Blessed...

Blessed: 11/14/10 (it was planned for the day after the sealing but Wes was sick so it was postponed till the next week).

My favorite part was when Ryan blessed Wes to have an understanding of adoption. I thought that was so cool. We pray so hard that he will grow up to understand it and be grateful for what his birth-mother did for him.

Blessed by my dad!
Blessed to have such a great Grandpa and Uncles to be apart of the blessing.
Blessed to have such a great kid in our lives!

Blessed to have a good buddy!

Wes is starting to find his way to Chase and mess with him, pretty funny to watch.

Blessed to have such great dad!

Blessed with funny expressions! :) and slobber!

Blessed to be growing! :)

Blessed with yummy food!

Blessed to have Wes apart of our family!

Side Note:

Ryan was so nice this year and helped me set up a little but of Christmas before Thanksgiving. We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year and thought it would be fun to be a little festive. So, after much pleading and butt kissing the outside lights are up and so is our Christmas Village (which is one of our favorite things about Christmas). By the end of the day even Ryan loved it and was happy to be enjoying it so early. :) (Yes, this village is getting bigger every year and will soon take over the entire room!)

Like a BUG in a RUG!

WARNING...PICTURE OVERLOAD!!! BUT IT"S WORTH IT! :)

I have been taking pictures of Wes sleeping since September because it is HILARIOUS!!! He has some of the funniest positions, it kills me! Anyway, here they are, September to November:

He's got his binki that's all that matters at bed time! boo

He laid like this on me this while watching Back to the Future for about 45 minutes before falling asleep. Oh, how I love to cuddle with this kid!

Bum in the air, classic!

Dog on head...I promise we did not stage this!

Dog upside down...

Dog right side up...

After being in bed for over 45 minutes I went in to check on him and this is how I found him...Not making a peep just wide awake playing and stuck up against the side! Too funny!

I peeked over the crib and I was met with this grin...

Last but not least, this was tonight! I had to post all these pictures just for this one. Normally all these monkeys are in the corner of the crib and he was put in the crib with his head on the other side.

One question...Where's Waldo? :)

Also, if you would have asked me a month again if Wes NEEDED a binki I would have said, "NO". He only used it at bed time and I never thought it was a big deal...I WAS SO WRONG!!! At his 6 month appointment the Dr. said we could start to take the binki away I said, "No big deal he doesn't even really use it that much." I spoke too soon! That night we tried our first night sleeping without the binki...NIGHTMARE! I had no idea how attached he was to it. He usually goes to sleep within a couple of minutes of being laid down, that night was the first night of crying for an hour in bed before going to sleep. It broke my heart. We tried it a few nights after that but he didn't sleep well at all and would wake up crying, which is SO NOT normal for him. Anyway, I'm a sucker for this kid and needless to say he continues to sleep with a binki.

I guess we'll attack this one at a later date! :)

ETERNAL

Yes, that is one way you could describe our family!!!! 11/6/10 is the day we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple as an eternal family!! :) It couldn't have been a better day! I got the red carpet treatment...I got to wear a beautiful dress (like the one you get to wear on your wedding day), I got to get ready in the brides room, and then we waited in the Celestial Room until the ceremony began. It was actually really funny...I imagined it would be emotional (not actually knowing what it would be like) but instead I was just so happy and couldn't stop smiling. Although, it may have been less emotional and more funny since everyone was treating us like we were getting married. I thought it was super funny how all the temple workers who spoke to me leaned in and said, "you look beautiful today". As if I had done something so different on "my special day" and then before Wes was brought to the Sealing Room the Sealer who was conducting, bless his heart, gave a marriage speech. Giving us marriage advice and talking about being true and faithful in our marriage. I leaned over to my mom and said, "I think he thinks we are getting married!" Every once in awhile he would glance down as his paper and throw in a statement like, "and with this precious child..." then I was assured that we were in the right room and that we were not just getting ready to "renew our vows". :)

Wes was, of course, amazing in his little white outfit and just kept looking back and forth between his mom and dad. It was just an amazing experience. I was so happy to have our close friends and family there with us to witness such an amazing event in our lives.

