36 Weeks and Counting

Woa have I been MIA or what??

We've been super busy getting ready for baby Pierce's arrival. We only have 28 more days until our due date, but everyone thinks he's going to come early. And I agree. So while I'm counting down from 28, I secretly hope that we really don't have that long to wait.

As of today I feel that he could come any time and we would be ready :) We have everything that we would need right away, and almost everything we need period. The only things left are a crib mattress which we will be getting next week, and sheets for the crib and changing table. That's it. After that we have everything :)

I've done a lot of work on the nursery the past couple weeks and it's so nice to see it all come together. We've got our decorations up; I painted his dresser and reassembled it; I painted his bookends; I made a baby mobile; we received a glider from my mom today and it's assembled and I'm currently working on his baby quilt :) I love all of it!

His co-sleeper is set up next to our bed, our baby monitors are charged and set up, I received my breast pump today, our hospital bag is almost fully packed, and we're interviewing pediatricians.

Four weeks ago I didn't feel ready at all. There was still such a huge list of things we needed to get done and not having the nursery finished (or even close to finished) was stressing me out. But now, I'm ready. I'm so ready :)

We even started sleeping with his blanket we plan on taking to the hospital so it smells like mommy and daddy. I was pretty sure John would think it was weird or silly, but the other morning he was sleeping with it :) he's so cute :)

So hopefully in 28 days (or less) I'll have baby photos to post, but until then I'll probably continue to be MIA and just relax and enjoy the last few weeks John and I have to ourselves :)

Pregnancy Productivity

This week I finished painting the nursery :) I LOVE how it turned out

We went with a tan base on all four walls and then charcoal gray stripes on the accent wall that will be behind the crib :)

And then we'll have red accents throughout the room :)

After I finished painting I moved all the baby stuff back into the nursery where it belongs. We now have baby clothes hanging in the closet, and the changing table set up and organized with diapers, diaper cream, baby lotion and soap, as well as health stuff like our thermometer, nail clips, all that jazz. I've got his toys in his toy box, and we got his carseat and stroller set up. The carseat even has toys dangling and a little carseat cover on it already. I was on a roll; I wanted to get everything that we had set up right away! 

I also finished filling out my FMLA paperwork. After going back and forth about whether or not we could afford day care (even at my center) we've decided that we will be better off paying the ungodly daycare cost than having me stay at home or even getting a part time job. It was a tough decision, and one that caused a few disagreements, but we've decided that baby will in fact come to work with me and my amazing husband will pick up a second job to help afford the cost. I really hate that he has to work two jobs just so we can afford day care, but we would lose more with me quitting my job. I think it's horrible how expensive day care costs are. I've always heard how expensive it was, but I never knew how expensive until we started looking into it. And the worst part is there's no help in paying the cost (if you have a full time job). Ridiculous.  So anyway, I'll be going back to work 6 weeks after baby boy is born. Soon? Yes, extremely, but me not working is going to be tough on us financially and since he's coming to work with me I get to be with him all day whether I'm working or not, so I might as well help bring in some money (especially since the holidays will be right around the corner!). 

So that's my pregnancy productivity this week. I'm hoping I can talk John into setting up the crib this weekend so I can add that to the list. I love seeing the nursery come together. It's starting to look just like I pictured! :)

A Little John or A Little Me?

We had our big ultrasound on Thursday and it was one of the best days during this pregnancy so far. We don't have the results back yet, but we'll have them Monday. I was so excited to see our little bundle!! Baby went from being a little dot on a photo to an actual baby!

My friend went with me to see the ultrasound because John is in Utah for a friend's wedding. I was extremely  upset that John couldn't be there, I cried. But he was on speaker phone with me when she revealed the sex :)

I can't reveal whether baby Merrigan is a boy or girl yet because John and I are going to do a gender/name reveal on Monday when he's home. But I am super excited and immediately went out and bought gender specific items :)

The ultrasound was surreal. It's amazing how much you can see with just that little wand. I saw the brain, the heart, every vertebrae of the spine, we even saw arteries...how crazy is that?! The baby was moving around a lot, kicking and rolling, but I couldn't feel anything. I told the technician I was worried that I didn't feel much movement (and wasn't feeling any at the time) so she looked at the placenta and come to find out I have an anterior placenta, meaning that the placenta is in front of the baby blocking me from feeling a lot of the movement. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, just where the placenta happened to land, and she said that all that means is that it'll take longer for me to feel constant movement. Which kinda sucks, because I love feeling the movement whenever I do.

