The Christmas Season is well under way, which means lots of giving and good cheer.  I want to show my children the importance of giving to others - that Christmas is not just about receiving.  The kids brought toys to their school to support our community's 'Blue Santa' Program that helps children in need at this time, and I made them take the gifts themselves. If I did it, what is the point.  But, I also like to show them the joy of giving to others and taking a moment to say thank you. 

So, this year I decided it would be nice if we left a little gift for our garbage men and recycling guys.  They have one of the most important jobs in our community, and they probably rarely get thanked or tipped.  We all tip our yard men, hair dressers, babysitters, house cleaners, etc., but I thought it would be nice to say thanks to the guys who keep our community clean. 

I bought each crew a case of coke and a box of those really super good melt-in-your mouth sugar cookies at the grocery store.  I bought the coke at Sams, so all 4 items probably cost less than $20.  I made a little sign (above) and had the kids draw a little picture on each, and then we taped it to the goodies and left it outside. 

I'm normally not home when the garbage men come (I wasn't when the recyclers came), but I happened to be home today.  So, I opened the blinds just enough so I could see out, but they wouldn't be able to see me spying on them.  The guys seemed surprised and really happy, even for such a small thing.  They read the note together, showed the driver, loaded it in the truck and one of them yelped a little 'woohoo!'.  Then they proceeded on with their job.

I think the recyclers were pleased as well because normally my recycle bin (one of those huge gigantic ones) is carelessly 'put' back in the middle of the street or right in front of my driveway, but today is was neatly put back up on the curb out of the way.  My hope is that it brightened their day a little and maybe realize that we don't take them for granted.  I'm sure their jobs are not easy. 

So, my challenge to you is to do the same sometime before Christmas.  You could leave cookies, treats, gift cards to local fast food joints, home made notes and/or whatever sounds good to you.  It's nice to feel appreciated, but more importantly it's nice to give to others.  That is, after all, what the season is all about.

I'd love to see what you do in your neighborhood with your family!  Please share pictures on facebook (Momofthree.com)!

This November seemed to really be filled to the brim with major life events for us.  On the 1st my husband's Grandmother passed away.  She was two months shy of turning 99 years old.  It was not sudden, but it's still sad when someone passes away, no matter how old they are.  We are both thankful, though, that she got to meet all three of her great-grandkids, which is something really special.  I didn't get to meet all four of my grandparents let alone any great-grandparents! 

Shortly after that, my best friend had her sweet baby boy a month early after some serious pregnancy-related problems.  He stayed in the NICU for close to 3 weeks before finally coming home the day after Thanksgiving.  These are the times it's really hard to be so far away - I wish I could have been there for her to bring them food, run errands or just give a hug.  But, at least we have text messaging. 

We then had the chance to visit Dallas for Gigi's memorial service where the kids got a chance to meet a whole bunch of cousins they'd never met before.  We had a great time seeing everyone and remembering my husband's Grandmother's life. 

Finally, yesterday, the last day of the month, my cousin had her baby about a month early also as a result of some pregnancy issues.  The baby is healthy.

And, it seems we may have made some progress in our allergy/asthma fight, and so that makes me very happy as well. 

November is National Adoption Month, too, and so it is very fitting that we celebrate the day we brought our son home from Guatemala during this month.

It was appropriately a month filled with many reminders of what we are thankful for - our family, our health, our friends, medical science, airplanes that allow us to be with family when we want/need to be, adoption and so much more.  I tried to do the daily things I am thankful for on facebook, but I'm not great at doing that every day.  I am thankful for so much, though, and it certainly does not go un-appreciated during November even if I don't do my public declarations of it all! 

Happy belated Thanksgiving, and I hope you all took some time to reflect on what you are thankful for.

I also got to snap a quick picture at the Houston Nutcracker Market (that's a whole blog in itself if you've never been!) with 'Hope' from Days of our Lives - she has a booth for her jewelry line Hope Faith Miracles!  I've always watched Days on and off, but I mostly took this for my sister-in-law who just LOVES Kristian Alfonso!

My youngest had some allergy testing done recently on her back as you can see in the picture.  She cried when they put the panels on her back, but otherwise remained her regular cheery self!  She is really such a champ with all the doctors she sees, and generally charms the socks off the nurses with her conversation, big eyes and smiles. 

Anyway, it turns out she is allergic to many things - more than what is normal for other 2 year olds.  So much so that the doctor was blown away and he is an allergy/asthma doc who specializes in 2 year olds.  She's allergic to many trees, grasses, molds, cats (not dogs!), and dust mites & their poop.  Thankfully foods don't seem to be on the list.  So, one of the things he recommended for her was allergy shots, which is a long term (3-5 year) commitment, but should hopefully help to dissipate them over time. 

We weren't really sure about doing them since it is such a big commitment and initially it means going once or twice a week for quite a while and eventually tapers down to once a month.  Normally they like to wait until kids are around 5 to do this, but because she has been so sick the doc thinks it's a good idea.  In the past year she has been hospitalized once, been taken to the ER at least 3 times, had countless regular doctor visits, been on antibiotics numerous times and been on oral steroids around 6 times (which are damaging to internal organs if taken too much, and 6 times is too much).  So, the goal here is to minimize all of that and prevent any bad asthma attacks, which are probably at least partially related to the allergies.  

Additionally, we are going to get rid of the carpeting upstairs (major breeding ground for dust mites), stop using fans, wash ALL her bedding and stuffed animals more often, and we have a hepa filter in her room.  Hopefully all this will help because having a baby who can't breathe just plain sucks.  She also takes a steroid through a nebulizer twice a day as a preventative measure which is much safer than the liquid medicine since it just goes directly to the lungs rather than throughout the whole body.

 I also had a skin test done, and turns out I'm allergic to a bunch of trees, grasses, molds, cats AND dogs!  I knew I was allergic to cats, but dogs?? Really??  I've never had a problem and I had a dog growing up.  Oh well.  Anyway, since I'm allergic to one thing or another that peaks year round (and we live in Houston which is a hot, humid breeding ground for everything), they recommended shots for me as well. 

While I'm not (nor have I ever been) nearly as bad as my youngest, I will probably do it as well and then we can do it together.  I think I need to have my other daughter tested (because I think she's got some allergies as well) so that we can all happily go get shots together for the next five years.  Doesn't that sound fun?  I guess if it ends all the nights filled with coughing, breathing treatments, inhalers, doctor visits and everything else it's worth it.  I guess we'll see. 

My conclusion from all of this is allergies and asthma suck.  Just plain suck.  And, tha