Polka

Tonight, Jackie taught me all about polkas (the Strauss kind). She started by telling me about Green Polka, which is apparently a “grass polka”. Then there’s the Purple Polka, which she said “is pretty”. The Brown Polka “is very loud”, while the Blue and Yellow Polkas are “yucky”. There’s also a Caterpillar Polka, which I thought sounded like fun. Then she went on to tell me about other kinds of music, like bird music. Bird music, she said, sounds like “Tweet Tweet Tweet”, while cow music sounds like “moo mooooo” and pig music like “oink oink”.

Bath time

So I gave Jackie and Ben a bath together tonight, by myself as Tif was at a meeting at church. Now, Ben hates water. When I turned the bath water on, Ben half-stumbled, half-walked out of the room into the office. And when he walks, he looks like he’s just gotten off a horse. I found him sitting in the corner in the dark crying. Poor boy. The other night I had put Muppets on for them to watch, and he started wailing when the menu screen came up with Animal on it. He’d bee-lined for me, and whimpered his way through the show’s intro, eventually calming down. And today, I brought the vacuum in to clean the floor under the kitchen table. He was scared of the vacuum, being careful not to get near it. Later, after I tied up the cord around the back of the vacuum, he starting wailing as soon as I started to move it (the power was off). He’s a sensitive boy. I should also mention that I put Ben on the slide for the first time today. He kind of smiled and giggled a little. After he few more slides, he liked it so much he was trying to climb up the front of the slide. -Don

The Turbulent Twos

So everyone always talks about the terrible twos, but after having experienced the twos on a daily basis (instead of just off and on when I was babysitting) I have decided that terrible isn't quite the right word to use. I think that the turbulent twos is a much better description. I guess that many people only think about the tantrums and power struggles when they use the word terrible, but there is so much more to the life of a two-year-old. Turbulent encompasses all the ups and downs of life at this age; I think being two must be sort of like traveling down a wild river. There are moments of tranquility and peace and then times where everything is unsteady and in danger of capsizing. Turbulent just seems to capture that image in one word.

Jackie's turbulent twos are traveling right along like a river in the spring near the source: quickly changing with the weather. Calm on cold days but becoming overfilled on rainy days when the melting snow runs off the mountains into the stream. There are a few odd days of tranquility right now. Days when Jackie is loving and cuddly like she was daily before turning two. But it seems most days right now are quite rocky, overflowing with new emotions and an ever growing need to assert her desires. And I think that Ben's new sense of independence and growing accomplishments is part of what has Jackie feeling so unsteady. She sees him getting praise for all that he is doing and to some extent being allowed to do things she is not (like pulling on hair and grabbing at things) and she feels the need to test the banks of her little stream.

But there are wonderful moments with Jackie. I guess they are the moments she feels the most secure in herself. It is nice to just sit with her in the wonder of growing up. Below are a few of these moments.

So recently Jackie has been having a blast with another little girl a lot like herself. She spends a little time here and there during the day with this little girl, but not necessarily every day. We live very close to the other little girl and Jackie is quite taken with her. We live so close to this little girl that she can often be found in our dining room. In fact, when Jackie found her she was staring back from the back of the china cabinet. You might have guessed it, but this other little girl is Jackie's reflection. Not to say that Jackie did not discover the power and awe of mirrors before now; she did. But this is a little different - Jackie is playing with the reflection somehow differently than she used to. And she thinks that she is quite funny. Maybe Jackie is now using her reflection to practice socializing with (that is sort of the impression I get when watching the interaction.) But whatever is different about the interchange between Jackie and her reflection, it is adorable.

Another recent occurrence happened while reading one of Jackie's favorite books: The Ear Book by Al Perkins. We probably read this book an average of 20 times a week and sometimes it feels like we read it that many times in a day. But about a week ago, shortly after my parents left, Jackie started to help read the book. This is a book filled with otomotopeas, and as I went to turn to the page about water Jackie said, "Drop, drop, drop." Which is exactly what the page says, "We hear water: drop, drop, drop." And she continued to help read the rest of the book.

