Pictures from August to Labor Day

Here is the link to the pictures from our recent trip:

http://www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com/

Back from Mini-Vacation to the Mountains!

We had a great Labor Day weekend in the mountains of N.C. We were fortunate enough to be offered a free place to stay at a beautiful condominium belonging to the parents of my dad's wife at Sugartop. We couldn't say no, so Jeff & I took off work on Thursday & Friday and we left on our adventure on Thursday morning. We stopped in North Wilkesboro for lunch and then on to Sugar Mountain, which is about 20-30 minutes from Boone. After we got checked in, we got settled and went out for supplies & provisions. By the time we got back, we just played with Jacob a little while longer, then fed him dinner. We put him to bed and despite being in a new place in a pack n play he had never slept in, he only cried for eight (long!) minutes before going to sleep!

On Friday morning, we waited until after his morning nap to get a start on the day. We headed over to the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. It's probably one of our favorite things to do, they have lots of neat stuff. We also went by the Annex store as well. As we were walking around, I showed Jacob a Lambchop puppet like this one. He took to it immediately and hugged it as we walked around the store, so of course, we had to buy it for him. [By the way, Lambchop has now moved right up their with Slugger. Jacob slept with his little arms wrapped around them both last night. It was adorable.] We went to lunch at Woodland's BBQ on Friday and it was pretty good! Jacob enjoyed his first BBQ and ate almost a whole hotdog too! We did some other shopping on Friday, but mainly tried to just get Jacob adjusted. We also went to the indoor pool at the condo on Friday and Jacob really enjoyed that too. We have an inflatable whale infant float that we bought before he was even born, and we finally got a chance to use it! Oh my, he loved it. Jeff took him out at one point, and he wanted to get back in!

On Saturday morning, we took a chance and left early before Jacob's morning nap, hoping he'd sleep in the car. He did okay, but not great with that. We were headed to Linville Falls. It was very foggy on the Blue Ridge Parkway. At one point, it was difficult to even see the yellow double lines on the road!! We considered turning back, but pushed on through the fog. We made it to Linville Falls and tried out a LLBean Child Carrier borrowed from some friends. It worked well and we hiked about 1.5 miles round-trip to see the falls & take pictures. Jacob seemed to enjoy riding during our hike. I even carried him on the way back and it wasn't too bad. After leaving Linville Falls, we headed further south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Little Switzerland, an adorable little town in the mountains. We had a delicious lunch at the Switzerland Cafe, where our waitress asked us if Jacob just love to smile all the time. If we learned anything this trip, it's that Jacob likes to eat in restaurants! He loves looking all around at the people! After lunch, we went by the Orchard at Altapass and had some ice cream while listening to a band play mountain music. This is one of those attractions you don't see in the guidebooks, but we stumbled across it and we have enjoyed visiting a few times now. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite apple season yet, but the store and the music are lots of fun. Saturday was one long day, and we
actually went back out to the Mast General Store again. It was a lot more crowded than the day before, and we picked up a few more things.

On Sunday, we headed over to Beech Mountain, which is the highest incorporated town east of the Mississippi River. Wow, those were some STEEP and WINDING roads to get up there. I'm pretty sure the brakes weren't really fond of coming down either.... Anyway, they were having a Mile High Kite Festival. They even had free kites for kids, so we made Jacob a kite that read "Jacob's First Kite" and included the date. Then, Jeff & I tried our darnedest to fly it! We had a nice time and took some great pictures of Jacob sitting in the grass! I'm going to get all the pictures posted in a few days. When we left the Kite Festival, we went on a 2 hour expedition looking for lunch without any luck at all. Everything was SUPER busy because it was a holiday weekend and the weather was beautiful. We ended up giving up and hitting the McDonald's drive through on our way back to the Condo. For the record, Jacob wasn't too fond of chicken nuggets, and I couldn't be happier about that.

On Monday, we started packing up and headed for home around Noon. We stopped again in Wilkesboro for lunch (at the same Applebee's, no less!) and got home around 4:30 p.m. We had a great time on Jacob's first vacation, even if it was a short one!

Jacob's One Year Check-Up

Jacob had his one year check up with his new pediatrician, Dr. Ramsdell with Ramsdell Pediatrics yesterday. First off, it's a long story why we switched, but I couldn't be happier. Jeff really likes her too, and Jacob seemed to take to her as well. At one point, he reached his arms out for her to pick him up! I can't say he ever did that with his other doctors!

