Allie Jane is Four

It is hard to imagine that Allie is fours years old. I am in denial! I can't believe how quickly the last four years have gone. When I hold Jack, it makes me want to hold him longer because he won't be this way for long!

Allie's birthday was on Saturday and we had a busy day! We started the morning off with her b-day present from us (a big girl bike) and biscuits for breakfast. Then we all got ready for her soccer game. Mimi and Poppy came out to watch even though it was drizzling off and on. Jack and I also went to cheer on our favorite girl. We celebrated her party at McDonald's with friends and family. I didn't capture a lot of pictures b/c I was busy running around and visiting with friends since I don't get out much right now! I think Allie had a wonderful time playing with her friends. She was very sad to leave. She is so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in her life. Thank you to all who took part in celebrating such a special day.

Allie is such a big girl and has really matured a lot this past year. She is a wonderful big sister and loves Jack so much. She is not tired of him yet! She loves to help out whenever she can and love and kiss on him. I really feel like her personality is coming out more and more. She loves to perform for us (sing and dance). She is shy in front of others, but once she gets comfortable, watch out, you never know what she will do or say. I think she says very witty things and Jarod and I laugh at her all of the time. She loves going to school and can't wait to be in kindergarten (which is a year a way). She knows all of her capital letters, lowercase letters, sounds and is learning how to spell and break words apart by sounds. She finally told me the other day she is ready for me to teach her how to read. This was music to my ears!! I know what we will be working on this summer. She loves to read, sing, dance, play outside, draw, color and use her imagination!!! She can count to 20 and with assistance up to 50. We are so proud of our little girl and so blessed that God gave her to us to be raised as one of his children.

Allie loves Princess and the Frog (we had a little mishap with the cake).

The cake was yummy and the lady that made it did a fabulous job!

Daddy and his princess

Mommy and her princess

We went to eat at a Mexican restaurant after the party and decided to squeeze in a family pic. Sorry for the beer logos behind us. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Jack during the party. He slept the entire time in his car seat.

We decided to get a few pics when we got home. Look at how tan Jack looks!

I think Jack is looking for food.

Daddy and his little man

*the top picture of Allie in her tutu really captures her personality! She loves to pose. Thanks Kristen for the adorable tutu! You did a great job and Allie LOVES wearing it!

Jack's Birthday

This post is mainly to document the events of Jack's birthday. If you don't feel like reading it, skip to the pictures!
A couple of weeks ago, Jarod and I decided that we would be induced on the 24th of March. I won't go into why we chose to, but I know we made the right choice. I saw the doctor late afternoon on Monday, March 22nd. I was dilated to a 1 1/2 and 40% effaced. On Tuesday I felt a lot of changes going on in my body. I had taken the day off to get some last things done. I stayed busy and never stopped moving.
Jarod and I got the hospital at 7:30 in the morning. We dropped off Allie at Ms. Carmen's on our way. She was so excited about becoming a big sister! After we got checked in and everything set up, nurse Rhonda checked me and I was dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. A big change since Monday afternoon. I was already having a lot of contractions and they started pitocin around 8:45. My doctor was supposed to get to the hospital by 8:30 to break my water. For two hours, I was having very strong contractions and my doctor had still not shown up. Shortly after 10:30, he arrived and broke my water. Wow, that was something else. Immediately, my contractions came even harder and closer together. I was already a 6 when he broke my water. I decided shortly after that I wanted the epidural.
I have to say, my experience with the epidural was horrible. It was a piece of cake with Allie. I don't know what the deal was this time, but it did not go well. The hardest part was that I could not see Jarod while I was getting it and between the pain of labor and the pain the lady was putting me through, I was having a hard time staying calm. My wonderful nurse finally grabbed my hand and just rubbed it and really helped me relax. Once the drugs were in, it did slow down my contractions, but for the first time in months, nothing in my body hurt. It was very weird.
Around 12, I tried resting for a bit. I had only slept for 3 hrs. the night before. Jarod and my dad went and got lunch. By 1 or so, everything started progressing very quickly. I had a lot of pressure and my nurse came in around 1:30 and said that I was now at a 9 1/2. The problem was Jack refused to drop all the way down in the birth canal. He was still high in my ribs, which seemed weird since I was feeling so much pressure. Nurse Rhonda had me lay on my side to see if we could get Jack to move. He didn't move so then I switched sides. He was moving some, but still not enough. Then she had me push 4 times just to get him fully engaged. By then it was 2:00. We called my doc and he was on his way. This was a little frustrating, because Jack was ready and I was ready! I honestly have no idea what time my doc got there, but once he was there, a team of people came in and we were ready to to!
I pushed 3 times and Jack entered the world at 2:42 pm. We were all very shocked at how big he was. (9lbs. 4oz. and 21 1/4 in.) My doctor had told me 7 1/2 lbs. He was off by two! While we watched them clean him up I couldn't get over how big he was. He had a double chin and little rolls. After he got all clean, they let me have Jack. I got to hold him for the first hour of his life. It was truly amazing. I enjoyed his first hour of life so much and it is something I will always cherish. After Jack and I had skin to skin time and feeding time, Jarod held him for a while and then he went and got Allie. Allie was so excited to meet her little brother. She had been waiting a long time for him. After we had our family time, my parents, aunt and uncle came in to join us.
Jack's birth was an amazing experience. Our hospital created such a wonderful atmosphere for us as a family (much different from when we had Allie). We had tons of support from all of our nurses while we were there.
It's hard to believe that my little man is almost a week old. We are enjoying every moment with him. I will post more about our first week together sometime later this week!

