Dan and Amber Christensen Family

2011-02-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

tada! We're still alive.

Well it's been almost a year so...yeah I'm not going to even try covering that but here's some pics of the baby buddies. We're all doing very well. It's so nice to have them playing together all the time and getting along so well

Josh seems to have figured out he's a boy so I get 'shot' with just about everything (who knew a bowl could be turned into a gun) My favorite part about it is he doesn't make a shooting noise, he simply points whatever object he's holding in your direction and says "Shoot shoot. Shoot shoot." But he's still in touch with his feminine side dressing up in princess dresses, putting babies to bed, choosing pink clothes and wearing tutus. Love it all. And now he's old enough to tell his mom what to do. Now I'm being bossed around by 2 kids. Very humbling. "No mama you stop that. Sop (stop) Singing." "Mama thass my seat. MY seat" etc. etc. If it weren't so adorable... but it is.

Jane is loving preschool and swimming right now (well she loves preschool and I love her swimming). She narrates her life in song ("I'm walking to the room but I'm going sloooooooowly but I'm not now and I've got tieeeyights OOOOONNNNNN....." not highly interesting but comical nonetheless) and every once in a while she adds moves from the dance class she took, which incidentally was one of the cutest things I've seen. I loved being educated on the differences between sashay and sotay (i don't have any idea how to spell those or, incidentally, what they are) She is very entertaining and talkative. So very talkative and sweet and sometimes like a teenager. Always good for a hug.

so pictures

sideways I know. i'm lazy.

Daddy takes them fishing.

'huggies' best big sister ever.

One of Josh's first real tantrums. It didn't last long but I love the theatrics.

"thanks for my birthday cake. It's so tasty that I don't mind the allergic reaction I'm going to have since my mom didn't realize frosting contains eggs. Happy Birthday to me"

We had to take away the bam bam's bat :)

And sometimes it's nice to look back. getting all sentimental but seriously I love these babies.

2010-04-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

Jane was trying on summer clothes for our San Diego trip. Josh did not want to be left out.

Here is Josh with Jane's clothes (that he begged for)

here is josh after I made him give the pants back. Notice he still had the pink/multi boxers on.

Here is josh when I gave him the pants back and a pair of pajama shorts to boot. Needless to say, he was happy.

and others. The boy likes to dress up. What can you say

And jane likes it too. She wore that hat to preschool one day even.

Jane's latest hobby (below) is "tienail polish". You can't see the bright pink polish OR hello kitty stars, hearts and lightning bolts but they are there. She LOVES painting her nails and does it often with mom and especially with the babysitter (we've had blue, green, pink, purple so far. Right now it's pink with purple polka dots). We won't answer as to whether her mom does or does not have hello kitty pink toes right now.

Last week Jane said : "Mama josh is my best friend". Precious.

So here are the little buddies...

This is what josh does whenever Jane is upset or just laying down or if he hurts her. I'm not sure it's a good sign that he already knows how to say sorry (and when it's appropriate) but I'll take it.

2009-12-26T10:11:00.001-08:00

2 weeks ago-

Jane: "Mom I want to sell my pink dollhouse so I can get a big one with stairs like the one at costco"

Ohh my little ebayby. Luckily we had already started building one.

After upwards of 40 man(/woman) hours and many late nights we have our Crap n' Scrap dollhouse for Jane complete with bathroom, bedroom, living room, kitchen , attic, and coming soon - petshop, preschool and possibly grocery store if I don't shoot myself first (not to mention the spiral staircase. kudos to dan). We call it "Crap n' Scrap" because it's built almost entirely from crap around the house and scrap wood (including broken bowls, old lotion containers, useless toys and old fabric). Only new stuff are the knobs, attic dresser, wall paper and the flower pot table stands and lamp shades.

My worst fear was she would look at and say "but Mooooooom I wanted the one from costco." Luckily she loved the one she had

2009-12-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

Amber:"Jane do you want to go see the Nutcracker ballet?"
Jane: "Yeah mom. I want to go. But I want you to do it."
--riiiiigght
Amber:"You know mama has a lot of strengths but Ballet just isn't one of them. I don't know how to do that."
Jane: "Oh you just lift up one foot and put it underneath you"

Yesterday we told Jane about Santa Claus in the only way I could do it. For some reason I haven't been able to just tell her he's real. I've tried -- and I should add a don't have any issue with people doing it. I love it as a kid. I just can't.-- So anyway I told her a whole story about Father Nicholas giving presents to the kids for Christmas. And how they made him a Saint. And then "So the story goes that Saint Nicholas lived on and on Christmas Eve goes into the children's houses and gives them presents"
Jane: "Santa Claus?"
Dan: "Yes and he comes down your chimney.
Jane: "WHAT?" -- with an "are you kidding me" disbelieving tone
Dan: Yeah and comes in a sleigh with reindeer. Do you know what reindeer are?"
Jane: "Yes."
Dan: "and the reindeer fly"
Jane: "Reindeer Don't fly"
Amber: "They do in stories."
Jane: "WHAT?"

classic

2009-11-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Toddler Slang --

On the way to preschool the other day Jane called from the back seat. "Hey mom we're going to preese. That's what I'm calling preschool. It's preese. Let's go to preese mom"

Other recently created by jane nicknames/slang terms of note?
Mac'n -- Macaroni n' cheese
Airp -- an airplane flying over head.

If she starts referring to her grandparents as papa-g and g'ma I'll be worried.

2009-10-31T09:34:00.001-07:00

Family fishing at horning's hideaway (hideout maybe?). It's a pond with a park and loads of peacocks walking around -- seriously like 30 just walking all over the place.
That's Jane's very first pole (yes it is a push button dora pole). She loved it--almost as much as her daddy. We have a video which I will try to load but I don't know if it will work. Sadly we didn't get any still pics of her fishing. Josh liked it too -- he enjoyed crawling around in the mud and climbing the hill and generally being far too close to the water.