His stats were 20.14 lbs (19th percentile); 30.25 inches (63rd percentile) and I think his head was around 18 cm (57th percentile). We talked about his development and she feels he is just fine in that category as well. He knows 4-6 words pretty well, responds to his name, seeks approval, claps, drinks from a straw/sippy cup, feeds himself etc. He's not walking yet, but he will in his own time.

He couldn't get his shots yesterday though. He's come down with a cold, complete with snot & a nasty cough that is mostly present at night and keeping us all awake. She put him on Xopenex by nebulizer for the next week or so and gave us a new prescription for that. She ordered breathing treatments every 4 hours for the first day or so, then back to every 6 hours as needed. She said he was fine to go to "school," as long as he wasn't running a fever, so we sent him on to Chrissy's today with his nebulizer.

It's funny he is so skinny because I really don't think he could eat any more! Lately, he is loving fruit of all kinds. Last night at dinner he had sprite melon (similar to a honeydew/muskmelon/cantelope), raspberries, grapes, bananas, and applesauce! He also had some veggies & about 1/2 of a turkey sausage.

Birthday Recap & Roseola!

Wow, it's already Friday - where did the week go? At this time last week, we were getting ready for Jacob's party which was last Saturday. I took a half-day Thursday to do some birthday party shopping. My brother, John, & his fiancee, Katherine, flew in on Thursday night from Austin. My mom picked them up from the airport. They got in too late to see Jacob, but on Friday, they pretty much spent the day with him while Jeff and I shopped for food for the party. We got lots of stuff from BJ's (like Sam's, Costco), including burgers, hot dogs, appetizers, lots of food! We spent the rest of the day getting various things ready around the house and preparing as much of the food in advance as we could. I had numerous lists to keep up with all the details! After all, we were expecting around 35 adults & kids!

Friday night, after Jacob went to bed, we decorated the house with ducks galore, duck garland, streamers, etc. Saturday morning, he was up bright & early. I was chopping fruit for fruit salad at 6 a.m.! The party was scheduled for 11 a.m., and Katherine and I went to the Farmer's Market at 8 a.m. for some produce for the fruit salad & pasta salad. (Yes, I'm crazy to wait until the last minute!) I sent John & Jeff on the mission for the cake, ice, balloons & a propane tank! Somehow we got everything ready by around 10:15 a.m. and had a brief moment to shower & change. In the midst of all the activity, Jacob only took about a 40 minute nap and would not go back to sleep. He was pretty fussy.

Guests began arriving, and we served veggies/dips; chips/dips; tortilla chips/salsa; pinwheels, etc. Jeff started grilling hamburgers around 11:30 a.m. and they took longer to cook than we expected! We had 23 hamburgers and they were gone as soon as he could grill them. He then grilled about 24 hot dogs and most of those were gone quickly as well. We also had the aforementioned pasta salad, fruit salad, and baked beans. Everyone ate and the kids played in the living room. We got lots of great pictures. Jacob was really getting tired & yawning, so I knew we needed to get on with gifts & cake! I told Jeff's cousin-in-law, Holly, to tell everyone gifts in 5 minutes! Then, I told her to tell them to come on now because Jacob was seriously tired. Jeff held Jacob while I "helped" open presents. He got lots of great toys and some clothes too. He also received lots of books, which he loves! All the kids were very good while he opened his presents! Then, we quickly moved on to cake! I decided last minute not to get Jacob his own separate cake and just to give him a slice of his ducky cake. Even though he was tired, he didn't pass up on the cake. He dug right in and we gave him 10-15 minutes to enjoy it. Here he is right before I took him up for a bath:

After his bath, I put him in some comfortable clothes, and we came downstairs and he told everyone good night because he was off to nap. I put him down for a nap in his crib upstairs and we turned on the surveillance camera on our TV so everyone could watch him while he went to sleep! He was so exhausted, and I was so happy he didn't freak out during the party. Our guests began to leave, and we all finally relaxed. I was glad we had the party early in the day.

Later that evening, Jeff, John, Katherine & I went to dinner and to see the Simpsons movie. We had a great time. Sunday, we did little more than venture out to Trader Joe's, and had eastern Carolina style BBQ for dinner at my brother's request. Jacob was still very tired, and he was now running a fever.

