Our wedding anniversary

(This post is oh, about a week late.  Moving on.)

Tuesday, the 21st, was our wedding anniversary.  It has been three years since we said those memorable words.

I Do.

And I still do.

Things have not been all bright and happy the entire three years.  My first year of law school put added stress on us but we adjusted.  We figured things out and when things got overwhelming (which they did), we figured out how to work through it.  Ian just about had it with me leaving equal packets all over the house (as I was drinking mass quantities of coffee to stay awake reading at odd hours of the day and night).  I had never seen him so angry...and over equal packets!  That year was all about learning what caused the other person to tick, and how we each feel most loved.  (I learned to throw my equal packets away.)

Then, our second year of marriage was pretty awesome.  I got knocked up and we spent our second year going through all of the joys of pregnancy.  We enjoyed the time we had left as just the two of us.  We prepared for becoming a family of three.  We grew up a little bit and stopped thinking of only "us."  I prepared to be a mom and a law student.  I was able to balance being a wife, being pregnant, and the demands of law school fairly well. 

Then, Luca came along during our third year of marriage.  They say having a child flips your world upside down.  Boy, that's an understatement!  This past year has been stressful.  That first year of marriage, when I was in law school, was not even a taste of the stress we would have to endure.  When we first heard L's diagnosis, we huddled together, and had a discussion.  We prayed for a lot in those early days.  For Luca.  But also for our marriage.  We knew that losing a child, or having a child with medical difficulties could wear on any marriage, even the strongest.  We learned that the divorce rate for those who lose a child or who raise a child with special needs is higher than the average divorce rate.  We vowed to work through it all...together.  We prayed that we would have what it takes to make things work, for us, and for Luca.

It has not been easy since that conversation.  We bicker more than we ever had.  We have moments where we each feel alone, him from being the only one working, me from being the primary caregiver.  But, we also have experienced a love we never had.  And true, overwhelming, life altering joy.  We love our child in a way neither of us expected.  And we love each other in a new way.  It's a love through admiration for the other person.  We admire eachother for what we each have had to do to be a great parent for Luca. 

And through it all, it has been worth it.  It is not the life we expected when we said those words.  But we would still say them over and over again, knowing what we know now.  And at the end of the day, there is no other person we would want on this path than eachother.

(Pictures taken while out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  We went to The Black Olive - it was the first dinner just the two of us since my birthday in November.  It was SO nice to have a date night!)

The Non-Shower Baby Shower

You all know I was on the fence about having a shower.  Several friends convinced us to have one.  A few of our closest (AMAZING) friends put together a non-shower baby shower for us.  Kim & Jeremy hosted the fiesta at their house, even though they had been through a CRAZY week trying to get their house together after a home project revealed some issues that had to be fixed.  I don't think the words "thank you" can really express our gratitude for their generosity. 

The typical baby-shower games were skipped, and instead, it was more like a co-ed casual cocktail party.  I love that Ian, guy friends, and significant others of the ladies were all included.  In total, about 35-40 people came out to celebrate our upcoming arrival.  We felt so humbled and loved by the presence of so many friends.  The effort that some people made to make this party happen was overwhelming.  We had people come from NY, Boston, and many driving from DC or VA.

We had an amazing time catching up with old and new friends.  I always get a little nervous at these types of parties because we have so many different groups of friends and you never know if they'll mesh well.  But I have to say, it went off so well.  I even managed to stay out until 12:30am!  Then we came home and stayed up talking with my two bestests until 2:30am.  All in all, it was such a fun night!!  Thanks to everyone who made this happen, and everyone who came out!

I took a ton of photos, but here are just a few:

I cannot for the life of me get these two photos to turn!

Weekend Success

I managed to not really have a lot of pain from the kidney stone this weekend - SO relieved about that.  Don't think the kidney stone has made its way out though.  Time will tell.

The wedding weekend was a success.  Lauren and I had a fabulous time catching up and she made a perfect date for the weekend.  She took tons of pictures while I was busy with bridesmaid duties - so here's a picture post for this lazy Monday.

