The Scariest and Proudest Moment of my Life

This literally is the scariest and proudest moment of my life until now.

This happened at my Grandpa's on Christmas Eve. It was the end of the night and a lot of people had already left. We were actually getting ready to leave and I was getting sippy cups for the kids. I was in the kitchen getting Annabelle some milk and picking out my leftovers of the delicious food. Yum!

I was walking back toward the family room where most of the family was when I heard someone screaming my name. I stopped because it was one of those moments where you aren't 100% sure you really heard someone call your name.

I asked, "Did someone just yell my name??".

No one else heard it. Then my brother in law Andrew came into the room and said, in a very hurried voice, "Meghan! Angela needs you. Addie's choking!".

I dropped the sippy and ran into the living room where Andrew had come from and saw my sister and Addie on the floor. It was the scariest sight of my life. Not Addie. Which in itself was downright terrifying. But because my big sister was on the floor holding Addie and crying. I can probably count on one hand how many times I've seen my sister cry. It's that few. My sister is brave and strong and always so tough and sure of things. She's who I look to or call when I need a strong one. So to see her so visibly scared was horrifying.

I dropped to my knees and grabbed Addie and could hear my sister say, "Help me, she's choking! She's choking!".

After that, I don't really remember hearing anyone else. I just remember thinking, thank goodness they make us take a Basic Life Support class to get into Nursing school! I flipped Addie over onto her tummy, held her up (kind of rested her on my leg) and started hitting her on her back. I hit her about 5-7 times and I flipped her over. I looked in her mouth and lightly felt for the object, then I flipped her back over and started hitting her again. On about the 3rd hit of her back, she coughed out the object. It was a teeny tiny binder clip.

Like the smallest one on here:

Angie picked her up and she started crying. I don't blame her. I was hitting her kind of hard to get it out of her. I was so scared. After she calmed down she wanted a sippy cup. I don't blame her for that either! Poor girl had a binder clip stuck in her throat! We got her a sippy and she was a happy girl again. Although she didn't really want much to do with me for awhile! Although, one more time, I don't blame her. :)

Angie kept saying telling me thank you, thank you! I was just so happy I could do it! She made me nervous but she's a happy and healthy girl again. And she didn't need to thank me, of course I would do that! I'm just happy I learned the class and could do it. If it had happened to Annabelle though, I probably would've just freaked out and forgotten everything, so not that I wanted it to happen to anyone, but I'm glad it didn't happen to Annabelle because there could have been a different outcome. We were lucky though and my cousin's girlfriend is a resident at a hospital in Chicago and they had just left. While I was working on her someone grabbed her and she was on her way in. So I think we had her covered.

Also, Angie told us what happened when the whole thing was over and I'm glad I didn't see it. Ang was changing Addie's diaper and she was laying on her back and holding the binder clip in the air. Ang didn't know it was a binder clip because it was so small and my aunt had brought these 3D felt stickers for the kids and they had all been holding them all night. She just thought she was holding a small sticker. Then Addie dropped it and it literally dropped straight down her throat. How scary...

Ang told us she was screaming at the top of her lungs for help and no one heard her. She was in tears by the time Andrew came in. Andrew didn't even hear her. She asked Cecilia to go get Daddy and that's how Andrew found all this out. So Addie had been choking for a minute before I even got in there. The whole thing has randomly given me nightmares since it happened. I've played the "what if" game a few times and started freaking out and Nick has to remind me to stop, because everything worked out and Addie's fine.

I'm so thankful that I've decided to go into nursing school. I'm proud to be going into a position to help save people's lives or at the very least help them. I'm extremely thankful for my BLS class that taught me CPR and how to help choking victims. I think everyone should take a Basic Life Support class if they have the opportunity.

Here's the posted on how to help a conscious choking victim:

Whew. What a Christmas Eve!

My Immediate Family Christmas

We always do our immediate family Christmas the Saturday or Sunday before Christmas just because the holidays get so crazy busy. This year, my sister and I took my mom to see Wicked at the Fabulous Fox on Saturday so we did Family Christmas on Sunday.