Monday, Katherine & John flew home. Jacob still had a fever, my mom stayed with him. Tuesday, I stayed home with him. On Wednesday, he broke out in a classic Roseola rash. He's still more tired than usual, but the rash is starting to fade a little. Whew! What a week!

Here are the rest of the pictures from his birthday week: http://www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com/

Our Family.... Simpsonized!

I'll give the recap of Jacob's birthday shortly, but first - over the weekend Jeff and I went to see the Simpson's Movie with my brother, John, and his fiancee, Katherine. Sunday, while sitting around, we saw the Burger King commercial for "simponizing" yourself, so we simpsonized everyone, and John put us all in the same shot using MS Paint! Here's the picture:

From Left to Right: Katherine, Me, Jacob, Jeff, John and my mom!

Jacob's Story - Part 6 - A Happy Ending

Gradually, over the next few days, he started eating more and more; he also started shedding more of his tubes and wires. Here is one of the first pictures of his little face without any tubes or oxygen!



We continued doing chest PT on him. By Tuesday morning, miraculously, his congestion had cleared to the point he didn't even need a chest x-ray! On Tuesday, he was also switched to oral medications. He also started gaining weight. He had made it back to his birth weight on Tuesday evening.

We were discharged on Wednesday, August 16. Jeff and I finally were able to bring our baby boy home with us. It was a very happy day. This is Jacob and I on the day of discharge:




We have had outpatient visits at Duke in August, September, November, January and April. At Jacob's last appointment, on April 24, 2007, his echocardiogram looked great, and when the cardiologist listened to his chest, they could not even detect a heart murmur. For the first time in his short life, they told us we wouldn't need to come back to Duke for 6 months. In fact, he was 11 months old before he had a month without seeing a doctor!

Thank you for reading!

Today, August 1, 2007, Jacob is one. He is the happiest baby.

We are so thankful to our friends and family who supported us so much during Jacob’s first weeks and throughout the last year. The outpouring of love, kindness and prayers from near and far has been amazing. We are truly blessed and our prayers have been answered.

I hope Jacob's Story has helped to raise

awareness for Congenital Heart Defects.

My little man is one today....

August 1 has finally arrived. One year ago today, we were overjoyed to have a 6 lb. 9 oz., 19.75 inch baby boy, and unsure what the future would hold. We are blessed!

(The final chapter will post in a little while, but you already know the ending anyway!)

Jacob's Story - Part 5 - Surgery & ICU

On Monday, August 7, Jacob was scheduled to be the second surgical case. We spent all morning with him, and stayed until they came to get him, around 1:00 p.m. We walked with them as they wheeled him to the elevator that would take him to the surgical floor. It was a very emotional and tear-filled moment when they took him away. Our last picture taken before surgery:

We got our first update at 4:30 p.m., three and a half long hours later. They had completed the Arterial Switch and were in the process of taking him off the heart/lung machine. About 15 minutes later, they called back and said his heart and lungs were working perfectly. Fortunately, they were able to close his chest too. Around 5:15 p.m., the surgeon, Dr. Jaggers came and told us everything went well. A few minutes later, they wheeled Jacob by. They had told us it would take about 45 minutes to clean him up. We waited almost an hour and a half until 7 p.m. to go back to see him. He had tubes & wires everywhere. It was so hard to see him like that, but he also looked the pinkest we had ever seen him!

About 24 hours after surgery, they took him off the ventilator. I remember one of the younger doctors saying on rounds, that he was a "rock star," and ready to come off the vent. But, we still couldn’t hold him because of lines that were delivering medicine to his heart. That evening, they put a CPAP mask on to assist him with breathing, but after a few hours of that, he didn't like it and he took it out himself! They put him on nasal cannula oxygen, and he did fine. We continued visiting Jacob as much as we could the remainder of the week. On Wednesday, the doctor gave the order to have the last line removed that was running to his heart, but it was late in the day, so they wouldn't remove it until Thursday. We had left for a little while and came back, and Jacob was wearing clothes for the first time! This is a preemie-sized outfit!! (The head I.V. is just lovely, don't you think?) Also, look at how pink he is compared to just before surgery!!

By Thursday, the lines were removed and we were finally able to hold him again. We started feeding him from little two ounce bottles. We brought his own clothes to the hospital and started dressing him up! This was taken on Thursday - the doctors who rounded on him just loved it....

