Fallingwater

Greg and I have been so busy preparing for the baby. We have worked so hard on the house with each other and with our friends.

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine, also a coworker, brought up a suggestion that a group of us gals take a trip to Pennsylvania to check out Fallingwater. It was asked that it be a girls only weekend since not all the girls are married or dating.

I wasn't sure if Greg would be OK with it since I am pretty pregnant (28 weeks)... Suprisingly, he thought I needed to get away with the girls, and me going away meant he could do absolutely nothing around the house for an entire weekend! He was excited too!

In the end it ended up just being 3 of us total. The car ride was barely 4 hours, which wasn't bad at all. It was great just to chat with the girls for a while and relax in the car. We arrived at our hotel and settled in for the night.

The next day we took a very scenic drive to Fallingwater. According to their website, "Fallingwater is the name of a very special house that is built over a waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwater was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark."

It was so beautiful and serene. It was definitely something that I needed to do over this summer. On our way back to the hotel we checked out a small village and a few antique shops. Basically we had no plan and just winged it. It was great.

Sunday, we drove home. We stopped at some farmer's markets on the way and picked up lots of fruits and vegetables. I think Greg was happy to have me home, but grateful to have had a few days to do a lot of nothing!

Farewell Dr. P

As most ladies know (and some guys are probably told) the good ole' "Lady Doctor" can't just be anyone you find. Like a normal family physician... the patient needs to feel comfortable with the Dr. and trust them.

Moving from St. Clair County to Macomb County back 7 years ago, I knew I couldn't realistically drive to St. Clair for those appointments anymore. I began my search and picked a Dr. near me that was in my network. I saw her for a few years and was discussing some things I didn't like about her with coworkers one day. What I thought was normal ended up not really being appropriate for a Dr. like that to be saying.

My co workers referred me to their Dr. When I called to see if she was accepting new patients, she wasn't. The nurse on the phone told me they had just started a new Dr. in the practice and he was very nice... blah blah blah. I can come and just meet him. Him? Him? I've never seen a male for that before...

So I went and met him. I learned very early on that I made a good choice in switching doctors. He informed me that much of the treatments that the other woman had me going through were not necessary. I learned the hard way and now that I was married, Dr. P was guiding me through a pregnancy!

At my last visit in June while only 4.5 months pregnant, Dr. P informed me that he may not be staying in the state of Michigan any longer. He wasn't sure yet, but wanted his patients to know. Shortly after I got a letter confirming he was leaving. I was sad because I trusted him and he was really about letting women have the kind of birth they wanted.

I asked around and everyone had a doctor they liked. For me the easiest thing to do was to stay with the practice and go with another doctor there. I chose Dr. G. Let's just say I don't have much luck with the OB doctor choosing!

I went in for my first appointment with her at the beginning of June. She never introduced herself to me and as soon as she walked in her cellphone rang and she took the call. It was her daughter and she had me wait for 15 minutes while she took the call. It didn't seem like an emergency and she didn't excuse it as being one. She was very short with me and because of the phone call, she didn't have time for questions. The second time I went I asked her opinion of epidurals. Basically I was told I was getting one. All women get them. I don't know if I want one or not, but I do know that I want a choice. If I don't want one, I don't want to be forced to have one!

I left my second appointment with her somewhat frightened of the kind of birth I might have. I called the health insurance and they were completely nice about the situation. They instructed me on all of my options and pretty much told me to not go anywhere that I am not comfortable. So I called around and found a mid-wife who practices with a group of O.B. doctors in Macomb County near us. She was accepting new patients so I went and met her. I am so glad I did!

She is a very up beat person who makes Greg and I feel like she is just as excited about our birth as we are. She is there to advocate for the birth plan that we want and will guide us through every step of the way. I have seen her about 5 or 6 times now and feel so comfortable with her. It is very reassuring. Even Greg has met her and likes her enthusiasm. She answers all of our questions honestly and doesn't treat us like we are asking anything dumb. We are new to this and she understands.

When I tell people we are using a midwife, usually the first question is... Are you having a home birth? Heck no! I am to chicken for that! I chose to use a midwife because I want the least amount of medical intervention as possible. There is no reason to have drugs and be hooked up to machines for the duration of my labor if possible. If medical intervention needs to happen and the midwife agrees, then well, I need to care most about our child's health and my health. I wouldn't deny it - if it is needed.

