ABC's of Me!

Found this on my friend, Faith's blog and just assumed you guys wanted to know a few things about me. :)

A - Age: 32

B - Bed size: Queen...Alex doesn't like King, he feels like we're sleeping in separate beds. LOL

C - Chore you hate: Dusting and cleaning the shower.

D - Dog's name: Diesel

E - Essential start your day item: Cup of coffee w/cream

F - Favorite color: Have a few...yellow, tiffany blue, brown, pink

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: I wear both, but really like silver

H - Height: 5'9"

I - Instruments you play: None, unfortunately.

J - Job title: Housewife, soon to be Mommy!

K - Kid(s): The bun is still in the oven.

L - Living arrangements: Me and my hubby

M - Mom's name: Belinda

N - Nicknames: Jill "Pill"

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Surgery for endo removal

P - Pet Peeve: People not washing their hands w/soap...yuck.

Q - Quote from a movie: "I like 'em big...I like 'em chunky" -Madagascar II

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 3 brothers and 2 sisters

T - Time you wake up: Anywhere between 8 & 9

U- Underwear: Yep, I wear 'em.

V - Vegetable you dislike: Lima beans

W - Ways you run late: Under estimate how long it takes to get somewhere, get stuck on the phone while trying to get ready to go somewhere.

X - X-rays you've had: teeth, back, abdomen, ankle

Y - Yummy food you make: Mexican dish, potato salad, cookies, homemade ice cream...I can't think of anything spectacular.

Z - Zoo favorite: Giraffes

Baby Bump...

So I'm finally posting a baby bump pic. I have been dreading this day. Many have asked me to post one. I guess I've put it off as long as I can. So here you go. When I look at other women that are expecting around the same time as me, they look so much smaller! My stomach never went down after the transfer...it continues to grow and I'm trying my best to embrace that. Alex absolutely loves it. He constantly reminds me that we prayed for this belly, for many years. When I think about that and get over myself and my vanity, I find myself loving it as well. I also think that once I start laying out by the pool and get a tan, I will feel even better about it. :) I am a little fearful as to what my doc is going to say on Tuesday. I'm very scared of the scale. I know that I've gained weight. I'm sure that you aren't supposed to gain this early on. We'll see. I may only be eating salad for the next 5 months.



I'm feeling really good. Day sickness is completely gone. I get tired by the afternoon and really want a nap. And when I say nap, I mean NAP. I'm not like my mom and sister. When they speak of a nap, it means they need 30 mins (at the most) to rest. When I say I'm taking a nap, it means SEE YA IN 3 HOURS. So depending upon my day, sometimes I get one ~ sometimes I don't.

I'm having crazy dreams. I dreamed that my Mom and I were both pregnant. We were so excited to be sharing our pregnancies at the same time. Alex says, I've been watching too much Father of The Bride II. I watch it at least once a week. I'm pretty sure my mom said to shoot her if that ever happens.

I've started feeling things...little flutters. I have no idea if it's the baby or not, but it's so neat to think that it might be. I told Alex that I was ready to hear the heartbeat again, so what does he do? He gets online and orders a baby doppler. We should receive it next week. It's supposed to be a really good one...like what a lot of doctor's offices and midwives use. We'll see. If it does work well, I might start having parties with all of my preggo friends...we can sit around and listen to our babies! I'm a wild woman, I know.

The weather is beautiful here. I hope to enjoy some time outside, tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned!

Love you guys,
Jill

Memorial Day at the Averitt house...

We decided to stick around the house this Memorial Day. Alex has been recovering from a sinus infection and double ear infection, so he wasn't up for going anywhere. I took this as an opportunity to grill out and invite some of my bros & sisters over. We had SO MUCH FOOD! On the menu: grilled chicken/pork chops/hot dogs & sausage (my hubby knows how to grill!), potato salad, pasta salad, corn on the cob, roasted zuchinni/squash/peppers/onions, deviled eggs, homemade ice cream & watermelon. Yummy! I didn't take many pics but here are a few from the day...

Little J enjoying his bubble gun...


Seriously, how cute is this kid!?


He LOVES corn on the cob!


Okay, so this is the kind of stuff that my nephews come up with...


And their uncles encourage!


They are drinking a 16 YEAR OLD Mt. Dew!!! Ewwwww!!!