I really didn't think I'd cry. And I was doing really well at first. But then I saw those cute little baby toes and I couldn't help myself. They are the most precious baby toes I've ever seen in my life. While the technician was trying to get a 3D picture of the face the baby wasn't really cooperating- moving, rolling, not facing the camera, putting his/her hands in front of his/her face whenever she went to take the picture haha she was wiggling my belly trying to get baby to turn the right way...it was kind of funny. And when she did that baby rubbed those adorable little eyes like (s)he was tired...and I cried again.

I've loved this baby since I found out I was pregnant, but it's amazing how much closer I feel to the baby after actually seeing the little face, and the little hands, and the little feet. Now this baby is a definite sex, and now this baby has a definite name....it makes it so much more real.

I can't stop staring at the ultrasound photos. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that right now, as I type this a little baby is actually in my tummy....my baby with that cute little face, and those adorable little toes....that there is an actual human being inside of me that gets tired and rubs his/her eyes. A little baby that looks like me or John...or hopefully a mixture of the two....

So without further ado, here is our little baby

I'm tellin' ya...there's something about those feet that get to me every time...

<3

does baby look like a little John, a little Piper, a little of both?

I'm so excited to meet this little one. To be this baby's mommy. This is one of the best things that's ever happened to me and that will ever happen to me, hands down. I feel so blessed and honored that God has made this little human specifically with John and I in mind, to make the perfect addition to our little family, to teach us and to hopefully help us be the best parents we can possibly be. 

I love you little lamb <3

our Memorial Day Weekend

I have had such a good Memorial Day weekend and it's not even Memorial Day yet.

Friday night after work I went out to dinner with a great friend. Much needed girl time! Then John and I tried to watch a movie together but both ended up falling asleep in the middle of it. Ooops.

Saturday we woke up, lounged for a little bit, I skyped Lizzie Doll, took Duke to the dog park for a while, brought him back home then John and I went out to lunch, then it was off to a mini golf date. Mini golf brought back so many memories of when we started dating. I was working at a mini golf course at the time, John would come visit me at work and I'd let him have free games.....sometimes I'd get off work and we'd play a round together. We used to go mini golfing quite a bit but haven't been since we moved out here. I loved it! I had a blast :) We made a bet on who would win....if I won I got a massage (a legit massage) and if he won he got...well, something else. Let's just say we both won in the end hahaha

Today we did some house work, I worked out, we went and looked at a daycare (that's not going to work out), then went out to lunch, came home and went on a walk with Duke, and then we went to a dinner at Tina's with the boys and our cousin Chelsea who is in town from New York.

I feel like I've been so busy this weekend and so active, I love that feeling!

We'll see what tomorrow has in store! :)

Happy Memorial Day everyone! And thank you troops for all of your sacrifices!! <3

A Super Mushy Post About the Love of My Life

Warning: this is going to be a pretty mushy post.

I am so overwhelmed by the love I have for my husband. I don't know if I could possibly love him anymore than I do, but my love for him keeps growing and I find myself loving him more and more every day. The past few nights I've gone to bed a little later than John and I get so excited just to sleep next to him. I get in bed, lie next to him, and I feel so lucky that I'm the one God chose to be his. I was lying in bed last night thinking that sleeping next to him is one of my favorite things- the security, love, and warmth that I feel is a feeling I hope everyone experiences with their spouse.

My husband is such a hard worker. He volunteers to work 60 hour weeks to help provide for us and our future baby. But even though he's exhausted and beat up at the end of the day, he makes sure to spend time with me and Duke every night. He's completely supportive in everything that I do and all the decisions I make whether they are personal decisions or professional. He loves his family so much and it's apparent how family-centered he is to everyone who knows him. Not only that, but he's the best friend anyone could ask for. Which explains why he has so many people that label him (and who he labels) as a "best friend".

There really are hundreds of reasons why I love him and most of them are small things that he probably doesn't even know that he does. Some of those reasons are also the same things that drive me bonkers, but even with those in mind I wouldn't change a thing about him. I love everything about who he is and what makes him tick.

I feel lucky to be so in love. In a couple months we'll have been together for 8 years and when I think back over what all has happened in those 8 years, the best things that have happened have happened because of John. My life is what it is because of him.

