Idea's ...

I am working on Lilliana's first birthday party and was hoping to get some ideas from some of you out there in blog land.  Her birthday is December 13, so it will most likely be pretty cold here in Memphis.  I would like to just have something small at our house with family and friends but I would still like it to be something special and fun for her to remember (at least with pics that is).  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  You can e-mail me at mrsburchett@yahoo.com or just comment below.  My only idea so far was to go with a winter / Christmas theme since it is close to the Christmas holiday.  :)

Thanks in advance, 

Mel

Happy 4 year anniversary to us!

Wow, I can't believe that Clay and I have already been married 4 years.  Actually it seems like we have been married an eternity, we have been together for 10 years so I guess it almost has been an eternity!  Clay is such an amazing husband and I couldn't ask for more from him.  We have really been through a lot in the our 4 short years of marriage but I feel we are much stronger because of our trials.  

Here is a look at the first four years of our marriage.  We got married on August 21, 2004 at 7:00pm at Germantown Baptist Church.  I still remember almost every detail about our wedding and I still wouldn't change a thing about that wonderful day.  I remember that I was beaming as I was walking down the aisle towards my prince charming and I could see Clay, who's face was as serious as can be.  I asked him later why he wasn't smiling back at me and he told me he didn't want to do anything wrong.  I guess I can say that I was a little OCD about things that day and I wanted everything to be just perfect.  :)  We completed the evening at Ridgeway Country Club where we danced the night away with about 400 of our friends and family members.  After a week long honeymoon we went back to our apartment which was located in East Memphis.  Clay was still in school and I was working night shift at LeBonheur so we didn't see a lot of each other in the beginning.  

The following Christmas, we got Maggie Abigail.  AKA our first child.  She is our miniature yorkie and the apple of our eye, at least until Lilliana came around that is.  :)  Clay graduated the following May and within a few month's I switched to day shift at the hospital so that we would be able to spend more time with each other.  Around Thanksgiving of 2005 we learned that Clay would be leaving for Tyler, TX within a few month's for a training school that Woodson & Bozeman was sending him too.  He was gone January through April of 2006 while I stayed back in Memphis by myself.  This was one of the first trials that we were put through as phone conversations has never been one of Clay's forte's so that was difficult to say the least.  We had also just talked about trying to have a baby just before he left so of course those plans were placed on hold.  

Upon Clay returning home we easily got pregnant the following month and were just ecstatic.  Both of our mom's were about to leave to go out of town so when I was 6 weeks along we went out to dinner and brought pictures from our recent ultrasound that we had placed in frames to give to them.  My mom knew what it was immediately and was so excited.  Clay's mom was still trying to figure out what was going on when his dad finally figured it out.  Everyone was so excited and we just couldn't wait until February 8, 2007 (my projected due date).  

Things were going great until October 18, when I was 24 weeks pregnant and found out that I was contracting every 2 minutes and was already 100% effaced.  I was immediately sent to L & D where I stayed in trendelenberg position on Magnesium Sulfate for the next 9 days.  We delivered our first son Cooper Walker Burchett on October 27, 2006 at 3:38 am.  He weighed only 1 pound 5.4 ounces.  I will never forget that day and the one's that followed.  Our precious Cooper only lived for 3 days and it was by far the most difficult thing I have ever had to deal with thus far.  It is times like this when I wish I wasn't a nurse and didn't have the medical knowledge that I do.  After learning that Cooper had a congenital heart defect, we really had some difficult decisions to make and I am so glad that we had some great friends and physicians that we trusted to help us make those decisions.  As difficult as this time was I remember everyone telling us that many times the death of a child would split a marriage.  Clay and I were determined to not let that happen but in turn to allow the opposite to happen.  We  trudged through and in the end came out stronger.  

When 2007 rolled around we were really hoping for a better year.  We worked very hard on forming a team for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica and named our team Cooper's Troop.  We did better than I could have ever imagined and had a great turn out on walk day to be there with us in memory of Coop.  I had no idea that while I was completing the walk in memory of our precious Cooper that God was knitting together our precious Lilliana at that very minute.  We were scheduled to leave for the beach the following weekend and I found out the night before we left that we were pregnant again.  As excited as we were, I was also very cautious about getting my hopes up and I decided that I was not going to become attached to this pregnancy because I had such a fear that I would lose another baby.  

To say my pregnancy with Lilliana was trying would be putting things lightly.  Clay was there for me every step of the way.  I would not have made it without him by my side.  He was there every step of the way, with each admission to the hospital for preterm labor, many doctor visits and there to give me lot's of much needed reassurance.  

I think he would agree that the 4th year of our marriage was by far the best with the addition of Lilliana and the ability to bring home our miracle baby.  She has brought more joy to our lives than we ever thought possible and I don't even remember what life was like without her here.  She made us Momma and Dadda and to hear her say those words just makes us melt.  

