Busy, busy, busy

I've been anti-blogging lately because of our crazy but fun last couple of weeks. No posting (no shock there), no reading, no commenting but due to some requests from aunts and grandparents here's the documentation of some of what we've been up to...

Cade's blessing. Thanks to all who came (especially those who traveled and Stewy and Robyn who came even though they could only stay for the blessing part - the most important part but still). I'm looking a little squinty but it was the only picture where you could see both kids well and what can I say...I sacrifice for my children. I'm a giver that way.

Baking bread. Somehow I feel so "homemakerish" when I do things like this. I love it. Now all I need is a bonnet and I don't think I can get much more Mormon.
Watching fireworks. Don't you love Evan's shirt? He wears his patriotic apparel every 4th of July. I love this man something fierce.

Restraining myself from eating this little guy up. Completely edible don't you think? I always thought it was funny when people described babies this way. Then I had one and then another one - and I completely understood.

Pictures not included:

Landscaping our backyard - finally finished! Thanks to Evan's parents...

Cutting all my hair off. Evan laughed when he saw me - he says it was a "good" laugh but maybe not the best first reaction wouldn't you say ladies?

I love to eat

Which is why the hubby did so awesome on my birthday (or shall we say birthday weekend - I know I'm not the only one to drag these things out). I just polished off the Twix bar "Colt" gave me and on Friday ate myself into oblivion with PF Changs, French toast and Coldstone. Which is what prompted my sister Heather to ask (after finding out what I did on the big day), "How is that working with the whole losing the baby weight thing?" Niiiiiccce. Which is why after our frog adventure (hence the pictures) I went on a jog with Evan. You know it's been "awhile" since you've exercised when your 2 year old can't stop exclaiming, "Look Mommy runs!" Yes, honey, Mommy does know how.

Onto the frog. Evan caught him while Colton was napping and was determined to keep him around till Colt woke up. Now here's the part where you can tell Colt is being raised by the girliest of girls. The above picture is when the frog escaped (see clenched fingers) and below is where the little frog got a little too close (see him preparing to jump). Thank goodness for Evan (or Farmer Evan as I want to call him when he wears his "yardwork" hat) who will hopefully make sure these boys have the right amount of testosterone.

Feeding Elmo, Lake Powell, and other stuff

It's blurry but I had to show everyone (I'm sure a teenage Colton will forever thank me for sharing this with the world) but everytime I feed Cade, Colton is determined to nurse Elmo as well. In all actuality, Elmo nurses from Colt's belly button. I must say that I cannot wait to show Colton's future wife this picture.

In other news, we just got back from a WONDERFUL week at Lake Powell with my family. Everyone pitched in and stayed home with our kiddos which allowed me to try waterskiing again. We had a boat growing up and my natural aversion to large bodies of water coupled with me liking my feet on stable ground led to me never getting up on the skis. After being assured numerous times by family members that alligators do not reside in Lake Powell and with Evan in the water with me (so that the Loch Ness monster could take him first) I finally got up on skis. I think my family was in shock. Heck, I was too. I ventured out of my comfort zone and tried to go over the wake and bruised my tailbone in the process. Moral of the story - don't try anything crazy and you don't get hurt. The picture I didn't get but wish I had was Evan on skis. I may be biased but he was so fun to watch. He catches air people! The downside to this is he bruised his rib. Actually, now he thinks he may have broken it. Moral of the story - don't try anything crazy and you don't get hurt.

Colt loved being in the boat - not so much the cold water but definitely the boat. Thanks again to Mom and Dad for an awesome week!

Last but not least, a Happy Father's Day to my man. About a week after we started dating, I knew without a doubt that Evan would make an awesome dad. It's documented in my journal people - I'm not making this up. Colt adores Evan and Evan deserves to be adored. For Colton, Lake Powell was full of "cliff jumping" with Dad, finding lizards and snakes with Dad, and tubing with Dad. I'm reveling in the fact that Cade is a mama's boy right now (I have the food) because I know it won't last.

