Life Lately....

Well....It's been a long time since I blogged about life.  I have to say, my days with a one year old are really, really busy! I go to work, get home, spend an hour or two playing with NoJo and feeding him, put him to bed, eat dinner, watch a little TV and its off to bed for me.  Rinse and repeat, day in and day out! I feel like I have very little time to myself.

I finally decided to make one big, HUGE, change in my life.  I got a new job.  Now, this may not sound that big to some people, but I have been in the same position for almost ten years now.  Ten years.  Holy cow!  I've been REALLY unhappy for the last few years, but I was just too intimidated with the whole interview process to start looking for something new. I swore I wasn't going to come back after my maternity leave....but here I am at the same place almost a year later. Finally I got so fed up I went through with it!

I have been with the same overall company (a bank) for over 13 years now, so I wanted to stay at the bank.  It took me a few months to find something I'd really like and I even lost out to a job because I was requesting a higher pay than they were willing to give me, but in the end I found something that I hope will be great!  It is the same base pay, but now I will be eligible for around 15-20% of my salary as a bonus on top of that. Yay!! 

I know blogging has been pretty light around here and it will probably continue to be that way until I really get my feet on the ground.  I am finally starting to get used to my routine with Noah and get some real sleep, but I know a new job is going to shake things up again! Hopefully in the near future I can get back to blogging about REAL things!!


Thank you all for sticking around and reading my updates....I hope there will be a lot more in the future!

Also, wish me luck!  I start my new job on Monday.  Eeek!!!

The Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done

As I sit and write this, I am exactly one day away from my goal of breastfeeding my son for an entire year.  By the time you read it, I will have passed that goal. The thought honestly brings me to tears.  I thought we’d never make.  I thought this day would never come.  I pushed myself harder than I ever have and I made it.  I hit my goal. What’s even better?  We aren’t even going to stop. We are going to keep moving forward.

This post may not be for everyone, but I needed to get this all out in writing.  My story.  It is very long, so bear with me.

As the title says, breastfeeding has been the single hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  Yes I have done difficult things (I mean hello, I birthed a child) but most of those things were just fleeting moments.  A couple of hours of my life.  This task, nursing my son, has lasted an entire year of my life.

Most women say that they love breastfeeding and the relationship with their child. They will say it is magical and beautiful and many other positive things. I can’t honestly say those things.  I never felt the magic, which is hard for me.  I think it is partly because our journey has been VERY rough.

All of my life I knew I wanted to breastfeed my kids.  My mom did it, so I knew I would too. I never even questioned it. I knew there were benefits to it, but learned so much more about it once I became pregnant and began researching. I read articles upon articles and even took a three hour class at our hospital to prepare. Nothing though, prepared me for what actually happened.

When Noah was born, he seemed to latch immediately.  I was so happy and proud.  It was a weird feeling, those first moments, but I knew I was doing what was best for my little guy.  While in the hospital, I tried nursing for what felt like pretty much the whole time.   The lactation consultant visited me while in our room and tried to help us get the latch thing down perfect. But she was very rough. She would pile pillows around me and make me sit up in such awkward positions in my hospital bed that I felt so weird. 

Noah wasn’t doing well with it though.  They didn’t think he was getting enough.  I became stressed.  I let a nurse talk me into giving him tiny bit of formula that first night. I wish I wouldn’t have given in so easily, but it’s really not that big of a deal. It didn’t hurt anything.  We continued to try and breastfeed.  I remember that I thought it was going well, but every time a nurse or the lactation consultant saw me, they tried to fix everything I was doing.  It because frustrating.  My doctor released me to go home after the first night if I wanted, but the nurses suggested I stay the night so I could get more help breastfeeding, so I did.  We just couldn’t get his latch to a point where I wasn’t in pain.

Nursing was painful. So painful.  I know that they always say it is painful in the beginning while your body gets used to it, but man was this excruciating. I pushed on. 

When we went to Noah’s pediatrician appointments in the first few days, the doctor was concerned. He wasn’t gaining any weight back (most newborns lose about 10% of their birth weight in the first couple of days). They had us come in again in a few days for a weight check.  I was also in so much pain that I started to use a nipple shield to provide some relief when feeding him. Though they aren’t the best thing, I knew I couldn’t move forward without it. I was crying while feeding him I was in so much pain.

