Tylenol Spokesbaby

Today at lunch was one of those days when I was wishing Anna could talk. Nothing was making her happy and so we were both getting frustrated. She fussed at me, so I thought she was hungry. I put her in her high chair for some carrots, avocado, and Ritz. Um, no. She whines at me some more. I give her JUST the cracker which she proceeds to eat while fussing the entire time. I could tell something was bothering her, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Offer the carrots.
Squeals at me.

Offer the avocado.
Bottom lip goes out but still acts hungry.

Okay, so maybe her teeth are bothering her. I'll try mixing a cold fruit with the carrots and see if that feels better for her because this is the face she keeps making at me.....


And she is definitely a girl...screeches, not just cries. So the food went down a little easier but I decided that a little Tylenol wouldn't hurt. The Tylenol was in her room, which meant I had to leave her sight, Lord help us all! The girl had a total meltdown until I got back. If only she could talk and tell me what the issue was, we could solve it and move on. But, since we are months away from true communication, Tylenol to the rescue. And God bless Tylenol. What would I do without it? Being allergic to aspirin puts a kink in painful situations. This wonderful drug pulls me through many a headaches not to mention this is the only thing I can take during pregnancy and after having a baby. So, I gave my fussy child some, cleaned her up, gave her a kiss and put her on the floor. Now I know the Tylenol didn't work this fast but this picture was taken about five minutes after I gave it to her....

I also gave her a cold, wet washcloth to chew on. But, please look at this sweet face as if I'm a crazy mother!

I do think her teeth were bothering her but she was also hungry and couldn't figure out which was worse, hurting gums or a growling tummy.

This is what would happen if I let my child play with the Tylenol and/or gave her too much!

Can't you just hear her saying, "Doctors trust Tylenol more than any other pain reliever out there. Shouldn't you?"

"Seriously, Mom, this is some good stuff. Maybe you should remove it from my hands and mouth before I drink the entire thing. Thank you for finally understanding the whining, crying, fussing, squealing, and shrieking." Love, Anna.

If only they could talk, sometimes!

Waving

This video was taken last week. Anna is also clapping, sort of. She puts her hands together put doesn't quite know how to open them all the way. Justin is always waving at Anna from his desk when I take her in the foyer to say hello. She picked it up from that. So cute. Also, if you watch closely, you will see a flash in the background around second 47/48-that would be Brice running across the backyard!

Vote of Confidence

We are putting a new set of Lego's together and Brice decides he would rather just be creative and build whatever instead of what the directions say.

Brice: "Mom, why don't you build whatever with me?"

Me: "Because Mommy does better when I follow directions and not just make stuff up."

Brice: "Why, you're not creative?"

Me: "I guess not."

Brice: "Why are you not creative?"

Me: "I guess I'm just not smart."

Brice: "Listen.......you are a little [smart]."

Gee, thanks for the vote, kid.

I then proceeded to put together a treasure box, and pirate ship. And yes, I followed the directions.

Playgrounds 2009

Since we have been having unusually cooler weather here in Georgia, we have been on a park/playground tour! We do have some really nice parks around and each one has something that Brice really likes. Too bad we can't combine all the favorite things into one! We have also been going up to the playground at the top of our street almost every night this week. It zaps every. last. ounce. of. energy. from Brice. And Mommy! Plus, now that Anna is so good at sitting up, I have been able to put her in the swings! She loves it and as soon as I say, "Do you want to go swinging, Anna?", she gets a big grin on her face.
What a little daredevil!

Watching Brice go back and forth. She kept pumping her legs in the grass.

Don't even ask what that thing on his shirt is, he found it at Grandma and Grandad's and it serves many purposes for him.
Oh, and we've discovered how fun the dishwasher can be!

But who can say "no" to this little face?