It was a great time. We went over to my parent's around 3 pm. We did dinner first because I knew my kids wouldn't sit through dinner if we did presents first. We had a great meal and then did presents. All of these kids are so loved and spoiled that it's ridiculous. :)

Dominick got a ton of stuff on his Christmas list, including: new Christmas PJ's, a new "piggy bank" which is a big green dinosaur, a big boy green cup, a new puzzle, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and a ton of the Melissa&Doug brand wooden food. What a lucky boy.

Annabelle got a new baby doll, a baby stroller, Melissa&Doug wooden food, new Christmas PJ's, and something else I think, but can't remember...

Gretchen got new Christmas PJ's and a TON of clothes. Just what I wanted her to get!

The food was great, the kids had a blast, everything was perfect!

We gave some presents and got some presents but of course, Christmas is now all about the kids.

Here are some pictures of our day:

 Dad, Dom and Celia all opening a few presents

 Addie opening one of the presents from us, a bag full of baby accessories

 Annabelle looking at her new Christmas PJ's (which she's wearing today!)

 Celia opening her Lego Camper from Grandpa and Grandpa

 Celia opening her play-doh present that Dom picked out

 Gretch just taking it all in

 Angela opening her gift from us, kitchen stuff! 

 Andrew opening a present from Mom and Dad, a signed copy of Tony La Russa's book

 Another pic

 Grandma opening the Cookie Jar the kids made then

 Grandpa opening the calendar of the kids that Angela makes him and Mom every year

Annabelle playing with her new stroller and new baby that she named "LaLa"

It was a great FIRST Christmas. One of many that we got the pleasure of going to this year. What a lucky family we have. :)

Dominick's Christmas Show

Dominick was in his Christmas Holiday show on Dec. 6th. Yes it's been that long since I've blogged...Sorry!!!

It was the cutest darn thing I've ever seen. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. They all got up and sang their little songs and it was so adorable. We sat in the very back because we had both girls with us and wanted to be able to make a quick get-away if Annabelle was a terror but that wasn't necessary because everyone had kids there and basically all the kids were terrors!

My mom came to help and to watch Dom and he was so excited. When his group was up, we stood up to take pictures and record his class singing. I stopped recording in between each song but I wish I didn't because in between the two songs he yelled "That's my Mommy!!" and I didn't get it on camera!

I'll see if I can upload his class singing; I know I can upload the pictures I took.

 Dommie reading in his classroom before heading down for the show

 His class lining up to sing. He's in the middle, the second row from the top. He's wearing a white sweater vest. He's the cute one. ;-)

Just another view. 

 

After getting off the slide at McDonald's where we went for dinner to celebrate how good he did. 

Sorry for the shaking!! I took the video with my regular camera! 

All in all it was a great night and Dom had a great time. We are really happy with his school and he loves it. This was a great start to an amazing holiday season!

Too long

It's been way too long, but again, there's no way to catch up tonight. I'll try tomorrow, but that will be tough since I'll be home with all three kiddos tomorrow.

So instead I'll just mention the most important thing right now, Gretchen rolled over for the first time yesterday!! Yay!! :) She's getting to be SO big!

I'll try to post within the next few days to catch up on everything.

Christmas
Cousins Holiday Party
Gretchen's Newest things
Dom's school Christmas show
My work
My school
My hospital stays, etc
Addie's Scare on Christmas

So much to discuss! I'll try tomorrow, I promise!!

Christmas Game Night

My friends and I try to get together once a month for a game night. We have appetizers and drinks and we play Catch Phrase, Cranium, Apples to Apples, etc. Once we did a Wii tournament. We all have a blast. We've been bad lately and haven't gotten together in awhile, but we made time for Christmas game night. It's the best.

Christmas game night is always fun because we do Rob Your Neighbor. The last three years we've done White Elephant Rob Your Neighbor, but next year we might do "halfway nice present" Rob Your Neighbor. We'll see. :)

Everyone came over about 6 on Thursday night and we hung out in the kitchen and ate some food (on my new island - see picture below...).



After awhile, we went into the living room played Rob Your Neighbor. This year we decided to do TWO rounds of Rob Your Neighbor. Our gifts were BAD this year. One was "ok" but the other three were BAD. We put in a pink sequin purse, a creepy doll, a Christmas music box, and some glass coasters you put your own pictures into. I think the coasters were "ok"....

