Would you like to hear the story of my career?

No?  That's not why you read all these mom blogs?

Well, I don't blame you - it's gonna be a long series of posts sharing my experiences in various jobs, which I haven't really shared publicly before...

Ages ago, Colleen had a Working Moms link-up, which I meant to join but never got around to writing a post...  So here's my contribution now!

We're gonna start waaaaaaaay back in elementary school - I went to a kind of swanky private school (scholarship + financial aid, not exactly rich kids...) where the teachers got INCREDIBLE presents from students at Christmas and at the end of the year.  Which led me to the belief that I wanted to be a teacher.  Because presents.

Adorable? Yes. Materialistic? Heck yeah.

Fast forward to high school, where all I really wanted was to get married and have babies.  Job? Maybe I'd do something while I waited for the first baby to be born, which would obviously be approximately 9 months after getting married.

But college was kind of a non-negotiable, and there's no way I even would have considered not getting a degree.  And there wasn't exactly a husband on the horizon, plus NOBODY got married out of high school in this area.  So the plan was to go to college, get some sort of degree, get married right after graduation and work until we had our first baby.

Then I started dating Andrew, who soon went off to college to major in...  Vocal Performance.

Yes, he's a lawyer now.  I don't think I have to tell you that plans change!

So I realized that if we were going to get married, probably I was going to have to work to help support our family.  But what was I going to DO?  I went to a math and science high school and had decided pretty early on that math and science were NOT my thing.  In fact, nothing was really my thing except singing.  And if you didn't know it already, sopranos are a dime a dozen.  Ain't no way I was gonna make a living singing...

Look!  High School us!

But I did a whole lot of choir stuff for fun, in any case.  And ended up doing rather a lot of rehearsal-leading and leadership stuff, and eventually realized that actually, it would be kind of awesome to be a music teacher!

And so a career choice was made!  And it all would have been smooth sailing, were it not for the fact that I didn't actually get into the music school of my choice come senior year...  See, I only applied to one, because if I wanted to go to music school I only wanted to go to Northwestern (I said because the academics were excellent, I wanted to get off the East Coast, and it was the program I wanted it.  I probably meant, "Because Andrew goes there.").  And I was wait-listed at Northwestern.  And also at Notre Dame, where I would have happily gone and majored in... Something, because music education isn't a major there (or at least wasn't when I was applying).

Something tells me my less-than-stellar attendance record in high school had something to do with this...

Anyway, I accepted a spot on both wait lists, figured, "Hey, God's will!" and accepted a spot at UVA (yeah, not everybody's safety school, I know...).  At this point I desperately felt as though Notre Dame was where I needed to be.  And then I went to All State Choir and had one of those life-changing experiences (I'm talking 100 sobbing choir girls singing Z. Randall Stroope with an amaaaaazing director) and I knew that music teaching was all that I could do.  And that Notre Dame wasn't going to happen, because I didn't want to have to get a master's degree when I still wanted to have all the babies.  

Long story short, I ended up getting into Northwestern and, RIGHT after I accepted, I got into Notre Dame.  And I excitedly started packing for Northwestern, imagining my future life as a music teacher with an awesome husband and a million kids (the logistics of this hadn't yet entered...)!

So young! So in love!

To be continued... (Read Part II here)

Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day, I asked the kids what their favorite things about their dad are:

As you can see, Elizabeth made the most impressive contribution...

Of course, RIGHT after I showed this to Andrew, she started marching around saying, "Wuv you Dad!!!"  

A good student, clearly.

(If you're reading this in Feedly or another reader, you probably have to click through to see the video - I think it's worth the 1 minute 6 seconds!)

Here's Father's Day 2013, Why I Love My Husband, Father's Day 2012, and Father's Day 2011, just in case you want to click all the things and read about nothing...

