Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas. We stayed home this year because we weren't sure how well Annabel would be able to travel. My parents came down to celebrate Christmas with us.

Christmas morning we got up and opened presents. Well, Maddie unloaded her stocking and then unloaded everyone else's for them. Then she opened her presents ... and everyone else's.

Later, we ate Jared's delicious prime rib. After naps, we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday.

Here are some (ok, a lot) of pics from Christmas morning.

Madison getting ready to dig into her stocking



Annabel checking out her stocking

Annabel and Grandpa

Mommy and the girls

Modelling her new princess house shoes

Maddie unloaded Daddy's stocking for him

Now, on to Grandpa's stocking. He got two helpers.

Maddie got a new digital camera. She has been sleeping with it.

Her new dress.

Annabel's favorite: tissue paper

Annabel's stash of new clothes

More playing with tissue paper

Who needs presents? She just needs a box tall enough to try to pull up on.

Daddy was just fast enough to open one of his presents by himself.

Grammy was not so fast

What a great Christmas!

Annabel is crawling

Annabel started crawling about a week ago. I took this video on my regular camera. It is not great, but you can see her crawling.

Now, she is a lot more steady and a lot faster.

When I got home from work this evening, her pants were wet because she had found the dogs water bowl. In the first hour after I got home, she darted across the living room for daddy's cup, pulled Wrigley's tail, and tugged on the Christmas tree skirt. We are going to have to keep a close eye on her now. I don't remember Maddie being so determined to get into everything.

More Christmas Fun

This Christmas season has already been our busiest by far. I have missed taking pictures of much of it. In the last two weeks, we have had a Sunday School class party, one with a few family friends, and Jared and I got to go to my work Christmas party (thanks mom and dad for coming to watch the girls).

Today was also very busy. This morning was Madison's preschool Christmas party. She brought home many of the Christmas projects she has been working on. They have been working hard to help them learn the true meaning of Christmas. Their memory verse for this month has been

Unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Here is a picture that they made and laminated.

and so many other Christmas crafts




Modeling the elf had she made


After the school Christmas party, the girls also got to come to the kids Christmas party at my work. First, they colored and made a cute little mouse. Annabel was lots of help. She kept putting all of the felt pieces in her mouth.




We managed to get it together (except for the eyes).

Then Santa showed up to hand out presents to all the kids.

and take pictures

We had to be quick because Annabel was trying her best to pull his beard off.

Post Surgery Head Decor

Just before Annabel had surgery, I met a lady on craniokids.org who was starting a charity for little girls with cranio. She is making headbands that can be used to cover their scars. The charity is called Avery's Angels. You can see more about it at

averysangels.net

I contacted her and Annabel received her headband just after her surgery. Here is a picture of her in it.



Annabel won't be able to wear the headband much more for the next couple of months. On Wednesday, Jared took his mom and brother to the airport in Houston. Then they went to pick up her new helmet. The helmet will be used to ensure that her head grows in the proper direction after surgery. It was a clear plastic. Last night we got paint and stickers to decorate it. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Here are a few pics of her in her helmet.

Annabel will be wearing this for about 23 hours a day for the next 2-3 months. Then she should be finished with her treatment.

Christmas to a 3 year old

This is the first year that Madison has really gotten excited about Christmas coming and is asking lots of questions about it.

Last week we saw Santa in the mall and she wanted to get a picture with him. My work has a kids Christmas party that Santa comes to, so I told her we would do it then. This morning on the way to school, Madison asked again if she was going to get to take a picture with Santa at my work. I said "yes, but do you remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas?"

She was silent for a little while, so I reminded her that it is Jesus' birthday. Her eyes lit up. "Will we sing Happy Birthday to Him?!?!"

Me: "Yes, we can sing Happy Birthday to Him. I think that would be a good idea"

Maddie: "Will He be there?"

Me: "Well, He will probably listen and watch us from Heaven" and then after a little thought "but He could decide to come that day".

It is going to be so much fun to celebrate this Christmas season.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Since Annabel just had surgery, we ended up staying home for Thanksgiving this year. Jared's mom, stepdad and brother got to come spend Thanksgiving with us, and we had a great time. They got here late Wednesday night. On Thursday, we had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving lunch. This was my first time trying to do the cooking and get everything done at the same time. Luckily, it turned out good.

Thanksgiving morning and afternoon were beautiful. By that evening it was starting to get cold (for Texas). Maddie and I had to bundle up to take a walk.


Annabel and Grandpa Cris on Thanksgiving

On Friday morning, both girls were awake at 6:00. I knew the rest of the family wouldn't be awake for quite a while, so I decided to take the two girls and see what Black Friday shopping was like. (I am not one to get up at 4:00 am the day after Thanksgiving typically.) It was 40 degrees when we left, so I had to get both girls all bundled up.

