I Miss my Mind the Most

can anyone tell me how to fix my archives??  I just noticed that you can't access any of 2005 stuff- and that's some of the best stuff!!

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

~jen

I also recieved payment last night- my tiny, beautiful, white, little Ipod nano.  I'm in love.

Yesterday was our check up with Dr. Steinbok at BC children's Hospital.  They said his head has shown a vast improvement  according to their measurements.  Dr. Steinbok seemed quite surprised himself at the results.  Ken and I asked about the ridge that is forming on the top of his head and the appearance that his forehead is bossing again but they reassured us that it is completely normal for the type of surgery they performed.  His forehead is growing but at a slower pace than the back of his head which is now expanding at a fast (and normal rate) and this makes the forehead appear smaller.  Once he has hair no one will have any clue about the ridges and funny lumps and bumps underneath-  the key phrase being 'once he has hair', that may be a while.
    The only troubling bit of news was that they may have to perform surgery again before he starts school to close his soft spot.  Sometimes it doesn't grow completely over and they have to bring a piece of bone from somewhere else to close the gap.  I know, we'll cross that bridge when (and if) we get to it  but  it was a bummer, none the less. 
    On the bright side- Nolan Cut his first tooth, the bottom left (his left) one.  My baby is growing up!!! He's been eating vegetables and fruits along with his pablum, he's getting really good at being spoon fed too.  He's sitting on his own for longer periods of time and is starting the baby 'push-ups' that lead to crawling.  I can't believe how fast this little guy is growing, I really can't. 
    Paige is also growing up.  She asked her dad if she could go and see the 'Catain'(Captain) of the ferry yesterday.  When the Captain was free, She was paged over the ships loudspeakers and she not only got to meet the captain but she also was able to steer the ship!  And yes, I forgot to bring the camera- Shoot me.  I don't know where she got the knowledge about captains and that the ferry even had one... but by golly, she impressed me.  Also, lately she's been making up her own songs and singing them over and over ad nauseam.  I won't comment on her lyrical skills but some of the melodies have been kind of complex which makes me wonder if I should be starting her with some sort of music training.  It's crossed our minds before...

Well,  I have a busy night unfolding before me and my daily chores are falling behind...
until next time,
~jen

My brother and his girlfriend are gone... the house is quiet.  I guess it's back to the daily grind once again. 
I love fall time.  I love the crisp air, the orange leaves, the fact I can wear jeans and sweaters once again and I'm looking forward to finally getting my 'fall' hair cut.  It's going to be a good one this year.  I'll post a before and after picture when it's all through... or you can check out Suz's blog for a before picture that she posted when my sister was here (my hair looks hideous).  As soon as I get around to the hair do, I'm hoping it's a show stopper, I'm ready for something completely different.
Onto news from the Mommy home-front.  Nolan has two teeth pushing hard through his gums at the bottom front. They haven't broken through the skin yet but it's not going to be much longer and he'll be sporting a 'toofy' grin.  It's so doggone cute. 
Paige is starting to play by herself again, which is very relieving to me.  She's suddenly into Barbies and thier shoes... it's all about the shoes.  keep in mind she is THREE years old and it's ALREADY about the shoes.  I'm afraid people, very afraid.
Tonight we are having 'Ladies night' at my Neighbor Suz's place.  It's sure to be a much needed release for all of us (especially me)  but it would be much better if my kids were someplace else... perhaps the Moon???  Maybe Mars would be better...Oh well.  I'm sure this is written in small print on the "Mommy hand book" somwhere, "Some Ladies nights shall be forfeit when falling upon the same day as Poker night or a Clippers' game". 

Well I should go and get busy cleaning up dinner and preparing my DIP that I'm bringing to the party tonight... Are ya'll ready for some 'Wildfire'?????  I'll post the recipe tomorrow.
~jen

