General Life Update

Life with two has been such a joy and a challenge. I’ve always heard it’s tough to adjust to two... or three (depending on who you ask)... and at least for me I think the former is the truth. I’ve struggled to live without sleep, find time to use the bathroom ALONE, and care for my family with grace and patience. It’s been a tough journey, one far from over, but I’m finally feeling more on top of things.

And I’ve had time to focus on all the joys of living life with two growing girls!

Morenna  - 25 months

Morenna continues to amaze me with her vocabulary. She definitely takes after her father in that regard. When Matt was five he was amazing people in grocery check-out lines with properly used words like “obstreperous” and I’m just waiting for Morenna to do the same.

She chatters constantly and will dialog with short conversations on the phone. And also by herself. Her capacity for imagination has definitely grown... which is something I’m thrilled about!

She can sing the entire alphabet and recognize the letters “O”, “M”, and “B”.  And she can almost recognize all colors.

Numbers-wise she can count to 10... and counts objects, too.

Dancing and music are definitely her forte, so I’m sure we’ll be looking into ballet or tap lessons in the near future. And dresses. She loves dresses with a passion!

And recently she’s mastered summersaults all by herself.

A haircut might be coming soon for her, too.

Potty-training still is a taboo subject. She will pee on the potty if we sit her on it, but other than that she has no desire. And I’m ok with that.

I’m also ok with they fact she still sleeps in a crib, with no apparent desire for the contrary.

Today we moved Jadyn into Morenna’s room... so we’ll have to see how that goes. :-) As a big sister goes, Morenna has definitely started to show more of an interest in Jadyn, but mainly to take her toys or let me know when she’s spit-up or lost her beloved binkie. There is the occasional kiss, but I’ve been a bit disheartened at her lack of gentleness or care towards her. Oh well, I shrug it off in light of her age.

Food wise she is my vegetarian in training. She’s not a huge meat lover, but will gladly pig out on beans, cheese and eggs... in addition to yogurt, fruits and veggies and crackers. Don’t forget the crackers.

She finally has both canine teeth on the bottom. Just two more to go and then we’ll be waiting for the last of her molars. I’m not at all saddened to see that phase of growth pass us by. I’m not big on teeth. :-)

 

Jadyn – 5.5 months

My little tootsie-pop. What a joyful spirit Jadyn is... despite how little she sleeps. Which is more than I can say for myself. :-)

At halfway through her fifth month she has taken to eating cereal like a pro. She. Loves. It. Funny how I’ve failed to make it to the six month mark with both girls before introducing them to solids. But both have been ready, so who am I to deny?

Jadyn can’t stand to be on her tummy, so about a month and a half ago she mastered rolling over from tummy to back on demand. Simply lay her on her tummy and before you blink, she’s flipped over and is giggling back at you.

Her latest accomplishment, though, is to sit unassisted. And she really likes this position. She does well with reaching for toys and keeping herself from toppling over.

Jadyn continues to act like she’s teething... as she has since month number one. Her favorite activity is to gnaw on daddy’s finger as he totes her around the house. Spoiled? Maybe. Adored? Yah.

And what a drama queen! I thought Morenna was passionate... boy, we’re in for it with Jadyn. Her version of a temper-tantrum is to cease breathing until her face turns bright red and then to squeal. A funny thing to behold!

In as much as Morenna is a Daddy’s girl (BIG time), Jadyn is a Mommy’s girl. She simply lights up whenever I’m around and thus far has belly-laughed really only for me. I’m not complaining. Such adoration is a small payback for the number of sleepless nights I’ve spent with her.

Morenna was a great sleeper right off of the bat. But Jadyn continues to get me up several times a night. I finally wised up to the fact she wasn’t waking in order to eat, but rather to cuddle with me... every three hours. Still not too sure how I’m going to handle that one... but I’m hoping it goes away soon.

Flower Child

Morenna’s Blue Flower
March 2010

Turning Two

My baby isn’t my baby anymore. She’s my oldest.

Mommy: “How old are you, Morenna?”
Morenna: “Good.”

That’s close enough. :-)

She’s two. And this momma has already witnessed so many new changes in her. Like overnight. Yes, there was the arrival of a new attitude as sassy as the little high heeled dress-up shoes she parades around in. But there was more, lots more. Her curiosity in the world around her has blossomed, too.

