Dress Up

Sawyer enjoyed trick-or-treat last weekend.  It took a little coaxing to get him into the costume but he finally decided it was worth wearing to get the candy.  Sawyer was a chicken and Cailey was a frog.   Andi Grace was also a chicken.  She and Sawyer had matching costumes which was a complete coincidence but very cute.

Today, I bought some clearance costumes at 75% off.  I figure that they will work well for playing dress up or for future trick-or-treating.  I bought a pink princess dress, an angel dress and a Tinker Bell costume.  On average, each costume was about $10.  I told Sawyer to pick out a costume but he didn’t want one.  I might go back and buy a fireman or superhero costume.  After all, a princess needs a hero, right?

It seems like we’ve been very busy but I can’t really think of anything major that we’ve been doing.  I guess it has just been a lot of little stuff.  We had a mini Janssen family reunion at our house three weekends ago and last weekend we helped Peter’s brother move into his very first house.  We’ve been doing a lot of leaf raking/blowing.  This is our first fall with a leaf blower and I love it.  I’m not sure if the work gets done any faster but it is easier and I don’t get any blisters.

I’ve been trying to think of some sort of child’s fort to build in our playroom.  It is something that I would have loved to have when I was little.  I would like something with two levels which is causing a little bit of difficulty because our ceilings are pretty low (maybe 6.5-7 feet).  I was also considering a slide but I think it would take up too much space.  Now that I have a little girl, a mini-house or castle would be fun but it probably has to be gender neutral so that Sawyer will want to use it, too.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Here are a few pics of the kids.

 

Cailey is 7 Months Old

Cailey turned seven months old about a week ago (I’m a little bit behind on my posting).  She weighs 15.2 pounds and is 26 1/2 inches long. 

Cailey has become really good at sitting unassisted.  She can lean over and reach toys and then sit back up again.  She can also go from sitting to lying down.  Cailey is very close to crawling.  She wants to crawl so badly but she just hasn’t figured out how to do it.  I guess that she will be crawling within the next week or two.

I looked at some seven month old pictures of Sawyer and saw that he was drinking from a sippy cup, holding his own bottles and eating some beginner solids like Puffs and teething biscuits.  Sawyer was already crawling by seven months and starting to pull himself up onto his knees.  I was surprised to see how much further along he was than what  Cailey is.  Obviously some of these things are dependent upon the parent.  I had not even thought of giving Cailey beginner solids yet.  I also hadn’t given her a sippy cup or tried to get her to hold her own bottle.  It seems as though I was so much more eager for Sawyer to learn/accomplish new things than I am with Cailey.  Maybe because Sawyer was first and it seemed like so much more of a big deal with him.  It could also be that Cailey is my baby and my last child so I am wanting her to stay a baby as long as possible . . . the less she does on her own, the more baby-like she seems.  With Sawyer, I think I pushed him a lot harder to learn stuff but with Cailey I am leaving her to just learn stuff in her own time.

I expected Cailey to grow the same way that Sawyer did so I bought her size 12 month clothes for winter (I typically buy clearance clothes a season ahead).  She is not quite keeping up with Sawyer so 12 months will definitely not be fitting her during the early part of the winter.  I put Cailey in her size 12 month winter jacket to see if it would fit . . . I guess we will have to figure something else out

Bedtime Giggles

Sawyer usually goes to bed really well.  Tonight was a little out of the ordinary.  Long story short, we tucked Sawyer into bed seven times tonight and he kept getting out of bed.  He is grounded from a few toys tomorrow for his bad behavior.  But . . .

I see these little fingers peeking out from underneath Sawyer’s bedroom door.  Since corporal punishment wasn’t working, I decided to lay on the floor in front of his door.  When his little fingers popped out again I grabbed them.  Sawyer began to giggle.  He pulled his fingers away and then stuck them under the door again.  I grabbed his fingers again and Sawyer said, “Who is that?”  I lowered my voice in disguise and said, “I don’t know.  Who do you think it is?”  Sawyer said, “I know it’s you, Mommy.”  I said, “What are you doing?”  Very seriously, Sawyer said, “I’m trapped in here.  I can’t get out.  Will you save me?”  His question made me laugh.  It is funny the way children think . . . he is a prisoner and we have ‘trapped’ him in his room.  Plus, I’m the enemy . . . like I’m really going to ’save’ him.  On the other hand, I’m the mommy and I make everything alright so of course I would be the one to save him.

