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March 31, 2008

Happy 3rd Jules

Our little Julia is 3!!

You have the happiest smile that lights up your whole face. Your still my little skinny mini but a huge bundle of laughs! Your little voice is famous with our friends and often imitated.

Right now your favorite past time is putting together puzzles and your attention span for a 3 yr old always surprises me. While you enjoy playing with Lizzie (when its your choice and you aren't forced into it) you do a great job playing by yourself. You also love your books on tape but for some reason if left alone too long the cassette ribbon is too tempting for you!

You have been saying the funniest things lately. A week or so ago we were at a friend's house for dinner and you were playing with your ocean finger puppets. I asked you what sharks eat (expecting you to say grass since thats your answer for every other animal) and you said "PEOPLE" with this huge grin on your face. I have no idea where you got that information. I tried to tell you mostly fish and only people by accident (that part was under my breath)! LOL

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you and your spunkiness!!!

Posted by JennR at 09:37 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

March 26, 2008

little conversations

There have been several funny little exchanges I've had with the girls lately or heard them having with each other and I wanted to get them down before I forgot them.

Lizzie and I have been having a challenging time lately, or I've been having a challenging time and she has only reflecting my poor attitude back to me. Yesterday she was micro managing me, reminding me what I had said at lunch and correcting me and what not and I sighed and said, "Lizzie, sometimes I don't know what to do with you." She looked up and said, "Oh, is this one of those times?"

Today I took a nap and woke up to spend some time with her watching Mary Poppins (its been a long day!) and we were both singing a song and she said, "Your voice and Mary Poppins voice sound the same mommy. Well, you kind of sound like her, um well just a little!" LOL This made me laugh so hard. She cracks me up! She also suggested that it would be a good idea for us to get a nanny so Daddy and I could get some rest. LOL I told her we wanted to do things with the girls and I would be sad if someone else got to play with them all day.

The other day I heard the girls trying to decide what to play and the conversation went something like this:
L: "Julia, do you want to play go fish?"
J: "No I want to do this!"
L: "Walk around in a circle?"
J: "YES! And get dizzzzyyyyyy!" (all while spinning)
L: "Julia, I need two people to play go fish!" (always so sensible)
J: "No, this is what we do. First you spin and then you get dizzzzyyyyy!"

How in the world did I end up with two dynamic girls? The little one certainly has her own ideas about things and it annoys Lizzie to no end that she won't be bossed around.

During easter week there was also a lot of resurrection discussion. Julia wanted to know where Jesus was now and I told her he was in heaven with God and Lizzie wisely piped in, "Jesus IS God." Julia yelled back, "No, Jesus is God's son!" This was an argument I heard several times over the past few weeks. I would mostly correct how they were arguing and ask them to be kind with their words but never knew exactly what to say. Julia told me today in the car that she didn't want to rise from the dead. It took me a while to realize what she was saying. I sort of just redirected her and talked about how Jesus rose from the dead and what a wonderful thing that was.
It has certainly been interesting this holiday!
They always keep us on our toes, as groggy as we are!

Posted by JennR at 04:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 25, 2008

birthday shopping

We are celebrating our sweet Julia's 3rd birthday this weekend and I'm getting really excited. Not only will we have awesome friends and family for the day but birthdays and little kids are just fun in general. I try not to go crazy on my kids' birthdays but once you step foot into Toysrus it can be super hard! We ended up getting her lincoln logs and from Lizzie she is getting a Dora playdoh set. I wanted to get her one more thing so we went to the stuffed animal aisle. She has asked for a unicorn birthday (I did not buy all those supplies!) so we wanted to find something unicorn. We found the most awesome unicorn stick horse and if you squeeze its ear it makes a clip clop sound and nays! The stuffed animals were buy one get one free so after much debate we decided to get Lizzie a regular black stick horse so they could prance around together. We don't normally buy a present for the sibling on someone else's birthday, I think its more important that they learn to help their sister celebrate and be happy for her. But in this instance with the good deal and the fact that it will be so much fun for the two of them to play together, we decided to bend the rules. I think we'll give them the horses in the morning and we'll make less of a big deal about Lizzie's. I hope that works. Hopefully Julia won't remember that Lizzie got something on her birthday come July because we will not be repeating this! :)

We went into the mall briefly and I was reminded of my dislike for shopping. People in general just move too slow for me, why aren't they in a hurry like me to get in and out of there?!?! The fact that they are strolling around and aimlessly wondering kills me! I am not a shopper! But I was super excited to see a sign by the mall for a new restaurant we are getting. I had to call my sister on the west coast because I knew she would share my excitement over the fact that we are getting a Red Robin!! Yay, they have the greatest chicken sandwiches- I'm so excited! I eat there whenever I travel out west to visit family. Discovering that made being out by the mall almost worth it! Mmmmm teriyaki chicken sandwich here I come!!!

