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.