Meanwhile, I was researching. Reading everything I could get my hands on about breastfeeding.  I had read something about babies having tongue ties and how it could cause a lot of pain for mothers and how it could affect how much milk baby was getting. I decided to pay to see a lactation consultant. I met with her when Noah was 8 days old and I asked her if she could check Noah for a tongue tie.  She helped us with his latch, but I just could not get him to do it the same way when I tried on my own. She also said she thought he could possibly have a tongue tie.  If you aren’t aware, I tongue tie is a little piece of skin that attached at the base of the tongue making it harder for the tongue to move or stick our very far.

During all of this, I was still in excruciating pain. Noah was literally tearing my body apart. Pieces of my most intimate body parts were literally coming off during breastfeeding (if you get my gist…). I was often bleeding as well.  I finally gave up.  I was so broken and upset with myself that I couldn’t push forward. I would have to give my baby a bottle.  Nine days after Noah was born, on May 20th, I woke C up early in the morning bawling and asked him to go to Target and get a special type of bottle (Dr. Browns with a preemie nipple is what our LC suggested). I felt like I had failed. I was so unhappy.

I was grasping at straws and still suspecting the tongue tie so I called to make an emergency consultation appointment with our pediatrician.  Little did I know when I chose him, but he is one of the most well-known tongue tie doctors in AZ. Our appointment was the next morning. I am so grateful they were able to get us in quickly. It was such a relief.  Once at the appointment, the doctor confirm Noah’s tongue tie and suggested a revision.  Everything I was experiencing could be due to that. We scheduled his surgery for the following day, the 22^nd. 

 

It was a hard decision, to choose to do the revision.  I knew it would be putting Noah in pain, but I also knew it would be beneficial to him for the rest of his life.  Some tongue ties can cause a lot of issues into adulthood if they are not corrected, namely major speech issues and neck/back pain. 

The procedure lasted all of 5 minutes.  They took my little man to another room while C and I just stood there holding each other.  I heard him cry and then they brought him back.  Once back in the room he was happy again and nursed like a champ.  He latched on better and I felt instant relief from a lot of the pain I had been feeling.

With a revision like this, you have to do “stretches” of the babies tongue 3 times a day…..basically to keep the wound open and let it heal that way.  I had such a hard time doing these, knowing that they hurt my little man each time.  We forged on though and did what we needed to do. Luckily he would only cry during the few seconds of the exercises and was perfectly content once they were done.

Though a lot of the pain had been relieved and I was able to nurse Noah around the clock again, I was still hurting. I was grasping at straws to fix it. I thought maybe I had an infection called thrush that can be in both mama and baby and can be painful. I went to see my OB and she told me I didn’t have it. I was going to be alone with Noah for the first time that weekend while C traveled and she told me she thought it would be best if I pumped and fed him that way.  I honestly think she was scared for my sanity, that I may have a breakdown if I kept trying. I followed her advice, which was a nice relief, but so much work.  It was exhausting trying to pump hooked up to a machine and take care of a newborn all alone.

When we had the tongue tie consultation, our doctor also informed us that Noah had a lip tie. A lip tie is a little piece of skin connecting your lip to your gums, usually right above but between your top two middle teeth. Since they don’t usually do the revisions at the same time, C and I had a little time to decide if we wanted to go through with that one or not.  As Noah still wasn’t gaining weight very well and I was still having pain, I wanted to go through with it.  C wasn’t too sure, he didn’t want to put Noah through so much in such a short time.  We deliberated for quite a while.  The problem is, some lip ties do not cause problems in the future and some do.  I actually have a very large lip tie (which I didn’t even realize I had until I started this journey) and never had any problems.  Other times, they can cause a big gap in your teeth and a lot of speech problems.  I thought though, it was better to prevent those things now while he was young than to wait until he was a few years old and have a much larger issue to deal with.

On July 20^th, Noah had the lip tie revision.  He took it like a champ again and didn’t even cry.  They usually suggest baby Tylenol if baby seems to be in pain after the surgery but Noah didn’t even really seem to need it. We gave him one dose and he was fine after that (whereas with the tongue he took it for a couple of days).  He little lip got puffy that night, but he wasn’t fussy at all.  We did his “stretches” during bath time (which he loves) so I think that kept him happy.  He would whine for a second just like before and then it would be all over again.

Over time, our breastfeeding relationship got much better.  Noah ate faster and there was so much less pain.  I was finally happy to do it.  I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it per-se but I didn’t dread it.

As the months went on, Noah was still having problems with his weight gain and I began having problems with my milk supply. I knew the two might be correlated so I knew I needed to do something.  I researched and talked to many other breastfeeding women and even sent emails back and forth with our LC many times.  Everyone kept saying I was doing all the right things and that I should have a plentiful supply.  It was so frustrating. Noah was consistently in the 3% or under weight percentile and at was point was even at .03%.  Not even a full percent.  Our doctor gave us one last chance before he made us supplement with formula, which I really didn’t want to do. 

