A Little Piece of JONES

I know this is out of order, and should have come before the Sunday post, but oh well. I am watching Alice in Wonderland right now-maybe the backwardness of it is getting to me : ) Yesterday was a busy, fun day. Matthew and Justin went to the father and sons campout so I just had Koyle. My mom and I went yard saling and I found the most awesomest, coolest surprise for Matthew! And it was only $8. You will just have to wait until Christmas to find out what it was but I will give you a hint...it involves a train!!!! It was Lindy's prom so when she got back from the day date I had to curl her hair really fast and then we all jumped in the car because she had to go to dance pictures. I did her makeup in the car, which is harder than it sounds. She did pictures, and on the way home I braided her hair. She jumped into her dress and we did a few last minute touches, and she was ready. Turns out the others in her group were running late so we hurried for nothing, but we had time to take pictures! Mandi and Jacque-these are for you!
 Not too bad for being shoved up in a wig, and done in the car, huh?
 Awesomely cute shoes!

 Isn't our baby sister BEAUTIFUL!!


Grandpa babysat Koyle through all the craziness. So precious!


This is probably my all time favorite picture of Koyle right now.

 Yesterday my parents picked up a swing set that they found on craigslist. Matthew was dying to put it together so after nap we went outside and finished getting it set up for him. It was a lovely afternoon outside and we are excited to put in lots of hours playing on the new set.

 Koyle was loving the swing!



And tonight I discovered that it is time to lower Koyle's crib. He was trying to stand up and lean over the rail. So that will Monday's activity. Don't you just want to kiss his adorable face? I also like this picture because it shows how WHITE he is. His arms almost look blue like the bumbo!

   Koyle will be 8 months old next week and he is growing up fast. I had to take him to the doctor for thrush last week (this is the second time he has gotten thrush) and he weighed in at 17 lbs. 8 oz. According to my measurements he is 29 in. long. Koyle's first two teeth popped through a few days before we moved so he was right about 7 months then. I think he is starting to work on getting more teeth. He has much more needy since we moved and is already spoiled rotten; he jut wants to be held all the time. But despite that he is still a very good natured kid.
   Koyle still takes 3 naps a day. He usually sleeps for an hour in the morning around 9, then takes a 2 hour nap at 12, and then takes an hour evening nap anywhere between 4-6. He goes to sleep at 8 and will sleep until sometime between 4:30-6. I nurse him then and he usually goes back to sleep until 7, although lately he has been getting up around 6:15. He loves to sleep sideways in his crib:

   A few weeks ago Koyle discovered clapping and it is the cutest thing ever. He claps all the time and always gets the cutest smile on his face like he is so excited and proud of himself; it can cheer up any moment. This is a very brief video clip I caught of him clapping:

He has finally mastered the art of rolling and can go both ways. But if he is mad he will sit and scream with his face in the floor and refuses to roll over. Apparently he can only roll when he is happy. He wants to crawl so badly. He can pretty much get himself into the crawling position from sitting but his arm strength isn't strong enough to hold it very long. We are working on it and I am certain that within a month he will be cruising around.
    Koyle jabbers all the time and says mama and baba a lot. He also makes the cutest happy sounds in his little high voice and will talk all the time. Koyle LOVES to play the piano and he gets quite into it. His little legs will kick and bounce and he squeals with joy. He has also started taking a special liking to Grandma. I am okay with this because it gives my arms a little rest. Koyle went through a phase after we moved where I could not put him down at all or he would scream and scream and scream. He is starting to get over that and is finally playing with toys and self-entertaining again. Good thing too because I was about at the end of my screaming baby can't get anything done rope.
   Koyle is a great eater. I give him cereal and a fruit/veggie twice a day. He would eat it more if I gave it to him. His menu currently consists of green beans, peas, squash, sweet potato, applesauce, bananas, peaches, and pears-introduced in that order. He loves to eat cheerios and especially graham crackers. He still nurses every 2-3 hours.
   Koyle has a beautiful smile that makes me feel happy and peaceful whenever I see it. He has the most kissable cheeks, and I kiss them all the time! I really need to work on taking more pictures and videos; that will be my goal for the next couple of weeks.

