Motion Sickness

Colin had it when he was a boy and I still have it and it seems like the day Jackson turned 3 years old he inherited it too. MOTION SICKNESS! Here are a few things that have worked for us when it comes to motion sickness in the car:

1. Always keep a large cup in the car. It's even better if it has a lid just in case you have no place to stop and rinse it out once it's been "used."

2. Cover the window adjacent to the child's seat with a thick blanket to block out any motion in their peripheral. We've found that by putting Jackson behind the driver's seat we can tuck the blanket in such a way that the driver can still see out of his blind spot.

3. Just recently we got Jackson a Leapster2 to play while we travel and bought kid friendly ear phones like the ones pictured here to go with them and that seems to have made a HUGE difference. I'm not exactly sure why, but it did.

4. I always keep a pack of gum and a few extra munchies in my purse when we travel. I know a full tummy helps my motion sickness, so I figured it'd help him too.

5. Now that Jackson is old enough he can tell us when he is starting to feel motion sickness and we can tell him to close his eyes until he feels better. Colin will also crack the windows for a few minutes for fresh air and that seems to help too. We've avoided having to use "the cup" several times this way.

Those are the things that have worked for us. I'd love to hear solutions from others whose kids struggle with motion sickness.

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

While traveling over Easter Micah got hand, foot and mouth disease. It's a sister virus to the chicken pox that starts with a fever for 24 hours and then creates blister like sores in the mouth and on the hands and feet. Most children get it when they are young, but the symptoms are rarely noticeable and sores may not even appear on the hands and feet (in fact we're pretty sure Jackson had it too since he had the 24 hour fever as well, but he had no other symptoms).

However, poor Micah got this virus pretty bad and there was nothing we could do for him but wait it out. He had a fever on Easter Sunday that lasted 24 hours. A day or two afterwards his eating habits were strange. I thought perhaps he had a sore throat because he was spitting out some of his most favorite foods(even sweets).


Then a few days later I noticed that in between his toes were raw and blistered and finally noticed his hands had a few little blisters as well. That's when I put two and two together and realized he had hand, foot and mouth. We had already been giving him Ibuprofen because we thought he was in pain from his throat, but it turns out he had visible sores on his tongue too. Poor guy.

We continued the Ibuprofen and put triple antibiotic cream on the open sores on his feet and covered them with socks, which seemed to ease his discomfort. After a couple of days of eating just eggs and drinking just milk the sores in his mouth went away and he slowly went back to his normal eating habits.

Micah was so exhausted from this virus that he fell asleep at the lunch table.

The virus was a doozy for Micah. It's now been over 2 weeks and he still has remnant blisters on his hands, but mostly his feet that are peeling and healing. He's been sleeping through the night for a little over a week, but still struggles with his naps, but we're getting it all worked out.

LOTS of Pictures!! Enjoy!

February - April 2010!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Diapers

I've seen a lot of facebook status updates about diapers and diaper brands, so I thought that I'd do a quick little blog so I can remember for the next child.

Newborn
Pampers Swaddler diapers are much softer and more absorbent than most diapers and don't cause rashes. I made the mistake of using off brand wipes on Micah and his poor little tooshie paid for that mistake. Next time around I'll definitely use the sensitive wipes until I feel like their bottom has toughened up a bit.

3 Months and Up
Once their bowel movements are a little more predictable and solid and their bottoms are a little tougher, I switch to off brand diapers during the day and the name brand diapers a night in order to save a little money. The only off brand that isn't really a "bargain" has been the Walmart brand Family Choice because I have to change their diapers more often due to leaking. Although, I have friends who have had good luck with them. I've also found that although Pampers is a little more expensive than LUVS or Huggies, they hold more and cover more of the boys' bottoms and are worth the price. I also have a "Strike Three" rule - after 3 blowouts/major leaks I up the diaper size.

