Sweet Jane

Whenever someone asks me about Jane, the first words that come out of my mouth are, "She is such a sweet baby." It's so true. She is so loveable and darling. Unless she really needs something, she is very content, which makes her seem really easygoing. She does just roll with things, which is important, since we do need to get out every day for her brother (often during Jane's nap time), and also since Noah is often in her face giving her kisses or just pressing his face against hers.

Jane is terribly loveable. Part of what is endearing to me lately is that in the past couple of days she will sometimes break out in a huge grin when she sees me. Wouldn't that warm your heart? And, on top of that, for the first time last night, Noah told me "I love you" without being asked. He just snuggled up to me and said it. Love it!

Would you like to see some pictures and videos of sweet Jane? I thought you'd never ask.

Sweet sleeper

Noah gave Jane a "hat," which is the head from his penguin humidifier.
She's a little nonplussed about it.

Fist-Finding Frustration:

Sweet smiles during tummy time:

And I leave you with this:

Potty Training

You know your child is ready to potty train when . . .
. . . he can go into the bathroom and set everything up himself.
. . . he can actually say the words "potty train," although he is under the impression that it is a really interesting type of train.

I have been so intimidated by potty training. I think the timing has just been off for us. For a while, I thought I'd just do a little here and there--getting him used to the idea--until we moved, because from all I'd heard, big changes = big regression in potty training. But as it became apparent that our move was going to be pushed from April to June, I still didn't start wholeheartedly because I was so fatigued during this pregnancy. So here we are, almost in May, with a kid who is over two years old and is really ready to be potty trained and a mommy who is SO READY not to change any more toddler poopy diapers. But, believe it or not, I am still intimidated by the whole process, because it just takes incredible consistency, and I'm afraid I won't be able to set aside a couple of days by myself to be that consistent. (As in, asking him every five minutes if he's wet or dry, taking him to the bathroom every 15 minutes, etc.) I mean, Jane needs to eat sometimes, you know?! So at this point, I think I am going to wait until Nathan is done with his dissertation, and hopefully we can devote a whole day to potty training boot camp and really get this thing started.

So that's the story on that. Anybody have any advice? For the moms out there, what kind of potty training method did you use?

*Also, please see the post below and pray for Nathan to finish Ch. 3 today! He pulled an all-nighter and is still working.

What It's Like

In case you're wondering what life is like when you're finishing up a Ph.D., here are some snippets to give you a taste:

• For weeks, Nathan has been going into the office at about 9:00 and coming home at his usual time of 6:00. But he only stays about two hours before he heads back in, which is long enough to have dinner, play with Noah a little bit, and put Noah to bed. Typically, he then works until 12:00 or 1:00.
• However, there have been some nights when he comes home at 2:00, 3:00, or even 5:00 in the morning.
• Except for the night when he went out to the car to come home at 1:00 and found that the battery had died because the flashers had been on for a while. So he just went back inside and worked until about 5:00 before he went to sleep . . . on the floor, on the dog pillow, with his jacket wrapped around him! Just a touch pathetic, huh? (In case you're wondering, one of his office mates brings her dog to work most days.) He slept until about 9:00, when he went down to the car to meet some friends who were coming to give him a jump. And he got there just in time to see a campus cop giving him a ticket for being parked illegally. Ugh.
• The guy needs a haircut in the worst way, but he doesn't have time to go get one.
• He is getting tired and worn down enough that he actually SUBMITTED TO MY ADVICE TO TAKE A DAILY VITAMIN. This is huge, y'all. Nathan somehow believes that ingesting any kind of pill would mean that he is somehow unmanly, and I've been trying to get him to take a vitamin for years. The fact that he has finally agreed to take one really says something (even though he forgets it most days, unless I remind him).
• On the up side, it is so encouraging to periodically hear that Nathan's advisor likes what he is doing and is being encouraging. John has always been a great advisor (and we've heard some real horror stories), but to know that he approves of what Nathan is doing and to get good feedback at this crucial time is really great.

