"Look Who's Talking"

Mollie: So you're the one who was kicking me.

Mikey: Well, you're the one who ate all that spicy food.

Being the spicy food eater that I am and always have been, I can't imagine that Everleigh is totally satisfied with all of the salsa, jalapeños, chili sauces, etc that I shovel down when I get the notion.  But, she never seems to mind that much.  I can only imagine what she is thinking sometimes.  If babies in the womb could remember what they heard, I think a lot of mommies (and daddies) would be in trouble.  For instance, when Kendall and I are walking through a store and he insists on singing EVERY song that comes to mind in a not-so-quiet voice right near my ear, and I give him a hearty "Can you please just shut up?!?"....yeah, it's not very nice of me, but come on!!  Or when I sing old school rap songs at the top of my lungs in the car...I bet she doesn't care to hear my rendition of Ludacris-"What's Your Fantasy."  I definitely do not want her to remind me of my finest moments of pregnancy one day.  

Speaking of "talking"...I am sure that fellow preggos out there can totally empathize with me when I say that some comments, words of advice, and "stories" are better left untold.  I love hearing compliments about how I look, but telling me that I am going to be "humongous?" Gee, thanks, you shouldn't have! Literally.  And beginning conversations with the line, "Hey, did you hear about that lady who died while getting an epidural?"  Everleigh almost learned a new word that day.  

I am a firm believer that every person, woman, and pregnancy is totally different.  Every mommy is different as well.  The kind of parent that I want to be and the decisions that I make are all mine.  Telling me "how it's gonna be" when I am a parent does not scare me in the least.  This is my first time, but I'm a fast learner.  I don't know a lot about parenting, and it will be hard.  But, I have a LOT of experience with children.  I know that Everleigh is an individual.  Whether she wants a paci or "lovey", sleeps all night, cries about everything and nothing at the same time, or poops golden eggs, she is loved, cherished, awesome, and mine!  It doesn't get any easier than that! :)

I have come home on many occasions on a major grump-fest telling Kendall about things people have said that just made me feel fat, ugly, and stupid.  His way of calming me down one day was to show me a website of awesome t-shirts about pregnancy that he found.  He said, "Just buy these and wear them."

Funny stuff, right? And in regards to the one above, I really don't mind people touching my belly at all!  I just put it because I pictured myself grabbing someone's boob and it made me laugh.  In all seriousness, the best thing to tell a pregnant chick is to just do what she feels is right, pray like crazy, and everything will just fall into place.  

That, my friends, is something to talk about :)

"28 Weeks Later"

I am now caught up on pregnant life and am clocking in at 28 weeks.  I can honestly say without a doubt that I LOVE being pregnant.  It is the greatest, most life changing thing that has ever happened to me.  The highlight of my day is sitting down at night and just feeling her do karate moves inside my belly.  When I'm in a bad mood or in depression mode for whatever hormonal reason, and I feel her move, all of those emotions go away and are replaced by the most unexplainable happiness.  Everything I do, every thought I have, and everywhere I go revolves around her, and she's not even here yet!  I have heard a lot of things in my 28 weeks...but that is an entirely different entry.

Some belly action

28 Weeks

27 Weeks

"Dumb and Dumber"

Saying dumb things, doing dumb things, hearing things...all part of...wait, I forgot what I was going to say.  On a daily basis, I find that my mind is leaving more and more.  I forget where I put things, say things that make no sense, and have recently developed deafness in both ears.  My brain no longer processes information the way it used to, and I have to write down EVERYTHING!  I've read that this happens during pregnancy, but I'm not sure I expected the severity of it in myself.  I must say that while it is embarrassing to say and do "dumb" things, I am glad that I can attribute it to a cause...for the moment at least.

"The Sword in the Stone"

At 25 weeks, I could honestly say that I had no complaints about pregnancy thus far.  I was blessed with only about four weeks of nausea,  one terrible migraine, my husband had not yet divorced me for being a lunatic, and I had energy to burn (on most days that is).  It wasn't until I woke up one morning feeling like someone was holding my bladder in their hand and squeezing it like a stress ball, that I said "Okay, this sucks."  I went to work as usual and tried to blame the pain on my poor, innocent little girl.  I just assumed that she was sitting directly on my bladder and would not move. Stubborn like daddy :) Ha!  But as the day went on, the pain only got worse.  I couldn't stop moving and felt very afraid by the pain in my stomach.  By 1:00, I knew I had to call the doctor.  They told me to come in to do a urinalysis and that they would let me know asap what the problem was.  The nurse just thought it was a UTI or something crazy like that.  When I got a call at 4:30 saying, "Julie, it's not a UTI..it's kidney stones,"  I really just wanted to give up.  I had never felt so helpless and I cried...a lot.  The combination of pain, emotions, pain, confusion, and more pain just did me in.  I really can't describe it, but it really felt like someone jabbing a sword through my stomach, into my ribs, and all the way through my back.  The worst part?  There was NOTHING I could do but drink water and go to the emergency room if I couldn't take the pain.  So, I rocked back and forth, prayed, and drank three liters of water in two hours.  Gradually, the pain started to go away and I'm pretty sure it passed that night.  

