Actual phone conversation

As I am working from home, I have had to become less of a phone-phobic. (For information on my syndrome visit my previous post: PHONE PHOBIA). I've therefore had to simply answer the phone not always knowing who it is. I did that today. This is, without added attempts at humor, the actual conversation that resulted:

Wendi: "Hello?"

Andrew's Grandma: "Is this the number for Andrew Michael's?"

Wendi: "No, I"m sorry. It's not."

Andrew's Grandma: "Oh. Well shoot. This is the number that Andrew gave me."

Wendi: "Well, I'm sorry. He's not here."

Andrew's Grandma: "Well do you live on base?"

Wendi: "Yes, I do."

Andrew's Grandma: "Well do you know where Andrew is?"

Wendi: "No, I don't."

Andrew's Grandma: "Well, could you leave Andrew a message for me? This is his Grandma."

Wendi: "Ma'm, I don't know Andrew."

Andrew' Grandma: "Okay, well when you see him would you tell him that his Grandma called?"

Wendi: "No, Ma'm. You don't understand. I just live in a house on base. I don't have a clue who Andrew is."

Andrew's Grandma: "Ohhhh. I thought maybe he lived next door to you."

Wendi: "No, I'm sorry. He doesn't."

Andrew's Grandma: "Would you be able to find him?"

Wendi: "No, I have no idea where to find him. I'm sorry."

Andrew's Grandma: "Oh. Well thank you for taking the time to talk to me sweetie."

Wendi: "You are welcome."

Andrew's Grandma: "Bye sweetheart."


And to think I almost just hung up after the first minute. I would have missed this!

Lights out and Visit to the Vet

Last night was not a ton of fun. About 11:00pm the electricity went out. There was a lightning storm and for about two hours, there was no electricity. In Minnesota, this was never a big deal. So the electricity goes out. My heat still works! But here, well, my air goes out too and it gets hot! I was thinking, "What will happen if JB comes home and needs to go to sleep in this heat?" I was thinking we'd have to call a classmate to let him sleep at their house. At least for me, it was evening and a bit cooler than it would be during the day.

The electricity going out also meant it got very quiet. I didn't realize how much noise our air conditioning and fan made until they weren't going anymore. Not only did it wake me up when it went out, but it kept me up as it was so quiet, and then woke me up again when it came back on and everything started up again.

In addition, I just miss JB. Thank goodness tonight was his last night for the weekend. He will be home until Monday at 11am when he goes in for his clinic. Of course, his sleep is still going to be a bit screwed up, however, he can't keep it completely flipped because he has clinic on Monday. He said something about trying to sleep from 3am until 11am for the next two days and go with a "mid day" sleep.

In other news . . .

On Friday, JB and I took our little Scrubs to "The Vet."

We found this Vet's office from an advertisement on the Christian radio station. There is a Vet on base, but we've heard it's incredibly busy. We really liked this Vet. For one thing, they encourage us to come back in periodically just to get treats and say "hi" so that Scrubs doesn't think every time we pull in there it means bad things! What a great idea is that?! They also support the Christian radio station which we really respect. The doctor also gave us a bunch of great advice for training our new little pup including the fact that I could give him carrots for treats. Dalmatians have a very tight diet as they are extremely prone to UTIs and kidney stones. But carrots are fair game! There's a lot of things that new dogs mean. A woman in the waiting room told us, "You're going to spend a lot of money." JB has made it a point to not fill me in on the money related to this dog as I can be a little bit of a "tight-wad". So he paid the Vet bill without me peeking and quickly blew off the woman's comment.

Everyone in the office kept saying how calm Scrubs was. What a joke that is. This dog is a crazy man! I've never seen him as calm and quiet as he was in the Vet's office, especially when we ran into a Great Dane in the waiting room -- that is one HUGE dog. Scrubs sat right next to JB or me the whole time and didn't use the bathroom one time! I think he was too scared to go.

Ever since Scrubs has arrived, my infertility has been the most removed from my mind that it has EVER been. He has been here for a week as of today, and in that week, I have not had even one bad "moment" ... until yesterday that is.

Those "moments" come on without warning. It can be a well-intentioned comment, an email from an old friend, or a commercial on TV. I'll be doing great, and then, suddenly, I'll be crying or overcome with grief. It was actually a TV show that sent me into a spiral the day JB decided to reveal to me that he had bought me a dog!

The grief is hard to explain. Usually it has to do with the thought of things I may never be able to do. These may seem like "trivial" moments, but to me, they are huge instances that I can't get back. Finding out I'm pregnant, telling my husband, telling our families, being pregnant, delivering a baby, nursing a baby ... We still pray daily that someday we will have a biological child, but hearing people say, "Having my child was the best thing that ever happened to me," is difficult to stomach mostly because I know it is true.

Scrubs has helped with that. I know it sounds dumb because he is just a dog, but I've been so busy with him and watching his every move, that I haven't had time to feel infertile. I also haven't had a desire for a baby staying up all night when I have a dog who is staying up all night.

But during our visit to the vet, I was faced with one of those "moments" again. It's a moment when, all of a sudden, you go from feeling perfectly happy, to remembering that you are barren and you don't have children.

It was my favorite "Do you guys have kids?" question in the waiting room by a very sweet lady. JB jumped in before I could try to fumble for an answer and just said, "Not yet."

I guess part of my frustration with that question is: What do I say. If I say "no", I feel like people assume things about me. This may not make sense to many of you, but to those of you are infertile or have been infertile, please back me up on this.

When I answer that I do not have kids, I inevitably feel like people are saying, "Aaaah, a doctor's wife." I just have this bad feeling, like they are looking at me like some rich, snobby, stay-at-home wife who is choosing other, selfish things, over children. I know people probably don't really think this, but for some reason, answering "No" makes me feel this way. Instead I feel like I need to explain my "no".

