A lot of catching up to do...and a lot of big news

I have been absent from blog land for almost 4 months now. Everyone has been asking, "Where is Chrystal? What is going on?" and I've even had a few people tell me my blog is at the bottom of their blog list. That was incentive to get me back on here.

There's been a really good reason for me not blogging in so long....I'M PREGNANT!!! Yep, it finally happened. After trying for what felt like an eternity to us, Nathan and I were elated to find out we are expecting our first child. It was SO hard to not spill the beans to everyone before the 12-week mark, well, at least for the first two weeks and then it hit me--"morning" sickness. Oh my--I had NO idea what I was in for. It lasted from week 7 to week 14, and thank goodness since then only hits about once a week. PHEW! SOOOOOO glad to be out of that! Now I'm feeling good and we're anticipating finding out the gender of our child in about 3 weeks.

Here is "the bump" at 14 weeks.

And here it is again today, at 18 weeks.

About a month ago I went home to Utah to visit my family and meet our newest family member, Calvin. My little sister, Camyll, had her first baby back in February. I couldn't wait to go out for a visit and meet Calvin, see my sister as a momma, and see the rest of my family whom I also miss so much. It was a fun, whirlwind trip of 3 days, jam-packed with family and fun. I couldn't have possibly fit any more into three days if I'd wanted to, which I did want to, but it just wasn't possible. So I apologize to all of you that I wanted to see, but just didn't get the chance. At least I got to meet and hold and cuddle and "practice" with this little guy. This is Calvin at 6 weeks old--I couldn't resist getting a picture of him in this cute little hat.

Lola has been growing, and growing, and growing. I loved this picture of her Nathan took a few weeks ago. Too cute.

In March we had our first out-of-state family visitors. Yay! Nathan's Aunt Denise, her husband Jim, and their daughter Alison were visiting from Columbia, SC, for Alison's high school orchestra competition. It was a national competition, and they did VERY well. I wish our work schedules would have allowed us to attend. At least we got to go out to dinner with them that night. Nathan likes to push Denise's buttons and get a good conversation going. It is always so much fun visiting with Nathan's family. We have such good conversations and a great time. Thanks, Alison, for indulging 4 adults and putting up with us through an entire dinner. Thanks also for visiting us while you were in town. We loved it!

Over the weekend that I was in Utah we added a fourth member to our family. This one was also planned, but arrived a bit earlier than we had originally intended. Nonetheless, he's too precious and we're so glad to have him, especially Lola, because now she has a pal to play with while we're away at work. Say hello to Machtree's Land Shark, more often known as "Brody" (named after the policeman on JAWS the movie). Get it? Ha ha, Nathan came up with that one. So this is Brody, our little black lab who is getting bigger and bigger every day.

Brody is much different than Lola, his partner in crime. While Lola is spunky, has a bit of an attitude, and is very snuggly and likes her cushy pillow to sit on, Brody is laid back, tender-hearted (sulks after being punished), likes the hard concrete floor, and likes his space as you can see from this picture of him sleeping on the couch.Being a puppy is a rough life in the Smith household. But it's not all fun and games. There's been lots of puppy training going on. Brody already knows: No, here, sit, fetch, hurry (Nathan's version of potty), kennel, and good boy. Not bad for a 10-week old pup. He currently weighs 16 lbs, just bigger than Lola now. He was smaller than her by a few inches when we first got him, and he's quickly going to pass her up. She's in for a real surprise as he continues to grow and she starts to slow down. I think she'll still be the boss though.

Our favorite thing to do is take the pups to various parks, but especially one that is only about a block from our house. A few weeks ago we took them to the park and took a few pictures of them after they had played in the river and had a grand time chasing each other around. Brody is still soaking wet in this picture, but that makes him even more adorable.

This week Lola weighs 15.5 lbs. Here is miss attitude herself. She's really turning out to be a great dog, easily picking up training. She knows: no, sit, here, out (like out of our bedroom where you're not allowed), kennel, potty, fetch, and is starting to really understand "heel." And of course she understands "good girl." The best part is she's FINALLY house trained. Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

Today was Nathan's birthday, and the pups helped us celebrate by ripping to shreds all the tissue paper from Nathan's gift boxes. That is one of their favorite things to do. Nathan wondered if we left it there long enough that it would get into small enough pieces to disappear on its own. As you can see from this picture, they had a really good time on Nathan's birthday.

Nathan is on the home stretch for school. He has two finals and one paper left to do, and then he's done with school--FOREVER! HOORAY! He is so excited, and I am so proud of him.

