CHEEZ-IT THEIF!

After a stock up trip to Costco, Princess J showed off her expert skill at opening doors. She took a quick peek into the pantry and stole her new favorite item. She was initially very stealthy and hauled this huge

box all the way to her room without anyone noticing. It was when she became giddy with excitment that we figured her out. Perfect opportunity for a photo shoot and to catch her little cheezer smile!

Heart Attack at the Zoo!

Today, Grandma, Grandpa, Little J, Princess J, Baby J and I headed for a day at the zoo. Since Baby J arrived, the kids have been pretty cooped up in the house as we settle into a new normal. Today, we had to get the kiddos out of the house and test the waters out in the world.

What a great day we had! We got to see lots of animals and we were pretty impressed with the Oakland Zoo. I can't even remember the last time I was there, but I'm sure I probably paid the kids admission fee! LOL!

Princess J loved the River Dog, the Giraffes and the Elephants. Baby J was a trooper and was soooo good! He made it so easy for mommy! He enjoyed the fresh air and snoozed as we strolled around and entertained Little J and Princess J. He even slept through their lunch and woke wanting to be fed just as we were all finishing up our lunches! What a perfect baby!

You'll notice the extra photo of Princess J and she doesn't look happy!


We tried giving her a few opportunities to be out of the stroller and check things out. I really was trying to get a photo of her with the Giraffes, but as I've posted before, she has one speed......FAST! She took off running down the path so fast! We had to reign her in and put her back in the stroller. This did not make her happy in the least. She got over it pretty quick and when we gave her freedom again to check out the lions she was pretty good about sticking close to Grandma or mommy. So good about holding hands and everything!

As we were preparing to leave, Grandma decided to get the kiddos some shirts for their visit at the zoo. We left Little J and Baby J out in the strollers in the shade with Grandpa and too Princess J inside to the gift shop. She was having a great time checking out all the stuffed animals, the books and the animal figures. She was being soooo good about staying put and holding hands and just being a good little princess in general. Then, something caught her eye and she took off running faster than a speeding bullet! I followed in the direction she went calling out her FULL name and by that I mean First, Middle and Last! The only problem is she was no where to be seen! Thankfully, Grandma caught her coming around another corner! She pretty much did a circle around me from the direction she initially went. I was sooooo SUPER FREAKED OUT! Needless to say, she got into big trouble and her freedom was over. From now on, I can guarantee that my kid will be one of those kiddos with the "backpack leash" attached to her!

In case you are wondering about the second photo of Princess J, she is imitating the elephants! It is soooo stinkin' cute!

Happy 4th Birthday ol' Blog!

Who knew! Life has changed so much since I started this ol' blog! Little J was almost a year old when I started this and who knew all the life changing things we would go through just eight months later! Since I started this blog, Little J was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome, he's started and finished pre-school and will soon start kindergarten. I'm glad I had this blog when our family went through that very difficult period after Little J was diagnosed. It's been very helpful to be able to talk about everything from his amazing accomplishments, the diagnosis, the difficulties that Little J faces and just his smiling little face. We also welcomed Princess J to our family and she has just been an amazing gem! She is so stinkin' cute and so stinkin' smart and just one little pistol of a drama queen little girl. We also welcomed Baby J just a couple of weeks ago!

I'm so happy with my sweet little family of 5 and hope you will continue to follow our adventures in this joyful life of ours....with a little drama on the side sometimes! LOL!

Uh-Uh

So, we spent a lot of time telling Princess J about her new little brother. She spent many nights laying in bed with mommy and checking out the baby belly. She was so sweet and gentle and would give it kisses.

She was a little upset the day of the delivery, because mommy and daddy had to rush out of the house to head for the hospital. She and Little J stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa said that Princess J kept grabbing his hand and taking him to the door wanting to go too. The kiddos were a little out of sorts that night and didn't get to sleep until late.....not that they were not in bed, they just wouldn't go to sleep! Daddy came home pretty late, as peanut and I didn't get to a room until almost midnight after the delivery.

The next day Grandma brought Princess J over to the hospital to see me and to meet Little Peanut. We asked her where her little brother was and she pointed (as usual) to mommy's belly. When we told her no and showed her Little Peanut, she just said uh-uh and turned her head away. Even after bringing him home, she's still not completely sold on the whole little brother deal. She's been a little mad at mommy lately for bringing Little Peanut home! LOL! She's slowly....very slowly warming up to him though. I give her another month and she'll be just as smitten with him as the rest of us! LOL!

I just had to get these cute little photos of Princess J the other day. It's so hard to snap her photo though, because she only operates in one speed......FAST! Can't wait to sit down and order photos and get back to some scrapping!

It's a PEANUT!

Have you wondered at all where I've been? This last pregnancy kicked my bootay and some things had to go by the wayside. As much as I wanted to and tried, I just couldn't keep up with Little J, Princess J and the blog along with numerous other things. Craziness!

Our newest addition arrived nice and early, just like his brother and sister. His due date was August 8. His planned eviction date was August 4. He arrived on July 29th at 7:43 pm weighing in at 6lbs, 15oz and measuring 21 inches long. I spent most of the pregnancy begging him to stay put until his eviction date, but as you can see, he didn't listen. The day started out pretty typical....lots on the "to do" list, lots of plans and a few appointments. I had a plan to go to Ikea, but had some crazy nightmare about breaking my water and going into labor in Ikea, so I decided not to go. We stuck pretty close to home and G was on his last 2 days at work before his family leave started. My stepmom and I headed to take Little J to his OT/PT appointment, while Little J was busy working out, we went and got a yummy Jamba Juice. After we picked him up, we stopped at Target for a few things and headed home to get some of the "to do" list done. The plan was to have a snack (of some yummy home made salsa and chips) along with the yummy Jamba Juice, and clean out an over stuffed closet and take the contents we no longer wanted along with some other stuff in the garage to a local charity for donation. Lofty dreams I know. We get home, and first things first, one must go to the rest room. As I'm in there, I realize I am now bleeding....YIKES! Nothing serious, but this means......gotta head to the hospital as we didn't want me in full blown labor since I was a repeat c-section patient. Poor G had to race home from work....good thing he works really close! We headed to the hospital...which is less than a mile away to get checked out.

As they are checking things out and hooking me up to monitors and playing the wait and see game....I spent my time letting my Facebook friends know what was going on. It really made the time pass very quickly! After awhile, the doc came in and said that they were going to watch things and decide what they were going to do. The nurse however told us that the chances of us leaving the hospital without delivering the baby were in the neighborhood of zero! LOL! I knew that when I walked in the front door!

So, as this story continues and I get back into the blogity blog the adventures of this Joyful Life will now include not only our fabulous angel Little J, and the Royal Princess J, but now we have sweet little Peanut J! Collectively, they will lovingly be referred to as the three J's! LOL!

Lots to catch up on, including the ever so adorable reaction of Princess J to Peanut J! You won't want to miss that!