Merry December!!!! Who has their Christmas decor up?? We are all decorated. Abby is definitely more into the tree this year than last...but still is doing really good with it

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We put up the tree last night. Jack is very interested in the tree and has taken a few balls off and tried to put them back! I am hoping he loses interest in it quickly

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Well, we had a great time in WV - I gained 4 pounds in a week - every day is a Thanksgiving feast out there!!!!

CJ was great there and on the drive there and back, only 5-10 minutes of fussing total!!! - for a 2 year old on a 12 hour car-ride, strapped into a set the whole time, i think that is WONDERFUL!

She slept great in her new "Big Girl" travel bed, first time not in a crib or pack-n-play. It comes with its own built in sleeping bag/cover, and a battery operated pump, and a carry bag - ours is just like this, a Winnie the Pooh Theme, and we got it at Big Lots for only $15: Disney Ready Bed Toddler Winnie the Pooh inflatable - eBay (item 170283262480 end time Dec-06-08 08:42:43 PST)

The first couple nights, I sometimes found her on the floor asleep next to it, but she got the idea after that - only issue was after naps, she would wake up, get out of bed, and make a big mess of the room, quietly, so we didn't hear her on the monitor, LOL.

Unfortunately she and i both came down with something the last couple days, and had low fever, sore throats and runny noses, didn't sleep well at all, and she seemed to have nightmares the last two nights too....she would wake up crying and just sit there in her bed with her eyes closed sitting up crying - I would go talk to her and lay her back down and she went right back to sleep, and no more on the last night or after we got home, though, so that is good!

We only had rain/snow for the last 30 miles of the trip home, but it has been snowing every since, and the schools around here are all closed for the day....alos we are out of groceries ( we tried to use up everything before we left) and since it took DH 20 minutes to get to the next town 6 miles away in the AWD Rav4, I am not going anywhere in the van.

I sent him a grocery list to pick up on his way home from work!

I am planning CJ's b-day party for Sunday( I can't believe she'll be 2 on Monday - 1 week!!!), Elmo theme, but not all-out, it is just a family party. I am planning to make an Elmo cake, crock-pot sloppy joes, taffy apple salad, chips and veggies and dips. We got her a Fisher-Price Elmo Phone that you can program to say her name!!! After the party, my SIL and mom will help us Decorate for Christmas!!!! I can't Wait!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving???

Jess

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Oh Jess sounds so fun and the party sounds great! Did you get your bows?? PM me.

Lauren- we are all decorated. Took all day yesterday but pretty done well except for a spotlight onthe house and lights int he spiral trees by the garage and a wreath on the front door. I have not found the wreath yet?? We put wreaths on all the windows and then we were like UM where is the front door wreath?? I don't remember throwing it out but I could have if it faded too much? Who knows so I have to make a new one this week. Snowing now so no going out to finish putting all that out. Inside is nice and toasty with all the lights on and Christmas candle lit. I love this time of year. I started putting Christmas outfits on Riley today. Let the fun begin. Oh and i got her the two CUTEST custom dresses!! they should be on the way now! Can't wait! We have a Breakfast with Santa party Sat morning and my Y work party is that night. They are doing it at Fun Expedition so the kids can come. Looking forward to both!

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Here they are...
it will say HO HO HO under the Santa instead of her name as I wanted to be able to re-sale
and this one..
In her size of course! I gotta find some of these darn striped tights in 6-12! Anyone finds any let me know!

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Karen~ SO CUTE! I cannot wait to see your Christmas pictures! I just got some cute tights for Sid at Kelly's kids. Kelly's Kids, Kid's Clothes Designed to Mix, Match & Coordinate. They have a few cute patterns for Christmas.

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Thanks Lauren! I bet Sydney's stuff is adorable too! A big ol Bow no doubt! I forgot all about Kelly's kids. Off to see if they have anything we NEED! lol

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Love that Kelly kids website!
Karen, Riley will be so cute in those dresses! What is Carter wearing?

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Karen, those are so cute! We need pictures of her wearing them!!!

