Sara is insane, part XIII

Without a second thought I just tossed Dane's dirty clothes in the garbage and his dirty diaper into the clothes hamper. I caught my mistake when I threw a container in the trash and said, "Hey, who put their clothes in the garbage?!?!"

There is no excuse for me sometimes.

Things I learned yesterday

1. You can't keep melting white chocolate. Eventually it gets hard and granular and burnt. And tastes nasty.

2. Pomegranites are the most fun we've ever had eating fruit. It also looked like we slaughtered a goat in our kitchen afterward.

3. Christmas music on Pandora is perfect. Until it stops letting you skip songs and you are forced to listen to "Alien Santa."

4. I have been reminded, once again, that circumcision is for the birds. And for lesser mammals and not children. (And yes, my boys are circumcised and I still feel that way.)

5. Dane is already a master blamer. Yesterday after I watched him color on our counter with a pen and reprimanded him he said, "No, brother did."

6. I have never known a kid that can be as exasperating and endearing in the same moment as Nathan.

7. Aubrey is getting a PhD in Tattle Tale.

8. TGIF!!!!! (Okay, I learned that today.)

A uterine name for a uterine Jones

As many of you may know, us crazy Joneses don't find out the gender of our babies until they are born. To get around calling the baby "It" for nine months, we always give our unborn babies a nick name. Thus far we have had Indie, Deuce, and Trey. The nick name for this baby has been a topic of debate UNTIL I received this email from my dad:


Sara and Greg,
Though it doesn't mean I haven't thought it, I've not yet said how happy I am for you and your baby number 4, and selfishly, our grand-baby number 5.
Now, this important info: if it's a boy and he's not named Ralph, I'll be hugely disappointed. If it's a girl and she's not named Cleopatra, I'll be devastated. But, it's not all about me (although it really is).
One thought for a temporary in-uterine name as this baby hangs out pool side is..........wait for it............wait for it.............MoJo.......you know, More Jones or MoJo Jones. I think there's a confident foresight to this nothing-but-net, slam-dunk of a name selection without copycat boredom or aristocratic snobbish pretense.
Mucho love,
DadWayne

Thanks Dad, it's a done deal. Welcome baby MoJo!


(p.s. While MoJo is great, Cleopatra and Ralph are not. Sorry Dad.)

A proper debut

You know you are a ripped off fourth kid when your mother announces your impending existence in the world in a blog post mostly dedicated to her incapacitating illness. I figure the time has come to give the kid a bit more attention.

I am currently ten weeks pregnant and due on June 13. We are THRILLED about this new baby. We have always wanted four kids and have had a few set backs getting here which makes it all the sweeter that things are going well. We had an ultrasound two weeks ago and saw a healthy baby with a healthy heartbeat. Things look good.

The baby seems to have Greg's tall lanky frame and my sense of humor. Lucky kid.

Telling our kids was a kick. The last time I was pregnant Nathan wasn't quite 1 yet (I know, holy cow) and Aubrey was only 2 1/2. Needless to say there was never an official announcement. This time though we sat the kids down and both Aubrey and Nathan really got it. Aubrey gasped and covered her mouth when we told them. She then proceeded to say, "We need a bed! We need baby food! We need baby clothes!" Nathan is delighted with the idea of my stomach getting big. He also puts on a dramatic show of being punched and falling down, a dramatization of what will happen to him when he feels the baby kick in my stomach. Dane points to my tummy, says, "BABY??" and then runs away. He's certain he's the baby we are talking about.

Aubrey is committed to helping us pick the perfect name. She only suggests girl names and some of the suggestions include "Jennika", "Berry", "Longa", and "Jennifer." Needless to say we appreciate her creativity and will try to make her think the actual baby's name was her idea.

I am looking forward to the end of unrelenting nausea.

There you have it. The Jones Six is in the works. We couldn't be more thrilled.

MIA

Where has Sara gone you ask? Well, I have walked to the edge of illness hell and am creeping my way back slowly. Since Sunday I have been a shivering, feverish, aching, vomiting disaster. Greg stayed home Monday and Tuesday and my sweet mother-in-law Marian took care of us today. I'm the proud owner of Tamiflu and an anti-nausea med and frequent Tylenol.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, I'm pregnant! Nine and a half weeks and I'm already putting this poor baby to task. The pregnancy is wonderful but has made this lovely situation all the more complicated. And stressful.

After a useless trip to my family doc today and a helpful phone call to my ob I finally got the anti-nausea meds I need to stop barfing and keep some fluids down. Tonight, for the first night in days, I'm feeling human. Not perfect, but human. I'm thinking I might survive.

Send us healthy prayers. Okay, mostly me, but preventing the rest of my family from getting this would be lovely.

p.s. Is there a doc in the house? (You know who you are.) Could I have gotten H1N1 from my kids after they had their live nasal vaccine? I'm convinced.

Making the bed

Three kids, two a jumping blur, one wielding a dart gun, and one tumbleweed. Seems normal to me.

I am an evil mother

Yesterday I asked Aubrey and Nathan to pick up the toy room. Aubrey stuck out her lip and said, "You're such a killjoy."

Yes she did. She did say that.

Yesterday Nathan he was "so so sad" because he didn't have any fun left in the day. That was after I put his Halloween candy up so he didn't barf from his 50th piece.

My poor, poor kids. They have the hardest lives EVER.

(Nathan, Aubrey, let me introduce you to reality. I don't think you've met.)

The evolution of a sucker

(Alternate post title: my new camera is a lot of fun.)

Cameras and birthdays and Halloween, oh my!

Some important things you should know about the following pictures.

1) For my, ahem, 29+1 birthday, I got a fancy pants new camera. It's a Canon Rebel XSi and while I know virtually nothing about it I did take all the following pictures with it and felt like paparazzi.

2) We celebrated Gracie Baerlocher's 2nd birthday with her and her family in the Tri-Cities. We had a wonderful time and ate so much good food it was obscene.

3) It was Halloween. Duh. You may notice a lovely flower fairy and Bones I and Bones II in the following pictures. Have you ever seen such cute skeletons and flower fairy?

Enjoy!

Don't you with your husband was hot like mine??

Birthday girl Gracie wondering why I have to bug her while she's eating.

They napped together on the couch today. It doesn't get better than that.