The Janeway Family Blog: February 2009

101 in 1001

Today is my friend Claire's birthday. (Happy Birthday!) Her gift to herself is to do 101 goals in 1001 days. I thought this sounded like a brilliant idea, so I decided to join her. So, happy birthday Claire, and here's to the next 1001 days!

101 Goals in 1001 Days

Start Date: February 28th, 2009
End Date: November 25th, 2011

Ultimately my goals are to: increase my spirituality, strengthen my marriage, become a better mother, be more prepared/organized and become a better person through personal growth (health, hobbies, knowledge, and service).

Increase my Spirituality:
1. Read the Book of Mormon
2. Read the Doctrine and Covenants
3. Go to the temple 9 times in one year
4. Do Visiting Teaching monthly for a year
5. Draw closer to the spirit. (Get better at pondering. Be more in tune and more aware of answers)
6. Have more meaningful personal prayer daily for one month
7. Read the Relief Society Lesson in advance for 1 month straight
8. Pay tithing each Sunday after we get paid for a year
9. Attend a temple I haven’t visited yet

Strengthen my Marriage:
10. Go on a trip alone with Sean
11. Eliminate all Criticism for 90 days
12. Dress up really fancy and go out with Sean
13. Go on at least 2 dates per month for 4 months straight

Become a Better Mother:
14 Enroll B & A in swimming Lessons
15. Take the boys on a walk at least once a week through July and August
16. Go camping as a family
17. Start doing FHE weekly
18. Potty train Brayden
19. Potty train Asher
20. Give Brayden monthly dates w/either parent each month for a year
21. Give Asher monthly dates w/ either parent each month for a year
22. Put together a collection of 52 educational folders with various games (colors, counting, shapes, letters, animals)
23. Enroll B in at least 3 different types of classes (tumbling, music, art, drums, dance etc)
24. Enroll A in at least 1 class other than swimming lessons (tumbling, music, art, drums, dance etc)
25. Use our family pass to the Zoo and OMSI at least 10 times
26. Go on a picnic with the kids somewhere different and fun
27. Take the family to Ocean Shores
28. Go an entire month without watching TV
29. Take both boys to the dentist
30. Spend 1 uninterrupted hour playing with the boys daily for 2 weeks
31. Play the piano daily with Brayden for 2 weeks
32. Play the piano daily with Asher for 2 weeks
33. Create a “family photo album” for the kids to look at during church, including pictures of their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins
34. Wean A from Paci

Be More Prepared/Organized:
35. Get started on our 1 year supply of food and water
36. Open a savings account for B & A
37. Write a Will
38. Get Life Insurance
39. Improve our mail system (filing, bills, cards, etc)
40. Put together a collection of 30 recipes that we like to eat, are simple to make and use ingredients I typically keep on hand
41. Put together a collection of 50 recipes that we can make using food storage items only
42. Put together 72 hour kits for each member of our family
43. Get a system to organize DVD’s
44. Burn all of our “family videos” onto DVD’s for the kids to watch
45. Burn all pictures to CD’s and put away for safe keeping
46. Have wedding dress preserved
47. Set up financial goals
48. Create a cleaning schedule and stick to it for 2 straight months

Become a Better Person through:

Health:
49. Hike to Camp Muir
50. Run at least 2 10k’s
51. Lose baby weight
52. Be swimming suit ready for Summer 2009
53. Learn to tolerate broccoli, and try a new vegetable

Hobbies:
54. Attend a ballet, opera or symphony
55. Learn to Snowboard
56. Sew a scripture case and use it
57. Sew an apron, and use it
58. Make a quilt
59. Make jam from fresh picked berries (raspberry, strawberries)
60. Can fruit
61. Sing in the ward Christmas Program
62. Complete a stocking for baby #3 (no, we’re not expecting)
63. Get a new hobby
64. Memorize an entire new song on the piano
65. Play the piano daily for 1 month

Knowledge:
66. Become CPR certified
67. Take a class at a community college
68. Join a book club
69. Read 50 books (and journal them…title, author, summary, what I thought) including 3 classic literature book I haven’t read before

Service:
70. Donate blood
71. Contribute to the Perpetual education fund for 3 months
72. Pay a more generous fast offering
73. Teach kids about service by helping someone else

Fun:
74. Meet Claire in person
75. Go to Sea World
76. Go to one new state or country
77. Get family pictures taken professionally
78. Take the kids to Utah
79. Update wardrobe
80. Find the perfect swimming suit
81. Visit Everett Children’s Museum (done 2.28.2009)
82. See Amanda and Isaac
83. Take at least one photo a day for a month
84. Go to a concert
85. Attend a major live production (broadway show, Disney on ice, etc.)
86. Play outside in the rain
87. Take a road trip and stop along the way at cool places to take photos
88. Go to a spa
89. Turn my blog into a book yearly (August)

Business:
90. Design and make an original vinyl project
91. Figure out a new marketing idea and implement it (Create a promo DVD slideshow of my work?)
92. Get a definite UL Logo
93. Learn and consistently use Quickbooks for Urban Lettering (and possibly family bills)

Other:
94. Have another baby
95. Work on my family history for 10 hours (geneology, pedigree charts, etc)
96. Live in our own space
97. Start using coupons effectively
98. Create and send out Christmas cards
99. Decorate a room in my house (or apartment) with pictures that I took. (bathroom maybe?)
100. Get Asher moved into Brayden’s room
101. Don’t buy bread for 1 month. Make it instead!

