Where's Darth Vader?

This is a new game we've been playing in the Jones house. A sure sign that you've been cooped up in the house for too long is when you start making up wacky games like this one.

It's pretty simple. Tyler yells out "Where's Darth Vader?" and then we say, "Oh no! He's right behind you!" and then Tyler "gets him" with his lightsaber (the weapon of choice for a Jedi knight for all you non-Star Wars fans). He has saved Scott, Jake and me from the clutches of Darth Vader countless times!

Tyler is very proud of his lightsaber, which is nothing more than an LED flashlight my mom got him for Christmas. I'm counting down the days until spring when we can all head outdoors to play, but until then, "Where's Darth Vader!?!" . 

And I thought taking pictures of one kid was hard

Sigh...All I want is a nice picture of my two boys. Is that too much to ask? Now for some reason if I am taking a picture of just Tyler, he's a little ham. But once I introduce Jake into the equation, it gets a little harder. In Tyler's defense, he does have to do most of the heavy lifting. When I try to get a photo, the sessions usually start like this... 

Both kids are pretty happy. I'm snapping away, but then the oldest starts to get a little antsy.

 Then the hands start to give way...

 Then the whining starts, "Are we done?!?"

Now we're close to meltdown. And I have to put the camera down before Jake gets dropped on his head! 

Oh well, perhaps next time!

Thankful on Thursday

A few quick things I am thankful for...

1. Jake continuing to be a GREAT sleeper! Jake rolled over this past weekend, which was really exciting! It also came with the realization that we can't swaddle him anymore. I am a huge fan of swaddling and Jake LOVED it. We pretty much went cold turkey from the swaddle to the sleep sack, and he's done really well. He wakes up maybe once in the evenings and naps seem to be a bit shorter, but I think he's getting used to it.

2. The weather gods. They kept the snow from falling on Tuesday in DC, so I could go up and get my work trip done and get home to see my babies! Unfortunately, a few of my coworkers are still stuck up there!

3. My new office digs! I put in a request at work to have all of our designers and Web programmers moved into the same suite of offices and it was approved. So next week, we all move into a new section of our building. Since I love cleaning and organizing (I'm actually being serious here), it's going to give me the chance to clean out all of my files and organize everything anew in the new office. It also has a big window, which I'm pretty excited about!

4. Tyler trying pasta this week. We've tried a few times in the past, but this time it stuck! We got the Barilla wheels and he thought they were SOOOO cool. He used them to "race" around his plate.

5. My renewed energy for couponing. I was out of the couponing game for a bit after I had Jake, but now I am back! Went to Lowes Foods on Saturday. Spent $75 and saved $50!

Jake's Birth - Part 3, The Finale!

As we zoomed off to the hospital, Scott started making phone calls to his parents and our friends to give them the great news. We both knew this was it! Jake was on his way! The contractions on the way to the hospital were pretty bad, but I was breathing through them. When I had Tyler, I did exactly what they tell you NOT to do - I was holding my breath and tensing up during each contraction. For that reason, I think this car ride to UNC seemed a lot shorter than the one on the way to have Tyler. We pulled onto Manning Drive and Scott asked me if I wanted him to drop me off or if I wanted to walk from the parking garage. Walk, I said. When people heard I walked in from the garage, they think it's because I'm some badass superwoman. Not the case. The reality? I just did not want to be alone. I needed Scott with me and he held my hand as we walked towards the maternity ward.

Once we got to the 4th floor - labor and delivery - I got checked in. I was standing up at this point at the counter, but still having contractions about every 3 or 4 minutes. It was funny to see the progression of the nurses' reactions. At first, they were going to admit me into triage and then in about 2 seconds, they said, "OK, I think we can put you straight into a room." I heard one nurse call over the phone "We need to get Room 5 prepped for delivery. We got one huffing and puffing out here."

They walked me to the delivery room and Susan - the midwife on call at the time - wasn't too far behind me. Susan is awesome. She is the kind of person who would remain calm in ANY situation. She has this calming voice and has a way of saying things in such a positive way.

