New Year's Eve

It is around noon here in the eastern time zone of the United States right now. Doug, Bri and I have plans tonight with some good friends. I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.

Asia has been doing a bit better the last few days. Eating a bit better and has a bit more energy. She has an ultrasound this afternoon - we will see what it reveals.

I still have a lot to blog about regarding Christmas, so I apologize that you will be reading a lot of it in January of 2014. :)

I've had a lot of good moments this year but it has been a tough year as well. I am hoping for a fresh and less eventful 2014.

Have a good one everyone.

A Short Post (We Had A Good Christmas)

We had a very nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Briana (as you can see) loved every second of it. She got everything she wanted and as she puts, "I even got extra presents!" So cute.

I have so much to blog about - including Bri's class play and party at school, our trip to Chattanooga over the weekend and all the Christmas brouhaha.

I have a house that kind of looks like a bomb hit it right now - and a sick cat.

Asia seemed to be rebounding a bit on Christmas Eve (eating and drinking again), but on Christmas Day, she refused to eat or drink and had some nasty potty problems that I won't go into. She is losing even more weight - it makes me nervous.

She is eating and drinking a bit better today, but I'm still not happy. So, off to the vet we go again. She did seem to like the new blanket I got for her for Christmas. I guess it was a good present for my sick gal...

I'll be back soon with all my updates. When I get my head on straight again.

Happy Holidays 2013

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Can't Catch A Break

With all the sickness we have had in our house, I've been so happy that Asia has seemed to be the healthiest one. After her surgery, she seemed to be her old self again and I was shocked and happy. She was running around - had most of her energy back. But when I got sick in early December, Asia started throwing up a bit. Not every day, but enough to make me wonder what was up. I wondered if maybe her food was not agreeing with her.

We have been in survival mode for about a month now with all our sickness, so Asia unfortunately had to go on the back burner. She seemed to still be eating and happy, so we weren't overly concerned.

This past week, she has been throwing up daily. We went on an overnight trip (Friday into Saturday) and we found she had thrown up 5 times while we were gone. She has nothing in her stomach and she is still trying to throw up. So, I asked Doug to please take her to the emergency vet (I'm staying home with Briana). I just don't want Asia to get dehydrated. But I'm worried. She is a cancer patient. And she is 15. I am very, very worried.

In the back of my mind, I have been bracing myself that this might be my last Christmas with her. But I never thought she would get this sick now.

 I'm not sure why our household can't seem to catch a break.

UPDATE (12/22/13, 7:21PM) ~

 Asia is home. She was given a medication for the vomiting and fluids for the dehydration. Blood work looked good but her xray showed some inflammation in her bowels. He felt some suspicious lumps in her stomach, but the xray didn't show anything there. She really needs an ultrasound tomorrow. If Asia didn't have the lumps and didn't have a cancer history, he would diagnose her with IBD. That could be it, but we just don't know. At least she is home and resting now.

Week In Briana Fashion - Last For 2013

Well, we missed a couple of weeks in Briana's fashion life, but she was sick and I was sick and Doug was sick. But, I finally got back on my feet and I was able to snap photos of Miss B all this week - the last week of school before Christmas break.

MONDAY (Bri in her new sweater) ~

TUESDAY (Pajama Day - she got all panda crazy) ~

WEDNESDAY (Her favorite sweater dress) ~

THURSDAY (all prettied up for her Christmas play and party at school) ~

FRIDAY (Pajama Day #2 - I was surprised too. Her music teacher requested it on Tuesday and her main teacher wanted the kids in jammies today. Go figure.) ~

Hope you have enjoyed Briana's fashions for 2013. She will be looking spiffy in 2014 too - so stay tuned!

Gingerbread House

The year before last, I swore I would never do another gingerbread house. They are difficult with a capital "D." The directions say the house will hold together with just frosting. Well, that's simply not true. I have definitely cursed past gingerbread houses - just sayin'.

Last year, I thought I could get away with not buying a kit. But, Bri has a very good memory and started asking about one in mid-December. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a kit at that time - they were pretty much sold out everywhere by the time Bri mentioned wanting to do one. I ended up buying some gingerbread trees and some gingerbread girls and boys and that tied us over. She missed doing a house though.

 This year I caved and bought a kit. And while Bri was occupied Sunday morning, I glued the house together with white glue. I let it sit for a very long time until it seemed really sturdy. Then I called Bri downstairs and she was so excited to see it already put together. It was just time to add frosting and candy. I will say - the house was SO much easier to make this year.

She worked for over an hour adding candy and frosting. She even stacked candy on top of candy...

She even made reindeer corners...

She was so proud of herself when it was done...

And it really turned out beautiful.

