News this week

It seems like not much happens for a while and then all sorts of things are going on. Jonah started soccer again tonight so now I get to start running him around again. He really loves playing and he is on the same team with several of the same boys. He just really wants to make a goal this season. Lately he comes up with funny things that he says. When we ask him where he got it from he says, "I just thought it in my head." He is a thinker for sure.

Jenna had a rough weekend. We went to Dallas on Saturday and stopped at an IHOP on the way home for dinner. Just as we got inside she started throwing up. It was quite a sight with Brian holding her and me trying to catch everything that was coming out. One guy said as he was leaving the restaurant that he was glad he had already eaten. So once she stopped I took her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up. When we got back to the front she started throwing up again. We decided it was best not to stay and just go home. Jonah was pretty disappointed because he loves the "pancake house." Unfortunately we were still about an hour and a half from home and Jenna dry heaved all the way home. Oh what fun. I kept hoping she would start feeling better yesterday. Brian got to stay home from church with her because I had to teach sharing time in primary. She is such a good sport. Even though she felt awful, she kept trying to be happy and just go about playing as usual. She just really didn't have the energy for it. Thankfully she did not throw up at all today so hopefully we are done and none of the rest of us get it.

On a happier note. I had my ultrasound last Thursday and we are having another girl. I have some mixed feelings about it. Of course, I was nervous about Jenna being a girl. I'm sure things will be fine for the first ten years or so, then it could get pretty interesting. We really are excited though. When I told Jonah, he was only disappointed because he wanted a brother to play Lego Star Wars with him. I just told him that maybe one of his sisters would want to play with him and he was satisfied. As for names, it's always hard to think of something. We could continue the trend. Maybe Joanna? Jeena? I don't know. We didn't really decide on Jenna until after she was born. So we have four months to figure that out.

Mmm...Crayons

Yesterday, Jonah and I were a bit crafty and made "chunky" crayons by melting down all our old broken crayons in muffin tins to make new crayons. Jonah was really into it and had a lot of fun making them and coloring with them afterwards. He calls them "junky" crayons which is probably appropriate as well. We did most of it while Jenna was asleep but she had fun coloring with Jonah when they were done. Apparently though, she thought they looked like cookies. I stopped paying attention for a few minutes and when I turned around she had eaten about half of one of the crayons.

She is so good at making messes. Now when I take her into the bathroom and set her on the counter to wash her up, she certainly knows what's going on. The best part was trying to brush all the blue crayon out of her teeth. Luckily I still have all my fingers. She is such a cutie but a real stinker too.

News for Jonah

Here's the news. We are expecting another baby in June. We finally told Jonah last night. We were going to wait until we knew if it was a boy or girl but since I have told some other people, I figured we should tell Jonah before everyone starts asking him about it. We told him he was going to have another brother or sister. I don't think it really sunk in with him, mostly because he was really tired. But this cartoon popped into my head when we told him.

I told it to Jonah, so then he thought we were going to get rid of Jenna. At the moment he thought it was a good idea. I just hope he doesn't go to school today and tell everyone we're getting rid of his little sister.

Actually, Jonah really loves Jenna. He has from the very beginning. Right after she was born, he was mad at the rest of the world but always very loving with Jenna. He loves her even more now because they like to run around and wrestle together. They get really silly together. When I've asked him before whether he would want another sister or a brother, he said he wanted another sister. Probably because that's what he's familiar with and he likes Jenna. We'll just see how things play out in the next few months. I know how hard it was on Jonah when Jenna was born. Jenna is a lot younger so we'll see how she responds. Either way, there's always something new to learn and always some new adventure when you're a parent.

Calvin and Hobbes

Brian and Jonah got Calvin and Hobbes books for Christmas. It's been a while since I've read Calvin and Hobbes and I have found that some of it is a little too close to my life at times. Especially the ones where Calvin complains about dinner. Thankfully Jonah is no Calvin in most respects but every night as soon as dinner is ready the complaints begin. Unfortunately (or thankfully) the psychology that Calvin's parents use on him doesn't work on Jonah. The other night I made bean burritos for dinner and I wouldn't tell Jonah they were beans or he would think I was trying to poison him. The next day I read this page and started laughing because it was the exact same thing I told Jonah the night before.