I warned you this was going to be mushy :) but sometimes I just can't contain it :)

And the Search is Over!!

Oh man, I am so thrilled you guys!

After our loss of the name Naomi I have been searching and searching baby girl names trying to find one that John and I could both agree one. That was nearly impossible. I like unique; he likes traditional. I like modern; he likes Biblical. Oh man, it was rough. We went through tons of names; I would come up with a list and he "could deal with" about three out of twenty. So back to the drawing board I'd go. There was one name I kept putting on there hoping he would change his mind, but each time the response I got was- "eh maybe I could deal with it". But I'd slip it on the list the next time hoping for a different reaction....the reaction was the same because I don't think he ever actually remembered it from the list before haha.

Tonight John mentioned our top three picks to the boys and tried to get some more opinions on them. The boys didn't like any of them, which makes John less excited about them, and in all honesty I had my own issues with each of them anyway. Then I did it; I mentioned that one name again and John said, "hmmm...what about _________" to the boys and they approved! With the guys approval behind us, and John's "yeah, I actually like that" response, we FINALLY have a baby girl name winner!

Our top three picks that are not getting picked were:
Nova
Delaney
and
Darla

I love the idea of using Nova for reasons I've mentioned before; however, I want my baby to place their own stamp on a name, to make it their own, and every time I hear or read the name Nova I picture my great grandma. And I don't want that to change.

Delaney I still think is pretty, but it's just not meant to be our little girl (if baby is a girl....which I'm 98% sure she is). John wasn't thrilled about it but it was one of the least hated on the lists, John's friends crossed it off immediately (not that their opinion matters to me, but it does to him), and even my best friend had that "it's nice...." response which is never good haha. It just wasn't meant to be.

and lastly, Darla....I think this is the cutest name for a little girl, but that's just it- a little girl. It's one of those names that I couldn't picture as a woman's name in her 30's or so. For a little girl- darling! For a woman...I'm just not sure it grows up well.

So if anyone is looking for girl names, there's a couple ideas! Sorry if my explanations ruined them for anyone!

When we find out for sure what gender our little lamb is (hopefully on the 3rd, if not then then in June), I'll announce our names.

I was so excited about our boys name we've picked that I didn't think we could find a girls name to match my excitement, but we did!!

*Maybe if you're super curious and want to ask me privately about our names I'll tell you ;) I just don't want it publicly listed on this blog yet :)*

Now you guys don't have to hear about my rants during this stressful search! Aren't you excited now too?? haha

Figuring Out Maternity Leave

My friend Alicia hit the nail on the head when she talked about how great October due dates are. John and I have been talking about how long I'm going to take for maternity leave, and my bosses have been asking me about it as well because they need to find a substitute teacher for my classroom, and I think October is the perfect time to take off the rest of the year.

I'm due sometime in October so I would naturally take at least 6 weeks which would put me into November, and in November we have Thanksgiving and then a month later we have Christmas and New Years Eve. Instead of worrying about getting time off for family to be here or whatever will be happening, we've decided that I will be home with the baby, get a routine going, and I won't go back to work until the beginning of the New Year. And then the amazing part happens (the amazing, yet expensive part)....baby gets to come to work with me and be in my classroom :) :)

It's going to take a lot of sacrifices to make it work financially, but one of the bonuses of my job is that my children can attend our center. Our center is a private child development center for the university professors and students, but because I work there, my baby can also come. I've already talked to my bosses and there is no conflict of interest if my baby is in my classroom. I can't think of a more perfect situation. I will get to be with my baby ALL day and still bring in a paycheck. I am so thankful that I don't have to quit my job or sacrifice time with my baby. We simply couldn't afford for me not to work, and the thought of leaving my baby with someone else after a few weeks is depressing. Even though we will be paying for baby to be at the center 5 days a week, because John has Fridays off I think baby will stay home on Fridays and get some one on one daddy time.

