New blog...

I have been a bad blogger... I was talking to a friend about why this is recently and decided that I needed a new reason to blog. I don't blog well because I don't often think that I have anything "worthwhile" to blog about. Or at least anything that anyone else would care to read. SO, instead of blogging for everyone else (because that SOOO didn't work), I'm starting a new blog for my kids. Anyone is welcome to read it, but I'm going to use that space to write to them. There are so many things that I want to tell them, teach them, and help them remember, so that is what I am going to do.

The new address is http://tomyhearts.wordpress.com/. Hope to see you there! But, don't worry, my feelings won't be hurt if I don't. ;-)

Kaya's turning 5...

I always feel like I need to have something important to say when I blog, and I usually don't. But today is different. Today is the day Kaya turned five. I am tearing up as I write this. I can't believe how fast she has grown up. I remember being so anxious for her to be born on a Tuesday night 5 years ago. I remember the way I felt the moment I saw her and how I knew that I could never love anyone the way I loved her. I remember how anxious I was for her to grow a little bit more so she would sleep. I didn't mean I wanted her to grow this much! Really though, she is a wonderful little girl who cracks me up pretty much every day. Most of the time (I have my mommy moments - don't we all?), I can't get enough of her. :-) She is so fun to watch and is turning into such a beautiful young lady. Here are a few pictures of her growing up...

The day she was born....

The day she came home...

2 Weeks old...

Personality from the beginning...

And now...

Hats, colds, and so on...

Well, I stopped working at the end of January and thought FOR SURE that I'd be a better blogger when I quit... I was wrong. My new theory is that I'll be a better blogger when I can have two free hands for longer than 5 minutes at a time during the day. :-)

A lot has happened since my last post and a lot has stayed the same. I quit my job to be a stay at home mommy and couldn't be happier with that decision! I was able to get some more photo equipment with my tax return and am now actively working on portfolio building. I'm planning to get my business permit in the next six months and get busy on that! For a long time, the plan has been for me to quit my job and start seriously doing my photography(http://www.jensphotogblog.blogspot.com/). The time has come to make that a reality!


Kaya started ballet a few weeks ago, and I've never seen her so enamored with anything in her life. Normally when I ask her what she did that day (at preschool, church, etc.), the response I get is, "I don't remember" or "I dunno" or "Can we talk about that later?" When I ask about ballet, I get a play by play of EVERYTHING that they did. Something like, "First we pointed our toes, then flexed, then pointed, then flexed, then did first position, then...." and on and on and on. I love it! I will try to get some pictures of her doing her "dance moves" (that's what she calls them) soon.

Oliver is growing like a weed and has had colds for most of his life (including right now). This has made it hard to establish any normal sleep patterns. It seems that once we finish one cold, another one starts. I guess that's what happens when one kid's in the first year of preschool and the other puts EVERYTHING in his mouth...

A friend of mine has been making hats and selling them in her etsy store (http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=46100521774&h=o5bKZ&u=NoTPW) and asked me to take a few pictures of the kids wearing the hats for her, so here they are...

And here's what happens when I try to get them in the same picture..

And, just because it's cute...

(Oliver fell asleep like this)

The new niece, Chloe, and other happenings...

This is not a very pic-full post, but here I am anyway. :-)

The past month and a half has been very busy between the holidays, going back to work, a new niece, and just usual life. Everything is going well though! Oliver gives us a few nights here and there with a 4 or 5 hour sleep stretch and Kaya still loves him as much as ever! Even with all the busy-ness, we haven't had too much excitement as of late except for the fact that my sister, Kaytie, had her first baby. Her name is Chloe Virginia Wong and she made her appearance early on the morning of December 28th. She's a cutie and VERY aware for a new baby. I took some newborn pics and posted them on my other blog (http://www.jensphotogblog.blogspot.com/), but here's one just in case you don't want to go over there.

I hope you all are having a wonderful new year!

(And I will try to be a much better blogger when I am home more in February.)

Photo blog link

So, I finally decided to start a photo blog. It's a bit easier to give people a peek at their photos this way and it's just fun. :-) If you're interested, its at http://jensphotogblog.blogspot.com/.

Two-Month Stats, Rolling Over & Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a good Thanksgiving, full of Turkey and lots of goodies, with my family. Kaya & I (Jennifer) started out the day with some hot cocoa and the Macy's parade. (I LOVE holiday traditions!) After the parade was over, we made some Thanksgiving cards and then got ready for the festivities. I made blackberry pie and apple-cranberry tartlets for dessert, but most of that work was done the night before. That was our contribution to the wonderful meal of barbecued turkey (mmm...), mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, green bean casserole, and more that I'm probably forgetting. It was delicious and we had a wonderful time together as a family.

