The Adaptation of Life

Memory 9/30 Walking Halfway

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:01:00 +0000

This memory is about my friend Elaine. Today is her 30th birthday, and I'm so glad I've been friends with her for most of those years.

Anyway, Elaine and I grew up in the same neighborhood. We went to the same elementary school (but we weren't friends then, in fact I was kind of mean to her) and we saw each other at Church every week. We started becoming friends in middle school (though, to be honest, I was still a little bit mean to her). By the time we were in Jr. High (7th grade) we were really good friends. We wrote notes back and forth, giggled about boys, gave them nicknames so we could giggle in public, we played basketball together, went to girls camp together, made movies together (I really want to put The Great Escape on my blog, any objections from the people who are in it? :-)), and most important went to each others houses to hang out. This is a picture of us when we were sophomores - I'm sitting in the chair and Elaine is in the blazer, she's always been so mature.

The memory I wanted to share was something we did every time we hung out at each others houses. So here is a map of our neighborhood. My house is the yellow star, Elaine's house is the red star. We lived less than .1 miles a part, but Morgan Dr. is a hill so you couldn't see my house from her house.

I don't remember when we made this deal, but at some point we made a promise to always walk each other half way (that's the blue diamond). It was usually dark by the time we were calling it a night, and we grew up in very scary small town Rexburg. We'd walk to the mailbox that marked the half way point, say goodnight, and then we'd both turn and run home.

Elaine would run this way:

And I would run this way:

We'd yell goodnight as we ran home to make sure we were both safe. Sometimes we really didn't want to do it, but almost always we ended up walking to the mailbox.

We had some of our best talks on these walks, and often we'd end up talking at the mailbox for a while. I miss those simple days and I miss hanging out with one of my best friends. It's amazing to me that so much has happened since those days:

weddings

babies

moves, heartaches, and everything in between. But somehow we've managed to stay friends. I guess we'll always be Daffy and Purps. :-)

Happy Birthday!

Memory 8/30 Dance Party at the Parkway Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Yes - I am still working on this project. I figure as long as I finish it within my 30th year I'll be good. ;-)

My family is awesome. We occasionally break out random dance parties, which works because my parents have the perfect house for it (please don't move). There are so many memories of dancing in the kitchen: Jaclyn breaking the bowl, Man I Feel Like a Woman on the counters, belting out Earl had to die, random acts of interpretive dance (mostly with Jen), and so many more. If you've ever been part of a dance party at the Walker's, leave a comment with your favorite memory.

Thankfully, one of mine was caught on tape. I love Christmas 2006 (my first married Christmas). My sister Jen was 6.5 months pregnant, my whole family was together, and we ate chicken fried steaks at the Parkway Cafe (h/t Wada!). And, of course, we had a dance party. And no, I'm not even a little embarrassed. We are awesome.

Baby Steps - Literally

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Bonus:
http://literally.barelyfitz.com/

Prayer Request

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:21:00 +0000

Do you remember how I asked everyone to pray with me and I got CJ?

Well I have a dear friend who is in need of your collective prayers. My former co-worker (and now dear friend) Patti (featured in THIS post, THIS post, and THIS post (there were so many more)) is in need of a lot of prayers. She has always been there for me and I just adore her, so I am not above begging.

Poor Patti is back in the hospital with a mysterious infection. She gave birth to a gorgeous little boy who now shares CJ's birthday, and she went home after the normal 4 days, but after that she got really sick and had to go back to the hospital just a few days later. The doctors haven't been able to find the exact location of the infection and she has been on antibiotics trying to lick this thing. She finally got to go home a few days ago after 12 yucky days of hospital food. Today she had to go back to the hospital. She is discouraged and desperate to be at home with her new baby.

Patti went through so much to get her little man here, and I really want her be able to get home, feel better and enjoy this time. So will you take an extra minute or two and add her to your prayers? She is so wonderful and I owe her lot. I really do have faith in the power of prayer and I'm hoping Patti feel all the prayers that we can say for her.

Thanks everyone.

