Our First Christmas!

2008 was the first Christmas Griff and I got to spend together as husband and wife and also the first Christmas we have got to celebrate it with our son. What a year!

Riley is one month old today...it is hard to believe. This last month has been a full one, but so rewarding. We enjoyed a visit from my parents, in which Riley got spoiled real well by Grandma and Grandpa Henry (as pictured below).

The three of us spent Christmas together in Lancaster. We went to church (Riley's first time) for the Christmas Eve service and afterwards were really blessed to spend time at the pastors house with new friends celebrating Christ's birth.

Christmas day we headed to Pittsburgh to celebrate the holiday and Riley with all the Jones family. He got to take a nap with Grammy Sandy, spend time with his uncle Andy and get some good snuggle time in with Grandpa Kevin as well as meet the rest of the fam.

Week 3

I took Riley in for his three week check up and he weighed an astounding 5 pounds 15 ounces. He had gained 10 ounces in a week. The doctor couldn't believe it but I could because my parents had been here all week spoiling him rotten. Soon we will have a six pounder. :-)

Having my parents here this past week was wonderful. I have tons of pictures of Riley with Grandma and Grandpa Henry but they are on my laptop and that just got sent into Best Buy as it is about to crash. So just imagine two smitten grandparents fighting over who gets to feed, burp, pamper, change, kiss and hug him.

Please keep him in your prayers as he is still not keeping all his food down the best but he is definately improving and we praise God for that!

More to come later as right now I need to tend to my fussy son. :-)

At Home and Two Weeks Old

We have had Riley home since Thursday and it is wonderful! By God's grace I haven't had the baby blues but on Thursday when we finally got to walk out of the hospital with him my eyes were full of tears. I have been praising God over and over for our little miracle and that he is home with us now.

I can't say I jump up and down at the 2am and 5am feedings but it is a joy to know he is home and doing pretty well. The last couple of days we have had good feedings and not so good. This morning he spit up everything I gave him which was discouraging and then he was hungry and hour later and his schedule is completely off...I guess he doesn't understand the idea of a schedule. :-)

Please continue to pray with us that he would keep his meals down and he would continue to maintain a great blood sugar level and gain weight. We have an appointment at the doctors office tomorrow so I will know how we are doing then.

My parents (aka Grandma and Grandpa Henry) arrive this evening from Iowa and I am really excited to have them here, to see our little guy in their arms and to spend the week with them.


Here is our little green bean once we got home from the NICU.


Our first family picture at home.


Daddy and Riley taking a nap.

Riley is coming home!

He is coming home today! Thanks for all your prayers. I am waiting (not very patiently) for Griff to get off work so we can go pick up our little guy. He is a whopping 5 pounds now too! Praise God!

More to come soon....

12.10.08 Update

He didn't get to come home today....I know I was hugely disappointed when the nurse told me this morning. She was disappointed too. The doctors dropped him back down to the regular concentration of formula and they want to see how he does on that for 24 hours before they release him. So I fed him at 11am and he took 50 mL (just over 2 oz.). The nurse Lynn checked his blood sugar at 1:45 and it was 75 which is great! Then I fed him at 2 and he took 75 mL and he didn't spit up any! Praise the Lord! So, I think it looks promising that he will get to come home with us tomorrow. If not I might steal him anyway. It is getting harder and harder to drive there so many times a day, feed him, cuddle with him and then lay him in a bed and walk away. My heart goes out to all the moms who have ever had a baby in the NICU longer than a week, especially those that are in there for months. I can't imagine the heartache.

Please pray our little man can home home tomorrow! Pray he would eat great between now and tomorrow morning at 9am when the doctors do their rounds and make the decision. Pray his blook sugar would stay in the 70's from here on out. Pray he would keep eating more and more and gain weight.

12.8.08 Update

Today I was hoping against hope to bring Riley home, but he isn't here. At this point we are shooting for Wednesday. I am hopeful for Wednesday. It is a good lesson in trusting the Lord and waiting on his timing.

Riley's blood sugar was the highest it has been since being off the IV tonight, 67. This is a step in the right direction and we are praying it will stay this high from here on out. Our new goal is that he would be released Wednesday evening.

I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for your prayers.

Update 12.7.08

Riley is doing great, but not home yet. He was taken out of the isolette yesterday and is doing great at keeping his body temp regulated. He is also off the IV and just on his lactose free formula. The most important thing right now is that he needs to keep his blood sugar up and consistent. It can't drop below 50 and lately it has been hovering between 51-54. Today at his noon feeding he took a whopping 45 mL of fomula which was his largest feeding yet and he didn't spit any up. This was a major feet and we are praising God. The best case scenario is that he could come home Monday evening but the more realistic option is that he would come home Tuesday. Either way our little guy will be home soon and I am super excited about that.