Through all of my research I had heard of a prescription called Reglan  that had some scary side effect possibilities but also helped women up their milk supply.  In order to get it, you had to have low prolactin, which is a hormone that causes your body to make milk.  Well, I called my doctor and asked her to order me a blood test for prolactin (among a few other things, like thyroid, that can cause low milk supply).

When the results came back I wasn’t surprised.  Most pregnant or lactating women have prolactin levels in the high 100’s to 200’s.  Mine was at 13.  13!  I had found the cause of my low supply! Knowing that the Reglan prescription should help me, I requested a prescription from my Doctor.  Turns out, she didn’t know much about it though, so she denied it and just told me to pump more (since I didn’t talk to her I couldn’t explain all of the things I had already tried and thought I was just taking an easy route).  I had to call back and fight for myself. I spoke with a nurse at length and told her everything I had tried and the research I had done on the pill.   She talked to the Doctor again, who approved it this time!

I was given a dose of 10 days.  As I mentioned before, the side effects of Reglan can be scary. It can cause severe depression.  Because I didn’t have any hormonal issues during or after pregnancy, I was hoping I’d be ok.  I asked C to watch me very closely to make sure I wasn’t having any problems with it that I couldn’t pick up on myself. Thankfully, I had no problems at all.  In fact, I had just the effect I wanted. More milk! So much more milk! My doctor agreed after I had no issues to continue my prescription, which I’ve continued to take for 5 months now.

I am so proud of myself that I fought for that prescription too.   I had run out of options and out of people that thought they could help me.  I did a ton of research on my own and requested my own blood testing, learned how to read my own results and asked for a specific prescription.  I honestly think I taught my Doctor about it too!

Since going back to work when Noah was a little less than three months old, I have had to pump at work too.  I had to fight for a space to pump (showing my office the law that they have to provide a space for you that isn’t a bathroom) and 3 times a day take time out of my job to pump milk.  At about 10 months old, I dropped to 2 sessions a day and at around 11 months old I dropped to only one pumping session a day.  I am currently working on dropping all pumping sessions during the day and just feeding him when we are together.

I hate pumping.  Always have. It’s funny though, I have looked forward to the day I wouldn’t have to pump anymore, but now that it’s here, I just can’t stop it.  I know what an amazing benefit the milk I provide is to my child, it feels selfish to stop giving him that. I’m having a hard time with it. I NEVER thought I would feel that way! I'm going to stop though....soon. Really. I keep telling myself that.

Ok so there it is, my entire breastfeeding story.  I know, I know, it is soooooo long. I just had to get it all written out, for me. If you made it to the end though, congrats! I hope someday I can encourage someone that is struggling to keep going.  I never thought I would make it to a year and I am so proud of myself for pushing through to my goal….and beyond!  Through it all I have learned that every relationship and breastfeeding journey looks different and they aren’t all easy peasy. I also learned that breastfeeding is an amazing thing and whether you do it for 2 days or 2 years, you are still giving your child an amazing benefit!

Currently

So yeah, I haven’t done one of these since August.  Oops.  I have  just been so busy with life and working full time and being a mama that I just haven’t had time to really blog.

That being said, I thought I would try and sit down and write out some updates!

C

During the Carrie Underwood concert...he bought me tix for Christmas.  He looks excited yes?

We made it through the offseason and the Arena Football League started up again this March.  Unfortunately, C’s wrist injury from a few years ago is coming back to haunt him.  It’s been causing some pain and he has also had a pinched nerve in his neck from it. Confusing I know, the human body is so interconnected.  Because of this, the team put him on IR (injured reserve).  This means he can’t play and even if he gets better, he must sit out at least 5 weeks.  It’s been really difficult for him to watch his team play without him.  Hopefully, he should be back soon.  His 5 weeks is up this week and he is feeling better. Now we need a doctor to clear him!

In his free time he has been driving for Lyft and Uber, which he really enjoys.  Something about meeting new people constantly and instantly seeing the money he made for the day give him great joy.  It’s nice because he can do it whenever!  If I feel like going to bed early (which is like, always) he can go out and drive for a few hours and make money.

Noah

By the time this posts, he will be just a few days from being a year old. I can’t believe it.  Everyone says they grow so fast, but you don’t really believe it until you are living it.

