Jenny's "collection"

I *SO* wish I had new batteries for my camera, so I could have taken a picture or video of this...it was super, super cute! Jenny has taken to gathering up "collections" of things in one of the many metal baskets I have. Just lots of little things that she likes, until the basket is full. Then she comes to find me and asks if I would like to see her collection...um, Of Course! She then sets the basket down on the floor, squats next to it, and unloads the items one by one in a circle around her, while naming each item. Here is this morning's list:

A puck (pacifier)

A cup

Music notes

A lego

A crocodile

ball

cup

chugachoo train

soap (not actually soap, lol)

breakfast (from the kitchen set)

a bead

a cat

a phone

a... shape

a clip

another clip

a blue lego

egg

lid

*grin*

At this point she sees a larger metal basket and sets off to find another collection, leaving her circle of goodies. A minute or so later, Anthony will wander in to ask me something/get a kiss etc. and will spot the circle of wonder, squeal and sit down in the middle and proceed to name everything that he likes. When he's done he very carefully chooses three toys and runs off to play with them. Rinse and repeat! I just love watching those two!!

Favorites - Jenny

As hard to swallow as it may be, my sweet baby girl will be three very soon. BUT I'm not thinking about that yet (to hard to swallow, lol). Instead of thinking about the inevitable birthday, I thought I'd show you all a few pictures! Sort of the highlights of her little life right now. Well, the ones I have my camera handy for anyway. :) Let's start with her little room...

Come right in! Her curtains are hand-me-downs from my cousin, made by my aunt. I hadn't done it for in this picture, but they are almost always tied back with purple ribbons. :)

Here is her sweet little bed, made by my Opah. The closet is on the right, but since it has only the smallest bit of trim paint on it (dark brown) I didn't think it was worth a picture. That's Julio (J is said as an H) there in the bed...don't ask, I didn't name him. Over the bed is her name made out of flower petels from our wedding...isn't that cool? It was a great baby gift!

This is her little reading spot. The rocking chair was mine forever ago, the books rotate and are occasionaly lined up neatly, but not as often as they're just stacked by sweet little hands. The gorilla sings "Wild Thing"...It is Tony's favorite toy. :) (It figures, huh? The one toy we have that makes noise...oh well)
This is her (Waldorf isnpired) nature table. This is our first, so I'm sure they'll get better, but this has been fun for now. The white cloth is for snow, and the rest is pretty self explanitory. The Nome is a bit random, but he is so cute, and we've gotten to talk about how wool is a warm thing we wear in the winter thanks to his soft fuzzy self. :) Today when we were getting the mail we saw new green blades of grass sticking up so we snagged a few for the table...I'm already planning her spring version! :)This is a happy spot. The dresser was Heathers, and has been given a few coats of "Tu-tu" pink, it is big, but will hold our girls' clothing forever, so we will grow into it. On top is the lamp I decorated for her while I was still waiting to meet her, the tea set we gave her for her first birthday, some treasure boxes from her Daddy and a Monarc Butterfly from her Nana. The mirror has been over my dresser since my 10th (or 11th?) birthday, the Crusifix was also mine, and the icon is of St. Genevieve. It will of course be fun to add things as we add girls, but it is fun for now to share my childhood things with my first daughter.This is the other artwork in there...I love Love LOVE it. The colors match perfectly, even though that wasn't planned (by me!)...it's just such a sweet picture!
A few of her favorite things right now...her new dolly bed (a child sized pack'n'play from WalMart) and her two babies. She says that they're in their pj's, not naked (for what it's worth). :) This scottie jumper is my favorite thing to put her in right now, and we are both loving her "elf boots", made from recycled sweaters! (And how about that day-after-pig-tails hair??)She wanted a picture of Julio and Casey... :)These are some of the pants I've made her recently. Each kiddo got three pairs, these ladybugs are the favorite though. :) Another favorite thing are her fuzzy lined pink crocs. Her daddy shared his Christmas money and treated her to new shoes....quite the lovable fellow. :)She has an amazing ability to cover not only her paper....

but also herself in (washable!!) marker in about 1/3 of the time it takes me to make dinner. :) (and yes, that's crayon on the wall behind her...I confess to loving it there)This was the answer to "How did you color your nose??" heehee

Right now the other favorite things are cashews, smoothies, and these hair clips. We have several sets, and I confess that I occasionaly clip one in for an around the house day. :) I love that Etsy seller right now...I can't get enough of her hair clips...and most of the other things she makes are on my wish list...I did get those Peter Pan push pins though!

So...that's my girlie right now. We're about to start picking out fabric for her summer clothes. I got t-shirts for t-shirt dresses again this year. WalMart has wonderfully bright, happy colors in the Garanimals line, with little bloomer type pants to match! We will be sharring when we get those made up. And you can look forward to the anual birthday photo shoot for more Jenny-loo goodness! I leave you with my very favorite picture...

Recent Pictures--Catching up! 1

What do two little girls do...

When the baby sister is asleep....

