Life and times of baby jones

Today was the 36 week ultrasound. We got to see how the baby was progressing. Everything is looking good and he is on track. He is slightly above average size, estimated at six pounds and eleven ounces. That will put him at eight and a half to nine pounds when he is born.

At the last ultrasound he was beginning to develop a melon head, which probably came from me. He decided to grow the rest of his body so he isn't a bobble head doll when he is born. You can't see it in the pictures, but he has hair. It looks like it is just on the back and sides, so he already has the intentional bald man's haircut. As you can see from the pictures he was either pouting or sticking his tounge out for the camera. He was probably cranky because his mother hadn't eaten breakfast yet so she was a little crabby too.

It was so great to be able to see everyone last weekend! Kate did a fabulous job hosting a baby shower for us, and we are so grateful for everything. We came home with a ton of books, clothes and a bunch of other baby gear. Who knew babies needed so much "stuff"?! Unfortunately, we both brought back colds (thanks Hannah!). Boo. It seems we can never make a trip to Buffalo without getting sick! I also did not take ANY pictures while I was home! If anyone took any, please send them to me at molliemcjones@gmail.com. I really wanted to be better about taking pictures, and I totally failed during this trip.

We were also horrified to wake up Saturday morning (the morning of the shower) to a spring snow! We scheduled this trip as late as possible to avoid the stuff. Luckily, it didn't stick around.This was our first winter without having to deal with any snow whatsoever, and I have to say - it was nice. We are fully climatized to the weather in Texas, and cringe at the very thought of having to deal with an entire Buffalo winter.

I am now 31 weeks! Which means we have roughly 9 more weeks until our little man makes his big appearance. We attended our first childbirth class this past Thursday, and it scared the crap out of us! (Well, me I guess). Watching the women on the video give birth was probably not something I needed to see. And just listening to the nurse TALK about the epidural made me a little queasy, so I'm a little worried how I'm going to handle this. We have another class this Thursday (hopefully not as graphic), and we're in the home stretch. It's hard to believe how fast time is just flying by!

We spent Easter today at our friend Kristen and Jeremy's house for a late lunch/early dinner. Kristen made a delicious, enormous Polish feast for all of us. This was our second year of having Easter at their house and it was even better then last years! She made a ton of food, and managed to make it look like it was no big deal, and with a 4 month old, too! 

In other exciting news - we took the plunge and bought our soccer mom car today. (It was quite a day!). We went out for breakfast and decided to "look" at cars. I knew, as always, we wouldn't be able to just look. But it was a great deal, so we couldn't pass it up, not that the salesman would have let us walk out of there without it anyways! Oh well, it was time. We've had just the one car since November, and with the little guy coming soon, it was time for the "mom" car anyways.

Anyways, that's all I have to report for now - exciting, I know!  

We're almost done with the baby's room. We got the second dresser put together, the blinds put up, and the glider moved in. We just have some little decorations to put up, and then we're just waiting on our little man! 11 weeks from today is his eviction date. It's hard to believe how fast this has gone!

Can't wait to see everyone (well, almost everyone) next week when we're in town!

Over the past week, we've gotten pretty far on baby's room. We had a lot of fun painting (at least I did), and putting furniture together. I'm so happy my idea worked! We're still waiting on our other dresser and blinds to be shipped, and the room will be close to complete! A little less then 14 weeks to go before we meet our little man! It's hard to believe how time flies. I've been feeling pretty good lately, although the insomnia is creeping back. Other then that I really don't have any complaints! Here are some pictures of baby's room.

Today was Jason's first marathon. He's been training for several months and has worked so hard for today's event. He finished in 3hrs, 25 mins, 11 seconds. He placed 300 overall, out of 4025, and unless I'm doing some really bad math, he finished in the top 8%. Here's a pic of him pre-race, at about 6:30am.

I then parked myself at about the 8 mile marker, and was really hoping to get a good shot of him. He came in a big pack, and I didn't even spot him. He made his way to the side, and this was the shot I got.

I then made my way to about the 25 mile marker. I figured there would have been a ton of people and again thought I wouldn't get a good pic. He was pretty worn out this point (I can't even imagine what he must have been feeling like), and was in a zone so he didn't hear me screaming his name. (Nice legs!!)

Right after he turned this corner, there was a miserable incline. If it was me, I probably would have cried. I made my way through the rest of the race and somehow found him right at the end. Here's our happy marathon finisher:

Everyone told him that right after he finished he'd want to sign up for his next one. As of right now, he says he never wants to run another marathon again. He's pretty sore, and very happy it's over.  

Baby update: This little boy must be taking after his daddy (I hope), because he's been very active. I can feel him bopping all around, especially in the middle of the night. Jason hasn't been able to feel him yet, but hopefully soon. Another update -  we have nursery furniture! Thanks to Gramma Sue and Grampa Bob, our little guy now has a crib and two dressers! We got the 2 dressers shipped to us this week, and are expecting the crib sometime this week.  We still have to paint over the awful purple in the office before we put the furniture together, but it's so exciting to see things coming together!! Yesterday marked 23 weeks, so we've got roughly 17 weeks until we meet our son!!   

Today was the twenty week exam and ultrasound. We also found out we are having a boy, very exciting stuff. Mollie has been convinced all along it was a boy, so it appears she already has a strong mother's intuitition, which may or may not be good for baby jones. Below are some pictures of the ultrasound along with a video of the ultrasound so you can see him moving around.

It's hard to believe that 2008 went by so quickly! This was our first year spending New Years at home in Austin. This was probably also the first year I didn't stay awake until midnight. I believe I passed out around 10. Pathetic. Jason did wake me up at midnight to say Happy New Year though which was cute.

