Just Say Julie

I decided to take a pregnancy test a year ago today on a whim after watching the episode of Life Unexpected where Shiri Appleby's character found out she was pregnant.  Something about her symptoms struck a cord with me.  I had been feeling off but didn't think much about it. Imagine my shock when I took the test (alone since Chris was at work) and it was positive.  (I took 3 more before it was over it just to reassure myself.)  I read the directions about 5 times to make sure I was reading the test right and then I took a second one to make sure.  It was so hard not to be able to share my excitement with Chris once the initial shock wore off.  Trying to sleep after learning that news was awful. I could barely wait till he got home the next morning.  I called him as soon as his shift was over to see what he had to say about the numerous texts he had received over the evening. I was always on the fence about becoming a mother but I feared I would miss out if I didn't at le

This little guy is four months old today! Some days it is hard for me to believe that it has been that long and some days it feels like he has been a part of my life for much longer.  I am having such a fun time with him right now.  He is really starting to interact and react to us.  I love his smiles and laughs.  Knowing those are waiting for me when I get home gets me through the day.  According to his check up this past Tuesday, Jackson now weighs 15 pounds and 5 ounces and he is 26 inches long.  He is pretty much average (50th percentile) for weight but he is on the tall side (86th percentile).  Not sure how my kid ended up tall.  We will see if that lasts.   I realized I didn't do a 3 month update so I will cover some of those highlights here as well.  J started daycare just over a month ago and has done really well with it so far. I get a little jealous when I see him snuggling with his teacher, Miss Jordan, but it makes me feel better that he is comfortable and

You won't find me talking about stepparenting on here very often for a variety of reasons.  I am concerned that things I say might be taken negatively when they are intended to be as well as the boundaries of discussing a child that isn't mine on the internet.  I know as Jackson's mother, I wouldn't want him being a topic of conversation on the internet by someone else.  I can only hope that Sean's mother feels the same way.  However, there are times when I will lift the censor long enough to address something I really feel like I need to share.  This is one of those times. A couple of weeks ago, someone posted a link to this post on Twitter: This is not a Bonus Mom .  Obviously my curiosity was peaked so I had to check it out.  And boy, was I glad that I did.  For the first time since becoming a stepmom (and even while we dating/engaged), I felt like someone actually got it.  This is what I had been trying to explain to Chris this whole time.  I am not Sean's

My last post talked about our crazy busy days which led me to thinking about cooking for my family.  Now, I am not one of those people who hates cooking.  I won't say I love it but I do enjoy it.  However, I don't cook a lot.  Chris does most of the cooking in our household, which is actually quite backwards.  But he does it because he is the one that is home.  Because of my hours and commute, it is almost 6:30 each night when I get home from work.  If we waited till I got home to start dinner, we would either eat junk or not eat until it is time for Chris to walk out the door for work.  There are nights that happens but we try to keep that down to a minimum for the sake of both our waistlines and our pocketbooks.   Instead, I text Chris on my way out of the office and he starts dinner so that it will be close to completion when I get home. If there is still stuff to do when I get home, I will help out.  Otherwise, I save most of my cooking for the weekends. For this reason,

I have so many things that I want to blog about right now (Penn State, Halloween, step parenting) but I am having a hard time finding the time to squeeze in blogging.  Our days are just insane.  And, every time I say something, I feel like I am whining because I know I am not any busier than anyone else.  Please know that I am not trying to complain. This is just something I feel the need to talk about.  We are completely running ourselves ragged right now and I am praying it will stop soon.  How is having 2 kids so much harder than having one? Is it because Jackson is still a baby and needs our full attention?  I finally realized how much I needed a break today when I was talking to a coworker about some upcoming events at work and she mentioned how tired I looked. Suddenly I was in tears for no reason other than the fact someone noticed and told me I needed to take a day to myself.  Something has to give.  I am just not sure I can figure out what that something is. One thing that h

So, there's this football game this weekend that it seems pretty much every college football fan in the nation will be watching.  No, not the one that will take place in Austin between Texas and Texas Tech.  Not even the Aggies and Sooners are garnering this much attention.  It's the Tide and the Tigers.  Alabama and LSU that is.  A game that will surpass all other games this year.  Number 1 versus Number 2.  Anyone who knows me knows which side of the ball I am on.  I have tried to be very careful about what I have said about this game.  I will admit that I am nervous.  I want Alabama to do well.  I want to see them win but I don't want to do a lot of smack talking and have it come back to bite me in the end.  So instead I will just support my team and wear my colors proudly and say what I know to be true, "It's going to be a good game."  With that, I will leave you with an article I read this morning.  I can't say that I disagree with the article.  I do