baby make-over

whelp - the time finally came - scott finally convinced dana something needed to be done...

we had a funny lookin kid...

at times looking like a mad-scientist...

and other time...like an old man in a little body...

ahh - that's better! what a good lookin little man :)

birthday pics2

beautiful...

"24 candles" - doesn't have the same ring as 16...

hee hee - sort of looks like the cake's on fire...

birthday wouldn't be complete without the snow...(and this is after 2 days of melting!)

birthday weekend :)

birthday weekend at home - we got to go to my favorite restraunt - we only go on special occasions :) - J.M.K. Nipon's - awesome Japanese grill...

aww - how cute are they?

just a sad day...

there's so much i want to get out on here...good and bad. i feel like i'm continually waiting for "enough time" to write. but...as always...the boys schedules seem to be opposite (one asleep while the other's awake..then vice versa). so just a prayer request....

i guess i waited a couple days to long to write. at the beginning of the week i was so positive about life - felt like nothing could get me down... this week's been tough and i find myself really frustrated. a couple people i know are really struggling right now - mainly cancer (i'm SO SICK of everyone having cancer!) - and it looks like they don't have much time left and i SO wish there was something i had to offer them...

today my aunt's heart stopped. my grandma found her on the floor of her apt and called the ambulance...her heart didn't actually stop until she was at the hospital thankfully- they revived her and right now she's in surgery to put in a pace-maker..she probably doesn't have a lot of time left even if the surgery is successful...but i'm praying for a miracle. she's had a lot of health problems lately...and getting older...but just recently she's begun to let my family into her life (she's VERY independant - to the point of almost being a recluse) and recently i've just felt a real NEED to know my family better...it's been great and now i care about her SO deeply. anyways - if you would pray for her i'd appreciate it...more news to come...eventually...

jenn

february FLEW by...yay march!

hi.
whelp - i guess we're into march now (man, time is seriously FLYING by - sometimes this is good and sometimes maybe not...) and i guess a lot has happened. i feel like everything (relationships, life, me) has changed dramatically in the past two weeks...and really...it's amazing. here are some bullet points (today i'm cleaning all day so hopefully i can leave this weekend - to celebrate my birthday with my parents - and come back to a clean apt :)

1. stomach tests - horrible prep day, not too bad of a test day - and my dad got to come down with my mom (because of a snowday - it was -35 in WI:) which made everything better.

2. tests all came back negative - doctor made me feel stupid for trying some diet changes that HE suggested - but in the end he gave some guesses as to what's wrong and gave me some med and sent me on my way. a little frustrating but i'd rather be on meds than do any more testing. in the end - the meds are working a little bit - so i'm going to try messing with the dosing and some diet stuff and see if i can fix myself :)

3. mel had to go home for a week and a half after a greenville doctor (who shall remain nameless til i write my angry-big sister-letter :) told her she was faking being sick. mel's gotten pneumonia 4 times in the past 5 years and went to the dr very sick. he refused to even do a chest xray. my mom called before the apt to talk to the doctor about her past pneumonia problems and when he first came in the room said said to mel "aww - mommy wants her little baby to come home..."*in the most annoying sarcastic tone ever! anyways - my mom came and picked her up and took her home. she went to the dr and found she had "a substantial amount of fluid built up in the left lung" and was almost put in the hospital- she's been on antibiotics for 2 1/2 weeks now - having to be on two courses and might have to go for a third if this on doesn't kick it. so much for faking it huh?

and...the big news.... :)

4. applied to edgewood college in madison - going back to school to get my bsn - meeting with an advisor on campus on monday :) i know that sort of comes out of no where but it's a REALLY good story i'll tell later - but now i've gotta go get the baby...he's definately wake! haha.

5. o yeah, and i'm going home to WI - in a snowstorm per usual...but i have monday off too (what is this pulaski day? who cares ....i have another day of freedom :) so it's a nice long weekend...and birthday stuff...who doesn't like that right??

til later....

love,
jenn

hi - i'm still here :)

short note here - i realize i am way behind on my part of the deal (you know - blog friendship...hahaha). and...actually, i have some GREAT excuses for not making my way to a computer to put some info down...but i will not bore you with the details. instead - here's a little "hi, i'm still here..." post...and a couple prayer requests (the short version - long ones to come :)

1. day of testing for some major stomach problems i've been having - this coming monday, the 5th (unfortunately the day after the superbowl - meaning sunday i'm going to be pretty miserable with the prep - i'll have to catch the game highlights later i guess :( - please pray for a clear diagnosis.

