So this is one of those posts that is really more for my own memory's sake than anything else.
I haven't always been the fittest person, but the last couple of years I have really learned to focus on taking care of my body. I only get one, after all! I've got a long way to go and I definitely cut myself a lot of slack, but I've learned little by little to make healthier eating choices, and I've made exercise a priority.
I was SO thankful when I got pregnant that I was in the best shape of my life thus far. I was even more thankful that I was able to run and exercise through my entire pregnancy. It was tough, and a LOT of days I just wanted to throw in the towel and use pregnancy as an excuse. I might have pushed myself a little too hard, but I was able to run and dance up until the day I went into labor (granted, it was a LOT slower!!).
I should point out that, even with the constant exercise, I still gained ~34 lbs. I may not have looked it, but I was pretty big!
Because I was so fit during pregnancy, I guess I expected that I would be able to bounce back super quickly and be back to my "old self" in a couple of months.
Let me clarify what I mean by that. I didn't have any crazy expectations that I would lose ALL the pregnancy weight right away or that some things wouldn't be different. I felt like I was pretty practical in my expectations, and, in most ways, I was pleasantly surprised. Things didn't change as much as I thought they would.
What I was thinking would come back quickly was my speed & endurance. Running is such a fun sport to me because it's a constant competition with myself. For 9 months, I wasn't really able to push myself, and I was SO excited to get back to my own little personal competition.
The week I found out I was pregnant, I did two "easy" 7-8 mile runs at around an 8:45 pace. At 6 months pregnant, I was still able to run 5-6 miles at around a 10 minute pace. I assumed that, with all that running, it would only take me a couple of months to get back where I was (or at least close to it) speed and distance-wise, and then I could resume my normal routine.
Wrong.
Childbirth was way easier than I expected (thank you, epidural)! And recovery wasn't all that bad either. My body looks amazingly similar to my pre-pregnancy self (except for the 6-7 extra pounds I have that I'm guessing aren't going to come off until I'm done nursing. They're pretty well distributed though). But running again has been SLOW.
It was four weeks from the day I went into labor until I went back to the Y, about 4 1/2 before I started to jog again. And, despite my high pregnancy fitness level, I am pretty much finding that I am having to train myself all over again.
It took me a week before I was able to run a mile. At 2 months postpartum, I was able to run a slow 2 1/2-3 miles. I did my first 5K the day before Samuel's 3 month birthday. Pre-pregnancy, I could do one in about 24:30. 3 months out, it was 28:30, about 40 seconds faster than the Mistletoe Race that I ran 7 months pregnant. Yesterday I ran 5 miles in just over 50 minutes. So I'm getting there. But it's taking time.
Luckily, I know what I'm doing this time. I know that you can't do long runs at a fast pace right away. I know that I need a combination of distance and speed work. I know that I need rest time. And I know it doesn't happen overnight.
I'm planning to use this summer to train myself. It took me 9 months to get "unfit," so I guess it's reasonable for it to take 9 months to get back. Hopefully this fall I will be ready to kick some race booty.
And next time around I'll know... It just takes a little time. :-)
Family Pic
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
3 Months
It's been a wild couple of weeks.
We bought a house (more to come on that soon!)
Eric is completely done with medical school (and graduating in 12 days!)
We had a fun garage sale with friends.
My parents came to visit.
I ran my first post-preggo 5K, and we've been to numerous birthday, gender reveal, going away and just because parties (because apparently we are party people now. Ha!)
I love that things are getting busy again. Post-baby hibernation was fun, but I am NOT cut out to be stuck inside!
Samuel has been changing like CRAZY lately. It's so funny to me that things can be pretty steady for several weeks, and then, all of a sudden, it's like I have a different kid.
Baby boy started sleeping through the night (like 10+ hours) back around the end of March/beginning of April. He's always put himself to sleep really easily when we lay him in his crib at night. He's loved just laying on the floor or in his boppy and looking at things. He "talks" a lot, but has usually been pretty mellow.
