Christmas and the New Year

We were asked by our church, Long's Chapel UMC, to play the Holy Family in the church nativity on Christmas Eve. Maggie had the honor of playing the baby Jesus. Grant and I both had speaking lines! It was fun and will always be a memory we will cherish! We went to Grant's parents' home in Delano, TN for Christmas. Ellie decided for the second straight year that Christmas is a good time to get very sick. We went to urgent care there, but did not see improvement as the week went on. Ellie did feel okay enough to open some presents and tried her hardest to play with them. We returned a day early to take Ellie to our pediatrician and he told us that he had sent kids better off than her to the hospital. She had a mild form of pneumonia and double ear infections. He trusted us to give her the meds and breathing treatments to help her get well. She didn't eat for almost two weeks, but thanks to all the prayers and modern medicine we are happy to report she is back to running around and eating very well! She was able to enjoy watching the Cotton Bowl with me on Jan. 2. She now says "Ole Miss" and will point to my shirts and say it. She also asks to hear the "Hotty song". I do the G rated version of Hotty Toddy for her. She now knows everyone in the extended family's name and loves to talk. We love hearing what new word she will pick up on each day. She also enjoys helping to do chores and is a little OCD just like her Daddy ;)!

We are working hard on potty training and if you ask her what she gets when she goes tt on the big girl potty she will say "emmy", which means M&M's. She also knows she gets to wear her Elmo or Abby panties as well. Maggie is getting so big and is staying awake much more. We are still wondering who she is going to look like and if her blue eyes are going to stay around. She looks less and less like Ellie. We go for her 2 month checkup tomorrow.

I started back to work last Monday and Grant started his clinical in Asheville. We have Ms. Rebecca and her 2 yr. old daughter coming to our house to keep the girls. Ellie has had so much fun and adjusted well. We are so excited about the arrangement and love Ms. Rebecca. She is so good with the girls.