to all my fans in utah-

I really can't wait to come and play with all of my cousins. Let's laugh and play and I will show you all of my new tricks! I am so excited to read lots of books with grandpa and scream so grandma will hold me and give me lots of love. Maybe one night I can have a sleep over at Aunt Cher & Uncle Brian's!!! You are going to die when you see my chubby, chubby legs! My mom won't stop pinching them! They are just the cutest! See you in 2 weeks!

Love to you all!

Hugs and Kisses-
Miss O





Happy Friday!!

picnic dinner

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL! The weather was absolutely perfect. So, while Chris finished up school for the day... Miss O and I packed up a tasty little dinner. We headed over to the park across the street and had a great time.

Miss O LOVES being outside...

So does her dad...

And mom does on occasion... :)

Olive has definitely discovered her tongue... and it is out ALL THE TIME! Its so cute and pointed!



We followed up dinner with a long walk around the neighborhood. It was just a great night. Happy wednesday!

Sunday Morning

Have you ever wondered how Miss O spends her Sunday morning?







I know, it's her world and we're all just paying rent!

Happy Mother's Day

Olive and I just wanted to wish Auburn a very, very Happy Mother's Day. We love and appreciate all that she does for us. She makes life so much better for the both of us. We're grateful for her love, patience, and selflessness. She truly makes our home a better place. Olive and I are blessed everyday to have her in our lives. So here's to you. Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Chris and Miss O



Isn't Auburn the luckiest women in the world. She has to wake up to this every day.



And here's a few more of Miss O.

4 weeks = one month!

I can not believe Miss O is one month old! Part of me feels like we just got home from the hospital yesterday and the other part feels like I have been a mom my whole life. As sappy as it sounds, I LOVE.... absolutely LOVE.... being a mom. Not like I ever felt "lost" before, but now I feel like I have a legit purpose in life. I feel like I am finally doing what I have been "training" for all my childhood. Waking up everyday (usually to her sweet yet feisty cry) I just feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for this opportunity to be Olive's mom. I really can't believe how much love I have for this tiny little baby. I LOVE Chris.. I am completely head-over-heels IN LOVE with Chris.... but the love I have for Olive is totally different. I LOVE this feeling! I love knowing I am her mom... I am the one responsible for her. She is all mine (well, and Chris' too.... but, ya know). I absolutely LOVE feeding her. It is silly to say, but I totally have a testimony for nursing. To each their own, and I know it is different for every mom and baby... but for me and Miss O.... nursing has been one of my favorite and most challenging parts of motherhood so far. It certainly is not easy and it was EXTREMELY painful for about 3 weeks, but in the last week the nicest lady in my ward has been helping me. She has been a lactation coach for several years and has spent alot of time with me and Miss O and making sure things were just right. I love nursing her and looking down at her. I love watching her little eyes look up at me while she eats. I love tickling her little head and calming her when she gets fussy. I love the skin to skin contact and I love knowing that I am the only one who can do this for her. Even at 3 am when I would LOVE to be sleeping... I cant help but be totally happy. I love that Heavenly Father has designed my body so that I can help hers grow... its simply amazing. I love that just randomly during the day... usually when I am getting very tired and ready for a little break and very ready for Chris to come home... I tangibly feel the love and help of my Heavenly Father... usually shed some serious tears of joy and love... and then my day seems to get that much easier and that much better. I always thought boys had it so easy... but I really wouldn't switch if I had the chance. I love being a mom and all that comes with that... I think the boys are the ones missing out.