I have had people insinuate that I am choosing a "career" or "things" over children, and I think this is where that fear comes from. Before we admitted to people that in fact, we had been trying, I had a few people remind me "not to wait too long" or "you can go back and work later" as if that was the reason we were still without children. JB and I kept our "secret" private for a year before deciding that it wasn't working. It was actually at a function for his class. I had been wanting to tell people but John wanted to keep it quiet. At that class function, eleven different people said something about us having kids, the pitter patter of little feet, what are we waiting for etc. I left the party exasperated and in tears. Once in the car, JB said that he was done with secrets. We were going to tell people so we didn't have to face a firing squad for the rest of medical school.

The other night, I was talking to a new friend, and she asked me what types of things were the most difficult for me. I discuss this here to help educate people. Please know that I do not take any commenst that hurt me, personally! I don't ever blame the person saying them because they are not bad comments in and of themselves. I recognize that my sadness is because I am overly sensitive about this issue. However, I do know that I am not alone in these feelings. My counselor in Minnesota asked me how I thought I was doing in comparison to other infertile women I had met. I had to be honest that I thought I was in the upper percentage of women as far as how sensitive I was to comments. So, instead, as always, know that I talk about this here to educate people. I do not get my feelings personally hurt by comments. However, those comments can cause me to get down.

I realized there are three things that just cause me to spiral. The first is the "Do you have kids question?" This question is one of the most difficult for me. It just seems I can't escape this question. I really want to encourage everyone out there: Don't ask strangers this! Another friend here is the result of parents who tried for nine years! She told me that she never asks this question. (She also said that when she told her mom of my story, her mom told her to move a statue of a pregnant woman in her home into her bedroom. I thought this was so kind!) If a couple does not have children and has been married more than a few years, the odds are great that they haven't been able to have them, and this question just stinks. You can probably find the answer to this question fairly easily if you just wait. It'll become quickly obvious.

The second thing that is difficult for me to deal with is when people complain about their children. When my new friend asked me what conversation she could avoid around me I said, "Complaining." I recognize parents need to complain, and I think they have every right to complain, but I feel like that conversation could be reserved for another day when I'm not around. There are tons of other parents to complain to! The infertile gal probably isn't the best choice. Complaining is hard because I would give anything to be able to complain.

The only other thing I asked her was that if she found out she was pregnant, to tell me via email, a card, or through JB. Telling me in person is difficult. I am so happy for the person and don't want to start crying out of my own selfishness in front of someone who is so happy. I have had a few times where someone gave me their news in person. Inevitably, here comes this lump in my throat and the scratchy eyes. I feel horrible. Here is this awesome moment in my friend's life, and I'm crying because I'm jealous! Since I have told people this, I have been so blessed by the nice cards and emails I have received giving me the news. My cousin Sarah sent me a card and just said, "Call me when you are ready." Some days, I handle these fine. Some days, they cause me a few minutes of a pity-party. But at least I can have these privately and the next time I see you, I am prepared to celebrate properly. Some of my infertile friends don't feel the same way. They want to be told in person. So I advise you to ask the husband what would be best if you don't know, or ask the person before you get pregnant.

Tara, who has been doing an REI (reproductive endocrinology) rotation, wrote on her blog the other day about how everything has to work together so perfectly for people to get pregnant. I know that is so true! I have learned so much during my four years of "living" at the REI in Minnesota. Life truly is a miracle. However, sometimes it doesn't feel that way. It feels like the rest of the world gets pregnant as easily as they get groceries. Thursday: haircut; Friday: get groceries; Saturday: get pregnant. Sigh ... okay, so that's not true, obviously, but somedays it does feel like I'm the only one in the world feeling this way.

I definitely don't want people walking on egg shells with me or any other infertile woman in their life. However, I think it is very important that as human beings, we are aware of other people's suffering. If someone has just lost their parent, you don't want to complain about your own parent in front of them. That just makes sense. It isn't just infertility I am talking about here. We all have things in our life that are painful, and if we communicate those feelings to others, they are able to help us deal appropriately. People don't know how to help unless you tell them what you need. So I tell people and keep things very real. If you have another infertile friend and need advice, ask me! I'll help!

I have a link on the right on this blog entitled "How to Help Your Infertile Friend". This has other advice as well. However, please know that with me, you can just ask me what I need and I will tell you. Or ask JB. We are extremely honest. We don't mind any questions about adoption or infertility. We want people to know.

All right, this post about lights and the vet went in a completely different direction, but as always, I'm just sharing my heart. I'm so excited for JB to come home this morning and be home for the whole weekend! Yay!!! I'm also excited to have some help with this dog.

I also want to wish my mom a happy 29th birthday! Okay, so that's a lie. Actually she is 52. Pretty young to have a 30 year old! I think her mother is 72 or 73. That's pretty young to have a 30 year old granddaughter. Happy day mom!

Work Break

Thought I would take a five monute work break to give a quick life update. JB is, SURPRISE!, asleep. (Can you believe that guy sleeping in the middle of the day?!) He went to bed pretty quickly as we are taking Scrubs to the vet at 3:30.

For working from home, I am staying really busy. While I miss JB terribly, I'm not lonely or bored at all. Yesterday, three different moms and each of their sons stopped by to see Scrubs. Andrea and her son Johnathon, Tiffany and her son William, and Jenny and her son Jackson. They brought dog toys and treats. These moms think of everything! Scrubs did very well meeting all of the kids. Although, JB was home when Andrea called to see if she could stop by, and as soon as he heard she was coming he decided to thoroughly wear the pup down so he was nice and calm when the guests arrived.

Scrubs has a ton of energy but only for very short bursts. We walked to Tiffany's hosue to say hi today, and when we go thome at 10:00, he was exhausted. He's been sleeping ever since.

As for adoption news, we are currently waiting to hear back from the adoption agency to start our home study and paperwork. They told us it would take about 10 days and we are nearing that. I am anxious to get the ball rolling.

That's it -- I really don't have too much else to report. Have a good weekend everyone!

P.S. Make sure you check out the post below this one. I finally got pics from my brother Keith's wedding.

