A Weekend Review

This weekend Jason went spelunking on a research trip with his lab professor and lab group. They were looking to collect some bat parasites for research but wound up having fun and not capturing anything due to a bat fungus.

While he was a way:
Abygail had her first hair cutand re-potted the cherry tree, which was in dire need of it.
Considering this was my first time with the kids all by myself for 2 days and the first time Jackson has been away from daddy for a few days, I think we did pretty well.

I prepped Aby before hand so she knew daddy would be gone for a few days and that he would be back after church on Sunday. She kept saying "Daddy be back in few days". She did really well until after church on Sunday. Then she was pretty much upset until he got home.

This morning Jackson started saying "bye, bye" while waving. This video isn't his best but it shows his shy 'bye, bye wave'.

Some Cool Stuff

I think this is so cool. Turn you lights out tonight for 1 hour from 8pm-9pm for Earth Hour.

Another cool thing: I've been amazed at Crunchy Chicken's resourcefulness and desire to help young girls stay in school in South Africa. It all started here an with in just a few weeks she started this organization. Here are all the posts on her main website regarding the issue. If you have extra time and the talent of sewing this could be a fun way to make a difference, or if you have extra cash you can donate that way too. (unfortunately I have neither :( but I do have the ability to spread the word).

Just When You Think It's Safe

Yesterday was a great day weather wise. Sure it was still in the 30s but it was partly cloudy and little wind so it felt great. The kids and I went to the zoo. They were both bundled up and I was in a t-shirt with a hoodie over it - again, it felt great. (we all wore hats to help keep our heat in)

There were some people there but it wasn't very crowded. Abygail walked most of the way and by the end she was so tired she wanted to crawl, then just sit on the ground. We finally got back in the car and she fell fast asleep.

This morning we woke up to this:

Just when you think the snow is pretty much over, you've got to shovel again! O well, it's really beautiful.

Another first happened yesterday morning. Just when we were starting to think the McFallville tragedies were over...Jackson fell down the stairs. He got some bumps and a scratch but he seems none the worse for it.

Some other milestones: Abygail counts to 10 now, she loves playing hide-n-go-seek. Jackson waves good-bye, he was doing this at the zoo when we would say bye-bye to the animals and it was too cute.

My Apple Pie/The Apple Of My Eye/Apple Tart...

While Jackson was inside munching on his apple, the hawk was outside devouring his breakfast.

A Surprise Visit

This morning we had a surprise visitor to our backyard. He hung around for at least an hour and a half while he devoured his breakfast.

Easter

Saturday night we colored eggs. Good thing they were hard boiled eggs, Abygail dropped most of them in her excitement.

During the night the Easter Bunny came.

Abygail found a trail of eggs and M&Ms leading from the bedroom, down the stairs and into the living room.
Where the Easter Bunny left baskets for Abygail, Jackson and Daddy - each with a special egg from the Easter Bunny with their name on it.
After the excitement we all got ready for church. Abygail and Jackson had new easter clothes to wear. (it was perfect timing since they are both outgrowing their old clothes)
After church we had our Easter dinner of brisket, coleslaw and baked beans - it was yummy. We skipped hunting eggs. In the evening we went to our friends' house and had dessert - also VERY YUMMY!

A Week In Review

Silly Songs:
Abygail loves to have us sing to her. Most of the time that's how she goes to sleep. Lately (the past month or so) she has been requesting some interesting songs. This is my favorite song for this week:

Abygail: Sing Abygail.
Mommy: Ok, 'Abygail, you are my sunshine...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter, butter, who's seen the butter...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Pancakes, panny cakes, everybody likes panny cakes...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter on my pancakes, what's better...'
Abygail: NO! SING ABYGAIL BUTTER PANCAKES!!!
Mommy: OK! 'Abygail likes butter and she like pancakes...'
(a sigh of relief that we've finally found the right song)

Testing the Limits:
Abygail has also started testing the limits. She likes to try and demand to run around diaper-less (nekky bum). She also wants to go to the bathroom "by self" and closes the door behind her among a vast number of other things (playing during dinner, pushing Jackson...)

Wiggle Wart:
Jackson is such a WIGGLE WART. I was cracking up the other morning when he woke up for his 5:30am feeding. I was nursing him and his legs were pushing and bouncing, his eyes are closed and he's moving! It's so hard to get him to stay still long enough to get food into this crazy boy. I just love him so much and it really cracks me up!


