It's Almost Christmas...

The holidays are almost here and we are almost ready. We are planning on going to St. Louis on the 23rd and spending the Christmas weekend with my family. Then on the 27th we are going to dart over to Topeka to spend the second half of the seek with Allen's family. Allen's birthday is the 29th - He'll be 30 and it will be nice to spend that time with his family.
Things with the baby are coming along just fine. I had a Doctor's appointment on THursday after the ultrasound - Dr. Patrick was so funny, he didn't want to tell me last time, but he was really worried that my child was on the fast track to being the largest child he had delivered. After my 17 week ultrasound he hadn't seen a child so large - YIKES!! - however after the 21 week ultrasound baby slowed down a bit and is now looking like a good average sized baby - PHEW! I am sure glad he didn't tell me this on my last visit. He also is moving to Dallas, so I have to "break-in" a new OB/GYN - oi.
Hope all is well with everyone. For those of you in STL, I hope to see you at Christmas.
Love and Blessings.
CJ, Allen and Baby

More to come....

Baby Explosion part 2

Well the Ultrasound went well. Everything measured as it should - giving the doctors (and me) re-assurance that the baby will be normal. I love my doctor, and he loves ultrasounds, works for me. the more I get to see this little wonder the better. I have "seen" the baby 5 times and I am not quite 5 months along. one a month is a good rate. Hearing the heartbeat still brings joyous tears to my eyes. it is definately the best part for me.
So, here is are two new pictures of my little joy.




Hope your holiday planning isn't getting in the way of the Holiday.
God Bless
More to come.

Baby Explosion

OK, so it was only a few weeks ago that the baby bump appeared - and now I am HUGE! it's like I went to bed with a gummy-bear baby and woke up with a toddler.
My goodness, baby grows fast.
I have been feeling little bubbles of movement - but all inside, Allen hasn't been able to feel anything yet. Although now that the baby exploded I have felt the movement outside my belly as well - but no one has been around to feel it with me. so I am still the only one who has experienced this wonderful feeling.
My belly button used to be a really deep innie - but now it is really shallow, I wonder when it will "pop". Allen keeps looking to see if I am "done" yet. Like my belly button will pop up like one of those turkey thermometers.
I am going to have an ultrasound again tomorrow, so I will have more pictures to show you all. Hopefully I can get them posted this weekend. - Wow, that will be three posts in a week - a record for me.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.
More to come.

21 weeks

Hello family,
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend - I hope you all did too. Allen and I went up to Dallas to visit his family. We left for Dallas at 5am Thursday and arrived at about 9:30. We visited with the family and had "Dinner" at 2. After such a wonderful big meal, we all promptly fell asleep until roughly 6 when we decided to go to the movies. We saw Casino Royale, the new James Bond film. It was good. I haven't seen many 007 movies, so I don't know how it compared or related to the others, but I liked it. It was a sold out seating, so we all couldn't sit together, but ya can't talk anyway. The movie let out at about 10 and by then we were all tired again.
Allen wanted to do Black Friday, so once again we were up at 5am, this time to hit the stores. They were a mad house, lines formed for blocks just to get into Best Buy. Allen had never seen/done Black Friday, so I was the supportive wife and experienced it with him. We "shopped" for a few hours - purchased nothing, but got a feel for the craziness. Lets hope he doesn't want to do it again next year.
Friday afternoon we went to Aunt Billie's and had another family feast. Yowzer I have eaten ALOT! And Friday evening we had a birthday party for me and grandma Dorothy. I got a cool baby book, Christmas guest towels and a sweater set, Grandma Dorothy got a cheese platter, small plates and some candies.
Saturday Morning we all met for a big brunch with some of Will's family, and we left at noon to head back home. We stopped in Conroe (about 90 minutes outside Houston) at an outlet mall that has a Motherhood Maternity store and bought a few articles of clothes. It is still Autumn here, and I don't have any transeasonal clothes. All of my bigger regular clothes I am no longer able to squish into, so we augmented my wardrobe enough to get me to Christmas when I have a feeling more will be coming.
Tracy (Allen's sister) gave us some baby things. I got a breast pump, bouncy chair, a little bassinet, and if we want it we can have Emily and Courtney's old crib. Courtney will be in it until April, and then transition into a big girl bed.
When we got home Allen and I moved some furniture around in the "office" to make room for a crib. As it is now, there is a corner of the room a crib can fit into - Hopefully we can make this a nursery with a computer in it instead of an office with a crib in it.
As for the baby, I feel the baby moving around quite a bit, but Allen hasn't felt it quite yet. Baby is still spending a good deal of time on my sciatic, but no problems besides. I go in for my next ultrasound on Friday at 1pm - Hopefully I will get around to posting the new pictures this weekend.

