Bridal Catalogs

One time in college when I was having lunch with some girlfriends our conversation turned to weddings and marriage and all of that, and I stated something like "I can't wait to get married and have kids."   I don't remember exactly how the conversation went from there but I do remember feeling a bit defeated after the fact.  The others played marriage off like it was something they would get to later in life if they had time, but it was not at the top of their list of things to do.  I left lunch feeling like some kind of desperate woman in need of a husband.

I never want my girls to feel that way.
We took the girls to their first wedding last night.  From the moment the doors opened and my girl caught a glimpse of the lovely lady in white, my Little was transfixed.  She looked at me and said "Mommy, why aren't they dancing?" 

I assured her that they would before the night was over.  She sat there taking in every moment, and the when the officiant said "you may kiss the bride" she clapped with all little girl wonderment you can imagine at what she had just witnessed.

I cried with the bride when she spoke her vows to her husband, but my tears kept coming after she was done when I realized that yesterday most likely began a journey for my little girl in which she will dream of the day that she too will speak her vows to the one her heart loves most.

I want her to know that it is good and right to dream about that day, to want that day despite what society may tell her.  I want her to know that God designer her for love...to give love, and to receive it, and to not feel guilty for wanting it. 

Anyway, she danced the night away and hasn't stop talking about it since.  When the bride and groom left Libs asked me where they were going.  I told her they were going to live happily ever after, which I know isn't strictly true...but for now, as she is just shy of 3 years I thought that it was the easiest way of explaining it!

Here's to many years of purchasing bridal magazine and dreaming of their special day!

In other news, the sun was going down the other night and told Kev to meet outside with the camera so I could take pictures of my Littlest.  True to form, she was being extremely cute and as usual I started clicking and couldn't stop.  I will post all of these pictures I took of her, and it will be your job to decide how they are different!

And one last shot of her and our gentle giant...
Do you remember these overalls?  They are the same pair from this post, so long ago...
I did, and I couldn't let summer slip on by without seeing Maggie's fabulous rolls peaking out of them just like her sister's did!

Grace and Peace
xx

Sleeping Is Over Rated...

That is, until the children wake up in the morning and I want just  more 5 minutes of sleep all to myself.  I have invested no time in this space in the last two weeks and when that happens I always regret it.

For the record, last week we thought that we lost Trouble.  Every morning when I open up the garage door, he saunters out into the sunlight and stretches  from his front paws all the way to his back paws, then flops to the ground and rolls in the light b/c the warmth feels that good to him.  Then he positions himself between our fence and one of our big trees in the back and watches the morning unfold....He does this every day.  I know b/c I watch him do it every day from my kitchen window.  One day last week I realized that it had been days since I watched him do his morning routine...and we looked, and we called for him, we talked to neighbors, and much to our dismay we could not find him anywhere.  By the weekend, I had resigned myself to the fact that he was most likely gone for good.  I have had Trouble for a long time and despite the fact that his role in our family is mostly a silent one, I was so sad that he was gone.  Five days from the moment I realized he was missing, he came back...he's even skinnier now then he was before but he is back and getting an extra dose of love from everyone, especially the Littlest who makes her special sound whenever he comes around.
 

In the midst of loosing Trouble, we woke last Friday night to find ourselves and the Little ones sweating profusely. Let me just pause here to say that I have not complained about the weather once this summer. If you remember last summer, when Miss MaggieBell was baking away, I basically complained about the heat in every post! Back to the sweating...At 3:30 in the morning Friday night our thermostat read 77 degrees and was climbing upwards...we lived for the whole weekend without any air....please feel sorry for me about this, it was the hottest weekend of the summer thus far and temperatures were creeping past the 100 mark...I actually sent Kev a text at work Sunday night that said "if you do not fix our air by tomorrow morning, I am never speaking to you again." Clearly the heat was making me disillusional, not to mention that it was going on 10 o'clock, the thermostat read 85 degrees,  the little girls were still awake, and feeling the need to climb all over me like a jungle gym. 

Just like the lost cat coming home, the air got fixed, by my handy husband Monday morning.  Not sure how that is like the lost cat, but all is right at Jones household and yes, we are still speaking.

In reto-spect, I probably should have gone to bed instead of typing, b/c this post in really not worth your time in reading and I still have a bucket load of pictures that I need to post.  It may not contain any whimsical stories about my precious girls, but in 6 months I will remember that Trouble was like the Prodigal Son and that my husbands Mr. Fix It talents continue to amaze me year after year!


