Changes on the Horizon

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the reasons for not blogging as much as I wanted to was because of a secret I was trying to keep. I'm pregnant!!!

After a few days of feeling suspicious that I was pregnant (animals following me around more than usual and always laying their heads on my stomach, feeling a little "off," and, at one point having a bizarre fluttering feeling in my stomach), I took a test the morning of February 11th while getting reading for work. Almost, immediately, it came up positive. Being the unbelieving person I am, I took a second test: same results.

I always dreamed of doing something cutesy to tell my husband we're expecting, but I honestly could not hold in my excitement. I immediately told him, completely throwing him for a loop while he was getting ready for work. I decided to take the day off, so I could go to the doctor, and, you guessed it, her test said I was pregnant as well.

We immediately told our family, but decided to wait until we saw the first sonogram and heard the heartbeat before telling any of our friends. My family almost puts social media to shame. I told my mum, and, before I knew it, my entire family knew. Even those in the UK and Australia. Pretty impressive, no? The only people we ended up telling that weren't family was my coworker, since he has to put up with me, and Ben's best friend. There also may or may not have been an instance where my soon-to-be sister-in-law spilled the beans to two of our good friends. *ahem*

On March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), we finally went to the doctor to get our first sonogram and to meet my midwife. The sonogram was completely surreal. The baby's head was about as big as the body, and you could see tiny arms and legs, so it kind of looked like a snowman. However, the baby seems very active. It's little arms were waving around like crazy, and my heart just about stopped when I heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was like I had woken up and the whole baby thing wasn't a dream, it was actually real!

That night, we posted up an announcement on Facebook and Instagram. We decided we couldn't have an announcement without our brood of animals somehow being involved. Luckily, our animals are so well behaved and mellow, that they let me make this adorable announcement:

Coming October 2014!

Since then, I've been more or less in a daze. I know I'm pregnant, but, somehow, I just can't get my head around it. I'm sure I'll start feeling the reality of it hit sooner rather than later. Until then, I've been giving myself a little more grace than usual about chores, I've been trying to relax more and go to sleep earlier, and I've been waiting for the first trimester to finish up, so I can hopefully get that fabled energy boost that some women get with the second trimester.

Resolutions

I find that the best way to hold yourself accountable for New Year's Resolutions are to write them down where others can see them and hold you accountable. So, be kind, but here they are:

1. Make a bigger deal about holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. Now, that doesn't mean that I don't celebrate stuff, but I could definitely do a whole lot better about sending cards, decorating, texting those people, and generally making a bigger deal out of the "big deal" days. 
2. Do The 52 Week Money Saving Challenge, as seen on The House of Rose blog. I won't be doing the portion that asks you to open a new saving account since I already have a shared one with my husband, but I love this idea. My husband also loved this idea. So, instead of having $1,378 extra in our savings account by the end of the year, if all goes well, we should have $2,756 extra in savings because we're each going to do it with our individual incomes. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the overall plan to be more financially stable...
3. Get rid of as much debt as possible. We know we need a reliable savings should anything go wrong ~I'm looking at you, vet visits and random ER visits~, but we also need to snowball this debt. I've taken a little chunk out of it from my same resolution in 2013, but I'm planning on going even bigger this coming year. I'm done with owing companies money. The more debt I take down, the more I can save and relax. 
4. Become more active. Notice how I did not say lose weight. I'm done with that resolution. You can lose weight and be completely unhealthy. I'm more in it for the health factor. I already eat pretty well, if I do say so myself, but I am awful at just getting up and doing something, especially after a ~12 hour day at work. I need to be better at just getting up and doing something: walking the dogs, doing yard work, doing a work out DVD...something. Again, not for weight loss. I'm actually pretty okay with the weight I'm at. I just would like a little more definition and strength. How else am I going to be able to put up with all of my nephews, nieces, and, one day, my own kids? 
5. Don't let myself get bogged down with work. As you saw in the last resolution, I'm exhausted by the end of every day. Then, I make an excuse to just sit on my butt and be lazy because I'm exhausted. Well, that makes for a very boring life. Because of this, I don't exercise as often as I should. The house that we moved into this summer is still not as decorated ~ or even painted ~ as much as I would like it to be. I'm constantly "catching up" on chores that I haven't gotten around to during the work week, which makes for a very lame weekend most of the time. Time to change that. And hopefully be a little more efficient at work, so I can leave at a little bit more of a decent hour. 
6. Keep this poor blog up to date. I've finally gotten all of the events from this past winter up, and I can finally not just blog about what I've been up to, but what has been on my mind. Maybe even a few more everyday moments, not just the giant trips we've seemed to take a lot of this year. I just need to keep up with what I plan on blogging about and not putting it off. Then I won't feel overwhelmed about what I have not done and instead be excited about what i have done. And, lastly...
7. Enjoy every moment of this year. I don't want to get bogged down with work and chores, walking around like a sleep-deprived zombie. I want to soak in everything this year has prepared for my husband, myself, and my family. I don't want to miss it because I'm checking my work email on a Saturday and get upset. I don't want to miss it because I'm so exhausted from the work week that I sleep in until almost noon and miss half the day. I want to bask in all of the glory with whatever 2014 brings. 

