Wow

That's all I have to say. Ella Ann no longer sucks her thumb! Can YOU believe it? She has sucked her thumb since the day I took away her pacifier when she was 3 months old. Her thumb, combined with her bobbie/horsey, has been a constant source of comfort for Ella Ann since she was an itty bitty baby. I have never really pushed her to give up the thumb because my theory is, Life is hard enough. Let her enjoy this one little thing while she is small. She will eventually stop. Well Spencer disagreed and that was fine. So we started telling her she could only suck her thumb when she was in bed and we had left the room after reading books each nap and bed time. She did that for nearly a year. A couple of weeks ago we were in the baby doll aisle at Target and Ella Ann was admiring several of the babies, as usual. A light bulb suddenly went off in my head and I realized I could work the "I want that baby!!!" for the greater good of Ella Ann's decrepit thumb! I asked her while we were standing there what baby she would like to take home. She immediately pointed to the most annoying baby (one that is motion detected and crawls and coos) and said, "THAT ONE!" I then explained to her that we will start a sticker chart when we got home and once she got 20 stickers on the chart for not sucking her thumb then we would come back and purchase the baby. Boy was she ready! She immediately started jumping up and down and saying, "I won't suck my thumb EVER again Mommy!!!" Yeah right.

So the first night we put a band aid on her thumb to keep her from sucking it (it's really an automatic reflex by now so there was no way she could actually stop without something to keep it out of her mouth). She started crying and whining asking me to take it off so I reminded her of the little baby waiting for her at the store and that this would be the hardest night. If she could just do it this one night she would make it the rest of the way. Ella Ann actually fell asleep quickly that night so we were surprised. The next morning she was ecstatic to put her very first sticker on her chart. She was SO proud of herself, as were Spencer and I! The next few nights were kind of rough and she had one set back, which we took 3 stickers off because of that (it was outright disobedience...longer story) but she got back on track quickly and she easily made it to 20 stickers. When we would go to Target we would visit her baby and she would be encouraged even more to not suck her thumb. Yesterday she put on her 20th sticker and we went to Target that afternoon to buy her baby. She loves it and she told me, "I love my new baby Mommy. I will never play with any other baby again!" Good. I can purge. Now when she goes to bed at night it is minus the band aid, she never whines or asks to suck her thumb and falls asleep easily without it. I am truly shocked! I am very proud of my big girl! This is quite an accomplishment for her! I am also excited to say that she has a normal thumb now...it no longer is dry, scaly and with a disgusting looking nail!

So proud of her accomplishment yesterday before school!

The finished chart. She wanted me to pick out the Christmas (??) sticker each day.

With Ellie this morning. Side note, all animals and babies are a form of Ella Ann's name....Elle, Ellie, Ella, etc. I didn't even have to ask her what the baby's name was going to be.

My Favorite Time of Day

I must share my favorite time of each and every day with you. It ranks right up there with my fabulous 4-6 cups of morning coffee with my fabulously frothed milk and sprinkled cinnamon on top, that is if said cups are not ruined by tantrums before 7:15 a.m. So do I have you waiting on the edge of your seat? I thought so. It is the few minutes after Spencer walks in the door each evening after work. I watch Ella Ann catapult herself into Spencer's waiting arms and Rane tear across the kitchen at break-neck crawling speed saying, "Ahhh Dada...ahhhh Dada....ahhh Dada," until he is at Spencer's feet at which point he stands on his knees and stretches his arms up in the air until Spencer puts Ella Ann down and picks him up. He then gives a humongous smile at Spencer, gives him an even bigger hug around the neck and then rests his little head on Spencer's shoulder. It will melt you like butter. My kids are SO excited to see their Daddy when he gets home and witnessing these precious few minutes with him make all my frustrations and fatigue from the day instantly disappear. My cup truly runneth over....

Pictures

HERE are the pictures from Saturday. Bobbi Jo did a fantastic job and I love them! You can click "slideshow" in the upper right corner to see larger pictures.

