Christmas baking

yesterday jack and i went over to my grandparent's house next door to do a little Christmas baking. my mom organized the event.:) she made 7 swedish tea rings (like a big ring of cinnamon roll), date crumbles, and she coached my grandfather in the making of 2 batches of date cookies. and that was just up until the time i left at 3pm. there were still special k bars and nut goodie bars to be made, i gather.

i whipped out a bunch of my old standbys, sandbakkels. they are norwegian cookies you press into little tins. the cookies taste like almond sugar cookies. they are shaped like little tarts that you are supposed to fill up with jam. yum. i had them at my wedding reception. made by me!

i also made 2 scandinavian almond cakes -- one for me and one for my gram. she has a very messed up back and could only watch us bake, and rock jack to sleep. that was sweet. she sung him a lullaby and i got it on video.

i also made a triple batch of banana bread. i don't know why, but i like to give it to people in the Church for the holidays.:) weird compulsion, i know. i like to slip the pastor a loaf when i shake his hand after a service. i like to make little muffins and such for the widows and spinsters and other sweet older friends. don't forget the widows and spinsters and poor on Christmas! i was a spinster until very recently, and i have been poor. they need loving!

today i am determined to finish my Christmas shopping. i also have a coffee break birthday party for my grandpa at 10am. he is 75 today. he's a sweet guy. he loves to rile up jack. then at 1pm i have a w.i.c. appointment. then at 4:30 i have a work Christmas party. bring on the cheese tray!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

jack sits with santa

jack sat with the mall santa dec. 8th. we were first in line and i was very excited. jack was asleep in his stroller when we got there.:) i woke him up, and as you can see, he was ready to greet santa with a big cheesy grin. but where is santa's grin?... there's not much to excuse the absence of a smile with the very first child of the day. a good child at that. yet, maybe one of his reindeer died that day or maybe he has irritable bowel syndrome from eating all those cookies. we may never know.

i really dig those gloves though. he might have got them as a gift from mickey mouse. also, that is a real beard.

if i don't get around to it telling you before the big day... HAVE A VERY MERRY CHIRSTMAS FULL OF GOD'S ABUNDANT BLESSINGS AND A HAPPY PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!!!

jack's first mall santa

i took jack to get his photo taken with a "real" santa saturday. we were there 30 minutes early, so i did a little shopping at bath and body works first. ho ho ho. when i got back there still wasn't a line. i was the first, and only one in line when santa showed up. weird. jack was a doll and the photo turned out nice. i get it next saturday. i bought a 5x7 and a bunch of buttons and keychains for Christmas gifts.

here is a cute photo of my dad on santa's lap when he was a little boy.

paris hilton shows love to the oompa loompa

apparently there was this oompa loompa dressed character at a night club where paris hilton was and he got trampled. the lovely miss hilton stayed by his side until the ambulance arrived.

CRAZY!

i love it.

i own both versions of the chocolate factory movie. love them both. oompa loompas forever.

jay's mom once called them "oompa oompas". classic jan davis. i love that, too.

"bringing up baby" right

yesterday a very nice lady from Church gave us this photo she took of dan and jack. in the photo dan is carrying jack out to the car after a service. it must have been a very hot summer day the day of the photo. jack must have been about three months, judging from the onesie he's wearing. it is so sweet to see dan carrying around his little baby boy. note the burp cloth tucked under daddy's arm.

baby's first illness

poor jackers has a cold. he is all congested and is coughing. i am feeding him more frequently and trying to help him get lots of rest. he looks so pathetic with crusty boogers in his nostrils. little nostrils that have never known crusty boogers.

after i nursed jack for 20 minutes today, i sat down to eat my own lunch. i made a fabulous casserole last night. i just made it up. pasta, cream soups, broccoli, cauliflower, hamburger, mozzarella cheese, etc. the highlight of the casserole is the breakfast sausage. really! well, mr. jack was eyeing up my plate. then he started whining and reaching for the plate. so i cooled off some food and gave him a tiny bit. that was it. he wouldn't let me eat in peace. he pigged out. it was fun feeding him bits of mooshed up broccoli and cauliflower and watching for reaction. i think he really loved the cheesy sauced pasta. he was grinning like a fool. he kept whining for me to feed him more. i am so paranoid he is going to choke. but, he is working this eating thing like the man he is.

next i gave him some white grape juice in a cup because i remembered how dan was giving him some of his skim milk last night because jack was begging for it. well, he loved the juice, but he is not very good at drinking. it's a start. i see i need to be buying sippy cups.

"movin' on up"

wow. i checked in on my old pcc friendly acquaintace, marian macipinlac, yesterday and found out that she has recently renovated her seattle home. that is an understatement. i exclaimed, "holy junk" and startled my baby when i got a peek. i have a link to her blog here on my blog. if you appreciate diy, architecture, interior design, or oogling expensive homes, you should check it out. she has the old and new floor plans posted, and lots of gorgeous photos. it is unbelievable. i am not sure, but i suppose she renovated it as a "flip". i.e., 1. buy a home, 2. renovate, 3. sell at a tasty profit. let me just say, a $300,000 profit sounds pretty sweet. although, from what she's said, it sounds like they did a lot of the work themselves.

like marian said, who doesn't love chandeliers in the bathroom?

ingvar kamprad

check this out. the founder of IKEA, ingvar kamprad, is a billionaire. he drives a '93 volvo and flies coach. i love hearing stuff like that.

the question is this... is the volvo tricked out?:)

isn't he a cutie? don't you just want to pinch his cheek?

i bet he eats herring.

check out the necklace. stud.

"mama"

jack just said "mama" again. and this time he wasn't upset! he was just sitting on my lap.

peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips and oatmeal

jen asked for this recipe. it is a fantastic cookie. nacho libre would say it is "especially delicious". i love nacho libre. but i will save that for another time.

1. preheat oven to 375.
2. mix 2 1/2 c. flour, 1 1/2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1 c. butter, 1 c. peanut butter, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 c. brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 t. vanilla, and i put in about 1 c. oatmeal and a ton of chocolate chips.
3. bake about 10 minutes.

the cookies are heaven when warm. very crumbly. watch out!:) they stiffen up and are good for dunking. my boys are dunkers.

mele kaliki maka

is that how it goes? well, it isn't exactly a "bright hawaiian Christmas day" for my step-son. but, it is his birthday. HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY, ANDY!!! you lucky lucky boy. he is in honolulu, hawaii with his aunt and uncle and cousin. he gets his choice of activity today: snorkling, boogie boarding, surf lesson... killer! he is probably looking at diamond head as we speak. he is probably soaking up some salt water as i type. he is probably getting tan as i sit here contemplating the unreality of it all. there is a ton of snow here in rural mn land right now and the temp is about 14 degrees.

this is the hotel they will be staying at in a few days. it is the marriot in kaui.

what's in a name?

i have decided to name jack's little plush blue butterfly carter's crib toy, "muhammad".

jack wants to type.

9',k,k 9 uftg g gh5asc

hey, that's pretty good! looks like a sentence!

teenage wasteland

tomorrow my step-son, andy, turns 13. i threw a big bash for him sunday night. i learned that a truly impressive pasta dinner for 16 is really hard to pull off by yourself. i made a box of spaghetti and a box of fettucini, 3 jars of sauce with about 2 lbs. of hamburger and lots of herbs, sauteed onions and mushrooms, 2 bags of salad, and 4 large loaves of garlic cheese bread. i was hotter than a volcano, disheveled, and my kitchen was a wreck when i finally got to sit down and eat... about 30 minutes after everyone else was eating.:) i heard later that andy had commented, "why didn't we just have pizza?". well, your oh-so-clever step-mom was trying to make a tasty cheap dinner! yes, next time we will just have pizza!!!

i made two cakes. the vanilla cake with vanilla frosting i cut up and shaped into the number "13". i tinted my own icing. let me tell you, that was a very hard frosting job. the raw edges of a moist cake don't take icing very well. why didn't i just make cupcakes and shape them into a "13"? well, that's just the very same question i asked myself... as i pulled the fresh baked cake from the oven. too late.

side note: have you seen the way teenage boys are wearing their hair these days? more like it is wearing them. andy's hair is so long now that it is past "peter brady" and more like a bowl cut. no defined side burns, just all swooped forward. it also reminds me of how balding men sweep all of there hair in back forward. swoop swoop.

