Miriam's November update

Miriam has been really busy and is constantly on the go. She enjoys nursery and playing with kids when her nose isn't running (we have had a lot of colds this season). She loves her brother and always perks up when she hears him or sees him first thing in the morning. She decided she wanted to be the mommy with Aaron laying across her lap (like me when I nurse him) and read to him. I'm sure she will continue to share her books with him and read to him.

Though sometimes I'm not sure how healthy for Aaron Miriam's love is. Most of the time he doesn't seem to mind though.

Miriam still really loves her dollies and taking care of them. She will either bring all the diaper changing stuff out of her room or empty the diaper bag setting everything up just so to change her dollies diapers. Lotioning them up or putting medicine on the dolly.She still loves talking on the phone. She will continually pick up the phone when I'm talking or any time and jabber away. The best phone she used is a piece of play lettuce. Also in these pictures are the other favorite past time of taking the cushions off the couch and jumping then dumping out her play food all over the couch. We unfortunately can't keep her out of any rooms. One day I went to find her and finally found her in my bathroom with the contents of my cosmetic bag scattered around her. She was in the process of applying lotion to her face, for some reason she thinks that is where you apply everything. I have discovered taking pictures in the act helps not to blow my top.
Miriam learned to jump. I love when kids first learn to jump as they don't hardly leave the ground. Along with stationary jumping she is jumping off things into our arms and there have been a few close calls when we ether didn't know she was jumping or went before we were quite ready.

Afton Legacy

On November 9th we had a family baby shower for my cousin Stephanie's little Kodiak Lee. Most of the time on my mom's side of the family we pass down our middle name, for example Stephanie's middle name is Lee. Also we honor our grandparents the family have a lot of Jess and Aftons. Including myself I got named after both! All five of the girls in my mom's family with the exception of my Aunt Jessi (who obviously went the way of Grandpa) named one of the daughters middle name Afton. I wish my Grandma was still alive because we could have 4 generations of Aftons. My moms middle name is Afton (only one in that generation) then mine is as is Miriam's, which I think is pretty neat. In Aunt Hazel's family there is her daughter Shelace and her daughter Autumn carrying on the tradition. Then Aunt Christine just named her 2nd daughter Afton (they weren't there). Last, but not least is Aunt Gloria's 2nd daughter Danielle. That's a lot of Aftons!

Miriam and the first Snowfall

When my parents came down for the Ice show we got our first big snow storm. Dad was excited to show Miriam the snow and see what she thought of it. So we hunted up her snowsuit (it was mine and I actually put it on her last year for walks- it fits much better now!) so she could go out. It was quite the process taking all of us to get her fully suited and then she didn't like the hood tied around her so I got her another hat too.

They tried to make a snowman or even snowball, but the snow was too dry and didn't really stick together well. Miriam wasn't exactly sure what she thought of it. They ended up walking around a bit then coming in after only 10-15 min because she was getting cold.

Aaron's Four Month Checkup

For as long as Aaron has been congested I was getting worried that it might be something worse but his Dr said he looked great with just a cold. He has been growing and growing lately. Since he's 2 month checkup he has grown 2 1/2 in and gained almost 3 lbs! He now is 26 in long which puts him in the 84% up from the 72nd% last time. Aaron's head circumference is 17 in up from 15.5 before putting him in the 73%. He weighs 16 lbs 2 oz putting him in the 72% which is actually down from 84% last time. He has pretty much grown out of the 0-3 clothes, shirts it seems like he needs really big otherwise is 3-6. Now he is wearing a size 3 diaper, which is astonishing to me as Miriam is only a size 4 but then she only weighs 24.5 lbs a mere 8 lbs heavier or so. Aaron is bigger than Miriam was at the same age. He is also starting the teething process- gnawing on our fingers and being extra drooly. Aaron loves being with family and will reward attention given with great big smiles. He doesn't even mind Miriam's abundant and enthusiastic attention.