Jacob was delayed in getting out of the PICU by fluid build-up from surgery that caused chest congestion and a partially collapsed lung. We were taught by the nurses how to do chest PT. After nearly a week in PICU, on the Saturday after surgery, August 12, we were finally transferred to the pediatric floor around 6 p.m. We were very happy because we could now "room in" with Jacob. It was quite a change for Jeff and I because we pretty much started caring for him around the clock. But, here's two more picture, one from Aug 11, and then from Aug 12, from the last day in ICU...

Jacob's Story - Part 4 - Catheterization

The Lifeflight team took Jacob to Duke, where Jeff was already waiting to fill out the paperwork. Of course, I wasn't there, so I'm not fully aware of the details. After arrival, Jacob was initially admitted to NICU, and since he had a heart defect, he actually was eventually admitted to PICU, the pediatric intensive care unit. All babies are in NICU at Duke, except heart babies, they go to PICU.

After Jacob was admitted to Duke, an emergency echocardiogram was performed. (Later, towards the end of Jacob's stay at Duke, the echo technician told us she remembered his admission and that they called her in an hour before her shift normally began to perform his echo.) The echo confirmed the Transposition diagnosis.

The "temporary fix" is to perform a balloon septostomy via a catheterization - they go up through a vein the groin and into the heart, where they place a hole between the atria of the heart to allow the non-oxygenated blood to mix with the oxygenated blood. As soon as the Transposition diagnosis was confirmed, Jacob was rushed to the cath lab. I believe it was around 7 a.m. by the time the ballon septostomy was completed. Here is Jacob after that procedure...

The balloon septostomy was successful. Jacob's oxygen saturation levels went from 55% to 98% almost instantly. Jeff called me after the procedure, and told me Jacob was doing a lot better and that they had taken pictures. I told him to hurry back with the camera so I could see them. My friend, Heather, took the camera and had all the pictures we had taken of Jacob so far printed and she put them into an album and brought it to me at Rex. There was a very noticeable improvement from seeing him in the special care nursery to after the catheterization.

In the meantime, the nurses at Rex were telling me I would be discharged that morning (of August 1) so that I could go be with Jacob. By the time my doctor rounded at 11:00 a.m., he basically suggested I stay put, having given birth less than 12 hours earlier. There was nothing I could do for Jacob except rest. Well, that, and I had starting pumping. Rex kept me overnight, and I was discharged on Wednesday, August 2.

Jeff and I drove straight to Duke to see Jacob. I remember being so excited to see him, and yet so scared about everything that was happening. He was sedated, and on a ventilator, but he was still with us!

In a wonderful twist of fate, his nurse the first two days was Mary Jo, who is a friend of friends, and I had met her before. We caught the doctors on rounds that Wednesday afternoon. They were hoping to do surgery on Jacob the following week. They explained he would need open heart surgery to fix the defect. Fortunately, there is only one surgery needed to "fix" most cases of Transposition - the Arterial Switch Operation. It restores the heart to as near as anatomically correct as possible, with just the risk of stenosis and scar tissue, which would be standard with any open heart procedure. The amazing thing is that the ASO has probably only been done for about 25 years. Prior to that, another surgery was performed - the Mustard or Senning procedure, and children could have serious heart problems as adolescents.

Jeff and I didn't want to go home without our baby. We live forty five minutes away, but that was too far for us. My dad made arrangements for us to stay at a nearby hotel for the first week. We were so grateful that we didn't have to worry about driving that far every day.

They left Jacob on the ventilator on August 2 and 3 because he had a brain MRI scheduled for August 3 and it was safer for him to remain on the ventilator during the MRI. While he was on the ventilator, we could not pick him up and hold him. When we arrived on the morning of Friday, August 4, Jacob was on nasal cannula and had the ventilator tube out of his mouth. Since he was finally off the ventilator, we could finally hold him!! Yes, this is the first time I had held him since he was born!!


On Friday, August 4, we also got the results of the brain MRI, and it was completely perfect!

On Saturday morning, we arrived at the hospital, checked in and went to the room he had been in the past few days, and there was no baby there! They had moved Jacob to a room with all babies - it is a NICU nursery with probably 8 NICU beds and 4 PICU beds. We had a lot of visitors on Saturday. I had many friends come by and Jeff's entire family, his mom's 6 brothers & sisters, some of their spouses & kids all came by and met Jacob. On Sunday, I spent lots of time holding and cuddling him! Sometimes, I even left Jeff, or one of our moms hold him!

