The post-Christmas journey home

The kids on the way back to New Jersey after 5 days at Mimi's house...they seem a little tired, don't they? And yes - that's all their loot from Santa, Mimi & Papaw!

a little morning zen

The morning was a bit stressful so the kids & I took a few deep breaths on the drive to school. And they took it a step further ... These two make me giggle even when I'm stressed!

How you do this

I'm not even sure what to make of this ... Marina entertaining us - or whatever you want to call it!

We're baaaack...

OK, I'm not caught up on life, but have realized that I'm never going to be. So, I'm just biting the bullet and beginning to blog again. I think I've been waiting for that "ahhh, I'm all caught up and nothing else to do" moment "I guess I can blog now". However, there's always children to chase, work to do, laundry to get clean, toys to pick up, phone calls to return and a husband to talk to. So getting caught up just doesn't seem likely in my near, 10-15 year future. If you hear me saying that I'm trying to get caught up refer me to this post!

Anyway, here's my latest funny moment. Dylan is in the terrible 3-and-a-halfs and always tormenting his sister. I'd warned him many times today to be nice to her and stop harrassing her. He was chasing her through the house, they were following me naturally, I heard someone hit the floor and Marina began crying. I turned around to see blood everywhere and she was holding her breath. I instantly knew that Dylan had pushed her. I swooped her up and sent him to timeout in the corner (more on that in another post - timeout is hysterical at our house!). After I got her calmed down and realized all the blood was just from a tiny cut in her mouth I asked why he'd pushed her (he's still in time out, though). He was adamant that he didn't push her and in his struggled speech he basically told me that she'd tripped. Which is ENTIRELY possible! Then he said "Mommy, baby fee go bee-out, no weee". Translation: "Marina's feet need to go to timeout, not me."

I smiled, knowing I was wrong to immediately suspect him. And reluctantly released him from his timeout prison. And poured a glass of wine.

Up next - a million pics from the last few months just to get caught up!

bazillion photos ... part deux

Okay, here are more pics. No real order just me being obnoxious and posting way too many photos of my kiddos. Once this mokey is off my back I'll post some true updates on the family :)

Dylan's birthday

(party #2 - he had a party in Indiana, too. Talk about spoiled!!)

Sassy little Marina

Dylan and his playmate

Marina with a cute flower in her hair (along with her newly found food allergies!!)

Dylan reverting back to ...

my favorite photo! I love that smile!

Paris in the Spring

Thanks to Auntie Vicki, Marina is all ready for a runway show in Paris with this tres chic new outfit. Oh wait, she can't walk yet! There's always next year!

a bazillion photos!

Since I haven't posted in such a long time I figured I'd dump a bunch of photos and let them do the talking. Here's the first batch. Enjoy!

Halloween 2008

Marina was a kitty and a pumpkin. You know how a girl can never have just one choice! :)

Dylan was, of course, a scary pirate!

Christmas Road Trip

Dylan breakdancing at the bowling alley. uh-huh....

Papaw Tim with the kiddos

Mimi and Marina (dressed like a candy cane it looks like)

Christmas Eve

Is it really 2009?

OK, I have no clue what's happened to the last 6 weeks. Wait, yes I do.
- Dylan turned 3!
- Dylan started his new school (separate post on that coming soon)
- Marina got RSV
- Bryan got some weird eye infection
- FunnySpoon has been keeping us busy, busy, busy
- Regular jobs have been keeping us busy!
- I had a small surgery and a double-whammy sinus infection/bronchitis so I was down & out a week or more

I'm sure a few other things happened in there, too, but you get the gist. The Jaynes house is busy. No busier than anyone else, but just not as good as handling it!

So, this is my explanation and apology for not posting any holiday photos or Dylan's 3rd birthday photos. Coming next week, I PROMISE! In the meantime, my dear friend Shannon Samson shared these photos from our visit to her TV station in Indianapolis right before Christmas. Thanks Shano!

it's actually a better photo of Marina's carseat than Bryan, but wanted to prove he was with us!!

We totally missed out on the photo of the kids with Auntie Shano. I think the 3 degree weather had frozen my brain so I can't be held responsible for not thinking...

Is that Santa?!?

Even Marina is getting excited! (Dylan can hardly sleep or eat he's so excited!).

This is what happens when Daddy and Dylan dress Marina. Um, two weeks after Halloween.

Haven't slept in 3 months ...

Marina is 3 months old today! She must've known that Bryan and I were on the edge because on Monday night she slept from 11-6. Seven whole hours of glorious sleep. Of course, I was completely freaked out when I woke up and realized she'd slept for so long, but SO relieved to have had so much sleep! Then on Tuesday night she slept from 11-4:30. Ok, not quite as long, but still ... 5 1/2 hours? Incredible. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a pattern. .

3 months, just over 10 pounds, sleeping and getting out of her cranky phase. Hooray! Now, if only I could lose 10 pounds, sleep and get over my cranky phase!

She's a month old!

Most of these photos were taken when Marina was about 4 weeks old. At 4 weeks she weighed almost 6 pounds and 20 inches long. She's still wearing preemie clothes, but can begin to wear some newborn and 0-3 month clothes. And she outgrew preemie diapers. Yay!!

At this point she finally started feeling like

a real baby and not a babydoll!

We call this one "4 Marinas"

Getting ready for her first party - 4th of July. All that effort to get ready tuckered her out!

Deep in thought ... er, something like that...

She's awake!

sleeping beauty ...

She finally decided to open her eyes!

and yes, she does look a little tipsy here :)

Her first dress! (Thanks Auntie J!)

Marina - first week photos

Here are first week photos of Little Marina. She slept about 20 hours a day during this time so while things were scary and we were concerned, she was pretty easy to take care of!This is one of the very first photos of Marina.

This is moments after I was wheeled out of surgery and got to hold Marina for the first time. You can tell by the look in my eyes that I'm heavily medicated!

This is her very first photo at home. Sleeping like an angel!

***********

These photos were taken after we'd been home for a few days and Mimi had arrived to help out.

You can see how small she is in comparison to her very first baby doll (thanks to Mimi!). Who knows why she's making that crazy face.

You can't tell if she's going to cry or fall asleep here.

Mimi giving Marina her first bottle.

Another photo showing her size ... a bottle of nailpolish seems so small but was pretty big compared to her! She's grown so much that I can barely remember her being this small!

She's here!

Many of you probably think that I have abandoned this blog. And it definitely seems that way, but I promise I haven't. I just went on a small hiatus. I've thought about posting many times in the last 6 months but haven't found the time or energy.

We had a long and challenging pregnancy which ended with a month of bedrest and a beautiful, preemie baby girl.

Marina Riley Jaynes

Born: June 10, 3:46pm
4 pounds, 15 ounces and 19 inches long

She's really incredible! The family is all doing great and big bro Dylan thinks she's awesome (which was a huge relief)!

She spent about 6 days in the hospital, but has been thriving and doing incredibly well ever since we got home. This experience has given us a small understanding and such respect for parents with with premature babies. We knew she was coming early and were able to do a lot to prepare (her and ourselves) for the early delivery; however, it was still hard and scary. And so, so, so worth it. She's truly amazing.

Now that I've made my apologies for no recent posts I promise to get back in the habit of posting. And in the meantime, I'm going to post a bunch of random photos from the last 6 months.