jennanddave.com

When I was a kid I had three constant literary companions:

Nancy Drew: I had them all and read them over and over. In particular I liked The Mystery at Lilac Inn and The Mystery of the 99 Steps. Man, did I want to be Nancy Drew: great hair, cute boyfriend, awesome car, totally smart. I wish I'd kept the books for Holly (or Henry) to read. However, when I outgrew them, they were passed on to someone else who hopefully enjoyed them as much as I did.

Sweet Valley High: Man, did I want to be Jessica Wakefield: blonde, blue-eyed, gorgeous, not to mention completely shallow, but, whatever, she got all sorts of cute boys so did it really matter?

Archie Comics: Man, did I want Veronica's hair. Still do, as a matter of fact. Her money wouldn't hurt either. This is the one that's still a constant literary presence in our house. Whenever things get to be a bit overwhelming, or I've read too many heavy books, I reach for a Pals and Gals double digest and enjoy the trials and tribulations of high school in Riverdale. The stories are all different, and yet they never really seem to change. It's like chicken soup for me.

Last weekend Dave's mom asked if I'd heard about Archie proposing to Veronica and naturally my world came to a brief halt. I hadn't heard anything about it, and may I just say "WHAT?!?" and "GAH!!!" It so should be Betty. Actually, it shouldn't be either of them. They're supposed to stay in high school forever! My bitterness didn't deter me from pre-ordering the 6-issue story arc, thereby financially supporting this travesty. I'll be kicking myself the whole time I'm reading them, I'm sure.

Getting back to the chicken soup thing, you know what else I enjoy (or at least use to before I started going to bed at 8:30)? The Wizards of Waverly Place. Dave can vouch for that. Embarrassing but true. Apparently my tastes in certain things stagnated at the age of 12. You know what else is embarrassing but true? Holly is hanging out in her Moses basket happily entertaining herself while enjoying the sounds of Terminator 2 playing on the tv. My dad would be so proud.

Posted by Jenn at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. We had ourselves a baby. And she really *did* turn out to be a girl. Introducing Chocolat (aka. Holly):

2. Henry turned four on Sunday. FOUR!

3. This fair use video Dave sent me featuring Edward from Twilight and Buffy:

4. The trip my parents, Henry, Holly, and myself made to the mall yesterday. Events broken down as follows: my dad almost pulled one of his fingernails off trying to open Holly's stroller, Henry had a busted lip from tripping and running into my mom's knee, I needed to sit on an ice pack, we were all terrorized by a bat that was zipping through the mall, and Henry had blisters on both of his feet from his clogs. This was three hours in and we still hadn't gotten around to doing what we had gone for in the first place, which was looking for some 0-3 month clothes for a certain little girl. Our tuckus's were officially kicked by that particular outing.

My parents left bright and early this morning (SOB! COME BACK!). Right now Dave's getting Holly to sleep, Henry's watching some Thomas the Tank Engine, and the most I plan on accomplishing is getting some laundry done and perhaps sitting around a lot. It'll be a good day.

Posted by Jenn at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A crazy storm just swept through the area. I told a friend of mine I was surprised we still had power. Dave and Henry were out at the grocery store when it happened. They saw a tree snap in half and blow across the parking lot. When they came home, Dave came upstairs and told me to look out of our bathroom window. Our fence is in pieces. From the angle I saw the damage from, it's seemed like it was a good thing the car wasn't in the driveway. We had to do some repairs to the fence this past Spring, knowing that they were patch jobs, but hoping that they would help keep it together through one last winter. Looks like we'll be replacing it sooner than we thought. Anyone know a good fence person?

Posted by Jenn at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Wednesday I had my weekly checkup. While the doctor was busy "checking up", she had a rather discouraged look on her face, but then, suddenly, she got excited and said "3cm! You're dilated to 3cm!" Then she told me she didn't think I'd make it to my next checkup, which is on Tuesday. To which I outwardly replied "That's great!" while privately I thought "Hah! People walk around for weeks at 3cm." What is working in my favor is I've made progress with every passing week, so something's happening. Also I'm experiencing more contractions throughout the day, instead of just in the evening, so hope springs consistently eternal. Meanwhile, I seem to have latched on to the concept that things that have absolutely nothing to do with actually going into labor will somehow influence when it happens. I'm now referring to them as my "Daily Delusions":

Wednesday: After my appointment I panicked and packed up a bag for my stay at the hospital, as well as a bag for Henry to take to Megan's. When I was done I thought to myself "Our bags are packed; NOW I can go into labor."

Thursday: "All of the laundry is done, our sheets are clean, towels are folded and put away. NOW I can go into labor."

Friday: "I've finally gotten around to buying travel-sized shampoo/conditioner/body wash/toothpaste. NOW I can go into labor."

Today: "I've vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. NOW I can go into labor."

It's not working.

Posted by Jenn at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Some of the things that have come out of Henry's mouth over the last few days:

"We can't go out, I need to spend some quality time at home."

"I'm going to build a freaking huge drum set. It's going to be really freaking loud."

"...and then after that, the Easter Pig came, and he left me lots of pig-shaped eggs all over the backyard, and they were filled with jelly beans, and strawberries, and blue m&m's..."

Next we're going to teach him to say "Frak!" whenever he's upset about something.

I have a whole bunch of pictures sitting on my camera, waiting to be shared with the world. If only we could figure out where we packed our USB cord so we can download them.

Posted by Jenn at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)