First Haircut

A couple of weeks ago, Jenna Beth had a big day. She didn't volunteer for it, but nonetheless, she had it! She got her first hair cut and her ears pierced all in one trip to the mall. She wasn't a big fan of the hair cut so thankfully we had met some friends from El Paso that were passing through town at the mall and they were able to take pictures and try to keep Jenna Beth distracted.

She's getting ready for her first haircut!

This is a good picture of how out of control and unruly the back of her hair was before the cut. This is her "Please get me out of this chair!" pose.One of the smiles she gave because she was being entertained by various goofy antics!

There wasn't an official end product picture, but you can see in the one below that it looks so much better, even though this one is her sweaty and on the loose! If you pan in close, you may be able to see her earrings.

I do need to take some time to get the pictures from my phone onto the computer since I use it alot for candid, spur of the moment pictures.

14 Months Old

Since I failed to put pictures of Jenna Beth when she turned 1, I figured 14 month pictures would have to do. Heck, we didn't even really celebrate her birthday at home. Poor kid will definitely have the trauma that comes from being the 3rd child! She's our walking, babbling, Miss Personality! She's working on her Princess attitude and knows how to defend herself against the attacks of her brothers.

Here she is on her actual birthday!

And here she is sporting her Buzz Lightyear pajamas that her Grammy sent her because she can't send the boys Toy Story stuff without sending something for the little sister. Maybe we'll just call her Buzzette.

Bath Robe Model

This isn't a new picture, but I know it's been a while since I've posted many pictures. Jenna Beth in all her clean cuteness!

I've got a ton to do this week to get ready for LT's return, at least I'm assuming he's still LT. I mentioned once on FB that I was trying to squeeze 365 days worth of projects into 30 days. Believe it or not, I've somehow managed to get a few of my closet organizing/purging projects done. I've got 4 different sets of things that now need to be donated or consigned at various places. It feels good to walk into my closet and not feel like everything is going to fall on my head! I still have plenty that could be tossed or done away with, but there will be time for that later.

Still working on the losing the end of the baby weight. I've lost about 5 lbs since I started hard core Weight Watchering a couple of weeks ago. I still have about 7 to go to be at Wedding Day Weight and that's the ultimate goal! I'll let you know if that ever happens.

Final Auburn Photo Shoot

I made the boys wear their Auburn Windsuits on Friday since Auburn was playing their final game of the season. After I put theirs on, I remembered I had one in Jenna Beth's size, too. Here are some of the shots I took. None are great since it's impossible to get these 3 to all look the same direction, let alone actually smile at the same time!

1st we have 3 smiles and only 2 lookers.2nd we have only 1 real smile and that one isn't even looking at the camera. Finally if we can't all cooperate, at least Jenna Beth will still give a good smile for the camera!

Sick Kid

I've decided this week that there's nothing that can make you feel like the world's worst parent than a trip to the Emergency Room! I'm not a trained medical professional and maybe I'm not even skilled and observant enough to qualify to be a mother.

Sunday night I had to take Jenna Beth to the ER because she had a 104 temp. She had a little cough for a few days, but no fever and I didn't think it sounded like a serious cough. I think they need to give new mother's a video of various coughs that we can watch to help us identify when our kids have a serious cough versus a typical throat clearing cough! The whole time they were asking me questions about this and that, I felt like I was being judged for being clueless. Maybe I was just being oversensitive.

Nonetheless, after watching my baby girl scream bloody murder as she was poked and prodded and x-rayed, they determined that she would need to be admitted for bronchiolitis. You can imagine my despair and the mental agony I was in. Not only was I enduring the pain of hearing my baby was seriously ill, I was alone and had to immediately start thinking about what I was going to do with Bailey and Maverick while I was confined to the hospital with Jenna Beth. At the same time, I was doing all of my communication with the outside world with a phone that was about to die!

Thankfully, the Lord knew before all of this happened that I would need great help! He provided a friend who was willing to let the boys spend the night at her house until Monday morning when I could come up with a plan of attack for them. He also provided a Grammy a truckload to California that would pass through El Paso at about 2:30am Monday morning! Mom waltzed into the hospital and became the primary provider for the boys until Jenna Beth was released from the hospital. He provided a charger for my phone via a friend and fellow iPhone user. He understood how important it was for me to have access to that phone to contact LT and others who were key in lessening the stress of this situation. He provided friends who dropped by the hospital to bring McDonald's and Starbucks! He also provided a gift shop where I was introduced to my new favorite candy bar - Twix PB. Wow!!

Jenna Beth is all better now. She's on a nebulizer treatment as needed and 10 days of antibiotics. She's happy and content and you would never know she was in the hospital 2 days ago. She has been catching up on her sleep since sleeping in the hospital was hard for her. She had an IV and a stabilizing board on one arm and couldn't suck that thumb! It was so hard and pitiful watching her try to get comfortable enough to sleep.

Thanks to all who prayed and encouraged us through a couple of hard days this week!

Almost Heaven...West Virginia

Today's post is an ode of sorts to West Virginia. You might not know this, but my family hails from the southwestern part of WEST Virginia. This might explain some of my hillbilly or redneck tendencies :o) Did you know there are people in the United States who still don't understand that Virginia and WEST Virginia are 2 different states? Imagine it!

Nonetheless, today West Virginia University is playing Auburn University at 6:45pm CT. When I saw this game on the schedule, I knew exactly what Jenna Beth was going to have to do....1/2 day she'd be a Mountaineer, 1/2 day (game time) she'll be a Tiger! So here's the cute little Mountaineer.

