Halloween

Like Mother Like Daughter

Sleeping in perfect symmetry...

Janie's Mobility

This doesn't really do Janie's movement complete justice, but you get an idea of her mobility. She'll go from one end of the room to the other rather quickly with a mix of rolling and army crawl.

Bananas & Broccoli for Breakfast

Would such an unusual mixture of flavor allow you to do this? ... I doubt it.

Halloween Fun

Jennifer decided to channel her inner-Dennis Rodman for a little Halloween fun.

Janie's Fun

Janie Grace is giving good blog-able material these days! (bet Webster never considered that word.)

Recently, she's learned how to tip over her toy basket to get all of her toys out. Before I could get the camera out, the entire upper half of her body was in the basket with her head bumping up against the bottom of the basket.

Being 10 months old, outdoor fun is a bit of a challenge right now. Janie wants to play but there's not much she's ready to do yet. However, the other day, we learned that she fits well in Jensen's shopping cart. She seemed to love it!

Football Games

Each week, we eagerly anticipate Saturday morning's football game. It's been a lot of fun for both Jacob and me as I've been helping my friend, Robert, coach the team. Robert's ready to make the jump from 1st & 2nd grade to Junior High offensive coordinator. (I'm just hoping to keep my job). We've got a great bunch of kids that have shown improvement each week.

Have to wear a mouthpiece.

Getting lined up for defense.
Jacob at linebacker.
Defensive huddle
Jacob's hand-off to Brooks.
Jacob's 5-step drop looking for a receiver.
Brooks looks for an audible.

Jensen & Landry

Jensen & Landry are both equally "all-girl" yet not afraid to tough it out with their older brothers. These 2 pics just show a couple cute and sweet girls.

Picture = 1,000 Words

To me, this would be one of those pictures as it briefly summarizes the dynamic of our home.

Jacob - close to the action but caught up in his personal interests (football, reading etc.)
Jensen - providing a wonderful helping hand to the point of potential calamity
Janie - smiling all the way through

If You're Having a Bad Day...

...I'm guessing it just got a little better.

Jensen thought it was important to for Janie Grace to be ready for dance class too...appears that got Janie excited!

Hallmark Called...

...they want this picture for the front of a greeting card.

Yes, the picture is outrageously cute. Yes, Brooks is a great kid...close friend of Jacob, son of friends Robert and Ginger. Yes, these little children are 6 and 4 not 16 and 14.

However...there's part of me that feels this urge as a dad to say, "Brooks, you're sitting too close to my daughter." !!!!!

I've got feeling this picture foreshadows the emotions of future days!

Brooks, you're welcome to take Jensen on a date (in 30 years), but please just stop my storage building on your way in to pick her up. Don't mind the noise, I'll just be tuning up my power tools.

(Disclaimer: photo was taken at Landry's dress-up birthday party.)

Pumpkins

Jacob and Jensen took about 30 seconds each to pick their pumpkins this year. We're beginning to see a trend with their selections which is why they do it so quickly. Not sure what it says about them, but Jacob always picks a dark green pumpkin, Jensen typically goes with one full of warts and, this year, they jointly picked a light green one for Janie. Therefore, we have an eclectic ensemble sitting on our porch. (It's pretty obvious which one we'll be carving!)

Two Pretty Girls...

Janie's Asleep...for a Minute

We've had 3 very different nappers growing up in our house.

Jacob would probably still take an afternoon nap everyday if we told him to while Jensen stopped needing naps at a relatively very young age as we were tired of her being up until 10:00 with us in the evening when she did rest in afternoon. Janie Grace's napping, on the other hand, is difficult to classify or explain. She rarely sleeps for 2 consecutive hours during the day. Often she sleeps for about 20 minutes at a time. However, she always wakes up with a smile whether it has been for 30 minutes or 90 minutes and hardly whines when she should be tired. Sometimes she sleeps at 1:00, other times it's at 10:00 and sometimes she's napping when I get home from work around 6. There are days where between 8 AM and 8 PM she'll have slept for just 30 minutes. Now, let's be honest, 3rd children never have the luxury of routine that first-borns have. Plus, Janie's first days which could have been used to establish a nap routine were spent with medical professionals be they in-home visits or in-office care. Certainly, she's not to blame. Nonetheless, Janie is often forced to catch a nap in the car on the way to pick up J & J from school, while running an errand with Jennifer or during whatever moment of quiet presents itself during a busy day. We're thankful she's so flexible and she's always been a wonderful night sleeper.

