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| Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | | 11:14 pm |
Happy birthday
Happy birthday, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) auntie_m! You are wonderful, and amazing, and I hope you had a spectacular birthday. Congratulations on turning 29 for the second time! :P | | Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | | 10:49 pm |
Let them eat cake
Brenna and Jonas had a fun combined birthday party. There were tons of kids (and only three meltdowns among them within the two hours of the party. Amazing!), a backyard circus (I made craft foam lion and tiger masks to wear on their heads, yarn was turned into a lion tamer's whip, with a paper bag cut up to make the lion tamer's vest, and there was a fairy tightrope walker), and lots of cake. My sister made Brenna's cake, which was modeled after a cake found in the book Hooper Humperdink? Not Him!, and I made Jonas's circus train cake. Shannon asked me if Brenna would care that the cake was only three layers instead of five (quick backstory--Brenna's been asking for this cake for almost an entire year now...), and I told her I doubt she'd care, as long as the snowman looked right. Well, the snowman looked great, but when Shannon showed Brenna her cake and asked what she thought, her response was, "It looks great, Aunt Shannon! ... but it needs to be bigger. It's a little small." Then she pointed out the other two layers in the picture of the cake. :D Luckily, we managed to persuade her that three layers would work. Anyway, here are some pictures from the party. Note the glazed over sugar-rushed baby in the last picture. :D Poor Jonas. But we had to give him the smash cake. It's tradition! He actually started by grabbing one of the animal crackers and eating that. Then Chris shoved his hand in the frosting and his adventure in cake destroying took off from there. A shot of our circus:  The cakes!:  Brenna enjoys her cake:  A progressive sugar rush:    | | Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | | 10:23 am |
Quick entry about Jonas's 1 year appointment
I took Jonas to the doctor for his 1 year checkup yesterday. He is 22 lb. 2 oz. (40%), 30 inches tall (58%), and his head is 19 inches around (93%). So basically, he's normal with a giant head. :P But we knew this already. The doctor said he looked great, healthy, and happy, which is always nice to hear confirmed. Poor boy then got to have five shots (only three normal vaccinations, but since it's flu season he got the regular flu shot and the swine flu shot). Side benefit: he slept from 7:20 p.m. to about 6 a.m. Score! Now to install his new car seat, since he's 2 oz. too heavy, and an inch too long for the bucket seat now. He also walked several steps for me and the video camera yesterday, which was so fun to watch. Also, while I was off doing chores, Chris was playing with the kids. Jonas was sitting next to Chris, who was flat on his back on the floor, and he kept leaning over and cuddling on Chris, then sitting up and grinning, and then repeating the action. SO CUTE. Fun facts about Jonas that I want to remember: He can say Mama, Dada, Na-na (Brenna), Yay!, yum, and an approximation of "zoom" when he plays with his cars. He also signs "milk" (which means milk, food in general, and mama, since I'm the milk lady) and growls. He's just started pointing at people's noses on cue (unless we're trying to get him to show off), he thinks balls and cars are fun, he likes to stick his finger up his nose, and the "baby tumbler" is a favorite game (being turned all over in random directions in my arms). He LOVES Brenna. In fact, the other day Brenna had actually fallen asleep during her quiet time, and Jonas woke up from his nap before she did. When I turned my back on him for a moment, he crawled down the hall and I found him banging loudly on her closed door shouting "Na-na! Na-na! Na-na!" He's very persistant, loves to eat books and tear paper, and thinks eating and rubbing stuff in his (tiny bit of) hair is a blast. He's a fantastic, happy baby, and I love him muchly. I love watching him learn and grow! Hurray for a good first year, and hopefully decades more to come. | | Friday, October 2nd, 2009 | | 11:00 pm |
More from Brenna
Yesterday, Brenna looked up from her book and, sighing, said, "Mommy, now I know everything." Good to know she's learned it all before her fourth birthday! :P | | Monday, September 28th, 2009 | | 11:05 pm |
A picture that's not of my kids! Shocker!
