Sorry about my lack of a Christmas blog, most of us in the Hall household have been sick, sick, sick... 'tis the season I guess! Poor Payton got really sick last week, it was awful. She wasn't getting better on the antibiotics, and so I took her back to the doctor. Turns out, whatever she had was resistant to that particular antibiotic, so she still had an ear infection and was absolutely miserable. At that point she was also so congested that she was wheezing and breathing really fast. It was really scary, I hated seeing her like that! We ended up taking her to urgent care the next night (her doctor's office was too hard to get a hold of because everyone was at a Christmas party, go figure) and they gave her a nebulizer treatment and some albuterol and she has been MUCH better. She's practically a new baby! However, once she started to get better I started to get sick... I actually had to call in sick to work on Monday, which I have never done in my working career. Still not better unfortunately, but managing to make it through the day. But enough about that stuff, let's talk Christmas!

I headed up to Gig Harbor with Payton Christmas Eve morning, and we got there bright and early. Kyle came up as soon as he got off work. We always do Christmas Eve with the Book family, and we were so thankful that we could all be together this year. Grandma has done great since her surgery! Two weeks after brain surgery and she's walking and talking like you'd never know it. She is one amazing lady :) It was fun to watch Payton open gifts, she's funny because she would rip off one piece of wrapping paper and then play with that one piece. We would try to encourage her to open the rest, but only one piece at a time please! She ended up getting a little overwhelmed with everything, she got a LOT of gifts last weekend. Not that we're complaining :) She eventually went to bed, and we continued Christmas Eve downstairs. It was a great holiday as always!

My new stocking (thanks GiGi!) with my mommy and daddy's

Hanging with mommy!

I was VERY interested in the dogs this weekend. My mom and grandma are trying to teach me the word "gentle" because I like to swat at them.

Getting lots of love from Auntie Chelsea!

Opening my Christmas gifts

A holiday tradition... Christmas pajamas from Grandma! Payton got Christmas jammies from her OWN grandma this year... the tradition continues!

The next morning everyone got up with the baby, we were all excited to experience her first Christmas morning with her. We opened our stockings, and then exchanged gifts by the tree. All of the excitement tired her out pretty quick; she was only able to stay awake about two hours in between naps! We had a relaxing day lounging around the house, then headed to my Aunt Tawnya and Uncle David's for dinner and Christmas with the Casebolts. By that point Payton was a pro at this gift thing! Her cousin McKenna helped unwrap all her gifts.

Opening my stocking Christmas morning with my daddy!

The "kids"...

This is fun guys!

I got a BIG present!

It's MINE! lol :)

My mom and dad got this neat gift that will let them take me on hikes and stuff!

Giggling with Grandpa Scott

Hall family :)

My adorable outfit on Christmas day!

Playing with my new kitchen

Kyle headed back to Portland Christmas night because he had to work the next day, but Payton and I stayed at my parent's house through Sunday. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but then again it always seems like holidays fly by way too fast. It was also great being able to spend so much time with my sister; I don't get to see her nearly enough! But before I knew it, it was time to head back to the real world... thank you to everyone who made such a memorable and fun first Christmas for Payton!

A lot of exciting changes have been happening around here, including a really big one... Kyle and I have decided to move. I got offered a job at Albany General Hospital, and I decided to accept it last week. It will be a big change for us, but a very positive one I think. Kyle and I have been wanting to move to a smaller town with less traffic and congestion ever since we had Payton, and we will definitely get that in Albany. So, my last day at Providence is January 11th, and I start at Samaritan on January 17th! It was a hard decision to make, I love my co-workers a lot and it's going to be very hard to leave them. Kyle and I aren't sad to get out of Portland though, and we know we will have more time together and support in Albany. I'll discuss our move in much more detail in a later post!

In other exciting news, Payton is finally starting to really crawl a little bit, exactly one month after she started to army crawl. She will only do it a little bit so far though, and then drop to her stomach and scoot along. At this point, it's much faster for her :) I even got it on video!



We're taking off in just a little bit for Sunriver to spend New Year's with both sides of the family, which is awesome. I can't wait! Just waiting for Payton to wake up from her nap, and then we'll get going. I can't believe tomorrow is already 2011, it seems unreal. As usual though, it's shaping up to be a very exciting year for the Hall family! :)

Happy New Year everyone, I'll blog again soon!