Maintenance Mess!

We recently moved into a bigger apartment at the same complex. Just had to upgrade with baby on the way! My parents helped us all day on Saturday and Paul's dad and cousin, Charlie helped us on Sunday. We got everything done and moved (unpacking is a different story)!! On Sunday monrning in our new apartment I was in the hallway in our bedroom and opened the laundry closet to do a load of laundry and there was water every where!!! I had to wait until the office opened to let them know I needed maintenance. The person on call came out and looked at it and wiped up the water and said if I see it happening again to call him back and he would come back out! Well an hour later it happened again so he came back and he told Paul it looked like we needed a new hot water heater and he would have his supervisor look at it on Monday. So on Monday, maintenance came in and couldn't find out what was causing the leak. So when I got home I came home to this!!!!!

Finally on Thursday, a contractor came out and said that the drainage and condensation line for the A/C weren't hooked up correctly. So he fixed it! Friday, maintenance came back in and patched up all the holes and started to paint. now our apartment looks somewhat back to normal now we just have to re-dust everything from all the dust that was stirred up with the cutting of holes in random spots in the walls in the living room and bedroom! Our maintenance team ROCKS!

What a WONDERFUL surprise!

For a while I was trying to lose some weight I put on in the cold months! Doesn't everyone do that? I went through a friend and got the Visalus Shake information beacause P90X just wasn't working for me anymore. I made it to day 60 and couldn't figure out what I was doing that was so wrong. I would weigh myself and one day it would be 4lbs. lighter and then 3 days later I'd be about 6lbs. heavier (don't judge-there was a method to the maddness that I found out later). So Visalus was what I was going to do and I was going to stick to it! I made it through the first month and could tell a difference. I was exercising, and doing 2 shakes a day and lbs. were coming off! It was amazing! Then once we went to the Nascar race and I ate junk there all day, it was hard to start back on it. I also thought maybe I was just a little stressed out too because I was in the process of changing jobs (yet again). So I thought stress was what was making me gain so much weight!

Well, the month of May finally arrived and I was going to be starting my new job on May 16. I was so excited, the night before I picked out what I was going to wear, painted my nails and toe nails (my sis would be so proud since I never paint them) and I went to bed! Well the next morning, I got up, got my shower and started getting ready! I realized that it was almost that "time of the month," and that I didn't have any signs or symptoms that I normally have. So I decided to get a pregnancy test. I got the test, did my business and proceeded to still get ready for work while the test was brewing!! Paul was up and he was going to run Luca downstairs before he left because he was running a few minutes late for his 2nd day of his new rotation and he didn't want me to be late for my 1st day of work! Well I thought the pregnancy test had enough time to "brew," and I went and checked it real quick. Well, of course I freaked out because it was a big ole' YES +! I got the digital one so I knew it would be right. So, I started pacing our little apartment living room waiting for Paul to get upstairs with Luca. His plan was just to open the door put the dog in the kitchen and tell me "bye!" as he was walking out. He started to do that and I said, "You gotta come see this, this test says I'm pregnant." He looked at me and said, "Well that's nice and I'm happy for you, but I gotta go." He hugged me and left. Now before you all get angry with him for not saying or doing anything after I told him, just keep reading. He was in as much shock as I was! We were just talking about if it was right for us to have a baby right now everything would work out for the best! Well it worked out!! :) He got home from Rotation that day before I did and had flowers and a card waiting for me!

Now, we agreed that we weren't going to tell anyone until we were ready. Well we only wanted to tell our parents and we told our parents that they had to keep quiet about it until we were ready for the world to know! So of course, we told our parents! We wanted to tell them all in person and not over the phone. So that weekend we went home. I told mine first and Paul could only get in touch with his mom by going to see her at work to tell her so we did that! But we also told her she had to keep quiet and not tell his dad because we wanted to tell him in person! She kept a secret, but my dad certainly did NOT! He went to church and told the world! So I decided to make my facebook account private untile we wanted to tell everyone. Well the day I made the facebook public again (which happened to be the day after our 2 year anniversary) someone told the whole world before we could! So we had to announce it! Thanks everyone for the Congratulations and kind e-mails!

And baby makes 3!

14weeks

16 weeks

18 weeks

Nascar!

Back in April after Paul's last semester of classes a couple of us went to Richmond for the Nascar Race. There was a deal on Living Social that you could purchase the tickets to the race and also ride in the pace car the morning of the race. So about 8 of us got the tickets, and pace car tickets and went to our FIRST ever Nascar Race! Paul, myself and one of his classmates got there super early, got a great parking spot in what I called "Redneck Nation," and got in line to ride the pace car. We got one of the coolest parks there I thought. A man with his own porta-john parked next to him and he let us use his john all day! It was nice and clean (for the most part) and we didn't have to wait in any lines to use the bathroom at all! It was a night race so it felt like we were there from sun up to sun down and we arrived back at our apartment around 1:30am after the race. All in all it was a fun day!

What I like to call "Redneck Nation!!!"

Matt, me and Paul waiting in line to do the pace car ride

Paul and I in the the back of the pace car.

Me and Matt after the pace car ride. All smiles! I was scared to death while we were in the car riding. I had a death grip on Paul's leg and on the seat belt!

Matt and Noah!

Me and Paul in the stands!

Us! With our head phone on so we could listen to what the driver's were saying!