Now that it's all over, I don't even remember the pain.  Let's hope labor is the same way...except next time, I would really like to pass a baby instead of a stone.

"The Haunting"

Now that we knew we were having a precious little girl to call our very own, it was finally time to start on the nursery.  We moved into our new house in January after months and months of searching for the perfect place.  I signed the contract in October and it seemed like it took FOREVER for us to close.  Little did we know when we decided on our house that we would be making room for a baby...immediately.  We designated a room that would be Baby's when we started moving in.  The other room was the office, which was pretty set up.  I am quite the lazy un-packer so boxes took up space for quite some time.  One day, I went into the baby's room to clean up so I could start getting an idea of what I wanted to do with the nursery. As I spent time in the room and really "took it all in" I realized that I felt a little unsettled.  Although the room was spacious and a tad bigger than the office, it wasn't as bright or welcoming as I thought a nursery should be.  

Back track to the months of house hunting:  We started looking at houses at the end of April 2010.  Since we had already set a projected date for our wedding, we wanted to have a house lined up for around that time- October at least.  We looked and looked, then we looked some more.  I chose houses, and Kendall chose houses.  I had a routine every time we went to look at a house.  I would go in, sit on the floor, and picture myself living there.  If it seemed promising, I would say I needed to sleep on it.  If I didn't like a house...well...it was haunted.  I'm not sure how many times I actually said, "Yeah, I don't like this place.  It's haunted," but I know Kendall got tired of hearing it.  And why wouldn't he?  I basically said that about every house HE picked!  Not intentionally...he just likes older houses and those tend to freak me out.  Needless to say, we finally found a house that was "ghost-free."  Until....

As I kept cleaning out the room, I just decided to myself that it wasn't good enough for my Everleigh.  So, I decided that it was haunted.  And who wants their baby living in a haunted room?  No one.  I knew that getting Kendall to agree to switch rooms and move all of his stuff would be a hard sale but I was going for it.   Just as I suspected, he said no before I could even argue my case.

"Oh, come on Kendall, there's not THAT much stuff to be moved!  I'll do it!"

"No, you better not lift anything!"

"Can we pleeeease just switch rooms??? That other room is haunted! I'm pretty sure there is a ghost living in the closet."

After stomping around and whining like a kid in a toy store who was just denied a...toy, he finally gave in.  I was satisfied. Hopefully Everleigh will be, too!

A Sneak Peek of Nursery-ness

  

Everleigh Claire Greer

On April 7th, we went in for the official "Is it a he or a she?" ultrasound.  I had anticipated this visit for what seemed like years and could not hold back the excitement of finding out if we were having a son or daughter.  While taking bets from coworkers about the gender, I was as convinced as they were that we were having a boy.  The morning of the appointment, I decided to drink a very small cup of coffee to make sure that he/she would be awake and not have his/her legs closed.  I found this strategy to not be nearly as beneficial as I expected it to be.  The little one squirmed, kicked, rolled, and just would not be still AT ALL. And of course the modest child decided to put its little hand between its legs.  I had to lay on my side and the technician had to jiggle my belly a few times before finally making the announcement...

"Are you ready?  She's a beautiful baby girl!"

I did it, yes, I screamed a little.  But so did my mom.  We were secretly hoping for a sweet girl, even though a boy would have been spectacular as well.  Kendall was happy, too!  So we were finally able to put a name with a fetus...Miss Everleigh Claire Greer.  For those wondering, the name Everleigh comes from a combination of wonderful ladies in my life--my Mom, Memaw, and Nana.  It was a name that we picked out before we even got married. Claire is just cute--simple and southern.  We spent the rest of the day shopping for girly stuff...best day ever!

"Heavyweights"

 

Yes, feeling like I needed desperate intervention at a fat camp crept over me before my first trimester even came to a close.  I had so many anxieties about gaining too much weight while pregnant.
I have never been a skinny person...more on the "thick" side, which is fine when you think no one is looking.  But when you're pregnant, EVERYONE is looking!  Being the extremely insecure person that I am, I decided early on that I wanted to gain weight in moderation and not succumb to grease-filled cravings or chocolaty deliciousness-es that called my name on a daily basis.  A diet full of fruit, veggies, protein, and the occasional guilty treat was what I settled for...and it has paid off so far!  Although a heavyweight I am, as long as Baby is healthy, that's all that matters to me!

