Carissa's Birthday

Carissa's 6th birthday was on Wed. and she got to take a treat to school with her for her class. They finished the whole bag of oreos that she brought. Then after school, we dropped Gabe off at his gymnastics class and went to pick up Ben at the airport. Then we headed to pick up Gabe from my mom, because Gabe's class was over before we left the airport. Once we were all together, we headed over to Joe's Crab Shack for some dinner. That was Carissa's choice for dinner, and she got to be a pretty, pretty princess while they sang Happy Birthday to her. Then tonight we will go to my parents' house to have cake and for Carissa to open her presents. I was kind of surprised that when I gave her the choice of opening the presents from me on her birthday or waiting until tonight that she picked to wait until tonight.

These are the photos that Joe's Crab Shack took:

First prenatal appointment

This time I'm seeing a new doctor and going to a new office as well, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Most of my appointment went like I thought it would with the normal exam, labs, etc. Then I was hoping that I would get to hear the heartbeat today, and I got even better. I got a quick ultrasound to check the size of the baby with my due date, which turned out to go together pretty well. I got to see the baby wiggling around, and see and hear the heartbeat. It was 171 bpm. Also, I'm about 4 pounds under my starting weight right now, but that seems to be a normal pattern for me. And, I've already gained some of my weight back, so I'm on the right track. I have my next appointment in a month, but I have another ultrasound on the 29th of this month and Ben will be here for that one.

Flu Shots

Yesterday, I finally got Carissa her flu shots. She hasn't had any since she was about 1 1/2 years old, because of her allergy to eggs. It wasn't worth the risk, and she did fine without one. We originally thought that she had outgrown her egg allergy completely, but her allergy test in October said that she was still allergic to egg whites. So, with H1N1,and being in kindergarten we decided to look into Carissa getting a flu shot. It is a pretty time consuming process, and unfortunately the first time we went in for an appointment to do it they didn't end up doing it. So we had to make another appointment and come back about a month later. Carissa had to have a skin test done with histamine, saline, and then both of the vaccines. We had to wait half an hour and have that checked and she didn't react to the vaccines. Carissa did great with that though even though the histamine was very itchy and she couldn't scratch. Next they gave her a 1/5 of the dose of the flu shots and we waited another half hour. That time it was much nicer for Carissa because she got to play in the waiting room, and since we were at Primary Children's there are lots of toys to play with. After the half hour wait she was still doing well, so we went on to her getting the other 4/5 of the dose of the flu shots. Then another half hour in the waiting area. After that we talked to the doctor again and we got to leave. Because she did so well at her appointment, even getting 4 shots she got a little stuffed blue bird and a DVD of All Dogs Go To Heaven. She was very excited when they gave her the movie. She has seen it before, but we didn't own it.

Firsts

Over the last month, the kids and I have had a couple of new firsts. We have always went out to eat at restaurants either as a family or the kids and I have went out to eat with my family or friends, either way it was never just the 3 of us. Also, we have always done kid movies as a family since Gabe was big enough to go. In the last month we have went out to a restaurant and a movie by ourselves and both went pretty well. At the restaurant we were seated at a booth, and it took quite a bit to get us all seated and happy with the arrangement. Neither child wanted to sit alone and both children wanted to sit with me, and I wasn't going to have the 3 of us all sitting on one side of the booth. We finally came to an arrangement that worked though, and now we will alternate one child with me and one on the other side. The movie went fine; it was pretty much like normal.

Christmas morning

On Christmas morning, I had to wake up two very sleepy kids in order to have enough time to get ready for skiing and see what Santa brought. Carissa and Gabe were both very happy with what Santa had brought them. Carissa got a desktop computer, new panties and hair stuff and Gabe got a laptop, new socks and underwear, and 3 mini frisbies. Gabe even said that he wanted Santa to bring him some underwear this year, and he was very happy with getting some.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve this year, we did presents with my family at my parents' house. Then we went home and we opened up some more presents. The kids had plans to go skiing Christmas morning with Grandpa, Aunt Alyssa, and Uncle Josh so we did the presents early. Carissa and Gabe both got new stuffed rocking chairs for their rooms from Grandma. Also, Gabe got a basketball hoop to play with and keep at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Christmas Tree

This year I let Carissa and Gabe decorate the tree by themselves again. Only this time I didn't lift them up to decorate up high, we actually own a step stool now. So, they used the step stool to decorate the tree up high, and they did a very good job. I put the tree together and put the star on the top,and then let them do as they wanted with the rest. They were very proud of the tree, because they did it on their own. They told everyone about their tree.