AVERI IS HERE!

After a week of dizzy spells, a hospital visit and finally passing out the doctors decided it was time to induce... eighteen hours, and lots of sweat and tears and finally a blessed epidural Averi Noel arrived! Our healthy little girl was born at seven pounds two ounces, april 21st at 8:47 pm. She is healthy and strong and we feel truly blessed to have her as our daughter. Please join us in thanking God for the blessing of new life and for the opportunity to be parents!

Prayer request

Kevin and I along with our good friends the Dilleys have been honored to play a roll in the sullivan campus ministry... this is a ministry that Kevin and Chris have put a lot of heart into, rotating weeks of teaching and sharing... it has been a blessing in our lives especially since we have been married as it has given us the opportunity to spend quality time with another Godly couple every week.
The ministry has dwindled in participation despite several efforts and looks like it may be time to move on... the question is where though! Kevin and Chris both feel called as ministers and we are all in prayer as what to do next whether it be to move on from sullivan and if so where to ... please pray that God will open a door and give us all clear direction as to where he would call us in our ministry!

A sweet moment

37 and a half weeks!
37 and a half weeks!

Last night (like Kevin does so many nights) Kevin was chatting it up with my belly! He loves to feel her move and kick and I enjoy sharing those moments when she is most active with him! Last night he began singing to her... "Averi Averi Crocket" (this is his remix to "davie davie crocket... written specifically for our baby girl!) SHE LOVED IT!

She kicked and squirmed at the sound of his voice and Kevin was eating it up! As I watched him and felt her I thought how amazing it is to have such a loving husband and to soon have a precious baby girl here to love on. They already have a bond and yet have not met... I know she will be a daddy's girl, and just as Kevin eats up every little move she makes for him he is going to eat up everything she does when she gets here... 37 and a half weeks and counting!

Castor oil... and other methods to induce labor!

On my facebook profile I wrote that my status was "Rachel is not at all dialated and starting to think Averi likes her womb a little to much"... this has now inspired several women to write suggestions of how to get my baby to come!
The number one suggestion has been DRINK CASTOR OIL! I originally thought this sounded like a good idea... especially since several women have sworn it works... but luckily I decided to read up on it before trying! One thing that I read over and over is it will not work unless your baby is already ready to come. So I looked back at all the women who swore castor oil would do the trick and they all had one commonality, they were all already past their due dates. Since I am eighteen days before my due date I do not think the drinking of castor oil is going to work, and I certainly do not want diarhea and possible dehydration to occur so castor oil is currently not an option!
For now I will stick to making Kevin walk and walk and walk with me at night and hopefully when I go to the doctor on wednesday we will be atleast a little dialated! If you have any other suggestions as to how to help you dialate or induce labor in a safe manner I would be more then happy to try!

BABY SHOWERS!

My nephew Addison and Cheryl at my TN shower
My diaper cake at my TN shower... so cute!

Me and some other lovely pregnant ladies at my church shower
Me and Sarah at my church shower
My sis drove all the way from Ft. Meyers to suprise me for my church shower!
Presents!
Opening presents at my TN shower!

I have discovered that one of the best ways to break up your wait time during pregnancy is to have baby showers! I have been incredibly blessed to have three showers throughout my pregnancy!

My first shower was in TN, given by a close family friend Elaine (her daughter cheryl and daughter in law Lisa also helped!). It was a lovely shower. I got to meet a lot of women whom I did not know before, and got the opportunity to chat with several I had met but didn't know well! It was a blast!

My second shower was given by my mom and good friend Sarah. It was at church and also a blast! The decorations were lovely and I had fun chatting with my close friends... the games were very creative (including the baby song game where I said baby got back in front of my mom... that doesnt happen often).

I have my third and final baby shower tomorrow and I am so looking forward to it! Two of my closest friends Brooke and Lindsay are throwing this shower, we have grown up together and I don't know what I would do without these girls! This shower is for several girls at work and just some close friends of mine! I am looking especially forward to it since it has gotten extremely hard to see both Brooke and Lindsay because of our hectic schedules... these days it is hard to find time to spend with most my friends!

I will put up pics from my first two showers and will add some more from the third later!

Lances dang hair!

The night before his last hair cut! The groomer wears him out! Notice the shiny hair... that doesn't last! Lance snuggling with mom and averi... needing a hair cut!

Lances first day at home... notice how shiny and soft his hair was

So if any of you have dogs that have to go to the groomer you may understand my frusteration with Lances hair! When we brought him home his hair was short and soft...VERY cute! Now a days though his hair grows faster then we can keep it cut!

Our groomer does a very good job at an extremely good price so I cant complain but it seems to me that no matter how short we cut Lance's hair we always end up having it matted (from drool I suppose) around his face and around his behind. I have taken to brushing him EVERY night, and yet I still have to fight through tangles... and he doesn't even spend much time outside! I guess that is the price we pay for our dogs beauty!

The count down contiues!

We are officially 24 days away from Averi Noels due date and I can not wait! For the most part I have had a pretty easy pregnancy... I was sick at the beginning and very tired but as soon as we hit that second trimester I was going strong... in fact through most of the third trimester I was going strong, feeling VERY energized and not overly uncomfortable!
Now though with a little over three weeks left I feel like Oh my goodness I am SO tired! I look at myself in the mirror and can hardly recognize this person staring back at me! Not only is my belly HUGE and (showing no sign of stopping the expansion any time soon), but my feet and hands are huge! Seriously if you have never experienced this 40 weeks of blessings just wait... your body will do some amazing things!
As uncomfortable as pregnancy can be though I wouldn't change it for the world! When I am laying in bed NOT sleeping I can feel my baby girl wiggling and kicking and I think "wow our God is truly incredible." When you feel those wiggles, and sometimes pretty tough kicks you know that something out of this world is going on in your body... you are growing another human being... how cool is that?
As much as I want my baby on the outside and as badly as I want to hold her and give her kisses and to just see the little girl who plays soccer with my ribs all day... part of me will miss having her on the inside of me where I know she is safe and protected. The bigger part of me though is REALLY counting down....24 days (hopefully at the most) and we will have our baby... it may not sound like much to you but when you have a bowling ball between your legs you will quickly realize 24 days is a life time!