Daily Shots 1/27/2010

Jeremy... is such a softie when it comes to his kids.  He can't just "give them a bath and put them to bed." He has to play some music for them, allow them to cover him with soap suds during bath time, tickle them while he gets them dressed, read story after story, pray long prayers that thank God for fans, doors, and Thomas the Train, AND THEN, put them in bed.  :)  And, unlike Mommy (who knows better and doesn't want to start a trend...) he'll pick them up and take them into our room to comfort them when they wake up afraid or upset.  What a sweetie.  :)

Jess... is thoroughly pooped after helping Mee Maw cook up 5 batches of malassadas (about 16 dozen) and then deliver them to a bunch of gal friends, mostly from my Mom's group.  We're doing it to help build homes in Haiti--100% of the money raised from the malassadas sold go to the reconstruction effort!  So far, we've got $205 with at least another $100 coming in on Friday!  Only $295 to go to build a whole house for a family of 6!

Jeremiah... like most young boys his age, was excited to be running around the house, naked, after his bath time.  It was the only thing that actually motivated him to get out of the tub.  Thankfully, there's a gate at the top of the steps, so he couldn't get very far.

Jesslyn... is quite the eater.  Anything and everything is fair game.  At least one of our kids isn't picky.  :)  She was in a very cuddly mood today, too, but unfortunately, wanted to do so while eating her messy dinner.  Sorry, sweetie, Mommy loves you, but you're going to have to wait until you're a little more clean for a hug.  :)

That's all I can give ya today, folks!  Long day, I'm tired, I'm going to bed!  :)  Nighty night!

Daily Shots 1/26/2010

Jeremy... had his first day back in the office in over a week.  The kids were sad to see him go, but we were on our way out ourselves, so they got over it.  Both were thrilled to see him when he got home, though--even Jeremiah wanted to be carried around, and for a while, he had to hold both kids because neither wanted to let go.  Awww....  :)

Jess... had a crazy morning with trying to get the kids out the door for church (CBS) while trying not to leave before the cleaning crew could show up (they finally did, late, but surprisingly, traffic was non-existent, so we were only a few minutes late to church after all!  I took it as a sign from God that we WERE supposed to go to church, since I had been trying to justify NOT going!)  We then had to rush home because in my haste, I forgot to leave a check for them.  After all that, I was definitely in need of a nap!  Thankfully, the kids agreed and eventually, both were asleep, so Mommy got the rest most desperately needed!

Jeremiah... had a rough time at drop off this morning, at church.  Usually, he's the good one, but today, he just didn't want Mommy to leave.  Eventually, I talked him into it, and he was good to go.  When I picked him up, and on the way home, he told me over and over again how happy he was that he went on to tell me everything they did in class!  :)

Jesslyn... is a little instigator.  Jeremiah was playing with his new Cars cars, and as soon as his hand was off Lightning McQueen, she swooped in, grabbed the car and took off, yelling, "Mine! Mine! Mine!"  Jeremiah yelled at her and started trying to get it back.  She then threw herself on the floor, tossed the car over her head and then tried to run away.  After all that drama, Jeremiah tried to share his cars with her after all (albeit, it was one he didn't really want in the first place, but still...)  She wasn't happy with that, though and replied, "No!"  She then repeated the entire above event a few minutes later, much to Jeremiah's chagrin....  Who taught her the word, "Mine!" anyway?!?!

Tomorrow is doughnut day!  Or rather.... MALASSADA DAY!  :)  My Mom had this great idea to make and sell malassadas to our friends, in order to raise money to help Haiti.  We have about 22 orders at $10--$220 going to help build houses as part of the reconstruction effort!  YAY!  I know Jeremiah is excited--he's a big fan of "Mee Maw's doughnuts!"  :)  We're working on his pronunciation of 'malasadas' but I admit, that's a bit for such a little guy to spit out at once.  :)

We're back!