We stayed at this old mansion for the weekend - it was beautiful and the restaurant is supposed to be fantastic:

At the rehearsal dinner, the lovely bride and groom:

Lauren and I at the rehearsal dinner:

Leah made a beautiful bride - and her dress was simply stunning!

I was happy when the ceremony was over and I had managed to walk successfully without tripping!

Lauren and I in between the ceremony and reception:

The newlyweds!

Me with the happy couple:

Congrats to Leah and Mark and enjoy your honeymoon :)

Interruption

I'm hoping what happened last night is just an interruption in the otherwise very smooth and healthy pregnancy I've had.

I was very active yesterday.  I went for a 2 mile walk, I cooked, I cleaned my car in the heat.  I noticed that I had been having contractions throughout the day, but wasn't really paying much attention to them.  Finally at around 5 pm, I decided to lay down, drink a huge thing of water, and count my contractions just to be sure I was in the clear (more than 6 in an hour requires me to call my doctor).

Well, within a 1/2 hr I realized I had already reached my 6 per hour limit.  I gave it another 1/2 hour just to be sure, and they did continue.  So I gave the doctor a call.  She called me back quickly and instructed me to go drink at least 32 ounces of water in 20 minutes, then lay down.  If things were not better within 1 more hour, I needed to call back.

They weren't better, and in fact started to get worse (they started making me very uncomfortable).  I called back, and was told to head into labor and delivery.

Ian and I quickly looked around and grabbed a few things just in case we'd be in overnight, or longer.  Throughout me getting ready to leave the house, and the car ride and walk through the hospital, I became extremely uncomfortable.

Quite honestly, I was thinking "how am I ever going to go through labor naturally."  After lots of tests later - baby girl was determined to be absolutely fine (although irritated with the poking around of my belly).  Her heart rate was monitored, as were my contractions.  My midwife called them "irritations."  Cervix was completely closed and the tests came back negative for signs of pre-term labor.  All good news!

I continued to complain of horrible back pain that got worse when I was standing for more than 10 seconds, and if I was laying on my left side.  The last resort test was a ultrasound of my kidneys.

Finally, we got answers.  I have a kidney stone.  The doctor knew I wasn't really interested in anything for the pain, but stressed that I at least get the prescription filled in case I needed it.  He said that most pregnant ladies say that passing a kidney stone is more painful than labor.  Thank goodness the pain I had been experiencing wasn't labor related - it had me worried.  Now it explains why the pain got worse after drinking about 40 ounces of water so quickly (my kidney had to work overtime and was also working on trying to move the stone).  It also explains the contractions - when you have some type of bladder or kidney infection, normally contractions will increase.  I can ignore the contractions over the next several days until this stone passes.

We stopped on the way home and got the prescription filled.  Luckily, I didn't need any of it to sleep last night as the pain had mostly dissipated once that huge amount of water had gone through me.

I am so grateful they were able to find out what was wrong, that baby girl is perfectly healthy, and that what is wrong is not a huge deal in the scheme of things.  Yes, it's going to be painful as my body tries to pass the stone - but I'll deal with it.

And I'm so grateful that I was able to go home, and get a good night sleep.  I made sure the doctor was okay with me going away this weekend.

You see, I'm in one of my good friend Leah's weddings in NY.  Ian is staying here to go to Stacy's wedding.  My bestie Lauren is flying to the airport near the wedding where I'll pick her up in a few hours.  She'll be my date for the weekend!

Stacy, have the most beautiful wedding weekend!  I'm so sad I'll miss it but have already charged the batteries for the camera so that Ian can take lots of pictures for me to see!

I'm off to NY - if possible, can you say a little prayer (or send some positive vibes) that I have a healthy and smooth (hopefully pretty pain free) weekend?

Philadelphia Marathon 2009

We got a late start on Saturday morning.  Ian was paranoid, rechecking what he packed to make sure he had everything.  I was really slow to even start my packing.  Finally, we were off to Philly.

I am not sure if I mentioned before, but you can normally get discount rates for hotels for coming for the marathon.  I didn't know this until we looked online at our hotel options.  Some of the standard, nice hotels were like $169 for the night.  Totally doable.  But, then I saw that the Ritz was $179, and hello, it was my birthday weekend that I was sacrificing for the hubby.  So we totally went for the Ritz.  It was well worth it - the service was outstanding and they even had hot apple cider in the lobby.  And we had an amazing view on top of it.  It was swee-et.