Daddy Date:
Wednesday we had a "Daddy Date". Since it is still pretty cold here and there is still snow remaining on the ground there are not a lot of places where the kids can get out and stretch their legs for very long. There is a mall here that has some indoor play equipment (it's pretty small but beggars can't be choosers). Wednesday we decided to go to the play place in the mall and Jason was free for lunch so we swung by and brought him with us. Of course, no family outing is complete with out a little car sickness. We got to the mall, I was looking for a parking place and I started hearing the signals that Abygail was about to do her thing. I quickly stopped, Jason and Abygail got out of the car planning to meet us inside. But...It was too late! Jason got as far as Abygail out of the car and in his arms about ready to close the door for us to drive off when IT happened...all over the ground and on his shirt! It was a good thing we were at the mall, he got a new shirt out of it.

We got to see the Easter Bunny. Abygail was very cute. She was shy and didn't want to touch him/her or have him/her touch her but she told him HI.

We enjoyed lunch together and then the kids played in the indoor playground. There were a lot of kids there but they both had fun. Jackson wanted to be right there with all the big kids too. He climbed up a slide and crawled all over the place.

We all had a lot of fun. When it was over we dropped Daddy back off at school. A perfect Daddy Date.

Potty Training:
Abygail is not completely potty trained. Really, she just knows how to use the potty when she wants to. She has become very adept at taking her diaper off as well. I know I need to be more firm about her using the potty, I just haven't figured out how to do it in a nice way that she will respond positively to.

Yesterday I lost it. She went pooh pooh in her diaper and then took it off and came to tell me that she had gone pooh pooh (nothing unusual there). She also said "uh oh mommy. I poopie on my foot". Sure enough there was pooh pooh on her foot. I told her not to move, I would be right back to clean it up. I walked out of the library and past the bathroom, where right in front of it was laying her diaper with poop in it and poop on the floor as well. I got some stuff to clean it all up and came back to see that she had moved. I told her again not to move, then proceeded to clean up the mess in front of the bathroom (dummy me, should have cleaned up her foot first). When I was done and ready to clean her up, I found she had moved again and now there was poop on the furniture in the library. GREAT! I cleaned her up while yelling. I know, it really wasn't her fault and yelling just scared her but I just lost it. Next time...hopefully there won't be a next time.

Spring Break

I Love My Daddy Because...he teaches me to pray.

Last Sunday Abygail said her first prayer all by herself from start to finish. It was at dinner and this is how it went: "Heady Fauter, tink dis day, something something something, de Jesus Kist, Amen". She has since said a handful of prayers all by herself and we are so impressed and proud.

Snow Angels

This week Jason was on Spring Break. It was so nice to have him home. We've just been kicking back and enjoying the snow that dumped on us a week ago. Abygail got to build her first snowman this week. He had a carrot nose, sunglasses, and a hat and scarf from Ecuador - his head finally melted and fell off on Friday. We still have several inches of snow on the ground but it's melted from the roof tops and sidewalks.

I'm not sure if he felt like he got a spring break though, I think I'm the one that got the spring break. I got to run errands and do some shopping all by myself. It was so nice to have some alone time.

(click to enlarge and you can see sprouts)

Thursday night I hosted an Enrichment activity at our house. We learned about seed starting (by yours truly who is learning about it for the first time this year). I had some trays and soil (soil-less soil) for everyone and since we have more than enough seeds of the plants we want to plant this year we shared them and everyone got to plant some and take home to watch them grow. I have my fingers crossed that this works out because I don't want anyone, including myself, getting discouraged. For us I started some Zinnia seeds, others started flowers, tomatoes, peppers and watermelons (we weren't sure if it was too early to start the watermelons so we just decided to give it a try - what could it hurt).

We got to pet and play with 2 adorable bunnies at the museum.

On Saturday we all went to the Museum of Science. It was O.K. but nothing to write home about other than we got out and spent some time together as a family.

Yesterday when I watered the zinnias I noticed some of them had sprouted, today when Abygail and I checked on them we noticed several more had sprouted. I'm really excited about this whole experiment and Abygail seems to enjoy it too.

Yum! My first Oreo!!!

Jackson's top two teeth have started poking through this week. He has been racing up the stairs every chance he gets, he knows how to move the road block that we've put up now too. He's taken a tumble over the side of the Kangaroo Climber which didn't seem to phase him too much.

Another big thing we did this week: TAXES! We are planing to get Jason a bicycle and redo the kitchen with the return that will be coming in.

The car is still in the shop so we've had a rental car for 2 weeks now. We hope ours is finished soon.

