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.

Sisters and sickness

(Not the most stunning picture of four stunning cousins.)

So, since we all know where my blog last left off, I thought I should update a bit. Nathan spent all day Wednesday sick: 103 fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, etc. I was SURE we were doomed. I spent part of the evening in a controlled panic over how sick we were going to be getting. Thursday morning he woke up FINE. No, I mean it. FINE. As though nothing ever happened.

Now Nathan is our fever kid. God is revisiting that delight upon me since I did it to my own parents. He gets a fever if his lips are too chapped. It's his thing and he does pathetic well. Dane had had a cold earlier in the week and I'm almost convinced that Nathan caught Dane's cold and then did it up Nathan style. But that was the end of our illness. No, I mean it. That one day was it. Not to say that we won't get swine flu or intestinal illnesses or boils or festering eye diseases this winter but for round one we won the fight.



All this to say, sister's weekend in Yakima did occur. And that my mom showered us all with delicious homemade food and pies and love and kindness. And that my dad and his son-in-laws spent hours playing music and creating a band name: Wayne and the In-laws. And that us sisters shopped and went out on Saturday night and ate and sipped drinks and laughed ourselves crazy. And talked about our general awesomeness. Because really, we hold the market on awesome sisterhood. And we spent a moment in gratuitous self love and praised our parents for giving us such stunning DNA. Because the thing is, you can only say that with your sisters without sounding like a pompous jerk.

We also talked about how it is frightening in some ways to be so blessed because you become acutely aware of how much you stand to lose. Lianna said it best when she said, "I choose to focus on the fact that when hardships happen I will have the rock of my family to get me through it."

That is why sisters and family rock. Seems like I've said this before...

One down, four to go

I think THE FLU has hit our house. You know the one I'm talking about. Nathan has run a high fever (103) today, runny nose, etc. There's no conclusive nasal swab but heck, what other illness is there this season??

I am nervous, it seems like my whole family falls into the high risk category for flu complications. There are no shot vaccines available yet so there's nothing we can do.

We'll see what tomorrow holds. Sigh. I'm supposed to head to Yakima this weekend for a sister's weekend that is not looking good.

Thanks H1N1/swine flu/dirty rat/destroyer of weekend plans. The Jones family hates you.

Oops, I did it again

Have you made these yet? Do you see how glorious they look? Did you know that they taste even better? My sister Lianna sent out a recipe yesterday that she said was perfect if you feel like mooning the Atkins diet. These are in the same category and worth every delicious carb.

I have eaten more than one. I intend to eat more today. Please, no comments if my backside is looking more ample the next time you see me.