A Christmas Story

This was my Christmas:

7 ½ hours in the ER with a very sick baby. Lots of tears, tests, poking, proding, screaming, X-rays, puking, bleeding, etc. Humming and singing, “I am a Child of God” in English and in French to Annick hundreds of times. Nurses and doctors needing to do way more work on not showing their emotions/worries for the state of their patients! Disappointment at realizing we’d be in the hospital a few days and needed to cancel our trip scheduled for the states. Pneumonia. RSV. A month’s worth of weight lost. Sad, lonely Momma worried about her baby and missing her boys at home having a less-than-exciting Christmas dinner with half the family missing. And amidst all the drama…peace, calm, gratitude, and answered prayers.

For Christmas this year my dad wanted to give us all a gift of gratitude. He wanted us all to do the “Gratitude Challenge” mentioned in the 1^st Presidency message of the December Ensign. They suggest writing down 100 things you’re grateful for, breaking them down like this:

10 physical abilities you are grateful for

10 material possessions you are grateful for

10 living people you are grateful for

10 deceased people you are grateful for

10 things about nature you are grateful for

10 things about today you are grateful for

10 places on earth you are grateful for

10 modern inventions you are grateful for

10 foods you are grateful for

10 things about the gospel you are grateful for

As I held my sweet little sick girl and cried, this challenge came to my mind. I forgot about my breaking back & trip cancellation and had faith that things would improve quickly. So as I swayed from side to side with a worn-out baby in my arms I started my mental list of 10’s. The time went more quickly. I felt recognized and loved by the Lord. I knew He was aware of a sad mommy and baby feeling alone and worried in the hospital. And after two more days in the hospital I can easily say that despite the trauma of the whole experience, what I felt most was peace. I felt grateful to have some quiet alone time with Annick and felt needed and loved by her. That’s a feeling I’d been waiting for for a long time, and since then I’ve felt much more connected to her—something I’d been praying for. It’s neat how the Lord answers our prayers in the most unexpected ways.

So for my dad, who thinks I never listen…I do. Thanks for the gift of gratitude.

Fingers

My mom tells me that as a baby I was always found sucking my ring and middle finger on my left hand and twirling hair with my right hand. It made my heart happy to see Annick with these same fingers stuck in her mouth the other night when a friend was holding her.

Like mother like daughter.

Baby Blessing

Annick was blessed on December 4th. She wore the dress that I wore for my blessing. Both my sisters wore it as well. My grandmother made it and my aunt did the embroidery. I lay her on the white blanket my grandma gave to me for my blessing day. (I used it with Ryan as well.) Annick wore some little booties that were my grandma's when she was a baby--made by either her mother or grandmother. I felt a curious sense of connection to my family by having these little heirlooms, even though no family members could be with us for the event.

Siblings

A few photos from yesterday. :)

Halloween 2011

We had a fun Halloween this year. We met Adam at the Dental school for lunch along with other friends and their kiddos. We had a fun visit to the Dean's office, and Ryan showed off his kangaroo hop to the office staff. Annick had a cute festive onesie from her Grandma with a spider on it. Of course during our visit she had a massive blowout and finished the rest of Halloween in a plain old pink sleeper.

In the evening Adam took Ryan out trick-or-treating on our street while I stayed home to nurse the baby. Then we met up with a few friends and did the trick-or-treating again. Ryan definitely loved it, and we have enjoyed eating his candy. He got 28 bags of chips (the main thing given here, it seems) that Adam has been snacking on. Since there are no other kids on our street the people were apparently giving him extra bags.

Baby Dress

Here's another sweet little dress from when I was a baby. I really DO like this one and wish it were still long enough for Annick.

Pink Frill

It's no new news to anyone that one of my fears in having a girl is "pink frill"- both the pink & the frill. Well my mom brought up this little dress I wore when I was a baby, and, despite the pinkishness and frillishness of it, I put it on Annick. It was quite cute. :)

Sadly she will not wear it again because what fit ME at 4 months:


is a bit of a midriff show on her at one month. I guess that could be expected when she started out life 2 1/2 inches longer than I did.