our son...

bennett william

our son entered into the world on february 25. he was born at 8:46 pm. he weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces and he was 20.5 inches long.

i went into the hospital on thursday, february 24 to start the induction process. after a night of contractions and laboring all day the next day, we decided to do an emergency c section on friday night. the entire childbirth process did.not.go.as.planned. after almost a week in the hospital with a perfectly healthy baby, but high bp and messed up blood work for momma, we were able to take our sweet angel home.

luckily, most of the hospital stay is a blur, but i vividly remember him being born and hearing him cry for the first time. i remember looking over and seeing jared holding him for the first time and i clearly remember him showing me our son for the first time. he was perfect. he still is.

the nights in the hospital were pretty good. jared and i would take him to the nursery to hang out for a few hours so i could rest, but mainly he was right there next to us. jared would get up and bring him to me when he was hungry. some nights i was on so many pain meds that i remember jared holding him up to me so i could nurse him. it was for sure a team effort.

when we brought him home, i had that moment of 'what do we do with him now?' 'where are the nursery people to help me with him...?' it sounds so cliche... but it was true. thankfully, that only lasted a minute and then we were full on adjusting to parenthood.

he is 17 days old today and just fabulous. he sleeps 4 hours at a time at night. we have only had one or two challenging nights since we got home. he is SUCH a good baby. he only cries when he is really sleepy, has a dirty diaper or is hungry. mainly... he's hungry. he never turns down the boob :)

i am nursing him every three hours during the day and 4 at night.

we went to the clinic yesterday and he weighed 8 lbs 4 ounces. dr. terry was pleased with this and said that he is getting enough breast milk, that's reassuring because you just dont know.

everyone says he looks like his daddy. he for sure has daddy's blue eyes. i think he has my mouth and nose.

i swear he has changed so much in his little 17 days here. he is still wearing the 'up to 7 pound' size clothes from baby gap.

he poops and pees more than any baby around. i think we go through a box of 84 pampers a day :)

daddy was changing him the other morning and he went through 4 diapers in 5 minutes. he frequently tinkles on us while we are changing him! that little stinker!

we are so happy that he is here with us. it is a love like no other. one like we have never known.

here are a ton of pics from the days leading up to his arrival, and the big day.

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TCBY!

As construction continues to quickly move forward on the Northwest Arkansas TCBY store in Rogers, we are very excited to begin the process of bringing together the special team of people who will bring The Country's Best Yogurt back to the customers of Northwest Arkansas!!! If the weather continues to be favorable we anticipate opening our store in February 2011.

We plan to hire 2 Sales Managers for the Rogers location and we want to begin interviewing for these positions in the next few weeks. Once we select our Sales Mangers, we will begin interviewing candidates for our Sales Associate positions. The Sales Associate interviews will probably occur in January. We plan to hire around 10 Sales Associates to begin with and we hope to grow from there based upon the needs of the business.

Take a few moments to visit http://www.nwatcby.com/ and click on employment opportunities for more details.

our life... right now

I made it to 6 1/2 months pregnant. We had a doctors apt this week and everything is looking good. He said that I was measuring three weeks ahead and that he has never seen a more active baby. He kicks constantly, I don't think he ever sleeps :)

I feel great most of the time.

Things that are making me feel great: the weeks going by fast and getting closer to meeting our little one, getting things checked off my to-do list, waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A, good doctor apts, making progress on our other adventures.

Things that make me feel less than great: heartburn, dressing myself, the overwhelming amount of projects going on in our lives, and not being able to sleep.

That pretty much sums it up right now.

Here are some pics of our 'projects'

TCBY is making significant progress. They are building away. We can't wait to have our store open. This keeps us (Jared) really busy.

We broke ground on our house this week!! YAY! We aren't sure how long it will take to get it built... this also is keeping us busy. If you've ever built a house, you know that there are a lot of decisions to be made. Ironically, the last time we built a house we were planning our wedding, and here we are building again, and having a baby. To that point, this is an example of how most of our conversations go these days:

Jared: Do you like this tile for the shower and this color hardwood?

