Our Family Four

Miscellaneous: Sick, Birchbox, and Valentines

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

1.) My last few weeks have been filled with poor sick kids. I actually called the doctor's office 6 times in 7 days, and one of those days I called twice. It's been an uphill battle to get these kids healthy, but we finally did it!! I am pretending like it is a coincidence that things started to get much better once the weather took a turn for the worse. Please tell me I'm not the only parent whose kids get super sick when it turns unseasonably warm in February?

I went to get my camera to take a picture of the "half pike" that Jayce had constructed from our ottoman. Once Jayce realized that I wasn't sitting behind him, he immediately got up to come lay across my lap. It was that kind of week, LOTS of snuggling.

It took 3 different antibiotics to get Jayce healthy. The second one tasted so bad that he literally threw up when he put it in his mouth. I wanted to comfort him, but it was one of those medications that you take forever, so I was thinking, but did not say aloud, "Don't worry buddy. You only have to take that one 19 more times!" This was also the first time that he has ever vomited, so as we were cleaning him up and reassuring him that it was okay, he was like, "Mom, what is that stuff?!" Poor guy, I think the vomit freaked him out more than anything else. Luckily 3 days later we switched to a new, less nasty medicine, and it did the trick. Or maybe it was the temperature plunge down to the teens. Either way, he's better.

2.) I asked for and received a 3 month subscription to Birchbox for Christmas. And let me tell you, it's amazing.

Basically, if you're a girl, you'll want it. For $10 per month, you get a half a dozen "delux samples" of beauty products: makeup, skincare, hair care, etc, with the option to buy the full sized version. Some of the things I could afford, some I could not, and I like the mix. I don't want to buy $50 hand cream, but I would like a month's supply of it, with 4 other little goodies, for $10!

And it is marketed perfectly. These people really know their audience. Last month when I opened my UPS box to find this perfect little cardboard box, with a pretty pink wrap, I was like,

Birchbox, I think I love you.

But I wanna know for sure.

Inside, the goodies were individually wrapped in tissue paper and ribbons. Seriously?! I felt like it was my birthday!

I did not take a picture of the products because I immediately started using them. I painted my thumbnail with the nail color, put on some hand cream, and then went to the bathroom to try the lipgloss. I love it. I just received my second one on Friday, this time full of skin care and hair products. Check it out here if interested. I'm going to stop now, because I feel like I sound like a salesman. :) But let me know if you get it and we can talk about how awesome it is, and I'll stop harassing my sister about it.

3.) I attempted to take "Valentine" pictures of the kids to send to family for the holiday, as I normally do. I haven't gotten around to printing the pictures yet, (sorry family!) because of the craziness of the past few weeks. But I didn't get a perfect picture anyway. I'm wondering if uncooperative Valentine pictures are as endearing as uncooperative Santa's lap pictures? What do you think? Which of these says, "I'm over it mom." better? Hmm...

Linking to Carissa at Miscellaneous Mondays.

Cousins

2012-02-09T09:44:00.002-06:00

While we were visiting in Louisville, Jayce and Hadley got some time to play together. There is almost 2 years between them, but are finally at the age where they can play together a bit. Jayce still needs to be reminded periodically to be careful, go slower and things like that since Hadley is obviously quite a bit smaller than he is, but they were really cute together.

At one point, Jayce wasn't listening and was put into time out on the steps. I went to the kitchen to set the timer, and when I came back, I discovered that Hadley had joined him on the steps. I imagine that I shouldn't have, but I snuck off to get my camera.

Jayce making Hadley give him a hug.

Being innocent.

Hadley and Hannah are just over a year apart in age, so next Christmas, these two girls will be the trouble-makers. Maybe I'll get a picture of them all in time out together. I imagine there will be more than one opportunity for that.

Christmas With the Keiths

2012-02-08T13:51:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Christmas with the Keiths a bit late this year, not until the 3rd week of January. We were excited to get together to visit, exchange gifts, and also celebrate Chris' birthday, but we missed Aunt Erin!

Unfortunately, poor Hannah had a horrible weekend. The day that we left town, a terrible storm had just come in. It was 14 degrees out, the wind was horrendous, and blowing the snow around so much that it almost looked like smoke. It was horrible to drive in, and the whole way out of Illinois and through Indiana there were wrecks all over the highway and dozens and dozens of abandoned cars on the side of the highway. Actually it was a bit spooky.

I had just taken Hannah to the dr that morning with a terrible diaper rash that had just popped up that morning. Unfortunately it accompanied the end of 2 weeks of constipation, so multiple times that day while we drove, Hannah would suddenly turn to me and start screaming as she tried to go to the bathroom. Then her and I would get out in the below freezing temperatures, and run into some cold McDonalds or truck stop bathroom where she screamed while I tried to clean her up. Not a fun trip. Not at all.

The next night she started crying around 10:00 and didn't stop until about 2:30 am when Chris put her in the car and drove her around until she fell asleep. This was the second time that night that we had to drive her around. I had forgotten just how stressful it is to have a baby crying for 4+ hours with almost no breaks in between, and nothing would console her other than a trip in the car. But eventually she went to sleep and we all slept hard that night. (Well, in between waking up and being fed, which happened about 4 more times after 2:30. Sigh.)

She and I slept in, and around 10 or so we emerged and opened presents.

It was great! I love Christmas and was excited that we were able to get together for presents, even if it was a bit late. I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I did at Mom's house, since for the most part we were the only people opening gifts, and I was opening mine, some of Hannah's and helping Jayce wrestle his toys from the boxes. But I was still happy to get a few of the action.

Happy Bather

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

For the past month or so, now that Hannah has been sitting, I have been giving her a bath in her bigger baby tub, where she's not reclining in the infant bath tub. It's so much better for everyone. She's more covered by the water so she's not cold, I don't have to hold onto her the whole time to keep her from trying to roll out of it, etc.

The first month she was pretty passive in there, just sitting sweetly and turning whatever toy I had given her over and over in her hands. But now, she does a bit of dancing.

It's kind of like she thinks that she is in the exersaucer bouncing. She kind of bounces her whole body up and down, which kind of works in a sitting position, while her legs kick under the water and she flails her arms about. I often surrender a washcloth to her to bite while I wash her as well.

Chelsea got a little video of this bath time sass the other day on her phone. I'm so glad she did, I just love video documentation.

Goodbye Lemon Tree Creations

2012-02-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Lemon Tree Creations has been on hiatus for about a month now, so I imagine it's time I write a little bit about it. I can't seem to organize my thoughts on this one, despite a few attempts, so instead I'll turn to my favorite way to document the randoms, a numbered list.

1.) The decision to stop LTC was a mutual one between Tiffany, Patrice and I. We were all sad about it, but it mostly had to do with the changing circumstances in all of our lives, namely our growing families and shrinking time.