Oh and this picture of Cade is for the adoring aunts and grandparents out there that want an updated picture. I am loving those chubby cheeks. It's nice to know that all those night feedings are paying off.

Two weeks later...

I'm getting no sleep at night, am finally able to sit normally (childbirth HURTS!), and am madly and deeply in love...again. Cade McCoy Jones made his debut May 4th just before noon. I was just telling Evan how awesome my experience was this time around. Colton took 17 hours from start to finish with an hour and a half of serious pushing. With Cade, I felt my 1st contraction at 8 am and only had to endure 10 minutes of pushing. So I guess that his head was not as big as we thought (yea!) and he weighed in a whole pound lighter. A pound makes a difference folks. Granted, we took him a week before he was due but well worth it in my book.

It is amazing to me how darn easily you love this little person. How easily you love him just as much as his older brother. I'm making the adjustment to 2 kids now. I'm trying to give Colton some extra love and attention since he always starts to misbehave RIGHT when I'm nursing. I'm surrounded by poop and pee and well, weiners. It's the truth people. But though I know that what I'm doing might seem mundane, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but with my boys.

The proud older brother.

Ps - after a day and a half of negotiations, we settled on Cade. Marriage is all about compromise right?

GOING PRIVATE

Okay folks, I'm definitely going private. Evan and my mom have been begging me to do this for FOREVER and I'm finally paranoid enough to do it. If you read this (even if you're a friend of a friend of a friend) let me know, so I can invite you!

Help Wanted

The battle lines are drawn in our house. The name game war is definitely at full throttle people. We have less than 2 weeks to decide on Junior's name (it's official - I'm getting induced a week early. We had an ultrasound last week and it seems that this baby got Evan's "larger than average" sized head and the doc thinks it appropriate to not risk me trying to birth a watermelon).

Let me preface this post by saying that Evan puts up with me ... very well. He is generally easy going, mellow, even passive at times. But when it comes to naming his sons, he unfortunately puts up a very impressive fight. With Colt, I knew from the beginning that my favorite name was out. So there was no hope, no fight in me. Now, two weeks before delivery I find out that my favorite name is out? What?! I told him last night that he had put hope into my heart and now was ripping my heart out of my chest. One might say I can be dramatic at times. Still I got my point across. With that said, I need suggestions! I need to prepare for the possibility that even after watching his beloved wife labor and bring forth another son, Evan might remain impassive and refuse me my favorite name.

So please, if you have suggestions, pass them my way! Evan's favorite right now is Callis which I might add is NOT happening. Here is a time where my foot is absolutely planted in cement.

On another note, I have been quilting today! Or should I say, Chanel has been patiently trying to teach this perfectionist how to cut squares. I can be awfully slow. But when the finished product is done, I will post pictures. So my bathrooms aren't clean, no hospital bag is packed, and the carseat is not installed BUT this baby will have a darn cute quilt!

Yea for weddings!

I don't know that this has ever happened before but let it be documented that I updated TWICE in one week. I think I'm in a little shock myself. But I did determine that my brother's wedding was blog worthy. So here's a congrats to the happy couple who have now been married a whopping 4 days and are sailing on a cruise ship out in the Carribbean somewhere. I'm so happy for them and it was so much fun to watch Adam beam pretty much the entire day. I always feel such nostalgia at weddings and it's safe to say that I'm still very much satisfied with the choice I made a few years ago. I do love my man.

Cheesiness aside, here we are at the reception. Do we look tired? Oh wait - it's because we were almost asleep on our feet. It was a whirlwind trip to say the least. We flew in Thursday night, wedding on Friday, flew out on Saturday. Colt was tired too - he just tends to manifest it by getting more wired ... and more wired. Awesome huh? This is the most we could contain him for the picture.

