jennanddave.com

A few months ago, after seeing a few links pop up on facebook and other people's blogs, curiosity got the better of me and I finally signed up for pinterest. I'll go ahead and warn you, the transition from "What's the point?" to full-blown pinterest addict is swift and almost violent. I know; it happened to me. It's fun looking at all of the inspiring (or not) things people find on the internet.

Since you can repin other people's pins, some things take on a life of their own. One of the kid crafts that spread like wild-fire, hopping from board to board, were glitter jars. Their purported purpose was to be used as time-out jars: sit your kid in the corner, shake the jar, and tell them they can come off of time-out when all of the glitter has resettled to the bottom. The idea is watching the glitter settle is meditative, like watching fish swim, and when your ornery three-year old rejoins the fun, he/she will have a whole new outlook on life. Some people don't believe in time-out, but they do believe in the jars, so while these glitter jars have taken on less negative titles and names, the hoped-for end result is the same: calmer kids.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave left us for the weekend to fly down to the Fort Worth/Dallas area for a conference on leadership. (Poor Dave. It was, apparently, as boring as it sounds.) I had a whole weekend to fill, which was a fairly daunting prospect because once the weekend hits, I get to kick back a bit because I have a full-time partner in parenting crime by my side, which I totally appreciate and enjoy and look forward to. I remembered the glitter jar craft and thought Henry and Holly might get a kick out of it. They really enjoyed putting them together. (Here are the directions we used.) Holly put the blue food coloring in hers all by herself, which explains how dark it is, but which works really well with the different shades of blue glitter, and Henry's is entirely his own creation. It was inspired by tornadoes. Or volcanoes. Or maybe both.

Since then, they haven't play with them much. I, however, think they're awesome. I shake them all the time. They're on the shelf above our sink so I can watch them while I'm doing dishes. Actually, this might explain why Henry and Holly never play with them; I've moved them completely out of their reach. Hmmmm...

Posted by Jenn at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Especially for my mom, who has been requesting the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" for the last few weeks:

Posted by Jenn at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Jenn at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Poor Holly. I don't know if it's all of the fresh fruit she's been eating, or if there's been an uptick in how many juice boxes she has access to, but the end result has been a couple of bouts with diaper rash. A couple of weeks ago she was curious about why I was putting cream on her (frighteningly cute) tush. I told her it's to help her boo-boo feel better. At her next diaper change, when I pulled out the tube of cream she said "No like-a boo-boo butt." Fast forward a few weeks and yet another bout with diaper rash and she'd pretty much reached the end of her rope. At the end of a long, active, exhausting day, I was getting her ready for bed. I laid Holly down on her changing pad and proceeded to get down to business:

Holly: "No like-a diaper change...no like-a diaper change...no like-a boo-boo butt...no like-a boo-boo butt...no like-a powder...no like-a powder...no like-a powder! No like-a diaper...no like-a diaper...*sniffle*...NO LIKE-A RAINBOW PANTS! NO LIKE-A MINNIE MOUSE GOWN! NO LIKE-A MINNIE MOUSE GOWN!!!!"

By the end I was trying so hard not to laugh because it was super-cute. Of course, despite the endless stream of complaints, as soon as she popped up from her changing pad, she was thrilled as can be with her bedtime couture and was prancing around the room with glee. She's all girl.

Posted by Jenn at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

- Hanging by the pool. At least for the first week of Henry's summer vacation. Then it got cold and sometimes rainy so we moved back inside.

- Strawberry picking, followed by strawberry jam making and canning, followed by strawberry-jam-on-toast eating.

- We went to Dave's parents' house for Father's Day. Dave made his dad a seafood boil. I dove into it like it was Mother's Day. My man's a seafood boil master.

- Henry and I got Dave a bulk box of Jiffy Pop popcorn because he loves it and it's mysteriously difficult to get in this here neck of the woods. I thought he'd either love it or laugh and set it aside. He was speechless with glee. Then he "stirred the pot". I was happy.

- As of the first official day of Henry's summer vacation, we got back to a slightly more civilized schedule: 8:30-9PM bedtime, followed by 8:30-9AM wakeup. Momma's happy. Daddy's late for work every day.

- Fabric shopping, thanks to the aforementioned cold/rainy weather, followed by sewing. The score so far: Holly: four dresses, one pair of Minnie Mouse summer jammies. Henry: two pairs of pants. Jenn: nothing. Dave: who's Dave?

- Eating raspberries from the bushes that Dave got me for Mother's Day two years ago. We planted them right next to our driveway which means every time we go anywhere in the car, Holly and I make a prolonged pitstop to fuel up both coming and going. Over the last three days I managed to gather enough to make a batch of raspberry preserves. They'll be a most welcome taste of summer when we're in the throes of winter.

- Hanging out with friends that we don't get to see as much of during the rest of the year.

- Losing a tooth. Henry lost his first tooth last Thursday while eating a hot dog. We didn't even know it was loose. When Henry spit it out Dave thought the tooth was pasta. Then he figured out what it was and flipped out. Pictures were taken. Four days later I noticed his other front tooth was loose. It came out last night. Henry now has neither of his front teeth. Saying it's super cute is a major understatement.

- Parades! Fireworks! Candy! Marshmallows! Fireflys! Music in the Park! Cicadas! Grilling! Bees!

- It's all good...

Posted by Jenn at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

About 40 minutes ago I helped Henry get on his bus and head off for his last day of school. I'm not sure how we got here so quickly. Didn't he just get on for his first day? Today is a half day, so in a few short hours Holly and I will be heading back to the bus stop to bring him home for the summer.

We spent Saturday afternoon picking strawberries for strawberry jam and, unbeknownst to us at the time, amazing strawberry muffins made by Dave. Saying they were good would be an understatement. The man has a knack. I told him I'm hanging up my muffin-baking apron.

Henry brought in a jar of strawberry jam for his teacher. He loves her. She seems to really understand him and his Henry-ness. We're so thankful she was his teacher this year.

I have spent the last 24 hours Tylenol free. The first four days post-tonsillectomy were all right. I was in pain, but I had pain killers and chicken noodle soup and oatmeal to carry me through. Day five hit and I started getting bummed out. By that point I had been on a regular regimen of over-the-counter Tylenol for a few days , but some of the scabs starting coming off and I found myself needing the heavier stuff again. It was disheartening. But! Things are looking up again. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank goodness for a winter spent nursing three or four truly awful sore throats. They prepared me for the pain of recovery, but also helped remind me that the post-op pain is finite and hopefully the last of the worst I'll ever experience.

Posted by Jenn at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is one of those days where I woke up, dressed myself in layers because our house was cold, made my way outside, felt the humidity, shed the layers, came back in and immediately wanted to turn on the AC. Ahhh, spring!

Holly and I came down with some sort of stomach bug Tuesday night. The worst was over by yesterday morning. Holly had bounced back by yesterday afternoon, whereas today I'm still shuffling around, tired and weak from the lack of food and the lingering horror of the whole experience. I had an egg and toast this morning. They were delicious. Speaking of this morning, Dave let me sleep in until 10. On a school day, no less. It felt as decadent as a candlelit lobster dinner on a private yacht in the Caribbean. The man loves me, perhaps almost as much as I love him.

Next week on Thursday I'm having my tonsils taken out. Between recovering from that and this latest bout with the stomach bug, I'm going to be 100% ready for swimsuit season.

Posted by Jenn at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...all the way back to Easter? We had a great Easter. After school on the Thursday before, we got in the car and made our way down to Dave's parents in Virginia. Friday was rainy and a bit chilly, but that didn't stop Henry and Holly from splashing in puddles and getting so thoroughly dirty they had to go straight into a bath. In fact, Holly was disrobed in the garage, leaving behind a pile of sand where once she stood. Saturday and Sunday were both warm and sunny. The air smelled like heaven. I don't know what was in bloom over that weekend, but I wish I could have bottled it. While Holly was napping on Saturday, the rest of us settled down for a serious session of dyeing eggs. I'd started prepping Henry a few weeks earlier that this year the Easter Bunny would be hiding real eggs as opposed to candy-filled plastic ones. I was expecting a protest, but he didn't seem to care one way or the other. Perhaps the colossal amount of candy he gets during the course of the year thanks to the various holidays is enough to satisfy even his sweet tooth. The older Henry gets, the more devious the egg hiding can be, which I absolutely love doing. The irony is, Henry hunts eggs by standing in one spot and surveying the scenery, eventually asking for hints. Holly, on the other hand, tears around the yard looking everywhere at once. Their two different hunting styles meant that Holly actually managed to hold her own against Henry, despite the age difference.

