Matthew woke up at 1:36 on Christmas morning with an awful fever (104). I was up with him until 3:45 and then again from 4:50 until 7:30. I didn’t sleep much while I was with him – he was just too uncomfortable and shifty for me to rest.  It was a hard night for all of us.  B knew to get rest because he knew I’d be exhausted once we got up and that he’d have to be the primary care-giver until I got a nap in.

We had to call B’s family to let them know that we wouldn’t be making it to their family celebration and they totally understood.  I knew it was the right decision, but I hated missing it because it was at his aunt and uncle’s family farm this year (where B’s dad grew up) and we always have a good time out there and enjoy the big, country Christmas dinner.  We alternate Christmas every year between B’s family and mine, and I hate that we missed B’s family’s Christmas this year.  We did see them all the night before at B’s grandma’s house, but it wasn’t the same and I feel like they got the shaft.

I had intentions of making home-made raspberry muffins before anyone woke up, but that didn’t happen for obvious reasons.  I finally got them made around 8:45 or so before we opened gifts.  Matthew is still too young to understand presents and was feeling awful, so there were tears here and there because he just wanted to be held and fall asleep.  It was quite sad.  B and I did not discuss Matthew’s gifts this year and we both ended up getting him a lot of things – more than either or us would have planned had we discussed.   Needless to say, there were a lot of presents to open for a sick little boy.  By the end, we were rushing things.

Matthew got 10 or 11 new books (we seem to have misplaced one already) and as we were opening them, he kept wanting us to read him his OLD books.  So funny!  We stopped a couple of times to read his two favorite “old” books.

Matthew’s nap was short – he just felt terrible.  I don’t think he even slept 2 hours.  I napped for about 45 minutes before getting him up.  We spent the bulk of the afternoon in bed together, as a family, watching CG.  Matthew snuggled with us both and laid still for many, many episodes.

One of the biggest problem we had yesterday was that we had no food in the house.  We were planning on having a huge meal at B’s family’s and then just eating muffins later on.  Not a single grocery store was open (which is how it should be) nor were any restaurants, so we swung by a gas station that makes pizza and had taco pizza for Christmas dinner.  It was actually good – right up my alley!  Matthew wouldn’t touch his food and we assumed it was because he was so sick, but it turns out he was majorly constipated.  B’s grandma fed Matthew a TON of cream pie on Christmas Eve.  I only witnessed 2 bites but B and his brother said she gave him 10 or so when B was with him.  We think the introduction of gluten and refined sugar messed him up – which makes sense.  We learned a valuable lesson – we are the parents and next time, we will put a stop to it.  We let it happen because (at the time) we thought the joy she was getting was way more important than the damage it could be doing.  WRONG.

Matthew finally did his business after eating a pouch of prunes and much agony.  After that, he was in a good enough mood to snuggle on the sofa, eat some oranges, and read his new books.  We read all of Matthew’s new books to him and that was nice and cozy.  He was in no mood for a bath so we put him to bed at 8:00.  My poor boy literally woke up every 20 minutes after going to bed and would cry and cry for a few minutes each time.  I could not let him go through that any longer.  B and I finished up frosting sugar cookies, cleaned up quickly, and prepped for a roommate for the night.

At 10:45, Matthew joined us in bed.

I was up every hour or so helping Matthew settle himself, but that was better than him crying and being miserable alone every 20 minutes.  Matthew slept pretty well for the circumstances and B and I both enjoyed seeing him sleeping next to us.  There’s something very peaceful about having your baby sleeping beside you!

Today is better.  Matthew’s not feeling great and still has a fever, but he’s better and that’s what matters.  He went down for his nap with no problem and is still sleeping almost 2 hours later, which is better than yesterday!

Not the Christmas I imagined, but are they ever?  HA!

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