Jeanne: A Year in Review

Hubbers and I got caught up looking at old videos of Jeanne, and I thought I  would put some of our favorites all in one post.


February 2010
HA DA!
I said I want it CLOSED

March 2010
Raspberries!!! You might want a napkin...

May 2010
I love how she waves daddy away towards the end
Jeanne walks all by herself a day before her first birthday

June 2010
Birthday presents!

July 2010
rainbows
Jeanne reading outloud

August 2010
No, I want to go in there!

October 2010
Not really OF Jeanne, but she was having a blast with me

November 2010
Come here daddy!

December 2010
Frosty Card makes her giggle and dance.

We love you!

Next year, we'll have another bugger in the videos!  How exciting!

It's officially offcial now, no really, now it's done.

Today, I graduate from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a Masters in Biology.

A Masters was not my original plan, but thus far hubbers and I are very happy with our move here.

I have had a really great year, and hope you have too!  Enjoy the last day of 2010, and try to remember all the wonderful things you and yours have accomplished this year!

Our family has:
Hubbers got a fantastic new job opportunity
Moved to Raleigh, NC
Crystal graduates with a MA in Biology
We find out we are expecting a second child (a boy)
Jeanne last month in 2010 leaves her 18 months old and is learning new words each and everyday.

P is for Plane :Take two December 2010

Wednesday December 22nd, 2010

    Back to the airport we go.  Jeanne did very well again, and thankfully we had no issues getting to the airport or on the flight.  We even landed a little early, and Granmommy was there to pick us up promptly, which of course made Jeanne very happy.  Our first day back in Massachusetts we just went food shopping for and relaxed at home.

Thursday December 23rd, 2010

     We were lucky enough to get a super special visit from Aunt Eileen.  Jeanne was so happy to see her and we appreciate her making the drive out for meet us for breakfast!  I so missed her infectious laugh and warm smile.  Here is a picture of Jeanne beaming up at Aunt Eileen and wearing Eileen's very pretty scarf.

I think this picture is great, she is just so happy to see Eileen.

Friday December 24th, 2010

  We had breakfast at home and packed up the car to get ready for the drive to Connecticut.  We thought it would be a good idea to let Jeanne run around outside for a bit before being strapped in a car seat for 3 hours, so we went to the local track and walked around for a bit.  That certainly seemed like a good idea, until of course we were outside, in the cold blistering wind.  I did not bring all the winter clothes needed for me to walk *slowly* outside, and Jeanne just doesn't own them.  So after a 'quick' trot once around, we got back in the car and headed south.  

I do not miss Winter in New England.

Once in Ct, Jeanne got re-acquainted with her Great Aunts, Uncles and second cousins.  Jeanne is a very social creature, but preferred people closer to her size and seemed wary of the 'tall men' (CJ and Lee).  

I think all the second cousins and a good time and a yummy dinner of lasagna (thinking of you Grandma!).  It took a little wrangling to get K and B off the bed, but they finally made it, despite their excitement. 

We Bakers all slept very well, but Jeanne did wake at 4 asking for her 'ilk'.  I tried to be quite, really I did, but I fear any new sound would have woken K and B anyway, so at 4:15am, I heard little footsteps coming up the stairs, then " Wake up, it's Christmas!"  Graciously K and B went back downstairs and were very, very patient about letting the adults all wake up and have their coffee before massive chaos ensued (thanks guys!).  Although, they must have super-sonic hearing, since they were able to hear Jeanne speaking to hubbers and I on the 3rd floor around 6am and ZOOM, up the stairs they came!

Saturday December 25, 2010

Breakfast was a wonderful egg strata and fruit salad, but with the state of hunger of all the adults in the house (and this pregnant lady), we could see immediately it would not be enough food and we were eagerly awaiting James and Eileen's arrival.  Lee, hubbers and I opted for left over lasagna, since we knew there would not be enough for James and Eileen and we all wanted to make sure they had a yummy warm breakfast as soon as they arrived.

Soon after, our normally orderly Christmas (youngest to oldest opening presents, with the kids opening two at a time usually) was completely abandoned, and all chaos ensued.

Here are a few pictures of Jeanne:

opening blocks from Aunt Laurie (thank you!)

Personally, this is my favorite picture:  She loved the "Heads" book!  Thanks so much Laurie!