Want some specifics? Nathan's dissertation will be three chapters long. Each chapter is a paper that has been or will be published in a journal. The first chapter was completed a while ago; chapter two, which was finished recently, is the biggest and most significant, and it represents the most work; chapter three is interesting and good research, but it is not taking as long to complete, and this is what Nathan is working on finishing up right now. Hopefully, he will have all three chapters submitted to his committee by early next week. His private defense is scheduled for May 5.

Nathan would appreciate prayer for the following:

• That he finishes this third chapter quickly over this weekend. He still needs to complete the figures and do the writing.
• That the quality of his work is something he can be proud of.
  
• The stamina to work well and efficiently.
• I will add: his health and emotional well-being. He is doing fine, but I imagine that this amount of work over such a long period of time makes him susceptible to illness.

Whew! As you can see, we've been a busy family. Noah, Jane, and I have missed Nathan being around more, especially on the weekends. But this is only for a short while, and we're all hanging in there! Prayers would definitely be appreciated, though. Thanks!

*Additional note: We will have about 10 days off between when Nathan submits final versions of everything and when we will be packing up our apartment. We are really looking forward to some quality family time during that week and a half--please pray everyone stays well for that! Thanks.

The Last Two Days

So most of my posts lately have been very brief because life is busy! When you add a kid, I guess you can expect for things to get quite a bit more hectic, but the last two days have been real doozies. Here are some things that have happened:

- Nathan's grandpa has been very ill with congestive heart failure, but he seems to have rallied. Please pray for his health and also for the family.
- Noah was sick with some kind of 24-hour stomach bug and threw up all over the couch.
- I got stung in the finger by a yellow jacket.
- Noah fell into the vertical edge of a door and knocked his forehead pretty badly. It is frightening to see an enormous goose egg form on your child's head within five seconds of the injury. (The swelling has gone down, though, and he seems fine.)

Nathan has been working crazy hours, but he usually does find the time to come home for dinner and bedtime, which means he was here for both the head injury and the vomit aftermath. Although I'm sure this is not the homecoming he would like, I sure was glad to have an extra pair of hands for both of those episodes.

Granny

This is my Granny. Isn't she sweet?

My parents and Granny went out to see the bluebonnets recently, and they took this picture. Granny is the one of the "Jane's" after whom Jane was named--her name is Janette.

When You're Not Looking

This is what happens when you have an empty cat carrier lying around.
He totally could not get out and had to be lifted out the top.

This and That

My favorite part of the day is watching Jane stretch when she wakes up. She is so stinkin' cute. I remember loving to watch Noah do the same thing. It's so cute that their arms barely reach past the tops of their heads. Plus, the faces they make always make me smile.

My other favorite part of the day is picking Nathan up from work at 6:00. He hasn't always had time to come home at that time of day over the last few weeks, but lately he will ride home with us, stay for dinner and bedtime, then head back into the office. Not only am I thankful for the help at that crazy time of day, but it's also good to see him. He's been working a lot of late nights lately.

I started Weight Watchers last week. I waited until Jane was a month old, then I jumped in. After Noah was born, I waited four months for that amazing "I'm nursing and the weight just melted off!" phenomenon to happen to me, and it never did, so I determined that this time I would not wait for such a long time. I am pleased to report that I lost over two pounds in the first week! Technically, you're only supposed to lose a pound a week while you're nursing, but I think it's pretty normal to lose a little more quickly the first couple of weeks.

Speaking of pregnancy body issues, I had my six week postpartum checkup today, and I asked my doctor about this pooch (I hate that word--why did I use it?) on my stomach that never went away after Noah was born and is back again. She said that my fascia stretched out because I had big babies, and that it didn't snap back. She said that even if I weighed 100 lbs., it would still be there. Her point was that she didn't want me to feel bad if I don't look like a movie star after doing a million crunches, and she suggested I make my peace with it. Well, I am not sure what to think, but I will tell you that I am not exactly at peace with it. She told me most of that info last time, but I figured part of the problem is muscle separation and part will correct itself with weight loss, and that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong. Now I'm not so sure. Boo. Oh well; I will still do everything I can to make it better, and we'll see where that gets me. All I can do is all I can do.

