Jana is 19 Months Old

(A little late)

This has been such a fun month. She is such a character.

It seems like this month she has become such a little girl and so not a baby anymore.


She's a total chatterbox. She seems to have her own language, but talks as though we should know exactly what she's talking about. She even uses emphasis in her sentences, which is soo funny!

We've been working on Baby Signs with her for a long time, but she had only really picked up the sign for dog. Now she's signing the words as she says them. She says/signs: more, eat, drink, all done, baby, bath, bib, flower, dog, cat, stars, moon, love, banana, and blanket. With the exception of stars, moon, love, banana and blanket, she says the words as he signs them. My favorite is when she asks for more and will say "Moooore?" and I'll say "all done," and then she'll add the sign to add emphasis that she wants more and will ask again.

I find it so interesting what kids pick up. We don't let her do the whole "uh uh uh" thing when she wants something. (For goodness sake, she has a large enough vocabulary to explain what it is that she needs.) Now, when she doesn't know the word for it or can't explain what it is she wants/needs, she now points and says "peeez" (please).

Dada is still her favorite climbing toy!

She's becoming pickier about food, but loves to sit at the table with us now. In fact, I have to dish our plates and her plate at the same time to show her that she's eating the same thing as us or she gets fussy about eating it. She only wants big people food.


I'm obsessed with doing her hair now. I think she's absolutely adorable in pig tails or having her hair half up. She has something done to it most days now.



She runs everywhere she goes. Why walk when you can run? The problem is that when we're out and about, she'll take off running. If I have Kara, it's a bit problematic to take off after her.

Her new favorite "toy" to play with is her dry beans. She loves to make a mess with them and put them in one container and then into another. The only problem with this is the dog likes to eat them, so she's relegated to her bed just off the tile floor of the kitchen. If I turn my back for a second, she's running into the kitchen to eat a few beans before I make her get out again.


Jana loves other kids! We have a play group now, but she rarely plays with the other kids; she just likes to watch them. She's fascinated with my nephew. He's 3 and she loves him, his toys, and to run after him, but he quickly gets a little bored with her! :-) It's so funny to watch them. They took a bath the other night when we were there and she kept scooting closer to him and he kept moving toward the end of the tub to get away from her! So funny!


She still loves her little sister and is getting excited now that Kara is able to interact with her. Kara loves the exersaucer (the kid would stand all the time if we let her), so that means it's easier for Jana to play with her now.


She's going to be a lion for Halloween. She found the costume in the bag after I bought it and she is loves it. She puts it on most days and walks around as a "Roar."


Jana discovered her Johnnie Jump Up from when she was little. She didn't like it too much when she was little, but is obsessed with it now. She jumped in that thing for an hour and a half the other day. Good thing she's pretty little still or she wouldn't be able to fit in it.

Jana Playing at the Indoor Park

I've never uploaded a video before, so here goes nothing. This was at the indoor park today (we're weenies here in the northwest and when it's in the upper 80s and 90s, we go to the air conditioning).

Pardon my annoying voice and poor quality. We took this with our camera, not the video camera.

Have you ever looked at your child and cried for no reason?

That was me this morning.

I decided to put Jana in some of her big girl clothes and then I decided to try pigtails. I stepped back and got choked up. Partly because I think she is the most beautiful little thing (gotta love parental bias) and partly because she's gotten so big. I guess when I just leave her hair alone she looks like such a baby, but up she looked like a little girl!

I know as time goes on that I will, but I seriously don't know if I could love this little girl anymore. My heart feels like it's going to burst when I look at her and just watch her. It was also cute watching the other parents at the playground today look at her. I swear it is the best compliment (even when they don't say anything) when people admire your kid. I could see by the looks on their faces that they thought she was cute and my heart melted more.

I have to show off my little girl... since she's not truly a baby anymore.


"Why are you looking at me like that, mommy? Can't I eat my breakfast in peace?"


"LET ME OUT OF THIS STROLLER!"

"Go, elephant. Go"

"Umm, hello! You are can't push the car from there, silly Mama!"

"I can make this car go all by myself!"

Two days down

Today is our second day with Daddy back teaching. He had In-service week last week, but that doesn't count in my book because there weren't kids and he didn't come home exhausted like he does when he's actually teaching. This is significant because he is much less help when he comes home now that he's teaching again. That's not a criticism of him - just a statement about what he has left when he gets home.

I'm pooped!

Yesterday was a marathon day - holy smokes! We got up and moving with the intention of a quick Target trip, but ended up meeting some friends at our local indoor playground. We had fun, but got home just before Jana's nap time. Then J was only home for maybe an hour and went on a ride for an hour and a half - arriving just in time to put the girls down for the night. Whew, I was drained by then.