"the golden compass" atheist propaganda for kids

just in time for Christmas... a gorgeous atheist's movie. i just can't believe it. it looked so amazing in the previews. i was wondering what it was all about. thanks to a quick forwarded e-mail from my mother i found out. it is so wrong when adults focus their attacks at children.
i had an atheist teacher in 11th grade for my advanced placement english class. he ridiculed the Bible by stating that it was written, and i quote, "by a bunch of shepards" (correction -- by a doctor (luke) and an adopted grandson of a pharoh (moses), just to name two.). i was so upset by the statement and the curriculum (ernest hemingway was a pig. "madame bovary" by gustave flaubert was even more disgusting, possibly, and offended me in a big way.) that i dropped that course (in which he told us he guaranteed us an "A".) to go back to the regular english class. and the "guidance" councelor NEVER ASKED ME WHY! looking back i am amazed. i did eventually have to take that teacher for my 12th grade english course, but the class was a lot less secular. thankfully that teacher has now retired.
and let me tell you, i am going to seriously get to know the teacher's that jack has. no one is going to teach my son lies as if they were the truth. they had better get ready for a grillin'.
which brings me to the subject of public school versus Christian school. i know that both schools crank out good and bad kids... i just think that what matters is that jack would get extra Bible teaching, and NO EVOLUTION CRUD. he wouldn't have to learn the maddeing differences between neanderthals, and "lucy" and what a missing link is... what a waste of time and energy. any thoughts on the subject? i went to public school k-12 and to a Christian college.

3 bedroom home

ta-ta-ta-taaaaaaa! (trumpet sounding) we are now a three bedroom home! hoorah! andy moved to the basement thanksgiving night. jack moved into andy's old room the next day. we have been busy moving furiture and cleaning. i am still shuffling and organizing. i have yet to remove the love seat from the dining room. soon! i will have to, i am throwing andy a 13th birthday party sunday night. eek. eek about the upcoming party and eek that i will have a teenage step-son. those gray hairs should be popping out all over now.:) 13!!! hide the women and children.

i know that this is a wimpy post, but i have to go rescue jack from his crib. he has been trying to get my attention for a while now, but my correspondence could wait no longer.

the bohemian -- adolphe-william bouguereau

i felt i needed to interject a bit of art (and culture) into my ramblings about, mainly these days, my baby. this was my favorite painting at the minneapolis institute of arts. alas, they have since sold it. there was picketing.

the best parts, in my opinion, were the hands and feet. it is bewitching to me that it is entitled "the bohemian". my great great grandfather john novotny was from bohemia.

protection from the rain

this is a photo i snapped on jack's first haywagon ride at camp chetek. we were going to stop at a pumpkin patch to pick out our own pumpkins. after a bit it started to rain just a tiny bit. what a precious moment between grandmother and grandson.

the ladies retreat

a while back i went to my first ladies retreat with my mom, jack (of course) and denise rosenbaum. we had a lovely roadtrip to camp chetek in chetek, wisconsin. we stopped along the way in northbranch, mn to go outlet mall shopping. we had another stop in barren, mn where i suggested we check out the amish furniture and art shop. my mom bought jack some amish furniture -- a rocking chair and a wooden toy. lucky little man.

at the retreat we had a lot of fun. wish i could say i learned alot, or that i had a religious heart-touching breakthrough or something. i didn't. better luck next year.:) really, i actually feel guilty. i was supposed to have a learning experience and instead i had a lovely time making flower pens and taking rides on a haywagon and pontoon. i was all primed for some deep intellectual growth and some serious Bible pounding and instead i got a lot of nice talk. it's not fair, really. the men's retreat is going to have an actual speaker who is going to speak on finanaces. i bet they get syllabuses or even cd's. that's what my husband comes back with. i want to go again next year... but i am going to make sure that they have a real speaker, not a very nice wife of a man on the faculty at maranantha baptist Bible college.

my contemplative jackers

my sweet baby

jack is getting bigger every day. last night dan, jack & i went out to dinner. jack had his first taste of ketchup, buttered roll, and garlic mashed potaoes with butter. jack is doing very well at sitting up. as you might recall, he has said his first word, "ma ma". jack loves to stand. he can stand propped up against an object, or you can hold his hands. he loves to bounce in his "johnny jump up". his grandma claire gave him his first drink of water from a glass just this week. it is amazing to participate in a human's first experiences. it's not anything big -- like a first trip to disney world or a first ride on a plane, but it is truly exhilerating. i love to watch jack's expression after he tries a new thing. i love it when he tastes a new food and opens his mouth wide for a second taste.

my pumpkin speaketh

today so far i have fed jack twice, changed his sleeper 3TIMES! because of leakage, and rocked him to sleep. i have folded 2 loads of laundry. i have also made 2 batches of banana bread from scratch. the secret to my banana bread is cinnamon. just follow the betty crocker cookbook and put in about 2 tsp. cinnamon and it is delicious. i am eating a chunk of it hot out of the oven with butter melting into it as i type this. fresh from the oven is best because it gets a crispy crust and the inside is soft and chewy.

yesterday was much more eventful. jack said his first word. it was "ma ma"! i was in the kitchen and jack was in his "mega saucer" in the living room. he was getting sick of it and started to complain, "mmmmmm mmm mmm". i have been certain all along that he would say "mama" soon because he does this "mmm" thing. he never makes a "d" sound. all of a sudden i whipped my head up. i was sure i heard "ma ma". so, what does a loving mother do? not take her poor son out of the toy. no, i run for the video camera. i turn it on and wait. jack said it again! "ma ma." on tape! then i waited some more and he said, "ma ma ma". i am ecstatic. and yes, i did take him out of the toy thing-y then.

henry's pumpkin

today started off cruddy. i was trying to buy my beloved pumpkin oil sketch from lauren and everything i did turned to doo-doo. after a lovely afternoon shopping with my mom and gram and jack i felt much better. it might have been the new cord "diaper bag", or the lunch on mom, or the starbucks on mom... the coffee most definitely helped.:) so, i got back and i was able to finalize my pumpkin transaction, with a little help from my sister. so, viola. here it is. henry's pumpkin. God is good.

jane

jane evelyn pope was born nov. 8 at 4:15 am. 8 lbs. 6 oz. i think lauren did a home birth with a midwife. congats lauren and jonathon! this makes three for lauren. miles is almost 3 and henry is 18 months. that's a passel of popes. if you would like to "help lauren out", you could always buy one of her paintings or illustrations. (you'd really be doing yourself a huge favor.) she's having a sale right now and everying is 1/3 off. but, please don't buy the pumpkin sketch. i have my heart set on it.

happy birthday jane. God bless you.

nole's birthday and a visit to the orchard

nov. 2 was my mom and my niece enolea's birthday. nole turned 2. jack and i took a road trip with my parent's in their van to go visit my sister and her fam.

note: jack was once again a fabulous traveler. no diaper blow-outs or leakage. he took a nap most of the 3 1/2 hour trip and went about 5 hours without a feeding. then, when he was fed, he nonchalantly took a bottle from my dad whilst strapped in his carseat. what a treasure.

it was a typical visit to my sister's. the kids fought to the death over toys, stripped naked, danced around (dare i say "like indians"?) knocking into furniture and each other, and made enough noise to wake the dead.:) but, they are still sweethearts. eme asked to hold "baby jacky" about 4 times i believe. nole made funny faces for jack. ele gave me a big hug unasked for. and that's why i subject myself to visiting them.

on saturday, after eme's gymnastics class, we went to an apple orchard in northfield, mn. it was absolutely everything an orchard should be. even small children can pick apples from the short, plump trees. in a little building there are apple and mn tourist-y foodstuff to buy. i bought 1 dozen hot-off-the-oil sugared apple doughnuts and a carmel apple with fudge. we all wandered out again to where there was a small manmade river and pond among the trees. we sat on wooden benches and ate apple doughnuts and watched the naughty children throw apple cores into the water while seeing how close they could get to the water before my dad and i blew a fuse. :) before we could, in slips ele's foot. oh well, back to the car. on the way i noticed that the rose bushes were still in bloom.

