Kennedy’s first day of dance
And, give a kiss to Mommy!
4 comments September 6th, 2011 by Jenna
18 weeks [mid-July]
This pic was taken when I was 18 weeks along. I have a dear friend who does monthly pregnancy updates, which I think is cute and I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m copying her idea! I filled this out back in July, so when you read my 23 week update a few days from now, you can see how things have changed.
For this pic, I used an app on my iPhone called Snapbucket – I think this filter is called Lomo.
How far along: 18 weeks & change
Size of baby: 1 pound
Maternity clothes: I love that all the things I bought when I was pregnant with Carlee still fit for this pregnancy. I have tons of clothes – maternity and not maternity.
Movement: Yes. Mostly in the evenings, during prayertime/storytime and when I’m getting the kids to bed. (Hoping this is not a sign of things to come when the baby gets here.)
Sleep: pretty good! I have to get up 1-2 times to go to the bathroom but still only sleeping with 1 extra pillow under my head. (no pregnancy pillow) I am taking a 30-45 minute nap each day.
What I miss: soft cheeses. I squeak around the “no lunchmeat” rule by nuking it in the microwave. Don’t know if the same rule applies to things like feta, blue cheese, etc., but I’ll have to look into that.
Cravings: meat. bread & butter. potatoes. still an aversion to sweets.
Symptoms: finally feeling not quite so sick now. I’m able to get out with the kids more and enjoy our last days of summer. Haven’t had much heartburn, which is such a change from Carlee & Kennedy.
Best moments of the month: People don’t have to guess whether I’m pregnant or not – you can definitely tell! The kids are excited about finding out what the baby is later this week…
2 comments September 5th, 2011 by Jenna
Four for Four [September]
A mommy blogger friend (who kind of is my inspiration for blogging and writing and who I hope to meet some day “IRL”, and who still has time to read and comment on our blog sometimes) started posting pictures of her 4 kids on the 4th day of every month. She calls it Four for Four, and I think that’s just brilliant. And, since we’ll be joining the ranks of having 4 kids, we’ll start blogging about it.
For now it’s just the kids and me with my large melon sized unborn baby. We are watching the Aggies btho SMU, hence the Gig ‘em thumbs. And, they are clean, hence pajamas. And they ate good dinners, hence the gummy snacks with lots of sugar.
This month it should be called “Four On Mom”.
5 comments September 4th, 2011 by Jenna
Books read July 2011.
18. The Sweet Potato Queens’s First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, And May Yet by Jill Conner Browne. I was recommended this SPQ series by a friend in book club, but I made the mistake of checking out this (untrue) book first. It was very easy reading, but it was just so silly that it ruined me to want to try reading the true ones. Being a self-proclaimed Southern girl, I found it almost offensive but funny too… Read the reviews on Amazon (of both the true and untrue versions) and make the decision for yourself. 3 stars.
19. Wither by Lauren Destefano. I couldnotputthisbookdown. I read it in a matter of hours (seriously) and while the subject matter is pretty intense, the story is riveting. Now my only regret is that part 2 of the trilogy doesn’t come out until next year! Which means part 3 will take even longer! I’m realizing how spoiled I was in reading The Hunger Games virtually back to back.. to back. 5 stars.
20. The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer. Thanks to Patsy for letting me borrow this one. I thought this book was cute. Definitely light-hearted and fun, chick lit. I still don’t know how the main character was able to deposit her paychecks legally, but whatev. 4 stars.
21. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells. Wow, crazy family. I’m giving this book 4.5 stars, only because of some subject matter. I am glad she told this story because I know she’s not alone in her struggle with family of this nature.
22. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wells. Once I find an author I like, I’ll try to check out other books he/she has written. I loved the insight of putting together a story like this. It made me grateful that my kids knew their great-grandparents only a little, but they’ll know their grandparents (all 4 of them!) very well. 4.5 stars.
Add comment September 3rd, 2011 by Jenna
Books I read last summer (2010), part 2
This post is alternately titled, “A-G-L-E-T, Don’t forget it!”, which is a Phineas & Ferb reference. I didn’t really want to quote P&F, but they’re so darn catchy. I think the writers are seriously witty and they really love life. If you haven’t watched this show, get yourself to the nearest Disney channel or Netflix instant streaming and add it to your queue.
Speaking of not forgetting, I did forget to blog about some books I read last summer. Most of them were (or are now) book club picks. In no particular order -
- Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. I think this is the only book/movie duo I’ve ever read where I liked the movie better than the book. I mean, Meryl Streep in this movie was fantastic as Julia Child. Plus, the author of the book likes to use the F word a lot. Really? About a bomb, maybe.. but about cooking? Don’t think so. 3.5 stars for book, 5 stars for movie (and, if you’ve seen the movie, DON’T read the book, you’ll be disappointed).
