2011-11-30

A Long Time Coming.....

So....I'm THAT mom.
Yup, the mom who didn't have the heart to take away my daughters pacifier...aka soosy... at the appropriate age.... Aubrey's 3 and a half now.
I know, I know bad right? BUT we have had some serious life upheaval in the last year. What with the move to Georgia a few months back, all of Zach's travel before that (interviewing for residency positions), then the whole trip to Canada... there was always a reason for me to let her have her soos (for night time really, but the little sneak would hide with it if she found it before bedtime and happily suck away!). 
I thought I'd get rid of it about a month after we moved here, that was the plan anyway... but then Aubrey self-imposed potty training, and being the softy that I am, I couldn't take it away when she was trying to figure that all out (are you sensing an "excuse" pattern?!?).

All that to say, tonight was THE night! I knew I had to get rid of it long before the new baby comes so Aubrey wouldn't regress or go and steal the baby's soos (does that even happen?! I'm not taking any chances....).
 I had been prepping Aubrey for the last two weeks, giving her a count down to when the "Soos Fairy" would show up to take it away--if she left it in a basket outside her bedroom door-- and leave a present instead (I got the present idea from Amy, thanks Amy!).
She was getting really excited for it even though she would randomly tell my how much she'd miss her soos, and didn't like the Soos Fairy.... too cute :)
Tonight she announced, before bed, that she didn't want her soos because she thought that the fairy would come tonight (I told her she was coming tomorrow). 
So I went with it, got the basket for her and she plopped her soos in.


Aubrey was all tucked in, bedtime prayers were said and about 20 minutes later I hear her softly calling my name.... and weeping.....
*insert my mushy heart and I'm all ready to go in with the soos*
So I went in (prayed hard to be strong) and told her I'd sit with her until she fell asleep. 
I nearly caved when I saw her big fat tears on her cheeks and she told me, "it's SO hard Mama, I miss my soosy."
But about 10 minutes later she was fast asleep and I was/am feeling victorious! 


How sad is that?!? And over a soos....
But I am. 
I'm having a hard time thinking my baby is growing up and I know that in a few short months, when baby #2 comes, she'll look even bigger.... scary. 
For now I will relish in this small, yet major, victory.
...And try not to forget to put her new Dora book in said basket!

Oh and remember the other day when I was talking about being freaked out of having twins?!? 
That same night I find THIS in my pack of mushrooms..... 



