Jenn's Den

Um, Wow? My last post was in April??

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:24:00 +0000

I don't think I had fully realized just how long it's been since I've posted here.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have checked in on me. It has meant a lot to me. Really, a whole lot.

It took me awhile to get back to normal, emotionally, after the miscarriage and its fallout. By that point it was head first into the follow up EEG for L and waiting for the results and the follow up appointment with the neurologist (this was an incredibly emotionally draining process for me. So scary, thinking we were going to find out something was seriously wrong with L). I don't know, each day that passed it felt like there was so much more to write, so much more I needed to update everybody on, that it started to feel overwhelming.

So, instead of writing you a book today, how about I do some short and sweet updates and then fill in the details with some follow-up posts.

First and most important - L has been released from the care of the neurologist!!!! Her follow up EEG was normal, she hasn't had another "episode" since April, her two year check up (my girl is 2 yall!!!) showed she is developmentally ahead or on target in every category so they think whatever was going on isn't going on anymore and they released us from their care. We can, of course, always go back if she shows signs of having problems again, but they felt fairly certain we are through with all that crap.

I had further testing done after this last miscarriage that showed I have a form of thrombophilia, a blood clotting disorder that could be contributing to my miscarriages. I am now under the care of a great hematologist and we've got a plan in place to hopefully prevent another pregnancy loss.

My little niece was born last Friday to my darling sister in law, T, and it was a joyous event - even for me. This shows just how far I have come from last April, when I was dreading even seeing T, much less her sweet little girl.

Okay, yall, I think these are all the big updates, and I'll fill in all the details, etc. in future posts. I hope all of you have been doing well! Please forgive me for being such a crappy blogger and blog friend these past few months.

And, again, thank you to all of you who checked in on me while I was missing in action. Yall are the best. :)

Roughness

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Yall, the past few weeks have been rough. First there was the miscarriage and the diagnosis of an abnormal uterus. I mean, that was enough for me. But there's been something else going on, too, that has made it a particularly rough time lately.

My little L has been having these "episodes" during which she seems to lose muscle control. At first, they were very few and far between and she would literally fall to the ground and be unable to stand or walk for a minute or two. Talk about scary! During the last three months or so, though, L has been experiencing these episodes more often than she was before, although they seem to be a little bit less severe.

So, we've been making the rounds to the pediatrician and then the pediatric neurologist to see if we can find out what is happening. Last week we reported to the hospital at the awful hour of 7:45 am to hook my darling up and have an EEG done. I'll write more about that experience later, but the short story is that when we met with the neurologist again last Thursday we found out her EEG came back normal (praise God!).

That sounds really great, right? Well it is, except it doesn't really tell us anything. They thought she might be experiencing seizures and have epilepsy. According to the neurologist, an EEG will pick up about 80% of pediatric epilepsy cases, so there is quite a bit of room for error. So, we're having a second EEG done in about a month since apparently a repeat EEG can sometimes pick up something a previous one might have missed. If that comes back normal and the episodes continue, we will have to do a day-stay EEG in which we get to hang out at the hospital all day with L hooked up.

Other things we talked about that could be the cause of these episodes are low blood sugar, an auto-immune disorder, something going on with her nervous system - either some kind of disorder or it could just be an overload of the system because she is growing so much (something she might just mature out of), or - and I HATE even writing this possibility down - a brain tumor. That last one there scares the pants off of me.

During this last appointment the neurologist said that he doesn't think she's having seizures. We're going to continue testing in case she does since seizures can manifest in many different ways, but, he really doesn't think that's the problem. So, if both the next regular EEG and the day-stay EEG come back normal then we're going to talk about having an MRI done to rule out anything like a (gulp) tumor. We also had to buy a blood glucose monitor this weekend so we can attempt to test her blood sugar during the next episode.

So, yea, this has been super stressful. Last week was especially stressful with the EEG and the neurologist appointments and she had an episode on Tuesday. For two weeks before last week we had out of town company and right before that was my diagnosis and right before that was the miscarriage and by the end of last week I felt like I was ready to lose it. But, after a wonderful "stay-cation" this past weekend I feel a lot better today. Much less stressed, much more happy.

Please forgive me for not stopping by your blogs and commenting very much - my time at the computer has been limited and when I am able to get online I find myself spending the time googling things about pediatric epilepsy and hypoglycemia in toddlers. I hope all has been well with you guys lately.

