Every Boy's Dream

Today, all the men in the house took themselves off to the CAT museum here in town. And they were there a looooong time! Not surprising, when you see what's on display there:

My brother, Steve, showing just how enormous those machines are!

Jack "driving"

Daddy and Jacko hanging out in an excavator

He's still talking about the "simoowator"!!

With Grandpa

Christmas Eve

We went to church for a lovely Christmas Eve service. The kids were in with us and boy, do I pity the poor people in the row behind us. I was studiously avoiding eye contact. Unfortunately, they own a children's boutique in town, where we ran into them a few days later and they recognized my saintly children. Ahem. Luckily, Sophie's oxygen had distracted them from any disruptive behavior!

What I did hear of the service, in between shusshing, handing out snacks, and potty trips, was a wonderful preparation for celebrating the birth of our Savior. Singing carols with my children this Christmas will always remain a treasured memory for me.

The pastor called all the children down to the stage for a story which Jack thought was great fun. As soon as we got down there, in full view of a 2000 member church, he hunkered down by the electrical board and tried to unplug everything hooked up there. This included the four giant Christmas trees on the stage. Glad those were plugged in good and tight! Once I'd established some boundaries for him, he sat pretty quietly and tried to make friends with the other little boys nearby. Ah, two year olds!

 We made it home amid snow flurries and after getting all the littlies into bed, us big people enjoyed a drink! Was I glad when that rolled around!

Sophie got into the mince pies after church

The Jones Family Jr.: Steve, Rachel, and the lovely Miss Wyn

The Jones Family Sr.: Nana and Grandpa with Wyn and Sophie

Attempting a photo shoot with the girls

And Sophie is done!

Me and my girl

Jack was NOT happy to be photographed

AH! Drinks all round! Cheers to holidays with family!

Baba's Trip

We've had a really special two weeks with Andre's mom and grandfather here. The kids have LOVED all the attention and I've loved all the help and company :)

Mama helped so much with the kiddos! Thank you Mama!

Sophie can say "Baba" and "Deada" for each of them

All dressed up for Sophie's party

Jack baking with Baba (Mama cooked so much for us too!)

We made gingerbread cookies for our oxygen delivery man :)

Sophia ADORES Deada and gets so excited to see him sitting there on the couch. She reserves her biggest smiles for him!

Saying goodbye this morning when they left

So thankful for this special time with Mama and Deada. They have been such a blessing to us all!

She's ONE!

Today our baby girl turned a year old. CANNOT believe it! In some ways it's seemed a long year (her health issues) and in others it's just gone by so fast. She is still so small that I think we don't expect as much of her and so each new milestone is so wonderful and surprising! Not that she is really behind other babies her age, it's just surprising when such a small person tries to walk or say words!

STATS 
Weight: 15 lbs
Height: 28 inches
Words: Dada, Ja, Nana, Baba, Deada, dog, ta (for please)
Can do: wave, point to herself, wipe her tray, stand alone, "brush" her hair, splash in the bath, climb stairs

Examining her necklace from Mommy & Daddy

HEALTH
She is doing well on the oxygen 24/7 and we are all getting used to her "O's" being an everyday reality. She is very good about not pulling the tubes out and has started to put the cannula in by herself if it comes out, as well as pull on her tubing it she gets stuck. So cute. We saw her pulm., GI doc, and pediatrician this week and all said that although she hasn't gained very well, she seems pretty healthy otherwise. The pulm., said she is presenting more and more like a typical NEHI kid, with the way she breathes and how her lungs sound. We still don't know if she will be on O2 for one year or ten, it all depends on her lungs. Apart from a mild stomach bug in November, she has remained very healthy this winter, for which we are so thankful! We have noticed that her O2 sats are all low again when she sleeps so are hoping to put her flow up as she can tolerate it to help her out.

Opening her present from Jack

PERSONALITY
Sophie is turning out to be a pretty lively little thing and has a great sense of fun. She loves to be chased and played with and thinks her big brother is fabulous. Jack loves to go into her bedroom when she wakes up and talk to her and he has taken to calling her "Miss Madam". Hilarious! She still ADORES music and sways or bounces as soon as she hears any type of tune. She now requests songs by swaying and making an "ooooo" sound! She's still a bit wary of strangers but is getting braver about making friends. She is much more aware of doctor's offices now and is NOT a happy camper about our visits, poor thing. Don't blame her! Bathtime is still her favorite time of the day and she could happily stay in there for ages. I have to be careful with her though as she gets cold very easily and has a very hard time warming herself up again...too little fat on those bones!