Sarah: It all looks great. Do you like this mobile for the baby's room and these baby bottles?

Jared: Sure, looks great.

Ha! Luckily, we are both very easy going and we don't get too wrapped up in the details. We haven't disagreed yet and we try to just make good, quick decisions to keep things moving.

I finished our baby bedding. It was a project!!!!
As you can see, his name is Bennett. His full name is
Bennett William Greer
We will call him Bennett, and hope that it sticks, but if it is shortened to Ben, that is really cute too :) We had about three names that we had decided on for him and we kept going back and forth. I looked up the meaning/origin of the names that were left on the table and that made the decision for us. His name is English and means "Little Blessed One." I love it and I think it will be a great name at all ages.

Here he is in the last ultrasound pic that we had.

what an angel.

Our nephew, Charlie, is the other little man in our lives that is growing up too fast. Jess and I took him shopping yesterday and I can't believe how old he looks in this pic. Not only are we looking forward to meeting our little one, we can't wait to welcome Charlie's little brother, Oliver, into the world (maybe even on the same day!!) We will have to do a fun guessing game as to who will deliver first! I think Jess will go first... I am sure Bennett will be stubborn and hold out :)

I hope that everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

slg

It's a BOY

Last Thursday, we found out that our sweet baby is a BOY! I never had a really strong feeling as to if it was a boy or a girl, I always went back and forth. It does feel weird to know!!! All of the sudden things are so different than they were when we didn't know what the baby was. Now when I internet shop, I can click on "baby boy" :) and I can picture myself down the road having a son and it feels wonderful. We couldn't be happier with what God has given us. I hope he is exactly 50% like his momma and 50% like his daddy.

We also had a doctors apt since my last post and everything is going great. I am feeling awesome and doing really good. The only thing that is hard to deal with is heartburn, but nothing that a couple Tums won't cure :)

I feel him kicking me a lot these days. I started feeling him move at 16 or 17 weeks, and now he is pretty active. I love it.

Here is a pic of the most beautiful face I have ever seen :)
I will write more soon!

4 months

I promised myself I would document our pregnancy. In the beginning I wrote in a journal almost everyday... I just looked at it and the last entry was July 8 :( So, I figured I would document some things here on this blog.
I am a bit over 16 weeks pregnant. I feel great compared to the first 13 weeks. I can hardly fit into any clothes. I finally broke down and went to get some "maternity clothes" last week with my mom. Nothing fit me and NOTHING looked remotely cute. I decided that I will just buy normal clothes in a bigger size and that will work for the time being.
We went to the doctor last week and baby Greer was doing great. I always get a tad nervous going in... and then I feel happy and relieved when we hear the heartbeat. As soon as he put the doppler on my belly we heard that little heart ticking away at 155. This little one has always had a high heartbeat, meaning either: girl or high strung like it's momma and daddy.
We go back this Thursday for an ultrasound. I've had some cramping and pressure throughout the entire pregnancy, sometimes more than others and he wants to check my cervix to make sure everything is how its supposed to be. If it is, then we carry on, literally. If not, there is a procedure that they can do that would allow it to remain closed until the end of the pregnancy. I have a feeling that everything is A-OK, but I am so thankful that we will double check. ALSO, we will take a peek to see if this little one is a baby girl or boy. I have gone back and forth on this.. some weeks I feel like it's for sure a boy, then a girl, then boy, and so on. It's like the doctor said... its a 50.4% chance its a boy and 49.6% chance its a girl. Now where's the fun in that?! All this time I thought the Drano test, Chinese gender chart, and ring test were the real deal ;)
Everyone always asks if we want a boy or a girl and of course the correct answer is "we dont care, as long as its healthy" and I have found that its not just the politically correct answer, its how you really feel at this point. Would I love a little mini-me that is a prissy, curly blond haired, mess like I was? Of course. But, I would also love a little blue eyed, blond haired, smocked wearing, mini jared just as much. We will be forever blessed and thankful for this baby, regardless of if its a little jar or sar :)
I will keep everyone posted on what we find out this week and I will post pics soon of this growing belly.
Hope you all have a great Labor Day!
slg

exciting news :)

