Category Archives: Jenny

05.09.07
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Pregnancy Insomnia

It all started with Katie coming in just before 2:30 am and saying, “Mom, Jenny sounds like she’s throwing up.” She was. While sleeping on her back. I had to wake her up to wash her hair and change her sheets and clothes.

The next thing I knew, it was 4 am and I was still awake and trying to get to sleep, and Bill’s alarm started going off because he needed to get up. I relocated to the couch so his half hour snooze session wouldn’t prolong the onset of my much needed slumber.

I’m not yet thinking straight, and I have a jam-packed day with no time for naps. I’m “taking” my coffee now and soon hope to rejoin the land of the coherent and non-babbling.

Good morning, world.

03.22.07
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Sleep, baby, sleep

Jenny threw up in the car on the way to Bill’s office.

She threw up in the car on the way home.

She spent the remainder of the day sleeping, and her poor little body was burning up. At 5 am, after about 14 hours of sleep and 24 hours of limited activity, she appeared in our bedroom and decided to climb in bed with me. The fever was down, and she seemed chipper compared to yesterday (although it is too early to tell if this is due to her good rest or if the virus has truly worked its way out of her system). She closed her eyes and lay quietly beside me, but when I got up 20 minutes later, she was still quite awake.

I told her I would come back soon, right after I said goodbye to daddy. And after I checked email. And after I drank some coffee.

When I did finally go up, about 45 minutes later, to retrieve Peter, she had relocated to her bedroom. I guess she decided to get up and get dressed. She got halfway through this task – namely, she got her pajamas off – when she must have been consumed with exhaustion. So, she took a break and fell sound asleep, wearing only panties, on her bedroom floor.

03.09.07
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What was that address again?

For Lent, I’ve clamped down on the random kid-channel surfing my kids like to do. We’ve gone on-line and printed out the TV lineups for PBS and Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. They have to tell me what they want to watch.

Jenny asks, “Mom, can we go on the computer to dot com to see what I want to watch?”

03.07.07
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Recent photos

If you get a camera out around here, everybody wants to get in front of it, even the dog.

Katie has that “Queen Esther from Veggie Tales” thing going on with her hair. She likes it like that. Boy, do I have flashbacks to being an adolescent and having my mom tell me to get my hair out of my face. So, just another decade or so of pictures like this…

This is the photo I wanted most of all. This is Jenny’s favorite dress. She was on a dress-wearing marathon and made it at least FIVE days with this same outfit. And then walked around half naked the next day waiting for me to cycle it through the laundry. I suppose that’s better than where we were a month ago when she would go through six outfits a day. This dress is cute, but it’s really too small for her. It looks fine with the black tights, but usually she prefers pink or purple socks (yes, with red plaid), and the skirt barely covers her bum. I was struck by how much she looks like me in this photo. I usually have a hard time seeing it.

And this one…what will be more embarrassing to him in ten years: the strutting around completely naked, or the wearing of his sister’s pink shoes? I assure you, he was quite unabashed in his traipsing around the house as only a child can be. And the only shoes he prefers to the pink ones are the shiny black tap shoes, which he loves to wear, while naked, while dancing on the kitchen floor.

12.18.06
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Poster Child

I really thought Jenny would enjoy going to CCD like her big sister and brothers. So, I signed her up for the 3 year old program.

In the last few months, I have really tried to convince Jenny that she does NOT want to go to CCD, but she absolutely insists she must go. No, she does NOT want to stay home with Daddy and Petey and watch some hunting show with some female hostess – Dad’s bonding time with his third son. No, she really wants to go to CCD.

But she doesn’t want to go to her classroom. She wants to go with me. I’m the assistant in Billy’s 1st grade classroom which is right next to her classroom in what is fortunately an open layout. So, she begins the session in her area where they have the children coloring a picture, and when she’s done with that, she comes over and hangs out in our area. No, she doesn’t want to go listen to the stories in her area. No, she doesn’t want to go see what her friend Molly is doing in her area. She wants to stay with me.

She will go back for snack, though. Priorities: coloring and snack.

Today in CCD, they made these Christmas decorations. The photo was taken last week, since this isn’t the dress she wore today.
Side note on the dress: check it out. The latest in 1970s fashion!! My younger sister, Beth, and I had matching ones – this one was worn by first Beth and then by our younger sister, Barb. The one I wore was lost. I loved these dresses.
But it is a 1970s fashion. I am not making her wear this dress. I hung it in her closet and she chose to wear it. Honest.
Her face tells the true story of CCD – just how much she enjoys going. I really wish she would stay home and watch hunting shows with Dad. Isn’t she pathetic? She looks like a poster child for deprived children in some poor country.

Dear Compassionate Friend,
Just 30 cents a day – less than a cup of coffee – and this child could be fed, educated and given modern clothing to wear. Please consider a donation.
11.13.06
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Hiatus

I’ll be taking a few days off from the computer. A few days ago, Pete and Jenny removed the ball from my Trackball and played catch with it. Since they aren’t very good at the “catch” part of catch, it fell on the porcelain tile (the one small bit of it in the entire house) and cracked the outer shell of the ball rendering it completely useless for anything, but most especially for use as a Trackball. I have a generic mouse, but using it makes my hand (and forearm) hurt really badly. Typing is okay, but clicking, highlighting and dragging and dropping really cause me problems that don’t stop when I walk away from the computer.

{Sigh}

Jenny gets in moods where the only thing I can expect from her is trouble. These moments can last for hours, but fortunately their frequency is diminishing to perhaps once a week. If one of her trouble-making sessions coincides with one of Pete’s nothing in the house is safe! The rest of the time, though, Jenny can be pretty amusing and charming.

Yesterday afternoon, she lay down on the kitchen floor and stretched her arms out toward her feet and over her head. How big am I, Mommy? This big? I assured her that yes, she was that big – a big girl.

Then…can I have gum?

Her heart’s desire is to be big enough to be allowed to have gum. And too soon she will be.

09.11.04
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teething baby

The baby is up often during the night. She wants to sleep only in my arms attached to a breast.

Sleeping in a semi-upright position on the couch is like charging a cell phone while it’s on. You don’t get a good charge, and eventually the battery wears out.

This has been going on for two weeks now.

I am so tired…