Grace and Peace
xxx

Toddlers and Tiaras

My post tonight was going to be over flowing with pics of little Jones girls, plus, tall tales of run away cats and primitive living over the weekend.  One click of the remote steered my evening in a whole different direction.  The TV vortex that is Toddlers and Tiaras had me glued to the TV for 2 hours past the girls bedtime and now I'm too tired to write any of my stories down.
I will tell you to never, ever turn on TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras, it is absolutely impossible to stop watching once you start...Not b/c it is good television, but b/c it is that unbelievable that people actually live that way.
Until next time, here is a picture of Gus looking very viscous.

Grace and Peace and please, oh please don't enter your 2 year old into a pageant!
xoxo

Make A List

Kev is a list maker.  He likes the satisfaction of crossing things off the list when he gets them done.  I have never been a list kind of girl.  I make them in my head and then forget about them. It's really not a good practice to get into.  I suggest being more like Kev.
Last week, I kept catching moments that were so blog worthy.  I would think to myself..."I need to blog about this so I don't forget how great it was."  My mental list is lost in the fog of my brain and I'm not exactly sure I remember what they were.  However, I'm going to sift through the fog and try b/c  I know I'll want them to know these things one day. 

So here goes...
1.  Friday, I felt like I got hit by a truck.  I told Libby that I needed her to be a big helper b/c Mommy wasn't feeling well. She said "You's not feel good Mama?  You need a band-aid?  Here, I'll go get it."  She stuck it to my shirt, and you know, I did feel a little better.

2.  Sunday night I was rocking Maggie to sleeping and I could feel her breath on my neck and I felt so lucky to be her Mom.  Her little head was tucked perfectly under my chin and it made me want to stay there all night.

3.  Both girls have been waking up in the early-EARLY morning and coming to sleep in our bed.  I have mixed feeling about this.  I looked down through bleary eyes yesterday morning and saw the Little with her arms wrapped around the Littlest and right when I thought I was going to call these early-EARLY morning sleepovers off, I let it slide b/c I know one day it'll just be me and Kev all by ourselves again.

4.  The sun goes down late.  It takes it's time and makes our street look pretty.  I like the way it kisses the trees in our backyard...my sloppy picture doesn't do it justice.

5.  I took Maggie to her 6 month check up today.  She is 16 lbs and some change.  She is 25 inches long. 

She crawled, proper crawled not just a scoot, all the way down the upstairs hallway yesterday. When I checked on her during naptime she was half way to standing up in her crib. We lowered her mattress last night.  It made me sad.  Kev saw my face when I left the nursury and hugged me b/c he knows that things like lowering crib mattress reminds me that I'm one step closer to shipping them off to college.

I'm ridiculous, I know this.  I don't know why I continue to be surprised at how fast my babies grow, but I am.  I want them to grow, saying I don't want them to is silly...but seriously, it hurts sometimes.  The kind of hurt of hurt that takes your breath away b/c it's beautifully painful watching them grow.
Sigh.
Wipe a tear.
Blow my nose.
Moving on.

For the record this is same dress that Libby wore to her 6 month check up. I remembered at the last moment this morning and dressed Maggie in it just because.
Now I can refer to it as the 6 month check up dress.

6. Kev is really good at almost all sports...basketball may or may not be one of them.  It doesn't bother Libby...she thinks he is perfect at everything, no matter how many shots it takes to get one basket!

She was so proud of him.


On my list for this week is
1. Write my list down
2. Take pictures that are not blury
3. Take pictures in general
4. Go to bed before midnight
5.  Blog more
etc., etc, etc...

Grace and Peace
xoxo

Six Month Maggie

Last spring before I ever knew I was pregnant, God planted a seed in my heart for my Littlest.  One morning I woke up and I knew that some day I would know and love Maggie Bell Jones (I told Laura about it).  What started with a name we thought sounded like a beautiful little girl, became our little girl, who we've now known for 6 months.
Maggie's name came from two very strong woman in our family.  My father's grandmother, Maggie McDonald, who ran a working farm, and my Grams, whose maiden name was Katherine Bell (hence the reason we didn't put an "e" on the end of Maggie's Bell).  I find it interesting that as I learn more about her each and everyday I am seeing that she too, like the woman before her, is very strong. 

Right now she is showing us her physical strength, she could sit up on her own around 41/2 months, and by the middle of last month she was rocking back and forth on all fours, and now she is starting to crawl (much to my surprise, b/c Libs didn't crawl until after she turned 8 months old).  She's even pulled up on me a couple of times and on one of our toys...What?  Slow down baby girl! 
At 6 months old, she stands up for herself, when her big sister tries to bully her gently play with her, not with a cry, but with a yell that sounds more like "hey, don't push me around Libby."

She adores Libby though, and I sometimes have to stop myself from intervening, for right when I think big sister is being too forceful, or playing to vigorously, I'll here Libby laugh, then Maggie will laugh, and then my heart hurts..but in the most wonderful way. The hurts cause it's bursting way.  Then I scoop them  both up and squish them in my arms.

At 6 months old she says Da-da..pretty well actually.  I don't know that she is saying it to him, she seems to say it when she needs someone's attention.  Her voice is raspy and Kev says she sounds like a country music singer.
I just started giving her solid foods.  I was going to hold off a little longer, but her eyes would look so desperate at the dinner table, I gave in and mashed up some bananas the other day.  So now we've tried apples, and avocado, and I'll start some butternut squash tomorrow.  I think she just likes being involved.

At 6 months old her smile can light up a room...I think I mentioned before, that she smiles with her whole face, her whole body really.  It is fantastic.  I think that Bruno Mars wrote that way too popular song "Just The Way You Are" for her.  You can't help but smile back at her and when you do, she  laughs, which makes something that was already fantastic even better!

At 6 months old she does not like loud noises.  If I vaccume, or the dog barks she immediately tries to find me.  When we do find each other, she does that thing that she has done since we first met, where she nuzzles her head back and forth in my chest. I love this, and when it stops I plan on crying about it a lot.

I think that Maggie will always be the kind of girl that tries to find the good in all situations, b/c even when she cries if you look at her, she'll start smiling and laughing like she is saying "I really don't like what's going on here, but I'm working through it and I know it's going to be okay."

At 6 months old she notices everything around her.  She loves Trouble (the cat, not the act of trouble).  When she sees him, she makes this sound, like a low "oh." It is adorable and I need to film it before she stops this.
I am happy to report that depsite EVERYONE telling me that she looks nothing like me, Babs and I broke out an old baby picture  and if it weren't for her hairline, which is exactly like Kevo's, she looks quite a bit like I did at her age!

I will never tire of saying how Maggie Bell just feels like home...when I nurse down for nap time or bed, I  can't help but lean back and close my eyes and  think that sitting in that chair holding her is probably the most perfect place on earth. When I look down at her, if I'm lucky, I'll catch one more glimpse of those big blues eyes before she drifts off to sleep.
You can't catch time, but if I could, I'd keep this girl my baby forever.
Half a year down.  Happy half Mags!  xxx

Grace and Peace

2, 4, 6, 8, She Likes To Manipulate

( I want to be clear that if you don't want to read about poop then you should "x" out of this blog and come back another day!)
I've got to be quick b/c the cherubs are sleeping and as soon as they realize that I have stolen a minute of solitude to sit at the computer, instead catching up with house work, one of them will surely wake up.
(They woke up long before I finished this post, so now I'm frantically typing before I need to go to bed)

Let me sum this up, by saying that, by far potty training has been my absolute least favorite part of parenting.  Here is a  time chart of what we've been doing the last month, the dates are a round about estimate.
June 1- Mommy and the Little go on special date to Target and buy stickers, poster board, and another pack of princess panties...let the training begin!
June 2- The Little laughs at the chart, pees on the floor, and goes on her merry way

June 11- The Little is playing in her paddling pool, runs in the house to declare "that she has to go poohy!"  and in the potty it went
June 12- Repeat of the day before. In my head I think "I'm sure that the time has come, and we are ready to kiss diapers goodbye... See ya pampers! Oh wait, I have a baby that will be in diapers for at least 2 more years. Sigh"
June 13-21ish- I brag to my friends "she's got it and basically did it all on her own," "She is a potty genius, her chart is full of stickers"  Okay, really she had mostly good days, one or two accidents tops, but all in all good.  However, she gradually went from poohing on the potty, to waiting for her pull up at nap time or bed time.

June 22nd- I make her wear an outfit she doesn't like and she hid in her play house to poop in her panties.
-I freak out b/c I really, truly, in my heart think she did this on purpose
June 23rd- Busy playing with a friend and poops in her panties again- I stay calm, but only just barely
June 23rd, 5 minutes later- standing in front of me while I'm nursing the baby, poops in her panties again- I freak out and put her in a time out
June 24th-25th- Tummy troubles and in pull ups most of the weekend
The next couple of days were much the same and maybe I got some of those days mixed up, but here comes my breaking point...
June 28th- Perfect.  Everything. Pees, poohs, on the potty, all day long, on her own, with out me reminding her it was time to try again.  Woohoo!  
I celebrate we are over the hump!
June 29th- We go shopping.  She freaks out in a dressing room b/c I wont let her wear a purple dress home.  When I say freak out, I mean the kind of freak out, that causes on lookers to stare and judge. I mean, on the floor rolling and screaming.  I still bought the dress.  I hung it my closet and told her it was prize for pooping on the potty.
June 29th, 10 minutes after we get home-  I can't find Libby.  I locate her in the playroom pooping in her panties...I freak out b/c I'm convinced she is pooping  in her panties b/c I wont let her have the purple dress

Basically the week fell apart after that.  She would hide, I would realize she was hiding, and find her with poop in her panties.  I was coming unraveled.  One can only handle poop on there hands so many times before, you know, you just pop..and trust me if poop is in the panties it going to get on your hands, their legs,every where...it is gross!
Friday afternoon Kev came home to find me standing in the middle of my bed, with my fist in the air, my hair unnaturally full, screaming at the top of my lungs and I quote,

"I will not loose this battle! You are not getting your diapers back, you will poop on the potty again, and Mommy will prevail!"  

