Our Christmas vacation

We're back from our family cabin vacation and our trip to see the family in Arkansas. The past days since last Wednesday have been everything. Exhausting is the first that comes to mind, but also delightful, inspiring, trying, awe-inspiring, filled with laughter (and tears), love and FAMILY time to the max. The kids and Jeff and I have all been together pretty much nonstop since Friday (9 days ago) at 3pm. Good thing we really love each other!!! Coleman came down with a cold, which moved down into his chest so the 2nd doctor visit in 3 days resulted in rx for antibiotics for an ear infection, steroids for the chest/breathing problems, and breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock. He was not diagnosed with asthma (yet) but man was he wheezing so bad last Monday!!! I am pretty proud and amazed at how well he nursed back to health. We were afraid we were going to have to cancel our trip to Broken Bow (beavers bend state park) Oklahoma when his cold turned worse. But, 2 days of prednisone and breathing treatments made us believe he would only get better so we set out. The cabin was amazing. We went with my long-time best friend, Kelly, and her family (Chris, 4 yr old Reagan, and 1 yr old Rylee) We had the greatest time and learned that it is smart to never travel with your kids with anyone who doesn't have kids, because our kids took turns making sure none of us felt bad that ours were the ones acting up. :) It was great. We took a couple of great hikes down into the state park alongside a river, and even though the leaves were gone and the weather was dreary, it was beautiful. The weather was actually about as perfect as it could be for mid-december. Mid-50's to low-60's and I even worked up a sweat on our walks. I think we got some good pictures, and I plan on sorting through them and posting a few after this. At the cabin we also enjoyed a 2-hour game of cackling laughter-inducing hide and seek, a great outdoor fire complete with marshmallow and weenie roasts, and a late-night hot tub on the porch under the stars. You can see the stars out there! :)
When we left the cabin we headed another 4 hours north to NW Arkansas to see my family. We got to spend lots of down time at Mimi's house and almost a full day at my aunt Jan's house with enough people to warm up her freezing cold house (these people have the ac running when it's sleeting outside!) :) We love seeing everyone and this year Shelby and McKenzie got to play together. It's great when they get old enough to do that. McKenzie is about to turn 2. We enjoyed an interesting game of white elephant, where we all wrapped up something from home that we didn't want or need anymore. The funniest gift was a KML monogrammed golf shoe bag that was meant for one of my cousin's groomsmen (who got married 2 years ago), and a couple of hideous hand-made mini pillow cases in a forest camo print; there was also an old army blanket that my grandma submitted, and an 1836 penny from Papa G, which was the year Arkansas joined the Union. My dad ended up with that one!!!
Amidst all that was going on, Coleman caused us to have some LOOooooooong nights. Well maybe not so much "us" as "me." Although Jeff might not agree, I believe I bore the brunt of his nighttime fits. He kept waking up in raging fits, and screams like we've never heard before, and even after trying to rock and calm him, the ONLY thing that would stop the screams was letting him nurse. Since we were sharing a cabin with another family, and then a house with 12 other people, I had to give in and just pop it out to keep him quiet, even though I knew I was creating a horrid habit. I do not want to be a night pacifier to my 1 year old. :) So for 5 nights, as Cole slept by my side, I had to pop the boob out at least 4 times a night. I am a stubborn person and I never would have given into that had he not been keeping other people awake. So tonight is our first night at home and we already decided to nip that in the bud. I know a mom whose son is SHELBY's age and she proudly admits that her son sleeps by her in the guest bedroom every night, sucking on her boob throughout the night. "I'm basically just a pacifier," she has said to me. That will NOT be me. Anyway, as I started typing this post, Cole had just been put into his bed and was of course standing in his crib screaming. Jeff went in there once to put some music on, but he has already stopped crying (quite some time ago, this is a long post!) I don't know how the rest of the night will be, but I know he will be fine even if we let him cry a little bit. :)
I could have written things in here a dozen times or more from cute or funny things that have happened over the past week. Shelby is quite the entertainer when she wants to be, and can make her daddy and I secretly crack up listening to her babble on in the car.
Coleman took his first 2 steps on Friday night!!! It was in Mimi's bedroom! He will be running around here before he goes back to school on Jan 2nd I bet!
Jeff has to go back to work tomorrow, but then is off Tuesday (Christmas), Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday (New Years day). I go back to work a week from Wednesday so I still have some good time off left. I'm so glad we uncharacteristically planned ahead and had Jeff take this time off of work, and enjoyed a long span of family time, travel, and relaxing fun. Christmas is in 2 days and it will be so much fun!
I could go on and on but I'll save some stories for another time. My kiddos are asleep and I plan on cleaning out some toys tonight to make room for the new Christmas stuff, and unpacking tonight. The job never ends!!!
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!