He signed his life away...

Jeremy and I celebrated a momentous occasion last week - Jeremy finally signed his contract to join an OB/GYN practice here in Dayton! We are SO excited. :-D The practice consists of two OB/GYN's (Jeremy and another guy) and 3 midwives. The midwives take care of all the routine OB work, including all regular deliveries; while Jeremy and his partner manage only the high-risk OB patients and C-sections, so then they get to focus most of their time on surgery. This is the perfect setup for Jeremy because his favorite part of his job is surgery and he is really talented at it.
His office time will be split between 2 offices - one in Vandalia which is about 25-30 min from home and the other here in Centerville which is no more than a 5 minute drive (most of the time he'll be at that Centerville one). On days that he is in the office, he'll be working either 9am - 5pm or 7am - 3pm (sweet!).
Jeremy will take call 1 weekend a month and during the week he'll be on call every other evening, although he'll only be called in if there is a C-section or forceps delivery, so it'll be pretty cushy. I'm SO excited to finally have a husband who is home on the weekends!
As for the contract, our favorite part is that they are paying off 3/4 of our student loans. What a huge blessing! Another cool thing is that Jeremy graduates in the middle of June but he doesn't start his new job until August 2. That means we'll have a whole 6 weeks to just chill together and play. Have I mentioned yet that I'm so excited about all of this?!
So here we are for another 4 years, or who knows how long. If this job is as perfect as we think it is, then we may be here for a while, which is fine by us! We feel so blessed to have been given such an awesome opportunity and really look forward to years ahead. It has been such a long haul and we're so grateful to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Signing that contract has finally made us feel that there really is an end in sight - I just want to fast-forward through the next 3 1/2 months!

Sledding and Snowmen

I really don't like winter, I'm not a fan of snow and I hate being cold (why do I live in Ohio rather than Florida? A mystery...). You can imagine how thrilled I was when I suggested to Jeremy that we take the boys sledding and he enthusiastically agreed that it was a great idea. Boo-hoo.

To my pleasant surprise, it was actually a total blast. We had so much fun taking the boys sledding for the first time.

I might add that it was ridiculously difficult to find sledding essentials in mid-February. We went to three different stores looking for sleds, gloves and boots. One might logically think that you could find those items in the dead of winter in the midwest, but rather we found sunscreen, flip-flops and bikinis. Of course. Silly me... Eventually we found some items on clearance at a mountain-man store (the boys' gloves were 5 sizes too big, but they worked) and we borrowed some sleds from my cousin. In the end, fun was had by all!

Another snowy first was the boys' first snowman. Matthew lasted out in the snow for about 5 min before saying, "Mommy, should we have hot chocolate?" I'm pretty sure the only reason he dares to venture into the cold is because he knows he'll get some hot chocolate afterwards (he's definitely my son). Jordan was in it for the long haul and helped Daddy finish building Frosty. The snowman's name is Frosty, but the boys kept calling him Crusty. Oh, and the next day, the boys were freaking out because the birds were out there eating Frosty's eyes. "Mommy, stop those birds! They're eating Crusty's eyes out!" It was hilarious.

#48...Check!

#48 Learn to make Vickie's homemade bread - completed 03/01/10

Last week Jeremy's mom was in town and, while she was here, she taught me how to make her homemade bread. And mm, mm, mm...boy, is it delicious. Growing up, Jeremy had homemade bread weekly. I advised him that this won't be a regular occurence (I don't really like to cook all that much, although I do enjoy baking somewhat), but I do love the smell of fresh bread emanating my home. Anyway, it'll be a fun treat to make every once in a while. :-) So, it's another item to knock off my list, yay!

Thanks, Vickie, for sharing your secret and thanks for a fun time while you were here!

My 101 in 1001

More Matthew-isms and Antics

Adorable Jordan is a ball of sunshine and is full of constant, cute chatter; however, Matthew, who is the seemingly quieter one, is my little goof-off. I've mentioned before that Matthew says and does the funniest things. Here are a few more...