And in the interest of answering more of Cecilia's incessant questions (why can't I see the noodles when they're cooking? can I touch the hot pot? why would fire burn me? when will you die? can I take the name Therese when I'm a nun? why did the witch not want Rapunzel to leave her tower?), I'll leave the post at that, and maybe try a WIWS post later, since I got pictures!

WIWS & Family Photo Shoot

Ohhhh time change, how I loathe thee...

 

Remember before kids, when "Fall Back" meant an extra hour of sleep?  Too bad infants and toddlers don't understand that.

 

So we were all up bright and early - Andrew took John Paul with him to a 7 AM Latin Mass and I took Cecilia to our regular 8:30 AM.  I tried to fall-ify a summer dress but I don't think it worked - this dress just needs to be relegated to the back of the closet until spring!

 

Dress:  Newport News

Cardigan:  Gap via Twice

Boots & boot socks:  DSW?

Belt:  Kohl's

 

Of course, it took until the last shot for Cecilia to actually smile!

 

She was ecstatic when I told her that since it's November she's allowed to start wearing last year's Christmas dress again.  It was HUGE on her last year and she's a peanut anyway, so it fits perfectly now!

 

 

And because the babies were looking adorable, here's what they wore:

 

 

Look!  They're all looking at the camera!  This is the only shot I got where Elizabeth wasn't chewing on her baby doll's head...

 

The light was awesome in the playroom so I thought I'd try to get some printable shots of the babies and I think I may actually have gotten a couple!

Mary Claire

 

Elizabeth

Aaaall she wants to do is be walked around...

All SHE wants to do is walk by herself - and she's ecstatic when she does it!  We're up to 5-10 steps at a time before she decides crawling is faster.

 Then Andrew made a giant leaf pile in the back yard and the kids spent a while playing in it (or eating the leaves, as was the case for the babies!).

I thought this was SUCH a Cecilia shot - her mischievous little expression is perfect!

And a quintessential John Paul shot:

 

And with that, naps seem to be winding down, so I'll link up with Fine Linen & Purple and send you on your way to better outfits!

The Dress That Still Fits

A while ago Katrina posted a picture of her baby bump while wearing her wedding dress, which reminded me that hey, I've still got my wedding dress and should totally try it on! 

 

(Yes, I was the one who searched for "Katrina pregnant in a wedding dress")

 

After all, I actually weigh *less* now than I did when we were married (a few months before the wedding I finished school and thus no longer had the 2+ mile walks every day that kept me trim...  Hello, 10+ pounds!).  And even though my measurements are significantly different, it's got a corset back, so I figured it would fit.

 

Many months later, I was cleaning out the closet and saw that laaaarge article of clothing just hanging there so innocently in the back.  So I had Andrew lace me up (a FEAT, let me tell you, particularly considering the state of undress that he was faced with as I asked him to lace the dress) and tada!  The dress still fits!

 

 

 

And let me say, this nursing mom's "assets" certainly fill out the dress more than on our wedding day...  This was the one picture that didn't emphasize how much my "cups" runneth over!

 

So now what do I do with it?  I saw somewhere that some moms use their wedding dress to make first communion dresses for their daughters.  Think I have enough material for 2 dresses?  I'd hate to make one for Cecilia and then make either Elizabeth or Mary Claire have to wear something different when their time comes...

 

But before then, maybe we'll find a time to do wedding picture re-dos, like Mandi?  On our wedding day we went out to the lake after the ceremony and it subsequently started HAILING!  So we stood there huddled on a bridge under a couple of umbrellas for nearly an hour, and consequently got very few pictures together...

 

 

Buuuut if we did a re-do session it would have to wait until the twins are weaned.  Because let's imagine the state of my "assets" from the beginning to the end of a shoot...  INCHES of cleavage would be added, I warn you! 

 

So for now it goes back in the closet, but I must say I LOVE how a corset feels and fits, and do wish it were a type of undergarment that were more commonly worn!

