well...she's here

Wow. What a roller coaster the past couple of days have been. Where do I begin? For anyone that hasn't been in the loop to the happenings, Mari and I are officially parents. Lillian Esther Jones came to visit on July the 27th at 10:49am. She weighed 6lbs even and was 19 3/4 inches long. She is an amazing little girl and we are very lucky to have her.



Now for the shocker. Little Lilly has been having a rough time so far. The doctors have been a little concerned about a few things they have noticed and decided to do a little poking around, literally. Lilly has been pricked over and over and has little bandaids all over her. She has had both her heart and her head ultrasounded. As the doctors feared they found some problems with her heart. A few holes to be exact. Fortunately she has a very strong heart beat. Lilly has been unable to keep her temperature up and has had jaundice(not sure on spelling). This means she's had to stay in the nursery under a special light and a heater and has been off limits to everyone but Mari and I. She is also a little floppy. Along with that she also has a little slant to her eyes, some extra skin on the back of her neck, and her pinky fingers have a little curve to them. The test results won't be back until next week but the experts are telling us down syndrome. Yeah. Take a minute to soak it in. It took us a few days.

Mari and I have been having a tough time with people telling us that Lilly isn't perfect. I don't feel like for me there is any way to understand why Lilly is the way she is. Not now anyways. She is what she is. But, what is she?



She is beautiful. She is a quick learner. She is very independent already. She isn't very fussy at all. She has been amazing everyone with how well she is eating now. And to be honest, I think she is all of the nurses' favorite.

Lilly pad has been getting the hang of this eating thing. She is getting very good at breast feeding which is better than a lot of babies. She has lost only a couple of ounces of weight and even gained one back already. The Dr said she is getting less floppy already. Our one main concern is her heart right now. We need to meet with a cardiologist next week to learn a little more and get a better picture of her heart. She may end up needing surgery but maybe not. One thing we've come to realize over the past few days is that her heart is something to worry about, not her down syndrome.

The other day I put together a post on Lilly's mom and how amazing she is. Well, I was way off. I easily undersold her by a hundred times. I don't know how she is still going with so little sleep she has gotten since pushing a baby from her body. Actually I do know, she is in love with little Lilly and is going to be a kick-butt mommy.



The last thing I wanted to mention is the team that has come together to rally behind Lilly. Her grandmothers are going to have a nervous breakdown if they can't get their hands on Lilly soon. Her grandfathers are there for us for whatever we need. Her aunts and uncles have been amazing as well and have been super supportive. We have an amazing pediatrician that we've got lined up for her as well. There's also Rebekah and her mom Judy that are long time friends of mine. Judy has a son with down syndrome and they have already come to visit Lilly and do a little counseling with us.

So, from now on, only tears of joy are allowed because we have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for. Lilly is going to make us super happy and we are already very proud of her.

As her very wise uncle Michael(13 years old) said, "What's the big deal?"

School Daze and Lilly Update

SCHOOL DAZE

There's not too much going on here at the Jones Farm. Summer semester for Eric is winding down. He's exempted both his Calculus 3 (yes that's THREE) final exam and his Intro to Engineering final exam. So that's two A's for those classes. That leaves him with only one final exam to take next week for his other engineering course. He is the smartest man alive!



And then of course, I'm making an A in his Art Appreciation class! I still have to take a final exam and write a final essay - uggghh. So much work for an elective filler!


LILLY UPDATE

Not too much to update on Lilly. My last appointment went well. Still dilated 2 - 3 cm. The doctor said I'm ready to go whenever and she's expecting her this upcoming week. Very exciting. I've been having painful contractions every morning around 2 or 3 am. I get excited and then they go away. Lilly was quite naughty yesterday night; had me up for a couple hours with contractions and back pain. Once that was done the wiggle worm wouldn't stay still! She was bouncing around and wouldn't let her poor mama go to sleep. So I was up all morning since 2:30am! That girl's already trouble I must say. The least she could do is show up! I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.




Then of course, I have to acknowledge Lilly's Daddy. What a wonderful husband posting all that nice stuff about me! He really made me sound good! Don't be fooled though. I must say Eric is a pretty good darn husband to put up with me, especially lately with all these hormones! I love him a million and I can't wait to share little Lilly with him! I know she'll love him tons. He is going to make a wonderful dad (just look at him and Isabel!)

