Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what you are thankful for and this year it is totally different than in the past. I guess when you are a soon to be Mom your priorities definitely change.

I am thankful for Regan that is growing inside me. I am thankful that she is healthy and growing at the right speed. I am thankful for how wonderful Amanda has been through this entire process. I am thankful for my Mom who has supported our decision to start a family from the beginning. I am thankful for my sister and how excited she has been for us. I am thankful for all of our family and friends, everyone who has sent their love and support truly means a lot.

This year is totally different and I cannot wait to see how different next Thanksgiving will be with Regan around. My life is amazing and I couldn't ask for anything else!

Hope all is well.

We're pregnant!!!

On July 12, 2010 our life started changing and on July 26, 2010 our lives changed forever. We began a new chapter in our life. April 4, 2011 -- Let the journey begin!

To quote my dad from a conversation we had a couple of weeks ago now…”I always knew you were going to be a mom, I didn’t know when, but I just know you’re going to be great at it.” That has got to be the nicest compliment. I am so emotional these days and that definitely hit the spot. Amanda and I both hope that we can be wonderful mothers like we had growing up. Over this process we have talked about our childhoods and how great they were and the things that we want to bring into our kids lives. It’s just such an amazing honor to be able to be a Mom and neither Amanda nor I are going to take that for granted.

The process before was quite a long one. We had been talking about how we were going to expand our family for such a long time, that it kind of seemed surreal when we finally got down to doing all the medications and treatments. Talking about what was going to happen and it happening is two totally different things. Both of us had to endure different things at different times. Throughout the entire process we leaned on each other and realized what an amazing opportunity it is to be a parent. I cannot believe that it’s actually happening

We are 18 weeks and 4 days, we are getting so close to the half way point that it’s crazy! Gotta be honest and say it’s all finally starting to sink in. For a while, I would just randomly say…I’m pregnant, how crazy is that?! Now, I can feel Regan (if it truly is a girl…we will know more next week) move and it gives me the most amazing feeling. I cannot wait for Amanda to feel her moving around. Of course she likes to move at night, so that should be interesting if that trend continues when she’s born. I have been wearing maternity pants for a while. Amanda will tell you, that the first time I put them on it was the most amazing feeling because I could actually breathe!!! I was jumping up and down in the dressing room and she was laughing, quite amusing. At first I gained more weight than I wanted, but things have leveled out, that is until the past 2 weeks or so, my belly is starting to stick out even further. At least now I don’t look fat anymore, I’m actually looking more pregnant. I’m feeling not as tired as I used to feel, but overall I still feel tired. I have gotten the pregnancy “I forgot” brain, most definitely. I am missing my coffee in the mornings, wine at night, and my sushi dates. But at the end of these 9 months, it is most definitely going to be worth all of the sacrifices that I am making. Amanda is going to bring me sushi in the hospital and it’s going to be wonderful!!!

We have started registering and that is a process within itself as well. There are so many things to look at and so many things to decide on. I do have to tell a funny story. So, we registered for a lime green bottle brush. When we came home and we were looking at the registry, the bottle brush was pink, so Amanda changed it back. The day we look again and it had changed back to pink…and the same thing happened the next day. Needless to say, it changes every day and it frustrates Amanda to a point that all I can do is laugh about it; I finally went on and changed the type of bottle brush to multi colored so that she doesn’t even have to deal with it anymore. But she has been the greatest about researching and finding out what other people use in regards to bottles, pack-n-plays, diapers, carriers, etc. It has been fun looking at all the stuff, as well as overwhelming…I mean seriously how much could one little person need…according to the Babies R Us registry book – A LOT!!!

This is definitely the happiest time in our lives. We are so excited and cannot wait for our new addition to our family. I think Rebound is excited too, he just doesn’t know how to express it yet. Ha…I am excited for Rebound to meet our new addition; he’s going to be great! We are so happy that everyone has been so supportive throughout everything. Our family is very lucky to have people in our lives that are so wonderful!

Eat Pray Love

This movie was amazing. The critics didn't like it, people that I talked with said that they didn't want to go see, but the first time I saw the preview I wanted to see it and of course Amanda humored me, but she ended up loving it too :) It was about a woman who needed to find herself. Sometimes it's much needed to step outside your comfort box and do something different so you can find out who you truly are. I didn't go to different countries around the world, but I have had this experience in my life. Watching this movie was very inspirational on so many levels. It showed how much seeing the world can change your perspective, it showed that you can truly find yourself if you just look, it showed that sometimes you have to take a big step in life just so you can see that it is better on the other side. I know what it's like to be down on your life and have to figure out who you truly are and where you want to be. As she did in the movie, she met many new people that had many new things for her to experience. It was amazing journey of one woman who decided it was time to take a hold of her life and begin to enjoy it again. I'm so glad that I was able to see it, but now I want to read the book...haha, I've heard it's even better!

Past Weekend...

It was a great weekend being able to spend time with people that I do not normally see. Amanda and I started talking one night about how last year we only made it to see my Dad's side of the family at Christmas time both years and we said that was just unacceptable...so off we went to Columbus, Ga.

We knew it was going to take a little bit of time to get there so we stopped in Mobile on Friday night to try and cut the trip up instead of driving straight to our hotel. And because we are so lucky, my best friend in Mobile had her baby. Dillon was born on Thursday around 12:30. He is the most precious thing ever! It definitely was eye-opening to see him and hear him crying...I cried for him. Yes, I am definitely emotional...but I just had to, it was just so sad to hear him being so sad. Haha, so I was crying and I think I probably made Danielle cry...I'm so silly. It was wonderful getting to hang out with Danielle, Kenn, and Dillon...they are going to be the greatest parents.