Lauren, I bet Sid looks cute! I have to go check out that website for my Syd!

Jess, glad you had a good trip!

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karen - i saw these on GF...not sure if 12-24 would be too big for riley?? but they are striped christmas gap tights.

GymboFriends Gymboree Discussion Forums

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I haven't written in a long time but thought I'd take a moment and say hi! I have to change my siggy, but I'm waiting until this weekend... I'm hoping to get some holiday pics of the boys, but they aren't too great at sitting in front of the camera anymore.

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare. Joel ate a tiny bit of my PBsandwich, literally just the smallest corner that I could tear off. He seemed fine. Then, over an hour later, I got him up from his morning nap, only to find his eye swollen. After looking closer, I realized it wasn't the skin itself, it was the actual WHITE of the eye that was swollen. I absolutely freaked out and thought for sure he was going to go blind. I called DH (he had taken the van to work due to weather, so I had no transportation), he rushed home, and we got him into the ER. They kept giving him different meds (I gave him Benedryl at home, but it wasn't enough), but he just kept getting worse and worse. Within about an hour, he was covered in hives and tomato red skin all over his body. They ended up giving him prednisone, which finally helped. My poor little guy! I felt like the worst human being on the planet. He's actually had pb before (in the same super small amounts), and had a couple red marks by his mouth, but I never actually knew if he was reacting or not.
Anyway, now we know he's definitely allergic. Oddly enough, Evan isn't. Evan has eaten entire half sandwiches of pb and never even slightly reacted. But he won't be getting it anymore either, because they tend to steal from each other and we certainly don't want to put Joel at risk! Joel's on a couple different meds for the next few days, and we have a few different dr. appts next week just to recheck him. He looks and acts totally fine today, though.

Other than that little adventure, life goes on as usual. The boys are so much fun; they love to run (well, they can almost run, anyway) and play all day. I'm hoping to get them snowsuits this weekend so that we can start playing outside.

I've been feeling pretty okay for the most part. Still morning sickness (I notice it really bothers me in the evenings), but other than that, I'm having a much easier pregnancy than last time!

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Sarah- Aww...bless his little heart
I know that scared the mess out of you and Dh.
I hope he gets to feeling better soon
(((BIG HUGS))

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Sarah-what a scare! I am glad Joel is ok. Glad you are having an easier PG, this one has been a lot rougher (my m/s was worse in the evenings too!) but the nausea has finally lifted so I am hoping my body will remember that it likes being PG.

Lauren-we put up our Christmas decorations after thanksgiving. With Avery's birthday being so close to Christmas, I feel added pressure that the decorations be up!

Jess-we are doing Sesame Street for Avery's birthday, and splurged and got her an Elmo Live for her present.

Avery was sick on Thanksgiving and I have been sick since then. Her birthday party is next weekend so I am trying to get everything ready, and we are doing Christmas and birthday pictures on Friday. I can't believe she is going to be 2!! It is such a fun age though.

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Sarah - what a scare! I'm glad you took him to the ER and that he's doing alright now. I can't get Hannah to sit still for a pic either - I'm really trying to get one for the Christmas card, but no luck so far.

Bina - I'm sure everything will come together perfectly for Avery's b-day.

We just got done with a cookie playdate. The moms ended up having to decorate all the cookies but it was still a fun get together.

I'm going to post some news in another thread.

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Sarah - how scary - you are right keeping it away from them both - A friend of mine has a sone with that allergy, and just the oil off a plat that has held a sandwich ( even if you can't see it) can set him off....unfortunately, you may all as a family have to swear off peanut butter. At least you caught it early, and now you know! I am so glad he is OK!

Now for my long rant!

