This has been one great year...

I am so blessed... and so thankful.

I have had an awesome year.  I'm so thankful that I've been able to stay home with my precious baby.  I cherish our days together. 

We had an AMAZING Christmas this year.... here are some of my favorite pictures from the holiday season.

 

And my favorite of ALL...

I love this precious little face with all of my heart beats... :)

I cannot wait to see what the new year brings... hopefully some changes.  Good changes.

See you next year, Sammy...

So I thought I'd fill you in on Sammy's last few days here in Dora, Alabama.

Thursday of last week, he decided to show Jase just how fun using the potty is!  Jase thought it was hilarious that his pee-pee was GREEN!

 

Then, on Friday morning (his last full day here with us) he thought it'd be cute to scatter Jase's undies around his room.  Again, it was a major hit. :)

 On Christmas Eve, we talked about Sammy... I had to prepare my 2-year-old for Sammy's home going.  I wasn't really sure how he would react when he realized that Sammy wouldn't be hanging out with him anymore.  But he took it surprisingly well.  He's such a big (still little to me) boy.

That night, we sat Sammy beside the milk and cookies so that Santa would be sure and find him.

And sure enough, when we woke up Christmas morning, Sammy was gone.

But he had left a note for Jase.  I think Sammy forgot that Jase has a 2 minute attention span, and his note was a LITTLE lengthy.  But it was still cute. :)

It read:

We can't wait until next Christmas! :)

My toy...

... that I haven't even gotten to play with.

One of the ONLY things I asked for was an IPod Touch.

And I GOT IT!

But, unfortunately, I haven't gotten to play with it much.

It started with my hubby... who played it for about 3 hours the night I got it.

and then THIS!!!

At least he's occupied, right?

From us... to you

Merry Christmas, bloggers!

From the Perkins Family

~Jason, Carolyn and Jase

Here comes Santa Clause...

on a FIRETRUCK!

Each year, Santa makes his way through our neighborhood (along with the Bagley Fire Department).  This past Saturday, I got word that he was on his way!

We waited, and waited, and waited... and then, we heard the sirens!

Here they come, Mommy!!!

So much fun!!!

Thanks, BFD (and Santa).

He's at it again....

Silly Sammy... that's what we say EVERY morning! :)

He's been pretty calm with his mischief, but still cracking Jase up.  He loves it!

Friday:

 

Saturday:

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Not sure what Sammy will be up to tomorrow... but I do know that he'll soon be going back to the North Pole to see Santa.  We'll miss him (I'm actually kind of worried about how Jase will take the news... he's kind of attached).  But hopefully he'll share all the funny stories with Santa and make sure Jase gets LOTS of goodies this Christmas!

Sammy....

I haven't ever really been into the whole Elf on a Shelf thing... but I guess b/c Jase is just now old enough to understand the concept.

However, this year we were sent an Elf by my aunt in Georgia.  She had an extra (since she misplaced him last year and had to buy a new one this year) so she mailed him to us.

We named him Sammy... and he's been up to some trickery ever since he arrived.

Now, Jase is only 2, so I decided Sammy would NOT be making many messes this year.  He might just pop up in unusual places each morning.

The first morning, Friday, we found him hiding in our Christmas tree!

 

Saturday, he had gotten in the fridge and eaten Jase's yogurt... Jase LOVES yogurt, so he thought that was hilarious!  I wish I had gotten his reaction on camera.

 

Sammy took the weekend off, but he was right back at it on Monday morning.

He decided to read Jase's new book... easy peasy, and Jase thought it was too funny!

Tuesday, Sammy decided he would make a mess with Cheerios on the kitchen table... but that idea didn't go over too well.  Later that afternoon, I found Jase "scattering" Cheerios ALL OVER the living room floor.  NO MORE MESSES FOR SAMMY! :)  Jase was sad that "Sammy got him in trouble."

Wednesday, Sammy was perched in Jase's stocking, just hanging out!

 Thursday morning, Sammy was pooped... he'd had a long week so far, so he decided to hop in bed with me after Daddy left for work.  I think this one got the best reaction from Jase... he laughed his little head off! :)

We are so glad Sammy found his home here in Dora, AL.  We are enjoying his sillyness! :)

We'll keep you updated on his tricks to come... I love documenting these things. :)

One thing I love...