Disney on Ice

On Halloween I entered a drawing for 2 tickets to Disney On Ice and won! It turns out that is the way for this Fire Protection company advertises, so we got to listen to his spiel. He has a different take on smoke detectors that made sense so now we own another smoke detector. As time came closer to go I couldn't figure out how we were going Eric and I. We learned kids under 2 didn't need a ticket so we all could go but I didn't want Aaron to go through the long cold night and be around all those germs, I mean people. Then Eric needed to go to Delta and wasn't very interested in going. Finally, I talked my dad into coming down and watching the kids letting me and mom (who really wanted to go) to come with me. We debated a long time whether to take Miriam or not. I wasn't sure she would be interested enough because it was only a little before that she started to be semi interested in movies. At the last minute we took her . Our seats were on the far side close to the top by a door which was good for Miriam. Miriam watched it pretty good. They had about 8 stories and some were the mini version like Snow White on to mid-range like Little Mermaid to pretty much the full story of Cinderella after intermission. I think Ariel was Miriam's favorite as she was dancing to it. We only had to go out once toward the end. At another point she just sat on the steps holding her doggy watching it. All in all it was way fun! Thanks Mom and Dad!

We figured our "souvenirs" were pictures. We hurried out after it was finished and put her in pj so hopefully after the long ride home we could just put her in bed. We took several pictures at the venues. It was interesting to see the costumes others were wearing.

November update on Aaron

So many things are happening for Aaron. The middle of Oct he moved to size 2 diapers and by the end of Nov those were getting snug, but it feels weird to think size 3 since Miriam's a 4. Also he doesn't fit the cloth diapers so well. I think he has a longer torso than Miriam had; as he grows out of shirts very quickly, but is ok on pants. He is steadily moving out of 0-3 clothes especially shirts and one pieces.
He is very strong as he went from using a prop:

Which somehow he always squirmed over or back off. Now he doesn't need a prop anymore as this is what he is doing:

We introduced him to the lights and sound bar of his bouncy seat toward the first of the month. I like to wait awhile till their sight is developed so as not to overwhelm them. He absolutely loved it! I think he liked it better and could handle it better than Miriam did the first time. He watched it avidly like he was watching a movie for 30-40 min straight!

He still loves it and plays more than Miriam did with the hanging bird and monkey. In fact I think Miriam likes it way better now than she did at his size. She get really upset if I take the bar off and is constantly turning it on.He is also trying really hard to sit up. Plus he is really stiff. It is really hard to bend him to the sitting position and it's getting worse. He can bear his weight and is standing flat footed. I don't think he'll be slow to sit up and stand alone either. He can sit really good propped in the corner of a chair and we introduced him to his bumbo seat when we were in ID for Thanksgiving. He did really well with it though he gets tired after a little while.

Of course Miriam has to imitate and do everything he's doing too. She also loves Aaron's things for her dolls. She is always putting them in the car seat, swing, bouncer, and bumbo seat. Not to mention trying to put his diapers on them, too bad I didn't save any newborn ones for her to use. Aaron loves to be held all the time, he's a little spoiled that way so he participates in all sorts of activities, such as helping Daddy on the computer.

Happy Halloween

As usual we didn't do anything really special for Halloween besides decorate and dress up. We actually managed to carve pumpkins for the first time in our married lives. Miriam didn't care to have anything to do with it. I tried to get her to feel the pumpkin guts and she didn't like that and then tried to put the seeds back in the pumpkin. We did go with all the Jones cousins on a hay ride and pick a pumpkin, but I forgot my camera and haven't gotten a picture of that yet. Then the Jones family had a Halloween party Fri night. The pic of Eric with 3 kids are ours and Max- a regular pumpkin patch! On the actual day when didn't do much other than learn that isn't a particular good time to start an outdoor project because hardly anyone is selling garden stuff anymore. We had been debating what to do with our forest of roses so we could start a garden next year and came up with the idea to put them in front of our fence so we started that project. Then ordered pizza for dinner, yum!

Happy Halloween!!

Decorating Cookies

We've been having a play date with our great neighbors 4 houses down. Dianna has been a lifesaver and we have a good time with Seth who is 3 and Noah who is 2 months older than Miriam. When they came to our house we made Halloween cookies, Miriam' first experience making sugar cookies. We took some of them to the Hee Haws work party. The kids like to eat the dough, frosting and cookies but didn't quite know how to cut them out and frost them. We're planning on doing it again for Christmas to take around the neighborhood. I enlisted her help knowing I wouldn't ever do it on my own.