Riley also seems to be the social butterfly of the NICU. Today his nurse Pam was walking around the NICU with him before we got there and he was getting to meet everyone. Pam was already trying to set him up with a couple of the girls there. It has been a blessing to meet some of the other parents in the NICU as wella s get to know the nurses. Though this has been a challenging week I am grateful to God for such capable and loving hands to leave him in.

More Pictures for Grandma Henry to Gush Over :-)

I like to think he is praying in this picture.


He is so precious when he sleeps.



If you turn up the volume and listen closely you can here him snoring just a little bit. Griff and I got a good laugh out of this. :-)

Update

I went into the hospital this morning to feed Riley and his nurse Carol told me he has gained 2 ounces! Praise the Lord! Yesterday we decided to try something new and we switched him to lactose free formula. He seems to be keeping this formula down much better so I think we just have a lactose intolerant little boy.

Hopefully the doctors will now increase the amount of formula we are feeding him (we currently just give him .5 ounces every 3 hours). The sooner we can increase it, decrease what he is getting through the IV then the sooner he can come home with us. We are hoping and praying we can bring him home this weekend.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, Griff, Riley and I are so thankful for all of you.

Welcome Riley David Jones!!!!!

Well friends, he is here! As a shock to me my water broke at 1:20am Sunday morning and a short 8 hours later our little guy entered the world at a whopping 4 pounds 11 ounces. There were some problems with the labor and the cord being wrapped around his neck twice so they had to get him out quickly. Praise the Lord for a great labor and delivery team. I am doing well and feeling better daily. Riley is still in the NICU. He needs to gain some weight. Right now he is only taking .5 ounces at a time and he needs to get to at least 2 ounces at each feeding before he can come home with us. So please pray that his appetite increases and we can bring him home this weekend. This is our little guy right after he was born. The proud papa The Newest Jones Family Picture Isn't he the cutest thing ever!

Everything is A-OK

Thanks to all of you who prayed and for all the encouraging words over the last two days. I had my ultrasound today and everything looks good. He is small, probably about 4 pounds and 14 ounces but Griff and I were both really small babies so they think with another 3 1/2 weeks of "baking" he should be just fine. So as much as I want him to come early because I can't wait to meet him I want him healthy more than anything. And thankfully I think I am getting over the awful cold I have and my appetite is really returning full force so I think I can get him to that 6 pound mark.

Thank you all for praying!

36 Weeks! Baby's Room! Cravings!

Wow! Hard to believe I have, by the mercy of God, made it to the 9 month mark. For the most part this last month went really well but about a week ago I got a cold and that has left me feeling pretty crappy.
Because I haven't been feeling good I haven't had much of an appetite and thus I have not gained the weight the doctor would like. I had my 36 week appointment yesterday and actually went down 1/2 a pound. The little guys heart beat sounds good and strong but the doctor just wants to be sure everything is okay and I am scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow. I am a little nervous but more excited to see another picture of this guy before he joins us for good.
So if you think of it please pray us, for me to get over this cold and gain weight and for our little guy to gain weight (right now they think he is aout 4 pounds).




And speaking of gaining weight...I made my first ever potroast last night and it actually turned out great! All I did was throw this roast in the crockpot, along with a can of Pepsi, a packet of onion soup, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. It was so easy and 8 hours later is was sooooo good. I told Griff this was a good old Iowa meal. And though there were mashed potatoes left over from last night I finished those about 8am when I couldn't sleep. :-)







And here is our little guys room. It is completely finished and ready for him to come and check it out. Big thanks to Cathy for finding this great baby furniture at a garage sale, to Jason and Dave for picking it all up for us and storing it, to Brian for helping Griff reassemble the crib, to my parents for painting the room, and to everyone else for all the great gifts that have helped us fill the room and prepare for him to join us. Thank you all soooooo much!

35 Weeks! Only 35 days to go!

It is incredibly hard to believe that we have just 5 short weeks before Baby Jones is here (or maybe less if he decides to come early). As I sit here writing this, watching the Steelers vs. Redskins game this little guy inside seems to be practicing for the days when he will be the start punter. I have come to love and cherish these movements, except when they occur between midnight and 5am. I am realizing more and more with each day what an incredible miracle this is.

This past weekend I had another shower, put on by all my wonderful new Lancaster friends. It was a great reminder of God's faithfulness in bringing us to a place of community and surrounding us with couples that love Jesus and are in a similar season of life. We got many great things to finish off the nursery.

