CC Shawn

The wait is finally over and it's official - Shawn is the newest night G-shift Crew Chief! So very proud of such a wonderful accomplishment. I know he has a lot to learn and faces new challenges but I know he will succeed every step of the way. He makes me so proud, all of his hard work and dedication have paid off.

Looks like we're headed to IVF, unless for some reason this cycle of meds works, since it will take awhile to dive into that journey, I've taken on some new activities: Barre3 class - mix of pilates/ballet/yoga. I forgot I had some of those muscles. Tonight I did "something bigger, something better" took a cabaret hip hop class at Vega Dance Lab. It was awesome. I forgot how much I love dancing. I'll be playing that song on my ipod for awhile.

Random note: the new Axe commercial (the one that shows two ladies washing golf balls), the little fine print at the end that states:" use gently on sensitive areas" cracks me up.

Puppy Socks

Thought I'd get the puppies some socks to help keep their paws from tracking any missed dirt after the nightly sponge bath, maybe working them into being comfortable wearing little puppy rain boots for the rainy season. Good thought but in practice, not so much. Actually, I would consider them a total fail. The socks don't really stay on like you'd think they would/should.  Ssurprisingly neither of them tried to gnaw their own paw off nor did they chew on them.  Cubs did however walk like he had 4 injured paws for the first few minutes. Just not so sure they're functional after all, who knew?

Wriggy's birthday is Thursday - she's going to be 3! (21 puppy years) [ don't tell, but she's getting a new sweater and Cubby is getting one too] not sure what to make her for treats just yet but they will be good - only the best for my little piggy.

No go on the precepting spot for Shawn, but that's ok, there are bigger and better things awaiting him.

So moral of the story - puppies really don't need socks.

Reconnecting

I think we've been in a time warp lately - the time just keeps going by faster and faster and the "to do list" seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

We're almost settled, just as busy as always and now with the house there are a million and one more things to do - mowing the lawn is a necessity but 3 weeks in and we're still enjoying it. I'll be glad when the boxes are all unpacked in the garage.

Puppies have learned to be outdoor explorers and we have become master paw-wipers.

Mom and grandma are coming to visit in 10days, pretty excited for this adventure - hoping to show grandma around I think it's been 30 years since she was last here/

Shawn applied and interviewed to be a preceptor - we're thinking positive precepting thoughts. He would be so awesome in that position.

I've learned a couple useful tidbits from work like don't let a friend give you a tattoo in places you can't see or else the "monster" tattoo you were hoping to get becomes "molester" I've also seen about 25-30% of my former classmate's and professor's chart notes. It's kind of fun to hear patient's talk about their great PA and then turns out I know them.

Breaking news*** just learned I've been feeding an ant colony 25# of dog food. Way to go****

The addition to our family has not happened and may not be in our cards. We've been using science to help us and still no luck, apparently my "garden variety" unexplained infertility resembles a garden from the Lost City of Atlantis- unexplainable. We may be headed to Oregon Reproductive Medicine (ORM) in the very near future but there may not be a scientific intervention to solve my biological conundrum. So we've nearly come to terms that our lives may be going in a different direction and so a great deal of traveling may be in order.

That about sums it up from the PNW.

Shiny Bins

So the house is finished, we closed on 6/30, keys are in hand, but we haven't had a chance to actually move in yet... kind of crazy as we sit here on the couch in our apartment when it's 95 degrees outside knowing that we could be enjoying 70 degree comfort inside our house. All in good time I suppose but really, who doesn't move right away? Maybe because my car has been dying a slow agonizing death... it's 12 years old, 181,936 miles, the driver door handle broke off so have to role down the window to open the door, the engine light is on and it occasionally continues to run, making a high pitched screeching noise even when the car is in "off" position and keys out of the ignition. So I bought a new car today. Betsy has gone to greener pastures, and now I'm enjoying Goldie - named lovingly for the band "Goldfish" that sings the song to the car's commercial.
Now that the car isn't an issue I guess we don't have any excuse not to pack up and get the hell out of Dodge, before it burns down. (yeah, an apartment fire in our complex this week due to a faulty propane tank was also motivation).

When did we grow up?

Nearly 22 years ago we were playing soccer - in the same tournament in KS but of course we wouldn't meet until about 17 years later when I graduated from college. Not long after meeting we were engaged and then married. We've travel, we've worked, we've played, we've gone to school and moved (a lot)  and we've managed to raise two dogs in the process. We've grieved, we've celebrated and we've developed our relationship to an amazing combination of friendship and love. However, these amazing adventures and legs to our journey pale in comparison to recent happenings. We signed 35 pages of documents to acquire our new home - that was built just for us, on a lot we picked with color choices and extras that we could only dream about for a house. Just a year ago I was in Ecuador finishing up PA school - and now a year later here we are. Wow. Time goes by so fast, how did this happen? We are so very blessed and grateful for each and every day and every opportunity.

Pictures worth 1000 words

Shawn and his dad putting up the scratch coat - so grateful he could fly out for 48hrs to do this project.

My favorite part of our house is the fireplace. They worked so hard and did a phenomenal job, it is beautiful! The pictures don't do it justice. At least the house and our work will keep us distracted for awhile since we ran into a dead end on the path to family expansion. It appears 2 legged additions might not be in our cards even with science's miraculous help after all.

mini updates

-house is coming along - always surprises, like a 10k retaining wall that needs to go in now, great. Shawn will be stoning the fireplace with his dad the first of June, really excited. I love the stone we've picked out, it's going to look stunning - plus anything done by the Zupfer men will be amazing.

-my work - same old same old, increase in MRSA, strep and tonsilar abscess

-shawn's work - may be changing shifts at the end of the month - mums the word but fingers crossed, not headed to days yet, just moving up the night chain.

-babies - Zupfer babies will be made with a little help from science, hopefully we'll have updates in 3-6months on this journey - we are so blessed that there is a possibility to have children, just going to take a wee bit longer than we thought.