Trip to Rigby

I had thought that Eric was going to take his gun training course in October, but then he put it off after I got my parents excited to have a visit from us. So when one of mom's cousins died and had her funeral in Brigham City we cooked up a plan to meet there. After the funeral I left my car at another cousins and rode home with my mom. So we left Oct 19 and came back Fri the 23rd.

We didn't do anything special per se, but hang out and enjoy every one's company. Miriam has always enjoyed playing and exploring with Dad. She is always excited when he comes home from work and immediately goes to take his hand to drag him off somewhere.

The biggest project we worked on was canning peach jam all week somehow everything always takes longer than we think it will. Mom loved connecting more with Aaron because mostly before she was too busy taking care of everything else. He wore his pooh bear outfit that mom got him a lot because it was nice and warm.

On Friday we made our regular visit to my Grandma & Grandpa Briscoe to introduce them to their newest great-grandchild. This was the first time they had met Aaron who is #20 for them. They've been having major roadwork in front of their house for awhile. Miriam enjoyed watching the heavy equipment doing their thing. I thought it was cute to see Miriam and Grandma watching out their window at everything going on.

Trouble...starts with M

I had suspicions for awhile that Miriam could open the front door but Mon proved she could when I was cleaning in the kitchen and didn't hear her and couldn't find her till I looked outside and there she was. Perhaps I will have to lock the door more regularly. I thought we were still good on the rest of the rooms. I mean she has been able to open the latch type doors since at least Aaron was born because once she discovered that at the hospital that's all she wanted to do. Yesterday I was trying to pump milk and she was trying to "help" so I went into her room and shut the door. The next thing I know she had opened the door and was coming to see me. Nothing is safe anymore!

Hee Haw Farms

Eric's work, AquaVeo has a couple of parties a year and this fall they arranged for us to have lunch at Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. Hee Haw Farms had a courtyard activities, animals, pumpkin patch and big corn maze. It was a gorgeous day, in fact we even got a little sunburned all of us.

Miriam was a pro in the corn maze- we would come to an intersection and ask which way then she would point. Needless to say we spent a lot of time in the front part of the maze till everyone was tired. We carried Aaron in and that got heavy fast. In fact we were there so long they both fell asleep and totally missed the pumpkin patch where we picked one pumpkin. Being a farm they had some animals for petting and feeding. Miriam liked seeing all the different animals. Unfortunately the pony ride line was long and we didn't feel like waiting in it so she missed that. But we did go on a trick-or-treat hay wagon ride. They had people dressed up that threw candy at the wagon as it went by. Then Eric and Miriam rode the barrel ride. They also had a big dirt hill with a couple of slides that Miriam enjoyed. It was a really fun party!

Jones Pumpkin Patch!

Roll Baby Roll!!

That's right Aaron rolled over for the first time on Thur 18th from his front to his back! I got wondering if I actually let him have enough time on the floor to actually work on these skills so I made a conscious effort and he would twist and kick. I had just sat down to the computer and put him on the floor behind me when I saw him doing this and thought it would be a good picture....
Then I helped him roll to his tummy and he flopped right back over. We did this 4 times! Miriam of course loved it and tried to help too. It was interesting taking still pictures mid-roll. "What you looking at? Me! I know I'm great!"
Miriam posing and wanting to be in the middle of everything. Aaron is so strong and as you can see has no troubles holding his head up! When we were in Delta a couple of days later he rolled from his back to his front for Grandma and dad. Of course he hasn't managed to do it since.

Happy wake up!

Typically when Miriam wakes up, everyone in the house knows. She will start with a moan but quickly escalate into more of a yell. Well the other morning I thought I heard something from her room. I decided she must be waking up, so I went in quickly to get her so Jessica could stay sleeping. As soon as I opened the door, it was clear that she was awake, but she was happy. I look over at her, and she had a doll tucked under one arm, and a care bear tucked under the other. And She would mutter something will shaking one arm, then turn her head to the other one, and mutter something as shook that one. So she had them talking to each other. Then she looked up at me and said 'Helloo!' all sweet and happy! Oh if that would happen every morning!

