Baby G

cousin lovin'

Last week we blessed to have a very brief but fun visit from Brian's brother Chris, his wife Val, and my darling nephew Gavin. Brian's sister Heather gave them her frequent flyer miles so they could come visit. Thank you Aunt Heather! They spent several days with Heather in Austin, then they all (including Heather) came up and stayed with us for 2 days until they had to fly home to Arizona.

Aunt Heather, Jacob, Brian, Jenna, Uncle Chris, baby Gavin

They arrived on Jacob's birthday. We went to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner and play, then it was home for cake. The world's ugliest cake, that is. Jacob wanted blue and yellow icing...then I did writing in green. It turned out so ugly! But it tasted really good.

The birthday boy snuck into the ice cream when we weren't looking.

Baby G is 3 months old. What a chunk! He is the juiciest little (big) thing! I'm so glad we were able to see him. Chris graduated in May and just accepted a job last week. Unfortunately, the job is in Arizona. They were hoping to come back to Texas but at least he has a job! PTL!

The weather here has been very, very, very rainy. The past 2 days it has finally stopped but there's more to come tonight. I love the rain but it's hard on the kids, especially Jacob. So, we have gone puddle jumping a few times. We have been searching for a rainbow but it's been too cloudy. We'll have to keep looking.

Work has been crazy. Hello flu season. I leave Thursday for a scrapbook retreat with my Murphy Road girls. I'm very excited and very ready to escape MommyLand for a few days. It will be my first time away from Jenna and the longest time I've been away from Jacob. I'm not sure how well I'll do but I have a feeling the time will fly by. I'll let you know!

J & J B-day Bash

The kid's birthday party was a blast! Seriously, it was the first year that it was actually fun. I guess because Jacob was old enough to actually play with his pals, plus we kept things as simple as possible. We grilled hamburgers, had chips and baked beans.

Right when the burgers were about done, the "surprise" visit from a Wylie firetruck came. We all headed outside to meet the firefighters and climb around on the truck. Wylie FD is the best! The kids loved it and Jacob was truly in heaven. He ran right up to the truck and climbed right in. It was funny because some of the older kids were a bit overwhelmed. Not my boy.

Then we ate, had cake and ice cream (a Diego cake from Target...it was so yummy!) and headed outside for some playtime. We had a pinata which was great fun, then we (we being me) opened the presents. The second present Jacob opened was his "real" weed eater and once he started playing with it, he was totally uninterested in any more presents.

God blessed us with a beautiful day for a party! Who'd have thought that we'd have such a nice day in early September? The kids played on the swing set, drove around Jacob's power-wheel truck, collected acorns, had lawn mower races, played football....

Jenna ran around like the princess she is, chasing everyone and trying to get in on the action. She didn't like the firetruck too much so she hung out inside and talked to her great grandma. She got some cute new clothes (my dad even picked out a dress for her!) and some fun toys too.

My dad was the secondary photographer and I don't have any of his pics yet so there's no cake pictures or family pic yet but I'll post those later.

Shepard's Kid's

Jacob started Shepard's Kid's (Parent's Day Out) this week. Day 1 went pretty well. He wouldn't take a nap so that was the only "rough" time. They have rest time for well over an hour so it's a loooong time for him to sit quietly on his mat. He cried a little during nap time and told his teachers "Mama and Dada will be here soon."


Check out that backpack! He picked it out himself over Spiderman and Hulk. My kid's got class! "Go Cowboys!" as Jacob would say!

I'm going to give him a month or so to see if he will nap (being that he naps for Mimi and I know he could use the rest). If the peer pressure doesn't work, I may see about picking him up before nap time every day. After nap time they have books/puzzle time then it's pick-up time so he wouldn't really miss anything. We'll see how it goes.

Today, he was a little teary when I dropped him off. He was trying hard to be brave but I could see the sadness in his eyes. It broke my heart a bit but I know once they get started he'll have tons of fun.

Jenna spent Monday night vomiting. And vomiting. And vomiting. It was the most pitiful thing I have ever seen. She woke up at 10pm, right as I was going to sleep. I ignored her for a few minutes thinking she'd go back to bed. She kept fussing so I finally got up. I knew as soon as I walked into her room that she had thrown up. The smell....

As I was cleaning her up she vomited more. After about the 4th onesie change I realized this was going to be a long night and just left her in her diaper. I would drape her with a towel or blanket so I had something to "catch" the vomit with. The poor thing just couldn't stop. She would throw up, fall asleep in my lap, wake up 10second-10 minutes later fussing which was immediately followed by more vomiting. This went on until around 4am. The last several hours were mainly dry heaving since there was nothing left, not even stomach acid.

Thankfully she was better by Tuesday morning. Weak and tired, but no vomiting. We spent the day resting and rehydrating while Bubba was at school. I hope to never ever ever experience that again!

What's New?

Jacob starts preschool next week. I can't believe he's old enough for "preschool." It's really Parent's Day Out (PDO) at our church and we are all so excited. We got to meet his teachers last night and they are both super sweet. Many of his classmates are also in his Sunday School class at church so I don't see the adjustment being too difficult.

Jacob has mastered the computer. He can now open Internet Explorer, go to the Favorites tab, scroll down to Jacob, and move the mouse over to select his Batman video. He can open and close windows, adjust the volume, etc.

Jacob naked in the easel. It reminds me of those Anne Geddes pictures!

