Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A Basketball Player, Model, or maybe Volleyball Olympic Star...

We had Jenna's two-year doctor appointment last week. Everything looks good, her vocabulary and speaking skills are advanced, even if she sometimes gets her pronouns confused, and there were no needed shots. But, the thing I was most excited about is this great news...

She is going to 5 feet 9 inches tall when she is at her grown adult height!!!! If you take a toddlers height at two years old and double it, that should be their adult height! 5'9"...YAY!! She will not have short stubby legs like me! She will be taller than me. I've always wished I were taller, I'm average, 5'4.5" (thank you very much for the 1/2 an inch.)

Jenna, I'm so happy for you! (and a little jealous)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

We Survived!

We managed to survive Jenna's birthday on the 19th and then six different Christmases between the 20-25th! We saw lots of family and some family who haven't seen Jenna in over a year! They all said how good, cute, smart, funny she is! She was really well behaved...I guess I owe her a couple suckers for that one!

Jenna received so many presents she actually got sick of opening them. We just finished the last of them yesterday! She loved opening presents this year and also loved handing out presents to other people. She told me that Santa was going to bring her two presents, so Santa...Way to go! You exceeded her expectations! Her big gift from Santa was a large party time play kitchen. She loves "cooking" things now, and is always bringing me coffee.

We are now headed into a week of Jenna and Mommy time, as I'm off work and daycare is closed. Daddy will be at work, so I hope with all of her new toys we can keep busy. Now we just have to figure out homes for all of her new stuff...I hear a storage shed calling our name, or I would be happy with $20,000 to finish our basement!

Some Birthday Pictures









Christmas Pictures






Monday, December 22, 2008

Precious Words...

Just a quick post, but I wanted to share the cutest thing! As I've said before, Jenna often talks in full sentence's now. When she wants me to hold her she says (in her most desperate and whiny voice):

"I want to hold you Mama."

Isn't that so cute? It is too funny to hear her say it and I laugh every time.


Hope everyone has a healthy and happy Holiday. Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Dear Jenna - Happy Birthday



Dear Jenna,

Today you are two years old! I really don't know where the time went. You are now a little girl instead of a baby! Everyday you continue to amaze and me and your dad. Today we are having a snow storm, which is very different from the day you were born. Your daddy was so good at taking notes while I was in labor with you, and it was a partly sunny day with hardly any snow on the ground.

There are moments when I am just caught up in how fast you have grown and how big you have gotten. Sometimes, to me, you still feel like my little baby ; but then I look at you on my lap and your legs hang down to my knees, or I see a newborn baby in the store and can hardly believe, or remember, when you were ever that little.

This age seems to really be a favorite for us as parents. You cannot possibly be any cuter than when you are trying to sing a song. Your favorites are "Row Row Row Your Boat", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "ABC's", and "Rock-a-bye a Bear". I have to get you singing on video to cherish it forever.

Your vocabulary is never ending and new words are spoken every day. Sometimes we don't even know where you learned some of the things you say. You also like to clean! While this makes me very happy, you aren't the most patient person, and when the cleaning bug comes over you, you NEED a Clorox wipe NOW! You also love to dance, actually, usually it looks like a jumping spazzing type of alternative dance.

You are such a girly girl sometimes too, you love princesses and dresses. You also like to tell your animals, "He's nice" or "He's cute!" Things are cute or pretty to you. But...there is a "Handy Manny" side to you too. You are able to open the drawers in the kitchen now and you always get the screwdriver out and "fix" your toys and try to put "new batteries" in them. When you get out the screwdriver I always have a slight panic attack. I've read too many horror stories of kids running with them and having bad accidents. That is why I only let you play with it when you are sitting down and I'm right there. I can tell by your tantrums when I take it away that you don't understand this now, but someday you will thank me!

You also seem to be a creature of habit. Every morning when you get up you ask for cartoons, milk, and a poptart. (I know, it's not the best thing for you to eat, and I will not get MOM OF THE YEAR for this one, but when I'm trying to get ready for work, I need you to be not throwing tantrums, sorry!) I'm trying to wean you off of them.

When all is said and done, you are the light of our lives. We love you so much and take so much joy in you every day. We are so proud of you and lucky to have you in our lives. I look forward to every day with you. Happy 2nd Birthday sweetie!