Jeremy and I returned today from our Babymoon today!  We went to NYC for 3 nights, sans kids (thanks to Mee Maw and Poppy!) and had a blast!  Didn't do a whole lot, other than eat really well and hang out with some family.  Did a lot of riding on the subway and in cabs, even a bus or two!  I got a preggers massage, which was lovely, and we had an awesome dinner at Craft, one of Tom Colicchio's restaurants--oh my goodness, was it AWESOME!  Best food we ever tasted!  Well worth the [many] monies spent.

And now we're home... Jeremiah and Jesslyn were thrilled to see us, and happy to come home themselves, though they also had at blast at my parents' house.  We're all (including my parents and the kids) thoroughly exhausted, but no rest for the weary!  Tomorrow, the kids and I have church (CBS, to be exact, or Community Bible Study) and Jeremy's back to work.  But lots of fun was had by all, and it was a great time away before #3 shows up and throws a wrench in what currently defines 'normal' in our house.  ;)  Only 6 more weeks (3 if they're kind, 8 if not...)

Onto your Daily Shots of the Quadruple Threat!

Jeremy... is so happy to be back in his own bed!  After sleeping in hotels since last Tuesday, he's thrilled to be home with our awesome bed (it's the same one the Crown Plaza uses.)  Oh, and of course, he's happy to be back home with his kiddies, but missing them wasn't nearly as physically painful as missing our bed.  ;)

Jess... dumped out the stockings, still hanging on the mantle, in order to raid the candy still held within.  So sue me, I had a craving.  ;)  Out of sight, out of mind is so true!  But I got my fix, and now the kids will have lots of yummy snacks to choose from at lunch time tomorrow.  Oh, and did I mention we're 34 weeks!!  Yikes!

Jeremiah... got a new train today, courtesy of Mommy and Daddy missing their babies, and wanting to spoil them with something other than some cheap souvenir, just because it says "NY" on it.  So he got a Diesel 10 train, and was SO HAPPY!  Maybe that's why he couldn't wait to come home--he wanted to try him out on his train tracks downstairs!  Hasn't had a chance yet, as he hadn't had a bath since Wednesday, so that's what we did when we got home and then right to bed!  I promise, though... tomorrow.  ;)

Jesslyn... got a huge stuffed teddy from Mommy and Daddy, and was trying to carry it, along with their giant, stuffed penguin, around at the same time.  That's a bit of a handful, though, so that didn't work so well.  But she was also beyond thrilled to have Mommy and Daddy home.  She laughed when we walked in and she saw us, she was so happy!  Melts your heart....  =D

Baby #3... has a name!  Well... sorta.  We're pretty confident as to what the first letter will be, and have a possible boy's name (maybe girl's, also.)   That's all you get.  :)

Daily Shots 1/21/2010

Jeremy... is in Boston, still, living it up with his Canadian co-workers.  Will see him tomorrow!!

Jess... had a fine prenatal appointment, and is home alone.... Weird.  Baby's good, Mama's good, so all is good.  Gonna try to leave the house at 6 a.m., so I'm gonna wrap this up...

Jeremiah... is living it up at Mee Maw and Poppy's house this weekend, with Jesslyn.  He didn't seem very sad to say goodbye to me, so I'm guessing he'll do just fine.  :)

Jesslyn... was asleep when I left, so I dunno how she's doing.  But I have a feeling she's better off than if I'd left AFTER she woke up.  :)

And that's it!  Off to NYC!  The bus leaves at 10:30, but with the unpredictability this icy weather is giving us, I plan on leaving really early, and hoping for the best.  Wish me luck, and we'll "see" ya when we get back!