After the egg hunt and Easter baskets, we spent the rest of the day eating: pancakes and bacon, then moving on to deviled eggs and hot cross buns, then ending the day with ham, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, salad, corn, and wine. Holly had a fever by the time dinner rolled around, but you wouldn't have known it from the amazing quantity of food she ate.

We were all very sad on Monday when we got back in the car and headed home. The weather was so gorgeous and we had such a great and relaxing time that it felt like summer vacation had already started. I was ready for the beach. Tuesday was a bit of a rude wake-up call.

Next up, a summary of this past weekends trip to my Grandma Ethel's for her birthday, complete with fireworks and a surprise visitor!

Posted by Jenn at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning Holly slept in until 9:45, I kid you not. I woke up at 9:30, not bothering to look at the clock because I assumed it was 7:30, the time we're always allowed to sleep in until on the weekends, much to our general consternation. In fact, on Friday night, Dave told Henry his only job in the morning was to not get up early because it's Saturday, and Saturday's are for sleeping in. I thought that was hilarious. Poor desperate Dave. Anyway, when I finally rolled over and peered at the clock this morning, it took a few seconds for it to hit me what time it really was, after which, I bolted out of bed and ran for the monitor to make sure I could hear Holly breathing because clearly the only explanation for her sleeping in to such a beautifully late hour would somehow involve doom and disaster. (Yes, I am a fatalist.) Halfway there, I heard one of those satisfying-sounding, heaving sighs that only little kids and dogs can muster. I detoured to the bathroom and marveled at our good luck. Henry had gotten up earlier but had managed to find Spongebob on the TV and was camped out on the couch. We had breakfast at 11. We went ice skating at 1, and, unbelievably, Holly took a nap around 3. Dave had to go up and wake her at 5:30. I'm worried that she's going to wake up a few days from now three inches taller. My baby!

Meanwhile, my doctor's appointment on Friday was horrifying. I had a nasal endoscopy, which I vehemently suggest you avoid, especially if you have allergies because it'll hurt and you'll cry and you'll feel like you need to sneeze. And your nose will run. A lot. And they'll have to pull out the scope so you can blow your nose and wipe your eyes and then they'll run it back in again anyway. So. At the end of May I'm going to have my tonsils removed. The doctor said I'll have a wicked sore throat for about a week, which, been there, done that three times so far this cold/flu season. Dave says I'll lose twenty pounds. I'm not looking forward to it. The doc also said I have sinus disease that's not related to my tonsils and suggested some things I could do for it, which, if they didn't work he could do surgery. I'm not convinced they're not related because the tonsil thing and the sinus thing all started up at the same time and flare up at the same times so my fingers are crossed that one thing will solve the other. In the meantime I'll do some of the things he suggested, such as humidify our bedroom, use a neti pot, etc.

Gah.

Posted by Jenn at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Holly and I just spent over two hours at the park where, through much trial and error, she mastered the slides, then promptly became a little afraid of them. Or she just got sick of them. The next trip will tell. It's stunningly beautiful out. I'm sure if I went on Facebook right now, there would be much chatter about the warm weather and windows being open and the morning spent at the park from everyone else who lives here. Because I can't just be satisfied with living in the moment, as soon as Holly went down for her nap, I went online to see about getting some swim gear for the upcoming pool season. Specifically, I need to get some sort of flotation device for Holly. I went on amazon and searched for "swim pda" and couldn't figure out why I kept getting hits from the electronics department. Then I realized my error, so I typed in "swim pdf" which caused amazon to throw up any random thing they sell that has the word "swim" in it. I was confused until I sounded out "personal flotation device" in my head, then realized my error, and typed in "swim pfd". That did it. Apparently getting the search string right was all I needed to accomplish because I immediately came on here to write about it and now I'm closing up shop and taking a nap.

Posted by Jenn at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Dave and I had the following conversation this morning:

dave: What the h*ll is Pennsylvania thinking? They've made it mandatory that as of March 1st, all new residential construction include sprinkler systems!
me: You mean for fire saftey?
dave: *long pause* Oh. Right. That's the kind they're talking about.

Dave was ready to do battle against mandatory lawn sprinklers. Meanwhile, I laughed and laughed and laughed.

2. Holly woke up from her nap yesterday with a new skill: two word sentences. Last night at dinner she hollered across the table "DADDY LOOK!!!" This morning she giggled and said "Silly marker!", there being no marker in sight. A girl can dream though. Also, all of her sentences end in exclamation points. That's how she rolls.

3. Thanks to internet searches based on today's retronaut, I just spent half an hour studying the Droeshout engraving of Shakespeare for signs of a conspiracy. It takes me back to those first few weeks after I had finished reading "The Da Vinci Code". Good times, good times.

Posted by Jenn at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First of all, today's retronaut is brilliant. I was laughing out loud by the end.

It's gorgeous outside. After Henry was safely on the bus to school, Holly and I walked Dave to work. We took a long circuitous route home and while we were passing the playground, we saw another little girl there who, as it turns out, is two weeks younger than Holly, so we stopped and played for a while. Little kids this age are hilarious around each other. Lots of staring and following and playing next to each other. It was so nice to be outside and making new friends. We came home for a quick snack and change of muddy, wet clothes, then met some old friends at a different, far less wet park. Holly is very intrepid at the park. She knows what she's capable of and will do something over and over again until she's got it figured out. She spent a lot of time going back and forth over a wobbly bridge, then went up stairs and down a slide many times. She's totally different from Henry who was/is extremely cautious at the park and insists vehemently that he can't do any of it while gingerly trying anyway, sometimes carrying through, and sometimes giving up from fear of death and doom. They're going to be great balances for each other.

Right now Holly's upstairs sleeping off all of that adventure. I'm heading in that direction myself, I think. Thank goodness for the February warmup, no matter how brief it is.

Posted by Jenn at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holly had her 18 month checkup this morning at 8am. You know what else was going on at 8am? That's when Henry's bus arrives at the bus stop to whisk him away to school. And for one day only, that was also the time a plumber we hired to connect the gas to our new fireplace insert was due to come. Talk about piling it on. It was a slight strategic nightmare because there are only two of us and we technically needed to be in three places all at once. It worked out, but we really do need to start paying attention to the things that we already have written down on our calendar before we tack on other things.

Anyway, Holly's no fool. As soon as we get to the exam room now she starts getting misty-eyed. As soon as she finds herself on the actual exam table, she loses it completely. All in all though, she handled herself pretty well and still managed to charm everyone through her tears. She's shot up to the 90th percentile in height and is at 50th percentile for weight (~24 pounds) so she's long and lean. She's been solidly in the 50th percentile since she was born, but about a week ago it just sort of suddenly occurred to me when I was looking at her that she seemed a lot less like a baby. It's weird how kids seem to change overnight at various times during the year between 1 and 2 years old.

To add salt to the wound of having to go to the doctor's in the first place, she also happens to have a cold. We got a prescription for antibiotics which I thought was kind of jumping the gun since she doesn't have any ear infections and that although she was a big mucus-y mess, it was the first big day of being sick and who isn't a big mucus-y mess at that point? The dr. who examined her was convinced that we'd be back within a week so we've got the prescription which we can fill if Holly gets worse. Which I still feel weird about. But anyway.

Last night I ate too much chocolate before bedtime and was up until 2 or 3 tossing and turning and buzzing. It may have been worth it.

Posted by Jenn at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This has been a very busy week. Holly and I have been on the move in the mornings, then tired and restless in the afternoons. It's felt like we've had three things on our plate every day, which is a lot when usually the most I try to count on accomplishing is "clean one bathroom", which is often followed by "at least the bits people can see". (Our poor shower curtain conceals the truth.) As long as I don't have to leave the house to get something done, there's a decent chance of it happening. Anyway, this is all a lead-in to what has been keeping us all giggling and in generally good spirits this week: the way Holly says "butterfly". I got her on video saying it so we can remember it always. I have a feeling this movie in particular is going to make both grandmothers jump into the nearest car and head straight to Pennsylvania to get in lots of smooches and hugs. I apologize in advance.

