It's A GIRL!!

So December 1st was the big day to find out the gender of our little baby and I was counting down the minutes. It also happened to be the first appointment with the perinatal specialist. This means I had to schedule my perinatal appointment and my regular OB appointment immediately afterward (long day!!!). Being the impatient person I am at times, I made my first appointment for early in the morning so I could find out pink or blue as early as possible. We also happened to schedule the delivery of our bedroom furniture the very same day. This means we had to wake up at 5:30am in order to move our mattress and dresser out of the way before we started our 2 hour trek to the doctor's office. By the time we arrived at 9am it already felt like a long day, and it was about to get a lot longer...

I sign in only to have the receptionist inform me that my appointment was not until Thursday. I asked her to double check because I am very organized with my calendar and knew I did not get the big day wrong. Sure enough, I was "originally" scheduled for that morning but they took it upon themselves to reschedule me and not even give me a courtesy phone call to let me know. Once I explained the 2 hour drive and back-to-back appointments, they agreed to "work me in". How nice of them. Next came the verification of my insurance. Since I am now doing COBRA and it is still in paperwork limbo, they could not verify I have any coverage. Once again I basically had to beg them to see me and promised it would be covered. By now, I'm pretty sure the receptionist is shooting daggers at me through her very irritated eyes. Next comes the obligatory urine sample. I should be a pro by now. Unfortunately, I instead drop my full cup right into the toilet. Now I have to produce a whole new sample and retrieve the sinking cup. Gross. Once I get that awful business taken care of, I proceed to scrub up to my elbows only to find there are no paper towels to dry myself off. If it wasn't such an exciting day I probably would have called it quits right then. Instead, we had a lovely 2 hour wait before I was finally called back. (A mere 30 minutes before my next appointment was scheduled to start!) Now it was showtime, literally. I waited patiently for the sonographer to get past the heart and brain and get to the big revelation... crossed legs and no visibility of girl or boy parts! I was determined to not leave the office until I knew what I was having. We poked my belly to make her move and checked out the situation again. This time the legs were uncrossed but my little girl was being modest and covered herself with her hand this time. Finally the doctor came in and took another peek and we were able to confirm that she is a girl.

Though exhausted, our adrenaline was pumping. We decided to register and enjoy some shopping while in Fort Worth. After a rough start, it turned out to be a great day.

(This is the bedding we picked out for our little princess.)

The Big Move...

Well we have now been in Olney for almost one month already! I can't even believe it. Although, it already feels more like home than our last residence ever did. I know I've been so bad about updating the blog so here come several entries to catch you up...

The day of the big move turned out to be actually wonderful. The weather was great, the movers were awesome (Firefighter's Finest - I highly recommend them), and we were greeted by the best neighbors ever. We were almost unproductive because of all the chit-chatting we were doing. Thanks to neighbors and the warm welcome of the Junior Altruistic Club, we didn't have to visit the grocery store or lift a finger in the kitchen for about a week! We had so much food, drinks, and dessert brought to us that I had to have people over to help eat some of it. Every day new people were coming over to introduce themselves and bring fresh baked goodies.

Believe it or not, my social calendar seems to be busier here than it ever was in Fort Worth. I've been to a Pampered Chef party, several lunches, a Christmas Open House, caroling, and done some entertaining in our new house. I don't need to leave to town very often, and when I do it is very easy to get to Graham or Wichita Falls. (Although I did get a little surprised when I went to a grocery store in Graham and saw a lady walk in with real spurs!)

We also made the newspaper again because they actually hosted a reception one Sunday afternoon so people could meet the new doctor in town. It was a lot of fun and we met so many more friendly people that were genuinely happy to see us there.

(For more house pics, click http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135331&id=563207400&l=6f7e67e2a4)

Our NICU

Here is a great video that Cook Children's produced about the unit where I work.

House Pics

We toured our future home again this week and got a few good pictures to share. The current living room furniture is theirs but the dining table and kitchen appliances will stay. The exterior needs some minor sprucing up but you should get a pretty good idea of the appearance.