They had me change into a gown and pee - which I really needed to do since I had downed a ton of water earlier to stay hydrated. As I was changing in the bathroom, my legs started to shake a lot. At this point, I'm thinking, "I've got to at LEAST be 5 or 6cm". I was 5 when I came in with Tyler and since I was 4cm just a few days ago, I was really hoping for 6.

I climbed into the hospital bed and got checked out. I will never forget what Susan said next.

"Well Katy, I know your preference was to go drug free and you're in luck, because you don't have a choice. You're 9 cm."

Scott and I were elated. Then scared. Then excited. All in about 5 seconds.

I was continuing to have the same type of contractions as they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and took my temp. In fact, as the nurse was taking my temp, I was having a contraction and had to tell her point blank, she needed to get that thermometer out of my mouth so that I could breathe.

Next Susan said, "Now Katy, as you feel these next contractions, you might try and moan a little."

Huh? I thought. Moan? See, I'm not what you would call a reserved person, but I don't let it all hang out either. There was a room full of people in there and I wasn't exactly wanting to moan through these things. No thanks.

About 30 seconds later, I understood.

HOLY CRAP!!! I really can't explain transition contractions. It was like I had a vice grip wrapped around my entire body and it was pulling me in every direction. There was NOTHING that could have kept me from screaming out. Seriously, Ed McMahon could have been in the delivery with the big check, offering me a billion dollars to keep my mouth shut. It was not happening.

After a few of these Godzilla-sized contractions, my water broke.  Susan immediately noticed there was meconium in it. In layman's terms...poop. Not mine, Jake's. Because of this, they called in the peds unit. Apparently, pediatricians in the hospital travel in packs. There's always like 8 of them, so the room got a little crowded.

Susan told me it was going to get a little crowded in there, but not to worry about it and to focus. At this point, I was ready to push. As I was pushing, I kept leaning over to Scott and asking, "Are we close?" I needed to know if it was going to be 20 minutes or 2 hours. I needed to prepare myself for 2 hours, but was thinking, it HAS to be 20 minutes. Scott assured me we were close.

About 4 or 5 pushes in, Jake arrived! It was 7:07 PM on Thursday, August 19th. Scott later looked back at his phone to see when he called his dad on the way to the hospital. That was 5:45 PM, and we were still in Mebane, which is 30 minutes from the hospital. Bottom line, if I hadn't have listened to my instincts, we would have had Jake on the side of the Interstate.

After I delivered him, I couldn't hold him immediately because of the meconium issue. If a baby breathes it in, it's pretty serious. But I was able to lean up and see him. He was beautiful and looked JUST like Tyler. The peds checked him out and returned him to me in about 10 minutes, but it seemed like an hour before I could hold him.

My two labor experiences were really quite different, but ended quite the same - with a beautiful, sweet baby boy!

We (me and the breastmilk) made it home!

I certainly had some major anxiety about my trip to DC today. First, there was the potential for snow Tuesday evening, which would mean that I could get to DC, but then wouldn't be able to get home that evening. Two of best friends live there, so of all the places to get stuck, that would be my first choice! But, with a hungry baby at home and not enough of a milk stash in my freezer, Jake would be one p-o'ed little guy.

Then, I had not one, but two nightmares about missing my flight. Seriously, I was running down I-40 in my dream trying to get there. So, when I ventured out this morning at 5 AM - oh yes, it was early - I had no idea what to expect. I packed up all my pump parts and bottles and managed somehow to get them all into the same briefcase as my laptop.

As I was driving to the airport, I pictured having to sit in the TSA security area for over an hour like one woman had to recently in Phoenix, because I mistakenly watched this video the night before I left. It didn't exactly give me confidence that things were going to go smoothly.

But, you know what?!?!? Everything did! I arrived at RDU and put my pump and everything through security and they immediately flagged it for screening. I was a bit surprised because I thought the leg home would be where I would have the issues. I mean, I didn't even have any milk with me yet! The TSA official - a young guy - took my bag over to the side and asked me about the contents of my bag. He was very respectful and professional. It ended up that the cooler pack I used was the issue, so he swabbed it and then I was on my way!

Got to the conference hotel and took on my first pumping session. I did end up having to pump in the bathroom, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I work in highway safety and the ratio of men to women is like 10 to 1. Normally, this irritates me. But in this case, it meant that the ladies room was practically empty the entire time I was pumping, so it was like I had my own private lactation room! 

