Matt's Worst Nightmare

I'm Matt. This is my second post. I felt very free after my first one, so I'm doing it again. I call it my worst nightmare, because I thought that was what was happening to me a few weeks back. If you haven't noticed, I love taking pictures, and my favorite subject is Jane. That's because when the shutter goes off, she doesn't suddenly stare at me like she wants a divorce. She doesn't threaten to not invite me back into her home. She doesn't suddenly act like a nervous imbecile. And she doesn't act completely put out. Those reactions are reserved for the different adults I know. I probably fall into one of those categories myself. But Jane is a much better subject. Much more natural. She doesn't mind when I get in her face or follow her around. Until recently.

We were at Ella's parents' in Missouri. I had taken pictures of Jane already, with no objections on her part. She was being cute, playing Grandma's piano. I grabbed my camera. I looked through the viewfinder to frame the shot, and Jane looked up at me from her work:
I barely had the chance to snap off a shot. I didn't even set the exposure (sorry), because Jane yelled "NO," flew off the piano bench at me, and shoved the camera like I was a paparazzo for Us magazine. Wow. Chris Martin eat your heart out. I didn't think much of it, though. You know even Sigfried and Roy's white tiger snapped for no apparent reason. And Jane is a little feral at times, what with her joyful hoots and hollers and her bizarro dancing, à la Elaine on Seinfeld. I wiped her handprint off the lens, and let it pass. But pass it didn't. We were at the park in Windsor, and Jane was hitting the slide like a pro, so I wanted to take some pictures:
I managed to take a few, but Jane was getting increasingly annoyed until finally, standing near the top of the stairs, ready to slide again, she turned to me (I had my camera to my eye) and yelled, "Go away, Dad! PLEASE!" The "please" sounded especially exasperated. It was funny, but sad, too--like the time a friend of mine decided to throw an egg at the first person to exit a church, and it happened to be an old lady in a wheelchair (she was hit square in the chest, and must have been very surprised). I thought I'd lost my favorite subject forever.

But like all nightmares, I woke up from it. About a week later, back at home, perhaps distracted by the excitement of the lights on the newly assembled "Shir-shirsh Tree" Jane agreed to a photo session. In fact, she was excited and insisted I photograph her with her Christmas duck. At first she held him low by her tummy, so I said hold him up to your cheek. She took it literally:
And the floodgates were opened. My little star was reborn. Here she is, happy to mug with a pair of glasses:
She's not afraid if people know she likes smoothies:
And why be embarrassed by something everyone has to do:
The little gal even gets into it when I prep photos for the blog. I had this one opened in Photoshop, and she looked at it with interest:
I said, "What's that?" She said, "Jane's head. Touch it." And then she touched her head like in the photo.

She still has her lapses. The other day at Temple Square, she let me know I was not to photograph her reaching into the fountain. I think I should have sensed the highly personal moment, though, and I blame myself for that one. But for now, my favorite subject remains Jane.

Jane on the Plane

For the most part of her life Jane has remained aloof from strangers. Even when she was a baby and people would try to make her smile at the grocery store she would just stare at them straight-faced. The strangers would try a few more times and then it would all come to an awkward end with the stranger saying something like "Oh she must be tired." And then as a one-year old she clung to mom and dad for dear life and still did not find the antics of other adults very amusing. Suddenly as a two-year old she has realized that the entire world is full of people she can interact with. Oftentimes when I am walking with her to take her to the bathroom in a public place she tells every person she passes, "I go pee-pee on the potty."

So taking her on the plane this last time was a new experience for all of us. Walking through the airports took much longer than necessary. Every few minutes I would have to pause as Jane made a detour to interact with or in some way entertain a stranger. During the actual plane rides we had her pretty excluded though.



During one of our legs I was frantically searching my bag hoping to magically find something that would entertain Jane. And in an obscure pocket I found some old little pom-pon chicks we had made and put into plastic eggs. Jane became enamored with them. She wrapped them in tissue paper as blankets. And of course when the ride was over and we were all waiting to exit the plane Jane showed everyone she could her little baby "ducks". Here she is putting one down for nigh-night.

