Raleigh Thanksgiving 08

The week before Thanksgiving my Mom came up to help me with Maddox since it was the second week in a row that Marshall was gone.  He was in New York, or Texas, I don't even remember.  It ends up that I was very lucky to have Mom there because Maddox was sick that week, I lost my voice AGAIN, I had an Orchestra field trip....and it all led up to a trip to the doctor to find out Mdx had an ear infection and dehydration.  We got some medicine, bought a few humidifiers, and the doc assured me everything would be fine.

My Orchestra field trip went as well as it could have.  The van to pick us up was late, causing a little anxiety on my part as I waited in the lobby with my students who kept saying they had to go to the bathroom.  All the students turned in their permission forms, and were dressed appropriately- that was a first for me in my entire teaching career.  At my old job there was always someone who would show up in a mini-skirt to play the cello.  Ha!  I knew that staying in tune was going to be difficult because it was freezing outside with a high in the 30s!  Once we got to the Community Center I had to set the stage up really quickly because they had interpreted my seating plan (which I had drawn and hand delivered the day before) as something like a choir set up....not an orchestra.  The stage lights weren't on, and there was no heat....but besides that it was GREAT!  The students were so well behaved and played as well as could be expected in such strange conditions.  The old people loved us.  :)

Maddox and I planned to leave Newport News on Friday after work to drive to Raleigh.  I had the car packed and had gone home to make sure the dog was taken care of and then went to go get Mdx from the CDC.  When I got there they said the Nurse needed to speak with me about her diaper rash.  It ends up that the antibiotics she was on for her ear infection were causing her to essentially poop acid (a little TMI, but that's what you get for reading my blog) and her whole bottom and the lower half of her back were burned.  The Nurse said that if I didn't take her to the Pediatrician and get a prescription cream that she would start bleeding and we would end up in Urgent Care in North Carolina.  SO- with the car packed I called the doc, got them to phone in a prescription, drove to the pharmacy, got the script and got on the road.   No stress in my life, NO SIR!  And people wonder why I like wine so much??

I had forgotten the food I was planning on taking in the car, so we stopped at a McDonalds for a quick diaper change and Chicken McNuggets.  However, since it was dark and I'm paranoid that Mdx will choke in the back of the car- I was driving down I-95 with my interior light on and radio off, so I could see and hear her eating.  Once we arrived in Raleigh almost 2 hours later than I wanted to- it was McIntyre family craziness!  Mason and Jennie (the guests of honor) were there, having come up from Arkansas to visit before Mason's impending deployment.  Opa, Aunt Lisa and Phyllis, and Uncle Doug were all down from Pittsburgh, and of course Mike and Carla were there!  Maddox mostly just wanted to play with the dogs and took to Aunt Jennie and Uncle Mason immediately.  She LOVES her Uncle Mason.  It was adorable.  She was actually pretty darn friendly to everyone, I was so glad. 

Here is Mdx the next day playing with Grandma's farm.  Jennie did her hair.

Sitting with Opa having a bottle.  Her onesie says "I'm bringing chubby back".

And YES- we are working on getting rid of the paci from the first picture and the bottle from the second.  She doesn't have her paci all day at school- she only gets it to sleep now.  And, I've been giving her milk in a sippy cup instead of a bottle before bed.  She doesn't seem to care.

Marshall's oldest brother Marcus and his wife Kris arrived with their two dogs on Saturday.  So- there were 4 dachshunds in the house!  Ellie (their oldest dog) kept following Mdx around and growling at her, snipping at her, trying to take her toys, and just being generally not nice.  Mdx ignored her and just went on with life like nothing was wrong, and eventually Ellie just gave up after constant fussing.  People kept saying how it was so great that Mdx wasn't scared of her- but I haven't found much that Mdx is actually scared of......maybe we SHOULD go see Santa Claus after all.

On Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving.  Jennie helped me get Mdx's shoes on.

At dinner all the "little kids" were at the big table, and all the "adults" were in the Kitchen!

Mdx was willing to share her food- but I think she ate mostly off Jennie's plate.

On Monday we celebrated Christmas- complete with decorations!  We convinced Mike to put out two inflatables to get us into the holiday spirit.  Marshall's Aunt Lisa took Mdx outside and showed her the lights and music that went with them!  We also took some family photos since it had been years since all 3 McIntyre sons had been together.

Mason, Carla, Marshall, and Marcus

Four generations of McIntyres.  Mdx is trying to kiss her Daddy.

Later on was present time.  Mdx opened her gifts, even though she was SO tired!

Mdx had quite a large stack of gifts, including a pewter plate and cup from Great-Grandma McIntyre.  After opening most of them she went upstairs and fell asleep instantly.

One of Marshall's favorite gifts was a boat he had built as a child at his grandparents' house in Ohio.  He can still name all the parts!

That's all for tonight, tomorrow I'll try and add pics from the rest of our journey.  Thanks to Carla McIntyre for the photos.....I was busy chasing the baby around and hardly took any at all.  :)