Here's an update on our sweet little H:
One of her favorite games to play is football. She's quite good at throwing, catching, and kicking!
She loves to play outdoors, especially if she can dig in something.
She's opinionated about what she wears. She really enjoys picking out her outfits for the day and what jammies she's going to wear to bed. Most of the time she's pretty good at it, but some days she comes up with some interesting combinations!
She enjoys dressing up in girly things, especially on Sundays for church.
She loves to color, paint, and play with playdoh.
She loves to build with blocks, play with trains, cars, and Bob the Builder toys.
She enjoys telling jokes, especially knock-knock jokes. Our favorite is the one about juggling a banana. I've really got to get this on video some day!
She's very maternal, and loves to baby her dolls. I think she'll make a fine big sister and be a good helper to Mommy and Daddy!
She's still hoping for a baby sister.
She's very affectionate. She loves to snuggle. Any time Mommy or Daddy is leaving, she insists on a hug and a kiss and a handshake first.
She loves music and always has. She's a good singer and knows all the words to lots of songs. She loves to "dance", which basically means twirling around until she's so dizzy she falls down. She wants to do this every week at church, which is a bit of a problem since we always sit in the front row with Daddy.
One of her favorite songs is "Amazing Grace How Sweet." She sings along with the words on most verses, but for some reason prefers to meow on verse 2.
She loves being read to. She corrects us if we read something wrong.
She makes me feel very special when I pick her up from the nursery after church. She comes running to the door squealing, "Mommy, Mommy! That's my Mommy! Oh, Mommy, I missed you so much!" I feel like the most important person in the world right then.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
About a Boy
Here's a random update on J for those who haven't seen us in a while:
He's doing very well in school. He's in a Montessori preschool program and is learning lots. He particularly impresses us with his reading ability.
He loved going to school at first, but the thrill has worn off. I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that Papa has been coming over more often lately. He'd much rather be with Papa than doing most anything else.
He is into all things superheroes lately. He loves to dress up as Batman, Flash, Superman, and Spiderman. He also loves to recruit the rest of the family to play along with him.
He enjoys writing stories. Generally they're about superheroes.
He'll make me think we're about to have a meaningful conversation by starting out, "Mommy, I have a very important question to ask you." But generally completes the thought with something like, "Did you know that Spiderman. . ?"
He says he's going to live with us until he's 45, he's going to marry his sister, and he never wants to drive. I'd like to record these things and play them back for him when he's 16.
He's very affectionate. Every morning when he gets up, he stumbles into the bathroom and gives me a hug. Every night before bed he wants "Mommy snuggles."
He has great leadership potential. He's very good at planning, organizing, and delegating responsibilities for games or projects. He sometimes spends so much time planning, organizing, and delegating that we never actually play the game - but he enjoys it just the same.
He's very sociable. He can strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, anytime - and usually does - at the store, at school, at a restaurant, at church. He does not get that skill from his mother!
He enjoys drawing elaborate pictures. Again, usually of superheroes, their hideouts, their vehicles, their enemies and the like.
He thinks some of the funniest things in the world are underwear, burping, poop and related topics. Typical boy!
He likes to annoy me by singing the Barak Obama Irish song.
He's one of my 3 favorite people in the world!
He's doing very well in school. He's in a Montessori preschool program and is learning lots. He particularly impresses us with his reading ability.
He loved going to school at first, but the thrill has worn off. I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that Papa has been coming over more often lately. He'd much rather be with Papa than doing most anything else.
He is into all things superheroes lately. He loves to dress up as Batman, Flash, Superman, and Spiderman. He also loves to recruit the rest of the family to play along with him.
He enjoys writing stories. Generally they're about superheroes.
He'll make me think we're about to have a meaningful conversation by starting out, "Mommy, I have a very important question to ask you." But generally completes the thought with something like, "Did you know that Spiderman. . ?"
He says he's going to live with us until he's 45, he's going to marry his sister, and he never wants to drive. I'd like to record these things and play them back for him when he's 16.
He's very affectionate. Every morning when he gets up, he stumbles into the bathroom and gives me a hug. Every night before bed he wants "Mommy snuggles."
He has great leadership potential. He's very good at planning, organizing, and delegating responsibilities for games or projects. He sometimes spends so much time planning, organizing, and delegating that we never actually play the game - but he enjoys it just the same.
He's very sociable. He can strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, anytime - and usually does - at the store, at school, at a restaurant, at church. He does not get that skill from his mother!
He enjoys drawing elaborate pictures. Again, usually of superheroes, their hideouts, their vehicles, their enemies and the like.
He thinks some of the funniest things in the world are underwear, burping, poop and related topics. Typical boy!
He likes to annoy me by singing the Barak Obama Irish song.
