Baby cocoon!

Whenever Adrianne wraps up Evey like this, she'll say, "Baby cocoon!" And it amuses Evelyn, she'll giggle. Very cute.

Check out those eyes... they've really changed, haven't they? A greenish hue. Click on the photo to enlarge. I have lots of other photos I just downloaded, taken from the last few days, that really captures her eye color. I'll be sharing those in the next few days.

If you haven't voted in the poll yet, please do! It's a simple, silly little poll, but I'm leaving it up for a week to try to get a gauge on how many people stop by in a week. Our last poll was up for 24 hours (a little less, actually) and had 7 voters. (The result? Six out of 7 said the Tooth Fairy brought them a $1 when they were kids.)

"Baby cocoon!" It's kind of a fun phrase. Say it out loud, when you get a chance.

I'd like to welcome both Abasolo and Melissa Gomez to the blog page, both new posters! If you know me, you know Solo and Melissa. Solo, my best friend since 2nd grade, Melissa, my cousin since I was born.

More later. I'm looking at a busy week at work. But I should be around to update the blog. That tooth is going to break through any day now, and you'll be the first to know.

Reading about the environment? No. Communicating with sign language? Yes.

Adrianne attended a few "Baby Sign Language" classes back in June. The idea being, babies communicate with their hands much faster than they communicate with words. Think of it this way -- how soon will a baby wave "bye-bye" to you? And how soon will the same baby say, "Bye-bye?"

So the first word we've been focusing on is "milk." Take your hand, and clench it in the air repeatedly, like you were milking an imaginary udder. Now you know the universal sign for milk. (Learning something at the blog... I need to be stopped.)

On Saturday, I'm working on the computer (all I do, it seems, these days). Adrianne hollers, "She did milk! She did milk!" I jump up, and yeah, she is sort of clenching her fist... is that really "milk"? I believe more than anyone else that my child is a genius -- these are the rules of parenting, after all -- so yeah, that was probably the "milk" sign.

But I wasn't totally sold.

And then, on Sunday... Evey is laying on her back, I'm playing with her in front of the TV. And I look down at her. She looks up at me. She slowly moves her hand in front of her face. Then she stares at it with a serious look on her face. Then, she slowly... clenches... her hand... and... opens... it... back... up! And she looks away from her hand, and right at her daddy!

I about fainted. "Adrianne, she did 'milk!' She did 'milk!'" We get her a bottle ASAP. We were so pumped -- what a rush!

But now, our excitement has gotten the best of us. Evey knows how excited we get when we see the sign for "milk." So now she's doing it quite often, I think just to entertain her parents.

What a sweetie.

The tooth will set free

MAJOR EVELYN NEWS FROM JULY 4th, 2007: Parents of Evelyn Melosa Jones have discovered what they're calling "her first tooth." The discovery occurred at home on Wednesday afternoon, on the same day the nation celebrates it's independence.

"Evey was playing with my fingers when she stuck one in her mouth," father Seth Jones said. "She chomped down on my finger and I suddenly noticed a sharp bump on her lower front gums that I'd never felt before."

Evelyn's mother, Adrianne, was called in to substantiate the find.

"I couldn't get a look at it because Evey kept sticking out her tongue, but I did feel what Seth felt -- it seems to be a tooth," she said.

The tooth arrived a mere three days before Evelyn turns 7 months old. So far, no mood change had been noticed in the darling baby.

"We're pleased to see her development continue," proud dad Seth said. "Today it was a tooth trying to break through that brought us excitement. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

• Calendar coincidence: Evelyn turns seven months old on Saturday. For those scoring at home, that's seven months on 7/7/07. The parents will probably take this lucky coincidence as a sign that they need to go to the casino... at 7 a.m.

Have a safe and happy 4th

Just a quick note to say hello. Have a fun and safe 4th of July. Try not to loose any fingers.

I'm off to Wichita for one day. Our family suffered a loss last Thursday when Orti Ramirez, my mom's cousin, succumbed to cancer at age 50. I'll be driving down this morning to represent the Jones family, Lawrence chapter. Orti will be missed.

Pictured, Evey chilling out on the 9th green at Alvamar Orchards.

