Two Miracles

Well... if you live under a rock or in a cave, you may not know this. However, most of you do.... my nephews were born!!! They arrived on February 21st. Grant Edward was born at 9:02am and James Thomas (JT) was born at 9:03. Grant weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and JT weighed 6 lbs 1 oz. We are the proudest aunt, uncle and god parents ever!!

It was quite the wake up call that Sunday morning. My mom called at 7:15am to tell me my sister's water broke and was surprised that I was not more talkative. Let's review... 7:15 am, Sunday.... hmmm... then she understood why!!

Dan and I went to visit the little guys on Thursday February 25th - Tuesday March 2nd. It was the best time. I loved holding those boys more than anything. It made me have baby fever... for a couple minutes anyway. I soon realized that I was just not quite there yet.... maybe a few more years and we'll think about it.

Since then, our lives have been uneventful. Just trying to clean the house up after we neglected it for a while. We need to start preparing for Spring Cleaning!

Since when do kids think they can just trample through your yard when they please?! Yeah that is what our neighborhood kids think they can do. Sometimes I just like to look out the window at our view of the street behind us (really not that interesting) and instead of seeing nice houses, i see hoodlums running and riding their bikes through our yard. ANNOYING! So I am hoping we get enough money back on our tax returns to purchase a fence. And we need one for Chloe's sake. Poor thing is sick of being tied up in the yard. But who knows.

The weather has been decent down here. It was low 60's for a few days and then got to 78 one day! I sat outside and read my people magazine. Until the hoodlums decided to hang out in my back yard and climb 10 feet into my tree. again, ANNOYING.

I'll stop writing about annoying things now!! We have some very exciting things coming up that I can wait to write about!!!!!!!!

12 days until the half marathon! wish me luck. Until next time, my friends!

USA! USA! USA!

We have been addicted to the TV since Friday. We are OBSESSED with the Olympics. I love feeling like I am so connected to the world from my own couch in middle Georgia. The opening ceremonies were pretty good. I fell asleep toward the end, so goes to show you it could have been a bit more exciting. I think the most interesting part was when the hydraulics malfunctioned and the cauldron didn't come together like it should. i laughed. Oh Canada!

I find every event SO interesting. I wish I could do most of them. And then it makes me think of going back to Ohio and how much i truly miss skiing. I LOVE it. I wanted to learn to snowboard but never did. And now I live in a location where there is NO snow. Except for one day out of the year. Then it melts the very next day when it is 60 degrees!

Which reminds me... it snowed here on Friday! We got 2.5 inches! Chloe LOVED it. She was running around the yard, trying to catch the snowflakes in her mouth, and licking the snow off the ground. After we let her inside and wiped off her paws, she was ready to go back out. I can't wait to see her up in Ohio when we visit my sister and the new babies (which are not here, yet). I hear there is about 10-15 inches in Ohio depending where you are. I can't wait!


Back to the Olympics: My favorite event of these olympics thus far is the Mogul. i liked to see them go fast down those bumps. Made me think of how I would perform on those.. which is probably broken body parts. But still fun I think.

We finally got our coffee table in. It's large and in charge. I feel it is WAAAAYYY to big for our room, but Dan assures me that it's just the right size and that eventually I will get used to it. We'll see. Here it is:


Dan insisted on the lift top. And I insisted on the couches, so we came to an agreement. I bet you $100 we never use the lift top and never put anything to store in there either. But I guess it's a good table.

We had a relaxing Valentine's day. Ran ten miles (which was not relaxing), watched the Olympics, and then had a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, salad and rolls. We had wine and it put me to sleep. :) I love him. Oh and he bought me a massage, too! All-in-all, a good Valentine's day!

in training!

Our marathon is 36 days away... eeeek! I am trying to reach my goal of under 2 hours for the half. Dan says it's ambitious, but I'm all about proving him wrong! I know I can do it and if I don't, I'll be angry, but still proud of myself for completing another half marathon!

In other news, my sister still has not had the boys yet. Her doctor said it could be this Tuesday (9th) or next Tuesday (16th). I am SOOOO excited! Mainly because I really want to finally meet them and call them by their names instead of Baby A and Baby B. Her doctor said she is doing well and as long as she can keep the babies and herself safe, they can keep "cooking."

Dan and I are having a superbowl party today! I'm excited becuase only a handfull of our friends have seen our house and only a few have seen it since we've painted and got new furniture. Oh, and i forgot to mention that we got new couches!!! They are beautiful and very comfortable, too! We also got 1 end table and a cocktail table. However, our cocktail table will be in next weekend, so we won't have it for our party. Oh well. guess this old trunk we have been using can last another week











I bought myself a sewing machine for my birthday. What was I thinking? I have NO CLUE how to sew. But I bought a Singer Simple. It's for beginners. It's actually very simple to use! I made Chloe a very adorable bed, which she preceded to chew up and destroy in a matter of 10 minutes! Gotta love her! I also made a pillow that is on our loveseat! I'm becoming so crafty. Here is her bed:
I also got a digital picture frame and some running clothes for my birthday! We went out to eat at Longhorn's and Dan made me the most delicious cake. He also got me the sweetest card that about made me cry when I read it. I just love him. And I loved my birthday that I got to spend itwith him! It was a lovely day.

Catching Up!

Well... long time no see, huh?

It has been exactly one month since I last updated. Perhaps I should update more often since I have so much going on. Let me catch you up:

1. Christmas was... different. Just Dan and I. But it was GREAT! I missed not seeing my family, but it was nice to spend it with my little family here. I got a TON of stuff, including LOTS of cool (possibly cold) weather running gear so I could keep training for the mini!