Baby Shower Pictures

Everyone has been asking to see pictures of the last baby shower. I just got them a couple days ago. The flowers were the most amazing part of the whole thing! Check them out.








There were lots of fun and awesome gifts as well!

Amazing Woman

Before Lilly comes, I just wanted to say a little something about this wonderful person I am lucky enough to share my life with. (I’m not even talking about Rocky!) It's hard to imagine my love and admiration being any greater for my wife but it grows constantly. Mari amazes me non-stop and probably the most amazing to me is that I was the lucky one she chose to share her life with. I know she will be a little annoyed but I'm going to embarrass her a little bit anyway.





She is so much fun to be around because of her mix of an easy-going nature and a child-like appreciation for life. I mean that in the best way possible. I wish I had a picture of her playing Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii from a few days ago. 38 weeks pregnant and she could not resist dancing to the beats of Vanilla Ice and The New Kids On the Block. Lilly will always enjoy spending time with her Mommy.





Mari is one tough woman who still cleans the horses’ stalls every day. I am a wimp to the heat; she is still working in the blazing sun just about every day! The other day when she got home from her baby shower she mowed the lawn in her dress. Why not? She may not get to wear it again for a while.





Lilly’s Mom is driven to get stuff done. For example, her ability to stay with her schooling until she finished vet school amazes me. She knew what she wanted and she completed it and a year sooner than most people. I, especially now, sometimes wish I had her drive and focus and had finished my engineering degree at Clemson the first time around. But, with the way things have turned out so far it’s hard to imagine I could have made any wrong decisions in my life.





What a babe! The best part is that she never really tries at it but when she does look out! Nothing tops the way she looked at our wedding. I’ve never experienced anything like that before but she truly took my breath away. I forgot there was anyone else there and yeah maybe my eyes watered up a bit. This woman makes pregnancy look good. I don’t even mind buying the one time use maternity dresses for the showers because I love seeing her get dressed up. She’s so freaking cute!






Fortunately, she has a weakness and that is the cold. That’s when she will pull me close to her in order to steal some of my body heat. I pretend she just wants me close by and we’re both happy. Lately, she has been feeling warm even at the movies or at restaurants probably because of the pregnancy. That is why I'm looking forward to this winter even though I know she is dreading it.





Lilly is going to be the luckiest little girl on earth because she is going to have at least one incredible parent. I hope she gets all of her Mommy’s amazing traits and I can’t wait to see the two of them together laughing and playing. I am so blessed to have them both in my life. I love my girls.

And Mari, thanks again for picking me to be in your life.

Some Catching Up To Do

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted! Our modem broke last week, so we are waiting on a new one to come in the mail. In the meantime, we've just been using our phones to check email and coming to the neighbors house to use the internet here and there.

LILLY NEWSCAST

We had an appointment a week ago. The office was crazy busy and schedules were a cluster and my doctor was on vacation! So we didn't do an ultrasound, which I don't think is that important right now anyway. But I did get my regular check up and I was 2 ALMOST 3 cm dilated!! And that was a week ago! I have another appointment tomorrow and I will try to update everyone sooner this time. I've been having more contractions daily, usually a gazillion braxton hicks and then a few real contractions throughout the day! So I'm hoping we're getting close! Everyone keep their phones close by!

Oh and by the way - for when the big day comes, we are delivering at Baptist Hospital. Just go to Taylor street from 277 (take a right), then go into the 1333 parking garage on the right. There is plenty of space for parking. Go to the 3rd level, which is where the walkway to the hospital is. Once in the hospital go to elevator B (just think B for baby!) and go to the 4th floor. From there you just walk down the hallway until you run into the waiting room. Can't wait to see everyone.

ERIC'S BIRTHDAY





In all the Lilly excitement, we can't forget Eric's birthday. His last year in the twenty's - 29!! His birthday was yesterday and very low key. We plan on doing something more fun after Lilly comes here at the house. He went 4 wheeling with my little brother, Michael. Although Michael's 4 wheeler was running like garbage and he managed to flip it over, he actually did have fun! And don't worry, he just has cuts and bruises and a tire mark on his shoulder. He told me it'll be a good story for when he goes back to school this fall! Then we had dinner with Mom Jones, Dad Jones, Rachel, Doug, and Katie over at the Fatz here in town. Eric picked up some good archery loot at dinner, so he was happy.