He's one of my 3 favorite people in the world!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Jones Jargon
I confess, I'm one of those parents that tends to think most everything her children do is cute. I find their jokes funny. I laugh at their antics. I find their mispronunciations endearing. For that reason, I've never been one to correct them when they say something wrong. They always figure it out eventually. Usually, sooner than I'd like. In the meantime, I enjoy their charming kid lingo. In fact, a lot of times, we adopt their jargon into our own conversations.
It made me a little sad when J finally stopped calling the fuzzy red monster "Melmo." Or stopped asking for milk and "risins" (raisins) when he first got up. He used to like playing "bakaball" (basketball). He asked for "woman cereal" for breakfast. (The Smart Start box had a picture of a woman running on it.) For snacks he liked red crackers (Ritz) or yellow crackers (Wheat Thins) or veg-e-ta-ble crackers (vegetable flavored Ritz - pronounced with 4 syllables).
He called Target "Treats to eat" for a long time. It was a line from one of his story books: "Sometimes we'll visit the mall down the street, we pick out new clothes and have treats to eat." That combined with the fact that we often got popcorn when we went there, and the label stuck.
Chocolate chips are "brown bugs" in our house. Back in the days when he was still naive to the existence of sweets in the world, I was baking cookies. He asked what those things were, and I said, "Oh, you don't want those. They're brown bugs. Ick" (Yes, my children will never be blogging about how shocked they were to discover as adults that their mother had once lied to them.) He soon discovered that he liked eating brown bugs, and we've called them that ever since.
The only one I notice that's still stuck in J's language is "prentzels." He hasn't figured out yet that there's no "n" in that word.
H doesn't have quite as many of these in her vocab - Probably because big brother takes it upon himself to correct her whenever she mispronounces something. He recently corrected her for asking for Papa cereal. "It's mini wheats, H," he insisted. I defended her, because I'm not quite ready to let that one go. It has been Papa cereal or Papa yo's (short for "cereyo" - the toddler version of "cereal") for years around our house. The rest of the world may know them as Frosted Mini Wheats, but since our Papa used to eat them 3 meals a day when he was driving truck, J labeled them "Papa Cereal," and the name stuck.
J tended to shorten the names of fruits and veggies. He asked for "tatos" (tomatoes) and "banas" (bananas). H, in contrast, liked to add extra syllables. She requested "tenamatoes" and "banamanas."
H used to like "mice" in her drink. I'm sure her little ears heard us ask, "Would you like suh mice?" instead of "some ice?"
One of my favorites was her referring to big bumblebees as "fuzzy buzzies." It might have been even cuter if she weren't terrified of them. She would usually call them that as she was running away in tears after having seen one. "Mommy! It's a fuzzy buzzy!" She called lady bugs "baby bugs" until recently. I still like to call them that. She's afraid of those too - She's her Mama's girl!
Someday, they'll be all grown and know the real names for things, but I suspect there will be certain names that will remain in the Jones family for years to come. I have "Papa cereal" for breakfast every morning, like to make "brown bug pancakes" on occasion, and enjoy eating at "Salmon's" instead of Damon's.
It made me a little sad when J finally stopped calling the fuzzy red monster "Melmo." Or stopped asking for milk and "risins" (raisins) when he first got up. He used to like playing "bakaball" (basketball). He asked for "woman cereal" for breakfast. (The Smart Start box had a picture of a woman running on it.) For snacks he liked red crackers (Ritz) or yellow crackers (Wheat Thins) or veg-e-ta-ble crackers (vegetable flavored Ritz - pronounced with 4 syllables).
He called Target "Treats to eat" for a long time. It was a line from one of his story books: "Sometimes we'll visit the mall down the street, we pick out new clothes and have treats to eat." That combined with the fact that we often got popcorn when we went there, and the label stuck.
Chocolate chips are "brown bugs" in our house. Back in the days when he was still naive to the existence of sweets in the world, I was baking cookies. He asked what those things were, and I said, "Oh, you don't want those. They're brown bugs. Ick" (Yes, my children will never be blogging about how shocked they were to discover as adults that their mother had once lied to them.) He soon discovered that he liked eating brown bugs, and we've called them that ever since.
The only one I notice that's still stuck in J's language is "prentzels." He hasn't figured out yet that there's no "n" in that word.
H doesn't have quite as many of these in her vocab - Probably because big brother takes it upon himself to correct her whenever she mispronounces something. He recently corrected her for asking for Papa cereal. "It's mini wheats, H," he insisted. I defended her, because I'm not quite ready to let that one go. It has been Papa cereal or Papa yo's (short for "cereyo" - the toddler version of "cereal") for years around our house. The rest of the world may know them as Frosted Mini Wheats, but since our Papa used to eat them 3 meals a day when he was driving truck, J labeled them "Papa Cereal," and the name stuck.