I always put up pictures of the kids that don't include me, so I figured I'd put up one of just me from the beach back in August. I squint because it was very sunny! But overall, I like this picture:  | | Friday, September 25th, 2009 | | 10:02 pm |
A Brenna comment
While we were out on our walk today, Brenna said "No, Mommy! Don't step on those leaves! They're special leaves. They're from China." Me: "Oh, really? How'd the special leaves from China get all the way here?" Brenna: "The trees are from China, too. Everything is!" | | Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | | 9:04 pm |
Imagination and standing
Brenna was telling me a story today. After I listened for a while, it occurred to me that what she was telling me was essentially fan fiction. And Bible fan fiction at that. :D She was telling me all about Noah and his ark, and how he floated through our garden. When we told him to get off our lawn (this cracked me up), we joined him and then went to Jerusalem, where we confronted a fish like the one Jonah faced, except this one had ten tails. We also saved lots of animals (including a triceratops, and only one bunny). The story lasted a good ten or fifteen minutes, and included elements from at least five different Bible stories, the Hobbit, and a picture book or two, I think, plus some original content. It was very creative and cute. I love that she likes to make up stories. I had a story I was working on in fourth grade that was a mash up of A Wrinkle in Time and the Boxcar Children, personally. Jonas had an eventful day, too. He was pulling himself up, using me as a stabilizer, then he let go and stood all by himself for several seconds. He fell over just as Chris came in the room to see, but then got up and promptly did it again! He hasn't since, but hey, we all got to see him do it, so that was cool. :) Brenna actually had an excellent day today. There was very little whining, a lot of thoughtful behavior, she cleaned her room on her own with very little supervision, she was nice and played with Jonas, we read library books together after grabbing a bunch of new ones from the library, went on two very nice walks together, and generally just had a great, calm, fun day together. It was very nice. | | Friday, September 11th, 2009 | | 7:39 pm |
Sleep training progress and a funny Jonas moment
Wednesday, 20 minutes, yesterday, 15 minutes, today 20 minutes (but he was overtired, because I procrastinated getting him into bed until Brenna was in bed, even though he was tired about 20 minutes before. Whoops!). Either way, he's doing much better. Here's hoping one day he won't cry at all as he heads to bed! My funny Jonas moment: Lately, when Jonas is angry, he throws his head back and yells up at the ceiling. If he'd raise his little hand along with it, I'd think he was yelling "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Which is what I now say every time he does it, of course. Here's hoping I get a picture or a video of it tomorrow! (Because yes, I am a mean mommy who laughs at my son's anger--at least when it's expressed in such a funny way!) | | 4:35 pm |
Primary song, according to Brenna
I was just listening to Brenna sing one of her songs from Primary, and thought it was cute, so I typed what she was singing. Her version: Jesus came to John the Baptist when museum long ago when was baptized by emergency in the river Georgian’s flow. Songbook version: Jesus came to John the Baptist in Judea long ago and was baptized by immersion in the river Jordan's flow. In secular songs, Apologize is the "Call a Giant" song, because one of the times they say Apologize in the chorus sounds similar to that, and Bushels and Pecks is "Push You Back." | | Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | | 11:53 pm |
Sleep training and stomach muscles
Today is day three of sleep training. Last night, it took Jonas 25 minutes of crying. Tonight, it was 20. Progress! I still feel bad, but he's doing great. And he seems to forgive me the next day, so all is well. Also, I had my group dance class tonight--Latin styling. What did I learn? That it's definitely been five years since I've danced regularly, and that I no longer have any stomach muscles to speak of. Methinks I shall actually have to do some crunches in order to do dancing properly, as it's hard to hold and move muscles that laugh at your paltry attempts to control them... But it was really good, and it was nice to focus on basics that will help my dancing to improve. It was almost like a private lesson, too, as there were only three students--me, and two other women. Time always flies by when I'm dancing, so the hour went very quickly. I'm excited for Friday, as I will be attending their dance party. It even starts at 8:30, so I'll be able to put Jonas to bed with Chris before heading out, which is nice. I'm really looking forward to it. :) Now to bed, before Jonas wakes up! | | Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | | 8:15 am |
I'm probably a bad mommy...
