November 2013

Before I can post pictures from November I obviously need to take a little time to catch people up on October. Here is Thatcher's 1 month photo. He weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces which was what Riley weighed at his three month check-up.

And then somehow it is November already...

Thatcher weighs in at 13 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 inches long. No wonder my back is hurting so much.

Behind the Name

Thatcher Levi Jones was born into the world on September 13th and I must be honest, I am in love with this little guy. It feels like he has been part of our family much longer than 17 short days. The kids love him. Ellie is constantly wanting to see him, kiss him, hold him, touch him, hug him. I am glad it is this way and that they aren't asking me if we can take him back to the hospital. Many have asked us where we came up with Thatcher's name and so I thought I would try and explain for all who are curious. Thatcher was actually a name we tossed around a little bit when we were thinking of names for Riley but it never stuck. This time around it was on the list pretty early on again and it just stayed there. Whenever I would pray for him I kept feeling like his name started with a "T". I kept throwing out different "T" names but Griff would quickly shoot them down. Many names were talked about, a long list was made (of non "T" names and many names were crossed off the list as well, leaving only Thatcher. The middle name actually didn't come about until two weeks before he was born. For the last couple months of the pregnancy I had been having contractions but when we were at church and I was singing during worship I would have a lot of contractions and he would be moving like crazy in that crammed little space. One Friday night we were at our church for a conference. I was only 35 weeks pregnant at that point, so not fullterm yet. During the extended worship that night I was having contractions every 3 minutes and thought, "This might be the night!" Thankfully, I went home, layed down and the contractions subsided. But, after several weeks of on and off contractions during worhsip we just felt like the Lord was trying to tell us something. This little boy, from the womb, was going to be a worshipper. So, I began looking for names that meant worship, worshipper, etc. Nothing really stuck out to us until one morning I was reading in the Bible and came across Jeremiah 33:22 - "I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashores." There it was! David and the Levites were followers of God. He would blessed them and make their descendants measureless. Wow! Riley's middle name is David and there in the same verse it talked about the Levites as well. They were the priest in the Old Testament that went before the Lord and worshipped, made sacrifices for the people, prayed, etc. It seemed fitting that Thatcher's middle name be Levi and Griff whole-heartedly agreed. So, we have added Thatcher (aka Thatch, Thatchy, T-bone, T-dawg) Levi Jones to our family and we are enjoying getting to know him, learn about him and watch him grow.

Our Last Week in Pictures

First Day of Preschool

Riley and Ellie both started Preschool today. Riley is in the three year old class and Ellie is in the two year old class. We went for the open house on Tuesday night and met their teachers, classmates and other parents. The kids had a blast and I knew there would be no clinging to Mommy when the time came to say good-bye. They did great this morning. Ellie ran into her room and instantly started playing and though Riley held my hand for a little bit he was excited to be there and had no problem saying bye. And there were no tears on my part either. They were so excited it was easy to be happy for them and walk away knowing they were in good hands and would have a great time. I enjoyed my 2 1/2 hours without any children by getting a pedicure (I figured a little treat before baby #3 was okay) and grocery shopping.

A Family Outing

There is a great park near us that the kids and I have been frequenting this summer. We love to grab McDonald's and have a little picnic and feed the ducks. Since it has finally cooled off a little bit and my pregnant body can stand being outside again Riley and Ellie decided to take Daddy for a picnic at the park and show him the ducks too. Ellie was so excited to go that she got her own picnic basket ready for the event and filled it with her wooden play food. Riley loves seeing how far he can throw the bread and Ellie just throws entire pieces in if you don't break them up for her. As we get closer and closer to the day when this family of four becomes five I have just wanted to cherish and savor every moment. I am so excited for baby Jones #3 but I know our little picnic trips will look drastically different for awhile. So, here is to being a family of four and enjoying a little family time at the park. And for all you "What does Sharon look like pregnant?" folks here you. This is me at 35 weeks.

Summer Fun

It was at least 90 degrees out this day but inside they thought it was cold enough to wear their jackets.

Grandpap has come to visit to lately to help with some home improvements and the kids just love it!

Riley haven't some fun, dressing up in Mommy's glasses and Ellie's boots.

My loves!

MUSCLES!

You can't go wrong on a Sunday night with Mary Poppins, popcorn and M&M's.

Guess who got their toes painted by Daddy on Sunday?!

Looking back at June and part of July

Where in the world is the summer going? It is flying by for us. These hot days have unfortunately been full of air conditioning, movies, and playing in the basement. I did trim Ellie's hair for the first time (picture below is a before shot), and we have had some fun in the shade with a great water toy friends brought over, otherwise you will find us inside. In the midst of it all we are trying to have fun and enjoy these days of being a family of four. It feels rather surreal that in about 10 weeks or less we will have another family member and be a family of five. I am excited and slightly overwhelmed, as I guess any mom with two kids would be. But, until that day comes I am enjoying the two that I have, thanking God for the two that I have and trying to treasure these days in my heart. I've been doing some "nesting", sewing several projects that I wanted to get done before baby: a table runner (which was much more time consuming than the sewer on Pinterest let on), recovering an old stool of my Grandpa Struble's and made a slipcover for my Grandpa Struble's old rocking chair that is now in the kids room. We are also tackling a little yet rather big project of putting a second bathroom in our basement. And somewhere in there we are sleeping. :-)