Snow Day

We had a little bit of snow hit us here in Big D yesterday and Blake absolutely loved it! I arrived home from work to find Brad and Blake playing in the snow. As Uncle A said, he would LOVE it where he's at in Chicago where there is REAL snow! :)
Here are some pictures of Blake having fun in the thin layer of powdery stuff...

Happy Anniversary!

Today marked Brad and I's six year wedding anniversary! Six wonderful years of being married to my best friend...I am one lucky girl! To celebrate Grandma and Grandpa GRACIOUSLY offered to watch both boys so Brad and I could have an overnight celebration. I was a little reluctant to have a night away from Brady but couldn't pass up the offer. We checked into The Mansion early Thursday evening, which is where we stayed on our wedding night. I don't know who wouldn't love their stay at such an amazing hotel, but Brad and I always cherish our time there. It is a beautiful hotel and such a nice mini get away. We were upgraded to the Presidential Suite and the management also sent champagne and chocolate covered strawberries up to our room! It was so special and Brad and I loved having an evening reminiscing about the last 6 years of marriage. We both agree this past year has been one of our favorite years together as we completed our family with Brady and had the most incredible trip to Paris and Rome. What a year indeed! Here are a few pics of our amazing room...

Dining Room


Living Room


Kitchen


Bedroom


Brad tried to snap a picture of the two of us before we headed down to dinner...


Thank you SO much Grandma and Grandpa for watching the boys! We had an amazing night but it certainly was so great to see my other two favorite boys the next day! Happy six years Bradley...I look forward to the next 60!

Coughs and Snuggles

The past week has been very busy and filled with fun times and illnesses. I'm so ready for this holiday break to hopefully decompress a bit and everyone get healthy and enjoy our time together. Brad's mom was able to stop through in town for a few days last week which was very nice and the boys certainly enjoyed getting some special time with Grandma. Friday night she watched both boys so Brad and I could go to a holiday party with friends. While it was hard to leave Brady, it was so much fun getting to hang out with our friends, which had been way too long. Monday night my parents came over to our house to watch the boys so Brad and I could go to the Stars hockey game with Brad's hockey team. We had SO much fun! My parents did a wonderful job with the boys even though I know it had to wear them out and Brad and I loved getting a night out. Unfortunately I think all the festivities were wearing me down and must have worn Brady down too! We both have been hit with a bit of crud. His cough sounded so scary by Tuesday morning and had a rattle in his chest so off to the doctor we went... His rsv test came back negative thank goodness...did not want to go down that road again. He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis, which is viral so no antibiotics. Just rest, suctioning a million times a day and a humidifer at night. Thankfully Brady has been still smiling and cooing away! And the silver lining of it all was Brady and I got a day just us at home yesterday snuggling. (and another one today!) Can't complain about that!
Here is a picture I snapped with my phone at the doctor yesterday. He had to have been thinking, "Who's that good lookin little guy that keeps lookin at me?!"


Unfortunately because of all the chaos and sickies our holiday cards are waaaaay behind on being mailed. You will get one after Christmas, but better late than never, right??

Blake has totally blown all of my expectations on how he would adapt to being a big brother right out of the water. He has not shown an ounce of jealousy and just adores Brady. I put Brady in his crib to watch his mobile (one of his favorite things) while I got his bath ready. Blake was asking to go in the crib with Brady so we let him and next thing we knew he was snuggling his baby brother. Just melts my heart every time he gives Brady hugs and kisses...



I feel so blessed having these two amazing little boys! The rest of the week we look forward to getting healthy, celebrating Christmas and our 6 year wedding anniversary!
Merry Christmas!

Happy Chanukah!

I think Blake is getting on board with this whole Chanukah business and getting to open a gift each night! Happy Chanukah everyone!
Also, we finally got our proofs back from our photo session the week of Thanksgiving. Keep in mind they are not retouched yet....
www.images.bludoorstudios.com/jonesnewborn

We Made It!

We all made it through my first week back into the working world...although I have to say barely. This has been a tough tough week for several reasons. The first obvious reason is leaving behind my little guy. The past 8 weeks at home with him have been wonderful and I've enjoyed almost every minute of it! I haven't spent longer than its taken me to shower away from Brady so spending an ENTIRE DAY away was a little rough for mommy. Brady? According to his teachers has done great this week. What has made the pain of separation bearable however is knowing he's at a great place with the same teachers Blake had when he was an infant. I love the ladies in his classroom and know they are taking the same great loving care of Brady as they did with Blake. AND I also have the great privilege to watch Blake and Brady in their classes all day via my computer. Don't think I could get through my days away from them both without getting to sneak peaks at them throughout the day.
Second reason why this week has been very tough is Sunday I woke up not feeling too hot. By Sunday evening my throat hurt so badly I couldn't even talk. Perfect timing huh? I didn't think my work would appreciate me calling in sick after being gone for 8 weeks. No fever so I've been sucking it up and carrying on. But with Brady not sleeping through the night yet, I have to say getting up at 6, leaving the house at 7, working all day, not getting home until 6, cooking dinner, taking care of the kiddos, getting organized for the next day and not being able to get into bed until 10:30 or 11, and on top of it being sick, this week has been HARDER than I could EVER IMAGINE! And the last reason this week has been hard and will continue to be a little rough probably through the weekend, is my dad was admitted into the hospital yesterday. Most likely it is nothing too terribly serious, just a horribly nasty virus that is obviously so bad he's in the hospital, but hopefully will run its course soon. I am worried about him and his health though and worry about my mom who depends so greatly on my dad to take care of her with all of her health woes. I will do what I can to help them though even after this crazy exhausting week, because after all that's what families do! I just hope Brady starts sleeping through the night soon, because this momma could use some rest!

Thanksgiving Pictures

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week and SO enjoyed spending time with all my family. Blake and Brady enjoyed all the extra love and attention too! Blake even started saying my brother's name and would repeat At Um (Adam) over and over. Too cute! Here are some pictures of our great week.

Arriving at my parents house in the double stroller. Blake adores getting to ride next to his brother (you can see he has his hand on Brady)


Blake loving his time on the playground with Grandpa and his cuz Natalie...



Brady's close up...


Brady on Turkey day...


My cousin Liz, brother Adam and me, Brad & Brady after stuffing ourselves on Thanksgiving!


Adam, Brad & Blake at dinner

The same night at dinner, Brady tuckered out from all the Thanksgiving festivities...

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week has/is filled with lots of very exciting and fun things which I love, however at the same time it means my stay at home is nearing an end. I return to the working world on Monday. I have mixed emotions about my return, but I do know its going to be hard to leave my sweet little man. Our Thanksgiving week started off yesterday with a professional photo shoot with Brady. We attempted a few family photos with our new family of four, but those with toddlers can probably guess how well that went trying to get him to stand still and being told what to do instead of playing. Looking forward to seeing how they turned out though! Today I took Brady up to my office for our department's annual Thanksgiving luncheon to eat some yummy food and to show off my little pumpkin! Everyone ooo'd and ahhh'd over him which was fun. I didn't remember to snap any pictures (bad mommy!) until it was time to leave and Brady was pooped and getting fussy, so the only picture I got was one with his pacifier in his mouth. Still sweet though...

My brother and family from NYC are all coming in town this evening so we have lots of family fun the rest of the week and I am so looking forward to it! Lots of pictures to come from that! I am so thankful this year for two healthy beautiful babies, a loving husband and wonderful father to our children, being surrounded by lots of loving family and friends and jobs that provide for our family. Our family wishes all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Baby News

No, I'm not pregnant again (whew!), but I'm going to be an AUNT and I couldn't be more excited about it!! My brother and I have always had a very close relationship and have managed to stay close even though we live hundreds of miles away from each other. When I became pregnant with Blake, my brother Adam and his wife Marlene were so excited and have made such great efforts to come in town whenever possible to build the bond with their nephew and now nephews. It has meant so much to me and I love that my boys will have such a great relationship as they grow with their Aunt and Uncle. We learned yesterday that on top of a healthy baby, they are also having a baby BOY! I am so happy for my brother and his wife and so incredibly excited to be a part of my nephew's life and to build a strong relationship with him as well. Its also going to be so much fun when the family is all together to have all three of our boys running around playing and being close cousins. Congratulations Adam and Marlene!! Enjoy every moment of this most amazing journey...parenthood!

Milestones, Snuggles and Pilgrims?

