January 2012
1 post
The Good, The Less Good, and The Mildly...
Parenting is not a joke. My 3-1/2 year old is smart. I know not to underestimate children and their intuitive nature and their ability to grasp and learn quickly so I shouldn’t be surprised but this child stops me in my tracks often. She certainly can bring out the good, nearly bad, and almost ugly in me. Yes, kids are smart, but we’re the adults here. We should be more than capable of...
December 2011
2 posts
A Christmas Carol
Oh come all thee faif-ful boyful and friumphant.
Oh come thee. Oh come thee to Bethlehem.
Come and hold him. Born the king of angels.
Oh come let us adore him Christ galore.
Jae Helline, age 3-1/4 years
Girls
Just a few things I don’t want to forget about my girls at this age.
Jae, 3-1/4 years
Yesterday, Jae referred to me as “Grandma” all day long. She also renamed her doll “Tanner.” Any other time the doll’s name is “Ryan.”
When I made a stop at Dunkin’ for coffee she politely asked for a “bo-nut.” How could I say no?
This morning...
November 2011
1 post
ten.
Ten years ago today my heart was wrenched and broken. Tears poured. Prayers were said. Questions were asked but not answered. My world felt empty. There was anger. There was loneliness. There was anguish. There was selfishness. There was immense sadness. There was rage. There was lack of faith. There was adrenaline. There was self pity. There was relief. There was helplessness. There was guilt....
September 2011
1 post
August 2011
1 post
July 2011
2 posts
“Momma! I want to tell you a stirry (story) about my hearse (horse) that likes to...”
– Jae Brislin, age 2-3/4 years
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
2 posts
Is there something red on my neck?
Who has two chickadees under 3 years old?
We do.
Who eats out way more than they should given they have two small children to wrangle?
We do.
Who has an 8 month old who, for the last week, has been teething like it is her job only allowing us to get a good night’s sleep every other night if we’re lucky and making meal times reminiscent of a horror film?
We do.
Who had ribs for...
Jae Says
Just in the last 72 hours…
Upon being told there are hotdogs in her soup in an attempt to get her to eat it she calmly asks “Can I have some hotdog that’s not in the soup?”
-*-*-*-
7:20am. I awake to the curtains being ripped back and wicked bright sunshine flooding the room. Jae exclaims, “I yawned and woke up the sun!”
-*-*-*-
Jae walks around the corner...
April 2011
2 posts
“We need sunSCREAM!”
– Jae Brislin, age 2.5 yrs
said about 10 million times a day.
It's all about choices
Jae: Momma, what color shape would you like? Red, green, purple, blue, yellow or ahrange?
Momma: Green, please.
Jae: Purple?
Momma: I would like a green one.
Jae: Oh! You want purple?! You do? You do.
Momma: Blue?
Jae: Here ya go. Here’s a purple one. You need purple. Blue is for baby boys.
Momma: Thank you.
March 2011
2 posts
February 2011
3 posts
January 2011
9 posts
Pick Your Battles, Not Your Nose
What do you do when she insists on wearing Crocs with her church dress instead of the adorable matching dress shoes you picked out for her? You clean them up with a baby wipe and make sure they’re not on the wrong feet.
She’s 2. Pick your battles.
What do you do when she insists on putting her booger on her knee for safe keeping while riding in the car instead of placing it in the...
“Me: Jae, are you fibbing?
Jae: No, I not fibbing. I Jae.”
Bangled, Tangled, Spangled and Spahettied
I’m talkin about HAIR! Long, beautiful hair…falling out of my head.
Reason #245 babies are cute and lovey: So you won’t obsess over your post-partum hair loss.
You look at my hair wrong and 10 strands fall to the ground. With the amount of hair left in my brush, my shower drain and my baby’s diaper I could knit a sweater.
*light bulb*
You’re all getting...
December 2010
4 posts
“Jae, do you want some sugar snap peas?
No, thank you. Just sugar.”
–
dinner time fodder
November 2010
19 posts
How did that happen?
Two months have gone by since little Colleen joined our family. I’m not sure how that happened, but it did. She is growing quickly. Too fast for my taste to be honest. I thought Jae was growing fast, but Colleen is in warp speed. She weighs 12 pounds, 11 oz (82%). She’s 23-3/4 inches (85%) long. And her noggin is 15-3/4 (71%). She smiles and coos and even laughs at us all of the...
Please Pass The Ketchup
A lot has been happening here the last couple of months. So much so that sharing with the internet has sort of taken a backseat. I’m going to attempt to catch up and bring it all back up to date. If I don’t update then I don’t think anyone will believe that we have a new sweet baby girl in the family. This is quite a lengthy series of posts. Consider yourself warned.
First, we’ll rewind...
Jae missed her second week of preschool because she became a BIG SISTER that week! I was “due” with our second daughter on August 28. Well, that day came and went. My labor started in the first hours of Tuesday, August 31. I labored all day long and into the night. Colleen Shea was born the next morning, September 1, at 8:12am. It was an absolutely amazing experience. I had a...
The rest of September flew by. Jae continued to enjoy school and getting to know her little sister. She talks so well, but of course I understand her more than anyone else. Colleen and I share September as our birthday months. I celebrated mine with a family trip to the county fair. It’s a tradition. It was the girls’ first time. Colleen snoozed most of the time. Jae ate junk,...
October brought a 1 month birthday for Colleen, an anniversary and a visit to the pumpkin patch. Colleen had a great well check. She’s in the 80-90% in weight, height, and head circumference. I feel like she’s growing so fast. Tyler and I celebrated 6 blissful years of marriage this year. Wow. I am a lucky woman for sure. We took the girls to the pumpkin patch in hopes of having a...
Aaaannnd, finally Halloween! I love Halloween. I hope Jae and Colleen grow to love it as much as I do. Tyler and I did not dress up this year. Trying to nail down Jae’s costume exhausted me too much. She went from tiger to monkey to elephant to horsey to pig. We decided to go with pig but not just any pig. Olivia the Pig! She’s a cute storybook character who now has a show of her...