Thursday, August 29, 2013

Thankful Thursday 8/29

Wow it has been a while! It is really hard to get to the computer nowadays. Mason likes to keep us on our toes that's for sure!

- Thankful for the safe arrival of our baby boy a month and a half ago
- Thankful for my mom's help the week she was here!
- Thankful for Sean and how amazingly supportive he is, and how much he helps
- Thankful for Sean working hard in school, 4.0 both terms this summer!
- Thankful that Blaze is handling the baby fairly well. Except for the digging (sorry Becky)
- Thankful for the longer stretches at night that Mason is sleeping (4-5 hours is much better than 2-3...)
- Thankful for a good job that contributes to an HSA, and that I am a really healthy person and didn't need that money over the last 5 years.

What are you thankful for?

PS pleeeeaaaaase pray that Mason stays asleep. He just stirred a little, ugh. It's only been 30 minutes since I put him down!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Jenny graduates!

Well folks, she did it! My sister graduated from BYU in April, and I am so proud! It was an action-packed week, what with dropping Tim off at the MTC on Wednesday, picture taking on Thursday, and then graduation, and a graduation party on Friday. We had a blast spending time with family and friends! Here are a few pictures from graduation day:

The family! 
Minus Tim of course, because he was a couple miles north learning about preaching the gospel and stuff.

The proud (and relieved) parents!

Jenny's best friend, Mary, was able to come down from Idaho


Jenny's boyfriend, Steven! We like him a lot!


She did it! Congrats to the happy graduate :) Love you Jenny!

Jones Family Reunion 2013

We had our family reunion this summer, right close to home! (I did it on purpose, I was having a baby that same week!) My dad was in charge, so naturally Jenny and I helped plan. The first night we were at the church building that my ward meets in for pizza and watermelon. The second night we went up to Mt. Timpanogos park and rented a pavilion for a barbecue. We Jones' know how to eat! Here are a few pictures my sister snapped!







Mason at 1 month

(Disclaimer: I wrote this on my phone on August 9th, which is the day Mason turned a month old.)

I can't believe a month has gone by since Mason came into our lives! Things have been crazy around here, mostly because of the lack of sleep. But we are working on that one... and hoping to get on a more regular schedule these next couple weeks that Sean doesn't have school. Anyway, here is what Mason has been up to in the last month!


Likes:
- being rocked ridiculously far in his car seat, and being jiggled around when I'm trying to get him up the stairs in that thing. No gentle rocking for his baby
- the pacifier: sometimes
- getting his hands in the way when he is trying to eat. I get punched in the chest a lot. Luckily since he is so small it doesn't hurt...
- holding his head up for long periods of time, and doing pushups off our chest. Already. Isn't that supposed to happen later than at a week and a half old? Because it has seriously been going on that long
- snuggling on mommy or daddy;s chest in the middle of the night, then waking up when we try to put him down
- going on walks, but only if the road or sidewalk is bumpy. This kid...

Dislikes:
- the pacifier: sometimes
- Cafe Rio/Costa Vida dressing. Mommy fail. No more of that yumminess for a few more months
- being on his back. This makes nighttime super difficult
- bath time. I really hope this changes soon because I love the water and want him to be a water baby
- getting weighed, measured, and heart rate/oxygen taken at the doctor. At his last check up I had to nurse him to calm him down so they could actually get the monitor to work.

Other notables:
- finally on a stead weight gain. At his last appointment a week and a half ago, he was up to 8 lbs. 13 oz., 19th percentile for weight.
- he is now 21 inches long. He is long and thin, just like his daddy!
- not as much of a snoozer while eating anymore. For the first couple weeks he would fall asleep two minutes into breastfeeding, and was partially why he wasn't gaining weight at first. He lost a lot of weight after he was born, so we have been supplementing with formula since he was about a week old. Which is good not because my milk is not over-abundant as most other women's would be.
- he started doing the "eat, play, sleep" schedule on his own. For the most part. It's not all the time but it is a step in the right direction!
- he has only had a couple blow-outs so far. In this house, Huggies are the diaper of choice for sure
- he is quickly getting too long for the basinet we have. I'm going to have to move him to the pack n' play that we have before he can go in the crib in his own room...
- when he is content he is a really happy baby. It's getting him to that point that we are still trying to figure out. I think his stomach is bigger than we think it is honestly...

