I Wish You A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

Happy New Year.

I hope that the holiday season has been awesome for you and yours dear readers.  It certainly has been great here in Drosche Land.  December has been busy here, as life seems to be lately, but I wanted to make sure and close out the year here with you.  Plus I haven't posted any pictures of Christmas yet!  Yikes!  Luckily I think I'm still in the acceptable time frame for holiday pictures.  For a few more hours at least.  I'll do my New Years recap post tomorrow and focus on Christmas today. 

We are a little over a week into our Christmas Break here and it has been great.  Restful.  Relaxing.  Fun.  Joyous.  Just what we needed this holiday season.  Last year was Stella's 1st Christmas, but being just 6 months old she didn't get much out of it.  18 months though is a fun age for Christmas.  She knows who Santa is and will, on cue, say, "Ho, Ho, Ho" when she sees his picture.  Super cute.  So it has been a blast to watch her this year as she experiences everything about Christmas.  The only thing we didn't do was actually make it to see Santa this year.  Best laid plans and all.  Oh well, maybe next year?

The boys are still in the prime age for Christmas, especially Jackson.  He just loves opening presents.  He genuinely gets excited about any gift he receives and genuinely loves watching people open presents.  One of his best traits.  Braeden is on the cusp though.  You know what I mean.  He sort of has things figured out about the big man in red.  But I think his childhood will just not let go of it yet.  He knows something is up, but still believes.  So, the magic is still much alive here in Drosche Land, as I am sure it will always be.

This Christmas was also a special one for Amy and I as it is the last one we will celebrate as a family of 5.  With the adoption moving briskly along we will have our daughter with us next year!  Crazy to think, but so exciting as well.  We did take some time to talk, just the 2 of us, about what she might be doing this year.  How she might be celebrating.  Its bittersweet of course, but knowing that it was the last one we will all celebrate apart did bring some comfort.

So, celebrating the birth of our Savior was a pleasant experience here in Drosche Land this year and I pray it was for you as well.  We still have a few days left of break and, thankfully, have no big plans for them!  Just more rest, relaxation, and family.  Sounds great!  So, Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  Happy New Year from Drosche Land to you. On with the pictures!

All is well, merry, in Drosche Land.

Stella's 2013 Christmas Picture

Jackson's 2013 Christmas Picture

Braeden's 2013 Christmas Picture

My 3

Annual Christmas family picture!

The boys opening presents

Stella and one of her 2 Cabbage Patch babies

A stroller!

Jackson loved his Minion goggles!

The boys opening their Kindle Fires

Stella loved opening presents!

Amy opening Braeden's gift for her that he made at school

Bows!

KINDLE FIRE!

Feeding her baby

Minion goggles and a fart gun!

Her new princess nightgown

He's getting so big!

That Bites

No, Stella is not trying out for the role of Quasimodo in an all-baby production of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.  Nope, the above picture is just another adventure in to the world of her many allergies.  This one was an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite.  We were outside for 5, yes 5, short minutes on Sunday afternoon and one of the little insects managed to bite her on the outside corner of her left eye.  Despite Benadryl and Neosporin, she woke up yesterday morning looking quite rough.

From the second we noticed the bite we were on alert. See, back in October during our ill-fated Columbus Day camping trip in Galveston (I don't think I posted about this now that I think about it, one of the many mental posts lost in my busy absence maybe) she was bitten many times as the campsites were swarmed with mosquitoes.  Her bites eventually swelled up and turned into a staph infection.  Ugh!  After about 3 weeks, many doses of Benadryl, and a special prescription Neosporin-like medicine later they were under control.  So when this newest bite happened we figured it might get ugly.  So we dosed and slathered.  But, again, it didn't help much.

A quick trip to the doctor yesterday afternoon confirmed that it was, in fact, just an allergic reaction and we could do little else for it other than wait.  So that's what we have been doing.  Luckily though she is used to having random mishaps and medical drama follow her and she hasn't slowed down a bit.  So much so that she got hurt at school today.  I guess having compromised vision from the aforementioned swollen eye affected her depth perception and she ran into a wall.  Poor thing!  Now she looks like this.

Luckily the swelling from the allergic reaction has gone down quite a bit today.  But she now sports a nice bruise on her cheek/eye area.  Oh well, such is life.  But my little girl is a trooper.  She has kept her perky spirits about her and has been as into everything as she usually is.  So that is a blessing and we have been enjoying her goofiness despite whatever malady befalls her.  

So, just another little adventure here in Drosche Land.  Another little health/medical issue for us to power through.  We're always kept on our toes here.  Always.

All is well, swollen but unstoppable, in Drosche Land.