Just a glimpse...

Each day, my heart skips a beat at the mere thought of just a glimpse. I know, hope and dream that the day will go well. In the morning I consider sneaking a peek before work but realize that would be foolish and cruel. I wish the paparazzi would stalk her like they do the celebrities.

When I do get a moment, when I get that first glimpse of her, my heart is pounding, my smile is wide and I look forward to the minute that I get to hug her. Of course, the second she's handed over, she leans way off to the side pointing, yelling either a) banannaaaa!!!! or b) shooooeeeessss!!!!!



Who needs your Mama at the end of the day when there are banana's and shoes to reach for? In the end, it's still worth it for the unsolicited hug or kiss.

Memories

I want to remember the following:

- Jenna's hands are so soft. She likes to grab and play with my hands when nursing and her hands are so soft and baby-like, I don't want to forget that. I would, however like to forget when she digs her talons into my collar bone or cuts my lip from grabbing at it.

- Nursing is the only cuddle time we really get. So as we approach the year mark and we start to transition towards WCM (whole cows milk) I want to soak up all the snuggly time I can get. I know it's going to get fewer and farther between snuggle sessions. That being said, she's getting better about just sitting in our lap for story time, as opposed to thrashing out trying to get away, or to eat the book, so maybe our quiet time together won't be forever lost...

- I've had to stop looking forward. Meaning, I've been so freaked out with Jenna coming closer to her first birthday, I wasn't taking the opportunity to enjoy my 10 month old. As a 10 month old. She's getting big, but she's still my baby. Always will be my baby, but before she turns to a toddler, I'm going to treat her like a baby while I still can.

- I keep reminding myself to slow down. Stop running through the motions and stop and make a goofy face at Jenna. I love stopping everything and doing whatever is necessary to elicit a full on belly giggle from Jenna. Nothing makes me happier. I really do live for her, it's crazy.

- We went to Bo's BBQ for Mother's Day dinner (yum!) Jenna was fantastic. She was eating away and a gentleman walked by and stopped. He said "Oh! She's just all kinds of Precious. Just all kinds of precious. I mean, you two are an attractive couple, but she. Wow. Precious. All kinds." Nick and I keep giggling over our "all kinds of precious" and I think we've got a new nick name for her ;)

- Jenna started climbing this week. She's been cruising like a champ all over the house and her crawling is unbelievably fast (Where'd she go!? I thought she was with you!). I was trying to prepare myself for walking, as she's really good standing, pushing stuff around the house (her walker, the laundry basket, the box from the diapers, her musical play table) but this week she started climbing. First on her rocking chair (climbed on it, was standing, holding the back of it and rocking.. nearly gave Nick a heart attack!) then on the box of diapers, on the nursing stool in her room, she now pushes stuff over to the couch to climb up. I.was.not.prepared.for.this!

Ahhhh... fun times. Really, really fun times. I love my munchkin.

Jenna's really fun right now.

There's not much else I have to say beyond that... She's sleeping better (though I fear writing that out for fear of jinxing it!) She's also been super adaptable when naps are off. She's happy, healthy, has 8 teeth (2 popped out in the last week!) and just loves to play, play, play.

She's started waving, randomly. And also give 2-3 claps and then raises her hands over her head (think touchdown!). Adorable. Oh, and when I say Mama to her? She responds with "Dada"

Here she is... um, playing with tofu...

*sniff* I love this picture.

Jenna with her Ace Ventura psycho ward hair... Daddy snapped the pic. It's right before bath time, just after her pigtails came out ;)

My beautiful babe... on opening day!

Giving raspberries! Always out of the side of her mouth... and always with the serious face!

Stories, before they're lost... and a few pics

So, I've been meaning to blog about this for over 2 months now (yipes!) and I keep forgetting, or maybe I'm just hesitant to get it written down for fear that someone will try to tell me Jenna's first word was something other than Dada.

A couple of months ago, just when Jenna was getting mobile enough to get into trouble, we started setting limits on what she can and can't touch in the living room (or is it family room? I always get those confused... it's the one with the TV). One thing she's not allowed to touch is Nick's guitar (um, for obvious reasons, right?) So, she crawled over to it. We sharply said "Jenna, No." and take her hand and remove it from the guitar. This was repeated over and over and over (we tried removing her and distracting her, but the allure of the guitar was apparently too much for her). At one point, after removing her hand and saying "NO" again, she looked at me, angry, turned back to the guitar and yelled "NO!" I dropped my jaw, looked over at Nick and we both started laughing. We did hear what we think we heard, but I maintain that she has yet to repeat the word 'no' again, thus, it isn't really her first word.

The other story happened about a month ago (maybe less?) I'm in the kitchen making coffee (decaf for me, leaded for Nick). Nick's in the above mentioned room (family room!?) laying on the floor, Jenna's crawling all over him. All the sudden I hear "Ow, hehe, ow... OWWW!!!" I go over to see what all the commotion was about and see Nick holding his nose. I asked him what's wrong and he proceeded to say "She gave me a bloody nose!" She was examining his face and stuck her finger up her nose. He claims he thought she'd stop, only to discover she wanted to see what was up there. She found blood, apparently.

OK, so normally I save all my favorite pictures for the month end letter, but I can't wait on these. They turned out great. I'm super excited I picked up a new lens, and the results, thus far, have been amazing. YAY!

I just pulled her hair out of pigtails and she was rockin her mop-top

I really can't get enough of her little round booty or her thigh rolls!

Jenna and Kellen, hanging out, admiring all the leaves outside they would love to get their hands on.

Again with the booty and thigh rolls... the smiley flower bloomers were too cute to ignore!

Mama and her baby.


This is, by far, my favorite picture lately. I love her eyes, I love that she's not all the way in the frame, I love that her pigtails are in the distance. This picture never fails to make me smile, and I think it ranks up there with my other favorite shots: Daddy's girl and the Tutu shots