Pre-NBA Draft thought blasts

Thursday night update...

We're minutes away from the NBA Draft. Love the NBA Draft. Another event my Dad and me used to watch together every year. I'll be leaving my Dad voicemails during the draft, letting him know who goes where.

Where will Juilan Wright end up? I don't know, I'm nervous for him now... it seems that a lot of scouts have him slipping now. I think he'll be a good pro, not great. I'm sure there will be some guys taken ahead of him that shouldn't be, though. But that's what's great about the draft.

(Pictured) Lorena Ochoa accepting the 2006 Outstanding Female Player of the Year award from the Golf Writers Association of America in Augusta, Ga. She got mine, and everyone's vote, I'm sure. Now she needs your vote for an ESPY award, outstanding female athlete of the year. Go here to vote for her. I interviewed Lorena last year and she's an absolute pleasure. And, she's Mexican. Viva la Raza.

Tonight we have Rosalina's (Adro's cousin) wedding rehearsal dinner. Yeah, I'm missing both the meat of the NBA draft as well as a sneak preview of "Transformers." But any leeway that scored me was used up this weekend, when I double-booked golf and waxing the Camaro on one day.

I went and saw "Live Free or Die Hard" on Tuesday. For a review, (please) click here.

During my mid-year review, my boss asked me what the worst part of my job was. I had to think about it. And I never really came up with an answer. She asked me if it was dealing with superintendent authors (I'm the liaison for supers who want to write for my magazine). I said no, which surprised her. That may be the most challenging part of my job, but by no means "worst." The good thing? I still really can't think of the worst part of my job. (Maybe that I have to wear pants to work.) And that makes me realize yet again... I really have been liking my job for the past three, four years. Loving it, even. And that's lucky.

OK, Adro and Evey just got home, so time to say goodbye!

Baby Sadie!!!

A very exciting development occurred recently... Evelyn's new best friend (sorry, Dora the Explorer... vamanos!), SADIE KAMINSKI was born!

Sadie is the new baby girl of our good friends Jeff and Lindsey Kaminski. Sadie Erin was born June 9th at 6:44 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 19 inches long.

Sadie and Evey already have matching outfits, so look for that photo, which may just overload this web site's cuteness counter, soon!

Grandma Judy takes over

We're all excited over here at the Jones casa. Especially Evey.

Because tomorrow is Evey's first day at home with Grandma Judy!

Yes, Grandma Judy is enjoying her summer break. As a school librarian, she gets a well deserved summer vacation. She just returned from Mexico City on Sunday. Tomorrow, she starts coming over to our house to take care of Evey for us for a full five weeks!

If you have kids, you realize how valuable this is. If you don't have kids, I'll quickly explain.

Not only do we not have to get Evey ready every morning to leave the house, we also don't have to pick her up in the evenings by 5 p.m. sharp. We don't have to worry about having all her bottles clean every night. Or her diaper bag packed and ready every day. Less loading and unloading on the car seat. And of course, the big one -- Judy is watching Evey for free, so one of our major bills suddenly disappears for over a month.

So a big "thank you" to Grandma Judy. It's great to have her back in the states, and it's wonderful that she's so excited to watch her granddaughter. Myself, Adrianne and Evey all say "Thanks, Grandma!"

Seth Jones is the US Open champ

In my own mind, at least.

Hey, making it to two majors this year (the Masters and the Open) and getting paid to be there? A champion indeed!

I have many books of rich mahogany...

Pre-bedtime thoughts

I took the day off to stay home with Evey today... Elvira (who watches her during the day... pronounced el-VEE-tah) had a conflict, so I stayed home with the baby. We had an action-packed day. I'll tell you all about it later, once I download the photos (yeah, I had the camera with me all day).

In the meanwhile, random thoughts:

Is anyone watching Last Comic Standing? That's one of my favorite shows. No on-going plot, just short moments of people trying to be funny. I can appreciate that.

Why doesn't Kevin Garnett want to go to Boston? What's wrong with going to the Celts? Garnett should want to be 'anywhere but here' when it comes to Minneapolis.

That's my mum and dad holding Evey at Montana Mike's in Emporia, above. We met there on father's day.

