Blog Slump

Well, I think it's safe to say, I'm in a blog slump.  I don't have much time these days to sit down and blog and when I do....I'm too tired!  It's awful, but that's just how it is!  Things haven't slowed down in the NICU yet.  We've all been working extra hours so my 3 nights a week has turned into 4 and when you work nights, that throws a major curveball in your week!  I've had to revamp my sleeping schedule and I'm still so tired by the end of the week, it's insane!  But I've ben able to get some cuddle time in at work, too, so that makes it totally worth it. :)

So for now, here's a few pictures of what we have been up to around here recently:

A few weeks ago, Clemson had their military appreciation day!  If you look closely at the top right picture, there is a man standing, supported by his wife.  He lost both of his legs and his right arm in Iraq.  His wife helped him walk onto the field while his mom pushed his wheelchair behind him.  How courageous!  It definitely makes you thankful that there are men and women who are willing to fight for our freedom everyday.

Marley had to make another trip to the vet.  He was had a weird "reverse sneeze" thing going on and it was getting more and more frequent to the point that he was hunkering down and acting like he couldn't breathe.  They gave him some allergy medicine and he's perked right up, haha!

I got an awesome package in the mail!  One of my favorite primaries at work sent me a Clemson scarf, a Clemson pin, and a Clemson ornament!  And I know it was special and heartfelt, because his momma  and daddy are Gamecock fans!! ;)

I got my new Erin Condren planner!   I bought new pens just for the occasion as well!  My planner is now organized and color-coded.  Hallelujah!  I love a good organizational tool, haha!

I got the best surprise today when I got to Starbucks and realized-- the red cups are back!!  Holiday season is in full swing now and I couldn't be more excited!  This is my absolute favorite time of year.  I'm so ready for all of the fun festivities!

And we've been doing a lot of this!  Jovie has been very cuddly recently--or maybe she's just trying to suffocate us?  ;)  Either way, it's been cold and we've all been snuggling together.

That's it for now!  Maybe I'll post again before Christmas...fingers crossed, haha!

Time Flies...

I think it's safe to say that time has left me in the dust!  I have been so busy recently!  The NICU has been slammed with so many babies that we have been short-staffed--meaning we're all working extra shifts!  Throw that in with laundry, house-cleaning, college football, and sick puppies...well, there's no time for blogging!  But family is starting to question if I'm ever going to blog again (and let's be real- I was asking myself the same question!) so here's an update on our life!

David and I celebrated our ONE YEAR of marriage on September 24th!  We went down to Atlanta the weekend before and visited the Coke Factory and the Georgia Aquarium!  And of course we went to Atlantic Station to do a little shopping. ;)

Us and the Coca-Cola polar bear!

The vault where the secret recipe is kept!

I used to have a Coca-Cola Santa!  I still do, but I think his coke bottle is gone... :(

On the American Idol couch!

My free coke!

Beluga whales!  Raffi anyone...or Michelle Tanner?? :)

Just hangin' with the penguins... :)

My love :)

One of the few pictures he let me take of him! :)

*Let me just say this: there are 160 flavors at the Coke Factory.  I tried quite a few of them.  There are some NASTY flavors in different countries.  I'm not quite sure how they even drink the stuff!  But I bet they say the same thing about the "American" flavors :)

My new shirt with a Marley dog on it!!

We had so much fun celebrating.  We just couldn't believe a year has passed, sometimes I still can't believe it.  And of course I spent the next two weeks moping around because a year before I was in Hawaii on my honeymoon!  :)

Our actual anniversary, David worked and I made dinner.  Once we ate, we opened up our year-old wedding cake!  Cue the music: dun, dun, dun!!!

David tried it first and he liked it.  He actually liked it!  He never got a piece of the chocolate mocha cake at our wedding so he had literally been waiting a year for this, haha!

David ate a few pieces (gross!) for a couple days and then I tossed the rest.  It was a sad day, haha! 

