First Tooth!

Here it is, at 11 months and 13 days old, her first tooth!

It's that tiny little light spot on her gums on her left (your right). We found it a week ago Sunday but I haven't been able to get a good picture of it until now.

The Unbreakable Tree

Every special, important, or fragile ornament on our "real tree" will be at my waist-height or higher for at least the next few years. I say this even though last year the only person to shatter a cherished ornament was me and my clumsey, pregnant, sausage fingers. Norah is really careful around the tree and Penny, while interested, hasn't made any attempts to pull it over on herself just yet.

Still, I wanted Norah to have a tree all to herself. One that she could decorate and re-decorate as she saw fit. I decided to put it just outside her room. She's incredibly good about staying in her bed at night, but a Christmas tree ripe for the decorating might be too much temptation.

We had plenty of small stuffed animals to use as ornaments. Since the tree is still 6 feet tall, she had to direct me in placing the higher ones. Ultimately, it was Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl who got the roll of "Angel" at the top! A few of her stuffed animal ornament selections were just too big to go on the tree, so Chongo (the gorilla), Teddy, Ladybug and Pink Doggy were appointed to guard the tree instead.

Best Christmas Picture Ever

Back when Norah went to daycare full-time the director, Michelle, had her brother-in-law come and play Santa during Christmas time (since Santa Himself was a little busy at that time of year).

When this picture was taken, Norah was 16 months old. We had talked that morning about Santa coming to her school and taking pictures with everyone. When I dropped her off she was super excited. Clearly, the excitement wore off a bit.

The moment I saw this picture it was my favorite. It still is.

Incidentally, Michelle is AMAZING and if you live in my area and need childcare, call me. I'll hook you up.

Awesome Party

We went to a party at Jan's.

She had a photo booth set up.

We could wear hats, or not.

We could be serious, or not.

We could pretty much do Whatever.

Clearly, it was an awesome party.

Eleven Months

She was eleven months old Monday the 28th and she started crawling on Friday the 25th. Her sister walked at a week before 10 months. They're so similar... but so very, very different.

Two. Different, But Not Too Different.

...Or, the title in which I demonstrate the importance of spelling and punctuation. :-)

My two girls - The Jones Clones, as I sometimes call them - are very similar. For better or for worse, I don't think they'll ever have to worry about people not realizing that they're sisters. Sometimes though, their similarity only serves to point out their differences to this Momma.

My oldest is the consummate first child. She takes it upon herself daily to make sure that others are following the rules and "doing it right". She already bosses around her little sister and then tattles on her when she doesn't follow directions. It's been months since we started having talks about the fact that she's not the mommy and her only job is to be a good example so that her sister knows how to follow the rules. It's not her job to force her sister to do things her way or to discipline her when she does them wrong.

She's also a spitfire, a spark plug, a live wire. When she grows up, she will be one of those people that other people call "indomitable".  When she sets her mind to something.... It. Will. Get. Done.

We have known since she was very young that she will be an influencer. Whether for good or for mischief, she will lead others. It's our responsibility as her parents to teach her how to make wise decisions so that her influence will be positive. We have been working, little by little, in age appropriate ways, to teach her to be a discerning decision maker. Even now, we're so proud of how well she thinks through her choices before making them.

Teaching her to hone her critical thinking skills has created some pretty funny "toddler logic" situations. For instance, just after she turned 3, she started to practice "leading questions" to help her get the answers she wants. A typical scenario would go something like this:

"Daddy, are you making dinner in the kitchen?"
"I sure am."
"And you have to stay in the kitchen while you make dinner, huh?"
"Yup."
"But I don't have to stay in the kitchen, do I?"
"Nope"
"So... since you have to stay in the kitchen while you're making dinner and I don't, can we turn off your movie and I can watch my movie?"

Wow. That's my girl!

Well, that's my first girl. My second girl is a little bit different.

Girl #2 is a whole different kind of handful. Much more easy going than her big sister, she's used to not being the center of attention every single second. She also uses this fact to her advantage and quietly gets into mischief when we're not looking. This talent has resulted in few smashed fingers from playing in drawers and probably a handful of crumbs (or dog hair, ew!) eaten off the floor. Obviously a second child, she yells when she needs something, usually because it's the only way to be heard over her jabbering big sister.

