Ten for January

10. I finally tried out the pet hair tool on our new vacuum.  It was one of the main reasons for selecting this one.  I must say, it does not disappoint.  I'm so glad to have to rely on fur fighters and fabric sweepers a lot less.  And, my dogs are just too sweet to banish them from the furniture.  If possible, they have gotten even sweeter and cuter this past month.  We turn the heat down at night, so they both like to have a blanket over their head when they sleep now.  We laugh daily about this.

9. A few big projects have been tackled in our house.  We've rearranged the living room, added a lot to our walls, and have cleaned and organized the laundry room.  Or kitchen has been in great shape too, and we cleared clutter, cleaned the fridge, and made room for our new gadgets.

8. Right now, Devin is on his OB/GYN rotation.  While he's done plenty of clinic visits, he's also been able to help deliver several babies so far...he even delivered one all on his own!  He's actually been surprised by how much he is enjoying the rotation.  Of course, he's also enjoying all he's learning with regards to me as well.  Thankfully, I'll deliver with the same staff and in the same hospital he's working in now.  So, he's been handpicking nurses and showing off phone pictures of me while getting his job done.  I think it's pretty cute.

7. This month, we managed to avoid all shopping except for groceries.  It started out unintentional, but it became deliberate after a while.  I haven't set foot inside Target since before Christmas...and I've been okay! Granted, I have nearly empty bottles of body wash and lotion while we are on our last rolls of toilet paper, but it's been kind of a fun experiment.  I know I'll have to spend money to stock up on these (and other) items in a few days, but I'm pretty certain I saved myself from buying a lot of stuff that I didn't really need, too.

6. I'm keeping busy planning an awesome nursery.  I've never been a super crafty person.  (When my older sisters tried to teach me how to sew a dress for my Barbie, I gave up and attached the pretty peach rose fabric with Elmer's and never looked back.)  Now, I see so many cute things to create and personalize the space.  So, I'm reading about how to use my sewing machine and eyeing some simple projects.  Before long, though, I may just even go out and buy a needle and thread!

5. We're cooking a good bit.  After so much eating at the holidays, it's been nice to detox a little bit with healthy, home cooked meals.  We've enjoying using our new crock pot and blender.  We've busted our some cookbooks to try a few new things.  We're even doing a better job of planning our menus!  Publix is getting quite a bit of business from us these days...shopping there really is a pleasure.

4. Lest you think we've been too busy, we have also made plenty of use out of our Christmas slippers.  We may just be getting old, but we're spending many more evening in our pajamas and slippers with delicious homemade food instead of dressed up and eating out.  I'm totally okay with this though.  We've found a new show we love--The Walking Dead.  I never thought I'd like it, but I've been pleasantly surprised.  We've had fun catching up on the episodes that have already been released.  Now, we're working our way through Farscape on Netflix.  

3. We've been wearing shorts and capris.  With the exception of a couple bitter cold and nasty days, we have been able to really enjoy this global warming...or whatever it is.  We mostly just call it winter in the South.  This was one of my top reasons for moving to Georgia (I'm not even kidding), so I'm glad that for my fourth winter here it's finally putting up the warmth that I expected.

2. A couple weekends ago, we took the boys down to the canal for a nice long walk.  After over five miles, some swim time, and some playing with other dogs, they were pretty tired.  I was starving.  It was sooo nice to be outside, be active, and actually feel a little hot.  If the rain holds off this coming weekend, we are hoping to make it out to Mistletoe for a hike.

1. Devin has officially selected his specialty!  He could still potentially change it if he really wanted to, but it seems pretty certain he is headed for a career in Emergency Medicine.  Last week he met with his adviser, and next week he has a meeting to set his fourth year schedule.  He's also been a rockstar in both his last rotation and this one...which turns me into a little bit of a braggart.  Personally, I just think he's pretty awesome.  It's nice when other people notice it too, though!

Bring on the Week

I hope your weekend was as good as ours.  There was lots of food and family with a wonderful evening of downtime last night to get us ready for the new week.  Our favorite boys got to visit the Animal House (aka Disneyland for Dogs), we got to visit Athens, and we all loved being back together Sunday evening.  I haven't felt this ready for a Monday in quite a while...I'm ready to make the most of this week!

Two Hundred Posts

I started this post 3 weeks ago, knowing I was nearing the time to post it.  It was intimidating, though, and hard to work on.  (I've finished several other posts that are now ready to share after this one goes up.)  How do I sum up over three and a half years of my life?  They were some pretty important years, too.  This of course counts all the posts since I started over at the old blog site, too.  After many thoughts, I decided the best way to go was to link to some of the most significant posts.