Not too much else going on here. We did get the closet cleared out in the office which will become the nursery. We've also had some very lazy days, or I should say I have had some very lazy days. I had a 2 day work week last week and a 3 day work week this past week. I am definitely not looking forward to having a full work week this coming week!

Today marks 17 weeks for me and in just over 2 weeks we will find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. I'm still having some serious boy vibes. I also think I've felt some movement in the past couple days, but I'm not sure if it's really the baby yet. The book I have tell me what it might feel like and I think it just might be baby Jones! I did some prenatal yoga yesterday, and the very last exercise was just sitting propped up against some pillows for about a minute and it felt like he did a little flip. It might have been to tell me he did not like the yoga, and I have to agree with him. Afterwards I felt really lightheaded and extremely nauseas. I thought it might be good to try for flexibility and relaxation but it did anything but that. It was also my first attempt at any kind of yoga so who knows. I've been getting to the gym more regularly now that I have a little more energy and feel really good after a workout, so I think I'll just stick to that for now.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of our 82 degree January evening! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment, which went well. We listened to the heartbeat, which was a strong 156 bpm. My doctor also prescribed me some allergy medication. I've been stuffed up for a few months now and I've had daily headaches for a while as well. I'll get to pick them up next week sometime and hopefully they will give me some relief. I only seem to get the headaches on days that I work which I find interesting. We also set up our appointment for our 20 week ultrasound for January 20th, 7:30am CST. They should be able to determine the sex of the baby that morning, so hopefully he/she is not shy!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We're sad we aren't in Buffalo celebrating with family, but with the weather up there recently, who knows if we would have even made it! The weather reports here say that it will be in the 70's tomorrow, which will definitely be different for us.

We are going to be figuring out a good time to come visit in the spring (AFTER all the snow melts), since we weren't able to come for the holidays, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone then.

This evening we went out to dinner. Mollie was in the mood for steak, and we had a gift card to use for Austin Land and Cattle. So we got there, it was rather crowded. We get seated and start looking over the menu.

The waiter takes our orders. Rather than letting us order, he keeps interrupting and making suggestions. For instance we each ordered fillet, which comes with multiple sides and a salad/soup. He just spurts off so you will have salad with house dressing and potatoes, before I ever said a word. If I were purchasing life insurance or landing a lunar shuttle I would probably be open to many suggestions since I don't have much knowledge on either. However consider I am probably top 20% pickiest eaters in the US, taking meal suggestions from someone I don't know would be equivalent to taking dating tips from Charles Manson.

We finish the meal and it was pretty good. We get the check and give the waiter the gift card. He is gone for a long time, much longer than one would expect to run the gift card. I'm talking Moses climbing up the mountain to get the Ten Commandments long. Eventually he comes back only to explain the gift card we had was for Austin Land and Cattle, which was all well and good, except for the fact we were at Texas Land and Cattle. This is a completely different restaurant. So we pay for the meal and scurry out in complete embarrassment.

Since we are in the mood for steak about twice a year, I can expect to try a new steak place May-June time-frame.

Today was the first day back to work after the holiday and visit from my mom and Bob. It was a busy and fun week. Tuesday and Wednesday they were in Dallas, and they drove back on Thanksgiving morning. We decided to have a New York Texas Thanksgiving: bbq ribs, mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, squash, and green beans. All in all it was a very good meal, except Mollie forgot the pink jello. For a treat we had pumpkin and sweet potato pie. It was a nice Austin day and we had beverages on the patio while everything was cooking. Bob helped me fix the sliding screen door. Unfortunately since I have handy man skills of a three legged dog, I broke the outside light in the process. So if shattering a light when all you needed is a door fixed, I am available for many everyday repairs.

Unfortunately some part of the meal didn't agree with Bob as he wasn't feeling well the next couple of days. It was probably the bad pizza Mollie gave me a week earlier that left me abdominally challenged.

On Friday we did some shopping/store browsing, it must have been the rib hangover since I suggested the idea. I clearly wasn't thinking straight. Friday evening we went to Esther's Follies show that was very good. I recommend anyone coming to Austin to check out their show.

Saturday was a pretty low key day, so low key I don't remember what we did, so on to Sunday. Old age has warped my mind so all the days have blended together, similar to one of those montage scenes in a cheesy '80s movie, where everything gets done so quickly and no one is tired or looks like they really did anything. Sunday consisted of visiting Enchanted Rock (a nice mountain and camping area). One would think large state park, large camping/hiking area, bring proper shoes to walk around in. Not everyone in our party thought so, and that person will remain nameless to protect the innocent. Then on to Fredericksburg more shopping, eating, drinking beer, and eating some amazing chocolate. The chocolate there was incredible, and I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Think of drinking a cup full of hot fudge, but better. I decided then and there when I no longer need to work we are moving to Fredericksburg and I will just walk around with an IV in my stomach and live on motor oil thick hot chocolate.

Monday Mollie went back to work and mom, Bob, and I visited the Bob Bullock museum. There you can learn all about the Texas history, but plan to spend a lot of time. We spent several dollars worth of quarters on parking meters. I also discovered my uncanny ability to parallel park. There wasn't a lot of room but I got the car in the spot on the first try, I may be the Michelangelo of parallel parking. I normally would have trouble parking in a spot if I was the only car in the lot, had cones and neon lights to guide me, and a guy with those big flashlights they use to direct airplanes to get in the space and not at some random angle. I like to pretend I am making a statement to society when I park like a jackass (not intentionally of course). We saw a movie there and the seats vibrated and made lots of noise. My mother kept screaming and I was fairly certain we were going to get escorted out of the theater by the usher. Then we had Tex-Mex, and Tuesday was just a relaxing morning and then off to the airport. It was a good week and we had a lot of fun.