Christmas in Indiana

After our amazingly smooth plane ride, my mom and dad (Nanny & Papa) met us at the airport. I had Nolan attached to me in his carrier since we were using my niece Mackenzie's old car seat and didn't have to bring ours. Nanny almost ripped his legs off trying to get him out of the carrier to hold him! Not that they weren't excited to see me...or so they said! We headed back to Terre Haute so Nolan could meet all of his cousins. They all loved him, of course, but Mackenzie was glued to him our whole trip! She's 17 months old and quite the little mother, making sure he had his binky and his blankie all the time. Here are pictures of Molly (2), Kylie (10), Mackenzie, Collin (3), and Nicolas (6). Collin & Nicolas weren't all that interested in Nolan, but Kylie was a big help. She'll be a great babysitter in a couple of years! Molly was so funny because she kept calling him 'baby girl'...haha

It was so nice to be home for such a long time, that way we didn't have to rush around to see everyone we wanted to see and do everything we wanted to do. Nolan got introduced to the guys at my dad's sawmill, and he got to meet Granny Ruth. She babysat us when we were kids, and I used to babysit for most of her grandkids. She's like my second mom, so it was only fitting that she was the first babysitter Nolan had! We were all out having fun at a party, but Nanny left the party early to go get him so Brad & I could stay out a little later. We had a blast!

Nolan also got to visit some of my old friends and their kids too. We went to Clay City one day to see Meghan and Olivia. Meghan and I grew up together, and Olivia is 3 weeks older than Nolan. She's such a cutie!!

After Brad got to Indianapolis on the 22nd, we went to Martinsville to see my friend Mandy and her husband Randy. Mandy & I went to Franklin College together. Her son Eli is about a year and a half, and he's growing like a weed!! We had a great time visiting, but of course I forgot to take any pictures!

We went to Monrovia later in the week to see my friend Sarabeth and her husband Mike. She & I went to Franklin College together too. She has three kids: Emily (5), Sam (2), and Lucy, who is just one week younger than Nolan. Like Nolan, Lucy looks just like her daddy!

We had a great time catching up with everyone, and I'm always glad when we're able to get together with my friends when we're in Indiana. It's funny how just a few years ago, none of us were married or had kids and now every thing's changed!

Every year we have Christmas with the Buell clan, my mom's side of the family. This year we went to my Uncle Pat & Aunt Jennifer's the Sunday before Christmas. I was so excited for everyone to meet Nolan! He wasn't in the best mood though - the night before he had gotten his first cold. And good thing Nurse Polly was there! I would have had no idea what to do, but we made a quick midnight trip to Wal-Mart, and a dose of Tylenol and decongestant later, and he was doing much better. (I've gotten pretty good at using that little sucky thing to get the snot out of his nose! haha) He did let everyone hold him and pass him around, so I was happy about that. We're still trying to get rid of that 'rattly' sound at nighttime, but it's slowly going away!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrate with my family at my mom and dad's house. The kids are always so much fun, and we always eat way too much. Typical of an infant on his first Christmas, Nolan slept through the entire thing! He got a lot of great stuff - books and clothes mostly, since he doesn't have a clue anyway! After we opened our gifts, we went to Christmas Eve service at my parents' church. The service was really nice, and once again, Nolan slept through the entire thing!

On Christmas day, we always go to Clay City to see what Santa Claus brought for my nieces and nephews. I got to play Legos with Nicolas (which I hope Nolan likes when he gets older, because I had a BLAST with Nic!) and we played a little Wii too. I got to see Guitar Hero for the first time - it's pretty cool!

Up to this point, our trip was wonderful. Then Brad & I got the stomach flu - the night before we were supposed to fly home! It was awful, to say the least! We took turns, in Brad's words, 'tag-teaming' the bathroom. I know, it's not a pretty picture, and trust me, neither were we the next day. We were both dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down, but if there had been any seats open on any other flights it would have cost us an arm and a leg to switch our tickets. By the time we had to leave for the airport, Brad was feeling a little better and I was on my way, just very slowly. The airline gave my mom a temporary boarding pass, so that was a huge help that she could wait with us at the gate. My cousin Lisa had hitched a ride with us to the airport since she was flying to Florida about the same time our plane left, and she was a huge help too....I hope we didn't pass our bug on to her! I've decided that the only thing worse than the stress of flying with an infant is flying with an infant when we're both sick as dogs!! But once again, Nolan was an angel. It was a long and uncomfortable flight, but we made it back. Brad's mom picked us up at the airport and I've never been so happy that we only live 15 minutes from the airport....I hit the bed as soon as we walked in the door and slept for 6 hours. Good thing Grandma Cindy stayed and watched Nolan because Brad crashed out too. And thankfully Nolan never got the flu....I'm not sure if I could handle that yet!