Magic Poo

That’s right, folks, I said poo. Dog poo, to be exact.

Jack and I went for a run today. Typically when I take Jack on a run with me I am feeling ambitious. His gait is normally a lot faster than mine, so I usually either end up exhausted after our run or I can’t even finish it in its entirety without stopping to walk sooner. Most of the time it is the latter of those two.

Today was a different story.

I made it very clear to Jack that we were “going for a run”. I didn’t want him expecting that we were “going for a walk” or “going to play ball” or “going to the park”. We were going for a run and our final destination would be home again. I got my running shoes on, grabbed Jack’s leash, stuffed a poop clean-up bag in my shorts, grabbed the pup, and headed out the door. Jack doesn’t typically poo on our runs. He usually just runs. Period. And then expects to play ball when we return home. Today, I kid you not, he pooped right as we made our first turn – too far from home to drop the poop bag off and not near any trash bins that we could throw the poop bag in. So we ran with it. For the entire three miles, I tightly gripped a bag of dog poop while Jack and I had our best run ever! He was patient with my slower stride, he didn’t pull me along, he found a tennis ball which also ended up in my shorts since he didn’t want to carry it and my hands were full with a leash and poop, and, by the end of our run, I think he was more tired than I was! There must’ve been magic in that poo!

I’ve been waiting and waiting for the day that Jack and I can get a good, consistent run in, and now I feel like we’re there! I have a running buddy, at least until sometime in October when yet another running buddy will join Jack and I. We are going to be quite the trio, I tell ya – poo and all!

End of the First Trimester

Tomorrow we enter the start of week fourteen.  We have officially made it through the first trimester!  Here is a quick recap of what we have experienced thus far:

Physically
1. Nausea - I've been thankful to still not have gotten sick at all throughout our first trimester.  The nausea is another story.  I know I've talked about this, but I had afternoon/evening nausea that sometimes had me laid out.  Fortunately, the nausea has noticeably subsided over the last week.  It's not 100% gone, but it's definitely not what it was!

2. Tiredness - (Read: so exhausted you don't even have the words.)  I have been tired for a long time.  The other day I got home from work at 4:30 pm, took a nap until 7:30 pm, grabbed a quick nibble, and went back to bed at 8:30 pm...and slept through the night.  My doctor asked me if I was getting eight hours of sleep per night.  I explained that I needed eight before we got pregnant.  I think I need ten to twelve now!  Surprisingly, over the last week while the nausea has subsided, the sleepiness has only increased.  I'm hoping that this is a baby growth spurt, not an indication of the next six months!

3. Headaches - O.M.G.  I should've known I was pregnant when I didn't know because I got this pounding headache at work one day.  I don't normally get headaches.  When I do, I have a reason: I'm tired, I'm dehydrated, etc.  Since I've become pregnant, I get headaches at least five times per week.  Some last 15-20 minutes and others last for hours.  Again, this is one of those symptoms that has increased toward the end of this last tri.

4.  Digestion - I'm either constipated or I have diarrhea.  There is no in between.  That's all I'll say about that.  (I'm sorry if that is already TMI for anyone.)  Pregnant women have the get outta jail free pass to say what they want, right?!

5. Bladder Control - I think my bladder went from holding 15 oz. to 5 oz. when we became pregnant.  I never used to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  Now, I try to use the bathroom at the last possible moment with the hopes that I'll be able to sleep through the night.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

6. Bump Status - The update on the bump, or lack there of - there's a little something there, we think.  Our bambino is still very tiny, so give us a few more weeks/months and I'm sure we'll have more to write about!

Cravings
I haven't had many cravings yet.  The only one I recall throughout this first trimester was about two weeks ago.  I just HAD to have some blueberries!  You know - the ripe, fat, plump ones?  Those are the best!  I went to the grocery store, picked up a container (with some strawberries too), and went home and ate.them.all!  :)  I've since gotten more, and they are amazing ever time I eat them!

