Christmas 2009

Phew... Christmas is over. It was fun but we are all exhausted and I am kind of happy to be done with the festivities. I am sure I'll be wishing for them back in a month or two of hardcore NB winter.

We visited Nanny and Grampy Jones on Christmas Eve afternoon and had a lovely dinner and then attended a Christmas Eve service at church. We came home and finished making our cupcakes so that we could leave one for Santa. Adrian had heard rumors that if Santa stopped in and you were still awake he would leave and take his presents with him. As such, it was really easy to get him to bed. I said 'I think I heard Santa' and he ran as fast as he could, jumped in bed and pulled the covers up to his face and closed his eyes as tightly as possible. I wish bedtime was that easy every night!

Christmas morning was a relaxed affair. We didn't get up until 8AM and it took us about an hour to open our gifts. Of course Adrian opened his tool bench from Santa and didn't really care too much about the other multitude of gifts under the tree. Whenever he came to a book or clothes he would stop unwrapping and say 'I already have books/clothes, put it back under the tree for next year'. Gone are the days when books were exciting gifts I guess (although he really does love them and we have been reading for a good hour a day with all the new material.) Vivian got a musical instrument set from Santa and a ride on car and food and dishes for her kitchen from us. They all kept her really busy. She sure loves toys.

Nanny and Grampy and Uncle Jerry stopped by after that and we opened their gifts. Then we loaded into the car and went to Stickney to visit Grammy and Grampy and Uncle Brian and Aunt Tracey. We had a great visit with them and of course there were even more presents!

All in all it was a great Christmas. Vivian's first Christmas and our first in the new house. It feels like home even more now that we have celebrated the holidays here. My favorite memories of this Christmas will be having two adorable kids under my tree and doing all of our fun Advent Calendar activities leading up to Christmas. (That will be a keeper for next year.)

Getting ready to do some cooking with her new kitchen supplies.


It still feels strange to have toys like this under the tree. (Yes, that is a baby Cabbage Patch kid.)


Adrian's favorite present. A tool bench. He's obsessed.


A Christmas afternoon family picture.


Riding on her new wheels from Adrian.


Opening his Santa gift. Excited is not a strong enough word to describe him.


Making our cupcakes... some are for Baby Jesus' birthday and of course a couple for Santa.. the rest are for Adrian I was told.

Vivian - Week 49: All this fun is hard work

Poor Vivian has been exhausted lately. All of these late night parties are catching up with her (and me as well). Adding to the problem is that I think she is hitting another growth spurt as she seems to be getting rather... um.... pleasantly plump.... again. She has a crazy appetite and will pretty much keep eating so long as you keep serving up courses.

This is Mommy's last week home and we are going to meet Vivian's babysitter for a few short visits. I sure hope it goes well for both of our sakes. She hasn't been away from me for more than a couple hours before so I am sure it will take some adjusting on both of our parts but once we get into a groove I know it will be good for us. I will miss that sweet little smile for 8 hours a day though!

In baby prison... or just looking down from our split level kitchen/family room.

I am stocking up on the cuddles.

Merry Christmas from the Jonses

I am overwhelmed by how much I have to be thankful for this Christmas season. I can't begin to list everything because I could go on forever. I hope you all are as blessed as we have been this year and into 2010 and onward. Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Vivian - Week 48: Baby girl

Vivian is turning into a 'little girl' more and more all the me. I think of her as a baby until I see a newborn and then I realize she really isn't a baby anymore. She is communicating more and more thoughts everyday and it is so much fun to be on the receiving end of this communication. If she sees something of interest she points at it and makes a little noise while raising her eyebrows. It is amazing how they learn these things so easily. Her toy kitchen is set up in the dining room beside my real kitchen so she can play while I work. Yesterday I was washing off the counter tops and I looked over and she had her toy dish rag and was pretending to wash off her kitchen counter and chair. I am not sure why but that just struck me as the sweetest thing ever. (Maybe it is because I will have some help in the kitchen!)

