A Sunny Saturday

Lance and I were both in the mood to travel, but we didn't really know where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do.  We finally decided to go up through Washington, through Amish country.  Lance's qualification was that we had to drive though any equipment lot we went by, my qualification was that we were going to stop and play at a park, but we both were looking for a nice (Amish built?) tv cabinet.  We made it to Washington in time to eat, so we stopped at the Gaustaff (spelling???) and had a nice Amish cooking meal.  We walked around there for a little while then went driving through the back roads of Amish Country.  We did quite a bit of driving and made several stops along the way.  Jenna was getting restless so we stopped at the park in Odon.  Ohhh my did she have fun!

She loved the swing. She was deep belly laughing while in the swing, it was soooo cute! Funny part is we have an infant swing on the swing set at home and she cries when I try to push her it in it!

Daddy was being a monkey and Jenna was trying to figure out how to climb too!

She LOVED the slide!  She was smiles from ear to ear!

Mommy pushed Jenna while swinging and she just loved it!

Daddy and Jenna trying to figure out what they wanted to do next.

Jenna taking off deciding she wanted to go play elsewhere!

I told Jenna if the weather is nice next weekend we may go to the locks and dams park on Saturday while Daddy has to work.... weather permitting of course!

All About the Mouth

Jenna must be in an oral stage of development between the teeth, kisses, and developing speech.

I discovered tooth number 5 last night, an I tooth on top.  I can feel the other top I tooth, both bottom I teeth and 2 more swellings for teeth.  She had 4 teeth and was working on 6, now she has 5 and is working on at least 5 more.  I think these teeth are really starting to get to her.

Everyone has been getting kisses lately.  Sometimes it's more of a mouth smack than a pucker, but Jenna gives hundreds of kisses a day.  My mom and dad came over and brought the bedroom furniture last night.  During supper I think she gave away 50 kisses to us!  If you blow kisses at her, she will definately blow kisses back.  I love it!

Jenna's personality is developing so much every day, I just love watching her.  We are working on different words with her and she really picking up on what you say and trying to mimic my words.  She says momma and daddy, of course.  I can also understand hi, baby, omon (come on), ught ohh, no (vigorous head shaking accompanied), ouwe (a version of ouch I don't know how to spell out) as well as others I can't think of right now.  She is even starting to show some frusteration when she tries to communicate with you and you don't understand what it is she wants.

When she really wants me to go with her to play or show me something (she does this at day care too) she comes up and grabs my hand and takes me where she wants me to go or to what she wants me to see.  When she gets hungry she will even walk into the kitchen and stand by her highchair (something else she does at daycare too).  She will usually do this while I am making supper or when we are planning on a late lunch and she happens to be hungry at 11.  I love watching her budding personality!

Mother Hen

Jenna is getting more character and personality all the time.  Over the weekend Ivan, Angel, Kaity and Kent made a trip south to see us and celebrate Jenna's birthday.  She did a really good job opening her present and playing with the tissue paper.

I guess she has finally figured out what presents are all about.

Inside the bag was a baby doll with it's own bottle and stroller (as well as other things).  Jenna immediately knew what to do with the bottle.  If you check out her right hand she had just stuck the bottle in the baby's mouth, which just tickled both Lance and I. 

She has been playing with the baby every morning before daycare and every evening before bedtime.  She wonders around until she finds the bottle, then feeds the baby the bottle.  It is still adorable.

She keeps impressing us at daycare how much she loves the new baby boy.  One morning last week, he was crying when we got there.  Jenna hurried out of my arms, walks over to him and gave him a big kiss.  He was evidently a little fussy that day.  When I got there to pick Jenna up, Theresa told me that she had given the baby at least 10 kisses that day.  I can't wait to see how she reacts to her own sister....

PS.  Thank you Angel for sending me pictures!

Momma's Little Monkey

Tonight, before bedtime, we played dress-up to try on a dressy dress that Ivan, Angel, Kaity and Kent gave Jenna over the weeked.  Between getting the dress off and the pajamas on, Jenna decided to play in her rocking chair.  My little girl has turned into a little monkey!

 She got one foot up and struggled a little to get the other one up there with it. Then she showed me how she thought a rocking chair should be used.  Lance and I were both sitting right there with her to catch her, but I thought that was a pretty clever way to make the chair rock.

(Note there is a second post this evening)

Around the House

We have been doing several little things around the house lately.  We were in the mall a few weeks ago and Deck the Walls was going out of business.  We got a picture of Tigger for Jenna's room for practically nothing.  I spent more on the frame than the actual pictre.  Anyway, we got the picture hung.

Jenna got a shelf in her bedroom for her pretty things.

I transformed her J that I had decorated into a hairbow holder, because we needed something to do with the collection of hairbows she has accumulated.

I have been working on the baby's room / office.  I painted it from plain white with a lot of holes and scuff marks to a pale yellow.  The paint chip calls it Cocoanut Creme.  I think it looks like the color of tub butter.  The picture makes it look much more yellow than it actually is.
 

The closet just had one shelf along the top, so I purchased a new piece of shelving and had Lance cut the old shelving into side shelves to make the closet more practical.

There is a second shelf and a lot more baby clothes in the closet now!

 

Speechless

I don't mean to neglect the blog, I just haven't had much to say lately.  The camera has been stashed away and nothing really exciting has been going on around here lately.  Jenna has been fighting more teeth.  None have broke the skin yet, but I can feel 6 teeth buds... 4 on top and 2 on bottom.  She has been really clingy and cuddly, which is DEFINATELY NOT my typical little girl. 

I have been "nesting" as Lance and Angel have so nicely put it.  I pulled everything out of the baby's room last Wednesday night, spackled and taped on Thursday, then painted on Friday and Sunday.  I have slowly been putting everything back, but wanted to add shelving to the closet and get some organizational things, so I haven't managed to get it all put back together yet.  I will post some pictures of the redone room once it's closer to complete.   

26 Weeks and a Hospital Visit

On Friday, we will be 26 weeks pregnant.  Today, I started my day with blood work before my doctor's appointment.  Everything went okay, as far as I know.  The baby's heart rate was 155 bpm and I had gained 1 pound since my last visit 4 weeks ago.  This is my last time to schedule a visit 4 weeks in the future, then I will start visiting every 2 weeks.  When they measured my belly,  they discovered I measured big.  I told the dr that is because I am farther along than the ultrasound said.  I keep telling him that I will have this baby in May, so I guess we will see if I am right.

After my doctor's appointment I had my appointment to register at the hospital.  I am glad that chore is done because now I can say I am one step closer to being ready for the baby's arrival.

The hospital visit was purely a social visit, but I would still ask for some prayers.  April (Roby) Scherrer my friend since age 3 (a bridesmaid in my wedding) is pregnant with twins.  She is only 28 weeks and is on hospital bed rest.  She has had problems with preterm labor and a thinning cervix.  They are hoping to keep her pregnant for at least another 2 weeks, if not 4, and 6 weeks would be awesome.  Anyway, she is starting her third week of residency at the hospital and is starting to get more nervous/anxious/irritated.  If you wouldn't mind to say a prayer for April, her husband Josh, and the unborn twins (Madeline and Maverick), I know they would really appreciate it.