So forgive me for not updating more! LOTS has happened in the past couple weeks! These are a few pics from Avery's Baptism on Easter. It was so sweet! As you can see, we had LOTS of family and friends there to celebrate with us.

Avery continues to amaze us everyday! She is the sweetest little girl and I swear she is going to be a red head! Her hair gets more and more red... either that or strawberry blonde. It is so cute! She is eating cereal so much better now. Her favorite food is peaches. She will gobble down a whole jar full if I would let her. We started green beans last night. She did surprisingly well with them. She gagged a couple times, but ate the whole bowl almost. She is sleeping through the night most nights now. It is SOOOO nice. Well, when I say sleeping through the night, I mean waking up to eat at 4 or 5 and only waking up a couple times in between needing her paci. But we will definitely take that over every couple hours!!!! Then she will go back to sleep until about 6 or 7 usually. However the past couple days she has been wide awake at 500, which is not going to work!!!! haha! But how can you be upset when you walk in and see such a huge smile spread across her face???? She is going to be our nosey little girl too. I cant hardly feed her without her stopping a million times to look around and see whats going on. And if someone comes int he room to talk, its over. She has to know whats going on at all times!!! And she is reaching for everything!!!! EVERYTHING! She is just growing so fast!

My mom has been pretty sick with an upper respiratory infection and she kept Avery the first couple days she was getting it, so we are praying that Avery does not get sick. And praying that mom get better fast. She had a fever yesterday of 101 so she is feeling crummy. They started her on antibiotics too. Dont worry, its not the swine flu!!!!! Hope not anyway... :)

We got back fabulous news about Joshs mom... no cancer in the lungs!!!!! It is just scar tissue. Praise God! She had the lumpectomy on Monday and did great. The Dr said there was absolutely no lymph node involvement either. God is so great! It is amazing how things work when you completely surrender to Him and know that He is taking care of you. Denise is healing great now. She is a little sore, but says she is having a hard time not lifting and doing things she normally does cause she feels so good. She goes back to the Dr on Tuesday for her check up. She will know then when they will start radiation. Please continue to pray for fast healing for her with no complications. Prayers definitely work... Thanks for checking on us!

These are some of Averys 3 month pictures. Ill put up as many as I can. They turned out really cute!

I have great news! The spot on Denise's lung is just scar tissue!!!!! PRAISE GOD!!! We are so thankful and relieved... It feels like weight has been lifted, so I cant imagine how she must feel :) So now, she will have the lumpectomy on the 27 of April, and once she is recovered from that she will do 6 weeks of radiation. If they find anything in the lymph nodes while they are doing her surgery, then she will have to do chemo too. We are praying that the lumpectomy takes care of it all and that there is no lymph node involvement. Our God is awesome and He has brought us this far, I know He will see us through, no matter what!!!! Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for her. Its not over yet...

