Jones Family Christmas

I love, love, love this time of year!  We have got some decorations up this year but not too many.  Since getting the new house I wanted to go with new colors on the tree and for  the other decor so we went with red, gold, and brown.  Since  I changed from silver, I basically have to start over and didn't want to purchase everything this year so next year we will just have to add more to our decor.  For now what we have is fine.  Below is our tree and mantle.  I would love to put stockings on the mantle, but I'm thinking a certain little boy of mine would try to pull them down so maybe next year.  We also had our first fire last night in our new house.  It truly felt like the Christmas season, wrapping presents, listening to Christmas music and surrounded by Christmas lights and a warm fire!  I loved it!

Our first fire

 Below is our wrapping paper theme this year.  Every year I get really excited about picking out the following year's wrapping paper ( I get it a year ahead to that way I get at least 50% off).  Last year I picked red and it wouldn't be what I would pick out this year but I still like it.  I am amazed at how much my taste has changed in the last year or two!  I have begun wrapping but still have a lot to go.  Since I ordered so much online, now I just have to wait for all of it to come in so I can wrap it and get it under the tree. I can't wrap too many at a time, so this will work well for me anyways to do it as they come!  I had to start a little early this year because we already have Matthew's family Christmas this weekend so it got me motivated to shop early and had to wrap some early as well!

3 Months Old

Today Carson turned 3 months old!  Time flies apparently when you are quite busy with two little boys!  I had bought a bumbo last night and thought I bought a green one, (read the label wrong) so that is why Carson our boy has a purple bumbo, and we tried it for the first time tonight.  His big brother loved to put toys on the tray for him.  He lasted a few minutes but I was hoping it would be magic and would love to be able to sit up and look around.  Maybe tomorrow.  I'm sure he also has to get used to it for a little while since it forces him to use his muscles to keep his head up, although he did do pretty good at that part.  Carson doesn't last in/ or on anything too long so I need more things to move him to rather than holding him all day!

At 3 months Carson...
-isn't sleeping through the night yet, we go back and forth some nights are junky and he wakes up at like 12, 3, and 5 or 6.  Then some nights are better and he may just get up around 2 and 6.  It still varies and we can't ever count on a certain time.  I would really love to have a schedule Carson (maybe for Christmas that is what you can get mommy)! 
-just moved up to Size 2 in diapers
-has a little chunk on his thighs but most of it, is in those cute cheeks!
-loves watching his brother play and watch a little Mickey Mouse with him
-is in some 3 months clothing/ sleepers still but starting to outgrow a lot of it because of the length
-is a talker, I love it when he just looks at you and talks, sooo sooo cute!
-not a paci baby, I thought it would be nice to not have one, but now that I do there are days I wish he would take one
-still doesn't eat much at a feeding, he goes back and forth between 3 and 4 ounces with once in a while eating 5 but that is mostly at bedtime.  Sure wish we could get him to eat more so he would go longer in between feedings
-is a smiley fella, when you talk to him he smiles a lot, he sure does love attention
-has diapers that could knock you out, we take his dirties right out to the garage, they would ruin our house!
-is a catnapper, boy I wish I could fix this!
No matter what our days are like he sure has won the heart of his parents!  We love you buddy!

Daycare

Today our boys went to an in home daycare for the first time.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  Noah is almost two and has never stayed with anyone but us or family.  Everyone  that has ever watched him he has known.  Once we got there, Noah didn't want me to put him down but finally I just made him get down and then I just had to leave because I knew he wasn't going to be okay with me leaving.  He was crying when I left but I got a text shortly after  I left from the caregiver letting me know he didn't cry for long and was already playing with the other kids.  Noah loves playing with kids, especially older ones so I figured he would like it once he get over me leaving.  From what I heard he did really well and even went right down for a nap (the part I was really worried about since he doesn't handle change well and he would have to sleep in a new place).  Now Carson on the other hand was a little cranky for them and didn't sleep much until the afternoon he finally took a good nap. The kids are going there again on Thursday so I'm hoping Carson does better.  I think it will be hard for them because they won't be going certain days or even every week, it will pretty much be our backup when Jill can't watch the boys so there will not have a chance to ever get used to being there.  When it was time to go, Noah didn't seem too ready so hopefully Thursday he will remember the fun he had and be okay with me leaving this time.  I was thankful to the caregivers because they sent text updates and pictures to me all day of both boys.  I knew they were in good hands, but it was nice to see Noah playing and pictures of our new little man Carson smiling to put this momma's mind at ease! 

