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Reintroducing Jace

Jessie — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

Jace turned two in August which makes him… just over two years old. Math was never my strong suit. But I do know cute when I see it!

Jace is getting really good at being two years old; the ladies at Fareway could attest to that today. When we first arrived, he discovered that it was not the grocery store with the small carts for kids and had… a moment. After that, he was fine.

Jace loves the Cars guitar that he got for his 2nd birthday and plays it regularly. In fact, just before he got his tummy virus a few weeks ago right before our move, he’d developed a fever. This was a goofy fever, though. It made him very playful and NOT tired. After being put to bed at the regular 8 pm time, he woke up around 1:30 am wanting to play. I stayed up with him for an hour or so and finally got him back to sleep. That didn’t last too long and by about 3:30 am, Josh and I decided that we’d just let him watch tv in the living room so I could come back to bed. At about 4 am, he slipped into our bedroom, grabbed his guitar and slipped back out again. Around 4:30 am, I went out to check on him and sure enough, he was watching tv and jamming away on his guitar. It was the funniest little thing!

I love how he tilts his leg up to support that thing. On his own, he took the strap off one of the Rock Band guitars and attached it to his guitar. His daddy’s guitar has a strap so he knows all about such things.

Another trick he has is opening Mommy’s guitar case to swipe a pick for himself. He’s very resourceful. And he uses it correctly.

Emerging independence: perfect buzz words for a two year old. He has recently starting putting on his socks and shoes BY HIMSELF, thankyouverymuch! And here’s the thing, I have not once witnessed him putting these shoes on the wrong feet. He has got the world pretty much figured out by now.

Except talking. The boy can’t articulate many words. He’s got maybe 10 words that are on heavy rotation. Mostly it’s “uh” with accompanying pointer finger. We try, but honestly, I don’t think he even knows where to begin. Sometimes I clap the syllables of words to break them down for him. He’ll just smile politely and clap along, but at this time he just.can’t.do.it.

He is so much fun and my #1 helper.

Sick again

Jessie — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Jude walked into the house after getting home from school yesterday and vomited all over the kitchen floor. To get caught up on our illness drama click here –> (but I wouldn’t do it without a face mask on).

It does worry me a little bit that all of this is happening after we move into a new house. I’m 98% sure that what we’re experiencing as a family is a nasty stomach virus that is going around. Probably two different viruses, which is why we’re seeing it twice within two and a half weeks.

There is that 2% uncertainty that makes me wonder if it could be anything related to our house or even a food product that we’ve had in our house that is making us sick. We discovered last night that we don’t have a carbon monoxide detector in the house. We’ve ordered two that will be here soon. I highly doubt that it is carbon monoxide poisoning as Jude was away from the house all day and got sick within a minute of coming home. Also, Jace and I were home all day long and didn’t experience any of the nausea*, fatigue and headaches that are consistent with poisoning even at low levels. Jace was the first one of the family to get sick and that was while we were still living at our old house.

The “good” news is that it appears that other households in the area have been sick and fighting similar symptoms. It’s most likely just really poor/confusing timing.

*Catching vomit into a person’s cupped hands will automatically make one feel slightly nauseated, but that feeling did pass.

Breaking in the house

Jessie — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Hello from the Land of the Living!

We moved a week ago from a house that we’d outgrown (several years ago) to a house approximately three blocks away that is the perfect house for us. We’re just so excited to be here!

The move itself was pretty uneventful: no major catastrophes and lots and lots of great help. It only took us a day to get everything from point A to point B, allowing the couple that bought our house to move in ahead of schedule. It was great. Thank you to our fantastic helpers!

And since the move? Well, that’s a different story. Actually, I have to back up to two weeks ago – I was packing for the move.

Thursday: Jace vomits in old living room (sorry, new owners!), is sick during the day and that night.

Friday: Jace is feeling better, having yucky diapers but is acting more like himself.

Saturday: Jace vomits that night at Abba’s house after being “better” for a good day or more.

Sunday: no incidents.

Monday: no incidents, packed a moving truck with almost all of our belongings at the old house.

Tuesday: closing on the new house, unpacking in the new house.

Wednesday: no incidents.

Thursday: Jett home from school early, vomits that evening: new house broken in!

Friday: Jude has a stomach ache too, both boys home from school.

Saturday: both older boys lie around all day, Jude opts not to trick-or-treat, Jett is out trick-or-treating with Josh for a short while before wanting to come back home.

Sunday: both older boys vomit.

Monday: no school for either, Jett vomits that afternoon in the car while running an errand (more than 24 hrs after his last episode).

Monday night: Jace begins to vomit at 10:30 pm and is up two more times getting sick, Josh and I vomit around 1:30 am in different bathrooms, we are up the rest of the night alternately getting sick.