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

Jared and I are having our first little one :)

We are beyond excited and so very blessed. We decided a few months ago to "see what happened" and as I laid the positive test on Jared's counter he promptly said "I thought you said it would take longer." I guess he thought there was more time for just the two of us..... wrong.

Of course I called the doctor 4 minutes later expecting them to be sooooo surprised, shocked, excited... then I came to my senses and realized that they probably get a zillion calls/day with the same news. Jared kept saying that we needed to confirm it and go in to the doctor... 6 tests later, I think he was convinced.

We went in at 6 weeks for an ultrasound and then back at 9 weeks for an ultrasound... I was having cramping and he wanted to give me peace of mind that everything was fine. The first time we saw the little baby on the screen was amazing. I didn't believe it until then, and Jared definitely didn't. Since then, we went in to hear the heartbeat and it was nice and strong... it was high.... hoping that means it's a girl :) We will be happy with either, as long as it's healthy.

We are also selling our home.... we close in a few weeks if all goes well. We are going to be leasing a home while we build.. so that will be where we are living when the little angel arrives.... in February. At first this freaked me out, because it wasn't how I pictured it, but ultimately, its exciting to be building our dream home for this growing family. The house we are leasing is great... bigger than ours now, so there wont be any roughing it :) I don't think I will make a nursery in that home... we will only be there for a couple months after the baby gets here and I am sure the baby will just need a bassinet in our room until we move.

And..... in February we will be close to opening our TCBY.

All that said... February will obviously be an eventful month around here.

ALSO--- My sister is due the day before me with her second little one! We are so excited and so fortunate to have each other... going through the exact same thing at the exact same time. We cant wait to meet the babies. My mom is resting up!! Two will be a handful for her, but she wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would we ;)

I will keep you posted on everything now that the secret is out!!

Hope you are all doing fabulous!

SLG

we won :)

jared and i won THE GREAT TCBY STORE GIVEAWAY! last Wednesday they announced it live on the air.

the first link below is when we were on the news asking the public to vote for us and explaining how the contest worked. the second link is them announcing it live on the 6am channel 5 news :)

http://www.kfsm.com/news/kfsm-news-nwa-tcby-jared-greer-sarah-contest,0,1090431.story

http://www.kfsm.com/videobeta/?watchId=65c50e7d-31df-468c-8ac0-5f3b6ed14087

tcby told us they were going to be doing an interview to ask some final questions... but they tricked us and announced it live on air. SOOOOOO FUN! i was out of town for work when all of this happened. i was bummed to have missed it, but my job is very important and it was just unfortunate timing. plus, i was able to have my mom and dad hold the phone up to the tv while it was going on. all i remember hearing is "we have been tricking you and tcby is here to announce the winner"..... then mom and dad, spears, and i were all screaming. and then i heard jared say "i would be remiss if i didn't thank my wife who couldn't be here today, im very proud of her and i love her a lot." i was so happy i cried for a good 30 minutes. mainly because we worked really hard for this, but also because jared has always wanted to own his own business and tcby made this a reality. he is the most determined, smart, respectful, admirable man i have ever known. so proud of him!!!

we cannot wait to open our store! we hope to open this Fall but there are a lot of decisions to make between now and then... right now we are working on determining the perfect location for our first store. we hope to own several in the future, so the location of the first one is key. we want to thank everyone again for voting for us!! we couldn't have done it without our friends and family!!!

we will keep everyone posted on our progress!!!

have a fabulous weekend!

slg