Trying to get inside her busy mind

Jasmine has a runny nose today.
We're not sure if it's allergies (my sinuses have been bothering me, and I'm pretty sure it's allergies) or a head cold. So we've tried to ask her questions to figure out how to treat it.

At lunch today, Josh asked her if she hurt anywhere. She said yes. When asked where, she answered "my chin!"

Only semi-helpful answer.

Later on, she told me she was getting sick and that she needed medicine. I asked her what medicine she meant, and she told me she needed "paya" (Papaya-Mint stomach-comfort chewable tablets, the health-food version of Tums).

A minute ago I went to wipe her nose for the umpteenth time, and she said, "blowing my nose, and blowing my nose, and blowing my nose..." I guess she's getting a little tired of this too!!

Hopefully she'll be back to normal tomorrow, but in the meantime, we're not sure if we should keep her away from other people, or if we should be feeding her local honey to help her immune system get used to the allergens.

*sigh* The quandaries of parenthood!

I think we're going for a record today!

I have two videos to share. I've been going through and paring down the old pictures and videos, but watching the ones of Jasmine when she was first talking made me realize how few there were of Bekah!

Who needs more of an excuse than that?!?!

Here's her "Little Teapot":


And here are two very quick ones. Jasmine has learned 3 short Bible verses with their signs, and Bekah is trying to learn two of them too!

"Daddy! You Lost Me!"

How's that for being the first thing you hear waking up in the morning?

Last night Jasmine had a bit of an hour-long meltdown at midnight (thankfully she had already been asleep for three hours at that point). She ended up only going back to sleep while being in "Mommy's Chair", which is the big, overstuffed rocking chair/recliner my parents gave us when Jasmine was born.

This isn't the first time she felt she needed to sleep there, but it's the first time we've actually tried letting her follow through on it.

All things considered, I think it went well. She slept almost 7 hours without any disturbance. But the crying "Daddy! You lost me!" as she was waking up was just too cute and too sweet and too kinda sad. I had to write about it.

- Josh

P.S. She was fine. I told her I hadn't lost her, but that she had just wanted to sleep on the chair. All was forgotten in a moment.

My Name

Dad chose my name for me. When she was pregnant with me, mom had a dream about a beautiful baby girl named Jennifer Rebekah. She wanted to name me that, until she realized that every.single.baby.girl born in 1977 was named Jennifer. Dad suggested Charlene Rebekah, and it stuck.
I love that story. It makes me smile :) And be thankful that I have a more unusual name. I rarely have to give my last name, because I'm usually the only Charlene.

Unfortunately, it is very common that I hear "Char" by people who don't realize that the nickname makes my skin crawl. I try to gently tell them that I dislike Char, and 99% of the time, they are good about calling me by my full name. Occasionally they ask if I have a nickname, and I tell them no, that Charlene is good by me.

Well, now I have a nickname. Chosen by Josh and I. You may now call me Charla. I'm not insisting on it, especially by family. I know how impossible it is for me to call Daniel or Phillip Dan or Phil. It just ain't happenin'. So I don't expect family to remember or use it. I'm perfectly fine with that.

But if you've been wishing I had a nickname, you can feel free to call me by my new nom de chois, Charla!

Things that make me laugh, part 3

I was pointed to a blog that I now check regularly. I can't get Feedblitz to work for it, so I have to do it the old-fashioned way and keep re-opening it. But it's worth it. I can't think of many things that make me laugh out loud as consistently as this blog does!

It's Lovely! I'll Take It! (a collection of poorly-chosen photos from real estate listings)

Enjoy! Happy laughing!!

Where does she come up with these things?

Jasmine was in a box last night, and had gotten herself stuck.
Instead of the usual "mama? daddy? help?!" or "I'm stuck!" she said, "People?? Can you help me??"

I'm not sure when we got promoted (demoted?) to "people," but it got results!

(Is Your) Mother (a) Goose?