Then the last two weeks happened. Samuel started unswaddling himself in the middle of the night while we were on vacation. He would break out of the swaddle and then wake up crying. I'd swaddle him back up, and he was back to dream land without any problem. But it started happening more and more, until I finally knew it was time to break him of the swaddle for good.
I started at nap time for several days. He got used to it SLOWLY. There was a lot of crying.
Then last week, he decided to roll over (at 3 months, 2 days)! It was super cute and exciting. He did it three times and hasn't done it since, but it seemed to legitimize the need to break him of his swaddle.
So a week ago we started putting him down unswaddled (well, his feet are still in the swaddle blanket, we just wrap it around his stomach). He's not a huge fan. Instead of playing in his crib for a few minutes then gently falling asleep, he's been nodding off then startling himself for the first 20-30 minutes he's down, leading to lots of crying. It's really sad. He seems to sleep pretty well once he falls asleep, but it is NO fun getting him there. I really hope he gets used to it soon!
To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure he's going through his 3 month growth spurt. The last three nights, he's woken up between 4 and 6, which he NEVER does. I've fed him and put him back down for a few more hours. He's also been way fussier during the day than normal. I knew this was coming, but I am really looking forward to him settling into his "new normal" once this little spurt is over!
On the fun side, Samuel has totally gone from a newborn to a kid in the last week or so. As I mentioned, he learned to roll over. He also has started grabbing things purposefully and shaking them. He pulled the string on his bouncer that starts the music all by himself. He's grabbed and rattled the toys on his floor mat. He's figuring things out SO quickly. It's crazy!
He also learned how to yell this week. Not scream in anger (he already knew how to do that). Just yell for fun or to let us know he wants something. It's cute, but it definitely makes things a little harder. If we're not giving him attention, he'll yell at us. He knows we can hear. LoL.
Speaking of which, he's yelling from his crib right now.... Guess nap time is over!
Until next time!
We bought a house (more to come on that soon!)
Eric is completely done with medical school (and graduating in 12 days!)
We had a fun garage sale with friends.
My parents came to visit.
I ran my first post-preggo 5K, and we've been to numerous birthday, gender reveal, going away and just because parties (because apparently we are party people now. Ha!)
I love that things are getting busy again. Post-baby hibernation was fun, but I am NOT cut out to be stuck inside!
Baby boy started sleeping through the night (like 10+ hours) back around the end of March/beginning of April. He's always put himself to sleep really easily when we lay him in his crib at night. He's loved just laying on the floor or in his boppy and looking at things. He "talks" a lot, but has usually been pretty mellow.
Then the last two weeks happened. Samuel started unswaddling himself in the middle of the night while we were on vacation. He would break out of the swaddle and then wake up crying. I'd swaddle him back up, and he was back to dream land without any problem. But it started happening more and more, until I finally knew it was time to break him of the swaddle for good.
I started at nap time for several days. He got used to it SLOWLY. There was a lot of crying.
Then last week, he decided to roll over (at 3 months, 2 days)! It was super cute and exciting. He did it three times and hasn't done it since, but it seemed to legitimize the need to break him of his swaddle.
So a week ago we started putting him down unswaddled (well, his feet are still in the swaddle blanket, we just wrap it around his stomach). He's not a huge fan. Instead of playing in his crib for a few minutes then gently falling asleep, he's been nodding off then startling himself for the first 20-30 minutes he's down, leading to lots of crying. It's really sad. He seems to sleep pretty well once he falls asleep, but it is NO fun getting him there. I really hope he gets used to it soon!
To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure he's going through his 3 month growth spurt. The last three nights, he's woken up between 4 and 6, which he NEVER does. I've fed him and put him back down for a few more hours. He's also been way fussier during the day than normal. I knew this was coming, but I am really looking forward to him settling into his "new normal" once this little spurt is over!
On the fun side, Samuel has totally gone from a newborn to a kid in the last week or so. As I mentioned, he learned to roll over. He also has started grabbing things purposefully and shaking them. He pulled the string on his bouncer that starts the music all by himself. He's grabbed and rattled the toys on his floor mat. He's figuring things out SO quickly. It's crazy!