After a good meeting - oh yeah, that was the entire purpose of my trip - and a wonderful lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant in DC, I was back off to the airport. I decided to get through security first and then pump again once I got to the terminal. My thinking was that if I had any issues and had to end up dumping the milk, I would at least be able to save the milk I pumped once I got through security.

My experience at DCA security? Pretty much the same as RDU. I informed them ahead of time that I had "medical liquids" and they pulled me out to inspect my bags. This time the TSA official was a women - and a young mother herself. She has a 9 month old daughter at home and we chatted about our babies as she inspected my stuff. She was also very respectful and understanding.

Next pumping session - also in the bathroom - was fine. The DC airport actually has a nursing room in the bathroom area, but it was occupied! Even though I was in a bathroom stall, I still felt more comfortable just knowing that there was support for breastfeeding in the area.

So overall, everything went really well! I managed to balance work with life today, and even caught an earlier flight to get home in time to eat dinner with my family and tuck the boys into bed. All is well in this girl's life.

If you hear about a crazy lady at the airport, it's me

I have my first work trip tomorrow and I'll be flying to DC - just for the day thankfully. This will be my first experience with air travel and breast milk, so I'm a little nervous about what to expect. A lot of women I work with have been able to provide some wonderful advice and tips on the subject, so I feel very prepared. BUT, I still feel like I'm going to get "that guy" who is going to want to inspect everything. And I'm a little nervous about pumping in a bathroom stall, which will more than likely be where I'll need to pump.

My pumping experience to this point has been ideal. Seriously, my pumping environment is probably like porn to nursing moms. I have a private office with a lock, I put a fridge in my office so I don't have to store the milk in a communal place, and I work in such a laid back, understanding office that there are very few meetings where I couldn't just get up smack in the middle of the meeting and go pump for 15 minutes. No one would care or ask questions. Plus, I have oversupply "issues" which means I'm able to pump exactly - if not more than - what Jake needs for the next day.

So basically up until this point I've been spoiled. Anytime I feel like pumping is getting a little hard, all I have to do is get online and read the countless stories of women that have been walking in on while pumping or women that have to set their alarms for ungodly hours to add in a pumping session in the middle of the night. I work with a woman who had 30 work trips in her daughter's first year and breastfed exclusively for 12 months. These women are breastfeeding warriors and they keep me motivated.

Yet, I'm still nervous about tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. But if you hear about a crazed woman who went off on a TSA official for opening up her cooler bag of breast milk. Yep, that's me.

Jake's Birth - Part 2, Warming Up

When Tyler was born, I really didn't have a lot of true "false" labor - I had a lot of very weak contractions, which of course at the time I THOUGHT were real contractions, which makes me double over with laughter now since having felt true contractions since then.

About 2 weeks before Jake was due, my mom and sister offered to keep Tyler for a Friday evening so Scott and I could get a little pre-baby #2 alone time. Friday night I started to feel a little off and then early Saturday morning started to have mildly uncomfortable contractions. I thought, "This is it!" It was perfect. It was a weekend, so Scott didn't have to worry about work. Mom and Britney already had Tyler, so he wouldn't need to be affected by the whole "seeing mommy screaming in pain" thing. The contractions were still short, but pretty regular at about every 5 minutes. This was exactly how my labor started with Tyler. Scott and I decided to go for a walk. Despite the fact that it was one of the hottest summers in history and already 90 degrees at 8AM - I wanted this baby OUT! So we walked, then walked some more. I had been up since about 4:30 that morning just from the excitement of contractions, so when we got back from the walk, I needed a little rest. I laid down on the couch, slept a little while and then when I woke up....NOTHING. Everything just stopped.

Fast forward about another week and a half to my 39 week appointment. It was the Tuesday morning before my due date and the day before Tyler's 3rd birthday. At that appointment, I saw my favorite midwife - she is a straight talking woman who tells you exactly what is on her mind. She's a riot! Scott went with me to the appointment and here is what she instructed us to do. "Go home and have hard, pounding sex." Her EXACT words. I though Scott's jaw was going to drop onto the floor!! Then, she said the funniest thing I think I have ever heard as we were leaving. "OK, now go slip that baby the mickey." Seriously?!?!