I said in my goodbye post that I know that some people can manage their blogs (and lives) seamlessly despite changes in their families and circumstances, but unfortunately, I am not one of those people. I thought that I would be able to manage after a 3 month "maternity leave" with guest posters filling in for me. But this was just one of many ways that Hannah has been different than I had anticipated. Her unpredictability has kept me guessing for months now, including guessing about the amount of sleep that I'll receive on any given night, and how much energy I'll have for anything above the normal the next day. I thought I'd be able to keep it up, but it turns out that, at least for the moment, I can't.

2.) When we started LTC in March of 2010, I was so excited about all of the different projects that I could tackle. Jayce was almost 2, still taking 2 naps a day, and I had enough time to start, complete, photograph and write about new projects each week in addition to anything else we had going on. A month or so later Jayce dropped to 1 nap, which still left me with enough time, and I opened my Etsy shop as well.

After Hannah was born, I shut down my shop for a few months. I thought at first that Etsy was the thing that I was going to stop, but I decided to keep it open. It takes far less time than LTC and I'm glad to (possibly) be able to give it a bit more attention.

3.) Often when people mentioned the blog to me they would make comments along the lines of, "How do you have time to do these things every week?" And I would respond with something like, "Well, I really enjoy it, so I just make time for it."

I think that participating in a creative blog is just like any other Thing You Don't Have Time For, much like exercising regularly, cooking from scratch, reading, volunteering, etc, where you make time for the things that are important to you. It was a good hobby that I really enjoyed. But maybe now I can start exercising again, because we all know that I'm not about to start cooking from scratch.

4.) It's funny to see, when I look back on my old projects, where my head was then. At first all of my posts were about thrifting, refinishing and painting, as I slowly decorated our new home.

But for the past year my projects have (understandably) been about sewing, nurseries and babies. Part of that has to do with the fact that I was pregnant for most of that year, which hindered my ability to paint, saw, and hammer. Sewing and preparing for baby was an obvious and enjoyable transition.

4.) A part of me is really bummed to stop LTC, because I feel like we stopped before we saw where we could go with it and push it to it's full potential. My decision to quit was not because I was feeling burnt out, with no ideas, or that I was juggling my time poorly. The ideas are still there, but the time just is not.

I never stopped to add up the amount of time that I spent on LTC-related blogging activities per week, because I knew it was a lot and kind of didn't want to know. :) And aside from the project itself, the writing, photographing, editing, the extra administrative work took LOTS of that tiny little bit of free time. I decided that, when we stopped LTC, I would be purposeful about using that extra time wisely, and not allow those minutes to be taken up by facebook or some other random thing. So far I've had some success.

5.) The first week that we stopped LTC I cut out and sewed 4 bibs. Then I opened the manual for my sewing machine, learned how to sew on a button with the machine, and put buttons on those bibs. I made these boots, which I've been trying to find the time to make since October.

I also read an entire magazine. I had and went to a play date. I took a nap. I wrote an entire post for this blog in one sitting since I didn't have to divide my time and effort between two. I listed a new item on Etsy and then had a sale. I read a parenting book. On Sunday night, instead of writing my post like I had been these last few months, I called a friend and caught up.

For the past month I have been on a sewing frenzy. The extra time that I'm not spending photographing each step and writing about it later has led to more time for the projects themselves. I've sewed 4 bibs, 3 appliques, 2 Valentine banners, 2 sets of leggies, and a pair of boots. I made Valentines Day outfits and then I made more.

6.) I'm still figuring out how I want to spend this "extra" time when I have it, because I know that the minutes could easily be wasted online. I just made one of these, which I pinned months ago, to help me keep my thoughts in order, and motivate me to still try to accomplish (at least) one thing each week in addition to the daily grind. I just love those bright post-its!

7.) The absence of LTC is fresh enough that I still think, "Now what do I need to be doing this week/today?" all the time. But the very best part about stopping LTC came this week, when my whole house fell sick as they/we tend to do at this time each year. I was stressed, exhausted, and certainly running on empty by Friday. But knowing that the only thing that I needed to do each day, was take care of these two and try to get them healthy, made me feel as light as air. And the only thing that I needed to do when they napped was try to catch a nap myself. And for now, I like that.

Linking to Miscellaneous Mondays.

Sick and Pretend

2012-02-02T13:11:00.001-06:00

On Sunday afternoon we realized that Jayce had been acting a little bit off all day. He was being more clingy, snuggly, whiny, and weepy than normal, and as the day went on he started coughing. By the next morning his cough was horrible. A quick trip to the doctor confirmed what we had suspected, bronchitis.

On Sunday, Jayce just wanted to lay around and watch movies all day long, which is pretty uncharacteristic of him. Even when one of his shows is on, he's typically racing his cars around, running the "Wipeout Course" on the couch, or in the middle of some other game. On Monday he sounded horrible by was acting normal, almost bouncing off of the walls. The doctor told me that he could go to school the next day so long as he didn't have a fever, but on Tuesday his cough seemed even worse, so I kept him home.

Today is Thursday, which is pretty much the 5th day of us being housebound.

Jayce normally plays really well by himself. Even at play dates when the other kids grow bored and emerge to see what the moms are up to, Jayce will often keep playing busily with whatever toys are available to him. But this week we've had to get creative since we'd been exhausting all of the normal activities.

Yesterday we played, Jayce Has A Birthday Party. (Do anyone else's kids name their activities? It's almost like in his mind these are episodes of the Jayce television show. Most of his pretending has a title to it, which he will announce at the beginning. "Mom, me and dad are going to play Basketball Players/Push Jayce on the Bed/Dark Rescue/etc (Dark Rescue is firemen who use flashlights to rescue people who have fallen in the dark. Yes, there are special Firemen for this very specific task.) Anyway, today's episode was Jayce Has A Birthday Party.

I pulled out some scraps of Christmas paper, and we wrapped a whole basket of Jayce's toys. Luckily, they were almost all tiny toys so it was no big deal to wrap them all, and about halfway through Jayce was really getting the hang of wrapping them. He could wrap several toys using only 1 piece of tape, which I appreciated. I cut some extra long strips of paper and let him cut them into smaller pieces with his scissors.

Then we headed to the kitchen to cook some bean soup for the party.

I love activities like this. Jayce played with these beans, bowls and measuring cups for about 40 minutes the day before. He cooked them, mixed them, poured them, served them up and then started over.

I love stuff like this because it doesn't make much of a mess, but even if a few beans go astray, it's nothing that I can fix with a broom and 15 seconds of my time. I used to let him do this with Rice Krispies because it was what I had on hand, but I wouldn't recommend it. It seemed like I could never get them all, and Chris and I stepped on a Rice Krispies for days, which is super annoying as you might imagine. Another time a gallon of water in the pantry had leaked all over the floor, which I didn't realize until I was cleaning up soggy Rice Krispies. Not as easy to clean up as beans.

After the bean soup was made and served, we went back for the birthday party.

Jayce opened all of the presents. Since there were so many, had forgotten what several of them were and was genuinely excited to open them. He'd say, "Mom this is my favorite one!" or "Mom I liked this one for a long time!" At one point he looked at me and declared, "Mom, we're having a great time!" So cute.