We did a photo shoot recently to celebrate one year and also did a smash cake. It was amazing!  Noah loved it.  I can’t wait to share the photos with you. He took a little taste of frosting and enjoyed it so much that he picked up the whole dang cake to take another bite!

Right now he is in size 3 diapers and busting out of his size 9 month clothes (switching to size 12 month when they arrive this week) which is awesome because he is finally starting to catch up to where he should be.

He loves crawling and standing up on things.  He cruises the halls in the house in his walker with ease while I am getting ready in the morning. He’s gotten great at backing up and turning around when he hits the end of the tile, it’s quite funny.

He isn’t talking yet, just lots of babbles and dadadada.  I know he understands us though, because he listens.  Every once in a while he will copy something we say though and its incredible.  I’ve heard him babble “peek a boo” and even caught “happy birthday” on video!  Too bad they were all one time deals though. No solid words yet. I’m trying not to get too worried about it.  Every baby does these things in their own time!

Momma is so proud of being able to breastfeed for a full year, but she is also very tired.  I am beginning to work on stopping pumping at work.  I am hopeful we will be able to still nurse in the mornings, evenings and weekends, but we will see. We are now working on transitioning Noah to more big boy foods and meals, instead of little snacks here and there.  It’s quite a confusing process for me and stresses me out honestly.  I just want to make sure Noah is getting all the nutrition he needs! He is so easy going that he doesn’t fuss much if he is hungry (we had a lot of problems early on with that) so it’s hard to tell what he needs.

Me

As I mentioned I am working on stopping pumping milk for Noah during work hours.  It has been a rough year breastfeeding and I honestly hate pumping with a passion, so I am proud I have kept up with it through our goal of one year.  As much as I hate it, I am really having an emotional time with the transition, which is very odd to me.  I thought I would be so happy to stop this.  I guess even if you don’t like doing something, once you’ve done it for a full year it kind of grows on you.  I just hope I am making the right decision about it and I’m not thinking selfishly. Noah love’s his momma milk!

Noah is still not sleeping through the night and it is really affecting me.  I spend my days exhausted.  Once I get home from work, all I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed. I hate it.  Last night I was in bed by 8:45pm.  That’s pretty embarrassing for a woman in her early 30s!  He has started to sleep a pretty long stretch, but usually still wakes up anytime between 430 and 545.  The problem is, my alarm goes off at 615! If he wakes up at 545 to eat, I don’t really get to go back to bed and get more sleep (even though he does) before my alarm goes off. So basically, I am waking up every day very early.  I have never been a morning person, so it’s very rough!

(Ok though this updated was about me….it’s still kind of about Noah.  Imagine that. Mommy life!)

Books 

Since Noah was born I haven’t gotten to read nearly as much as I used to.  Since the last updated, these are some books that I’ve read:

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

I Like You Just the Way I Am by Jenny Mollen

Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubios

I am currently reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Unfortunately….I just didn’t love any of these books.  Pretty Girls was good and kept my highly interested and wanting more, but it was also VERY disturbing. I wish the subject matter was a little different, I would have liked it a lot more. The Paris Wife was soooo boring and took me forever to get through.  I really wanted to like it, but it was not for me.

TV

Well….we still have a DVR full of shows that we need to catch up on!  I’m not sure we will ever get through them.  Right now my must watch shows are Scandal, Nashville and Grey’s Anatomy (C doesn’t watch this one).  I’ve also done some guilty pleasure watching of LA Clippers Dance Squad!  I was a dancer once upon a time, so I enjoy seeing the behind the scenes things that make these teams work. It’s not the best quality show, but I still like watching it!

Any new TV shows I should add to our list?  What about awesome books you suggest?  I have less time for both of these things now, but I still want to watch and read the best! 

Baby Dukes is a........

It's time (finally) for our gender reveal!  We've know since probably 13 weeks (we are currently at 20 now) so this has been quite the secret!

Are you ready?

Baby Dukes is officially a.....

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 BOY!!!

I am not going to lie, C and I both wanted a little girl at first. Now, I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way. I am completely in love with the little man growing inside my belly.

In other news, we are also decided on a name!

We waffled back and forth for a while with a short list of names.  There is one though, that we've talked about for probably 2.5 years (before marriage and kids really ever became real).  As we were narrowing down and deciding, we kept calling baby by that name.  Finally I decided, why are we prolonging this? We've loved this name all along!

So baby's name will be.....

Noah Joseph

Ah!  I'm so in love!  Both my dad and C's dad had the same middle name, Joseph. We just knew we had to stick with that to honor our fathers!  C's dad passed away when he was younger, but my dad is still here.  He got really choked up when we told announced the name on Christmas (but tried to hide it).  It was really special!