The Temple is such a special place. A place that takes family members who are not biologically related and binds them together as if they were, for eternity! It takes my breath away!

Ryan's dad was there to help document our day forever...

After the Temple we went back to our house for lunch.

Wes had a bottle and the rest of us had...

These... So freakin yummy!

There is something about a mini cupcake that makes me feel like it is ok to eat about 12! :)

There is also this thing inside me that makes me want to do things the hard way like make cupcakes with 3 different colors of frosting...

Why I do things like this to myself I may never know.

Ryan's dad is a great photographer and every time we are in Indiana or he is Utah I make him take family pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites...

Wes smiled for most of them and Chase just happened to participate in the same ones...it worked out! :)

The one on the bridge is hanging on our house, we just cropped out the left side of the bridge and the sign in the back ground.

Finally a family picture I really like.

October 29, 2010

A very important date in the life of the Jones'. This is the day Wes LEGALLY became Wes Ryan Jones! :)

We finalized the adoption Friday morning. It was a new experience since neither of us have ever been to court before. It was very official. The only thing missing was the Law & Order "Ding Dong".

After we were all sworn in our Lawyer asked our case worker questions, then Ryan, then me. It was actually all pretty cool. I did get teary eyed at one point when the Lawyer asked Ryan what life has been like having Wes in our family. Just hearing him talk about Wes being in our family and having felt the joy he described made me choke up a bit (but no tears!). Then it was my turn to answer the questions and it was over. The Judge was AWESOME!!!

He gave tribute to Rachel as a birth mother and said how amazing she is for carrying Wes full term "when we live in an abortion world". I can't agree more. I tell Rachel all the time how awesome she if for what she did for Wes and us. We would not have the family we do without her. She is such a special person to us. Sometimes I wish we could adopt her too. :) Adoption is an amazing thing and it has truly changed my life in more ways than I can count.

Enough of the blabber...here are the pictures

This was Wes's court attire (just like Great Grampy! :)). The Judge said, "a hat fit for court". We thought so...

Kim (our case worker), the FAM, Judge Davis, Todd Wahlquist (our Lawyer)

(Say "I" if you think I need to lose about 50 lbs... "I" ...didn't I do that once upon a time?

Why does it always take a piture to make you REALLY see it?)

Judge Davis and Wes (He got down off the stand and put his robe on Wes and let him hold his gavel...it was pretty funny)

Pictures of breakfast at Jim's afterwards...

Look at those eyes, they kill me...

THIS IS WES, HE'S OUR SON! :)

I can't wait...

I LOVE Halloween!!! It is my FAVORITE holiday. It's been SO HARD to figure out what Wes should be this year on his FIRST Halloween. We've thought of everything but in the end it seemed fitting...DOPEY! My family thinks he looks like Dopey because of his big eyes, so we went with it. I bought a men's long sleeve tee-shirt at Walmart and got to work.

Here is our little Dopey...

Not too shabby right? For only taking a sewing class in 7th grade I surprise myself sometimes. :)

Dopey is also fitting since I'm Snow White. Now, if I could only get Ryan to dress up as Prince Charming or another dwarf like GRUMPY, since that's what he is when it comes to dressing up! There will be many more pictures to come...I can't wait!

Oh, and a bit of information...Wes has 2 bottom teeth poking through! :) I can't believe how much he is growing and how fast it goes by. He has been a trooper and hasn't really fussed about it. The only way we know is that we felt them and then looked. The only thing different is that he is sleeping a lot more and his little cheeks are pink all the time. He's the best and makes every day better than the last!

CALLING ALL SHOPPERS...

I'm outing myself for even writing this post but I NEED HELP!!!

