Pictures of Ava (lots of them!)

Avarielle Raeann Pilgrim

So time doesn't exist for me currently... seriously I lost track of it somewhere in October and haven't seemed to get a grasp on it since. With that being said I have every right to post two months late about this adorable addition to our family:)

And now I will take you back to November 19th... I was getting rather frustrated as my due date loomed ever closer I was technically due the 22nd but having gone early with the other two I was sure that I should be long done and holding my beautiful baby boy, for although we didn't find out the sex I was sure I was having a boy. I was particularly stressing out because this was the last weekend till my due date and with Justice going to school in the city everyday it would be hard to get him home in less then an hour if I did go into labor. Also my mother in law had come to help out with everything and would be going home soon.

I had a late Doctors apt that day so we went to the mall first. I found a bunch of cute shirts on clearance at Old Navy to wear after the baby came. I had been having sporadic contractions about 20 min apart for awhile. Justice and I went to the Doctors and his mom took the kids home. We finally got into see the Dr. at 3. He asked when we were ready to have this baby.
"Today" we replied.
"Ok, be careful what you wish for. " he smiled back. "Are you sure?"
"We think so... How"
"I'm not doing much today, I'll just brake your water and see you there in a few hours."

And that is just what happened:)

He checked me and I was still at a 3, as I had been the last week. So after placing a bunch of pads down  he broke my water. It Gushed out... "Whoa! I only meant to make a small hole." he said, and had Justice call for the nurse. When she came in she laughed as he said "Um... her water broke." "I'm sure it did"she replied as she went to get more pads to clean up.

Justice and I left and got some food at Wendy's knowing that I wouldn't be able to eat when we got to the Hospital, but my contractions started in about every 5 min. So we decided against going home to get my bag and went right to the hospital.

I was group b positive so I had to be on antibiotic for 4 h before delivering or they would have to have the baby under observation for 12 h once it came out. Not optimal. They finally got me checked out and an IV started about 5. Contractions were... awesome,,, and by that I bean Horrible. I decided to have an epidural knowing that this had to last for at least 4 h.

That crazy epidural lady was HORRIBLE!!! first off she made Justice leave the room. Then had me sit up on the edge of the bed my nurse helped support me, (Justices job when I had the epidural for Izaac) while she started shoving things around. Then she called my nurse to the back to hold something leaving me on my own. All the while I am having very painful contractions and listening her yell at me not to move. Then she says "it will feel like you are being electrocuted."... seriously... and sure enough a second later, intense pain shoots down my whole left leg. After some more pressure down my back she puts tape on my entire back... Everywhere... who know why, and leaves the room... So NOT my favorite person. I started to feel slightly numb on my right side but very slowly so for a long time my left leg felt uncomfortably tingly like it was asleep and the right side felt the same. My labor pains moved from the small of my back to my front right side.   Yep all that pain and she didn't even do it right. So they call her back to fix it and at that moment they were moving my IV to my other hand because it was leaking. "Do you want me to do it?" she asks my nurse, who lets her.... and she proceeds to slap my hand a bunch of times yelling at me not to move then jabs me with a needle... So not my favorite person... I told Justice not to let her near me again... I have had an epidural before with Izaac and it was nothing like that so I can say with full confidence that it was just her that was horrible and not the process itself.

All the while I was in labor I just kept telling him all the things I didn't like... "I don't like this IV, I don't like this blood pressure cuff, I don't like contractions, and I DON'T like that lady" and that is all I said over and over again while he smiled and said "Yes I think I've got it"

since the pain never completely went away I could tell the baby was about ready to come. My nurse came to empty my bladder to make me more comfortable but when she checked she said"um, keep your legs shut, the baby's head is right there and we still need to give you your last IV. So for 15 min we waited for the last of my antibiotic then the Dr. came in right around 9 and at 9:04 they announced it was a baby GIRL... What? Justice went to check just to be sure, and sure enough girl she was! I was thrown off a bit because I really thought it would be a boy and had been calling her Mason in my mind for months now and now she was nameless. But she was Beautiful and Amazing.