I did have another craving about a month ago for some Taco Bell at lunch.  The Bell is not usually one of my "go to" lunch options, so it took me a bit off guard.  But I wasn't near any Taco Bell's, and I convinced myself that our little bambino could probably use something a bit healthier, so I passed on the thought...that time!

Weight Loss/Gain
My doctor said that I'm actually in the negative for weight gain because I am down four pounds from the last time that Brian and I visited a month ago, or my normal pre-pregnancy weight. (Surely, no thanks to the nausea.) But she said that it is nothing to be worried about and that at our next appointment she would like to see me back at my normal weight. Fortunately, since the nausea has subsided quite a bit I should be able to get all my meals in.  Now, if I could just stay awake to eat we'd all be good to go!

I think that we are are at a funny stage of our pregnancy.  We don't look physically different, but there is so much going on internally that I don't remember the last time that I had a day where I felt "normal".  I'm actually kind of wondering if I will ever feel "normal" again?

We know that the next thirteen or so weeks will probably hold some other surprises, but we are officially one third of the way through our pregnancy, ladies and gentlemen!  That is amazing and exciting and terrifying all at once!

Welcome to the second trimester!

Baby Bump or Big Breakfast?

Our dear neighbor, Virginia, invited Brian and I and our other neighbor, Ed, to brunch today at the prestigious Scioto Country Club where she is a member.  Together, we encompass our little block, and, believe it or not, Ed has lived in his house for over 40 years and Virginia in hers for over 50 and they had never met until today!  It was quite the gathering!

There was breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, and dessert options, all of which were exquisite!  We definitely dined away while we got to know our neighbors a bit more and enjoyed an amazing brunch that we otherwise would not have been able to attend.  (Scioto Country Club is very exclusive and only members are allowed.)

In addition to enjoying a fabulous brunch, we are also anxiously anticipating my expanding belly!  We are in the middle of our 13th week and while there's not too much "bumping" going on, we think there's a little bump forming.  We're not sure if it's baby driven or big breakfast driven, but we think there's a little something there, so we decided to post a photo of what we have deemed our "little bump" until we can fully graduate to our "baby bump"!:

13 weeks & 2 days: baby bump or big breakfast?  You decide.

When I am fully clothed you still cannot tell a difference in my physical appearance.  My normal clothes still fit but my tummy has definitely changed/been changing since we found out we were expecting!  We know we are just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to physical changes, but it has really been amazing to become more in tune with my body watch my "normal" transform into "pregnant".

Baby makin' is no joke!

Born on Broadway

We will be delivering at Riverside Methodist Hospital.  On our way to our second appointment today, I noticed that our hospital is partly located on North Broadway.  While it's physical address is Olentangy River Road, Brian and I are happy to report that our baby will be born on [North] Broadway!  (Unless we are not in the vicinity of Riverside and baby decides the time is NOW and comes wherever we are...I suppose that could happen.)  But the plan is Riverside!

Our appointment today was amazing!  We learned that my blood type is O+ which is the same as the majority of the population and poses no particular risks to baby, and we have also confirmed that there is only one passenger aboard the mothership.  We pretty much confirmed this with our first appointment, but you never know if one little guy or gal is hiding in there!

We are entering week thirteen today and for the very first time we heard the perfect whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound of our little baby's heartbeat.  It was incredible!  Our doctor said that the heartbeat is sometimes hard to find, but as soon as she put the doppler on my stomach the heartbeat was there beating at 150 bpm!  We were very proud of our cooperative little wee one, we even heard a random noise which the doc informed us was a little kick!  That made both Brian and I laugh!

After we heard the amazing sound of our baby's heartbeat, I was whisked away to give blood to test to see if I am a carrier of any cystic fibrosis genes and then we headed down to Maternal Fetal Medicine where we had a detailed ultrasound to test for any signs of down syndrome or trisomy 13 or 18.  This was a special treat because we got to see our little baby again!  Had we not done this test, we would've heard the heartbeat and headed on our way, which also would have been satisfying, but being able to see our bambino was a bonus!