Halloween breakfast this morning. The hat, top and baby carrier were all mine as a kid. Jane was pretty excited about that.

stay tuned for Trunk or Treat and Disney on Ice (yes you read that right) pictures!

2009-10-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

ok i'm downright mad becasue i did this post a week ago and didn't publish it. But I'll be giving myself the speed credit anyway (if not the genius credit)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!

It was a fun day. Pretty much the typical 1 year old birthday. He has no idea why the people are smiling, staring and singing horridly off tune but he gets this yummy pile of stuff the big weird people keep calling "cake"... And he likes cake.

I don't know if he just couldn't pick it up or what but he just held it down there...apparently he doesn't go for that whole bring the mountain to Muhammad thing.

and then daddy gave him a 'tap shower'. Still smiling.

So Josh's favorite things of late are:

balls -- And by balls I mean really anything that can be thrown, rolled or caught which is really everything. I admit I've played catch with a water filled daiper (I thought it was better than a used one). Te was at a soccer practice today and was attempting to horde 3 balls at once. As they are all bigger than he is, this did not go well. (on a side note jane took a ball over to the goal, kicked it in and started jumping up and down cheering.)
banging on the keyboard and dancing (he bounces whenever we sing)
grabbing people's noses (waiting for the 'honk')
being tickled (which pleases me of course)
peekaboo the cell phone (how many phones before mom learns her lesson?)

He took his first official step the other day. He's nowhere near steady but he's on his way. Jane and josh play together a lot. It's the best when I'm putting jane to bed and josh crawls in, on top of her and starts giggling and then she starts as well. It's not a very effective nap-time technique but she's not really napping anymore anyway (alas).

Jane is liking preschool. She sings the songs all day long and makes up some of her own. Usually they are a narrative of what's going on "I'm getting my book because i want to read and it's a bo-o-o-o-k and it's really good..." you get the idea.

2009-10-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

I had a traumatic realization today. I was dropping jane off at nursery at the usual time. On the door was posted a list of "senior nursery" and "older senior nursery" I thought this was odd but figured they were just splitting up the nursery like they had been talking about. But no... the "older nursery" of which Jane is a member, has been splitting off the second hour to TRANSITION TO SUNBEAMS. My little baby... my tiny little girl is going to be in primary in 2 months. Don't ask me why I've never put this together or even considered it. It just did not occur to me.

2009-10-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

Jane praying

"and please bless the food that it will make us strong like an ox. and joshy that he'll be a baby ox....
and please bless daddy fishing keep him safe from falling in the river and that he will catch a fish and bring it home and we will eat it and next week we will go fishing..."

2009-10-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

2009-09-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Okay this is a mass update here. Lots of pics from summer. Alas it is leaving us.

First haircut.

And current stuff: Happy Birthday to Jane. We had a princess party (no. aliens have not taken over my body). Not exactly a continuous theme there but whatever. It was really fun. Jane had a great time and held it together -- thanks to us not singing the happy birthday song which for some reason she really dislikes. I tried to sing it earlier in the day but she would have none of it. NO MAMA DON'T SING THAT SONG SING A DIFFERENT HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG" Good thing I know several.

AND We had an awesome cake thanks to our friend Darcy.

So Jane starts preschool in two weeks. So weird. She's a little miss personality lately. The following conversations happened a couple weeks ago

Jane: "Mama can I have a comptuder?" --comptuder is how she says it in case that wasn't clear
Me: "No honey. Computers are really expensive"
Jane:"Well maybe just a small one"
LATER IN THE CAR
Me to Dan: "So Jane asked if she could have a computer"
Dan :"Oh really?"
Jane:"Yes but mama said that comptuders are expensive... but i'm an expensive girl."

Oh dear. Oh d-d-d-d-dear. She is completely precious.

Jane and Josh both get so excited when the other one wakes up. It's fun to see them playing together -- though not surprisingly it does not always end well.

Josh is cruising along the furniture and still eating us out of house and home. He also starts to dance whenever anyone sings (which I am required to do often by the demands of Jane) He just bounces up and down on his bum smiling.

Anyway pictures. here they are.

josh was not pleased by this point.

2009-08-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

2009-07-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Drugs Don't Mean...
We're driving down the streets of Portland this evening. The city, always full of more than it's fair share of oddballs, certainly did not let us down today. I looked out the window at a grown man sidewalk-chalking, very determinedly I might add, the following statement:

"Drugs Don't Mean Stupid"

He saw me smile at it and started gesturing in a "you know what I'm talking about" way. I was too sad for the man to tell him that I was, in fact, not laughing with but at him; that despite his noble efforts he was really proving the "man" right on this one.

Sorry, noble sir. It appears that drugs do, in fact, mean stupid.

Anyway Josh is crawling. He's a determined little booger and deceptively fast. His favorite things seem to be cords, electrical outlets, anything resembling a phone or remote control, paper and miniscule items of varying sorts. Splendid.

He loves to feed himself -- and by 'loves' I mean that he will bounce up and down in his seat and flail around until you provide him with something to grab. He's very efficient at it which is extremely helpful. He will smile and laugh (his laugh sounds like a muppet) any time someone looks at him. He's extremely tickllish -- which is great for me as tickling is one of my favorite things. We're having a great time with him. It's getting really fun.

Jane is great. She loves flowers lately. She picks some for me everyday and points them out wherever she goes. She is also big fan of princesses. She requested a Princess pinata for her birthday. I agreed since that way she'll get her princess and I'll get to see one beaten with a stick so really everyone's a winner. Although it occurs to me now maybe she doesn't really get the point of the pinata....hmmm that could be disturbing. Anyway we went to the mall the other day to escape the heat. A balloon man made her a cinderella balloon (it was unreal.) She was very excited. She also loves music. Her favorites to date are "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" (that's our song) "Here Comes the Sun" (and all Beatles really) and "people watching" by Jack Johnson.

Sorry about the lack of pics. We need to do an upload.

