How can you not LOVE this face!

This morning I opened my e-mail to find these sweet pictures of our sweet niece Sophia! She is so stinkin cute and we wish so much that we all lived closer so that we could see her and everyone else more often.

We can not wait for her to get here on the 26th with her Mommy and Daddy and Uncle James and Aunts Katie and Monica! Hopefully Holden will make his appearance before they get here so we can all spend lots of time together! Sophia Uncle Jack, Aunt Emily and Cousin Holden can't wait for you to get here so we can see you! We love you and will see you soon!!

Love you Holden but time to go...

Holden Michael, consider this your eviction notice. Your Daddy and I love you so much and we are so ready to meet you and I am more than ready to have you here. I have had the best pregnancy that anyone could ever ask for. I didn't ever get sick or have any problems what so ever. It has been wonderful and I have LOVED being pregnant. But I'm kinda done. I am ready to be able to walk again and not have to go to the bathroom ever hour. And even though I know that I won't get any sleep when you get here I am ready for some sleep being more comfortable. Over the past week or so, Jack and I have been busy getting all of our Christmas things out and getting everything out and ready for Holden to get here. So now all the his clothes have been washed, diapers are out, swing is up, cradle and crib are ready, car seat is in the car and his bag is packed. Now all we need is our sweet baby boy.... And maybe I should pack a bag for me. : )

It's been four years....

Four years ago today, I woke up to the worst news of my life. Michael and Kyle's band, Any Given Moment, had been in a car crash outside of Macon on their way home from a concert in Savannah. Michael was gone. I had been up really late the night before at a party at one of my friends houses and saw that Kyle was calling around 3:30 and I didn't answer. I went to bed not thinking much of it and when I woke up in the morning I had many missed calls and my Mom was calling from Kansas saying Michael had died. Mom and Billy had just left and arrived in Kansas to visit my Aunt Susan, who was going through chemo for breast cancer, less than 8 hours before. Lucky for me, I was with one of my best friends and she drove me home and friends started coming over as soon as they heard the news.

Michael was the coolest guy that anyone could ever meet. He had a love for life that just lit up the room and he could make anyone laugh. He had a love for music that was so incredible and he and Kyle had an awesome band.

I love this picture because it just shows how much fun he was to be around.

The band

Michael and Kyle

This is a picture of the tattoo that right after he died. He had gotten the same on about two weeks before. After he died, I called the guy who did his and went and had him do mine also. The bruise is from my car accident in April. I know Michael was in my car that day and kept my safe and this bruise was from my seat belt, which actually broke in the accident. Michael wasn't wearing on in his accident. I also had just found out I was pregnant with Holden four days before.

I can't wait for my sweet baby Boy Holden Michael to get here so not only can I give him Michael's name as his middle name, but I can also tell him about how awesome he really was. I also have been buying any clothes that have guitars on them for Holden to wear. He has quite a few now and I can't wait to put them on him.

Michael we love you and miss you every day! I can't wait for the day I get to see you again and I know that you are looking down on us from Heaven.

Michael Evans Jones

5/7/87- 11/19/05

32 down, 8 to go!

Dear my sweet baby boy Holden,

This is a picture of you when you were still a bun in my oven cooking and getting bigger and stronger everyday. You Daddy and I am sooo excited for you to get here and to meet you! I can't wait to see who you look like and what your personality is like. I think we are mostly ready for you to be here and only have a few more "must-haves" to get before you get here. The cats are really starting to wonder what is going on around the house as your due date gets closer and closer. Right now we have 8 weeks left until your due date but it is fine with Daddy and I if you come a few weeks early so you can be here for Christmas and to see all of your aunts and uncles and your cousin Sophia. But you are only allowed to come early if you promise that you will be healthy and we can wake up Christmas morning at our house. I love you so much my sweet boy and can't wait for you to get here!

A little of this and that

Ok so I know I have been really bad about posting lately and keeping everyone updated on what going on getting ready for Mr. Holden. We have been really busy lately and I have the best job in the whole world for me right now and love it and it's pretty easy most of the time BUT by the time I get home I am soo tired. The best thing about keeping a 7 month old is not only is he so stinkin cute and Holden will have a best friend for life but I can usually get two good naps out of him a day. Also as he is getting older he is able to play a lot more with out me being right next to him. So I am able to put my feet up and relax more than I could with any other job. So it's awesome.

So here is a little of what we have been up to.....

Like I have said before, we have had two showers and got so much great stuff. Our only problem has been the oh so annoying room mate that we finally had to kick out(which is a LOOONG story). So we finally did that and Jack cleaned the nasty, and I do mean NASTY, mess that he left behind. So next we just have to clean the carpets in the room and will have so much more storage for some of Holden's things that he doesn't need right this second but will soon.

