FYI, there was an amazing article in O Magazine about milk donation this month, you should check it out http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200903_omag_milk_bank. Every little bit of positive media coverage goes a long way, especially by Oprah. Even if you dont' like Oprah (ahem, Meghan :-), don't let that stop you from reading it. This is about milk banks, not private milk donation, but you have to start somewhere! It's a very comprehensive look. Very interesting.

fun with nana and pop-pop

so my baby has a car. didn't think it would come this soon :-) but hey, if someone else bought it for her, i guess it's ok. she has played with these at other places, and it's always been a hit. she was so excited she kept climbing in before they were done. in her defense, it did take awhile :-) today at the grocery store she decided she wanted to get in the grocery cart with the car thing on it. but she can climb out of that seatbelt, so let's just say it was an interesting morning because she kept climbing out and trying to push it herself. she knocked over a whole display of donuts when i was looking for butter. when i finally put her back in the top, she screamed and kicked so loud for so long i felt sure they were going to kick me out of the store. to add to this embarassment, i was at a different store because i had coupons, and they were store specific. i couldn't find anything, so i asked someone to help me. turns out i was in the entirely wrong store. wow.

i'm blaming it on pregnancy. which is great, by the way. i still eat alot, but not like i was last month. now it's much more manageable. we heard the heartbeat today, which was great. everything seemed in order. she said i felt like i was 14 or 15 wks, so apparently i have turbo baby, because i know i'm only 13!

we went to downtown ft worth, which is a fun place. they have a museum and rodeos and cowboys always riding around. one of our favourite restaurants has a big outdoor part with fountains and lights and everything which hannah was checking out while waiting. one of our favourite summer outfits is this little peasant dress with her cowboy boots. it's so adorable!

all ready for church.

kissing is her newest thing. she wont' do it on demand, though. she has to be in the mood. same goes for hugs. but when she gets on a roll, look out. she will kiss and hug anything in her path!

she also kisses the cellphone if somebody calls her.

relaxing before bed.

if only she were always this happy in the carseat.



these are some great action shots at the park.

and that's it for now

home again

we had a good time out in colorado, especially knowing hannah barely even noticed we were gone! for those of you who are blessed enough to live in the mountains, you won't appreciate these pictures. it was neat going with patrick because he'd never seen the mountains in the winter, and only very briefly once in the summer. I learned to appreciate them anew. Being 10-12,000 ft higher than normal was challenging in and of itself! I had (and still have) that cold, so breathing was difficult. I had to take off all my protective gear every few minutes to blow my nose.






this is patrick admirably working his way down the hill in the above picture. he did really well, i was proud of him. as for me, let's just say it's not like riding a bike. i think i have to lower my expectations while i'm on this once every 3 yrs schedule.

as you can see we weren't the only ones who thought this would be a good weekend to go.

these are main street, frisco CO. looks a little different from frisco tx, eh?

patrick rehydrating. jana surveying the options.

i was against this picture. i was against all close up pictures, for good reason! but i make no apologies for my not so glamour status. we were, after all, simply skiing. my sisters and i used to forgo hats just so they wouldn't mess up our hair. at 15, that seemed important :-). we were so tired that we were in bed by 9 both days. the first day it didn't even reach 20 degrees outside, so i was not about to worry about what i looked like. where we were, that was ok. had we done our apres ski at, say, the hotel jerome in aspen, it would have been a different story i guess.
i'm getting busy with my 3 very part time jobs, and keeping up with hannah. i think we're going to start potty training soon. she's developing this frustrating habit of taking her pants (and diaper) off. not good. since my time at home is increasingly more limited, i will keep this brief and move on to my next thing. i have some great hannah pictures from the weekend for later.

food and fun in february

so patrick and i have been doing some really good cooking on the weekends. Yesterday we made chili, and i have this nasty cold so i can't smell or taste anything. but i forgot this little detail as i was making it, so i kept thinking, wow, this is completely void of flavour and i would add stuff. then patrick reminded me that i can't taste, and he took over. i managed to sneak in cabbage, which no i have never actually seen in chili before but that's ok, and pureed pumpkin, which you can throw in anything. it ended up being the best chili we'd ever had. complete with the last of our muy expensive free range organic grass finished local beef. last weekend it was roasted pepper pesto sausage (same as above beef, but sausage) pizza. also very good. my crust actually rose. it was a nice surprise :-). and yesterday we didn't get pictures, but we had homemade tomato basil soup, with baked feta and baguettes. you drizzle a block of feta in oil, cover it with salt/pepper/basil/oregano/whatever you want, wrap it in oil, put it in a pan and bake it until it's soft. oh my goodness: so good. patrick also made cinnamon blueberry pancakes with toasted pecans and warm (real) maple syrup, and too good to be true banana pudding (not in the same meal). you should come to our house!

it was my good intention to put pictures in with our valentine's day cards. never happened, but these were our contenders so i might as well share them!

considering escape. making a break for it!

morning glory. oh so proud in daddy's tie.

left: remnants of a productive sunday afternoon. (i know sunday afternoon isn't supposed to be productive, it's supposed to be restful.) i found a nice desk chair at a garage that was in great shape just missing a castor, so patrick's been on a mission to fix it. not as easy as it sounds. but pretty sooon it'll wheel right up next to our oh so spiffy desk we got for free. i took it upon myself to make valentine's day cards, which could be easy unless you don't have a plan, go to hobby lobby and get carried away. it was fun, though. hannah put the finishing touches on for me.

