A Tribute to My Love

I was going through some of my old blog postings from Xanga and I came across this post about Jon while he was in Iraq. I've decided to repost it in honor of him being a wondeful father, an amazing husband, and the manliest man I know :) Here's to MY HERO, the love of my life!! You're my best friend and I will always, always believe in you!!

November 6, 2005

Song stuck in my head…Holding out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. Most people probably remember this song from the memorable, heart-racing, action-packed “Storming the Castle” scene from Shrek 2. Others recall the 80s pop sensation Bonnie Tyler. Me, I think of a Stetson’s cologne commercial back when I was 8 or 10. I remember hearing this song and having this image burned into my heart of what a real man looks like. It was more than just the open shirt with the broad chest and blazing eyes and the sexy five-o’clock shadow peppering a chiseled jawline (although…oh la la). It was the actions of these men. The cowboy (probably wearing a Stetson cowboy hat) heaving bails of hay off a trailer under the unrelenting sun, the lawyer with gleaming eyes attacking the courtroom, a man in tattered denim (it was the early 90s remember) standing by a motorcycle with the woman wrapped in his arms, and might I add a man in uniform standing in honor and unflinching duty, clutching his rifle. They’re living with PASSION! A man WORKS, he PROVIDES, he PROTECTS, and he’s supposed to be DANGEROUS!
The song starts out with, “Where have all the good men gone?” Where indeed are all the real men? Yet, as I search, I’m finding more and more rising out of the ashes like a phoenix, eyes flashing and ready for a fight. I’m finding more men of faith who are busting out of their grandmother’s religion to find Truth at its source, to seek out Jesus the Christ with all of their hearts! These are men who will fight for the Kingdom of God; they’ll fight for the nations, for the tearing down of strongholds, for salvation among the lost, for the restoration of broken souls. And they will be VICTORIOUS! Women are hungry for these kind of men! We are hungry for men who mimic the attitude and the spirit of Jesus, our hero! Because we need a hero! And we’re willing to wait until the morning light! “He’s gotta be strong, he’s gotta be fast, and he’s gotta be fresh from the fight!!” This is a dedication to THOSE men, specifically to MY man, who is a phoenix and a warrior, he is a hero to this maiden.

Jon being promoted to Corporal

Abi the Wonderful

I have decided I am going to be a spoiled mama with this little baby!!! God has given me a baby that doesn't cry...yet. Oh sure she cries when she takes a bath and she's all cold. And she cries when something is wrong: "I'm too hot!" "I'm too cold!" "I'm hungry!" "I'm wet!" "I have a poopy diaper!" "I have gas!" But as soon as you rectify the situation, she stops crying. Immediately. For example: We're in the basement organizing our storage locker and Abigail is in her car seat sleeping soundly with a blanket on her. Well, it was rather stuffy down there and about 30 minutes into our cleaning, she starts fussing and wailing. I look at her and she's red and just looks hot. So I took the blanket off her and she stopped wailing, mid-wail, and continued sleeping. And it's not really crying either! It's more like a loud fussing. Now this could all be due to the fact that she's only a week old and hasn't truly found her lung power yet. Or it could be that God has given us the best baby to learn how to be parents!!

More about Abi!! She was born with lots of hair, not as much as mommy when she was born, but a fair amount! She also has mom's "chipmunk cheeks" which are these little fat pouches up by her eyes, in addition to her big fat cheeks! Other traits in common with me are her hairline that touches her eyebrows, her forehead, her long fingers, her monkey toes, her complexion, and her pug nose :) Traits she gets from dad are her little ears and perhaps her mouth. We are still hoping she has Jon's eyes. It's kind of hard to tell at this point - they're always closed! She definitely has Jon's expressions! It's cute to watch her make the same faces he does when he stretches in the morning :) And they're both just as difficult to wake from a sound sleep.

Would you like to hear a funny story?
Jon (to Abigail): "Are you daddy's little girl?"
Abigail: **toot**
Jon: "Yes you are!!!"

And as dreamy as Abi is, she has "baptized" the dresser at the end of the changing table with carefully aimed projectile poo. I couldn't stop laughing!!! She is just the delight of our hearts!!! Life will never be the same, but I don't think we would want it to be.