On top of it all, our initially cooperative wee one was not being cooperative at all, and it took nearly 30 minutes to get the baby to move in to the right position to get the correct measurements.  At one point, the ultrasound technician was trying everything to get our baby to move, and what did baby do?!  Baby moved alright - 180 degrees the opposite way!  (Child stars are so difficult to work with...)  Fortunately, once baby did get in the right position, we were informed that all appears to be perfectly healthy and normal, so aside from poking and prodding a little bit our bun is still cooking away! 

Doing the ultrasound was simply incredible.  Our baby has grown so much over the last month!  It is amazing!  We saw perfect little fingers on perfect little hands, and baby even open and closed its hands while we were watching!  Baby also open and closed its mouth AND our ultrasound technician said that we may have a thumb sucker in there because baby put its hands toward its face multiple times in what looked like the start of sucking its thumb!  Brian and I both sucked our thumbs when we were little, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Baby is too!  Sorry, Baby...

While we did the ultrasound we saw the funniest image of our little bambino loungin'!  Now, I'm not talking about just relaxin' a bit.  No, ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about straight up chaise lounge pool side loungin'!  Baby had its both of its arms by its head and was completely stretched out!  We, again, couldn't help but laugh at the thought!  Apparently, living in the womb is the bomb-dizzle!

Last, but certainly not least, we have another appointment scheduled in four weeks and another appointment scheduled in six weeks.  The second appointment will be a big milestone - we will be finding out if we are having a little girl or little boy, in addition to making sure all is healthy and baby is growing as it should be!  SO, that means if you are interested in voting in our baby boy/baby girl poll, you must have your votes in by May 29th!  (It's right there to the right on the sidebar!)

What a day!  It was so exciting to see our growing bun again, hear its little heartbeat, have the reassurance that all is going well, and have a few laughs as a family along the way!

Enjoy the ultrasound photos below!

Here baby is sitting indian style getting his/her meditation on!

How precious is that little profile?!

Our baby is facing us here.  Don't you love the buddha belly?!

Here is the loungin' pic - legs stretched out, both arms up by its head!
 I wonder if there's a baby hammock in there too?!

Here is baby's little hand waving hello!

And here are baby's little fingers!

I think our baby has quite a sense of humor after seeing what's been going down inside the womb!  We are so looking forward to meeting this kiddo outside of the womb, but we're content with him or her to keep on cookin' until it's time!

You just can't help but smile, can you?!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have our second doctor's appointment!  We are very excited to see how much our little bambino has grown and to see what's been going on in there!!  One month ago we were fortunate enough to catch a quick glimpse of what life was like in the womb.  (It looked pretty cozy in there!)  So tomorrow we believe we will be able to check out our growing baby and perhaps hear the heartbeat!  At our eight week, five day appointment, we saw that the baby's heart was beating 160 beats per minute, but we didn't get to listen to it.

I believe this appointment will confirm we are on track for our due date, make sure baby is growing as it should, and hear that little heartbeat that we haven't heard, as well as make sure I'm getting all the right amounts of nutrients to keep our bun-a-cookin'!

It is a very exciting time!  We will be sure to post more photos, if we get them, and let you know how everything went!

Dear Baby- We can't wait to see you!  Love, Daddy & Mommy

Sally Sells Sea Shells in our Backyard!

Well, at least she used to!  This weekend we did our Spring clean-up and mulched.  While we were cleaning up the yard, we were picking up some of the rocks out of our flower beds.  When Brian picked up a rock, he noticed a fossil on it!  A sea shell fossil to be exact...in our very own yard! 

At a best guess, I think we could peg this as a Brachiopod.

It's a pretty small fossil.  This is an azalea flower.

And for an even better size comparison...Jack's tennis ball.

Pretty amazing, huh?!  I was quite impressed with my Baby's Daddy - one for spotting such a tiny imprint and two for putting his impressive palaeontological skills to use!  It's simply incredible to wonder how that fossil got into our backyard and what the earth (and our backyard) looked like millions of years ago!