CJ meets Lexi

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:43:00 +0000

We took a whirlwind trip to California over the weekend. It was really fun to get to see everyone and I'm going to write more about it (or at least post more pictures) as soon as I get my hands on Jeremy's phone. Jeremy's mom just sent me this video of CJ playing with Lexi. CJ had a lot of fun being around a woof-woof, and I think Lexi was excited to have her there too. ;-)

I Walk By Faith

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:26:00 +0000

Tonight was our New Beginnings program for the Young Women. It was a really great program with a lot good things being done by the girls themselves. One part of the program was a performance by all the YW (and the leaders, e.g. me) of a song called "I Walk by Faith." I really like this song, but i have to admit I mostly think of it as a lot of cheesiness and fluff. I sang it when I was a Young Women and never took it seriously.

As I sang the song with these beautiful girls, the words struck me in a new way. I wondered if they would ever understand how much the words of this song could mean to them in the future:

I walk by faith, a daughter of Heavenly parents.
Divine am I in nature by inheritance
And someday when God has proven me
I'll see Him face to face

I wondered which girl would need to remember these words as she dealt with the pain of losing a loved one. I wondered which girl would need that extra courage as she explained to her children why the baby they had been told about wouldn't actually be coming. I wondered which girl would need it as she dealt with infections that landed her in the hospital just days after her baby was born. Which one would need it when she sat alone through another sacrament talk about marriage? Which one would need it when the doctor told her she could never have children? Which one would need it as she reached for a family member who'd fallen into a life of sin? Which one would need it to face a needy three year old and a screaming baby? Which one would need it as she realized that no matter what she did she never liked the reflection in the mirror? Which one would need it when her husband lost his job and suddenly she had to become the primary breadwinner, working two jobs and still mothering? Which one would need it as she held her stillborn son and said goodbye?

These are moments I never thought about when I sang that song as a young girl. The idyllic life I envisioned never included the types of trials that I have seen happen to people I care about, it never included the trials that I've faced in my own life. I thought that the line about God "proving me" meant that as long as I did the right things, I could choose my way back to God. I was blissfully unaware of this simple truth:

Life is so beautiful, but it can also be so very hard.

Each of the situations I thought about came to mind because of the women I know who are facing them right now (and those are just the ones I know about). I listened to these young women sing words that strengthen the soul of someone in pain. How will they deal with these trials when they inevitably face them? How can we expect them to trust a God who doesn't always protect them from difficult experiences? And I thought about each woman I know who is dealing with her own pain, her own struggle. How do we make it?

Yes, just for here and now, I walk by faith.

CJ's First Snow

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

We're enjoying a day inside today. It snowed a little bit last night, followed by rain, so it's a little icy outside. We haven't ventured out - CJ has a little cold and is still running a fever from her immunizations - but I thought this would be a good time to show you the cutest little snow angel.

A week or so ago we got the lightest dusting of snow, but it was CJ's first time, so we got bundled up and went out to play. We didn't stay out very long, but we both had fun (and Daddy too!).

Seeing snow for the first time:

Catching snow in our mouths - she caught on quick!

Waving to Daddy

Welcoming Daddy home

Enjoying the snow falling!

My little snow angel

The E.R.B. Annual Report

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:52:00 +0000

In lieu of Christmas cards, we prefer to get provide a business update.You can view the entire report by clicking here and downloading the original. Or you can check out the jpeg versions below.
Enjoy!

Inconsequential Good News or the Bad News First?

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:58:00 +0000

The Good News, okay. Jeremy and I got to go on a date last night. I even left CJ (sleeping) with one of the young women from my ward. I wanted to surprise Jeremy and take him to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. We were so excited and eveyrthing worked out for us to go.

The Bad News: the movie was SOLD OUT!! :-( Such a bummer. The next one wasn't until 3 hours later. But there were still tickets available to see The Iron Lady (a Margaret Thatcher biopic). I wanted to see that anyway, so we got those tickets.

Worse News: The Iron Lady was awful. At least 50% of the story focused on MT's old age and her current life (she is still alive). It made her seem out of it, a little crazy, and tried to blame it on her high-profile life. Her story is so amazing, if they had actually tried to tell that the movie would have been good. The parts of the movie that were focused on her political life were awesome. And in my opinion really sold the vision of a conservative government. Too bad they had to ruin it by trying to guess what her life is like in her old age.

All in all, fun to hang out with Jeremy, but so mad that we used our movie passes on this movie.