So here is another peek at our little guy, Noah Joseph who is doing great at 20 weeks.....halfway there! Hurry up May!

I just can't get over those skinny little legs and butt! Haha

Break In

So.....our home was broken into this week.  The thieves stole almost everything that was worth any value at all. They ransacked our home, emptying every box, turning over every mattress, emptying every drawer....as you can imagine it was quite the mess. It seems they probably spent a long time in our home or there were several of them at they were very thorough.

I am very, very thankful that is was on a day that C worked in the morning and that he came home first. I'm not sure I would have been able to handle it.  I am not sure if they had been armed, but they did take our butcher knife out of our kitchen and we found it on a dresser in the master bedroom. So scary. I'm also thankful they didn't harm October (our cat), because they easily could have.

The police came and took fingerprints, but I am not hopeful they will find the crooks.  In the meantime, we are cleaning up their mess, changing the locks in our home (they got in by prying out the deadbolts with a screw driver), adding security alarms (which we were planning on but hadn't done yet) and filing police and insurance reports.  I've heard this process could take up to 3 months, which is very disheartening.  I just want my life back to normal, I miss my nice TV!

I'm hopeful the paranoia and fear in our own home will go away soon, but again, I am very thankful that no one was harmed.  It can ALWAYS be worse.

That being said, things will probably be a little light around here for awhile (as if they weren't already).  So sorry!

Baby Details

So now that you all know why the heck I've been so sporadic with my posting, I thought I would give ya'll some more details!  Over the weeks I kind of chronicled our experiences and how I was feeling, so I thought I would share.  Hopefully soon I will begin doing weekly posts, but this week I am going to catch you up on everything!

September 26th: The day we found out

 

 - C and I had been talking about kids for a long time and knew we wanted to try as soon as possible. I stopped taking my birth control on August 24th (when I should have started a new pack) and knew it would be perfect timing to start trying after our wedding two weeks later. We even bought a cute little "Maui" onesie while we were there, just in case. After we returned from our honeymoon, I expected to see Aunt Flow.  I was getting symptoms, but nothing was happening yet.  I chalked it up to my body just trying to get settled in its role after not having to ovulate for so long.  A week past when I expected it, a week full of sore breasts and cramps, I started to think differently. I spent hours on google trying to decipher what my symptoms meant. Could this be it?  C and I had decided to put off a test for a while, thinking things would change.  But they just didn't.  That night we went to dinner for Arizona Restaurant week (where tons of restaurants have special 3 or 4 course dinners for cheaper prices).  We chose a fancy steakhouse that we would never pay for otherwise.  We talked a lot about the "What If's" at dinner and finally, I decided I just couldn't wait anymore.  If there was a little one, I wanted to make sure I was eating the right things and taking care of myself. We stopped by CVS on the way home to pick up a test. We bought a two pack, just in case.  Might as well be practical with our money right? We could use the second one at another time.  We got home and I immediately went to take the test.  I was soooo scared to look at it.  Our lives could be totally changing.  Also, I didn't really want to feel the bummer of it being negative. Well that amazing word didn't take long to show up....Pregnant! Holy cow!  I was in shock.  Its funny thinking back on it, I did almost the same thing I did when C proposed.  I hid my face and turned away! Apparently, that is my shocked reaction.  We immediately took the photo above for future use and began talking about our excitement!  A month after we started trying....we found out we were successful.  C says "We are batting 1000!' The next day, just for fun, I decided to take the second test we had bought "just for fun." I mean, don't all pregnant women take multiple tests?  The funny part is it changed what it say on the front! I went from 2-3 weeks to 3 weeks, overnight!

October 9th: Our confirmation appointment
- I originally had an appointment scheduled for the 6th but the doctor had to call and change it.  Hello!  Do you know how hard it is to wait for that appointment? Oh man, I was on pins and needles. I was so excited that I got to the doctors office almost 20 minutes early.  If you know me at all, that's something I do not do.  I am never early! After waiting for what seemed like forever, the doctor came in and congratulated us. It was finally confirmed, we are having a baby! She told us we were about 6 1/2 weeks along and our due date would be May 30th.  I was really surprised and confused by how far along I was, but then she explained they go by the first day of your last cycle.  So though I was 6 1/2 along in pregnancy terms, I really had only been pregnant for about 4 weeks. Ah ok, phew. We had ourselves a honeymoon baby....or even possible a wedding night baby haha.

