Walks

I LOVE to go on walks. Drew, not so much.

This means it's even sweeter that he went on on a walk with me last Saturday while Liz was at her friend, Avery's birthday party (she loved it). It was a little windy and chilly and when we pulled up in the parking lot I said, "I don't think I'll last that long in this weather." Drew smiled and said, "That's what I like to hear." We lasted an hour.

I tried to get a shot of the two of us together "to preserve the memories." Andrew kept saying, "I'm not in the picture Jill. You're cutting off my head." I was like, no I'm not. Anyway, I have lots of pictures like this.

SUCCESS! Speaking of success, I got Andrew to go walk around the tidal basin with me yesterday after work. Loved it. It was cold, a little windy, the kids each had crying moments, but overall it was fun and the blossoms were BEAUTIFUL. And even though Drew suggested that the view from the car was even better than the view on foot, I think he secretly had fun.

At one point I tried to change Lainey's diaper while she was still in her stroller. It didn't work too well. We lost a bit of orange poo in the seat. Yuck. We eventually found it mushed into the seat belt. We took turns digging out the mess. It was pretty gross, but funny (or so I thought).
I held Alaina while Andrew cleaned the seat and then she didn't want to go back in.
We let her cry for awhile, then we took turns carrying Lainey and pushing Liz in the baby stroller.

VIDEOS:

Last week Liz got her costume for the upcoming dance recital (striped tights not included). Super cute.

Since I don't have family in the area to attend her performance I'm posting these little snippets for them (mostly for Nana and Papa since they are the mot likely to watch them):

No Roll

I'm so sad about the White House Easter Egg Roll.

I was totally looking forward to it.

Starting at midnight I periodically checked the website throughout the day--1 a.m., 2 a.m., 6 a.m., 10, 2, 4--but, to no avail.

I'm pretty frustrated about the new ticket distribution system.

Instead of a fun night gabbing and camping out with girlfriends, I had a frustrating day in front of the computer.

I really hope things are done differently in 2010.

It's been a year

I started blogging one year ago today. I never thought I'd get into it, but here I am 259 posts later. It's been fun.

I'm still trying to figure out blog etiquette. Should I delete what I consider annoying/offensive comments (it should be noted that the comments that I found offensive, did not bother Drew)?

Whose blogs should I list on my sidebar? Do I need to ask permission from the blog owners before listing them? Will anyone be offended if I remove them from the list (or neglect to put them on the list)?

I'm also trying to figure out what content is appropriate. No swimsuit pictures. No panties showing. No descriptions of arguments with Drew. That all seems pretty obvious, but what else?

About a week ago I posted a picture of a fun license plate and within an hour Andrew called me to tell me that he removed the post because I was probably infringing on the car owner's privacy rights and whatnot. Oops.

Speaking of, fun license plates . . . last weekend I saw a car with the license plate (don't worry Drew I won't post a picture):

hi ocifr

Ohmygoodness! I laughed so hard. Four days later I'm still chuckling about it. It was parked in a handicapped spot and I wish I would have checked for a handicapped tag because I think it would be even more hilarious if it did not have one. Illegal parking just seems to fit the sassy attitude of the plates.

I miss my microwave

It broke a couple weeks ago and I knew I was pretty dependent on it, I just didn't know how dependent until it was gone.

The first week I reheated and defrosted food on the stove and in the oven and it was such a pain. I kept thinking, this is what my parents and grandparents had to do all the time--I have been so spoiled. And then I thought, I miss my microwave (you never appreciate what you have until it's gone) . . .

The second week I remembered we have a hitherto unused toaster oven. It was a wedding gift and when I opened it I was like, "Who would give this to us? Nobody uses these anymore." The only toaster oven I remembered seeing before then was the one in the outdated kitchen of my Grandfather's cabin.

Anyway, I'm pretty grateful for the toaster oven now and I'm learning to use it, but it's no microwave. I still haven't quite figured out how to defrost stuff in it (or if that is one of it's intended functions) and I need to defrost all that previous frozen baby food purees.

On a more positive note: Alaina rolled over for me yesterday! She rolled over for Andrew a couple weeks ago.

Consequences

We are constantly trying to find effective ways to modify Lizzie's behavior through positive and negative reinforcement. It's tricky. Aside from the standard time outs we have two other programs: one for trying new foods and one for temper tantrums.

This weekend we announced to Lizzie that when she throws a tantrum she must surrender a pony for an indeterminate amount of time. She was pretty upset ("I could never give up a pony. I love my ponies."). This weekend she lost three.

