three

The Sprout's third birthday has come and gone.  It was really fun because he is finally old enough to realize that it is HIS birthday.  Family came over, we opened presents and had cake.  We also did the inevitable ..cut his hair.  Nanny lined up with the scissors and the curls fell to the ground.  I will let you know that the Sprout wanted his hair cut.  He kept telling me "Mommy, Nanny cut hair?"  So, I had to let it happen.  He looks like a little boy, and it is really hard to get used to.

He has grown so much this year that you really can't write it all down at once.  I will sum up what he is like now.

He talks, and asks "why?" with a Yorkshire accent.
He runs and jumps and hops.  He is good at kicking the soccer ball.
He sings.
He can be bossy and still throws tantrums.
He can sit still for short periods of time.
He understands a little too much.
He is almost fully potty trained, we still have some accidents.
He really likes cars, trains, and air planes and luckily he got all three for his birthday.
He has friends.

He is going into pre-school next week.  He has been slowly introduced the past week and he is very excited as all of his friends are there.

On Sunday, we are going to have a small birthday/Halloween party with pumpkin carving.  And yes, we have the famous Halloween tree.

This year I am going to take the Sprout Trick-or-Treating.  He is going to be a monkey.

That is about it.  Happy birthday Sprout.

Happy birthday

The birthday song



You may have to go to Youtube.com to see this.  I put the link above.birthday song

In went 2.5

Two years ago 2.5 of us went into the hospital.

24 months

Sept 2011

Sept 2010

I can't believe we have one month until the Sprout's birthday!  The amount of development over the past year is amazing, and although humans develop slower than other mammals, the amount our brain changes and absorbs information is worth the slow development.

I will go over the list that the "What to Expect..." book goes through and some other things I decided to add.

He :

• Takes off his shirt, jacket, shoes, socks, and tries to take off his pants.
• Puts on boots and tries to put on his jacket, shirt, shoes, socks and diaper.
• Pretends to eat things and feed others.
• Builds tall towers with blocks and other things.
• Throws balls over hand and tries to catch them.
• Can ID cats and dogs in pictures.
• Can ID cats and dogs by name in pictures.
• Knows that cats "meow," dogs "bark," and lions "roar."
• Can draw vertical lines in imitation.
• Knows what "yes," "no," and "more" mean.
• Follows commands.
• Matches colours.
• Gets under his coves when it is time for sleep.
• Tells us when he is tired.
• Sleeps in a real bed and stays there.
• Sits on a real chair for meals.
• Can run, jump and gallop.
• Jumps off things and climbs all over.
• Can count to 3, though I don't think he knows what 3 is.  I am sure he just thinks of it as the sequence before you get to do something exciting.
• Tries to brush his teeth.

Favourites:

• His favourite toys are balls, trucks and ride on car.
• His favourite games are chase, peek-a-boo, kiss and ride away and catch.
• His favourite activities are going down the slide, walking to the park, drawing, puddle jumping and putting things in other things.
• His favourite sayings are: "UH-OH", "There he is", "What is that?", "bye-bye", and "more".
• His favourite books are, "Dear Zoo" and "Peter Cottontail's Easter Surprise".
• His favourite food is spaghetti and sauce, chilli and Dad's pizza.

Mommy's favourite things:

• The Sprout's kisses, hugs, giggles, and "tap dancing".
• Her favourite toys are balls, little Happyland figurines, and the drum.
• Her favourite games are chase, peek-a-boo, and catch.
• Her favourite activities are walking to the park, drawing, and puddle jumping.
• Her favourite books are "Room on the Broom", "Harold's Purple Crayon", and "How to Catch a Star". 

Woooh...just fell off the face of the Earth for a second.  When my jet lag settles maybe I will pick this up again.  I am tired of the computer running at least 1 hour of my life when I mean for it to just run 15 minutes.  For now I am concentrating on my quilting, yes, quilting.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BRO!!!

The day I was born

I don't know too much about the day I was born except for, I was late (2 weeks I think), the ward was full because it seems all the babies wanted to be born on the first day of Summer (and there was a full moon), and my mom had to have a C-section.

Happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Wishlist button feline funnies

In the days of catalogues, the first thing I always did was go through page by page and put my initials on things that I liked.  If it was something I thought I might have a chance at getting, I would circle the colour and size of the item.  It was an easy way of creating a birthday list, especially if you got to the catalogue before mom or Grandmommy saw it.

As I began shopping on line, and stores gave up their catalogues, I started creating "Wish Lists".  Amazon's has been my favourite only because they have the most stuff and now it is even better because they created a button you add to your browser so you can add any item from any webpage.  I am having way too much fun with the Amazon.com Wish List Button.  I have a couple of wish lists, one for my birthday, one for the Sprout, one I use for other people, and a random one for my personal use.

I do have to say, there is nothing like flipping through a catalogue and signing items, but this is close to it.

What's going on???

The cake from Richard's parents

Well as you may have noticed, I am not in the US, but still at home waiting for my passport...WHOOPEE!! I just decided to get my plane fare credited for whenever my passport does arrive, I am hoping soon.

On Saturday for my birthday, I took Richard to see the Transformers new movie (very cool animation, but in true Jessika style, I fell asleep...the movie is 2 and 1/2 hrs long!!! I have decided that I need a movie to be 90-100 min to not fall asleep.) We also had lunch at one of the newer Indian restaurants called Tulsi. It is a vegetarian restaurant and is very good...the weird part is that it has a bar. In Bradford it is very strange for an Indian restaurant to serve alcohol. you can usually bring your own, but they don't sell it.

On Sunday, Richard's parents came up and we went for Sunday Dinner in Shipley, but otherwise I had a very uneventful birthday day.

Richard and I have finally started a bit of gardening. We have some lettuce and tomatoes coming up and some squash and carrots on the way. At the moment everything is planted in temporary pots until we can get to the store to buy HUGE pots to put them all in. Last week I had to declare war on our back neighbour's big flowering bush that hangs over our garden. The bush is beautiful, but it was covered in aphids, so the bulbs I planted when we moved in were COVERED in aphids. So I cut the branches on my side off...and it seems to have worked. I was very proud of myself.

Miki in the garden

Miki is getting more brave outside, although she still needs the door to be open and prefers that we are outside with her. She goes to greet most of the cats, but because our fence is high, she can't figure out how to get to them, which I think is OK. Recently she has found herself a hidy-hole under the deck that she curls up in...but then I forget about her and she ends up being outside with the door closed...OH NO!! I am hoping she will find that it isn't scary to be outside without a straight shot to the inside.

I have managed to knit 2 ridiculous hats from scratch that the sprout will have to wear because they are hilarious...

Very Merry Unbirthday

It is now a month until my birthday. Emma pointed out to me about a month ago that I will never get presents that are for me and only me again...so...I urge those of you who are going to buy me birthday presents...to buy ME birthday presents. I hope this isn't an odd request. Most of you maybe asking, "okay then, what do you want?" my answer..."Clothes. Money for clothes" I haven't bought myself fun clothes for over a year. I know it is a little strange because I will be buying clothes for a body that I will not be keeping (hopefully), but it is summer, and there are a lot of cute hippy dresses and shirts that I could most likely wear regardless of my tummy.

Another suggestion is money for a sewing machine...I really want a sewing machine.

Now for stuff Molly wants to know (I think this is going to be a regular section):

13 weeks!!!

• I don't get sick nearly as often, it is strange how all of that happens so suddenly, but it is still along the lines of if I get out of bed too fast or move around too fast...or eat yogurt (I don't know what the sprout has against yogurt), I get sick.


• I have the worst "pulling" pains in my pubic symphysis. I would say worse than cramps and they make me yell, and then they are gone, so it makes for funny conversation at work. I read the pain is a result of ligaments stretching out and internal organs moving around.


• Richard bought me a fetal doppler so we can hear the sprout's heartbeat...we have yet to hear it, but soon.


• I have decided that I want to carry on the aqua/red colour combination for the baby (if we ever have a nursery)...I am going to try to make a simple quilt with all the cool aqua/red material I acquired from my grandmother while I am at home...the key words being "try" and "simple."