October 14th: Our first ultrasound
- I can't say enough how amazing this experience was.  It was sooo neat to see our little blueberry on the screen.  Hearing the heartbeat was awesome too.  My only complaint was she let us hear it for maybe 6 seconds before she was off doing new things.  I would have loved to listen to it longer! C was a little squeamish about the whole process, but he made it through like a champ. We held hands the entire time and I definitely had some tears! Based on baby's size, she moved up the date to May 25th.  I'm not sure that means anything though, cause I mean, have you seen the size of daddy?

Teeny tiny baby!

 Next up are my weekly thoughts up until now, I even have some tiny bump pictures!

Coming Soon....

A new teammate to the Dukes Family!

Phew, I can finally let you guys know why the heck I have been slacking so much on the blog.  I have literally been soooooo exhausted!

This Thanksgiving I really have so much to be thankful for. A wonderful family, an amazing husband, an awesome new home and now I get to become a momma!

C and I are super excited and can't wait to have a little one join our family next May.  I'll update you all with more details soon, but that's our big news!

On Marriage

Good news!  Our wedding photos are finally being attended to by our photographer!

Bad news....we still have to wait until October 18th to get them.  Womp womp.

Why must this process take so long?!

We've been married for a month already, which I just can't believe.  We sat down last night and watched a rough cut video of the day that my friend and her father recorded.  I still cried just watching it.

I can honestly say that marriage does not feel a single bit different that being engaged or even dating.  It's kind of weird actually. I was expecting some being change, maybe because thats what we are lead to believe by TV and media these days? So much of what we hear these days on marriage is negative.  Men are lead to believe that it is basically a miserable "trap", which I think is terrible. Why is that?

Yes, I am sure our changes were less striking because we had already been living together, but I still expected something to feel different.  Anything.  We looked at each other multiple times on our honeymoon and exclaim that we were now married, now labeled a husband and wife.  Then we would discuss how it didn't feel any different!

You know what though?  I am thankful that there wasn't a change.  Just because we now have a piece of paper that says we are officially one and I am in the process of changing my name, doesn't mean that things have to be different.  Things were great before and they are going to continue to stay great!

What about you?  Did life drastically change after you were married? Did it feel different?

So.....

This happened while I was away :)

I am still trying to get caught up on life and work and everything in between, but I will be back soon with lots of details.  I can't wait to get the pictures back from our photographer!

Our wedding day was amazing, and even though there were a few minor snafus (and even one I would call major) it was perfect to me.

Our honeymoon was awesome too, though it also included a snafu :)  By the end of our 11 days in Maui we were definitely ready to come home!

Be back soon!

A Transvestite Did My Makeup

 (I am away for my wedding and Honeymoon so I am re-posting some of my favorites)

So, C and I have this neighbor.  We were almost positive that he/she is a transvestite, but weren’t quite sure. Well, I’ve confirmed it. 

Last Friday night we were standing outside talking after coming back from a friend’s birthday party at a bar.  We had definitely had a few drinks so our judgment may have been slightly impaired. While we were out there our neighbor and a few of his/her friends were coming back from who knows where.  They were all done up in super high heels and tight dresses.

As they walked/stumbled by they invited us in for a drink.  For some unknown reason, we were like sure why not? First mistake. I thought it would be fun and adventurous, because I don’t usually do stuff like that. We went in and did a shot while chatting with her (I am just going to start calling this person a girl….that’s what she wants right?) and she mentioned she was afraid of me because I am so professional and she always hears my heels in the morning as I am leaving for work.  She’s intimidated by me?!?  The whole time she kept having nip slips. Her dress kept sliding down. You guys, it’s still awkward to see that from a woman that you know is actually a man.

So as we are standing around the kitchen she invites us out with her.  For some reason, we were like what the heck. Second mistake. All the sudden the house is in a tizzy and she shouts, “Ooo let me do your makeup!” You guys, I let her. I mean, how could I say no? This chick was bigger than me and quite scary. Third mistake.  She runs to the bathroom yelling “transvestite makeup party!” So yeah, that confirmed it for me.

She takes me into the bathroom, which is full of great makeup and makes me wash my face and sit down on the laundry basket. Then she proceeds to put my bangs up all weird and put a rhinestone headband on my head like a tiara. Then she shuts the door. Um?  Please don’t kill me.  She starts doing a full face of makeup.  She tells me that even though I had makeup on it wasn’t good enough and I’m not that pretty but she can make me pretty. Ouch.

She takes a break from doing my makeup to pee.  She sits down on the toilet while I am still there (and facing that side of the room).  Where the heck am I supposed to look?

