April 29th…

First of all, I can’t believe that it is almost May already. Time seems to be flying, but I just can’t seem to catch up. Well starting next week I am going to officially be working 2 jobs.

I am going to be working fulltime daylight M-F in an internal medicine office in Monroeville. While keeping my part time job with the Laurel Highlands Foundation, staying in the house that I’m already in. The girls there have gotten used to me, and I have gotten to know them well enough. They don’t deal well with change, so therefore, I am going to stay.

Second of all. We have found THE house. It’s a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house. There is a fireplace in the living room, hardwood floors, and all new furniture. The bedrooms upstairs are decent sizes, along with a game room in the basement. The best part is, there is only one room that we have to furnish, and that is John’s room. We have the furniture for it, it’s just all about moving it in now.

Our closing date for the house is May 22nd, after which we can officially start moving in. I’m so excited, and I know that K is excited as well.I’m also in the process of looking for a decent car that I can drive daily back and forth to Monroeville. We are going to have a housewarming sometime in June.

John and I are flying south for a week in July. He’s excited about flying in an airplane with mommy.

My nephew is due somewhere around August 10th, and September 5th I am having a birthday party for Kevin at our house. It sounds so great to say our house. I can’t wait. I’ll keep you updated on how the move goes.

I am…

I am the mother of a rambunctious 2 yr old son.
I am a sister, a daughter, a granddaughter, a lover, and a friend.
I am excited to be talking about wedding details with Kevin.
I am impatient to get to wear my engagement ring.
I am a better person than I was at this time last year.
I am still a work in progress.
I am hoping to be a better person tomorrow than I was today.
I am quite frequently cold.
I am determined to lose 30 pounds before I have to go try on wedding gowns.
I am happy with myself…most of the time.
I am excited to start my new job.
I am looking to buy a used car.
I am perfectly content to wash my family’s clothes.
I am also perfectly content to clean our house.
I am getting pretty good at cooking for my family.
I am getting good at keeping myself organized and knowing where I have to go.
I am keeping my planner up to date.
I am currently undergoing IV iron infusions.
I recently resigned from being a volunteer fire fighter due to time restraints.
I am writing this just because…

Layaway

It’s official. Kevin and I went to Mar-Bill Jewelers yesterday and put our rings on layaway. I picked out a white gold engagement ring with a princess cut diamond that is not quite half a carat. The wedding band is also white gold with princess cut diamonds in it as well. Kevin picked out a white gold band with a diamond/mirror cut basket weave pattern so it gives off some sparkle but doesn’t have diamonds in it so he doesn’t have to worry about losing any while he’s at work at UPS. We haven’t really set a date yet, but we know we want to get married in late April. I don’t know if we’re going to get married in 2010 or wait one more year. Either way, I’m going to have the wedding of my dreams. Gives us lots of time to plan and get things together for it. Kevin has even expressed interest in helping me plan the wedding. How many guys actually do that? Not many that I know of. I’m so freaking excited I can’t help but smile everytime I think about it. Kevin, I think, is also excited, but he doesn’t like to admit it. lol

On a different note, Kevin also took me for my IV iron infusion. Well the nurses there had a really hard time getting an IV into me. They had to poke me 5 times befre they finally got one in. Poor Kevin got so sick. He was nautious and sweaty, and for a few minutes there I thought he was going to pass out. That’s my guy. He wasn’t even the one getting poked, but I love him.

Most recent news…

Where to start? Well, I recently got out of the hospital. I was in because I was having chest pains. I had a stress echo, lots of EKG’s and bloodwork, and of course around the clock heart monitoring. Turns out my heart is very healthy. No worries there, no problems rhythmically. So what is my problem? A very low iron level. So low, that it started to bring my CBC down with it. A normal ferritin level is 127 or above, my ferritin level is at a 9. My course of tretment? Monthly B12 shots, and of course IV iron infusions.

The infusions I would have an hour every other day for 10 doses then the hematologist said that we can see about going to once a month, depending on how I respond to the iron. So otherwise then anemia, I’m pretty darn healthy.

Kevin and I have been talking a lot lately too. We are going to start seriously looking to buy a place of our own. We’d like to be into a house buy summer. We keep going back and forth on whether 3 bedrooms will do, or if we should just go for 4 and be done with it.

We have also been doing a lot of talking about getting married. At this point we are considering a wedding for next summer some time. After which we will then start trying to expand our family. John definitely needs a little brother or sister to play with. So for now, that’s all I have, just a few minor updates into my life. I can’t wait for the next journey to come along.

Updates

Well, the new year is turning out to be pretty good to me. I had submitted my resume for several positions, and got called for one interview. I was told that I would receive a letter in 7 to 14 days telling me either way whether I would be offered the job or not. I was the first one to the mailbox everyday to see if I had gotten anything. Exactly 8 days later there was a thick envelope in the mail for me.

I was offered the job! I had to have a physical, a TB test, and a drug screen done before they would schedule me for my first training. Well I had all that done, so I just have to call them tomorrow so that they can schedule me for training on February 7th. I am very excited to be getting this new opportunity.

The job is with the Laurel Highlands Foundation, which runs group homes for mentally handicapped people. I will be helping these people with their daily activities. It sounds really interesting. I have a friend that does the same kind of work for a different company and she absolutely loves it. I will be eligible for benefits after 90 days. That’s good for me too. I could use some benefits.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow for a cleaning and check-up. Then it’s off to the post office to get my passport taken care of so that I can go on my cruise with Kevin in October. Yay! I’m so excited. I’m also in the process of trying to buy a used car. With a little help from my dad.

Kevin and I have been talking. We are planning on buying a house together in the next 6 months. We are still debating at this point on how many bedrooms we are going to need. The first house that we looked at and fell in love with has 3 bedrooms, but we kinda think that we might try to get 4 bedrooms in this area if at all possible. I’d also love to stay in Charleroi, just because I’m already settled in the fire department here.

We have also discussed marriage. Kevin has expressed a desire to marry me, but wants to take his time about things. He wants to wait a little longer. He wants us to be together a little longer. I can live with that. Like he said if we love each other then it really doesn’t matter how soon we get married.

John is getting big too. And very smart. We’re still having potty training issues though. He just has no interest in peeing on the potty at this point. I figure that he’ll go whenever he is ready.

I’ve also been taking on a lot of the house responsibilities too. Cleaning, cooking, washing clothes and I love it. It’s fun. Yes, I really did just say that. lol

Getting ready for a new year…

Well, Christmas went pretty well. Except for the fact that John was really sick all week. I think he had some kind of virus. He was running a fever, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, and had diarrhea. He’s finally starting to get better.

I spend Christmas Eve with Kevin and his family at his Uncle Jerry’s house. It was a lot of fun. They really accepted me as part of the family. This was the second Christmas that I spend with them. Kev’s cousin Chris told him that if we planned to have any children together that he needed to marry me. We are still just taking our time.

Kev spent the night with me that night and woke up with us on Christmas morning. We then went to my grandmother’s house. After breakfast there, we went to eat with Kevin’s parents for Christmas dinner(it was 3 pm so to me that was lunch). Kevin’s parents got me a really nice Steeler’s coat for Christmas.

After that we had dinner with my family at my grandmother’s house. Then once dishes were done we went back to Kevin’s house to spend time with all of his cousins. His cousin Chris got his daughter’s a Wii for Christmas. They were all taking turns playing a boxing game, so when it was Kevin’s turn he looked like he was having a seizure. LMAO

So the next day Kev decided that he was going to buy a Wii. We got one last night, and came up with a custody agreement so that we could share it. lol. At least until we get our own place. Now I can’t wait until Wednesday! It’s going to be so exciting. I’ll let you know how New Year’s Eve goes once it happens.

Just thought I’d stop by and tell you bout my Christmas. To those of you who read this, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. Many Blessings, and don’t drink and drive.

Randomness

So things have been going really well for Kevin and I. Of course about 2 weeks ago my mother and I had a fight. Mostly about Kevin buying a house. She kept asking him if it was sure what he wanted to do, while implying are you sure that you really want to move in with Melissa? Well, I took offense to that, since Kevin and I had discussed this extensively. Well, unfortunately I let my temper get the best of me and took a swing at my mother. Kevin was there to hold me back. I just wanted to get as far away from my mother as possible at that point.

Well, I certainly didn’t want to go home, and I certainly didn’t want to go to my grandmother’s house. Where else could I go? Well, Kevin, knight in shining armor that he is, drove us to the local Hampton Inn and got us a room for the night. It was a nice room, king size bed. Not that I really paid much attention to this. Well once we got into the room, the first thing Kevin did was pull me into his arms and just hold me. That was exactly what I needed at that point in time. We made love, we slept, we made love again, then it was time to check out. My dad wanted to talk to us about what transpired the night before. I was a nervous wreck again, so once again Kevin took me in his arms and held me tight.

We did go and talk to my parents, talked everything out, and everything was resolved. Things are cool again.

Then came Thanksgiving Day. Well Kevin’s parents usually eat early so we had planned on eating there, and then going to my grandmother’s house later to eat. Well, let me say that dinner at Kevin’s parents house was interesting. Due to a transformer problem at the local power station, Kevin’s house had no electricity. The only thing that his mother had cooked was the turkey and stuffing. So very casually we made a toast with a yummy sweet wine, then stood around the island in the kitchen in the candlelight and ate turkey and stuffing.

Kevin’s mom gave me my Christmas present already. It was 2 sets of 4 water goblets. They are very pretty. I can’t wait until we have a house so that we can use them. Afterwards we went to my grandmother’s house for dinner. After we had everyting cleaned up from dinner, we decided to play a game. No one else wanted to play, so Kevin, my cousin Michael, his girlfriend Kellyn and I played Monopoly. Of course I won. I ended up with the most money and the most properties. And the game ended the way it usually does with everyone saying they would never play with me again.

This coming Saturday I have an appointment for 6 o’clock to get John’s pictures taken. Who knows what we’ll do after that… but that’s it for me for now..

Oh, one more thing… Kevin and I decided that it was time for our parents to meet. We talked to both sets of parents and agreed to a dinner on a Saturday night. For now, we are all just looking at our schedules to see what would work the best for everyone, but since it is December this is a busy month for everyone with Christmas. We are currently thinking maybe the 27th. I’ll keep you updated and let you know how things go…

How it went…

So yesterday was the day that K and I were supposed to go and talk to his parents and his brother and future sister-in-law. I was a nervous wreck, worrying about what his mother was going to accuse me of and piss me off beyond belief so that I said something stupid, and she never talked to K again.

Well, at 9 am I had to be at the fire hall to help set up for the cash bash that we had last night. We set up tables, chairs, card games, and beer. After that I went to my mom’s house, then proceeded to my grandmother’s house to spend some time with John. We had a nice nap together, then it was time to get up and take a bath to get ready to meet K at his house.

I got there around 4:30. Well K’s dad says “I know that you have had a misunderstanding with Ev, but we need to be a family. We don’t have much family left since my parents are both dead and Ev’s parents are both dead. We all need to get along because family is all we have.” Very well spoken. So we are cool now. K’s dad then made mudslides with whipped cream for everyone. Yummy.

After that the 6 of us met the realtor at the house so that his parents could see it. They loved the house. They said that it was a lot of house for a little bit of money, so we have their approval. They also said that they are going to give us $1800 to buy whatever we would need for the house. After we were done at the house I had to go to the fire hall for the cash bash. K rode back to his house with his parents so that he could get his car.

K then came down to the cash bash. Afterwards we went to the Italian Club to have a few drinks. My mom and sister came up later. They were having karaoke down at the Russian Club, so the 4 of us went down there for karaoke. We had a few more drinks, then my sister and I sang 2 songs together. K didn’t sing, he just laughed. It was a lot of fun. Can’t wait to do it again.

It’s been a while…

Ok, So it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted anything, well, here goes.

Where to start. K and I went to Florida the first week in September. We stayed with my friend Lauren and her fiancee Bill. We had a blast. We went out, we bought souvenirs for everyone back at home. We had a really long discussion one day after napping about where our relationship stood, and where it was going. That conversation did us a world of good. Our relationship has been better than it ever has. We made love, we laughed, we laughed while we made love. We went to an awesome Japanese steakhouse for K’s birthday. It was fun, and super yummy too. That night after we got back to Lauren’s place, we packed up our stuff and the 4 of us drove to Tampa to stay with Lauren’s grandma. K and I were in the Mustang we rented for the crazy price of $107 for the whole time that we were down there. I drove, of course, because K doesn’t know the area, and was content just to let me drive. Amen for GPS. We didn’t get lost at all, and I had a hard time keeping it under 85. Ha ha. Lead foot and a Mustang shouldn’t meet, but we didn’t get pulled over, so it’s all good.

The next morning, Lauren, Bill, and Grandma got up early to go to a conference. K and I slept in, got up, made love, then ventured to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay. We had a really, really great time while we were there. We saw a 3d Pirates movie, that was hilarious, we rode some rides, we walked around and looked at all the animals they had there. I got some really great pictures too. We left Busch Gardens around 4 o’clock. We drove back to Grandma’s house, took her dog Lucy for a walk, and then ventured off for the beach to watch the sunset.

We found the same beach that we were at last year. Indian Rocks Beach. We found ourselves a quite piece of beach, some distance from other beach goers. We walked past a group of people watching 2 people get married on the beach. I told K that they were crazy.