For a few minutes longer, we continued to giggle as we grabbed each other’s fingers.  Then I had to be authoritative again and make him go to bed.  Sometimes kids are so gosh darn cute it’s hard to be upset with them.

A Whole Lotta Stuff

I have my fourth batch of zucchini bread in the oven so I have a few minutes to write a post while I wait for it to finish baking.  The kids and I brought a batch of zucchini muffins to our elderly neighbor, Joe.  He is a very nice widower and I thought he might like some baked goods.  Then we headed to the park.  Sawyer met a little boy at the park who was two weeks older than he.  The boys had a fun time playing together while the little boy’s mother and I visited.  Maybe the boys will end up in the same four year old kindergarten class next fall. 

Just a side note on kindergarten, I just heard on the news that gov’t is trying to make kindergarten mandatory for children.  Children will not be allowed to enter first grade until they have completed kindergarten.  I guess the problem now is that kindergarten is not mandatory so attendance cannot be enforced. 

Both kids had back to back doctor appointments on Monday.  Sawyer was pretty awful.  I’m not sure what got into him but he was at his worst.  I suppose it happens to all parents at one time or another.  He was getting into everything and not obeying.  As a parent, you don’t want to do too much scolding in public but then it looks as if you have a very unruly child that receives very little discipline.  When we got home, Sawyer spent a very long time in ‘time-out’.  On the plus side, both kids appear to be very healthy.

Tuesday night was our first night of Awanas.  Sawyer had a great time in Puggles (the 2-3 year old class).  At one point, I walked past his classroom and saw all the kids (about 20 children) sitting at the little tables with their hands folded and heads bowed in prayer.  It was really cute and it lifted my spirits to know that all of these children are learning about God at such a young age.  All of the kids in the class received a Puggles t-shirt and will get some kind of kit (or box) for the year’s activities.

Peter and I have volunteered to work at Awanas.  I love babies so I requested to be put in the youngest class which is basically just a nursery.  Including Peter and I, there were four adults and seven babies.  There should be two more babies next week.  I enjoyed taking care of the babies and I think Peter did, too.  On the drive home, Peter told me that he had been nervous but it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be.  I’m sure some nights will be easier than others.

Sawyer is finally day time potty trained.  He has done a great job the last two weeks and has had only one accident.   I think the deal breaker was telling him that he couldn’t go to the Eve of Destruction (a race/demo derby type event) unless he did all his business in the toilet.  He will only pooh in the little potty chair but I’m okay with that.  Now we need to start working on night time training. 

Here are some recent pictures of the kids.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend ended up being a very laborious weekend.  On Friday night, Bryan and Peter cut down a birch tree in our front yard.  On Saturday morning to early afternoon, Peter and his brother cut down a half dozen large branches hanging over our deck and then trimmed all the trees in the yard.  It is amazing how much more sunlight shines into our house now.

On Sunday, we drove up to Wausau and helped Peter’s parents lay a brick patio/walkway.  On Monday, we borrowed our neighbor’s lawn edger and edged the sidewalks and driveway.  Then we blew/swept off all of the sidewalks and driveway.  The yard looks very nice and neat now.  Peter also swept off the deck and tried to rid it of the monster spiders.  I have to admit that I very rarely go out onto our deck because there are so many spiders.  We are hoping that there will be fewer spiders now that we have cut down most of the tree branches that were hanging over it.

Peter’s parents have a very large garden and sent us home with a ton of produce.  We have corn, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions and beans.  Tomorrow Peter and I have Awanas training but starting Wednesday I will be baking, freezing and mashing (for Cailey’s baby food) all of the produce. 

I am going to bed tonight feeling very accomplished.  Here are some pics of the kids.

Cailey is Six Months Old

Cailey is six months old today.  Her big accomplishments for the month are learning to sit on her own (she’s still a little wobbly, though), eating rice cereal and getting her first tooth (which she got today).  Cailey is well into the ‘reaching/grabbing/shoving into mouth’ stage.  Everything she gets her hands on goes into her mouth . . . probably because she is teething. 

We didn’t have any problems with the teething.  Cailey seemed a little more sensitive this last week and we had two nights where she was extra fussy and more difficult to get to sleep but that was about it.  I didn’t even know she was teething until I felt the tooth this afternoon.

Cailey weighs exactly 14 pounds and is 25 1/2 inches long. 

Cailey - Six Months

Sawyer is a Puggle

Our church (Appleton Alliance) has an Awanas program during each school year.  Basically, it is a Sunday school class mid-week.  The classes are every Tuesday night from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  for children ages two years through grade school. 

