Its a boy!

Blake Reese Jones

After just under 41 weeks of waiting, our baby boy is here. (Just under 41 weeks=6 days overdue!). Blake Reese Jones made his grand entrance into this world on July 25, 2011 at 6:36 pm. He weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has lots of dark hair and looks a heck of a lot like his big brother, Ryan.

The kids are so excited to have him here. Garrett is an especially good helper and loves to sit and hold Blake. This is a huge help to me and I really appreciate having my big boy around to help.

Although she wanted a sister, Hannah is so excited to have a baby brother. She also likes to hold him and is so helpful to get things for me. She told me she can't wait until Blake can get up and play with her!

Ryan has been moderately disinterested in Blake. He always lets me know that "it is crying!" While he can say his name and knows who he is, Ryan prefers to call the baby "it" and not have too much to do with it. He was really involved with his crackers in the picture above and was not happy I was holding the baby while sitting by him.

We are so happy to have Blake in our family. He is such a good little baby and is trying to be patient while he and mom work out the feeding thing. Poor Blaine has been so patient with his hormonal wife. Love you babe!

In the meantime, we have been so blessed by friends and family. Everyone has been so good to us, taking the kids to play, bringing meals, bringing support and encouragement. A huge thanks to all of you. I will never be able to thank you enough.

Our Summer Fun

Since I have been "grounded" until this baby arrives, we have been trying to do fun activities that are very close to home. (Only 10 days until due date in this picture.) One of our favorites is taking the kids fishing at the pond. Its shaded there, has a picnic table and relatively little bugs. No mosquitoes, at least.

The kids are never bored there. The fish are so active and take the bait quickly. Here is Blaine, helping Ryan fish with the Barbie pole. The little kiddie poles seem to always do the best. There is no shame in fishing with Barbie.

Garrett is quite the little fisherman. Because we just do catch and release right now, when we get a fish on, we just cut the hook off. The hooks are tiny and will rust out of their mouths within days. We have never caught a fish with a hook still in its mouth. Garrett is able to re-hook, bait and cast his own pole. Very handy.

Hannah doesn't care too much for reeling in fish, although she did catch 2 with the help of her daddy. She would rather hand you power bait, lures (like above), and pull the gross moss monsters off your line. Don't ask me why she hates to reel in the fish but will grab a huge, dripping wet chunk of moss, roll it into a ball in her hands and throw it in the bushes. Weird child!

We are glad we have the pond so close to take the kids to. Makes them feel like they aren't missing out on any summer activities. Happily, we will be able to go all summer long-even with the baby!

Happy 4th of July!

While some people were slaving away at work (Moi), others got to play. And get 4th of July tattoos.

Here's Popeye's-er, I mean Garrett's holiday tattoo. Hope everyone had a great Independence Day!!