Next year, I will share this.

A funny story.

During Blue Block this morning, my students declared that I need a "mini-Mrs. Roy".  I asked them to clarify:  do I need a smaller clone of myself, or a baby?  They unanimously agreed that I need to have a baby.

"But not this year!"
"Next year, when we're juniors!"
"We'll do the math for you and let you know when you should get pregnant!"
"We can plan it so that you have a baby in the summer, and then come back in September!"
"Yeah, and you can bring the baby to school so we can all 'ooh' and 'ahh" over it!"

"But what if I never come back?"

"You'd come back! You can bring the baby!"

"I don't think they'd let me do that.  What am I going to do, teach with the baby strapped to the front of me?"

"Oh my god, that would be hilarious! Can you imagine..."

What's so funny about all this?

I'm eight weeks pregnant, today. (Hooray!)

Three word sentence memoirs: How We Got Our Dogs

Maia’s Story

"Puppy?"
“No.”
“Puppy?”
“No.”
“Puppy?”
“Maybe.”
“Really?!”
“No."
“Puppy…?”
“Okay.”
“Really?! You mean it?!”
“Sure.”

Aussiedoodle website.  Saw her photo.  So tiny! Weighed one pound.  Clicked the button.  Bought a dog!  Born in May.  Named her Maia.  So much anticipation!  Bought many toys.  Cute little bowls.  So excited!  Can’t wait!  Read three books.  Feeling super prepared.

June 30 arrived.  Drove to Logan.  Excitement like electricity.  Have to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Wait felt eternal!  Finally, they called.  Brought us back.  Bright pink crate? Oh, my! Not expecting that.

We got outside.  Put crate down.  Hurry! Hurry!  She was tiny.  What a pipsqueak!  Opened the door.  Maia crawled out.  Our puppy.  Our baby.  Got in car.  Headed home.  I held her.  So soft.  So sweet.  She licked me.  Tears welled up.  Instant love.

Charlie’s Story

April, 2012. Maia was lonely.  Need another dog.  Searched online. Found one dog.  Name is Curley.  Ick – Curley?  Goofy name.  Went to shelter.  Curley was quiet.  Looked at me.  Such sad eyes.  Played outside.  Full of spunk! Hates big dogs. Bark, bark, bark! Dogs ran together. 

We drove home. Justin's not sure.  I went back.  Brought Maia again.  Curley was calmer.  Dogs played together.   Seemed comfortable. I asked questions. 

“Why here?”
“Barks too much. “
“Seriously?  That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Good with kids?” 
“Yes.”
“Health problems?”
“No.” 
“Want to adopt!”
“Pick up Tuesday.” 

Long, long weekend.  Couldn’t wait! Finally Tuesday! Brought Curley home.  Now he’s Charlie.   What a sweetheart!

(written in May, 2012)

Ha!

Oh, life.  I wrote this on February 17 and feel exactly the same way today: "I had no idea how stressful getting pregnant would be..."

But life is good! Oh so deeply good, and I am bound and determined to be happy and joyful and grateful in spite of my self - my sometimes dark, sometimes brooding, sometimes "woe, woe is me" self.

And so I will.  But first I will finish this paper so that I can talk our little dog for a nice long walk.

true story.

I saw this quote and immediately identified with it.  I can't find which of Schuyler's poems it is from, but I love it deeply already because it says so much so simply.

   not to be in love with you I can’t remember what it was like        
           it must’ve been lousy                          
                            - James Schuyler

"A kiss? How did I get so lucky?"

"Almost - less than - over - a year ago - two years ago - you said, 'Yes!'"

A Sappy Moment Preserved

I feel like I should be feeling more stressed right now, since my graduate class workload is in the processing of crushing my brain, but really, I feel blessed to have such an amazing husband. Justin has been nothing but supportive, helping me out, cooking me dinner, and setting me straight when I cross the line (like making a leap from "We don't have any food," to "Why don't you buy some groceries?"). He has proven to me that kind words, a good laugh, and some quality snuggling can ease my anxiety.