Posted by Jenn at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The current state of things, in the always inspiring list format (Featuring a colon! And dashes!):

- Last night Henry opted not to have a book read to him before bed. Instead he focused on very diligently writing out Valentine's for his classmates. The first one he wrote out was to his teacher. The second one was to a girl who, at the end of last school year, he said looks just like Tinkerbell. Take from that what you will.

- Whenever Holly sees a picture of a man with gray hair, she says "Paw-paw!". When she sees a boy with brown hair, she says "Hen-y!" When she sees a boy with light blond hair, she says "We-oh!"

- Last night while Henry was working on his Valentines, I worked on a sweater I'm making for myself. It's pretty bulky yarn so it works up fast. Later, around 10:30, I realized I had misread the pattern directions and had to rip out about five inches, leaving only the inch of ribbing I did for the neck (it's a top-down pattern). This was demoralizing. I'm six rows away from being back where I was, except this time with added paranoia!

- Henry is signed up for an after-school science class that doesn't get out until 4:45. I don't have a problem with this. Really. I'm fine.

My baby!

Posted by Jenn at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You want some unsolicited advice? Don't read any version of those "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A/Some _______" books the day after you've had the stomach flu. It's not pleasant. Henry picked out "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!" last night as his bedtime book and it was tough-going, especially since it came so quickly on the heels of my first real meal since Friday night. Clearly, the child hates me.

Last night Holly was hacking and coughing up a storm and had a runny nose, and this morning she woke up with more of the same. Poor girl. She's been too uncomfortable to nap today, so she's been whimpering and coughing and generally sounding sad.

Dave sent an email about forty minutes ago saying he's starting to feel funky and that he might be home a bit early today. Poor guy. I hope it's not what it most likely is.

Henry and I, thankfully, are feeling all right. We've been playing and running errands, making a doll for Holly, as well as baking up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It's been a quiet day of convalescing. Or getting sicker. Depending on which one of the four of us you are.

Posted by Jenn at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Saturday, at 1:16AM, Henry came into our room and told us he had just thrown up and that he hadn't made it to the bathroom. We stumbled out of bed and made our way upstairs. He had indeed gotten sick to his stomach all over his bed and bedroom floor. He had also gotten his towel from the bathroom and had tried to clean it up. It was very sweet. About twenty minutes later we had changed his sheets, started a wash, and had gotten Henry settled back into bed. Dave was in the upstairs bathroom inspecting Henry's myriad blankets to see which had escaped the onslaught when suddenly I was making a beeline for the bathroom. I was up for the rest of the night. Dave stayed with Henry for about an hour, keeping him company and changing out the trash bags that were next to his bed as they were used until Henry finally went to sleep. Around seven or eight, Henry joined me on the couch and Dave woke up and went upstairs to discover that Holly had also gotten sick during the night, she had just never bothered to make a fuss about it. Thus Dave's Saturday was born, taking care of a totally gross family, mopping up, doing laundry, and madly washing his hands, all while living in fear that he was going to get the bug as well. The kids were great yesterday, tossing cookies while carrying on with their playing like nothing at all in the world was wrong. Gatorade and Pedialyte were consumed, as well as toast, Rice Krispies, and chicken noodle soup. I stayed in bed and napped most of the day, finally emerging around noon? or one? or two? at which point Henry and I crashed on the couch and watched "The Princess Diaries" while Holly took a nap. Finally around 5 I asked Dave if he minded if I took a little nap. I held my breath, prayed it wouldn't make me sick, and downed a Tylenol for a raging headache and aching muscles. I didn't wake up again until 7 this morning.

The kids were begging for sausages for breakfast today. I'd say they're feeling better. So far Dave is doing well. Fingers are crossed that he's going to escape unscathed, although it still hardly seems probable. He was amazing yesterday. He was more than amazing. Stupendous? Fantastic? Astounding? "World's Best Dad/Husband"? Without a doubt.

Also, I can only imagine what the water bill is going to be this month.

Posted by Jenn at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple of months ago I came across these instructions for a peasant style dress for toddlers. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to make one for Holly. The only problem was, my understanding of why you do things a certain way to have specific results are completely lacking, and while I can follow a detailed pattern if it's accompanied by detailed photos, if it doesn't, I'm completely lost. So all of the bits in the instructions having to do with, say measurements and sizing, were about five miles over my head. So I bookmarked the page and asked my mom if she'd help me out some time.

Enter a few days after Christmas. The week before we left for Boston, I headed out to a local and amazing fabric store I wish I'd known about five years ago in search of fabric. I came home, laundered it, then sprang it on my mom the day before we were going to leave to come home. She read the instructions, understood them because she's smart and talented, and we got to work. She explained the sizing, the measuring, the putting together, and the general "why" of it all. While she pinned and ironed, I worked the sewing machine, while Henry either sat next to me or sat under the table and worked the sewing machine pedal. In a couple of hours, Holly was toddling around in a brand-spanking new dress.

For this go-around, after much discussion we decided not to add the elastic, mainly because we thought it would be a bit irritating to Holly to have rubbing against her skin all day long. Next time I make one, my mom suggesting I wrap the elastic in casing before I sew it in so it's a bit softer.

I don't think anyone is more proud of being a part of putting the dress together than Henry. Holly came down in it a couple of days ago and Dave said "What a pretty dress, Holly!" Henry came over to check it out and when he saw what she was wearing, he said "That's the dress Mom, Grammy, and I made!"

Posted by Jenn at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning Henry left for school for the last time this year. When he gets home he'll be stepping off of the bus and stepping right into our car for the long ride to Grammy and Grandpa's. While I was packing our suitcases this morning, I couldn't help reflecting on the last Christmas we spent at my parents' house. I was in the throes of first trimester morning sickness, which hit me seemingly seconds after I found out I was pregnant. At the time I remember wondering how much of it was psychological because it seemed too coincidental how quickly it came on. I spent most of that Christmas vacillating between napping in our room and sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket, willing the nausea to go away. So, despite having been given the gift of Henry and Holly's cold, I'm looking forward to doing it up right this time around.

The next few days will be filled with cookie- and ornament-making, Christmas light peeping, train rides, and general merry-making, so if I don't get a chance to get back on before the holiday, let me just say now that I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Posted by Jenn at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a pretty quiet Sunday. Actually, the last week in general has been pretty quiet, although I'm so tired by the time the kids' bedtime rolls around, it feels like physical proof that we've been getting up to quite a lot. This time of year always yields impressively large to-do lists that seem like they'll never get done until I realize that holiday list items generally get crossed off all at the same time. I like that, a flurry of activity that comes to a sudden end all at once, usually the minute we climb into the car to travel to wherever we happen to be spending Christmas.

My parents' Christmas tree fell over earlier this week. They're not sure how it happened, although conspiracy theories abound. A lot of glass ornaments that my mom has been collecting over the last thirty-five years broke and so they've had to regroup, tree-trimming-wise. My mom told me she's going to enlist Henry's help in making some glittery paper snow-flakes and some paper chains. I mentioned to him this morning what had happened to Grammy and Grandpa's tree, and what his Grammy had in mind, and he immediately went over to ours and picked out a cinnamon ornament and said he'd like to make a bunch of those for them, too. He can see the tree in his mind, and it's glorious. Later in the afternoon he started expressing concern that our tree might fall over too. Dave reassured him but I think he remains a bit skeptical. I wouldn't trust Dave either.

Posted by Jenn at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just vacuumed the house and then mopped the worst bits. These aren't very Saturday night-y activities, or at least they wouldn't be if I hadn't yanked the cork out of the wine bottle at 5 this afternoon. Everything's looking a bit rosy, even a little housework, especially housework that helps clear the way for other activities, such as sewing bean bags for the game we're making Henry for Christmas, which is what I had planned on doing after vacuuming but which I have officially put off until tomorrow night in favor of snuggling up to chips and dip and a little tv. Hey, I'm tired. I vacuumed. And mopped. A little.