Attempted Greatness

I had wonderful visions of this weekend on Friday. Don't we all when it comes to a weekend off to spend with family? I'm not saying it was an awful weekend, but my expectations for greatness were not met. I raise my bar too high, as always, but I don't consider this a bad thing...I expect GOOD things to happen...the glass is always half full in my opinion. So it started with Friday. I bought Spencer a fire pit for Christmas this year. A couple of years ago we visited some friends that live in Winston-Salem (Hey Kevin and Andrea!!) when Spencer was interviewing for a fellowship at Wake-Forrest. We had the absolute best time with them and what stood out in Spencer and my mind's for the last two years was how we sat outside on a cool North Carolina evening around their fire pit (Ella Ann was sleeping) and we had drinks, roasted marshmallows and talked for hours and hours. It was a blast. Spencer and I often talk about that night and how nice it would be for us to have a fire pit...even if it was just the two of us sitting around it. Friday night after dinner Spencer started his attempt at getting the fire going. I told him I did have newspaper, which for all intended purposes I did, but I was unaware that trash inserts that come in the newspaper did not count. Woops. How was I supposed to know that slick paper doesn't burn? At this point Ella Ann was waiting with baited breath to roast her first marshmallows, bedtime was quickly approaching, Rane was in dire need of sleep and Spencer's "fire" was about to go...as was his patience. So instead of hopping in the car in pursuit of purchasing a paper I unwrapped all of our Christmas decorations and threw the paper at Spencer outside. I'm a genius, right?? Ella Ann got to eat her first roasted marshmallow and four more thereafter. She loved it! It was very exciting for her to have a fire on our porch AND she could cook food! Who knew? After we put the kids to bed Spencer and I sat outside on a cool, beautiful night....ummm....for about 45 minutes. That's when the embers finally faded. No actual flames to be had. The wood just would NOT burn. It was so weird. We even threw gasoline on it and made a big fire but that only lasted about 1 and a half minutes. Next time we will buy better wood I guess. So that was that bubble burst.

On Saturday we had a portrait session with our photographer friend, Bobbi Jo, from church. It was supposed to be 54 degrees and somewhat sunny. I mention the weather report because we were going to be outside. We met Bobbi Jo at Joe's, a coffee shop in East Atlanta Village, a very neat/trendy neighborhood in Atlanta that we had not visited until yesterday (I will be going back). So we left the house and it was drizzling rain and freezing. I was wearing short sleeves, Spencer and Rane had on button-down shirts and Ella Ann was wearing a thin dress. Not good. To make a long story short, Rane splattered Bobbi Jo's coffee all over his white shirt BEFORE the photo shoot even began, I completely forgot his totally adorable little tie until I opened my bag when I got home and the entire reason he wore the outfit at the session was for the tie, Ella Ann was halfway cooperative throughout the shoot but by the end when she was wearing a short sleeve dress she was done...too cold and I couldn't blame her (she was a trooper) and Ella Ann gave this ridiculous smile that wasn't her "true" sweet smile for most of the session as well. So there it all is. I should know better than to think that pictures outdoors in January with no coats on and two kids would be absolutely perfect. Thankfully Bobbi Jo knows how to work magic and she did an awesome job with us. She will edit out the coffee stains on the pictures I buy, and those that family buys as well; she gave Ella Ann a massive lollipop that cheered her tremendously so we got a few genuine smiles and it ended up being quick because of the weather. East Atlanta Village offered some great backdrops for our pictures so I'm really excited about them. The owner of a old school barber shop saw us taking pictures of the kids and offered up his too cute fire truck chair to Rane. Ohhh man he loved that little seat and he looked so cute in it! She has our preview ready so click HERE to view them.

So here are some photos of the fire......

Good stuff! Yes, she is wearing her Christmas jammies.

Since you will miss out on the tie with my very-important-pictures-that-last-a-lifetime here are some of Rane this morning in his little tie before church.

He's chillin'.......

for one second before attacking Ella Ann.

Long Overdue

Finally, f-i-n-a-l-l-y the girls and I got together for a lonnnng overdue play date. We used to get together nearly every single week but with more kids being added to our families, sicknesses, holidays and weekly commitments we have a hard time "fitting" each other in, which is so sad. Hopefully now that we are starting off a new year we can make more room for our friendships (I am leaving in in 2 years, mind you) and get together more often! Ella Ann was thrilled to have her buddies at her house (we missed you Megan)! The kids loved playing with all the new toys Ella Ann and Rane got for Christmas and birthdays and after they left and I surveyed the mess I could see they had a grand time ALL over the house! ha! Honestly it didn't take long for me to pick up at all...I'm like a tornado that way. I loved catching up with Ruth and Andria and I was happy that a new friend, Abby, joined us with her little boy, Knox. She fit right in and I hope she'll join us in the future. Her husband is a 1st year resident at Emory so we have lots in common.

