Christmas At Home

The major Christmas fun took place at the Hill Christmas party on the 10th. Our Christmas was very low key and simple.

We didn't open presents until 3:00 in the afternoon. Max wanted to play and then had a nap before he showed any interest in presents.

As always the boys loved their books from Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer...

"Llama Llama Red Pajama" and "The House That Jack Built." for Max and "I Love Mommy" for Zane.

We gave Max the Old Testament Scripture Scouts and a set of dry erase writing workbooks.

For Zane we had a farm toy and a family picture book.

James and I didn't do much but I did frame a pictures of each of the boys for us.

Christmas Eve

The Harrisons came over for a fun night together...

We decorated cookies with the boys and the boys played together while we watched "Love Actually" (edited.) Mom and Dad stopped by to visit for a bit and open their gifts.
I am so grateful to have such fun friends and cousins close!

Merry Christmas Surgeries

"De Quervain's, also known as Mommy's thumb, is a painful inflammation of the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist which causes discomfort or pain every time you turn your wrist, grasp anything or make a fist. The pain can extend into the lower arm. It affects woman 8 - 10 times more than men" 


I had trouble with this when Max was born but it was controlled with an extremely painful shot in the wrist and wearing splints. This time around the shots had no affect and it continued to become more and more painful as Zane grew and surgery was the final option. My first surgery (on the left wrist) was on December 2nd. Typically the other wrist is done 4 to 6 weeks later. However, our deductible had been met for the year and James was going to be home for the last two weeks of the year. So two weeks after the first surgery I had the stitches taken out of the left wrist and surgery done on the right wrist. The anesthesiologist the second time around had trouble getting the IV in thus the bruise on my forearm.


It was slightly crazy to do both so closely together but we made it work. Mostly due to the awesomeness of my James...He is my hero! He has taken on so much, including all the laundry, the dishes, cooking, changing all the diapers (including the ones in the middle of the night) and being a full time Dad to both boys and babying me at the same time.


The original symptoms are gone and now there is just the painful healing from surgery. The most noticeable difficulties I have are picking up Zane, opening jars and holding a book to read. After a month of healing I am able to carefully hold Zane as long as I avoid the actual wound. I have adjusted to reading a book without actually holding it and James still has to open all cans and jars. I am grateful for pain pills and grateful that I am a month into the healing process rather than still just feeling the pain with no end in sight. I have not held my baby Zane without pain since he was born and I am hoping that by the time he is 9 months old I will be able to hold, cuddle, nurse and dance with him without pain.  

Hill Christmas Party

As always we had a great time at the party and the kids were completely spoiled by  the Grandparents!
Zane likes his new little Sesame Street friend and both he and Max really enjoy his walker mailbox. Soon Zane will be using it to help him walk. Max got his first remote controlled toys; a Chuggington train with a two button remote and a working crane with several buttons . They also received a Curious George matching game and a huge deck of playing cards. We had fun shopping to find books for all the cousins. As usual I made peanut Chex treats and fudge but decided this year to also send fudge home with everyone.

Max putting together and playing with his crane.

His four foot fully functioning crane turns and its bucket or platform goes up and down and back and forth.

Max painting, coloring and playing in his cardboard house.
We had a blast using crayons, markers and paint to decorate his house.

Max's Sleepover with Cousins

Message from Kate:

"Max did really well tonight for the most part.

I replaced the batteries in the animal train and got all the parts out for him and he played with that for over an hour. He tried the Wii for a bit and would giggle every time he said the word "Wii". LOL

He didn't want anything that we offered for dinner except for cereal, so he ate two bowls of cereal for dinner. Not my finest moment as an aunt, but I didn't want to force anything on him.

He had a little meltdown when it was time for bed. He screamed a bit, so I gave him the choice of Logan's room or the basement. He chose the basement, but after about 30 seconds of being down there he came up and said, "I'm all calmed down now." I asked him if he was ready to go to Logan's room and he told me he didn't like the picture on the wall (star wars poster). Once I took the picture down, he was completely calm...don't know why he was afraid of it all of a sudden, but I think that is the only reason he threw a tantrum. 

He wanted me to sing a song, so I tried the train one but apparently didn't remember it correctly which had him laughing hysterically. :) I sang him the hairbrush song from Veggie Tales instead while I rubbed his back and when I finished he said, "Goodnight Kata, I love you."

He is asleep now.

So all in all, an excellent day. I totally spaced that he takes naps, so that might have contributed to meltdown, but since there was only one of those, and that one argument between him and Logan, I'd say it was a pretty darn good day.

Hope you had a relaxing one and that your wrist is feeling better!"

Happy December from Zane