Saturday, January 29, 2011

A Day in the Life of Our Middle Child

I decided to chronicle a day in the life of Jenna earlier this week.   This is for all of you who love reading about her antics.  :)

This was from a week or so before Jenna's profiled day.

5:30 am--I woke up to change & feed Bryn.  I had to turn on my dim lamp light.  Since our bedroom door was open, it awakened Jenna.  She came in to love on Bryn and snuggle in our bed.  I let her stay.

8:15am--Jenna woke up and immediately wanted to hold Bryn, who was also starting to wake up.  Jenna got Bryn out of her bed & held her on our bed.

8:25am--Jenna decided it was time for Bryn to get a new diaper & new clothes.  I took over on the diaper.  She went and selected clothes for the day--a pink onesie and pj's.  Whatever.  I guess we won't go anywhere today.

I was nursing Bryn on my bed while Jenna went downstairs.  A bit later she came back up.  She had a bowl of cereal that Randy had poured for her, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich perfectly cut in half that she had made for herself that Randy had made for her, & sliced apples that Randy had cut for her--all on a cutting board, and a cup of oj.  She spilled the oj in the loft as she walked to my room.  I told her to go get a towel & wipe it up.  She was upset & still wanted the juice, so she tried to scoop it back up into the cup from the carpet.  She got a towel & put it on the spill, then decided she didn't want the juice, after all, so she dumped what was in the cup back onto the carpet.  Agh!!!

I was talking to my mom on the phone while I burped Bryn.  Jenna would run and grab various objects & have me "beep" them.  She was pretending that she was purchasing things and I was the store clerk.  She put all of the objects in a shopping cart, along with her food, and made me very nervous.  After that got old, she came and turned on the radio to some strange channel and danced to it.  Then she turned the radio up.  After a while, it got too loud for my phone conversation, so I left the room.

After I got off the phone, Jenna decided to hold Bryn again.  This time, Bryn pooped, so Jenna went and got a diaper and wipes.  I changed Bryn.  Jenna stole a diaper and ran off to her room.  A few minutes later, she came out and asked me to tie a blanket around her neck.  When I looked under the blanket, Jenna had on a newborn diaper.

10:20am--She dressed herself.  A "pink shirt and pink panties", jeans, and "tap shoes that are too tight".  They are really just church shoes that are many sizes too small from a box she pulled out from high in the closet last night.  We answer a knock at the door.  She closes the door on the lady at our door as soon as I hand her what she needed.  She asks to watch TV.  I let her watch Sprout and hold Bryn while I grabbed some breakfast.

10:55am--Jenna brings Bryn to me because she's heavy.  Her tap shoes are making her "hot" and making her "blisters".  She grabs a different pair of too-small shoes to wear and declares, "Mom, these shoes fit me."  She grabs pink socks to put on.  I tell her the shoes are too small.  She says, "Nu-uh!  It's magic.  These shoes fit me."  I tell her the shoes are on the wrong feet.  She says, "Nu-uh!  These shoes are not on the wrong feet!", stomps up and down, and then puts them on the correct feet.  Her previous shoes are then put on Pablo, a stuffed animal from Backyardigans.  She then went down to watch a Strawberry Shortcake show.

Again, a different day, but I think you get the gist of what this girl is all about!

Jenna had to be coaxed to do her chore of bringing her laundry to my room.  She helped me clean the oj spill on the carpet & then sang "Batmobile lost a wheel & joker got away, hey!" over and over.  She gathered clean washcloths and was making "snake bodies" out of them.  She then used the washcloths to start cleaning things.

12:29pm--I found Jenna's sandwich in her closet, with boysenberry jam smeared on the carpet.  I made her help me clean it up.  We checked the mail & she rode her bike to do it.  The training wheels are not balanced, and she kept telling me they were "busted".  At lunch, she was doing designs in her ketchup.  She said she was "making a movie".  She also kept asking me if I knew how to say certain words in Chinese or Spanish.  I'd say no & then she'd make up a word for it...as if she knew how to say living room in Spanish or house in Chinese.

