had ourselves a merry little Christmas

we went to will's parent's house for Christmas this year and had a good time hanging out with namaw, poppie, cousins meri and ethan, and aunt lynn and uncle mike.  dax enjoyed playing puzzles, memory games, race cars, and kitchen time with his cousins.  

sporting an outfit his namaw gave him for his birthday.

on Christmas eve we went to a candlelight service at namaw and poppie's church.  the singing was beautiful and singing silent night a cappella with our candles lit had me crying.  we're so blessed in this life to have a saviour, have our family, to be healthy, have a roof over our heads, and plenty to eat.  poor dax had fallen asleep on the way to church and didn't wake up until we were heading back out to the parking lot, but it did make for a peaceful time and gave him some much needed rest.  

dax ended up in our bed on Christmas eve and was with us on Christmas morning.  he was a little groggy so we gave him a Christmas cookie and his "home" stocking to open in bed.  that helped his spirits lift to get him ready for the main event in the living room when the cousins arrived.  

he enjoyed finding some clementines, bunny crackers, and several toys in his stocking.

my baby and his sweet feet.

eating his clementines.

overwhelmed by the site of the gifts under the tree!

the three cousins.

i got the tape!  (as he attempted to catch a balloon.)

poppie started a fire with "money" - rolls of "money!

loving his magnet board.

he did really well with opening things, waiting his turn, and being excited for everyone.  most of his presents were educational and or had some purpose (like a snow suit, thick coat, and snow boots) - but i think he would have been happy opening boxes of crackers.  (ahem, vicki.)  after everyone had opened their gifts we took him into his room and played several puzzles to attempt to reground him.  he was a little overwhelmed with the chaos, but he quickly got back into reality with this little detox.

 

cousin ethan resting on the slide.

the day after Christmas we took advantage of the nice weather and took the kids to the park.  they all enjoyed running around and even daddy took a slip down the slide...

dax and daddy came FLYING off the slide and poor daddy hit the ground and his back on the end of the slide!  we decided to pack it up after this.

hope you and your family also had a merry little christmas!

joy to the world

ding dong ding dong - Christmas bells are ringing!  we slowly but surely decorated and got into the Christmas spirit.  dax was a huge help this season and really enjoyed decorating the tree, making ornaments at school to bring home, and reminding us to always check to make sure the lights are on every night (even though they are on a timer).

now that we've succumbed to the artificial tree we keep it stored in the attic.  dax wanted to use the long piece of "garland" that keeps the tree tightly wrapped as part of the decoration.  we let him hang that on the tree and then he went ahead and hung ornaments on that.

because dax's pre-school class is called "the owls" he's got quite a few owl ornaments this year.

 after tree decorating was finally done we found some other weekend down time to head to a live walk through nativity one night and then also to watch the local Christmas parade.  dax really got into all of the activities this year and especially loved the parade since it wasn't too cold outside and he got a lollipop.

dax and daddy watching for the first float.

we were all particularly fond of this high school marching band from southeast raleigh high.  this group of folks really got into it and stole the show!

 

 

 

will held dax on his shoulders for the majority of the parade so he could see everything.  after a while he got a little fidgety, so i took over the holding process.  dax was liking this new perspective, and will was thankful for a break.

here we are seeing the big man in red.

this tuesday dax had his first pre-school on stage experience in their annual Christmas production.  dax missed several days being out last week for his ear infection, and so we were not quite sure how much he'd learned or how prepared he was for the big event.  he did surprisingly well standing on stage and even sang along to some of the songs at the critical moments.  earlier in the weekend he'd surprised me when i was singing "joy to the world" and he finished the rest of the song!  as verified they'd been working on it at school, so clearly he had picked up on some of it.  while he didn't sing every word, this boy sure does love a crescendo like his mama!

we're all excited to celebrate the season of Jesus' birth and cannot wait to spend time with family over the Christmas holiday break. 

faith

we've had a busy but good past few weeks.  we're thankful that daxton's eye surgery went better than expected and that he was able to completely enjoy his time with family at thanksgiving.  if you hadn't known he recently had surgery you probably really wouldn't be able to tell he'd been under the knife.

just before thanksgiving we noticed that one of dax's ear tubes was lying in his ear canal.  i removed it and commented that it would likely just be a matter of time before poor fella had another ear infection.  fast forward two weeks and here we sit with diagnosis #1 of an ear infection.  the dr. confirmed that the other ear tube is also working it's way out and laying further back in the canal.  she recommended that we schedule an appointment with his ENT to decide on the next plan of action - which is likely tubes round #2.  we've got that coming up on december 22nd.


i had lots of ear problems and multiple sets of ear tubes growing up.   it's sometimes almost unbelievable how in such a divine way we were given the child that God wanted us to parent.  it may seem small or insignificant, but i cannot stop thinking about how right we are for dax and how right he is for us.  by just previously dealing with tons of ear infections up into my twenties i'm better equipped to be his caretaker during the times he's having similar troubles.  will read two articles recently that discussed this idea - what a blessing it is that God gives us the right children.  we've never doubted - since dax came into our family - that he was destined to be with us, but its honestly a very emotional thing to think that even though your child was not born of your flesh they are so clearly born of your heart and how we fit so perfectly together.

wherever this frequent ear infection saga leads we've got faith in the outcome, but we're also glad we're equipped to handle the journey.