I'm back

Yes, I know it's been a while since I have written on here. I have been so busy and haven't had the energy or time to write. What have you been doing, you ask? Unfortunately not too much other than living life. Jen and I went to Portland, OR, had a blast, really enjoyed our time there without our Rebekah, and learned that Portland is apparently the strip club capital of the world. Yeah, I didn't believe it either, except I saw these establishments (from the outside obviously) and how numerous they are.

School has started back which means I am super busy again. I really enjoy my job (both teaching and clinic work), but it is quite tiring. The teaching part is not only rewarding, but also fun. The clinic part is also rewarding and can be even more fun, when the patients don't get up and storm out on you. Or maybe because they do that, it's fun. I don't know. The was a fire at my clinic during the night a few weeks back. Thankfully no one was injured and the only thing that was damaged was an entire wing of the clinic. Luckily not the wing where my office is. THAT would have sucked. So the clinic still smells vaguely of smoke which is an improvement over what it smelled like the first few days after the fire. Jen is working still as well. No changes there. She still likes where she works, but she wishes she could stay home with the toddler.

Speaking of the toddler, Rebekah is doing really well. She's running (usually head-long into things, or diving head first onto the floor), talking (well babbling, but her vocabulary is expanding every day and she can actually understand most of what we are saying to her now and can do some basic sign language (I mean VERY basic)), and generally being a 16 month old. She is full of vim and vigor and LOVES to get into things she's not supposed to. The other day I had given her my keys to play with and she decides it would be more fun to throw them into the dogs' water bowl. So, as I am getting up from hearing her do this, she starts to splash in the water as if it's a bath. Then, as I am running toward her, she decides to completely flip the dogs' bowl on her head, soaking her and the kitchen floor all at once. This happened all in slow motion to me and all you need to picture me saying is "Nooooooooooooo" while diving uselessly onto the kitchen floor. Needless to say she got a bath right away and I dried my keys off as best as I could, then put them in a small bag of rice to really get the moisture out of them. Normally keys are metal and this isn't an issue. So what if they get wet, right? The problem with my keys is that I have an electronic remote door opener for my car which I figured at this point was ruined. Thankfully, after a night in some rice, the remote still opens my door. She got her fluy shot this past weekend and she was a little trooper. Rebekah only cried once the needle was in her and then stopped right away. She was a very good girl. Then after the shot, we got to go to the Little Gym and have fun playing on the equipment, chasing bubbles, and playing with balls. She really likes going, but isn't so much into any kind of structure. So she basically plays the whole time with me doing all the activities by myself. It's OK. Hopefully, she will learn soon enough that having structure can be fun too. Then again, I am not one much for structure either (this is evident after knowing me for like 3 seconds), so this may be an ongoing problem.

Jen and I are going to see Creed (with opening act StainD) next weekend in New Orleans. It's oly 2.5 hours away and Jen's mom is coming down to babysit for us on Friday night through Sunday so we can spend some more quality time together. We'll probably see a movie on Friday and go to the church for some adult volleyball, then get up on Saturday and drive to New Orleans. Don't really know what we are going to do there, since we don't drink, but I'm sure we'll find something. We got a hotel in NO so we don't have to drive back after the concert. I am excited since I haven't seen Creed in a more than a few years and it's their reunion tour, so I'm sure it will rock. It's awesome of Jen's parents to come babysit for us, but I am sure they don't mind since they'll get to spend a lot of time with their granddaughter. Jen will like the concert, but I'm sure she'll miss Rebekah, as will I. We also have season tickets to Auburn Tigers football games, but we will only go to 2 games this year and sell the rest. I am excited since it looks like, so far at least, this will be a better season than last. But then again, we have only played 2 very weak teams. Next week it's West Virginia and we will see how they hold up.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Hopefully I will be posting more regularly so I don't have to write so much all at once! One more thing: Congrats to a couple of our Charleston friends and a couple of our NY friends on their pregnancies! (not together, each couple is having their own child, of course)

Quote for the week: "Being manic isn't fun; it's kind of like a medical emergency."