This story is not so calm and wonderful as downright cute. We were driving home from errands the other evening and Ben was tired and hungry and not so calm. In fact, Ben was crying this ear-piercing cry. I looked back in my "Jackie view" mirror to see how she was coping, because she is usually upset by Ben's crying, and she had her fingers in her ears. It was so cute I burst out laughing and told her I wished I could do the same. She didn't like me laughing and she got upset. But the picture of her with little fingers in her ears trying to block out the painful screaming is still pretty funny.

Jackie Visits the Zoo

This past weekend (8/22; it took a while to finish writing this post) we decided it was finally time to check out the little zoo near our new home. The Capron Park Zoo (capronparkzoo.com) is about a 5 minute drive away from our house, and it would be shorter but the closest bridge is out. So off we went on Saturday afternoon to the zoo.

Now this was Jackie's very first visit to a zoo. Sadly we have not made it to the zoo in Fort Worth yet. (Partially because Daddy wanted to be with us on the first visit to a zoo.) So Jackie was not quite sure what to expect, even though we kept telling her she would see lots of animals. And she did not begin to understand until after we got to the zoo and saw the first couple of animals. That is when she started getting really excited about the zoo.

The first animals you see upon entering the little zoo are the kangaroos, emus, and tortoises. This left me wondering what happens to the kangaroos and other warm weather friends during a nice cold MA winter, but I guess we will find out soon enough. Jackie thought they were nice but a little boring as they were all just laying around in the grass. Jackie's excitement really peaked when we entered the Sadler building where quite a few of the smaller African animals live. She really liked standing and looking into their exhibits and watching the little energetic tamarins, meerkats, and lemurs playing. Jackie also enjoyed the rainforest building with its frogs and birds of bright colors.

Jackie's favorite animal we saw were the lions. She probably would have stayed there next to the lion exhibit all afternoon if we had let her. She kept talking to the lions and shouting exclamations of joy over the two lionesses and the male lion with his mane. When Daddy finally told her she had to leave the lions she waved and said, "Bye lion." She also bestowed many kisses and hugs on the lions. It makes a mother glad that she could not get really close the lions since there was only joy and no fear on Jackie's part. It was so cute watching her tell the lions goodbye. Luckily for us, Don was video-ing the whole proceeding. I'm sure someday soon he will get the clip on the web for y'all to watch.

Because of Jackie's joy and excitement, Don and I decided to become members of the zoo. Now Jackie can visit her lions often. In fact, I'm sure she would love to show them to you if you come for a visit. Granma GeeKee and Granpa enjoyed seeing the lions with her this Sunday (9/6). And Jackie again had to wave and tell the lions bye, giving them even more kisses and hugs. Jackie has also started roaring like a lion since we visited the zoo the first time. She hasn't heard our lions roar in person yet (it might scare her b/c it will be loud), but it doesn't stop her from roaring at us. She is also pretending to be a lion. And she says, "Ben lion. Ma lion. Daddy lion." Then she wants us to roar with her. So watch out if you come to visit, you might have to be a lion with Jackie. :-)

Out of the running for "Mom of the Year"

So today was one of those days that takes you out of the running for "mom of the year." Well, at least, it started off that way. Any other mom out there knows what I am talking about; we all have them and we all wished they did not exist.

When something inside of me kept telling me to roll back over and go back to sleep this morning, I should have listened. I had already done that once though and Jackie was awake so I ignored the impulse for more sleep and dragged myself out of bed. After taking Ben downstairs and returning upstairs, I opened the door to the kids room to find myself staring at Jackie. She had learned this morning how to climb out of her twin bed. I kept expecting it, yet I kept hoping the day would not come. So today I must stop procrastinating and finally put up the gate outside of their bedroom door. And I think to myself that I need a new plan for enforcing nap time and then we head downstairs.

