Christmas in the Boone household

We have so many family traditions around the holiday time frame. We put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving (we did it two days after this year). We look at each ornament and remember the year that we got it and the little memory that goes along with it. We listen to Christmas music and dance around. We make all sorts of crafts for people. The elves come to play with us. We look at lights on Christmas Eve and figure out which ones we like best. We do Christmas Eve boxes with Jammie's, a movie, and some sort of candy in it to watch that night. This year, I had a few different places I wanted to visit, especially since this is our last Christmas here in Maryland. It just didn't happen though. We were so busy and with Maddie's recovery that we were doing things way out of whack. It didn't help that Jeff didn't have stand down this year. 

I did get to bake some different kinds of cookies and pass them out to neighbors. We even went caroling at a friends house. I even sang! I guess there's a first for everything. Maddie and I got to make some from scratch sugar cookies and cut them with cookie cutters. I made the icing from scratch, too.  It was a new experience. Jeff helped us decorate them. It was fun. I am glad that even though she may not have always felt good, she was still able to do a few of our yearly traditions. 

Our gingerbread village was an adventure this year. Haha. Normally, we buy one house and let her decorate it. This year, the elves brought her a village that consisted of 4 small houses so we could all have one to do, especially when we spent a lot of times indoors this year. Jeff and Maddie had to do some teamwork to get the pieces glued together. Lol. That wasn't as easy as it looked. The next day, we decorated them. That was fun. 8 o'clock in the morning and we are playing with sugar. Haha. I did my house and Maddie did hers, Jeff's, and Jackson's. I don't think we will win any contests, but it was fun doing it anyway. 

I can't believe that it was Jackson's first Christmas. My baby is 9 months old. Where has the time gone? Anyway, he was having fun taking the tissue out of the bag and ripping the wrapping paper. He was very much content with pulling things out of the bag over and over and playing with the bag itself. He couldn't care less about the gifts itself. Typical baby. Haha. 

Maddie ripped through her presents. She couldn't contain her excitement this year. I asked maddie if she could only have one thing for Christmas, what would that gift be? She told me a bike. I asked her if she could have one more gift, what would it be? She originally said a new bed( I had to explain to her that the bed she got last year is her forever bed. Haha. A very pretty full size bed is big enough for her while she lives in my house).  She said an iPad and I explained she may be too small for that. I guess that wasn't true since she ended up getting an iPad mini from my parents. Haha. She was so thrilled with her presents. Her top three favorite presents were her microscope, science books that came with an electronic pen that reads over 4,000 facts to her, and her Little Mermaid Barbie play set. 

My aunt and uncle came over for dinner and to exchange presents. For our dinner, we had ham, twice baked potato casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn soufflé, rolls, orange jello with mandarin oranges in it, macaroni salad, and then a homemade peach pie and our homemade cookie assortment for dessert.  We exchanged presents with them and that is when maddie received her biggest wish- her bike. She was so excited. We took it out for a ride a couple of days later, but she's still a touch too small. What can I say.... I planned for her to ride it in the spring, not in December and definitely not in December where it's still in the 60's - low 70's. 

Overall, I would say that it was a very memorable Christmas. I took many pictures and videos. We made lots of memories doing as many things as I could squeeze in, and ate a lot of yummy food. I love the holiday season. I,especially, love it when I get to spend it with my family and make these memories that I can always look back on. I am so blessed to love on them and call them mine. 

On another note, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Since Maddie was sick on Thanksgiving and recovering from her surgery on Christmas Day, I am hoping to make New Years celebrations a little more fun than usual. We will be devouring some appetizers that I will be making. I have games for us to play. Our traditional show we watch. Of course it wouldn't be complete without Maddie's favorite "special" drink to ring in the new year. Let's hope tomorrow is fun as I hope! 

Daddy got coal from Santa! 

Until next time.. Have fun, be safe, and enjoy life. 

Lori 

Maddies T&A surgery

Maddie has been having strep throat issues since she started kindergarten. She would get it, take her meds, and then get it again a few days later. We became worried and saw a specialist. He said he thinks it's a good idea to go ahead and get them taken out. We scheduled all of the necessary things and had a date. Unfortunately, the hospital that her doctor performed at couldn't handle her pacemaker. That meant we would have to find a new doctor to do the surgery. We went through the process again, but this time the doctor said that he wouldn't perform it unless she had it a certain number of times within two years or unless she had sleep apnea. We scheduled the sleep apnea test to be done last year around Christmas. It make came to say that she has mild sleep apnea. She had just crossed the border. He left the decision up to us and said that a lot of kids grow out of both. We didn't want to put Maddie through a surgery if there was a chance she may grow out of it on her own. We decided to wait. 

First grade started and she was doing well. No strep throat since the time before her sleep test. Things were looking up. 

