The Doctors Wife

Tagged

I've been tagged by the lovely Natalie to post six uninteresting things about myself. If that doesn't make you crazy eager to keep reading, I don't know what will. So here goes:

1. I am a bath person. Preferably with bubbles, candles, chocolate and a good book. Unfortunately nowadays my time in the bath is a mad rush to beat the clock. (Have to get ready before Hannah's up)
2. I hate the smell of raw meat. I hardly cooked any meat while pregnant.
3. I love cherry coke, especially from Sonic.
4. My toenails are currently painted hot pink. (rosy hot pink, not eighties neon)
5. I was an elementary education major in college before switching to political science.
6. I prefer to sleep on the left side of the bed.
Now I am following after Natalie and am only tagging three lovely ladies, Kendra, Photochick, and Skiplovely (I think she could use a distraction from the CA heat)

If you want to play:
Link back to the person who tagged you.
Post these rules on your blog
List 6 uninteresting things about yourself.
Tag 6 random people at the end of your entry (or like me, only three).

Bears In Trees

On our last trip to the zoo, we stopped by to see the bears. I guess spring really is in the air because the grizzly bears were in the "river" playing with a big ball, and the black bears were out and about. One was actually up and about. I know that bears can climb trees, but I've never seen it before. The bear climbed up, and then climbed back down. So if you've never seen a bear in a tree before, here you go:

Oliver and Sophie: Gone With The Wind

Friday morning I got up and was going about my usual routine, getting Hannah up, letting the dogs outside, getting breakfast together, etc. About 20 minutes after I let the dogs out, I could hear Oliver scratching at the back door so I let him in. I called for Sophie, but she didn't come. This is not unusual, Sophie is much more of an outdoor dog compared to Oliver and often enjoys staying outside a bit longer. I went back to what I was doing and tried calling her in a few minutes later. She did not come. Now this is unusual. Usually she is waiting for me, or will come when she is called. I began hoping that she was not in a corner munching on a bird, frog, (insert whatever small creature that had the misfortune of being caught) or other something I would not want my dog eating. I stepped out and began a backyard search- when I turned the corner I could see our gate, WIDE OPEN. My heart sunk. I went back inside and threw on some clothes (said a silent prayer that I would make it home with my dog accident free) and loaded Hannah up in the car. I began to drive around our little neighborhood and said another silent prayer that the neighborhood gates were closed. I pulled up to a stop sign and caught sight of my little Sophie girl out on her joy walk. I stopped the car, gathered her up and headed home. I am grateful that I found her so quickly and that she was unharmed. However there was still the problem with the gate. It has been windy here folks, really windy. The wind had snapped the post that anchors the gate. So rather than leash walk the dogs every time they need or want to go out- my in-laws graciously offered to have them stay at their house until the gate was fixed. The new concrete was poured today, and everything should be ready for the puppies to come home tomorrow. It has been much quieter without them here, and while it has been nice to have a break, I can't wait for them to come home.

We Have A House!!

We found a house! Mike and I made a quick solo trip to take a second look at a couple of our "final four" and made a decision. I am so excited- I love the house and the neighborhood! I am so excited, but I am also exhausted- we had such a busy weekend! I will (hopefully!) post a few pics of our new casa sometime in the next couple of days. We have our closing date set and there is so much to do in the next few weeks (including the dreaded packing....aggghhh!) So I have to go get my beauty rest as I have a to-do list that has tripled over the last 24 hours. Hope you had a great weekend!

Fight The Frump-Safari Jacket Style

It's Friday so we are Fighting the Frump with Mrs. Fussypants! As I mentioned before, I recently went to a Liz Claiborne fashion show and purchased this jacket:

Oh how I love this jacket! Because I stay home, my look is definitely casual, but I like to look polished and this jacket adds polish soooo easily!! I know that it is getting warmer, so some of you may think a jacket is not a good thing to get, but this is a light-weight jacket! And I don't know about you, but when it is full fledged summer time I am always freezing in the freezer-like air conditioned buildings. This jacket is great because it has a summer style about it, but will still help stave off chattering teeth. And right now when it is cooler in the mornings/evenings this jacket is perfect!