2. My mom and grandma came down for a visit the day after Christmas. It was nice. Although I had to work most days they were here, it was still nice to come home to my mommy! The only eventful thing that happened is when Chloe decided to break out of her cage and destroy our entire house. She left the tree alone, but ate my grandma's pills, our unity candle arrangement, plastics, her bones, cookies, buckeye balls, and peppermint patties. I was ready to literally murder her until I saw she consumed quite a large amount of chocolate. I paniced and call our friend whose Father is a vet. In a nutshell, I gave her hydrogen peroxide and she threw it all up. Problem solved. She is still alive and still a holy terror!

3. New Years was quiet. NOTHING eventful. Well except the fact that it was our first new years as a married couple. So that was exciting!

4. I went home for my sister's baby showers the weekend of the 9th and 10th of January. It was very fun, despite the horrendous delays and problems I encountered while trying to fly on the worst night of the year to fly. But I made it, safe and sound. The showers were wonderful! Mine was a success! We played: Guess the baby food flavor, Baby BINGO, and Guess how many diapers were on the diaper cake. It was very fun and my sister really enjoyed it!

5. Speaking of my sister!!! Her and the babies are WONDERFUL! She went to the Doctor today and had an ultrasound. The boys are both weighing 5 pounds! For twins that is amazing! Her C-section is scheduled for February 23rd, although she may go before then. Dan and I are planning our trip for the end of February. We will miss their birth, but my sister and mom promised they would skype me so I wouldn't miss out!

All and all it's been a busy month. I can't wait to go home and see my sister and finally meet our nephew and our godson! It's going to be so very exciting.

I'll promise to update more frequently!!!!

UUUGGGH!

EEEK! I just want to scream! I'm so frustrated with work! I just don't understand how my fellow co-workers can't listen to a professional! For example, when I recommend thick liquids for someone who is aspirating they think it is okay to keep the patient on thin liquids for 4 days until they "get around to it" to change the liquids.....

Does that make sense to anyone else? This is what I put up with everyday. Writing recommendations for the safety of my patients and my recommendations being totally disregarded. I mean, who is the professional here? That's right. ME! I thought I was the one who went to school for 6 years and I have those special letters after my name.

It's just annoying.

Anyway, to make this more positive... Christmas is almost here! :) YAY! I love the holidays. I made my grandma's holiday cookies, buckeyes and peppermint patties. I took them to work today for our christmas party. It was great! Did I mention that I love living in the south and I love working with Filipinos! It's so different here. Different food for holidays and I'm learning so much about other cultures! And I'm learning that I eat WAAYYYY unhealthy compared to Filipinos! But oh well! I enjoy being here and seeing how other people celebrate their holidays and how different it is from how I celebrate!

I'm looking forward to my Mom coming to visit. But it's with sadness knowing that I will not be able to see the rest of my family. I really don't like working holidays and not being able to go home for just a few days. I am really missing my family and Dan's family too! I guess there will always be next year!

Side Note: My sister is doing wonderful with her two babies! They are still finishing the nursery and I can't wait to see it! I am planning the baby shower and I go home in a few weeks! YAY!

I'll post again after the holidays. I want to take time to spend it with my new family! :)

Now Hiring

Job: Seeking creative writer who is willing to do my thank you notes. Please inquire within. :)
UGHHHH! Now here is something I've added to the VERY end of my to-do list. I just don't feel like writing them, butIi know I need to. So needless to say, they will be done this weekend. It's going to be like ripping off a band-aid: quick with little pain (hopefully).


It appears I am horrible at updating (see previous post), because I didn't even say the most important thing we are doing! Dan and I are in training (again) for another half marathon for me and a full marathon for him! We just started this week, but we are off and running (ha!).

It feels good to be running again. I missed it, which is very surprising because I don't even like to run! But I guess I am beginning to change. And it is nice to run here because it doesn't get too cold. It's been in the 50's for the last 2 runs, but not all that bad. The scenery is the same and it is flat, but it is nice to get out and run.

Here is our plan:
March 21, 2010 - ING Marathon and Half in Atlanta, GA
September 2010 - Air Force Marathon and Half in Dayton, Ohio
January 2011 - Dan will be doing the Goofy challenge (a half marathon on saturday and a full on sunday) and I hope to do the full marathon! :)

Hopefully we can keep this schedule because it will really motivate me to keep myself in shape and healthy. Well I think we have updated as much as possible. Nothing too exciting going on right now! I hope to post some of our favorite wedding pictures on here for good memories!

Wedding

It appears I have not blogged in a while... which goes to show that I am too busy to even write about our life. Our wedding was WONDERFUL!!! It was perfect.... minus that fact that our dinner reservation for our rehearsal dinner was not held, the tire in our limo blew, and they announced us as Dan and Christian Welsh... but other than that, it was AMAZING!!!

The pictures are up online... by the way, the photographer was awesome! major props to her! the pictures look beautiful!

here is the website:
http://ashleyesterle.instaproofs.com

password: Welsh (make sure to capitalize)

Things here are pretty normal... we bought everything from our registry and our house FINALLY looks like a home... our home! Sidenote: I LOVE my dyson! cleans wonderfully!

anyway.. now that i don't have much to do around the house and I am not planning a wedding, i will update this more often.

the next thing in our lives is my sister's baby shower! i'm starting to plan now! I will be heading back to Cincinnati in January for the shower, but not for Christmas. It will be our first Christmas away from our families, but i guess we are our own family now! We are looking forward to the holidays here in the South!