The Waterfall

About two months ago, we discovered this waterfall that is in our neighborhood. It really is so neat to go walk back through the woods and follow the path that leads to it. Brice, of course, loves it. My dad takes him quite a bit when he and my mom come for a visit. When the boys go, they get wet, wading through the water. When I take Brice, we kind of try and stay dry. Plus, I usually have Anna so it's hard to really explore with her there. I think Brice would live here if he could. He has a favorite rock that he likes to climb up to. You'll see it in one of the pictures. On this day, a lot of the water wasn't flowing.



Someone has rigged a swing to play on. Brice took it upon himself to take it apart while we were there.
Had to bring binoculars in case of wildlife!
This is how Anna rides when we go.
And this is mainly what she does the whole time. Chews and drools. Yum.


Brice told me he was going upstream to check some more things out and that he "could do it himself". Heard that one a couple hundred times before.

Yes, Pae came for a visit as well. He got to ride in our umbrella stroller. Brice said that "we both have our babies now, Mom!". What? You don't know Pae. Well, I just may have to do a post about Pae. He is pretty much a member of the family.


On our way back to the car, Brice scraped his wrist and finger on a pricker bush. It was not really a nice 1 minute car ride home. He headed upstairs for Daddy to doctor him up while Anna ate an avocado...


...or maybe the avocado ate her!

My Thirtieth!

So, I never blog about me, just the kids. But, as you can imagine that is mainly what I do ALL day long so you really do know what I'm up to if you know what they're up to! And with all of the other birthdays and engagement going on, I never blogged about my thirtieth.

Justin planned my birthDAY for me. It was a full day too! Justin is so good at planning fun things for me including awesome trips. Anyway on July 1st, he dropped the kids off at his parents' house while I got a massage. It was awesome. I just had her massage my back, neck and shoulders. Holy cow, did I need it! I think after being pregnant, breastfeeding and then carrying a kid around all the time, a woman's shoulders and neck need some major loosening. After that, Justin picked me up and we went to Jason's Deli (yummy). If you know me, you know I LOVE sandwiches and could live off of them. People at work make fun of me because I still take sandwiches for lunch just like in school. More about work in a minute. So, had a turkey wrap and then we headed to see "The Hangover". Funny, but I enjoyed "Knocked Up" a lot more. Justin then had reserved a room for us at The Ritz in Buckhead which is where we stayed on our wedding night. Man, are those beds comfortable! I'm surprised I even got out of bed the next day in order to enjoy brunch and shopping. But, I'm glad I did.

Justin took me shopping for the day! It was so fun. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, "Do you work off commission?"

"Yes"

"Big mistake, HUGE, well I have to go shopping now." Anyway, just had fun picking out clothes for myself and not worrying about who was hungry or if someone needed a nap. It was so nice. We then had a wonderful dinner at Atlanta Fish Market. This is one of my favorite restaurants. It was a full 24 hours of fun just for me turning 30! Thanks, Justin for planning such a wonderful day. Below, I am wearing one my new shirts. And yes, Mom, I got my haircut.

Anyway, in other "Jennifer" news, I am trying desperately to get back in shape. I did a boot camp, wait, I take that back. I tried to do a boot camp back in April but at the end of the second week, sustained a stress fracture in my ankle which I proceeded to walk around on in Disney World for three days. OOPS! Dr. told me he would've cast me to my knee if he knew my follow-up X-ray was going to look like it did. So frustrating for me because now, everytime I try and go walk for exercise, the dang thing hurts. Of course, tripping over toys and catching my balance on it doesn't help. Justin keeps telling me to give it more time. Well, more time=out of shape=longer it takes to get back in shape because of aforementioned birthday. Not to mention I cannot pointe my foot like I used to and I enjoy pointing my feet. I would love, love, love to put a pair of pointe shoes on right now and pirouette around the room. I miss ballet a lot somedays. Wish I could do it again but now...I think this stress fracture makes me feel old. To sum it up, I have/had a broken ankle and a bruised ego.

Work, hmmm, hasn't really happened. I've worked twice since going back. Which, was the point of me going back to the Atlanta campus because I knew I'd be called off more which would mean being home more. Some days I wish I was working more but for the most part, I'm happy with what I have. I have really enjoyed the summer with Brice and Anna. I kind of don't want school to start because that means the weeks go so much faster. Brice needs school though, that is for sure. The kid is bored and understimulated. So, that has been my "thirties" so far. Hope you enjoyed catching up.