At my OBGYN appointment today, my doctor and I also talked about the C-section and the fact that I just grow big babies. But you know what else she said? She said that because of the way I'm built, she didn't think that I could have even given birth to a seven pound baby! I said, "Nobody has ever told me that!" I mean, come on! My kids were 8 lbs. 11 oz. and 9 lbs. 2 oz., so evidently I didn't have a chance, and the real kicker is that several people over the years probably could have guessed this and never told me. She pointed out that they always want you to give labor a shot because they never know what could happen, but I really don't think having that information would have changed the way I went about things. I guess this just bothers me because I am a total information gatherer. I like to hoard all information and know every possible option before I make a decision (this is becoming especially apparent in the search for a place to live!). Anyway, I suppose it would not have changed the way things turned out; I just would have liked to have known beforehand.

On to more cheerful subjects: Noah has finally hit an explosion period for picking up language, and he is getting really good at putting words together in twos and threes. For example, here are some things he's said over the past few days: "pink tree," "big piece cake," and "sweet ice cream juice" (that's what he dubbed a Coke float).

Noah also needs a haircut! Wow, I wondered when the day would come that I would utter those words! It took over two years! It just took so long for that kiddo to get some hair! I wonder if Jane will be in the same boat.

Miss Jane is a pretty big girl. It's not that she's roly poly like a lot of babies; rather, she is very, very long (above the 95th percentile). This actually makes her look fairly skinny for a newborn, even though she's above the 50th percentile for weight. Anyway, because she's so long, no pants fit the poor girl. All the newborn sized pants fit around the waist but are super short. I don't think they make capris for newborns, but my child looks like she's wearing them. And when I try to put her in pants that are the next size up, they swallow her around her waist and legs. However, I guess it is the season for capri pants. . . .

It looks like Nathan will be scheduling his defense on Cinco de Mayo. We might have to throw a party afterwards. How appropriate that it would involve Tex-Mex.

To Buy or Not to Buy

To buy or not to buy – that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the short run to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous rent rates,
Or to take arms against a buyer's market
And, by plunging in, seize it. To buy, to rent
No more – and by "buy" to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
Of frequent moving – ‘tis a transaction
Devoutly to be wished.

--

We have yet to find a place to live in Houston. At this point, we're trying to figure out if we want to buy a home or find a long-term rental. The reason we're considering renting is because Nathan will be working at two different offices in two different areas of town for the first two years at his new job, and he won't know which office he'll settle into more permanently until after that. This makes purchasing a home difficult, because we've got a 50/50 chance that we'll discover we purchased in the wrong location two years from now.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if a long commute weren't a problem for us, but, really, it kind of is. Right now, Nathan has a ten-minute commute to work, and to go from that to a 45-minute one-way commute every day is terribly unattractive to us because it would drastically cut back on our family time.

At present, we are leaning towards renting for two years, even though we have some really strong feelings against it. For one thing, I just want to settle somewhere. I was finally able to put words to the way I am feeling the other day: I feel like I've been in transition for six years, and I don't want to feel that way anymore. I want to settle down somewhere and really create a nice home. Basically, I've been holding off on nesting for quite some time, and I'm ready to do it. Also we'd miss out on the great housing market right now. And we're also dreading the thought of developing a community somewhere for a couple of years then uprooting ourselves from it. But we are thinking that despite all of this, because of a possible move in the near future, renting is still the wise choice, even though we have very mixed feelings about it. Anyone have any thoughts?

Observation

I recently realized that many of the women I know who used to blog more regularly dropped the frequency of their posts right about the time they had their second child. Coincidence? Not likely. I wonder if that will happen to me . . . it's certainly possible.

I'm just sayin'.

:)

:D

I hope you have this kind of day today.

