Annika Ruth Jones

Wow. It has been two and a half years since my last post. I have probably lost most of my readers, but hopefully they are my Facebook friends and we have kept tabs on each other there. This post is more for my own records, so I don't forget important events before I get around to scrapbooking them.So much has happened in the past two and a half years, but I will start with the most recent and work my way back.
Ten (almost eleven) weeks ago we welcomed our fifth child! She is a joy in our home. Yes, I said SHE. We finally got our girl. Her name is Annika Ruth. She was born on Saturday, August 30, 2014 at 1:46 am. She weighed 5 lbs 4 oz and was 19.5 inches long. I had to be induced because she had Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR). I had a doctor's appointment on the 28th and I wasn't dilated or effaced, but he was concerned about her size so he sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound techs said she was in the 10th percentile of where she should be, and suggested inducing me because she would grow better outside than in. So, I  picked up Jared from Gary's parents house, got the boys from school and went home and got things ready to have a baby. They said I could come in that night, but I told them that the next morning would be better because then I could arrange things at home for the boys.
The next morning (Friday) my parents came over to watch Jared while the older boys were at school. We didn't tell them our plans for the day. We just told them we were going on a date. We dropped them off at school and headed to the hospital (IMC). It was so strange, to be going to the hospital to have a baby, and not be in labor! They got us into a room and started the whole process, and boy did it take forever!
We arrived about 8:30 am, had the monitors hooked up about 9 and they got my IV in (after 4 or 5 tries) around 9:40. At that point I was only about 1 cm dilated and hardly effaced at all. They started me on the Cytotec medication at about 11, and we waited. Luckily we had brought things to do, like MASH DVDs, the Kindle and our smart phones. By 3:30 in the afternoon I was 60% effaced, but still only dilated to a 1+. At that point they gave me a second dose of Cytotec and we waited some more. Gary took a nap, and I tried unsuccessfully. I did get some reading done though. By 6:35 pm I was dilated to a 2. They finally gave me Pitocin around 8:40 that night, and that got things going. By 10 I was 70% effaced and dilated to a 2.5 so the doctor broke my water. They gave me the epidural about 10:30. The contractions were coming really fast at that point, so they had to turn the Pitocin off. The epidural wasn't 100% effective, but it did take the edge off. At 1:10 am I was ready to go, I started pushing at 1:45 am and Annika was born at 1:46 am on Saturday morning. She was tiny and beautiful. She was covered in vernix (a white waxy paste) and had very purple feet. And hair, lots of hair! It took her most of a day to start regulating her body temperature and blood sugar, but she did eventually. Being so small it was important that she do that before we could give her a bath.
During the day we called Mom and Dad at our house and they told the boys where we were when they got home from school. They made signs for the front door and came to visit Saturday night. They all adore Annika. There is something different about having a sister.  The nurse came in to the room to give Annie her first bath, so the boys could watch. It was the first time I got to see our baby's first bath too. Gary usually goes to the nursery and helps with that. We had a few visitors while we were in the hospital. My parents came, Gary's parents came, Susan & Greg, Eric & Leia and Samantha and her boyfriend, York.
The first pediatrician that came in to check Annie said she was "A tiny version of perfect." She has the cutest pouty full lips, long slender fingers, and tiny ears. Her eyes are still a grayish-blue color and her hair is brown. She has cowlicks  in her hair like her Nana, Jared and I do. It grows in a mohawk like Jared's does. She has a small umbilical hernia, but the doctor thinks it should correct itself and not need surgery.
These are a few of her first portraits, taken when she was 9 days old (I think).

Six Years Old

Jackson turned six a couple of weeks ago. Six! He is such a happy, energetic boy. He may be small, but he makes up for it in spirit.
We had his family party the weekend of his birthday. The boy LOVES Legos, so I made him a Lego cake. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. In reality, it was a pretty lame cake. But he was happy to get some new Lego mini-figures.

He also got 2 Lego games, two Lego shirts, another game, money for his savings account and a gift card to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries that we used for his birthday dinner out.

We had his friends party the following weekend. We had lots of fun with lots of very energetic kids. (It was SO loud!) He has his friends had a blast though. We played Lego bingo, colored Lego coloring pages, played a Lego relay game, and of course had cupcakes, ice cream and opened presents. He got Legos and Beyblade. He was so excited. All in all, he had a great birthday!

Eleven Months Old

Jared is now eleven months old. I can't believe he will be a year old in less than a month! Time goes by so quickly when you have children. I am trying to enjoy him being little as much as I can, but he is growing up so fast. I think he is trying to catch up to those brothers of his.

