Quick Update and Pictures

Well work was really busy last week do I didn't get a chance to update. Kris and I went to the Doctor last Tuesday and got to see the baby on the ultra sound. So cool! She  moves around a lot! Right now she weighs about 3 pounds 14 ounces. Also it looks as though I will get to go into to labor naturally as of now. Everything else looked good...she is growing and moving a lot. She really moves a lot at night! Actually...I am sitting on the couch right now with the computer leaned up against my belly and she keeps kicking it and the computer jumps! :) Sometimes I can see her move...it's freaky but really cool too! 
Congrats to my cousins Andrew and Eric on graduation! Eric was Salutatorian of his Senior class and is going to Freed Hardman University ( I think). Andrew is going to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Also congrats to Mary Grace and Tim on getting married! I wish I could have been there for the big day!   Anyway...I will update more later. Good Night All! :)

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The baby swing we just got.

Finally the Sun is out!!!

Hello everyone! I meant to blog last week, but due to a busy work schedule along with little sleep...I never got around to it. Anyway, things are going well here...Kris and I worked on the nursery a lot on Saturday (pictures below). I am still waiting on the dresser/changing table to come in but we did get the painting up and the crib put together. It looks precious! The crib and the painting were a gift from my family and I love them both!!!  Last weekend my mother-in-laws threw me and Jennifer a baby shower and we each got lots of great things! Scout got some really cute clothes, a bassinet that I had registered for, a bouncer chair, a little rocking chair, some blankets, a bouncer swing that hangs from the door, some gift cards, and her very first Baby Bible! Also, Kris's grandmother is making her a quilt that I know will be gorgeous when it is done. Aunt Mandi has started her first scrapbook, which I got to peek at on Saturday...soooo cute! I can't wait to get pictures in it!She has pages dedicated to Me and Scout, Kris and Scout, Knox, Kamden, and Scout! It is going to be so fun to fill it up with pictures and messages! That is something I will cherish forever! Thanks to everyone for everything!!!!  We still have to pick out a car seat and stroller, and a few more odds and ends things...but we are getting there!
   Other than working on the nursery and cleaning the house, this past weekend was pretty laid back which was really nice for a change. Yesterday I had a work meeting in Plano so Kris and Kamden got to go to the pool at Lifetime...but today I fully plan on taking advantage of the warm sun that I have longed for and go lay by the pool for a couple hours! I am treating myself today...(assuming I don't get a call to cover a last minute add on or something...crossing my fingers...) :) Tomorrow we go back to the doctor and do another sonogram. I am so excited about that and I will post pictures tomorrow. We will hopefully find out if I will need to have a C-section or not.  I just can't wait to see her little face again! She moves a lot these days. Her favorite time to "exercise" is typically when I finally get comfortable in bed at night and ready to go to sleep. That is usually when she has herself a little dance party! I hope that is not an indication that she will be a night owl! :) My sisters both got really lucky with their boys. Cameron and Aden were both sleeping through the night by the time they were 4 weeks old. I will probably have the baby that likes to stay up and play at night....oh well!! I can't wait either way!  I hope everyone is doing well and I will update again tomorrow! Enjoy the sunshine...I know I will!
                                    Jill

The glider was from Mike and Jan and the Bassinet was from Jerilyn, Ashley, Avery, Laci, Lessly, Levi and Audrey. The quilt laying over the glider is from this sweet nurse, Faith, that works at one of the surgery centers I work at a lot. She surprised me with this a couple weeks ago. It's gorgeous! Thanks Faith!

I love the painting!

Opening Presents

Quick update...and shout out to TENNESSEE! :)

Hello everyone! I went back to the Doctor on Wednesday. Everything looks great! Her heartbeat is great and my Doctor thinks she is head down right now. We will do another ultra sound in two weeks because the last one indicated that my placenta was too low. Typically when this happens, it will move up as the baby grows and there is no problem. If it has not moved, however, I will have to have a C-section most likely. Also, my last blood work indicated I am anemic so I have been taking iron supplements for that. Otherwise everything is going good! I have gained 22 pounds so far...which is pretty average I guess. I still feel huge though! :) This weekend I will have my first baby shower and I will post pictures of that next week! It is a double shower for me and Jen...a girl/boy shower for Vince and Scout ...so that should be fun! Looking forward to it!