Jacob's Story Part 3 - LifeFlight

Quite frankly, from that point forward - the next 12-24 hours, everything is truly a blur. The entire experience was surreal. I could not believe this was happening to our baby. Dr. Barrett finished up with me and went to check on Jacob. She came back and told me Jacob was very sick, but she did not know any details.

My delivery nurse told me that Jacob would need to be transferred to another hospital and Jeff would have to go with him so he could admit him. I would need someone to stay with me. They wanted us to call our parents, but we couldn't call them at 3:00 a.m. with this news and risk them driving in the middle of the night all upset and worried. We decided to call our friends, Katie & Daniel, who lived pretty close by, and are familiar with Rex. I'll never forget calling them in the middle of the night. Daniel answered the phone, and I told him Jacob had been born, but he wasn't doing well. Daniel told me they would be there as soon as they could and passed the phone to Katie. I briefly explained things to her, and she said they were on their way.

At one point, Dr. Barrett took Jeff & I (me in a wheelchair) to the nursery to see Jacob. As they wheeled me past the other babies, I remember thinking that even though those babies were in special care, they looked like they were doing so much better than Jacob. We reached the end of the long nursery, and Jacob in a hospital bassinet surrounded by nurses and doctors. A nurse was using a bag to breathe for him. He was blue. We touched his little hands and face. Tears streamed down both our faces. It was almost unbearable. I remember hearing later that his APGAR was 9 at one minute, and 2 at 5 minutes - one point for respiration, and one for heartbeat, and that was it. He was completely unresponsive.

There was a neonatologist on staff who examined Jacob. They did a chest x-ray. He pulled us aside and showed us the x-ray and told us his heart was not enlarged, which was good, but he felt like Jacob had a heart defect. They suspected it was one of three defects, but could not diagnose him without an echocardiogram, and they did not have those facilities. He told us they had begun administering prostaglandins to keep the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) open, which would help if it were one of the three defects. Essentially, this saved Jacob's life. Soon after he was born, his PDA began to close, and that's why he was blue - we later learned he had Transposition of the Great Arteries. The aorta and pulmonary artery were switched, so the heart was pumping the "blue blood" from the body, back out to the body, and the "red blood" from the lungs was going back to the lungs. The very little bit of red blood getting to the body and brain was from the PDA being open, and then from the PDA being kept open by prostaglandins. Prior to the prostaglandins, Jacob's blood oxygen levels plummeted to 30-40%. After giving him the medicine, it stabilized around 55%. At some point, they took me to my new recovery room. Katie & Daniel had arrived, and we explained what we knew so far.

After settling in, Dr. Barrett came back and took us for a second visit to the Special Care Nursery. One of the nurses told us that Jacob would need to be transferred to either Duke or UNC, and that the transport team would bring him to my room so I could see him before he left. Then, another nurse shook her head, indicating no, that he was too critical for the side-trip to my room. Ironically, a few moments later, the Duke Life Flight team arrived, and they ushered us out of the special care nursery so they could prepare him for transfer. They took me back to my room, and Jeff left with Daniel to go on over to Duke.

I think it was around 5:30 a.m. that the Duke Life Flight people did come by my room with Jacob. I was so grateful. Katie grabbed the camera and snapped pictures. The two pictures she took are below. Truly, I did not know if this was the last time I would see my newborn baby. It was a somber moment. As they took Jacob away, Katie hugged me and I just cried my heart out. Then, we said a prayer for Jacob.

Jacob's Story, Part 2 - The Delivery

I think I was in labor on July 31, but I wasn't sure. Around lunchtime, I didn't feel very well. I continued working the remainder of the day, but I left work around 4:00 p.m. so as to avoid the traffic in case I went into labor. Around 6:30 p.m. I finally called the doctor. I was pleased to learn that my favorite doctor, Dr. Barrett, was on call that night. Since it was my first pregnancy, she told me it would be fine if I wanted to come in to the hospital to be checked.

Jeff and I packed a bag, and called our moms on the way to Rex Hospital. We told them we were pretty sure I'd be sent back home. Since they both live over 2 hours away we told them not to come just yet. We had planned to tell them to come once we knew I was in labor or was admitted to the hospital. When they checked me at the hospital on Monday night, I had not had much progress from the previous Wednesday's OB appointment - I was still around 2 cm and 80% effaced. The doctor said it was close, and I might be 2.5 cm. They let me walk around for an hour or so. I finally saw Dr. Barrett again around 11:30 p.m. At that point, she decided to keep me overnight and if nothing was going on by morning, they would discharge me. It was late, so we decided not to call our parents and get their hopes up. At 12:15 a.m. Dr. Barrett checked me and I was 3 cm and she decided to break my water. I was pretty happy because that meant I would not leave the hospital still pregnant!

