Well, it’s been a little while since I’ve taken a few minutes to post to the blog here. We’ve been busy with holiday preparations, shopping, fighting minor sickness and trying to stay ahead of things. Quick update…
Ben’s billiruben level is on the way down. We did what we hope was our last billi check this past Monday. Things are headed in the right direction and everyone is happy about that. Right now we are monitoring weight gain and hoping for a more rapid weight gain. 
Outside of that he is doing very well and growing more entertaining each day. Watch here for updates after tomorrow night as Ben will follow in his siblings footsteps and make his on-stage debut tomorrow night in the church program.
The rest of the kids have been busy preparing (they have a few more lines than Ben does in fact Robert has the lead this year) for the program. They are also busily keeping everyone they see updated on how many days until the much anticipated Christmas. (A few more weeks added to that would be fine with us so we could be ready!) Thomas missed a day of school yesterday with some sort of illness so he’s back on antibiotic (again). It’s been a pretty rough winter on the Janssen’s health-wise already.
Mixed in with that we’ve been enjoying time with extended family to celebrate the season. A few weekends ago Jody’s mom and step-dad came up to celebrate the season. Everyone was excited to spend the time together and the kids always enjoy the gifts of course. Spreading the season through contact with distance family is always great.
Last weekend we attended the annual Baumgartner Christmas in northern Illinois and as usual it was a great event to see family again. There were many that had other obligations and couldn’t make it, but those that did attend really enjoyed the time catching up (and of course passing Ben around as much as possible!). It was a quick one day trip for us with bad weather moving in, but coming home turned out to be a great decision as the ice did come (after we got back home thankfully).
Before I close I guess I better add an update on the bathroom situation. The drywall is almost completely up. Once that is complete, the hope is the rest will go rather quickly. Those of you waiting for the “guest” bathroom to be complete before visiting, get ready because we are planning at least a functional room by Christmas!