4th of July

David and Melissa were in town for the 4th of July. it was fun to see Parker and Trevor playing together again. We did some fireworks at Kim's house. As you can see, some of the time the kids enjoyed them, and most of the time they were scared.

We went to the Balloon Festival and Parade again this year. Parker's favorite balloon was still Smokey the Bear. Paul's favorite part was the vintage corvette from the parade.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I watched this on a friend's blog, when I was newly home from the hospital, all alone with 3 kids and it was just the reminder that I needed. If you are like me, you might need a tissue.

Newborn Photos

Lincoln Paul Jones at 10 days

Lincoln Paul

Lincoln Paul Jones arrived late last night at 11:51pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 6 ozs. and was 20 inches long.

About 4:30pm I started having contractions. They weren't too regular or painful, so I welcomed them. I was very anxious to have to hold this baby boy in my arms, instead of in my 'belly.' The contractions continued as we drove out to Paul's sister, Kim's, house for dinner. I went for a long walk, hoping to keep the contractions going and they kept coming. They didn't seem to be getting worse, but by the time we left to go home it was 8:30pm and the contractions had been coming for 4 hours. At this point, I decided to time them; 10 minutes apart. As I got the kids ready for bed, they continued about the same. And then in one succession, they went to 8 minutes, 6 minutes, 3 minutes, and that last contraction was long and painful. So Paul called Kim and had her head over to our house. It was about 10:30pm, when we finally decided to leave for the hospital. Although, the pain of the contractions was pretty unbearable, I was still afraid that I wasn't really in labor. But, we got to the hospital about 10:50pm and we were looking at our new baby boy just an hour later. Everything happened so fast. I was at a 5, when we arrived, my water broke just after I sat in the bed in the delivery room and I was at a 10 about 5 minutes later. I wasn't able to get an epidural, but I did get a spinal (I am guessing I was only given anything because the doctor wasn't there yet.) I was grateful for it. The doctor ran (literally) into the room while the anesthesiologist was at work. Seconds later, I was completely numb and a few minutes later, little Lincoln was here. It is an exciting story to tell now, but I will be sure to go to the hospital a lot sooner next time. We are so happy to have this new little boy join our family!

Look at those chubby cheeks and that double chin...so cute...
Paul, always pretending to be asleep...

Some photos

A few photos of the past month or so...

Family Home Evening at Krispy Kreme

Corndog PicnicOur neices, Bella and Briana's, Dance recital
Playing in the sandbox with cousins
Our nephew, Cullan's, birthday and Celtic game party

A Sunday evening walk with popcorn

Little Buddies

Movie Night (Lady and the Tramp)Our neighbor, Cayden, can be found peeking in our back window pretty regularly.

Autumn, Parker and our neighbor, Cayden, sat here for about 30 minutes reading books together happily. They were so cute; pointing and laughing at pictures.

I have been getting the baby stuff out in preparation for our new little baby boy. Autumn loves it all! Here she is, lounging in front of the TV in the baby bath seat.

Autumn wanted a haircut after she saw Parker getting one, so we pretended.
The kids just lounging on Dad, while he is napping.