The water was kinda yucky from the hurricane that had just been through the Gulf, so I didn’t spend much time in the water. K and I just sat on the beach talking about getting married while we waited for the sun to set. I kinda had secretly wished that he was going to propose to me on that beach at sunset. He didn’t, but we did discuss it. We walked hand in hand on the beach picking up sea shells, then sat together and watched the beautiful sun set. It was so romantic, I got a ton of great pictures of the sun set. Then K leaned over and kissed me very passionately and lovingly. It was definitely a very good trip for us. We went back to Grandma’s house once it was dark, showered, ate, then went to sleep. Got up early the next morning, and flew back home.

Things have been, and still are going amazingly with K. I can’t believe how lucky we are to have been able to find each other. He has stood beside me and supported methrough my most difficult times, which ocurred a few weeks after our return from Florida. He has supported me through a difficult surgery in which I was told that I could possibly lose both ovaries and my ability to have more children. He stodd beside me simply saying that if we couldn’t have children together, that he would just love John like his own. Well, that he already does. He treats John as if he were his own son. It was love at first sight for those two. I couldn’t have asked for a better man.

He had been talking for a while about wanting to buy his own place, but wasn’t really interested in moving in with me. That was fine, I could live with that for now. I didn’t want to rush him, or us. But I was helping him keep an eye out for a house that would be good for him.

Well, I found one. It was fairly recently remodeled, new wiring, just needs to be cleaned up really well. So he told me to get some information for him. Well he scheduled an appointment for us to go see it. We went in, met with the realtor, and toured the house. Once we got to the top of the steps, he saw the first room and was like “this would be a great playroom for John” Then we went to the first bedrooom, and he said that it was going to be John’s room, and that he had a bed at his grandmother’s house for John. Then we walked into the master bedroom, he said that he had a bedroom set for us, but that the pink carpet had to go, he didn’t know about me, but he couldn’t sleep with that carpet in there. lol

Well, he went from not being interested in living together, to now, he has made an offer on the house and we will be moving in together by the first of the year. I am so excited, so is John and K both. We all can’t wait to start living together.

Then Kevin had to tell his parents that he was buying a house and we were moving in together. Knowing how his mother feels about me, I thought she was going to have a stroke. Well he told them last weekend that he was buying a house and I was moving in with him. He had asked his parents to sit down in the living room because he needed to tell them something. His mother was like “I know what it is, you’re getting married.” To which Kevin replied, no I’m buying a house, and I’m not going to be the only one living there.

Well so now his mom knows that she’s not going to get rid of me. Now she thinks we need to sit down and talk. K asked me what I thought about it, and I told him that I would do it for him. So tomorrow at 4:30 all 6 of us are going to sit down and talk about what’s been going on the past 6 months that his mother has hated, followed by which we are going to take them to look at the house K is buying.

Pray for me…

Back to the grind…

K and I arrived back in Pittsburgh around 2:07 pm today after being in Florida since Tuesday night. Vacation was wonderful. We got to spend a lot of much needed quality alone time together. Along with lots of quality time with our friends Lauren and Bill.

We didn’t really do a whole lot while we were there. Just really enjoyed the weather, our friends and each other. We did go to Busch Gardens in Tampa yesterday morning, followed by a beautiful, romantic sunset on the beach last night. K and I also did a lot of talking and discussing of things that needed to be said. And since they’ve been said, things are better for us than they have ever been.

We realize that we are completely, totally in love with each other. We are just terrified of admitting in out loud. We had discussed some of the problems that we had been having. Mostly holding ourselves back from feeling what we knew that we couldn’t change. Part of that also has to do with the physical aspect of the relationship. Up until vacation we had only made love once. It was K’s first time. It had been 3 months since we had made love, and I needed some answers as to why he was avoiding being with me like that.

Well, it turns out, he was afraid that it would change things between us. I assured him, that if anything changed between us in this relationship, that they would only be for the better. It is just one more connection between us that we didn’t have. And that it was all a part of the K that I fell in love with. Let me tell you, it took a hell of a lot for me to be able to say those words out loud to him.

After all was said and done, and he had gotten over his fears, I must say that it did in fact help our relationship. We are much closer now, having been down there, than we were before we ever left. Things are better for us than they have ever been.

Now, there is only one more fear the two of us need to get over. Once we get over that last fear, I believe we can take the next step in our relationship and head toward marriage. I told him that I will only marry him for the right reasons. That I want him to want to marry me because he loves me, and for no other reason but that. It seemed to get through. Now, we just sit back, enjoy being in love, and wait to see what happens next.