Jenni's words of wisdom

 This is not an original blog post. I just wanted to link you to the blog of a dear friend of mine, Jenni. Her recent post about work really sums up how I feel about my job, too. I work in an incredible place with incredible people, especially Jenni, who is SO positive, even while hugely pregnant and working in a brand-new position. We are Waukee. :-)

http://jennikrieger.blogspot.com/2010/10/it.html

Fun weekend!

We had a really fun weekend. :-) Friday night we did nothing, which is always nice after a LONG workweek. Randy's sister, Beth, and two of her kids, daughters Megan and Abby, came to hang out on Saturday and spend the night! Megan and Beth went to a wedding in Indianola so Randy, Quinn, Abby, and I got to play all evening. We ventured out to church, which was an experience with two infants. (Abby is 4 months old). It was funny to see people puzzling when they looked at us, trying to figure out our dynamic - two twenty-somethings with a seven-month-old and a four-month-old. Love it! Sunday morning, we met another of Randy's sisters, Maria, at The Iowa Machine Shed for breakfast.

Mommy and Quinn! She is getting so good at standing - strong little legs. :-)

Ready to go to church! I love the size difference. I tried to get some pics of the girls together but a certain baby kept crawling away....

                                                     Hi, Mommy!

                                       so much pink in one place!

                                         last outing of the weekend!

Thanks for a fun weekend, Williams family!


On a side note, Quinn is becoming such a little person! She is just such a joy and a blessing in our lives. We have lots of friends who have babies that are turning one right around this time; that's pretty exciting! We will be celebrating Quinn's first birthday in no time.

Quinn loves to eat. I'm convinced she would eat anything we'd put in front of her. She eats a whole banana for breakfast almost every day and loves any fruits, veggies, and cereal. It is hard to say what her favorite food is because she's never rejected anything! I am excited to have her start eating cheese, yogurt, chicken, and more as she is entering her 8th and 9th months. She is also a fast and clean eater, which Mommy appreciates. We are now using her high chair instead of her Bumbo because she can buck out of the Bumbo. Her latest tricks are crawling to our fireplace and rattling the chains that make up its cover, as well as getting into the dogs' food and water bowls at Chrissy's house (day care). She is so good at playing independently and I just love watching her GO. Can't wait for all of the adventures to come!!

Hi, Grandma Meyer!

Thanks for the Halloween bib! Love you!

still here

We are still here and well! Sorry for the lack of blogging this past week;  it's been crazy! First, I (Jill) got sick. Two weeks ago I began waking up with awful earaches. However, they'd go away by the time I was able to go to the doctor in the late afternoon, so I kept putting off a trip to the clinic. I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went this past Monday; sure enough, there was trouble! I was put on antibiotics for an eardrum infection and have started to feel much better. Who gets ear infections at 25?! Quinn also had to get put back on eye paste for her pinkeye, which popped up again, but this time at a lesser degree. Thanks, Randy, for putting up with two sick girls!

I am also swamped with work. I love, love, love my job and the school district in which I work, but I feel a little overloaded this year. I'm lucky enough to work with lots of the highest level of 8th grade learners (ELP!), but that presents a ton of challenges in working with internal experts in my building, looking for extensions and differentiation for my kids, and still keep the quality of my instruction high for the "regular" kids that I have. No one said teaching was easy. :-)

After finishing my first masters I decided to take a little time off from my own educational development and am enjoying having weekends free; the two-year program in which I was enrolled at Drake took up most of my fall and spring Fridays and Saturdays! I am still thinking about what to do next and will definitely enroll in a class or two this spring or summer.

Quinn is as sweet as ever. There are new babies starting at her day care, so she is an older kid now! It is crazy to think that just a few months ago she was the tiniest one and now she is right in the middle. She's just started crawling a little bit and doesn't get too far, but we are excited about the progress she is making! She does better on Chrissy's (our babysitter) carpet than our hardwood, so she puts on the best show when I pick her up at 4:00. Her 7 month "birthday" is next week. Sounds like a good reason to celebrate!

This weekend: hanging out with R&Q, church, working from home, trying desperately to finish a few books before they're due back to the library, heading back west tomorrow for a little birthday partying....:-)

First Big Girl Bath!

Well, Quinn is officially home from "school"! She has pinkeye and two infected ears. The doctor was impressed with her pain tolerance; during her sickness she hasn't really cried too much at all. The one thing affecting her the most is that she hasn't been sleeping well. We have had a few late nights/early mornings lately! Randy stayed home from work to watch Quinn yesterday but is away on business to Waterloo today. I am home from school with her. :-)


Anyway, the other night, Quinn had her first big girl bath! This was the first time we have given her a bath and not used her little tub in the kitchen sink. We have a bath seat in which she can sit up. This was the first time we felt like she could sit up well enough to use it. At first she didn't know what to think, but eventually she was kicking and splashing everywhere and loving it! The warm air in the bathroom seemed to improve her congestion a lot, too.

                                                     so pretty

                                                   getting clean!

poor baby!

Quinn has her first bad cold! It is just awful that she is so sick and there's nothing we can really do about it. Thursday night she slept terribly and started to feel really rotten at school on Friday. She has a horrible hacking cough, a constantly running nose, and eyes that won't stop watering. The poor dolly is just feeling awful. She has been catnapping all day with her dad (even as we speak!) so I hope a few days of rest will make everything better.

I tried to get her to play in her bouncer today...she just wanted to chill.

Here is a cuter pic from a week or so ago. Somebody might have a sweet tooth like her mama! (No, she is not eating ice cream yet!)

6 month photo!

This is short and sweet. The only thing I have to share today is Quinn's 6 month photo. It's a scan so it's not the best quality, but I still think she is pretty cute. :-)