Merry Christmas

It is almost Christmas, only two sleeps to go. I am excited about this year, it is the first year in our own home. At least the first where we actually planned to be here. Everything is ready, the presents are wrapped, the food is bought, company is on its way. Well I don't actually have a whole lot to write about, so I guess Merry Christmas to everybody. Drive safe and eat lots of turkey

New Bed

We bought Hannah a new bed over the weekend, and today I picked up new bedding, so tonight she is spending her first night in her new bed. We went to the store with the intention of buying a twin captains bed, but then we thought maybe we should buy bunk beds because we do eventually plan to have Sara and Hannah share a room. Of course then the thought came into our heads that we should purchase a double bed to accommodate guests. Hannah's room is quite large so it can easily handle a double bed and still have lots of room for playing. So this is exactly what we did we bought a double bed with a twin bunk. Perhaps a little over kill at this point. I was a little worried about the thought of moving my little Hannah to a double bed. But I actually am really glad that is how we did it. She looks really small in the bed, but there is lots of room for every stuffed animal she owns, and now when I sit on the bed or lay with her there is lots of room for me. And with all the stuffed animals, colorful sheets and bright yellow throw pillows we bought it looks like the perfect bed for a kid.

Bahummbug

I am never doing anything nice for anybody again. At least nothing that involves downloading music anyways. I set out to download three simple songs that is all I wanted to do. I quickly tried the illegal route, and gave up deciding that three bucks was worth the hassle of not having to search for these songs. First I tried to use MSN music, this didn't work as MSN no longer provides this service and reroutes you to ZUNE, I couldn't figure out how to get songs from Zune without becoming a member, so I tried Yahoo Music. This was my big mistake I guess. I decided to try out Yahoo's offer of seven days free membership to their site, including unlimited songs. I entered all my information then attempted to download Yahoo Jukebox. But unfortunately the Yahoo site is broken and you can't download the jukebox. So Dan found me a version of the Jukebox somewhere else on the internet and I downloaded that. But now for some reason Yahoo wasn't recognizing that I was a member. According to my account I was subscribed but the actual music program didn't recognize my subscription. So after two days of fighting with this, I canceled my subscription and tried to buy the songs the regular way for a dollar a piece. Then I encountered the problem that every time I tried to buy the songs, it would ask for my VISA number and then promptly tell me there was a problem with the purchase, and my purchase would be canceled. ARGHHH, I was starting to get frustrated. I emailed Yahoo Customer care, and got a reply which was pretty much useless. So I gave up on Yahoo music and downloaded itunes instead. This was a good experience, at least to start with anyways. I got the songs I needed with little fuss, and was happily playing them on my computer. Unfortunately just listening to the music was not my original intention of locating these songs, I actually wanted to use the songs in another program. Well the program I was using doesn't recognize itunes songs as a music file. So after researching the problem on the internet we were able to burn the songs to a cd in MP3 format. (a complete waste of a CD) and then rip them back onto the computer. So finally after all this I got my songs. But the story doesn't end there. I went to uninstall Yahoo music and discovered that it was a hacked version. Which means I most likely gave out both mine and Dan's VISA numbers to who knows who. So today I phoned VISA and canceled our VISA cards, which means that neither one of us has a VISA for the next 5 to 7 days. And well as I am sure you all realize it is almost Christmas, and who doesn't use their VISA the week before Christmas. So that is my story, and my conclusion is that I don't like yahoo music, or itunes and I never want to have anything to do with downloading music again. (SO don't ask)

TV Day

Hannah is sick again so today will be a TV day. She has a mild fever and a cough. Not the worst symptoms, but the fever seems to be making her really tired. So she will sit in front of the tv all day sipping on juice, and eating soup. Oh if only I could join her on the couch, but unfortunately with company coming this weekend I have too much to do.

