Four-score and Ten Days Ago...

I have no idea what four-score means...but 10 days ago was my last post. So, here's what's been going on. I'm back to work and I'll start doing site visits again this week. I'll do those three or four days a week for the next five weeks, which will be intense but, as usual, the paycheck at the end of it all will rock (and will help cover summer expenses)!

The 15th was my birthday! I'm 31 now. Oh my. The Pinnacle picnic was very fun and a few of my friends and their families were lovely enough to come and celebrate with me. Owen flew a kite for the very first time that day (to watch a video of said event, visit http://www.ejerph.com/nucleus/ and click on the 4/16 video under "Owen flies kites, Nathan eats foil") - what a gift to see my son overjoyed by the experience. Simply put, I had a wonderful birthday, and am glad for my life.

Shayna came over a lot this past week to help me get organized for the big, upcoming LLL garage sale (May 5 - be there or be a big lamer! ha ha ha). We've been hanging clothes like nobody's business and started sorting some of the other stuff as well. Tanya brought over even more stuff for us to go through. I think this sale's going to be a real money-maker for the Group, which is fabulous. It'd be nice to have a little money in the account rather than actually owing money to one of our Leaders.

Next Sunday is Shayna's baby shower. I can't believe she's only got five weeks or so to go. Then I'll get to hold her little bundle of boy joy just as she's gotten to hold my little bundle of girl joy! And speaking of bundle of girl joy - Kristen's knocking on 11 lbs now and has discovered her hand! Tuesday (I think?) at about 4 am during a diaper change, you could see the amazement in her face as she thought to herself, "Could this wondrous instrument be...mine??? It is! It is a hand, and it is MINE!!!"

Boudreau's doing well with being outside, which is not shocking considering that he's always spent a lot of time out there. When it rained the other day, he spent a good portion of it out in the garage, which also is fine with him (one of his nicknames is "Garage Dog" because he's always loved the garage so much). I miss him but find myself actually making special efforts to love on him ~ somewhat moreso than I did when he was just in and out all of the time and I was preoccupied with children. Denver's her usual lovey and licky self. I gave her a haircut today, and her hair's now 1/2" all over except her tail and ears are still long. I forget how petite she is until I see her with her summer 'do!

I'm still 10 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight and about 15 above where I'd like to be, but I feel ok and know I just need to eat healthier and get a bit more exercise. It will come off with time, and probably a lot less time than it did with Owen, thankfully!

That's all for tonight - Jackie Out.

A whole week has passed...

Hi All! (yeah, all...um...like...two of you who read this...ha ha ha) It's been a week so lots to report. First, Kristen's four whole weeks old now! She's at least 10 pounds, too. She fits nicely into all of her 0-3 month clothes, and has an extra chin just like her mommy, and generally looks just like me. Except for her foxy natural tan...that looks nothing like me. I'm as albino as they come.

Today was a sad day in our house ~ Boudreau has become a daytime-outside doggie. He bit Owen on the face, resulting in a row of bruises from Owen's left eye to the left corner of his mouth. This was following a biting me incident (not hard, but still...) yesterday. I'm not sure what's up, and we're trying to remain good doggie parents while also being conscientious human parents, but Bouds clearly cannot be trusted to turn the other cheek when Owen (or someone else) inadvertently touches him. So Bouds will now spend his days in the big 2.5 acre front yard & then will come inside to sleep at night. We'll see how that arrangement works out.

My friend Shayna's gotten me hooked on American Idol...and tonight was a results show, the majority of which I fast-forwarded through courtesy of DVR. So I get to the end, and Ryan Seacrest says, "the person that's going home tonight is..." and then the screen switches to "Playback Over" because my stupid DVR timer didn't run as long as the show did. UGH! Thankfully, Shayna also DVR'd it and then IM'd me when she got to that point, and Woo Hoo-Bucky's Goin' Home. Who names their kid "Bucky"? But that's another line of discussion entirely, and I'm not going to ramble (too much) tonight.

Was I going to recap the week? Yeah. OK. The SAHM of two thing is working out, thanks to my husband and my friends, who make my life a good one. I'm somehow managing to accomplish most of what I set out to do. I believe that, beyond the help of my husband and friends, it's because I am aware this time around of how much I need to make the most of my available time so that I keep up with everything. I don't always do a great job of making the most of it, but I'm certainly doing a decent job of it.

Yesterday we spent the late afternoon at Kamrin's house ~ she had a lovely get-together for her daughter's fifth birthday. Shayna's awesome husband Jeff showed up after work and was playing vigorously with Owen. After we got into the car, Owen was telling me that the "Man [was] nice, very very nice man!" Yep, Owen. You knows good people, my boy.

Last Saturday we went to a city Easter celebration at the Clinton Library, which was cut a little short by a situation where we were long on urine and short on diapers. Oh well.

Tomorrow my friend Kristin's coming over for a little lunch & to drop off some stuff for our LLL garage sale fundraiser (only a few more weeks to go), and later in the afternoon we're going up to the zoo. Saturday's my birthday & we're doing a picnic/egg hunt at Pinnacle Mntn park. 10 AM - be there or be a big lamer!

Naptime Rocks!

I love naptime. Whether I'm napping with my little ones or staying up, it's just such a lovely time of the day. Quiet, unpressured, peaceful. Owen has passed out, despite his declarations of "No thank you" when I asked if he wanted to lay down, and Kristen's being her usual grunter self, falling in and out of sleep, waking just long enough to boobie-dive a little.

Since I slept in today (thanks, Honer!), I'm staying awake & doing stuff during today's naptime. Laundry, writing, staring at my baby girl, trying to figure out what I'm going to wear to dinner tonight, since Kristen and I are going out with a few of our friends.

My first day...

Today's firsts:

-Trip to Wal-Mart with both kids by myself
-Trip to USPS with both kids by myself
-Day at home with both kids by myself!

And I did fine! :) I think success is going to be like recovering from some addiction ~ one day at a time. ;)

In other news, my sister sent me a box filled with clothes that no longer fit Aurora. The thing is, as I was looking through the adorable outfits, it was hard for me to imagine that Aurora's too big for them. And that gets me to thinking that Kristen, too, will no longer fit in her adorable little outfits either, and soon. In fact, she's now too long (tall!) for the one she wore home from the hospital, so it'll go into the memory box so I can nostalgize (yeah, is that even a word?) over it one day.

And speaking of clothes, it's getting hot here, so I've been looking for cheap shorts. I don't want to spend a lot of money on shorts in a size that I hopefully will wear for only a month or two. So, to WalMart I went. Unfortunately for me and the rest of cheap Americans, WalMart's shorts selection sucks this spring. You've got slut shorts, what-were-they-drinking-when-they-sewed-those shorts, and one pair of exercise shorts. Yeah, um, no thanks. I'll remain bottomless.