Happy New Years

Happy New Years! This time last year waes very different to this time this year. Last year on New Years I was sitting on the couch at my parent's house with my Dad and we watched the ball drop on TV. Benji was sick and Wyatt was rushed to the PICU at Hopkins for aspirating and he experienced a "life threatening" event, we were told by the surgeons. What a difference a year makes and we are so thankful for both of our kids. Today Benji and Chloe went on a date to lunch and a movie and I got to have a girls lunch with my friends Whitney and Stacy (college friends). Wyatt was in the best mood today and loved socializing with everybody. He also enjoyed his new ice cream truck (in the picture above).

On a side note, my cousin Tim and Uncle Tom own a weatherization business (where my sister works part time) and there was an article about them in the New York Times today. Tim said he received about 1/2 dozen calls from people around the country today since it was also published in local papers. Exciting accomplishment!! Congrats! Read article here.

Family Party

Family Christmas Party

My mom has four other siblings and this year all the families, plus good friends got together at my parent's house. This year, everyone attended... all my cousins and their kids. Kids were everywhere, running around, playing hide and go seek. It was so fun!! Chloe had a great time playing with her cousins and Wyatt was in the best mood. My BFF's from high school even came... thanks Nicole and Teaette! My neighbor, Ligia even came with her daughter Amanda! We are so lucky to have a wonderful group of friends and family!!!

Breakfast with good friends

College Friend Breakfast

I attended Lynchburg College for six years, four for undergrad, and two for my Masters. It was the best experience and I enjoyed attending a small liberal arts college. My friends, who are also majored in education and worked in residence life get together every year for Christmas. This year we had breakfast at my house and tomorrow we are having a girls lunch. I cherish our friendships and feel so lucky that Laura, Stacy, Whitney, and Carron still keep in touch. Our old Nanny even joined us this year! Thanks for a great time friends! The kids in the slide show are Laura and Eric's adorable kids- Ethan and Jack.

CDH Baby News!

Good News! Our family would like to congratulate the following CDH families who are currently expecting a new baby!!! Congrats to Vicki (Jack's mom), their baby is due this summer, Skyla's family, Kaden's family, and Andrew's family! Wow!!!! we are so happy for them and wish them the best!

New CDH family blogs- Baby Virginia- Her parents just decided to deliver in San Fransicso (UCSF), well known for CDH babies. Follow her journey as it's just beginning. She is in our prayers. Baby Alina is doing great! She is from the UK and had the experimental fetal surgery- balloon procedure, or Fetoscopic Treatment for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (FETO)in which the trachea is blocked to stimulate lung growth. We looked into this procedure for Wyatt but it was not recommended. It sounds like for Alina it was a great decision because she was just born and no ECMO was needed!!! Go Alina!!!

Nanny's blog is back!!!

Good News, Chloe's ex-nanny, Lori (Nanny) blog is back and it's better than ever!!! Lori and her man are living in Portland and having a great time! Keep track of her adventures by checking out her blog.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

This Christmas was truly memorable and I got my Christmas wish... home with my two kids together. If you recall from last year, my Christmas wish was for all of us to be together- photos. This year we stayed local and went to my parent's house for Christmas Eve dinner with my grandmother, parents, sister, her husband, my aunt/uncle. We also had a special guest from Japan who is staying with my sister and her husbad- Hiro. Christmas morning was spent at our house with just Benji, Wyatt, and Chloe, and later we went to my parent's house. Then I went to my parent's house again for the next two nights helping to prepare for the BIG family party that my parents host almost every year. So I now finally have an evening of time and quietness:)) This year, my sister got a surprise trip to Paris from her husband (she is a newlywed) (she left today), my parents both got new computers, and I got mud room accessories! (hooks, shoe rack, shelf, etc...) Wyatt and Chloe were so excited for Santa to come, especially Chloe. She left cookies and carrots our for Santa and his reindeer. This year, Chloe is older and gets so excited about Santa coming and knows the true meaning of Christmas... it made it so much more exciting. What is also exciting is that we stayed away from the hospital!! This was my best Christmas ever! My two kids and husband celebrating all together.

Christmas 2008

It's a holiday and what does that mean?

Chloe woke up saying her eye hurts and it's pink, puffy, crusty, gross.... she even asked to go to the doctor!!! So on this Chirstmas Eve, instead of baking cookies, Benji is taking Chloe to the doctor. The doctor is about 45 minutes away so they will be away for a chunk of time:(( Say your prayers that Wyatt does not get this!!! Otherwise, Wyatt and I are happy at home:) A typical holiday in the Koger household:))

update- Thank you Laura for the advice! I am going to follow it! Benji and Chloe came home with news of not only pink eye, but also an ear infection!! Chloe is in the best mood and for the first time ever, did not cry at all at the doctor's office!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.






