Jack Pot!

What would you think if you were in your first prenatal ultrasound and the sonographer say's..."Jack Pot"? For Josh.... it was a state of confusion. For me.... I knew that ment we were having TWINS! Of course I didn't need her response to figure that out. It was obvious from the minute I saw the picture on the screen. Even my childless brother who has no idea how to read those black and white blobs could see that it was two. See for yourself!

Our first comment was..."SERIOUSLY???" But the next thing I said was...."Well, I guess I finally get a minivan!" Josh said..."Now we have to come up with TWO names!". Over all we were shocked but mostly excited beyond words. We always wanted a big family so we are now on the fast track.

If you are finding out this news for the first time then I will go ahead and answer all of the most commonly asked questions.

Did you think there was a chance you were having twins?

Actually the answer from me is YES. I was already showing at 8 weeks, extremely exhausted, and very sick. I know every pregnancy is different but it just felt sooo much more extreme then when I was pregnant with Ivy. I even googled "Signs you might be having twins" and found I had all of them. I started thinking I was paranoid but looking back I think maybe the Lord was just preparing my heart for the news. All that to say.... I had convinced myself it was all in my head and that there would only be one baby. So I was SHOCKED when the sonographer confirmed my theory.

Are there twins in our families?

We recently found out that the answer is yes. Josh's great grandmother had twins that didn't survive and someone on that side of the family ended up having twins that did survive. However, our twins are fraternal, which means I dropped two eggs. So I don't see how Josh's family history could have caused my body to do that.

Did we use fertility medicine?

I am amazed at how a stranger will come out and ask this. WOW! That's a pretty bold questions to ask. If you are a friend it's one thing but a complete stranger another. And honestly... why does it matter? The Lord gives life and takes it away. So it was by His hand that these two lives were conceived.

Are we going to find out the sexes and when?

YES! Absoultley. Might find out the answer in 2 weeks. But also could take another 2 months. It will all depend on how they are sitting at our ultrasound.

What do we want them to be?

Ultimately, we would be happy with any combination. However, Josh and I are not afraid to tell you that two girls is scary. Josh said..."Surely there is a boy in there somewhere?" We would both be thrilled to get a boy out of this deal.

Does Ivy know what's happening?

Yes, she is excited! She keeps telling everyone..."Mommy has TWO babies in her belly!" Her first question about the twins was hilarious. She asked me if one could be black and one could be brown? hahaha Ivy will be almost 4 when they arrive so I have a built in helper.

How many weeks am I?

On friday I will be 12 weeks! That's 3 months!

Are we freaked out?

Nope... Not at all actually. I kept thinking Josh might hit panic mode but so far so good. He rarely panic's about anything and we are both beyond excited and can't wait to meet our next two kiddos.

It's funny the response you get from people when you tell them that you are having twins. Everyone pretty much fall's into 3 different responses.

1st- OH WOW! THAT'S SO EXCITING!! I Can't believe it! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

2nd- MAN! I'm so jealous..... I really want twins!

3rd- Oh no! You poor thing.... I'm so sorry. How is Josh? Is he really ok?

There is no reason to feel sorry for us. Now, if I was a single mother...or had a dead beat husband, then maybe. But when you have a teammate like Josh there is really little to fear. He is such a servant to me and Ivy and goes above the call of duty on a daily basis. Not to mention we have tons of support from family and friends in the area. My brother and sister in-law live in Clemson and do not have children yet. They are as good as any grandparents out there. Ivy adores them and I often think she likes them more than me and Josh.

My mom and dad are not far away either and I know Josh's parents will be traveling to come help as often as they can. Which by the way.... All of grandparents are jumping for joy over this news!

In other exciting Jones family news........WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We have been looking since September and weren't having any luck. The Lord's timing is perfect b/c our bank just created a new loan program which won't require us to pay the dreaded PMI! This house has everything we prayed for. It's in Central, SC which is just a few miles from Clemson. It's in a small neighborhood that is just one street. The neighbors have a daughter Ivy's age! We are so excited and will be moving in mid April. Here is a picture of our house.

Nice flat yard. Just the way I like it.

Here is our back yard.

And I have to point out that our house payment will be less than our rent in a tiny two bedroom apartment in Plano Texas. SC has some benefits!

One last fun video and pic before I close. This is a video of my mom finding out that I am pregnant (at this point we don't know it's twins). We wrapped a baby doll as one of her Christmas gifts and on the the baby's face we put some questions marks and wrote "Grand baby #4 is on the way". Little did we know that it should have said #4 and #5.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

Now watch it again but this time watch my step dad. He is a little confused and doesn't know what kind of gift we gave her. As mom gets up to hug me you see him looking through the box trying to figure out what it is.

I plan to post regular updates to the blog about the pregnancy and the move. I know it's been over a year since I wrote but I'm back in the saddle now!

Snow 2010!

Dallas broke records this week with the amount of snow fall we got. It was over a foot of snow! We feel like we are on a ski vacation. Ivy enjoyed the snow! We had a great time playing in it with our neighbors too! Enjoy the slideshow.