I also just wanted to take a second to tell everyone how proud I am of Tennessee. I have probably driven my husband and people here in Texas crazy with the constant email updates and pictures of the flood damage but I don't care. Tennessee will always be my home and right now there is a lot of devastation there so I am getting the word out since the media seems to be more worried about the bomb that "almost" went off in New York.  Things are a mess there right now..billions of dollars worth of damage...people lost everything...more deaths being reported as water goes down...and people still trying to contact family members from out of state. It is really sad. I feel very helpless here and my heart goes out to all my family and friends and those people who have been directly affected by this. People have really come together to help each other and that makes me proud. I hear different stories everyday from family and friends about different rescues, or how someone donated this or that to someone, people who didn't loose their homes giving up work vacation days to help out a neighbor, people lending their bathrooms and showers to those who still don't have electricity or water. It says a lot for a state that can pull together in a time of need like that. That is what should happen. I am posting a part of an article about Nashville that came out a couple days ago at the end of this blog. Please continue to pray for the victims there. If you wish to make any donations (clothes, money, ect.) let me know. Thanks!

"If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story?
The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned…It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.
It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite probably the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.
A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot."

It's official...

I am a horrible blogger! I have not done so well updating the blog lately so lots of updates. April was a really busy month! My parents, Grandparents, and Cousins, Andrew and Eli came for a visit early in April. We had a great time! Went to the 6th Floor museum, the Dallas aquarium, the Horse races, and ate lots of good food! I think they had a really good time and I really enjoyed having them here. We also celebrated a lot of birthdays in April. It was mine, my moms, both of my grandmothers, Kris's Grandfather, and Kris's dad's birthday! Kris's grandfather (POP) turned 80, and my moms, mom turned 70 and my dads Mom turned 80! Last weekend Kris and went to TN to celebrate my moms 50th birthday! We surprised her with a birthday dinner at the Olive Garden and invited family and friends. She was definitely surprised. We had 35 people there and I think that the Olive Garden was definitely ready to see us go by the end of the night too! It was fun though and I am glad I got to be there for my moms 50th birthday celebration. The following day was my birthday...I turned 29 ! My last year to be in my 20's! Wow...end of an era!
 I got to spend some time with my nephews over the weekend and that was precious! I miss them so much! Aden is the happiest little thing...he is always so content! Cameron is getting so tall and it seems like he should still be a baby. He wasn't feeling so great while we were there...but I got to steal a few hugs and kisses from him anyway. He is doing much better now! Molly came to celebrate my birthday at my Sisters house...haven't seen her since September so that was a treat! I miss my friends too!  We also got to go see our friends Heidi and Graig's new baby, Eryn, and spend some time with them for a while. Then Me, Kris, Kevin, Becky, and Brandi wet to eat at Stoney River! If you have never eaten there...I highly recommend it! Great food! Then on our way to the airport on Sunday we got to stop by the Cooks house and visit with them for a while. I starting babysitting for them when Annie, the oldest, was 2. She is now about to turn 11! Rawlie is 8, Wesley is 5, and baby Thomas just turned 1! They are a very special family to me and it was really good to see them! We had a great, but too short, trip to TN! It always goes by way too fast!!!
This past weekend we finally got the nursery painted thanks to Kris and Mandi! It looks great! I ordered her bedding and a painting from Pottery Barn that I have had my eyes on for a while...can't wait to get everything set up in her room. I think it is going to be really cute when it's all done! Then today after church Kris, Kamden, Knox, and I went on a hike at Cedar Hill State park...gorgeous day!  Not so gorgeous in TN right now however. I have not been able to get in touch with my parents all day because of the flood. Parts of Nashville, Franklin, Antioch, and Centereville are completely under water. Two of my good friends lost pretty much everything already. I feel horrible! Please keep all these people in your prayers. My family is all safe as far as I know. They have no electricity or water right now and will likely be stranded in their homes till Wednesday at the earliest. I pray everyone has plenty of food and water and that everyone is safe!
Pregnancy is going good so far. I am getting a really big belly! :) I think it's big anyway. Scout moves constantly! I swear she is doing flips in there! I go back to the Doctor on Tuesday so I will post more after my appointment. Still no first name...but we are working on it! Lots of pictures to sum up the last month.. Night all!

Andrew and Eli in Dallas..

Eli and Kamden 

Pops 80th..

My family...sporting their Texas shirts :)

My Moms surprise 50th birthday party...

Sweet baby Aden..

:) :) :)

On our hike today..

HAPPY EASTER!!!

  Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying Spring so far. I sure am! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sunshine and the warmer weather. Of course my allergies are no fun...but I still love being outside so I am toughing it out as much as possible. Things are progressing right along with the pregnancy so far. I have really started to show over the last couple weeks. It's very cool...and um...very humbling. I can still manage to paint my toe nails and tie my shoes without any help...but I have the feeling those days may be numbered before its all said and done :) I have gained roughly 12 to 14 pounds depending on what time of day I weigh myself. So far so good...I am a little nervous about the next 15 weeks though. It may be a rough summer folks! I am trying to stay as active as possible and eat as healthy as I can (most days :) ) I am getting more and more excited for July to get here though! I am curious about what she will look like and how big she will be. Our friends Stuart and Melissa had their little girl, Amelia Laine, a few weeks ago and also our friends Graig and Heidi had their little girl a few days ago and that just makes me more anxious to meet our little one. Everyday it becomes more real. I will start getting the nursery ready in a couple of weeks. My family is coming to visit next weekend so I am leaving our soon to be nursery as is while they are here because we need the extra bed. Anyway, things are going well so far. Just counting down the days :)
   Thursday my parents, grandparents, Andrew and Eli will be making a visit to the big D. My parents and Andrew have been here before but my grandparents and cousin Eli have not. I am trying to come up with fun things to do while they are here. There is tons of things to do in Dallas/Fort Worth so it's hard to narrow it down. I am really excited for them to get here. I hope the weather is nice and we get to show them around a lot of places. I am also really excited about my Birthday weekend because Kris and I are going to Tennessee! I will be turning 29 and my Mom will be turning 50. I am looking forward to spending a couple days there and also getting to see the rest of my family. I can't wait to see Cameron and Aden too because they seem to grow so much between visits!
   I go back to the Doctor soon and will post another update then. Below are a few pictures we took over the weekend. Some are from our day at the park with Kamden and Knox, one of the Lily's Kris and I planted in the front yard, and one of Easter Sunday...and my big belly! :) Have a good afternoon everyone!!!

22 weeks...

  Hope everyone had a great weekend! It was gorgeous here! It was sunny and in the 70's all weekend! I have been so ready for this weather! Yesterday Kris and I went on a hike. (Pictures below) The trails in Cedar Hill Park were closed yesterday, I guess because of the recent rain. So we decided to go down to the Nature Preserve and hike up in the woods where there were no clear trails. It was fun! I love to walk in the woods! Kris  enjoys it too. I think it reminds us of growing up in the country. We hiked up some pretty steep hills (for Texas anyway). The ground was a little soft so our tennis shoes got really muddy!  I enjoyed the sunshine and being out in the fresh air for a change. It made me very happy! We did both manage to come away with our share of cuts and scraps on our arms and legs. Next time we might need to take a machete! :)
   After our hike we went to celebrate Mia's (our friend Chad's little girl) 5th birthday! It is always entertaining to watch children at a birthday party. They get so excited! After that we went to dinner, rented a movie, and came home and I fell asleep on the couch (as always) and Kris watched the movie. Then today we went to church, ate at Cracker Barrell, came home and worked on the house, Kris went to hit golf balls, fixed dinner, and just enjoyed the rest of the day! We had a very productive weekend! I always get a burst of energy when the weather gets nice...so this weekend was a success!
  I finally made a decision about work also. Me and the rest of  my fellow neurophysiology team decided to sign on with Dr. Bruce Jenevein. Dr. Jenevein works out of  Texas Neurology and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas where he practices neurology, neurophysiology, and the treatment of epilepsy. He will be taking us under his wing in hopes of starting a new company that is at least equally as successful as we have been so far. I am pretty excited that all of my team are getting to stay together. We were not so sure for a while if that was going to work out. Luckily, we are keeping all of our surgeons too so things are looking good as of now. It is still a bit of a risk, but we are all optimistic that with the help of Dr. Jenevein we will get everything in order as far as billing, credentialing, and contracts go, by May 1st. Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouraging words. Work stress is not fun at all and I definitely feel like a weight has been lifted knowing that we have made a decision.
  So that was our weekend. Special Congrats to Stuart and Melissa Herzog on welcoming their baby girl in to the world! Amelia Laine was born yesterday, weighing 5 lbs, and 13 ounces. I can't wait to meet her. I am sure it will make me really want July to be here in a hurry! :) I guess that is it for now. Have a good night everyone!

       Kris and Knox. That is one of the hills we climbed behind us. Lots of brush!

It looks like Knox was kissing my belly!

Anatomy 101

Hello all!  Kris again!  Jill is wiped out from being on the phone/computer all day so I get the honor of posting about our latest visit to the doctor.  Everything went really well today.  Jill and Scout are both doing wonderful.  We were 99% sure it was a girl after our last visit, but after today we are 100%.  Scout weighs 12 oz. and is developing beautifully.  She moves around constantly in her little home, and it was funny watching the tech try and track her down for pictures.  She has all her fingers and toes, and her organs are growing exactly as they are supposed to.  Jill has only put on 10 pounds so far and she looks beautiful as always.  We really like Dr. Stevenson.  For a quick job update......Jill is going to decide something this week.  She is down to the final two and we should know for sure by Thursday.  It will be nice to have this out of the way so that we can start enjoying this pregnancy a little more.  Please pray that we make the best decision and that Jill ends up with a company that will value her as much as her current one does.  I'm putting a couple of pictures from today below for everyone.  We appreciate all of your prayers, and we hope everyone is doing well.....P.S.  Stay tuned for our new weekly feature called Thoughtful Thursdays.  This was requested by one of our most avid followers, A. Smith :).