I know I was baby hungry a while ago, but seriously, the timing is too perfect now. I've said it before and I'll say it again, God's timing is always better than our own. Had I gotten pregnant a year ago when I wanted to, we would be struggling financially and I don't know what I would have done about work or childcare. And what better month to give birth than October because October gets the holiday roll started and I am lucky enough to get to spend all of them at home with my little family :)

Now all I have to do is figure out how maternity leave works and the whole FMLA thing works. I don't know how getting paid while on maternity leave works, but at least I have a few more months to figure it out :)

Gender Prediction

I think it's pretty safe to say that whenever a girl gets pregnant she starts day dreaming about who her baby will be, what they will be, what their personality will be like....and part of this curiosity in the first few months is wondering, is it a boy or is it a girl? Unless you're one of those people who doesn't want to find out, then you wonder for 9 months! Just the thought of that stresses me out haha

I've been sooo curious to know whether little lamb is a boy or a girl that I've gone so far as to look up all the ridiculous baby prediction myths (knowing full well that they're not scientifically accurate). Needless to say I get pretty mixed answers. According to the Chinese calendar I'm having a baby boy. According to my cravings and extensive nausea it's a girl. And then I stumbled upon a scientific study for gender prediction.

This study had a 97.2% accuracy in the prediction of boys and 97.5% accuracy in the prediction of girls. Basically you need to have a very early ultrasound (around 6-9 weeks) and if your baby is on the right side of the picture (that means it's actually the left side of your uterus because the image is mirrored) then you're most likely going to have a girl. If your baby is on the left side of the photo, chances are high that it's a boy.

According to the study, it looks like little lamb is a girl :)

This picture makes me smile, and giggle a little bit because I can't distinguish anything....she/he is so itty bitty! Well...was itty bitty, this was almost a month ago. 

Our next ultrasound is in two weeks and I can't wait to hear the *swoosh swoosh* of the heartbeat again :)

Although John and I are hoping for a boy, we will be ecstatic if baby is a girl. All we really care about is that little lamb is healthy :) 

Baby Merrigan

It's time to come clean blogger friends. You see, I've been keeping a secret from you...

Yes, it's true. John and I are pregnant :)

I found out I was pregnant the night before my birthday (Happy Birthday to me!!), but we were so scared that we were going to lose this one too we didn't tell anybody. We kept our faith in God, our fingers crossed and our mouths shut until we were able to see the doctor and hear our little one's heartbeat. So a few weeks ago we went in to my OB and sure enough we heard the "swoosh swoosh" of the heart- 120 bpm and everything looks great :)

My doctor and I disagree with how far along I am, but there's a bit of confusion because I got pregnant only two weeks after my miscarriage. Apparently you're super fertile after a miscarriage- who knew. So the confusion lies in me not having a typical cycle in between pregnancies, but I'm pretty positive I'm 10 weeks (doctor thinks I'm 8 but I don't think that's possible). Our due date is either October 8th (if I'm right) or October 21 (if the doctor is right).

So far this pregnancy is completely different from the last one, which is a very good thing!

For the first couple weeks I felt great! Aside from extremely sore boobs I didn't feel much different at all. And then BOOM, the nausea hit like a ton of bricks and has yet to go away. I'm nauseous 95% of the time- morning, afternoon, night, my body doesn't care. I'm not craving anything because most foods make me sick. My boobs, well, they still hurt like a mother. I get tired very easily; I'm ready for a nap by noon everyday and crash when I get home, but you know what? All these symptoms mean high pregnancy hormones, which  means a healthy baby. So if me being sick and exhausted means my baby will be healthy, I'll take this all 9 months long.

John is very excited. He was scared and nervous at first and didn't want to talk about the baby in fear of losing it, but once he heard the heartbeat it was a different story.

We've named baby, but we've had names for a while.

We have nursery themes picked out, we just have to wait a few more weeks till we can find out the gender.

And we're getting a crib soon :)

So that's where we're at. We have a very healthy baby, a very nauseous mommy, a very excited daddy, and all the other details are slowly getting taken care of as well :)

Lean Not On Your Own Understanding...

Hi guys,

Well I wrote in my last post that I would be lying low for a little while and I had intentions to do that, but things have changed. You see, New Years Eve I found out I was pregnant. I was SO excited I was actually in tears. John told me to lie low and not tell anyone, but I couldn't do that....I was too excited!! So I told my two best friends Lizzie and Courtney and my little sister Bailey, I seriously was about to burst at the seams with the news every time I saw someone. But John and I have always been on the same page when it came to sharing this news, we were going to wait until I was in my second trimester, after the risk of miscarriage went down. 

A couple days after I found out, I started bleeding. I was bleeding and cramping really bad, called my doctor and explained what was going on....there was nothing they could do, they told me to wait a few days and then go in for a check up. When I went in my doctor verified my fears, I had miscarried. I was absolutely devastated, angry and confused.