I got a phone call one day from the school nurse informing me that her throat was red but there weren't white marks (yet). I knew right then and there she would come home and have strep. Sure enough, she came home and had white spots.  We took her to get checked out and came home with medicine. Her tonsils are enlarged to begin with. When you add strep to it, you can barely see down her throat. 

That night she woke us up about 4 hours later and she could hardly breathe. Her chest was fully expanded and she was only able to get little breathes in. I immediately took her to the bathroom and threw my shower on the hottest it would go and closed the door. Jeff called 911 while I was trying to get her to focus on her breathing and not flip out. She told me she couldn't breathe and her forehead hurt. The paramedics came and gave her oxygen and brought her in. 

After a few tests, it turned out her tonsils were so incredibly enlarged that it was blocking her airway. 

The next day, I called her doctor to get an appt set to schedule surgery. I would not let her go through that again. That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. We saw her doctor and he agreed it was time to do it. We set the date, but it was still weeks away. 

The big day had arrived. Maddie was nervous and scared. She didn't want to be away from her brother or elves. 

We have been doing the whole elf on the shelf thing with her. She has two elves that come and visit. Christopher and Christina left her a little message of encouragement in hopes of getting her through it. 

It says" it's okay to be scared. Being scared means you're about to do something really, really brave. Good luck". 

Later on that day, she asked me if I thought she was brave for going through with her surgery. After I told her how incredibly brave she was, she told me that the quote on the mirror is what helped her be brave!!!! Score one for Mom...  I mean the elves! 

Her surgery is at 1, so we don't have to be there until 11. We get Jackson dropped off at a friends house and make our way up. We check in and wait to be called. She walks in so strong and determined looking. You would never know she was about to get surgery. 

We get checked in and go in the back getting measurements and sign more papers. She's told there is a playroom she's more than welcome to play in until they are ready for her. 

That room was amazing. They had so many different things for her to do in there. They had homemade dolls and gowns available and markers to draw on their faces. She was drawn to it. 

She didn't like that you couldn't see the pretty blonde hair she colored on, so she switched to brown. 

A few minutes later, a lady came in and started talking to her. She introduced herself and her puppet- Sammy. 

Sammy was getting ready to go through the same procedure as Maddie and Sammy wanted to know what steps there would be to the surgery. 

Maddie got to play the doctor in his case and walked through each of the different steps. The Lasy explained each step and what every little thing was. She answers any questions Maddie had. 

She was able to hear his heart beat. 

She checked his blood pressure. 

She, also, got to see the mask that he would be wearing to make him sleepy and how it all worked. She got to pick out a scent of Chapstick that they would put in her mask to make the air smell better. 

She screamed in his ear to make sure he was fully out. 

Maddie took the medical tweezers and took out his tonsils for him. 

There's one of his tonsils. After that, she saw how he acted once he woke up and said goodbye to Sammy. 

I have to say that the idea behind that was genius. She was nervous that a needle would be in her throat and this helped show her exactly what will be done. She seemed more relaxed. I can't say enough praises about this hospital. 

After Sammy left, we took Uno back to her room and played with dad until it was time to go back for her surgery. 

One of us was allowed to go back with her and hold her hand until she was asleep. Since I was staying the night with her, Jeff went back. I'm not sure I could do it without being nervous. 

Jeff said that when she got back there, they told her they would help her move beds. She hopped on the other bed and was waiting for them. He said she didn't show one ounce of fear back there. She was talking and answering jokes while the meds kicked in.  The doctor told her a joke, but she fell asleep before she could answer. 

The procedure wasn't long itself. About 45 minutes was all it took. Jeff and I grabbed lunch while we waited because we were both starving. When she opened her eyes, we were able to go back and stay with her. 

When we walked in and she hesrd our voices, she turned her face around, got big eyes, smiled, and then fell back asleep. She did that quite a few times. 

It was really funny because for DAYS before this she couldn't wait for jello. She was so excited for it. The nurse started telling us what options of cold things she had and when she said jello, Maddie whipped her head around, got big eyes and a huge smile and said did you say jello?? Said she wanted some and fell back asleep. We explained the story and when we said jello, she did it again. Jeff spelled it out the next time and she still whipped her head around. Haha. It was so funny to see. 

She was such a trooper. She enjoyed a nice orange Popsicle and drank some apple juice. Then she had two jellos and another Popsicle. She said her throat didn't really hurt. 

She was able to get up and walk by herself. She was able to get to the bathroom by herself, as well. 

After eating, we were able to move to a more quiet room because we were supposed to stay the night. However, her doctor said that if everything looks good, then she may be able to go home that night. 

Until then, Jeff and Maddie took turns playing Minion Rush, having a brain freeze race, and goofing off together. 

