The mundane everyday life

Sickness has hit the Lyttle household again. It's ugly here people... We have had a round of flu, and are now onto some stomach bug that had Teagan up every hour last night emptying out her tummy. I am praying that somehow Chloe will miss out on this round. It never gets easier to see your child sick.

Yesterday was a Baba day for our littlest. When Sean came home from work, Chloe was so happy! She has always had a very strong attachment to me, but it has taken a while for her to give Sean attention if we are both home. She has been making little steps for some time (saying goodbye to me on the days Sean is home with minimal tears). However, yesterday she threw herself into his arms when he got home and wouldn't leave his side for the longest time. She just sank into his arms, her little arms thrown around his neck, squeezing tightly. He would put her down and she would ask to be picked right back up. It was most definitely an answer to prayer to see her choose him over me. Mama needs a break and Baba has been waiting for this for so long!

The kids are so excited for Christmas this year. I cannot believe we are two weeks away! How does this happen? Thankful that my Christmas shopping is finished & the presents are wrapped. Chloe will most definitely be spoiled rotten, her Baba may or may not (hint: he totally is) be wrapped around her little finger. Among other things, she will be receiving a ginormous stuffed panda. Her uncle brought her a panda from the National Zoo over the summer that she latched on to immediately and since then she is all about pandas (and frozen but that's another story). She will either love it, or be terrified (its seriously huge people).

The panda that started it all

Her Christmas panda from Baba

In other Chloe news... She is starting to put words together to make small sentences. Most common usage: "My juice (toy, mama, etc.)!" also "Bye Mom (Baba, Noah, Tita, etc)". She is working hard on conversation skills and although much of her conversation is still undecipherable, we are hearing more and more understandable words all the time. She has perfected the telling you off motions and tones and uses a lot of NO! in those conversations. Luckily, she is just as sweet as she is sassy and will often tell us thank you (with sign language) with no prompting. It's not uncommon to hear her call one of us, wait for our attention, use her sign, and wait for us to tell her she is welcome.

Catching "snow" at Seaworld

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our holiday season has been quite the adventure already. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving I had planned an afternoon out with a friend to celebrate her birthday. Mom and Dad had agreed to keep my kids for the afternoon while we went out to a painting class. Noah had started feeling ill on the Friday but had perked up a little by Sunday. I left the kids with Mom and Dad with a "sorry Noah's sick, but I can't cancel the class, and he can quarantine himself in the game room and take care of himself…" Mom was also feeling under the weather but wasn't telling how bad she felt. I got a text at 3:30 that said "When are you getting home?" from Mom. Thankfully, we were almost back to the house by this time. When I picked up the kids, Mom told me she was having Dad take her to urgent care with severe stomach pain. Not long after, she called to tell me it was appendicitis and she would be having surgery the next day. After the surgery, we found out that her appendix had burst sometime earlier Sunday (or before). Very scary to know that she was living on borrowed time before they removed it. She did well in surgery and felt instantly better (although obviously sore from surgery).

That Tuesday I took Chloe to the Dr as she had started coughing, running a fever, and was lethargic. Chloe tested positive for Type A Flu and had a temp of 104.8! Teagan had also been sick and Ben was starting, so the Dr prescribed meds for all the kids and we went home to keep our germs to ourselves until the whole mess finally left.

Thanksgiving day we were provided with a turkey, sweet potato casserole, and dessert from our church. What a blessing to not have to worry about all the cooking on this day as everyone still felt pretty crummy. Sean and Dad prepared a couple more items and dinner was delicious! Poor Chloe slept through most of the meal.

This past Sunday, we finally had a healthy family and decided to go pick out our Christmas tree. The kids talked to Chloe about how we would pick out our tree, and all the things we would do when we got home. Chloe agreed with everything they said, and you could tell she was feeding off their excitement. When we got to the lot she reached for Baba (Sean) and toured the tree lot, reaching for each tree she passed to feel the branches. Some were labeled "owie" and so we passed on those. The kids decided on a Balsam tree (soft branches were a must), and home we went to decorate. Chloe was right in the middle of the decorating chaos, adding soft items to the lower branches. When it was finished we turned out the lights and Chloe bounced all around the tree in excitement. She is so full of joy! We can't wait for Christmas morning to see her eyes light up.