Whoops...

Looks like I've let the blog slip away from me again.  I must say, kudos to the gals with more than one kid who can keep up with their blogs---it's not easy!  Here's the latest from us:

Jeremiah ~ Jeremiah is now 4.5, just a few months away from turning 5!  He figured out the whole "potty training" thing back in the early summer, and it seems to have "aged" him quite a bit.  You grow up a lot once you stop peeing in diapers/pull ups!  With potty training came dressing and undressing, and more independence, which he has taken his fill of!  He's my "go-to" helper when I need something, usually letting Jesslyn or Judah in and out of the family room, since he can open the gate and they can't.  Or going down to the basement to bring up a gallon of milk.  Or getting his own drink of water.  He even makes his own sandwiches now!  Sure, it's just two slices of bread and a piece of cheese, but hey, we gotta start somewhere right.  Oh, and he can buckle himself in his car seat, which is a HUGE plus for Mommy!  My little man isn't quite so little anymore.  :(

Jesslyn ~ Jesslyn is now 3, going on 30, and the most "grown up" out of all the kids.  If Jeremiah can do it, she can "definitely" do it (even if she can't....) And if Mommy can do it, she's gonna try!  Last week was her birthday, and it was quite a long celebration---we had a small Chuck E Cheese party for her on the Thursday prior (since her b-day was on Saturday, I wasn't about to make that mistake again...) and that was loads of fun.  NoVA experience a small monsoon (Rainapocolypes!) that day, so roads were flooded, streets closed, and Chuck E Cheese was empty.  I made her a princess cake, complete with an edible chocolate tiara on top (she ate half of it.  :)

Then on her actual birthday, we did a movie night out on the pipestem.  Our neighbor, Sybille, shares her birthday with Jesslyn, so it was a good excuse for all of us to hang out, party, have some cake and watch a movie.  At one point, we had about 50 people there (only about 30 were actually invited.)  I had kids asking me for cake, and I had no idea who they were.  :)  But it was fun---we watched "Gnomeo and Juliet" and "Thor".  Very cool.

She's really into My Little Ponies, dressing up, toy phones, and flashlights right now, so that's what she got for her birthday.  :)  Her and Judah are also "best buds" and very close, though usually Jesslyn is WAY TOO close.  She doesn't always grasp the idea of "personal space" and hasn't figured out that Judah's whining/crying means "back off!"  But I'm sure she'll get it eventually.  Or not.  It's kinda a part of who she is.  :)  But she's very sweet, too, and always up for cuddling, and loves having her back tickled.  She's a big sweetie!

Judah ~ Judah is now 18 months, and quite the character!  He started walking back in June, while we were at the beach (we went to the OBX the first week of June.  He was taking a few steps at a time before that, but really started moving once we got there.  That wet sand is a good learning tool.)  He's a bit of a chatter box, trying to say every word we say.  Not quite as wordy as Jesslyn was at his age, but pretty close!  A short list includes car, truck, plane, train, go, open, bye bye, hi, phone, apple/applesauce, juice, milk, water, drink, oww, Kookie, 'gunco' (for Uncle), bird, cat, dog, puppy, Dora, Boots, and so on, and so forth.  It's awesome.  :)  He's also very sweet, and loves to wrap his arms around your neck, yelling, "Mama!" or "Daddy!!" or just cuddling with "Gunco James" (it's kinda weird... James'll pick him up, and Judah will just put his head on his shoulder and leave it there, for like, 5 minutes.  Just looking around with his head on his shoulder.  Only with James, though.  :)

Let's see, what else with Judah.  Well, he loves Big Fella.  And babies.  So I'm hoping that that carries over, because..... #4 is due in 6 weeks!  But a little more on that in a minute.  He's a bit addicted to his Mommy and Daddy, especially his Mommy, so I am a bit worried about how he'll take the baby taking up so much of Mommy's attention.  The other two were great when their younger sibs showed up, so this is new territory for us.  Of course, maybe we're worried about nothing, and he'll be smitten with his new brother/sister, and all will be well.  Guess we'll see!

Oh yeah,  and Judah's quite the little comedian.  He always has this big smile on his face (with dimples!  Love the dimples!) and does all sorts of silly things to get a laugh!  He's also the hamiest of the bunch, dropping whatever he's doing for a chance to get his pic taken.  It's adorable.  :)

Finally, #4!  Yup, we're expecting the next member of the Wilcox clan sometime around Halloween.  We don't know if it's a boy or a girl (and hopefully won't have the chance to find out 'til they're born!)  We're planning another homebirth, so getting things ready has been fun/exciting, but of course, there's still much to do.  The pregnancy has gone well, thus far.  No complaints.  Just some morning sickness at the beginning.  It wasn't as bad as with Jesslyn, but worse than the boys, so I have no idea what to expect based on that.  But we're very excited, and can't wait to meet this new sweet bundle that God has chosen to bless us with.  :)

Other random news:  The kids and I (Jess) now have CBS (Community Bible Study) every Tuesday, and MOPS every other Friday.  It's a nice break, and a chance to socialize in a positive way with other Moms, and the kids get to hang out with their peers instead of just their siblings.  We did both last year, and it was good, but I have a feeling this year will be even better!  So I'm excited for that.

Jeremy's job is going well, though it has its challenges at times.  But overall, he's very blessed, and his boss is great, which is always a plus, especially with new babies on the way.  Jeremy's getting more handy around the house, having replaced the faucet on our hall bath, patched a hole in the hallway, and did a good bit of painting in the dining room.  So I'm proud of him.  :)  It's the little things.

And with that, it's off to bed.  Hopefully, I'll better about updating from here on out.  We'll see... :)

Well, hello!

Long time, no chat.  Here's a brief overview of what we've been up to:

Jeremiah:  Jeremiah celebrated his 4th birthday at Chuck E Cheese back in January.  We made the mistake of having his party on a Sunday afternoon.  Bad idea.  Friday night was MUCH better (when we had Jesslyn's.  More on that in a minute.)  Other new stuff?  Umm... he's about 42" tall, and last time I checked, weighed 45-ish lbs.  He still loves his trains, cars, trucks, basically anything with wheels.  He's a big help around the house, as he loves to help me cook, and is our "milk man".  He's responsible for bringing the milk up from the downstairs fridge for us, and takes his job very seriously.  :)

Jesslyn:  Jesslyn turned two in September, and we had her party also at Chuck E Cheese (hoping for a new venue for the next round...)  She requested a Yo Gabba Gabba cake, which MeeMaw and I made for her.  I did most of the cake and MeeMaw did the characters.  It came out really cute!  She's very chatty, and I would say almost rivals Jeremiah's vocabulary, so it's cute to listen to the conversations they have together.  Yesterday, she ripped off 19 keys from my laptop, and when asked why she did it, her response was, "That's how I roll."  :)  That's my girl!  Last time we checked, she was about 39" tall, and probably weighs as much as Jeremiah now (at least, it feels that way when you hold her! She's solid, alright!)  Such a little Mommy, she loves to take care of her 'babies', still sucks her thumb, and loves having a baby brother to carry around, much to my dismay.  :)

Judah:  Judah is just a few weeks away from turning 1!  I can't believe it.  Yikes!  He's super sweet, and perfect in every way.  He's very friendly/smiley with people, unless you're dropping him off with someone he doesn't know.  He loves his Mommy!  While he's not quite walking yet, he can cruise and crawl pretty well, and get pretty much anywhere he wants by climbing.  Gotta watch that one!  :)  At his 9 month check up, he was just about 20 lbs (50th %-tile) and 28"? I can't remember, but he was in the 70th for that.  For the first time ever, we have a child who actually wears the clothes his age dictates.  It's weird.  So used to being a size or two ahead!  He looks just like his Poppy did as a baby---the resemblance is quite remarkable.  We love our Cakes!