Morenna: “Mommy, what’s that?”
Me: “Those are the cow’s horns.”
Morenna: “Ooh. Beep, beep!”

In light of this burst of curiosity, it was only fitting that we had a Curious George birthday party. She loves the “monk”, as she’s termed him, and perhaps he’s the one responsible for her newfound adventurous spirit.

We had just a few of our friends over for the celebration, along with my parents. Of course there has to be another little one present for it to be a real party, so her buddy Kavan was there, too. :-)

Here’s some captured moments:

View Full Album

My Family

November 2009

A common after-dinner occurrence.

After the Storm

Snowmageddon 2010

28+ inches out our front door

Worth a Thousand Words

If the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true, then it’s my lucky day.

Despite my desires to maintain fresh content - written content - on this blog, the fact of life is that I’m no superwoman. I’ve been forced to identify my priorities of late and sadly blogging just doesn’t score high enough to outrank changing poopy diapers, shining the kitchen sink, kissing boo-boos, watching Veggitales, feeding my birds... well, not that last one. But you get the point.

Anyhow, since a majority of you visit to see updates about the girls and not to read my random thoughts or see my latest coupon bargain... I’ve decided to initiate something new here. Something that will both feed my desire to post fresh content, while likewise serving you up some fresh updates on the girls. Though not to worry, I'll still be tempted to write whenever I have a spare moment.

Here’s hoping for success! I bring you... a thousand words.

January 2010

Sisters

Not exactly the best pictures I have of the girls... but since they're in the same outfit, I thought it warranted a post on similarities. :-) So whacha think?

Growing Up - The Lengthy Edition

My first thought was to begin this post with the proverbial: Morenna is growing like a weed. ::Yawn:: That's a no-brainer. Instead I'll try to be a little more purposeful in sharing what her life (and ours as parents) is like these days.

As I type, I'm glancing at my husband's khaki-clad pant leg, which is currently a marbled tie-die of marker smudges. Drawing is a new thing for our little BG, but I'm elated that she's finally taking an interest. It didn't take long for a "marker rule" to be enforced after this picture was taken. After cleaning my floor numerous times (what heavenly provision washable non-toxic markers are!) we finally moved all coloring to the table. We're still having issues with marking our face, teeth, lips, clothes and other extremities, though. I thought about switching her to crayons. No stain. No mess. Brilliance! But she's taken to badly chewing the ones we get at restaurants so I've stuck with drawing utensils that can defend themselves.

Concurrently, I'm listening to Morenna (who's supposed to be sleeping) on the baby monitor counting the dots on her pajamas. It sounds something like this: "won (one)... doo (two)... tree (three)! Seriously, in the matter of about a week she picked up counting to three and will typically perform on demand. Yes, this is definitely my most favorite developmental milestone at the moment. I'm trying to move her past "three" and on to "four", but she's pretty adamant about staying at three. She refuses to even say "four". So, no dice. (Note: as you see in the picture from Monday's post, Morenna refuses to fall asleep unless her feet are propped up. She also has to prop them up at the table, too. So funny!)

Speaking of refusals, what's up with the sudden arrival of picky eating? If offered to her, any variety of food will be refused. Even favorites. But if haphazardly placed within her reach (whether purposefully or accidentally), any food may readily be devoured, including, but not limited to: raw potatoes, garlic, prunes, onions - gross stuff like that. What the...?

She very much enjoys climbing and standing on her stool to watch me cook, prepare food, do the dishes, you name it. I can't believe how big she looks to me standing there and trying to help out. Too cute!

By far her favorite thing to do is stand and swirl around the bubbles in my dishwater. It will keep her entertained the whole time I do the dishes. Can't beat that!

One personality trait Matt and I have been a little disappointed about is her lack of luster for outside activities. We are both big outdoorsy people... but not her. No way. She'll play out in the yard with us a for a little while, but in no time at all she'll waddle her way to the door and pound on it until we let her in.

On a positive note, she's a big singer. Yes, she loves music. And loud music, too. Matt and I still haven't outgrown our loud music tastes from college, but Morenna is a great sport and will start bopping to the music as soon as she hears the beat. Not to worry: she listens to Christian music, too. :-) My mom taught her to sing the Hosanna song. It sounds something like this:

Morenna: Ho, ho, ho, ho...

