New to You

This week has gone by fairly slowly for me. I got in a slump at the beginning, I had too much to do and didn't want to do it all by myself. After a great talk with Johnny- don't you love venting?- I felt motivated to just do it. He's a great motivator and listener when I need to vent/think out loud. I cleaned out the kids clothes- huge job since there are 5 of them! So I put away some clothes for next year and put the summer ones in the closet/drawers. When I finished cleaning out closets and drawers all over the house, I had 4 big black garbage bags stuffed with clothes!! I usually take things to a resale shop in Vidor, but I don't think it's worth the gas right now. I plan on giving it all to the Christian Care center down the street. (UNLESS anyone wants hand-me-downs--??) I've been storing little boy things for a few years thinking we'd have another son, but nope. So now I think I should give it all away 'cause I'm not interested in a garage sale right now. Anyway, it felt good to clean that all out.

Johnny has been doing clinicals for Mental Health and Medical Surgical this semester. He has gone to Rusk TX, Marshall TX and Shreveport LA for MH and he's been in Nacogdoches for MS. The MH has been tough- it's sad to see so many people so confused and troubled. It really makes us thankful for the gospel. He likes learning about it all though. So far, no chance that he'll want to specialize in Mental Health, it's a little draining for him right now. He's been doing great with helping around here when he takes breaks in studying and on weekends. Yesterday he washed and vacuumed the van, changed the oil in his car, picked up sticks and mowed the lawn and burned some boxes, etc! AND he rode his bike! He's been riding at least 3 times per week and he loves it! If he doesn't get to ride, it nearly ruins his day. He had a knee injury when he was a teenager that has given him problems for several years now. Since he's been riding his bike, his knee doesn't bother him. He jokes that it's cheaper to buy a rode bike than to have knee surgery. It's true. I'm so proud of him for being so committed to exercise. It's not just exercise, it's a hobby that he's fully adopted, it's a way of life. His way of life. So great! He's also been able to manage quality time with the kids. If he's home on a weekday, he'll take a break to play with Olivia and Ella. They like to play "Baby Bears"- they pretend their baby bears and he's the daddy bear. Simple concept. While he worked outside yesterday, Katherine and Travis helped him- they loved it! Also, he bought a cheap golf set from Dollar General and he's been playing with it with the kids. Cheap fun! Tonight Johnny did his Father's Interviews. The kids love that time with him. He's such a good dad. I knew when I said yes I would marry him that he was wonderful, but I had no idea that he was this good! And I know not everyone can say that about their husbands. Johnny really is golden! He will do anything and everything. I am so grateful for him and his love, example, humility, hard work, dedication and thoughtfulness. (The list could go on and on, but I think you get the picture...) Anyway, he's wonderful. Moving on...

Katherine has been obsessed with journaling! She loves to write things down and plan family activities. She has 4 or 5 journals right now. I gave her a composition book to use for a journal until she could get a real one. Then we bought her one at Walmart for a few dollars. When I bought Enchanted it came with an Enchanted journal that I gave to Katherine, which makes 3. Her latest journal is one that she got from school. Every so often the kids get to pick a prize out of the Prize Box for good behavior. During Father's Interviews and Family Home Evening we plan things to do together or talk about upcoming events and she likes to write it all down, and even make up her own things. She is also a huge help with her siblings! I don't know what I would do without her! Today she had to take Olivia to the bathroom twice at church; she stirred the pot of soup while I nursed Bryn, then held Bryn while I changed Ella's diaper. She's always there when it gets too crazy for me! She's also doing really well in her music class. "A,B,C,D,E,F,G, C,D,E,F,G,A,B" LOVE LET'S PLAY MUSIC! She gets excited to think about going into second grade already- I can't believe it! We hope she gets Mrs. Smith- she was Katherine's kindergarten teacher last year.