Seeing as how this baby will be here in roughly 3 weeks I was a bit nervous traveling so pregnant. Not as nervous as the flight attendants though. On the flight out, I was rubbing my belly as I had a contraction. The flight attendant looked nervously at me and then my belly and then me again, frantically asking, "Are you okay??" I just laughed and said a little too brightly to be believeable, "Of course!" Pretty much we're both thinking: this baby better stay put because she and I both didn't want to become intimately acquainted as I delivered on the plane. Our obedient baby did indeed stay put.

Update: I have successfully finished off the Teddy Grahams and have now moved onto Oreo's Cakesters. This is serious heaven in a box folks. It's a soft oreo! A SOFT oreo people! Run, don't walk, yourself to the store.

How we watch conference...

Or should I say how Colt watches Conference? He had to have his own little alcove underneath the computer desk the whole weekend. I thought it was too funny and of course (as the biased parent that I am) way too cute. Conference was wonderful and I was way too thrilled to hear the talk from Elder Ballard that was specifically for young mothers. LOVED it!

This past Friday night I had plans to go out with Chanel and Kristen to dinner. When we showed up at Kristen's house to pick her up, I was totally shocked to find a surprise baby shower instead. I even blushed. I just have to say how touched I was at all the work Chanel and Kristen did to put it together and for all the people who came! Thanks again girls! I was also impressed by the smooth lying abilities of Evan and Chanel. I am obviously a very trusting person because I ate up every single one.

Speaking of eating - I bought some chocolate Teddy Grahams today at the store "for Colton." If anyone has any ideas on how I can stop eating these things, that would be wonderful. Especially because Evan and I are now topping the scales at the exact same weight. Still I somehow seem to feel no shame and can't seem to get myself to stop eating these devil bears.

What we've been up to...

Has it really been a month since I last posted? I have to thank Chanel for these pictures, seeing as how she is documenting Colt's childhood for me. My mom is beside herself with gratitude. We crashed the neighboring neighborhood's Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning. I saw our Bishop there and couldn't stop myself from rambling on that I didn't belong there and was crashing the party. Maybe there's just something about the man that elicits confessions - I certainly couldn't keep my mouth shut. Embarrassing. Here's Colt ducking behind the starting line before it was time. I thought my dad would like the hat - we're teaching him young (and I love how he has to wear it backwards because that's how his dad does it).

I got Colt to pick up the eggs by telling him we were playing "Clean Up." I thought I was being pretty clever. Hey - it worked.

This last picture is of Colt at swim lessons with Chanel's little girl Lauren. Stinking cute. The class goes until I'm 3 weeks away from delivery. Hopefully the baby stays put - a poolside delivery is not what I have in mind.

My mom and sister came into town and it was so nice to have 4 extra (and willing) arms to help out. With the extra help, Evan and I were able to go out to a Denver Nuggets game and I lovingly gave him my hot dog that came with the ticket. Pretty much I hate hot dogs but I felt giving all the same.

We've also been going through a new phase (hopefully it's a phase). Colt can't get through the day without pulling off his pants and saying the whole time, "Pants Off!" While it's not such a problem at home, in public it gets to be a little embarrassing. Especially because Evan and I are firm believers in wearing pants. Thankfully, it's warming up so luckily for me it's simply a fashion preference and not a health hazard.

Valentines Pictures (Belated as always)

Yea for Evan! As one might gather from the previous post, Evan remembered Valentines Day. Remembered it and celebrated it. He did good - to put it mildly. Some flowers, some chocolate (DEFINITELY a good idea for the pregnant woman), a blog post, a night of bowling and a steakhouse. Another good idea for this Texan meat lovin' woman. Evan made sure to take a picture of me to post on the blog so here it is. Also, my first picture of me this pregnancy (this is for you Chanel). Only 10 weeks to go until baby #2 makes his arrival. I talked to my friend Rach who just welcomed her second and I don't know why but it scared me! I know that I've done this before but I'm having serious confidence issues on getting a human bowling ball (ha, ha) out of me. As an epidural lover, labor doesn't make me break into a sweat but pushing - I think I'm perspiring as I type. All I know is that Colt didn't get here easily and my doctor informed me that second children (especially if you have the same gender which is ahem...me) tend to be larger than the 1st. I need a serious confidence boost. Either way, he's gonna get here and I'm so looking forward to meeting him. Now if I could just convince Evan that Ernest is not an appropriate name for this child (not a joke folks...)