He also learned how to yell this week. Not scream in anger (he already knew how to do that). Just yell for fun or to let us know he wants something. It's cute, but it definitely makes things a little harder. If we're not giving him attention, he'll yell at us. He knows we can hear. LoL.
Speaking of which, he's yelling from his crib right now.... Guess nap time is over!
Until next time!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Beach Trip!
It's been a fun couple of weeks! Eric finished up his final year of medical school (yay!) and we've had some time to just hang out, get things done, and then spend a nice long weekend at the beach.
Ahhh... :-)
We decided a few weeks ago that, since we weren't moving to another city and having to spend this "residency prep" period in a hotel looking for a home, we would spend time in a hotel at the beach instead!
We ended up going to Isle of Palms, SC, just outside of Charleston. We were able to get a 2 bedroom condo at a resort for cheaper than most of the hotels in downtown Charleston. Samuel got his own room, we got a kitchen to cook in (and cable!), we were right by the ocean, we had access to all the resort stuff (not that we used half of it!) and we were just 20 minutes from Charleston. The only downside was that we couldn't afford to stay longer!!
Samuel in his beach swag. Eric insisted he keep his polo shirt on for fear of sunburn.
Samuel did pretty well on the trip all things considered. 300 miles is a long trip for 2 month old, but he only fussed toward the end of the trip (while we were in traffic and it was raining - of course!).
He wasn't really sure what to think of the beach. He primarily slept in his stroller while we laid out and read. It was pretty funny to watch him when we got him out in the sand, though (and to see his reaction to his hat and sunglasses, both of which were waaaay too big)! We also put his feet in the ocean for a bit. He didn't hate it, but he definitely was confused about what was going on!
Unfortunately, the weather was only really nice on Saturday. Sunday and Monday were colder and pretty dreary, so we hung out in the condo and went for a walk on the beach when it wasn't raining. We also found some fun chess and checkers sets at the main part of the resort - a perfect rainy day activity. (Eric kicked my hinie, btw. He played a lot of checkers as a kid).
Sunday night we braved the rain and went into Charleston for some seafood. Samuel enjoyed taking in rainy downtown Charleston while we waited to be seated.
And we enjoyed trying a random seafood platter (seabass, cobia, monkfish and scallops in a spicy lobster broth). We also got some fried oysters. Considering I've pretty much only had 3 types of fish ever (and shrimp) and basically never eat seafood, I think that was a pretty brave meal!!
Other than growing like crazy, Samuel's been doing a lot of the same stuff the last couple of weeks. He is talking a TON, loves playing on his playmat or the floor, is actually enjoying tummy time, and sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth!
See what I mean?? He thinks his hands are the best. He also has been caught chewing on burp cloths, wipes, the bear behind him in this picture.. basically anything he can find. He doesn't seem to be teething. He just has a bit of an oral fixation right now!
Oh, did I mention that he actually started sleeping the whole night?!? Just to clarify, to me the whole night means from when we put him down (8:30ish) until at least 7. He hasn't done it every night, but he has done it four times in the last week or so. Hopefully in another week he will have it down! :-)
He's also seriously getting on the verge of rolling over. I kept expecting him to do it all weekend. He can get on his side, but hasn't quite figured out how to get over his arm yet. It's going to be really exciting when he finally does it, but I can't say I'm quite ready for a mobile child! I love having my teeny non-mobile boy!
I know I've said it before, but I am seriously amazed at how much I love this kid and how much more I love Eric as we figure this parenting thing out together. I keep thinking my heart can't grow anymore, but then it does. I'm so grateful we are getting to have this time together as a family right now!
My heart just grows and grows.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
9 Weeks + Samuel's First Easter
Okay, I know I say this every time, but little man is getting SO BIG. I weighed him on the Wii this morning. It said he weighed 13 pounds. Not that that's a shocker since he was 12 1/2 last week at the doctor, but STILL. He's turning into such a little chunker!