Also, Eric can now officially be added to the "Dad club" as he also got a video camera from my parents. Then Lilly and I, gave him a rad camera bag. He wants to sport it on his belt, but I put a stop to that!

After dinner we went to the neighbors house (ie my parents) and ate some cake. So overall, while not too exciting, I think Eric had a good birthday.





BABY SHOWER

I also had another baby shower this past Saturday. It was wonderful! The barn where I train from organized the whole thing. It was a horsey friends baby shower. I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, which was tons of fun. My mom and Mom Jones came as well. It was held at Luck's house (another horsey friend), or I mean Mansion on the Hill. It was so beautiful; they really went above and beyond. There were lillies galore and even the punch bowl was surrounded by three rows of yellow roses. Teri took all of the pictures which I will be getting a CD of soon. Once I get them, I will make sure to post some pictures!

Lilly got a whole bunch of awesome gifts, from clothes, to books, to "essential" items. And then her mama (that's me) got the most awesome gift of all. Jill, Luck, Liz, and Teri all chipped in to take Belmont to their farm and keep him there until the end of August, all on them! He will be in training and everything! I am so excited! Not only is he going to be back in school, but I won't have to worry about taking care of him here at home while trying to take care of Lilly all at the same time. Eric and I will take him to Blythewood on Wednesday; we are so excited! All that's left at home to take care of is Laverne, which is simple as pie, since she's so low maintenance. Plus Michael can take care of her all by himself. I must say I am VERY grateful for my wonderful horse friends!





I believe that is all the news from the Jones Farm currently. We will keep you posted. Good day, good night. See you next time - same time, same channel.

Farm Happenings

1. I am no longer a biker dude. I really enjoyed riding my motorcycle. That is if it wasn't too hot, too cold, raining, looked like it might rain, if I wasn't going to get home after dark, didn't have anything to take with me or pick up along the way, and the list goes on. I had fun going on rides with my dad and when Mari would ride on it with me but I just couldn't justify keeping it any longer with how little I used it. The best part is now I can drop the $50/month insurance I had on it.



2. We have a four wheeler now! I had given word to Marshall that I was looking for an ATV and wouldn't you know it but he traded in four of them that weekend. I went down and took a look at them and picked one out. We struck up a deal and I traded in my motorcycle for it. It's a 400cc yamaha kodiak with 4wd and an automatic transmission. So far I've been able to put it through anything; mud, the creek, over logs and small trees. Mari has even been using it to take Belmont on walks. He actually really enjoys his walks. I think I would prefer walking behind an ATV with a person on it than having the person on my back also. It's not very pretty but it runs good and gets the job done. I don't have a picture of it yet, but here's Michael going through the mud in his four wheeler.



3. Last weekend I took the ATV out with a friend to hang up a tree stand for dear season. Some where in our journey I came across some poison ivy. I think odds are pretty good I've run across the stuff before but in all my years of tromping through the woods I have never had a reaction to it. This time was different, unfortunately. I've got it pretty bad on my left arm and it seemed to be spreading. I finally got a prescription for some steriods and a couple of different topical meds to keep the itching down. I have been puzzled for the past week as to how I could have suddenly become reactive to this stuff until Mari pointed out that I had about a three inch scrape across my left arm right at the center of where I got it the worst. Her theory is that I must have gotten the stuff in my blood stream which explains a lot. I was relieved also because hopefully that means I still have a resistance to it if it just gets on my skin.

4. I've only got two more weeks left in the summer semester. So far it looks like I'll have three A's and a B or C in my mechanics of solids class(that guy is a tough grader). Mari has been doing great in my art appreciation online class. Thanks Honey!

5. No more on call for Mari for a while! Mari was on call the weekend of the 4th and that was supposed to be her last weekend until after she comes back to work after having Lilly. But, she was still expected to take on call during weekdays when it was her turn. Well, her boss, who has been really nice during this whole pregnancy thing told her that she was off the hook for all on call until after she returns to work. That gives her about two months of freedom.

6. I haven't had a soda in a week. The sad thing is I've been having cravings like withdrawal symptoms. I've been trying to get in shape for our insane family ritual of the marine corp mudrun. I haven't ran in it in a few years but someone in our family has every year for the past 4 or 5 years. I've been running a little each week, I usually run for about 20 to 25 minutes twice a week. However the mud run is 4 miles so I've got some more work to do.

