Merry Christmas!

This is what Kyle thought of opening presents Christmas morning...We have been having a great time together as a family this Christmas vacation. On Christmas Eve we had a great dinner and one of the nicest parts of it for me was that Trevor did the hard stuff. Last year we tried cooking a whole lobster and we did not have the best experience (it is hard to eat something when you have just seen green goop squirt out of it while you were cooking it) so this year we tried lobster tails. Trevor did some research on the Internet and did a great job butterflying the little critters.

Here is the finished product and they were yummy!

After dinner the girls got to open their Christmas eve jammies and they were pretty excited.

They have both been wanting nightgowns instead of regular pjs.

Kyle just enjoyed hanging out with us.

On Christmas morning this was the scene that awaited us. Santa was very kind this year. It was a little bit of a strange start to Christmas because Emma woke up first at about 7:30 and just laid on our bed and we had to wake Abby up at 8:00. It took a little bit for them to wake up all the way but then the excitement really started.

My little girl with the sweet tooth could not believe the all the candy in her stocking!

The pack of gum was a hit and I am pretty sure that Abby is already half way through her pack. after the wad I found in the trash this morning.

Abby got her Fancy Nancy dress-up and she was pretty thrilled.

The girls got LOTS of new books. This one was from Grandma and Grandpa Griffitts and it came with a very soft stuffed Moose.

Emma taking a break from all the presents with her new doll Hally.

My budding artist got some new tools to work with.

Abby got some awesome accessories for her Fancy Nancy dress from Grandma and Grandpa Manderino.

This was the big hit of the day as you can tell from the look on her face...

a giant pony for her doll to ride on. The horse did not leave her side all day long.

This was Abby's gift to Trevor. She was so excited about it and it provided a good laugh for all of us.

Abby decided to take a break from the presents and colored in the middle of all the chaos.

Emma also got a basketball to practice her dribbling.

Emma and her new Ramona book. She is getting to be such a good reader and she can read it all to herself.

Cute Abby in her new hat from Aunt Darbye.

This is what the back of Emma's horse box looked like. It was ridiculous and took a pair of scissors and some serious patience to get open.

Trevor and me in our gifts from my parents.

A picture of the aftermath and I had already tried to clean-up once.

I thought that I would try out Abby's accessories.

Kyle had a good day and he can't wait to do it again next year.

Just Because

I have had a request for pictures...so here are a few and I will try to do better.

Future Basketball Star

Emma has started playing basketball this year and she loves it. She plays once a week with other first and second graders. There is a big focus on fundamentals and having fun which is perfect for Emma. Her favorite part is playing defense and she has a great looking shot. The league goes through March so look forward to many more pictures to come.

3 Months Old

In some ways it seems like he is a lot older and in many ways it seems like he is only days old. He has been home with us for four weeks and we could not be happier! You might have noticed that there is something different about this picture. Kyle decided to rip his oxygen cannula off today, so while it was off I decided to give his cheeks a break and take some pictures. I got so emotional seeing his chubby little cheeks with nothing on them. He was hooked up to his sat monitor and did fine without the oxygen for a while so I know that day is coming soon when we can leave the oxygen behind.

I know that this is a goofy picture but I love that you can see his dimple. He just has one on his left cheek.

Kyle is still such a sweet boy. He is very content for the most part. He sleeps well at night only waking up once to eat which is a life saver for mom!(I don't function well on no sleep) He is starting to make those cute baby sounds that I love and we are still waiting for a real smile although he give us tons of the gassy ones. He likes to snuggle and be sung to.

Here he is with his cannula back in place. We both cried when I had to put it back on and he proceeded to pull it off again during his nap. We love our Kyle!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Every year I say that I am going to wait to get our tree and every year I just can't seem to make myself wait. It just does not feel like Christmas until we have the tree. So last Saturday we went to pick out our tree (Thanks Melissa for watching Kyle!) Hopefully I can be diligent about watering it so that it will not be dead on Christmas. This year we set a record for speed. We decided on the second tree that we looked at and it is perfect!

