Merry Christmas!

Santa came to visit all the kids at Dal's parent's house. It was so great to see the kids so excited when they opened the door and Santa standing on the front porch with a bag of gifts!!! The kid in the picture on the right with the brown hair and blue sweater is Preston (one of our nephews).

Each kid got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him alllll they wanted for Christmas. There are lots of little kids (10 boys and 1 girl, I think!) at the Davis Family Christmas party, so Santa got an ear full. This is Carter (nephew) telling Santa that he wanted a Smart Cycle.

Dal with nephews, Carter and Lake. Carter is wearing this funny hat that my brother (Brent) gave Dal for Christmas....he got it in Scotland. Brent always gives Dal one "funny gag gift" for Christmas....it's become a tradition, I guess!!!


Our niece's big present from Santa this year was a kitchen. Just for the record, I put all the stickers on this kitchen (there were a TON of them too) and even placed the play food on the plates and bowls. Anna was set to play first thing on Christmas morning! I guess we better get used to putting all those stickers on toys because we'll be doing it soon enough for our own little one!!! It definitely gave me new respect knowing how late my parents must have stayed up for us when we were young!!!

This is the newest addition to the Ellis Family. This is my 4 month old cousin, Coleman. He's a chunker and oh so cute!









Typical sisters! This is a picture of three other cousins of mine...Jessica, Jamie, and Kristina. They are the sweetest girls, even though the picture might not show it :)

Quick Update

Not too much is going on in the Davis house. We went to see our fertility Dr. last week and everything went great! The baby is actually measuring about 1 1/2 weeks larger than expected. Guess that means one of two things: The baby either wants to develop quickly so he/she can get out sooner than July 18th or I'm going to have to deliver one big ol baby! haha!!

Our Dr. also released us from her care, so now I can go to a regular Ob/Gyn!!! It was bitter sweet walking out of the fertility clinic for the last time. I've visited that place so many times over the past 1 1/2 years and got to know the nurses and Dr.'s so well that it was kinda sad to say goodbye! I guess I got so comfortable with them, that I wanted to take them with me throughout our pregnancy!

I'm still having LOTS of morning sickness and I'm so ready for that to pass! Hopefully soon right?!!?

I don't have any pictures to post right now, but with Christmas right around the corner, I'm sure I'll have some soon!

Answers to all those burning ?'s....

Many people have called or emailed me asking all sorts of questions concerning our experience with fertility treatment. I decided to post the answers on here...hopefully this won't get too long!

After trying to get pregnant on our own for a year, we went to the St. Vincent's fertility clinic. They tested us and the only thing they found "wrong" was that I wasn't ovulating. So, they gave me some fertility pills called Clomid. It really didn't help me ovulate and after 4 months of taking Clomid I was ready to move on to something else. Because St. Vincent's policy is to use the least aggressive meds as possible, I decided to change clinics.

That's when I called someone who I knew used a different clinic. I asked her a million questions and sent her a million emails (thanks again "N" for putting up with my nagging). We decided to use the ART Program at Brookwood hospital.
I can't say enough good things about this place. We used Dr. Houserman and she is awesome. But I saw all four Dr.'s while going there, and they are all wonderful in my opinion.

Dr. H started me on Follistim injections. Dal gave me a series of shots for one week in hopes that my ovaries would produce several follicles (follicles are like eggs that your ovaries release during ovulation). Well it worked and I released 4 follicles! The only thing I could think about was that 4 follicles could turn into 4 babies!! Yikes! But we didn't get pregnant on that cycle.

The next month I had procedure done to see if both of my tubes were open (which they were!). So, we did another round of the injections which resulted in a "I'm sorry but your pregnancy test came back negative" phone call.

Then it came time for me to have surgery to see if I had endometriosis. The surgery was quick and I had no endo at all!!! Soooo, we were back on the baby train. We stuck with the injections, since they were working in the sense that I was ovulating. Result: another "I'm sorry" phone call. Now, were classified as "unexplained infertility".

By this time, we were emotionally and physically drained. I was like a zombie by this point and was convinced that it just wasn't going to happen for us. After all, it had been over a year since we first started going through treatment.

Reluctantly, we decided to move onto IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). We had been putting this off because it's pretty invasive and VERY expensive. We hated to spend $12,000 on this procedure but knew that if it got us a baby, it would be worth it. Our appointment with our Dr. was a little over a month out and we just had to wait now.

The day after I made that appointment, our Dr. called and suggested that we do one more round of injections before doing IVF...this time though, she wanted to increase our dosage by a lot! We agreed to doing one more round....after all, what could it hurt right!?!? It's a good thing we did, because it worked!!! I released 6 follicles, and thankfully only one implanted!!!

You know the rest of the story and how thankful we are!

BIG News!!!!!!!!!!

As some of you may know, Dal and I have been trying to get pregnant for what seems like Forever now. Now, after years of trying and going through so much fertility treatment, we feel so blessed to say that we are finally expecting!!!! Baby Davis should make his/her debut sometime around July 18th. We can't tell you how happy and truly blessed we feel.

