Avery is here!!!!

Yesterday was an exciting day to say the least! It started out as any normal day would, and then I got a text from my best friend, Erin at about 1 o'clock saying that they were having to do C-section. This caught me extremely off guard because her due date is over 6 weeks away! She has dealt with some blood pressure issues these past few weeks so they have had to monitor that very closely. It was just by the grace of God that she was even at the hospital in the first place. She just happened to have a check up and when they saw her blood pressure, they ran some tests and wanted to keep her at the hospital for a little while. When nothing changed, they told her to call her husband Josh (he was at work becuase it was just a routine visit) and they were going to have to get Avery out. I couldnt imagine what would have been going through my mind if this were my child considering I was a nervous wreck yesterday over someone else's child. But Erin was amazing, and stayed strong through the entire day. Kelly and I left work, and as soon as the elevator doors opened on the 3rd floor of St. Vincents, we saw them pushing her from the OR to her room! I hate that I didnt get to see them move Avery to the NICU, but I am so thankful that I got to see Erin. Their day went from being like any other to becoming extremely terrifying, and then the happiest day of their lives. An absolute roller coaster that I know they will never forget. While I was sitting in the room with her, I couldn't help but think of everything that Erin have been through together. She was my first friend at college--and ended up being my best friend. She was the first person I called after Jordan asked me to marry him 4 years ago. She was the first person to call me when my grandmother passed away to make sure I was ok, and the first person in the door at the funural home. She stood right next to me when I said my vows to Jordan and the next month I stood right next to her when she said hers to Josh. Being there with her 30 minutes after she gave birth to her first child is a feeling that I will never be able to put into words. Although we didnt expect Avery to be here yesterday, God has known for quite some time that yesterday would be the day he would enter this world. Happy birthday Avery Thomas Piper! You are more of a blessing that you will ever know!

Thursday Thirteen

I stole this from Lindsey (the3rowlands) because I thought it was too cute not to continue! 13 random facts about what is going on in your life--or just fun facts.

1) We are going on our vacation with Jordan's family for the 4th of July and it CANNOT get here soon enough! I am so ready for the beach and for some quality time with the in laws. I am very blessed to have married into a wonderful family, and consider myself lucky that I actually look forward to spending time with them when many people dread seeing their in-laws.

2) I met Jordan 5 years ago next month. Some days it seems like it has been longer than that, but most days I cant believe how the time has flown by! I dont deserve the wonderful husband that he is to me, but I am truly thankful that I am the one he chose to build a life with.

3) Next Wednesday is our girls' night at Habaneros with some of the gals that I used to work with along with my mom (who technically I also used to work with I guess). I am so excited about it as always! It seems to come at a time when I need some girl time the most.

4) I have recently reconnected with an old friend. When I say that, it doesnt seem to do our relationship justice. She was my best friend in high school and a huge part of my life; and we just fell out of touch over the years for no particular reason at all. I am very thankful that she contacted me and definately look forward to alot more catching up with her :)

5) Our newest addition--Berklie is getting spayed Tuesday and we are desperately hoping that she will calm down a little after this happens. She is really no more hyper than Roxi was at her age, but she is about three times bigger than she was so it's a little different when she jumps on you.

6) This is probably the most random of all, but I cannont tell you how excited we are about the new Harry Potter movie coming out in July of this year. See, we used to be that couple who made fun of other grown-ups for liking the moveis but then we decided to see what all the fuss is about because we got tired of hearing people talk about it--and now we absolutely LOVE all of them! Jordan has added the Harry Potter series to his top 10 list of all time favorite movies-- and that is really saying something for it to be right up there with Shawshank Redemption and The Program. He doesnt just put any movie in that category :)

7) I have two very close friends who are expecting babies right now. One in May and the other in November. I am so excited about both of them being here, but oddly enough it doesnt make me want one. I honeslty thought that being around all of the baby things would make me change my mind, but it hasnt. I guess we will know when we are ready to be parents--we just really love it being the two of us right now and still want to do so much together before that happens....

8) My Dad will be 50 this year! 50! For those of you who know my mom, this also means that she will also be 50 two months later :) But technically that will be 2011. I have been trying to think of things to do for his birthday. My dad is not one for parties really, and to tell you the truth, he probably doesnt even realize that he will be 50 this year. But nevertheless, it is a huge milestone and if you ask him he never thought he would have lived to see the age he is at. More to come on that one.

9) Speaking of birthdays, mine is next month. I will be 23. Alot of people say that they feel older or younger than they actually are, but for me 23 feels about right. I pretty much fall in the middle of my friends who are 23. I have some who are still in school, married or getting married, studious, etc. Then I have some 23 year old friends who dont get in before 2 am every night. Ok maybe I dont exactly fall in the "middle"--I am probably much closer to the first example.