I'm working so hard to get Kara onto a schedule right now. She's 15 weeks old and not sleeping through the night. I know that isn't old in some people's books, but Jana was sleeping through by 12 weeks. She has the capacity to make it through, but she's just not doing it. It's my fault because I haven't worked very hard to regulate her sleeping and activities to make it more conducive to her sleeping through. So, now I'm putting a ton of effort into being consistent. (I know my definition of sleeping through is different than others, but I have a hard time calling her pattern sleeping through the night, since I only get maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep and then another hour and a half.

Here's an average day:

4 am: feed Kara
5:45 am: feed Kara
6 - 7 am: I go running.
7 am: Shower, dress, etc


8 am: Jana up, dressed, and breakfast
8:30 am: Kara up and nurse.

10 am: Kara nap
11:30 am: Kara up and nurse
12 pm: Jana lunch

1:30 pm: Kara nap (I need to work on this timing because this
1:30 pm: Jana nap is extraordinarily hectic)

3:30 pm: Kara up and nurse
3:30 pm: Jana up and snack

4:00 pm: J home

4:00 pm: Kara nap

5:00 pm: Kara up and nurse

6:00 pm Dinner or Jana has a complete melt down

7:30 pm Kara nurse

8:00 pm Jana bath/story time/bed

8:30 pm Kara bath/nurse/bed


Phew! And the J wonders "What did you guys do all day?" And really my answer always is "not much," but that doesn't even come close to explaining it.



Right now, I'm working on introducing Jana to playing with other kids. She hasn't really had much of an opportunity until lately to play with other kids. All she does at this point is watch them, but she's definitely interested in them. I'm hoping as we introduce more and more opportunities that it'll get better.


Kara shocked me last night. We were having some tummy time and she was pushing her little butt up in the air and getting her knees under her. Craziness!!!


Here are some new pics of my girls

We are such nerds... J insisted on taking a picture of our first family dinner.



The Mohawk. Everybody has to have a mohawk sometime in their lives.


J turned our tv box into a house for Jana. She loves it. She's peeking out the door at us.



She loves that she is sitting at the table now, like a big girl. She also loves that there is way more room to smear food now. (Needless to say we now have a vinyl table cloth down to save the table.


Did I ever mention that Kara likes to sleep on her side? Here she has rolled onto her side to sleep... in her play gym. Oops! Bad Mommy. Apparently I was distracted with Jana long enough for her to fall asleep.



I don't know why we continue to try, but here are our latest attempts at getting a picture of the girls together.

Can't you just hear the words in their heads?

Kara: Oooh! Those beads are pretty.
Jana: Good luck kid! I'm the star of this show!

"I wear my sunglasses at night."

"Gee, thanks Mom for the short genes! Now you're not the only one who can't reach a microwave."

Here is the classic peddle tractor that J restored this summer. I think it's a '54 Oliver. He's very proud of it. And our little dare devil, of course.


Hey look! There's actually another picture of Kara. Wow, I don't think I realized how much time she spends in her gym because here it is again.

... and again we see the gym. Once again, she decided to fall asleep in the span of a few seconds. I went to wipe Jana's face and get her down from the table and when I came back... out!

She's becoming a little girl!

J and I decided that we were not going to turn Jana in to a girly-girl just because she is a female (and, well, I'm not very girl), so we have been careful to not influence her in any way. I know she's only 18 months, but we have really tried to wait for clues from her instead of pushing her in any directions. We have bought all the neutral toys (stuffed animals, little people, blocks, etc), but have watched for her interests before buying anything else. She loves to build and was having a wonderful time stacking up my tupper wares, so we then got her blocks to build with. After spending time with my nephew, she's very interested in cars and trucks, so she got some.

We discovered the other day that she was copying me as I was making her lunch and trying to get into the kitchen cabinets all the time, so I searched craigslist and got her a kitchen for super cheap. She loves it!

Also she will only let us read her the baby signs books and will doing some of the signs, but mostly just point at the babies and exclaim with great glee "Babies!" It isn't surprising since she's around Kara all the time, but she is obsessed with babies.... So now, she owns her own doll. It's just one of those babies that has beanie bodies and soft plastic heads, arms, and legs. (She picked it out because of the pacifier, I'm sure). She carries it around with her all the time now. She gives it kisses, hugs it, and burps it. It's absolutely adorable!

J keeps joking that the first time she drags him to a "tea party" he's coming after me for making her girly (we both know he'll love every minute of it though!). Part of what makes it so interesting to me in that we truly did not influence her in that direction - in fact, I'm not sure she has even seen a doll before, let alone play with one.

I'm amazed by her development each day. She has now started saying "hep pees" (help please) when she needs help. She came out with "more please" today at her snack when she wanted more strawberries. She loves to screw on and off the lids to water bottles.

