Hello, Santa

I mean, is this precious or what??! I must admit that I was totally shocked that she was interested in sitting on Santa's lap and even more shocked that she actually did it! Too cute. We happened to be at the mall last night and so we decided to go by the Santa set-up and check it out. There was absolutely no line, a phenomenon that probably won't last long! She was very excited to go and talk to him and sit with him, in fact, she didn't really want to leave! I originally wasn't going to buy any pictures, but when she snuggled right up to him, what's a mother to do! Plus, even the cheapest package came with a $10 Shutterfly gift card, so I figured why not!



I am more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in many years. It is so much fun to see the joy on Sophia's face and here her get so excited about everything. She loves singing songs and dancing and absolutely loves walking through the neighborhood to see everyone's lights. Recently I told her we had to go to the store to get Leo a stocking and she replied with, "Yes because Santa will come and put candy in it." Huh??? Where did she learn that?? I have no idea, but she's pretty much right. I think this holiday season will be full of fun for all of us. Having Leo adds even more joy to the mix and makes our family feel more complete.

Thankful For My Family

No love lost here!

My sweet babies

Doesn't he just look like a little elf?

Huh?

Julie showing off her very festive turkey pins

Shelby acting as waitress with some delicious sweet potato chips!

Sue and Angie getting some cuddle time

I wrangled in mom and Nick for a photo-op

Pops giving L.S. (his name for him) some love

I had even more reasons to be thankful for my family this Thanksgiving, because I couldn't have done it without them! Although I hosted, everyone pitched in to make it special. Everyone brought lots of homemade goodies to share and I (and by I, I mean mostly my mom) cooked one turkey in the oven and Stacy deep fried one out back. Stacy also had the brilliant idea of doing some sweet potato chips in the deep fryer and they were loved by all, as evidence, they were devoured immediately! We had just enough food and not many leftovers. In a way, no leftovers is good, but on the flip side I had the thought of how long it took to prepare this dinner and then it was just that...one dinner...and it kinda bummed me out.

I managed to fit everyone at one very long table and I was pleased. It was a bit crowded but it wasn't too bad. The three little girls had their own table in the kitchen and enjoyed some decorated turkey cookies while they were waiting for the "real" dessert. The kids had a fantastic time, as usual, running around together and I think the adults had a wonderful time chatting, watching football, and keeping to no schedule at all (except the cooking schedule of course!). I'm also thankful that I didn't volunteer for Christmas dinner, but maybe another Thanksgiving will be in our future!

Birthday Boy

IT'S DADDY'S BIRTHDAY...AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

helping in her second most favorite way...

...helping in her number one favorite way! Helping to eat the cake!

self portrait at the game!

streamers for a touch-down...way to go Chiefs!

Yesterday we rang in Charlie's birthday with much joy! We had a full day, and it was a sure sign of his old age how tired he was by the end of it! ;) He so graciously woke up early to cheer me on during my run and then we headed to the Chiefs game. His mom had given us some tickets and they were just fantastic seats! We had a great time watching the home town team win, against the defending Super Bowl champs no less, as we cuddled and cherished the moments without our darling children around! Charlie's birthday also marks another important day in our lives...it's the day we met! 6 years ago yesterday was one fateful day! It's hard to believe but we've come a long way in those 6 years and I cherish them all! We've had such a great time together and have already created so many wonderful memories, not to mention two beautiful children, that I know we will have many more years to come! I love you, Honey, Happy Birthday!

Lapped by the Sugar Plum Fairy

pre-run warm up!

among the masses

I'm breathing hard by this point!

Bringing it home!

Post race cuddles with my hubby!