Pics of Keith and AD's wedding

I finally got the "real" pics from Keith and AD's wedding and have tried to load them here. I can't change the captions under the photos unfortunately, but I think you all will enjoy these. Of course, this wedding was in December, but hey, I had to be patient waiting for these photos.

Busy at RLS Foundation

Work at the RLS Foundation has been busy lately mainly because of a new discovery that was finally announced yesterday. We've known about this for quite some time and have been preparing for the announcement for quite a few weeks. The final articles were printed in the very presitigous New England Journal of Medicine.

To quickly summarize, a gene for RLS was found. This basically means that they have found a gene that if present in a person's DNA, indicates that they are more likely to get RLS.

The articles are all over the news and the newspapers and online. Here's just two links that explain what was recently found:

Scientists Find Genetic Link for a Disorder (Next, Respect?)

Genetic link is found for restless legs syndrome

Just thought I would share what I do for a living. Basically I help write the press releases, emails, and edit the website to share this information with the public. Here's the webpage I have been working on.

RLS Foundation announcement

Thanks for listening (and pretending like it was really interesting.)

Good nights all around

I have to admit that the last few days have been a little bit tough. Not only do I have a brand new puppy who I am trying to monitor 24-7, but John is gone, well, nearly 24-7. Okay, so he isn't actually gone that much, but he's unavailable that much. He leaves each evening around 5:45 for the hospital and comes home each morning around 8:30. He tries to hang out with me and talk to me but by 9:30 is dragging and makes his way to bed. Yesterday, I laid down next to him in bed. Folks, I did not know it was possible to be sleeping and snoring in just 4 mere seconds, but JB proved it was possible. And usually, he doesn't even snore! The guy was out before I could even lay down.

He has been waking up around 4:30pm. This means that he is actually home all day with me but sequestered in the bedroom. It's a good thing our house is solid as a rock and he has earplugs to sleep through the whining and barking of our dog and the chirping of our bird. We've got a little zoo going on here now. JB hopes to have his fish tank up and running soon too.

Anyways, at 4:30 he usually eats, well, cereal, since it is sort of breakfast time for him and then heads back to the hospital.

Last night he called me about 10:30 and informed me that it was a "dead night". He said he finally felt "awake" for his night shift and had successfully flipped his sleep. He seemed so relieved to have some down-time. Compared to the night before where they were so pounded and had two very difficult deliveries, he was ecstatic! I hope the rest of the night followed suit. I haven't heard from him

Scrubs also had a good night. He went out at 10pm, 2am, and 6am -- nearly 4 hour increments. Yay!!! Yesterday he also failed to have any accidents at all. We have an appointment at the vet tomorrow. I think the hardest thing right now is "bite inhibition". "The book" said that that this reaches a peak during months 3 and 4 and will then be able to be trained better but right now, he just doesn't seem to get the difference between the bone and my hand. Any advice from fellow puppy owners?

Scrubs having a good night meant Wendi had a good night. I was blessed by an invite to Matt and Tiffany's for dinner. Tiffany made a FANTASTIC Thai meal. It was awesome! I didn't stay too long as I wanted to get the dog back out again and turn in early, but it was still wonderful since my choices were mac & cheese or some grapes back at my house.

It's now 7:22 a.m. and I just got back from a great run. I'm a little concerned as my right knee is causing me a little discomfort when I am running. I'm not sure why, and quite honestly, haven't had a chance to talk to my "doctor" lately (i.e., JB). Hopefully this isn't anything big. I'd be so bummed if now that I can run, I can't run. (Did everyone follow that?)

My headaches are also doing considerably better although I am still struggling with some bouts each day. Please keep this in your prayers. I think my body is just adjusting after four years of so much medicine. I just need to get back to being Wendi-without-drugs, and I think the headaches will go away as well. I am not taking any medication for these headaches. If I need something, I drink a Mountain Dew, otherwise, I fight through them.

Oh, another very random tid-bit to throw in there. My blog got it's 60,000th hit yesterday. Anyone want to claim responsibility?! I wasn't even paying attention to try to see if we could find the winner. Oh well. I have a feeling Josh will try to claim responsibility. It just seems like something Josh would do.

I put another post below this with some puppy stuff. I have a feeling that'll dominate my blog for a bit. Oh well. I like my puppy! Seriously, he has been the best diversion for me. I don't know what I would have done this last week without him here. It is such a good distraction and helps me to forget about infertility stuff. Thanks again wonderful JB.

Scrubs attempt at fetch

Also I have had a few people point out to me that Scrubs has a "heart nose". I never saw it. But here is a picture I snagged from Joia's blog that she took of Scrubs and me. There's the heart nose. How cute is that?

I also have a new video to share.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

32 years! Awesome! Congrats Mom and Dad!

(and since they had a double wedding with my dad's brother Bob and his wife Mary -- parents of Jason, Josh, and Justin, I'll put a shout out to them too!)

Girls' night out

I am really blessed by some of the wonderful wives of JB's fellow interns. Last night, four of us went to "McGuire's Irish Pub" near Destin. It was actually Tiffany's idea. Her husband Matt agreed to watch their son William so she could have a night out. We wanted to see that new Catherine Zeta Jone's movie, but it doesn't come out until next week. So instead we opted for dinner and a movie at my house.

We met at our house and everyone met Scrubs. I was shocked at how shy my puppy was. When Tiffany and Matt came over on Saturday when we got him, he was all over everyone. However, a few days later, and he didn't want to leave my side. After a few minutes, he warmed up, but still gingerly! I don't want my dog being a scaredy cat -- we have to work on this.

We then headed to dinner. We were trying to go to "Cafe Bistro" but it was closed for a private party! WHATever. So we opted for "McGuire's Irish Pub". This is a really fun restaurant with all sort of eccentric decorations and traditions. Here's some pics of our night (thanks to Joia for letting me steal these from her!)

I'll label this picture as the entrance to the restaurant in case you couldn't tell.

