GTKY 8/1

2MamazInSeattle

Excuse the little gush... but IT'S AUGUST! I'm having a baby THIS MONTH!!! Ok thanks for indulging my little moment.

GTKY - please join in so we can get to know each other better!! Also, a quick shout out and thanks to @firstcomeslove2013 who has generously agreed to take over GTKY starting next week. I expect/hope to pick it back up closer to when she has her baby in December, but as a new mama I know I won't be reliable for a while. Thanks lady!!

1. What is/are your top 1-3 accomplishments in this lifetime that you are proud of? They could be light and easy things, or heavy things that were hard. Tell us about it!
2. What is your most prized possession?
3. What's up this weekend??

Thanks for participating!!

mallory4284

What an exciting month!! I imagine you're on pins and needles!

1) a. Graduating college! b. buying a house! c. Meeting my wonderful girlfriend (I'm not sociable at all so that is a big accomplishment lol)

2) my camera! I love photography

3) headed to ohio for a small reunion with my dad's side of the family! Haven't seen some of them for over two years and I'm super excited to see them all!!

2MamazInSeattle

1. Honestly, I know this is a little 'deep,' but getting over my self-loathing around age 30 was huge. I hated my body, myself, had eating disorder type issues and just could not find the good in me. After a f*ckton of therapy, including a group therapy for people with eating disorders, I one day turned a corner and stopped talking badly about myself and while I am not perfect or overjoyed with my body, it doesn't inform my entire self-esteem anymore by any means. This was HUGE. And I love that J has never known that version of me from the past .

Other good stuff: Moving to Seattle from Ohio, sight-unseen, after college and never looking back. Gutsy and huge at 22 years old!

2. My wedding ring, my gramma's wedding ring, and childhood photos/mementos.

3. It's time to tackle the last of the pre-baby to-do list!! Most of it is baby-related but some is definitely not, like taxes and renewing J's XM radio subscription. But the big items are finalize the birth plan (it's very simple but we want it written down), pack the hospital bag and get the car seats installed (lady is coming Saturday). The rest is just nice to have stuff - closet purge, assembling the rock'n'play and the pack'n'play, etc. Today is my last day of work and I am overjoyed! However, it's funny because my Monday and Tuesday are all booked up already. I would do well to be independently wealthy... no problem filling my days!

KH826

Yay @2mamazinseattle!!! You get to meet Simone so very soon! I am so excited for you and J!

As for my GTKY responses...

1. Buying my first house when I was 25; Putting myself through grad school while I was working full time and finishing my degree in 2 years; Losing 110 lbs 3.5 years ago, which totally transformed my life and gave me confidence I never had before

2. Material Possession - my wedding ring.... Non-Material "possession" (because they aren't possessions) - our 10 embryos in the freezer. Looking at my son and knowing that he came from one of those embryos is beyond amazing, and makes me love those little embryos in the freezer, and thinking what each of their faces might look like. It is going to be really hard to not have 11 kids. Don't worry, we won't, but in all seriousness, I kind of wish we didn't have so many... but that is another topic for another day...

3. Tonight we are going out to dinner with a good friend from college (Will's first restaurant experience)! Tomorrow I am running a few errand in the morning, and then we are working on Will's nursery in the afternoon (finally making the room more "his" and spackling and painting over some holes from taking down all the "Lucie décor"... Sunday we are going to Kohl's because I have $30 in Kohl's cash and a 20% off coupon! Then we are going to the grocery store to shop for the week. We have discovered that we really like food shopping together as our little family of three. I don't know why, but it is something we like to do together now. One of us wears the baby and the other pushes the cart and we take our time and chat about meal planning for the week and figure out what we need as we go. I know it sounds silly, but we like it!

ball.and.chain

KH826 said:

It is going to be really hard to not have 11 kids. Don't worry, we won't, but in all seriousness, I kind of wish we didn't have so many... but that is another topic for another day...

I felt that way when I found out we had 17 eggs fertilize.  Little did I know we'd be down to 6 by the time we got to transfer, and that we'd run through 4 of them trying to make 1 baby!  Only 2 left at this point.  But I can understand feeling some sort of connection to them!

Jazibel

I'm thrilled for you @2MamazInSeattle‌!! :-)

1a. Being on house hunters international, it's one of my favorite shows and it's great to have a behind the scenes understanding of how it's made. Plus we didn't apply (the film company asked our agent for a recommendation) so it was a surprise to us.
1b. Traveling to over 33 countries so far with EV.
1c. Getting my BA, MA and most recently MBA.

