Hello, Fall!

Well hey there! I have been remiss in updating the blog lately. I have waves of guilt that come over me when I think about it and then I remember that (1) my life is pretty darn busy and (2) I don't get paid for doing this!

Exciting news in the Gunning household! I'll start with our family vacation that we just got back from -- to DISNEY WORLD! Talk about amazing. It was truly a magical experience. I treasure thinking back on the moments when the boys were giddy about seeing a Disney character or going on a new ride and Paul and I just looked at each other and sharing the biggest grins on our faces. Our week there was filled with a lot of smiles, laughs, food, fireworks, and adventures. I have a ton of pictures to post and will get working on that ASAP!

Second, and also very exciting is that we are moving! After one year of debating, one month of collecting and filling out paperwork, and two months of patiently waiting, we finally have sold our townhouse. Okay, well, I won't really sleep soundly until we sign those final papers BUT that will happen at the end of this month. As we were waiting for everything to be finalized with selling our house, Paul and I started looking at single family homes in the area. We found one that we both fell in love with and it's only a couple miles from where we are now so the boys stay at the same school and I can still go to my favorite Harris Teeter for groceries and starbucks! A picture of the new house is below. It is on a cul-de-sac so perfect for the boys to ride bikes and it has a big backyard with a creek, a fire pit, and a deck.

(Oh and the house has 4 bedrooms which helps my cause of having a little girl. Well, maybe!)

So now is the fun part -- packing and moving. Ugh. I wish it would all just magically pack itself. We got a good start on it this weekend but have a lot more to go. Last time we moved, we didn't have kids. Good lord we have accumulated a lot of stuff since then! We officially move into the new place on the 21st so less than two weeks to go! Can't wait to have more room and a basement for the boys to play in.

Last but not least, I graduated from the change management program that I was doing at Georgetown! Oh what sweet, sweet relief. For it being a 6 month graduate program, I felt like I should have walked away from it with my MBA! It was a lot of work and it was tough, but worth the time and energy. I met a great group of people and learned a lot. Our final group project passed with flying colors -- "Instilling Safety Awareness at the Maryland Transit Administration". Great experience but glad to be done. I finally have my weekends back with some assemblance of normalcy.

And now to work on organizing some pictures to share (after I pack, do laundry, answer some emails, renew my car's registration, pay some bills, etc, you know, the usual!).

Happy Fall!

Jake's 4th Birthday

This week we celebrated Jake turning 4! It's hard to believe, he has grown up so fast. Only one more year until kindergarten. Of course he is tall enough to look like he is already in elementary school :-)

On Wednesday, his actual birthday, we celebrated at home with pizza from Wegman's, a Spiderman cake, and presents. Jake finally got the Power Rangers Samurai Megazord that he has wanted for months! Today we had his birthday party at Jump 'N Jimmy's with all of his friends. We were so happy that so many family friends and kids from his class were able to join us. The bouncing, pizza, and construction cake were a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who was able to join us and help celebrate in the joy of Jake turning 4!

By the way, the pig in some of the pictures is Percy the travelling pig. The kids in Jake's class take turns taking Percy home for 4 days at a time and Jake was lucky enough to have her over his birthday party weekend! We got to take pictures of Jake with Percy and then add them to her travelling journal where all of the kids record their adventures with her. Very fun!

Our Home

The house has never looked this good and it probably never will again!

Paul and I decided to put our house up for sale. The pictures above are from the photographer to snapped pics today for our online listing. We've been in this home for 4 1/2 years and making this decision has been very challenging but there are several factors working in our favor right now and we felt it was "now or never" so that we would seize the opportunity and give it a shot.

Our plan is to be able to sell this house and move into a single family home that will give all of us room to grow and allow the boys more room to play and run. We love this house to death and it has so many special memories, especially the fact that we brought both boys home from the hospital to this home (not to mention the beautifully painted bedrooms....) but its time for the next chaper in our lives and that entails a bigger home and a 4th bedroom so I can finally get through the last hurdles of convincing Paul to have one more baby!

Wish us luck!

Josh's 2nd Birthday Party

Josh and Mikayla, cousins who are only 9 days apart, celebrated their second birthdays on May 1st at Kids N Motion in Woodbridge. We were thankful that all of the immediate family was on hand for an afternoon of bouncing, pizza, cake, and more bouncing! (Where were indoor moon bounce places when my brother and I were kids?!?!)

