Maternity Photos!

I suppose I should post these while I'm still pregnant!

My awesome friend Ashley took maternity photos of me and Justin a little while ago at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I have to admit, I was large (ha...like I'm not now) and not feeling cute at all. However, Ashley is not only a photographer, but a miracle worker because I couldn't have asked for better photos. Upon seeing them for the first time I absolutely loved them and felt that I didn't look like a big ugly blob! Here are some of my favorites. And I say some because we have a lot and I had a hard time narrowing them down. I know I chose some where you can't even see my belly, but I just thought those were good, current pictures of me and Justin! Thanks, Ashley! I can't wait for you to photograph the little one when he or she is on the outside of my belly!

Alphabetical Update

A is for attic.

Four months in and we've finally started utilizing this space in our house. Remember what this room used to look like?


It doesn't look like that anymore! We cleaned and purged and now we can walk around in there. We made a couple of illegal trips to the old apartment complex's dumpster (we're rebels), we gave Goodwill a nice-sized donation, and finally we put a lot of stuff in the attic. And by we, I mean Justin. He almost fell out of the attic one day. We laugh about it now. But at the time? I was freaking out about how my almost 9-month-pregnant self would get my unconscious husband into the car to drive him to the hospital. We got rid of a lot of stuff but still saved a lot. Because someday I'm going to be thankful that I saved every sorority T-shirt I ever had. I don't want to post a current picture of that room yet. It still has some boxes in it because we can't put books away until we have bookshelves, silly. But we were able to move the computer in there. It will probably be several more months until it looks like how I want it to look, but that goes for the rest of the house too.

B is for bedrest.

I've been resting since 11/15. I went to my regular appointment and everything looked great. My doctor asked if I was working right up until I had the baby. The answer to that was yes. She asked if I was in pain. The answer to that was hell yes. She said that if it was an option for me, she prefer I rest until I have the baby due to me not feeling well (I've had the cold from hell) and the overall discomfort I've been in. I took her up on her offer to write my school a nice little note saying that I had to be off work beginning the next day. So my last day of school was on Monday and I've been doing a lot of sitting and resting and re-positioning and more sitting and resting since then. It's been nice. Especially since you can't take any real cold medicine when you are pregnant. Plain Mucinex should not be considered cold medicine. I need the good stuff that you buy from behind the pharmacy counter and have to show ID for. And that folks, isn't good for the baby. So my days are filled with rest so my body can kick this cold before Little Leavell is born. And how do I know the exact day I'm having this baby? I know because...

C is for C-section.

You guys, the baby is huge. OK, he or she is not going to break the world record or anything. (And for your information...the largest baby ever born weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces...holy crap...at least that's what the first website that Google came up with said...I didn't spend too much time researching.) But I've been measuring big since about half-way through my pregnancy so the doctor ordered a growth-scan ultrasound at 36 weeks. We go in for the ultrasound and the first thing the technician asked was this: "OK, who in the family has a big head?" First? Not a good sign. Second? "Me." I feel I have a large head. And I suppose I passed that onto my baby. That's probably better than he or she getting my Fred Flinstone feet. Anyway. The baby's head already measured at 9 cm. Also, the baby weighed 7 pounds. That's in the 85th percentile for weight. (I can thank the Leavell side of the family for this larger-than-average baby. Jess and I were small to average-sized babies. Shane and Justin were linebackers.) The limbs measured on track. So I asked if the baby would look dispropotioned, you know, with it's big head and regular-sized limbs and all. The technician laughed and said that no, it will look normal. Whew. She also said that it had lots and lots of hair. So we went to our regular doctor's appointment after that and the doctor voiced concerned that the baby's head was going to be too big for me to deliver vaginally. Small pelvis plus big head doesn't equal an ideal birthing experience. So she started talking C-section. She said that I could try and push, but that she thinks I'll end up with a C-section anyway, so if I just wanted to schedule a C-section (which is what she suggested) then we could go ahead and do that. So we did. Unless I go into labor on my own, we will be welcoming our baby into the world on Wednesday, 11/24 at 10 a.m.

D is for design.

Mixed things up on this blog again. I felt it needed a fresh look. And with the fresh look might come more regular blog postings. Don't hold your breath, though. But enjoy the new design. Any shade of turquoise is my new favorite color.

