Balian's 1-yr. pics

I can't believe Balian is going to be ONE in less than a month! I took his 1-yr. pics early, to do invitations, of course! We had a lot of fun being really messy! Somehow I was able to get at least SOME good shots - even with a cranky, teething baby! Enjoy!

Some News Bites

I wish I were giving an update on my post from a couple weeks ago (oh, the possibilities...), but nothing has really come of it yet. So yeah...still not gonna clue anyone in on that one yet.
However, we've got some other news bites that I wanted to share:

1. Balian has been cutting teeth like crazy. He cut both of his bottom middle teeth within a week. Now, on week 2, he's working on his first top tooth. He's also cruising around furniture like crazy, and accidentally letting go for a couple of milliseconds...only until he realizes that he's not holding on to something and immediately does so. Not sure when this boy is going to start walking. Probably a week and a half after his first birthday, just like Bella...he's followed her footsteps on everything else! Totally has the strength already...just not the guts. He's so careful for a boy.

2. Neil is off on his 2-week deployment that he has to do once/ year for the Navy Reserves. we don't think the boat he's on is actually going to go out at all, which is nice, but he's still on the other side of the world, so it still seems like it. But two weeks vs. 2-4 months is NOTHING in comparison!

3. Bella has learned all of her uppercase and lowercase letters. we've been working on her letter sounds for a while now, and she knows all of them except for the vowels. She can get the short sounds, but the whole "letter saying it's name" thing just totally goes over her head apparently... and if she does get it for a bit, then she thinks that EVERY letter says it's name...I can see how it would be confusing. Any suggestions on how to help her out would be greatly appreciated. I've tried making up silly poems to help her out and everything. anyway, as soon as she learns ALL of her letter sounds, I'm taking her to the "beach". Our beach is Granbury City Beach, which is amazingly a pretty nice beach/park on Lake Granbury - with good sand, and water with only "lake waves". Perfect fit for Bella!

4. I'm slowly learning to drive Neil's car...it's a standard. So far, I've only driven it once out of our neighborhood, but our neighborhood is pretty huge. Now I'm working on driving it to church on Sunday mornings...less traffic. once I master that, I'll probably branch out and do more :)

5. We're pregnant again.

Did that catch you off guard? yes, it did us too - shockingly, actually. I think I'm still in shock and I've known for about 5 weeks now.

To answer some questions that I know you're wondering:

- why so shocking? I was on BC for 3 months to help regulate hormones because of the PPD. I was feeling good, so we decided to do a trial and get off of it and see if I still felt good. I had absolutely NO fertility signs, and we still got pregnant. only us, right? Oh, and then the funny part is that at about the time I was supposed to start, my temp dropped just like it should...SIKE! (yes, I just typed that). It totally shot up again after that...and on day 17 of high temps, I was like "wow. I'm pregnant." so no fertility signs, then no symptoms of pregnancy at all like I usually have early on...nothing. but sure enough...we got two lines. Just goes to show that God is totally in control. He does what he wills, whether its in our plans or not. He Blesses us when we least expect it.

- I'm 9 weeks pregnant.

- I'm due March 20

- Balian and the baby will have an age difference of 18 months.

- Boy or girl doesn't really matter to me, but I already think it's a girl. I could totally be wrong though.

- This pregnancy has been the worst so far with how I feel. I'm so much more nauseated...but the worst part is that like always with me...I never actually get sick. So I just feel horrible all the time with no real relief except for sleep. I feel bad when I'm hungry...or when I just ate. I feel bad because of the heat...or because I'm in a moving car...or because I just do for no reason at all... and it's all like this heartburn-ish yet dizzy kind of nausea. horrible. Luckily, my dad had these Sea Bands that he uses for motion sickness that are also supposed to work with morning sickness...and it totally helps! They're like sweatbands that you wear on your wrists that have this bead on them that you put over a certain pressure point on the wrist. Totally great!

- I've had my first Dr.'s appointment and my first ultrasound.

- I NO LONGER have a BICORNUATE UTERUS!!! Praise the LORD!! Apparently Balian stretched it out, and I'm normal now!