Fourth of July 2011

Following in our traditional fourth of July celebration, we attended the Fairfax City parade on the morning of July 4th, followed by the old fashioned firemen's competitions, took a nap, and then watched spectacular fireworks at Fairfax High School. Jake and Josh (and Mia) had a great day!

Bailey and Mia!

Well, Hello There!

My, my how time flies. Talk about being out of touch recently. Every day is a whirlwind of activity. BUT, things are good, we're all happy and healthy, and that's what counts. I have so many fun pictures and videos to post from the past couple of months and need to get cracking on that. Josh is TWO and talking so much. Jake is almost FOUR and ready to take over the world with his power ranger moves.

First and foremost, happy anniversary to....

• Me and Paul (4 years)


• My mom and dad (33 years)


• Paul's mom and dad (38 years)

We're all going out to dinner together on Sunday night to celebrate.

From time to time, I think back to a blog post that I authored back in January about how it was nice to have a little "down time".... I should have known I was cursing myself with what was to come. I can't remember a time in life where there was more craziness or activity going on, but I also can't remember a time that I have been more content and happy. (Well, most of the time!) For me, between work and school, I feel like I have completely been slacking on mom and wife duties. Lucky for me, Paul has stepped in as an excellent Mr. Mom and diligently takes the boys to school every day and picks them up almost every day and never complains about it. I found out that he even did a load of laundry last week so he would have some clean shorts (go Paul!). Real estate has picked up quite a bit for Paul. He had ratified contracts on 4 (I think) places in the last two months. Not gonna lie, having the commission coming in has been niiiiiiice!

Josh is now in the Preschool I room with the two year olds and Jake is still in Junior Kindergarten (3-4 year olds), going to the Pre-K (almost like kindergarten) program in the fall. One more year and he starts elementary school. Ohmygosh. Summer is upon us! We've made it to the pool once so far but "splash day" started this week at school. The boys love it. Jake's day is on Thursday and Josh's is on Friday. They have sprinklers and baby pools and the kiddos get to run around in their bathing suits and have a grand time playing in the water. The joys of being a kids.

We still deeply miss Mosley and I find myself often times smiling at our boxer magnet on the fridge or of a picture of Mosley with Jake when he was a baby. My goodness he was a good dog. Such a good dog. Bailey was in mourning for a while, too. You could tell he was lonely and bored. We briefly talked about the idea of adopting another dog but didn't proactively look into doing it. And then one day....

Last week, one of the women on my team showed me and a few folks pictures of two rescue pups (one tan and one black/brown) who were looking for a home. One of our co-workers found the two puppies by their home in Georgia when they were about 5 weeks old and were all skin and bones, had mange, had been abandonded and abused, and were terrified of people. She and her husband nursed both of them back to health and brought them up to their other home in northern VA to find good adoptive parents. For whatever reason, I impulsively wanted to bring the tan puppy home (as a "trial"... mmmhmmmm) to see how she would do with Bailey and the boys. It was love at first sight. First of all, she's a girl. I have wanted a GIRL for so long. Second, she looks like a yellow lab mut puppy and I really wanted a yellow lab as our next dog. Soooooooo, I brought her home last Friday. Bailey and the boys love her. She ADORES them. She isn't so sure of me and Paul though she has warmed up to us a lot in the last couple of days. She's a sweet playful puppy who chews on whatever she can find, but she's home to stay. Jake named her Mia after the pink power ranger :-)

Now for working on posting the pics and videos....!

Jake and his Buddies

Jake playing swords with some of the neighborhood boys. This spring/summer has been a lot of fun because the boys are both very excited about playing with the neighborhood kids and we spent most week nights and weekends outside playing. Jake loves playing swords, guns, and ninjas with the older boys!

Josh Loves Bubbles!

He goes crazy for bubbles! Mainly because he wants to blow into the wand and make the bubbles! Definitely ranks up there as a fav activity for him.

Easter

Happy Easter! This morning the boys were greeted by their baskets that the Easter Bunny left for them. (Jake really wanted to meet the Easter Bunny and give him a hug!) Then we went outside (beautiful, warm, sunny day!) for an easter egg hunt. It was great fun to watch the boys get so excited about finding the hidden eggs.

Of course now the challenge is preventing the boys from eating massive quantities of chocolate!