Last weekend we also went on our hospital tour! Holden will be born at Northside hospital which is also where I was born! So last Sunday, we loaded up the car with our neighbors Kenny and Katie and went down for our tour. I think Jack was really nervous about this knowing that next time we come will be having a baby. He did really good but got really nervous about them talking about after the baby is born and cleaning him on the warming table. He is going to be such an awesome Daddy and I think he just wants to do things the best he can.

I also wanted to go ahead and write on here a few of the hospital policies that friends/family will need to no should you want to come visit us after Holden is born. The hospital does not allow any children under the age of 12 to come and visit. We have lots of friends with kids and we can't wait for all of the to meet our sweet baby but the kids have to wait until we get home. Also they ask (and I do too) that if you have had a fever with in the past few days or been around anyone who has been sick at all please wait 7-10 days to visit. I know this may sound a little crazy but I just him and us to stay as healthy as possible.

Another thing I wanted to write about is recipes. I am going to take one of these weekends coming up and make a bunch of meals to freeze. I know this will help a lot after Holden is here and make figuring out dinner much easier. So if you have a good recipe that freezes great and is good to eat to I would love for you to e-mail it to me so I can make and freeze it! I know Jack will think this is great when he is in charge of dinner! My e-mail is Emilybell987@yahoo.com

Thank you all so much! Only 58 days left and that means only 57 until Christmas! Time to start shoppin!

Sugar Dawgs...

Remember this AWESOME mosaic that my Mom made Holden?? This has quickly become my Mom's new obsession and she is soo good at it! I bet she has made over 50 mosaic pieces over the past 6 months and they are all so cool. Well she finally has a website up and running and is selling them! She can pretty much make whatever you want from flowers to names to sports themed pieces. She is so great at this and loves doing it! If you would like something like this in your home or as a gift (cause they make wonderful gifts for birthdays, weddings, or Holidays) check out her new website!

http://www.sugardawgmosaics.com/

I think I might even have her make a Christmas one for me since I love Christmas and Christmas decorations so much! Go check it out!

30 weeks and counting...

So I know it has been forever since I have posted on here so here is a little of what we have been up to! We have had our first two showers and have got so much stuff! We have had so much fun just going through it all and I think Jack just likes playing with all the toys we get more than anything! Holden's room is a wreck right now as we keep sorting through all his gifts clothes and things we need. I am sooo looking forward to being able to sorting some things out of his room this weekend after our room mate moves out which is a whole story in itself. I am just feeling very overwhelmed right now since stuff is everywhere in our house is way out of wack with all this craziness going on. But I know that it should all be better by this weekend and hopefully our whole house will return to normal. My doctors visits have been going great. I had my gestational diabetes test and I just knew that I was going to have it. My Mom did, Grandmother, and Aunt so I just knew it was coming... BUT I don't!! That was the best news by far because I just knew I would. Everything looks good with Holden and he is getting bigger and stronger every day. The doctor asked me last time I was in how big I thought that he would be and I did say and still do think he is going to be big. I was 9.3 when I was born and Jack was 9.7. Lord help me now! ha! He said that he would just keep watching and if he thought he was big around week 36 he would do an ultrasound to check. He also told me the busiest time of the year to have a baby is the week between Christmas Eve and New Years Day so we are still hoping for him to come a little early. Not too early and not before 37 weeks unless he is super healthy. But I would LOVE to wake up Christmas morning in our own bed with our sweet baby. Plus we are soooo excited that all of Jack's sisters are coming in town this year for Christmas! So Holden will need to be here to meet his Aunt's Monica, Katie and Jamie and Uncle's James and Carlos and his cousin Sophia!

I LOVE the Fall!

It's fall yall! I can't believe that it is already fall and almost October! These past 6 months have gone by so fast and there is only 88 days until Holden's due date. He is going to be here before we know it! I love the cool weather and my wonderful neighbor Katie(who is due with her daughter Paytin the day after Holden is due) and I sat outside last night after dinner just loving the cool weather. It is sooo wonderful to have someone due the same time as you that you can talk to everyday and she just lives next door! I love being able to watch the leaves change, going to fall festivals and just enjoying the wonderful weather. Jack and I are also really excited about having our first baby shower this weekend. Our Mom's are throwing us this shower and we are so excited to finish getting ready for Holden to get here. With that being said, I have had many people ask me what I need. I do have a ton of clothes and diapers but there are many other things that I still need that we registered for at Babies R Us. Here is the link below:

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/search/index.jsp?_flowExecutionKey=_cF81DD1F4-FD19-24C9-205D-F295FBD146BC_k3C88F919-2ADD-9598-6F1A-ADEB29E02150&overrideStore=TRUS

I tried to go through and weed out what we need vs. what we didn't so this list does have things we need on it. We are also registered at Target. The Target registry has more things on it that are not needed but wanted and here is the link for those:

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/CFIOO6VU4AZA

Also on another note, with it being 88 days until Holden's due date, that means there is only 87 days until Christmas which I love the most!