Time continues to fly by...Blake turned a year and a half years old on Saturday! Its so hard to believe he is 18 months, but at the same time like Brad said, its hard to even remember life before Blake came along so it almost seems like he should be older! Blake is such a big boy now and is so much fun. His favorite thing is to dance and is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. I am so blessed getting to be Blake's mommy! So I can document Blake's developmental milestones, here is a list of word's in Blake's vocabulary...
Dada
Daddy
Mama
Ball
Ba (Balloon)
Nana (Banana)
More
Mine
No
Shoe
Shy (Outside)
Moon
Elmo
Wawa (water)
Hi
Bye Bye
Darcy
Brady
That is all I can think of for now! Blake's 18 mo checkup is waiting until next month so I can combine it with Brady's 2 month checkup. I can't wait to see how much Blake has grown!
As I'm sure most of you know, tummy time is very important for babies to help strengthen their muscles and to avoid the flat spot on their heads. Most babies hate tummy time, so it can be a struggle, but Brady LOVES it. I think because he's had to sleep on my chest pretty much for the first month because of his reflux he is comfortable on his tummy. He is so strong already as well and is able to lift his head and move it from side to side. I gave him some tummy time Saturday and he did not want it to end. I finally put him on his back and as soon as I did he fell asleep. He got a good workout in! Here is a pic of Brady having tummy time.

And here is a pic of Brady snuggling Daddy yesterday while we watched football...

And last but not least...Friday night I was putting dinner on the table and much to my surprise a Pilgrim walked in the door!

Blake LOVES this pilgrim hat they made at school and wants to wear it all the time now. I think he makes the most handsome pilgrim if I don't say so myself!

ONE MONTH

Monday Brady turned one month! I can't believe a month has already gone by since my little guy was born. I am trying to soak up every second I'm spending with Brady and enjoying each day during this new baby phase as much as I can. To copy someone else's saying, most likely Brady is our "grand finale" with having kids, so I really want to treasure these baby moments to the fullest since I won't be going through this again. In a way it makes me sad, but at the same time I couldn't feel more blessed having two healthy little boys and I look forward to getting to watch my boys grow and all the wonderful times Brad and I have in our future with our kiddos. Monday also marked the first full day at home that it was just Brady and I. Brad was home the first two weeks and Brad's mom stayed with us for the last three weeks, leaving Sunday. (Thanks Grandma times a million for everything!!!) I wasn't sure how our day would go though without having an extra set of hands to rely on to watch Brady while I was able to get things done, but I had such a productive day! With having now two kids under the age of two and with me returning to work in a month, I really have got to be organized with our household. One of those household tasks is dinner. In the past most nights its "what do you feel like for dinner?" and the other "I don't know, what do you feel like?" and then finally deciding on something to make last second. I will not have that luxury once I return to work to figure something out last minute and so I decided to start one of our new organized systems....meal planning for the week. Brady was kind enough to let me figure out our meals for the week, make a grocery list and go on our first outing just the two of us, to the grocery store. Here is Mr. Brady all ready to head to the market...

Brady was also nice enough to let me make dinner! I felt like such a perfect housewife, taking care of the baby and having dinner on the table when my man walked in the door, haha. I'm hoping over the next month I can continue to keep up this new organized habit so it will be easy to continue when I go back to work. I think our plan, for now anyways, is for Brad to pick up the kids each day from school so I can head home after work and have dinner ready when the boys get home.
Brady has been doing great minus the reflux issue. He's growing and getting bigger though so I feel like I'm doing things right. We received a prescription for his reflux and it has definitely helped although he does still struggle a bit at times. Hopefully with time, it will just continue to get better. His eyes are becoming more blue, so will be exciting to see if they stay blue or end up changing. I never thought I'd have a child with blue eyes, let alone, two children with blue eyes! Brady's brown hair is also falling out more and more leaving a bald spot on top. My guess is when his hair grows back in it will be lighter like his brother's, but will be exciting to see as well! When I look at pictures of Blake this age, Brady looks like his twin.
I'm hoping to take some good pictures over the weekend of both Brady and Blake with Brad's help, but for now here is a picture of Brady after his bath yesterday...

Halloween Fun

I am sure Halloween will just get more fun with the boys as they get a little older and "get it" more and more. It was cute to see Blake all dressed up, but he did not want to keep his costume on and was a little tricky getting a picture of him with the entire "look". We tried the costume on him Thursday night (nothing like waiting until the last minute) and he had fun running around the house as a pirate. Here he is snuggling his brother on the couch...

And here he is with his favorite first mate...Elmo!


Friday Blake went to school dressed as a Pirate and later that afternoon me, Brady and Grandma loaded up in the car and went to Blake's school for his Halloween Party. He had a blast eating lots of sugar! Here he is sitting next to his girlfriend, who was a bumble bee and soooo cute. Blake and Sophie have been in the same class since they were infants and they are inseparable!

Here is Brady sleeping through the whole party...

And I thought Brady was too cute in his little Halloween outfit not to take some more photos of once we got home...


Brad took Blake trick or treating Saturday and loved it! He even held his little bucket the entire time himself. Here are a few more pics of the pirate...



Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween!!!

I Love to READ Green Eggs and Ham!

The other day Brad picked Blake up from school and he was in the library with his class. Usually as soon as Blake sees his dada he lights up with a grin from ear to ear and runs up to him. This particular day Blake was sitting on the floor engrossed in a book and barely flashed a smile at Brad and continued reading. The teacher told Brad he had been reading Green Eggs and Ham the entire time they were in there. Brad finally coaxed Blake away from the book with the promise we had it at home and he could read it there! Once Blake put down the book, one of his friends grabbed it for her turn, but as soon as Blake saw someone else taking his new favorite, he quickly ran back and grabbed it for himself. Who knew Dr. Seuss could have such power over an almost 18 month old?! So last night Brad took down our copy of Green Eggs and Ham for Blake and did not want to stop reading...even for one of his other favorite activities...bath time. I just had to snap a few photos...



Next post, Halloween photos!! I can't wait. As a teaser, lets just say we have the cutest pirate I've ever seen!

Tummy Time Blues

I totally jinxed myself with my last blog entry. I went from the world's least fussiest baby to the very next day a baby exhibiting all the symptoms of acid reflux. After googling "infant reflux" Brady is experiencing every single symptom it listed...poor guy! I gave it a week to see if his tummy issues would work out on their own, paying attention to what I was eating as well, but after his throw up session this morning and his colic fit last night, I decided to call the doctor to see if there is some reflux medicine we can try. I am waiting a call back and fingers crossed they can do something for the little munchkin!

Two Week Check-in

I can not believe two whole weeks have passed since Brady Austin was born! Each day passes ridiculously fast and sometimes I just want things to slow down a bit. Brad returned to work yesterday which was really sad for me because I've LOVED having his company and sharing in this wonderful time with him, but reality has to return at some point I suppose. Brady has continued to be such an amazing baby, sleeping when he should (for the most part) and only fussing when dirty or hungry (for the most part). The longest crying fit where I didn't know what was wrong with him lasted for about four minutes. See? Amazing baby! My personal recovery has been a night and day difference this time around as well. I have felt so great which has made me do a lot more than I should at times which then is followed by my body reminding me, "Umm, hellooo, you just gave birth, take it easy!" Brad's mom has been staying with us since a few days after we came home from the hospital and together her and Brad have been sentencing me to the couch or to bed instead of doing the load of laundry that I was trying to do. She's been a great help and I'm grateful to have her here.
One of my biggest fears of bringing in another baby into our family was Blake's reaction. Thoughts of this actually consumed much of my day close to Brady's arrival. I have been absolutely loving the stage Blake is at right now and he is the world's happiest little boy, full of such joy and smiles. I was terrified I was going to ruin all of that ray of sunshine that spews out of him and I felt horrible about it. But thankfully my fears have been completely unwarranted. Blake absolutely LOVES his brother. The first thing he wants to do when he gets home from school is find his baby brother and give him kisses. He gives him kisses and hugs all the time and constantly wants to know where he is and if he's okay. Last night he even found Brady's pacifier and brought it to Brady and tried to put it in his mouth (even though Brady was sound asleep!). Blake is the same ray of sunshine he's always been and my heart has never been fuller. To answer one of my friends who asked how life is with two boys...Life is GREAT!
Because Blake is constantly on the run, even inside our house, its been next to impossible to get a picture of Blake and Brady together. But last night as Brad was holding Brady, Blake wanted to join in the snuggles so I grabbed the camera before he ran off!



And here is a pic of Brady where it looks like he's smiling...

Welcome to the World! (Brady's Birth Story...long!)

Brady Austin Jones is here! Brad and I could not be any happier or feel any more blessed. As I keep saying, life is good.