Hannah even got in on the birthday party, since she woke up from her nap right before Jayce opened his presents. Actually, she got in on paper ripping, waving and chewing, which was exactly what she wanted.

Then Jayce and I each sat on one side of the ripped paper pile and let his car drive through it over and over. Obviously, this was really cool.

This all went on for an hour. As we were growing bored with racing the car through the paper, I glanced at the clock and noticed that Jayce's favorite TV show was about to start. I informed him of this right after he said, "Mom, let's wrap all of these toys again!" I'm all for keeping busy, but I'm no saint.

I fixed myself some coffee, played with Hannah and the paper scraps, and had two very tired kiddos by nap time. A successful morning by my standards.

Stages of a Kiss

2012-01-30T08:00:00.002-06:00

How many steps are there when you give or receive a kiss in your house?

There used to be 2 steps in our house, a kiss, and then patting it in. This started because Jayce would periodically receive a kiss, and then wipe it off, giggling, knowing that this would entice us to come back and give him more kisses. We started patting them in, so that they would stick, and not be able to be wiped off. We've done this for months.

But in the past month, Jayce has added several steps. I hope I can remember them all.

1.) Kiss.

2.) Pat it in. (Not pictured.)

3.) Put some love in it. (Kiss the finger tips, then push the love in.)

4.) Zoom. (Put your palm over the kiss that has love patted in, and turn counter-clockwise, while saying "zoom".)

5.) Hammer it in. (Hammer over the kiss with your fist. Say, "Hammer hammer hammer.")

6.) Cut. (Slide the side of your hand down across the kiss, like a saw that is cutting in only one direction. Say, "Cut.")

(We don't get it either. We think at this stage that he's just mentally going through his toolbox.)

7.) Boom. (Gently tap over the kiss, as a final attempt to seal it all in.)

I couldn't make this kind of stuff up. 7 steps to a kiss, and I often get in trouble for getting them in the wrong order.

Also, yes, Valentines Day shirts. I made them 2 weeks ago and I love them. :)

Linking to Miscellaneous Monday and Life Made Lovely.

Seven Months and Sitting

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Seven sweet months, my dear.

Sweetie, you still aren't sleeping. I remember at 3 months when I was like, "You are still waking once a night for a night time feeding, we've got to get you sleeping through the night!"

Once a night!! (Insert me laughing, deliriously.)

Since October, you are usually up 3 or more times a night. First it was teething, then a road trip "that messed up your schedule"-or so we tell ourselves, then a sinus infection, then teething, then another trip, then another infection, then teething, then a horrid diaper rash, then a sinus infection, etc, etc. In between these things, I know that you have forgotten how to get yourself back to sleep in the middle of the night, and have come to rely on us to help you. We are trying to break you of it. But despite my typical toughness, I just can't make you cry yourself to sleep in the middle of the night. Your brother just kind of figured it out, and I'm still really hoping you will too.

However your naps have improved. We've stretched them to two 1 1/2 hours (or more) naps, plus a little cat nap in the early evening. I'm so proud of you, and of me, for whatever hand in it I might have played. Which very well might have been been no hand at all.

I also have found a little system that allows me to put you and your brother down for your afternoon naps at the same time, and that I do have a hand in. It allows your mama to be a little more sane in the afternoon which is good for everyone.

The big news for 7 months is sitting. You started sitting pretty well the week of Christmas, and by the end of the week you had it, no tipping at all! You look like such a big girl sitting up, even though you have such a tiny little body. It is adorable.

You had your first road trip to Akron and your first Christmas Eve party, which was a success. You were pretty overwhelmed, but still the sweetest little thing, and I think eventually everyone in the room held you.

We set up a little meet and greet for you and your cousins Timmy and Tyler. Timmy and Jayce are about 5 weeks apart in age, and you and Tyler are about 6 weeks apart. (Right Sarah? Roughly.)

We did our best to get you all looking in the same direction, but you babies just kept looking at each other, and periodically grabbing hands and trying to touch each other's faces.

Your dad tried to make everyone smile, but it made you cry. Come on, dad.

But your older brothers played well together. Including playing Angry Birds side by side.

(This picture makes me laugh. A lot.)

You got your first tooth the day after you turned 7 months old. This is 3 months sooner than your brother's first tooth.

You are still chewing on everything but oddly don't really drool, which is one of the only ways that you and your brother have been alike. I pulled out Jayce's old bibs last month, including the drool bibs, and I laughed because they have mostly never been used. I like this trait. It doesn't matter, but I like it none the less.

You still have absolutely no interest in baby food, or formula, whatsoever. You will eat bananas or strawberry yogurt, but everything else is pure baby torture. I mix a little formula with each of these because I'm trying to get you used to the taste of it. I've tried to mix rice cereal with these foods, but I have to keep the ratio of bananas to cereal just right or you will punish me. Half bananas and half cereal (or more) in one spoonful means complete shutdown of mealtime-you won't open your mouth for anything after that point. Stinker!! Also, you easily drank water from your sippy cup, but ever since I put some pear juice in it that one time, and formula that other time, you have been refusing it.

I think to myself, "It's been a few weeks, I should give this another try."

And you say, "What are you thinking? I thought I'd been pretty clear about this. I'll have to teach you a lesson."

So we're still mostly just nursing around here, and that is okay, and it doesn't mean I'm a bad mom. I'm just throwing that last part out there.

I remind myself that you will eventually "get it." I don't know of any 6 year olds who are still exclusively nursing.

Really, it just bothers me because it makes me question myself, one of the hardest parts about parenting. Is it because of something I did or didn't do? What should I have done differently/do differently now? And it is a bit wasteful. Wasteful of (not cheap) baby food and formula. Wasteful of clean cheeks, clothes, bibs and baby dishes. Wasteful (sometimes) of my patience and time. But still, it's okay. We will get there my dear, we will get there.

In the meantime your happy disposition is one of the highlights of my day. You have started "buh buh buh"-ing, and I love it! Particularly when you just burst out with it, it just sounds so funny!

On most days, you wake up from your nap a bit earlier than Jayce and we have some time to play alone together, which I love.

You currently make this "cccccckkkkk" sound in the back of your throat, which obviously entices us to do the same, and it always results in huge smiles from you and lots of excited arm waving, feet kicking, and bouncing in place. We love it. We love you. Happy 7 months.

Christmas Evening

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

After our leisurely morning of opening gifts, we showered and headed to John and Michelle's for dinner.

The food was delicious. Afterwards, everyone traded off playing "big game hunt" or something like that. Basically a deer hunting game for the Wii. Mom was also playing a card game with Chloe at the time, hence the Mickey ears.

Chelsea and I took an obligatory arms length shot, reviewed it, both declared, "Eww," but kept it anyway.

We got home, gave Hannah a bath and headed to bed. Why is opening presents and visiting so tiring? Oh yeah, because Jayce never took a nap that week or that day. Oh well, it's only Christmas one day (ish) a year.