Between 12 & 18 Months
Both of my boys began to wet through their night time diapers even though I was putting them in name brand diapers as well as in one size bigger than they wear during the day. Micah woke up several nights in a row one week soaked ... I quickly mastered changing a toddler's clothes and diaper in the dark. Eventually I gave in and bought Pampers special overnight diapers. Again, they are more expensive, but if it saves me having to change an entire outfit every night and getting more quality sleep for both me and Micah it's worth it.

Potty Training
I don't do Pull-Ups (you can read my potty training blog for more details). I think that I can just as easily take off and put on a normal diaper for early potty training and save the extra dollars. When Jackson was in his later stages of potty training I put him in underwear and never looked back ... I just hope I'm as lucky with Micah.

Cloth Diapers
I'm not an expert on cloth diapers all I know is that there are SO MANY different brands to choose from. I have a lot of friends who use them for various different reasons. I'm a just a little too lazy for them perhaps. If you have questions about them I know some great women who would love to answer any questions you have!

Click!

At various stages in children's lives things just click! Before that moment you think "they'll never learn to walk, talk, feed themselves, climb stairs, jump, use the toilet, ride a bike, pee standing up, etc." But then one day it seems that they wake up and they set their mind to a task and they "get 'er done."

Here are a few things that have "clicked" for Micah and Jackson over the last couple of weeks/months:

Jackson:

peddling his big wheel


coloring and beginning writing skills

and ...yes ... peeing standing up (I don't have a picture for that one folks).

Micah:

talking, talking, and more talking... (this one counts for triple)


It's SO FUN to watch skills magically happen! It's the wonderment of learning that I love the most. You never know when it's going to happen ... when they'll FINALLY get it, but they do and I feel so privileged to get to see it happen.

My First Dentist Appointment by Jackson

So first we went in. And then we played with toys. There were Duplos and there were stuffed animals (a giraffe, a polar bear, a panda bear) and there were more, but I don't remember them.

Then the waitress said, "Colin it's your turn." And then we went into the room where there were chairs and tools. There was a big chair and there was a small chair (like a rocking chair) and I sat in it and then I rocked. Then I read books while Daddy climbed up in the chair and then they started fixing his teeth.

Later Daddy put on an apron (a really heavy apron) and then ... um... cuz they wanted to take a picture of his teeth. The picture looked like a big picture with five pictures on it and it was turquoise color.

Then Daddy got out of the chair and then it was my turn.

I sat in the chair and then they looked at my teeth and they had a hook and mirror. They kinda got in between my teeth and then they counted my top teeth (there were ten). Then they counted my bottom teeth and I had ten teeth down there. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, TWENTY!

Then when I was all done I got to ride up and down on the chair. After that she showed me "Mr. Thirsty." He's a tool that sucks up water. They put it in a cup with water and he drank up all the water. Then I drank a cup of water and spit out in the sink. Then Pat (the dental hygienist) gave me a toothbrush and some toothpaste and some floss and some other floss... two toothpastes and a pencil. Then I said, "goodbye."

Then Daddy talked to a lady and I got a sticker to put on our calendar to remember when we would come back.

THE END

United States Flag

Our next door neighbors (the ones that I've blogged about before) are both in the military. When we moved in the father was deployed and now the mother has been deployed since August. We've become good friends with them and their daughter and Jackson are inseparable. So, we sent a thank you letter and picture to the mother soon after she was deployed and yesterday she sent us this in the mail:



Yes, that is Jackson using the USA flag as a blanket.

The certificate says that the "flag was flown over the skies of Afghanistan on the 9th day of February, 2010... in a Close Air Support mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in finding and destroying all those who threaten our very way of life. With great appreciation we present this certificate to those who support the few that fight for the freedoms of many: Colin, Corinne, Jackson and Micah.

We thought that it was WAY cool to receive that gift and what a wonderful teachable moment for Jackson to learn about our country and what we stand for. As a result we are now beginning to work on memorizing the "Pledge of Allegiance." I'll be sure to post the video.

Video taken on 3/10/10:

Sleep Over Party

Jackson and his best friend Patrick had a sleep over at our house a couple of weeks ago. Both boys had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures... we also went to the discovery museum in Santa Maria, but I forgot to bring my camera *snap* bummer.

