Jenna 1.2

Age: One year and two months
Milestones:  More words!  Her vocabulary currently consists of imperfect (though consistent) versions of mommy, daddy, bird, dog, more, all done, no, eat, please, and hi
My Favorites: Her hugs...she gives us these big hugs and pats our backs. She always goes "awwwwww" when she does it too...it's so cute
Her Favorites: Her koalas...she has a big one and a small one. She carries the small one with her all day and she snuggles with the big one all night long. 

Surprises: She's getting a lot pickier.  It's almost impossible to get her to eat meat and she won't touch peas, which used to be her favorite.  It's definitely a new and interesting phase!
Other Notable Moments: Jacob and Jenna went to a Daddy/Daughter dance put on by our church.  They got all dressed up, did some dancing, ate some snacks, had some photobooth fun...all in all, it was a super cute night and I LOVE that our church made some space for dads to have a special night with their little girls
Looking Forward To... Her being able to talk more!  I love going on walks with her and seeing her point and say "Dog! Ruff ruff ruff ruff!"  I just love this whole new level of knowing what she likes and wants and is feeling excited about at the moment.  I can't wait for her vocabulary to expand even more!!

Hairdryers make the best toys

6 Weeks

How far along? 6 weeks
Maternity clothes? No
Sleep:  It's definitely getting harder to get through a day without a nap!
Best moment this week:  Hearing baby's heartbeat!!! I love ultrasounds so much and getting to take home Baby J's first picture was just so fun!!

FYI: the baby is the little white spot inside the black spot, for all you ultrasound newbies out there

Miss Anything?  Not this week
Movement: Nope
Food cravings: Ugh just...quantity.  Can I just crave quantity?  If I'm having an apple, I want three.  If I'm eating a cookie, I want 6. After I eat a meal, I want seconds and after I have seconds, I want thirds.  It is really. freaking. difficult. and I feel like I've already gained about 7 pounds, which is a little discouraging to tell the truth.  I'm making a resolution right here and now to drink WAY more water to fill me up so I don't end up doubling my weight.  Because we're QUICKLY heading down that road, my friends.  [Complete side note: I'm really fond of my water bottle, in case anyone is in the market for a good one...it's one of those things I'm really picky about and it's pretty much a pregnancy/breastfeeding must-have. Just thought I'd share!]
Anything making you queasy or sick: Bananas. It's so funny because I was OBSESSED with them last pregnancy but every time I smell them now (which is often, because Jenna is obsessed with them) I just want to ralph.  Although I will say, I had a few days with no symptoms at all, and I was afraid something was wrong SO I will take any sort of nausea with a sigh of relief and a smile!
Have you started to show yet: I do have a bulge, but I do not have a baby bump.  A.k.a. I need to stop eating all the time
Gender Prediction: I guess boy, because I haven't been loving fruits like I did with Jenna
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, with smatterings of machine gun sobs whenever I'm around to witness any sort of touching moment, real or otherwise.  I TOTALLY lost it reading Fancy Nancy to Jenna this week.  Like...head in my hands weeping.  She was initially really concerned, but then decided I was playing so she giggled and moved on to the next book.  I need to get it together.
Looking forward to: Having everyone know!!  We're so excited, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to tell anyone yet.  I don't know what the hold up is, but Jacob feels the same way so we're not going to rush it.

5 Weeks

Jenna actually LOVES having her picture taken with the camera timer...she starts cheesin' so hard!

How far along? 5 weeks
Maternity clothes? Not yet, but I bought a new pair of yoga pants.  I practically lived in them last pregnancy and my other pairs are thoroughly worn out.  Like... gaping holes in all the places where my thighs touch which is apparently a lot of places
Sleep:  Pretty normal. Napping a bit each day. A few weird dreams.
Best moment this week:  Getting little chocolates from my Mother's Day Out kids for Valentine's Day.  First, I just love getting presents but then second...chocolate. Obviously.  They did not last long, I'll tell you that.
Miss Anything?  Cold lunch meats! Why is this such an obsession of mine when I'm pregnant??  I barely eat deli meats when I'm not pregnant, but pop a baby in my oven and suddenly I'm the pastrami queen.  (side note: what even is pastrami and how can I be craving something I've never had?!)
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Besides wistfully looking at my deli drawer now and then, I'm not super into food right now.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Here and there.  I got sick brushing my teeth this morning...ugh, that's the worst.
Have you started to show yet: Not yet
Gender Prediction: I keep calling the baby a she!! I guess I'm just used to being pregnant with girls
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, except I cannot turn on the TV without crying.  I haven't cried at any commercials yet, but we watched Tarzan last night and all I had to hear was the opening music and I was an instant hot mess.
Looking forward to: Food tasting ridiculously amazing again.  I just remember last pregnancy everything tasted like it had been sprinkled with fairy dust leprechaun rainbow crack and I can't WAIT for that!

