Happy Mother's Day!

Happy First Mother's Day to my beautiful wife, Tiffany.

You couldn't be doing a better job raising our daughter.

Nana Pat and Grandpa Rory came up last evening to spend Mother's Day with us. We started off Mother's Day morning with a nice breakfast, then a trip to the local nursery. 

The plan for the day was gardening. The weather this morning was a bit questionable, but it cleared off nicely. We have a couple garden boxes at this house that look like they haven't been tended in awhile, and also seem to have had a wide variety of things planted in them. There are several tulips and daffodils popping up in there, so we decided to leave them and work around them. Kinda hodge podge, but fitting for our family.

Simon (Master Gardener)

"Lilo" and I hung out in the yard quite a bit. Grandpa Rory spent a good part of the day lounging and reading on the deck, occasionally coming down to help keep Lilo entertained. The dogs spent the day rolling around in the grass, and I think we were all happy to spend the whole day outside.

self portrait

Lilly sunbathing.

Bus

Grass is pretty awesome.

Some of you may think this is gross. She loves it, and we really don't care what you think.

Simon, the little old man.

Hangin' with Grandpa Rory.

"What are you lookin' at?"

"FEET! Feet are pretty cool!"

All said, it was a really awesome day. Tiff said she couldn't have imagined a better way to spend it. She's happy... Lilo is happy... I'm happy... Here's a few more pics. Good night.

Simon, Master Gardner, inspects the ladies' hard work.

A few shots of the ladies after a hard day's work...

Simon insisted on being in this picture...

... this one too.

Bus thinks the baby isn't clean enough.

Never a dull moment.

She hates it.

A happy mommy.

Message to all rabbits...

4 months...

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Elliot Janssen - 4 months old... Easter Bunny - Around 500 years old, give or take a few.

Hello again from JanssenLand! Hope everyone is enjoying spring, cuz we haven't had one yet. I think there were officially 4 days in April that were sunny and over 60 degrees.  It's finally starting to warm up and we've been doing everything we can to get outside.

The photo above is Elliot's 4 month picture. She had her 4 month checkup this week. She's 14lbs 7oz, and 24.75" long. She's already rolling over from back to front, and front to back, and after a series of motor skills tests, the doctor said she's very advanced for her age. She's doing everything she can to figure out crawling, but right now she can just skooch around backwards. We have no doubt that she'll be crawling soon.

Tiff and I have been working really hard to get in shape. We have a feeling that Elliot is going to be a hard one to keep up with, so we better be ready to go when she is. We've been eating really healthy and working out as much as we can. 

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, but I'll make an effort to post more frequently. Below are some more pics. Most are from Elliot's 3 month old weekend we spent at Nana's house in Sioux City. We hope to have more interesting things to post over the next few months with nicer weather. We have a couple summer trips planned already as well. Remember, click on any of the images for full-size photos. Most photos were taken in higher resolution, but some with the camera in our phones. Enjoy...

Tiff and Great Grandma Shirley playing with Elliot.

Asleep in the car seat after a day on the town.

Hangin' out on Great Grandma's lap.

Getting a "talkin' to" from Aunt Connie.

Relaxing by the fire at Nana's.

"CHICKEN!" her favorite toy, from Ryan and Rhonda

"Wake up, Chicken... Wake Up!"

Chillin' with Lexi.

3 month photo.

We attempted a 3 month family photo... This one is pretty awesome.
We'll probably try again in a couple months.

A cute one of the ladies.

FAT Tuesday

Happy March! One step closer to spring...

We had a pretty good month for February. My Mom and Dad were in town for a great week, we celebrated Elliot's 2 month birthday, took some family photos, ate a bunch of food, and stayed inside. It was cold. We had an ice storm. Not too "hip" for the folks from Cali, but a good time no less.

 

Grandma and Grandpa got to spend good quality time with their precious granddaughter. They helped out quite a bit, and let Tiff and I get out of the house a bit here and there. They seemed to think we're doing a pretty good job. I trust their opinion, because without them, I wouldn't be the kind of person I am today. Thank you.

Everyone says it, but Elliot is growing fast. Since my last post, she's started doing things like making solid locking eye contact. That freaked us both out a little I think. She can pretty much stand on her own if you help her balance. And she's getting to the point where you can make her smile a lot. She's a happy baby... most of the time.

We went to Sioux City to watch the Roller Dames stomp the crap out of the Cedar Rapids Somethings; score 9,000,000 to 6. Ryan and Rhonda were there. To the right you see Ryan Meyers, the last person on EARTH most people would think of handing their first born child off too, but here he all snuggled up to baby Elliot. Pretty sweet. Bryan, Belinda and the girls were there. Joe and Nancy stopped by on their date night. It was a swell evening.

That's about it for now. There's more to tell, but I'll save it for next time. Later gators.

Here's some more pics to tide you over...

2 months old.

 

 

All smiles.

My Girls.

Got an itch? Scratch it.