Baby Jorden is here!

Jorden Drake Jones arrived on Wed October 21, 2009 at 2:53. He weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 20in. Here is his birth story:
Sun and Mon before I had him, I was feeling a lot of contractions and he was causing me a lot of discomfort. I thought for sure that meant he was coming soon. Tues though, I woke up feeling great and was able to get a lot of stuff done while Jensen was at school like pack his room, sweep and mop, go to Home Depot etc. That evening, my MOMS Club friends had a farewell dinner for me at McAllister's deli and I had a great time visiting with my them. I woke up at about 7:30 Wed morning and when I got out of bed to use the restroom there was a big gush and I knew my water broke. The funny thing is the very same thing happened when I had Jensen. Jeff was in the shower getting ready for work and I went in there and asked him if he was ready to have a baby today. My sister works 5min away so I called her to come take care of Jensen then I took a shower and got ready to go to the hospital. We got to the hosptial, checked in and they hooked me up the monitors and gave me my IV. I was having pretty regular contractions by that time and got my epidural not long after. Time went by pretty fast and after only pushing a few times Jorden arrived. I got really lucky both of my boys' births were pretty easy and occured almost the same way with Jensen being born at 2:38 and Jorden at 2:53

Jorden looked a lot like Jensen especially when he wore a similar yellow hat

Precious wrinkly feet

We were excited for Jensen to meet his brother. He was a little shy at first and didn't want to hold him but you could tell he was proud.
The old wives tale says if you have a lot of heartburn your baby will have a lot of hair. I had it really bad this time and sure enough Jorden has lot of dark hair with a perfect swirl in the front

The day after her was born, Jorden had a busy day-he got circumsized, got his picture taken, and got a hearing test. Here's a picture of him with the little headphones on

Induction Scheduled/Name picked

I'm not a big fan of evicting baby Jones but since we are moving at the same time I want to guarantee that I will have at least a few days to recover before moving day. My doctor scheduled my induction for Monday Oct 26th so if he hasn't come before then (which he just might) he will be born that day! It's still cutting it closer than I would like but I hope he will decide to come out in the next few days. With Jensen, I was scheduled to go in on a Sun evening and he came on his own Sun afternoon so I hope this one does the same. My fluid level is still on the low side so I have been doing non-stress tests twice a week to check his movement, contractions and heartrate. I've been having lots of "practice" contractions and I'm dialated so he could be here any minute. I've been feeling great so I'm grateful for that. The last few days I was miserable and ready for him to come out but today I feel great again so I'm not sure what that means......

Thanks everyone for all your name suggestions, we have really had a tough time! I heard some very interesting ones for sure! Jaxon was suggested about a thousand times and it's cute but way too popular for us. Jasper was suggested a lot and I coudn't figure out why since it seems so old fashioned then someone told me it's the name of a character on Twilight so that made sense then. We are 99% sure baby boy will be named Jorden Drake Jones. I have always liked Jordan for a boy or girl but Jeff wasn't a fan until we talked about spelling it with an "en" since Jensen ends that way. Plus, it makes it a less common spelling to go with Jones. My only worry is that I hope he doesn't get mistaken for a girl too much but it seems like it's pretty evenly split and I hope the spelling is more masculine as well. So, look for pics of our new little blessing in less than a week!

Zoo behind the scenes

Jeff's work gives each employee $1000 to donate to charity and since Jeff donates to the zoo, we get some pretty neat perks. One of them is a behind the scenes tour of some of the animals. Last year it was the reptiles and big cats and it was amazing so we sure didn't want to miss it this year. This time it was the pachyderm building and giraffes/okapi. When you get there, they feed you a snack and even wine if you want it then you split into two groups to get on the tram. They do it after the zoo closes and there is no kids allowed for safety reason.

Our first stop was the pachyderm building. Normally, elephants would be in there but our two females are in Tulsa to try to breed with their bull Sneezy. We saw the pygmy hippos up close and they make me laugh because they remind me of giant poop ha ha! Then we got to go to the back of the rhino pens to see them up close. We even got to feed fruit to two of them. We didn't know we would get to do that and it was so neat.....slobbery but cool. They were so gentle and nice

One of the rhinos with the zookeeper Jeff feeding the female
Me pettying/feeding the large male rhino

Next our group went to the giraffe barn. It was dark in there and we had to be quiet but it was so neat standing next to these tall animals. Every time I see them they fascinate me more!

This is the 18ft tall male Bogey

These are the 3 female. The one on the left is Bogey's mom. They are hoping Bogey decides to mate with the one in the middle named Ellie

Next we went in the Okapi barn. They are related to giraffes and have a rear that is striped like a zebra. There was a baby born just two months ago so that was neat to see him. Since he's so young and we don't want to scare him, they wouldn't let us take pictures.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We always enjoy taking Jensen to the pumpkin patch and I wanted to go early this year since we are so busy. Sat was perfect weather so we drove out to Arcadia and ate at Pops, one of our favorite places, for lunch. The Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch is not far from there. First we visited the petting zoo. We had animal feed but Jensen does not like to feed the animals so we mainly petted the goats, rabbits, ponies, and cow. We went on a hayride then through the corn maze and Jensen's favorite thing was playing in the hay. Before leaving we were able to roast marshmallows and make s'mores on a campfire. I was super excited because I started craving real campfire s'mores a few months ago but you can't just build a fire in your backyard to make them! They were yummy. It was a great family day