Awkward Conversations

I've been trying to venture out with the kiddos a little more lately, which leads to the inevitable remarks on our family size from strangers.  And I just can't help but wonder...  Don't they realize what an awkward situation they're creating?

For instance:

Scene:  I'm at an afternoon farmer's market with Elizabeth and Cecilia in the double stroller, John Paul sitting on the footrest, and Mary Claire on my back in the Ergo.  We walk up to a booth to buy some cherry tomatoes when the vendor glances at us incredulously.

Kind of like this, minus the husband...

Vendor:  All those kids yours?
Me:  Yup!
Vendor:  You been BUSY!

Cue raucous laughter from surrounding vendors.  I smile knowingly and walk away (very slowly, because pushing a heavy stroller uphill with 80+ pounds of children isn't the easiest feat), tomatoes in hand.

Now, this didn't really offend me.  But I found it extremely awkward.  How exactly does one answer that comment? 

"Why yes, my husband and I have had intercourse at least 3 times!"
"I just can't keep my pants on!"
"We're like bunnies!"
"I find it's my personal duty to battle the low birth rate in this country."
"Someone's gotta pay for your Social Security!"

Honestly, I thought it was better to just walk away...

The next scene was slightly more offensive, though:

I'm at Costco on a weekday morning with Elizabeth in the seat, Cecilia sitting inside the cart, John Paul riding on the back, and Mary Claire in the Ergo.  The children are behaving remarkably well, as they tend to do at Costco because of the samples.  We approach a cart of samples of squeezable applesauce and a 50-something male customer glances at us and mutters something to the employee manning the table.

Man:  That's like birth control for me...
Employee:  Awkward polite laughter

Now, he wasn't talking directly to me, so I didn't respond.  But really?  Really? 

My four adorable, well-behaved children sitting quietly in their cart, smiles on their faces as they approach a VERY exciting sample cart...  That convinces you that you shouldn't have any (more?) children?

Disgusting, they are.  Who could possibly want MORE of these?

Honestly, that convinces me that you probably shouldn't have any (more?) children, too!  Because if all it takes is the sight of four children ages four-and-under to terrify you, it's probably a good thing that you aren't procreating.  But really, I think this is an example of someone with NO internal filter and I'm just going to assume he had Tourette's. 

This last scene though, it was the winner of the awkward award:

I have just spent hours preparing a meal for almost 20 people from Andrew's dad's side of the family and his dad's fiancée's family.  We're hosting at our house because otherwise we wouldn't be able to get to dinner at all once bedtimes are factored into the equation.  The kids have behaved pretty darn well, especially considering it is now more than an hour past bedtime for the big kids (the babies are both asleep).  Cecilia, who has been nothing but adorable, cheerful, friendly, and sparkly this entire time (a HARD feat for one as shy as she is), is throwing a rather ridiculous temper tantrum in the bathroom because first there was too little toothpaste on her toothbrush, then too much, then I needed to wash it off and then how dare I wash it off?  I close the door to the bathroom and leave her to decide how she wants to handle this...

Random relative:  I don't know how you do it...  Four children!  You aren't planning on having more any time soon, right?
Me:  No, not any time soon (meaning not in the next 9 months, since I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant right now)...
RR:  You mean you're going to have MORE???

Mind you, she is sitting at the dining room table in front of a picture of St. Cecilia, an icon of American saints, and an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  And she chooses to start this conversation...

I continued going about my business cleaning up after dinner, turning to make an astonished face at my sister who later told me that her other response, which I didn't hear, was as follows:

RR:  I would kill myself.

Now that I wish I had heard!  Because my immediate response was, "Well then I guess we won't be asking you to babysit!"

Obviously, these faces would make ANYONE suicidal!

Apparently she also warned my brother-in-law and his serious girlfriend not to have so many kids.  Because, you know, it would clearly make them both suicidal.  After all, she had two kids two years apart, and there's NO WAY she could have handled more!