Travis is the life of the party! He has so many mannerisms that are all his own! Like the way he moves his mouth when he's serious or the way he uses his hands when he talks. He cracks us up! I don't know how he does it, but when he tells a story there are always sound effects! I wonder if it's a natural boy thing-?? He has an incredible imagination and he also is so mature- kind of unique combination. When we watch a movie- any movie- he imitates it immediately after, and sometimes during it. Here's an example: Let's say we're watching The Incredibles. Before the movie is over, he will have a homemade cape, out of a baby blanket, tied around his neck and he'll be flying through the air with swooshing and crashing sound effects. I'll try to video tape it sometime. He is learning a lot about rhythm and solfeg in LPM. Right now he is in his second semester of music, which will unfortunately also be his last because AmyLyn is moving to Vidor. We plan to let him take piano lessons after this. Travis is doing so well in school, he can read so many words already! When he writes his name he likes to make the "r" capitalized, so it looks like this "TRavis". Cute! When we lived in Vidor he loved his Pediatrician, Dr. Prause, and he decided he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. Maybe he'll still want to in 25 years! He loves to play with Bryn and likes to help with her and Ella. He's great at watching them for me if I ever leave the room. He and Olivia have so much fun together since they both have such fun imaginations and Ella tags along. I think she's taking notes.

Olivia always talks about wanting her cousin Lia to come over. She prays for it, about it and makes lots of plans. We have a candy jar in our kitchen and we put their Easter candy in it. Olivia said that candy was for Lia for when she comes over. Well after everyone got a few pieces several days in a row, it was all gone. Olivia was a little upset because she thought Lia would be disappointed. We don't even have a day planned for Lia to come, but Olivia talks like it's today, everyday! She loves to watch movies, and since we don't have tv here, she watches at least one a day. I know, I'm a great mom! She wakes up every morning and after she goes to the bathroom, she asks if she can watch a movie. I always make her wait until she eats and gets dressed at least. So she'll quickly dress herself and eat breakfast. I'm trying to encourage her to play more, inside and outside. She gets bored easily, or tired of whatever she's playing with, but she can sit through a movie just fine. That is until Travis and Katherine come home from school. She likes to play with Ella, but sometimes Ella takes her frustrations out on Olivia. She likes to paint with fingerpaints and play with Playdoh, Barbies, Polly Pockets and, her favorite, dress-up! She'll dress up as a ballerina or Princess and dance around the living room acting out movies with me. Sometimes we're Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper..."I'm just like you, you're just like me..." and sometimes she's Ella of Frell from Ella Enchanted. She has inherited, or learned, the gift of quoting movies! (Actually they're all good at it!) Sometimes I can get her to color pictures, but only if I do it with her and it doesn't last long. Olivia is so good at giving compliments. She tells me all the time that Bryn is so cute, and that Bryn is beautiful! I'm not much of a complimenter- it's something I'm working on, but I don't use words like "gorgeous, beautiful, fabulous, etc" very often. So for Olivia to say "beautiful" so much, I'm really glad! She really is so sweet and forgiving. If another child hits or fights with her, she gets over it so quickly! I love that about her. She loves to sing and dance. I'm thinking about letting her take ballet, if we can afford it. I love how musical my kids are!

Ella has been cracking us up lately just by talking! The way she pronounces things and how she does a slight pause between her words- soooo cute! She's so fun to watch and you can't help but laugh. She runs down the hall and her little head bounces... she dances out of nowhere! She loves to copy Olivia and twirl and dance around the room. When she dances she twirls around and sort of waltzes and then it turns into jumping with both feet off the floor over and over and over! Hilarious! I need to videotape that too! Tonight when I put her in bed she was crying and saying she was scared, so I kissed her a couple of times and then I said, "Give it back!" She laughed and laughed and said, "No!" I told her to kiss me and I'd give it back, but she wouldn't do it. She stopped crying though and never got up again. She sleeps with Olivia on the bottom bunk bed- it's a full size bed that we have them sleeping sideways on- kind of like a daybed. Anyway, they have more room that way and they're small enough that their feet don't hang off. Ella can play with anything and pretend that it's a baby. She picked something up off the floor, that didn't even resemble a baby but I can't remember what it was, and cradled it and said, "Oh! You scared?" as she patted it! She loves Bryn too! She has learned how to hug Bryn with only her hands- this way she doesn't squeeze her! So sweet. Her favorite thing to do is "Swing high." Katherine is always so good to take her outside and put her in the baby swing on the swingset and push her as long as she wants. Ella is lucky to have so many kids to play with! She LOVES LOVES LOVES Signing Time!!! Sometimes I hear her singing the songs. She likes to review signs with me. Whenever we go to the doctor's office or anywhere that we have to wait or if we're at the store for a long time, I'll distract her by reviewing signs. Sometimes, at home, she'll look at me and sign and say, "table!" or "shoes!" I'm so glad they're learning to sign! I love it!