Pair the jacket with jeans, a t-shirt and cute necklace and you are good to go!!

Or a polo and cute earrings!

Or a cute tank top and you're out the door!

Now, what make me LOVE this jacket and made Time Gunn say the phrase, "Can I just sing the praises of this jacket?!" SEVERAL times? The belt. Yes, frump fighters the belt is your friend. It will define your waist and give you shape. The belt will give you curves instead of hanging shapeless on your body. Now what if you prefer to wear the jacket open? All you have to do is tie the belt in the back- this will nip in your waist still giving you shape!!

Now I think that the safari jacket is a classic, and therefore always a stylish choice, but they are particularly "in" right now making them super easy to find in a variety of cuts, colors and price points. I LOVE mine and highly recommend it! Now head on over to Mrs. Fussypants and check out all of the great frump-fighting tips, or post one of your own!

New Look

How do you like the new look? The VERY talented and sweet Jennisa from Once Upon A Blog is just fabulous!! So if you are looking for a new look- go get on her waiting list- she is so great and worth the wait!! And now I have to do and look at my super cute new header!!

Credits: Designs by Krista

Party Details

So I know that Hannah's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and I am just now posting some details. Honestly, I am posting this in case anyone is trying to come up with ideas for party favors for a first birthday. (other terms I googled were "party favors for one year old" "first birthday favors" "favors for baby's first birthday") Since I had such a hard time I thought I would share what I did- I bought wiffle balls. All of the babies/toddlers at Gymboree love the wiffle balls and I thought this idea would be great since we had a few older siblings at the party too. It is also something that Hannah loves to play with, so if we had extras left it would be something that she would actually play with, instead of some random junk. So instead of buying the wiffle balls at Gymboree, where they are definitely marked up, I bought them at a local sporting goods store in a big multi-colored bag. I tied them up with curling ribbon and a little tag that said "I had so much fun- I'm glad you could come! Thanks for helping me celebrate turning one! Love, Hannah".

So there you have it- an age appropriate, easy, inexpensive party favor for one year olds! For those of you googling- I hope this is something you can use!

Doctor's Wife Confession

One of the funny things about being a doctor's wife is the stereotype and "pressure" that goes along with the territory. I never planned on marrying a doctor, but the man I fell in love with became a doctor. So I deal with the stereotype (still not sure that I can actually define it, but it's there) and try not to let it get to me. But it has, not in a taking over my life kind of way, but little ways. I must confess, I care about what people think about me. Especially because I feel that how I am perceived can be a reflection on Mike. (Not saying that's right or wrong- but that's the way it is)

One of the biggest ways this has carried over into my life is how I look, dress, etc. I am a visual person, (I'll get to the point eventually- hang with me and I will get there) and my observation is that highly visual people generally care about their appearance, and thus I care about how I look. I like to look pulled together, and stylish. I am ok with this, some people find caring about how you look and putting time and effort into your appearance a waste of time, but I am not one of those people.

Now to the part that has to do with being a doctor's wife (I told you I would get to the point); Hannah had her one year check up on Friday, and as I was getting ready, I was very aware that we (Mike was meeting me there) would very likely run into one or more of Mike's colleagues, boss, etc. (The pediatrician's office is in the hospital where Mike works). So this means I had to look nice. And not just ok nice, but nice. I think that whether I like it or not, I am a reflection of Mike. I am his wife, and that's just one of the things about marriage. So I want to be a good reflection. So I got dressed "up" (but not too dressy) and took Hannah (also dressed "up") to the pediatrician.

