Happy Father's Day

Last year, I gave Mr Jones a Father's Day card (because I was pregnant), but, when I miscarried that baby, the card got tucked away in the back of a drawer in an effort to avoid the heartbreak we felt every time we saw it.

This year, Mr Jones gets to celebrate Father's Day...with his son.

I couldn't have asked for a better daddy for Parker. Mr Jones loves him so much. It truly melts my heart to watch the two of them together.

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Peanut Man!

My (no-so) little peanut is 2 months today! Time has certainly flown by. He weighed in at 9lbs 4oz last Friday...more than double his birth weight. I can't wait to see how much he weighs at his 2 month well visit on Thursday! My guess is 9lbs 13oz. (I'll be sure to update after the appointment.)

Overheard from the Living Room

Mr Jones:
Parker do you want tacos for dinner? Hmmm...do you? I bet in three years you will want tacos for dinner. You bet your buttons you will. You don't have buttons right now, but you will some day. Right now, you just have snaps. But those are almost buttons.

Parker:
*blows raspberries* and pushes again Mr Jones with his legs

Mr Jones:
Where are you going? Trying to walk away? Well, look...you made it over there, but now there's nowhere else to go. Way to exercise those little baby legs.

I love my boys. And I love how much Mr Jones enjoys being a daddy.

2 Years...and Counting

It's hard to believe I've been writing in this blog for over 2 years. It's certainly flown right by!

A lot has happened in those 2 years.

I got married.
We bought a house.
Mr Jones started Grad School...and is now halfway done.

And I had a baby. Parker Curtis Jones was born on April 6, 2011 at 34 weeks 2 days gestation. He weighed 4lbs 9oz and was 18.5" long.


Little did I know, at 34 weeks, this would be my last baby bump picture!


The days leading up to his birth were quite a rollercoaster. I was hospitalized for high blood pressure, tested for pre-eclampsia, diagnosed with pregnancy induced hypertension, and put on bed rest. A week later, I was hospitalized once again to be retested for pre-eclampsia. Well, I never finished that test because my blood work came back indicating I had HELLP syndrome. I was given an hour to prepare for an emergency c-section. Not exactly how I was planning to have a baby!


Despite being almost 6 weeks early, Parker was a rockstar! He spent just over 2 weeks in the special care nursery (never needed to be transported to a NICU) and came home on April 22 weighing 5lbs 4oz.


Life with my little man has been fun...and a bit hectic. He now weighs almost 8lbs. Quite a little chunky monkey (to us)!

I love him...I really do.

Now that Baby Jones is getting bigger, his favorite pastime seems to be shoving a foot...or his butt...up into my ribs. Thankfully he doesn't kick up there (knock on wood!), but the pressure can be quite uncomfortable at times.

A few minutes ago, he pushed harder than usual which caused me to gasp. Mr Jones glanced over and asked if I was ok. Once I told him I was fine, that little man was just being a bit feisty, he said, "Thank you for making our son. My job was easy. Yours really isn't, huh?"

It's the little things that make me melt.

---------------------------------------------------

Update: He just called me little Darth Vader because I am breathing loudly. Charming, isn't he??

Apparently pregnancy has made me fickle

It all started a few months ago when I wanted root beer...more than anything else in the world. It was all I could think about. All I could talk about. I WANTED IT. Mr Jones (being the wonderful husband he is) decided to stop at the grocery store the next night to get me some. All was well until he called me to ask what brand I fancied. I thought about it, opened my mouth, and said, "I want orange pop, not root beer. Buy me orange pop. Pretty, pretty please?"

This was the first, but certainly not the last time I've done an unexpected 180 after I thought I had made up my mind. I've been known to change our dinner plans as we're driving past a restaurant that all of sudden sounded way better than the one we were headed to. Luckily, Mr Jones is very go-with-the-flow and doesn't even bat an eyelash at my fickle-ness.

The newest victim of my change of affection? The crib bedding.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate all of your feedback and opinions on which color bumper and skirt I should choose, but I found another set I fell in love with.

Let me introduce The Morning Zoo crib bedding from Land of Nod. What do you think? Will it look ok in the nursery? Please be honest. For the record, I would be getting the animal patterned crib sheet (instead of the solid blue sheet) and the crib skirt.