E is for Edna Mae.

I have the cutest baby book ever. Ever. I really wanted a baby book that was unique and modern and didn't contain Precious Moments characters on the cover. So I searched. And Googled. And searched some more. The result? Edna Mae. It's a shop on Etsy that creates some of the cutest baby books around. I mentioned at lunch at school one day that I found this baby book that I loved. However, I didn't think I could justify the price of it to Justin. Mainly because he probably wouldn't understand why a baby book had to cost more than, say, $14.99. So my friend Alyson said that she would buy it for me and that would be her gift to me and the baby. I protested. She insisted. I graciously accepted. It came in the mail a week ago and I just love it. I love it so much that I have anxiety that my handwriting will look atrocious in it and haven't written a thing in it yet. But I'll muster up the courage soon. In the mean time, check out it's modern cuteness:


F is for failed.
Failed referendum, that is. Our school corporation had a general fund referendum on the ballot a couple of weeks ago and it didn't pass with flying colors. You know what that means? A lot of suckiness coming up for Mt. Vernon Community Schools. That's the easiest way to put it. It sucks. The current government of this state has decided that education is one area it likes to shit on. A lot. So since it is cutting money again for next school year, and we were already down to what we thought was the bare minimum, we have had to cut even more. So what's ahead next year for my school corporation? Probably no sports K-8, probably no extra-curricular activites K-12, probably paying to play sports in high school, and probably several teachers and support staff losing their jobs. I say probably because no final decisions have been made. But if you have a money tree in your backyard that contains $1 million, I'm sure our superintendent would run right over and pick it clean.

G is for garage door opener.

Justin and my dad installed our garage door opener a few weeks ago. That's it. I just needed something for the letter G.

H is for Harper...for now.
This is still our #1 name pick if the baby is a girl. We've gone back and forth on it, though. Why? Because I feel it is becoming really, really popular. Two couples in our childbirth class had the name picked out for their babies, one couple in our breastfeeding class had it picked out, and another teacher at school who is due in January has it picked out for her little girl. So that makes us hesitant to go ahead with it if we have a little girl. I didn't know it was becoming so popular, but we get the feeling it is. I'm not sure if we will keep it for a baby girl or not. We have other options, but haven't really shared those with many people so we are going to keep them to ourselves for now. One name for a girl we are sure on? The middle name. No matter what first name we choose for a girl, the middle name will be Misty, in honor of my mom. We were unsure at first because we didn't think that people would think that it would flow well as a middle name. But then we decided that we didn't care what people thought (no offense, of course) so Misty will be the middle name. (Sidenote: I have a strong feeling it's a boy anyway, so maybe we don't have to worry about a girl's first name.)

I is for intuition.
I'm really worried about this whole mother's intuition thing. Will it really kick in? Will something automatically tell me what my baby needs/wants? I get it that I'm pregnant and that I'm having a baby in a matter of days. But what I still can't wrap my head around is the fact that I'm going to be a mother. Someone's mom. That scares the hell out of me.

J is for Justin.
Perhaps you've noticed that he's taken a small liking to writing on this blog every now and then. I like the new perspective. I didn't ask him to do it and when he makes nice comments about me? I don't even ask him to do that! He does that all on his own. Of course, he makes fun of me all on his own too. And speaking of that...let me clear one thing up. I wanted to help put the crib together. It just so happened that I ended up sitting on the floor and watching. But for the record, I had good intentions thankyouverymuch.

K is for Kindle.
I want a Kindle for Christmas so bad that I can't stand it. Have you seen one? They are awesome. And I'm a big dork for saying that.

L is for Lawson.
This name pick for a baby boy is definitely not going to change. This was the first baby name we agreed on and we still love it. Middle name for a boy? I'm pretty sure we will go with Shane, Justin's brother's name. I really like that name and I really like honoring a guy that has made such a great impact on Justin's life and been one of the best friends he's ever had.