He is an expert at crawling now. He can go pretty fast when he has a mind to. He can also crawl over obstacles, and up and down the stair in our living room. He loves to sit on his knees and pull himself onto his knees whenever possible. He is starting to pull himself to his feet now. He did just that yesterday at our fireplace and was (slowly) cruising along it. His brothers think it is great fun to bring him to his feet and prop him up against something. He hasn't quite figure out how to get down from his feet yet, so usually ends up standing there screaming, or toppling over and bonking his head.

His favorite mode of communication these days is screaming. He also makes a wide variety of letter sounds - his favorite of those being the hard "c" sound. He has connected me with the word Mama and uses it a lot to call for me.
He is ever so curious. He is constantly exploring anything he can get his hands on. He loves to go into the laundry room and play in the dogs' water dish. He also loves to visit the boys' bathroom and races for open doors at the front and back of the house. He gets quite upset when you stop him from opening the pantry door or the fridge door and loves to explore my kitchen cabinets and drawers, though he gets his fingers squished almost every time.

He is getting more hair. He isn't quite as bald as he used to be. Some of it is pretty long, but most of it is still only about 1/4" long. He has Jack's hair - very blonde, fine and thin. His eyes are still blue. If I remember right, Daniel's didn't change until he was a year old or older, so we'll see how they turn out.
He has learned to wave hello and goodbye. Sometimes he will even say bye-bye. I am working on helping him to learn a couple of other signs to help him communicate better - mostly "hungry" and "more." He knows what they mean when I do them, but won't repeat them back to me yet. He loves to clap, and will usually clap when you ask him too, or when he is happy, or even when he is watching someone else clap - like on television.

He is still a very happy boy. It is easy to get him to laugh and smile. He is very ticklish and loves to play. He loves to play with his brothers, and with his little music & lights learning table that I brought up from storage last week.
I let him swing at the park for the first time last week. He thought that was pretty fun. He has 6 teeth now and they sure make for cute smiles. He still does his "squinty face" that just cracks Gary and I up - but I haven't been able to catch it on camera. He is pretty silly. I think he likes to make people laugh, just like Evan does.
Here are a few more pictures from the past month

Nine Month portraits

I had these taken weeks ago, but I'm a bit behind in posting. Here are Jared's nine month portraits.

Ten Months Old

Jared is ten months old! He is such a joy to have in our family. His little personality is too cute, and so is he. He has grown in leaps and bounds in the past two months.

He is crawling all over the place. He is sure an explorer!

He puts everything into his mouth. He is definitely our "taster." He is the first of the boys to try and eat dog food, and I've found a wide array of objects in his mouth. I've found everything from Legos (yikes!) to bits of leather, plastic and paper. He loves to eat paper. We have to be very careful of anything we leave in his reach. He is very good at getting into his brothers toys when they're playing on the floor. One day they and Mandie put him in a toy box to keep him away.

Now that he is mobile he has a few favorite rooms. If he sees the door to the laundry room open he makes a beeline for it. He knows he isn't allowed in there. The same goes for the pantry and the boys' bathroom. He is very capable of getting anywhere he wants to be - even down the step into the living room. (He hasn't mastered getting back up the step yet.) He does this funny thing when he crawls - he'll stop and push up on his toes. It looks like he's doing a yoga pose, or push ups. He has strong toes I guess!

He is babbling a lot. At last count he can make at least 10 different word sounds. He says Mama and Papa, and it sounds like he is trying to say other words like "good" and "Jared." He is a pretty happy guys, but definitely lets us know when he is not. Usually if he is not, it's a good indicator that it is nap time. He doesn't generally like to rocked to sleep any more. If he is tired and we lay him down in his crib with his binky and blanket he will roll over and go to sleep. He still isn't sleeping through the night most nights, but usually is up only once so I don't mind.

He has learned to clap and associates it with the word "good." If you tell him he's a "good boy." he will clap. Even if he is crawling across the room, he'll stop to clap. He is so funny. He will also clap if there is applause on television, or if you ask him to clap. He also learned to wave "Hi" and "bye-bye." Granny taught him when we went down to St. George for President's Day weekend. Sometimes he will say "bye-bye" (or something close) when he waves. It sure is cute.

He also has started to play the head shaking game. If you shake your head at him, he'll shake his back, and so on. At first he would only play with me, but has since branched out. He thinks it is funny.