Our newest guests have arrived, My little (but still bigger than me) brother Joe and his girlfriend Misty.  It's Misty's first time out to the island and it's Joe's first time to our new house.  They like it all (as if there was any doubt?!).  Soon after they arrived yesterday, Ken ushered them out to see Corb Lund and 'the Hurtin' Albertans' playing at the Queens.  I stayed home with the kids (which is OK by me) but I heard the show was great and Ken got Corb to sign a CD liner from 'The smalls', one of his previous bands.  Upon seeing the CD liner he said "This is Ooooold!"
    Today we sent Joe out for his very first Tatoo, he wants a cherry bomb of some design.  I'm having Ken take pictures of the progress and I'll be sure to post them here when they get back.  I think Joe will be able to handle the pain Okay... I think.
    Anyway, I have to say thank you to them for the wonderful gifts that they brought for the kids.  Paige is absolutely in love with her 'Fur Real' baby bear cub and mini princess Dora.  Nolan will be enjoying the clothes, because by golly, that kid needs 'em! 
    I also have to give a Shout out to Great Grandma Jeannie for sending the great package for the kids (when it rains it pours!!).  Nolan recieved his quilt, it's awesome and Paige will be wearing the band new- hand made- panties in about 7 years.  :0)  Thanks Grandma- Paige is creating her own personalized thank you card as we type this out.
I should run and finish a few things around the house before everyone gets home. 
I'll blog with pictures again later!!
~jen

I recently went in and added a few new pieces to my EBSQ portfolio.  If you've been to see my portfolio before, please check it out again.  If you've never been- WHY!?!  Check it out, let me know what you think.
I was at the chiropractor yesterday and when Mr.Dr. Reed (it a husband and wife office) found out I painted he asked if I had ever painted murals.  I have done one in the past but I could easily do more. He wants to paint a mural on the kids room in the chiropractic office.  I am going to mention to him that I would love to work up a layout for him if he is serious about  it.  I would kick ass at that and it would be some nice spending money for me too!  I wanted to update my online portfolio with some children level artwork so he could see it and get a feel for the type of work I do.

I am going back into the office tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it goes. ::fingers crossed::
~jen

Lately we have been living with a non stop stench.  We narrowed down the source to the wall in which our pocket door to the bathroom in located.  It smelt like the most horrible rotten garbage you could ever imagine.  I bought several different varieties of room deodorizers and even some fancy incense from India- nothing helped.  That wall is connected to our garage which is also ripe with garbage aroma on most occasions so we thought the source had to be the garbage can.  We bleached out the garbage can for several days... Still no stench relief.
  Yesterday Ken went into the garage to find the source of the offensive smell.  Not long after he started looking he found an old set of plastic drawers that I used to use to hold my potatoes and onions.  Apparently when I decommissioned it I forgot to remove the onions.  They had rotted to the pure liquid stage.  Ken nearly vomited several times while trying to clean it out.  Poor guy. 
Guess what??  The stench is gone.  My sister will be happy to know this.  Since she lived with the stench during her entire visit here, she knows exactly how bad it was.
My stench for today was when I placed my coffee in the microwave to warm it up- not thinking that the cup is NOT safe for the microwave.  It melted, and the fumes of melted plastic nearly brought on a migraine.   I'm pretty chapped because I LOVED that cup, and it came with the mini coffee maker that Suz gave me.  Drat it all again.
OH well, on to the next stench...
~jen

Do you ever have epiphanies?  I had one today.  Suddenly it came over me just how much I really truly love my kids.  I have had this epiphany a few times, mind you, but sometimes a Mom can get caught up in the feeding, laundering and discipline and forget just how precious her little 'charges' really are (at least this mom can).  I caught Nolan looking at me tonight and he had such a look of admiration (as only a 7month old can) I nearly shed a tear.  Paige had a particularly wonderful day today- playing with all of her toys, by herself with the occasional shout of "I Love you Mom (or Dad)!" heard coming from her bedroom.  Today was a wonderful day.  I had a nice long nap with Nolan while Paige played and Ken rested in front of ESPN.   
I was having trouble feeding Nolan earlier.  Since we started spoon feeding him he has gotten really good at grabbing the spoon out of your hand and throwing food all over the place.  Paige asked if she could feed her brother and thinking that Nolan wasn't really interested in eating I said 'Sure!" 
As soon as Nolan saw his sister manning the spoon he opened wide, like a baby bird and just let her shovel the food in.  I couldn't believe my eyes!   Paige was doing really good with the spoon too, she barely dropped a spoonful of food on his bib.  It was the cutest thing to witness, I wish I had a bloody video camera for moments like that.
Last night Nolan noticed the tag sticking out of the back of my shirt.  The kid nearly sprinted over me to get his little paws on that tag.  Of course once he grabbed the tag he wanted to eat the tag- which involved a lot more climbing on me.  He is growing way to fast, where has my little baby gone???  Now I have a 22 lb little big boy! That sits on his own! And eats real food!  It's crazy.  We are going to Vancouver Children's hospital on Monday the 26th for Nolan's follow up with the Neurosurgeon.  We are all praying everything is fine dispite some weird ridges that have appeared on his head.  Please be normal, please be normal....
Anyway- I'm going to go and hit the sack but not before i check in with my sleeping angels.
I will try hard not to Hug them, sprinkle them with sugar and eat them whole.
~jen

