a jenneric production

07 April 2010

it has been busy!

Last week was supposed to be my easy week. Nothing really on the calendar. That quickly changed. I ended up with a doctor's visit that in turn is leading to an ultrasound of my legs and blood work. Nothing to be worried about, more of let's just make sure that there isn't anything that is going to be wrong. If you really want to know, I'll tell you later.

Monday was a clean the house and grocery shopping day. Tuesday was spent with an afternoon of having a friend's little boy over so they could move. Wednesday we went to the park with friends and then to the mall for a while. Thursday I had my doc appointment and Kathryn got to go play at a different friend's house for a couple of hours. Friday was the zoo. Saturday Eric went to Raleigh to help teenagers fight robots and the kids & I went shopping and colored all afternoon. Sunday was Easter. Monday was our 7th Anniversary and fish shopping (see the previous post... or the next one down). Whew!

Here are a few pictures from the past week or so...

From March

Kathryn loves these shoes! I got them for like $3 at Toys-r-us a while back. Most of the time they are on the wrong feet. She will even take off her regular shoes & socks so she can walk around in her heels. So not my daughter! And of course, we have to have our "princess hat".

From March

Kathryn loves to be on the play mat with Andrew. I can't get him on it without her there also. Actually, this morning she was playing on it without him. She loves to be close to him and make sure that he is okay.

From April

The first of many artistry from Kathryn I'm guessing. I wasn't paying attention to her and heard "Mommy! That's a C!". Only to find a red "C" on the wall. She was just too cute about it to get really mad.

From April

Our happy little boy was all excited last night. It was about 10 PM, but he was being so cute. I have a video, but I am having problems getting it to upload. Hopefully I'll get it up here soon.

From April

It was a nice morning today so I took Kathryn outside. She loves to be outside. I daily get "Kathryn need the key" the key is to the back door. But this morning we went out front to play. I got Kathryn sidewalk chalk after the afternoon she spent at a friend's. She looked like she was having so much fun with it then and she loves to color that I thought it would be a good investment for us to play with outside. She even tried to color the grass pink this morning.

From April

This is our porch this morning. No, that's not chalk, it is pollen. Can you see why we don't go out much? Kathryn has allergies as it is. I did make sure she had her Zyrtec before we headed out. She seemed to be okay but being outside gave me such a headache. I'm guessing it was being outside. If it was, I think it was more of the sunshine with no sunglasses than it was the pollen.

I'll try to get some videos up soon. Not sure if the problem is with blogspot or if it doesn't like mp4 movies. Maybe I'll get Eric to try.

Easter

What a difference a year makes. We did not go to church last Easter as I was suffering from strep. Yippee. This year we got to go as a family! All four of us! Kathryn was so cute in her little pink plaid dress... as so was the other little girl in her class wearing the same dress. Guess I know her mom shops at Walmart too! Andrew wore a little blue frog outfit that Nana had given him. He had worn it before with the long sleeve shirt, but it was so warm that the short sleeve shirt was perfect. After church we enjoyed a traditional Easter lunch at Quizno's... with friends!

Nana & Granddad had sent the kids a box full of goodies. I was lazy, or not really sure how to approach Easter this year, so they only got a couple of little books from us. Kathryn did get a box of sidewalk chalk, but that's for a different post.

Here are a few pictures from Easter afternoon:

From Easter

Kathryn likes chocolate, can you tell? She had, and continues to, fun with the plastic eggs. Every once in a while, one goes flying and usually hits me. She seems to be drawn to the orange ones. I think that is her new favorite color. It is usually the orange crayon she uses also.

We also got a fish tank... partly for the kids for Easter and partly for our anniversary. Eric really, really wants a dog. I would like to have a dog too at some point, but not with two cats. If we had gotten all them at the same time, okay, but I really don't want to find a dead cat. We had discussed a fish tank in passing before. We got a five gallon tank and are letting it do its thing before we get the fish.

Here is the fishless tank:

a zoo trip

Eric had Good Friday off so we took a trip to the zoo. We had planned on going a couple of times earlier but never could seem to actually go. This time we said no matter what, we were going. Our day started with a breakfast at Mac's, a NC area breakfast anytime place. So yummy and filling! The plates are big enough that we let Kathryn share off of ours. I usually order a bowl of grits for us to split also. She loves grits when she remembers that she does.

We picked the hottest day so far in the year, as of then... it has since it over 90. And I didn't think about the schools having Good Friday off also (I never remember getting it off). It was packed. I was glad that we are zoo members and didn't have to wait in the regular line.

From April

Daddy! That's an elephant!

From April

Hi Mommy!