On another note, I've spent the last week here in Texas and am loving the weather! It will kill me to leave the 70 degree days. I even brought my capris. Mind you, they're not maternity and when I couldn't make them go past my thighs I decided it would have to be the thought that counts.

One more thing - I need to vent. Why is it when I take my child to a playground, library storytime, etc. that I always end up parenting someone else's child? Not because I want to. But because there's alway one kid pushing, shoving, hitting my child while the bully's mom is sitting there, oblivious, reading a magazine!?! Since when is it my job to stop your child from terrorizing others? Stop reading your magazine and be a mother, woman! I'm stepping off my soapbox for now.

Last but not least, Evan's pregnant picture. I could not make the man take a normal picture so I'm posting this in hopes that I might have a more convincing argument next time...

BE MINE!

Unfortunately, you don't get to here from Rebecca in this post. She struggles with getting pictures up of herself so I am helping her out with a dedicated Valentine post. She's such a great mom and wife. Plus she looks adorable when she's exhausted - which she will shortly get to relive with numero dos on his way. Here's a little Valentine Ryhme for you sweetie:


Flowers and chocolates are easy to buy
but they don't come close for this guy
to expressing my love and appreciation
for the hottest wife in the nation.

I love your sassy attitude;
you definitely have a spine.
So thanks for sticking with this dude.
Will you BE MY VALENTINE?!

I am officially embarrassed but oh well. I love you Babecca!

Pictures (Finally!)

I'm guessing that most of y'all are wondering if I really have ever taken a picture of my son. Here's my proof that we did document his 2nd birthday. If it seems a little over indulgent with how many pictures I posted - remember that I am trying to prove a point that I will take a picture every now and again. Oh and funny story on this cake. I was not a crafty mom and went for the whole ordering Colt's cake. That's just my style I guess. Well the best was when I told Evan that the cake cost $80 but Colt only "turns 2 once." That was such a priceless exchange (priceless for me, heart stopping for Evan). In fairness, the cake I did want really did cost $80 but I do have a little money sense. The relief that came over Evan when I said it was only $17 was unparalleled, I'm sure.
Blowing out the candles with Nana...

I'm loving the blue mustache.

The loot ... notice Colt's hand reaching for a present.

One of the favorites. He is loving anything to do with a truck - I should broaden that to anything with wheels.

Happy Birthday to my boys!

I've been taking a break from the internet in general, but I'm back ... again. And yet again, we have another pictureless post! We're still having technical difficulties with our memory card that has all of Colt's birthday pictures on it. Evan's one birthday picture is on our other memory card now resting comfortably in his friend's car ... in California. Long story.

So I'm wishing the boys in my life a belated happy birthday and will post pictures (at least of Colt) soon. We celebrated Colton's 2nd on December 28th and even though it's cliche, I can't believe he's two! I'm slowly coming to the realization that he's actually not my baby boy anymore - he's huge. Hence, why I'm doing this again so I have a little boy who actually wants to cuddle with me (or has to really since he can't lift his head).

Happy 28th to my man. He's so low maintenance with stuff like this, it's easy for me to get away with murder. But since it was a Saturday I wanted to do something special. I'd asked him what he really wanted and he said to go skiing with me. Lucky for me, I'm pregnant - I'm thinking of getting pregnant every winter just so I don't have to go ski with the man. But that would mean a LOT of kids so ... instead I took him "Indoor Skydiving." The man's already been bungee jumping, "outdoor" skydiving and everything else life threatening, but I wanted him to have some fun. It seems he did and I think I scored some serious points. Evan's the best kind of guy - really. I'm so lucky to have him and I'm hoping he knows this. If "indoor skydiving" didn't show him that, I'm hoping my fajita dinner did. Unfortunately for me, he loves to eat my meals as opposed to going out to eat. But for him and only him, it's worth it to me.

