Language leaps and bounds

It seems that all of a sudden, Jenna's vocabulary is growing exponentially. She does a whole lot of jabbering, and a lot of what she says is undecipherable, but she is definitely trying to repeat many more words. She still either resists saying 'Mama', or it just comes out with a 'da' or a 'ga' sound. She understands a lot of what we say to her, and if we ask her where something is (such as our belly buttons, her bee mobile, specific toys, the dogs, or her tongue) she responds correctly every time.

She loves reading her books. We read the same three favorite books about a dozen times each every day! One of her books has flaps with pictures. For the longest time, she's been so focused on opening every single flap and then turning the pages as quickly as possible. Then she started taking the time to point out the ladybugs. Now, she can find the sun, the dog, the stars, and a few other things.

She also recognizes and verbalizes her words for airplane, bird (she giggles like crazy at birds!), and tree. She's even doing a lot more pointing and saying 'da!' at different things. Before having this empty slate to teach, I never really thought about how much there is to learn. Everything we look at has a name, a color, a texture, sometimes a sound.... Now it seems like there isn't enough time in the day to satisfy Jenna's curiosity about everything around her.

To wrap it up in a neat little package: Jenna is an incredible kid. My love for her grows every single day. I thought she was fantastic when she was a tiny little baby, but this just keeps getting better. She's fun to be around and I'm proud to be related to her. It's a bummer that she goes to bed so early at night, but I look forward to waking up every day to see her.

Progress

We picked up our first batch of siding this weekend, and Frank has started installing it! This is such an exciting step. Our house is looking more and more on the outside like a home than just a never-ending construction project. The color - Ivy Green - is darker than I was expecting, but I love it. Frank originally wanted a light beige, I was leaning more towards the darker blue-grey. We agreed on a light grey, but when Frank went to order it, he had a last-minute change of heart. He thought it would be too light with our white trim, so he suggested the Ivy Green. I supported that change immediately!

Since the picture was taken, he's finished the section around the round-top window. It's beautiful. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I come home tomorrow afternoon!

He's been working so incredibly hard on the house lately. He's either working on window trim, the siding, the soffits, chainsawing/chopping wood, anything to keep making progress. He starts working by about 8:30 every morning, and doesn't stop till about 10:00 at night.

From time to time, I think about the things I wish he did differently or how I wish he was more like someone else's husband or whatever. I just need to knock this off. If he was as critical of me as I often am of him, I would be devastated.
I am lucky to have such a hardworking man who loves me and absolutely adores our daughter. Sure, there may be room for improvement, but who couldn't make themselves better? I married him for the man he is, not the man I could mold him into. He is a very good and decent man. I am grateful for what I have.

Snoring

Our dogs have a problem with snoring. Actually, we have a problem with their snoring. I don't know if it's all that extra Labrador skin around their necks that impedes clear breathing when they curl up for a snooze or what. Lucy more so than Niagra. And Lucy is a sound sleeper. Usually Frank can snap his fingers to get her attention and wake her up. Occasionally we have to quietly coax her out of her REM sleep by saying, "Lucy - wanna get it?" or "Lucy, bring it!" or some other phrase that brings sheer joy to her when she's awake.

The other day, Frank and I were napping (one of the most lovely summer afternoon treats!). I woke up first, as I usually do. I love this time - when the dogs, my husband, and my daughter are all sleeping. I just laid there in Frank's arms relishing the peacefulness. He was sleeping so soundly. They all were. I was watching Frank sleep, his jaw slack as he was mouth-breathing very deep breaths. Then he started snoring. Quietly at first, gradually getting louder. He snapped his fingers, and I giggled. In a groggy voice he hissed, "Lucy!"

I whispered, "Why did you say 'Lucy'?"

"Because she was snoring."

"That was you!"

"..."

He tried to make sense of this in his half-asleep brain. I just thought it was cute that he couldn't tell his sounds from the dog's.

The injustice of trying to live green

The last time I was out of town and shopped at Whole Foods, I picked up a couple of their canvas bags. I was sick of the never-ending crinkling mass of plastic bags that rolled around my kitchen like tumbleweeds. And I had that guilty pull at my soul, you know the one where you realize that it's up to YOU to do something to help the environment? Yep, that was a biggie.

I've been shopping with them for a while now. I haven't used a plastic bag since, and I love it. I feel good about it, and I was relishing the 10 cent discount I got every time I bought groceries at Fred Meyer. I noticed a few weeks ago that they started selling their own small canvas bags for a dollar. What a great idea, and I was thrilled that they were selling so quickly. Oddly, I've never seen a shopper actually using the bags, but I'm sure they must.