Anyway, on to some firsts. Holly had her first hair cut today. She wasn't thrilled. She didn't fully grasp the idea of looking in the mirror to see what was going on, and so she kept turning her head around to try and get a glimpse of the scissor action. It didn't work out very well for her, other than she got a cute little haircut and a Christmas cookie to help her feel better. Hmmm, so I guess it did work out pretty well for her. We are now the proud owners of an envelope full of Holly's baby hair. My baby. Excuse me while I go have another little sip of wine.

The other first was we watched the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker this evening. We started out watching it on PBS. Henry was pretty into it. He asked lots of questions about everything that was going on. When the first act ended, we watched a few ads, learned about the inspiration for the productions sets, and just as Kristi Yamaguchi was about to talk about the costumes, they cut to ads showcasing construction stuff, then aired an episode of "This Old House". Now I'm just as much a fan of Tom Silva as the next person, but that was very badly done, PBS. Fortunately, we were able to rent the same version on Amazon's Video-On-Demand. Act II is not to be missed. Henry's favorite was the russian dancers. 30 seconds into their dance he said "Now this is the Nutcracker." I grew up watching the 1977 Baryshnikov version, so I'll always be partial to that one, but it was a lot of fun to watch it with Henry.

Posted by Jenn at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few months ago I ordered six play silks (plus a free silk scarf since it was my first order from that particular store) thinking that Henry and I could dye them for Holly as his Christmas present to her. This past Monday night it was very clear that Henry was coming down with a cold. I heard him coughing a few times during the night, and when he woke up in the morning, he looked pretty done in, so we kept him home. The best way to describe how he was feeling would be: too sick to go to school, but not too sick to not drive me nuts". He was bouncing off the walls, so before Dave went to work later in the morning, I asked him to pick up the usual sick kid necessities at the store, plus three packs of every flavor of Kool-Aid that they had. While Holly was napping, we got to work.

The instructions I used were a combination of these at the Artful Parent and these at Make Baby Stuff. Henry and I soaked the playsilks in hot water with two cups of vinegar mixed in while we got our first two dye baths going. For the baths I used large white soup bowls because they were large enough to hold all of the liquid, but deep enough to keep the silk submerged. For each bath we mixed two cups of water with 1/2 cup of vinegar, then added either three packets of Kool-Aid, or food coloring, depending on which color we were going for.

Henry mushing the silk down into the blue bath.

Once the playsilk was fully submerged, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and we microwaved them for two minutes. We uncovered them, mushed them around a bit, covered them back up, then microwaved them for another two minutes, after which most of the dye was taken up in the silk. We carefully poured the liquid out because it was really hot, then rinsed out the silk and hung it up to dry. Henry was enamoured with the green one:

It was the first one that came out of a dye bath and I think we were both amazed by how beautiful the color came out, and, at least on my part, that the whole process worked at all (I'm a fatalist, what can I say?).

What we used to get the colors: Cherry flavor for the red, food coloring for the orange*, Lemonade for yellow, Lemon Lime for green, Blue Raspberry for blue, food coloring for purple, and Pink Lemonade for pink. One set of the instructions I linked to above recommends you use gloves for this. I would second that notion. I didn't bother and I had some pretty scary looking fingers for a few days.

Henry took great pleasure in wrapping up his gift to his sister yesterday after school. Although I think she'll really like them, if Holly turns out to be disinterested in the playsilks, Henry will definitely put them to good use.

* Our store didn't have Orange or Grape flavored Kool-Aid so I used McCormack Neon food coloring. I used the amount of drops indicated on the back of the box for icing a whole cake.

Posted by Jenn at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Quick video of Holly going for a ride on Henry's scooter:

Posted by Jenn at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A couple of weeks ago I was perusing etsy's Waldorf toy section looking for inspiration for Holly for Christmas. There are so many tempting, beautiful toys. Holly's at an in-between age so it's hard to know what to get her. A lot of what I was drawn to were suited more to kids who are a year or two older than she is. I was tempted to get a few of the wooden animals or puzzles, but eventually I stumbled upon a peg/cup color matching set. Once I had found something I liked, I naturally hemmed and hawed and ultimately decided to sleep on it. A few days later I went back to etsy to look at it again and I couldn't find it anywhere. I was crushed. Holly loves putting things into other things, and this seemed like a toy she would have a lot of fun with. A few days of pouting later, it occurred to me that I could probably make it for her. I'd seen the wooden pieces at craft stores before, so it was really just a matter of painting them. Benjamin Franklin's had exactly what I needed, so yesterday I got the watercolors out and went to work:

I'm pretty happy with the result. I went with watercolors because it shows the grain of the wood. There was a minor moment of panic when I put the yellow guy into his yellow cup and realized he was too big for his "home". It was doom and gloom for a minute there until Dave pointed out I could just sand the opening a bit wider. Why didn't I think of that? Last evening I noticed the paint dusts off in your hands when you play with them, so I'm going to have to seal them before wrapping them up, but I think Holly's going to enjoy them.

Posted by Jenn at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we headed out to our tree farm of choice to procure the Perfect Christmas Tree. The place where we go is in an area that's not very sheltered by anything that would cut down the force of the wind, and while we start off as a happy go-lucky family, we usually end the excursion as popsicles. This year we were determined to be warm, so over the course of five minutes we bundled up the kids to within an inch of their lives, then spent the next twenty minutes trying to locate our own snowpants, scarves, boots, and various other winter wardrobe paraphernalia while the kids slowly melted away in our living room. When we finally arrived at the tree farm, the weather was stunningly beautiful and nary a cold breeze blew across our exposed noses, and while it normally takes us an hour and a half of trudging through bitter, and cold, and snowy in order to find our tree, this year we found it five minutes after we got to the place. It was so fast, we decided to look around at other trees, but after a very quick two minutes, during which Dave and I came to our senses, we decided not to tempt fate and high-tailed it back to The One, which Dave had very carefully marked with a pile of rocks.

Henry could hardly wait to decorate it. He was literally chomping at the bit. We got the tree set up, then broke briefly (and agonizingly, depending on which of us you were) for lunch, after which Henry and I put the lights up. After the lights, Dave took a nap, I rested on the couch, and Henry very graciously let us. When he couldn't take it anymore and managed to rouse us, Dave and Holly went out to procure food for our traditional tree decorating meal (mini-wieners, cheese, crackers, sparkling apple cider) and Henry and I got started on the ornaments. By the time dinner made it into the house, we were almost done. This was the first year that Henry seemed to be really curious about the ornaments and where they came from and what they were. We had a good time. Dave, for his part, was extremely pleased he came in after it was mostly done. (My Dad is now officially jealous of Dave.)

A few weeks ago Henry and I went to our town's tree-lighting ceremony. Carols are sung, "The Night Before Christmas" is read by a Professor from the University, and the town's enormous tree is lit. It made quite the impression on the young man. So much of an impression that we now have a tree lighting ceremony every day. Sometimes twice. I get to read the poem and Henry gets to plug in the tree. It's very serious business. At this rate, I'm going to have "The Night Before Christmas" fully memorized by the night before Christmas. Perhaps sooner.

Posted by Jenn at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave's brother gives us Godiva chocolates for Christmas every year. This year's package arrived late last week, so last night we sat on the couch and sampled some. More than some. Quite possibly a lot. Usually we're pretty good about clearing out evidence of the previous nights depravities before Henry gets up, but when rosy-fingered dawn made her appearance this morning, the coffee table was littered with boxes of chocolate. Despite having made note of that fact, I did nothing about removing them because we were in full two-hour-snow-delay-on-this-particular-school-morning swing, and Henry didn't seem very interested anyway, not with Mickey Mouse doing the hot dog dance on TV. So I went about making his lunch, getting breakfast for us, and getting myself dressed for the day. At one point I heard the slightest of rustles, but after a moment's pause, didn't hear it again, and so I carried on. Finally I gave my hair one last fluff, came back out to the living room, and what vision should greet me? You've probably already figured it out. Several of the boxes no longer had lids, and next to them stood Holly, contentedly sucking on what was left of a dark chocolate truffle. She looked very pleased. She was probably wondering where we've been hiding the good stuff while she gets stuck with the cheap milk chocolate from her advent calendar. I'm sure the oatmeal she got for breakfast right after was a total letdown. I'm kind of proud of her though. She chose well.