I pride myself in knowing a lot of information about pregnancy...infants...all that jazz, but I didn't know that 50% of miscarriages happen within the first 6 weeks and that's where I was at. I debated putting this super personal information in my public blog because most of my family doesn't even know and none of my friends know except for Lizzie & Courtney, but I decided to finally write it down because no one talks about it. My case could have been so much worse- I didn't hear a heartbeat or feel it kick, I didn't give birth only to realize I lost my baby, so I know people have it so much worse than me but I'm putting this out there in case it's happened to anyone who went through it and wants to talk or is going through it and wants to talk. 

For those who are wondering, I'm doing okay. I'm not great, but I'm okay. My doctor said I shouldn't have anything to worry about and this shouldn't increase my chance for another miscarriage. I'm completely healthy and we've started trying again. I'm just praying it doesn't happen next time and that 9 months from the  time I see that positive test we'll have a healthy and beautiful baby boy or girl. 

P.S. On the upside, this made us seriously consider baby names and baby things....we have officially (like officially officially, we're not even considering other names) decided on a boy's name and a girl's name. I've gotten a couple more baby things, and I'm going to start purchasing bigger baby things like strollers, carseats,  pack n' plays....all that fun stuff :) 

Homesick

Have you ever made a life changing decision and afterwards you can't stop thinking if it was the right one?
I made one of those two years ago and I'm still unsure if it was the right thing to do.

I'm really homesick. I've been really homesick for two years now. I have zero family out here (John's doesn't count) and I will never have family out here. I've made a handful of friends and I can honestly say I've only made one that I would be sad leaving. In two years I've only made one friendship that I would miss. How sad is that?

I love Oregon, I really do. I love being near the ocean. I love the rain. I love how green it is all the time. But I love my family more. I hate not being there for my grandma during this whole transition of losing my grandpa. I hate not being there for my sister and her last year of high school. I hate that I can't be with my dad and celebrate with him on every holiday. I miss my friends- my real, true, lifelong friends. I miss white Christmases. I miss being home. Plain and simple.

I know John loves being able to just go crabbing on a whim. I know he loves going salmon fishing whenever he wants. I know he loves having his parents near him. But I also know that he misses his best friends like crazy because he, like me, hasn't met any of those life-long friends yet. He mentioned the other day how if we could move back he could send himself to police academy and he's sure he would be able to land a job. 

But how do we change it now? How do we just pick up again and move?

I think John and I need to have a serious talk....

Men in Tight Tights

Guess who gets to go see The Nutcracker for our 2 year wedding anniversary!! That's right! This girl!

I'm so excited! How am I possibly supposed to wait patiently for two months until we can go see it?!

I love ballets, did you know that? I really do. I love dance period. It's funny though, all the years I was a dancer I always loved watching the ballerinas but never actually wanted to try ballet. The whole tutu thing never appealed to be, but their skill, ability, and gracefulness astound me. And their flexibility. Damn are they flexible!

When I mentioned the idea to John I was readily awaiting his hesitance and groans about the subject, but instead I instantly got a "That's fine".

Say what?

 "Really?"
 "As long as it's not terribly expensive"
"It's $72 for 2 tickets"
"Yeah that'll be fine"

If I knew he would have been so accepting of this idea we would have been attending waaay more ballets, now; however, I see many in our future.

Oh my gosh. What am I gonna wear??

A Little Sunday Humor

This is all too funny and way too true not to share

Does this mean I'm not alone in this battle? Haha

I Win

My husband melts my heart. There's no other way to put it.

I have this picture frame that I write on for him...inside of it it has a piece of paper that says "I love you because..." and then I'll write reasons why I love him on the picture frame. I've been doing this for a long time and I change it about once a week.

Today I came home, walked into the bedroom and saw the frame put on my dresser with a note to me, and this is what it said....

I'm not even kidding when I say I stopped dead in my tracks and almost started crying.

I don't deserve him. I really don't. He's so good to me. I hope he knows how much I absolutely adore him. 

The Vow

For our date night tonight I decided to rent The Vow.

I read the book a few weeks ago and LOVED it. I knew I could never get John to read the book but getting him to watch the movie would be much easier. So, I went down to Safeway, rented it, and within 5 minutes of putting it in, I knew I was not going to like the movie.