Jeremy:  Jeremy had a great year at work last year, and is on target to do even better this year! Yay, Jeremy!  We're really proud of him, especially in an area where it's tough for one parent to stay home.  I definitely do not take it for granted!  :)  His birthday is coming up next week, and as an early present, we re-did the basement while he was gone on a business trip two weeks ago.  It's now all decked out in Steelers colors, with the screen down there, seating, a table for eating/playing poker/games/etc.  I think he likes it.  :)

Jess:  Well, the most recent fun news from me is that I'm typing this on a Chrome Laptop, supplied to me free by Google.  Just came in the mail yesterday!  Woot!  Otherwise, nothing very exciting.  I'm still involved with my Mom's group, and started going to MOPS and CBS in the fall.

As a family, we've done some major things recently.  Went to the Azores in October so the kids could meet their great-grandmother, or "beezavo".  They had a great time, but I'll never do that trip again.  Wayyy too stressful to travel that far with 3 kids so young that you need to bring beds/pack n plays/strollers/car seats, etc.    Plus, there are new security searches at the airport that I'm not thrilled about (the patdowns have become far more invasive...) so I refuse to fly if I can.  If we can't drive there, we ain't going there!  :)

In October, we started getting our milk from a farmer in PA.  It's raw---unpasturedized, and unhomogenized.  It tastes so much better than store bought milk, organic or otherwise.  We also get our eggs, cheese and now chickens from them.  We've got a cow coming at the end of February, and signed up for a CSA that starts in June for all of our fresh produce.  We're living off the farm as much as we can, and I love it!  :)

More to come another time... Hopefully before 6 months from now. :)

July--in one post!

And I guess June, too!

We've been busy.  Though I can hardly remember with what.  I just remember June as a blur.  Nothing really happened, good or bad, so I guess that's good.  :)

I did have my birthday at the end of the month (as usual,) and it was a nice one.  Yummy lunch with my kiddies and Mom, sushi from G Sushi for dinner (too tired to go out) and a cake from Edible Incredibles (though I am not a fan of their buttercream... I likes me some sweet frosting, and their's is not.  Which is good for some people, but not me!  The cake part, however, was delicious!)  Jeremy got me a sterling silver charm necklace with a charm for each of my kiddies, though I quickly discovered I couldn't be able to wear it much.  Still allergic to precious metals, unfortunately, which means wearing it more than occasionally will leave me with a rash on my neck/chest.  Booo!  It's very nice, though.  :)

July was more busy than June.  Jeremy's parents were in town the first three weeks, and for a few days, we all went to VA Beach together.   I learned quite a few things while on that trip.  The main thing being, taking three kids to the beach is no vacation at all.  It's way too much work, and it's exhausting!  If we do go again, we will be sure to only go if we can stay ON the beach.  At least then, you can come and go and not feel like you have to spend hours for it to be worth it.  But the kids had a BLAST, so it was worth it in that regard.  Though poor Jesslyn got such a nasty diaper rash, which was only aggravated by the sand and salt water, so that left us on a sour note.  But she was a trooper, and usually the last one to bed those nights (seriously, I'd go to bed, and I could still hear her chatting away to herself.  Cute, but it was usually after 11 and I just wanted to yell GO TO SLEEP!!!!  But that would have woken up Jeremiah, so I just left her 'til she crashed.  She survived. :)

Judah had his 4 month check up a couple of weeks ago.  Still measuring smaller than my other two ever did, but catching up in some regards.  He was 15lbs 3oz for weight (75th), 26 in for height (95th!) and I forget what for head circumference, but he was 50th, so nothing exciting there.  He's growing so much, which is what he's supposed to do, I guess.  :)  He's got a head full of fuzzy dark blonde hair, and it looks like his eyes are going to be brown, though it's still hard to tell.  He started rolling over both ways around 3 months, and can really push himself up now.  I swear, he's so close to crawling already!  Put him down on the floor, look away, and he'll be across the room by the time to look back.  And I'm always catching him on his hands and knees, rocking, and then plopping.  :)  It's so cute!

Overall, having 3, 3 and under is still tough, but definitely manageable.  The older they get, the easier it is.  So I think I'll survive after all.  :)

Today, we began construction on the kids new swing set.  The one we had was a hand-me-down, and while sufficient, the kids definitely deserve something better.  So we ordered a new one, and boy are they a lot of work to put together!  We completely a good chunk of it, but there's still quite a bit left to do.  The kids are really excited, though!  We'll be glad when it's done.

Finally, we bit the bullet, and ordered tickets to go visit my grandmother in the Azores!  All five of us, plus my parents, will be there for two weeks in October.  I'm looking forward to it, but dreading it at the same time.  Sure, it'll be great for the kids to meet their "Avo-grande" (great-grandmother) but she's a bit of a neat freak, and my kids, well, are not.  So I know I'll be spending most of the trip just picking up after them.  But I think we'll have fun, overall.  I hope so!  We'll have to be praying about that one.

That's about all that's going on at the moment.  Hopefully, more to come soon!

Random "shot"

Wow, lots has happened in the past two months!  I guess I'd better get typing!

~Judah had his 2 month check up on May 13th.  He weighed in at 13 lbs, 3 oz, so only up a pound from his 1 month check up.  He's certainly not growing like his siblings did!  Percentile wise, he was 85th% for height and weight, and 50th% for head.  Could he actually be somewhat..... normal sized?!?!  :)

~While he still fits into much of his 0-3 month clothes (with the exception of Children's Place footed PJ's... those he outgrew weeks ago...) I think it's time to officially transition him into 3-6 month clothes.  They're still a little big on him, which is CRAZY since both Jeremiah and Jesslyn (especially Jesslyn) were rockin' the 3-6 month clothes about the time they turned 1 month!

  He can still wear a size 1-2 (they go up to 15 lbs) diaper, though!  Those size 2's are a little big on him, but good for nighttime!