(photo of nole this summer at a park)

"is that a norwegian flag?"

it was about 3 in the morning. dan props himself up in bed and asks me, "is that a norwegian flag?". molly says, "what?". dan says, "is that a norwegian flag over there?". it's 3am and i know that i might be missing something. maybe there is a norwegian flag in the bedroom. i have an old norwegian flag pot holder that was my great-great-step aunt gunborg alfreda anderson's in the living room with a bunch of other norwegian family stuff. i say, "where?". dan says, "on the bed". almost 100% sure that there are no norwegian flags on the bed i now decide to have a little fun with dan and continue this amusing conversation. so i say, "yeah, what do you want to do about it?". now dan is starting to wake up a little bit. his voice gets gruff and he says, "stuff it up your nose.". ha ha! and we go back to bed.

(photo of dan kissing jack)

leprechauns!

last night doug came over and the boys and i watched a movie. dan and doug have trouble staying awake for movies. sure enough, halfway through the movie they settle back on the couch and their eyes close. i hear a bit of heavy breathing. andy is still awake. i take a deep breath.... and yell, "LEPRECHAUNS!!!!!!". it was stinkin' hilarious. they didn't move a muscle, though. they must be getting used to my little trick. i just can't resist.

trick my treat

boo hiss, halloween is a cruddy holiday. let's dress up our precious children as vampires and devils and send them out to get abducted in the dark, or to fill their sacks with poisoned and/or razor blade filled candy. please, i have been waiting for a holiday where sickos steal and kill my kitty just because it's black! (sarcasm)

i love costumes. i love candy. i love children having fun. i love parties. i love decorations. i love pumpkins (and have 5 right now). etc. etc. that's why i find halloween so frustrating. i guess it's the time of year when my "new nature" gets reeeeeally frustrated with the "old nature" of the world. "even so come Lord Jesus". amen.

let me just say, if a little child shows up here looking for candy i will definitely have some on hand for them and more power to them. i just hope that they don't get hurt this halloween.

to prove i love a costume, here i am at my niece elerene's birthday party. it was a princess theme. i was obviously a fairy princess. jack? he was prince charming. it is hard to tell, but that is a black velvet jacket he is wearing.

green bean

lauren has inspired me to start some still lives. this is after the fact that i believe recently God has inspired me to take up being an artist again. this is also after the fact that my wonderful husband bought me a french easel.

i have in fact finished my green bean painting. that was last week. i have yet to photograph it. so, i have yet to post the photo. you are not missing out on the mona lisa or anything. i am not saying that the green bean is a masterpiece. i am saying that it is a finished painting. that is cause for celebration. it is a start.

my painting isn't quite what i had in my vision. yet, i am really digging on it. i would classify it as folk art. i have never really tried to make folk art and i really enjoyed it. it is watercolor and acrylic. it has a soft side... and it has a dark side. dreamy pastel watercolor is layered with black acrylic swirls. there is an element of norwegian rosmaling. there is an element of asian brush strokes. there is an element of a painterly style, and there is an element of an illustrative style. and i think it looks a bit french, too. if i was going to paint one painting i sure put a lot into it.:)

i won't tell you what my husband thinks of it. he's a bit of a money grubber.:) he does not feel the immense satisfaction of making art for arts sake. i can say that at this point in time... I DO!

habit forming

jack has some new habits. he has started fussing and wailing when he gets tired. my little sunshine can turn into a shrieking machine. i usually end up running for the pacifier and the rocking chair. he'll start sucking away to beat the band. then his eyelids droop and the iris's sort of roll back and you can almost palpably feel his little body go "ahhhhh". then, he raises his pudgy arm and lays the back of his hand against his face! like a southern belle saying, "whatever shall i do?". then he falls asleep. he's been doing this in his crib, too. what in the world! what comfort he can possibly derive from laying his hand over his face?

jack's first haircut

looking back on jack's baby pictures yesterday... i noticed how much less hair is on his little head! wow. i see him everyday. i never realized all his lovely little baby hair was disappearing. soooo... i cut the last long lock off the top of his head. i waited until after the sear's portraits saturday in case i massacred it.:) i took the scissors yesterday and snipped it off. it looks nice! that's a blessing. i taped the lock in jack's baby book. i would say it looks exactly like the baby hair my mom saved in an envelop from my first haircut.

i do so love these stripey pants.

andy's beautiful

andy is very handsome. i think he looks really great when he's just serious. i tried to tell the photographers this, but of course it came out all wrong. i said, "could we do some where andy's serious? he's beautiful when he's serious.". it's so goofy to call a boy "beautiful" that i made andy smile, thus ruining the serious vibe. as you can see, andy got the vibe back for this shot and it is indeed beautiful.

sears portrait cont. -- "just jack!"

the sound effect that should accompany this shot is
"ta-daaaaaaa!".

sears portraits cont. -- cousins

here is the group shot. nole and eme had issues, at seperate times. this shot was as good as it got. still, not half bad. i would have liked a smile from jack... but you can't win them all.

sears portraits

today my sis and i went to sears portraits to have our kids pictures taken. they turned out fab. i am so pleased.

aren't these the most handsome brothers ever?

moose boy

i just picked up 4 packages of photos. be prepared for a lot of picture-y blogging!:) it is either feast or famine with me.

this is jack in his moose hat that lauren sent him when he was born. i love it! it looks especially canadian when i put him in his buffalo plaid jacket. nice hat, eh?

jack still has blue eyes. his long wispy hair is falling out and coming in underneath very thick and sort of a reddish brown like mine.

i am taking jack to sears photography today to get his photo taken with andy and with my sister's girls. i am so excited. jack will be wearing stripe-y pants. i love him in stripes.

behind jack is the crazy quilt his great gram made him. it's precious.

baby sterling

last friday my cousin stacy had a little baby boy. they named him sterling robert. he is so cute. he looks just like stacy's father.:)

i can't wait for jack to play with his new cousin!

elerene becomes a "woman"

my mom told me a funny story about my sister's oldest girl, elerene. ele was in the back seat of the minivan with a friend from school who was coming over to play. the little boy had some extra clothes with him. ele asked him what he had. he said he had some pants "in case i poop my pants". ele says, "oh, i don't do that. i'm a woman."

barbie as the island princess

anyone seen "barbie as the island princess"? (i kept forgetting the "as" and claire kept correcting me.) my niece brought it over and we watched it together. confession: i almost cried when rosella (barbie in disguise) was reunited with her mother. sap! i guess it's the mother thing. i scorn myself.

what crappy animation! they must know that the audience is young and will gobble up any garbage they can dish out. the philistines!

i have "ro"'s opening song stuck in my head now. i keep modifying it. "here on my island the sea says hello!" has become, "here in my kitchen the fridge says hello!" and "here in my bathroom the tub says hello!". claire thought it was hilarious.

confession

confession. i went shopping last night at 8pm with my baby and 6 year old niece. claire pushed the stroller at khol's as i pulled clothes off the racks. claire pushed a cart whilst i pushed my own cart with jack in it at cub foods. cub was having an excellent 10-for-$10 sale and i couldn't tear myself away. we arrived home at 10:30 to a frantic dan. oops. guess next time i will leave a note or use my cell phone to give him the heads up. well, i guess that's karma. but, i didn't mean to teach him a lesson, really!

mustachio alert

mustache in the house. my step-son turns 13 in december and the mustache is coming in nicely. i can't believe it won't be long now before he's shaving! our little peanut! it seems like just yesterday he was a lamb in the Church Christmas Program.

i told him today he should grow a handlebar mustache and we all had a little chuckle.

bath & body works... for me!

others may have lost their love, but i still adore bath & body works. they send me the loveliest coupons. today i stocked up on anti-bacterial pump soaps (3 for $10) (i got 6.) and got a "scent port" for free. i chose the sandalwood-vanilla scent. i plugged it into an outlet in the kitchen near the plastic garbage (where jack's used diapers are deposited). within 15 minutes there was a very pleasant aroma! unlike the very unpleasant aroma that has been detected lately.

