This Poetic Present: Christmas in San Antonio

After the long drive home from Charleston we noticed Gracie had a fever. By the next day her fever was up to 103 and it wasn't budging. Over the next 7 days (and yes, that included Christmas day and beyond) we ended up in the ER twice with crazy high fever... the second time her fever hit 106... serious business. We knew Gracie had a virus as she followed many of the same symptoms my dad had while we were in Charleston, but after further testing we discovered she also had a UTI. The two illnesses combined is what sent her fever sky high. I had some panicky moments, let me tell you. And some seriously long nights. Really don't want to repeat that ever again! After Christmas we had some more testing done and found out Gracie has kidney reflux where her bladder sends urine back up to one of her kidneys. So, to prevent further infection and keep her kidneys healthy, Gracie is now on antibiotics for the next year and then we'll retest to see if she's grown out of this condition. The first time we tried to pick up the antibiotics the cost was going to be $400/month with insurance. We were like, uh, no. So the doc picked another one and it's $9 every 9 days. Can do.

Christmas eve, despite the illness, was still wonderful. We had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" family party. This year I made an out-of-the-box tres leches cake. It was AWFUL! After Billy took a bite he sadly said, "happy birthday Jesus." And I said, "we tried." and Libby wrapped it up with "and we're sorry!" We had a good laugh about that. Christmas Eve supper was delicious though and we just might have to make it tradition: homemade potato leak and sausage soup... yum.

Christmas day, what can I say. I'm eager for the day my girls get the whole real idea of it. I'm also eager for the day Libby allows us to see her excitement without trying to hide it. She would not let on AT ALL that she was amazed by the big basketball hoop taking up our living room space. That silly girl! Here's our Christmas in SA in pics...