A Year

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:55:00 +0000

I was rocking CJ to bed on Friday (her birthday) and I tears just wouldn't stop coming. I thought about how many times I had dreamed about rocking my baby. I cried for the pain of empty arms and for people I know who are still waiting for babies to fill their arms. I cried for the amazing little person in my arms. She has changed our life and our marriage. I wrote a post when I was pregnant about how having a baby doesn't cure infertility or the pain from it - which is true - but a year of incredible happiness goes a long way to dulling the pain.

My CJ is the most amazing thing in the world, and the year she has been with us has brought us more happiness than we thought possible. I love her so much. Is it wrong that I could gush on and on and on about her? Oh well, I'll post more pictures of her Birthday and Party-day soon, but I just wanted to get down on paper (figuratively) how I feel about this milestone.

11 Months

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:44:00 +0000

As crazy as it sounds, my baby is almost a year old. For now, I'm glad it is still just 11 months. She is so cute, but getting harder to photograph. I managed to get a few good pictures:

CJ Learns to Bark

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:00:00 +0000

If cuteness could cure allergies, then maybe some day we'd get a dog. ;-)

Little Pumpkin

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:29:00 +0000

This is so late, but I made (with a lot of help from my friend Sarah) CJ's Halloween costume. I wanted to take a similar picture to one from my first Halloween.

Here's my picture:

I finally got a picture of CJ in her costume:

Once again I can't believe how much she looks like me.

Memory 7/30 The Pit Song

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:38:00 +0000

My first year of Girl's Camp was actually spent in Texas with my cousin Rachel. I went to visit for a while and it happened to overlap with her girl's camp and I was old enough to go. It was great to have a new experience and it was good to have it with my only cousin really close to my age.

The next year she ended up being in Idaho during my Girls Camp and came with me. I barely remember the specifics of each Girls Camp year (though there are moments I remember - but differentiating the years is getting more difficult) (must be my age), but I do remember vividly the song she had taught me and the tradition that it spawned.

This memory is about the Pit Dance and the Beef Song. Every year, each ward would prepare a pit dinner. We started the day by digging a big pit, then we lined it with rocks and started a fire. The fire would burn for a long time, until the rocks were all hot. Then we put a beef roast wrapped in burlap, with wire handles wrapped around and sticking up, and bury it in the pit. It was covered with the hot rocks and dirt. The roast would spend all afternoon cooking in our pit. The most important component of a successful pit dinner was the hourly Pit Dance we would do.

It was all based around this song

Oh A Lay Lay (Oh A Lay Lay)
A Chitty Chitty Tomba (A Chitty Chitty Tomba)
A Mosa Mosa Mosa (A Mosa Mosa Mosa)
Oh A Lay Ba Lu Ah Ba Lu Ay
(Repeat)

Every hour we would go over to where our roast was buried, get in a circle and do the Pit Dance. It was kind if like follow the leader. We'd all repeat not just what the leader said, but how they said it, including actions. Sometimes we got a little crazy and silly, trying to come up with something different then the person who went before you. Once we went around the whole circle, we'd all stop, face the circle, and wave our hands at the rising stream of smoke and chant, "Beef, beef, beef, beef, beef." Then all together, "It's what's for dinner." (I know it sounds silly, but I loved that part of Girls Camp.) We had so much fun doing this little tradition. And it all started because of my trip to Texas.

CJ is 10 Months Old (Okay, 10 1/2)

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:49:00 +0000

In the midst of our move, CJ turned 10 months. Her photo shoots are getting more difficult because she just wants to play with the paper, crawl away, or eat the frog. Still, it is worth trying because she is sooooo cute.

Memory 6/30 Be Still My Soul

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:31:00 +0000

As a note, I realize that I probably won't get all the memories in before my birthday, but I've decided to "give myself some grace." So I'm not going to sweat it and just get them done as I can. I set this goal and then we went and moved to a new place, which I'm still unpacking, and tonight I am taking a break to do a post.

This memory is about one of my best guy friends, Edgar. He is amazing. I've written about him before, and I could probably dedicate all 30 memories to the fun and wonderful times we had. There was the day we met at the Ricks College pool (I'm pretty sure we were 14), and he fell for my friend Shaylee. ;-) I could write about late nights spent talking, days spent on my parents carpet, Sunday dinners, dates, dances, lunches, scenarios (now that may make another blog post another time. I still have a "scenario" that Edgar wrote for me...) and the list could go on and on. This memory came to me at Church last week. I have a schedule for all the other memories, but I decided to throw this one out there out of order.