On Thursday, Oma and I took the boys to a neighborhood easter egg hunt in Paul's parent's neighborhood. Jake and Josh chased down eggs with about 20 other kids and then they ran around to their heart's content.

This afternoon we're headed to my parent's house to enjoy an Easter Sunday dinner with the family.

Enjoy slideshow of photos below!

Jumping Jimmy's

The boys' FAVORITE thing to do after school.... and why they think their Daddy is the best... he takes them all the time! (They don't get as excited when Mommy picks them up from school......!)

BOBO

Mosley

In October 2004, after only a couple months of dating, I picked out Mosley as an early birthday/Christmas gift for Paul. He talked about wanting a rotweiller or a boxer and not knowing too much about boxers, I started to look into the breed. I fell in love with the sweet faces and big brown eyes, and was more than comfortable to know how happy go-lucky they are and how wonderful they are with kids. Gretchen and I made the trek to Orange, VA to pick out a pup from a litter. He was tall and gangly; such long legs and such a big head and tongue. But it was love at first sight. We named him Mosley after Sugar Shane Mosley, the boxer. It seemed like such a perfect fit. In hindsight, we probably should have caged him as a pup because he destroyed our apartment. And when I say "our apartment", I mean mine and Sara's so god bless Sara for being so patient through the whole ordeal. Mosley ate pillows, comforters, sheets, a North Face jacket, Trivial Pursuit, baskets, magazines, foil, and lots and lots of underwear. He did his fair share of pooping on our cream colored carpet. It's amazing he made it through that phase of his life. Mosley and Bailey became best friends right away. I was worried that Bailey, being three years old and rather set in his ways, wouldn't be too thrilled about an addition to the family but the two of them bonded and became buds for life. We always joked that Mosley kept Bailey young and vibrant... He was a little unsure of what to think when we brought Jake home from the hospital in August 2007. He couldn't figure out what the little baby noises were and was pretty convinced that there was an injured animal in our house that needed his help. He tried every way he could think of to get into the pack 'n play to figure it out. Eventually he got used to the little squeals and cries and Mosley and Jake grew up as best friends. When Josh came into the picture, Mosley was much more laid back. He though, "I've got this. More friends to play with!" He was so incredibly patient with every ear tug, eye poke, and smack on the back. I think he always knew that it was the boys letting him know how much they love him. Talk about excellent with kids, I couldn't have been more impressed. Mosley always liked being in on the action. Wherever people were, he had to be there. That included thinking at 90 pounds that he was a lap dog. I'll never forget one fourth of July when Paul was setting off fireworks across the street from our house in Haymarket and poor Mosley was so petrified that he hopped in Allison's lap for comfort. I'm having a terrible time writing this in present tense vs. past tense so apologies for some of the mixing of tense above. Mosley is still with us but things have taken a turn for the worst and we're working on planning to say goodbye to him in the next week. And now the tears start rolling in again.... March was not a fun month. It was very hectic with all that I had going on at work, I was just getting over pneumonia, and then Mosley got sick. It started about three weeks ago with Mosley essentially gagging his food and water back up after he ate. It wasn't even vomiting, the food just wasn't getting down. We were worried that he had a blockage in his throat from some rawhides that Josh had given him a couple days prior so when things weren't getting better and then the whole area around his left eye swelled up, I took him into the vet. The urgent concern was if there was a rawhide blockage in his esophagus. A couple of x-rays showed that there was definitely something there. And there wasn't just one "mass", there were two. The next step was to get Mosley to The Life Centre (TLC) in Leesburg for an endoscopy to see exactly what was going on. The results were crushing. There wasn't a blockage from rawhide, he had two masses, most likely cancerous, that were causing about an 80% blockage in his esophagus. He immediately had to go on a liquid diet and had a biopsy done of one of the masses in his esophagus and two other biopsies done of the mass/swelling around his eye and a mass in his chest area. Mosley spent the weekend at TLC. I can't speak highly enough about the staff and doctors there. They were incredibly patient, knowledgable, and understanding through the whole ordeal, including helping with options for the financial aspect of the treatments. We were finally able to bring him home that Sunday evening (he had been there since Friday night) and continue with the liquid diet (which didn't phase him at all). The next day we got the devastating news that the biopsies in his eye and chest were positive for lymphoma. Eventually the biopsy of his esophagus came back inconclusive but the natural assumption was that the masses were on the outside of his esophagus pushing inwards so the sample taken during the endoscopy didn't capture the actual tumor. For anyone who has had a pet with cancer, I am sure you can relate to the horrible events and emotions that come next. We essentially had two treatment options -- steroids or chemo. We love Mosley to pieces but knowing how aggressive his lymphoma was (it came on out of no where), even the chemo options only gave him another 4-10 months, it was incredibly expensive, and we'd have to take him to the hospital once a week for treatments. Even with that, the chemo would make him feel icky, and the ultimate end was still going to be the same. Eventually the cancer would come back with avengence. Paul and I made the very difficult decision to treat with just steroids, knowing that would only give him 1-3 months, at most. He responded very well to the steroids at first and for about a week and half, seemed like his old self, with the exception of drinking 10 gallons of water a day and eating a ton of food (side effects). The other terrible side effect from the steroids is increased "having to go to the bathroom". Unfortunately, Paul and I have literally spent the last two weeks cleaning up pee and poo around the house multiple times a day. Even when we would be at home with him, he'd just start peeing because he couldn't hold it in. Of course we didn't yell or punish, we just ended up going through A LOT of towels and A LOT of carpet cleaner. A couple of days ago, I noticed that the swelling in his chest seemed like it was coming back and you can definitely feel the big, hard mass in his chest. He started limping, presumably because it's painful and/or because the mass is making it difficult for him to move his shoulder/leg the correct way. The swelling under his eye is coming back a little bit at a time as well. He's also started laying around and sleeping a lot more as well. The vet explained it to me like feeling like you have a bad case of the flu. He just feels crappy and wants to take it easy. His body aches, he's tired and slow, and every part of my body wishes there was something I could do to take it all away. I am still going through the denial phase. I can't believe that he's sick and dying. He still looks good. He hasn't lost weight. His face is still so sweet and happy. He is wagging his little stub of a tail. But you can also tell that he isn't himself and that the cancer is slowly taking over. I don't want him to be in pain and be suffering. But making the decision about when to say goodbye is heartbreaking. Where do you draw the line? How do you make the final decision? I took Mosley to our vet today to talk about what I have noticed over the last couple of days. She recommended that we take a couple of days to say our goodbyes, keep a close eye on him, and call her when we're ready. I know we'll get through this but boy I don't want to have to make this decision. He's only 6 1/2 and has been such a loyal, loving, and wonderful dog for our family. The boys adore him ("BoBo, BoBo!") and Bailey is going to be devastated without his best buddy around. So sweet, sweet Mosley, we are going to miss you so, so much but we'll try to find comfort in knowing that you won't be in pain or be suffering. We love you!