I had an appointment on the 4th, it was for 2:45 for the Gestational Diabetes test, and then a regular prenatal appointment....well, I called them at 10 am to see if I had to fast or anything before the test, and they were like "Yes, so could you just come back tomorrow to do that part?" I told them , "No, it was scheduled to happen during this appointment, and I don't have time to be making another trip over there, I have a baby sitter for today, and I haven't eaten since 7:30 this morning." SO they said OK. I got there right at 2:45, and they left me sitting in the waiting room without doing ANYTHING till 3:25, I went to the desk and asked them if they could at least get the Diabetes thing started , since I knew it takes at least an hour, and I hadn't eaten for almost 8 hours!!!! Also I wanted to get out of there, I had errands to run afterward, and then my organization's Christmas party to attend, too! So they gave me the drink and I chugged it(why couldn't they have done that right when I got there, 40 mintues beofre?!), and then sat there another 15 minutes with some sick old lady next to me hackin up a lung and a kid that came in 20 minutes after me with a fever and his whole family got to go back to a room before they finally came to get me! GRRRRR!

So I finally got to go back to the room, and the nurse took my BP - fine(amazingly, as mad as I was), asked all the typical questions, and I did the urine sample, and finally at 4:25 the Dr. came in, and measured my belly - 28 cm, and listened o the HB - 145....told me 11 weeks left (scheduled C-Seciton @39 w)! YIKES! Then the nurse came in to do the Glucose test on my blodd, and thankfully, it was just a finger stick one, so nice and easy (with CJ, they took blood from my inner-elbow vein before and an hour afte the drink) - Blood Sugar was only 128, and has to be under 135, so I was fine. Theydid find white cells in the urine again - they have every time I have been there an they have sent it in 4 times, with no infection any time - they are sending it in again.

Then the Dr. said everything looks good, and see you in 4 weeks, then 2 weeks for the 2 times after that, then down to once a week!!! I asked if we would do another U/S and he said, "OH, yes, I guess we should! In about 4-6 weeks? You could probably schedule all the rest of your appointments with the girls up front before you go." SO, Jan 9 we have another U/S, so maybe we will know the gender for a month before the baby is born, LOL! I also asked about the Flu Shot - he had totally forgotten, and said I should have one, and got the nurse to come right in and give me one - that was the only fast thing about the whole appointment! I also had to remind him that for me to go to Kewanee Hospital (which is the only one less than 45 miles away, and is brand new, and is where we delivered CJ - except at the older building) he has to write a Referral to the hospital and send it in to the insurance ( that hospital is not in-network) - but if he refers me , it should be covered just like in-network....and a referral is good for 90 days after it is written, so even written now, that would cover me for the birth and a couple weeks after (incase of any possible complications before or after, I would like to have it in early) - so he asks ME what he needs to write and send? I don't KNOW...a referral - don't Dr.s do those all the time??....that is all the Company told me ....I told him he better call and get the specifics so it is done right. UGH!

SO anyway, I finally got out of there at 5:00 after scheduling all the appointments for the rest of my PG; at least that one thing is organized! I ran to McDonalds and at a double QP with cheese meal and then went to Wal-mart and did all the $200+ worth of shopping for Cj's second B-day party which will be tomorrow afternoon - got home just in time to go to my 7:00 P.E.O. Christmas party, after mom and Dane relay-unloaded the van! Luckily Mom was around to watch CJ - that appointment would've been 3 times worse if she had to endure that wait too....though they might've hurried more if she was there.

Today I made the sloppy Joes for tomorrow's party, worked 10-3 at the library, made a sculpture of Elmo sledding for her cake (while at work - shhhhh! don't tell), mom watched Cj and made the Broccoli Salad and Taffy Apple Salad while I was working,and I came home and baked the cake, and I am now ready to go cut it and put in the filling in between the layers ( Devils food with mint chip cream cheese cool whip filling - cool whip frosting), and frost it so it is ready for tomorrow!

In the morning, Church, then home and CJ will take a nap, then the party! I can't believe my baby is turing 2!!!!

Hope you all had a more relaxing end of the week!

Jess

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Kelly-glad the cooke decorating party was fun. Sorry we couldn't make it, but as you know I am still sick

Jess-what a nightmare at the OB! Isn't it stressful being PG AND planning a birthday party right before Christmas?? Avery's is next weekend and although I know it will be fun, I will be relieved when it is over, lol. We are doing a Sesame Stree theme too! can't wait to see pics of that cake.

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