2009-05-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Alrighty here are some up to date photos. We are doing well. Josh is getting over strep (poor kid seems to always be sick but always happy). Jane is just jane all over. It's an exciting life.

seriously it had to be added. I mean look at that tongue.

We make these look good.

special thanks to mel for the models' ensembles (this would have been printed for your birthday mel, but my printer sent out a blank page.)

2 kids who won't wear hats. Well if that's their vice then I'll take it.

The things kids say: Jane was pumping her legs back and forth on the swings. Dan said "jane you're pumping" Jane says "yeah just like mama's nipples."

2009-03-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

okay pics are below. As always they are a bit old. Whatever.

After a few rough weeks (highlighted by 3 ER trips in 3 days) We are doing well. The kids are great. Josh is freakishly happy. He is never in a bad mood except when being put to bed. A couple nurses in the E.R. came in to see the happy kid with RSV. They said he was the most cooperative baby they had seen. I kept having to swear up and down that the boy was really sick b/c he was just laying there laughing. It's amazing. He's also a huge 20lbs-- even bigger than jane was. It's amazing my biceps aren't bigger than dan's by now (they remain as puny and helpless as ever). We refer to him as our "retirement plan"

Jane is cracking us up lately (and stressing us out as all 2 year olds will) Lately everything is "one of her favorites" and a game.

"ooh I love strawberries they're one of my favorites"
"mama you saw that? I put that toy over there and that was a game. You saw that toy game?"
I think maybe I need to stop pretending all unpleasant things are games.

She LOVES her daddy. She makes me sing "I'm so glad when daddy comes home" constantly and shrieks when he comes in the door. She will love me someday I'm sure.

2009-03-30T20:49:00.001-07:00

and here's the always happy baby

And representing hours of dedicated time and effort is this lovely fish. It tasted good.

2009-03-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

The following was far too audibly stated by Jane on 3 separate occasions during church:
"Mama, Josh can't eat the bread. He only eats your nipple"

yes. that is true jane. Too much information for the common churchgoer? yes, but indisputably true.

2009-03-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

I poked dan in the leg. Jane said "mama you go to timeout in my room." I followed her to her room. "sit right here...okay so mom, listen to me, you don't hit my daddy. that's not a game. that's very dangerous now count to ten."

Josh is all giggles and smiles. Even though he's been sick for a week he's still in a good mood. All you have to do is look at him and he'll giggle for you. I love it!

2009-01-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Jane: "Mama I'm sorry but I need to make a phone call"
Me; "ok here you go"
Jane:"Hello How are you?...mmmhmm mmhmm. Good we're just hanging out. okay bye"

2009-01-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

So at long last here are our christmas pics for all our viewers to see (both of you!) Jane had a great time (though her parents might have enjoyed it even more) It's fun to have a kid aware of presents and all that. She loved all of them.. especially her baby in a backpack (thanks Charisty) and, to her mother's slight dismay, her polly pocket Cinderella. ouch. BUT to even things out she also loves her lacrosse stick and the guitar she got a month later so I am appeased (and not a little proud of myself for allowing the child to be who she wants... just don't expect me to film it :) We had a great time in Royal.. especially Jane. She was calm and happy playing with her cousins and spending at least 2 days in a pink princess dressup dress (again to her mother's slight dismay). Good times... noodle salad.

Uhhh if kids still believe in S.C. you may want to not have them watch the following

"Umm what the heck am I doing here mom?"

Practicing the game face

i know it's blurry but whatever. Let me feel my pride.

it just doesn't feel like a Royal Christmas without it...

moves.

also check back soon... we have more photos and videos but this is taking forever so you'll just have to wait!

2008-12-22T07:58:00.001-08:00

Our roads are still completely covered in snow. It's snowed another couple inches since yesterday. I'm beginning to think I'm stuck here for the winter. But at least we were able to enjoy it

Jane did not love this experience. 25 minutes of preparation. 5 minutes of outside and then she needed to pee. We will try another foray into sledding this week.

a new definition of 'bed head'

this was a happier snow day for jane. she tripped and fell on her face in the snow (what we call a "white wash" but it didn't bother her a bit

2008-12-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

Chronicles of 2 kids with a semicompetent parent
Tuesday
9:00amazingly leave the house feeling rather proud of myself for my intitiative.
9:10 arrive at the library
9:11 after removing the children from the car we discover the library does not open until 10
9:12 shepherd jane and baby back into the car
9:20 arrive at the bank to complete an errand (trying to fill the time)
9:30 arrive at a different library. Feed Josh in the car with jane stuck in car seat
9:45 get kids out of the car to play at the park until the library opens.
9:47 discover the park is wet so eat snack on damp bench
10:00 put kids in stroller and walk across parking lot to enter library for story time
10:15 Josh crying. Parents all stare. visibly annoyed
10:17 Jane needs to go potty
10:23 Jane makes it to the toilet but the pee did not. It exits the toilet and soaks her pants. The spare pair of pants is of course in the car across the large parking lot.
10:27 Check out of library and go home.

WEDNESDAY
11:30 am Arrive at the science museum play area
11:32 Water bottles leaks inside of diaper bag
11:35 feed josh in the snack area
12:00 Josh blows out diaper
12:01 Amber realizes that his spare onesie was, of course, in the diaper bag when water bottle leaked and is, predictably, soaked.
12:05 We leave with naked baby
12:20-12:50 Get lost on the poorly signed streets of portland. Including one full loop back to the museum (NOT on purpose)
1:00 kids in bed
2:00 jane not asleep
2:10 crash and scream from jane's room
2:12 cleaning up blood from jane's nose and mouth and the vomit that ensued when she freaked and choked on something.

Smashing success.

