It's official...

I have the ever-so-popular "baby itch" that inevitably hits most women at some point in their lives. My itch has been growing for months now (pretty much since the wedding), but the last few weeks have gotten pretty serious. Craig's not "there" yet, but I'm working on him!

It's probably not helping that yesterday I got to hold a newborn for the first time in a couple years. I also spend a lot of time reading other blogs about people with their new babies or the tales of pregnant women. It seems like there's a baby boom going on these days!

My thing is we're married, we have a house, we both have good jobs...why wait? Are we financially ready, probably not, but then again will we ever be? I doubt it! Do we have a good support system, I would like to think so? Are we ready to be parents...I think so! (OK maybe not so much yet for Craig, but I know he would be when the time came! I can't wait to see him as a Dad!)

In other news, not much going on! We're headed back home for the weekend. We're going to catch one of Chip's baseball games and hopefully get a tour of Jessica & Nick's new house. They should be closing hopefully tomorrow! We'll also visit the grandparents and hang with the 'rents! Should be a fun weekend!

Trips, Trips, & More Trips

Well, we now have 3 vacations to look forward in the next few months. Yay! I've been missing work alot for all the things that have been going on, but most of that wasn't really fun or vacation like...funerals, helping with graduation parties, etc. (The actual graduation parties were fun!)Now, we'll be going to fun places and doing fun things!

Our first trip is scheduled for the 4th of July weekend. We're going on a road trip out to Colorado Springs to visit Craig's brother & his family. We haven't seen the kids (or Brent & Buffye) since Christmas, so we're really looking forward to seeing them! It may also be Izzy's first road trip over 2 hours, so that will be interesting! She's a little crazy in the car sometimes! We always have a great time out there, it's so beautiful! What a great place to visit and what better excuse...to see our neices & nephew!

The next trip is at the end of July! We're going on the Annual Bryant Vacation to Okoboji! SWEET! I absolutely love it there...it's one of my favorite places! My whole immediate family is going, and this year we are renting out a lakefront condo versus staying at a resort like usual. It should be really fun! Oh, and Nick has a new boat for the trip, so we're all looking forward to breaking that in! We are seriously counting down the days to this one! Can't come soon enough! Last year, because of our wedding, nobody got to go to Okoboji...so we're all overdue for a trip up there!

The last trip (which we just planned last night) is to Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend! We went a few years ago during one of our college spring breaks, and we've been dying to go back ever since! This time we are going with some of our best friends, Ryan & Jill. We both have anniversaries in August, so we're calling it a "Joint-Anniversary" trip. We're staying at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino. It wasn't even built the last time we were there, so it should be really nice considering it's brand new! We can't wait!

So while all this is super fun & exciting, this means I seriously need to figure out a way to lose weight & get in shape VERY fast! Yikes! If these trips aren't enough motivation for me, I don't know what will be! Wish me luck!

Sad, Sick Puppy!

We had a long night last night...Izzy was sick! Craig had spent the evening fishing with some friends, so it was just me and Izzy at home for most of the night. She was hanging out int he backyard as she does most nights. I was puttering around the house doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen. I noticed she was licking/digging at a spot in the yard. I tried to call her in the house and she wouldn't budge. (She usually comes when we call her!) So, I went out to check out what she was doing...it was a pretty gross site. I wasn't completely sure, but it sure looked like she had gotten sick.

So, I thought maybe the front yard would be a better place for us to hang out, as she wouldn't leave "the spot" alone. I took her out front, hooked her to her chain, and settled into the lawn chair on the porch for some magazine reading. Izzy started chowing down on grass like I've never seen her do. It was crazy. She would eat, then lay down, and then eat some more. She didn't get sick again outside for almost 2 hours, so I thought whatever it was had passed.

I brought her back inside and gave her a bath. It was the time of the month for her flea/tick treatment, so I thought I should give her a bath first since she wouldn't be able to have another one for a week. Shortly after the bath, Craig came home. She seemed her usual, excited self when he came in. We hung out in the leaving room for a little while, then Izzy got sick on the floor. We cleaned it up, she napped for a while, and then we headed to bed. She got sick at 12:15 a.m. and again at about 1 a.m. It was a long night!

I didn't sleep well. I was worried about her and afraid she was going to get sick again at any time. I can't imagine how it's going to be with babies. If they are ever sick, I might as well just stay up all night because sleeping is impossible when I'm worried/paranoid like that! It's almost worse to stay in bed and fight with sleep than to just stay up all night!