The first weekend in October, Clemson played Georgia Tech.  We're Clemson fans, but my cousin Scott went to GT so we invited him and my new puppy-niece down for a visit.  We hadn't met Zoe yet, so we were very excited for her visit!  Well, most of us were.  Marley was none too pleased with her arrival.  We're pretty sure that given a longer visit, they may have become friends because Marley was slightly (and I mean ever so slightly...) more tolerant of Zoe than when she first showed up. :)

Laying her head on her daddy's leg :)

Laying with Aunt Erin!

Zoe is by far one of the cutest puppies I've ever seen.  She has wrinkles on her face that make her look so mischevious!  She was hyper, chewed on everything (our coffee table and toes!) and played non-stop.  It was so much fun having a puppy around the house!

And this week I had to take Marley to the vet for "reverse sneezing."  He's been doing it non-stop the last 4-5 days and was getting difficult for him to catch his breath, so the vet put him on an antihistamine.  The vet also talked about his "grade II luxating patella" in his left leg.  He mentioned that we'll need to look at getting that fixed at some point.  And oh, by the way, the surgery is about $1000!!!  Yep.  We'll get right on that. ;)  

Anyway, that's the quick update.  Hopefully, fingers crossed, the crazy baby situation is starting to slow down a bit and I'll have more time to blog.  If not, it might be Christmas before I get back here, ha! ;)

The Beginning

David and I are coming up on one year of marriage.  What?  How did time fly by so fast?!  I started thinking about how close we are and realized I don't think I've ever mentioned how we met- aside from both going to Clemson.  In keeping with the spirit of anniversary weekend, I thought I'd tell the tale now! :)

First thing first, I have loved Clemson since Mrs. Libby (my math tutor) moved in across the street 15 years ago.  She took me to as many Clemson games as she could and I fell in love.  David has played soccer since he was a teeny, tiny little boy.  He was born and raised in Athens, GA so the first question most people ask is, "why didn't you go to Georgia?"--answer: they don't have a soccer team.  If Georgia had a soccer team, that's where he would have ended up.  So, we both ended up at Clemson.  It's amazing to look back and see how God has worked.

So back to the story:  I potlucked housing my sophomore year and wound up with 2 great roommates and 1 crazy roommate.  The crazy roommate was 26, a recovering drug addict, and brought ridiculous 30 year old men home to our on campus housing....you know, to spend the night.  For three 19 year olds, we were not okay with that!  We lived with it a little while, but soon after school started, she wasn't a recovering addict anymore.  She pulled all kinds of crazy shenanigans, like cooking cereal in the stove until the whole place filled with smoke and locked herself out of the apartment and we'd find her curled up in a ball outside in the morning.  The final straw was her cutting up a stained piece of carpet and super-gluing a new piece of carpet (cut from under her bed...) into the old spot.  Yes, that happened.

It obviously wasn't a safe environment to live in, so after much talk with Clemson, they gave me 3 different options on places to move on campus.  All 3 of them were farther from main campus than where I was, so I went to the closest place first to look around.  The girls were rowers, really nice, and their apartment was closest to campus.  Oh, and 4 boys lived next door.  I was sold.  :)

One evening, I was outside, sitting on the stairs talking to my mom on the phone, when this guy rounded on the corner in his soccer practice clothes and started coming up the stairs.  He smiled at me, I smiled at him, he held out his hand for a high five--that I, of course, reciprocated!  And that was it.

They had a party, invited us girls over, and we just kept hanging out after that.  We haven't stopped. :)  He's one of my favorite people to hang out with and the fact that I get to do that every. single. day. now makes my heart happy.

We're headed to Atlanta this weekend for our "first anniversary" trip and we're uber excited!  My plan is to hunt down the 'Catching Fire' set, do a little acting, get a spot in the movie, become a famous actress, and move to Hollywood...sound like a plan?! :)