2008-12-05T10:24:00.001-08:00

These are somewhat old but they'll have to do for now.

the end of a sneeze

She didn't get this combination of activities from me

2008-11-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

2008-11-02T11:07:00.001-08:00

And the halloween pics are here before everyone started badgering me. Hah I exceeded expectations for once (you'll have to wait for our email christmas card for the full family effect but these should stave all of you off until then)

Jane had a great time. She chose her costume a month ago (and Josh's as well). We even got her into her costume with very little bribing or cajoling. She came running from every door saying "mama daddy look what I got" She even got to suck on a lollipop (though it took her a good while to get through the wrapper, she did eventually get to the good stuff). Josh got into costume for the pictures and then stayed home with Nona. Next year josh, next year.

Jane with cousins Ian and Natalie

I know the light is terrible in the one below but my computer is suffering from Narcolepsy at the moment so I have no photoshop to help me out.

the lollipop, as you can see, was blue.

2008-11-02T10:56:00.001-08:00

2008-10-24T17:01:00.001-07:00

Our baby boy has arrived. Joshua Daniel Christensen, born Monday Oct. 20 at 12:25am. Weighing in at 9lbs 4oz and 22.5 inches long (and we thought he looked so small).
We've been home a few days now and, aside from the regular sleep deprivation, feel great. Jane is very excited about her new baby brother. Here are some pics for you. More soon. There are also a few at this link http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=3d709a5d-8aad-4ad1-8ce5-fd81c4b29b25

The "before" picture (we will, for everyone's sake, leave out the after pictures)

Yikes. That cannot feel good. should I have had to sign something for this procedure?

young guns (look at it sideways. he'll be kissing those biceps soon)

2008-09-25T12:35:00.001-07:00

So as everyone with a 2 year old knows at some point you have to teach them to use words to say they are angry instead of the usual methods (kicking, screaming, head butting, generalized destruction etc. etc.) Apparently some of this is getting through to Jane (she may be missing the boat slightly on what is angering though)
me: "hooray"
Jane: "no mama. No say hooray. That not okay. That make me sad"

2008-09-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

A Pirate Says "ARRRRR"

We went to the beach a month or so ago. Here are some of the pictures. Jane and Ian (cousin) invented a game called "stick my face in the sand". As you can see 90% of her face was coated in sand by the end (along with a lovely goatee (sp?) helped along by an extra bit of drool. Our little pirate :)

2008-09-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Jane started carrying around a mini book of mormon with her around the house. A little odd but harmless and not as hard to round up as the racquetball she used to be attached to. The other day we were getting out of the car and noticed she had it with her. We explained that she needed to leave it in the car and took it away. So there we are walking through the parking lot of Albertson's with Jane crying "I want my Jesus book. I WANT ME JESUS BOOK"

2008-09-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Jane was dancing in the car the other day. Dan start dancing too and here is jane's reaction

"NO!!! No daddy. No wiggle your hips"

2008-09-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

How does one teach tact?

So on the subject of my daughter referring to whales around me... Yesterday we were enjoying the cool summer night on our newly mowed back lawn. Jane turns to me arches her back and sticks out her belly saying "Look, I mommy". Awesome. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Which of course only made her keep on doing this lovely new impression.

By the way Jane is 2 now. Happy birthday. We will have some pictures up soon. She detested the birthday song at first (I tried to sing it to her but she yelled "no mama. no sing") Later on My sister's and brother's families sang to her and she completely burst into tears. We had to hold the cake back for a while until she relaxed. Once she calmed down though she grew to like it. The next day she kept singing happy birthday to herself. I will have pics up soon.

2008-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

Potty Training Log
Day 7
Accident Free Day! Hurray

This is meaningful as I spent part of day 4 (which shall ever be lodged in my mind as The Seventh Circle of Potty Training Hell Day) cleaning up poo pants at Ross Dress for Less -- keep in mind this was 15 minutes after mopping up the main isle with a diaper I happened to have in my bag and trying to control a half naked child until I could get her dressed again -- Not a good time. NOT a good time. Why I did not leave after accident number 1 I can not say. I don't think I was in a very good place mentally right then.

A side note -- if anyone hears my daughter saying "watch a potty movie?" in the near future please note that it has nothing to do with the material in the movie merely with a little bit of bribery (so judge me for that if you will)

My favorite moment of the week was when jane was swimming with her cousins. She hops out of the pool walks up to me to tell me she needs to go potty. We pull down her swim diaper and she pees on the grass. uhh.... yeah, no problem peeing in the underpants but heaven forbid we pee in the swim diaper in a pool. Not that I don't appreciate it - just strikes me as backwards

Anyway Hurray for our accident free day!

2008-08-24T18:41:00.001-07:00

Influx of posts I know. Things have been relatively good. Dan threw out his back (no he's not 30 yet) so he's been out for a week or so. We've been having a great time with our pools (yes poolS. we bought an inflatable pool and they sent us 2) Nona was out here for a week which was awesome. We all went to the beach to escape the 105 degree weather. Those pics will be coming soon. Jane was very upset when I said we were going to the ocean "no mama. I want to go beach!" After I explained that the ocean was next to the beach that became her favorite phrase. 3 days later "mama, ocean next to the beach"

I'm 32 weeks along now. Getting much closer to the end than we're prepared for. Though it shouldn't be so shocking as I'm apparently rather large (Jane turned to me this morning and said "mama, I want to hug the whale" staring right at me. I choose to believe of course that this is some vague reference to some other whale and not, as it appeared, directed at my current appearance). Jane has lately taken to singing to 'baby brother' and giving him hugs which is really sweet.

2008-08-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

We went camping with my sister Alena and her family. Our site was right next to a creek (which was seriously lucky because the only other option we had found was right next to a highway or a recently burned from a forest fire camp). It was lots of fun. Alena and her husband Ben caught their first fish with a fly rod and Amber caught a whopping 5 ouncer. It was seriously almost as big as my thumb. Watch out bass masters.

2008-08-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

We took the same pic a year ago when we were at the Oregon zoo last august (I think it's somewhere in the blog)

2008-08-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Our final trip to the prairie farm. The goats always tried to eat jane's clothes.