I've been trying for 3 days to catch up on all of my favorite blogs.  Each time I have a moment it seems tblog is sabotaging my efforts.  For some of you (Suzoates, Hardtoimagine & Nursenancy) the blog either causes an error that shuts down my browser or the message window causes an error that shuts it down.  Talk about frustrating.  For the rest of you (Judypatoote, jennjr, roxgirl and many, many more) I have the problem of not being able to open the doggone comment window at all.  This is obviously a computer glich on my end and I haven't figured it out yet. 
And please don't forget the great times when you read a blog and as soon as you go to comment you get the "Tblog is fixing some issues....blah, blah blah" 
It's enough to drive me to drink, I tell ya. 

I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be making my rounds and commenting on your blogs as soon as the planets are in the proper alignment.

I appreciate all of your visits and comments in the meantime-

I'm jealous,

~jen

Did you know that the music for the still popular children's song "twinkle, twinkle, little star" (and the same music for the abc song) was written by Mozart? Yes it was, at the ripe old age of five.

Wow.

Don't I feel useless.

Aunty Jessie has been keeping us busy for the last few days.  Paige has only just started being civil to her aunty (a little jealous we think).  You can see her here in her new Ballet dress that Jess bought her.  At first she threw a fit because it wasn't the pink one she had seen in the store but once she put it on and realized she looked like a ballet princess she warmed over quite a bit. 
So far we've managed to go shopping, a lot, and take the kids to the lake to pick shells, pick berries in the back 40 and cook a lot of good food.  Jessica is a health nut but she still can make some good tasting food (just like Suz).  Today we are going to hang around home and do some relaxing things.  Jess has beading she wants to do and I bought some canvas that is screaming for paint.  We'll see if the kids actually let us get to it.
 
My neighbor Laurie was so kind as to watch the kids for me while I took my sister out on the town for a couple hours last night.  It sure was nice and so much appreciated.  THANK YOU! 
Onto other news, I found out today that a logo I designed was accepted by a local business!!  It needs additional tweaking (of course) but I'm so proud of myself.  I would be proud of myself even if the business hadn't picked mine to use (because I know the company really liked it but may not have been able to use it because of redtape) this is just a big fat juicy cherry on top.  Depending on how much I get paid, I am going to be purchasing myself a new ipod of some variety.  I'm so excited.
Anyway, I should run and make lunch.  We promised Paige we'd walk to the 'smoother store' (7-11) after we ate lunch so I better get to it. 
Talk to ya later!
~jen

 Now that Nolan is in his 6th month I'm sure we'll be seeing many more milestones crammed into an all too short amount of time.  For the last two nights, count 'em people, TWO.  One, Two.  Nolan has slept through the entire night. You can not believe the exhilaration I'm feeling over this particular achievement.  He passes out around 9 or 10 at night and sleeps right through until 8 in the morning.  I am blessed, that's for sure.  Paige didn't start sleeping through the night until After Nolan was born (6 months ago, in case you weren't paying attention). 
Recently we went through a tough week of long nights when Nolan would wake up every hour and want to be fed.  I thought I was going to end up in the asylum.  While recounting my tales of doom to a wife of Mr. Island's work mate- she nodded knowingly and told me her daughter did the same thing and her doctor advised her to stop giving in to the crying by feeding the child and event ually they'll stop crying.  So I tried it.  We turned off the baby monitor and after a couple nights we were down to one feeding at 4 in the morning and soon after that he wasn't getting up at all.  I'm in a real happy place right now.  I'm hoping it's permanent and not one of those cruel teaser jokes that Mother nature likes to play on us Mom's.  I'll be sure to keep you updated on this one... Let's put it this way, if I'm not bitching about being tired, then the little man is still sleeping through the night.  So, no news is good news. 
He's also sleeping a LOT during the days too which makes me think this is a growth spurt.  He has ZERO sleepers that fit right now so, that makes sense.
Anyhow... I should run, I'm going for a walk while the getting is good.
Hugs and restful sleeps,
~jen