While I am sure she doesn't get the whole 'Christmas' thing this year she certainly does love unwrapping gifts. I can't let her get too close to the tree or else I hear 'ripppp' and a strip of paper comes off or a name tag or two. I am afraid we may come down to a few 'mystery' gifts without name tags on Christmas morning.

11 months old

Vivian loves Adrian's couch.... probably because it is Adrian's.

Our first Christmas concert

Adrian participated in his first Sunday school Christmas concert this weekend. It was so heart warming. He had all four grandparents, Uncle Jerry and Daddy and Vivian there to cheer him on and I could tell he felt very proud. I co-teach his class and you can't imagine how much work goes into a 3 minute performance for 10 preschoolers! It was worth it though. They were all so sweet.

Vivian - Week 48: Daycare

Vivian has found her comfort objects and they are her thumb and what we refer to as her 'pink didi' (that's what we call blankets around here thanks to Adrian). I am afraid she will need them as I am slowly trying to wean her so that she can start daycare on Jan 4th and she will need all the comfort she can get. I think we have finally secured a spot for her at a nice home daycare down the street.

Vivian is so close to walking it pains me. I really wouldn't mind witnessing her first step! She will stand on her own and perform activities like sweeping, playing and my personal favorite... dancing. Oh my baby is growing up. Another fun thing she has starting doing is pointing. If she sees something of interest she will point to it and grunt.

Opening an early Christmas present. Note the tuft of hair sticking straight up.

Working hard with Adrian's tools.

Sweeping up. I could use a little help around here.

Vivian - Week 47: Naughty or nice?

Okay, there is no doubt Vivian is nice but I am seeing a hint of naughty these days. The face above is when I am trying to catch her... she is a really fast crawler. I will say she is learning what she does and does not like and how to get her way. If I dare to put her in her seat without giving her her meal immediately she starts a high pitch squeal until food arrives on her tray. And if she doesn't like what she is served it somehow finds its way onto the floor. And she definitely does not like to wear a hat. I am not sure what I am going to do when it actually gets cold because as soon as I take my eyes off her the hat is gone.

I am happy to report that Vivian has a sudden interest in reading. Up until this last week she wouldn't sit still but will now listen to three Christmas books in a row. I love reading to my babies. It is the only time Vivian will cuddle.

Examining the book Santa gave her.


Guess she didn't feel like broccoli today. (See the floor.)


Big brother 'spotting' her on the stairs. He feels proud when he can keep her safe.


Pulling things out of my pantry.


Rapping.

Santa - Cool or creepy?

Our annual Accreon Family Christmas party was fun again this year, especially since we had multiplied since last year! Adrian was an old pro with Santa, and Vivian... was not! Classic baby with Santa picture.

Advent Calendar

I was very depressed by the 99 cent advent calendars with unrecognizable chocolate shapes last year so I decided to do my own. As usual I waited a bit too late and didn't find just what I was looking for so I turned it into a project for Adrian and myself to conquer and I think it turned out great. We decorated 24 envelopes, strung them from a ribbon and I filled each one with candy and a special activity for us to do. He loves it!

Blog Name Change

You may have noticed the name change with our blog. It is due to the fact that I am officially becoming a Jones! Yes I am now Janice Lee Jones. (Not to be confused with Tommy Lee Jones). It has only taken me 4 years to get around to changing my name. To be honest I love my maiden name Underhill and was hesitant to give it up but I really love that we all have the same name, not to mention it is much much more convenient in daily life with the kids.

The blog name has changed and so has mine but you can still keep up with our little family right here! Thanks for reading.

Vivian - Week 46: 'Tis the Season

It is very hard to believe that it is the first day of December! We are really getting into the swing of things and have starting decorating, reading Christmas books and even got our Christmas pictures taken. Vivian looks stunning even though it was very very hard to get her to smile which is unusual. We also attended the Santa Clause parade on Saturday and she just loved it. She wasn't scared at all and was waving to everyone she could see on the floats.

