Lincoln Memorial University

So patience pays off.
Rick opened a letter from LMU last week that informed him that he owed them a lot of money. In return LMU plans to make him a Doctor of Osteopathy.
Yep that's right Rick got accepted to med school. What a great Christmas present. 6 months ago he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, and now he is going to be a doctor. (I have to brag a little isn't my man awesome!!!!! It is so nice having a little more direction in life. )There is one catch though. Rick needs to get a B or better in his O'chem and Physics classes. So everyone make sure he is studying. If all goes well, we will be moving to Tennessee this summer.

Christmas Photos

We finally did pictures with my family. The last family picture we have doesn't include the 2 grand children. Melissa did a fabulous job. Aren't we so cute. We are going to do pictures with Rick's family in a couple days. I'll post a picture when I get one.

Fun with Katie

I took Katie outside to play in the snow today. It was the first time for her to be in the snow. I think it was just to bright for her, but doesn't she just look cute in her snowsuit. Thanks to Les and Val for sharing.






It was our ward Christmas party last night. Katie met Santa and Mrs Claus for the first time and even enjoyed the candy cane the bishop gave her.






















Rick and I were playing with Katie the other night. Rick is trying to make sure that Josh isn't the only child in the family to be acrobatic. Katie is really funny. She would stand on Rick's hand and then when he would let go she would straighten and tighten up. It was so fun to watch her stiffen her arms to her sides. You never know Steve might have some competition in the family for the cutest cheerleader.







Katie has recently found enjoyment in licking her fingers. I think she is taking the path of "soon to be thumb sucker." As she was searching her hand the other night her whole fist almost ended up in her mouth. I had to show her the proper way to do this, hence the picture.

Sad times at the Jones

A few sad things have been going on in our house hold lately.
First, of all my car doesn't like to shift between 1st and 2nd gear. This makes driving tricky some days.
Second, we still have not heard anything on Rick's med school interview. The paperwork we were waiting on is finally verified, but the school may not be able to access it this week. Which means we may have to wait until after the school's holiday break to find out the verdict. (I'm learning some patience with this one.)
Third, I was trimming Katie's nails the other day and cut her thumb. We stopped the bleeding and she seemed to be fine. That is until she was playing with her thumb the next day and it started bleeding again. In the end, I put a band-aid on her finger so she wouldn't get any more blood on her clothes. (see blurry pics)
Finally, Our good friends the McArthur's are leaving today. They are off to their next journey in life, which involves living in North Carolina. It is sad because we have become very close to them. It is hard saying goodbye to people when you don't know the next time that you will see them. We do have some security on the matter. We are watching the items they left behind. They have to see us again, just to get their stuff!! We would like to thank them for all the dinners we did together, the advice that they have shared, and all the down right good fun we have had together. We love you and will miss you dearly!!!

Christmas Decor

Sorry I didn't post pictures earlier I've been a little busy. Here are some pictures of the lights on the house. They are permanently attached and run off the front porch light. You are looking at the white lights with the round bulbs. We don't know how to turn on the green strand.


By the way, I'm not a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas. My decorations are mainly Blue and Silver. I do this on purpose. I found that Red and Green are great for December but once Christmas is over you can't use them anymore. I like my color scheme because it goes well with January's decorations of snowmen and snowflakes.

Feeling Lucky

Thanksgiving has been a lot of fun this year. We had some great food and both of my green bean casseroles were devoured. It's only because my recipe calls for bacon, but who cares they were good. Rick actually got off early so he was able to make it to dinner on time. It was a really nice surprise.
Friday I hit Walmart at 4:45 am. I was able to price match a jumper for Katie. When I got there, there was only one jumper left. It was a great deal it was half off. I think she will really like playing in it as well.
That night we went to my cousin Shess's place for a little Turkey Hold'em. I have to say I was feeling lucky. We played 2 tournament style games of No Limit Texas Hold'em. There were about 10 people playing. I won both tournaments. It was great. I hit some lucky cards.
Today, with some help from our friend Nate, Rick and I hooked up the lights on our house and set up our tree. Now this is a first for us. I never set up a tree while we lived in Cedar because I knew we would never be there for Christmas so I didn't see the point. I would still put up some decorations but never a tree. It is really nice. Katie stared at the tree when I turned on the lights. It was fun because she played with a small stocking for a while as well.

Katie

So Katie is 2 months old now. She weighed 10 lbs 2 oz and was 21 1/2 in at her last check up. She is cooing all the time and we moved her from her bassinet to her crib. Enjoy the pictures and her cooing.

Slacker!

Ok Ok I know that I have been slacking when it comes to blogging but I have an excuse. I recently decided to start the Twilight series. I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I also wanted to see what all the hype was about. I mean a love story about fictional beings isn't really my ideal read.
Boy was I wrong. I should have known better. I've always liked vampires. They are the one scary entity I don't mind watching in horror flicks. Needless to say I read all 4 books in about a week. Which I might add is extra difficult when you have a 2 month old. Now I'm addicted. I saw the movie, which is pretty close to the book, and hope they make a second.
I must add to all those other Twilight readers I am a Jacob fan. He is just like the guys I hung out with in High School. Edward is great and all, but me and Jacob could really get along.

Tennessee

So Rick and I took Katie on her first plane ride a couple of weeks ago. She is a great traveler. She was always good in a car. Sleeping anytime we had somewhere far to go. I expected her to be the same on the plane. Of course I was wrong. She was still really good she was just wide awake. She would sleep for about a half hour during and after take off and then would fall asleep as we landed. Not at all what I was expecting.
Tennessee was a lot of fun. We went because Rick interviewed at a medical school while Katie and I enjoyed the company of Rick's parents. Due to some paperwork issues we don't know the results of the interview but hope to find out soon. I have to thank Kevin and Cindy for the hospitality. Cindy didn't know that Katie and I were coming until we were already there. It was a great surprise and I will never forget her face.

Blessing and such

We blessed Katie on Sunday. It was a really cool experience. I was a little stressed about making everything perfect that I was getting upset, that is until Rick took our beautiful baby girl in his arms and blessed her. He did such a good job. He was very eloquent and expressed his love for her with his words. For those of you that were not able to attend, it was an amazing experience.
It was also really nice to see Rick's family. We do not get to spend much time with them and so it was great to have all 3 brothers together for the weekend.
We snapped a picture of Josh holding Katie. It was really cute. Including the part of the photo shoot where Josh tried to push Katie off him because he was done. Got to love little kids.

I have to thank everyone that helped with the luncheon. Thank you for bringing soups and desserts. Big kudos go to my mom though. She made everything Katie wore (except her bracelet and hair bow), she made tons of soup, and provided us a location for the luncheon. Thanks mom it really means a lot to me. I don't know what I would do with out you. I love you!

By the way I hope everyone votes today!! You can't complain about the outcome unless you do.
Just make sure you bundle up. It's cold around here. By the way Katie looks really cute in a Beanie.

Happy Halloween

Katie was a little ghost for Halloween. She was just so cute. We spent the evening at my aunt Diane's house. I went trick-or-treating with the little kids while Rick helped scare people in her haunted backyard. It was really fun.

Just a few thoughts

So I finally have a few mins to blog while Katie is sleeping. Time is flying really fast around here and I never have enough time in the day. I can't believe that Katie is already over a month old. It feels like I was pregnant yesterday and now I have a 1 month old. She is finally settling into a routine. She wakes up around 9:30am and then takes 2 naps during the day around Noon and 4pm. She then goes to bed around 10pm. Thankfully she sleeps most of the night. She only gets up twice (3 and 6am) and then sleeps until it is time to get up.
Rick is settling into being a dad. He is all about making sure she looks cute and that she is always warm. These are a few pictures of Rick playing with Katie. She gets really fussy and doesn't want to go to sleep at night and we have to get creative trying to keep her calm.


For Katie's first bath we bathed her in a bowl in the kitchen. She really likes baths. She is definitely a Bartholomew fish. She doesn't mind taking showers with me either. I have a really good baby.

She is also into watching football with the boys. These are pictures of her chilling with her uncle Steve and our friend Nate.












By the way my husband is checking out a few new trades (not really but go with me). First he is definitely expressing his style by becoming a decorator. He was busy using all the pumpkins and gourds from the garden to decorate our little house. I think he did a really great job. We would not have any decorations if it wasn't for Rick. So I am very thankful to him for the hard work. Make sure you check out our massive pumpkins they are sitting on the porch.

For his second trade he is trying to become a trapper. Unfortunately for me the only thing he has been able to trap lately was something I would try to avoid. Ok he trapped 2 skunks in a one skunk trap. The animals surprised Rick when he was looking through the old house next to us. In the end, instead of just shooting the things, he found a way to drown them. They're dead now. I still think he is really lucky that he didn't get sprayed. He did however have to scrub the neighbors dog that was a victim of the situation.

Katie is starting to stay awake longer during the day. I thought that this would mean that she would sleep longer at night. Boy was I wrong. It just means that we are both awake more and getting less sleep. Which is never fun. Rick came home the other night and found Katie and I on the couch. What can I say... It was a long day.







Katie is doing so well. She failed her first hearing test so we had to go get her re-screened yesterday. Thankfully she passed! Yipee. I was so worried but it is nice to know that she is healthy. At her 2 week Dr apt she weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 19 in long. Her doctor was really surprised that she had gained so much weight because she is only breast fed. It made me feel great when the doctor commented that my milk must be pretty rich for her to gain that much since she probably dropped down to 6 lbs 10 oz after birth. Plus big news!!! I actually put on non maternity pants today. Granted the pants are tight and don't quite fit the same (my thighs are bigger now go figure) but I can actually wear something that doesn't have an elastic waist.

My wonderful hubby!

I have to tell you that I have a fabulous husband. I will be so tired in the morning from feeding Katie all night and he (when he is home) will take her and chill out so I can sleep. He'll take Katie and tell me I have to take care of myself. He is really funny too. I'll go to wake Katie up so I can feed her and he'll tell me not too. He says that she is just so cute sleeping and she is comfortable and we shouldn't wake her. Personally I think he just wants to cuddle with her a little longer. It is nice to have him care so much

Being a new mom is different than I expected. It has it's ups and downs. I guess it all depends on how the night before went. If Katie has a bad morning nothing goes right that day. Some days I have tons of energy. Other days I have a hard time staying awake just to feed Katie. I never thought I would feel bad taking a shower but I do, especially if she is awake. I don't know if having a child is necessarily "life changing" I still live the same life it just has different priorities is all.

Maybe today I will be able to work on her birth announcements and invites to her blessing. Just so everyone who reads this knows she is getting blessed Sunday, November 2nd at 9am in Lake Shore. All are invited to attend. Anyway Katie is waking up now so I'm going to go.