Daily Shots 1/19/2010

Jeremy... flew to Boston this morning.  I haven't heard from him since--this just now gives me pause.  But I'm sure he's at some pub (Cheer's, maybe??) having a grand ole' time with his co-workers, while his uncomfortably pregnant wife sits at home and wonders if he got in okay....  :)  [Update... just heard from Jeremy.  He is alive.  Yay! ;) ]

Jess... got both kiddies ready and to church by 9 a.m. for CBS, all by myself!  Go me!  :)  We skipped lunch there, though, as it's become more trouble than it's worth.  Instead, we went to Harris Teeter so I could get stuff for Cooking Club (thank you, Uncle James, who watched my sweet kiddies for me so I wouldn't have to miss it!)  And now I'm uncomfortably full, tired, and planning on going to bed as soon as this is published!  :)

Jeremiah... asked at lunch, "Mommy... where's me fish?" Remember our betta?  The 2nd one?  Kicked the bucket on Christmas morning.  We just kinda moved him away, and didn't think Jeremiah would notice.  He just did.  ;)  "Oh, sweetie, your fishy died--he was really sick, and there are no fish doctors to help him get better, so he died and went to fishy heaven."  Pause as he lets this sink in... "Mommy?  Me get another fish?  Me get a black one!  Me get another fish, Mommy???"  :)  "Of course, sweetie, we can go next week after you come back from Mee Maw's house, okay?"  "O-tay, Mommy.  Me get 'nother fish.  Me get 'nother fish later?"  And to think I didn't think he'd ever remember he had one in the first place!  Guess I need to clean out that tank....

Jesslyn... forces the nursery workers to hold her constantly... of this, I'm pretty sure.  Every time I pick her up from the nursery, SOMEONE is holding her!  This is how I picture it going down: I drop her off, and she cries, so someone holds her until she calms down.  Once she does, they put her down, and she goes to find a toy to cuddle (always has to have a bear or baby or something in her arms.)  Once she finds "it" she goes up to a worker, raises her arms to be picked up and waits.  If they don't, she cries, and they do anyway.  That's my guess, at least.  Today, it was a nice older woman, who was very proud to have held her (all 29 lbs of her!) almost the entire time.   I think she reminded Jesslyn of my Mom.  :)

Daily Shots 1/18/2010

Jeremy... finally took our live Christmas tree out to be relieved of its misery.  I think there are more needles on the floor than there were on the tree itself when we got it!  It was in bad shape... Can't wait to clean that up!

Jess... is thoroughly and sufficiently stuffed after an AWESOME dinner at the Sunny & Max's house.   She made chicken fried chicken, mashed taters with white gravy, creamed spinach (which I was SO HOPING she would make!) and yummy dixie pie for dessert!  Oh man, it was so good and I can't wait to have it again!

Jeremiah... enjoyed a nice time outside this morning, with his Daddy.  He took a nice nap (3rd day in a row!  They're becoming rarer and rarer...) and then had LOTS of fun playing with Georgia and Ella.  He didn't want to go, originally (we had to bribe him, practically,) but the whole way home, kept saying how happy he was and how much fun he had!

Jesslyn... had an uneventful day.  She was clingy clingy clingy, though, which could be an issue in... 7 weeks!  AHHH!  And, yup, that's all I've got. :)

Daily Shots 1/17/2010

Jeremy... discussed names for #3 with some guys at church (for the record, he has yet to really talk about 'em with me, but he DID promise to do so during our babymoon this weekend!)

Jess... has nothing interesting going on today.  Well, I took a nap this afternoon.  Umm... yeah, that was the highlight of my day.  ;)

Jeremiah... got his hairs cut tonight!  He screamed a bit before we even did anything, but once Mommy was holding him, he calmed down and "took it like a [whiny] man!"  :)  As soon as he was in the tub, he was happy and even thanked us for cutting it.   What a sweetie!

Jesslyn... was very sympathetic when Jeremiah was upset during his cut.  She kept watching the hair falling on the floor, like it was a limb or something.  You could see the gears turning in her head--"Hmmm... Jeremiah's screaming, and his 'hat' is falling on the floor.... That can't be good!"  She didn't even trust Daddy when he tried to take her and Jeremiah upstairs for bed.  But she sure did enjoy her bath time with her favorite big brother, once she realized he was okay!  And she forgave Daddy, too.

