First Practice

I love my family for actually looking at this blog, which honestly, I do for them. I like to hear that they read it or enjoyed a picture. That's what I blog for...to share this family with your family, and everyone will know what is going on.

Today is about baseball. Everyone is excited and anxious to see Q's first baseball game. I don't have a game schedule yet, but we had his first practice on Monday and have another one Thursday. The first day went okay. He didn't have any melt downs or just flat out not pay attention. He was really trying to play baseball with the other kids. That, of course, is the key to the bribery..."look, that boy is wearing a helmet when he bats" or "go stand with the other kids and try to catch the ball." Luckily there's always another kid who is going to behave better and you can say, "do what he does." If there are kids behaving poorly, you can always use them as an example too, as long as they are not in earshot! ;)

Besides baseball, we have been fairly busy running around. Who knew that being unemployed keeps you busier than being employed?!

So today, was a fun day of running around because we got to visit & play with cousins. I only got one decent shot of our relatives visiting from Canada, but I'll get some from other family, hopefully soon! This is our 7-year old cousin who absolutely was adorable and sweet. She loved on our baby and played so great with him. She decided to play peek-a-boo with him and I snapped a shot...

For those not on Instagram

For those of you who are not on Instagram, first of all, you should be. I've found it way faster and easier to share our daily ins-n-outs. You know how fast those kids grow up...you blink & it's gone. Second of all, this post is just what you have been missing, pictures of my boys.

Here's a prime example of kids growing up too fast: baby is just barely 11 months old, nanny has only been in her house for a week, and he has already mastered the stair climbing and does a little dance at the top. See pictures & video below.

Also, we spent the night in Atlanta, and you would know that if you were on Instagram. Here's Q and "umple jarod" zoned out in front of the tv. Q got spoiled with anything & everything on tv, new imaginext catwoman & robin toys, and a bag of gummy worms. Hog heaven much?

Here's the baby with his cool uncle keith. I got him a new toy for the car ride over. He enjoyed it immensely and even started to dance! Yay! We'll have one child that will cut a rug, maybe he'll even let us sing.

We are also trying to teach the baby to drink from a cup and use a fork & spoon. He has mastered the pincher grasp and will even pick up slippery things like banana or peach slices. He's pretty ambidextrous, however I see him favoring his left hand. I don't know how to teach a child anything left-handed! Especially use a spoon. It feels awkward to me, but I'll keep trying. I would love a left-handed kid. I crack up that my boys might be completely opposite in every way. I promise I did not sleep with the milk man.

Okay, so here's my last pitch. Get on Instagram, yo! Come check us out @lyndejones

We just signed Q up for tee ball!!!

We're Moved In...Temporarily

well we've been moved in for a week now. this 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhouse is much more comfortable than a hotel room. it's nice to have fresh food in the fridge and just live at my own pace. thanks again to all of my wonderful friends who have helped us get to where we are today. we do not take any of you for granted. we love you and appreciate you more than words can express.

unfortunately there is no progress to report on, what Q calls, the broken house. repairs have not begun. it did not bother me until yesterday when i finally felt settled in, i also felt like something should be in motion. so i'm in a weird place right now. everything will work itself out and we are staying on top of the situation, so no worries.

my parents have finally signed on and moved into their new house. it took them a year to build it, but they have been dreaming about it for a decade (no joke). i am so happy for them and love going over there to view the progress and decisions they make. i hear a lot of people say that building a house will make you want to kill your spouse, but i think it has brought them closer together. they seem very happy and in-sync. it's nice.

also, my boys love it over there. baby A thinks climbing the stairs and hiding around the corner is a game. currently he loves the men in his life. he is daddy's boy and cack's grandson. when everyone else is gone, i get all the loving. it suites me just fine. i don't want him attached to me 24/7 and it's nice to see him bonding with everyone. when he turned 10 months, it's like he turned a leaf. you know what it is? he thinks he's big now. or he wants to be big. second child syndrome. he started getting on his hands and knees to crawl, which if you read my blog constantly, i was starting to obsess over the fact that he was never going to "crawl" and was always going to look like an injured soldier. but it didn't take long after he got the crawl, that he wanted to start holding your fingers and walk around. by the way, it kills your back. but i'm not one to invest in toys and he doesn't seem to like those push around things anyway. so kill my back it does. however, i like to encourage the scooting around whilst holding on to furniture and also have him reach for me and try to do it himself. let's see...he also wants to eat big boy food: meat, bread, fruit, salad, you name it, he wants it. giving him baby puree sometimes feels like a force feeding war, because he also wants to do that by himself. "he think he big" the finger foods and the teething foods basically cause him to get even more stopped up in the #2 department, which sometimes gives him (and us) trouble if he hasn't had enough of his fiber supplement. his GI doctor thinks his intestines are longer than the average, meaning he needs more fiber and more water than the average person/baby and since that is so hard at this age, he has us giving him extra fiber that dissolves in his bottle. no big deal, unless i don't give him enough or i give him too much...if you have one of these babies, you know what i mean.