Boys are so gross. But they make us laugh and keep us entertained, so I think we'll keep 'em. :)


It was a great day with family and a wonderful day at home. I hope you had a fun holiday, as well!

Love you guys,
Jill

Congrats to April!!

Today was a big day. Alex's little sis, April, graduated from high school. When Alex and I first started dating, April was 4 years old. There was a daycare on the same campus as our high school, so he would walk her to daycare and pick her up, each day. I can still see that sweet, little, round face in my head. :) She's definitely not a baby anymore...she's a beautiful, young woman. April has what I would call a meek and quiet spirit...I hope my little girls are like their Aunt April someday. :) She has a huge heart and we think the world of her.

Making herself pretty...as though she needs it. :)


Alex and April- about to leave the house


Big brother walking her to the auditorium. I'm sure he would have held her hand like she was 4 again, if she would have let him. :) So sweet.


Gown Time!


Helping a girl out...


She was the cutest graduate there!


Laila reading the program...I love this pic!


Uncle Alex lovin' on Peyton. :)


April walking in!


Class of 2009


Proud parents :)


Jared, Jen, Pey & Laila w/April


Me & Alex w/April


We're so proud of you, April!!

Love,
Alex & Jill

Alex needs our help...

**UPDATED TO ADD** We met the goal...Alexander will be able to have open heart surgery!! Thank you to everyone who donated! If you still choose to donate, any extra funds go toward medical needs for other Compassion Children.



This little boy lives in Kenya. His name is Alexander. He's 8 years old and needs heart surgery. The surgery costs $8,303. His family lives on $13.70 a month, so naturally, they cannot afford heart surgery for their son.

As soon as I read about this little boy on BooMama's blog, I knew that I needed to help. The fact that he has the same name as my dear husband, just made me want to help him even more. BooMama is asking that we each give $1.00. That's it. Just $1.00. If you feel led to give a one time donation of $1.00 to help with Alexander's surgery, please go HERE. It's a simple process...takes all of 2 minutes.

Love,
Jill

Baby, Baby...

My parents are 'in town' for the week. I was able to spend some time with them before they headed to the condo in Hot Springs. Daddy agreed to go to our girly place for lunch. He even ordered raspberry vinaigrette for his salad...I think he secretly likes our girly place, as much as we do. ;) Afterwards, we went to Pickles and Ice Cream to look at some baby furniture. I found three more strollers that I like...guess that decision isn't made yet. I'm going to take Alex over to test them out and see what he thinks. He's definitely going to like the price tags on these, better. (ha!) I found another crib and upholstered chair that I really like. It's just so much fun shopping for this stuff. I will post pics when I can finally make a decision.

I can't believe I'm about to start my 2nd trimester! The morning sickness is just about gone. It started tapering off around 10 weeks. There for a few weeks, I was going to church and that was it. Now I actually feel like getting out of the house. I'm hungry all of the time. I'm exhausted easily. I don't sleep well. But that's all normal, right? :) I LOOK pregnant. The stomach never went down...if anything, it's growing. (LOL) I thought I would be the girl that took weekly pics of her belly, but I'm not. I will post one at the end of each trimester, how about that? I'm doing well at keeping my journal and pregnancy calendar, up to date. I really want my kiddos to have those things to go back to and read. Before we lost everything in a house fire, I used to go into my Mom's cedar hope chest and read through my baby book. I loved reading my Mom's words/thoughts. And it was a book all about me! What kid doesn't love that? :)

Oh, and I have to share this. Have you heard of something called pregnancy amnesia? Well I have it. I took my nephews to lunch a few days ago and as we were walking into the restaurant, my nephew says, "those people parked next to us left their car running." We all started laughing at the silly, forgetful person that would do such a thing and then I thought to myself...where are your keys? I look in my purse and they aren't there. I look at my nephew and say, "go see if that's my car running." He did. And it was. I had locked my keys in my car, while it was running. Thank goodness he said something or I would have left it running the entire time we were eating! As of late, I just can't seem to remember things. I'm losing my mind.

I'm thinking about seeing a movie this afternoon. Yes, by myself. Alex says it's sad to do that, but I love it. I literally have the theatre all to myself. I sit at the very top and eat my popcorn and jr. mints and put my feet up on the seat in front of me. It's not sad...it's lovely. :)

Weekend is almost here...do you have big plans?

Love,
Jill

My first Mother's Day...