We are still giving birth in the hospital where all the equipment is. Nurses will be there just like any other birth in a hospital. The mid wife will be there instead of an actual O.B. doctor, unless a procedure is needed. If something is needed one of the doctors from the mid wife's group will step in and do their best to support the least amount of medical intervention as possible.

Say Hello

What a great feeling it is to see your baby! Greg and I had the opportunity to meet our bebe for the first time yesterday!

We chose to have the ultra sound done at his work so he could participate and not have to take the whole afternoon off. The ultra sound tech was awesome. She explained what parts we were seeing and let us watch the bebe for what seemed like forever.

So much time passed I forgot I had to use the restroom!

We couldn't have been more excited that day! It was amazing! There was our "wee little one" dancing around! Doing somersaults, shaking it's arms and at one point even looking like it was driving a car! LOL! It really was surreal for us and made everything seem so much more real.

She then gave us a CD with an image. Our first photo of our little angel!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage...

Greg and I have been married for a little over 8 months now, but we have been together over 4 years. Through all this time we spoken about how we want a family. We both agree on more than one.

I was an only child for 14 years. There was nothing wrong with that, but when my parents couldn't play with me and the 2 neighbor children were busy that left me to my own imagination. I remember having a good one, but how much fun would a pal be that was there all the time? Greg would like more than two children. I'm more about seeing how the first one goes and deciding from there. Who knows if we will even get to be blessed with children right?

We decided in January that we were both ready to give it a try. I mean, mentally we are ready, financially, we think it will be OK and who knows how long it might take, I've had friends try for years with no luck and finally it happens!

Prior to this positive one I took a few negatives over the last few weeks. I haven't been feeling "the same" and was convinced I was pregnant. Finally this one came back positive so I took another before bed last night and it was also positive. So, as far as my urine is concerned I am building a baby as I type!

I am sure there is plenty more to do to confirm this, but wow. We are going to be parents.

Look out...

Merry Christmas, Month Six

Greg and I had our first Christmas together as a married couple. As usual we were like little children during the week leading up to the festive day. Greg had to work that day so we celebrated on Christmas Eve. It was fun to suprise each other with things we really needed and things that we could have gone without!

With the amount of work we both have been involved in, I hope that we can take the next year to spend more relaxing time together. Even on the weekends we find ourselves jumping into projects that take up quite a bit of our time. We are doing them together, but it's not the same as vegging on the couch and watching the History Channel or something!

We hope that the new year brings tons of good things to everyone and is a new adventure for us!

Month Three

Greg and I cannot believe how fast time is flying. We have already been married three months and it feels like we just saw everyone at the wedding reception and just got back from the honeymoon.

Not much has changed since we have been home. We are starting some small projects around the house and spending time with Sal. I think he has finally accepted that Greg and I are married and that Greg isn't going anywhere anytime soon! :)

While we were on our honeymoon, our good friends Mike and Julie got engaged. Mike was Greg's best man in the wedding, you know that really good speech giver! We are very excited for them and look forward to watching them plan their wedding! They are adorable and hilarious and are very grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives!

Shortly after being married for a month, Greg and our friend Erica went skydiving. I went along, but was not about to throw myself out of a plane. Instead I documented everything on camera and took a small plane ride around Lansing with a pilot there. Of course watching Greg do such a carefree and exciting thing and then living after he did it, made me not so afraid to try it myself some day. Like I said, some day...

We are both working hard, having fun and doing our best to remember what is important.

Dublin - Day 4

Today we walked around Dublin a lot. We stopped into a bunch of shops we had been passing for the last few days. We took this time to pick up souvenirs for everyone back home. It was fun looking through all the different shops where people worked so hard on the things they were selling. There was also the standard gift shops where you can find everything Irish!

We made plans with a young couple we met in the Dublin airport to hang out this night. The couple was our age and from just a few miles away from us here in Michigan. Greg and I actually met them in the Dublin airport when arriving from London. After some chatting we thought it would be cool to hang out so we exchanged numbers.

We met them in the Temple Bar district in front of the Hard Rock Dublin. We walked around a bit before we found a place with a menu that looked like something we would all like. It was great to visit with people from home! The guys talked sports and the girls talked about work and stuff.