Another Hard Thing

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:14:00 +0000

Another hard thing, which started out as a wonderful thing, is that both of my sister in laws happen to be pregnant. All three of us were due within about a month and a half of each other. I can't tell you how excited I was about that - three cousins so close in age, growing up together, a pack of ready-made friends is what I imagined. Plus, it was so much fun to be pregnant together! One sister in law of mine, T, and I spend quite a bit of time together, and it was fabulous to be pregnant at the same time again (her son and L are just a few months apart).

But now, that whole pregnant sister in law thing sucks. I mean, of course I'm happy for them and am excited about the impending new arrivals, but for me, this sucks. They are both a very real reminder of what we have lost. It hurts to just think about T's baby belly and the fact that I should have one about now, too. I hate thinking about the fall, when those two babies will be born, and the fact that there will be no new baby coming home to this house. It feels to me as if there will forever be a cousin missing from that little gang.

Plus, it's not like these ladies are mere acquaintances that I can just manage to avoid. These ladies are family. Almost every week or so T and I get together during the day to see each other and let the kiddos play and we get together with the hubby's in tow at least a few times a month. My other sister in law and I usually see each other at least once or twice a month at a family dinner.

So, T has been out of town since before my miscarriage and is due back tomorrow. Her hubby wants everybody to meet her at the airport to welcome her back to town. I would love to. I seriously would. I've missed her and would like to see her - but when I think about being faced with her burgeoning belly and people talking about her pregnancy, well, it kind of makes me cry. I can't help but thinking "that should be me, too". I should be greeting her at the airport with a baby belly, we should be commiserating about our pregnancies, we should still be doing this together.

And that is hard. Really hard.

My Extra Special Uterus

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. I really do.

I said I would write later about the other issues that are playing into this miscarriage, so here I am keeping my word and writing about one of these issues - my extra special uterus.

During our first ultrasound with this pregnancy it was discovered that there was something wrong with my uterus. After the miscarriage we had another ultrasound done in which my OB told me I either had a septum or a bicornuate uterus. Determining which it was couldn't be done reliably with my OB's regular old ultrasound machine, so I was scheduled for a fancier, 3-D ultrasound which was done last week. I have been diagnosed with having a bicornuate uterus, and there is essentially nothing that can be done about it. At least if I had a septum it could be fixed surgically.

Basically, a bicornuate uterus is a uterus which isn't shaped normally. It kind of looks like a heart (so much so that it's often called a "heart shaped uterus"), where as a normal uterus looks like a balloon. As one type of mullerian anomaly, it is part of a group of uterine abnormalities that occurs in about 3% of the population. My specific anomaly occurs in about .5% of the population, so I'm amazingly unique. Aren't I lucky?

With that diagnosis comes these associated risks - an increased risk of premature labor, an increased risk of recurrent miscarriage, an increased risk of an incompetent cervix, an increased risk of intra-uterine growth restriction, an increased risk of trouble getting pregnant, an increased risk of placental problems and an increased chance of having a breech or transverse baby. So, all that sucks. Like, a lot.

The whole increased risk of preterm labor and an incompetent cervix worry me a lot because of my mother's history - 7 pregnancies, 2 living children (my brother and I). Out of 7 pregnancies, 1 was a miscarriage, 1 was a blighted ovum, and the other 5 had complications from preterm labor and incompetent cervix issues. I have a sister who lived about 45 minutes after being born when my mother's cervix just gave way far too early.

The increased risk of recurrent miscarriage frankly just scares the crap out of me. I mean, miscarriages already scared the crap out of me, and now I find out I have an even higher chance than I thought of having another one. Ugh and also, no thanks. Miscarriages suck and I really, really, really would like to never have another one, like ever.

So, there you have it folks, my uterus is so incredibly special that I get to worry about all kinds of things on top of all the things I already worried about in relation to pregnancy. And I'm a top-notch pregnancy worrier, so I can't even imagine how super awesome my next go round is going to be. I mean, like, I get to worry even more than I do already? Wow, how utterly crap-tastic!

Hello Again

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Well, hello there. Yes, it's been awhile. I'm sorry, I've just been in a funk and haven't felt much like writing.