Christmas Morning Catch Up

2012-01-24T13:20:00.001-06:00

I do realize that it has been nearly a month since Christmas. But we have had a surge of craziness around here. Sick kids, sick husband, second Christmas, traveling out of town, traveling out of country, Chelsea coming in town, birthdays and overall busyness. As of this week, life will settle back down for a little bit and I'll be catching up on here.

I know I say that a lot, but really, I will.

These photos are from our Christmas morning at mom's house, and don't really require a lot of narration because they pretty much speak for themselves. We had a wonderful lazy morning of unwrapping gifts, which probably took about 2 hours since our little elf wanted to deliver and assist in unwrapping most of the gifts. So we stopped periodically to refill our coffee, throw away paper, I stopped to feed Hannah, and we enjoyed opening gifts with no rush. Since Chelsea had Hannah, I got to take pictures at my leisure as well.

On Jayce: Adnoids, Boots and Canariums

2012-01-17T10:08:00.001-06:00

A Jayce update is long overdue. I'm continuing to play catch up with the old blog, thinking that someday I will get there! This is still my plan. In the meantime, here is a bit of Jayce.

A few weeks before Christmas, he had his adenoids removed. I had to stay home with Hannah, so Chris got this (sad) picture of him before he went back. This was apparently after he had taken his "silly juice," the pre-gas, pre-iv medicine that made him loopy and silly. The surgery went well and luckily was pretty easy on him. It seems to be huge a success since it's been a month now and he hasn't been sick yet! I'm hopeful that we won't have a replay of the constant sickness of last spring.

We were surprised and relieved that he never seemed to be in pain after the surgery. We kept him on the tylenol with codeine the day of and the day after the surgery, then switched to tylenol for a day, then nothing since he never complained of being in pain. He was home from the surgery by mid-day, and a few hours after started asking for food, then more food, and was playing by the end of the night, reading with Chris under a tent that they made over Hannah's play gym.

Actually the next morning he was racing all over the place with his toys, playing busily at 7:00 or so in the morning, which was a real shock since he's normally not a morning person at all. They had told us to let him rest or play as much as he wanted, to let him be the judge of what he was up to. But he was so uncharacteristically busy that I asked the nurse about it when she called that day to check on him. Apparently the tylenol with codeine can be a bit of an "upper" for some kids and make them hyper, as opposed to other kids who it can make sleepy and sluggish. Jayce was one of the hyper ones. You would never have known that he'd had surgery, he just kind of went on as normal after that first day.

And other than that, it has been life as usual for our little fireman.

Some of our favorite "Jayce things" right now are:

1.) His instant replays.

When he is playing basketball/soccer/baseball/wrestling with Chris, if he falls down he'll stop and declare, "Let's have another look at that!" or "Let's have a look at what just happened." Then re-does his fall in slow motion. Also, if I am watching him play something he will instruct me to periodically say, "Whoa, look at him go!" as he runs, kicks, shoots, or dances.

2.) His adult-like ways of conveying his thoughts.

I used to always list out the funny things that he was saying that weren't quite right, but now the things that make us laugh the most are his rather grown up little quips. For example.

When Chris got home from a run the other day, Jayce walked over and said. "That's a cool watch ya got there, Dad."

It all sounds so funny with that squeaky little 3 year old voice.

3.) He is opinionated.

Mom, did you make those boots for Hannah? They're pretty! You should make some with sparkly things and glitter. That would be pretty too. And then he walked off.

4.) His tangents.

Jayce will often start into long stories, where the words and sentences all kind of run together, and refuses to repeat himself if we miss a part of it, which we often do. The other night before bed he started telling me something about Fireman Sam, and I was waiting for him to pause for a breath so that I could try to figure out what he was talking about. Suddenly I realized that he was telling me about one of the Fireman Sam movies, which has 5 episodes, and was telling me about each episode in order. "And in number 3, Fireman Saves the Day, there's the dog and gets his head stuck, and Sam gets the water, and gets the hose, and he runs to him, and then they go to the place, and the lady gets a cake for him..." On and on he goes.

I always try to listen extra hard when he starts into one of these tangents, especially if I know what he's talking about, because I love hearing which details stand out in his mind as the most important parts of the story.

5.) His canarium.

Otherwise known as an aquarium. Grandma got him this for Christmas, and though I cringed at first at the thought of having to take care of fish, I quickly realized that it is just a fake aquarium nightlight thing. Jayce loves it and will just sit and stare at it. He calls it his canarium. Chris and I have talked about it, and decided that we will never correct him. We just might call it the canarium as well, so that he never changes the way he pronounces it. Not really, but it's so tempting.

Christmas Eve: Hanging Out

2012-01-13T11:15:00.001-06:00

Towards the end of the Christmas party I decided to take Hannah upstairs to chill out for a bit. It was getting really warm downstairs with the dancing and then tearing into Christmas presents, and Hannah was being passed from person to person, and was getting pretty warm. I had already taken off her tights and shoes, so I took her upstairs, took her sweater off and let her enjoy some time with some of her favorite things, her toes.

This also gave me a chance to get a few pictures of my little sweetie in her Christmas dress, though this first picture looks unsettlingly like a Sears Portrait picture, with her in front of a tree backdrop, don't you think?

But then a dog and some furniture entered the picture, which alleviated the Sears-ness of the series.

The red head in the photos below is Chelsea, if you don't recognize her with her new do. She instructed me, "Take pictures of me and Hannah, so I can use them for my screensaver." So I did.

She then took charge of the camera, attempting to get a decent shot of Hannah and I.

As we sat upstairs chilling out, the party downstairs started to break up and more people joined us in the living room, where we all sat and chatted for a while.

Jayce hugged his cousins good bye,

and then moved in to shoot uncle Justin Matrix-style. I'm not really sure why.

Then he started going a little bit crazy, since he hadn't had a nap, had tons of excitement, and was a few hours past his normal bedtime. So we let him partake in one of his favorite "keep him in one place" activities-play Angry Birds on someone's phone. This time it was Aunt Chelsea's phone.

We headed out just after 10 to attempt some rest in preparation for the next morning's present extravaganza. We managed a little bit at least.

Christmas Eve Party

2012-01-11T14:09:00.001-06:00

I was delighted to be able to make it to the Christmas Eve party this year. It's been 2 years and it's always so fun.

Chris likes to say that it's like the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It's not, but I like that comparison. Though on this night, it looks a little bit like that.

The collection of uncles usually do something ridiculous to the "new guys," fiances, new boyfriends, new husbands, etc. (I can't remember what Chris had to do, but it wasn't too bad.) This year, they made the guys participate in a polka dance-off. There were 2 new guys (and 1 non-new guy) who were paired up with a few of the aunts, and the aunts had to teach the new guys how to polka, which is basically just a skip around the room. After a little performance for the crowd, they were judged by a panel of a few of the senior family members So You Think You Can Dance-style, and the winning pair won a free polka cd so that they could practice at home. They made the aunts wear these little old lady costumes as well. :)

(I feel like I should say that this is all lighthearted and in really good fun. There is kind of a "what are they up to this year" sort of mentality to it, but they're very mild. It sounds a little crazy as I'm typing it up, and I promise it's not. Or at least not that crazy.)

