Ok so it's been forever since I updated

Well, I suppose I should update once in awhile for the one reader that I have, LOL. So let's do a three month summary of everything that has been going on, followed by a whole bunch of pics...

Me - Well, I had a hair coloring fiasco, and instead of getting chocolate brown I now have jet black hair. It's faded a little since I initially colored it, but I have had a few people comment on how "goth" it looks, LOL. Other than that, things have been going good. Hit a little lull in the freelance business, so have been stepping out into the world of bidding on projects myself.

George has been busy with work. Not a whole lot new going on there (and he doesn't like me talking about him online anyways!)

Jasmine is in the second half of the year of preschool. She really enjoys it. They are starting to learn about letters and the sounds they make, so she is constantly asking us about what letter a word begins with. We are planning on putting her in kindergarten (homeschooling) next year.

Athena is doing much better. Hard to believe she is two! She is walking well and talking better. Still very much a drama queen about anything that doesn't go her way or is out of the ordinary.

Shane is getting so big - hard to believe he will be a year old as of the end of this month. He's definitely developing a personality and tends to be a bit of a mama's boy. He's pulling up to stand and starting to cruise a little - hopefully he'll walk sooner than the girls.

Here's pics, since I know that is the real reason why you read....

Our Very Merry Christmas, Not So Happy New Year, and Shane's 9 Month Checkup

Wow, just under two weeks since I last posted and it is ridiculous what has been going on since then. So here is everything to catch you up.

Christmas was wonderful. As usual, you can see pictures at the end of the post. Jasmine was finally old enough to get excited about the big day. Her "auntie" Christine brought her and her sister chocolate Advent calendars from Germany, so she got a big kick out of getting that little piece of chocolate every night and waiting for the bigger piece on Christmas Eve. Athena wasn't too sure what was going on, though by the last couple of presents she started to get into it. Shane just enjoyed being the center of attention. We decided to do birthday cake for Jesus instead of Santa, and as you can see Athena was a bit enthused by the decision! And YES, those are pigtails!

Later in the evening Shane started becoming a bit wheezy. If you recall, he had an episode back in October, so we already had a inhaler on hand to start treating him. He didn't get better overnight, so we headed off to the pediatrician, and after a couple of treatments there he earned himself an ambulance ride to the hospital. Long story short we ended up spending the next three days and three nights there getting him better again.

To add to the holiday "fun" we apparently brought home a bit of a stomach bug. Nothing like having multiple children puking at the same time to really define the word "parenthood" for you! Needless to say New Year's resulted in everyone going to bed early - we didn't even stay up to watch the ball drop on TV this year.

Today was Shane's 9 month appointment, and thankfully a bit of good news. For those of you keeping track of his stats he is now 19 pounds, 2 ounces (30th percentile), 29.5" tall (90th percentile), and 18.75" head circumference (>95th percentile). That's up a bit in percentiles for height and weight and pretty consistent for his head circumference. Guess he is going to be another tall, skinny one!

He also earned himself his own nebulizer to use at home. Basically it will be two inhaled treatments twice a day as a preventative for any future episodes. Sure beats another trip to the hospital! They will not officially diagnose kids with asthma until after the age of two, but there is a good chance that if he continues on he will be diagnosed with it.

Anyways, here are the pics you've all been waiting for: