Eliza in action

Eliza still isn't sleeping by herself. We tricked her last night and left her in the car seat, where she stayed until 2am. Which is pretty good, but then she was awake, wanted to eat, cried, couldn't breathe, wanted to be held, didn't want to eat......until 8 am when Caleb woke up. Its torture, but I feel so bad for her because she is so miserable. Thankfully, I have the best husband, who sent me back to bed and fed, entertained and dressed the kids and I got to sleep until 11! what bliss.

I posted two pretty funny videos of the kids. We went to a new museum yesterday and they had a whole room on musical instruments. So Caleb got to bang on this old piano to his heart's content. Thankfully, it wasn't that busy, because he also sang (and made me sing) at the top of his lungs.

Lizzy has started smiling a bit and I was trying to capture it- here are the results.

catch up

So, it has been a very busy last few weeks. Not only do we have a new baby, but we had plenty of Halloween fun and a visit from Grammy. We're getting a long pretty well. Most nights we have dinner, our clothes are clean and we make the bed almost every day. We are missing a little sleep, but its getting better. In her short six weeks Eliza has been very active.

She has been to the Dinosaur museum and the Recycling museum.

She got to see a tiger at the zoo, and rode the carousel with Caleb.

She has been to two Halloween carnivals. At the second, her brother caught a goldfish, named goldfish, who lived on our counter for three days before he took a "nap" and mom flushed him while Caleb wasn't looking.

She took a train to NYC, rode the subway and saw Times Square. While there, Caleb and Brandon rode the ferris wheel inside Toy-r-us.

She went to a Halloween party and watched her brother go Trick-or-treating with his friends.

She watched a Black Hawk helicopter land at the playground and Caleb got to sit in it.

So far, life with a baby sister has been pretty good. We had some worries in the beginning because the peanut only weighed 5lb 15oz when we brought her home and she wasn't gaining weight. After giving her a few bottles, she was back up to almost 7lbs and she hasn't stopped eating since. Caleb did not take a bottle at all, so its nice to share the feeding with Brandon.

She is starting to smile a little and we can actually put her down for more than two minutes without her screaming. yeah! The swing and ergo carrier are worth every single penny we paid for them!

Caleb is doing well in school, painting, playing, reading books. He is even eating his lunch with his class at the table.

Grammy left this morning and we are sad, but tired. Its 10am and we still have on our pj's- she wore us out!

Eliza's first week

Baby Lizzy

Well, Lizzy made her debut on Monday morning. 21 days early, boy were we surprised!

Here's how it happened!

Sunday night. 2:15- I wake up with dreams about contractions. Realize this is not a dream, check the clock. Every four minutes, but not too harsh.

2:26 am- decide to call dr. he advises that four minutes not too intense, wait and hour and call back. I go downstairs to plug in video camera, as this is the most important item I will be needing.

3 am- Tell Brandon he needs to get up. He decides to shower. Seems like a long time, I am sure he is trying to remove the paint from his body and hair (Did I mention all kitchen cabinets are empty and wet? Counter tops are papered and taped over and all dirty dishes from weekend are on top of my table because we can't use out sink) and I am growing increasingly miserable and impatient.

3:10- After calling neighbors to tell them we would be dropping off Caleb, water breaks while in the linen closet trying to wrestle an overnight bag out of storage. (We were going to be induced, so of course no bags were packed.)

3:12- Become hysterical, yelling at Brandon to get in the car, forget the luggage, forget the car seat, but get the cameras :)

3:20- Finally in the car with Caleb, drop him off, exchange pleasantries with the neighbors (I honestly wanted to scream get out of my face, but we love them and they were doing us a huge favor!) and race to the hospital.

3:23- Have a heated discussion with husband about which hospital to go to. Ours is 25 minutes away, and there is another that is a lot closer. We end up at our hospital.

3:50- pull into parking lot after a 90mph car ride during which I was certain I was going to give birth in the back of the car.

