It's Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning arrived and us adults were obviously more excited FOR our kids than they were as it was just another day for them. However when they came down the hall something was different... new toys!! Jonathan and Lori gave Hannah a cool climbing fort with slide. We gave Philip a play wall with lights and sounds. They both were overwhelmed at first, but over the next few days, Hannah became a sliding master!




Hannah and Philip in the fort.




The kids at the play wall.
After a good bit of playing and a short nap for Mr. Philip, we attended a wonderful Christmas service at church. The babies wore precious red velvet matching outfits and stole the show! It is wonderful to worship all together as a family.

Backtracking... Dec. 24

This day might as well have been Christmas as I woke up so excited that today we would see Hannah, Lori and Jonathan. They arrived late Friday night after driving from Jacksonville, FL (and from way down south FL the day before!). I was excited to see how Philip and Hannah would react to each other. Hannah being three months older is fully-mobile and would walk up to Philip who was standing beside Grandma's couch and give him a hug. Philip wasn't sure what to think that first day.



After a day of playing and napping, Hannah and Philip are dressed and ready to attend the Christmas Eve Service.

After the service, Matthew, Philip and I went to my parents' house to exchange Christmas presents. Philip was so excited to see his horse from Nana and Papa. I later found out Papa had secretly let Philip have a test-ride the week before! Maybe his little memory had forgotten about it.

My brother Mike and sister-in-law Andrea spent the weekend with my parents. Philip loves his aunt and uncle and especially their dog, Sam! Since Mike had been a retail manager for the last several years, he always was working Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. Changing to insurance sales made his and Andrea's holidays MUCH more enjoyable this year. We were glad to spend the time together.

Backtracking... Dec. 23

I said in a previous post that the holidays had crept up on me as I hadn't gotten the Christmas spirit until just recently. Well, starting last Friday, the holidays had definitely arrived. Philip and I had lunch with Melanie, a great friend of mine, whom we hadn't seen in months. Kind of sad that sometimes friends even in the same town can lose touch just because circumstances change. It was a great time to catch-up and make plans to get together with our families in the future (i.e. 24!!). She was so sweet to bring us presents! Philip loves his new boombox from his buddy Mr. Ron.

Philip tells Melanie how much fun it was to have lunch together.

Philip's Cousin is Here!

I've taken 92 photos since Saturday! Thank the Lord for digital cameras. Anyway, here is a short recap of our weekend with Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Lori and Cousin Hannah. I'll add additional posts but only had a few minutes right now.

"My cousin Hannah is here!" said Philip. They have had a ball playing together. Hannah is a beautiful little girl. Uncle Matthew and Aunt Kim love you soooo much, Hannah.

The Brooks men! Philip received this cool police car as an early birthday present from Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Lori. Thanks! Looks like he loves it already.

We spent the night at Grandma's house on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun to wake up Christmas morning and be with Grandma and Cousin Hannah.

We also spent some time with Nana, Papa, Uncle Mike and Aunt Andrea. Philip was so excited to receive his new rocking horse from Nana and Papa. Giddy Up!

Christmas, Christmastime is Here!

Even though Philip will not remember his first Christmas, I wanted it to be extra special just for him! Christmas is only four days away. It seemed to come extra fast this year. I suppose going with Mom to treatments through mid-November and the day-to-day routines of a stay-at-home mom kept me from getting an early dose of Christmas spirit. No worry! I have plenty of Christmas spirit now as I'm always checking the holiday TV schedule for any specials and listen to the "All Christmas music through Christmas day" radio station! Matthew even said ok to us watching "It's A Wonderful Life" while we wrapped our presents last Saturday night. Not to overlook Jesus during this busy time, Mom, Dad, Matthew, Philip and I visited Bethlehem last Friday night. A local church puts together a drive-though nativity village. Philip got a wave from one of Herod's guards, saw a camel, and saw baby Jesus and his parents in the stable. It was really nicely done.

We finally have our house decorations complete as of Saturday afternoon. I don't mind doing them late as they will stay up through mid-January when my grandparents will be in town for Mom's operation. Hopefully our live tree won't be shedding all its needles by then.

Here's the outside of our house. We have "gutter guards" so I improvise every year as how to hang the icicle lights!

Philip is held by so many people that he didn't mind Santa at all! He didn't have a clue, but I was so excited.

Here is Philip sitting under my parents' tree. More pictures to come of this little outfit as I bought a matching one for his cousin Hannah. They will be so precious together. She and her parents will be here in two days!! Yippee!

