On Friday night, we went to Little Monkey Bizness with our good friends, Hillary, Joe and Kennedy.  It was family night which meant a cheaper admission and free pizza!  It was pretty crazy!! Haha.  Mia did have a ton of fun and I think Joe did too. : )

I think Joe was a tad bit too big for this slide but it was quite amusing to watch him pretend like he was a small child.

Mia's face in this picture explains it all.

Baby Kennedy even went down the giant slide!

Whee.

Sweet, baby Kennedy.

What a fun night!

I came across this article today and it was just what I needed to hear.  Maybe it will be meaningful to someone else as well...

Click on the link- To the Mother With Only One Child

It's amazing how life can change so quickly after having a baby.  When I first met these girls, we were newly married and going to a new church.  Having babies and becoming stay at home moms has brought us so much closer.  It's so great to enjoy this crazy ride with other amazing women.  Now we are 3 mommas that find a day at the zoo a really fun time!  

Laura (baby Bennett), Hillary(baby Kennedy) and Me (Mia)

I'm not going to lie, this pregnancy has been messing with my body hard core.  I feel a uglier, bigger and totally unmotivated.  I'm making a point to shower, do my hair and put on make-up every day to make myself feel better.  I think teaching helped me overlook a lot of the pregnancy symptoms I had with Mia (either that or I've forgotten).  The good news is that even though I'm growing (and for some reason my face seems to try and keep up with my stomach) I am not nearly as nauseous as I have been and haven't thrown up in over a week.  I do feel my energy coming back so instead of napping when Mia naps, I've been able to be productive (most days).  In the end, I know I'm making a baby and feel so blessed that my body is able to accomplish such an amazing feat.   It's definitely the most important job I've ever had and I will do everything I can to be sure that my baby gets everything she needs.

Things that make me happy this week... Mia has started playing independently in her playroom.  Mia has a new sleep schedule- 7:30pm-6:30am. Feeling my baby girl kicking and flipping in my tummy on a daily basis. Having meals planned for every night this week. Not throwing up in over a week! My energy is coming back. American Idol starting tomorrow. 

Here are some pictures from the last week...

 I love these two.

 Mia loves her baby.  She feeds her, changes her diaper and pushes her all around the house.  

 This girl is so imaginative.  She loves to play in her kitchen from my Aunt Jackie.

 Her favorite spot in her playroom, her reading area.  We LOVE books at our house!

This girl loves her daddy!  We both missed him terribly when he was gone on a work trip last week.  Mia just kept kissing, hugging and touching him when he got home; it was the sweetest thing.

After 69 degrees on Thursday, yesterday was cold and snowy.  There is something about snow falling that is so magical!  I decided to let Mia experience the joy of a snowy day and she loved every minute of it.

One thing I miss from teaching is children's literature.  Mia walking in the snow yesterday reminded me of the book, The Snowy Day.  Wouldn't Mia be cute on the cover?

 Mia loved the snow.  She just walked all around and making tracks wherever she went.

 She loved feeling the cold snow blowing on her face.

 Notice how the houses on the other side of the street don't have to shovel their driveways. At least that warm sunshine shines through our windows on the back of our house.

 After being outside for over 30 minutes, I was cold.  Mia would have stayed outside all day if I would have let her but...

I didn't and she was NOT happy!

Baby #2 is a... GIRL!!

We had our '20 week' ultrasound yesterday even though I'm only 19 weeks and 3 days but since Joe will be gone next week, they fit us in early.  It was so great to see our baby girl and wonderful to see that all of her organs and body parts are working properly.  The details of this ultrasound were amazing.

 Who doesn't love some tiny baby feet?!

 We are not a family that uses the middle finger but we literally laughed out loud when we saw the above picture!

This precious little peanut likes to move...a lot!  I told the Doctor that it feels like she is doing somersaults  in my lower stomach and he confirmed with, "that's exactly what she is doing".

Now, we need to come up with the perfect name for this sweet baby because I have a feeling that the next 20 weeks will go by really fast!  I know she has a lot more growing to do but I am already so excited to meet her.

My Aunt Jane and Uncle David got us a zoo membership for Christmas (such an awesome gift), which included free passes to the Zoo Lights.  We enjoyed getting bundled up and looking at the pretty light displays.  Being that it's suppose to be close to 60 degrees later this week, we are going to enjoy the zoo during the daytime on Thursday.

2011 has been an amazing year!  The highlight of the year was watching Mia grow from a 2 month old- 14 month old.  We are in awe by all that she has learned in such a short amount of time.

This next year is going to be an adventure with the birth of our second baby, Joe continuing Grad School, Joe going on a two week international trip and me being in my friend, Kari's wedding.  I know 2012 will have a lot more in store for us and I can't wait to see what's on the road ahead.

Here is the Jones family top 10 of 2011: 
(Click on each to be directed to the corresponding blog post)

10. Joe winning a trip for both of us to go to Vegas (for being in the top 2% at work) and being able to have my mom join us there to help with Mia.

9. Mia's Dr. Seuss themed 1st birthday party.

8. Continuing to lead a young marrieds group with our church.

7. My sister, Karla getting married.

6. Mia learning to walk.

5. Becoming a stay-at-home mom.

4. Joe getting into the Executive MBA program at Daniels School of Business and being the youngest person ever admitted.

3. Seeing the Eiffel Tower with my loves.

2. Going to London.

1. Getting pregnant for the second time.