Here's the girls' night out gang. Wendi (obviously), Jodi (back left), Tiffany (back right), and Joia (front right). I'm not sure why I couldn't bear to put down the ketchup for the picture.

Not sure the whole story behind this, but people sign and hang dollar bills from the ceiling. I find it good decoration but sort of disturbing that money holds such little value to people! (None of us were going to throw our money away so we didn't participate.)

The menu is full of fun things -- like you can get a bowl of beans for 18 cents -- the original price of the soup. They also sell a $100.00 hamburger. Apparently it includes some sort of rare champagne or something. You've got to be kidding me! Obviously people have bought this or it wouldn't be on the menu. I'd like to lecture the person who would put $100.00 into their stomach with one item!

JB and I ate at McGuire's back in August when I came out to visit him on his rotation. Back then, they had signs like these on the bathroom door. Read closely to find out why I ended up in the Men's room. Yesterday, the signs had been replaced with simple signs. Apparently, they had a fight with the health department. However, you can read the WHOLE STORY here. Apparently, McGuire's has reached an agreement with the state to keep their famous door signs.

After dinner, we headed back to my house and watched French Kiss. Tiffany and I had seen it but a long time ago. It was fun because it had a lot of Canadian/American connections and Joia is a Canadian (about to be dual-citizen.) Actually, the four of us are from all over the country. I guess I claim Florida, Tiffany is a Texan, Joia from Canada and most recently Michigan, and Jodi the Carolinas! Good diversity in friendships.

In other news, folks I am TIRED! I got an email from a co-worker today who told me I had emailed her at 11:33 p.m. and 6:16 a.m. YIKES! I blame it on two issues: JB being gone which always causes me to take longer falling asleep, and this darn little adorable puppy who think 5am is morning!!!

Movie Recommendations

If there's one thing that my husband enjoys doing, it's watching movies. I am not into it as much as he is. I just think there is so much more I can be doing while at home. And while at the theatre, I think that we could get this on Netflix and not spend so much money. We found a great movie theatre in Destin which has digital movies -- a much clearer picture. With our military ID the price is knocked down from $9 to $7 for us and anyone with us. Heck they even gave it to Justin when he told them he wanted to buy the tickets and JB and I weren't there yet. Anyways, in the last three weeks we have seen three movies: Harry Potter, Bridge to Terabithia, and Mission Impossible III.

All three movies were very good. I won't get into a big "debate" about Harry Potter. I know some of you aren't into it or are actually against it. That's fine. John loves the books and even though I hadn't seen the movie before this one, I enjoyed it. Justin, John, and I went on opening night. It was very entertaining. My personal take is that Harry Potter is the "thing" of our era. E.T., Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, heck even the Smurfs got a bad wrap for awhile! But in the end, the movies are all about good vs. evil. And good wins in this movie too. All right, like I said, I am Mrs. anti-controversy so I'll leave it at that. If you are okay with Harry Potter, you'll enjoy the movie.

Second movie I saw on video. We get Netflix which we really enjoy. JB had already seen Mission Impossible III, but I hadn't. I really enjoyed it! It was very, very entertaining -- the best of the 3 in my opinion, especially because they sprinkled in some great romance. Rent this one folks!

The third movie we saw was also on Netflix -- Bridge to Terabithia. Now this was a very entertaining movie, but it wasn't anything like I thought it was gonig to be. If you watch the trailer, you'd think something very different then what it turns out to be. However, the child actors in this movie are fantastic, and it really made for an entertaining watch.

So there's the critic's review of the week.

I'll leave you with a couple of random, completely unrelated pictures of our little pup, including one I took of him after he fell asleep from utter exhaustion in his cage.

As I write this, I'm waiting for JB to get home from his first night of night-shift. Poor guy sounded pretty whipped when I spoke to him at 10pm last night. Well, at least I had Scrubs to keep me company -- and keep me company he did at 12pm, 2am, and 5am! :)

Start of an interesting half month

Jb is currently in the shower. He just finished his PT test for the Air Force. He scored well enough that he won't have to test again for another year. They do a run, push-ups, and sit-ups as well as getting weighed. JB missed getting maximum points on the weigh-in by 0.9 pounds! He knew he was close, but man, how close is that? If you don't score well, you can be retested in 3 or 6 months. John will have a year before facing the test again.

Today is the beginning of what will be a very interesting two weeks for us. JB is on every evening from 6pm until 8am the following morning. He does get his weekends off, however, his sleep will need to totally flip. We aren't exactly sure how this will work. For instance: when do you eat breakfast? Dinner? When do you sleep? Do you sleep as soon as you get back or do you wait to sleep until you have been up for a little bit? As far as breakfast: I love breakfast food. Maybe I'll eat breakfast myself and then breakfast again with him!

Either way, from what we can figure, he will have about 2 hours home each day that he isn't sleeping. If he is at work for 14 hours, that only leaves 10 more hours in the day. If he is to get 8 hours sleep -- that means we have 2 hours to hang out. My only plan is to make sure that I am not working during those 2 hours.

Today is additionally bad. Each week, JB has his "own" clinic for a half day. This is where he sees his patients -- the patients that have been assigned to him. No matter what rotation he is on, he has his own clinic half-day each week. John loves his clinic day. When he came home from the clinic the other day he told me: "This is why I went to medical school!" Today is that day. So he'll go in at 11, possibly race home for dinner around 5, and then return for his night shift.

The two weeks of nights seems a bit overwhelming, however, I personally think they will be better for us as a family than if he were doing what a lot of call people do. I know, Lesley, for instance, is on call every fourth night. Les, I'm not sure your opinion, but to me, this seems harder (for the spouse) especially. If you are on call every fourth night, then after recovering for two days, you have only day of sanity before being on call again. Instead, JB has only one call day a month. The rest of the time he is only on during the day (or into the evening), but he gets to sleep in his bed. The exceptions are these two week periods. He has three of those during the next year. Now add to Lesley's situation that her husband is also a doctor on his own nights ... Lesley, how do you manage this?

As for me, I'm getting some practice at our daughter's arrival I suppose! I am sleeping in the living room with my puppy in his cage. He needs to go out about every 3 hours. So, I put him in the cage, he cries for about 30 minutes, chews himself to sleep, and then wakes up 3 hours later crying to go outside. I bring him outside, he relieves himself, gets a treat, and then returns to his confines. Last night he woke up at 11pm, 2am, and 5am. I must have been quite a site out there in my flip flops and eye mask pulled up on top of my head! Scrubs was trying to convince me that 5am was the morning. I wasn't so convinced and forced him back for another session which he ended at 7am with a good cry to go out again. John thinks this two weeks is perfect timing since he'll be gone for all of it leaving me to get up every 3 hours. Hopefully the 3 hours will continue to grow each night!

I have another question for everyone, completely off topic. Does milk sour faster in Florida than it does in Minnesota? In our 4 years in Minnesota, I don't remember milk ever going bad on us. We have just lost our second half gallon! What are we doing wrong?! Any thoughts on this? :)

Video of JB & Scrubs

Here's a promised video of JB with our new puppy. I think we are going to call him Scrubs (sorry Tara!)

Another puppy post

Well I'd like to say this post isn't about my puppy but since this is my blog and since my Saturday was dominated by our new puppy, I'm not sure what else I'd write about.

The final results of the "name" poll overwhelmingly favored "Scrubs". 55.1% of you voted for "Scrubs", 24% of you for Dante, and only 8% for Picasso. JB and I, too, have favored "Scrubs" and spent all of yesterday calling him Scrubs. However, we aren't sure it is right for this dog. It just isn't fitting. That being the case, we think his name is Scrubs bur are still debating.

I'm following the rules of our puppy book (and JB) as closely as possible and so far, thing seem to be going pretty well. We have the little guy set up in the laundry room with a nice little caged in area that includes a piece of sod and his crate. Sometimes we keep him in the crate; sometimes in the penned in area. He spends 1 hour in there. At that point, he comes out, goes outside, and goes to the bathroom. If he goes successfully, which he usually does, he gets some food. Then we take him back inside, play for fifteen minutes, and repeat the process. If he doesn't go to the bathroom, he returns to his crate and then tries again later.

At night, we keep him in a crate in our room. He whines himself to sleep and when he whined at midnight, 3am, and 5am, one of us took him out to use the bathroom and give treats. This book actually teaches that you don't give them dog food in a bowl at all right now. All their food comes from your hands and from these "KONG" toys that teach them to chew on these toys until food comes out. So far, while I am very tired, I am impressed with the training as ?Scrubs? seems to be getting the idea.

Matt and Tiffany came over last night for some pizza. She brought homemade treats for our new friend! They have a little dog, Wyatt. We watched a favorite movie of their's Monty Python and the Holy Grail. While it was witty in spots, I can't say I recommend it. :)

This morning, we are going to try a new church, Rocky Bayou Baptist. We'll see how that goes. Right now, Calvary Chapel Fort Walton is leading the pack of the four churches we have tried so unless this one beats it, we may return to try Calvary again.

All right. The one hour alarm on the dog is about to go off. I am really excited about my puppy! I think, once he's trained, he's going to be a lot of fun. Heck, even now, I'm having a lot of fun. I'll try to post a video later today if I can.

I also want to say how blessed I am to be John's wife. He knew just what I need. I think this puppy will be the perfect diversion during the 2+ years as we wait for our daughter's arrival. Nothing could have padded the emptiness in our home better than this little guy. Thanks JB! I love you!

We're home!

I'll put some more pics up later, but we got our doggie from the airport. He immediately got a bath as he had spent some time in that cage without a bathroom!

He is still nameless. Tune in soon for word on what we named the little guy. He's adorable and a great big blessing in my life!

Please vote on a dog name!

Well our dog comes tomorrow. We have narrowed our "choice list" for names down to 6 names. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Dante -- Famous Italian poet
Einstein -- Duh! The scientist silly!
Nevus -- Mole or colored spot on the skin -- "dalmation like" :)
Pollock -- Famous artist who did black and white paintings
Picasso -- Another Duh! The artist silly!
Scrubs -- Fun medical word!

I'm not promising we'll pick what people vote form but we would like your help. What do you guys think?!

FINAL RESULTS
Scrubs 55.1% (43 votes)
Dante 24.4% (19 votes)
Picasso 7.7% (6 votes)
Einstein 5.1% (4 votes)
Pollock 5.1% (4 votes)
Nevus 2.6% (2 votes)

Okay, okay ... some more puppy updates

Here is a photo of my new puppy with his dad. Yes, my new puppy is a boy! And yes, I'm going to try to answer all the questions you have asked about him.

What you going to name it?
I currently don't have a name for my new puppy since I have only known about him for all of 2 days. We have some ideas but haven't finalized a name yet. We'll probably stick with an "artistic" name since our birds have been: Monet, Chaucer, and Twaine(tte). Any "artistic" suggestions? Tara, I liked your idea of a Nigerian name! Not bad. I'm going to mention that to JB. Although I think we have to save the name Lauretta gave us for a child. As Funky pointed out, birds do count as pets!

Why a dog?
In the last two weeks, I have brought up the idea of a dog to JB numerous times. I actually read it in one of my infertility books. They suggested that while a dog doesn't replace a chiId, it can help ease the loneliness. I also have a dear friend who was in my support group in Minnesota who also does not have children. She and her husband bought a dog, and she told me it was one of the best things she did.

In the last two weeks, I have not been bored at all. I've been quite busy. However, our house is very quiet. Other than the occasional jets and our chirping bird, it's eerily quiet. This is due to the fact that the houses on all sides of us are currently vacant and the fact that these houses are so solid, I cannot even hear the rain from inside the house! (I think I am going to start cracking a window so I can hear it. Who doesn't like to hear rain?)

