New Baby Pics and New House Talk

To start out, here are the latest pictures of the little one from today's ultrasound. It was so cute to see the baby sucking his thumb. One May 22 (I think I had the wrong date on a previous post) we will get to find out the gender (hopefully) and will have more pictures, hopefully some 3D ones to post.

A very exciting thing that we have been talking about and researching for a long time looks like it will be a reality for us. We are going to start building a house on the lot behind my parent's house. Hopefully building will begin in May and the contractor said 4-5 months. So it may even be in time to bring the baby home to. I know how building can go, so I don't want to count on that, but definately the sooner the better. Our floor plan is 3 bedrooms 2 bath 1600 square feet. Not a mansion by any means but plenty big especially compared to the 1 bedroom 600 square foot apartment we are living in presently. We are so excited to get started. I feel like we are actually becoming adults - 2 kids and our own house sounds too good to be true.

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Happy Birthday Payton!

Wow! I can't believe its been a year. When Payton was born I didn't think it could get any better, but it is. He has grown into such a fun, loving, adventurous little boy and I am in love with him. Here are a few pictures from his birthday party. I didn't take a ton, but Uncle Kyler has more. These are just some of them I took.

I frosted his cupcakes green so we could see him smear it all over his face. He just kept dipping his finger in it and eating the frosting then once the frosting was pretty much done, he crumbled the cupcake and smeared it around the tray. It was funny, I had taken off his shirt so he wouldn't get it dirty and after we sang, Gregg was trying to get him to blow out the candle. The cupcake fell over and burned him a little because the candle was still lit. It didn't really hurt him but he screamed at first. As soon as Gregg took out the candle and let him dig in, it didn't seem to bother him though.

He loved openning presents, but he didn't understand why we kept taking them away after he opened them. He just wanted to sit there and play with whatever he got. He kept picking up his books and going over to someones lap to sit and read. He is such a blessed (spoiled) little guy, but in my opinion he deserves it for being so cute.

Lets see if I can sum up what he does and loves now

Loves loves loves dogs and will repeat "dog" over and over when he sees (or thinks he sees) one

Blows kisses when people leave

Runs and climbs everything

Really enjoys writing/drawing. He got a magna doodle for his b-day and will carry it around all day.

Figured out how to put the different shaped blocks in his sorting toy. Its so cute to watch him work to fit it in the wrong space and then keep trying until he finds the right one.

Loves seeing all the kids and the elementary school everyday (and they love seeing him)

Starting to follow directions really well. When we want him to get us something we can ask him to go and get it and he will look for it.

Has 8 teeth and is working on his molars.

Recently has become more picky about food, but all fruits and most veggies are always a go. We have a harder time convincing him to eat much meat.

Always tries to get people attention until they make eyecontact and smile at him. He definately likes to be the center of attention at all times.

Here is a belly picture at 13 weeks. I am already showing more than I was with Payton at this time, but I guess thats what happens when you only have 9 months to recover between pregnancies :)

Vacation, Professional Pictures and a Date is set!

We have had a busy few weeks! For Spring Break, my mom, Payton and I flew to California for a week. Payton experienced his first plane ride, first BART (subway) ride, his first A's game, first Easter (egg hunt and all) first time walking in grass and many other firsts.

Behaving on the plane
Resting before the big game

Go A's Too much excitement for one night
This is fun!
Are there anymore over here?Meeting friends at the parkCheese!Wrong way!What a cute little boy!

It was so great to be able to be barefoot
Hottubbing with my cousins.

Another first he had was his first time getting his pictures professionally taken. These are very high quality scans because my scanner screen was dirty and I did it on the lowest resolution so it wouldn't take forever to download. But you get the idea...He is really cute! The experience was interesting...They didn't start the pictures until over 30 minutes after his appointment so he was so antsy and the lady who told me "Oh I can handle mobile one year olds. Thats what I do all day. Wasn't as good at posing him as she claimed to be. Actually I was the one who did all the posing and they didn't really have any great props, but the pictures turned out cute, so I just chalk it up to another interesting experience with having kids.Packing up

Ready to get home to daddy!

We also have a date set for the gender ultrasound for the new baby. May 21st we will find out if Payton gets a brother or a sister. I went to my first OB appointment yesterday. The baby's heartrate was 172. They say over 140 for a girl but I think its mostly a myth. Everything checked out great. I am 12 weeks along, so I am almost out of my first trimester.

First picture of the newest member of the Jones Family

We went in today and my friends mom did an ultrasound so we could see the new baby. I am about 9 and a half weeks along, so it doesn't look like much yet, but it is growing and had a heartbeat of 180. It is so amazing to me that it was only 4-5 mm long when we did this at 6 weeks and now it is 6 times that big!

The head is on the left. The spine is facing down. Arms on top and legs on the right.

My mom and I just found out that her and Payton and I are going to go to California for her Spring Break and we are so excited. It will be Payton's first airplane ride, so it should be interesting. Any moms who have flown with mobile toddlers...I welcome your advice!