I'm so looking forward to seeing how we adapt to our new roles as "puppy parents" next week when Maia arrives - the adorable little pup that will one day be our children's dog. I get all verklempt just thinking about it! It seems each new phase we enter is just as exciting as the last.

Thank you, Justin, for being the best friend, teammate, and husband for me. Little else matters! I love you with every fiber of my being.

All About Maia

My email worked! Here's some quotes and photos from the breeder:

The whole litter is super sweet and really just starting to show some individuality. They will come running now when I feed them and roll on their tiny backs to get bellies scratched.

We did also weigh everybody last week when we photographed and your girl was 1 lb 8 oz, as were two others in the litter. We had one smaller than her and one larger but it is pretty consistent in size and on track to be about 3 to 4 lbs when she leaves home.

Life is good.

We're very (very, very, very, very) excited about Maia's arrival at the end of this month! Justin and I have each read two books about raising puppies and have three more (a piece) to go if we're to read all that we have purchased. On the dining room table, we have bowls, a collar, leash and harness set complete with tag, and two beds. I've spent the past hour (while my adorable husband naps in bed) looking at puppy kindergarten classes, Meetup groups, and writing a very polite but borderline pleading email to our breeder in an effort to get some insight and information about our pup's personality and the picture we have been dying to see since we clicked on that Paypal button that fateful night. Maia's all signed up for puppy kindergarten on Monday nights starting in July! So very exciting...totally what I imagine having a baby will be like (probably on a smaller scale!).

Things are busy, busy, busy here! Our social calendar is awesome, but we have been feeling run down lately. We are home this weekend, a rare and wonderful occurrence. Justin spent the first part of the day on projects while I proctored placement tests at the Aggie. Word on the street is that I will be teaching English next year, and I could not be happier! This year has been challenging for me, to put it mildly, and I am looking forward to putting it behind me and getting back to actually teaching and feeling whole. Justin will be preparing for the CPA exams starting in September - we'll both be going to class! :)

Married life is wonderful. Small group and praying together have only made us closer and our bond stronger. I can't believe it's been ten months since we got married, and I can't believe it's only been ten months since we got married! Traveling to Aruba for our one year anniversary should be an awesome opportunity to just enjoy each other. I feel so blessed every morning when I wake up and every night when I fall asleep next to the man I love, my very best friend. I'm looking forward to this summer and all the firsts we have ahead of us!

Meet Maia!

Well, we'd like to, too!

We finally bit the bullet and put in a deposit for a teeny, tiny pup we've named "Maia." She was born on May 2nd and lives in Illinois. Justin has spent the day reading some Everything You Need to Know About Puppies book, and I've read every online article on Aussiedoodles. She comes home to us on June 30th, and we can't wait!

We've been busy with softball and school, but married life is wonderful. Over the past few weeks, we've started praying together each night before bed and I love it. I think our communication skills get better every day, and I am so, so happy that I have such an amazing partner. It's been a wonderful spring, and I think this summer will take the cake! In addition to Maia, we'll be taking our honeymoon in Aruba!! We're definitely looking forward to the beach and the sun and the togetherness! All in all, life is good.....very, very, very good!

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow I love my husband who...

took me out for Valentine's Day date to the same place we went the night he proposed.

bought me beautiful roses.

tells me he loves me all the time.

asks to hold my hand.

understands and accepts that I am always freezing.

just did all the dishes and told me to sit down and relax.

does more things that I could ever possibly list, and can't because I want to go and kiss him right now!

The Fabulous Fish Tank

Secret or no secret, I have this blog and I might as well use it!  Since I have stopped conventionally journaling (and now keep a prayer journal instead), I have also lamented the fact that the only time periods of my life I have written about are the depressing, anguish-filled years before I met Justin.  Then for Christmas, Dan and Alicia gave us a *real* book copy of the wedding blog, and now I know I can keep a blog and get an honest to goodness book out of it whenever I desire! And so, we begin...

