And an Annie story

Annie walked up to me holding a "blowy" dandelion (is there an official word for that?) and asked, "Mommy, do you want to wish for another baby in your tummy?" Then she looked at me expectantly, with this Annie-excitement that I wish I could bottle up. It involves this smile-giggle-wiggle combination that's pretty irresistible.

Me: "Well...sure." I took the dandelion, made the wish, and blew the seeds away.

Annie [very seriously, with a tiny hint of disdain]: A girl this time.

Some Nellie stories

Nellie was sick when we went to get her hearing checked for school, so she failed the test in one ear and we had to go back (she tested normally the second time around.) Lately, she's been trying to use that to get away with not listening. I'll say, "Nellie, I can tell you're not listening," and she'll matter-of-factly say, "well remember, I failed my hearing test." That girl. Then the other day, I complained about some sour milk I found in the car. She said, "I don't smell it...I'd better get my smelling checked!"

Playing 20 questions, Nellie's "thing" was God. Her clue: "It holds the whole universities!" 

Nellie asked who is running for president, and Kevin gave her a nice summary of the two leading candidates. She responded, "well I think Romney should be the president. Obama already got to be president, and it's nice to take turns."

Our family loves the Veggie Tales Hosanna album, against all common sense indicating that a whole CD of Veggie Tale music might actually kill you. We discovered a pitfall while we were actually in church, though. In a quiet moment after the chorus of "Everlasting God," Nellie exuberantly (and loudly) said, "look Phillippe, we're flying!" in a perfect French accent. Just like the peas.

DJ at 9 months

Head circumference: 18.5 inches
Weight: 20 lbs. 8 oz.
Length: 30.25 inches
Five teeth!

He's much more average in size, now! DJ started crawling on all fours October 14th at John's house in Sault Ste. Marie while we were on vacation - he was highly motivated by all the buttons in the entertainment center! He slept through the night for the first time a couple of nights ago, but we're not holding our breath for a repeat. It might have been due to the fact that he ate half an avocado, a jar of peas, and half a pint of chicken fried rice before bed.

Fun note: I was commenting to my niece, Leah, that if you put together all the cousins' first initials, you could spell the name Landra, then I could just call them all by one name. I listed everyone's name, and Leah interrupted to ask, "DJ's name is Donald Duck?"

Unlike the girls, DJ never stops moving. He only wants to crawl around. That's it. Which makes changing him, dressing him, bathing him, getting him into the car, and feeding him very difficult. And just...sweaty. I seriously feel like we spend our days in one long wrestling match.

A lovely fall weekend

Here are some of the great things about this weekend:

1) Lots of delicious food - meaning, lots of bad-for-you food. Chinese food Friday, birthday party pizza/cookies/cake/ice cream Saturday, and one last cookout with Richland Meat Market brats (the best) today. Also, donuts and cider from the farm.

2) Introducing the girls to Pigmania/Pass-the-Pigs - my favorite childhood game - and we had a fun family game night with Aunt Emmy.

3) Movie night on the couch bed - the girls' favorite thing to do, ever. Also, snuggling and giggling with Nellie and Annie late into the night because they took long car naps.

4) Celebrating Leah's and Pam's birthdays.

5) Having one last blissful weekend of not knowing the results from my comprehensive exams.

6) Sunny weather, finally.

7) And I can't believe I almost forgot this one - DJ slept through the night Friday night! What's that, you say? Isn't he almost 10 months old? Why, yes, yes he is. But we keep him 'cause he's cute!

Just chilling with Connie in her bed 

Scary scene in Pound Puppies 

Cousins!

Chance of getting five kids to smile and look at the camera at once - 0%

Pam's birthday pumpkin. You can't really tell from the picture, but it's huge.

It's been a hard couple of weeks

Don't get me wrong, overall we've been good...but life hasn't been easy. I haven't posted in awhile, so here are some updates.