The pregnancy went south about a week ago and I miscarried. I have a ton of emotions about it, I am mixed up, I am all over the place and I am up and down. A lot.

During the day, I hold it together very well. I do my usual stuff and take care of L (although the house is obviously lacking in some much needed TLC), we play outside, read books, snuggle and laugh. During the day, I am sad but okay. L is very healing and this miscarriage has been much easier to deal with. I watch her laughing and singing and dancing and think that it's pretty hard to be depressed with her around.

At night, once I can unwind a bit, my mind begins to race and to really think on this pregnancy, the miscarriages, the losses, our future, our family. Many nights I have a very hard time falling asleep as I just cannot seem to shut off the stream of thoughts related to this miscarriage. There are other issues I'll write about later that add to this, but let's just say that there is a lot my brain has been forcing me to think about.

I'm sorry this is such a bummer post, what a way to come back, eh? But, this is where I am right now. I debated all week about whether or not to even keep writing here, but ultimately I decided it's my blog and I can write about feeling sad and miscarriages and unhappy stuff if that's what I want to do. Hopefully yall won't mind sticking with me through all this. If it's too much doom and gloom for you though, I understand.

Hope you all have been doing well lately, I've missed you.

I'm Still Here...

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Just really tired and feeling sick all the time. L's naptimes are my usual blogging time, but lately I've been sleeping or resting or feeling awful during naps, so blogging is not getting my attention. Please forgive me if I'm absent for a little while.

Oh! We did have our first OB appointment earlier this week and got to see a beautiful little heart beating away on the ultrasound!

Will you please continue to pray with me for a healthy pregnancy and baby? Thank you so much!

Wake Me Up In A Month Or Two

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Cause yall, I am so dang tired. And I can't even blame it on L's crappy sleep this time either, as she slept really well last night and so did I. I'm thinking the culprit is the pregnancy - I spent pretty much the entire first trimester of both of my other pregnancies exhausted all the time. In the afternoon, I'd come home from work, fall asleep just about immediately, sleep until hubby got home about two hours later, get up to eat dinner and hang with hubby a little bit, and then hit the sack super early every night. Even with the extra 4-5 hours of sleep everyday, I was still always tired.

As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm not currently getting anywhere near 4-5 extra hours of sleep a day. Although I have begun napping while L naps in the afternoon, which is nice, but I only end up getting about 45 minutes or an hour of sleep.

So, yes, I am so tired. We've been watching far too much tv in this house the past few days because Mommy just really needs to lay in bed for a little while. Generally, I am not a fan of tv, but hey, whatever gets me a few minutes of rest is good with me right now. Hopefully this will pass quickly and I'll be back to my regular, just mildly sleeply all the time, self.

Wednesday Internet Wanderings 2-4-09

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:01:00 +0000

I can't wait to try out this homemade black bean veggie burger recipe. We usually buy the frozen kind anyway, and these would be much healthier. I think if I have time soon I'll make a big batch and freeze a bunch for quick, easy dinners.

Since I'm still nursing L, I've been spending some time reading through this FAQ for nursing during pregnancy and tandem nursing.

The exploding box and mini heart bag are so cute! Take a look at these paper craft ideas from Kaiser Craft.

Over the next few months I'm going to try to whip up a few pairs of these DIY Babylegs for the new baby. We use cloth diapers, which are bulkier than disposables, and it can be hard to find pants that will fit over the cloth - pants these days are cut to fit over the super slim disposables. Having a stash of these will mean baby's legs can still be warm but I don't have to ignore my cloth diapers during the winter.

Any good links you'd like to share? Feel free to post them in the comments section!

My Pregnancy Reading List

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:54:00 +0000

Reading is one of my favorite things to do, so I've already started working on a list of the books I want to make sure I read (or read again) during this pregnancy.

Ina May's Guide To Childbirth was by far my favorite read during L's pregnancy and I plan on buying it this time around instead of continuously rechecking it out from the library for six months. I love everything about this book, the practical information, the birth stories, the assuring tone it is written in, just everything. Can't wait to get my hands on it again!

My library doesn't carry this book, so I added it to my purchase wish list, too. I've heard it's an excellent book and I enjoy reading about cosleeping.

The Baby Book is fantastic - it covers just about anything you could ever want to know about a little baby. This was another one of the books I checked out during L's pregnancy and I ended up buying it. It was a great resource to have around the house after she was born.