4 hrs later, all done. i think i'm going to make it my new hobby. and they're actually mailed!

items of note with no pictures

1. so lots of people say they dont' like to take medicine, but the rubber really meets the road when you're pregnant, and you can't even if you wanted to. i think i have the same thing patrick had a few weeks ago, except sans nyquil. a totally different experience. we've tried everything, including buried under a bath towel inhaling aromathy steam. that would have made a nice picture.
2. speaking of pregnant, we decided on the allen birthing center. their midwives do homebirths, but i'll go there for my appointments.these 3 ladies have about 50 yrs experience between them. they are all certified nurse midwives, which normally means they are all about doctors, but they have apparently chosen a different route. this is a classy place. you should check out the website http://www.allenbirthingcenter.com/. we couldn't hear the heartbeat, but hopefully next time. and praise the Lord, i don't have morning sickness this time!
3. we are getting a new ministry started at our church to spread awareness and interest for international missions. this week was the first step: a table with information about our monthly meeting, so this time i got to do it for west africa, and some general imb stuff. i'm really excited for our first get together, in march. i'm going to get someone to make fatayas, and have some djembe music in the background!
4. i would like to congratulate patrick on fixing our dryer. I didn't know he fixed dryers. probably because he never has before. he worked on it for over 2 hrs, and fixed it. i told him i would have taken a picture, but i didn't actually think it was going to end up well. next time i'll have more faith in him. next stop: garage door. it'll open but not close. wierd.

David and Des are coming to babysit this weekend and Patrick and I are going skiing. I know, it's a huge splurge. But only for 2 days. this is our window, before we have another little baby that we can't leave for more than a few hours. maybe they'll be guest bloggers for me, and you can hear about their experiences with the munchkin. wish them luck! happy valentine's day!

2 days of winter and childhood memories

so texas participated in last week's ice storms, though thankfully not to the extent that much of the rest of the country did. we, nor anyone in our area, lost power, though there were a few deaths in texas. and of course, a bajillion accidents. so, i think it was 19 deg when i took this picture. right about when the weatherman was saying avoid the roads if at all possible. i guess i should be proud of him for being committed. being office manager and all now, he likes to set a positive example. at least he waited till ten to go in!

i realize this was just a little bit of ice, but for some reason i had a blast that morning. Hannah and i got bundled up and took to the streets. which were, of course, empty. No other kids, even though there was no school in a 5 state radius, i think. i guess kids in texas don't have snowsuits, or real hats and mitts. thankfully i have enough canadian left in me that we were properly outfitted. because i know i'm a wuss, but this was actually cold. poor hannah, i kept trying to get her to play and she just kept falling because it was a giant skating rink.

the trees were beautiful. thankfully, not heavy enough to fall down on anything.

for some reason, this particular cold spell and ensuing outdoor activities awakened in me a new appreciation for winter. I was transported back to when i was a little girl (I spent the first ten years of my life in Canada.) I didn't even live in an especially cold part of canada, but snowsuits came out by halloween and generally stayed until easter or so, possibly. the snow came and didn't melt all winter. this is such a foreign concept to texans (and Alabama and North Carolina and of course, Senegal; all the places i've recently lived), that it's become foreign to me as well. I decided i do like real winter, i just don't like this halfway winter. i like going outside when it's so cold you can smell it, and it takes your breath away. the complete and utter stillness of a fresh snowfall, when you wake up in the morning, is quite unlike anything else. I was overwhelmed with precious memories of winter, of snow. Of playing dogsled with my sisters and our poor little dog. My best friend and I, purposefully sticking our heads in the snow because we thought that would get us more hot chocolate. Of wearing our boots to church then changing into our dress shoes, where coats and boots are lined up in the hallway. of ice skating all the time, either on a community rink, outdoors normally, on a pond, or on a river or canal. once (on vacation in california, actually) we built huge forts and even tunnels of snow. of sliding and snow angels and igloos. of mitt drying racks over the floor vents. and of course the skiing. my brave, committed, patient parents first strapped skis to my little legs at 2 yrs old. i'm sure it took a few years to catch on. the only sport i've ever been decent at! i love skiing with a passion. and the memories i have of my family skiing are absolutely positively priceless. and then, of spring. of finally shedding your eskimo layers. of running around jumping in melting snow. of feeling sun on your skin. I now sleep in fleece pajamas, under a regular comforter and a hudson bay blanket (only a privileged few know what that is) in our 70 degree house. i need a jacket if it gets below 70. what happened to that little girl who went from the hot tub to the snow bank in one leap, i'm not sure. but at least i have the memories. and they are as real as the wetness of a snowflake on my tongue.