We arrived, gave a quick hello to Ian's parents, then we were off to walk to the expo to pick up his running day packet.  We had unusually warm weather for the weekend which was amazing - in the 40's and 50's.  The expo was incredibly disorganized and chaotic, so my claustrophobic self stayed in one spot and waited while Ian did his thing.  We quickly made it out of there where we caught up with fellow marathon runner Kim, her hubby Jeremy, and her friend Kristin for the walk back to our hotels.

We made it back to our hotel just as my brother and his wife arrived.  They wanted to go check out the city, see the liberty bell, and take some amazing photos (which I will be displaying at the end of the post). So we each got some hot apple cider and ventured out.  We took a good hour to walk around and then made it back to the hotel to give ourselves a few minutes to change before dinner.

The in-laws, brother and SIL and Ian and I walked to dinner a few blocks away.  We had dinner with Kim and Jeremy, and another friend Beth and her hubby who was also running in the marathon.  We went to Davios where the runners had lots of pasta, and the nonrunners ate wayyy too much food.  It was awesome.

We went back to the Ritz and grabbed a quick drink before calling it a night since we had to be up early on Sunday - race day!  I finished making Ian's signs while he got his stuff lined up for the morning.

Sunday, Ian was up and out the door by 6 a.m.  I decided to skip going to the start line, and instead the family met him at miles 1 and 6.  He was in great spirits at both of those miles which was good to see.  In between mile 6 and the finish, we grabbed a quick bite to eat.  We walked the 2 miles to the finish line and set up camp.  We anxiously awaited his arrival, and soon we saw his cute face coming up the incline.  My brother acted like the paparazzi and snapped some great photos. Surprisingly, Ian still looked comfortable, although I'd later learn that he was just freaking relieved to see us and for it to be over.

So he finished his first marathon in 4:09, which personally, I think is AWESOME!  He was hoping to beat 4:00 - but overall he's super happy to just be finished.  Seeing him finish was emotional and we both got a little choked up.  I'm not really sure why it was - but it was motivating and a proud moment to see him finish his goal after months of training.

He called out sick today because he can barely walk, and he thinks that will be his only marathon (I'm a little pleased about the second piece). 

Here are lots of pictures from our weekend:

Mile 1:

Mile 6:

Mile 6 again: (and clearly, he was feeling comfortable as he was goofing off)

And mile 26:

And after the race - I saw him and ran to give him a big hug:

And the sign I made said "Brits Do It Better".

And what am I holding in the other hand? 

Kim's husband gave Kim, Ian and Paul a bottle of champagne - so cute!

Dilemma

I was recently asked by one of my close friends to be a bridesmaid in her wedding.  I am so honored, and thrilled to be a part of her big day!  Her wedding was to take place on a Friday in May.

Our other dear friend, who was a big part of Ian and I meeting, is getting married on the Saturday night (the night after my friend's wedding).  I thought this was perfect, and that we'd be able to attend both.

But my friend has moved her wedding to Saturday evening.  As in, now both weddings are the same day.  And my friend's is in NY, while our other close friend's is in Baltimore.  Now we're faced with a huge dilemma.  Do we split up, Ian go to the wedding here in Baltimore, and I go to my friend's wedding in NY?  That way, at least we both are a part of each of their wedding days.  I am bummed out.

I'm sad at the thought of missing either of their weddings.  And hearing stories from Ian, if we were to split up for the weekend, would make me even more bummed out.  Especially because many of our close friends will be at the Baltimore wedding.

I think my loyalty is to my friend because I am a bridesmaid for her.  But I hate having to make this decision!  Have you been in this situation before? What'd you decide?

Still Contemplating

Thanks for the suggestions yesterday!  I wish I knew people going to the shower so we could split a bigger present, but I don't know anybody.  So I'm still contemplating what to get her.  I'm going to go shopping tomorrow to see if I can find something special for the mom-to-be.  And I might get something for the baby too!  I'm thinking about getting her a pedicure/manicure gift card from a spa nearby.  This late in her pregnancy, her feet could probably use a good massage.