- My Life in France by Julia Child. Julie Powell includes excerpts from this book in the J&J memoir, so it seemed like a natural choice to want to read this book. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Julia Child’s memoir and life during the 1950s especially. I was not a huge Julia Child fan after reading J&J, but this book made me want to watch her tv show and check out the cookbook which made her famous. 5 stars. (PS – the link for this book is the 2009 “movie tie-in version” – I read the version from 2005, but there is no review listed in that link. Apologies.)
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, et. al. As I mentioned, I suddenly had the desire to learn about aspic and how to de-bone a duck. After checking out this book, I’ll say, “never mind”. It is worth a look, though, and now I understand a little bit more about my grandparents’ generation and why/how they cooked the things they did.. and why/how the American Housewife was born. 4 stars, if for nothing but posterity.
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. And now for something… completely different. This is quite possibly the best, most suspenseful and well-written book I’ve ever read. I can think about this book and still get chills as to how the plot was uncovered. Fantastic and a must-read. 5+ stars.
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I thought this book would be a lot like a textbook – boring, drab, dull. But I was surprised at how well the author takes a seemingly mindless subject (DNA) and turns it into a plot for a tv series. Well, pretty much. Worth the read, or at least a skim. 4.5 stars.
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I don’t know how to classify this book – is it sci-fi? Whatever you call it, I’m not usually a fan of this type of literature. But this one is a winner. This author does a really great job of weaving the story in between time and characters. I did like the book better than the movie, and if you haven’t read or watched either one, I highly recommend both the book and the movie – but they have different endings… 5 stars.
This post was made possible to you by the letters “A-G-L-E-&T”. That was a Sesame Street reference. The “aglet’ is what you call the tip end of your shoelace.
3 comments September 2nd, 2011 by Jenna
Where have I been?
Okay, okay, I know I haven’t updated the blog in almost 2 months… I keep reading all these blogs of mamas who blog every day and have ridiculously large traffic numbers. I think about 41 people read our blog, and roughly 2/3 of them are family members who don’t care about the number of times I update, as long as I put pictures up. Well to that I say, “phhhhhthththththththt”
Lately, people keep asking me, “what have you been up to lately?” and I get this faraway look in my eyes and try, for the life of me, to actually remember what I’ve been doing. Then I’ll start to point to my belly and my born(e)? children and tell them to figure it out themselves, and I’ll remember that not everyone understands my preggo brain. Heck, I don’t even understand my preggo brain. [Did I just say "heck"? How old am I again?]
Speaking of which, I had a milestone birthday about 10 days ago. Yes, August 20th is my birthday and I turned the big 3-0. Or, as I like to put it “my first anniversary of my 29th birthday”. :) No, 30 hasn’t been so bad – I figure it’s just another year, and 29 was probably the hardest and most stressful year of my life…. let’s see – 3 foot surgeries, 4 grandparents passing away, 1 parent’s open heart surgery, 1 heckuva flu virus (there’s that ‘heck’ again..), and 1 positive pregnancy test [whom we're naming "surprise!: the sequel".]
To celebrate my birthday, Kevin invited some of my [local] friends over for hamburgers and cookie cake . Cookie cake is my absolute favorite kind of cake, from the Great American Cookie Company. My mom & dad ordered one of the large rectangle ones for us (Thanks, Mom & Dad!) and even with 40+ party guests, we still ended up with half the cookie cake left over. But i wasn’t complaining – Kevin, the kids, and I polished it off the next day! Good thing birthdays (and subsequent cookie cake!) only come around once per year!
The other part of “what we’ve been doing lately” has revolved around trying to stay cool in the 100-degree heat we’ve had in Texas. It’s been ridiculous. I think every day in August (save 1 or 2) has been 100 degrees OR HIGHER. So, we’ve been swimming at least twice a week, as I’ve been teaching water aerobics at least twice a week, and we rented quite a number of [free] movies in the past month – when we need to stay indoors because it’s been too hot to play. Also, our recent trip to Colorado with Kevin’s extended family a few weeks ago (pictures hopefully soon!) was a welcome addition to our summer.
