A little bit about me

Some funny things about me, inspired by a friend’s blog post I read recently:


-I was definitely born in the WRONG era! I'm super old fashioned on a lot of things, and I'm told often that I "have an old soul" or that I'm a "little old lady inside a young person's body". Creepy, I know!

-I love listening to crooner type music (Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin are my favorites). I also love anything Adele and I can sing along to just about any Country song that's been on the radio in the last 15 years.

-I love a lot of things about the style and culture of the 1940's and 1950's. Though, I’m not the best house keeper and kind of a mild feminist... in a good way I like to think! :)

-Ice cream is my cure all! Vanilla ice cream with a hot brownie and some walnuts will shoot me over the moon in yummy goodness.

-I HATE mouth noises (crunching ice, chips, lip smacking, slurping, scraping forks against teeth, popping gum, etc.) It's like my Achilles heel and gets under my skin EVERY TIME! (Cue my kids nodding like crazy)

-I can't fall asleep with my feet uncovered, and sometimes I take a running jump at my bed. I was told a story once of a brother hiding under his older sister’s bed and grabbing her ankles when she least expected it. Cruel… very cruel.

-If put in a fight or flight situation I’ve learned that I might just fight. I learned this right after David and I got married. He purposely popped out from behind a corner and scared the living daylights out of me. My instant reaction: JUST START SWINGING!! He had to bear hug me (around my arms) for me to come to and realize it was just him. That’ll teach him! Needless to say, he’s never done that since!

-I’m a recovering coffee addict. Before I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 6 years ago, (aka: LDS or Mormon), I drank coffee all the time! Sometimes I miss it a whole lot, so if you see me hanging out in the coffee isle at the grocery store, don’t mind me. I’m just breathing in that lovely aroma.

-I replaced my appreciation for coffee with my appreciation for dark chocolate. Yummmmmm…

-I have a decent singing voice, though nobody other than my husband and children will ever get to hear it. Anytime I’m around anyone else my voice cracks, gets all nervous, and sounds horrible. I blame it on the time in 8th grade when I was given a solo in choir and was so nervous that I was entirely off key. So embarrassing!

-The absolute most important thing about me: I LOVE being a mother to my children and my husband is my BEST friend. Sounds cliché, I know. But it’s entirely true. If you truly ever want to know me and what I’m all about, just sit back and watch me with my family. They are my pride and joy. They are my EVERYTHING!

Oliver at 10 weeks

Oliver is 10 weeks old today and had his 2 month check up.

Oliver weighed 13lbs 9oz (Gained 4lbs 13oz since birth)

He is 23 3/4 inches long (Grew 4 inches since birth)

His head circumference is 15 1/2 (compaired to 13 3/4 at birth)

He is doing AWSOME! He smiles all the time now and has recently started cooing. He's also starting to get his days and nights more figured out. He would probably be A LOT further a long if I were more diligent and more skilled with putting him on a schedule... but I'm not. In the long run, my kids have always figured it out on their own so I try to sweat it too much.

On a side note though, my husband is AMAZING! I love that his work allows him to stay home during the first 12 weeks. I honestly don't know how I would have managed this long without him. He is so supportive of my time, comfort, and overall happiness. He's taken over the main role with the older kiddos and school until I get things more figured out with a routine. I love him SO MUCH and I am so blessed to be his wife and for him to be that father to our children. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Benjamin!

I can't believe it's already been 2 years and he's already a big brother. Benjamin is one of the sweetest little boys I know. He also has THE BEST manners of any toddler I've ever met. I'm so proud to be his mommy! Lately benjamin is really into Elmo, Dinosaurs, and Barbar... or anything Elephants. He loves his baby brother Oliver to pieces. Matter of fact, Benjamin attended Father's & Son's for the first time with David and all he could talk about was missing Oliver.

