T-shirt dresses and random pictures

So I know it's a little late to be posting Homecoming pictures, but we just got our film back. There's also a few shots of Titus with Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Brooklyn. I got to see my folks and sister Jennifer for like 3 hours before I flew back home. (FYI: The pictures don't do Brooklyn justice it was hard to catch both the little ones smiling at the same time- I've got a link to her blog to prove her cuteness.)

Before everybody looks at the pictures, I've got a question for you. What do you think of T-shirt dresses. You know the kind that have collars like a polo shirt but go to the knees instead of stopping at the waist? The reason I ask is because Cory and I have been doing a marriage class at church and it incorporates the book His Needs, Her Needs. (I need some help with my grammer, Elisa the English major. Do book titles get underlined or put in quotes?" Anyways, one of the needs discussed in the book is having an attractive spouse which can include clothing style. And apparantly my husband finds my style hideous!! Just kidding. He likes the way I dress except for these infamous t-shirt dresses. He's told me before he wasn't a fan but I didn't know how much he disliked them until our discussion the other night. He claims he doesn't know anyone else who even owns one! HA. Despite his harrassment I'm totally confidant in my fashion skills, see below in the picture of me and Jaime for proof of me "bringing it" in my late 90's puffy shirt.

In conclusion, I'm totally willing to throw out the t-shirt dresses especially since in turn he's agreeing to ditch his cargo jeans now that he's not 12 anymore!! :) I just thought it would be fun to take a poll of everyone's fashion sense. So T-shirt dresses, good? bad? indiffernet?

Now for the pictures....

Hottest GATA's in town!

Love this girl!

I highly recommend these babysitters :)

The Best family!

Seeing these girls was totally worth the trip!

Behind the scenes at the Titus and Korben photo shoot. (And you probably thought it was natural for 4 month old babies to sit upright with their arms around eahother!)

Giddy-up Maggie.

As you can tell Titus absoluetly hates this!

Cousin Brooklyn and Grandma

Sitting in Grandpa's lap

Deep and not-so deep thoughts

Hey gang! Man, I feel so out of touch from blog land. Settling in back home has been busy, plus I worked Monday and Wednesday of this week so I'm just now finding some free/computer time. Kudos to everyone who has been updating so frequently this week; I had a-lot to read! I loved everyone's homecoming posts. It sure was a fun weekend. I'll try to get some of my pictures up soon, after we get the film developed. Yes, I did say film developed- so old school I know...but yet so cool too. How do I do it? :) Anyways, here's a few deep and not-so deep thoughts while my readers anxiously await more pictures.

Not-So Deep Thougt:
1. While I was catching up on everyone's posts I was reading the comments everyone wrote too. It was always sweet little encouraging things because, well, we are such sweet girls. But I couldn't help imagining myself leaving comments that we're a little "edgier" and sarcastic. I got tickeld at the thought of the author clicking in their comments page only to see, "You stink!" or "Your baby's ugly!" from me. (And let me stop you because I know how you sicko friends of mine all think, and right now you are all giggling to yourselves and planning to leave sweet little old me a comment like that on this post!!!) :) Am I right?

Deep Thought:
2. My son is reminding me of a bug today. Titus has always slept better on his tummy- and so for nap time I always lay him on his stomach. (Disclaimer: Yes, I know about the SIDS stats and how babies should go "back to sleep," which is why we just do it at nap time when I can keep an eye on him...good grief you people are so presumptious and judgemental...or maybe I'm an eensy bit defensive :) Anyways, sorry bout thatrant!) Titus has gotten much faster at rolling his chunk of a body over, and twice today he has woken up from nap simply because he's rolled to his back. The funny thing is, is that when I go into his room he's laying on his back, crying, arms flailing, with his eyes still closed and his head nodding about side to side as if saying "No, I'm not ready to wake up." Can you picture it? He looks just like a bug that has been flipped on it's back and is trying to get straightened out again. (Of course I mean a bug with dashing good looks, a delightful personality, natural athletic proess, charming smile, and envious talent!) Both times, all I did was flip him back over and he was IMMEDIATELY snoozing peacefully again.