She just starred at me, along with the dog, the cat, and the Littlest, with baffled looks on their faces.
Several hours later she poop in her panties...
at the pool..
I had aproximently 5 baby wipes with me.
It was neat.
God bless my sweet husband, he totally took over for me this weekend, almost to the point of not telling me when she had an accident, he just handled it.  I kept finding washed out panties drying out on the wash tub in the garage.

Okay, fast forward to yesterday...Kev is back at work and I wake up with new resolve, "I will not freak out, I will encourage her to tell me when she has to go, even if she is just asking me for diaper to go in"  I was so over cleaning up poohy panties and legs, and floors, and everything else that got poop on... I was convinced that I was the reason for all the accidents and she was forever scarred b/c I  disciplined her several times for the poopy panties, not to mention my passionate soliloquy I delivered from my bed .  I was determined to do it "the right way" this week...whatever that is.
July 5th- Libby hides in the closest to poop in her pull up...I stay calm, tell  her that it was okay to poop in the pull up if she needed to, but to go to the bathroom to do it next time.
July 5th one hour later- Libby is quietly playing in her playroom, this is not normal, she always wants my attention in the morning, why isn't she asking me to play...Libby has poop in her panties again.. in my head I say, "are you kidding me it's the beggining of our day, it can't start this way!!!!  Stay clam, stay calm, stay clam!!!!  Do not start shouting about battles and winning, do not start punching your fist in the air"
July 5th after I clean poop up again- I pull out the purple dress.  "Libs remember this dress that you love, you can have it if you poop in the potty three times."
Just like that, my kid goes in the bathroom and produces a rabbit size pooh.  She does this 3 more times in the next hour, like she has been poohing on the potty her whole life.
She got the dress.

July 5th, after bedtime- I realize that rewarding the behavior (or bribing, whatever you want to call it) works.  I headed to Target and leave with another poster board to make a "Pooh Chart", more stickers, and 3 prizes, each one a bit bigger than the last.
Row one of the chart had 3 spaces for stickers to win prize #1, 5 poohs for prize #2, and 10 poohs for prize #3.  I wrapped each prize and put the new chart on the wall.
July 6th- I take the Little into the bathroom for the rules of the new pooh game.  I teach her about working for the prize, or earning the reward.   A few minutes later she declares that she has to go poohy! She goes, she gets the sticker and we count, 2 more times and she gets the first prize.  Well by lunch time, she had the first prize.  Every 30 minutes, she would yell "Mommy, I have to go poohies!"  And every time she would go.  Trust me when I tell you that she went no less than 10 times today.  She pushed and grunted her way through each one in hopes that she would win all 3 prizes today.

This cunning Mama will not be manipulated by her cunning 2 year old.  I was the one manipulating rewarding her, so I told her that I was proud of each and every pooh, but we would stop working on the chart for today, and pick up working towards prize number two tomorrow.  Eighteen squares I put on the chart...In my head that meant eighteen days of practicing pooping and in the end she would get it, right?  Well, at this rate she have the chart filled up by tomorrow and I'll be back at Target searching for even bigger and better bribes rewards.
I'm exhausted, no matter where you're cleaning poop up from, it is gross, panties or the mini potty, it is gross, and I've done it at least 10 times today and that is not counting the baby's dirty diapers.
I'm guessing that if you read this post carefully you are going to see multiple counts of poor parenting...I know that they are there, from the freaking out, to the bribing, to the standing on the bed shouting to anyone who would listen that I would prevail...but please don't judge me too harshly, I'm learning as I go.  It's hard to know what to do with a little girl who has an iron clad will, and knows how to poop on command.

But there you go.  The poop war is on...she was in the lead last week, but me and my pooh chart are trying to make a come back!
Happy potty training.

Grace and Peace
xoxo
By the way, I have been given just about every piece of potty training advice possible and probably tried it, I just left all of that out b/c this post was long enough all ready! :)
and yes, despite the stress of the last few weeks, I do believe that one day, when my little freedom flower is grown, I'll miss these days and my heart will ache to see her and that mischievous grin. :)