Pick a Card, Any Card!

Typically by Thanksgiving I'm already completely prepared for Christmas...but not this year! A pregnancy full of limits this year and now a newborn in the house makes for three kids ages three and under, so I've not excelled at holiday preparation! OY! Though nothing is wrapped yet, most of our gift shopping is actually done. Now I just need to think about Christmas cards!

One of my favorite places to create our annual cards and personalized gifts is Shutterfly! From them we can get:

*Photo Books (we can give these as brag books for grandparents!): http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

*Photo Mugs (would be perfect for relatives to see our smiley baby w/ each cup o' joe!): http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

*Canvas Wall Art (these are cooler than a boring framed photo!):
http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art

Shutterfly currently has an incredible bloggers promotion for web-writers to attain 50 FREE holiday cards! Here's more information about that offer: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 How great that would be for me---I have a blog, and I need Christmas cards!!!

Look at all these choices: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards! I think the Pretty Poinsettia Print is sweet!

I can't wait to send out cards and to collect them from our friends and family as well! Hope to hear from you!

Doughnuts for Dads

On 10/7, Kyleigh's Preschool had a little breakfast event they called "Doughnuts for Dads", where fathers (or other family members) were invited to join the kids for breakfast before taking them to class. Chris's previous job would have made that impossible for him to participate, but the Lord has blessed him and our family with this more family-friendly career and we don't take for granted the little things the Big Guy orchestrates!

Chris was happy to get to hang with Kyleigh and see her classmates and enjoy our girl's excitement about school as she chatted with him about her teacher and classmates in the room. Of course Kyleigh's allergic to donuts, but we found her some allergy-free bagels to take with her (we figured since bagels are also round it may avoid making her feel singled out). That girl didn't care what she ate for breakfast--she simply ate up the fact that her daddy was there with her, that's all that mattered in her heart!

I sent the camera along and these are pics that Chris brought back of their sweet morning together:

A Wacky Week

Wow, this week has been a wacky week--to put it mildly!

Addison:

On Tuesday our sweet Addison randomly spit up blood after a feeding. She was not fussy or sick, did not have a fever or any indication of illness or injury. It was near the end of Chris's work day, so when I called he came home immediately while I got the kids' shoes on and prepared to leave. We went to the ER and had Addie examined, and it appeared there was nothing wrong. Our six week old girl was just smiling and cooing and paying attention to all the nurses that doted on her!

After the physical examination by multiple nurses and a doctor, we were discharged to go home. I was expecting a battery of tests, but there was seemingly nothing to test for! We were asked to watch Addison's eating, burping, and bowel habits closely for the next 24 hrs. If anymore blood came up, we'd then know to investigate the upper GI...if any blood went down into her diaper, we'd know to investigate the upper GI. Fortunately and thankfully, there were no further instances! So what was going on???

The only explanation doctors could give us was that Addie had potentially had a teeny tiny blood vessel burst at the end of her esophagus. Apparently is quite common in babies, didn't cause her any noticeable discomfort, and would quickly heal itself. We're so thankful our tiny princess is fine and dandy!

Kyleigh:

On Thursday Kyleigh was at Preschool and a teacher's aide accidentally gave her a snack she's allergic to. Apparently she only got one bite when the teacher and aide noticed and swiped it away, but still they gave me a call to let me know what had happened--and I'm thankful they did!

I loaded up Josiah and Addison and headed to the school with Benadryl. Chris left work and got there before us, so he texted me to let me know she was okay. Kyleigh was sooo sad because she thought she was either in trouble or that we were going to make her go home while all her classmates were still having fun! Awwww, the girl loves school so much! We hung around for a while to make sure there was no delay in a reaction, such as a rash or trouble breathing (reactions are typically immediate and then progress over time), and since she seemed well we let her stay. We watched for signs of concern all evening and saw no physical reactions, so she was definitely in the clear! *Phew!*

Today (Friday) was a chill, relaxing day at home for the kids and me. But then around dinner time things took a sudden turn for the worse. Kyleigh fussed through dinner, then afterward had wrenching in her stomach. A few times she thought she might vomit, but didn't. Her temperature was lower than normal, plus she was clammy and pale, too. For hours she's been tossing, turning, and twisting on the couch, trying to find some sort of comfort and finally vomited so it appears we have a long night ahead of us. So far I'm not sure what's causing her tummy to ache, but I hope she can find relief and get some rest.

These were stressful, scary moments that turned out just fine so far, and we give glory to God for his protection over these children. Now, if we can just get through the weekend without Josiah breaking a bone or needing stitches my heart may recover and be ready to take on the next week!

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We ♥ Art

Around here, we LOVE art projects. Last night Kyleigh colored a picture then she and I worked on some simple cutting and gluing of silly, colorful shapes from construction paper. There was really no motive to this artwork, just that she wanted to use scissors and glue! LOL

At first Kyleigh was gluing all the matching colors together. Then, near the end, I noticed she started pairing up matching shapes near one another instead. I'm glad she recognizes these similarities and differences and has her own way to showcase them!

First Few Weeks In Photos

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I had let my hair grow long, then decided it was heavy and boring so I opted for a trim. That trim turned out poorly, so I had to get another cut! And the results...

Before:

After: