The past few weeks Alaina has discovered her lower half -holding her feet, kicking, and most recently, trying to stand.  She wants to be “up” all the time these days, either sitting or standing on whomever is holding her.  We are very fortunate to have been blessed with the BEST. NEIGHBORS. EVER. -Proven again by Alaina’s reaching of her most recent milestone.  Our neighbor Janet dusted off her granddaughter Teagan’s jumperoo and set it up for Alaina to play with.  Alaina LOVES it, and we’ve been provided with a source of constant entertainment.  Here’s a bit of what we’ve been enjoying the past week:

She isn’t quite tall enough for this thing yet, but she still loves it!

Forget all of the toys and learning activities, Alaina’s favorite thing about the jumperoo is chewing on the seat!

We had to make the floor a little higher, those legs aren’t quite long enough for her to touch just yet.  (if you know me, this shouldn’t surprise you.  My feet still don’t reach the floor in our truck.)

Woah! What is that thing?

Here she is, telling us all about her new favorite activity.

Love this face!

Another view of her “floor” lifted up.

Chatting with Cooper about her day.

Here she discovered that she can play in the jumperoo AND see the ceiling fan at the SAME TIME.  Life doesn’t get much better than this!

Well, its been three months since Alaina joined the Team, and nearly as long since I’ve paid any attention to this site.  I really want to get back into writing and using this site as a chronicle of our crazy life.  I don’t plan to become a “mommyblogger” but considering my current at home with baby status, there is a good chance most of my writing will have something to do with life with baby.

Alaina is an amazing, happy, healthy baby.  We are so lucky!  Her arrival into the world started out as a normal “baby is a week late so we’ll try to induce” situation.  Everything was going smoothly until two pushes in when it was decided that we’d be having an emergency c-section.  Nothing like going all the way through labor to find out that we could’ve scheduled it on a calendar and skipped all those lovely contractions.  Good times.  Turned out, our little angel had been so active that she’d tied her cord into a True Knot.  Apparently, this is pretty rare, and our OB let us know that this kid is destined for big things.  One of these days, I’ll take the time to write up her birth story (I know, you’re waiting with baited breath, right?  Really, I’m mostly doing this so I have a record somewhere.  If you’re interested, great.  If not, don’t read it.  There won’t be a quiz.)

Anyways, here are some of the highlights of the past three months:

Alaina Lynn was born on May 14, Team Jones is exhausted but totally smitten with this little girl!  She is amazing!

Full details coming soon…

Images Courtesy AH Photography

…It Is About Time

EVICTION

NOTICE

I, the Landlord (Mommy), am issuing  a notice for eviction. Tenant (Baby) will have to comply and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until authorization for removal by physician. After which, she will be removed from the property by induction.

The Tenant (Baby) is being evicted due to breach of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back and sides of the house were also made without approval from the Landlord (Mommy).

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. Due to the damage by the Tenant (Baby), the foundation has been compromised, and the structural integrity of the house is questionable. The Landlord (Mommy) has also received numerous complaints about frequent nightly disturbances.

If the Tenant (Baby) doesn’t comply with the notice it will result in an immediate and forceful removal at the discretion of a physician and the Landlord (Mommy)

I saw this on a pregnancy forum, and thought it was cute.  Just wanted to share!

Last week, Cooper turned two.  Two?!?  It doesn’t feel like its been two years since he joined us, but at the same time, it feels like he’s been part of the team for much longer.  He may look like a dog now, but he still has the enthusiasm and energy of a puppy!

A look at the year leading up to his second birthday:

Planning for baby has been an educational experience at Casa de Jones.  One of the things previously overlooked until a friend’s bundle of joy recently arrived was the Daddy Diaper Bag.  How does one maintain coolness and masculinity while still being prepared at a level acceptable of their boyscouting pasts?

The solution?  Combine daddy’s hobbies and activities into the awesomest man bag ever seen.  Here’s the rundown:

The bag.  It turns out, in Colorado, the Fishpond flyfishing bag for dad is akin to mommy sporting a new Coach tote.  Who knew? (thanks Danielle!)  Here’s the one I chose while building Prince Charming the ultimate Daddy Diaper Bag:   The Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack.  This pack will hold all of daddy’s Taking Care of Baby essentials without making him look like he lost a bet.  It’ll also transition nicely for a day on the river.  Multi-purpose!  Another thing dudes love!