A very bad picture of the Baker Family Christmas 2010, (Jeanne was not to be contained).

Another mangled photo of the Bakers 2010, we were top of our game you can see....

Eileen and Hubbers all smiles

Jeanne and I

Jeanne loves to expose my growing belly to give hugs and kisses to 'baby'.

Ohh, what's in here?!

Ah, a happy Uncle James.

Dad and Jeanne reading "Heads".

The Button!

Cousin K receiving awesome gift number 124.

Jeanne tearing into more Mega blocks!  "Open, open!"

Claudia, Lee and Cousin K

I feel like I have this picture of Uncle James, my mother and I somewhere when I was very young... it feels so nostalgic.  Perhaps a Christmas in Boston when I was 4 or 5 when my loving and gracious Uncle and Aunt took Mom and I in? 

Cousin K, Uncle James, Jeanne and I

"THE BUTTON!"

And some videos of her opening her 'Frosty the Snowman card, which was a big hit!
Frosty 1 she immediately figures out what is making the music and tries to take apart the card, too smart!
Frosty 2  Look at the little dance she does, and her excited face.  I've got a cutie here!

Lee, Claudia, Cousin K and B

Dinner was a fantastic arrangement of beef tenderloin, potatoes, asparagus, green beans and salad.  Everyone had seconds and thirds.  Thank you to our fantastic host for such great food!

Dessert, once the two French ladies 'brulee'd' it, was the most delicate, finely created chocolate cake I have ever had.  Most people think that richer is better and the more chocolate you have in a dessert the better, but I rarely take more than one bite of those desserts.  But THIS, this dessert was a masterpiece!  I had a second slice later....  What a joy, thank you Eileen!

Then they spoke French. 
The antics in the video above went on for quite a while, but it took me a bit to get the phone to record this.  They were both having such a great time in there own little world, happy as larks.  I was reminded of an Eddie Izzard stand up routine of trying to work in elementary French words into a conversation while in Paris (following video contains adult language  The monkey is on the branch).  I had to stop the video of Eileen and Mom, because Hubbers  read my mind and was trying to remember the Eddie Izzard line, and at the end you hear Hubbers speak, I lose my ability to hold the phone because I am laughing so hard.  OK now, re-view the video of Eileen and Barb They spoke French

Hubbers and I both agree, that this was our most fun Christmas we've had in a long time.  That's not to say other Christmas' were hell, but that we really had a wonderful time with Jeanne, and visiting with our family.  I'm so glad we were able to fly up here and see everyone, thank you all for making the long car trip!


December 26th, 2010
    “The Blizzard is Coming, the blizzard is coming!”

  We got word the night before that there would be significant amounts of snow all up the East coast, but wouldn’t arrive until late Sunday night/Monday morning in New England.  Despite that, our own “Paul Revere” was good enough to wake us from our slumber to make sure we were packed and out of Connecticut by 9a.m.

[Don’t worry, Lor, we still love you ; )  ]

A quick stop for diapers and milk before we hit the road and away we went.  The four of us had a fun and laugh filled car ride home and made back to Granmommy’s safe and sound.  Jeanne’s favorite new song is “Hey Toast” (Heywood Banks "Toast' song), while my favorite new song is “Nerves" (Heywood Banks Inches and Miles).  I'm sure Granma wishes her daughter would get off any one her her thousands of nerves.

Nine hours after we were woken up, the snow began to fall.... hmm, perhaps sleeping another little bit couldn't have hurt.... ; )  

Once back to Granma's we got Indian food as take out since hubbers and I have been craving it for a couple of weeks now.  We got food fro Kushboo in Lexington, which is normally fantastic and super tasty, but somehow, the aloo palak (spinach with potatoes) were burnt.  You could smell that 'burnt' smell as soon as you open the container.  We also got garlic naan, and navratan korma, but with all the warm food the garlic naan was too 'moist' for Mum, so she put it under the broiler (set on high with the rack approximately 2 inches away from the coils).  When mum begins to put the spinach dish on her plate she says "How do you burn spinach...."  Then she jumps up and grabs the now burnt garlic nann out of the oven.  Hubbers and I laughed and agreed, probably the same way you burn bread, you forget about it.

 Monday December 27th, 2010::  SNOW DAY!