Winter Wonderland

Our first winter storm of the season arrived today -- ICE!! It's really pretty but makes the roads so dangerous. At least with snow it's still pretty but people can still get around a little. The worst thing is that the ice makes the trees so heavy they snap, pull down power lines and leave people without electricity. Somehow God planted us in a neighborhood that rarely loses its power - Thank You Lord! My parents and my mother-in-law both have been without power today and are now sleeping in the cold. Both were offered warm beds here (I even made a sign, "Welcome Ice Storm Refugees!"), but both turned us down for the comfort of their own homes. Not sure if the offer stands tomorrow as I'm scheduled to have another sleepover for my 9th Grade Sunday School girls! No room at the inn!

Little Piano Man

I took piano lessons in middle school and my parents were great enough to buy a piano for me. Neither of them play, but the piano is currently in their home as we don't have room in our house. Mom says when Matthew and I move to another house, we can have it if there's room, but "I'll be sad to see it go because it's a nice decorative piece of furniture," she says. If we do have it in our home one day maybe Philip can take lessons and follow in his Grandpa Bill's footsteps (he was a Minister of Music and accomplished pianist). Matthew and I each play a little but are about as rusty as the Tin Man at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz!



Looks like Philip has what it takes!




Mommy said I could sit up here!

Big boy carseat has arrived!

Philip's new Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1 carseat arrived last Monday. I was making myself crazy checking and cross-checking different reviews about carseats on several different websites and finally decided on this one. Regardless of being a brand name, it was actually the cheapest one I found which had all the features I was looking for. It will fit him until he's 100 pounds -- about 8 years old! The box says it can seat a newborn coming home from the hospital but Philip looks small enough in it! Gone are the days of caring him into the house asleep in his infant carrier.




All straped in and ready to roll.




Wait! It's cold here. Got to bundle up first.




I don't care about the carseat. Just let me keep the box!

Prayer for Mom

Please keep my mom in your prayers. Her upcoming surgery is overtaking her thoughts especially at night. She is a very spiritually-strong woman and knows that God is in control of all things (as hard as it is to give up control herself). Her emotional side is not so strong and all the worries and what if's keep creeping up on her again and again. Please pray for her to have "peace that surpasses all understanding" especially during these next few holiday weeks. Thank you.

Funny Philip

Philip is doing somewhat better than he was last week. I think the amoxicillin has taken care of his ear infection and the stomach bug is gone. However, now he has a cough. It's horrible. Last night I got up twice to hold him while he coughed. He coughs so hard I'm afraid he might throw up on me. His little face gets red and he can hardly catch his breath. When he finally does get through it, he cries a little as I'm sure for a 10-month-old it's pretty scary.

Anyway, during the day he feels much better and finds all sorts of fun things to do around the house. I look forward to Christmas when he will have actual toys to play with, but until then he's pretty creative on his own.


He loves to walk over and hit the pink musical note. It says "Nighty night" but it says it over and over when Philip is standing there.


Looking pretty cute after a nap. He hasn't figured out how to pull up in the crib yet so I have to take credit for standing him up and putting the blanket on his head.


This was a sweet Daddy and Baby moment. Looking back at the photo, it looks like Matthew is a ventriloquist and Philip is his puppet!!


One of Philip's favorite places is under the kitchen table. Just don't fall and bump your head, sweetums!

Mom's Surgery

Mom called her surgeon's office yesterday and due to schedule issues with her surgeon and assistant surgeon, her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, January 10. (That's a crazy sentence!) She has been anxious to have it and begin to recover but I believe it works out for the best this way. She's starting to feel like herself again, but just low on energy. In a few weeks, she may be able to eat anything she wants and have lots more energy! She can play with Philip and his new Christmas toys!

The date works well also as Matthew and I have been invited to a wedding in Tennessee on January 7. I was worried about whether to leave town if Mom was to have surgery that Thursday or Friday, but now it doesn't matter. Also, as my brother-in-law Jonathan, sister-in-law Lori, and niece Hannah will be visiting the two weeks after Christmas, we can spend lots of time together without feeling like I need to be at the hospital. My mom's parents will be driving up Sunday, January 8 and staying for two weeks giving us lots of time to be together also. They haven't seen Philip since July!

Mom told me to remember "10,10". Her surgery is January 10 at 10:00am.

