January 2012

It has been so long since my last post, catching up seems so overwhelming...but I shall try.

I decided that 2012 is the year of organization.  According to Russ it is the year of fit (or the year of fat, depending on the day).   I guess that pretty much sums up our goals/resolutions. 

Anna rang in the New Year by barfing all day.  She was happy and smiling, though, as she did so.  Poor Russ caught the bug a day later, but happy and smiling are the last words I'd use to describe his experience.  Miraculously, I never caught said bug.  And we were lucky enough to have it all pass before our long flight home on Wednesday.

We went to Texas Roadhouse the following day with Russ's family and it was quite the debacle.  By the end of the night we were laughing hysterically because nearly everything had gone wrong.  The first offense had been made by whoever had made the decision to seat our family at two booths, next to each other, rather than a large table...Don't you go out to eat with your family so that you can actually eat with your family?  We were too tired to argue (we had been waiting nearly an hour longer than they had promised) so we took our seat and stuffed ourselves silly with rolls, because we were starving!  We ate our salads after our main meals, because salad apparently take a long long long time to prepare.  And then 15 other things went wrong.  Wrong meals.  Forgotten taters.  Taters without gravy.  Wrong gravy.  Out of kids menus.  Out of boxes.  Broken high chair.  Out of taters...wait, nope, not out of taters.  Our waitress finally threw our check at us, really though, I am not sure if she was mad at us or mad at the person responsible for the taters.  Our bro-in-law had a chat with the manager who promised to come talk to us (she didn't), we were given a mighty fine discount and we said our goodbyes to the roadhouse. 

We are trying to get used to "real life" again back at home...we sure miss spending time with our families, but it does feel incredibly good to sleep in my own (not full size) bed again. 

Do you ever feel like it is quite the accomplishment that you have kept your child alive as long as you have?  Miss Anna Banana made it to 9 months old on Friday, and I dare say it has been the most difficult age/month yet.  She spent the day screaming and wanting to be held, or screaming and wanting to eat everything she shouldn't (a guitar amp cord and a newspaper).  I hope she feels better soon! 

The Banana at nine months:

• Learned the "n" sound.  she says "nay nay nay nay" all day long
• Screams when she sees me leave the room (sometimes)
• Is becoming more attached to momma.  If I am in the room, she wants me to hold her.
• Is SOOOOOO close to crawling.  She gets around, though - she scoots, acts like she's going to crawl, sits down, then scoots some more. 
• STILL no teeth, and possibly not even teething, although anytime she is remotely grumpy I assume she is teething.
• Is hopefully (finally) sleeping through the night for good.  No more tired mommy.
• Has learned that she can sit up and play in her crib instead of taking a nap.  I have to go in several times to lay her back down before she will go to sleep. 
• Loves to hit me in the face while nursing, if she isn't scratching me or trying to put her fingers in my mouth/nose.  I tell her "NO" but she just laughs at me.
• Is still as beautiful and perfect as ever 

We are incredibly blessed right now.  I can't think of a time when I have been happier.  We have our day-to-day struggles, but things are really really good right now for the little Jones fam.  

And here some pictures of our January happenings:

Russ and I rode on the DART train for the first time - we went with the Rasmussens and Velezes to the Mavericks vs. Kings game downtown to see Jimmer play.  

A day or two late, here is Anna at 9 months: 

Post-church pen munching.

It was cold enough to wear this pink little number....so we bundled up and walked to the park.  

 

Anna is obsessed with Rambo's blue leash ... 

she insists on holding it while we walk and has a meltdown when we have to put it away. 

Russ's latest Rambo-torture - going down the slide.   That right there is the look of pure terror. 

Check out the splash pad behind us - I will be living there this coming summer.  

I took Anna to Music Makers for the first time
(Music Makers is something our ward does for the kids each week, its a lot of fun!) 

My mom visited us the last week in January.  We didn't do anything wild or crazy, just lots of shopping, cooking, playing etc...it is always so nice to have my mommy in town, she is so good to me!

She bought Anna a new walker

And helped me make all manner of freezer meals...yum.  Nevermind the pizza and ice cream...that must be for Rambo....we only eat vegetables and healthy stuff. 

 We ate at Zoe's kitchen with Mary and her momma

 

Did I mention we did a lot of shopping?  Here is Anna with her purse at the Northpark Mall.  

 

Anna had her first taste of gelato from Paciugo, which btw is the best gelato I have had outside of Italy.  

And the best part was having a sword fight with the mini spoons.

We had a bit of a plumbing disaster when our kitchen sink wouldn't drain.  We tried to fix it ourselves but failed.  And unfortunately this happened right after I made enchiladas so I had onion remains scattered about  the kitchen and since I was unable to clean up, my house stunk for days.  

Dinner time!
Anna is really only wanting to feed herself nowadays, i have to trick her into eating anything besides finger foods.  She'll eat just about anything but I am pretty sure that she is having a love affair with cheerios.

Learning to crawl/scoot