I know every parent is the same, but I am amazed at how infatuated I am with Jana and her sweet little personality. She's such a little person now, it's amazing. She's so sweet and loving. She's so determined and persistent, which can be wonderful, but also lead to many tantrums, too. She wants to be independent, but will come back for a hug every now and then. She's just this wonderful mix of traits. Oh, I just love her to pieces.

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I remember having all this time with Jana where I would sit around and stare at her in awe. I use to study her face. I use to plan her day so that she slept at the same times, ate at the same times. I always worried about how to get her "back on schedule" if she woke up late. I use to let her sleep on me.

Poor Kara gets none of that!

Kara gets fed whenever I can in the 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hour window from the last feeding. She often falls asleep in her swing or in her gym before I realize she's sleepy. I get to cuddle her and let her fall asleep on me in the mornings if she wakes up before Jana. But other than that, there's no way to give her that same attention.

I feel horribly guilty for both of the girls, but I think guilt is second nature to a mother. I feel guilty for not giving Kara the focused time that I did with Jana. I feel guilty for not giving Jana the focused time I used to. Ugh! There's no winning.

Kara just went through a rough growth spurt. Two nights ago, this is how her night went.

8:30 bed
10:30 awake
12:30 awake
1:30 awake
3:30 awake
5:00 awake

I honestly can't tell you if I fed her at every waking time or not, but I did need to go in there and at least re-cork her (give her a binky). Jana never had these awful nights during her growth spurts. I remember her waking a little, but not like this. I think she had a little more to live off of than poor Kara.

Kara has just a delightful personality. She smiles so much and coos at us all the time.

I noticed something today that made me laugh. Keep in mind that I'm a very short-waisted person, but as I was burping Kara after a feeding, I noticed that she was standing on my legs and had her head above my shoulder. I don't ever remember Jana being tall enough to do that when I still needed to burp her... and Kara's only 3 months old.

Well, I started this post about 8 hours ago, and now I don't remember what I else I was going to say.

Kara is 3 months old.

I can't believe how much time has flown by. Kara's three months old and J is heading back to work as school is starting.

Kara is huge! She's starting to develop those chubby cheeks that Jana had. She's also so long. She's wearing 3-6 and 6 month clothes already. I just passed all of her 3 month clothes on to my friend who has a 3 week old. Hmmm.... sad.

She's so much more alert these days. She takes a short nap in the morning, a long nap in the early afternoon (when Jana's down), and then another short nap in the late afternoon. She's not sleeping through the night yet (grrr!), so I'm going to have to start shortening that middle of the night feeding to see if I can get her off of it. Here's to hoping.

She can totally hold her head up and loves her bumbo chair! The other night J was gone on a ride, so Jana and I were having dinner together. Jana now sits at the table, so I put Kara on the table in her Bumbo so we could all sit together. I'm sure it was a hilarious sight.

She smiles all the time -which I adore- and is a chatter box. Her newest nickname is "Agoo" because that seems to be her favorite sounds. I swear she is trying to compete with big sis already and she is such a chatter box too! Oh how I forgot how much I love baby sounds. They are so cute and sweet!

Kara has the sweetest personality. It took us a while, but we figured out that Kara needed more time stretching and wiggling on the floor (duh!), so we bought her a gym play mat and she loves it (and the bars to hang the toys on keeps the dog and Jana away too). Now that she has the ability to move more and burn off more energy, she's so much happier.

She'll hate me for writing this later, but she rips the biggest farts! Jana was sitting at the table eating her breakfast this morning and I was nursing Kara on the couch near her. Kara ripped a big one and Jana turned to me with this aghast look on her face and then she started giggling. It was priceless!

Here are some pics of my cutie, not that I'm biased!


Giving Mama some smiles!


Cuddling with Mama as best I can on the boat.


Hanging out with Grandma E. on the boat. Think you could find a life jacket that would fit me?



And this is supposed to be fun?


Smiley girl!

Lounging on the beach - Baby Style.




Hanging out with my new friend Camryn.


Are you talking to me?



Hanging out pool side with Grandma S.



I'm such a big girl!



Drooly smile.

Jana's 18 months old

How did that happen? How did she get to be 18 months old? Where has the time gone?

I know what everyone says, but it doesn't mean much until you experience it yourself: I had no idea how much I could love this little girl.

Jana has become a toddler. She definitely has her own mind and her own will. She wants so desperately to be independent, but gets so frustrated when she can't do something on her own. And, she's definitely not short on personality.

She loves to make people smile. She has started this new laugh - it's more of a cackle. It's totally fake, but she does it when she wants others to laugh. It's so funny. She, also, has this "Aren't I cute?" look where she scrunches up her shoulders, tilts her head to the side and gives a very coy smile. She loves to dance - music not necessary. She looks like she's running in place, turning in circles, and flapping her arms-all at the same time.