Decisions, Decisions...and I suck at making them!

Mr Jones and I (mostly I) decided not to register for a full crib bedding set. The cost just didn't make sense for us because we wouldn't use the bumper or the quilt (which would essentially leave us with crib sheets and a crib skirt).

Instead, we went to Babies R Us and picked out a crib sheets that go with the room color (but aren't too matchy-matchy). Plus, the colors go well with the mobile I like.

My dilemma now is deciding which color breathable bumper and which color crib skirt to get. Help?!

For reference, here's a picture of the wall color and gliding rocker we bought yesterday (which is a great story for another day!). The rocker is a light greenish-tan color (kind of hard to tell in the picture).



Also, we are leaning towards an espresso crib (as pictured for the breathable bumpers).

Option #1 (sage breathable bumper and brown crib skirt)




Option #2 (brown breathable bumper and sage crib skirt)




Option #3 (sage breathable bumper and orange crib skirt)




Option #4 (brown breathable bumper and orange crib skirt)

He's definitely his father's son

Baby Jones is being a little stinker today. He's decided my bladder is a nice, comfy spot to hang out.

Ok, I have to pee a lot...I can deal with that. But now he's taken to kicking my bladder which forces me to run to the bathroom for fear of having an accident. I don't want to imagine what it'll be like when he's bigger. Oy.

In other news, I had my 20 week OB appointment yesterday. Baby is measuring exactly on track and all of the diagnostic blood work came back negative for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 13 and 18, and neural tube defects.

Woo hoo! I have a healthy (albeit slight pain-in-the-bladder) son.

Gender Reveal - Baby Jones is a...

As I stated in an earlier post, we decided to reveal Baby Jones' gender to our parents at Christmas.

How did we pull off the big surprise?
We decided to have cakes made with colored frosting inside - blue for boy and pink for girl.

The cakes were a big hit and we had a blast surprising our families. Mr Jones' mom wanted to flip over the baby on top. My mom wanted to peek under the diaper. It was funny listening to all of the ways they thought they were going to find out.

As for the gender? Well, I'll let the pictures tell you...

The cake...how cute is it???

My mom's reaction was hilarious!

And in case you can't see the cake really well in the previous picture...

The newest member of our family is all boy. We can't wait to meet him!!

Anatomy Scan

My appointment today went fabulously! Mr Jones was able to take some time off work to go with me and we absolutely, without a doubt know what Baby Jones is. S/he was quite cooperative and allowed the tech to get a nice view of the "nether region".

All of the measurements looked great. The tech got clear pictures of the baby's spine, the baby's face, and all four chambers of the heart. We even got to see baby waving at us...so sweet. We truly couldn't have asked for better results!

The heart rate was perfect (154 bpm) and baby weighs approx. 8 oz.

Wow...this is so real now. Unbelievable.

Is Baby Jones a boy or a girl?

Since I find out Monday morning if I'm growing a little boy or a little girl, I figured I'd ask all my Blogland buddies what their guesses are...

So, what do you think? Boy? Girl? Cast your vote!

Oh, and sorry to disappoint, but I won't be doing a big reveal post on Monday. Why? Well, because we are waiting until Christmas to reveal to the families...and I know for a fact my mom reads this blog (hi, Mom!). However, if you email me and ask nicely, I might share the results with you. :)

Sorry I've been a complete slacker when it comes updating y'all and taking bump pics. With my longer drive to and from work (1 hour each way), I am usually exhausted by the time I get home. The only thing I want to do is eat dinner and crash.

I *finally* remembered to take a picture today so here you go - 17 weeks and 2 days - I'm definitely growing a baby bump!

(Please excuse my pjs...I change as soon as I get home. Work clothes are no where near as comfy as pjs!)

One year ago...

One year ago I married my best friend,
the one I want to grow old with,
the one I love more with every breath I take.

One year ago we promised to love each other
as long as we both shall live.

Little did I know that one year later...
We'd have our first home.
And, in 6 months, there would be a new little Jones joining us in that home.

Yes, you read that right. I am expecting - due May 16th. We are both thrilled (obviously).

