Christmas and Rashes

These past two weeks have been busy!

On the 17th we went to Michigan to visit the Feyen side and to celebrate Christmas with them. It was a fun, yet tiring trip. We managed to eat out every meal, (minus breakfast) and shop at numerous Goodwill's. The Goodwill's are SO much better in the Grand Rapids area. On the 19th we all got together for "Christmas" and exchanged gifts. Julianna was FAR more interested in the wrapping paper then the actual gift. She did very well, though, with all the commotion around her. I wasn't exactly sure how she would do with the 4 boys running around and playing, but it didn't seem to phase her at all. We left GR on the 22nd with a very full truck and a baby who was constipated and had HORRIBLE diaper rash.

Once we were home we tackled the constipation issue by calling the doctor. The doctor informed us to put some Karo Syrup in her bottle to help her go more easily. We had also read on the internet that peas will sometimes help with the constipation. Since it was time to start veggies with her, we did peas first. Hoping these things would help her go, we tended to the diaper rash. Her bum was so raw it was bleeding with every diaper change. We did all kinds of things, like bathing her, using desitin, Aquafer lotion, corn starch, and letting her lay around naked for a while. I'm not sure which of these things actually was the biggest help, but we finally got rid of the diaper rash....only to be followed by another type of rash!

Christmas morning we got Julianna up and fed her...no rash. We put her down from her morning nap and when we got her up....there was the rash. At first we thought it was hives. Of course we couldn't figure out what caused the hives seeing as she had had numerous new things. It could have been the peas, the desitine, the Aqua fore, the corn starch, the diapers, or the Karo Syrup. It was a mystery. We decided to wait it out and see if they would go away. We took all the "new" things out of her diet and daily routine in hopes that one of those things was the culprit. However, by Sunday night, what we thought was hives, was getting worse. I decided that Monday morning I was calling the doctor to get her checked out. Julianna has been a trooper with this whole rash issue. She is still as happy as can be.

So yesterday I took her to the doctor and what do you know?! It's not hives, its a viral rash and there is nothing we can do for it, except wait it out. It should disappear as quickly as it appeared. The poor child looks horrible and is so bumpy, but she doesn't seem to mind. Hopefully it should be gone by Thursday! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Once we get her cleared up, we will reintroduce peas to her. Hopefully she doesn't get hives after all this!

Back to Christmas Day, my grandparents had come the night before and stayed over, due to freezing rain on Christmas morning. We all got up, had cinnamon rolls and began opening presents. We ate our large meal at 1pm, since I had to work at 3pm. We all had a very enjoyable Christmas and made out pretty good.

Jon and I purchased a Wii with some anniversary money we received from my parents. We also purchased the new Super Mario game as well. We have been enjoying the "us" time with the Wii!

Well we hope you all had an enjoyable holiday! Happy New Year!

(Pictures to come this weekend)

Happy Anniversary!

These past three years of marriage have been some of the busiest in our lives, but we have enjoyed our journey together so far and look forward to another seventy more, God willing. Hopefully they aren't as crazy as the past three, but we've been through a lot together and still love each other, so we figure we can handle whatever is thrown our way! Happy Anniversary to us!

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

It's Christmas Time!!

I love the Christmas season! I love decorating, I love shopping for gifts, I love Christmas music and I love Christmas cookies! So far I have enjoyed all of the above except Christmas cookies. I haven't started baking just yet, but I hope to do some today! I love baking when I have the time. I don't even have to like what I'm baking, I just enjoy the whole process of mixing things up and hoping it all turns out well and that those who enjoy the things I make will enjoy the baked good I just made.

Anyway, only 13 more days until we are in Michigan! We are all very excited. Time seems to be crawling. However, we have things to keep us occupied for a few weeks. Jon has finals next week, so he will be busy studying, my grandmother's 80th birthday is Wednesday so we will be celebrating with her at some point, on the 12th we get Julianna's 6 month pictures taken along with family pictures taken, the week after that...the same week we leave, Julianna has her 6 month check up and it's our anniversary. So really we have a lot to keep us busy, but thoughts of Michigan are STILL in the back of our minds. Hopefully there is NO SNOW FALLING while we are traveling this year! We don't want a repeat of last years trip!

In other news, there really isn't much. My brother promoted this week to First Lieutenant which is awesome! Julianna has moved from Rice Cereal to Oatmeal. She seems to enjoy the oatmeal a lot more! Julianna is enjoying her exersaucer a lot more and does this new rocking thing while she is in it. It's difficult to describe in words, but it's funny to see. She is getting so big! Before we know it she will be crawling all over the place. Time really does fly when you have children! I will try to post more pictures and maybe a video soon!

Well that's all for now! Happy Shopping and Baking to all! MUCH LOVE!