Brenna had a couple of nightmares last night, and as a result, didn't sleep all that well. When she came into our room this morning, she was a bit droopy and sad because, "I didn't get enough sleep, that's why I'm sad." We asked her if some music might help. Her face lit up. "Can we hear the one where the girl's lying down in the gold?" As requested, we put on (Do You Wanna Date my) Avatar and she started dancing around singing "Do you wanna date my avastar, she's a star, hotter than ral-ity by far." Bad mommy. But it's a fun, catchy song, and it's so darn cute to watch her dance around and sing it... | | Monday, September 7th, 2009 | | 9:18 pm |
Sleep training
I hate sleep training. However, when the baby doesn't know how to soothe himself, and sleep is being disrupted for everyone, the time has come. The good news--it only took forty-five minutes for Jonas to fall asleep tonight, day one of the training. The bad, he cried for most of it. It's already been a better experience than with Brenna, but it just breaks my heart to listen to him cry. And of course, he's currently sleeping on his tummy, which sends my paranoid brain into shrieking fits of "He's going to die!" even though he's 10 1/2 months old and perfectly capable of rolling over. Sigh. On a happier note, Jonas learned to wave! Last Tuesday, we went to the park and met up with some friends. When they arrived, Jonas waved at them! And then he waved at the sidewalk, the trees, the geese, the grass, etc. :D Soooo cute. | | Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | | 8:39 pm |
Updates
The trip to Florida was lovely. I would have liked to stay there longer. We went swimming in the ocean and the pool every day (well, except for when Tropical Storm Claudette was in town), played board games, found shells, flew kites, built a sandcastle, and even saw dolphins. My sister took some great family pictures of us, too. Which I will post when I have them. :) Though if you want to see ALL of them, here's a link: http://www.photographybyshannon.com/Kugler/Back home, still nothing on the job front. Sigh. But Chris just participated in a career workshop thing held at the church that seemed useful--he's completely revamping his resume today based on their recommendations (and they said he had good interview skills, so yay for a positive!). Here's hoping something comes through soon. I have picked up a little bit of freelancing (slightly more than I've had in recent months), so that'll pay a few bills. Now we just need to get some sort of health coverage for the kids (and stay healthy ourselves), so they can get vaccinated in October. COBRA was just too expensive--even reduced payments meant it would have been about $500 a month, and while I'd been saving, it isn't enough to include that. Sigh. Next chore: going to Hobby Lobby to see if they need an independent instructor. (I can crochet, maybe other people want to learn!) That's tomorrow's chore. Here's hoping! In fun news, I got my books I ordered using Megan's gift (Thanks again, Megan!). I now have An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (I think?), A Year in Provence (I can never spell that...), Old Man's War by John Scalzi, The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines, and The Looking Glass War by...someone. Too lazy to go and find it and look. *does a happy dance* Yay for things to read! Also, I used some of the money my grandparents gave me for my birthday and took advantage of an intro package offered by a local ballroom studio. It's $20 for a 1/2 hour private lesson, one group lesson, and a weekend dance. I had my private lesson today. I realllllllllllly wish I were stinking rich. I'd take private lessons several times a week. It was a blast. I learned a lot of good technical things to work on--mostly with my frame and holding on to the inbetween bits between figures. Very cool stuff--and enjoyed the refresher course. I was just sad that it ended so quickly. My instructor, Jared Pruitt, was really good. I was impressed. Plus it was nice to hear that I have great balance, good instincts for the movement, good knowledge of the figures, etc. Of course, like every dance teacher I've ever had, he told me I need to work on my ankle strength. :P And to stop anticipating what's coming next and trust my partner. Apparently he mostly just teaches people who want to compete, which is cool. There are two big dance competitions in Atlanta--one in October and one in March. I think I'll look them up, and hopefully in March I'll be able to go and watch. When I asked his opinion on which group dance class to look at, he told me that really, I probably wouldn't learn a whole lot in any of them because even their advanced class mostly has people that probably shouldn't be in an advance class yet, and I was way beyond what they were teaching (which made me feel good, actually, because hey, I still remember stuff after 5 years, and I still qualify as an advanced student!). When we have disposable income, I may think of joining a class anyway, because since I'm not planning on competing any time soon (need money for that sort of thing. Costumes, lessons, etc.), I'd just be going for the fun of it. And I don't mind dancing with people who aren't as experienced at all...unless they step on my feet, anyway. Anyway, I'm going to their Latin styling class next Wednesday for my group lesson, and I'm super excited. The only downside to these? Now I REALLY miss dancing. It's the one thing I do that I feel truly beautiful doing it. I have a lot to learn, but it's just so fun and freeing to me. Ah well, someday. :) As for now, I still get 3 more hours of dancing this next week! Also happy--I have lost almost 30 lbs. I'm right around my marriage weight. Go me! Only about 40 lbs to go... | | Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 | | 9:34 am |