Philip's "Playdate" with Emma

Last Friday (prior to the crazy weekend), Philip and I visited our friends, Jo Ellen and her daughter Emma. Emma is Philip's girlfriend, or so I like to pretend! Now that they are both somewhat mobile, it was cute watching them play together. Emma is a super-speedy crawler which I hoped would rub off on Philip. He on the other hand was cruising all around their coffee table and Emma tried to follow suit with a few steps. Sitting on the kitchen floor while Jo Ellen and I ate lunch and enjoyed some adult conversation, the babies drank from their sippy cups and then drank from each other's sippy cups. Luckily (or maybe un-luckily (is that a word?)), they both already had a bit of a cold. It was a great visit and we hope Jo Ellen and Emma can come play at Philip's house real soon.

Philip is feeling a little bashful.

Emma is all smiles about having her friend Philip over to play.

Philip warms up to the idea and the two share a toy.

Philip's Yucky Weekend

Matthew and I had high hopes of getting some Christmas shopping done Saturday, but our little munchkin changed plans on us. I had plans to meet two of the girls I taught in Sunday School last year and the woman I co-taught with at the mall for lunch. Matthew and I decided to pack up Philip, meet them for lunch and then shop as we would be at the mall anyway. Well, we met our friends and proceeded to eat our lunches and feed Philip his. About 15 minutes into this, he no longer wanted food (not even cheerios!). He started fussing and then screaming crying. He was passed from person to person, each trying to console him in whatever way they thought best. I gave him some Tylenol as he is teething. Usually it kicks in within 15 minutes but he didn't seem to be calming down. Matthew gave me that "we need to go home" look. Time to pack Philip back up and head out of the mall, crying all the way. We didn't get the cute smiles we normally do when pushing him in the stroller.

Little man cried all the way home. I sat down with him in our glider, stroked his nose and he was asleep within 5 minutes. We laid him down in his crib around 2:00pm. At 4:45pm, we heard him babbling. A great nap was had by each of us that afternoon. Well, now he seemed ok so we headed out again, but this time in hopes of pricing some carseats as he's grown out of his infant carrier (see photos from earlier post!). We hit Target, Toys R Us and Walmart. He was an angel. Got him home, bathed, fed and back to sleep around 8:30pm.

Sunday morning, I heard Philip waking up around 7:30am. When I headed into his room, I smelled something out of the ordinary. Throw up!! It was on his crib sheet and his pajamas, but dried so I don't know when during the night he had thrown up. Poor munchkin. Well, I nursed him, changed his pajamas and changed his crib sheet. As I was needing to get ready for church now, I asked Matthew to feed him his breakfast. Matthew said he ate half of it, but as soon as they got back to Philip's room for his pre-church nap, out all of it came onto Matthew's bare chest and the floor! Yuck!! No church for Philip today. Matthew stayed home with him as they don't get much time together during the week.

When I returned from church (to a yummy chicken lunch made by my loving hubby), Matthew said Philip had slept from 8:45-11:45. Great nap, easy morning for Daddy! The rest of the day was pleasant as again we all took an afternoon nap. Around dinnertime, Philip was rubbing his eyes so we thought a short nap sometimes perks him up for the rest of the evening. We laid him down at 6:15pm. Matthew and I played a boardgame, read a little and then noticed the clock said 8:30pm! What to do about the boy? We decided to let him sleep as long as he needed. If he were to wake up at 4:00am or so, I'd just read him a few books and try to get him back to sleep after a while.

This morning came with the alarm at 6:30am. I started my Bible study, but soon after (about 6:45am) came Philip's morning babbles! He slept 12 1/2 hours!! The boy must surely be feeling great today! Well, upon entering his room... oh no, throw up smell! Yup, he had again thrown up sometime during the night. This alarmed Matthew and I a little. Philip actually had an appointment to see his doctor tomorrow, but I called and said we'd rather come today as he's been sick.

To wrap up this saga, the doctor found Philip to have double ear infections due to the head congestion he's had recently. The vomitting could be due to that or a bug which is likely on its way out. Aside from that, he's great. Still on the small side for weight (only 17 lbs. 8 oz. but he didn't eat much yesterday). Tonight, he gets his favorite treat... amoxicillin!!
Any mother hates to see her baby sick, however as I daily check my little friend James' website to read how he and his parents are doing, I'd welcome an ear infection any day over what he's fighting!! Please continue to remember them in your prayers!!

Update on James

My little friend James is doing great. It sounds like he's a trooper and really making the most of things. His parents, Lisa and Denny, have set up a website for everyone to be able to keep up with how things are going day to day. If you are interested, the website is www.caringbridge.com/visit/james goff. They are such an amazing family that on their behalf I thank you in advance for your prayers.