Bored bored bored...

There about 30 things I could be doing. 15 of those are probably things I SHOULD be doing. But I don't feel like doing any of them. Jeremy is smack dab in the middle of finals (he left about 7 this morning, we picked him up for dinner from 5 to 6, and he'll probably be home sometime between 10 and 12? then leave again tomorrow and do it all over again...), and my life seems to complicated at this moment. Not in a bad way, just in a "blah" way. I can't decide what to address or prepare for, so I'm going to update my blog instead. Things coming up:
◙ Like 4 different events I think I'm supposed to be involved in tomorrow. I WANT to be involved in them, but my head hurts. If only I had my good old BYU planner I used to live by. I could easily handle like 8 separate happenings back in the day...
◙ I need to start packing for my trip to Arizona. It's in less than a week. I've made a few packing lists already, and lost them all.
◙ I also need to go grocery shopping tomorrow.
◙ I have GOT to get the post office tomorrow. I need to send a few things. It's just so daunting with a one- and two-year old...
◙ There are some dishes that would like to be done. Not enough of them to motivate me though.
◙ There is also definitely some picking up to do.
◙ I'd like to finish "Jane Eyre"
◙ I could be working on family videos or Emily's wedding video.
◙ We are planning to go to the temple overnight Friday. I should definitely be making a packing list for that.
Etcetera.
So what's been going on around here? Well... Valentine's Day was really great. After lunch we all went shopping together. We decided to go to Kohl's, because we hadn't been there in a while, and Reilly randomly fell asleep about the time we pulled into the parking lot. (it's 15-20 min from our house) Jeremy actually picked him up, carried him inside, and after a few minutes, laid him down in this infant-seat-carrier-stroller thingy. And he slept there for like 45 minutes. Is this OUR child? It was bizarre, but very nice, because Reilly doesn't like shopping, and we got to do a lot more looking around! (and in Jeremy's case, trying on) Yes, Jeremy found quite a few nice dress shirts/pants on clearance. He's slowly working on building up his clinic wardrobe for next winter. :) Jaina was a sweetheart, for the most part, and just hung out.
















That night, Jeremy and I actually got to go on a date, thanks to one of his tri-members? Classmates? NUCCA-friends? What do you call them? Anyway, she came and stayed with the kids while we went to our stake Valentine's dinner and dance, and it was a lot of fun!
Our kids are both getting so big and growing so fast right now. They are both sleeping well currently (Reilly sleeps about 11-13 hours a night and almost never naps anymore; Jaina sleeps 12-13 hours at night at take a 1.5-2 hour nap) which is SO nice. Trying to soak it up before someone gets a cold or something...
Reilly is always doing and saying things that surprise us. (usually in a good way) He is so smart and sweet, and he just seems to be moving into a different stage. I think I'm looking forward to that. :) The other day I found him watching some family videos like this:
He currently loves dinosaurs, lions, Little People, having us draw on his Doodle-Pro, watching movies, crayons, (though we still have to watch that he doesn't peel all the paper off instead of color with them...)
and climbing into his own car seat. His favorite places to go seem to be Toys R' Us and Chuckie Cheese (go figure) and he can't WAIT for it to be warm outside so he can play on the swingset and go to the park. He loves slides and climbing. He has also started to sing a lot more lately, and knows all the words to a lot of songs, though he's still hard to understand unless you know what he's saying. Here are some pictures of Reilly, Jaina, and their friend Kennedy with our piano the other night. It is definitely popular around here!
Are they cute, or what?
Jaina seems to be growing and changing a lot right now too. She wants to be big, and is always "talking" to us. Sometimes what she "says" is starting to sound like words, too! She is such a happy little thing (when she's not teething, which is about 50% of the time - she's still working on number 9 through 12...) and we enjoy her a lot.
She's getting a little too big at times - she and Reilly go rounds with both wanting the same toy all the time. I feel like a mom of twins sometimes in that I want two of everything, I've decided! ;-) They often play really well together for quite a while, but we have our moments. She really loves anything that makes noise, balls, Little People, my chapstick, cell phones, and whatever Reilly has. She is super speedy at crawling and can go up and down the stairs with no problem. (Well, except getting started going down. She still has a mental block and wait for me to turn her ever so slightly before she feels safe to start down... ) The most exciting thing about Jaina, is that she's finally starting to walk! She had a little breakthrough the other night, (2 nights ago?) and while she still won't TRY to walk, if we set her up and coax her, she'll usually try it now, and she can go all the way across the room at times! I'm so excited for her to move into this stage! (see short video below)

Another tag...

I'm putting off showering, because as soon as I do (right after this) Jaina will be up and I need to clean and get dinner (in the crock pot) going and go to an appointment and just be BUSY!

