Sharing My Jennarocity

I just needed to take some pictures of my baby this morning. She is just getting so big. She is so close to crawling. She will be sitting on her bottom, lean forward, like in the picture below, then sit back up. She will even try and lunge to crawl, but she just can't quite get there yet. Isn't she so beautiful? "Mom, it's too bright!!" SOOOO close!!! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

I have been so busy the last fcw days. I have no projects completed. I hate that. We have another busy weekend to come. Ugh. I am tired just thinking about it. So, here are some pictures of my beautiful Avery Grace. I wrote in her baby book last night and put in some tickets and memorabilia I found from the zoo and stuff. I don't know why I keep a baby book - I keep a blog too. I also have a journal I write in for her. Not every day, but every few weeks or when something happens. It's nice that she will have something to read that I wrote, with my own handwriting. I hope that is something people always do. Write letters. Or journals. Not just put everything on a computer. It was funny last night, the book was asking things like, "My first dentist's visit was...." so I had to cross reference the blog and journal to get the date. I am glad we have all of this. I think Avery will really enjoy looking at it when she gets older.  I don't know how many of your

We were able to round everyone up down at Faith and Scotty's and into the swimming pool. Jordan and Sophia were really tired at this point, but they did their best. Sophia, who really never cries, just wasn't having it. She kept telling us her brother was cheating at a water game they made up. No amount of reasoning with her was going to stop her from crying, so I told her it would be best if she went and sat out for a few minutes until she calmed down. She didn't want to get back in the pool, but after about 30 minutes, she went back in and swam. Here is Scotty and Jax... Avery got to swim with her Nawnie. Avery was in the pool for a long time - her feet were wrinkled!!! Here is our first picture of Avery with her Aunt Faith!!! They just loved her.

Well, I went from having one of the worst days in my life to having a pretty good day! I found out yesterday that I will be starting a new job! I am very excited. I've needed a new challenge with a career and this seems to be the perfect fit. It has been a lot of soul searching since Avery was born to figure out what I wanted to do about working. I really thought I would want to be a stay at home mom. That wasn't an option for a long time, financially. There was just no way we could afford it. But the job I've been at since last summer, while it hasn't paid the best, it has offered me so much more and really was the perfect job for me during these changes in our lives. When I worked at my previous job, it was incredibly stressful. We worked overtime all the time and were constantly being talked to about our "performance." People were being let go left and right. I was terrified and stressed out all the time. I would come home crying at least two days a week.

Fortitude: Courage in pain or adversity Yesterday was a day that Jason and I had really been looking forward to. There were a couple of big things that we were hoping were happen for our family. It turned out to be one of the top ten worst days of my life that I can remember. I used to have bad days all the time. I really had no perspective about what a really bad day looked like, so small things could really hit me hard and before I knew it, I would be crying, throwing a huge fit, upset, just completely overreacting. I really don't have days like that much anymore. After I had Avery, I started to realize that I had my health, my husband had his, and Avery was perfect. Things that I was going through weren't really that bad. And even though it was taking a long time to resolve, the things I was going through were temporary. I would live another day, eventually our situation would get better, so I stopped taking everything so hard and so seriously. The hardest time I have i

I really hate to say this, but I am not a fan of these pictures. They didn't turn out well at all. It was very early on Saturday morning, I was tired, Avery was tired, and I was trying to take these pictures quickly, as I knew that very soon, the house would be overtaken by 6 kids under 10 and I wouldn't be able to take them at all. One kid did manage to distract her, but I liked her face, so I kept it! I couldn't find a good blanket for a background, but here is the best one of the bunch. Now this picture, I do love. This is SO her position lately. Up on that one leg, just about to take off. So this picture, I do love.  I made a promise to myself before Avery was born that I wasn't going to keep retaking pictures of memories, only to find the right one. And when I did her "month" pictures, I said, no matter what or how bad pictures turned out, this is her, on this day and it's a memory I want to remember. So, here they are. I mean, they are AL

The kids had been down with their cousins, grandparents, and aunt and uncle all week, so Jason and I drove to meet them today. Its about a 7 hour trip (with traffic and a couple stops). Apparently, a few people were quite happy with Avery's arrival! All 6 of her cousins just were so excited to welcome her. I am really glad she goes to at home daycare and is used to be around other kids. This didn't overwhelm her. Not one bit. We got in at about 830, so not a whole lot of time to hang out. We are tired, but ready for a fun filled day tomorrow..... Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

(we like holidays and dressing up.) In a tribute to my friend Kate joining our blogging world, and in an effort to get her to stay, I have decided to make today official Friends Day, in honor of her blog great name, My Moo Points.   So - here are my top 5 favorite episodes of our beloved show (in no particular order): 1. The One With The Embryos (The girls lose their apartment by losing to a game of trivia to the boys) Favorite Line: Ross: According to Chandler, what phenomenon scares the bejeezus out of him? Monica: Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance Ross: That is correct. Joey: The Irish jig guy? Chandler: His legs flale about as if independent from his body! 2. The One Where Ross Got High ( Monica and Chandler invite Monica's parents over for Thanksgiving, but Monica has not told her parents they are dating) Favorite Line: Rachel: First, there's a layer of lady fingers, then a layer of jam. Then custard, which I made from scratch. Then beef, sauteed with peas

Happy Birthday To My Wonderful Husband!!! From the moment we met (again) I just knew you were the one for me. You are the sweetest, kindest, most patient, fun, respectful, funny, incredily amazing man I've ever known and I am so glad that I get to be the one who spends the rest of your life with you. No one deserves a better birthday than you. You have sacrificed so much for our family and for me, you have put others first and put your needs aside for the needs of us. We are so thankful for a man like you. I hope we can give you the birthday you hope for and I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your entire family. I love you, Jenna I love you honey!!!

Jason and I have had alot of reasons to count our blessings in the past month. We have a few more to come, very soon (which I hope to be sharing with you shortly). But aside from financial blessings, or people blessings, I found myself last night counting other types of blessings. Every time I give Avery a bath I count my blessings that I get to bathe her in a clean tub with clean, running water. I don't know why I think about this, but I find myself so lucky that this is a luxury that I have. I was watching a show about a woman who works for an organization whose soul purpose is to get wells in villages that have no running water. She spent one day all day walking back and forth from a stream, a 30 minute walk, with the woman that live there, that have to do this to get water. The walk there is not so bad but the walk back, they've got 30 pound containers of water that they carry on their heads. And they do this at least 3 times a day. Could you imagine? We just take so many

Along with the girls' room that I finished this weekend, I also finished painting all of the hand me down living room furniture we received. I painted both of the end tables with my black interior paint, primed first by Kilz. It did take a while, just because there were so many nooks and crannys. I also took time in between each coat, so total, it took me random minutes for about two weeks. I was dreading the coffee table by this point. I was reading a blog about a woman who paints all of her furniture in chalkboard spray paint (she uses all kinds of colors). She just swears by it, says that it goes on better and thicker than regular spray paint. I thought, why not? So I lined my patio with a drop cloth and got to work. Including dry time and putting on two coats, it took me two hours to start and finish, and get this thing back in my living room. And you can't even tell the difference in the tables. And I figure if one of the kids writes on it, it would be pretty easy to fix