2 Years Ago Today...

Two years ago today, Gavin Ridge Varner was born, and my whole world changed in an instant. I love to replay everything in my head and remember those hours leading up to his birth. The day before Gavin was born, Jason and I spent the WHOLE day walking around Westgate Mall and checking out the new Costco - to try to get things moving along. I was already dilated to a "loose 3", so we were just waiting around. That night, Jason grilled me a steak for dinner and mom came over to eat with us. I remember my lower back starting to ache and cramp, and I knew that these were the signs of prelabor. This is a timeline of Gavin's birth. This is mostly for me because I've never really sat down and written everything out. Forgive me if you don't care for the details. 3:30 am - My first real contraction woke me up. I stayed awake waiting on the next one, but fell back to sleep. 4:00 am - Another contraction woke me up. Waited, but fell asleep again. 4:30 am - Another contraction, but this time I got up and went into the living room to sit to wait on the next one. 5:00ish am - Another contraction. I went ahead and took a shower and put my clothes on. 5:30 am - Ate a little bowl of cereal because I knew I'd be starving to death later if I didn't. More contractions. 6:00 am - After sitting in the recliner with a few more contractions, I finally woke Jason up and told him to be getting his shower and clothes on. From 7:00-9:00 am - Jason and I sat in the living room watching TV and timing contractions. Somewhere around 9:00-10:00 am Kelli called me to see what our plans were for the day. We were supposed to go shopping. I told her that I had been having contractions all morning and that I didn't think we'd be going shopping. She must have gotten off the phone and called Mama, because about 5 minutes later, Mama was calling. She was getting off work right then and coming over. (And she said she was upset because I didn't call her the minute I started having contractions. I knew if I had've called her sooner, she would have been in a bigger tizzy than she was right then.) 9:00-11:00 am - Jason and I watched Crocodile Dundee on TV while timing contractions, also while Mom was breathing down our necks to hurry up and go to the hospital. 11:00 am - Crocodile Dundee ends and my contractions were exactly 5 minutes apart. We left for the hospital. 11:15 am - At the hospital, got admitted, and put in a triage room. 11:15 - 12:00 noon - IV, baby monitor, threw up, wanted to kick the nurse in her head for butchering my hand with the IV needle and for not believing me when I told her I was going to throw up (thanks to Jason, he believed me) 12:00 noon - Dilated to a 6, moved to my delivery room, and the epidural man was already waiting on me 12:00 - 2:00ish - Waited, waited, and waited 2:15 pm - doctor checked me, fully dilated, tried to push but Gavin's heart rate kept dropping below 100, put fetal monitor inside me on Gavin's head; doctor went to deliver all other babies and said he'd be back around 5:15 to try again Until 5:15 pm - Waited, waited, and waited 5:15 pm - doctor came back, NICU team arrived to assist, I sat up and threw up again, pushed, Gavin's heart rate dropped again, Gavin's head got stuck, doctor had to use vacuum to hurry and get him out, kept pushing for about 10 minutes NONSTOP... 5:27 pm - I heard my healthy baby boy cry. Other than a cone head from the vacuum, Gavin was perfect. I don't ever remember being nervous about anything during labor. Even when the doctor felt uneasy about Gavin's heart rate, I felt at peace - I guess it's from where I did so much praying. I prayed the whole time (even during the epidural). This is the verse I recited the whole time - "For God did not give me a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 This may sound cheesy, but having Gavin has made me look at childbirth in a whole new light. It blows me away to think about what an awesome miracle God performs everytime when a woman gives birth to a baby. How can anyone experience this and not believe there is a God? It just totally has me awe struck. Thank you, Lord, for giving me Gavin.

Gavin's Birthday Party

This little boy had his 2nd birthday party last night. We invited our families and a few close friends to join us. We had hot dogs, beans, and chips, and topped it off with a cookie cake for dessert. A few dark clouds passed overhead, but God was generous enough to hold off the rain. We had a good time chit chatting with each other while all the kids played in the backyard.

Birthday Boy

Digging in!

Nana

Do I smell cake?

Too many presents!

Puppets from the Abrams

Yo Gabba Gabba green monster dude

(I DESPISE Yo Gabba Gabba, but thanks anyway Mema.)

The Watson Family

The Hitch Family

Playing on the slip-n-slide Harrison playing in the sprinkler

To all our family and friends who could come: thanks for such a great time!