~He rolled over (!) on May 21st, so around 10.5 weeks old.  I put him down for his nap on his belly, turned on the monitor when he started to fuss, and he looked like his was on his side.  Went in to get him up a few minutes later, and he was on his back!!  I was very excited, but also a little sad.... my baby's growing up so fast!

  He can also scoot around on his belly really well (or his back, depending on what he's laying on.)  His legs are really strong, and he'll stand up on your lap if you just help him with balance.  This makes holding him in a laying position nearly impossible, as he's always trying to sit up so he can look around better.  :)

~More recently, yesterday and today, I've been teaching him how to blow raspberries!  He LOVES it!  I was doing it with him last night, and he was cracking up! (That's a first "crack up" too, btw.... When the laugh comes from the belly, THAT'S a laugh!)  He sure does drool a lot, though, in the process!

~He's learning better hand/eye coordination.  The other day, he was in his car seat, and we have this crinkly soft elephant toy that hands from the handle bar on it.  He was punching that thing over and over!  And it was intentional---you just had to see the look on his face and in his eyes.... he was NOT thrilled that elephant kept coming back for more!

  He will also punch the toys hanging from his play mat (not sure how we got through two kids without that thing!)  At least, when he's not scooting all over the place on his back.  :)

~He's finally starting to EAT!  For the longest time, he would only eat an ounce or two, and he would do that all.... day.... long!  He finally started to eat 3-4 or more ounces at each feeding, and as a result, is starting to sleep better.  During the day, he's been taking three 2-hour naps, and one short nap before bed.  He's only up for about an hour in between naps, which seems really short, but that's what he's happy with.  Maybe now that he's napping longer, he'll start staying up longer (not that I mind the short awake times.)

  As far as nighttime sleeping goes, he had two nights last week where he slept from 9 p.m. to 5 or 6 a.m.!  That was GREAT!  BUT, those were days we were out late, so he did get to eat a little extra before bedtime.  On a normal night, he'll still wake up once or twice a night.  Last night, he slept from 10 p.m. (again, we got home late) until 4 and then 'til 10:30 a.m.  But the night before that, when he went to bed at 7, he woke up at 12 a.m. and then again at 6 a.m., before waking up around 9 a.m.  So it's still a little wonky.  But it's okay.  Once a night is awesome, twice a night is okay.  More than that, and Mommy has a rough day.  We're heading in the right direction, though!

That's about all that's new with Judah.  As for everyone else....

~Last week, Jeremy went to Vegas for 3 nights, so I had my first time alone with the three kids.  It went fine. We did spend one day at MeeMaw's house, and the next two days, MeeMaw came over for a little while (she had stuff going on in Herndon one day, and we all went to Ikea on another,)  so I had some help.  :)

~Yesterday was Memorial Day, and we all headed over to my parents' house for some pool side fun and barbecue!  The kids had a blast in the pool, with Jeremiah swimming around all on his own (his floaty coverall suit helped, I'm sure.)  Jesslyn had more fun sitting on a floaty and being pushed around the pool, or being carried around by MeeMaw/Poppy.  Judah did not get in on the pool action, though, and instead took a really long nap.  :)

That's all the time I have for now, as Judah's waking up from his [too short] nap.  But ya get the idea of what's going on with us!

Happy One Month, Judah!

Judah is one month old today!

Yay!

Took him for his check up, and he's doing well.  He's now 11 lbs, 15 oz (so weird not having a 12+ lb one month old, though he's almost there!) and I'm pretty sure the other stats are wrong---they measured him at 22 inches long and a 15 in head.  Umm... his head was 15 in. at birth.  And I watched her measure his length... pretty sure she marked BEHIND his head instead of at the top.  So he's 95th percentile for weight, 75th for height and 50th for head.  Yeah, doesn't seem right, but what're ya gonna do...

Otherwise, he's peachy!  Can't say he's sleeping all that great yet, but he's getting there.  His longest "nap" is right now, in the evening.  He'll probably sleep about 3.5-4 hours and then be up every 2-3 hours after that (or less, as was the case last night.... sigh.)  But he's more alert when awake and smiles quite a bit right after he eats, so that makes it all worthwhile!  :)

Jesslyn also had her 18th month check up today.  Again, I think they measured wrong--she was 34 lbs (seems a bit high... she's too big for the baby scale, so they had my Mom hold her while standing on a regular scale and then subtract her weight by herself.  But she was only 29 lbs at 15 months (or was it 12 months... pretty sure 15,) and she hadn't been gaining more than a lb/month at that point, so I find it hard to believe she gained 5 lbs in less than 3 months.  Whatever!  Just don't tell Jeremy, because then he'll want to face her forward in her car seat (it only goes up to 33 lbs RF, though her other seat goes up to 35... we'll see!)  Either way, she's almost there, so I guess it would be okay.  But I would really like to keep her RF'ing as long as possible!  It's just safer!

Anyway.  I should have learned the first time that taking 2 kids to the doc's at the same time is crazy.  Judah was easy, though.  Jesslyn... my goodness, you'd think we were torturing her or something, the way she screamed!  She didn't even get shots, so there was no reason for the dramatics!  But I digress.... I survived, thanks to some help from my Mom, so it's all good.

Oh, and she's also 35 inches tall, with a 19.5 in head.  So 97th+ percentile across the board!  At least that makes more sense than Judah's.

Okay, now back to Judah.  He's starting to make little baby noises a lot more, which is ADORABLE!  He loves to hold his head up and look around over your shoulder.  He's also showing more interest in things around him, like the mobile on his swing (I think he likes the mirrored part the best) and lights or fans on the ceilings.

Can I just say that he really is such a joy???  I've never been more tired or forgetful with either of the other two, but I'm finally at the point where my job is "fun" again (well, for the most part... like most jobs, it has it's moments....)  Have I really already forgotten the misery surrounding the first couple of weeks, and the agony of labor/birth??  No, I've not forgotten, but I've come up on the other side, and gosh golly, I do think I *can* do this!  That could be the placenta pills talking, though.  ;)

Oh, and I DO have pics of Judah to put up, but they're on our OTHER camera, and we lost the adapter, so they're STUCK!  A new adapter is on its way, though, so hopefully they'll be up soon.

And if we're family/buddy-buddy, be on the lookout for Judah's birth announcement!  Should be hitting your mailbox late next week or early the week after. I think they came out cool!  :)

Weekly Shots, Pre-Easter Special

Daily Shots are on hold...

We'll try Weekly Shots instead!

~Judah is 3 weeks and some change now.  He's growing growing growing!  He seems huge when I'm nursing him, but then I'll put him in his crib, and he's so tiny.... I'll miss this tiny stage when he gets bigger.  Though I won't miss the waking-up-every-few-hours bit.

~I meant to mention this earlier, but I think I forgot--Judah made eye contact for the first time when he was 1 week old.  There, I wrote it down.

