Christmas Morning

This is a few days late however I still wanted to share a little about our Christmas morning this year. 

Because the kids and I got sick the week of Christmas our morning started around 8:30am with the kids waking up and then we went to the living room.

 Opening stockings

 David was really excited for Jaclyn to open the gift that he picked out for her. It was a Toy Story Barbie!

 David checking out the Toy Story 3 Lego that Jaclyn got him.

Jaclyn was so sick that we had to stop opening gifts for awhile so that she could just cuddle and both the kids rested for a bit before starting up again.

Here is Jaclyn at then end of the morning half sleeping on the couch watching their new Tinkerbell movie.

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas

My kids showing off there new Christmas pajamas.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

Merry Christmas

my sick little girl

My little girl has had a long week. On Monday I saw the signs of a cold coming on and then by Tuesday it was full blown. On Tuesday evening after I put Jaclyn to bed she woke up within 30 minutes of falling asleep. She was crying and having a hard time breathing. 

Over the next two hours she slept very little and was coughing and wheezing. 

Jaclyn has had asthma for some time and when she is sick it acts up even more. At one point after I had settled her and she was sleeping again. I was sitting in her room with my hand on her chest praying over her when I felt her stop breathing three different times. I have never seen her do this before so I called my husband (who was at a meeting) and told him I needed to take Jaclyn into the hospital to find out why she was having difficulty breathing. He came straight home and my girlfriend arrived at the same time to sit with David.

After getting to the hospital we waited for about an hour and a half before we saw the doctor and by then her breathing had started to settle back to normal. After seeing the doctor we found out that she needed a stronger inhaler to add to the first inhaler that she was already on. Her asthma gets really bad when she is sick and right now with her cold her asthma is bad. I guess I should get use to with two kids with asthma.

I got her home that night and we started right away on the secondary inhaler which helped with her breathing almost immediately. 

Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the story, because since Tuesday night, she has had a fever that has been getting worse over the last few days. Last night her fever got as high as 103.2 F. I managed to get her fever down to somewhere between 100 F and 101 F with a cool bath. Today when I was getting her ready for another bath she had a rash on her lower back and hips so I again took her into the doctor to get her checked out. It turns out that she now has a ear infection that is the cause of her high fevers. So now she is on a medication that should help her feel better soon. 

Hopefully Jaclyn will be able feel better now that she is on the right medications and be able to enjoy Christmas in two days.

my sick little girl

Toilet Training Up-Date

Well as I wrote in a previous post call Last Diaper I was starting down the path of potty training my daughter. I thought now was a good time to give an update on how it is going. 

On the day that I started her training she was a little grumpy to start, which I thought was because she was just not in the mood to go on the toilet. It turned out that she was getting one of her two year molars.  I was however not going to put her back in diapers. For one thing I like the idea of once they are in underwear then they don't go back into diapers and second I had No more diapers, so she had to wear underwear.

By the end of that first day I had done two loads of laundry and Jaclyn had not once gone on the toilet. 

This in fact went on for the first 10 days of her toilet training. 

One thing I do in the initial stages of toilet training is I set up a toilet station in my living room. I find that I am able to get them comfortable on the toilet while watching a movie or reading books and then relax enough to go. That just wasn't the case for Jaclyn. She would sit on her toilet for an entire movie and then get up without doing anything.

 I would remind her to tell me when she has to go pee and I would take her again. But NO, what she would do is come into the kitchen after sitting on the toilet for over an hour (I should say that it was her choice not to get up off her toilet for a break during the movie, I always offered) and tell me that she was peeing. Yes not that she had to go pee but that she was in the process of peeing. So I would clean up my daughter, my floor and get ready for another load of laundry. Did I mention that this was on going for the first 10 days, not once did she go on the toilet.

There were points where I was really frustrated with how stubborn she was being. When I would talk to my mom about how Jaclyn was acting my mom would just laugh and say "she sounds just like you". Then my husband would say things like she does have control over her body.  When she is ready she will be ready. 

While I am HAPPY to say that she woke up one day and when I said "OK Jaclyn, its time to go on the toilet" she didn't argue instead she went right away and has been every day for the last 13 days. She has been accident free throughout the days and most of the nights. 