I began to gather their diapers and clothing for the day so we could all be ready for errands after breakfast. Since I was so tired, I had not thought to bring clothes down for them. So in a sleepy state, I head back upstairs for the third time this morning. Normally Jackie would behave while I was upstairs, but something was amiss this morning. Maybe it was the air hanging limp from the impending heat of the day, or the pride of managing to wiggle from her bed, but Jackie was up to no good. I don't know, that might be a little harsh. For all I know she might have been trying to help when she decided to open the clean diapers waiting near Ben and take Ben's to the bathroom and drop it in the toilet. She might have witnessed Don rinsing a poopy diaper in the toilet in the past and thought she might do the same. Only this diaper was clean; no need for rinsing.

I thought she was playing in the living room since I could not hear any strange sounds echoing up the stairwell outside their door. But as I stepped down towards the landing, Jackie heard me and came running from the direction of the bathroom with a mischievous grin and the water-proof diaper bag (the one for dirty diapers when we are out of the house) in her hands. I knew something wasn't right and as I grabbed the bag from her I could tell her hands were wet. I felt of the bag and it was dry so I went to place it back in the bathroom and that's when I discovered her diaper escapades. There was Ben's clean white diaper pushed into the bowl of the toilet. I was mildly thankful that it didn't appear to have been flushed (I don't think Jackie knows how yet.) And this is the moment I lost the "mother of the year" award. I yelled, "Jacqueline Frances," and I don't think there was a reason to yell as she had followed me into the bathroom. Apparently she was proud of what she had accomplished while I was gone. That feeling did not last long as I let into her verbally. I did swat at her big blue padded bottom in the midst of the tirade and her look changed to one of forlorn sadness as she realized I was very upset.

As I finished rinsing out the diaper, washing my hands and banishing her from the bathroom, we headed into the living room to dress both kids. I was still fuming when I discovered she had been playing with her clean diaper as well and that it had toilet water on it and was now also dirty. By this point Jackie had been told that if she did anything she was not supposed to or had to be asked more than once to follow instructions she would head back up to bed. And she did; shortly after getting dressed, she threw a toy. This is an ongoing battle with us about not throwing things and so up she went after being downstairs for around a half hour. This time she stayed upstairs just long enough to change and dress Ben.

We finally ate breakfast, rounded the kids into the car and headed out on our errands. And then Ben decided to scream the 30 min from our house, through the construction, to Nana's and Papa's house. Apparently he really was hungry when I tried to feed him before we left but playing was more interesting at the time. So the list of errands was rearranged to care for Ben and my nerves were rattled beyond measure. But Ben calmed down after eating and we made it through the grocery store and Target without too many rough patches. Although in the grocery store I told Jackie that I was sorry but she would just have to be upset if something was not the way she wanted it.

And after getting home and having Ben scream half the way back, all during the time I needed to unload the car and put away the cold stuff, my nerves were really frazzled. I changed diapers, fed Ben and gave Jackie her milk, and then finally I fixed lunch. By this point it was three o'clock and luckily Jackie and I had each eaten a cereal bar on the way home from Target. I had bought Jackie Annie's Spaghetti O's while shopping because she had asked for them and I figured it was worth a shot if she ended up eating them. So I asked if she wanted them for lunch and she agreed. I no more got her sitting in her little chair with the bib on and the food on the tray then she threw her bowl to the ground. That was it! No second chance here, it was nap time and it was over-due. I told her to lay down and if she crawled off the bed she would sleep in a crib. Jackie stayed put and within 10 minutes lay sleeping. That is the moment my day finally started to turn around. Ben fell asleep on his playmat and it was finally quiet in the house.

