Cream of Potato Soup

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far to the March of Dimes March for Babies. And special thanks to the lovely Lora, who made the last donation and got me to my $500 goal. I'm so proud to have such great support and so many readers who think this is a worthwhile cause. This is the most money I've ever raised, and I couldn't be more excited.

Now we've changed the fundraising link at the top of the page. Since I reached my goal, I wanted to help Mike reach his--he's only $80 away from his original goal of $1000. And with a month left to go before the walk, I know he can make that and go beyond it, so let's help him do it. If you would like to donate and haven't already, please just click the ticker at the top of the page and it will take you through the easy donation process. We appreciate all the generosity of our family and friends in helping us do our job as ambassador family this year.

Posted by jenny at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Easter was quiet--it almost didn't feel like a holiday because we weren't out of town or running to three different houses to see everyone. The boys found their baskets from the bunny early in the morning, and Evan hunted eggs in our downstairs. I couldn't see sending the kids out in the snow to search for hard boiled eggs, though it would have kept them cool and fresh, right? My dad and brother came down for a ham dinner, and it was fun watching my dad play Rock Band. Next year maybe we'll just have a video game/pizza party instead of going the traditional route.

Evan has just recently started asking for privacy when he uses the bathroom, which I'm quite thankful for. It means that I can make the same request when it's my turn in there. It's funny how sudden these little changes are--just last week I think he would have been happy to run around the house completely naked. He's resisting going into the ladies room with me when we're out too. But I'm afraid to let him go in the men's by himself yet, and I don't know when that fear will leave me. It's always nice to be somewhere that has a family bathroom, and hopefully that will fill the gap until he's a little older.

Grady is hanging in there. He's had a rough couple weeks of night coughing, and what started as a post-nasal drip is now a sinus infection and minor ear infection. He's on an antibiotic though, and we've raised the head of his bed and have the humidifier cranked up. Hopefully all this will put him on the fast track to feeling better. We're also looking to start him on fish oil, much like we did with Evan at this age. For Ev, we were hoping to jump start his speech. It didn't do that so much, but it did help him sleep better and if it does the same for Grady, that's good for everyone.

Posted by jenny at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week Evan is on spring break, which means life as we know it stops. It's fun having him home--we stay up a little later, sleep in a bit longer, and try to do different things during the day. On Monday we did spring cleaning on his and Grady's room. We took the crib down for the last time and put it in the attic, and we sorted through old toys and clothes to donate. It left me with a lot of laundry, but now the boys are sort of ready for spring and I have an idea of what I need to buy for them anyway.

Yesterday the three of us spent the day in Erie. We didn't really plan ahead, but it worked out well. We visited my dad, my mom, my aunt and my brother, Evan ate his first Pop Tart and Grady ate his first prune danish. We went to the new Walgreen's and were so not impressed (they were out of everything it seemed), the boys got Easter treats everywhere they went--it was a full day.

Today we're back home, and I should be doing that laundry but so far we haven't ventured out of the upstairs much. We've been bouncing on the beds and playing dance party, reading books and racing cars across the bedroom floor. I really should be working harder on getting the house in order (it's a holiday weekend coming up, which means ham and company), but right now it doesn't seem like a priority. We're on spring break after all.

Posted by jenny at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This time change has us all screwed up, both morning and night. The boys have been having trouble going to sleep. Grady's the worst--he's stopped napping but won't go to bed until 10, after much screaming on his part and frustration on mine. Evan does okay, but he just can't seem to settle down at 8 like he used to, and then he has trouble getting up in the morning because it's still dark out. I can't seem to relax enough to get to bed myself--I'm up late and restless, and grumpy when morning arrives too soon.

I thought I would be well rested after the weekend in. We were snowed in like so many others from Friday to Sunday, and it was fine because we had nowhere to be. We lounged around and made blanket forts and wore mixing bowls as helmets. We did craft projects and made pudding and peered out the windows at all the snow. It was a nice weekend, but I feel like it took so much more effort to keep everyone entertained! Hopefully that was the last big storm of the season (knock wood) because I'm all out of winter fun ideas.

Posted by jenny at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We're pretty excited about this year's March of Dimes March for Babies (formerly known as Walk America). As my dear husband reported yesterday, and as Dennis pointed out on Erie Blogs, we've been chosen as this year's ambassador family for Crawford County. We're honored, and so happy that we've been asked to share our story.

As many long time readers know, Evan was born at 31 weeks in January of 2002--9 weeks shy of his late March due date. He weighed just 3 pounds, and spent five weeks in the Hamot NICU before he was healthy enough to come home to us. It was a difficult time for our family--having our first child and not being able to hold him for a week, worrying over infections and brain bleeds and a hole in his heart, watching him struggle to breathe or learn to eat. We are so fortunate in that Evan has had no lasting health problems from his prematurity, and that's thanks in no small part to the work of the March of Dimes.

So every year we try to do our part, whether it is making a donation or walking and collecting donations in the March for Babies. Last year Mike was the top fundraiser in Crawford County, having raised over $1000. Our family and friends have gone above and beyond in helping us each year, and we're asking for your help again. We want to do even more good as the ambassador family, and we're hoping you will join us.

Mike and I are both walking this year--Mike is the team captain for our group, Team LolCatz. We're hoping to get more folks to join our team, so if you'd like to take part in the walk on April 27th, click that link and follow the instructions to get started. We'd like to have a great group at the Crawford County Fairgrounds that day!

If you don't live in the area and would be willing to sponsor one of our team members, that would be awesome as well. Both Mike and I will be fundraising online, and Mike's offering some great gifts at different sponsorship levels. I will be randomly selecting one of my sponsors to win a March of Dimes angel bear--very cute and cuddly! If you'd like to donate, please click here. Even just a few dollars will help us reach our goal, and many companies (like GE) offer matching gifts, so your donation could double if your employer participates.

I want to thank everyone for their support of the March of Dimes over the years, and again this year. It is really so important to us--Evan was helped so much by the work of the March of Dimes, and we want to make sure other premature babies get that same kind of care. Thank you!

Posted by jenny at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I gave the boys a bath together tonight--it's not something we do very often because Evan usually takes showers, but every now and again it's fun to get them both in there. I took Grady's diaper off downstairs and let him streak through the house a few times before the bath, since he gets a super big kick out of being naked. I didn't get much of a kick out of him peeing on the carpet though, and I was really thrilled when he did it again on the floor after he got out of the tub. I was betting that lightning wasn't going to strike twice in the same night, so I guess I shouldn't bother playing the Powerball.

The boys got bunk beds over the weekend, and they are both very excited about it. Evan's got a pretty sweet set up on the top bunk--Papa wall-mounted a reading light for him and everything. Grady will be sleeping on the bottom bunk eventually, but for now we're sticking with the toddler bed. I think we'll need to find some Elmo sheets to lure him into the new bed. It's going to be lots of fun though, since we already taught the boys how to make a secret clubhouse on the bottom using two big blankets, and they wasted no time learning how to swing like monkeys off of the ladder.

Posted by jenny at 8:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)