The movie was nothing like the book, they didn't even keep the same names. How disheartening. The whole reason I wanted John to read it was because of the message behind the story. If you haven't read the book I'll do a quick recap (Spoiler Alert!):

Kim (the husband) and Krickitt (the wife..nickname, not real name) met over the phone. She was going to school in California and he was a baseball coach in New Mexico...or was it Arizona....pretty sure it was New Mexico. Anyway, Krickitt was very athletic, she was a gymnast, her family was a big sports family as well, and she worked at a sporting goods store. Kim called the store to order some coach jackets out of their catalog and that's how they met. It started with a couple business calls, then went to personal calls, then to a face to face meeting, and then they fell in love. One of the things that they had in common was their relationship with God...well, kinda. They were both Christians and their faith was really important to both of them, on their first date they pulled out the Bible and read Job (ironic considering their journey), but Kim says that Krickett's faith was inspiring because it was so much stronger than his. He proposed, they got married, she moved to New Mexico, and they were very happy. They were on their way over to hear parent's house for Thanksgiving...or was it Christmas....one of those, they were on their way over to celebrate the holiday with family and they got into an awful car accident. I mean, really horrific car accident. The way he described it in the book the car had flipped onto it's top, skidded quite a long ways, when he woke up he felt blood dripping on his face then realized that it wasn't his blood- Krickett was hanging from the roof of the car still in her seat belt and it was her blood dripping onto him but she was completely lifeless. He thought she was dead. Long story short some passerby's called 911, pulled him out of the car (and his friend who they were giving a ride) and they were rushed to the emergency room. He was told that she had a 1% chance of living.

By the grace of God she made it, but she didn't remember anything from the past year or so (they had only been together for about a year) and she didn't remember anything about their relationship together. She was in the hospital for a very long time, she went through major rehab because she couldn't walk or do anything. The doctors said that the reason she survived and was able to recover like she did was because she was so athletic before the accident. Kim and Krickitt had a really long journey. She tried living at their apartment but it was too hard for her, she didn't remember anything. She went to stay with her parents and he flew out to see her every week ( I think her parents were in Arizona and he was in New Mexico). They fought; they had a really hard time accepting what had happened to them, she didn't like him and couldn't imagine falling in love with him, but their faith in God and their belief in staying true to their vows is what kept them together. That's what I wanted John to see in this movie. That this couple had a hell of a rough patch, I mean, the worst thing any couple could ever go through together...but they kept true to their vows...hence the title The Vow. In the end she fell in love with him again, he fell in love with the new Krickitt, they renewed their vows, went on their second honeymoon, and now have 2 kids, but she never regained her memory.

I'm frustrated because this movie didn't do their story justice. In this movie she was flirting with her ex and kissed him, there was this whole dramatic ordeal with her parents that wasn't remotely close to the relationship she had with her parents or his (his were not dead in the book, his dad was actually a huge support) and the biggest kicker, in the movie they got divorced. What's the point of making a movie whose whole premise is based off of the idea of a couple never breaking their vow, when Hollywood changes it and does have them break their vow??

If you liked the movie that's okay, but please go read the book. It is such a different story and one that is inspiring and worth reading. I wasn't inspired by the movie, I didn't get chills, I didn't even get teary eyed and I am thee biggest baby when it comes to anything even remotely romantic... but the book brought me to tears and really hit home with how important it is for a married couple to stay true to the promises that they made before God, to each other, forever.

How To Date Your Spouse

I just came across a website called The Dating Divas

I'm so glad I found this! They have tons of ideas on how to date your spouse. LOVE it!

I have so many new ideas for romantic nights and "our" days. I would feel bad if i kept such an awesome thing a secret.

One thing I'm definitely doing is their frisbee golf with a twist . John loves frisbee golf but we haven't played a game since moving out here. What a great way to get back into a hobby and enjoy this beautiful hot, sunny weather we've been having.  Seriously guys, check it out. I hope you guys find it helpful too!

Patience Is A Virtue

Patience is a virtue that I have not had lately.

I'm pretty sure mine and John's relationship would be perfect if computers and video games were never invented. I really have no patience for them. No, correction, I have no patience for a husband who plays them all day long.

I don't know how many times or ways (patiently and not so patiently) I've tried to tell him my feelings about the issue, but I guess it just doesn't come across right. Either that, or he simply doesn't care how much I hate them. I'd like to think it's not the latter, but who knows.