Jackie woke up in a better mood and found me in a better mood as well. It is nice to know that even on bad days things can end well. It is good that toddlers soon forget the bad times with their parents and can show them great affection. It is reassuring that they seem to bounce back and recover their pride so easily. It helps to think that we can overcome our bad moments and build our children up to hopefully be better people than we are. God is very wise to make our children so forgiving of their parents mistakes when they are little. I know that there will be more mistakes to be made, but to also know that as long as I show my children love we will overcome those mistakes is a very promising thing. Now if only our children stayed as forgiving as they grew into teenagers. But again God is wise in teaching our children about fallibility through their parents' short-comings; it makes us strive to follow his will more closely as our children grow.

~Tiffany

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

So as far as a toddler is concerned if you go to bed early because you are extra tired, it doesn't mean you need to stay asleep until your usual wake-up time. Jackie headed to bed a little earlier than normal last night because she was exhausted. So after her 10 or so hours of sleep she decided it was time to wake-up and have some milk. Pay no attention to the fact that it is 6:30 am; I'm a toddler and I demand my needs be met immediately. So Don, who was getting ready to leave for work, brought up her milk. Only Jackie did not want Don giving it to her in her bed; Jackie wanted Mama to give her her milk in our bed. Deluding myself with the thought that she might settle back into sleep if we appeased her and thinking some Jackie cuddles might be nice, I sleepily agreed to give her her milk in my bed.

The Jackie cuddles were nice, but they lasted briefly longer than it took to drink her milk. She laid down just a little past the time it took for me to take the rest of her milk back down to the refrigerator and climb back into bed. Then, because she could sense that I might be right and she might fall back into dream land where everyone belongs at 6:30 in the morning, Jackie started to play. For you see at this point in Jackie's life we have become rather attached to a few items. And whenever we are tired or just need a little comfort, we bring these things along. That really means when Jackie was placed into bed for her milk this morning, I should have said that Baby, blanket and Olivia (the Piggy) all fell into bed with her. Thus when fear of actually falling back asleep set in, Jackie had friends along to entertain her. I let Jackie play quietly beside me while I tried to catch a little extra sleep. Ben had finished his early morning snack around the time Jackie requested hers, so I knew he would sleep for another hour and a half or so and thought I might be able to rest during that time as well. Unfortunately, Jackie had other plans.

As I drifted in and out of slumber, never fully asleep but not what I would call fully awake either, Jackie entertained herself. But that gets a little repetitive after a while and she needed to find something else to do. So Jackie would lay down, and get up, and crawl around the bed, and talk with Baby and Olivia, and pat my arm in an effort to stay awake. She would drift between these activities while I drifted between sleep when she realized that Ben was sleeping in the basinet at the foot of the bed. This sparked a new idea. Jackie could entertain herself with Ben. At first she just pointed to him and exclaimed about his presence while I shushed her to keep from waking him. Then after moving on to something else she returned to Ben. Only this time I was asleep and Ben had woken up. So I hear her talking to him and him laughing at her and I can sense she is near the foot of the bed but not quite where she is. I sit up, and there she is. . . not at the foot of our bed at all, instead she is at the foot of Ben's bed. That's right she had crawled into his basinet, which is barely big enough for him, and was sitting just at the end of his folded up legs. They both thought it was quite funny for a two-year-old to be in the basinet with her four-month-old brother; they were having quite a nice time together. All I could think of was that basinet tumbling off its hinges to the floor and a pile of Ben-Jackies underneath. So no, I did not run down the stairs to grab the camera and shoot a few pictures of the scene and thus condone it by documenting it (Jackie thinks the camera means something is good and deserves repetition). Instead I jumped to the foot of the bed and pulled Jackie out as fast as I could. Sensing this was the end of any rest I might have attained this morning, I crawled out of bed just before 8 to "start" the day.

I don't think Jackie will be permitted any more early morning, half asleep Mama cuddles while the basinet sits at the foot of our bed.