And while I was at the shower, Griff and Brian were at home putting together the crib. It was fun to come home, walk into the baby's room and see everything put together. We are really ready for him, bed and all. :-)

I have my 36 week check up this coming Monday and I am really excited to see where I am at by that point. Honestly I am praying I will go early, specifically November 25th. The reason for this is that if I were to go on the evening of the 25th that would give Griff the most vacation time to stay home with me and our little guy. So, if you want to pray with me for this great. But, more than anything I want him to come int he Lord's perfect timing and if that isn't until December 15th I will be okay with that too. If there is one thing I have learned these last nine months is that you can't go againsts God's perfect plan.

I Love Fall

On another perfect Fall day my neighbor Brynne and I took our first attempt at making pumpkin rolls. We have both been craving things made of pumpkin for a while and after I bought one of these delicious rolls at the grocery store recently I knew I had to make it myself.

So after combining the pumpkin, powdered sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and much more and a couple hours later we had two marvelous looking and yummy tasting pumpkin rolls. The question now is...how long will this roll last? And how long before I have to make another one? :-)

A Beautiful Fall Day

It was a beautiful day to be outside so Griff took full advantage. He spent a good chunk of the day in our backyard, pulling up weeds, and cutting down bushes. Everything you see in the picture that is cleared off was previously covered in 2-4 foot high weeds. Our backyard, though small, was a mess and finally we are getting to it. Basically, Griff is getting to it. I just take pictures of him working hard. :-)

And as of Monday October 13th I will be 8 months pregnant. Overall, I have been feeling good. Yesterday I was extremely uncomfortable but fortunately today I have felt great and been able to be up and around making grandola, strawberry shortcake and I even put the stroller together! It has been a great day.

This coming weekend Griff and I head to State College. Griff is speaking at Nav Night at Penn State. We are excited to head up there one final time before the baby comes. Please pray for Griff as he prepares his talk and for our time with students and friends while we are up there. And please pray I will feel good for the entire weekend.

A Quick Trip Home

Recently Griff had to go to South Carolina for a week of training so I bid on a last minute ticket to Iowa and got it. I had the chance to go home for four days and spend time with my parents, Grandma Henry and see a few other family members.
I love Iowa in the Fall, when all the combines are in the field and harvest is in full swing. It was a beautiful but quick four days. Some fun things I got to do...

...See the newest addition to the Henry family, Lindsey (pictured). She is now almost 4 months old and what a cutie pie she is.

...Spend a day with Grandma. I wish I had a picture for you. We spent the morning getting her hair cut and then took off to have lunch and buy groceries. It was so fun to spend time together, hear stories about her life growing up, gain tips on raising kids (she had 10 of them) and also talk about all the quilts she has made over the years and is in the processes of making.

...Teach mom how to make my homemade granola. The house smelled so good as all the cinnamon and nutmeg filled the air.
- Best Granola Recipe Ever (Thanks to Kerri Ely)-
6 cups oats
1 cup oil
1 cup honey
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup coconut
You can also add in shaved almonds or different kinds of nuts
mix these above ingredients together and then add:
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
mix this all together and then spread into a large sheet pan.
bake at 350 for 30 minutes, taking it out and stirring it every 10 minutes.
After it is finished baking you can add in craisins, or raisins.


...Just spending downtime with mom and dad was a huge highlight. It was great to be home, go for a walk with dad, have lunch with them at the bowling alley and eat meals around our dining room table.

It was just a great four days!

Third Trimester Here We Come!

Yeah! Praise God we are finally into the last trimester! This picture was taken at 28 weeks. I am doing well and feeling great most days. I think our little "Henry" is practicing already to be a star punter or a soccer player as much as he has been kicking. We are getting more and more excited for this little guy to join our family and settle into his room. I had my first baby shower (pictured above)a couple weekends ago with lots of State College friends and it was so much fun to open a package of newborn baby diapers and imagine his little bottom in it. I can't believe how small he will be. :-)

Griff continues to settle into his job at Voith Siemens. He works on the west side of York so it is about a 45 minute drive home, which can make for a long day, but we are adjusting. There is no class in college that can prepare you for 5am mornings and 45 minute commutes to work, and dealing with the daily challenges of the job. But truly praise God for his faithfulness! We know God has brought us to Lancaster for this season of life and we are tremendously thankful for the community around us, for the job he provided Griff and even the great doctor and hospital we have been able to get into. He is working out Ephesians 3:20 right in front of us...doing exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.

The other pictures are of the Penn State Barn Dance and Chili Cook-off that Griff and I got to go to a couple weekends ago. We had a great time with friends, and working the duck pond and the barn dance festivities.

