The Beutel Blog: Max's first Christmas

Well, here it is again...another very long, picture-and-video filled post to catch up on the past week or so. I do have a good excuse this time for being late, though! Max was diagnosed two days ago with bronchiolitis and a raging ear infection in his right ear. He never seemed bothered by the ear, which is odd because the doctor looked at it for less that two seconds and exclaimed, "Whoa! If you let that go much longer, it'll burst!" How comforting. Anyway, the real problem we've been dealing with is Max's wheezing. As an asthmatic myself, it scared me yesterday when he was working so hard to breathe and sounded so awful. We took him in to the doctor, (yes, two days in a row) got some albuterol to give him through a nebulizer, and thankfully he's doing much better today. Poor Max. The doctor wouldn't give us a definite answer (because they don't diagnose asthma in children under age 2), but basically, babies who have bronchiolitis and respond to nebulizer treatments have a much higher chance to become asthmatic. Take that and add in the fact that I, his mom, have it, and he's pretty much at a 50-50 risk to have asthma. Sorry, little guy.

Anyway. On to Christmas! Saturday, December 20th was the Beutel Christmas. I don't think I really have any good pictures from that, but we had a great time and got to meet cousin Mark's fiancee, Ashley. She fit right in and we're excited to have her in the family! Then, on Sunday, we had the Wagenbach Christmas at U. Marv and A. Paula's. Again, I don't have any pictures, but we definitely had a great time!

Tuesday, December 23rd was the Dean Beutel Family Christmas. This, I have pictures of. :) The first one is of Max 'helping' his grandpa open his present. You can see Steph on the webcam in the background (the second annual webcam Christmas we've had) and Katy being Vanna White and turning the camera and screen so Nate and Steph could see everyone.

Like every other kid, Max loved the wrapping paper!

This present was labeled: To Grandma From Max :)

We had lunch and did presents early, around 1:00, so that Nate and Steph wouldn't have to stay up so late (they're 7 hours ahead of us). After we all relaxed a bit, we started watching The Princess Bride and then decorated gingerbread houses. We had three houses this year. One for Tim/Melissa, one for Sheila, and one for Katy/Mom. They did great! Here's some pictures of the busy workers:

Dad didn't decorate any houses...he just played with Max. :)

And now, the finished products...

Then, on Christmas Eve Day (Wednesday the 24th), we had the Curt Rassi Family Christmas. We had lunch around 12:30 and did presents in the afternoon, after the Nativity play. I don't have any pictures of that because Greg and I were helping send out the 'actors' at the right times. :) But here's some pictures of the gift-giving and afterwards:

Grace finally got her American Girl doll! It's Josefina...as Grace told me, "I've been wishing for her for 2 whole years!"

Jason trying on his stylish cowboy boot slippers from Dad and Mom

Max and Lincoln playing with some of the wrapping

It's so funny...Hannah has never taken a pacifier for Heather, but she loves taking Max's! :D

The dollhouse was a hot commodity at Grandma Rassi's house! From left: Hope, Kate, Silas, and Max

Max was grabbing onto Lincoln to pull himself up

Max and Mommy at Christmas

The Settlers of Cataan crew...if I remember correctly, John had to leave because it was getting late, so Caleb took his place. And ended up winning.

We did our little Greg Beutel Family Christmas on Christmas morning. Here's Max working on his presents...well...kind of...

At my request, Greg tried to get a picture of Max in his Christmas outfit by the tree. This is about the best shot. :)

We also did a family picture.

Christmas Day after church, we went to Gary and Debbie Rassi's for the 'big' Rassi Christmas, which consists of a large meal and visiting. I think that evening we went to Dad and Mom Rassi's to hang out. Then, on Friday evening, we went to U. Roger and A. Sally Koch's for supper and some games since Rustin, Sharon, and Grace were there.

Grace and Max were pretty funny...