Welcome, One & All!

Yay!  You found us!  Sorry for the change of address.  We had some issues with jeremynjess, so we moved here.  Hopefully, those issues won't follow us and stick with the old blog.  Thankfully, blogger has made the process of moving blogs pretty easy, so should something else happen, I know how to fix it easily.  

Anywhoo, life is pretty good.  We had a nice weekend in Exton, PA for my brother, James', graduation!  Yay for James!  He starts his new job tomorrow at Lexus, not far from us, in Chantilly.  It'll be nice having him back in town again--we've missed him!

While in PA, we stayed at the lovely Fairfield Inn, part of the Marriott chain.  I'm normally not crazy about staying in Marriotts, but this was such a good deal (one bedroom suite, free internet, breakfast, kitchenette, etc...) and everyone there was so nice!

They also had a pool, pf which we made good use.  Jeremiah LOVED it!  He so wanted to be swimming on his own, but was satisfied just walking down the steps, jumping into Jeremy's (and my) arms, "swimming" back to the steps, and then doing it all again!  He didn't even care the water was chilly, he went right in!

Jesslyn was such a good girl, too.  Both kids slept well while there (though Jeremiah refused to nap in the car on the way there and back...) which always helps.  And, the highlight was, Jesslyn laughed for the first time!!!  I was getting ready to give her a bath (still sponge baths... no point dealing with a baby tub when she'll just scream as soon as we put her in it...) and as I lifted her up to take her top off, she laughed!!  Not believing what I had heard, I tried tickling her to get her to do it again, and SHE DID!!!  Awww, it melts your heart....

So yes, it was a nice little trip, but I'm definitely glad to be home.  Now the fun begins--unpacking!  Woot....  And I've got lots of baking to do, because our Christmas party is just under three weeks away!  AHH!!  Oh, and Thanksgiving is next week... WHAT?!?!?  Yikes... the holidays are here!  :)

Jesslyn is 2 months old!

And getting cuter every day!

I did start to write up an 8-week post, but the pics I took weren't that great, since I had to use my phone to take them. So it never made it to the blog. I'll include those pics here. Starting this month, we're going to "monthly birthday posts". I'm sure there will still be plenty of pics inbetween, but it seems like Wednesday are not her "good" days for having her picture taken. Or I don't have the camera ready when she's being especially photogenic. Ah well.

So what's new this month? Well, her hair is getting a lot longer. You can really tell in the Election day pics, as it curls out above her ears. And there's definitely more of it, as I noticed during her bath the other day.

Her schedule is becoming more predictable. She sleeps 7-9 hours straight during the night, wakes up, eats, then goes back to sleep for 1-3 hours (depending on when she woke up.) Usually by 8:30/9, she's up for good. So it works out well for me--I can usually get up with her, feed her/change her, and by then, Jeremiah's had enough "play time" in his crib, and is ready for breakfast himself. Jesslyn will usually be in a playful mood at this point, before needing another bottle/nap around 10.

She naps well, usually two long naps with a few little "binky naps" inbetween. These are naps that don't last very long, and usually require her pacifier . Sometimes she'll take those in the swing, or in my arms. Rarely will she handle the transition to her crib for these naps. But that's okay. Her morning nap is usually about 2 hours, and her afternoon nap 2-4 hours.

Lately, she's been pushing her bedtime back and back, which always throws us for a loop--we never know when to get her ready for bed! She used to take a short nap when we put Jeremiah down for the night, and then would wake up around 11 before going back to sleep for the night at 12 a.m. But, as she did last night, sometimes she'll fall asleep at 9 and that's it! Kind of annoying when she falls asleep in her clothes and day-diaper... Oh well. At least being soaking wet doesn't wake her up prematurely! When she woke up last night (at 5:50 a.m.) she was soaked! But it took 9 hours for her to notice apparently...

Anyways, it sounds like she's waking up from her afternoon nap now, so that's all for now. She's truly a joy, though she does try my patience at times (way more than Jeremiah did.) It's worth it!!

8 Weeks Old:

See?  That's the best I could come up with.  I tried.  :)

It's 75 out!

This is my kind of November! 

Must be El Nino...

Election Day!

Pretty in Pink & Cool in Blue!

Happy Halloween!

Today is Jeremiah's 2nd Halloween. Once again, he's a ferocious lion... RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRR!!! And Jesslyn, a cuddly puppy. Awwww...