By this time it’s probably about 1:15am and her friends are getting antsy and want to go out. She tells them to shut up.  Then she tells them to just go home if they aren’t happy.  She scares me. I keep trying to open the door to talk to C and she keeps shutting it.

She decides I will obviously need clothes, so she opens the door and tells C to go get me something to wear.  I’m silently praying the entire time he is gone.  When he comes back with an outfit she tells him it’s terrible and not good enough.  I felt so bad, because I thought he did a great job. It’s exactly something I would have picked and he knows it.  I just don’t have the kinds of clothes she was looking for.  So C sets down the heels he grabbed (fourth mistake) and goes back for a second try.  I try and direct him to something she might think is appropriate.

While he is gone, she asks if she can “wing me out” with the eyeliner.  I mean, I am not gonna say no to this chick.   Fifth mistake.  She started doing the eyeliner and I’m still silently praying. Why in the world did think it would be fun to let this slightly intoxicated man dressed as a woman near my eyeball with a pencil?!? I can feel her drawing the lines on my face and it feels pretty ridiculous.

Soon C comes back with a new dress, also not acceptable. She thinks she may have something for me to wear.  Now I have to go to the bathroom.  I try to get her to leave.  She won’t.  Um? I take off the headband, run out the door and grab the house keys from C and run to our house. C quickly follows.  He tells her it’s getting late and we will have to go out some other time.  The whole time she is screaming about how she wasted her makeup on me and who knows what else.

When C gets home I ask him where my heels were. Obviously, they were still on her bathroom floor where he left them.  So we have to sneak back into her house to try and get them.  Thankfully she was distracted and we were so quick that we got away easily.

I get home and finally take a look in the mirror.  She has completely destroyed my face. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I wasn’t thinking at the time.  The wings of the eyeliner extended about a half inch on one side and a full inch on the other side!  My hair pretty much looked like a quail. Good stuff.

The only evidence....

I have to say, even though it was scary it was quite hilarious. We laugh for quite a while when we got home and I know we will laugh about this for years to come!

Also, I am deathly afraid to see her again. C and I were walking to our door the other day and saw her going the other way. We completely stopped in our tracks and shut our mouths hoping she wouldn’t see us.  Thankfully, we were successful.  I just know I am going to run into him/her again soon though, he/she’s our next door neighbor!

I'm Married!!!

It's finally official....I am Mrs. Justine Dukes!

Now we are headed to the beautiful island of Maui to spend 11 days relaxing on the beaches.

Since I want to spend quality time with my new hubby, I will mostly be re-posting some of my favorite posts for the next few weeks....enjoy!

We Found a House!!!

Oh my goodness you guys!  At the same time I was posting about not finding anything we liked last monday....we found something we loved!

Everything has moved SUPER fast and our lender is aiming for a close date of July 30th.  As in 10 days from now. So many things have already happened and all we really need to do now is get the inspection taken care of, which is happening ASAP.

So yeah, add moving to my list of to-dos before the wedding.  Eeek!

The house is 1800 square feet, has a huge garage and 4 bedrooms.  Perfect for starting our family.

A glimpse!

Please keep you fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!

Why I've Been So Busy

Oh my goodness you guys…..my life has been crazy lately!

As you know, I’m planning a wedding within a pretty darn short time period (4 months eek).  I have two months to go and I think I am doing pretty good. I wasn’t feeling very stressed out until a few weeks ago when I decided to do something that I only realize now wasn’t my brightest idea.

I decided to put my condo on the market.

I thought hey, as a vacation rental in Arizona it’s always empty in the summertime.  I figured it would be a perfect time for a realtor to show it anytime they wanted without disturbing any guests.

I emailed my realtor and asked her thoughts on it. Was it a good time?  Would I get a good price on it? That was on May 31^st.  18 days later, we had decided on a price, taken pictures and officially listed it for sale. We thought we would list it for a few months in the summer and if we needed to, we’d take it back off the market again in the fall when it got busy again. I thought for sure that’s what I’d be doing.

One day later, I had a signed contract on it.  Silly me. 

I was absolutely shocked.  I got two solid offers on the first day, have had people still viewing it up until a few days ago and even have TWO signed backup offers on it.  Its nuts!  

Closing is scheduled for July 18^th, which is just around the corner. I've been through inspections and appraisals and I'm just waiting on the final word for everything to go through.

Along with selling my condo, C and started also looking for a house.  I wasn’t planning on doing that until a little while later either, but since we had to move all of the furniture out of the condo last weekend, it’s in storage for a hefty price.  I rather not pay that for months on end.  