7. Somebody very close to me has a birthday coming up very soon, like next week. Yep it's me. Even I keep forgetting about it with everything that's going on. People keep asking me what I want to do. With everyone being so busy these days I know it's hard for people to make time to do things. If I had to choose I'd rather have my family be able to make it the hospital for Lilly's birth than to make a day to do stuff with me for my birthday. (My arm is itching again, gotta apply my lotion. That's better.)

8. Things were getting a little backed up at the bike shop and when a 'special' project' came along Marshall called and asked me to come in and take care of it. It entailed installing a trike kit on a 1986 Honda Gullwing. I've done one of these kits before but it was on a sportster. I expected the job to only last 4 hours or so but it ended up taking all day, almost 8 hours. It was a little more difficult to put it on the Honda and kept running into one snag after another. The worst part was that Mari had scheduled a tour for us at the Montesorri School in the afternoon and I missed it.

9. We are very excited about the Montesorri School! They're opening a new infant care section for the school here in Camden. I have been hearing nothing but good things about the school from everyone I've talked to including complete strangers. I didn't know anything about this school until Mari and I showed up one day and they gave us a quick tour. The infant section wasn't finished yet but we got to see the toddlers and middle schoolers. We got there at the end of the day on the last day of school. Imagine 10 or 12 children in the 5 to 7 age group cleaning a classroom. Some are sweeping, some are putting away toys or learning tools, and some are wiping down the white erase boards and they don't all have grown-ups standing over them telling them how to do it. I was speechless. I can't wait until our little house cleaner gets here. The class sizes are very small so that all the students are given a lot of attention and they do a lot of hands on learning rather than just book work. They are only accepting 6 infants so we have been bugging them for two months or so to get across to them how interested we were until they started accepting applications. It paid off because Lilly is in. As a side note we were actually surprised that it didn't cost more to enroll her, regular day care is about the same price.

Wateree Archery Shoot

Today Mari and I went to a 3D archery shoot. This was a benefit shoot to raise money for a local school's NASP(National Archery in Schools Program). The school's archery team qualified to compete in a national tournament so this shoot was put together to raise money to get them there. Maybe we'll be able to get Lilly involved in NASP.

Mari wasn't sure if she was going to feel good enough to even go but she was a trooper and toughed it out. After all, this will no doubt be the last one we will be able to go to before Lilly comes. We made it through with only one contraction in about two hours. The course was quite hilly. Mari didn't mind walking down the hills but got winded going back up them. It rained last night which helped a little with lowering the temperature but of course that made it very humid as the day started to warm.

The course was probably the most challenging either of us has shot which was evident by our scores. We had fun anyway. Here we are getting out of the heat in the archery shop.



Here is an example of the type of targets we shoot. You find your shooting stake, judge your yardage and let your arrow fly. You shoot one arrow per target so you only get one chance to get it right and if you guess the wrong yardage you can easily miss the target completely. To Mari's credit, she is shooting a lighter bow which makes it much more difficult. My bow shoots faster so the arrows don't drop as much which means I have a little more room for error.



Here's another one of the target setups. This was a bighorned ram of some type in a bedded down position. If you look closely you can see Mari's arrow in the target already. Looks like she was great on height but hit him a little back. She probably scored an 8.

Lilly - Tadpole to Frog

I am posting to update everyone on Lilly's progress. It seems like she's taking her sweet ole time to get here! Although I know she will be here before we know it. Well, we had our 36 week doctor's appointment today. Sorry if I go TMI, but oh well, I am excited. Everything went very well. I am already 2 cm dilated and I've been having contractions daily! So Lilly Pad is starting to pack her bags! Also, she's been head down and dropped for the last two weeks. My belly is a little small apparantly, so they are going to measure her on ultrasound next week. I know it's just that she's a small baby, since our family always has little 5 and 6 pounders! I'm not complaining one bit! We will post ultrasound pictures next week, so stay tuned.

Melissa said...

Hello all. Eric is so excited to show me how to post on the blog, so here I am posting. He also told me that Melissa said we have to introduce all our four legged children. There are a lot of creatures here so be prepared to sit here for a while! We will start with the most precious of them all.




His name is George, aka Georgie Porgie, Georgie Poo. He is a 3 year old orange stray cat. I got him when he was 6 months old. He was my present to myself for my birthday. Eric's birthday present to me was that he let me keep him! He is the sweetest cat alive, no matter what Eric says. He has more dog attributes really than cat ones. He chases and plays with the dogs and even plays with horses.