Christmas

Christmas was absolutely insane ~ in a good way.

My husband and I alternate which family we have Christmas with every year, and, this year, it was my husband's family's turn. He's from San Diego, but his family has Christmas at his aunt's place in Phoenix every year. So, we had a little road trip on our hands.

My poor husband had just been on a bus trip across the US with some of his students from school, and had been back only 1 day when we left for our trip. We didn't leave until 9:30pm on the 23rd, so we decided to drive through the night so we could spend most of Christmas Eve with them. I drove from 9:30pm - 3:00am, my husband took over until about 10:00am, I drove again until about 1:00, and then he finished it out until we got to his aunt's house around 2:30pm. If you do the math, that's 17 hours worth of driving. It was a gorgeous trip once the sun came up, and coffee definitely helped.

We were able to spend a relaxing day with family on Christmas Eve, went to bed early, and then were completely refreshed in time for Christmas. It was so much fun watching everyone open their presents. In total, we had 8 adults and 2 kids at the house, so it was quite the eventful morning with wrapping paper and tissue paper flying. Our dogs did pretty well ~ they were 2 of the 5 dogs and 2 cats in that house.

We spend the next three days just hanging out with family and relaxing. On the 28th, we headed up the mountain to Flagstaff, and then we started our drive back on the 29th. We were a little kinder to ourselves this time though. We took 2 days. On the 29th, we drove from Flagstaff to Amarillo. On the 30th, I was so excited to wake up in Texas, but not very excited to drive more. We finally got home around 5:30pm that night.

It was an amazing trip. We wish family were closer, so we could spend more time with them. Eventually, we'd love to host Christmas at our place. One of these years, we'll hopefully be able to make that a reality.

Icepocolypse

Unlike the wrongly predicted winter weather in November, December's winter storm lived up to the hype. The ice started to come down Thursday, and I didn't return to work until Tuesday (my poor husband had to go back Monday, driving on the ice). The ice didn't melt until later the next week. It was pretty crazy. I had an interesting drive home Thursday night. 

I awoke Wednesday morning to a winter wonderland outside my window. 

View out our front door.

Looking down our street.

Our poor, confused tree. Fall or winter?

See all that white stuff? Looks like snow, right? Nope! All ice. At the peak of accumulation ~ it was still icing when I took the above pictures ~ we had roughly 3 - 4 inches of solid ice on the ground. Needless to say, we stayed home for a few days. Our animals were completely okay with that. 

Mulligan may not realize he is a 60 pound dog. Big baby. 

So, what do you do when you're iced in for 4 days? We caught up with housework, spent some quality time with our animals, caught up on all of our recorded shows, watched Christmas movies, and I cooked. A lot. 

Welsh cakes, banana bread, and beef stew. My husband was living large. 

By Sunday, we decided to be brave and venture out. We went sightseeing around town to check out our cute square and gorgeous Victorian houses in the ice. We then went home and took a walk/slide around the neighborhood with our stir-crazy dogs. We then cleared our driveway and walkway. I assumed I was going back to work the next day, but only my husband and his school district had to do that. I got to stay home one more time to finish catching up on sleep and finish deep cleaning the house. 

Even though the next couple of weeks of school were a little crazy while we tried to play catch-up, it was totally worth it. It was like we got a mini fall break 2 weeks before our winter break. Even though we have to make up those days in the spring, I'm still so glad it happened. We needed those days off to recoup. Thank you Texas and your crazy weather. 

Thanksmas

A lot of people bemoan the fact that people start the Christmas season before Thanksgiving happens. In my family, however, we purposely do this every 2 years. We have a tradition called Thansmas.

