Hunter Reed Jones is Finally Here!!

My newest nephew, Hunter Reed Jones, was born Thursday August 27th just after 8:00 P.M. weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and 19-1/2" long.

My mom and dad drove up that morning and came to my house and we headed up to the hospital to take Kyle Whataburger, his request, I am not a huge fan of Whataburger. Kyle and Jennie had gotten to the hospital at 6:00 A.M. for her to be induced. This is Kyle.

Notice his shirt says 'Daddy '09'. Cute huh? Kyle was so excited to meet Hunter and he is just so attentive to Jennie and her needs, I know he is going to be such a good daddy. We let him eat and chatted and then went to see Jennie who was chillin' in her hospital bed watching some TV. Aren't hospitals so boring?? I mean, you are just fine watching TV in your living room at home, but put that TV in a hospital and instant boredom sets in.
Mom, Dad, Ella and I left after a while and went and ate at Texas Land & Cattle. Mmm, it was delicious. After finishing eating Mom called Kyle and he said it would be soon because Jennie was already dilated to a 7-1/2 to 8. So, we headed back. Poor Ella had already missed her morning nap and was about to miss her afternoon nap. We got to the hospital and set up shop in the waiting room. It was now around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Dad entertained Ella for a while.

Mom entertained Ella for a little while longer.

Trey got off work, went home, took a shower, drove to the hospital....and we were still in the waiting room. So, it was his turn to entertain Ella.

My poor baby girl was just so tired, but like her momma she is just so nosey and has to know what is going on, so she wasn't about to go to sleep with all the new people and things to look at. So, I put her in her stroller and pushed her around the 7th floor of the hospital. I mean, this always works no matter what time we go for a walk. Ella ALWAYS falls asleep. Well, not this time. She was in it for the long haul!

Finally, I had to turn to the time tested trick of getting the girl to go to sleep. But I wasn't about to nurse her in the hospital waiting room with about 12 strangers, I didn't even have a blanket to cover her up with, so I went to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there was no chair in the bathroom, so I had to sit on a toilet and nurse her. A couple of people came in, did their business & left. I am sure they were wondering what I was doing because I was humming, patting her bottom and was in there for about 15 minutes. However, it did the trick and I was able to walk out holding her, still asleep, and sit in the waiting room.

After an hour and forty minutes of holding her like this, my arms and back were killing me, but she finally woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go again. Luckily, her cousin Caleb had come up the the hospital and they had a good time playing. Caleb is very affectionate and gave Ella a BIG kiss.
Doesn't she look perplexed? Like 'What just happened here? Only my mom and dad are allowed to kiss me like that?' He on the other hand, looks very proud of himself! Haha!

It was around that time, that we got a text from Kyle saying Jennie was going to have to have a C-section. We all started praying and about 3o minutes later we got another text saying Hunter had arrived. And here they are, momma and new baby!

Hunter was weighed...
Had his hand prints and foot prints made...

Cleaned up and had his hair washed...

And brushed...

Wrapped Up... And finally back in his bed to rest.

And be adored. Isn't this cute? These are the two proud Grandma's peering in on Hunter.

Ella was just so excited to see him she couldn't stop laughing! Okay, so we weren't quite sure what she was laughing a, but it was hysterical!
And here is my brother, the proud Daddy. Hunter just looks so tiny when Kyle is holding him.

Trey, Ella and I went to see them again on Saturday before heading to my other nephew, Caleb's, birthday party. Kyle with his baby and me with Ella. Ella looks HUGE next to Hunter. I am sure one day though Hunter will be as big as his Dad.
Jennie & Kyle we are so excited for you and everything that lies ahead. The first few weeks are pretty rough, but sooo worth it. Welcome Baby Hunter!!

Last Day in Wichita

After a couple of looong days filled with wedding events and being gone from Ella more than in her entire life, Sunday was nice to just hang out with my girl and the grandparents. We also learned something about Ella this weekend...she LOVES dogs! Now, my parents have two labs, one Pomeranian, one chihuahua and one mutt, so needless to say, they love dogs too. The last time we were in town Ella was crawling, but a slower more cautious crawl. This new crawl is full of speed and our little girl has become adventurous and loves to explore new things. She would just chase the dogs and try and get them. She would laugh the whole time she was crawling towards them too. Kind of hard to sneak up on them that way.