And a quick side note. For those who remember the great "Girl Scout cookie hunt" of 2007, we had a most welcome visitor come to our door on Saturday. I think I scared the little 8 year old girl scout when I opened the door and shouted excitedly, "You came!" I also think it was the easiest sell of her life. I bought 5 boxes and debated telling Evan - more for the fact of having to share them as opposed to the whole budget thing. I didn't think 5 boxes was that many (have you tasted the samoas?) but Evan's face seemed to say differently. Thank goodness I had the serious points left over from his birthday.

The Verdict

Evan should never underestimate a mother's instinct...it's a boy! So yeah, yeah, I thought it was a boy but really I had a 50/50 chance. This ultrasound was so different from Colton's. Colton wasn't moving, kept his legs firmly together and wouldn't even assure his mother that he had a left arm. Fast forward 2 years and we've got Baby Boy #2 who was such an active little guy. We knew what he was within the first 5 minutes. It's funny because the ultrasound tech didn't even have to tell us. She was measuring the thigh bone and Evan and I both saw something "extra" between the legs and said, "We've seen that before..."

I love this ultrasound and getting a glimpse of the tiny baby growing. This might sound silly but when I see them on the ultrasound, I fall even more in love. I can't wait to get him here. It's such a blessing that he's so healthy and had all his fingers and toes. He was waving (though he didn't technically know it was waving), grabbing his toes, and making me all around nervous that he was going to come out ready to go. I'll admit that a part of me is worried about being a "boy" mom. I'm one of the girliest girls I know. Can I handle the bugs, the mud, the blood? I guess we'll find out...

So Sad...

Last Saturday Colton met Santa - for the first time - and was terrified. My mom hates this picture. As the doting Nana that she is, she can't handle Colton's face. Are Evan and I bad parents if we couldn't stop laughing at how much Santa scared him? Maybe. I was prepared for him to not want to sit on Santa's lap, but to be clinging to me, refusing to even look in Santa's direction? I'm thinking that in the next few years, as Colton begins to realize that Santa is the nice man leaving him gifts, this attitude will most likely change.

Some more sad news (though the above could also be labeled as 'funny'). I was taking pictures. Cute ones too. I took all kinds of Colt at Evan's work party (where he 'met' Santa). It snowed a ton the other day so I worked up all of my courage and layered Colton and I up. And I do mean layered. I think we each had 6 layers on. Sure, we were sweating on our way out the door, but this Texan was NOT going to freeze her fanny off. As Colton was running around in the snow and discovering what a delicacy it was to EAT the snow, I'm snapping all kind of pictures. Oh, I was feeling like quite the supermom, capturing my son on camera. Now I realize that most parents have a tendency to regularly document these moments, but work with me here people. To make a long story short, I try to upload these pictures on my computer and there aren't any pictures to upload! And, now the camera is saying it's a bad memory card! Bless my heart! I have no idea how to retrieve any of the pictures so now I'm blogging with the picture that Evan's work took. I guess that's what I get for trying to document Colt's childhood.

On a happier note, 5 days and counting until Ultrasound Day. I'm more convinced than ever that it's a boy. Evan thinks I'm crazy to be feeling so sure, but it's documented here folks. We shall see...

Some Attitude

I've been feeling the baby move since last week and it is by far my favorite part of being pregnant. Last night lying in bed he/she was really moving around (this kid loves some sugar) and Evan wanted a part of the action. He started pushing (gently, I promise folks) on my stomach and this little tiny thing gave such a strong kick, I couldn't believe it. There's part of me that's thinking a girl because man was there attitude in that kick. Pretty much saying, 'If you could stop poking and prodding, I'm trying to get some sleep here.' I think it was the first time that this pregnancy felt 'real' to Evan, you know? Not that he hasn't been feeling the effects from a less than energetic wife, but since he hasn't heard the heartbeat yet and I don't technically look pregnant (more like I've had one too many cookies...) this was the first time he interacted. He looked at me after feeling the baby and said, "There's a kid in there!" Well yes, honey, I wasn't kidding about that...