As I have mentioned before, bedtime with Matthew lately has been unsuccessful to say the least. Most of the problem has been the inconsistency of our life lately, especially regarding naps and nighttime schedules. I have been going back and forth every day about what I should do. Do I just not care any more and let him go to bed whenever and throw structure out the window? Or do I stick to my guns and just fight through the wailing until he realizes who is boss and that bedtime is here to stay? One night we put Matthew to bed and he kept getting out like usual. Through his wailing he woke Koyle up, which is quite a feat because Koyle can sleep through a lot. Anyways, I was holding Koyle downstairs and Justin was up trying to get Matthew to stay in bed. My dad suggested that I read some books to him. I agreed that was probably a good idea; reading books before nap is really the only way to calm him down enough to get him to lay in bed and go to sleep. But we read scriptures before bed, and the way things have been going it is always late by the time we get to bedtime anyways, and I am exhausted so the thought of having to sit and read books to Matthew did not sound appealing. My dad reminded me how my parents used to read to us every night before we went to sleep. So my dad said, "Go up and read him a book, Cris." "I don't want to go read him a book though," I said. Seriously? That was the best I could come up with. I felt pretty guilty about that for a few days. I could hear my parents voice in my head saying since when do we get to do what we want? And what would be easier, having bedtime routine take a little longer because we read books, or fighting him all night to go to sleep? Long story short, my dad went up and read some books to Matthew. It was very cute and Matthew calmed down. As I sat thinking about it that night I realized the truth of what my dad had said. He is just a little boy and can't be expected to just lay down and go to sleep every night. (Although he used to be able to do it, but given the circumstances, I will cut him some slack.) I was being selfish and making Matthew cry every day just because I was too lazy or too tired to help him feel calm and loved. So my new goal is to make bedtime a pleasant experience for all involved. I am still not going to let him stay up all hours of the night, but with a little planning and effort on my part mixed with love and patience, hopefully we can make bedtime a time where many memories are created. Good memories that is, not bad ones. And speaking of bedtime I saw this sign the other day and want to make one for my house:   "It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting interesting"

Today was voting day and as we were driving I had this conversation with Matthew:
M: Where are we going? To Grammy Tami's?
C: No, we are going to vote. Voting is where we get to choose who our leader will be.
M: Like in Peter Pan!
C: Yeah, I guess like in Peter Pan. Who do they chose as their leader on Peter Pan?
M: Tinkerbell

Random, but cute! There was a train crossing right next to the church where we voted so afterwards I walked with the boys over so we could look at the ding-dings (railroad crossing signs) and let Matthew touch and walk on the train track. Well, it was our lucky day because what do you know, a train came! We got to see its light and watch the lights blink and the ding-dings ding, and see the hands come down; we got to wave to the engineer and feel the wind on our face as the train rushed by. We got to see all the different cars as they passed, and then watch it fade away into the distance. Justin said it was like he got to live a youtube video! He was one happy little boy.

This past weekend we made one last trip to Utah. It was kind of weird to go back but not have a place of our own to stay at. Matthew thought it was great fun to stay at Natalie and Emily's and kept asking me if that was our new house. The poor little boy is so confused about where he belongs these days. And today at the park there was a steering wheel and he kept telling me he was driving to Tiffy's house. It was a lot of fun to get together. Saturday morning we went to the temple with Cory & Tiffany. Troy and Sarah were in town for the weekend and on Saturday they blessed their baby girl. We didn't really get to visit or see the baby, but it was fun to see them for a brief moment. That afternoon we took the kids swimming which was a blast; my boys LOVE the water. That night the boys went to a Jazz game and the women stayed home. On Sunday, Cory and Tiffany blessed their little girl and then we had a lunch afterwards. It was fun to get to visit with the Leemasters one more time. We are really going to miss them. It will most likely be a very long time before we make it back to visit Utah. And I know that certain folks reading this are saying-I could still choose to go to Utah : )  But even though I will miss some of the people there, I really am not sad that I won't be returning in a few months.
Anyways, it was fun to have all the grandkids together. So far we have been able to take one of these pictures every time a new baby has been born. But I don't think that will happen any more so this picture will be especially fun to have.

And yes, thats a lot of little kids running around; life is always exciting and loud when we get together!

 
We have chosen to go to Virginia! We are very excited about our decision (obviously or we wouldn't have chosen it.) If we hear back from Texas Tech ever then we will re-evaluate then, but as for now it is off to Richmond we go.