Posted by JennR at 09:59 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

March 19, 2008

potty woes

Somedays I just don't think I can take the potty training anymore. My attitude is like that little green filled circle on some of the Mario games that we play when the kids are in bed. Each accident she has deletes a part of my green circle until my attitude is flashing red in the danger zone. It can be SOOOO aggravating. I have no idea what its going to take for Julia to catch on. The worst part is that she just doesn't care and she'll be 3 in another week. While I try not to give in to the pressures of meeting some set age goal, I can't help but to feel like I've some how failed her. Or worse, frustrated that she is somehow failing us!
This has been going on since about August, we've done m&ms, sticker charts and anything else I can think of. I want to steer clear of the negative reinforcement for now but its getting harder to. Our pediatrician believes it needs to be a positive experience and is against time outs over it, and that's what we're trying to stick to. I can see how a mom would be driven mad over it though. The last accident I just changed almost pushed me over the edge. She should know, no accidents so close to the end of the day (and certainly not one right after the other). LOL! Or wait until Dad is home. :)
I think someone needs to create a camp where you can ship your child for potty training, just for like a week. I think I'd be the first to sign up!

Posted by JennR at 05:43 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

March 18, 2008

sewing easter dresses

I headed off to Knoxville this past weekend for some serious sewing with my Mom. Thank goodness she can still smock because I would have never finished in time doing both Lizzie and Julia's. I had wanted to smock for Caroline too but had issues pleating her dress so I sent it off to a store in CA to be pleated and it is STILL not back. While I'm a bit disappointed in their service I am sort of relieved that I don't have to make another dress. Caroline will wear a dress of Julia's that I smocked when she was 1.
I still need to buy blouses to go underneath the dresses, and I have hems to do and covered buttons to finish for the back. But all in all I am pretty happy with where I am at this point in the week. I have vowed not to be sewing on the eve of a holiday EVER because the stress isn't worth it. Which is why Caroline's Christmas dress wasn't finished till the end of January. LOL! I'll still smock Caroline's when it comes and I really want to get their pictures made in the dresses once she can sit up and its a bit warmer outside.
Thanks Mom for the awesome weekend! It was great to fully recover at your house and not have to cook and clean and just enjoy the baby and sew, sew, SEW!!

Dress fronts, my mom smocked Julia's yellow daisy dress.

Cross-over backs, still in need of two buttons and buttonholes- fun!

Our entertainment

"What?!?! I have to wear a HAND-ME-DOWN dress!!"

Once I get past this project I am super excited about starting the Felt Cuisine play food and still plan on having a sewing night for anyone who wants to use the patterns and come sew. I have some gifts I need to make. The designer suggests that you cut the templates out of cardboard so every once in a while I'll get out the rubbermaid that it's all stored in and cut some of the templates out. I'm trying to do some of the prep work so it will be easy once I invite other folks over to make some food. I'll keep you posted on that. . .

Posted by JennR at 10:46 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 12, 2008

Augusta, the flu, new teeth and one grumpy mommy

I really don't even have to write a post after that title, it about sums up my last 6 days. We spent the weekend in Augusta visiting with Andy's mom and her mom. Thursday evening my back was a bit sore and I thought it was because I lugged Caroline's car seat around a few places but it was still sore on Friday and I didn't feel all that well. We left town about 2, here are some shots of the girls on the road. These are the only pictures I got because I spent most the weekend in bed at Andy's grandmother's house with chills and a fever. Not the best time of my life.

They did pretty well, it normally is a 4 hr drive but took 6.5 hrs with stops for the potty and nursing. Since I didn't feel well it seemed longer and more irritating.
We got home Sunday evening, that was probably my sickest day. I had a fever and cold sweats so I was either freezing or burning up. I finally called the Dr today but apparently I can't take the flu medicine that is super effective because of nursing so they called in a z-pack. Hopefully I'll be on the mend in no time.
I have been a really grumpy mommy this week. I'm tired, my body hurts, and I have a terrible headache most the time and its frustrating not to get any complete uninterrupted rest. Andy has gone in late a few days so I can rest which has been nice. I just wish he could nurse the baby, because then I could really crawl into bed and not be disturbed. Ah, the life of a mother- sometimes it can just be the pits. (hope that didn't just make me sound ungrateful because I love my children a ton!)

In more exciting news, Caroline cut her two bottom teeth this weekend (perfect timing you little stinker!).
I was laughing at myself at how excited I got about it. I'm glad I still find those things exciting in my third child.

For all of you moms out there with sick households and who are sick yourselves, hang in there and you can make it!!!!

Posted by JennR at 02:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 06, 2008

future buds

Over here Ian, look this way.

Ah there is he is! (although still looking the other way) LOL
He's such a cute little guy and makes the sweetest sounds, especially compared to Caroline's yelps and grunts.

We had a great afternoon with Erin and Ian- thanks guys!!! Come over anytime.

Posted by JennR at 11:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 04, 2008

it only takes 10 minutes

This is why we worked so hard to build this space for them and they certainly make good use of it. This much damage can be done in about 10 minutes. Most days I don't even go downstairs, as long as its not under my feet I am happy. Unfortunately Andy comes home from work through the garage and more often than not this is what greets him.

This was yesterdays damage . . .

And apparently I don't give my kids enough candy, because Lizzie has a lollipop wrapper in her pocket and I've caught her smelling it a couple of times. LOL

Loving on Lizzie!

Posted by JennR at 05:13 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack