Ivy's First Photo Shoot

My wonderful friend and best photographer in the world, David Edmonson, took some pictures of Ivy on Sunday. David can make anything look good with his talent but I must say that Ivy is a beautiful baby girl.


This first picture is just a funny one. We did a bunch of naked shots and it was bound to happen that Ivy pooped all over Josh. Not just once, but two poops and one pee. He was pretty grossed out. Ivy should be glad it was Josh holding her and not my dad. My father would have thrown up all over her. Josh was a good sport but definatley took a shower when we got home.


Here is another funny pic. Josh has never felt her sucking reflex. This is a good example of why God made women breast feed and not men. Just look at his face... and it's only his finger she is sucking. Imagine how women feel.

I think Josh was really amused by her sucking. In this picture Ivy is sucking his nose. Still not even comparable to what women have to tolerate.

Ok, now for the sweet pictures of our little girl. Here are same samples of our photo shoot. These were my favorites. CLICK HERE to see other pictures from the shoot.

Aunt Carmen Visits

This weekend Ivy got to meet her Aunt Carmen. Josh and I were so blessed by her visit. It was nice to have the extra help especially one from a Doctor and mother. The newness of being parents has worn off and Josh and I have hit the wall of exhaustion so her visit came in good timing.

Ivy had her first Pediatrician visit last week. It was a pretty good visit with the exception of her weight loss. She got down to 5lbs 12oz. It turns out that she wasn't getting enough food as she and I are still learning how this whole breastfeeding process works. But we have worked everything out and now she is eating fine and gaining adequate weight. In the mean time it has been really hard to find clothes that fit her. Aunt Carmen found a great outfit that works. It's nice to have a least one cute outfit that doesn't swallow her.

I've been recovering pretty good but like I said... The newness has worn off and I'm feeling the pains of no sleep and the whole recovery process in general. Josh and I are both fighting a cold and I think Ivy is too. Please pray that we are able to fight it and that non of us get full blow sick.

We have had great support of family and friends to provide meals and help us with every need. Josh has been very excited about the meals because cooking would be up to him. He also loves it because we have been getting some pretty sweet meals. Much better than my cooking. We love and appreciate each person who has made us a meal. THANK YOU!

We also made a visit to the photographer to the stars, David Edmonson. David was our wedding photographer and he is just as good at baby pics. I'll be posting the pictures from the photo shoot soon. If you want to see some home photos of Ivy's first week CLICK HERE.

Ivy Grace Jones has arrived

Our little girl is here and we finally have a name. Ivy Grace Jones. We wanted something unique and feminine. With a last name like Jones if you have a common name you will be one of the millions with that name. If you want to see more pictures CLICK HERE.

Her birthday was last Thursday, Jan. 10th. I was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night with high blood pressure. My doctor wanted them to monitor me over night and then to induce me in the am. So 6am we started the induction and 12 hours later she arrived. It was a long labor process. I ended up pushing for a total of 5 hours! There were definatley times where I began to ask God if my body was really made to do this.

By the 12th hour of labor my doctor came to check on me and decided to use the "vaccum" to help her come out. A few pushes later and she was on my stomach. She had a little trouble breathing at first and her blood sugar was too low. I got to hold her for about 2 mins and then they took her to the nursery for 2 hours. It was torture waiting to hold that sweet little girl.

The hosptial stay is one big blur. Apparently I have talked to several friends and family but I don't remember much of it. Things were just so busy between hosptial staff coming in every 30 mins for one reason or another, to family and friends visiting, and the phone ringing every min. A photographer stopped by to take photos and I thought her lense was out of focus because my vision was blurred from being so tired.

Now we are home and happy to be here. It's been a steady flow of visitors and we are still working on the nursing deal. Josh has been an absolutly wonderful husband and father. You would think he has done this before. He is helping with everything and taking great care of both of us.

We have also been blessed by our families and friends. Many thanks to those of you who have brought us food or stopped by to visit. We appreciate everything more than you know!

We will keep the updates coming and if you want to check out more pictures CLICK HERE.

Getting the Nursery Ready

Josh and I are finally done getting unpacked and have been able to work on the nursery. We still have a lot to do but we have made a lot of progress. Check out the pic's of our nursery so far. We only have the crib and the bookshelf up so far. Hopefully the rest of the room will be done soon!

Maternity Pictures at 7 Months

I am currently 8 months pregnant with one month to go! The count down is on.
Our wedding photographer wanted to do some maternity pictures for us. He is such an amazing man and a FABULOUS photographer. Click HERE to see all of them. These were taken at 7 months so I am a little bigger now.

Josh and I just moved into our new apartment. Yes, we moved while I am 8 months pregnant and I am SOOO glad it is over and we finally have a more permanent place to live. It was very stressfull not being able to set up a nursery or set anything up for the little girl.

I still feel like we have a lot to do to get the place ready for our daughter but I know we'll get it done. Still no name picked out.

Thanksgiving Vacation 2007

This blog will have a lot of pictures so get ready. Josh and I just returned from a week long Thanksgiving vacation. We had an amazing time and did soooo much in just a week. While we were there we had a baby shower, Clemson football game, anniversary getaway in Asheville, hiked to water falls, and spent time with family and friends. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. It was nice to have a break like this before we meet our daughter in just 7 short weeks!

So here are some pictures from our vacation. (There are so many pictures than I can't post all of them on the blog. CLICK HERE to see a slide show of all the pictures from the week.)

First was our baby shower. We were so thankful to see everyone who was able to make it and for their generous gifts. I was very surprised that some of my guy friends actually purchased some baby girl gifts. WAY TO GO GUYS! The party was thrown by my sweet friend Jennifer Breaux and my mom. They did a fabulous job and the occassion was special.

The next day we were off to Josh's first Clemson football game. We started off tailgating at my Uncle Greg's "Orange apartment". After that, we strolled around and visited various tailgates.

Josh and I started off watching the game from the upper deck. Not so much fun at 7 months pregnant to hike up to section JJ of the upper deck. BUT it was all worth it to spend some time with Jessica Dean and her boyfriend Brian.

After spending the first half of the game in the upper deck we made it down to the side lines. Thanks to my dad, Josh and I were able to enjoy the game so close that we could reach out and touch the players. It was awesome and one of Josh's favorite things about our vacation.

The next few days we spent in the mountains near Asheville, NC. We went to Cesars Head, Pretty Place, Devils Kitchen and hiked to Hooker and Triple Falls. While we were in Asheville we celebrated our one year anniversary/baby moon. We had a peacful stay at a bed and breakfast called the Princess Ann.

The last few days of our vacation was spending time with family for Thanksgiving. We spent 2 days with my dad and 2 days with my mom.

It was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed every min of it. There were so many more things we did and people we got to visit. To see all of our pictures CLICK HERE.

Halloween Party

Josh and I hosted a Halloween party for the 10th graders this year. It was so much fun! Can you guess who Josh and I are dressed up as? If you guessed Mary and Joseph then you are right! We had to find a way to play off the big belly. Our friend Kaylee helped us out with the idea. Kaylee is the chicka in the batman out fit.

The kids that came were all dressed up and ready for fun. We had lots of food, a strobe light and a fog machine. We even did a little dancing too! And yes! I even participated with the belly. One thing I didn't participate in was the bobbing for apples.

We did something funny with the apples. We decided to put 2 fake apples in the bucket. It was pretty funny when one of the guys tried to get one of them but couldn't bite down. Funny thing is that he somehow managed to get it out. Big strong mouth I guess.

Check out this picture of the guys bobbing. Who's the winner? All of that and they tied!

It was a fun and enjoyable Halloween for us, the kids and the other highschool leaders. To view more pictures of the party click here

My Visit Home for a Baby Shower

See the difference in the belly size? I use to look more like my model friend Briani but now there is the belly bump. Briani was one of the host for my first ever baby shower in Columbia last weekend. It was so much fun and I got lost of great gifts. The other host were Lauren Davis, Debbie Davis, and my sister. Unfortunatley Carmen couldn't make the shower because she had a 104 fever plus pink eye from Isabel. They had a rough weekend and I'm glad she stayed home to get better.