A group of neighbors formed at the pipestem as we were getting ready to head out for trick or treating.  Jeremy tagged along with them while Mommy and Jesslyn stayed inside to hand out candy.  Jesslyn promptly decided to have a bottle and fall asleep, which left Mommy with lots of free time to address birth announcements whilst waiting to hand out candy.  

Apparently, Jeremiah wasn't too sure about walking around the neighborhood with all these people wearing masks and face paint.  But after a few houses, he was fine, and was really getting the hang of knocking on doors and taking candy.  Sometimes, he tried to get an extra piece or two, not understanding it's not a free-for-all (though I'm sure many folks had plenty to give out.)  At one point, Jeremy brought him back home (they'd just gone around the outside houses in the neighborhood,) but he whined to go back out.  Guess it was fun!

And yup, Jesslyn slept through the whole thing.   Didn't miss much, though.  We probably had 30 trick or treaters, with enough candy for 150.  At one point, a little girl came up, probably 4 or 5.  I gave her a piece of candy, just like I did her brother, said, "Have a good night!" and closed the door.  She immediately opened the door, saying, "I want another piece of candy..." and casually started digging through our stash before coming out with a blow pop.  "I want a lolli pop," she said, as she walked back out the door.  Stunned, all I could do was say, "ummm... that's kinda rude..." but she ignored me.  Okay, if she'd asked for a second piece, I'd probably given it to her, no problem.  But she opened the door, came in our house (umm... kinda scary, parents, don't you think???) and just helped herself.  Oh, and no "thank you" either.  Someone isn't learning manners in their house....

Ah well.  We have plenty of candy left, of course, and it's really not welcome here.  Jeremiah enjoyed picking through his stash with Daddy, and got all hopped up on sugar.  We have a little video of him spinning in circles, but it has Jesslyn crying in the background, so I dunno if we'll post it.  Suffice to say, he was having a great time (even put on some music for him to dance to!) And he got sticky enough to warrant a bath, even though he had one last night (we're on an every-other-night schedule.) Dreamland came fairly quickly for that one.  :)

And now, pics of cuteness!!!

The "Gang"

Daddy and his "cubs".  On a side note, our neighbor thought I was carrying a "real" puppy, when I was walking around with Jesslyn (when he saw her from behind.) :)  

Too much excitement for this puppy.  She went right out after her bottle!  If only she were this easy during the day...

Oh! She's up!  How 'bout some smiles.... :)

No?  Okay, still cute.

Family shot!  Jeremiah's got a mouthful of candy.  He then spit it out when I asked him, "What do you have in your mouth??"  Yeah....

Awww... so cuddly.  She's not really asleep, just didn't catch her with her eyes open.

"It's Peanut-Butter HAIRCUT Time!"

Well, we were finally sick and tired of Jeremiah's long locks.  So we took a hatchet to 'em!  Okay, not a hatchet, just some fancy electric trimmers.  Despite the ease of the cut itself, there were many tears shed, and feelings hurt.  All Jeremiah's.  Yeah, he was pretty upset.  But he's so cute now!  Really looks like a big boy now!

Before:

After:

7 Weeks!

Yay! Jesslyn's 7 weeks old today! To celebrate, we went to Costco and Target. Woot woot.

And what does being a week older bring, you ask?? Well, the biggest thing we've noticed is her "standing" abilities. If you hold her upright, she will support herself on her legs, just needs you for balance. She's been doing that for a while now, but this week, she seems strong enough to hold herself up with little assistance (except for balance, obviously.)

Umm... what else... Well, both kids had a bit of a cold Mon and Tuesday. Monday was the worst, for Jesslyn. She slept almost all day long (mostly in the swing... easier for her to breathe that way,) and ate hardly anything (mostly because she slept all day, and when she did eat, she gave up quickly since she couldn't breathe well.) Of course, that trend did not carry into the night--she was up every few hours, wanting to eat. But yesterday was much better. She stayed up quite a bit, actually, and ate all day long (making up for Monday, I guess!) So that's good.

Speaking of eating, for those who care and want to know, she's pretty much done breastfeeding. As had happened with Jeremiah, supply issues forced us to supplement, and there's just not much there to entice her to try more than 2-3 times a day. So first thing in the morning, before her afternoon nap, and last thing at night, she nurses, starts to scream, and finishes off with a bottle. Jeremiah made it to 5.5 months, mostly because we tried some things to increase supply (it did help, but not enough to avoid formula, so I didn't bother this time around.) But unlike Jeremiah, Jesslyn has little patience when she's hungry. But it's all good. :)

Finally, Jesslyn got dedicated at our church on Sunday. Ugh, what an eventful day that was... First, I couldn't figure out what to dress her in. I finally settled on a cute pink dress, put it on her, only to notice that one of the seams was ripped all the way up the side. Grrr... Okay, scratch that one. Took it off, found another dress that I thought would work, put that on her. I guess she didn't agree, since only a minute later, it was covered in spit up. Double grrr... Alright, dress #3! Put that one on her, and covered her in a blanket, in case she wanted to repeat her feelings about #2.