Thanksgiving Wrap-up

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone! My goal is to shove everything pre-Christmas onto this blog as soon as I can so I can post some Christmas photos before it's February.

Unfortunately we didn't take too many pictures in Missouri. We have a gazillion of Jane with ratty hair around our house, but we can't manage to take a fair amount when we actually are on a trip? I'm not sure how that works.

My sister Clair and her family came down for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. My brother Andy and his family were also there. And don't let me forget my Aunt Judy.

So, here we are playing the Turkey Race. The adults placed bets with M&M's on the different children's turkeys. Everyone tried to spread their bets around but Matt placed all of his on Jane. And she won!


Jane inquires about the intricacies of the game:


Jane's big lead has her thinking, "Come on people, this isn't rocket science.":


That pretty much sums up the pictures we managed to take.

But I've hijacked some photo's from my sister's blog from that day.

Here's Jane and Faith playing hide-and-seek.


And this is my dear Aunt Judy playing Ring around the Rosies with the children.


And a funny one of myself and Matt.

Thanksgiving Taco Night

There was no turkey for us on actual Thanksgiving Day this year.  Due to scheduling conflicts we held the Griner Thanksgiving Feast on Saturday.  But while we were back in Missouri we went to my brother Andy's house for tacos on Thursday.  I wish we had gotten some pictures of adults, but alas, they are only of the kids.  Andy and his wife Sara have three beautiful kids: Aubrey, Caleb, and Ainsley.  Unfortunately we didn't end up with pictures of Ainsley as she didn't participate in making sugar cookies with the other kids, but she is just as cute as the rest of their clan.

Aubrey was nice and neat:


And Caleb was a bit more of an animal:



Jane fell somewhere in the middle:

And now I present....Candis Ellis

Who is Candis Ellis?  She just happens to be one of the most impressive people I've ever met.  She lives here in my neighborhood and goes to my church.  We started to become friends a year ago and I was SO nervous when I was around her because she was simply "too cool."  But somehow I have tricked her into becoming my friend.  And I am so grateful!  Thanks to her I have met many other wonderful friends and I have actually managed to "get a life."  Meaning, I go out and do things sans Jane.  There's lunches and dinners and parties and running nights.  Candis makes me feel like I did when I had close girlfriends in college and has reminded me that it's okay to still have loads of fun even after you have kids.  But it also quickly became apparent that not only was Candis a lot of fun, she was also that person in my life whose style and opinion I could always trust.  She has more talent than I think is fair.  I believe I was standing next to her when God passed out our talents and she was accidentally given the talents that were meant for me.  Candis was my personal assistant in planning for and decorating Jane's birthday party.  She has been my fashion consultant going through my entire closet and telling me what to get rid of and giving me ideas on how to work with my "pieces."  (She's the type to use the word "pieces" in regards to clothing).  I consult her about my hair and about how anything should look visually.  

But here's the good news!  Candis has decided to share her talents and awesome sense of style with everyone!  She has opened up a beautiful new store called Heirloom Paperie.
 There she shares her talent in photography, silhouettes, art, baby and wedding announcements, holiday cards, vintage photos, stationary and more!  So check out her website.  From there you can find her company's blog and shop.

There are tons of beautiful things to look at, and it's also a lot of fun.  There are free template Tuesdays and $5 Fridays.  So check it out and see what Candis Ellis can do for your life!

Pre-Thanksgiving Gathering

The Sunday before Thanksgiving (and the day before we flew home to Missouri) we had a semi-Thanksgiving dinner at the Sabins. Grandma and Grandpa Jespersen and Jenni and Jared Frisby were in town so it was time to celebrate. The Sparks came and so did Fred and Renae. Jane sported an old dress-up dress throughout the evening. We had a great time.

There was the pink worm game with Aunt Jenni and Cousin Fred:



Julie always provides hours of entertainment for Jane:


And of course there was the train game. Steve is getting very animated as he shares how to play with the newbies.