2008-07-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Master Dan. He has officially submitted his thesis and it was approved. Happy graduation! We are all very proud of him. And he is happy to be done -- Enjoying his free week before work starts.
Some Jane stories (her intense side)

So the other day Jane hit me in the face (very unusual behavior ;). I tell her she needs to make it better. She runs to the kitchen and says "I go get mama ice. Mama need ice". A few minutes later she runs back "daddy, ice in freezer. Get mama ice" Despite our attempts to convince her I did not need ice she was determined to get it (if anyone has seen Jane browbeat someone they know what I'm talking about). Anyway she forces dan into getting ice for me. Then she walks up and sticks it on my forehead and rubs it around for a while. Cute. It's hard to discipline when the kid is so funny.

She has also developed a recent standard toddler obsession with ownership (and defensiveness of people's ownership). Not just her own (which has been around for a while) but things that are daddy's and mama's. Heaven forbid I use her daddy's pillow. If I dare to, out comes the aforementioned 'furrowed brow' and a very intense statement "NO MA-MA-THAT'S-DA-DDY'S-PIL-LOW" -- with every syllable emphasized. It's hilarious. And humbling I must say considering how much I am bossed around by a 1 year old.

She's no pushover that's for sure. We were at a concert in the park the other day. Little kids were all dancing up at the front. A boy ran up and pushed Jane. She turns and looks at him with the same intense look and her entire little body flexed and states "NO! no push jane" I think she scared him off. Let's hope that skill sticks around.

She's hilarious. It's funny how quickly she changes and how fast she's growing up. She is really sweet. She gives me hugs and kisses all the time. She tells me to "be careful mama" whenever we are crossing streets and she makes me eat some of her grapes if I don't happen to have any. She's learning to go potty (and teaching a couple of her toys as well) She gets very excited when she's successful and loves to wash her hands (and then run laughing away before I can get a diaper on her). Anyway we are having a great time.

We're excited to be in Portland. the weather is ridiculously amazing. the hills are BRUTAL (some of you may not appreciate the drastic difference between walking a mile in champaign "only one hill and that's an old landfill" Illinois and walking a mile in the foothills of portland but trust me, it almost killed me) I've removed the beyond awful curtains from our house (lets just say gold tassels) and we have a new yard. It's great.

2008-07-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Going on 11 hours--

Dan has been putting sod on our yard for 11 hours now. Not to mention man-handling some old concrete. I put in my token 2 hours too. Not something I thought I'd be doing while pregnant.

2008-07-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Our Nightmare...

Well I won't give you the entire chronicles of our nightmarish move but it was, as i said, a nightmare. Suffice it to say (generally this statement is supposed to precede a short remark. this will not be short) they showed up a week late, left our mattress, then arrived way early forcing dan to drive through the night to meet them (or they said they would leave for seattle with our belongings and who knows when we would get them), they claimed our weight was double the estimated amount and when they agreed to reweigh after dropping off our stuff just took our money and split (Poor dan was waiting at the weigh station for over an hour and they never showed up) After all that we get pieces of a box that we shipped in the mail saying it had broken and the contents are in some abyss in east nowhere minnesota. Sadly the contents are about 95% of jane's books. Oh and our cell phone bill was a joy as well. Apparently we went a whopping 800 minutes over the limit but kudos to Tmobile for dropping that in exchange for another 7months contract (I think our last 3 years of contracts have been due to some lost, broken or drowned phone castastrophe. It's starting to feel like indentured servitude) -- I realize that may seem like the entire chronicle I promised not to give, but trust me, it's not.

So it's been lovely. The good news is we are here, we love our house and the area. I especially enjoy having a playroom and our own bathroom and despite the irritation of losing our mattress the new one is seriously better . We will have a yard by the end of today (as of yet it's been a large cement area and thistles) The neighborhood is really quiet and the weather is unbelievably nice. Plus we moved from family to family so that's great too.

Jane seems to be adjusting well. She even sleeps in her new big bed (even more comfortable than ours :) She's started telling me what to do a lot lately ("come here right now!", "no mama, no touch Jane's hair" --though anyone who has seen her hair probably wouldn't think I ever even tried -- and the ever popular "mama, no swiping")

Anyway we think we are really going to like it here. We miss all our family and friends in Illinois but that's the way moves always go.

2008-07-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

On the subject of lame celebrity sightings...

We ar ein portland (more on our nightmare of a move later) We decided a few hours ago to take a stroll down to the river. On our way we got side tracked into a mini-street market. We are standing buying some blueberries (which are very good and gone already) and lo and behold there is David Archuleta (sp?) and the dreadlock guy whose name escapes me at the moment. and yes i was 'that girl' and took a cell phone picture of this lame celebrity moment. --- i did spare a scrap of dignity though by not asking to be in the picture with them. I would post the pic, but i don't know how

2008-06-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well we are moving in a week so you should all be proud that i'm actually on this thing. Updates... well Dan is rushing to get his thesis done. He's been working day and night (literally until 1,2, and 5am) Jane and I are busy packing, working, sleeping and going to the pool. Someone give us all a tranquilizer and wake us up when it's over please!

Anyway, you will be even more shocked when you see we actually have pictures. Amazing I know. Here they are! Our next post will be from Portland

This could come in handy some day...

If she's anything like her mom this will definitely come in handy someday (along with a spare set of keys)

Grease monkey

yes... it did go in

2008-06-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's a BOY!!
apparently I'm further along than they thought. 20wks now. We are very excited. Name suggestions welcome!

2008-05-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Not every girl likes princesses :) jennifer I hope you are satisfied.

at this point i do feel it incumbent on myself to add that while these live princesses completely terrified and enraged Jane she is rather fond of cartoon versions of Cinderella. Although this may have more to do with her Daddy singing the "Cinderelly" song the mice sing WORD FOR WORD and in character.

2008-05-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm far too lazy to turn these pics the right direction. I'm sure you guys will be able to figure something out though. Things are going well. We're moving to portland at the end of june. We're sad to be leaving here but excited too.

