Merry First Christmas Shuler Girls (and everyone else)!!!

This year Christmas was so much fun!!! Not only did we have all the usual Christmas eve festivities and Christmas day dinners (THREE for me personally, I am still stuffed), but this was Ryan, Olivia and Addisyn's first Christmas!!! They were so cute, all dressed in cute clothes and hats and "opening" presents and all the fun stuff. We spent Christmas eve at Rhett's, Christmas day at our place and lunch at Papa's and Uncle Joe's, finishing out the day with dinner at the Longfellow house. Livie and Ry worked so hard to get their presents open and I am sure they had plenty of help. Addisyn, she just let everyone do the work for her, it is hard just being cute ya know. Enjoy all the girl's pics! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

All things considered...

Here fishie fishie...

She must be feeling better...

We really are doin' just fine...I think we have finally figured out the source of Ry's cough...its about time since it has lasted almost THREE MONTHS!!!...For the first 4 appointments, we were told it was just a "common cold" that is normal and she would have to "let it run its course"...I have heard those phrases so many times that they should be given US patents, hence the quotation marks...We have been in and out of the doc's office and urgent care and all we have ever heard is "common cold, let it run its course, etc."...I am sick of it...

So, we started the month of December off at the doctor's office and we were told she had bronchitis and since she is so young there were no remidies other than vaporizers, saline drops, steam showers yada yada yada...Well, we have been doing that since October and the common cold is still living with us...So, we were back Dec. 12 b/c a wheezing breath had set in...FINALLY, the doctor gave us something for her...Now, I am not an advocate for pushing meds on my innocent baby but I'll tell you, she needs something for a three month old cough!!!...In the end she was given antibiotics for an ear infection and a nebulizer for breathing treatments 3 times a day...Thankfully a week into the new meds have been great for her, the wheezing is gone and she is getting so much better!...I am very thankful that she is getting better and hopefully she will be in full party mode for Christmas Eve...

Playing Catch-up...

It is so pitiful how dependent I am on technology, what little knowledge I have of it anyway. Jaren has had our wireless computer for the past couple weeks while hers is out of commission and I have neglected to post b/c all my pictures are on the wireless computer. My other computer is older and slower so its not as easy to post pictures. And, no one wants to read a blog about Ryan without seeing pictures, so even though its not a great excuse, its my excuse and my blog so there...

Well, thanksgiving has come and gone and Ry is growing everyday! We went to Rhett's and Papa's and back to the Longfellow's for Thanksgiving, she was such a trooper being carted around all day. Needless to say, I am still full from Thanksgiving but making room for Christmas. We started December at Kylia's making Christmas candy and starting Ryan on rice cereal. She is liking it more and more but still has to figure out how to use her tongue to keep the cereal in her mouth. She is also waving "bye" now. Grandma started that and it does take some persuasion, but she will do it. Jaren, Joe, Kylia and myself have seen it done on more than one occasion.

Joe and I also made the decision along with Leah and Matt to pierce the girl's ears. Last Saturday we all took Ryan and Amelia to Claire's boutique in the mall and the mommies held the girls while they got their ears pierced. No pics of that b/c it was like getting a shot but again, my girl is tough so she was done crying before Amelia even sat in the chair. We had to go first b/c I might've chickened out otherwise.

Finally, Ry has been sick off and on since October with cough, congestion and the like. We have taken her to the doctor at least FIVE times to figure out what is going on and we went again this past Friday and got somewhat of a resolution. Ry has bronchitis and while that stinks, thankfully that is the worst of it. I was worried b/c I thought if she kept up with all this coughing and stuff she could develop pneumonia. She had a chest x-ray and things came back clear. All we can do is what we've been doing to get her better which is keep up with vaporizers, saline spray, suctioning boogers (gross) and getting plenty of sleep (for RYAN, not mom and dad of course). So that what we've been doing, hopefully she'll be getting better shortly. She really is working on the resting part. I stayed home from church with her today and she has been sleeping since 9:30 am. I've been told that resting helps her heal so sleep on my baby girl!!!

So, that should cover all the high points and that should catch me up for this month so far. Happy blogging!!!