Dada gets high tech

This is Brian and I figured out how to use this thing !! I love the updates my beautiful wife always leaves and I especially love the two wonderful children God has blessed us with. Have a super day.....

Name that Poop

Jacob is so funny these days. One of the things he does is "names" his poops. Well, he doesn't really name them, he just says what animal they look like. For example, he will look in between his legs into the toilet and say, "ooh! a dragon poop!" Or "a turtle poop" etc. We've even had a parrot poop. I think that it's because his Mimi recently got him a book called Everyone Poops. It was a big hit!

He likes to wrestle his sister. He wraps his legs around her and they for real wrestle. That girl is tough! She has pulled him down to the floor when he was standing next to her on more than one occasion. They also have crawl races. Now that is funny!

Sharing his toys with Jenna has actually been going well. He knows what Jenna is and is not allowed to have and if she has something she isn't supposed to (like one of his paper books) he will say "NO JENNA!" and take it away. But if she has his toy and he wants it, he is pretty good about waiting for her to put the toy down before he grabs it.

Everything is "beautiful." He will say "look mom...that stick is beautiful!" It started with flowers being beautiful and now everything is beautiful.

He likes to bring me sticks and rocks from outside. He is already trying to climb the trees in the backyard.

Jacob is a sugar monster. Anytime he does something good he announces "now I get a cookie!". However, when he gets in trouble as soon as I catch him in the act he hides his face with his hands. It's so funny and takes everything I have not to laugh. He will also try the suck up method and run over and say "I love you" and give you a hug if he's being bad.

Walks have turned into dandelion searches. I'm sure that's great for his allergies (not!).

Now for a quick update on his health. He's had nasty sinus infections for the past year or more. He frequently grows pseudomonas which is why the docs wanted to test him for cystic fibrosis. We got the blood work results back yesterday and they were NEGATIVE. Yea!

So now we have to figure out where to go from here. He is about to finish 3 weeks on cipro and as of last week he was still growing pseudomonas. His nose is a little better this week...but if the infections continue I think we're going to have to have a CT of his sinuses and possible IV antibiotics for a few weeks to zap the sinus infections. So please join me in praying that this round of cipro is effective in killing the pseudomonas for good!

"Love you guys!"

A Few Pics

my handsome boy
curling up, reading a good book. actually, he's looking at the "scary monster"...his favorite page of this book.

chillin' in the 'fort' in the bushes

using brother's sippy cup (but she won't use her sippy!)

Jacob "taking my temperature" with the water hose

Have you ever seen anything so cute in all your life?

Jacob and his Papa doing some art work on the chalkboard

Jacob being naughty splashing in a puddle on TOP of the hot tub

up up up

Jenna is

pulling herself

up on

everything!

Development

I wanted to make a post about what the kids are up to...you know....what they're like right now.

I'll start with Big J. Let me give you one word to describe him...INDEPENDENT! Don't you dare even try to help him with something that he can or thinks he can do. He got so mad at me the other day for trying to help him open a Starburst candy. He tried to "hide" the candy and his head in the trash can to get away from me! And in the end, I had to help him open it.

He's our social butterfly. He talks to everyone. He yells hi to the furthest stranger across a store. He will continue to yell hi until they respond. Then, once they say hi, he will tell them hi some more.

I found out on Sunday that he has a "girlfriend." His teacher Ms. Keri told me that he follows a little girl named Madison around and that he even told her "I like you." Her daddy is a Dallas police officer. Funny huh!

Jacob is VERY BUSY. People often comment on his "business." He is constantly moving. He will sit still to read books or watch Dora but it takes a LOT of effort to keep him occupied. His favorite books at the moment are The Quilt Story which he calls "Ab-o-gail", Curious George (the original, not CG goes to hospital or CG does this or that...), and I Love Mommy which he calls "Mom Says I Can."

He is a climber. Today, he almost hurled himself up onto the counter top. He sometimes drags a chair over to help him up, like the other day when he was standing on the counter to reach the candy that I had put on top of the refrigerator.

I can't leave anything out. I use to leave his lotion etc on top of his dresser but he's figured out how to use things in his room to reach the top and has made some fun messes.

