Preschool Program

Jillian had her very first Christmas program performance on December 2nd. She looked beautiful in her Christmas dress as we prepared to head to school.

Matt was on his way home from a conference in Chicago, so he unfortunately missed the show. I did my best to record it, bouncing Adrienne on one knee and trying to steady the camera with my other hand. The videos on our camera are in HD and I haven't yet uncovered the secret to making the format small enough to share on the blog, but I did take a short clip with my phone of a song Jillian practiced all the time at home in preparation for this very performance. She kept singing, "They're not, they're not, don't be scared" over and over. I thought about it awhile and then asked her if she meant "Fear not"? She promptly said, "Yep, they're not". Okey dokey....here she is is singing "They're not" along with all the other 2 1/2-3 year olds at Kingdom Kids (you can find Jillian on the far right in the middle row).

After the show we enjoyed too many cookies in the gym with her classmates, and then headed to the airport still looking most lovely to pick up Daddy. What a fun way to kick off the holiday season!

PDA

Jillian had her last music class for the quarter on Thursday. The last class of every quarter is observation day for parents, so it is cute to watch the kids sing songs they have learned. Though Jillian participated in the singing/instrument playing quite nicely, she also demonstrated her adoration for her buddy, Max. These two are peas in a pod, and have such a sweet friendship. So glad I caught this little clip.

Still Here

Oh this poor neglected blog. I'm afraid it has taken the back burner these last few weeks. I promise I'll get back on track eventually....I still have to post about Jillian's preschool Christmas program, a visit from Aunt Angela, and a few more events that I cannot recall off the top of my head at this late hour. For now, I just had to quickly record the events of this day.

1. Jillian crawled in bed with me this morning when she woke, and was content just to talk to me for a good 10 minutes or so. It was a precious, sweet moment that I so enjoyed. I hope we can have more of these talks as the years go by. I'm sure the subject matter will change dramatically, but today, my three year old began the following conversation:
J: "Mom, how do whales get in the water?"
Me: "Um, they are born in the water"
J: "Well how do they get out?"
Me: "They can't get out of the water, they have to live there"
J: "Well, why?"
Me: "Because God made them that way, and they survive by living in the water"
J: "What happens if they get out?"
Me: "Well, they will die if they are out of the water too long"
J: "Oh. Mommy, I don't want to die"
Me: (Long pause while I try and figure out how to respond to that!) "Well, Jillian, everybody has to die sometime. Hopefully it will be a very long time from now."
J: "OK, Mom, can we go eat breakfast now?"
I thought she'd never ask.

2. I caught Adrienne doing this....

Oh dear. The child is only 5 1/2 months! I. am. in. trouble.

5 Months Old

This 5 month old baby of mine is ridiculously cute, and I've got photo after photo to prove it. The above is one of my favorites, taken today on her 5 month birthday as she "helped" Grammy do some laundry. (No, that is not a shower cap on her head. It is the pair of bloomers that go under her Christmas dress)
Adrienne celebrated today by officially cutting her first tooth! She has been exhibiting many of the typical teething behaviors for a couple of weeks now, and a couple of days ago I was finally able to notice a white line. Today, it popped through (left bottom front tooth), and she has suddenly turned into a little vampire. Suffice it to say, our nursing relationship just got a bit more complicated.
In other developmental news, Adrienne is beginning to prop-sit for a few minutes at a time. She loves the upright view, and looks cute as the dickens as she wobbles precariously from her perch.

Adrienne loves to grasp and play with toys, and easily brings them to her mouth for exploration. If no toys are available, she's quite content to amuse herself with her feet. She is very interested in anything we are eating/drinking, and tries her best to take such items from us. The foray into solid food isn't far away. Adrienne also has gotten quite good at blowing out her diapers. I moved her up to a size 3, and still, she often manages to create quite the explosion. She had one so bad yesterday that I just had to take a picture of what was discovered when I picked her up from her exersaucer (do not look if you are squeamish!). It is one for the record books!

 My darling Adrienne, I am sad to report, is not doing so hot in the sleep department. She was sleeping better as a 6-8 week old than she is as a big 5 month old. I am praying that teething is at the root of this problem, and that I can sleep longer than 2 hrs at a time again soon. Though she is going to bed around the time Jillian does (7ish), she is often up 3-4 times before 6 a.m. Mom is tired, and A is tired. She needs more sleep than that. We are working on the development of a nap schedule, but it is still unpredictable. The morning nap is becoming more reliable, but it is often in her car seat as we cart Jillian here and there. One thing at a time, I suppose. At any rate, I often forget how frustrated I am with the sleep situation when I see this beautiful baby beaming at me.