At that appointment, I measured a little under 4 cm, so at that point, if I went to the hospital, I would be admitted. Wednesday was Tyler's birthday, so I stayed home with him and celebrated. My sister also took those days off from work and hung out with me. That night, we went to Tyler's favorite place for dinner - Buffalo Wild Wings. We also celebrated with our good friends - the Story's. I ordered the Mango Habanero boneless wings - almost the hottest sauce they have. It was a wonderful day overall!

Thursday my sister and I both worked from the house. At around 10AM that morning, I started having  contractions. My sister - ever the accountant - opened up Excel and actually tracked and timed my contractions! By about 3:30 or 4:00, they were getting a little more intense and fairly regular at about 5 minutes apart. I called Scott at work at around 4:30, thinking he should come home.

Scott got to the house around 5:00 and we decided it was time to call the midwife on call. At this point, my contractions were pretty strong, but I was still breathing through them and coping pretty well. The midwife told us we should try and stay at home as long as possible. But, in the back of my mind, I was thinking " these things are getting pretty strong and we live 30 minutes from the hospital." But, from Scott's perspective, I was handling them much better than the first time with Tyler, so we should stay at home for a little while.At around 5:45, the intensity started to kick up and bit, and I looked at Scott and said "We have to go." We jumped in the car and were off to the hospital with Tyler in the more than capable hands of my sister.
 

Project Paper

This month I am all about organizing and cleaning our house, so instead of questioning it - I am just going with it! I decided to take on the Project Paper Challenge from the IHeart Organizing blog and I've been working on it all week. It seems like we always have little stacks of paper, bills, magazines EVERYWHERE all over the house and they drive me crazy. When I read about Jenn's challenge, I decided it was time to get organized. We already have a pretty nice filing cabinet that came with our desk, so it was really just a matter of getting a handle on all of the paper and actually getting the files into the folders.

Most of these "piles" tend to migrate to this area...Our living room/office area downstairs.

PS - yes, those are Christmas presents. We still have not had a chance to exchange with Scott's side of the family, but we'll be celebrating Christmas 2.0 soon!!! 

Once they sit on the desk for a few weeks/months, they tend to get moved down here.

 

This picture is funny to me. That's the filing cabinet. The files are sitting on top of it. So close, yet still so far.

Tired of the piles, I needed a plan. The first thing we did to get a handle on the paper was to go paperless! Since we were already paying bills online and getting statements via email, it seemed the natural next step to stop the statements for most of the accounts that we could. I am hoping this really helps with the excess paper - and save a tree or two in the process!

Next I worked on a system to keep the paper we needed to have in check. I found this notebook on sale at Walmart and thought it was perfect to keep the papers we needed. Using my trusty label maker, I labeled each folder. The first two categories are To Do and Bills and then each family member got a section, followed by an area for coupons.

Now, when we check the mail or bring in papers from school/work, we'll file them in this area. Then you fold it up and the papers/piles are out of sight! I'm planning to glean the papers at least monthly and then transition any items we need to keep into the filing cabinets we already have in place.

I also used several IKEA media bins we already had to organize all of the random stuff we had lying out in this area.This made the area look much neater and cleaner.

Lastly, I placed a file holder on top of the filing cabinet - primarily to keep computer paper in, but it will also be a place for papers to sit while waiting to be filed.

Once I had the system down, then I could sort through all of the existing files, shred the ones we no longer needed, file the ones we did and get everything straightened up. Here's the before and after...

BEFORE

AFTER

Jake's Birth - Part 1, The Back Story

A very wise person I know (thanks Becky!) encouraged me to blog about Jake's birth story, so here goes.

DISCLAIMER: If reading about baby stuff and girl parts gives you the heebie jeebies, then you may want to sit this one out!