My Brother...A Convict?

Have you been keeping up with the news about the bank robber that police have been searching for? This dude doesn't wear any disguise.

This is a picture I swiped from the WSPA News website of the bank robber.

Do you think this could be the guy? Do you see a resemblance?

Friday Frenzy

Today has been so busy. Tomorrow is Gavin's birthday party so we've been trying to get last minute stuff finished. Jason actually took the day off to help get things ready. He worked his little hiney off cleaning the house up while I was at work (with the help of Kelly). Jason kept Gavin with him today and went to get a hair cut. Gavin's hair hasn't been cut since Easter, so it was getting a little shaggy and hard to tame. He was actually starting to earn the name "Kramer". I knew the cut would probably make Gavin look completely different, so Jason took before and after pictures.

Before the Haircut After the Haircut

Ray's birthday was actually Wednesday, but we celebrated it tonight at Mom's house. Mom always cooks for us for our birthday and she let's the birthday baby choose the menu. Of course, Ray chooses a feast - New Year's Day feast, to be exact. The boy knows how to do some eatin'!

Birthday Boy

This is a picture of the food we had tonight. It was lip-smackin', slap-yo-mama delicious! chicken & dumplins, dressing, collard greens, fried okra, fried squash, and cranberry sauce

I hate that you missed it.

When I Grow Up

I know this is totally random, but it's one of those crazy things that run through this brain of mine: We have all heard the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" all too many times. When I was little, I always remember hearing my friends say astronaut, teacher, nurse, doctor, movie actor, model, ...you know what I'm talking about. I was thinking back to my answer, and I can't ever remember saying anything other than teacher - that I recall. How odd that I followed that path from a little girl till now. It hasn't changed. (Of course, there are other things now that I wish I could be when I "grow up" again in my second life; I'd like to be an entrepreneur: a meat and three restaurant owner, or a girlie sandwich shop owner, a children's bookstore owner, a full time mommy, and a couple other things.) Anyway, what did you want to be as a child, or even a teenager, when you grew up? Did you follow your path? Or did it change? Is there still something that you'd like to be or would like to do?

Today's To Do List & This Week's Menu

Today's To Do List

1. Unload and reload the dishwasher, and straighten the kitchen up AGAIN
2. Turn in Gavin's summer reading log to the Westside Library and return an overdue book that I thought I had already turned in
3. Drop off some information to the doctor's office
4. Go to Hobby Lobby to check for those little chinese take-out boxes for Gavin's party
5. Meet Jason for lunch on his lunch break
6. Go to the grocery store for this week's dinner menu
7. Dust off Mama Pye's old sewing machine to see if it still works so that Mom and I can make curtains for my room at school

*Let's see if I can accomplish all of this.

This Week's Dinner Menu

Tonight - breakfast casserole, grits, fruit

Tuesday - hot dog with chilli (Oscar Myer fat free weenies), french fries

Wednesday - spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Thursday - take-out (because I have a late dentist appt)

Friday - Mom's house for Ray's birthday dinner

Weekend Stuff

My daisies FINALLY bloomed! I've waited all summer long and they decide to bloom at the end of the season! But that's ok, I can enjoy them while they last.

We went to a wedding shower yesterday for my brother's fiancee, Katie, in Hendsonville. She got to meet a lot of her dad's side of the family.

This is where the shower was held - at Katie's aunt's mansion...uh, I mean home.

I wish you could have seen this house - it was sooo nice. It sat up on top of a hill with 2 driveways (one for each level of the house) and a beautifully landscaped yard. The front of the house was nothing but big windows, and when you look out you see the tops of the trees and the tops of the mountains. It was heavenly. There was a library there with sliding wooden doors and a gas log fireplace beside the reading chair. The downstairs was a huge game room, equipped with a kitchenette, pool table, big screen TV, and a hot tub on the outside porch. Of course, the laundry room was my personal favorite. It was the size of 2 bathrooms put together. The door on it was vintage-looking - it was glass (the blurry glass - I don't know the name of it), with soap bubbles and the title "Laundry Room" etched on it. It had the double washer and dryer and also a steamer; a utility sink, and lots of cabinets. It was a woman's paradise.

Even though this house was immaculate and is my new dream house, I started wondering about having to clean all the windows and all the hardwood floors in it. And all of a sudden I was reminded about how thankful I am for my little love shack.

