The Long and Short of it

IT's a party over here!

It's been a LONG week with a SHORT agenda. Rest and healing for Hunter. What has that looked like exactly? Well, he has situated himself on our living room couch, "the red couch" as he calls it, and has not left it for much time at all. This is his spot night and day. He has watched countless episodes of The Backyardagains and I am not exaggerating when I say he's watched them non-stop. Non-stop! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, rest assured knowing that it's a cute cartoon show with very catchy lyrics and songs that get in your head.

He's slept a lot, taken many baths, fought us tooth and nail each time it's time for pain medicine, has very yucky breath due to his throat healing, has eaten his share of popscicles, has been ringing a little bell I gave him- it was cute the first several days, watched only The Backyardagains at all hours of the day and night, has not left the couch except for a few occasions on the driveway to "scoot" with neighbors or play inside quietly.... It's been a long week.

Blake is really good at the scooter these days too. It's amazing to see his coordination as he scoots up and down the driveway. I caught the boys in these cute shots the other afternoon while we spent a little time in the fresh air. Pardon our unkept looks- we've had little reason to dress up this week, or brush hair for that matter!


Emily has been sleeping through the night this week which makes her mama very happy. I think it could have something to do with the fact that being home the last 7 days she has had predictable naps and a more routine schedule. It's made a difference in her nighttime sleep. This is Emmy after a bath. Pretty eyes!

Sew Fun!

So I got domestic over Christmas and Chris surprised me with a sewing/embroidery machine. I am so excited!

The clincher is that I do not know how to sew anything- at all. So, I have taken it upon myself to read up, watch some online YouTube tutorials and the instructional DVD that came with it, and have successfully threaded the machine.

A poor old t-shirt of mine was the first victim and has all sorts of stitches criss-crossing it. Today, I felt very industrious and added the embroidery piece and did Emily's name on an old, grungy shirt of Chris'. It turned out pretty good.

So, in the future, I hope to take a class to learn the basics, play around with it some more and actually make something. I think having a daughter will only encourage that! There are some "simple" things I could make for her once I get the hang of it. If any of you sew, speak up and send some advice this way. I sure could use it!!

Tonsillectomy Report

Hunter is 4 days post surgery and really doing well. He had his tonsils and adenoid removed on Friday at 1:30. For as much anxiety that I experienced the days leading up to it, when it came time for the actual procedure, I was fine and trusted the doctor completely. Hunter was very calm and never showed any fear or anxiety over what was about to happen.
(All of my hospital pics are on my iPhone so I will have to upload those later. Here is is before the Cotton Bowl)


An hour later, we were notified that surgery was over and talked to the doctor in the hall about what to expect. At that moment, the surgical nurse came through the doors and told us that he was awake and upset. That was the hardest part of the entire ordeal- watching your baby in pain and not being able to take it away. 3 doses of morphine later, he was asleep. They wheeled him upstairs to a post-surgery pediatric room. All that he had looked forward to was being wheeled around in bed and darn if everytime he moved he was too asleep to notice.

He slept most of that afternoon, woke up for some popsicles and rested the rest of the evening. I stayed that night in the hospital with him and tended to him when he needed me to. We had soup and jello with a midnight showing of cartoon Batman. We tried all flavors of popsicles- except for red because they won't let you eat anything red after a tonsillectomy. Bummer. Did you know that yellow popsicles are banana-flavored? Yuck!

Since being home, we have depended heavily on the pain meds- so grateful to have them. Have contended with fatigue, fever and just flat out feeling blah. We have served him a diet of jello, pudding, popsicles, ice-cream, milkshakes and soup. We have documented his every move and let him take as many baths and showers as he would like.

Today is the first day I have seen him show any interest in getting off of the couch. As I type, he is playing with his pirate Playmobil set at the coffeetable. Yay! A little normal is good.

We are going to take it easy this week and let him recooperate. He's fine laying low and hanging at home.

On other news...Emily is rocking on all fours. She can scoot around the floor somehow, so we are on full watch since this is the stage where everything goes in the mouth! Yikes!