~Tiffany

Life as a Two- Year-Old

It is official, as of August first Jackie is now 2. And I think she would tell you that from her short experience (three whole days), life is grand when you are two. Don and I managed to pull together a party for her in just about a week. A small group of family and friends gathered on Saturday to help Jackie celebrate the momentous occasion. And as she was the center of many adults' attention she was quite satisfied. That and I had spent hours working on a bunny cake that she couldn't wait to eat. If you need the full saga of the bunny cake you will have to check it out on facebook (Bunny-cake Baking Debacle). 

My favorite part of the party, aside from the fantastic cake (if I do say so myself), was Jackie opening her presents. She was filled with such joy and awe. Each package deserved her full attention and trying to pry her away from it once she had opened it was nearly impossible. Jackie wanted to take each toy out of its packaging and play with it right away. Every new present brought new exclamations of "oh boy" and "wow"and "oooh." The unwrapping was fun and what was inside was even more exciting. There were a couple of toys that really stood out from the others. She received these neat blocks called Wedgits that I have to admit I have been playing with. She also received a set of chimes to play with mallets. Don has been playing with those, he especially likes the tone each one has. Jackie is so musical by nature that she has really enjoyed playing with the chimes and also with her xylophone which Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She will sit with both in front of her and give a little solo performance, clapping for herself at the conclusion of each of her songs.

After Jackie's party, the family headed over to Capron Park. It was such a nice place for her to play and there was a little rose garden where we took pictures of Jackie and Ben together. There is a little zoo at the park which we will visit another day soon. I can not wait to see her joy over the animals; I am sure she will point and exclaim each of their names for us with great excitement. 

After the park, we returned home and Jackie took a nice long nap. So nice was the nap that she did not want to go to sleep Saturday night. In fact, Jackie stayed up later than Don did. She was still so excited over all of her new toys she didn't want to fall asleep for fear they would be gone in the morning. I was finally able to convince her to head up to bed and allowed her to take her new little stuffed Olivia the pig upstairs with her. After tucking Jackie in and laying the toy next to her in bed, Jackie picked up the pig, sat it on her chest, and in the the sweetest voice said, "hello piggy."  That was how she ended her birthday.

Today was the big day we took Jackie to have her well check-up. She is growing very nicely just like Ben. Jackie is now 34" or 2' 10" tall and she weighs 26.2 lbs. That means she only outweighs Ben by 10 lbs. That isn't much and I'm guessing it won't be too long before that gap is narrowed even more. Ben is definitely half of one Jackie. And Jackie did not need any shots today, just a finger prick. She did very well during the finger prick but was very glad when it was over. No more doctor's visits for Jackie until she is three (unless she gets sick or to get the flu vaccine.)

This year promises to bring even more wonder for Jackie as she interacts with the world in new ways. I can not wait to see life as a two-year-old sees it.

~Tiffany

Jackie's World

On the verge of turning two, Jackie is definitely having "two moments." They are not horrible but she seems to time them at the most inopportune times, so I perceive them as worse then they are. Usually her meltdowns occur at the Hallmark store where looking at every card by herself is not an option, or sometimes at Target when walking is not an option (because I have not evolved enough to have that second set of arms and hands that every parent of a young child really does need), or just when she can sense I am tired and stressed.

Aside from these moments of toddlerhood there are many sweet things Jackie is doing these days. Most recently it has been to kiss everything in sight. She might kiss the little spider hiding in NaNa's laundry room or the spot where the bunny and kitty have previously been spotted but are not currently residing, like our neighbor's yard. We also blow kisses to things we especially like such as the ceiling fans and the slide.  Occasionally Jackie will even have a kiss for Don or myself. She is still a very sweet and loving child especially when not having a toddler moment. 

I think Jackie grows and changes on a daily basis. Each new day brings new words and more smiles and joy to her face. She is learning that if she tells us with her words what she wants that we will get it for her quicker than when we had to guess about what she needed. Because of this we are having a vocabulary explosion out of her little mouth. It is exciting to hear her name things and point to something telling us what it is. She is asking up and down and for juice, milk, or cup. She brings us books and says "read," and will say it again when we finish the book to have us read it again. And if asked  Jackie will even say please and thank you, all in this cute little Jackie voice. We are working on saying Ben because we recently realized she is calling him "boy" which is a little cute but not his name. 

