videos from Christmas

Christmas morning

Even though Linden was not feeling good, we had fun opening up all her presents and the violin was such a hit! She's been playing it ever since and loves it so much- she says that "santa made this vio-in for me!" And, as a side note, she had these really cute Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas morning, but she puked on them at 4:30 am, so she wore her regular jammies- poor kid! I will be sure to have some back-ups next year!

Merry Christmas friends!

We have so much to be thankful for and even more to look forward to in 2009. We have been so lucky and blessed to have such amazing friends and family that supports us and has been there for us in 2008. It's been a wonderful year and we're excited for so many more. Thank you for catching up with us via our blog, we feel so close to all of you, even though for some, we are miles away!
Merry Christmas!

Linden sits on Santa's Lap

Linden could not have been happier!

This is Santa asking her if she really wants a violin! He was a little surprised!

Seeing Santa when we were in line, she said, "oh my gosh, Mommy!"

We went to sit on Santa's lap today and Linden was sooo great! She told Santa that she wanted a violin and that she was a "good girl". I was so proud of her and she was so excited that she got to sit on Santa's lap- he even gave her a candy cane! Pretty amazing day!

All I want for Christmas is my appendix taken out!

So here we are, Monday afternoon in Menlo Park. It's been a whirlwind past few days and we are happy they are behind us! Last Sunday I was really sick- thinking it was just the flu, I pushed through and thankfully had the help of our wonderful Nanny, Anna. Then on Thursday I woke up in the most pain I have ever experienced and told Brett that something was wrong. He took Linden to school for the day and came home to take me to the Palo Alto Urgent Care for IV fluids ASAP.
After a greuling 8 hours there, it was confirmed that it was my appendix and it had to be removed! Brett had left for Linden and I got rushed to Stanford Hospital in an ambulance ( my first- and hopefully last ride!) and met my surgeon- Dr. Bagder- it was a sign!!! With Brett a UW alum and the biggest Badger fan around, I figured I was in good hands!
So Brett got Linden to bed and a neighbor came over to stay with her, so Brett could be with me. Our friend, and anesteoligist resident, Billy Hightower was at Stanford and escorted us to the OR- it was comforting to see a friendly face in the OR!
Thankfully my appendix did not rupture- it was extremely swollen and leaking, but nothing Badger could not clean up. Unfortunatly, the could not finish the surgery lapthroscopicly since the appendix was so enlarged- so a nice little scar on my tummy for now! I was telling Dr. Badger that I wanted to wear a bikini for the rest of my life- so he did the best he could!
After 3 days in the hospital, I am now at home. Linden told the Jamba Juice lady yesterday with Brett that "Mommy is feeling better" and she told me on Saturday that she got to go to Kent and Christina's so Daddy could go to the "hostital" to see Mommy".
Still super sick, but able to slosh around. Dr.'s order's to stay put and no work for 3 weeks- which will be a feat in itself! We were sopposed to go to Chicago for Christmas, but it looks like we're California Christmas-ers this year. Seeing as it's 60 degrees today and Chicago is 3 below, I think we're better off! Let's just hope SAnta can re-route our gifts to our home, instead of Chicago! Ho, ho, ho!
Take care- Laura

Pictures to come soon- I promise!

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"No time to blog, you say?" This is why...

Thursday 10am
Kara and I attempted to make gingerbread houses with Avery and Linden. We very promptly decided that we need to wait a few years until they can really understand. "It's just decoration, we don't eat the candy" about 100 times!

This is Kara trying to use my camera....BUSTED!

Friday
Haircut, grocery shop, target, osh, look for shoes for party, target again, and then pick up Linden at School.

Sat. 9 am
Shoot a family portrait of a troubled two year old and her 4 month old twin sisters ( the 2 year old was tougher than the babes) See http://web.me.com/laurahamilton/Site/Welcome.html for more pics, then run home to do laundry, vacuum the entire house, hang garland outside, Brett had to chop a birch log for the fireplace, (eventhough we don't use the fireplace....don't ask!) clean the house, hide Linden's toys, make appitizers, make and taste test martini mix, put more ornaments on the tree, do some photshop on the family pics, grocery again, get gas, get ice.

7:30pm
Brett puts Linden to bed and our first guests arrive to our second annual Willow's playgroup cocktail party. We had a great time and Brett was the entertainment for the evening, and Bruno in his Santa suit- gold booties and all!








Sunday
Breakfast, walk, clean up, run the dishwasher twice, brunch with the Hightower's, nap at noon- we were pooped! More photoshop, and a trip to Los Altos to meet Emily-sorry, no pics! And now, here I am at 8:30 at night feeling guilty about my bad blogging (sorry Mom!), better luck this week!

Goodnite!