Blake, my little comedian, was getting a little talking-to at a restaurant last week. We were there with friends and it was basically a ghost town except for us, but he was being a little overly silly. I pulled him aside and told him, "No more silly." He looked at me, cocked his head to the side and raised one finger and asked, "Mon more silly??" Ha! How do you resist? Of course you can have one more silly!

Oh, he will kill me for this someday, but he loves to push Emily's baby stroller around and even tried to diaper the dolls. It's too cute! And who says I don't have help over here??

A strange fog is on this picture- not sure why.

Happy Half Birthday Emily!!

Emily is 6 months old... as of January 2nd. It's hard to believe half a year ago she was born. That day seems like yesterday!

At 6 months old, the little lady is quite busy. Not only does her schedule include following her 2 big brothers around doing whatever they are up to, she seems to want to move herself. From a young age, Emily has been wanting to pull up and not be cradled like a baby. She loved to be carried facing out and up. That remains true today. She is starting to sit up unassisted- although we are close by because she will topple over quickly. She loves toys and reaches for anything close enough to grab. She is also putting any and everything into her mouth. Thus, another challenge and reminder that all those little Legos and tiny pieces that came with Christmas presents need to be kept out of reach. Especially as she begins to crawl.

Dr. Fitch seems to think she has extremely loose joints and won't crawl or walk on the soon side of things. Of course, the same was said of Hunter and he crawled at 8 months and was walking by a year. So I guess we will see.

She weighs 14 lbs 3 oz at 6 months so she is still a bitty baby. The boys were 17 lbs (Hunter) and 16 lbs 5 oz (Blake) at this point. Amazing that they all grow at their own pace.

Rice cereal is not her favorite and we got permission to move on to bigger and better. So tonight, sweet potatoes are on the menu. I think she will be pleased.


Emily just jumped up to size 2 diapers. Of course, since that move, we have had more "blowouts" than I care to mention. All I can say is, I owe my sister big time!

Clothing wise, she wears 3-6 month clothes and some 9 month pieces. Dressing her only gets more fun. Someday, I will have to post her in my favorite outfits. She looks best in blues and purples- they really bring out her blue eyes.

Sleeping is better. She is making it through the night without a feeding now, so that is great. We are having so much fun in this stage and loving having Emily as a part of the family. She is the sweetest little sister and we are crazy about her.

A comparison of the 3 at 6 months old:
HUNTER:

BLAKE:

EMILY:

Recap...

December was a great month- a hectic and busy month, but a great month. We had just recovered from our illness when it was time to travel to Waco for Chris' younger brother's wedding. It was a great weekend. Back home, it was shopping, preparing, decorating, planning for parties, birthdays and celebrations, school plays, office parties, friends and family time.... It was a fast month. Here's what we did.
The boys ready for the rehearsal dinner. They were so handsome!

Hunter and Ryan looking so dapper in their navy blazers for the rehearsal dinner.

Emily all dressed up for her 15 minute cameo at the reception. Her dress was so beautiful and fun. Where should we wear it again??


Hunter turned five years old! How can it be?

We officially dropped the ball on Christmas cards. So here you go:

The cat came back.

I took Blake to the country club for their annual gingerbread decorating day. He had fun eating candy while I attempted to decorate! :)

We went to the Happy Birthday Jesus party at church. We had a blast!

We had our 4th Annual Santa party at our house. The Andersons and Spielhagens stayed late and we listened for Santa's bells as he left the house. It was a precious moment.

Emily met Santa for the first time.

The mild weather made for fun afternoons at the Jones house.


Hunter was Joseph in the school Christmas program. He did a great job!

The little lady had her first Christmas Eve.

The Elf propped himself on our tree for front row seats for Christmas morning.

Emily watching the joy on Christmas morning.

The boys in their new chairs at Sha Sha and Babs House.



The Jones boys and their mama in Waco on Christmas night.

The "Jamz" with their new Paper Jamz in Waco giving us a live performance.

Happy New Years! 6 months old January 2nd!!

Daddy and Hunter off for a round of golf.