And this is how Grandpa looks when there are no grandchildren around:


But Max and Jane managed to perk him right up:

101 Things you May or May Not Want to Know about Jane

I have about a million things I need to blog about. There's our pre-Thanksgiving Dinner with Matt's family here in Utah. And our belated Thanksgiving Dinner with my family in Missouri. Actual Thanksgiving Day passed us by without any turkey, but we did have taco-night fun with my brother's family. All of which will hopefully be blog-recorded within the next short while.

But I feel like my head is about to explode with all these little details about Jane I want to jot down. It's been one of those months where Jane seems to have grown into a different person to me. Yesterday when she kept talking to me I couldn't understand when she had become this little person who could express herself. For example:
*Jane tripped over a shoe and started whining. Matt asked her what was wrong and she explained that she was mad at the shoe.
*She walks around all the time saying "Hi, Mom. Whatcha doing? (answer) Oh. Well...."
*She's also started to use the word "awesome." The other day I saw her "on the phone" while sitting next to some gummy bears. She said, "Hello? Hi. Awesome little bears."
*Jane was eating goldfish in her car seat and I heard the following, "Fishy, what's the matter? I'll hug you. Don't cry."

*It's a simple word, but it cracks me up every time she uses the word, "really." I'm REALLY cold. It's REALLY tall. etc.
*I had to put Jane in time out. I can't remember why. When I took her out of time out she went and told Matt all about it--what she did, what mom did, and said, "Jane bad."
*Jane likes to invite me into her room by saying, "Come into Jane's room, Mom." It's very hard to resist.
*When we were at home in Missouri my mom came out of her room in a long warm, nighttime bathrobe type thing. Jane got very excited and exclaimed, "Pretty blue dress!" and went over to admire it.
*When I try to comb Jane's hair she tells me it's "ratty."

*Jane often talks about how she is "Daddy's buddy pal" and "Mommy's honey bunny." (what we each call her, although I really hadn't been aware that I called Jane that until she told me.)
*One day when Jane was wearing one of her favorite fancy dresses from Aunt Julie she kept looking down at it's beauty in amazement saying, "Thank you, Julie! Thank you, Julie!"

And of course, it is so much fun when she messes up on her words.
*Jane asked where dad was and said she wanted to see "her." I told her that Dad's a him. So she left the room calling, "Come here, him!"
*One day Jane noticed one of our small yellow trash cans from our bedroom. It was empty and in the middle of floor. Her face lit up as she picked it up and said, "Big cup!"

*When we drive by Christmas lights she says, "Look! Stars!"
*One night Jane came to me and said, "I want to eat letters." I kept repeating what I thought I was hearing over and over but she kept acting like that was what she meant. I finally tried to appease her with a fake answer but she was getting frustrated. Finally I remembered that she had eaten M&M's the night before and had liked seeing the m's on them. I asked her if she wanted M&M's and she finally looked so relieved, "Yes!"
*Jane has picked up on Matt's use of the word "puppy." I guess it stands in for the word "one" in phrases like, "Go get that puppy." Only Jane has combined both words into "puppy one." She uses it all time. "I want that puppy one." "Awesome puppy one."
*Matt asked Jane what she wants to be when she grows up. She seemed to think about it for a minute and said, "A purse."

*My friend Monique came to Utah for her cousin's wedding. She and her baby Annabelle stayed with us. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures! Anyway, Jane and I had just been to North Carolina a couple months before to stay with Monique and her family. Since then Jane often talked about "Monique's house." So Jane was very excited to see her friend had come to visit. Only it quickly became apparent that Jane was either so used to saying the phrase "Monique's house" that she couldn't separate it, or she really thought it was Monique's full name. The entire weekend, anytime Jane would talk about or to Monique it was "Monique's house is here!" "Where's Monique's house?" "Hi Monique's house."

Jane has been working on learning some other fun things other than the art of language.
*Like remorse, for example. Matt was trying to put on Jane's diaper and pajamas for bed and Jane was being "very bad"--running around, kicking her legs, and basically keeping it from happening. Matt was getting frustrated so when Jane came near me I told her that Daddy was sad and that she should be a good girl and let him put her diaper on. She went to where daddy was, said "hug", patted his back saying "Awww" then laid down on the floor and said "change diaper."
*I taught Jane a few Sunday's ago how to make smiley faces. She tried it out with some verbal reminders about eyes and whatnot. Then on the plane ride we had given her a pad of paper and a pencil. A few minutes later we looked down to see the most adorable smiley faces ever. A face, eyes (usually more than two), a mouth and a zig zag line for hair.
(and yes, the other item is a picture of poo--something Jane often asks her daddy to draw for her).