Such a boy!

We are still working on fixing up the playroom and the other night Matthew hung up the magnetic board we got at IKEA a few weeks ago.  We already had magnetic letters and I also bought a set of Melissa and Doug magnetic animals so we could work on learning our animals and immediately Noah decided he didn't really like the animals on the board, just the letters. 

In the pic below you can see, he pushed all the animals off (yeah he's quirky like that). 

 Well it wasn't too long and he grabbed his hammer, and began to hit the board, he liked the sound it made so that was cool and he kept doing it, then he realized something even greater!  When he hits the board the letters fall off!  Not quite what I had in mind for  the board.  Oh well he's a boy, and he is going to be a boy and that is what his playroom is for! We will see how long this board lasts!  Hopefully it's still around for Carson to enjoy some day!

Smiling Cutie!

Is this smile cute or what? 

He's pretty much irresistable when he smiles like this!  Couldn't not fall in love with him even if you tried!

Carson sure is our smiley little man.  I remember having to work so hard to get Noah to smile, nope not Carson he hands them out all the time and already talks so much!  Most of the day he's pretty happy and will just smile and coo away if you talk to him!  Love these moments!  The other night we finally got some talking on video!  I really need to get more of our favorite moments with the boys on video, I just never think about it during the moments!    Carson you sure can be a sweetie, we love you buddy!!

Noah at 22 Months

I can't believe how big my little boy, (who is now the big boy) is getting!  Every day he is amazing us more and more.  Now a lot of people know Noah has  never been much of a talker, he didn't babble much when he was little and hasn't talked much until now.  I think in the last couple weeks he has really added a bunch of words/phrases to his vocabulary.  Every day it seems he has a new word or something he says to us.  So many times he looks at us and says something too and we just can't figure out what he's trying to say.  It makes me relieved to see him learning new words every day.  Part of me was concerned that he wasn't talking much so I'm glad to see it seems as if he's trying to make up some ground in that area.  I have always thought he was a smart kid, just quiet smart. 

Anyways well here are some things about our big boy at 22 months
Noah loves....
little things... any little things/ toys he loves to play with.  One day at a garage sale he wanted what looked like to me a box of junk, but ended up being these neat little magnetic tubes/balls that he plays with on a daily basis.  He has found a few other things in the house that they stick  too as well besides each other. 

loves his brother just doesn't know how to show it, usually his way is smothering him and trying to lay on him, but he has given Carson in his 2 1/2 month life more kisses, than he has ever given us

plays so well by himself nowadays it has been amazing to me, he will play in the living room, then his playroom for awhile and just be in his own little world.  It's good timing for this since we have Carson now that needs our attention as well

still thinks he is the boss, always telling us what to do/ and where he wants us to go either by pointing and doing his little grunt or grabs our clothes and tries to help us along

loves counting and doing colors- he can't count yet but he loves to put his finger on objects and move them to the next as we count.  The only number I know he knows is six and that is the only one he will ever say but on more than one occasion he has said it after I say 5 so I'm hoping he's learning just not vocalizing it

same with colors he will point to something and wait for us to tell us what color it is.  I know he knows his colors but right now the only one we can understand him saying is yellow.  I think that's his favorite color for now.  He always picks yellow things up first

knows his eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, hair, ears, arms, legs, fingers and toes and belly.  Tongue, belly, and fingers are his favorite right now.  It used to be ears but we have moved on, haha.
can make a mess in no time, every day our house is a wreck, the more I try to clean it seems the more messes he makes

Still keeps getting to be a better boy every day, he is starting to grow out of the screaming when people talk to him or come over stage.  (thankfully)  Every once in awhile he still does it but most of the time is okay with people being around

Loves jumping!

Has more energy than I could ever dream of having! 

I could go on and on about the things he now does and tell stories of all the funny times we had! Noah is one of a kind, we love our boys more than we ever could have imagined!  I would love to just freeze Noah in the stage he's out.  It's so neat so see them learing new things each day and he is such a fun kid to hang out with (most of the time)

Overnight Trip

Oh Chicago, We have missed you. The city of Chicago will always hold a special place in my heart.  I went to college for fashion, I always wanted a big career in the big city.  Then while I was in college Matthew and I started dating, he happened to live in Chicago.  I fell in love with it and visited often.  We fell in love in Chicago, we got engaged in Chicago and after we got married I moved there and we had our first place there right downtown.  A lot of people say they live in Chicago but we really did, right in the middle of it all.  It wasn't too long after living there and I realized my job wasn't what I always wanted, and sometimes the city could be rather annoying.   I had a love/hate relationship with it.  None  the less I'm so glad we got the opportunity to live there and loved all we got to experience in that time.  But for now,  I am so thankful for our spacious house (something we would never have in the city) and our children who I can't imagine living the city life with. 