8 THINGS ABOUT ME

Here are the rules:
1)POST RULES ON YOUR BLOG
2)ANSWER THE SIX "8" ITEMS(They're not in any particular order)
3)LET EACH PERSON KNOW BY LEAVING THEM A COMMENT

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. Biggest Loser
2. The Office (well, most of the 1st and 2nd season eps anyways...)
3. American Idol
4. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
5. Frasier
6. ?
7. ?
8.

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Heard some exciting news
2. Made dinner
3. Made cookies that tasted weird
4. Went to a Palmer Wives Graduation
5. Ate too much at said graduation
6. Bathed the kids, possibly...
7. Started "Jane Eyre"
8. Cleaned up my living room so my visiting teachers could come

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Earning money instead of borrowing it
2. Going anywhere with Jeremy
3. A good night's sleep
4. Being in Arizona
5. Play groups
6. A good book
7. Bedtime
8. Taking vacations someday

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Carrabba's
2. Panda Express
3. Dynasty Buffet
4. Ottavio's
5. Taco Bell (though not in Iowa)
6. Chili's
7. Jamba Juice (does that count if you've used them as meals?)
8. Pizza Hut

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. To lose weight
2. A trip to Disneyland
3. For my next baby to be a "sleeper"
4. A self-cleaning kitchen
5. For my next hard drive to be more than a terabyte (sp?)
6. To exercise without hurting myself all the time
7. Easier pregnancies
8. A good trip home to AZ

8 PEOPLE I TAG
1. Heather R.
2. Katie H. (both of you)
3. Melesa S.
4. Chelle S.
5. Julie T.
6. Emily G.
7. Sophie W.
8. Karen D.

Happy Valentine's Day!

La la la...

I realized lately that my blogs have turned more into a "post cute pictures and think of something to write about them," which isn't the most useful way to do it (I copy, paste, and edit/add to this stuff and put it in my journal, which is how 95% of the entries even happen). So I'll work on that...
Things are going pretty well for us. We've all had a cold the last week, (well, Jeremy hasn't really, but he's definitely fighting it now) but we're mostly feeling better from that. The kids have been waking up 1-3 times most nights, which is a little rough, but it's getting better. It was nice to have Jeremy home for the first time this year Saturday and Sunday. He is getting ready to head into finals, and things are very busy around here! The kids and I will be taking off in a few weeks to go home to Arizona. We're hoping this will help Jeremy be able to really study and focus on boards over the break, since he has to take the first part in about a month. Pretty crazy. I'm not looking forward to flying with these two by myself, but I'm sure we'll survive. It will be nice to be in Arizona where the weather should be nice (and actually a little warm for me, probably) most days and Reilly can play outside! If our Jaina girl will ever start walking (any suggestions? She can take 3 or 4 steps, but only if we trick her into it...) she can play outside too.
The weather has actually been nicer here (up in the high 50's one or two days even) and the snow is all melted and we went outside a few days. It's really squishy and wet outside though, so we busted out the snow boots anyway...

January

First of all, we are so excited, because Jeremy is done with his NUCCA elective! For the last 4 weeks he has had class every Saturday from 8 to 6 and every Sunday from 8 to 1. He had school for 28 days straight (minus MLK day) and we have really been missing him around here! Here's a picture of him working hard to analyze some x-rays for his class...
We've been trying to keep busy without him, and since Jaina now climbs stairs with ease and enthusiasm (i.e. we can't keep her off them) we've been spending a lot more time on the top/bedroom level of our house. That's fine for me, since sometimes they'll play happily without a referee in Reilly's room, (the computer is up here) but too often they need help "sharing" and they want to be in on my lap or tearing OUR room apart. I don't think Jeremy's been very impressed with their daily "redecorating." :) Here is Jaina being cute and reading a book in our room. She loves to look at books!
Last Saturday afternoon we HAD to get out of the house, so we drove to the Moline mall (about 20-30 min away) because they have an awesome play place for kids. Saturday afternoon is a bad time to go there, by the way, but we still had fun. Here are Reilly and Jaina in one of the cars.
Reilly has been doing really well in nursery, even with me in there as well. Jaina has even been in there with us a bit the last few Sundays. Sometimes she enjoys it, sometimes she doesn't. It depends on how tired she is at that point, since naps are hit and miss these days. Here is Reilly and his friend Kennedy looking at books in the nursery.
Here is Jaina and Kennedy that same day, later in the evening. It seems strange that they're actually closer in age (5 months apart) than Reilly and Kennedy are (10 months apart) because of the stages they're in.
This is one stage we'll all be happy to leave behind us. Someday. This is what they were doing when we weren't paying attention. Reilly does a LOT of this these days. I know it's my own fault for not supervising him a little more, but he is so fast to find ways to get into trouble! If Jaina is getting into something, and he knows better, he'll say, "No, no, no, Jia!" (that's how he currently says her name) But if we don't chime in with some "no no's" or jump up to stop whatever it is she's doing, he'll immediately join in the fun. That boy!
And would someone please tell this little girl that she is completely ready to walk, and WOULD be able to if she would just stop being so cautious and give it a try?