Pregnancy Brain

I've lost it, and I am not even kidding.  I never heard of pregnancy brain until I started reading different books about being pregnant, and I can assure you that I am getting more and more forgetful (read: cuckoo) by the hour.  And it kind of scares me; if I'm going this crazy at 11.5 weeks, what on earth is going to happen when we reach 25 weeks or even 35 weeks?!

Let me explain why I have diagnosed myself with pregnancy brain.

I am usually on top of my game.  I forget random things here and there but I would consider myself pretty organized and together.  My first true pregnancy brain experience was on my trip to Maryland.  I had my bags packed and my outfit for my flight laid out.  As a last minute change, I decided to wear my comfy pants on the flight instead of my jeans.  (It was 5:30 in the morning.  If the fashion police were out at that hour then they deserved to find me.)

When I got to Maryland I looked for my jeans.  I didn't see them in my bag anywhere!  I concluded that I must've left them on my dresser with my last minute outfit change.  That was Friday.

On Friday night I went out with Tamara and [reluctantly] bought a new pair of jeans.  (I say 'reluctantly' because I know that my waist will be expanding and spending money on something that won't be expanding with me is difficult.  Then again, so is wearing comfy pants all weekend when you're not in the comfort of your own home.)

I wore my new jeans on Friday night and all day Saturday, and after I showered on Sunday I pulled my sweater out of my bag and saw another pair of jeans.  My jeans...the jeans that I thought I had left on my dresser...

I just shook my head in disbelief.  To this day, I truly believe that the Pregnancy Gods were playing some kind of funny trick on me because I did NOT have my jeans when I looked for them the first four times.

Since then I've had a couple of other mishaps too:

1. The other day when I showered, I washed my hair with conditioner...twice...instead of using shampoo and then conditioner.  Once again, I just shook my head and washed the conditioner out of my hair...twice...before I got out of the shower.

2. While I was at work trying to scan two different work orders, I actually scanned the same one twice - only to find out when I sat back down at my desk that I didn't have one that I thought I had scanned...

I don't know, folks, sometimes I read articles that say the "pregnancy brain" is not real.  If that is the case, why have I lost it?  And why do I keep losing it?!  (And don't even blame it on me turning 30 this year...)

I think that the "pregnancy brain" is real, and if you have any doubts, just hang out with me for a week.  I can guarantee that you will change your mind!

Baby Mama Drama

We have been so excited about our little bambino!  I know that our family blog has quickly turned to "all things baby", and I can assure you that we will talk about other things along the way, but our new addition technically is "family" news, so you're just gonna have to get used to the change in subject matter!  (By the way, if you think this is bad, just wait until baby arrives...)

One of the most recent pregnancy developments is the addition of two new nicknames.  We no longer refer to the other as Brian or Erin, Husband or Wife, Bri or Cakester.  No, folks, we've upgraded to our new roles:

Baby's Daddy & Baby's Mama

Signing cards, emails, texts, and referring to the other in the third person just got a whole lot more drama-licious, and it has been so much fun!  We absolutely love being able to say, "Oh, let me check with my Baby's Daddy first," or, "Oh, yeah!  That's my Baby's Mama!"

Adding a bit of Baby Mama Drama into our lives is very entertaining!

It doesn't take much to amuse us...

Easter Bunnies!

This year, Brian spent his Easter day green side at the Master's Tournament in Augusta, GA and I headed east to Maryland to see some family and friends and get some much needed TLC.  It was awesome to be home!

I took Friday off, so I was able to have a little bit of extra time at my home sweet home, and while I was there I got to see my friends, Brandi and Tamara, and so much of my family: my grandparents, my sister, both sets of my aunts and uncles, and all of my cousins on my Mom's side.  It was so, so nice to see everyone.  I miss them, and the time that I have with them is certainly precious.  We spent a lovely weekend catching up, going to an Easter egg hunt at the pool, going shopping in Georgetown, dyeing Easter eggs, laughing, and talking...a lot!

Upon my return back to Cbus, I noticed that the Easter Bunny had gathered up a few of Brian's favorites and hid a sweet little basket for him to find when he got home on Monday.  It was a long week without him, but it has since been wonderful to have him home.

