The Coddingtons

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Christmas Traditions

When Caleb and I got married seven years ago, he surprised me with a Coddington Christmas tradition. Each Christmas, the husband gets his wife a gift each day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I absolutely LOVE this...who wouldn't?!

On the first day, I always get a Hallmark ornament that is reminiscent of something significant, fun, or even ordinary that happened in our lives that year. I got a little teary-eyed this year as we hung up the SEVEN ornaments together. It's really fun to see the collection growing and remember all of the major things we've experienced together.

Year One: Marriage
Year Two: Got our kitty cats (Gabi and Maya)
Year Three: Bought our first house in Grand Rapids, MI
Year Four: Vacation to Hawaii
Year Five: Bought our second house in Brighton, MI
Year Six: Hannah Banana
Year Seven: Enjoyment of watching Hannah grow up

Thank you, honey, for making Christmas so memorable and special to our family and me. I look forward to celebrating many more with you! Now, what will my ornament be this
year?
Hmmmm.....

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Thanksgiving with the Coddingtons

This year we traveled to Rochester, New York, to be with the Coddingtons for Thanksgiving. The 8 hour car trip was pretty uneventful. I had all kinds of tricks up my sleeve this time for our toddler who absolutely refuses to sleep in the car, no matter how tired or bored she is, or dark it is outside. Here are some of the strategies I used for any of you who might find yourself in a similar situation:

1) After the first 30 minutes, offer a snack that your child has never had before
2) Every hour that your child is well behaved, let them pick a wrapped present from the Dollar Store to open
3) Offer another snack each hour (I timed it so it was halfway in between present opening times)
4) Sit in the backseat with your child for a portion of the trip to change things up for him/her
5) Sing at least one song as a family every hour
6) Hannah opened this as one of her gifts and it entertained her for over an hour!! I highly recommend getting one! (Note: It was much cheaper at a local toy store!)
7) Stop as often as you can to let your child run around and get some pent-up energy out
8) DVDs, DVDs, DVDs

Caleb found his old train set in the basement and it quickly became Hannah's favorite toy of the week!

I think Hannah looks like me a lot in this picture below. What do you think?

Hannah loved playing the piano with JuJu! She even sang along sometimes.

Hannah with Great Grandpa at Uncle Aaron's and Aunt Lisa's.

We had a really fun vacation with the Coddingtons. It's always so sad to say goodbye. I really wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. Hannah loves her JuJu and PaPa!

Children's Museum in Rochester, New York

Hannah loved, loved, LOVED the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. We spent several hours exploring the hands-on activities there.

I think Hannah's favorite activity was the carousel that she rode twice and the train ride that she rode two or three times.

Can you tell me how to get...how to get to Sesame Street?

Monday, November 16, 2009

Allergy Testing

On Hannah's second birthday, I shared my concerns about Hannah's reaction to eating peanuts/peanut butter with her pediatrician. She would basically break out in hives around her lips after consuming food containing peanuts. Dr. Hall ordered some blood work testing, and my suspicions were correct--Hannah has a peanut allergy.

The next step in the process was to visit an allergist to determine the severity of her allergy and also to develop an action plan. We had our initial visit about a month ago and Dr. Song requested some skin testing which we had done today. He also prescribed and Epipen Jr which still feels kind of weird to have in her diaper bag and tell caregivers about.

Poor, poor Hannah!!! They prepared about 12 tests to be done on her back. Rather than have her lay on the cold table, I asked about having her lay on her stomach across my lap. I thought that she might feel a little more secure that way. She was such a trooper! The nurse drew all kinds of dots and letters on her back and then BAM (twice)! Hannah burst out in tears and it was so hard to not be able to pick her up off of my lap and give her hugs and kisses. She had to lay that way for 5 minutes, which felt like eternity! She cried and cried, but remained still and cooperative.

I am very, very happy to report that Hannah is NOT allergic to anything else they tested (shellfish, fish, soy, and tree nuts). She did test positive again for peanuts, but the doctor said it was on the lower end of the spectrum so he thinks she might have a chance of outgrowing the allergy. It is such a blessing that Hannah ONLY has peanut allergies. They have been very easy to avoid now that packaging is labeled very clearly and Hannah really doesn't know what she's missing.

Anyways, it was a bit of a difficult visit this morning to the doctor, but nothing a chocolate milkshake and cheeseburger from McDonald's couldn't fix :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

The Iceman Cometh!!

This weekend our family headed up to Traverse City, Michigan, for the 28-mile Iceman Cometh mountain biking race.

Here's my cute husband at the start in Kalkaska, Michigan. There were 4500 riders this year (largest ever) and I think that makes this race the 3rd largest in the country according to some people I overheard talking.

Hannah's wishing daddy "Good luck!."

We enjoyed playing in the leaves while we waited for daddy to take off from the starting line.

Playing in the dirt was also a lot of fun!

Hannah and I stopped at a cute little playground on the way to pick up daddy.

Here's Caleb rounding the corner at the finish line at Timber Ridge! Hannah and I made it just in the nick of time!

Caleb finished 10th in his class at 2 hours and 32 minutes! Way to go, honey! You can see for yourself here (Caleb was in the Beginner's Class, men ages 25-29).