Edgar was the first of my core group of friends to leave on a mission. He served in McAllen, Texas and was a wonderful missionary. When they used to do farewells, the departing missionary got to pick the music and speakers and basically set up the whole program for the sacrament meeting he or she spoke in. Edgar asked his friends to sing at his farewell. As far as I remember it was me, Elaine, Dave, and Jared. I think Melanie may have been there, but I can't clearly remember. I'm not sure if there was anyone else. Anyway, we practiced at my house before the big day. It was hard to make it through the song because Dave and Jared were goofing off. We were worried about how the actual day would go.

When we stood up in front of the congregation I was nervous, but then the beautiful music started. We were singing the hymn Be Still My Soul. It goes like this:

We sounded almost that good. Maybe.

Anyway, by the time we were singing the second verse, Jared and Dave were crying and not really singing. Big tears. When we got to the third verse, I was barely getting any words out through the tears. I'm pretty sure Elaine had to carry us through the end, which is probably okay, since she has a great voice.

The third verse goes like this

Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I think it is the last line that got to my 18 year old self. At that time the two years of a mission seemed like it would last forever. I could hardly believe that one of my best friends was going to be gone so long. Truth be told it was the end of an era. Things were never really the same after Edgar left on his mission. Maybe it is because I was really bad at writing letters, or it could be because I got dumped by my boyfriend while he was on his mission (long story) and went off the deep end for a little while. I'm just glad that Edgar and I have stayed friends for so long.

Now I have a different perspective on what it means to "meet at last," but I will never forget standing up and bawling while we sang goodbye to Edgar.

I am His Daughter

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:26:00 +0000

I am staying at a friends house for a few days while we wait to move in to our new place (Yay!). I was hanging out with their 8 year old duaghter and she asked if I wanted to hear her favorite song. I said of course, but only if she'd sing it to me too.

So she went to YouTube and pulled up this song that I'd never heard and sang it to me. She stopped in the middle and looked at me and said, "Sometimes when I sing this song it touches me and I cry a little."

Of course I teared up listening to this wonderful little girl sing this beautiful message. I looked at her and realized how much I have to learn about God's love for me and my worth in His eyes. I really am His daughter and that alone gives me value and worth no matter what. I know that sometimes EFY songs can be a little trite, but i hope she never forgets the meaning of the words she was singing. Also, I made her promise to teach them to CJ.

First Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:46:00 +0000

Our little goober didn't go trick or treating this year - she was tuckered out and in bed before we could get dressed up. But we did get all decked out for our Church trunk-or-treat on Saturday.

I told Jeremy that she was going as the Great Pumpkin - and he didn't know what I was talking about. Apparently he's never seen the Halloween or Thanksgiving Charlie Brown's!!! Something I am determined to fix this year. So we went as Linus, Sally, and The Great Pumpkin. CJ's costume is a re-creation of a costume I wore for my 1st Halloween many moons ago. Tomorrow I'll post some comparison pictures.

Tonight Happy All Hallows Eve!

Consignment Sale

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:36:00 +0000

This weekend we was the big Kid's Stuff Consignment Sale for the Methodist Church near our Church building. I went to the one they had in April and it was awesome, so I was excited to consign a few things and get CJ some new (to us) stuff. My friend Patti and her husband Jon came from Maryland (I just went back and forth about typing up or down from Maryland - so I left it out) to go with me to the sale and have brunch.

I got to go to a pre-sale because I was volunteering to help. When I dropped off the items I was consigning I laid eyes on an awesome stand-up and play table that had a little piano on one side. My goal was to get that for CJ. But I failed, because by the time I got to the pre-sale (ten minutes after it started) the piano was gone. Big bummer, but I did get a bunch of other awesome toys, a new diaper bag, and cute clothes. On Saturday I went to help with the takedown. They do a cool thing for the volunteers after all the consigners have picked up the items they want back and regular customers have left, they sell you a bag for $5 and anything you can stuff in there you can take home. So over the two days I went to the sale I spent $55 and got all this great stuff (most of the clothes are from the bag sale!!!).
New diaper bag

Melissa and Doug puzzle - this baby was only $3 and it's awesome.

These come up and you hammer them down, turn over and repeat. Hours of fun!

Another Melissa and Doug creation. Cute little bird house with 4 little birds in different shapes, they all make different noises, and CJ already loves this.