I had a great day yesterday. I woke up to a beautiful card from Alex. It made me cry. He is such a sweet husband and is going to be the best Daddy. I get tired so easily right now and he took care of me all weekend. I love him for it.

Our Sunday started out with us having a flat tire on the way to church. :) Luckily, it had stopped raining for a little minute and we made it into a gas station parking lot. I was calling family, trying to let them know why we were late and finally reached my brother, Drew. He swung by the gas station and picked me up. I have Journey Kids this month, so I needed to get to church ASAP. Alex stayed at the gas station and put enough air in the tire to get him to church. We were just praying that when we came out of church, it wasn't flat again. We would normally spend the afternoon with Alex's Mom, but she was on her way home from a fabulous cruise, so I had plans of us having brunch somewhere, just the two of us. Since we needed to put a new tire on my car, plans changed. Cary and Sara followed us to the tire place and then took us to lunch. I was okay with this for two reasons. #1: Cary and Sara are two of our most favorite people in the world...our best friends, really. #2: Momma was hungry! We went to American Pie for pizza. This was our first time to eat there and it was yummy. I had spicy veggie pizza...DE-LISH! When we sat down, the waitress told us that all mothers receive a free strawberry shortcake for dessert and I literally squealed with excitement! It's the small things really. I was just so excited that I'm one of 'them' now...I'm a Mother. :) After lunch, we headed back to get our car. Alex went ahead and had them put on four new tires, so pimpin' gold is drivin' like a dream right now. (LOL) Not sure how much longer we'll have her, since the baby is on the way. We're talking about trading her in for an SUV before November. Does anyone else name your car or is it just me? I always name my vehicles and they are always female.

Sunday evening, my family came over to our house to celebrate all of the Mommas in the family. We also celebrated my sister, Jayna and my niece, Jessica. They're our May babies. :) We had strawberry shortcake for Jayna and a huge cookie cake for Jessie. I don't have pics from the day yet...Sara was our photographer. I'll add some pics, once I receive them.

I received several Mother's Day cards in the mail from friends and family...even a blog friend sent me one. How sweet is that? It really was a beautiful day, despite the rain. I hope you had a beautiful day, as well.

Have a blessed week, you guys!

Love,
Jill

Praying, Waiting, Crying, Trying...

It's hard to believe that this Mother's Day, I'm a Mother. I've been thinking about this post all week. I was excited about it and dreading it at the same time. Excited because after 3 years of praying, waiting, crying, trying, God has answered our prayers and has given us our miracle baby. Alex and I thank God on a DAILY basis for this life inside of me. Today, I sat in the room that will be the nursery and cried. I praised Him for what He has given me and yet my heart was heavy for those of you that are still praying, waiting, crying, trying. My own Mother has always been such an encouragement on Mother's Day. She would always buy me a mom-to-be card and write an encouraging note/scripture inside...assuring me that my day would come. I remember reading those cards and just crying. I wanted to believe it would happen, but found it hard to even imagine when or how it ever could. The pain is dreadful. I've experienced heartache in my life, but it was nothing compared to that of infertility. You feel broken. Like there's something wrong with you. Defective. Unless you've been there, it would be hard for you to understand what I'm talking about. I dreaded going to church, restaurants...really I dreaded anything on that day that required me getting out of bed. I just wanted to sleep through it. Everything on that day is a constant reminder of what you don't have, what you can't have...a baby.

I write this post, not to be a downer. I write it to those that are still praying, waiting, crying, trying...girls, know that God is right there beside you. Know that there is no one better to run to with tears streaming down your face, tomorrow, than Him. He will wrap you up and ease that dreadful pain. And He will do even better than that...when you least expect it, He will give you your miracle. If you can't hang on to that and believe it, know that I'm believing it for you.

Mom, thanks for always believing it for me, when I didn't have the heart or strength to believe it for myself. You've always given unconditional love and support and for that I am thankful. I love you so much!!

Happy Mother's Day

URGENT NEED...

Alex and I have always had a heart for adoption. God hasn't brought us to the place of beginning that process yet, but I have no doubt that someday, He will.

I recently became aware of an urgent need at America World's transition home in Ethiopia. This home is for children awaiting adoption. MANY of these children are severely malnourished. They need a specific formula. Many of the America World families that have been traveling to Ethiopia have begun packing extra luggage just for this formula - to deliver to the children that will still be waiting for their families. I'm sure many of you have heard of Billy & Cindy Foote. They have an awesome music ministry and like many couples, are currently waiting to travel to Ethiopia to adopt their baby girl. Children's Hope Chest is working to provide America World with this much needed formula. Would YOU join me in giving for this formula so that one more child might live and grow as they wait for their family?