For a while I thought that I might have lost my mind to take them both by my self with all of the crazy shoppers, but it actually worked out fine. They were pretty good and we got some good deals at a few stores.

The aftermath ...

Friday evening Nana and Maddie made Christmas cookies.

Saturday morning Madison woke up and the first thing she said "Is it Christmas?!" Well, not exactly, but we did put up our Christmas tree.

Jared raked the front yard. Madison had fun playing in the leaves before he mulched them.

Saturday evening, we also exchanged gifts with Jared's family. The girls each got some clothes and a book to share. Thanks Nana, Grandpa Cris, and Christopher

Then Annabel discovered her favorite part of the present.

She shredded tissue paper all over our living room floor. Madison and Christoper even got in on the action too.

All in all, a great holiday weekend.

A couple of milestones

I caught Annabel doing this today and had to snap a quick picture. Sadly, I couldn't get her to look at the camera. She didn't stay like this for long, but she was up on her hands and knees in crawling position and rocking back and forth (then she dove for the toy in front of her and ended up on her belly). I am afraid it won't be long until she is really on the move ... I guess I better think about childproofing.

I also realized that I had never posted when she started sitting up on her own really well. Annabel turned 6 months on November 8th (the day before her surgery). A day or two before that, she started sitting well without leaning on her hands. Here is one picture of her sitting and playing with Maddie tonight. I couldn't manage to get both girls looking at me at the same time.

Madison had a big day today. One of the kids from her preschool had a birthday party that she and I went to. She had a blast. They had one of the inflatable bouncers that even had a slide. A fire truck came and she got to crawl inside. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. One of my friends took a picture of her in the fire truck. Maybe I will be able to post it soon.

Annabel's surgery

This past week has been so many things ... exhausting, stressful, scary, and now relieving. On Saturday my parents came down to stay with us for the week of Annabel's surgery. On Monday, my sister, Marci, came to help as well. Marci and Dad stayed in College Station with Maddie while Mom, Jared, and I stayed in Houston with Annabel.

On Monday, Jared and I got up early to head to Houston. Annabel first had a CT scan of her head. Then we went to the neurosurgeon's office for our pre-op appointment. Next, we were off to the surgery department to register. Finally, we took Annabel to the lab so that they could check Annabel's blood type. Jared and I had both donated blood the week before so that they could use it during the surgery, but we didn't know for sure if either of our blood could be used. It turned out that they were able to use blood one of us donated for the transfusion during surgery.

After all of our appointments, Dad, Mom, Marci, and Madison met us in Houston for some fun that afternoon. We went to the zoo for a few hours and then to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Then Dad, Marci, and Maddie headed back to College Station so that Maddie could go to preschool the next day.

Here are Marci and Maddie at the zoo waiting for the sea lion show to start.




On Tuesday morning, we were at the hospital at 8:30. Her surgery was scheduled for 10:00, but they were running late that morning. The poor baby was not able to eat from 6:00 until about 12:30 when they finally took her back for surgery. Waiting for them to come get her and then watching them take her away were some of the hardest parts. This is when we first saw her after surgery, hooked up to lots of machines and really swollen.

The first night she spent in a step-down room, just one step below the ICU. Fortunately, two of us were able to spend the night there with her.

The day after surgery, her swelling started to go down enough that she could open her eyes. She was even smiling at us while we played peek-a-boo that evening. She also loved being carried around the halls of the hospital. Texas Children's hospitals have great decorations. She really loved the pictures and the fish tank that was right across from her room.

We got to come home after just two nights in the hospital. Here is a pic of Annabel with Marci just after we got home. It is amazing how much she was back to herself after just two days.

Nana sent a balloon and a stuffed giraffe to her at the hospital. She cuddled with the giraffe at the hospital and the balloon has been a hit since we got home.

Finally, I tried to take some pics to demonstrate the difference before and after surgery. I am not sure that these do it justice. Annabel had sagittal craniosynostosis, meaning the suture that runs down the top of the skull from front to back had fused prematurely. Therefore her head would have continued to grow long and skinny. You can see in this first (pre-surgery) picture that her head had already started to grow in this manner. You can also see that the back of the head (on the left) is narrow.

This picture was taken today after some of the swelling has gone down. You can see her scar. It is a zig-zag running from ear to ear. You can also see that the back of her head is already wider than the front.

Next week, she will get fitted for a helmet that she will wear for a couple of months. It will hold the front and back of her head in place so that her head can grow side to side into a more round shape as she grows.

For now, she seems to be mostly back to herself, playing and happy and mostly pain-free. She is having some trouble going to sleep. I am not sure if she is scared to go to sleep or if it is a bit uncomfortable. This does seem to be getting better though.

We still have lots of follow up appointments to go, but it is so wonderful to have the surgery behind us.