This was the first year that Chelsea's boyfriend attended, so he and mom had to polka together. They did a pretty good job.

The older kids sat on the stairs to watch the action.

I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I wanted to, or of everyone at the party because I kept having to duck out with Hannah, who was overwhelmed to say the least. We had just come from a Christmas Eve service at church where we were swarmed with people who wanted to see us and her, and the same thing happened at the party. It was just a lot more commotion and excitement than she is used to and she kept bursting into tears. Poor little thing.

Jayce, however, had no problems. He found his cousins, and though they hadn't seen each other in over a year, he jumped right in to playing with them and their stuff. Despite how much he doesn't like Santa, when posed with the option of sitting on his lap or not getting his present, he went over and hugged Santa. The boy has his priorities.

Hannah was pretty mellow with Santa. She checked him out and was fine with him. It was a better response than she had given a few of her uncles.

The party went too quickly, each of us going up to get our presents, pose for photos, open presents, pose in groups, etc. It was a busy night with a lot of visiting, noise, and holiday cheer crammed into just a few hours.

Overall it was a great Christmas Eve, as always.

Favorite

2012-01-10T13:22:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted anything on I Heart Faces for a while, but I saw that their theme for the week is the best face photo, and this one immediately popped into my mind.

This was our first day home with Hannah from the hospital, she was three days old.

This was not a staged picture. I was sitting in the glider, bawling because Hannah wouldn't wake up to eat despite all of my best efforts, so I had called Chris in to try to wake her up. He brought her over by the window hoping that the brightness might bring her out of her snooze, but no such luck. Despite my tears I couldn't get over how beautiful the soft light was and the expression on his face. I grabbed my camera, took only a few pictures, and was in love with this one.

It looks like someone else was in love too.

Christmas Time, Not Christmas Day

2012-01-09T15:09:00.001-06:00

This title is in reference to a conversation that Chris had with Jayce over the holiday season, trying to explain to him that, though it was Christmas time, he couldn't open gifts yet because it wasn't Christmas day. It was really amusing.

We travelled to Akron this year for Christmas, so we celebrated our little family Christmas the week before.

We opted to open gifts post-naptime on a Saturday. This was not ideal, I'm a first-thing-in-the-morning type of gal, even on mock Christmas days. But the boys had a few last minute things to pick up, so I opted for first-thing-when-you-wake-up-from-your-nap thing.

All of our presents were wrapped under the tree when Jayce woke up, and labeled with the first letter of our names (with M for Mom and D for Dad in lieu of our names),so that Jayce could be the elf and pass out gifts. Almost as much fun as opening them himself.

It was great. But, when isn't Christmas great? Jayce is at such a fun age now, he gets so excited about everything.

At one point after we had finished with gifts Chris asked Jayce what his favorite present was, and he surveyed the ottoman where he was playing and said, "Mmm my fireman...mmm my ipad...my Thomas coloring book," and then went back to coloring. Really, his coloring book was his favorite thing?

Regarding what he calls "his ipad," we did get him an Innotab, which he loves. I was really torn about this, thinking that it is ridiculous to get my 3 year old something that is a kids equivalent to an ipad (kind of), and also recognizing that it is undeniably useful to have. Particularly on 9 hour car drives to Akron. But I was adamant that we get something that is predominantly educational and that he can grow in to and this fit the bill. He loves it.

Hannah was a tired little sweetie for our Christmas. She had been awake for a staggering 4 hours for some reason, but I didn't want to put her to bed when we were opening gifts so I did immediately after.

She was so sleepy that she kept starting to chew on her duck but ended up just laying her head down to quietly snuggle it. It was precious.

We got her a soft little baby doll and her own plush angry bird. Now she could chew on it's beak and Jayce had nothing to say about it.

Chris and I didn't really open gifts, since mine was my camera, which I received in October, and his was shipped to Akron so that we wouldn't miss it. We both had a few small things though, Chris got books from the kids for them to read together, like he gets for every holiday. I got some yummy gourmet treats, with lots of chocolate involved.

We kind of look like we just woke up in these pictures though. Me with my air-dried hair and Chris with his rebellious beard. (Rebelling against me asking him to shave it, that is.)

We topped off the day with our annual trip to Peoria for the Festival of Lights, dinner out, and Christmas-y drinks for the ride home. We didn't end up seeing the lights even though we waited for an incredibly long time to do so. The line was just too long and barely moving, and eventually even Jayce wanted to go home instead of wait any longer. But still, the effort was there. And it was nothing that a little Angry Birds on the car ride home could't cure.

It was a very good mock Christmas.

Preschool Christmas Program

2012-01-07T19:39:00.003-06:00

Jayce had his preschool Christmas program just before we left town for Akron.

It was pretty standard as far as 3 and 4 year old programs go. Only 4 songs, (or was it 5?) It was over in 15 minutes.

Jayce was in the front row, third from the right. He stood next to his two best buddies in his class, Beren and Eli. We kept laughing at these three, they looked very ornery together.

The kids were all a little shy and unsure looking when they first came out. It was in the gym at their school, and the whole school (K-8) came in for the performance, in addition to the parents and family members, so I'm sure they were a little intimidated. Luckily we were all in the front row, so Jayce saw us, gave a little wave, and yelled "Hi Mom!!"

They did a great job. I love when little kids sing and it sounds more like they're all just shouting together, not singing. It cracks me up.

Jayce wouldn't tell us much about the program ahead of time, or sing us the songs, but periodically while he was playing he would start singing "up on the rooftop reindeer pause..." so I figured that would make it into the mix. It did.

Luckily the program was filled with plenty of dancing and motions, which was what I was hoping for.

I got some video with Chris' phone of the performance when I wasn't scooting around the gym trying to get a better angle for my pictures, much to Chris' embarrassment. The video is dreadful, but it's a little clip of the performance. Enjoy.

2011 Highlights

2012-01-03T14:18:00.004-06:00

Now that we have addressed the things I'll be doing in the new year, I think a 2011 year in review is in order as well.

Here are a few of my highlights, in chronological(ish) order.

1.) The Potty Training Miracle.

A year ago I dove headfirst into a fabulous potty training plan. A week later I retreated, broken in defeat. 5 months later, in the midst of bed rest craziness, Jayce decided to train himself, and did just that. Then he backslid, (except for #2, which thankfully is still in the potty every time). Almost a year later, we are back and forth on a weekly basis, some "dry all day" days, and some "didn't even try" days.

But this has been a good exercise for us in just letting some things go. We can't control everything, we can't make him do it right, despite trying seemingly everything. We've gone from the days and weeks of being stressed and concerned about it, to just being patient and remembering that at some point it will click and he'll get it. But I'm still grateful for that miraculous week where Jayce decided he was done with diapers, and that he kept that up for the first few months of Hannah's life.