~He had his first real bath on Monday on his "3 Week birthday."  He seemed to like it well enough, though he did cry towards the end.  My little man is growing up!

~The weather is getting beautiful this week.  Spring is finally here!  It's supposed to be in the 80's this weekend, and after the rough winter we had, we need it!  Looking forward to going out and enjoying some sunshine--time to fill the vitamin D gap!

~Nothing really new with Jeremiah and Jesslyn.  Still kinda "spirited" and testing Mommy's patience.  But they're sweet when they nap (and not so much when they don't,) so we're surviving.

And with that, I think I'm going to bed.  Happy Easter!

We're here...

Just exhausted.

Judah is up every 3 hours, more often during the day, so Mommy's not getting much rest.  But I wanted to get a couple of things down before I forget them (which happens easily nowadays...)

~Judah's cord stump fell off on Tuesday!  I was changing his diaper at church, and it was hanging on by a thread.  A little nudge and pop!  Off it came!  Yay!  Tomorrow (Monday, the 29th) he'll have his first REAL bath!

~Did I mention he's up every three hours?  This is new for me.  Jeremiah was up every 3-4 hours.  But he was our first, so we were able to nap all day and all night.  Jesslyn was in the NICU for the first 8 days, so I only had to wake up to pump every 3-4 hours at night (usually 4....) and my parents were here to help take care of Jeremiah, so I had more rest then, too.  Plus, once she DID come home, she was already sleeping in 5 hour blocks.  So this whole 3 hours or less thing has been rough of Mommy.  Hopefully, it starts to spread out a little more.

~Jeremiah and Jesslyn argue over who gets to hold "Baby Judah" next.  :)  They're both head of heels, STILL!  Although last Friday, I had them all by myself for the first time all day, and they really gave me a hard time.  Not a good day.  Saturday was better.  Sunday, less so.  Here's to a fine Monday!

~Jesslyn walks around the house singing the "Baby Judah" song, which is just his name over and over again in a sing song kind of way.  :)

~Both Jeremiah and Jesslyn ask, "Where's Baby Judah?" as soon as they wake up, or as soon they return home from being away from him.  It's really sweet.

~Jesslyn loves being Mommy's little helper when it's diaper change time!  Her favorite job is throwing out the diapers.  :)  She really gets quite a kick out of it.

~Judah smiles a lot in his sleep, but has yet to "smile" really while awake.  It's so neat to see how different the kids are from each other!

~Judah still wakes up with "goopy eyes" and I spend most of our nursing time wiping them with my thumbs.  It really bugs me, and I'm sure he appreciates it, though I don't think it's ever caused him to complain.

~Judah went to church for the first time when he was 5 days old.  And no one could believe we were there.  :)  Okay, confession time, while I did want to go to church, I really just wanted to show him off.  :)  I'm a proud Mama, what can I say.

~Physically, this has been the easiest pregnancy and delivery to recover from.  I feel like a million bucks!  A very tired million bucks.

~And I don't remember being this forgetful either.  Though I guess that makes sense, in a way....  And you should see how many times I've had to backspace to re-type a word, or allow spell check to fix my errors... it's like every other word.  Annoying.

~Jeremy's going back to work full time this week, and it's a little scary..... I hope my passion for my children is matched by my ability to manage all three at the same time!  At least I don't need to worry about the house much--Jeremy's agreed to have our cleaning crew come weekly for the time being.  If only they did laundry...

~"Three, 3 and Under" is hard!  I'm waiting for it to get easier.......

~I'm so thankful for all the friends we have that brought us meals.  They've been such a blessing, and a moment of sanity in an otherwise chaotic day.

~I've been typing this, waiting for Judah to wake up to eat so I can go to sleep, but I'm beginning to think he's not going to wake up anytime soon.... So I'm going to go wake him up so he can go back to sleep and I can do the same.

~Night.

Some more Judah pics....

I keep pulling up our blog intending to write and update more.  But then I get distracted or tired or just don't care to do so!  But I'll try.  :)  I've been updating quite a bit via email and Facebook, so it almost seems redundant to update here.  But, like I said, I'll try.  :)

For now, enjoy some more Judah pics (since the only one here is just chubby-face Judah and not really "Sweet Baby Judah"  :)

About 45 minutes after birth.  Our midwife, birth assistant and student nurse-midwife went downstairs to write up some paperwork while we got some family time.  So this was roughly... 2:15 a.m.  Jeremiah had woken up from a bad dream, and insisted on sleeping in "Mommy's bed!"  So he ran in, jumped into bed on Jeremy's side, pulled the covers up and proceeded to try to fall asleep, totally oblivious to the new baby.  :) Jeremy asked him, "Umm... Jeremiah?  Did you see the new baby??" and his eyes popped right open!  Got over that bad dream fairly quickly after that.  :)

During his newborn exam.  I think he had just been measured at this point.  Lotta baby!  :)

Booty shot!  :)  They were checking his back and bum for.... something!  I think he looks bigger here than in person.  At least his bum doesn't look that big during diaper changes!

Almost done with his exam!  Just needed to put some drops in his eyes, get him dressed, and done he was!

Daddy got to be the first to dress him!  He looks so tiny when his Daddy holds him.  :)

The next morning.  Jeremiah had not forgotten about his new "Baby Judah" and just loves to hold him!  He's such a proud big brother.

Kookie giving kisses to her new baby brother.  Awww....

Okay, I lied, these were just birth pics.  I thought I had more on here, but I guess they all went directly to Facebook.  Will work on some real pics tomorrow!

In case you haven't heard....

Baby J is here, and HE has a name!

Judah Samuel was born on March 8th at 1:29 a.m.  It was a long, annoying labor (26.5 hours!) but once he was ready to come, come he did!  Once I got the urge to push, around 1:26 a.m., it was all downhill and he was born 3 minutes later, absolutely perfect!  No air bag puffs (Jeremiah) or oxygen tanks needed--just Daddy to catch him and Mommy to hold him!  I was never so glad to be done being pregnant!  :)

Jeremiah and Jesslyn are absolutely smitten!  They can't stop talking about "Baby Judah".  It's so sweet.

That's all I've got time for right now--off to cuddle with the little man!  :)

Crappy Day

Not worthy of a "Daily Shots" post.

It started out rough, with Jesslyn sprinkling her chocolate milk over most of the upstairs (not intentionally, she's just a little sloppy when she drinks.)  Then I went downstairs to put in a bunch of chocolate-stained clothing in the wash only to discover the floor in the laundry room was flooded.  Sump pump was on the fritz. Sigh....

Things got a little better, as we had playgroup this morning at a friends house.  Of course, Jeremiah couldn't let it be all peaches and cream, and decided to pitch a fit anytime I said something he disliked.  Sigh.....

Some how, a trip to the bathroom by me resulted in happy, compliant kids!  Both were happy to get in the car to go home, after a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch.   Jeremy was able to come home after his meeting to figure out the problem in the basement and work on fixing that, so things were looking up.