Posted by Jenn at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This afternoon, while Holly and I were enjoying a late lunch, it started to snow. A beautiful snow, with nice, big, fluffy flakes. It started off slow, then it started to grow. (The Grinch has been on the brain lately.) By the time we were done eating, we were in the throes of quite the little squall. I felt bad for the guys across the street who were doing some work up on a neighbors roof. Holly and I bundled up and went outside. Kids have so much more stamina for being outside when it's cold and snowy. I was ready to go in after about five minutes, but Holly was in it for the long haul. She transferred her love of climbing to various outdoor fixtures such as the back stoop, our swing, the patio, various chairs. Every once in a while she'd vehemently say "MILK!" over and over again, so we'd trudge inside, tracking mud everywhere, I'd take off my coat and shoes, enjoy the warmth, start to get Holly out of her coat only to have her start to cry and stumble back over to the back door. I'd rebundle myself up and out we'd go. That happened twice before I smartened up and just stayed in my coat while she drank. Once in a great while I can be a quick study. The last thing she did before we headed indoors for good was to climb up the hill of dirt around one of our trees and attempt to slide down it. She worked hard to get herself to the bottom, but I don't think it was the thrilling experience she was hoping for.

The snow petered out for an hour or so but returned full force when it was time for Henry to come home. It's been falling steadily ever since and now everything is covered. It's great. If it's going to be cold, it may as well be snowing to help ease the chill.

Posted by Jenn at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I talked with my Grandma on Thanksgiving, she mentioned that almost every day she watches the video of Holly talking. I told her if that was the case, I should probably get cracking on making another one, so last night at dinner we helped Holly get her talk on again. It was easier this time; her verbal skillz have improved a lot, and quickly.

Posted by Jenn at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today we: slept in, had pancakes, watched TV, raked tons of leaves, replaced a doorknob, played in the backyard, collapsed on the couch, napped, read, went to the park, drove by some awesome Christmas lights at one of the frats, and ordered in pizza for dinner. It was a glorious day.

Hope yours was just as great.

Posted by Jenn at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning Holly had her 15-month checkup. Whereas before she was usually happy as a clam to be at the doctors, today, not so much. The clothes came off, I put her on the scale to be weighed, and she immediately burst into tears. She didn't stop crying until the nurse left the room. They started back up when the doctor came in and I put her on the exam table. After the physical came three shots. Poor baby. By that time she didn't believe she was safe from being poked and prodded, even when the appointment was over and she had layers of winter clothes on to offer her protection. When we were checking out, the nurse walked by us to call another kid into an exam room and Holly's face crumpled. She wasn't happy until we left the building. Then, to rub salt into her wounds, I bumped her head on the car while putting her into her carseat. Nowhere is safe when you're a baby. She didn't forgive me until I read "Put Me In the Zoo", complete with silly voices, approximately 30 minutes later. The end result of all of that fuss was that her stats are normal, she's healthy, and she's now inoculated against some scary diseases. If you ask the young lady, she would insist it wasn't worth it.

Posted by Jenn at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holly spent the last thirty minutes howling at me over: milk, wanting to go play outside, reading a book, the general misery of her life. So this morning, her nap time got moved up by about an hour. They have a way of letting you know when they need sleep, as unpleasant as their chosen mode of communication can sometimes be. Meanwhile, we've been waking up to temperatures in the 20's, which following on the heels of a week in the mid-60's to 70's has been a bit of a slap in the butt. I feel a bit like howling myself.

A few weeks ago Chasing Cheerios wrote a post about hotprints.com, an online photo printing service that allows you to order four free photo books every month. All you have to pay for is shipping. The company is able to do this by putting a few pages of adverts in the middle of the book; they are their own pages and can be easily removed. Last month I ordered three books with photos from our trip to Florida, one for us, one for my parents, and one for my Aunt and Uncle. They came out great. Our copy is well-loved by a certain Miss Holly who pulls it out from her bookshelf at least once a day. I'll be ordering a few more and thought I would put the word out for anyone who might be interested.

On a side note, Dave has unofficially taken up the NaBloPoMo challenge and is posting on his Cool Science page. Put the pressure on him to keep it up by checking it out!

Posted by Jenn at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

More like the entire weekend redux, soon to be reduced to dashes. I just took down our Halloween decorations and it took a ridiculous amount of time. We've also managed to accumulate enough spooky flotsam that a second storage box is now required. Dave'll be thrilled.

On to happier topics! Halloween! The weekend! Was great! To note:

- Saturday morning, the town had its annual costume contest and Halloween parade. Last year Holly slept through it, this year she was in attendance. Henry was Batman again (Which was a relief, because after he told me he wanted to be a "one-man band with real instruments", my first question to Dave was "Can you solder?" Best to leave that whole scene to our imaginations.) and Holly was a witch. A really, really cute witch. Lots of candy was received.

- Saturday morning/afternoon we went up to the University's alumni weekend luncheon. One of Dave's colleagues showed up in drag. It was brilliant.

- Saturday afternoon, Dave and Henry went to the football game while Holly and I came home to take either take a nap or watch "Sleepy Hollow", depending on which one of us we were. Did that make sense?

- Saturday evening, dinner with friends. Great food, great conversation, great kids, cute babies, what else does a person need in life?

Yesterday we started the day off with pancakes, then a quick trip to Walmart for some last minute trick-or-treating supplies (candles for our pathway). We spent the rest of the day napping, raking leaves, doing the crossword, getting treat bags ready for trick-or-treaters, skyping with Grammy and Grandpa. We carved pumpkins while having dinner, then the first group of kids came around and we were off! Henry loved handing out candy. I convinced him to put on his costume and at least go to our neighbors houses which he happily did, but after the fourth house he was anxious to head back home. We spent the rest of the evening eating candy, watching "The Great Pumpkin", and answering the door. It was so relaxing and pleasant. I hope next year is just as good.

Posted by Jenn at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holly's been working very hard lately at her verbal skillz. They evolve all of the time. I took this video last week with the idea of posting it right away, but on Thursday our internet access went haywire and while we could sometimes get on, it was never long enough to be able to upload anything. Finally on Tuesday someone came out to fix it and so here we are. In the meantime, this video is so last week's talents. This week her favorite things to say are "Doggie! 'oof 'oof!" and "Ah! Ah! Ah! BOOM!", the latter of which she says while standing, the "boom" coming when she plops back down onto her butt. This afternoon I asked her to say "mommy", then asked her to say "Holly" which she did while pointing to herself. All very thrilling stuff. To me. And probably to the grandparents. Aaaaaand probably not very many other people beyond that.

Anyway, here's the video from last week:

Posted by Jenn at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning Holly and I made a run for Target, but halfway there I looked in the back seat and Holly had her pre-nap, thoroughly dazed look going full blast so I turned the car around and we came home. We'll make another go for it after lunch. Ostensibly we're going so I can load up on some household stuff that they have on sale this week, but mostly it's an excuse to look at Halloween decorations. I'm a major sucker for Halloween stuff. Slap a pumpkin or a ghost on something and I'll be itching to buy it.

My parents are coming on Friday. Their plan is to arrive before Henry gets home from school so they can surprise him at the bus stop. Barring any major road construction, which unfortunately is something that Pennsylvania is known for when the weather is suitable, they usually manage to get here around one, so there shouldn't be any worries to that end. It's been exceedingly difficult not spilling the beans about their trip to the young man. In fact, on Thursday evening while driving around in the car, Dave and I had a whole conversation about all the fun things that are going on around here the Saturday they're going to be in town before we realized what we were doing. I nervously looked at Henry, but he was in such a daze from being sick that he wasn't paying any attention to us. I'm hoping that he's not currently processing everything that he heard over the two days he had a fever now that he's feeling better. It would be just like him to come home from school today having made the connection.

Posted by Jenn at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

me: So, this morning I asked Holly where her nose was and she very proudly patted her left ear.
dave: Awwww, that's so cute! *long pause* You know what's great about the second kid? When she does something like that you don't automatically assume she's going to grow up to be an idiot like you did with the first.
me: *laughing* True, true...

