Garner Family, Party of 4

I don't know if I'm mentally capable at this point to process what's really going on! :) I can't believe we are a family of four now and that there is one more sweet little spirit laying on the bed right now that we get to take care of. It's incredible.

I had an appointment on Monday, right after Richie's mom and brother got here Sunday night, and she told me I was dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced. Since I was 1 day overdue, she would let me decide if I wanted to go the induction route at that point. We decided to wait and see if she'd come on her own. Luckily for the sake of our patience, I started having regular contractions that night at about 7. I labored at home while we watched "You've Got Mail" till about midnight. By that point my contractions were more regular and difficult. They continued to get worse at the hospital, but I wanted to try and go without medication if possible, so I tried the whole walking, jacuzzi thing, but wimped out after about 5 or so hours. Oh blessed drugs. Next kid, I'm just calling the hospital in advance and telling them to get the drugs ready. While I had labored without drugs I only progressed maybe from a 4 to a 6, maybe 7. After I got the epidural, it took about 1 hour for me to get to a 10! Richie had to run into work to drop off the keys, so we were glad Gwen waited for me to push till he got back, cause she was ready! I pushed for about 15 minutes and she was here! Full head of dark hair and everything! The official stats being: March 22, 2011, 9 lbs 3 oz, 20.25 inches long, 14.75 head circumference, 8:41 A.M. Full name, Gwendalyn Louise Garner. Gwen, just because we liked it, Louise after both my mom and Richie's mom!

Not that this process was easy or void of throwing up etc, but I'm AMAZED at how much easier child #2 was! Especially the recovery process so far. Let's hope this keeps up! We are so grateful that Richie's mom and brother were here when I went into labor so that Miles was in good hands. He is Tanner's shadow, I think and I'm nervous for when he leaves! Miles seems to be handling the situation fabulously so far, although I still don't think he understands that this baby is a permanent thing. :) Enough talk, here's some pictures!

New Addition!

Betcha you were thinking there would be picture of a cute little baby on this post! I WISH! The new addition I'm referring to is our new mode of transportation.
TA-DA!



Say hello to the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan in a stunning shade of red. I can't believe we own a mini-van. I didn't think this day would come so quickly. We thought we'd squish in our Corolla until #3 came along, but after we put the baby car seat in the car, and we all had our knees up to our chests, we started to reconsider. Sure we could have squished, but with a cross country trip this summer, we were beginning to feel it was more of a necessity. We got a great deal on it from people we know and so far, so good. I don't feel like it's really ours yet. Maybe after I clean it myself, get the "other people smell" out of it, and know what all the buttons do, then I'll feel like it's ours. It's the first car Richie or I have ever purchased and by far the biggest check we've EVER written. So, all in all, it was a red-letter day for the Garners. Now all I need to make the transition complete is a pair of these. :)

Ticking Time Bomb

Has anyone noticed that little pregnancy timer in the corner of the blog? How it has a "1" in front?? Well I sure have. A lady in my ward was sympathizing with me the other day and said that you're really pregnant for 8 months and 1 year. SO TRUE! This last month has really been dragging. I no longer have that major nesting instinct and find myself wanting to do nothing but lay on the couch. I think this is making me more impatient. Here's to hoping that these are the last belly shots you will see. Richie wanted to take them on Sunday and I obliged since I actually felt decent. However, this Sunday was the beginning of the worst swelling I've had thus far in the pregnancy and you can tell if you check out those cankles in one of the pictures. However, I'm trying to count my blessings. I was significantly more swollen with Miles starting at 2 months or more before I delivered, so I guess I should be glad it's not worse at this point. Some other positives of being pregnant:
*My belly button is SO easy to clean!
*I hardly ever have to shave my legs. I swear scientists should study me when I'm pregnant because I have almost no hair growth the entire 9 months. I think I may have shaved my legs 5 times since I got pregnant, which is great considering they are hard to get to these days.
* I get to rock both of my babies at the same time relatively easily still. I love snuggling with Miles and feeling Gwen move at the same time.

ok...that's all I got. Besides those things...I'm done. I had an appointment yesterday and found I tested positive for group B strep, or whatever that virus is called, so I'll have to be on special antibiotics when I go into labor. I was also dilated to a 2, but she said that doesn't really mean anything at this point. Dang it!


As for the housing update...I should probably just keep my mouth shut until something is final, because plans keep changing on a daily basis. The house next to Porter Park is now our second choice because we found an apartment that's in the ward and is super cheap, but would work great for us...That's all I'm going to say because it will probably be something different tomorrow.

Can't get ahead...

We try to be nice and pay back people we owe from favors and things, and just when we think we've caught up and we're even with everyone, someone has to go and do something incredibly nice for us! It seems it's usually that way, and we'll always be indebted to those around us for their kindness.
This weekend some friends of mine threw me a "sprinkle" for upcoming baby Gwen! We didn't want a full on shower, so they just sprinkled me with a party. :) It was fun to get together with ladies in the ward and socialize. We had great food, a fun little game or two, and once again, everyone was far too generous to us with gifts and things. Here's a picture of the delicious spread. I should have taken more pictures, but it's a struggle these days for some reason!



Something new I've been trying with Miles is "school". He seems to be soaking in everything and learning quickly these days which is so fun. He was acting really interested in letters, so I thought I should probably try and foster that. I don't feel the need to get him 'ahead' or push him, but I thought it would be fun for him and make me feel like if I didn't get anything else productive done during the day, at least we did 'school'. There's a link on the side called "Brightly Beaming Resources" and it's curriculum a lady has compiled over the years for all ages. Pretty cool, yes!? So Miles and I are working on the preparatory curriculum to the "Letter of the Week" program. This week we learned about cows, A, 1, and squares. Pretty exciting stuff! This next week we learn about jungles, B, 2, and green. To be honest, I don't think any of it really sunk in...:) But I think he had fun and it is good time together.




In other news, we are no longer staying in the ward. We are disappointed, but simply couldn't afford what the apartment turned out to cost. We have however found a sweet deal in Rexburg to live in a house (converted into 2 apartments, we would have the top floor) that's right across the street from Porter Park! So that's looking good.