Then... Jeremy flushed the toilet.  And what was going down came back up in the basement.  All over the floor.  Turns out, it wasn't the sump pump!  Cue frantic phone calls to available plumber.....

Sigh.................

Turns out, some of the shrubs in front of our house like the taste of human sewage.  So much so, their roots grow WAAAAAAY down to the pipes that carry it out to the sewer, grow INto the pipe, where they can feast to their hearts content.  And eat.  And eat.  To the point where no more could then flush through, because THE PIPE WAS CLOGGED WITH ROOTS!

Sigh....................................

So we have two options.  Spend 1/3 of a mortgage payment or a whole mortgage payment to get the dang thing fixed.  Luckily, I'm not fond of the idea of having a back hoe on my front lawn when we're expecting a baby any day, so we'll probably go with the less expensive, though more temporary solution.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day!

Daily Shots 2/28/2010

Well, here we are, on the last day of February.  No baby yet!  But that doesn't mean our life is at a stand still.  We've been keeping busy, regardless!  Wouldn't mind some baby action sometime soon, though!  :)

Jeremy... got his whole 'honey-do' list done while I was gone Friday night/Saturday morning!  I was very impressed.  I have to admit, when I made the list, I didn't think he'd get through it all, so when I saw everything checked off, I was pleasantly surprised!  :)  What a good hubby.

Jess... went to the Women's Conference, "Going Beyond" at Mclean over the weekend.  Mom and I stayed in a schwanky hotel (Courtyard Marriott... oooooo.... fancy, huh? ;) ate some sushi beforehand, and had a great time at the actual conference.  The speaker, Priscilla Shirer, was hilarious and very down to earth.  Everything she said had scripture to back it up, and it rang true in my life.  The worship was as equally fantastic, which made the whole experience very worthwhile, and refreshing from a spiritual perspective.  One gal asked me what I had thought of it, and I told her, "Now I know why I haven't had a baby yet--I needed this!"  :)

Jeremiah... was up in the wee hours of the morning this morning, playing.... with his Thomas trains... in bed.   Sigh.... Mommy, of course, had heard him "choo choo"-ing and went to investigate when they didn't subside.  And there he was, with his light on, pushing the trains around his bed, like it was totally normal to be up at 5 a.m., playing.  Of course, when I told him he needed to hand over "big Thomas" he pitched a fit and started screaming, which started to wake Jesslyn.  Then he ran into our room, insisting on sleeping in "Mommy's bed!"  I told Jeremy it was his problem from here on out.  His resolution?  "Come here, Jeremiah, come sleep next to Daddy."  And he did.  'Til 9:30.  At least Mommy was still able to sleep, despite the crowded bed.

Jesslyn... is quite the cutie and schmoocher!  She loves to give hugs and kisses, and is definitely a "quality time" kinda gal (along with her Mommy, though that's not my first!)  Hoping to get a few extra moments of sleep this morning, though, I had tucked a couple of books in her crib when I checked on her before I went to sleep.  This morning, before I got up, I could hear her over the monitor, sporadically "baa-ing" and "moo-ing" (one of the books was farm animals.)  She played a good hour in her crib by herself with her books, and was quite happy about that, too!  My little lady is such a sweetie.  :)

Well, we're in the home stretch now.  Thirty-nine weeks down, one to go (hopefully, unless they're like Jesslyn, then it's two weeks....)  Jeremy leaves Wednesday afternoon for the Cayman Islands, and once he does, we'll be in "freeze!" mode.  No baby action allowed.  So either the little man/miss begins his/her arrival before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, or they hold their horses until Sunday afternoon/evening.  Yikes!  We'll see, I guess.  Of course, Mommy's "done!" but that's not up to me, now is it?  So we sit and wait and see.  At the very latest, we'll have a baby by the 23rd!  But I'd rather not get there... Heck, I'd like to avoid the teens, if possible.  We'll see....... :)

Deep thoughts, by Jeremiah...

Jeremiah has been saying some really cute things lately, so I thought I'd try to record some of them here while they're fresh!  So here we are.

~This morning, Jeremiah wanted to help me get him and Jesslyn their chocolate milk (they drink an instant breakfast in the mornings--neither is very interested in actual food first thing, but they do love their milk!)  I told him he could carry his milk from the counter to the microwave, as they have to drink it WARM!  So he went to pick it up, and it sloshed around a bit and spilled on the floor (not much, just a little.)  Not a big deal--I cleaned it up, and we put his milk in the microwave, problem solved.  A minute later, he says to me, "Me sorry, Mommy, me didn't mean to... Me sorry."  :)  He said it a few times, even though I told him it was okay, as it was just an accident, but I thought it was so sweet that he was concerned I was upset about it (even though I wasn't.)  I guess I should probably watch my reactions in the future....

~We were in the car the other day, driving home from Alexandria for my BirthCare appointment, and it was a nice, sunny day.  Jeremiah said, "Oh, it's a beautiful day!  Beautiful day, Mommy!"  Me, "Oh yeah?  It's a beautiful day?  It is a beautiful day, isn't it?"  Jeremiah, "Yes, Mommy, it is a beautiful day.  Poppy says that, Mommy."  :)  I guess my Dad comments on the weather when they're together.  :)

~Jeremy was getting frustrated this morning, because of some password situation with work, and said, "Stupid stupid stupid blah blah blah."  Jeremiah responded, "Daddy!  Don't say that!"  :)  When I told my Mom about it on the phone later, Jeremiah heard me telling the story, and he told me, "Mommy, only Daddy can say that," which later changed to, "No, not Daddy, only POPPY!"  Can you tell he's fond of his Poppy?  :)

Those are the ones on the forefront of my mind right now.  I'll be sure to add more as they come up!

Daily Shots 2/20/2010

Well, we didn't get as much done today as we were hoping, but at least we have the chest freezers now!  We ordered them a month ago, and just got around to picking them up today.  It'll be so nice to have extra space to freeze stuff--I can buy ice cream and know it will have a home!  Huzzah!  :)  And when I have parties, I can totally make EVERYTHING ahead of time and have a whole freezer devoted just to keeping it chill.  Ahhh... life made easier.  :)

And now, your daily shots.