Posted by Jenn at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

For the last five or six weeks, Holly's been flirting with the idea of walking. Every day she'd take a step or two, but crawling was where it was at in terms of wreaking the most havoc in the shortest amount of time. Fast forward to our trip to Boston a week and a half ago. I'm online madly looking for a key lime pie recipe that I should have just printed out and brought along with me when suddenly Dave comes charging in and says "Quick! Come to living room! Quick!" Out I go and what do you know? Suddenly Holly's walking. Apparently she was waiting for the proper motivation to get up and go. A week and a half later, walking is slowly overtaking crawling as the preferred method of motoring around. She also sprouted tooth number 8 a few days ago. And she can say "down". And, according to Dave, "uh-oh", as of this morning.

Posted by Jenn at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday evening we went to the circus. Dave and I, unbeknownst to each other, picked up free admission tickets for the kids from a local coffee shop, set them aside, them completely forgot about them. I recall thinking that I should mark it on the calendar, however, that's apparently as far as I got.

Yesterday after lunch, Dave called me up and said "So, I was at the coffee shop and I picked up a free admission ticket for a circus that's coming to town." I said I had as well, and that I had marked the date on the calendar. To which Dave replied "It's tonight!" Only Dave and I can plan an outing weeks in advance and still manage to have it be completely spontaneous.

The circus was small, billed as "Old-fashioned". When we got into the tent and saw how small the ring was, and what the bleacher seating consisted of, Dave was worried about what we'd gotten ourselves into whereas I was all "This is going to be awesome." It was awesome, too. There was a trapeze artist, a balancing act, clowns (Henry's favorite), a woman who hula'd 50 hoops at once, a camel called
"Lawrence of Arabia" (which Henry and Dave went for a ride on during the intermission), goats. I'm forgetting some of the acts, but the whole show was a blast. It was also stinking hot. The four of us sucked down many sno-cones, just to stay cool. One of us also had cotton candy and popcorn. And another one of us had a hot dog. I'm not sure how he passed up the corn dogs. Henry came home sporting an amazing pink cotton candy mustache.

Posted by Jenn at 09:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...in three days:

Wednesday: Holly, well-baby checkup, healthy!
Thursday: Henry, bronchitis, ear infection!
Friday: Jenn, sinus infection!

Meanwhile, Dave remains healthy...

Posted by Jenn at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last week Wednesday I was still trying to kick this insidious cold I managed to pick up from who knows where, and by the time Henry was happily crafting at pre-school and Holly was a-snooze in her crib, I climbed into my own bed and tried to catch a few z's myself. I have a hard time napping in the afternoon because my brain tends to run amok for the thirty or forty minutes I stay horizontal, until finally I just give up. There I was laying in bed when suddenly it occurred to me that I had completely forgotten to nurse Holly at lunchtime. Our general schedule is: Holly wakes up in the morning, I nurse her, we have breakfast, she takes a nap, she wakes up, I nurse her, we have lunch,she takes a nap, I nurse her, a few hours later we have dinner, I nurse her, she goes to bed for the night. Mondays and Wednesdays are a bit nuts because Henry goes to preschool in the morning, we have an hour for lunch, then he's off to his afternoon school, so on the one hand it's not surprising that nursing her before lunch fell through the cracks, especially since I usually do it before we pick Henry up. However since her nap went long, I grabbed her and ran out the door to pick up Henry, ran home, set us all up with lunch, then ran Henry off to pre-school.

Yesterday I went and did it again, except I have no excuse this time. There wasn't anything exciting going on, no dashing around town, just the three of us kicking around the house, and when it was finally time for lunch and Holly was devouring apples and blueberries at an alarming rate, I recall wondering about how hungry she seemed. Just before it was time to put her down for her nap, I realized what had happened.

Lest you think this is somehow indicative of how everything else has been going around here lately, let me assure you: it absolutely is.

Posted by Jenn at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. Crawl over to ukulele case and shove it across the living room floor until it's pressed up against your Incrediblock.
2. Crawl up onto the ukulele case and grab onto the top edge of the aforementioned Incrediblock.
3. Strain every muscle in your body until you're shaking, and slowly but resolutely pull yourself up to the standing position.
4. Boggle your eyes with wonder that you actually managed to do it.
5. Bang the top of the Incrediblock with pride; watch the lights flash and the music play.
6. Wobble a bit and land on your knees after the ukulele case slides out from under you.
7. Pull yourself back up again and slide around on your be-socked feet until your mom takes pity on you and pulls them off.
8. Enjoy!

Posted by Jenn at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Posted by Jenn at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This morning Holly woke up and was suddenly able to wave "Hi!" So we made a video, because that's what parents do:

I'm posting this one first because the crawling video is going to take forever to upload.

Posted by Jenn at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

She's crawling!

Posted by Jenn at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Due to negligence on the part of her mother, my poor, sweet bun-bun has a sunburn on her cheeks and cute wittle nose. I feel very guilty. Yesterday, since it was nice out, we wandered around downtown after dropping Henry off at school. We stopped and chatted with some friends, meandered, enjoyed the warmish breezes blowing through our hair/fluff (depending on which one of us you are). This morning when I came down Dave was holding Holly in his lap and her cheeks and nose were awfully rosy. Oops. Apparently the onset of warm weather does not instantly kick into gear my penchant for slathering my offspring and myself in SPF 5000. Lesson learned. For Spring/Summer 2010 anyway. Right now Holly is resting peacefully upstairs, enjoying a brief respite from both the sunburn (which doesn't seem to have caused even the slightest blip on her radar, whereas as mine is bleeping all over the place), and, because life is totally unfair, teething pain.

This afternoon we're going to look at a house. It's the only house in this town that, from day one, I told Dave would one day be ours, somehow, someway, as God is my witness, etc. etc. The last time it was on the market, five years ago, it was about $50K out of our price range. In the meantime, times have changed, raises have been earned, kids have been had, and I'm pleased to say it is now approximately $150K out of our price range. However, the prospectus for the house has these key words typed out in plain english: "Willing to negotiate". It would probably be better for us if it said "Willing to negotiate. Seriously. Go ahead, make me an offer. Anything. Really." but what the heck. We're feeling wild and crazy.

Posted by Jenn at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's are some pictures I took today of Holly sporting her new tunic which fits! It really fits!

She seems much happier in her handknits than her brother.

Posted by Jenn at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This afternoon I finished seaming Holly's tunic.

Knitting clothes for babies is great because they don't take very long to make up thanks to the itty bitty, totally sweet, cutesy wootsy, squee size, and even if the item doesn't come out quite the way you expected it to, the baby still manages to cute it up. The Ella Rae Baby Cotton was great to knit with, it didn't get tangled up on my gnarly, end-of-winter, dried-out-husks-that-were-formerly-referred-to-as-fingers like the Noro did while I was finishing up Mavis, although I did have to be careful not to split it while knitting, but such is the case with cotton.

All that's left to do is try it on the girl and take lots of pictures.

Posted by Jenn at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

1. Another tooth. Top right. By yesterday morning she had cut half of the top left tooth. Today she woke up with the rest of it peeking out. She's working very hard over here.
2. A raging diaper rash. We've been powdering, creaming, and air drying our little hearts out. It seems to have done the trick.
3. Her voice. Oh, the shrieking.
4. Pretend walking. Now when you stand her up and hold her hands, she takes steps.
5. She got cuter.

I love the big developmental leaps that take place after big trips like this. Always interesting to see what happens.

Posted by Jenn at 05:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

H² have caught colds. Henry was all set to go to school today, but then I noticed lots of sneezing and snuffling. Sure enough, about an hour and a half before drop-off, he stood in the living room and said "Today is a bad day." When I asked why he said "Because it's still winter and I'm sick." So I kept him home. He's not so sick that he's miserable, so I'm trying my best to keep him entertained so he stays out of trouble. It's "J" week at pre-k so for the sake of consistency we've made paper plate jellyfish with ribbon tentacles, right now he's matching numbers of dots to their numerals, and later he'll practice writing his "J"'s. Just so everyone knows, I'm not cut out to be a teacher, certainly not to my own kid. I'm cut out for lounging in bed with a book and a plate of cheese and crackers. The "work" is not only keeping Henry honest, but me as well.