So as I started the checkout at the U-Scan on Tuesday, my routine was the same. I entered the code for the bag refund, and started scanning and bagging my items one by... WTF?? My 10-cent credit was reversed! I finished my scanning and then asked the young man who was manning the U-Scan station. He told me that they don't do the refund any more. I asked, "Oh really? When did that start?"

"Ever since they started selling the Fred Meyer canvas bags, a few months ago," he said.

"But I shop here or at the other store almost every day, and I've always gotten the refund... even as recently as yesterday!"

"Hmmm... that's bad."

"So let me get this right. I can't get the refund any more because my bag doesn't say Fred Meyer on it?"

"Uh huh. The only way to get the discount is to use the Fred Meyer canvas bag, or to reuse the Fred Meyer paper or plastic bags."

"That's lame. So totally lame."

"Yeah."

I was so aggravated and disappointed at that point, I was ready to get out of the store. One of my fellow U-Scanners came up to me and told me I should talk to the store manager about it. I kind of laughed at her, saying that I knew it wouldn't do any good. She said, "It might."

I left the store, did a couple of other errands, and I still couldn't stop thinking about this. So I went back to the store. I asked to speak to the store manager, and was told that he was out of the store till Thursday. I am going to go in and talk to the manager this afternoon. Not that I actually expect anything to change, but I don't want to let this go without a fight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UPDATE:
I was told that the store manager hadn't shown up for work today. Awesome. At least the customer service clerk offered to summon over the assistant manager to talk with me. I explained everything to him, and he wasn't even clear on what the store policy is. After conferring with the operations manager, he said that on a corporate level the refund is being discontinued. But on the local level, the stores will continue to offer the refund. He apologized very sincerely, and assured me that the checkout staff would be given correct information. I left the store feeling good. I'm glad I voiced my concerns, and I'm proud of myself for doing something instead of just grumbling to myself.

Midnight Sun Run recap

I was so excited all day Saturday. We all woke up early, at least earlier than we usually do on weekends. We brought Jenna into bed with us when she woke up, and she got so very close to dozing off. But that's not something she's likely to ever do when there's a possibility of playing instead!

Finally, Frank and I relented and we got up and got ready. We headed into town for breakfast, then we drove out to Eielson Air Force Base for their annual open house. We got to walk through the mid-air refueling planes, looked into a B-1, and walked through a huge cargo plane. There was an incredible demonstration by four F-16s, complete with distant 'explosions'! It was such a fun outing, even the machine gun-toting soldiers at the entry to the tarmac as they waved the metal-detector wands over everyone were friendly.

We went home and decided to take a nap to rest up for the late night ahead of us. When we woke up, we felt rested, and I was getting so excited for the race! Jenna had her dinner, then a bath, and got into her pajamas (I figured she'd sleep through the race and would just slide into her crib when we returned home around midnight). I started getting nervous on our drive to town. I haven't run since before I was pregnant, although we do walk as a family every day. I knew I could do the distance, but I wanted to do it quickly, despite not being in good enough shape. At the start area, I went near the back of the pack, not wanting to get in anyone's way with the stroller. That turned out to be a big mistake. There were so many people walking, that it was two miles into the race before I could get around enough people to have some breathing room. By this point, I had unbuckled Jenna in the stroller. Twice she had twisted her body and gotten stuck on her tummy with the belt up under her arms. Since the stroller has a huge flat area and the secure screen covering, I wasn't worried about her getting hurt. She was thrilled with the freedom! She stood and looked at me, she practiced her headstands (even with a foot up in the air!), she reclined and played with toys, and then she'd sit nicely and watch the crowds cheer us as we passed by.

I ran the next four miles and felt great. I wasn't speedy, and it was hard. I've never run while pushing a kid in a stroller, so I got a much better workout than I was hoping for! I felt great at the end, definitely proud of what I had accomplished.

Jenna went right to sleep when we got home, she's such a good girl. Frank and I showered, ate a snack, and watched a fascinating show on PBS about an archeology dig for an ancient marsupial hunter in Australia. We had no idea that we missed such interesting shows wasting so much time sleeping!

My quadriceps were a little tight on Sunday, they were squealing yesterday, and they're finally getting better today. I'm looking forward to running again, I just need to figure out a schedule that I can stick to.

I've kept my water intake up, which is a huge accomplishment for me. It turns out that I actually like the taste of water when I squeeze in a few drops of lime juice. I've been avoiding the crap snacks (no potato chips!) in favor of fruit, popcorn, and more vegetables.

