Updated pictures in New Christmas Clothes :-)

Baby "Moe" is wearing a green and white top/bottom set with stars. She is 3 1/2 months old and is "talking" quite a bit (must be a girl thing ). Her favorite thing to do is nurse, but she also enjoys her playmat with toys that dangle down. She will spend quite a bit of time talking and swatting at her toys on this mat. "Moe" can now roll over both ways, so we have to be very careful about where we leave her. Now that I have a Moby wrap, she loves it when I "wear" her around the house.



"Miney" is wearing a bright pink butterfly sweater. Since turning four in August, I have noticed that she is losing a lot of her baby look and has definitely become a little girl. She is a bundle of energy and is always busy with something. Whether it is making up her own little songs, or begging to read stories, she is a joy to have around. After brother started homeschool last summer, she decided to join in, and she has already learned her letters and sounds and is trying to sound out words (all on her own!).



"Meanie" is wearing a monster hoops shirt. He turned six in August and is quickly learning to read. He loves building with legos and is really into Transformers and robots. I'm sure he is going to be an inventor when he grows up, since he is always building unique creations and brainstorming about inventions that would make the world a better place ;-)



"Eenie" is wearing a beautiful shimmery gold top with butterflies. She will be 11 years old in May (I can't believe it!). The butterflies are appropriate for her because she tends to flit through life like a lovely butterfly, stopping here and there to add beauty along the way, but never staying too long in one place ;-) It is such a blessing to have her for a daughter, and she has been such a help during this last difficult year. She loves making arts and crafts, decorating and riding her bike. She especially loves taking care of baby "Moe".

Matching Pajama Pants

These matching pajama pants were a gift from Grammy's (Kerri's mom) friend, Mrs. Miller. She made them just for the Jones kids. Notice in the first photo of baby "Moe" that her shirt says "Silent Night, Yeah Right". Actually, in her case, this is not true. She has slept through the night for several weeks now. We are very blessed.

I am hoping to be posting more pictures on here in the next few weeks, along with some updates. We have had a very busy holiday season, so I have not had time to get on here and figure out the whole digital camera thing. lol

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Update on baby

I took baby back for a recheck today. Her thumb is already so much better. I'm so grateful that babies heal quickly and that she doesn't seem traumatized by it. I've done some reading on this "hair-thread tourniquet syndrome", and it could have been so much worse. This can happen with baby boys and their private parts and some babies have even lost fingers, toes or other appendages over this :-(

So on to our next adventure. She is already cutting a molar :-0 I noticed this a few weeks ago, but thought that I must be wrong. However, the doctor confirmed that this is indeed the case. My other children waited until over six months to cut any teeth, and they cut their front teeth first. Well, I'm sure this is going to make breastfeeding a fun new adventure :-p

I just got back from the ER with the baby. . .

and she had hair (thread actually) tourniquet syndrome. She is 7 weeks old. A thread had wrapped around her left thumb and was strangling it and cutting deeply. Because the swelling was so bad, we couldn't even see what was causing it--let alone pull it out. They had to dig around for the thread (which was very bloody and traumatic for both of us). They think they got it all, but the cut is so deep it is hard to tell for sure. We are giving her antibiotics and keeping an eye on it.

We were moments away from having her go into surgery when a nurse finally got the thread broken and was able to pull it out. We are hoping they got it all. They said if I had not seen this or it had gone on much longer, she could have lost her thumb over it. If the swelling doesn't go down and the thumb doesn't go back to normal color, we may end up at the children's hospital over the weekend.

Praising God for his goodness to us during this situation!

Jason's First Week at Work

Jason finished his first week back at work on Friday. The first three days back, he was given some paperwork and lighter duties to handle, and this went fairly well. Thursday and Friday, he was back to doing regular mechanic work. Friday, he stumbled and fell at work, so he was in quite a bit of pain over the weekend. His van has also started having problems, so he is probably going to have to come home and work on his own vehicle after putting in a full day at work :-0 He will also have to work six days this week since next week is a holiday, so he will not have an easy time this week :-( Jason's prayer is that he can continue working and that hopefully his pain will eventually improve. So far, this is not the case and the heavy activity has made his pain worse.

I spoke with the PCP doctor on Friday. The pain management specialist has requested all of Jason's medical records and test results from the PCP's office before they will even give us an appointment time. All of the information has been sent, and no one has heard back from the pain management specialist's office. Please continue praying for Jason to have relief from pain and for his protection from further injury at work. Also pray that we can get into the pain management specialist very soon.

The kids and I are trying to get back to a routine. When Daddy is home, we don't really do a schedule or routine since Daddy is not a schedule person ;-) For my sanity, I am trying to reestablish a daytime routine of chores and schoolwork for the kids. Last week went fairly well and we are slowly gaining ground on getting the house back in order. This week, my goal is to add the schoolwork back in, so please pray for me and we will see how it goes.

My two middle kids are coughing and complaining of sore throats, so I am hoping that this passes quickly. The baby seems to have some nasal congestion and has coughed a bit this morning. I'm hoping this is a coincidence and that she hasn't caught anything that will be terribly bad. We are supposed be having Thanksgiving with my family this weekend, so please pray that we are all better by then.

Jason is Back at Work :-0

I've talked to him for less than a minute so I have no idea how he is *really* doing. He was putting on a brave face during our conversation ;-) We know that if he doesn't last at work after going back this time, that he will probably lose his job immediately. Jason's desire is to continue doing mechanic work for Hobby Lobby. His pain is still fairly intense, and since he works as a mechanic, he cannot take anything stronger than Tylenol to relieve it (which does nothing for his pain). We have still heard nothing definite about an appointment with the pain management specialist. As of last Tuesday, we could not get in until December. . .and of course we still have heard nothing from our incompetent PCP.

Bad News :-(

After submitting an appeal to our PCP this week regarding the problems we are having with him, we learned today that our appeal was rejected. To make a long story short--our PCP is now fired (although he doesn't know it yet). The only positive news this week is that we have found a Pain Management Specialist who is willing to see Jason, although he can't see him until December. We had requested for the PCP to hold off releasing Jason for work until the Pain Management Specialist has a chance to work with him and see if we can get his pain level under control. However, the PCP has stated that there is no reason why Jason cannot go to work full time and perform mechanic duties (we disagree strongly with this decision).

Jason's pain is still so bad that we are skeptical that he will be able to last long doing the type of work that he does. Because the PCP has given his opinion to Jason's employer, they have had no choice but to put him back on the schedule and require him to return. He does not even have the option for light duty, but will have to do everything that he did before. Jason regularly bends over, lifts heavy weights, etc. and these things will be very painful, but unless Jason changes his mind between now and then, he plans to go back to work on Monday. I am praying that, if it is not God's will for Jason to return to work, He will make that abundantly clear.

I am still praying for a miracle. We would love for the PCP to change his mind, but do not hold out much hope of this happening. I would like to think that there is a less strenuous job that he can do until he is feeling better, but for now that is not the case. However, I continue to remind myself that God is in control of this situation. It hurts to feel that the doctors have given up hope on being able to help Jason, and it hurts even more that they have shown such a lack of compassion as to release him to work against our will when he is still in so much pain.

I am trying to get everything lined up that will make next week as easy as it can be. Jason will probably come home at the end of each day in quite a bit of pain. I'm sure he'll want to collapse and rest (if his pain will allow him to do so).

Please continue praying for God to move in Jason's life and that I will be the help and support he needs as he makes these important decisions.