She's already played the little sister victim card. At about 10 months of age, no less! The girls were in their car seats and her big sister playfully patted her hand. She started screaming bloody murder, looking at me as if to say, "Big Sister hit me!" I had been standing right there watching and said to her, "She didn't do anything to you. Cut out the screaming." Little Sister stopped screaming immediately, looked at me, and shrugged as if to say, "Hey, it was worth a shot." Seriously, already!?!

She's not as progress-focused as her big sister. She seems to just "enjoy the ride" a little better. By that I mean that when my first girl discovered sitting up, she never wanted to lay down again. When she discovered standing, sitting up was so five minutes ago. Once she could cruise the furniture, she wanted nothing to do with standing still. When her baby sister is sitting up and falls over, she says, "Uh oh" and rolls off to find another fun activity. For her, it's not a giant failure. It's just a new opportunity to see the world from a different angle.

Because of her easy going nature, she seems like she might be developing her physical skills a little more slowly. Her big sister had been walking for over a month by this age. Last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, she started to crawl. I alternate between being slightly worried and being really excited that I don't have to deal with a walking infant - which is exactly what her big sister looked like. The truth is, she's still developing faster than the "normal" development curve.

We thought that since we had such a verbal first child, we would perhaps get a quieter one the second time around. Not a chance. She talkes up a storm. Actual, recognizable words include all of our names (Mama, Daddy, Sister, Bob), "Thank You", "uh oh" and most recently "cracker". She also makes the following animal sounds/faces, puppy, elephant, giraffe, fishy, monkey, cow, dog and dinosaur.

We can already see that our sweet girl #2 is a sparkler. She's going to be the girl who lights up a room. Even her presence is uplifting, I can't wait to see the way she encourages people when she can finally form a sentance or two. She is already so sympathetic and tuned in to the feelings of others. I know that as she grows she will be the kind of girl who has just the right words to speak life to troubled friends and family. Just like with her sister, our main job will be to make sure that she develops discernment so that she can encourage others to do the right things. Neither of our girls will be followers, so we need to teach them to be good leaders.

Did I ever think I'd be the mom of two exceptional, active, sparkly, tough girls? Honestly, no. But I've got two. Different, but not too different daughters. And that suits me just fine.

Stay tuned for a crawling video! I've been trying to upload it since she turned 11 months on Monday but Blogger hates me. It'll be up soon, I promise!

Little Helper

Her absolute favorite thing to do at Great Grandpa's house is help feed Annie, his horse. Needless to say, at three *whole* years old, she's an expert helper.

The Perfect Quote

I bought two blank canvases way back when Penny was born that I've been planning on doing something fun with.

I decided to find a quote and do a little art piece with it for Norah's Big Girl Room. She made such an awesome transition from the nursery to her own room, I wanted to find a quote that really highlighted her independence and spirit.

I looked everywhere for the right sentiment. I just couldn't find the words I wanted. I almost went with, "She thought she could, so she did." but it didn't quite convey the sass I wanted. Finally, I was browsing Pinterest one day and came across a Shakespeare quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream.




I think it captures my girl perfectly. Don't you?

Hacked for Thanksgiving

Hi there, Blog People. We hope you had a good Thanksgiving. In honor of the holiday, we're going to tell you what we're thankful for!

Norah: I'm thankful for little sisters. Even when they're really, really loud.

Penny: I'm thankful for big sisters, even when they keep patting you on the head.

Mom says she's thankful for portable high chairs to keep little girls contained, and aunts who keep lots of toys around to keep big girls entertained. Wait. Do you think she's talking about us?

Heard Around the House

It's been a while since I recorded any of the (often unintentionally) hilarious things that Norah says for posterity. So here's just a sampling and a picture for fun.


Guess who's excited about winter!

"Mom, when I grow up I'm gonna marry Jackabo. I'm gonna tell him next time I see him. Actually, I'm gonna ask, like this, 'Please, Jack, will you marry me?'"
"Well that's nice."
"Yeah, and if he says no, I will say, 'Please, please PLEASE!' because that's good manners."
"Well it's important to have good manners when you ask someone to marry you."
"Yeah, and if he still says no... I just don't know what I'm gonna do."
"No Plan B, eh?"
"No. Because all the other girls already took the other boys."

********

{Me calling to my parents out the car window} "Bye! Have a good date!"

"Mom, what's a date?"

"It's when two people who really like eachother go and spend time together doing something fun."

"When I grow up and get a husb... I mean, when I marry Jackabo, we're gonna go on dates. Oh! And I have to have a daughter too. Not one daughter, two daughters, just like you!!"

