Jones From Louisiana

Friday, June 27, 2008

Savannah's 4th Birthday Party

Our neice Savannah, had her 4th birthday party in Shreveport, LA. It was at Gymboree Music and Play. It was a Princess and Pirate theme. We had lots of fun. Here are some pictures:

The birthday girl!

Palmer and Uncle Tony

Savannah crossing the bridge

Emerson playing

Emerson about to slide

Walking the plank

More fun!

Rolling round and round

Two points!!

Jumping high!

Bubble time

Palmer sliding with Gigi

Happy Palmer

I love this ball!

Sisters

Typical Emerson

Palmer makes two points with Daddy

See Saw

Balance

Me Too!

Hanging Out

The girls playing music

Palmer got a bubble!

Emerson too!

Savannah blowing out the candles

Time for cake and ice cream!

Palmer got some ice cream too with PaPaw

Emerson and Aunt Lorrie

Everyone went to play and Emerson wasn't going to leave until she finished eating!

Emerson and Savannah leaving the party holding hands

Palmer and Mimi

Palmer playing in the tissue paper

Savannah open her dress that Aunt Tracy made

Opening presents

Friday, June 20, 2008

Palmer is FINALLY taking a cup! As many of you know we have been struggling with Palmer for about 6 months to take a bottle. She's gotten so old now, that we decided to just work on the cup instead. One less transition. For months she would only take juice from a bottle or cup, and not on a regular basis. She would purposefully gag when there was breastmilk or formula in the cup. There are several reasons we want her on a cup. She'll be one soon and needs to be able to transition to whole milk, we can keep up better with her calorie intake if we could tell how many ounces she's taking, and she's starting preschool in August (can you believe it?) and I don't want to have to come up during the day to feed her.

We have tried every bottle and sippy cup out there. Strangely enough, she only likes the Toss and Take hard plastic cups. I think it's because there is no valve, but not really sure. It's been a long slow process and she's not 100% with it, but is not refusing it and screaming when it's presented to her. She likes to do it by herself. She holds it like a big girl. I can't believe she's almost 10 months old!

I have to confess my secret to getting her to take it. This may not be the right thing to do, but it worked for her. As I said she would drink juice from the cup, but gagged with formula. So I came up the idea of mixing the formula with juice. I know she doesn't need all the extra sugar, but the extra calories are good. We're slowly weaning down from the juice. Everyday, I put one ounce less juice and one ounce extra water in it. She doesn't seem to notice the slow change. When she first tasted it, she kinda looked confused. It tasted sweet likes she likes it, but had another taste to it. She still doesn't drink all 6 ounces at one time, but is getting better and better. She is still nursed in the morning and at night, but gets formula during the day. I love feeding her, but it's nice that other people can feed her and that she can feed herself. I know this was kind of a strange way to get her to take the cup, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I'm so excited that she's finally going good with a cup. Here's a picture of her drinking her apple julius (that's what I call her apple juice formula concoction) laying on the boppy.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Ryan's Graduation

Ryan graduated this week from his Residency. For those who don't know Ryan is finishing his four year Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency this month. He starts his Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology on July 1st. I'm so proud of him, he has worked really hard. He's one step closer to his goal.

Ryan accepting his certificate

It's Official!

Med/Peds and Peds graduates

Anison's Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from my neice, Anison's 3rd birthday party in Leland, MS. She had a fun Dora party. They went on a Dora adventure looking for the missing birthday crown. All the kids had a blast!

Anison and Shannon making her Dora backpack