There was the first blog post, when I was just trying to figure things out in a new state.  This was closely followed by my first beach trip (I'd never been to the ocean before!), and an introduction to SEC football.

Later, there was our engagement, one of the best Christmases ever, and some work on wedding plans.  Before even getting married, we wound up getting Blue.  Then there was the wedding day and honeymoon to write about.

We moved to Augusta, and Devin received his white coat, we bought a house, and I got a new job that I loved. We laughed a lot, Devin supported me when my Grammam passed away, and we found many reasons to be grateful.

Then, we found our family growing with Maximus, proved ourselves running a half marathon, and enjoyed a much needed vacation in the form of another cruise.

This past summer, we took the boys camping, celebrated four Fourths of July, and marked the first day of rotations for Devin.

This fall, we were able to post the greatest countdown of all as we are now getting ready to expand our family even more.  We realized that Devin is almost a doctor and are now working on enjoying the present.

It's been such a wonderful few years, that it really feels like 25 links can't sum them all up.  Some days, I just love to look back at what has become a virtual scrapbook of our lives.  I enjoy reading the stories and seeing the pictures and videos.  I realize there are so many things missing, though.  So many meals that were never posted, private moments never shared, and events that just never made it on here.  Just let it be known that if our life looks good on here, it's at least ten times better living it.  It's not perfect, but I would not trade one second of it for anything else...ever!

Happy Birthday Kassie Lou!

I know you, and you know me.
We are as diff’rent as the sun and the sea.

I know you, and you know me,
And that’s the way it is supposed to be.

I help you, and you help me.
We learn from problems, and we’re starting to see.

I help you, and you help me,
And that’s the way it is supposed to be.

I love you, and you love me.
We reach together for the best we can be.

I love you, and you love me,
And that’s the way it is supposed to be.

Some decade and a half ago, Kass and I song that song in our school's talent show.  As different as we were then, it's amusing to see how much alike we are now.  I couldn't imagine a life without her in it.  While I don't remember that first time I held her, I do remember the first time she was there to pose for the back to school pictures with me.  I also remember the trips and the goofy times, the camps and the hair-dos.  It's hard to imagine that it's been eleven years since Kass let me dress her up for the final photo.  That scrunchie was pretty cool back then!

Sister, I hope you have the most wonderful birthday (and year!) ever!  I love you!

And now it's 2012...

Last year, I wrote a post with some goals for the new year.  I also talked about everything I was excited about.  It was pretty decent for someone who doesn't really like the idea of resolutions.  But, I've enjoyed looking back on it and reflecting.

First off, I listed five dreams for the new year.  I accomplished two of them.  We had our wonderful vacation, and I really do feel like I had more fun in 2011.  Our cruise was awesome.  We had some fun small trips.  We enjoyed lots of things around home (we're pretty much a master duo when it comes to the kitchen/grill now!).  I feel like I was able to let go and just enjoy life quite a bit.

However, three items were not crossed off the list--a "good" camping trip, running two races, and finishing our kitchen.  The trip got rained out, so we visited my family instead (their lake trip was also rained out that week!).  The races I had planned on were either in November or December (and didn't happen due to the early pregnancy tired stupor I was in).  And, while the kitchen didn't happen, we did get quite a few other projects done including some great improvement in the living room.

On New Year's Eve, Devin and I had the most perfect evening together.  (Actually, it was pretty much the most perfect weekend in it's entirety, but that's not the point of this post.)  We saw an early movie then made a late dinner together and got hooked on a new tv show in netflix.  At midnight, we watched the ball in NYC drop--wearing our pajamas.  After a kiss, we started talking about the coming year.  There are exciting things happening for sure--the arrival of our child being number one on the list.  However, I quickly jumped to being able to use "next year" proclaiming that next year Devin would graduate, we would move, we'd hopefully sell our house, etc.  All these things do in fact happen in 2013, but we just hit 2012!

So, my goal for this year is to focus on living in the present.  I spent soooooo much of my life looking forward, thinking about what's next, and forgetting to enjoy the present.  In grad school, I ended up doing this pretty well for the first few months.  It was awesome.  While I think it's important to plan for the future, I think it's equally important to embrace the present.  I don't want to look back and wish I'd enjoyed my life more while I was living it.  Already I look back and wish I'd let myself enjoy certain phases a bit more.  This year, I'm going to return to seizing the moment.  I'll still be excited about 2013, but I certainly don't want to waste 2012 and all it has to offer.  So, I'm sending out a (sparkling white grape juice) toast for each moment of this year and wishing you all a (belated) Happy New Year!!