Now, I'm off to do work and go to the gym.  Happy Friday.  Although it is Friday the 13th - weird.

Shower for Mommy-to-Be

I've been invited to a shower for a mom-to-be.  She's already had a couple baby showers, so I think I'm supposed to get a present for the mom-to-be.  The invite mentioned some things she likes - Aveda, Bath and Body Works, and a few others.  But I don't really want to get something from any of the places they've suggested - because I think she'll have too many people buying from those places.

But I have no idea what to get her.  Help!  I haven't been through being pregnant, so I have no idea what she'd really want to do after she has the baby, or during these last couple months of being pregnant.  What do you think?  I know some of my readers are either expecting, or already have children, so YOU, I need your suggestions!  Oh, and if it can be budget friendly, that'd be even better!

Another One Bites the Dust

Thanks to Annie for her suggestions in yesterday's post!  I think I may have to have more guest bloggers post after their weddings or other life-changing events.

Onto today's post.  I remember sitting around at my mom's house with my high school girlfriends talking about who we thought would get married first and last out of our group.  This conversation probably took place 5-6 years ago.  It was guessed that I would be last - I don't think this was in a mean way, but more in a, I'm prone to be overly cautious way.

It's interesting how things work out in reality.  I was #2 to get married out of the 6 of us.  And now, 3 of us are married.  2 of the others are now engaged.

It makes me wonder - when did we all grow up?  Most of my law school friends are not married or engaged.  Maybe because most of my law school friends waited a few years to go to law school after college.  Or maybe just a coincidence.  I'm not sure. 

And I can hardly believe that the next big stage for most of us is having babies.  Amazing how things change in 5-6 years.  6 years ago, I was in a relationship that should've been over the first time we broke up (there were about 3 breakups I think in the 5 years I was with the guy).  At this exact time 6 years ago, I was studying abroad in Spain (take me back pleasssee), drinking way too much, traveling all over the place and making some amazing friends (two of my bridesmaids!).  It almost seems like a lifetime ago.  But in other respects, I feel like I was just there.

With 5 weddings on our schedule next year already, I'm super excited to watch as 5 dear friends take the next big step in their lives.  And if things have changed this much in the past 6 years, I can hardly imagine where we'll all be 6 years from now.  But I'm excited to see.

The Things We'll Do

I meant to write about this on September 1st - but never got around to it, or when I did have time, I forgot to write about it.

Ian and I met each other when we were very different people.  I was a senior in college, loving senior life and spending as many nights as possible enjoying my remaining college days before entering the real world.  Ian was a few years out of college, enjoying bachelorhood by living in Federal Hill with 2 roommates.  We both drank far too much - but I guess that is part of what happens when you're young and single and enjoying college/post-college life.

As Ian and I became more serious, I knew one thing was going to have to change if we were to begin planning our lives together: smoking.  Ian grew up in England and France which happens to be a very smoke friendly culture.  He was in the wrong crowd (from what I hear) and began smoking cigarettes when he was about 12 years old.

While Ian and I were dating, he was normally respectful not to smoke when he was with me and shower before he would see me.  But at about 1 year into being together, we came to the mutual decision that we could never live together with that habit.

So over several months, we kept chatting about the possibility of him quitting.  He had tried to quit a few times before, but mentally just had not been in it because he truly enjoyed smoking (as I think most smokers do).  He finally made the decision to quit.  But how and when would he be able to?  Smoking had become such a routine at work for him, along with being surrounded by friends who almost all smoke and fellow workers who did as well.

We planned our first trip together to Topsail Island, NC for 1 week.  We left on September 1, 2006.  That was the day, he decided, would be the start of him quitting.  By being with me for an entire week (which meant no smoking), and getting away from his daily routine and the people he was used to smoking with, he thought the trip would be the perfect time.

He came to pick me up to leave for NC, and had his last cigarette that morning.  He did absolutely beautifully with quitting.  He said it was not that difficult because of the way he had done it: talking it over for a few months to mentally get a grasp of it, then planning a way to help him quit in the best way possible.  Occasionally he will say he craves a cigarette but never succumbs to that desire.  Since that day, he has not had one drag of a cigarette.