As for how she is with Ben, she is still very loving and mostly gentle towards him. Jackie is still trying to share her milk and food with Ben, and she will occasionally ask to hold him still, although it is getting hard for her to hold him as he grows closer to her own size. Jackie has also started dancing with Ben; she will hold his hands and do a little wiggle and it doesn't matter if he is upright or laying down. On a regular basis, especially in the car, Jackie will share her blanket and baby with Ben. She just sort of plops the doll down on Ben's chest, sometimes a little harder than Ben would like. Ben will then hold onto the baby or sometimes gnaw on it. 

Jackie appears to be adjusting to the move fairly well. I think some of her toddler moments lately have been related to the stress of the move and a little less attention than she normally receives. This past Saturday (July 18) we finally got Jackie's big girl bed set up. We don't have the bed frame we wanted, instead it is just a metal frame, but it works for now until we can figure out how to fix the other. Jackie helped to straighten the bed skirt and tried to help get the bed put together so it would be ready for her to use that night.  So Saturday night was her first night to sleep in her new room, in her new bed. She was so excited about it that I wasn't sure she would be able to sleep. But she did sleep and she slept well. Now if only her naps would go as smoothly. You see there is a door to the attic crawl space at the foot of Jackie's bed. We placed the bed there so her curious nature wouldn't urge her to open the door and explore the attic. Instead while she is supposed to be sleeping she will sometimes crawl to the end of the bed and play with the latch on the door or the trim around the door. I guess it isn't too bad, she could get herself into real trouble and probably will once she learns how to get off of the bed by herself. Then enforcing nap time on days she doesn't agree with my assessment of her need for a nap will become quite a challenge. But I have a video monitor on my side and a quick yell up the stairs is still effective in getting her to mind at least for a few moments.

I can't think of any other cute Jackie stories at the moment. I will post again about her birthday party in just about a week and after that about her 24 month well Jackie visit at the doctor. Until then I will try to post about Ben and the rest of the family.

~Tiffany

All about Jackie

Jackie has been up to all of her normal stunts and added a few new ones in the weeks since we last had a post mainly about her. She is adding new words to her list (apple, shoe, bird, Ah-boo, pretty, yeah, probably some others that I can't remember) like Ben and no. And I know what you are thinking: here comes the endless barrage of "nos." But it is actually nice to receive an honest answer about what Jackie wants instead of yeah to everything whether she wants it or not. And so far Jackie doesn't say no to everything we ask her to do, just to some things. I think she likes the capability to express her discontent and so far has not abused the privilege of saying the word although I know at some point she probably will.

Jackie had a nice Easter with her cousins. Jackie went to an easter egg hunt the town of Norfolk had last Saturday. She had a blast running around the field at the end of the hunt with her basket. She however did not quite understand the purpose of the hunt. The field was divided into sections by age so that the older children would have a more challenging hunt than the younger children. The section for two and three year olds had little foil covered chocolate eggs literally all over the ground, you almost could not walk without stepping on one. Jackie would not pick up the eggs unless I was standing there telling her to pick it up and put it in her basket. I picked a few of the eggs up and put them in her basket thinking it would help her understand the object but it had no effect. I even handed her a piece of the chocolate to eat thinking it give her a little incentive, it didn't. But when she participated in the family Easter egg hunt on Sunday, she finally got the point and she did quite well collecting eggs. Although Papa, Uncle Anthony and Aunt Mary helped Jackie fill her basket a little bit before she finally understood about collecting the eggs. So we shared her found eggs with Kaelin who was too busy eating what she found in her eggs to pick up many. There should be pictures posted soon from Easter so you will be able to see Jackie hunting for her eggs.