A Surreal Reality

Today is my 30th birthday. Perhaps if circumstances were a little different I'd be blogging about how old I feel and how my body has changed, but I'm just grateful for one more year of life.

My brother, Jason, died in a car accident at 1:30 in the morning on Valentine's Day.

Reality as I know it has changed forever.

I'm not really sure how to process this all or how to interact with/react to others. I've been in their shoes before and always thought, "I don't know what to say." I still don't know what to say.

The days come in waves of surreal moments ... waiting for my brother to call and tell everyone it was just a big prank (he was like that) and then waves of emotion with the reality of his death emanate and tears flooding my eyes.

Micah is obviously too young to understand, but I did explain to Jackson what happened. I could tell he understood intellectually (we talk about heaven a lot I guess), but I don't think he understood emotionally except for the fact that I was crying and that made him a little sad.

We've decided to leave the kids with church family and Colin and I will travel alone to Milwaukee to mourn with family. My thoughts are that we can then be free to go wherever and whenever and stay however long we need to and not worry about nap schedules and bedtimes, etc.

Surprisingly, facebook has been a huge healing balm for me (besides the obvious fact that God is sovereign in every way and in everything). Jason's life really did touch a lot of people in so many different ways and I've been able to see that more through facebook. It comforts me to know that other people share in the sorrow and to hear the funny stories about Jason.

Yet, I can't help but feel a little unworthy (for lack of a better word) of my sorrow because I think of his wife, Ericka, and how much pain and sorrow she must be feeling. The bond a husband and wife have is SO much stronger than a sister and brother (as it should be). I CANNOT imagine what she is going through.

My reality has changed forever, but not NEARLY in the same way as my sister-in-law's. I've just barely begun to wrap my brain around the fact that I'll never see my brother here on earth again, but I don't think I'll ever be able to comprehend what it's like to wake up one morning and miss the other half of me ... his dirty laundry still in the hamper, leftovers in the fridge, toothbrush still in the bathroom, ...

My brother's in heaven... he's not in pain ... he's not missing us ... he's worshiping our LORD who is in control of all things in Heaven and on earth, both life and death. It brings me comfort to know that.

I pray for my sister-in-law and all of those who love Jason and remain here on earth, because the reality is that we are in pain and we do miss him. Please pray for us ... may we cling to the hope that we have in Christ Jesus, that one day there will be a new Heaven and a new earth where no one in Him will be in pain and no one will be missed and all will worship Him.

Nap Transitions at 15 1/2 Months

Micah transitioned from 2 naps to 1 nap this past week. He will be 16 months on the 25th.

I started to notice his need for this transition when he was taking a really long time to go down for his second nap in the afternoon. Prior to this he'd take two 2 hour naps one from 10 - 12 and the other from 2 - 4.

I tried just giving him one nap right away, but then he was crabby that evening and sometimes even into the next day. So, I made his morning nap shorter since I wanted him to eventually take his long nap in the afternoon when Jackson was sleeping (although, I think he would have naturally taken a longer nap in the morning and a shorter nap in the afternoon).

For about a week or so he was taking one 45 minute to an hour nap in the morning from 11 - 12 (I'd have to wake him up from that nap otherwise he'd sleep longer and not take an afternoon nap) and a longer 2 hour nap in the afternoon from 2 - 4. He did that until he was having a hard time falling asleep or woke up early on a regular basis from his second nap. (There were even a few nights that it disrupted his night time sleep too, but that may have also been due to sickness/teething.)

Every once in awhile I'd skip his morning nap to see how he handled it. Once he could skip a morning nap without being cranky that night and/or the next day, we tried skipping the morning nap for two or three days in a row. That naturally happened on the weekends because 1. Saturdays can be pretty busy, and 2. he has been skipping his morning nap at church for several months now, so then we'd just skip Monday's morning nap as well.