I will also mention that Colby started 1st grade last week (sniff) and Kennedy will start pre-K next week (sniff sniff). So we’ve been buying school supplies and snack supplies and lunch supplies and all the other things that go with preparing for school to start. Oh and stocking my pantry for when the Aggies come to town because it’s hard to drive anywhere with new Aggie parents who don’t know where they are going and are caravan-ing with a U-Haul full of stuff! :)
Kennedy spent this past week being sick. Actually, it was only the past 2 days, but to me it felt like a week. She only wanted me to hold her while she tried to get comfortable in my lap (so hard to do on a pregnant mama). The only symptom she had was a high fever, but that’s enough to make anyone miserable. Kevin and I are on opposite ends of “sick” remedies – I hate throwing up, where Kevin wants to throw up because he knows it will make him feel better. But Kennedy is on my side on this one – she and I know that the pain (and the anxiety) of throwing up is far worse than the relief that will come when it’s done. So, we wait it out! We’ll take the Tylenol to make us not hurt for a little bit, and try to keep food down – Kennedy has taken my affinity for salty things while sick – but throwing up is a “last resort” option. Colby and Carlee are even more different than Kennedy… who knows.
So, there’s the past 2 months in a very long nutshell. I think after this you’ll want me to blog more often so I don’t go off on tangents so much. Or, maybe I’ll go to bed. Which is another thing I’ve been doing lately. Good night, Mary Ellen. Good night, John Boy.
1 comment September 1st, 2011 by Jenna
Tim’s birthday
Tim turned 21 on Friday. He has told us many many times that his favorite food is meatballs. So, for every special occasion [and sometimes just because], we’ve made him meatballs – after he and Kelsey got engaged, during parents’ weekend when we had Kelsey’s parents over, etc. etc., and now for his birthday dinner.
This is the beginning shot of the video Kevin took, which I don’t know how to upload to the blog. The kids are singing Happy Birthday – Carlee practiced singing to Tim all day. The kids also made him birthday cards and in the midst of folding them up like cards, they taped the papers together so the cards ripped a little in the process. Sad face.
The meatballs were yummy and Tim really liked the brownies we made him. Usually I make brownies from a box but I found this recipe for Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies. I had all the ingredients on hand, and I don’t know if I’ve ever made brownies before. My not-pregnant self would absolutely love them but this pregnancy I’m not a fan of sweets OR chocolate – I know, gasp!
Happy Birthday, Tim!
1 comment July 10th, 2011 by Jenna
Colby’s “Naptime”
Pics taken April 2011.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that Colby has given up taking a nap, but I’ll bet you could guess, since he’s 6+ years old. I can’t remember exactly when he stopped, because he has always been able to sit and play by himself. Always. So, he still has “rest time”, when his sisters nap. Sometimes we’ll unload the dishwasher together or he’ll draw pictures for me or we’ll read books or he’ll play on the computer. His favorite phrase to get my attention – “Mom, get a picture of me doing _________.” I’ll hang on to that for as long as I can.
He’s done the tower of dishes before. But this time it’s with muscles.
1 comment July 8th, 2011 by Jenna
Carlee’s big girl bed
Carlee moved to a toddler bed in April of this year. 3 months ago she looked so big and so comfy with all her stuffed animals and her dinky…
Last night was her first night in a Real big girl bed.. she slept in Kennedy’s full-sized bed. without her dinky! This month she is 2 years and 8 months old. I can’t believe how big and grown-up she is getting. And, once I figure out how to upload videos from my phone, I’ll let you hear how she can talk our ears off. It’s so precious.
1 comment July 7th, 2011 by Jenna
Everybody look alive!
While backing out of my driveway, I saw this on my roof.
A little imposing, yes? I haven’t seen him [her?] since.
1 comment July 6th, 2011 by Jenna
Stars & Stripes [tomorrow]
My favorite holiday is July 4th. I might have mentioned that before. This July 4th there’s a burn ban, so no fireworks for us this year, except on tv. But I have been enjoying one of the tastiest crops of watermelon this year. Each one I’ve picked has been sweeter than the last. (My favorite place to get them is at Sam’s – they’re big, seedless, and less than $5.) So, this weekend, we’re planning for said watermelon, a few times to go swim, barbeque eating, and homemade ice cream. I think that should about do it. Anyone else have plans for the 4th?
Add comment July 3rd, 2011 by Jenna
Great find.
About a month ago, I bought this and then I sent the following email to my mom, my sisters, and my friend Leah, who owns a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag. If you don’t know that I love bags and purses, you should know i love bags and purses.
Had to share my latest find… I wanted a new diaper bag for this
baby so I got on amazon to check them out. Well the ones I liked were
running 70-80$, so I decided to wait a little while. Plus, I like to
put my hands on a bag before I buy, to see if it’s big enough, etc.
Today I went to TJ Maxx and found this petunia pickle bottom bag
(google them if you want). It’s red silk and has a zillion pockets, &
comes with changing pad and wipes case. Plus the handle unclips to
hook it around your stroller.
The “original” price onthe tag was $145. TJ Maxx marked to $59,
but they red-line clearanced it at $29!!!
I know Kevin is thrilled (yeah, right) abt this, but I thought the
rest of us girls would be pleased. 