To adequately tell Jake's story, I actually have to go back in time a little bit to Tyler's story. I had a LOT of anxiety about Jake's delivery, which now makes me laugh considering how everything went down. My delivery and recovery with Tyler was rough. Everything leading up to the actual birth was picture perfect. Started having contractions in the middle of the night, but was still able to sleep between them. Labored at home some more in the morning, took a walk up and down our street. Yelled at Scott a little, but not too much. Contractions started to get more intense so we got to the hospital and I was measuring around 5cm. (For those non-baby people out there, greater than 4 cm equals a ticket to the maternity ward) Then I got the best cocktail I've ever had in my entire life - believe me I could have kissed my anesthesiologist!!! The beautiful thing about the epidurals they give at UNC is they are what's referred to as a "walking" epidural, which means you can feel the pressure of a contraction, but not the pain.

I got to the hospital around 10:30 and labored for most of the day. When it came time to push around 9:30 that night, I got the hang of it pretty quickly and it wasn't too long - only about 50 minutes - until we met baby Tyler. They put him on my chest and he looked RIGHT into my eyes. It was a perfect moment.

After that things went a little south.

The nurses tried to get me up out of the bed and I completely crashed. My blood pressure dropped to about 70 over 30 and I completely blacked out. A lot of what happened after that is pretty fuzzy, but I do know it took about 5 or 6 hours and a ridiculous amount of fluid bags to get me back to feeling somewhat normal. My recovery nurse asked me if Tyler had come out sideways - I guess because everything looked pretty jacked up down there. The days after I had him weren't any better for me physically. I couldn't walk up and down stairs and the doctors treated my postpartum care as if I had had a C-section. On top of the physical issues, I also dealt with a lot of postpartum depression coupled with some serious breastfeeding issues. I hope to be able to talk more about these issues on my blog one day, but for now I'll just say - the weeks after Tyler's birth were not the stereotypical "walking on clouds because I just created life" time for me.

I give you all of this background as a way to frame my mental state going into Jake's delivery. Naturally, I had to prepare myself for the fact that all of this might happen again, maybe worse than before and it may all happen again after having a much harder and difficult labor.  I spent almost every appointment with my midwives discussing options, solutions, whatever to help me think through the impending birth.

But, in the last 2 or 3 weeks of my pregnancy with Jake, a beautiful thing happened. I let go. Maybe it was the exhaustion of being 38 weeks pregnant with a two-year-old, but I just couldn't spend anymore energy on worrying about something I had absolutely NO control over. I spend the last several weeks of my pregnancy spending some great quality time with Tyler, wrapping up things at work and trying to sleep as much as possible.

More later...

Happy 5 Months!

Jake turns 5 months old today! It's cliche, but the time has flown by! And SOOOOO much faster than I remember it going with Tyler. I think it's part "time flies when you're having fun" and "life is crazy with two kids." Here are a few recent pics of the nearly 1/2 year-old birthday boy!!

 

 

He licked the bib

Last week I wrote about our journey with Tyler's eating and I think the universe heard my plea for some good eating in our house. Jake has been really interested in food the last several weeks, so I threw the expert advice of "waiting until 6 months" out the window and went with my mommy instinct! Our little guy is turning into quite the eater!

So far, in addition to the rice cereal we started with, he's tried (and LOVED) apple sauce, sweet potatoes and last night, butternut squash. And guess what?!?! That's right. He licked the bib. Could not get enough of it. He even gets excited when we get the high chair out!  And the best part is that I've been making the baby food myself! I forgot how expensive baby food is! I did buy some things that are a little harder to make or find this time of year, like green beans and peaches. Can't wait to see what he likes next!!  

Weekend Project: Pantry Organization!

Now that I'm feeling better, I finally had some energy to turn some of my organization inspiration from IHeart Organizing into some real projects! To get things started, I decided to tackle the area of our house that drives me the craziest - our pantry. I'm about to show some serious household warts here, but oh well. Here is what our pantry normally looks like.

I didn't cheat and straighten it up before I worked on it, I promise! The part that drives me absolute bonkers is the very bottom, where I throw - or rather stuff - every random bag I have.

 

I started out by getting a few wall-mounted spice racks. They're magnetic and were really easy to install! I put my old Yarnell Hoffer Hardware knowledge to use :) and used drywall anchors to hang them, so they aren't going anywhere! Once I transitioned the spices to the rack, this freed up some space in the wire shelving we already had on the pantry door.