3:55- Nurses ask stupid questions like my name, birth date, blood type- None of which I have the answers to, except yes! to the epidural.

4:00am- in bed, strapped to monitors, checked by Dr. get grave news there will be no drugs, we are pushing her out NOW!

4:18am - Eliza Michael Jones is born. 6lb 11 oz

4:20- Brandon runs to the car to get the camera!

Super Bunny!

Sometimes Caleb wears clothes, other times just a cape!

Fun with our cousin

So I finally figured out how to post a video (or jsut took the five minutes to think about it) , and you get this little jewel. Nate came to spend the night on Saturday and we had a great time. Lots of dancing and playing and Sunday morning we had bagels at the deli and threw rocks at the beach. We got a lot of great pictures.

labor, trauma, school and cupcakes

Such a crazy weekend! It was really Laborious, painting, painting and cleaning. And we managed to sneak in a visit to the playground and the beach.

Monday was a little traumatic with a trip to the ER. Caleb was upstairs settling in for his nap, when we heard a scream. I went upstairs to find him in a pool of blood. Of course, I freaked out and Brandon freaked out and we rushed to the hospital with a baby covered in a bloody towel and a crying mom covered in blood, only to realized that he had just bitten his tongue. The doctor sent us home with a bill and a pat on the head. Better safe than sorry, though!

Tuesday was Caleb's first day of school. (Just two mornings from 9am-12:30pm) We packed a lunch and carried his backpack and he went in with out any problems at all. When I went to pick him up the teachers all started cracking up because he had fallen asleep at the lunch table, with his little head slumped into his pasta. He had a great time and didn't miss mom at all.

In preparation for the new baby, we have moved Caleb out of the crib. I know we have a little while to go (27 days to be exact), but everything I have read says that the crib should be neutral territory for at least a month before a baby arrives, so here we are. We got new sheets and pillows and cupcakes to celebrate the milestone. Yummy! The first night he was so tired, he fell asleep during books, but the second night was a little tougher. He did not want to sleep there! So I ended up laying down with him until he fell asleep. Then at about 3am I woke up because I was so hot, well that's what happens when I little boy climbs into bed with you and snuggles up. I was able to put hims back in his bed without any problems. I sure we haven't seen the last of our great sleeper!

This will make you laugh.....Caleb obviously goes to the OB with me for my appointments. Because I don't trust him in the exam room alone, he goes into the bathroom with me. All of you moms know you have to give a urine sample every time. We were there yesterday and Caleb says, "here you go Mom, you need a cup" and hands me the specimen cup.

I really hope I'm not scarring him.

two-year-olds can't ride on the plane alone?

Caleb and I just returned from a great trip to Texas. We spent the weekend in Corpus Christi with Cheryl, Aly and Adrien. The weather was a little iffy, but we ended up having a great time. We played video games and rode go-carts (Cheryl and the boys did anyway) and Saturday at the beach and the aquarium.

Sunday we made a pit stop at the outlets-yippee! and headed back to Austin. We did not eat lunch on the way home, which I was a little disappointed about, but with good reason. The girls surprised me with a lovely baby shower for the newest Jones baby (pics to be posted soon!) It was a great time, I just wish I had known so I could have showered. oh well : )

Monday we did some Austin stuff....Chipoltle, pappasito's and grabbing some UT garb. We also hit the Sno-cone stand where the boys and the moms enjoyed a cool treat because it was a scorcher!

Getting home was a little stressful because there was a computer glitch in Atlanta that delayed planes all over the place. We were able to kill time, but I was really surprised at the airlines reaction when I pointed out that Caleb and I were not sitting together on the last leg of our trip. The reps response was to go to our assigned seats and then ask other passengers to switch around because the flight was oversold. So picture me 8 months pregnant, with a 2 1/2 year old a car seat and two carry-ons. I say, you want me to go to row 11 and send my son to row 15 and hope someone will switch? are you kidding? Some people are crazy,,,,anyway long story short I did not have to leave him unsupervised on the plane and we eventually made it home.

my only belly shot

I took this last week, so I a m sure I have grown since then. Seriously, every ounce I have gained has got right to the belly. I look pretty silly! And we are getting anxious about the newbie's arrival...only eight more weeks.

My hiney made a noise and other funny things

Busy Busy Busy! We have been going like crazy lately, trying to get the house projects begun and wrapped up before baby. Last Friday, Caleb and I drove to Rhode Island to spend the day at the beach with Shauna and her family. My camera finally went kaput, so I have no photos....too bad-it was a lot of fun. We're actually thinking of renting a house there ourselves next summer. Saturday was a whirlwind, the boy and I went to a gymnastics birthday party and then headed to Brooklyn for Caleb's first sleepover with Nate. I am told he had a great time playing, going to the park and especially out to breakfast where he ate six pancakes and asked for more! Meanwhile, back in CT we began the bathroom project. Here are the befores and I should post some what it looks like nows, although I have no afters. But we did manage to remove all gold fixtures, rip out the shower door, paint the trim, buy wall color, buy new fixtures, and order a new shower curtain. I should mention that all of this is in my hallway. Just waiting to be installed.

I wasn't able to capture the floor to ceiling mirrored doors that are opposite the commode- not a fun view. They will be replaced with beautiful clean white non-mirrored doors. The plan is to get the rest of the work done while Caleb and I are in TX....we'll see : )

Caleb continues to crack me up with the things he has been saying. Here is a sampling:

The other morning we sat down to breakfast, he said, "Mom, this milk sure is tasty."

While in the bath, he was splashing around, had a little gas and said, "oops, my hiney made a noise."

He has a toy Thomas the train and Percy the train. While in the store the other day he put the Percy train in my bag and then decided he wanted it back. Caleb has a little trouble with his r's, so you can imagine what, "I want my Percy," might sound like.

Brandon, Caleb and I were curled up in bed ready to read books last night. I had brought in a pile of our books, as well as our library books. Brandon asked him what he would like to read and he went the stack... "well, we have a cow book, we have an Elmo book, we have a frog book, we have a chicken book..." He sounded like a little grown up!

I haven't cut Caleb's hair since Jen and Austin's wedding. Its shaggy and pretty cute. Sometimes, I'll ask him if he wants dad to take him to get a haircut, and he says, "No, he wants to be a hipster." (okay, I coached him on that one, but its pretty funny!)

I got a new camera today, and here are a couple of shots of me tormenting my son with it. Apparently, he doesn't like to be photographed while eating.

This one was taken a couple of weeks ago. As you can see we have upgraded from finger paints to watercolors. While mom is supervising the colors stayed clean and unmixed. One painting session with Dad and now they are all brown.....What am I going to do with them?

Teal was my favorite color in 1994

So its been a busy couple of weeks around here. Caleb started talking like a real person. Sort of....He is in the mammma, mammma, mmma, mmmamma, mmma, mmmama phase- its a little exhausting. Sometimes he actually has something to say. The conversation goes like this:

"Mamma, mammma, mammma. ( or Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, daddy, daddy....) "
"Yes, Caleb?"
"Mamma, I need to tell you something."
"ok, what do you need to tell me?"
"Um, blah blah blah. ice cream. blah blah, wow wow wubbzy. blah blah monster- roar sounds. blah blah. (singing now) Hello to Shauna. blah blah blah."

Note that blah blah= unintelligible baby babble

Other new phrases include: "No, I fine" this is most often the response to....did you do poop? are you hungry? would you like some milk?
"I don't sink so" and my personal favorite..."I help mommy" oh goody!

Caleb also officially master climbing out of the crib. So we are giving the toddler bed another shot. He hasn't been a great napper anyway, and last night was the first time and he didn't make an appearance in our room, so hopefully, this will go smoothly.


We have been in our house for exactly a year and slowly we have been making improvements. painting, new fixtures, etc. We are taking on the first of two major projects this week. The first being new kitchen counters. These are the pictures I had to send into the showroom for templating. Aren't they lovely? Thankfully, they are being replaced with beautiful charcoal solid quartz. I can't wait. and cross your fingers they will be done before the new baby. New floors will come over the Christmas break...

We are also embarking on another big/small project. I hate the downstairs bath. So while the boy is having a sleepover in Brooklyn. We are painting, pulling out the lovely shower door, and replacing all of the gold fixtures. I don't think we'll get to the floor to ceiling mirrored doors this weekend, but it will be a huge improvement. I will post before and afters this weekend, if we survive!

Crocodile Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Dennis the Croc's 1st birthday. Dennis is an add water and watch him grow crocodile that we purchased. He has happily been living in tupperware on the counter for the last week. He likes to be petted and given water. He also has had the pleasure of playing in the sandtable and getting baths in the hose.

Sydney sings Happy Birthday, all the time. Every day, no matter if its someone's b-day or not. Somehow it was decided that it was actually Dennis's birthday and we should have a party. On Tuesday we made crowns as a project and we decided that we should definitely wear these to the party.

The kids wore their crowns as well as special birthday smocks to decorate and eat their cupcakes. Yummy! Everyone had a great time, even though Dennis didn't get any cake.

Caleb is a parrot. We often walk to the playground in our neighborhood or play in Shauna's front yard which is at the end of our street. Between her house and the playground is a rather busy street that people drive entirely too fast down. The speed limit is 25 (a school zone) but there are no stop signs. I have taken to yelling out, "too fast" when I encounter these drivers. We were playing in the yard yesterday when four cars flew down the street. I of course yelled at them. The very next car that passed, an elderly man driving 10 mph, Caleb screamed, "too fast, too fast!" made me laugh

On a more disgusting, I don't know where he learned it note. Caleb was lying in my bed the other day as I was getting ready to go somewhere. He looked up at me and said, "I picka my nose and eat a boogie." I almost gagged as I ran to get a tissue to clean out his mouth and we had a long talk about germs and dirt. Still funny, though.

While Brandon was away

So, Brandon had his big weekend in Wyoming and Caleb and I spent the weekend having fun and trying to keep cool. Saturday we went to music class and then to the art store for some supplies. You can see the projects we worked on below. A visor with Caleb's name (he calls it a puppy hat?) and a hand painted, glittered and jeweled picture frame to send to his great-grandmother. He's really getting funny about the things he says. All through the store, we were talking about doing art projects and making the frame for Mama, and he kept saying, "I can't wait mama, I can't wait!" When it was all done he said, "Oh, its so beautiful!" man I love that kid!

On Sunday we went to Bounce U- A huge warehouse of bouncy toys and slides. He loved it. I was worn out, and the next time we go it will have to be with Dad. Caleb was very brave, there were some pretty steep slides and he was all about it. I did not try them out- Caleb has mastered the phrase, "oh mommy, your belly too big." thanks buddy!

After bouncing away, we headed to the beach. Caleb was content to water the sand while I cooled my feet in the waves. A nice way to spend the afternoon. Then we had pizza for lunch and the world's longest (or what felt like) tea party.

Caleb has rebelled against naps in the last few days. He has also mastered climbing from his crib. Its been really hot, so I moved his pack and play into our bedroom where its cooler, amazingly, he can climb from that, too. Go figure! I am attributing it to the heat and missing Dad, but I am ready for a break!

So, I worry about how much I do with Caleb. Is he having fun, being stimulated, am I teaching him something every day? Because while he is supposed to be napping, we just lie there and watch tv. Its the only way I can keep my sanity, but I still feel a little guilty. I guess as a parent, you do as much as you can and hope that its enough. He seems happy, he passed out at 8:00 while I was cleaning up the dinner dishes.