A visit from Levi...

My neighbor, Becca came over last weekend to give me something and she brought her littlest man with her. :) We've been meaning to get these two together for some pictures, since they were born. Levi is only a couple of weeks older than Amelia. Becca has 5 children and they're all so well-behaved and such a joy to be around. Levi is such a cutie!!

As you can see, they were very excited to have their picture taken.



Levi was more interested in his hands. :)



We decided to enforce the 6" rule, so that Levi didn't try anything. HA!



Amelia was giving Becca lots of smiles. :)



If you can't tell...Levi is smiling behind those hands in his mouth. :)



Checkin' Amelia out...



And now we get a smile from the boy!! HA!



How cute are these two!?? I look forward to when they're actually big enough for playdates! :)

Love to all,

One Year Ago Today...

I wrote the post below, one year ago today. March 8th, 2009.

Alarm went off at 7:30am. I immediately went to the kitchen and made a huge pot of homemade vegetable soup for lunch. That way Alex wouldn't have to worry about cooking. He had a busy week and weekend, so I wanted him to be able to relax as well, when we arrived home today. He usually takes me through Burger Mama's and grabs lunch, but they are closed on Sundays. Ah Shucks.

Waiting to go to the OR.


We arrived at the clinic at 9:25am. We were the only ones there, so they immediately took us back. I changed into a gown and she took my blood pressure. It was high. I've never had high blood pressure...ever. We were fairly certain it was just anxiety. My stomach was indeed, in knots. I wasn't really nervous, it's just a big day, ya know? She said it was time to head to the OR, so off we went. Once we were settled in the OR, she received a call that Dr. M headed over to the hospital to check on a patient. She apologized and said it would only be about 20 minutes before he returned. It ended up being about a 45 minute wait. While we waited, Alex read to me out of his Bible. He read the story of Hannah. I immediately felt relief. All of those knots in my stomach were gone. We prayed together and I was thankful that we had that time beforehand, just the two of us.

Us in the OR. They won't let Alex take his mask off, but he assured me that he's smiling in this pic. :)


The embryologist came in and told us about our embryos. It was a different embryologist than we normally have. She didn't show us pictures or anything, so I don't have any to post. She said of the two embryos that we were transferring, one made it to blastocyst stage. The other was a nice morula. A morula is the stage they hit, right before becoming a blastocyst. The other two embryos have not made it to blastocyst stage yet, so they will call us tomorrow and let us know if they make it overnight.

Waiting on Dr. M to arrive.

Dr. M arrived and started the procedure. The speculum is the part that I hate the most. Between that and the pressure on your very full bladder, it is quite painful. The nurse told me that if I wiggle my toes and take deep breaths, it can help relax those muscles. She was right...it really helped. He loaded the catheter and we watched, once again, our little babies shoot across the screen to land in the perfect spot for implantation. I was teary-eyed. It's an emotional thing to go through - on so many levels.

Now we're home and Alex is waiting on me hand and foot. We've eaten our yummy vegetable beef soup and are about to take a nap.

We both feel really good about today...about this entire cycle. We continue to pray that God will open my womb and that my body will accept these babies. We're believing that this is our time. :)

Thank you for the prayers, emails, text messages, phone calls, etc. You have offered such encouragement and we're blessed to have you in our lives. You really are the best family & friends that anyone could ask for.

We love you guys,
Alex & Jill

And as we all know...this precious girl was the result of that cycle. God is so incredible. I can't believe how far He has brought us in just one year.

Love to all,

A day in the life of The Averitt Fam...

Kelly is hosting Show Us Your Life. Today's topic: What is your Typical Day Like?

Amelia and I stay at home a lot. We usually run errands one or two days a week and we might have a lunch date here and there, but most of the week - we're homebodies. I'm looking forward to spring/summer, so we can take walks around the neighborhood and spend more time outside.

Amelia usually wakes up between 5-6 every morning. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love/need sleep. Amelia has quickly made me a morning person. This is about the time Alex is leaving for work, so we get to see him before he leaves for the day and say bye. :)



After she has had her bottle and is burped and changed, she usually wants to go right back to sleep. Sometimes she never even opens her eyes while eating, burping, and having her diaper changed. A lot of times, I will go back to bed when she goes back to sleep around 6am. She will usually sleep until around 8:30-9 and that's when we really start our day. We get up and immediately open all of the blinds to let the sunshine in. We go to the dining room mirror, look at ourselves, and talk to each other in the mirror. We seriously do this every day. (LOL) I then have a cup of coffee. Or three.

Around 9-10, she's ready for another bottle. After this bottle, we play. She will play on her little gym mat and we have tummy time. If I've left dishes in the sink *GASP* from the night before, I unload/load the dishwasher at this point. I always have the Today Show on in the mornings. I have to have some sort of background noise all throughout the day. I've noticed that Amelia is always watching the TV from wherever she's at in the room. I may have to start limiting her TV time. HA! She really does seem to like it, which is surprising at 4 months old!

Around 11am, Amelia is ready for another nap. While she's napping, I will throw a load of laundry in and read my devotional. I catch up on my blog reading and emails, as well.