What a joy you are, sweet baby. You are growing far too quickly for my liking.

Odds and Ends

Things continue to be crazy in our household as we settle in from the move. We've had some glitches in getting internet service secure and reliable in our house, which has limited my ability to work on the blog. Today, I am sitting in the cafe at the RAC while Jillian plays (and Grammy so graciously entertains A at home), frantically paying bills online, and catching up on other "stuff" that requires my attention. So, here is a quick rundown of recent days in the lives of the little ladies.

We set up the Christmas tree on Saturday morning, and Jillian was absolutely enthralled. She can think of nothing else besides Christmas, and is seriously concerned about the absence of presents under the tree so far. She loves to handle the ornaments, and was completely devastated when she broke one of my childhood ornaments yesterday when playing a bit too rough. She punished herself enough with a dramatic outpouring of emotion for some time afterward. I kept hearing her say, "Oh no, what am I going to do without that ornament?!" "I'm so so sorry!", etc. 

Jillian also continues her love of dress up. Saturday night she came up to me and exclaimed, "I'm not Jillian! I'm Stripe Girl!" It seems that is an accurate description....

On Sunday, I remembered that it was the last day for the Festival of Trees at the Civic Center. I loaded the girls up and we headed downtown to check out all the beautiful trees decorated by local businesses as a charity benefit. Jillian was in awe of them, and Adrienne was mesmerized by the lights as she lay comfortably in her stroller.

 Santa Claus was also present at the event, and I was shocked when Jillian ran right up and jumped in his lap before I even had a chance to inquire if she'd like to talk to him. She wasn't fearful of him at all!

Despite the mess and craziness in the house, we are enjoying the space and lots of time to play. I even sometimes get in on the action!

More to update on later, I'm out of time for now. Stay tuned........

Old Friends

We were fortunate to have some special visitors today, all the way from Long Island, NY! We met the Aronsons over 5 years ago when we moved to Rochester and joined Gourmet Club. If you've been reading our blogs for awhile you may remember that Sean was born just a few weeks before Jillian, and I actually took Myla to the hospital when she went into labor early as Scott rushed back from Chicago. They moved away over 2 years ago and we hadn't seen them since. They came to MN to spend Thanksgiving with some friends in Minneapolis, and took the day to make the drive to Rochester to visit us. Sean and Jillian picked up right where they left off, and they had such fun playing together! It was hard to believe that they last "played" at the ages of 8 and 9 months, and now they are independent, smart 3 year olds. What a fun reunion we had!

After a pizza lunch, the kids got cozy and watched a movie. 

Then it was time for some outdoor play. They got into quite the wrestling match in the backyard, amidst time playing on the playset. I wish I had recorded all the laughing and giggles we heard!

Thanks for visiting, Aronsons! We hope to see you all again soon!

New Digs

After moving late last week, we are gradually getting settled into our new home. We didn't move far (8 miles to be exact), but it was a major change for our family. We left the only home our girls had known, and the house we had lived in longer than any other since going to college. It was emotional for me, and I was worried about how Jillian, especially, would adjust to the change. So far, all is going well, and we are excited about our new digs. Here is what the girls have been up to the last few days....

I had been compiling a box of dress up clothes for Miss Jillian, and told her she could have access to it when we moved to the new house. It was the first thing she asked me about upon move-in, and she has been playing with the costumes constantly ever since. It's fun to see what combos she comes up with. Here we have a combo of Minnie Mouse and a fairy, topped off with some high heels.

Rest time continues to be a challenge, but sometimes we get lucky and find our "princess" all tuckered out still in her finest apparel.

Thankfully, the weather held out for the move, and we have even had some very nice days. This has allowed Jillian to spend some time getting acquainted with her new "park". I love it because I can stand on the deck, or even in the house gazing out the large windows, to watch her play independently. If you look closely you can see her checking out the area at the top of the slide.

Adrienne has been having some fun experiences as well. Though she has been rolling over for over a month now, she just figured out that she can use the skill as a transportation mode. I put her on her back to play on a blanket while I unpacked a box, and returned not two minutes later to find this.

And it just keeps happening. Time to be a bit more careful about where I leave her!

 The sink in the girls' bathroom is large enough that we can use the Puj tub. This is so much easier on our backs, and Adrienne seems to enjoy the view as she gazes in the mirror.

 Grammy and Grandad were a tremendous help to us during the move in innumerable ways. Grammy even taught Adrienne how to do laundry in the new house. I wish I wore this big of a smile every time I had to do laundry!

We have lots of space and love company--if anyone wants to travel to Minnesota in the winter time, do come visit!