Francis

Our friend Lauren visited us last week. We had a blast with her! One of my favorite attributes of Lauren is her zeal for life. She loved our snow and took full advantage of it. She was tearing up the slopes during the day and in the evenings, sculpting Francis. She built us our own snow woman. We love Francis! I'm eager to get more photos from Lauren (she captured much more of the week than I did) and I'll post them soon. Eloise and I are headed to Dallas tomorrow to see Charlie and Cecilia. Cici is turning 1 on Saturday!

Walkin'

Sledding with Gigi

We've had a fun week with Gigi here. This morning we took Eloise sledding. Fortunately, the temperature has risen a bit and the sun has come out, so we've been able to enjoy more outdoor activities. Eloise would copy me and say "weee" as we went down the hill. She seemed to really like it!

Happy Birthday!

Eloise had a great first birthday! Gigi and Grandad were here to celebrate and we had some church friends come over for "apres-ski." There are several other notable birthdays on February 9--Haley Roseberry is 3, Justin Williams, Mrs. McLoota, Scott Pell....if you know of any other birthday twins, let us know! Eloise has also taken her first few steps. She's walked about 3 steps at a time and laughs hysterically while she does it. It's very cute! Alex took some video of it. I'm going to try to put that on the blog later. Alex left this morning for Honduras and returns Saturday. Thankfully my mom is staying all week with us.

Play Group Birthday Party

Eloise celebrated her birthday with her play group friends today and all had a great time (although you wouldn't know it from the picture!). We tried to recapture the Halloween pic but it just didn't work quite the same...oh well! Pictured is Cora, Norah, Olivia, Hannah, Eloise, Gavin, and Conner. Jeep and Berkley sat it out.

Another Photo Shoot

Notice her beautiful curls and little teeth!

The Story Morning Glory

The story in our lives right now is snow. OH MY GOODNESS we have a ton of it. It's beautiful but it makes our lives a bit more difficult.
In other news, Alex is in South Carolina for a conference now. I've tried to keep Eloise and myself busy and done a fairly good job at it. In Alex's stead, I've been watching the presidential debates. Anyone else watching them? I'm finding them very interesting and confusing. I can't decide on a Republican candidate! Any thoughts? I know you're not supposed to talk politics or religion...but we talk religion all the time...so...As for the democratic side, Obama seems compelling but not quailified. I can't vote in the primary anyway (we're registered independent), so I guess it doesn't matter. It just bothers me that there's no one that I REALLY like.
Finally, Eloise is teething all out of order. She has 2 molars already and no front teeth. What's up with that? She's been raging the last couple of days with pain. Poor little girl!

Photo Shoot: Funny Faces

Amazing Day

Yesterday was an amazing day! My friend Jacki went in to labor at 6:30 am, five weeks early. She and her husband are moving to Chicago and he had left Monday to start his new job. Wednesday was his first day of work so Jacki was alone here with her daughter. My friend Cara went to the hospital to be with her while Cara's husband watched his and Jacki's daugters. I went to walk her dog and visit her at around 1 but stayed with her until the end because things were progressing so quickly. By 4pm she was fully dialated. She was so upset that her husband wouldn't be there. He was on a flight to Denver that kept being delayed. We knew he should arrive in Vail about 8pm. The doctors and nurses never thought she would make it until then, so we prepared to help her deliver the baby. Jacki was determined not to have that baby; her water never broke which ended up supporting the baby in her womb. Josh came running in at 8:04 pm and baby William "Liam" Reid was born at 8:13! It was amazing! Of course we were all crying and the nurses cheering! In addition, Liam was 6 lbs 4oz and 18.5in long! Not the size of 5 weeks premature. He did not have to be flown to Denver, which often occurs with preemies, and he only needed a some oxygen. Praise God!

It was so wonderful that my friend Cara and I could be there to support Jacki. Cara's husband did all the hard work--he took care of Jacki and Cara's daughters while picking Josh up from the airport in Denver. Alex cancelled his schedule so he could take care of Eloise. My adrenaline was rushing--I could hardly fall asleep last night.

Much better

Eloise is continuing to get better from her pneumonia. She is sleeping, playing, and eating well, and her oxygen level has risen. Unfortunately, she now has an ear infection. I hope she continues to improve!

Sick Eloise

We've had a great visit from the Nana and Pops which has unfortunately ended with illness. Eloise was diagnosed with pneumonia. Is that how you spell it? It sounds like a really bad diagnosis, but overall, Eloise isn't acting so badly. She is coughing and sneezing but she's also playing like usual. We started treatments today so hopefully things won't get worse. (If they do get worse, she'll have to go on oxygen which would really be miserable. Pray that she only improves from here!) We'll be sad to see Nana and Pops go!

Slammed with Snow.

We've gotten a lot of snow--about 25 inches in 48 hours and we're not finished yet. Last night we had a break in the clouds and we went out for a walk. Eloise caught some "freshies" in her stroller. :-) It was killer! :-) (We are totally down with the local lingo now.)

Here's Charlie!

Charles Curtis Averitt

Hooray!! Charlie was born this evening--6lbs 13oz. Both baby and mom are doing well! We are very excited! I'll post some photos of him soon.

Christmas Time

We had a wonderful Christmas season. We spent Christmas Eve in Vail and went to Florida on Christmas day. Our travel to Florida was hellish but the fact we and our bags got there was our Christmas miracle. We all had a fantastic time with the Large side of the family. Eloise loved the dogs and all the attention she got from her Nana, Pops, aunts, and uncles. We loved the warm weather, the karoke game, the food, and relaxation. I also saw the movie Juno and loved it--I think it's a must see. We are back to cold weather but looking forward to our visitors this winter!