christmas, part two

Here are the rest of our Christmas photos from our time with Matt's family.


Here is Matt's dad's note to Santa. (The "kids" had a chance to write to Santa at the little Christmas village thing we went to.)

There were also some indoor rides to choose from.

Granny and all her grandbabies. :)

Jake, Matt's cousin. Our tough marine... relaxing with our foo foo dog.

Reading The Nativity Story to the kids from Jonah's "Jesus Storybook Bible." It's the best.

Debbie's going to kill me for posting this, but I thought it was so cute, I couldn't resist.

Deac waiting for his turn to open gifts.

Jakey and Jonah having the cutest tea party ever. Oh my word.

This one is in black and white cause the color was all messed up. I call it "Jonah reads the newspaper sort of."

a few more christmas videos

Here are a few more videos from Christmas.


Jonah walking while we applaud him. (We're not excessive in the least.)




Playing (or warily watching) his new Rumblin' Chuck Truck. "TRUCK!"



His first time riding his Power Wheel. He's still pretty hesitant about this one.



And my personal favorite, Jonah playing the piano. I'm especially fond of the delicate forearm technique.

jonah's eb auction and another awesome fundraiser!

Just wanted to jump in and let you guys know that Katie and I are gearing up for Jonah's EB Auction Fundraiser. Last year's was amazing, and we hope to make it an annual event. We are so excited to get started! Last year, Katie had a vision of hopefully having 20 items and raising $1,000. Well, God and you guys knocked our socks off with your generosity, and we had around 130 items donated and raised close to $9,000 for DebRA. How 'bout them apples? We would love for this year to be even more successful (and even more fun, if that's possible), but we need your help to do it. Do you have anything you could donate? You can hand-make an item or donate new, bought items. Not sure what to donate? You or your company can donate a gift card to a restaurant or spa or even a gift card for a gas station or grocery store. Put your thinking caps on.


The auction will run from Thursday, February 24th at 8:00 pm to Sunday, February 27th (Jonah's birthday) at 8:00 pm. (Whatever 24 X 3 is) blissful hours to shop without guilt and to raise money for a cure for EB! 


If you are interested in donating items or some money for shipping costs (any money we don't have to spend on shipping goes to DebRA!), please email Katie at jonahsebauction(at)gmail(dot)com, and she will get back with you. We need to know what you'd like to donate and the value of the item. Katie will let you know the details from there. WOOHOO! Check out the auction site HERE to see how last year went.


Secondly, my EB friend, Janel (the one who did Jonah's AWESOME birthday cake) is hosting a fundraiser for DebRA right now. She sells Thirty One products and is offering a large personalized thermal tote for $20 or a personalized lunch tote for $18, and at least $7 from each bag goes directly to DebRA! Click HERE to see the bags, patterns, and font choices. If you are interested, you can print out and complete the order form HERE and mail her a $20 or $18 check to: Janel Waters, 912 S. Forest Creek Dr., St. Augustine, FL 32092. You can email Janel at janelwaters(at)comcast(dot)net with any questions. Oooohhh, I just had a thought. What if you bought a bag, $7 went to DebRA and then you turned around and donated it to the auction??!! Sorry, I'm getting carried away. I'll stop now.


Happy Shopping and don't forget to email Katie with your donation ideas! I can't wait! Oh yeah, Jonah's EB Auction has a page on Facebook. Click HERE to "like" it! Alright, I'm getting link happy. I'm really going to go now. I think I need a cold shower and possibly some Cheetos.

christmas, part one

I started to do a Christmas post, but then I realized I took so many photos (and I have an "I can't delete photos even if they're blurry or I have five of almost the same exact thing and also I have to edit all my photos even if the edits look almost as crappy as the original" syndrome), I'll have to split this up in a couple posts. Basically, we had a wonderful time with Matt's family. There was the normal Jonah stuff we always have to do, but there was plenty of relaxing, book reading, Scrabble playing, way too much eating, laughing, talking, sleeping etc. I can't tell you how nice it was to be away from the house for a few days and to have so many family members who wanted to help out with and entertain Jonah. I love Matt's family so much, and I feel so blessed that God put me with them. And Jonah was a pure joy and so much fun. I LOVE THIS AGE! Every day I treasure it all up in my heart, trying to hold on to all his cuteness and hilarity. He seriously is such a charmer and I am completely in love and enamored with this child. (I'm going to pretend he's always going to be like this and he won't pitch fits, talk back, bite his friends, or find me embarrassing... let me bask in my denial.)