We played the first round of Rob Your Neighbor and Nick and I got ok gifts this year! The first year, we got a can of SPAM and a picture of Adam and Michelle in their PJ's. Not so great! This year we got a bottle of Country Bob's sauce and the movie Flightplan in the first round. We'll take 'em! The second round was worse for us. Nick got a strawberry cookie jar (ok) and I got a bag full of change and a diaper...not so great! :)

Luke got Creepy Carol, as we named her, and Winnie got the music box. Julia actually liked Creepy Carol and traded for her. Ashley got a coat rack (which she left at my house, and if she doesn't meet up and get it, I might put it together and use it!!) and Jim got the pink purse. I had told the boys that the pink purse was actually a good "boy" present and I had three guys fighting over it! Jim traded the pink purse to Brian who was going to give it to his little girl. What a nice Daddy! Jim also got a large creepy doll that Nicole put in. This was the year for creepy dolls...maybe we should do Themed Rob Your Neighbor next year...something to think about.






We had a blast. After Rob Your Neighbor, we did Secret Santa gifts. These were real presents. I got the Mark Bittman "How to Cook Everything" cookbook/encyclopedia and Nick got a giftcard to Wherenberg Movie Theaters. He also got a small gift for Baby A! He got two pink and white binkies! :)

When that was over, we headed downstairs to just relax for a bit. It was great to catch up and just hang out with everyone. The holidays seem so hectic and it was nice to just sit and be.

I think everyone had a good time. I HOPE everyone had a great time! I did. And I think Nick and I will watch Flightplan this week while eating something I make from my new cook book! :)

That's it for Christmas posts now, I swear! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Now I have just under 4 weeks to prepare for Dominick's 2nd birthday! Holy cow....crazy how time flies!!

Christmas Day!

Ok, last Christmas Post...I think.

We spent Christmas Day at Nick's Mom's house. It was crazy. Those kids are SO spoiled there! :)

We got there about 4 pm. We all hung out and the kids played downstairs until it was time for dinner. We had the BEST dinner EVER there. It was seriously the best meal I've ever had at Sue's house (and I've had some good ones). It was beef tenderloin with benaise sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, turkey, dinner rolls, and I don't even know what else. But that beef tenderloin was SO GOOD. Yum.

After dinner, we couldn't hold the kids off anymore and we went into the living room for presents. These kids got so much. Here are a few pictures of the mayhem BEFORE the opening even started.



Can you see how many presents there were!?

We tried to get organized after this. We opened presents from one aunt/uncle group at a time. Dom is so spoiled.

From Aunt Katie, Uncle Dave, Cousins Sophia, Henry and Jilly:
A Dora Microphone (the kid loves to sing, what can I say?)
A Merry Christmas Book
A Roller Coaster....this is a whole separate post...

From Aunt Lisa, Uncle John, Cousins Kailey and Addison:
A puzzle
CARS Legos
TOY STORY Legos

From Aunt Christy and Uncle Rob:
A puzzle
A couple of outfits

From Uncle Dan:
2 books

From Nani:
A train carpet (a mat with a train track on it that goes on the floor by his train table)
A Thomas the Train tent with attached tunnel to play in
Penguin winter crocs
CARS Legos
A Puzzle


Nani got him more, I honestly can't even think of what else she got him right now...but it was too much! :)

There was so much going on that Dom got tired of it. He literally got up, walked away and went downstairs for awhile. He was done. Couldn't handle that much stimulation.

Here's a few pics of the craziness that ensued once the kids got the green light to open presents:





After the kids opened all their stuff, it was time for the adults, although the adults had a lot less stuff, and a lot smaller of stuff!

Nick got a Lowe's gift card from his Goddaughters, Kailey and Addison. Nick's mom gave us both some money. It was a good Christmas for us!

Us kids got Nick's mom a kindle. I think she'll like it. She has some learning to do, but once she gets it, I think she'll really like it.




After presents, we had dessert. We had ice cream sandwich cake that Christy made and cookies that Christy made. Both were delicious!! I love Christy's cookies. Nick's mom gave us the rest of the ice cream sandwich cake to take home and it will be gone this week, no problem. Nick and I both LOVE it.

It was a crazy busy weekend, but we had a blast. We loved every minute.

haha, I lied. I just remembered I didn't post about Christmas game night...at least one more Christmas post!

