2009, Oh Crap

New Year's Day Nick was given a Pixo's penguin from his Aunt Becky. Pixo's are popcorn kernel sized beads that adhere to each other (among other things) when wet. I found Nick in the bathroom shortly after trying to wet the beads that he had just wedged in his ears. Adam and I tried everything to get the darn things out but we had no luck. Since it was New Year's day the doctor's office and urgent care were closed so we had to take him into Auburn General's ER. After hours of waiting and trying, the ER doctor was also unable to extract the Pixo's. We were referred to an Ear Nose Throat specialist the next morning to schedule surgery. After Nick received a blessing from Adam we took him into the ENT specialist in the morning and they again tried to suction the beads from his ears. I had to hold him down to the table with the help of 3 other nurses, it was traumatic to say the least. She was about to send us out to the scheduling desk to set up the surgery when another nurse walked in the room with a different kind of suction tube, one with a cusp on the end of it. Again all four of us pinned Nick to the table and after a couple attempts, out came the fetchin' Pixos! Phew! It was so terrible for Nick that I'm sure we won't have to deal with this again. Thus began 2009 for the Relf Family!

Late Christmas Posting

It's hard to believe that Christmas was last month, 2009 is in full swing and Obama has been sworn into office. Where does the time go??
We had a beautiful Christmas. Some of my favorite memories this year were Christmas Eve with Adam's family, Nick being so excited for Santa, the Gingerbread House party and of course our traditional Christmas Day dinner at my Grandma's house. We had 10" of snow at our house by Christmas Eve, it was amazing. Mostly, I was grateful to be home with my family relishing in our good health and abundant blessings. This year's Christmas was extra tight, but Santa's helpers fulfilled our boy's wishlists, overwhelming Adam and I.

Jake's favorite present was a Thomas Train tunnel that he loves to crawl through and roll in.


Without a doubt, Nick's favorite was his Jeep Power Wheel that he starting asking for somewhere around Thanksgiving. It was my favorite part of Christmas morning!

Tired, Happy, Blessed, Thankful, Hopeful us.