I can not believe how BIG Olive has gotten since she was born! On her 2 week check she was already back up to 7 lbs. 3 oz and had passed her birthweight and was 7 lbs 12 oz before she was even 3 weeks! She is still in newborn clothes but I can see her filling them out more and more each day. Her little tummy is getting rounder and rounder and her thighs have some tiny little chubs starting to form... the girl could not be any cuter! She is more alert everyday and is wide awake every night from about 9 to 10. Just enough time to get some love from her daddy after work. She has been doing awesome at night. I usually feed her around 11:30 pm or so and then not again till around 3:30-4:30am and then again at 8:30am. During the day she has been eating around the 3 hour mark pretty regularly. I have left her once so far... with my mom... while I ran to Target with Chelsea... it is crazy how nervous I was to be away from her after these last few weeks... and I left her with a PRO! Miss O spends all of her awake time on her tummy and loves looking around. Still sleeps a whole lot during the day, but I am not complaining about that one! She LOVES her binky... that is a must whenever she is not nursing... then she falls asleep (mouth wide open, of course) and the binky is left hanging halfway out... its the funniest thing ever. No signs yet of loosing any of her hair, but I think it is getting some red in it... or maybe I am just hopeful!! She loves when Chris or I sing to her. When she is fussy we put her in a tight little burrito and sing primary or nursery songs and she calms down every time. Its funny listening to the other sing and run out of songs... we have both resorted to "up on the house top reindeer paws..." on more than one occasion :) Any time we go to my parents' house Olive gets lots of love. It is not rare for their to be a full on race... between a number of adults... to who can get to Miss O first... (and this is before we even make it through the front door!) Usually Curtis Hall wins, but Evan's texts for holding dibs start hours before dinner even begins! The cousins have been so good to Olive so far... Crew just LOVES to be next to her and loves to touch her and the Gambell Girls have done so good holding her and loving on her. We can't wait to see the Jones cousins in a few weeks... we are already counting down the days!

These pics were taken last week on her 3 week mark... but she looks the same... maybe just a little bit cuter!

This is her pirate face... "Arrrgh Matey" ... this just makes me smile


I could seriously look at her all day long! Her eyes are just big and blue and perfect.. I love her


I could just kiss those lips and cheeks all day long! Oh, I just love them!



So this was the 4 week update... mostly for us... but if you read all of it, congrats. Dad, mom and baby are doing great. This is our little family. Life isn't perfect and some things I wish I could change, but life really is good and I can't help but be grateful for that.

Peace out folks!

Tagged by Megan!

Eight things i am passionate about:

* my cutest baby ever... Miss O
* my best husband ever... jonesy
* photography & taking pics of my fam
* being a mom, like the one in charge
* nursing my little babe
* loving the RW Mia Maids
* loving the jones fam
* loving the clouse fam

Eight words or phrases i use the most:

* Fab u lous
* to-die-for
* get out of town!
* oh my stars!
* I love you!
* Thank you!
* YOU ROCK!
* love
* Miss O

Eight things i wanna do before i die:

* have lots more babies- through both pregnancy and adoption
* be the cool mom that all the kids want to hang out at Olive's house
* make better rolls than my mom- guess I better attempt to make them first :)
* be a better scriptorian... I would love to learn & study & KNOW the gospel like Chris does
* travel the world over
* visit many Temples
* have my own line of home organizational products :)
* design my own home- start to finish

Eight things i need right now:

* a shower
* to feed Olive
* some serious sleep
* finish all my editing
* a pedicure
* a nap
* lunch
* my bff to get home from work & hang out with his girls

Eight places i wanna visit:

* Utah- so Miss O could meet her cousins
* New York
* Seattle
* Italy- with my own personal tour guide ;)
* England
* Germany
* The REAL Sleeping Beauty Castle
* Hawaii or some beachy island

Eight favorite restaurants:

* Rubio's- HELLO!
* Chipotle
* Subway
* The Keg
* Paradise Bakery
* Sauce
* Tia Rosa's
* In N Out

Eight TV shows:

* Lost
* HOUSE
* What Not To Wear
* The Bachelor
* Take Home Chef
* Video Wake Up
* Jon & Kate plus 8

Eighth folder Eighth picture:
{or just for your viewing pleasure}



I TAG... Angela, Meridee, Shanell F, Jamie, Tracy & Madison

the greatest day ever...

Can you even believe it?! She is here!!! It feels like we just found out we were prego, and now we have the CUTEST most adorable little girl imaginable. Olive Jones... it just fits her so well, and she just fits into our little family perfectly. She is COMPLETELY a Jones baby. She looks just like Chris when he was born. Her fingers and toes are totally him, her cheeks and eyes and chin... she is just so cute. We think she might have my lips... maybe.... but for the most part, she is a Jones and I am thrilled. No sign of any red hair, it is still a light brown, but there she is a lot of it! Here is a quick little rundown of the excitement- mostly for my own journaling, but for those of you that would like to hear the cutest little arrival ever, listen up:

