Six Teeth, Hello to Sparkle, Goodbye to Laid Back Jack, and Other Jones Family News

It's been an eventful month for the Jones Clan as we have celebrated quite a few firsts with the babies!  We have teeth!  Six to be exact - two each on Jack, Brooklyn, and as of today, Miss Ryan Elizabeth.  All three babies have the bottom two front teeth...so cute!  Jack likes to show his off as he giggles which happens quite a bit these days.  Another first - Ryan can now move from her belly to the sitting up position on her own.  It's pretty cool that she can do that and I hope the rest catch on quick - along with the greater mobility she seems to be able to entertain herself for longer periods of time.  All of the babies are starting to pull up on chairs and tables and I think it's possible that Ryan will go from the army crawl to walking without ever doing a real crawl.  She is constantly pushing up on her hands and her toes...really funny!  It's been busy keeping up with all of the changes, but we're really having fun with them all now that survival mode is a thing of the past!

The babies have been doing great with their cereal and veggies and have been packing on the pounds.  Here are the latest not-so-scientific weights:  Brooklyn, Lila, and Ryan are all 15 pounds which is surprising to us because Brooklyn is quite a bit longer than the other two girls.  Big Bad Jack is tipping the scales at 19 pounds and Little Baby B, Britton Grace, is still a featherweight at a mere 13 pounds.  We'll get an accurate count on all of the stats next month when we take them in for their nine month checkup.

It's official - Laid Back Jack is gone and we have welcomed Mr. Adventure into our home!  He still isn't crawling, but he's mastered the army crawl with great speed...and, boy does he love to be on the move!  That kid is everywhere - crawling under the bouncey seats, wiggling his way down the hall, diving into the stacks of wipes, sneaking around behind the rocking chairs, and all points in between!  And, oh yeah, don't get in his way 'cuz he's not changing course...several of the girls have had to learn this the hard way... :)  Check out the videos for Action Jack on the move!  And I have to mention one more of my boy's new activities - every time I come upstairs to see the babies, Jack wastes no time crawling over to me, climbing up my leg, and giving me a huge, pick-me-up-daddy smile...as you might imagine, I love it!!  There is more to read below the videos...




We have another new addition to announce - we have welcomed Sparkle the Crown Tail Betta to our world!  In the picture above, where Eliot is in a yellow shirt standing next to what could pass as an empty vase, you will see Sparkle if you turn your head slightly right, close one eye, and stand very, very still...
Eliot has been very excited about her new little buddy and is doing a great job of taking care of her (and has held her off from begging for a dog for at least a little while longer)!!

This has been our best month so far since the babies arrived...it's amazing what a regular sleep pattern can do for your state of mind!  The babies go down no later than 7:30 these days and Eliot is out an hour later, finally giving Casey and I some time together away from all of the demands that come with our new lives.  The babies are much happier and easier to manage during the days, Eliot is absolutely loving kindergarten and doing great, school is definitely working me over, but no more so than I'm used to by now, and Casey has been able to get a pretty good workout routine going (until she fell and hurt herself...bummer!).  Oh yeah, and another cool thing - we get to walk Eliot to school every day and most days we get to take a couple of babies along for the ride...they love their morning walks!  But of course, most importantly of all - college football is in full swing...oh yeah!!!!!  All in all, life is just a little bit easier as a tiny fraction of normalcy has begun to sneak its way back into the Jones home.  Hallelujah!!  October is just around the bend, hopefully along with some cooler weather...exciting times ahead!