Matthew: Mommy, can I have a cupcake?
Me: I don't have any cupcakes, Matt-matt.
Matthew: Do you have any cookies in your house?
Me (kind of chuckling): No, I don't have any cookies either.
Matthew: Well, maybe...maybe should we go to Grandma's house?

Ha, he knows that cookies and cupcakes are always in plentiful supply at Grandma's

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Last weekend we were visiting my parents in Indy and we went to church with them. The boys went to Primary (Sunday school for the little ones). During Primary, the kids sing songs, listen to stories and learn about Jesus. Keep in mind that, in Primary, the children are encouraged to be reverent (ie. respectful, peaceful, quiet). Well, since they were visitors, my boys were invited to come to the front of room so the rest of the kids could sing a welcome song to them. Matthew was beaming to be in front of everyone (he likes to make people laugh). The music started and as soon as the children began to sing, Matthew got down on the floor and started break-dancing. Seriously. Break. Dancing. And when Jordan realized that the rest of the kids thought it was pretty funny, he joined in with his brother.

I have to admit that it was pretty hilarious. It was so hard to keep a straight face when, afterward, I was trying to convince him that it is not appropriate to get on the floor and bust a move in the middle of Primary. Is "break-dancing" included in the definition of "reverent"? Where's my Websters...

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Not sure if this is an appropriate forum for this one, but oh well...

The other day I was in my bedroom getting dressed and the boys ran over to me. They were excited because Matthew had just pooped. Breathless Matthew says, "Mommy...Mommy...I just pooped a big...giant...rocket poop!" Haha! Omgsh, please don't ever say that in public...

Jeremy's Birthday

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to party. A day without fun is a day survived - not lived. I celebrate everything and I celebrate the big things in life hard core. :-)

Birthdays are no exception. Around our house, a birthday is such an important event that the festivities last for a full week rather than just a day. For one week, the birthday boy/girl gets all kinds of special attention. Jeremy's birthday was January 22nd and for a whole week he was showered with all kinds of love, including birthday dinners (I made the most fantabulous homemade manicotti and meatballs), cakes, dates and back massages. We ended the week with a bang with a small surprise birthday party at a local waterpark resort. It was awesome.

The happy birthday boy at Ft. Rapids Indoor Waterpark

My friend's mom, who owns a bakery here in town, made Jeremy the cutest birthday cake. She put waterslides on it with little guys floating around tubes.

Happy birthday, Sweetheart!

#14...Check!

#14 Potty train the boys - completed 01/17/10

I should have named this goal "Potty train the boys without having a nervous breakdown." Ack! This was definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done - right up there with labor. In fact, after the first 2 days of potty-training-hell, I told my mom that if I had to choose between potty training 2 toddlers at the same time and going through labor, I would likely choose labor.

I took 2 days off work, cleared my calendar, and for 4 days we did nothing but potty train. It was a painful experience and I could never have done it without my mom; but alas, I'm still alive, and 4 days, 5 boxes of candy, 50 or so accidents and 1,000 gray hairs later, my twin boys are potty trained. Woohoo! In four days we went from having 2 soggy diapered tots to having 2 Spiderman underwear-clad big boys. They've been accident-free for more than a week and I am one proud momma!


Is there an award for potty training 2 toddlers at the same time in 4 days? Well, I convinced Jeremy that there should be, so I think I'll treat myself to those boots I've had my eye on at DSW... :-D

And, with the money I'll save on diapers I'm going to have to buy a new rug since the current one (which is now in the trash) reeks of urine. Lovely!

My 101 in 1001

Hard Workin' Momma

Quote of the Week:

"Hunny, you are the most amazing woman. I can't believe you care for the boys, and work, and take care of the house, and you don't want to kill anyone at the end of the day."

- Jeremy (after spending 3 full days with the boys
while I was away in California for work)

I just love it when our husbands learn about and show appreciation for all the hard work we mommas do. ;-) Motherhood is not for the faint of heart!