Of course, all these changes took time, and we ended up leaving the house a few minutes late. Oh well. They asked us to be there 30 minutes early anyways, so we were still plenty early despite being "late". "Hmmm..." I said, "I wonder where my parents are...." Called 'em up, and yup, they're driving around, looking for the church. Only problem is that their GPS didn't have the latest maps, so it took them to some random location in Loudoun County. Oh boy. By the time we got them on the right path, we had to go into the auditorium.

And that's when Jesslyn decides that, despite being happy all morning, she was going to act up and start to fuss. There we are, standing in front of everyone, and she starts spitting up and whining, etc, etc... So Jim Supp, our campus pastor, is reading the vows we're supposed to agree to, and I'm distracted by her, not really paying attention to what's going on. Luckily, that was the end of the drama, and she did okay while Jim prayed for her when it was her turn.

A few minutes later, after we'd exited the auditorium, my family showed up. Oh well. They tried. But once again, I have no pictures of the dedication. Last time, both of our cameras were dead (someone did take pictures for us, but their camera was acting up, so they're not very good.) This time, we had both cameras charged and ready to go, but no one to use them. AHHHH!!!! I can't win.

Special thanks to Uncle Ben & Auntie Emilia--we found out afterwards that they had made it after all, unbeknown to us. And if anyone else was able to make it, please let us know (especially if you took pics!!)

Anyways, that's enough about that. Now for pics!

Grandma & Jesslyn, minutes after her dedication.

Jeremiah, Jeremy & Jesslyn, outside the church.

The "cupcake-cake" I made for Jesslyn.  And as I had suspected, no good came of this...  I'm glad it's gone.

Jesslyn, today, 7 weeks.  Almost too big for her Moses Basket!!  And in case you were wondering, that outfit is size 3-6 months.  Probably a good thing I put it on her today--might not fit again after it comes out of the wash (she had to spit up on it, after all...)

Such a happy girl!  At least, when she's not hungry, tired, needing to be held, gassy, or just wanting to look around from a vertical position.  :)

Yay! I "won" something!

Thank you, Blog Academy... I'd also like to thank my family--Jeremiah and Jesslyn, who give me so much to blog about in the first place, my loving and supportive husband, Jeremy, who gave me kids to blog about, and most importantly, Paige... If I weren't for her nomination, I wouldn't have to do this. :)

As a recipient of this award, there are rules to follow. I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others! The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Fake
4. Your mother? Kooky
5. Your father? Tall
6. Your favorite thing? Kids
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your dream/goal? Kids
9. The room you're in? Messy
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Kidnapping
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Duggers :)
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Thin
15. One of your wish-list items? Vacation
16. Where you grew up? Tiverton
17. The last thing you did? Fed
18. What are you wearing? Clothes :)
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? Not
21. Your computer? Noisy
22. Your mood? "Yawwwwwwn!"
23. Missing someone? Hubby
24. Your car? Pimpin' :)
25. Something you're not wearing? Girdle
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? Gone...
28. Love someone? Many!
29. Your favorite color? Bluuuuuuuue!
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Forgot

The bloggers that I'm nominating [sorry folks!]:

Ali
Liz
Harmony
Ted
Katharine
Jeremy (bring back "DFWTO!!!" :)

That's it... I don't think anyone else would do it (and not sure some folks here will do it, either, but ah well...)

Now, for you recipients of this award, here's the deal:
* Display your award.
* Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
* Enjoy your award!

Ha ha!

Hmmm...

Anyone else get the feeling Jeremiah's regressing....??

There's usually not a lot worth talking about when it comes to SNL nowadays... But every now and then, a little gem shows up that cracks us up, and therefore earns a spot here on our blog. Thursday's "Weekend Update" had one of those little gems.

It's right in the middle of the clip--about 1.5 minutes in (the "top stories" part was kinda dumb...) It's Fred Armisen's take on the CNN Touch Map that they like to play with during this election season. If you've ever seen the CNN version, you'll probably find some humor in this. Then again, maybe not. But we were ROFLOAO'ing. :)

Forgot to mention this in the last post...