James 1:27 states, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." We have been instructed by God to care for these children. I know how easy it is to just ignore the pictures and think that someone else will give, but as believers, we've all been instructed to give. Only $30 will buy and ship one can of formula to a needy child. Think about what you last spent $30 on. I spent that on dinner last night. Please join me in giving donations to these children in need.

Go HERE.

Love you guys,
Jill

What a difference a belly makes...

Today was my first OB appointment with my most favorite doc. I was nervous yet excited. Unlike the last time I was there, I felt as though I 'fit in' this time around. The last time I was there I almost had a panic attack...surrounded by all of those bellies. I remember calling Alex from the waiting room, holding back the tears. He had to talk me down, just so I could go get my pap smear. What a difference a pregnant belly makes.

I saw a little blood when going to the bathroom last night. Needless to say, I was worried. I have seen blood once before, but it was after a day of being on my feet all day and walking quite a bit. I hadn't seen it since. Until last night. I just really needed to see my baby on that screen and hear the heartbeat. The nurse could tell I was nervous...my blood pressure was up. Dr. S said he would try and find the heartbeat. Evidently 11 weeks is the earliest you can find it with the old school device that he was using. It took him a little while, but he finally found it and I immediately started crying. I felt so relieved. I went to see the u/s tech while there and we were able to see the baby. He/she was very active...bouncing back and forth from head to toes. It made us laugh. We ended the appointment back in Dr. S's office. He went over a few things and we were able to ask him questions. He then prayed over us and our baby...once again, tears started flowing. He really is the best doctor ever.

Oh, I'm almost forgot...the baby is measuring at 11 1/2weeks. They changed my due date AGAIN. It's now November 21st (day before Alex's birthday). My next u/s will be at 20 weeks, so that's when we will find out if it's a HE or SHE. That's also when I can get started on the nursery...yay!! I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head. I've been bouncing ideas off of Sara (my S-I-L). She's good with decorating and she's very honest with me. I know she won't let me do something that I'll end up hating. She loves modern and I love a little of everything, so I'm hoping she'll be able to help me mesh all of my ideas into one room that I will love. :) I've been shopping strollers, cribs, bedding. I haven't allowed myself to buy much for the baby yet, but I'm sure that will change once I know if it's a boy or girl. I did buy the baby book today! It's for a boy or girl and it's not like your traditional baby book. The illustrator did such a good job. The characters in the book have the sweetest little faces. It's exactly what I wanted. I went through the entire thing this evening and can't wait to start journaling.



I'm almost positive on the stroller/infant system that I'm going to get. I would never register for something this pricey, so Alex said we can just buy it ourselves. I'd rather do that then register for something that I really don't want, just because it's cheaper. Alex did request that I buy a color that can be used for a boy or girl, so that we can use it for our future children, as well. He'd rather not buy one in every color. I can handle that. :) I'll post pics when the final decision has been made.

We've made a decision on our boy and girl name. Some may think we've made this decision in haste, but we've been trying to have a baby for 3 years...we've had an on-going list for MANY YEARS. :) I love both of the names that we've chosen. I do have to say, we won't be sharing the baby's name publicly on the blog. Alex is okay with me putting pics of the baby up, but not their name. He's just worried about their safety. I'm going to have to spread the word to my family that blogs, as well. You guys can't share the name either...sorry! I guess if any of my blog friends want to know, we'll just have to correspond through email. When I first started this blog, I didn't even think about sharing our names. I was thinking our families would be our only readers. (LOL) Little did I know about blogging. :)

It's only 8:30 and I'm already thinking about bedtime. I'll end this post with a new picture of our baby.



Love you guys,

Jill

So proud...

This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my sister, Jayna, walk across the stage and receive her degree. She is a wife and mother of three. A few years ago, she decided to go back to school and finish her degree. She graduates with a 3.7 gpa...she's one smart momma. :) It was neat to hear her kiddos yell "WAY TO GO MOM!" from the stands. I admire her for so many reasons, but I'm so very proud of her for doing this. Congrats, Sis!!

The graduate...


Dad & Mom with their 6 kiddos...


It was a wonderful evening.

Love to all,
Jill