It makes you stronger....

That's what they say about going through a tough time!!  It's kinda humorous to look at my previous post, and how I wrote about Christmas Eve being my favorite day of the year.  You wouldn't believe the day I had.  Without going into enormous detail, (or making it look like a pity party) here are the "highlights"!

The night of the 23rd had been very unsettled for Nate - waking up every 45 minutes to an hour.  In the morning, he was still coughing, as he had been for several days, and he threw up.  Don left for work, and shortly after I took Nate's temperature.  It was ranging in the 101-102 range.  He was acting very lethargic and subdued - very unusual for him.

I took him to urgent care and thankfully was seen right away.  The doctor we saw was not comfortable with the sounds he was hearing when listening to his heart (that's my boy!) or his lungs.  He sent us to emerg at the hospital.  Once again we were seen quite quickly as he had called ahead to talk to the doctor on call and explain some of the specifics.  (Nothing is routine when there is a heart issue involved!)  They took 2 chest x-rays and confirmed that pneumonia was starting in one of his lungs.  Since it was too early to determine whether it was viral or bacterial, to be safe, Nate was given an Rx for antibiotics.  So, off to the the drug store, back to Grandma and Grandpa's, where I had dropped Brady off when I left in the morning (and who ended up keeping Brady with them for the afternoon), and back home.

That was 3 hours!  The rest of the afternoon he would sleep in my arms for a while, wake up for 5-10 minutes and then go back to sleep.  He threw up after every dose of antibiotics, but at least his fever was coming down after the Tylenol!

When Don got home from work, I sent him to Mom and Dad's where the party was starting!  I just didn't know what I should do, but staying home with Nate seemed logical, as much as I was so sad that I was missing the family time.  Not 20 minutes later, my 2 sisters showed up at my door, and in their beautiful way, encouraged me to get Nate and myself together and come to Mom and Dad's, even if we just rested there, at least we'd feel more part of it!

I didn't go to Brady's first ever Christmas concert, but Don video taped his performance!  He did just awesome!

The rest of the night consisted of food, family, presents, steak, homemade ice cream, crazy games and just being family.  Thankfully, Nate had some longer rests there, and I could join in the fun times with family.  

Kerry and Kathy and their family joined us via Skype this year....not the

same as being here together.  Miss you guys!!!!!

Nate was 'Mamma's Boy', but you could hardly blame him.

What a trooper he is!

Just my family getting a little goofy before

getting to the real game.

This was one of the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.  When we got home that

night, we had to set it up in Brady's room.  He's slept there every night since!

This picture is from Christmas day.  Still looking a little dopey, 

but there was a remarkable improvement.  Much more active and alert.

(Still prefers his heart meds over his antibiotics, though!)

Here's Brady's song for Grandma and Grandpa. I think he surprised them by singing all 3 verses!