Turkey Day 2009

It certainly has been one WACKY week! Carina had the sniffles Monday morning but I sent her to Rebecca's. She was fine all day and then went downhill fast in the evening. She was so congested we couldn't lay her flat to go to sleep so I called Cheryl (a mom friend) and asked if I should call the after hours nurse line at the pedi. She said it was worth it for the peace of mind. So Peter called and they told us to go to the ER.

After a few hours of temp taking, pulse monitoring, chest x-ray, 3 failed attempted blood draws, poking, prodding, screaming, tears (hers and ours)... they said it was just an upper respiratory infection. Clean her nose, give her Tylenol, watch the fever and take her to the pedi. So we all came home and crashed at 3 am. Went in to see the pedi at 10 and heard the same thing. Peter went in to work late and I stayed home with the saddest, snottiest little girl in the world. All in all - $20 for the after hours call, $50 co-pay for the ER and $15 co-pay for the pedi but worth it just to know she's ok. It's so scary when you don't know if they can breathe ok. I was so afraid to leave her in her crib.

But Wednesday she woke up a brand new baby. All smiles, which made everybody in the Jones household a lot happier. The hospital nurse and pedi both told us there was no reason to change our Thanksgiving plans so after Peter got home from work we packed up and drove the 7.5 hours to Dayton OH! Carina was a champ. Aside from one little screaming fit and refusing to eat when we stopped for dinner - she slept most of the way. We rolled in around midnight and after unpacking, setting up the pack-n-play and giving Carina a bedtime snack, we all fell asleep around 1 am. Long day!

Thanksgiving was so great. We got to introduce Carina to Peter's extended family. Lots of great food, great company and great pictures. Carina was the star of the show and she was so happy and sociable all day. She took 3 tiny naps (she slept through her first Thanksgiving dinner!) but she didn't want to miss a minute of any of it. It was a really nice time.

As wonderful as Carina's first Thanksgiving was - Peter and I had a moment where we just really missed our grandparents who are no longer with us. My Nana Gill, Pappy Merrill and Peter's Grandma Wallace. I don't think it has really hit me (or Peter) as hard as it did yesterday just how heartbreaking it is that we didn't get the chance to inroduce our precious little one to some of the best grandparents out there. We really miss them...

Peter and I were ready to crash at 7 when we got back to the hotel but Carina was still in party mode. We all laid in bed till 10 and then Carina finally went down after her bedtime feeding. Unfortunately our upstairs neighbors were still partying (sounded like kids jumping on the bed - who knows). Peter complained to the front desk. We were desperate for sleep! In the end, we all got a much needed great night's sleep.

This morning we hit the road around 8 am and made it home by 3:30 - and that was with 3 stops! And snow! Carina did really well again. Ate better than she did on the way out and was mostly happy when she was awake. Had fussy times but no real screaming fits. What a great kid! We were all so happy to be home. Both of my sweeties are asleep right now. So cute.

We have so very much to be thankful for this year.