Her vocabulary seemed to explode last week. While at the lake she picked up "boat", "lake", "ducky" (or guck guck, depending on her mood), "quack" (however, it comes in a sentence of "guck gucks go ack, ack"), "nuts" (as in we were nuts for swimming in the cold lake), "stuck", "yuck", "owl", "hat" and others that I'm forgetting. This last week she added "Tyler" (her 3 year old cousin), "Uncle Ryan" (but it came out "Ucl I-an") , "please" and others I'm blanking on. A few phrases made come backs in the last few days such as "Oh mama!" and "I do it." Unfortunately we lost "up please" which has become "uh oooo" (closely resembling uh-oh", but slightly different) and "toot toot" (sounds like "doot doot") now no longer means trains, but trains, semis, larger trucks, and motor homes.

She has started running, but it's still just a faster waddle-wobble. She's definitely a fine motor skill kid as she loves to screw on and off the lids to water bottles, take on and off the caps to her markers, push buttons, zip and unzip bags, and put things in and out of containers.

She has started to become more picky about foods. Her appetite has greatly decreased as this new set of 4 teeth come in. We are finding that we have to be more creative with her vegetables. She gets "stuffed" grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas. We stuff them full of shredded chicken and mixed veggies or peas and carrots. And apparently everything tastes better in spaghetti sauce because it doesn't matter what we put in there, she loves it.

Jana has become a cuddler and I love it so much. It has to be on her terms, but she loves to be held and hugged. She will also sit on my lap if I'm sitting on the floor with her.

Jana also decided that she likes swimming. As I said before, she has an independent streak and didn't want to be held, but wanted to swim like the big kids. There were more than a few scary moments as she pushed off of J or I in water over her head. She even loved "jumping in" (more like leaning and falling) after she watched Cousin Tyler do it over and over.

Here are some pictures of my big girl.


Here is a shot of the fam at the Antique tractor show. (We all went for J's grandpa.)

My little punky and J. She was getting over a cold and wasn't feeling too good that day.

Here's my little Bad Ass, better known as Toddler Tornado. You can see she was in the middle of removing all the magnets from the fridge and throwing them around so she could hear them bounce on the tile floor.


Here's my girl dressed all fancy. She had just discovered the sunglasses, which are now bent to heck from two weeks of putting them on, taking them off.


Here we are on the beach at the cabin on Deer Lake. She loved the rocks and had a wonderful time getting filthy dirty playing.


The next two go together. Here's the story behind these two: Jana was running from one end of the cabin to the other and then there was silence. We heard this grunting and found Jana dragging this frog innertube out of the closet. She proceeded to grab her blankies and a handful of animal crackers and plopped down on it. Then she leaned back and decided to use his head as a recliner. The funny part of this was that she set this up like she would be sitting in front of a tv, but (please don't take this as being against religion or anything like that because it isn't) she set this in front of a big Jesus statue and a Mary statue (the family that owns this cabin is very Catholic). So here she is reclining in the frog, checking out Jesus and Mary.


Jana trying on Cinderella shoes with Auntie Sarah. I have to admit, through the influence of Fancy Hannah, Jana has gotten to experience way more girliness. I don't seem to be afraid of letting her be girly at least some of the time. She's so enthralled with "accessories" right now and I have to admit that I love it!


This was another time on the beach when she actually put her toes in the water. She has hated water for the last few months, so this was huge.

Hanging out with Daddy on the boat. She was not so sure about it the first time we went out on it.


Hanging out with Grandpa- enjoying Auntie Sarah's rock-star sunglasses!


This is the second trip out on the boat and she loved it this time. She was allowed to drive the boat and boy, was she in heaven. The funniest part of her driving the boat was when she figured out that if she cranked on the wheel, the boat changed directions. She cranked on it and we headed toward the shore, so Sarah corrected the wheel and was about to put Jana's hands back on the wheel when Jana grabbed her hand and yanked it off the steering wheel and went back to steering.

This is right after Sarah taught her how to honk the horn and Jana is saying over and over "DOOT, DOOT!"


Pardon the disgusting pic of me in my bathing suit, but I love this picture of her and her hair. She's finally getting hair. Maybe sometime soon people will stop saying I have such a cute little boy!

Daddy and Jana in Black Butte as we headed into the pool for the first time. Amazingly enough, she loved it and will now even take bathes!

Here's my little monkey trying to be a big girl. Everyone was sitting on chairs and she needed to too, but she didn't sit long enough for me to get a picture of her reclining in that lounge chair.

Here are pics from her first real attempt at feeding herself yogurt. (I am impatient and usually intervene, but I didn't let myself and just let her make a mess.) She's great with a fork, but terrible with a spoon. She likes to turn in upside down so what ever was on the spoon is now down her front. She made such a mess, but had a wonderful time. I think she probably ate half and spilled half.


The worst part of it was when she started rubbing the spoon on her head and this is what her hair ended up looking like. Needless to say, we headed straight to the bath.