I'm sorry I took a hiatus from the blog. I missed you all, but it was WAY too hard to keep this secret inside for as long as I did. Stepping away from blogging was the only way I knew how. I hope y'all will forgive me. :)

It's a bittersweet kind of day

Today, I would have been in my 2nd Trimester.

13 weeks and 1 day.

It doesn't sound like a lot of time, does it? But it's the milestone so many women strive to reach because it means the risk of miscarriage declines. It's the milestone I couldn't reach no matter how badly I wanted to.

Right now, I should be starting to get a "baby bump". I should be announcing to my friends, extended family, and coworkers that I'm going to be a mommy. I should be excitedly planning for my little one. Instead, I'm sitting here knowing that he (we just knew we were having a boy) is waiting for me in heaven. It's so bittersweet.

I wonder what next time will be like?
Will I be giddy with excitement the way I was before?
Or will I be too worried every step of the way to be so blissfully excited?

I hate that the miscarriage has taken away my pregnancy innocence, my "nothing can get me down because I'm going to be a mommy!" attitude. I hate that it has made me somewhat jaded and wary of what's to come.

I see other girls, newly pregnant, excitedly picking out baby bedding and clothing and I think to myself, "Don't do it because what happens if you lose your baby??"

I really don't want to be that girl. Hopefully, she doesn't stay too long...

When one door closes, another one opens

Sorry for not posting a lot lately...the last week and a half has been somewhat of a roller coaster. Please forgive my format. It's just the easiest way to write it all out for me.

6/22: Experienced a lot of back cramps and some pink spotting. Decided that I wasn't going to take any chances so Mr Jones and I headed to the ER. After 9 hours (4.5 spent in the waiting room alone!), some blood work, and an ultrasound, I learned...I was pregnant! Wow. It sure took some major doctor skills to figure that one out, huh? Needless to say, we were annoyed. The ultrasound dated me at 5w3d. A bit of an eyebrow raise on my part because, according to calculations, I should have been 6w1d.

6/24: Appointment with my OB. She asked if I had gotten the results of my blood work from the hospital and I told her they didn't run any tests on it that I knew of. She was NOT happy. She ordered more blood work (to check my hCG beta levels) and scheduled a follow up ultrasound for 6/28.

6/25: Heard from OB re: my blood work. Thankfully, the hospital still had my blood sample in the lab so she was able to get results from them as well. Betas on 6/22 were 5249. Betas on 6/24 were 6604. They're going up...thank goodness!

6/28: Ultrasound showed a teensy little baby with a faint heartbeat. Mr Jones was completely enthralled and stared at the monitor. I thought he was going to lean so far forward, he'd fall off his seat! At this point, I was measuring 6w0d (ummm...falling even further behind...a bit worried). Met with my OB and she said it was a positive sign that we were able to see the baby and heartbeat. She noted, however, that my progesterone levels were lower than they should be. They need to be at least 10...I think mine were a little over 5. At this point, I knew something was wrong...and started preparing myself mentally for the worst.

7/2: My fears were proven to be true. I lost my baby. Mr Jones and I made another trip to the ER (a different and BETTER one this time). Blood work and ultrasound confirmed that everything was progressing as necessary.

With that being said, I am at peace with what happened. Please, I don't want to hear "I'm sorry" because I know everyone is sorry and so am I, but it's ok. Honest.

Instead of being sorry, please take the time to send positive energy, to celebrate life with me, to say a prayer that I will some day have my "forever" baby. Because I know I will...it's just a matter of time.

We have a Secret...and it's a BIG one!

****Post written on Saturday, June 5, at 6:30 am****

I woke up early this morning, around 5:45. I couldn't sleep...and for good reason. I was going to find out if my dreams had come true. Was I going to be a mommy or would we need to try again next month?

After yesterday's "Are there 2 lines or not?" test (which is, ironically, very clear in the picture), I decided to pull out the big guns, the digital test! An agonizing 3 minutes of staring at the screen later, "Pregnant" appeared. Let me tell you, I was in shock. Heck, I wasn't even sure if I was seeing things...it was 5:50 in the morning after all!

After the initial "OMG!" moment (and staring at the screen to make sure I was reading it right), I went back out in the bedroom, leaned over Mr Jones, and whispered, "Baby, we're going to be parents!"

Best feeling in the world.