2.) It's a Girl.

I had been convinced that Hannah was going to be a boy and was so excited about it. I love my little boy and wanted another. But finding out that it was a girl brought a fresh excitement to a pregnancy that thus far had been difficult for me. I started dreaming about her, bonding with her in a way I hadn't before, thinking about her nursery, and smiling about shopping on the other side of the kids department.

3.)The Allergist.

Poor Jayce was so sick for months and those weeks were absolutely horrible. It is such a helpless feeling to leave the doctor's office a few times a week, armed with new medications that "hopefully" will work, only to watch him start to get better for a day or so, then quickly go back in the other direction. It turned out that he didn't have allergies, but the course of medications that the doctor put him on (an inhaler and a nose spray) helped him to get better and stay better. I've never been so relieved.

4.) Bed rest.

Bed rest seems like a nice peaceful relaxing thing, but it's not. It leaves you feeling very helpless, and if you like to do things yourself, constantly having to rely on others is stressful.

That said, I was so relieved when the doctor told me that I needed to be on bed rest, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to make myself take it easy. I tried, but caring all day for a 3 year old demands a certain amount of energy, in addition to the fact that I rarely choose to rest over choosing to accomplish something. (I still can't just sit down with a book or watch tv when the kids sleep.) Pregnancy also has that strange way of masking how you feel until it's too late. As in, I didn't have a sense when I was doing something that I was pushing myself too hard, until later on when I was feeling horrible and it took a few days to recover. I'm so glad that the rest allowed me to avoid any premature labor or major complications with my pregnancy.

5.) Coming Home.

My week in the hospital at 35 weeks was so hard. I hated being away from Jayce, I hated having to leave him with a sitter for Chris to stay overnight with me, I hated constantly being woken up by the nurses in addition to my bladder, I hated the bed/food/tv, etc. I was glad that it allowed the doctor to keep an eye on Hannah and make sure that she was okay, but I watched the clock constantly, waiting for the doctor to come around and hopefully tell me that I'd be able to go home that day.

The day I came home was bliss. The house was trashed and I didn't care. Jayce sat and watched cartoons and I sat and stared at him with a silly grin on my face. I napped on my own couch and slept at night in my own bed, next to my husband, with my boy upstairs in his room. Happiness.

6.) Etsy.

I started Etsy in May of 2010 thinking I just wanted to try it out. I could only handle a certain amount of extra work, since I was home with Jayce, pregnant, and Lemon Tree demanded so much time each week. But in the back of my mind I thought it would be cool to sell something every week.

I was pretty close to my goal when I got put on bed rest. I got an order and it required a bit of extra fuss on Chris who was already doing everything for all of us, so I offered to close it until after Hannah was born. He told me not to worry and to keep it open. I got a few requests for custom items, (one of them rather large that would have been good for me financially,) but I turned them down because I didn't want any extra things to do while on bed rest. I told myself that if I didn't make it, I could say "Well, I would have had enough sales, but I turned several down..."

But by my 1 year Etsy anniversary, I had 53 sales. 53 sales in 52 weeks.

I also had items from my shop on the front page 5 times, and was in the Storque Spotlight. This may not have been a lot for some people, but for me, I was thrilled.

7.) Sweet Hannah Arrives.

There is nothing like giving birth, nothing like those first few days of getting to know your tiny baby, nothing l like skin to skin naps, nothing like those tiny fragile yawns, nothing like making your "only" a brother. There is nothing like my sweet girl.

8.) Florida.

After a year with a lot of stress, a lot of worry, a lot of stress, a lot of sickness, a lot of stress, and 9 months of not leaving town, I couldn't have needed Florida more.

The first day we were there Jayce and I headed over to the beach to make sandcastles. It was perfect: warm, not hot, with a gentle breeze, white sand, warm water, not crowded. We parked ourselves on the edge of the water and started digging, both quietly working at our task. I looked down at one point and realized that I was just grabbing sand and letting it run through my fingers, and with every fistful of sand I could feel my stress slowly draining away. We're all ok. Jayce is healthy. My pregnancy was safe. Hannah is healthy and growing. Chris is okay. I'm not on bed rest. Hannah doesn't have colic. I breathed in the salty air and relaxed into a vacation that I have never needed more.

9.) Chris Excels.

We found out in one month that Chris had won 2 different research awards. Then in the fall, within 2 weeks of one another, 2 of his books were released. This is all before he is 32, and in addition to his work, since he is not a writer but a professor. His textbook has been aggressively promoted by the publisher and he periodically updates me on how it is selling on Amazon. Proud isn't a strong enough word.

10.) Christmas in Akron.

We travelled to Akron for Christmas, and though it was a long drive, and sometimes a stressful trip, I just loved it. We got to take part in our extended family Christmas Eve party, a tradition that has been running for decades. There is nothing like bringing your children into a tradition that you were a part of as a child, and that your mom was a part of as a child. I haven't seen most of those people in 2 years, and I loved introducing them to Hannah, watching Jayce play with his cousins, watching mom proudly tote Hannah around, watching Chris laugh at the new "hazing" that the uncles were putting the new boyfriends or fiances through. It was perfect.

Linking to E Tells Tales, Capturing Motherhood, What I Like Wednesdays, & the Wiegands.

New Year Miscellany

2012-01-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year!!

I love the start of January. I love the clean slate nature of it, it almost seems like a fresh To-Do list. Not in a bad way, like "these are the things you need to do and are bogging you down," but like "here is a fresh start for whatever you want." Fun, right? Here are a few miscellaneous "new year" things that are on my mind right now.

1.) Jayce received this fun marble racing game for Christmas, a toy that he has been thanking God for long before he owned it. (Seriously, each night when we ask if there is anything he'd like to thank God for he says "the marble racing game at Lauren's house." ) I know that these next few months the play dates and errand running will slow down drastically as he and his friends all fight off cold season, so it is a goal of mine to set up a fun and interactive playing area to use instead, and this will be a part of it.

2.) I have monthly pictures of Hannah that I haven't really showed off because I need to finish editing them. Some months are done and some aren't. It is my goal to have them all finished before her first birthday, so I have 6 months to catch up and stay caught up, since I obviously add new ones each month.

3.) As of this week, Lemon Tree Creations is on a bit of a break. I'm not sure how long of a break at this point, or if we will resume it at all in the same form. I announced it to our readers this morning on this post. I can't lie, I'm sad about it. But it was time. I'll have to go more into that in another post. :)

4.) Little Hannah is still resisting solid foods in every form, in addition to bottles and formula. Sigh. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

I had forgotten how quickly you go through bibs once you begin attempting baby food a few times per day, so I took a cue from Tiffany and decided to make up a few bibs for Hannah. Tiffany was right, they are totally addictive!! I grabbed a piece of fabric that I love, a white towel that I never use and a bib for a template, and 10 minutes later I had the cutest bib I've ever seen. So I made another, and another and cut material for another. I'm thinking that these will cheer me up just a little as Hannah continues to buck away from and spit out any food that makes its way into her mouth.

