I had such high hopes for a wonderful break with my little family, especially after we were all sick over Thanksgiving. Sadly, RSV reared its evil head in our little munchkin. She was such a trooper through all of it- the 104+ temps, congestion, traveling, all of it! She literally got sick the day after we got out of school and didn't start feeling better until two days before we returned and SHE. WAS. PITIFUL! Miserable or not, this is my attempt to relive our Christmas.
Aubie, the main attraction!
Poppa met us for lunch after the parade. We always love spontaneous visits!
Callaway has the most amazing Santa! He was so patient with her even though she had no clue what was happening. He gained an instant friend when he gave her a mini candy cane. We got some super cute pictures of the two of them, but I just love this one for some reason.
She loved coloring while we were waiting for our trolley ride with "Snowflake" the reindeer guide.
After the trolley ride
CHRISTMAS EVEShe had some "spunk" to her on this day. In fact, I thought she just had a cold and was just fine. Her fever did spike at 103 this afternoon and I called her doctor to see what he recommended we do. He said he thought it was most likely RSV and that we should rotate the Motrin and Ibuprofen to keep her fever down. She slept a good bit this day, but Steve and I had some errands to run and last-minute shopping to do so some of her napping took place in the car while we took turns running into various stores.
That evening she seemed to be feeling better. We spent the evening at home having tons of fun with our little munchkin.
She posed on the presents...
...gave noozies...
...and kisses...
...and ended the evening by reading "The Christmas Story" with Daddy.
CHRISTMAS MORNING
The next morning we rushed in to wake her up excited about all the day had in store.
She woke up and immediately I knew something wasn't right. My happy-go-lucky child was whining and all she wanted to do was "Read David!" so we read her current favorite book, "It's Christmas, David!" for the millionth time.
Then we convinced her to go to the living room. Her immediate reaction was, "Wow! Look!" I thought that maybe she might be coming back around to her usual self.
Here she is checking out her gifts from Santa.
I felt like she was fading fast so we went for the stocking.
We tried to make her open presents after that but, as you can see, she was having no part of the presents.
She did, however, think they made excellent slides for her bracelets.
We decided we'd take a break for breakfast and try the presents again after that. We (ok I) sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.
And that was that!
Back to bed she went! We were out of school another week and I decided the presents could wait until we got back. She slept for a couple of hours while we got everything loaded and ready to head South. She even slept most of our trip.
CHRISTMAS AT GRANNY SMITH'S
When we arrived at Granny Smith's it was as if her body said, "Show time!" This girl loves an audience, and with the Smith family she's sure to have one! She is the first grandchild in 13 years and I think everyone aims to spoil her rotten. Here she is putting on a show:
wearing Uncle Bubba's hat
This is the best I could do at getting a picture of the whole family.
She loved all of her wonderful gifts
and all the attention she got from everyone!
Here's Granny Smith opening her gift from Morgan, photo coasters- one with each of the grandchildren.
After the presents were opened, everything was cleaned, and all the good-byes were said, we loaded the car for one final stop, Poppa's! On the way to the car, Morgan started screaming like nothing I had heard before. It was pitiful! I knew she was burning up with fever so I gave her more medicine and attempted to put her back in her car seat. She kept screaming, "MOMMY!!!" over and over again and I just couldn't take it so I rode in the back and held my sick, precious child all the way to Brewton. She never did fall asleep the whole time, but kept her eyes wide open staring at me.
POPPA'S HOUSE
After a very prayerful journey, we arrived in Brewton, took her temperature, and realized it was over 104! We coated her in Vick's and found some old newborn-size clothes for her to wear. The medicine kicked in and she seemed to be feeling better. Poppa was insistent that she open her presents that night since she was already awake. Here she is sporting her lovely outfit and playing with Poppa in the middle of the night.
She felt better the next day for the most part. I learned that with this virus, she was one extreme or the other and it would hit her hard and fast when she didn't feel well- so sad!
My favorite present!
Right before we left, Poppa taught her how to eat ice cream from a cone. The next few days she would cry for, "Poppa's ice cream!" The problem is that we couldn't find "Poppa's ice cream" anywhere and trust me, we looked everywhere!
Out again on the way home, but IN her car seat this time!
THE DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS
Long story short, here's what our next few days looked like:
- Dress up in cute Christmas clothes in case she did feel better.
- Sleep until she got an energy burst.
- Get up and open a present or two.
- Play for a few minutes until she crashed again.