Update

I am fairly confident in saying that sickness has finally left our household. *knocks on wood* I hope I didn't say that too prematurely, but after a week and a half, it's about dang time!

Today was really the first day that Raegan was 100% herself. She ended up staying home from daycare on Thursday because she had some diahrrea (again!) Wednesday night, but going back to Angie's on Friday. She was generally clingy and whiny all day Friday, and ended up having another loose stool at child care. And getting Angie and two other kids sick. Not cool. Yesterday was a lay-around day, with lots of snuggling and reading books, although we did make a trip to Target to get Raegan's gift from us and her gift from Santa. The most exciting thing is that Raegan is eating fairly normally again, although she's being a bit picky about some things (like the macaroni and cheese that she LOVED two weeks ago that she wouldn't even touch tonight). But thank God she's eating and drinking again.

Raegan's got four molars in now, one on each side. They look so huge compared to her other teeth, which would explain some of the sleeping problems she was having earlier this month. At her doctor's appointment on December 3rd she was 22 lbs, 5 ounces, putting her at the 40% for weight, and 32 inches, putting her in the 89% for height. If she's going to be tall, it's definitely not coming from me! She's starting to use signs a little more now, and is quite proud of herself when she does the sign for all done and more. Her vocabulary is amazing, and she's imitating so much of what we say. She's starting to string two words together, but usually only when she's yelling or scolding (i.e. "No Daisy!" or "Hey, Dada!"). Her favorite toys right now are her shape sorter ball and her cell phone. She adores her animal board book and wants to read it with us over and over and over.

Zane has two more days before the end of the second quarter and the start of Christmas Break. He was sick so he wasn't able to be at his band concert last week, but at least his instructor let him make up the points by playing all the songs for him a few days later. Right now in English he's working on a paper about why he disagrees with Salina's ban on pit bulls. I'm so proud of him for picking a more "deep" topic to write about. It's weird for me to read his rough draft though, because he's still young enough that he doesn't have to have professional sources yet, so he's using websites. My brain is obviously still in grad school and I keep wanting to tell him that he needs to find sources that can back up their claims. hahaha

Anyone have any good recipes they can link me to? We're having a potluck at work on Wednesday and I need to bring something. I'm thinking about making this cherry delight cake/coffee cake type thing, but I may bring something else also. I also need to start thinking about my plates of Christmas cookies for the neighbors. Time is getting away from me - I can't believe that we are only a few days away from Christmas!

Calling all traditions

Do you all have any good Christmas Eve traditions that you do? I am searching for one to start this year.
Every year for as long as I can remember we've done Christmas Eve with my mom's extended family. We used to do it over at my grandparents, but as they started to have a harder time taking care of their house, we started doing it alternating at my parents', my aunt and uncle's, or my cousin's. This year we are not doing Christmas Eve, because of everything going on with my grandpa and many other stressors in my cousin and aunt and uncle's lives. :( I am so massively bummed. My family does not do get-togethers. Luke's family gets together for almost every holiday under the sun, but my family never has. Christmas Eve has always been the one constant. We always had chili and veggie soup and opened presents from and to the extended family. We're doing the soup and chili and presents with my brother's family and my family and my parents the day after Christmas, but nothing on Christmas Eve.

So I want to start a Christmas Eve tradition with my own immediate family. I suspect this year off will turn into every year, for reasons I won't state in a public blog. And I don't think that we should always sit around and do nothing every other year when Zane isn't here (which is the case this year). So I want to do something. I just don't know what. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, or monumental, just something for Raegan to remember as she grows up. Because I have always loved Christmas Eve with my family.

What do you all do? Or, if you know of something someone else does that you think is neat, please share.

I want one!

How do I put a super cool header at the top of my blog. I've been trolling around on blogspot, and have seen a lot of blogs with personalized headers. Anyone savvy on how to do that?