Meanwhile, Holly developed a runny nose a few days ago which I chalked up to teething because her top front teeth are working their way down. However, yesterday it became clear it's actually a cold. It's not too bad so far. Hopefully this is the worst of it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Jenn at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Before Holly was born, I knew that I wanted to go down a different diapering road than the Pampers one I had travelled with Henry. Don't get me wrong: I loves me some Pampers! Disposable diapers are so convenient. However, for a while now I've been experiencing post-disposable guilt over the hundreds of diapers that are sitting in a landfill somewhere filled with, well, you know, and there they will sit for another 500 years. After doing some research (read: asking my friend Megan what she does and deciding to do that, too) I decided to go the gDiaper route. She and another friend lent me their small gDiapers and Megan got me a medium size starter kit plus a few extra gPants as a baby gift. I used the flushable/compostable inserts when Holly was little, but it became very clear after she graduated to the medium/large size insert that our toilet wasn't particularly happy: it started clogging with increasing frequency. Since we don't have a composter, we ended up tossing them into the trash. Not a terrible thing, but not quite what I was hoping for either.

Twice Megan told me she has been using cloth inserts in the gDiapers for her second kid and that they work great, but I was only ready to really register and digest that fact the second time she mentioned it. After doing a bit of online research (for real this time), I decided to make the switch. I picked up a couple of packs of Gerber trifold cloth diapers to use as inserts, and ordered flushable liners to help with poop disposal. So far, I've been very happy with how it's been going.

The breakdown is: After I wash (great washing instructions here) the cloth inserts and liners (which you can usually wash and reuse at least once), I assemble a days worth of diapers so I don't have to worry about it during diaper changes. At first I was a bit of a dope in the way I was folding the cloth inserts. They're a bit longer than the gPants, so I was folding them under a little bit on each end, until I read somewhere that you should fold them under where the "wet zone" is for extra absorption. Totally obvious solution, however, my brain didn't go there for whatever reason. Per Megan's suggestion I use an old pillowcase, which I put in the Diaper Dekor
we used for Henry, to hold the soiled diapers. When it's time to wash the diapers, which I do approximately every three days, I throw the pillowcase in as well. So far we haven't had any issues with smells because the poop goes right into the toilet, but I have read in a number of places that a few drops of tea tree oil, which has natural disinfectant qualities, in the diaper pail would help. I've ordered some just in case.

At night we still use disposable diapers, either Earth's Best (which I prefer for the fit), 7th Generation, or Full Circle diapers, depending on where I happen to be shopping. We generally only use one disposable at night so one bag lasts us a long time.

All in all it was surprisingly easy to make the switch to cloth.

Posted by Jenn at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday Holly worked very hard at cutting another tooth, and when I check this morning, there it was, nice and sharp. The appearance of teeth is every nursing mother's dream come true. Trust me.

She's been restless the last few nights. Mostly I think it's because she's anxious to get a move on. Yesterday I put her on her little gym mat and she got herself up onto all fours and started to rock back and forth, getting a feel for balance. Almost every time we go to her room to get her up from bed, she's on her hands and knees. When Henry was a baby, he enjoyed the novelty of being able to sit up on his own for a while before he decided to think about becoming mobile. It was great. I could plop him down on a blanket with some toys and he'd sit there and play, happy as a clam. Holly, meanwhile, has, in a few short days, completely mastered the art of pushing herself backwards and gets extremely grumpy when she finds herself lodged around a chair leg and can't go any further. I have a feeling that Dave, Henry, and I will be spending a great deal of time fearfully watching Holly from betwixt our fingers.

Posted by Jenn at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holly has been diligently practicing her push-ups. This afternoon, she was hanging out on her activity mat, batting some toys around, and when that got old, she flipped over onto her tummy and played with a blanket. When that got old, she pushed herself up, then shoved herself backward. Then she did it again and again and again until she found herself in the middle of Henry's pot-and-pan drum set, halfway across the living room. She played there for a while, then loudly declared that she deserved a nap after all of that hard work. One (albeit backward) step closer to upright mobility.

Speaking of push-ups, I did some yesterday and today I've been very aware of the fact that I have arms.

Let's talk about food. Tonight I made oven-baked sweet potato fries to go with the amazing trout Dave whipped up. They were crazy good. At least Dave, Holly, and I thought so. Henry licked one and called it a day.

Meanwhile, I've been dreaming of Spring, compost, and backyard gardens...

Posted by Jenn at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Holly has way too much going on right now. She's cutting her two bottom teeth, one of which, when I did the first of my six thousand daily gum checks, I could actually see gleaming just underneath the surface. (Holly's current favorite foods: applesauce, carrot, thumb. Two of these items are usually organic; one is chock-full of preservatives.) She's been extremely fussy the last two nights at bedtime, which isn't like her, and I think it's safe to attribute that to the hard-core teething that's going on.

Right now she's absolutely pooped, but is fussing in her crib instead of snoozing. A minute ago I heard her binky hit the floor, so I went up to give it back to her. When I turned to check her out as I was shutting the door, I saw her hoist herself up onto all fours. Crawling is looming on the horizon a bit sooner than I expected.

Dave is trying to teach her to say "hi". It's very cute. His voice gets all squeaky and he says "Holly! Say 'hi'! Say 'hi' Holly!" and she'll look at him and say "haaa" and then beam at him. Then he beams at her, 100% the proud daddy, and then Henry and I have to shield our eyes from all of the beaming that's going on because it tends to get pretty bright.

I just want her to stay little and fuzzy-headed for a bit longer, thank you very much, but I think she's got other plans.

Posted by Jenn at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Holly had oatmeal for the first time yesterday evening. It's got her insides completely bound up. We're opening each diaper with great trepidation and secretly breathing a sigh of relief when it's not "The Big One" while desperately hoping that when it finally occurs, it's on the other person's watch. I'm betting it's going to happen approximately twenty minutes after I go to sleep tonight. Nothing like handling something like that whilst groggy and disoriented.

Posted by Jenn at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple of days ago Chocolat turned four months old. This morning she had her checkup plus a couple of vaccinations. She spent most of the late morning and early afternoon sleeping all of the excitement off. She's a healthy girl, good weight/height/head circumference. Also, the doctor wrote in her medical record that Chocolat's the most beautiful little baby she's ever seen, so it's totally official. (Not really.) (But that doesn't mean it's not true.)

The other day Henry and I pulled out his old baby toys. He showed Holly how to play with them. It was very sweet. There was a rattle in there that Henry was always intrigued by, but only when we played with it for him. I realized looking back on Henry's baby days that he was like that with a lot of things. Holly, on the other hand, grabbed hold of it and inspected the heck out of it, turning the different parts, shaking it, while chatting away the whole time. I also remember that when Henry showed interest in what we were eating, he kept a respectful distance away from whatever it was he was interested in, whereas yesterday I raised a glass of water up to my mouth and Holly dove for it, arms flailing, hands grasping. It was almost a big mess. I think we're going to be contending with a very adventurous personality.

Posted by Jenn at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dave's at a conference in Wilkes-Barre so I've spent the day being the sole responsible adult in the household. I've gotten very used to Henry going to pre-school four days out of the week, so Fridays are interesting because I have to entertain a four year old while keeping Holly on some sort of schedule FOR THE WHOLE DAY. Oh, the humanity. We usually have a great time, but apparently one day is my limit because yesterday was all about cupcakes, whereas today...well, let me just say I'm sort of phoning it in. It reminds me how much I look forward to the weekends when Dave is also kicking around the house. The other day we were laughing over the fact that our definition of a relaxing outing is now going out with only one kid in tow. What the frak were we thinking? Two kids. Gah.

It hasn't helped that Holly's got some sort of something going on, something which I think can be defined as gas thanks to something I ate, whatever that was. She had a great nap this morning, two hours, and then after that, nothing. Well, she slept in my arms for ~20 minutes while I was soaking up the glory that is the two hour Khloe Kardashian wedding special on E!. This is interesting for two reasons: 1) she doesn't sleep in people's arms anymore, she'd prefer to be in bed and 2) how could she sleep through the suspense of wondering if Khloe would come to her senses and ask Bruce to walk her down the aisle, anyway? Holly obviously takes after her dad. I'm pretty sure at this point we've headed into the realm of being so over-tired that we're going to have a rough time sleeping tonight. The poor kid. She's got a nice, relaxing pre-bedtime bath in her future. Although I don't have soothing lavender scents, I'll be willing them into the air anyway.