Last week we finally heard from Bank of America. After being asked for our first two picks of locations out of a list of about 10 places (we had selected Charlotte, NC as #1 and Jacksonville, FL as #2), we got an email saying we were being assigned to.....wait for it.....Atlanta, GA. What the...? Yeah, that was our reaction too. It wasn't even on the list of choices. Needless to say we have mixed feelings about staying in Atlanta, mostly because Charlotte would have put us much closer to work and would have meant a more manageable workload for me, along with a promotion. That would have been awesome. But oh well, at least now we don't have to move very far, I don't have to transfer jobs, and I know my doctor and the hospital I'll be delivering in. That's a relief.
So we'll be in Atlanta for at least another year. We'll be moving at the beginning of June from our 1-bedroom, 800 sf apartment to something more fitting for a family of 3 humans and 2 dogs. We hope to find a place with a spare bedroom, and have plans for a queen-size bed for visitors, so we hope that will entice more of you to come visit us. ;-)
We are very excited about all these new developments in our lives, and are happy to share such great news with all of you. And if you read this whole 4-month catching up of news in our lives, you get a gold star.

Lola's first big outing

Lola has not been outside much because of the cold weather. She's so small that she starts shivering uncontrollably when it's cold. So today was full of adventures for her. She met lots of other dogs, and children and adults who always stopped to admire and pet her. We are used to her smallness, but I guess she was something of a novelty to strangers.

Today we decided to take advantage of the warm, sunny afternoon (after 2 weeks of temps in the 30s) and get outside. We took Lola to one of our favorite spots in Atlanta, a trail/picnic area along the Chattahoochee River. It was a beautiful day, and thinking about it now I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the sun on the water. It was breathtaking.
Here she is having a great time going for a walk.
This is her "what did I do?" look. Oh, and this is her FAVORITE spot to sit--right on your feet.

She loves to snuggle on my shoulder, right up against my neck. I think we should have named her parrott. When she whines she sounds like a little pig. I think we should have named her piglet (and she has the short, curly tail to match). She's finally getting the house training thing, and when she does something wrong, but we haven't figured it out yet, she runs and hides in her kennel. She's a smart one! But she's also so sweet. She never tires of snuggling on our laps and loves to play. We can't believe we've only had her for one week. She is a great incentive for me to come home from work at a decent hour, and we just can't get enough of her.

The funniest thing she does is chase her own shadow. We thought at first that she had an imaginary friend or something. But then I noticed that she was actually pouncing on, biting at, and running at her own shadow. What a nut. Pure joy.

A Day of History

I have to take a moment from my day to record my feelings about this historic day. As I just watched on tv President Obama take the presidential oath, I couldn't help but have chills and get a thrill of hope and excitement. This was truly an historic occasion. It was one of those moments that I will never forget as I sat amongst my co-workers of all ages and races, gathered around the tvs in our office to participate in waching the inaguration of our next President of the United States of America, who happens to be the first African-American president. It was poignant as I looked around at the tears in the eyes of many of my co-workers, some who have experienced discrimination and racismn at its worst. I felt the thrill of the moment through their eyes. It also reminded me of 9-11 when we again gathered around the tvs in the office, united in a common purpose, all bipartisanship aside.

As I listened to the speech of Obama as our new President, I couldn't help but feel a rush of hope and joy as the prospects of change and movement were evident. I know many of you do not like Obama, but at this point, I hope you can put aside those differences and revel in the greatness of our freedoms that were evident today.

As I listened to the National Anthem being sung at the end, I couldn't help but think of the time when I watched the re-enactment of the beginning of the Revolutionary War on the green of Lexington Square in Lexington, MA several years ago. The picture of the guns and cannons appearing through the fog, and feeling the anticipation of what was about to happen, raced through my mind, brought tears to my eyes, and a lump in my throat. The Lord has blessed this country from the beginning, and I am so thankful to live in such a blessed land. Even in these hard times for our country, when we are faced with so many problems from a micro-level to a macro-level, at least for a few moments America was able to push aside our cares and remember what our nataion came from, and look to the future of where we are headed. God bless America!

Say Hello to Lola

For several months now Nathan and I have been discussing bringing an addition to our family. While we would love an addition in human form, we have also been talking about additions in the canine form as well. Ever since we had to get rid of our dogs several years ago, we've been wanting more, but I kept saying there is no way I'm having a dog in a 1-bedroom, 800 sf apartment. As such, we put a deposit down on a lab (black or yellow--Nathan hasn't made up his mind yet) that will be born in June, perfect for when we move. That will be HIS dog, his hunting buddy, his graduation present.

So what about me? I have wanted a little dog for quite some time, a dog that will be MY pet, that can sit on my lap and snuggle. After looking at puppies over the last few months, I finally settled on Boston Terriers. When the weekend began we had no intention of adding a puppy to our home, but things changed. It all started when we stopped at WalMart on Saturday. There was a a pet store nearby and we went in to see if they had food, etc. for our fish. They also had puppies. That started it. Nathan kept saying how fun it would be to have something to love, blah, blah, blah. I kept saying no, citing aforesaid reasons for not having a dog in the apartment.

We came home, and Nathan started looking online at Boston Terrier pups, and found several litters within a few hours drive, old enough to be purchased. We discussed it, and I finally broke. I decided that I'm tired of waiting for things--my job to get better, Nathan to graduate, to get pregnant, to get a dog. You get the picture. I decided that this is something that I want and that I could do right NOW. So I relented.

