NOT slipping on the ice

It is such a beautiful day! With the sun shining (not a common occurance during Cleveland winters), I decided to take a little walk outside. As eager as I was to get out of the office and get some fresh air, I decided not to change out of my heels and into my boots. I figured that I could be careful enough not to slip on any ice, besides, a lot of it had melted away with the sunshine. It felt so wonderful to be outside, and it definitly lifted my spirits. I love being out in the sunshine, and I've really missed it this winter. I carefully took a walk around downtown and managed to make it back without even one akward step! Once inside my work building, I quickly went up the stairs when...GASP...panic shot through me because I realized my foot had completely missed the step. I hit the ground with both hands and my pants got all dusty and dirty around the knees. As I looked up there was a group of men walking by...none of which made eye contact with me. They began laughing as soon as they got past me. Welcome back to third grade recess! Really, I just had to start laughing at that point because I could manage the slippery ground, but not the solid stuff. Oh well...

Do you think he's excited?

A few mornings ago I wasn't feeling well and decided I needed a day home from work to just relax and kind of recenter myself. We were completely out of milk and eggs, so Adam offered to go and get some before he had to go to school. I was still in bed when he got back, and he came up to the bedroom saying, "I got something for you." He then pulled this out of the bag:
I told him jokingly that I don't use pacifiers! He replied, "Well, its for all of you," while making big motions around my stomach with his hands. I'm not even showing yet, so it really makes me worried as to how he's going to picture me when I am actually showing. Nevertheless, it was very cute to see him so excited.

Christmas in Houston

So, I know it's a little late to be posting about our Christmas, but I really haven't had a chance to do it since we've gotten back. We went to Houston this year to spend Christmas with the Nelson side of the family. It was a very nice Christmas and very WARM...in the 70s the whole time we were there. It was my first Christmas away from my family, and even though I got homesick everyone did a wonderful job of helping it feel like Christmas. It looks like I'm blinking in all the pictures I'm posting, but I still couldn't open my eyes at this point.
It must be a brother thing, but for some reason they felt a need to open thier mouths really wide to show their excitement!

Dear Chase,

I'm am so sad that we didn't get any pictures of you! Adam was in charge of taking the pictures since I couldn't see that morning. So, I'm apologizing on his behalf for not taking any pictures of you. I promise we love you! I'm so so sorry!!!!

Laura's on the Nest!

And it came to pass that Adam knew his wife, and she became heavy with child and did become exeedingly emotional ALL THE TIME. - Adam 1:19.

Ok, it's not really scripture, but it should be.

Yes, you can chalk up another grad school wife that is pregnant. We are expecting the baby around mid-august.

I rather enjoy using my eyes...

So this is a quick post for those of you who were aware that for about the past month I've been pretty much blind because no matter what I did, my eyes refused to open. Well, I have good news...as of December 29th I have had no issues with opening and closing my eyes! So, if you want to play games or watch a movie or put me to work...I'm more than capable of doing those things now! I think this goes without saying, but I am so grateful that I am able to see again. I will never take my eye sight for granted again; it is such a blessing.

Lost and Blind in Independence

Yesterday I told Adam that I would get off at the Rockside bus stop (close to his school) and meet him at the Walgreens on the corner of Rockside and Brecksville. On the ride into work, I realized that what I thought was a Walgreens was actually a Drug Mart. I forgt my cell phone, so once I got into work I called Adam (no answer) and left a message on his phone telling him that I meant Drug Mart. I called him quite a few times during the day without an answer (this is very common when he's at school so I just hoped that he'd get my message. Well, I got off the bus later that day and waited at the Drug Mart. Now, many of you know that I have a lot of problems opening my eyes lately, so I was a bit nervous about attempting to explore Independence on my own to try and find Adam. After about an hour of sitting and praying that Adam would find me I decided to search for a pay phone. These are really hard to find now that everyone pretty much has a cell phone. I walked over to a gas station (the scariest walk across a parking lot of my life because I couldn't really see) thinking for sure they'd have a pay phone. As I manually lifted my eyelids to get a glimpse of my surroundings I saw it across the street...WALGREENS!!!... which had been blocked from my view by the gas station and blinding sunlight. I quickly made my way to the corner of a very dangerous intersection to make my walk of death across the street. I was able to keep my eyes open long enough to see the green man appear that lets me know I can "walk." As I stepped into the street my eyes shut again and I prayed that I could walk straight. As I got toward the othe side of the street I heard Adam honk the horn of our car. I was so excited and relieved to have found him and to have made it safely across the street that I had a little cry of relief. The world is less scary when you can see!

Our $80 Mistake

When Adam and I moved into our townhome, the managers only had one key for our apartment. We had really good intentions to go and get another one made, but Wal-mart isn't very close to us and every time we did make a trip there, we'd forget about the key. Adam gets home from school before I get home from work, so it's never been an issue...he keeps the key. Well, Monday morning I had a doctor appointment, and I wasn't sure if I was going to come home afterwards or go to work. Since we only had one key we left it in our "secret place" for whoever got home first. Well, Adam got home first and then a few hours later had to leave to come and pick me up from work. When we got back home, he realized that he had locked us out...we could see the key sitting on our kitchen table inside! The management office didn't have any spare keys, and so Adam attempted to break into our own house. When we realized that all the windows downstairs were locked, Adam decided that he'd try the second floor. There wasn't anything near our house for him to stand on to help hoist him onto the porch roof, so he decided to drive the car over...across the lawn...so he could stand on that. After all that work, we found out that all the windows upstairs were locked too. The next thing I know was Adam was trying to jump off the roof. I asked him to just kind of slide back onto the car because the jump made me nervous. He thought that was even more dangerous and insisted on jumping...which he did...into a puddle of mud! We finally surrendered at this point and went to our neighbor's to find a locksmith in the yellow pages. We found one, and he wanted $80...in cash! He came and was able to unlock the door in about 3 minutes...maybe less. Adam decided he was going to quit podiatry school and become a locksmith ($80 in three minutes...not too bad!!!). I told him no. Needless to say...we now have three keys!

They were called letters...

On Thursday, Adam and I received a letter from Zach (my 16 year old brother-in-law). With today's technology...email, cell phones, text messaging, blogs, etc...we don't receive too many letters. I must say that Adam's family is probably some of the best letter/card writers in the country, and we do get them from his parents every now and then. Well, Zach had never written us a letter before, so it was quite a surprise getting it in the mail. I just love getting mail, especially letters! Now, there is nothing earth shattering really going on in the life of this guy, but everything he wrote was fun to read. It really made us laugh (he's hilarious!). Now, I have a little confession to make. I LOVE checking the mail. When I am at home for the day, I will check the mailbox 2-3 times before the mailman comes, just to see if maybe he came early today. Growing up, I would get mad if anyone would check the mail before me. When I went to college, my family didn't check the mailbox for a week because they were so used to me doing it. When I get home from work, the first thing I ask Adam is, "Did you get the mail yet?" I don't know why I have this obsession with getting the mail because usually it's just junk adds or bills. But every once in a while, that golded letter comes (like the one from Zach) that brightens my day and takes me back to a simpler time...before the internet and cell phones!