Izzy still seems "off" today. I hope she just got into something she shouldn't have in the yard or something. She's never been "sick" for so long. I hope it's not serious!

Garage Sale Newbie!

Last week, some of our neighbors and us were hanging out in one of the respective driveways when another neighbor stopped by to tell us about the Neighborhood Garage Sales happening in a couple weeks! We are pretty excited about this as we have plenty of things we need to get rid of...it's giving us an excuse to open some boxes that haven't been opened since we moved in!

I'm amazed how "full" our house has gotten in 9 short months...although it feels like we've lived there a lot longer than that! I can't imagine how fast the house will fill up when we have kids! Anyway, we have two weeks to prepare & organize for this garage sale event...any tips! I've never done this on my own before, so I'm shooting blind.

I know some friends of ours are going to be bringing some things over to sell as well...we'll have furniture, kitchen appliances, picture frames, yard items, and other random odds & ends! If you're in the neighborhood on June 6th or 7th, stop by and say "hi"!

Home Sweet Home

Wow...it feels good to be home! After 3 straight weeks of trips back home to Tekamah, it feels so good to be back home in Lincoln with no immediately plans to return home. Don't get me wrong, I love being back home with our families, but getting back and forth is beginning to get really old. All of the events these past two weeks with the graduations were a huge success and lots of fun! Now, the next big thing to look forward to is the State Track Meet this weekend. We didn't necessary expect Chip to qualify, but he did! And, we couldn't be more excited! He's going to run the 400 meter dash Friday morning! I've never been to the state track meet, so it should be a lot of fun!

Until then, I plan to fill the week with laundry, cleaning, and some organizing. My house has been neglected the past few weeks with all the craziness, so I have some work to do!

Our Escape Artist

Well, she's done it again! Izzy broke out of kennel yet again. This is the third escape and second kennel. She does fine during the day, but if we come home from work and then leave again shortly thereafter...she gets really mad. About a month ago, she was enjoying being "free" in a restricted area of the house while we were at work. She did really well for about 3 weeks! Then, we came home one day to find one of our lamp cords and our stereo cord chewed through. Obviously, that was the end of her freedom. We "altered" her existing kennel to prevent future breakouts and started kenneling her during the day again. We were golden for about 3 weeks, and then Tuesday evening she found a way out and broke the kennel in the process. She is now spending her days in yet another new kennel, we'll see how long this one lasts!

In other news, Craig got himself a new mower yesterday. He was such a nerd about it and super excited! I had to go check it out...he even made me push it across the front yard. I'm not arguing that we needed on (we have been using my Dad's old mover from 1976 and every time it runs a bit worse), but seriously why do guys get so excited about things like mowers? I'll never understand it!

Tomorrow starts the beginning of the two-week whirlwind of my siblings' graduations. Jess's is this weekend up in Wayne with a party following in Tekamah, and Chip's is next weekend in Tekamah. Both should be lots of fun!

Mourning

Well, I got the call I have been expecting for a couple weeks yesterday morning. Uncle Jack had past away. It seems as though he just didn't wake up yesterday morning. I hope that was the case...it's a peaceful way to go. So, now we're preparing to make our trip home for the visitation & funeral. We were all prepared and knew this was the inevitable ending to the ordeal of his leukemia, but it's still sad and strange to think of how "alive" he was not long ago.

I was looking through some old pictures tonight to find some for the funeral. I found a few, but I'm disappointed in myself there weren't more to choose from. We didn't even have one professional wedding picture of him. Now, that makes me sad. I guess I will have to remember this at other family occasions, and try to stay on top of the picture taking.

One of my aunts (Janna) is having her gall bladder removed tomorrow afternoon, so that will be on our minds as well. It is a fairly routine procedure, but for me any surgery is scary. Plus, with Janna, she's had such a rough go the past few years and we all hate it when anything "bad" happens to her.

Speaking of surgery, Craig's grandpa is having hip surgery next Wednesday. He fell at some point over this last winter, and it turns out he has a small fracture in there. They are going to put in a pin to prevent further damage and save him from a total hip replacement. He just got back from the WWII veterans trip to Washington, D.C. last week. He had a great time! He wanted to get through the trip, and then figure out what needed to be done about his pain.

But, after all the surgeries and the funeral, we have some very fun graduation parties to look forward to! I'm really looking forward to those!