My Twin

Ok, I'm going to try this again.   I was going to post another vote but I just don't this it's nessessary.  Once you look at my baby pictures next to Ivy's then you will no longer question who she looks like.    

Even though I am not posting another vote I would love to hear your comments!  

Back in SC - Spring 2009

I'm a bit delayed but that's because I've taken on a summer job.  This summer I'm working at Canyon Creek Country Club where I teach water aerobics, swim lessons and coach the 8 & unders for the swim team.  I am having a blast and doing what I love!  But the days are long and HOT!   We have a few days where the heat index was 110 and the water in the pool was 93 degrees!  That means no relief from the heat.   It's kept me busy but I feel very at home.

So it's been a while but back in May Josh, Ivy and myself made it back to SC for my highschool reunion and one of our beloved beach trips with Meme and Poppy.   

I know people enjoy picture more than reading on blogs so on to the pictures.

Ivy in the Hospital

Yesterday was by far the scariest day of my life!  I've heard that once you have kids trusting God goes to a whole new level.   And yeah... it's true.   So here's what happend.

Josh is taking a summer school class and he was heading out the door when he dropped his bag and things fell all over the place.  He thought he picked up everything but neglected to see that his travel pack of medicine was hidden under the chair.  So he heads off to school and I start to get Ivy ready for preschool.  I was just letting her play in the living room while I fixed breakfast, packed her lunch and got us both ready.  

Turns out that she found that little pack of pills and ate some.  I had no clue that it was there or that she had taken them.  So i took her to school and she fell asleep on the way (which is totally normal. She does that everyday.)   But when I dropped her off the teachers were hardly able to wake her up.  She basically slept all day.  I got a call from one of the teachers at the school telling me that Ivy would hardly open her eyes and wouldn't play or talk.  So my friend met me half way and brought her to my apartment.  

The min. I laid eyes on her my stomach dropped.  She looked like any min she was going to take her last breath.  She was just lifeless feeling in my arms.  She couldn't even hold her head up! 

When we came inside I saw the pill pack and it was empty.  So I immediately called Josh to see if there had been some pills in there.  Turns out there was 3 to 4.  Josh didn't even know his meds were missing from his bag.

So my friend drove me and Ivy to the ER.  It was the longest and scariest ride of my life.  My friend and I prayed.  Phillipians 4:16 says, "Be anxious about nothing, but with prayer and petitition with Thanksgiving let your request be made known to God."   So that's exactly what I did.  The Lord really gave me supernatural strength to get through it without loosing my mind.

Josh rushed to the ER and so did his mother.  We were relieved to find that her vital signs were all normal and she was going to be ok.  The doctors said that if something bad were going to happen then it probably already would have.   So they admitted us to the hospital over night and we just got home.

Ivy is acting perfectly fine and she's going to be ok.   I so grateful for that and that I have such a wonderful husband to who is my rock and keeps me calm.  (I think he's rubbing off on me.)

And I hope this is the first and last time she uses drugs!! 

Spring Break

Our spring break ended with a day at the Arboretum with the family but the rest of our week was spent in South Carolina visiting friends and family. 

Here are some pictures of us at the beautiful arboretum.

While we were in SC we spent some time in Clemson where we got to see Cayce and Jessica.  Cayce's kids were asleep but she has 4 and she had them in 3 years!  One set of twins.

Tavaras is a college friend of mine and he loves babies!  He's a single guy and would make a good dad!  Any takers??

I have to take a second to brag on my dad.  He completed his second book and here is the original copy before it goes to print.
Some might see my mom and step dad's new car and say "MID LIFE CRISIS".   But they just think they are having fun.  I want to have fun in their car!
So many of our friends are having babies this month!  Ed and Julie had little Raylie 2 weeks ago and we got to meet her and see the whole family while we were in town.

Ivy has a bit of her daddys dare devil in her.  Most 1 year olds would be afraid of a dog this large but not Ms. Ivy.

Ivy made this funny face below whenever she would see the dogs.  Her face says she is scared but her body just walks right up to them.
Ivy loved MeMe's little yorky's.  She has two.
Our niece Isabel had her 2nd B-day and we got to celebrate with her.   Look how much she loves her Aunt Ashley.

To see more pictures of our spring break CLICK HERE.

Random Pic's of ivy

So I guess I took a little blogger break.   Most people just look at the blogs for the pictures anyway so here ya go.  Just some random but cutties.   And YES!  She climbed in there herself.

It's nice that she is on table food now but... WHAT A MESS SHE MAKES!
Ummm.  This pic ....Well, I just hope she's not headed down the Brittany Spears path.
I promiss!  I did not drug my child for this one.  Daddy must have done something to her because it wasn't me!

Ivy's First Birthday Party!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! ...... I know I can't.  Sad but true.  My sweet little baby girl just turned 1 year old.  With the help of Strawberry Shortcake we were able to celebrate the occasion right.  Apparently Josh is not use to attending little girl birthday party's.  After we were done setting up he said...."Aaaaa...So much PINK!".   I'm not sure what he expected but he will have to get use to it.  It won't be the last.  To see more pics from the party CLICK HERE.