On a slightly sad note, Jackie has an ear infection. It is only the second one she has had but it is still no fun. She has had a cold for about a week and had seemed to be getting better until Tuesday night. That was the worst night we have had in some time. We no sooner finally got Ben to sleep at 1 in the morning when Jackie woke up with screams. And nothing would console her. So Jackie ended up "sleeping" in our bed, we all got about two hours of sleep. So Wednesday morning Don called the doctor and I took both kids to the doctor by myself. It was our first outing alone. Jackie was such a big girl at the doctors office even though she didn't feel well. She followed all of my directions and held my hand in the parking lot so she could walk and not be carried. She was very grown up.

Because our trip to the doctor went so well, I felt brave enough to take Jackie to the park on Friday. The weather was a beautiful 70 degrees, which we haven't seen in MA since August or September of last year. And the town has a very nice playground with all sorts of toys. She was a little tentative at first but saw a ball and went over and picked it up and just stood there holding it, looking at all the kids playing. After a few minutes she decided it was safe to look around some. She found a little pail and carried it around as she explored the playscape. Jackie spent most of her time walking back and forth on the ramp of the playscape. I only got her to go down the slide twice even though she enjoyed it. She also had a nice time in the swing but didn't want to swing very long. She just enjoys being outside and running around and watching other kids.

One other cute thing that Jackie has done recently is that she has decided she needs a pillow when she sleeps. After sharing the room with Grandma in March around the time Ben was born, Jackie started wanting to sleep on the futon in that room with the pillow and the sheets pulled up over her. So Don and I went to Target and found a travel sized pillow for Jackie to use in her bed. So now at night Jackie lays down on her pillow and waits for us to put her blanket over her like a sheet and cuddles up with her puppy (woof-woof as Jackie now calls dogs) and a light-weight blanket and goes to sleep. I think as soon as we move, Jackie will move into a big girl bed. She is growing up so fast, it is hard to believe that just 20 months ago she was as little as Ben is now.

I think this gets everyone up to date on Jackie's escapades of late. I'll try to start having a few posts every now and then that focus on just one child and what they have been up to lately. Hopefully I will be able to actually accomplish this.

~Tiffany

Jackie's Trick-or-Treat

Since we haven't given an update in the last month, I thought it was time to fill you in on what life has been like in MA. Jackie has had a blast with all the leaves. She and Don and Papa raked leaves last weekend and she loved playing in the pile raked for her. I missed most of the excitement because Joann and I took a bread baking class at a nearby convent. Let me tell you those were some very earthy-crunchy nuns (and I only met one of them). But we brought home loaves of yummy bread which have been enjoyed by all. 

Besides all the bread baking, I have been getting a head start on holiday baking. So far I have made an apple pie for Thanksgiving and will make one for Christmas this week. That way there is less to do around the holidays and the pies are made with fresh, local, yummy apples we won't be able to find in a month. I also need to make a pie for Dave and Don to eat soon or they might kick me out of the house. ;-) 

As for Jackie's Trick-or-Treat: it went as well as can be expected of a 15 month old. She went as an adorable Starbucks' short cup, which she only sometimes enjoyed wearing. Don should post the pictures this weekend so everyone can see how it turned out. Jackie had a very shortened trick -or-treating experience. She went to visit Nee, she walked across the street to the neighbors there and she had to ask Nana for treats at home. So although short, she was pretty cute on her first outing.

Jackie has also gotten a new puppy since we last updated everyone. It is an adorable little yellow lab and she carries it almost everywhere she goes. She even sleeps with it at night and nap-time. But don't worry, it is stuffed so it tolerates her tossing it to the side when something more important grabs her attention. She is so cute with the little puppy though; she even will take a drink from her water cup and then put it up to the dog so it can have a drink too. 

As you can tell Jackie is as cute as ever. We will try to keep posts coming more regularly. But this is all for now.

~ Tiffany

Still here!

Hi everyone!