On to Ollie info... Oliver had his two-month check-up on Monday afternoon and we found out that he weighs 12 lbs 9 oz and is 23 inches long. In other words, he's a CHUNK. He's a very healthy boy outside of the colds that he keeps catching from his sister and his reflux, and almost always VERY happy. :-) On Wednesday, I realized that we hadn't been doing much with Oliver in the way of tummy-time. I was thinking that I'd lay him on his stomach, chat with him and maybe roll him over, just to show him how it worked. Well, I put him on his stomach and, to my surprise, he rolled over! I made him do it about 3 or 4 times before I gave him a break. :-) I don't know if it's because he's so huge or if his giant head just gives him some extra leverage, but either way, he's rollin'!

After Oliver's appointment on Monday, we went to the park to take some pictures. So here you go!

Halloween (late, I know...)

I know, I know... Still a bad blogger. At least I'm posting now though, right?

Oliver will be two months old tomorrow. No Ollie pics right now, but we're going to the park on Monday just for the purpose of pictures, so they'll be up soon. He's doing pretty good and we've been able to shorten the "up time" after eating to about 20 minutes (it used to be a half-hour). Last night, he didn't spend that time after eating upright and we had about an hour of screaming followed by a massive amount of projectile vomit. Yuck! So, yes, he does still have reflux issues, but they're getting better! He's still not sleeping in chunks any longer than 2 hours, but hopefully that will come soon.

Kaya loves being a big sister and wants to help with EVERYTHING. She loves her brother a lot. :-)

Now, on to Halloween... Kaya got to dress up three different times this year, which she was VERY excited about. She dressed up once for a costume birthday party, once for her preschool Halloween parade, and on Halloween. Everytime, it was slightly different. :-) Luckily, she's a pretty easy kid to please, so she just dressed up in the princess costumes that we already had and we didn't have to buy anything extra. So, here are the VERY late Halloween pictures...

Preschool pictures first...

Ms. Lily blindfolding Kaya

Yeah, I only eat the frosting...

Kaya and her princess friend, Ashlyn.

Festivals on Halloween night.

Look at that throwing arm. :-)

Marshmallow shooting.

Fishing

Almost three weeks...

I've been a very bad mom-photographer and an even worse blogger... sorry. I did manage to get a few pics this week, but nothing fancy. A wonderful friend of mine lent me a basket and a few of her blankets so that I wouldn't have an excuse not to take pictures, but I haven't even used them yet! I haven't actually done much "setting up" for any pictures; I'm just catching them where I can. :-)

Oliver will be three weeks old on Tuesday. We love him and Kaya LOVES being a big sister! Here's a re-cap of what our three weeks have been like.

Week 1: No sleep, but a very cute baby. :-) Oliver has his day and night mixed up.
Week 2: We still have a very cute baby. A couple of nights of 2-hour sleep stretches! Woohoo! He's figured out that nighttime is for sleeping and it's much more fun to be awake during the day. Now he has stomach issues though. Not sure what it is, but he's projectile vomiting and added bile to the mix.
Week 3: We now know that he has reflux. The vomiting is not a regular occurence as long as we hold him upright for a half-hour or so after he eats, but he still wakes up pretty uncomfortable. :-( This makes for (again) not much sleep. Two hour stretches are gone, but I'm hopeful that they'll return soon! We've discovered that Ollie REALLY likes lullabies and classical music. And, yep, we still have a very cute baby. :-)

So, here are a few of the pictures that I did manage to get.

After the first bath he actually enjoyed...

My messy haired child with my bald child.

This is how he usually wakes up. ;-)

His cute little smile. :-D

And a yawn...

My sleeping baby...

Oliver William Herring

Oliver William Herring arrived at 12:34 PM on September 23, 2008. He weighed in at 6lbs and 13oz. Mommy and Oliver are both doing well.

Induction tomorrow

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update - I'm set to be induced tomorrow sometime, so Oliver should be making an appearance soon! I don't know what time it will be happening (they'll call me when they have an open bed) and I'm still hoping to go into labor on my own before then, but either way he should be here soon!

Have a great day!
Jennifer

"A Baby Changes Everything"

I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought I'd share... I heard the DJ announce that they were going to play a song from Faith Hill's new Christmas album and thought, "Seriously? In September?" Well, being the Christmas-obsessed person that I am, I had to listen. Well, this is not your typical Christmas song - it is VERY good. So, when you get a minute, listen. :-)