Titus

Life has been somewhat crazy, but so much fun. Titus Brant Jones was born Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 1:09pm. He weighed 9lbs. 2oz and was 20in long. He was by far my biggest baby but was definitely my easiest delivery.

The Saturday before his birth Chloe, Maximus & me were at my mom's house to celebrate my brother's birthday. Brant had spent the day down the hill visiting some of his old friends from high school. It was a completely normal day. Then about 7:30pm I was starting to get the kids packed up and ready to go home and I noticed I was starting to have some contractions. They were not painful contractions, just noticeable. So I decided to stay at my mom's house a little longer to make sure nothing was really going on. They became pretty regular at 7-10 minutes apart, but still not painful. My mom asked me to just stay there since Brant was still down the hill (she didn't want me to drive out to my house, about 30 minutes away.) I called Brant and told him to just come by and pick me up. He said that he wanted to just go ahead to the hospital, if not for any other reason but we could go ahead and pre-register to make it easier for when they decided to keep me.

About 12:30am Sunday morning, we finally got to the hospital. They checked me and said that I was already dilated to 4cm, but the baby was still high. The doctor wanted to admit me. Brant and I were both completely surprised. We were expecting to get sent home. My contractions were still regular but didn't hurt at all. We just sat there, talked and laughed. They got me settled into a room, we were so blessed that labor/delivery was not busy at all so they were able to get me into a nice room right away.

We slept off and on through the whole night. I didn't really progress any becacuse Titus was still too high to do anything. Finally, they put on pitocin (I had to have pitocin with both Chloe & Max because I would only go so far and then stop) so that wasn't a big deal. My contractions got closer together but still not to hard. Around 11:15am the doctor came in to break my water. After he broke my water I went immediately to 7cm. Then the contractions hit! I had to wait 30 minutes before I could get my epidural because I had to have one more bag of fluids pumped into me. That was the hardest 30 minutes of my life. My contractions became extremely intense and very frequent. The anesthesiologist was very prompt, thank the Lord! The nurse told mom, Brant & Odena that it would take about an hour before they would be done, so to come back then. They left to go get some lunch. I got my epidural and was just starting to get comfortable back in bed, when all of a sudden I just felt a ton of pressure.

I told my nurse that I was really feeling the urge to push. (The anesthesiologist was still cleaning up. That is how fast this happened.) The nurse checked me and said that I was completely dilated and effaced and ready to go. So she went to go find Brant and the moms. They were just pulling back into the parking lot and rushed in. As soon as they walked in I started pushing. I only pushed 5 times and my precious little boy was there. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. But thank the Lord my doctor was quick and amazing. He got that cord off of him so fast and then the miraculous first cry flooded the room. He was born about 1 1/2 hours after they broke my water. It was the easiest delivery that I had, coming in really around 3-4 hours of total real labor.

My recovery has been extremely easy. They released me from the hospital early afternoon on Monday. And then that night I felt so good, we went to our young marrieds' group from church. Besides being a little tired I have felt wonderful.

Titus is the easiest baby. He has slept from 4-5 hours at a time a night since he has been home. He is very mild mannered and just has the sweetest countenance. So adjusting to 3 kids has been extremely easy for me. All 3 of my kids have made it easy. Chloe & Maximus always want to love on him and help me with things. It is amazing.

The Lord has been really good to us and blessed us so much with our 3rd child. I am extremely grateful for my children and love my life!

San Diego Zoo

Today we decided to take the kids to the San Diego Zoo. I know that they are a little young to remember it when they get older, but we knew that they would have so much fun today. And they sure did. It was such a wonderful day. We were able to spend the day just the 4 of us and it was perfect. Chloe was in the best mood and loved looking at the koala bears and the giraffes. She kept saying "Mommy the 'walla' bears are sleeping." She thought they were so cute. And Maximus would just stare at the animals and point while trying to tell us something that we didn't understand. He was so interested in the animals. I was really surprised at how much he enjoyed it. I was very proud of myself, I walked the entire park, which probably came to about 5 miles at 8 1/2 months pregnant. And I actually felt pretty good until about the last hour of the trip. Brant was amazing. He carried a backpack and pushed the stroller or would carry a kid pretty much all day. I know that it was probably the most wearing on him, but he was so sweet about it and never complained once. I would offer to push the stroller and he wouldn't let me. He kept telling me that I needed to just take care of me. It made my day much easier. It was a great family day. I love it when it gets to be just us and we get to give our children new experiences. There is nothing more fun than seeing the look on their faces when they see or experience something new. I love it. Chloe kept telling us "I so excited!" And that to me makes how tired I feel right now completely worth it.

San Diego Zoo

We are so blessed!

Well today we finally received news about a new home that we put a bid on last Saturday. They accepted it!! It has been one long journey. We have placed bids on four different houses, which has led to a crazy emotional ride. Then finally on Saturday, we found the reason why our previous bids had not been accepted. The Lord was directing us to the house that He had for us. And on Saturday we found it. We pretty much knew as soon as we walked in. The atmosphere in this house was unlike any other house that we had seen. Long story short, the house was out of our price range, but we still chose to see it. So we offered $30,000 less than the asking price. We didn't think that it would be accepted, but we had nothing to lose. The house had been on the market for just over 90 days with no real interest in it. So we put the offer in. And then today, we found out, much to our disbelief that they countered with just $5,000 over our bid and they will pay all closing costs. The Lord is so good!!! We are about to purchase a house that is worth almost $100,000 more than we are paying for it, and we will pay $25,000 less than the asking price. I absolutely can not believe it. I really thought the bank would not accept that bid and that we would not get that house. It is so amazing how the Lord works things out!! He knows what is best for us and has it all in His hands.

So now it is crunch time!! We will be closing on the house in early March, fortunately our realtor is pushing for the end of February because of our new baby on the way. So whatever happens, we will have a new house and a new son all within about a month. Craziness, I know. But the Lord is good!!!

Our soon-to-be new home!!

Master Bathroom
Master Bedroom
Master Bedroom Closet
Family Room
Laundry Room
Kitchen
Hallway
Entrance/Formal Dining room
Entrance
Chloe's Room
Hall Bathroom
Backyard

My little girl is 2!!

Chloe just celebrated her 2nd birthday!! It is crazy how fast these 2 years have gone by. It is actually kind of depressing. We had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year and she had so much fun. She is getting bigger and smarter everyday. I am really impressed with her. She is the most loving and thankful child!! We are so blessed to be her parents and have her a part of our life.

Christmas 2008

So Christmas is by far the best time of year when you have children. There is so much excitement more so from my point of view than theirs. It is so amazing how good God is. Several months before Christmas, Brant and I were wondering if we were even going to be able to buy Christmas. And then somehow, the Lord just provided. I would have never guessed that they would have gotten so much stuff. I know that Christmas is not about the gifts, the toys, and the food. However, there is a magic that exists in the whole Christmas season and we were able to see that in their eyes. The Lord blessed us in more ways than we ever thought possible.

Christmas eve was spent with Brant's family. And there were 5 kids this year. Talk about craziness!! But more than that it was a blast!! Then Christmas morning was spent with just the four of us and what a special time that was. The kids got to spend a couple of hours just playing with their toys from Santa, and needless to say we did a lot of playing with their toys as well. And then that evening we spent Christmas with my side. It was a great couple of days. And I can not wait until next year, when we get to do it all over again and with 3!!!