Christmas In Louisiana

We spent our first Christmas as a new family in Louisiana this year. It's actually the same as what we do every year. Jeff's family (Mike and Sybil) come to my parent's house and we all celebrate Christmas together. Jeff and I went in very early this year as a result of getting to attend the Cowboys game in New Orleans on December 19th. Our normal Christmas visit is about 4 days and we doubled that this year. It was not bad considering that it was double the amount of time that we had assistance with Andrew from grandmas, grandpa, Uncle Matt and Uncle Mike. However, when we finally made it back home, we practically raced to our room to give our own bed a big hug. It's great to be gone and even better when you get back home.

Although Jeff and I had a wonderful time catching up with family, eating great Louisiana food and escaping the demands of our own home, we did have some challenges with Andrew while we were at my parent's house. I'm not sure if it was because of the new surroundings or all the people handling him, but he became the fussiest baby in Louisiana. By about day 4, he cried almost any time that he was not eating or sleeping. Now, to his defense, he broke out in the worst rash/acne on his face and scalp. It looked so uncomfortable and I knew he had to be miserable. We were not sure if it was bothering him, but we assumed it was based on his ever-growing frustrations with each day that passed. His Christmas gift to mommy and daddy was to sleep long enough for us to open all the presents on Christmas morning and enjoy a big cup of coffee. Notice the bow on his head - all wrapped up in cute Christmas jammies and sleeping while I focused on unwrapping the goodies behind him.

Below is a picture of Andrew with his daddy on the second day that we were there - all sweet and quietly sleeping - no real sign of the rash that was on the way.  The bottom picture was full blown rash/acne. The picture really does not do it justice. The fact that people at the Christmas party we attended on Christmas Eve kept asking what was wrong with his face was a clue that it was not just me being a little concerned with a slight breakout. My cute baby boy had become a full blown pizza face.

Once we got home, things started to get much better. He was back in his element, the fussiness was gone and our sweet baby boy started smiling for us! His rash is getting better every day. The doctor has us treating it with a special lotion and he is almost completely back to his normal sweet baby face.

All in all, our Christmas in Louisiana was great. It was so nice to get to celebrate Andrew's first Christmas  with our entire family. Not to mention, Cooper and Oscar absolutely love the amount of yard space that my parents have. They spent so much time checking things out and keeping everyone safe.

It turns out that while we were gone, Dallas had a White Christmas. It's a shame that we missed it, but I would not trade our Christmas tradition for a little snow. The time with the entire family together is priceless. We can't wait till next year!