A piano - it desperately needs new batteries. You know the sad noise electronics start to make when they batteries are dying? This piano sounds that way. But CJ has still had fun playing it.

Sweet building blocks for CJ *couch*Jeremy*cough*

These are little fuzzy bowling pins and a little balls so CJ can learn what real bowling is before she learns Wii bowling.

Books! Jeremy had never heard of Chicka, Chicka. But I love it. Like we always tell CJ, books are the best toys.

New, never used washcloths

Tennies for next year

Snow suit, hopefully for this year (well maybe by January it will fit.)

And CJ's new clothes. Some for now, most to grow in to.

I love getting great things for great prices!

Memory 5/30 Dying on Picture Day

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

For picture day my sophomore year, things turned out pretty well.
See:

You can see my cute freckles and my long luscious hair. Yearbook looked good at the end of the year.

At the beginning of my Junior year we had a friend living with us named Grant. He played football, loved my mom, and claimed to have some hair dying skills. The night before school started, I decided that I wanted to get some highlights. Did you know you can buy a cap and hook and do highlights at home? Well you can. The cap looks like this:

Those circles are meant to be a guide, so you can pull hair through from all over your head and put the highlights where you want them. So I donned the cap and Grant volunteered to start pulling hair through.

It takes a while to pull hair through, but when he was finally done, it seemed like a lot of hair was pulled through the cap, but Grant said to trust him. So I did. He applied the dye and we tied a plastic bag over my head and waited. I didn't want to wash it off too early and have it not look blonde, so when we checked and it still looked brown we waited a few extra minutes. Finally we washed off the smelly, bleachy, dye, It looked pretty light after being toweled off, but I was still hopeful. I sent everyone out and blow-dried my new hair. It definitely turned blonde, but sadly there were no highlights. There were lots of roots, a little dark hair underneath and a whole lot of blonde. At first I wanted to cry, but everyone said it looked great (liars). Except Grant - he just said sorry.

That is why my Junior year picture looks like this:

Yes I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt (modesty was not my strong suit in High School - as you'll notice when I start posting dance pictures). Yes, my eyebrows are still dark and look awful with the blonde hair. Still, I kind of pull it off, right? I can't remember how long I left it this way (not long), but it will be forever saved for posterity because of picture day.

(Note: I just spell-checked this post and apparently Google does not like "blonde.")

Memory 4/30 Talent Sprouts

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:33:00 +0000

Did you know that I used to love to perform? From a very early age:

That's me at the Madison County Fair, winking and singing "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No" from Oklahoma. Very Toddlers and Tiaras of me, right? I'm pretty sure I was around 3 or 4 and everybody clapped for me and I caught the performing bug.

In Elementary school I participated in the talent show, singing my favorite song (at the time) "Part of Your World." I dressed up like a mermaid (sort of) and included a conch shell so everyone would know I was under the sea.

I rocked the song by the way.

So my memory is of the performing group I was part of, Talent Sprouts. Thank you Diane White.

We used to go to the old tabernacle in Rexburg and practice in groups, mostly segregated according to age. I love being in Talent Sprouts. Singing was so much better than playing the piano (stay tuned for piano memory), mostly because practicing was so much easier.

Every year talent Sprouts would put on a concert and show off all we learned. We had awesome outfits and an awesome vibe.

See:

Yes that is me doing the awesome actions. And this is me performing my part:

I remember my very last Talent Sprouts practice. We got to the tabernacle and I tried really hard not to cry. We'd just had our big performance the weekend before. I couldn't believe my life as a Talent Sprout was ending. I had been in this little group for more than half my life. (Which granted wasn't that long at that point - I think I was 12.)

At the last practice we sang our theme song

Talents are sprouting about
you're a Talent Sprout
And there's no reason to pout
we'll give a talent shout

So those words are what I remember, but it doesn't sound exactly right. Any other talent sprouters remember the words?

At the end of practice, Mrs. White handed out certificates. She gave me mine and it said, "To my longest student." (or something close). I also got a trophy. I'm not sure why, but we got trophy's and they got bigger the longer you were in the group. My last trophy was the tallest one she had, and I thin I finally was okay with growing out of Talent Sprouts.

Of course this training went on to serve me well when I sang at the Idaho State Fair and for my talent as a Jr. Miss contestant (a future post!).