This isn't a book (although there is a book that goes with this DVD), but hubby and I really enjoyed watching this DVD while pregnant with L. I've got it somewhere, just have to dig it out so we can watch it again.

Any suggestions for me? Books about pregnancy, labor, childbirth, breastfeeding or babies you recommend?

15 Minutes of Fitness

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Emily has graciously asked me to join her in writing over at her fitness blog, come check us out! We'll be chronicling our journey to better health with just 15 minutes a day of exercise.

Coffee Anyone?

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:49:00 +0000

When I was pregnant with L, I gave up all caffeine until my third trimester, and even then I only had a soda every once in awhile. Sure, it was hard, I did really enjoy a Dr. Pepper on sluggish afternoons at work, but this time around cutting out the caffeine is proving to be much harder already.

Take this morning for example. I'm tired, really tired, after being up with L for quite a bit last night. Which makes the allure of the coffeemaker hard to ignore. There is sits, on my kitchen counter, beckoning to me. It doesn't help that hubby had coffee before he left for work which means I can still smell it, too.

I know lots of pregnant women drink coffee and soda throughout their pregnancies and it's no big deal, but it's something hubby and I decided last time around that would be good to avoid.
Google has shown me that there is conflicting advice out there about caffeine in pregnancy, some recommend you stay under 300 mg a day. Some recommend you switch to decaf. Some recommend you don't drink decaf or any caffeine for that matter. I'm trying hard to follow that last piece of advice, but I'm finding myself pulled toward a cup of decaf, or even a cup of regular coffee on those mornings when I'm really dragging.

What did all of you do when you were pregnant? Did you cut out the caffeine?

Emotional

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:43:00 +0000

So I'm not even sure what to say. I have so many emotions about this pregnancy and it's only been a few days since I found out about it!

Of course I'm excited. Thinking about a new baby, a new little life forming in me, is so amazing. I look at L and think how could I not want to do this again? How could I not want to experience all this again? I think about how nice it will be for L to have a sibling, for our family to grow, for there to be more love in our home.

And then I remember what life was like with a newborn L. The sleep deprivation, the incredible pain I experienced when first breastfeeding, just how hard it was for the first bit with a new baby in the house - I think about all of this and then break out into a cold sweat. How am I going to do this? How am I going to do all of this newborn stuff and take good care of L at the same time? Will I ever sleep again?

Then comes the doubt. The doubt about whether this pregnancy will end with a healthy baby. Sometimes I catch myself pushing away excitement for fear of getting too attached. I know what it's like to be heartbroken from the loss of a pregnancy and I don't want to be in that place again.

But in the end, I decide I've got to celebrate this new little person - no matter how long his life maybe. I truly believe in life at conception, I believe this little person has a soul, I believe this little person is important and I can't ignore that. I'm not the only one who has a stake in this and I shouldn't be so selfish as to think that.

Which takes me back to being excited and then I cycle through all these emotions all over again.

I'm kind of a mess lately. In a good way.

:)

Surprise!

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Guess what folks? I'm pregnant!!!!

I just found out this morning, I'm in a bit of a shock, super excited and a little nervous.

Please pray with me for another healthy baby!!

Taking Stock

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:45:00 +0000

I mentioned in this post that one of the most helpful things I've done on my long journey to good money management skills was to take stock of where all my money was actually going. This was enormously critical for me to do, not that it necessarily changed anything other than my perspective, but because it was such a shock to me that I was so terrible with my money.

What I did was print out my bank statement for the previous three months and sat down with a few different colored highlighters. I then went through my statements highlighting each and every transaction, using the highlighter colors as a way to categorize things. Some of the categories I used were fast food/eating out, bills, clothing, entertainment, etc.

After I highlighted everything I went back and added up the totals for each of my categories, fully expecting that the bills category would end up with the highest total. I mean, that's why I was always broke, right? Cause my bills were so expensive? Ha! Was I ever ashamed of myself. You want to know what category took the cake as the category with the highest total? Fast food and eating out. Yup. Entertainment was second. Groceries were third, even though I was obviously eating out quite a bit.

So taking stock of where I was actually spending my money as opposed to where I thought I was spending my money was the kick in the pants I needed to get more serious about my finances.