For those who have been asking, we have established two registries, one at Target and the other at Babies R Us - They are under CJ (or Allen) Nash; you will also be asked asked where we are - texas is the answer.
Blessings to you all.
More to come.
CJ

The next ultrasound

On Wednesday I returned to the medical center to have my second official ultrasound. The appointment was scheduled for 9am, but we were told to come 30 minutes early to fill out paperwork etc. Why we have to fill out the same forms every time I'll never understand. At about 9:45 they took us back for genetic counseling. I will be turning 35 during this pregnancy and that puts me in a high risk category - they wanted to let us know all of our options. Do we want to do an amniocentesis? Well we thought we did, until we were informed of the risks for miscarriage. I can't take that risk. Although the doctor recommends it, the test really is only for information on the health of our baby. We are going to keep this child regardless of it's health conditions, so why risk the child's life to satisfy our curiosity. All of our questions will be answered when the child comes into this world. Here are two ultrasound photos. the first is the profile, baby has it's little fist up by the eye. In the second picture baby is looking right into the "camera" - looks like an alien.


Work is coming along wonderfully. I love my little church. We had a Fall Festival on Halloween evening from 6-8pm. we decided to have the festival only 9 days in advance, so we had to work quickly. many people volunteered and made light work. Candy, drinks, food, decorations and prizes were donated by many right away. Come Tuesday evening we were all set up outside in the parking lot and over 400 children came through, played games and won prizes. We had a booth where the children (and parents) could make salvation bracelets and hear the Gospel!! the table was always full! Kids were lined up to hear the story and get their own bracelet. We brought in 400 corn-dogs and they were gone by 7:15 - each child received a ticket for one corn-dog as they entered the festival. We had a drawing for 2 bicycles (1 boy's and 1 girl's) and other fun contests. The kids had a great time, collected tons of candy and after the festival was over there was very little mess to clean up. No trash on the ground and even the bathrooms were in acceptable condition with no damage to them at all. it was a great evening.
Things are going well all around.
Thank you for your well wishes and prayers.
Love to all
More to come

My Dream Job and a Baby Bump.

Hello Family,
Well I have finally found my dream job. I am the Education Director at First Baptist Church in the Heights. It is a small church, only slightly larger than Brentwood Bible Church, and I love it there. They have only a few children, but part of my job is to grow the children's ministry. We are having our first big outreach event on Oct 31, a Fall Festival, with games, candy and all sorts of fun prizes for kids to win. Hopefully the kids in the neighborhood will have so much fun that they will want to come back.
My other duties wil include starting a program called DiscoveryClub, very similar to AWANA but geared for much smaller churches.
In other news, I have a baby bump. Yep, the little one is growing and I am showing. Look, see...bump.

I have officially moved into maternity clothes, and I have to tell you, I LOVE BELLY BANDS! those stretchy pannels that dont really match the rest of the fabric of the pants, but stretch over the ever expanding belly. They are wonderfully comfortable, even after a big meal, I can still fit in my pants. I love them.
Allen took his PE Exam on Friday, although things have been busy around here and he didn't have time to study, he feels that the results could go either way. We have to wait about 2 months to find out.
For those in St. Louis - our plans for now are to come up for Christmas. We should be there from the 23rd through the 26th, we will then head over to Topeka and spend a few days with the Nash's before we have to head back home. All of this will happen if I get the OK from the Doctor to travel.
Blessings to you all.
More to come