I realized as I was driving that I think about this a lot when I get ready each day. I often run into people Mike work(ed)s with. I also started thinking about how every day when I am putting on my under-clothes (that's not what I call them in real life, but for the purpose of avoiding googling perverts, that's what I'm going to call them) I think about what would happen if I was in a car accident and was taken to the emergency room. What if they were cutting me out of my clothes? What if one of the doctors was someone Mike went to school with? What if it was one of his friends? What if it was someone who he ends up working with? I know that doctors see all kinds of things, but somehow it's different. Let's face it- we all have clothes that we would die of embarrassment if we were seen in public in them. So let's just say that there are no panties past their prime in my drawer- no sir! No droopy sad looking bras! The minute something starts to go past its prime it gets trashed. So not only do I worry about what I'm wearing that you can see, but I also worry about what you can't see. Ahhh pressure! Now I am not saying that I always look great- ha! That's just not happening here friends, there are days that I am trying and I still look blah! But it is always on my mind- all I know is that on those schlumpy days, God forbid I collapse or have an accident!!

Hannah's New Car Seat

On Saturday we looked at houses all afternoon- Hannah was a trooper. She was a doll while she was awake- and was a little peach and took a nap for the last few houses we saw. She woke up right as we were leaving the last house of the day and was a little fussy. I decided to ride in the back seat with her on the way back to the hotel, hoping to avoid the fussiness turning into a full fledged melt down. She settled down almost immediately and happily babbled and played as we headed back to the hotel. I was glancing over a few of the fact sheets on houses we had seen, I glanced at my happy baby and noticed something. A brown something, resembling poop. I freaked and shouted to Mike, "WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!!!!!" Oh yes, dear readers we had an explosive poopy diaper. In the car. Out of town. I am staying calm freaking out and trying to contain the mess as best I can and keep her as clean as I can. I went through all of the wipes I had with me, and friends, I don't think we have ever encountered this much baby poop. Did I mention that while I was remaining calm freaking out in the back seat, Mike was cracking up in the front. AGGG! So we arrive at the hotel and I get my poopy baby up to the room (thank goodness no one was on the elevator with us, because hello, poop does not smell good!) and am trying to get her undressed without making the situation worse, and with out getting myself filthy. So we get Hannah cleaned up and the mess cleaned up as best as we could. We had dinner plans with friends and were faced with either canceling or figuring out how to get Hannah around town in a poopy car seat. We decide that we will be buying a new car seat within the next month or so, so why not now? A quick trip to Babies R' Us later, and Hannah is the proud new owner of a big girl car seat! (rear facing because she is still too little to be forward facing).

*Photo deleted due to high traffic for image search results- even though this blog, and the pictures on it are protected by copy right, I feel better taking it down.

Five Classes

I was tagged by the lovely Kendra over at A Superhero, Princess, and Monkey for a meme about the five classes you wish they would have taught in high-school, so here I go!

Sewing:
I have just recently learned to sew and wish I would have learned so much sooner! So many of the projects I am interested in are above my skill level, but if I had been sewing since high-school I am imagining that I would be at that level now (or at least closer).

Blogging:
This is a pretty recent discovery for me (I know- was I living under a rock?!) and I wish I would have started blogging sooner! It's such a great record of everything going on.

Dog Whispering:
Oliver and Sophie are pretty well behaved, but there is plenty of room for improvement, plus I would have saved a small fortune on obedience school/ trainers. Sadly this course was not offered at my high-school. Sigh. If any of you know Cesar Millan I would LOVE for him to come and work with my pups!

Decisiveness 101:
Oh how I need a course in this! Big decisions I seem to be ok with, it's the little things that I can spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to make a simple decision. I think Mike wishes I had been offered this class too!

How to Make A Million Dollars:
Do I really have to explain this one? Who couldn't use a million dollars?

Now it is my turn to tag five people that I would like to get to know better. I am tagging these fabulous ladies:

Trina at Fabulously Frugalicious
Allison at The Story of 5
Tonya at Happy Dash
Christine at In The Studio
Christine at Serenity How

Rules are simple......post your Five Classes and then tag some people. (Be sure to leave them a comment at their blog so they know they've been tagged!