Readying for a nap together on the couch

As we watched, with stupefied looks on our faces, the nonsense that is Passions.

"Why do people even watch this soap opera crap?"

"I'm not really sure..."

Scene changes from a miniature man doing some goofy dance while some kind of animated demons fly around the screen to a scene with the masked half-man, half-woman character.

"I mean, I'm not at all emotionally attached to any of these characters."

Ah good. Commercial break. And an ad for tonight's episode of Age of Love.

"Not that I'm attached to any of these people either."

"Yeah, but the people on the soap are getting paid to pretend. These people are..."

"Being idiots for free?"

"Yep, that's it."

Getting healthy

Doesn't it always happen this way. The straw-that-breaks-the-camel's-back that I need to convince me to do something happens when I'm least anticipating it. Yesterday, I was reading All & Sundry, and I determined right then and there to start making some life changes. Since Jenna was born, I've been lucky. I've lost all the weight I gained (and then some), I fit into all of my regular clothes, and breastfeeding has allowed me eat ridiculous amounts of food (I often eat more than my husband). I basically look like I did before. But I'm not nearly as healthy. Throughout my pregnancy I ate healthy meals and I exercised Every Single Day.

I don't like seeing myself in photos. I either avoid being in pictures, or I've deleted the ones where my faults aren't hidden. I want to get to the point where I don't feel disappointed with the looks of my chin/neck, upper arms, belly, and legs. Some parts of my body are just going to be the way they are, and to a certain degree I need to let go of the distorted image I have of myself. Over the years, I've improved significantly, but the eating disorder still has its bony fingers wrapped around my shoulders, whispering evil things in my ear when I look in the mirror. But I want to see what I can do to improve my body composition, and maybe I'll end up happier with how the parts look.

So yesterday I made some changes. Small, yes, but they're changes that I can stick with:

• I walk every day, but yesterday we walked faster. Today we're going to walk fast AND take a longer route.
• I drank three glasses of water. Usually I drink no water. None. I have two mugs of tea in the morning, and a glass of juice or tea at dinner. That's it. It's absolutely awful, and I know it needs to change. So three glasses went down just fine. Today I will at least do the same.
• I want nice abs. Today I started doing crunches. Just now I did 20. Holy mother that was hard. Baby steps, though. I like the way the soreness feels, and I'm going to do a few more sets tonight.

That's it for now. I will add in some workout tapes and healthier snacks (this afternoon I did put the bag of chips back in favor of a feast of baby carrots!) once I feel confident that I will stay committed to them.

Weekend wrap-up

After seemingly endless days of rain, we had a beautiful weekend in Fairbanks. Saturday morning, we went into town for breakfast, where A ate well and devoured her pancakes with gusto! As we were leaving the diner, we heard the rumble of some Harleys going past the restaurant. They just kept coming, so we hurried over to the sidewalk to watch. They honked and waved at us as they went by, and A loved it! We watched probably over a hundred bikes go by, and it was great!

Then we took care of some other errands in town, including a stop at an antique sale on our way home. Oh, the lovely things these women had! I would have loved to take home so much more, but I was thrilled with our two new items. One is a little cradle that A can use for her toys and dolls. The other great find is an old wash tub. Its legs are a bit rusty, but it will be perfect for holding a pot of flowers outside!

Sunday was another fabulous day. A slept in, and was so cute when I got her out of her crib. She was still a sleepyhead, so I thought perhaps this would be the day that she'd go back to sleep in our bed. Nope. As usual, she was thrilled to be in between us, and loved the opportunity to look for our belly buttons and play peek-a-boo!

We had breakfast at a favorite restaurant right on the river. We enjoyed the food, watched other families, and saw two sternwheeler riverboats. Then we headed up to the botanical gardens, in keeping with our Father's Day tradition. The flowers were gorgeous, and A walked everywhere like such a big girl. No crawling at all! She stopped a couple times to pick up some rocks, and she happily carried them for the whole visit.

We were finally heading home, but decided to take a drive north. A was taking a good nap, so this option also let her keep on sleeping. In the five years I've lived here, I've never been more than about 10 miles north of our home. The road going north goes very quickly from rural civilization to wild open areas. This is the road that goes up to the north slope, so very often we see big semi trucks transporting vehicles, fuel, or equipment for the oil production facilities. The road today was virtually empty, save for a lone bicyclist. We stopped to watch a mama moose and her new calf eating the tender grasses growing in the roadside marsh.

It was a really wonderful weekend. Summer in Fairbanks at its best.