Happy Birthday Jake!

Happy Birthday, My Love! What a lovely surprise this morning-4 hours off of work and they called just in time for me to treat Jake to breakfast in bed with Lauryn. From the look on your face, I think you were pleased with your presents (an ipod and accessories). Happy Birthday Babe, we all love you sooooooooo much!!! You are one incredible husband and an absolutely amazing Daddy!!!!
Lauryn & Jenna loved wearing special shirts for Daddy!

Lauryn's-I Love Daddy

Jenna's-If you think I'm COOL you should see my DAD


We all went to dinner at a newer place in Rochester to celebrate Jake's birthday. It was very good, in fact Lauryn's comment was, "This cake is really good!" This is clearly a step up from her typical comment, "It's not too bad!" The decor was pretty sweet-pretty modern, especially for Rochester. Lauryn commented on that too by saying, "I like that fireplace!" She makes me laugh every day! Often many times a day! Anyway, Happy Birthday Jake, I hope it was a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, Happy very belated Valentine's Day! My laptop was not working so I could not post this picture of the girls. Hope everyone had a nice heart day!

Did I really admit to this??

Ok, I am old. Not getting old, but I am officially old. Today I found myself listening to the soft rock station, dancing and bellaring to "I've Had the Time of My Life" with Lauryn on one hip and Jenna on the other! :) Wow, I just gave you a great visual there, didn't I?! But hey, I am having fun, and having 'the time of my life' being a Mom-why not get down to some 80's tunes once in awhile? And admit it, if this song came on your radio station in your car, you would be singing too! :)

I'M IN LOVE!!!

I am in love...seriously. I have always wanted a gym quality treadmill, but didn't want to spend the thousands of $$$ they cost. My dream came true at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center used gym equipment sale and now it is officially running. I am giving a HUGE shout out to our friend/daycare Dad, Todd, and to Jake for doing all the special wiring, etc to get this going for me. Thank you both so much!!! It's my Prozac, my alone time, my sanity, my way back to wearing cute clothes again. I love it so much I gave it a hug last night! :) Thanks you guys! :)

Back to Work..sort of

Yesterday was my first day back at work after a very nice 13 week maternity leave. Overall it went very well and I was excited to go again today. However, little Miss Lauryn is still running a 102 degree temperature. We were just going to bed Saturday night when I heard her coughing a classic croup sounding cough. I had Jake get her up right away and sure enough, she was working fairly hard at breathing and had a fever. We quickly packed up and I took her to the ER where they gave her some oral steroids and watched her for a bit. She perked up quickly so we were able to go home for the night. When I was getting her out of her carseat (at 3am Sunday morning), she said, "I love you Mom." I think that also means thank you for taking care of me Mom. I can't even explain how much I love her too! :) Now she has this residual, nagging cold that's wearing her down and causing fevers. Jake stayed home with her yesterday, so it was Mom's turn today. Thank goodness my work is understanding, I feel horrible about calling in so early into my return! But I know I would feel much worse not being here for her. Hope you all are having a happy Tuesday!

Domestic Goddess

Ok, not quite, but I felt like it when Lauryn and I presented Jake with these heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast on Sunday! I am working on Valentine's Day so we decided to do something special a little early.

Sally the Snowman

Lately I am learning that so much fun of being a parent is being a kid again yourself! Yesterday Lauryn and I built her first snowman and had an absolute blast! I think I was just as excited as she was! :) The weather was beautiful and the snow was perfect for making Sally the Snowman. Lauryn choose her name and when her face was officially made, she smiled at her and said, "Merry Christmas Snowman!" Man that girl makes me laugh!!!

Getting ready to go outsideLauryn putting on the arms-they were actually 2 pieces of celery that needed to go. Max helping in some way, just not sure what.
The finished project

The Frozen Goose

Only in Minnesota do you find people crazy enough to run an outside road race in the middle of February! :) My friend Sylvia and I ran the Frozen Goose 5K this morning as a fundraiser for childhood cancer research. Despite the 20 mph cold wind in our face for the first half, it was actually a beautiful morning. There was a great crowd, and it was a nice, flat course. Many of the families participating were running in honor of children they know with cancer. One runner in front of me had a team shirt on with a photo of a beautiful little girl with cancer-she didn't look much older than Lauryn. Now that alone is motivation to keep on running...but not without some tears stinging in my eyes just thinking about everything they must go through. I hope to participate in the 10K next year.

Friday...

