Our Minnie Bean

Sept 11, 2002 - Dec 13, 2010


I know this may seem strange to those of you that have never had a pet before. But I need to say something about our sweet sweet dog that was a very important part of our family. I can't seem to get over that she is gone.

About 2 weeks ago, she was acting very sick. I took her to the vet and discovered she had a virus and her lungs were inflamed. They also took blood samples and sent them off to a pathologist for testing because her lymph nodes were swollen. After bringing her home she was still not doing well. We couldn't get her to keep her food down. Later in the week I received a phone call from the same vet saying she tested positive for Lymphoma. I was shocked! I thought for sure her Lymph nodes were swollen due to her being sick. They can do chemo on dogs, however, the side affects are the same for a dog as they are for a human and they say about 50% of the dogs die from infection after chemo then they do from the cancer itself. The fact that Minnie hadn't kept food down for a whole week was really starting to worry us. We took her to the vet again and he gave us a paste to give to her 4 times a day hoping she would at least keep that down over the weekend and we could work from there. If she couldn't keep it down, he said we would need to have another kind of conversation. We knew what he meant. Minnie couldn't keep it down. By Sunday she wasn't even keeping water down. She had lost so much weight. She started hiding behind our big chair in our living room and would make wimper noises when we pet her. Tim and I made the decision to put an end to her pain. We had her put down on Monday. We both bawled in the vets office saying our last goodbyes to her, and for about a straight hour afterwards. It was the hardest, worst day of my life. It will take some real getting use to her not being here. She was our first baby, our shadow, our greeter, our protector, our companion, and most of all our best friend.

A few great memories we had with our Minnie Bean:


Minnie would claw her way up the slide to be with us. Tim helped her back down.


She's singing me a song. We could even get her to sound like she was saying I love you.


Probably one of my most favorite pictures of Minnie. She was so stressed about protecting Aubri from the splashes after Aubs would throw a rock in the water. I thought it was so sweet.


She's in her protective element here too. She had a thing about the water.

Birthday Girl!

Our Aubriana turned 3 on "movember 27!" Thats what she tells everyone when they ask how old she is with her 3 fingers out. She was so excited for her birthday this year!!! We asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she told us a pink cake! Lets just say I haven't been too great in the kitchen lately... so don't judge me on this cake. It was a disaster in my eyes, but Aubri LOVED it! It was pink and what kid doesn't like cupcakes?!





Tim bought her a ginormous Jesse doll, cause thats what she wanted and bullseye and woody too. I opted for the lip gloss. The first thing she did when she opened it was put it on her eyelashes. Tim and I screamed, "no! It goes on your lips!" Like she'll ever be in need of mascara, the lucky girl. Anyway, we think the lip gloss will last her another week and be gone. She loves to apply it that much.



For her birthday we invited her friend Adam, aka "Madam" as she calls him, to go with us to McDonalds for a happy meal and some fun on the play place. Its too flippin cold here to do anything else! They both had a blast and a bonus, they both got party favors out of the deal. :)



A little bit later in the afternoon we met our friends, the Mickelson family, to go sledding at a park. The picture above is about as much fun as Aubri had sledding. We just had knitted gloves for her, so her hands got cold real fast.


I don't know why the above picture cracks me up everytime I look at it. It's like my daughter weighs 200 lbs and the hill was super steep or something??! I look ridiculously weak! Thanks Hubs for taking that picture.


Here's me and Aubs "trying" to sled down the hill. Our sled was a piece of crap (pardon my french)! We ended up just going sideways, but I was determined to act like it was fun for Aubri's sake. :)



Here's a few tid bits about our sweet girl:

-Her favorite color is pink
-She loves watching Toy Story 1, 2, & 3 (no particular order)
-She loves to play with her baby brother
-She likes to sneak up on us first thing in the morning. If we wake her up, she's in a foul mood.
-Mickey mouse playhouse has to be on during breakfast
-Her favorite song is twinkle twinkle little star (she sings it to Timmy when he cries)
-She thinks story time at the Library is the bomb diggity
-She loves to play dress up and build castles out of anything she can find
-She can spot a slide a mile away and play on it for hours if I'd let her
-She has a strong personality but a really big heart
-She can make friends with any kid
-She's beautiful inside and out

Thank you to all our family who called and sang to her on her birthday. It made her day all the more special!

First taste of solids...

First taste of baby cereal...
Originally uploaded by NJ Photography

My Hubs took this video of Timothy enjoying his first few bites of baby cereal. We had a good laugh. You'd think the kid was starving or something. LOL!


* See my previous post of a cute video of our kids. I tried to post the videos together on one post but the videos weren't uploading on blogger. So I gave up. :)

Siblings...

Siblings...
Originally uploaded by NJ Photography

I had to share this video. It's too cute. I figured it might make someone else smile too. Aubriana and Timothy are always happy to see eachother in the morning... playing and giggling. It's so cute.

4 Months!

Our little man is 4 months! I can't believe how much faster it seems to be going with our 2nd baby. Time seems to be flying, but I just love every minute with our little guy. I figure I should do a quick update on him since he is changing very quickly. I just took a few pictures of him the other day...