Holden's bedding!

We have been having a lot of fun picking out things and getting thing ready for Holden to be here! Last Saturday my Mom came up and she put all of Holden's bedding together for us. We were so excited to get it started and it turned out AWESOME!!

So far we haven't been able to do anything without Simon being right next to us trying to help! Hoochie just waits until we are done and then goes to check everything out.

Here it is after we put the bedding in!

It was A LOT of work but it looks so good and we LOVE it!

We even had enough fabric to make him a blanket that matches.

Here is his oh so cute curtain

Mom made this cute tie back when we ran to Wal-Mart for a curtain rod and chick-fil-a for lunch.

We got this super cute lamp for his room last weekend when we were in Hilton Head. I had found the same one online that I wanted but it was a lot more and I would had to have paid for shipping.

I got this super cute sign from Target on the dollar rack a when we were trying for a baby. We always knew if we had a boy that we wanted him to have a surfer/beach/hawaiian room. And I got it out the other day and it matches the blue in his room perfectly! His room is becoming more than I could have imagined!

A few pics..

Here are a few pictures from Holden's room and this past weekend! Enjoy!

We are going to paint the letters black and hang above his bed.

His bed all put together and the fabric for his bedding.

And you know Simon has to help put the bed together.

Holden's changing table

His rocking cow I bought him a few months back

Two wonderful years!

Yesterday Jack and I had our two year anniversary! We didn't do much other than drive home but it was a good one. The past two years have been the best years of my life and I feel like I love Jack more and more every day. This past Friday, we headed to Hilton Head Island for our yearly trip with our great friends Erin and Will and Bill and Mandy. And this year we new it was going to be our last beach trip with out Holden being here, Mandy's birthday and our anniversary so we made it an adult only weekend. It was awesome and we had a wonderful time. We didn't take many pictures but we did get some and we got our yearly beach pictures that we always do I just need to load them off of my camera. And as fall gets here and summer is over it just makes it that much closer to us starting a new chapter in our lives with Holden coming in December. Also on another note, two weeks ago we went down and picked up Holden's crib. We went down to Georgia Baby and Kids to pick it up and it didn't fit in our car SO we called Jack's wonderful dad Jack and he came to the rescue and met us with his truck. We got the crib home and Jack put it together the next day and it is even more beautiful than I could have pictured it(we didn't get to see it in black when we ordered it just white) Once again I have pictures of this too that are on my camera. I would have loaded them by now but was sick last week before the beach so I didn't get a chance.

Good Doctor's Visit!

Yesterday I had a check up with one of the midwifes in the practice I go to. They are always so great there AND my wonderful Colleen ( our neighbor for over 15 years) works in the same office. I got there after LOTS of rain and was in and out in under 30 min. Everything looked good and when the oh so sweet lady( I can't remember her name) came in the room to listen to his heartbeat he was not excited. He started moving around a lot and as soon as she put the doppler on my stomach to find his heartbeat he started kicking it so that was all you could hear. It was so funny and she did finally get his heartbeat once he moved around some more. It was in the 150's which is where it always is and I go back in four weeks. I am not looking forward to my next visit because I have to do my blood glucose test. YUCK! And I am really hoping and praying I don't get this since my Mom and Grandmother have both had it! Wish me luck!

Painting Holden's room!

Today we had a very busy day. We got up early and went to church with our neighbor Katie. After that we all went and ate lunch together and then off to Home Depot Jack and I went to find the perfect color for our Holden's room. We have all the fabric for his bed and Jack has been wanting to paint his room since I found out I was pregnant. So we found the perfect color blue that goes great with the main fabric that we are going to use and went home and got busy!

Before: This is of Holden's room last weekend when we cleaned the carpets.

This is when we started putting the tape lines up for the white stripe that it between the blue. (And yes that is his very full closet full of many clothes right now thanks to Tamra, Nickole and Andie! Passing down clothes is awesome! And we have A LOT of boys who we have passed them to!!)

Here is where Simon decided that he was going to start helping Jack....

And here is what we measured the blue stripe on the wall with... who need a measuring tape... not Simon I guess! HA!

