6 Weeks Old

Jack was 6 weeks old last Wednesday (I'm a week late posting). He has already changed so much! His reflux is getting better. Some days are worse than others, but since the doctor upped his dosage, he is doing even better. For the last 3 weeks he has had problems pooping. The doctor had us give him suppositories. This was not fun and very hard to do with a newborn! It worked at first but then it stopped helping. We also tried giving him water-downed prune juice. That did not help either. We weren't quite sure what the problem was. My doctor said that some babies go a week without pooping. I really felt like there was more too it than that (he had a problem pooping when he was first born). He said to give it the weekend and if he still hadn't gone to go in. This past Monday, it had been 9 days, so we went to see the doctor. He had to "open" Jack up (sorry, it's gross). Finally, yesterday he pooped (a lot)! Since he finally went, he feels so much better. He was the happiest I had ever seen him. He has always seemed uncomfortable and now we know why. Hopefully, we will not have this problem again!

Things I want to remember about Jack at 6 weeks:
*he is smiling a lot more now, especially for Allie
*starting to coo a little
*weighed 13lbs. 4 0z. at the doc the other day (big boy!)
*loves to snuggle
*loves his swing
*loves his bouncy seat
*loves being held and is spoiled rotten because of this
*sleeps anywhere between 4-6 hrs at night; I usually only get up once
*great in the car and takes a lot of naps in his car seat
*likes his baths
*when he is mad he is going to let you know it and scream until he is happy again!
*takes naps in his bed, sleeps at night in his bassinet; will also nap in his swing or his favorite place: mommy and daddy!

A little tummy time. Jack loves being on his tummy!

Look at his big belly!

1st smile we were able to capture! Looks a little like Allie to me in this picture.

Loves his baths

He loves his big sister! Anytime he hears her talking he will turn his head to see her. Love their matching shirts. Allie still adores Jack! She is so in love with him.

Mother's Day Tea

Allie's class at preschool had a Mother's Day Tea for all of the little one's mommies. I am so glad that I am not working right now so I could go enjoy that special time with my girl. Allie has the most wonderful teachers. They had everything set up so nicely. We got to make a craft together, eat yummy breakfast foods and fruits and hear our little ones recite Psalm 139. Allie said the entire Psalm! I have it recorded but she was being so shy, you can't hear her saying it. You can only see her mouth moving. I'm going to try and get her to do it for me at the house. She loves to put on a show but gets very embarrassed in front of other people she doesn't know very well. Allie made me a lot of sweet, special things. Homemade presents are the best!

God has blessed me with such a sweet and caring daughter. I love her so much and can't believe how big she is.

Allie is wearing the hat she made for me. Isn't it festive?

Allie's wonderful teachers. Miss Melissa, Miss Tara, and Miss Heather. They each told me how loving and caring she is at school. She loves to give them hugs and tell them she loves them. I'm so glad she loves her teachers and behaves well at school.

Allie's sweet little girl friends at school. Couldn't get a picture of the boys.

This picture has nothing to do with the tea. I took this picture before Allie went to a Fancy Nancy birthday party. She loves to pose and I just had to add it! It really captures her personality.

Four Weeks Old

(Jack at 4 weeks)

It's hard to believe that Jack was four weeks old on Wednesday. He will be one month on Saturday! We have enjoyed every minute with our little man. I haven't been very good at adding pictures of Jack, so I've added a few that I've taken since we've been home.
Jack has been a very sweet and good natured baby for the most part. He is very much like Allie. We had to wake him to eat for every meal for the first two weeks (yes even at night!). He is a very good eater and sleeper. We've had some tummy issues (I can no longer eat salad; which makes me sad b/c I love salad) but we think those are over for the most part.

Starting this past Sunday, Jack started being very fussy! He wanted to eat non stop and he wasn't giving me enough time to make more milk. He was spitting up a lot (which is why he was hungry) and he wasn't resting well. He never seemed to be get in a deep enough sleep; very restless. Sunday night started our first night of bad sleep. He would wake up after 1 1/2 to 2 hrs and that was a fitful sleep. We had 3 nights like this. I could not figure out what was going on with him. Needless to say the only person in our house getting enough rest was Allie! I was an emotional wreck and Jarod was exhausted too! Finally, I decided to call and make an appt. with the doc. I had noticed that his spitting up had gotten worse since Sunday and thought the problem might be reflux. He's always spit up quite a bit, but it wasn't very frequent and we contributed it to gas.

After talking with the doctor yesterday, my little man does have reflux. Poor thing! We have him on medicine now two times a day, I have to feed him in an upright position and burp him for how long he eats, then keep him upright for around 20 min. Plus, we have to elevate his bed. We are hoping that it doesn't take long to outgrow. He is just so pitiful when he spits up. I have already seen an improvement since late yesterday afternoon. He is still spiting up, but not quite as often. Last night we all got a better nights rest! Hopefully it will continue now that his tummy is feeling a little better.

*they weighed him yesterday and he is now 11lbs.(BIG BOY). Obviously, his spitting up has not affected his weight :)

Jack at 3 weeks

Jack at 3 weeks

Jack at 2 weeks

Jack at 1 week

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!