Abigail Carin Gill!!!

Just a quick note about our little daughter Abigail!!!

She was born at 7:26pm on August 11th after 32 hours of continuous labor and 41 hours of labor altogether...with no meds except some morphine after about 25 hours just so I could get some sleep!!

Little girl was 8 lbs 11 oz, and 21 1/2 inches long :) She has beautiful dark hair like momma and long beautiful fingers and toes!!!

Her name Abigail means "My father's joy" and her middle name Carin is Greek for "favored and given grace."

Well, I am pooped. I'll be writing more later when I'm not writing from the hospital.

So...am I in labor or what?!

39 weeks and 2 days...5 days until "D-Day"

Last night I went to sleep like most people do at the end of the day when the sun goes down and they're tired. And I slept like most people do when they sleep...with my eyes shut, breathing in and out, dreaming about living on a farm as a fox, surrounded in a sea of pillows. At 2:47 am I woke up feeling REALLY uncomfortable. I couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. So I laid there as this discomfort coursed through my abdomen. Then it occurred to me...IS THIS A CONTRACTION?! OH MY GOSHNESS!!!! After it passed I shifted around and noticed my back was aching a lot more than usual. OOO! I thought to myself. I remember reading about back pain as a sign of the early phase of labor!! So of course I started to get all giddy and I reached inside the bedstand to get out a notepad and pen and I nerdily, geekily, dorkily, excitedly started recording when the contractions started happening and counting how long they endured. I say nerdily, geekily, dorkily because all reason told me to try to go back to sleep because if this WAS labor, I was going to need all the sleep I could get! But no way! I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! The baby was moving so much between contractions I thought it was practicing the disco in there. In reality, baby was dropping lower and lower and stretching himself out longer in my abdomen.

After a while of thrashing around in the bed, I decided to get up and eat an english muffin. I was hungry and I didn't want to wake Jon up from all my movement. It was almost 4:00 am at this point. I ate my delicious muffin and reread the chapter on labor and delivery in What to Expect when You're Expecting. Then I resolved myself to try to get some more sleep. The contractions were getting more regular now! Maybe 10 minutes apart and lasting for 30 seconds! I held off on waking Jon until a more godly hour, hoping that at least HE could get some sleep. So around 5:00 am I went back to bed and continued to take notice of my contractions. But then I noticed it would be maybe 15 and even 20 minutes between contractions and they were losing intensity and only lasting 15 seconds or so. I got really disappointed and almost started to cry. Was this all a false alarm? Was I going to be able to meet my baby today or would it still be weeks away??? Come back contractions!! I silently prayed. I'm sorry if you didn't like the english muffin, I was just hungry!! But my pleas were to no avail. It was 6:00 am. I couldn't stand laying there anymore because I wasn't tired. So I got up and took a shower. Then I thought to myself If baby DOES come today, I'll at least have the dishes done. So I tackled our mountain of dishes. 8:00 am. I laid back down and fell asleep until Jon finally woke me up around 10.

"Brenda??"

He noticed I had changed clothes, that I had laid down some towels on the bed (in case my water broke), and...

"I saw your notepad!!! Why didn't you wake me?!?!" He scolded.
"I wanted you to get some good sleep, and besides...they went away."
"I know, but you should have woken me up! I've been looking forward to this, too!"
After some back and forth, I finally promised that I wouldn't let him sleep through my contractions again, no matter how irregular they were. He shared in my grief that my contractions had slowed down or maybe even stopped altogether. After a call to the nurse-line at the hospital and some advice to "stay a little active, but don't go too far from home" I did what any lady who wanted to jumpstart her labor would do: I went to Ikea. Jon and I returned some shelves and bought a little office organizer on castors!! That's where we'll put our scotch tape and rubber bands and paper clips. I'm glad. While we were there I started getting those old familiar feelings and even enjoyed a contraction while Jon pushed me in the parking lot on the little rolly cart.

At 12:45pm Jon reluctantly left for work, but gave me strict instructions about when to call him, how to call him, etc. And now at 1:30, I am seeing the contractions coming back...10 - 20 minutes apart but lasting 30 - 40 seconds. So what I want to know is...AM I IN LABOR OR WHAT?!