Jeremy... spent several hours picking up and setting up the freezers.  And then was off to a bachelor party this evening with one of his old Frontline buddies (it was at Dave & Busters, so totally innocent. :)  I think he's heading home now, though I thought he'd be here already.... Hmm....  he'd better hurry up because he's got lots to do tomorrow!  :)

Jess... took both kiddies to church, solo, tonight since Jeremy was out.  That was... rough.  Around 5:30, I started getting the kids ready to go.  They were already mostly dressed, just needed socks and Jeremiah needed a shirt, so I thought I had plenty of time.  Of course, then Jesslyn was poopy.  And then Jeremiah decided he didn't want to go out and threw a temper tantrum... And then a neighbor wanted to chit chat while I was strapping them into the van (which would have been totally fine, had I not already been running late.)  The best, though, was getting to church (5 minutes late,) finding a good spot, parking, and then realizing, "Oh shoot... I'm parallel parked next to a snow bank.  That means I can't get Jesslyn out....."  Yeah...  I had to get Jeremiah out of his seat, then lean over his seat to unstrap her, and get her out.  If that sounds fun, imagine then trying to lob a 30 lb 17 month old back over her brother's seat and into her's, while keeping tabs on Jeremiah in a parking lot!  Not fun.  But I survived.  :)

Jeremiah... did NOT nap today.  Grr... He'd been doing so well, but something about today just said NO NAP apparently.  Then Uncle Paul showed up to get Jeremiah's old crib (now THAT was a lot more work than we thought it would be,) and there was just no going back at that point.  What can ya do... he should sleep well tonight, as a result, and then take a good nap tomorrow, which will be helpful.  If that's what happens.

Oh, and he had a GREAT time in the car, singing along to his Yo Gabba Gabba CD.  He's really singing a lot more now, and actually trying to sing ON KEY (as much as a 3 year old can, at least.)  It actually sounds a little like the song, as opposed to just the lyrics.  It's so cute to hear.   And tonight, when I was praying for both him and Jesslyn, he was reciting my prayer as I was saying it (I say mostly the same thing every night, like my Dad did for us when we were growing up.  He would leave out certain words for us to fill in.  Jeremiah decided to just fill in the whole thing for me, apparently!  :)

Jesslyn... had a tough time going to church tonight, as usual.  We got up to the nursery area, and she started sobbing/screaming/wailing.  We had to wait to get our tags, though, so I was hoping she'd calm down.  The guy that was [trying] to help us kept talking to her, trying to distract her while the computer was being difficult.  At one point, I got tired of listening to her cry, so I asked her, "Okay, Jesslyn, that's enough, are you done now?"  To which she replied, "Yes," and stopped crying immediately!  Both the guy helping us and I started laughing. It was pretty funny.  She didn't start crying again until I actually dropped her off (and then she cried, "Mommy!! Mommy!!"  Awww....)  But when I picked her up, she smiled and said, "FUN! FUN!"  :)  I guess she had a good time after all!

Daily Shots 2/19/2010

Okay, so I've been forgetting to do this lately.  Whoops.  My bad.  :)

Jeremy... is playing video games.  Umm... and he's been going to work since we haven't had anymore snow piling on us.  And.... he took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese last night while I hosted my Mom's Group's Cooking Club here at the house.  He won some 350+ tickets by himself, playing some silly bubble game.  Did I mention he likes video games?  :)

Jess... is definitely at the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy.  Can anyone convince this baby to come out already!?  No?  Okay, then... We'll just deal.  Ice cream helps.  As do donuts from The Fractured Prune.  I tried drinking a glass of wine last night, as an eviction notice of sorts, but baby didn't get it.  Oh well.  I'd better get to bed soon... you never know when they WILL decide to make an appearance, and I need to be as well rested as possible!  So let's wrap this up...

Jeremiah... is such a sweetie.  I love how much of a little person he is, how interactive he can be now.  He sings along to songs he knows (not just hums, but actually tries to sing the words,) has opinions about everything, and is generally just a sweet boy.  I love how he meets someone or goes somewhere and just says, "Me happy, Mommy!" Tonight, he tagged along when I went to bring a new Mommy a meal, and when we met her, he said, "Hi!  Me happy!"  and he kept repeating that the whole time we were there.  :)  My little man...

Jesslyn... seems like she should be much older than she is.  She tries to count things ("One.... two.... one.... two.... one.... two..." is as far as she's gotten thus far. :) and has been using a lot more sentences ("Here it is!" "Me pee-pee." etc...)  She's very cuddly, too, when she wants to be.  After they got home from Chuck E. Cheese last night, all of my Mommy friends were hanging out, talking about our recipes, and she came over and started sitting on various peoples' laps--she just kept making her way around the room, looking for someone to sit with for a moment before moving on to the next.  She was VERY fascinated with our neighbor, Tiffany's baby.  She went and sat next to Tiffany while she was trying to nurse little Leilia, and was just amazed at this little being. I can't wait to see how she reacts to her own little brother or sister!

That be all.  This weekend is going to be busy, so I need to get my beauty sleep and hope we can get everything done we need to get done--two chest freezers to pick up, 3 pieces of furniture to put together, a crib to take down, spa to put up, and several bedrooms to clean!  All that on top of a birthday party/church tomorrow night for the kids and me, bachelor party (at Dave & Buster's... very tame) for Jeremy, nursery duty on Sunday morning...... Yikes!  Okay, if baby comes this weekend, we're a little screwed.  So I'd better get to bed!  :)

Daily Shots 2/14/2010

I just typed 2008....  Placenta brain....

Anywhoo, here we are on Valentine's Day, on the eve of us being FULL TERM with baby #3!  AHH!!  Kinda hard to believe we're back here again, after doing this just a little over 17 months ago, but, here we be!

We had a pretty non-romantic, yet fun day.  Got up, had some coffee, then headed to a friends' Valentine's Day Card Making Party.  The kids decorated a few cards (with much help from Mommy and Daddy, of course,) ate some yummy food, chatted a bit, and then it was NAP TIME!

The kids slept the afternoon away, and while there, Mee Maw and Poppy showed up to help finish painting the their new room!  They also came yesterday to get the base coat painted on (the blue and green--will post pics once the room is *done!*)  It looks good and the kids are really excited!  They can't wait to get in there! Hopefully we can get their furniture assembled (Jeremiah's bunk beds and Jesslyn's "new" crib, more coming later this week!) so they can move in tomorrow!

Wrapping up the day, we dined on gourmet delivery Chinese food, tucked the kids into bed, and are now sitting around, watching some Olympics and just chillin'.  Jeremy's off from work tomorrow (though it felt like he was off all of last week!) and we'll officially be full-term!  I don't expect Baby J to show up anytime in the next 2-3 weeks, but you never know!  I'm hoping, obviously, for a sooner rather than later birth, but my hopes are not high in that regard--my babies like to be fully cooked!

And with that... your daily shots.

Jeremy... chatted it up with the one guy (at any given time... I think there was a 5 minute overlap where there were 2 guys) that was at the party today.  Ummm.... that's all I've got for Jeremy today.  Nothing much going on with him.

Jess... has nothing.  :)  Umm... I need to hit the mall this week, to do all of our Christmas returns.  But that's it.  :)

Jeremiah... had a tough time adjusting at the party today (still not a fan of crowds and noise, I guess...) but he said he had a lot of fun!  His latest bit of cuteness would have to be his recital of a "Baman Piderman" cartoon from beginning to end.  I have yet to try to catch it on film, but hope to, as it is SO CUTE!  He does both roles, and even narrates ("here he comes..." when Baman is running along.)  To finish, he pauses and then, "tah-dah....." before cracking up laughing!  It's so cute!