From the mouth of Brenna
Telling her cousin (six months younger than her)about clouds: "See those clouds, Ella? They eat up dust and dirt and then they get very heavy and then they cry and then that makes rainbows! Now it looks like a dog." On what the Holy Ghost feels like: "It feels like soft pillows" and a sweet/sad one, after a long full day of extreme naughtiness and tantrums: "Do you still love me? Even when I'm so naughty?" (She was immediately reassured that, though we do prefer good behavior, we always love her. The next day was much better). | | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 2:20 pm |
book recommendations
Thanks to Megan, who is totally awesome, I have the funds to go and get a couple of books. However, I have no idea what to get (I am interested in Jay Lake's Green--but it's a new hardback, and I want to get more than one book). Any suggestions? | | Friday, July 31st, 2009 | | 10:56 pm |
From the children are weird file
Brenna, while we were in the kitchen making lunch yesterday: "Mommy? Remember that time we were at the playground and I was going 'play, play, play, play,' and then you said it was time to go, and I said, "awwwww. Oooookay," and then in the car I said "I have a stomachache," and then I went throw up, throw up, throw up?" "Yes, I remember," I said. "That was pretty gross." Me (in my mind): Oooookayyyyy. Yes. Yes it was, child. (the incident in question was about four months ago, and I'm really not sure what brought it to mind... :P | | Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | | 2:26 pm |
| | Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 | | 2:44 pm |
Happy things (because it's good to hold on to those)
Regal does a free family movie on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through the summer. The kids and I watched Madagascar II and Kung Fu Panda over the last two weeks in the theater, which is always fun. A local park just opened a "Splashground" with tons of different fountains and cascading water features to play in, and both kids loved it. When they were tired of it, they got to go play in the regular playground right next to it. Our normal playground just got a complete makeover with all new equipment, including a nifty rope climbing structure. I get to read awesome books by my best friend (albeit rather slowly, since my schedule is completely thrown off from normal right now...) I got to see Wolverine at the dollar theater with Chris (on the 75 cent day!) because Ryan was kind enough to tell us about it and offer to watch Brenna. I have birthday money from my grandparents that I'm going to use to see Harry Potter and to go to a ballroom dance class nearby (intro deal-- 1/2 hour private lesson, one group lesson, and a weekend dance for $20!). My garden is doing pretty well, and I finally got a zucchini (mine don't exactly explode with produce for some reason...I've now had two, with one more currently growing). And I've currently lost 25 lbs., using WeightWatchers. :) I'm 5 lbs. below my pre-Brenna weight/3 lbs. above my marriage weight. Yay me! | | Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 | | 10:23 pm |
Jonas's well baby stats and updates
First, a belated happy birthday to yedijoda--sorry I wasn't on the computer on your birthday! Because of this, you get to restart to 25 this time, and only start accruing age again as of tomorrow. :D Next, Jonas had his nine month appointment on Monday (How on Earth is my little boy nine months already?). He was 28.5 inches long, 20 lbs. 6 oz. (dropped from the 80% to the 49% in weight, but he's still huge, I think), and he's got a big head (18.25 inches around). Only one vaccine this time, which was nice. Though he still got pricked twice, because they checked his iron levels (which were good). He's currently got...nine teeth, I think? A lot, that's for sure. He has the cutest grin and loves to laugh. He thinks Brenna is the funniest person to ever have lived. He started doing an army crawl on the 5th of July, and has really started doing it well this past week. He grumbles and complains the whole time, though. I think he's trying to say "Hey! Lady! You have two perfectly good arms, you know. I shouldn't have to make all this effort! You're not doing your job!" It's really funny to listen to him. Of course, now I have to actually babyproof things, since he likes to eat paper. And computer cords. And that lit button on Mommy's computer tower sure is tempting... He also has three words and a sign--Mama, Dada, Na-na (Brenna), and the sign for milk, which means both food and Mama. He's also started clumsily cruising along the couch--he still needs help pulling himself up, and he tumbles over a lot, but he's trying really hard to balance himself and move around. In