5.) I have been going through my pictures from Christmas and have been surprised by how poor of a job I did of getting those "the picture" moments. You know, Grandma with both grandkids, all of the siblings together, pictures of myself in any form, etc. However, there is no way that I was missing a picture of Hannah taking a bath in the sink! What is it that is so darn cute about a naked baby splashing in the sink?! I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm loving it.

I'm linking to Miscellaneous Monday and Life Made Lovely.

Morning

2011-12-29T12:49:00.001-06:00

This is what our mornings looked like pretty much every day of December before we left town.

Kids in pjs.

My fireman in his fireman pjs, playing with his firemen, watching Fireman Sam.

My little "swimmer" up on her belly, grabbing at toys, chewing on toys, yelling at toys, rolling onto toys. Staying still long enough for me to take her picture.

Then there is nap time. But first, there is pre-nap time reading. Jayce and I in the chair, and Hannah listens from a blanket on the floor.

But the other morning, Jayce decided that he wanted to read to Hannah. He grabbed his book, laid down on the floor, and started pointing out the pictures to her and telling her the story.

I snuck out and tried to be as invisible as possible. But how sweet is this? Playing together is just around the corner.

Baby's First Christmas Comparing

2011-12-19T21:07:00.002-06:00

I was so pleased when I washed Jayce's Baby's First Christmas onesie and discovered that it will fit Hannah. He was 7 months old and she is only 6, but it works just fine for a little Christmas photo comparing.

These pictures make me laugh. This was the last straw with our old camera, when my harassing Chris for a new camera reached new heights. The pictures with the flash were dreadful (below), and without the flash were super blurry (above). I remember thinking how much I would have loved the above picture of Jayce if only it were clear. Sigh.

Aside from that, I just love my two little Santa babies, with their round eyes and chubby cheeks. Jayce was almost sitting at this point, which is why he is surrounded by pillows. Hannah isn't so steady yet, which is why she is in the Bumbo seat.

I had to laugh when I looked through my pictures and discovered that both children gave me a flailing arms, punking me out picture. But I guess it is the age for that.

I also can't help but look around the rest of the room at what is different. When we took Jayce's picture, we had only been living here for four months. So other than the tree, Santa hat and baby onesie, everything else is different. New coffee table, tv, tv stand, curtains, wall color, even the tree skirt is different. And those two babies couldn't be more different.

So different but both so sweet.

Six Months of Sass

2011-12-15T10:20:00.001-06:00

Hannah, you're 6 months old, and are you ever your own little person.

You are SUCH a daddy's girl. You have a special way that you act when he is around: You give him a sly little smile, stick your tongue out a little, make soft little cooing sounds, and then flip your head (and body) around so that he has to come around on the other side of me to see you, and then you do it all over again. It's like you're saying, "Now come over here and get me Dad!" It's your own form of hide-and-seek just for him.

You have gotten very strong, and easily flip yourself over and over on the floor. You also flip yourself onto your stomach in your crib and fall asleep that way. It stresses me out. We spent a day going in and flipping you back over, until one time you fell fast asleep that way, so now I just leave you be.

You use that same method, when I'm holding you, to turn your whole upper body from one direction to the other and often clobber me in the process. Seriously, the other day you punched me right in the nose and I was surprised that my eyes filled with tears. The week before you flipped from one direction to the other and in the process flipped my glasses about 5 feet away from me without even touching my face.

It was a little bit like in Anchorman, when Ron Burgandy is talking to his dog. You ate a whole wheel of cheese? Heck, I'm not even mad. I'm impressed.

I was like, "Han-nah!...Wow, you didn't even touch my face, just threw my glasses all the way over there..."

You are still "hugging" me, and Ooooooh, I love it! I know that it's just because you want to chew on something, or you're hungry, but you when you wrap your arms around my neck and pull me towards you it feels like a tiny little hug!

You've had your first antibiotic for a respiratory infection, and the 10 day course of treatment handled it gradually, so your "schedule" is way off now. But let's be honest, you've never really taken to the schedule.

I looked at your 2 month post, where you were sleeping 6 to 7 hours at night and thought, I want that! For the past 6 weeks or so you've been waking up multiple times a night. At first it was teething, then it was this infection. I get it, you're uncomfortable, it was hard to eat when you were so congested so you ate less and more frequently. But 3-6-8 times per night is really wearing on me!! You've downgraded to 40 minute naps as well. Now that you're finally off of them I think a call to Jan is in order to get this all back on track.

You had your first visit with Santa. It was relatively uneventful although Jayce wanted nothing to do with him!

Your stranger anxiety has kicked in, but last week you had a successful stay in the nursery and stayed the whole time. Chris just had to go in there with you a minute until you smiled at everyone and then was able to sneak away. This was so helpful since I was teaching in the classroom next door and was sure that I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if I could hear you crying. Luckily it's the 5 year old class, so I'm sure I could have easily found a way for them to make enough noise to drown you out, but luckily I didn't have to resort to that.

Your activity of choice now is on your belly, swimming. No pushing up onto those knees yet, and I'm so glad. I might have to come over and knock you off of them if you did. (Not really, but please don't start crawling yet.)

You are now in the bouncy seat and exersaucer every day, in addition to your blanket time. You're far too busy of a roller for the play gym. I was sad to see it go.

I waited to start you on solids until closer to 6 months, and you HATE them. Really, it's ridiculous. After 5 days of the most watered down possible rice cereal, you still cry, buck, turn your head, spit it out, and fling your body around in every direction in your Bumbo seat to try to escape. I'm going to give it a little break and then resume again in a few weeks. You have not won the battle, I'm simply waiting for my next attack.

You had your well visit and I was surprised to discover that despite everyone telling me how big you are, that you're actually small.

Height, 26 inches, 55th percentile. Weight, 15 lbs 6 oz, 38th percentile. The doctor said he isn't worried about the weight, if you had eaten right before you came to the appointment you would be in the 40th, so it was fine. But I worry!

It appears that you think you are the boss of us around here. You eat what you want, sleep when you want, wake when you want. But you do it all with the sweetest and happiest disposition of any baby that I've ever seen.

You, my dear, are a sweet little handful. Happy 6 months.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-14T15:41:00.001-06:00

Yes, I realize how close it is to Christmas at this point, but our week after Thanksgiving had 3 doctor's visits, 2 kids with 2 infections and 1 pre-op appointment, in addition to the whole "no car and no purse" thing. It was a crazy 7 days, and we felt like we lost a week out of our lives, but everything else piled up in the meantime: work, laundry, clutter, pictures, etc. But now that things are normal I can catch up a bit. :)

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Louisville this year, and were so glad to get to see everyone all together for a little bit. Obviously it was Hannah's first Thanksgiving and there was a fair amount of snuggling and rocking for this little lady.