2:34pm--Jenna fell asleep watching PBS with me on the couch.  I was tickling & scratching her tummy--something only she likes.

4:15pm--Jenna woke up from her nap & came upstairs to sit on my lap and hug me.  She burped Bryn for me & was a bit grumpy, but cheered up as she tried to put Bryn to sleep in her crib.  Bryn didn't want to sleep, so Jenna had me carry Bryn downstairs for her to hold on the couch.

At dinner, Jenna said, "Great dinner, Mom!"  Of course, without eating much, she got up and smothered buttery kisses all over Bryn & made her go from peacefully waiting on her dinner to screaming in no time.

Jenna actually concocted this the next afternoon. 
Yogurt, strawberries, peanut butter crackers, and quite possibly something else.
If I would have been pregnant, I would have barfed.
She later said it was spaghetti & brought 4 large spoons out so we could all eat it for dinner.  I declined.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Bryn the model

Bryn is one of Jenna's favorite photography subjects.

Sydney poses with Bryn.

Bryn is done being messed with while sleeping!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Bryn & Tyler

Tyler, 5 weeks & Bryn, 7 weeks

My brother and I have babies that are only 13 days apart in age.  Although Bryn's older, she's shorter and weighs less.  We were able to meet Tyler & let me brother's family meet Bryn this last week.  We couldn't help but get classic baby cousin pictures.

 She's already showing him who's the boss.

With Bryn being the only girl among 3 boy cousins close in age (soon to be 4), I sure hope she loves them & gets along well with them!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Randy is the best...

...at hosting Disney movie nights with our girls.  :)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Lunch Date

 Our family was able to go eat lunch with Sydney at school last week for her birthday lunch.  (January & July birthdays)


One of the highlights was for Jenna to be able to go play with Sydney after lunch.

Poor Jenna slipped on the really slick ice, but was back out there after some comfort and encouragement from Dad.


Sydney's only complaint was that her friends took over playing with Jenna & she wasn't able to.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Keeping up...or not

Having 3 kids hasn't really been a huge change or challenge for me.  I think I had already learned to multi-task and split my attention between kiddos after I had Jenna.  That was an adjustment.  My biggest challenge for now is simply trying to keep on top of everything.

I find myself constantly trying to put out fires.  If my dishes are done, there is a pile of work sitting on my desk.  If the downstairs is clean, the upstairs is a wreck.  If I have any errands to run, count me out on making a real dinner.  Tonight, we had frozen pizza and a prepackaged salad.  Don't even get me started on my need to clean the bathrooms or mop.

Last week, a business associate of Randy used our bathroom.  I didn't realize he was using it until it was too late.  I had known that the toilet needed to be cleaned for quite some time.  I honestly was and still am mortified that someone--anyone--saw it in that condition.  Please, no one ask to use my microwave right now, either.  I would be almost as equally mortified.


So, such is my life right now.  I'm truly enjoying Bryn, as well as Sydney and Jenna.  It has been good for me to have a newborn to both love on and to realize how quickly time goes by.  Sydney's time here in our home is already 1/3 of the way over!  It has caused me to reflect on and evaluate how well we are teaching our girls.


I guess the point of this post is to reassure myself that all my unfinished business is okay for now.  I can let go and be happy with my best at this stage.  I'm doing my best to keep up with it all, but if you stop by, please promise not to judge.  I just might put you to work cleaning my microwave.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Wall Art

Why do I have my doubts?

(Click on it to enlarge if you can't read it.)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas

Sydney & Jenna check out the Christmas tree in their new pj's from Aunt Teri.

Jenna checking out her stocking loot.

Sydney checking out her loot.

After a few lean months, we had a fantastic Christmas, thanks to our wonderful families. 

Here's how Bryn enjoyed most of Christmas morning.  She did wake up to eat, though.

Something about this looks dangerous...

Ready for church the day after Christmas.