 

Next, I used a few cloth bins to organize some of the items that easily become unruly in the pantry, like Tyler's snacks and baking items. I also got a few shatter-proof, acrylic canisters to hold baking supplies as well. (Side note: We recently had an "incident" where Tyler thought the flour bag would be fun to play with. Needless to say, the flour needed to be better contained) 

So, here is the before and after!

BEFORE

AFTER

It's still a work in progress, but the biggest change is that I can actually find what I'm looking for in the pantry! What a concept?!? And the bottom area is much more pleasant!

Now that this is done, I'm trying to figure out what project will be next. But - for now - I'm going to go get a snack from our new and improved pantry!

Our picky eater solution

Just wanted to share our journey with a finicky eater and the system that has worked for us. Hopefully someone else with a picky eater will find it useful!!

For those of you who know Tyler, you know he's one picky eater. But what toddler isn't, right?!? Well, Tyler is "pickier than your average toddler," at least according to our pediatrician. :) He seemed destined to have a discerning taste from the beginning when he rejected ALL baby food at around 8 or 9 months (We didn't start any solids until 6 months). This is when he entered what I call the "peanut butter cracker phase" And yes, it's exactly what it sounds like - ALL he ate was peanut crackers. He started having texture preferences right around the same time and would only eat coarse, dry food (read Cheerios). No yogurt, applesauce, or anything thick or wet. 

Over the last 3 years we tried a lot of things - none of which really produced major results. I won't bore you with the myriad of things we tried, but believe me, it was extensive. It also may or may not have included actual monetary bribery. Yes, we offered him cold hard cash to eat. We were desperate. Nothing worked.

This summer it had gotten to the point where he really only had a handful of things he would eat on a consistent basis - rice, turkey and french fries. And not all types of these foods, only a very specific brand and flavor of these things. Let's just say I think we've single handedly kept the Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Roasted Chicken rice line in business :)

But, then an amazing thing happened one evening. I was cooking in the kitchen, when Tyler came up and said "I want to help." I was cutting squash so I knew he couldn't help me with the cutting. But, he COULD put the squash in the pot. So, he pulled up a stool and helped me put each piece of squash in the pot.  I cut a piece and he put it in. We watched the squash cook together and he was very excited to see the final product. That night, sitting at the dinner table, he put his first non-pureed vegetable in his mouth. It came right out once it passed his lips, but it was progress!! After that night, I involved him more in cooking, took him shopping and let him pick out new things and he was much more willing to try things than ever before. Still, he wasn't actually eating the food. He seemed interested, and even seemed to like the taste of certain things, but the food just couldn't get past his palette. He put it in the his mouth, gagged and then would get very upset.

I do want to say - I know it could be worse. It can always be worse. I've used several "picky eater" discussion boards in the past and have read about cases of children who can only tolerate liquids. But, knowing that Tyler was trying to eat things but couldn't seem to be able to eat them was frustrating. I couldn't help but feel like something else was going on. 

At his 3-year-old wellness checkup, I went over all of this with our pediatrician. He then said the words that changed our lives, "Sounds like reflux to me. Let's try some Zantac." He also recommended we see a speech pathologist. We filled the Rx right away and got really lucky to get in to see a therapist at Duke at the end of that week. We sat with the therapist (who was awesome!!!) for about an hour and a half. Here are the things that have worked for us, and if you find yourself with a picky eater, a few of these might help you as well. Before I start, a DISCLAIMER: I am not a physician and am not providing medical advice! This is just what worked for us.

Zantac

Our pediatrician wrote us the Rx for Zantac and said "If it's reflux, you should see results very soon." Boy was he right. In the first week, he tried 4 or 5 new things. We also started some of the things listed down below, so everything combined worked well almost immediately. Tyler also just seemed to eat more - seemed to have more of an appetite.

In talking to the therapist, she explained that kids with reflux learn at a very, very young age what foods cause them discomfort and also learn to completely reject everything that looks or feels like those foods. Tyler's rejection of baby food made complete sense to me at that point. What we had to do now was reintroduce foods one at a time and help him re-learn that these foods won't cause him pain.

Use rewards, but not food-related rewards. 

For a little while, we used cookies and candy as a reward for Tyler to try something new. It worked a few times, but it never felt good giving him something relatively unhealthy just to get him to eat one bite of something healthy. The therapist used a tactic during our consult that I think is genius!

