A Worn out mommy

So Friday night we took Jenna to Birkdale Village to play in the fountain as I mentioned in the previous entry. Well...it seems that the little miss got water in her ears which led to an ear infection because she had a burning fever on Saturday afternoon. This led to a rough night for mommy as she kept waking up in pain, burning up, and wanting to be cuddled. All day Sunday mommy nursed her on the way to recovery, but we made the mistake of taking her out for dinner. This led to another rough night. At 1 am I was exhausted and yanked the mattress off of the guest bed and slept on the floor in Jenna's room. Monday was a little better, but today has been not fun.

Jenna has cried and screamed a bunch, didn't take a good nap today, is tired of being around just her mommy, PLUS mommy has been sick all day. This doesn't make for a good combination. While motherhood is one of the most rewarding jobs, nobody ever tells you that it is especially challenging when you don't feel good yourself and just feel like you need to rest. Thank goodness Jenna is so cute.

A time for firsts

So much has been going on and I apologize for not posting anything lately. We have been dealing

with a couple of firsts for Jenna Shea, but then again every day is like a first with her as she is discovering the world and who she is every day. The day before we left for New Jersey, Jenna took her normal afternoon nap in her crib. She woke up and started to stir, but I didn't go get her right away. Part of me was hoping that she would go back to sleep. Then this is what I heard..."This is mine"...pause...thud...scream of pain. I ran upstairs to find Jenna standing outside of her crib with a look of wonder and fear. So we finally realized that she would have to be ready for her big girl bed as we didn't want her to continue trying to climb out and get hurt. She has been sleeping in her big girl bed now for over 2 weeks and has been doing great. She thinks it is so much fun that she can a) climb into her bed on her own. b)Mommy can climb in next to her. c) she has covers like mommy and daddy now. Of course puppy and doggie have to sleep with her every night too. We are so proud of her.

We are also slowly working on introducing the potty to Jenna. We got her a little potty that we have sitting in the family room. We are working on getting Jenna comfortable with just sitting on the potty with no pressure. Once she is completely comfortable with this stage we will then work on letting her try to sit on the potty for real. As for now, she has fun showing us how she can sit on the potty like a big girl, close the lid, and flush the potty. While I am thrilled at the idea of no longer changing diapers, I am a little nervous to start potty training, because I don't want Jenna to be scared or nervous about the whole thing. She is the type of little girl who wants to do everything on her time not ours. So we will see how this all pans out.

Mealtime is also an adventure since you never know what will happen. Some nights Jenna eats fine and other night she is picky. The funniest thing we have learned about Jenna is that she doesn't always eat what we put on he plate, but after watching daddy or mommy eat the same thing she will want ours. Her is a classic example and a first. Jenna had fresh corn on her plate which I cut off the cob for her. She ate some, but once she saw daddy holding the corn, Jenna had to hold the corn too. Her she is having her first taste of corn on the cob. Too funny!!!

We also had our first experience at the fountain at Birkdale Village which is a neat outdoor shopping and dining area near our house. In the center of the development they have a fenced in area with a fountain so kids can run through the water and be safe from running into the street. Friday night,we went out to eat, got gelato (my favorite) and went to see how Jenna would handle the fountain. Our initial thoughts were that she would be overwhelmed by the water, all the people, and all of the kids. To our surprise and delight, Jenna LOVED it. She would run up to a water stream and get soaked and then run back to me laughing to wipe her face everytime. Her clothes were drenched and she was tired by the time we left. Next time we will let her have a bathing suit so she can really enjoy it.

Our trip to Jersey.

Last sunday we loaded up th car and headed to New Jersey to visit Josh's folks. Every time we told Jenna we were going to Jersey, she would say "Grandpa". This little one definitely loves her Grandpa. The trip up was very smooth and no traffic delays.




On Memorial day Monday we just spent the day hanging out. We walked to the resevoir and explored the nature center where Jenna got to see all kinds of wildlife. Jenna got to spend time in the swing that her grandma and grandpa had hung for her. This little girl loves to swing...I think it is the daredevil in her. We also got to spend some time with Papa Bear (Pete's dad) who came up for the afternoon to see us as well as Gram (Deb's mom).


Tuesday, Grandma Deb and Jenna spent the day together while Josh and I drove to Manhattan to eat lunch and shop. We ended up taking the wrong tunnel into the city and ended up in China Town (which wasn't where we wanted to be) After talking with a nice cabbie we got to where we wanted to be and started to explore. We had a great lunch at a cafe in Bryant Park (Home of the runway show for ProJect Runway!) And shopped the afternoon away. Josh's folks got a kick out of the news that night as the reporters kept saying "Today was the worst day to be in the city" and it was the day we went!!! It was the Sex and the City Movie premier so I guess it was a mob scene somewhere, but we didn't see it.


Wednesday Josh, Jenna, Grandma Deb and I went to Sesame Place which is in Langhorne, PA (about 1 hr 20 min away). It is the perfect theme park for little kids and Jenna had a blast.

"Hi, Mommy! Daddy and I are in the flying Elmo fish!!!"

The girls in their shades.

Grandma and Jenna on the flying Elmo fish ride.

"Hi, Ernie. I'm Jenna and this is my Daddy."

"Hi, Daddy! Mommy and I are on the horsie-go-round."

All in all it was a great trip and it was a great opportunity for Jenna to get to know her Grandma Deb and Grandpa Pete better.