Curious why I just typed all this non-sense? It's a set-up for a couple cute pictures of her as Janie took a nap in a new spot the other day. While Jennifer was changing out seasonal clothing of the kids, she looked over to see Janie Grace suddenly cashed out on the floor. JG had given no warning of her impending slumber, but all of a sudden she was counting sheep. Just proves the point that every day is a new day when it comes to Janie's sleep patterns and locations. Further, no three children sleep the same! (that wasn't in the parenting manual.)

Buddy Walk Recap

Many of you graciously gave Janie a "High 5" in sponsorship of the local Down Syndrome Network's annual walk. Thank you! It was a great event...beautiful day, lots of smiles, 800 people, well-organized food and activities. The DS Network has become a valuable organziation to have locally for our family. We appreciate your support of it.

Weekend Recap Follow-Up

Jensen's choice in clothing is a favorite topic to write about as it often brings a smile to our faces and forces a shake of the head.

(some of this is being written down for Jensen as we trust she'll read through this one day.)

Yesterday (remember it's October), was no different...Jensen got to pick out her dress for church (we were reminded why that doesn't happen often). She went with a burgundy sleeveless number suitable for Christmas Eve (last year). Therefore, she needed a sweater. Jensen (with some help) went with a thick-knit cream-colored sweater (a nice choice). Mixed in there were purple socks, navy shoes, a brown bow and hair that needed a 10-minute brushing but only got a minute's worth of attention.

As soon as were home from church, as always, the socks and shoes came off. For those that cannot handle a clashing outfit, that decision was a blessing. She kept the Christmas dress on all day but brought out a new sweater with stripes in a rainbow of primary colors when it was time to go to the hospital to see Charlotte. For shoes, she went with flips flops that fit her best during the summer of 2010, but were worn out in 2009.

Fast forward to 7:00 PM. Dinner is done, we're heading outside for smores, it's probably low/mid 50's, most of us are wearing long-sleeves, youngest kids are wearing hoods/hats, grass which is 3 inches too long and very thick is quite wet from dew...Jensen comes out with 2009 flips flops, sleeveless Christmas dress and no sweater (for die-hard readers of this blog...she DID remember her underwear). When we told her she was going to be cold and needed a sweater, we got the look of "you guys are so 1990's". The flip flops won out, she reluctantly put on a sweater and proceeded to have a magical evening outside never complaining about wet feet or being cold. That's our Jensen!!

Weekend Recap

We had the pleasure of a visit from Jason's sister, Jessie, and her family (Aaron, Caden & Addison). Fun to have a chance for the cousins to spend a bunch of time together. Due to the distance that separates us and new additions to both families in the past year, this was our first chance to meet Addison and their first chance to meet Janie Grace. The final event of the weekend involved celebrating Uncle Aaron's birthday over some smores (his choice over birthday cake!). We're glad it's only a couple short months until we'll seem them over Christmas in Indy.

Not only did we get to meet one new cousin for the first time (Addison) over the weekend, but the kids' ever-growing herd of cousins (7 and counting) added its newest member on Saturday evening! Charlotte Blackwell joined Tracy, Zack & Miller. Jennifer was able to be there and Jacob, Jensen and I ran over to Durham to meet her on Sunday afternoon. I encourage you to read about her at http://www.zackmansfield.com/. You'll particularly enjoy the story behind her beautiful name.

