oh, life!

When vacations strike at just the right time (or wrong time - depending on how you look at it), all we can do is sit back and thank our lucky stars for such opportunities when it feels they are needed most! In the midst of life being quite unbalanced for each of us in our little family, a pre-planned trip politely interrupted some of life's most hectic moments.



We may not have been ready for it (until a mere 2 hours prior to boarding our flight), but we made it - safe and sound - to hubby's favorite place in the world.



Ocean City, New Jersey, of course.



The unsettling feeling of not finding a home for us to move into in our desired timeframe of 2 weeks from now sure is stressful. Figuring out a move, insurances, finding a new OB and pediatrician, traveling up to Atlanta soon for J's med school graduation, the unknown fears before starting a new life full of medical residency and intense hours, all while being pregnant and having tons of doctors appointments between E and myself meant pure relaxation for our minds and bodies at a time when we were unknowingly begging for it. Thank you, not-very-well-thought-out vacation. We needed you!




It's hard to find balance these days -- we don't have a home of our own, and the place we do call home has hardly been home when all we've been doing is packing up and taking off so often. We returned home from our trip yesterday and will leave again tomorrow on a 5 hour road trip. The show must go on and the house hunt must continue! Next week, we will head to Atlanta, and hopefully, hopefully, be able to move into a great home shortly after that.

Nap time for E, or any sort of schedule for that matter, has been thrown out the window, along with much more. Thank God we have been blessed with a fairly flexible little girl, who remains happy and content in all our days of chaos. To her, life is fun and spectacular and quite the grand adventure. And seeing how she fully accepts all the imbalances with a squealing giggle and peppy-dance-run-thing she does when she's excited - well it reminds us just how grand this adventure is that we are on!



I've told myself over and over on this journey, "Don't wish the days away". And when life is turning in many different directions, I'm doing just what I've told myself.



I'm not wishing for these days to just be behind us, or for time to speed up and get to that 'comfort' zone in our lives (like that ever happens anyway), but instead I am embracing these days.



Loving each moment we have with each other, and loving each day we have with our newly 18 month old as an only child still. We're watching her unwavering growth, quickly transforming before our eyes. We're changing and growing together every day as we learn to have new conversations with our toddler and wonder where the heck she comes up with some of this stuff, where she learns these words, and questioning her every joyful and curious move.



And when we're feeling as though we don't know our next move, something always pops up. You know, life always has that little way of pointing you in the right (well, hopefully the right) direction when you least expect it.





We know that will happen. Something will point us in the right direction. A house will pop up. It may not be exactly where or what we want, but we will move in somewhere. And we will start new memories there and look back on those and miss them one day. When things get rough and tough while J is working insane hours and I'm with our children, a break will come, eventually. And when babies wear us out to the point we feel we can't even stay awake for one second longer, something will give us the drive to thrive. It happens. It's all a part of life. (Somebody please remind me of this when I'm getting to one of those points!) Life is always moving forward, that's for sure.



It just keeps on moving forward. Even when all we want is to press the pause button.

Pretty sure we had a few of those moments on our trip! Moments where I'd look around and wonder how life can actually get better than in that very moment. Spending time together with no computers or internet (aside from our phones) and taking long walks along the boardwalk/beach and streets lined with gorgeous homes and pretty-in-pink blooming trees while E grew her vocabulary by a few words each day we all spent together truly truly made me wish there was a pause button.

Our job for 17 days was to just enjoy each other for a while. And eat, and rest, and be thankful for having such a beautiful place to be as a family.







We spent my 27th birthday AND Mother's Day in Ocean City. They were special days indeed, on a very special trip for us.



A trip filled with family, love, fun, friends (The Wood's came to visit for a little!!), cold weather, warm weather, tons of rides, our first trip to Storybook Land to celebrate our 18 month old turning another half year older, beach days, kissing boo-boos to make them feel better, and lots of comfy baby girl snuggles.

In the middle of a hectic month for us, does it get much better? H to the No!









When life gets a little crazy, it's all just a part of our story. Our story that will twist and turn and at some point, lead us to a resolution.







Life has it's funny way of throwing things at us when we sometimes least expect it, and whether it's just as quick or a drawn out chapter, it has it's funny way of handing us the tools we need to push through to the top.