They put her right on my chest and I got to hold her and nurse her for a long time before they even washed her off which for me was really neat. Then they took her and weighed her 8lbs 4.8oz. then Justice followed them to the nursery to do all the rest of that stuff. I had the nurse take out the epidural and rip the tape of my entire back.

 This was right before I started pushing and then after she came out notice a difference :)

I got quite a few compliments on my placenta

She has the cutest lil chubby legs 

 Then they took me to my room around 12 and I finally got to rest, for an hour or two until they brought her to me to nurse. Then I just held her all night long.

Visitors

 We had a few names that wern't quite right so right before we left and had to turn in the birth cirtificate we decided on Avarielle. Justice had been searching and searching for just the right name and although we couldnt say it and kept forgetting it it was just the right name for her :) Raeann comes from both our mothers middle names. She is lovely and we are all so excited to have her here and safe!

 Going Home!

Halloween 2011

Ward Trunk or Treat!!!

Our ward usually does a primary program practice right before the ward trunk or treat and the program the following Sunday. Well due to the freak snow storm, that happened only that day, things were moved inside, no problem that is what we did last year and had a great time. 

When we went to drop Izaac off at the church for his practice and noticed it was unusually dark... yep the power was out in the church... problem #1. I walked down the hallway and saw an unusual group huddled around the closed kitchen door with a bunch of tools... someone had "fixed" our slightly broken door and not given anyone, including Bishop, the key. So all the food that had been bought for the party is now stuck, not that they could have cooked it anyway with the power out... Problem #2.

The rest of us braved the snow covered streets with no stoplights and went to the mall before coming back to the ever darkening church.

They had ordered Pizza and we all ate happily in the dark gym as the kids, who knows which kids were which, ran excitedly. We all got in a line and went from door to door of the church classrooms that people had decorated and handed out candy. The halls getting darker every minute and by the end we all just took the same amount of kids that we brought and hoped they were the right ones. if not church was the next day:)

Our M&M, thankfully, was easy to find due to to her leg, our little popcorn bag was doing the candy rounds time and time again and got quite the haul:)

Taking a picture into the dark and seeing what the flash uncovered

Checking out the treats!

 Izaac's Preschool Halloween party

 Face painting

 Hay Ride

 Sneaking candy in the classroom

 Class mates:)

Broken

Coming home from picking up Izaac from school Cora was getting out of the van and fell. :( Even standing right there I'm still not sure exactly how it happened. It looked like she had bonked her knee. She cried a lot and I held her for awhile before putting her in front of a movie so I could get the groceries from the car and straighten the house a bit before some friends came over for lunch. I knew there was a problem when she wouldn't put any weight on it when I was having her come to the table for lunch. I held her for awhile icing her knee/leg before laying her on the couch to get some more ice. I wanted to take her in but she had fallen asleep on the couch and Izaac was in a crazy hyper/angry mood and I knew I couldn't deal with that at the ER as well. Seconds after I put him in his room he had fallen asleep so I let them both sleep until Justice came home around 5:30. He convinced me to take her to the Urgent care instead of the ER... BAD IDEA!! We got to the Urgent care at 6:15 and waited and waited for the doctor. Cora was thankfully in a really good and playful mood as long as no one touched or looked at her leg.

We finally see a PA(Cora really mad when she is checking her leg) who sends us down for an xray around 8... after waiting for the tech she finally comes out and tells me that I can't hold her because I am pregnant and we can come back if we want to when we have someone who can hold her... I call Justice who has to come all the way down there with Izaac where they finally take the xray(Cora Screaming through the entire thing) and we go back upstairs to wait some more for them to see us again... Her leg is definitely broken and they want to send her in an ambulance to the ER, because their xray wasn't very good and the ER could treat her better... Seriously!!! That was my first choice and we probably could have been home from there by now... They splinted her leg almost up to her knee (Cora Screamed through) and told us to wait. Really wanting to get out of there as fast as we could, and thinking that a ambulance ride where she was strapped to a bed would traumatize her even more. We wanted to just take her in the van but they convinced us that this would be the safest bet... the ambulance finally arrived 20 min or so later and they asked us if we would like to hold her in the back because the bed would probably scare her.... seriously?? how is that any different then us taking her safely in her car seat in the van... again could have been there by now!!!