It's not like I haven't written about this before - and Kendra pointed out how much better life is when we don't assume the worst from what people say.  But I think sometimes it's raaaather difficult to assume anything BUT the worst! 

And it makes me appreciate the fact that I am one of the least emotional people I've ever known - my sister has always lamented the fact, but perhaps God gave me a heart of stone so that I don't get terribly hurt every time someone tells me just how insane I am to have sooooo many kids already (it's like they think I CHOSE to have twins!).

I just figure, at least I'm the one repopulating the earth singlehandedly (well, with Andrew's help I suppose :P) and not them, right?

Surprise!

Last Friday Andrew left a few minutes early for work, saying he wanted to get home a little early.  So I went about life as usual, and was pleasantly surprised when he came home more than 4 hours early!  

Especially since Mary Claire had just had an enormous poop.

He took her from me and said, "You have half an hour to pack something nice for tonight, and something for tomorrow."

Huh?

What was he talking about?  Who was going to watch all the babies?  Where were we going?  WHAT???

Apparently 4 months ago, he arranged for my sister to be in town and my mom to come help so that we could go on a belated 5-year anniversary trip!

I suspected nothing.  He was convinced that I knew, since he had been bringing me my pump every couple of nights to stock the freezer with milk for the babies.  I just thought he was really smart and wanted me to build a stockpile for when the school year starts again...

We headed to adoration at a church on the way, went wine tasting at a couple of wineries, and ended up at a very fancy bed & breakfast (my sister gave us gift cards for Christmas 2 years ago that we still hadn't used!) where we had the absolute fanciest meal I've ever had in my life.  

Think lettuce panacotta.  That fancy.  

Aside from the lettuce custard, it was REALLY delicious.  I even ate raw beef!  Because when your dinner is that fancy, you eat every. single. thing. they serve you!

We brought the camera and then realized we had forgotten the memory card...  So all we could use was Andrew's camera, which didn't *quite* get us completely in a selfie.  But this picture reminded me a lot of this one:




From our honeymoon - you can see that I changed up my hair style a LOT since then.  Oh wait.  Not.

We had a lovely view of some cows, and got uninterrupted sleep (well, sort of...  I think we should have brought the white noise machine!).  And even though I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump (ohhhh twins...  both kinds!), it was just so lovely to have a giant bed all to ourselves and to be able to get out of bed in a leisurely manner, not having to immediately attend to the needs of a child!

We visited friends on the way back home for Mass and a delicious breakfast, and 57 ounces of breast milk later, returned to an exhausted mother and sister and at least one baby who refused to sleep without nursing... 

I'm amazed that Andrew pulled this off without tipping me off at all!  He reminded me not to expect something like this every year.  My sister says never again unless the kids are all sleeping through the night (Elizabeth was, but she stopped!).  I say the stakes are pretty high for our 10-year anniversary!

Cecilia's Birth Story

I'm going to preface this with the fact that somehow I remember veeeeery little of Cecilia's birth.  I have NO idea why - I think because it was just pretty darned uneventful!

6 months pregnant with Cecilia

John Paul was 18 months old and Cecilia's due date was approaching at the end of January.  The weather hadn't been too snowy that winter, so when a huge ice storm hit on her due date, we were pretty worried!  I was convinced I'd be having the baby any day, since John Paul was pretty much on time, and 2nd babies supposedly come earlier.  The power was out for more than a day, and I remember burying our perishables in the snow on the patio so that they'd stay frozen!  My mom called the power company several times for me to complain about her daughter who was due to give birth any day and had a toddler at home to take care of!

2 days before I gave birth.

The plan was for us to call my mom when I went into labor so that she could make the drive from her house, which is about 2 hours away, to our house.  But then it snowed AGAIN!  At this point we were a few days past my due date and getting antsy...  I hadn't been to a doctor's appointment on my due date with John Paul, since I was in labor.  So this appointment was rather disconcerting, since they asked me to schedule an induction "just in case" - since two weeks past due date was on a Friday, we scheduled an induction for the following Monday to give a little extra cushion.

