Andrew - 4 Weeks

Andrew is 4 weeks old!  He's a very happy and good baby.  Although I wouldn't complain if he improved his nighttime schedule a little bit!  :)

Lame Duck Triathlon 2011

This was John's second go at the Lame Duck Triathlon. He knocked 15 minutes off his time from last year. He did the half mile swim in 22 minutes, the 9.1 mile bike in 32 minutes, and the 2.6 mile run in 25 minutes. His final time was 1 hour, 25 minutes, 1 second. He did great!! He got a group of 5 guys together and they all had a great time!

I went along again this year to cheer for John and take pictures. By the time John finished, I felt like I had gotten the same workout as him! It was not easy keeping a kid and a baby happy, looking for John, and taking pictures. This is evidenced by the fact that the only pictures I have are AFTER John has finished the race! John may have finished in 1 hr, 25 min., but it felt like 3 hrs to me!!



John, Jenna, and our neighbor's mom.  Jenna is having so much fun?!



John and Jenna waiting for John's friends to finish.  Jenna is still having so much fun!!

Waiting at the finish line for John's friends.  Jenna is still having a GREAT time!!

John, Jenna, and Linda.  Jenna is having SO much fun!

Even Andrew got to come along for the fun!

So glad for the playground!!

A smile!!  We have a smile!!

Another smile (sort of)!!  Can you believe it?!  I guess chocolate chip cookies can do that to a kid!! 

John did great.  He had a lot of fun and was able to cheer on his friends and watch them all cross the finish line.  And I learned a very important lesson...get a babysitter next year!!  

Swimming

Jenna started swimming lessons this summer and had a blast!  The first couple of lessons weren't much fun because Jenna wasn't very comfortable in the water and it was really cold.  But Jenna loves the pool.  She jumps in, she kicks, she splashes, she goes down slides, she lays in the shallow parts, and she goes under the water.    

 

She loves to jump into the pool...regardless of whether there are arms waiting to catch her.  She smiles as she jumps and then screams "Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" and turns around to try and swim back to the side to do it again. 

She kicks her legs and tries to paddle with her arms. Hopefully next summer she will really be swimming.



This one's for you, Grammy!!  :)

It's always fun to play with the toys!



Jenna loves this little slide!  She sits at the top with her hands in the water then then scoots her behind closer and closer until she starts sliding 

Andrew enjoying (?) the pool. 

Since Andrew was born, John has been taking Jenna on special Daddy/Daughter dates to the pool and she loves her time swimming with Daddy and getting McDonald's ice cream cones on the way home.  Every day Jenna asks if she can go to the pool with Daddy!  



Favorite Things

Jenna absolutely LOVES to be outside. It doesn't matter where she is or what she is doing; she loves to be outside. It doesn't matter how cranky she was inside, life is perfect if she's outside. She can't get enough time at the barn. She plays, runs, swings, and climbs at the park. She runs down the sidewalk on our evening walks, looking for dogs.

But if Jenna can't be outside, she does the next best thing. She sits in the front room watching out the window. She waves and says hi to all the people and dogs that pass by. She watches for the birds and rabbits. She covets the balloons that are usually out the side window on the next door neighbor's for sale sign. She will sit on the bench for hours, just looking outside, longing to be out there.

These were from this afternoon:Then bath time came, and this is where she was::

Jenna also loves to push things all around the house, particularly an empty laundry basket. She does a surprisingly good job of navigating it around the coffee table and thru the doorways. Today she decided to load it up with her favorite things. As you can see, her prized possessions include 2 big rubber balls, her "new" cell phone (with lots of "bling" thanks to Daddy!), an empty Jelly Belly container, and her water. Earlier in the day, she had markers and her milk cup in there.

Big Girl Seat

Jenna got a big girl car seat! I decided to install it in my car this afternoon while Jenna was napping. I looked at the directions on the side of the car seat and it looked pretty simple to install, right? WRONG!! I spent an entire hour trying to figure out how to install this thing. I'm sure it is quite simple for most people...

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After I got it installed, Jenna and I went to the grocery store. She was SO excited to ride in her new seat!! She was just smiling so big and looking all around. I tried to capture her excitement on camera but this is the best I got. She loved the car ride to the store and back. She is high enough now that she can look out the window and point out all the doggies that she sees!

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I know she doesn't look all that excited here, but, believe me, she was!

Watching her in her new car seat definately made all the frustration from the previous hour disappear! She was so cute!

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I'm a little afraid that she nows thinks she is able to drive! Notice John's keys up near the steering wheel. As usual, she has the seat up and her entire lower half seated in the compartment. Good thing there isn't a gas pedal down there!! (Grammy, we can't wait to see you in a few weeks, but you might want to hide the keys to the Power Wheels when we come...)

Domestic?

So, we all know I'm not the domestic type. I don't like to cook (at all!), I don't scrapbook, I'm not overly enthused about cleaning, I come very close to killing my plants on a regular basis, and my "garden" last year was pretty sad! And I'm just not the cutesy, artistic, creative type of person. In fact, the only "art supplies" that I own are markers, scissors, and tape. I don't even have any glue, much less paint or glitter or whatever other artsy things are out there. I would much rather spend the entire day cleaning the barn than suffer through any of the tasks just mentioned.

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However, I must slowly be making progress!! John got me a bread machine for my birthday and I've been making cinnamon raisin bread on a weekly basis. (I've "upgraded" from a standard loaf of white bread to cinnamon raisin.) I love peeking into the machine, watching as it kneads, rises, and bakes...all without any extra work from me!

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This was my first loaf. But it's been much improved upon.

And WAIT...there's more! Mom got me some fabric for Christmas so I could sew a bag for Jenna's books and toys at church. I've been working on it since January and I FINALLY finished it! It was a ton of work, took a ton of time, but was a ton of fun! And I think it turned out great!! I'm very impressed with myself! :)

(Even Irish likes the bag!)

I think this is about as domestic as I get for now. Although I might branch out and find a new yummy bread recipe to try. Or figure out how to make the too-short pajama pants I made for John longer...

Miss Independent

Jenna has become little Miss Independent!! (I don't know why this surprises me, but it does!) She thinks she's a big girl and tries to do everything herself.

• She loves to sit in her own bean bag chair and read her books by herself.
• She loves to open her closet and get her diapers out.
• She gets her bath toys and puts them in the tub every night by herself.
• She doesn't want to be carried when we go out...she wants to walk.
• She insists on brushing her teeth herself.
• She doesn't want us feed her...she has to feed herself.
• And she loves to clean her face after she eats (or when she has boogies).

Lately, she hasn't been satisfied just feeding herself. She must have a spoon or fork! So she will go to the silverware drawer, open it, and wait for me to get her something to use. Here are a few pictures I snapped today:

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Is Jenna not the cutest little girl ever?! Don't you just LOVE the last two pictures?! I can't believe how she is growing up and becoming so independent!

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(I've decided that I need to be a "better" mom and start taking pictures of Jenna, so here is my attempt!)

:)