Charlotte's Web: dear santa

Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is a plastic bubble to put my children in so they can stay germ free.

Christmas came and went faster than expected this year. While enjoyable, it did not live up to the hype in dad's head. Intentions were good, follow through was difficult. We started with a visit to Church on Christmas Eve. Knowing fair well the kids would never make midnight service, we decided on the family friendly 7pm service. Here is a minute by minute breakdown of the service:
7:00pm Service Starts
7:10pm Maeve had pooped in her diaper, and naturally we forgoot to bring a change for her.
7:15pm the smell perpetuated through the church.
7:20pm Charlotte began squirming in her seat.
7:22pm Charlotte leaves the pew and runs around misbehaving like a typical 3 year old.
7:25pm Charlotte has to leave service due to crying and screaming.
7:30pm Maeve starts crying and screaming.
7:35pm Dad leaves service with stinky Maeve.
7:45pm Mom, Dad, Charlotte, and Maeve are at home.

So that was our experience with church service on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately it didnt get too much better from there. At 2am Charlotte awoke screaming and coughing. Coughing so hard that her stomach got upset and then began to vomit. We checked her temperature and it was 103.5. Great.

Christmas morning Charlotte woke up with a fever, and frankly, a little out of it. Dad expected her to wake up clapping and anxious to run downstairs to see what Santa left her. Unfortunately it took a little poking and prodding. However once she saw all of the gifts Santa left under the tree it took no effort to get her to rip open the remaining presents.

Then it was time to pack up, shower and head to Vermont to spend a few days visiting the extended family.

Then the power went out. Mid shower for Shelby with soap in her hair. Luckily it was only a few hours later the power returned and we headed out.

At Nanny and Grampa's house Charlotte progressivly got worse. Now really feeling miserable she didn't want to play or even be around anyone. All she wanted to do was go upstairs and lay in the crib watching television. However, she was able to muster up enough energy to make it downstairs the day after Christmas to see what Santa brought her yet again.

Maeve on the other hand had a blast playing on the floor, watching the boys play, and just taking everything in. She got so close to crawling, but still hasn't been able to figure it out.

After two more days of Charlotte having a 103 -104 fever and just acting miserable, we called her doctor and they suggested we take her to the local emergency room. Which we did. We were seen virtually immediately, a chest xray was done and a strep test. Soon after we were released to go home on the guise Charlotte just had a bad virus. Then came Saturday morning. Charlotte usually wakes up at 6am. It was now 7am and she was still sleeping. Then 8am. then 9am, then 10am, then 11am. She would wake up here and there, but dad was getting frantic with how she was acting. He began packign the car to leave Vermont and head home to see her own doctor. Unfortunately Maeve had her Christening scheduled for Sunday morning. I guess it would just have to wait.

Then he woke Charlotte up at noon. She meandered downstairs and started perking up. As the day went on she seemed better and better. He called off the emergency departure from Vermont and decided to move foward with Maev's Christening.

Sunday morning we hit the church. Mave looked as cute as could be in her white Christening gown that Grammy got for her (Thank You). She did great until Father Rene dumped the water in her eye (and her head). Of course she cried. (I would too). It was now official, she was blessed. And we headed home.

Monday we took the girls to their Doctor. Maeve started getting sick. Coughing and hacking like an old lady, not a 7 month old. Charlotte looked better but we figured we would get them checked out. Diagnoses. Maeve fine. Charlotte ear infections and pnuemonia. Fun Fun.

Needless to say tomorrow is New Years Eve. We will be celebrating at home. The girls are banned from being around all public places until they heal. Santa, please send a plastic bubble.

Maeve and dad opening gifts