So thankful for this little girl, who has been the sunshine in our year. She is my dream come true and we are a better family for having her in it. Love you Sophie Joy!

Standing Girl!

Morning Walk

We spent a quiet day at home today, but did venture out this morning for a walk to enjoy this gorgeous weather we've been having. The ducks were grateful, I'm sure, as we used up lots of stale bread on them!

My boy with his "fishing rod"

My girl, with her Baba

Sweet babies in their matching sweaters :)

Jack so enjoyed showing Baba all of his favorite haunts round about

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we are thankful for so much. Our dear family, the ones we get to see often, and not so often. Our faithful friends...again those near and far. And our darling children, who are such gifts. Thank you Lord, for blessing us with so  many special relationships!

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving seeing friends, eating a yummy dinner and anticipating a weekend with family. On Friday, I went shopping with my sister and got some Christmas presents and Sophie's party stuff sorted out. On Saturday Andre's mom and grandfather finally arrived (after their first attempt at getting here last Monday was thwarted by the flu). And Saturday evening everyone came over to our house for supper.

Trying to get a Christmas card photo

Reading with their beloved Ms. Donna. The Morgans joined us for lunch on Thanksgiving Day.
 They are about to move to another state and we are so sad to see them go!

And Andre's Mom and Grandfather arrived yesterday! Hooray for Baba and Deada! 

Last night we had supper with everyone at our house...here's my brother, Steve with Rachel and Baby Wyn

And Ness with Sean and their little ladies

And all the grandkids from our side of the family (What is Jack doing??!!!)

Double Trouble (my best friend Kirsty sent them these hoodies from Australia last year and they can finally fit into them)

Me and Sophie with Mama

Our babies

Happy Thanksgiving...

From our house to yours! 

In everything, give thanks

For this is the will of God 

In Christ Jesus, concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Birthday Boy

Bit late to post about Hubby's birthday since it was a week ago...oops. It was a big birthday and one he was not looking forward to celebrating, but we made a really fun family day of it: birthday breakfast at home, lunch at Provinos, a family favorite, home for naps, birthday cake for tea and then a special date in after the kiddos went to bed.

These two sure do love each other!

Miss Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the Italian food but did not look this clean when she was finished her meal!!

Hanging with Daddy

Birthday cake for tea

Happy birthday Babe!!

Sophie's "Room"

So I must preface this post with a little disclaimer:

We live in a very small, two bedroom apartment.
We love our very small daughter.
She does sleep in our very small bathroom.

Yes, so there, I've said it.

She slept in our room for the first 6 weeks of her life, but then got too noisy for us. And definitely too noisy to sleep with her big brother. And then there's also the fact that I still wake her up at 10 pm to dream feed her. So no, she is NOT ready to share with Jack yet. So we put her pac and play in our bathroom and now just use the guest bathroom. It's worked out fine so far and she doesn't know the difference. 

With all the purging and reorganizing we've been doing at our house (a huge THANK YOU to Ness and Sean for storing some of our stuff in their basement), I have unearthed some sweet little things I always wanted to use in Sophie's nursery. So I decided to decorate her "room" (aka our bathroom). I had fun and she even noticed, pointing and smiling when I took her in there after it was all done!

Keeping them contained while I decorated

All done: the quilt hanging on that towel rack was one my Mum made for her

Some of her special things (above the toilet!)

So much better!

So there you have it. Sophie's "nursery" :)

The Yuckies

That's what we've had around here. And it was quite yucky. Sophie came down with the bug on Wednesday and was pretty puny there for a while, with a high fever and the throw ups.

We woke up on Friday morning to Sophie doing much better but Jack burning up. I made a bed in the living room and he pretty much napped or watched TV all day, in between stories and lots of fluids. He got progressively worse throughout the day, poor guy!

Morning: still pretty alert and enjoying cartoons

Afternoon: didn't want to sit up at all and wouldn't eat

Evening: fell asleep watching the evening news (!) and was in bed by 7 pm

I must admit, it was a very peaceful and QUIET day around here. He didn't have the energy or inclination to argue with me or put up a fight about anything! Andre and I looked at each other in wonder after bedtime only took us all of five minutes, instead of the usual 30-40 minute routine!

Today both kiddos are recovering well, although both of them are not quite back to their usual selves. However, we did venture outside for a brief walk this afternoon and all enjoyed the beautiful Fall air. Now to finish organizing this house so I can deep clean and disinfect it!