M is for Maggie.
I couldn't update without mentioning her! Especially when she's had such an eventful last couple of weeks. What happened? My baby had to have surgery. (Do you think Child Protective Services will take my real baby away if I refer to my cat as my baby? I hope not.) A few weeks ago I noticed that Maggie wasn't feeling well. Call me lame, but I've had this cat for almost 12 and a half years, and I know when she doesn't feel well. She was spending a lot of time in the litter box and was acting very sluggish. I thought it might be a urinary tract infection so I got her an appointment at the vet. First of all, let's just say that Maggie hates being put into her pet carrier. Actually, hate is an understatement. She despises that thing. And please remember that my precious little kitty still has all of her claws. Imagine the massacre for the person that tries to put her into the pet carrier. That lucky person this time? Me. All by myself. Justin was at work and I made the appointment for after school. So I get home from school, shut all of the bedroom doors so that she can't go hide under any of the beds and start to go pick her up. Too late. She knew. She didn't even have to see the stupid pet carrier to know that I was about to try and put her in it. Me. All by myself. Eight and a half months pregnant. I go to pick her up for the first attempt and she peed all over me and the laundry room floor. Well, at least that answered the question the vet had. Yes, there is blood in her urine. Please try to get a mental image of all of this. In hindsight, it was funny. So after a few more failed attempts of me torturing my already sick cat, I noticed an empty Rubbermaid plastic tote sitting in our living room. Perfect, I thought. Maggie has no fear of this. In fact, she usually loves empty laundry baskets and plastic totes. So I did the most inhumane thing ever...I threw her in the empty plastic tote, put the lid on, and rushed out the door. They did some X-rays at the vet and determined that she had stones in her bladder. Well no wonder she couldn't pee as of late. The fix for this? Surgery. I cried when the vet said that. I'm lame. And I have raging pregnancy hormones. By then Justin had met me at the vet (because I frantically called him in the midst of not being able to get her in the pet carrier and he was able to leave work early) and threw me a look that said "Get ahold of yourself you psycho and stop crying over the cat." So they kept her (this was a Monday afternoon), surgically removed the stones on Wednesday, and we picked her up on Thursday. She did great. She was definitely tired for a few days and giving her two different medicines orally twice a day for four days wasn't fun but she is much better now. She now has to be on a prescription diet so that the stones don't come back. That diet? Doesn't come cheap. We take donations. Here's a picture of her on the Thursday we picked her up:

Poor little hairless belly...

N is for nursery.
This is probably my new favorite room in our house. It isn't finished yet and I'm going to do a separate post over it, but it is CUTE. One of the best things about it? This little guy lives there:


O is for orange.
To the American public--yes, it is possible to get ready for a baby if you don't know the gender of said baby. I can't tell you how many people...complete strangers mind you...that are shocked to learn that we don't know the sex of the baby. They worry so much for us that we don't have any clothes for the baby and that the nursery sits empty with white walls because we couldn't have possibly prepared it. News flash for all of those people--we have clothes. Clothes come in other colors besides pink and blue. We also have an almost finished nursery. Paint comes in other colors besides pink and blue. We chose a nice light orange color.

P is for pelvic pain.
TMI? Maybe. However, I feel I was prepared for every possible horrible pregnancy pain but this one. No one warned me about this one. My body has no clue that it is undergoing a C-section next week to have the baby so it's doing what nature tells it to--prepare for a vaginal birth. One part of that preparation? My pelvis softening and spreading for the baby to come out of it, because, naturally, that's what it thinks is going to happen. Does it not realize that I'm carrying a linebacker? Guess not. The best way I can explain the pain is that it feels like someone has kicked me in the crotch over and over and over again and then took hold of both sides of my pelvis and pulled. I hobble around like a little old lady. Justin laughs.

Q is for quiet.
We are soaking up as much quiet as we can until Wednesday. We know it's going to change then. Eek.

R is for reading.
I told Justin last week to watch for a package from Amazon in the mail. I told him that I had ordered some books I'd been wanting to read. We received the box on Tuesday. He was shocked. I had ordered seven books...all about parenting and breast feeding and what to expect in the baby's first year of life. Too much? I'm actively reading about three right now and he's reading another one. They are back-up in case an instruction manual doesn't pop out with the baby. Cause that happens...right?

S is for sleep-deprived.
I don't sleep. I toss and turn (and when I say toss...I mean I heave myself from hip to hip every twenty minutes). I get up to pee a lot. And if I'm not sleeping comfortably, Justin isn't sleeping comfortably. He also says I snore. That's still in question. But that's OK, because after Wednesday I'll be able to sleep on my stomach again and be comfortable and get a good seven to eight solid hours of sleep per night. Wait, it doesn't work like that with a newborn?