After dinner we headed to a couple more bars in the area to listen to some great Irish music! We had a great time watching everyone dance and have fun... We also gave it a bit of a shot, but we didn't get down all that well. Must've been that Guiness!

We finally parted ways pretty late... Greg and I had an early morning the next day, but the night was worth it! We made it back to the hotel and got some shut eye and prepared for our last whole day in Dublin!

Dublin - Day 3

Today we took a half day trip to Malahide Castle and to the Howth Peninsula. It was a nice trip for only being half a day. Our tour guide was an older Irish man who was a sweetheart!

We headed out on a double decker tour bus to the Malahide Castle. It was a beautiful castle that had stayed in the family for years. The person who gave the castle to Ireland is still alive but living in Tasmania on family property there. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but it was very beautiful and historic.

There was a small church on the grounds, a ton of flowers, peacocks, a dollhouse exhibit and just a gorgeous view.



After the castle we headed over to the Howth Peninsula. The drive there was spectacular. We drove along the coastline and just enjoyed the view of the small towns and the beaches.



Once we retuned to Dublin we walked around for the remaining part of the day. We visited Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin. We explored St. Patrick's Cathedral. We watched a variety of street performers like break dancers, jugglers and mimes. It was a lot of fun to just people watch and take it all in!

Dublin - Day 2

Walked and walked and walked a little more through Dublin today to find St. James Gate. The map the hotel provided did not have the same street names as what was really there. The street signs were obviously old, but whatever – we found it! Eventually!

We went through the tour on our own which was fine, but somehow there were middle school aged kids on field trips there which made it very hard to enjoy the tour at first. Once we lost the kids, we had fun! There is a tasting section where you get about a quarter of a pint. You also get to try roasted barley which is one of the key ingredients for flavor in a pint of Guinness. We finally made our way to the top where we got our Guinness. The view of Dublin from atop of the Guinness Brewery was breathtaking. The day was beautiful and we could see all the way to the mountains!

While sitting there, of course Greg and I made a couple of new friends. Deb and Mel were here from Oxford, England for Deb’s birthday. They were a couple of really nice people who helped to change our impression of England. They were both quite clear that we experienced tourists London where the people don’t really want to communicate with the tourists. Had we went say… to Oxford – they would have been more polite and open to conversation.





























We also found two beautiful churches that we later went back to visit. One was called St. Audons, the other was also part of St. Audons, but when the Anglicans took over the Catholic churches the old mid evil one became St. Audons and when the Catholics could be Catholics out in the open they built a bigger better church right next to it, almost touching it but not touching it. They are both beautiful but we like the older one better!

At St. Audons we met Terry. Terry couldn’t have been more than 35 years old. He clearly loved the mid evil Dublin times and took us on a wonderful and free tour of the church. Greg and I were so grateful to have stumbled upon it!

Dublin - Day 1

We had to leave London today. We were alright with leaving, but we're sad that there was still so much to do! While on our ride to London - Heathrow airport we sat with an elderly couple from Australia. They were in London headed to Vancouver. Many Canadians had been in London for Canada Day Celebrations which were June 30 – July 1.

Once we got to our gate to head to Dublin, I met Kate and her husband Henry. Kate and Henry had to of been at least 70 or 75 years old. Henry sat in his wheelchair doing Sodoku while Kate told me where she grew up and how her and Henry had only been married for 7 years. They were heading to Wales where Henry resided before they got married and where they both live now. They were very cute!

Once we got onto our flight Greg and I realized we would have to sit by someone. We ended up sitting next to a young man named Keith. Keith had been traveling from Ireland via motor bike through Africa. He was trying to make his way with a friend (or mate as he called him) from the northern tip down to South Africa. He and his friend were planning the trip to be only 4 months. They found that after 6 months they only made it to Nigeria so he had to come home to Ireland to visit his mum.

Once we got to Ireland we needed to find our luggage. We were aggravated with looking for the turnstile with our flight so we went to exchange our money for a break and to gather more patience. While we were there it was obvious that the gal in front of me was from Canada or US. I wanted to ask her where she was from, but I wasn't really in the mood to make small talk. The a young man approached the girl with a ton of luggage. Looking at him I chuckled because he was wearing a Tigers hat and t-shirt!

I had to ask if they were from Detroit, they answered yes... Then I asked where, they answered a small town called Warren... I didn't want to creep them out so I shared with them where in Warren we lived and then we learned they live 5 miles away! Here we are in Dublin Airport chatting with a couple who live only a few minutes away!

