Exciting Times

Seeing as I'm home today, I thought I'd take some time and update our little blog here. Life has begun moving at a tremendous pace and we've both found ourselves struggling to keep up.

Of course our biggest news is that we're having a baby! And the way we found out is possibly the best pregnancy story we could have ever come up with. At the end of September, the cyst I managed to grown in June became extremely painful. I had been seeing an OBGYN in town for a few months about it, and the pain finally became so great she couldn't ignore it any longer. So I went in for surgery, completely prepared to be done with all the cyst & abscess problems I'd been having for the last year. After being admitted, I was in the prep room with my mom when my doctor came in. She asked my mom to leave for a minute, which I was expecting, and then told me my urine test had come back positive, which I was definitely wasn't expecting! I had just taken a pregnancy test & it had been negative. Even after seeing my lab results, I was absolutely convinced someone had mixed up the urine samples, or results. I mean, it happens all the time, right? I was sent home, cyst fully intact, and a head full of questions. As soon as I got home, it was into the bathroom for me with another pregnancy test. Three minutes later, low and behold...

the hospital was right! I told myself I could wait a couple hours to tell Anthony in person. 5 minutes later I was on the phone, hoping he would actually answer. When I told him, his first reaction was, "How??" And then it was, "You're making me tear up at work". The next day I had my first ultrasound to verify the results, and although it was early, there was a definite baby growing! Last week we had another ultrasound to get a better estimate of how far along I am, and we got to see baby's heartbeat! The doctor put me at 6 1/2 weeks (7 1/2 now), and said I'm due June 9. We're both so incredibly excited! We've got so much to get ready, just like any first time parents, but it's all so exciting to us!

Our other big news is that we became first time homeowners at the end of August! With such incredible interest rates, we figured it was the best time for us to buy a house. After looking around at stuff in our price range, we figured we'd be best off buying the house we've been renting...and then we didn't even have to move! So at the end of August, we all signed papers and Bang! we were responsible for a mortgage instead of rent! It's still kind of hard for us to comprehend...the fact that we own the home instead of just living in it. But we feel so grown up now, buying a house, starting a family...and it all happening at once as well.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same. Anthony's still working at Lemons House Moving, and I'm still at ReMax. Fortunately, work for Anthony has picked up in the last few weeks...now we just have to hope it stays that way. He also applied for a mechanic's job at a nearby shop, and we're really hoping he gets that as well. It would be so nice to know his work schedule in advance!

I'm going to do my best to keep this updated with baby stuff for all you who are dying to know (I know there are a whole 5 of you ;)  so keep checking back!

It's Our Crazy Life

And we'd go mad if it were any other way. Haha! I finally have a bit of downtime (as I type this the dog whines to be let out and I am forced to watch the neighbor girls practice their Spice Girls routine while waiting for Lucie to finish up) and thought it would be good to let people in on our goings on.

Christmas was a wonderful occasion, and someday I will finally post my pictures. Both Anthony and I were spoiled by Papa and Pat with gifts from our family farmhouse in Ohio. Both of our parents spoiled us rotten too with shopping cards, various treats and a new TV (which my blind husband practically begged for), and Anthony surprised me with a new hard drive for my already full computer. Now I can work on my pictures and videos without having to delete stuff first! :)

Anthony has had a bit of a slow year so far. Lemons House Moving hasn't had consistent work for quite some time now, which has meant Anthony has spent many months molding on our couch playing video games. As much as he loves playing assassin, he gets bored pretty easily by now. His brother Brady got him into bulking up just before Christmas, so going to the gym to put himself through his paces has been incredibly enjoyable for him, plus it gets him out of the house. Now that the weather has started leaning towards spring (don't worry, the weather is calling for snow showers tomorrow...this is Idaho after all!), he's able to get out of the house more often. Last fall he started playing Disc Golf (golf with Frisbee's) and is stoked to be getting out on the courses again. On a non-work, good weather day he'll go 3-4 times a day. It makes me laugh how entertained he is by the sport, but it's been really good for him. Work at Lemons has picked up in the last week too, and that's been a blessing as well, however it's still not consistent work. All the jobs they have lined up are contingent on the owner having money, and we all know that's a bit scare. To suppliment some income, Anthony and Brady are starting up a window washing service. My mom made the comment that clients are always asking for referrals, so the boys jumped all over that idea. I'm hoping to get some pictures of them doing their thing once they start up.