  We woke to snow covered streets, trees, and cars, but not a true blizzard.  It snowed a little more in the morning, but within 5 minutes of waking Jeanne made it clear she did not want to be contained within the apartment walls.  By 10 am we got all bundled up. I did get her fleece pants specifically for our trip, and she had her super warm wool sweater from Eileen so we knew she would be 'OK', we did not have boots though, so after we put her socks and shoes on, we put granmommy's warm wool socks over Jeanne's shoes to act as gators and add another layer of warmth.   By the end I think we succeeded in the proper amount of bundle, which is of course defined by the level of internal combustion just prior to leaving the house.

Here is my snow bunny.  By the way, she loves ice and snow.  By love, I mean loves to eat it.  She calls ice cubes 'ice cream' and thinks its just the best treat in the world to get an ice cube.  So, true to form, she went berserk trying to find the biggest 'ice cream' she could handle, and she did of course succeed.

 

But Ma, how am I supposed to pick up snow with these mittens on!?

Can you read the sign?  It reads:  "Please, no snow piling here.".... Oh well.

Yumm!  Ice Cream!  (Poor thing, her little lips and cheeks were starting to turn blue, but she was so happy)

Big Snow! (video)



Tuesday December 28th, 2010
   My mothers alarm went off at 5am this morning.  Then my hubbers alarm went off at 5:01 this morning.  Amazingly we were all packed and driving at 6:05 a.m.  We checked our flight status many times yesterday, and last night, and again this morning.  Each time they said our flight would be delayed 10 minutes.  'HA' I said.  But, there was no way to prove the negative, so the only thing we could do was go to the airport.  The airport was PACKED, packed I tell you.  But it also seemed like every single employee of every airline was working, so things we actually moving along and all questions were being answered in an orderly and amazingly quick fashion.

  I got a little worried when we tried to get through security, and a family was literally rushed to the front of the line because their flight was leaving 'right now', but other than that, all was fairly organized.
  Our flight was schedule to depart at 8:00am, but we finally boarded around 9:30, and after that, Jeanne was great on the plane!  I can say that because she was in Daddy's lap about 99% of the time....  Thanks hubby!

Bing, Bam, Boom, we were home in a jiffy and all three of us were happy as punch.  Jeanne spent some time making sure all her toys were in perfect working order, then hubby went food shopping while Jeanne napped and I washed all our clothes from our trip.

We really did have a great time up in Boston, and I realized, that it might be the last time I make that trip.  I'm sure I'll visit my family, but it would probably be for a far shorter amount of time.

Now, this trip would not have been possible without my mother.   I would not have been able to bring 'my' family up North for the holiday, and I have really missed seeing everyone, and Jeanne was really starting to miss her Gran(yes!)mommy.

I'm sorry I can be such a pain to drive with, please know I love and appreciate ALL that you have done for us.  Thank you for sharing your apartment, and your time with us, we love you so much!

Bath time

Each night, hubbers and I switch jobs.  We either do bath time and reading until sleepy or ask for other parent, or we put her to sleep.  This way she gets used to both of us doing all jobs and is comfortable with that, and it givess each parent a 30 minute break.

Tonight hubbers is doing bath and reading (I'll put Jeanne to bed), and through the monitor (which is in Jeanne's bedroom, not the bathroom), all I hear is toys floating against the tub and a lot of giddy laughter from Jeanne. 

It's really a great sound.

18 month check up

We had our 18 month appt yesteraday, and Jeanne weighed 23.5 pounds, and measured 31” tall. She only gained 1.5 pounds from her 15 month visit, but it was really during her 16 month. Since then, we weaned from the breast, we finally managed to get cows milk into, and thus switched the almond milk for cows milk (still mixed with soy for more minerals and vits, oh and chocolate yummy factor too), so I know she is getting more fat and calories from her milk. She has however adopted the traditional toddler role of refusing foods, and has become miss picky pants at times. The Doc recommended multi vitamins, and fortified cereal.


This made me pause twice, first…. I asked, “Are people still feeding their 18 month olds infant rice cereal?!” She replied yes, and I responded that she has been eating steel cut oats, and adult healthy cereals for many months now (I also neglected to tell her we didn’t actually feed her infant cereal all that much, perhaps for a month or so. I didn’t see the point of processed white rice as a source of calories.

