(no subject)
I have been so BUSY with Life stuff that I haven't had much time to journal all the super huge and important milestones! It seems like all I have time for these days are quick recaps.
THE HOME VISIT
The home study went off really well! We have only three minor things to fix (one we knew we needed to fix and didn't have time to get to it). The interviewer also told us that we were the first ones to have all our paper work in and he had already started formalizing our paperwork. He said that we would probably be the first people he calls with a placement at the end of August/early September. Eek!!
THE VACATION/PROPOSAL
Shannon and I almost immediately started packing after the Home Visit was over. We had our two week, cross country, all American road trip for which we needed to prepare! And it was amazing! We are great companions and we visited museums and memorials all over the US of A. Even in the face of adversity (like the miscommunication with our hosts in Memphis), we remained flexible and didn't let anything get to us! The road trip was not without hiccups, but we persevered. I really loved the Grand Canyon - even though we were on a time crunch - and I thoroughly enjoyed the few minutes that Shannon allowed me to sit quietly on a ledge and listen to the wind blow around me.
The first few minutes of Las Vegas were a bit of a whirlwind since Shannon was dead-set on making early registration (that closed at 8:45pm) and we squeaked into the front of the hotel at 8:22! She literally jumped out of the car, threw me the keys and left me to deal with the Valet and the Hotel Registration. I was slightly discombobulated by suddenly being in control of EVERYTHING. I thought I had lost both my Valet Ticket AND my cell phone by the time I was through registration. As it turns out I had both items, I just shoved them in places I couldn't remember five minutes later. Once we were settled into the hotel, Las Vegas became routine.
Shannon says we did Vegas wrong because we were up at 6am every morning for breakfast before class (the Concierge level breakfast was on point and worth every cent!), we didn't gamble and we were usually asleep before midnight! A full day of roller derby for 5 days will do that to a person!
However, amidst that I was able to coordinate a night out with about 15 of our closest roller derby friends/teammates. We had dinner at a nice Spanish tapas restaurant, Firefly, about a mile from our resort. Once everyone had ordered and received their drinks, my teammates in a carefully orchestrated scheme started a round of toasts. I was the third person to toast, and what started out as a seemingly innocent toast ended in a tribute to Shannon and a proposal! Shannon was crying. She later admits that she knew I was going to propose, but I have a secret video, and you can clearly see the surprise in her face! She didn't know and I was rather pleased with myself that I was able to pull it off! I do think that she was a little upset that almost everyone we knew already knew... I have a really hard time lying and keeping a secret!
The drive home seemed longer than the drive to Las Vegas, if only for the fact that I suffered a fall on the Saturday before we left and reinsured my back. Three weeks later and I am still dealing with the crippling muscle spasms and sciatica. I am signed up for some more physical therapy and I have an appointment with a spine specialist at the end of September. I'm on light duty until then. Which is hard because I long to be back in the gym - I have a wedding to prepare for and I want to be in my best shape!
WEDDING PLANNING
Luckily Shannon and I had a lot of time on the road to discuss plans. We hammered out a really rough draft of our guest list. I mean, REALLY rough - 216 people is TOO many! We settled on a date - June 10th. This past week we have toured venues and we believe that we have found the "one"! So now we have to bring our guest list somewhere between 100-150. We have talked with one of our photographer friends about setting up an appointment for engagement pictures. Once that's done we will send out save the dates and invitations to the engagement party that Shannon's mom wants to throw. The only disagreement we've really had so far is that I want my family to bring their children if they want to, and Shannon wants a strict no-kids invitation.
BABY Lillian
I got the call last week that my sister was being admitted to the hospital and induced. I drove down to NC, and spent time with my sister as we all waited for baby Lillian to arrive. She came at 7:17am Wednesday morning. I spent two nights in the hospital with my sister, and waited until my parents arrived to head back to Roanoke. We are going to go down this weekend now that all the family has cleared out and visit again. It'll be Shannon's first time meeting the baby as she was unable to take leave last week.
IVF
We had an appointment with the specialist at Carilion on the Monday after vacation. We liked her ... A LOT. She diagnosed me with "unexplained infertility." She also told me that it would probably cost $20,000 for me to go through the IVF procedure with a 72% success rate. I walked away from the meeting with a mixed bag of emotions. Realistically, I have decided to no longer pursue this as a viable option to have children. The cost is too great. I've already spent upwards of $12,000 on this process. I cannot justify the cost when we have the opportunity to help children in need.