Some of my family live near each other, but some are nowhere close to us. I have family in the UK and Australia as well as other states within the US. Usually, we get to see each other every 2 years ~ if we're lucky. Every other year, as many of us as possible descend upon San Antonio, catch up, and celebrate the season together. This year, the family that made it were: Mum, Dad, Nana, Grampy, my brother and sister-in-law, my sister and her 2 kids, and my husband and myself with our two dogs. Quite the full house. We wished our other out of country relatives could be there, but I'm sure we'll get to see them again in the near future.

We went down Tuesday night after work. That in itself was quite the feat. We had to take a power nap in the car because we were so exhausted. It is roughly a 5 hour drive from our house to my parents on a good day. It was not a good day.

On the Wednesday, we were exited to be in San Antonio. After we got our dentist appointments over with that morning (I'm a wimp when it comes to dentists, and I have so far refused to change to someone up north. Don't judge), we enjoyed hanging out with family, taking walks with our dogs, and just relaxing in general.

My nephew and niece adored our dogs, and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. 

My husband doing jazz duets and improvising with my nephew. 

On Thanksgiving, we exchanged presents before Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, we hung out, played games, and just generally let loose like you only can around family. 

Crowns courtesy of our Christmas crackers.

Can't have Thanksmas without a Christmas pudding!

We Jenga-ed Jenga, built Stonehenge, and then found the true reason it fell down: giant pug attack!

The next night, after a day of being in a food-induced coma, we went out to eat to celebrate my brother and sister-in-laws' 10 year anniversary. We were joined with a few more family members who live in San Antonio. We went to the restaurant where they had their rehearsal dinner, and, coincidently, my husband and my rehearsal dinner was at the same restaurant. 

Waiting for some ridiculously good Mexican food. 

On Saturday, we headed up to Austin to see my other siblings (technically step-siblings, but I think that sort of labeling is unneccessary. They're family. Period.) and their families. That's when things started to get really ridiculous. In total, there were 6 siblings, 5 sibling-in-laws, 6 nephews and nieces, 2 parents, 2 grandparents, and 3 dogs (ours were left at my parents' house, so this does not include them). It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and seeing how much my nephews and nieces have grown. It's a rarity that all 6 of us, plus families, get together. We really should try to make it happen more often. It's so much fun! 

The siblings, plus their families.

Our last day there was Sunday. My Mum made an amazing Sunday roast, and then we were the first ones to leave, since we had the longest to drive. It was sad to go, but I look forward to doing it all again in the near future. Chalk this one up to one of the highlights of my year. To me, family is everything. 

A Family Weekend

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my Mum, Nana, and Grampy came to visit our little family (my husband, myself, and our fur babies). This was a huge deal to me because my Nana and Grampy had never before seen any of my houses/townhouses/apartments, and this was my Mum's first time seeing our new house. I looked forward to it for months before it actually happened.

They drove up on the Thursday, and I took the next day off from work, so I could hang out with them. Unfortunately, my husband still had to work, but we had a great time on Friday. It happened to be the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, so, since everyone but myself remembered the event, we braved the cold and the crowds and checked out the memorial.

The street in downtown Dallas where he was assassinated. 

Memorial on the Grassy Knoll. 

They unveiled a plaque on the Grassy Knoll with a portion of JFK's speech he wrote but never got say on that fateful day.

Since we were on a presidential kick, and we were in Dallas, we also hit up the Bush Library. It was very well done, and the portion of the museum dedicated to September 11th was very moving. 

They have beams from one of the World Trade Center buildings in the museum.

The next day, Saturday, we once again braved the cold weather (am I not supposed to be in Texas? Our weather has been crazy so far this winter) and headed over to Denton for the UNT vs UTSA game. We may have lost, but it was fun showing my family around my college town. 

After getting coffee on the Denton square to warm off after a FREEZING football game. Sorry for the grainy picture. 

They originally planned to stay with us until Monday morning, but, according to the weatherman, we were going to get some crazy, icy weather. Instead, they decided to have lunch with us Sunday morning and then go ahead and head back down south, so their drive would be safe. Even though the winter weather didn't come that time (I'll post about when it did in a future post), I'm glad they decided to stay safe. Plus, I got to see them later that week in San Antonio. 

Mulligan

I can't believe I haven't posted about our newest member to our family: Mulligan!

Poor dog didn't know what he was getting himself into. 

We adopted him on October 13th, and he is a really sweet. They told us he is roughly 3 years old, but we're not so sure about that. Now, I know we're used to a pug ~ the most crazy breed ever ~ but he's so mellow! I've seen some bursts of energy here and there, but he mostly likes to chill out with us. Him being naughty is trying to kick a person off the couch, so he can sit there instead. Seriously. 

I think it's safe to say he has made himself at home. 