I look forward to spending the rest of my life with this amazing man and I thank God for him daily.  He is such an amazing husband and father and I know that he was the man God hand picked for me.  Love ya Clay.

wedding pics

my wonderful bridesmaids

what a handsome groom

mom and I 

Clay with his parent's

the groomsmen

me with Jenn before walking down the aisle

so beautiful

I loved the flower's

Mr. and Mrs. Clay Burchett :)

I love that you can see the stained glass window in this one

riding the Collierville double decker bus to the reception

LSON study group

ready to leave

Wordless Wednesday!

Wilson's Birthday party

Amelia, Lilliana, Wilson, Emerson and Palmer

Lilliana and Wilson

Emerson and Palmer

the kids enjoying their lunch

Lilliana with Clay

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you, 

Happy Birthday dear Wilson, 

Happy Birthday to you!

This morning we headed over to the Mefford's home for Wilson's 2nd birthday party.  Lately he has been completely obsessed with Mickey so that was the theme for the party.  I had bought Lilliana a new party dress for the day and I thought she looked just precious in it.  We really had a great time and I think Wilson will look just very handsome in his new jeans from Lilly.  

 

Wilson opening his gifts

so many fun things to play with :)

look at my pretty dress! 

Drew, Maw with Wilson & Amanda 

his delicious Mickey cake

Wilson and Amanda blowing out his candle

Yummy, cake :)

Lilliana's dessert, yogurt melts and puffs

Me and Lilliana

The Mefford family

Finally

Well, I think I am finally caught up here on my posts.  I am sorry it has taken me so long to do so but things have been crazy around here this summer and I just haven't had time to sit down and put my life into words.  Hopefully, I haven't been written off by too many people because of my long absence.  

Of course it has been an incredibly hot summer here in Memphis and we have tried to stay inside as much as possible.  I will say that the last week has been wonderful with highs in the low 90's.  I have recently started running again in the mornings, which is a first since before I got pregnant with Lilliana but I feel so much better getting out and doing something physical for myself in the mornings.  Clay and I are thinking about investing in a jogging stroller in the near future but we are still researching them and trying to figure out which one to purchase.  

Last Sunday, Lilliana was promoted in the church nursery into the 8-12 month old room and I can't believe it is time for that.  She did really well last Sunday and seemed to like her teachers, as did I, so hopefully we will have a good 4 month's with them.  

The Olympics are in full swing currently and I am completely addicted.  I have stayed up WAY too late in the last week and I have been paying for it come morning.  My favorite events have been swimming and gymnastics and so far we are doing pretty good.  I got a little frustrated last night with gymnastics but in the end I was glad that we pulled out a gold and silver medal in the women's all around finals.  

Lilliana is doing great although I had to take her into the doctor's office yesterday, because she had had a fever for almost 48 hours.  Well, come to find out she has another ear infection and we were prescribed another round of antibiotics.  She is doing much better this time around getting them down and hopefully this will make her feel better.  She has been fever free most of today so we are still planning to head over to Wilson's 2nd birthday party tomorrow.  He is having a MICKEY party and we wouldn't miss it for the world.  I know Clay acts all weird when Wilson starts loving on Lilly but Clay is actually the one he cares most about.  It is so funny.  Every time I see him he asks about Clay and wants to see him.  Amanda can't even tell him that we are coming over because he starts to drive her crazy asking where Clay is.

I promise to do a better job updating in the future.  I think I just let myself get way too behind this time and had trouble catching up.  :)

Continue to scroll down for more updates as there are a lot of them!

she loves to chew on her brush after fixing her

hair :)

she still doesn't have any teeth but she is 

always chewing on things!

so excited about Wilson's birthday party 

invite

Lot's of changes

Well last Thursday upon Clay returning home from work I learned that he had been laid off from his job.  This is not something that we saw coming and of course it is a huge blow to us considering he is is the breadwinner and I am only working a couple of nights a month.  Well, of course the only reasonable option was for me to go back to work more.  As much as I hate it, Clay has solely been supporting our family for over a year now and I think it is time I stepped up to the plate.  

Just before learning of this there was a job opportunity that had become available at work which is a very competitive position I was debating taking.  It was something that I had been praying about because it would require me to work 2 weekend nights a week but the pay is so worth it.  I guess, I got my answer pretty quickly, and realized that we were making the right and best decision for our family.  

