Dag Nab...Out Again

Hey Everyone,
Last night our house (or somewhere VERY close to our house) got hit by lightening during the electrical storm. I know the electrical current went through our house for several reason, one being the obvious: I felt it. I was reaching for the switch to turn on the porch light at the same moment the lightening struck and the current went from my head to my toes. It left me with pretty good tingles for about 5 minutes. It hurt a little but I am fine. The babies woke up but only because of the big ol' scream I let out.

One positive thing is that this morning our oven, microwave and electrical outlets are working again. Last night we couldn't get any of these to work but that issue seems to have been resolved. Now it is just a few items in different rooms that aren't working: our TV in our bedroom, satellite receiver (which DirecTv can replace), Nintendo, DSL, new computer among other things all seem to be fried. :( We are in the process of calling on some things...like the computer we just bought since it came with a one year warranty. We probably won't be able to file an insurance claim because most the damage was to stuff that added together wouldn't be more than our 1% deductible.

One negative thing: I mentioned our computer fried. It is weird because the computer monitor and printer are working, just not the actual computer. Therefore updates on the blog will be at a standstill until we can get our computer repaired or replaced. I am just praying that the one year warranty our computer came with covers weather events.

For those who will: Please pray the Lord will grant Jared and I wisdom and strength as we are given yet another obstacle to overcome. It seems like we have had lots of trials these last 18 months-ish. We do praise HIM that only material possessions were lost as the results of a lightening strike could have been much worse.

Love to All,
Jessica

Peas in a Pod

Jenna and Jillian get ready to pose for a picture

Jenna is being super silly for the camera...what a ham! She must get that from Jared ;-)

Finally we get everyone sitting right and smiling nicely!

A fun picnic in the living room. The girls LOVE Gerber Lil' Crunchies and Apple Juice.

Jillian shows off her new hairdo :)

Bonjour!

Not much new going on at our house. The girls are still crawling everywhere, getting better at it every day. They haven't started pulling up a lot yet...Jenna tries but doesn't put a lot of effort into it. Mostly we are still working on actual solid foods, like Cheerios, and the sippy cup. Not sure if I mentioned the reason we are working so hard on it: The pediatrician wants the girls on all table food by 15 months. That is March! The task seems a little daunting, especially since I am not sure how/when/what to start transitioning from baby food in a jar to solids. We will get it...March may come and go but we will get it.

By the way, I got a different kind of sippy cup the other day for the girls... one that has a latex spout that is the same material as the nipple on their bottle. They were having such a hard time with their sippy cups that I did some research other day and read about these new ones I bought with some of my birthday money. (Isn't it funny...I get money for me for my birthday and I still spend it on the girls! ha!) The cups we got seemed to be a good in between of bottles and starter cups by getting them used to the spout shape in the their mouth but they still manipulate the spout like a bottle nipple. They are doing a LOT better with these cups and that makes me happy. I think this week we are going to start doing one bottle a day in the sippy cup. Meaning taking the formula from a bottle and putting it all in the sippy cup. It will probably have to be a feeding when both Jared and I are home just in case it doesn't go well at first. We will see...

By the way, Jenna is doing much better with the finger foods. It took her a few days to get used to the solid texture but she hasn't gagged in the last day or so. Thank goodness. Now that I look back I remember her doing the same thing when we started baby food.

Other than that we are pretty much laying low. I am not paranoid (we still go out in public...once I refuse to leave the house I have become paranoid) but very concerned about all of this swine flu business. It doesn't help that the reports about it are so mixed. On one hand reporters are saying it is much more mild than regular flu but on the other they are saying some strains are quickly affecting children in a seriously mortal way. Kids are having to be rushed to the hospital and put on ventilators. Scary.

After much deliberation Jared and I finally decided not to vaccinate the girls for Swine Flu (H1N1). The deciding factor was that not only was our pediatrician's office not supplying the vaccine but my pediatrician isn't even going to vaccinate her own children (she has a son about 5 months older than the girls). It isn't that she thinks H1N1 is a non-event... because obviously it is, with Obama declaring a Health Emergency. But she isn't sure that the vaccine is safe since the it is so new and the FDA/CDC (whoever is responsible) has done so little research and testing on it. I trust our doctor with every other opinion concerning the girls so we decided to trust her on this as well. Although it seems you are playing Russian Roulette whether you get the vaccine or not.

Anyhoo, enough seriousness. I will leave you with the latest pictures of the girls...taken today! I couldn't help it since they looked so cute in their dresses with their hair in ponies. :) I love girls. :) Especially my girls.

More to Come,

Jessica

Where Are the Babies?!?!

Ready...Set...Go! Jenna goes after a toy. She is getting really good at crawling!

The exersaucer and jumper are two of the only things that can guarantee the babies will stay where I put them.

Jenna (L) and Jillian's first bath together. They had a blast!

Phew! I am exhausted. Chasing around two crawling babies makes a mommy tired. :) I don't think I fully appreciated the days when I could put the girls down somewhere or in something, go in another room for a second, and know they would be in the same spot when I got back. Now that the girls are mobile they don't want to stay in any one place too long. Especially Jenna, she is bound and determined to escape the playroom. :) The bad thing is that she is good at it...Jenna Winter: Escape Artist Extraordinaire.

