Mamalogues: January 2012

After our crazy, busy Christmas it was nice to have a quiet birthday for Nate and a quiet new years celebration. I made Nate cinnamon french toast for breakfast and then we went to church. In the afternoon we spent a little time with Jack and Kat. Then, for dinner, we had the Boone's and the Zimmerman's over. I made a lasagna, gluten free ofcourse, and salad for dinner. It was fun to get together with friends for the evening and to have a friend over for Caitlyn to play with. Although, I think they mostly just looked at each other, and made noises. Nate got some fun presents for his birthday. His dad and Kat gave him his hunting and fishing license for the year. So, the next weekend, they were out duck hunting and having some good father/son time. I gave him a nail gun set, something he's been wanting since he borrows Chris' a lot. My parents gave him a Sony media player since we decided to cancel our cable to save a little money. He has been having fun with his new "toys". He also got many cards in the mail and phone calls. He is definitely a very loved dad, husband, son, son-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, and friend.

The only sad part is that I forgot to take pictures. :( I was just too busy making his day special!

I originally had this great idea to start a blog to journal about Caitlyn. When I began to blog, I thought of all the things that happened previous to her birth so I just had to blog about those events. Well, I'm sure you can tell, I kept getting farther and farther behind on special events. So today, I decided to just start blogging again about currents events. Basically, we are skipping ahead to Caitlyn as a 7 month old because otherwise, I would never be caught up.

Christmas was quit the adventure for us this year and I'm actually glad that Caitlyn had no idea it was even Christmas!
December 22nd: Caitlyn starts vomiting. By about 7:00p.m. we realize this is probably the flu and we better call the doctor to see what to do. We ended up in the ER at Sacred Heart and went home later that night. To top it all off, I also got sick. Nate was a great dad and husband and took care of both of his girls.
December 23rd: Caitlyn and I were still sick but feeling a little better. Caitlyn was on Pedialyte all day. We went to Jack and Kat's for our "Oeming Christmas". Nichole & Paul were in town and Erin & Steve came over also. We had a great time opening presents, eating ham and just being with each other.
December 24th: Christmas Eve All the Martens' came in the afternoon. My mom made a great potato leek chowder for dinner and we also had crab and bread. I was so thankful for family to help prepare for Christmas! That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Unfortunately, Caitlyn was still not acting up to par so she stayed home with Grandma. Thank you, Mom! I was sad that she had to stay at home and couldn't wear the dress to church that I picked out for her months ago. But, at least she had no idea it was even Christmas. Nate and I piled into the car with my dad, brother, and sister-in-law and went to church to remember why we even celebrate Christmas in the first place! Jesus' Birthday!
December 25th: Christmas Day We woke up and had a great breakfast cooked by Nate. We had eggs, bacon, and yuumy breads that my mom made. We opened a few presents and did our Martens' gift exchange. Jeff and Sabrina then had to leave to head back to Hillsboro. That afternoon, Susette and Dean came over and then Jack and Kat also came over. It was great to have everyone here to celebrate Christmas and be with their little Caitlyn on her first Christmas. We had ham that night and of course we all opened more presents. Nate and I have talked a lot about making sure we teach Caitlyn the true meaning of Christmas. We want her to know that Christmas isn't just about Santa and presents. It is important to us that she knows that we celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus' birthday. One way to teach this is to have cupcakes for Jesus' birthday, so Christmas night we ate cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

We loved everything about our Christmas this year, minus the sickness! It was great to just stay at home with our daughter and not drive up and down I-5 visiting family. We are thankful for all of our family and friends that spent time with us. We are also thankful for the love and support that we are given with Caitlyn. We are hoping that next Christmas can be a little more "low key" but we will see what happens.