Mommy: Hosanna...

Morenna: Ha, ha, ha, ha...

Mommy: ...hallelujah...

Morenna: He, he, he, he...

Mommy: ... Saved me...

Morenna: I got da...

Mommy: ...love of the Lord...

Morenna: in Me! ::big grin::

I'll be sure to post the video we have of that sometime soon.

This Too Shall Pass

One thing I'm learning as a mommy is that time moves on. Thank. God. It's been a struggle this week to be a patient and energized mommy.

A big struggle.

I'm still playing detective as to where Morenna picked up the new habit of night-waking (teething? hunger? new developmental milestone?) but wherever it came from, she has it. Bad.

Several nights this week she'll wake up between 2am-3am, wide awake. For the first hour or so she'll just sit quietly in her crib and stare at the wall, poor dear. Ask me how I know this? Bathroom visit, every two hours. Blah.

After the initial hour, she'll get frustrated and start whimpering for attention. I give in. I can't help it - I sympathize as I'm dealing with my own pregnancy-related insomnia. There's nothing worse than being awake and feeling like the only one in the world to be that way.

Anyhow, she's always so delighted to see me and will sit quietly on my lap and rock. And rock. And rock. Every now and then she'll count to three, or identify my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, or ask about her favorite book. An hour later, she'll start asking for food, milk, juice, her toys. Finally around 5am Matt gets up for work, so she laughs and chatters while chasing him around the bathroom as he gets dressed. Did you catch the time? Yeah, 2-3 hours later.

I can rarely get her back to bed until around 6am. She'll sleep until about 9am and then be grumpy and out of sorts the rest of the day until naptime. From what I've read, this night-waking phase usually lasts from month 18 to month 20. We'll see about that.

Sounds like I'll get one back into the habit of nighttime sleeping just in time to welcome a new addition... with her own reasons for night-waking. Fun stuff!

One thing in which I have found comfort is the wisdom of seasoned moms, saying: "This too shall pass." Should nothing I try work, I know this won't last forever.

I hope. :-)

Messes

We've entered a new phase here at our house. I never really pushed Morenna to use a baby fork or spoon. Occasionally I'd offer her one, but being the busy little bee that she is, her hands were the speedy and efficient preference.

Now at long last she's decided that any food placed before her should be retrieved with a utensil of some type. I'm definitely happy to see her moving more towards eating like a grown-up, but it's brought along a fair share of mess. :-)


Her utensils aren't all to blame, though. Eight teeth later... she finally has taken interest in attempting to eat just about anything. On Sunday she grabbed an entire ear of corn, husk and all, while I was in the process of shucking the others. She wasn't very impressed. Half an hour later we introduced her to the "proper" way of eating corn... and it was like a What About Bob? experience: "Mmmmm. MMMmmmm. MMMMMMMMMmm!"

Lastly, Morenna has been creating messes by helping me in the kitchen. I love how great an interest she is showing in baking, and even cleaning-up. The other night she demonstrated to Daddy how she helps makes brownies. I think he got a good idea...

Isn't she the cutest thing? I'm totally loving this phase, despite the extra work. Hopefully it will be double the fun when Baby Roo joins the scene... :-)

Daddy's Girl

Momma's Little Helper

Morenna has developed a fascination for the kitchen. Her previous fancy of examining the drawers and cabinets has matured to a desire to help in any way she can: open the fridge, carry items, stir ingredients, play in the dishwater - you name it! Recently she stood by my side as I cleaned and snapped green beans. She took each bean as I was finished with it, chomped off an end, chewed and then slowly dragged "Mmmmm." She'd then place the chewed bean in the pot.

Last week she enjoyed standing on her little helper stool to assist me in cutting up a cantaloupe. I think the sweet smell and her love for melon got in the way with her "helping". :-) What do you think?

Melon euphoria


Must be clean-up time!

So Blue

The last weekend in June was a beautiful one. The weather just demanded you to be outside, so our little family trekked to a local farmer's market and then off to a blueberry farm deep in the VA hills.

