Post Christmas Updates!

When we last left off, we were a few days away from Christmas. Here is what has happened since then.

We got the results of Molly's allergy test back. The blood test showed that Molly had a level 1 (out of 6) reaction to milk. Everything else came back negative. Since she had the reaction, we were referred on to an allergist. We got an appointment with the allergist the very next day. We went and had a skin test for milk. There was no reaction.

Basically, the allergist said that she doesn't have a milk allergy but a milk intolerance. Apparently though it doesn't take a great deal of milk to trigger the bad reaction. We're in a trial and error period where we are gradually reintroducing some milk stuff and seeing what happens. Yogurt is not a problem but we haven't gone and started cheese or whole milk yet. Might not happen for a while.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree this year.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 5pm service at Hixson UMC. After the service was over, my parents came over and we had shrimp gumbo. Before the girls went to bed, we did the traditional Christmas Eve stuff.

Here's a picture of the family.

Here is a picture of just the girls in their Christmas dresses...

We also hung stockings by the chimney with care...

The last step was to read the Night Before Christmas. It ended up being a family affair with my parents there with us and John and Sue joining in via Skype video chat on the computer. The girls were much more active and squirmy compared to last year.

Christmas morning came.

The girls seemed to enjoy going through their different gifts. I don't think they "get it" yet but that's coming soon enough.

After we wrapped things up at home, we went over to my parents house. Here are some pictures of the girls and their grandparents.

McKenzie and her favorite toy...

The day after Christmas, we loaded up and headed to Maryville. We had a lot of family fun over the next 3 days. First, we went to Fred and Cynthia's house and had "Fajitas Navidad". On Sunday there was a family brunch at Billy and Emmy's. Late that night, McKenzie decided to cut some new teeth. We were up with her from 11pm til 2am and again at 5am. Fun times were had by all...

The girls got some more new toys to play with. First was a small couch that they can both sit on and share. Here they are doing what they typically do: climbing on the couch.

And finally, a riding toy that also doubles as a walker. Here the girls are sharing.

After Christmas, Lindsey had the rest of the week off. The girls went to stay with Gigi and G-Daddy for New Year's Eve while Lindsey and I had our Sunday School Christmas party. I'm not sure who went to bed first, the girls or the grandparents.

The girls started back at their parents day out program this past week. Molly and McKenzie moved up to the 1 year old class. We tried this once before Christmas but the girls didn't do so well. There were a lot of older kids in there and the girls didn't handle the transition well. Now, most of the older kids moved up to the next class.

Amazingly, both of the girls have transitioned pretty well. They are both able to take a nap on a mat on the floor. We might have cheated a little by sending their lovies and pacifiers but really, whatever works.

So, that's it for now. We keep rocking right along...