I guess I say all this to say that I've been lonely and more aware than ever that while the majority of my friends are home with their children, I'm home by myself. Yes, we are adopting, but that is probably over two years away. So what could I do to not be quite so lonely, especially when JB is doing his two weeks of night shifts (one of which starts next week)?

"Unbeknowest" to me, JB had already thought of this! He bought this dog a month ago -- two weeks before I ever suggested it to him.

Why a Dalmatian?
Yes, I have always wanted a Dalmatian. If you knew me in high school, my bedroom was coated with them. I found this picture from me in 1994. This is actually an old friend, D.J., who I haven't seen in a decade. The guy on the right? John's younger brother Ray!

Can you see the Dalmatian blanket to the right of Ray? The polka dotted photo album? And the Dalmatian bags on the wall?

However, truthfully, I never really thought I'd get a Dalmatian. JB had heard that they were mean and dumb and had convinced me of this.

So when John got online a month ago to try to pick a dog for me, he wasn't even thinking Dalmatian. He did all these online quizzes to try to find the "perfect fit". He wanted a dog that would keep me company, be good with children, go on jogs with me, and also be a "guard dog" of sorts. Every single search engine listed Dalmatian in the top three!

He did some more research and realized that Dalmatians are actually not mean OR dumb. The mean "rumor" comes from the fact that when the two Dalmatian movies came out, people started mass producing the dogs and people who weren't serious about having a dog began to buy them. You ended up with a bunch of dogs no one could take care of and a thus some mean dogs. In addition, the "dumb" rumor is also not true. It stems from the fact that Dalmatians are one of the only dogs who don't respond to punishment! John informs me that you have to distract if they are bad, praise if they are good. But punishing doesn't work for them.

In addition, boy Dalmatians are apparently more friendly for girls. JB had a choice between two boys and a girl, and he picked this one.

Who is going to train the dog?
I am! Actually, if you know JB well, you know that he had a black lab in high school -- Bronte -- who still lives with his parents today. John trained Bronte amazingly! You could throw a slab of meat in front of her and she'd leave it there. John is going to walk me through it, and he says if I follow the rules, in a few months, I'll have a wonderful, house-broken puppy!

When is he arriving?
He actually flies in to the Fort Walton Beach Airport tomorrow at 2:00!!!! We'll get him then. He was raised by a family in Delaware and is eight weeks old! The family has a bunch of kids so he is used to being around kids and families and other dogs.

Are you excited?
I am so excited folks! John was just going to surprise me and bring the dog home. However, I had had a really hard "I'm still childless" day, and he wanted to do something so he decided to tell me the news! I think this will be a great distraction for me while we wait for our daughter to arrive. I'm thrilled. When he showed me the video, I first started crying. Then I said, "Did you call Sarah?"

Sarah is my cousin who is terribly allergic to dogs. She can't be in a house with them for more than a short period. Right after he told me, I called Sarah. She understood completely. They can still come to visit. We'll get them a hotel on base but because this is Florida, we'll be able to open up the sliding glass door and hang out on the porch away from the dog if it is bothering her. Apparently though, Dalmatians are one of the most hypo-allergenic dogs so it might be better!

I'll be sure to update you tomorrow once we bring him home.

Nicole wins -- it's a puppy!

I don't actually have my puppy yet. He flies in on Saturday! However, JB bought this for me without me having any idea. I was having a bad day yesterday so he decided to tell me early. Here's a video from the breeder who lives in Delaware.

Hanging out with Justin & Trivia

My cousin Justin came in to visit us on Monday and is leaving today, Thursday. He is a baseball player and had off for the All-Star break. It was great to see him. I am really blessed when company comes to visit. Last night we had a quick dinner and went to a movie in Destin Commons.

Speaking of company, I got an email from Rachel S. yesterday. She and Hans are going to come visit us in November!!!! I am soooo excited about this. I think JB should have off the weekend they are here. I am hoping so so that we can get a boat for the day! I am also trying to plan a few trips away. I want to go see my best bud Kristi in New Mexico. I'd like to get back to the TN/KY area to see Josh and Sarah, the Wilsons, and my friend Shea who has relocated there. I would also like to go to Minnesota at some point, although I may wait until June for Hans and Rachel's wedding. I just can't miss that.

Some of you have also asked about Ron & Ebby. They are preparing to move themselves. They are moving to North Myrtle Beach, SC. Ronnie wants to go back to school to teach, and Ebby's mom and step-dad live there. They wanted to be by family while Ronnie goes back to school. I am excited for them -- especially because they will be closer to us now!

I also got an AMAZING surprise yesterday from my husband! I've decided that I will make it a trivia. I've told a few people what the surprise is as you were online or getting an email from me at the time the surprise came through, so if I have told you, you may not guess! Okay? Those of you who I haven't told, any guesses what my wonderful husband surprised me with yesterday?!

Finally!

Part of my job for the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation is editing their website. I have been working for weeks now on our NEW website. I didn't design it, but I do plug in all the information throughout the site. We just unveiled it.

I realize it may be rather boring to you all, but since it's been most of what I have been working on for a few weeks, I'm going to link it to my blog. Here it is: NEW WEBSITE.

Big Kahunas

Yesterday, Justin and I went to Big Kahunas water park in Destin. We got there around noon and stayed until four and had a really great time. Those of you who lived in Fort Lauderdale probably remember Six Flags Atlantis. This park didn't have slides quite like Atlantis. They had much smaller slides. What they did have were quite a few different "lazy river" type rides which were very relaxing and very fun. The only time I wasn't relaxed was when I got stuck in a spot that I wasn't moving forward or when some poor little kid basically begged me to help her make some progress down the river.

I got up this morning, and JB told me I should read Tara's blog which he had already read and commented on. Tara had this whole post about the sun. She included the statement: "Remember: white is beautiful."

Now I have a problem with this statement, and I wrote it in my comment section. "Tara is naturally tan. So how can a 'naturally' tan person say white is beautiful when she has never been as white as I am when I am tan." If you don't know Tara, check out her blog and see what I mean. The girl has the most PERFECT skin color EVER! She definitely shouldn't get any sun with that beautiful skin.