In other CDH News... I have been following baby Oliva who is a twin and was born with CDH. Her parents are super heroes living in FL temporally to get the best care for their newborn daughter Oliva and her twin Mason. I can't imagine caring for a new born PLUS having another new born in the hospital on ECMO. She is being cared for at Shands by the world renowned CDH doctor Kays. Check out her blog, she just had surgery yesterday. Baby Carter is continuing to do awesome. Check out his blog and a reminder how important it is of CDH awareness.

Typical Saturday Morning

If you recall from last weekend, Wyatt decided to flip over Chloe's plate of breakfast. Well this morning, I hear Chloe say, "Mommy, I'm mad!" so I said why and then I looked under the table and spotted this- Wyatt KICKING Chloe!!! I think I am going to have my hands full when he starts walking/running!!






Then after breakfast a few minutes later, I spotted this and they stayed that way for a long time. Sibling love:)

Neurosurgery Appointment

Dr. Ben Carson with Wyatt and Dr. Carson's side kick physician's assistant, Judy (she is awesome too)... but Wyatt is not too happy... let's just pretend he is laughing in this photo.

We waited almost two hours for our appointment, so here is Wyatt's nurse entertaining him in the Dr. office.

This is my favorite picture. Here you can see the cat scan of his brain done in September 08 during his last repair surgery (left side) and the same picture done in April 08 on the right side. Looking at the picture you can see four ventricles. The most recent scan in Sept. (left side) shows the ventricles almost normal size and the April scan (right scan) the ventricles are much larger.

Just for fun, Dr. Carson showed us the Cat Scan of his chest when he reherniated in Sept. during labor day. Here you can see Wyatt's ribs, scapula, and heart. Pretty cool!!

Here is a picture of his lungs. His right lung is clearly larger. His left lung is smaller because of CDH, but also because left lungs are always a little smaller because the heart is slightly on that side. Wyatt's lungs will grow until about age 5. It's amazing to think that before his orginal repair surgery, his heart was pressed all the way on the right side of his body and then after surgery, it natural moves back to the correct position on it's own. I love the human body!!

After Wyatt's repair surgery when he was about 15 days old, Wyatt suffered a brain bleed in his ventricles which leaked into his right temporal lobe due to heperin and the trauma of surgery. These bleeds are graded from a scale from 1-4 (1 being the least damage). It was devastating to find the news out after a successful surgery but we were relieved to find out it was a grade 1. Doctors advised that nothing be done, and we just sit and watch Wyatt. His head was measured everyday to check for hydrocephalus and to feel his soft spot to make sure it's still soft. Wyatt was then moved to the NICU and then to the 6th floor and with all the moves and new doctors, his head status was put on the back burner. At one point, the doctor said, this is the least of my worries and you can get it checked out after he is home. Well... a brain bleed is the MOST of my worries and I would rather prevent any damage from occurring before it actually happens. You can't play around with a head bleed. So I pressed on for Neurology to follow him while he was in the hospital as well as general pediatric surgery for his CDH. I felt very nervous about sitting and watching him. After a cat scan and head exams, his IVH grade 1 escalated to an IVH grade 4 (the worst). I remember thinking, "will we ever get a break!" I did tons of research on the Internet which made it sound very scary. Wyatt was still heavily sedated at this time in the NICU so I was not sure of the outcome. Dr. Ben Carson who is the neurosurgeon following Wyatt since he was in the NICU suggested it was time for a VP shunt since he was showing signs of hydrocephalus. If you look at the Dec. 07 pics, his head does look bigger and he was showing signs of it like rolling his eyes back. Initially, the shunt was going to be drained to his chest because Wyatt did not receive his g-tube yet and draining in the abdomen after g-tube surgery could cause infection. Draining to the heart and lungs was not on the top of my list. Wyatt already has a lot of fluid in his chest and I did not want an added source. Plus if he would reherniate (which he did three times) it could be a source of infection. So after Dr. Carson consulted with General Pediatric Surgery, he decided to drain it on the right side of his abdomen away from the g-tube. I was happy:)) Shunts get infected very easily. Wyatt's shunt was coated with antibiotics to last three months to help prevent infection. The shunt can be adjusted by placing a special magnet on his head. So far, his shunt has not given us any trouble and is working properly. It drains at a speed of 1.5 (whatever that means- it's actually a medium flow).