Yes, I understand that most parents who read this will just shake their heads at me and say 10 days in nothing. But for me when my son was so easy this drove me crazy.

Yay for no more diapers!!

Toilet Training Up-Date

Spiderman and Cat-Woman

Spiderman and Cat-Woman

Tassimo Canada Home Brewing System - Review

I grew up in the city and have spent the last 10 plus years going to coffee shops on a regular basis. I became accustomed to the luxury of going to almost any coffee shop the I wanted and ordering myself a cappuccino, latte, chai or just about any other speciality drink I wanted. Well, recently my family moved to a small town that doesn't have any of the coffee shops that I have had with in minutes of our home in the past. Don't get me wrong, I love living in a small town, I just wish it had a Starbucks.

So imagine my excitement when I was given the chance to review a Tassimo Canada! 

I was delighted that I would be able to make all the drinks that I love right here in the comfort of my home.

I was so excited to get my Tassimo Canada that I had my husband check the post office almost every day, just to see if it was here. The day before I received my Tassimo, I was at the store and I looked at some of the options that I could make with my new Tassimo Canada. I was delighted to see that there were so many different options available to chose from STARBUCKS^®, NABOB, MAXWELL HOUSE, TWININGS and that's just to name a few. I knew that I would be getting some to test out with my Tassimo to try but I wanted some options so I bought the hot chocolate, latte and chai mixes.

I was very excited the next day when I stopped at the post office and was able to pick up my Tassimo Canada!

When we got home to open the box I am not sure as to who was more excited me or my son. My son was excited that we had a special machine that could make him and his sister hot chocolate, I was excited for pretty much every other drink!

I was first impressed with how small the Tassimo Canada was, it fits perfectly on my counter and I was also impressed with how easy it was to set up.  The initial cleaning and set up instructions were clear and the Tassimo Canada came with two water filters.

After setting up my new Tassimo machine my family waited patiently for me to start making our new drinks to try. My children chose the hot chocolate, my husband had the latte and I had a cappuccino. We were all pleased with how quickly the drinks were made and how tasty they were.

That evening my husband and I made the chai and were both happy with the beverage of choice that evening. 

I also had some friends over to test out my new Tassimo Canada and together we tried a few different variations and our favorite was the chai with a splash of eggnog.....so yummy!!

If you are still looking for a gift for the someone on your Christmas list who likes speciality drinks from coffee shops or you are looking to spoil yourself this holiday season I would recommend that you buy a

Tassimo Canada. This is a great Home Brewing System that I know my family will continue to enjoy for a long time. In fact my husband is trying to figure out how he can convince me to let him take it to his office at work.

Tassimo Canada Home Brewing System - Review

David's Top 5 Favorite Things about Christmas

I know that I am biased, but I have some amazing kids. Sometimes they really surprise me in the conversations that we have for instance the other day I was talking to David about Christmas, and during this conversation I asked him what his favorite thing about Christmas was. After a moment of thinking it through he just started listing things in order and gave me his top 5 favorite things about Christmas.

Here is David's top 5 Favorite Things about Christmas:

1. Decorations
2. Christmas Music
3. Making/writing Christmas cards
4. Giving Presents
5. Getting Presents

I am proud of my son that on his top 5 list for Christmas that getting presents is number 5!!

David's Top 5 Favorite Things about Christmas

Book Review - Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

I was recently sent a copy of Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, written by Nancy Guthrie to review. 

Book Summary:  

How many Christmas mornings have you found your family gathered around the tree with presents beautifully wrapped and a scrumptious feast on the table - but with hearts that have not been prepared to truly take in the wonder of God's becoming human? Not this year.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, a family Advent devotional from Bible teacher and mom Nancy Guthrie, is designed to bring your family together during a season that is often too much about programs and presents and simply not enough about Jesus. Along with devotions for every day in December, this resource includes popular Christmas carols and discussion questions that will draw your elementary through high school age kids into the conversation, transforming this time together from a dry lecture into a treasured family experience.

My Review:

I really appreciated how in this book, each devotional portion is shorter. This is so that when I am reading it with my young children they are able to keep focused, and  I believe that the same would go for families with older kids. There is also scripture throughout each devotional, which is something that I find very important. I find I am able to read a devotional all the way through when there are Bible verses through out and not just someones opinion. There are also some great discussion questions to get your families conversation started. 