The girls did all the decorating except for the top of the tree that they could not reach. It has taken a lot of restraint on my part not to rearrange things but really they did a great job. Plus they keep moving the ornaments around anyway.

She looks like a Christmas present waiting under the tree.

Two Sleepyheads

The other day I was doing Kyle's respiratory treatments on my bed and Abby came in too. She was being pretty quiet but I never imagined that it was because she went back to sleep. This almost never happens. I thought for sure that she was sick but she ended up just having a mellow day.

Future Trojan????

On Saturday Trevor got Kyle dressed... The shirt was on the large side but he sure did look cute. I have never been a USC fan but this kid can make anything look good.

The booties were my favorite part of the outfit and they stayed on all day!

My two handsome guys...I may have to get a UCLA outfit for March Madness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for. It was nice just to be together. Trevor had the thought that this is the first Thanksgiving that he really remembers being with the girls, because they are always at the kid table. We had a great dinner and enjoyed being together. This is the girls getting ready to help me with the turkey. I think that Abby may be a future food scientist in that outfit.

Abby would not touch the turkey. It looked a little too real to her even without the feathers.

Emma thought that it was pretty gross and she had to be persuaded to touch it. I thought that this was pretty funny considering that she has no problem picking up any kind of bug. I think that it was just a little too real. Both girls felt sorry for the turkey and they made up a song that a turkey would sing,,,"I don't like Thanksgiving." Of course that did not stop them from eating the finished product.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

My Little Boy

It has been a while and I have been wanting to get some cute pictures up as well as some pictures of things that I don't want to forget. Kyle is doing well. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces on Monday which is what Emma weighed when she was born. He is started to have more awake time although he still thinks that night time is a good time to hang out. He has had a few good nights where he only wakes up once but his normal is two to three times.

Kyle really likes his swing. He likes to try to curl into a ball which is hard when he is strapped in but he does a pretty good job of it.

Kyle is adored by his big sisters. Emma is a little hesitant because I think that I have made her paranoid about germs. She never asks to hold him but she is very eager whenever I ask her if she wants to. She is very good at washing her hands and she is also good at reminding Abby.

Kyle likes his pacifier. I am enjoying having a baby who will take one. Neither of the girls would have anything to do with them, but Kyle got hooked in the NICU.

This is Kyle's new favorite toy. It is only new to him. We have had it since Emma was a baby and I think that the girls like it just as much as he does. He likes to look at the lights as the music plays. He spends a lot of time in the boppy. He can't lay flat because he has reflux and the boppy works great.

This picture does not show just how gross his morning medicine is. I have to mix 4 different medications into his milk and it turns into a gray green color. The longer it sits the darker it gets. It was almost black the other day. I call it his sludge.

Kyle loves to be wrapped up. This is my favorite blanket. It is so soft and it has just the right amount of stretch. (Yes that is a hospital blanket he is laying on...the nurse made me take it. She said that it would help him make the transition to home.)

Twice a day Kyle gets his respiratory treatments. You can't see it in the picture but there is a fine mist around his face that he breathes in. He does not seem to mind it. It just takes time and the machine is LOUD!

This is Kyles oxygen machine. I am not sure exactly how it works but it takes the oxygen out of the air and concentrates it so that Kyle gets close to 100% oxygen. As you can tell it is not very portable and it is HEAVY, so Kyle spends most of his time up stairs unless Trevor lugs it downstairs at night for me.

This is Kyle's pulse oximeter. It monitors the oxygen in his blood. It gives both peace of mind and a headache. Most of the time when it alarms it is because Kyle is kicking his feet and it is not picking up right but it also has alerted us when the oxygen machine was not working right. It is not the nicest thing to wake up to but I'll take the peace of mind.

Emma took this picture and I thought that it was cute. She has been rearranging his room. Maybe she will be an interior decorator someday.