And, in true Hendricks Household tradition, here is our Easter 2012 photo:

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter too!

Things You Don't Know About Until You Are Expecting...

We’ve encountered quite a few surprises throughout our pregnancy so far. We know that there are probably many more to come, but we’ve listed the ones we know of below in no specific order:

1. There are no words to describe the emotions that you feel when you see a positive home pregnancy test, especially if you’ve been trying for a few months. It is a combination of total excitement and total fear all mixed up together with a bit of anxiety, wonder and pure joy. You want to cry and laugh and smile all at the same time, but you just aren’t really sure how to. I, for one, had to sit down. (I think Brian did too once he realized that I wasn’t “messing” with him.)

2. When you find out that you are pregnant, you are already four weeks along. This is very confusing for us logical folk. You didn’t actually conceive until two weeks (more or less) after the first day of your last period, but the doctors will tell you that that day (the first day of your last missed period) is when the counting started. Therefore, when you have missed your next period, you are already 4 weeks along. This is all very exciting except for the fact that you end up being pregnant for 40 weeks. 40 weeks divided by 4 weeks per month equals 10 months, so you are actually pregnant for 10 months? We haven’t quite figured this one out, but we will surely let you know if we do…

3. From what we have learned, most doctors don’t schedule your first appointment until you are between 8 and 10 weeks. For those of you that are good at math, that’s another 4 to 6 weeks of unknowns AFTER you’ve found out that you are in fact expecting. The anticipation for your first appointment makes those 4 to 6 weeks go by soooo sllooowwww.

4. Pre-natal vitamins are like horse pills. That’s all I have to say about that.

5. Being pregnant takes exhaustion to a whole new level. It’s confusing to get your normal amount of sleep and not have done anything too out of the ordinary just to be exhausted at 7:30 pm the next day. I, literally, can go to bed an hour or two before my normal bedtime and still sleep through the entire night...and still be tired the next day.

6. You have never felt extreme nausea and extreme starvation at the same time until you are expecting. And you’re not sure which one to obey.

7. Your gag reflexes have a new heightened sense of awareness. I never knew brushing my own teeth would make me gag, but it does.

We are excited to experience all the other quirks and surprises we know are ahead of us throughout this pregnancy. We will continue to keep you posted!

Lots of love,

Brian, Erin, & Baby

Signs and Symptoms

We know for sure we are expecting, not only because of the reassurance and sonogram that received from our doctor (the sonogram is a dead giveaway), but also because of how I’ve been feeling.

Most days I feel pretty well. I am certainly battling nausea all day, but eating every couple of hours can usually keep the nausea at bay. I try to have breakfast, second breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, second lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and mid-evening snack. Strangely enough, however, I tend to get very nauseous in the afternoon into the evening, which makes all meals after lunch on stand-by. I try to make sure I keep something in my stomach, even something small, but there have been a few nights where I’ve simply been laid out from nausea. The only thing that seems to take the edge off is lying down. Fortunately, because this feeling is in the afternoon/evening, I haven’t really had to be too uncomfortable at work or miss any work for that matter, and because I’m so tired, I go to bed early and can sleep away the nausea. Which brings me, oh, so perfectly to my next symptom: extreme exhaustion.

It is so weird to feel so tired with no excuse. I’ve gotten enough sleep, I’ve eaten enough food, I’ve not run thirteen miles in lieu of my normal three or so, but I am still exhausted. Come 8 pm, if I’m not in bed, I could easily go to bed, and if I’ve not gotten ready for bed, I had better do so soon because in the very near future there will be a point where I am too tired to even run through my normal bedtime routine. This has happened, folks, believe me. Now, I know that my body has transformed into a baby making ma-chine (it’s more fun if you pronounce the ‘ch’ like the ‘ch’ in ‘cheese’), but I didn’t realize it would leave me so tired. My insides must be working very hard!