Lots to Celebrate!!

The Birthday Girls below! Today is Aunt Blaire's birthday and Anna turns seven months today. I can hardly believe it! Anna is doing fantastic. Crawling, babbling non-stop, smiling non-stop, sitting, eating like a champ. Takes two or three naps a day and sleeps twelve hours at night. She is just as sweet as she can be and we love her more everyday!

My baby....sister... is 27. What the heck? She has a job and a mortgage and a REALLY BIG dog! I miss her everyday and wish she and I lived in the same state. Maybe one day. In the meantime, she will be doing the following......





....PLANNING A WEDDING!!!!! WHOO HOOO!!!! That's right folks, Josh proposed to Blaire on Sunday morning in St.Louis underneath The Arch and she said, "YES"!!!! I am so happy for the two of them. We love you Aunt Blaire and UNCLE Josh!!!

Conversations Throughout the Day

Yesterday morning I am feeding Anna some fruit and rice cereal and Brice is eating the waffle I just made him from scratch. He is making a noise that sounds like a monkey.

Me: Brice, please stop making that sound or I'm going to send you to the zoo.

Brice: Why?

Me: Because you sound like a monkey.

Brice: Mom, you know if I lived at the zoo, I would live with the pandas. Anna would be a baby giraffe. What animal would you live with, Mom?

Me: The elephants.

Brice: Why?

Me: Because they are big and everybody comes to see the elephants and then I could spray water on them.

Brice: That would be fun. Let's do it!




Last night as I'm putting Brice to bed:

Brice: Mom, will you put some more of those waters in the fridge to get cold? (I had bought some bottled water for bunko)

Me: There is already some in there Brice.

Brice: Well, I only saw one.

Me: No, there's more in there.

Brice, somewhat sarcastically: Well, then that makes two. I need more than two.

Check It Out

www.sugarsnapps.com Password: BriceJenn

I have to "mute" the music, not because I don't like it, but because it makes me tear up!

Big Brother

I always wanted a big brother. I think Anna is so lucky to have one. And he is so wonderful with her, always watching out for her and trying to make her laugh. He usually succeeds greatly at this. Justin said this morning, "It's hard to believe that is her laughing because she is so little." It's true, she just giggles at him like she's six years old!
Checking this contraption out!
LOVES to crawl under the tables and chairs.

Being a great big brother and crawling under the table with her.


She is always watching what he is doing and wants to be around him.

She was shaking her hands and "talking" to him here. I know they will not always be totally enthralled with each other, but I do hope that they will always look out for one another and that she will always get a chuckle from the things he does.

Chewin' on a Ritz

Before you scroll down, I want you all to close your eyes and sing the song, "Puttin' On A Ritz" to yourself. If I was technically savvy and had the time to figure it out, I would link you to the song but guess what? I am neither of those! So, do you have the song in your head yet? Good, because I've been singing it ever since Wednesday night when Anna devoured three Ritz crackers, all by herself! This girl has been chowing down. She screams at me when one jar of baby food is gone and she wants more. Spunky girl! Okay, sing and scroll!






Highchair post-Anna/Ritz!

Fourth of July!

Brice wanted to go down the hill to the lake, and of course wouldn't smile at the camera.



Below, Anna is calling all her friends for the block party!


Happy Fourth of July to everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays. I just love how relaxed it is and of course the fireworks! We enjoyed our neighborhood fireworks on Friday night and then this afternoon we went to our street block party. It was very hot but we had tents for shade and water games/toys for the kids. Although Brice didn't want to get wet, he still had a good time! Anna was very good and enjoyed all the people, she is so social. Our neighbor across the street was generous enough to grill all the burgers and hot dogs. The rest of us brought food to share. We were able to meet several of our new neighbors and had a great time. Hope you all enjoyed your Fourth of July with family and friends. God Bless America!