CuTest bAbY

I know I'm biased... and a lot of my friends have WAY cute babies right now. But I say this little guy wins. :)

Off to a Good Start

I knew when I started the blog that I would have a hard time keeping up with it. I had such grand plans to post a family photo and Christmas message... which I thought was a great reason to justify not having sent out Christmas cards. But, alas, it's almost Valentine's Day and I'm sort of getting there.

We have a tradition in the Andrews family of taking a photo of everyone's shoes next to the tree on Christmas Eve. That way, you can see everyone grow, when new booties join the circle, and how the styles change. I think there are pix like this from my dad's family dating all the way back to at least the 1940s. I love it.

And, we have a tradition in the Jones family to send a family update to Grandma and Grandpa Jones once a month to be included in a family newsletter. I look forward to the newsletter every month almost as much as I look forward to receiving Christmas cards each year -- which is to say, I love them too. So, I have decided that for 2009, I will at least post what we submit to the newsletter.

I'm posting both January & February... some are written by yours truly and some are penned by my DH.

February 2009
Dear Family,

Hello from Cincinnati! We are enjoying the new year, trying to stay warm & looking forward to the time when the snow melts and the flowers bloom. Until then, though, we’re busy. January was one of those months where it seems we didn’t get a chance to sit down and note why we were so busy. But, all is well with the Ohio Joneses.

Will had only 2 trips to the doctor’s office this month. Yahoo! And, one was his 4 month well-check, so I’m not even sure it counts as a trip. He showed off for the doctor and rolled over a few times on the table just to make sure she knew he could do it. And, he laughed and smiled until the nurses brought the needles in. Turns out our kid is off the charts long. He is an average weight for his age, but super ‘tall.’ We’re going to have to work extra hard to keep up with those long legs.

He has also found a taste for the ‘exersaucer.’ Note the attached photos. He is grabbing at everything, so it’s good to have him contained and entertained somewhat while mom or dad are cooking, etc… He also watches very intently as food travels from mom or dad’s plate to our mouths. We’re looking forward to trying out rice cereal this month. :)
Scott spent a few days at a conference and was nearly snowed in, but managed to make it home at a slow crawl. We actually really enjoyed the snow storm… we never lost power or water and I got to spend a few ‘snow days’ at home with Will. So great.

Well, that’s about it from us. We are praying for our good Sister Jones in Germany and hope she is doing well. We sure love you all and are glad to have such a wonderful family.

January 2009

Dear Family,

Happy New Year to everyone! This is a great time of the year for me because I have been able to convince myself that it’s a new beginning. I like evaluating the past year, setting goals for the new year and starting work on seemingly fresh projects. This year our big goal as a family is to say out of hospitals and doctor’s offices.

Last year started with my back and it seemed like we were then yoked to a doctor all year. December was no exception with Will seeing a doctor or specialist on average once each week. Nicol’s doctor wanted to get into the mix so we scheduled a surgery for her in late December.

The year ended in the emergency room with Nicol suffering from complications of the surgery or a nasty stomach virus that has been going around. We’re not sure which, but she turned around quickly with two liters of I.V. drip and they released us just in time to celebrate the New Year. We decided that Nicol’s quick recovery was a good omen for 2009. We’re ready to spend our time doing other things.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. Our Christmas season starts each year with Nicol’s birthday. We bust out the cake (this year it was our favorite carrot cake) and then we go hunting for a Christmas tree. We decided to buy our tree from a local scout troop this year and even though the selection wasn’t great, we were able to find a Scotch Pine with a crooked trunk that served valiantly. A sway in the trunk made it a little difficult to stand the tree up, and it did fall over once, but with a little fishing line I was able to rig it.

A tradition Nicol brought with her from the Andrews family is to give an ornament at Christmas. On our first Christmas she busted out 30+ ornaments that all had stories tied to them, then she looked at me like, “Where’s your goods?” I was lucky that I wasn’t completely empty handed but my two ornaments looked like chump change compared to her cornucopia. We’ve thus decided to continue the Andrews tradition and we bought a ‘Will’s first Christmas’ ornament that he may inherit when we boot him out of the house in some 20+ years. I think it will be a fun tradition.