I know that this is probably most difficult on Clay because he is just like most men who want to provide for his family the best way he knows how.  We actually see this as a blessing because Clay was and always has been loyal to his employer and he has worked much harder in the last year than ever before and the money was just now what we needed it to be.  We had actually been talking heavily about him searching for another job but I think he would of had a hard time leaving his current position.  So, we just feel like God did us a favor and has helped Clay get rid of some unnessesary baggage.  We actually have been blessed for him to already have gone on 1 interview and has spoken with a handful of employers that are willing to offer him a position working with them.  We are just trying to keep our options open at this point and not make any sort of rash decision.  We both want him to be truly happy at what he does and we are quickly realizing how many more opportunities are out there.     

If anyone knows someone who is looking for a good salesman, just let us know.  Clay previously worked in the Heating and Air Conditioning business as a territory manager so he has 7 years of sales experience.  He also has a degree in International Business so we are pretty open to jobs right now.  Just please keep us in your prayers as, he is really itching to find something soon. 

8 month's young!

So my precious Lilliana is 8 month's young!  I just still can't believe it.  She is growing up so quickly and I just love her more and more each day.  She just gets more and more fun each day.  Since our trip to Nashville she has finally taken to eating baby food a lot better than she had been.  She still would probably just nurse, but I know she needs the calories so we are feeding her breakfast, lunch and dinner combined with nursing about every 4 hours.  

Things she loves to eat are; sweet potatoes, sweet peas, carrots, mixed vegetables (which was green beans, carrots, corn and sweet peas), and broccoli.  She also enjoys her share of bananas, apples and pears and of course her oatmeal.  There is not nearly the selection of organic baby food out there so that is another positive to me making most of her food.  I still buy some baby food because it is a lot more convenient when we go out to eat or head over to a friend's house.  She eats both just as easily, but it is definitely a lot cheaper when I make it.    

Another thing we are working on is  baby sign language.  We try to do the sign for 'more' before each bite we give her but since she is not incredibly interested she doesn't really seem to care one way or the other.  She does love her some puffs and yogurt melts and this is where the sign language works the best.  She likes to fuss when she is out of them and so this is what we are working on.  I also try to use the sign for Momma and Dada when speaking about Clay and I, along with 'eat' and 'cup'.   These are actually the only one's I know so I am going to have to brush up on some more in the coming month's.

Speaking of cup Lilliana is doing such a great job with her sippy.  I purchased some of the Born Free sippys that are BPA free and she is amazing me with how well she is adapting to it.  I guess we started giving her a sippy around 6 month's after many month's of struggling with the bottle.  I had spoken with a lactation consultant and she was the one that suggested me trying a sippy.  She said that if by that point she wasn't taking a bottle, then there was no need to continue to press the issue.  I started by just putting some water in her cup because most of it would come back out of her mouth and she just liked to chew on the spout.  In the last few weeks though I have been putting some breastmilk that I had in the freezer in her cup and so far so good.    

We still struggle at times with naps during the day but most days (when we stay home) she still gets in three.  I guess she will let me know when she is ready to drop one of those naps and I have a feeling it will be her evening one when it comes time to do so.  

Luckily, we don't have a scheduled appointment with Dr. K. this month and we don't have to go back until she is 9 month's old, and that appointment will be an immunization free one.  I still have such a hard time watching her get so upset after she gets her shots so hopefully her next appointment will be a pleasant one.  :) 

Wordless Wednesday!

First love :)

I love it, Wilson just can't get enough of Lilliana and Clay just can't stand that he is always kissing on her :)  It's just puppy love Clay and ya know he is a cute kid, so I approve!

Trip to Nashville

This past weekend Clay and I headed to Nashville for a softball tournament that Clay was participating in.  We left on Friday afternoon and stayed with his cousin's in Lebanon, TN which is just outside of Nashville.  For some reason I have this bad feeling that Lilliana was going to give us a hard time in the car and did she ever!  We weren't even outside of Memphis before she started screaming.  I don't mean a little fuss or whimper.  I mean a full out scream!  It was horrible.  Actually there are no words to describe how difficult the car ride there was.  We tried EVERYTHING, to get her to stop crying and the only thing that worked was getting her out of the car.  We stopped in Jackson to get a bite to eat and then we stopped just outside of Nashville to feed her but besides that we just kept on trucking.  I tried sitting in the back with her, reading her books, turning on her CD's, pulling out every toy I brought with me, trying anything and everything to make her laugh but she was not having any of it.  She literally did not stop until we arrived at the Burchette's and then she acted like a little angel.  You would never have know she had been that angry.  She did sleep like a champ that night considering she refused to  fall asleep in the car and wore herself out crying.  

The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to drive Clay to the softball fields for batting practice and then headed back to the house so that we could get ready for the full day ahead.  Of course it ended up being a sweltering hot weekend so Lilly and I only headed back to watch 1 game.  She continued to dislike the car throughout the weekend so we tried to stay out of it as much as possible. :)  

Lilliana and I stayed around the house for the rest of the day and were able to have a great time playing with Clark and Heather.  Clark is 15 month's old and sadly this is the first time we have been able to meet him.  He is just precious and Lilliana had so much fun getting to know him.  