We really enjoyed the organic grass-fed New York strip steak we selected at the farmer's market (totally sold on buying local beef now). But we really enjoyed the rolling hills of blueberries. In just over an hour we had picked 7.5lbs. Morenna, who is a big fan of blueberries anyway, appeared to be in complete awe that she could go 'round and 'round the bushes and pluck handfuls of the juicy little fruits.

And I forgot my camera.

We were able to get some video footage on Matt's phone, though. It's a bit blurry and the volume is, well, obnoxious, but if you listen closely you can hear her going "Mmm, MMMmmm!!!" after every bite. Enjoy!

Water Baby

Morenna has been changing so much the last few weeks. All of the sudden it seems that we've started fast-forwarding her development; a fact that is both joyful and sad. Here are some of her latest achievements:

-- She goes up and down stairs by herself,
-- Sometimes informs me of a needed diaper change,
-- Has a larger assortment of acquired food tastes,
-- Can "chat" on the phone with her grandparents,
-- Walks/climbs/runs on her own,
-- Chatters all day long with favorite words inserted, including: "baby", "momma", "daddy", "buddy", "ba" (bath), "ball", "bye bye", "pees" (please), "boolah" (balloon), "milk-a", "juice", "ca-ca" (cracker), "more", "duck" and "hi" to anyone she sees.
-- Will point on command to nose, toes, ears, and belly button.
-- Loves to share the noises made by cows, sheep, cats, and polar bears (random, I know).
-- Giving kisses.

Spending time outside has been a favorite activity. So far we've played in the rocks behind our air conditioner, swam in the neighborhood baby pool, and ran around in the sprinkler.

Sweet baby kisses for Daddy.

Diggin' in the rocks.

Playin' in the pool with Daddy


Lovin' life!


Playing at Grandpa and Grandma's!


Baby pools and watering cans are nice, too.


Naked baby time with the sprinkler :-)


And when it rains... there is always Mommy and Daddy's jacuzzi!

Morenna's First Year Photos!

It's hard to believe a month has passed since my last post! I'm still wading through the glories of morning sickness, but I see light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah!

Last week I turned 26... and today my husband turned 28. It's hard to believe we're on the downward slope towards 30. Wow. Ok, enough of that.

I've finally gotten around to uploading some of Morenna's First Year professional photos onto Facebook. You should be able to view them here, hopefully.

In the next couple of weeks things should be back to normal around here... I'm so looking forward to resuming my posts... in the meantime, thanks for sticking by. :-)

For She's a Jolly Good Fellow-ette?

As promised, here is the much-anticipated post on Morenna's little party. It was so fun to celebrate a year of God's grace in her life, but I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Great-Grandparent's McCann sent over two babies for Morenna. She adores babies (anything between the ages of newborn - 10 years she considers a baby!). She is so cute carrying these around.

Mommy got some creative juices flowing and made a fuzzy carrot cake.
The "M" just kinda evolved from the leftovers.

Here we go!

Curiosity at first...

...and the tasting...

SCORE!

Yay for smearing!

Flirting with guests.

Opening gifts... this one was from Great-Grandparent's Brobst.
New DVD's! I also need to get pictures of Nana's terrific gift of a fluffy bunny puppet and her first Bible,
and Grandpa's swell taste in clothes!

And, of course, what birthday would be complete without a family picture? :-) Should you care to weed through the masses of unedited pictures, you can do so here:

Morenna's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Grandpa's Visit!

Have you wondered where I disappeared to? Our lives have been so crazy lately! We celebrated a 1st birthday with some good friends and family (more on that soon!), had some professional pics taken (a separate post to come as well, whew) and generally scurried around like rabbits the last few weeks. One particular Wednesday evening we had the pleasure of meeting up with Matt's dad for some good food and a much-needed visit.


It had been a couple of months since Morenna had seen Grandpa John, but in no time flat she warmed up and gave him her snooty face (a face she gives to all individuals over 40, it seems. Not to worry, though, John, we know you're only 39 ;-)).


We even had a trial run in preparation for the birthday celebration with some butter... or sour cream... I honestly don't remember what it was. So fun!

Happy Birthday Morenna!

As I last mentioned, my baby girl will be turning one this Monday. Here are some snapshots from the past 12 months of her life. Enjoy!

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009