Also, just as a bonus I'm going to throw in a little Valentine's photo of Jenna.

Here we go again!!!

HOORAY!!!!!

Another baby!!  I'm so excited!! I had been wondering if I was pregnant because my period was SUPER late, but I didn't know if I should say anything to Jacob or not because I didn't necessarily FEEL pregnant. Not overly tired, no super sense of smell, no mega boobs.  Plus, I had been disappointed in previous months when I thought I was pregnant and wasn't.  PLUS, was I supposed to find out alone and then announce it to him in some cute/clever way, like with a jar of pasta sauce or a meal that consisted solely of baby carrots or something?

But THANKFULLY, the night before I was going to give in and take a test, my period came up in conversation (don't you love marriage?) so I spilled everything.  Overwhelmed, excited, nervous, and mostly just relieved that we were doing it together,  we woke up early to take the test. (Well, I took the test.  Jacob supervised.)  So there we are, huddled together at 6:30 in the morning, twiddling our thumbs and staring alternately between a 2 minute timer and a pregnancy test covered with a piece of paper.   The two minutes ended.  I looked at Jacob before I lifted the paper for the big reveal and just got this HUGE smile on my face.  I think I knew deep down it was going to be positive and was so UNBELIEVABLY excited.  When I saw the plus sign Jacob and I were both so happy, we just started laughing and I was happy crying and it was just...awesome. Best feeling ever.

We got to tell each of our families too, which is always great.  My favorite was when we told Stacy & Andrew.  We were FaceTiming and I said all sing-songy that we had some biiiig neeewwwss.......................we got a new car!  Stacy's face totally fell and was like "BOOO!!!!!!!"  I started laughing and said "Just kidding, we're PREGNANT!"  Jacob and I were laughing about that boo for days.  In any case, YAY!!! We're having a BABY!

Baby bump!!! Um...leftover from my first baby. And for the record, I'm sucking in here like my life depends on it.

LOL REAL LIFE!

How far along? 4 weeks
Maternity clothes? No, but I did bust out out my big maternity pillow. It's so soft!
Sleep:  Pretty normal, although most days I try to squeeze in a little nap
Best moment this week:  Finding out I'm pregnant & telling our families!!!
Miss Anything?  Being able to eat batter! I made muffins the other day and wanted to try the batter before putting them in the oven, but there were raw eggs in it. 
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: None. If anything, I've been feeling slightly less enthusiastic about food in general
Anything making you queasy or sick: I have gotten queasy a few times...I was being healthy and made a salad for lunch yesterday, but as soon as I started eating it I just started gagging.  I guess that could've been less pregnancy-related and more not-a-fan-of-salad-related though...
Have you started to show yet: Still showing slightly from my previous pregnancy, does that count?
Gender Prediction: At first I was thinking it was for SURE a boy, because I had practically NO symptoms pre-pregnancy test. At least, they weren't nearly as severe as they were with Jenna.  Looking back at previous blog posts though, my symptoms are actually pretty parallel (tired, mild nausea), just less severe so...I'm going with girl!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!  Although, I did have a major moment of anxiety...I panicked because I felt like I had already made so many mistakes with this pregnancy!! I had my hair colored, I drank hibiscus tea THREE times (which is apparently a no-no,) and I was eating cold pepperoni!  I felt so guilty and nervous and I kept saying to Jacob that I just wanted to hit a reset button to start this pregnancy over again and do better the second try!!  Apparently you can't do that.  I felt better after talking to Stacy though, because she reminded me that the baby isn't actually attached to my bloodstream yet (he/she is working on building a placenta this week) so no harm, no foul. Big. Frickin. Relief. No more pepperoni or hibiscus! 
Looking forward to: People knowing! I'm definitely not going to be able to wait as long to spread the news this time!

Jenna 1.1

Age: One year and a month
Milestones: In the past, she's always taken things OUT of containers, but now she is actually enjoying putting them back IN.  Time to teach her to clean up after herself! Woo hoo!
My Favorites: Watching her do things like a big girl, like sharing with others, drinking out of straws, and carrying around a purse.
Her Favorites: Giving hugs and kisses to everything!! Also, we went to Gymboree and I'm pretty sure it was one of the most amazing days of her life.  
Surprises: How much she loved opening presents at Christmas!  She seriously had such a blast with it, it was really fun to watch.
Other Notable Moments: Christmas, naturally.  We also took her and Asher to the Choo Choo Restaurant, where we used to go to when we were little.  She really liked watching the little train they have in there drive by.  She also had her first haircut!  Which was way more traumatizing to me than it was to her.  All I asked was that her hair wouldn't be in her eyes and that she would still look like a girl.  Well...the lady just kept snipping away and she pretty much ended up with hair like Moe from the Three Stooges AND there's a huge chunk missing from the back. Oh well, it'll grow, right?

