Our best Christmas yet

When we moved to Tucson we decided it was a great time to have Christmas by ourselves and not go anywhere. What a wonderful idea. This has been our best Christmas yet. Last night we went to my Aunt Cheri and Uncle Mel's house for dinner. I love all their Christmas decorations. It's unbelieveable. And for some reason I forgot to take pictures. When we were leaving Maeley said, "that's my friends house". Maeley and Chase had a great time. Zoe on the other hand was not very happy for whatever reason. When we got home it was time to open new pj's. That is my favorite Christmas tradition. Eventhough Derek and I said we weren't going to get eachother gifts he still got me my pajama's knowing how much I enjoy it. Thanks Derek! We woke the kids up at about 8 this morning and what fun it was to see the kids open their presents. Maeley was so excited about every gift whether it was for her or not. Her favorite gift was what Santa left for her, a new stroller and a Tinker Bell doll. Chase seems to love his John Deere tractor and nerf balls. After the kids opened all the presents and ran off playing, Derek and I started to organize. Today has flown by. In fact we stayed in our pajamas all day.

Chase showing off his beanie

Chase and his dog

Chase and Maeley with their sleeping bags

Zoe showing off a new headband

Derek and Chase helping Zoe with her toy

Zoe and her doll

Chase, Melanie and Maeley

Derek & Chase

Maeley and her dog

Chase and his tractor

Maeley and her stroller and Tinker Bell doll

Chase, Maeley and Melanie before opening presents

Chase- Christmas Eve night

Maeley super excited to open the first present

Chase wondering what he's supposed to do

Chase and Maeley opening their pajamas

Smiley Maeley

Merry Christmas!

Life Soundtrack

My little sister, Kim, did this on her blog. I thought it would be funny to see how it ends up for me and Melanie (since our life movie would be for both of us). Enjoy.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool!

Opening credits: “Another Brick In The Wall” Pink Floyd

Waking Up: “She’s Leaving Home” The Beatles

First Day At School: “The Scientist” Coldplay

Falling In Love: “Wherever I May Roam “ Apocalyptica (Metallica Cover)

Fight Song: “Thriller” Michael Jackson

Breaking Up (In our case we will say me leaving on my mission): “Find Your Way” Authority Zero

Prom: “Sentimental Johnny” Flogging Molly

Life’s OK: “Who Made Who” AC/DC

Mental Breakdown: “Devil’s Haircut” Beck

Driving: “Railroad Blues” Beastie Boys

Flashback: “Pinball Wizard” The Who

Getting Back Together (or coming home from my mission): “Kajakad” Kosmikud (funny it landed on an Estonian song)

Wedding: “You’re Beautiful” James Blunt

Birth of Child: “In Memoriam” Apocalyptica (maybe symbolic of saying good-bye to pre-baby freedom)

Final Battle: “The Move” Beastie Boys (this must be like a street fight/shootout or something)

Death Scene: “Not My Idea” Garbage

Funeral Song: “Gypsy Eyes” Jimi Hendrix

End Credits: “Mr. Brightside” The Killers

Doctor visit turned hospital stay

Poor Zoe wasn't getting any better by the time I went for her check-up yesterday. When her doctor saw her he began prepping me for a night at the hospital. The breathing treatment again wasn't helping and he was afraid we would end up in the ER over the weekend anyways. As I was waiting for the hospital to call back with the room number we would be staying in Zoe was getting worse and worse. It was pretty scary. That was the worst of it luckily. Once at the hospital she calmed down and let the doctors and nurses do their thing without fussing much. She had normal oxygen levels and never needed an oxygen treatment. If she had we would've had to stay another night at least. What did help the most was the way they suctioned out her nose. The bulb you would normally use to get the burgers out of a baby does nothing compared to this. Zoe hasn't really had a running nose but every time they used it tons of snot came out. Seriously it was a ton. She is doing okay. She still wheezes a little and we are giving her the breathing treatment every 4-6 hours. There really isn't anything else that they can do. She's just so young. She doesn't deserve this. My heart breaks to see her this way. It is horrible to watch her when she is struggling to breathe.

The pictures below are all from this morning.

Zoe exhausted

Derek holding Zoe's hand.