Are you kidding me?!? Twin mushrooms??? 
Oh man....

~~~Excuse the pictures...they're from my phone and the one of Aubrey sleeping is awful quality, but I didn't want to wake her, lest she wanted her soos again!~~~


2011-11-29

Scenes From My Phone---Take Two

About a week ago I made all these flowers with the best intentions.....


But every now and again, we have ourselves a craft fail.
And this my friends, is an EPIC craft fail....


I honestly just turned around the shade after I made it and walked away in shame. As it is now, I've removed the flowers and am waiting for inspiration to do something different with said shade (that currently looks like it has leprosy).


I miiiiight be addicted to all things felt.

And speaking of felt, I won a giveaway on Racing Towards Joy from Blossom & Vine and I LOVE what I chose....


Here is my 25 week belly...yes 25 weeks. In my defence I'm measuring 3 weeks bigger. Not sure how that works in my defence, but I'm going with it.
I'm honestly thinking twins...no joke. I truly have this feeling and I'm kinda freaked to find out.... we have our first ultrasound this Thursday...pray for me... 


Twins....I'm scared.

Speaking of felt.....


We got our tree on Saturday and Aubrey and I have already decorated it, but it felt like something was missing.... other than ornaments on the top 2/3 of the tree---Aubrey's mighty short and loves to clump that decor.
Moving on.... 
*Insert my love for felt*


Now I'm knee deep in garland making. 
125 one-inch circles later..... 


and I'm still not done, but tonight I will concur this Everest.
I'm loving how it looks so far though :)


2011-11-27

Move Over Thanksgiving It's Time For Christmas!!

For the last few weeks I've been wanting to make a Christmas banner/bunting of some sort. 
I didn't want to do the typical Merry Christmas and I wanted it to be colorful.
After the debacle of Aubrey announcing that the baby in the manger in our nativity scene was baby Moses (mom fail!) I figured I had some work to do ;)


Thus the "Happy Birthday Jesus" bunting was created!
I just love how it turned out and it was so easy to make.


I didn't sew a thing... just me, some felt fabric and my trusty glue gun gettin' er done.


I even hand drew the letters (I'm definitely NOT known for my neat printing OR my drawing ability) and the fact that they turned out half decent is a miracle in and of itself!


The lighting in our living room is seriously lacking, so forgive the crummy pictures.


I'm totally loving the fact that I can use it for any birthday! Gotta love when things can be multi purpose... makes the Mennonite in me proud :)




2011-11-22

Some Ramblings And A Bit Of Craftiness....

*I know Thanksgiving is this Thursday, but I've gone ahead and pulled out all the Christmas decor.
*I've never been known as patient person.
*Zach works on Thanksgiving....which also happens to be his birthday, fun.
*I hate this month of night shifts.
*I love decorating for Christmas, so for now, I'm letting the night shift thing go.
*I love the look in Aubrey's eyes when I'm pulling out all the Christmas stuff! Nothing like that glimmer in a 3 year old's eyes to get you into the spirit!
*I have some work to do, when I pointed to the baby in the manger from our nativity scene Aubrey yelled out, "It's baby Moses!"
*I think I've failed.
*I have one month to make things right.....
*I. Can't. Stop. Crafting.
*This would be good if I was actually working through my list of gifts I'm making, but no. It's all for me....Merry Christmas to me?? Yup.
*I think my need to get up all this festive decor is due to the fact that it is freaking 80F outside these days! 
*I'm dreaming (key word dreaming) of a white Christmas..... a girl can dream.
*I'm wondering what the odds are of a freak snow storm to hit the South again like it did last year? 
*like I said, a girl can dream.
*here's my craftiness of late, I think I have an addiction to all things mini (this wreath is only 7inches)....





Ummm So I Might Be Addicted....

Okay, so I'm really into the hoop art. 
I can't seem to get enough!


I just love that I can sit in the couch and be lazy AND craft at the same time!
Perfect combo for me because this baby in my belly is starting to really beat me up and my lower back is gonzo by around 5pm in a day. Can barely move, fun :)
I would like to reiterate that I still LOVE being pregnant! Seriously, bring on the back pain because it's all part of the miracle...cheesy you say? Well, get over it ;)


I've been loving all things 'birdcage' all over the blog-world.
It's my first embroidery project and I'm pleased to say that I did this without a pattern... yes, I know it's basically a bunch of straight lines... pretend it's a big deal okay?! Thanks.


I remember my cousin had sent me this link, so I dug it up and went from there (thanks Marlene!)....


It took me forever to decide on the ribbon, fabric, colors, etc. I can't make a decision for the life of me. 
You'd think this was a life altering choice I had to make, I think we chose our car faster than I chose the materials for this thing. 


But, it was worth it! I LOVE how it turned out!