Thanksgiving Recap

Lucky for me, since obviously I can't seem to do pregnancy and blogging at the same time (I guess I'm not that coordinated), my sister posted the pics and gave the update on our Thanksgiving fun. Oh and be warned, Ashley actually tends to blog on her blog, so you might have to scroll down a bit. Evan's sister, Jen, flew out from Utah to vist too and it was fun for me to have so many willing hands to help with Colt.

I will say that I felt like a stellar mom when I got up with Ashley and Chanel to do the Black Friday thing. I got Colton's gift from Santa and his birthday present too. The love I must feel for that boy to get myself out of bed to make sure he got his Elmo "Giggle and go garage" - it's called something like that. Especially because I had a little one of my hypoglycemic attacks in the middle of Target (did any of y'all have that when pregnant?) I think I did a good job of freaking out Chanel ... and how stupid was I ... going to get a bottle of water! Once I grabbed a thing of orange juice, I was ready to go again.

Three weeks and counting till we're home for the holidays (oops - Evan doesn't love it that I still call Texas home). I will try to blog more - and with pictures! Keep checking back because we find out on December 18th what this little baby is (if he/she is not keeping their legs crossed like Colton was determined to do...)

Baking

I'm back to blogging...was that my longest hiatus ever? I have been "baking" as my friend Chanel affectionately refers to it. Baking a bun in the oven, if you will. Our second baby makes his/her debut in the middle of May. Last week at my 12 week appointment, I heard the heartbeat for the first time. Can I just say I love that part? Colt was a little scared of the noise that filled the doctor's office, but that beautiful sound makes the pregnancy so real to me.

So there's my excuse for my hermit ways. I'm still trying to kick the morning sickness so my sister did my job for me and posted pics of Colt at Halloween. Check out her blog here.

Oh and a shout out to the Twilight series! My sister-in-law Carolynn sent the series to me and I could not put them down. As soon as I finished the 3rd book, I read them all again. Embarrassing, but true. So now, not only do I want to be part of Harry Potter and company, I want to bffs with the Edward and Bella clan too. Is it healthy to want so many fantasy friends? :)

Helping my Dad

We're in the middle of the never ending project of landscaping our backyard. When Evan went out on Saturday to put rock in the yard, Colton wasn't far behind. Here he is showing his dad how it's really done with the shovel.

You gotta love this tongue sticking out in concentration - aka Michael Jordan style.

"Here Dad, do it this way - it's much faster..."

And tell me, who's not in love with this picture? Okay, so I'm the mom and I'm little biased...Thanks for the wheelbarrow Nana!

Pictures!

Many thanks to my sis-in-law Jen who actually took pictures while we were in California and sent them to me too. Here we are in front of the San Diego temple on Denise's wedding day. Gorgeous temple and great day - Colt looks thrilled doesn't he? He didn't do too bad, he just was pretty tired after we'd run him ragged all week.








Well, actually, Evan's the one looking like we'd run him ragged huh? Breakfast just must have tired him out... :)


Here's the Jones clan at Sea World. I don't know if you can see it, but Evan's holding our Sea World map over Colton's head. I'd forgotten his hat (awesome mom that I am...) and I was worried about his head getting sunburned. So hot that week in Cali. I should have held a map over my head. It still looks like I have dandruff from my peeling scalp. Ewww - I know.



Loving this picture of Evan and Colt. Like I said, such a daddy's man. And as a lady who was sitting by us in church on Sunday told me, Colton is a duplicate of Evan. Ps ... Evan's looking hot in that white shirt and tie.