Oh, and don't ask either of them if they like 'bridges'.   Especially Jeremiah--his response is usually, "Me no like that big bridge" except 'bridge' comes out sounding like something else...... yeah..... ;)

Daily Shots 1/16/2010

In my quest to blog more regularly, I'm going to attempt to do a "daily shots" post, which is nothing more than a series of 'status updates' for each person in our family. Some days I may write more, but I figure if I can update my status on Facebook several times a day, I can do at least that here. But don't expect more. It'll just be a nice surprise. :)

Jeremy.... got new glasses today. They're channeling Drew Carey but much more cool and hip. They look good on him. ;)

Jess.... is feeling very pregnant today. And had a dream that MeeMaw took her for a sonogram and told us we were having a boy. Thanks for spoiling it, MeeMaw! ;)

Jeremiah.... gave his new Hot Wheels car to a friend's son, though I have a feeling he was only trying to "share." (However, this friend gave us their old crib, so we're not complaining.) He then left his "Big Thomas" at church, which prompted some whining and fake crying. Miss Jill promised to look for it in the morning, though. :)

Jesslyn.... continues to try to get over her cold today, but was a peach at church--we walked her in and she didn't shed NOT ONE tear! Hallelujah! She's also beyond obsessed with stuffed animals--anything she can wrap her arm around instantly becomes her "baby." Who says gender differences aren't pre-programed?! She's going to be a great big sister (unless she tries to carry the baby the way she carries her dolls....)

Baby #3.... is only a bit over 7 weeks away! Still quite the mover and shaker, and definitely getting big! Hard to believe we'll be a family of 5 soon--we can't wait to meet you, yet we have so much to still do!! AHH!!

That's actually not a bad post, if I do say so myself. :) I think I can manage that daily. Will do my best!

(Oh, and in case you were wondering about the timestamp, yes, technically it's Sunday, but only by a few minutes... I didn't want to D.S. for Sunday since it really hasn't happened yet!)

Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!

Wow. Jeremiah, my little man, my baby, is now THREE!

Wow.

As with each passing year, he's changed quite a bit since turning two. The biggest change: he speaks! At his 2 year check up, our pediatrician expressed some concern about his development, since he was only saying a handful of words (his favorite being "apple.") We went through all the motions to get him evaluated, both privately and via the county, and both suggested therapy. By the time we had our follow up assessment with the county, though, he'd decided he was going to start talking, and boy did he! Five to ten words quickly went to 40-50, and there's been no stopping him since!

It's so cute, now, because he has little phrases that he'll use regularly, and it's just so sweet to hear him try to explain things. For example, he told me the other day that he was going to, "Tell MeeMaw" when we were en route to my Mom's house. "Tell MeeMaw what, Jeremiah?" "Umm.... tell MeeMaw!" Once we got there, we found out that he was planning on telling her about his playgroup that morning, and how he was playing at Cameron's house and they were playing with trains, etc. :) That was the first time he's given a report of his morning without prompting! Pretty cool.

His latest thing is saying he could do something, "all day long." And everything he does, he does, "all day long!" :) Like when he woke up from his nap, and I asked him if he had a good one. His reply was, "Yeah, me nap all day long!" Or he'll be drinking some water, and he'll say, "Mommy, me drink water all day long!" Not sure where it came from, but it sure is cute! :)

We bought him a balance bike for his birthday (if you're not familiar with balance bikes, see thisarticle.) So far, he's really been enjoying it, though we haven't had many opportunities for him to ride it outside. And when we did, he decided it was more fun to go off roading, and try to ride over snow instead of staying on the driveway (which was far less muddy...) Sigh. Oh well, I'm sure he'll get the hang of it on PAVEMENT, too.