"yeah, bob!", "glory be!" and, "shake that bush!". cleanliness is next to Godliness.

bonus? when i paid for my stuff, i got more coupons! hooray! Christmas is coming and i always like to augment my gifts with b&b stuff.

a spritz from jack

i gave jack a bath last friday morn. i looked away for only a second and when i turned my head back he was doing his best trevi fountain impression. it was hilarious. why are peeing babies so funny?

a bit about jack

yesterday i took jack in for a check up. he is almost 4 1/2 months if you go by weeks, which i do. so, he weighed in at 16 lbs. 11.1 oz. he is 27 in. long. he is in the 97th percentile for height, which i could have guessed. he is only 87 percentile for weight. hmmm, i thought that maybe he didn't have as many rolls as some babies i have seen. yet, he does have a cute chubby tummy and he was born with him mom's big-ole-thighs. poor dear.

in case you are wondering (mom's ask me about this all the time), no, jack is not taking cereal yet. we are still nursing exclusively -- except for the occasional bit of formula while i am at work at night. and jack's doing great. obviously.

jack is already interested in food, though. when i am short on time before work i usually eat my dinner while i feed him. i try not to drop too much food on him.:) last night it was impossible to feed jack. he kept turning to watch me eat. hello! focus on the task at hand, boy! i ended up having to make him a bottle at five minutes before i had to leave. that was frustrating.

sigh. jack is just tearing through the precious clothes in his armoir! wait! stop! i want to snuggle you in that one more time! no deal. jack was stretched into a 6 months carter's sleeper yesterday. after i found out his stats, i checked out the tag. apparently the 6 months size is good for babies up to 16.5 lbs. so, that's 16 lbs 8 oz. hey, that's the extra nudge i needed to put that sleeper away. the thing is, he has extra tummy room, but no leg room! i am terrorized by visions of my 1 year old needing 24 month sizes. help! i'm going to have to hit the garage sales right away in the spring or else poor jackers will be running around naked. cute, but a tad trashy.

dan's little chat in his sleep

the other night dan and i had a little chat -- at about 1am. i was awake. all of a sudden dan faces me, props himself up on an elbow, clasps my shoulder with his hand and says, "i didn't know you had a project going on!". i am dumbfounded. "what?", i say. "i didn't know you had a project going on!". he sounds so pleased with me. i cannot imagine what he is talking about. maybe i had a project going on and i had forgotten about it? it is one in the morning you may recall, i am a bit fuzzy. i ask him, "where?". "in the kitchen!", he happily proclaims. ok, i know for certain i have no projects in the kitchen. i say, "dan, you're dreaming. go to sleep.". -- the end.

green bean painting

just wanted everyone to know that i am not just all talk. i started that green bean painting.:) i know, what a weirdo. it is just that the vision came to me of this painting and i thought i should be painting my visions because i don't ever get them. who knows, this could be greatness. in all probability it will just be something i hang up reeeeally high on my kitchen wall.:) i don't really care. i just want to capture something that is in my mind and let others see.

it is only the beginning.

the background is pretty much done. just a simple swirly pattern. no greatness. just nice.

by the way. by reading my friend lauren's blog i realized what i have is called a "french easel". ooh la la.

easy there, it's just an... EASEL!

i looooove my husband. you know what dan bought me for a surprise last night? an EASEL!!!!!!!!! one that you can travel around with and paint outdoors! it is a bit cheap, granted, but not in price. dan went to a tool sale, of all places, and saw it. he bought it on the spot. he had it all set up in the door of our bedroom last night. when i got home from work at 9:20pm-ish i saw dan and the boys on the couch and started to talk to them and walked into the living room a bit... and there it was! i was so surprised! i freaked out. i almost cried. can you believe that? I was just saying that i felt a bit of painting coming on! i have felt inspiration hanging in the air. i told dan that God used him and he didn't even know it! makes you wonder what stuff you do that God is using and you don't even know.

shoot, now i'll just have to paint!:) no excuses. there's money involved now!

like a college education isn't money involved. i'm a moron.

my gram asked what i was going to paint first and i told her i have a painting in mind -- starring a green bean. i am not kidding. it will be fabulous and funky and saleable.:) i can see it in my mind. which is weird. i have never done that before. i always just chose a photo based on a requirement and then i copied said photo. i also have an idea for a painting with the face of a geisha (and i hate asian-y art. bizzare.) i am going to make her hair stand out stiff like how arthur rackham painted alice's dress in his illustrations of "alice in wonderland".

where is this stuff coming from?!!

well, i have to go give the baby a bath. we are going shopping since it is payday. i need: cheap groceries, a pair of cheap/fabulous knee-high leather boots, and there is a sale at "itsy bitsy" that i have to check out for jack.:) lots to do! oh, and i am hosting a dinner party/bonfire tonight for dan's mom and step-dad, and dan's sister and her husband and daughter. and i wanted to make a carrot cake and apple bars from scratch. and i might get a touch-up haircut. (my sis did a great job, my hair just has a nasty sense of humor. it needs to be beat into submission.) augh! so much to do!!!!!

what i have been missing out on my entire life

i think jack has an amazing sense of humor. he makes me laugh. today he needed a bath. i stripped him down and took off his diaper. we head off to the tub, but i realize i didn't grab his hooded towel. so, as i detour, i think he peed on me. ha ha, not too funny. what a sheister.

i scrub up the baby. hooray! today jack finally learned how to kick in the tub. how precious. i have been waiting. each bath i show him how to do it, but he never was interested. i congratulate him on his achievement.

i lift him up to scrub his little behind. i say, "ten hut! present booty!" and as i put his butt back in the water... he farts. jack's first fart in the tub!:) i laughed it up for a second, and then backed away waving my arm in the air, yelling about the smell. jack is deadly. yet, i am proud of him.

i go to put his romper on him in my bedroom. i place him on his back on my bed and dress him. i lean over and kiss his forhead and i say, "kisses". he laughs! that was the first time i had made him laugh. i have heard him laugh, but not from something i did. so, of course, i did it again. he laughed again! we have a routine here. i did it about 6 more times until he stopped laughing at it. super. it is kind of a "heh heh heh". very demur. this is what i have been missing my entire life.

"darlin' don't you go and cut your hair..."

"i'm just a boy (girl) with a new haircut. that's a pretty nice haircut!" my sister cut my hair saturday afternoon. drastically. my hair was probably the longest it has ever been. so, i suddenly get an irrisistable compulsion to chop it. i mean chop! i was thinking of doing it myself. you know, for fun. then, if it didn't work out i would go to a salon. i told my sis i was thinking of cutting my hair and she says, "let's go. mom, where are your hair cutting scissors?". now, my sis is not a hairstylist. she just loves to play around. her hair always looks great.

i videotaped while my sis layered away. i wanted lots of layers. my hair has this wavy thing going on right now, and it really embraced those layers. when i get up in the morn my hair is "fwinging out" as i say. like, fwing! like i combed it with a blender. it is very fun. i am enjoying playing around with it. i like to put it in tiny pig tails like all those cute girl on "america's next top model".:) you know, the season that eva won.

so, i suppose photos will follow sometime.

munsinger clemens gardens & naked baby

here is a photo of me at the munsinger & clemens garden in st. cloud, mn. i was on a church ladies outing with my mom and jack. that's one huge hibiscus. it was the coolest flower there.

here are photos of my practically naked baby. i actually sketched him that day, too. i think he was sleeping. yes, i was watching him while he was having his "tummy time".

PHOTOS OF JACK, FINALLY! part two...

dear reader, i don't mean to boast, but jack keeps getting cuter each day! i am glad i waited to get his expensive photos taken. my mom and sis bought us a lovely photo package, and they keep bugging me to use it. jack was very cute when fresh, but slightly wrinkled and with large amounts of eye boogers. well, his tear ducts have just about straightened themselves out, and he is filling out. in short, he's adorable. practically flawless. he's ready for his close-up.

i love this plaid overall. and the argyle socks! it is his 3 months best church outfit.:) even the collared onesie is precious. and don't get me started on how i feel about the white leather wingtips. it won't be long now and i will have to buy him some larger church shoes. i'm thinking tasseled-tappy-kilty-loafers. right?

my auntie lana made jack the cloud blankie. sweetness.