Saturday we drove to Columbus and met my sister and Emily at our hotel and off we went. It was nice to sit and talk with Maw. She's always at her table in the kitchen, she has always been the person in the family that will tell you like it is. It is so nice to be able to just sit and talk. She's an extraordinary lady. When you listen to older people you can learn many many things. I have learned since I have gotten older that she has a lot of stories to tell and a lot of opinions :) but I will listen to them all. It was just a nice visit and Paw was just so cute with Emily!

Back to the hotel we went and Mom was there, so we spent the rest of the night playing in the pool with Emily. I cannot believe how big she has gotten. I guess seeing Dillon on Friday night brought back memories of when Emily was a baby and how quickly the time has gone by. She's a little girl now and she's about to start Pre-K and that just blows my mind. She means the world to me and it just melts my hear that she loves Amanda so much...sometimes more than me :)

All in all, this weekend was wonderful. Yes, we were tired. Yes, it was a lot of driving in just a few short days. But the memories we made, nobody can ever take those away!

Hope all is well!

Work...

So today, I'm actually quite happy about work because I got to leave around 11:30, but in general things are just crazy. I try to understand why the banking world does things they way they do. Now, don't get me wrong...I do like my job and I have grown to love it. Over the past 2 years here in Louisiana, I have grown into knowing how to do my job quite well if I do say so myself. But sometimes I feel like they expect the things that we cannot produce and then we get somewhat graded on that and it just doesn't seem fair. I guess most people would think that at some point with their job. I know they have goals for a reason, but then they have stretch goals that they wish we could meet. Um...hello, the goals are hard enough to reach and seriously the stretch goals are just a "laugh out loud" moment. So, that's my little rant for the day.

On a brighter note...my sister has a new job and she is absolutely loving it :) Yay!

Hope everyone is doing great!!!

Thinking about family the last few days...

This morning I was driving to work and I passed a Taco Bell...now, with that said I pass Taco Bell's all the time, but for some reason this morning I thought about my GG. She loved Taco Bell. It made me think that it's been almost 5 months since she passed away and it's gone by so fast. I was thinking about her a lot today because I waited on a bunch of older customers. I was remembering how funny she used to be...how she had so many opinions and she was never scared to tell you. It's so nice to think about all the wonderful memories that she brought to our lives. I miss her.

I was also thinking about Amanda's family and how hard her Mema getting lung cancer has been on everyone. I know that Amanda wants to do more for them, but it's definitely been hard with residency happening right now. We're driving over to Pensacola tomorrow so we can take them out to lunch and spend a little bit of time with them. Even though her stories are long and drawn out, they are almost always interesting...and by the time we leave we have almost always learned something new. They are funny and we also enjoy our time when we go to their house. Can't wait for tomorrow.

This past week I have also been struggling with the situation that is my father. I am just so lost as to what to say to him and how to approach the situation. It's hard when you get older and you are an adult and you have problems with your parent who is suppose to act older than you are. I feel as though he does not...I feel as though I have to be the adult in the situation and I don't want to feel like that. I want my father to be older and wiser...but I don't think this is going to happen. Ugh, it's frustrating...but one of these days I will figure things out.

I am visiting my mom and sister and niece next month and I couldn't be more excited. It's crazy how you miss people when you don't see them for months. I don't even care what we do...I just want to spend time with them. I see pictures of Em and I think time is flying and she's growing up so fast. I can't wait to go home! I do, however, talk to them everyday so that helps a little bit :)

This is my blog about family, but I couldn't leave out my family that I have here in my own home. They are just wonderful. Amanda and I have made our family here in New Orleans with Rebound and we couldn't be happier :)

Hope everyone is great!!!

The month of May is gone already... :(

So, we have been waiting for the month of May to get here for so long and now it's officially the last day of the month. Man, how time is flying...

This month was great. Our calendar looked full, but it really wasn't. We had a few visitors around and then vacation.

Let's talk about vacation...it was much needed and it was amazing. We went to Puerto Rico for an entire week. Now, it rained every day, but that definitely was not going to spoil anything and Amanda and I keep saying that that was God telling us not to get burnt :) The resort that we stayed at was just amazing. I don't think I have ever stayed anywhere like that. It was extremely nice...the room, the staff, the pool, the view from our room of the ocean, the food around the resort, the concierge, the casino, etc etc etc. I loved every minute. We had been waiting for a long time to just relax and we did. We would go to the pool in the morning before it would start raining and we would read our books and listen to the music and talk. We went with our friends Tristan and Russell from Raleigh and it was great just to have a great time with wonderful friends. We visited Old San Juan and explored different areas. We almost died more than once in the taxi trips...haha, we think they had a deal with the police because they all would got about 50 over the speed limit, totally crazy. We rented a car and drove to Farjardo to do a kayaking and snorkel trip. That was the first time I had been kayaking and it definitely tested Amanda and I...haha, but we made it. We also did the Bio Bay, and it was great except for the darkness before we got to the Bio Bay. Kayaking 2 times in one day...I told Amanda that it would be a long time we did that again ;) We didn't want to leave, but we made a ton of amazing memories. :)

Amanda has started a call month in the PICU, so her schedule will be quite busy, so most likely this month will go by as fast as last month did. Our neighborhood BBQ is happening next weekend and we're excited, because it's just a wonderful time with our neighbors and Amanda can go too, yay!

I get to see my family in about a month and I couldn't be more excited! I'm ready.

Hope everyone is just wonderful. Until next time! :)