Oh, and even if it’s a boy, I’ll drop the dipes and wipes off if I
leave him at church or whatever – this bag stays with me!! ;)
Add comment July 2nd, 2011 by Jenna
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.
I mentioned that I was training for a triathlon, remember? (see “March”) Well, Baby Cuatro put a damper on the tri, for 2011 anyway. Him or her and the brutal Texas heat we’ve been having this summer. However I’ve been riding bikes once a week with some die-hard [race] bikers. So far we’ve been doing between 14-20 miles each week. Today we did 20.8 miles and I increased my speed by 2.2 miles this week over the last time I rode, which was about a month ago, actually, because of VBS and going out of town.
These ladies I’ve been riding with have been so kind as to let me borrow a racing bike and all the equipment I need for having a super great ride. Like the gloves I never knew I’d need but am so grateful to use. I am so glad to ride with them and that they give me all the techniques and terms and expertise that I need to “race” properly. I’ve even talked one of the ladies into doing a triathlon with me next year, since I already registered and paid for my tri that would have been at the end of July. The ladies I ride with do the MS150 race each year, which benefits Multiple Sclerosis and covers the distance between Houston and Austin. They think that I’ll be able to do that race in April of next year. (I don’t think so.)
This morning we started riding at 8:15 and finished at 10:15. At 10:40 I went to the grocery store and when we were done at the grocery store at 11:40, my car thermometer read 106. ONE HUNDRED SIX DEGREES. FAHRENHEIT. Next week we’re starting even earlier in the day – at 7:30, I’m thinking.
I might have ventured into a new hobby. I might be asking for padded bike shorts for my birthday. I might also be buying a very expensive racing bike to support said hobby. But I don’t think Kevin can complain too much about a hobby that burns almost 500 calories an hour.
4 comments July 1st, 2011 by Jenna
Books read June 2011.
I didn’t read too much this month because I haven’t felt like holding a book until just a few days ago. Plus, my book club got all interesting and recommended a bunch of stuff all at the same time.
15. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. [I actually read this one back in March but forgot to count it.] I usually like to read books by the same author. I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love a few years ago. I didn’t love this one as much. In fact, I hated it at first and then grew to like it.. I think the book should be titled “What Other Cultures Think About Marriage, and Why I Don’t Want to Get Married”. Lots and lots of research, with a few personal stories thrown in the mix. 3 stars.
[PS, I'd rate Eat, Pray, Love as 4.5 stars.]
16. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. Thanks to Rachel for recommending this book (and the next one) on her blog. It’s (surprise!) historical fiction, about the Salem Witch Trials and told from the perspective of the accused. I enjoyed this book but the author took a lot of time developing the characters before witches were even mentioned. One of my favorite ideas was something to the effect of: ’All these so-called witches crammed together in these cells. At least one of us should have been able to blow the roof off this place.’ I never really thought of the injustices done to families who were accused… I also never thought about families being accused together. 4.5 stars.
17. Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent. I really enjoyed this memoir of a nurse in the labor & delivery ward who eventually becomes a midwife. In the times of gassing the mom in labor [I think they call this 'twilight sleep'?], she set up the practices at the Alta Bates hospital which were NO drugs, unless absolutely necessary. I loved how she was surprised that her own birth experiences were quite painful! And she immediately felt sorry all the times she said to “just breathe through the pain, it will get better”. 4 stars.
Add comment June 30th, 2011 by Jenna
Books I read last summer (2010).
I did a lot of reading, I mean, a LOT of reading last summer. Of the books I read, these are the ones I’d recommend wholeheartedly (and in this order, although that was the toughest thing for me). All are 5-star reads.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Have I told you I love historical fiction? That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Grab a copy now.
The Hunger Games Trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins. Wow. wow. wow wow wow wowowow wow. I am NOT a sci-fi fan, nor am I a utopian society fan. And the subject matter isn’t one I’d really start talking about at the dinner table. I shouldn’t like these books at all, but I fell in love with Collins’s storytelling. I know she’s written some other stuff and I want to get into it too. (Unger the Overlander, or somesuch?)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Also historical fiction! Some of the circus stories are true, which adds to the intrigue. And no I haven’t seen the movie yet.
Stones Into Schools (the sequel to Three Cups of Tea) by Greg Mortenson. Loved the first book. This one talks about how lives have been changed because of the influence of education. I love reading stories of hope, especially when they are true.
What Difference Do It Make? (the sequel to Same Kind of Different As Me) by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. The first book takes place in Dallas (for the most part). There are so many questions I have about their lives in general.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Historical fiction (again!) about WWII and bombings in Jewish Germany/concentration camps. I knew this book wouldn’t be an easy read, but it was very very good.
Add comment June 29th, 2011 by Jenna