PASSED =

Physician Assistant Student Success End to the Didactic!! That's right, you guessed it, today is the last day of class for Paul. Well it was actually yesterday, today they are just doing last minute paperwork, having lunch and getting their final clinical rotation schedule, he already knows what he's got first, he just finds out where he will be! He starts exams on Monday, has a week break the following week, then the week after that he has a "crash course" week at the school reviewing everything they learned in the last 15 months, then he starts clinical rotations May 9! Rotations last a year then he's done May 2010!

Today in celebration of the end of class, they had dress up day! The theme was "P" for PA. They were supposed to dress up as anything that started with a "P." So jokingly I said to Paul, "You should just dress up as yourself." Of course that was too lame, so when I came in from work last night he was so excited to tell me that he was going to be dressed as a "Ping-pong Player!"

My Struggles

Everyday I struggle...should I eat this, should I eat that, one more bite, I love candy, I love cake, I love food....

On March 2, I started P90X with Paul and his friend Kenny. My alarm goes off every morning at 4:45am and I hit snooze and get up 5 minutes later, get dressed, argue with myself and with Paul about how ridiculous this is and head down to the gym (which on the way down to the gym, Kenny texts Paul every morning to let him know he's on the way(he lives at another apartment a few blocks away)...I wait every morning for a text from Kenny saying that he can't make it just so I can go back to bed-but Kenny is a dedicated man to his workouts!!) and wait for the gym to open at 5 so we can walk in and pop in our glorious video and get to work! I've been struggling with this, not only because it's messing up my sleep time, but because I don't feel like I'm seeing results in my weight. I've seen a lot of results with gaining muscle and I feel good overall. I finish the workout and feel really energized and ready to start my day. I feel like I have this constant wrestling match in the mirror with my body...I tug and pull, and say to myself, "this shouldn't be like this," or "I can't believe I look like this." Then on the other hand I can see the muscles in my legs are more defined than before and I can see a tiny bit of definition in my arms. Paul tells me not to get discouraged, that during the 2nd phase of the workout was when he really started to see results in his mid-section and in his weight. So, today we started the 2nd phase and I'm really hoping to see some results. I know things like this don't happen over night and that it took a long time for me to gain the weight so it will take me a long time lose it too. I'm just the type of person that gets discouraged quickly if I don't see results right away....

I have a few more months until bathing suit season so I'm hopeful that I will see a difference by then.
Here's to 2nd phase of P90X and my results!!!

I'm still here!

I'm BBBBBBAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!! It's been a while and I'm a horrible blogger...this I know! But my resolution (doesn't everyone say this) is to be a better blogger. Not just to keep record of this journey that Paul and I are on but so my family and friends (that care to read) can keep up with us as well!

A lot has happened since I last blogged (last September) and I would bore you all by catching you up! But here's a little tid bit of our life since last time I blogged.

I started a new job. The job I got when we first moved here was only part-time/temporary. I knew going into the position that it would end at some point unless things changed and there would be room to grow! I was really excited about this job. I moved here as most of you know without a job and was lucky to get the job I got! Even though it had nothing to do with my degree, I was still blessed and thankful to get one! My job at our apartment complex ended on September 30 and I started a new job doing the same thing but with a different company the second week in October. So I was lucky once again to go only a short time without a job. Plus it gave me 2 weeks to travel home for a quick visit!

I turned 30 in October and went out with some great friends from NC to dinner and celebrated and caught up on life since it seemed like High School graduation. Even though several of us have seen each other since High School it was still nice to catch up with everyone! I also had a family dinner at Olive Garden!!!

We also had a wedding in October! Paul's friend from High School, Josh got married! Paul was a part of his big day! Thanks Josh and Jenny for letting us share in your special day!!!

November, of course was Thanksgiving! I had a lot to be thankful for! Paul and I got to go home for Thanksgiving with to be with our families! We had Thanksgiving lunch with my family and went to Lake Gaston for an early dinner with his family. I went back to Rocky Mount so I could do some shopping at midnight at the outlets in Smithfield with my mom, dad, and sister! Paul and I met up the next day and came back to Norfolk!

December came and went it felt like! I made my first Ginger Bread house with the Larsen and Perkins' families! We never did this growing up so I thought this was a fun experience! We had a great dinner and lots of fun while the guys watched TV!

For Christmas we traveled back to NC! We had lunch with my parents on Christmas Eve and spent the night! We got up the next morning and drove to Lake Gaston for the day! We opened gifts with Paul's family and had our traditional Christmas lunch, lasagna!!! Paul's family being Italian, that's what they have for their Christmas meal instead of the American traditional ham or turkey and all the fixings! After lunch, we had to leave because it started to snow! We got back to Norfolk just in time! It snowed all night and all day the next day! We got a lot of snow! Luca hated walking in it and wouldn't even use the bathroom unless we cleaned off a spot for hime to go!

January started the 4th semester for Paul with PA school! He had another White Coat Ceremony. This time he got to coat someone instead of being the one that was coated! After the ceremony we went out to the local bar, Red Dog and then downtown Granby Street to do some late night dancing! My sister also came into town for the weekend! We had a blast!!!!!

I will be better at posting this year! A lot will happen for us! Paul will start rotations in early May and that will last a year! So we have survived a year and have another one to go!!!!