There were many predictions going around on when this baby would make his appearance. I had two friends that guessed exactly right. I woke up at 2am Monday and thought perhaps my water broke but it was such a minuscule amount I was not about to wake up our house in panic and went back to sleep. I woke up an hour later with an extremely strong contraction wondering, is this really it? But again, went back to sleep. Then the alarm went off to start the work week, oh joy, and I was about to step out of bed...water broke. I woke Brad up and started our panic of trying to pack our hospital bags (had talked about needing to do this just the day before) and an overnight for Mr. Blake. We could barely focus on anything but we managed to pack our bags successfully, wake up Blake and get him dressed and get ourselves out the door to drop Blake off at school for the day. I have to admit the timing couldn't have been any better. We arrived at the hospital around 8 and evidently my water had not fully broken and my contractions were not close together, so they started me on potocin and finished breaking my water. The induction meds and water breaking did not occur until around 11am. At the beginning of the morning I was close to 5cm dilated. Several hours later I was only a 6 so thought we might have a long day ahead of us. The nurse came to recheck me at 2:35pm and said I was ready to start pushing. What?! So she left the room for a few minutes to get a few things for delivery and about 5 minutes later I did my first set of 3 pushes and she told me to stop as she did not trust me and paged the doctor for delivery. Everything was moving so much faster this time around than with Blake. I just kept praying and praying I would not have to push for hours like I did last time. The doctor arrived to deliver Brady, who is maybe 5 feet tall and the world's most petite woman. Meanwhile I was laying on a bed that had been risen way up to accommodate my tall hubby and tall nurse. My nurse went to lower the bed, only for it to not budge. Awesome. So she said sometimes you have to raise up the bed to lower it. She raised it to the highest setting, I felt like I could have touched the ceiling. She then went to lower it...nothing. Great. They unplug the bed, move the bed away from the wall trying to reset it or manually adjust it. Nothing. Meanwhile, I am ready to push this baby out! So after their efforts were unsuccessful, they brought in 2 step stools and stacked them on top of each other. Seriously. The doctor that delivered my baby had to stand on top of stacking step stools. Sounds safe, doesn't it? I pushed I think maybe 2 or 3 more sets of 3 and out came baby at 3pm, only 25 minutes after the nurse had told me it was time to push. I could not believe he was out. Such a different experience this time around. As he came out I heard one of the nurses say the cord was wrapped around his neck once which caused me a moment of panic, however a second later he screamed and didn't stop exercising his pipes for about 15 minutes! They laid him on my chest and I was in awe. My sweet baby boy. The whole experience was so incredible and amazing and now I have two perfect beautiful baby boys and the most supportive wonderful husband by my side. I am in a state of euphoria. Being a mom the second time around, even though it is only day 4, is so much calmer, more relaxing and I'm able to enjoy each moment so much more it seems. Now once I can recover from the pain of delivery, I'll feel like a million bucks! Brady is eating well and sleeping great (knock on wood). We go to the pediatrician this morning to recheck his weight and make sure he's progressing as he should! Here is a picture my friend Heather took with her amazing photography skills. Next post...Blake's reaction to meeting his little brother for the first time!

Tick Tock

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Jones and the clock is ticking ever so slowly. It is hard to walk, hard to work 8 hour days, hard to take care of Blake, hard to sleep at night, hard to even breathe at times...yes I am ready to have this baby. Above all though I'm just so ready to meet my little boy for the first time and hold him in my arms. Knowing he could truly arrive any day I think makes the waiting even more difficult. I have been dilated at a 3 the last two weeks and today at my appointment was told I had progressed to a 4. Brad thinks I will go another 2 weeks until I'm induced on the 14th. I think he is just cruel for saying such things and see sometime in the next week much more realistic! Anyone care to place a bet???

Joy to the World

I am beginning to think one of Blake's purposes in life is to spread joy to the world!
Blake and I spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's Friday night so Brad could replace the dining room flooring and we'd be out of the way. Saturday morning Blake and I went along with Grandpa to pick Grandma up from dialysis. As we sat in the waiting room, which is a pretty depressing place to be with all the dialysis patients waiting their turn for treatment, Blake walked around to everyone in their wheelchairs with the giant smile of his telling everyone "Hi!" He made everyone smile in that room and I'm sure made their day a little brighter. My heart was so full watching Blake spread joy to all those people!

And finally, as promised, below are a few pictures of the nursery. I still have a few "decorating" touches to do, but this is the gist of it. I almost want to make the baby's name public so I can post a picture without the letters of the baby's name whited out as it looks so great on the wall, I think it makes the room. But for now, all you can see is the first letter....

I <3 Steak & Eggs

The thought of a mall playground scares me...the germs, oh the germs. But we found ourselves at Willow Bend Mall over the weekend and we had been trapped inside for several days due to the rain and letting Blake run around sounded like a fabulous idea. And besides, being at a "higher end mall" means "higher end germs", right??? Yeah, not so much, but I forced myself not to think about it and let Blake run wild. I have to admit this playground is pretty friggin cool. The floor is cushiony and you almost bounce on it when you walk and the "playground" is made up of giant plastic, yet still somewhat cushiony, foods. Blake's favorite was the steak and eggs. At first he was very unsure of playing on giant food, but soon he was the happiest I had seen him in days and cried when it was time to leave. The pictures of him were too cute not to share...