His stats:
He weighs 13.5 lbs, which puts him at 15% for weight. I honestly think the baby scale was way off. The Dr wasn't concerned at all by this. He says he looks very healthy and is very strong.
He is 25 inches long. Puts him at 42% for height. He is a long boy. He wears 6-9 month clothes right now... which are starting to get snug on his shoulders.

Timothy is very easy going. The only reason he ever fusses is to let me know he's hungry. Thats it. He loves it if you play with him. I touch his toes to his nose and he thinks its soooo funny! He's also very very ticklish... everywhere! I adore his laugh.

He's a roller now!


After he rolls he still needs to make sure we're in his sight.


After trying 5 different brands of pacifiers, he's decided to go with the free ones... his fingers. Go figure. He sure is cute while he sucks away on them. However, what am I going to do when he's too old to suck on them? I can't take them away!


Still full of smiles all the time!


Very expressive with his eyes. LOL!


He LOVES his sister! Sister loves him too (always wants to hold him). Aubri will tell you, if you ask what his name is, that its her baby brother Tiger. I try to tell her his name is Timothy but she tells me no, its Tiger. Oh well.


He is such a joy to our family. He adores being snuggled and played with and he has such a sweet disposition. I especially love that he's a mamas boy. I feel so blessed. :)

And we can't leave out Aubri. She loves when she sees her picture on my blog. When I was taking pictures of Timothy, she was begging me to take her picture with one of her dress up clip on earrings in. I thought it was so funny but such a pretty picture of her at the same time.

Mine.

Imagination

So Aubriana has had quite the imagination lately. She has been saying some of the most hillarious things. I've been trying to write them down when I can. So here are just a couple that are too good not to share (it helps if you can imagine the cute adorable voice while reading it):

A couple of nights ago she came up to me and said, "I'm sleepy" and I said, "you need to go to bed?" and she said, "yeah, remember, its 90 o'clock mom."

About a week ago I had the baby laying on the bed and Aubri was talking to him all cute like and the next thing I know, little Timmy is crying really hard. So I immediately pick him up trying to figure out whats wrong. I look at Aubri and she's got this guilty concerned look on her face, so I said, "what did you do?!" and she responds, "I bite him toe." I begin looking at his toes to make sure it wasn't too bad (no bite marks at least) and asked her, "why did you do that!" with which she responds, "I just wanted to nibble on dem." It was sad and funny all at once.

This morning, while I was blow drying my hair, Aubs calmly came up to me and said, "your ruining my life mom." Then she calmly headed back to play with her toys. I have no idea where she got that. I just stood there speechless... I thought they say things like that when they're teenagers???

Her bedtime routine now consists of her telling me stories. They are quite interesting. I transcribed her stories tonight while she told them to me because they are too hard for me to remember.

Aubri: Mom, I need to tell you a story okay?
Me: ok
Aubri: the ice cream went away and speal. And it break my heart and it break yours heart. And Daddies heart and Tigers heart and Minnies heart. (I happened to have had ice cream before I put her to bed)

Aubri: What about the cow story?
Me: Whats the cow story?
Aubri: The cow went away and too bad too bad too bad. And too bad too bad too bad. And the princess went away.

Me: trying really hard not to laugh.

Aubri: What about the ball story?
Me: ok, but this is the last one.
Aubri: this one red and taller and tall and this ones big and tall and tall tall tall. Thats all the stories ok. Good night. Good night okay?

Timothy's Blessing

This past Saturday we were able to bless our sweet baby boy in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We had been camping up at Farragut Park in Athol, Idaho all last week and it seemed to be a great middle ground for both sides of our families to travel to. My hubby gave a beautiful blessing and we were so grateful for all the family that came to be apart of it. We feel so loved!

My sweet little family


My side of the family! My brother & his family flew in from Las Vegas to be apart of it. My mom and sister with their hubbies drove 7+ hours to be there. I sure love my family! I'm just missing my sister Desiree who was at EFY all week and couldn't come. :(


The Jones side of the family! We were camping with Tim's two older sisters with all of their fam and his parents and sister Lurlyn with her fam came for the blessing. I can't believe how big the family is getting. We love you guys!


Big Tim, Little Timmy


Some things will never change. Aubri swiped someone's high heels and was strutting her stuff while her cousin played with his boy toys in the background. :)



A little bit about our Timothy "Tiger". He is now 2 months old. I can't believe it! This summer has come and gone.

He is a sweet, very mellow baby. He still only cries when he is hungry.

He now smiles and coos. It's really really cute. He works really hard at trying to get some kind of noise to come out.

He is really strong. He can hold his head up for a really long time and loves to stand.

He's definitely a mamas boy right now which I'm loving lots! :)

The following is his famous "monkey face" that I can't get enough of. He does it alot and it always makes me laugh.


