Staying Sane

Pretty difficult when you have a screamer. We're back to screaming. Going on an hour of full blown screaming. Already gave Motrin an hour ago... She's still screaming. This is why some parents drink. To cope with the screaming.

I pray Wren turns out to be the most well adjusted, polite, and sweet little girl... She's been a challenging baby to say the least!

~ Jen
Sent from my iPhone

Teething

Since things were going so well this evening...there had to be a twist. Sigh. Wren has a new tooth that broke skin today. Her bottom right. It didn't bother her earlier, but I've had an impossible time tonight getting her to settle and fall asleep. I finally gave her some Motrin about 20 minutes ago and moved her to the bassinet in our room...that seems to have worked. Fingers crossed.

~ Jen
Sent from my iPhone

Holy Gnocchi

Get ready for this...All four of us had the same thing for dinner! I KNOW!

Atticus also had half an orange, half a kiwi and some peas/carrots & Wren had baby cereal and a packet of pumpkin/banana... But all four of us ate gnocchi!

I think I may faint.

~ Jen
Sent from my iPhone

Photo Security

Hey... so, I've changed the security settings for our Picasa albums. If you'd like to see the current photos, send me an email and I'll forward the link to the albums. I know, if bad people want to find stuff, they still can -- but at least this makes it a bit harder to find!

The Challenge

I would like to drop 10-15 pounds. Who's up for a challenge?

Chili Cook-Off

I've forgotten to post about this...

The beginning of last week, Greg informs me that he's entered a chili cook-off at the courthouse and would like me to make a white chicken chili. Totally random, eh? I'd been talking about making some for us for dinner -- but not an entire crockpot full for a competition! Eeek. I googled, I looked around, I checked some recipes I had stowed away... the best online reference I came up with was for what is believed to be Willie Nelson's White Chili. I never really follow recipes to the letter anyways - it was really just a jumping off point for me. We did follow it pretty closely and we did win 3rd place. Not bad for a brand new recipe!

Here are a few of the changes I'm going to make for my next batch...

- reduce the amount of stock by about 1/2 C

- in addition to the dry beans that soak overnight, I'd like to take some canned beans and mash them up to add some thickness to the chili

- increase the garlic slightly (one can never have too much garlic)

- increase the sour cream to 2 cups

- measure the amount of peperjack cheese that I put in the pot. :)

Things to keep the same that aren't necessarily in the recipe:

- saute the onions and garlic together

- use pepperjack cheese instead of plain monterrey jack

- use half cayenne and half chipotle pepper

- use fresh poblano peppers

- use light sour cream (one has to cut some of the calories somewhere!)

Wren's First Boo Boo

It was bound to happen. Julie and I were attempting to snap a few "10 Month" pictures of Wren (yes - I'm a few days late). Wren was wiggling around and leaning over the edge of the chair looking at the basket of books when she lost her balance. I was right there, trying to snap a photo and I caught her arm and Julie lunged forward and caught her leg -- but she still managed to slip down enough to run head first into a big green feather that Atticus had sticking up out of his basket of books. She's got a pretty nice scratch on her cheek and a bit of a boo boo just below her eyebrow. Thank goodness it missed her eye!

I'll carefully try to take a few more photos when she wakes up from her nap. And - I have uploaded some more photos, but I'm making the albums a bit more private, so I need to send you the link to view them. I'll be working on that later -- after work, after the kids are in bed, etc.

It's Not Working

I about fell over when I heard "It's not working" coming from the bathroom last night. Atticus told Greg that he needed to go potty. He wanted to go like a big boy. Greg helped him get his pants and diaper off and bring the step over to the potty. Atti didn't want to sit, he insisted that he stand like a big boy. What comes next comes from Greg's retelling of the events. Atticus stood on the step and was trying everything in his power to go pee. He was thrusting his hips, he was tugging on his "parts" and alas... nothing. That's when I heard Atticus say, "it's not working" from the other room. Greg gave lots of praise and let him know that we'll just keep trying. But it was really stinking cute!

The Wooby Box

In an effort to reduce the amount of daylight spent with the wooby - I have brainstormed a new idea. This morning, Atticus and I decorated a shoe-box and dubbed it "the wooby box". During the day, while Atticus is awake, the wooby will live in the wooby box, resting until it's needed by Atticus for naps or nighttime.

We're hoping this will work for a while, and then when he's comfortable with this routine... the "paci fairy" will come visit to take the paci to a new baby.

That's the plan... we'll see how it goes.

Uh-uh

Atticus learned a new "word"/sound at school. Instead of saying "no" he's now occasionally using "uh-uh". Lovely. He is also using many other big words, and identifying lots of new objects, but I was hoping it would take a little longer before he was busting out in slang!

Just Talking

Wren is doing a bit more talking these days... not sure if they're true "words" yet, but we've heard: Hi, Bye and I'm pretty sure I got a Mama yesterday too.

We've already heard Baby, Atti and Daddy.

Time flies. Today is her 10 month birthday -- but I'll have to take her photos tomorrow. Today was a bit harried!

Weather

On the upside, it's supposed to be above freezing and actually into the upper 50s this week. Hallelujah.

On the downside, it's supposed to rain, rain and then rain some more.