Magnolia Tree

Front of House

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living Room

Handmade stuff

Sorry for the long break in my blogging!!! We have been so busy! First of all, we made it official - we are moving to Olney in November! We are so excited. Second, I have been studying Billing and Coding with my friend Trina so we can do inpatient billing for our husbands. Third, I have been working hard on my sewing and quilting skills so I can be somewhat independent and crafty when I am far from the rest of civilization. (Ha, Ha) Thank you so much to the wonderful ladies at Cabbage Rose who have taught me so much!!! Here are some recent projects I finished:

This is the "Darned Cute Bag" by Bunny Hill:

These are some Kitty Pillows from Amy Butler's pattern:

This is the "Uptown Bag" from Amy Butler's Madison Pattern

Quilting - So Fun

I have officially completed my second quilt top!

Dirty Laundry

Wow, what a great day I had yesterday!  It always amazes me how you can live in a city for years and still discover fun surprises that have been right in front of you.  I ate lunch at this little place called Lili's and it was so delicious.  I had a yummy grilled portobello mushroom and a greek wedge salad.  Next my girlfriends and I went shopping at The Shoe Gypsy, Francesca's, and Dirty Laundry, three awesome stores that have been under-utilized in my life.  

With that being said, it also added to my anxiety about potentially leaving our home in about 6 months.  I think Aaron and I are very close to making our decision about a job.  This is very exciting but at the same time it just makes it more "real".  Hopefully this big city girl will love the life of a small town country girl....

(More details to come when things are official!)  

Swine Flu...

So I recently re-activated my status as a volunteer for the Medical Reserve Corps.  I really enjoyed my work with them before and I hope I will be able to do lots more exciting stuff.  My last assignment was to work as a nurse in one of the Hurricane Katrina shelters.  It was very interesting.  This week should be pretty interesting as well, but not in the same way.  Wednesday morning I will be at the health department making phone calls to the people currently considered as "probable" cases of swine flu to see who they have been in contact with.  Wish me luck! 

The Search Continues

Just got back from a solo trip to Olney, TX.  Aaron had to work, but I got to visit this cozy town with our friends Jeremy and Trina.  It was quite nice and had a very laid back, casual feel (which I definitely liked).  The schools were awesome and the hospital appears to be a place that Aaron could really enjoy practicing at.  I took pictures of part of downtown, the hospital, and the neighborhood that I would like to live in (if we choose to move there).  Who knows where we'll end up, but I keep praying that God will lead us to the right place. 

Where the Wild Things Are

I am so excited!  I just had my interview to be a volunteer at the Fort Worth Zoo and it went really well.  Orientation is at the end of May and then I will be working in the Parrot Paradise where the birds get to fly around and you can feed them.  Yay!  I'm really looking forward to educating visitors and hopefully helping them gain a greater appreciation for animals in general.  

Fun in the Sun

Nothing too exciting to report (not even the slightest boat mishap) but thought I'd share some photos of our babies enjoying the sun in our backyard.

 

(This is Gringo's first attempt at climbing a tree.  He didn't get much higher than this before he fell off and gave up!)  

 

This should be fun...

It is another rainy/overcast day here in Fort Worth and so Aaron felt like it was a great day to go fishing on our boat.  I really can't wait for him to get home because I'm fairly sure that something crazy is bound to happen.  (The first time the boat went out it resulted in a lost wedding band and the second time was almost a total loss as the back half sunk and had to be dragged out of the water.)  I have some trust issues with the darn thing and yet I'm secretly jealous I'm not out there on the water with him.  At any rate, I'm here at home cleaning and waiting anxiously to hear of our little boat's latest adventure.  Also very excited about going to a Rangers game tonight courtesy of JPS.  This should be a pretty good last free weekend.  (I just signed a contract to work all weekends for the next 3 months.)  My goal for the afternoon: try to read more of Revolutionary Road.  My book club meets next week and I've barely read any of it!  It is soooo depressing....  Hopefully our next book will be much more enjoyable!  :)

Blogging: Take Two

So I am going to start a whole new blog in the hopes that I will actually keep up with this one.  Unfortunately, I don't have anything too extremely exciting to write about just yet.  At the moment I am slightly embarrassed by my obsession with the usually hilarious articles on cracked.com.  Talk about an internet time waster.  We're about to leave for the oh so classy Cityview Lanes so we can enjoy an exciting night of JPS Bowling action.  Actually we're running late - YIKES!  Guess I'll blog later!