Moving the site

Blogger has been stressing me out so we're moving. Here is our new link. www.jenandjohn.wordpress.com

The park

Things are slowly getting back to normal. Leah has been in a very good mood lately which is much appreciated by all. Today Emma actually cried more than Leah. I honestly don't remember the last time that happened. Emma is having constipation issues again. The flu seems to have slowed down her system and she's not all that interested in eating - she's still eating and drinking water so we're not overly concerned yet. We have learned in the past that we really need to watch her diet and this week was an exception. Today she wouldn't eat her pears or veggies so I told her to show Elmo what a big girl she was - right away she opened up her mouth... Leah is just fine - apparently these two little girls are different right down to their bowels ;) Our weekend consisted of the usual trips to Costco and the grocery store. Friday night we watched TV and last night John went out for dinnner with some of his former co-workers. I was invited but I see my old co-workers quite regularly and I know it's nice to just get out and relax with only yourself to worry about. I spent the evening reading a book Coby lent me called Freakonomics. So far I have to report it is quite fascinating and I can see why Coby thougth I would enjoy it (and I'm only 65 pages in). There is a chapter on parenting I am looking forward to reading. This afternoon we took the girls to the park. I wanted to take the camera but the battery is dead. The park is far enough that we opted to drive. There is a huge park (complete with splash pad, soccer fields etc) slated for just down the street from us but who knows when that will be ready. The girls weren't walking last fall so this was their first trip to the park. They REALLY liked it. Leah loved the swing, Emma was scared. They both loved the slide and went down themselves no problem after a few runs holding our hands. The park was pretty busy and again the girls very different personalities were apparent. Emma is pretty shy and could care less about other kids. She's quite content to play by herself. Leah on the other hand is fascinated by other children. She is not at all shy and will walk right up and try to engage kids of all ages. At one point today she was trying to play with 3 little boys (of about 4 years old) and their dumptrucks. When we got home I brought out some stickers I bought them a few weeks ago. Lazy me has been hesitant to give them stickers for fear of our walls but they actually really liked them. We gave them each a pack and a piece of paper and it was good for about 30 mins of entertainment. Not bad for some dollar store stickers that were of fruit and birds. Imagine if I gave them Sesame Street stickers!

We all fall down

So we had a good weekend. We went to Ronan's first bday party on Saturday and then I had book club on Sunday. John's dad arrived Sunday night to finish up all the little things that needed to be done before the drywalling starts. John came home early (it's sad when 5pm is early...) on Monday night, walked upstairs and threw up. He had a really bad headache and I was hoping it was just a migraine (although John doesn't get migraines...). At 3am I heard Leah wimpering and made it into their room just in time to rub her back while she puked all over her crib. I got her and the bed changed and she went back to sleep. I didn't go back to sleep at all, she threw up again at 4:30 and then at 6am which woke Emma up and there was no going back to sleep for anyone. Leah was in good spirits throughout the day and I thougth all was well until she projectiled her dinner. John was in bed sick all day. Leah didn't throw up in the night but she threw up 2 more times yesterday morning. By mid morning I was feeling queasy and I started puking after lunch when the girls went down for their nap. Emma woke up from her nap and then she started puking. Oh it was a lovely afternoon. Thankfully John's dad was here to help me clean them up and take care of them. The girls are doing fine today. I am still a bit off but nothing like I was last night. I guess I should be thankful that it is a quick acting flu. This is the first time the girls have been sick like this and I'm also thankful we got to wait this long. Leah is a real trooper. She did a fair amount of lying down on her pull out couch but for the most part she got on with her day. Throwing up didn't really phase her. Emma on the other hand started to cry when she was sick. I think she was scared. She recovered quickly and we all watched in horror as she danced around in circles on the carpet minutes after losing her entire dinner. John's dad left last night but not before catching the awfulness. I'm just glad he got to be sick in his own bed. The poor man has had to see/hear me be sick no less than 8 times this past month...and then he had to clean up the girls puke. I think he might be taking a bit of a break on the basement! Nana and Papa got the girls some rain boots. They love them and can put them on themselves. Here are some pictures from before they got sick. I didn't take any pictures of them when they were sick although I wish I had taken one of Leah lying down on her couch. They never sit still like that and it was very cute.

