Thursday, March 24, 2011

my lovies

We have been having a rough week here.  Spent some time at the doctors, and some time waiting for prescriptions, and spent some time wiping snot, and missing work, and putting in eyedrops for yucky pinkeye goop.

And some time snuggling, watching movies, and looking at the daffodils, crocuses, and grape hyacinths that are starting to come up through the snow and leaf mulch... so not all bad :)

While killing time waiting for a prescription, we spent some time at lions club park.  Nothing makes boys happier than running and climbing on rocks and jumping in a million puddles.  Even if it means sitting in the cart and then the carseat with wet legs for the next hour... :)



Saturday, March 12, 2011

6 month updates

Well I know most of y'all don't really care how big Forest was at his 6 month checkup yesterday... but since this is my way of record-keeping and remembering what the boys were up to at certain stages of life, I'm writing it anyhow!  (Plus I know the Grandmas just eat this stuff up).

So without further adeau (ado?):
Length: 27" long.  ~ 60th Percentile
Weight: 17 lbs, 13 oz.  ~ 50th Percentile
Head: 18.5".  ~ Off the chart -- the highest the chart goes is 97% for boys this age.

Just like last time, he is growing just fine, perfectly average.  Perfectly perfect really.  I mean, what mom wouldn't say that about their child?

At this stage in his life, Forest is just about the mellowest kid ever.  I thought Olaf was chill, but man, little Forest has him BEAT!  His daycare provider agrees, as well as all the other folks in Plain that he hangs out with.  He is one mellow kid.  Obviously he has his moments.  Obviously.  Like at 2 or 3am.  But for the most part he is happy to just observe what is going on around him.  Play where we set him, eat when we feed him, sleep when we put him down with his blanky and binky.  I thought I would be one of those mom's who would never let their kid carry around a ratty old blanky... but Olaf sure does, and Forest is well on his way to the same. They just love digging in their little fingers and rubbing the blankys all over their faces for comfort.  We do a lot of blanket washing at this house.

Speaking of washing - I am kicking ass today, domestically speaking.  Vacumed, 6 loads of laundry done, played cars with Olaf and chased him around and around and around the kitchen, made a broccili noodle casserole freezer meal, and a shepards pie freezer meal, and a loaf of bread, and a pound cake, and prepped a quinoa/pepper salad for dinner.  Yeah, that's right.  I am super mom.  (haha!) For one day anyway I will claim the title and I will revel in my glory while it lasts.

Back to the subject at hand - Forest!  He is now sitting up unassisted.  Though he still falls over now and then, so we are still setting pillows behind him just in case.  Which doesn't help with the forward falls... but he is much better balanced in that direction.  Let's see, what else... He can roll over front to back, though he rarely does it.  Seriously, very rare.  I remember Olaf was the same way - just not into rolling!  Don't know why he doesn't roll, but I am not concerned.  He love LOVES his jumperoo chair.  He will happily jump away for 30 minutes to an hour if we let him.  Building those teeny tiny little thunder thighs!  Maybe he will be a tele skier like Auntie Christie and Uncle Dave.  You sure need lots of quad strength for that.  Or else he can just downhill like his parents.  

Still no teeth.  I see them under the gums, but I think it will be a while yet before they pop up to the surface. Which is fine because I'm sure his little nibbles while drinking will feel a bit more ouchy once his teeth are in!

Olaf is learning to be a good big brother.  He sometimes pushes Forest, pokes him, or bonks him in the head... but overall he's nice to his little bro.  Brings him toys, tries to make him laugh, and runs to him first thing in the morning.  I love having boys.  They melt a momma's heart.





Well, this domestic diva has some bills to pay (bleh) so I am signing off.


Until I find time to blog again,
Jenn

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Crafty Crafterson

Project #2 on the sewing machine.

I saw this amazing blanket on the make happy blog.
I then went to Aesthetic Nest for a great tutorial on how to make my own.
It's called an heirloom cut chenille baby blanket.
It only took one month to complete in my spare time.
Yowza!

Hopefully Baby Krenz loves it!




And who can resist my picture-taking helper!

Monday, March 7, 2011

God is in the mountains

Today in the car while we were driving home, with a view of the gorgeous snow-covered Enchantment Peaks in front of us, Olaf said "Mommy, God lives in the mountains."

What led him to that particular thought at that moment, I don't know, but I think he was right.