Our Ocean City trip was just what we needed to fuel us for our next few weeks of chaos, excitement, and new adventures of our story. Here's to wishing this chapter a happy ending and an even better start to the next!

family days and another phase

We're on our way - continuing along this med school journey - with about 5 1/2 months until the sweet sound of that graduation song fills our ears and we sit back to cheer on our Doctor Daddy. I started this blog during the first year of medical school, about 6 months after moving up to Georgia, as an engaged working 23 year old gal. Oh how the years have changed in a short amount of time. How we've transitioned into the newlywed life and created traditions and values in our marriage, moving on to the birth of our first child, in addition to several moves (including cross-state). It sure has been quite the journey throughout these four years of medical school.



And they're not over yet! We've still got 5 1/2 months of this journey's memories that will make up 'the med school years'. For now, we are soaking up family days. Come 6-7 months from now, the beloved/dreaded/can't-believe-it's almost here residency might possibly drain the family days from our schedules. I surely hope not, but let's be honest. How did your doctors get to know all that they do? It wasn't from sitting at home with their families every day, that's for sure. (Sadly! ha) So on those days we do get, we've just gotta make them worth it!

Park days, museum days, beach days, even sleeping in and cuddling up together doing nothing days -- they all count in my book as a great family day. We are lucky to have the amount of quality time together lately that we have -- even in the midst of the interview trail and hubby being out of state every other week!

Hanging with these two make life so grand.



I've referenced 'Saved By The Bell' before in terms of our life. How there are 'The College Years', high school, middle school, etc. It's easy to categorize the different phases of our lives based on all the places we have lived, and the phases we have been through. Our high school days, our college days in Tallahassee, our med school days in Atlanta, our 3rd year clinical rotation days in Warner Robins, and now our 4th year rotations in Florida. Come March 2014, we will find out where our residency days will take us. It sure is interesting not knowing where we will be moving on to next, but fun at the same time. We try very hard to live our lives one day at a time and not wish our days away to get to that 'one day' when we can settle in a house for more than a year, have a steady income, and get to that point in life where we know we are where we're meant to be. We've been talking about that a lot lately -- just really trying to not wish the days away, and trying our hardest to make these days amazing - because they are.





We look back on each little phase, each year of living somewhere new, each stage of dating, engagement, marriage, pregnancy, baby life, etc. and have wonderful memories from each. Even from the places we weren't so excited about to begin with. We've realized we can make a home wherever we are. We've realized we can make a life wherever we are. It's more about having each other and wonderful people in our lives who support us and have fun with us. With each other, our families, and friends, we made each phase wonderful so far and we truly love looking back.



Looking back and reminiscing on the good times leads us to also look forward at the mysterious blank pages ahead. Where will it take us? What memories will we make? Will our children have just as great of memories as us? That's where we need to remind ourselves that it's all about what we make of it. We need to help make the memories of our children's childhood, and guide them in the right direction to make the right decisions, leading them to have the wonderful memories we have been blessed with.





Of course, there will be rough patches, as we all have had as well throughout childhood, but as the good times have far outweighed the bad, that's what makes up my memories. The good times, the fun times, the amazing people.

We hope no matter where this crazy journey leads us next, we will bring with us our past memories of each phase and learn from the lows, as well as bring with us the wonderful memories to keep us going strong, happy, and most of all supportive of each other and all our future endeavors with some amazing children. We hope we don't ever wish our days away and just continue enjoying 'the now' - whether we barely see much of each other during some crazy residency times or not (and I do hope that's not the case!)

One thing is for sure - we're enjoying our family days one at a time and loving each other with all our heart and soul - just as we should!

It's all about the climb...

Picking up your life and moving to a completely new area can bring about a myriad of emotions in both good and bad ways, and leave you with a mysterious/hazy view of your future. Two nights before picking up and moving here for J to start medical school, I was cuddled up in bed with Grizz around, and J was..well I'm not quite sure, but he wasn't with me at this moment. This song came on TV (and yes, I may get made fun for feeling this way from this song being that it's Miley Cyrus, but..whatever! haha) I heard these lyrics..

Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make
Feels lost with no direction,
My faith is shakin'
But I gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down, but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it, but
These are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most
I've just gotta keep goin', and
I gotta be strong

Keep on movin'
Keep climbin'
Keep the faith baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb

And I thought, "Ahhh, this is such a nerve-racking moment in our lives..I have no idea what it will be like to live in another state.. What am I going to do for a job? How easy will it be to make all new friends? How is it going to be living this far from family? How busy will J really be? Will I ever see him? We have to plan a whole wedding right now..ahh, please just let everything turn out well!"