The room all stripped and ready to be painted!

I think Simon is slackin on the job and making Jack do all the work!

All painted and tape down!

Daddy did an AWESOME job painting the room and I know Holden is going to love it!! Thank you Daddy! We love you!!

Busy, Busy Baby Boy

In the past few weeks, Holden has really stepped up his game! I blog and write and tell everyone about how I just wish Jack could be able to feel him move and then it happened! He is moving and kicking so hard now that Jack has been able to feel him move a lot more and I am even getting used to feeling him move a lot harder and stronger every day. Last weekend I felt him kick for the first time on top of my stomach. He was kicking away and I could really feel his foot kick me and then last night when he was moving around I could see my stomach moving around like crazy. Today my countdown at home says 128 days until he gets here and time is going by so fast. I go back to the doctor next week and we are really looking forward to going to the beach in two weeks! This will be our last vacation before he gets here and we just love the beach so we can't wait! AND our second anniversary is also coming up on the day we come home from the beach! Our life is so wonderful right now and things are only about to get even better!

This is AWESOME!

Is this not the COOLEST thing that you have ever seen?? My mom made it! It's a mosaic and made of a bunch of pieces of glass! Jack and I went to hang out for a little bit before we had to go babysit and she gave this to us for Holden. He is going to love it so much and it is going to go PERFECT in his room! Thank you Nana! We love you!

Last weekend we had another big adventure registering for baby things. We went with our awesome neighbors Kenny and Katie so they coul register at the same time for their baby girl. We satrted at Babies R Us and were there for a few hours! Who would have thought that it would take that long to register at one store. After that we left and went and got some lunch and then on to Target. That was not fun at all. All of their gift registrys were down online and in stores. So Jack and I finally were able to create one and then about 20 attempts later so were Katie and Kenny. But we made it and finally were all able to register there also. Both of the our registrys are available online or in stores and I have posted a link to them below!

http://www.toysrus.com/ControllerServlet?target=viewDetails&operation=authenticate_user&registryNumber=40151242&from=registrySearch

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/CFIOO6VU4AZA

Back to Work I go

On Monday, I returned to work and it has been great! I didn't get my job back with my boys (since their dad Mark still hasn't found a job yet.... please continue to pray that he will find something) BUT I am watching their cousin Campbell. Campbell's Mommy Andie is sisters with my boys momma Nickole. He is the sweetest thing and is almost 5 months old. He is so stinkin cute and we have lots of fun playing and talking, well mostly me talking, while his Mommy Andie and Daddy Matt go to work. I really think he knows that I am pregnant and Holden is going to be his best friend. I have a super cute pic of him on my phone that I will have to load later and send to his Momma and Daddy. Holden is doing great. He is very busy and moves around all the time. I just need him to move just a little harder so that Jack can feel him too.

His name is Holden....

So we went to the doctor this morning...... and IT'S A BOY! We could not be more excited and Jack's face was beyond priceless when the lady said that is was a boy. I don't think that I have ever seen him so excited about anything. We picked out the name HOLDEN MICHAEL for him and it's probably a good thing it is a boy because we didn't have any girl names picked out at all. I loved the name Holden and Michael is after my brother. The picture above is a great profile shot.

In the picture, you can't really see it but it says BOY and is pointing to, as the lady said, it his Wee-wee. ha! I'm sure he is going to love one day this!

And here is one of the side of him again. We got a lot of good pictures and got to watch him for almost an hour with the nurse did all the measurement for everything. His heart and brain and face and whatever. It was fine by me we didn't mind watching. And he already has a girlfriend since we found out last week that our neighbor is having a girl. So we are so excited!

How can you not love this face!

Is this not the cutest picture ever?!? This is our niece Sophia and her first time going out on the boat. Her Mommy Jamie sent it to me and I love this picture so much and she is so stinkin cute! We just wish we didn't live so far away! We love you Sophia!

17 Weeks!

17 weeks here we are! I am not crazy about his picture, but I have been asked many times over the past weeks to see the baby belly that I have going on. So here it is. We are very excited about our doctors visit next week and we have both Grandmas Nana(my Mom) and Mima( Jacks Mom) going with us! This pregnancy has been so much fun so far! I have felt great and I also have two really good friends that are pregnant too! My friend Carrie, that I have been friends with since high school, is having a girl Baby Abagail and she is due at the beginning on November. Also we have become great friends with our neighbors Katie and Kenny and she is due the day after me! So we are having a lot of fun waiting to find out what we are having and picking out names. We are even going to register together in a few weeks. It is so much fun having someone be right there with you ever day!