10) I blogged a few weeks ago about my headaches and a medication that I am on called Topamax. Sill on it--works great! Headaches are essentially gone. However, this medicine gets a bad wrap because of the fact that it makes you lose your train of thought or not be able to think of a word. I dont know if that's what you would call what I have experienced. I have found that I will say something completely off base (usually like a famous name or something) and then after being corrected, when most people would realize that they were wrong, the correct name still doesnt sound right to me. For example, the sports announcer on Fox 6--his name is Rick Karle. I called him Mike Karle the other day and Jordan said "no, it's Rick". It still did not sound right to me. We watch this guy every single night and I KNOW his name, but we had to wait until 9 so he could show me that I was wrong. I would have sworn that it was Mike for some reason! Just stuff like that. It's actually quite humorous afterwards--and sometimes during the argument.

11) Every month I have been buying a swim suit for the beach. Last year I waited until the last minute and then rushed to Target to try and find some cute ones, and ended up spending a ton of money all at once. I am on Victoria's Secret email list and get coupons from them alot so I started two months ago ordering them from there--just because I know that I like their brand and that most of the time they fit right. The last one I got was $20 with shipping and tax included (for both pieces)! Just thought I would pass that along :)

12) The person that I look up to more than anyone on this Earth is my Meemaw. She is an overall amazing woman and just a saint in general. She will be 88 this year and still goes dancing weekly! Meemaw has always taken the opportunity to let you know how much you mean to her in the moment--living as if each day could be the last. I admire that quality in her more than I could ever express in words. I consider myself blessed to be her grandaughter.

13) Finally....and perhaps most importantly, it actually took a long time to think of 13 things that are going on right now in my life. And the truth is that I like that. For so long my life was rushed and scattered and consisted of nothing but school and work. I consider myself extremely blessed that I now  have some sort of calm. But who knows what God's plan is. My world could be turned upside down tomorrow. The only difference is that I know that I could handle it now, and that I couldnt say that a year ago.

Hope everyone has a great week!

More Baby Shower Pictures......

Here are a few more pictures from Saturday that I took.....

Erin's Baby Shower...

Saturday we had my best friend, Erin's, baby shower. She is due to have her little boy--Avery--on May 10th and we couldn't be more excited! Kelly and I definately had our work cut out for us on this shower, but Loni's house was the perfect place to have it, and she helped so much! Erin got lots of good stuff for Avery! Now all we are missing is him! I hope she knows just how much we all love her and how thrilled we are for her and Josh. They are going to be amazing parents!

Mallory's 1st Birthday!

Mallory's actual birthday is tomorrw, but we celebrated with her this past Saturday at Alabaster First Baptist Church. Mallory didnt really know what to think about all of that attention that she was getting--or if it was really ok to stick her hand in that cake! But there was a great turn out and she got lots of good presents! I can't believe it has already been a year since our little Mallie got here! Time flies!!! I know she wont  remember this day, but hopefully she will never forget how much she is loved :) Happy Birthday sweet girl! Uncle Jordan and Aunt Andrea love you very much!

Bama's Best Dog!

Jordan and I submitted Berklie and Roxi for Bama's Best Dog! It's going to be stiff competition, but we are keeping our fingers crossed! I have inserted a link so you can see both of them (they are not side by side because a couple were posted in between). We are a little partial, but we think they are shoe-ins :)


http://topics.al.com/tag/Bama%27s%20best%20dog/photos.html

A Few Things....

I feel like the worst blogger in history, but there has been SO much going on in our lives here lately. First of all, I have been going back and forth to a few doctors over some pretty serious headaches I have been having these past few months. Normally headaches do not sound so serious, but I NEVER had them before....EVER! I didnt even know what a headache felt like until I was an adult so this completely caught me off guard. They were totally disrupting my daily activities and constantly brought me to tears. I couldnt perform my job to the best of my ability, I went to bed early every night because after the headache would go away, I was absolutely DRAINED! It felt like I had just run a marathon or something--I really cant explain it. Needless to say, something had to happen. I went to my regular doctor who referred me to an internist. The internist did some bloodwork and didnt find anything abnormal. They continued, so she referred me to a neurologist. He did an MRI and called me the next day saying that there was some sort of fluid on my temperal lobe and they needed me to come in for a CT Scan. It goes without saying that it scared us more than words can say. We prayed very hard and searched for answers, but hoped for the best. Thankfully, it was nothing serious but unfortunately I have had to resort to a daily medication as of two weeks ago for the headaches. This was the LAST thing that I wanted to do, but I was running out of options. Please continue to pray for Jordan and myself--this medicine does have side effects and they are not all very fun. I am on a very low dosage right now, but they are not completely gone, so the mgs will more than likely get progressively higher until they are under control.

What else? Lets see......my best friend is having her first baby in May and we have been super busy getting everything together for her shower which is THIS month!! yay! It is alot of work, but lots of fun! She is having a little boy whose name will be Avery Thomas and we cant wait to meet him :)

These past two weeks, Jordan and I have both been sick. Jordan came home with the flu the week before last, and I had a horrible stomach virus last week. So on top of everything else, we have also been swapping sicknesses back and forth haha!

My brother and sister in law are getting ready to run their very first full marathon next month in Nashville!!! For those of you who may not know, that is 26.2 miles! We are all going up there to support them--and getting away for a small weekend's vacay will be nice too :) We are so proud of them and wish them all the luck in the world!

Lots more going on in the life of the Justice Family.........I assure you that this is just a small glimpse, but we will save that for a later post :) I hope everyone has a blessed week!