Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is the first Thanksgiving that I won't be home in St. Louis with family.  I was pretty upset about it because I love my family dearly and this year, we have a lot to be thankful for with the news of my pregnancy, Kyle officially becoming part of our family, and my uncle catching a heart attack before it happened (gets to go home today!).  As I get older, the years seem to go by more quickly.  We're not getting any younger, so I hate missing out on any time I can be with family, which isn't often living a military lifestyle.

But I decided to stop pouting and being upset that I'm here in Florida, away from my family.  I have far too much to be thankful for to be sad.

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My husband and I both have jobs, we have a gorgeous home, we can afford to pay our bills and still go out frequently for date nights or nights out with friends, we always a fridge and pantry full of food, we are healthy, we are expecting a child, we have amazing families and friends, we have two great dogs, and we're happy.  Very, very happy.  I cannot ask for more than that.  There are far too many who are not as fortunate, as the above image is proof.

Today, I am thankful.
Today, I miss my family, but I am thankful for an amazing family to miss.
Today, I am thankful for friends that are like family.  I will be participating in my first ever Friendsgiving.  I will be spending all day with our best friends here in Florida and our good friends from Pensacola who have moved to Virginia.  I cannot wait to be reunited and stuffing our faces full of delicious food, playing obnoxious games, and drinking (alcohol-removed) wine. 

Today, I am thankful that my husband is home and able to celebrate this day with me.

Today, I will enjoy my last Thanksgiving as a family of two, and look forward to next year with a precious 6 month old joining us for Thanksgiving dinner.
Today, my heart (and belly) are full and I am so incredibly thankful.

I hope you and your family and/or friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Remember this day is not about snagging the best deal on a television, but about being thankful for all you have.  Some might not have much, but there's always at least one thing to be thankful for; even if it's simply that you woke up today.

Please take a moment to say a prayer and think of those serving our country (military, police officers, firefighters, etc) and their families that have an empty seat at the table today. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Our Sincerest Thank You

Nicholas and I are overwhelmed with the love and support we've received since announcing that God has blessed us with a child.  In a matter of just 24 hours, we received more phone calls, text messages, Facebook comments, emails, etc from family and friends sharing their excitement with us.
We had plans to run errands all day yesterday, but it was difficult to get off the couch and out of the house with the outpouring of love that was nonstop.  And we aren't one bit mad!

Nick made the joke that we were going to break Facebook with all the support we received.

There truly are no words to express our gratitude.  Nicholas and I are just over the moon with this pregnancy, especially not knowing if it would ever be possible.  To know that so many others share in our excitement has brought me to tears many, many times (I'd say two thirds of that is genuine, and the last third is all thanks to those insane pregnancy hormones).  This baby is only 13 weeks old and is already loved by so many people, near and far.  Baby Obie is one very lucky miracle.

For as long as I've been alive, I've known just how blessed I truly am with the family and friends God has brought into my life.  Throughout the years, through all the joys and struggles life has thrown my way, I've realized more and more just how blessed I was with my family and friends, always there for me.  And now, with this pregnancy announcement, I just feel I can't thank God enough.  My heart is so full and each day I'm amazed at how much fuller it becomes.
Thank you, everyone, for sharing in our joy.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. 

Blessed and Overjoyed is an Understatement

In 2006, at the age of 21, I was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive cancer. Due to the intensity of my treatment regiment, I was told there was a 50% chance I would be infertile or have difficulties trying to conceive. Hearing this news upset me almost as much as hearing that I had cancer.
After nine years of hoping and praying, Nicholas and I are overjoyed to announce that God has given us the honor of becoming parents and has blessed us with our own little miracle. 

More pictures to come soon because you know my photo obsessed self couldn't decide on just one.  And obviously we had to include the pups in some way ;)

The Medical Saga: New Diagnosis - Scoliosis

In my last post (which was Monday, sorry about that long absence this week.  I was traveling on business and I'm not motivated enough for a week's worth of scheduled posts, especially after a busy weekend.)  Anyway, as I was saying, in my last post, I mentioned physical therapy.

I am now going to physical therapy twice a week for my scoliosis.  Yep, I have scoliosis.

If you read back through a lot of my past posts, you'll see me complaining about my back pain.  My back primarily hurts in my upper back and more on the right side, right between my spine and shoulder blade.  I just assumed that it was due to the stress I carry in my back.  I'm a very anxious person, and I have an incredibly stressful job.  Every time I go in for a massage, they mention how incredibly tight my muscles are.  When I leave, I always feel better. But just 24 hours later, my back is beginning to hurt.  It never occurred to me that there might be something more serious wrong.

