Free time

Where on earth did all my free time go?!  I used to think I didn't have much but nowadays I have even less!  In the very little free time I have I've got a big decision to make:  do I take a nap, knit, blog, or clean the house?!  (actually the list is longer as my love for photography and photoshop is growing and I want to spend more and more time learning about the two)  Last week was spent taking naps every free minute I had because I knew it was necessary for a speedy recovery.  This week, though I'd like to take a nap, I'm thinking I should avoid it so as not to get into a habit.  That leaves me with knitting, blogging, cleaning, or learn about photography and photoshop.  Right now I'm choosing to blog.  I really should choose to clean every time I get the chance because my house is becoming disastrous but I don't WANT to clean.

Does anybody have any good tips or ideas for me?  I'm in desperate need!  I want my house to get clean but I to do what I want to do and I don't want to stay up late to do any of it otherwise I'm a cranky mom (and wife) the entire next day.  Help!  Oh and tips too for getting up and ready in the morning.  Some days I get to dinner time only to realize not only have I not even gotten dressed for the day but I have not even brushed my teeth!  Disgusting I know, but I'm just being honest.  Does anybody else have the same trouble I do, or am I completely disgusting, disorganized and lazy?!  I'll take any advice I can get to help my days go more smoothly and productively.

I'm back!

I didn't mean to fall off the face of the planet as far as this blog is concerned but Jordan and I both being sick last week really did a number on me!  We are feeling a ton better now so I'm hoping to be back to blogging like I was before.

Here are a couple pictures I took last week:

Sweet little smile above turns to this in just one snap.

I love the way she all has her hands folded during these top two pictures.

Oh hi Amélie!

Jordan is finding that Bogart is quite comfy to lay on.

Bogart doesn't agree with the comfort thing though...look at that face!

But he likes to smell shoes and she doesn't so I guess they're even?

Yelling down to Daddy.  Doesn't look like Bogart appreciates her yelling in his ear either.

He's such a good dog!  We love him!

We woke up to snow last Friday...14 inches.  Then two days later we were out in short sleeves enjoying 60 degree weather; snow completely gone.  Now we hear it is forecasted to snow again tomorrow.  Good grief!

Jordan conversation

A recent dialogue with Jordan.

Jordan:  "Momma?"
Me:  "Yeah?"
Jordan (very matter of fact-like):  "Yeah."

Poor little Jordan is sick.  The doctor said yesterday, had we waited to bring her in until today, she would have an ear infection.  Plus she has a really sore throat.  She's been losing her voice, which doesn't slow her chatter down in the least!  The only thing that's been slowing the chatter down is when that nasty fever comes.  Her fever yesterday was 103.8.  The drainage in the back of her throat was so bad last night it caused her to gag on water.  It is SO miserable to watch your children be sick!  I can't stand it; praise the Lord we have hardly had to deal with it and I pray it stays that way.  Today she seems to be doing much better although her voice is still "gone," but she's back to avoiding naps and the fever has gone down to 100 and she's been able to eat and drink.

Brandon taught Jordan how to roll down a hill at the park last week.  Such fun!  I've really been wanting to get a kite.  I think she would be fascinated by it.

Amélie, now 2 1/2 months, just outgrew some of her newborn size jammies and is now in 0-3 month size.  I find this so interesting because my friend's son who is 5 months old now fits into 12 month clothes!  Such a difference!  Amélie weighs 8 lb 8 oz so she has gained three pounds since she was born.  

Oh!  We figured out why Bogart was so sick:  bad bag of dog food.  After he ran out of the special food the vet had given us after we took him in to get checked out we slowly began introducing his regular food and the diarrhea every hour started right back up again.  We remembered that we had just opened the bag of dog food right before he got sick so we opened a new bag just in case and he has been fine ever since.

I guess I really don't have too much to report.  We've not been doing much since Jordan isn't feeling well and since it's been snowing...still...in the middle of April.  Boo.

Here are some pictures from a couple of weeks ago when Jordan was helping me in the kitchen.

She loves helping in the kitchen whenever she can.

She got a lot of flour on her jammies!  It's an easy clean; it just dusted right off.

This silly girl:

Likes to do this with her books:

I often find books around the house sticking out like this of the dishwasher, fridge, drawers.