For his birthday, we had a party for him at Chuck E Cheese. Kinda weird, since I remember having my birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese when I was young. According to my Mom, the price has only gone up $1 since then! Crazy. It was loads of fun,t hough, and everyone had a great time. My Mom and I made the cake for him, since it was the only thing we actually had to do for the party, and I think it turned out quite well (though the pic below is blurry--camera case is STILL missing, and that has the card converter so it will fit in my laptop.)

It's still hard to believe my little man is 3, yet at the same time, he seems so much older. Funny how that works, huh? :)

Happy birthday, Jeremiah! Mommy & Daddy love you lots! :) You're such an awesome son, a super sweet and cool big brother, and a blessing to everyone who has the pleasure knowing you! :)

Determination.

Well, I've slacked for too long. I've sorta lost my motivation for blogging. It no longer has the impact it once did, since I've had to make the blog private, and I also do most of my "updating" via Facebook now. But as I sit here on the eve of Jeremiah's 3rd birthday, I looked back and saw quite the history unfolding. It's sad to imagine I won't have anything further. So I'm going to try harder. At least once a week! Maybe I'll get back up to my every-other-day schedule I once held. Maybe not. But I gotta at least try!

So where to start?

How 'bout the holidays?

They. Were. Crazy!

~Thanksgiving was held at my parents' house. We had quite the crowd there, as 2 of my 3 Uncles and their families came. Jeremiah was a bit overwhelmed by the chaos (my cousins are pretty loud and rambunctious,) so we set him up with his Cars movie while the rest of us ATE! And it was YUMMY! However, the turkey was on the smaller side, so I didn't get my turkey fix, which lead to me wanting to do turkey for Christmas, as well. More on that, later.

~I do love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year, and having kids makes it that much more fun! This year is really the first year Jeremiah's starting to "get it." For a while, we debated on what to tell Jeremiah, regarding Santa, since we really want the focus to be on Jesus and His birth, and not on the gifts under the tree. For a while, we thought we'd just try to be as vague as possible, but in the end, I decided I wanted Jeremiah to wonder if Santa was "real." So I told him, "On Christmas Eve, Santa brings presents to all the good little boys and girls! When you wake up on Christmas morning, and you see the gifts under the tree, many will be from Mommy and Daddy, but hopefully, some will also be from Santa!"

One thing we did do, though, was still emphasis that Christmas was Jesus' birthday--this is a concept even Jeremiah can understand. To really hit it home, we even ordered a birthday cake for Jesus (okay, Mommy wanted an excuse to order a Costco cake. Mmmm.... Costco cake....) and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas day. And if you had asked Jeremiah, "What day is next week?" the week before, he wouldn't have said, "Christmas!" but instead, "Jesus' birthday!" I know we did our job when the very last gifts to be opened (days later) were those from Santa, but you can still ask him who had a birthday recently, and he'll tell you, "Jesus!" We'll add the more important details as the years go on, but I think we're off to a good start.

~Before Christmas, we had some fun. I had a Cookie Swap, we had our Christmas party (during the first snow storm of the year! but we still had 30+ people!) and various other things that are all a blur at this point. We gave lots of stuff away, too! All year long, I buy toys and baby things on clearance for cheap cheap cheap! Some, I intend to keep for my kids. Most, though, is saved for Toys for Tots, or some other charity during the holidays. We weren't on our game this year, so we waited for our church to put up their Angel tree and took as many cards as we thought we could supply gifts. And it was quite a bit. Even once we dropped everything off, we could have taken more cards, since most people got ONE thing for each card, whereas we had multiple items (not many bigger ticket items, but we could have probably split each one in two.) It felt so good to get all that stuff out of the house, especially to know it was going to someone who might not have anything otherwise.

~December also brought our biggest snow storm of the century! Granted, we're only 9 years in, but considering we haven't had a white Christmas since 2002 (and that wasn't very white... more like a heavy dusting,) this was huge. The forecast called for 12+ inches. Then it was 16+ inches. Then it was up to 24 inches?! Yikes!