The Sticker Says It All

Although his expression may make you think otherwise, this kid is a great big brother! He is always giving his sister kisses and sweet, gentle hugs. And he loves to hold her, too. It has truly been a great transition for him, for which I am very thankful. I'm so glad Noah loves Jane!

Jane's New Stats

Janey Bug had her one month pediatrician appointment today. Here are her new stats:

Weight: 10 lbs., 1 oz. (approx. 75th percentile)
Length: 22-3/4 inches (approx. 95th percentile)

When we went in for her two-week appointment, the doctor was concerned that Jane wasn't gaining weight quickly enough. Between week one and week two, she had only been gaining about a third of an ounce per day rather than the half to one ounce per day that they look for. And she was still about half a pound under her birth weight, when they want them to have reached their birth weight again by two weeks of age. But I took her in again a week later, and the girl is gaining like gangbusters. She has gained over an ounce a day ever since that appointment two weeks ago, so she's doing great.

On a separate and very exciting note, my friend, Sarah Fuselier, is having her baby right now!

Easter Weekend!

Dd you have a happy Easter? We certainly did. We pretty much celebrated all weekend.

On Saturday, we attended an Easter brunch at the Murgatroyds' house. Amy was in my Mom to Mom group last year. She and Dave did an awesome job of throwing a party! There were lots of kids there, and we just hung out and ate, then the kiddos did an egg hunt. After that, Dave told the Easter story. It was just a nice gathering, and I also have to say that part of the fun was that after all this rainy, cold weather, it was a real pleasure to be outside on a warm, sunny day.

Our family.

This is Noah and Brenna. The party was at Brenna's house.

Noah and his friend, Nathan, had a good time playing together. Noah just had a good time in general. At one point, his daddy found him in the backyard being pulled around in a wagon and shouting, "FUN! FUN!" He pretty much had the running-yelling-squealing kind of fun all weekend.

This is my Mom to Mom leader from last year, Ruth. She was very pleased to meet Jane.

Noah had a great time hunting for eggs . . .

. . . and eating the candy he found in them!

This is a picture of the telling of the Easter story.

On Easter morning, Noah and Jane both got Easter baskets! I had a lot of fun picking things out for them this year.

And Noah had a lot of fun unpacking all the goodies.

One of his favorite gifts were these binoculars.

We did go to church on Sunday morning. We hadn't been back since Jane was born, but we thought that Easter Sunday was a day not to be missed, if we could help it. I did end up nursing Jane for most of the service in the nursing room, but we did get back in there in time to sit with Nathan and join in the congregational singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. I love doing that every year! And I couldn't believe Jane slept through it! I thought it was special that her first church service was on Easter.

When we picked Noah up from the nursery, he said he wanted to run. "Run!" he said. And run he did. We just let him run around in the lobby for a little while. That kid has a lot of energy sometimes. I got a quick picture of him at a moment when he stood still. Outside you can see the Granary Burial Ground.

I also took a quick picture of Jane and me as we were waiting for Noah to run some of his energy out.

After church, we had brunch with the Robinsons and Cochrans. Bonnie brought this awesome loaf of bunny bread that she made. The girl is amazing.

We also had another egg hunt. More Easter fun!

And more Easter candy. Noah does not object.

I hope your family had as nice an Easter as we did!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed!

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5

Happy Easter!

One Month Old!

Sweet Jane is one month old today!

Today is the first day she's worn a dress, and I think she looks precious!

Easter Faux Pas

I signed up to take deviled eggs to an Easter brunch on Sunday. Then it occurred to me that you probably shouldn't bring "deviled" anything to an Easter brunch. Oops. So I decided to bring an angel food cake, as well, to even things out. ;)

Also, Noah is really into snakes right now (more on that later), so I got some little toy snakes to put in his Easter basket. Then the following verse came to mind: "He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." The serpent in the Garden of Eden comes to mind, as well, of course. It occurred to me that maybe you shouldn't put snakes in an Easter basket.

Ha! Oh well! Noah won't mind, of course, and I think our friends will just laugh about the deviled eggs. Chalk it up to my faux pas.