2. My iphone (for the photos), wedding ring & hard copy photos from childhood.

3. My parents come into town this afternoon. I'll probably run to trader joes in a few and spend the afternoon hanging out and making schnitzel.
Tomorrow we have a BBQ in the late afternoon. There's an Art & Music festival too I thought we could check out maybe Sunday with the (grand)parents. We might also swing by a few open houses on Sunday.

2brides

1. What is/are your top 1-3 accomplishments in this lifetime that you are proud of? They could be light and easy things, or heavy things that were hard. Tell us about it! Going back to grad school. I don't love structured school environments, but knew I needed to do it to change careers/get the job I wanted. Surviving DPs, PhD. 14yrs start to finish. The last several years involved DP being gone several nights in a row many times a month to write.

2. What is your most prized possession? I don't know if I have prized possessions. Probably photos, but most are at my dad's house. I think most everything in our house could be replaced.

3. What's up this weekend?? Tonight, I am not sure if DP is taking the kids to dinner and a movie. If she is, I'll work late and meet up with them at home. If not, I'll meet them for dinner. Tomorrow is going in to work while the kid and I are meeting my dad downtown and doing some touristy stuff with him while he is in town and then meet DP for dinner. Sunday no clue. I need a pedicure. We need to go grocery shopping.

StacyLH24

1. What is/are your top 1-3 accomplishments in this lifetime that you are proud of? They could be light and easy things, or heavy things that were hard. Tell us about it!

- Buying my Grandma's house on my own at age 24.  

- Helping my Grandma through her death and being with her.

- Graduating with my MSW while working full time and passing my licensing exam.

2. What is your most prized possession?  

- My rings, my dog Zeppelin and the doll that my Mom made that looks like my Grandma

3. What's up this weekend??

Tonight I'm going to consume a decent amount of wine...bought a big bottle of Red Cat on the way home.  Tomorrow we are going to our County Fair for my SIL's birthday.  Tomorrow night is the truck pull and I love watching them.  Someday I will have my own jacked up Chevy truck...  I'm not sure what we're up to on Sunday.  

StacyLH24

I forgot to mention that at some point this weekend we need to figure out what is wrong with our hot water tank.  We haven't had hot water since Thursday.  I'm hoping it is just the heating element, which we can more than likely replace ourselves.  Thankfully my Mom and Dad are just down the road so we can shower there.  

doodah1013

1. Playing NCAA D1 soccer, and making it to the NCAA tournament

Running the summer camp that I went to as a kid for 3 years.

Finding/making the perfect family for me.

2. Oh goodness... Maybe the coords from the handfasting at our wedding?

3. My sister is in town, but not staying with us... So we will see her at some point. I also plan on making more pickles and some relish from another load of garden cucumbers. We are pretty much the most boring people I know!

KatCraig30

So exciting @2MamazInSeattle!!

1. Graduating college and moving from my small home town to NYC to persue singing and songwriting.
-Teaching myself graphic and web design and becoming good enough at it that I turned it into a career.
-Moving from NYC to Seattle, it was one of the best decisions we've ever made, we love it here.

2. Hard to pick one, prob my MacBook Pro, my keyboard synthesizer, and my old photos.

3. T's mom is coming to stay with us for two weeks, xo it'll be nice to have her visit. She already knows that I'm pregnant and she's all excited

ATXmommas

1. A) I've been successful in academics and my career. I had a full ride to undergrad and grad school (though I gave up funding for one year of grad school because I was in loooove - long story - but, alas I was dumped). I'm also relatively young to be in the position I'm in at work. I took a big risk by moving to Austin after grad school. Like @2MamazInSeattle‌, I moved to a new place sight unseen and didn't know anybody or have a job. I'm an introvert, and I've always been proud of myself for taking such a big leap and building a life for myself here. C) completing a marathon - hope there are more in my future! D) still a work in progress, but I hope being a good wife and mother are two of my biggest accomplishments in life.

2. Hmmm. I have things I'm sentimental about - like old photos - but there aren't many things that I'm super attached to. I do love the quilt that was made from the tshirts people drew on at his baby shower.

3. My grandmother passed today - amidst our sadness, we're also glad that she's no longer in pain or struggling to breath. She was 88 and there was no way for her to recover from the cancer or have the quality of life that we would want for her (or that she wanted for herself). Ash and I will continue to spend quality time with family.

Jazibel

@ATXmommas‌ I'm so sorry for the loss of your grandmother.

KH826

@ATXmommas - I am so sorry for your loss. Thinking of you and your family. Hugs!