We made a valiant attempt to get a picture of the grandkids with the grandparents, and it just wasn't happening. It's a good thing that the "attempt" pictures are fun too, but I think it will be several years before we have a picture where all the kids are looking in the same direction and no one is trying to escape.

It was a busy few days, full of playing, eating and napping. Chris and I even managed to nap while Jayce and Hannah did, and it was fabulous.

We took the kids over to see JC & Louise as well, Jayce played happily and Hannah snuggled whomever was holding her. Which is about the best compliment you can get from a 6 month old.

We had a great time, but it so busy and chaotic that I barely had my camera out and these are my only pictures from the weekend.

Sounds like a good reason for another trip. Soon. :)

Grandma

2011-12-13T09:58:00.001-06:00

See you soon, Grandma!

Things Christmas, Kids, and Otherwise

2011-12-09T07:00:00.002-06:00

1.) I have been dying to make Jayce an Advent Calendar and have been pinning ideas for one since October. I started it a few weeks ago and finally finished it on November 30, nothing like the last minute, right? I sewed little goodies or activities inside, and each day he opens one and we talk about it a little bit. Ever since I finished it I've seen a million other ideas that I would have liked to have done instead. I think we might have a house full of Advent Calendars next year.

2.) Jayce had his adenoids removed yesterday. It was sad, but he is okay, and we all are at the moment. More on that later.

I wanted to do something special the day before his surgery, so I rigged his Advent Calendar so that he opened the "make ornaments" activity that day. He loves to help me make sugar cookies, and this was a good way to get in all of the stuff he likes to do (ingredient adding, mixing, dough rolling, cookie cutter cutting,) on a MUCH smaller scale. We used this recipe, but instead of using 2 bottles of cinnamon we used 1, and I filled it back up with flour to sprinkle on the "dough" and keep it from sticking to everything. They smell amazing. There are only 10, still sitting in the kitchen, but the whole house smells lightly like cinnamon.

3.) I love the little sewn stars on Jayce's Advent Calendar, but a part of me is sad every time that Jayce rips one open, even though that is the point. So I made something similar for myself that wouldn't be completely destroyed by December 25th. And I made some for a friend. And I made some more and put them in my Etsy shop. Sewing pretty little stars is becoming an addiction.

4.) Hannah got this insanely adorable hat last week, courtesy of the super talented Amanda at OED&Me. (I've bragged on Amanda's goodies before, she is the one who made me all of those beautiful baby photo props that I showed off here when Hannah was born.)

The hat was so amazing that it almost, ALMOST prompted her to do that thing I am just dying for her to do because it is so darn cute, pull her feet back and put them in her mouth. Am I crazy for thinking that this is equal parts hilarious and adorable? I couldn't believe my luck, having my camera out at just the right time, and her wearing that insanely cute hat. But in the end it was all just a tease.

5.) Last week I went to a Wildtree freezer bag workshop. If you ever have the chance to do something like this, you have to do it!

Basically you bring 10 bags full of prepped meat and some chopped veggies, pay a lump sum for the Wildtree product, and when you arrived the host leads you through recipes which include the ingredients that you have just bought. Then you zip your bag shut, shake everything up until it is well-mixed and stick it in your cooler. We were given labels for each bag with the name of the dish and cooking instructions. On Sunday I pulled 3 bags out of the freezer and have been gradually working through them this week. As someone who hates to cook, and HATES food prep, I have to say that it is amazing. I feel very domestic with a fridge and freezer full of marinating meat, and it is nice to smell something cooking in our home that isn't 1 of the 5 things we make and eat every single week.

That said, the 2 hours I spent cutting chicken on Friday night was my own form of hell. Endless food prep, no cooking, no eating, just me and chicken, with me freaking out about touching it and freaking out even more about chicken juice getting all over the kitchen. But totally worth it in the end.

6.) Remember how I was trying to play catch up with the old blog? I caught up a little bit this week. In October when we were hitting up the pumpkin patch I started reminiscing about the previous year's pumpkin patch trip, when I was newly pregnant and seriously sick.

I started writing up my "beginning of pregnancy" stories, you know, the "this is how we found out and this is how we told people" stuff that often gets lost by the time that you are officially announcing, and I published them this week. If you're curious, you can read my early pregnancy stories for Jayce, Hannah, and the baby we lost at these links.

7.) I'm linking up with Elizabeth over at E Tells Tales, who's starting a new link party today. Elizabeth is a blog friend (sounds lame, I know), whose little guy was due just days before my little lady, so we kept up with each other a bit since we were basically at the same stage pregnancy-wise, and our babies are doing similarly ornery baby things. She's an amazing sewer, (check out her cute new baby Etsy shop), and sent me the prettiest burp cloth when Hannah was born. Seriously too pretty to use, although I do use it. She just guest posted at Lemon Tree yesterday too. Stop by and tell her hi!

Linking also to the always enjoyable Miscellaneous Monday, and Life Made Lovely parties. Stop by if you can!

Medicine

2011-12-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

Last Tuesday night Chris and I were wiped out.

Both kids were sick. I'd been on the phone back and forth with the doctor all day over Hannah's rapidly progressing respiratory infection, and ended up taking her to the ER. Since Chris had hit a deer with my car the previous week, we've been sharing his truck while my car is in the shop. So that day it was...leave work early, work unfinished, bring me the truck, trip to the ER, trip back out the the pharmacy, late dinner, and lots of rushing around. This was following a night of very little sleep and days full of sick and grumpy kids. Hannah had been fussy all day, understandably, but still, and Jayce kept jumping around in his seat and not really eating .As we ate dinner we were quieter than usual, a bit glassy eyed and grumpy ourselves.

In an attempt to stall eating for just a few more seconds, Jayce started making silly noises. Hannah laughed at him. He did it again, she laughed again, and we all smiled.

Next he "scared" her.

"Boo!" he said. She laughed, he started laughing, and we all laughed.

He did it over and over, and Hannah, who almost never laughs at the same thing more than twice, laughed over and over.

It was just what we needed. Being parents to these two is the best medicine.

On Wednesday evening, after I wrote this post about how crazy busy we had been, I came downstairs to discover that both kids were asleep.

Chris crept out of Jayce's room and exclaimed, "He's asleep, and it's only 8:30! What should we do?!" We were so excited. We debated about watching a movie, but decided not to push our luck and caught up on a few episodes of The Office and went to bed a bit early instead. As we got ready for bed, we talked about the kids. About how sweet Hannah is and how she's such a daddy's girl. About how big Jayce is and we laughed over his little antics.

Then we had a conversation that we often have, about how soon this stage will be over and how sad we'll be. About how we'll be well-rested, well-versed in the newest movies and caught up on our favorite shows, and maybe have picked up a new hobby or two. And we'll say "Those were the best days. Those exhausting and stressful joy-filled days." And when we reminisce, the evenings of short tempers and time outs will be largely overshadowed by the evenings of side-by-side pancake making, pillow jumping, and dance-party basketball shooting.