JACK PHOTOS, FINALLY! part one...

dear blog reader. i'm a dork. yes, it's true. i kept blaiming dan for lack of jack photos on my blog. yes, he did de-program the computer (twice!), but i was the one trying to re-install the wrong printer. oopsie. yesterday i used the right disk and i was able to re-program the copier in about 15 quick little minutes. why no photos of jack yesterday, you say? well, shortly thereafter the power went out. such is life.

here are some sweet photos of my little boy. he was about 2 1/2 months old at the time. he is 3 months and 3 weeks this very day.

look closely. there is a baby blue embroidered whale on the chest of that collared onesie! how very "izod". it is really cute.

jack's diaper takes flight

jack has been getting too much formula while i have been away at work. that has got to stop. he got so constipated the other day -- i suppose from the iron supplimented formula. i am taking iron pills, so he was probably chock full of the stuff. anyway, poor dear complained the whole day long before he had the messy diaper. his poor little tummy! what a mommy mistake.

over the weekend jack got all "the good stuff" from me and his next messy diaper was a REAL mess, to my relief. while changing him i had his feet in my left hand, the messy diaper in my right. i had to hurry in case he worked a foot free and got in his own poo. so, i just placed the open messy diaper on the box of wipes. the box of wipes at his feet. stupid, yes, i know now. i wipe him off. i let go of the feet. jack kicks the wipes box. EEEK! the messy diaper flies over the back of the changing table into the darkness. i don't want to look. i look. angels must have flown the diaper gently down and placed it, poo up, on the floor. halleuiah! i rejoice. my cream carpet is saved. i won't be making that mommy mistake again.

go oprah

monday i saw part of oprah's show. she had some dude on named dr. oz. he had conducted, or had all the info for, experiments conducted with nutrition. he had these truckers put on a high fiber diet and tracked how quickly they had a bowel movement. after i think it was 10 days the truckers went #2 in half the time! then they had an experiment where people had to eat 11 pounds of fresh veggies and fruits a day. after 10 days their cholesterol had dropped by 25% and their blood pressure by 10%. also, by eating a ton of calcium rich foods, you will shed 6 1/2 pounds of fat in a year. wow.

needless to say, i am now on a healthfood kick. "beans and bran" is my new motto. carrots and celery are my new best friends. a healthy colon is a happy colon. we eat too much processed food in my family and i don't want to be the one contributing to my boys future colon cancer.

Church Picnic '07

yesterday deerwood baptist church ("in beautiful inner-city deerwood." --joke by dr. rosenbaum. deerwood has about 350 citizens, so you can imagine how huge the city is. it doesn't even have a decent restaurant.) had the annual Church Picnic. we go to a lovely park. we've been going there since i was a teen. i can't believe i was pushing my baby in his stroller down the same paved path that i used to in-line skate on as a stoopid teen. fabulous.

we had a huge buffet in a covered shelter on picnic tables. some ladies made the expected meatballs. there were a lot of "hot dishes". casseroles to you non-minnesotans. there were about 4-5 crock pots full of baked beans. i made a green bean casserole and i wanted to make rice crispy bars. alas, i didn't have rice crispies. i had given them away to my cousin who just lost his house to a fire. so, with marshmallows already liquefied in the pot and no time to spare, i used honey nut cheerios!:) i sprinkled pink sugar on top in the hopes that some little girls would be lured into eating them. i mean, whoever heard of cheerio bars?! only 3 brave souls tried them. bless there hearts. they were actually pretty good. really!

jack, of course, was a perfect baby the whole day. i didn't see much of my husband. he was off playing horseshoes with the pastor.:) i didn't see andy. he was off in-line skating with the kids. i was not lonely. i mingled my heart out. 5 hours was not enough time to chat.

i just so happened to have my camera and video camera with so i could document jack's first Church Picnic. so, when the Philippino missionary sang beautiful songs while playing his guitar, i got to get it on film. lucky me!

i could blog all day about the gorgeous weather at the picnic and the rhubarb cake, but i have to go and buy some pants. for work. oh joy. i hate shopping for pants.

jackers! 1st "professional" photo

here's my little angel, again. isn't he too much? this was taken august 21, 2007. he was just 2 1/2 months old. he didn't like being propped up much. this was his first, and only, good shot. the rest he cried. you can already see the tears brightening his eyes if you can look really close. i can. i have a 10x13!!! i have to go out and buy a reeeeeally big frame now.

jack has his daddy's mouth. everyday it looks wider! funny that dan has such a big mouth and he hardly uses it.:) not much of a talker, not big on eating (unless it's free!!!). what a waste.

road trip for elerene's 6th b-day

i bummed a ride with my parent's friday to go see my niece on her 6th birthday. on the way we swung by panera bread so i could indulge in a sumptuous lunch. heaven. then we went to the carter's outlet store so my mom could buy jack some more clothes. like he needs them!:) i love carter's baby clothes. jack is so lucky to have so many sweet clothes. he got 2 puppy-themed bodysuits.

my sister's girls were freaking out they were so happy to see us. eme called dibs and she got to hold jack first. we went out to a chinese buffet for dinner because that's ele's favorite. she loves those noodles. i had some salmon and my sister said that i was brave. WHAT!? i thought she had just said the food was good there. thanks a lot, sis.

saturday we went to a farmer's market. i bought jack a hand-knitted blue skull cap. i tried out my loaner baby bjorn and jack wasn't too keen on it. i guess it isn't for us. i also got to see a gorgeous art deco bank and bought a few handmade knit dishcloths.

elerene's party was crazed. it was a princess party and almost every one of the 12 shrieking female guests had a princess costume and jewelry. i had a costume, too. i wore my "paper skirt" (as teddy used to call it), my wedding tiara, gloves, and my faery wings. jack wore a polo onesie and his black velvet suit jacket. too bad angie didn't have time to get him the white tights for his outfit. he would have looked just like prince charming, right? the little girls smeared on purple lip gloss and ran back and forth through the house for 3 hours. i just kept thinking, "at the end of this i get birthday cake and i get to go home to dan.". it kept me sane.

gas fire

my cousin's house burned down saturday night/early sunday morn. it is pretty sad. total loss. the wonderful thing is that no one was hurt. gabe and michelle have a little 4 yr. old girl and a 2 yr. old boy. gabe is one of my younger cousins and i suppose i still think of him as a little boy. even after he built my house with my cousin shawn.:)
--gabe is the little blonde boy in the center of the photo. i am the crazy girl making moose antlers.

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just added a ton of photos. please go back a page or so to see them. that means you, heatherness!:)

jack's 1st laugh

two days ago i think jack laughed his 1st laugh. andy was holding jack over his head and saying, "one, two freee-hee-hee". after about 12 times, jack laughed. he was also smiling, but he does that all the time.

how is 7th grade? boring.

andy has started 7th grade. i asked him how his first day was. "boring." he is not very communicative sometimes. o well. he looked very cool. dressed all in black like his hero, johnny cash. his hair was the very trendy mop. but not too messy. it's due to be cut soon. much to andy's woe.

i have to buy andy some bookcovers tonight. yes, that's right. he won't use a paper bag to cover his books. that would be embarrassing. he says only poor people use paper bags. say what? i say using bought covers is un-cool. why pay money you can buy chocolate, shoes, clothes, etc. on for bookcovers? lame. i doubt i can find them, but i'll look because it means so much to him. if i can't find some i do believe he'll have a melt down. poor chap.

elerene turns 6

jack and i are bumming a ride with my parents tomorrow because we have a princess tea party to go to! my sister's oldest daughter turns 6 tomorrow. elerene is very excited. i am getting her a puppy vet kit that she is apparently peeing her pants to get her little hands on.:) i am going to wear my tiara i got married in. maybe some angel or faery wings, too. we'll see. i think jack will wear a black velvet suit coat. he can be little prince charming.

