The house

So, about five thousand years ago I promised to post pictures of our house. I may have even said, "Stay tuned for remodeled house pictures!" By now you all think I'm lying, either that I'll ever post pictures or that we live in a new house at all. Well, I got inspired today because this weekend Greg finished our brand new so awesome I can barely stand it seats a boat load of people dining room table. This afternoon the house was mostly picked up and I thought, what the heck, let's take some pictures! I mean, I don't have anything else to do, right? Johanna, you go ahead and make yourself a sandwich if you're hungry!

I will post pictures of the bedrooms another time (don't stay tuned, it could be another three months), for now ALL FOUR OF MY KIDS ARE SLEEPING!!!!

Last thing. All major remodel work (bathroom, kitchen, carpet) is compliments of my long suffering, generous father-in-law Doug. The hanging of all new curtains, new lighting, and newly finished furniture is compliments of my hard working, never complaining, dedicated, smoking hot husband. Oh, and all the new paint is because my own family came one weekend and painted the whole stinking house. Thanks Matt, Lianna, Daddy, and Greg! Have I mentioned before how much my family rocks??

And I'd like to thank the Academy for....

A post that speak for itself

A Nathan birthday post

I know you all are dying for pictures of Johanna, which I promise are coming soon, but I wanted to put up a few of Nathan's birthday. Yeah, the poor kid had a birthday and then his sister had the audacity to be born close to his birthday and his mom did nothing but nurse and do laundry for weeks and here he is, a month into being four, and yet, not blog post! No pictures! The horror!

Nathan is a fun, busy, endearing four year old and so adorable I can barely stand it. He loves all thing super hero and will spend long stretches of time looking through Greg's old collection of comic books. I get asked many times a day, "Who is this?" to which I reply, usually faking it, "Oh, that's Mr. Stretch" and he'll say, "NO IT'S NOT, DADDY SAID IT'S MR. BLAHBLAHBLAH" and I'll say, "Oh, well why don't you tell me who the super heros are" and he'll say "No, I want you to." He and Aubrey have great imaginative play, you could read to the kid for hours, he's wishing he'd taken soccer instead of t-ball, and he REALLY wishes that in a water fight he could do all the water throwing and none of the getting wet. Running around naked is another fabulous pass time. Oh, and if fighting with your brother were an Olympic sport Nathan would be an eight time gold medalist with years of ability left in him.

Happy one month late Birthday my precious little boy. We love you!

JOHANNA LYNN JONES

Our new little daughter was born Friday, June 18 at 9:06 a.m. Without giving all the gory details I will merely say that we arrived at the hospital at 8:00 a.m., I was dilated to 8, and she was born at 9:06 a.m. When my dad found out he was sure Greg must have delivered her in our kitchen!

Johanna Lynn (her name is made up of parts of my three sisters' names) was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 21.5 inches long. She has a little bit of blonde hair, long fingers and toes, and is a master nurser already. We are all in love with her. She also told me that she plans on sleeping through the night at 6 weeks so I thought that was sweet of her too.

Enjoy the pictures while we enjoy our girl. She really makes our family feel complete.

what else is there to talk about?

Waiting for a baby, being past my due date, has taken away my will to blog. There's just nothing else to say. There are only two things left to restore my own personal mojo. A baby Mojo and a chocolate cream pie. The Rosauer's pie section and I may become intimately acquainted today if Mojo lets me down.

Does my teacher eat?

Aubrey had her first experience of seeing her teacher outside of the school. We were at Fred Meyer when we bumped into her preschool teacher. Aubrey looked thoroughly confused. As we walked away she said, "What was she doing here?" I told her she must have been grocery shopping. Aubrey paused and said, "But we don't have school anymore so she doesn't have any kids to buy food for." I said, "Well, she was probably buying food for her and her husband." Aubrey laughed out loud and said, "NO, that's not true! What was she really doing here?"

I remember being completely disoriented when I saw my teachers outside of their normal environment. I honestly think Aubrey still isn't sure what her teacher possibly could have been doing at a grocery store. I mean, the woman doesn't ever leave school, does she??

