A Jones Family Christmas

This past week we had the joy of hosting a belated Jones Family Christmas at our house. Jeff's parents, brothers, and sister-in-law traveled out to Indiana to meet Miss Eliana. We had a great time relaxing -- playing board games, the Wii, taking walks, eating, watching movies, and just enjoying each others' company. The only downside was that the visit went too quickly! Here are some pics from our time together:

Eliana with Uncle Christian

With Uncle Kevin and Aunt Krista

With Grandma and Grandpa Jones

Out on a walk with the family -- Jeff is wearing Eliana in the sling

The entire family -- it was a wonderful time together!

Eliana's First Christmas

Eliana had a wonderful first Christmas, although at 3 weeks old she didn't really care too much about what was going on. :)
On Christmas Eve, we went to our church's worship service, and Eliana was great, sleeping through the whole thing. We were nervous beforehand because -- as you can see from one of the shots below -- she wasn't too happy when we tried to take pictures of her in her pretty dress before we left.

Eliana also had her first tub bath on Christmas Eve. She loved it until I poured water over her hair.
On Christmas, we celebrated at our house with Grammy Thompson and Great Grammy and Boppa Lambert.
As I said earlier, she wasn't too excited about the festivities:
Eliana is also very excited that her Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Krista, and Uncle Christian are coming to our house tonight to celebrate a belated Jones Christmas! This will be their first time to meet her, and I will post pictures of their visit soon.

Newborn Photo Shoot

I wanted to share a few shots of Eliana from her newborn photo shoot one week ago. Pictures were taken by our very talented friend Victor Replogle.

10 Days Old

It is hard to believe (for me at least!), but Eliana is already 10 days old! :) The past week and a half has flown by, and has been filled with more joys and challenges than I could have imagined. I wanted to show you what Eliana has been up to over the past few days.
Coming home from the hospital:

Hanging out with Daddy and Mommy:

Spending time with visitors, including Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, Great Grammy and Boppa Lambert, and Grandma and Grandma Jones via webcam:



Getting sponge baths (not a favorite activity!):

Doing a newborn photo shoot with our very talented friend Victor Replogle:
And just generally looking cute:
We appreciate your ongoing prayers and support as we continue to acclimate to life as a family of three. :)

Eliana's Birth Story

We have now been home from the hospital for 1 day and we wanted to share Eliana’s birth story with you all.


On Friday morning, December 4, Elizabeth starting feeling different, but we tried not to get our hopes up too much because we were already about a week overdue and were scheduled for an induction three days later. Knowing that going out to eat wouldn’t happen as often once the baby arrived, we took advantage of the opportunity by going to a local Muncie restaurant for dinner. Elizabeth ordered a large steak dinner, which she was craving. During dinner, she started to feel what she thought were contractions, but still didn’t believe she was going into labor. After dinner, we went to an outdoor Christmas luminary walk. Every so often, we would stop in our tracks because Elizabeth’s contractions grew more painful. It was at that point we realized we should go home. At home, we started timing the contractions, which almost immediately became 4 minutes apart and very intense. A phone call to Elizabeth’s doctor confirmed that we needed to get to the hospital.

Elizabeth was put in a bed for observation, and about 10 minutes later, she realized eating a steak dinner while in labor was a mistake, as she – to put it delicately – threw up her dinner towards Jeff (sorry for the graphic details, but looking back it’s kind of funny). The nurses immediately realized this was “the real deal” and admitted us at 9:30pm.

About five hours later, the birth was imminent and the nurse paged the doctor. The doctor had already arrived at the hospital earlier in the night, but was sleeping in the on call room. A few minutes passed, and the nurse told Jeff to tell the nurses’ station that the doctor was needed immediately, as the baby was about to be born. Jeff yelled for the doctor, returned to the room, and moments later, Eliana was born at 2:48 am on December 5. Our nurse, Kari, delivered the baby, as the doctor didn’t get the page in time due to a technical glitch. Everything worked out just fine, however, as Eliana is a beautiful, healthy baby.

We named her Eliana, which means “God has answered,” which is truly fitting.

Eliana Hope

Eliana Hope Jones has arrived! She was born this morning (12/5/09) at 2:48 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and was 21 inches long.

Eliana means "God has answered."

Elizabeth and Eliana are both doing well.

We'll tell Eliana's full birth story in another post. For now we just wanted to update everyone with the news, and put a couple pictures up. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support!

Still Waiting...

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment and learned that Baby Jones is still very content where she is and doesn't seem to be eager to make an appearance! We have been scheduled for an induction beginning Monday evening (Dec 7th) unless she decides to arrive on her own before that time. While we are definitely ready for her to be here and waiting is a challenge, we are happy to know that in less than one week we will have our baby girl. :)