A scare and a trip to the hospital - We're OK

For those of you who knew, thank you for your prayers. For those of you who didn't know here is an update. (I will try not to be too graphic)
On Sunday October 1st, at about 2PM I started to have cramps and began to bleed pretty heavily. Needless to say I was terrified. I called the doctor and they wanted me to come to the hospital and directly to labor and delivery. (the wait in the er would have been 8+ hours). Allen was working, I called him and he rushed home to take me in. When we got there there was a team of doctors ready and waiting just for me.
They took my blood pressure, it was a little high for me, but still within the normal range. Then they brought in an ultrasound machine and checked out the baby. Allen saw the images first, "woah" was what i recall him saying. "did you see the kick?" the doctor asked. then they watched for a moment or two more and the baby was turning flips, rolling over and having it's own little dance-off in my belly. The doctor then said, "oh, Mom, you've just gotta see this" and she turned the screen my direction - a difficult task in this little room we were in. Oh my goodness, I have a gymnist growing inside me. Baby was moving all over the place. This was quite reassuring. They still needed to check my cervix, make sure it was fully closed. It was, and it still is.
The doctor printed out a picture of the slightly larger gummybear that is my child and sent us home with a few instructions, like "Take it easy" and "check in with your doctor Friday".
Assured that things were going to be OK, Allen and I left the hospital and headed home.

In the ultrasound photo you can really see the baby's profile, and it is deffinately a JONES profile, with that nose and that chin, there is no doubting that this is my child.
Thanks again for all your prayers and thoughts.
More to come
CJ

First Craving

OK, so far in this pregnancy, I have been sick to my stomach, eternally exhausted, and on some freaky emotional roller-coaster. I have had food aversions but no real cravings, at least not the kind that send Allen to the store at midnight for pickles and icecream.
that is until this week. All of a sudden I awoke from a nap and needed - like i need Oxygen - I needed a box of stove-top stuffing, the original chicken flavored kind, not cornbread, or turkey, but the original box of chicken flavored stove top stuffing. So Allen, the dear heart that he is, got up and went to the store. a few minutes later he was home with two boxes of chicken flavored stovetop stuffing. yum. about 15 minutes after he walked in the door, I was finished eating the first box. I saved the second for another day.
As for the belly aches, the past two days I have only felt really sick when I go too long without eating. Other than that I have felt OK most of the time. I pray the sick part is over.
more to come

11 weeks, Does it get better?

Hello family and friends,
It seems that although I am not having a difficult pregnancy according to the ranks of easy to difficult, I seem to never really feel well. Everyone tells me it gets better, I pray is does. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of having a baby, making one just isn't any fun. Baby has me hungry just about every minute of the day. and so far, no funky cravings, more like aversions. I don't like any potato product (earlier I couldn't get enough french-fries), Pizza is also on the do not eat list, additionally icecream, milk (unless it has coco-puffs in it)and chocolate candy. Although Peanut M&Ms are good. It's strange I tell ya, strange. I am always thirsty. I think the baby drinks a gallon of water a day, I can't seem to get enough of it. This then leads to the bathroom, golly, I thought I went alot before hand, sheesh, that was nothin'. So on goes life with a baby in my belly. It's harder than I thought, but everyone says (and I believe them) that it is all worth it.
The search for work continues. I interview regularly, but I am either over qualified for the receptionist position or under-qualified for the management spot I was looking at.
Life in the Nash Household is coming along. We have a few home imporvement projects we would like to get done before the baby comes (not including a nursery). We would like to put down wood floors and do something with the ugly tile in the bathroom. Outside we want to break up the concrete patio and sod the entire back yard (all 400 SqFt of it.)
This is life in Houston.
We will post more soon.
Love to all.....
CJ, Allen and Baby

Two new puppies

We finally have some kids of our own - ummm, puppies, I meant puppies - Cutten (the black stud lab mutt) and Hannah (the dumb blond basenji mutt). We found them in the morning of Saturday, August 20 on Cutten Road in north Houston. CJ noticed them while we were killing time and looking at houses in an open grass field. They were playful and seemed to be in good health.