The baby brother is busy...

And the Mommy (or Aunt Tilly) has just gotten the special, tiny teaset from *her* Omah? (*note The tea pot is not part of the set...since the mommies were joining in, we needed more tea!) The very first big girl tea party was a big hit...now whenever Charlotte comes over Jenny asks for a tea party!The first of many cups of tea to be shared by these two girlies...
"Teapot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend, there's always time for you."
Unknown

Jenny-Loo!! (a video!)

Making cookies at Nana's

My beautiful girl

Making decorations...

Smiling at Daddy :)

This is my new favorite outfit on her...fleece! And her pig tails make me smile every time I see her. :-D

My lovey...

Singing her ABC's...very softly at first. :)

Tony's First Orange

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get anything put up here this week, but my camera has been acting up and it's taken hubby a little while to find a way for me to transfer my pictures (and video) onto my laptop. But all's well that ends well, and I've added my first video! Just nobody tell my Omah that she's on there...she'd kill me! Or worse...not let me in her loom room!! :-O Anywho, here's Mr. Handsome enjoying his snack time (in his cousin's highchair! lol) How funny is that tongue? He sucked all of the juice out of it...we were left with an orange peel and some pulp! :-)




Happy Gaudete Sunday!
~Tilly
ps) Living room, tree and project pictures will be forth coming now that I have a way to get them off of my camera!! Oh, and tomorrow I'm getting my Christmas gift from my hubby...he's taking me into D.C. to see the Trans-siberian Orchestra's Christmas show! We went when I was pregnant with Jenny, when they were at Madison Square Garden (!!!) and loved it, so when I mentioned it a few months ago, he tracked down tickets for this year...we're leaving both babies, so I'm both incredibly excited, and incredibly nervous!

Yarn, Snow and Babies

Remember the sweater I mentioned in this post? Well, while I have been slacking on making any progress (read, haven't touched it in a month...I need to hurry up or he'll out grow it!), I did manage to finish the back panel...or is it the front? I'll have to check...it doesn't matter though, since they're pretty much identical until I join them and do the collar. :) It's sooooo soft. I'm stupid proud of it. :-D Weird picture I know, but it's the best one I got at the time...

And I've been completely silent about another knitting project of mine...last month my mom and I made a trip to the yarn shop...she had never been. ... .... they have yarn with real sterling silver in it. It's beautiful. I've lost track...oh yes, projects. ;-) Well, as you can see from the (below) picture, you can see that we pretty much cleaned out the sale bins. I scored this yummy yarn out of the 75% and 50% off bins. Well, except for that one skein of soft pink yarn...that I shelled out full price for. (gulp) It's French yarn...what was I supposed to do? Put it back on the shelf? See? You would have done it too. :) Anyway, I saw the orangey/watermellon and green yarns in the sale basket and the just screamed "Jenny" too me. So, following my mom's advice, I got them all. Better safe than sorry...and I got $9.00 yarn for about $2.00 each! And that's the pattern I'm using, tucked in the back. Technically it's a boy's sweater, but in such fun colors you can't really tell. The pattern is worked neck-down so I started off the neck band in the pinkyorange color. Then the "yoke" part is in the green, and the pinkyorange starts up again right below the arm holes. I have a few more inches of the body and then the sleeves and it will be done! She measures around for the 18-24mos. and since I wanted her to wear it right away, that's what I made. I'm starting to have my doubts though, and am wondering how long it will fit her. :) At least I'll have plenty of yarn to make her another as soon as she out grows this one! I'll try to get pictures soon, but my camera is having a fit...so I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination this time.

In other news, Anthony is very nearly crawling, but that is a technicality...he get where ever he wants to go. And he very nearly has his first tooth cut. My days are a wee bit crazy, lol. Oh, and I hurt my foot stepping over a gate. Well, actually it was when I kicked the paint can, while stepping over the gate...big bruise, big ouch...I'm hoping it will be better tomorrow. OH! And we got our first taste of snow today! Nothing stuck (but it sure was cold enough!!), but it did blow and swirl around for quite a while. I love snow. :) Sorry this has been so rushed...I'm noticing that the condensed version of me is well...unique. If I were reading this, I would assume that the person writing was downing masive amounts of caffiene. I wish! :) Anthony has chased my key board across the bed now, so I have to go...or fall off. Ciao!

Not The Weekend I Had Planned!!