That morning, before the whole gingerbread house making, I made pancakes for my two peeps. I saw reindeer pancake pictures swirling around on FB, and I made my own version...

 Bri was thrilled. Both Doug and Bri were sick this weekend - Doug with a virus/bug and Bri with a cold. Pancakes were a definite thumbs up and smile maker.

Swimming In December

How fun is swimming in December? So much fun!!!

One of Bri's BFF's (Miss ML - in the purple dress) had her 7th birthday party the first weekend in December at an indoor pool facility. I really wanted to be there, but Doug had to bring Briana because I was too sick. She had a blast with her friends...

Welcome to 7 sweet ML! And thanks for including Miss Briana!

Christmas Around My House

I love my pretty gal. She was all Christmas'd up going to school on Friday.

The first two weeks of December were so tough. I had so much to do (and still do), but I couldn't do any of it. I couldn't even get out of bed. I'm so grateful that Doug works from home. Unfortunately though, the first week of my sickness, Doug had a number of meetings he had to go to in Atlanta. I had to drag myself out of bed to pick Bri up from school. As soon as I got her home, I would go right back to bed. She watched a lot of TV and played on her iPad a lot. It's been a matter of survival. She has been an angel. Truly. The second week of December, Doug didn't have any meetings outside the house, so he was able bring Bri to and from school. He did a lot of the decorating that week and also made sure we were fed.

When I first got sick (Dec 3), I felt like I had a virus for two days. Chills, fever - my skin hurt when I touched it. December 5th, I started coughing. The day after that, I couldn't take a deep breath. I knew something was wrong. My virus turned into pneumonia. Oh joy. 

I'm so happy that Bri and I got our trees decorated that weekend after Thanksgiving ~ before my sickness struck.

This is the tree in my bedroom/sitting room. This is the tree I looked at from my bed the whole time I was sick...

My kitty loves sleeping by the tree...

Bri decorated the little tree that goes in her room. I asked if she wanted a bigger tree for her room and she told me "No, I like my little tree"...

This tree is in Bri's playroom and it has Looney Toons ornaments on it. This is the tree that Doug bought when he lived in his apartment before we got married. It is now Briana's...

Bri and I also decorated our "China-themed" tree that weekend...

That weekend, we also picked out our real tree...

December 2nd, Bri went back to school and I started working on decorating our main tree. By late that afternoon, I was done with the ornaments, but I hadn't added the tinsel. (I'm probably one of the last people on Earth that still puts tinsel on my tree, but I still do. It reminds me of when I was a kid. And it adds nice sparkle.) I figured I would just finish the tree up on Tuesday because I wasn't feeling well. Well, that didn't happen. The tree sat there for days with no tinsel and needles still on the ground from my decorating.

Then "Red the Elf" got to work one evening while I slept and tinseled my tree (with some help from my hubby)...

Bri was so tickled when she saw what Red had done...

Red has been thoroughly enjoying his time at our house...

Bri worked on this Lego carousel the first weekend in December ~ she honestly did the whole thing herself. Just asked Doug a couple of questions. She sat for hours working on it. This kid loves Legos...

This is the little village we have going - Doug and Bri have been putting these Christmas sets together for a few years now...

Although Doug did a lot of decorating for me, I still don't have all my stuff out (I have LOTS of stuff). I think it will just have to wait until next year. I still don't have the energy to go up and down the basement stairs to get all of it.

Now that I am feeling a bit better, I am getting my Christmas mojo back. I have to say I wasn't feeling it really while I was sick. I have a billion presents to wrap. I'll get it all done - hopefully.

At least my house is looking pretty festive now. :)

A Visit With Santa Claus

I always like to bring Briana to see Santa Claus at the mall before Thanksgiving. We chose Wednesday to be the day. B is in school all week and weekends in December at the mall are just nuts. I like to avoid if at all possible. So, we go early. Short lines - that way we get right to the good stuff.

Briana wanted to wear her new pretty dress to see the big guy...

She was armed with her list. Don't want to forget anything...

Gramma and Papa always like to see Briana visit Santa. And Gramma came bearing gifts (again - heh)...

Gramma and Briana...

Santa Claus - finally!!!!

Then it was time for pictures and talking to Santa...

I was so thrilled with how the photos turned out. Bri looked like a princess...

Cool - a reindeer hat...

Chatting with Papa...

Photo opp time...

Briana borrowed Gramma's scarf...

Briana had been begging and begging for a Clarice stuffed animal from the Build A Bear store. I finally caved (and I had a coupon), so she got her reindeer...

She has barely let this reindeer out of her sight since she got her. :) ...

Isn't she pretty, Daddy?

My mom snapped this great pic of me and my guy...

Time to say farewell. We had a great morning!!!

Another thing I am so grateful to have gotten done before I got sick!