I made another book for the girls :)

It was so much fun! The hardest part was definitely coming up with the verses. But first, pictures.
The cover:
And the inside:

And the verses:

(Mary Mary, Quite Contrary):
Kewpie, Kewpie, fan of Goofy
How does your room stay clean?
with baby vac
and a singing broom
and mommy's help in between.

(Everyone Loves Ice Cream, from the album "Bert and Ernie's Singalong"):
Everyone loves Jasmine, Yes, indeed, they do
Everyone loves Jasmine, I do, do you?
Search the whole world over, travel near and far
But everyone loves Jasmine, no matter who they are.

(Jack and Jill)
Jasmine and Boo went out with you
to go and see the water.
Boo was wearing her bear backpack
And Jasmine followed after!

(Little Boy Blue)
Little girl Boo
stop playing your flute
There's bread on your plate
And a bowl full of fruit
Where is Rebekah, who’s cute as a sheep?
She's on the carpet, fast asleep!

(Sunshine)
You are my sunshines
My lovely sunshines
You make me happy
When skies are gray
I hope you know dears
How much I love you
Please don't take
my sunshines away!

(Yankee Doodle)
Jasmine and Bekah rode around
On a Merry-Go-Round pony
Stuck a feather in their caps
And thought it very silly!

(Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Think of lovely little Boo
How I wonder about you
What you'll be when you are grown
Will you travel on your own?
Precious, perfect, little Boo
How I pray that God bless you!

(I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a little Bekah, cute and fair
Here is my smile, here is my hair
When I get all steamed up,
hear me squeal
That's how I tell you
just what I feel!

(Mary Had A Little Lamb)
Jasmine has a little Boo,
Little Boo, Little Boo
Jasmine has a little Boo
She calls her Bekah Jenny.

Update

Thank you for all the congrats!!

I'd love some prayers that we find the perfect midwife for us. The wonderful woman we had for Bekah moved to Kentucky, so we're starting all over again. But this time I'm pickier; not only do I want a midwife who's truly a midwife (and not a MED-wife, or someone who acts more like an OB and is intervention-happy) but who has privileges at the hospital where I had Bekah. I had no idea it was so much to ask, but apparently it is.

I had a preliminary appointment this morning, and the nurse was a doll, but the midwife isn't at the right hospital now (according to insurance sites, she used to be). But the plus from that: I heard from someone else that I am, indeed, pregnant! That's always fun to hear, even if it was far from being a surprise.

Fascinating...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

The funny thing is, I was only in the West for 2 weeks!
I wonder how much my accent changed when I was in Turkey and worked so hard at being clear and easy-to-understand (i.e. figuring out how to say Rochester with 3 syllables instead of 2, and with a much "darker" O! No more Ra-chster for me!!)

Story Time

The Legend of TDC Water

TDC (TheDigiChick, my digiscrapping hangout) has a reputation. It is said that, if you "drink the water," you will find yourself pregnant.
It worked. Bekah came after I had been on the site for 1 1/2 years.

There's a new "batch" of pregnant women at TDC, many designers and Creative Team members.

Ummm....I've found out that I'm among that group!
I didn't realize it kept its potency after already working once. I guess it does!

SURPRISE! :D

I'm due in late April. I haven't met the new midwife at the practice we went to with Bekah, but hopefully we'll like her. And of course the name hunt begins anew...

Poor Grandma Virkler. I mean, it's wonderful for her, but she's in a crazy situation that the wives BOTH of her grandsons named Josh are having a baby in April! Hopefully we won't all decide on the same name!!

Bekah Day

I made two layouts using new items from the boutique this week, both using pictures of Bekah.
Oh, and a Bekah tidbit: She can count. All the way to: ONE. Everything is "Wah." One thunderclap. One ear. The other ear is One. It's very cute!

Much-overdue pictures

I finally went through our pictures of our late-June family vacation. If you'd like to see them, click here.

Much to say, but not the time to say it. I have scrapbook pages that I'll try to post in a day or two, when the kits I used are put in the store. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a short Jasmine/Bekah story.

