2-3 hours during the day, but at least during the night she prefers to sleep (probably sleeping off all of that milk she drank during the day).

We have had to say goodbye to all of the newborn sized clothes. That made me a little (a lot) sad. I absolutely hated putting them in the box. Those were the clothes I brought to the hospital for her to wear and come home in. Those were also some of the same clothes I brought to the hospital when Kaelin was born. Each outfit has such great memories that I just hated to see them get put away. We are now into the 0-3 month clothes (but not for long) and the 3 or 3-6 month clothes.

She is smiling A LOT.

The medicine the doctor gave her for thrush has worked miracles. Macie is feeling so much better and is a very happy baby (except for what we refer to as grumpy 30). That is the time of day when Macie has just had enough and she really lets us know about it (usually about the time Todd gets home from work).

Pajama Day

Last Tuesday, Kaelin had pajama day at school. They watched to Polar Express, ate cookies and drank hot chocolate.

Kaelin loved it.

MOTY moment: (Mom of the year)


When I dropped Kaelin off at school, her teacher asked if she had any other shoes. (Kaelin was wearing her super cute Santa Clause slippers.) I told the teacher that was all I sent her. The teacher informs me that they were going to go play on the playground. So, I have to hurry to store and pick up Kaelin a pair of tennis shoes. I also forgot to send her a jacket (who does that... it was about 40 degrees outside).





There are always notes and flyers in her folder that discuss upcoming events. Since we were in Austin the week before, we missed all of the communication (this is my defense). There was a flyer talking about the pajama day. In big BOLD letters, it says "No Slippers". (Uh Oh...) Then the next flyer says Brrrr... and discusses making sure you send a jacket with your child every day. (Uh Oh...)

Happy Birthday Aunt Debbie

Today is Aunt Debbie's birthday.

Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to Aunt Debbie! Happy Birthday to You!

We are so thankful that Aunt Debbie is so involved in our lives. Both of my girls just love spending time with her. We get the pleasure of eating dinner with her about 4 nights a week (sometimes more).

Thank you for everything you do for us and with us. We love you and hope you have a very happy birthday.

Tonight is our annual Christmas party. We have been frantically running around trying to get everything done before the party. We cooked 3 different kinds of chili. Santa is scheduled to pay us a visit at 5:3o. Kaelin is just too excited. We also adopted a needy family again this year. We have asked everyone attending the party to bring a gift or food for the family. We plan on delivering everything sometime next week.

6 weeks

I am a little late posting this, but it is crazy around here.

Macie turned 6 weeks old the day we left Austin. We had a long week.

But 6 weeks turned out to be a wonderful week. Things really started getting a lot better.

Week in review:

On Monday, we both went to the doctor. They put Macie on a pretty strong medicine to finally knock out the thrush. It did take care of the thrush which has made for a very happy baby. (The medicine was a little strong which caused some MAJOR explosive diapers).

Updates:

Macie weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces. (Girl likes her food).

What is she doing:

Macie is very alert. She is holding her head up and looking around. She is sleeping SO MUCH better.

Likes and dislikes:

She still dislikes baths (but she will tolerate them for a little while), hates having her diaper changed, and does not care for having her clothes changed. Basically, she just prefers to be dirty.

She loves sitting in her swing and is beginning to sit in her Bumbo chair. She does good for a while, then begins to lean a little bit.

Crazy on a whole new level

If you are wondering why I have not posted anything lately... we (Kaelin, Macie, and I) have been in Austin. I had to go to Austin for a business trip.

If you are saying "I thought you weren't suppose to return to work until January"... you are correct, but duty calls. I had a conference that was a "must" for my job. So, as a compromise, my girls went with me (along with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Truman).

What was I thinking... (that I can't be away from my kids and that my youngest needs to eat and what a dull week if I could not be with my babies)

This week proved to be the week of all weeks. I am exhausted just trying to type a recap.

Along with 9 hour days spent in back to back training and being a presenter at one of the sessions, we got to spend one of the days in the Dell Children's Hospital. Now before you get all worried, everything is okay. Macie just gave us a little (a big) scare.

This is how the whole thing went down... (involves some boob talk, so skip to the end because some of it really is TMI -too much information)

I will give the story from the beginning (keep in mind it has only been 6 weeks). About a week after getting released from the hospital, I started running fever and could not get it to break. This was not just a little fever, it was staying around 104 (that is the scary range). The fever was taking absolutely everything out of me (which is hard to admit because I never own up to defeat). Several calls to the doctor, three different prescriptions, and a threat of returning to the hospital, they concluded that I had mastitis (google it if you don't know what it is).

The doctor prescribes an antibiotic for the mastitis. Good for the infection (bad for a breast fed baby). The antibiotic gets rid of the antibodies (even the good ones). This causes Macie to get Thrush (yeast infection of the mouth), which is pretty painful. So, when Macie eats... this causes me to get Thrush (as if mastitis is not enough). Macie's doctor prescribes an anti-fungal medicine for her and an anti-fungal cream for me. (Yes... we are up to 5 prescriptions for those counting).

We are into week 4 of Thrush and it is still not looking good on the home front. Macie's mouth will clear up for a day and then it starts looking bad again. We are passing the thrush back and forth. It is a very vicious cycle. Feeding Macie had become EXTREMELY painful from all of the cracks, cuts, and bleeding (again TMI, but it leads to the end of the story).

So, we are in Austin (3 hours from home). I wake up (if you call 3 hours of sleep a good nights sleep). I feed Macie, get dressed for my confernce, go to my first session, and then I get a text saying "to call now". So, I call Aunt Debbie and she informs me that Macie has just thrown up blood.

WOW... scary. So, I go up to the room, assess the situation, call Todd for help, and then call our nurses line with our insurance. They tell me to take Macie to the emergency room due to her age. So, off to Dell Children's Hospital we go. Five hours later we walk out with a few answers. Due to the Thrush (in Macie's mouth and on my chest), the cuts have caused Macie to ingest blood rather than milk. Since blood doesn't really digest, it just comes back up (and scares the hell out of you).

Solution... time (and an assortment of medicine) will heal all wounds. I went to Target, bought Macie some formula to help fill her tummy and relieve some of the demands that she has on me (her 24 hour vending machine).

3 days later... we are all doing much better. Macie's mouth is looking better (not perfect), cuts are healing (not perfect), and the fussiness is easing (mine and Macie's).

We both have doctors appointments on Monday (probably for more prescriptions).

The past 6 weeks have been overly busy and overly exhausting. Saving all of my Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve could not even come close to stressing me out as much as the past 6 weeks. We are all heading uphill which is beginning to feel like winning the lottery.