The Crossler Family

We had a fun Christmas this year! It was probably the most laid back we have had in years. We spent the morning just the four of us. And we opened presents at our house. Noah made these in preschool for Andy and I. Mine is a fleece scarf with snowmen that he made out of his feet. So cute!! And Andy's is very fitting, an apron. It has Noah's handprint at the top of the little stick man to make his face and beard. It's a little hard to see in the picture. What a fun idea!

Noah was very interested in opening presents for the first time. Andy assembled the work bench after the kids were in bed, so Noah would see it when he woke up. When Noah woke up Christmas morning, he stopped at the work bench ran the drill a couple times then he ran in to our room and said, "momma get up." He was very excited! Ava is a baby and didn't understand the presents, but she did like to eat the paper.

After we opened presents at our house we went to my parents house for Christmas morning breakfast...delicious milkless and soyless scrambled eggs and potatoes. Then we had a few more presents to open. Noah got a Thomas the Train movie, so of course we had to watch it. It is the Misty Island Rescue. Not bad as far as Thomas movies go.
I had to work that night so in the afternoon we took naps and I went to work. It was a good day!

We spent a lot of time before Christmas with Crystal and the kids. It was so nice to spend that time with them. Noah has really missed his cousins and I have really missed Crystal. We don't see them as much during the school year since I work every other weekend and they are always tired after a busy week at school. Sophia was convinced that Noah needed to be in the cousin picture. So she held him in as he was trying to escape.

Noah's Preschool had a Christmas Program. The kids from all the classes learned Christmas songs and then sang them for us. The kids were all lined up around the center of the santuary at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church. It was great! They even sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had a cake. So cute! I do apologize for the creepy eyed pictures. The lighting wasn't very good.

Ava is 8 months old. She weighs 15 lbs, and is 26.5 inches long. She is the happiest baby in the world, and always has a smile on her face. Ava is starting to really become interested in food, she still loves her breast milk, but is also starting to enjoy to her oatmeal and puree fruits and vegetables. She will finally open her mouth for food. Since we started introducing solids at 4 months, we have had to force the spoon through her clinched lips. It's a nice change. Ava doesn't have any teeth yet (which I am most glad). She is sitting really well unassisted and is able to play with toys without falling over. I think she enjoys her new ability. It makes watching Noah much easier.

We have had a busy month of frequent dr calls and appts. And she has been a great trooper through all of it. When she was 7 months old she started on an inhaler, and that has been working from what we can tell...she coughs less and wheezes less. I took Ava up to spokane to see a Pediatric Gastroenterology dr. We were all kind of in the dumps after that appt. The dr put Ava on hypoallergenic formula (thinking maybe she is allergic to milk and soy) that is 24kcal versus the nomal 20kcal of breastmilk and regular formula, in order to help her grow. I also had to go soy free and milk free if I wanted to continue nursing her. Such a pain. It did take Ava a couple days before she would give into the formula. I tasted a drop of the formula...it was NASTY!! No wonder she didn't want to drink it. She also started taking Prevacid for reflux to see if that would stop her puking. The day after the GI dr, we went to Ava's regular dr, because she had green goo oozing from her ear, come to find out she had bilateral ear infections. We were giving Ava 3 different medications twice a day. I felt like a dispensary. I couldn't imagine having a really sick kid and having to do more than that. We are fortunate she only has minor issues.

Andy and Noah went out shopping tonight, so it was just us girls. I got out the camera and Ava and I had a photo shoot. Initially I put her in front of the tree. Then she tipped over and tried with all her might to touch the tree. I sat her back up, facing the tree this time. She thought it was awesome! She ran her hands through, tried to eat it, just had fun. It was fun to see her explore the tree.

Today our Family went down to Clarkston for a symphony concert. The Alpine Carillons, handbell choir from church, was playing with the Idaho-Washington Symphony. Since Andy was playing, we thought it would be fun to go. I picked up my mom after she sang with her Sweet Adeline sisters in Lewiston, and we drove over to the Clarkston highschool. The symphony was a good idea, but not practical for us. Noah was napless, so he couldn't hold still and Ava was tired and crabby. So at intermission, Andy dismissed my mom, the kids, and I. We went over to Aunt Deb's house and played with her dogs. After the concert was over, we met up with the bell choir at Antonio's for dinner. After dinner, Andy, momma, the kids, and I stopped at Railroad Park before we drove up the hill.
We had a great time! Noah loved driving the train! And although we froze, we had fun walking around and seeing the lights.

Ava and I sat with my mom at a Craft Fair all day today. The building was really cold and there weren't very many people that came, but we had a fun day with my mom. Also on the plus side Ava got free Santa pictures. He looked like a legit Santa, probably the best I have ever seen. Ava didn't mind sitting with him, she especially loved playing with his beard. It wasn't until the end of her time with him that she decided she had had enough. But she did shoot one cute smile during her time with Santa.