Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve, but ended up at the After Hours Clinic on Christmas Day. I had a sore throat on Wednesday, so I went to my doctor on Thursday. My strep test was positive, so I got a shot of bicillin in my hip. All I can say is "ouch!!", that was painful, at least I waited until I got in my car to cry like a baby. I knew I was contagious for another day, so I tried to keep away from Chris and Tucker. I was not really feeling that sick, I had just went in as a precaution. I still had shopping to do for our trip, Christmas, and my new job that I will start the day after we get back from our trip. Thursday evening Chris, Tucker, and I went to the local park to see it all decorated for Christmas. Dylan, Gina, Molli, and Dad joined us. Tucker was not impressed, even though he loves the lit-up Christmas tree at home. Molli's favorite part was the big water fountain, she kept asking my Dad for quarters to throw in it. Right when we were leaving, Tucker chased after Chris and missed the concrete step. His face slammed into the pavement and blood poured everywhere. He ended up with an odd-shaped scab right above his lip, so for Christmas Eve he looked like he had a red Hitler mustache (he still does, actually). I put him in the cutest little black suit that his friend Josh handed down to him, but the rough-and-tumble Tucker just didn't seem to match the suit, haha! For Christmas Eve we went to Chris's parents' house for the Townsend party. We had a blast opening presents with them; Tucker got several that he loved, like a Mickey Choo Choo (that's what he called it, so cute!) and a garbage truck and two firetrucks. By then he was done opening presents, but he had about 6 more! He was not happy that each truck was stuck in its own box, wrapped with wire and tape...he brought them all to Pops to open so he could play with them. Brycen and Slade also got tons of gifts and we all thought the presents were done. Then Mrs. Mia brought out a box, and we all knew there was a gun in it for Mr. Ricky (the men are all obsessed with hunting and guns). So after Mr. Ricky opened it, they said that Cabela's only had 2 of those guns in stock, so the guys had to pull straws to see who got the other one. We all thought this was pretty dumb, but the adults weren't supposed to get presents anyways, so we said whatever. So the guys pulled numbers, and whoever had the number 1 was supposed to win. It turns out, they all had the number 1, so then Mrs. Mia brought out 4 guns, one each for Chris, Justin, Andrew, and Michael. They were like little kids on Christmas morning, it was hilarious. Tucker went to the toy closet and pulled out all of his older trucks, then he sat in the middle of all of the new and old trucks and played; he was so happy! After that party, we went home to rest. We planned to go to my parents that evening for dinner and fireworks, along with a get-together with the Christian family. After Tucker took a good nap, we went to my parents' house, where Chris C was frying turkeys. Tucker was so scared of the turkey fryer, he kept running away. Tucker had to bring his new garbage truck to Nana's, so he played with his garbage truck and his pet shop inside until he got brave enough to go back outside with the men and the turkeys. My Chris came inside and put together his famous Deer Poppers (so yummy!); along with my Dad's gumbo, we had quite a feast. When the Christians arrived, Michael, Chris, and Tucker got right to the fireworks. Tucker loved the fireworks last year at New Year's Eve, but that was almost a year ago, and I wasn't sure how he'd feel about them now. Tucker got some of the little white snap poppers (I don't know what else to call them), the little things that you just throw on the ground and they pop. No fire involved! Anyways, he loved them, he threw each one of them on the ground and as they popped, he would laugh the deepest belly laugh, it was so cute! Then Michael lit firework after firework, and Tucker would run and hide behind our legs when they started, then peek out and laugh so hard. And once he started laughing, he couldn't stop, it was so cute. So then Michael would be done with that firework, and Tucker would run over to Michael to make sure he had another one to light. During this time Dad lit a bonfire, but Tucker was way too scared of it. Once the fireworkds were gone, he wanted to swing on the big swing, which was nowhere near the fire, and therefore freezing! We all took turns swinging with him until it just got too cold and we had to take him inside. The Christians brought Tucker more presents (of course!) but all Tucker wanted was outside. I said, "at least my child isn't greedy or materialistic, right??" He really does like all their gifts, he was just not happy at all to have to come inside. After I got my shot on Thursday, I had bet Chris that we would end up at the After Hours or the ER on Christmas Day. There was no way I could have strep and they wouldn't catch it. At about 9pm on Christmas Eve, Chris came to me and said he was starting to feel bad, and getting worse quickly. We said good night to everyone and went home. By the time we got home, Chris felt too bad to put Tucker to bed or even play Santa. I hoped that after a good night's sleep he would feel better, but that was not the case. He woke up Christmas morning feeling worse than ever. Tucker opened his gifts from Santa, but he was a little off as well. I fed Tucker and gave him his usual meds, along with Ibuprofen and cold meds, and he perked up. Chris did not, so we all headed to the After Hours Clinic. I told Tucker that once we take a test to show he's not sick, we were going to Maw Maw's and Paw Paw's in Reserve (my dad's parents). He was very excited and said "Paw Paw" and "Maw Maw" the whole ride there. We had a short wait, and then they checked both Chris and Tucker for strep and the flu. They both had strep, but at least they didn't have the flu. Chris's temperature was 102. Chris got two shots of bicillin, and Tucker got one. Tucker watched with great interest as the nurse gave his Daddy two shots, but he was not at all happy when she came in with a needle for him. We decided that Tucker and I were not going to the Galatas party, because we didn't want anyone to get sick, and we didn't want to push Tucker's little body too hard before our Disney trip. Of course, Tucker was not at all happy with this decision, as he did not realize he was even sick. We spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon at home; by 5pm Chris did not feel one bit better, and Tucker was literally bored to tears. Tucker and I headed over to Mom's to get Tucker's gifts from my parents, as well as the gifts from the Galatas family. Tucker opened a portable DVD player and a big truck that holds lots of little trucks from my parents, and then about 4 more trucks from the Galatas family. All in all, I think Tucker got about 12 new trucks in 2 days! And he already has two shelves full of trucks at home that he loves, and is not ready to part with. I got caught up on what everyone got for Christmas and how everyone was feeling (so far we haven't spread our germs to anyone, yay), and then Tucker and I went home to start packing and go to sleep. Christmas was not what we planned, but Christmas Eve was so wonderful that it almost makes up for it. Today Chris started feeling better, but not by much. My antibiotic shot worked pretty quickly, but Chris's is taking much longer. His fever went down by last night at least, but he still has a lot more pain than I did. Tucker and I both still have a cold, like we have for several weeks now. I went out and stocked up on cold meds for our trip, and as of 1030 Sunday night, we are 99% packed for our trip to Orlando! Now we are focused on Orlando, we leave tomorrow at 8 am. Neither Chris nor I have ever been to Disney World; Chris hasn't ever been in an airplane....We are staying at Give Kids the World, a village built for Wish families....this place seems so great that I don't think Tucker will want to leave to go to the parks! I just can't imagine what the next week has in store for our family, but I know it is going to be magical and we are going to take pictures of all of it to share with you guys!