Dody, The temperatures are fine, so the purpling is more related to a phosphorus deficiency because they are in Jiffy Mix and peat pots, and neither would contain phosphrous in an absorbable form. So, feed them as described above if you wish or ignore the purpling until after you pot them up. Either way the purpling is not a life or death issue and will correct itself within a few days to a few weeks. I can't answer for any seasoned gardeners except myself, but I can assure you I don't shake my head or chuckle at newbie antics at all because I remember things I did when seed-starting, for example, was new to me. We all do the same things at times like that and we all learn the same lessons. Everyone I know who grows from seed indoors under lights tends to overwater and overfeed seedlings the first year or two or three that they raise them, and you can guess what caused them to change their behavior, can't you? Damping off, of course. We all live, learn, and move on. Mistakes, problems, issues and outright disasters are great teachers! And, by the way, damping off can happen to anybody's plants and I don't care how well-seasoned a gardener they are. Damping off is a general term given to a handful of fungal diseases that kill seedlings, and well-seasoned gardeners are not immune to having their plants affected by those diseases. (Oh, if only it were so!) What well-seasoned gardeners might do that reduces damping off is they focus (based on what they learned when less well-seasoned) more on good air flow, correct temperatures and keeping seedlings moist, not too dry and not too wet, but just right (it is sort of a Goldlilocks thing.....). I will tell a funny tomatp story about a former neighbor of ours in Texas. She wasn't a very pleasant person to be around although her husband seemed nice enough. She's the kind of person who could live next door to you for 10 years and never once speak to you....so when she planted tomatoes, she never asked for any advice and I certainly didn't offer my unsolicited opinion. She planted in a shady yard that might have 2 or 3 hours a day of sun. She must have been using a gardening book written for northern gardeners who raised their tomatoes very differently (this was in the late 1980s or earliest 1990s) from how we raise them here. She diligently kept them pruned to one main stem and periodically pruned off EVERY branch and EVERY blossom. So, she had these 6 to 8' tall, leggy, thin tomato plant stalks with about 3 leaves at the tip-top of each plant, and every other bit of vegetation pruned off weekly, including the blooms. Her plants looked like green bamboo poles. Finally, her husband (poor henpecked thing that he was)came over to our house in late August and asked what they were doing wrong. He said they could see our plants were loaded with tomatoes and theirs had none. With a perfectly straight face I told him I believed their problem was she was pruning off 99% of the foliage and the few remaining leaves at the top of the plant could not conduct enough photosynthesis to produce tomatoes, especially since they were growing in shade. He understood that as soon as I said it. Taking a deep breath, I then told him that the other problem likely was that she kept pinching off all the blooms and since blooms develop into tomatoes, that's why there were no tomatoes. Give me brownie points here because I said it as kindly and gently as I could. The look on his face was both incredulous and sort of scared-looking. He looked down at the floor, then looked back up at me and said something like, "Well, I think we'll forget we ever had this conversation and I'm not going to say anything to her about it. She wouldn't take it very well." I solemnly nodded my head and agreed with him that he probably was making the best decision because I knew she didn't handle criticism well. I did suggest that maybe he might buy her a book about vegetable gardening in Texas if she wanted to give tomatoes another try the next year. She didn't. I will admit I snickered to myself every time I looked at her plants that whole summer and fall, but I was younger and less mature then. Carol, I only started broccoli seed this week, so if you start yours next week, yours will be only a week behind mine and that's not bad considering we're in different zones. I'm not in any hurry on the broccoli because I am sure the cold weather isn't done with us yet. It is very hard for me to look and see nice big broccoli plants in the stores now and mine haven't even sprouted yet, but those big plants are a whole lot more likely to button head than mine are so far, so I get over it. I've had you and your family and your friend's family on my mind all week and hope the week has gone as smoothly as possible, considering the circumstances. Dawn

Hi Everyone, I'm here. :) Sorry I missed your bumps! Nothing has changed since my last post, still waiting a couple more weeks for my next ultrasound and doctor appointments. Still no symptoms, just feel like I'm living large and gained 7 more pounds stress eating. We haven't told anyone else yet as I want to wait for the NT scan and the Panorama test we are doing (it's the one for Down and other chromosome screening). It was suggested I do it at my "advanced maternal age" and I couldn't not know if something is wrong. It takes 2 weeks for the bloodwork to come back and you all know how I love to wait. It's all I seem to do! I still have no symptoms while all my online pregnant mommy friends are still nauseous or suffering from morning sickness, all sore and tired, crazy cravings, etc. I kinda feel left out with none of it! Whatever I pictured pregnancy to feel like, this isn't it. I tried on some maternity clothes and I just look ridiculous. I ended up just going up a size in regular clothes as nothing looked right yet. I wish it was still winter and I could hide in my sweaters and leggings. Hopefully I'll relax once we get all the test results back and I know everything is ok. We find out the gender from the test too so that part will be exciting. Thank you for thinking of me. I'm trying to stay off my computer as I tend to google like crazy and get myself all worked up. :)

Awww, Mama Emerald (and papa Emerald, too!) I can already tell you are going to be wonderful parents....in that you recognize the 'tease' your little 'love-blob' is being! (Ha, ha...camera stopped....now I'll perform!!). Get used to it.....this 'teasing' could go on for the rest of little love-blob's life! ~ And then.....this beautiful 'blob' translates into this magical head...complete with eyes, nose, mouth.....before you know it there will be eyelashes, fingers, toes, nails....Oh My! Please continue to take us along on this miracle journey with you and papa Emerald. We'd feel rejected if you didn't include us now!!! And as to the Christmas decorations.....good idea, but maybe you should hold off until just after Halloween. That would still give you time to set up the nursery after the decorations go up! Be Restful - Be Happy - Be Thankful - Be Content

That's wonderful Stacie! Gosh, I always wanted a little boy. After three girls I'm not sure I'd know what to do if I had one! Things will be busy at your place for sure. :) Congratulations! I can't wait to see your picture! Danielle