Here are a few new pictures of Payton. This past week or so I have been so busy I haven't taken many. I promise to do better especially while we are on vacation.

Here's that trademark smile again!He can be a guitar hero like dad now.And he knows how to play video games too.New sun glasses. It isn't actually sunny enough here to wear them over his eyes yet.

Life is Good...

Payton is not a baby anymore. He is definately a toddler tantrums and all. I have been tired and so chasing him around all day definately wears both of us out. Good thing he has been sleeping good at night. We went to our friend's vacation home in Coeur d'Alene for the weekend and met them there. It was so fun to see them and for them to see Payton. And he had a blast. My friend Ashley is pregnant with their first and she is 5 weeks ahead of me. I wish we lived closer to them so we could be pregnant together, but it was fun to catch up. Life here has been great. We are starting to feel at home here again. We have been able to make some good friends here who all have little kids, so it has been great to hang out with other "young moms". Gregg still likes his job and his new health insurance is really going to be paying off with a new little one on the way.

Payton is going to be a big brother!!!

We found out a few weeks ago that I am pregnant. Yesterday we went in and my friends mom did an ultrasound. We got to see the heartbeat and found out that I am due the end of October-beginning of November. We are so excited! I would put the ultrasound picture up but at this point there is not much to see. As soon as I have belly pics (which hopefully won't be for at least a month) I will start posting them. My first drs appointment isn't until April 3, but my friend's mom is a nurse at a prenancy center, so she is going to do ultrasounds for free for us every month or so. As soon as we have one that actually looks like a baby we will post it. Payton and the baby will be about 18 months apart!

Here are some pictures from our new camera. I love how much easier it is and how good they turn out.
He is walking all over the place now.

Here is their posed picture.

This is Payton's new smile when we get the camera out. I think he thinks he is being funny. I think its cute, but it drives me crazy when I am just trying to get a real picture.
Sloppy, Sloppy Joes

I love this picture of him. He is is the bath tub.

New Camera - 10 Months

We got a new camera today. With Gregg working at Best Buy, he has been wanting to get one for a long time, but I am cheap so I kept saying as long as ours worked we should just wait. He finally convinced me to go in and look...and he won :) I have to admit, it is easier, takes pictures a lot fast, can do more cool things and especially takes better videos. I just tried it out for a few minutes so there will be more to follow but here is some Payton updates:

Gregg was calling Payton over but I guess he was more interested in the new camera then daddy.

This one is self explanitory. Payton always see people talk on the phone so he know what to do with one!

9 1/2 months

This is a little clip of Payton playing with some of his favorite toys. Balls. He says a version of the word ball, more like "baa" and if you say the word he will hold it up. Sorry he is just in a diaper. Thats how we roll at home sometimes.

This next clip is super short, so I will explain whats going on. Gregg had just left for work and I asked Payton where daddy was. He went over to the gate at the top of the stairs and was yelling "DAD". I grabbed the camera, so I just got the end of it but it was precious.

He has had a cold for the last few weeks so I took him into the doctor on Monday and he had an ear infection. For the most part he was still in a really good mood and he was sleeping at night, so I didn't even think it, but then on Sunday he had a low fever and was kind of throwing a fit, so I thought I better take him in because of the fever and then fact that the cold was just hanging around. And sure enough he was sick. If he would have been up more at night and acted more sick then I might have known sooner, but at least he isn't a grumpy kid.

He has the funniest personality now and we are constantly laughing at him. He is saying quite a few words and doing a good job following simple directions. He is walking pretty good but still is faster at crawling. He loves my brothers. When they walk in the door he is so excited. When they go down the halls to their rooms he crawls down there calling for them. He has gotten more stubborn about eating. He has started randomly refusing foods and doesn't like to be fed. He will grab the spoon out of my hand to try to feed himself. Right now I give him a lot of foods he can eat with his hands because it isn't worth the battle.

Here's a picture of him trying to play guitar and brush his teeth at the same time. A little multi-tasker, just like his mom.

He is very attached to his Giraffey. It is a must have for sleeping. We don't let him carry it around in the day, so it stays in his crib, but yesterday he was reaching through the crib bars to try and break giraffey out. When he got him he put him in his mouth and came crawling out all proud, only to have giraffey put back where he belongs.

Getting Into Everything

I know that all you moms who have multiple kids will say I am a wimp, but its a lot more work when your child goes mobile. There is nothing in the house that is safe from him. We put safety locks on some of the cupboards and the rest of the have their contents taken out daily.

Here he is getting into his favorite drawer that is full of his bottles (which he doesn't use anymore) and his sippy cups. He take them all out and pretends he is drinking out of them. It gives me a chance to get stuff done in the kitchen because it keeps him entertained for a while.Here we are getting ready to go for a walk. These days with all the snow it is easier to use the backpack then the stroller. Plus its getting him ready for hiking in the park this summer. He has a lot of fun looking and pointing at stuff from daddy's back.

Then at the end of the day Gregg and Payton take a much deserved rest together.