Today, Dr. Carson brought us good news. He is such a wonderful doctor, who sat down with us and took his time showing us all the pictures of Wyatt's x-rays and explaining it to us in detail. He said that Wyatt's ventricles are almost normal size! At the current size, he would not place a shunt in. So I asked if it would ever get removed and he advised against it. It's doing it's job of draining spinal fluid and removing it 20 years from now would mean brain surgery which would be risky and plus he said the shunt would probably be "grown" into brain tissue and he would have to pick it out. So it looks like Wyatt will have a shunt for the rest of his life. I remember when Wyatt was sedated and not knowing how he would interact, I asked Dr. Carson what would happen to Wyatt. He told me to pray and that God is Good and you know what... God is Good. Dr. Carson will be protrayed in a TNT Movie played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in his book Gifted Hands.

side story- On Thurs. while Infants and Toddler were here, Wyatt did something he never did before. While in his Jumperoo, he "zoned out" and his heart rate dropped to 50 according to the pulse ox. The therapists said it was sensory overload. Today Dr. Carson said that it's not sensory overload, that Wyatt was probably tired, and that the pulse ox was not picking up accurately. It was nap time and if it happens again to let him know.

New Milestones

Biting my cracker

Eating Mommy's grilled cheese sandwich

Yeah I did it!!

Chloe and Wyatt together

Princess Chloe! (Thanks Lily and Molly:))

On Thursday, we had a meeting with the Infants and Toddler's program to review Wyatt's speech report. Two weeks ago an assessment was done on Wyatt's expressive and receptive speech to get a ball park range of where is at developmentally. If you remember a few posts a while back, during our review meeting the speech and OT therapist both said Wyatt is on target for speech. Even though I should not compare Wyatt to Chloe, at 14 months, I know Wyatt is much more capable of saying what he is saying now. Basically, inconsistently he will say mama and a few sounds like ba, gub, and he will babble. I asked Dr. LG, a speech pathologist at Hopkins her opinion and she says Wyatt is not on target regarding speech. So the report from Infant and Toddlers came back saying not only is he solid to 14 months (which means he is on target) BUT he is scattered to 17 months (which means he does 17 month things). As much as I would love to believe that my little boy is ADVANCED in speech, the report is a total joke. Wyatt already gets two days a week therapy so I am happy with that. I know Wyatt will catch up speech-wise. The assessments with fancy names that the therapists did were basically questions that they asked me in which most of my answers were sometimes he does. So in the end, I firmly believe the mother knows best. I just had to vent a little:))

Great News! Wyatt is learning new things everyday. Today he learned to blow kisses. Our lovely nurse Susan taught him to blow kisses in one day. He is clapping all the time now, and BITING a cracker!! This is huge because a few months ago, he would bring a cracker to his mouth, then he began to lick it, and now he bites it and pretends to chew it eventhough most of it lands on his bib. I am so proud of him for trying so hard. Of course we make a huge deal and he does it over and over again because he is so proud of himself. We are really working hard with getting him to enjoy eating.

The Koger's Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas everyone! This year I will be sending out Christmas postcards rather than traditional cards. It will save on postage, stamps, and paper. On the postcard, I said that our Christmas letter will be on the blog. I made a fancy newsletter on Word and now have no idea how to put it on my blog. So here is the Christmas letter. Enjoy!