2. relationship with mom. she's coming for the procedures...but she's acting weird about a lot of things and makes it seem that i'm really burdening her by asking her to come...she refuses to stay more than a couple hours here (quick 10hr turn-around trip) and i don't know what i did wrong.

3. praise - doug and margie newton just seemed to take an interest in me and what's going on in my life lately (weird - but cool) and so they've prayed for me 2 times about this stomach stuff. last night, while they were praying, i heard "blessing, not a curse" - since then my eyes have really been open to a bunch of stuff i think God's teaching me thru this stuff and i can't take time to talk about it yet...but it's good stuff - more on that to come.

4. loneliness...enough said

5. praise - bsf is fantastic...what a gift.

those are the highlights and lowlights...hope you are well...

love, jenn :)

WARNING: Do NOT Get Your Hair Cut At Trade Secret In O'Fallon

first, a question - anyone decide to upgrade their blog to the new beta? what do you think about it?

whelp - just a quick post for now. today is my first day off! i hardly know what to do with myself. i decided to go to o'fallon (mall, haircut, borders, panera) and check on my car sometime in there (o yeah...my car's broken - the mechanic i took it to doesn't seem to know what he's doing and i just found out the "little bit expensive" electrical part he ordered for me didn't fix the problem and it can't be sold back to the parts store - and they still don't know what's wrong with the car - ugh! frustrating!) ...well...i made it to the mall and wasn't in a shopping mood - but no problem...i headed to get my haircut. i don't know what possesed me to do it, but i went to a new place...and it was bad. the girl cut my hair with a crooked part (didn't realize til she was done), it took REALLY long to cut (which never happens - it's not a hard style)...she just kept cutting and cutting and cutting trying to get both sides even - little bit of a disaster. so now my hair is ok but not great - little weird - and i have a TON of little hairs poking me (she didn't really have the smock on right). by this time i wanted to get out of the mall asap and out of o'fallon if possible. borders was skipped (sad day!) and i made it panera (yay free internet). so here i sit...trying to relax, trying to figure out what to do about my car, christmas, and the kiddos (relaxing and thinking don't mix) and it's not really helping. so - below is a pic update (pretty much all i'm up for) and a better one will come later. for now i guess i'm gonna cut out early...maybe i'll see if sue's at jo's or if lori gaffner is heading to a movie tonight (found out she goes to movies by herself a lot of fridays - met her there a couple weeks ago and had a blast sitting with her - maybe that's a good option for tonight?) anyways - hope you're having a fantastic break, day, whatever...
love, jenn

Baby Elijah - 1 Mo Old Tomorrow :)

despite his rough start on life - baby Elijah is doing really well...he's up to 6lbs6oz! so great :) he's changing everyday so i thought it was time for a pic update...though by the time i get the chance to post he has gone and changed again...that's ok - i'm continue to play catch-up.

wide awake!

i look like a giant

do i look like a "mom" yet?

ahhh...sleep...

The Big Freeze!!

the temp dropped from 60 something to 28 overnight...and this is what we ended up with. lots of knocked out power, bitter cold, and cranky people. i was staying with sam at the filby's when the storm hit and power went out...it was pretty freaky...did i ever tell you i'm afraid of the dark?! (ask me about the story of that night...it's a funny one) well, daylight revealed the beauty of the ice...and it almost made things better. these pics are from 3 days after the storm...a lot of ice for being the end of a 3 day thaw :)

tree branches

part of the tree infront of Snyder Hall down from the weight of the ice

the bridge on the way to my house...

grass - like suspended animation

The "Green" Park :)

one absolutely perfect "park-weather" day before the big freeze! we took full advantage of it and spent literally HOURS at Patriot's (a.k.a - the green park) - he was in a FABULOUS mood (i treasure these times :)

"look - i don't need any help" :)

"made it!"

"i'm ready"

seriously - could he be any cuter?! ......today.....