Not much more has been happening. Hope you all have had a great week and ... for the rest of our fellow Buffalonians who will start their Spring Break on Monday - ENJOY!!!

We Got Barely Any Snow

Ok, so we got a little bit more than 'barely'.

It's been snowing since Thursday night (i think) and it's beautiful. Some kind neighbor come through with their snowblower and cleared our sidewalk, now we just need to get the front walk and driveway clear.

I'm hearing the call of the back yard crying for a snowman!

Little Jackson

Jackson had his 9 month Dr. apt yesterday. First let me say, I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S ALREADY 9 MONTHS OLD!!!

It was not too much of a surprise when the Dr. insisted on re-weighing Jackson, she was sure that the nurse had not weighed him correctly...but she did. I know that he hasn't gained and I know why - I CAN'T KEEP HIM STILL. The boy has just recently learned to sit, why? He could sit if he wanted to before but he didn't want to - he just moves and moves and moves. Even now he'll only sit for SUPER SHORT periods of time, we're talking 30 seconds MAX or when he's eating in his highchair. I am constantly chasing him up the stairs, he's climbing up the slide or super fast crawling like he's in a race to get somewhere. (up the stairs before I catch him - of course!)

So here are his stats:

Jackson Ridge at 6 months:
15 lbs
26 1/2" long
41 1/2 cm head circumference

Jackson Ridge at 9 months:
16.10 lbs (5th percentile) THAT'S BASICALLY JUST 1 POUND IN 3 MONTHS!!!
27 3/4" long (50th percentile-as has always been true)
43 1/2 cm head circumference (25th percentile-as has always been true)

Honestly, I wasn't surprised! I know he is a calorie burner. At least now I know I just have to pay extra attention to his food intake. I am supposed to up his solids (the boy already eats 1 1/2 containers of food at a sitting! I've tried to make his food like I did with Abygail but he refuses it every time I try to give it to him-he's a Gerber boy)

(This is the kid's new kitchen. A friend of Jason's kids got a new and bigger one so they gave this one to Jason. We've been so lucky here when it comes to toys and baby stuff!)

Other updates for Jackson:
His second bottom tooth cut through the gum this week and his top teeth are starting to show some signs of emergence. He's had a diaper rash that we've been fighting on and off for a month - the Dr thinks it's from teething, that's good to know.

Whenever he gets a rash or doesn't gain the weight he should I think "O, I'm such a bad Mother. If I were a good Mother he would gain more weight and wouldn't have these rashes". I have to remind myself that not everything is about ME. These things just happen sometimes.

Jackson really is such a sweet heart and we are so glad to have him in our home. He always wants to be with his sister and see what she's doing and play with her. She's starting to be more accepting of that and is sharing with him more now. It's fun to see them form their sibling relationships.

New Book Review!

I just posted my book review on The Omnivore's Dilemma. (on the side bar) If you've read it I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you haven't read it...do you plan on reading it?

Palmyra

After church today we went to Palmyra. I packed a picnic lunch Saturday night and made sure everything was in the car before we left for Church this morning. I fed Jackson right before we left the church so he was full and he and Aby took nice long naps.

It was a nice drive. We are in a smaller car right now (rental car, ours is in the shop from the pre-Christmas accident) so it was a bit cramped and there is no leg room in the drivers set for Jason so I GOT TO DRIVE, which I really enjoy doing. As I said, the kids were both asleep the whole way there so Jason and I got to talk and enjoy the black and white scenery. We saw deer and turkeys on the way there. It was nice to just be 'us'.

This was Jason's first trip to Palmyra, the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls is up at the visitor's center there so our plan was to go and see them. Since the kids were still sleeping I drove him past the temple, Smith farm and Sacred Grove as well as the 4 churches (a presbyterian, baptist, evangelical and methodist church all on different corners of the same intersection). Finally we decided it was time to wake the kids up. We both changed our clothes in the car (a little harder for the driver in a cramped seat) - well out of the line of vision for any peeping toms - and them went inside.

There was a lecture just about to start so there was an overload of people there. It was a bit much for the kids so we went back to the car, ate our picnic, and then drove to the top of the Hill Cumorah. We were all by ourselves up there and it was beautiful. One side of the hill still snowy and innocent and the other side green for all the snow had been melted in the sun. There was a huge snow drift right on the stairs that led to the statue of Moroni but it didn't deter us from climbing through it.

Climbing through the snow drift and petting the stray cat that was there were definitely the highlights of our trip.

We were not able to see much of the exhibit but it was still a good reason to go and have some family alone time.