If you really knew me...you'd know that I HATE shopping!!! Sorry, all girls who loves it but, I don't. I rarely go and when I do it is to the two stores I buy things from and if I don't find what I'm looking for...I GO HOME!!! I'm not good at finding deals, sales, or that one item "I've been looking for". So, this is where I am asking for HELP!!!!

Wes's blessing is 3 weeks away and I need a white outfit. Now, the fact that is will be 7 months does not scream white knit like most baby blessing clothes are made of. He needs a little boy outfit. I have been trying to look for a white sweater or v neck sweater vest (is that what it's called?) to wear with white slacks or white jeans. But, as luck would have it I can't find any of those items. So, here is your task... Find these items or tell me where to go to find them.

There may even be a little surprise for the one who find the winning pieces :)

Or if you can find anything that a little man like Wes would wear all decked out in white please, please let me know! THANK YOU!!!

It's FUN to be Thirty-one!

If the only thing you do in this post is watch the video at the end...DO IT!!! It's the best part.

I had a great birthday. My family & friends came over in the morning on Saturday and we had our traditional birthday breakfast/pj party. We all had our Halloween attire on. :) I got some great things...Beauty & the Beast, a bread maker, and my friend Jess made me a sign made out of pendents that says Trick or Treat! My parents also got me a really cute sweater. But, one of the best gifts came from Ryan the day before the breakfast...he came home with TONS of Halloween decorations and we spent the day decorating for the party. We had so much fun! :)

We didn't get any before pic of the decorations but here is an after of the mess being cleaned up! :) But you can still see our sweet decorating!

Wes with his cousin Aulbanie.
Wes being just a head! :)

I was at DI the other day for work and found this cute little sweat shirt for $2!!!! I love it! :)

And last but not least the best video...EVER!!! until the last second :)

6 Months!!!

I can't believe it...Wes is 6 MONTHS OLD!!! It came too quickly. Yesterday he was this tiny little baby in my arms who everyone commented on how little he was. Now, he is this little boy who is so aware of the world around him and when people find out he is 6 months old they always say how BIG he looks. He is our little buddy. He is so fun to be around, he's smiles at everyone and is just the happiest little baby ever!

Which in turn makes for a happy Mommy and Daddy. :)

Wes went to his first birthday party and it was a super hero theme...he got to be "SUPER WES". I think he does have super powers...super CUTE powers! :) (Just what a mom should say, right?)

Here are some things to know about Wes at 6 months (his 6 month appt is Tuesday so we don't have his new stats but here is what he is doing at 6 months old):

• Not sure but I think he might have his first ear infection (we'll find out Tuesday)
• Wes is aware of EVERYTHING going on around him. I think sometimes he's going to hurt his neck because he's trying to watch something till it is out of site.
• He would rather be on his tummy vs. his back. When he lay him in the floor or the bed within seconds he has turned over and is on his elbows.
• He loves to jabber and do raspberries (is that what it's called when you blow out air from tight lips?) He does it ALL THE TIME. He's even started doing it with food in his mouth and it ends up all over my face! :)
• He has stated to eat baby food. He is just getting used to swallowing but sometimes he will grab my hand and put another spoonful in his mouth like I just can't get it there fast enough.
• He loves being outside and going for walks in the stroller. He could do it for hours and just watch what is going on.
• He loves to watch cars and trucks drive by. When we are near a busy street or where he can see one from a window he gets in a trance.
• He is starting to laugh out loud more and more.
• He loves to take baths and just kick in the water.
• He loves Elmo :) and smiles when he sees him on TV or when he sees his little Elmo toy.
• He loves to stick what is almost his entire foot in his mouth.
• He laughs when I'm changing his diaper and I pat his bare bum.
• He's a great sleeper and eater.
• He sticks his hand out for Chase to lick when Chase is near by...it's actually pretty cute, they're friends.

I'm sure there are 100 things I'm missing. It just seems that in the past 2 months he's doing new things everyday! I can't believe that our finalization is at the end of the month and that he will be sealed to us in like 34 days...the best is still yet to come!