Hensley Ruth: 3 Months

Three months old! Dear baby girl, you are so cool. You love doing moves from our Itsy Bitsy Yoga book. You love being spoken to and sung to and often talk back. You love to eat and sleep and smile. You often close your eyes or tense up a bit when your brother comes in for a smackeroo on the lips. You loved the brownie that Grandpa Ben fed you this weekend. Just kidding. He asked if you could try a brownie crumble, but luckily I was there to remind him "not quite yet." Your dad couldn't get enough of seeing you on skype today.  You sleep from 9 or 10pm to 5 or 5:30am most nights. At 5:30 I put you back down and you wake again at 8:30am. Your eyes are still blue. You weigh about 13 lbs. You kick and scoot across the floor on your back. You are cuddly and cute. We love you, Hensley Ruth. 

Memorial Weekend: Family Fun

It was a full family weekend for us and this mama is pooped! Tegegne, you played with cousins non stop. (that's 17 kids ranging from 2 months to 11 yrs!) You probably ate more sugar than I want to know about. You caught a fish. You missed a nap for two days and ran around constantly. One would think that you will sleep for a week straight after that, but I am sure you will be up and running early tomorrow morning. Even though you wear me out, I sure do love you.

Everyone had so much fun with you sweet baby Hensley. You and your little cousin Orien (1.5 months younger) held hands and laid on the same blanket half of the weekend. It was ridiculously cute to see you two together. Thanks for being such a happy little girl! I love you so much.

It was nice to have a good distraction from missing Ababayeh. We got to skype with him two days ago, and I got an email that he's doing well. He surfed, hung out on the beach, went to st. jean de luz, is eating good food and wine, and reconnecting with friends that he met on last years trip.

Even though we are here with lots of family, I would not recommend this single parenthood thing. Phew, I am so glad that you two have a good daddy that will be home soon.

Good night,

Mom

Sweet Baby: Sweet Chair

Sweet baby, sweet chair huh? Michael did quite an excellent job finding one out of the six Vernon Panton S chairs that was on my wish list. Now if we can only find five more and trade them in for the beautiful glossy white ones...I have no plans to trade in the sweet baby, btw. 

photo.

  This chair is quite lovely, no? I love it in glossy white. The design of this chair is genius, I think.  

Dear Hubby Ababayeh Jones

It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. The funny thing is that you've only been gone for 2ish days. Ha! As you were leaving the country last night I missed your call twice, and just now I missed your "live chat" in gmail. It makes me remember when we were in college and you spent 6 months in France. I would miss your call all of the time and cry, cry, cry. I'm not crying now, don't worry. Just wished I could say hi. Several times today Tegegne said, "Mommy, when are we going to skype with Ababayeh? I want to skype with him. I miss him."


Besides missing you, we've had an exciting afternoon with tornado warnings then gorgeous skies and now more suspicious looming clouds. Luckily Kara from up the street stopped by with her kiddos asking if we wanted to take a walk when we heard the sirens. She and I took the kids to the basement, turned on the radio, built a fort with tables, got out play dough and puzzles, breast fed our babies, and then put bike helmets on the kids. I had our huge scooter helmets ready for for the two of us. With the tragedy in Joplin, we figured we couldn't be too prepared!


After Kara left I had one of those "woe is me" afternoons until I found my phone and saw that sweet Kate, Emily, and Taryn had all checked in with us. Thanks friends.


Okay, and I've been in and out of this post, (you know...tending to the needs of the children) and I just listened to my voice mails and I also missed your call. Holy cow. Thanks for the message dear. I hope to receive all further correspondence from you!  


I love you.


