Grandma&Grandpa Jones!!

desigpa&gmajones
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

They've arrived! Early Sunday morning before Des was awake so we all bounded into the bedroom when he finally called out. He was quite shy for the first 45minutes, holding me tightly, watching them carefully. But before we left for church at 9:30AM, Desi was already saying his version of Grandpa, papa, and Grandma had given him a bubblebath! He referred to them frequently through church and was thrilled to find them still there when we returned. We all went on a walk later in the afternoon after naps. He was his happy walking self and they loved it. At one point he decided to sit right down and rest himself with his beverage right in the middle of the sidewalk (and it has since developed, as of yesterday, into not only sitting down anywhere in the middle of the busy sidewalk, but laying down and rolling around as if he were on the grass... our ghetto playground.)

I took a few pics here

Vanessa Graduates

desiini&thegraduate
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

We took our first Jones Family Road Trip to Philadelphia on Monday night for Vanessa's graduation on Tuesday morning.

Because we are rarely in cars, DJ gets car sick rather easily and vomited heartily before we even got out of NYC. We had to wait till we crossed into NJ to pull over to a service station to clean him and the rental up. We were there for about an hour making trips back and forth to the bathroom. A whole new way to travel for us!

Desi did enjoy watching all the cars, saying "beepbeep" and pointing out buses and trucks. We also sang songs, tickled each other and listened to music. Nate is the avid CD collector in the family so he brought a selection for his listening pleasure. He conveniently forgot Desi's CD with some fun toddler tunes but he did bring one of my favorite CDs that he's discovered recently to actually be good, "Black Eyed Man" by the Cowboy Junkies. I happily put it in after an hour on the road and sang and enjoyed myself. But when I was into about the 5th song on the CD, Desi began a distressed, "byebye" plea and soon it escalated to, "byebye music byebye!" We laughed quite a bit at him and I quickly skipped ahead to my favorite song and promised that it would go "byebye" after this song. Nate then took over saying that Desi liked one of his CDs, Aqua, and popped it in. A euro techno beat filled the car followed by a most cartoonish woman's voice. Desi grinned widely. Hmph!

He vomited a couple more times before reaching Ini&Vanessa's place. What a mess! We were in the outskirts of Philly by then so kept driving till we reached the house and hustled him off to the bathtub (that turned out to be the extent of his throwing-up, amazingly his body adjusted and there were no more problems).

The three of us had to sleep in the same bed that night and once Desi discovered this he couldn't go back to sleep for about two hours. I stood my ground and refused to nurse him. We quit middle of the night nursing about 6months ago and I wasn't about to start up again, esp. now that we'll be sharing the same room again (once grandma&grandpajones arrive for a 1month visit) and the same bed while traveling in UT for a month at the end of this summer.

Vanessa's graduation was at the Academy of Music at 10am the next morning (Tues). We decided to bring Desi along as we came into an extra ticket -- we had previously arranged for Soofy, a friend from South Philly, to play with him in neighboring Rittenhouse Square Park. After the first 5 minutes in our plush seats we regretted our change of plans, Des was *not* going to sit still or be quiet for longer than 60 seconds in such a stimulatingly new environment. Nate and I took turns taking him out and letting him run around the corridors for the next 2.5hours. UGH! As far as we could tell he was the only child under 6years there. NEW TO PARENTING!!

Vanessa looked gorgeous and was so almost-adult that it was incredible thinking we had known her for so long and seen such a transformation. She was so happy and proud.

Nate and I used to live just a few blocks from the Academy, where Vanessa obviously visited us frequently, so after the ceremonies were over we all knew exactly were we wanted to go for lunch to celebrate... Bertucci's!! Yummyyummy pizza! Our friend Moonsun joined us for a little bit to say hello -- it was her first time seeing babydes. But for the majority of the time it was the 4.5 of us talking and laughing like we used to. It was good to see our friends again and the city we love so much.

(The photos aren't many or very good -- the battery in my camera was low and I hadn't recharged extras before leaving... :::gurrrr:::)

Happy Outing

happyouting
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

Desi loves the Sunday late afternoon walks and I was feeling unusually energetic (since pregnancy I have been afflicted with lowlow energy levels and, of course, burdensome hunger)so after his nap and lunch we set out for our 45minute around the block walk. Yes, it takes us that long. :) I sent footage this morning of his exuberant walking self. He gets so happy to be out and free.

This pics was taken near the end of the walk when he found this little place to sit down and rest with his beverage. He was so pleased with himself to sit there and reach for his beverage then place it back down again, kick his legs a few times, then pick it back up again. He was very curious about a nearby tattoo shop and wandered back and forth, trying to get a tattooed attendants attention. hehehehe...

Cooling Off

misty
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

The three of us went to the local Green Market on Saturday morning for some fresh bread, cheese and fruit. We always get the yummy chilled apple cider too, which we all love. In this pic Desi's using the carton to capture and play with the water. We went to the nearby playground where after swinging for a bit he ventured over to the misting frog and eventually got soaked. Must have felt good -- it was a really hot morning.
Wet Pics

Playground Pro

littleclimber
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

Yesterday, Thursday, was a hothothot day. We've arrived. Another New York summer.