The past two years have been adventurous for us! On Father’s Day 2006 we moved into our new home and I was 7 months pregnant with Chloe. I highly recommend moving while you are pregnant because you don’t have to lift anything heavy!! On August 15, 2006 our daughter Chloe was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Baltimore and on October 9, 2007 our son Wyatt was born at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Yes… they are Irish Twins, only 14 months apart. Both kids are miracles, but Wyatt fought for his life born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. I remembered when we found out during our 18 week sonogram. We came home and researched and learned everything we could about the condition. Wyatt’s health dominated our lives for most of last year. Chloe was just as strong and enjoyed spending extra time with my parents on the weekends and spending time with just one parent while the other was with Wyatt in the hospital. Chloe proved that kids are bouncy balls! Benji and I were like two passing ships as we handed Chloe off to each other. It was a good test of our relationship and family and I am happy and proud to say that we passed the test!!! We still have many challenges ahead of us but being home all together as a family is such a blessing. We cherish our dinner time together, playtime together, and even cranky time together. Being apart for five months makes you appreciate ALL the time that you spend together as a family. Because of Wyatt we learned so much about all the blessings we have such as a supportive family, great friends, and our wonderful neighbors who offered to cook, clean, and cut our grass. In May on Mother’s Day Weekend, our good friends Joe and Maria hosted a benefit concert in honor of Wyatt. They worked so hard on the benefit and it was a really special time in our lives. Friends and family from all walks of life showed their support, even complete strangers. Over the past year, I learned so much about the medical field, much more than I would ever want to know. Wyatt’s blog has taken a life on it’s own. Before Wyatt’s birth, I knew nothing about blogging. I have to say, creating Wyatt’s blog, with the help of my sister and maintaining it has influenced my life greatly. It’s is therapy for me and it’s a way to network with parents going through the same thing. I have learned many new things through Wyatt’s blog and with 38,000 hits since last Christmas I am in awe of all the support and followers of our family. Wyatt is doing great. His personality is showing everyday. He is a very patient person, sensitive, and seems to be wiser than his age. He sits up and is working on crawling, standing, and eventually walking. He dislikes eating, but will lick a cracker and other tasty treats. He is making progress and works very hard to impress us. He loves to play pee a boo, grab my nose, mouth, and eyes, and loves to bug his sister.

Chloe celebrated her second birthday with an Elmo theme and she is amazes us everyday. She knows her alphabet, numbers up to 20ish, and can even recognize some letters. She loves to listen to us read her books and pretends to read herself. She doesn’t like to be messy and likes to “organize” things by lining them up. Her favorite color is orange. (She insists on having an orange vitamin everyday) and her favorite TV shows are the Wiggles and Sesame Street (because that’s all we show her). She is enjoys putting on Mommy’s make up and makes a point to tell me what she wants to wear everyday. She loves to ride on her Daddy's shoulders through out the house too! Chloe also enjoyed her first plane ride and vacation to Mexico for my sister's wedding. She is definitely a girly-girl and a complete joy.

Abby, our dog is learning that she is not the only child anymore. She still barks at every little thing, but she is getting better about being around Chloe and Wyatt, especially since they drop tasty treats on the floor. With the exception of biting the oxygen delivery guy, she has been on her good behavior.

Sputnik our cat, passed away this year. He was such a lovable cat and acted like a dog most of the time. It was hard to put him to sleep because he was only six years old. However, he developed crystals in his urine and after an emergency visit to the Animal ER on a Sunday night and a doctor’s appointment the next day, we could not save him. Benji was out of town and I was home with Wyatt and Chloe on a Sunday when all this happened. Sputnik will always be remembered and will always be part of our family.

My sister got married this Fall and moved into a basement apartment at my grandmother’s house. It’s great to have her around since she has been away for the past five years living in Japan.

I am enjoying spending time with Chloe and Wyatt. Chloe enrolled in Tumble Kicks this season which is basically a class where two year olds run around and have fun. Sometimes Chloe likes it and sometimes she throws herself down on the floor in a dramatic way and does not like it. We also enjoy going to story time at the library and out to lunch together. I am also really enjoying my job this year as a mentor teacher for middle school and helping with elementary science. With time with both kids and working, I feel like I finally have balance in my life.

Benji is also enjoying his job. He had an opportunity to attend two computer trainings (one in Las Vegas) this year and he works with a wonderful group of people. So after not really celebrating Christmas last year, I finally feel like we are settled into our house and with both kids at home can enjoy the holiday. I think I am in the Christmas spirit more than anyone else in my household! From the Koger Family, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Benjamin, Gina, Chloe, Wyatt, Abby, and Angel Sputnik

A Spooky Rehearsal Dinner

My rehearsal dinner was on Halloween this year. This photo and video is courtesy of ellafoto.com

Three shots today:((

Wyatt had his RSV shot, it takes two shots because of his weight and his second flu booster today. He was great and tolerated it so well. He was in a great mood during the visit and only cried for his shots. The verdict is in... it looks like Wyatt and Chloe both have just a plain old common cold! Dr. G, his peditrician advised against antibiotics or any cold medicine and recommended that it just run it's course. Wyatt and Chloe both had their ears checked and their were no infections. I must say that Wyatt is a better patient than Chloe! Big news for Chloe tonight... when I was changing her into her pj's tonight upstairs she said, "Mommy, I want to pee pee in the potty." So we ran down stairs and she did it!! It was the biggest pee pee I ever seen and she was so proud of herself. So we will see how often it will occur. I am not pushing it and will let her do it whenever she like.