garage sale 07

i had a garage sale friday and saturday. it was a big one. i put an ad in the paper stating we had a washer, air conditioner, old sewing machine, women's clothes, baby clothes and items, antiques, free kittens and a '78 mercury zepher.:) i thought that would bring people in. and so it did. what a bunch of weirdos! some nice people. mostly weirdos. the "unwashed masses". a man i like to call "pee-pee pants" bought my husband's zepher. pee-pee pants had a large unidentifiable stain on the front of his pants. the rest of him was unkempt and filthy. i don't mind poor. i have a problem with people who don't wash. this is america. we have soap.

well, i made $26 and got rid of a bunch of junk. kind of bummed no one took a free kitten (after all the trouble i took to catch those little buggers!) and no one took a tract.

i got some stuff at my own garage sale.:) my gram was selling off some of her step-aunts stuff. i ended up with 2 goblets with scottish thistle on them, a small suitcase of silverware, and a wooden box with a viking ship on it for jack. the box might have been made by my great-great step-uncle anders' uncle nels. wrap your mind around that! the point is, it's old. and handmade. it has a lock and the key is in the box still after all these years. i am going to store jack's precious baby things in until he is old enough to use it. i will put in it the stocking hat that they put on him in the hospital when he was born, his white leather wing-tip shoes, his nemo pacifier when he's done with it... so many precious memories.

baby bjorn

my old work supervisor, monica, is letting me borrow her baby bjorn. i think jack likes it. my only thing is, will i use it in the winter? if you have had a baby bjorn, please leave a comment to tell me about your experience. thanks!

messin' with the phone line

i leave for work at 4:30. i usually end up calling from my car with last-minute info i forget to give dan and andy in the rush of things. the other night i tried calling for about 20 minutes to tell andy to make sure he got the chicken off the grill. it was busy. when i got to work i realized i had left the internet on so my i-tunes could update! shoot. how am i going to call home to tell them to turn the internet off? we have dial-up! so..... i called my gram. "gram, can you send grandps over to tell dan to turn off the internet? and see if andy has burned the chicken." also, a guy was supposed to call about a car dan had for sale. i really was blonde that day.

the phone line

a while back dan decided to get rid of a tree that died as a result of us building a house too close to it. if it had fallen, it would have hit the baby's room. so, i was all for it. dan called my gramps over to watch (far as i can tell). gramps and dan had a good old time. dan pushed the tree down with an old bull dozer. the next day i couldn't get a dial tone on any of our phones. dan had uprooted the phone line with the tree. ah, country livin'.

11 new outfits for jack... give or take a onesie.

day before last jack and i went shopping for groceries. i ended up rushing through wal-mart to bring back some fried chicken and milk to fool my husband because what i really bought was a whole pile of clothing for my baby. oopsie.:) it turned out i had bought a grand total of 11 rompers, sleepers, onesies and pants. my my... the good part is that some of the clothes only cost about $2 or $7. the great part is that my mom is going to buy some of the clothes back from me to give to jack for Christmas (some of the rompers are 12 & 18 month sizes). hooray! so, does that mean i was naughty, or thrifty? how about crafty?:)

--marshall fam Christmas 07--jack with "santa"

pepper

"i don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows. i can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes..." no, not that "pepper". pepper as in pepper spray. so, jay, you don't have to feel so bad about setting off my pepper spray that one time. i did it myself the other day. i had just pulled into my parent's driveway when i heard this funny sound. it sounded like a punctured can of pop. since i don't drink that too often i racked my brains to figure out what it could be. PEPPER SPRAY! i threw myself out of the car. then i thought... MY BABY!!! then i mightily hefted out his car seat and set it down away from the car. sheesh. setting off my own pepper spray. (shakes her head in consternation) i had it in the arm rest of the car and i guess i leaned on the arm rest juuuuust right and squashed it.

--marshall fam Christmas 07

"goo" "ga"

i was eating a bowl of cereal the other morning and all of a sudden i hear "GOO!!!". i sniggered. a few minutes later i heard, "GA!!!". again with the sniggering. jack often says, "a-goo". just never so forcefully. i am amazed. i thought babies didn't really say "goo" and "ga", like puppies never really say "bow wow".

--marshall fam Christmas 07-- jack and dan's mom, claire

a bar-b-q with jack

on the 24th my last supervisor threw a bar-b-q. only one other family could make it. perfect! now people had to talk to us because we were the only ones there.:) it was BYOB so i packed us some orange sodas! ha ha! i brought a wild rice-chicken salad and some fudgey brownies with sprinkles. the kids were very very excited. we played uno and sat out by the fire ring until 9pm. jack was a gem.
P.S. this photo is still from marshall family Christas.

a little too much to drink?...

i went upstairs for some blankets and an ice cream sandwich and found jack face down on the tray of his swing. it would have made a funny photo.
--photo marshall fam Christmas 07

marshall family Christmas august '07

Merry Christmas! on the 18th of august we went to maple grove, mn to a Christmas pool party in the rain. i kid you... not. here is a photo of my lovely family relaxing in a garage whilst posing for a family portrait. jack was too hot for his little hoodie at this point. he was the only one who really looked "Christmasy" and it was all a fluke.:)

we partied with my husband's mother's side of the family. dan's cousin jeff had just returned for good from his second tour of duty in iraq. jack sat on santa's lap for the first time.

dan's baby clothes

dan's aunt carol saved a bag of dan's baby clothes and gave them back to us! she used them for her boys (dan's three cousins), then gave them to one son when he had a baby. they took such great care of them that they are in perfect condition. dan just put jack in a pair of osh gosh b'gosh engineer striped overalls!!! it is too precious for words. i was very sad when i had to put away all my baby clothes because jack was a boy and couldn't wear them. it is just lovely that jack can wear his dad's baby clothes.

big bad seventh grader

andy is entering seventh grade this fall. we, amazingly, have not waited until the last moment to buy his school supplies and clothes. as it stands, he already has two pairs of tennis shoes and we are supposed to buy him another pair because he doesn't have "gym shoes". the little swindler! he sure knows how to work it. "it" meaning he knows how to work his father and dan's mother, his grandmother. if i would have gotten my gram to buy me shoes, then went and spent a large amount on shoes, and then had the audacity to ask for gym shoes you know what my father would have said? he would have said something like this, "you need a pair of "___"like i need another"...

of course, andy has exquisite taste in shoes. boys skate shoes are so graphically arty these days. i remember that vans were cool... but they were pretty plain. not "audios". they have loverly graffiti. although i do think they look a bit clunky on the foot.

i actually bought a new pair of shoes for myself recently. not audios. black/white polka-dotted open-toed wedge heels with thin little ankle straps. only $5.74 at target. they make me feel glamorous.:) like a movie star. they are terribly impractical. i'll probably twist an ankle and kill myself. but, gee whiz, i'll look smashing.

dear little jack...

i was feeding jack yesterday morning. i was wearing my turquoise robe. i raised jack up to my shoulder to burp him. he immediately shot hot milk onto the delicate hollow of my throat.:) oh, the joys of motherhood.

the baby is calling...

jack is upstairs calling for me. i swear he says a derivation of "mama" already. anyway, i just thought of something. some of you remember lauren from pcc and might have noticed i have a link to her blog. what you might not have realized is that on her blog is a link to her "etsy shop". that is the etsy site and she sells her paintings there. yes! you could own a lauren original! i haven't bought one yet... but i regret not snapping up the koi painting or the espresso and cherries painting. SHOOT! i don't know why i didn't. anyway, don't be like me... buy lauren's stuff, turkey! she is a lovely artist and she might be ultra famous some day. wouldn't that be nice?

my old baby

while i was down here on the computer i heard jack upstairs making some "a-goos". he sounded different! his voice sounded deeper. can that be possible? i rushed upstairs to videotape it. jack is 2 months old today. he is my big boy. i dressed him like a sailor today. like a sailor from down by the docks. not a gene kelly sailor. later we are going garage saleing. no sailing. the end.

jack's first souvenir?

i forgot to mention that when we visited the gardens last saturday that my mom bought jack a tiny little curious george. it is adorable. it is jack's first souvenir.

unless you count the duluth hoodie the jansma's bought jack for a baby shower gift. i would say that the sweatshirt was a shower gift. no count-y.

money, money, money!!!

i just got paid. after maternity leave of 6 weeks unpaid, and one week waiting for the next payday... i am finally paid again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am going to buy cat food, sleepers for my baby, lettuce... you know, the luxury items.:) it is so exciting.