:::grimace:::

Des is a profuse sweater, like his dad. You'll see from the pics below how he glistens. He hasn't made any noticeable heat complaints and in the park he played as usual. Most of the parks up here have these great water fountain sprinklers for cooling off and they have all been turned on since Memorial Day. Funny Desi though, he avoided it. I thought he'd love it! It was the first time he'd seen it -- may take time for him to get comfortable with the idea. He's become an expert climber on the play gyms -- he's only 18months old!! Climbing up these crazy 'ladders' like the big kids, it took my breath away. Takes after me perhaps -- loved climbing trees as a girl.... ahhhh... I've got some great pics of his progression up one of these 'ladders', eeeks, had to spring from my seat to spot him after taking the pic.

Oh, one cute story, as it's beginning to swelter in the apartment and we're trying to postpone the a/c usage till grandma&grandpajones arrive, we've pulled the fan out in the living room and of course DPJ wants to touch it. I decided to take a no nonsense approach and fiercely hollered at him when he went to put his fingers inside the fan, "NO!" It was a scary sound, believe me! Desi startled and looked at me then approached with this puzzling-concerned look on his face and says, "mamma? mamma?" as if something were wrong with me, his voice had a soothing gentleness to it. Then he puts his arms around me and hugs me, "mamma, mamma, ahhhh..... ahhhhh... mamma..." and gently patted my shoulder. It was the sweetest sweetest little demonstration of love and comfort. As he's still to young to control his impulses, he was back by the fan again within a few minutes so I again had to growl at him. He jerked away and fairly ran toward me, "mamma, mamma!" Throwing himself into my arms. I love him so much!!

Climber action shots

Nursery Debut

nurserydebut
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

Our 18month old baby attended nursery for the first time this Sunday. I was asked to substitute so I oversaw all Desi's new protocol training: sitting down in a chair, folding arms, being still through prayer and lesson time (he identified a picture of the SLC Temple by shouting, "TEMPLE!") and then, perhaps the most difficult of all, sharing and personal space. :) He enjoyed singing time and picked, by chance, one of his favorite songs to sing, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". He clapped at the end of every song and showed a lot of enthusiasm. He loved drawing on the chalk board and playing with the balls and fire engine truck. Surprisingly was inclined to give no one a hug. During snack time he did pretty well, only reached onto others plates occasionally, kept the water in his cup and ate all of his snacks. He needs a lot more experience and I think next Sunday when I bring him and leave him he may get a little sad... but he bounces back remarkably well. One little boy this week was sosososo furious and got absolutely red in the face when his mother tried to leave him. Can't see Des getting that worked up, but his wounded little crys are nevertheless a bit hard to hear.

Saturdays -- Family Time!!

rockin in washpark
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

Hooray!! Like most people we are able, for the next couple of weeks anyway, to spend Saturdays together!! :):) After Desi's nap we decided to take him down to West 4th Street and Washington Square Park. We thought we'd eventually make it over to Alphabet City and check the neighborhood and parks out but we never made it past Wash Sq Park. We'd never noticed the 2 playgrounds in the park before, and it's a rather small park, one designed for smaller babies and toddlers and the other for older kids (funny what you suddenly notice when you have children.) Desi was mostly interested in playing with another babies ball but soon took interest in the little animal rockers, and then eventually a little girl which he later embraced. hehehe...

It was in the playground when we decided to make our phone calls to family about our multiplication -- babyjones numero dos!!! Thrillingthrillingthrilling!!! At least for us. We got mixed responses. ;)

Later we got some crepes and ate them near the grass and then wandered a bit in search of icecream. Decided to let Desi have his first icecreamcone. Cutecutecute. It's so fun to watch him eat new things and love them.

view pictures

Memorial Day Picnic

memorialdaypicnic
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

Prettypretty day on Monday for a picnic. Our ward planned a picnic with potluck desert for the afternoon. There were waterballoons (haha... Nate was a favorite target)and football and lots of playmates for Desi. When we first arrived he spotted a tricycle and sat on it immediately, Nate tried to instruct him on feet placement, still working. We then laid out our blanket and tried to eat our sandwiches, Desi ended up marching all over most of them. He got away from us acoupla times and marched through a private picnic near ours, stomped right across their blanket. Most embarrasing... I sent Nate to fetch him. Our contribution was a watermelon (of course!!) I eagerly cut into it, burrying my face into the yummyyummyyummyness of slice after slice. After polishing off a few, I noticed Desi was keeping up with me rather well and had a red stained face that probably mirrored mine -- he takes after me! Des did a bit of climbing on some nearby rocks, totally fearless , scuffing his knees (he was wearing shorts) didn't seem to slow him down at all. We stayed and played and ate and talked for 3hours. Des had failed to take his nap that afternoon and was doing remarkably well. We got home and he proceeded to dance and be silly... it's so nice being three!! He bedded down an hour early...ahhh... sweet sleep!

Picnic Pics

Heidi!

auntieheidisvisit
Originally uploaded by globalgirl246.

A day hasn't gone by in the last month where Desi hasn't asked about his Auntie Heidi, though he simply calls her, "Heidi?!" it is always a question. It is so cute to see his thoughts manifest into words about her.

She came to spend the day with us last Thursday (we almost got bumped for a impuse white water rafting trip to Wyoming!) but she came and Desi was sososo happy to see her. He wanted to immediately show her his nesting boxes and then of course his balls and bat and then he danced for her. He loves dancing and I have to say, he's such a cute little dancer!! Later they cuddled up with a book. Aren't they cute together? :):)

Of course the next morning one of his first thoughts was: nurse, mama, HEIDI?!

See pics in link above