Princesses and Big Boy Beds

Janna decided to play dress up. And have us take pictures. She is such a ham.
I really like the flower lei add. Subtle. Tasteful.

In other news, both my babies are out of cribs. I really was wanting to milk the crib for as long as I could. MONTHS ago, JR jumped out of his crib. However, he got hurt, and never tried it again. The problem came that he kept getting INTO the crib on his own. When I saw how (climb up, somersault over the top, completely disregarding the importance of his neck) - I knew that something had to give. So, Jeff took the rail off, and JR has his toddler bed. Gun shy from Janna, we were really nervous about him staying in bed. Would you know that he didn't even try ONCE last night. He fell fast asleep.

We can't get over what a good little boy he is. He struggled with going down for nap time, and his dad told him to "stay in bed." Well, several hours later, I heard him babbling something about trouble. When I opened his door, there he sat in bed. He stayed there until I said, "well, come on JR. You can get up!" Then he bounded out of bed and down the hall faster than I've ever seen him move. When I told Jeff what about JR's babbles, Jeff laughed and said that he was trying to not get into "trouble." Too sweet.

Happy Father's Day, y'all!

The day started out normal enough. Little pitter-patter feet into our room (Janna, we're milking the crib for JR with all we've got). She says "good morning" to her Dad first, then she crawls over him to give me a hug.

I whispered in her ear, "Janna, today is Father's Day. Why don't you tell Daddy, "'Happy Father's Day!'" She did, and then immediately said "we made special cards for you, Daddy!" I sent her to the dining room table to grab them. Jeff must have been half asleep, but he dutifully read the cards. Janna carefully printed her name and the word "daddy" on the envelope. She was so proud.

Then I directed her under the bed, where she found the Father's Day gift.

Jeff also got a massage on Friday from the person I usually go see. It was a total surprise to Jeff (I waited until the night before to tell him).

This morning we got up and I made these new ricotta-coconut pancakes for Jeff and I. Then, mid way through our cup of coffee we decided to try and get a Wii. Those of you who know anything about them probably know what a pain in the REAR it is to find one. Well, we had some bad info telling us that Best Buy got them last night. WRONG! So, instead, we drove to Daytona for nothing. We have "insider info" on a new shipment of the Wii, so I will try tomorrow. Hopefully we will be in business with Wii playing pictures soon.

After the Wii that wasn't, we came home with two fussy (hungry) kids. We got them fed, and then to bed. I got cooking, cleaned up, then it was awake time. All these pictures are from our afternoon.

Dance to the music. We were having a little dance party in the house and Janna got into it. Sorry the first one is a little fuzzy, I just think the picture is funny.

A few of the boy. A little under the weather today. We'll likely be making a trip to the doctor tomorrow to check his eye out.
Can you say: Blackmail? More of Janna dancing, at a later time...The theater is SCREAMING for this child.
At some point, during our dinner, we hear "MOMMY! " I ran back and found this. Now, I must mention that my friend told me she was replacing her kitchen because her boys were too hard on it. I didn't appreciate that at the time. I appreciated it today. One last one of Janna and her Daddy.

Pierced and tatted...

Okay - maybe not tatted....but I made you look!

A week ago, or so, Janna was sitting on my lap having a conversation with me. Rather, she was talking and I was listening. She grabbed my ear and said:

"I like your earrings mama!"

I responded, "Thank you, Janna."

She asked, "when I get big girl, I can have earrings TOO?"

I again responded, "Well, Janna - you can have earrings right now for all I care."

"REALLY!?!" (she's bouncing at this point).

"Sure." I said, taking cover. "But you need to know that it hurts. They will pinch your ear and poke a hole."

"They will poke a hole? And it will hurt a little bit?" Asked Janna.

"Yup. Do you still want them?" She nodded excitedly. Then I told her, "the gun they use will make a loud pop. It might scare you. Are you SURE you still want them?" More excited nodding.

"YES! YES!" She exclaimed. "I DO WANT PRETTY EARRINGS!"

So, I told her she could have them. I must have reminded her EVERY DAY that these things were going to hurt, that she didn't have to have them, and the whole thing was up to her. She insisted that she wanted them, so away we went.

Now, I need to remind you that this is the second time we've pierced Janna's ears. The first time Daddy didn't realize that you had to clean them out for a solid 6 months. They got infected, and we couldn't ever effectively get rid of the infection. So, we let them close up and heal completely. I pushed the idea out of my mind, and waited for an appropriate time. I really don't see piercings as a big deal, and I had them done as a young child. Since Janna asked for them, without prompting, I felt like now was as good a time as any. It turns out one of her little friends had them, so I suppose that's what peaked the curiosity.

This morning we woke up and I told Janna that today was the day (my first full day off from work with Jeff away). I packed the kids up, and we drove straight to the mall. On the way down, she told me that she wanted "blue sparkly" earrings. When we got there, I asked her which one she wanted. I asked "this one?" I pointed to the blue crystals. She said "no, THAT one." She pointed to the 1/2 karat sized CZ ones. My daughter, apparently, loves her bling.

I explained that Janna has "little ears," and those big earrings are made for big ears. She thought better of it, and settled on the small CZ flower ones instead.

Waiting patiently:

Marking the ears carefully: First one is in. I really think that this MUST have been the monologue in her head, based on her expression:

"Okay. That was oka....wait...that hurts. Yup, that DEFINITELY hurts. Not cool...not cool."

Then we told her "one more." She was game. Until the earring went in. Then she wailed. I got her to stop, and she was cool, until she looked in the mirror and saw them. Then she remembered that her ears hurt, and wailed all over again.

So much for not crying.

On her defense, she got over it quickly. Then she modeled for the camera.
I didn't tell her to make that pose. I said, "let me get a picture." Then she did THAT. Really, is it any WONDER she sobbed? She just looks so grown up.