It's been one full week with only one nap in the afternoon and although for a couple of them he only slept 2 hours (again I think that was due to sickness/teething) for the most part he is sleeping 3 hours for his afternoon nap, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Meta-sepatary

The Monarch butterfly has a migration spot every year at Pismo beach, so I took the boys to see them a couple of weekends ago. Here's my interview with Jackson on the life cycle of a butterfly.
(By the way, when he doesn't know how to say a big word he inserts "sepatary" at the end of it.)

Here are a few more pictures of the butterflies and Pismo beach:
Make sure you look very closely at the above picture because although at first glance it seems like there are only a hand full of butterflies there are many, many more.

15 Month Check Up

Weight: 23lbs (although he was pretty wiggly and I think he's closer to 24lbs) - 25%
Height: 32in - 75%
Head: 49cm - 90%

Mobility
Micah now walks everywhere and can get up and down the stairs with ease. He can also open and close doors and drawers. He's usually pretty persistent and determined when he wants something he can't have or do like turn on and off the T.V. or dig through my night stand drawer. As a result I have resorted to locking some doors from the outside (particularly bathroom doors) when I cannot devote my attention solely to him.

Feeding
Micah has at least 11 teeth now and handles table food very well. He has breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, a snack at 4pm and supper at 5:30pm. Most of his meals now are finger foods with ocassional things I spoon feed him like applesauce and yogurt.

He prefers to feed himself and lets you know what his preferences are at meal time refusing to eat anything unless he gets what he wants. However, usually the old "out of sight, out of mind" trick seems to work well with him.

Sippy cups are no longer an issue and he drinks about 20 ounces or more of vitamin D milk in one day.

Sleeping
On average, Micah sleeps from 8:00pm - 7:30am. Sometimes he'll wake at 6:30am and go back to sleep and other times I have to wake him up at 8:30. Regardless, the earliest I'll get him out of his crib is 8am unless we need to be up early for a specific reason.

He's transitioning from two naps to one by taking one short nap in the morning usually at 11am that's about 45 minutes to an hour and one longer nap in the afternoon from 2 - 4pm. However, lately if he sleeps an hour in the morning he's less likely to take a long afternoon nap. There have been a couple of days that he has taken one long 3 hour nap, but then he's usually crabby the next day. My goal is to get him to take one long nap from 1 - 4pm every day.

Communicating
Micah communicates very well. He can sign: "milk," "all done," "more," "book," "nigh, nigh." He can say: "mommy," "dada," "da-din" (jackson), "cra-grr" (cracker), "nigh, nigh," "ah-me" (amen), "Bapa" (Papa), and he mimics and tries to say more and more every day.

He'll cry and or throw a mini-tantrum if he doesn't get what he wants, but it usually lasts seconds and as he gets older we will definitely begin to discipline the behavior, but right now I feel he's too young to understand when he's throwing a tantrum.

However, he gets disciplined on a pretty consistent basis when we know and MICAH knows that he is being directly disobedient. Usually that entails touching something he's not allowed to or going up the stairs when we tell him not to.

I've thought about "baby proofing" those sort of things to prevent having to battle with him. I think I would if I was convinced that he didn't understand what I expected from him, but it is SO CLEAR that he understands when he's disobedient. I've come to the conclusion that the battle is worth it now so that I don't have to fight a WAR months or years from now. Consistent boundaries bring a sense of security (especially to children) and Micah is testing those boundaries which is a good and natural thing for him to do.

Playing
Micah's favorite toys right now are anything that has buttons and makes noises and anything his big brother is playing with at the moment.


As of late he's also taken a liking to fleece blankets (which is what he sleeps with) and the other day insisted on carrying one around. I'm trying to put the kabosh on that one, but we'll see.

He also loves to hide in closets, forts, cupboards, etc. He can sit through whole books now, but Bible story time is still a struggle (especially when we're explaining the story to Jackson).

Micah ADORES his big brother and mimics him in just about everything that he does. (I'm secretly and publicly hoping that that will aid in future potty training, but we'll see).


Micah is a pretty active player and I now have to use the cry room in church (we do not have a nursery) during the sermons, but he'll sit through most of the singing.

