I'm out

I've been thinking of quitting the blog for a while. A recent blog stalking incident on another blog gave me the motivation I needed. So friends, this blog is coming to an end. I am debating whether to start another blog. Probably will, but I'll need to find some time to find a host and learn how to use it. I hate to let the bad people win, but I am not exactly anonymous on this blog.

If you want access to the new blog (should there be one), email me & let me know. formerfry@gmail.com

9 month checkup

We had the 9-month checkup today. She only gained a pound since her 6-month checkup! Normally I would be a little concerned, but she was really big then. She weighs just under 21 pounds now, and is in the 76th percentile. She's 27" long and in the 26th percentile for height, and her head is 43.7 cm, which puts her in the 49th percentile. So overall, I'd say she's about average. Works for me!

The spitting up though--WOW. Yesterday was, without a doubt, the worst spit-up day she's ever had. And it's rough every day. I'm attributing it to teething. The doctor said that could be it, but since it's not hurting her, we don't need to do any testing yet. If she doesn't quit it in 3 more months, we need to have an upper GI test done to make sure everything's working the way it should. She spit up once while the doctor was in there, but of course she also spit up several times during the 50 minutes we were in the waiting room. YES, 50 minutes. I'm irritated that every time we go there, we wait no less than 3o minutes, and every time I call, I'm on hold for no less than 30 minutes. But, I digress. I think that's just the way it is.

We started the new bedtime routine tonight. Usually we give her a bath, put her in her jammies, feed her, and then if everything goes well, she goes right to sleep. Now we're feeding her, then bathing her, reading her a story, and hoping she'll go to sleep. The first option didn't give us a chance to brush her new teeth (which show really well in this picture) and just wasn't a good habit so we're hoping she'll get used to this.

Happy 9 months

Hey Jenna Benna, you're 9 months old today. It's after midnight, so it's official. I don't know what it is about 9 months that makes it seem so old. I have heard people say this is their favorite age for babies, and I'm starting to see why. You have gotten to be so much fun! You crack us up sometimes with your laughs and your expressions and the things you do with your mouth. And you're so cute the way you wave to people. You like to hold your hand up and just open & close your fist. We get you to laugh whenever we can--such a happy and beautiful sound.

You are still spitting up like crazy--we have to take several burp cloths with us wherever we go and you usually go through 2 or 3 outfits a day. Sometimes we get lucky and it's just one. And you're still a really bad napper, but you're doing better. You make the craziest sounds when you eat. I tried to get it on video a few times, but for some reason, the video camera makes you quit what you're doing. You sound like Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade--that's what people say. When you do that, somebody usually quotes that movie. You just grunt & groan every time you eat a bite of something. We laugh, but we probably shouldn't encourage that--we're hoping you outgrow it soon, or else you could be in for some embarrassment when you get older. :) You are still a great eater, but we're afraid to give you big things because we don't want you to choke! You tried macaroni & cheese baby food today for the first time and you didn't like it. We fed it to you at Chipotle while we were eating too, but you just wanted to spit it out. It was really funny, but only because you don't often do that.

You want to walk so bad, you can probably taste it. You cruise all over the house--it's your favorite thing to do. Toys? Forget about em. All you want to do is stand and cruise around. You only crawl to get somewhere you can pull up, and you'll do what you can to get from one piece of furniture to another--even if you have to take steps on your own. I know you'll be walking this month. Your gramma says you'll probably be climbing out of your crib by the time you're a year old, but please don't! We have a lot more babyproofing to do before you can have free reign of the house.

You have gotten to be our little pal--we love taking you places because you love to go. We'll take you to Home Depot or Target or grocery shopping because you love looking at people, things on shelves, even the lights on the ceilings. People are always saying how cute you are with your pretty hair, but don't let that go to your head!

You'll be a year old in 3 months--hard to believe. In some ways time is flying by, and in some ways it seems you were born years ago. You're growing too fast, but you're getting more fun. We love you, precious girl!

6 weird things about me

I have been tagged by a couple of bloggers to list 6 weird things about myself. I'm having trouble thinking of them because I guess these aren't that weird, but I'm SURE there are a lot of weird things I can't think of.

1. I have to eat everything evenly. There has to be the same amount of meat, rice, & vegetables (or whatever I'm eating) left on my plate; the same number of each color of M&Ms, etc.

2. I am addicted to bad sit-coms. Aside from Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, and King of Queens (which I don't consider bad sit-coms), they're all I watch. Well, that and HGTV. I'm talking Step by Step, Brady Bunch, Full House, and Growing Pains. And I admit it. And I hate reality TV.