The rest of the week we played outside (ahhhhhhh), baked cookies, went to the mall and ran errands. I registered Ella Ann for Pre-K next year and she will go FOUR days a week, Monday through Thursday! Wow, that seems like a lot to me but it is still only 3 hours each day with ballet (she wants to keep dancing) on Wednesdays. I can't believe I'll be without her for 4 days a week. Rane and I will miss her, especially me since she entertains him for me while I do things around the house!

On a side note, Ella Ann threw a 2-hour tantrum yesterday morning over a skirt. Yes, I said a skirt. Fashion is Ella Ann's main concern each and every morning, or day, really. She is on a skirt kick and I let her wear one every single day while we are at home but if it was not picked out for what she was going to wear that morning then the rule is she must change into pants before we leave, which she usually has no problem with. Well yesterday she put one on (never, ever matches) and she was cold (shocking) so she asked if she could wear her tights. Okay, this is where I draw the line because she was not going to wear out her tights by playing in them around the house (she scoots on the floor, rolls around, falls down, eats...you get the idea). Well she LOST it. She sat in her room screaming for 2 hours because that's where I put her to scream it out. It completely ruined my morning and nearly killed Rane and I's ears. She is usually put on the back porch for such a loud tantrum but since it was raining we were forced to be subjected to it. Ohhh it was a lovely way to start my day! So you wanna know how I punished her? I'm sooooo cruel........I made her wear pants ALL day. It was the absolute best punishment for her, she hated it.

Tomorrow Bobbi Jo, a friend from church who has a photography business, is taking our pictures down at East Atlanta Village. It's a very trendy/flashy area of the city so we should get some fun pictures. Of course I am dreading it like the plague. Moms of young children reading this will totally understand. I have made it my mission this week to keep Ella Ann and Rane injury free from the neck up and bribing Ella Ann with surprises after the shoot if she smiles and does well. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing!

The big kids...Anjuli, Ella Ann and Diego.

Poor Rane, they didn't want him on the other side of the door and kept slamming it on him!

Anjuli, Ella Ann, Diego and Alexia.

Rane found a PIC (Partner In Crime), Keona!

Friends

On Saturday the Barker's were in town for a baby shower and a wedding. In between those two events they came to our house for a visit. Yeay! Since Spencer was out of town this was even better for me and the kids because we had something to do! When I told Ella Ann that morning that Mara Kate was coming over to our house this afternoon I thought she was going to explode with joy...she was thrilled beyond measure. The last time we saw them was at Ella Ann's birthday party in November so it has been wayyyy too long and we have really missed each other. I'm sure Kane wasn't exactly jumping for joy at the thought of having to sit through a few hours of Jana and I yakking away and the girls screaming and running in circles but once I put some candy in one hand a a Wii remote in the other he was one happy camper! Jana and I got to do some face-to-face chatting for a change (we still chat via email nearly every single day) and the girls secluded themselves in Ella Ann's room and had a ball.

Rane had a good time as well with Kane for the 30 minutes he was awake while they were here. It was so strange, but as soon as Kane walked in the door Rane stretched out his arms to him and wanted to be held (I was holding him). He was glued to Kane after that and would give him big hugs. It was so sweet! I guess he was in dire need of some male bonding since he hangs out with girls all day long and Spencer was gone!

Here are a few pictures from their visit. Once again I preface the pictures by saying that my camera is not working well so the pictures aren't great. This will most likely be the case until we purchase a new one and who knows when that will be!

The girls were being so silly that I couldn't get a decent picture!

Rane was Kane's little buddy for sure!

I put the "legs" together on one of Rane's push toys so that he could ride on it and it was a hit! He stayed on it very well and loved being pushed around by Ella Ann.

Rane amidst all the yogurt cups in his ball pit. He loves getting into it with Ella Ann and kicking the cups and balls everywhere. The nice thing is that I can zip them in and keep the mess in the pit!

A Week of....

