C'mon 2013

2013 just has to start better than 2012 ended.  And so far it has.  I mean, I have both of my children home AND our house isn't 40 degrees.

YES that was pretty much the last month of our life.  Really and truly I try to keep complaining out of our lives but I think December was just pretty damn crappy.

Things started going sour on December 15th.  Gloria just started vomiting her entire bottles.  And when I say vomiting, I mean it got all over EVERYTHING.  Completely soaked her burp clothes, my entire outfit, the carpet, etc.  It wasn't normal and my Mom radar was very concerned.  Evan convinced me to wait another day and then on Sunday she continued the horrible vomiting and developed a fever.  Evan and I decided that if she didn't keep any food down or have any wet diapers we'd go to the ER.

Once we got to the ER they told us she had RSV and that it would probably be a 24-48 hour hospital stay.  Turns out, she was much sicker than anyone anticipated and within 24 hours of her being in the hospital, we were told she was the sickest baby with RSV at the entire hospital.  She moved to an intermediate care floor b/c they couldn't monitor her closely enough in the infant toddler unit.  The feeding tube went in.  And I just was a big mess.

I called our mother-in-law (couldn't call my parents yet because they were on a cruise, but that's coming later).  She later told me that she couldn't understand me.  I don't even remember crying.  But I think I was just panicked.  Nobody wants their baby on an intensive floor.  Nobody wants their baby with the highest level of oxygen and a feeding tube.  She saved the day by staying with us for a week and stayed in the hospital a couple nights so Evan and I could sleep together at home.  It was such a blessing just being wrapped in Evan's arms.  Evan was so stressed through it all and coming home with Gloria was truly a Christmas gift.

Things like this make you realize so many things.  I realized what good friends we've made here in Little Rock.  We had a package delivered to the hospital, we had three dinners brought for us from friends and some of Evan's co-workers.  We had flowers and a care package arrive.  But ... it's more than that.  It's my brother and parents writing us every single day (minimally once a day), it's my family (my extended PR family) constantly texting and calling to see how she was doing.  THOSE are the ones that meant so much.  It makes you realize who is important to you and just how lucky we are to have so many people that love our baby girls (also interesting to see who couldn't take the time to be troubled to ask about her, but during that time I had more important things to worry about).

On Christmas day, we were having a CHILL day.  We were SO thrilled about that.  We had originally planned on going to San Antonio but Gloria wasn't healthy enough to do that so staying behind but as a healthy family was all we cared about.  THEN at 3 pm, zap ... the power in our house went out and Little Rock was hit with the biggest snow storm they've had in years.  We spent Christmas evening huddled by a fire that wasn't doing much, shivering, worrying about keeping Gloria healthy, and eating crappy sandwiches.  Fortunately we found refuge the next day (the house had gotten down to 52 by then) at Evan's aunts house.  140,000 people were still without power but she was one of the first in the city to get power back so we stayed with them for days.  DAYS.  Being without powero until the new year and not getting cable or internet back for 2 weeks meant my business was non-existent.

And now my post of pure complaining is done.  Because we have power.  I'm working on the business right now and Gloria is back at school today for the first time in 3 weeks.  I am so thankful for those luxuries we have now.  I am so thankful for the husband I have.  He was my rock through this all.  He worked constantly to take care of us through the power outages.  He was the most AMAZING father staying at the hospital more than anyone else over night since he had to work during the day.  I am sure he was purely exhausted but he is beyond obsessed with our girls and I am beyond obsessed with him.  We have said that this last month was probably the most challening we've had as a married couple and definitely as parents.  And we made it through without one argument and just repeatedly thanked one another for being eachother's perfect match. 

So SO LONG 2012.  I definitely won't miss you.  But I sure am looking forward to 2013. :)