So anyway, I thought I'd start with the most important part of Christmas - the loot Jonah scored. (Just kidding, of course.) But seriously, this kid is spoiled rotten, and I'm pretty sure he has the most toys of any child on the face of the planet. Okay, maybe not as many as Tripp, but he's coming in a close second. I have many more meaningful and better photos to share, but that will come later, due to the aforementioned photo syndrome.

Oh yeah, before we get too materialistic, I wanted to show you how great Jonah's face looked on the 24th.

And this was the 26th. Both are pretty amazing compared to the last ones I posted, huh? God is good!

Now to the stuff (and this was only a portion of it...)

Rumblin' Chuck Truck (that he was slightly scared of at first). 

Jungle thingy. Don't remember the name, but little animals with wheels slide down the path. Cute.

Jonah took a small break from "getting" to walk for the first time.

 Stocking stuff: some books...

... and a wooden train... it would appear Santa did his stocking shopping at the dollar bin at Target.

The big one - a Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Something Something Pony.

Santa may have gotten this one more for Daddy than for Jonah, but I think it will bring them both lots of joy for the next several years. It's going to start out in Jonah's bedroom if we can do some rearranging and find a spot to put it.

A geometric shape stacker. I really like this. Jonah agrees.

A surprise gift from Granny and Grandaddy - a Power Wheels! (Which he was TERRIFIED of at first and only moderately scared of now.)

A Little People Barn. (Hat not included.)

And this, Friends, is what my living room looked like after we unpacked today. Did I mention we have two more Christmases on Saturday? And did I also mention that the two ottomans shown (and another one off the kitchen, not shown in the photo), are already full of toys? Yep, we have some serious sorting, organizing, and redistributing to other rooms to do. Can you even spot Jonah?

Seriously though, this child is so loved and toys or no toys, he'll never feel lonely or unloved. That's our promise to him - no matter what you go through or how much you endure, no matter our financial situation or where we live, no matter how much you have or how little, no matter what, you will NEVER think you are unloved or wish you had different parents. (Well, you may wish that but it won't be because we don't love you enough... it'll be because we won't let you get a cell phone at the age of eight or because we'll make you do your homework before you turn on the TV... but not because you don't feel loved.)


I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I'll be back with more (and more walking videos) soon!

JONAH WALKS!

I don't have long, but I just wanted to let you know, if you don't follow me on Twitter, that Jonah took his first steps on Christmas Eve. It was the best gift we could have asked for, and we continue to be amazed and thank God for all Jonah is able to do. (In the nature of Jonah, he waited to start walking until he had a huge crowd around who applauded him thunderously every time... he hasn't really done it since.)

Thanks to Aunt Katherine's sweet daddy for these videos. I'll have more once I get mine off my video camera. I know you'll be waiting on the edge of your seat to see him do the same thing over and over again from a slightly different angle.


On the face front, things are SO MUCH better. The night of the 23rd, he was still looking so rough, but we went to the Christmas Village thing anyway, thankyouverymuch. The morning of the 24th, his nose and cheek were completely healed with the scabs coming off. It seriously was an overnight miracle. His top lip is still rough and he has one big one left on his forehead, but it's scabbed and not causing him any pain. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know that they are what healed him.

Love you all. MERRY CHRISTMAS! (I'll have photos when we get home but we got snowed in for one more day. I can't say that I'm upset about it.)

boo boo face still boo booed

Boo Boo Face - Day 3 (yesterday)

Boo Boo Face - Day 4 (today)

This crying wasn't from pain. Mean Mommy wouldn't give him the camera.

We've had a rough couple of days, as you can see. Jonah will go all day not hurting his face, and then BOOM he has a little, normal, toddler fall or bumps into a corner or I have to pat his face to clean it, and all of his skin comes off again. The two on his forehead keep growing and filling up, so I have to cut them with suture scissors, which makes them look worse. His upper lip has opened twice today and bled like crazy both times, so that's no closer to healing. Ugh. 

Tomorrow we leave for Matt's parents house. I'm excited about a few days away. We were going to go to this tomorrow night, but we may just do the drive through part now. Jonah won't know what he's missing and I just don't know that we can handle the stares and questions. He looks so incredibly rough right now, and there will be so many kids there. And kids ask questions... I'm so torn. Part of me is like, "Screw it. Forget everybody else and just give Jonah the experience." The other part of me is like, "Getting mean stares and comments and questions all night sounds miserable, and after this tough week, I just don't feel like I have the emotional energy to deal with it." I guess it's yet to be seen what part will win out.

Please keep praying. He has been much fussier the last few days. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with his face, but he's also throwing up more and seeming more mucusy, so he may have a touch of something. Matt has a sore throat, no voice, and is super achy, so Jonah may be picking that up too. 

I don't like being down at Christmas time. :( Good thing tomorrow is a new day!