That is, until about a month ago when I went to get a massage and the therapist asked, "Has anyone ever told you you have scoliosis?"

Actually, when I was very young, somewhere around the age of 11-12, a doctor told me I had a slight curvature in my spine.  I was told that is common in young girls as they begin to grow during puberty.
And it was never brought up again.  Never checked again.  I guess because I never complained about my back.

"How did none of your doctors catch that the last 8 years?" Mom asked me.  I've had countless x-rays and scans done in which my spine would be clearly visible.  My assumption is that they were/are far more concerned and focused on cancer and it's complications to worry about how straight (or not straight) my spine was.

After that massage, I made an appointment with my primary doctor (for my spine but also to check out a cyst...or something, I have growing in my hand.  I'm telling ya, the medical issues just don't stop for me.)  I went in for that appointment and I explained everything I've written in this post.  She said, "Well, I'm going to have you lift up your shirt, put your hands straight out, then bend over so I can get a good look at your spine."  She steps behind me, lifts my shirt, and with my hands still at my side, she says, "Oh girl, I can see the curve.  Go ahead and bend over though."  Sure enough, my spine curves, near the top.

A week later, I received a call from a rehabilitation center with my referral and we set up my first appointment, which was last week.
I went in and my therapist did an assessment.  It consisted of him looking and feeling my back in various positions, watching how my all the components of my back bend and move, strength tests, and lots of talking about my lifestyle, discomfort, etc.

In the end, he said my scoliosis is not that bad.  It won't require surgery or even a back brace but just simple PT twice a week for at least 8 weeks.
My spine curves slightly to the left, near the top, pretty much between the shoulder blades.  This is causing additional pull on the muscles to the right.  Which is why my pain is mainly concentrated on that side.
He said my back muscles, where they attach to the spine, felt like picking guitar strings and they shouldn't be that tight.  He notices that I sit with my right shoulder a little higher and leaning a little to one side, which I do subconsciously to offset my pain, but it's really making thing worse.
When I bend over, my lower back muscles stretch to allow the bending, but my upper back muscles stay tight and don't really allow my upper back to bend as easily.
After doing various strength exercises, it was obvious that muscles that use my upper back are much weaker and the right side is significantly weaker than the left.
After all this talk, he had me lay down on my stomach and he pushed, pulled, stretched, etc to attempt to loosen my muscles.

My first two or three PT sessions are going to consist of him applying pressure to loosen those muscles, along with pulling, and stretching.  The sessions after those, we will focus on stretches and exercises for me to do as well as some strength building to compensate for the "damage" I've been doing.  After those 8 weeks of twice a week PT, I should be able to continue the stretches and exercises at home to help keep the pain and discomfort at bay.

[He did confirm that I also have tight muscles from things non-scoliosis related and said it was probably stress so he recommends staying up with monthly massages.  Don't have to tell me twice!!!]

So that is where I lie with all of this.  I'm really frustrated, because I seem to never be on top of my health.  If I overcome one thing, or get into a routine with a complication, something else has to creep in.  It gets really old.  I just want to be healthy and not have so many things to worry about!!!
However, I am thankful that this new issue isn't something severe and can be managed with stretching and exercise.  It'll be a slow process he said, but our hope is that in a year, there will no more pain and discomfort if I stay on top of our plan.  I'm thankful that after years of back pain, I actually have an answer and now, a solution.

Here's to a slow start of a pain-free back!!!!  I cannot wait for that day!!!


Do you have scoliosis?  Or back pain?  How do you manage it?

Celebrating an Anniversary & Fall Fun!!

Happy Monday y'all!!!  I haven't done a weekend recap in quite a while.  I know, you've all missed them.  In all seriousness, I know only my parents and a few friends truly care how I spent my weekend.  I really do these recaps for myself.  I love looking back each year and seeing what I did.  It's my like my online scrapbook.  Which becomes a real scrapbook because there's an awesome site where you can turn your blog into a book!

But now I'm rambling.

This weekend was rather busy.  The last few weekends we haven't done too much because either Nick's been working, I've been feeling crappy, or we've just had too much to do around the house.