i guess i need to fill you in on Q too. he has a new bus that picks him up at 6:55 am, yes, YIKES! we didn't even make it to school the first time i tried to wake him up early to get to the bus. but now, everything is good. he adjusts quickly to new situations, which is a true blessing since we have had lots of different and crazy changes this past month. sometimes i feel like he is acting out, but other times i just wonder if it's just a bunch of compounded issues topped off by the fact that sometimes we can't go outside to play because of the weather. too wet, too cold. like he's not acting out, he's just bottled up. he needs to get all of that energy out. so we are trying better to direct everything in positive ways. he has been talking about baseball a good bit lately, sparked by passing the high school's diamond and tv and shirts and underwear. so i asked him if he wanted to PLAY baseball this year and he said yes, and he told his dad and grandparents he was going to play baseball. then the next day when i told him he had to wear a baseball hat to play baseball, was he going to, he said no. he seemed very sure of his answer. those darn hats :)

Tornado Alley

Hello everyone! We are healthy, happy and doing well. Thank you everyone for your concerns, prayers and help throughout this tornado event (thus far). Our home damage was very small in comparison to surrounding areas such as Paradise Valley.

On our street no one was hurt because they made it to their safe place. I can't tell you how much we all learned from the tornados of April 2011 that took place near here. It is actually the reason I got two sleeping babies and our dog out of bed and downstairs. And thank God because Q's bed was covered in glass and there was a tree peeking in my room. We were very blessed because it could have been a lot worse. Most of the surrounding houses and cars were "totaled". Anyways, our damage was just a lot of broken windows & blinds; 1 tree on the house in master bedroom; most of the shingles & felting gone; hole in kitchen ceiling & roof; back porch roof ripped off; both back doors damaged; and then lots and lots of rain added water damage to interior ceilings, floors and walls throughout. It's going to be a pretty substantial remodel. We moved almost everything out of the house today thanks to the 11 helper-friends (plus Ma'am, Husband, myself). We will be living in a townhouse in Gardendale for about 3 months. Here's some pictures. I'll share happier moments later, but off to bed!

{Husband drives the bobcat that is somehow rigged to pull that tree off our house with the least amount of damage}

{Neighbors to our right}

{Two houses directly across the street lost entire roofs & side walls

& view of neighborhood behind}

{Helpers today! What else can you do except smile & take pictures of your wonderful friends? (Excuse the belly band, I was trying to lose some weight in the process, why not?)}

{Most of my old co-workers (laid-off on the 10th, great month). This group has become my self-made family. They are wonderful and wonderful. Couldn't survive without them!}

Boys on Video

Here is the big boy using a lot of words. He continually adds on extra descriptive words. We are currently having problems with: him answering questions, him saying "no" & "mine", whining in general. You'll see in the video he shakes his head no or says "uh" instead of "uh-uh" trying to get around saying "no" or things that we have deemed unacceptable. He is doing really well in school & now riding the bus both ways. He gets excellent reports.

{"french fry house", "blue batman house airplane toy"}

The baby has been a joy. He wants to be standing (leaning against something or holding two hands). He is still doing the army crawl, but I wish he were doing knees & left-right for developmental purposes. His lower half is just not as strong as his brother's was or his BFFs is. Him constantly wanting to be upright, but not having the strength to do so, is taking it's toll on me and my hair. I'm trying to find other ways to satisfy his yearning to be standing, but have not had much luck. We are waiting on the big pointy teeth to come in, it seems to be throwing off some sleep patterns and comfortableness in general. He is doing really well with finger food and pincher grasp. But can we be done with teething soon?

Happy New Year!

Well, here it is, twenty-twelve.

This year...

I turn 30.

This year I want to...

get rid of our debt, have a clean house (& get out of this ghetto), get back my pre-baby body, get a new occupation (job or school?)........oh, things to do. i guess the list goes on & on.

I need to spend less time blogging, and more time on my list of things for 2012. But before I do, and before maybe you do too, here is a link to a friend's blog:

Always a good read you can relate to.

{i want to see more of these girls in 2012.

can we talk about how old they have to be for aunt lynde to get their ears pierced? please?}