Surgery

Things have been very hectic for us with the holidays, but we did make a trip to see the ENT specialist yesterday. Mia will have surgery next Tuesday to get tubes. Supposedly it's a very simple procedure and she'll only be away from us for about 20 minutes, but I'm a little anxious regardless. Please keep my baby girl in your prayers, and hopefully after next week these ear infections will be gone!

Mia's First Christmas

• On Monday, Mia got a fever. I wasn't sure if it was her new tooth poking through or her ears. 
• On Tuesday I took her to the doctor where they confirmed ANOTHER double ear infection. She got a shot of antibiotic, a prescription for additional antibiotic and an appointment with an ENT specialist for Monday morning.
• On Wednesday we celebrated Christmas at Mom and Bruce's. The girls were so cute and entertaining. Granny and Grampy got them push and riding toys and they were all over the place! Mike and I were "spoiled" ourselves and we loved just hanging out with the family for the afternoon.
• That evening we went to the Robbins'. Mia was showered with gifts from her aunts and uncles, including educational books from Uncle Charlie, her first tutu from Aunt Kelly and a handmade blanket from Aunt Jenny! Mia played for hours and could barely keep her head up when the time came to head home.
• On Christmas morning Mia was so surprised to see Santa Claus had visited her while she slept! She loved opening the presents he left - and playing with the paper! 
• Mia and Cara brought so much fun to the annual Christmas breakfast at Dad and Sue's. It was entertaining to watch them explore and see what they found fun and what they had no interest in whatsoever. Paper was the biggest hit, followed by anything they can put in their mouths. Mia received so many great toys to enjoy this next year, including the push/rock/ride toy from Nana and Papa and her Pockets CD from Aunt Miss.
• We spent Christmas afternoon back at the Robbins'. We opened our stockings, and Mia had a nice big stocking of her own to open. She loved her toys and had fun crawling around the house all afternoon.
• Mike and I were very humbled by the generosity of our family and were reminded once again of all the blessings we have in our lives. It was such an amazing feeling so sit there with our child on such a wonderful day. Every Christmas we've felt like something was missing, and we wondered how we could recreate the magic that Christmas brought us as children. Finally, this year the magic was there for us as we watched the day through our daughter's eyes.

Hall Family Christmas

Last year, on the day we celebrated the Hall family Christmas, we got the news of Uncle Jimmy's sudden death. Since then, we lost Grandma Sarah, and now Aunt Catsy's health has declined to the point where we are often unrecognizable to her. That side of our family has had a very difficult year. Thanksgiving gave us our first holiday without them and we were uncertain how it would go. Two things turned what could have been a devastatingly sad day into a day of joy and healing - Mia and Cara. Having those beautiful babies around brought such joy to everyone that the day became a celebration of the growth of our family. Today those feelings continued and we were able to celebrate the new lives in our family, even while remembering those we have lost. I know it is no coincidence,  God brought us these two happy, bouncy baby girls as a way to get our family through this loss. 

We had a wonderful day, and the girls had a great time getting lots of attention from their extended family. Mia ate lasagna and cantaloupe for the first time. She didn't pull on her ear much but her nose was very runny. I'm wondering if it's not another tooth. We'll see!

More from the party

 

Santa!

Yesterday Santa visited Mia at daycare. She was mesmerized when he walked into the room. The close up picture is of her face when she spotted him for the first time. She wasn't thrilled to be on his lap, but didn't cry either. Daddy wasn't able to make it because customers kept coming in - a very good thing, but he was sad and disappointed to have missed it. Mamaw and Papaw Robbins were there though, and Mia had fun showing off her skills on the climbing blocks. She also enjoyed the sugar cookies that she had for snack. She clearly feels right at home in her room at daycare!

After we left daycare we went to the store to see Daddy. We hung out until bedtime for Mia. She had an eventful day! She woke up several times throughout the night and I was hoping it had everything to do with her busy day and nothing at all to do with the ear she kept favoring yesterday. But my hopes have been dashed. She's been fussy and holding her ear today. Apparently the allergy medicine is not doing the trick. I'll call this week and make an appointment with a specialist to see about tubes. In the meantime, I'm sure it will be business as usual - controlling her pain, seeing the doc about another antibiotic and just trying to keep her comfortable. My poor baby.

All clear?

Miss Mia seems to be feeling much better. No ear problems at the moment (keep those fingers crossed that the daily allergy medicine works and we don't have to do tubes) and her two new teeth have come in, totaling five now. That means she is finally back to sleeping through the night, after 8 long weeks of ear infections and teething pain. 

Her new development is temper tantrums! She has figured out her ability to scream and loves to do so, arching her back and jutting out her lower lip for added emphasis. At this point it makes me laugh, because I really have no idea what the heck she's so mad about. But she's letting me have it! Of course my way of dealing with it is to mimic her, and that makes her laugh. So right now it's no big deal. Can't wait 'til she's 2 though!

Mike and I are completely exhausted. I feel it to my core. People I barely know comment about how withdrawn I seem and ask me what is wrong. I no longer feel like myself, just some sleep-deprived zombie. I have no idea how we would have gotten through these past two months without our parents. They have all kept Mia for us at some point during this time so we could get a good night's sleep. We are so incredibly blessed to have them.

I wish I had more to say, but it's 8:00 p.m., Mike is out listening to music with the boys and Mia is asleep. Mommy is going to bed!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

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