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Twas the week before Christmas...

and boy was it busy!  We filled the week with crafts, shopping and doctors appointments!

Doctors visited, included for Lorelei, were the GI and sleep specialist.

Lorelei's doing well!  At the GI we discovered...She'd gained 4 pounds since her last visit in March, weighing in at 35.6 pounds and 41 inches.  She's in the 25 percentile for both.  Not bad for a baby who never made her way onto the charts at all till last September!  She'll remain on both her meds, one for reflux and one an appetite stimulant.

Our sleep specialist was happy we'd had some overall improvement in sleep, especially the going to sleep part.  Now we will continue the work on the staying asleep part.  One of the culprits interfering in her deep sleep is a low ferritin level.  This is the amount of iron stored in your blood.  Her's is incredibly low.  So...we start a new regimen of iron, calcium and Vitamin C with repeat labs in March.  If levels remain low he will refer her to a hematologist.  These levels are directly related to her Restless Leg Syndrome, which is what tends to wake her up at night. 

Still smiling...these doctors aren't so bad!
OK- the crafting and projects over here this week were quite simple with excellent results.  First, there were two kits that produce these....

 The Gingerbread house was assembled by Savannah...and Santa's sleigh by Jonas and mommy!



John has been working on a re-purposing a workbench into a kitchen island for me...

I can't wait to add some finishing touches...it fits perfect for the space!  Great job John...such vision!


This was a simple project with great results...tinting mason jars.  These sweet little containers are no longer food safe, but a cute storage for paper clips, hair clips...etc.



And finally a little sewing yesterday to create another sweet pillowcase dress for Lorelei.  She picked out the fabric.  Cute as a cupcake!
Still lots of prep to be done this Christmas Eve...cleaning, wrapping, organizing.  Christmas Eve will be spent at 4:00 mass, then onto Nana's and Papa's for yummy snacks and a visit from good Ole St. Nick!  We'll wrap up the night...literally, finishing up the wrapping!  We'll tuck in the little ones and then become busy little elves getting everything ready for one spectacular morning!

I'm also looking forward to Christmas night as John and I will host our first Christmas dinner here at our newish home.  We planned a traditional German meal his mother use to make.  A big roasted pork loin with creamed brussell sprouts, spaetzel (a noodle), mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, mushrooms and onions (that's my Polish grandma's recipe) and homemade yeast bread, if all goes well.  Dessert will be brought by my sister which will include a yummy hot chocolate bar!

So from my family to yours...Merry Christmas.  May your days be filled with love, peace, family, and a little magic!

The Boyen Bunch!





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