Eric had Good Friday off, so we were able to take a little family outing to Chick Fil A where everyone stopped to talk to our sweet boy. Can you blame them? Let's face it, he's stinkin' adorable. We also got a lot accomplished around the house -- cleaning, cooking, paying bills, and working on Eric's contract and license application (so he can be a doctor. How crazy is that??)
Baby boy has been continuing to sleep well (usually 7-9 hours, then back down for 3-4 more), but has managed to figure out how to break out of every swaddle blanket we have, including the "Miracle Blanket" that guarantees to keep them swaddled until 14 weeks. He got both arms out before 9. Can I have my money back?
We had a nice little gathering of med school couples over Saturday morning for brunch. Unfortunately, I woke up Saturday morning with my throat on fire. I get a cold every spring, and this time it came on strong. Luckily, I was able to power through and visit for a few hours and then sleep all afternoon.I was tempted to not go to church Sunday morning. Truth be told, I felt pretty miserable. But I have missed enough church this year and I was not about to miss Easter and especially not Samuel's first Easter (not that he knew what was going on). So I toughed it up and went and, even though I could barely croak out one of my favorite songs ever (In Christ Alone), it didn't matter, because I was SO grateful to be able to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior with fellow believers. How blessed we are!
I know there probably aren't too many ages I'm not going to like, but I reallly am liking two months right now! Samuel's really starting to interact a LOT. We have little "conversations." He gets excited when I sing to him. He likes anything colorful and smiles and laughs at, well, everything (including me blowing my nose. Apparently that's HILARIOUS).
He seems to learn to do something new almost every day. It's so crazy to see how much he has changed! Even though I occasionally get a little bored, I am soooo thankful to have this time with him right now!
Seriously, how blessed I am. :-)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
2 Months
Okay, first of all, whoever said shots were easy on kids LIED. Maybe everyone else's kids sleep all day after them, but mine SCREAMS. Sad. :(
Anyway, outside of that, the last week or so has been great! Eric's mom and sister were here for a few days last week, and Samuel had a blast getting spoiled. :-) He made his first outing to the mall for a whoppin' four hours, and did pretty good in the Baby Bjorn. He had to eat once while we were out and subsequently had a major blowout requiring a full outfit change in the JC Penney bathroom. But, all in all, it went well. At least I was prepared for said disaster!
He also went out to eat with us at Buffalo Wild Wings, and made his first out-of-town trip to the airport in Greensboro.
On Friday he went to meet his new friend Henry who was only one week old. It was crazy to me how HUGE Samuel looked next to a little 8-pound newborn! I know he's been growing a lot, but it's hard for me to believe he was that teeny just a few weeks ago!
We also made it through a second week at church, though we had to go to the 11 am service instead of our regular 9:30, and I had to take him out for a few minutes due to some serious fussing. It could have been worse though! We will probably try and take him to the baby class sometime in the next few weeks now that he's had his shots, but I'm still a little scared of sickness floating around... (our church has a LOT of babies). We will see!
All dressed up for church. Notice the Sperry's baby boy is sporting! Thanks Gran-Gran!
I guess there haven't been any really major developmental milestones this week, just a lot more of our boy's silliness.
Samuel LOVES his playmat lately. I think sometimes when he's fussy, it's just because he's restless (Hmm... Wonder who he gets THAT from?). When I stick him on his playmat and he can kick and flail as much as his heart desires, he smiles up a storm! It's really funny to watch him. I have no clue what he's looking at half the time (light on the wall maybe?), but he LOVES whatever it is! I love that right now he wiggles a lot but doesn't roll yet. Don't get me wrong, I'll be excited when he does roll over, but I like that I can put him on the playmat and run to the kitchen for a minute or two without worrying that he's going to roll off into the fireplace or anything.
Baby boy also loves his HANDS right now - eating them, throwing them up victoriously for no good reason at all, and, unfortunately, occasionally hitting himself in the eye (or mommy... fun fun).
