"We're Not Sure"

Christmas was great! All that I expected it to be, and probably even a little more hectic! Christmas Eve we got dressed up, went to church and Brode was great! He sat on Grandpa's lap and made faces at the people behind us the whole time. Afterwards we drove around looking at lights for a while so Brode could take a little rest so he was ready for presents. Church with a 15 month old was my first fear, and starting family time at 8 when Brode goes to bed at 7 was the second. After sleeping for an hour in the car he was great at Grandma and Grandpa's (moms family) with everyone, he even lasted until 11:30! Christmas morning I was more excited than Brode so I was up and ready to go at 7:45 and everyone else was close behind. Opening presents took a lot longer with the little guy, but we all got great things from each other! Christmas Day we had my dads family over, which is very large, so we had a great time together. That night we headed to Matt's moms for Christmas with his family. Brode did well staying up late there, and again we all got great gifts! Matt, Brode, and I slept over at Grandma Beths that night so that we could open stockings and have breakfast together in the morning. We came home to what we thought would be a lazy day, but we were wrong. That night we went to my aunt and uncles, then all came back to our house so we could see what everyone got and play some games. By this time Brode was so worn out from family he was in bed right at his normal time and slept for 13 hours! It was a gerat Christmas, but it may take a while to find places for everything we got!

Among MANY things Brode got a roller coaster.... ... blocks...
... and a Mega Playland!
He also had a fun time playing Wii with Gramps.

Today was back to work and day care, but it didn't start out too well. Brode had his 15 month check up with the nurse practitioner. She said he is great developmentally and is a very smart little boy, but the cough that he can't seem to kick continues to be a concern. Every time he gets a cold or a cough it sticks around for weeks and never seems to get better. Currently he is on a 3 week streak with a hideous cough that she wanted to get checked out. I tried my best to be patient with the x-ray technician but it wasn't working out so well. Brode screamed and cried and she continued to try to get him to sit still on a chair. Not happening lady, he is 15 months old, scared out of his mind, and knows whats going on because he has been through it 13 times before. At this point we had been there an hour and a half so I suggested we use the restraints to make it 20 minutes faster and keep him from moving. After it was all figured out they came back with "We're Not Sure What is Wrong".... that one little phrase we've heard a LOT. "But we'd like to give him a 10 day course of antibiotics and steroids." So once again we're stuck hoping the antibiotics work well and he can finally get rid of this congestion.