Oh, and the other night, he had a "dream" about a yellow bus with green eyes.  This was the first time he actually told us he had a dream and then went on to explain what the dream was about!  And of course, he had to tell Mee Maw about it, so she put it in his room (well, his side of the room.)  The next day, though, he had a dream that "der wa a monster under Kookie's crib..." (it's his old crib, which is still set up in his room, but he sleeps on the floor on his new mattress until we get his bunk beds set up.)  She wasn't there, though, since I don't think either of them would sleep if they were in the same room.  So maybe she keeps them monsters away.  :)

Jesslyn... is really excited about her new room.  Mee Maw painted some flowers and butterflies for her, but the first thing she noticed was the bus that Mee Maw had painted for Jeremiah!  Ha!  We then sent her downstairs to hang out with Daddy, so Mee Maw could finish.  She went into the family room, found the remote, handed it to Jeremy and said, "Puppy?? Puppy?"  because she wanted to watch "Bolt."  :)  Obsessed, much?? :)

That's about it!

Daily Shots 2/10/2010

While I'm waiting for our tacos and taquitos to bake, I thought I'd get in our 'daily shots'.    Not much going on lately, other than SNOW SNOW SNOW!  Really, I'm getting sick of the snow.  I've gotten out twice since last Thursday.  Since Friday, we've had over 40" of snow fall on us.  Ugh.  And it's not going anywhere anytime soon.  The plows are doing what they can to clear the roads, but I would hardly call them "clear".  Some of the main roads are okay, but our neighborhood is basically a giant sheet of ice.  No street parking for a while, that's for sure!  Until we're not threatened to get stuck driving up and down our pipestem, I'll be keeping put.  Thankfully, Jeremy has been home and able to do all the chauffeuring for us.

Jeremy... has been doing all the shoveling and snow clearing, since I don't want to jump start labor anytime soon (I helped during the last storm, in December, but now that we're so close, I figured I'd better just take it easy until next week.)  He went into work on Tuesday for a little bit, but that's it--been home every day this week!  And will probably work from home again on Thursday.  Heck, even the Federal government has been closed everyday this week.... That's some $100,000,000/day in lost opportunities and productivity, they say. Yikes.

Jess... has been taking it easy, and cooking and baking.  We had Uncle Ben & Auntie Emilia over last night for a huge pan o' chili, and then some 1 vs. 100 on XB Live.  It was a lot of fun.  It's nice having them back.

Baby-wise, this kid is a mover and a shaker!  They just won't stop!  Slow down a bit, yes, but not stop.  It's crazy!  Tomorrow (Thur) is our 36 week visit, where we'll pick up my chart, the oxygen tank, some prescription-only supplies, etc etc.  I'm looking forward to it, and dreading it at the same time.  It's kinda hard to believe that baby could be here NEXT WEEK!  AHHHH!  I did buy paint at Costco for the kids' new room, but we haven't cleaned it out yet, and prepped it, so not sure when that's going to happen.  Hopefully soon.  Maybe we'll move Jesslyn into Jeremiah's room for now, since his crib is still set up.   I guess we can see how that goes, for now.

Jeremiah... started singing along to songs the other day.  He's always "sang" songs, but usually he'll hum along, or just throw a word out here and there.  But yesterday, we were watching Bolt, and they have this one musical number in it, and out of nowhere, he started singing the words during the chorus!  It was really cute.  Then tonight, he was singing a "good night" song to his truck.  Aww.... he's so sweet.

Jesslyn... is becoming less annoying.  :)  I know, that's a terrible thing to say, but for a while there, she was really driving me batty.  Now, the sweetness outweighs the whiny-ness which is a nice change.  :)  Seriously, though, she's always had a sweet side, but when she's clingy and whiny and just wants you to carry her around all day, it's hard to be loving and patient.  So I'm proud of my big girl!  :)  She's still addicted to Mommy (Daddy isn't allowed to put her in her crib at night--Mommy has to do it, or she'll cry,) but she definitely seems to be "growing" lately.  Does that make sense?

She's talking more and more, too.  Lots of sentences, which Jeremiah just started doing in the late summer/fall.  Tonight, she said, "Me done!" after dinner, and when I was looking for the remote earlier today, she handed it to me and said, "Here it is!" (well, it was more like, "here ii is!" but I knew what she meant.)  It's so fascinating to see how alike/different her and Jeremiah are.

And that's it.  My tacos/taquitos are done.  Time to dig in!

Daily Shots 2/7/2010

I'm currently waiting for butter to soften so I can make homemade frosting for Jeremy's homemade birthday cake!  Shhh... don't tell him, though!  :)  The kids are napping so I thought I'd write a bit, since I've been forgetting late at night. (Side note: this has been a GREAT week for naps from those two, surprisingly! Don't know if it's from all the activity, or because they've both been fighting colds, or what, but I'll take it!)

Jeremy... is outside helping dig out a neighbor's van.  He was out late last night trying to clear our pipestem with a borrowed snow blower.  And he was out most of yesterday morning/early afternoon trying to shovel/dig out his car!  Needless to say, he's been doing much snow moving lately.

Jess... has been perfectly happy being stuck indoors.  :)  Been chillin', cooking, baking, napping, etc... And I still think I overdid it!  Last night was a really uncomfortable/painful night.  But it went away, so no early babies!  :)  However, I'm taking this as a sign to take it a bit more easy in the future.  Not that I did anything physically taxing yesterday, but obviously something I did wasn't jiving with baby and body.  But it's all good now.  :)  We're almost 36 weeks!  AHH!!  It's now sinking in how much we still have left to do!  Jeremy needs to get our spa set up in Jesslyn's room, which means Jesslyn has to move OUT, which means we need to get the playroom emptied and painted!  AHHHHH!  Yeah... and I need to find some random supplies, like a heating pad (it's around here somewhere....) and some Gatorade, etc.  Need to set up the pack and play somewhere, get out newborn clothes (OH MY GOSH!! NEWBORN CLOTHES!!!) And so on and so forth.  I think I need to get my Mom over here to help me out!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Jeremiah... is napping, noisily, in his crib.  :(  Apparently, he no longer likes his new bed, and wants us to bring it back, yet again.  Guess we'll just be making him quit cold turkey!  What's he going to do, then?  Sleep on the floor?  I'm sure that'd get old really quickly.

Jesslyn... is quite the talker, as I've said before.  She'll repeat almost ANYTHING you say!  Today, she repeated me when I said, "Miss Leslie" and "superbowl" etc..  It's really cute hearing big words come out of such a little mouth.  :)  She thinks her mouth is much bigger than it really is, though--often, when she eats, she'll try to shove large amounts of food in her mouth, instead of taking bites.  It's really annoying, because then she starts to gag, and spits it all out.  Yuck.  Oh well.  I guess we'll just have to cut everything up really tiny for her, and only give her a little at a time, instead of letting her have a free for all.  Sigh... you're not a baby anymore, Jesslyn!  You're almost 17 months!  Time to eat like a big girl!  Oh well.