I am incredibly proud of him for overcoming an addiction which some people struggle with their entire lives.  And as he prepares for his first marathon, I have to think that he wouldn't be able to come as far along in his training if he were still smoking.  When he crosses the finish line in a couple months, I'll be cheering him on - not only for the amazing victory of running his first marathon, but also because I couldn't feel more proud of him for making a change in his life, and ours. It's amazing the things we'll do to make things right with the person we love - and I am incredibly fortunate for that.

Love is in the Air

This weekend we were surrounded by so many friends. Friday night we kicked off the weekend with dinner at Samos.  After Ian and I both worked out on Saturday morning and dropped Tessa off at my mom's, we headed to Kent Island, MD for Annie and Brad's wedding.  We were running so late that we knew we didn't have time to check into the hotel before their ceremony, which meant we had to change in the car down the street from the church.  Try putting spanx on in the car - it's more challenging than you think, especially when you're trying to make sure no people in their houses can see you.  I'll just leave it at that.

Anywayyyyys - we went early to the church so we could get a good seat for picture taking.  The ceremony was over before we knew it and was so very lovely.  The bride and groom looked gorgeous and handsome (respectively) and the bridesmaid dresses were a great color on everyone! 

They also hired the incredibly talented Maria & Drew to photograph their wedding so it was fun to finally meet them in person and see them in action! 

We then checked into our hotel and headed to some a friend's hotel room to chat it up with some of our very best friends.  Annie and I went to high school together so all of our high school girlfriends were there, along with my very best guy friends.  This meant we were in for a very long drinking night - inevitably that seems to happen when you know that many people at a wedding - it becomes one huge drinking fest that makes for fantastic/slightly scary dancing, and even more fantastic/slightly scary photos.

The cocktail hour had the most beautiful setting since we were directly on the water.  The food was good - but it seemed they couldn't come out quickly enough because people were attacking the server.  Something about the heat and drinking makes people HUNGRY!

Then came the reception, which seemed to fly by!  When the reception was all over, we headed back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and headed to a nearby tiki bar which had some very interesting characters. 

Sunday we went and picked Tessa up and headed straight to Elena's first birthday party.  I wish we could've stayed longer and played with all the kiddies, but dear Tessa was not cooperating.  She sees kids and automatically thinks any food they have is hers to eat.  She's very gentle and not mean in any way, but just gets so hyper!  And it was way too hot to leave her in the car for longer than a few minutes.  But miss Elena looked absolutely adorable in her outfit that her grandma had made her - a ladybug outfit.  Hopefully Elena's momma will post some pics on her blog of the day.

I am exhausted from the weekend, and Ian is now sick - but it was such an incredible weekend surrounded by so many friends.  I miss all of those friends who live near our old house, which is only an hour away from where we live now, but difficult to get to often.  Ian and I are going to try to make an effort to make the trip down there more often because we miss them so much, and have such a fabulous time with them.

Congrats to Annie and Brad, who are now in Greece celebrating being newlyweds, and happy 1st birthday to Elena (and her parents who really deserve a Congrats - being new parents is hard!).

Here are pics from the wedding!

And the craziness begins!

And my personal favorite, which makes me oh-so-proud to be married to this man:

Labor Day Weekend

Before we get into the next weekend, I figured I should probably tell you about our busy labor day weekend. Friday nights are kind of dead for us these days because Ian's long run occurs every Saturday morning. As he's been getting into longer runs like this past Saturday's 14 miler, I've been trying to make something with lots of carbs for him to eat the night before. So Friday I spent about 3 hours making homemade meatballs and tomato sauce to go over pasta. Holy crap it made a ton of food and it was freaking delicious. My one suggestion if you are going to make this is to double the recipe for the sauce. Also, I would add some spices to the sauce to...spice it up. We've been eating leftovers all week!