I absolutely love this picture!

Even though she's not feeling well when Dad sat by her side this morning she had plenty of smiles for him. This was the best attempt at capturing her smile.

The not so nice hospital crib.

As you can imagine I got no sleep last night. Between the uncomfortable chair/bed and the nurses checking on her nearly everyhour I had no chance.

Sick baby & other events

Well it seems that our whole family is now sick. Maeley caught the cold last week and it has spread to all of us. I took Zoe into the doctor today and found out she has Bronchitis. Everyone but me has a horrible cough but only Zoe has begun wheezing. Poor girl, she's only 7 weeks. We have never had one of our newborns get this sick before. I will be taking her back for a check-up tomorrow because her doctor doesn't want to wait over the weekend and risk her getting worse. They gave her a breathing treatment but unfortunately it didn't help. I am praying we are all better before Christmas and especially before our Disneyland trip.

A little update on how the kids are doing, besides being sick.

Maeley loves the Narnia, Prince Caspian movie. She even quotes a line in the movie. "Yes, I am a mouse." That is when the Narnians are trying to take over the Talmarines castle. She also loves the song at the very end of the movie. It's "The Call" by Regina Specktor. She sings along with it. It's so adorable to watch her.

Chase has so much energy even with being sick. He enjoys running in circles around the kitchen and even spinning in circles until he falls down. Lately he has to shut all the doors in the house. I'm not sure why he does it but he hasn't learned how to open them yet. He is also very helpful and takes all the dirty diapers to the trash. Quite often he brings me a new diaper when it's time to change him. I can't wait until he's potty trained.

Zoe is as cute as can be. She weighed 11 lbs at the doctor today. She is definitely bigger than Maeley was at this age. Zoe normally wakes up once at night, sometimes twice. There have been a few nights where she has slept nearly 8 hours straight. For the most part I'm not bothered by getting up to feed her because I'm back in bed within 20 minutes. I really can't complain about her. She is generally a good baby. She is beginning to smile at us and has even laughed a few times, mostly at Derek.

Plugless Chase & cute Zoe

It has been one week since Chase has used his pacifier (we call it the plug). We had been giving it to him for his nap and bedtime only but this past weekend when we went to Gilbert we lost the only one we brought with us. There has been a couple times that he's wanted it but overall has done a great job without. He is very aware that Zoe has one but has not attempted to put it in his mouth. We purposely chose a different plug than what he used. When this plug drops to the floor it bounces and rolls and is very easily lost because of that. We are so very happy to be done with it.

Chase Christmas morning 2007 -5 1/2 months

Chase is always giving Zoe kisses

Zoe at 6 weeks. She's getting so big.

Thanks Marie for the headband! I love it!

It's so cute that her plug matches her blanket.

Family Christmas Party

This past Saturday was the Crandall family Christmas party. The day was spent with a yummy breakfast at my parents then family pictures. It was pretty cold while we were taking pictures. I'll post those pictures when I get them. Hopefully there is one where Maeley isn't hiding her face or looking in the other direction. She wanted nothing to do with pictures and just wanted to play. After that it was pretty much a free for all. The older kids liked playing the Super Nintendo while the younger kids played outside. The girls later baked some holiday goodies. We had a great time. The pictures below are in on particular order.

Carl, Jacob, and Tyler

Taylor, Hunter and Tyler

Maeley, Boston, and Mayla

Mayla

Chase

Chase, Derek and Kyla

Taylor, Marie, Hunter, Boston, Kourtney, Maeley, Mayla, and Kyla

Devan & Kourtney

I just love the look Kourtney is giving Devan.

Kourtney, Devan, Maeley, Chase, and Hunter

Maeley

"I can talk!"

This is a conversation that went on as we sat down for dinner tonight.

Derek: "Maeley do you want to say prayer?"
Maeley: "No, Chase needs to say prayer."
Derek: "Chase can't talk so he can't say the prayer."
Chase: "I can talk!" with extra emphasis on the word can

Derek and I both look at each other and laugh. It was so cute and he said it at the perfect time. Chase doesn't talk much as he's not quite 17 months yet but he is picking up more and more words and always gets his point across. We love our little buddy Chase.