3. If I feel like I'm getting sick, I put listerine in my ears. I don't know if it really helps or not, but my boss told me about this years ago, and I've been doing it ever since.

4. Much like the food, everything else has to be even. My Tae Bo DVDs drive me crazy because he doesn't always do the same thing on the left side that he did on the right. So I'll pause the DVD and do the other side.

5. I like to clean. I don't do it as often as I should, but I get some sort of weird satisfaction out of making a dirty house clean, and I actually enjoy doing it.

6. I hate Cher. But I mean, really. The sound of her voice makes me go into convulsions. If some mean person who knows this about me makes me listen to her in a car or something (which has been known to happen), I will scream and cover my ears like a 4-year-old.

I'm not tagging anyone...I'll just check your blogs, although I think most people have already done it.

In Jenna news, she had a bad night last night. I don't know what her deal was. She went to bed at about 9, but then woke up about 20 minutes later. Jay put her back to sleep, but as soon as she got her crib, more crying. We let her cry for a while, but she was NOT going to stop. So he put her back to sleep, and she woke up at 11. Back to sleep, she woke up at 11:45. Back to sleep, up at 4. Then she woke up for good at 7. It wasn't hard to get her back to sleep all these times, so it't not like she wanted to play or anything. I think we're doing a bad thing by rocking her back to sleep, but we've let her cry for hours before and she just won't go back to sleep unless we coax her. I just keep saying it's temporary...it's temporary...

3 steps

She's not exactly walking, but she's taking steps! Usually not more than 1 at a time, but yesterday she took 3 all by herself, and then 4! She usually stands there all alone, looking like a big girl. She'll stand for minutes at a time now. She is SO CLOSE to walking! She already cruises all around, and pretty fast. So we need to take the shift from starting to baby-proof to full-on baby proofing.

We've got to do something about that shaggy hair. It's too short for any kind of pig-tails, but always in her face and messy looking. I guess she's just sporting the bed-head look. :)

It's still icy! The icicles are slowly melting, but business are opening. I left the house today for the first time since Sunday and the roads are still icy. Icicles hanging from all the houses & cars, sheets of it on the roads, and plants/grass covered in it. Craziness! Again--I would not be good living in the North where this happens all the time!

Brrrrrrrr

It's not often that we get snow in Texas. At least, not in this part of Texas. It's been snowing off & on today, and so many things are closed because of the icy roads. Schools, businesses (including hubby's), daycares (including Jenna's), and I assume stores. Usually when it freezes, it's just for a night, and then during the day it warms up. But it's been freezing for a couple of days and will continue through tomorrow. If it snows more, enough to stick more than just in patches, I would love to get some pictures of Jenna in it. Her first snow! On the other hand, I don't really want to take her out in it since it's so cold. Anwyay, I took these pictures earlier.

I complain about the heat in the summer, but I'll take that to this just about anytime. I don't know how you people in the North do it!

Happy girl

I can tell Jenna's gums are bothering her. She has one top tooth that has broken through, and the other one is trying to. She has her hands in her mouth a lot, and makes these noises with her mouth as if she is trying to sooth her gums with her tongue. But in spite of that, she is all smiles and laughs (and of course, high-pitch squeals) lately. I love those sounds!

What?

I just got this phone call:

Riiiing
Me: Hello?
Caller: Yes, can I please speak with Jason?
Me: He's not available. Can I take a message?
Caller: Is your mom home?
Me: Uh, no.
Caller: OK, thanks.
Click.

Are you freaking kidding me? Those of you who know me "in real life," do I sound like a little kid? I never thought so. Obviously this was a telemarketer anyway because 1) obviously he wouldn't be home at this time and 2) anyone who knows him knows he doesn't have a kid old enough to answer the phone.

Stupid people.

Stuff

I don't really have anything to blog about, but I felt like updating. I have been reading on other blogs that it's "blog de-lurking week." Which means if you read but never comment, leave a comment so I know who's out there! Of course I'm not really expecting that to happen because I've made a similar request before, but the comments and the counter don't quite synch! Anyway, some random thoughts:

1. It's funny how even babies have their moods. Sometimes I guess they just don't feel like doing things. This morning Jenna was NOT her usual morning self. She is usually happy in the morning--all smiles and play. This morning, not so much. She basically just wanted me to hold her while she chewed on her little rubber cow. I really think it's because her top teeth are busting through and she's not thrilled about it.