Sadly, somewhere along the way I got self conscious (or maybe faced reality) and now I don't love singing in public so much. I always felt a little inferior, especially when I used to compare myself to this:

Now I'm most of the time just grateful that I'm me, and that I get to clap and cheer for very talented people!

Memory 3/30 Kevin's Bunny

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:09:00 +0000

I can barely remember the details of this memory, except that even thinking about it brings back the same emotions. I don't know how old Kevin was or why in the world he had a bunny - but he was definitely young - probably around 6. He was keeping a bunny in a cage on our back patio. I'm not an animal person, but I guess the bunny was cute

One night, as it is wont to do in Rexburg, the temperature dipped. The next morning I remember sitting up at the kitchen counter eating breakfast. Mom was doing something in the kitchen and sweet little Kevin came walking up the stairs holding his bunny.

In my memory, the conversation went like this:

Kevin: "Mom, something is wrong with bunny." (As his eyes start to well up) "He's not moving."

Mom goes over to look and sees the bunny is frozen. She starts to tear up too.

Mom: I'm sorry sweetie. The bunny didn't stay warm enough last night. He's not going to be okay.

Kevin (Full crocodile tears): Can we just warm him up in the microwave and he'll be okay Mom. I think he just needs me to warm him up.

Mom (full crocodile tears too - plus me crying in the background): He won't be okay honey. He died and warming him up won't bring him back.

Kevin: Can we just try mom? I don't want him to die. (Buries his head in mom's shoulder, sobbing)

I came over and joined in the sobbing hug. It was so sad. Poor little Kevin (and poor little bunny).

The only other time I've seen my little brother and Mom cry together like that was when we had to put our cat, Amy, down because she was so sick and in pain (h/t Charley). The only other time I've cared as much about an animal was when Powder ran away/was stolen and Aliyah tried to call him home.

Happy Birthday to You!

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:50:00 +0000

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday -one of my favorite days of the year! Jeremy wrote up all of the fun on his blog: http://erbreport.blogspot.com/2011/10/birthday-bananza.html. He included pictures of my first ever attempt at a homemade cake. It has been a while since we had birthday cake at our house, but this turned out yummy (except the frosting. Jeremy loved it I really didn't) even though it photographs better with the lights off ;-)

This has been quite the year for Jeremy: new house, new job, new baby, new Master's program. He's handled everything amazingly well (no surprise) and he has worked hard to put me and CJ first. I love him so much and I am so grateful he was born! Thanks Ruthie!

Random Catch-up

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:33:00 +0000

I had some CJ pictures that I've been meaning to share, so this post is all pictures with captions. Enjoy!

Back in August, we took CJ to the closest park and let her swing for the first time:

In September, we got messy while eating Mango-Cauliflower-Broccoli from the mesh feeder. She loved it!

CJ next to Baby Jackson. She used to be even tinier than he is. Can you believe how much she's grown?

My parents were at a business meeting in Florida, and their return flight had a long layover at Reagan. So we got to see Grandpa and Wada for Sunday dinner!

CJ playing the piano - trying to be like Daddy (fingers crossed!).

Playing with Lucy at playgroup

Our new mom group from Church visited the George Washington Masonic Memorial. I've been there before, but others hadn't. When I was getting ready to leave I couldn't find my keys so I made us late. And we missed the tour. Later I found the keys in the diaper bag, of course. Thanks for being so nice Gwen!

CJ eating breakfast - hard-boiled eggs and cheerios.

I took CJ to Babies-R-Us and she did not want to sit in the seat. There is a strap around her neck and she kept twisting to turn around and getting caught in it. Eventually she settled down. She loved looking at the Sing-a-Ma-Jigs - maybe a Christmas toy, we'll see.

CJ is 9 months old

noreply@blogger.com (JillEE) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:55:00 +0000

We could barely get her to sit down long enough for a few pictures, let alone get a sign in front of her. Which turns out to be okay since Jeremy made the sign and I just noticed in the few pictures it is in that he still thinks she is 8 months old, but these are her 9 month pictures. :-) If only keeping her little were that easy - she's growing so fast! She honestly is even more beautiful in person, but these pictures sure are cute. She is so smiley. We're still working on sleeping, but she is still very happy and playful. She loved to "honk" your nose. She signs more, milk, and all done. She loves to wave to the family pictures on the wall. And she has the best giggle I've ever heard. Oh man, I love this little goober!