For those families that are wanting to keep the conversation going there is a section called: More from the Bible - This section gives a deeper look into other sections that relate to the devotional that was just read.

Throughout this book there are sections where you are able to write out discussions and prayer request that as a family you can look back at and see how God in working in your life. 

Another bonus with this book that I appreciated was the music that was brought in.There are some classic Christmas hymns that are written throughout, with Nancy giving the history of where the that particular hymn comes from and how it relates to the devotional. 

I also appreciated how this Christmas Advent devotional goes through all 31 days of December and not just the first 25 until Christmas day. Recognizing that the birth is not the end of the story is something that needs to be developed as I work through the meaning of Christmas with my children.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I am excited to go through it as a family during the Christmas season.

---------------------------------

Tyndale House Publishers has provided you with a complimentary copy of this book for me to review. 

I am not required to give a positive opinion but I am required to give my honest opinion.

Book Review - Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Funny misunderstandings

A conversation today at our house:

Me: Your Grandad and Grandma said they miss you

Jaclyn: Ohhh...I miss them too

Me: Well, maybe we should call them and let them know?

Jaclyn: (Yelling) Oh Grandad...Grandma !! I miss you

Me: (Laughing) Um, I meant on the phone

Jaclyn: Oh...OK

I love my kids.

Funny misunderstandings

Girls being girls

This morning Jaclyn and I painted our toes together while the boys were out. 

Girls being girls

Dance With Me

Last week we had our family Christmas photos taken and during one of our breaks the kids started to dance together. Our friends who were also our photographers managed to take these great pictures of the kids as they were dancing. 

Apparently dancing was hard work and Jaclyn was tired by the end of there dance and needed a little rest.

 

Dance With Me

Mereadesso Twitter Party !!

I wanted to share with all my readers about this great Twitter party that is happening this Tuesday December 7th between 7pm & 9pm. (EST)

My friends Tara and Shannon are hosting their first ever Twitter Party.

There will be $2,000 worth of premium skincare products to be won.

Keep reading for details. Open to Canada and the USA

 

Here is some information for those of you who are wondering what Mereadesso products are about.

When a former cosmetics executive grew weary of her own beauty regime, things could have gotten ugly. Instead, they got ridiculously good-looking.

Putting her degrees in chemistry and botany to good use, cosmetic aficionado Linda Stephenson developed a single-step skincare solution teeming with minerals, antioxidants, vitamins, enzymes and botanical extracts that were globally sourced for their purity and effectiveness.

Mereadesso Woman was born. And Linda rendered the beauty regime she helped create obsolete. Oops!

Join them for their 1st ever twitter party with $2,000 worth of skincare product prizes on Tuesday, December 7th between 7pm - 9pm (EST), sponsored by Mereadesso Woman! 
See the bottom of this post for the details!

Beauty need not be an ugly process.

One ingredient will not solve all your beauty needs and a cabinet full of skin products gets both cumbersome and confusing. That's why every bottle of Mereadesso is laden with countless minerals, vitamins and extracts to battle fine lines and wrinkles, even out skin tone and improve elasticity. Our formulas also eliminate the need to segregate by skin type, zone, time of day and, believe it or not, even gender:

The Mereadesso Woman line of skincare products is designed for the woman who understands that there is no one "magic ingredient" to solve her needs. She also does not have the time or desire to use 16 different products to achieve her goals.

Finally, it is possible to find the combination of ingredients that addresses all the needs of your skin. There are no toners, serums, day/night or 3am creams, or different formulas for different "skin types" in the Mereadesso Woman line, nor will there ever be. There is no confusion of what product to use, where or at what time.

Simplicity, ease, and effectiveness. One step, one product, for every woman.

Mereadesso has been featured in Elle Canada (July 2010), SavvyMom.ca (Lotion Emotion), and the Toronto Star (May 2010) to name a few and loved by such Celebrities like Tonya Lee Williams from The Young & The Restless.