Also I'm pregnant. I'm about 16 weeks along. (and i'm sure everyone would love to be around to watch me attempt to handle this :) It's been good so far. Dan told Jane my belly button was a microphone to talk to the baby so she shouts "hellwwwooo" into it constantly. Good times. Hope everyone is doing well.

She climbed in herself just in case you were wondering

2008-04-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Something you'd never expect in the midwest
---So I was awoken early in the morning by a loud cracking noise and the bed shaking back and forth. Then a sound of crashing pans from upstairs. I woke dan up and told him but he murmured that it was fine and went back to sleep. At which point I of course thought I was crazy. BUT I come to find out this morning that i have experienced my first earthquake. A 5.2. Awesome.

2008-04-06T18:28:00.001-07:00

This post is entitled... "What Happened here really?"

The video is painful -- truly truly painful -- but worth the watch. Although you may regret the 5 minutes of your life that you will never get back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPnGPIMUnus

I think maybe I'm going to learn this dance in the privacy of my own home and video tape myself - hoping someone will find it and post it all over the internet. Hey I could join the wonderful and unique breed of YouTube celebrities. Only think...

"Delusions of Grandeur" ---
Also did I mention that Jane's Nursery leader said that she throws better than everyone in the nursery. Awesome. No no i'm not beaming with competitive pride at all. Not at all. no visions of future glory either ;)

2008-03-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! We had a great day. Jane hunted for easter eggs. She loved it. Held them up as trophies in the air whenever she found one. She even had a little pastel pink and white striped Easter dress (jen you would love it) Her basket was a nylon collapsable soccer ball basket (SHE chose it). So pink dress and soccer ball -- apparently well rounded :)

Anyway she was adorable and had a great time. Kids make the holidays so much more fun.

So here are the long awaited pictures (unfortunately we did not get a picture of the easter dress. We'll get one another day though)

2008-03-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

So we're back. Sort of. I do have some pictures.. really I do. They aren't on the blog but we have them. Aren't you so happy? They'll be up eventually.

We are doing really well. Jane is growing so fast and talking all the time. We just got her a little scooter. the razor scuttle bug (like a trike with no pedals). She loves it. It's so cute seeing her scooting all over.

She loves saying hi and bye to all of her toys (and her tiger sleeping bag) "Hi tita hi tita" Adorable.

In other news -- Mccain? oh yeah GREAT option there (hopefully the dripping sarcasm is coming across here) Heaven help us. Has anyone ever lived in Canada?

2008-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

2008-01-14T12:58:00.001-08:00

So i've decided that as a former political science major it would be a good idea for me to, say, pay attention to the election. I know.... astounding.

So in my endeavor to do this (and i insert here that I do not lean towards any candidate just yet) I watched part of a Fox debate on Youtube and came across the following statement made by John McCain (I'm not sure this was aired on tv as it was during the Ron Paul segment which was cut by fox news. Nice) anyway Ron Paul was talking about allowing Arab nations to broker peace by themselves. John McCain interrupts only to state the following

"I'm not interested in trading with Al-Qaeda. All they want to trade is Burkhas. I don't want to travel with them they like one-way tickets"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqxXzkaEAGo&feature=related
around 8 minutes

Really? Out loud --not to mention on the air? That statement alone lost the possibility of my vote. Not the person I would want representing my country thank you.

2007-11-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Jane 'reading' Paradise Lost.
Our would be "Frank Ellis" style Christmas card picture (sorry only the Ryan and Mary Englunds will get that)

Our very own Naked Cowgirl

"Tiny Turtle" (though we did have someone say that "he is a very cute frog")
and special mention to the continued usefulness of the Tacos Felix. The only bad experience this bag has brought on was the guy at La Hacienda who asked me where I got it and I said "Yeah it's from Mexico. My friend went on a trip to, well, somewhere in Mexico"

The depth of my geographical knowledge is astounding.
Nevertheless without further ado...

Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. Won't it be sad when Jane is older and she turns to me and says "who's elmer fudd?". I would like to point out the homemade bugs costume - decided on less than 3 hours before the event. thank you... thank you.
Dan is The Office's Dwight K. Shrute. He was magnificent.

One of those inspirational posters "determination"

2007-10-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

oh the socks :)

Jane carries the bag around all day pointing inside and saying 'what's this? ohhhhhhh'

2007-10-09T08:22:00.001-07:00

"demulletization" She's losing her "fangs" (i.e. the longer sections of hair on the sides of the back of her head. She was tring to set a trend but it wasn't catching on like we'd thought

2007-10-09T08:09:00.001-07:00

Jane's first trip to the beach (before her birthday actually. I struggle with timelines :)
She scattered (and ate) a lot of sand and was - in the words of her uncle john - a bundle of trouble.

and also her hair is suffering from post pigtail syndrome :)

2007-10-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Jane's Birthday. We had cupcakes at the pool -- and yes they were real cupcakes (no tofuti or anything :)

2007-08-27T08:54:00.001-07:00

We share a room with a cricket. We awake to it's chirping in the mornings. This has not improved my opinion of crickets.

2007-08-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have grappled with myself over what to call this post. I have decided on

"It's the same shirt as last time and the last time she wore (or will wear) that shirt"

I recognize somewhere deep down inside of me that it couldn't possibly be the shirt. What shirt would make a person do that. None... it's ridiculous. But there is a part somewhere even deeper inside of me (the same part that forces me to wait inside of public restrooms for someone outside to open the door) -- a much stronger part of me I might add -- that doesn't care if it couldn't possibly be the shirt. It was, as the title said, the same shirt as last time and that's enough for me. It's pink (devil of a color) and terry cloth.

She wasn't wearing shorts to sleep (yes there is another part of me that recognizes that could be a big part of the problem) it's hot in our house so sometimes she's just in a t-shirt. I, once again, was napping nicely when I heard Jane make a noise in the other room. I, once again, went back to sleep for who knows how long until I heard her again. Eventually I woke up and went into her room and endured a real life flashback of the last time she took her diaper off and spread it on herself, the crib, the air... I'm breathing it in... Fecal Matter in my lungs... fecal matter everywhere... once again.