Speaking of heavy...some belly pics from along the way

11 Weeks                                                                 

 15 Weeks

16 Weeks

18 Weeks

"9 1/2 Weeks"

My first appointment with Dr. Hearn was January 13th.  I had been waiting for the day sooo impatiently and I was so nervous sitting in the waiting room with Kendall and my mom.  When we got into a room, the ultrasound equipment was ready and my heart was beating almost through my chest.  All I needed to see was a little peanut and I would be okay.  Sure enough...

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  I stared at the screen in awe of this tiny little being that was growing inside of me.  I was overcome with emotion and relief that it was all actually real.  Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was also one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life.  I have never heard a more amazing sound.  It was at that moment that I actually believed in "love at first sight."

The 9 1/2 Weeks part?  Well, when I went to the doctor he said I was 9 weeks and 1 day.  But the significant part was that around 9 1/2 weeks, I felt no more nausea or morning sickness.  I never actually got sick, just felt queasy and uncomfortable.  Bottom line, four weeks of feeling like I may have to throw up but never actually doing it? I'll take it!

Also, a profile belly view at 9 1/2 weeks...

"Baby On Board"

Announcing that Kendall and I had a "baby on board" was something that took a lot of thought.  I knew that the fact that we were married would make it much easier to tell my family, so I found comfort in that.  However, we had only been married three months and I did not know what to expect.  I assumed that I would get a lot of "Couldn't y'all have waited? or "So soon?" type comments, so when I called my mom the next day, I braced myself for...well, anything.  I didn't make small talk.  I just went right into

 "So mom, are you sitting down?"

Mom: Yes.

Me: ...."I'm pregnant."

Mom: "What? Oh I'm going to cry.  Have you been to the doctor?"

Me: No. I don't think I'm very far along at all.

Mom:  "Well, let me go.  I'll call you back later."

Me: "I'm sorry if you are mad..." (I didn't know why she was letting me go so suddenly!)

A brief intermission ensued, just long enough to make me think that I had somehow, some way disappointed my mom.  Yet, I could not think of one reason why!  My phone rings...

Mom: "AAAAAHHHHH!!!  I'm so excited!!! I'm sorry I let you go, I just had to go into another room so I could scream!"

Me: "Hahaha! So you're not mad?"

Mom:  "NO!! I'm jumping on my bed!!"

Long convo short, everything was fine and no one was mad.  The good news came just in time for Christmas, something that my family really needed to hear at the time.  I had always heard that it takes one life ending for another to begin, and I knew that my Nana must have something to do with it :)  Thank you, Nana!

I left the rest of the announcing to my family in the hands of my mom.  She was so tickled about the whole thing, that I just had to let her tell everyone.  To tell Kendall's family, we waited until Christmas get-togethers. At his dad's and grandma's, we filled out Christmas cards saying Merry Christmas!  Love, Kendall, Julie and Baby Greer.  Seeing the facial expressions as everyone read the cards was priceless.  It was quite emotional, and I think we did a great job surprising everyone!

"Knocked Up"

I'll start off my super special pregnancy blog adventures by saying that I feel the above phrase to be offensive in my situation.  I am in no way so inappropriately termed "knocked up."  I like to think of myself as "expecting" or "with child"- something tender like that :)  However, bringing my own personal style to each entry is important to me.  Since the hubby, Kendall, and I are huge movie buffs, I have decided to title each blogging experience by using a movie title.  It just makes me happy.  And you have to admit that "Knocked Up" is a great and hilarious movie.  

So here's the story of how we found out:  All I knew was that I was "late."  I didn't feel anything strange except the urge to vomit when I saw alcohol related commercials.  I decided that this combination was a little strange and that we should take a test.  I was very nonchalant about the whole thing, never expecting to see this:

...and yes, there are two of them.  I was convinced that a false positive was a normal possibility, only to be laughed at on the other end of the phone by my friend, Jenna.  But two positives? Wow!  I was surprised/stunned/excited/all of the above!  Most of all, I was HAPPY!  I had always wanted a baby, but had a different plan.  God doesn't care about our plans and he sent an angel that immediately changed my life.  All this went down on December 19th, 2010, a day that I will remember forever...and a day!  Of course, I still wondered if it was too good to be true, so I took two more tests the following week to be sure.  As I suspected, they were also positive.  This made my finding out around 5 weeks along.  Now, to make the announcement...