They are both cute as can be, seem to be from the same litter, get along with each other and other people very well, but they have very different personalities. They are very shy around other dogs, Hannah moreso than Cutten. CJ and I will continue to try to socialize them at the dog park.

So, these two are our practice for the baby to come. Hopefully, they will be mature enough to have a baby in the house come next April 11, 2007.

Baby's First Photo

Hello again,
it is Friday afternoon and I am all tuckered out. I had my first ultrasound today and it was so cool! I got to the office a few minutes early, figuring I would have pages of paperwork to fill out, but that wasn't the case, they got everything from the main office and had it all done before I got there. So the doctor took me in early! can you belive it, a doctors office taking patients in early.
warm jelly was squirted onto my belly and the fun bagan. I got to see my little baby. s/he is so wonderful, so tiny, yet so powerful it knocks me out with ease.
when the doctor turned on the sound so I could hear the heartbeat - I wept, it was the most amazing sound I have ever heard. this little wooshawooshawoosha 170 times a minute. wow. i tell ya, it was awesome!
After the early and short visit I was given a picture to take with me and sent on my way.
More to come...

A Baby is Coming

Hello Friends and Family,
yes, the title of this entry is correct. We are having a baby. So far the due date is "early April". We are scheduled for an ultrasound on August 25th, and will know more specifically then.
So far I am tired all the time, the woozies come and go, and although cravings really haven't started yet, I am certainly far more picky about my foods. One day oreo cookies are good, the next...yuck. Saltines are about the only thing that haven't gone "bad" yet.
For those of you who live a caffine free life, I now understand your frustration with the food service industry. It is so hard to find caffine free soft drinks that aren't Sprite, I hate Sprite.
Allen is great, catering to my every need. and although, so far, this pregnancy has been nothing but uncomfortable, I am thrilled to be having a baby.

So keep on checking in, we will update this page every week or so.
If you are the praying sort, we could use your support, I need a job, and the baby needs to be healthy.
God Bless to you all

Photos of the Wedding

Hello Family and Friends,
for those of you wanting to see pictures of the wedding, a slide show is online. Unfortunately it does not work for MAC users. The Photographer put it together for us, and it is wonderful. Please visit the link to the right...in the links section. You might have to install a viewer, if so, once the viewer is installed, close out the web page and open it again...that should do the trick.

The Honeymoon...The edited version

So the wedding was great...Perfect actually. Sadly we had to leave the beautiful island early in the morning. (Well, 9am is early for newlyweds I suppose). We were going on a cruise and the ship left from Ft. Lauderdale, about 4 hours north from where we were. The Island boat took us back to the mainland and we met mom to get her car for the drive up.
We were going to cruise on the Star Princess, through the Western Caribbean, stopping in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Montego Bay and Princess Cay.
Boarding the ship was fun in itself. There were people everywhere making sure you were in the right place, you never went 20 feet without someone pointing you to the next place...A huge place, but impossible to get lost. What a relief. After being greeted by what felt like the entire staff, I finally made it to my room, Allen was returning the rental car, so he was behind me by about 45 minutes.
The room was ornately accented, but quaint in size. The bed was the worst bed ever - two twin beds pushed together with no physical connection or accommodation for the painful ridge at the junction. This was unfortunate - but we made due.

The boat is a floating city with its 2,800 passengers, 1,300 service staff, and all the entertainment needed for each person. It was amazing how we never feel like 2,800 passengers were around, but it's true. The cruise experience was absolutely delightful. The food was not only good but abundant. The service was amazingly attentive. As eat-anytime-option passengers we often were asked to share a table with others, this was not a problem for us, meeting new people is always fun. We dined with folks at our table in all but one of our meals. Surprisingly, we only ate one meal with another American family. Guests we sat with were Canadian English and Australian. One of our worst longstanding fears is getting sucked into speaking with fake British accents while in England. Well, England came to us, and I was good. I only let one English-accented word out while speaking with the Englishmen, and we escaped unscathed.