While Ian was out for his long run, I pretended like I was going to run errands. Really, I was going to pick up his birthday present to give to him early. When I got home I asked him to go out to the car to carry in the bags from Costco because I was just too tired. I watched him from the window to see his reaction when he saw the box for a 46" flat screen TV loaded into the back of my car. He was shocked/excited/shocked. I had been telling him we'd have to wait until I was finished with law school to get a new TV. He had been saving up giftcards for over a year to buy one. So I finally pulled the trigger, took the gift cards and took advantage of a sale they were having that had dropped the price down by $400.


Sunday, I spent most of the day in Arlington for my friend's baby shower. It was a great shower and because there weren't a lot of people there, we were able to catch up a lot. I wish I had taken pictures! She looks absolutely fantastic and truly has only gained weight in the belly region - I cannot believe she's only 4 weeks away! She is one lucky bitch to look so healthy and normal this far along. And the name of the baby if it's a girl: Katherine. I like it - but I may be a bit biased!


Monday, Ian and I headed to Hersheypark, where we used the tickets my mom had gotten us for our 1st anniversary. We had never been to a theme park together before so it was interesting to see how similar we were in terms of the rides we would/would not go on. Monster roller coasters - not so much our style. Moderate and mild roller coasters were totally our style, along with rides like bumber cars. But holy crap, the people watching is AMAZING at Hershey. I have never seen so many mullets/80's hairdos and denim all at once in my entire life. We had fantastic weather, lines that weren't outrageous, and a ton of laughter (did you see my comment about the people watching?!). All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!

Hello, is anyone out there?

I am not sure if anyone is still out there, but I'm back! I am trying to get caught up on all any news I've missed from blogging pals - but if I haven't written on your blog and you have big news, fill me in! I don't really know what happened, but I just didn't get around to blogging because I've been enjoying my summer! I have to say that nothing too crazy occurred over the past 2 months, but I'll try to pick up where I left off.

Now where was I? Ahh yes, our 1st anniversary celebration! It seems like we had been talking about our first anniversary for months, and then poof, it was over before we knew it. With me not able to take vacation time, we knew we'd only be able to go away for the weekend as opposed to doing a big week long vacation. After we dropped Tessa off at my mom's, we drove through the beautiful country (and lots of rain) to a little place called Washington, Virginia. It's in the middle of nowhere, and the town's main street is about 1/4 mile in length. I have always raved about a restaurant there but knew we'd have to go for a very special occasion. We decided this was the perfect occasion and I am SO happy we went there.

We checked into a beautiful bed and breakfast called Middleton Inn, where we stayed in an adorable rustic cottage. The Inn had 2 yellow labs and 2 horses - and I adored all of them! We then went Gadino Winery where we had lots of ...wine! We sat out in the sun and drank a glass each after the tasting.

Afterwards, we headed back to our B&B where I took full advantage of the extra large bath tub while Ian took a nap. Once we were all ready, we took a 5 minute walk to the restaurant we had been anxiously waiting to eat at: The Inn at Little Washington. We arrived and started looking at the menu while we had some champagne, and found that the restaurant had printed on the front of every menu a congratulatory message to Ian and I. Much to Ian's disappointment, the reservation was under my last name, so it said "To Mr. and Mrs. [Katie's last name]. Regardless, the gesture was lovely. The food was phenomenal. I wish I had the menu handy to give you a list of what we ate. But my mouth it watering just writing about it!

On our way out of the town, we stopped by Gray Ghost Vineyards and had one last glass of wine before coming home. It was a fabulous weekend, and since I's so late writing about this, I'm excited to say we are only 10 months away from our 2nd anniversary, when we can hopefully have just as an amazing weekend as this was.

Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Wine tasting #1:

The Inn where we stayed:

Our cottage:

Me and my cute hubby at dinner:

The view from our cottage:

About 20 feet from the front of our cottage, there were two horses. We walked back to our cottage from dinner at about midnight. I kicked off my heels and strolled over to the fence. Sure enough, both horses made their way over to Ian and I. It felt like a movie moment - the stars were out, it was silent as can be, and there we were all dressed up, petting horses. I loved it!

Here's the chef (who had just brought us breakfast in the cottage) playing with one of the labs:

Winery #2:

When we got home, we made a delicious dinner and then ate the top layer of our wedding cake. And surprisingly, it was exactly how it tasted on our wedding night!