Do you think it's weird that 'traveled' is spelled with one L?

What's your favorite word? Right now, mine is 'whimsical.'

Today was the first day of summer. It's weird, whenever the summer solstice hits, it seems like we've already been in summer for a month or so. It freaks me out to think that when Evey is my age, the first day of summer will hit after it's already felt like summer has been around for THREE YEARS or so.

The new White Stripes album... well, it pretty much kicks ass.

My golf instructor emailed me video of me hitting a golf ball today. The swing looks pretty good in the video, I'm happy to report. But there's something weird about the video: at the end of the swing, I watch the ball fly off... and then, suddenly... my head disappears from my body. Just, vanishes. Seriously. It looks like it suddenly got smashed into my body or something. It looks like a special effect. It's freaky. If you want to see it, email me and I'll forward it to you.

Keep my head down? Hell, I just want to keep my head, period.

Good night.

Food!

With the arrival of six months, we've moved into the "food" category for Evey. She's been pining for it. She watches every bite you take, wondering what the heck it tastes like. Apparently, she had grown bored with her steady diet of white liquid. She wants some color in her life.

Enter, the light yellow "rice" cereal from Gerber baby products. It smells like nothing. Looks like nothing. And Evey LOVES it.

She's quite good at eating, actually. Her biggest obstacle was understanding that she had to open her mouth to get the food in her mouth. Now that she's got that part figured out, she grabs the spoon and puts the rice goo down, like Kobiyashi at a hot dog eating contest. She loves that stuff.

A few photos here taken with the nice GCM camera of one of her early meals. No worries, I got the official first meal on video...

Oh my, how she's grown!

Hi everyone!

I'm back now, with some new material... first off, check out this photo I took a little over two weeks ago... the red outfit she had draped over her? It's her Christmas onesie. See the next photo to see her wearing it. And then look at it same onesie placed over her, and see how much she's already grown?? In just six months!

She was 23 3/4 inches long and 15 pounds 4 ounces at her 6th month appointment. And the doctor said she looked great and raved about how happy she is, and how lucky we are that she's such a sweet baby.

And we are lucky! We love her so much!!!

What the?

Sorry I haven't posted lately... please stand by for a few more days...

Adro, if you're reading this, I thought of something I wou;dn't mind for Father's Day: A pair of Saucony running shoes. I like the Jazz 5000s the best. Size 12. Just an idea.

Hope you're doing well out there. Please stop by http://www.gcm.typead.com/ if you get a chance.

Before and After

Exhibit A: Evey, as I dressed her in the morning for her trip to Elvira's. Notice the trendy KU Jayhawks T; the pants that accentuate the shirt; the mega-cute pink socks; and the pink sneakers that round out this package of pulchritude.

Exhibit B: How Evey returned from Elvira's house. Please note that Evey has gone from a cutie KU fan to a... JAZZERCISER. Is that Spandex? A wristband? What happened?!?

Proven at especiallyevey.blogspot.com -- brilliant minds really do think alike!

Two great baby photos, taken a few months apart, independent of each other. How cool is that?

Leo is the son of our good friends Matt and Carrie Jordan (who we haven't been able to hang out with in too long a time, unfortunately). Leo is about... 50 days older than Evey.

Is a good mood contagious?

Hopefully, because Evey's got enough to go around.

(Evey doing her Randy Johnson impression in this photo. "Gimme that $&%#@ camera!!!")

Danny P. just stopped by to visit, and, as she giggled, smiled and laughed at the funny noises he made for her, he kept exclaiming, "she's in such a great mood!"





And she's been in such a great mood since the weekend. We are very entertaining, apparently. Today, I had to go to Kansas City for an all-day seminar, so I wasn't able to take Evey to Elvira's house this morning. I walked in the door around 6 p.m., and you should have seen the smile she gave me! I'm talking, nose crunched up, eyes almost shut, mouth wide open! What a cutie.





Last night, I was laying along one side of the couch, Adro and Evey on the other. Evey kept grabbing my toes, and then I'd start howling, and she'd start laughing and let go. And then she'd grab a toe again. Repeat about 10 times, and you now know the highlight of yesterday evening. About 1,000,000 times better than anything on TV, eh?