Still no signs of labor 4 days past my due date, but my mom suddenly felt the need to come to our house IMMEDIATELY.  She was convinced that I was going to go into labor THAT DAY, so she packed up her things and headed out in the snow.

Well, long story short, she actually ended up getting in a pretty serious car accident, but somehow made her way to our house late that night...  And thank goodness she did!!!

I had been having signs that labor would begin soon (I'm pretty sure my mom asked if I had been pooping a lot, and when I told her I had, she knew I was going into labor and that's why she came), but I really wanted to finish the book I was reading.  So I stayed up until midnight reading and when I STILL wasn't in labor, I went to lie down and try to sleep.

Well, I didn't fall asleep for long - I woke up around 2 feeling some contractions, looked at the clock to time them, and went back downstairs with my book to read and bounce on the exercise ball.  At about 3 AM Andrew noticed that I hadn't come to bed, and came downstairs to check on me.  Luckily I had finished my book, so I was willing to go to the hospital!  Contractions at this point were about 5 minutes apart, so we called the hospital and headed in at around 5 AM.

I was terrified that this would end up being an incredibly long labor, like mine with John Paul.  So I was ecstatic when we went to triage and I had actually started dilating!!!  I think I was only 2 or 3 cm, but it was more than 1 and that was AWESOME in my book!  The doctor suggested breaking my water to speed things along and avoid a long labor, but I really wanted to try this one intervention-free.

Things were pretty uneventful for a while - we got up and walked around, I made sure to ask for anti-nausea medication IMMEDIATELY so that my constant puking that tired me out during labor with John Paul wouldn't be an issue, and things were progressing pretty well.  But they were progressing SLOWLY and I was really worried about another long labor, so I asked the doctor to break my water when I was only dilated 5 cm after about 7 hours in the hospital.

Does anyone else think it feels really cool when your water breaks?  Just me?  I don't know what my problem is... Anyway, there was meconium in it but it didn't look like there was a lot, they were just glad to know that so they could have extra people on hand for the delivery in case of complications.

At this point, things got REALLY intense for me.  The pain was suddenly a whole lot worse, and I was still only dilated about 6 cm.  The contractions were very close together and I couldn't get a handle on things -  I spent quite a while trying to convince Andrew it would be okay for me to get an epidural.  I thought I couldn't possibly be in transition because I wasn't to 7 cm yet and things had been really hard for longer than an hour (note to self:  IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE AN OUTLIER).  So I gave up my plans for a drug-free birth and got an epidural.  But I got a really crappy anesthesiologist who placed it too low, so I had the joy of ALL the pain of the contractions WITH TOTALLY NUMB LEGS!  GREAT JOB!!!

It took a while for them to get the anesthesiologist to come back and fix it, but it was fiiiinally working and I lay down to rest for a bit.  After about 30 minutes the doctor came to check me and said, "OH!  DON'T PUSH!  This is the baby's head right here - she's already crowning!!!"

Huh?  30 minutes and the baby managed to almost push herself out without me feeling it?  This was clearly an epidural that was far too strong and poorly administered...  So the doctor and nurse rounded up the delivery team and came back - I gave a half-push, and Cecilia was born!




7 lbs 13 oz, 14-inch head (HALLELUJAH!!!), and 20 inches long.  She latched on immediately and nursed for an HOUR before I finally unlatched her so we could head to the recovery room!

We have a whole series of family photos in which John Paul is crying because he's being asked to sit still.  Not much has changed...

7 Quick Takes - Photo Dump!

--1--

The Pants-Free link up is open until the end of the day Saturday!   Show us your outfits, or even just one!

Here's what I wore this week:

 

As you can see, I'm still having varying degrees of success focusing the camera in timer mode...

And here's Cecilia's best outfit this week!

--2--

How cute are these babies?

