Splish splash

I like to think of this as some sort of redneck backyard riviera. To add to the redneckness of it all, he swam in a swim diaper alone.

Jones, however, couldn't care less about any of that. He loved it! We passed the time yesterday afternoon waiting for Trey to come home by swimming and playing with stickers. Jones was so happy to see him, and so was I. Three nights used to not seem so long. I will be happy when we have a relaxing weekend... I am sure there will be one in about 15 years, right? In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy the busy that is our life!

Keeping It Real Friday

I was two hours late to work this morning.  Two!

Trey is serving as Dad for a Happening on the coast, so it is just me and Jones from last night until Sunday.

OK, that is not entirely true.  I am a baby and hate staying alone.  Laura spent the night with us last night and we are staying in Starkville for the remainder of the weekend.

Anyway. Not the point.  I was two hours late!

I knew I was going to be a touch late.  You can't drop Jones off at school until 7:30.  I normally leave for work around 7:15-7:20 to get to my office by 8:00. 

What I didn't realize is that during my absence of taking Jones to school, he and Trey had develop some sort of routine in the mornings which includes taking a slooooow breakfast.  The kid just sat and looked at his breakfast. Then he would take a bite.  Say something.  Talk to Sophie. Sing a song. Demand to watch Winnie the Pooh.  Sing another song.  Take another bite. I should have woken him up at 6!

I finally drop him off close to 8, drive to Starkville, drop Laura off at her house and get to my office at 8:45.  Not bad.

But then I had a fear.  I just knew I had left the oven on broil.  I could think about anything else.  So after 10 minutes of being at work, I drove back to Columbus only to find that no, the oven was not on.  I am just losing it. To make the trip worth it, I had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Then it was back to Starkville.  I was in my office a little after 10.

Good thing I love my co-workers and they love me.

Are you losing it? Is it just me? It is a wonder I am able to function enough to meet deadlines at work. I would blame this on pregnancy, but I never really got it all together after Jones was born.  If he took half my brain, then this baby is sure to take the other half.  You do the math.

In other real news, this is what Jones calls me now:

He is saying Heather, in case you can't understand Jones talk.

And finally,  hooray for USA! I was so proud of Gabby.  She is like a mini-super -smiley-person and I want to just put her in my pocket.  Did you watch? I love her.

Happy weekend, folks!

Stay-cation

Who ever coined that term? I don't know, but I like it. Because on vacation you don't clean if you don't want to, you eat what pleases you, and you lounge. I like to lounge.  And on stay-cations you get to do those things plus sleep in your own bed. Score one for me.

I declared this long weekend a stay-cation since a proper summer vacation is not likely in our immediate future.


We spent a good deal of time at the Country Club. Jones was super nervous at first and would declare "this way!" and point to the chair where he would then demand a snack.

But by Sunday afternoon, he was comfortable again in the water and had a blast. He would yell "kick, kick, kick" the whole time.

Hooray for summer days.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to the Buffalo Park to look at the animals. Jones has a deep appreciation for farm animals. He loves Charlotte's Web and carries a plastic cow with him most of the time. So the Buffalo Park seemed like a grand idea.

It. Was. Hot.

If you thought for a second that monkeys, giraffes, kangaroos, and goats smelled nice with zero breeze and 100% humidity, you are dead wrong.

Jones didn't seem to mind. He loved the animals. He even fed the goats and mini horses. And he still talks about the giraffes.

I am sure we were a sight at Chick-fil-a after our little adventure. We were hot, sweaty, and smelled like wet cows. Oh well.

Then on Monday we met my parents for a little Memorial Day breakfast downtown. Followed by the park and a little playtime in the fountains on campus. Then afternoon at the pool.

Oh glorious four day weekend. Come back to me soon.

To top the weekend off, we are SEC champs. Seriously, in the words of jones: goooo buuuldogs!!! Both of my sisters were there for the weekend So much fun.

I-phone picture dump

Our week according to my I-phone:

He likes to dress himself on the weekends.

Found him like this - playing in tub eating a day old snack. Always with rain boots.

Sweet niece watching her big brother play t-ball.

I like to lay out during my lunch break at work. No judgement.

Jones has discovered the art of I-phone self portraits.  And he loves it.

Where's Jones?!

There he is!

Muffins with Mom

Last Friday, Jones' school hosted a Muffins with Mom breakfast in honor of Mother's Day. It was such a sweet time to eat with Jones before school and see him interact with the other kids.

Sweet card he gave me at breakfast.

 I love his school so much. He has learned an incredible amount since starting there in January. He knows his colors, animals, some letters and numbers and is such a social little man.  I love seeing him love school and I love that he gets excited about going.

I am sad that he will be leaving this school next month, but I am so looking forward to the next chapter in our life.

His next school is a great one and I am so happy Trey will be right there, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous and sad. Jones has wonderful teachers and wonderful friends at his current school. They will be missed. I pray his next school will provide him with sweet friends and caring teachers, just as this one has.

I am trying to focus on our blessings and the new adventures coming our way. You would think I would be used to change by now.

Jones gave his two teachers and the school director each a rose bush for Teacher's Appreciation last week. 
He loves them so!

Little baby. Big boy.

I love this picture.

I love that Jones looks like such a boy, yet he has a stuff bunny by the ear.

(And, for the record, that is a bug in his other hand.)

Little bit baby, but whole lot big boy.

Growing up too fast.

as long as I am living, my baby you'll be.