So, Wednesday night we were admitted around 6 or so for a "cervidal induction". A cervidal is a little mesh thing that goes behind your cervix and releases the hormones to help you soften and efface (stepping stone for pitocin). When I was admitted I was barely 1 cm and maybe 25% effaced. So they put the cervidal in and that has to stay for 12 hours. Thursday morning I woke up, tried to eat some fruit despite the nerves through the ceiling and they started me on pitocin around 8:30 am. I managed to make it to 4 cm and 50% effaced by 11:30 when they gave me the epidural. FOR THE RECORD: everyone makes a WAY bigger deal about the epidural than they should. I thought it was great! Maybe the lady doing it was just awesome, but I thought the IV was more painful than the epidural. So, if you are prego, don't stress about this one. It felt fine and once the meds were started through it, it felt AMAZING! My legs were warm and tingly the whole time... kinda like a little massage.... then when things start to hurt you just press your lovely little button and you are on cloud nine again! Almost immediately after the epidural was set, Dr. Beck came and broke my water around noon or so. They cranked up the epidural, Chris played solitaire and tetris on the tv, and I slept on and off the entire afternoon. At around 4:30 I woke up and told Chris I thought the baby was coming out and that I wanted to push. Sure enough, I was a full 10cm and 100% effaced! The nurse got the room set and called Dr. Beck. I did my first push at about 4:55 and at 5:10 little Olive was here! I think I only pushed through 4 contractions... it was great. Chris was right next to me the entire time, completely intrigued with the entire thing, giving me a play-by-play rundown.... it was just awesome. On the last one I pushed real hard and then Dr. Beck told me to stop and look down... and there she was.... a BABY... MY BABY... was coming out of me! It was the most surreal thing in the entire world. She practically slid right out, he cleaned her up, Chris cut the cord, and she was laying on my chest! Up until this point, I (shockingly enough) had yet to shed a tear... but as soon as my baby was on my chest, the happiest, warmest, most assuring feeling came over me. This was my baby. I know I knew her before I came to earth and it was the sweetest, most precious reunion. She looked right up at me and I can't even believe how much love I instantly had for this perfect little girl. I get to be with her forever. We get to be her parents. At this very moment I knew I had tasted just a sliver of the love my Heavenly Father has for me. Olive was absolutely perfect. They finished cleaning her up and took all her measurements and I just couldnt stop staring at her. It was as if I was there, but I wasn't..... quite the little moment to digest. Chris was on cloud nine.... he followed here everywhere the nurses took her and couldn't believe what just happened. It was so nice to welcome Olive with just us. It was quiet in the room, very calm and we were able to love on her all we wanted. About 20 minutes and 20 stitches later my Mom and Chelsea came in to meet our little rock star. Curtis kindly brought in the diet coke I had been craving all morning!! It was a small little celebration and then they moved us to our postpardum room. We hung out for a bit then I got to nurse her for the first time- talk about weird! This little thing just came out of my body, and now my body knows how to feed her?! Heavenly Father sure did think of everything, didn't He?! That night every single sibling and every single spouse came to visit. We sure are so very lucky to have so much love and support from both of our families. We felt the love all day and have continued to feel it ever since. Olive was loved by so many before she even made her debut, what a lucky little girl! The night settled in and we had the nursery take her for the night so we could get some rest. We stayed up for a little bit just talking about the days events.... we are so blessed and we so grateful for this entire experience. So many women dont get the opportunity to experience this in this life, and I feel so blessed that I was able to.

We were discharged Saturday afternoon around 1 and spent a quite (napping) afternoon at home as just our little family and a few different visitors. Thank you to everyone for your phone calls and messages... we know we have a lot to learn as new parents and we will need alot of questions answered in the future.... we are so grateful for the love and support around us.


Here are a few pics from this weeks events.... and if you even think she looks cute in these pics.... just wait till you see her in person!!! She is just edible! I could just kiss her cheeks all stinkin day long.

right after delivery


24 hours old- thanks again, Niki, for the ADORABLE hospital gown!

Our little family of THREE!!! I love my baby and my cute husband- he was awesome from start to finish and now, I must say, I think Olive has stolen his heart from me!! I think I just might take back seat to her for a while! Good thing I love her, too!!


First night home from the hospital



Sophia and "bebe ala".... the Gambells came out this morning and we had a fun visit. The girls were all so excited to see Olive and couldnt stop sharing the loves and kisses- even Eliza kept kssing her. Sophia, by far though, was about to jump out of her pants when she saw her!



And last, but not least..... CONGRATS to these two lovebirds who will be married on April 17th!!! We love you Amanda and Evan!! Can't wait to dance the night away with little Olive!