Christmas Morning!

We had a good Christmas morning too. Dom woke up about 8ish and we kept him occupied upstairs until almost 9. Mike was coming over at 9 to exchange presents with Dom and watch Dom open his presents from Santa. We didn't want to bring Dom down too early or he'd want to open them or play right away. We brought Dom downstairs and watched Daddy open his present from Dom before Mike got there.



For Daddy, Dominick and I went to a place called "The Painting Paw" in Chesterfield, MO. They had a ton of stuff to choose from. You pick something out and paint it. You can use their stencils or just do something unique. After you are done, they fire it up and do the finishing touches and it's food safe, etc. Dominick picked out a snowman plate for Daddy and put his blue handprint in the middle of it. We had them write "Merry Christmas Daddy" on the front and "Love, Dominick 2010" on the back. I think he liked it. I know I would of!

After Nick opened that, we let Dom open one present. It was a Go, Diego GO! adventure land Hot Wheel thingy. It was just a small $8.99 toy I found while leaving Target's toy section one day and it ended up being Dom's favorite.

Once Uncle Mike got there, we opened all the presents together!

Uncle Mike got a plate like Daddy's! Only Uncle Mike's was a reindeer and Dom's handprint was red. :) He also got a turning spice rack, three spice rubs for grilling and a Grilling cookbook!

Dom got his new Thomas the Train bedding from Uncle Mike. Unfortunately, Uncle Mike got him the twin bedding because that's all he could find, and Dom's still in a toddler bed, so hopefully I can return it and make it work. If not, I guess we'll just save it!

Dom also got a Black and Decker tool set, to be like Daddy, a big toy sorter thingy for his room, and some blocks from Santa.







Dom's last present on Christmas morning was to see his new big boy room. It was the first time he got to see it all put together. He got to see his train table all together and see some other toys too. Dom was in heaven. He ran right in and went nuts. All the time Nick and I spent on getting that train track perfect was wasted, because it was in pieces pretty quick. But Dom had fun. And that's all that mattered.





It was a very Merry Christmas morning at our house. :)

Elves

So Nick and I had our first experience with being up all night putting together Dominick's toys and stuff for Christmas morning. My parents got him his train table but we wanted to have it all put together for him to play with. We were up until about 12:30 or so putting it together. After we were done, we went downstairs to relax for a minute and Nick played XBox for another hour. I think we went to bed about 2 am. And Dom was up at 8. :)

But we got the train table put together and all his toys and stuff under the tree. We also had his big boy room organized. We are trying to get him excited about moving downstairs. I think it's working. He was talking about his "big boy room" all day yesterday. He told us he wants to start sleeping downstairs. So we'll hopefully get the last few things we need for him to move downstairs, and get working on that this week!

Here are a few pics of Nick being an elf. No pictures of me, even though I was helping, I swear!!






Well, the organized room lasted just a few minutes, but he loves it and that's what matters. :)

Christmas Eve

This year we went to my Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve. It was great to see everyone. I think for the first time in awhile, EVERYONE was there! The holidays get so hectic, especially now that a lot of us grandkids are older and married and with families of our own, but it's nice to still see everyone. Here are a few pics from Christmas Eve.

As usual, us grandkids and great-grandkids got spoiled!!






We had a great Christmas Eve!!

Christmas Cookies at Great Grandpa's

For the last few years, the girl cousins have gone to my Grandpa's a few days before Christmas Eve to make Christmas cookies. We all bring our own tools and such and make a bunch of different kinds of cookies. Then we set up and decorate Grandpa's tree.

This year we did the cookies on the Monday before Christmas. We made a TON. Here's a few pics of the cookie making. I didn't help with the tree. I was still finishing up my cookies. :)





I love that we've made this a tradition. I think my Grandpa really likes it and we all have fun. After we're done with the cookies (and Grandpa has sampled each type), he makes us milk shakes. That's one of my favorite memories as a kid. Going to Grandpa's for a sleepover and getting to have a milkshake after dinner. Delicious!

The remaining cookies were given to me to take to my in-law's house for Christmas day. Well I forgot them and when we got home, the dogs had gotten up to the counter and eaten all of them... :( I guess they just saved me a few pounds. I hope they enjoyed them. They were delicious!