Are you surprised to see that this present I am opening is pink? Would you be surprised if I told you a lot of the gifts were pink? Well, my husband would say yes to both of those questions. He is not really into pink, lace and bows. He thinks my guest were out to get him by giving me so much pink. I told him to start liking pink now because he is going to be seeing it a whole lot more. It's just the way things are when you are having a girl, not to mention married to a Southern chick who's favorite color is pink. If you want to check out more pictures from the shower then click here.

I made the most of my visit home for the shower and stayed for 4 nights. It was nice to be home and to visit with so many friends and family. One night I went to dinner with Briani and Jason Grier. I mean, "Doctor Grier". It's nice to have a friend that is a pediatrician. I'll probably be calling him a lot in the near future. Here's a pic of me, Briani and Jason.

Living in Texas I typically miss Birthday celebrations. But as luck would have it I was there for Ricky's B-day (my step dad). We went to Macaroni Grill right after the shower to celebrate. He looks as happy as I do when I get new clothes!

This is one of my favorite things I got to see in SC. It's my mom's new dog. Her name is Dutchess and she is a minature yorky. The dog weighs the same as my little baby girl. That would be a whopping 1.5 lbs. Mom said she wanted to get her own baby since Carmen and I had one. She also wanted to get her so the grandbabies could play with it when they come to visit her. She will do anything to lure the babies to her place.

My going back to Texas lunch was at the families favorite....Lizards Thicket. I was able to get some good southern cooking before heading back to Texas. I was also happy that I got to spend so much time with my brother and his girlfriend. You won't believe this but my brother took me shopping a Babies R Us and Target after lunch. It was his idea too!! He even helped me scan things at the store while I was updating my registry. Fletch man is even helping one of my friends throw me a shower in Greenville next month! What a sweet brother!

I am currently 29 weeks pregnant and only 11 more to go! I'm counting down the days and can not wait for her to get here!!

P.S. No name picked out yet. We have decided to wait until she is born to pick a name.

Sonogram Pictures of Baby Girl Jones

Here are two pictures of our little girl. If you look close in this first picture you will see her face. She is laying on her side looking at the camera with a peaceful smile on her face.

This picture is a profile shot if her precious face. From the looks of it she has my pointed Anderson nose. I wonder if she will get the Anderson blonde or the Jones black hair??

IT'S A GIRL!!

Here is the most recent picture of my belly. It's getting bigger. I'm having trouble bending over and I know it seems premature but I am loosing my balance a lot.

Josh and I were shocked to find out two weeks ago that we are having a little girl. We both totally thought it was a boy. This is because EVERYONE told us they thought it was a boy. Most women thought it was a boy because of the way that I am carrying the baby. I actually don't believe in any of those silly myths. The Jones side of the family has like 1 girl out of the last 19 Joneses. It seemed like they don't produce the girl gene but I guess Josh and I are proving that they do.



Everyone keeps asking if we have a named picked out. The answer would be no. Josh is a very show decision maker so I don't really anticipate having a name until January. We can't seem to agree on names either so that doesn't help. By the way... If you are ever trying to determine the name of your unborn child DO NOT tell Jason Grier or Natalie Estes what names you are considering. They both had nothing nice to say about our favorite name. They made us feel like we had lost our mind considering this one particular name.

The good news is that the baby girl is healthy and there are no concerns. I praise the Lord for that!

Baby News

For the rare few that didn't get my mass email you still have a chance to see the news report with our baby. My doctor was asked to be a part of a news story on prenatal testing. The piece was specifically about downs syndrom testing for pregnant women. Josh and I didn't want to do this test but they really needed a paitent at the last min and called me. I agreed to "pose" like I was getting the test. I did it simply so I could get an extra sonogram and see the baby. But they ended up making the story look like I had the test. Anyway, click here to see the news report. Once you get to the page you will push play on the screen with the synogram.



Everyone keeps asking if I am showing yet so here is a picture that Josh took of me tonight. I am exactly 5 months. That's over half way! I've got no where to go but out at this point.

Stay tuned for the big annoucment. We find out if it is a boy or girl next Friday. Josh thinks it's a girl and I think it's a boy. All I know is that the baby is very hyper. I feel it moving ALL the time. We have one very active child. I have no idea where it get's that energy from???