Well Saturday we drove up to Chicago, met up with Nathan and Kacie and spent the day downtown.  We first stopped at Matthew's school so he could see all the renovations they have made, then we headed north to our old neighborhood and ate some lunch.  Next was Shedd aquarium and it sure was busy.  I have been there already a couple times but it was still fun.   Then we walked through some of the touristy stuff like the bean and Millenium park.  Next was a few stores for some shopping and to Macy's to check out the massive Christmas tree and then began the walk to figure out where to eat dinner.  We ended up eating at Cheesecake factory and it was delicious!  Lastly, we took a carriage ride through some city streets and then along Lake Shore Drive.  After a long day we were tired and ready to head to our room for the evening.  The next day we went to Ikea and had some deep dish pizza for lunch.  We had a great weekend.  It was nice to get away for a night without the kiddos but Sunday night I sure was ready to see them.  I didn't leave Noah alone for a long time, but I was really needing some fun so I think that made it easier to leave Carson.  We have only left town without Noah a few times (2 were REALITY trips, and one was our trip to Arizona with my family  this last spring) so a fun trip was definitely overdue.  I hope that we can do things like this a little bit more often in the years to come! 

Hanging out at the bean (couldn't get this picture to flip for anything)

Being a tourist again

Our wonderful carriage ride

I had taken one before but really liked out driver  this time.  She told us all sorts of info about the horses and the city rules (very interesting, seems like they really do take good care of them)

Halloween

I'm a party pooper! Yep that's right I skipped out on Halloween this year. I have never liked Halloween myself but last year I was excited to dress Noah up and he didn't do too bad. Well this year I looked around for costumes pretty early and got to thinking will Noah even wear a costume. My gut answer- NO! He has always refused to wear anything on his head, some days he hates collared shirts, the other day he threw a fit when his shirt had a hood. He screams when we put his jacket on so instead of wasting money for something that I may/may not even get him to put on I just decided to not even try and save the money and the hassle. Hopefully next year we will be behind this whole deal and will be able to dress both little boys up!

Since I don't have any pictures from this year, here is a cute little duck from last year!

Carson at 2 Months

Saturday Carson turned 2 months old, and boy has it flown by.  We had his 2 months appointment yesterday and I was surprised to find out that little man Jones now weighs 11lbs 3oz.  He has gained 1 oz shy of 5 pounds.  Before long he will have doubled his birth weight.  Go buddy! 

He is now 22 inches long, so he has grown 2.75 inches since he was born.  I knew he was getting longer.  His percentiles are pretty low he is in the 10th percentile for height and and the 25th percentile for weight which is why he still looks kind of chubby for how small he is.  I think most of his chubbiness is in his cheeks.  Both of my boys have taken after me with their chubby cheeks. 

Carson enjoys mornings and smiles a lot in his first few hours.  He has such a cute smile, we love it!He is starting to coo and tries to talk sometimes, it's adorable. The other day I saw him grab a toy hanging from his playmat for the first time.  He had a really good grip on it, it was neat to watch him wave it and pull so hard on it.  You wonder what he's thinking.  He loves watching his brother, which isn't hard to do because if I am giving Carson attention Noah is right there to try and join in. 
He doens't mind bathtime, in fact it's the happiest time of his night we look forward to them.  Carson get's pretty cranky at night and usually we end up pacing the house holding you facing out until bathtime. After bathtime he gets a bottle and heads to bed. He is getting up about twice a night every once and while 3
He likes to be held facing outwards just like his brother.  ( I'm a little mad about it, I thought with my second I deserved a cuddler since Noah wasn't at all.  But Noah gets cuddly sometimes now so at least one of my boys will let me every once and a while) 
For the most part he is a good baby, except for those darn evenings but I'm hoping they get better soon!  I'm anxious for the next few months when we hopefully will get more of a schedule, for when he starts rolling over, playing with toys more and sleeping through the night (fingers crossed)
Our house sure is crazy and stressful most days but we sure do love our boys!