Four Months

Jonathan is officially 4 months old today. I'll go to the doctor this week and we'll find out his weight/length... but until then suffice it to say, he is a big boy! We've decided to retire his bouncy seat because he's so heavy. When he sits in it his head reclines lower than his feet. The picture above shows Elisa bouncing him in the seat. He loves it! But it makes me and Greg so nervous. We're afraid that he might just catapult right of out it.

Snow fun

I just got some pictures back from the last couple months (yes, we are still back in the old film days around here... we are saving up to buy a new digital camera after ours broke back in October). So I wanted to post a few pictures of Elisa in the snow...

Aren't they too cute? Greg is such great dad; I just love seeing them together.

Elisa really did not want to have her picture taken. She was too busy playing. Despite this we managed to get a couple smiles for the camera out of her.

A video for Greg

So like I said before, Greg is out of town. He's in Florida at a conference about College Student Values. He is actually going to present at it tomorrow morning along with one of the other RDs. I'm so proud of him. I know he'll do a great job. The conference ends tomorrow at noon and they'll get back late tomorrow night.

This is the description of their presentation:

Assessing Student Values Gained Through Residential Living This session will explore the methods recently employed at John Brown University to evaluate the effectiveness of the transference of core values to students obtained through residential living. The Residence Life staff developed an assessment tool based on student interviews that allowed residents to share their own values through personal narratives about their campus experience. This newly applied method came from a desire to have more qualitative data as opposed to just quantitative data from surveys. Greg Brock, Resident Director, John Brown University & Patrick Bergquist, Resident Director/Adjunct Professor, John Brown University

Tonight after Elisa had her bath she wanted to be wrapped in a ton of blankets. Here's a little video of her and Jonathan chillin' on the couch tonight. It's really not a very exciting video, but I figured Greg would want to see his little ones. I know he misses them.

Sick kid update

So this morning Elisa woke up at 6:00 crying. I went in to check on her. I took her temperature and her fever was 103.2! So I gave her more Tylenol and held her for awhile. Of course Jonathan had also woken up at 6:00 wanting to eat (why is it that they always seem to need you at the same time?)... so I held Elisa for as long as I could until Jonathan wouldn't wait any longer to eat. I took her temperature again, it had come back down to 101 something... so I laid her in her crib and went back to feed Jonathan. Then we all went back to sleep and slept in a little later than usual this morning (which was very nice!) Elisa's temperature has been back at a normal level since she got up. She's still not quite herself. But at least she no longer has a fever.

I've been pampering her so much this morning. It's noon and she's already on her 3rd video and 2nd cup of juice (these are once-a-day things at most usually). She still has her jammies on and her paci.... she's in heaven... except she's sick :-( We've also read a bunch of books together... she's actually snuggling with me while I read. That's how you know that she's sick or really tired... when she'll snuggle.

I think this afternoon I may try to think of some fun activities for her that don't take too much energy. I was thinking of making home-made play doh. She hasn't ever played with play doh, but I think she would really enjoy it. So that might be fun.

Sometimes you just need a movie...

So Elisa is sick. Yup. Greg's gone and Elisa is sick. Perfect.

Actually, I can't complain too much. She has a fever. But other than that she seems okay. A little clingier than normal... but I can live with that. The hard part is that we can't really go anywhere... at least not anywhere where there will be other kids. (And I was really looking forward to going to Mothering Matters today - oh well). And outside is nasty and cold right now. So that means we are pretty much stuck inside. Elisa doesn't do too well stuck inside all day. She likes to go places and do things. And I don't think she's quite so sick that her desire to be going places is gone.

All that to say, I am so glad I picked up a couple of kid's videos at the library. Overall I try to avoid having Elisa watch a lot of "TV", but sometimes you just need a movie. Y'know?

Nothing else to do...

Greg's gone for a conference again... guess I'll be posting more. :-)

Precious moments

No, not the little figurines.

Precious moments of sibling love. I absolutely love it when Elisa and Jonathan have positive interactions. It melts my heart. The last couple of days Elisa has started "reading" books to Jonathan. In this video she also shows off a little by spelling her name (you have to listen really closely - but she totally does it!) and singing the first little bit of ABCs.

Household tips

It is the beginning of a new year, and once again I find myself with the itch to organize everything. There's just something about January (now almost February) that makes me want to purge closets and reorganize drawers; it renews my resolve to do monthly menu planning, and catch up on baby books. It seems I'm not alone in this desire. So I just wanted to share with you some of the tips and tricks that I've found useful as I've tried to keep our house running smoothly. I also want to welcome you to leave a comment telling your own useful tips. Most of these tips are not original to me. Most of them came from other moms, and they are just things I've heard that have stuck with me and have made my life a little easier. So, without further ado, here you go:

1. Swallow your frogs first. In other words, at the beginning of the day if there is some item on your to-do list that is making you cringe (for me these are those annoying phone calls), do it first. Get it out of the way.

2. Put your "handmaidens" to work. (This was related to Proverbs 31:15 where the wise woman rises early and provides tasks for her handmaidens) The modern day equivalents to handmaidens being things like crockpots, dishwashers, washing machines, bread-makers, (and dare I say it... children who are old enough to help out). The point of this is to get these things working for you right away (after all, it's really lame to try to load the dishwasher after dinner and find that it is full of dirty dishes)

3. When you don't have time to straighten the whole room, go for the biggest impact and straighten the largest flat area first. In the bedroom this probably means making the bed, in the kitchen it could mean clearing off the table or the island. And remember, the largest flat area could also be the floor (this is especially true of us with young children who spread their toys all over the floor). The whole room will look much cleaner when that one area is neat.

4. Touch your mail once. Don't open it until you're ready to deal with it -read it, act on it, file it or throw it away. This helps alleviate all those paper messes. (I used to do this, and it really worked... I need to start doing it again.)

5. Make twice as much as usual for dinner and freeze half. I feel like I'm on top of my game when I have something tucked away in the freezer. It's like having convenience food with half the cost and twice the nutrition. Of course, this only works for certain types of food: soups, stews, casseroles, marinated meats, and baked goods usually do well. Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer is a great book that has tons of good tips and freezer recipes.

So please leave a comment telling us your own tip... whether it's for organizing your time, your money, your meals, or your closets... anything that has made your life a little easier... please share!

Beautiful hair & snot bubbles

Leesi makes me laugh sometimes...

Today while we were sitting on the couch reading books together she reached up and brushed at her hair with her hand and said, "I have beautiful hair." I could hardly believe my ears! Then a little bit later she started stroking my hair and said, "beautiful hair." Hee hee.

She has a bit of a cold right now and during that same time on the couch she was blowing her nose and making snot bubbles. She pointed at her nose and looked at me wonderingly... I said, "Do you have snot bubbles?" And she repeated, "Snot bubbles." A little while later she stuck her finger deep into one nostril while blowing out the other and happily said, "bubbles!" Ah, the simple joys of childhood.

Some pictures from a couple months ago...

I love my kids. I'm so lucky to have the privilege of spending each day with them.