ECMO Christmas Party

Wyatt (Mr. Cranky Pants) with Jack, James, Vicki, Dr. Berkowitz, and us.


The Boys- Jack, his Dad, James, Wyatt and Benji



When Wyatt was one day old, he was placed on ECMO for 13 days. It's a machine to allow your organs to rest and does the work of the heart and lungs for the child. It's life support for the baby and it's very risky. However, taking this risk saved Wyatt's life. The cannulas are placed in one of the carotid arteries in the neck and after they are removed, the artery is closed for life. It was our pleasure to attend the ECMO Survival Christmas Party last Thursday to say thank you to the people that helped save Wyatt's life. Dr. Berkowitz, the doctor that placed Wyatt on ECMO at 2am on October 10, 2007 and was the doctor who woke me up at 4am in my hospital room to let me know that he was on ECMO was there. Respiratory therapists and other PICU doctors were there too. Driving in the rain during rush hour, walking three blocks in the rain with two kids, and being there during bedtime was no fun... but the party was a blast and I am glad we decided to go. Wyatt was extra cranky, so he wasn't showing his true colors, but being at the party for us was a huge accomplishment in itself. Chloe enjoyed a visit from Santa and they even handed out gifts! We even won the door prize too!!! and I never win anything:)) We enjoyed seeing Wyatt's friend Jack and the rest of the Jensen family. There were so many kids that are now older that were on ECMO as babies running around and enjoying the party. It put smiles on our faces to see this. Dr. Berkowitz gave a little speech saying that about 35 kids a year are placed on ECMO at Johns Hopkins and about 400 total in the past 20 years. Hopkins is the only ECMO center in the state of Maryland. The PICU grew from supporting one child on ECMO to four. After reading Jack's blog, I did not realize that about 50 percent of all ECMO children at Hopkins survive. Tears fill my eyes when I read this. Read Jack's blog for more about the party. Thank you again for the super care at Hopkins. It's such a huge place with personalized care.

Wyatt update- Wyatt is doing much better... he faked us out and started to feel better so that he could go to the party. Basically he has a really stuffy nose and as long as we suction him, which he hates, he is fine. On Monday, he gets his RSV shot and I'll have his doctor check him out. We also have to keep him very hydrated.

Laura strikes again!

My good friend Laura is the best. There was a package by the door the other day from my friend Laura. Like I said previously, my kids love books because of her. The newest book from Laura, Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett is a must have for the winter time. It's a cute story very smiliar to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She also gave us an adorable personalized frame. More pics to come! Thank you good friend:)

Chloe says, "Mom, Wyatt is trying to take my breakfast!"

Wyatt enjoys to live up to his brotherly duties by dumping over Chloe's breakfast. He doesn't like food, but he sure does like to tease his sister:))

Playtime!

Wyatt and Chloe love playing together! Especially jumping in the jumperoo and the zebra. We play the wiggles music really loud and have a dance party in the family room. Fun fun!!

Wyatt not feeling well:((

Our little guy keeps us on our toes. Today he was not feeling well and had symptoms like the time he was hospitalized over Thanksgiving. However, he did not have a high heart rate or o2 destats. He slept most of the day, which is very unlike him and cried out in his sleep. We switched him over to pedilyte to prevent dehydration like last time, gave him Motrin and Tyenol, suctioned him, and gave him his breathing treatments and gave him lots of snuggling. I am hoping he will sleep soundly throughout the night and be back to his old self tomorrow. I guess we will be struggling with this most of the winter. We are trying to keep him away from most public places, for example, I did not take him to story time or church this week... but he can't live in a bubble either so I am trying to pick and choose the places we go with him. Tomorrow is the big ECMO Christmas Party at Hopkins, but since Wyatt was not feeling well today, I not too sure it's a good to take him. We will see. Say a little pray for him, because I know he does not feel well.

Chloe was so cute today. My mom gave her a Christmas present today- a manger. She plays with it non stop, names Mary, Joesph, and Baby Jesus... however the Shepard's were missing. So off we went to the grocery store to "look for shepherds." I really had to pick up Wyatt medicine, but Chloe was looking for shepherds. She found little nutcracker men and said, "Look Mommy, there are shepherds!" So I spent the $5.99 to buy nutcracker men and now they are living in our manger as shepherds. Before bed we read the Christmas story and she amazed me by reciting "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth Peace, good will toward men." It is amazing was humans can learn in just two years.

Besides reading CDH blogs, and my friends blog, I also read John Mayer's blog. It's so cool because it's not an advertisement for his work. He blogs just like any person would and he seems to be down to Earth. He is having a baking contest... so enter and you could win!