One of the best moments of our Christmas this year came on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t Will’s visit to Dr Richburg’s office. We invited a family in our ward over for dinner and after dinner; our neighbors joined us to decorate sugar cookies that we took caroling in the neighborhood. We had a very well behaved Will and 6 other kids, all under the age of 5, eating volumes of sugar—tell me that’s not a recipe for disaster.

I am still amazed that Mom and Dad are alive to tell the tales of Halloweens, Easters and Christmases. Our evening was a blast and the neighbors we visited all very graciously accepted our gift. I wish we would have taken pictures of the “creative” ways cookies were decorated.

We love you all and wish you all a tremendous 2009. We’re excited that this year we’re scheduled to see you all, introduce little Will and meet our new cousins. It can’t come too soon.

Happy Boy

Our neighbor & dear friend has a real camera. She captured these sweet pics of our sweet boy. The other little boy in the last photo is her 4-year old son, Jack. We love Jack too.

Baby Bedhead

I am such a huge fan of Will's bedhead. I love it. Every time he wakes up... Mangled peach fuzz... so cute. This pic does not do it justice.

Here are more recent pix of our munchie. He is growing out of all of his clothes.... is super smiley (except during most diaper changes and baths).... and, as his dad likes to say, eats like a horse.

We are officially hooked!

We'll Miss You

My grandma passed away on October 1 -- she was 96. Because Will is so little, I opted against the cross-country flight to the funeral. But, I did send a few thoughts along to be read at the service along with the other grandchildren. Posted below.

Zina Robinson Nutter Smith

Grandma Nutter was the whole package. Beauty queen, design diva, top chef, party maven. And for me, she was the world’s best Grandma.

My first memories of her are being held and sung to in a rocking chair at the old cabin in Colorado. She sang, “Bye baby bunting, papa’s gone a-hunting…” and a handful of other old-school lullabies that I still remember.

We always looked forward to visits to California. Grandma would reserve the ‘best chairs’ for us at the breakfast table in Corona… the window seat… for porridge and toast. To some, porridge is just oatmeal, but to us it was magical and included Grandma’s daily recitation of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears.

We also loved to sit in the bathroom and watch while she did her hair. In those days SHE was Goldie Locks. Each morning she’d let her long “blonde” hair fall down her back as she set her bangs and then she’d tie up the rest in a perfect bun finished with a bun cover & pin. My favorite was silver and turquoise.

I can still smell the familiar scent of Grandma’s house. It was uniquely hers as it followed her from Corona to the Desert to Utah and even to the motor home – which we loved, especially when it was parked in front of our house.

We will not soon forget that she invented avocado and grapefruit in green salad. Or that she owned the market on wicker elephants. Or that her shoes were always placed in the same spot in the bathroom so she’d know just where to find them. Or that she had impeccable taste in everything from curtains to butterfly costumes.

We love our Grandma Nutter. And we will miss her.

Happy Anniversary, LOML!

If anyone had ever suggested (in my former life) that I'd spend my first anniversary staring at my 2 week-old kid, I might have taken offense. Yet, that's exactly what we did... for while before I fell asleep. And I wouldn't trade it.

Of course, it sort of fits the storyline -- the tree doctor and the spin doctor fell in love over green paint, a hurricane, a weird bug and black currant stuffing... Why not move to Cincinnati, get married and have a baby all in a year?

Here's to many, many more anniversaries, my love. Thanks for showing up on my doorstep.

William Christopher Jones

Tuesday, September 16, 2008, joins the short list of my favorite days. We welcomed William Christopher Jones to our family... just before midnight.

William for all of the Williams on his dad's side of the family -- both Joneses and Lukes. Christopher for my brother -- his pal in heaven. We plan to call him Will, though his dad has been trying out "Wild Bill Jones." Don't worry baby, Mommy will protect you.

He is a Jones baby with sweet blonde peachfuzz and a big, round face. He got my hands and my sneezes. Atta boy.

I never want to forget:

1. How surprised I was that his face looked so much like his 20 week ultrasound

2. How familiar his movements felt on the outside

3. How surreal the whole thing was -- lights down, calm, peaceful even

4. How I was the one calling everyone back from their chat for each contraction

5. How his grandma volunteered to cut the cord

6. How the nurse put him on the measuring table & he lifted his head to look around

7. How big the grin on Scott's face was as the two of them got acquainted

8. How grateful we are to have him here