He definitely loves his sister and vise versa. He tries to talk to her whenever she comes to say hi to him. I know this won't last forever so I'm trying to savor it. Aubri has to lay by him when he's sleeping. Please ignore Aubri's outfit... her dad dressed her that day. ;)


Here's his adorable smile! :)

Cousins

My daughter is so lucky to have her cousin Leify, who is only 6 weeks older than her. Especially when they get along "most of the time" and love to call each other on the phone. They truly get excited to see one another. It's the cutest thing! They are, however, 2 years of age, so sometimes they have little scuffles.

The following pictures speak for themselves. Lets just say my hubby was quick with the camera to get the evidence of what really went down. LOL!







Don't let Aubri's tears fool you. She isn't completely innocent. *side note -Aubri's vest she is wearing was her daddy's vest when he was a boy.


Here's a couple pics of them playing together and having fun. They really are cute together.

2 weeks

Timmy is a little over 2 weeks now. We sure love him! He is a very mellow/calm baby. He only ever cries to let me know he's hungry, and even that cry isn't much. He did have a bit of trouble with jaundice and weight loss when I brought him home, so I had to take him back to the hospital to have him put under the lights. After a couple of days under the lights, his bilirubin went back down and we were able to bring him home. His weight did drop a whole lb during that time. At birth he was 7lbs 15oz and when we left the hospital from having him put under the lights, he was at 7lbs 1oz. As of this morning, his weight is back up to 7 lbs 11.5 ounces. So all is well. I am strictly breast feeding him, so that makes me feel good.

Last weekend I took a few newborn pictures of him. Trying to savor this short time. I nursed him and had him all calm and sleeping... until I took the diaper off. Then he was awake the rest of the time. He pee'd on my bed twice and had a little hershey squirt on a blanket once. So, thankfully I got a couple of keepers in all the mess. :)

This one is my absolute favorite. Captured his personality perfectly.


This one I took of him wrapped in the beautiful blanket that my sister Lynlee made for him. I love love love the blanket. Must take a better picture of it to show.





These are just priceless to me...


This is a popular position with my kids. Aubri had her legs like this during her first few weeks of life as well. It's pretty cute.


Snuggle time with dad.


Aubri truly has adjusted well. She has definitely had some whining moments, but she is always wanting to help with her baby brother. She likes to give him mooches and asks to hold him alot. She is very curious about the breast feeding though. Yesterday she lifted up her shirt and placed her doll on her chest and said she was feeding her baby too. I got a good laugh out of it. She has also tapped on my stomach and told me she had another baby brother in there. *sigh* :(

Anyway, I thought the below picture was too cute not to share. Aubri had on her grandma Jones' glasses and sitting on our couch trying to act like a grown up.

Timothy "Tiger" is here!

We had our baby boy! Timothy Edward Jones Jr. arrived Tuesday, June 8th at 12:45 am. He weighed 7 lbs 15.9 oz and 20 inches long. His birthday is easy to remember at least... 6.8.10.





I now know what people are talking about when they say every birth/pregnancy is different. I was induced at 7 am on Monday morning, expecting things to go quickly, but no. I was showing strong contractions on the paper, but I wasn't feeling them. Just a tightening of my stomach. The nurse kept upping my pitocin but they still couldn't get the contractions to come closer. By 5 pm, the nurse convinced me to get an epidural. The epidural was a bit overwhelming. I started feeling pretty numb in the shoulders so I had to ask them to turn it down. Every time my doctor came in to check me, I was not progressing any further. So, my doctor decided to stick a wand (can't remember what they called it, lol!) up in my uterus that determines how strong the contractions really are. My doctor said it has been known to cause some women to go into strong labor and they have their babies within the hour. Well, it worked on me. About 5 minutes to midnight, I felt lots of pressure and the nurse checked me... sure enough I had dilated from a 4 to a 9 in the hour. Within the next 5 minutes, my doctor came in and they had me start pushing. It took 45 minutes of pushing to get him out. The doctor had to suction his head out in the end to help me because his heart rate was dropping fast. He had the cord around his neck. When he was half way out, the doctor told me to reach down and grab him and pull him up on my stomach. That was a new experience for me. It was amazing. He laid there on my stomach, not breathing yet. He was pretty blue, so they took him under the heat lamp and rubbed on him for a few minutes to get him going. He still never cried. It made me very nervous but the nurses and my mom kept trying to assure me he was fine. He was so sweet and quiet. So so precious. I instantly fell in love.

My hubby was a little jealous because he never opened his eyes until they put him back on my chest the second time and I started talking to him. Tim's convinced he'll be a mamas boy. I guess its my turn since Aubriana is quite the daddies girl.





We adore him! Aubriana is such a sweet big sister. She keeps asking to hold him and kiss him on the head. She has to check on him too if he starts crying. He is a bit jaundice right now, so we are working on getting that to go away. He nurses very well, so hopefully it will pass soon.



My mom was able to be there this time and help me during the labor. My mother-in-law came and tended to Aubri. We were so blessed with the help we received and continue to receive. Having 2 kiddos is a big adjustment right now, but we will get use to it. Couldn't be more blessed and happy. :)

The following are pictures I took of him before, during, and after his first bath...







He loved having his head washed. This picture shows his real personality I think. Just so sweet.