From April

Kathryn loves giraffes

From April

had to see the kitties

From April

Andrew's excitement of the zoo

Andrew mainly slept while we walked around the zoo. I thought what a great idea having a double stroller at the zoo would be. It was for the first 20 minutes until we actually got to the animals. Then Kathryn couldn't really see anything so out she came and didn't go back in. I'm sure once Andrew is out of the car seat and can sit in the front seat, Kathryn will ride on the back sit-n-stand part that Andrew is now occupying.

It was so hot and Kathryn got tired after a couple of hours so we kept our trip this time just to the Africa side of the zoo. There is also a North America side but it is a hike to get there or you had to wait in the ridiculously long lines to ride the shuttle over. No thanks. We'll go back at some point later. Maybe a week day... and maybe before school is out.

Kathryn was such a good sport that we let her get a stuffed giraffe at the gift shop. She loves that thing. It is sitting on the couch next to me as I type.

Did you notice Andrew's shirt? I thought I was cute and put him in a shirt with an elephant and a giraffe. How clever, right?

23 March 2010

the pictures I promised

So I missed my weekend goal of having pictures up. Here are some recent pictures for your viewing pleasure.

From March

I told Kathryn it would be nap time soon...

apparently sooner than I thought.

From March

"You looking at me??"

From March

Happy about bath time

From March

the face if you ask Kathryn to smile

From March

reading a construction book from Nana & Granddad

From March

look ma... my head is up!

From March

Kathryn hiding in the blinds

We had some family pictures taken this weekend...

From Sears Pics

family shot

From Sears Pics

my little man

From Sears Pics

my big gal

From Sears Pics

isn't he precious??

From Sears Pics

a loving moment

19 March 2010

Andrew is one month!

Our little man is one month today! Can you believe it, because I can't!!!

We took him for his well check-up this morning. He is 10 lbs 8 oz and 22 3/4" long. For comparison, at this point Kathryn was 11 lbs 4 oz & 21 1/2". So he is tall & skinny, but we knew that already.

We (Eric & I) have been concerned about his spitting up. Thankfully, maybe, he spit up three or four times while he was with the doctor, about an hour after eating. She isn't concerned since he is gaining weight about him not absorbing enough, but wants us to keep an eye on him to see how he reacts to it. The doc is thinking he may have a little acid reflux. Not surprising at all knowing this family. But he goes back at 2 months and we'll check on it again then.

I know I need to get pictures up but I'm having technically difficulties getting them off the camera (i.e. user error). Hopefully sometime this weekend they will be up.

08 March 2010

she's growing up

Oh where did my baby Kathryn go??? I was warned that when I brought a new born home that my little girl would all of a sudden seem so grown up and huge. I didn't think it would be that big of a difference, but I was sure wrong. My little baby girl isn't a baby anymore.

Having to take care of little Andrew that can't even roll over yet has opened my eyes to how much Kathryn is learning and amazing us daily. We have a bed time routine, and granted (I actually typed granite there and then realized that was the wrong word...) the time has fluctuated greatly in the past two weeks, but Kathryn is used to the routine and can almost do it by herself. The other night she told us night night and went to her bed by herself and even pulled the covers up before we could get to her room. If I tell her that is is nap time when a certain activity is done, she'll go to her room and get in bed. She may not stay there but she knows that it is nap time.

I overheard someone the other day saying that their two year old was learning his alphabet but getting letters mixed up. Kathryn knows her alphabet, can count to 15, and spell her name. She's 20 months. Even now as I am typing this she is watching Super WHY and singing along with the alphabet song... okay so only parts of it, but she recognizes what is being said. I think we need to start thinking about preschool.

We haven't really started potty training. But she tells us when she needs a diaper change. And I'm not sure when it actually happened, but she went from "boppy" to diaper at some point recently. Course, Eric & I are so used to saying "boppy" that we still say it... even to each other. We do have a little seat for the toilet for her and she wants to sit on it occasionally. Most of the time it is after she has filled her diaper. But it is so cute... she even grunts :)

Her 25 pounds suddenly feels like 50 compared to Andrew. She is finally starting to grow out of her 18 months pants, but the 24 months are still so long. She's like her momma with short legs and a long torso.

This was the other night when she found Eric's blackberry....

she is such my cutie!!!

I am sure there are other things that make me think she has grown up. Like wanting to try bites of Daddy's dinner even when Mommy won't touch it, asking for things with "please" and saying "thank you" without being reminded, voicing her opinion about wanting her black shoes and not the pink ones, understanding that Andrew is "tiny", but my little girl still wants to snuggle on the couch so Mommy's still happy.

update: I could tell that she got quiet while I was typing this... she fell asleep on the couch with a pilllow and blanket. I really hated to move her to her bed but she was taking up the entire couch!