A Craft

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Yep, I'm posting about a craft I did and took a (lousy) picture of. See, most of what I do in blogland, aside from blogging myself and reading those of friends and family, is read craft and home design blogs. It's a sickness. And probably a coping mechanism with all the limitations of my back problems and all. So when I actually make something myself (instead of just planning and ideating) AND I snap a picture? Well, that's cause for a celebration. Or at least a blog post.

I made this out of a hanger, some ribbon I had, hot glue, a clearanced christmas garland purchased at least a year ago at Michael's and some of those Target snowflake ornaments, also purchased year(s)? ago after the season. It reflects my attempts to embrace winter here in Minnesota, and because I'm into wreaths on apartment doors, and because Jane loves snow stars (snowflakes). Please ignore its crooked hanging job.

My Hero

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yes, he does look a bit grizzled in this picture...

but he saved my laptop!!

All it cost was a 25 dollar part ordered off of eBay and somewhere upwards of 5 hours labor. That's a $600 savings over what Apple would have charged us to get my monitor going again.


But more than that, I am just so impressed with my husband. I haven't always loved how tenaciously meticulous he is, but it pays off when repairing Macs.


I have always loved watching his brain work and figure things out and his natural tendency to fix and improve everything around him (whether that is a squeaky door, a dirty floor, etc).

So, Hero. Thanks for giving me my Mac back. And my online life. Which, has been a rather large part of my life (something I understand a bit differently now from being cut off for the last few weeks of no computer and something I'm rethinking a bit).

Words...

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I love this talking thing. It's incredible to watch. And it's hard to keep up. I try to at least keep Eric caught up but pretty much everyday Eric is surprised by a new word Jane knows that he didn't know she knew....
I sent this out in our family weekly email and I thought I'd post it here.

The most recent funny thing happened yesterday (Sunday). You all most likely know how cheesy my husband's sense of humor is which he utilizes when interacting with Jane. One common "game" they play is when getting dressed. Eric delays pulling her hands through her sleeve and says "ahhh! ahhh! where's your hand???" and then pulls it out with relief. Eric was home sick from church yesterday and when he's sick, he's cold so he had on his big sweatshirt and had his hands pulled into his sleeves frequently throughout the day. When Jane would see him, she'd say "ahh! ahh!" and then pull his hands out. Sure cracked us up.

It's also fun to see what words and phrases she picks up and how she interprets them. "Hello" is the cell phone because when do we ever say hello to someone otherwise? It's usually just "hi." When Jane is upset, I have often soothed her with the phrase of understanding "I know." Now when Jane is upset or has to do something she doesn't particularly want to do, she says "I know."

Jane is learning her colors. But in that characteristic way that kids extend the meaning of words, almost all colors almost always start out as "lellow." Just like all kids are Lizzy, but Lizzy is also Lizzy. Anyway, in the past, coloring has been a great quiet activity to do during church. Until yesterday. Jane is so excited about saying the names of colors that with every new crayon she'd pull out, she'd also shout "LELLOW!!" Then I would whisper "use your soft voice, your nice voice" which would result in a less exuberant but still loud "Lellow!" I would try one more time to get her to modulate her voice and usually the third time she'd say it soft. But then, about half the time, she'd get excited about identifying the actual color and shout "Bow" (brown) or "gree" (green) or "reh) (red) or my favorite "puh-pul" (purple, with extra emphasis on the "p" sounds). Yes, reverence fell victim to colors and my toddler's need to identify everything.

Speaking of the letter P, Jane has a few signs that she hasn't given up, like sorry and please. We've been trying to get her to "use her words" and say please. We thought it would help to break down the word into sounds: say "puh, puh" say "lee, lee," etc. Jane got the first lesson only. Now when ask her to say please she says: "puh, puh"
Other cute Jane versions of words are: "dahty" is water, Joey is "dooah." "iwansama" is I want some more which you will hear when she plays "coook!" or cooking with her play dishes. From many blanket rides with Daddy (although Jena started it) "wee" means blanket or ride or fun. She still says many of her s words through her nose, the cutest being "snow" but also the name of own of her friends "sammy" and "smoothy."

In general we are just basking in the joy of watching her grow and learn and we laugh a lot these days (especially now that she's feeling better!! THANK YOU antibiotics!)

More Sicky

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After calling the nurse a few times and distrusting my gut over the weekend, Jane convinced me to go in to the doctors when she cried for 45 minutes non stop Monday morning. Totally inconsolable and miserable. She had at least one ear infection and possibly pneumonia so we got us some good ol' antibiotics and she's turning around quickly! Man is it nice to have my baby back!

On Wednesday, my already plugged head got more plugged and I could barely hear out of my right ear. Then the pain started and I was totally inconsolable and miserable. I got a few hours of sleep and then went to my doctor. I also have/had an ear infection. Double thanks for antibiotics! Doc also said I probably had a sinus infection already...

Eric took a turn for the worse today, we are hoping there isn't a third reason to be grateful for antibiotics, he just doesn't have time to get sick and I'm too tired to pick up any slack, we're already pretty slack around here!!