My Thrills for Thursday

The other night I tried to make Tomato Pie. I got the recipe from Meredith. It tasted absolutely delicious! I don't think I dried off enough of the liquid from the tomotoes, though, because it was kind of runny. It didn't matter - it was the hit of the night. Thanks Meredith for the recipe. I'll definitely make it again! I was watching Gavin as he was scribbling with the pen. I noticed his fingers were holding the pen like normal people do - he didn't have his whole hand and fingers clasped around it.

Gavin's birthday is coming up and the theme is going to be puppy dogs. I twisted the art teacher's arm into making the party favor bags for me. She drew the dog's face, then made the ears out of black felt, and then put wiggly eyes on him. The child's name will be written on the bone. Pretty cool, huh?

10 on Tuesday

Ten things I’m thankful for today:

1. I have a job to go to. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed every second of being home this summer, and I really don’t want to be back at school, I’m thankful that I have a job waiting on me. So many recent graduates and others are searching for teaching positions and can’t find one because no one is hiring. I am thankful I don’t have to worry about that.
2. I love our family feasts. When we all get together at Mom’s house, it’s a complete circus. When all 12 of us are there sitting around one table, it gets loud and crowded, and the chaos drives me nuts. (Sometimes I think I need medication, seriously.) But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Being with my family and laughing with each other is the one of the best memories I get to relive often.
3. I thank God for giving me a new day each day to live. He could very easily decide my time is up, but He gives me breath and allows me to hear that dreaded alarm clock each morning.
4. I’m thankful for good fitting blue jeans, especially my Lee jeans that say “instantly slims you”. Anything that says that has my vote immediately!
5. I’m thankful for the evenings when Jason comes home in time for dinner. I love to cook dinner and sit together as a family as we eat. It doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but when it does, I love that time.
6. I’m thankful I have the memories of my great grandmother, Mama Pye. She died when she was 95 and was very wise. She made all of my Sunday dresses when I was little, and made my security blanket that I used all the way into high school, and I even took it with me to North Greenville. It has such great sentimental value.
7. I’m thankful that we have enough money to pay for our bills each month. I hear and read about people all the time struggling to make ends meet. I thank God that he has provided Jason and me with enough money to take care of our finances.
8. I’m thankful I married a husband who is such a hard worker. Jason is a perfectionist and takes his job seriously. He won’t leave until his work is done. I know I can count on him to provide for our family.
9. I’m thankful for friends who set an example for the way Christian women should act. They don’t know it, but they challenge me to be better than I am now, just through their actions and words. I’m thankful God placed them in my path.
10. And of course, I’m thankful for my Gavin. He may have hit the Terrible Twos and be absolutely wild, but I love that boy more than I thought I ever had room in my heart for. God gave me a healthy and easy pregnancy with him, and he was born perfect. I thank God for His protection from the very beginning and His continued protection around Gavin each day.

Outdoor Weekend Adventure

*Warning: This post is long. Summer vacation is coming to an end. So for one last hoorah before I have to return to school this Thursday, we decided to go camping with Paul, Kelli, and the kids, and Mom and Dad. I've never been camping like this before, so this was a new experience for me. (Although I had a really good time, I will always love the comfort of my own bed, my own toilet, and my own shower more.) Here are some pictures from our trip to Unicoi State Park in Georgia. But I have to explain the first 2 pictures so you'll understand why I'm posting them: Paul and Kelli take the kids all the time and do camping adventures and explore new places. Paul is quite the adventurer. He loves to go off the beaten path to see where roads lead and see different sights. There is no such thing as a straight drive to the destination. You can always count on many stops. So, our first stop was in Fair Play, near where Paul grew up. He took us to the cemetery where his grandparents are buried. After leaving the cemetery we wound thru all kinds of roads and crossed a lake for a hydroelectric power plant...Lake Burton. According to Paul's GPS, he found a street that circled the whole lake, so we decided to take the small road to see this lake. Now, before I continue, you need to imagine what we looked like...a large older model of a Chevy Suburban loaded down with 7 people, a bike rack on the tail, and pulling a pop-up camper; then following that Suburban was a big Toyota truck loaded down with everything in the bed, and also pulling another pop-up camper. It was like a train - kind of resembled the Clampants? As we go down the small road, it becomes a one lane gravel road with a steep cliff on one side. Jason had a bad feeling about it, but we followed anyway. The one lane road ended and there was no where to go. Thankfully, there was a house at the very end, so we were VERY fortunate that Jason could barely turn our train around and pull back down where Paul and Kelli's Suburban got stuck. They had to pull into someone's driveway, unhook everything, turn the car around, and then hook everything back up again before we could make our way out. Everyone thought it was funny, except me of course, because that's not what I call fun. When we got back down to the main road, we noticed the sign said "Dead End" but we didn't know it at the beginning because the whole sign had been turned the opposite direction. You really had to be there to experience the full effect, but this is the best I can explain it.