One sad but very funny thing that he has started doing regularly is sticking his lip out when he's fussing. He doesn't do it when he's really really upset (like after his shots today, for instance), but just when he wants you to know he's not happy. It's really cute, and I can't help but chuckle a little whenever he does it (and pick him up and cuddle him, because, you know, who can resist that??). This could be bad later...
He's doing really well sleeping: down at 8:45/9 for 6 to 8 hours and then another 3 to 4 after that. He's also doing a lot better with official "nap" time. The first several days I had to rock him to sleep, but now he is pretty much putting himself to sleep when I put him in his crib. We're doing a big nap in both the morning and the afternoon right now. The rest of the day I just let him snooze where ever.
He's pretty into fussing while he's eating right now (both nursing and bottle). Hopefully that will pass soon, but it's not a major problem. He's definitely still chowing down enough.
He also likes to spit up. Often. That's all you probably want to know about that though.
We also started reading books a lot more this week, as he suddenly seems really interested in the colorful pictures.
At his appointment today (pre-shots), the doctor thought Samuel looked great. He's starting to chunk up a little and get rolls on his legs and arms. So sweet. He weight 12 lbs. 7.5 oz, which put him in the 56th percentile, was 23 3/8" long, putting him in the 68th percentile, and had a tiny little 14 7/8" head, which was like 14th percentile. I was a little worried about the head thing, but doctor said it was fine, and Eric reminded me that he was majorly squirming during the measurement, so I guess it's okay. He looks normal enough, right??
Having Samuel around has been so much fun. We love this little boy more and more each day, and are soo blessed to have his sweet self around!!
Anyway, outside of that, the last week or so has been great! Eric's mom and sister were here for a few days last week, and Samuel had a blast getting spoiled. :-) He made his first outing to the mall for a whoppin' four hours, and did pretty good in the Baby Bjorn. He had to eat once while we were out and subsequently had a major blowout requiring a full outfit change in the JC Penney bathroom. But, all in all, it went well. At least I was prepared for said disaster!
He also went out to eat with us at Buffalo Wild Wings, and made his first out-of-town trip to the airport in Greensboro.
On Friday he went to meet his new friend Henry who was only one week old. It was crazy to me how HUGE Samuel looked next to a little 8-pound newborn! I know he's been growing a lot, but it's hard for me to believe he was that teeny just a few weeks ago!
We also made it through a second week at church, though we had to go to the 11 am service instead of our regular 9:30, and I had to take him out for a few minutes due to some serious fussing. It could have been worse though! We will probably try and take him to the baby class sometime in the next few weeks now that he's had his shots, but I'm still a little scared of sickness floating around... (our church has a LOT of babies). We will see!
I guess there haven't been any really major developmental milestones this week, just a lot more of our boy's silliness.
Samuel LOVES his playmat lately. I think sometimes when he's fussy, it's just because he's restless (Hmm... Wonder who he gets THAT from?). When I stick him on his playmat and he can kick and flail as much as his heart desires, he smiles up a storm! It's really funny to watch him. I have no clue what he's looking at half the time (light on the wall maybe?), but he LOVES whatever it is! I love that right now he wiggles a lot but doesn't roll yet. Don't get me wrong, I'll be excited when he does roll over, but I like that I can put him on the playmat and run to the kitchen for a minute or two without worrying that he's going to roll off into the fireplace or anything.
He's pretty into fussing while he's eating right now (both nursing and bottle). Hopefully that will pass soon, but it's not a major problem. He's definitely still chowing down enough.
He also likes to spit up. Often. That's all you probably want to know about that though.
We also started reading books a lot more this week, as he suddenly seems really interested in the colorful pictures.
At his appointment today (pre-shots), the doctor thought Samuel looked great. He's starting to chunk up a little and get rolls on his legs and arms. So sweet. He weight 12 lbs. 7.5 oz, which put him in the 56th percentile, was 23 3/8" long, putting him in the 68th percentile, and had a tiny little 14 7/8" head, which was like 14th percentile. I was a little worried about the head thing, but doctor said it was fine, and Eric reminded me that he was majorly squirming during the measurement, so I guess it's okay. He looks normal enough, right??