Nothing. Yeah not much going on around here, which I'm just fine with. After all the birthday celebrations, traveling and holidays I am happy to have a relaxed week for a change. On Monday I woke up with (and spent some time on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night) a stomach virus and Rane had it as well. Evidently I sent it home as a party favor because Craig and Gary had it as well. Thankfully, though, it was a very quick illness because by Monday evening I was eating a little and feeling close to myself. Of course that meant we had to pass it on to Ella Ann and Spencer, who came down with it on Wednesday. Everyone is well now in our house....for the timing being (it's really only a matter of time until the next illness hits). I took Rane to his 1-year check-up on Tuesday and he is doing great. He remains in the 25th percentile for weight and 75th for height (typical of our children). He weighs 20.12 pounds (probably would weigh more had he not lost weight with the virus) and is 30 inches in length.

Finally, FINALLY, it is warmer here and more seasonal. We got outside yesterday and today to enjoy the weather. Today the kids and I were outside for 2 hours in the afternoon and it was glorious! Ella Ann and Rane were so happy to be on that trampoline and playing in the grass! I enjoyed the sun on my face and the blue skies!

I ordered Rane's new car seat online last week and it arrived today. I am thrilled to have him in a big car seat that faces forward....hopefully he will feel the same way once in the car! This one is supposed to carry him through many years of use so we shall see. It is absolutely huge and swallows him whole right now but I'm glad there is a lot of room for growing. I hope I never buy another seat for him again!

Spencer is headed to Toccoa this weekend and the kids and I are going to stay busy with a present drop off at a shower tomorrow morning, errands and a visit from Kane, Jana and Mara Kate. Ella Ann is going to be SO excited when I tell her in the morning! She misses Mara Kate so much and talks about her daily so I know it will make her week when she finds out she is going to see her best friend...as am I!

I love it when they have static electricity!

Rane's hair halo!

Playing in the car seat box.

Spencer had to contend with two crazy kids while trying to figure out the logistics of the new seat........

Do you think he likes being buckled in????

Well he doesn't mind sitting in it NOT buckled!

Look how tiny he is in this thing!

Baby Rane is One

Can you believe it? I sure cannot! The sweet baby we brought home from the hospital a year ago is now on the verge of being a toddler. I prayed so hard for him for many months and when I found out I was pregnant my excitement and thankfulness to God was overwhelming. We have enjoyed every single minute we have had with him. He is SUCH a good boy. Ella Ann was a fantastic, easy baby and so is Rane....we are truly blessed. Rane is so laid back, easily entertained, has always played well on his own, loves to be in Spencer and I's arms, adores Ella Ann and wants to be wherever she is, loves being outside, hates being in his car seat, will eat anything and everything and can charm the pants off of anyone at anytime. I take this kid to the grocery every single week and every single week I am approached by several old ladies who have to ewww and ahhhh over him and Rane just hams it up for them and loves the attention. Rane is loved by everyone he meets because he will smile at you and grab your attention like none other. He is so precious. I look forward to starting my day with him and Ella Ann. Each morning when I go in his room to get him up (he's usually already awake) he hasn't even opened his eyes yet and he is grinning from ear to ear at me...all wrapped up in his favorite blanket (which is sleeps with wrapped around his head every night all night).

He has 7 teeth....seriously....and is working on his 8th. Crazy! He bites often, but only because he likes to put everything in his mouth, including arms and fingers. He takes 2 naps most days and is in bed at 7 each night. He will wake early still, but usually it is after 6:15/6:30 a.m. He doesn't have stranger anxiety and is fine when left in the church nursery. This is amazing to me because after dealing with Ella Ann and her separation anxiety with me this is quite a blessing! Ella Ann STILL cries sometimes (like this morning) when we drop her off in the nursery at church. It's a show for her now. Rane is all boy through and through. He is into everything, and I mean every. single. thing. at all times. All pictures, books, breakables, cords, etc. are placed in hiding or high on shelves to avoid problems. He is a climber and once he gets something in his head it's all over, he's on it. He has eaten holes through numerous things, including Ella Ann's Cooshie booster seat that I paid too much money for for him to destroy! Soon it will be his and HE can it in his shark-like bitten seat!

So our party yesterday was fantastic! All of our immediate family drove down and we had a big celebration with lots of food and cake on Saturday afternoon. Carter and Seth enjoyed playing with all of Ella Ann's toys, including her dollhouse and princess costumes! Rane loved all of the attention, as did Ethan. It was a quick trip for everyone and we were on our own again before we left for church this morning. It was so nice of them to drive all the way down here for Rane's birthday. Thank you again to our families!!!

