2008 Recap - It's all about Adam (UPDATED W/ PICS)

Happy Holidays from Jean, Ted, Adam, and Sliver!

We had quite the year - lots of changes in the Jones household! After waiting and waiting for months, Adam Robert showed up on Jan 24th, four days early. Jean's parents arrived on the 26th and stayed for two weeks, and then Ted's parents were in town for 4 days after that. Once they were all gone, we had to figure out this baby thing on our own! It seems to have gone pretty well so far. I credit having the dog with getting us at least a little ready for kids. Of course, now that Adam is here, she is totally neglected (or at least she thinks so).

Anyway, back to the year.... Ted had been working out at the gym and Jean joined him again after Adam was 6 weeks old. We rapidly discovered the need for good daycare at the gym, and shortly thereafter changed to a different gym with better hours and different staffing. This was vital, because Jean and Ted were scheduled to do several running events, triathlons, and other sporting things during the summer, and Adam needed the interaction with other kids, adults, and germs (we are exposing him to build immunity).

Jean went back to work in April, and Ted became the full time stay at home dad. This involves daily trips to the gym where Adam can spend 2 hours in day care, so Ted is not only in shape, he keeps his sanity! They also run errands, and come to the office every day so Jean can feed Adam his lunch. Nice of John Deere to have a "mom's room" with privacy for such things!

In May Jean and Adam took advantage of a work trip out west to visit the families and introduce Adam to most of them, since only the parents had met Adam up to that point. It was a good trip, and at 3 1/2 months he was perfect on the plane. Ted stayed at home and enjoyed a nice vacation from child care - these things are needed every once in a while!

In June Jean's parents made another trip to visit, and we did the zoo, lots of trips to the park or long walks, and enjoyed getting out and seeing the sights. June was also the kickoff for the Corporate Challenge, which is the month and a half long series of sporting events that companies can sign up for to build employee morale, encourage participation outside work, and get people in shape! So Jean was biking, running, swimming, playing soccer, volleyball, softball, and triathloning during the month. It was fun, but exhausting by the time it was over! And it was worth it, as John Deere came in first in our division!

After the Corporate Challenge ended, we still kept working out, since Beth and Holly were coming for a triathlon in July. We did take a break on the 4th of July to hang out on the patio with our friend Toney, eat grilled foods, and talk a little politics, religion, and all the other fun subjects. The triathlon was fun - Beth and Holly drove up from Texas and stayed with us, and we did the .6 mile swim, 19 mile bike, and 4.2 mile run in Shawnee Mission Park. Jean particularly enjoyed it because she had been worried about being last, and finished ahead of both Holly and Beth!

In August we headed out to WA to visit the families, and spent 11 days. It was fabulous to see everyone, to participate in two birthday parties, visit the beach, do some hiking, see all the siblings, and just relax. Of course, the plane ride home was a little stressful (tired cranky baby who did a big poop that needed changing on the plane, melted chocolate on Jean's shorts that had to be cleaned off, etc, etc).

September and October were the usual routine - as usual as it can be with Adam, who likes to mix it up with changes in sleep patterns (he went from sleeping until 7am, to 6am, to 5am, and is now back to 6:30am), the occasional restless night with a cold or fever, or just not wanting to nap during the day (poor Ted, Jean is glad to be at work on those days!).

Adam was a popular guy for Halloween this year - he had 4 costumes, and managed to wear 3 of them (the 4th was just too small for his huge head!). Unfortunately Jean was traveling for work part of that time, and missed two of the parties, but made it home in time for Halloween night.

Around this time, Ted decided to start training for a Marathon, so he is getting ready to go out and run the Phoenix Marathon in January - anyone who wants to come and join us to cheer him on is welcome. It will be the MLK holiday weekend.

In November and December Jean had trips for work, and Adam, Sliver and Ted made sure the house was still standing when she got back. Luckily her travel is done for a while, as it is tough on everyone when she is gone for 4 or 5 days in a row. In a fun change, Jean stayed home for 5 days in November while Ted took a trip out to WA to do a roadtrip and see a WSU football game with some college friends. While WSU was terrible (it was so bad they left at half time), they had a great time touring WA and reliving some of the good old days.

In mid-December Jean's parents were back for a trip to visit, which was fun, because they brought plenty of holiday cheer with them, and got us all organized and ready for Christmas. They even helped with some home repairs, so they left us in better shape than we were when they arrived! They had to go home before the holidays, but it was a great visit, and much appreciated, since we won't make it out to WA this winter. We will try to get out there next summer when the weather is better, the planes aren't as crowded (or delayed), and Jean has more time off!
So as we finish the year, Adam is almost 11 months, is standing and balancing on his own, is eating us out of house and home with his very healthy appetite, and our lives revolve around him. We wouldn't change it. Sliver is 10+ years, starting to slow down a little, and not sure the baby is all good - although any food that gets dropped for her or she can lick off his face is appreciated. She would like it if he didn't pull her tail so much!

So that is our year! If you want to see pictures or see more of Adam, just scroll down and check out some of the previous posts. And leave a message if you would like - we would love to hear from you!

Have a Lovely Holiday Season, and keep in touch! Jean, Ted, and Jean