Anywho, moving on to my next pause… All children vitamins are geared towards 2 year olds (the chewable ones, not the liquids), and I was concerned about the dose for her. She suggested cutting them in half. I looked up the gummy vitamins, and the chewable Flintstones vitamins, and weren’t that concerned if a full vitamin would be given, regardless, I cut them in half.
Jeanne is advanced verbally, but I know that doesn’t mean much since toddlers tend to average out by year 4-5 anyway, so there is no need to get my panties in a bunch. The Doc was only concerned if Jeanne could not say 10-15 words, or be able to run.

She only suggested continued reading to help her learn and explore, and to teach her anything I want (colors, letter, shapes, planets) as repetition is the key to learning. I know Jeanne loves her books, but I see her making a slow transition to learning more from physical objects (holding a blue block as opposed to looking at a picture of a blue block). I think I will go to a craft store this week and see what cheepy items I can get, like colored scarves, or eggs etc…


Do you have any ideas for cheepy stuff like that?

P is for Plane

Day 1 and 2

Moored in Miami

Well I'm glad I checked the weather for the week in Miami before we left on Monday.  Most of the week is predicted to be in the low to mid 60's.  So a quick switch of tanks and tees for Jeanne and I for long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts did us well. Jeanne earned a cool B- for behavior on the plane.  She was quite fidgety and tired since it was her nap time, but after an hour or just under, she gave in and fell asleep while I monotonously hummed to her.

We were in the back of the plane, and ended up being the last ones off.  Since we are traveling with a pregger lady and a toddler, we all needed a potty stop before picking up our luggage.  But the luggage ended up being 4 escalators and 3 train stops away, so we were the last the pick up luggage as well.  Apparently traveling with a child adds time (to everything you do!).  We landed at 330pm and by the time we got to the car rental place, got the car seat installed and headed out it was well after 430,pm probably closer to 450pm or so.

THEN, Miami airport looked like Logan did for about 12 years, construction everywhere, detour signs, but no signage for the highways you want to take.  20 minutes later we were finally heading in the right direction, out of the airport.  Now however, it was 5:00pm, and we were in traffic with those leaving work.

2 hours later (yes, really two), we traveled 22 miles to our hotel.  In the meantime, Jeanne was upgraded to A+ traveler, since she was Fantastic(!) in the car ride the whole time.  Now, around 715 pm, we tried every restaurant in walking distance from our hotel (on this Monday night) and they we're either closed or had a long wait.  Since the pregger lady hadn't eaten since 3, and was quite dehydrated from the plane, and beautiful Jeanne Nuit has been trying out her new liquid diet and hadn't eaten since breakfast (not that tons of food hadn't been presented since then), we had to order room service.  The food was really quite great, the bill choked us.

Tuesday morning:

A high of 60 today means no pool for us, I'm disappointed since I had a pretty maternity bathing suit rushed to our house so I could show off this hot bod on Miami beach, oh well.  Breakfast was good, well have to do the buffet again since I have no idea what miss picky pants will or won’t eat anymore, and I’d rather a ton of options in hopes of something.  This morning in was two plates full(!) of blueberries, some watermelon and strawberries.  Just fruit, but at least she ate 'something'.   We meandered around the lobby then went outside.

 It was in the mid 50s and windy, but with a sweatshirt on her and a very light wool for me, it was quite pleasant in the sun.  So we lounged on the lounge chairs and watched the birds.  I finally found a place to get down to the beach and we took off our shoes and walked in the sand.  It took Jeanne a while to get used to the sand in her toes, and to get her balance, but then she was happy.  They had lots of buckets and shovels for kids to play with, and since it was only us, she got to use them all.

A nice lunch, Jeanne ate only fries, but at least she didn't want any catsup on them.  She's napping now, which is the other thing she's been ditching lately.....  So, since she has my genes, you could all imagine how a hungry, tired little me is......  

a. blast.  

I'm thrilled she is doing well away from home, and got a visit from dad (he's in a meeting all day today and tomorrow), hopefully we can all walk on the beach later together.

This video is showing the exterior of a small convience store within the hotel we stayed at.  Note that they decorated the walls to look like a gingerbread house.  Except, it didn't just look like a gingerbread house, it was made of real gingerbread cookie slabs, icing, gumdrops, the whole kit and koobodle!  This was the only good video I got of it, and I didn't even fit the whole facade in the video!
Real gingerbread house!