I've been dealing with health problems for the most part. In November I found a lump that started to get fairly painful, and I finally caved and went to the doctor. The lump was a Bartholin's Gland Cyst, which is a gland that has clogged for some reason. I won't mention where the cyst was, but let's just say it was painful to sit, walk, or wear pants. Typically the cyst will surface, much like a zit, and the doctor is then able to lance (make a small incision) the cyst & it goes away. Most women don't even feel this kind of cyst, and if they do, one lancing will take care of it permanently. But my body had years of bad health stored up & put it all into that one little cyst! After two lancings, the cyst still hadn't surfaced & was causing me severe pain, so we scheduled surgery. The surgery went well, and I was recovering pretty well, until I went in for my 2 week post-op check up. The cyst wall had grown back, causing the cyst to grow back. We tried lancing one more time, but to no avail. Back to the OR I went, just one month after my first surgery. This go around was much more difficult in all aspects. The surgery was more difficult and intense than the doctor thought because of scar tissue from the first surgery and the depth of the cyst. My pain was far more intense throughout the process because of that, and my recovery was painfully slow. To add to the difficulty, about a month and a half ago I had an abscess form in the same area just as I was beginning to feel and walk better. My doctor lanced it once, and then it ruptured on it's own just before she lanced it again (which saved me about $300!) but as of right now, it is still hanging around and causing problems. I can wear pants (depending on the day), but I still have problems sitting and can't ride a bike. On the plus side, I managed to get a different job while recovering from my second surgery. I'm now working in the Re/Max office for Steve and Shawn Anderson. The job is part-time right now, but I'm hoping to get to full time very very soon. Last week I worked over 40 hours in their office, and worked in Dad's office for about 7 hours. Needless to say, it was a long week. But I really enjoy working in both offices (I help mom out if she needs help and I have time). There's a constant variety of jobs, and I'm learning all sorts of stuff about Real Estate that is bound to come in handy some day!

Other than that, it's business as usual. The animals are still crazy and pester us every chance they get, but we can't help but love them. I figure I should post at least a couple pictures, so below is one for Anthony, and one for me. Anthony took his himself, and it's one of my favorite pictures of him ever, and mine was just after my second surgery and my blood pressure was going nuts. Look for Christmas pictures soon!

Seems like years ago Part 2

Back home, life has returned to normal...for the most part. Just after we returned home from the trip, I had a wonderful gift. My car! As you all know, my car's timing belt went bad last December (just before Christmas), and Anthony has been rebuilding the engine since. We ran into MANY snags along the way, including a guy in Salt Lake screwing us over on a major part, but my baby is finally fixed, and I couldn't be happier!

One of the random events we experienced just after coming home was our crazy neighbor, who I have dubbed Arson Man. One Friday night he came home early in the evening drunk (yet again) and grazed the side of a neighbor's car. I witnessed this event and watched his car sit high centered on the curb in front of his house, thinking to myself "that seems about right". A short time later he apparently got in another public fight with his wife, culminating in everyone leaving the house. But Arson Man was not yet done. He returned home to an empty house, and for some reason thought it would be fun to light their house on fire, then quickly leave. He was later picked up by the police for getting in yet another accident while drunk. Let's sum up: in one night this man managed to get in two accidents (one being a hit and run), got charged with a DUI, and oh yeah, tried to burn down his house with the animals inside. He wasn't charged with arson, as far as anyone knows, but everyone in the neighborhood knows he did it. Hence the name. :)

My life has most definitely taken some interesting turns in the last few months. I am working as a Data Entry Specialist for a records management company, and have been for quite some time now. This was supposed to be a temporary job, but since Hallmark fell through, I have stayed on for a lack of better job. It's a DULL job, and I hate it, but it's a job and it's been kind of interesting learning about mortgages. Just before we left on our trip, I was told that I wouldn't be given the time off I needed, and was advised to give my two weeks notice so that if need be I would be eligible for re-hire. I was exstatic! There was an end date in sight! The next morning I was called into an executives office, and told that I was too valuable to the company to let go, and they were giving me the time off I needed. I just had to do some paper work. Ok, so the end date was no longer in sight, but at least I didn't have to look for a new job. A plus, I guess. About two weeks before we left, an upper level job opened up, and thinking, "what the hell?" I applied. Low and behold, I got the job above some of my coworkers who have worked for the company for years (literally). And once we got home, I was told that I was also getting more of a raise than originally agreed upon. So not only did I get a promotion I didn't really care about at a job I desperately want to leave, but I got more money for simply having common sense. The irony is so thick it nearly knocked me over. I still despise the job, but at least now I'm getting paid almost a decent wage for it.

Anthony has been out of work for almost a year now. A job will come up every so often, but there hasn't been consistent work save for 2 weeks this summer. So he's been bumming around our house and keeping the animals company; working when the odd job pops up. Unfortunately for us it's better that he stays on unemployment than find a part time job that doesn't pay half what he normally makes. So he tries to find things to keep him occupied, or get him out of the house to prevent cabin fever, but it's been so long that the activities are running thin. In the last month his brother has gotten him into weight lifting, which has been really good for him. It gives him something to focus on and gets him out of the house for a bit everyday, but now that Brady's gone back to Utah it's hard for him to motivate himself. We all know that working out is much more fun if you have a buddy! Otherwise he basically plays video games, either alone or with his friends.

Our endless routine has made both of us a bit restless, me more so than Anthony. As of late we've been searching for things to change up our routine, but in a city like ours, that's difficult to do. Now with Anthony being out of work for so long, we're looking into the possibility of moving somewhere else. Something I've been wanting to do since we were married. Our plan was to only stay here for one year max, but circumstances have forced us to stay longer. If Anthony can find a good job somewhere, anywhere, we're gone. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that something wonderful comes up! Lord knows that after the year we've had, we could seriously use a break.