« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »

October 26, 2005

Christmas up North

We purchased our tickets two nights ago for our trip to Massachusettes. We will be there visiting Andy's family from the 31st to the 7th of January. I wish we could be there Christmas day but his Grandparents will be there then and Mom has already asked off for the week after Christmas so its just worked out this way. We had been kicking around the idea of renting a minivan and driving since flying would be more expensive but I ended up finding some great deals and now I am so glad we're flying. Four hours and forty-five minutes is much more doable with 2 little ones than 16 hours would have been.
Andy never had the desire to return home to Lenox, MA after college, but it is a wonderful place to visit. I love going there, it's straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

On the home front: we're still trying to pack on the pounds on little Julia. At her appointment on Monday she had gained 4 ounces in 2 weeks which was a positive but not enough to really impress the doctor. So in the next 2 weeks if there is not significant weight gain then she will do a blood panel, testing her thyroid and white cell count among other things. My conclusion is that this could very well be Julia's body type, however, since she lost weight at around 5 months and has a hard time putting it back on our pediatrician is investigating every other possible cause. I'm not terribly worried about her, she is happy and alert and even trying to sit up this week- its mostly just a little discouraging because we feed her non stop it seems like and its hard to believe that she isn't gaining more. I guess I have tended to look at it in some pass fail mentality when it doesn't have to be that way at all. She's started eating food and loves it. I've done lots of veggies and will start fruits and the really good stuff this week. She is a great eater which is a blessing. Some kids don't care for food at all, especially at 7 months and luckily we have an eater on our hands.
As of right now she weighs 13 pounds and 6 ounces.
Lizzie is in her big girl bed now and is making the most of it. We thought our problem would be her trying to get out but its her playing. I'm sure most people would not consider that a problem but I know my child and she desperately needs that sleep. So, she used to sleep with stuffed animals and since they became her "nap time playmates" I took them out of her bed. That seems to have dispelled the problem some. She still will be up talking for almost an hour. Today I read to her at 1:45 and she didn't fall asleep till 3. Better than last week when she played for the entire time and was a grumpy pill for several days.
I'm sure we'll adjust.

Posted by JennR at 4:05 PM | TrackBack

October 20, 2005

A girl and her shoes

Lizzie wears my shoes around the house all the time and she at times is even more coordinated in them than I am. She was wearing these black ones with heals today and even managed to climb up into a chair at the table and was coloring with them still on. In the picture she is actually at the window watching the garbage man (a favorite thursday morning activity).
It was at this moment that she informed me that she would be a garbage man when she got older. She said she was going to get the trash and take it away.
You go girl!

Posted by JennR at 11:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

No Rest For The Weary

It has been a crazy past few weeks for us. We spent a long weekend with the Goseys in Atlanta and then I had 3 days home and the girls and I were headed up to Knoxville to spend the weekend with my mom. My sister flew in last Thursday night from Eugene OR with her 6 month old. It was my mom's birthday and her gift was flying my sister here but I also got Heather to send my pictures of her daughter's (3 total) hands so I could put a little hand print piece together for my mom. It was just a little time in photoshop but she really liked it. I feel lame sometimes doing homemade stuff but if it includes her grand daughters its usually a winner.

It was a nice time with Heather and my mom but we are definately still recovering. Lizzie is getting detoxed from getting her way everytime she wanted something and Julia is adjusting to sleeping on her own again. It's so much easier to have her in bed with us while out of town for feedings and to avoid waking up a household with a crying baby.
When we got back we were foolish enough to transfer Lizzie out of the crib and into a twin bed (we just recently got the mattress) and that has proven to be very interesting. I thought our issue would be her getting out, but its her playing in it. We're hoping the novelty of the new bed wears off soon. She's fallen out once and that's even with a guard rail. It was at midnight on Tuesday night and we heard her hit the floor and then they were both crying. Having 2 girls share a room is so fun! The encouraging thing is that I know others have done it so I'm sure we'll survive too.
On another note- I scored some work yesterday and am so excited. I'll be laying out the inside (pagination) of a few books. I think there are 4 and there isn't a rush on them so hopefully that will be a few months of steady projects. As much as I love being creative, there is definately an advantage to just working in Quark. I can work anytime I have a chance instead of having to be creative just during nap time when I can finally get on the computer. Speaking of finally getting on the computer, both girls are over playing on their own so maybe we'll break out the playdough.

Posted by JennR at 9:48 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 5, 2005

Help victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita by dining out TONIGHT

Go to http://www.dineforamerica.org
There are a few restaurants in Chattanooga that are participating and donating
%100 of today's profits. Go to find and enter in your zip code.

Posted by JennR at 3:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 4, 2005

Joys of freelance

I get an email this morning asking if I can do an ad immediately- just text and only 3.5 by 2 inches, and since Julia is sleeping and Lizzie is again "washing dishes" I say sure. I get the ad info and call to get some specifics. What started as a short call turns into a conference call where we're discussing a book cover that I just finished. So by now my two year old is done playing in water and I'm motioning to toys she can play with as these guys I work for are giving feedback on the book cover. Nothing was working and I ended up starting veggie tales on my lap top so I could concentrate on what they were saying. It was quite a juggling act which got a little more complicated with Lizzie having an accident "uh-oh mommy" (which makes my blog name even more appropriate). So I'm tryinging to listen to them and wiping up a mess at the same time.
There are definite advantages to doing work from home and I feel so blessed to be able to help with our expenses, but sometimes the timing just isn't all that great. But my children are still breathing and fairly happy and I got the ad done, so I guess all is well. . .for this hour.

Posted by JennR at 11:22 AM | TrackBack

October 3, 2005

Is this day over yet?

It has been one of those days. I should have known what today was going to end up being like when it started with me spilling a very large cup of water all over my lap while driving the girls to the doctor this morning. It made me laugh at the time and of course it called for a trip back to the house so I could change and get some towels for my seat. The doctor's appointment was Julia's six month check up and Lizzie was especially energetic (not in a good way) interjecting the word "why" at every annoying moment. Julia continues to have issues with gaining weight and only weighed 13 pounds (she was 13 pounds last week- not so good when you are trying to pack it on). We're going to keep on with the same plan of nursing and offering 2-3 ounces of formula after each feeding. Lately she has been rejecting the bottles completely and makes these horrible faces over it. But we'll keep trying. I feel like I am nursing all the time so this is really a mystery to us. She is in the 5% of her age which is so surprising to me, I guess mostly because Andy and I are not small people. I think even without her slow weight gain she is just much more petit than her sister was at her age.
She also got 3 shots and is not a happy camper. This is just another way she is so different from her sister. You could never really tell if Lizzie was in pain from the shots or if she was even cutting teeth and with Julia we are aware of every moment she is uncomfortable. She's our little sensitive one.
After that craziness I actually had the nerve to take them to Chick-fil-A, and it was pretty disasterous. Lizzie wanted to play in the play area but wanted to climb higher than she was really able to- this one was not really appropriate for a 2 year old. I could just see myself helping her get up to the next level and her disappearing in the tubes (where other kids have lots bladder control) and being too scared to come down the very big slide. So we left (with protests and stomping feet) and came home for nap time. Thank goodness for nap time!
Now we are all in the office trying to pass the time, "Lizzie don't color on Mommy's lap top, and don't put the mouse in your mouth," to which she responds with a very drawn out "why?".
We're going to be so excited to see Daddy!

Posted by JennR at 4:54 PM | TrackBack