He is still our pint sized foodie. I've given up on baby food entirely at this point. He will eat almost anything we do, so I let him. He still loves Gerber puffs. I'll put him in his high chair and dump some on the tray and he will go at them with both hands, grabbing fist fulls and stuff them in his mouth. It is so funny! He definitely knows what he likes. He has 6 teeth now so he is getting pretty good at chewing.
He still doesn't have much hair, and what he does have needs to be evened out but I don't have the heart to cut it. He and Jack have the same hair - fine and thin and very blonde. At his 9 month appointment he weighed 19.5 pounds and was 26(?) inches long. He is tall and thin, just like the rest of the boys. He had his first big cold this past month. He was pretty miserable for a few days and ended up with an ear infection too. One night he wouldn't go to sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time in his bed so we ended up sleeping with him in the recliner for most of the night. 
We took him on his first two hikes over President's Day. He did pretty well in the hiking backpack. We'll have to get him and his brothers out more this summer.

I can't believe he will be a year old in less than two months. Time goes by so quickly!

December and Christmas 2011!

Our Christmas started early this year. Aunt Mary bought us tickets to "Breakfast with Santa" at Thanksgiving Point the first weekend in December. We met Mary, Nana, GG, Amanda, Jesse & Jessica there. They served a great breakfast, then we took the kids around to do activities like cookie decorating and having their faces painted. Buddy the Elf was there, as well as Santa and Mrs. Claus. They all got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. It was a fun morning.

Daniel had to have his picture taken with Buddy.

Later that week we had our Ward Christmas dinner. We sat with our friends, The Taylor's. Jared could not figure out what that was on Scott's face!

On the 17th our Provo family came up to our house to celebrate Christmas with us. We had GG, Nana, Aunt Mary, Uncle John, Aunt Missy and cousin Rachel here. We had some yummy food and opened gifts. As usual, the boys got spoiled. They were thrilled with their new toys, clothes & bed sheets though! They played Beyblades for the rest of the night & most of the next day. Jared got a Raggedy Andy doll that he loves. I find him playing with it in his crib all the time.

Eric and Leia took us to Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo the week before Christmas as their gift to us. It was a lot of fun, though very cold! The boys got to see Santa again. Jack told him he wanted Beyblades, Squinkies and pencils. Daniel asked for Beyblades and I can't remember what Evan asked for. They had a good time. Leia and Eric even paid for a carousel ride for them. Evan didn't really enjoy that part, but did enjoy the hot cocoa after.

The next night we took the all to the Jazz basketball scrimmage. We got fairly good seats, and the boys enjoyed it. It will probably be one of the few times we can take us all to a "game." It was free!

The boys had their sing-along at school on their last day before the Christmas break. Grandma and Grandpa came. It was cute.
On the Friday before Christmas Gary and I gave the boys one of their gifts early - a big ol' box of Legos. Gary and the boys played Legos for the next three days. I've got a bunch of builders on my hands. Jared wants so badly to play too, but I'm afraid he would eat them, so he doesn't get to play just yet.

On Christmas Eve we decorated gingerbread houses in the morning. I pretty much let the boys go to town, decorating how they want. I put some gumballs in with their decorating candy. Jack couldn't wait to chew his, I guess.

That night we had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa at their house. On the way home we went to Magna's Christmas street to look at the lights. When we got home we let boys boys open one gift (jammies) then put cookies out for Santa and sent them to bed. I even rigged their door so they couldn't get up too early. Daniel got up around 4 and wasn't too happy went he was sent back to bed. In his defense, the clock in his room did say 7am. We finally got up around 6:30am. The boys were excited about Santa having come and opened everything in record time. I even had time afterwards to take a short nap between presents and Church. That was good, because I was having a really hard time staying awake!

 Granny and Opa came to church with us, then came over after to see the boy's gifts. We didn't have our annual Christmas breakfast due to having church. Our meeting was short though, so that was nice. It was pretty noisy from all the excited kids though! Daniel met up with his friends after the meeting to tell each other what they got. I love that we have lots of kids in our ward.

We went over to Granny and Opa's house after we changed clothes and visited with them and Eric and Leia. We gave Granny & Opa their gift and opened gifts from them.

We ended the day at Grandma and Grandpa's. We had a great Christmas dinner with them, Susan and Greg, and Jeff, Shelly, Tyler and Trisha. We opened gifts after dinner, then had dessert to end the night. It was great to see our family.

I love getting together with our families during Christmas. No rushing, just enjoying everyone's company. Merry Christmas all!