My baby also got a little, shall we say clogged up this weekend, so on Sunday my Dad went to the grocery store and picked up some prune baby food and some apple juice. Mom and I thought it would be torture to feed her, but she ate it right up. In fact she loved it. I have been feeding her a jar every day now and she loves them. I must say, it also did the trick too! I am sure she feels much better, and probably lighter after the diapers I have changed.

And look at those two bottom teeth. I have been trying to get a picture of those pearly whites for so long now. It seems like she knows I am aiming for them and shuts her mouth so quick, but those prunes distracted her! I will say though, while the teeth are cute, sometimes they are awfully painful when she is trying to nurse.




A quick nap later and we headed over to the Calhoun household to eat some lunch. This is Ella with her Great Grandmother. What a cute picture this is and how special too. I didn't know any of my great grandparents and definitely never had a photo with any of them. I hope this is just one of many more to come. Nita is such a sweet lady and loves talking decorating and antiques.

This is Ella's Grandmother, Robin. She adores Ella and would eat her up if she could. I am trying to get better at taking more pics of Ella with her relatives. I seem to only take pictures of Ella.


And here she is with her Uncle Shane. I realized after uploading this this is the only picture I have of them together and you can't even see his face. He and his wife Lindsey are having a baby in January and are going to find out soon what they are having. Ella is going to have another cousin. At 7 months old she already has more cousins than I ever did and everyone is still planning on having more kids.
All in all we had a great trip, but I was so ready to get home because I was exhausted. Ella did not sleep very good while we were there, she just knows when she isn't in her own bed. I LOVE spending time with my parents and friends though and it doesn't seem to happen as often as I would like it to. We are back in Dallas now and my sister in law Jennie is about to have Hunter any day now. I am sure that will be my next post and I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HIM!!!

Summer's Wedding Weekend - Part 2

As Promised, here is the second part of our big weekend in Wichita...Summer's wedding day! I got to the salon at 2:30 to get my hair put up and Kristen, Haley, Summer & Heather were all there. We had champagne and finger foods while we were getting done up. It took my gal a little over an hour, but it looked perfect, thank Heather! This is the picture I gave her and said do it like this.


And here is the result. I did want it more teased on the top. You know us Texas girls like our hair big! (Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I just had a point a shoot camera, not my good one) This is Kristen and I before the wedding getting ready in the choir room at the church.

Summer was getting ready in the room with us too. It was about an hour before the ceremony and we were about to go outside and take some photos. Her step-mom is in the purple dress by me (the big flash). She walked in and started talking to Summer and started crying, which made Summer cry. Summer looked so sweet trying to hold back her tears and then grabbed a swig of Red Bull and that did the trick.
Luckily the photographer took her pic with the Red Bull. The photographers name is Devon Jones and she is so awesome and sweet. She took our maternity pictures and is going to take some family pictures of us soon! Check her out at http://www.devonjimagery.com/.

After Summer got it together we headed outside and took this photo. It was soooo hot outside and all of us were sweating, but you have to have good pics for your wedding day & the best pictures are usually outdoors.

We walked across the street into a yard and the owner walked out and checked us out for a little bit before returning to his gardening. Someone told me he was peering over his fence and then they heard a loud commotion and he had fallen backwards! That's what he gets for spying! Haha!

Here is a picture of our bouquets. Summer used the same florist I used, Paula Hill with Designing Spaces. She is just so talented and even comes up with ways to help you save money. Summer used all of our bouquets as centerpieces at the reception.


We returned to the church and hung out in the choir room for an hour before it was time to get the party started. Here is the bride and groom making it official with the rings. Summer had a hard time getting Andrews ring on, but she was bound and determined to jam that baby on!


And here they are...Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Estes.

Then, it was time to head to the reception. Trey went and picked up Ella and she came and hung out with us for about an hour. Here she is all dolled up! She loved the flashing lights and was so curious and looking around at everything. She got a new dress to coordinate with my bridesmaids dress and looked so stinkin' cute.

Here we all are, the three Calhouns. Trey got a new shirt and tie to coordinate with the family as well. I wish he would have remembered to put his suite jacket on for the pic, oh well. I left my camera in my purse in the car and Heather was nice enough to take these pics for us! Thanks Heather!