He speaks like a kindergartner. He can now convert things I say like "Jacob, you're such a good helper!" to "I'm a good helper!". He's got the whole I/we/me/you thing figured out. Today he told me "Mama, I make you so happy!" (I often tell him, "Jacob, you make me so happy!")

He likes bringing his sister toys and share his food with her which he knows he is NOT allowed to do. He also likes to help feed her and if I stop feeding her for some reason like to answer the phone, he will no doubt fill in for me while I'm gone.

He is hard to discipline. He doesn't care much if I spank him or put him in time out. I've tried to take away tv time and that didn't matter much to him either. I'm sure we will eventually figure something out. He is usually really good but on the days he's bad, he's bad ALL DAY LONG.

Baby J (Jenna) is a crawling monster. I thought it might take her a few weeks to really become proficient but I was wrong! She is a great crawler and is now pulling herself up on everything. She is trying so hard to stand. She'll spread her feet way apart, then let go of whatever she is holding on to.

Sometimes she'll just be sitting in the middle of the floor and try to stand up. I don't think it will be very long. Today she was holding onto my finger and I let go and she stood for about 3 seconds.

She is still a very happy, easy going baby. She cries when she is tired or if she needs some attention. She follows her brother around everywhere. She likes to watch tv with him too.

She loves any toy that makes noise. Her favorite toys to chew on are wooden toys. She still likes her exersaucer and jumpy horse but the swing is rarely used.

Bubba is her first word. She says it over and over. Sometimes it sounds more like baba than bubba. I don't think she is actually saying anything but we do refer to Jacob as her bubba so who knows.

Jenna is a charmer too. The church nursery workers love her because she never cries and just smiles and plays while she's in there. She'll let anyone hold her and love on her. I can hardly believe she is already 2/3 of a year!

And her hair continues to capture the attention of all who meet her.

I feel so blessed to have such beautiful, loving children. There are some days that are really hard and I know that I have failed as a mother, but I continue to learn and ask God for his guidance raising my flock.

"Hoppy" Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We started off the day the way everyone in their right mind should on Easter...going to church to worship the Risen King!

Brian's sister and her hubby drove up from Austin to spend the afternoon with us. His mom came over too and we had a "traditional" Texas Easter meal of fajitas! They were so yummy!

Aunt Heather is so great with the kids. Here is Jacob being super silly with her. Jenna loved all the attention. Aunt Heather held her and fed her and played with her and even got to see her crawl!

Thanks Aunt Heather for photographing our egg dying adventures! It was so fun. Jacob did really well. He wanted to dunk every egg in every color. I couldn't believe how well they turned out. And no major messes!

Pretty eggs huh. Brian's is the rainbow one. I think he had the most fun ; )

Jenna's official Easter picture. Her dress was ridiculously cute. It's hard to see in the pictures but it had little textured polka dots and eyelet trim. Oh, and the sweetheart neckline. Precious!

Happy Easter from the Alcorns!

Crawling & Suprises

Jenna is crawling! Forward! Her first real dart across the room was on 4/8/09 while I was at work. Brian was so excited that she crawled first for HIM! Whatever. And what was she crawling after? A dirty diaper Brian had put in a bag and tossed across the room!

You might notice in the picture she is practicing the bear crawl. She likes to walk her hands back until it forces her to sit on her bum. She is a hoot!

Jenna eating puffs!

Jacob has been sick all week with asthma and sinus crud. So it's been breathing treatment, robitussin, allergy med, repeat, etc. He's not acting sick of course so that's good.

Last week was a "week of surprises" for me from Brian. It started with him bringing home ice cream cones from McDonalds when he got off work. Then, we went on a fun "off campus" walk at a park in Richardson. A few days later we went for a walk in another great Richardson park.



Then, Brian had the carpets cleaned while I was a work. We had been talking about having it done and boy do they look great!


And finally, my sweet darling husband called in sick ("family" sick to be exact...they get 2 weeks of family sick on top of their regular sick time!) yesterday so I could sleep in since I have been getting up during the night to give Jacob breathing treatments. I love my man!

This is at our HOA egg hunt.

BLUEBONNETS

This first picture was taking in a bluebonnet field that we stumbled upon due to a wrong turn. It's right off PGB and Renner and it's HUGE! The flowers aren't as big or bright as our "normal" spot but it was beautiful none the less.