Tuesday: Zeigler lockdown. No one comes or goes. Misery.

Wednesday (yesterday): Jude & Jett are back to school and everyone finally feels better.

And today is a new day! Like I said, Land of the Living! I hope no one gets sick from just reading this. I suppose we were due, we hadn’t been group-sick in awhile. We’ll “remember when” these crazy weeks someday and wonder how we survived the move AND the sickness.

First day of kindergarten and first grade

Jessie — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:42:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time. I’ve been eagerly anticipating it and it’s finally here! Yay Jude & Jett! Yay me!

Introducing Jude, the six-year-old FIRST grader:

And now, for the first time ever, please join me in congratulating our five-year-old KINDERGARTNER, Jett:

And not to be left out… our very own… ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the lone homeboy, Jace!

And now in order of wake up times today, we have Jude in first place at 3:53 am. He promptly went back to sleep on the floor next to my side of the bed, which woke me up… for good, putting me in second place. I eventually got out of bed at 4:30 because I knew I had too much to think about to go back to sleep. I began writing furiously on the handout that needed to be turned in to Jett’s kindergarten teacher. The question on the handout was an open-ended one and pertained to ‘how your child is unique’. I obviously had a lot of ground to cover, so it was just as well that I got busy writing and hoped that I might go back to sleep when finished.

It didn’t work that way. Jude bounded down the hallway at 5:20, up for the day. Josh got 3rd place as he started getting ready for work at 5:45, but then again, that’s his normal daily routine. Jett took fourth place at 6 am – a good 2 hours earlier than when he’s used to waking, and finally Jace awoke at 7:20 for 5th place.

The older boys scurried around and did all of their jobs in record-breaking time, I packed a lunch, wrote a note to a teacher, ensured both bags were ready to go, got myself showered and ready for the day, took pictures of the gang and FINALLY drove them to school. It seemed like I had hours to get everyone ready today. Oh wait, I did!

We parked a block away and then we all walked up to the school’s playground together.

Jett accosted about 3 different children on the way to the playground, excitedly demanding with neck-veins popping that they look at his new Cars 2 backpack. And, have they seen Cars 2?! And he has! And Francesco Bernoulli wins the first race! And he’s right here on my backpack! Oh wow – take it down a notch, kid, you’re about to strain something.

And right after I took this picture, Jett darted off. I tried to keep up with him, asking him to come back and wait for me, but then I realized he was running right for his teacher, who I didn’t even see, so I figured he was alright.

I walked with Jude to find his teacher. He greeted her and then immediately wanted to give her some things I’d sent for her in Jude’s backpack. She told him she would take them when they got inside. He was cool with that and took off for the new play equipment.

No hugs, no tears. I keep telling myself that maybe next year I’ll cry, then never do. I’m just so excited for them and excited for myself about getting more alone time with Jace and some quiet time every day when he naps. Hallelujah! And hello? I have a clean house now and time for blogging?! What is that all about? I’ll take it. Sure Jace is forcing various Mr. Potato Head pieces onto my face while I’m writing this, but it’s ok – I can multitask.

I can’t wait to pick them up later on this afternoon and get the scoop. I’m hoping every day will be this easy to get them ready and off to school, without the EARLY rising, that is.

Father’s Day 2011

Jessie — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:24:00 +0000

Here you have the winner of this Father’s Day photo shoot. Handsome men, aren’t they?

You’ll never believe it, but Jace was the most uncooperative of them all today. I know he’s had a reputation here on the blog as being the most docile, easygoing one of the bunch, but let me tell you, the times, they are a-changin’. He’s getting his own ideas of how he wants to do things and isn’t afraid of ruffling any feathers.

I even got this little gem of Jude and Jett while Jace was being most uncooperative.

We had a great day!

The Omaha Zoo

Jessie — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:41:29 +0000

The weekend before our kids had spring break, we decided to take a short trip to Omaha to enjoy the zoo for the first time ever. We invited my mom along for the excitement, leaving on a Sunday morning. It only takes about an hour and a half to get to the zoo – a very doable distance for this crew.

This may be the worst zoo recap ever, but here you go!

It was a pretty chilly morning when we started out, about 30 degrees. It didn’t end up to be that much of a problem as we discovered that many exhibits were inside. We started our adventure in the Desert Dome.

This is an animal. I hope you appreciate my captions.

Another critter. The night-vision is a photo effect applied by me to jazz up “the wild”.

Oh wait, I got this one… it’s a reptile.

These were big, ugly, lazy beasts of some sort or kind.

Jude striking a very natural pose.

This guy could have been dead for all I know. Kind of like the honey badger… he doesn’t care.

It’s a snake. Mang.

I do happen to know that this is an orangutan. This was one of the most fun exhibits at the zoo, enjoyed by all!