Jasmine and Bekah, in the back of our car. Bekah, playing with a small Cinderella doll.

B: Ella!
J: It's Essla, not Ella.
Me: (explained to her that Ella is the best Bekah can do right now in saying Cinderella.)
J: Bekah, say "Cinderlella."
B: Lella.
J: Good job! You said it!

:)

The Pride of American Workmanship?

Chinese-made products = disposable-quality, and American-made goods are more expensive but built to last, right?

Right???

My Mom went to an Amish store when she was in Pennsylvania a couple years ago, and picked up a bonnet for Jasmine. It wasn't until she got home that she saw the "made in China" tag.

Lesson #1: don't assume it's American-made (unfortunately).

More recently, Josh and I were talking about doing an "All-American (or at least not made-in-China) Christmas." I had a bunch of ideas for people, and was pretty excited about it.

Last weekend, we bought a roasting pan from WalMart. It said "Made in America." We were pretty shocked, since it was also pretty inexpensive.

We made our first batch of granola using our patriotic pan. Yummmmm! Finally, we could stop having to remember to borrow someone else's pan when we were out of cereal.

This morning, Josh had a spoon full of our breakfast delicacy, and looked down at it to see a couple flecks of blue something. Something that definitely didn't look like food.
It was the coating from the pan.

Lesson #2. American-made isn't a guarantee of quality, either (unfortunately).

Life's just full of surprises, isn't it????

Lesson #3. No matter the country of origin, you get what you pay for (unfortunately).

TDC Sale

In case any of my readers are digiscrappers :)
And even if you're not, isnt' this a fun ad? Reminds me of Josh's shirts with the surfboard!

Mama Mia!

It seems to be the "thing to do," to write about going to see Mama Mia. So, since I saw it yesterday, I guess it's my turn!!

Yesterday, Josh's mom, Charity (my sister-in-law) and I went out to Perkins for lunch and then to see Mama Mia. I was so excited. I haven't been to a movie in ages, and what a great thing to do on a 'girls' day out!'

Perkins was delish as always. (funny side note: since I stopped nursing the girls, my appetite has definitely gone back down to what it used to be, pre-kids. For awhile I was consistently eating as much as Josh did, but now I have to serve myself less or I leave a bunch on the plate. Pet peeve of mine!)

And the movie....fantastic. It was a little cheesy at times (some of the dances and song-placement was, um, forced, to put it nicely) but I thought they had the perfect cast for it, the songs are so much fun (but I've liked ABBA since I lived in Turkey and heard them all the time there), and the scenery was amazing!! Oh my goodness, I want to go to that island!! Greece is very cool from the tiny bit I saw (Komotini to get my work visa) but that was one of the most beautiful places I've seen.

Unfortunately, Pierce Brosnan didn't sound at all like I thought he should. With the suave personality he always shows, he looked like he'd have a trained (or at least baritone) voice. So to hear this thin, tenor voice just didn't fit. The others sounded good, but I think he got the part for his acting (and face!) and not the voice :)

But I left feeling happy, and to me, that's the mark of a good movie. So I'm sure I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD (or put it on my Christmas list!) :)

Layouts Galore

Bekah has two new words today.
"Help" (sounds just like "up"), as in "I want to help you take the dishes out of the dishwasher.
And "vuh-vuh," or "I love you." That is one of the two sweetest things to hear them say (the other being the first few "mama"s!!)

And now for some layouts.
This one will actually be for a challenge tomorrow, but I'm impatient. It uses an alpha from TDC and everything else from Krista's store. :)


Can I just tell you how awesome it is (still) to be on TDC's Creative Team? I love that I get to play with all their new kits before they get put in the store. I've held onto these for almost a week before I could finally post them!




And then this one I had for over a week, for Fee Jardine's team. I laughed out loud when I saw the "wahoo" word art, because that's one of Jasmine's favorite words. She only uses it when it's something really exciting (like going down a slide) and I figured the whole day was one big "wahoo" for her!