Life's Moments: Advent Lighting

Monday, December 12, 2011

Advent Lighting

We had a very busy week and weekend! Brian left on Monday for Mexico and came back on Thursday. Glad to have that trip over, especially since he was traveling to Juarez...one of the most dangerous places to travel to in Mexico! We three girls kept ourselves busy with several doctor's appointments (or as Hailey calls them, "doctor disappointments") those four days. Clara's 2 month check-up was on Thursday. She was 10 lbs. 14 oz. and the doctor said she looks great! She got her first "set" of shots (5 in total, but only 2 shots and then an oral vaccine). She did fine until after she woke up from a nap screaming in pain from the tetanus shot in her left leg. Since the whole ban of acetaminophen products for infants started, doctors have been hesitant to recommend them at all. The doctor told me that they have now reformulated the medicine, but I shouldn't need to give her any unless she's running a fever. So, I didn't even bother picking any up at the store, because I figured that if she was running a fever, I could get to the store in 10 minutes to get the medicine then. Thankfully and gratefully my mom was home and quickly ran to the store and out to our house to bring Clara some medicine. It was awful listening to her cry for 20 minutes straight until my mom could get there and knowing there was nothing you could do to console her. She wouldn't take a bottle or a pacifier and flinched every time she moved. The top of her lips were turning blue from crying so hard. I called the pediatrician who told me to "go ahead and give her the Tylenol" (you think?) and use cold washcloths on her legs. Once we got the medicine in her, she started to calm down and was back to her normal self after about 2 hours. You can bet I'll be prepared ahead of time with her next set of shots!

On Saturday, we did a little shopping in the morning and then our friends, Dave and Erika, stopped by for a quick visit. We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening cleaning and decorating. This is the longest it's taken to get the house decorated, but with Brian being gone and having to care for a 2 month old, I'm way behind. I have one last box to go through today and then I'll be done.

On Sunday, the four of us were in charge of lighting the candles on the Advent wreath at church. We lit 3 candles since it was the 3rd Sunday in Advent. After lighting them and doing a reading, one of the pastors, Rev. Luke, did the children's sermon. All of the kids in the congregation come up and sit on the floor in front of the Narthex to listen. Hailey made sure to sit right next to Rev. Luke and even had her arm resting on his shoulder at one point. :-) I'm sure Jesus was sitting there among all of them loving every moment! "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." - Mark 10:14-15

Brian is taking a vacation day tomorrow and my mom is watching the girls so that Brian and I can do some uninterrupted Christmas shopping. I'm excited!

Hailey funnies:

- During a conversation about good behavior I said to her, "Hailey, Mommy doesn't like yelling at you or having to spank you." She said, "Well, maybe you should smack me on the face instead and get rid of the wood spoon." At least we know the wooden spoon is effective.

- When asking her if she knew that Uncle Vince's birthday was on Friday, she said, "Am I invited?" To her, every birthday celebration means a party right now! When my friend, Laura, stopped by on Friday, she said to Hailey (jokingly), "Did you go to Uncle Vince's birthday?" She said, "Nope, I wasn't invited."

Brian showed Hailey how to make red and green paper chains to decorate for Christmas...something we both did when we were younger. Here was the beginning.