Micah loves to play outside when we can and is very brave at the playground going up stairs and down slides without any fear or hesitation. I may have a dare devil on my hands.

Personality
Micah is quick to laugh and smile and even quicker to make someone else laugh and smile.

He's shy around strangers and will cry with a babysitter or at the doctor's office, but once he gets to know you he's a hoot. He's definitely a child that should make you worry if he's off playing by himself not making a peep (that usually means he's into something he's not supposed to). I think he's going to be my "sneaky" one. So far he's not a "people pleaser", but loves doing his own thing. He loves to cuddle unless he's really tired and then he'll insist on laying down in bed. His exictment and smile when you walk in the door makes you feel so loved.

I'm blessed to have you Micah! I love you SO much!

School

Why is this such a difficult and confusing decision for me? I guess it's a sign that I'm taking it seriously and wanting to make the right choice for my children ... right?

Anyway, Colin and I have talked about school a lot more this year than we ever have because Jackson has definitely begun to show interest in more structured learning and because we have several friends whose kids are starting school and/or making decisions about home school, public school or private school. We still haven't made an official decision and I realize that the decision might change a million times even after we think we've made it.

I feel like part of my lack of decision making is because we don't REALLY know where we'll be living when Jackson hits school age. Which, by the way, Colin and I do agree that we'd like to start Jackson in Kindergarten when he's six ... at least we've made that a final decision. Where we are will make a difference (in my mind) of how we decide to school.

Colin and I still have a lot to talk about as far as what kind of educational experience we want for our children and how socialization fits into that as well. We need to answer big lofty questions like: what do we want our children to get out of school?

Whatever we decide for our children's future education I'm also trying to live in the present and presently Jackson is HUNGRY for learning. So, we decided to start a curriculum called "Five in a Row."

"Five in A Row" is a literature based curriculum that takes one piece of children's literature per week and extracts different subjects each day.

For example, the first book we read was "The Story About Ping" by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese.

Our "school" time (which lasts about a half hour to an hour) Monday - Friday starts by reading the story of the week (I LOVE the idea of redundancy in teaching)and then we move on to a subject that is brought out in the story.

On Monday we studied Math and counted all the ducks in the book and practiced reading larger numbers.
Tuesday we studied Art and learned about different mediums and mixed primary colors to make secondary colors (I helped him draw the duck by the way, but he colored it).

Wednesday we studied Social Studies and talked about natural consequences and family relationships.
Thursday we studied Science and learned about buoyancy.


Friday we studied Geography and took a trip to China on YouTube.

You get the idea. It's been really fun for me and for Jackson and he begs to do "school" and will only call me "teacher" when we are. We've been doing "school" now since the middle of November.

The break we had with Thanksgiving and Christmas allowed me to see if Jackson was really interested in school or if it was just a phase ... he really does love to learn (surprise, surprise ... Colin and I are BOTH learners).

"Five in A Row" is really flexible and I really feel like it'll grow with Jackson until he's in the upper elementary school ages.

The only qualm I have with the curriculum is that the books can be hard to find in the library (at least our library) and I end up having to do inter-library-loans more often than I want to and our library doesn't have a smooth system for that. I recently went online and found a great website www.betterworldbooks.com and found most of the books on the book list for an average of $7.00, except the rare few that are out of print and are running for about $300.00 (I'll just skip those), but let me note that the proceeds go towards world literacy.

We're going to keep plugging away at "Five In A Row," but I'm going to remain flexible knowing that Jackson is only 3 1/2 years old. I'm excited about his love of learning! All the more reason to continue to keep prayerfully considering our education options for the future.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Pictures

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Catch Up

It’s been awhile since I’ve written any blogs that were notes to myself about the development of my children and I have a lot of catching up to do. Here are the topics I’ll be covering in this blog: weaning, separation anxiety, naps, sleep sacks, crawling and walking.