The other day I told him that I'm not going to spend the rest of my life arguing over these stupid games, I'll throw them and the computer out of the f*&%ing window before that happens. Ugh, I just get so frustrated. I shouldn't have to compete with people online nor should I have to beg for quality time which I feel like I've been doing lately.

There ya have it ladies and gentlemen. My marriage is not perfect. Here is it's biggest flaw.

Hello? Are You Still There?

I am terrible with this thing lately aren't I?

Let's update you shall we?

We got the keys to our new house today! Woo hoo! So it's officially official, we're home owners (or if you're talking to John, home loaners haha). It's so exciting! Scary though too. There's so much that comes with owning a home and so much you can lose if things go terribly wrong. But I think we'll be okay. We took a few boxes over there today and I'll take more tomorrow so we can get in there and get out of here as soon as possible. I think we're going to get a U-Haul on Thursday to move the furniture so Thursday  night will be our first night in our new home. But today when we went over there we took Duke so he could check out his new backyard, oh man guys, he was stoked. He sprinted the entire thing over and over, he wanted to roll all over the grass, he was loving it! He also has two new neighbor dog friends, hopefully they continue to be friends. 

Aside from reaching definite adult status by gaining a mortgage, John and I have been going to a Maximizing Marriage class at church and it's been super fantastic! I think marriage seminars, classes, etc. are a great idea for any married couple. All of my professors back at Weber in my Child and Family Studies classes suggested going to at least 1 every year to keep your marriage on the right track and just have fun with other couples. I didn't think John would go for it, but he did and it's been really good.

We're also finally getting used to John's new work schedule. I don't like my routines being interrupted and changed to such extremes but we're finally getting the hang of this new one. My hours are being cut at work which is no good, but hopefully it's very temporary and we'll get new clients in soon. Because my hours aren't the greatest right now I've been applying for second part time jobs; I have an interview at a preschool on Sunday. I really hope I get it- A: it would help with money, B: I would get more experience with normal kids (cuz let's face it, the kids I work with are not your average kid) and C: it'll look great on a resume. 

Oh, and I almost forgot. Have you guys heard of the Dirty Dash? If not, youtube it right now. Come July 21st I, along with my friend Des and possibly a couple other girls, will be in Eugene getting completely dirty, trudging through the mud and loving every second of it! 

Duke and Down Payments

Duke is doing much better. He's been my shadow ever since this whole raccoon thing happened, I think it really freaked him out. He's been a little needy and if he wakes up from a nap and I'm not in the living room he'll search the house for me- it's actually pretty cute and I'm not gonna lie, it makes me feel good. The antibiotics are working and the infection is cleaning out. It looks a lot better, thank God for that! It doesn't look like there will be any surgery for Mr. Duke anytime soon.

Also, big exciting news, John and I put an offer down on a house last night- a cute, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a fireplace in the living room and a huge backyard. We'll know by the end of the day if the offer was accepted, if not then we'll start counter-offering with the people but hopefully we'll both come to an offer where we're all satisfied. If we get this house we'll be in our new home next month. Happy birthday to me! How exciting is that? I feel so grown up right now...talking about home buying, mortgages and all that jazz.

At times I feel like I'm dealing with things far beyond my maturity level though. Don't take that the wrong way. It's just that sometimes I look at my friends and they're still living the party life in college, and then I look at my life and I'm 22, married, and trying to buy a house. Then I tell myself that those friends are still searching for the person they want to spend their life with- I found mine a long time ago; they couldn't buy a house even if they tried...I'm so damn blessed! Turns out, I'm not dealing with things beyond my maturity level after all; I'm just taking it all as God brings it to me. Who says 22 isn't old enough to be married, buy a house and start a family anyways? I'm doin it, and we're doing just fine.

Cheers

I'm so excited for this weekend you guys. It's going to be jam packed with lots of celebrating! Here's the scoop:

Tomorrow (which will be like my Friday for the week since it's my last day of work) I get to have some girl time with Chelsea (who just got back from NY) as we get our nails done in preparation for her wedding, then Friday I'll get to watch her & Phil finally say "I do". On Saturday John and I are heading up to Portland to party with my brother (who's birthday is also on Friday) and a bunch of his and John's friends that are going to be in town. And then Sunday we will be celebrating John's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. 60th people. That's a big deal! On top of all of this, Stephen (John's brother) and Amy (sister-in-law) will be here tomorrow to celebrate all of this with us.

Cheers to finishing the year off right! Woohoo!