We’ve spent hours looking at listings online, driving by places and have probably been inside maybe 20 different homes.  We have only found one we loved, which we put an offer on, but we lost it.  I mean, this house was on the market for almost 5 months and didn’t have an offer until us.  The weekend we put one in, so did someone else, and theirs was better.

Oh well, it clearly wasn’t meant to be.

Finding a house we love has been tough and disheartening though.  Majority of the homes in the areas we are looking (Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tempe) are quite old.  Many have been upgraded inside which is great, but the outsides need work or there isn’t a garage, which is major for us. Thankfully, we both have almost the same taste in what we are looking for, so there are no issues there.

I know we will find one someday, it just won’t be as quick as we wanted to. 

So yeah, I’ve been ridiculously busy because I’ve been wedding planning, selling a house and trying to buy a new one!  I will try to keep up on my blogging schedule, but if you don’t hear from me for a bit, I guarantee I am busy doing one of those three things!

Oh and just for giggles....here is a photo of C in one of the houses we looked at.  Older homes with short showers are a real issue with us!  (Don't tell him I shared this pic hehe)

I'm Getting Married!!!

So my trip to Portland was quite eventful....C got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!

We couldn't be happier!

I can't say it was the most romantic moment between us, but it was still amazing.

As you all know, C had a game in Portland on Sunday and my mom and I flew up there to see it.  My brother also drove down from Seattle to meet up with us.  Sunday was Mother's Day and also happened to be my Dad's birthday.

C played an incredible game that night.  He had three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, which are all things that are don't happen often.  In fact, he ended up getting the award of Defensive Player of the Week for the entire league!

After the game we sat around and waited for him to come out of the locker room.  Usually, the team has a pre-set place where they do an after party.  For some odd reason, they didn't have anything set, so I suggested Buffalo Wild Wings by our hotel.  C and I love BWW, we go almost once a week!

Well lo and behold, I was apparently suggesting the exact location I would get engaged! C had actually wanted to do it on the field right after the game, but he couldn't get back to the locker room to get the ring.  He was stuck!

So.....he decided he didn't want to wait any longer to do it.  He and I were sitting on stools in a semi private area of the restaurant surrounded by my brother, my mom and half of his teammates and coaches.  He was being super sweet and telling me all these amazing things.  It took me several minutes to figure out what was going on.  Once I did though, my mind went blank!  I can honestly say I have no clue what he actually said! I even had to ask my mom if he got down on one knee.

After him saying all of those sweet things, I remember him standing up to grab the ring box out of his pocket and saying something along the lines of "So, I have a question to ask you."  I immediately freaked out and turned my head and hid behind a menu and my moms shoulder (?!?!  I have no idea why I did this).

It was at this point he got down on one knee (which I'm told was very slowly because he was so sore from the game) in the middle of the restaurant and asked me to marry him! Obviously I said yes.....though again.....I don't quite remember!

We spent the rest of the evening drinking and laughing and having a blast. I am so glad my mom and brother got to witness the moment!! I absolutely adore my ring....I can't stop staring at it!

We are actually jumping head first into planning and want to have the wedding sooner rather than later (we are looking at September) so beware! Lot's of wedding posts coming your way!

Off to Portland!

Well guys, at this time I should officially be in Portland, Oregon!

Since my brother is stationed in Seattle, my mom and I thought it would be fun to go to one of C’s away games in Portland so we could all meet up.  A lot of people ask me if I go to all of his games and that would be a resounding no.  Do you know how expensive that would be?  In fact, not including the two Arena Bowl games I’ve attended, this will be my first away game.  It will be my brothers first time at one of C’s games too, which I am really excited about.

Originally, we had planned to fly in on Thursday, do a little exploring until C’s game on Saturday and then head up to Seattle on Sunday to explore there.  We booked our flight out from Seattle so we didn’t have to drive back.

But……the good ole’ Portland Trailblazers had to screw everything up.

Apparently they are quite good this season and advanced in the finals, meaning they needed the arena the team was supposed to play in on Saturday.  So C’s game got moved to Sunday, which is Mother’s Day. Womp womp.   Thankfully, my mother loves going to C’s game (she’s been to almost every single one) so it won’t be a problem for her!  I guess we will just have to spend the entire trip exploring Portland instead.

I know I’ll be standing in line for those Voo Doo Donuts I keep hearing about…..anything else I should check out?

Image from here

I’m sure there will be lots to tell when I return home, hope you all have a great weekend!