I've upload photos from April through yesterday, so we're officially up to date on that count. Things have been hectic around here, but I'll get to that discussion another day. Jackie has four teeth now, crawls, can pull herself up on things, and seems to be getting into everything around here! We have video too, but I haven't had a chance to edit it yet... Hopefully soon!

Don

A little video

Hi again,

I've posted a few videos from this month on the Video page. Go have a look! You can also click the links below:

Dadadada
Excited Jackie
Smart baby


Don

Long time no blog

Hello everyone,

So it's officially been a long time since I last updated! Things have been busy around here, but I'll get to that in another blog in a few weeks maybe. Anyway, I've uploaded new photos to the Gallery. The new ones are January - March, and April of this year.

By the way, the April gallery uses a new layout. It lets you open a photo in a new browser window by right-clicking on it. That means you can download the photo in the new window by again right-clicking (the images are 1000 x 667 pixels). You can also navigate using the keyboard (up/down and left/right). Stretch out the browser window to make sure the images are as large as they can be.

Don

Photos & videos, and organization too!

Hi again,

I put photos and video from Jackie's baptism online, and reorganized the photo albums that were already online. Hopefully that makes things a little easier to navigate! Oh, and the baptism video is rather large (331mb), so depending on your internet connection it may play better if you download it first.

Hello again!

Hi everyone!

Well the big news of the week is that Jackie had her baptism last Sunday! We had it at Saint Agatha Saint James. I'll have video and photos from Sunday posted soon. Also, in case no one noticed, there are more videos online now- just go to "Videos" under the "Files" heading on the right side of the page.

In other news, we've started feeding Jackie rice cereal. She's not a big fan of it! Check the video out.

Time to go feed Jackie, I'll try to post again later today!

Don

Growth Update

Just a little update on how Jackie is doing. We had our four month check up on the 10 and Jackie continues to impress. She now weighs a mighty 13 lbs 6.8 oz and is 2' 1" tall. She is measured in feet now, which is so cute . But it also reminds me of how quickly she is growing. And Jackie has been cleared for solid foods! So as soon as we make it to the store for rice cereal we will have even more photos and video of cute Jackie faces. I'm sure she won't let her adoring audience down with her first experience with food.

On a similar note, we let Jackie drink out of a cup on Wed. She had a little cold water to help soothe her teething gums and it was fun to watch her experience that first. She had not had plain water before then and she was a little confused by it. She seemed far more interested in gnawing on the rim of the cup than on what was inside of it. But Jackie definitely likes holding onto the cup handles. We will try to get the video up soon.

That is about all for now.
~Tiffany

Big update!

**Click "read more" below, or the links won't format correctly!**

Hi everyone,

I've finally found some time to upload photos to the website! I haven't updated the menus on the website yet, but you can access them by clicking on the links below:

Around the apartment and Philly
September/October trip to Texas
October trip to Massachusetts
Tif's birthday
Sock Monkey!

Jackie was weighed last week, and is now over 11 pounds 11 ounces!

I have video to upload, I just need to find time to work on it. Sorry it's been so long! Also, I removed the old video because apparently that wasn't working for anyone. I'll try just uploading the video files.

Don

Videos

Hi everyone,

After three nights in a row of hamburgers and hotdogs (all free and from different sources, no less), I found the strength to upload videos of Jackie to the website. To keep strangers from downloading them, we've put passwords on them, but send us an email (hello@fleaandcompany.com) and we'll give you the password. Don't forget to install Stuffit Expander and Apple Quicktime (see the Software page under Files)!

Take care!
Don

Fun with Joanna and the Wii

Jackie and Tiffany spent Labor day weekend with Aunt Joanna from Texas. Jackie enjoyed playing the Wii all weekend with Joanna. She especially likes playing Wii Sports and Donkey Kong, but Tiffany needs to watch out for glasses when playing because she smashed one while bowling. It was the first real Wii accident, and hopefully the only Wii accident we will have.

In other news Tiffany and Jackie will be heading to TX on September 22 to stay for just over a week. Don will be joining us the following weekend.