Peter and I signed Sawyer up for the Cubbies Awana group.  This is for children ages 3-4 years old (for children one and two years prior to kindergarten).  We are planning to start Sawyer in kindergarten for the 2011/2012 school year so this is the age appropriate group.  Unfortunately, Sawyer is not fully potty trained so they recommended that we move him to the two year old program, Puggles.  They assured us that he would not be bored and that there are a handful of other ’summer three year olds’ in his class.  I think Sawyer will have a good time and enjoy being a Puggle.

Peter and I will also be in Awanas.  We have volunteered to be ‘leaders.’  We will be working with the Little Quackers group.  This is the youngest age group (newborn through two years old).  I volunteered for this group because I love the little babies.  It is not really a teaching class, more of a nursery class for young children of the other leaders.  Cailey will be able to be in the nursery with us so it suits us well. 

My brothers and sisters and I went to Awanas when we were younger so I know what it is all about.  On the other hand, this is the first Peter has even heard about the program.  For now, Peter will be working with me and the Little Quackers but once he sees what the program is all about, I think he will want to switch to working with the older kids.  I think he will have more fun teaching/playing games/planning activities for the grade school age children. 

I am looking forward to a fun and rewarding school year with the Awanas program.  I’m sure we will all have a good time learning/doing God’s work.

Cailey is 5 Months Old

Cailey - 5 Months

Cailey turns 5 months old today.  She weighs 13.4 pounds and is 25 inches long. 

This past month, Cailey learned how to blow bubbles with her lips and how to fake cough.  Sawyer never did the fake coughing thing so I was a little surprised this morning when Cailey was doing it.  At first I thought she was sick but after each cough she would smile and giggle.  After a few minutes, I figured out that she was coughing on purpose.   Throughout the day, I would cough at her and she would return my cough with her cough.  It was very fun

We gave Cailey her first cereal last week.  She ate it really well and seemed to like it.  We had hoped that it would fill her belly a little more before bed time so that she wouldn’t wake up at night to eat.  That didn’t happen, though.  She still wakes up to eat once per night.  Since she did so well with the cereal we will continue to give it to her.

Getting Ready for a Party

Birthday Party Preparations

This Sunday, Peter will be taking both kids to his parent’s house so that I can start cleaning for Sawyer’s birthday party.  My house is a mess and the yard is a mess.  I know I won’t be able to get everything done but I am hoping the ’surface’ will look clean

I think this is the first year that Sawyer is old enough to understand what a birthday party is and he is getting excited about it.  Peter and I don’t think it is necessary for our kids to have a birthday party every year but we will probably have a party for them once every few years.  I thought this would be a good year for Sawyer because of the new baby.  It will be a special day just for him.

I wasn’t sure about how to go about inviting kids to Sawyer’s party.  I want a lot of kids to help celebrate and play with Sawyer but I don’t want people to bring gifts.  I just want it to be a fun day for Sawyer and his friends/cousins to play.  I am worried that our invitees will feel obligated to bring a gift because it is a birthday party but I hope that they do not.

Mary Kay

I hosted a Mary Kay party a couple nights ago.  It ended up being myself, Kristy and Angie (a friend).  We all had our kids there and Peter was the babysitter.  He was such a sweetheart for watching all the kids.  I know this was not how he wanted to spend his evening after a long day at work.  We didn’t buy much . . . I bought stuff for gifts but I’m pretty set in my ways as far as my facial care and makeup products go.  I mostly did it as a favor to my neighbor . . . her sister was the Mary Kay consultant.

7 Year Anniversary

Peter and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary this past Monday.  On Sunday, we had our anniversary dinner at the Melting Pot.  Peter thought the food was good but I didn’t like it.  I like plain food and this was anything but plain.  I also found it annoying that I had to cook each individual piece of food.  I cook every day of the week so the last thing I wanted to do was cook some more.  It was also very expensive for the amount of food you got.  I think you were mostly paying for the concept of fondue.  At least the Sangria was good

On Monday, Peter surprised me with a chilled bottle of wine.  We drank the wine from our wedding goblets and watched our wedding videos.  It was very romantic and sweet.  Probably my favorite anniversary to date.  It was fun to see how young we were (and everyone else).  People change so much in seven years.  Our wedding was perfect and so much fun . . . ah, memories

Celebrating Seven Years of Marriage

On Monday, July 27th, Peter and I celebrate seven years of marriage.  It has been a wonderful and happy seven years of which we’ve learned to love, comfort and respect each other.  I look forward to many more happy years with Peter.