Having Samuel around has been so much fun. We love this little boy more and more each day, and are soo blessed to have his sweet self around!!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
7 Weeks
Look at this smiley guy! I feel like he doubled in size this last week!
Samuel's 7th week of life was a pretty exciting one. He went to the Y for the first time. That was, of course, a lot more traumatic for me than for him. I don't mind leaving him so much, but I don't KNOW the girls working in the nursery at the Y, and they don't know my kid (nor did they care when I listed the contents of his diaper bag to them. Haha.)
It had to happen eventually though, and he seemed pretty content swinging in their uber-fancy swing. He slept the whole time.
He also got admired (from afar) by a slough of toddlers who kept saying, "Baby! Baby!" I feel pretty bad for those kids' parents, because I'm pretty sure that's all they're going to hear about!
On Friday, Samuel also stayed with our friend Tricia for about four hours while we went to Match Day, and then our friend Nicole came over for two hours or so after he went to sleep so we could go to the Match Day party. He did well both times, thank goodness.
Saturday night, Eric's mom and sister came in (after he went to bed), and Sunday morning we got up and Samuel went to church for the first time! It happened to be baby dedication Sunday, so we went ahead and participated (for fear that next time around he may be jumping off the stage)! We were pretty legitimately scared that he would spit up, poop, or scream, but he did none of those. What a sweet baby. :-)
After church, we ran home so I could feed him and then went to brunch at Village Tavern. He got a little fussy, but Gran-Gran was pretty happy to hold him after we were through eating.
Samuel has been doing an awesome job sleeping this week! He has been going to bed between 8:30 and 9 and giving us a 6-7 hour stretch every night. He's usually up between 8 and 8:30 in the morning. While he takes a little nap between every feeding (every 3 hours or so), I've been trying to have him take a good morning nap in the pack-n-play and one of his afternoon naps in the crib. Usually the other afternoon nap is taken in the jogging stroller, the swing at the Y, the carseat, etc., as I have WAY too much energy to stay in the house all day!
The REALLY exciting thing to me is that this sweet boy has been putting himself to sleep. By that I mean that I can set him down in his crib awake at night and he will fall asleep on his own without fussing. Sometimes it's right away, and sometimes it takes 30 minutes of playing in his crib, but he's consistently done this for about 10 nights in a row, so I'm starting to feel like this might be his norm (I hope!!). Do I have an amazing baby or what???
Samuel's also been wiggling a LOT more (if that's possible). While laying on Eric's stomach this week, he's practically rolled off more than once. He also has wiggled halfway down his crib while swaddled, which I find pretty impressive!
He talks a LOT, especially when he first wakes up, and has a new-found fascination with sticking out his tongue and with eating his fist. He's also started wearing a few 3 month outfits that aren't completely swallowing him. Seriously, I can't believe how big he's getting! Where did my little newborn go??
I don't know if it's possible, but I feel like I love this sweet kid more every day. 7 weeks in and it's hard to imagine life without him!!
Match Day
Oh, Match Day. After months and months of waiting, we finally got to go open that magic envelope. We'd been waiting, anticipating this day, ready to know what our future would be.
Sound exciting? Maybe a little, but really it was crazy nerve-wracking!
For the last four years, we have been living in Winston-Salem temporarily. For medical school. We were moving at the end of those four years. It was a no-brainer. We're young. We're fairly adventurous.We want to see new places, put down new roots, try new things. We have the wanderlust, especially me. So we went on a lot of fun adventures to look at different programs. Eric had some great interviews. We had no doubt that Eric would match, and he did.
But we were pretty shocked (okay, more like flabbergasted) when Eric opened up his envelope on Friday and we saw he had matched at Wake Forest. Were we reading that right? That meant... we were NOT moving.