Weaning
4 weeks before Micah turned one year old I began to drop his nursing times and replaced it with a feeding of whole milk from a sippy cup. It was nice to ease him into drinking milk and using a sippy. However, at first Micah didn’t like the sippy cup (perhaps it is too much like a bottle which he protested for several months) and we discovered that he preferred a cup with a straw. Eventually he switched to a sippy cup without a one way valve. Now he drinks from a sippy with a one way valve all by himself).

At 11 months old he was down to 4 feedings a day (8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm). I dropped the 4pm first because he was least interested in that feeding and my milk supply seemed lowest. We also tend to be busy around that time of day so it was convenient to drop that one first. Then I dropped the following feedings in the following order – 12pm, 8pm and 8am.

The morning feeding took a little longer to drop since my milk supply was greater for that one and a couple of times I nursed him because I was uncomfortable and he was cranky. A little after his first birthday I lost my milk supply and Micah was content drinking whole milk.

It wasn’t that long ago that I weaned Micah, but my brain has already forgotten what it’s like having to nurse every 4 hours.

Separation Anxiety
Around the time I dropped the last nursing Micah began to show signs of separation anxiety. He’d cry when I’d leave the room, cry when he encountered strangers, cry when I put him down for naps and for bedtime. I’m not sure if the weaning triggered it, but it seems logical that it might have, but then again it could just be the age.

Of course this came right at the time that I needed to leave him with relatives for a couple of days. I felt bad for my sister-in-law, but was so grateful for her patience.

There wasn’t much I could do about this stage he was going through except reassure him of my presence when appropriate and ignore it when appropriate (I had to let him “cry it out” a couple of times during his naps… luckily it never dramatically affected his night time sleep).

Towards the end of our two week trip he finally began to warm up to people he didn’t know very well and the crying/separation anxiety seemed to wane. (whew)

Sleep Sacks
When I was on vacation my sister-in-law asked me when I was planning on not using a sleep sack anymore. I really like them for when my kids are younger because it keeps them warm at night and brings me peace of mind that they are not going to get tangled up in a blanket and suffocate.

I stopped using sleep sacks with Jackson just before his 1st birthday because the weather in the Midwest was getting warmer (he’s a June baby), but with Micah (an October baby) the weather was starting to get cooler. I also had the added challenge that Micah was chewing on the collar of his sleep sack to sooth himself at night and during naps when he had teething pain.

I was a little nervous that I’d have several nights of “crying it out” when I finally took the sleep sack away, so I decided to wait until we were back home to do it. I was really surprised that when I switched him from a sleep sack to a blanket (and I transitioned cold turkey) that there were no problems at all (although I’m pretty sure he still chews on the blanket to sooth himself from time to time).

Crawling, Walking & Naps
Micah started to really crawl around 11 months and then took his first steps between 12 and 13 months. He’s almost 14 months and is still not walking consistently, but I think he’s more comfortable crawling at this point and he can crawl pretty fast.

I want to note that when he learned to crawl and walk I noticed a change in his napping habits. He’d have a hard time going to sleep and then when he did finally go to sleep he’d wake up early from his nap. I thought that he might be ready to go down to one nap, but then he was a beast and wouldn’t take ANY naps and I was NOT going to let that happen.

I switched him back to two naps and some days he sleeps great and other days he fights them. He did this both when he learned to crawl and when he learned to walk and I’m wondering if it’s all connected. I read somewhere that when babies learn new skills like crawling or rolling over that sometimes it does affect their sleep habits.

It’s just a huge transitional period for Micah right now. He really is going from baby to toddler very quickly. I’m toughing out the naps right now, but he’ll probably need to go down to one nap in the near future anyway, so I’ll just have to take that battle one day at a time for now.

Well that pretty much covers it for Micah. I need a whole other blog for Jackson who has grown leaps and bounds developmentally these days. Stay tuned for that one!

Anticipation

Making Memories

On My Heart ...

According to the given statistics in the United States of America, one out of every four girls, and one out of every six boys will be sexually abused before they turn eighteen years of age.