Presidential Motorcade

With President Obama in town for a couple days making a series of stops around NC (he's spending tonight in Greensboro), we had an unusual but eventful Monday evening. We knew he'd be coming down Bryan Blvd within a minute of our home, but also figured out that he'd be on an interstate that runs right near Jacob's school (based on where police cars were situated along exit ramps as I drove home from work). We had a general idea of when he'd be coming through based on the President's schedule of events. Sure enough, minutes before we expected he'd be coming by, the normally busy highway became like a country road during the middle of the night with only a helicopter flying overheard. Finally, several motorcycle tandems came through followed by the President's motorcade minutes later. All political beliefs aside, it's such an impressive site! If President Obama happened to glance out the window of his bus while preparing for his next event, he saw a half-dozen kids waving to him from along a fence and several adults snapping pictures. Along that 1/2 mile stretch of highway, we were the only ones he would have seen as it's not a largely inhabited area. The kids seemed impressed by all the flashing lights and 30+ vehicles. We explained to them that it's possible they'll never be within 50 yards of a sitting president ever again. It was sort of fun to feel like history was driving right in front of us.

WB now WF

Wachovia became Wells Fargo here in NC over the weekend. The WB brand, legendary in the Mid-Atlantic, is now extinct.

Pic of Janie G in Glasses

Janie actually kept her glasses on long enough to snap a picture! Let's just say it'll be an uphill battle keeping her glasses in front of her eyes rather than in her mouth or around her neck like a frat boy's sunglasses.

How do you convince a 10-month-old that THIS pink plastic (that happens to be really accessible) is not a toy but the other 100 colorful objects you play with all day long are okay to chew on???!!!

Super glue has crossed our minds!!

Yellow Day

On non-school days, Jensen is often allowed to assemble her own outfit(s) for the day. (Note: nearly every outfit selection would probably be blog worthy. Think pastel stripes with primary polka-dots.) Thursday, Jensen's decided upon attire would have indicated that we missed the Yellow Day memo. Jennifer tactfully reminded Jensen that the three ladies were going to Jacob's school to have lunch with him and gently suggested a pink or blue skirt to nicely match her shirt. Jensen's response..."But mommy, yellow matches yellow." And they headed off to school as is.

Yes, Jensen, pale yellow does match canary yellow...but only in your fashion world!

(I took this picture 4 times but couldn't get Jensen to not make this face...you should have seen the others!)

Jensen sure is "sunshine" in our lives.

A Picture of Relaxation

With no context, I'd be unable to identify which of my children this was at 10 months of age.

The Janie's Speech

Lorrie got some footage of Janie Grace telling us like it is. This is quite representative of the sounds and expressions we hear from Janie each day.

Huitsing (sp?)

***Surely I'm about to offend somebody, but I hope you understand that I post this in the spirit of "clean" fun.***

Growing up with the last name "Huitsing", I've grown accustom to a pause when a person new to me calls out my name for the first time, "Jason...Hitesing" or "Jason...Wheetsing" or "Jason...Hutsing" or "Jason...Hootsing"or several dozen other mispronunciations that I've heard over the years most of which would make you think Huitsing is more Asian than Dutch. Telemarketers never stood a chance because I could immediately identity them and would often hang up during the pause.

Well, today, my somewhat challenging and very unique last name hit epic proportions as a new variation of it can now be added to the mantle of mispronunciation shame. I received a Fedex package at work today (from an innocent sender). Below is a picture of a portion of the address label. Please...no new nicknames!

Weekend Update

Fall arrived in Greensboro this past weekend.

Jacob had his first career football game and he actually scored a rushing TD thanks to a 2nd chance from his coach. On the first play, he didn't get outside fast enough but on play on #2 he came motoring around the edge of the defense and in flag football with 1st and 2nd graders if you get around the edge of the defense...a TD typically follows.

Even more impressive was watching our team's first pass play of the season result in a 2-point conversion for the good guys. Two of Jacob's friends and teammates looked like Manning to Harrison out there! As an assistant coach working with the defense, I had way too much fun.

We spent several hours at a park for a birthday party. Jensen had fun swinging with her girlfriends. (Large hair bow anyone?)

Janie rolled in a swing that was more her size and speed.