A fond farewell to our first home

On Tuesday, June 30th we will be closing on our house and moving on to our next adventure. 5 years and 11 months here has brought us a lot of great memories and I'd like to share some of those with you. (In no particular order)

Ceiling Fan Attack:
Carl had worked very hard to reconnect with some friends from college that he had regrettably lost touch with. After several failed attempts to hang out, we finally convinced them to come over for dinner. So, we're hanging out, having a lovely chat and looking at wedding photos at the kitchen table. It was a hot summer night, so the fan was running above the table. Without warning, the fan fell from the ceiling and was suspended mid air by the wires. Carl's friend grabbed the fan while it was still spinning, in a crazy stealth ninja move, and held it away from everyone. Carl hit the switch so the fan blades would stop. He then ran down stairs on hit the breaker and we took the fan down. I was an embarrassed mess! There was plaster chunks and powder everywhere. Strangely enough, we haven't ever heard from those friends again.

Mrs. Rozas, when was your last tetanus shot?:
"January of 2004," I can say without hesitation. We had decided to take on our first project as "home owners" and remove the closet from the entry way. It was awesome! My parents came down to help and led the way for our first attempt at demolition. For anyone who's experienced the joy of demo, you know it's easy to get carried away with the fun. So easy, in fact, you'll hardly pay any attention to your safety and just step right on a nail in order to get to the next thing you can smash. I had to take a long break while my mom patiently removed bits of black sock from my puncture wound, followed by a trip to urgent care for a little tetanus shot. I'm still happy with the way that project turned out, damnit!

That Bee loves..... dehumidification! :
Our first Halloween was a costume/Carl's birthday bash-o-rama. I was a bird (not a very good one) and Carl was a bee. Being the practical gift givers we are, Carl had been commenting that we could really use a dehumidifier in the basement. Moderately intoxicated Carl opened his gift and reached down and gave that dehumidifier a big ol' hug. Also, that night Carl sang karaoke on the x-box.... “New York, New York” including the leg kicks. Good times.

Three's Company!
After a year of living in the house and finally having a plan to return to nursing school, the time was prefect for a renter. Carl's co-worker Joe was a great tenant. At the time, I was a little crazy (baseline) and commuting to school (bonus crazy), but Joe just rolled with it. Sometimes I regret giving him such a hard time about stupid things, but I don't think he really ever cared too much. I also think he was a pretty good friend to Carl, which meant a lot to me when I couldn't be here.
And as Joe prepared to head out east, Justin was preparing to head down south... to Madison, that is. Justin moved in a month or so before Joe moved out. Justin was also an awesome roommate. However, I was not fond of the tarantula skin that he left sitting out after one of his tarantula's molted. Did you know it's not like a snake skin? It actually looks like the F'ing tarantula itself. Anyway, I digress. Justin lived it up in the gray room and was a very chill roommate. He helped us with more projects like the back paver patio and a few house parties for sure!

Burn nursing school uniform, burn!:
With nursing school finally over, what better way to celebrate than burning the uniform that I thought was a travesty of fashion? That was just one of the many great fires in the back yard.

Wedding Bonanza:
Start to finish, the wedding was concocted at the house. Endless hours of planning, dreaming, and worrying usually revolved around the kitchen table. One particularly fond memory of wedding preparations was an evening with Martin, Amy, Justin, and Carl assembling and stuffing invitations. From that night on, there was no going back.

I could probably go on and on, but thought I might end by asking anyone that has a memory to share, to shoot us a reply in the comments.

Thanks for all the good times everyone!

(Please note the photo is from the day we moved in: July 28th, 2003--Picturing Carl, Joe, and my dad)

Baby 24 weeks

At 24 weeks, things are moving along pretty quickly now. I've been feeling pretty good with my biggest complaint being the Wisconsin heat and humidity. The baby continues to be very busy and in the last few days, has positioned itself on top of my bladder.

On the date that marked 23 weeks, we had a scary visit to labor & delivery triage at the hospital following some bleeding. I have to say it was a terrible morning and it's hard to not think the worst at that time. Fortunately the baby and I were both fine. I had a placental abruption which apparently is one cause of bleeding that affects less than 1% of pregnant women. Carl was quick to point out makes me special. After a week of restricted activity, I have cautiously returned to a modified sense of normal. As with most nurses, I'm a pretty bad patient and need to be constantly reminded of what I should and shouldn't be doing. I'm not very good at sitting still when I'm told.

On a positive note, I did return to some of my favorite "sitting" hobbies this week including crochet and sewing. I finished a giraffe and a baby gown for the baby and a present for my niece-on-the-way, Ingrid. It was nice to feel productive even though it wasn't in the plan.