... about our house is the large kitchen.

If our house EVER SELLS, one thing I won't be able to skimp on in a new house is the kitchen.

I have thoroughly enjoyed having room to move around...

and play soccer. :)

 

Baby....

It's COLD outside.

We've hit a cold snap here in Bama... major cold snap.

Maybe we'll get some flurries out of it... I doubt it, but one can dream.

Make sure you keep those babies bundled up!

You wanna play what???

Since this past Summer, my husband and I have gotten into games... card games, that is.  While on vacation, we got hooked on Uno.  He also taught me to play Rummy (or however you spell it).

This past Sunday night, we played both.  I lost both.

I was frustrated.  So I suggested we play Scrabble.  I asked for a Scrabble game for Christmas a few years ago, and we've only used it twice since then... we aren't quite as big Scrabble fanatics as I thought we'd be.

But we pulled it out and started playing...

After the first few turns, I could tell I had made a MAJOR mistake bringing it to the table.  But my hubby refused to quit.  We did have dictionaries handy, but that didn't seem to help us make any words larger than CAT and OAR. :)

Well, I take that back, we had a few good ones... 

That's the LAST TIME I will ask to play that game.. it was pure torture.  But at least I got to spend some quality time with my best friend. :)

Not so fun...

That was how our last weekend went (besides the Christmas program, which went well).  Jase started getting what I thought was a "cold" earlier in the week.  But it progressively got worse, so I ended up taking him to the doctor on Thursday.  He was having wheezing spells and I was worried.  

Now, if you don't know me, I am an asthmatic.  I was diagnosed with asthma when I was Jase's age.  My asthma is not just brought on by colds or allergies... it's pretty much an everyday part of my life.  We always thought I'd grow out of it, but unfortunately that was never the case.

This is the 3rd "wheezing" episode we've had with Jase in the past few months.  None of them have been anything too major, but it's still scary (and has to be taken care of).

I was dreading the doctor appointment - knowing what they were going to tell me.  But I also knew he was sick. 

We saw a different doctor than normal, last minute, and I warned her that he had Mycoplasma (walking pneumonia) a month ago with the exact same symptoms.  However, she felt that this was just asthma related brought on by a cold.  We left the doctor's office with a round of steroids, inhalation solution for the nebulizer, and a cute little puppy dog mask. :)

By Saturday, I thought he'd be much better... but that was not the case.  He was worse, actually.

So back to the doctor we went.  LUCKILY, our doctor was on call that day and was able to see Jase.  He immediately said... "He's got Mycoplasma."  He ran the blood work/chest x-ray and of course, he was right.

The worse news, however, was that he definitely does have asthma.  After 2 wheezing spells after the of the age of 2, they can diagnose it accurately.  

We are hoping and PRAYING it is just an intermittent case - nothing like I have dealt with for 25 years.  I wouldn't wish that on anyone.. especially my baby boy.  We have big dreams for our little guy, and I don't want this to hinder anything he decides to do in life.

He's still getting over his sickness, taking regular breathing treatments everyday... but he's such a trooper.  He never complains, and never fights it.  He knows it has to be done.  Possibly it's because he's seen me do it for so long, he thinks it's just normal.  Whatever the case, I'm very proud of him!

Now then.... I never told anyone (other than our family) that Jase had walking pneumonia... so if anyone's children come down with it after being at church Sunday, I sincerely apologize.  I normally wouldn't take a sick baby to breathe on other babies... but I couldn't let him miss his program either.  :)

Weekend in Review...

As I mentioned in a previous post, this past weekend was Jase's very first Christmas program @ church with the KidForce children's department.  The toddlers started the show off... they marched in, up to the stage, and sang several Christmas tunes.  They were adorable!

I have to admit, I was a little teary-eyed seeing my baby up there, singing like a big boy.

But I know he's gonna be talented... I can just feel it. :)  

And I sure hope so.

That was pretty much the highlight of our weekend... there was a "not so fun" part of it, too... 

But we'll get to that on the next post.

Here's some more pics...

 

 

FINISHED!

I'm completely finished with my Christmas shopping AND it's all wrapped!

I don't think I've ever been finished this early (especially considering I've been done for about 2 weeks).

But I am SO glad... and a tad proud of myself. :)