Our second season of celebrating Christmas with Lily started on the 19th with her classroom party at daycare. Lily was in charge of bringing juice boxes and a book to exchange with a friend. I anticipated several other moms showing up to her party - I'm usually the last mom to show up to these events because I'm always running late - so I was quite proud of myself that I arrived on time AND got a parking spot. I wasn't running across Cascade Road or parking at the bank or yoga studio down the street. Not this time. I arrived promptly in time to help pass out the snacks and put straws in all of the juice boxes. Only one other parent showed up on time and he was not of the English speaking language so we didn't have much to chat about. But Lily loved having me sit with her at her table and she didn't need any help from me opening her presents or throwing away her wrapping paper.
After Lily's festivities, Mike and I got glammed up island style for the BDO Hawaiian Luau. While I took a number of photos that evening, I felt this was the only one blog worthy of posting. The after party consisted of more drinks and hot dogs at a place Mike and I haven't been since college. We stumbled into bed shortly after 1:00am which is a rare occurrence for these parent - even our baby sitter was fast asleep.
With all good intentions, we planned to leave the next morning for Chicago bright and early. An ice storm was moving through Grand Rapids and we wanted to get out of town before it settled in. We might have partied a little too hard and our start wasn't quite as early as we'd have liked. But we loaded up the Passat with gifts and goodies and made it out of Grand Rapids while it was still raining. And yes, Lily started opening that present before we even hit the highway.
After a much needed stop for food, we made it to Mike's brother's to celebrate Christmas with his family. We had everyone under the same roof for the first time in a long time and the girls had so much fun together. They spent endless hours in the bounce house, singing with the new microphone and playing with all of their new toys. And of course my daughter couldn't sit still for a family picture because she wanted to open presents.
We left Chicago and had a sleeping beauty not even 5 minutes after we left the driveway. When we got back to Michigan, we entered a winter wonderland and were thankful we had power at home as well as at my parents. Thousands of people near us spent Christmas without power. My mom and I had some last minute shopping to do so we braved the mall the day before Christmas Eve. Lily discovered a stuffed dog the size of her real one at Sears and treated it just the same - petting not so gently and giving hugs.
Christmas Eve Lily woke up with a fever, a cough, a runny nose, and a new tooth poking through. I blamed the tooth on everything else and we went about the days festivities. We celebrated with my dad's side of the family and I'm sad to say I didn't take a single picture. Mostly because Lily felt so horrible and was a clingy tired mess. Christmas Day was no better. While Santa brought her many fabulous presents, she wasn't as into them as she should have been. She was cranky all day and I even had a meltdown.
The day after Christmas we took her to see the doctor and she was diagnosed with Bronchialitis - aka Bronchitis for babies. Does this sound familiar? Because she had the same thing LAST Christmas. I'm praying this isn't a tradition we're starting here because both mom and dad are sick and miserable. All the Hoys wish for 2014 is to leave illness behind.
While Lily was home with me the last few days, she took a much deeper interest in Diesel. I attribute most of this to me being sick and telling her to watch Sesame Street on TV and her getting creative. In one instance, she took it upon herself to see if she could ride Diesel. Diesel threw her off so quickly Lily didn't know what hit her. But it didn't stop her from trying again and again. Later she invited Diesel to enjoy afternoon tea with her as well as play dress up. Poor doggie - tea she could handle, hair accessories were a little much.
I think in every recent post I comment on how I can't believe how big Lily is getting. I'll say it again because I look at photos from last Christmas and cannot believe how much she's changed and how much she's learning. She thinks she knows everything - and I'm sure she will until the end of time.
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