She Actually Listens to Me!

Last night we decided to take a little walk after dinner with Jenna. We live on a cul-da-sac, and every house but one has little kids. It's a very kid-friendly area, and we often all are hanging out in the road.

Well, we were walking last night and Jenna ran up onto the sidewalk. From the sidewalk she yelled to us and said...

"Be careful guys...Don't fall down...Member, watch out for cars!"

Oh my gosh! TOO FUNNY! So, I guess I am guilty of repeating those words a lot! But, at least she hears me! Now, whether she chooses to do what I say is a whole other post!

The Big Purchase!

Well, this is it...the BIG new addition to our yard (which needs a lot of work and looks extra awful at the end of winter). We have been wanting to buy Jenna a nice wooden swing set for a year now, and she finally has one!

When she first saw it out the window she said, "Oh my gosh, I love it, a park!" It was almost worth all the money to hear her cute little voice say that!



Every now and then Erik and I get a little mad sad that this wonderful swing set cost us what a wonderful, relaxing, sunny, warm vacation would have cost us; but we can deal with making sacrifices for Jenna!

She already loves it and I can't wait until it's nice enough that we don't have to bundle her up to go out and play!

Baby Stellan

I've started reading this blog and right now it's breaking my heart! I have been praying for baby Stellan and his family. Stellan has a heart problem and has been in the hospital for a while now with nothing really improving. He was diagnosed with it while his mom was still pregnant with him and they were told her would not make it. He is a miracle!

I look at this sweet little boy and wonder how is this fair, how can it be happening? While sometimes I complain or get frusterated when Jenna is being less than an angel, I also love her with all my heart and could not IMAGINE what I would do if she/we were faced with a challenge like this. Just thinking of it makes me want to leave work right now and go get her and hug her all day (which she would NEVER let me do anyway). He is hooked up to IV's, tubes, trying all sorts of medicine, and going through things I don't even want to imagine.

It makes me extremely grateful for the health of my family. Please say a few extra prayers for Stellan and his family!

Award Time - Way Behind

I am way behind in acknowledging this Lemonade Award I got from Jen, and it's not because it's not appreciated! Thanks Jen! This award is nice because all I have to do is pass it along to blogs that make me happy and I enjoy reading...




Well, that would be pretty much everyone I follow and anyone who comments and follows me! So, I pass this Lemonade Award on to anyone who wants it! You all deserve it!

Please post a comment and let me know you are receiving the Lemonade Award.

Dear Jenna - 27 Months

Dear Jenna,

I feel like I just wrote your 26 month letter! I'm sure if I go back and read past letters, they say a lot of the same things. I will reiterate again, I cannot picture my life without you! You have only been part of my 27 year life for a little over two years, yet it feels like you were always supposed to be here.

I notice more and more how much of a big girl you are, physically and emotionally. You are still in your crib (because I see no sense of adding another stress of you getting out of bed seven times after we've put you down, because you need something) but you are so big in there. No longer curled up in the corner; you take up the whole crib between you, your blankets, and the 18 stuffed animals and babies you have to have sleep with you. We are lucky parents with the fact that you actually ask to go to bed and take a nap. On the nights when you aren't quite ready to go to sleep yet, you will say, "two minutes, I relax".

You also have a weird obsession with Swiper the Fox and every morning you ask where he is. I think your dad got you started on this, but not it's a common conversation. You ask where he is and then say, "Nope, not in here", or "Swiper, get out of my toys." The other weekend when your grandma and grandpa were over you did not want to go to bed. You started yelling, "Help, I'm stuck in my bed....Grandpa....HELP!" It was so cute.

You are full of spunk and determination. You seem to think you are the boss (and sometimes you are) and don't take no for an answer very easily. This is where the crying and throwing yourself to the floor takes place. But, you also try to offer other suggestions. For example, you will ask for a brown sugar poptart and I'll say no. You don't just give up, you will say, "How about sucker? How about cheese? How about M&M's?"

Happy 27 months! You are the light of our life and we love every (almost every) minute with you! Thanks for bringing such joy and laughter to us!