They were wearing coordinating outfits, so of course I had to take pictures.  And of course they did a REALLY good job posing...

 

It's like she knows how futile the exercise is...

--3--

Someone gave us watercolors for John Paul's 4th birthday and I actually let him USE them!  He had so SO much fun, and the salt painting actually made him concentrate really hard and work on his fine motor skills, which he rarely wants to work on...

He wore a party hat all day on his birthday, including out to dinner.

A tablet with 5 commandments (middle), a rainbow (top), color blending (right), and a snake (bottom)

He requested letters to paint.  Because he's John Paul.

--4--

Garden progress!

Hot pink hydrangeas!

The pear tomatoes are growing like CRAZY

The green zebras are slow and steady, and the chocolate cherry tomatoes are doing pretty well

I took this a few days ago and they've grown so much since then that the cages can't contain them!  What do we do to keep them from toppling???

I'm excited for strawberries in a few weeks :)

The cantaloupe plant has several flowers - if we get even one melon out of it, I'll consider it a success.  The dying plant was $2, and a cantaloupe is $3 at the farmer's market.

 --5--

I just love that Cecilia is swinging while sitting on a baby blanket and holding a doll between her legs...

 --6--

She wanted pigtails AND a fountain.  We're pretty much ready for pageants...

 --7--

I made the kids "ratatouille" because I needed to use up a bunch of veggies and I knew they would eat anything if I called it ratatouille!  So it's not reeeeeeeally ratatouille but it was delicious, especially with all the goat cheese!

And thus ends the photo dump - I'll try to add today's outfit photo later!

Check out more Quick Takes at Jen's!

An Amazingly Awkward Love Story, Part III

Last time we left off with the beginning of our long-distance relationship.  I was gearing up for my junior year in high school, Andrew was starting his freshman year in college 700 miles away at Northwestern University (Go 'Cats!).

The first time I ever got between Andrew and his best friend...  Wish I had found this to add it to the last post!

Once again, our relationship became one that survived mainly on Instant Messenger, where we discussed very nebulous future plans that involved moving to Delaware?  Probably because of the no sales tax thing...  At some point we stopped dancing around the issue and realized that we both kind of knew we were getting married some day.  I made the mistake of referring to us as "unofficially engaged" and had an awkward conversation with my youth minister after my sister told him about that...  But look at us now!

We talked on the phone every night starting at 10 pm (9 his time, when free nights started on his phone), usually until I fell asleep.  I'm just now remembering the completely random places I used to sit to have these conversations...like in the dorm hallway or outside in one of the stairwells.  Needless to say, I didn't have much of a social life freshman year.  We wrote each other long letters (about...  nothing?  Mostly how much we loved each other.  Gag.) and counted the days until we would see each other again (literally.  I think I always had a ticker in my IM profile saying how many days left.  Again, gag.).  We also had secret AIM screen names that we would only use to talk to each other (I left this out because it's soooooooo awkward...).  I was SO sad that he wouldn't be able to come home for the homecoming dance, but I only had to wait until Thanksgiving to see him again.  Until his parents decided that they were going to visit relatives for Thanksgiving (in all fairness, his grandpa's wife was pretty much on her deathbed...).

Somehow or other, this meant he got to come home for homecoming?  Because I asked my uncle for help after my parents declined to pay for a plane ticket.

Our first reunion after that looooooong 2.5 months

And I think that was when he broke the news to his parents that he was converting to Catholicism.  They were NOT pleased (his mom told him that 99% of Catholics are going to hell).  We got caught making out in the back seat of his car by the cops (Fully clothed.  No parks after dark, friends!).  And he went back to school until Christmas.

We decided to dress up and go out for New Year's that year, and used a coupon to get our picture taken together at a JC Penney portrait studio.  The woman looked at us holding hands and said, "So...  Are you brother and sister?"  Awkward.

I went to visit him in the spring to see him received into the Church.  Afterwards I asked him how his first confession was.  He said, "I was supposed to go to confession BEFORE the vigil?" Ah, the joys of one of *those* Newman Centers...