Deeper Thought:
3. When I was getting ready to tuck Levi in for nap I had a deep thought about his bed and the treasured items he keeps on it- how they symbolize perfectly his stage in life right now as a big time 3 year old. It's funny because in so many ways he is such a big boy, as evidenced by the superman pillow and blanket Nana gave him for his birthday laying at the head of his bed. As you all know superheroes are something boys, not babies, love to play with. And all boy he is. Lately, Levi has attempted to assert more control over his day and challenge my decisions with his own better idea. Example, "But Momma...instead of taking a rest, I will just keep playing with my toys and then take rest. Isn't that a good idea!" And it has taken some getting used to seeing my baby play bad guys with his little action figures or seeing his competiveness come out when we're racing to the car. It used to be just a silly game to get him to hurry along, but now he is sure to point out who was the "winner" and who was the "loss-er." And it's not like I want to feminize him at all, I want him to be a boys boy and a mans man who is courageous and brave and strong and a takes risks and all those things... I just didn't know the growing up would start so soon. It's funny because we didn't teach him how to play bad guys, in fact he doesn't even own a single toy gun, it's like something inside him just innatley knows and it is blossoming like crazy.

Then again, laying on his bed right next to his superman things are his plethera of stuffed animals. He has his favorite ones like Bear, Coa-coa, Maurice, Ducky, and Sticky, but really he loves to play with all of them...and he has a ton!! Bear, he has had since he was a baby and often couldn't go to sleep without him. I have so many memories of him squeezing Bear tight and talking to Bear like a friend and sharing toys and food with his stuffed pal. Cory and I used to re-direct Levi's fits by having Bear "do" funny things. And when I was pregnant with Titus, Levi would rock Bear and feed him a bottle then put him in a make-shift crib telling me, "We have to be quiet because Bear is sleeping." In many ways, Bear was really just Levi's baby doll- but more manly of course! And admist all the glimpses of big boy toughness that I am see in my son, my baby is still there too. Like when he says, "Hold you Momma" or wants me to sing to him "Mariah" like I used to- just like my mom did for me. And daily he still likes to "act out scenarios" with his stuffed animals- really that's just a less feminine way of saying he's playing house.

It's bitter sweet this limbo world he's in right now. Just today he was playing with Captain America in the bathtub and splashing him all around, but then he stopped and asked for some soap to wash his "baby."

Before I get too sappy, I'd better stop! :) But I would be leaving out a big part of my little guys boyhood if I didn't mention all the Yankee parpaphenalia that decorates his bed along side the stuffed animlas and superheoes, in fact it decorates his entire room!!! A tribute to his Daddy's influence......

and a better influence I really don't think I could find.

A Backyard Birthday Bash

Here are some pictures from Levi's 3rd birthday party. It was a superhero theme and all his friends came dressed in costume. As you'll see Levi was a morph of Spiderman and Batman. I think we ended up having about 8 big kids and 4 babies...ALL BOYS! (One of Levi's two girl friends, Kylee, moved to MO this summer and we really miss her. But it's O.K. because her mom, Michele, and I have the arranged marriage all set up! His other girl-friend, Mary, couldn't make it. We need some more girls at this church!!!)

For his birthday we gave him an authentic Yankees jersey and some other little things. Some friends from church also gave us a big truck their son had outgrown. We told them to just bring it to the party, but instead they snuck it over to our house early so it would look like it was from us... and "we could be parents of the year," they said. (We felt a little bad about claiming that title 3 years in a row, but what can you do?) Just kidding. It was very sweet of them to be so thoughtful. And Levi did love it. He found it when we were getting things set up and without saying anything he just pointed at it and grinned up at Cory with a look of disbelief mixed with pure joy.

For party favors, Nana and I made capes for everyone with iron-on superman logos and even personalized then with the kids' names. Everyone wore the capes and some paper superman masks when hitting the pinata and it was quite freaky looking. I wish we had gotten a good picture of it!

Anyways, enjoy the pics.

