Starting Fresh

Hello friends and family!  My name is Janet.  You might remember me from forever-and-a-day ago when I used to actually post on a semi-regular basis.  I can't believe I've let almost three months go by with nothing.  Sheesh!

I find that the longer I wait to update this blog, the harder it is for me to make myself do it.  If I would have stayed on top of it, I could jot out a quick couple of lines to let everyone know how we are doing, along with a few pictures and be done in ten minutes.  Since my last post, however, we've been to Austin, San Francisco, had Thanksgiving and Christmas and the thought of catching up on all of that has made me avoid this webpage like the plague.  I know that's not fair though, a lot of friends and family from afar have complained, I know this is the only way that some get to "keep in touch" with us.

Sooooo I'll make you a deal . . . I'm gonna go ahead and make a resolution - something I never do - to update twice a month.  But here's the catch - there's no way I'm sifting through November, December and January pictures and boring you with what we've been up to....so here's a few of my faves from the past several weeks.  I promise to do better :-)

SNOW!!!

Causing trouble with cousin Ashlynn

Yeah, I'm a jerk.  I did it knowing full well what was going to happen.  HA!

Playing dress-up

This is why you don't leave kleenex anywhere near the crib

Bundled up at Grandma's - time to feed the chickens!

Christmas cuddles with favorite cousin Iz

Big girl haircut!  I can't believe what a good job she did this time :)

Lego fun!

Bonding with Jeremy over Legos AND computers!

Another bundled pic, they are my faves!

Reading nook :)

Fun at the zoo

Fall Update

As per usual I have been very bad about posting, so here are a bunch of pics and updates from the past couple of months.  We have been keeping very busy.  Jeremy has been traveling every other week since we returned from California in July and that has kept us on our toes.

After a lot of angsting, I decided to turn down a part-time librarian position at my old school.  It was very tempting, but we are all very happy right now and I decided to just keep things the way they are and enjoy the time that I am able to be home full time with E.  At the time it was a very difficult decision but in retrospect I am more relieved than anything else.

We had to spend one day at the ER a couple of weekends ago because E came down with a very sudden very severe case of croup.  After a terrible night's sleep she could barely breathe and so we took her in.  After a few breathing treatments, some steroids and several hours of observation we were able to take her home and spend a week or so recovering.  She bounced back pretty quickly.  We spent the following weekend at the emergency dentist when one of Jeremy's root canals failed, so we are pretty much over dealing with any emergency services.

At her 18 month appointment, E was looking great.  She has grown 3 inches and lost 4 pounds with all of her activity.  It's sad to see the sweet chubby rolls disappearing . . . she's looking so grown up to me! She is a handful but also a ton of fun.  All she's saying is "Mama, Dada and Obama," which of course I am loving.  She is still signing like crazy - J and I started counting all of her signs the other day and gave up after 30.  She loves to dance, and to demand that everyone around her also dance.  Her favorite day of the week is Tuesdays because we go to library story time.  She gets extremely excited whenever we see any construction vehicles, airplanes or motorcycles.  She likes to snuggle baby dolls and to look at pictures of her baby cousin Solomon.  She will pretty much only eat food if she has a "dip dip" of some sort to dip it in.  When she wants something she yells "MAAA!!!" at the top of her lungs over and over . . . and over.  We spend lots of time outside, just taking walks around the block and saying hi to the neighbors.

Now we are in Austin visiting friends and family.  Next weekend we will fly to San Francisco - Jeremy is going for work and is taking E and I along to celebrate my birthday.  Then back home just in time for the holidays to get rolling!  Phew!

Lots of pics below covering the Grolnar happenings over the past several months.  Enjoy!

Practicing for the Olympic Torch Ceremony

Cooling off - this girl can rock a swimsuit!

Yum!

Big foot!

Giddyup!

Loves her puppies

Loving the hot air balloon festival

Haircuts are not her favorite

Monkey-watching at the zoo

First time meeting cousin Solomon.  So happy!

Loves to build with her daddy

Stylin

Grandma love

Her daddy's daughter!

E loved picking and playing with the baby pumpkins

Buddies

Enjoying the crisp fall weather at Garden of the Gods

The IPad was a lifesaver at the ER

Meow!

She was a little disturbed by the snow on the ground

Leaf collecting

Halloween!  She won a costume contest!

Vegging after a long day of being adorable

Flower field

Erin took us up to a field in Green Mountain Falls for pictures of Eliza the other night.  I wouldn't have thought much of the field, but Erin has an eye and sure enough the pictures turned out beautifully.  Eliza was NOT in a good mood and did not want to let go of my hand for a second, so it ended up being a unshowered-mommy-and-baby shoot instead of just a baby shoot :-p  Ah well, she's very much in a mommymommymommyholdmyhand stage right now, so I should have been prepared!  Also I have to say I love the crying pictures!
Enjoy :)