Kris

 Happy Birthday Mason! I had so much fun at your swimming party! (P.S. This photo is so last summer, but the photos from your party are on the camera which is traveling with Ababayeh to France!) Love, Tegegne

Taryn and Micah, thank you so much for loving my sister and I like you do. We LOVE spending time with you guys. Especially last week, when you let my mom and dad go to a last minute movie and you hung out with us. We cannot wait to be in your wedding in a few months. Love you so much! (Ummm, this photo is also from so long ago. I think all of our pics are on Taryn's camera!)
-Tegegne & Hensley


Last but not least, have a happy week! We are in survival mode without Ababayeh for the next two weeks. Cannot wait to skype with him soon and hear of their crazy travels to Bayonne! 

Happy Birthday: Uncle Eric

Our parents tell us how wonderful you are and we look forward to growing to know you.

They say that you have one of the best laughs. You have the ability to make a person feel like a million bucks even when they told a joke that wasn't great. You care about people and social justice and living simply and you have an amazing wife to journey through life with. My mom tells us that you and Erica were in the Peace Corps in Mongolia for almost 3 years, where you were devastated by the extremes of wealth and poverty but you helped the people as best as you could. Then you lived in Japan and worked on a blueberry farm while Erica worked through a Japanese ceramics program. When you got back to the U.S. Gramma Debby was worried that you would never buy a bed again because you had learned that people in the world live on very little. My mom and Gramma visited your little apartment in Eugene, OR and said it was great. Eating Japanese food around the coffee table sitting on the floor, listening to a great record, and sharing laughs. We look forward to a gaining a bigger vocabulary so we can sit around and visit with you the two of you! 

We cannot wait to spend more time with you guys next weekend!


Love,


Tegegne and Hensley

Day to Day: Silly Photos + Dr Gunyea

Blue Mama and Baby. Just the girls hanging out today. We took a nice walk to visit some friends in the neighborhood. Husband and wife architects who are making awesome renovations to a big brick house just up the street from us! They have three little ones too!

Comic boys.

Hensley wanted to say hello to everyone!

As I was looking through photos I found this of Michael and his good pal Johnny G. We miss you Johnny and Tanya and we are trying to get ourselves to Austin to see you this summer!

I also found this old video of the boys and thought it was quite adorable! Tegegne, you were such a little guy!

Kids: Tegegne the Baby Wisperer/Bouncer

Tegegne: Conversations

Scout Photo. Nick Welch.

Tegegne,


I love it that you are three, because you say things that are funny, or that don't make any sense.  I love it that I can still pick you up and it sometimes feels easier than carrying your sister. (that is probably because of how you wrap your legs and arms so tight around me when I carry you these days.) 


T: "Mommy, don't say umhum...say yes. Do you know what umhum means? It's not a story but yes is a story."
M: (Wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I just said, "Okay, I meant yes.")


T: "Mommyeh, let's snuggle!"
M: "Really?" (You said this with that melt-my-heart smile while sitting in the car. Too bad we didn't end up snuggling when we got inside. You forgot all about it, and I guess I did too.)


T: (Yelling from the bathroom while I was in your sisters room changing her clothes.) "Mooommmyyy, tell my sister I'm going poop! Say Siiiister, your brother's going poop." 
M: "Siiiister, your brother's going poop." 
T: "Mommy, I neeeed help."
M: "Okay, wait just a minute and I'll help you."


T: "Ababayeh, what is that hair in your nose?"
A: "Adults just have hair in their nose?"
T: "Will I have hair in my nose when I'm an adult?"


T: "Mommyeh, I want to shave like Ababayeh."


T: During a big thunder storm, you were wide-eyed and innocent, "Mommy, what are the lights that keep coming on in the sky?"


One of the highlights of my week was this: 


We were just arriving home Wed evening and it was pouring down rain. Ababayeh ran from the car to the house to prop the door open for us to make a run for it. I yelled to him to grab an umbrella, but then remembered that he probably didn't know that I had just put three of them in our lockers by the back door. He comes running to us with a big blue tarp overhead. I held you and the three of us ran to the house under the tarp, getting way soaked on the way. We were all laughing so hard...it was awesome. One of those stop-me-in-this-moment-so-I-can-hold-onto-this-feeling-forever! (Hensley was still in the car but Ababayeh ran right back to get her. He tried to hold the tarp over her on the way in, but it didn't work and she got the wettest of us all!) 