WOOT!

that's what nora says about passing her whatever-you-call-it test and now being a nurse. woot, indeed! way to go. just wanted to pay homage to one of my very best friends. she is an inspiration to me. she is the coolest artist/security guard/nurse/wife/mother/gardener/seamstress i know.:)

munsinger clemens gardens

saturday jack and i went on a "ladies outting" to some gardens in st. cloud, mn. the gardens were fab. there was a garden with 1,100 varieties of rose bushes. there was a toulouse latrec rose bush... without any blooms. wouldn't you know. i wandered about with a very nice lady who was very interested in roses. she was on a mission.:) we bent down and sniffed some. i'm sure we looked ridiculous. most of the bushes were pretty short. i really liked the george burns rose. it was dark pink and white striped. i remarked that it suprisingly did not smell like cigars.

there was a "white garden". all the flowers were either white or green. the impact was immense. i am determined to have my own white garden next summer. it was very european, too. very formal. i like my gardens very formal, or very wild.

after the gardens we went to "old country buffet". i'm not one for public displays of gluttony.:) i would have preferred going to "red lobster" or "olive garden". for, out here in rural mn, we have no such delightful restaurants such as i have named. but, don't feel too sorry for me, we have plenty of other big names. anyway, what i really wanted to say was that the bus "boy" that we had was named "angel". don't you love it? i would almost name a son "angel". but, alas, the uproar would be so great that i don't think i could attempt it.:)

"i'm american. i eat american food." -- dan s. (my husband)

"automatic sprinkler"

"automatic sprinkler", that's what the onesie jay and his wife sent me said... jack peed on me for the first time today. oh, he's leaked on me many a time, but this was full on shooting me with pee. i was giving him a sponge bath. he was on the counter in the bathroom. i was in my robe. he was naked. i wasn't looking and all of a sudden i was getting a blast of liquid. i screamed. jack stopped peeing. so, i guess if you want a baby to stop peeing on you it is a good move to scare them. luckily i did not scare the poop out of him.

jack's gym

jack is relaxing upstairs with his leap frog learning gym that my cousin tiffany bought him. i thought it was a ridiculous and frivolous thing at first. then, i realized "where do you put the baby when you want to get things done?". in his bassinet? no, he hates that. on the floor on a blankie? boring. hold him all day long? no way!!! swing? doesn't always work, today he's not digging it. dan says to me, "doesn't he have one of those things...?" etc. and i remembered. aha! jack is happy and might be developing his little brain. that is what one hopes.
oh! the learning gym has music and language from around the world. it's like i'm priming him for epcot!:) i can't wait for the day he says "hello" in japanese. dan will flip.
"i'm american. i eat american food." -- dan s.
i videotaped jack smiling and "a goo"-ing at the machine. i think he really likes the woman's voice that sings out of it. jack loves it when we sing. he especially likes it when i sing "i'll fly away" or "sweet little Jesus boy". although, i sing just about everyting to him. lots of folk songs. i also sing to him in other languages: spanish, hebrew, cree indian, french... probably others i can't think of. one hopes they are expanding a child's mind that way, too.:)
dan sings mostly "you are my sunshine". it's sweet. did i mention that the other day he asked me the words to the "old dan tucker" song to sing to jack?:)
"old dan tucker was a mean old man. washed his face in a frying pan, combed his hair with a wagon wheel and died with a toothache in his heel... get out the way for old dan tucker. he's too late to eat his supper. supper's over and dinner's cookin'. old dan tucker just stands there lookin'."
was it just us... or did you learn a lot of dippy 70's folk tunes in your elementary school music class? and no, my teacher wasn't a hippy. i'd say he's a golf-crazed yuppie.

over the river and through the woods

today i took jack over to my grandparent's house. it is just a short walk down the driveway and through the little glade that grandma calls her "park". i took jack in his cadillac stroller. that is a beautiful machine. when we got there grandma served me a piece of gingerbread. how bucolic is that?

i have been really busy

i have been so busy. my blog suffers.
i just got back from the grocery store. as i am about to climb up into my husband's huge dodge ram truck, i hear "what? my name is... who? my name is... chick-a-chick-a, slim-shady!". i turn around and there's a really farty old-school cadillac. that was the funniest thing that happened today.
i went back to work monday night. i will work nights from 5-9 at the brainerd dispatch newspaper. it is a great plan! dan can watch the baby at night and i can make some grocery and diaper money!!! lovely. so, i had a great first night. the programs and etc. came right back to me. i got home and i said, "how did things go?", meaning "how did jack do?". but dan turned it around to be all about him.:) he informed me that the only thing he got done in 5 hours was getting the mail!!! oh really? i had done 3 loads of laundry, folded and put the clothes away, did a load of dishes, and took care of the baby all day. hmmmmm...
i found a large agate in the driveway when i got home. lake superior agates are the mn state rock. they are very beautiful. we have a large collection in various containers all over the house. do other people know what their state rock is? or are minnesotans just a bit rock-crazy?

beware my sister's children!

my sister is here visiting with her three daughters. she is staying at my parent's house. today jack and i went over to visit. these nieces of mine are nuts. the 5 year old (oldest), elerene, was wearing a cute shirt, jean skirt and some really grown-up white patent leather tappy shoes with a slight heel. what she didn't put on was some underwear. my sister noticed the lack of undies and ordered her to put some on. shortly thereafter we were mooned. my sister says, "look at that.". i turned, was mooned, and noticed a LARGE purple bruise on ele's backside. my youngest niece, nole, about 18 months, had bit her the night before. angie told me that ele and emelea were giving a "concert". they were singing "Jesus loves the little children" in front of some chairs. enolea wanted up on a chair. when ele didn't move... she bit her in the butt.

red and yellow, black and white... and with purple backsides... Jesus loves the little children of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jack at five weeks

jack is so great. he is 5 weeks old tomorrow. my baby! it hurts that he is getting older. really! it kind of literally tugs at your heart. yet, i love to watch him grow.

jack loves to swing. at the fastest speed. he is no sissy. thank the Lord for the swing. it certainly helps send him off to the land of nod.

jack gets the hiccups a lot. i am glad he is still not inside the womb. they freaked me out.

my grammy says jack is "perfect". i say yes he is... except for the receding hairline, booger eyes, and baby acne.:) hey, this too shall pass. except maybe the hairline.

jack has been smiling at us, but he doesn't have very good control over it yet. watch out when he does. he's going to be a lady killer, i can tell.

starbucks moves "up north"

my rurality is seriously threatened. there is a starbucks within a half hour of my house.:) the end is near! i see the third horseman of the appocalypse. he is clutching a dulce de leche latte.

i have only been to a starbucks once in all of my 30 years... that is until today when i trundled jack into the brand-spankin'-new store in baxter, mn to check it out. i ordered the java chip frappucino and it was DELICIOUS! so, starbucks is not the devil.

maybe richard simmons is. he's so scary.

pictures of jack? oh no!

no photos of jack for you. i just got 2 films developed, but there is no way to get them on my blog. dan accidentally de-programed the entire computer. that means no printer-scanner-copier recognized. drat. and they are very good photos. i promise to try to re-program the computer soon. on the good side, our e-mail accounts are moving more quickly.:)

thanks for the loot...

to those of you who have sent e-baby congrats and/or baby loot... THANKS! i promise i will get an e-mail sent and/or a thank you note sent shortly. my e-mail is still having problems with freezing up. also, see previous post of "ode to a baby swing..." to understand that i am very busy with a super demanding baby and i get excited when i actually get the laundry folded these days.:)

ode to baby swings...