Thankful Tuesday

Things I am thankful for-

~ Wyatt learning to clap last night and having a very proud smile because of it. (now he won't stop clapping)
~ Chloe and Daddy going to evening story time and having Chloe tell me all about it in excitement!
~ Being in the Christmas spirit extra early all because of the excitement of two kids.

Look at Me! I am standing!!

Wyatt said, "Mom, this isn't very that exciting, I don't know why you are jumping up and down. It's no big deal."



We get so many questions asking about what Wyatt can do, what will he be able to do in the future, and where is he in his development. These are all good questions and I am happy to answer. One day, Wyatt will be able to do everything and maybe even be the first person to walk on Mars. He is a smart little guy and understands everything that you say. Sometimes, by the way he listens to you, I think he is older than his age. He is an observer, thinker, and soaks everything in. Cognitively, even with his IVH Grade 4 brain bleed he functions as a 14 month old. Physically and speech-wise he is a little behind since he was in the hospital for five months with many hurdles to overcome. Wyatt is sitting up confidently, but not crawling, walking, or standing on his own. He dislikes tummy time and screams every second. So we find other ways to strengthen his upper body by using the Big Blue Ball... we sit him on top of the ball and slowly slide him down to a standing position while Elmo is on TV. Susan, our nurse works with him very often doing this. The idea is to allow weight to bear on his feet. We also use the ball for tummy time too. Wyatt is also starting to like the Jumperoo which allows him to bear weight on his feet too. Wyatt wants to be mobile around the house and he is making progress ... just very slowly. He is at a point now, where he feels comfortable in different positions to allow us to move forward in his therapy. Wyatt is cleared to eat small amounts of food. A swallow study has not been done (only when he was 5 weeks old) since he does not know who to swallow yet. Even though he is cleared to eat some baby food, it's like World War III. He gags, spits up, etc... So instead of forcing anything on him, we feed me for enjoyment. He enjoys licking a cracker on his own, chocolate pudding on his lips, and some food in really really tiny amounts. We try oral stimulation/food every day. Wyatt can say a few things speech wise and his voice is about loud as a 14 month old even with the paralyzed vocal cord. He can say Ma Ma, Hot, Gru, Ba, Gub. When I ask him where Mommy's nose, eyes, mouth, and ears, he grabs them. We read to him daily and he turns the pages in the book by himself the right way. He is starting to stack blocks, and loves to play the drums and other banging musical instruments. He puts things in containers and takes them out. So that is where he is development wise. We need to work on upper body strength, eating, and speech. I could not be happier with him and am extremely proud of how hard Wyatt tries each day... always with a positive attitude and always with 100 percent effort.

Benji's Office Party

Talking with my Daddy

Since I missed Christmas last year with being in the hospital everyday and Chloe at my parent's house, I am trying to cram every single Christmas activity in and I think I am enjoying it even more than Chloe who is now at an age in which she understands everything. Since this is her first year of really knowing about Christmas, we read the Christmas Story every night about the birth of Jesus. She requests it and fills in the blanks by saying Bethlehem, Shepard's, angels, manager, etc... When I ask her what Christmas is, she says Jesus' Birthday. I hope she stays like that! But she also knows that Santa is going to bring presents too! I just hope she keeps the REAL Christmas story in mind:)) On Friday after work, we took the kids to see Frosty the Snowman playing at a local theater on Main Street. I love our town, the local theater plays classic Christmas movies during the season for free. There is so much free stuff to take advantage of and we live only minutes away. After seeing Frosty, we had a late night of partying (until 10 pm) at Benji's office Christmas Party. Benji has been working at the same place since graduating from Lynchburg College and loves what he does and he works with a wonderful group of people. They were so understanding while Wyatt was in the hospital. He is fortunate to only work about 1 mile away from our house as a computer programmer. I think we are the only family with young kids at his work and we decided to bring them to the party. They were both perfectly behaved and we brought some toys for them to play with. Chloe was very social and enjoyed all the yummy treats. Wyatt enjoyed talking to everyone, but fell asleep around 8:30pm.

Breakfast with Santa

This morning we decided to go to a local restaurant on Main Street for Breakfast with Santa. It was not crowded and we got the seat closest to Santa. It's the first time besides the parade that both kids saw Santa (Besides the Santa outside of the restaurant at the donut shop... but that was just Santa's helper). Chloe would not sit on his lap but she was very excited. They were also excited about receiving their Mermaid Balloon Animal. It was fun!