Another playdate

Well we just had another successful playdate, not quite as big as last time, 6 adults and 10 kids. Thankfully a 4 people canceled at the last minute or it would have been a madhouse in here. Hannah was a little possessive of her toys, but we have more then enough to go around so it wasn't too bad. And some how my house is actually cleaner now then before anybody arrived. well maybe not quite. Hannah had a good birthday yesterday, we had a little party with strawberry shortcake, and two gifts just from me and Dan. The big party will be next weekend when everyone comes to visit. Well everyone is sleeping so I think I am going to spend sometime relaxing. (sleeping)

Happy Birthday Hannah

Food Issues

We started Sara on solid food this week. It isn't going well, she isn't interested in it at all. She just stares at me like I'm crazy and refuses to open her mouth. Today I made a break through when I put the spoon next to her mouth and she reached out with her tongue and licked the spoon, but that is the closest I've gotten to getting food in her mouth. This afternoon every time I reached towards the spoon she started crying. I'm hoping that if I keep trying she will give it a chance, but if not we will be trying oatmeal on Monday, and then if she still wont eat it I guess we will take a break for a couple of weeks.

Hannah saw an allergist here in Calgary on Wednesday. He did a full allergy test on her back. Poor girl. She actually didn't do to bad considering he poked her two dozen times. The only allergies she showed are milk and eggs, and the milk is almost gone. He recommended we give her milk in baked goods, and try her out with cheese and yogurt every three months until there is no reaction and then give her straight milk every 3 months until she doesn't react to that. She is still quit allergic to eggs though, so he suggested only giving her eggs in baked goods and only as much as she tolerates without getting eczema. Once again with eggs we can try her out with whole eggs in six months or so. I liked this allergist much better then the last one, he was much more relaxed about what we could feed her. His opinion was as long as she isn't getting really bad hives or eczema give her whatever we feel comfortable with.

online shopping

I'm starting to really like online shopping. Two weeks ago I purchased a present for somebody. I sat on my butt, found the gift, researched the gift and compared prices at various shops. Now today I noticed that the gift was on sale for less then I purchased it for. So I phoned the place I bought it from pointed out this fact and got a refund for the difference. All without ever leaving the house. The only dilemma with online shopping I may have discovered is that I spent more then I probably would have otherwise because I found so many neat things. But because everything was at such good prices, I got more for the extra money I did spend, so I'm not going to complain.

You Are a Christmas Sweater!

Over the top, colorful, and totally flashy. You're not afraid to be a little tacky.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Yep, that's me! Tacky! :)

Signs

I think our van is telling us something. On our way back from Edmonton tonight we were about halfway back when a very large rock hit our windshield. It left behind a series of cracks which span about 5 inches. Between this new incident, the check engine light coming on, and the recent trouble with the transmission sensors, I think our van is letting us know it is ready to be retired, at least from highway driving anyways. It seems to really enjoy city driving, even when the sensor was all wacky, it still drove perfectly within city limits. At this point we are seriously considering purchasing a new vehicle, but it is hard when we just put so much money into this one.

But in other news we went to Edmonton to attend the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. It was an enjoyable experience something everybody should do at least once in their lives. It is something we will probably do again, although perhaps in Calgary. Me and Dan have very different taste in music though. We both enjoyed the performance, but where I really enjoyed the quieter more calm music, Dan preferred the more energetic, loud portions of the performance. Seeing how there was plenty of both we both walked away impressed.

Stats

We had an appointment at the pediatricians yesterday. Everybody is healthy although he was a little concerned that Hannah isn't gaining any weight. Hannah is now 33 inches, and 25 lbs 8 ounces. Sara-Lyn is 26 inches and 17 lbs 13 ounces. He figured that with Sara being so sick over the weekend that she probably lost up to half a pound. Which would have put her well into 18 lbs. In other news I am still sick. I would like to take a moment and indulge in some self pity. I feel awful, I don't think I have been this sick in years, I feel miserable, I can't talk, and I just plain hurt. The only thing that got me through last night was a heavy reliance on cough syrup, and Advil. Thankfully though I was able to go to bed at 8:00pm, so at least I don't feel so horrifically tired today. Well enough of that. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be feeling great again.