In typical Vivian style she went from not walking at all to walking without issue using her walker toy in mere hours. She doesn't mess around. She will now walk with her walker and just picks it ups and moves it when she wants to turn. I suspect she will be walking unassisted within the month.

She just stood up and starting walking on Tuesday like she had been doing it for months.

Check out the parade!

Vivian - Week 45: Stair Master

Living in a four level split style house makes learning stairs a necessity. Vivian has the 'up' part mastered but I suspect it will be a while until she can go back down. She really wants to go down the stairs but has no idea how to go about it. She also loves to climb up the first stair and sit as if it were a chair.

We are gearing up for the Christmas season and it is even more fun with two children in the house. We are looking forward to a few Christmas parties, our Sunday School concert and the Santa Clause parade this weekend to kick it all off. It will be interesting to see Vivian's first reaction to Santa.

Sweet cheeks. Literally.

Crawling in the grass.

Holding up a tree.

Up the stairs we go.

Vivian - Week 44: Double digits

My 'little' Vivian is 10 months old this week. My how time flies. I know I will blink my eyes and she will be 10 years old before I know it so I am trying to take a deep breath and enjoy the last couple months of her 'baby days'.

Vivian caught a virus called Roseola which apparently is a common childhood illness but I hadn't heard of it before. It was a 3 day fever followed by a 3 day rash. Very odd but very benign so all is good. She is better now but still sleeping extra. It feels like I have one child napping at all hours of the day which really makes it hard to go anywhere but my babies need their sleep.

Vivian is really starting to 'talk' a lot these days. She is definitely trying to say 'hi' and I think she might be working on 'dada' as well. When a new person comes in the room she will give a dainty little wave and make her 'hi' sound with real intention. She even does it to Barkley who is far too grumpy to respond in any way besides a grunt.

Posing in our newly assembled living room.

Rocking at Nanny and Grampys' after my bath.

Should I have hired a professional contractor?

He didn't really seem to know exactly what he was doing but he was oh so cute!

Vivian - Week 43: Dolly

So I have probably made this claim before... but Vivian is doing the cutest thing ever. She is suddenly in love with her dolly. When she sees her dolly she giggles and gets very excited then grabs dolly and hugs her tight. This is a new thing for me as Adrian could care less for stuffed animals or the like. She will do this with most stuffed animals but is especially fond of the dolly I bought her (much to my delight).

We have been taking advantage of this lovely fall weather and getting out for some daily walks. Our subdivision is very quite and nice for walking which is good because I have my hands full with a stroller, Adrian and Barkley. Vivian loves to ride in the stroller and likes to watch the world go by.

I am sad to report that Vivian has her first fever right now. Bless her soul, she is still super cheerful through the whole thing although she is not quite herself as she is a bit lethargic. I am very happy to be home and able to nurse her back to health (both figuratively and literally). Hopefully we are building her immune system up slowly.

Vivian's favorite new game... empty Mommy's laundry basket

Chillin' in my stroller

Looking adorable in Adrian's old jacket.

Playing in 'our' new park (it is just around the corner from us)

Vivian - Week 42: Giggle

Vivian learned how to giggle on Sunday. I am not sure how, but it happened while she was with Jamie. I suspect he is really quite silly when nobody else is watching. (-: Her giggle is really contagious. She will laugh at me and I immediately laugh at her laughing and it just goes back and forth like that with anyone in the room. Delightful.

The three of us have colds this week and are all a bit sleepy and cranky. On the upside Vivian is sleeping through the night again due to her little cold. She sure doesn't like to have her nose wiped though. When she sees me coming with a kleenex she turns her head and tries to push my hand away. She knows what she likes and doesn't!

Her newest like that I have discovered is pasta. She gobbles it down with gusto. Tonight I made a chicken and spinach pasta and she loved it. It seems funny when we all sit down to exactly the same meal.

She loves her teapot. It is funny to wake up and hear it singing to her in the mornings.

Vivian does a 'proper' crawl all of the sudden. No more scooting for her.

Adrian thinks she looks like a ballerina whenever she wears a dress.