Applefest, September 2010.

Jackson's first pony ride. Maybe next year Jess will want to ride too.


The BIG slide --always a favorite! Jessica (being held by Grandpa Bob in this picture) is gearing up for next year...


A few more rides the kids enjoyed this year...




We played a few games...


...and won a few prizes (a few PINK prizes)!


The Quest: Win a Pink Unicorn for Jessica.
The Game/Object of the game: Ball-toss-game (10 balls/$5, 5 balls/$2). Toss ball and get it to land in one of the colored cups.
The players: Grandma Chris, Grandpa Bob, Aunt Judy, Daddy, Mommy, Jessica. Jackson was too busy admiring the pink pig he had won from a previous gun-shooting game. (btw -this pink pig is what initiated this quest in the first place).




$12 later...still no unicorn!



Alas, da-da-da-dum, big brother, Jackson, decides to give the game a try.
He steps up to the plate --as he is stared down by his father who wonders if he will soon be getting shown up by his own son--


It only took Jackson a single throw!


He did it! Jackson won the pink unicorn for his little sister, Jessica.


And Jessica is SO happy. The end.

Lia - 4 months.

Our little Miss Lia (aka: "Wea" and "Lia-pia") is growing so fast!
While I don't have a definite #lb. to report -we missed her 4 month doctor visit due to illness and have rescheduled for next Friday, Sept. 17 - I believe she is somewhere in the ballpark of 16 pounds.
She remains to be one of the most easy-going, good-natured babies I've ever seen; and Jason and I thank the Lord every day for allowing our third to have such a disposition!

Lia smiles, laughs, and LOVES to suck on her fingers/thumbs.
While she does not willingly roll over, she has done so accidentally a few times and then laughs about it.
She wakes each morning cooing to herself in her crib and greets me with a warm smile when I come in to get her.
Lia is a good night-time sleeper; she will wake only once (if at all) and quickly devours about 5 oz of milk and then goes right back to sleep.
Her napping varys from day to day, but averages out to be around 1.5 - 2 hours of naptime per day --either in the form of two mini naps or one long nap.
Her awake time is spent in her bouncy seat, on her playmat on the floor, or riding around strapped onto mom in her snugi.
She seems to get a kick out of watching all the daycare children run about and play, and smiles/ laughs at them frequently.

Jason and I agree, Lia is our easiest child. Not sure if it is because of her easy-going personality or just because we have more experience now?...probably a little of both.

School picture day.

Jackson had his school picture taken yesterday.

This is how I sent him off to school...




And, of course, Jessica wanted to have her picture taken with big brother too...

Jackson's first day.

After missing the first two official days of school (Thursday/Friday) due to illness, Jackson was ready to start his new Pre-K program the following Tuesday (after Labor day).



While not so eager to go...





He was all smiles coming back...



Jackson tells me how much fun he has in school each day. It is neat to see him "mature" right before my eyes. The daycare kids are always excitedly waiting at the front the door to greet Jackson when he returns home at 11:30 each day. Although Jackson plays it cool by giving a quick response like, "good." "lots!" and "yes." to all the repeated: "how was school?" "what did you do today?" and "did you have fun?" questions asked by the kids, I know he enjoys the attention and feels very special.

After one week of school.

Jackson's favorite part of his school day: the bus ride (which I'm sort of glad to hear because this is the part I dreaded the most for him...there is a teacher-aide that rides with the children and according to Jackson, "they have really cool seat belts.")

Jackson has learned several songs and can fully recite the 'Peanut butter and jelly' song --along with all the hand gestures. Cute.

Jackson is learning how things are run in his classroom. He has explained the 'clip-and-dot' system to me (which is a classroom management technique used by his teacher (Mrs. Lang) to control the number of students at any one particular station or work space in their room).
His class is also talking about the importance of using/writing words to tell a story. Library days are every Tuesday and Jackson was super excited to show me his 'Robot saves lunch' book this past Tuesday!

I am so proud of my little boy. This is a very exciting time for him.

What's wrong with this picture?...

Look closely.
Can you spot the imperfection in this photograph?...







...how about now?...





...I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that fingerprint didn't come with the cake!



Yes, this is a picture of some friends of ours wedding cake.

And, yes, that is our little man's fingerprint on the bottom tier of this cake.

Oops!

Unfortunately, this was done before professional pics were taken of the couple and their cake.

Fortunately, the wedding couple got a good laugh out of it!

As for our little stinker -- he now knows to "ask" rather than "touch" whenever he is questioning whether something is real or not!!


Although it was rather difficult to take the three kids with us, it turned out to be a fun wedding/reception.
It was at the Pettibone Resort on the River (same place our wedding reception was held). Not much has changed with that facility in the past seven years; it is still as lovely as I remember.

We had one of the guests take a picture of our family while we were waiting in the receiving line:

This is us, today...

Sometimes, even though I don't have anything particularily interesting to write about, I know the grandparents enjoy seeing a few pictures of their grandkids.

I snapped these pictures of the kids this morning. Jackson had just gotten up; both the girls had been up for about an hour or so.





Have a great day everybody!

Milk queen has been dethroned!

After Lia was born, I decided to jump right back into my old workout routine: going to the Y about 5 days a week and doing a combination of aerobic and strength training classes. And, because I wanted to get back into shape in a hurry (I have to keep up with three kids for goodness sake), I was also regulating my nutrition intake.

The result...

A worn-out, overly-stressed, unhappy mom who is just barely able to sustain a milk supply sufficient to feed my newborn baby.


So, I was faced with a decision.
What's more important to me? --being able to fit into my old jeans again, or having a healthy baby?

Obviously, you all know what my answer to that question was...

So, as of lately, I have decreased my time at the gym, and increased both: my time at the breast-pump and my calorie-intake.
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say I'm somewhere in the ballpark of 3,000 calories a day.
My typical breakfast now includes: a 3 egg cheese and veggie omlette, bowl of cereal, FiberOne granola bar, yogurt with almonds, 12 oz. cup of coffee, and lots and lots of water. And that's just what I eat before 10:00 a.m..

Having some "freedom" with food is nice, but, not always easy. I sometimes struggle with my healthy food choices. While I, fortunately, do not share in my son's sweet-tooth desires for pastries and baked goods, I could easily finish off an entire tub of ice cream without any troubles. And, because I feel like the majority of food choices I make are the "right" ones, I will admit I do treat myself to one large bowl of ice cream almost daily.

While my days of "Pumping and dumping" may be gone for now, it is my hope to work up a large enough milk supply to fill my freezer with frozen milk bags. This gives me the reassurance I need to handle an event in which I become sick or Jason and I vacation for a short period of time. Also, it'd just be nice to no longer have to stress-out or struggle to produce just enough milk to keep Lia satisfied.
I'm not there yet, but I feel like I'm on the right path...