Six months in to our wonderful marriage, we finally got some pets!  Last Friday night I asked Justin if he would like a fish tank for Valentine's Day, since I've known he's always wanted one.  He excitedly agreed, and we set out to PetSmart with hopes of bring home some wonderful fish that very evening.  Sadly, that's not how things work, so we came home with an aquarium, a stand, a net, some fun decorations, and the anticipation of picking out our fish on Sunday or Monday night.  Did I mention the aquarium and stand were so big neither one fit in the trunk? I got to sit in the back and pretend I was a little kid again so that we could get our new set up home.

Since I met up with Tiff and Nicole at Mohegan Sun on Saturday, Justin set up the tank on his own and did an awesome (and much better than I probably could have) job!  Sunday was church in the morning, snowshoeing with Drew and Erica in the afternoon, and so Monday was the day for fish!

Picking out the fish we brought home wasn't very difficult.  We each picked out one large (4 inch? 5 inch? I have no concept of size) fish, and let the very helpful PetSmart employee pick out four smaller fish for us.  The ride home was a little nerve-racking, since I was convinced the fish were going to die from stress.  Luckily, that was not the case! We got them home, let their bags float around for 15 minutes, then set them free and went about naming them, which went something like this:

Monica: So I was thinking we should give them all stereotypical men's names.
Justin: Oh yeah?  Like what?
M: I don't know...Larry, Steve, Bob.  Stuff like that.
J: Okay - that one's Larry.
M: Then the other one gets to be Bob ("other one" is the big orange and white one.) Can the black one be Frank?
J: Sure.
M: Okay, it's your turn.
J:  Hmm......the gold one is Twitch.
M: That's not a man's name!
J: But look at him! He twitches when he swims.
M: Fine.  Okay that one has a red head.  What's a good redheaded man's name?
J: I don't know...
M: Archie! Can we name him Archie.
J: Okay fine.
M: It's your turn.
J: I'm thinking! I need to look at him.  You have to take their personalities into account!  His head looks like a brain!  We'll call him The Brain.
M: Okay, fine.  

So what's the big deal about all this?  Well, pets are pets, and if fish are what we can have, then fish are what we will love.  Sure, we both wish we could have something a little more fuzzy and robust,  but it's nice to not have to hear my husband sniffle all the time.  I've loved every moment of this new venture because it gives us something to explore and learn about together.  Plus, staring at a tank of swimming, floating, carefree fish really is as relaxing as people say it is.

Except for when the fish are getting sucked into the filter, which the very helpful PetSmart employee had assured me couldn't happen.  I feel partially responsible for Frank's accident, because I was watching the fish swim, didn't see Frank, and waited a solid five minutes before I went to investigate why I hadn't seen him.  When I saw him, caught in the just-the-right-size-for-one-of-the-small-fish-to-get-sucked-into opening, I freaked out, grabbed a stool, and stuck my entire but just not long enough arm into the tank.  With no success, I dashed out to the deck, yelled "JUSTIN!!" four times until he heard me over the snowblower (did I mention it's the storm of the century outside?  Oh.  It is.), and he rushed to Frank's rescue and....turned off the filter.  Brilliant.  Definitely hadn't thought of that.

After my adrenaline rush started to wear off and Justin headed back to the tundra, I decided to take a shower.  I turned the water on, decided to check on our poor Frank and - gasp! - found The Brain was now stuck!  I pulled the plug, he swam away, and offending extension piece was removed by my super husband when he came in and defrosted.

And now, I worry that both of these fish are blind because they won't eat from the top of tank like the others. And with this worrying,  I realize that my veterinary assistant past and my "big heart," as Justin likes to call it, will make me worry about fish, even though last week I thought I could never care about a fish.  But, alive is alive, and in our care is in our care, and we will do our very, very best to care for what ever is in our care!

Sneaky sneaky!

Planning ahead...since I'm going to be far, far away from my family and friends, and have had a request or two for a post-wedding blog...I'm all ready for it!