Well, I survived. I did however wear the brightest t-shirt I own just to be sure that if I had fallen dead into a ditch from exhaustion, someone would easily spot me! I finished the run in 39 minutes, which I'm pretty happy about actually. I figured that at a bare minimum I should be finish in no less than 45 minutes, which is about a 15 minute mile. So coming in in less than 40 was good, but I'm not kidding myself, I know it's not a fantastic time, but I did it. It's a jumping off point hopefully. I hope to train more so that I can run the Groundhog Run at the end of January and possibly the St. Pat's 4 Mile in March, but we'll just see how it's going. My darling husband surprised me at a number of turns as he was standing there with the camera cheering me on. In the spirit of my general no-holds-barred posting philosophy, I tried (I truly did!) to post a video of me running where I was asking you to please ignore the jiggly parts (and there's a lot of them!) and focus on the funniness of the fact that a woman wearing a fairy tu-tu and a Rudolph nose just leaves me in the dust! BUT, I couldn't get it to post...maybe it was divine intervention! At least I saved myself the humiliation!

Thankful Already

Leo is thankful for Mommy because he knows where his bread is buttered! ;) And well, the shirt was adorable and I thought it was okay to toot my own horn!

Sophia is thankful for Daddy who is always such a wonderful playmate and father. He took her swimming yesterday to which she exclaimed, Mommy, the pool's not closed anymore! Caught! I've been telling her it's closed and we can't go...which, technically it is, but we just joined the community center with an indoor pool for the winter, so there will be much rejoicing! She was also thrilled to help him in the yard yesterday and did very well staying on the sidewalk and away from the lawnmower!

Rub a Dub, Big Man in the Tub

taking a bath makes me want to dance!

Do you need some help here, Mom?

Of course I do, and even if I didn't...

all dressed...

in coordinating outfits! Thanks, Kathleen!

sweet babies

That's right, Ladies, it does say hug me!

Let me just say that Leo is a gigantor. He is already out of many of his 0-3 month clothes and is on to 3-6. Today marks his 8 week birthday...and it seems that we have quite a big man on our hands here! I finally put him in the real tub (as opposed to a sponge bath). Part of my reluctance was because, well, let's be real, I'm just kinda lazy and getting the whole tub ready is more of a deal, but also because he's still having some belly button issues. There is this little nubbin still left in there that does not want to die. It keeps regenerating and causing some issue. Nothing major of course, but just some bleeding and seepage. The doctor has cauterized it twice now to no avail. I also tried out the little ramp dealy-bob as opposed to the bigger plastic baby bath tub because I didn't want to deal with that cumbersome mess quite yet. With Sophia, the baby tub was no big deal because it was only her. But now, we'd have to store it somewhere when we wanted to give her a bath and it's too big to put her and it in the tub together...so that leads me back to the ramp. It worked out all right and Leo didn't mind. In fact, he's a great bath taker. He has never cried when we've given him a bath, whereas Sophia screamed her head off for at least the first month or two. Hopefully, now that I've just bitten the bullet, it will lead us to greener, or should I say, cleaner pastures!

The Cow Stops Here

So I am officially done "breastfeeding". Whew. I will admit that I am a lot happier and more functional. I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to just be done with my whole pumping routine. It was becoming quite tedious and was difficult to supervise Sophia from one spot. There were at least a few occasions where I heard mysterious noises and thumps from other rooms! ;)

I lasted about 4 months with Sophia and about 5 weeks with Leo. BUT...I tried to have a supply of breastmilk in the freezer for him and I think after all was said and done, it was almost 3 gallons, which is kinda weird to think about. I sort of envisioned a grocery store shelf with three gigantic gallon jugs of my breastmilk and I must admit I was a little grossed out. On a more personal note, and perhaps some TMI, I was apparently feeding Leo spoiled breastmilk that I must have left out too long or something. Anyway, all day he was spitting up some yucky looking stuff and then it dawned on me... Maybe something was wrong with the milk? So after a smell test and still not being quite sure I decided to take a considerable swig to see if I could taste anything funky. Well let me just say that funky doesn't describe the wretched taste in my mouth! Not only did I feel like some sort of new-breed cannibal, but I felt like the worst mother in the world for feeding him this stuff, not once but at least 3 times!!!! Needless to say, I threw all the thawed stuff out (which broke my heart just a little at a time) and vowed to only thaw in the fridge from now on. 3 gallons of milk doesn't last as long as you might think!

