Family Vacation June 2007 Chincoteague

Esther is having a staring contest with her new friend, David.
Let's see how Esther likes grapes

Esther, Stacia and Olivia
Esther, me and Olivia (i love the striped pajamas)
Let's see how Esther likes watermelon
Trying on Oma's hat.
awaiting the next wave... she could care less...
Sandcrab Daddy and Baby.
I'm not sure if the sun is in her eyes or if she's starting to cry here...
The man i married...
playing
going towards the waves

Bye-ya Miah!

My brother is leaving on a three month bicycle trip starting in NY and ending up in San Francisco.

He came down this weekend to be with j&i and to say goodbye.

Be safe my brudda, we'll miss you! You're peanut will be walking by the time you see her again... how crazy is that??

We miss and love you baby Beta!

And we love you soooo much j&i. Our hearts are with you!

sorry...

sorry, no pictures this week. it's been a busy week.

I'll have plenty when we get back from the beach on the 11th. Until then, imagine me not sleeping and esther being an adorable handful and a half.

My Weekend

Saturday evening we had a small cook out. We had intended on building a fire in the yard but it rained so Ben made a grill out of a tin tub, cinder blocks, and a grate to cook on.

Sunday Frank came to visit. An old friend from what seems like a very, very, very long time ago
and his new girl friend, Molly, whom i love! (way to go frank)
Molly played with Esther in the grass.
This picture is from this morning when it was chilly. This is just to show Rachie that the beautiful sweater she knit for Esther is being put to good use.
This is last friday... laundry day.

And this is my favorite nursing picture. I wish it were in focus.

6month visit to the doctor

25% for both height and weight.

4 shots :(

and "she's way ahead of the curve" when it comes to physical development (i.e. crawling and pulling up).

Esther is going to eat your face

Fairie Festival Pictures as promised

Jes, Me with Babe, and My Aunta-Annie
Casey (my sista) and the wee babe
Me and Babe
Jes, Me, and My Sista
Stevie (one of my adopted sistas)
Me, Casey's fella- Andrew, and Casey
The happy couple
My mama, my sista and Esther with a grumpy face
Oh the cute-ness.... *hurl*

My First Mothers Day

we laid in the grass. looked for four-leaf clovers (my new favorite past-time). Ate.
And played. No visiting, no chores, no cleaning...


and we dressed Esther up like a boy...

More pictures, thanks Susan!!!!!

6 months and a maniac

We went to the Fairie Festival this past weekend. In the past Jes and I used to work there selling my Aunt Lynne's home-made human-sized fairie wings. But last year was my last year as Esther doesn't allow for that kind of shenanigans. And this year was Lynne's last year. Jes, Becky, and I (and a crew full of other people too) all went on Sunday to the festival and took Esther (I'll post pictures as soon as i have them).

We set up a blanket and has Esther crawling around and playing with her toys. Several people passed by and took pictures of my beautiful baby and then exclaimed "Is she crawling??!!" and then "How old is she?!" when i tell them 6 months people give me a weird look and then tell me how incredibly early that is. I tell them that she started getting around at 4 months.

There were tons of other babies there. Also, all these other babies were placidly being pushed around in their strollers (or as Stephen says, "prams"). They were quiet, calm, happy, mellow, and sometimes sleeping babies. One baby who was 5 months and about 4lbs heavier than Esther let me hold her and laughed and smiled and was as happy as could be. WHAT THE HECK???!!! Babies don't come like that, do they?? What model did she get? Is it broken or something? Maybe it was the meticulous diet sans sugar and just about everything tasty that i was on while pregnant that has turned my child into the hyper, super aware, busy-body that she is. I should have smoked cigarettes, drank beer, bathed in soda-pop, and ate my body weight in twinkies. Then maybe I would be a well rested woman.

