So.. long time, no blog. I know. For so long there wasn't much to blog about, and then whammo! Tons of stuff to blog about, and I've been procrastinating... it's what I do best. Since I last posted here's a bit about what we've been up to. (In no particular order)
Grandma Jones and Leslie came to Texas! What a trip! They spent the first few days here in Hooterville with us. During those days we shopped and shopped and shopped! It was so fun! Vickie and Leslie helped Ben and I finally get some color into this house. We are total retards at decorating, so our house has been pretty blah since we moved in. Now we've got curtains, and picture frames, and shelves with things on them.. It's so nice! Now we have a home. It's so much warmer, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
After our few days it was time for them to go spend some time with Ben's aunt Barbara for a couple of days. That couldn't have worked out better, because just as they left Clayton got the swine flu. THAT was an adventure. Clayton's birthday was right around the corner so we had planned to have a birthday party for him that Sunday while everyone was in town. Thanks to the good 'ol H1N1 we had to cancel the party and stay quarantined for 5 days. Lame timing. So even though Vickie and Leslie were still in town for a few more days, Clayton and I didn't get to see them again. Ben went down and spent a few hours with them, but for the most part our visits were cut short. Vickie mentioned maybe coming again in March, hopefully that will work out, or we'll see them again in the summer time.
Did I mention my boy turned 1?!? I can't believe it!! Celebrations were super limited since Clayton was so sick, but we're hoping to reschedule soon. What kind of 1st birthday would it be if he didn't get to dig into his whole own cake? I'm loving having a 1 year old. Ben talks about how it seems as if a switch went off inside Clayton. Like, he knows he's 1 now so he has an attitude, and opinions and he'll tell you all about it! I love it though. Clayton and I have a lot more fun at home as he gets older. I had a hard time with the whole baby phase. They're cute and fun to snuggle.. but they're so much more fun when they can get around on their own and have their own personality. It's only taken a year, but I'm really starting to enjoy being a stay at home mom.
With the 1 year mark come a lot of changes. Clayton is frustrated with crawling, he just can't get around fast enough. He'll reach up and grab your fingers so you can walk him around wherever he needs to go. He loves to help with whatever I'm doing. Laundry and dishes are among his favorite, but his all time favorite is throwing his diaper away. You'd think the kid just saw Santa Claus the way he lights up when you let him throw his diaper away, lol. I'm officially done nursing. I made it the whole year! I can't believe I did it. When we first started my goal was 6 weeks, then 6 months, "and when I got there, I figured since I'd got this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going" (yup.. just quoted Forrest Gump.. I can't help it, I'm practically married to the man, ha ha!) So I made it the whole year. I'm super proud of that. We just had Clayton's 1 year Dr. appointment and he's a healthy boy. 50% for his weight, 97% for his height, and off the charts for his head size. Ha ha! Ben and Leslie were texting and she said that she'd be worried if his head wasn't that big. I guess it's a Jones thing to have huge heads, lol. The Dr. also said that we have to break the binki habit by our 15 month appointment. Yipes! I think it's going to be harder for me than it will be for him. So far things are going smoothly. He only gets his binki when it's time to sleep. He doesn't even miss it during the day, so it's been great. I'm not quite sure when we're going to try to stop the binki when he's sleeping. I'm a nervous wreck for that. Other than that, he's just chuggin along. Growing fast and becoming more and more fun every day.
That's about all the time I have for blogging right now. Chunk will be up any minute. Here are some pictures that we've snapped over the last month or so.
This is the ONLY picture I have that shows Clayton's teeth. He finally has two teeth on the bottom, but he doesn't like to show them off. If you look real close you can see them.
Love these boys.. so cute!
This is how Clayton helps me with the dishes sometimes. Most of the time he just stands at the dishwasher and takes every thing out that I just put in, but every now and then I'll put him in the sink and he makes sure that I don't waste any water by turning it off every time I turn it on. He's so helpful!
This is the super-excited-I-just-saw-Santa face. Before we were cutting out the binki, he loved it if he could have two at a time.
This is the last of my black and white efforts. My camera is too old and beat up. I have to put it in manual to get black and white, and I honestly don't know what I'm doing well enough to keep trying. My pictures keep coming out too dark, or too light, and almost always too blurry. So until I get a new camera, and learn how to use it, I'm going to stick with auto.
Clayton also really loves to brush teeth. I gave him a toothbrush to play with the other day and he sat there just like this forever! I know you can't see because he's got that binki, but he was smiling real big and just staring at it, lol.
Here are a few Clayton and Dad shots. That kid is such a Daddy's boy...
Happy 1st birthday to Clayton! Swine flu and all..
Clayton spent most of the time moving rocks from one bucket to the other. He loves to organize and put things away, just like his mother. =)
When he wasn't organizing the rocks he "mowglied" around, at least that's what we call it. Ya know, like Mowgli from Jungle Book?? He only does this when we're outside. Maybe the concrete hurts his knees... either way, it's cute.
And what was I doing during all this "outside fun"? Making a love note for my husband of course.
We also were finally able to celebrate Clayton's birthday! My family came up after church and the 