"Are you sure you want to have two daughters just like me? My life is pretty crazy."

"Yeah, but two daughters is awesome, right Mom?"

********

"What happened in Sunday School today?" {Normally she tells me all about the story they heard.}

"We played Duck, Duck, Goose. I said, 'Goose' to Mr. Josh and he caught me and I had to sit in the middle."

"You did!? Then what happened?"

"Someone else got caught and they had to sit in the middle so I got out."

"Well, when you're playing Duck, Duck, Goose it's a good idea to say, 'Goose' to someone who you think is slower than you instead of your teacher so that you don't get caught."

"Oh, ok. Cause Mr. Josh is really fast."

"I bet. But what I was really asking was what did you learn in Sunday School today."

"OH! What did I learn?"

...

"Well, Mom, I learned that I don't want to play Duck, Duck, Goose in Sunday School any more."

The Giraffe is Silent

Here's another little trick she's been doing for a while that we finally caught on video. My friend taught her daughter this one and we thought it was so cute, we had to teach it to our kiddos. She dances a little first, but at the end, she gives a great demonstration of what a giraffe says.

Tiny Dancer

Just a little sample of my sweet girl's moves. This is one of those things she's been doing for a while, but we finally managed to get it on video. You'll notice that Big Sister couldn't help but get in on the action. She often provides the background music that her sister dances to. :-)

Letters of Intent - An Ode to Fall

Dear Fall Boots,
You are such a good influence! Your cheery voices, "See Shell, cold weather fashion can be fun! Now go ahead, pull on your cutest skinny jeans, tuck 'em in and show us off!" keep me from Lazy Dressing Syndrome.
And we all know what happens when Lazy Dressing Syndrome takes over. It starts with the innocent donning of a zippered hoodie. Suddenly, it's March and we realize that we haven't worn anything but Yoga pants for the past four months. What's more, without the reality check of a button waist band, we haven't felt much need for exercise. Add to that a couple of Peppermint Mochas a week (Because, c'mon! It's such a festive drink!) and suddenly we're convinced that someone has come in the night and sewn all of our clothes a little too tight!
So thank you, boots. Your adorable presence, front and center in my closet, may just literally save my butt this winter.
Sincerely,
Willing to Slip on the Ice for the Sake of Fashion



Dear Mr. Impatient,
Instead of thinking to yourself, "All these losers are slowing down. I'll be awesome and pass them in the right lane." maybe what you should have thought was, "Gee, I wonder why E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E on the road is slowing down At the same time."
Betcha figured out why pretty quick when your front bumper met the hind end of that deer.
Happy Fall (aka: Wildlife Migration Season)!
Sincerely,
Not Gonna Say I Told You So...

Sister Love

If I hadn't already ordered my Christmas cards (I know! I'm way ahead this year!) I would have totally found a place for this picture. My girls love each other so much, I sure hope it lasts into the teen years!

Happy Birthday to Me

Monday was my birthday.

I'm 25. Again. So there.

To celebrate, Mark and I went out with some friends to dinner on Saturday evening.

Mark called this my do-over for last year's birthday. Last year was a fairly significant birthday for me (I was 25. Shut up.). Although I had specifically stated that I wanted to be extra cute for that particular birthday, true to the old addage "We plan, God laughs." It turned out that I was 35 weeks pregnant. Not exactly the kind of "cute" I'd planned on!

I did a little figurin' and between having the baby and the weight I've lost since (30 pounds!) I was probably at least 50 pounds heavier last year at this time.

I'm excited for the weight loss. I'm excited to be a stronger, healthier, more energetic me. I'm excited that I can keep up with my kids a little better these days. I'm excited that I've been able to change my lifestyle and make a habit of making good choices.

But mostly, I'm grateful. I'll tell you why in a minute.

Back in August, my friend Jill wrote an amazing post about her journey with a lot of these same issues. She wrote so clearly about how having self control wasn't a battle for her weight or for her body, it was a battle for her heart and the lies she was allowing into her mind. Her post spoke so well exactly what I was feeling. We can't expect ourselves to grow - whether by losing weight, changing habits, conquering depression or overcoming anything else that we struggle with - until we recognize that we were made the way we are, by a loving God, for a reason. We may not know the reason. We may resent the way we were made. But our struggles are never wasted if we allow them to be used to touch the hearts of others. If we put aside the lies we are constantly told about the way we're "supposed to be" and see ourselves in the light of the love of the One who created us maybe we could all give ourselves a little more grace when it comes to the things we struggle with.

