Friday, February 27, 2009

Improving on Perfection

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite stories of all time. I've read just about every sequel available including this little gem:

If you thought that Pride and Prejudice needed a little more "hanky panky" then this is the book for you. If you, however, thought that it really lacked a certain "undead" element, then you may prefer this one. The book comes out on May 13th. Am I planning on reading it? Most likely. But only if my library gets a copy, because I don't know that I'm willing to actually pay to read it.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Many Faces of Jane

My friend, Kirsten, stopped by the other night and completely spoiled my children with gifts. One of them was this cute outfit for Jane (which, by the way, has inspired me to go to Target to check out the whole line). Anyway, I was taking some pictures of her in her new outfit, and she started to really ham it up for the camera. Enjoy!


Oh, the cheeks!



What was life like before this little sweetie joined our family?

Friday, February 20, 2009

Jane's Blessing

My friend, Deborah, who took our pictures, was nice enough to e-mail smaller copies of the pictures so I could get them posted. We have to go by and upload the originals to Scott's laptop.

So, we blessed Jane Dorothy on February 15th. For those reading this blog who are not Mormon, we don't baptize our infants. We believe that babies are born innocent, and therefore don't require baptism until they are old enough to be held accountable for their actions. So, as infants, they instead receive a name and a blessing from their father. It's kind of their introduction to our religious community. We were lucky enough to have Scott's two sisters, my sister, and their families here for Jane's blessing. Here is everyone who was present when we were taking pictures:


This is Jane's grandmother, Dorothy, her namesake:


Mother and daughter (Do I look a little rotund? It's all intentional, I wanted to look just like Jane. Look for us to be wearing matching outfits from now on too!):


Our family of four:

It was a wonderful day and we felt blessed to have so many friends and family there to support us and participate. The men in the blessing circle (since I don't have a picture) were; Scott Holmes, Kent Meldrum, Peter Brinton, Darren Pulley, Brandon Silva, Kurt Domm and Ryan Shelton.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What Were You Doing at 3 a.m.?

Me? I was sleeping, and so was my baby. Jane has been sleeping 12 hours through the night for the last three nights. I put her to bed at around 7 p.m. and she sleeps until 7 the next morning. She's had a really stuffy nose the last few days, so the first night she slept through I ran to her crib at about 5 a.m. to make sure she was okay! Needless to say, the last couple of nights I've slept as well as she has!

A baby sleeping through the night at 2 1/2 months? How did we accomplish this feat? Babywise, my friend, Babywise. Some friends of mine who have older children swore by it, so I decided to give it a try. I have to admit that I cringed a little everytime I had to wake her up from a nap to feed her, but three weeks later she sleeps like a champ. Totally worth it.

Oh, and if you're thinking I just have an easy baby, Babywise says this:

"When your baby starts to sleep through the night, people will invariably say, 'you're just lucky' or 'you've got an easy baby'. Neither is true. Your baby is sleeping through the night because you trained her to do so. You can take credit for her success."

Thank you Mr. Ezzo, I do believe I will.

p.s. I will do a Blessing post as soon as I get the pictures from my friend!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Something Old...

Some of you may know that my parents divorced when I was about a year old. My Dad remarried and we became part of a family of 14.


For various reasons, my Dad was awarded full custody of my brother and me. I didn't see my Mom again (outside of a courtroom) until I was 21. That day she gave me this dress.


She said she'd carried it with her every time she moved (a lot) in the hopes of giving it to me someday.


It was the dress I was blessed in as an infant. Jane will wear it this Sunday as her Dad blesses her. My Mom and I have a strained relationship, but I will be forever grateful to her for this gift. Growing up in such a large family there was nothing that was ever mine, and certainly nothing so beautiful.

I am going to take Jane tomorrow to have some pictures taken and we will have more on Sunday with family. I'll post those next week.


Valentines

Adam and I made cookies the other day to deliver as Valentines to some of his friends.

I'd never made cookies like this with him before. He loved it.

It was like playing with Play-Doh, but he could eat his results!

I got this cookie cutter at a garage sale. Who would ever want to sell this little gem? Needless to say, it was Adam's favorite cutter.

Some of our cookies. I just discovered a new mode on my camera that takes great food shots.

The glorious mess. Completely worth it. Oh, and Jane just wanted to say...


Come on, you know you want to.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Disproportionately Sized

I've had some encounter this week with things that just seem...larger than normal. First off was my pile of clean laundry. I had waited two weeks between laundry days. I don't recommend that.


Second was these unusually large organic carrots. That's a regular size spoon. I'd like to see how big the ones that are grown with chemicals are.


And finally, for your consideration:


One of these babies is four months old and one is two months old. The one who is two months old is wearing 3-6 month size clothing and the one who is four months is wearing 0-3 month clothing.

The one on the right is my rather large monkey, and the one on the left is my very petite friend, Sarah's, little monkey.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

2 Months Old

Jane had her two-month check-up yesterday. She weighed in at 12 pounds 14 ounces (88th percentile) and 23 inches (74th percentile). The nurse said she was pretty sure she was longer but couldn't stretch her out all the way. She continues to be a very mellow little girl. She sleeps for an 8 hour stretch at night and then another four after she eats. We love her to pieces.

In other news, Adam has a new found need for independence. It includes putting his own shoes on, unbuckling his carseat himself and insisting on sitting in the rocking chair by himself during story time (I have to sit on the ottoman).


The weather here has been truly frightful. Adam spent the better part of a day putting our loose change into a little house and then dumping it out again. It better warm up soon; I'm running out of ideas.


Adam continues to be a sweet and loving big brother. He loves to talk to Jane and tell her what he's doing. His favorite phrase is "Look Jane!". He seems to think she's a little more participatory than she actually is. If her hand accidentally hits him while he's lying next to her he laughs and says, "Jane tickle me!"


Ever since we took him to Jump Club he has insisted on recreating the joy in our very own home. In an effort to save the springs of our couch, I make him take the cushions off and jump on the floor.

All in all, I think we're back to normal. I am getting good sleep. Jane is fat and sassy. Adam is energetic and curious, and Scott saves my sanity at about 6 p.m. every night when he walks in the door. Yup, back to normal.