T is for twenty nine.
We celebrated Justin's 29th birthday on Tuesday. I really couldn't make it as nice as I would have liked to. But we enjoyed the evening and I made him blow out a candle on the pumpkin pie he wanted instead of cake.

U is for underwear.
I bought underwear last week. It's big. Very big. Granny panties, if you will. They are for after the C-section since I needed underwear that wouldn't rub the incision and none of the pairs that I currently own fit in that category. Justin said that to fold the underwear neatly he had to fold it twice, instead of just the one fold with my regular underwear. Needless to say, it's not cute and I'm pretty embarrassed by it. Moving on.

V is for Vera.
Bradley, that is. This box in the mail made me happy:

That contained my Vera Bradley diaper bag. I got one in black microfiber. On sale, even. Really, would I have it any other way?

W is for waddle.
I avoided it for as long as I could. However, I no longer walk. I waddle. Like a duck. Like a very large duck with a very sore back and pelvis.

X is for X-mas.
Ugh. Seriously, I hate it when people spell Christmas like that. But I needed something for X and since I haven't had any x-rays as of late and don't plan on taking up the xylophone, it just had to do. So we decorated for Christmas already. Right after Halloween, actually. We had just finished cleaning and organizing (see A is for attic) so we decided we might as well put up the Christmas decorations. Usually this activity is saved for the weekend after Thanksgiving. But we're thinking we'll be busy then.

Y is for year.
Remember back at the beginning of 2010 when I predicted that it would be a big year for us? Boy was I right.

Z is for Zzzzzzz...
Since I've been home for a week now, I realize just how much Maggie sleeps. Seriously. It's a lot. Her new favorite places? The bed in the guest room which must now be lint-rolled every other day, and underneath the Christmas tree. Really, though...how cute is this?


On that note, I'll end this ridiculously long update.

Nursery Item Number One

Jenn and I still have approximately 6 weeks before the little one arrives but yet I find myself in the nursery almost daily. This started about three weeks ago when Jenn finally made some baby furniture decisions. After weeks and weeks of "this looks good but this might look better", the decision was made. A few days later we had boxes and boxes sitting outside our front door. Now the great thing about having all of these boxes was that it gave me the chance to use my hands in a constructive manner, which I feel I rarely have the chance to do these days.

The first box that arrived was the crib (thanks Grandpa Rick) and I could not wait to bust into this box and get to work. To my surprise, Jenn wanted to help but I was not sure how that was going to work. Then I realized that her definition of helping was to sit on the floor and tell me what I needed to do. So the work on the crib began and it started out very well (meaning everything was in the box for a change). I was able to get the base put together, then I attached the first side wall. Next I installed the front and back side panels and then I inserted the spring frame. The last item to attach was the second side panel and I will be damned if I got to the last screw when Jenn noticed that I had the side panel on backwards. No big deal, a minor hiccup, so I took out the one screw I had in and flipped it around. Having that taken care of I put the last four screws in, excuse me, three out of the four. As I got to the last screw I could not get it to go in, so after several (several) minutes of moving each piece of wood around in order to get the last screw in, I caved and took the other three out. After removing the panel and inserting the uncooperative screw to make sure it did work without the panel, I got back on track. A few minutes later I had the first item up in the nursery, the crib. Here it is:


Only a dresser, six boxes of a shelving unit, a swing, a bouncer, and a pack 'n' play to go...

Mr. Leavell Joins the Blog

If you have visited our blog before, you probably already know that all of the posts have been written by Jenn. Well, that is about to change. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Leavell.

My previous obligation to this blog was simply to read the posts after Jenn wrote each one. Now if you think you are going to get the wit from me that my wife brings to the table, you are in for a huge disappointment. All I plan to bring to the table is my day-to-day experiences that you will hopefully enjoy reading about.