Now, there has been an adjustment period with him and Sadie. Sadie is an alpha, and I don't think he was socialized with any of his past owners (we're guessing he had at least two before us). They started out a little bit frosty. Most of the time, he ignored her which was sad because she wanted to play. Every now and then, they would get into a fight over something stupid like the water bowl. Dude has a thing about his water. Maybe he used to be an outside dog, and they didn't keep his bowl full?  The funny thing about the fights were that I could get him away from Sadie, no problem. However, when Sadie gets mad, she's fearless. She would keep lunging at him!

Don't let the cuteness fool you. She's a killer. 

Luckily, they haven't fought for over a month ~ knock on wood. Another crazy thing we're getting used to is that he doesn't like toys or bones, and Sadie loves all of the above. There was also the issue of crate training him. We may be on our second crate ~ he has some strong jaws ~ but he has adjusted and is now fully crate trained. Any new family member, furry or otherwise, is an adjustment, and I think he's been doing great. 

Next up on the agenda is getting him more socialized. He does not do well with other dogs. Especially big dogs...even when he's bigger than half the dogs he's growling at. I mean, I'm pretty sure he has a lot of German Shepherd in him, and I think he may also have some husky. Dude's big and muscular. 

Check him out taking up most of our entryway, asking for a belly rub. 

Luckily I have some awesome friends coming over tomorrow, and they're bringing at least one of their big dogs ~ one is a puppy ~ to help with his socialization. We'll also be spending Christmas with my husband's family, and his aunt has a small and a midsized dog. We'll get there sooner or later. 

I'm so glad we made the plunge and adopted this sweet boy. All he wants is affection and walks. If anyone's ever worried about adopting an older dog, as opposed to a puppy, do it! They need love, just like any other animal, and, yes, there may be a little bit of baggage. However, if you rescue them, they will be such loyal companions, they will never leave your side, and they will always enrich your lives with their love. You just need to give them a chance. They'll fit into your family perfectly. 

The day we took him home. 

In a Drizzly Dream of a Dublin Walk...

Upon arriving in Ireland, we took a train up to Dublin to crash after a long day of travel. Our first full day there, we could not help ourselves. We had to experience one of Dublin's biggest exports in the biggest way possible: we went to the Guinness Storehouse. 

Free pint of Guinness after the Storehouse tour. 

How's this for iconic?

After the Storehouse, we set out to explore the city. I had no idea that Guinness and Jameson (yes, as in the whiskey) helped restore St. Patrick's Cathedral and other iconic sites in Dublin. 

Sir Guinness in all of his glory. 

I also did not know that Dublin has two catherals: St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch Cathedral. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Apparently, St. Patrick's Cathedral was outside of the old city walls, so Christchurch Cathedral was the official cathedral of Dublin for a while. 

After touring some of the city, we ended up in a pub on an older side of town, enjoying some jazz. No matter where we go, we always seem to find the jazz. 

On our way home, I saw this little gem out of the corner of my eye, down a side-street: 

It's anyone's guess if they're actually related to my husband's family or not, but it was really cool to see. Especially because, unknown to us, it was our last day out and about in Dublin. 

Our last day in Dublin, my husband was not feeling well. We ended up staying in the hotel room. I ordered room service, watched bad tv, and read. Although I was disappointed we couldn't go out on our last day, it was nice to recuperate from our whirlwind trip and reflect. 

I always adore going back to my non-stateside home and seeing family that I do not see nearly as often as I would like. It can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow, being so far from family. However, the situation has made it so I will always value my family and treasure every second I get to be with them. I always try to tell my friends not to take their family for granted for this very reason. 

Treasure your family. Collect experiences, not possessions. 

Hwyl Fawr am Nawr

Well, that was a prolonged break, I apologize. And towards the end of my trip re-cap, too. I should be ashamed. Let's continue, shall we?

West Wales was filled with the comfort of family and walks along the rugged coastal paths.

The unexpected beauty despite the harsh conditions. 

Inexhaustible views. 

With crystal clear water. 

I've never seen such raw beauty as I have there.

Even the plant life bows to the power of the elements. 

We took numerous walks during our multiple days there, just soaking it all in. 

During one of our longer walks, we caught a glimpse of my all-time favorite cathedral: St. David's Cathedral. Absolutely breathtaking, tucked away below the city of St. David's. 

On our last day there, we took a walk to the top of a cliff where we could see all of Fishguard (where we were staying during this portion of our trip). 

We caught one last glimpse of my family until we can return again...

...and then we set sail for Ireland.