Love always and forever,

Mama

Monday, December 15, 2008

My Little Alarm Clock

Dear Jenna,

I just want to make sure you know I have an alarm clock right next to my bed. You don't need to take on the responsibility of getting me up. I appreciate you want to see Mommy and Daddy right away in the morning, but we need to get something clear. You are usually such a good sleeper, and I LOVE that about you, but I don't need you to wake me up at 5:35 am on Saturday morning. I don't ask for much, 7am would have been nice!

I also don't need the constant reminder for the two hours it is still dark out, of you saying over and over again, "Dark out Mama, dark out." Yes, it tends to be dark at quarter to six in the morning! That is what happens when you wake up that early.
Please try to remember this in the future.

Love always,
Your tired Mama

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I Flying!

Update: We are recovering from the ER incident! Jenna has her bandages and wraps off and her hand is looking good. She is a drama queen though. She actually misses her "pretty glove" and wants her special lotion. We are now putting Neosporin on her fingers. Every once in a while she will say "hand hurt" or "ouchie" but I think she just knows that is her ouchie and wants attention! Her pinkeye is also gone, but we are still dealing with the eye drops! This usually involves a bribe of some sort to get her to lay down. The last couple of times the bribe has been to "fly", which leads me to the post below!

One of Jenna's new things is the run around the house with her arms out to the side and yell:

"I flying!! I flying!! Look, Daddy look!"

I caught a couple pictures of it last night, excuse the blurriness, it must have been because she was flying so fast! She also wants us to fly her and we do that first until we are out of breath and our arms hurt. It's not so easy to "fly" an almost 30 pound person while you are running around! Here she is in action!


Monday, December 8, 2008

Our Trip to the ER!



UGH! Last night was so sad! We knew sooner or later this would happen to our hyper, crazy, clumsy little girl, but we had our first trip to the ER last night!

Jenna burnt her hand on the glass cover/door of a gas fireplace! It was so sad and so hard to watch as a parent! Erik said he wished his foot was cut off instead of her being hurt. She screamed and screamed! We took her to CMCH and the staff there were great! THANK YOU! They rushed her right back without us even checking in of filling out any paperwork and treated her wonderfully. They immediately put her hand in some soapy type water stuff and she calmed down a little bit, then gave her a double dose of Tylenol and Motrin. She got "special lotion" on her hand followed by a "pretty glove" and then a Popsicle.

To make things even worse, she also has pink eye in both eyes! She is at home healing today and being indited with Tylenol, Motrin and eyes drops! This morning we had to take the dressing off and put more "special lotion" on it and re-dress it. This lotion is SO special that if exposed to sunlight it will discolor your skin, so we have to be very careful with her and only have it on her when she is totally bandaged up. My poor little girl!

At least we've made it through our first trip to the ER!

Friday, December 5, 2008

My Shot at Photography

So, I've always thought it would be fun to be a photographer! I've even considered taking a photography class, considered being the key word, I never have. After much thought and no great ideas for our Christmas card this year, I decided to just do a picture of Jenna and hoped to get her smiling. I took pictures of her a couple of nights ago. It's sometimes hard to get a good picture Jenna, but I got a couple! Now I just have to wait for my cards to get here.





Thursday, December 4, 2008

My So Called Life

I borrowed this from Jen.
My life is pretty boring I guess! I haven’t done most of these things…

The items in bold are things I've done! Comment on what you've done or do this on your blog!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (Times one million)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower (thanks grandpa)
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (thanks again grandpa)
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
42. Had amazing friends (I am curious as to why this is in the past tense.)
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites (In Spain)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (I don’t know what D&D is…)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (Yeah right!)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house (does built a house qualify?)
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (raising)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge (I walked the Mackinac bridge, does that count?)
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open

103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period ( I think when I had mono I did this)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (I’ve only had one so far, and didn’t go)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Jenna's Cookie Shop

Jenna had a great time "decorating" cookies during Thanksgiving. This has always been a tradition for me when I was little, so we wanted to carry it on the Jenna. She would take a lick of frosting and eat some sprinkles, then decorate a cookie and so on. With the amount of licking and eating that went on, these cookies became hers and her only! Maybe that was her plan all along?!?!