Necessary Internet Only

I've been a horrible blogger lately. I keep thinking about things I'd like to blog about, pictures I'd like to post, and then I get sidetracked. Today is Mardi Gras and Lent begins tomorrow. After much discussion with Doug, I've decided to seriously limit my internet usage. This, I have decided, is a huge sacrifice. I am an internet addict. I love Facebook, blogs, email....everything! I could sit on my computer for hours. In doing so, though, I don't talk to my husband as much or play board games anymore or read books or go running. Things I used to love to do and found joy in doing. Tomorrow I  make a change. When Jani goes to bed, I will not be logging on. I will pull out Quirkle or read a good book or....work on my Master's paper! Last year at this time, the Easter season was hard. My grandma was diagnosed with cancer, had major surgery along with neverending hospital stays, and I did not put my focus on God. My focus was on being mad. Being mad about what was happening, mad about having my dear grandmother taken from me, mad about seeing her in pain. I was not in a good place. I let myself go, stopped exercising, lost my motivation. Tomorrow, I start a change. For myself, for my grandma, for God. I need to get back to my roots :) They are some pretty strong ones. Along with the internet, Doug and I are giving up snacking and I'm going to try and pray the rosary each week. My grandma always prayed the rosary and it's something I have never gotten into. So there you have it. I have to try to blog a couple times to draw attention to my dear daughter.....she's quite the crazy lady right now!

Our Little Star

Jani can hear basketball from a mile away and loves every second of it. She starts screaming "BALL! BALL!" and running around until she figures out where the noise is coming from. This makes Doug melt. I'm not all that jazzed about Jani playing basketball someday and I tell Doug we won't force her into anything....except dance...and maybe playing the piano. She does look darn cute in a jersey though.

This number is actually the number of one of Doug's best friends from high school. We were reminiscing the other night about going to his games in the Dome. It was so different than the games in the McLeod. Much less intimate, not as loud....we were talking about how wonderful it would have been to watch David play in the McLeod. We would have loved to cheer him on there, to be in that student section. With Arch Madness just around the corner, we always start to get a little sentimental....it always takes us back to a very carefree and wonderful time in our lives.

Sweet Fifteen

15 Months. Jani turned 15 months on Monday. It seems that every time I post a month update, I find myself thinking the same thing. How can she be this old? How can time be going this quickly? When did my baby turn into a little person? So cliche...but so true.

Jani had her check-up this week and Doug and I had bets on her measurements. If you've never seen my daughter in person, she is solid. This is put into perspective whenever I hold my niece, Lauren. Lauren is a such a little peanut. I can toss her around like nothing! Jani, on the other hand, kills my back and is giving me some killer biceps! She weighed in this month at 28.5 lbs (lighter than we thought) and was 31.5 inches tall. Everything stayed in the 99%tile except her height, which has finally slowed down. She was so funny at the doctor. She stood on the real scale (instead of laying on the baby scale) and got measured standing up. She entertained everyone until the shots came....then she just got ticked off!! Who could blame her?!

Right now, her favorite things are reading, taking baths, giving "mooches" (kisses), playing with her friends, taking care of her babies, dancing, singing, and talking to random strangers! Her eating habits have changed a little...there are a few things she will no longer eat. Overall, she prefers all fruits and vegetables but hates meat. Sounds a lot like her mother!! She's still taking two naps but we think she's starting to tell us she's ready for one. We're not ready for one, though, because she'll be going to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 instead of 7:30. We love our time with our girl at night! I'm not ready to sacrifice that time.

My Sister...

is about to pop! Can't wait to meet you little one!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Gotta love a snow day. I'd actually much rather be at school. Stone me if you wish but I have so much to get done. I'm loving the day with my girl and my boy but in the back of my mind I'm thinking about spelling tests, Rocket Math, and report cards. But I'll embrace it.

And embrace it we did. They (they being the powers that be in some meterologist office) say we're going to get a huge storm...quite possibly the storm of the century. So we thought we better get Jani out in the snow before there's so much snow we can't stand :) I have vivid memories of playing out in the snow when I was young. We would bundle up, grab our sleds, and head to the mountain of snow at the courthouse. We played and played and played...until our cheeks were so red we looked like Santa Claus. I want this for Jani. I don't want her to be afraid of the cold. We have some wimpy kids in our world! To prepare her for this, we got her a sled for Christmas similar to those used in Kindermusik. She loved it in Kindermusik so we figured she'd love it outside. We were right...she LOVED it. Actually threw a royal fit when we came inside. I should have gotten pictures of that! I also should have captured the scene where I tried to stuff her chunky little feet into some boots. That was a sight to see! Poor girl has been blessed with some wide feet...wide feet that weren't getting into her boots no matter how hard I pushed. So she wore her shoes and it was fine...she didn't walk in the snow anyways.

So 3 minutes and two rosy cheeks later, we arrived at our neighbor's house for an impromptu play date (his dad is a teacher too!). Jani got some play time with her boyfriend and Dad got some time playing video games. I believe this was premeditated. I never agreed to a video game play date! Guess that means the guys owe us a Glee play date!! I'll get it down in the books.

She was pretty happy to see her friend. They embraced immediately and throughout the entire time we were there. I can't wait to see these two grow up next door to each other. They are going to cause us some serious headaches!

Jani's 2nd 6 Months

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