Posted by Jenn at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Holly spent all of last night rolling over, then crying because she doesn't like being on her tummy. It was the worst night of sleep I've gotten since I had to make a 3AM trip to Walmart for Claritin a few years ago. Tonight, she will be swaddled instead of sleep-sacked. Maybe that will help. Now for the good news: while I was reloading her gdiapers for tomorrow, I realized today was the first day I didn't have to rinse poop out of any of the liners. Bonus!

Posted by Jenn at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Jenn at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Holly just rolled over from her back to her stomach. Seven times. Then? She rolled from her stomach to her back.

I took a video. Naturally. Actually, not so naturally; Dave had to tell me to do it. Once he comes home with the computer that can actually handle a newer version of Quicktime than this one can, I'll upload it.

Right now Holly's upstairs sleeping off all of the excitement.

Posted by Jenn at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is a dangerous thing to put out into the universe because it increases the likelihood that it will all go to pot, but while my parents were here we seem to have managed to get Holly on a pretty reliable schedule. The problem leading up to this point was that I didn't have the gumption to keep her up a little bit longer between naps than I normally would, what with the active four year old and the general desire to dive into bed any chance I could get, and also craziness of the growth spurt she just went through. Now that she's settled back down into a normal eating routine as opposed to the insane, non-stop gnoshing that was last week, and with the added bonus of having three of us there to keep her occupied, it was a snap. Right now she takes three naps, two long ones during the morning and early afternoon, and a short evening nap. It's fantastic. When Henry was Holly's age, his sleeping habits were all over the place: not much napping, especially not in his bed, and getting up every one to two hours at night. In fact, that's exactly why it took us so long to decide to have another kid; we had no desire to go through that again.

Anyway, the universe can go ahead and kick me in the butt now.

Posted by Jenn at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know you all have been breathlessly awaiting an update on Holly. The poor little girl has been having a tough couple of days. She's been pretty restless during her naps, although she does okay at night. I suspect a whole bunch of things are coming to a head all at once: she's nearing the 3-month growth spurt; I'm pretty sure she's teething; she's outgrown the Moses basket she's been sleeping in since she was born and is now in a crib. Yesterday instead of her usual morning, afternoon, and early evening naps, she had a string of naps that each lasted approximately an hour. Once she powers through whatever it is that's causing her distress, I bet she'll have a day or two where she completely crashes out and catches up on all the lost sleep. Something similar happened the last time we were in Boston. We disrupted her nap schedule so much over the course of two days because we were out and about, that on the third day, she was up for about forty minutes to an hour before she needed to be put back down for another nap, each of which lasted about two-and-a-half hours. After the kids were in bed for the night, my mom said she felt like we hadn't seen Holly at all that day.

At her two month checkup she was above the 95th percentile for weight, and 75th for height. (She was 22" long at that appt, which was Henry's height when he was born. Crazy.) The doctor thinks she's going to keep her blue eyes, confirming what my mom and I both have been saying for a while now. Dave still doesn't buy it. She looks a lot like Henry did when he was her age, so I've been spending some of my time imagining Henry with long flowing locks.

We stopped by my Grandmother's house at the end of both trips to Boston. Four generations of women. It kind of rocks a girl's world.

Posted by Jenn at 01:31 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)

Last week on Wednesday we had our 38 week ultrasound, which, technically speaking, was actually our 37 and a half week ultrasound, but who's counting at this late stage in the game? As if it matters how far along I am, because I'm pretty certain this baby's never coming out, that this is how I'll look for the rest of my life and that my only consolation is that at least such a thing as a cute maternity outfit actually exists in this world so I won't have to sacrifice what little vanity I have left. But I digress. Dave always has two questions whenever we have an ultrasound: 1) Is the baby still a girl? and 2) Is there still only one in there? The answer to Dave's questions were two emphatic "Yes!"'s. As a bonus, Chocolat is measuring smaller weight-wise than Henry was at this point, so with any luck her delivery won't be quite so, um, gruesome.

Yesterday evening I had my weekly check-up and was lucky enough to see the mid-wife who has been so good to us. The practice I go to lost one of their mid-wives last month (sadly, she was the other person I really liked)(also, to clarify, she left the practice, hopefully for brighter horizons; I just realized how gloomy it sounds to say "lost"), so the last three visits I've had to meet with Dr.'s, which is not necessarily my preference, especially this close to having Chocolat, which made it extra-nice to touch base with her again. I'm making some progress, but not tons, so it looks like right now we're on track with our due date. She also reiterated that I should definitely call her when I go into labor and she made a note on my chart that my next appointment should be with her, so I get to see her again next week. I could've hugged her.

So, that's the boring pregnancy update, which ultimately could have been summed up thusly: still pregnant; getting bigger and grumpier by the second. The end.

Posted by Jenn at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

...my glucose test. not by much though (and on only two of the three blood draws) so it's not too big of a deal. The mid-wife I had met twice early in my pregnancy (and really liked) was the one who called to talk to me about it. I get to use a glucometer first thing in the morning, then two hours after each meal. She said since I was going on vacation it wouldn't be a tragedy if I happened to miss some of them, especially if the previous meal was at a restaurant, and if my numbers in general are good. It sounds like something I can manage with my diet, and since I tend to be low-carb and low-sugar anyway it won't require much change, knock on wood. I have to bring a log of my results to my next appt which is the Friday after we get back. She said if the #'s did look good, they most likely wouldn't have me do the glucometer every day. She also said if I have any questions to call her directly because she had GD when she was pregnant and she takes a special interest in other women who do as well. She was awesome. I'm so happy that there are two people at Lewisburg ob-gyn that I feel comfortable talking to. And now, I'm totally ready to stop boring you with the details of my experience there and move on already. Frankly, I'm sick of it myself at this point. Thanks again for all of the support. I consider myself extremely blessed to have you all in my life.

Tomorrow we're leaving for the beach. I'll be off-line for a week and a half. Last year when we went with Megan and her family, she and I practically free-based the amazing fudge that people sell there. Since I won't be able to do that this year, I feel a responsibility to warn Dave that I'll be filling that particular void by procuring as much seashell laden objets d'art as I can possibly get my hands on.

Posted by Jenn at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I've been trying to convince Dave that "Lorelei" is a great girl's name. He says it's too WB. Whatever could he mean by that? I amped up the pushiness about it this weekend, and after suffering through a mini-dissertation on the meaning and mythology behind it this morning, he threw his hands up in the air and said "FINE. IT'S FINE. WHATEVER. GO AHEAD." For the record, Marta Kristen's is the first Lorelei that ever made an impression on me, not Lauren Graham's. Frankly, it would only be fitting for us to name our daughter after a character in a Frankie and Annette beach movie. Well, actually, it would be fitting for me I guess. Dave would obviously just be putting up with it. It's probably not much of an improvement over the inspirations behind our other name choices: Annie (Little Orphan Annie), Dale (Terry and the Pirates), Veronica (Archie Comics), Chocolat Meilleure (Sugar Sugar Rune). I read a lot of high literature over here.

I've been trying to figure out what we need to buy to prepare for the impending arrival of a certain Lorelei/Dale/Chocolat Meilleure and there's not too much. Fortunately babies aren't too tough on baby things what with all of the laying around and fussing that they do, so most of Henry's stuff survived relatively unscathed. The major exception is the stroller which was, by the end of it's two-year tenure, held together by duct tape. It was rendered completely useless one fateful day when Henry grabbed the cup holder/safety bar thingy, yanked it up with all of his might, and broke it in half. That was the end of that. It's just as well we get a second chance at a stroller because the one we chose for Henry was too short for both myself and Dave, and also its sad little wheels didn't navigate the uneven sidewalks of the 'burg very well. I've gotten to test drive a few different models thanks to everyone I know owning a different kind of stroller, so that's helped me narrow it down to one in particular. Naturally it's expensive, but probably worth it.

The only other things we need are new baby bottles (we're going old skool glass because we're cool like that) and we're switching to biodegradable/flushable gdiapers instead of Pampers. I still haven't purchased any little girl outfits. (Did you hear that? That was Dave, sighing with relief.) I was talking to a friend about it a couple of weeks ago and she reminded me that babies don't wear anything other than sleep dresses and those kimono shirts early on anyway, so who cares? She's totally right. Besides, I bet I'll be totally inspired once I actually meet Chocolat for the first time. (Did you hear that? That was Dave canceling my debit card.)

Posted by Jenn at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)