Happy Birthday, Nara. You get surgery!

Happy Birthday Nara!She had such a wonderful birthday celebration with family from Roy and So Cal. My fam was up for Christmas and was able to celebrate with us before they headed back down.  She had so much fun eating Kalua Pork, frog cupcakes and opening gifts. She was so tickled when everyone started singing her Happy Birthday and giggled the whole time with a huge smile. Our camera ran out of battery so the other pictures and video we have are on Chris' phone and will be posted when I remember to do it. Face it, I have preggie brain and tend to forget things unless I tattoo them to my forehead. :)
  Our other news is that soon after Nara's birthday, we took her her in to her two year wellness check and found out she had ear infections. She never let us know because of her high pain tolerance. Thanks for passing that one on, Daddy.  She has had a few of them so we decided to go see an ENT. To make a long story short, he recommended that she has tubes put in and tonsils and adenoids removed due to her snoring, size of tonsils, and the way that she was drinking and breathing at the doctor's office. I had it done when I was her age so it really wasn't shocking when we got the news.
   We figured it would be a month or so before it would happen, but it was all in a two week time frame from the initial appointment.
    The following is a sup up of the day from some emails that we sent out to family.

She loved her hospital jammies that she got to wear.  

While we waited, we got to play with bubbles.
Nara was so cute running around in her clothes and popping them

We got to the hospital at 8:45 to register for her surgery at 10:15. She knew we were going to the hospital today and was kind of excited. We went over how the doctor was going to fix her ears ant throat enough so she could repeat it if asked.  She took her favorite puppy with her for comfort and she even got to wear her favorite kitty pj's and sparkly socks. This helped later when we were getting her dressed again.

Playing Wii with Daddy. She kept pushing one button over and over again.
She was a totally different girl when on the Versed.

Showing off the new anklet tag

Loving the new jammies

The doctor was running behind so Nara's surgery was pushed back by a half hour. She had a good time playing with the toys, reading books, and watching Cinderella. We talked to the nurse about them giving her some versed so when she went under anesthesia, it wouldn't be quite so traumatic. Otherwise, the nurse said they hold down the kids,crying and scared, until they get knocked out by the gas. I didn't have the heart to put Nara through that. She would be scared enough not having us there, let alone having strangers hold a mask on her face. Yikes! So we gave her the medicine and she was so subdued when it was time to go back. She got to ride in a wagon, which she thought was pretty cool, and take her puppy with her. We walked back as far as we could then kissed her goodbye. She cried out a little, but was so relaxed she was okay. 

When she first had her tag she thought it was pretty cool.
After she came out of surgery, she kept asking Daddy to take it off.
She even said "please" through the tears.

She loved the fact that she got to ride in a wagon.

40 min later, the doctor came out with a good report that she was out and in recovery. About ten min. after that I got to go back after she woke up and be with her. Chris came back later. She had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, she was crying and upset when I got to her, but after about five minutes she calmed down as I got to hold her. She fell back asleep and when she woke up the second time was more like herself, tired and groggy, but talking and asking for songs to be sung to her. She was able to drink some juice and have some root beer slushy too. She liked the slushy quite a bit. We got to go home as soon as her oxygen levels stayed up where they needed to be. 

He recover was pretty good. This girl is a trooper. She was off the meds after a week and acting like herself within a few days. She loved eating all of the Popsicles, pudding, and applesauce she could dream of. During this time, she learned how to open the freezer drawer so she could get her own. Finally after she grunted and grimaced and worked so hard to get it open,, she ran over to me at the table and proclaimed in an excited voice, "I did it. Mommy! I did it!" She ran back only to see that it had closed and had to do it again. She said, sadly, "Oh no!" when she saw that it had closed. What a cutie. We go in next week for a post-op appointment. Cross your fingers that all went well. We have already seen a great difference in her sleeping. Now, she is so quiet that we have to check to see if she is breathing. She is! She just doesn't snore anymore. Yea!

4 new postings and more to come tomorrow

Make sure you scroll all the way down because there are several new posts for all of you to enjoy.