And that's it. It's the little things in life that really make life worthwhile. Can't believe you are going to Big Sky for 4 days. We'll miss you Little-Big Guy! Don't grow while you're gone.

Happy: Week

Happy week to you, friends, mothers, uncles, cousins, and brothers. 


From my mustache to yours,


Tegegne Jones

This one's especially for you, Larry Larison. Thanks for playing me a sweet lullaby on your dobro last night. Love you. 

Day to Day: Projects & Kids

Photos from Emmas designblogg

Oh the soft sunlight is lovely coming into both of these spaces. This morning I soaked up every bit of sunlight coming in our kitchen window while eating breakfast with my little man. I'm trying to redesign our kitchen so we can get more of that warm morning sun coming from the east.

So after my post about you (Hensley) sleeping through the night, you've done fairly well with 6.5 hour spans most nights. Then last night you made it 9 hours! We went to the hospital yesterday to get your hips checked out and the nurse said, "These hips look normal to me, and I see lots of little hips!" Your doctor will confirm, but so far so good. I just found a trick to putting you down for a nap in your crib. A step stool. I stepped up and laid you down more smoothly than usual. And you stayed asleep.

And this is for you Tegegne:

And now here is a Hoodwink

Who winks in his wink-hood.

Without a good wink-hood

A Hoodwink can't wink good.

And, folks, let me tell you

There's only one circus

With wink-hooded Hoodwinks!

The Circus McGurkus!

(If I Ran the Circus, by Dr. Seuss)

You and I have been laughing back and forth all morning saying Circus McGurkus! We read one third of the book outside with your sister. Then we took her to her room for a nap, and went back out to kick the soccer ball. We did laps around the house, and ran some wind sprints. Trying to get you ready for your second soccer practice tomorrow! And trying to get your 'ol mom back into shape. Now if I could just stop eating this Belgian chocolate bar from one of your dad's dear colleagues!

It's going to be a lovely weekend, I can feel it! Looking forward to a family night with college friends, an Ethiopian Celebration dinner + fashion show, a Sunday picnic with Grandpa Ben and Gramma Debby, and some porch sittin' with a good friend. The best part of it all is that we get Ababayeh for two days straight! Tegegne, you are giddy on the weekends because you get so much dad time. And your sister can hardly stop smiling when he is holding her!

Happy Weekend Folks!

Family Outings: Seeing Friends

 

Outing One: Birthday Party for Franck from France. We celebrated in these fun French mustaches. While we were partying the night away, your sister was in the back bedroom sleeping. She did make her appearance at the end of the night to say her hellos before we headed out the door.

 

 

Outing Two: Daddys' Girls. Sela and Hensley, you obviously have your dads (who dressed alike!) wrapped around your teeny little fingers. Maybe that means that when you are older you can ask your dads for money and take your moms shopping! We love spending time with your family and are so proud of your dad's recent film award (The Wolf and the Medallion by Jeremy Collins) and cannot wait to see it live in KC!

Outing Three: Neighborhood Stroll. It is so nice to be close to good friends in our neighborhood. It is especially fun that these good friends have kiddos that our kiddos can grow up with!

Thanks: Nick and Katie

Scout Photo.

Dear Nick and Katie,

Thanks for taking care of us last night so our parents could go out on the town. It was really nice of you to offer. We love you so much!

Thanks for giving me a bath after my blowout. I was quite embarrassed that I caused such a mess. Thanks for rocking me, feeding me, and talking to me. I really had a great night. Love, Hensley

Thanks for taking us on a walk, reading me books, wrestling around, and helping me brush my teeth. Can't wait to hang out again. Love, Tegegne