Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Way Behind and A Whole Lot To Tell: November & December

I am about 3 months behind in my blogging so here goes a whole lot of catching up.

November:
Drake turned 2 months old in November!  

And with turning 2 months old came his 2 month well baby checkup and vacinations.  I took him to his appointment since I was still on maternity leave and his daddy met us at the dr's office.  Daddy had to stay with him when he got his shots.  I couldnt do it...he got a total of 4.  1 was oral and then he got 2 in one leg and 1 in the other.  Aaron said he took the oral one just fine, the 1st shot was a little bit of a shocker, and the other two were complete tears.  After the nurse was finished Aaron picked him up, gave him a bottle, got him dressed, and he was good to go.  Luckily he didnt have any adverse side effects from the shots.  He was slightly fussier than normal that night and ran a LOW grade fever. 

 After several weeks of projectible vomiting and a very fussy baby after eating, doc put Drake on Zantac for his acid reflux.  That stuff is the miracle medicine for our son.  he's like a completly differnet baby.  We went from using a bottle of gas medicine in a week and a half to hardly EVEr using it.  My 9 weeks of maternity leave went by so quickly.  I went back to work on November 22.  It was horrible having to get things ready for Drake to have to go to his grandma's house for the 2 days that Aaron and I both worked.  Not because it was his grandma but because I was leaving my 2 MONTH OLD son.  The weekend before the 22nd I got everything ready and labeled.  I even made a "Drake manuel" for Betty to reference incase she had any problems or needed any suggestions.  The morning of the 22nd was BEYOND horrible.  I cried all the way to Bentonville.  I left early because I wasnt sure how long it would take to get things situated with Drake at Betty's.  I got their way too early because I couldnt handle sitting there holding him knowing that in just a few short minutes I was leaving him in the care of someone else.  Work wasnt as bad as I thought it would be but it was not where I wanted to be.  After the rough morning that I had and my back and forth feelings about leaving Drake in Bentonville we both decided that it would be better if he started daycare at Lollipop in Hiwasse where my/his aunt works.  Daycare works out really well for us.  Drake's 1st Thanksgiving came all too quickly.  My baby was already 2 1/2 months old and having his 1st Thanksgiving.  We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and Drake of course had a different outfit for each house. We went to Aarons parents house early that afternoon.  His grandparents from Kansas were even there. 

Late that afternoon we went to Aunt Jessica and Uncle Dusty's for my family Thanksgiving. 

DECEMBER:
Christmas time!  We had alot to plan and to get ready.  With Aaron and I both working full time again and wanting to spend as much time possible with Drake we had a full plate on our hands.  Mom and Dad were flying us to Idaho for Christmas at the end of the month.  I had to get all 3 of us packed, wrap all of our christmas presents still, clean our house, have 2 Christmas' in Arkansas, and make our way to Tulsa by the 22nd.  Needless to say it didnt all get done BUT that is ok.  It worked out great and Drake's 1st Christmas was wonderful.  I again had outfits specially picked out for each Christmas event.  He didnt however get to wear them all.  We had Christmas with Aaron's parents and grandmas right after work one night so we had to hurry and get going... dressing Drake up just wasnt happening.  Christmas with Aaron's family was great, we got ALOT of great gifts!  The next night we had Christmas in Gravette with my family.  We all went to Gene & Betty's for Christmas dinner and then to Aunt Jessica and Uncle Dusty's house for presents there and so the kids could have their presents from my mom and dad.  Uncle Dusty and Aunt Jessica got me THE KENDRA book!  I have yet to read it but I wanted it SOO bad.  Maybe all these snow days will allow me some reading time :).  Faith and Micayla made Aunt Jessica and I the best gift ever!  They put Drake and the kids' pictures on a quilt for us.  They're very pretty and the fabric is the same fabric that my hospital gown was made out of.   The week before our trip Aaron and to take Drake to the Dr because he had a cold that wasnt going away and we wanted to make sure he could travel... the Dr gave the Ok.  The 22nd came quickly and it was time to go to Idaho. That morning we woke up and Aaron and I were sick too.  Our throats hurt and we were both congested and feeling poopy.  A trip to walmart to stock up on medicine was a definate go!  We both knew that traveling with a baby was going to be hectic but we did!  And we did it well.  Drake did awesome with the ride to Tulsa...slept the whole way. 