Despite these couple very common pregnancy symptoms, I really can’t complain. I haven’t gotten sick at all, and as long as I prepare my days by keeping snacks within reach and going to bed a bit earlier, I’m we (I suppose I should be saying ‘we’ now, huh?!) are typically good to go! I know that many of these symptoms will most likely fade off a bit once we hit the second trimester, but they are definitely different from my normal non-pregnant self.

Believe me, I know that things could be much worse, so you won’t find me complaining about the baby we’re-a-brewing - no matter what he or she throws our way!

...Then Comes the Baby in the Baby Carriage!

(At least that's how it worked for us!)

That's right, folks: we are having a baby!  We are nearly eleven weeks along and we are due on October 25th!  We are both extremely excited for this incredible new adventure and are beaming from ear to ear!

We found out mid-February that we were expecting and had our first official appointment on March 20th.  Our doctor took multiple measurements of our little bambino which pegged us due anywhere from October 24th to October 26th, so she took the average and gave us the date of October 25th.  We found out that we were eight weeks and five days pregnant at our first appointment and it was simply incredible to see our baby moving on the screen next to us.  (Yes, he or she was already moving and you could see four little limbs forming!)

It is all just so incredible, and we have both been overjoyed with the news of our little bambino!  Our next appointment is in two weeks on April 19.  We will definitely have another photo to share, but, until then, here is our very first sonogram of our sweet baby:

Our Little Bambino - 8 weeks and 5 days old!

We're going to be parents, and we are so excited!

...Then Comes Marriage...

I moved to Columbus, OH in April of 2009.  Shortly thereafter, July, to be exact, we booked an incredible vacay to Jamaica.  It was there that Brian proposed!

You can read about our stories here and here.  (Both of our versions of the proposal are posted.)  We started our blog to keep all of our family and friends in the loop of our wedding planning, and it's amazing to be able to go "back in time" and read about all of our triumphs and tribulations of wedding planning!  Fortunately, we have continued to keep our blog live and running with all of our other adventures on our journey through life together.  We have family and friends throughout the world and we want to be sure that everyone is kept in the loop!

Because I can get a bit winded with my story telling (see the "First Comes Love" post), I will try to keep this short and sweet.

Brian and I were engaged for nearly 13 months.  We got engaged on July 25, 2009 and we were married on August 6, 2010. 

13 months of being engaged!

Our wedding day was magical.  When I think back upon it, I just remember being happy.  Standing by Brian's side, sharing our vows, our first kiss, with all of our close family and friends was literally one of the best moments I had experienced thus far!  It felt like there was love in the air, and the only way I can describe it is magical!  (Please excuse the corn.  If you know me by now, you are used to it.  If not, you had better get used to it!)

Then Comes Marriage!

We honeymooned in Mexico, and, once again, had a fantastic time!
We have been married for 1.5 years.  We have had so many wonderful experiences together already, and as we grow older and experience new things with each other it just brings us closer together.  We are so excited for what the future holds, for we know it will be nothing short of incredible!

First Comes Love...

(You know how I usually like to warn you when posts are a bit lengthy?!  Here is your warning, but I promise you this is also very entertaining!)

It was Saturday night - March 23, 2008. I was out at Dave and Buster’s in Bethesda, MD with a girlfriend from work and two of her friends. My other co-worker, Patrick, was out with one of his friends who was in town at Ned Devine’s in Herndon, VA. We decided to join parties since I lived in Reston, VA and would be headed back that way anyway. I, in my sober state, met up with Patrick and a few of his friends, in their non-sober state. It was 1:15 am on Sunday morning.

One of those said friends was Brian Hendricks.

I had heard about the infamous Brian through quick blurbs from Patrick at work. I knew that he lived in Scotland (Patrick and his wife Becky went to visit him, so I heard about the trip) and I knew that he had moved back to the states (meaning Columbus, OH, not northern VA). Other than that, I didn’t really know much about him. Brian and Patrick had been texted me all night to get me to meet up with them. (Thanks to Patrick for handing out my digits, oh, so easily, to Brian.) Brian had “extended the truth” all night with some of his texts, claiming he was "in town from Scotland", but I was quick to call him out, so he knew from the get go that I was not to be messed with.