After dinner, the doctor came by and said she looked perfect. Her vitals were great. She was happy, eating and drinking. He let us go home!! 

She wasn't happy at first with having to ride in the wheel chair. After a few minutes, she thought it was cool. 

We picked up Jackson, stopped at the store so I could pick up pain meds for her, and went home. I gave her a dose of meds and sent her to bed. 

She said her tummy hurt and that her throat hurt a little bit when we tucked her in. We got her settled in and off she went to dream land. 

She did wake up and asked for medicine in the middle of the night. 

She woke up this morning not feeling great. Her throat has been really bothering her today. We had to persuade her to drink and eat. Jeff even offered to do another brain freeze game in order to get her to drink. Luckily, she loves the game and wanted to beat him. Jackson even participated. 

We knew that yesterday was not the norm, but it hurts my heart to see her in pain. Hopefully, she can continue to do better as the days go on. 

Nothing could have gone better yesterday. It went so smooth and stress free.  I, somehow, remained so calm the entire day. Jeff was even surprised at how well I did. Jackson did amazing at my friends house. If you know him, you know he doesn't like anyone to hold him outside of the family. He did surprisingly amazing with her and even cracked a few smiles. He got in the car and passed right out. 

I still sit here amazed at how everything worked out. How I have two amazing kids and one wonderful husband who will do anything to make my kids smile and feel better. 

Thanks for reading the post! 

Until next time... Have fun, be safe, and enjoy life! 

Lori 

Maddie and her new gift

Maddie was scheduled for a T&A surgery and Christmas is right around the corner. Mimi and Pop got her a Christmas/ get well gift that she was going to get before her surgery. She was very excited to get it. 

Her gift was an iPad mini and a good protective case to go with it. She was so excited. She started jumping around saying that she could text and FaceTime now and she didn't need my phone or iPad now. Then, she started saying she didn't need the tv because she could watch Netflix on her iPad now. 

To say that she was excited would be a complete understatement. We set it up before she got it, so all of her stuff was already there. She immediately started using it and we lost our little helper. We started getting texts right away. 

At first, we thought it was cute that we would get text messages from her. She would tell me how much she loved me and 'thank you' over and over. She would take pictures and send them over to us. The next day, Mimi decided it was a good idea to show her how to use the emojis. So, we proceeded to get a million different emojis from her. One emoji for every text. Haha. Our phones kept beeping. I am really surprised that our phones didn't break from it all. 

Then, she would come in the room where we were doing whatever it was for the time being and ask us if we got her text. We would reply back yes and she would say that we need to text her back and walk out of the room. Talk about a sassy little thing. 

Over the past few days, she has really enjoyed getting to use it. She hurried up and got all of her chores done, so she could use her iPad. 

She is really enjoying her newest present. She will tell anyone and everyone who listens all about her new iPad and how she loves it and how she can text and FaceTime now.  I'm sure she will enjoy it for a very long time. Let's just hope she calms down on the FaceTime-ing me while I'm in the same room. Haha. 

Until next time... Have fun, be safe, and enjoy life. 

Lori 

Christopher and Christina has come to visit

Christopher and Christina are back for another year of fun. Maddie looks forward to the elves coming and seeing what shenanigans they get themselves into. Some days, she gets so excited and other days she's not because "they're too easy to find". Haha. She loved when she had to look for a little bit on the first day when they hid in the tree. 

Do you see them?? 

Naturally, they need to have a sleepover while they are visiting. 

And what's not to love about a little competition. Parent fail on this one though. She has never played or heard of twister. No worries- I fixed that issue. She is getting it for Christmas. 

I'm sure they were riding into the sunset together. Haha. 

He couldn't help but hide. 

She wanted to hide, too. Maybe they were playing hide and seek with Maddie. 

Maddie came home on 'blue' ( blue is really good in her class) from school and didn't get in trouble at home. In fact, she was a big help with Jackson. 

They felt like having popcorn it seems. Team work! 

She thought it was funny. 

She really loved this morning. She has really gotten into reading books, expanding her words and reading to us all of the time. She grabbed the book, started reading to them, and showed the pictures to them so they wouldn't miss out. 

She really loved getting donuts for breakfast. She thought it was cute that they made a snowman! She told me that she was waiting for them to leave their spot, so she can eat the snowman. Haha. 

This is our one from tonight. I have been wanting to do this for some time, but I never remembered to grab it out of her room while she was gone or in the shower. Tonight, we remembered and hid it while she was in the shower. She actually asked us where her trailer was when I was tucking her into bed. She will be in for a surprise when she wakes up. :) I can't wait. 

Stay tuned for more shenanigans as we continue on in December. 

Until next time... Have fun, be safe, and enjoy life. 

Lori