2007-08-23T18:46:00.001-07:00

So below are some of the pics from our trip and an update below that.

2007-08-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

	a very 'jane' expression'
	i like corn on the cob
	huh? also a jane expression :) (jane and 1 of cousins, wes.)

2007-08-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

So short update....

Jane has taken her first steps. The first one was Last week (august 13) and then multiple steps just as we were about to leave her Papa Gary and Grandma Aurilla's house. 4 at a time!

We had a great time in washington with Dan's family. Jane got to play with all of her cousins and grandparents once she relaxed a little and got used to the surroundings -- she was loving having all the space to move around. Then we went to oregon for a week for intereviews and to see my Amber's brother and his wife. We took jane to the beach for the first time. She was incredibly skilled at spraying as much sand as possible while crawling, seriously violating Uncle John's "no sand on the blanket" rule. She also injested a few handfuls of sand as well. Pictures to come.

We took her to the zoo in oregon. She especially liked the sea lions, monkeys and elephants. She even said "kitty" when we were looking at ocelots (i'm not sure I would describe that as quite a 'kitty' but we're not being picky) It was really fun to see her get so excited around the animals.

And aside from pooing in the pool, peeing all over me in the airport, eating too much oregon sand and washington mud and taking a few dives through chairs and over cousins it was a relatively 'event' free vacation.

2007-08-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well things are going great. Some quick updates on Jane...

She said her first word (not counding mama and dada and plthpbs)

It was "doggy" and for those of you who doubt we waited until she clearly anunciated (sp?) the syllables while looking at a pic of a dog. It was so cute. She loves dogs. I know i'm going to end up giving in and getting her one. It's adorable

We went to the fair last week to go to the demolition derby but it was way too loud to have jane in there so I left with her and went to see the animals. She was petting the goats and letting them lick her fingers and toes. Adorable.

She's standing on her own now and thinking about walking. She's stepped a couple times into something but does not support herself afterwards.

She also likes too dance (bounce up and down) when we turn the music on or sing songs (especailly the race horse one... the name slips my mind)

And she learned to high five today. I'm not sure that's on the same 'milestone' level of walking and talking but it was awesome.

Anyway we are doing well. Looking forward to going to washingto and oregon next week!

2007-07-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

I realize now that I probably didn't feel a foreboding something when I awoke to a surprising amount of sunshine last week, I didn't but I wish I had -- if I had I may have sent Dan to get Jane. I did feel it was rather odd the Jane was not up. It was already 9:00. I heard her a few minutes later so I went in to pick her up. As I opened the door I was acosted by a fairly severe stench. When the door was no longer blocking my view (it had long ceased to block my sense of smell) I saw what I'm sure will someday be a funny memory: Jane laying despondently face down in a pile of her own feces which also happened to be spread (and dried mind you) all over her crib ALL OVER. Becca will I'm sure know the first thoughts that came to my mind... and remained in my mind later as I attempted to stave off a panic attack "FECAL MATTER. FECAL MATTER EVERYWHERE"

Sadly this is not the end. The next day jane was eating her meal in her high chair. I left the room and returned to find she had thrown up blueberries all over the floor. No problem. Just puke and hey she didn't even get any on her shirt. Wait... she didn't get any on her shirt- or her face but she did get some on her pants. She's sitting in it.. that's... odd. Sniff Sniff...

Not puke.

Not puke at all.

2007-06-23T17:37:00.000-07:00


.
	Playing peekaboo (she's trying to remove the shirt)

Jane's first time fishing. well with us while fishing (mid june)	At the park in may (nice hair dan)

2007-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

We took Jane to the petting zoo last week. There's just regular farm animals but it was really fun. She liked the baby deer and the cows the best. We didn't actulaly get to pet the animals because we were wearing sandals but we walked around and looked at all of them. She loves animals -- especially dogs which means we'll probably eventually have to get one. She was following this puppy around at a barbecue we went to, letting it nuzzle her lick her toes. She also watches the squirrels outside of our window in the morning.

2007-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

It applies to babies too....

So the other day i was going to take jane into the shower with me to give her a bath. On the way in I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. So not wanting to let the naked child crawl all about the house I decided to hold her hand while she stood next to me.

The first thought that comes into my head is "I wonder if hearing water running makes babies need to pee too?" As if in answer to my question Jane looks at me, smiles, and pees all over the floor and herself. It was one of the funniest and cutest thing she's ever done -- who would ever have thought that I would think pee all over the floor would be funny much less cute but there it is.

2007-06-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

So the other day jane was lying down on my legs (face up) while I sat on the couch. She was content for about 4 seconds but of course started wiggling around. She arched her back and started to slide her way down towards the ground head first. I was holding onto her legs and decided to inch her down foiguring I would support her weight and then flip her over once her head was on the ground. But jane put her hands down first and started supporting her own weight. So I did a little experiment putting more and more of her weight on her arms until there was no more weight to give. I was just balancing her -- the kid was doing a handstand.

Yesterday we were at playgroup and a little 2 year old girl walks up to take janes toy away and slaps her right on the top of the head. I of course was ready to rescue my 'darling fragile child' but Jane didn't seem to notice at all. She just went right on playing. Didn't phase her a bit. Unfortunately we are starting to get some toy jealousy going on here. I watch an 18 month old every once in a while and Jane's started wanting all the toys she's playing with and yelling at her (she had a tug of war over a wipe box) Alas.

Jane likes food... well my food mostly. Every bowl of cereal I eat these days is a bowl o cereal eaten on the move. Otherwise it would at best be flavored by baby hand and at worst be flavoring the floor. So anyway... Dinnertime monday - I had eaten most of an apple and decided to give it to jane who was grabbing and staring at it -- just a little more than the core left -- she started to chew -- 20 minutes later there was nothing left...no apple, no core, no seeds and I can only hope there was not stem to start with but I'm not sure about that either.