Next we'll introduce the dogs. The oldest one is Charlotte, a bearded collie. She is 13 years old! I've had her since highschool and she has gone everywhere with me. She is not doing too good these days; she's having a lot of trouble with her arthritis and I think she is on the senile side as well. But we still love her anyway. I don't have recent pictures of her since she looks so old, but here's one from a few years ago when she was looking good.




Then there is Eric's pride and joy. You all know him - Rocky. Rocky is Eric's "first" dog. He is a 7 year old mix breed dog. We found him at the animal shelter in Athens, GA. He was very shy at first and didn't want anything to do with Eric at first. That has all chanaged! Now Eric is his most favorite person of all. He can be quite a goofball sometimes, but he is also one of the most serious dogs you'll ever find. I'm sure when Lilly comes he's going to be the one worrying the most!







Next up is Peanut. Peanut is a little 6 year old mixed breed. She came from the mountains of Tennessee. I got her there when I was volunteering on a spay/neuter clinic. These clinics offer spays, neuter, and other preventative medicine free of charge to those at the poverty level. In exchange vet students get the opportunity to practice surgery and other procedures. Well, you know me, I couldn't resist when I saw Peanut. She was only 6 or 8 weeks old at the time. Surprise Eric! She has gone from being a stray mountain dog to quite a princess - she requires all her pillows be fluffed and her meals gourmet. Don't even think of asking her to go out in the rain!




Last of our dogs is Suey. Suey is a 1 1/2 year old Plott Hound. She was another sympathy acquisition. I got her about a year ago from a farm that I was working at in Florence, SC. She had been around for a few months there, but apparantly the neighbor called the dog catcher to come get her because she was stealing items off of her porch! My client called and told me that animal control was circling the block, so I felt bad and told her to catch her up and I would pick her up later. Suey has turned out to be quite the energetic girl, but it's okay since she has plenty of space to run and play here. She is a great hunter, she can track small game and deer very well. She even got a mole just the other day (although the trail is now a mess between her and the mole digging up everything!). Very sweet and kid friendly. Her best friend is Katie Jones and I'm sure she'll be so excited once Lilly arrives.






Now we have all the dogs covered. We can move on to the horses. We'll start with Laverne since I've had her the longest. She is an 8 year miniature horse. I got her when she was just 8 months old. She is quite the character and things are always done her way or the highway. She has NO clue how little she really is. She knows how to drive a cart, although I haven't driven her in a few years! She can lead line kids around and I've jumped on her back a couple times! And yes Dylan next time you come you can ride her (he asked me if he could come and ride the horses last time I saw him).




Next up is Belmont. Belmont is a 4 year old warmblood (Trakehner to be exact). He is my fancy show horse. I bought him when he was only 3 months old in hopes he would become my dressage superstar. So far so good. He is a grumpy creature, but he makes up for it in ease of training and good looks! These pictures are of him last December at his first recognized show; he did not show but just went for the experience of it all.






Last but not least is good ole Pete. I got Pete 2 years ago just for a fun project to ride while Belmont was still growing up. He is a 10 year old Thoroughbred. He turned out to be a nicer ride than I had imagined. I showed him a bunch on the schooling show circuit and he's blown them all away! He is the sweetest horse as well! Right now, unfortunately, I really have no time for him now that Belmont is up and coming. So he was out of work for a while. Luckily, one of my clients was in need a school horse to teach lessons off of so she decided to give Pete a go. Well Pete has been living in Blythewood for about 3 months now and is doing so well! He loves the extra attention from his "students" and has been doing wonderfully with them. I visit him when I'm in the area and make sure to take him carrots. He is just being borrowed at the moment in exchange for paying his "bills" (feed, hay, shoes etc). He will stay there as long as he's needed for now.




I will add one more horse to the post. That is because he is the most important horse I've ever had in my life. His name was Puff, aka Puff the Majic Dragon, a small bay trakehner. I owned him for 11 years. He was my junior and young rider show horse. He taught me tons about riding and even more about life. I had to put him down 3 years ago after a very bad colic. We tried to save him with surgery but it was not meant to be. He was 21 years old at the time, so he had a good long life here. So here is my memorium to good old Puffers, the best horse there ever was!




So now you know all of our family. In just a few short weeks, it will be made bigger with the addition of Lilly! We are so excited and will keep everyone updated on the happenings.