- I may end up changing doctors because of proximity to the hospital. The doc I'm currently going to now doesn't deliver in town - she delivers in Ft. Worth at Harris Methodist SW, which is an AMAZING hospital - especially for labor and delivery...but problem is that it's 45 min. away. If it worked out like the last two kids, and I was at the hospital already before going into labor, that would be great, but we just don't know that. The hospital here, in town is only 15 minutes away. I'm going to try to go on a tour of the maternity ward, and set up a consultation with a doc that was recommended to me that delivers in town.

- we will be looking into getting a minivan (yes...those words just came out...can't believe it. never say never, I suppose.)

- lets just say that we've been totally spoiled by the Navy when it comes to maternity care. :)

I guess that's all for now!

House Update

We've been working hard on the house lately, and things are finally starting to come around.

In the Livingroom, our bedroom, the entry-way, and the kitchen:

we tore off the edges of the wallpapered walls (noteverything would come off...as we learned the heard way in the livingroom...so we just pulled up the edges that were curling up) and sanded them down. Neil then went over the edges with Joint Compound (Bella's new favorite word) and we sanded again. Then, we primed the walls, had a friend come help us texture the walls to match the rest of the house, primed the walls again, and now we're working on painting them.

Whew! That's a lot of work.

The good news: once we finish painting the walls, we'll be able to pull up the rest of the carpet and put down new flooring!!!!

We have been going back and forth between hardwood and laminate - weighing the difference between raising the resale value of the house and just dealing with scratches (looking at them as adding character) as they come with hardwood, or not raising the resale value as much and at the same time not having to worry about the flooring with kids running around with laminate.

We opted for the latter. We loved having laminate in GA - so easy to clean and so durable. We found one that I think is really pretty too :) So, we've got the flooring picked out (for the dining room, entry, livingroom, hallway, and our bedroom)...now it's just a matter of putting it in. It'll probably be about another month or so before Neil is able to get it done, but I'm still super-excited!

Here's our sample of the flooring we want:

Oh! And I totally haven't shared the project that I did a while back!

I got this old contractor chandalier from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Clebourne (about 30 min. away). I used spray paint to prime it and paint it a metalic bronze color, and we hung it in our dining room. Isn't it pretty??

Before:

After:

The Mom Song

So I was listening to the radio today, and they played this song, and I thought it was fabulous. Thought I'd share :)

Go Fish - The Mom Song
- Watch more Sports Videos at Vodpod.

Oh, the possibilities...

There may be something pretty exciting brewing in the future for this Jones family. However, I'm not going to state what's going on until I have confirmation that it isn't just some crazy idea or dream... when there is some kind of concrete info to share.
No babies that I'm aware of, so don't go guessing on that road...
I know. I'm a horrible tease.

I will only say that an amazing opportunity seems to be opening up for me. I'm challenged by the possibilities - but excited all the same. Could you pray for me? That the doors would either continue to blow wide open, or that they would be slammed shut - For God's will to prevail - for courage - for creativity - for peace - for wisdom - for continued humility and awe.

Thanks so much!

Watermelon

We spent July 4th weekend with Neil's family in Louisiana. Too bad I totally slacked off on packing the camera...grr... So this is the best I got with my camera phone. But totally great! This boy loves his watermelon just as much as his Daddy and sister do! :)

Stainless Steel, Here we come!

I just ordered some stainless steel cups for the kids! I'm way excited!

For Balian, we have the Organickidz stainless steel bottles. They come in 4, 7, and 9 oz., and they have both narrow and wide bottles. We are getting the 9 oz. wide bottles, however, we're going to use it as a sippy. (you can use all of the Avent sippy spouts with it or Thinkbaby sippy spouts as well)...and later on as a sport cup. http://www.organickidz.ca/ But we got ours from Babies R Us - one stop shopping for bottles, sippy spouts, trainer handles, etc. (and a bit of a price break)

For Bella, we have the Klean Kanteen - 12 oz, has all kinds of different top options, including a sippy cup (using the Avent sippy spout...which means you COULD use it with the Avent bottle nipples too...but 12 oz. seems a bit large for that...). Later on, when the sport top comes out with the organickidz stuff, we'll get those and Bella and Balian can share. The Klean Kanteen comes in lots of different fun, happy colors too! http://www.kleankanteen.com/