Benjamin is also quite the talker and he sure knows how to give direction and voice his opinion. A quality he surely didn't learn from him mother... **wink wink**

I am so blessed to be a mother to all my children, and each one hold a very special place in my heart. I LOVE being a mom!

Anyway, here are some pictures of Benjamin's first 2 years. They care a bit out of order, but fun to look at none the less.

Just minutes old

DQ with mommy



Driving to CA

Love Tubby Time!

Getting ready for church!

Silly boy!

Elton Baby!



Brother & Sister love me1

Loves his Daddy!

First time to the pool

My first REAL haircut



Ice Cream with Mommy... Again. :)

No toes on the table! :)



I'm a big brother!

So...Much...Sugar..



Benjamin loves to hold Oliver



Good morning smoothies

Mommy loves to get me ice cream!



Benjamin LOVES peanut butter!



Fell asleep on Daddy

Camping with Daddy



Build a bear!

SMILES

We've had lots of things to smile about around here, and I thought I'd share some of those lovely smiles.

The picture of Benjamin climbing out of his crib doesn't make me very happy, but its a catalyst to a new milestone: a big boy bed! :)

Oliver has arrived!

Ok, well he really made his appearance 8 weeks ago. But I've been so busy loving my time at home with all my kids that I just haven't thought about blogging.

Anyways, here's his story:

On March 1st I had a routine doctor appointment. I was 38 weeks 5 days and generally doing pretty well. My doctor (the best OB ever in my humble opinion) asked how the baby was moving. I said he's still moving, but has slowed down considerably. Because I had a fetal doppler at home and was still listing to his heart rate, I wasn't too concerned... But my OB was. So, he sent me into triage to have an ultrasound done.

It's important to note that before going into triage I was NOT contracting. However, going in scares me because I went in once with Benjamin and ended up staying at the hospital for nearly 3 weeks!

Back to my story: I arrived at triage and my OB had called ahead to let them know I was coming. So when I got there I got a room quickly and hooked up to monitors to start tracking the baby's movements and heart rate. As my children always do, Oliver made a liar out of me and moved wonderfully. We proceeded with the ultrasound anyway. As far as I knew he looked great! With the exception of his butt jammed under my left rib and his knees jammed under my right rib... OUCH!

After my doctor got the ultrasound results he called to talk to me over the phone. He said the baby had his cord wrapped around his neck twice which accounted for the lack of normal movement. He said he wanted to induce me because the risk of me going home, going into labor, and something was happening was too great. This scared me, because I wanted my baby to be ok. It scared me so much that my irregular contractions turned into every 3-5 minute contractions. Interesting how our bodies work!

Since I wasn't 39 weeks (only short by 2 days) the law requires my OB to get another OB to approve my induction. This is to safeguard moms and docs delivering babies too early without a medical need.

Easy enough, yes? I mean I'm only 2 days from 39 weeks, now contracting regularly, the baby was measured to be about 8lbs, and has cord around his neck... TWICE! It sounded to me like a piece of cake decision. Well, the doctor on duty (the 2nd opinion doc), came in to talk to me. Long story short she said she would rather send me home then induce me 2 days early. SERIOUSLY?? Her and I had a bit of a "chat", but to no avail. She still wanted to send me and my baby (who was exhibiting signs of distress with contractions) home... Only to come back in 2 days to be induced then.

It's probably best I keep my opinions about her to myself, but let's just say my doctor took care of her for me. :)

My LOVELY nurse urged my doc not to send me home and said he could admit me, but not do ANYTHING to induce labor. So that's what we did. He admitted me to keep an eye on the baby. Well... Remember those contractions? Somewhere between getting admitted (5pm-ish and my dinner arriving) my contractions started working.

I decided I was going to prove that woman doctor wrong and go into labor naturally since she wouldn't induce me. Thank goodness my body was on board, otherwise it would have looked silly and it would have been a longer stay at the hospital.