For those of you in the area, we wanted to let you know that Jesslyn is going to be dedicated this weekend. Really, it's a 'parent dedication' in that we stand before the congregation and promise to do our best to raise Jesslyn up to know God, know His word, and give her all the tools and support that God has given us so that she may someday, hopefully, choose to accept and follow Christ as her Lord and Savior. In a nutshell. :) I'll post links when I'm not on typing on my phone, but the main info is this: Oct 26 @ 10:45 am at the McLean Bible Loudoun campus. More details to come.

Update:  Here's info on the dedication itself.

And here are the directions.

Six Weeks!

Jesslyn is six weeks old today.  My, how time flies.  At the same time, though, it feels like she's been a part of the family forever!  And not in the "negative" way.  It probably has something to do with the fact that we "included" her in our lives when she was still in utero. 

Anyways, life has been good.  In honor of her 6th week, she slept 10 hours straight last night.  She may not be a consistent napper, but boy does she enjoy her nighttime sleep!  Hey, I'll take that.  

Let's see... what else...  Well, when she's not napping (she sleeps a lot during the day, but usually little cat naps before and after a "big" nap) she loves looking around and smiling at Mommy, Daddy or her favorite big brother, Jeremiah.  She still loves to hang out with her lion friend in her playmat/center/thingie, and the mobile attached to her swing.  Like her brother (not many of those...) she's a cuddle bug, and doesn't like being on her back, especially if she's being held.  When you're holding her, she wants to be up and looking around!  Don't hold her like a baby, unless it's sleepy time, unless you want to hear how well she can whine and cry.  :)  And boy can she cry.  We've got our own little "Jekyl & Hyde" here... she's so different when she's upset... And so sweet when she's not.  Ah well.  I wasn't expecting Jeremiah 2.0, after all.  

It's been a crazy week, thus far... Yesterday, I had my 6 week post-partum check up (by myself, since Jeremy had to go to PA for the day, so I had both kids! Yikes!  It went okay, though.)  All is well there, though I kinda got reamed out for gaining 2 lbs...  Well, y'know, that coulda just been a clothing thing... It was warmer when I went for my 2 week than yesterday.  But whatever.  I'm still over 10 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight, so I still feel good.  Now that we're at the 6 week mark, I'll feel better about getting out and moving around more than before (since she was in the NICU, I never had a chance to really relax and recover during those first two weeks when Jeremy was off.  So I took that time afterwards.)   ANYWAYS!  Yeah, so we did that, came home, tried to nap (Jeremiah refused, much to my dismay...,) went to visit Miss Mary, since she was so awesome to bring us dinner and cupcakes (and left them, since I was at my appt.)  Headed to Costco for a few things (funny how it's always "a few things" going in and ends up being "a lot of things" on the way out...)  Yeah.  Crazy.

Today was nuts in the afternoon.  After a good nap was had by all (Jeremiah slept 3 hours, Jesslyn 3 hours, after a few interruptions when the binky popped out, and I even got about an hour or so,) we headed to Tysons to pick up Daddy so he could pick up his car from the shop in Springfield.  We then stopped at the mall for dinner before meeting up with someone from Craigslist who had some free formula for Jesslyn (love Craigslist!  And it's so nice to see people giving away the formula they received for free in the first place... So many people try to sell it, and that's so annoying... But I digress...)  After a quick stop at Walmart (super busy, even at 9 at night!) and a fill up at the gas station (how does this math make sense... regular: $2.97; plus: $3.41; premium: $3.51.  Glad our vehicles don't require 91 or higher...) we headed home to put some tired kids to bed.  Well, it's almost midnight and Jesslyn is just now asleep... maybe she'll sleep 'til 8 or 9... that'd be sweet.

Tomorrow, I'm staying home.  Probably take the kids outside, if it's nice, but yeah, not going anywhere, I don't think.  The weekend should be quiet, too, though there are a lot of Halloween things going on that we may take Jeremiah to (our neighborhood is having a parade, the next neighborhood over is doing a haunted house, most malls are doing stuff and having trick or treating, etc...)  

Okay.  That's enough.  How about some pics?

New "toy"

Amazon had the Aquadoodle play mat on sale for less than $10 this week, so I ordered one for Jeremiah.  He loves to play with his chalk outside, so I figured he'd enjoy being able to do some "art" inside, without stressing Mommy out.  And, by golly, I think it worked!  :)  He had a great time drawing all sort of "stuff" all over the mat (and yes, he did 'test' out the marker to see if it worked on the regular walls, too... Ha ha!  It doesn't!)  