BUBBLES!!!! After Tyler takes a bite of something new, he gets bubbles. I literally put this thing on the dinner table like it's salt and pepper ! At first I was hesitant, thinking "I'm going to blow bubbles in the house?!?! They're going to get on the floor, or gasp! even worse, on the food!" But, you know what?!?! I could give a flip once I saw the results. This little thing has helped Tyler try a ton of new food. Kidney beans, grilled cheese, apple sauce!! Once he's tried it several times and then starts to eat it regularly, he doesn't get the bubbles anymore. We save them only for new foods.

Chart the Progress. 

The next thing we do is to chart the progress he's making. According to the therapist, he needs to try the new food at least 10 times before "it sticks." I made this chart to help him (and me) remember all the new things he's tried. As you can see, we eat a lot of pizza :) But, this leads us in to the next item.

Make it fun!

For a long time, dinner time was not a fun time in the Jones household. It usually ended up with someone in tears, more often than not yours truly. The therapist emphasized that even if we have to push Tyler a little bit out of his comfort zone, we should always keep it light and end every meal on a positive note. Let me tell you, this has been good for everyone! To keep with this theme, we started a fun, family tradition. Friday night pizza and movie. Tyler had never eaten pizza before we started this, but now it's one of his favorite meals!


Involve him in the process. 

This works really well for Tyler. He loves to help me cook, pick out new things at the grocery store and put them in his cart :) This part is a lot of fun for me and also helps a lot when I'm cooking. He's engaged in the process and feels in control of what he's eating.
 
Still offer the safety foods

Tyler still occasionally has his picky days where all he wants is his safety foods - primarily rice. This usually only happens when he's not feeling well. The therapist encouraged us not to look at this as a step back, so I try not to :)

We've still got a lot of progress to make, but I now have a PLAN! I'm sure I'll talk about this more on the blog in the future, so stay tuned for more progress!

Baby laughs...gotta love 'em!!

 Jake is obviously very excited that tomorrow is Friday! We were all playing on the floor this evening and I had to go get something, so I told him "I'll be right back." Well, he thought that was hilarious! So, what did we do? Grabbed the Flip video and said it over and over again 500 times, naturally!

Thankful on Thursday

This week has been a little rough at the Jones house. A few nights ago, we got hit with whatever stomach/flu bug has been going around. Tyler got it first, followed closely by Scott and I. Jake - thank goodness - never seemed affected by anything. Just stayed his normal, happy self. Tyler seemed to bounce back in about 12 hours, but Scott and I were pretty pitiful. I'll spare you the details, but it's been rough. But, despite all the roughness, there has been plenty to be thankful for this week, so here goes...

1. My wonderful mom. I placed a distress call to her at 6 AM and she came running. I think it was a win-win though. She got to play with the boys all day and Scott and I got some much needed rest.

2. Tylenol. Best medical invention EVER. OK, so there might be a few more that deserve that title, but in the past several days, it's been a lifesaver.

3. A healthy milk supply. All I could think about the last several days was how me being sick and dehydrated would affect my milk supply for Jake. I was scared to nurse him because I didn't want to expose him to anything and get sick, but I also knew that was the best thing I could do to keep his immunities up. Getting to breastfeed Jake to this point has been a wonderful blessing and I was NOT ready to let it go. He did wake up last night to eat for the first time in a long time, but we made it through!

4. A flexible employer: Between the snow and sickness this week, I haven't been into the office at all. And while I can see the stack of work waiting for me when I get back, I know that I come back to coworkers who sympathize and appreciate the fact that you need to take care of your family first!

5. Lastly, but certainly not least - my wonderful husband! He's been my rock this week!

Tylerisms

A very smart lady (Thanks, Susan!) encouraged me to keep a log of all of the funny, cute, off-the-wall things that the boys do over the years. Since Jake is pretty non-verbal these days :), I've started a post called Tylerisms. These are things that Tyler does/says that I never want to forget, so occasionally I'll post them here. Here are a few to start... 

• How Tyler LOVES to push the cart around at Lowes Foods and how well he listens in the grocery store when he gets to.