Amazingly enough the rest of Oliver's delivery was a piece of cake! My contractions didn't hurt more than a 5 (on a scale of 1-10), I got a WONDERFUL epidural, and he arrived after only about 15 minutes of pushing. He was here by breakfast time! :)

Oliver Richard Jones
8lbs 13oz
Born 3/2/12

Update

Since December we've been pretty dang busy! Christmas was amazing with LOTS of family, New Years was relaxing, and now we're coming up on Valentines Day. Late in January I was placed on bed rest until I deliver. So far bed rest is really helping out, but it can be pretty boring. That said, I'd like at least a few more weeks until this baby arrives because we litterally have NOTHING done. We still need to find, wash, and organize all the baby clothes, get all the baby goodies out and clean (bouncy seat, swing, nuring accessories, etc), a long with just get the house organized again after the holidays. Hitting the nesting stage of pregnancy when you're on bed rest can be pretty annoying because you are so motivated to get stuff done... but can't do any of it yourself. I've resorted to making lists of things that need to get done to try and make myself feel better... but let's be honest, who really likes a "Honey Do" list? I know I don't!

Enough about me though! David and the kids are doing GREAT! David is back in school and I am SO PROUD of him! He's been really making his school a priority and has been getting wonderful grades. The good grades don't suprise me because I know how seriously smart he is, but they impress me none the less because accellerated college classes can be really tough. He works so hard for our family and I appreciate him so much!

Nicholas has really started to blossom at school. We were able to figure out what we needed to do to help him and I'm so glad we kept pushing through and trying different things. He's so much happier at school now and his grades have been improving dramatically after only 2 weeks of our new routine. I'm so excited and proud of him! He continues to be our most snuggly child and I hope he never loses that!

Valerie continues to be our sassy social butterfly. She enjoys school and excells in many areas. I'm excited to see her grow and develop into the wonderful young lady I know she can be.

Benjamin is even growing physically, mentally, and emmotinally by leaps and bounds. He's like David and I both in many ways: stubborn, opinionated, determined, and so stinkin' smart! Those can be challenging traits to balance, but lucky for us he's also affectonate, sweet, loves to give kisses. David and I are constantly impressed with how much he knows and between he and Nicholas, we're laughing a whole lot.

Baby Boy Jones (David still hasn't picked out the first name yet...) is now 35 weeks along and like I said above we're all excited to meet him. What a wonderful blessing another baby boy is! With 3 boys in the house I know I'm going to need to get used to fart jokes, mischeviousness, and stinky sweaty boys who come home covered in dirt. Honestly though, I look forward to the years ahead with all my children. Aside from being married to my best friends, there is nothing I love more than being a mother. My children bring me so much joy!

Brother and Sister are too cute! Laying down watching a movie sharing Mom and Dad's blanket. They both really love each other!

Nicholas has just finished his dentist appointment and his nurse told us not to let him chew because his cheek was still numb. You know what that means? It's a great excuse for frozen yogurt and a smoothie... YUM!

Benjamin doing his fingerpaints. :)

His finished product. BEAUTIFUL!

Nicholas brought home some extra paper from school and was excited to draw more detail on his IronMan picture.

"Hello blue eyes!"

Jones Family Pictures

We recently took pictures at the beginning of November. A co-worker of David's took the pictures. Please feel free to visit her website HERE.

** Don't mind my belly. I promise it's a baby in there and not too many tamales or scoops of ice cream. :) **

We don't need no stinking pixie dust! Daddy makes Benji fly all on his own! :)

One of my favorite pictures of me with our 7 year olds!

I LOVE how this picture turned out! Valerie looks so pretty!

Nicholas is adorable! I'll take credit for that! :)

Benjamin stole the show in his own way. He's just to stinkin' cute not to, right? :)

Daddy + Benji + Mommy = ADORABLE



One of the family pictures we could get Benjamin to cooperate for.



LOVE! All 3 of my kiddos.



Best Buddies! No really, when they are no with each other, they really do miss the other.