Cozumel was our first stop. We chose to participate in a sail-and-snorkel excursion. It was fun, we sailed (via motored boat) to a reef that was unfortunately destroyed by the hurricane, and then we were off to a sunny sandy beach for fun on the sand. After the excursion, we finished out our stay by renting an old VW bug from Alamo and cruising around the island for an hour. After discounting the excursion guide's victory speech over hurricane Wilma, we witnessed what he was speaking about. We saw a city destroyed by a 64-hour siege of hurricane force winds. Roofs were caved in, capitalism was limited to tourism, and the people lived is minimal protection from the elements. It is apparent that the touristy areas received most of the rebuilding funds at the neglect of replaced windows and patched roofs for the island's people. We were refreshed to see the kids getting out of school in their white and blue uniforms with relative joy in their faces, playing on the now ruins, and so full of life, they seemed as though nothing was going to get in their way of having a good time.

Next stop was Grand Cayman. Here we donned scuba gear, took a quick scuba lesson and then a guided tour of another reef. This one flourishing, full of fish, life, even a baby sea turtle came to check us out. The Cayman Islands are beautiful. Scuba diving is loads of fun, neither Allen nor I are certified, but we plan to be soon. We have got to do that again! We wandered around the town for a bit, the people of Grand Cayman were wonderful, waving and smiling as they passed us on the street (they drive on the wrong side ya know). They were kind to offer directions or help us find something fun to do. They are great people. We ate lunch at a local divers hang out - Dolphin burgers and local Brew. And then it was on for some shopping and back to the boat for some well needed rest.

Stop three was Montego Bay, and we took an excursion to the canepes for some traversing. wow, that was a trip. You put on this harness, clip yourself to this highwire thing and fly through the tree tops. whew, what an experience. Jamaica however is not the paradise that we thought it would be. After the excursion we went into the touristy part of town, but then we wanted to wander around and see the real people of Jamaica. and we are sorry we did. They weren't friendly. THe streets were filthy, the people lived in indescribable filth and ruin. it was, to put it honestly, disgusting. If you have the chance to go to Jamiaca, DON'T leave the resort!
We bought sugarcane and a coconut from a street vender and some local lunch from a place we saw loads of school children pile into. Overall it was a nice day.

Our last stop was at Princess Cay. Princess cruise lines private Island in the Bahamas. They had loads of stuff to do on the beach and in the water, kyaks, snorkeling, sand volleyball, food, and plenty of places just to lounge. Allen and I took a long walk down the beach, looking for seashells, we didn't find any. They fed us lunch and there were plenty of kiosks for gift shopping.

We were a couple of beach bums, a trait I know well, and Allen is learning to love.

Chapter 1. the wedding

Good morning readers, I don't know if this is going to be a frequent posting place or not, but I thought it might be a good place to start.

We were married on March 11th 2006, at Little Palm Island, Florida. Everything was perfect.

Our travels to Florida started Thursday afternoon with a flight to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Most of us stayed in Miami Thursday night. Allen and I went to the municipal building Friday morning to get all the legal stuff taken care of, then we were off to Tourch Key.
Already at Tourch Key, my mom, Aunt Lynn and Mary were busy getting things together for "Supper on the Shore". This would be the first time the Jones family and the Nash family meet. It was a wonderful dinner. A relaxed environment with tiki tourches and sea-shells everywhere; fun was had by all. It was nice that everyone could enjoy a social evening and get to know one another.
Saturday we all got together again for an "Add A Nash Brunch". Another meal together for more, well-rested Get-to-know-ya conversation. Everyone got along very well. not that we were worried, but still it was nice to see new friends made.
Saturday afternoon, I was busy getting all bridal, while the rest of the gang relaxed and enjoyed the day. Some went down to Key West, others found things to do close by.
The weather was perfect and there was a nice breeze so it wasn't too hot. Little Palm Island is a short 15-20 minute boat ride from Tourch Key. Once there, you feel like you are on the only island on earth. it is beautiful and the service is unmatched. After the ceremony while we were taking pictures a little Key Deer came up to us to share in the flowers. They love to eat flowers.
The wedding feast followed, and like everything else about this weekend, it too was perfect. The last boat of the island left at 10pm, so we all said good night, and the honeymoon began....