This picture makes my heart leap inside of my chest. So presh.

Climb-time with these friends of mine!

Jett was very happy to see bears!! We got to see a polar bear, too, but it seems that I did not think it special enough to take a picture.

The penguins were another fun exhibit. Seeing them dive underwater and dart around was so much fun to watch!

Here is Jude entering the shark tunnel. Gulp! He’s identifying all the different species.

Oh yeah… now this is why we came. The shark tunnel did not disappoint!

We spent maybe 3 or 4 hours at the zoo. We could have stayed longer, but the boys started to get tired. We packed a lunch which we ate very quickly (because it was so cold) in an outdoor picnic area at the zoo and afterwards got ice cream on our way to our hotel.

We could have easily just made it a day trip, but we thought it would be extra-fun to get a room at a hotel with a pool, so we did. That evening we swam, ate pizza and then hit the hay. It was a very full and fun day!

My sons

Jessie — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:43:55 +0000

I love my boys. I especially love how my littlest boy imitates the two older boys. He’s just one of the guys.

This was from about three weeks ago – before I dropped from the face of the earth for the fourteenth time in the history of this blog – sorry about that.

I’d asked the boys to start picking up their toys in the living room and the next thing I knew all three of them were sporting one “bionic” arm each, using it as the picking-up arm. Including Jace.

The truth is, there were probably enough socks for everyone to have two or three bionic arms, but it’s just as well.

Grandma Bev’s, Jr.

Jessie — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:25:00 +0000

My sibs and I are experiencing a time in our lives where we’re all living within about 20 miles of each other, and that hasn’t happened since about 1999, when we were all living under one roof. My brother is living with my sister right now before he gets married in July and buys his own domicile.

We’ve been getting together more regularly at my house since the broseph’s move has taken place. We’ve settled on calling our get-togethers “Grandma Bev’s, Jr”.

Back where we were raised, my mom & dad get together with her siblings & spouses at their parents’ house almost every Sunday. Aka: Grandma Bev’s. Thus, we are the next generation, or junior. Makes sense.

Most recently, we hung out for the Super Bowl/addressing Save-the-Dates for Jacob & Morgan’s wedding.

Isn’t Jace a sweetie? Playing badly-out-of-tune piano with Uncle Jacob.

Jude would still rather be tucked away in his room playing with Legos instead of enjoying the company of others. Speaking of juniors, this is My Husband, Jr.

Here is Morgie making her yummy salsa/veggie dip. She didn’t want her picture taken, so we are respecting her wishes… obviously. Welcome to the family!

The beautiful Save-the-Date design courtesy of NGCO’s own Emily Phipps.

I had to chuckle when I uploaded this picture because I must have missed the 2 watches on Josh earlier. (?)

TOMS in the wintertime. There is an unwritten story here.

My sister (shown above pushing society’s limits for how many hand lines are acceptable) had this lovely stamp made for the coolest detail on the front of the postcards.

P for perfect! As in the perfect touch.

Don’t believe me about the line-y hands? Computer: Enhance.

It’s ok, she makes fun of me for having TOO FEW LINES. Oh, and more majorly, for having swands. Sweaty hands. And I can’t deny it. I do have me some swands (and sweaty feet, but that would just be “sweet”, which would be a confusing nickname/phrase). I thought it was a curse until I started quilting. Now is a privilege and advantage. I have not found an instance in which sweaty feet are helpful, however.

We did watch the Super Bowl, too, but not very seriously. Too much work and computing to do:

A Christmas story (or two)

Jessie — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:39:00 +0000

In honor of it being a whole month after December 25th, I would like to share a post about our Christmas celebrations with you! I just know that you woke up today worried about your lack of knowledge pertaining to our Christmas and I’m here to set your mind at ease. It’s what friends are for.

Obligatory pictures of kids opening gifts? Don’t mind if I do!

The first few pictures are from my Grandma Bev’s house.

My brother from another mother (and father): Dylan

Baby Emma’s first Christmas! She’s getting some help from her mom and dad.

Yeah, I’m not so smart because it was at this point, Christmas Eve, that my camera batteries gave up and I didn’t bring my charger. So I took ZERO pictures on Christmas day! Nice!

But now would be a good time to tell you one particular incident that happened Christmas day at my Grandma Bonnie’s house that was… memorable. I am often awestruck by the weird and bizarre things my boys do. Things that would never occur to me to do or even to warn them against doing. It was after the hoopla of opening gifts and eating dinner that we were all lounging around looking at our new gifts or the back of our eyelids. Jett was causing a disturbance in the hallway to the bedrooms. He had found a beautiful blue glass pitcher of my Grandma’s, was chewing up carrots and spitting the chewed up remains into said beautiful pitcher and teasing his older cousin Alexis, urging her to “Drink the carrot juice!”