other updates, we had a great trip to my parents' house for Fourth of July. The kids and I stayed an extra week, and Brenna got to have private swim lessons while we were there. She did a great job (except for not trusting the substitute she had on her last day, so that day didn't go as well), and now loves to sort-of swim underwater. She's still working on coordinating her arms and legs, but she does great, and loves being in the water. While at my parents, we also picked blueberries at a farm, and took them back to my mom's and made homemade jam. It was really easy--we took 16 cups of berries, 8 cups of sugar, and boiled it, stirring frequently, for about 45 minutes. When the jam "sheeted" off a metal spoon, it was time to put them into jars. Once in the jars, we closed them up, turned them upside down on a towel, and waited. They sealed themselves. It was great! The jam's really tasty, too. We also went to Point Mallard, a local water park. We went on a water slide, and in the wave pool, but spent most of our time in the kids area. Brenna and Ella LOVED it, and the little boys enjoyed hanging out and splashing in the water, too. It was a lovely day. Other highlights-yummy food and fun fireworks on the Fourth (including Brenna's new song to call the Fireworks into starting), spending time scrapbooking with my mom, helping the kids paint pottery at a local store, and hanging out with my sister. On the day we headed home, Mom and Dad took me and the kids to Alabama Adventures, a little amusement park/water park near Birmingham, AL. I even got to go on a roller coaster with my Dad, which was fun. Brenna won a big clown fish doll at the Midway, she loved the ferris wheel, the alpine ride, and a bunch of others (though the bumper cars were only fun in the beginning, when she went around in little circles. Once she got it going straight and bumped hard into the wall, she was done and ready to get out). After we went to all the little rides that Brenna could go on, we headed over to the water park portion. The lazy river was great, though it's not as lazy an experience when you're holding an infant and trying to keep track of a three year old eager to show off her new swimming abilities (at least there was a life jacket for Brenna, so I wasn't as worried about her drowning. I started out having one on Jonas, too, but it just wasn't working). Their kids playground was fantastic--both the one for older kids and the toddler area. Brenna and I went on two water slides together in the big kid area, and later we went over to the toddler area, which was less crowded, and more fun for Brenna. Also, there was a little jumpy-seat swing that Jonas sat in for a long time. He would walk himself around and bounce and splash, and he just LOVED it. He also loved trying to drink the water, but all in all, it was great. :) Chris's dad was in town that same weekend, so we got to see him, too. Brenna thought it was fantastic having all her grandparents around at once, and had a great time showing off for everyone. Brenna also made up her very own knock-knock joke: "Knock-knock" "Who's there?" "Go potty" "Go potty who?" "Go potty in the toilet!" *cue hearty laughter* Kids are weird. :P The bad news--that next Monday (so, a week and a half ago), Chris lost his job. Which, you know, really sucks as he was our sole income. We've got a little bit of savings, but not a ton (moving and buying a house will do that to you...), so we really hope we find something new soon. So, if anyone knows of any editing positions, preferably in the Atlanta, or southeast region, let us know. :/ The last week has been a mixture of scary and fun. Scary, because there just isn't a lot around here right now to apply for, and lots of people looking for work. Fun, because I've managed to find fun, free things to do most days to get me and the kids out of the house so Chris can have concentrated, quiet time to work on revamping his resume, updating references, applying for jobs, etc. We've been to Chuckie Cheese's (on Saturday, so Chris was there, too--we had a bunch of tokens left over from the last time we went there, several months ago, so we went and just let Brenna play games and ride things until the tokens were gone), the library, swimming at a friend's subdivision's pool, a movie (Regal Cinema does free movies during the summer for families. We saw Madagascar II yesterday), the park twice, a friend came over to our house and we let the kids play in the water table, etc. This Friday, the ward's having a Primary activity to celebrate Pioneer Day, and next week we're going to check out a new Splash park feature at a local park (free! Yay!). Also next week, I'm going to use some of my birthday money and go see Harry Potter on Friday (my birthday, as well as Harry's). We're exchanging babysitting with a couple in the ward--we watched their kids last week while they went to see "UP." Anyways, life's pretty scary right now, so please keep us in your prayers. :/ At least we get to spend some quality time with Chris, so there's a silver lining. But I'd like to be able to kick him out of the house for 8 hours a day, in exchange for some cash to run the place. :P | | Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | | 5:12 pm |
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