Love always,

Your Mama

Maybe a career in politics or possibly nutrition...

While I wasn't CRAZY about either presidential candidate this term, I still figured it's good for Jenna to know who the President of the United States is. I mean, she can easily pick out and name all the characters on Noggin, so if Kai-Lan, Wubbzy, and Toot and Puddle are that important then so is Barack Obama! So, this is our conversation now:

Me: Jenna, who is the President?

Jenna: ah...OBAMA! (she thinks Obama is fun to say)

Me: Who is the Vice-President?

Jenna: Joe Bidemen (so cute)

A few seconds go by...

Jenna: I need a vitamin!

Precious! I HAVE to get that on video!

The Eye Doctor

We had a follow-up eye appointment today for Jenna. She did not want to be there and from when we first walked in the door, she was asking to go home. We found out she needs a stronger lens in her left eye and honestly, her far-sightedness can't get much worse in that eye. The Dr. thinks it will start getting better. With that said, the good news is that he doesn't think she will need surgery at all, which is great!

She was a handful while we were there and he didn't even touch her. We got in the exam room and she started saying she wanted to leave and go out the door and go home. Then he asked is she wanted to watch cartoons...

Well, all of the sudden he was her best friend for about 30 seconds until she asked for a princess movie and he only had Finding Nemo or Tom and Jerry. Then she started fussing and crying again. Then he told her she could pick a toy out of the toy chest is she was good and she liked that idea for about 15 seconds until she decided she wanted candy and a sucker, not a toy.

In the end, we survived and are thankful we don't have another check up for six months!

A Sign of the Times

Sometimes Erik and I will talk about Jenna and what her future holds. We also laugh about how she is being brought up in such an age of technology.

She has played with our cell phones since she could pick them up. She also thinks calculators are either phones or remote controls. We were at my grandparents over Christmas and they have a land line and the phone isn't even cordless. It has a long curly cord hanging from it's spot on the wall. Jenna walked over to the cord and held it and then looked up at the big phone it was attached to. We just laughed, thinking she has never seen a phone with a cord!

As soon as I take a picture she comes over to me and says, "I see it." She wants to look at the picture I just took. She will never believe me when I tell her that when I was little we weren't able to look at the picture right away and then delete them if we wanted. She also won't that until I was in late middle school, maybe even early high school, we didn't have easy access to the Internet and the tools it offers.

Tonight we were playing with her Fisher Price Laughtop.

I asked her if she wanted to play the letter game on it and she looked at me over her glasses and said, "No Mama, I email." Then she started typing really fast on her computer. It was so funny but also a little sad.

Times like these are when I am especially thankful her grandparents, great-grandparents, and other family members are SO good about sending her good-old- fashioned mail! She loves getting cards in the mail and it's just not the same as an email!

Mirror Mirror On the Wall...

Apparently we tell Jenna too often how cute or pretty she is or looks. I'm the first to admit to doing this as a parent, but to set the record straight, I also tell her how smart, good, bad, funny, goofy, etc., that she is. Well, of course, she takes the beautiful and pretty comments to heart.

The other day, I was putting her hair up in a ponytail and after I was done, she spun around and said:

"I beautiful with ponytail."

It's cute now at the young age of two, but is she going to be "that child?" There comes an age when it won't be so cute! I also felt a bit of jealously. How nice would it be to be so confident in yourself to spin around and dance every morning while saying how beautiful you look! But yes, Jenna, you are beautiful with or without your ponytail!

Raa raa shis boom bah!!!

Jenna may have a future in cheerleading! Last night we were at a friends house playing bowling on the Wii. It was actually really fun.
Anyway, Jenna and their little boy Evan, were playing with cars and running around, then they decided to be cheerleaders. After one of us would "bowl" she would jump around and throw her arms up in the air and say:
"GOOOOOOOO KAAARRRENNNNNN!" Or "YAAAAAAAAY, YOU DID ITTTTTT!"

Then she would jump and spin around. If only she had a skirt and pom poms! She was a great cheerleader, even cheering when we didn't do well! Way to go for team spirit!

GO JENNA!