In fact, Jenna is better at crawling than Jillian is right now. Jillian is crawling but her moves have morphed from an inch worm to a belly flopping inch worm. She gets on her knees, rocks back and forth and then lunges forward. She is very close to just a normal crawl, she can take a few regular crawls but then it is back to the rock-n-lunge maneuver. Jenna though...man did she pick up on it fast. She has the hand, knee coordination down pat. Now we need to work on getting into a sitting position from crawling or tummy.

By the way, what do you put a baby in when they are able to get out of their bouncy seat or swing? We strap them in and within a few minutes Jillian is hanging over the side, only held on by a leg. :) They can't walk so it isn't like we can get them little chairs but the floor swings and boppy/bouncy seats no longer contain them! That is bad for me...it means I can no longer put them in a seat and walk away. I have entered the realm of constant supervision...yikes!

Next subject: finger foods. The doctor wanted us to start finger foods sometime this month. She said to start with Cheerios or the little fruit puffs made by Gerber that melt in the babies mouth. The girls actually aren't bad at picking them up, their pincer grasp is pretty good. But every time Jenna gets one in her mouth and she starts to gum it she gags. Then she throw up. Yum right? Has anyone ever heard of that though? I mean I was worried about choking but it is almost like the solid texture gags her. It is really strange, Jilly seems to do just fine.

Anyhoo, the girls are asleep and Jared is at Bible Study Fellowship so I am going to rush off to my bed and relax with a good book and TV background noise.

More to Come,

Jessie

Let the Initiation Commence

Jillian (L) and Jenna (R)

Sigh...I know it happens to to every parent at some point; somehow though, that doesn't make me feel much better. Every mom, dad, grandparent, whoever...has their story. Ours happened tonight. I wish I could say that I've learned from my mistakes; but sadly, I didn't.

We went out to dinner tonight with Jared's brother, his wife, her parents, Jared's parents, and Jared's grandmother for my sister-in-law's birthday. Now, when I say "we" I mean my family as a collective whole: Jared, Jessica, Jillian and Jenna. We don't go out often, and I don't think I need to explain why as those with one baby (or who have had one baby) know that going out to dinner with a baby is a big ol' pain and almost always not worth the effort. Well, since we don't go out often and since it was also Jamie's (sister-in-law) birthday (and also since there were going to be let's see....9 adults and only two babies) we figured we would venture out...especially since the babies were out numbered.

So we get to the restaurant, find two high chairs, get the girls settled. Most everyone goes off to order and I stay behind with the babies and grandma. Everyone comes back from ordering and right at that moment Jillian grabs Jared's cup of ice water and throws it off the table all over the floor. Annoying...no big deal, it is just water and we can clean it up but already I am feeling like this isn't going to turn out like I had pictured.

So about 3 or 4 of us are cleaning up the water and ice and all of the sudden the people at the other end of the table (those whose feet were dry) are making sudden movements towards Jillian. So I look up and Jillian has just dumped an entire bowl of cheese dip onto her lap. You think after the first grab, toss and spill I would have moved her away from the table so she wouldn't be able to reach anything else, or else made absolutely sure nothing else on the table was in her reach. Nope, didn't do a thing. I practically gave her the dish by leaving her there. Now, as Jared so kindly pointed out, we usually consider ourselves to be reasonably intelligent; however, where this double lapse in judgement came from I'll never know. I guess just chalk it up to us being "first time parents."

So we are in the restaurant and Jillian is COVERED in cheese: her jeans, her shoes, her high chair cover, her stuffed toy, her shirt. Everything. Did you know that cheese is actually kind of hard to clean up? Actually, it is downright nasty. Luckily though, after my experience with the poo at my doctor's office from when she was a tiny baby, I had a spare outfit that I was able to change her into. And change her we did, right in the middle of the restaurant. :)

Anyhoo, I suppose now that we've had our "moment" or our "initiation," as some parents call it, we can learn from our mistakes and the next time we venture out we won't have a repeat. Probably not though...what is more likely to happen is that a different oops will happen that will go down as another of those "first time parent" horror stories.

Anyhoo, enough cheese. I still haven't been able to get the sound on my camera working but I was able to get a short video clip on my phone of the inch worm/army crawl. Check out our newest achievement:

Awesome right?!

More to Come,

Jessica

We Are Mobile!

Jenna, Shelby and Jillian get ready for nite-nite
Jenna and Jilly say cheese for the camera...yes they purposefully smile for the camera now! :)

Shopping at the store to distract us from our crankiness...the girls are teething. :(

The babies have gone mobile! They have been rolling around all over the place for a month or more now. Able to roll back to front and front to back for quite a while. Lately the girls have been trying to crawl but haven't been able to figure it out. Well...not anymore.

Today Jillian crawled across the room to get Shelby's ball. I would move the ball and she would try again to get it. We did this several times. She isn't up on her knees crawling...it is more like a cross between an army crawl and inch worm. It is fun though. Jenna can do her version of a crawl too but she is more likely to sit back and watch Jillian. :)

I am working on trying to get a video...my camera's sound stopped working so I need to figure it out. I promise to work on it though and get something posted! For now I am off to baby proof the house...yikes!