This last weekend a friend of mine from high school was lost in those very mountains we were looking at, in an avalanche while back-country skiing.  Scary.  And very, very sad.  He was only 28.  You can read a brief bit about it here.  One of our good friends was with him on the ski tour, along with a few others. 

He wasn't one of my best friends, but I sure enjoyed the times we hung out.  This is going to sound totally cliche, but Dan was one of those guys who really did get along with everyone -- both in high school (where kids can be SO judgemental) and beyond.  I wouldn't even say that about myself.  Though he had a close group of friends that were climbers, hikers, skiers, and snowmobilers, he pretty much had friends everywhere else too.  Evidence that Dan really was friends with all -- I have a picture of him at my friend Mariya's 18th birthday party surrounded by a bunch of our friends (including me) who were, well, total dorks.  We had 3 salutatorians, 3 band members, 3 choir members, tons of drama-nerds... oh yeah.  We didn't really care, but no we were not the most popular kids in school.   But apparently we were still fun, because though none of Dan's close friends were in that group, he would still hang out and have fun with us.

Fast forward 12 years.  I managed to run into Dan a few times a year when Steve and I moved back to the area.  Probably more before we had kids, and less after (when we stopped attending every party and bonfire).  We seemed to run in the same circles.  He always had a ton of questions about how I was doing, and always had some sort of story to share of an adventure he had recently taken.   Who would have thought that the last time I would see him would be in the local liquor store, chatting as we stood in line to make our purchases.  Certainly not me.

I just can't stop thinking about what happened.
Can't stop imagining what it must have been like for him in his final moments.
Can't imagine what it was like for his friends who were with him.
And can't imagine what it is now like for his family and closest friends, as a whole community mourns his loss...
So I have just been praying prayers of peace to wash over everyone. 
Prayers of peace.
If you have a moment please do the same for his family and close friends.

Life is so very fleeting.

Dan, you were loved and respected. 
Gone, but certainly not forgotten.



"Going to the mountains is going home."  --John Muir

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

i am the biggest loser

I am proud of myself.

In the last 8 weeks, I lost 5.1% of my body weight!  That’s 6.6 lbs folks!  Maybe it doesn’t seem a like a lot to anyone…  but seriously.  It is.  For my body. Trust me.  I can now fit into clothes that I haven’t worn since before being pregnant with Olaf!  (that’s 2007 people).  I can’t believe I hung on to clothes for that long without wearing them…  ah well, most of them are still not too ‘dated’.  Probably because most of what I own is jeans and tee-shirts.  And the outdated jeans with way too big of bootcut bells on the bottom can always be made into cute jean shorts for summertime.  Bonus.

And I did it the healthy way – cutting some calories and exercising more.  I couldn’t cut too many calories since I am still breastfeeding Forest, but I did cut out some and it seems to have made a good difference.  Only a few more pounds to lose in the waistline and I’ll be set.  This was the first time in my life I have ever really tried to lose weight, so it’s encouraging to know that it can actually be done!  Let's be honest though, I wasn't dieting because of a huge vain desire to be a size 2.  I just wanted to finally be healthy again, and active, and have more than 2 pairs of jeans that fit correctly.  I think I had a bit of a reverse psychology thing going on -- You know, where you look in the mirror and go, "DAMN I LOOK GOOOOOD!" when in reality my love handles were just a bit too lovely... and my pants a bit toooo tight :)  But I didn't see it that way for a long time.  Ha ha! 

I am not going to lie though – it was HARD.  Mostly it was hard to find the time to work out.  Because seriously, I am busy with kids/commute/work/commute/kids/dinner/kids until about 8pm every night.  Luckily Steven was motivated to work out also, so we do it together at about 9pm usually.  6 days a week.  60-90 minutes.  It is HARD to get motivated.  It is HARD to make your body move that late at night.  It is HARD to give up my evening wine or ice cream.  But we are doing it, and it feels good to be much healthier these days.  And we give ourselves a little grace…  when we start falling asleep on our mats doing yoga at 10:15pm we just get up, turn off the DVD, and go to bed!

I can’t wait until spring when I can get outside with the boys more often and start doing activities for exercise instead of videos!  Softball and road biking.  Mmmmm yes.  My goal is ride in one road race/ride this summer.  Not sure that I’d have time to train for much else.  I think the triathlon training is going to have to wait for another summer.  And play softball once a week.  And also have a great time playing with the boys!