Off to frost my cake!  :)

Daily Shots 2/4/2010

Another 16"-26" of snow forecasted to start tomorrow.  Let the chaos begin....

Jeremy.... is currently at Harris Teeter, getting me a few last minute snow storm "essentials."  Many items are out of stock (sour cream?!?!) and he's probably the 30-40th person in line.  Yikes.  This after spending most of the afternoon driving us all around for an ultrasound of the baby, and then to our midwife appointment (which had a LONG wait, as there was only one or two midwifes on duty.)

Jess.... is tired, and wants to go to bed, but can't because I'm the one who sent Jeremy to the store in the first place.  Wouldn't be right for me to turn in now.  :)  But we did get to see the baby today!  Measuring right on track to be in the same runnings as his/her older siblings.  And super cute face, at least from what we could see through the distortion.  Jeremiah and Jesslyn (well, mostly Jeremiah...) was being a pill, so the sonographer sped things up and didn't give us any 3D pics.  : p  That's the LAST time we take the kids with us!  Wasn't our original plan, but Mee Maw got sick and Uncle James had his own appointment to attend, so that's how it happened.  Oh well.

Jeremiah.... was not a good boy today.  I can't really blame him--he was tired and didn't want to be out at nap time, and the afternoon dragged on and on... Man o' man, though, he was a tough one to control.  Nothing worked--bribing, begging/pleading, threat of punishment, nothing!  Hopefully he's in better spirits tomorrow.

Oh, this was cute, though.  We were driving home, and I was doing something to bug him (can't remember what... I don't think I was doing it intentionally, I think I just kept asking him to relax and take a nap, or something.)  He said, "Mommy, stop."  Then he paused and said, "Please stop, Mommy, please."  As a statement, though, not a question, which is what I say to them when they're acting up, and I'm just about to lose it.  So yeah, you really do need to watch what you say around these kiddies... They soak it up and throw it right back at ya!

Jesslyn.... did not really get her nap today, due to our great adventures, but was a pretty good girl despite that, which was surprising.  She did catch a few Zzz's in the van on the way home, which, for some reason, caused her to spend two hours playing tonight at bedtime, instead of sleeping.  I don't get it.  I expect good naps from both of them tomorrow!

And with that, we wait for the blizzard!  Okay, it's not really a blizzard, just a "winter storm" with accumulations in the double digits and temps below freezing to keep everything put.  Awesome.  And from what I hear, there's more on the way next week.  So much for mild VA winters!

Daily Shots 2/2/2010

So I hear the stupid groundhog saw his shadow.... and promptly asked Mother Nature to drop more snow on us, just when the "dusting" from the weekend was starting to melt.  Oh, and there's promise of more to come this weekend!  Awesome!  <~ Sarcasm...

Ah well.

Jeremy... got to wake up early (or stay up really late...) and let his brother Ben and his wife Emilia in from the cold to catch a few hours snooze time after travelling all day from Poland.  It's kinda weird having them back, as they've been gone a year.  Jeremiah was very excited, though--all day, he's been asking, "Where's Uncle Ben??!" after seeing them this morning.  I guess he remembers them, since he went right up to 'em and gave 'em a hug. :)  Aww....

Jess... doesn't appreciate having a cold while preggers.  So not cool not being able to breath through your nose.  This has made sleeping more of an annoyance than anything else.  Ugh.  Oh well.  Yup, that's all for me today.  Oh, I made cookies.  Doesn't help me breath any better, but they sure did taste good.  :)

Jeremiah... somehow hurt his arm this morning, and it bothered him all day.  Made him very whiny and cranky.  Yeah, we're in pretty rough shape today!  The good news is that I *think* his arm is all better (not really sure what was wrong with it in the first place.... but he wouldn't use it and kept saying, "Mommy, me boo boo ouchies..." so it was obviously bothering him... for some reason.)  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Jesslyn... was also whiny and cranky today, as she, too, is fighting a cold.  Sigh... But, surprisingly, she also warmed up quickly to Uncle Ben & Emilia.  They left when she was just about 4 months old, so she really didn't know them at all.  I guess she just "knows."

LOST started tonight, after being off the air since last May.  It's the final season!  I have no decided if I'm going to do my commentary again... I'm thinking probably not, since that's a lot more work than I'll probably be able to make time for.  But if I find any interesting analyses, I'll will definitely post them.  Darkufo.blogspot.com is always a good place to stop, though!  :)

Daily Shots 2/1/2010

It's late, so we'll make this quick...

Jeremy... is currently waiting for a phone call or email or something from his brother Ben--he and 'Auntie' Emilia are scheduled to arrive in DC sometime between 12 and 3 a.m., I believe.  I *think* the plan is that Jeremy gets to go pick 'em up and they'll spend the night here before settling back into their house, but Jeremy can't remember.  Sooooooooooooo we'll see what happens!

Jess... seems to have caught Jeremiah's cold (which has now moved to Jesslyn, as well.)  This makes for doubly miserable days, since it feels as if Baby J has quadrupled in size in the past week!  Well, maybe not quadrupled, but definitely heavier!  But alas... it's all part of the fun, right?

Jeremiah... enjoyed watching Bolt and Thomas all day long, because Mommy was too tired and blah to take him outside.  It was a compromise I was willing to make.  :)  Then at bedtime, I went to lay down for a moment, and he came in to "tuck" me in.  Then he said, "Nighty night, Mommy!" and shut my door.  :)  Eventually, I was able to get him in his room and tucked into his own bed.  Daddy prayed with him, and one of the things Jeremiah wanted to pray for was to thank God, "for me new light from Mommy."  He's been having a tough time with the whole night light issue--the one he has isn't bright enough, so we've been having to leave his door open and the hall light on.  Not ideal, since our doors aren't super tight, and let some of that light in.  So I found the light I used in college, when I was up late while my roommate was trying to sleep.  He LOVES it!  And it's only 40W, compared to however many the hall would use (though those are CFL bulbs, and this was a regular one...)  Well, at least the light is perfectly contained in his room, and it's just the right brightness, so everyone's happy!

Jesslyn... wouldn't let me nap very long.  She went down for her nap (late...) and then woke up about an hour later, crying.  :(  Not sure why she was upset, but I figured she'd get over it, so I left her alone and tried to go back to sleep myself.  She did quiet down and I'm assuming went back to sleep, for at least a little while.  But that wasn't enough for her, and she started crying again.  I got her up and she played happily in our bathroom while I got my shower in.  The highlight of her night was probably covering her head with peanut butter at dinner time.  I guess she wanted to take another bath tonight!  They do love bath time...

Off to bed for me!