Hopefully, he doesn't get sick of it too fast.  

(Can you see Jesslyn in any of these pics???  She's in there somewhere! "Where's Jesslyn?!")

$5 off $25 @ Whole Foods

Well, I was on my way to bed, but saw this and just had to post it, knowing that many of my readers (makes it sound like there's a lotta ya!) shop at the Whole Foods around here.

Get $5 off a purchase of $25 or more with coupon. Three will print out on the page. You can find the coupon here, courtesy of sage-parenting.com. One coupon per person/day (bring the hubby!) Expires 10/22, so get shopping!

We don't shop there often, since it's kinda outta the way, but there are a few things that we buy that we could get there (like Jeremiah's Kashi oatmeal, which seems to be impossible to find in the regular grocery stores, in the flavor he likes.) And you know it's good stuff when they always send the Top Chef contestants there for their elimination challenges! So now you yourself can save a little green while going "green". :)

One Month Checkup

Well, we just got home from a busy morning. Jesslyn had her one month checkup today, and all is well. She's 13 lbs, 5 oz now, and a 1/4 inch longer than at her post-NICU checkup (though we still find it hard to believe that she grew a whole inch in 8 days... I guess it's possible, but still seems a bit unlikely...) She's now in the 50th percentile for weight!! Well, if she were 4 months old, at least... for her age, 99th!! Yeah, she's crushing Jeremiah in the "biggest baby" race. He was big, and she's even bigger. Crazy.

Interesting night/morning, though... I went to bed early (well, "earlier") to capitalize on her sleep schedule, and it worked. I got almost 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which was very nice. She went to bed at 9:30 and woke up at 4 a.m. Not too shabby (esp. considering most one month olds sleep for 4 hour stretches, not 6+.) She went back to sleep shortly before 5, and didn't wake up until 8:30! Very nice to wake up in the morning, and have time to shower before either child wakes up. By the time I was dressed, Jeremiah was stirring, so I got him up and dressed first. As soon as he was dressed, Jesslyn was wailing, ready to eat. Somehow, in less than an hour, I was showered/dressed/make-up'd, Jeremiah was dressed, and Jesslyn was changed and fed, and we were out the door ready to pick up Jeremy (after sitting in traffic for a few minutes...) Not bad, not bad.

Funny thing about the doctors--Jeremiah cried WAAAAY more than Jesslyn (not that she had much reason to, since there were no shots today.) As soon as the nurse came in to weigh and measure her, Jeremiah started WAILING! We kept telling him, "It's okay, we're here for Jesslyn, not you!!" Didn't help. He does NOT trust the nurses there. Poor thing. At least he trusts our doctor, so he was fine during her whole exam. But yeah, on the way out, another nurse smiled at him, and he turned to me to pick him up... Silly boy.

So now we're home, after having a quick lunch at the mall. Jeremiah's in his crib, playing (uh oh... he'd better nap!) and Jesslyn is in her little play thing, talking to Mr. Lion. Hopefully she'll be ready for a nap soon, so Mommy can lay down for a few minutes. If not, I think I'll be okay without a nap. Wouldn't mind one, though! It's a good day for it, too--kinda overcast with a slight chance of rain. Warm and muggy, not the best day to be outside playing (too sticky.) We'll see, I guess!

Tonight's The Office/SNL/South Park night (from last night.) Another good night of TV (we have 7 shows that we watch during the "season".... Three of them are on Mondays, two tonight, and one each Wed and Fri. Something to look forward to, get ya through the week. :)

And she's starting to get antsy. TTFN, ta ta for now!

5 Weeks!

Jesslyn thought she would commemorate her 5 week birthday by sleeping for 8 hours straight last night! WHAT?!?! Yes, 8 hours. Unfortunately, it wasn't the 8 I would have liked. She slept from 9 p.m. 'til 4:55 a.m. Jeremy and I didn't go to bed, though, until 1 a.m.... Was waiting for her to wake up... Kept telling myself, 'she'll be up any minute, so why go to sleep??' Well, any minute turned out to be 4/5 hours later... But that's okay. I get it now, and am thusly prepared. Instead of staying up to watch the debate/South Park, I'm folding her clothes, and then going to bed, since she herself just went to bed. But I had to take a quick pit stop on my way to dreamland to put up these pics and a video for ya. Such a cutie!

I've dubbed this one her "Laura Bush" face. Am I the only one who sees it?? Maybe it's a bit of a stretch after all. Meh.