Money Management

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Over the years I have gone from being short on cash each and every month to having a bit of a buffer each and every month. Unlike in the past, I no longer have to scrape together enough money to pay the electricity bill in the hopes the company doesn't shut our power off. For years I was a chronically late-paying, always over-spending and never-saving kind of gal.

Hubby has always been excellent with his finances, so after we got married and began to discuss merging our finances I knew I would have to shape up. It's been a long process, but I feel confident enough in my money managing skills to share what I've learned with others.

The two things that have helped me the most were taking stock of where all the money was going (and was that ever an eye-opening and embarrassing shock) and using a few tools to help keep me on the straight and narrow.

I plan on sharing more about this soon in case anybody out there might be helped by it.

Resolution: Exercise

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:23:00 +0000

So, Emily and Trish have both left comments recently about ways to keep myself accountable to exercising regularly. Emily has an exercise themed blog where she is tracking her resolution to exercise 15 minutes every day and I think I'm going to copy her idea - 15 minutes a day sounds very doable and reasonable. So, starting this weekend I'm going to attempt to keep up with that.

Trish wears a pedometer to track how many steps she takes everyday and I think I'm going to copy her, too, and join in with that. I actually went looking and found my pedometer and starting Monday I'm going to try to remember to wear that throughout the day. Maybe I should set it next to the coffee maker so that I see it every morning.

Exercising more often was one of my resolutions I kind of slowly gave up on last year so I'd really like to do a bit better with sticking to it this year. Wish me luck!

Assumptions

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:18:00 +0000

So last night was a little rough at bedtime. There were some tears and a few frustrated yells from the little one, overall not a super sweet and easy bedtime. After I finally got L in bed and asleep I was complaining to hubby that I hate when my last interaction of the night with L is a negative one. Ha ha ha he says, you're so funny, assuming bedtime is the last interaction of the night.

So true, so true. Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?

:)

L's Prepared Environment

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Go here to see pictures of how we have integrated L's things into our home. Oh, and I've started another blog, as you can see.

Like I need another blog to apologize on every other post for being absent and not writing.
:)

Well, that didn't last.

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:01:00 +0000

The 8 hour sleeping thing, that is. In fact, sleep has gotten terrible around here since that beautiful night. I think we're hitting the 18 month regression/developmental spurt a little early. New words are coming at a fantastic rate, in fact two new ones this morning within 20 minutes of L being awake - mailbox and purse. Last night there were two new words, the night before there were new words, everyday it seems her vocabulary expands. She is getting better and better at doing so many things, has begun to pretend! for the first time ever (so far, she's been an elephant and a dog) and is generally just blossoming in so many ways I'm not surprised the sleep sucks right now.

Not only does the sleep suck, but there we have tantrums, too. Not of anger, so they're not really temper tantrums, but of frustration. We went through a very brief period of this months ago, but they're back in full force now. It's mostly expressing her disappointment over not being allowed to do something and her frustration at not being able to do something. There are so many things she desperately wants to do and it's hard for her to deal with just not being able to do them. I can understand her frustration.

That doesn't mean I am loving the meltdowns, though. :)

8 HOURS!!!!

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Yall! L slept EIGHT WHOLE ENTIRE HOURS IN A ROW last night! YALL! This is a first. The closest we've gotten to that is a few six hour stretches here and there. It was amazing. It was fabulous. It was wonderful and fantastic and terrific, too.

Crossing all my appendages that it happens again soon. Like, tonight would be pretty good for me.

My Bible Reading Plan

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:05:00 +0000

One of the way's I'm going to be working on my resolution to put God first this year is to keep up with my Bible reading. Here's my plan:

Twice a day I will read and pray. In the morning I am reading one chapter of Proverbs, one chapter in the Old Testament (I'm in Numbers right now) and one chapter in Psalms. Since Proverbs is so full of practical advice it's a good choice for morning reading as it can help guide you through the day. In the evening I am reading one chapter in the New Testament (I'm in John right now) and one chapter from Psalms. I also make sure I am devoting at least a few minutes to prayer during my reading times, too.

Anybody care to join me this year or have a Bible reading plan they follow?

The 2009 Resolutions Post

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:48:00 +0000

I'm a little late to the resolutions party, but better late than never, right?