More to Come,

Jessica

Jumping Jenna

Jump, jump, jump! Come to our house and that is exactly what you'll hear and see. Jenna has learned to jump and it is her most favorite activity right now besides sucking on the velvet antenna of her "Love Bug" stuffed toy. :) I have been trying to capture the jumping on video for several days now but every time I start the camera she stops to smile. That's right, Jenna has learned to smile for the camera. Anyhoo, only through a strategic, covert operation the other day was I able to film a video of our little Jenna Bean jumping for joy:

Today we went to our 4 week check up of Jillian's cranial band. She is doing really well in it. The therapist was very pleased today with what she saw. Her head shape is completely different and very close to where it should be. Both the back of her head and the left side of her forehead have rounded out nicely. The ears are taking a little longer to adjust but she said that the ears are always the last and the slowest to correct. We are making progress though! I hope to have it off by Thanksgiving.

More to Come,

Jessica

PS: Here are some recent pictures!

Still practicing with the sippy cups, it is either a hit or miss each day.

Jillian loves her stationary exersaucer

Jenna likes to bounce!


Jenna and Momma cheesin' it up

I think Daddy and Jilly won the prize for best cheese that night

Big Babies

Ahhh, the sound of peace and quiet. It is 8:00 and both girls have been asleep in bed for about 30-35 minutes. I have to say that I am very pleased with their night time schedule lately. We have cut out their last nap of the day, so from about 4-7 is kind of nightmarish, but in doing that most nights they are usually asleep by 7:30-7:45(if not much earlier) and don't wake up until 6:15-6:30. Most people I talk to about their sleeping habits have sort of an "awed" expression on their face. It isn't me people...it is Babywise. I stand firm with that book even though it was hard at first. Remember how I was trying to keep the girls awake more during the day in the beginning? Sleep, eat, wake, sleep, eat, wake....Over and over. Sheesh! What a task! It has paid off though, when I talk to other moms and dads and their one kiddo (who is old enough to be sleeping through the night) is still waking up to be fed a few times and my two kiddos sleep anywhere from 10-11 hours I feel kind of bad. Perhaps this is the time I should be KNOCKING ON WOOD! I would cry if I jinxed it. It seems though that once you have a schedule down it isn't long before it is changing again. I guess I should just enjoy what I have and roll with it. :)

Anyhoo, we all seem to be recovered from the bout of flu that went around. Thank goodness the girls didn't get it too terrible. The flu can be scary. Both Jilly and Jenna actually got better within a week or so and Jared didn't feel bad long either. Jared is lucky though in that he usually doesn't stay sick for long...two or three days and he seems to be back to normal. I think I had it the worst. On Friday I finally succumbed and went to see the doctor. I have asthma pretty bad and it seems to get worse with colds. I wasn't necessarily feeling badly but was having a hard time getting deep breaths, and the cough I had (still somewhat have) was nasty. I figured I had bronchitis and was right. At first the doctor was concerned about pneumonia, but chest x-rays ruled that possibility out, thank goodness. Just a nasty case of bronchitis. So he gave me three different shots, two different inhalers and a prescription for some meds. I feel much better and the congestion is definitely making its way out.

The girls are probably going to get their flu shot on Wednesday. We have our 9 month check up! Can you believe it? Nine months already, gosh! I am betting they are 16-16 1/2 pounds now. Maybe 26-27 inches long? They look like such big girls lately.

Jenna in red and Jillian in pink.

Funny girls, too. For whatever reason they like the "Achoo" sound of a sneeze. Of course it is much more fun when they are getting tickled too, but they get a kick out of it. Here is a video clip of the fun sneezes. :) Kazoontight!

Another new development: a sippy cup. The last two days we have been trying to introduce a sippy cup with absolutely no luck. Not only do both Jillian and Jenna have zero interest in holding the cup but neither can seem to get the suction right. They sit and bite at the tip. I tried using smaller bottles instead, the kind they can hold. They did better holding them but were unsure about the water that was in them, nor could they quite get the head tilt required for getting much liquid out. It seems that at 9 months (adjusted age is 6 1/2-7 months) they would be better with holding objects. Then again, I don't know when babies get really good at things like holding their own bottle. They are good at grabbing, shaking, picking up, switching toys from hand to hand....just not actually using their hands for tasks I guess.

But, what they can't do with their hands they make up for with their mouths. Today we had a merry chorus of "Ga," "Ba," and "Ma" sounds. No "Da" yet which is weird since that is usually one of the first ones. Also, spitting! Jillian spits all the time. She just sits there and makes "tthhpp" sounds. Usually it doesn't bother me. Except she has really started spitting a lot at eating time. I should probably admit that I am sitting here typing with Gerber Peaches on my shirt and spots of Gerber Sweet Potato and Turkey dinner sprinkled on my arm. Yup, I smell right fine! Anyone have any ideas on how to teach a baby not to spit? I don't think my no-no's are working.

On that note, I am going to get cleaned up leaving you with More To Come....

Jessica