*Jane is getting much better at hide and seek. She used to have to always hide with us and even then she would just laugh or even more directly announce where we were, "Shower!" And when she did start hiding by herself as soon as we would be done counting she would run to us very excitedly. But now she can hide by herself. In fact, if she comes across a good hiding spot she'll say that she wants to play. Yesterday, Matt really had a hard time finding her when she had crawled under her crib.
*And the item that brings us the most joy. Poo-poo on the potty! I wouldn't say we are completely done with that issue but all of a sudden it is actually occurring. She went more by accident her first time, and then we tried very hard to get her to continue. She hated it and was crying. So the day I said to Matt, "We need to just not mention it anymore and let her poop in her diaper," was the day she came to me and told me she needed to go! In the beginning it was literally about a five second warning, but even that is getting better. Okay, okay, I doubt you want to hear about these poo details, which brings me to why I even wanted to write about it. The first few times it happened (and I'll admit it is still going on to a certain degree) Matt and I were hilariously eager to share and hear ALL the details. Like a high school girl wanting details on her friend's date it was like, "Tell me everything. What did she say? What did you do? What did she do then?" The joys of being a parent!

And lastly, thanks, Matt, for the sweet post. It was the testimony meeting shout out I'd always dreamed of. Obviously you deserve a "Championship Daddy" post more than I deserved that, but I can't do one right after you did! So sometime I'll have to tell the world what a great father you are. I seriously get re-amazed all the time by what an awesome dad you are to our little Janey. I love you! (And I apologize to everyone else who has recognized that that last paragraph very easily could fit into the "Seriously So Blessed" blog verbatim).

Championship Mommy

Ella on the phone with Monique, winter coat on, socks off, remnants of a meal nearby:
First off, this is Matt. I was getting tired of the picture backlog. Plus, I wanted to give Ella the public testimony meeting shout-out she's always wanted and deserved, but never gotten. So I decided to post all by myself. I'm slightly nervous, and yet, I feel so alive.

A little while back, Ella decided to buy Jane a school for her birthday--a school that fits in a few baskets and ziploc bags:

At school Jane learns things like how to use a spray bottle:

How to mix acids and bases:

How to separate hard items from soft items:
"Where does a bear go? It feels soft, but it can kill people easily."

"I think it's soft!"
You're right, Jane. Bears are soft, though they can easily kill people.

Teaching Jane how to bargain at the market:

And finally, preparing Jane to be a paperboy:

So what does this mean: Championship Mommy? Basically, it means that Ella is a Mommy who could easily win a championship for the way she raises Jane. I always feel that Jane is in the best hands, with Ella teaching her the alphabet, her numbers, how to use her mini-Swiffer, how to be careful, how to be a good girl, how to eat healthy, how to say "please" and "thank you," and most importantly, she teaches Jane that her mommy loves her. I love you, Ella. You're the best mom and wife. Love, Matt.

Championship family:

Buckets of Fun

Jane gets set to do something mischievous:





What's so bad about that? Well....


It just happens to be EXACTLY what you aren't supposed to do. And I'm ashamed to say there was water in it.

A Hairy Situation

What is up with Jane's hair? Seriously. It's always been a little on the ratty side. I have always had to wet it down and put product in it to make it go from frizzy to curly. But lately it has been OUT OF CONTROL! It was finally starting to grow a little but with that length has simply come more ratty knots. Every time she wakes up it is an entire lengthy process to comb her hair out. She hates it and I hate it. I thought I would try detangler spray but that simply takes it from a dry rat's nest to a wet rat's nest. So I've given up combing it everyday and started to only deal with it when we have to be seen in public. But that means that Matt's little photo shoots around the house have really captured our crazy-haired toddler.