Even more funny is that while I was trying to take her pictures in this outfit, but my grandmama called from West Virginia about a recipe exchange email I sent her. She was concerned that the way the exchange worked, not many people would get her Garlic Cheese Biscuit recipe so I assured her I'd post it here for all the world to see! She's a great cook, so I can guarantee that these will be delicious.

Bernice's (not Berneese) Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Melt about 1/3 c of Margarine with 1-2tsp of Garlic Powder

Combine:

2 c Biscuit Mix (she uses Jiffy Baking Mix )

About 2/3 c - 1 c Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Dash of Garlic Powder

Enough Buttermilk to wet the dry ingredients (about 1 c)

Drop by Teaspoonsful onto greased cookie sheet, an inch or 2 apart. Bake at 400 until brown (10 - 12 Minutes). Using a pastry brush, brush the top of biscuits with the Butter/Garlic mixture as soon as removed from oven.

PS - Sometimes she even adds shredded pepperoni to the biscuits.

A note about my grandmama - - I'm not sure she measures anything precisely. Once when I was making a frozen pizza at her house, I pulled the pizza out of its wrapper and put it on a pan to put in the oven and she looked at me like I was crazy and said "Aren't you going to add more cheese and pepperoni to that?" She's the queen of doctoring packaged foods to her taste. My brother who wouldn't touch a vegetable other than spinach as a teenager convinced her once that pizza is a balanced, nutritious meal.

Maybe one day she'll let me share her Chicken and Dumplings recipe with you.

Cutie Pie

Jenna Beth is such a sweet baby. Have I mentioned that before? Here are a few pictures that aren't as much proof of her sweetness as they are of her cuteness! I'm her mother and I'm supposed to biased, right? I could munch on her chubby cheeks all day long!

Little Tarheels

I ordered new Carolina shirts for the kids a few weeks ago and so it was an obvious photo op! This really was as good as it got. Just getting them all to look at the camera was a feat in itself.

The funny thing about ordering these shirts is I ordered a new shirt for everyone in the family, LT included, but me! How did that happen? I guess next time I'll get 2!

Bows2Cute

I should've done this much sooner than now, but hindsight is always 20/20, right?

I'm having a virtual bow party at Bows2Cute! You can join the party until midnight tonight! Enter the code PARTY102 on the left hand side of the page where it says "Enter Coupon Code" for a 15% discount on every bow! You have to do that first to get the discount and to give me credit for your purchase.

I got bows that my mom and I ordered for Jenna Beth today. I ordered mine before the party started and am looking forward to using my discount to get some more super cute bows. The clips are lined with felt and stay very securely in her super fine baby hair. Nikki says her prices are great, too.

Here's what we got this time around.

Yes, this is an Auburn Bow! Mom found it in the clearance section. I somehow missed it.

Poor thing won't ever be able to leave the house without a bow in her hair now!

Cuddle Up

For some reason my bed has become the favorite hangout for the whole family lately. Bailey loves for Jenna Beth to lay on the pillow beside him. She enjoys it too because her brothers are very entertaining! Of course Maverick can't let Bailey have all the quality time with their sister.

(In case you haven't noticed, I've posted every day this week. My goal is every day for July, but that may not be attainable. I'm trying to make up for lost time.)

Cute Girl

I just love this little skirt. I wish I had bought one in every color! Having a girl really is like having your own little doll to dress up every day! She's much easier to dress than her blonde brother is right now.

Brotherly Love

The boys have both become very affectionate to their little sister. Many unprompted I love you Jenna Beth's have floated out of their mouths along with some monster hugs!

This was even a willing moment for both of them. (you can also see that their hair is much shorter than it's been lately).

I think Jenna Beth is looking at Bailey and wondering who is this monster and why does he keep attacking me?Mr Mav is my little helper. One afternoon I was trying to do something and Jenna Beth was hungry so I put him to work for a few minutes. He does a good job, but some times he can shove the bottle a little hard in her mouth. I don't do this often, just when I'm desperate!And here she is - - Miss Irresistable! Some friends from church gave us this little denim mini skirt and the top. She was super cute in the ensemble so I had to take a picture.Here's the happy little girl again. She has this little sly grin and she knows exactly when to pull it out. I could just sit and look at her all day to see her smile back at me. She is really the perfect baby for our crazy lives.

An Attempt to do Better

I said last week that I was going to try to do better about keeping up with Wade's World. So here's my first attempt. To make it easy on myself, you're just getting pictures!

I'm sure Jenna Beth is getting tired of me sticking the camera in her face. This picture is a couple weeks old, I think. She's just such a cutie with her eyes open and she has lots of cute clothes that I want to make sure I get a picture of her in. We've had meals delivered to us on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past few weeks. They've been delicious - everything from roasts to chicken spaghetti to greek pork chops that were out of this world! Yum! One of the deliverers was thoughtful enough to bring the boys these huge things of bubbles so we've spent a ton of time blowing bubbles outside and in the bathtub. Maverick dumped his out the first day so I've already had to refill it. And as a disclaimer, I think Bailey put his shorts on himself so they're a little twisted.
One day Maverick came out of my room with this necklace on - it's all of Jenna Beth's elastic headband bows. He was super proud of himself. He really put some effort into getting them on because some of them were hard to get off of his watermelon head. Silly little boy!
Every now and then, I'll find Snoopy in the crib with Jenna Beth. Bailey's into sharing him. Poor Snoopy is about to fall completely apart and is absolutely disgusting from being chewed on, but Bailey is still in love with him.