SO...after I finished my post on Friday night I went to bed. Then about 45 (sleepless-not used to Joe being gone!) minutes later Anthony woke up. Screaming. Jump ahead from 1:30ish to 3:30...we've given up on sleeping for a good 2 hours at this point, and have started bouncing a very crabby (20lb. baby). Around 5:00 I started walking with him, just a routine back and forth in our bedroom to get him to sleep...all the time I was thinking teeth. At 6:00 he was due for his dose of tylenol, so I give it to him, and start pacing...at 6:01 he (finally?) threw up. On me. At the risk of being to graphic, sour breastmilk and baby tylenol puke is disgusting. So I called my Mommy. What else?? Like a super hero she was there in about 8 minutes and held the now peacefully sleeping little sicky so I could shower. The day turned into a shockingly busy one, at least for not having gotten any sleep. :) The next town down was having a festival so I took the babies down and met up with Heather and her family for hot dogs and a parade. Jenny LOVED the parade, since it was mostly horses and tractors...and when the float went by with all of the county's MISS and Jr. Miss, etc. she was thrilled by the Princesses. ;) So cute!! My mom and I wound up driving up to were the Boy Scouts were camping and asked Joseph to pretty please come home. My sweet fella packed up his tent and came home to baby duty. I don't remember falling asleep, but I do remember my hair being brushed...pretty fantastic hubby, eh? I slept like a brick, despite Anthony making up for his lack of nursing the night and day before...Some days exclusivly nursing such a big baby is kinda hard!

Today I've been busy cleaning our bedroom. It was really. Really. Terible. Lots of sizes of baby boy clothes, lots of maternity clothes, plus my clothes, plus my out of season clothes, plus...well you get the idea. Pracitcally every piece of clothing we own, plus stupid things like bags the hospital gave us when I had him, misdelivered laundry (how did that get there??) etc. etc. etc. So, I still have the clothes to sort and pack up, but they're at least moved into our ajoining (and HUGE, trust me it makes more sense than it sounds like it does) bathroom to work on them there. The bedroom isn't 100% done, but I'd say at least 95%. :) I even was able to set up a nice little sitting area. :) I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow. Off for now!

My Boy <3

Anthony is going to be 4 months next Saturday, so I thought I would do a post all about my puppy. :) They say babies should double their birth weight between 4 and 6 months, and he's almost there! Double his birth weight is about 20-21lbs. -and he's 20!! And he's 4.25" longer already...infact he's moving into 12 month sized clothing!! It's really funny because I get so used to carrying him around with me, and having tired arms/back, and then I pass him to someone else and after about 2 minutes they're like, "okay, you can have him back now...he's totally cute, but my back just can't." :-P He is currently loving the exersaucer and can spin around *almost* whenever he wants too. Jenny's really great about handing him his toys when he drops them....which is still allot since he hasn't quite mastered the trick of grabbing something and getting it into his mouth. Speaking of his mouth, he is busy cutting his first two teeth! I think the corner of the first one may have come through today, but it's hard to get a good look. I probably should pare down the pictures, but...well...could you pick which ones to take off???

This is my *favorite* shirt! So soft!

He has my chubby cheeks, but he's starting to look like his Daddy more and more! (yay!)

"Mother? Mother why is the light flashing at me over and over?...Mother?"

Mother!

I love watching him figure each part out...he loves spinning these rings!
lookin' like his Daddy...

I started on his sweater!! It's my first real knitting project...I'm 37 rows in, and so far so good! The yarn is incredible to work with, and thanks to my mom letting me use her wood/bamboo needles I'm able to knit as long as the babies will let me! :) I've even mastered the seed stitch! It's one of my favorites, and it actually looks like it's supposed to! I'm about to start on the "almost double seed stitch", and I'm actually more excited than intimidated! :-D But this is about him, not me and my knitting obsession...but since it's a sweater for him, I think I can get away with posting some progress pictures. ;)

Ta-da!! How cute is that?? I'm so rediculosly excited about the fact that it's "working"!!!

A close up of the stitches...pretty huh? :-D

He is currently loving the exersaucer and can spin around *almost* whenever he wants too. Jenny's really great about handing him his toys when he drops them....which is still allot since he hasn't quite mastered the trick of grabbing something and getting it into his mouth. Speaking of his mouth, he is busy cutting his first two teeth! I think the corner of the first one may have come through today, but it's hard to get a good look.

Soooo asleep! And see how big he is??

Stairs and Shoes...

Last Thursday my poor Jenny fell down the last two steps at Heather's house and caught herself with...her nose. :( Seeing her fall and lat flat on her face, with only a lightly bruised forehead and skinned nose to show for it, was enough to make anyone believe in guardian angels! I was expecting split lips, loose teethe...the works as they say. And while this has been more than enough to teach her to hold my hand, I'm so relieved this is all that happened!

And she has discovered my shoes. :-P

It's already so much better...amazing how fast this age heals!!

I think the leggings make the outfit... ;)

Proof that high heels make your rear stick out, lol she was "cooking" :)

Peace

My poor baby has been teething lately...enough drool to drown an ant hive, and the last two days he's been so crabby. I was a little slow to realize it had reached the point of discomfort, but after two days and nights of him not nursing for more than a second or two...lots of crabing...you get the idea. Well, while getting diapers for Jenny-loo tonight it hit me. And I grabbed the Hyland's teething tablets! He's now getting his first good nap in two days... The poor Honey. :)

More Pictures

Chubzilla :-)

My lovey man <3

Jenny using Lottie's fancy color-wonder markers...so cool!