So, back to why I'm grateful. I don't think I could have ever imagined a man who is better at seeing me in this light, and I'm so grateful for it. I'm grateful for a man who sees me for who I am - big or small, energetic or lethargic, crazy on pregnancy hormones or only slightly less crazy on regular hormones - and he loves me anyway.

Don't get me wrong, he challenges the heck out of me. He encourages me to grow and change. It's in his engineer nature to always be looking for the next improvment. But the bottom line is that he sees the good in me, he knows and is honest about the bad, and he loves me regardless.

So for my birthday this year (did I mention I'm 25?) I'm giving myself the gift of laying aside all the things I'm "supposed to be" and loving who I am, warts and all.

For my birthday, I'm giving myself grace (and dutch apple tart).

Happy birthday to me.
 

A Little Fishy

In case you were wondering...




This is what a fishy says.

Hacked by Penny - Many Faces

Hello again blog people! Did ya miss me? Silly question right, of course you missed me! Since you've missed me so very much, I have a little treat for you.

Momma got a new photo collage toy for her phone. She had been looking for one since she did a little photo shoot with me a couple of weeks ago. A whole bunch of the pictures came out cute (of course they did, they were pictures of me!) but she didn't want to post each one by itself. I can't understand why. Something about exploding the internet with cuteness or something I'm sure.

Anyway, here are just a few of the many faces of me. Momma's gonna try to put a collage of Big Sister together but she moves faster than I do so it's hard to get ones that aren't blurry. So without further delay, here they are. Enjoy!

 

Super Halloween

Since Halloween was on a Monday this year, we decided to forego the trick or treating and go to an event put on by a local private school on Sunday afternoon instead. Luckily for the girls, both my brother's work and my dad's work had trick or treat events on Monday as well. My mom got them all dressed up and took them by both places to say hello. She also got a few photos since I had to work that day. Here are some pics of the fun.


That's Penny doing her "Super Baby" pose (love that tummy), Norah distracted by candy, and Uncle Bob looking scary.


 

Norah and Penny agree: Uncle Bob does funny better than scary.





Norah modeling the hard hat my dad's work gave out and showing off her favorite treat, Tinkerbell fruit snacks!




Penny hangin' with Grampy while big sister scores some candy.

My super girls had lots of fun this year. I was also pleased to hear from my dad that out of all the kiddos at his work, Norah was one of just a few who said "Trick or treat." AND "Thank you." at every candy station! Hearing that kind of news sure makes a momma "super" proud!

Super! Thanks for asking.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of princes costume options out there for little girls this time of year. Don't get me wrong, I don't really have anything against my girls being princesses. That is as long as they're not the whiny, entitled, selfish, bratty princesses or the desperate, helpless, in-need-of-a-man-to-rescue-me princesses. Frankly I'm planning on having to help them walk the line in between those two - the line where kind, independent, resourceful, not-desperate-for-rescue-but-understanding-that-everyone-needs-to-be-rescued-once-in-a-while princesses tread - for most of their growing up years.

So when Norah said that this year she wanted to be a super hero, I was all over it! When I asked what super heros do, she responded, "They save the day!" Perfect!

Here are my little heros:

Here's my super big girl, as bat girl!

Here's her toughest, super pose.

I made Penny's costume this year. What an adorable Wonder Woman. Norah kept calling her "Woman Girl"

When I put Penny in her costume for the first time, she actually petted her tutu and said, "Ooooh!"

This is the only picture I got with the three of us together. Norah is protecting us, Penny
is looking stunned that she can't actually fly and my Super Woman "S" is half covered.

So how did we all enjoy our Halloween this year? I think this pretty much sums it up:

It was super! Thanks for asking!

Sneak Preview

I'm so excited about the girls' costumes this year I can barely stand it! They're both dressing in the same theme. I'm planning on forcing that kind of thing on them for as long as they're too little to assert their will.
This year I was planning on making both costumes but the one I had in mind for Norah was super cheap in a store bought version so I only ended up making Penny's.
Can't wait till you all see them!

Measuring Up

She discovered a tape measure at a friend's house yesterday so I let her play with one of ours today. All day she has been measuring things and declaring them to be "so big!"

My Very First Craft Post Ever!

If you know me, you know I'm not crafty. If you don't know me, well then welcome! I'm not crafty.