Then:
Do a separate act of service for each goal I don’t complete

I will keep you all updated on how I'm doing...and hopefully blogging about it will give me the motivation to keep moving forward when motivation seems to be falling short. Feel free to nudge me if I haven't accomplished a new goal for awhile! :)

Pictures!

Sean's 2nd cousin Brenden is in town getting his flying hours done so he can be hired as a commercial pilot. He has a Nikon D90 camera that he is more than willing to let me experiment and play with. I am stoked! I have never used a D-SLR so I have a lot to learn, however I'm having a lot of fun figuring it out! Here are some of the shots I've taken but I'm still figuring out how aperature and shutter speed affect the lighting and stuff. Oh, and manual focusing is tough stuff! Oh well, I'm glad I have such cute and willing subjects to photograph!

While I was feeding Asher this afternoon, Brayden was playing on the floor in my room. It got really quiet so I turned around and this is what I found. This has never happened before!!

It's official!

Today I officially registered for the Helvetia 10k! It is June 13th and I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous! The farthest I've ever run is 4 miles and it about killed me. I know I have just under 4 months to train but 6.2 miles sounds like torture. I'm looking forward to warmer weather and longer days so I can get out more and not have to be bundled. Hopefully I can make enough progress to make the money worth it...I guess only time will tell!

4 months

Asher had his 4 month check up yesterday. It went great! Here are is stats:

Weight: 13 pounds 9 ounces (22nd percentile)

Height: 25 inches (50th percentile)

Head Circumference: I don't remember but (25th percentile)

While we were waiting for the doctor to come in I had Asher on his tummy. He rolled over from tummy to back twice and back to tummy once. He rolled over a couple weeks ago but has only done it a couple times since, so it was like he thought he was getting tested or something because he all the sudden did it 3 times! The doc said it's very rare that he gets a baby at their 4 month appointment and they're already rolling over and holding themselves that high when on their bellys. He said "you're gonna have to watch out for this one! He's going to be crawling before you know it." With Brayden, I was anxious to see each milestone. I couldn't wait until he rolled over, crawled, sat up, etc. I also feel like he was a baby for a long time. However with Asher, he is growing up so fast! I already feel like he is out of the "baby" stage. I would be totally fine if he didn't roll over yet but oh well I guess...I'll take what I can get! After the doc left we were waiting for the nurse to come give Asher his shots. Asher was getting really fussy so I rocked him to sleep. She came in when he had been sleeping for about 2 minutes. I was nervous how the shots would affect him. I soon learned I had no need to worry...seeing as he SLEPT through them! He did whimper a little after the first poke, but he never opened his eyes. He fell completely back asleep before the second poke and didn't flinch for it. Oh man...what a blessing! I hate it when my boys need shots.

As I mentioned, Asher is growing up so fast. He is a talkative little one. He likes to hear his own voice, so he screams and yells a lot, but in complete glee. Sean sometimes has to ask if they're happy or sad noises...but they're ususally happy! He loves tummy time (thank goodness!) and can be on his tummy up to 45 minutes at a time before he gets frustrated (or bored). Asher is a very content baby. He has such a calm personality and happy demeanor. He loves his brother and Brayden can already get him to laugh.

I love having 2 boys! I am so grateful that I have them this close. Everyone said "oh man, that's going to be SOO HARD!" And honestly? It isn't easy. However, is it ever easy? I think regardless of the spacing between the kids it's going to be challenging ...they'd be different challenges if they were further a part, but some things are easier. Granted, I wouldn't have a third as close as I had these 2, but I'm completely content with having these 2 as close as they are! They're going to be good friends someday (I hope!)

OMSI

My wicked awesome parents decided on Friday that on Saturday they'd drive down here with my 3 brothers to come to OMSI with us. We had so much fun! Thank you SO MUCH family for making the trek!!

Scott being "ear wax"

Brayden completely enthralled with the snake. He loved it!

Grandpa and Asher just chillin

Brayden missed his nap and it finally caught up with him. Grandma was in heaven!

Last night we stripped Brayden to feed him soup. After dinner Grandpa Janeway put his Australia hat on Brayden. He LOVED it! But wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a decent picture. Oh well!

I'm a slacker

I haven't posted in a long time. Honestly? I don't really have very much to blog about. So, here's what I could come up with...

I ran 4 miles on Saturday, that was exciting.

Asher loves his tummy time...I love that!

Brayden is learning a bunch of new words. Every time we go up and down the stairs we count...I say "one" and he says "two". I say "three, four, five" and he says "six". I say "seven" and he says "eight!". I say "nine, ten!" and he says "all done!" and claps. (there are 13 stairs...but he thinks 10 is done.) It's pretty adorable! He is smart, even if he doesn't talk a lot :)

Sean loves coming home from work and playing with his boys. They absolutely adore him and I think it brightens his day to see their smiles! (and it brightens my day to get a minute break)

A couple nights ago Asher and I were sleeping. Sean got the camera to take a few pictures.

but I wasn't sleeping and I thought it was really funny (it was like midnight)

Brayden loves playing in Daddy's sock drawer...I'm not sure why but he's done it a couple times this past week!

Brayden had a fever 2 weeks ago and he wanted to do nothing except watch Disney movies. Usually he's such a busy body he never sits still...so I let him...and it was cute.