Breaking my water certainly got things moving. Every 15 minutes, the nurse would come in and check on me, at 12:30 a.m., 12:45 a.m., etc. and each time, I would tell her I was managing without pain medication. Finally, at 1:30 a.m., I decided to ask for Stadol, but I still did not want an epidural. When the nurse checked me, she told me I was 9 cm! I had progress from 3 cm to 9 cm in one hour and fifteen minutes! Apparently I was in labor! By that time, I couldn't have gotten an epidural if I had wanted one, but they did give me Stadol.

By 1:50 a.m. I wanted to push, but had to wait until a little after 2:00 a.m. to be fully dilated. After 19 minutes of pushing, Jacob was born at 2:27 a.m. I remember they put him on my stomach and I felt such awe looking at him. I noticed a little angel's kiss over his left eye. A few minutes later, they whisked him over to the warming table to check him out. Jeff was snapping pictures left and right. As they were examining Jacob, I heard a nurse say to get the special care nursery team right away. There was something wrong. I had no idea what was going on. Then, I remember them saying, "bag him," and knowing I had heard that on T.V. before, I knew he was having trouble breathing, and things were not good. Then, they rushed him away to the special care nursery since Rex Hospital is a smaller community type hospital, and does not have a NICU. The confusion was just beginning...

Update on Nicole's Dad

Nicole's father made it through last night, which they weren't sure he would. He's had some good things happen, and the doctors have gone from "Not Optimistic" to "Encouraged." He has a long road though, so please continue to pray for them.

7 days & counting.... Jacob's Story

I've written Jacob's story and next week a shortened version should go up on the http://www.kidswithheart.org/ website for his first birthday. I'm going to share the story in parts over the next few days since it is kind of long... Part one follows:

Jacob's Story

Jeff and I had been married for about 2 and a half years when we decided we were ready to start a family. We got pregnant in November. Towards the end of November, and beginning of December, I felt different, and I thought I might be pregnant. On Saturday, December 3, I took a home pregnancy test, and it was positive! I showed Jeff the test and had to explain the results as he woke up Saturday morning and needless to say, he was thrilled. We surprised our parents at Christmas with our big news. In January, we told our friends and family.

On March 8, we had an ultrasound and found out we were having a baby boy. We were very happy and had already picked out a name, Jacob. At the March 8 ultrasound, Jacob was in a funny position and they could not get a clear view of his heart. The ultrasound technician mentioned that they may send me back for another ultrasound to try to view the heart at a later time. I had my next OB appointment a week later, but it was hurried, and I forgot to ask about the ultrasound. At my April appointment, I asked the doctor about the ultrasound. He hurriedly went over it with me. I asked him about the heart not being visualized clearly. He said since there was no family history of heart problems, that a repeat ultrasound would not be necessary. Of course, we had no reason to suspect anything unusual, so we did not press the issue.

The remainder of my pregnancy was very normal. It was quite a hot summer, but I managed by drinking milkshakes whenever I could! In July, by 36 weeks, Jacob had "dropped" into position, and one of my doctors said that meant I probably would not go past my due date of August 11. At my 37 week appointment on July 26, I was 2 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and Jacob had dropped from negative 1 to 0 station in the pelvis.

To be continued...

Nicole's Dad...

The father of my very good friend, Nicole, had open heart surgery yesterday. A triple bypass was scheduled, but the surgery did not go well as an unexpected aortic dissection was found. The medicine given after surgery made this condition worse, as more stress was placed on the aorta. Her father is not doing well and the family has been told that the doctors are not overly optimistic about his chances. Please keep them in your prayers.

Jacob's One Year Pictures

Oops - thought I posted this last Friday!

Hold your hats! It's a whole two posts in one week! And stay tuned next week, when we start the birthday count-down - I have a surprise for my faithful (and occasional) readers!


I'm posting some of my favorties from Jacob's Portrait Innovations pictures last Saturday. You can see the whole lot of them at http://www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com/, but here's a couple!

Father's Day & July 4th Pictures!