Friday, after I arrived home from physical therapy (more on that in another post), I showered and we went out to celebrate our engagement anniversary.  Friday marked 5 years since Nicholas flew into St. Louis (I had no idea he was there), sent me to a spa to get a massage and manicure (while he showed up at my parents house to ask for their blessing), then sent me all over St. Louis on a scavenger hunt to places that had significance to us before finding him, on one knee.  (Followed by dinner at Ruth's Chris then off to see Phantom of the Opera and the next day, a hot air balloon ride at sunset).  It was seriously one of the best days of my life!  We usually celebrate each year, nothing big or fancy, but just a way of recognizing that this day is still important to us.  We went out to dinner and then headed next door to see Gone Girl (sooooo good!!!  I'm normally disappointed in books turned movie but I really loved it!  Although bitty be CRAZY!  So much creepier watching it!).

Afterwards we just came home and snuggled up in bed reminiscing about this day five years ago.  We love to relive these old moments, talking about the thoughts and emotions running through us at that time.  And who doesn't love going to sleep with happy thoughts??

Saturday we decided to engage in some fall fun.  It definitely didn't feel like fall at 90 degrees and sweating our butts off, but if you wait for fall weather to do fall things here in Florida, you'll be picking rotting pumpkins in December.  So off to the "farm" we went!!! We arrived and walked around to see what all they had going on.  There were so many various games, lots of food, a pumpkin patch, animals to pet, horse back rides, a hayride, corn maze, etc.

We hopped on the hayride and rode over to the corn maze.  This was the design for this year at Conner's A-Maize-Ing Acres

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The maze wasn't too difficult and I think that's because the corn wasn't very high.  It was a little easy to just glance over the corn stalks and see what direction you needed to take and which was a dead end.  None the less, we had a lot of fun!  (Other than sweating off about 10 pounds).

Afterwards we headed over to the pumpkin patch and picked out our pumpkins.  We don't yet know what we'll be carving, which made choosing the right pumpkin a little difficult.  I just randomly picked a medium sized pumpkin and Nick chose a one a little bit larger.  I forgot take photos there so we snapped a quick photo before hopping in the car.

The rest of the evening was spent at home, unfortunately watching our Redbirds lose Game 1 of the NLCS to the Giants.

(clearly taken at the start of the game when I was still happy)

Sunday was just a productive day around the house.  We did laundry, cleaned and organized the dining room, did some work in the garage, pulled our fall decor out of the attic and I got a very small start on the fall decorating.  Unfortunately I leave tomorrow to go out of town for work so I won't be getting to do more decorating until next weekend.  But this shall do for now.  At least anyone who comes to the door will think we've got it together.  But if they come further than the entryway, they'll realize this is all I've done.

The evening ended with a walk because Yadi is fat (we've been saying this for a while, but the vet confirmed it...in nicer terms.  But that's a post for another day) and we met the cutest little 7 month old German Shorthaired Pointer!!!  The woman saw our little pointer pack (we were walking with our neighbor and her Vizsla) and she came out.  We're definitely want to plan a puppy play date soon!

Now the evening is winding down as I'm fully packed for my trip, we just consumed a delicious dinner (that I didn't cook, which is a win), and we're currently watching our Cardinals.  They're winning 2-0 right now so let's hope we can keep this lead!

Dining Out with Nick's Wardroom

This past Saturday, Nicholas and I attended a Dining Out with his new squadron. 

While Nick has attended Dining Outs at the Naval Academy, this was my very first one.  

I decided I wanted to get my hair done.  Big mistake.  I have never had my hair done for such an event since living in Jax and therefore I was shooting in the dark by choosing a stylist, which never ends well.  I wanted simple soft wavy curls.  Instead, she gave me huge tight curls.  Unfortunately, there wasn't too much I could do because I had worked that day and was very limited on time.  I just had to say "oh well" and head to the Dining Out with less than attractive hair.  It wasn't awful, but it definitely wasn't cute!

The Dining Out is a formal event, consisting of dinner, a guest of honor speech, toasts, and mingling and usually some form of entertainment.

Our Dining Out began with a cocktail hour, followed by a few {hilarious} skits, a dance-off contest among some of the senior officers, dinner, a speech by the Guest of Honor, toasts, and more dancing and mingling.

The Guest of Honor was a 91 year old man (who had to sit halfway through his story due to a hip injury from playing tennis the day before!!!!).  He enlisted in the Army Air Corps the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked back in 1941 and he shared his story of being captured in Germany and being a POW for 19 months!  It was an amazing story!

University Club - 27th Floor

The event, while formal, was also a very laid back atmosphere.  We were laughing throughout most of the event, whether it be from the skits, the dance off, or people being sent to The Grog.

What's The Grog?  This is The Grog

The toilet was filled with far too many clear liquors and sweet and sour mix, to make it appear yellow.  The kiddie potty was filled with other random drinks, all non-alcoholic.  Don't worry, they hadn't been previously used (of this fact, I am not certain but I'm truly hoping it's true).