Eating Dirt

We have had some beautiful days during that last few weeks. Jenna loves to be outside so she has been able to run around outside more. The other day she was in the back yard with Brian and Jonah and I looked out and her face was covered with mud. I went out to look at her and she had just been eating dirt. As I was trying to wipe it off, she was shoveling more in. I guess she got her mineral fill that day. She is such a crazy girl.

As I've thought about the difference between her and Jonah at this stage, I realized that it seems so much crazier with Jenna because when Jonah was this age we lived in a little apartment with no yard. I had a much smaller space to contain him and there was a lot less furniture to climb. Jenna is such a climber lately as well. She will climb up the drawers in the kitchen and either get stuck or start pulling things off the counter. There have been a few times where she has been climbing and gets stuck and just starts squealing. But she's also had a few good falls this week. The other night she fell off the chair at the computer desk and must have hit her head on the desk because I noticed a little while later that her head had been bleeding. Then yesterday she fell off one of the kitchen chairs and slipped on the kitchen floor and bonked her head. Brian has noted that she must be a little more cautious than Jonah was though because she doesn't have the injuries that Jonah had.

In nearly every picture of Jonah at this stage he had a black eye or a goose egg on his forehead.

Jenna may be more cautious but it doesn't keep her out of trouble, she just doesn't get hurt as much, or at least as badly.

Andrew was giving me a hard time about how short lived my blog was so I'm trying to get back on track. We had a very busy holiday season and it just didn't seem like I had time to do the normal baking and other activities.

Jonah had his birthday the week before Christmas. He was more excited for his birthday than Christmas until it was over. He had a fun day though. His friend Ally came over and they decorated gingerbread houses and then we went to Pump it Up, an indoor blowup playground. I also made him a Transformers cake. I don't know how great it turned out but he loved it so that's all that matters. He also had his Christmas program at school and he got to be a wooden soldier for the song he sang with his class.

Then we had a nice quiet Christmas at home. Jenna's favorite gift was a baby doll. After she unwrapped it she was dancing around, impatient for Brian to get it out of the box. She did really well opening her own presents. As for Jonah, we got a Wii game system and so he has been a Mario Kart addict ever since Christmas. He likes the other toys and things he got as well but only if I'm not letting him play Mario Kart. I'm so mean that I won't let him play all day.

The kids got to see Santa at our church Christmas party. Jonah was fine about it this year although a bit confused. While we were waiting our turn he looked up at me and asked "Brother Barrow is Santa Claus?" No wonder he's always passing out candy at church. Not much gets past Jonah. I think he was a little disappointed so I explained that he wasn't really Santa. I'm such a terrible liar anyway. Luckily there was another more believable Santa at his school. Jenna started to scream as soon as Brian put her on Santa's lap. So I didn't even bother at Jonah's school.

Busy day

Today was quite the day. We went with Jonah's school to the zoo in Tyler. It is a fun little zoo and Jonah was so excited to go. We were supposed to go on Tuesday but it was raining alot so it was postponed. I'm glad we were able to go today. It was a beautiful day, sunny and 70 degrees and the zoo wasn't crowded at all. As usual, Jonah's favorite animal was the penguins. They have a neat little penguin home where you can watch the penguins swim up close. It's always Jonah's favorite when we go there. It was also a good experience to go with some of the other moms. Jonah's school encourages family involvement which is good for me because I have trouble letting Jonah go. I know when he goes to kindergarten next year, I will have a harder time with it than he will. He is growing up so fast as soaking things up like a sponge. Brian has been working on adding and subtracting with him. He is just so proud of himself when he learns new things.

Jonah also lost his first tooth tonight. He woke up Sunday morning and his tooth was wiggling. I started frieking out because he's only four and I thought it would be another year or two before they started falling out. So I called my mom and she told me to find something else to worry about because it wasn't unheard of. So now he looks so cute with a little hole in his smile and he is eagerly waiting for the tooth fairy to come tonight.