I took several pictures so click HERE to view them. As always, the ones below are for my parents who cannot access Facebook. On a side note, our camera is showing an error message that we don't know how to fix so that's why the pictures are fuzzy. Bummer for sure on such a special occasion.

The ginormous whale cake I made Friday night while everyone was sleeping so if I screwed up (note the tail) no one was breathing down my back while I tried to fix it!

Hating the hat!

Not liking the cake at all!

Sporting Ella Ann's butterfly antennas.

Playing with the boys.

The shirt rings true!

Unfortunately this is his new face that he makes now with Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Rane

We are celebrating Rane's 1st birthday today with our family. I cannot believe he is already 1! I am in a rush this morning so I will post more tomorrow with pictures. For now, here is a video of our sweet baby boy playing peek-a-boo with Ella Ann in her princess tent, which by the way, is his favorite thing to do at the moment! He LOVES that tent!

A No-Picture Update

Sorry about that. There's only so many pictures I can post of Rane eating, crawling with objects in his mouth, smiling and Ella Ann in costume! Really that's what happens each and every day so I haven't had anything new to photograph. Oh and you don't want pictures of the rashes the kids have had which are now gone. So I will update you on life with the Jensens minus pictures today. Spencer and I had a great New Years that we spent sipping champagne, eating sashimi...errr...me eating sashimi and Spencer eating a turkey burger from Whole Foods and playing our new Wii game, Super Mario Brothers. Okay, we are officially addicted to it. We have played it every single night since New Years Eve. As soon as the kids' heads hit the pillow at night Spencer walks in the living room, throws the remote in my direction and away we play for hours. We have had so much fun playing...that is if Spencer can control his tantrums when one of his Mario men dies! We both grew up playing Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo (who didn't our age?) so we are loving the awesome updated version with Wii. My thumbs are sore every morning, which makes me think I'm in middle school again!

Spencer had the weekend off so we spent Saturday morning in Nordstrom and just hanging around the house. I got Spencer a fire pit for Christmas but it's even too cold outside to sit by a hot fire here so we didn't make use of that this weekend.

My week this week is filled with errands to get ready for Rane's birthday party with family this weekend. I'm excited that his birthday actually falls on Saturday so I won't feel guilty about giving him cake before his real birthday. ha! I cannot believe it is already here. It seems like it was just a couple of months ago that I was in the delivery room of the hospital. Can I remind you, yet again, that I delivered him with no drugs? Yup, I did...still proud of that one but won't ever be doing that again and would never, ever recommend it to any mom-to-be. He was ready to make his debut and nothing was going to slow him down, which is really how his personality is turning out to be. He is one determined little boy and on a mission most of the time. He will spot something from across the room, usually something he isn't supposed to have, and he puts his head down and crawls like lightening to get it. I cannot wait for him to tear into his birthday cake because I know he will not be shy like Ella Ann was...she didn't eat a single bite of cake until she was 3! Being that Rane is the second child, though, he has already had a bite of brownie and chocolate peppermint bark...all thanks to Ella Ann dropping it on the floor. This kid knows what's tasty!

So that's that. I will leave you with one funny from Miss Priss. She has been asking me a lot of questions about heaven lately and it is very hard for her, understandably so, to grasp the fact that we will leave our bodies here on earth, our souls will go to heaven and God will give us a perfect, new body in heaven. Yesterday in the car I was, again, trying to explain this whole "new body" thing to her. She got upset when I told her the body she was currently residing in was going to have to stay here when she went to heaven. Her response, "No! I want MY body now! I don't want a new body!" I asked her why because the body she has now will not work as well in the future and the one in heaven will be perfect. Her response, "No Mommy! I want this body to suck my thumb!" Of course.

Pictures

My photographer friend, Bobbi Jo, took pictures of the kids last January after Rane was born. Side note, she will be taking pictures of our family in two weeks. It was supposed to happen today but since Rane developed a fever on Monday followed the next day by a lovely head-to-toe rash we had to reschedule (EA had the fever two days ago and developed welps...she's allergic that way to everything...viruses included, I guess). Anyway, Bobbi Jo sent us a Christmas card and included in the package was a DVD of last year's photo shoot! HERE is the link to view them. Thank you, again, Bobbi Jo! Oh and turn up the volume while you watch!