Sick and Computerless

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I have been computerless for almost a week. On Monday while making a new "minimum maintance" list (in keeping with my attempts at improving my house management skills), my screen suddenly went totally black, well, I could kind of see the outline of the documents I had open...long story short, the LCD backlight on my three year old MacBook Pro went out. Apple estimates this to be a quick $600 plus fix (_cough_gasp_shriek_) I am more inclined to buy a regular monitor and loose the portability of a laptop than fork out that cash. Eric thinks he can fix it himself if we can find the part. In the meantime, my blogtime and general internet time is almost non-existent. Seriously, Eric is not on his for maybe an hour of the day (that he's home), and that's usually when we are spending time together. It has been both freeing and isolating at the same time.
Wednesday I got slammed with some kind of fierce head cold. I don't ever remember my sinuses hurting like that. Last night was particularly bad but I seemed to have turned a corner today (well, that and I haven't done anything today but read Northanger Abbey). Jane came down with it in full force on Thursday and so it has been fun. She seems to be showing signs of sinus infection, even though it's kind of early for that. She's had a real difficult time sleeping at night or taking any kind of a nap with all her coughing. It has been an excellent distraction to my own sickness. So far, Eric has only had it a little bit and we're crossing every possible appendage hoping it doesn't get any worse.
Anyway, just letting all y'all know that this blog might very well be silent for a while (as will my general presence in blogland) and certainly there will be no pics or videos till I get my baby back.
Speaking of babies, ours feels totally and completely nameless. I know it's still early, but we can't even come up with ONE name we even kind of like, let alone a list of possibilities...*sigh*

Reasoning Skills

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Jane has become quiet adapt at asking for a treat "teet" or a M&M "numanum," both of which mean anything sweet which she particularly likes the taste of like frozen blueberries and medicine. Last night while Eric was getting her ready for bed, helping her brush her teeth, she saw her medicine dropper by the sink and asked for "numanum?" Daddy said "no, that's medicine, you don't need medicine." She then runs into her room and finds the ear thermometer, brings it to Daddy and tries to put it in her ear before asking for help. Daddy does and as soon as it beeps and Jane looks at the numbers she says "numanum?"

Talking

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a few of her favorite things- Lammy, Lamkins, and her ducky pajamas...don't mind the dirty rug--
note to self, never by a dark blue rug.


I'm really floored by this talking thing. Jane is at that stage now where she's picking up a new word a day. It started a few weeks ago or so but I thought it was a fluke, she's too young for that, right? The thing is, I have to really think hard at the end of day because it seems like so much new and cute stuff happens all day long. Especially now that Eric is back at the grindstone and gone all the time (well, he sees her for almost an hour before bed and for 5 minutes in the morning). Yesterday Jane came up with "heavy." We were at Lowe's and she had been freaking out until I let her swipe my card and help put in my pin. She helped me push the cart out and then I grabbed the bags and she reached for one, so I handed her the one with the laundry soap in it and she got this very pleased grin on her face and said "heavy, heavy!" I had a hard time talking her into trading me for a bag she could actually lift, but she was so proud of herself for lifting something so "heavy." The thing is, I didn't consciously teach her that! It just came seemingly out of the blue. This morning, she told me she wanted "Kix" for breakfast, not circles (cheerios). And it seems over the last few days she's started learning her colors. Most of the time, she gets blue and yellow correctly and purple and green the other half of the time. She was so proud she found a brown one the other day, too. Anyway, I bowled over this talking thing and this parenting thing and it's just all so darn cool.

Kneeling

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Eric has been putting Jane to bed lately and he recently taught her to kneel for her evening prayers. This morning at our family devotional, she showed me her kneeling skills. She was so proud of herself and kept saying "knee!" and pointing to her and daddy's knees. It was incredibly cute, sweet, and touching to see my daughter kneeling next to my husband in family prayer, something I never imagined getting such joy out of.

Elmo

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I started this post back before the computer died, and then I wanted to wait to upload the picture. That is her Elmo-watching-face.

So Jane somehow figured out Elmo, too. We don't have any Elmo toys and I've tried to get her to watch Sesame Street a half dozen times or so during that first trimester, but she wasn't much interested. And all of a sudden she is obsessed! Her favorite, most enthusiastic word! When she first shouted it, I didn't even know she knew who he was. She does have a cousin nine months older that loves Elmo, so maybe she's seen it at his house? Crazy!

After a week of tuning into Sesame Street a little more regularly, she also says Abby, Zoe, and Big Bird by name and grunts for Oscar the Grouch. Eric dislikes Elmo's World quite a bit, apparently there is such a thing as TOO silly for one Eric Ludlow (I know, I'm amazed as well). I tolerate it because it means she's not destroying anything for 15 minutes and because she really does enjoy it. Except Mr. Noodle. Sometimes he scares her.

So Much On My Mind...

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I have so much on my mind these days that my brain is burning and not in that intellectually exciting way either... But instead of throwing it all up here, I'm just going to post some general silliness here in mostly pictures. Mostly because I'm on my back again and typing sideways and one handed sucks.

Here goes:

My perpetually silly husband began teaching Jane at an early age that tights are also funny hats as this cell phone pic demonstrates.
I didn't find it terribly amusing until Jane asked to put this "hatu" on her head...
In other silliness, Jane has grown attached to this box. Joey was over last week and at one point she got inside and closed the "doors" for a while. She apparently needed space.

We went to the play area in the mall here last week-ish and Jane enjoyed the toys there to some degree, mostly the tunnels and secluded places instead of the slides and stairs.

But her favorite toy was the camera case. Perhaps she is hitting the purse phase early?

And finally, my girly girl has decided she's ready for the spa already. Here she is applying a blueberry yogurt treatment in her hair.