Ah yes, I had discovered a curling iron for my too-thick bangs.  Not much of an improvement, nor is the flesh-colored dress...  But look, he's got the shiny new Catholic glow!

Needless to say, we went downtown the next day to go to confession and Easter Mass again.  So...  Not the best RCIA program?

And thus continued our lives, until the next summer, in which he worked fairly regular hours and I did summer school (not remedial, but because that's what you did at our high school if you wanted to do music all 4 years...).  We spent every spare moment together again, I'm sure, and the next year went by essentially the same.  

I was praying and trying to to discern where God wanted me in the future.  My sister was at Notre Dame.  Andrew was at Northwestern.  I didn't have stellar grades, so I wasn't sure I'd get into either school...  I applied to the typical Virginia state schools (UVA, JMU, W&M) and got into all of them, but Northwestern and Notre Dame BOTH wait listed me!  I figured Northwestern just wasn't meant to be, but I REALLY wanted to go to Notre Dame (and my sister really wanted me to go there, too!).  Music was kind of my thing, and Notre Dame is not so strong in that area, but I figured I'd just major in whatever and then marry Andrew once I graduated and stay home and have babies.  So I started calling Notre Dame's admissions office, sending them letters, trying to convince them to let me in!  I visited the admissions office in person when I went to visit my sister for spring break, and tearfully begged a woman to reconsider, because I KNEW I would go to Notre Dame if they would just let me in!

Meanwhile, I accepted a spot on the Northwestern School of Music's wait list too, because I figured it wouldn't hurt and maybe they'd let me in?  But I wasn't sure I really wanted to major in music, because what's the point?

Then I had one of those life-changing experiences at All State Chorus, and KNEW that teaching music is what I needed to do with my life.  I was all set to go to UVA and major in music, when Northwestern called and let me know that I had been accepted off the wait list!  I was going to go to school with my future husband!

I was a little upset that Notre Dame hadn't worked out, but I was absolutely sure that I needed to major in music education, and Notre Dame didn't even have that as a major, so Northwestern was perfect!  I gladly accepted, and got ready to head to Northwestern for college.

Awkwardly, a few days after I accepted, the woman from Notre Dame called and offered me a spot off their wait list.  I felt horrible telling her that I had accepted Northwestern's offer, and she got really annoyed about how she had really tried hard to get me in and I'm pretty sure my kids are going to be blacklisted there forever...  So, if you know anyone in admissions, let them know that if they had had my major, I totally would have gone there!

Two years of long distance was HARD.  But we were finally going to be together!

At least we got to go to MY prom together!

Look!  I graduated!

I'm going to go ahead and finish this up, because we've gotten through the exciting-ish parts...

 College was not particularly memorable, as far as romance goes - our relationship continued to grow, but we had known early on that we were getting married, so there wasn't a whole lot of excitement or drama, just a contented companionship and an itching to graduate already so we could get married!

Ah yes, I was that freshman girl who already had a junior boyfriend...

I had some REALLY good dorm style

Andrew graduated in 2006 and moved back to Virginia, so we started another 2-year long-distance stint.  Sigh.  But he proposed soon after he graduated (DC, reflecting pool, sunset -- That's right, I'm just that awesome) and I anxiously started planning our wedding for 2008.

Meanwhile, we tried to live it up at other weddings...

Fast forward 2 years, I graduated on June 21...

 

We got married in Illinois on June 28...

 

Moved back to Virginia right after our honeymoon...

Taking "selfies" before they were cool.

Got pregnant in October, and had our first baby 2 weeks (two and a half weeks, thank you very much) after our first anniversary...

 

Had ANOTHER baby 18 months later...

And TWO more babies 21 months after THAT!

  5 years of marriage, 6 years of dating, 4 kids, and all at the ripe old ages of 27 and 28.  Whew!