He has also been playing the Wii a bit. He LOVES to "play Wii games" mainly baseball. I even created him his own Mii. He's too cute!

Jenna has been enjoying all her birthday presents. Her and Jacob scoot around the downstairs on their cars constantly. She has learned how to stand on her car (thanks Jacob) and shares her car well with her brother. She also loves her baby and baby stroller.

She loves to do the log roll and spin around in circles. She thinks shaking her head NO is the funniest thing on earth. She has also mastered petting the dogs. She loves carrying around a book and pretending to read it.

Many people have recently commented on her BIG personality. While it is super cute right now, it makes me wonder what the future might hold.

She still eats more than her brother. Actually, Jacob has been a super finicky eater lately. All of his staple foods (macaroni, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, cereal bars) he no longer likes at least for the moment. He lives on fruit and scrambled eggs and junk.

Jenna has been using her morning banana as mousse.

The week after Jenna's birthday, I quit feeding her during the night hours. Around 9 months when she cut a bunch of teeth at once, she started feeding earlier during the night. Sometimes 11 or 12. Then, she'd want to eat again around 4 or 5. Twice a night!

Everyone that knows me knows I CANNOT stand to listen to my babies cry. So I'd feed her. I didn't want her keeping Brian up or me for that matter. Well after a full year of not getting a single full night's rest, I said enough is enough. It only took a few days for her to adjust. I know I should have done it 9 months ago but we weren't ready. Brian was such a big help. For 2 or 3 nights in a row he'd get up and rock her back to sleep. He didn't complain about it once!

We are looking forward to the kid's birthday party and Jacob starting school and some other stuff.

Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful family.

Birthday Princess

Our little princess turned one this past weekend. One YEAR. She's ONE YEAR OLD. I'm still having a hard time processing it.
Posing by her "Happy 1 Jenna" written in sidewalk chalk.

We started the morning with a trip to the donut shop. Jenna had a heart-shaped donut with pink icing and sprinkles. Then it was off to Lowes to drive the race-car cart. Ok, that was more for us but she still loved it. Then home for a nap, then lunch. After lunch we did some shopping. Bought birthday party invitations, Nana's birthday present, then we went to a consignment sale. Bought clothes for the winter, then it was off to Mimi and Papa's house. After some fun play-time with her new pink scooter, it was off to dinner. We had a chocolate-banana cake (from Cafe Brazil) for dessert. Yummo! It was a great day.

At one year:

You are very independent. You like to comb your own hair and brush your own teeth. You also love gabbing on the phone (of any sort-cell, regular, toy, etc).

on the phone (elmo phone)brushing teeth

You run FAST and climb very well.

You love your family. You always know where Bubba is and don't let him get too far from you. You squeal with delight when Dada or Mamma get home from work.

You hold my cheeks and give big open mouth kisses when YOU want a kiss. If Dada or I want a kiss, you turn your head away and grunt. Stinker!

You are beautiful! Strangers stop us often to tell us how beautiful you are, as if we didn't know! You bring joy to strangers often with your big smile.

You eat. And eat. And eat. You don't stop eating. You eat your food, then Bubba's, then ours. How is it you're still so tiny? 18+ lbs at last weight.

We love you so much JenJen Jenna Boo!

Million Dollar

Million Dollar FOUNTAIN, that is! We visited this so called fountain in Richardson this week. It's sort of like the one at the Billagio in that it shoots up (and across) water in sync to music. It's pretty neat.
Jenna was the first one in (no big surprise there). Sometimes there's just one stream of water going, other times it's all of them at once. She got one face-full of water but handled it pretty well.

Jacob thought it was too funny. He ran laps round and round the fountain. He ran in and out a few times but mostly he just watched.

He's so cute! He was very excited here!

The fountain is near the Eisman Center (75 and Galatan) if you're wondering. The Renaissance Hotel is behind it and there are a few restaurants across the street. You can park right along the curb by the fountain. There are benches and I think picnic tables too. We will definitely be going back to this free fun summer spot!

New Pics

With 2 kids to chase, I seem to be too tired to blog these days. Here's a quick recap of our past 2 weeks.

Brian went to a week long school to learn how to be a police bicycle officer. It was pretty intense but he did great. God was so good to bring a cool front that week. By the end of the week he could ride slowly, bend down and pick up a quarter off the ground while still riding. Crazy! Oh, and he can shoot you from his bike too. Just in case you were wondering.

Jenna got an early birthday present. I got it off Craig's List and it's too big to hide...it's a Jump and Spin Zebra and she loves it! Oh, and so does Jacob. Thank goodness he's skinny and is well below the weight limit.

Jenna also got her first pair of big girl walking shoes. Size 4.5 Stride Rites - white with light pink soles and stitching (flowers and swirls).

The past week my cousin Karen and her two boys stayed with us. Her oldest, Blake, was in Mav's camp at UTD. It was fun having some company. Jacob called Reece (5) "Josh" all week. He has a friend that's the same age with blond hair named Josh. By the end of the week he was just doing it to be annoying. And he called Karen "MOM" like Reece does. I finally convinced him that she was REECE's mom and I was HIS mom. Then he called her Kierrrrren. He must have said her name a million times. It was really cute. He LOVED her.

We also spent a day with our BF's the Reeds but for some reason it won't let me upload a picture. Jacob and Jolene had a blast. Jenna ran around and sweet baby Jessica loved watching all the madness! That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Tata for now!