I don’t know. My kids have done a lot of weird things, but this one has stuck in my mind in the last month as being… disturbing.

It wasn’t until the day after Christmas when I was able to get my charger and get back to recording memories. That morning, we went to Josh’s parents’ house to celebrate Christmas with them. Jan made a VERY yummy breakfast… made to order omelets with all the trimmings (including bacon). And Jan introduced us to the almond crème flavor of Butter Braid bread. Yowza! Now that’s an Iowa company you can… sink your teeth into! An Iowa company you can… support! An Iowa company you can… be proud of! These are delicious pastries and I’m guessing they have a better tag line.

Later that day we opened gifts.

It doesn’t get much better than this:

Jace is such a sweetie pie. That kid.

Jett is very excited about getting the How to Train Your Dragon combo pack. Also, do you see that decorative pin he’s wearing? Well, his grandma was wearing it until he took it from her, citing his intense love of everything bears. That kid.

Jude got a really fun shark hat!

And here are all the boys in their new slippers! Cute, cute, cute! Jackson, our nephew, is on the left.

For the first time this year, Josh’s grandma held Christmas at her house about 2 weeks after Christmas. It worked out really well for us in that we had one less place to cram into one weekend and we were able to take our time at each place rather than being rushed. I don’t have any pictures, but shortly after opening a Lego set, Jude started cleaning up the room we’d stayed in the night prior, got his coat and shoes on and was READY TO GO! We told him he had to wait until we were home to start putting it together since there were so many pieces and we didn’t want to lose anything. It was cute. He brought Jace’s coat out to him and wanted him to get ready, too. Of course we didn’t leave immediately, but we were at the end of our stay there anyway, so the poor thing didn’t have too long to wait.

Which brings me to my last Christmas story, which chronologically happened first. About three days before Christmas, our family opened Christmas gifts from us at our own house. We thought it would give the boys a chance to play with the things they got from us before we took off in the car to visit everyone else. Jude opened this:

He was pretty pumped! This was the first Lego set of the season. He ended up getting many, but this was his first. Of course, we should have realized that he would want to tear into it right away. It was almost bedtime though, and we had a few more days at home before we had to leave, so Josh promised him that they would do the kit together the next day after he got back from work. Jude went to bed disappointed: the new Legos were so close, yet so far away.

The next morning, Jude was up early. He came in to our room briefly at 5:10; I just assumed he would watch tv until he had to start getting ready for school. Josh was leaving for work around 6:10 and came in to our room and asked, “What time did Jude get up?”

I was still sleeping, “He came in here a little after 5. Why?”

“Because he’s at the kitchen table and already has put his entire Lego set together… correctly. I found some extra pieces still on the table and asked him about them. He said he didn’t need them. And then I looked in the instructions and found out that he really didn’t need them… they were extras.”

I just started chuckling. That kid.

Sets are his thing now. He spends a lot of time on the computer watching YouTube video reviews of the plethora of different sets out there: particularly Star Wars sets. It’s like a sub-culture. And one we’re happy to be part of it now, I guess…? Oh boy!

I hope your Christmas gatherings were as splendid as ours! And Happy New Year to you and yours while I’m at it!

Art show tomorrow night

Jessie — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:14:00 +0000

My sister Emily is having another art show tomorrow night at Ephemera!

If you thought I was excited about her first show, you’d be right, but that excitement pales in comparison to the excitement I have *now* for tomorrow night.

I think the reason I’m so excited is because I know how awesome the first show went and I’m excited to go back to Ephemera because it’s a hidden treasure of a store. You should go if only to buy some unique gifts for people on your Christmas list (including yourself)! Oh yeah, and one of Emily’s paintings would be an awesome gift for a music lover. I’m also extra-excited because of the theme this time around.

The theme – as you might be able to detect from the title/graphic at the left – is music. Our young lives were heavily influenced by music which has stuck with us into adulthood. Without giving too much away, you’ll find some choice lyrics from yesterday and today. Barf, that just sounded like a promo for an adult contemporary radio station. Anyway, it’s those lyrics [from yesterday and today, but mostly yesterday] shown in a visually interesting way; mostly rock/folk/pop/indie-ish stuff. You get the idea, right?

I’ve only seen a couple of the 32 paintings and trust me – they “rock”. Oh boy, I’m full of them today. I cannot wait to see the rest of them. The particulars: the paintings will be similar to the last batch in that they are painted with acrylic paint on wood, mounted with a wall clasp for your hanging pleasure and ease. They are selling for $45 a “pop” and are 12 inches x 12 inches.

Come and get ‘em! It starts at 6 pm. I was tastefully late last time and missed out on buying one of my favorites. I’m going early tomorrow, trust me, we don’t want to replay that ugly episode again.