• The way he says "like" for "light," "sammich" for "sandwich," and "nipe" instead of "night" 
• When one time he tapped Jake on the forehead with his LeapFrog pen and said "I just trying to see what he say"
• When he licks his finger and rubs "medicine" on something to make you feel better.
• The way he comforts Jake when he cries in the car by saying things like "Don't worry, we're almost home" and "Chish, Chish, Chish."  He also loves to sing him "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star"
• How he presents an option to you like "I get two cookies after dinner" and follows it by saying "That's a deal?"
• Singing together in the car every morning on the way to school - usually Imagination Movers, but sometimes Black Eyed Peas or Taylor Swift.
• His love affair with PopTarts and Green Na Nas (this is what he calls fruit snacks) 
• The way he calls Scott and I out when we don't follow the rules we taught him, like "Mommy, don't forget, say Thank You" 
• How unbelievable caring he is, like when he brings down a toy car from his room to play with, he always brings down one for everyone else that's there. He even brought one downstairs for Mattie our cat to play with once :)

Bowling fun

We had a fun "family first" last night. We took the boys to ZBowl in Mebane and had a blast! If you're in this area, I would highly recommend it! The lanes are nice, the service was great and the beer selection was extensive! :) My mom, dad and sister also joined us for the festivities. 

Tyler loved his new bowling shoes!

So, you might be wondering, who won? My sister rocked the last couple of frames with several strikes in a row and ended up with a 160!!!

The lanes are very kid-friendly. They had a ramp that Tyler could use to aim the ball, let it go and watch it roll down the lane. They also had it programmed for the bumpers to come up automatically when it was his turn and go back down when it was the next person's turn. We all had a blast and will definitely be going back. Check out Tyler in action!

My new favorite Website!!!

For those that know me well, you'd probably say I'm a fairly organized person. I like things neat, clean and in their place - it's almost clinical, but that's a post for another day. :) So when I stumbled onto this Website, I felt a flutter in my heart!!!

If you are a fellow neat freak, you HAVE to check out IHeartOrganizing at http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/
This is an amazing resource of creative ideas for cost-effective organizing. I have already completely reorganized my pantry, spice cabinet (in my head that's to say) so I'm excited to put these ideas into practice. Look for some before and after pics in the future! In the meantime, check out this site!!!

Thankful on Thursday

So, I am totally ripping off several bloggers and starting a Thankful on Thursday post...Imitation is the best form of flattery, right? SO, this week, I am especially thankful for the following.

1. These guys! They make everything in life brighter! I have never laughed as much in the last three years and can't wait to see how they grow together as brothers! 

2. My new Ergo carrier (courtesy of my mom for Christmas). This thing right here is a lifesaver! This weekend we hung out with some friends right around Jake's fussier time in the evening. Popped him in this thing and he was happy as can be!

3. My sis, B - she works crazy hours in a very stressful job, but always manages to make time to come up and see us. She's the best Aunt in the world!

4. Coffee - lots of coffee. 'Nuff said.

5. Jake starting a little bit of solids this week. Seriously, rice cereal cannot taste that great, but he is eating like it's filet mignon!

Welcome to our blog!

We're the Jones family and welcome to our blog! We're doing this simply as a way for our friends and family to stay updated on what's going on in our lives - and a selfish way for us to archive and remember all of the wonderful times we have as a family.

It's just the four of us - Scott, Katy, Tyler and Jake. Here we are on the day after Christmas 2010...

Tyler (left) is three and Jake in the middle is about to turn 5 months old. We just wrapped up a wonderful holiday break with lots of festivities, eating and relaxing! I made Tyler and Jake take the ceremonial "sitting in front of the tree" picture before we opened any presents.

This year was the first Christmas that Tyler really reveled in the magic and spirit of the season. In fact, he's still asking "Santa's watching me?" to which I respond, "Absolutely, all year long!" Figured we'll roll with it for as long as we can. All Tyler wanted for Christmas was a "Monster truck and a race car." To his delight on Christmas morning, that's what he got!

Jake on the other hand was pretty laid back about what he wanted for Christmas - as long as he got fed and changed, he was a happy guy :) Here he is helping Nana Jones open a few gifts.

Overall, our holidays were filled with family and fun - we are truly blessed!  We're excited to see what 2011 has in store for us and we hope you enjoy reading with us as we go!