This was on our board when we first got there.

First time Allie saw Jack

Allie holding her new baby brother

Nurse Rhonda: she was awesome!

Allie loving on Jack

Family of Four

Getting ready to go home! My mom made the blanket that Jack is laying on.

Already to go!

Introducing... Jack Gavin Varner

Jack Gavin Varner arrived Wednesday, March 24th at 2:40 pm. He weighed in at 9lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 1/4in. long! We were all surprised at his size. No wonder I was so uncomfortable. He is just a precious baby and we are so blessed to have a healthy baby boy. I will try to post more about that day when we all go home.

Spring Break Fun

I had a wonderful Spring Break with Allie. Weird that it will be the last one just the two of us. Next year, Jack will be a part of our week of fun. We stayed pretty busy and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. We had a play date with a group of mom's and their kiddoes. 3 of our kids are all within a month to 6 weeks of each other. We always have a great time when we get together. The kids had a wonderful time playing Super Heroes! Check out my Super Girl

Then, our crazy Texas weather took an ugly turn...SNOW on the first day of Spring. We were very sad that we could not play outside anymore. Allie liked seeing the snow, but she was really happy when it melted. Our pretty spring weather returned to us on Monday.

*For those of you who do not know, Jack will be here sometime tomorrow! We are so excited and anxious. Please pray that we have a safe and healthy delivery!

Work Showers

Jarod and I were both lucky to have a shower for Jack from our work places. Both had yummy cake, great people and cute gifts for Jack. We are so blessed to work with so many wonderful, caring and thoughtful people.

I think I'm 35 weeks here.

Cake at Jarod's work shower... Adorable!

Allie got to be a part of the shower at Jarod's work. She loved the cake but loved opening all of the presents for her baby brother the best!

My Bags Are Packed...

Well, my bags are almost packed and I am ready to go! It's hard to believe I'm only 2 weeks away from my due date. Where has the time gone? I feel like parts of this pregnancy have gone by slowly and other parts have just flown by. This pregnancy has been harder than mine with Allie. I think what has made it harder is that Jack is sitting on my sciatic nerve. That makes night time very hard at my house. I feel terrible when I wake Jarod up. The last couple of nights have been pretty bad and this morning I could barely walk around the house. Thank goodness for Spring Break and a sweet, caring little girl.

I'm feeling a lot of different emotions these days. Crazy hormones! I'm not worried so much about delivery and bringing home a newborn, I am more worried and concerned about Allie. Some of you who have two children or more, may understand how I am feeling. I just don't want her to feel left out or forgotten. I want her to be a big part of all of this and I don't want her to feel like I've abandoned her. We have talked to her a lot about it and I think it helps that she is almost 4 b/c she seems to understand a lot of what we are saying. But, I know that this will still be hard for her. This will all be an adjustment for all of us and that is what has me the most worried. I just want to make sure I make the right decisions for her.

Allie is so excited that Jack will be here very soon. She talks to him and about him all of the time. She is absolutely and completely in love with him already. She can't wait to help, sing and teach him things. She loved looking at sleepers, onesies and gowns today. She always wants to get him something every time we go to the store. We did let her pick out a gift to give him when he gets here and I also got a gift "from" Jack to give to her at the hospital. A lot of people had suggested that we do that and I think she will love getting a gift from her brother.

Even though I am very uncomfortable and ready for Jack to be here, I am sad that our days of a family of 3 are coming to an end. It has been 3 for almost 4 years and it's hard to imagine it any other way, but I am looking forward to the new adventures of a family of four and the love and joy that Jack will bring to our lives.

If any of you have any words of wisdom or advice during this time of transition, I am all ears!

Girls Weekend

About a month ago, (I know I'm behind again) a group of us girls went to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a relaxing and pampering weekend. We are all friends from college and have stayed close. I miss these girls all so much. I'm so glad we were able to find a weekend for us all to be together. I wish we could of had one more day together. We had lots of yummy food, massages, mani/pedi, watched a chick flick and had tons of laughter. Being together brought back lots of great memories. Thanks girls for helping make this happen. I hope we can do it again soon!

Our first night at dinner: Courtney Phillips Smith, Stacey Black Stewart (18 weeks preg), Courtney Craddock Reasons, Becky Madewell Beasley and Me

My sweet friends in downtown Hot Springs

This was at dinner on Saturday night. I think we laughed the most this night.

The three of us were roomies in college.

These two girls have been friends since they were kids.