Justice holds her (Cora really not happy but not as hysterical as before)while I take Izaac in the van to a friends house and meet them at the hospital. going in to the ER I ask around for my daughter... they take me to a few places but cant find her... ask a nurse who says she is still in the waiting room... um no she isn't, try again... so the security guard and I wander around some more before coming across them siting on chairs in a corner of the hallway. Apparently the helpful ambulance guys had left them there with Cora on Justices lap so he couldn't move without hurting her and no one knew where they were... oh so helpful ambulance guys... once I know where they are I stop a nurse and make sure they know where we are. "oh yes the little girl with the broken leg, she's in room 6" she tells me... "um, no, actually we are sitting here in the hallway with nowhere to go" I reply. Thankfully she quickly finds us a room.

After a lot more waiting, and more xrays, a new splint because the one they put on at urgent care was way too low and not actually doing much (Cora screaming more and more through each of these things) we finally left the ER at 1am... about 8h after we had arrived at the urgent care... we were all EXHAUSTED!!! especially my little Cora who was so tired she was falling asleep while crying about me having to move her to take her home. 

We have had a TON of love and support through this and many people have come to drop off some fun things for Cora to do while hauled up in her room for a few days. My neighbor Kim dropped off a painting set, among other things, which we talked about doing later at the table then I went down stairs to do a few things... only to return to this:) My silly girl with paint all over her splint, herself and the bed... at least it added a bit of colour to her dreary splint :)
We had friends come and visit and keep Cora company and take Izaac to the park so he didn't have to be cooped up as well. We really feel blessed, and so thankful for all the help that we have received this past week. It is hard to be so far from family but it is so much easier when friends so easily fill that role while we are here!

After 4 days of being in her room (she didn't want me to move her anywhere) she was looking a little homely, all that painting, treats and playing was starting to show despite my best efforts to keep her wiped down I finally decided that I would attempt a bath for her. So I broke out the baby tub and gave her an official scrub down. She looked much better in the end:)

I finally convinced her to come down stairs by bribing her with cookies!

I took her to the Orthopedist on Wednesday where they put on an actual cast. She can now move around by herself without too much strain on her leg. She still isn't aloud to walk but can scoot around where ever she wants to go. She will often tell me; "I'll do it mom", "Don't help me", or brake down crying because I brought something to her and say "I was coming!!!"

She is amazing to watch how she can accommodate herself and how she can happily adapt to this new trial. She will tell you "I just can't walk, because I broke my leg". Cora is a doll and we are so sad to see her hurt but so grateful that she is doing so well:)

Wishing Bone

So after Sunday dinner, I had made a whole chicken, Izaac was getting a little cranky and restless. So in an attempt to distract him I dug through the chicken to find the "wish bone".  I may have gone a little overboard explaining to him that when the bone dries out , two people put their pinkies on either side of the bone and make a wish. The one who pulls off the bottom part will have their wish come true.

I was successful in distracting Izaac so the rest of us could finish dinner. We talked about what things we could wish, yes you are probably smarter then me and would have explained to your four yr old that the good things to wish for are intangible, like world peace, or having a good day, or seeing a squirrel the next day.... I was not so clever in pointing out this important detail.

The next morning the first thing Izaac wants to do is the wishing bone... how could you wait?? Well he and I wrapped our pinkies around that bone and pulled... I got the bigger part... Izaac looked around the room, and proceeded to search all the other rooms in our house before coming back totally chest fallen stating that he couldn't find his toy. I started a lame explanation that I had gotten the bigger part so technically my wish was the one that was supposed to come true. But how do you stay on that when looking into the sad, disappointed eyes of a little boy who has just had his hopes and dreams crushed?

"Well maybe it just needs time to work" was my lame attempt at making him feel better.

He went to school, and Cora and I hit a toy clearance sale at k-mart and the wishing bone magically worked after all!

I love Magic:)