The only down-side to stopping the pump is that I've lost my little reading corner moment that I got each day. At least once a day, someone else would feed Leo while I pumped and I utilized that time to catch up on my reading...it was wonderful! Since then I haven't been able to make it past page 100 very easily in my new book club book, which sadly is my choice! Yikes...I better get on it...and quick!

Once the supply in the freezer is gone, he'll be on formula 100%. I'm okay with it, I mean even though we've been mixing the breastmilk and the formula he has at least gotten my milk for a couple of months. We did start him on some fancy formula that is designed for gassiness and fussiness, and I'm not sure it's working. He has some seriously foul gas smells, which is just not normal for a tiny baby! The pediatrician thought this might help. I'm not convinced that it has, maybe it's just because I don't want to have to buy the expensive stuff again! Isn't that horrible! But seriously, once I went to generic formula with Sophia, we saved so much more money in a month. Only time will tell!

He is a beautiful, healthy growing boy and we love him more and more every day, no matter what he drinks!

Test Shots

Well, I upgraded from a 4 megapixel camera to a 12 megapixel camera...can you tell the difference? I don't know if they look any clearer...maybe a smidgen cuter, but I don't know! ;)

Future Ruggers?

Although they don't match each other or the team, I still love that they're both wearing their rugby stripes! Both kiddos had fun at the game and Leo managed to stay awake for the whole thing, even! It was a gorgeous day and I'm happy that we at least made it out to one game this season! Hopefully things will work out better next season because it's fun to support Charlie and I miss all the other rugby wives and kids!

These pictures also mean that I was able to retrieve them from the memory card...how do you ask, did I perform such a feat...I got a new camera! WaHOOOO!

I just upgraded the one we had. It's basically the same model just newer. It's so tiny though that it kinda freaks me out!

Oh, and just for the record, as far as my future ruggers are concerned, I will stop at nothing to keep Sophia from the game, but I'm not sure I'll have as much luck with Leo! Yikes!

Addendum!*

* Whoops! I'm out of blogging practice already, apparently! Here are some additional pictures that I forgot to include in the post below, Worth a Thousand Words. If you haven't looked there, you should probably do that first! Enjoy and don't forget to vote!

Leo W. (Charlie's dad)

I don't have any baby pictures of him, otherwise I'd put those up too

Sophia about 5 months

Leo S. about 1 week

Leo S. 4 days old

Leo S. newborn

Sophia about 6 months

Sophia newborn

Sophia about a week old

Worth a Thousand Words...

So without a camera I really had to get creative! Actually, I've wanting to scan some pictures for a while now, but I'm more motivated without a camera to showcase new pictures! It did take me forever, once again, to get these pics in here and post-able (And they're only sort of post-able! In fact, if anyone can give me tips on how to scan pictures without the stupid little picture in a box look, I'd be really grateful. I fixed it the best I could but I still don't love it!) I picked out a few pictures that I think show similarities between family members.

I really think Leo looks like a true Jones. I look a lot like my dad and I think he will too. Also, I put a few pics of Charlie and me to compare to Sophia. Everyone says she looks exactly like Charlie, which she does, but I think it's amazing how much she looks like me as a kid too. How can this happen?? Genetics are a funny thing!

Leo's newborn picture

My cousin David's newborn picture
David is Ellyn's (dad's sister) son

Leo S.

Leo S.

Ellyn kissing Stephen R. (my dad!)

I loved this picture for many reasons...1. I think it looks just like Leo, 2. this reminds me so much of Sophia showering her own brother with love!

Stephen R.

Charlie

Tori

Sophia

Okay, this is an old picture of her, but I thought it looked so much like Charlie in the picture I included that I wanted to use it!

Please weigh in and let me know what you think....who do my children look like the most??? Inquiring minds want to know!