Prior to coming to the event, the wardroom (the officers within the squadron) were given rules for the dining out.  Any violation of the rules would result in you being called out and sent to The Grog.  And yes, significant others could be sent there as well.  If you were sent there, you had to fill your cup, toast "To the mess", drink the cup, then 'dump' it over your head proving you emptied the cup.  

Some of the rules were things such as no sitting before the XO, no eating before the XO, no talking over the XO, no foul or inappropriate language, no getting up and leaving your table during the meal, talks, etc without permission.  Of course, they can send you to The Grog for anything.  The point is just to keep the night fun and entertaining.  Thankfully for Nick and I, we were both able to avoid The Grog.  

The night ended with everyone just socializing, dancing, and having a good time.
Actually, the night ended with Nick and I (stone sober) and his CO, singing into the mic, completely unassisted by any music (I actually think a Miley song was playing) "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."  It was pretty epic!

I'll be honest, I was really dreading this event.  Normally I'm all about getting all fancy and seeing my husband in his whites.  But we're the newbies in the squadron.  I only knew one wife prior to going to this event.  I had very briefly met a few others the previous weekend at a soccer game, and while they were nice, the conversations were limited.
We showed up and Nick paraded me around, introducing me to the guys he works with.   Meanwhile, all the wives were standing in a circle talking.  I felt so out of place, being the only girl in the group of guys.  While I am extroverted, I'm not one to just start talking to people I don't know.  It takes me a while to warm up.  Being around Nick's coworkers, I wanted to make a good impression as well so I was pretty nervous.  I just kept standing there with Nick thinking, "I wish I knew the women.  It sucks to be this outsider."  Finally, I decided to grow a pair and said to Nick "I'm going to go over and talk with the wives."  And I did.  I began walking over and thankfully two of the girls remembered me from the soccer game, gave me a giant smile and a welcome.  I then was honest and just simply said "I decided to come join you all.  I was tired of the guys' work talk and figured I can't get to know you all if I stay over there."  I met a few new women and we all had a really great time.  While it was really uncomfortable, I'm happy I approached and put myself in their circle.  It definitely helped to make the night much more enjoyable.

Nick and I had a great time that night and it was nice for both of us to hang out with people from his squadron.  Although the newbies, we felt very welcome and I'm looking forward to the next three years with this squadron.

On Saturdays, We Wear Our College Attire, Drink, & Watch the Game

This time of year, everyone's weekend recaps are the same.  I know for the next few months, my Saturdays will be always be beer, good food, and football!

It should come as no surprise that I'm a Mizzou fan.  That is my beloved Alma mater and I miss that campus, that town, and college life so much!!!  Football season was always my favorite.  My freshman year, we lived in the dorm with all the football freshman football players.  They became good friends of ours and it made the games even more enjoyable to not only be cheering on our team, but cheering on our friends.

My Saturdays have always revolved around Mizzou football.
Before going to Mizzou, I'd travel the two hours there, stay with my brother, and tailgate with his friends.
Saturdays while attending Mizzou revolved around tailgating, the game, more tailgating, and then hitting up the bars.
I graduated in 2008 and moved back to my hometown of St. Louis, but I continued to travel back to Mizzou to tailgate and attend games.
Saturdays are just a day for college football.  End of story.

Sadly, my tailgating and game-going days had to come to an end.
In 2011, I married a man in the United States Navy.  As you all might know, Missouri doesn't have an ocean for those big Navy ships and thus I had to move.  Sadly, I can't afford to fly home for every home game.  The best I can do now is cheer on my Tigers here in Florida.  Thankfully, with Mizzou moving to the SEC back in 2012, I'm able to catch their games since I reside in SEC country.

A few months ago, I posted a photo of a shirt that I really wanted.  Little did I know, this shirt would be showing up in my mailbox just a few days later.  My sweet husband saw this shirt online and ordered it for me, knowing just how much I'd love it!

(I'll admit, the shirt would be a LOT better if it said "I may live in Florida but I'm always in Mizzou Country").


You'll be happy to know, no more weekend recaps (unless it's pretty epic) because Saturdays you will find me drinking beer and watching my Tigers.  (And watching other college football before and after our game.)  Some Saturdays it might be on my couch and others it might be at a bar with my fellow Northeast Florida Mizzou Alumni Chapter.

Oh, you'll also find these two girls shoved into jerseys that are now a bit too small for them.
(It's one of the few times I think doggies clothes are acceptable).

 

What is your college team?
Do you dress up your dogs for game day?