We have a pool pass (lifesaver). I took jane down a tube waterslide-- the guard told me she was probably a bit too small but bah she loved it. There's a lazy river (of which I am a big fan) Jane stands on my stomach (with support) as I lay on the tube and float lazily, as it were, around. There is one part where 6 fountains of water spray into the river about 2 1/2 feet above the water. So on we float with Jane standing on my belly (she happens to be, coincidentally, about 2 1/2 feet tall) well as I'm sure you guessed we enter this area and immediately 6 fountains are spraying jane right in the face. She, characteristically, didn't care a bit. She just stared forward with a stern look on her face tolerating all these irritations her mother puts her through.

We're having a great time! Adventures all around.

2007-05-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

London! March 16th-24 We were visiting Alena and Ben and family (alena is my sister for those of you who don't know. This should actually be before the last post but whatever

tired after a long trip (i now believe in jetlag)

yes, she is going to try to eat it :)

playing with cousins Ian and Natalie.

2007-05-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

These are the most recent so far (May 8-16)The outdoor one is from denver. The three below are from Utah where we were for a couple days. We saw Nona and Papa and the Dastrup's. We went to watch Brigham Young Lacrosse play in Denver (they placed 5th by the way. I was so proud. I would post the scoreboard of them beating CU (17-10) but that may be a little on the obsessive side :) But it was a great day for me anyway.

Our little thug :) Truthfully she will not keep a hat on her head so ths is my solution.

with her nona

Simon and Fischer Dastrup and "baby jane". Fischer says "I'm going to grow up right now and marry baby jane."

2007-05-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

2007-05-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

g x xccccca AZQQ?AWq/M JN BÍÎS

--Jane's contribution above.

Well things are going great. Jane is crawling...well sort of three crawling "steps" then she'll drag herself around on her belly. And she'll pull herself up to standing sometimes. She's very fast when motivated. She's almost 9 months - Crazy how fast that is gone. She's curious about everything. Unfortunately curious means that every single thing goes into her mouth -- dvds, electronics, litle bits of unidentifieds that come off the carpet or out from underneath a bed. Tasty. She scrunches up her nose and breathes really fast when she's particularly excited about something.

She loves playing with other kids and ewspecially grabbing faces and stroking hair. She's a big fan of "peekaboo" I throw a blanket over her head and say where's jane and she'll sit laughing under the blanket whil attempting to get it off. Very entertaining. She also loves to be bounced up and down. She'll 'jump' up and down until you bounce her.

Anyway we have pictures coming. I swear I'll get better at actually updating this thing. She's adorable though. We are tired...yes tired... but having a great time with this little person. It's amazing how fast she's changing.

2007-02-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

these are from thankskgiving break. A while ago, but whatever. they're pictures aren't they? ahhhh quality time

award winning gingerbread house (additional credit to Kristen Christensen who is not pictured here)

2007-02-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

So we are great at updating this thing...yeah.

Jane is six months old (happy unbirthday tomorrow). She is awesome. She cackles laughing all the time and always smiles and shakes her whole body when we pick her up from a nap. She rolled over for the first time last week (I think she's secretly been doing it for a while because sometimes I will leave th eroom and come back and she's mysteriously in a completely different spot) She has one tooth that is half way in. Teething is no picnic. It's rather a festival of suck to be honest. But we are having a great time with her. She likes to suck on everything...literally. One has to be careful with her tooth in noow (it's rather sharp) She's good at taking things by surprise too. There she'll sit, calm and seemingly paying attention to anything but her target and then BAM she goes after it growling. I think she would have swallowed my nose several times if she could have. She's so cute -- I know I'm her mom so of course I think that -- but whatever she's cute.

I'll post some pics asap.

2006-11-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

So we are bragging parents and good for us about it!

Jane is 11 weeks old. She is so fun now. She makes tons of noise 'talking' a lot (especially to dan) We took her swimming twice this week and completely ridiculously forgot the camera. She liked it though --well she didn't scream or cry at all. So we call that 'liking it'.-- She did have a sort of 'what in the world' look on her face. She kicked her legs and we put her face under for a second a few times (properly like swim instructors do so don't worry)

She can support all her weight on her legs now. She'll stand up sometimes when we're just trying to pick her up. She still has trouble holding up her head (i'm sure all you christensen's can relate) in fact speaking of her head...

we went to the doctor last week for a checkup. The nurse did all her measurements first (15lbs 4 oz, 42cm head etc.) and the doctor came in. He was checking all the measurements on the chart. When he got to her head measurement he paused for a moment...looked at the chart and at the measurement again and at me and says "you know, i'm going to do this measurement again". nice.

all is going well otherwise. We'll be in washington next week and in Utah for christmas. Good thing too. Vacation is always nice.

2006-11-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

2006-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Jane is 6 weeks old now. Things are going great. We're going to put some pictures up for your viewing pleasure (if you aren't pleased you are entitled to your opinion...but there's no need for us to know it :)

Jane smiles now (the real non-gassy kind of smile). It's awesome. Makes me feel like a million bucks and that, on at least some level, I must be doing something right - which is difficult to feel when one is covered either in sour curdled milk that spewed from said child's mouth or in fresh milk leaked through one's clothing in public. Not exactly confidence boosters. The smell is not great either.

She is great though. Tons of fun (well 12.5 lbs of it) and unbelievably lovable (to her parents at least)... just like a live teddy bear (totally puts teddy ruxpin to shame)

In other news:
Dan is enjoying baby/school/work/mom rescue. He is working on TARP, a water project in Chicago and is deciding on his thesis topic. He is really busy but doing very well.

Amber has started helping coach UofI lacrosse here in Champaign. Jane attended her first of probably many lacrosse practices in her future. She was only reprimanded once for interrupting the coach :) We now have a team full of babysitters.

2006-09-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

here is a little video of "baby christensen" and Amber