Amelia usually wakes from her nap around 1-1:30. Sad to say, this is usually when I finally get my shower for the day. Amelia will sit in her bouncy seat in the bathroom, while I take my shower and get ready. I'm still not comfortable getting a shower while she's asleep in the other room. I know that I will be eventually, but as of right now, I like to be able to see her. If we have an appointment earlier in the day, I will of course get my shower when she wakes up around 9am. I rarely make appointments for earlier than 11am though. :)



After I shower, Amelia is ready for her next bottle. We usually play in her room after this feeding. Just for a change of scenery :) I will make myself lunch at some point. If we are going to run errands, this is when we will usually go out. As long as Amelia has a full belly and clean diaper, the girl will sleep while we're out and about. That makes it easy for Mommy when we are on the go!

Around 4-5, Amelia goes back down for ANOTHER nap. She will usually sleep until her Daddy gets home, which is around 6. Her Daddy always wants time with her, so he feeds her as soon as he gets home and they play. If Alex hasn't picked up take-out, I'm fixing something for dinner.



6:30pm - We are usually watching Wheel of Fortune at this point (I know, we're so old - HA!) while she has her bottle. After she finishes, we will have dinner and she sits in her bouncy seat or swing.



We really spend the next few hours as a family in the living room. Alex will play with Amelia some more and spends time studying. I will usually blog in the evenings or watch TV. I also like to get a bubble bath while Alex watches Amelia and that gives me a chance to read a little of my book.



Amelia takes her last bottle around 10pm. As soon as she's finished, I bathe her and we all go to bed! She sleeps a good 7 hours and then we start our day all over again! :)



I really spend a lot of my day, right in front of my baby girl. I waited so long for her that I just want to enjoy every minute of her life. If a load of laundry doesn't get done, I'm not stressing. It will be there tomorrow. I have help with cleaning the house each week and that is a huge blessing. It just gives me more time with Amelia! Taking care of her and Alex is my main priority. I just want them to feel well taken care of and loved.



One of my new blog friends was sharing yesterday, on how difficult it is sometimes to be a working Mom. I know that a lot of Moms choose to work outside of the home and love it, but there are many that have to and would love to be at home with their kiddos each day. I was reminded yesterday of just how blessed I am to be a SAHM. I never want to take that for granted...thanks for the reminder, Trina. :) I'm saying a special prayer for all of you Moms that go to work outside of the home each day. Whether it's by choice or not, I admire you. I honestly don't see how you do it. You're all wonder-woman in my eyes!

So what's your day like?

Love to all,

Did you know it's March?

I can't believe it's March. The danger of being a SAHM is that you lose count of what day it is. And sometimes you lose count of what month it is! February really flew by.

I know it's silly, but with each month that passes (since Amelia was born), I think of how many months are left until her 1st birthday. The girl is only 4 months old. I seriously need to get a grip. HA! I would be lying if I said I'm not already making plans.

In my head that is.

It's going to be the party of the year.

As it should be. ;)



Do not think that I'm wishing my baby girl's life away. I am not. I enjoy every single minute of it. I just love to plan parties and have been waiting a very long time to plan THIS party. If I could, I would throw her a party on the 22nd of every month.

But Alex wouldn't let me.

I'm singing "Every Party Has A Pooper" in my head right now.

Amelia and I ran errands today. We don't really leave the house a lot. Especially when it's cold outside. It's just so much harder to take her out when it's cold. A few errands take quite a bit of time with a little one. And since it was cold, I was covering her...uncovering her...covering her...uncover...you get the idea. This will tell you how little we get out, since Amelia was born. A tank of gas in my car lasts 2 weeks. Seriously.

I'm okay with it though. When she gets a little bigger and can sit up in a cart or stroller, I think it will be a lot easier than lugging the car seat around. The last time my parents were in, my Daddy was carrying her into a restaurant and he said, "there is no way my baby weighs this much - this seat must weigh a ton!" (LOL)

Nope.

It's my girl.

She's getting big.



Anyway, we DID get out today and our first stop was the post office. I tried to go twice last week and they were closed. I assumed all post office locations keep the same hours. Wrong. Anywho, we went to a different location today and they were open, so we mailed our packages and headed to Sams.

I *heart* Sams. Something about everything being in bulk. And being able to buy a slice of pizza and a coke for $1.00. How can you not like this place? I bought a huge thing of diapers. Amelia can finally wear size 1-2!! Alex doesn't like that they don't have the little line that turns colors to show that she's wet (like the size 1's). He doesn't have a keen sense of smell like me. (LOL) I told him to just change her every 10 minutes to be safe.

Not really.

After our trip to Sams, we headed to Sonic. I needed a cranberry-limeade STAT. Then off to the bank and home.

Exciting day, no?

Made myself some mac & cheese for dinner (Alex was at the church) and watched Idol. I really need Alex Lambert to get rid of the mullet. I like his voice, but the mullet is drawing my attention away from his voice. It's hard for me to watch him sing with a mullet. How many times can I use the word mullet in one paragraph? Just sayin'.

And now I'm ready for bed. I'm going to give my baby girl a bath and bottle and then we're all going to sleepy-town.



Oh, and I decided that I would do my March giveaway on St. Patty's Day! The giveaway is green of course. I have one for myself and I love it and I think you will love it too!

Love to all,