Jones - 2 year pictures

My dear friend and photographer extraordinaire has done it again. 

Tricia has taken all all of Jones' pictures since he was in my belly. 

She is so good.

If you are in the Alabama/Mississippi area, I highly recommend her.  You will not be disappointed. 

Check out her site here: http://www.bettydonnephotography.blogspot.com/

Love her. Love the pictures. Love our friendship.  Love my child. 

That's a whole lotta love going around.

Check out more on her site.  Or on my Facebook. (Are we friends?)

Birthday fun

We had fun celebrating Jones' big day!

On his birthday, he woke up to balloons and blew out birthday candles in a banana. How can it be more fun than that?!

Then Trey and I took cupcakes to his class. We were there when Jones woke up from his nap and I think it confused him. He cried for the first ten minutes of his class party! He never cries. He got over it when he saw we came bearing cupcakes. We took off the rest of the afternoon and just played together - the three of us. So fun!

That night we celebrated three birthdays at our house: Jones (April 17), Uncle Bobby (19th) and my daddy (20th). So much fun!


We ended the birthday celebration today at the Doctors for his 2 year check-up. No shots today - Just reporting in what we thought: he is huge. 95% for height (37 inches) and 90% for weight (32 lbs.).

My big boy.

two years ago today.

Two years later, and my life is completely changed.

You are so very, very loved, little man.

Sleepy time picture

I would pay good money to have eyelashes like my child.
Where did he get those things?

words.

Jones' speech is improving every day and never ceases to amaze both me and Trey. There has been a drastic change in his speech since he first began speech therapy a few months ago.

He will be two on Tuesday, the 17th.

That's a whole different post. (Where did my baby go?)

He now tries to repeat most things we say. It is pretty hilarious, and I don't want to forget a thing.

We are not sure where this child came from - Germany? China? England? His accent is hysterical.

He can put several words together now. We can understand him, but I am not sure others can.

Some of my favorites:

"Heee Ma!"
Here, mama. Or Da. He does this when he hands us something.

"Tantu, Ma!" "Tantu, Da!"
Thank you, Mama! Thank you, Daddy! He says this for everything and is always unprompted. Sweet!

"Wheres Russ?"

Ever since our friend, Russell, came to visit a couple of weeks ago, he will randomly look at us and ask where's Russ? He says it perfectly, but does have a precious lisp.

He also recently started asking "wheres Ray?" I found out that the little man that cleans his school his named Ray. Every time we see Mr. Ray, Jones lights up and says HEY RAY. My friendly child.

"E-E how" (china?)
Henry's house. He says this a lot. It's his favorite place to be.

And just the other day he said his longest sentence:

"where E-E go, da?"
Where did Henry go, Daddy?

He adores Henry so much. Talks about him all the time. He calls Henry "E-E" and Noelle Adams "Baa-bee".

Jones can also say the following colors:

Boooo (blue) yeeeoooo (yellow), pink, geen (green), white, black, red, and brown. He tries orange, and it is funny. I am not sure I can even attempt to spell it.

When asked what color something is, he more times than not answers with BOOO. But if you ask him to point to yellow, blue, etc. he usually gets it right.

He can pronounce most letters. This week the letter at school is C. I should record him trying to say C C C C over and over. Again, not sure where this kid is from. It's for sure not Mississippi.

He likes to count with Elmo, but just says Teeee (for three) over and over.

He still refuses to call Sophie by name. Only "dog". He will call Laura and Kristen's dog by name, but not Sophie. I think he does this on purpose, out of spite. They do have a love/hate relationship.

He also calls all dogs "BUULLDOOGS", which I love.

His favorite thing: DA. Or DAAA-DEEEE!

Easter Morning

I do love a baby in a bonnet. Sweet Noelle Adams looked like a baby doll on Easter morning!
Our best picture after about a million attempts of getting a good of of the grandparents with the kids. Wild, I tell you!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
1 Peter 1:3Trey and I were both able to get individual pictures with Jones at our house before church. No smile from the little man, but documented at least!

We had a wonderful Easter!

Although Trey declared this the year Jones refuses to be still for a picture, we were able to at least get a couple of half way decent shots. Most of the pictures we have include him running away, climbing a tree, fighting to be let down, picking the flowers at the church, digging in the dirt, or trying to tackle Henry. I gave up on trying to get a group picture! He is one wild child.

He was delighted to see the Easter bunny came by that morning. He carefully examined each little gift with a WOW! before placing them all in a perfect line on the couch. Funny man.

My parents are remodeling their home, but their kitchen was declared "cookable" so my mom cooked an Easter feast for us after church. The dining room is still under construction, but we were happy to sit outside to eat - thankful for gorgeous weather! After dinner, the boys hunted eggs. I laughed at Jones' basket. Not only did he find eggs, but also sticks, grass, and dirt!

Easter weekend

After traveling for work some last week, I was more than excited to have a long three-day weekend with both of my boys. The weather was gorgeous, so outside we stayed! Jones had his first snow cone, which, naturally, he devoured. We grilled out with the family, went on long jogs, dyed Easter eggs, and played hard! And sweet Noelle Adams was right there along the ride for everything. During one of our many outdoor festivities, she was missing her sun hat, so I went in and retrieved one of Jones' baby sun hats. She is already a trooper putting up with so many boy things!
It was a wonderful weekend that somehow, even though it was longer than most, went by at record speed.