Cooked

What's the point?

Really, why bother having OB appointments every week so that they can tell you that nothing has changed? I mean, expect that you're bigger. Hmmm, better double check your chart, do you always measure this big? Okay.... (imagine doubtful expression.) Whatever, it just gives me an excuse to eat more comfort food. Mom, you got any extra Cadbury mini eggs in that freezer of yours??

Too many kids in this bed!

There's too many kids in this tub.

There's too many elbows to scrub.

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine,

There's too many kids in this tub!

Shel Silverstein

If you take that poem and substitute bed for tub and elbows to scrub for "kids to in my bed who fling their legs about and I can't get a cotton pickin' inch of space in which to turn", you've got a clear idea of our morning.

The final kid to come to our room was Nathan at 6:15 a.m. 6:15! I know some of you have already worked out for an hour, had a cup of coffee, and are taking a nap by 6:15 but this girl is still sleeping. Aubrey came in around 5:30 and it seems as though Dane was there all night. How did this happen? Where did we go wrong?? Who doused our bed in kiddy sleepy juices that pulls them and holds them tight?

Our kids have never really slept in bed with us. No judgment, just not our thing. No one sleeps well and I am an unpleasant person without sleep. Unpleasant Sara equals Greg running for the hills. Greg running for the hills equals single motherhood and I know that must be worse than sleep deprivation. So sleep I must get.

A few months back Dane started coming to our bed when he woke up in the morning. You know, at 6:30 or 7. He's snuggle with us for a while, hold our hands, and act precious. Greg and I both loved this time with him. So soft and snuggly and sweet.

Then Nathan started becoming more and more afraid of the dark, things in his room, shadows, you name it. He wakes up with nightmares and can't fall back asleep. "Mommy, can you snuggle me until I'm not scared?" This can happen at any hour of the night. Enter Nathan, snuggling in bed at night until he can fall back asleep. So soft and sweet and snuggly.

Then Aubrey heard about all this middle of the night revelry and she was like, "WHOA, what have I been missing?? Out of bed and lounging with Mom and Dad? How can a girl pass this up?" Then she willed herself to start waking up around 5 a.m. and joining us, just for the delight of it all.

AND THEN Dane started coming into snuggle earlier. And earlier. Until it seems as though he has been coming in at 3 a.m. the past few days. Because I'm massively pregnant I find myself seeing his face at the side of my bed, nummy in mouth and blanket in hand, and rather than lug myself into a sitting position I just let him crawl over me into the middle. Short term gain for long term problems is such a great parenting strategy.

Consequently, we have had all three kids in bed with us more than once this last week. We have a king size bed but let me tell you, they are not made for 5 1/2 people (I figure Mojo gets at least half a person's worth of credit now that he/she is making me the size of a yacht). I ended up on the edge of my bed this morning, not really snuggling Nathan but holding on for dear life as my whole booty was off the edge of the bed and my Mojo belly was the only thing keeping me from flopping to the ground. I gave up and went and slept in Nathan's bed.

Sad to say, if you are Aubrey, Nathan, or Dane, you are in for a radically different night. One that includes your own bed for hours at a time. Take that my little pretties! And IF you wake up with nightmares and IF you need to hold my hand to sleep and IF you think Mom and Dad are awesome at 5 a.m. I have news for you: I might still take you to bed. HAHA, take that!!!

When a blog is neglected

I have let this little blog down lately. I have missed it. I have pictures of Greg's and my weekend getaway to Cave B Resort (glorious), much promised photos of the updated, moved in house, and random pictures of my family that are impossible not to share. Do you get any of that today? Nah. I need to shower and it sounds like too much work. Maybe tomorrow.

What I did want to say is that this morning I was congested and feeling large pregnant and whiny. My precious boys woke up with their Y chromosomes on full throttle. While Aubrey and I were trying to eat breakfast they were whipping their blankets around, running in circles, and poking us. Aubrey was even less impressed than I was. Then I heard Greg hop out of the shower. I told the boys, "Hey Daddy's out of the shower. I bet he's naked. Go get him!!" Worked like a charm.

Have a great day!