Shaggy

Clippy

Aaaand Moe.

Looking Forward To...: Ach, just everything.  She just gets to be more and more fun each day.

Happy 1st Birthday Jenna!!!

Age: 1 year old!
Milestones: The two biggest milestones have both been in the last few days.  First, she took between 2 and 6 confident steps by herself, meaning she was stepping without simultaneously falling forward into one of our laps.  Second, she was going up AND down the two steps between my parents' kitchen and family room like a pro.  It was super agile and not unlike Catwoman.  She's also been chewing a lot better, which means I don't feel obligated to cut up her food QUITE so tiny.
My Favorites: Mealtimes.  It's just such a fun time to interact with her.  She loves to feed me, which I think is just hilarious.  She holds out a piece of food and says "aaaaahhhh" which is my cue to say "aaaaaahhhh" back while she puts the food in my mouth.  Sometimes she giggles, but mostly she just gets this really satisfied look on her face, like she's glad I'm taken care of.  Also, she started snuggling again!!  She went through a couple months where she really wouldn't let us snuggle her.  It was so sad!  But now sometimes when we pick her up, she'll lay her head on our chest and tuck her arms down by her side.  She does it if she's tired or if she hasn't seen us in a few hours, like after Mother's Day Out.  I love love love love it.
Her Favorites: Looking out of windows.  She loves this SO much that even if she's crying about having to go into her carseat, the second I close the car door, she gets SUPER excited because now she can look out of a window.  And NOTHING is funnier than when there's an actual PERSON on the other side of the window.  Other favorites: people, Italian sausage, her Busy Bible, playing with her car bugs, cottage cheese, cinnamon, bread, things that jingle, chasing cats, taking things out of containers, bear crawling, and Mom & Dad.  Not necessarily in that order.  
Surprises: She does this thing when she's upset...she makes this trilling sound instead of/while crying and it is SO bizarre!  I have no idea where it came from but it happens several times a day at this point.  Also, I was surprised by how much she loved the Happy Birthday song!  The instant we started singing to her, her head shot up and she had the biggest grin on her face.  It never fails to make her smile, which is certainly convenient for taking pictures!
Other Notable Moments: Thanksgiving, where she celebrated by eating an entire sweet potato, plus some turkey, stuffing, and a roll.  Her 7th plane ride, which she handled like a champion thanks to the empty seat next to us and very nice passenger who played with her for most of the flight.  And finally, Jenna's was in her first Christmas concert.  It was through Mother's Day Out and she basically just sat on stage in her little Bumbo and shook her jingle bells, but it was super cute.  And I got a first class seat because I was on stage too!  Granted, I was juggling 2-year-olds, trying to keep them from nose-diving off the stage and from putting the bells in their mouths, but I still got to sit right by Jenna.  
Looking Forward To...: The next year (and all the years to come!)  This one moved so fast and so much happened.  I can't wait to see what happens next!

This face keeps happening and it KILLS me!

Selfies with almost-one-year-olds are hard.

Happy Holidays, all!

11 Months

Age: 11 months...ahh she's almost a year old!
Milestones: Saying mama (FINALLY!), taking a few steps on her own, waving, and all of a sudden today she started drinking out of a straw like a pro even though she's never done it before, that I know of.  Oh, and she can make the sound a dog makes and she says Raven (although at best it sounds more like "heevee.")
My Favorites: When she dances!  It is so cute seeing her bop up and down.  I also just love watching her explore.  She's getting so much more coordinated and adventurous so watching her play is just a blast.  Also, the snuggling.  I just can't get enough snuggling.
Her Favorites: Taking the fish off of the Peter Fishing page in her Busy Bible, taking every. single. thing. out of my diaper bag (and she gets really mad when she can't pull the lining out too,) opening and closing drawers & doors, the bathroom, spoons, dancing, and waving at people & giving them the head tilt/cutie eyes combo.  This especially happens when I go into work at Mother's Day Out...between the other teachers, the parents and especially the kids in my class, Jenna probably thinks she's a straight up celebrity. What a ham.
Surprises: How much she understands!  Today Jacob said, "Where's Mommy?" and Jenna said, "Mama!" and turned around and pointed at me!!  It is crazy to me that she is able to understand questions and respond to them like that!
Other Notable Moments:  Halloween, naturally!  She looked so cute in her little minion hat.  No trick-or-treating, but we had fun sitting in the front yard with some friends and watching the other kids!
Looking Forward To...: When she can walk!! I have to say, when I'm getting out of the car and my hands are full of groceries/teaching stuff/food, my thoughts usually drift to how nice it will be to not HAVE to carry her inside :)

The bag of bread dropped from the top of the fridge and it only took seconds until Jenna was shoveling it down...

Thanksgiving feast at Mother's Day Out