Mereadesso Woman Twitter Party Details:

Date: Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Time: 7 pm - 9 pm EST

Where - Twitter Hashtag: #Mereadesso (make sure you spell it right, ME -- READ -- ESSO)

Prizes: $2,000 worth of Mereadesso Skincare Product

Host: @shasherslife (Shannon Jacobson-Mischuk, Founder of Shasher's Life, 38 year old avid user of this product and Mom of 4)

Co-Host: @tarasview (Tara Robertson, Founder of Tara's View of the World, Mom of 3 who turns 35 on Christmas Day and is also an avid user of this product)

Moderator: @mychaos (Tammi Roy, Founder of My Organized Chaos, Mom of 3)

Get a head start on your holiday wish list by entering to win the pre-party prize - a travel size package of Beautiful Body Balm, Face + Neck Cleanser & the exotic Face + Neck Toning Jel a $60 value from Mereadesso!

Enter to win the pre-party prize by:

* Filling out the Linky below to RSVP


* Tweeting out the details of the #Mereadesso party before the party

* Be sure to follow @shasherslife, @tarasview, @mychaos and of course Mereadesso's own Linda Stephenson on @Beautytruths throughout the evening for updates, prize information and contest details.

* Visit Mereadesso Woman's website or follow them on Facebook to familiarize yourself with this great company.  
Hint Hint: Some of the questions asked during the twitter party will be found on these two sites... you may want to bookmark them!



*** Here's a special code you can use until December 10th to receive FREE SHIPPING on any orders made through Mereadesso's online shop. It's another thank you for joining this wonderful twitter party - TWP710 ***

If you have any questions, feel free to contact my friend Tara at taradawnrobertson  {at} hotmail  [dot] com

PS. Don't forget to enter the Mereadesso Share & Win Contest:
Enter to win a $2500 Sears Travel Voucher from Mereadesso Woman HERE!! (open to Canada only)

Mereadesso Twitter Party !!

Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop!!!

The Wonderful Simply Stacie, My Wee View, Little Yayas and Stockpiling Moms is hosting a Holiday Gift Giveaway hop and I wanted to get involved with it too! There are over 200 blogs participating in this draw so you will have many chances to win!!

So I am giving away a $25 dollar gift card for Best Buy!! 

For your 1st entry all you have to do is Follow this Blog (via Goggle Friend Connect on the right side)

Extra Entries

Follow me on Twitter

Tweet about this Giveaway

Blog about this Giveaway


*Remember to leave a comment telling me what you did and your email.
*Winner will be chosen by Random.org

This giveaway is Closed!
Winner has been contacted and will have 48 hours to respond.
Winner chosen by Random.org




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Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop!!!

Last Diaper

Well its only a few months later then I had initially planned but at least it's happening.

 Tonight Jaclyn is wearing her last diaper. 

I start toilet training in the morning!

 Saying goodbye to this stage for me is a sad and happy time. 

Sad because it means that my children are no longer babies.

Happy because it means I don't have to change anymore diapers! And because my children are learning to have more independence (this is also a little sad). 

It's times like this when my children are going through another development stage that I am thankful that I take so many pictures of them. I love going back and remembering what they were like as younger children/babies and seeing how far they have come.  It makes me more excited to see what kind of a people they will be when they grow up.

Now back to toilet training, I have to tell you that I am super excited that we are starting this tomorrow. 

Both Jaclyn, mommy and daddy are ready to be done with diapers!

David is also excited for Jaclyn to be out of diapers and wearing underwear. 

I think that David has felt like Jaclyn was left behind because she was still in diapers when the rest of us wear underwear. 

For instance tonight when I took David into the bathroom for his night pee, he said to me "mommy, I'm glad that Jaclyn will be wearing underwear tomorrow and not diapers, because then she can be just like you and me and daddy"

 And then earlier when David was saying goodnight to Jaclyn he told her "Jackie, when you have to go pee or poo on the toilet you tell me and I will help you in the bathroom and call mommy for you, OK". Jaclyn responded with "OK David, thanks"

I have a feeling that toilet training Jaclyn is going to be a bit of a family ordeal.

Last Diaper

snow, snow, snow!

This is what I woke up to this morning and it is still snowing

View from my front window

 My front entry way

 My backyard

I know that it is cold and it means that we all have to wear more layers of clothes and that the roads are not always the best for traveling but I love snow.

