Jillian has been babbling a lot more lately. We've been more diligent about only giving her pacifier to her if she's sleepy/sleeping. We noticed she talks a lot more (for obvious reasons!) when she doesn't have her pacifier.

In the last week she started saying "Dada" and "Uh oh!". We think she has her own way of saying "Owen", too, but haven't quite confirmed that. She also said "Papa" after I said Papa tonight and I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if she actually said it. I can't wait for more!

In other news, Jillian got her first top tooth on 5/6/11 and is working on her second tooth! Last night, she slept from 9:15 pm (we had to wake her up to take cover in the basement for a tornado warning...not fun) until 6 am and the night before she slept from 6:30 on until 5 am. It was SO nice to stay in bed for that long! He's confident that she'll be willing to share her present with him. Good thing she probably won't mind as much now as compared to when she's older!

Owen has had so much energy the past few days. We've been spending as much time outside as possible and I think he would spend all day outside if I let him. He's really interested in puzzles and games right now. It's amazing how quickly he can figure out a puzzle. I really hope to get some new puzzles this summer at garage sales. My Mom got him this great pattern puzzle for Christmas and we've been spending a lot of time with it.

Owen seems to be really excited about Jillian's upcoming birthday. How can she already be one year old? Crazy! Owen wants to celebrate her birthday now and give her the present he spotted upstairs in our room.

Oh, Jillian. She's been so sick! It seems like she picks up everything that's out there. I swear I haven't allowed her to lick the shopping cart. On Friday, I took her to the doctor because she was on day three of a fever. She was super pathetic but didn't have any other symptoms. At the doctor, her pulse was high so they ordered an EKG and chest x-ray to make sure the virus she had wasn't affecting her heart (ah!). I'm not sure they could have freaked me out much more. Luckily, the tests came back and everything looked good. Owen was with me for this two hour visit and he did so well. He was covered with stickers from the nurses for being so patient. Jillian's fever finally broke on Saturday and she started to act more normal - crawling around and playing. It was so good to see.

To add to her discomfort, Jillian's second bottom tooth broke yesterday - yay! I was sure it would come in weeks ago. She seems to be a very slow teether. Her gums swell up and and are bumpy for weeks before the tooth breaks through. Then, it takes a long time for the tooth to push up. Her first tooth still isn't all the way up.

Mike took this photo of Jillian a few days ago. Isn't she gorgeous?



Owen alternates between being the cutest thing ever and being super challenging. I've been reading a book, "Your 3 Year Old - Friend or Enemy," which comforting and familiar. This in particular is exactly what we're experiencing right now:

Three-and-a-half attempts to control his environment in way that will, perhaps, make him feel more secure, more sure of himself. 'Don't look," "Don't laugh," "Don't talk," he commands those around him.

He was yelling at Jillian in the car yesterday, "STOP MOVING!" and he often tells me to "STOP TALKING!!" or "NO SINGING!". Oof.

On the bright side, Owen has quite the imagination and has been making up lots of names, songs, and doing lots of pretending. It's awfully cute!

This has been the longest winter I can recall. Too much snow, too cold, and way too many illnesses. Jillian has been sick off and on for over a month now. I feel so bad for her! She had a fever last week on Wednesday but it went away on Thursday. Then she had a GI virus Saturday and Sunday. We ended up taking her into the ER because it seemed like she was having stomach cramps and that can be a sign of something serious in children her age. Fortunately, she was fine. Yesterday, she started to develop a fever at music class and it continued through the night and has lasted all day today. She seems clingy and grumpy but there's no other symptoms right now. I wonder if it's teething but a temperature of 103.2 seems high for teething. Here's hoping Jillian feels better soon and stays healthy for a long stretch!

In between fevers, she's a goofy as can be!



Today was St. Patrick's Day! We celebrated with Shamrock jell-O jigglers, rainbow crafts, and green milk. I told Owen that people wear green on St. Patrick's Day and if you don't, you might get pinched. He said, "I don't want people to bite me!!". Ha!



Tomorrow, we're planning to have friends over for a corned beef & vegetable dinner. Hopefully they won't be scared away by Jillian's fever or else we'll have a TON of corned beef to eat!

I have so much to write about! Let's see...

First of all, Jillian is crawling! Our friends, Karin, Julian and Eli were over on Monday and Karin asked if Jillian was crawling yet. I said that she isn't but she's very close and started to walk away. Karin said, "she's totally crawling!" and I looked back and Jillian was crawling! Go Jillian! She hasn't done a ton of crawling since then but I've seen her practicing!

Jillian also has a new goofy smile. She loves to do this with her Dada at dinner.



Yesterday was Paczki Day! I love my paczki and so does Owen! Mike and Owen have to fight over the raspberry. I like raspberry too but I let the boys have them because they REALLY love raspberry.



Yesterday after dinner I said something about how we should get another dog to do the clean-up under the table. I was joking. Owen said, "Maybe we should go get Murray back! What do you think of that? Should we do that?" I think my heart broke in half. I don't know if we'll get another dog. It will probably be a few years before we seriously consider it. I miss Murray like crazy and I'd love for Owen and Jillian to grow up with a dog but there's no way I can take care of two small children and a puppy.

I was feeling motivated yesterday and took a shower and got dressed before Owen got up (Jillian was up). Owen did not like that I was already dressed by the time he got up. He was super irritated about it and said, "I don't like your shirt. I can't see it. It's too white." Okay then!

Because of "the plague", we've missed at least two music classes. I was all excited for music class today and then I realized that Jillian felt warm. She had a fever. Ugh! It's hard to know if it's teething or illness but because she had a fever right then and was so unhappy I decided we should stay home. Serious bummer! Then, Joe, Katie, Alexa & Melina were supposed to come over for dinner tonight but are going to play it safe and stay home. I'm so ready for spring and so sick of germs. Maybe it's just teething but how would I know? The kids often start off illness with a fever so I'd hate to risk it and infect a bunch of other kids.

She may be little, but Jillian is starting to give Owen a run for his money.

Jillian has her first tooth - the bottom left center one! Well, you can't see it yet, but you can feel that it has broken the skin. The other bottom one is about to come in any minute, too. Yay for teeth!

Today I volunteered at Owen and Jillian's "Friday Morning Out" program. I have volunteered in most rooms but had not had the opportunity to volunteer in Owen's room until today. It was really fun to spend time with him in a school setting and meet his "friends". His regular teacher wasn't there today which was a bummer because I would have liked to see how she does things. Owen has been saying that he's "shy with Teacher Rae". I was talking to him about it yesterday and got a little more out of him. Apparently she said "something rude" but Owen couldn't remember what she said. All he could remember is that it made him "feel mad". I think it may have happened when I brought cupcakes for his birthday and maybe he was feeling shy when the sang happy birthday? Who knows. Poor little guy.

Owen really loves temporary tattoos so I put the Cake tattoo that came with my new CD on him. It's a huge wasp that says CAKE. Pretty cool, dude.