The night before, the Friday before Christmas, we decided to take the kids out to go look at Christmas lights. We got a late start, though, since we also wanted to drop off all the cookies I'd collected from the Cookie Swap to our neighbors. And then we hit traffic on 28 (rush hour traffic? still? at 7:30??) But we found the neighborhood we were looking for, and the lights were, indeed, quite impressive. Lots of over the top stuff, but the kids loved it.

On our way to another neighborhood, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner, and were surprised to find a Barber Shop group there, singing Christmas carols! They serenaded us throughout our meal, even reading the Christmas story from the Bible in between carols. It was really cool! After every song, Jeremiah would say to me, "I like that song, Mommy!" :)

Once we left there, we went on our search to find the house with the million white lights. We found it, and there really was, what appeared to be, a million white lights! Everything was covered, but tastefully so (think wrapping-tree-trunks with strands of lights, and then each branch was also wrapped...) They had several "tasteful" lawn ornaments, too, like reindeer and even a nativity scene! It was very impressive. To top it off, while we were there, it began to snow! A few flurries here and there, and by the time we left, a few had become many, so we stopped at Home Depot to get some supplies (more salt and gloves for Jeremy,) before heading home.

We did get our big snow, about 18" overall, and both kids LOVED it! Jesslyn is definitely part-Canadian, as she wasn't phased by the cold at all! Granted, they were well bundled up, but her face was so red when they came in, yet she was still smiling! I think out of the three of them that went out (Mommy stayed inside) Jeremy probably tolerated it the least! He also had the least amount of clothing on, which may have had something to do with it. ;) Mommy rectified that on Christmas. :)

~As far as Christmas day goes, we overdid everything! We got the kids WAY too much stuff (some of it is still sitting in the garage, waiting for another gift-worthy occasion,) but I kept finding good deals on things, it was hard to say no! My parents came over around 10 a.m., so that's when the fun began. Jeremiah got a Tag Reader (which he loved! though he didn't know it at the time--took us a few days to open it and get it programed,) a train table, some Thomas stuff and a bunch of other random things he doesn't care about (I thought for sure he would, too! I'm looking at you, Rocky the Robot Truck....) Jesslyn got a doll house (so cute!) a new praying baby doll, some "Mommy" gear (high chair, stroller, etc.,) but her favorite gift was definitely the shopping cart! Both she and Jeremiah push that around EVERYWHERE! At least Mommy got one good thing right! :)

After gifts, we had a yummy breakfast my Mom brought over (quiche!) and we made malassadas! Yummy! We took a couple of hours to chill (and Mommy took a nap) before cooking the big dinner! It was all tasty, but next year, I think we should just have brie chicken and maybe some sauteed green beans, or something--keep it simple!

~New Year's Eve was spent at my parents' house. We went over, ate dinner (stromboli!) put the kids down for the night, played cards, watched the ball drop and I fell asleep while Jeremy... did something! Not sure what. Probably on the computer. :) Around 2 a.m., Jeremiah woke up, so we decided to leave. Soooooo tired.... thankfully, so were the kids, and they slept in 'til 9:30 or so, which made the morning a bit more palatable.

That night, we went over my Uncle Nelson's for "Christmas". Normally, we do this part of Christmas on Christmas Eve, but they were away skiing in CO, so we pushed it back a week. It was a nice night, but really, I felt that the whole Christmas thing had gone on long enough. I was ready for the chaos part to be done! I miss the Advent part of the season. That's where the magic lies (see Christmas outing on snow storm eve above...)

Overall, we had a lovely Christmas and holiday season, but I'm too pregnant to do anything that crazy again. :) Next year, I'm going to try to simplify as much as possible! We'll see how well that goes.

And with that, I will leave you, for it is now Jeremiah's birthday, and I need to get some sleep before the birthday boy wakes up! Hopefully we'll be seeing you again soon. :)

Hi. How's it going? Long time, no see.

More coming soon....