J tended to shorten the names of fruits and veggies. He asked for "tatos" (tomatoes) and "banas" (bananas). H, in contrast, liked to add extra syllables. She requested "tenamatoes" and "banamanas."
H used to like "mice" in her drink. I'm sure her little ears heard us ask, "Would you like suh mice?" instead of "some ice?"
One of my favorites was her referring to big bumblebees as "fuzzy buzzies." It might have been even cuter if she weren't terrified of them. She would usually call them that as she was running away in tears after having seen one. "Mommy! It's a fuzzy buzzy!" She called lady bugs "baby bugs" until recently. I still like to call them that. She's afraid of those too - She's her Mama's girl!
Someday, they'll be all grown and know the real names for things, but I suspect there will be certain names that will remain in the Jones family for years to come. I have "Papa cereal" for breakfast every morning, like to make "brown bug pancakes" on occasion, and enjoy eating at "Salmon's" instead of Damon's.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Uterine Steal Syndrome
I haven't been very inspired to blog lately. I suspect it's partly due to Facebook destroying my ability to describe life in anything more than one-sentence status updates. It's probably also in part due to the fact that J is growing up (sniff, sniff), and while he remains wildly entertaining, he doesn't say as many goofy things that lend themselves to funny blog posts anymore.
But I think the the bulk of the blame has to go to child #3.
There's a phenomenon in vascular surgery known as "steal syndrome." It occurs in some dialysis access grafts where too much arterial blood flow is diverted to the venous circulation, starving the tissues downstream from the graft. It's seen in some people with a blockage in a major artery to the arm, causing blood to be rerouted from the brain when they use their arm muscles.
Although I've never seen it described in the medical literature, I'm convinced that a similar phenomenon occurs in pregnant women. I'm currently experiencing it for the third time. My fellow female surgeons and I like to refer to it as "Uterine Steal Syndrome." It's a condition in which all the blood which normally flows to my brain, making me the witty, intelligent person I usually am (a-hem...) is being sucked up by an organ a few feet further south. Hopefully the end result is a healthy, witty, intelligent child. In the meantime, though, it's making for a scatter-brained mom.
I displayed this condition today. I was leaving work and had to drive 25 min or so to my Ob appointment. I really had to go to the bathroom, but decided to hold it since I knew they'd want a sample when I arrived. As soon as I checked in, I got my specimen cup and ran to the bathroom. The sensation of "Ahhh" quickly turned to "Oh, shoot" when I realized I was still holding the unopened cup in my hand. I had held it for a half hour so that I could give a specimen, only to forget what I had been suffering for as soon as it was time to perform.
When the nurse asked if I'd left a sample, I sheepishly told her, "No, I'll have to try again later." I didn't really feel like giving any further explanation right then.
Despite the fact that for the past month I've had to go about every 20 minutes around the clock, and despite the fact that I guzzled a whole bottle of water (after they weighed me, of course), I could not squeeze another drop while I was there.
So that's my excuse. In a few more months, I'll blame sleep deprivation and post-partum hormones. Today, I'm blaming Uterine Steal Syndrome.
But I think the the bulk of the blame has to go to child #3.
There's a phenomenon in vascular surgery known as "steal syndrome." It occurs in some dialysis access grafts where too much arterial blood flow is diverted to the venous circulation, starving the tissues downstream from the graft. It's seen in some people with a blockage in a major artery to the arm, causing blood to be rerouted from the brain when they use their arm muscles.
Although I've never seen it described in the medical literature, I'm convinced that a similar phenomenon occurs in pregnant women. I'm currently experiencing it for the third time. My fellow female surgeons and I like to refer to it as "Uterine Steal Syndrome." It's a condition in which all the blood which normally flows to my brain, making me the witty, intelligent person I usually am (a-hem...) is being sucked up by an organ a few feet further south. Hopefully the end result is a healthy, witty, intelligent child. In the meantime, though, it's making for a scatter-brained mom.
I displayed this condition today. I was leaving work and had to drive 25 min or so to my Ob appointment. I really had to go to the bathroom, but decided to hold it since I knew they'd want a sample when I arrived. As soon as I checked in, I got my specimen cup and ran to the bathroom. The sensation of "Ahhh" quickly turned to "Oh, shoot" when I realized I was still holding the unopened cup in my hand. I had held it for a half hour so that I could give a specimen, only to forget what I had been suffering for as soon as it was time to perform.
When the nurse asked if I'd left a sample, I sheepishly told her, "No, I'll have to try again later." I didn't really feel like giving any further explanation right then.
Despite the fact that for the past month I've had to go about every 20 minutes around the clock, and despite the fact that I guzzled a whole bottle of water (after they weighed me, of course), I could not squeeze another drop while I was there.
So that's my excuse. In a few more months, I'll blame sleep deprivation and post-partum hormones. Today, I'm blaming Uterine Steal Syndrome.
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