So yesterday after church we packed up the car and drove 4 hours south (almost to Savannah, GA) to see some pups. I wanted a girl, and there were 3 available from one litter. Needless to say, say hello to Lola, the newest addition to our family.

She's about 6 inches tall, and 10 inches long--small enough to fit in the foot space under the kitchen counters. She was GREAT on the 4 hour drive home, and had a great first night. I actually got 6 hours of sleep. Because she's not used to the apartment just yet, I'm working from home today so I can bond with my puppy. This is the best Monday I've had--well, just about ever.

Irrational spider fear

The other night Nathan and I were searching YouTube for something and came across this video about an irrational spider fear. This is a fear I have always had about spiders, and I have had nearly this EXACT conversation between me and the spider (me speaking for the spider, of course). By the end of it I was laughing so hard I was crying. I never had any idea that anyone else in the whole world had this same crazy fear/conversation. Thank goodness for YouTube to make us all feel a little more "normal."

Watch the video here. Irrational Spider Fear Skip to about 55 seconds--that's where it get's to the spider part. And then only watch until about 1:57. After that it gets rambly.

Very few things make me laugh that hard. Let me know if any of you have this same fear, or if you think I'm just plain crazy.

What a good day

Today was a great day. The first two weeks of the month are always the most stressful for me at work, so needless to say I've been having a bunch of long, stressful, overloaded days for the last week. So when good things happen, it's a HUGE boost. Today was one of those days. Without going into the boring details, I received word today that some of the things I've been wanting and needing for my group and my employees are finally going to happen. This has been a long uphill battle with upper management, trying to get them to see the things I do. I have been praying for weeks now for help to find answers to some of the most pressing issues in my job. It has been amazing. The Lord truely works in mysterious ways, and some of the things that have come about, and the creative solutions we've come to I know have been inspired by Him. As the scriptures say, we are supposed to pray over ALL aspects of our lives, including help at our livlihood. This is the second time I've had an experience in my current position with answers to specific prayers. What a good day!
Oh, and American Idol is on tonight. Does it get any better than that?!

Work hard...play hard later

Here I am blogging when I should already be sound asleep gearing up for another week at work. I just feel like I was cheated out of a weekend because I ended up working late every day this week and all day Saturday too. Guess that's what happens when you take 2 weeks off for Christmas. But this is a typical Sunday night where I stay up late to try and hang on to the last few minutes of the weekend. I will NOT work on Sundays, which allows me to enjoy the Sabbath day, and also gives me a much needed break. But then I just want more, and hate for it to end.

Nathan is no better. The last semester of the 2-year MBA program at GA Tech is usually the easiest. By then you've got your job lined up and can just coast through classes until graduation. Well, that is the average student anyway. But as we all know, Nathan is not average. He's crazy! We had to come back earlier than originally planned from Christmas in Utah so he could attend a 3-day "Six Sigma" seminar, which will give him the first level of certification. This is a big deal. Bank of America is huge on Six Sigma, so if Nate already has the first level certification he'll be that much more ahead of the pack. That is always his goal--be ahead of the pack.

So after spending three days last weekend in business seminars all day, and then starting the semester this last Monday, he's been going non-stop for 10 days without much of a break. I think he was thankful for church this morning just to break the pattern. I don't know how he does it. On top-of the Six Sigma project he'll be doing this semester, he's taking FIVE classes. Yes, five. He fretted over whether that was a good idea, but couldn't bring himself to drop any because he's interested in them all and this is his last semester. Guess he's trying to take the most advantage of school that he can. On top of all that, as if that's not enough, he's still working 15 hours/week at the Altanta Technology Development Center, and THEN...he decided that he wants to compete in the Purdue University case competition like he did last year. The difference is that this year he is the one who organized the team and is heading all the efforts.

Winning a case competition like this is huge for your resume, so of course he wants it. Schools all across the nation participate. They are all given the case information on Friday and have until Monday to turn it in. That is the first round. The top 10 or so get invited to Purdue for a 2nd round in a month or so. Grand prize is $5,000. But if you don't get grand prize, you get nothing for all your hours and hours of hard work. He was very frustrated with his group last year (LONG story), so he just couldn't pass this up. So here is what I've seen all weekend.

That is the back of Nathan's head while he's sitting at the computer. Insert frantic typing sounds, and there you've got it. So after spending all weekend alone last weekend and loving being able to get all sorts of projects done around the house, this weekend I've tried to keep quiet as a mouse. It's really hard because our computer is in the corner of the living room, which is right next to the kitchen. It's either that or the bedroom. Not much space for me when I need to keep out of the way and stay quiet. So it worked out that I needed to work yesterday and went to the office to get away. Someday I will get to see Nathan's face, and not just the back of his head. Here's to another 5 months!