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2011-11-21

This Might Get A Little Heavy....

When I told Zach that I was in the midst of writing this post he looked at me and said, "um ok...I'm scared." Funny guy, no need to be scared :)
If you want to commit to reading this(I know you are hemming and hawing Marcy...it's a lot of words) I suggest you get a cup of coffee and bare with me ;)
Moving right along.....
So Zach's a doctor. Yup, a doctor. As in, girls always "dream" about marrying a doctor.
The movies always make it seem so desirable, that having "all that money" is all it takes to be happy with your man. They never get into the nitty-gritty. 
Being a doctor's wife is not the fairytale everyone thinks it is....
not to be confused with my marriage to Zach not being a fairytale...that is! The two are kinda separate... (ok, now I'm getting confused...I'm just going to keep writing and hope you stay with me on this!) 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, bitter or scary, but I wanna inject a little reality into peoples perception of the whole thing. 

Here's a little "Keepin' It Real" timeline for y'all...

First--four years of undergrad(usually there's some nice debt that comes with this)

Second--the MCAT...a big standardized test to see if you even qualify for Med School.

Third--the whole business of applying to Med School. 
This in and of itself is a stupidly hard process...coming from Canada, it was even harder(there is only one Med School in our Province and out-of-province schools are even harder to get into)

Fourth--comes med school (assuming you get in....factor in some possible rejections and waiting another year to apply again, it's what Zach went through)...it's a crazy time filled with classes, cadavers, sleepless nights, and long hours in the hospital(in the 3rd and 4th years) and ALL that is accompanied by some nice accumulating debt....oh and a butt-load of tests!
Zach attended an out of country Med School in the Caribbean, so that added a nice flare of you-have-to-leave-your-family-and-go-somewhere-in-which-you-know-no-one-and-it's-going-to-be-super-hard-and-expensive-to-travel-home-and-see-family-and-friends to the already crazy pressures.
He(I was there with him) did the first 2 years in Grenada and the second 2 in the USA.
Living in Grenada, was (If I'm being honest) one of the hardest things I've ever done...we've ever done.  If you go back to the early days of this blog, you can read all about our crazy adventures there. 
I truly believe it made us who we are and it was an essential part of gearing up for what was to come.
I DID meet amazing life-long friends and some of the first(and only) people who "get it"--as in the whole situation surrounding the married-to-a-doctor life, plus the lived-in-a-foreign-country AND the knew-them-"before"-it-all thing.

Fifth--The USMLE....I'm sure I missed two of these tests in the debacle above because Zach was onto writing his third by this point, ooops. The first two USMLE's (United States Medical Licensing Exams)  are 8 hours each....that's 8 straight hours of standardized test taking people. And the third one?? Well, that one was a whopping 16 hour test split into two consecutive days!
Stress much??
It has to be said (and I must brag on my husband a bit) he NAILED these tests. I mean KILLED them, as in he wowed people during the whole residency interview process with his fabulous scores! Made the whole months and months(and months and months....) of studying worth while!
And with Zach being a foreign grad, these test scores are an even bigger deal. 
He's a fish going against the current while trying to get a residency position (k, I made that sound really dramatic...but it kinda is.) 

Sixth-- The whole applying for a residency position. This was intermingled with step 6. So every place you actually get an interview at, you have to travel to. As in, fly, drive, etc. 
This part sucks the mulah right out of you. We drove to all the places with in a 8 hour radius, and Zach flew alone to the others. So there is the whole hotel fee, car rental if said hotel did not have a shuttle to the hospital and food, etc while gone. 
FUN.
Thank the Lord, Zach didn't have to fly to too many places. 
You apply to these positions in September and the whole interview process can span into February. Then there's the "Match"....I'm not even going to try and explain, give the details to the process of how they end up placing you in your Residency position...because quite frankly, I'm still a bit lost by the whole process!
The "Match" happens in January for Urology, and all other Medicine/Surgery/etc have the "Match" in March. 
You basically get an email at 9am on the day of and it tells you where to go....and then you cry A LOT and thank the Lord that you matched and have a placement...and a job for the next 5 plus years.
Zach matched in Urology (his DREAM job!!) and he didn't have the agonizing wait until March.

Seventh--there's residency(which is what Zach's in now)....when said debt cripples you and you have to live on minimal amounts of money and time with said doctor. 
The lack of money is one thing, at times it sucks, but we're so used to it now that it's not that big a deal most of the time.