Titus getting in superhero party mode

Birthday boy and his best bud Sammy (I mean Spiderman)

Carson, Sammy, Levi, Jason, Mitchel, Joey, Tyler, Joshua and baby Aidan

Bring back the terrible twos (Just Kidding!)

Years of 4-H cake decorating put to good use

Good grief I love this little boy!

The big birthday surprise

Collecting pinata candy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL!!

In honor of our dear friend Smel's birthday I thought we could all post one of our fav Mel stories, or just something we really like about the girl. I'll start...

I love Melanie Jo because she is soooo stinkin' funny and always has been. As my proof I will quote an excerpt from a note she wrote me when we were in high school. (Yes I still have a box of old notes- it's pretty humorous actually to go through them.) By the way we use to call eachother Fred and Moe.

"Dear Doofashead,
Heelllooo Chica! Que pasa? Only 3 more days and were outta here!!! A WHOLE WEEK!!! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm sooo hungry. I can't wait to eat some FOOD! (Hmmm, What else would I eat. Ya never know I'm really hungry. That stinkin' TAAS test was so easy it wasn't even funny. I have never been so bored in my life! And dad-gum "Brandon-kicky-foot" would not stop banging his stinkin' leg against my chair. AGHHH! I almost shot him! (only I did not have access to a gun.) BUT- being the nice person I am, I just sat there and took it like a man, I mean woman. Anyways, just wanted to tell you that. Oh my! Chris! I just remembered! That disease is back! And beware! The current symptom is "rrups fo eht tnemom !!!aixelysd" Make sure you wash your hands in public restrooms!

, PUDDUFFBY
Derf

S.P. You are "Eom."

Enclosed in the note was a piece of a cardboard from a box of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies that said,

"I know ya' like these, but now they're gone. So I left you this paper to carry on. Although if you eat it, I'm not saying you should, it's possible you'll find cardboard doesn't taste quite as good."

Good times! Good times! Mel, I can't wait to see you in one week!!!! Yipee! Happy Birthday. Please allow me to borrow a line from Dr. Willis. "Melanie, I'm glad you were born."

I'm BAAAAACK!

Hello again my blogging friends- sorry for being temporarily MIA. I started my job last week and my head hasn't stop spinning since. Luckily, I worked yesterday and today so my two days for this week are behind me and hopefully I can recover now from all the "deep brain things going on inside my head" (that's another Madagascar quote. FYI: I don't think it's Disney, Jaime, but it's totally worth seeing!!) So far I've been training in acute care and it is so different from anything I've ever done. Plus the hospital I'm working in, is an inner city teaching hospital so most of our patients have multiple complications- not just one diagnosis. One patient I evaluated today had like 20 previous medical conditions. (Oh and Mel you'll be fascinated to know that another patient of mine had gangrene..you guys could start a support group!)

The thing that has been really tough is trying to learn all the medical abbreviations, it's like learning a foreign language. And then even when I do figure out what the letters stand for it's a whole different thing to know their relevance. Here's an example to enlighten you: I have learned that 2LNCO2 means the patient is getting 2 liters of oxygen through a nasal canula (the little tube in their nose) but I have no idea what difference that makes. Is 2 liters a-lot? Well, I'm glad you asked because according to my co-worker, oxygen can range from 1-8 liters "so if someone is on 8 you need to ask yourself why the heck can't this person breathe?" Now, don't you feel smart. I'm sure you smarty pants nurse types already know all this, but my expertise is more on re-teaching someone how to put on a shirt...I'm not so good at memorizing lab values.

Anyways, I am very grateful for this job and I know it will be perfect once I get more comfortable in this particular setting...hopefully that won't take too long. Several of the therapists on my team are pregnant or have little ones so I'm fitting in nicely. Anyways, I got to sign my name and title for the first time today since being licensed. It was surreal because I used to practice writing it all through OT school, kinda like when your engaged and you doodle your future married name over and over. I'll sign off with it for your viewing pleasure :)

Christina Jones, M.S. OTR/L (It looks so official doesn't it!)

P.S. Those of you (APRIL) who keep harassing me about birthday pictures will have to be a little more patient. We took them with Nana's camera and so she's mailing us a disk. Stay tuned.