Well folks, we got lucky! I got a job the first week we moved here, J worked out a schedule where he'd get to school around 6 am so he could get home around 6:30pm and we could eat dinner together every night, I've been able to visit family every couple months, the wedding turned out beautifully, and well, we made some AMAZING friends along the way!



I had no idea what types of people we would meet, and while all of our friends come from different areas and different backgrounds and have different accents that I may or may not try to imitate at times ;), we've become such a tight-knit circle of friends that I greatly enjoy being around! So when I heard that same song the other night, The Climb, the exact same feelings came pouring back..except they hit me even harder.



After making these wonderful friends and growing closer and closer, I realized we only have 2 months left with most of them, and then we'll be picking everything up to start the cycle over again. The friends we've made together as a couple, and the wives who have become such an incredible support group, will probably be the most missed memory of the time we've had here in the Atlanta area. Cue the sad gloomy music..haha ;)




Carly and Brian met a group of doctors and their families while vacationing at the beach..and they told them they've made it a point since med school to meet at the beach and pick right back up where they left off every year. Oh how we would love for that to happen!!




In our nearly 2 years of living here, we've built memories that will last a lifetime. Alongside our friends, we've had fun nights, drunk nights, stressful test weeks, wives leaning on each other when feeling somewhat lonely, Just Dance nights, nights we'll always remember, and nights that some just want to forget ..(drunk Yogi Bear talks, men staying up late together to watch House Hunters, TMI talks, etc.) We've thrown bridal showers for each other, and even had friends travel the 10 hours to South Florida to watch us exchange vows and celebrate with us...





We've traveled to watch others exchange vows and celebrate with them...



And even stayed put to watch friends exchange vows right here...


We've watched little ones grow up..and bellies grow, too.



Got to witness a bromance bloom from the beginning ;) ...


We've even danced our butts off together plenty of times..


and made fools of ourselves too...


Carly and I spontaneously decided to grab some frozen yogurt last night. While the sun was setting, we took a seat on the grass to discuss just how much we will miss these moments.

Yup, we've all had some pretty amazing times together....
and while I may not know it,
these are the moments I'm gonna remember most,
yea, just gotta keep going...
it's all about the climb!

the sad/funny truth

When you're a med student, it's hard to be anything else. But oh, you're supposed to be a husband, puppy daddy, son, brother, AND a friend. Not too many of us get much of my husband's attention -- it's pretty much his books and his school buddies who study around him that get the most of him. But I do think that pup and I get the best of him when he's home and relaxed...and we like it that way! But when he gets the chance to catch up with those that really matter to him, he feels like it's been ages. He probably feels out of the loop. And he doesn't have a Facebook account (because he thinks it's a bunch of crap and doesn't want it to consume his time). That, and he'd rather learn news about people by actually talking to them instead of stalking them. I guess we could all learn a two or thing from him!

He finally caught up with a good friend last weekend when we were in Savannah. He was a happy, happy man with a drink in his hand while catching up with an old friend. A friend who, as a matter of fact, just got a brand new car when they spoke, and was expecting a brand new baby 2 days later. Such exciting news. I then heard J congratulate him and go on to talk about what he's been doing..ya know, a whole lotta library livin' and test takin'...what what! But heckkk, we were in Savannah that weekend. So actually, he was pretty cool that moment. He wasn't in the library, he wasn't taking a test, and he wasn't sleeping. We were sittin' pretty!



So when I ran across this..I couldn't help but laugh. It is oh so true.



And we knew things would be like that. Before we even moved, we expected it. He reminded me about how much we'd hear on that craptastic social networking site about friends buying houses, going on awesome vacations, getting promotions and makin' that money honey. That we'd see everyone else doing big things before us. And that we can't let it get to us. So, we're not!

We're really not. Because I'm happy with where we are. I'm content, and ready for the next phase of our journey. Like I said before, I'm loving all the exciting news I see from others, because everyone deserves to be happy and content with where they are in life. And as much as the sad yet funny truth that he doesn't catch up with friends nearly as much as he wishes stinks, he knows that what he's doing will eventually* pay off in the long run for his little family, and more importantly, he will be happy with what he's doing in life because he'll know how hard he worked for it.

*10+ years

the sad/funny truth of going to a private med school