This year I'm sticking with two of my resolutions from last year and will continue to eat better and exercise more. We've done really well with eating more veggies and I want to make sure we keep that up, as much for hubby and I as for L. I want to make sure she grows up loving healthy food! I definitely want to keep up with the exercising regularly, too, especially since I'm only 2 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight!!!

In addition to the two resolutions I made last year, I've got two new ones I want to work on this year. First, I need to start putting God first in my life again. That has been sorely lacking around here lately. Second, I am committing to slowing down, spending more quality time with my family and less time on things that don't matter so much.

So, those are my resolutions. What are yours?

A Holiday Whirlwind

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:01:00 +0000

The last two weeks have been crazy and so very busy. My hubby's grandfather died right before Christmas, which of course put a damper on the festivities. He was a wonderful man, smitten with L, and is missed very much. In the week of Christmas there was lots of travel (he lived ten hours from us) and hastily made plans and plenty of sadness to go around, too. Deaths of loved ones are never easy to deal with, but it seemed harder with the family centeredness (I'm pretty sure that's not a real word) of Christmas all around. Not to mention all the holiday memories of hubby's grandfather and the terrible realization that hubby's grandmother would be spending her first Christmas in over thirty years without her dear husband.

But, then there was Christmas, and our little family of three had a wonderful morning together. We opened presents in our pajamas and hubby and I delighted in watching L half unwrap her gifts before moving on to the next one. Apparently the exciting part wasn't necessarily the present, but the ripping off of the paper. We spent time with my side of the family later in the day, then had hubby's family over the next day for a birthday celebration for his mom. Then it was more out of town travel to visit with my dad, step-mom, brother and sister and separately, with my grandfather and uncle.

Back home now, I've been busy trying to put my house back together and get on top of the laundry and try to get L back on some sort of regular schedule. I'm pooped. The last two weeks have really wiped me out, plus L's cutting two teeth (but after these, only 4 more to go!) and not sleeping very well at night. So, yeah. Tired is a good way to describe me right now. Hopefully with hubby home this weekend I can get a few naps in and catch up on some of my sleep.

I sure hope all of you had wonderful holidays and I am looking forward to stopping by your blogs soon for some overdue visits.

Just A Quick Note

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:03:00 +0000

Just a quick note to explain why I haven't been visiting yall's blogs or posting much here - we've had a death in the family (10 hours from home) and have been dealing with that. Please excuse my absence, I'll be back when I can. Hope you all are doing well!

Christmas and Charities

jennsden@gmail.com (Jenn) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:51:00 +0000

Yall, I can't believe Christmas will be here so soon. I've been expecting it all along, but then out of nowhere it's crept up on me, too. Almost all of my shopping is done, I did most of it online this year and let me tell you how wonderful (wonderful!) it is to not be fighting the masses and shopping in real live stores. There are a few things I have to get locally that I'm going to pick up today and tomorrow, but for the most part my Christmas shopping this year has been of the technological sort. Want to see some of my favorites that we've gotten for L?

She will love this little doggie playset - we've got two dogs of our own and she adores them.
This set of blocks will be a big hit:

Hubby and I are digging this pulling alligator and we're pretty sure L will, too.

One of my favorite possessions as a child is a baby doll that was given to my mother by my great grandfather on the day she was born. It was passed down to me and was one of my favorites toys growing up and now L happily plays with it all the time, too. But, she's not very snuggily since her face, arms and legs are hard vinyl and she's still a bit big for L to easily carry around, too, so we're getting her this doll which looks super soft and toddler friendly.

While I've been hunting for great deals online I've also been looking at charities and trying to decide where to donate my funds I've set aside from my Christmas budget. I think I've narrowed it down to three:

Heifer International - I am so loving the fact that you can give needy families goats and ducks. That the benefitting families then pass along some of the offspring of their animals to other needy families in their area is fantastic, too.

Living Water International - A basic need for everyone is what this charity provides - clean water. You'll be surprised by how cheap it is to provide it, too, just .98 for one person for an entire year.

The Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center - I've been following the blog of Lori, one of the women who run the center, for some time now and am constantly amazed at the severity of the situation there for so many children (and adults, too). The pictures of these kids breaks my heart and lead me to prayer each and every time I read a new entry. Read this post, look at that child, who at 7 months old weighs less than 9 pounds. The work they are doing is so important and so vital to their community.

Any charities you'd like to recommend we take a look at? Leave us a link in the comments section.