Because it was so late in the night, and I was the only one in any state to drive, Patrick asked me if I would be willing to drive he and Brian back to Patrick’s, where Brian was staying the night. I was willing.

On our way out of the door, Patrick whispered to me nonchalantly, “My friend wants to get with you.”

This is almost where our story ended.

I rolled my eyes, thinking to myself, “Who does this Brian character think he is? He thinks can just roll into any town and get with whoever he wants to?” He was about to get a rude awakening if he was even thinking about putting the moves on me.

I dropped Patrick and Brian off and was invited in for a beer. Once again, since it was Saturday night , and since I had been out but not drinking…I was willing.

I went inside. We all headed to Patrick’s basement so as not to wake Patrick’s wife and his three month old baby, Noah, and we all cracked open a beer.

Two minutes later, Patrick went to bed claiming he was “tired”. I thought this was some sort of set up, and I was not pleased.

There were two couches in Patrick’s basement that formed an ‘L’. Brian sat down on one. I sat on the furthest away point on the other couch.  You literally could not have sat on the other couch and been further away...

...We stayed up for hours and talked and talked and laughed and talked into the wee hours of the morn.  And he didn't put any moves on me!

At one point, I started getting a bit chilly.  Brian grabbed a blanket and walked over to me.  That was my queue to high tail it outta there.  Since we both already had each others digits from texting the night before, we said our goodbyes and nice to meet yous and hope to see you soons and let's keep in touches and went to our separate beds.  I want to say it was 6:30 or so in the morning... It was Easter morning.

I learned that Brian was in town for four more days after the night that we met.  Brian suggested that we try to meet up again (as friends, of course) while he was in town, but I had a little clearing up to do with Patrick before I agreed to such a thing.  Even though Brian had pretty much proven to me that he was not out to just get in my pants, I still wanted to make sure that there was nothing even remotely said similar to what Patrick had told me.

I got my answer at work on Tuesday.  Patrick apologized and said that Brian would never say such a thing.  I was still a bit leary, wondering if this was still part of the guy code that I, obviously, was not privy to.  I decided to go with my gut and trust Brian (and Patrick), and Brian and I decided to meet up again at the Harp & Fiddle in Bethesda, MD.

Once again, we talked and laughed and drank and talked.  We also pulled a fast one on Patrick for nearly ruining the entire relationship from the get go.  (Everything was done in good fun though!)  We had yet another fantastic time together, but in the back of my mind,  I couldn't help but remind myself that he was going back to Ohio, and I was staying here in northern Virginia.

We decided to keep in touch.  Over the next couple of months we talked on the phone, we emailed, and we texted back and forth.  That was until the beginning of May where Brian decided to come into town for Patrick and Becky's annual flip cup party.  (I would later find out that the main reason he came into town was to see me, but for now I believed he was there to prove his master flip cup skills!)

We set a date - our first date - on the Friday night before the party.  It was May 2, and I was very excited to see Brian.  Brian was very excited to see me and, boy, did he pull out all of the stops: he brought flowers, a t-shirt for our flip cup team, and a bottle of Dom Perignon that he had been given!  It was fun for both of us!  We shared some champagne and had a fancy dinner at McCormick & Schmick's at Reston Town Center.

And this is where our adventure really started!

We made it official the weekend of May 16th, my first weekend visit to Ohio.  It was then that I started looking for jobs in Ohio.  It would be nearly a year later that I would officially receive an offer to move, but we made sure to get together as much as possible within those 12 months.

Believe it or not, we didn't drive to see each other once.  We always worked out a way to fly so we could always spend as much time as possible together!  It was always hard to say goodbye, but we made it work and I believe it made us stronger, brought us closer, and helped us cherish those special times that we were together.

First Comes Love: 14 months of dating!

We dated for 14 months...and then we went to Jamaica!  ... :)

You've Got a Friend in Me

Even though you bark at cartoons, other animals (in person and on the tele), and walk us instead of letting us walk you, we still love you.