I think I prefer cold and dry to slightly warmer and rainy. Transporting two kids under the age of 3 in and out of a car when it's raining is not my idea of a good time...

Blech. My SIL swears that spring here is just beautiful. So, just when exactly is spring? I'm ready.

The Little Things

Just wanted to share a few little things about each of the kids, lest I forget in my old age!

Atticus: He's using full sentences now. This morning he said, "Mommy take away Atti's blue blanket from Wren." He's also using Wren and "sister" interchangeably. He's gotten into a weird habit while eating of wanting to "show" you what he's eating. AKA the "see-food" diet. He's fascinated with bicycles and keeps asking for one for his birthday. He has an amazing memory and will mention things that happened nearly 6 months ago with regularity. His love/hate relationship with the vacuum cleaner still exists. He's fascinated with them, but petrified they will turn on. He always asks to see them when we go to Meijers or Target -- but covers his ears when we start down the aisle.

Wren: She giggles every night when I go to put lotion around her shoulders, neck and ears before putting on her pajamas. All I have to do is rub my hands together and she starts to giggle. She's mastered puffs and has taken a liking to Cheerios and Kix too. She loves the Plum Organics baby food -- and prefers when I squeeze it directly into her mouth instead of using the spoon. She's still using both hands and hasn't shown a true preference yet for right or left. Of table foods - I haven't really found anything yet that she doesn't like. Avocado, bananas, melon, pasta, pancakes, broccoli, steamed carrots... so far so good! She's figured out the jumperoo and will now bounce bounce bounce for longer periods of time. We're starting to do more sign language with her, but her vocal "skills" are still quite strong. She's a loud one - still lots of "talking" and "sqwuaking". She isn't pulling herself up yet - but she does a mean downward dog yoga pose.

I'm sure there's a lot more of the little day to day stuff to share -- but I wanted to write a few things down while I was thinking about them...

Daycare

I'm a little sad. My baby starts daycare tomorrow. I know I've been blessed to be able to employ a nanny while working from home... but the logistics and the associated costs of daycare for Atticus plus the nanny for Wren was starting to take its toll. So, it's with mixed emotions that the little lady will go to The Gathering Place tomorrow with her big brother. I know it'll make my conference calls a little less stressful, but it will also make my days a little less bright. I loved being able to pause for a moment here or there and listen to her giggle and play downstairs. The social interaction will be good for her -- she's had a lot less exposure to other kids than Atticus did. Atti was lucky that I had a few friends from my birthing class, plus other good friends in Austin with kids... Wren, poor thing, she gets to play with her big brother and peek in at the kids in Atticus's classroom, but she's had very little interaction otherwise. This will be good for her. (That's what I keep telling myself!)

I'm also going to miss having MacKenzie, Brianna and Julie around the house. Life can get pretty mundane when you're working from home with no adult interaction. Perhaps the occasional work date at the local coffee shop is in my future again...

Bath Time for Two

Ok.. no photos of the big event. Sorry. But... Atticus and Wren had their first joint bath tonight. It went rather well. Atti only splashed Wren a few times and she managed to stay upright sitting on her big bath sponge for the duration of the event. The biggest news is that Atticus was so distracted by Wren being in the tub that I was able to wash his hair without him screaming!!

I had hoped to put Atticus to bed at his "normal" bedtime -- which in theory would be an hour earlier than he's used to tonight, while keeping Wren up the extra hour and putting her to bed after Atticus. Best laid plans, eh? Wren was eye rubbing and yawning super early tonight which is how both kids ended up in the bath together. Wren went down without a hitch at 8pm but Atticus however took until almost 9:40 to fall asleep. Daylight savings apparently didn't catch on with the two year old even though I didn't let him sleep his entire naptime...

Yay Me!

Good news Friday. I am now a Senior Operations Specialist at Hitachi Consulting. Woo hoo. Go me.

Fat Tuesday

It looks like a big jelly donut. Paczki. Apparently it's a Northwest Ohio/Polish thing for Fat Tuesday. MacKenzie looked at me like I was crazy when I said I'd never heard of them.

We saw them at the bakery over the weekend in the grocery store and Atticus had to have some. I admit - pretty darn tasty treats. Sooooo, I decided to use Wikipedia to look them up...

Paczki

Read all about them and scroll down a bit till you see the section about Israel. Interesting - they're related to Sufganiyot.

Who knew? Who cares? They're tasty things that I'm sure have gone straight to my hips!

Radio Flyer

Woot! We have a buyer. :)

Bubbe and Pops have agreed to get Atticus a new Radio Flyer Tricycle for his birthday. He's going to be over the moon!

Singing

Atticus has been doing quite a bit of singing lately... mostly the ABC's and Happy Birthday.

He's also informed me that he would like a bicycle for his birthday. :) I think once it warms up -- a Radio Flyer or Schwinn trike is in his future!

The Radio Flyer is 46% off at the moment if any relatives are interested in picking it up early..

You Know It's Bad When...

The American Airlines customer service agent hears your daughter screaming in the background and says, "Hon, are you sure you don't want to go on vacation by yourself?". Sigh.

I did that once. I just up and booked a long weekend in Jamaica. It didn't turn out quite how I had planned -- but I did it. Just me. And a book. And the ocean. And some really weird pushy locals....

I swear, if she weren't so damn cute....