Sorry I havent updated in a while... It has been pretty hectic! We took Avery today to Crievewood for her first Easter egg hunt! Needless to say, it was more so grandma could show her off. There was no hunting eggs for Avery!!!! It was FREEZING outside too! She had a good time watching all the kids though and visiting with everyone. Yesterday was my brother Brandons 30th birthday!!!!! I cant believe he is 30, not that that is old AT ALL, but time just flies! We went and ate at my grandparents house last night with everyone. I love going over there. Avery had her 4 month birthday yesterday too, which she celebrated with 4 shots at the Dr office. It was pitiful. She screamed, and mommy almost cried with her. I swear, it is harder on me I think than it is on her... She weighs 14.9,a nd is 24 1/4 inches long. She is in the 75% for weight and 50% for height. We bought her a little jumperoo thing at Target to get her off the back of her head and to let her excercise her legs and she loves it. The Dr also said in a couple weeks we can start giving her veggies and more fruits. I cant wait. She is already taking fruit with her cereal. We have been putting bananas in it since it was such a struggle to get her to take any. She seems to really like it now. Last night she was opening her mouth for it. I also swapped to oatmeal cereal, which I think she likes better. She has been a little tired and fussy today though. I have been giving her Tylenol every 6 hours for the shots. Her little leg is bruised too. I think the Tylenol helps a lot. She just does not handle the shots well. She really hasnt been super hungry today either. Hopefully it will change tomorrow. She is getting Baptized tomorrow. I cant wait! Joshs and my family will all be at church together then were going to go eat at Denise and Jerrys. It should be a great time!
About Denise... we went to the Dr on Tuesday and the report was that they saw a spot on her lung. HOWEVER... She remembers having a CT done in 2002 cause the Dr saw a spot on her lungs when she had a CXR during a physical. That spot turned out to just be scar tissue from pleurisy when Josh was a baby. So, the surgeon felt really good knowing that, but got a repeat CT just in case. We still dont know the results of that. But, pur prayers were answered in that it has not spread to the other breast and he does not see any lymph node involvement!!!! PRAISE GOD, HE IS GOOD!!!!! So now we need prayers that the lung thing is not cancer!!!! She is having surgery on the 27 to remove the lump and have a node biopsy to be sure it isnt in the lymph nodes. She will be out for 2-4 weeks recovering from that, then assuming that it is not in the lungs or lymph nodes, she will have 6 weeks raditation and be done!!!! So that is what we are praying HARD for. Please pray for strength for her and the family too. I cant imagine just sitting and waiting. She seems to be doing great. Her spirits are up and she definitely isnt moping about it! She is a lot stronger that I would be. Avery wore her Save the Ta-Tas onsie for her today. It is so cute. Ill take pics of her in it, but she pooped on it so I have to wash it!!!! haha! Ill update more as I know. Thank you for prayers. OH!!!! And thank the Lord again because the tornados yesterday missed Jessica and Jeremys house by less than a mile. They are so fortunate. We drove around today to look at the damage and it is unbelieveable! I took picutres so hopefully I can get them up soon. Please pray for the victims. I mean some people lost EVERYTHING. These houses were just destroyed! It was about 5-6 miles from our house. It is so crazy! Thank goodness all of our loved ones are safe!

Josh and I took Avery to the zoo today after church. It was so warm outside. She actually stayed awake the whole time in her stroller. I know she doesnt know she is at the zoo, but we love taking her. It is a great workout for us, and soon she will be big enough to enjoy it. We bought a membership so we will be going lots this summer!

We are still trying to get Avery on a sleeping schedule during the day. I know the times she is supposed to sleep, but actually getting her to fall asleep on her own is the tough part. I let her cry today for about 10 minutes and it killed me! I HATE IT!!!!! Then I go in and give her the paci and she is so mad that she doesnt want it, so I pick her up knowing that is the only thing that will calm her downa dn I think to myself, "well, you win. I am giving you exactally what you wanted..." But oh well. I love her so much its too hard to let her cry! But were working on it!

She is liking rice cereal better cause I put some baby bananas in it. Just enough to flavor it. She gobbled it down last night! It is so much fun!

Joshs mom had her MRI and goes to meet with the surgeon on Tuesday to discuss the results and treatment. I am going with her and Jerry. Holly was nice enough to swap days at work so I could go. I am so nervous for Denise. Josh and I are praying for good news. Isnt that crazy, were praying for the cancer to only be in the one breast and that will be good news... Please keep praying. I will update after Tuesday. Pray that we will know what questions to ask the Dr too. Im nervous about that. Thanks!!!!

Well, Denise is having her MRI on Thursday at 130. Praise God for answering our prayers and getting her in quickly. She will meet with the surgeon on the following Tuesday to go over the results. She would like for me to go with her and Jerry, just to be an extra set of ears, but Im supposed to work. Hopefully it will work out that I can swap with someone. Please continue to pray for good news!!!
Avery has still not been sleeping well. It takes us forever most times to get her good and asleep. I am trying to let her cry it out for a while, but it is so hard!!!! Once she is asleep, she usually wakes up after 15-30 minutes crying again, yet I know she is exhausted!!!! Usually at night though, when she is asleep she will sleep like 6 hours at a time. Hopefully we can get this all ironed out very soon!!!! Mommy is worn out! I will keep you posted on Joshs mom when news comes! Please pray for her!!!! Thank you!

