A Couple of Words From My Children

Ryan goes to speech therapy. It is for a stutter that he developed close to a year ago. He has actually improved greatly, but he also has plenty of sounds that he doesn't say right. Katie is quite a bit more articulate, so when they make the same mistakes in their speech, it surprises me somewhat. Ryan says the word "Bref-qwist" instead of Breakfast. For some reason the combination of "kf" is too much for his mouth, so he reverses them "fk." We correct him sometimes and he can say it correctly if he is concentrating. The thing that surprises me is that Katie says it exactly the same way. I think she picked up on the word from Ryan, but I wonder...

I am reminded that Ryan says "Jenniver Conference" instead of General Conference. I was surprised when I picked up his friend, William, on the way to preschool and he said it the same way. I thought Ryan mixed it up because of an association with my name. It was interesting how William said it the same way without the same association.

Well, interesting to me anyway.

Ever Heard of a Brown Widow?

A yard brings about many new things. Including spiders. I rendered a Black Widow homeless two nights ago. Not to mention lifeless. Sorry to all of you spider lovers. I have my limits.

Happy Halloween

I don't exactly enjoy blogging right now, hence the long time between posts.
However, I do have some pictures of my kids from Halloween so I might as well post them.

Millie was a little chick (we borrowed the costume from a friend.) We didn't get great pictures, but you get the idea.

She wore the costume just long enough for pictures. It was a little bit hot Halloween night.

Ryan wanted to be Spiderman and Katie borrowed a kitty costume from a friend. We moved into a new home (we are still renting) just the day before Halloween and I couldn't find their costumes anywhere. Luckily, our costume box was accessible and we grabbed these costumes as a back-up. A Power Ranger and a princess, could be worse.

We had some visitors that weekend. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Rachelle came to visit, along with Rachelle's girls. This is Evie as a lady bug. ;)

And we got Laney in the chick costume as well. Laney and Millie are only like 6 days apart but they are COMPLETELY different shapes. Laney has a super round face and Millie's is very oblong. Anyway...

We were so happy to see some of Derek's family. It was their first time meeting Millie and they were a HUGE help with unpacking. I still have plenty of stuff to unpack from our garage, but slow and steady wins the race, right?

Retreat

Each year Derek's law firm takes us on a little weekend retreat at one of many nearby resorts. We have taken our kids along each time and it always turns out nice, even if I do end up missing out on some of the activities.

This year Derek signed up for a sailing regatta. He got to go on a sailboat and learn the ropes and then they had a race. No, his boat didn't win the race.

Here is Derek and the skipper.

I couldn't leave Millie for 8 hours, so instead I chose to attend the class where we made chocolate sculptures. It was pretty simple, but really neat at the same time. The thing that made it successful is that they have pressurized cans of liquid nitrogen or something that froze the chocolate instantly when you sprayed it on. I don't have a picture yet, but when I do, I'll post it. It was a lot of fun.

We spent the rest of the weekend swimming in the pool, eating a bunch of snacks in the Presidential Suite, and jumping on the beds. It went by too quickly. One of these times I'll have to leave my kids with someone so we can enjoy all of the activities offered.

Food Storage

Here's my first attempt at canning peaches. It turned out to be one of my favorite excuses to hang out with a good friend. Niki came over and taught me how to do it since I was completely clueless.

I ended up with 10 large jars and 15 small jars. Only 3 casualties - one broken jar and two that didn't seal. Overall, I'm SUPER happy and have caught the *canning bug*. I have lofty dreams of canning chunky applesauce, salsa, and chicken noodle soup. Food storage, here I come.

Tummy Time Doesn't Last Long

Well, we try "tummy time" with Millie, but she usually has a different agenda.

Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Here's another costume I love. Heck, I'd put Katie in this one for church.
Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Chubby Baby?

Okay, remember this shot of Emilee at 2 weeks?

Now here she is at 2 months (and 1 week).

Not a huge difference to me, but she's filling out a little better.
She has a 2 month check-up tomorrow. I expect her to be just over 11 lbs.

If I Only Knew How to Sew

For REAL - is this the cutest costume or what?

I SO wish I has some sewing skills like Heather Bailey.

Take a Hint

I prefer not to dwell on the subject, but I wanted to recount two amusing conversations I've had this week.

First was with a Jehovah's Witness who stopped me right after I dropped Ryan off at his preschool. I was just putting Millie back in her car seat and turned around to find the two women standing and waiting for me. I greeted them and the one lady asked, "Is that your baby?"
"Yes, she's seven weeks old."
"Oh, you just had a baby?"
"Yes, I sure did."
"You look like you just had a baby."
"Yep."
"Well, actually you look really good for just having a baby. My daughter had a big stomach for a long time afterwards."
"Thanks."
(Or no thanks)

Next was Ryan. (While rubbing my stomach.)
"Mom, when is your tummy going to be flat?"
"After I eat right and get some exercise."
"Well, it's still kinda big."
"I know, it got stretched out when Millie was growing inside. It will get smaller with time."

Now, I will ignore the comments from people that go something like, "Whatever Jen, you look fabulous!" Because quite frankly, I know that I don't look fabulous, but I also know that I don't look awful either. I don't need encouragement or sympathy or anything. My self-esteem is still intact and I realize that I still have a good 15 pounds to lose. I'll get there. I got back after my other pregnancies.

Those kind of comments (truthful kinds) don't hurt my feelings at all. Just keeping it real, right?