1) The worst thing by far was Annie's concussion last Wednesday. She was helping me pour syrup into a pitcher and fell backward off the counter, landing on her head. It was, in a word, terrible. After being barely responsive for about an hour, she started throwing up and then showed a little improvement. We made two calls to the emergency doctor line and in the end decided to wait until morning to take her in, since they couldn't really do much. It was a loooong night, especially since she still wasn't talking much before she fell asleep and it was difficult to wake her throughout the night. We had lots of people praying--and when she woke up Thursday morning, she was pretty much 100% better! Kevin and I are pretty convinced we witnessed a miracle.

Also, we have a new family rule about sitting on counters.

2) I took the first part of my comps exam, and it went pretty well. Here is what my workspace looked like after two 8-hour days of writing:

There are a few things I enjoy about this picture. One is the NCTM book on the chair, which was a Christmas present from my dear grad school friend Jerilynn. Such a great and funny gift (and very helpful for comps.) Another is the article (Randy Philipp's review of beliefs and affect research) on the ottoman that has Nellie's scribbling all over it--I think that was two years ago. The large piece of paper on the bed has a single note from Nellie to wish me luck: "I love Jamie." The screen has been removed from the window in case the woodpecker comes back and Kevin has to shoot it. :) Now, I'm on to the paper part of the test. Pretty much every spare moment has been spent on it. ONE. MORE. WEEK.

3) We're getting into the swing of things with Nellie going to kindergarten. After being late for the first two weeks (like, really late), we're getting better. In general. My friend Katie (whose son is in Nellie's class) says Nellie gets the award for "best adjusted." And really, it has been a pretty smooth transition. She's finally talking to me after school! Last week was the book fair, which was a BIG HIT. She came home with books for herself, Annie, and DJ.

4) There are lots of DJ updates...he was teething last week, and he now has four teeth! He can also army-crawl very efficiently as of last week, and get himself into a sitting position. He'll pull himself up onto his knees on toys and furniture. He's babbling more, and saying bababa, dadada, and something squealy that means "hi." He's bigger than ever, wigglier than ever, and starting to look like a kid.

DJ's also in his own room, as of three weeks ago or so. Within a week, he went from waking up every 60-90 minutes to waking up "only" 3 or 4 times a night. Progress... His room is awfully cute; we're going for a "beach baby cabin" feel. I'll put up pictures when the Internet isn't acting so funny!

Of course, there's been lots of good stuff, too. Kevin's found time to go hunting (ahem) so he's been a happy camper (literally! ha! pun not intended, at first.) Yesterday was the fall festival at Woldumar, which meant hayrides, mums, and other fall fun. I started going to MOPS so I'll get to spend time with new and old mom-friends. I really do hope, though, that life takes on a slightly slower pace very soon.

More things they say

We had pizza delivered tonight since Emily, Mike, Mom, and Dad were all coming over at the same time. The delivery man clearly had some sort of nerve or muscle problem. Nellie, always the encourager, earnestly told him, "wow, you are a really good dancer!"

Turns out he has Parkinsons, and we talked at length about how he's waiting to get disability. I was half embarrassed by the "kids say the darndest things" moment, and half relieved because it definitely wasn't the worst thing Nellie could have said. Honestly, I thought it was a little sweet that she didn't see anything "wrong" with him, and thought it was totally normal for someone to dance their way through life.

Nellie goes to kindergarten

The first day!

Nellie woke up and came down the stairs, saying, "why does my alarm clock want me to get up at this time? It's so early."

 Princess lunchbox, princess backpack. Also note the shorts and t-shirt. Nellie has not worn shorts and a t-shirt in...maybe two years? She picked out her own clothes, though, and when I asked her about it she told me she was going to play on the playground and she needed to be able to move around without her dress coming off. Go figure.

Everything went well this morning. No tears, just excitement. The fact that she's only going every other day makes it easier; it's pretty much like preschool but all day. She did get a little nervous once we got to the classroom, so I slipped out in a hurry. From the sounds of it, she was fine. Though I can't really get her to tell me what she did at school today...I think she was exhausted! I've never seen her so sleepy at bed time. Also, someone took her princess towel at nap time.

When we went to visit Kevin at work, he went to find a camera and didn't come back for a few minutes. At one point, Nellie climbed up on a huge rock and announced, "according to my calculations, he'll be back real soon."

I figure she's a genius already, and she's only been in school for a day!