Road Trip!

Before I was married, I didn't mind long drives, because I could turn up the radio and just chill and sing. I didn't hate travelling, but I didn't love it either.

Now that I'm married, I love taking road trips with Jamie. The radio stays off for most of the ride and we talk about everything under the sun. We'll talk about our opinions on controversial topics, or our plans and hopes for our future. Sometimes just for fun we'll pick opposing sides of a debate and have it out (I always win). Like a lot of guys, Jamie is not the type to come home from work and tell me all the details about his day, but in the car, I'll get caught up on what's been going on in the office lately. Sometimes we just chat about nothing important. But no matter what we're talking about, it's always a good bonding time. I find myself looking forward to our many trips to Toccoa. It takes about an hour to get there, which is the perfect amount of time to get a good chat in. Driving to Tallahassee this weekend was great. Five hours of chit-chat.

Jamie is also fun to travel with because he's spontaneous. For example, Sunday on the way home, we stopped at JL's Barbeque (the sign said #1 in Georgia, so we had to try it! And it was pretty tasty!), the Georgia State Fair (though we decided the wait was too long to get in) and the Salt Lick Sausage Company where we got some pretty darn good fresh jerky. I just love travelling with a guy who sees a sign saying, "Meat me down at the Salt-Lick Sausage Co.!" and decides we HAVE to stop there!

Of course, I still look forward to the days that our conversations are frequently interrupted by little ones needing attention!

Surgery Update

I finally have a solid, not-gonna-change-again date for my surgery. I will be getting it done for sure on November 1st. We had a difficult time trying to get it scheduled and had to change it twice. But now it's for sure. I'm so glad it will be done soon!

In the Meantime...

I'm generally pretty at peace about our infertility and I'm pretty confident that some way, some how I will be a mom. And though I have my days in which I want to trip the pregnant women who pass me by in the mall (not that I would), I've really learned to accept this for what it is - just a bump in the road. A bump, it's worth mentioning, that has provided me with a whole lot of time to just be a wife. And the more I hang out with that guy I married, the more I like him.

But the waiting is HARD some times. Some days I see my friends with their kids, or strangers pushing a stroller and I think, When is it going to be our turn?

One of the ways I've found to deal with the frustration of waiting is to keep a notebook of parenting ideas. That way when I hear something cool, instead of thinking, I hope I remember that years from now! I get excited about going home and writing it down. My notebook is broken into months with several pages for each month. In it I've written cool ideas for holiday traditions and seasonal traditions. The back section is not labeled with a month and is a place for me to write down fun things that have no specific date. Included in this section is a list I titled, "Books to Read Together".



I love to read, and when I was a kid I LOVED to read, so I have a lot of favorite children's books. Here's my list so far:

1. Maniac Magee
2. Anne of Green Gables
3. Little House on the Prairie (and the whole Little House series)
4. The Boxcar Children series
5. A Little Princess
6. The Secret Garden
7. Harriet the Spy
8. James and the Giant Peach (random fact you didn't know before - Jamie, when he was just an adorable little 5th grader starred in his schools production of James and the Giant Peach as James himself.)
9. The Chronicles of Narnia series
10.Number the Stars
11.Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
12.Little Women

It's a short list right now and I know I'll think of others long before my children reach the appropriate ages for these books. Also you may have noticed they're all chapter books. I'm sure we will read LOTS of great picture books when they're little (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day anyone??) and my goal is to have a pretty substantial library for my kiddos. But the books on my list are more for when they're a little older and we're reading something "meatier".

What books do you think I'm missing? Any greats from your childhood you think I should add? You may notice, since I am a girl and these are my favorite books there are only a few that aren't very girly. Anyone have any less frilly books for our future boys?

I Heart Fall

I really do. Heart fall, that is. I love football and cooler weather and changing leaves. I love going to homecoming at TFC and spending the weekend with the many Hotalen alumni. I love pumpkin flavored anything. Muffins, coffee (oh the coffee! It's glorious!), donuts, bread, pie (oddly though pumpkin itself is actually kinda gross). I love not going back to school so I can just soak in the wonderfulness of fall without any added work. But I look forward to having kids so I can soak up the back to school fun. New pencils. And backpacks. And notebooks. I love me a good notebook, blank and unmarred. I love pulling my sweaters back out. And forgetting for the next several months that the air conditioning in my car is dying.

I love all things falls. And now living in the south I don't dread winter as much. So that's a perk.

There are so many, many reasons I'm glad this season is finally here!