1 year old, already!!!

Wow! Can't believe it's been a year. Sunday, September 30th was my oldest grandson, James McCarthy ( Mac) Huntley's birthday.

Let me take ya back 9 months before this day. A bunch of us ( mama, daddy, Lisa, Logan, Sammy, Kinsley, and Me) when to visit Ryan and Beth, it was spring break. First, I gotta tell ya this, if you are traveling with Sammy Darwin, he liked to drive half way and spend the night no matter how far. If you are traveling with Jackie Bryant (daddy), he thinks its crazy to throw money away on a hotel room when you can drive all night. Being he is the elder, its was an all nighter. All in a Oldsmobile van. We left around 4 in the afternoon and it takes 10 hours, destination Jacksonville, Fla, thats without bathroom stops, so you know it took a little longer. FEMALES! Oh about two in the morning these two are getting tired and Sammy starts calling around for us a hotel. Now the rest of us is all laid out, you know we got the drooling going on and as comfortable as we can get. We hear Sammy making calls and we all wake up. He made several calls but it was spring break and normal people had called ahead and gotten all the rooms. Heck, we got to cuttin' up, laughing, some singing (Logan) and carrying on, them two got their second wind. They decided we would roll on since everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Of course, after it was all said and done daddy said, "well there wasn't a room at the inn for us either".

We didn't tell Beth or Ryan what time we would be arriving and there is nothing like a surprise at 6 in the morning. Actually, we got to Jacksonville a little after 5 but we didn't wanna go barging in that early so we gave them another hour. We found a restaurant opened and ate breakfast.
We pull up in the drive way and Logan makes the..... phone call

Logan: Beth we have had breakfast and we are sitting outside your house.
Beth: Still sleepy; yeah, ok. sure. She hangs up the phone and tells Ryan. They both agreed their not in town, his joking so they laughed and go back to sleep.
Well, we waited a little bit, then we start slamming doors. Beth said, her eyes flew open and she said, OMG! they're here!!!

That night they ordered pizza and while waiting on the pizza to be delivered, we were all sitting around in one room just talking. In the mean time Beth has Logan and Kinsley upstairs telling them the plan. Logan needs to make sure Charlie (their dog) goes to me and Kinsley is to record it. So.... in walks Charlie with a shirt on. He is thrown in my lap and I read the shirt to myself, Lil Bro effective October, 2011 and everyone starts laughing. All I'm thinking is why are they calling Charlie "B.R.O.".I read it over and over to myself. Now I know all that bunch didn't get it either cause some of us aren't that smart but they wouldn't admit it. Well it took me a little while and finally I read it out loud and then I realized excally what it meant. Then I SCREAMED!!! Kinsley got it all on video. We immediately called home to tell the others Beth and Ryan are having a baby. We were one Happy bunch!! Beth said, if they ever had another announcement to make again, they would go a different route or just come right out and tell us. It took too longgggg. Sorry, Beth.

We get the call to come, Sammy and I left 2 days early, so you know we spent the night somewhere, that was on a Wednesday. I got to spend Thursday afternoon with Beth painting signs (It's a boy) (Its a girl) for her door arrangement I had made. Later that night Sammy and I sat with them watching a tape on how to, swaddle a baby. Swaddle????? I 'd never heard of such. I thought Mama Helen was gonna come out in me before that was over.lol!!! You know one of her special words.

Friday, the next morning Beth was being induced so they had to be at the hospital early. Me being the best mom EVER, told them I would carry their luggage to the car. Now I don't know what happen but as I was coming down their stairs (about 15 steps) me and that luggage got all tangled up and we missed about 5 steps. Lord that hurt!!! OUCH!! They were outside waiting and didn't hear all the commotion but it got ole Sammy out of bed. I'm sure he was thinking he was back in California and a earthquake had hit. He was at the top of the steps looking down on me and says," what ya doing." I said, "Oh, I thought I'd sleep on the steps with their luggage". He said, Ummmm! Now I love that man but if I could have gotten to him I believe I would have given him a gentle push. Instead, I say, go on back to bed while I drag this luggage and my leg to their car. By the time I got outside I was smiling but when they drove off, I didn't know if I would make it back in the house. Just too much excitement for this new Grammy!

We get to the hospital around nine or so. Ryan's parents are already there.You know babies don't get in a hurry especially if you are induced, so we wait and wait. Around lunch time they ask Beth if she is ready for her epidural. Y'all get this, she says, no I think I wanna know what the pain feels like. Linda ( Ryan's mom, which had three sons) and I just look at each other. I'm thinkin',ain't that every girls dream. NOT! When that ONE real pain hit, Beth said, GET HER BACK IN HERE, I"M READY. Lord at this point I wanted one. I don't like seeing my kids in pain. She got the epidural and we wait............. and wait..................

Later that night The Huntley's and us decided we would go grab a bite to eat. Mac was in no hurry at all. We leave and go a few blocks away to Zaxby's. The very minute we sit down waiting on our order, Linda gets a call from Ryan, she dilated to 9.?????? Brad (Ryan's dad) and Sammy tell the kids behind the counter, WE NEED THIS ORDER TO Go, NOWWWWW! Then they told them what our hurry was and those kids got so excited. Other people were there ready to order but they (workers) told them, a baby is coming and we gotta get their order. Even the girl sweeping stopped what she was doing and help sack our order. If we weren't excited before we got there, we sure was when we left. Zaxby's was a Hoop-n-Hollering! when we went out the door.

We made it back in time and so did Ryan's brothers and wives. We all sat in the waiting room, guessing if Mac would be a September or October baby and what would be the arrival time. I remember Kinsley was so mad cause she had guessed October 1st and he was born September 30th at 11:59.

You know so much has happened in a year, who would have believed, excitement and devastation. We have a few pictures of Sammy and Kinsley with Mac and I know as time goes on he will hear plenty of stories about them. I know the night he was born he had one special angel watching over him and now he has three.

Dear Lord,
We thank you for James McCarthy Huntley, our lil' Mac for one of the happiest days of our life. He is truly blessed to have Ryan and Beth as his parents and I'm so glad you picked them for him. Of course you know Lord it only starts with his parents, he has grandparents, great grandparents.uncles,(great) aunts (great) and many cousins and lots of friends who love him soooo much. May you watch over and protect him all the days of his life. Amen,