Catching Up

What did we do on our Christmas break? I’m so glad you asked. (This post, by the way, does not adhere to the blogging “rule” for short posts. Because I’m a rebel like that. You might want to grab a snack.)

Husband set up the projector he uses for work so I could use it for the artwork for Caedmon’s wall. But before I got started on my project, he turned on Toy Story for the boy to watch on the “big screen.” Except that he ended up watching it on the laptop the majority of the time.

I worked on Caedmon’s wall art. But I will save pictures for when I get it completed. It might be a while. It’s slow going, but it will be so worth it. (Hopefully!) Maybe it’ll be done by the time he leaves for college.

We went to Children’s Hospital to see Laser Beam Doc for treatment #7. We also saw The Man In The Red Suit before Caedmon’s surgery. I wasn’t so sure Caedmon would be interested in seeing Santa, but he posed for a picture, which he held onto for the rest of our pre-op time. I took a photo of it since I wasn’t sure it would survive the day. It didn’t. He also loved the hat Santa gave him.

We had a playdate with some friends who were visiting from out of town. The boys played together very nicely, though Caedmon hasn’t quite grasped the whole “sharing” thing.

I baked. And baked some more. I was in charge of “a” dessert for our family’s Christmas gathering. Of course, not everybody likes the same thing. And “a” dessert is never enough with our troop, so I made two. Plus a bonus candy. And these Cranberry Almond Bars (again), just for me. I shared a little bit. (I will be sad when fresh cranberries are no longer available, because it will mean that I have to wait a long time to make them again.)

On Christmas Eve, Caedmon got to open a gift. He had a blast with his guitar, and I’m super glad we let him open it early in the day. Because as Caedmon got up from his nap and we were getting ready to head to our Christmas Eve service, I discovered the boy had a fever. Of 103.

That’s right. Apparently we can’t have Christmas without sickness. (Let me interject here that I am totally not bitter about the illness. And there’s no sarcasm there. A little sad, yes, but I am very thankful that Caedmon hasn’t really been sick since the summer, and that we were able to complete our last laser treatment of the year before the Sickness of Christmas ‘09 set in.)

It’s a good thing Santa had already dropped some things off at our house, because the boy and I were up most of the night. Between the coughing, the terrible medicine the nurse at Children’s told me to give him that I’m pretty sure made him puke not once but three times, and the crazy high fever, there wasn’t much sleeping going on. I think Oz is the only one who slept all night. And we all know he needs his beauty rest.

Husband had already set up the t-e-n-t and t-u-n-n-e-l in the living room in anticipation of Christmas Morning. And during one of our frantic illness-induced scurries, I accidentally let Caedmon see it. Because I’m not accustomed to having secret things sprawled out in the middle of the living room floor.

Of course, he wanted to play with it right away. But with the high fever kicking, I think I was able to convince him it was all just a dream. Husband moved it to the kitchen so we could traverse the living room during the night. And traverse it we did.

Christmas morning, Husband and I were up at our regular time, waking up to a White Christmas. It was great. I was a bit sad that Caedmon wouldn’t be able to go out and enjoy the snow. But thankfully, he slept until 9:40. It was a Christmas Miracle. Even if he’d been up until 3am. And he woke up with fever.

And the boy? Even with the fever, he loved the tent, which had made its way back to the living room. We finally tore him away from the tent and tunnel long enough to go through his stocking.We went out to Mom & Dad’s for a little while. Mom wanted a “White Christmas” photo, so we went out into the freezing cold and blazing sun. This was as good as it got.We opened gifts and got to see most of the family. I do believe his favorite thing was Buzz Lightyear. (More on that later.) With fever still, there was no way Caedmon had any business being around his new little cousin Q, so we made ourselves scarce before they arrived. I was really sad they wouldn’t get to meet yet.

But it was home for more time in the tent! And finally a nap. For all of us. Another Christmas Miracle.

With the fever still raging, the night was bumpy, but better than the one before. The next morning, Caedmon again slept until 9:40. And this time, Husband and I did too.

The day also brought a visit from Cini & Papa Duke. I was glad they were able to come hang out for a while and see Caedmon play with his new toys. The fever continued, though.

He finally shook it sometime Saturday night and woke up fever-free on Sunday morning. He was eating again too, which is a big deal. Ya’ll know how much he loves to eat. The fever came back after his nap though, and as I write this (Sunday night), he’s already woken up once asking for “juice” (Pedialyte…love it!) and to be rocked.

We had a nice Christmas, and hope you did too. Yeah, it could’ve been better (i.e., a well child), but it could’ve been worse. It’s really not about the gifts and food, anyway. It’s about the birth of Jesus, and we can celebrate that, sick kid or not.