It's been such a long and emotional road for us and we have to thank our friends and family for your love, support, and most importantly, your prayers. Going through fertility treatment for the past year and a half has been difficult, to put it mildly. My body felt like a worn pin cushion from all the injections that was needed to help us get pregnant. Not to mention the numerous emotional meltdowns I had...which could have probably qualified me to be considered insane!! haha! Prayers from family and friends, combined with God's refusal to let us give up, and Dal's consistent optimism were the only thing that got us through such hard times.

I am still under the care of my fertility Dr. and going once a week for ultrasounds...which we don't mind at all! :) Seeing the heartbeat for the first time last week was soooo amazing!!!! I just can't wait to see the baby grow over the next 8 months! We feel like God has granted us a miracle and words cannot describe just how grateful we are. We just ask that you continue praying for us and a healthy baby....we still have a ways to go before he/she gets here!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

My friends and I have a Pumkin Carving Party every year. This year, I actually carved this pumpkin myself! I'm really proud because I'm NOT creative and have NO artistic ability! I drew the ghost on the pumpkin (free hand) and then carved it!

Just a typical Friday night!

This is every coach's wife's life! We live our lives around seasons...and by seasons I don't mean Summer, Winter.etc. I'm talking about fooball Season, baseball Season and so on. I'm not complaining though...I love every minute of it!

We went to the Hoover/Vestavia football game a few weeks ago. Vestavia didn't win this game, but at least we still made the playoffs! We might meet up again with Hoover in the playoffs...that would be great!! This isn't the best picture of me but it's the most recent one we have together!

Roll Tide!

Ok so I know I'm a little late in posting these pictures, but it was one of the BEST Bama games I've ever been to!!! Amanda and I went to the UA/TN game a couple of weeks ago. My brother even came into town from Houston just to see the game! Guess that shows what our family will do to see a Bama game huh! Dal didn't get to go :( He is a huge FSU fan and they had a big game that day as well that he wanted to watch on tv. Also, it was our nephew's 5th birthday party, so he didn't want to miss that.

The picture of the empty seats was the Tennessee section in the 4th quarter!! I guess they didn't want to stick around for the Rammer Jammer song!!

Hiking with our nephews

Jill and her kids recently came down to visit, so Dal and I decided to take everyone on a hike!! In case you ever want to go on some trails or for a jog, there is a really neat trail near The Preserve in Hoover (The Moss Oak Preserve). The boys were so cute in their camo!!! Lake had a knife and Carter had a stick....they carried these "weapons" to protect us from the "Alabama bears" :)

Here are a few pictures of Dal with the boys. Please excuse the way I look in the picture...I have no makeup on...yikes!

The Garden Conservatory at the Bellagio

I've never been to Las Vegas during the Fall...I've always gone during the summer when it's like 110 degrees. The conservatory at the Bellagio changes with the seasons, so this was the first time I've seen the Fall decorations. It is soo pretty!

Last Vegas trip for a while!

I recently went to Vegas with my two good friends, Sara Katherine and Brooke. Needless to say, we had a blast. The weather was great. Not too hot like it is during the summer. As much fun as I have in Vegas, this will be my last trip for a while. Three visits in one year is enough for me!

I love my Grandparents!!

Years and years ago......






Today!.....

The top picture is my Grandparents taken a long time ago...we believe sometime around 1943. My grandfather thinks he was 17 years old in the picture (that's when he enlisted in the Navy) which would make my grandmother the about same age. Today, my grandfather is 81 and my grandmother is 80. And they are still sooo in love!!! Such a great example of a wonderful marriage!

Beach Trip with the girls!

Last weekend was a girl's weekend at the beach. We had a great time. The weather was great and the girls and I had a blast. After a day in the sun, we ate at Sea n Suds then headed to FloraBama. I felt like an old fart when I was constantly yawning at 11:30!! You can see from the pictures that I got a bit burned!

Ruler of the house

I couldn't post a picture of Dal and me without posting one of our Abee-dog!!

Our Summer Projects

When we weren't in Las Vegas, we spent the summer remodeling/updating the house. We definitely had our work cut out for us! Dal, his dad, and uncle did most of the work. They added on a basement room (I will post pictures of that later), installed new countertops in our kitchen, etc.. Dal and I actually tore out the old countertops ourselves!!! I was so proud of us!

The summer of Vegas 07

This past summer of definitely a "Vegas Summer" for me. First, I went to Vegas with my parents and brother...Dal couldn't go :( Then, two weeks later, Dal and I went to Vegas with two of our friends, Kris and Sara. Believe it or not, I'm going back in October with two friends for a girl's trip. Needless to say, after this year, I won't be going back for a while!! I had a blast on both trips!! This picture was taken on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

Just getting started

I'm still learning how to work this thing. It might take a while because I have to set it on private. There's just something scary about Dal's high school students and their knowledge of computers and photoshop....you just never know what they could do with a photo if they came across it! So we have set it so that only "invited readers" can see the blog.

There isn't anything too exciting going on in our lives right now. Dal still teaches and coaches at Vestavia and I'm still selling Real Estate!! I also teach a few dance classes at Lynn Pruitt's studio...teaching those precious little girls keeps me laughing!! We moved in May (our 3rd move in 4 years!)....I guess that's what you get when you're married to a Realtor! We love the house we're in now and plan on staying here for a while...or until I find something else :) j/k
It's hard to believe we celebrated our 4th anniversary this past June! I can still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday! Right now, our only child is our dog Abee. She is definitely a spoiled little dog!