Birthday Girl

Today my first little girl turned 6. Lets see 6 years ago my labor started on Wed. night (5/28) just as we were leaving church. I didn't think much of it at first because my lower back was hurting but it would happen every 5 minutes. We went home and I labored at home until around 10:30PM when we finally decided to call the doctor. It wasn't my regular doctor who called me back so he didn't believe that I was in labor but he said since this was my second pregnancy to go ahead and head to the hospital. So we packed up Mark, who was 2 1/2 years old, and headed to the hospital. We arrived around 11:30PM and George decided that he was going to drop me off at labor and delivery this time. Good thing he did because when they checked me I was dilated to 6 already. They told him after they had me settled he could move the van to the parking deck but Caitlin had other plans. After the doctor broke my water I started pushing at midnight and Caitlin was here 15 minutes later. So at 12:15 AM on May 29th we welcomed our first daughter weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces. Big brother Mark stayed awake the whole time so he could be one of the first people to hold his little sister and to welcome her into this world.

Welcome Princess Buttercup!

Please welcome the newest member of The Jones Clan. Princess Buttercup.

Cindy and I have been wanting another chihuahua for several years now to replace our beloved Shadow. He was missing after we returned from vacation, and the side gate to the back yard was standing wide open. Cindy's sister recently adopted a chihuahua, which renewed our desire.

After several weeks of browsing the local adds, Cindy came across this beautiful little girl on craigslist. We arranged to go visit her in Calera, fully prepared to also see her brother, but he had already been scooped up. We fell instantly in love. She is fairly well house trained, and loves the children.

It's funny watching her try to play with Boots, the cat. She wants so bad to wrestle with him, but is too darn scared to get that close. Boots keeps looking at us with a "May I eat it?" expression on his face, but he has been very supportive of encouraging her to play.

A Day at the Zoo

Last week, we decided to spend the day at the Birmingham Zoo. They really have been working on improving the exhibits and providing a more interactive experience. We started off the day by playing in the water garden in the Children's Zoo. Mark and Caitlin jumped right in, but Elizabeth took her time. She eventually made it to the water's edge to splash in the puddles and play with bubbles. John never got up the courage, which is odd for him.


From there, we made our way to the Lorikeet cage. You can buy little cups of nectar to feed the birds. One in particular must have enjoyed the taste of my sunscreen lotion, as he proceeded to lick me from the tip of my hand, all the way up the arm, onto my neck, closing out the taste fest on my ears. John was particularly enthralled with them, and another bird nibbled and licked his fingers.

After a visit to Kangaroo Country, and a trek through the mines, we took a ride on the train. We finished out the afternoon watching the monkeys and apes. By this time, exhaustion we setting in on us 'Old Folks', so we decided to drag the family back to the van and call it a day.