Once again God has put this topic on my heart. My heart aches just thinking about those statistics! It seems silly (to me) to worry about swine flu and such when this statistic seems (to me) to be even more of a "national epidemic!"

As I've looked for books at the library on the topic there were a few, but most of which were out dated. We have drug awareness programs in our schools for kids (at least I think they still do D.A.R.E.), but what about abuse awareness programs??

Anyway, I say all that to let you know that I truly do pray for your little ones ... OUR little ones. That God would protect them from becoming a sexual abuse statistic.

... and as I was thinking and praying for them this poem came to my mind:

"You Are NOT the Naughty One"
by Corinne Doughan

It seems like there are lots of rules,
but it's okay to break each one.
When someone wants to touch you there,
you are NOT the naughty one.

It's okay to throw a tantrum.
Kick, scream and shout a ton!
When someone wants to touch you there,
you are NOT the naughty one.

It's okay to tell a grown up "NO!"
and turn around and run.
When someone wants to touch you there,
you are NOT the naughty one.

It's okay to be a tattle tale
(even if they say it's secret).
When someone wants to touch you there,
you are NOT the naughty one.

They'll lie and say, "You're naughty."
They'll say, "Come on it's fun!"
But you NEED to know, my precious child,
you are NOT the naughty one!

Christmas Letter

Our Dearest Friends & Family,

God has blessed us in so many ways this year, but we know that the most wonderful gift we’ll ever receive from Him is the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. So, without further ado, here is the Christmas story told through the eyes of a child (with a little help from his mommy)...

An angel came to Mary and Mary was afraid and the angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I have good news. You’re going to have a baby and you are going to name him Jesus.” Mary said, “Okay. Who will be the daddy?” Angel said, “God will be the daddy.”

Then an angel came to Joseph and he was afraid. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I have good news for you. Mary is going to have a baby and the daddy will be God. Keep Mary and the baby safe.” Joseph said, “Okay.”

Later the king wanted everyone to be counted. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to be counted. When they got to Bethlehem the baby was coming out. Mary said, “The baby is coming out, I think the baby is coming out!” And they had to go to the farm to have the baby. After the baby came out they put him where the cows eat.

Then angels came to the sheep and shepherds and said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary had a baby named Jesus.” (The sheep were eating because they were really hungry.) Then the sheep walked to see Jesus and they all sang.

Then three wise men saw a star and they followed it. They found King Herod and they said, “Where is the King of the Jews?” and Herod said, “I don’t know.”

Then an angel came to the wise men and said, “Follow the star to find Jesus.” The angel threw them because she didn’t want them to talk to Herod (just remember that he’s three). And they found baby Jesus and they gave presents to baby Jesus and worshiped him and sang songs … “Gloria in excelsis deo” …

Then Jesus grew up and died on the cross so we could go to Heaven.

May we never forget, our beloved ones, the true reason to celebrate and rejoice this season!

Merry Christmas,
The Doughans

Feeding Baby On The Go!

I really need to write some serious blogs ... Micah's birthday, Thanksgiving, weaning, sleep sacks ... just to name a few future blog topics, BUT with the holiday busyness that will have to wait.

HOWEVER, I just had to write a quick note about a product a friend of mine introduced me to (thanks Michelle) that I absolutely LOVE!

It's called Ella's Kitchen Organic Baby Food and it's baby food that comes in a pouch. There's a lid that you can screw on and off and your baby can suck the food right out of the pouch. Isn't that brilliant!?

They have all different flavors and they are SO easy and mess free. I will admit that they are a little pricey, but TOTALLY worth it when you have to feed a baby pureed food in a car and/or airplane!!! (I fed Micah one of them during church last week and I didn't even have to take him out of the service!! By the way, I'm NOT AT ALL opposed to feeding these to Jackson either ... it's WAY better than the food we'd feed him in the airport!)

Anyway, I hope you find them as ingenious as I did ... so far I've been able to purchase them at Babies-R-Us and I've heard you can get them at Costco. I hope this makes some of your holiday travels a little easier!

Happy Holidays and Happy Travels!