I found a tutorial for simple, no sew baby bodysuits that I just had to try. Everyone around me is having babies lately, so this seemed like the perfect craft to take a crack at.

On a side note, did you know that that one word we all use for "baby bodysuit" is actually copyrighted. I will, henceforth on this blog, be calling them "baby bodysuits" so as not to receive any threatening letters in the mail from a certain copyright holder's legal department.

The tutorial mentioned a product called Wonder Under. My mom (who, unlike me owns and can operate a sewing machine) says there's another one called Stitch Witchery. Whatever they call it, it's a miracle! You can iron one side to any fabric you want and then uncover the other side and iron it onto any other fabric - clothes, cloth napkins, curtains, etc. It makes me feel like a genius AND keeps me from passing out from blood loss as a result of stabbing myself trying to sew.

So here's the project:

You can tell this is my first tutorial post because I almost forgot to take the "in process" photos.

Pattern

The Wonder Under comes with paper on both sides. I took the paper off the first side and traced my design onto it with a marker. If you're planning on using really light fabric, I'd recommend tracing much more lightly with pencil or pen. I didn't think about this until after I used marker, but fortunately the marker didn't beed from the heat of the iron and my fabric was dark enough that the marker didn't show through.

I cut out my design and then took the paper off the back side of the Wonder Under. It's easier to cut your design when the paper is still on because it's a little more rigid. I started to pull the paper off and then thought better of it. Fortunately, that little start of pulling the paper off came in handy too. Once the design is completely cut out, it can be hard to find a loose edge of paper to pull on.

Bird in Process

Vest in Process

When I got to this point, I felt like something was missing. If I were a seamstress - or capable of looking at a sewing machine without fear that my hair will spontaneously burst into flames from the stress - I might have chosen to sew a border around my designs. I did not choose to do that. Instead, I chose this to puffy paint around the edges to finish it off.

Not being one to waste scraps, I took one scrap, ironed it to another scrap, and practiced painting the edge so that I didn't ruin one of my adorable bodysuits.

Once you get the paper off the back, iron the design onto the bodysuit per the instructions on your iron on fabric stuff. I was making a couple of boy bodysuits and a couple of girl ones.

Practice Painting

Little Man Bodysuit Complete

Sweet Girl Bodysuit Complete

And Done! See? That wasn't so bad, now was it? We can be crafty! All we need is the right craft!

Pickin' and Grinnin'

**First off, a little note of apology for the ridiculously bad formatting of this post. I spent over two hours tonight trying to get things to line up correctly and they just wouldn't. SO FRUSTRATING! I'd blame it on Blogger not communicating with my Mac, but it does it at my parent's house on their PC too. I'm seriously thinking of switching to another host. I have so little time to write anyway, I want it to be enjoyable when I do. This formatting stuff makes me so mad I put off posting at all, which frustrates me even more! If anyone has any ideas on how to make it better, I'm happy to hear them. Ok, rant over. **

The mother of one of our good friends has an amazing property just outside of town. It backs up to a little creek, has an amazing yard and garden, and it's practically overrun with apple trees! The tennants told our friends that they didn't want the apples or any of the produce from the garden. So... a little while back three families from our small group took a field trip to steal the apples and raid the garden see the beautiful area and spend some quality time together.

 

Straight away, Elise showed
Norah around Nana's house.

 

 

Penny and Isaac spent some
quality time together too.

The confused looks I got when I asked, "Watcha eatin'?

It was less confusing when I just said,
"Show me your apple!"

Yum!

Jazzy modeling her apple.

Those feet up there belong to Darin, Jazzy's dad and
our designated "tree shaker".

 

Norah inspecting the haul.

While the daddies were pickin' the
girls went down to the creek.

Norah encouraged her friends to climb rocks.

There was posing for photos,

And lots of giggling!

This is about as high as Jazzy got.

In the mean time, Penny hung out
happily on the blanket.

When he got tired of his seat, Isaac helped
his mom text some friends.

And Isaac chilled out in his car seat.

My handsome husband got to help himself
to some garden fresh herbs.

And the girls had a dance party in the planters.

Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to practice some photography on the less mobile of my two little subjects.

Leaf inspector.

Leaf taster.

Super Baby!!

This is my absolute favorite photo that I've taken of Penny in the last month. I know you can't see her face, but there's just something so very... Penny about the image of her exploring her world, content, on her own. I'm actually thinking of having this one put on canvas. It won't be long before I'll have trouble remembering when she was this small.