2. Matt Damon is hot. I saw him on Inside the Ac.tor's Studio and I knew he was hot before, but now he's even hotter.

3. I miss my friends. I love being in Austin, but we don't really have friends here yet. I miss our Houston friends! Email and phone just isn't the same.

4. There's so much to do. You know how you always have these little things to do that just keep piling up, and then when you think you're catching up, there are more things that keep coming up? So you put the housecleaning on the bottom of the list until you start seeing dust bunnies in the corners, and then you decide that maybe you should rethink the order of the things to do? Oh, maybe that's just me...

5. Ellen is so funny. I love watching Ellen. She did a parody of the recent overplayed SNL skit with Justin Timb.erlake (if you haven't seen/heard it, SO FUNNY, but I take no responsibility for any offense taken). She did hers with a straw & a juice box though...probably not funny if you haven't seen the original.

6. I love my husband. He's so awesome. I especially think that after hearing about deadbeat husband/fathers. I love watching him play with Jenna. Last night I was watching him play with her on the floor with some plastic balls that he was juggling and pretending like he was eating them, and she just sat there and laughed at him.

Is this a random enough post? I could keep going...nah.

kitchen

I fully intended to take pictures before we started tearing apart the kitchen, and I meant to take some in the process, too. But I forgot. The only one I have before is the day we moved in, when there were boxes everywhere.
Here's the same view now.

Here's kind of a weird angle, but it shows the floor, countertop, backsplash, sink, and wall.

I know no one else cares, but I do so I'm showing it anyway. :) Jay & his dad worked so hard putting in the tile floor and backsplash, and countertops last weekend. Jay finished the tiling and grouting over this past weekend, and I painted it all Thursday afternoon and then whenever I could squeeze it in over the weekend.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but here's what we (and by "we," I mostly mean Jay) did:

• *replaced porcelain cabinet knobs with brushed nickel ones
• *put in under-cabinet lights
• *took down curtains & vertical blinds; replaced with faux wood blinds
• *put in new countertops
• *new tile backsplash
• *replaced linoleum floor with ceramic tile
• *replaced white cast-iron sink with stainless sink and fixture (THANK YOU RON AND JANIE!!!!)
• *painted

Now putting in new lighting is the only thing left. It was so much fun cooking dinner last night! It was even fun doing dishes. :) I love our new sink. I didn't mind the way the old sink looked, but every time I put any pot or cookie sheet or anything metal in it, it got all marked up. We could even give Jenna a bath in this sink! If I thought she wouldn't try to stand up and flip over the edge, I would...

A great day

Today was another one of those great days that I'll think of when baby girl acts up. She was so good all day! Lots of fun. We went to church, ran some errands, came home, then went back out, grocery shopping. Then, friends came over for a while and Jenna played with their 4-year-old, Maddi. When they left, we walked down the street to a park that has some good (though fairly short) hiking trails. We got a baby carrier backpack thing that Jay wore the whole time, and it worked really well. She loved riding in it, though it has the same effect a long car ride has. This was her before:

Here she is during and after.

And again, even more after. :)

Since she had that nap, and a nap earlier today, she was pleasant! Until now, I don't even think I heard her cry all day!

Yesterday was super busy. We just about finished the kitchen (she's sitting on the countertop in the pic above). I'm so excited to have a usable kitchen again, without junk laying all over the place! I love how it looks now. I wish I had before & after pics, but I'll have to take just some after pics when it's light out.

As they say on SNL (which I haven't watched in years), good night & have a pleasant tomorrow.

WEEEEEEE!!!!!

Jenna loves her new swing. She would like it better if she could stand in it, but it keeps her entertained.

The kitchen remodel is going well. Jay & his dad worked really hard putting in new countertops, tile backsplash, and tile floors over the weekend. We were going to grout yesterday, but due to a water leak and a slow-drying mastic, it didn't happen. So now we have to wait until this weekend before grouting. Which means no washer & dryer or dishwasher until the weekend, but that's OK. It will be so pretty! We are trying to decide what color to paint the walls, but it's so hard! There are too many options. Green? Gold? Rust? Once we decide on a color, then we have to decide on one of the 200 shades of green, gold, rust, etc. Which probably means lots of color samples on the wall...I already painted 2 sections and am still clueless.

Yesterday was the start of Weight Watchers again. Bring on the point counting! I will admit that I went 13 points over my daily allowance on the first day, but hey--it was a holiday. :)