It's 9:20am on Friday and yes, Jenna and I are just getting up! Jake so kindly offered to take Lauryn to Missy's this morning so I could sleep in and have my last weekday of maternity leave with just Jenna. What a guy, he is awesome! And let me tell you, we haven't done much but cuddle! :) It's just finally hitting me that I'm not as ready to return to the working world like I thought I was. I am experiencing soooo many emotions today and it's only 11am!

-I am thankful that I have had a wonderful, 13 weeks to be at home with my family.
-I am grateful that I work for an institution that assists and allows a 3 month leave.
-I suddenly feel like it was yesterday when my co-worker, Tracy, said.."Honey, you look really, really tired, are you pregnant?"
-I can remember calling Angie and making her interpret 2 different pregnancies tests.
-I can remember so very clearly being in my physician's office, ready for an ultrasound, scared to death and not knowing what she was going to find.
-I can still feel the tears in my eyes that instantly formed when I got my first look at Jenna at that ultrasound! So very relieved I hadn't miscarried, it wasn't ectopic, or cancer! After 3 weeks of worry we found out everything was fine!
-I can remember preparing Lauryn for the next 9 months that she was going to have a baby brother or sister. She always insisted that it was baby Jenna in Mommy's belly.
-I can remember being so disappointed that labor hadn't started when we went to bed November 15. Mom and Dad were here and it would've been perfect.
-I can still feel the pure excitement and joy when my water broke that next morning and asking Mom and Dad if they could stay another day! :) I couldn't have asked for it to work out better!
-I can still picture Jenna the first second she was born-she was absolutely beautiful and looked just like Lauryn
-I will always remember my entire labor & delivery team-I like to call them my 'A' team
-I truly believe in music during labor/delivery-it relaxes you and takes you right back to the moment when you hear those songs again. I will treasure Lauryn and Jenna's CD's forever
-I can remember crying during labor...not because I hurt, but because we are soooo blessed and wondering why Jake and I deserve to have such a beautiful life together. We are incredibly lucky to have 2 healthy, gorgeous children and after being together for 11.5 years, we are still best friends!
-I can still hear Lauryn when she saw Jenna for the first time, 'Mommy Baby Jenna come out!' she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
-I can remember Jake and Lauryn (with flowers in their arms) coming to take Jenna and I home from the hospital-and me insisting that we stop at Jimmy Johns for a turkey/avocado sub since I could eat deli meat again!
-I can still see Jenna's first smile-it was my 31st birthday and her 1 month birthday. She was in my arms and I was singing to her. I still kind of think she was smiling because I sing so bad! :)
-I can't believe how fast time really does go
-I am going to miss our days together, especially our naps with her on my chest.
-I am going to miss our mornings that Jenna slept in and Lauryn and I shared toast on the couch and cuddled. though we can still do this on my days off :)
-I am going to miss seeing Jake for lunch every day
-I am going to miss random trips to BabyGap...though our bank account won't!
-I am excited to see my friends at work
-I am eager to be an ICU nurse again
-I am actually craving some routine
-I am thrilled to not have the kitchen so easily accessible and hoping for some more weight loss in these next few weeks!
-I am beyond happy that we have great daycare and that Jenna will be with Lauryn every day and in the care/love of Missy and her family
-I love that we don't have mandatory overtime and know that 8 hours will go by fairly quickly
-I look forward to days off!
-I know with time, we will all adjust! :)

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Memories...

Oh this video brings back soooo many memories! I am sure it brings back quite a few for my Mom and my husband in my (what seemed like) lifelong quest to have a great smile. Be prepared to laugh out loud, it's hilarious!

Jake & Jenna

Lauryn's 1st Day of "School"

Last night was Lauryn's first night to go to 'school', an early childhood program through Dover-Eyota School District. She was so excited, she could hardly wait! She wanted to go at lunch time and when I tried to explain to her that nobody was there yet and that it didn't start until after supper, she said, 'Well my Daddy there!' She was exactly right, Daddy was at school, just not at her school! :) She had a blast doing crafts, singing, playing with the other kids, and picking out a toy to borrow for the week.

I got to go to school too-they have the parents meet and share parenting tips, etc. while the kids are having their session.

Miss Jenna yesterday afternoon, ready to face the Minnesota cold once again and go to the grocery store.

Seriously?

So is this how Jenna really feels about having her picture taken AGAIN?! Or maybe that's how she feels about Mommy going back to work in a few short days? Or simply showing me that my sweet, little, mellow baby might have some naughtyness in her after all! :)