Avery had her first taste of rice cereal yesterday, the 28th! I cant believe she is already old enough to eat it. Above are some pics from it. She didnt really like it and gagged a few times. I think she wore more than she ate!!! But we tried it again tonight and she did a little better. She just has to get used to it. It is hilarious watching her. She would much rather chew on her hands than eat the cereal. I am hoping that it will help her to sleep through the night. She is such a sweetie and is growing up so fast. People always say that it flies by, and now I know what they are talking about. I put away all of her newborn clothes today. They were so tiny! I cant believe that she could fit into that stuff! She is so much fun! Last night we covered her up with 2 blankets. The top one was a blanket knitted by his aunt Sarah. When Josh went toget her out of bed this morning, she had her toes sticking out of the holes in the blanket! It was hilarious! She was fascinated by toes sticking out of it! Here are some pics of it... Well, there at the top of the page because I dont know how to get them down here!!!

So about Joshs mom, we still dont know much. We know that it is IDC, the most common type of breast cancer. Its grade 3, not stage but grade. Josh said that it just means something about the cell is already shaped differently and it has a tendency to spread quicker that way. They are trying to get her in for an MRI, but said it could be 1-2 weeks before she can get in. That is rediculous and unacceptable to me. I just dont see why they make you sit and wait. Someone tells you that you have cancer, then you have to wait 2 weeks before you even know what the plan is... CRAZY!!!! She seems to be doing OK though. Still processing it I am sure. I dont think that it feels real to anyone yet. I know it doesnt to me at least. But Ill update more as I know it. Thank you for all your prayers. We appreciate it and I know that they will work!!!! SO... KEEP PRAYING!!!!!

So... I just want to post this really quick since its late and I have to work tomorrow. We just got the news today that Joshs mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer. We dont know anything more than that and wont know until they do an MRI to make sure that it isnt anywhere else. Right now, I think everyone is still shocked at the news. I just cant believe it... Denise could really use everyones prayers right now. She is a strong woman and will make it through this. I'll update more when we know more. God will get her through this...

So... Avery had her 3 month pictures on Monday night. She was tired and hungry and cried for a lot of it. Poor girl! There were 3 people standing over her all talking loud to get her to smile, saying Avery, smile Avery over and over!!! Oh the things we go through to get some cute moments frozen in time. When it was all said and done, I think she smiled for quite a few of them. There are some posted on facebook from Courtney. They turned out really good. But why wouldnt they??? hahaha!!!! Courtney was very sweet and patient!!! If you need a photographer, she is great! I will post the pics when I get the CD.
Avery and I just stayed home today and enjoyed our time relaxing. She giggled quite a few time today. It is the sweetest sound! Not much plans tomorrow either. Just trying to get the house ready to put on the market. It is a LOT of work! I have to work Friday and a on call ALL weekend! Hopefully I wont get called in...

Avery's first trip to the zoo

three months old(with spit up on her shirt!)

such a big girl in her bumbo seat!

This was Avery at 2 months

We went this evening to have Avery's three month pictures made. We have used Courtney Helton to do all of her pictures so far and she did my maternity pics. She is great! Avery was so funny. She never smiles for the camera. She just wants to stare at it. During her pictures, she was sucking on her hands and blowing bubbles the whole time. Then she cried after we laid her on her tummy for some. She is not a huge fan of tummy time. So we will have a lot of pictures of a crying baby. But thats ok, Im sure they will be great! Ill put some up when I get them back. The pictures below are her 1 month ones that Courtney did.

these are Averys one month pictures!

About us...

Well...I have always wanted to do this, but never have. Now is the perfect time though! Josh and I got married almost 2 years ago and live in Smyrna. We are so happy together and life couldn't be any sweeter! We had our baby girl, Avery Lee on December 10, 2008. After 18 1/2 LONG hours of labor, I had to have a C-Section and the most beautiful girl in the world was born. We are both completely smitten with her! We also have Maverick, our first born 4-legged friend. He is very curious about Avery and is pretty protective of her! I am a nurse in the PICU, which is a million times harde now that I have a child of my own. I absolutely love my job though. Josh sells insurance for State Farm. He is great at it and loves it as well. He is also coaching a middle school baseball team. That is his passion and he is so great with the kids.

The purpose of this blog is mainly to update about our family and keep everyone posted about Avery. She is growing so much and amazes us everyday! She is 3 1/2 months old now. I cant believe it! She is giggling and smiles SO big when we walk in the room. She has a smile that will melt a heart of stone! She is starting to try and roll over and she is amazed with her hands! She is sucking on EVERYTHING and will be eating rice cereal soon! TIME FLIES!!!! Hope everyone enjoys this blog!!!!