Now for the goods.  What to put in the bag to make it an entertaining gift, and still useful.  Here are my picks:

(A big thanks to my sounding board** for helping me come up with some of these items.  You guys are, as always, amazing!)

• Earplugs
• A quality nose plug.  For those stinky situations that can’t be avoided
• A portable changing pad, diapers, and wipes.  To accompany the aforementioned items, of course.
• A change of clothes
• Snacks for dad
• A Silencer  (commonly known as a pacifier.)
• An instruction manual
• Rattle and teething toys, for whoever needs them more

So, what do you think?  Did I forget anything?  Is Prince Charming set for Day-Out-With-Daddy success?

**Sara, Bree, Janelle -you guys are amazing!  Thank you!

The holiday season has been amazing here at Casa de Jones!  Highlights included great food, lots of family, quality time shared around the Wii,  gift overload, a surprise trip to Movado, and tons of great memories.

We’ve got tons of photos to pull off of the camera, but thanks to a photo session compliments of Colorado’s (and soon to be Idaho’s) favorite photographer, here is a preview:

Since we found out that the team was about to grow by a member, things have been…. interesting around here. One of the most “interesting” things (aside from the crazy things happening to my body compliments of this little demon) are the things that have been coming from Adam’s mouth. This may become a regular column on this site.

A few of my favorites so far:

“Well… I guess this means I’m not getting a boat…”

“Wow, you go from zero to bitch in NO time these days!” (oddly enough, this was said more in awe than in frustration. I still wasn’t thrilled.)

“I sure hope this baby looks like you, but gets my brain.”

“Lets call it ‘Pinto Pequeño‘.  Yeah, that is good.”

Things I Love Right Now:

Time With Friends and Family
Decaf Caramel Macchiatos (on ice)
Being Auntie to THE COOLEST Boys.  Ever.
Sodas From Sonic
Christmas Decorations, Music, Treats…
Blue Skies
Naps
Oreo Blizzards
Being A Little Ridiculous
Laughter
A good Book By The Fire
Jammie Days
All This Snow (see above, and above)
Cute Little Onesies  and Blankies
My Camera

Things That I Don’t:

There Is Never Enough Time With Friends & Family
Headaches
Back Pain
Icy Roads
Being Tired. All The Time.
Grumpy, Grinchy, Or Greedy People
18 Bathroom Breaks A Night
ASPCA Commercials, And The Need For Them
Being Cold
Runny Noses

About two weeks after finding out from the staff at Centeno Schultz that it was ok for me to indulge in the occasional cocktail again, I got sick.  I thought it would be nice to have a beer on the patio, but it just did not sound good.  Nothing sounded good, in fact, I went about three weeks of feeling like I was perpetually hung over before I realized what was going on…

Team Jones got knocked up!  Amazingly, during my first trimester, my back pain decreased significantly.  Was it from Regenexx or the pregnancy hormones?  We may never know, but it was great to feel a bit better for the first time in four years!  Unfortunately, the pain in my back was replaced by that whole perpetual hangover feeling.  Not so fun.

Luckily, my first trimester passed, and the sickness eventually went away.  Only to be followed a few short days later by a nasty bout of H1N1.  I couldn’t even tell you if my back hurt during this time.  Everything hurt.  For about five weeks, I alternated between completely delirious and convinced that death was imminent.  And I was totally okay with it.  I was miserable!  Two solid weeks of the flu gave way to sinus, ear, and eye infections followed by bronchitis.  Not the most fun I’ve ever had.

Luckily, this too passed.  Because of the flu, I hadn’t put weight on as quickly as most pregnant women did.  In fact, I lost a bit of weight for a while.  At this point, I was still beyond thrilled that my back was feeling so much better than I’d anticipated.  Unfortunately, as soon as my abdomen started its rapid expansion, the back pain came back with a vengeance.  I have an amazing chiropractor that I’ve been working with to help ease the pain, and recently got an SI brace to help with some extra pain I’ve been having around my SI joint.  This is an area that Dr. Schultz expressed concern about throughout my Regenexx experience.  He mentioned that a good portion of my pain may have been coming from there and not just my disc that was being treated.  I can never do things the easy way!

Anyways, the Regenexx updates are going to be giving way to baby updates for a while, as it is just too hard to tell what is working and what is hurting.  I really don’t want to say the procedure did or did not do its job with an extra variable interfering.