It's the TIME people, the lack of time with a loved one because they work 90+ hours A WEEK and the rest is spent sleeping or reading papers/research/etc to keep up with their particular specialty(in Zach's case, Urology). It gets old, really old...and we're not even 6 months into residency. Awesome.
And don't get me started on a month straight of night shifts....

It's a long road before any real money is made and you feel as though you are swimming in a sea of debt.
Basically, it's a lot of long hours, missing big "moments" in life, an always exhausted husband, crazy debt....the list goes on. Essentially, this makes me kind of a single parent for a good portion of the time.
All that being said(did I sound like a Debbie Downer or what?!?) it's Zach's passion and he LOVES it!

I can't even begin to say that his excitement for his job everyday (even through all the grogginess) is infectious! God has SO placed him in the right spot and placed me to take this journey right along side him....we started dating his first year of undergrad, I was still in the 12th grade...scandalous ;)
We know this is where he is...WE are... supposed to be, but that doesn't stop it from being hard... A LOT of the time.
I look back on all he's gone through, we've gone through, and I'm so grateful because like I said before, it's ALL shaped us into the people we are today. 
We trust God so much more than ever before, it's what happens when your life takes a "Where Are We Off To Next" turn every few years. God's just keeping us on our toes ;)
Zach's job comes with crazy responsibilities, dealing with death often and here in the States, there's the lovely possibility of being sued, good times. 

You have to understand, I grew up in a smallish town in Western Canada (both Zach and I did, he lived in the town next to mine) and I never in my WILDEST dreams ever thought that I'd live anywhere else....ever. I thought I'd marry a farmer (seriously) and live out my days in Abbotsford.  
To think that one day I'd be married to a man who was a doctor and living in Georgia, let alone New Jersey and Grenada before that??? Unfathomable. 
God knows so much better than we do what we need. 
The life experience we've gained from living in these places, the friends we've made...I can't imagine that not having happened!
We had a chip on our shoulders when Zach didn't get into Med School in Canada, I'm not going to lie. He had all the right stuff and for some reason didn't get in...
But now we GET it, this way was SO much better, harder, but better! 
God knew the reason and boy was he right.

2011-11-20

Just A Little Mini Project....

I wanted a new wreath for my front door, but didn't want anything crazy busy. 
So I decided to go with a simple moss one.
Plus, it's a nice transitional one before my soon-to-be-put-on-the-door Christmas wreath!


I used my handy dandy coupons at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's to get the bag of moss and wreath so this little puppy only cost me a total of $5... makes the Menno in me happy :)


I still feel like something is missing.... but anything else I add feels gaudy.


So plain moss it is.
Love when a project comes together in under an hour and is nice and cheap!

2011-11-19

Hoop Art and Some Snail Mail...


I've been slowly working on decorating our master bedroom... and by slowly, I really mean slowly.
I'm making/finding things as I go, as time and budget allow....thus why it's going so slow ;)
I had some embroidery hoops laying around and thought I'd make some hoop art.


I forgot how much I love doing this! Seriously, the options are endless and it's something I can do while vegged-out in front of the TV at night, perfect for this aching-back-at-the-end-of-the-day-preggo-gal :)


I wanted to do something with felt, but didn't know what. 
I keep seeing gorgeous felt flowers everywhere, but they looked kinda complicated...


but after a little browsing on Pinterest and a couple of random links, I was lead to this Martha Stewart tutorial and I knew that some felt flowers were in my future.
Is it me or do all roads lead to Martha?!?
I guess there's a reason, because look how cute these flowers turned out?!



This one's my favorite! 
It's a two and a half inch hoop(or 3, not quite sure), it turned out so tiny and cute.


Did some stamping and some stitching and...voila!


I can't wait to put them up in my room. The colors go so well with my Anthropologie bedding and I'm pumped to see how it all (eventually) comes together.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this ......


came in the mail today!! I love getting snail mail and this package proves why. 
Amy sent me a "just because" package with this handmade bib her friend made and I was so excited when I opened it up! 
Look at all the detailing....


I seriously am ALL about all the little tags/pins/etc that usually come on a handmade gift!
And this one had no lack of them :)
Zach says I'm a Marketing Team's dream....and as usual, he's right.


I mean, "Give Peas a Chance"?!? SO precious! Can't wait to use it for the baby!

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