We chatted for 15 or 20 minutes and then swapped hotel numbers so we could hang out during the week! Greg and I then ventured off to find our luggage. Once we accomplished that - we hopped on the express bus to the stop near our hotel. On the ride we got to get a brief tour of Dublin and see where the main shopping roads were and where the action was. We got off the bus stop at the main bus station that is across the street from the Custom House (see the image above). After a short walk we arrived at our hotel that sat right on the rive Liffey. It seemed like a very nice hotel. Then we learned they had no record of our reservation.



My initial reaction was let me go potty then I will deal with this. Greg's reaction was let me just sit down for a bit then he will deal with it. So we did that while they dealt with it. We had all of our documentation... so they took care of us nicely. We were fine with waiting 5 minutes while they did that. They were shocked by our patience and politeness, which made us feel good and weird at the same time. What type of reactions were they used to? We enjoyed our view of the river for the week and the yummy breakfasts that were included!

London - Day 4

We were both very tired this morning. After talking with the very helpful men working as concierge and Ian the door man at our hotel, we decided to do our laundry.

The Laundromat - oh I'm sorry, it's Laundrette and it was only a 5 minute walk. It was the cutest little launderette! The woman working there was so nice to us. She was older and I think she just enjoyed our company. Other people would come in and just leave their laundry to wash or dry, being a paranoid tourist, I was not about to leave my clothes unattended to. Between the woman working the laundrette and a local man from France, they both gave us all the tips we needed to get the laundry done fast and efficient. The local man insisted on showing me how to use the laundry spinner that would spin all of the water out of our clothes so we could dry them for less time and less money.

Later that evening, we took the subway over to the Tower Hill Station. It was quite an easy trip on the subway right off the Circle or District Lines. We met up with a guy named Shaughan (Shawn) who was a wonderful tour guide for the Jack the Ripper tour. We retraced the steps of Jack the Ripper and his victims. Shaughan was an awesome guide and just really got into the role. We walked all over town and then took the subway back home where we spent another evening in search of a late night dinner.

You know, 9 pm is late eating for folks in London...

London - Day 2

This morning Greg and I had our first British Breakfast it was good but different. I think Greg enjoyed the variety of meat they had to offer, but I enjoyed the Nutella and croissants!

We headed over to the Big Bus Company stop where we proceeded to take the Hop on Hop off bus all around London for the day. It was a great way for us to get to see a large number of things. We then took the bus over to near Millennium Pier where we took our free boat cruise along the Thames River. Our tour guide was hilarious and very knowledgeable of the buildings along the river.

We got off the boat tour near the London Tower. We walked back to the hotel which was quite a long walk. We became hungry and decided to find a pub to eat at. That was an adventure within itself because pubs in London stop serving dinner fairly early. We were finally able to find a place and we really enjoyed our second English dinner. We are both doing our best to try new foods... which is hard for us both! LOL!

London - Day 1

The flight to Philadelphia from Detroit had no issues, we left a little late, but these days it seems expected to depart late from the airport… From Philadelphia to London it was a long long trip but a little sleep helped to make the time go faster. Greg got less sleep than I did, but I had the window seat and something to lean on.

We got to London Heathrow and had a minor issue with Dot 2 Dot transfer. The women at the desk were super helpful to us and got us taken care of after a few phone calls. The Dot 2 Dot showed us all around London while dropping people off. It was alright with us since we were over tired and so excited to be there!

We arrived at hotel Jolly St. Ermin around 1 pm. Greg and I rested for a little bit just to recharge ourselves. Then we went out exploring and got some dinner. The streets were pretty easy to navigate.

There were enough landmarks around to get us where we needed to be. We walked around Buckingham Palace and spoke to some police officers, we were allowed to take their pictures but not with them... We watched the guards stand ever so still.

We walked through the very beautiful St. James Park which was right near our hotel. We crossed the Westminster Bridge and walked along the Thames. There were street performers near the Aquarium. There were quite a few different performers but Greg’s favorite was the gymnastics performer. He was a lot of fun and got the audience to participate.

The feeling of being in London was overwhelming for the both of us! Neither one of us felt like we were experiencing what we were experiencing... We felt like it was an out of body experience! But an adventurous one!