Jack's new words/sentances/communications

• "I unt to go." Where, you ask? "Show me," he says as he walks off with a parent in tow.
• "Noot naks" = Fruit snacks
• "I unt to hold you."
• "Coo-Coos" = Blues Clues
• "I shoot" and "my turn" all related to "baketball"
• "Tratter ride" "Tratter key" = Tractor ride and tractor key

Can I just tell you that I looooove communication? There's just so much more you can do with a kid that can communicate!

Nite-nite!

Samantha's prayers

Sometimes she says the funniest things and tonight it was this:

"Dear God, thank you for Jack's virus and thank you for medicine that isn't working. Please help it to do something. Amen"

She obviously heard me talking to the doc today, complaining that the decongestant was decongesting anything. She is so observant and very clearly mimics Mommy, some days that is good and some days (today) not so good.

Exercising is really helping me with my mood and confidence. I like to lift heavy stuff...I do it all day with Jack already, but the focused, purposful lifting is rewarding, too.

Later!

Everyone's better! Yeah!

Jack and I are doing much better (except for the little cold he has)!

Today at swimming (we normally swim on Wednesday, but we've added another class for Samantha so that she can finally clear a hurdle she's been struggling with for a while), Jack saw his Wednesday teacher and kept saying: "I unt bow bubble wit Sondra" and at the end: "Bubble wit Sondra Wedday."

As you can see, he is really talking up a storm. Another popular saying is: "I unt da Mommy/Daddy."

Hope all my friends and family in cyberspace are doing well out there. It's getting cold here! FINALLY!!!

"See ya!" <-- Another new Jack sentance.

Jack's fall

Well, today at Sam's Jack decided to take a header out of the shopping cart! never again will he ride in the back of the basket; Samantha NEVER rode back there until she was at least 3, and now Jack will be under the same rules. I immediately took him to the Doctor who looked him over good and said he thought he would be ok. We are supposed to keep watch over him for a good 24 hours waking him every 1-2 hours while asleep. We may not do it that often, but we'll definitely be checking in several times. He didn't lose consciousness or vomit which are all really good signs. Here's pics of his boo-boo...we actually didn't see it until bathtime--neither did the doc.

Picture time

These are from our anniversary on Tuesday:



My work over the past month
These are the new shelves that I put up in our bathroom:



This is the new drawers I put in our upstairs closet. There will be linens in there ASAP!



The following pictures are from the downstairs:
Harry Potter closet




Shelves between two book shelves, they used to be covered with "stuff" that's now located in the Potter closet! Yahoo!


My Sid Dickens tiles; see how odd it looks with the big hole on the right?? :)

I think I've really hurt myself

Yesterday as I was playing "organizing" in my closet, I bent over to put a drawer in (no worries AJ, pics will be coming soon; thanks for the idea) and it was like my SI joint gave way and I collapsed forward. I didn't fall down, because my gut instinct was to stand straight up and so I did. The pain was over a few seconds after I stood up, but the desire to throw up continued for a few minutes. I was able to move all day and most of the evening, but I got really stiff and sore in bed...the ibuprofen didn't seem to do anything. This morning I'm ok if I don't move...not good seeing as my day job requires constat movement. :)

Hopefully over the weekend it'll get better and I can be back in the gym monday morning! I had been soooo good this week to go and exercise!

Later taters!

Change 12 things and you'll change your life

Well, I am WELL on my way to changing my life (not that I thought it was bad) after this week. The Container Store puts its elfa storage systems on sale for a while each January and I have been doing serious damage to our bank account there this week! Our "Harry Potter" closet downstairs has had its useless shelves ripped out (I got to do the demolition! woo hoo!) and have replaced them with elfa drawers...MUCH BETTER!!!!! Now we have art supplies drawers, electronic stuff drawers,etc. I love it!

Upstairs has had the following changes:

• We're taking out Jack's changing table and I've installed two acryllic shelves to hold diapers/wipes and toiletries.
• We've removed the bottom shelf in our hall closet so that the filing cabinet slides back and I can get the vaccum and ironing board in too!
• Next for the hall closet is installing a drawer on one of the shelves that will slides out, so that I can store linens and not have to pull all the stuff out to get something in the back.
• I installed a new towel hook in the kids bathroom and need to get one more so it will be balanced.
• I installed a new hook row of hooks to hang baseball caps.
• I bought some hooks for the hats in Samantha's closet.

And I finally hung the Sid Dickens tile that Michael gave me for my birthday (July)! Too bad it left an asymmetrical whole on the wall that's gonna need to be filled! :)

I still have a small list to purchase at the Container Store, but it's small...or maybe medium.

I started exercising again today! Yeah for me! It's gonna take some getting used to for Jack. I gathered that he cried the entire time I was away today--20 minutes. So, we'll just ease back into a routine so that the DOMS aren't too bad for me and the seperation is too bad for him. Samantha loves going to the Y 'cause they have looots of cool dress up dresses.

Kiddos took GREAT naps today so Mommy got some rest too!

Tomorrow, Michael and I celebrate 8 years of marriage. This past year has been the hardest on each of us, but I think our marriage has been better in '06 than any other. Michael, I love you and the family we have created together. I love our life, and everyday I am glad that I chose you. Your humor and smile keep us going when we think we might collapse in tears and your strenght of character is a beauty to behold. Thanks for your loving arms that surround us with grace and mercy and bring us closer to God each day. You're my man and I am so proud of you!

Later taters!