It's simple, yet goofy, little things.  Makes me smile every time.

prune cake

Ever since I made PW's prune cake Jordan asks for it on nearly a daily basis.  Here was our conversation earlier today:

Jordan:  "Nigh, night."
Me:  "Are you going to go nigh, night?"
Jordan:  "No. Eat prune cake."
Me:  "You want prune cake?"
Jordan, grinning:  "Ya."

I have no idea what nigh, night had to do with any of it but, I think I need to get some more prunes so I can make that cake again, don't you?  Until then, I hope she likes the oatmeal cookies I made.

Seriously, if you haven't made it yet, you need to.  It's an awesome cake!

Bogart

Jordan story

I like to give Jordan warning ahead of time when it is almost nap time or bed time rather than springing it on her.  The other day I gave her a heads up during lunch that when she was done it was time to take a nap.  About five to ten minutes later she clearly was done eating so I asked her, just to be sure, "Are you all done eating?"  She shook her head and said "NO!" then pretended like she had food in her mouth that she was chewing.  She has become quite the staller when it comes to going to bed.  She will think of anything she can to buy herself a few more minutes of wake time; she's getting creative.

The many faces of Amélie

Amélie

library

I've been taking Jordan to Books and Babies at the library since very shortly after she turned one.  We love the program and Miss Nola who puts it on.  At B&B we get to read books if we show up early then once it starts we sing songs and do actions for the first 15-20 minutes that really teach the kids lots of different things then after singing time the kids get to play with toys for about a half hour while the moms sit and watch and visit.  We LOVE it!  It's been our Friday fun for over a year now.

Jordan is now old enough to attend the Preschool Story Hour at the library that is for 2-5 year olds.  The cool thing about this (I'm sure there are MUCH more cool things about it but we haven't been going to know what those things are yet) is that it's TWO days a week if we really want to go on Wednesday AND Thursday.  So if I'm having one of those days where we just NEED to get out of the house, I have more options of free fun!  (Most of the time we hit up Nana's house or the Target toy section to play for a bit.  Once the weather decides to finally get nice around here we'll have even MORE fun things to do!)

Anyway, we went to Preschool Story Hour today but it turns out that once a month they instead have a Mommy and Me Craft Time instead and that just so happened to be today!  Jordan and I had fun coloring the chicken and his hats, cutting out the hats and gluing them on the chicken's head.  Jordan attempted to help with the scissors but we only managed to get straight lines therefore destroying one of the hats; she quickly lost interest and I finished cutting while she started painting glue on the hats; this was her favorite part which makes me realize I need to get some paint brushes for some activities here at home.

lip gloss

We got a free sample of shiny pink lip gloss in the mail yesterday.

We also got a new tripod and remote for our camera.

(You can see the remote in my hand in some of the pictures)

(You can also see spit up on my shirt in every single picture.  PLEASE ignore!)

This means that Jordan and I had a ton of fun putting on lip gloss and taking tons of pictures of ourselves.

We hope you enjoy.

Because we certainly did!

This was the last thing we did before she got ready for bed tonight.

It was awesome.

I love having girls!

quick update

Jordan is becoming quite the independent girl lately.  Her new favorite word seems to be "MINE!" Part of the time she truly means "mine" but most of the time that is her way of saying "NO!  I want to do it!"  Often when I've tried helping her or even ask her if she would like help if I see her struggling with something and she says "Nnno!  Mine."  This is quite the change from the usual super whiney "Mommy" that I used to hear whenever she needed help.  It's fun to see her independence coming out.

Amélie has become quite the "talker" like her sister.  She has found her voice and it is so much fun to listen to her coo.  She purposefully flashes some great big smiles nowadays too especially when she's being talked to.  She has so much fun watching her big sister, she just stares and stares in awe of her.

I love my girls.

Brandon has been sick with the flu and hiding in the basement so the three of us don't catch what he's got.  We miss him!  I've been sleeping alone, tonight will be the third night.  Jordan stands at the top of the stairs begging to go down and see Daddy.  The brief moments he comes up for food and water is not enough to satisfy any of us, but as difficult as it is, it really is for the best.

Bogart has also been sick, not with the flu but with diarrhea and puking.  I was up with him four times last night.  You read right, FOUR times.  Poor doggie.  He seems to be feeling better and I really hope so because I don't think I can handle another night of that!

Last night after I tucked Jordan into bed my mom came and picked Amélie and I up so I could get out of the house for a while.  Amélie was asleep the whole time and I got to just enjoy some time out with my mom for a couple hours.  It was so wonderful.  I love hanging out with my mom.

The many faces of Jordan

My personal favorite