Day 3

Today was supposed to be about 7 degrees warmer, but I didn't think that would mean much in terms of the beach.  I was wrong, and very happy to be wrong.  We went outside to play in the sand with our sweatshirts on at 10 am, while it was about 54 degrees, within 30 minutes, with our toes in the sand and our sweatshirts off, I knew it was warm enough for a dip in the heated pool. I rushed Jeanne back to our room for a quick bathing suit change and rushed back down stairs.  She was happy to be in the pool, and I was glad it was heated, but is wouldn't call it tub like at all.  It is an infinity pool, so there was a long area of very shallow water for her to play and splash in, which was great, especially I wasn't all that thrilled with getting  wet myself.  She had a blast and made a friend.  A two year old girl who's parents just stripped her down to her diaper and let her splash.  The two girls followed each other around the shallow area pointing to each other 'nose' and both mommies giving reminders to ' be gentle' with other babies.

After half an hour I took Jeanne back down the beach to play in the sand and warm up.  She liked to fill buckets and dump the sand on herself, and chase the birds which I thought was hysterical.

Now that Jeanne is napping, I am hoping hubbers can get out of his meeting early, so we can all play in the sand!

Day 4

Day 4 was just not good.  Overcast, raining, and cold. With nothing to do, and no where to go, the day was just torture really.    The only solace was that later than day we were able to meet up with hubbers parents.  Of course Jeanne fell asleep 5 minute before we met them, and with that excitement meant no nap for her that day.  Once we got some food into the pregger lady and Jeanne, all our moods were lifted, and we just had a grand time chasing Jeanne around the new hotel lobby ( as it was still quite cold outside).

Day 5

FINALLY!  This was the weather we were planning on!  Mid 70’s, light breeze, wonderful.  After breakfast we all walked along the beach, with hubbers and Jeanne wading in the waves.  Once it got warm enough for bathing suits, hubbers, Jeanne and I were rearing to go!  It was really nice to just hang out in the sand and watch Jeanne play with the seashells hubbers was gathering from the ocean.  Sand mounds were made, and Jeanne giggled every time the waves erased its existence, again and again.

A good nap for Jeanne, a very filling dinner for all, and it was time for the grandparents to head home.  I was sorry to see them leave, as was Jeanne.  I wish she could see them more often, and hopefully she will be able to see them again in January.

We packed and hung out in our room for a while, then took a walk along the boardwalk before bed with Jeanne.  It was nice to hear the waves and feel relaxed.

Day 6

We headed back to North Carolina, Jeanne did well on the plane, but truthfully, it was hubbers lap she was wriggling in most of the time, there was just not enough room for Jeanne, myself and the fetus in one seat, but as usual, when it was time to fall asleep, 5 minutes before the plane started to descend, she wanted mommies shoulder.  She slept through the landing, the taxi and the departure, so hubbers helped me stand while I carried our sleeping toddler through the airport and to claim our baggage.

I can report that my balance is indeed off now that I am almost 24 weeks pregnant.  I can also report that baby within already does not like to share, every time I hold Jeanne he kicks and squirms like mad.  Apparently there is limited room in there, and he wants it all.

Well, that was our first family vacation!  I’m looking forward to heading to Mass in less then 2 weeks, especially since I know I won’t be trapped in hotels, no matter the weather!

Snow?

Well, it snowed today.... It was quite pretty, but didn't stick since it was 41 most of the day.  Should have heard the weather men though.... there was a 'winter weather advisory' and everything.  Quite funny really.  Hubbers wanted to go grab some beer for the weekend, and as advertised, ALL the milk was gone from the supermarket.  A dusting sent these people into a terror about being stuck in their homes and dying of starvation (snicker).

Jeanne played with the snow a bit, and loved the eat the snowball.  It occurred to me sometime last week that she doesn't have a winter coat, but so far the coldest days have been in the 40's, and we can handle that with layering....

The whole family will be flying south later next week for a work/family vacation and visit hubbers parents.  It won't be too warm (some days in the highs of 70's or 60's), but it will be nice for Jeanne to play on the beach.  I'm a little worried about flying with Jeanne, but luckily it will be a short flight.

We've settled on a name for babe #2, and I've picked out a girl name, just in case the tech was wrong.

I love you all!