This weekend Lizzie also announced a program of her own. Yesterday she informed me that she is going to make a calendar and put an X on every day I'm a "not nice" "bad mommy." Yesterday I go an X. Then today she announced that she is going to to give us a number each day on scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. She assigned me a 2.
In other news: I finally had professional pictures of Alaina (and Liz) taken. I had pictures taken of Liz EVERY MONTH and intended to take Alaina either every other month or at least every third month. Um, didn't quite happen.
Alaina is doing better with tummy time. Now I just need to do better and maybe she'll roll over and crawl before her one year mark.

I took Laines to the doctor to check out a lingering cough (I'm a little paranoid after last month's RSV) and she 14 lbs, 4 ounces.

Lainey is loving solids: pears, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, yellow squash, bananas. Avocado, not so much.

This is how Liz fell asleep last night:

I love it.

Cry Baby

As sad and annoying as a crying baby can be, sometimes it's cute. And even more than that I think it will be fun to look back at these pictures/moments someday (for the parents and the babies).

When Alaina is crying because she wants to get picked up and I take her picture instead of picking her up, Andrew gets frustrated and says stuff like, "Jill, WHAT are you doing? Feed her."

CRY BABY LAINA:

I did the same with Liz, and Drew said the same sort of things, especially when he was holding her and she needed to be fed.

CRY BABY ELIZABETH:

I still take pictures of Liz when she is agitated:

St. Patty's Day

This morning Liz bounced on our bed and told us that at Mrs. McDowell's house (her kindergarten teacher) "strange things happen on St. Patrick's Day like her milk turns green." Lizzie excitedly wondered if our milk would also turn green. Andrew looked at me. We encouraged Liz to go to the bathroom first and while she did Drew pulled out the food coloring and a gallon of milk.

Other celebratory activities: a gift for Lizzie from the leprechauns (she knew it was from a leprechaun because the attached note wished her "good luck"), green meals (I dyed pancakes and mac 'n cheese), and shamrocks fashioned out of bread sticks. I left the last little project for Drew to do while I went out for a girls night with my friend Jessica. He was a good sport and Jess and I had a fabulous dining at Wegmans.

Liz wasn't in the mood for a picture. She wanted to play with Daddy.

Waiting for Daddy at the metro . . . Lainey is distracted by her hand. I love it when babies do that.

Liz is so excited to see Daddy. She loves to search from him amongst the people streaming from the metro.

Yum. Bread shamrocks covered with green sugar and cinnamon.

Below is Liz dancing while she waits for me to unload Laines at the metro so we can look for Daddy.

Jack & the Beanstalk

Lizzie got to be the castle at National Theater's free children's production last Saturday. I thought she might be too scared to volunteer, but was pleasantly surprised. Liz loved it (especially the pink roof on the castle).

Brushing her gums . . .

20 Questions

Today while Liz I and were playing 20 questions she said she was thinking of someone that "is very special to God and Jesus." I guessed everyone in our family before finally guessing myself.

Liz said, "No Mom, your not special." She sounded like an exasperated teenager.

Turns out she was thinking of Joseph Smith.

Blue-eyed Bathing Beauty

Flowers

Today I finally threw away the last of the potted plants I received after Jacob died. I took a couple pictures of it right before we went away for the Christmas holiday, just in case it was completely dead when I returned. It survived the holiday, but continued it's slow decline. Today it was no more than a short, dry twig.We received many flowers and potted plants after we lost our baby and I vowed to keep the potted ones alive at least until the first anniversary of Jacob's death. This is the only one that survived. It's not too surprising since I have trouble with plants in the best of times--watering them too much for several days and then completely forgetting them for weeks. With grief I let more things than mediocre plant-care slide.

I regret that I didn't take a picture of all the plants and flowers we were given, but again, I let things slide. Today to compensate for throwing away what I had come to think of as "Jacob's plant" I bought myself flowers. I bought them at Trader Joe's along with a basketful of organic fruits and vegetables to grind into Laina's baby food. The thought of baby food itself is comforting. I'm making baby food!

As I trimmed the stems and filled up vases I was reminded of other times I have received flowers:

Flowers from boys I liked - thrilling

Flowers from boys I didn't like - felt kind of guilty

The bouquets Andrew surprised me with when we were dating

The flower my brother, Scott, gave me for Valentines one year

Carnations for Mother's Day at church

Family afternoon at Hidden Pond Nature Center