The rest of the trip was great. Once we got settled in and the campers set up, we were able to relax.

The Breakfast Man

We went to Brasstown Bald - the highest point in Georgia. This picture was taken at the bottom of the mountain. I forgot my camera in the truck, so I didn't get any pictures at the very top. I could have kicked myself for that.

Gavin's enjoying his ice cream push-up after we got back off the mountain.

We also went to a place called Anna Ruby Falls. The men decided to be brave and hike the 5 mile trail to the falls. It only took them 2 hours. The women drove to the top to meet them when they were finished.

I thought this picture was cool. Even though we drove to the top, we still had to park and walk about 1/2 mile to actually reach the water falls. This tree was on the trail. It's growing out of the rock.

After we got back from Anna Ruby Falls, we cleaned up and rode into Helen, GA to visit the shops.

2 cool guys

Some other lovely highlights from our trip: Kelli was stung by a yellow jacket, an animal ate thru our bags of bread while we were out sight seeing, Gavin fell out of a buggie at a nearby Walmart, I slammed my ankle in the door of the shuttle bus that took us to the top of a mountain and I said a bad word in front of the other guests on the bus when it happened, and a deer walked up near to our campsite...about 20-30 feet away. What else? Ohh, so many more things.

But like I said, I really enjoyed the trip, but there is NOTHING better than the blessing and comfort of my own home. Home sweet home.

Shipwreck Cove

We had the best morning this morning. My friend Kelly and I took our kids to Shipwreck Cove to play in the water. I've heard the hooplah about it all summer, but hadn't gone...until today. It was sooo much fun, (except for 3 daycare centers being there), and perfect for Gavin. The water was the perfect depth for him to splash around in, but still be safe. And to give some props to Kelly...I love how she schedules her activities with the kids. When she first told me that we would meet at the park at 9:45 am, I thought she was crazy. Waterpark @ 9:45? But it was perfect. The kids were worn out in 2 hours (plenty of time for me as well), ate lunch, and came home for a nap! Perfect timing! She's also told me that they do their outside play first thing in the morning and get it out of the way before it gets too hot. Too smart, Kelly. I have so much more to learn about managing playtime. Anyway, here are some pictures from our super fun morning. Thanks Kel - I had a great time.

Lake Lure

Kelli and I took the kids to Lake Lure to play on the "beach". I wish we had gone there earlier in the summer. It was perfect for Gavin. He was able to play in the sand and dirt, which of course he loved more than anything else there, and he was able to get out into the water without being knocked down by any waves. After we played in the lake for a while, we went over to the water park area where the kids played under the water fountains. We were only there for 3 hours, but that was plenty of time to wear the kids out so that they'd take a LONG nap.

Yes, I'm letting my child drink a soda. Shame on me.

Happy Birthday, Jason

Jason turned 28 yesterday (yeah, he's a young pup). He gets 3 birthday celebrations. First, we celebrated with his Mom, and his sister and her family at Olive Garden on Sunday evening.

Amy, Jeff, Parker, and Harrison

Jason with his Mom and Amy

Then, we celebrated last night with his Dad and Robin. I cooked Jason a special birthday dinner: stuffed pasta, salad, and garlic bread. I set the table and everything! We used cloth napkins and I even pulled out my goblets! We did it up right. (Considering we usually just eat out of paper plates and use an assortment of mismatched plastic cups)

Jason and his Dad

Gavin is helping Jason eat his cake.

Then, on Thursday evening, we'll celebrate his birthday with my family at 5 Guys Burgers on Pelham Road. I LOVE that place. (I picked it for him.) He's pretty lucky to have a week-long birthday celelbration, huh?