Heather is all posing and looking cute and I have my head back trying not to let Ella's bow hit me and mess it up, so you can see up my nose. Still a cute pic though.

And here are Beth and Julie my best friends mentioned in the previous post. Beth and her brother Clark sang at the wedding and did such an amazing job. Funny, pretty & talented, can't beat that. Too bad though boys, she is taken. This is her boyfriend Dusty and he is just as funny and random as she is. They make a great couple and I am so ready for them to get married! especially since she said it would be on a beach somewhere, nothing like a wedding with a vacation wrapped into one. This is Allie. She was 30? week pregnant and soo uncomfortable in the dress. (The style of dress was definitely not comfortable for a pregnant gal there were two of them) By the end of the night she had a small tear in the side of her dress and was exhausted and ready to go home.

It was such a pretty wedding and reception and we all had so much fun. Congratulations Andrew & Summer!!

Summer's Wedding Weekend - Part 1

Trey, Ella and I have been in Wichita Falls since Thursday morning. Trey took a few days off work so we could get in town in time for all of the festivities for Summer Hamilton's (now officially Estes) wedding. We got in town around noon on Thursday and I headed to the salon to get my hair colored. It was blonde and I wanted to return to my roots, brown. The upkeep of having it blonde is just too much for me and I have dark brown hair, so when I had roots it did not look very good. Two and a half hours later, I walked out with dark brown hair. A little darker than I wanted, but it will fade.


We hung out with my parents and then headed over to the Calhoun house to hang out with Trey's parents. Friday afternoon Ella and I headed over to Sakura to have a bridesmaids luncheon. Ella was such a doll and all the girls loved her. I mean, they are my friends, so of course they did. Summer and Ella had a little bonding time and Ella was just snuggling with her. Summer was eating it up and just loves Ella.


Friday night Trey and I headed to the rehearsal and then to the dinner at the Women's Forum, but not before a few photos were taken.

And what would a picture of mom and dad be without the baby? Well, my mom made sure and get her in this one. She is looking at us thinking, "hmm...they are all dressed up, why aren't I?" Unfortunately, she had to stay home with my mom and dad. However, they were THRILLED to get to keep her for that long and have her all to themselves. They are so crazy about her!

And no, we really did not match on purpose. This was the only shirt Trey brought home (for the occasion) and I brought two dresses, but really did not want to wear the other one, so we matched. I am pretty sure everyone there that night reminded us of it too. The girls thought it was cute and I am sure the guys just considered themselves lucky that their wives didn't make them do it!

The rehearsal dinner was fun and the food was great; however, Heather and I got stuck at the kids table. Okay, so not really, but there was a whole table of bridesmaids and two random couples sitting with them (there was assigned seating) and then Heather and I got stuck at a table with three 17 year old girls and one 17 year old boy who wanted to talk about High School and were sneaking alcohol. Heather and I felt a little weird about it. Trey on the other hand did not care about because there was an open bar.

After the dinner I dropped Trey off and headed over to Summer's hotel room for a little lingerie shower. This is me, Heather, Paige and Kristen. I have known all of these girls for so long. Kristen was in my wedding party.

And these two girls are two of my best friends, Julie and Beth. I have known Beth since we were babies and just have so much fun when we are together. I miss them and don't get to see them as often as I used to. They both ADORE Ella and I just love to see them with her.

Haley and I have known each other since Junior High. This weekend was such an awesome time to see old friends and reconnect.

And finally, the bride herself, Summer. Summer and I have been friends since elementary school and even share the same birthday! We are opposite in a lot of ways, height, hair color, etc, but are so similar in others. We usually talk on the phone at least once a week and could talk for hours if life didn't get in the way. She is one of the busiest people I know and is always on the go but is full of energy and so bubbly. She looked beautiful and got so many cute little outfits. This is the lingerie I got her. I wish I would have gotten a better picture, but it was super cute. And yes, this is a banana hammock for Andrew. You can tell by Summer's face that this surprised her and I think kind of grossed her out a little too! It was definitely a gag-gift!! =)
The night ended around midnight. We had such a good time, but the bride needed her rest before the big day! Which you will see tomorrow.

O Weekends, How I Love You!