oh fold up baby swing,
so handy and unobtrusive.
(forsooth, you fitteth under my bed!)
i sing your praise.
i am indebted to your steady,
rhythmic rocking and your
oh-so-catchy nursery rhyme tunes.
i thank thee, oh baby swing
for soothing my baby to sleep.
i had time today to fold
my husband's undies.

i am one rhubarb lovin' mama

remember the rhubarb i wrote about? the rhubarb from the farmer's market that i screwed up jack's nap for? well, i finally got around to dealing with it. i chopped up every last beautiful green and red stalk yesterday and i made a rhurbarb custard cake with about half the 'barb. the cake is gone now. i think i ate at least half of it. is that bad?

i got the recipe from a cookbook i just bought last thursday. it is an entire cookbook devouted to rhubarb! glee! did you know rhubarb is a veggie? eat up, it's healthy!

jake's dedication

my husband's half-brother, jake, was dedicated to the Lord on sunday. dan and i were designated as God-parents. i am honored. i don't know anyone who is a God-parent. they might be going out of "fashion"?

it was a lovely day. the church service and baptisms and jake's dedication were held at the pastor's lake home. i really enjoy lake baptisms. it is so much more authentic then getting dunked in a tank. here is an point of interest, my father-in-law's pastor informed the baptism candidates that he would either sprinkle them or immerse them. i just think it is silly to think that sprinkling is the way to go. you could be sprinkled anywhere. why would john the baptist wade out into a river to baptize people if he could have done it on land with a bowl or something? so, i did see a little girl wade out into the water and get sprinkled. she was wet up to her chest, and sprinkled. it did look very silly. anyone disagree with me?

but don't get me wrong. i am glad she was baptised, and i do believe that she was baptised. i just think it was a silly way to go about it, and not the exact example from the Bible. she was making a public profession of her faith and salvation, so i believe she was baptized. amen for that.

"mama's little baby..."

my cousin called me yesterday and informed me that i hadn't written anything in my blog in about a week. i tell you what, when you are constantly feeding a ravenous newborn, you really don't get much time to play on your computer.:)

yesterday was the WORST!!! jack ate the entire day! he would nod off and i would try to put him down for a nap and he would start fussing. if i let the fussing go, it would snowball into the "hungry cry". NNNNNNNNEHHHHHH!!!! he didn't get a nap the entire day, and he usually takes a 3-4 hour nap. so, i decided that he was really hungry and that if i felt like snacking the entire day, i guess he could too. also, maybe he was going through a growth spurt?... well, jack was weighed today and he weighs 10 lbs. 10.5 oz. he weighed 9 lbs. 2.2 oz at birth and 9 lbs. 11.5 oz. last thursday. that means he gained about a pound in a week. yes, i would call that a growth spurt. guess what, he has been napping for about 2.5 hours now. peace at last!!! hence, a blog post.

shopping or napping...

what is more important? jack's naps, or his social development?:) stupid mommy, i just took him uptown for some groceries and to the farmer's market. now he's awake and looking for food and i screwed up naptime for him and me. not even fresh rhubarb can make me glad i messed with naptime. sigh.

about diapering

i just powdered jack's little behind. i got a bunch on the new couch. oops. that stuff comes out fast. jack looked like either the victim of an unforunate baking accident, or like i was trying to smuggle cocaine in his diaper.

screaming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love this photo. this is jack when he's had enough of mommy's picture taking.

photo of jack's foot

jack has huge feet and loooong toes. i know that they are quite remarkable because all the nurses commented on them, and you know they see alot of baby toes.

photos of jack

here is a photo of jack sleeping in his daddy's arms on sunday. he's about 2 days old. he is wearing my favorite puppy onesie. :) i have to take more photos, none that i have taken so far have really captured his cuteness. good thing i have about 12 rolls of film.

jack's parents

here we are, the new parents. this was taken the morning after i had jack. i don't recall if this was pre or post-makeup. i don't wear that much. anyway, dan held out the camera and took this shot of us. note the puffy lips. i had heard you shouldn't "push" with your eyes. i pushed with my lips. hey, whatever gets you there.

i give jack a bath

today i gave jack a bath all by myself. i did it in the bathroom sink with a towel on the edge of the porcelain sink so that he couldn't hurt his little head. it was so cute. he totally filled up the bowl of the sink with his long legs. he really enjoys the warm water. after the bath he felt so warm and cozy that he went to sleep in my dad's arms while i took a shower. i love this mommy business. it is so much fun.

my dad stayed for lunch. dad, dan and i all sat in the breakfast nook eating yummy leftovers from dinners people from church keep bringing over. i missed jack so i rolled his bassinet right over to the table. i really enjoy that bassinet. it is much better than putting jack in a bouncey seat or car seat on the floor when i need to have my hands free to do stuff.

food i won't buy for dan

yesterday dan and i took jack out to see the people where i work. we also stopped at target and for groceries. jack got hungry and i had to send in dan with a short list while i fed the baby. these were the essentials we had run out of: o.j., miracle whip, milk, grapes, cheese singles, etc. dan came back a loooong time later with "extries", as our friend doug says.

just now i was putting things away and i opened the pantry. i exclaimed, "YUCK!". what dan had considered yummy impulse buys i consider disgusting. this is the food i "won't let dan have": manwich, 3 packages of smoked oysters in oil (generic! ew!), pork and beans, a can of corned beef and hash, two packages of really unappetizing generic cookies on the kitchen counter, and there is a can of "five alive" in our freezer. i laughed when i found the five alive yesterday. how silly!:) i guess to keep dan happy i should just buy the grossest food substance i see in the grocery store and bring it home to surprise him.:) that seems to be the stuff his old bachelor self misses. maybe i'll get him some pickled pigs feet next time.

jack anders is born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

here is a recent e-mail sent to everyone announcing my son's birth!!!!!!!!!!!:

"jack is finally here! i went into labor thursday, june 7th. i was a week past my due date. dan and i went out to eat at applebees since it was our 4th wedding anniversary. i didn't feel "well", but i had false alarms the entire week and i was determined to celebrate my anniversary. when we got home about 7:30pm i started having contractions. i timed them and it seemed like it was the real thing! we called the hospital and they agreed that we should come in. we were admitted to the hospital at about 10:30pm.

i had a long labor--27 hours. my body just didn't respond well to labor. my dr. said my uterus didn't do what it needed to do. plus, after the fact, it was determined that my amniotic fluid was extremely low and jack had been in slight distress for about a week.
long story short -- at about 22 hours and 4 centimeters dilated i gave up going drug-free and got nubain. mistake! it didn't take my pain away, i just felt like i was "stoned". or, how i suppose you would feel when stoned. then, my dr strongly suggested an epidural so i could relax and dilate, or else she felt i would be headed toward a c-section. i fully agreed with her. after about ONLY AN HOUR i went from a 4 to 10 centimeters!!! hooray! so i got to push. i know i wanted a drug-free delivery... BUT I ALSO WANTED TO AVOID MAJOR SURGERY. so, i am glad i avoided c-section.

jack anders schroeder was born at 10:04pm on friday, june 8th. he was very alert despite the drugs and i was able to feed him right away and he is a champ! he eats very well and is satisfied. he weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. he is 23 inches long. he has dark brown hair, huge hands and feet, and long fingers and toes. i think he has my father's bigggggg head. i really think he looks like me as a baby and that's really neat. i do hope he gets his father's nose and beautiful green eyes. we will see.

oh, by the way, i am fine! i was up and walking even with the epidural and i am just a bit tired. dan keeps saying how great i look and i am reveling in the compliments. :) i don't think i look so amazing, but i will say that i weigh less now than when i got pregnant. jack has been a super star the entire pregnancy, and he continues to make mommy happy!

dan was so great. he helped me out a lot. he took a very active part in the delivery and he was pretty amazed by it all. he continues to be a great help. he is a pro at calming jack down with the swaddling and etc. i will have to have him teach me exactly how he does it. right now i just hand jack over and let daddy do it.:)"

this is the photo the hospital took for their website. jack is about 24 hours old in this photo. this is the first photo i have of my baby. more will follow soon!!!!!! by the way, doesn't it look like he's going to punch you with his "left hook"?:) "mama said knock you out" (L.L. Cool J)