We knew it was a possibility. We had made it that possibility by ranking them (our fourth choice, and behind some pretty competitive programs, so we should have known this was a GOOD possibility), but I don't think either of us actually thought that it would happen. We chuckled when people talked about us staying, because it wasn't really an option. We were convinced we were going elsewhere.
God had other plans! We prayed throughout the whole interview process that we would be in the place where we would grow the most. Who knew that place would be right where we were?
We have spent the last few days changing our mindset. For months, even years, we have thought we'd be getting ready to move right now. Instead, we're settling in for three more years.
Please don't read this wrong, this is in no way a bad thing, just a surprising one. We like Winston-Salem a lot. In fact, I'd probably prefer to live here than most of the other places we ranked, and, the more I think about it, the happier I am. We have a happy little life here, a great neighborhood, church, gym, grocery store, etc. I'm really excited that I get to keep all of those wonderful things in tact.
And we have the opportunity to move again in three years if we want to. Three years isn't really all that long.
More importantly, Eric has a job at an awesome hospital, and he is about to be a doctor! Wake Forest has been more than good to us. How can we not be happy to continue on here?
I do think that some changes are on the horizon. After all, we've been preparing for major life changes for the last several months. Obviously we've had the HUGE change of adding an extra person to our lives. I left my job to say at home for a little while with Samuel (sorry, I just can't put him in day care if we don't need to) and figure out what I want to do next (go back to school, perhaps?). Eric is about to finally finish up his 21 years of school and start a job where he gets a paycheck (yay!!). Maybe it's time to find a different house or get new furniture. We're definitely open right now to do doing something new.
I've loved the last four years, but these three need to be different, even better. We need to grow, to set goals and to be able to looks back three years from now and see that we have changed in a good way. I'm really curious and excited to see what residency will bring.
Here's to three more years as North Carolinians!
Sound exciting? Maybe a little, but really it was crazy nerve-wracking!
(See all the envelopes sitting there????? We had to just LOOK at them until noon!)
But we were pretty shocked (okay, more like flabbergasted) when Eric opened up his envelope on Friday and we saw he had matched at Wake Forest. Were we reading that right? That meant... we were NOT moving.
We knew it was a possibility. We had made it that possibility by ranking them (our fourth choice, and behind some pretty competitive programs, so we should have known this was a GOOD possibility), but I don't think either of us actually thought that it would happen. We chuckled when people talked about us staying, because it wasn't really an option. We were convinced we were going elsewhere.
God had other plans! We prayed throughout the whole interview process that we would be in the place where we would grow the most. Who knew that place would be right where we were?
We have spent the last few days changing our mindset. For months, even years, we have thought we'd be getting ready to move right now. Instead, we're settling in for three more years.
Please don't read this wrong, this is in no way a bad thing, just a surprising one. We like Winston-Salem a lot. In fact, I'd probably prefer to live here than most of the other places we ranked, and, the more I think about it, the happier I am. We have a happy little life here, a great neighborhood, church, gym, grocery store, etc. I'm really excited that I get to keep all of those wonderful things in tact.
And we have the opportunity to move again in three years if we want to. Three years isn't really all that long.
More importantly, Eric has a job at an awesome hospital, and he is about to be a doctor! Wake Forest has been more than good to us. How can we not be happy to continue on here?
I do think that some changes are on the horizon. After all, we've been preparing for major life changes for the last several months. Obviously we've had the HUGE change of adding an extra person to our lives. I left my job to say at home for a little while with Samuel (sorry, I just can't put him in day care if we don't need to) and figure out what I want to do next (go back to school, perhaps?). Eric is about to finally finish up his 21 years of school and start a job where he gets a paycheck (yay!!). Maybe it's time to find a different house or get new furniture. We're definitely open right now to do doing something new.
I've loved the last four years, but these three need to be different, even better. We need to grow, to set goals and to be able to looks back three years from now and see that we have changed in a good way. I'm really curious and excited to see what residency will bring.
Here's to three more years as North Carolinians!
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