Tuesday

What an interesting day. I started the day a little depressed that I wasn't in labor or having a kid. Everything on the "how to induce labor naturally" list had been tried. (well almost everything I wasn't about to drink caster oil or some of the weird herbs) Plus my Dr had already striped my membranes twice. Believe me nothing worked. I was sick of people asking when I was going to have the baby or if I was alright. Look yes pregnant woman weigh a lot more than normal and have limited mobility but that doesn't mean they are incapable of functioning normally. I swear people thought I was lying when I said that I was alright. I finally had to come to the realization that the baby was going to come when she wanted to come. Nothing I did was going to change that. I tried to get on with the day not focusing on the baby but just getting things done.
Around 1 pm I went over to my grandparents to drop off some papers. I chatted with them for a while and then came home. I worked on some chores but got bored and around 2:30 I rode my scooter over to my parents house to pick up my planner I had left there earlier. No one was home. It was like a wasted trip, so I came home and finally did the dishes.
When the last pan was drying(around 4:15), I checked the mail and relaxed on the couch for a while, waiting for Rick to get home (around 6:30) because I could then have some company. Hopefully he could think of something to break the boredom. At 4:30 my back started to hurt so I laid down for a little bit. By 4:45 my back really hurt so I decided to jump in the shower to get some hot water on my back. I thought this would relieve some of the discomfort. A few mins later, while in the shower, my water broke. Not what I expected to have happen but I couldn't have asked for a better place, No mess to clean up.
I got out and proceeded to call Rick who was still at work. I tried his cell phone. No answer. I then called the nurses station on his floor. They put me on hold while they tracked him down. (I got dressed during this time) The kind person got back on the phone and said that Rick was helping someone with a bloody nose and that if it wasn't his wife in labor to take a message. I stated to the lady that it was his wife and that my water had broken. She then put me on hold and got Rick for me.
Moments later, (5:00pm) I was on the phone with my mom to have her drive me to the hospital (not the same hospital Rick works but another one located closer to our house) where Rick would meet me as quickly as possible. She came and picked me up. During the 7 min drive to the hospital I felt my first contraction. Which was bearable but uncomfortable. My mom walked me up to labor and delivery where we stood at the nurses station for 10 mins waiting for someone to come help me. During which the contractions were getting closer. It was a very busy floor at the time. They finally got me into a room and hooked up to monitors. At the time I was dilated to a 3 and having contractions every 2 mins. They started asking me the admission questions.
Poor Rick in the mean time had left the hospital at the peak of rush hour. He said that it was the fastest he had ever tried to get home and due to red lights and tons of people trying to get home it took him the longest to get home. He picked up a few things and finally made it to the hospital at 6pm. I had just finished up answering the admission questions. They checked me again and in less than 45 min I dilated to a 5.
At this point the contractions were killing me. Back labor is horrible! All I could do was curl up in a ball and cry to edure the pain of each contraction. All I wanted at this point was my IV so I could get an Epidural and the nurse was still asking me questions. I could care less about having a photographer take pictures of the baby I just was in pain and she wasn't helping.
Finally they set up an IV which my beloved nurse missed the first time and called the anesthesiologist. Rick this whole time was in an awkward position trying to rub my back. The good doctor had me roll on my side. My contractions were so close there wasn't time to stick me in between. So Rick held me down during the next contraction while the Dr stuck my spine.
THANK HEAVEN FOR DRUGS!!!!!!! I have no clue how woman gave birth without it. I went from a withered ball of patheticness to someone that could still move (it was a good epidural), talk and finally relax. It was like night and day. My doc came to check on me and said that the average 1st time labor takes at least 8 hours and he predicted we would have a child around 2 or 3 in the morning. Due to the time line I sent Rick out to get some dinner. I progressed a little faster than planned by the time Rick got back from dinner the nurse was ready for me to do some trial pushes. They then had me wait for the doctor to get there. Women usually push for 2 hrs their first labor. Doc got into the room ready to help me push and then 6-10 contractions later we had a baby. The Dr said that 5 hours from water breaking to baby in hand wasn't too shabby for a rookie.

Katie Virginia Jones

I would like to introduce you to our little one.









Katie Virginia Jones was born Tues, Sept 23rd, 2008 at 9:52pm. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 18 1/2 in long.

Rick's Big Trip

Rick was able to go to TN this last week to visit his parents. Check out our Header, it is a panoramic pic that Rick took. It shows TN, KY, and VA. This is where Rick's parents currently live and with some hope and work we might live there in the near future as well. While in TN Rick met with a few people from the Med school. Hopefully we will be able to get him accepted and move on to our next step in life... More school. It is located near the Cumberland Gap (pic of the tunnel). Which is prime location for old school moonshiners. Hence his picture with the General Lee. He enjoyed spending some time with his parents and checking out the local attractions. This included an aquarium. Rick liked the small town atmosphere. The university is Lincoln Memorial University. LMU is at the top when it comes to DO programs and would be a fabulous school to attend. Plus being around family is always a plus.