Superbowl Sunday

For the last couple years we have enjoyed celebrating the Superbowl with our friends, particularly our friend Abby. Abby grew up in Indianapolis and is thus a die hard Indianapolis Colts fan. Well the Colts made it to the Superbowl this year so it was especially exciting. For Jenna's birthday Abby included an official Payton Manning jersey that she bought in Indiana. So of course, we had to dress Jenna for the occasion.

Seriously...how cute is she??

Daddy and Jenna getting ready for the big game

Mommy, Abby, and Jenna

Jenna thought the crowd was all paying attention to her

The look of defeat....sadly, our team did not win.

And just for fun....can you believe how much she has changed since last year?!

Little Mommy

Jenna got this baby doll for her first birthday. She has recently started taking an interest in her. She is a hard-body doll because you are supposed to take her in the bath tub with you. She's naked because that's how Jenna prefers it. Anyways, if you tell Jenna to go find the baby she will search for this doll. She was super cute with her tonight and was pointing out all her body parts. Then she took her sippy cup of water and offered it to the dolly. How do they know?? So cute if you ask me

She's a Climber

I totally should have seen this coming. Somehow, I was still surprised. This evening I was folding laundry on the couch while Jenna played with her toys in the family room. I walked back to our bedroom to put everything into the drawers, which took maybe 45 seconds. I come back out and Jenna was no longer in the family room. I walk into the kitchen to find her like this...
Of course, being the wonderfully responsible parent that I am, I grab my camera rather than take her off the chair. She then proceeds to stand up.

There's always time for a squinchy face...Now climbing into her friend Jordan's hook-on chair, which she loves

She made it into the chair, and then climbed back into a standing position in the hook-on chair, at which time I set the camera down and grabbed her.

What a little monkey. How long do you think we have before we visit the ER?

Operation Failed

Ok, call me whatever names you want. We are back to bottles. Jenna wants nothing to do with milk in any kind of cup, and I am not comfortable with cutting milk out of her diet. Yes she does eat yogurt and some cheese but not on a daily basis. In fact, Jenna isn't terribly consistent about anything. Some days she eats regular table food pretty well, and other days she hardly eats anything. The one thing I could always count on was her naptime and bedtime bottles. So, as April put it, I am sucking it up and giving in.

Here's what I have learned...

• Jenna is VERY stubborn, and Pat is definitely not, so I'm thinking this may be my fault.
• Don't post things like this on facebook or the blog until the mission is complete. Otherwise, you get to look like a big dummy when it fails.
• There are no clear cut timelines or rules for babies or parenting. Sometimes you just have to do what works for your family. I'm not sure why it has taken me 14 months and 1 day to figure this out.
• She's only going to be little for a short time and as long as I don't send her to kindergarten with a baby bottle or binky, I'm going to slow my roll and let her be.

Thank you all for your advice and opinions...it won't be the last time I solicit them. Now, I can't just do a post with no pictures so I'm posting a few pictures of my Project Life album. These are really bad pictures but I have a dark house and I'm just tired. Anyways, here it is

HELP!!!

Ok...quick update. We decided to start operation bye bye bottles this weekend. Jenna doesn't seem to miss her bottles at all. The problem is she hasn't had any milk since friday. We tried the soft spout sippy cups, the hard spout ones, ones with handles, ones without handles, the straw kind, and tonight I went out and bought the Take and toss ones that April suggested. She absolutely refuses to drink anything except water from any of them. So mommies, I need advice. What should I do?? I looked online and in some of pediatric medical books, and she needs to be drinking 12-16 ounces a day. HELP!

These pictures have nothing to do with this post, just thought they'd liven it up a bit


Jenna smiling enough so that you can see she actually does have top teeth. She's actually cutting her 10th tooth right now!


Jenna sleeping the other night. We've never seen her sleep on her back before. She's bent in an L-shape in the corner, and it just made me smile.

Bye Bye Bottles

So it seems the time has come to ditch the baby bottles. Our pediatrican prefers that bottles disappear at a year, and while I kept that in mind, I figured we'd just see how things play out. Well, I think it's now time, for a few reasons.

• First of all, our bottles need to be replaced. We used to be really good and wash them all by hand, but inevitably the laziness set in and we started to put them in the dishwasher. Well the darn bottles have sort of melted. Not to the point where they look that bad, just to the point that the collar and nipple no longer fits securely. So, they leak. All the freaking time.


• Second, Jenna is a rascal. She has never been very easy to feed. At daycare, she hardly drinks her bottles at all, and only will if they let her do it herself in the baby swing (hello...how does that big girl even fit in a baby swing. Ours has been put away for months).


• Third, she pushes away her nighttime bottle. She wants her binky and to be rocked, and that's it. Since everyone says that's the hardest bottle to get rid of, and she already started the process, we might as well go with it.

So, here's the dilemma. Jenna has been using a sippy cup since about 6 months for water. She has never had anything else out of the sippy cup. When I have tried to put milk in one she took one sip, and handed it back to me. When I tried to put juice in (for constipation), she took one sip and handed it back to me. So, on the recommendation from some other mommy friends, I went out and bought the soft spout sippy cups to use as a transition between bottle and normal sippy. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to work. Wish us luck!

The Closet

The little goofball is at it again. Jenna has decided that it is really fun to sit in the back corner of her closet. Anytime we are in her room, she gets back in that corner and stares at us. Pat chases her back there and she shrieks and laughs. Then when we want to leave the room, she refuses to come out of the closet and sits back there and shakes her head at us. Little rascal.