Bryn has been teething in a bad way! Poor girl had a fever for a couple of days this last week. One morning it was 100.9 under her arm, so almost 102 when you add the degree! I attributed it all to teething, but I'm not sure that's what it was. She sounds a little congested now, but no more fever. That was her first time to have a fever! Tonight she was crying a lot and didn't really want anything. I gave her some Tylenol, hoping her gums would stop hurting. She's been sucking her thumb a little and biting on her bottle trying to get some relief. I videotaped her crying a little while ago:



She's fast asleep now. We've been laying her in her bassinet on her stomach lately, since she can roll over and hold herself up pretty good, and she's been sleeping through the night most nights. It's been really nice! She is so fun to watch! She lights up when you look at her and smiles the biggest smile! I think she looks so much like Olivia did/does. I'm not sure how much she weighs, I need to get on the scale with her and find out. I've been supplementing since my surgery in January. She's taking Enfamil with Lipil and likes it warm. Lately she's been drinking close to six ounces at a time. (That's a lot for her- I know there are newborns out there drinking more than that, but she's typical for our babies.) She has started showing an interest in toys now. She has a bouncer that makes music when she pulls the handle and it has two little butterfly toys velcroed to it that she pulls down. I've been giving her lots of floor time too now and she's really good at rolling over. My mom told me that it's good for them to feel the floor against their skin and this way she'll learn to scoot properly. lol. You'd think I know this stuff by now, but somehow I forget with each baby. Bryn is by far the most active baby I've had. She laughs, today she was growling. I think she likes to hear herself. She's so fun. She loves her baths too. Her skin can be really scaly and dry- maybe a form of eczema. So I use Ivory soap on her and then I put Aveeno bathoil on her before I get her out of the bathtub. Then before I dress her I put Aveeno lotion on her skin and she's clean and clear! I love how well it works! Ivory is cheap and Aveeno is worth it! I actually bought the bathoil on clearance at Walgreen's.

As for me, I am loving the changes we've made in our house. I like that I have been able to organize things better in our house. It feels nice knowing where things are and that if we were to have to move, I wouldn't have to pack things I didn't want, or store it! This week I plan to clean out our filing cabinet and throw out papers we don't need to file anymore, and most importantly file our taxes! Hopefully I can do that tomorrow. Also this week I want to get back to working out! Since Travis died I have been SOO off my schedule and, as Johnny said, that is the worst thing for Jill! I need to do Power 90 Sweat and Sculpt and the Ab Ripper 100! Jill is happy when things are organized, clean and when she works out and is on a schedule! One thing about me is that I like to know what is going to happen. I like knowing what tasks I have to do and what Johnny and the kids will be doing for the week. What about surprises? Here's what I think about surprises, if Johnny wants to surprise me, he can ask me out on a date and surprise me with a gift on our date, like flowers, chocolates, promises he doesn't intend to keep... (Oh wait, no, that's not Johnny, that a line from Beauty and the Beast. Sorry.) haha I would rather him surprise me with something little rather than surprise me with a date. Does that make sense? I like the anticipation of something way more than the element of surprise. So, give me your schedule. Let me know what to expect so I know what's expected of me. I'm way more productive and organized that way. Knowing that Johnny will be in school for the next however many years is okay with me- the time is going to pass anyway, at least I know what we'll be doing with it. Right?

Well, if I'm going to work out tomorrow, I better go to bed... blog atcha later!