And the other picture is from a recent wedding when all us old PSU staff and students got to have a little reunion before Jamie and Susan took off for California. Praise God for these great friends!

25 Weeks and Counting

Many of you have been asking about a pregnant picture and wondering about the size of my ever expanding belly. Well, here you go. This picture is from about 23 week and was taken on our front porch. I am definately bigger now but everything is going well and the baby seems to be healthy and happy. I think he is going to be a future olympic champ as much as he has been moving, rolling, punching and kicking inside. We have affectionately named our little one "Henry" for the time being. Griff and I continue to toss around names and have yet to decide on anything. Good thing we have a little while though I know December 8th will be here before we know it.

Home Sweet Home

The above picture is of the current Jones family. During Griff's "vacation" we got to travel to Pittsburgh and visit family for a few days. It was a great visit as Andy had just returned from Bolivia and Chris, Sarah and Abby were able to come up for an evening.

Griff and I have finally moved into and are semi settled in our new home. We are loving our little row home in Lancaster. We are getting to know our neighborhood and neighbors and really loving it. Praise God for His gracious provision in providing us a home in such a short time. It is wonderful to drive just a few minutes any direction and be surrounded by farm land. I feel at home.

The move went amazingly with all of our parents and many friends helping out. Our mom's cleaned the place top to bottom and our dad's not only put up crown-molding but also installed a washer and dryer, fixed plumbing and did small odd jobs around the house.

This morning, it was back to the morning routine for Griff as he woke to the beeping of his 5am alarm. It moments I felt like a proud but weepy mom sending her son off to his first day at school.

It is a fun and exciting time. Thank you all for your prayers over the past month as we began this process. We could not have done it without you.

A Boy and a Boy

Today we got the exciting news that we are having a boy! I think everyone was predicting this so it didn't come as a complete surprise but it was really great news. Our little guy looks completely healthy. He is weighing in at a whopping 12 ounces, and Lord willing he will come and greet us on or around December 8th. This ultrasound picture below shows his profile. He is pretty handsome if I do say so myself.


Below is my other boy, in some rather out-dated clothes. We did some purging of our closet last night in an effort to down size and not move unwanted clothes to Lancaster. And these were some clothes Griff found in the depths of his drawers. An old old old Chicago Bulls t-shirt and some old B.U.M. Equipment purple jogging pants. Now, if you notice the length of the jogging pants I don't think they had fit Griff correctly since 2nd grade, probably the last time they were in style. We had a good laugh over these. I hope you do to.

Anxious To Know

Yesterday we celebrated Griff's 23rd birthday! Yes, he is getting so old. :-) Amongst packed boxes and quite a mess I made stir-fry for Griff with lots of veggies, always a favorite of his and then made a peanut butter whoopi pie as his birthday cake. For the folks in Iowa or maybe anywhere outside of PA you may not know what a whoopi pie is so I will try and post a picture. They are quite delicious though. It was a nice relaxing night of remember all God has done in the 22nd year of Griff's life - take his first real job, start dating, graduate from PSU, go to Kenya, move to Philadelphia, get engaged, plan a wedding, get married, move again to Langhorne, find out he is going to be a dad, take a different job in York and prepare to move a third time. Whoa! Praise God for the way He has faithfully led and provided over the last year. We are excited for all that his 23rd year hold!

Tomorrow we find out the gender of our baby! I am so excited as this little guy or girl has been whiggling around a lot this past week. Especially this morning from 3:30am until about 6. I guess this is good training for the many sleepless nights to come. I don't know if this baby was just celebrating his/her dad's birthday late or they didn't like the spicy stir-fry from a few hours before but I enjoy the movement. It is completely amazing. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a much larger baby ultra sound to share with you all.

Changes are Coming

If there is one thing I (Sharon) have learned in the last 18 months it is that life can change very quickly. In April 2007 Griff asked me out, October 2007 he asked me to marry him, and January 2008 we got married and move to Langhorne, PA.

Then, when we thought we were settling into life God threw us a surprise. In April I found out I was pregnant! Whoa! What an unexpected surprise from the Lord. It took us a good bit of time to adjust to this news but we are excited to be starting our family. Lord willing on or around December 8, 2008 our newest addition will be here.

Now, we are preparing for yet another change, this one we had been thinking about for awhile though. Griff has taken a new job at Voith Siemans in York, PA so we are moving to Lancaster! We move August 1st and we are super excited to be moving close to friends who are also starting families.

Please pray for us with all the packing, loading, unloading and transitions of the next few weeks.