Christmas! 2011

 Christmas morning we woke up and made an omelette and played while we waited for daddy to get up and out of bed. We had a pretty relaxed morning, waiting to open presents and stockings until after breakfast. Little did I know I would be sick that morning. It was my own fault for taking a vitamin along with my thyroid medicine. Silly, me. So after a few hours of yuck, we finally got to open stockings and one gift for Nara. It was a new Sunday dress that I wanted her to have for church that afternoon.

Dinner was amazing! Cornish game hens with a cranberry glaze, fresh salad, stuffing, and coconut yams. Mmmm! The memories. It was my first time eating the hens. Yum!After dinner is when we FINALLY opened up gifts and Nara got to see what Santa brought her. I don't think we could have pulled off the lateness of gifting any other year, but Nara was cool with it. 

Thanksgiving games

Nenna and I came up with some games for the kids to play while we were all staying together at home. There were 16 of us for a few days and we didn't want the kids to go crazy.  We came up with some fun things for the kids to do like games and park trips, where Nara loved climbing on the jungle gyms. One of those games we came up with were boat races just like the Pilgrims did so long ago. Okay, so they didn't race, but we sure did, for about an hour it was race after race. We made some origami boats, attached straws and a balloon to the back and raced them along a piece of thread in Mom and Dad's backyard. It was so much fun for the kids as well as the adults.

  

Blowing up the balloons to get ready for the race. We raced until the balloons popped.  They were just the cheapy balloons that lost their elasticity.

After the two little girls' balloons broke, they entertained themselves by playing in the garden dirt\ out.  

Taking a break from playing at the park

Lovely ladies

Another day, we went to the park. The weather was so nice that week that we played

outside everyday.

These girls loved playing tea party together.

All together 

Nara loved playing with baby Hailey. She is so excited for another baby in the house. They played together a lot, Nara crawling after Hailey, and Hailey trying to get away :) 

Seal Beach 2011

Running down Main Street after Nenna

While in SoCal, we stopped by Seal Beach, shopped on Main Street and played at the beach. Nara had such a great time going in the shell store. Daddy found a shop entirely devoted to olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Needless to say we left with a few souvenirs from Seal Beach.

She loved chasing after the birds. Never caught one. 

Nara holding hands with daddy. She ended up getting hit by a wave or two. Good thing we found her a new outfit on the street.

She loved being with herr Nenna and Papa

Playing with cousins in the sand. It was the first time all the Boothe siblings were together since Ryan got married 10 years ago.

She always has time for a big cheesy grin for the camera.

After the beach, we went to the Long Beach Aquarium where we saw some amazing sea creatures ranging from seals and sharks to sea horses and crabs that rivaled Chris'. Nara loved the fish. She was enamored with all of the tanks. I don't think I have heard her giggle so much while looking at animals.

Okay, Here it comes Lolo and LoLa

This is for you Lolo and Lola!
To begin...

These pictures were taken at Thanksgiving in the fabulous SoCal with the family. We even managed to get a pretty decent Morgan family shot. What do you think. It's kind of late now, but I have more pictures to post TOMORROW!! Watch for them :)

Trick or Treat

Nara loved "sweeping" up the leaves at Grandma Great's with her broom.

Halloween was so much fun this year. Although we spent it without Chris, who was away on business, it was so great to take Nara around trick or treating. She was such a cute little witch this year in her handmade costume complete with hanging spiders and nylon sleeves. She loved running to the door, handing out candy, and telling the kids "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween". Even when we were Skyping with family, she couldn't resist running to the door calling out, "I get it! I get it!" Here are some pictures of the holiday celebrations between Grandma-Great's, Kim's, a neighborhood parade, and trick or treating.

Happy with Daddy before he flew out.

Love the socks

Running around the yard

"Cheese"

At the Morgan Halloween Party. Everyone smile...ok, just look in the same direction...how about sitting down.....no, oh well. Happy Halloween!

At the Morgan neighborhood costume parade. The kids walk up and down the street trick or treating.

Nara was full of "oo's" and "ahs" when we pulled off the top of the pumpkin. 

She had a ball scraping the insides and telling me how it felt "gwose" and slimy.

Make a face like the pumpkin!

Where did all the seeds go?

All dressed and ready to go trick or treating.