Max's Baby Blessing

Aaron is lucky enough to have a cousin that was born almost exactly 1 week before him- Maxwell Henry Jones or just Max. Max was born Aug 4 at 7:30 am to Marshall and Melissa; Aaron was born Aug 11 at 5:40 am. It will be fun to watch them grow up together being so close in age. Here they are with Grandma and Grandpa on Aug 23 when they were 2 and 3 weeks old. Max was blessed on Oct 11. We actually missed church by a miscalculation of time between the two church times, but enjoyed the family party after. Especially the chance to get Aaron's picture with his great grandparents as none of them made it to his blessing.

The Jones crew: Russ' parents Sherman and Merle, Merle's mother, Grandma Ada, Russ and Deb (5 generations).

The Johnson crew: Deb's parents Hal and Martha, and brother/nephew Sean.

I wish we had gotten a picture of the 2 boys in their blessing outfits together and also with their dads- oh well.

New Target Pictures

It was picture time again and as usual it took awhile to actually get in to do it. The occasion was Miriam's 18 month mark and Aaron's blessing outfit pic. We got them doe on Oct 29 when Miriam was 19 mon and Aaron was 11 weeks old. It was really fun to have one of our previous photographers there and she remembered us too. I was just going to do them separate but right at the end mom insisted that we do some of both of them. I'm so glad we did but this creates a problem of increased pictures already I now need to follow precedent that I set up for Miriam. Some how Miriam still had more pictures though she had twice as many as Aaron due to 2 different outfits. I was so excited to finally have my picture for my wall! There was a picture or two that totally reminded me of one of Eric's baby pictures. It was a good thing we made it in because he wouldn't have fit his outfit much longer as it was the legs were a little short.

Miriam is sooo photogenic and the photographers love working with her. This is the dress we got for Aaron's blessing that her Grandma says she looks ready for the prom.

Then I thought it would be fun to have a bedtime outfit because she looks like a little angel. It was nice to have a dolly, she's a pretty good mommy to her dolls.

Aaron's Baby Blessing

Aaron was blessed by his father on September 27, 2009. He was wearing an outfit that his grandma made him and a coordinated blanket. For the occasion I wanted Miriam to have a new pretty dress and found this one at Costco.

We are grateful for all who braved 8:30 church and missed those who couldn't make it.

My family. Thanks, Ryan for flying up from Texas it was sure fun to see you! As always I wouldn't be able to do anything without my mom's help- shopping, fixing food and cleaning, thanks a million.

Eric's parents plus Myles again because he can't stand to stay away from grandma and William- his mom Nicole wasn't feeling well and couldn't make it.

The rest of Eric's family: his brothers Rusty and Marshall's families. His sister Candi came to the blessing, but then had to get to their own church. Thanks, Melissa for bringing muffins and Kim for the breakfast casserole.

The representatives from my dad's side, Aunt Jamie and Uncle Craig. Thanks for bringing the yummy sweet rolls and for all the tremendous help getting everything set up so we could eat. Without their help it would have been at least another hour and I would have been having a nervous breakdown.

The Grover family (my moms): Uncle Bruce, Aunt Hazel, cousins Jesse, Jordan, Terrence, Jesse and Stephanie, and Danielle. All these cousins are going to college and we're glad they could make it. I want to especially acknowledge my aunt and uncle they came from the farthest (minus my family) despite physical hardships. My uncle was exhausted from canoeing with the scouts the previous day and my aunt had shoulder surgery not long before so thank you thank you.
We had brunch after Sacrament meeting: a couple of breakfast casseroles, scrambled eggs, sausage, a fruit tray, waffles, muffins- basically a lot of yummy breakfast foods since it was still only 10:00.

What Miriam was up to during the brunch:

She discovered she could get in her toy cupboard while playing with all the toys and hanging out with Granddaddy. Also she got to play and love Aaron.

End of a productive fun day. Thank you again all who came to support us!!