Recreating Our First Date

Once upon a time, back in 2007, Nicholas and I went on our first real date.  

I say 'real' because we had hung out a few times previously, but it was always with a group of friends.  Then he returned to power school in South Carolina and our {unofficial} relationship consisted of just phone calls.  Such a glamourous long distance, military relationship life we lead.  

In April 2007, Nicholas took leave and returned home to Missouri.  He drove up to Mizzou and that night, we had our first real date.  It was your cliche 'dinner and a movie' date.  We started at Applebee's for dinner and then headed to the theater to see TMNT.  Yes, that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I have no shame in admitting I love the turtles and was dying to see this movie.  As a boy, Nick was not opposed to the idea either.  And we loved it!!!  

Fast forward seven years and five months....

When the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies hit the theaters a few weeks ago, we decided it'd be a cute idea to recreate our first date.  

Friday night, we headed out to Applebee's.  Back then, we just talked about our lives, which were separate and now starting to blend;  more 'getting to know you' talk.  This date consisted of reminiscing about those days which transitioned into talking about visions of our future.  

While at dinner, talking about how crazy it is that this date happened over seven years ago, it was then that I realized we were truly reliving this first date weekend.
You see, April 6, 2007, we went on our first date to Applebee's and to see TMNT (and we became "official" that night after the date.)
And the next day, the reason Nick came in town, we attended a wedding.  Which was the exact same thing we would be doing the following day!!!!!  We had been trying to see this movie for a few weeks and things kept getting in the way.  It's pretty ironic that the day we made it happen, was the day before a wedding.

So we were truly reliving the first date weekend; the first date as an unofficial couple, and the first official date!!!!

As you might have seen on Instagram, I was poking fun at my husband.  You see these four shirts below?  Well, the first two are brand new. He bought them last night before dinner (along with a new tie and three-piece suit).  And the back two are two he already owns.  Ummm....they're almost identical!  Sure, they're different, but just barely!!!  But clearly to my metrosexual husband, they are "significantly different" and he needed these two new ones.  {insert eye roll}

So while I love to give him trouble about how long it takes him to pick out clothes, or complain because he has far more clothes than I do, loves fashion and shopping, and drives me nuts sometimes, I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it.
After he got dressed, I was feeling pretty lucky to be bringing such a dashing man as my date to my volunteers' wedding that afternoon.

I always have and always will be attracted to metrosexual men.  I just love a man who is well groomed, does his hair, loves to dress nicely, and looks damn good while doing it!  I mean, look at him!

So dapper!  And he even cooperated and let me take many, many photos of him.  

{Y'all, I'm not even sorry I'm bombarding you with photos of him.  This is my blog and I love looking back on posts after months and years.  And I know I'll love looking back at this handsome husband of mine.}

I mean, clearly I'm biased since he's my husband, but he's not hard on the eyes so hopefully this isn't too painful for you to look at him ;)  

(Sadly the sleeves became wrinkled by the time I had the idea for him to take off his jacket).

And it just seems appropriate that today I participate in my first ever #ManCrushMonday.  I've never done it.  Mainly because my husband is my crush, but that's cheesy and lame to post. However, I'm here today to be lame and cheesy and declare this man as my #ManCrushMonday...today and everyday.

Okay, so enough of that.  We hopped in the car and headed to the wedding.  Of course, I wanted to snap some more photos.  They were going to be just for myself but then he decided to be an ass and stick his tongue out and act like an angry elf, then declare "Don't post those anywhere".  So naturally I had to post them.

Then it was wedding time!  We were lucky enough to score seats in the shade (although we still sweat half our body weight away).  Thankfully the ceremony was short and then we got to move inside to some air conditioning.

The reception ended early in the evening so we decided to carry out the date by heading to a wine bar and enjoying an evening on the patio.

We still weren't ready to call it a night so we headed to Jax Beach and grabbed a late dinner on a beachside patio.  It was an amazing evening!  The breeze coming off the ocean was perfect.  Afterwards we headed down the street and met up with some of my co-workers until we finally thought it might be good to head home and be good dog parents and stop neglecting the dogs.

It was such a perfect evening.  My husband truly is my best friend so add that in with getting the opportunity to dress up and have a nice evening out; it was the perfect recipe. Work has been getting back into the long work weeks of crazy stressfulness for me and this next week is going to be long and rough for Nick as well.  It was a much needed date and it was nice to bring some sentimentality to it by recreating our first date.

For fun, here's a photo from then, and now!

How did you spend your Labor Day Weekend?
Have you ever recreated a first date or an older moment or event??