Goat trying to get some food from Jensen

Hayride

Playing in the hay

Roasting the marshmallows

Yummy but messy We each got to pick out a pumpkin to take home

36 week belly pic

WOW I'm actually 9 months pregnant can you believe that? The first 12 weeks took an eternity but since then it has flown by. I'm on weekly check-ups now and last week I had an ultrasound to measure his size. My dr was a little concerned because he was measuring ahead but I knew it was because she had my due date as Nov. 5th based on my last mentral cycle. Well, since I was seeing a specialist when I got pregnant I knew my actual due date was Oct 31st and my ultrasounds have confirmed that. So, he was measuring 6lbs which is just right. The amniotic fluid around the baby is on the low side though so to make sure he's ok she is having me do twice a week non stress tests. This is where I go in and get hooked up to a baby heart monitor, a contraction monitor, blood pressure, pulse and push a little button every time he moves. They have me sit there for about 30 minutes and so far everything has been good. I guess they want to make sure he's not laying on the umbilical cord. Calling it a non stress test is ironic because of the amount of stress I have right now but it is a good chance to be alone and relax! It has been a challenge figuring out what to do with Jensen doing that twice a week plus a dr appt. Luckily Mimi and Grandma have taken him a lot.

When I went for my 36 week check up yesterday she said I was dialated a little bit and my cervix is soft so I most likely won't make it to the 31st. I told her about the move and how I am nervous about having him or being in the hospital too close to the move day. I don't want to evict him by being induced but if I could guarantee he'd be here a little early it would make it a easier. She said we'll see at my appt next week.

Jeff had a scared look on his face and said WOW I definitly think he has gotten lower that before! Well, I think it has finally hit him that ready or not this kid is coming soon!

New house buzz

Last weekend after we found out we had a contract on our house, we realized we needed to find our new house quickly. We had plans to go with our realtor Rodd starting Monday to see some houses that were on a list of ones he sent us that fit our criteria. On Sunday though, there were open houses in some of the neighborhoods we were considering so we drove down to take a look. The first one I wanted to see was one I liked from the online pictures so we went there first. As soon as we walked in we knew we had to have this house!! The day before we had been in an open house and we bickered all day about whether it was right for us but this one we both completely agreed on right away. We had my mom and Jeff's parent's and Jamie and Jerry meet us there to see what they thought and they loved it too. So, we called our realtor and said we found the one. He said wow, that was easy! It's weird because that's normally not the way I do things. I usually have to look at all my options before making a decision but this time I just knew. There were a lot of people that came through the house that day too so we were worried that someone else would beat us to it but we put in the offer and they accepted. There was about 3 days though of haggling about how much the builder would pay on closing costs. He wouldn't pay all of it but we finally agreed on half. It was a tense few days since we were excited but couldn't fully celebrate until it was final.

It was very exciting to put a "Sold in 4 days" sign in the yard!

SW 141st Street

Our new house was build this year, never lived in. We are super excited about this since that means we won't have to do any repairs for a while. After all we've been through, we need that! It's 2500 square feet and located about 2-3 miles from my mom, Jeff's parent's and Jamie and Jerry. The neighborhood is also right across from the elementary school. We didn't think we'd end up with such a new house that was so big woohoo. Its 4 bedrooms with each having a good size walk in closet, a family room and two bathrooms. It also has a 3 car garage with the 3rd car being drive through to the back.

This is the cute little porch that will be nice to sit and relax on

The living room is a good size and is open to a beautiful kitchen. We joked that this kitchen deserves a much better cook than I am so I better improve! Jeff even half joked about me taking cooking classes at the vo-tech.....UH I can't be that bad!

The kitchen pantry is HUGE and is twice the size of the walk in closet I have now!

This large area is behind the kitchen and we think it might be a perfect multi-purpose playroom/family room etc

Jeff said I made a puddle when I saw this master closet, its really HUGE!

The only thing we wish were different about the house is the size of the yard. We were hoping for a good sized lot for the kids to play in and a covered patio to grill/entertain. It does however, back up to a farm pasture so we won't have any neighbors behind us. We hate to mow anyway so maybe a small yard is a good thing for us!

We close on both houses the day before the baby is due so it should be a CRAZY time but I can't wait to live there and I'm still pinching myself. I feel like all that hell we went through is finally paying off big time. There is a part of me though that is terrified of all this change at once, should be interesting...

Mars before and after pics

Here are the picture of our house when we had it on the market. I guess you could call them our "before and after" pictures

Kitchen before- that yellow was AWFUL! It was supposed to be a mustardy yellow and didn't turn out that way

Here you can see what the counters and floor in the kitchen used to be. Jensen has changed some too!

After new counters, tile, paint, dining room set

I don't have a picture of the original hall bath but it had brown flower wallpaper and hanging globe lights on a brass chain ICK! We remodeled and hung new wallpaper but it wasn't very neutral for selling so we had to strip it and texture/paint the walls.

Office
Jensen's room

Master bedroom

Living room with new furniture thanks to Aunt Janet and Uncle Terry

Master bath during construction. Notice the bare walls- we textured/painted and we replaced the counter top too

Shower after