hayden with "red"

"red" is Hayden's new bike that his Auntie M and Uncle Clark got him for Christmas... he definitely likes red. 

Here are some pictures showing Hayden with his new bike:

re-gifting party 2008.

Tonight was our annual re-gifting party. I think this was the third one (although I might be mistaken). It was lots of fun. Maybe a little tamer than usual since it was on a Sunday night, but still fun nevertheless.

The "re-gifting party" consists of party-goers bringing with them a wrapped gift that they would like to re-gift. The gifts are labelled according to what gender the receiver should be (either male, female, or neutral). Then we take turns picking gifts and unwrapping them. Sometimes the gifts are funny (a very large matronly nightgown, an unattractive necklace, or a wood-carved turkey), sometimes they are actually pretty decent gifts (a game of Yahtzee, a bottle of wine, or some lotion)... but whatever they may be they are things that the original recipient did not want.

It's fun and in jest and everyone seems to have a good time. Plus, it is nice to see people who we really don't see very often. Here are some pictures from last night... definitely a good time.

xmas 2008.

Our Christmas Holiday began on Christmas Eve at Randy's mom's home.

The next morning we woke up at our home and Santa had come!

Then we drove down to Little Rock to do Christmas with my mom's side of the family.

The next morning we woke up and Santa had come again to the Jacksonville Home.

During the day, Randy and Hayden goofed around a little.

Later that evening we went over to my Grandma's and had spaghetti and did Christmas over there.

two of my beautiful pregnant friends (Trina and Katrice) came over

Then Mary, Clark, Randy, and myself went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The next morning Hayden played on his new bike ("red") and then we drove back to Fayetteville.

And that in a nutshell was our Christmas... it was super fun; however, I am ready for things to go back to "normal" and to have my "routine" back. 

overnight at the hospital.

In my last post, 'The Sick House', you were left with Hayden having a double ear infection and Randy and I having colds. Well, Monday morning we decided it would be best to take Hayden to the pediatrician just to make sure everything was really alright. His neck was still swollen and somewhat red and we figured that it would be better to get him evaluated by a pediatrician as opposed to a doctor who does general medicine at a “Mediserve” clinic.

On Monday morning, Hayden and I went to the doctor and the result was definitely unexpected. The doctor informed me that he had cellulitis (a skin infection). It had gotten “deep” and he needed IV antibiotics to make sure it didn’t get worse and he didn’t develop mastoiditis (which is an infection of the jaw bone). 

Essentially, the doctor was telling me that we needed to go to the hospital and stay overnight to get IV antibiotics into my sick little boy (who quite honestly did not seem sick at all…). For those of you are curious, the infection was either caused by a strep or staph infection, my bet is on staph but we will never really know….

I called Randy and he met me over at the hospital. Hayden was admitted to the hospital and we were eventually escorted to what would become our home for the next 33 hours.

Hayden got an IV inserted into his hand and got some heavy-duty antibiotics. He did surprisingly well throughout the whole experience, as I think Randy and I did as well. Randy’s mom and aunt watched Alfie and brought us pizza (and grapes for Hayden) on Monday night. It was a nice relief.

Hayden slept relatively well Monday night, and played a lot throughout the day yesterday. Our friends Jamie, Ryan, and Courtney came to see us which was great… and later last night Randy’s mom visited us again. 

Then, at around 6:30 pm, the doctor let us know that Hayden would get to be discharged… I was so happy! So, at around 8 pm last night we finally got to leave the hospital and come home. What a relief…

Hayden is on two different antibiotics, but other than that things are back to normal. Merry Christmas!

Sunday night... you can see that the left side of his face is swollen.

Sunday night... you can see the red rash (if you look really hard).

At the pediatrician's before we went over to the hospital.

Getting his IV... so sad.

His IV.

Reading a book with Randy in his bed.

Hayden with IV. This is how it was for over 30 hours!

Having tea in the play room with Randy.

Hayden and I in his bed....

Hayden having tea again.

Riding around the Pediatrics wing on the plasma car.... he LOVED this car (little does he know that he's getting a red one for Christmas - red is his favorite color).

Chilling out in his hospital bed...

It's over. Hayden with his cool band-aid.