We sure love you Mason and are looking forward to see what the next month brings!

First bath: thanks Grandma!

He likes sucking on thumbs


Second bath. Still doesn't like it

It was so nice having my mom here for a week! Mason really misses her!

Family photo!

Can you tell I was starting to cry? My mom was about to leave.


Strong boy!


We went to my cousin's house in Mapleton for dinner and my Aunt snapped this picture of us




We went to Dairy Queen with Jenny and Steven, and Jenny just wanted to hold him...

Obviously Mason is wondering why the heck pictures are being taken when he is hungry. 
This was picture attempt #401... I'm kidding. Mostly.

This one time in Sunday school...

(Disclaimer: this post was written while I was in the hospital on my phone, I just didn't have all the pictures until today.)

There was this cute boy who made a really awesome comment in response to the bishop's lesson. Then he made a really snarky comment under his breath after someone else's comment, and I was immediately interested. Fast forward 2 years and a few months, and we brought Mason Philip Parker into the world! He was born at 10:41pm and weighed 7lbs 15 oz, and was 20 inches long. 

Here's the long version:

I had an appointment with my OB at 10am that day. I was so emotionally capped (I think mostly because I was being stubborn and still working) I really was hoping my doctor would at least give me an induction date. When I got there, he put me on the non-stress test, then did an ultrasound. The cord was still around the baby's neck, so he gave me a couple options. Either I could go get induced right then and deliver by the next morning, or I could wait until Thursday night. I called Sean and we decided to go right then to labor and delivery. 

Sean had chemistry lab until about 3, so my sister Jenny left work and came up to hang out for the first few hours. She got there about 11:45. We thought there would be no rush, since my doctor said I probably wouldn't be ready to deliver until the next morning. So they got me into the gown, started me on the saline drip, and brought me a very delicious chicken wrap from the cafeteria. So yum! We also FaceTimed with Katie to help pass the time. 
yay i'm finally going to have a baby!

So since I hadn't dilated any further from Friday to Tuesday, they came in around 1 and hooked me up with ampicillin, then around 2:15 the doctor finally got there and administered this gel stuff that was supposed to help ripen my cervix, and stripped my membranes. Within 5 minutes, I had a really strong, really hard contraction that lasted a really long time, and baby's heartbeat dropped really low. A bunch of nurses ran in, rolled me on my side, and then finally on my hands and knees, gave me a shot in the arm of some medicine to stop contractions so baby's heartbeat could come back up. The shot made me shake really violently, not easy on my hands and knees. Jenny called Sean right as this was happening and he left lab early to come to the hospital. (Luckily, they were almost finished and he just needed to get some final numbers from his group.) By the time he got here things had calmed down a little, and I got the epidural. I felt so much better after that. Well, I got really cold, so they brought me blankets. 

getting the epidural


From 3pm until about 7pm, I didn't dilate very far. Then I started feeling more pressure, even through the epidural. I called for the nurse and she checked me. I had gone from a 5 to a 9 in less than an hour. She told me she would come back in an hour. Not even 20 minutes later I called her back in and I was at a 10. They got everything set up for delivery, all while I felt like I had to push. At some point they gave me an extra shot of the epidural. 

They finally had everything ready and on my first push, the baby's heart rate dropped again, so she had me stop and called the doctor in. It seemed like it took forever for him to come in. Finally after 3 contractions and 9 or 10 pushes, he was here! They got him all cleaned up and have him to Sean while I got stitched and cleaned up. 

Now all we needed was a name. I asked Sean what he thought and he looked at the baby for a minute, and said, "He looks like a Mason." So Mason it was! Then we went through some other names for his middle name, and decided on Philip, which is my dad's middle name.  









We absolutely love him and are so happy to be parents. Now to adjust to this new sleep schedule we are on...