I love the way that it looks and how it brightens up the trees! I also love that sometime I get snowed in, its a great reason to stay home and play with my kids or catch up on some reading with a cozy blanket and cup of hot tea!

snow, snow, snow!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I just love Christmas!!

I start to play Christmas music on November 1st and then we decorate our house sometime in the last two weeks of November.

Both of my kids love Christmas as well and they start to ask when we can decorate our house even before they hear Christmas music, and even more after they have seen the first snow fall. David has asked us everyday for the last few weeks if today is the day that we will decorate for Christmas.

I am happy that are kids have had such good memories with Christmas and that they get excited about doing things like putting up decorations. This afternoon, after what seemed like the longest wait for my kids, we brought out the decorations. David got home from school and we decorated our tree and our house together as a family.

 My little girl after the tree was up.

 Our Tree

I asked David if I could take his picture with the tree and this is the pose he gave me.

 The kids watching a Winnie the Pooh Christmas movie after decorating.

This week I should be able to finish up my Christmas shopping and start on my Christmas baking. It is amazing how putting up a tree and decorations really feels like the Christmas season has fully come.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Book Review: Then sings my soul

 Is there a festive season of the year that is complete without one of your favorite hymns? Not only do hymns connect you to great memories, but they also reveal the faith of those who lived throughout history. As Robert Morgan explored the stories behind some of the best-loved hymns, he found fascinating accounts of tribulations, triumphs, struggles, and hope - ordinary people who connected with God in amazing ways, sharing their experiences through song.  Taken of the back of the cover of Then Sings My Soul

A lot of people sing songs without paying attention to the words. I have always been someone who likes to know the words of the song I am listening to or singing. The book Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan takes singing a song one step further by telling the stories of how and why a song was written and who the author was who wrote the music. This book covers 150 Christmas, Easter and many other favorite hymns.

The layout of this book is where one side has the song lyrics and music and the following page(s) tells the story. Personally I love the way the this book is written, when I am reading a story I can go to the song and read the words as well which makes the story almost more personal for me. When I was growing up I heard a lot of older hymns and I have really enjoyed reading the history of the songs.

For instance, the song Great is thy faithfulness by Thomas Chisholm was given new depth of meaning after hearing of the life of the author.  Having had a life of up's and downs which included sickness, job issues and other troubles, Chisholm discovered faith at age 27, and through the next years began to discover the truths of the bible in scripture.  This was written after reading through lamentations, and though it is not in any way part of a hugely dramatic event, it showed the steady work and faith of someone growing in their faith through many up's and downs.

Although this book is not incredible, it certainly helps to bring added meaning to many songs that we sing, and I would recommend it to any who have a desire to think about what we sing in Church.

I am a member of Thomas Nelson Publishers Book Sneeze program. Thomas Nelson provided me with a free copy if this book in exchange for my review of this book and I am not required to provide a favorable review.

Book Review: Then sings my soul

Potlucks

I love it when our church gets together for potlucks! Just last week we had one of the life groups in our church over for a potluck. It was wonderful getting to know some of the people in our church a little bit better and sharing a meal together.

There were six kids here that were older then David and Jaclyn and they loved having older children wanting to play with them and in their bedrooms. 

At the end of the night, when most of the families were getting ready to go home, our kids were a bit overwhelmed and over tired. To give them a bit of a mellow time we ended up setting the kids up on our bed to have a little quiet time while watching Little Bear. They were so cute we had to take some pictures.
 

Potlucks

My New Hair!

This afternoon I went and had my hair cut and colored. I haven't colored my hair since before Jaclyn was born and for the last year Chris has been cutting my hair. 

So as you can imagine I was a little nervous about how my hair would turn out. 

Before

After

What do you think?

My New Hair!

bed time

My family was asking about Jaclyn's hair and how curly it is now. I thought that this was a good picture to show some of her curl.

I took this picture after the kids decided one night at bedtime that they were going to sleep in our bed.

I just love the faces they make while they are "sleeping"

bed time

Woody is that you?

Somehow I don't think that the creators of Toy Story thought that Woody the cowboy doll would be dressed in a diaper, baby bonnet and baby bib wrapped in a pink blanket.

And yet here he is... 

Jaclyn and her baby Woody doll.

Woody is that you?