As promised: Link to lots more too.

And July 4th:

And one more of my handsome guy!

Three Weeks & Counting!

I can't believe Jacob's birthday is in three short weeks. The party will be the following Saturday and I'm so happy my brother & his fiancee are coming from Texas! Here is the front of the invitation. I love Shutterfly! They printed, addressed & mailed them! It could not be easier!



I encourage you to stop by http://www.kidswithheart.org/, as well as to return there in a few weeks. There is a good chance that if I can get Jacob's "story" written in time, he will be the feature story for August. Right now the feature story for July is posted about a little boy named Cayman who was born on July 22 and lost his fight with CHD on the day Jacob was born. It's not a happy ending, but it is one that potentially could have been had the defect (Coarctation of the Aorta) been detected. [See Mayo Clinic - treatment for Coarctation of the Aorta] Congenital heart defect awareness is so important. I think Cayman's story shows that even medical professionals still need to be educated!

Eleven Months Old!

Duh! I forgot to post earlier this week that this past Sunday, Jacob was 11 months old! I cannot believe how fast he is growing up! He will be a one year old in just 26 days!

We are so excited about his birthday party! I designed invitations on Shutterfly and they went out earlier this week! I'll have to figure out a way to post the front of the invitation!

Patio furniture, July 4th, Snot, & Eczema

As I posted last week, my mom came up last Thursday and stayed with Jacob on Friday. I know they enjoyed their time together! On Saturday, Jeff and I did a marathon shopping trip - we got a new umbrella for the deck, as well as new chair pads. Then, on Monday, Jeff found a great deal on a set of deck furniture on overstock.com that is black metal. We ordered the six-top table & six chairs. The furniture was scheduled to arrive on Monday, but Jeff just called and said it just arrived today!

We had a great 4th with Chris, Nicole, Devyn & Megan. They came over around 4 p.m. and the kids all swam in Jacob's little pool. We got some great pictures that I'll post soon (with Nicole's permission of course!) They had fun splashing around for about an hour, and then we got them cleaned up and fed Jacob & Megan dinner, while Jeff & Chris grilled hot dogs, brats, burgers & portobella mushrooms. (You would have thought we were cooking for twice as many people, but hey, we like leftovers!) Jacob actually ate his first meal all by his big-boy self - he fed himself goldfish, about a half of a hotdog and about 3/4 of a banana, plus 2-3 animal cookies.

Thursday morning, Jacob sneezed about 7-8 times before we could get him out the door! He seemed to be pretty happy, and the drainage was clear, so we proceeded on with our day and dropped him off at Chrissy's. Jeff wasn't feeling well himself, so he stayed home from work. I told Chrissy if Jake seemed to not feel well to call. I ended up picking Jacob myself around 5:00 p.m. Chrissy said Jacob had just started seeming tired and not feeling good in the last hour or so, and she figured we would be there soon, so she did not call. He slept pretty restlessly last night and seemed pretty tired this morning. Jeff decided to stay home with him today. So, I have a sick husband and child at home today.

The other thing Jacob has had going on lately, is eczema on his legs, arms, back and torso. Through diligent use of Vasoline Creamy ($2.47 Target!) 4-5 times a day, we have the back, torso & arms under control, but his legs are still red, splotchy & dry. We are now trying Baby Eczema Cream ($8.59! ouch!), but I can't say it's worth more than 3 times the price of the Vasoline so far!

Beach Weekend & Bumped!

Another week between postings!

Since last Thursday, the Threejones headed down to the beach. I had a girls' beach weekend getaway, that was lots of fun. Jeff stayed one night with his mom nearby and then went and stayed one night with my mom. Our sitter Chrissy is on vacation this week, and unfortunately, one of our main "back-up" sitters, has been sick this week! Get well Nicole! So, Jeff and I eached worked half-days both Monday & Wednesday. Another friend, Angie, kept Jacob Tuesday & today. My mom is coming up tonight and will watch Jacob tomorrow as planned! Whew - it's been some week!

This morning, I maybe left five minutes late, but then traffic was at a crawl, making me probably more like 15 minutes late. Then, I got bumped from behind by a Saturn, whose driver was looking for a CD apparently. I actually saw her in my rear view mirror just after she hit me come up with 2-3 CD's in hand. Jacob was fine, the car was fine, and I'll be okay also. Since I was running late and damage to the car looked minimal-to-none, she and I just exchanged insurance information.