Just Say Julie

A single pregnancy lasts a long time.  9 months, 40 weeks, 2/3 of a year.  However you want to look at it, it is still a long time.  And when you are the one who is pregnant, it seems to stretch out like an eternity before you.  Never ending or maybe that is the way you want to imagine it in your mind.  But at the same time, it goes by so fast you almost miss it.  At least that is the way it is for me.  I tell people I only have 3 months left and they tell me it will be here before I know it.  But to me, it feels like it was just yesterday that I found out Jackson was on his way. Thinking back over the last 6 months today, I realized that pregnancy is nothing but a big waiting game. After the initial thrill of finding out you are pregnant, you have to wait until you find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.  Then you have to wait again until you actually have to baby.  In between those moments, there are a lot of little moments: hearing the heartbeat for the first time, feeling the fi

I can't say that Easter Weekend was anything overly exciting in our household.  However, a couple of funny (or at least interesting to me) things happened that I thought I might share. I ran home after work on Friday before running errands and let Maverick out.  As I was getting ready to leave for my pedicure, I went outside to let the pup back in.  He was no where to be found.  My yard isn't that big and there is no where for him to hide except his dog house, even the gate was closed so I panicked.  Turns out he found a hole under our fence and had decided he needed a play date with the neighbor's 9 month old boxer puppy.  Good thing the two dogs get along well.  But still, it was nerve wracking until I realized where he was and got him back on my side of the fence.  The amusing part was watching him lay on his side to crawl back under the fence with the biggest grin on his face.  Fat doggy almost didn't make it back through the hole.  We have temporarily filled it w

Chris and I were able to go register for baby gear a couple of weeks ago.   We went into the experience with an idea of what we wanted.  I had read a lot of reviews on various brands and had a pretty good  idea of the brands I was leaning towards.  Beyond that, it was a matter of picking out a fabric I liked.  One thing I hadn't taken into consideration was the weight of some of the products we would be shopping for.  I was surprised at how heavy some of the car seats and strollers were and quickly realized that some of them I wouldn't be able to handle on my own.  We quickly scrapped our plans of registering for the travel system I had initially picked out and decided to look at the other options in the store.  After one of the clerks in the store tried to talk us into a $300 travel system, we finally settled on a separate car seat and stroller that we had looked at as a joke to begin with until we realized the weight was good and we actually liked the pattern.  Further explor

After I posted the news that it's a boy, I realized I failed to mention that we had decided on a name.  Several people have asked so I thought I would share a little bit of the background on how we decided to name our son.  Chris and I struggled with names before we knew what the baby was.  We would toss at ideas that would get knocked down until we finally settled on one girl's name.  We went into the ultrasound still thinking the baby was a girl which worked out fine since we only had a girl's name picked out.  I think I was in denial that it could possibly be a boy.  After the ultrasound revealed our boy, Chris and I went to Chick Fil A for breakfast where the realization set in that our baby didn't have a name.  So it was time to start the discussion over and see if we could come up with a boy's name we both liked. Using family names is sort of a tradition in my family.  My brothers and I all have family names.  My niece and nephew have family names.  Even Chr

In my previous post , I mentioned I was going home to see my aunt receive an award from the college we both attended.  I realized I hadn't mentioned too much about Judson on here so I thought it was time to share a little background information.  I completed my bachelor's degree at a small liberal arts college in west central Alabama called Judson College . Not to be confused with Judson University in Illinois, my Judson isn't your typical college.  It is a Southern Baptist women's college, one of only 44 women's college remaining in the nation today.  It was founded in 1838 and was named after Ann Hasseltine Judson, America's first female foreign missionary.  Obviously, this is a place full of history and tradition and I was honored to be a part of the legacy of Judson women. So my trip home found me spending most of my time not in my home town but in the town I spent 4 years of my life, learning and growing and becoming part of the person I am today.  J-Day

I flew home to Alabama last weekend to see my aunt receive an award from the college we both attended.  As is always my luck, my trip did not go as planned.  It never seems to fail that I have issues traveling when I am trying to get somewhere for something.  This trip was no exception.  And factor in being nearly 6 months pregnant and that made the day all that much more fun.  After taking Kiddo to school, Chris and I headed south towards the airport stopping for breakfast at Chick Fil A and a quick Target run on the way.  Just the day before, I had been telling him the story of my 16 hour trip to Alabama in 2007.  I guess I jinxed myself because Thursday turned out to be much the same. We arrived at the airport around 9 for my 10:20 flight and everything was going swimmingly until the plane that was supposed to take me to DFW arrived.  Apparently the plane needed maintenance and no one was certain how long that would take.  The flight was cancelled.  At that point, cell phones cam