House Sitting for 6 Months!

Most of the time when you hear that someone is "house sitting" you think of a family going out of town for a weekend while you stay at their place. For Josh and I, house sitting is going to be a 6 months stay.

It's pretty neat how the Lord made this happen. Our lease was up in our apartment and we already turned in our notice to move out. Josh is currently looking for a full time youth ministry position and we have no idea where we will be moving. But we had to move out and find a new place to live.

We found an apartment and put down a deposit with no peace about signing a 12 month lease. We were approved and the leasing agent called to tell us that the computers were down in the office and we would have to wait a week to sign the lease. No big deal right?

Everything happens for a reason and those computers were broken for us. During that week we recieved a phone call from a Pastor at our church saying that he knew of a family that was looking for someone to house sit for 6 months. Josh and I immediately wanted to say YES! We prayed about it and then met the family.

They are the most generous people we have ever met! Their names are Rebekah and Mike Russ. They are a few years older than us and have 2 year old twins (one boy and one girl). Mike's company wanted him to move to China for work and they didn't want to leave the house empty for that long. After our initial meeting we both agreed that this was a good fit.

Josh and I were overwhelmed bythe kindness of the Russ family to allow us to live rent free!! God is so good and we know this connection could only come from him. Praise the Lord for allowing us this time to save money before the baby comes and to not be locked down in a lease.

So here we are house sitting until the first week of December. Here's a picture of the house.

Hawaiian Falls Water Park

Friday night we had a churchwide event at the Water Park. For every ticket you bought you were able to bring one guest. Josh and I decided to go and we brought along our friend William. William is a Chinese teenager who recently moved to the US with his family. He is one of the 4 chinese students that Josh leads in a Bible study once a week.

The evening got off to a rather rough start. There was all kinds of thunder and lightening, plus William said he didn't want to ride any rides because they were too high. Josh and I had no idea how to entertain a Chinese kid that speaks every little english in the rain.

But it all worked out. The rain let up and William decided to try a few smaller rides. The guys had a great time together while I walked around meeting new friends at our church.

Beach Vacation 2007

Our beach vacation FINALLY came around! This was one of my favorite trips home simply because we got to see so many people. The week started off with visiting Ed and Julie, my dad and the entire Anderson family and then we were off to the beach with my mom and step dad. We also had special beach bathing beauty guest Briani and Lauren. They stayed with us from Sunday to Monday. We basically just chilled and layed out every day. Some of us needed the tan more than others.

Check out the picture of Briani. She hardly needs more sun and made me look like a pale ghost.

Lauren some how managed to miss all of the pictures. I think she was embarassed of her skin color too. :)

Josh pretty much stayed in the ocean the whole week. All he needed was a surf board and the slight possibility that a wave might come. He managed to get up a lot but when you spend over 60 hours in the ocean you are bound to have some luck.

My brother came down the last half of the week and I think Josh was happy to have more testosterone in the mix of the condo. Fletch couldn't hang much in the ocean. He said it was boring. At least he tried a few times with no success. Fletcher also brought a girlfriend this time. Woooo! This was a first for him.

We had 3 visitors come visit us throughout the week. My college friend Delanie Thompson (formerly Jobson) is about 8 months pregnant and she was in town for the week too. She has a much bigger belly than me but it was fun for Josh to meet my sweet friend and to talk baby talk.

We were also visited by my friend Jennifer Breaux. She just graduated from Law School and drove up from Charleston to visit. That made me so happy that she would drive the distance just to visit for a few hours! She's a sweetie!

My step sister Lauren also came to visit us from Edisto. She has a man and they are so cute. They look like siblings! She is precious and I love every min I get to see her.

The last friend we got to spend time with was not planned. Our flight was delayed for 4 hours coming home from the Columbia airport. To my surpriese my Doctor friend Jason Grier was actually available. He came to the airport and picked us up for dinner. It was a quick dinner at Arbys but it was so nice to see him. Jason hasn't changed a bit. Still the silly goofy Dr. Grier. We took a picture to compare belly size. I don't understand it but he thinks it's hilarious that I am pregnant. I told him that I was just trying to help him get started with his practice. :)

If you want to check out other pictures of our vacation then click here.