Okay, so everyday is kind of like a weekend for me considering I don't work. Er...correction...I do work...hard....and unlike other jobs, mine truly is 24/7. So, now that we have that all cleared up, I love weekends! I love them because Trey is off of work, and the past couple of weekends we have done lots of fun things.


Friday night Trey and a group of guys from church went to the Rangers game, so I had all the girls (wives) over to the house for girls night. We ordered pizza and just hung out and talked all night. It was such a great time to just be able to hang around a bunch of girls that are around your age, interested in the same things you are, share the same beliefs and are just such fun girls. Trey and I really love our church and part of the reason are the people in our Sunday School class. We used to go to a different church and never really felt at home, but the first Sunday we went to First Baptist of Rockwall, we fell in love with the preacher and what he had to say, along with our Sunday school teachers and the members of the class.


Okay, back to Friday night. Ella was all ready wearing her 'Queen of the Crib' shirt. I just love this and you know, it's true!

This little guy, Jackson, who is 16 months old came with his momma Jamie.

He and Ella have gone swimming together once earlier this summer. They both were so sweet to each other. I think we may have a future couple. Ella couldn't quite keep up with him though since he is walking and she is crawling. He did get on the floor and crawl with her a couple of times.

However, his bedtime is 8:00, so he was out way before Ella.

And here re the girls. Jamie (Jackson's mom) is holding squirmy Ella. She wouldn't pose for this one.

It was so funny. They all stayed until 11:00 when all of our cell phones rang at once when all of our hubbys called in unison. You know one of the guys said "Oh, hold on, I am going to call my wife" so all the rest of them did too so they wouldn't look bad!

Saturday we headed to Frisco for my sister-in-law, Jennie's, graduation lunch at her favorite Mexican food joint. We got there 25 minutes late because Preston Road has two 4000 blocks, one in Plano and one in Frisco. I mean, come on road numbering people. Most of the time you can weave in and out of Plano and Frisco and not even know which one you are in. Anyways, are we finally arrived we learned we were not the only people who had done this, so it made us feel better. And we were not the latest people either. Jennie got her Masters degree in Nursing and is due with baby Hunter any day now. I can't wait to meet him. I also can't wait till he gets older and he and Ella can play together. I am so glad they only live 30 minutes away. That's practically right down the street in Dallas terms!


Saturday night we decided to give Ella a bath in the kitchen sink because both of our backs hurt and we didn't want to bend over the tub. It worked really well, so I think it may become the permanent bath place for a while. I think Ella likes that we change it up, it gives her new things to explore.


Sunday morning we went to church and heard a great sermon on spending wisely. Who doesn't need a little advice on money now and again? Ella had another good morning in the nursery. I really think putting her in the room with other crawlers has done the trick. It doesn't help though that she usually wakes up at 9:30 and I have to wake her up at 8:00 on Sunday mornings to nurse her and then feed her baby cereal. She is still sleep and doesn't really want to eat and makes it hard. So, you say wake her up every morning at 8:00? NO! Mama likes to sleep in too! I don't want her to go to bed earlier either. Plus, I have tried several times when she doesn't nap good to put her down earlier and it never works. She likes her 10:30 bedtime, it just works.

Then, Sunday night we returned to church for a going away party for one of the couples. Trey and I baked brownies and brought them and Mary brought her AWESOME chicken alfredo!!! I mean, this stuff is tasty. Trey and I LOVE spicy pasta, we always go to Johnny Carinos and get the spicy chicken and shrimp pasta and Trey said he likes Marys better. Luckily, I had talked to her at Sunday school about bringing the recipe with her and she was sweet enough to type it out and bring copies for all the girls! We play pictionary, boys versus girls, and yes, we did win! Wow! The competitiveness of all of us came out.

After a weekend of eating Pizza, brownies, no bake cookies, chicken alfredo and drinking coke, I am going to have to get back on track with going running and working out. I have to wear my bridesmaids dress for Summer's wedding this weekend! I am SOO excited! Trey and I went yesterday and bought Ella a new dress to wear. It is brown, Lime green and turquoise (Summer's colors are an olive green and a dash of lime green, so I really wanted Ella to fit in with the theme). She is going to look adorable, now to get her a big lime green bow! I will have lots of pictures from our weekend!