Well, that just about sums it up! lots of big things happening here!
THE HOME VISIT
The home study went off really well! We have only three minor things to fix (one we knew we needed to fix and didn't have time to get to it). The interviewer also told us that we were the first ones to have all our paper work in and he had already started formalizing our paperwork. He said that we would probably be the first people he calls with a placement at the end of August/early September. Eek!!
THE VACATION/PROPOSAL
Shannon and I almost immediately started packing after the Home Visit was over. We had our two week, cross country, all American road trip for which we needed to prepare! And it was amazing! We are great companions and we visited museums and memorials all over the US of A. Even in the face of adversity (like the miscommunication with our hosts in Memphis), we remained flexible and didn't let anything get to us! The road trip was not without hiccups, but we persevered. I really loved the Grand Canyon - even though we were on a time crunch - and I thoroughly enjoyed the few minutes that Shannon allowed me to sit quietly on a ledge and listen to the wind blow around me.
The first few minutes of Las Vegas were a bit of a whirlwind since Shannon was dead-set on making early registration (that closed at 8:45pm) and we squeaked into the front of the hotel at 8:22! She literally jumped out of the car, threw me the keys and left me to deal with the Valet and the Hotel Registration. I was slightly discombobulated by suddenly being in control of EVERYTHING. I thought I had lost both my Valet Ticket AND my cell phone by the time I was through registration. As it turns out I had both items, I just shoved them in places I couldn't remember five minutes later. Once we were settled into the hotel, Las Vegas became routine.
Shannon says we did Vegas wrong because we were up at 6am every morning for breakfast before class (the Concierge level breakfast was on point and worth every cent!), we didn't gamble and we were usually asleep before midnight! A full day of roller derby for 5 days will do that to a person!
However, amidst that I was able to coordinate a night out with about 15 of our closest roller derby friends/teammates. We had dinner at a nice Spanish tapas restaurant, Firefly, about a mile from our resort. Once everyone had ordered and received their drinks, my teammates in a carefully orchestrated scheme started a round of toasts. I was the third person to toast, and what started out as a seemingly innocent toast ended in a tribute to Shannon and a proposal! Shannon was crying. She later admits that she knew I was going to propose, but I have a secret video, and you can clearly see the surprise in her face! She didn't know and I was rather pleased with myself that I was able to pull it off! I do think that she was a little upset that almost everyone we knew already knew... I have a really hard time lying and keeping a secret!
The drive home seemed longer than the drive to Las Vegas, if only for the fact that I suffered a fall on the Saturday before we left and reinsured my back. Three weeks later and I am still dealing with the crippling muscle spasms and sciatica. I am signed up for some more physical therapy and I have an appointment with a spine specialist at the end of September. I'm on light duty until then. Which is hard because I long to be back in the gym - I have a wedding to prepare for and I want to be in my best shape!
WEDDING PLANNING
Luckily Shannon and I had a lot of time on the road to discuss plans. We hammered out a really rough draft of our guest list. I mean, REALLY rough - 216 people is TOO many! We settled on a date - June 10th. This past week we have toured venues and we believe that we have found the "one"! So now we have to bring our guest list somewhere between 100-150. We have talked with one of our photographer friends about setting up an appointment for engagement pictures. Once that's done we will send out save the dates and invitations to the engagement party that Shannon's mom wants to throw. The only disagreement we've really had so far is that I want my family to bring their children if they want to, and Shannon wants a strict no-kids invitation.
BABY Lillian
I got the call last week that my sister was being admitted to the hospital and induced. I drove down to NC, and spent time with my sister as we all waited for baby Lillian to arrive. She came at 7:17am Wednesday morning. I spent two nights in the hospital with my sister, and waited until my parents arrived to head back to Roanoke. We are going to go down this weekend now that all the family has cleared out and visit again. It'll be Shannon's first time meeting the baby as she was unable to take leave last week.
IVF
We had an appointment with the specialist at Carilion on the Monday after vacation. We liked her ... A LOT. She diagnosed me with "unexplained infertility." She also told me that it would probably cost $20,000 for me to go through the IVF procedure with a 72% success rate. I walked away from the meeting with a mixed bag of emotions. Realistically, I have decided to no longer pursue this as a viable option to have children. The cost is too great. I've already spent upwards of $12,000 on this process. I cannot justify the cost when we have the opportunity to help children in need.
Well, that just about sums it up! lots of big things happening here!