But then there is me. All my life, I have been pretty darn white. I grew up in South Florida where white was not seen as beautiful. Instead it indicated that you hadn't devoted enough time to tanning! I found this picture of JB and I during the first year we were dating. This was my color during high school, but it was a color I had to work quite aggressively to get. I could only stay this way if I continued to lay out on a regular basis.

Okay so fast for about four years. When I was about 20, I went to the dermatologist to have a mole cut off. It was getting rubbed by the sports bra I wore everyday in basketball and starting to bleed. While there, the dermatologist found a "pre-melanoma" and did some minor surgery to remove it. They have to go to the root of this thing and ended up removing something about the size of a lima bean. He then told me that I had successfully gotten all the sun that I needed for a lifetime and needed to stay out of the sun for the rest of my lifetime.

This didn't prove too difficult. A year later, I graduated from college and with my job as a teacher and a coach, I really didn't have time for sun. JB kept it that way when he took my to Minnesota in 2003. Forget sun! Who the heck can get tan in Minnesota? The closest I came to Tan in Minnesota was when my face got chapped from the cold wind. That gave me a little glow.

So now, 2007, I am back in the Sunshine State. This is where John's comment on Tara's blog comes into play. JB wrote: "Tara... please ask Wendi about her latest sun experience... I'll just leave it at that and hope that you being an M.D. and all will be able to make some progress with her."

So what JB is talking about is that yesterday, I got a bit burnt at the water park. But I really TRIED to be wise and protect myself from the sun. I brought an SPF 15 which probably wasn't enough, however, it was waterproof which I thought was more important. During the four hours I was there, I coated myself three times. And I mean, literally, coated. The only problem, I missed the areas right around my bathing suit. I guess I was thinking I didn't want to get sunscreen on my bathing suit so now I have a red burn around all angles of my swimming suit in the front. In the back, not much, since I was sitting in a tube on the lazy river for most of the day.

So, my question: what is a really white girl to do? Not go out in the sun at all? I really do want to take care of my skin, but let's face it, if I stay as pasty white as I was in Minnesota, people here will laugh at me! Pasty white is only acceptable when no one sees any part of you except a bit of you face for 10 months of the year!

And then, what am I supposed to do when now, nearly everyone I know is a physician? I'll end up exercising 42 hours a day, eating whole wheat saw dust, and never going outside. Yeah, so I'll have to run around my living room instead so the sun doesn't get me. Okay, so my physician friends aren't this extreme, but I just want to naturally not be so white. My whole problem would be solved if I wasn't the queen of pasty.

Sigh ... I'm going to go sit outside for a bit and think this one through.

My Office & Adjustments

Here is a picture of my "new" office. A little more homey then the first few weeks I was using it. The couch and a plant really seemed to help.



I'm having trouble getting the artwork above the couch to stay put. The walls are cement, and in certain locations, impossible to get nails through. Thus, I've resorted to other efforts that have not proved very successful. However, the artwork illustrated below is all JB's artwork. He wants me to note that these aren't his favorite pieces. (But they are mine.)

I've gotten the hang of my new schedule and feel like I have adjusted pretty well. On a normal day, JB gets up between 5:30 and 6:00. He's usually out the door by 7:00. If I need the car that day, then I take him in. This is the case if I want to try to get back up to the hospital and see him or if, like yesterday, my cousin was coming into town. I have to meet all guests at the gate the first time they come on base and get them signed in, and I need a car to do that. I really don't have too many errands to run while JB is at work. I feel like I can do these at other times or on the days that I have to keep the car for other reasons. So far, having one car seems to be working okay, but the jury is still out on that one.

I usually spend the morning doing my devotions, exercising, blogging, or getting to work. I have not set a firm schedule. I am usually working between 7 and 8 and work through most of the day although I do take breaks for chores around the house or exercise or to talk to JB if he ever has a break. Right now, I am working until John gets home since I am a bit behind on hours. This behind on hours is due to company (which I love!) and the holidays. I may eternally be catching up on my hours, and that's perfectly okay.

Each rotation JB does lasts from 2 weeks to one month. This two weeks he is on OB. The second two weeks this will be working night shifts (7 p.m. until 7 a.m.) Each month is different so I can't tell you what his "usual" schedule will be. I can tell you that one half day a week he is always in clinic, seeing his patients. Each intern is assigned 70 patients. They manage these patients completely including t-cons (where they answer questions from patients via telephone.) Right now, John is getting home by about 7pm each evening. Sometimes he has an entire weekend free (like this one). However, that is really the luck of how the schedule falls.

I am realizing that I am going to be by myself a lot. This is very different for me and is going to take some getting used to. JB worked from home the first five years of our marriage. I remember when I would come home from teaching all day, he would want to talk my ear off. I was so sick of talking to students all day and just wanted to sit on the couch and do nothing. He'd want to go out since he'd been in the house all day. I just wanted to hang out at home. This is similar to our new arrangement except I am now the one home all day. We'll adjust but it'll take some time.

The good news is, there are 7 other wives in the class that are currently all staying at home as well. So they are all going through what I am. I think we will all be doing stuff together to help pass the time we are husband-less. One wife is also a scrapbooker -- YAY JOIA! So hopefully we can connect and do that some too.

Today Justin and I are going to the waterpark! I can't wait.

A few words ...

So I decided to post some words to go with all those pictures of books. Some quick notes:

Mediterranean
Last night we had a few new friends over for dinner (fellow interns and their families). JB made an amazing Mediterranean meal. It was wonderful! Actually, I decided to help JB cook. I've never really done this before. Usually I leave him alone for the cooking, and he leaves me alone for the cleaning. Instead, I helped him cook, and he helped me clean. We had a great time! I really did enjoy helping him, and I really didn't think that would be the case.

Wendi Cooking
Learning in the kitchen is pretty important right now as I am having to cook more than usual. I am really trying to get out the recipe book and just try some things. I cooked two meals last week, and JB said that both of them were "good". I ate them too, and agreed. They were halfway decent. Nothing like what he cooks, but not too shabby at all.