On the way home we decided to stop by a couple of stores and just make it a leisure drive. We ate an early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then headed back to Memphis.  Lilliana did much better on the drive home, secondary to the fact that I spent the whole drive home in the back seat!  I didn't mind as long as she wasn't screaming :)  

Even though we had a difficult trip with Lilly, we can't wait to go back.  We had such an amazing time with Chris, Heather and Clark and they were such great host's.  

check out pics here :)

Jenn's wedding

This past weekend another one of LSON nursing girls got married.  This time it was Jennifer's turn and she of course looked amazing.  The wedding took place in Covington, TN which is about an hours drive from here so the girl's from Alabama came in to stay with us for the weekend so that we could all go to the wedding together.  It really was such a great time and again we enjoyed the time we had to spend together for the second weekend in the last month.  Clay and Lilliana met us at the reception for a little while until it got past her bedtime and then Clay decided to head home with her.  

Jenn and Ben have just moved to Baton Rouge for Ben to start his practice in plastic surgery and Jenn is still trying to get paperwork complete to get her nursing license there so that she can get to work herself.  It is crazy all the leaps and bounds that are required to get a nursing license in another state!  

We really had a great weekend and were able to enjoy lunch at the Rendezvous here in downtown Memphis on Saturday and bagels from Bogey's each morning.  

check out pics here :)

(we got a new computer and I had to download all of my pics to snapfish and they are no longer on my computer so I am having trouble uploading pics, if the link doesn't work try this)

7 month's young!

Today my little girl is 7 month's young. I still can't believe how quickly the time has flown. She is so much fun and I am enjoying every minute I am given with her.  There have been quite a few changes in her this month and I am beginning to have a difficult time keeping up with her if you know what I mean :)  She is sitting like a champ and has finally taken to eating something other than breast milk.  We are still nursing, which is continuing to go great but she is also now receiving some oatmeal and a fruit for breakfast and oatmeal and a vegetable for dinner.  I have actually made most of her baby food and I have really enjoyed it.  I purchase a lot of her fruits, because I don't like when they turn brown in the freezer but I have purchased some bananas and blueberries fresh to mash up for her.  We are also trying to feed her mostly organic.  I know it is more expensive, but I want to try and give her the best start possible so I just figure it is a sacrifice that we are willing to make.  I purchase her the Earth's Best Oatmeal and have just bought and steamed fresh and frozen organic veggies.  I then place them in ice-cube trays and freeze them before placing them in freezer Ziploc bags.  It is really nice because one bag of frozen veggies makes a ton of baby food and I also am able to puree it to my liking.  I am hoping that it is going to help her with possible texture issues later in life.  It is also so much cheaper than buying baby food, and it has helped Clay and I to eat a little bit healthier since I have more fresh fruits and vegetables around the house these days.  

I feel like her growth has really slowed down a lot lately.  When we went in a month ago for her 6 month check-up she was in the 10 - 25% and I am already a little worried about where she will be when we go back.  We don't have another scheduled appointment until September which will be her 9 month check-up.  I am hoping that in the next month or 2 after some more baby food that she will at least stay on her growth curve and keep this worried momma happy :)  

Adrienne's baby shower

Today at playgroup we threw a baby shower for Angie and her precious daughter Adrienne.  They are such a special family and have been through so much in the last year.  You see, last December Angie gave birth to a daughter named Poppy Joy that had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 around her 20th week of pregnancy.  Angie and her husband Nathan made the decision that God is the only one who takes life away and she chose to carry precious Poppy as long as the Lord had deemed.  She actually was able to carry her until December 1st when she went into labor and delivered her 2nd daughter.  Even though sweet Poppy only lived about 3 hours, she touched so many lives before she even entered this world.  

I remember when Clay and I met the Luce's and felt that from the start they were an amazing family.  It was shortly after that we learned of Poppy's diagnosis and since we had also been through the death of a child our Sunday School teacher asked us to speak with them.  This wasn't something anyone would have needed to ask me to do as it is just one of those clubs that willing or not we were forced into.  They have truly been an inspiration to Clay and I and are such an amazing Christian family.  

The shower we threw today was for their newly adopted daughter Adrienne Christine.  She is truly a gift from God and I know that her big sister Poppy is smiling down on her parent's and so glad that her big sister Marianna is overjoyed with this new arrival.  

Click here on Tracy's blog for pic's :)  I am having trouble getting them to download for some reason.

Oh blog world

Ok, ok I know I am way behind on blogging but thing have been extremely busy here so I will leave you with a few old entries I just plugged in and I promise to finish updating soon :)

First Ear Infection

Father's Day

6 month STATS

stay tuned for more!