In other news: I just scheduled Esther's 6 month Doctor's appt. for 2pm next Thursday. Which will really mean Ben will come home at 1pm clean up. I'll nurse her, change her, pack the diaper bag, get out to the car buckle her into her seat, then she'll poo all over the place and we'll have to unpack her and the seat clean them both up change her outfit and then try it again.
So we'll be late to the appointment, but that won't matter cause we sit there for like three days anyhow waiting for someone to see us. Then we finally get called they weigh her and poke her and tell us how cute and aware she is. Then we wait for three more days until someone comes to see us and listen to Esther's heart. Then that person leaves and a nurse comes in with needles and Esther screams and gives me that "you betrayed me" look and my heart breaks. And I have a small panic attack thinking that the immunizations are going to give her Autism or some other awful disease. Ben calms me down. I breathe into a paper bag while Esther happily chews on a tongue depressor and then we finally get our act together pile into the car. Have a brief argument about whether or not we should get a pizza for dinner on the way home. and Finally around a week later we get home and eat and make our way to the bed time routine which comes about 5 minutes before i have to get up and go to work.

Things that Drive me Truely Nuts!

In the spirit of the crappy day I'm having I'm giving you a list of my biggest pet peeves.

1. Strangers who call me "honey" or other pet name.
2. Personalized licensed plates
3. People who don't use their blinker when changing lanes (you know who you are!)
4. People who don't understand that "passive voice" is not an actual grammar problem but a stylistic preference.
5. People who mispronounce "supposedly" by saying "supposably."
6. When someone repeats what i just said in the form of a question. e.g. "What would you like for dinner?" "What would i like for dinner?"
7. When my groceries aren't bagged properly. i.e. cold stuff with cold stuff. soap and cleaning products NOT with the food and preferably in a plastic bag. bread and eggs on top.
8. The fact that it's damn near impossible to find reasonably priced non-sweat shop baby clothes, or any clothes for that matter.
9. When anyone suggests that I should give Esther formula, as though i didn't know that option existed.
10. Looking at the calendar during the first few days of a month and realize that all my weekends are already full.


Okay, i could go on and on and on but it's a busy crappy day and i should really get to it.

Attack of the Naked Baby

More Easter Esther pictures

This is her "Do you dare to presume to talk to me?" face.
This is our new favorite thing to do after Esther has gone to bed... We're so old...
Ben is playing us an Easter SeranadeThis is Ester's first Easter dress. About an hour after this picture was taken she poo-ed all over it.




The post poo bath. She's not a big fan of the bath...

And getting ready for bed.

Busy Week and Happy Esther, i mean Easter

Okay, so it's been a while. We've been REALLY busy.

Kirstin came to visit. One of my most favoritest people in the universe. We went to the AVAM and had a ball.



We reminisced about when our lives weren't nearly so complicated...



Then Easter hit with a bang! Friday my brother and sister came and helped prepare the Jones farm for the Jardeleza onslaught (my mother's family). I was at work but hung out with them when i got home and stuffed my face full of Hot Cross Buns (a Good Friday tradition).

Saturday we loaded up TONS of stuff (mostly baby gear) and drove down to my mother-in-law's. We celebrated Easter at her place in Salisbury where we expected to find more spring, but were welcomed by some latent snow drifts piled up under bushes. We did however, celebrate with lots of amazing food (Thank you Sue!) and lots of shenanigans (led by Esther).

I like this picture it looks like Sue is telling Esther a Secret.And Esther is telling her one now. They're probably talking about me...
And this is Ben's Easter Face.

And in other news: We don't have a scale at our house but Sue does. So i weighed myself and i'm the smallest i've been since i was 16. Ben thinks i'm dying... I think it's just the breastfeeding. I am really glad i lost the baby weight so well. I'm a lucky lucky gal. However, i bet when she's a toddler and not nursing anymore and i'm eating all the food she doesn't eat i'll get nice and plump.

Also I just saw "Science of Sleep" and loved it. And I'm thinking of cutting my hair short again like Zoe (see pic below).