The Jones' Journey

I totally meant to give an update on Keaton’s pottying (because I know everyone is waiting on pins & needles!) While it’s “only” been 6 weeks since he REALLY got the hang of things, he took off full steam ahead! And I honestly forget what it was like to have 2 in diapers! Such a short time that is! And while I don’t miss the extra diaper washing, I definitely feel he grew up way too fast in these past 6 weeks!

Immediately he was night trained (something we were expecting to ‘deal with’ for a couple more years, according to almost all our friends!) And just in the past week has taken all but the soap dispensing on by himself – that toddler-independence! One day, I heard, “No, I do it, mama…” and that was it! We’re slowly working on standing and aiming, but for now, he’s got this potty thing down!

Benjamin thinks it is the greatest thing ever. He often says, “Potty mommy” before he poops in his diaper, but, to be perfectly honest, I’m pottied out! Between Keaton and I going every couple of hours..whew We are letting him go if he asks, but not at all forcing it. He’s definitely not ready to be full-on trained, but, definitely close (will it be before baby? We’ll see!) The other day, he pooped and I said, “You’re stinky! We need to change this diaper!” He said, “No, mama, I go potty!” I told him it was too late and he had already pooped, but soon daddy would, help him “learn to go potty.” His response? “Wow!!! NEAT!!” haha! Love it!

So, we’ll see what the next couple of months hold.

Just like with Keaton, we are in no rush to get him out of diapers (it is WAY WAY WAY WAY easier! And, considering we haven’t had a single disposable on him in…about a year?!…we’re just getting our money’s worth out of that precious fluff!) We definitely don’t want him ending up scared of the potty like Keaton was, so we’re trying to make sure he is around it when he’s interested. But, since he has to be RIGHTTHERE whenever Keaton is going, I’m not too worried about that fear taking over

OK, enough talk about bowels for now

I can’t think straight to make a sensible post lately, (nor can I find the energy!) so a list is what you get!

• The Walk for Life was AMAZING! PSSWF raised $111,000!!! Thank you again to all those who sponsored (not only me, but SOME one who was walking!)
• We had Keaton’s 3rd birthday party. This poor child. His first birthday, we had a park – it was cold and drizzly. His second birthday, we tacked it on to our moving day. His third birthday, we had a slew of people coming…his brother decides to spend the 24 hours prior to the party puking…sigh. Family still celebrated with us and he had SO much fun (he had NO idea so many of his friends from church were supposed to be there!)
• Keaton starts soccer this weekend! So excited (for him to burn off some energy)
• I met with my doulas last weekend to go over birthy things. So excited for this birth ((ok and to figure out who is in there making my stomach jump all over the place!)

And that’s about that. We’re gearing up for a quick trip to VA soon and the end of another semester! (I get WAY too excited for classes to be over for a couple months!)

I will have pictures from Keaton’s party soon… I promise!

Well, this is going to be in list form:

• Had my 19ish/20ish (whateverish) week appt w/ my midwife last Friday morning. It was the midwife that was on call for B’s birth, but wasn’t AT his birth thanks to another mom who was pushing before me We had a great conversation re: what I’m wanting in labor (we found out that our doula is moving in May! She is still planning on coming back for the birth, but, she’s trying to convince me I’m going to go fast this time! We have another friend who will be there as well – so thankful for two awesome women to share in this special day! So anywho, we’re planning ahead (way ahead)) and talked a bit about the cord issue with Baby and how that would affect our hospital stay (if at all).

• We switched pediatrician’s for the boys (for a thousand reasons that I won’t get into right now) and had our first appt. with her yesterday morning. She is AWESOME and the boys LOVE her (Keaton asked all this morning to go back and see her!) She was super encouraging and great on so many levels!

• I got my hair cut again last night and it feels and looks great! I can spend no time and it looks fine, or (if I had a rolly brush) spend 10 minutes and make it look great (I’m hoping to get a rolly brush this weekend)

• Benjamin has allergies or a cold or sinus crud or something. It started innocently as a cough last week when we were experiencing the PollenPocalypse, but he’s gotten a bit worse over the course of the week.

• Our yard sale went great (ok, really well) We got rid of a lot of stuff (either via selling or Goodwill) and that was the big goal We split the earnings and sponsored each other for the Walk for Life that we are participating in next weekend.

• Speaking of next weekend, it’s going to be CRAZY! We have the Walk in the morning, and then Keaton’s party in the afternoon, surrounded by family all weekend! So excited!

• Speaking of the Walk (teehee), I’m $85 away from my goal – I would LOVE to surpass my goal, but I can’t do that without YOUR help (yes, YOU!) Even if you can only give $1 – that would get me $1 closer to $150! (don’t forget, due to technical issues, you need to visit THIS SITE and click on “Click Here to Sponsor a Walker with an Online Donation”. Once you do that, fill in the appropriate information and, under SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS, type in my name, Terra Jones.) Thank YOU so much (in advance!) for giving to such an awesome organization!!

• I’m feeling baby move all.the.time. (for my records, haha, I started feeling Baby about 13 or 14 weeks – depending if you go by actually weeks or where baby is “measuring”) And those on the “outside” can feel Baby too (around 18 or so weeks — if you’re quick – we have stubborn babies) And apparently we have movers and shakers – This is #3 that can rouse me from deep sleep just from moving around!

I feel like there are a thousand things I’ve left out…B wants his hourly snuggle, so this is it for now!

We had our 18 week ultrasound today! I hope it never gets old seeing those ultrasound pictures! I could seriously lay there all day and watch my baby on the “tv”

Baby looked great! Perfection all around

The technician did make note that the umbilical cord only had 2 vessels, whereas it should have 3. We went on to learn that this could be an indicator of other abnormalities, but she had gone back and re-checked and re-measured everything and everything was right on track — well, a week AHEAD (We seem to like our babies big)

She had the High-Risk OB come in and talk with us for a minute and he, too, reassured us that all should be fine, but we will re-check baby’s growth in 8 weeks to make sure it is still growing properly, but according to the numbers today, there should be no cause for concern.

Keaton had a BLAST watching baby! He & Zach were talking about the arms, legs, facial features  – it was so cute

Benjamin sat with his jaw hung open the whole time (I think he was unsure about the “jelly” on my belly (the tech didn’t know his love for food and made the mistake of using the word Jelly…I heard Benjamin whisper, “eat?” hahaha!))

They didn’t move my due date from Aug. 31st (whew), just said, “Be prepared for this baby to come early…” I’m still holding out for September (let it be known! haha!) I told Zach that moving it up a week, and IF baby comes early, I’ll most likely go into labor at Benjamin’s birthday party. Not good!

So, we stuck to our guns and didn’t find out the gender – I looked as hard as I could though

And that was that!