These pictures were taken at our "normal" spot...a rest stop off Hwy 78 in Lavon. You can tell the bluebonnets have been there forever because they are huge. Some places they are as high as your knees! If we had waited another week I think there would have been more flowers.

Jenna did her thing...sat and smiled the whole time. Jacob on the other hand ran like a wild man the whole time. In fact, he ran so much that he ran out of his shoes! Ever tried to find a size 7.5 toddler shoe that is silver and royal blue in a giant field of bluebonnets?

Well let me tell you, it's a complete MIRACLE that we found them! I found the first one pretty quickly but that second shoe...let's just say 30 minutes later it showed up! If they hadn't have been brand new Stride Rites I probably wouldn't have cared!

Can you find Jenna?

And our blue eyed boy, handsome as ever with a new haircut!

Beauty Queen

One of Jenna's nicknames is "beauty queen." Not because she is gorgeous, although that is a good reason. The real reason is...When I was about 38 weeks pregnant, we decided officially on Jenna's name. It had been Jenna for a while but we were having a hard time with the middle name. I wanted Elizabeth but Brian didn't like it. However, he couldn't come up with something better so it stuck...for a while. Then one day he came with the brilliant idea to name her Jenna Erin. I had wanted to use the name Erin if we ever had a girl (after my brother) but it didn't work with any of the first names we had first come up with and somehow we forgot about it. Anyways, when I told my grandmother that her name was going to be Jenna Erin instead of Jenna Elizabeth she said "Well, it's not like she's going to be Miss America or anything." Oh Grandma! I think she was trying to say it wasn't as formal of a name but she really did like it.

This was a rainy day so Jenna's hair was bouncy. So sweet! I just love those little curls.

Here she is stuck up against her exersaucer. She backs herself into corners then flips over to try and roll out.

This is her tee-pee. She now goes from this to the runners lunge position. She will move one foot up but the other foot well, it doesn't cooperate yet. I wonder if she is going to bear crawl before she crawls.

A piggy day.

Jacob blowing the duck call...so funny!

Donuts

Sarah, This is for you...and all the other mommies that want to spoil their little ones.
To make donuts from a can of biscuits...heat up some oil on medium or a little higher. You'll need enough to cover half the donut so the amount depends on your pan size. I would guess anywhere from 1/2-1 cup. Get your biscuits, punch a hole in the middle. I used the medella bottle that I use with my breast pump. TMI, sorry- but it was the perfect size! Flatten out the biscuit a little, just press on it a few times with your palm.

Once your oil is nice and hot, plop your donuts and the holes in. Once they are golden brown, flip. It takes 2 or 3 minutes or so. The holes cook faster so watch out! Cook the other side the same. The let them cool off on some paper towels. Then, top them how you like. Our favorite is to put them in a baggy with powdered sugar and shake. Or you can sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Or some chocolate syrup. Whatever works! Then enjoy!

Handsome Boy

Despite all the drama with Jenna last week, we still managed some fun times. Jacob asked for donuts about ten times one morning. Finally, I caved and we made home made donuts using canned biscuits. So yummy. He loved them and ate more than I am willing to share!

Nana brought over some really fun new toys. This is his rocket launcher. You stomp the foot thing and the nerf rocket flies into the air. So cool!

It's making me crazy...Jacob losing his "toddler" look and turning into a boy. I just think he's the most handsome little thing ever. I know all moms think that about their boys but just look at him!

Jacob got a Spider Man kite. Here is it's first flight. It wasn't really windy enough to get going but he got to hold it for a little while while it was flying.

So innocent. NOT.

Loving him some ketsup. He dumped Whataburger ketsup (it IS the best ketsup after all) onto his hamburger. On a side note, anytime we go through a drive-thru anywhere Jacob starts yelling "I'LL HAVE A HAMBURGER PLEASE!"

Looking chill in daddy's Oakleys.

And finally our church egg hunt. I had to chase around Jacob while holding Jenna (in the sling but still not easy). That explains my lack of pictures. Jacob wanted to open every egg and eat the candy. I finally got him to put a few in his basket, then we were DONE and headed home! That was a challege that I hope to never have to do again! This weekend is our neighborhood egg hunt but Brian should get home in time to go.

I'll post Jenna pics and bluebonnet pics when I get a chance!