New Beginnings!

This is going to be a long post... I warn you in advance! :)

At the start of this year I set out with three goals:

1. Get Body Pump Certified
2. Get accepted to the Graduate Business Certificate program at VCU
3. Advance in my career

This week I completed 3 of 3!!  

Let me precede the rest of this post with the obvious... get pregnant and buy a house were NOT on this list :)  Just little bonuses that God thew in there to keep things interesting and challenging (apparently my goals were not lofty enough for his liking lol).

Getting Pump Certified proved to be more of a challenge than I expected.  As a current instructor of Body Step, I thought that Pump would be an easy certification... NOT QUITE!  My first certification attempt miserably failed.  I was heart broken.  With that being said, with the help of some great friends at ACAC, by second submission came back with rave reviews, and I actually was on the schedule part time this schedule and will be on full time for the winter schedule!  Very exciting!

Getting into school was a big accomplishment, but I had no idea how challenging it would be to juggle class and the rest of my life.  Marketing this summer was an online course, and I LOVED IT!  Currently I am taking Accounting, and it KICKS MY TOOSHIE!!  I always thought that my challenges in undergrad were due to too much partying and not enough work ethic; though that was part of it, this class has proven that you can still be challenged even if you attend every single class and do every single assignment.  In addition to the workload, this class requires an hour and 15 minute drive once a week, which means one whole evening is taken up just with class attendance.  I am a little sad to lose momentum, but I have decided that since Al will be born in the midst of Finals of the Spring semester, that I will take a break and resume classes in the Fall.  

Finally, Goal 3!  I have been an Administrative Assistant now for three years.  I cannot say that my duties have been truly admin-like, however.  I have been very challenged in this role, and it is forever changing, which is good for someone who is mother-diagnosed ADD.  I have gotten to take some amazing trips and work with amazing people, but rolling into my late twenties and still carrying the title of admin, as well as knowing that the work you are doing is well beyond the scope of your title leaves you wondering what more you could accomplish during those 40+ hours you put in a week.  After taking Marketing this summer, I fell in love with the combination of psychology and creativity that is involved in the industry.  This is why when I saw the Advertising Coordinator Role post on my company's internal job opportunity page, I knew I had to jump on it!  Yes, this is not the most convenient time to change the ONE constant that has been in my life, but HECK, if not now, then WHEN?  So I applied!  Three weeks later and six interviews later, I received the best news.... I got the job!  I start on 5 December (right after the gender reveal) and I cannot wait for this new journey to begin!  I will explain more about what this role will entail in a later post! 

So now on to those bonus items:

Pregnancy   

Week 20 - Our Front Door and Pretty Christmas Bow - Thanks GiGi!

I have been feeling fantastic, but also growing like crazy!  At week 19 I had people that I didn't know well at the gym asking if I had news to share :)  This made me happy, because at least they had ruled out excessive weight gain as an option for my protruding gut and less than stellar jumping jacks.  At our last Dr. appointment I weighed in at a whopping 112.  I know this doesn't seem huge to anyone else, but for someone who at their heaviest has weighed 108 (thank you college beer), this is a SHOCKER.  For the most part I can still wear all of my clothing, but have to use a belly band for some of my higher waisted work pants.

I have to figure out how to post Al's heartbeat that we recorded at the last appointment!  145 bpm :)  The Dr. said that was perfect!  I like these report cards.  Not too much new besides that!  In 2 weeks, on 1 December, the Doc will put the gender of Al in an envelope, and we will take it to Chandler's Bakery to prepare for our Gender Reveal (or Gender Bender as Ron calls it).  We cannot wait!

House

15 November 2011 - The Shiney Keys to Our Brand New Home :)

A Place to Hang Our Hats

On Tuesday of this week, we FINALLY closed on our new house!  It was such a fun day!  The closing only took about two hours, and we used the rest of the day to start shopping for what we felt was a very important piece of family furniture: the kitchen table!

We had found several that we liked online, but not a single one in an actual store.  I still cannot decide whether it was a good or bad thing that we happened upon Classic Furniture that fine, Tuesday, but what I can say is that we found the PERFECT table and chairs (minus the $$).  It will not be ready until January... but hey!  Ron and I are finally getting a little bit better at this delayed gratification thing... something about waiting 9 months for your little bundle will do that to ya'!  

Ron Table Shopping (This is the runner up table)

The table pretty much took the wind out of our shopping sails, but we are happy with our purchase and know that the table will be the center piece for many wonderful memories going forward!  WE CAN'T WAIT!  

The next day was my move out/in day, and of course the rain was POURING!  It took about 4 hours to complete the move and another 4 to finish cleaning the old place.  After that I had to go to class.  Very stressful day, but accomplished quite a bit including changing over all of the utilities, getting a trash can and getting the internet setup (which has been a God send!).  

Ron's move happened this Friday, and went as well as could possibly be expected as well.  This weekend was spend finding a home for the things that we wanted to keep and throwing away/ taking to Good Will those things that we didn't.  Luckily Ron has some awesome furniture and between the two of us we have all of the items we need to get by!  This is good because Mom and Dad are going to join us on Wednesday for Thanksgiving and in two weeks the Gender Reveal will happen at our home!  Please keep your fingers crossed that we can get everything in order by then! 

WHEW!  I will give you a break and stop this post here!  As always, more to come soon!