As you may already know, Jenn and I are expecting our first child next month and I will be the first one to say that I am very excited about it (the one downfall to not knowing the gender--we have an "it" baby) but extremely nervous at the same time. I am still wondering what my reaction is going to be when the baby arrives, and even though I don't know what that is at the moment, everyone around me seems to have that figured out already. Those reactions have varied from, "Cool, now what's the Colts score?" to "Awesome, let's go home" or me simply passing out. Well, if the baby arrives on a Sunday, then that first one might be accurate, but I will do my best to put the Colts on the back burner for at least one Sunday.

Even though I don't know what my reaction is going to be, I do know this: I can't wait for our first child to arrive. I can't think of anything else that could possibly bring all of these emotions going through me all at one time: scared, happy, nervous, excited. These past 8 months have been incredible and as the last one creeps closer and closer I can't help but think about one thing all of the time: how amazing my wife is and how lucky I am to have someone like her in my life. And soon, I'll have two.

To My Sweet Little Baby...

I know you are getting used to our new routine since school has started again. You are probably wondering why we are up earlier, standing a lot more, and eating at very scheduled times of the day. You are kicking lower and have moved more into my tummy since I feel the kicks more inward than ever before. And while I love the little home I'm providing for you and I greatly enjoy feeling you grow and play in my belly, if you could do me a favor, I'd appreciate it. You know that nerve you are positioned on? The one that makes the middle of my back throb all. day. long. on the left side? The one that causes pain that is not eased by Tylenol, changing positions, or stretching? If you could please just let up a little bit, I'd appreciate it. Now, let's have dinner.

Love,
Your Mama

Justin felt the baby!

I've been waiting and waiting for this! So often when I feel the baby kick I will put my hand on my stomach and see if I can feel it from the outside and the stubborn little thing stops kicking. So last night we were watching TV and I was laying on my left side (the best side to lay on if you are prego) and the baby was kicking pretty hard after being a little lazy for the past few days. I kept putting his hand on my stomach to see if he could feel it, but it would stop. But after a few tries of this, he finally felt it! I put his hand on there and the baby kicked the hardest he or she has ever kicked. It even surprised me a little bit! He definitely felt it and he/she kicked hard again and then decided it was time to take a nap. I was so happy that he was finally able to feel the baby. Him? Well, he said it felt weird (understandably so, there is a person inside of me and you just felt it kick) but he was excited, too! Now if only we can make the baby understand that it isn't cool to kick me in the bladder several times a day. We'll work on that.

Home Sweet Home

Here I am. Sitting in my very own living room in my very own house. Eating my very own breakfast (a donut and about 3/4 of a bowl of peaches...one of the peaches had a weird texture and I couldn't eat those slices because they made me gag...ah, such is pregnancy).

We've been moved in for two weeks today. The walls are painted (well, almost...small hallway and baby's room to go), the dishes and clothes are put away and some curtains are up. Wait a second. Did I just make that sound like our house is in great shape and we are fully unpacked? Ha! That's a good one. Check this out:

And our computer currently sits on a folding table in the living room wedged between the TV and the fireplace.

It's a temporary set-up until that mess up there is clean and until someone (ahem...Justin) climbs up into the attic and runs cable down to that room so we can have internet in there and you know, until we get some more real furniture.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Want to see what this place looks like all clean and fresh and not full of boxes and STUFF? Here you go.

The front of our home! Precious, isn't it? And that FOR SALE sign has been removed :o)

The view from the entryway. This is the living room and if you were standing here, to the right would be a hallway that leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom.

This is the formal dining room. But we aren't that fancy. This room is right off of the living room (all opened up to it) and we will be using it as an office. I hope that someday soon this room is filled with several bookshelves (um, and books), a real computer desk, and a comfy chair.

This is the kitchen (duh). It is a very open floor plan so the kitchen, living room, and formal dining room, I mean, office, all feed right into each other. If you were standing here, the laundry room and garage would be behind you and to the left would be a small hallway that includes a HUGE pantry and that leads to our bedroom.

This is the backyard! A BACKYARD! OF OUR VERY OWN! Can you tell we are excited about this? We have woods behind us so it is very quiet and peaceful. We love it.

Now those pictures were taken the day of our inspection so there wasn't any paint on the walls or furniture in place or anything yet. It's coming along, though. It won't be decorated and all cute and how I really want it for quite some time but it will get there. It will just take some work, some decorating discussions, and a big fat $8000 check from Uncle Sam.