Cousin Justin
In other news, my cousin Justin is coming into town today. I think we are going to go to a local water park tomorrow! John likes this news since he really isn't "in" to water parks and maybe this will get it out of my system.

Adoption
We also made our first payment today towards our adoption on Saturday and signed the final pieces of paperwork to "join" our agency. The forms actually said: "Signature of mother" and "signature of father". That was really cool!

JB's schedule
JB's schedule is currently, busy. He left again today at 7 a.m. and won't be home until about 7 p.m. This is fairly typical. Next week he starts two weeks of nights. I'm trying to not get worried about his schedule right now. I'm trying to just take one day at a time.

JB's Books

For JB's graduation, his father gave him a homemade "bookshelf". Okay, so the bookshelfs aren't actually built yet, but the promise is there that he is going to build him something.

In the meantime, I decided that we probably needed to get JB's books out of boxes. A few times since we have moved in, JB has needed a book and had no way to find it. I therefore decided to unpack them in one of the guest room closets, hoping I could set them up fairly conveniently.

We have actually decided to make our "extra rooms" into: (a) my office and (b) JB's library/office and a guest room.

Folks, my husband has a lot of books. And not only does he have a lot of books, he has some books on some fairly obscure and varrying topics. Here's some photos of the closet after I had all the books unloaded.

Here's just a sampling of the types of books I found as I unpacked the boxes.

Here's some photos of JB enjoying his new space.

Furniture Arrives

All right folks. Here's our new furniture! First a few pictures of the empty rooms and then a few pictures of the empty rooms filled up!

JB is now home. He has seen the furniture, loves it, and loves it so much, he immediately climbed into bed. He'll sleep until after lunch, and then get up to do some cooking as we are going to have some of his classmates over for dinner this evening. Perfect timing as we now have furniture!

All right. Got to watch Wimbeldon. Cheering for Nadal.

Late, late, late Saturday night

Okay so I do have pictures of our new furniture, however, you're going to have to wait to view them.

The reason? I think my husband should see them before you do and, well, he is currently on his first night of call. So, as soon as he sees them, I'll let you see them.

It is currently nearing 11pm. I always end up staying later when JB isn't here with me.

JB left at 7 this morning. Well, actually, I drove him in so that I could have the car to go back and visit him if he had a break. He called periodically throughout the day, and around 7 p.m., he called and told me things had slowed down enough for me to bring him dinner.

Things are different here than they are at Mayo. There isn't really a restaurant for the docs to get food at. If you want to eat, you really need to bring it yourself. I packed him a lunch but was hoping that the two of us could eat dinner together.

I had made something around 5 p.m. that had turned out decent enough to stomach. (I'm learning folks!) So I packed it up and headed to the hospital.

Ten minutes after I got there, JB came walking outside to meet me. The third year resident was also outside waiting for his wife to come with food, and he and JB started talking in a language I didn't understand. Holy cow my husband is smart! Is that English?!

What I did understand, as we walked into the building, was that we weren't going to get to eat dinner together. Another emergency had come up.

Smart Wendi had packed the dinners into two separate Tupperware pieces in case something like this happened. So I left his piece there and wandered back to the car and back home where I sat down on our new sofa and ate my own Tupperware dinner.

This is going to take some getting used to.

Titleless

Last night, after our day at the beach, Matt and Tiffany had the idea to go Baytowne Wharf. This is in Sandestin -- about forty-five minutes from our homes on base. Cliff and Jodi joined us.Baytowne Wharf is amazing, and I can't believe we have never heard of this or been here before! It's website describes it as: a picturesque pedestrian village overlooking the Choctawatchee Bay. That is pretty accurate. JB and I will definitely return here, especially with guests, in the future.I had never been to a "dueling piano bar". Nor, honestly, did I have any idea what a "dueling piano bar" is. For one thing, most of you know that I don't drink at all so quite honestly, I've been to very few bars in my life nonetheless a dueling piano bar. But Matt and Tiffany had been before. There were tons of restaurants to choose from for dinner, but we followed their recommendation and chose the restaurant: Rum Runners. Folks, this was one of the most fun evenings I have had in quite some time. If you have the opportunity to go to dueling piano bar, you seriously need to consider it.First of all, it isn't just a bar. It's a restaurant. We didn't really drink -- instead we were seated for dinner. During dinner, these two pianists sit down at two different pianos. There are mirrors behind them so you can see their hands moving during the performance. They actually don't duel. Instead, they take turns playing audience requests. You bring up a request with money attached. The more money, the quicker your song will get played. Then, one of the pianists will play. Sometimes they will play together. Sometimes they will pass the song off to the other mid-song. Sometimes people dance. (Matt and Tiffany did some sort of Texas-dancing. They said they aren't that good in comparison to their friends in Texas, but compared to us, they were fantastic!)JB decided to make a request for the song "Short People." Neither of us had ever heard this song until my brother's wedding -- when we heard this song on the CDs that Keith and AD gave out as wedding favors. If you have not heard this song, scroll to my play list on the right toolbar of this screen and listen to this song. It's hilarious!!!Anyways, JB put a $5 bill on the song -- nearly guaranteeing it would get played. Sure enough, two songs later, the guy begins playing "Short People", telling us that it was only the 3rd time in his career that this song had been requested. He did a fabulous job. In fact, both pianists were unbelievably amazing. Here they are, playing any song thrown at them and singing it well. What a fun evening!Today, Saturday, I will be working most of the day to make up for some of the time I took off over the week. I will also be watching the Wimbeldon final (Go Venus!) and waiting for our furniture to arrive.JB is doing his first "on call" day today. This means he went in this morning at 7am and will be done tomorrow morning at 7am. Hopefully, I can join him for dinner this evening, and hopefully, he will get some sleep tonight, but it all just depends on the night itself. I have a lot to do so I am not worried about being bored at all, but I will miss my JB. :)