When we got to the airport Aaron dropped Drake, me, our 4 large suitcases, stroller, and both of our carry ons at the door.  He then parked and hiked his way back to the terminal.  We flew southwest so we wanted to take advantage of the 2 free bags per ticketed passenger.  I went back and forth for weeks on whether or not to bring the car seat, bring the stroller, check one, check the other, or check both.  We ended up checking the car seat and gate checking the stroller.  Going through security was a breeze compared to what I thought it would be.  We were able to skip to the front of the line.  I emptied all of mine and Drake's stuff into the bin and headed for the metal detector.  Aaron loaded everything onto the belt and surprisingly was able to walk through the metal detector with us instead of having to go through the scanner.  Flying southwest was new to us... they dont assign seats so its first come first serve.  Thankfully we got to board with family boarding in between A & B seating groups. We had a layover in Vegas and of course it got DELAYED... not because of snow or storms.  We were delayed for 2 hours because of the RAIN.  They apparently are not prepared for rain.
  We finally go to Boise and it was FREEZING.  We got our bags and headed for the cars.  That's right... CARS.  Mom's bug was way to small for us and all of our stuff but dad's truck couldnt fit all of and our stuff without our stuff getting wet from the snow.  Aaron and our stuff went with dad while Drake and I went with mom.  Drake was crazy tired and screamed the first 15 minutes we were in the car before he fell asleep.  We grabbed our jack in the box (its a must for me) and headed to the house.  CJ and Alex were there waiting for us.  We hadnt seen CJ since before he deployed the last time and he had never met Drake.  We chated for a while before they left and we headed to bed.  Aaron, Dad, and CJ went skiing/snowboarding the next day... that could be a whole blog in itself so we'll skip all that and go straight for the Christmas Eve Party.  Every year the Hadley side of the family has a Christmas Eve Party.  Everyone brings a homemade gift and we do a white elephant gift exchange.  Its funny to see what everyone comes up with.  Some are good and some are NOT. Mine this year was not.  I thought about making something useful and cute until Mary at work sent me an email on how to make slippers out of pads.  So that's what I made, I even bejeweled them.  The party was great and I got to see alot of family that I missed.  Drake got to wear his 'Christmas outfit' that I HAD to have. 

 However, he only wore it for about 30 minutes before he got super hot from all the people, cooking, and everyone passing him around.  Everyone loved our baby Drake (but what isnt to love).  Every year on christmas eve we open 1 present and its always the same, Christmas Eve pajamas.  This year I completly ran out of time at home and didnt get to pick Aaron and I's up.  When we got to Emmett, the search for pajamas was on!  Dad and Aaron search the town and every store in it.  Aaron came back with normal pajamas for himself and a lovely set of pink flannels w/ white bears? for me.  They were just beautiful (NOT).  I couldnt even make myself wear the top.  I ended up wearing Aaron's UFC shirt with the bottoms.  Christmas morning I was woke up by a phone call from CJ.  He was on his way over to the house with Alex and Jaydon.  I woke Aaron up and he got Drake up while I went and woke mom and dad up.  CJ and Dad searched through the mound of presents and sorted them out according to who they were for.  We opened presents for what seemed like ever!  I must say I have GREAT parents.  They got us way more than they should have (not that I dont love presents :).  Drake's favorite presents from his Grammie and Grandpa was his seahorse. 

This was the first toy he EVER reached for or smiled at.  The next day was time to go home.  We had to make a short trip this year because Aaron and I had to be back at work.