Emma loves the dishwasher (and has been known to stand on the door and dance...)

One of Leah's many looks...

Puke City

We're all sick. Trust me - you don't want the details. I'll be back soon. Check out Carrie and Coby's website for pics from Ronan's first bday party.

Formatting fiasco

I'm looking into moving our blog and I tried something out which seems to have ruined the formatting. I'm not going to fix it until I decide what I want to do - I'm sorry if it hurts your eyes!

Cold hands mama

It's still cold outside. It's some demented payback for the soft winter we had. I've taken the girls out in their wagon every afternoon. We go over to the pond and they say hi and bye to the birdies (Canada Geese that never left - I don't know if any of them do anymore?!). About 2 blocks from home I let them out and Emma pushes the wagon while Leah tries to test me over and over again by walking off by herself. Lucky for me "Do you want me to put you back in the wagon" seems to have the same effect as "I will pick you up if you don't hold my hand"...it's just not a very lasting effect. I have been spoiled the last few weeks because John's dad has been here and then I spent that week in Windsor. He took a week off this week and I was a bit worried about 5 days in the house with no car and cold weather. The no car thing really is killing me (I told you I would whine eventually). I was the one who pushed John to get a new job and said over and over again that I was tough and could live without a car. Well it sucks...but I'm hoping the warm weather, if it ever comes, will help. And at the end of the day I've had the pleasure of actually having a car and not being able to drive it and that sucked much, much more than this little inconvenience. Being the wonderful person that he is, John has also offered to take mass transit whenever I want the car. It's not an option I will use very often but it's nice to know it's available. Lately you can tell how the day is going to go within seconds of when Leah wakes up. If she's happy and chatting away to Emma you know it's going to be a good day. If she's crying and whining to get out of her crib watch out. On those bad days the whining sometimes never stops and it pushes me to my patience limit. One of the good things about being alone with the girls is that I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what her problem is. Early indications are pointing to sleep. She's a pleasure on days when she gets 12 hours. On days when she's up 30 mins to 1 hour early she's not happy. It got so bad yesterday morning I put her in her crib at 9:30am. She was not happy, but hey she wasn't happy before I put her in the crib, and within 10 minutes she fell asleep. I woke her up 1 hour later and then put her down for her nap with Emma. She was a pleasure to be around yesterday afternoon. They were both up early this morning and it was a so so day for Leah. Happy but not well rested happy. We put them to bed at 7 tonight. They didn't actually fall asleep til 7:30 but I'm hoping she'll sleep her full 12 hours. Fingers crossed. The girls finally figured out they can sit in their doll strollers. Luckily at 22 pounds the stroller can handle their weight. This has resulted in HOURS of entertainment. As soon as one of them sits down the other will come over, do up the seatbelt and push her sister around. Then they switch. It's pretty cute.

Seatbelts are not optional

St Patrick's Crystal Ball

"I said GREEN BEER and you give me this water crap. Yeah, that's right, CRAP. CRAP!, CRAP! - Emma don't bother with your sippy cup - it's full of CRAP" "LEAH, LEAH, I see the beer truck"

"I'm coming - do you think I have time to change? I hate it when mom caves and dresses us the same. I struggle with my identity..."

"Here let me help. I think we're too short. There must be something around here we can stand on. Hey, how about you lie down..." "Come back...hey where did that sippy cup go? Maybe mom found the food colouring and that beer Uncle Coby left the last time he was here. Hey is that dad coming? What did we do to deserve a dad who doesn't drink beer?"

Happy St Patrick's Day and Happy 5th Birthday Jackson!