Where To?

Jake: "Mama, I wanna go on a helicopter to go visit Handy Manny!" (emphasis on the Handy Manny part... imagine a high pitch squeal of delight). This all started after Titi Eva went to Disneyland and sent back pictures of her WITH Handy Manny. A real, live, human sized (complete with overly large head) HANDY MANNY! Oh it was all over from there. A trip to Disney was in the cards.

Lucky for us, Uncle Sam gave us a HUGE break on our taxes from last year (i.e., Paul spent more starting up in the real estate business than he made and I guess the federal gov't helps out those entrepreneurs.... at least for the first two years). So a third of our refund is paying for a fabulous family vacation to Disney World at the end of September. The only bummer? Waiting six months to go! But, it will go by fast. I graduate from my certificate program at Georgetown on September 23rd and we fly out on September 27th so it will be quite the treat to look forward to. That, and we hear we will miss some of the crowds and the heat by going at the end of September.

Okay, so I have never been to Disney World. I know. What have I been missing?!? And of course this will be Jake and Josh's first trip. They will be 4 and 2.25, respectively. It will be their first time on an airplane, too. Thank goodness for JetBlue's non-stop flight from Dulles to Orlando and their TV's in the back of every seat.

With the help of a wonderful travel agent (let me know if you need one!), we are going for 6 days/ 5 nights to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/caribbean-beach-resort/) with passes to go to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon.

AND..... one of the restaurants in Hollywood Studios does a character meal with Handy Manny. Are these kids going to be in heaven or what?

Paul and I are so excited to go and experience all of the magic and adventure through their eyes. Nothing like being a kid again!

Blogging from Bed

Well this doesn't happen too often... Not that I don't spend some time in my bed every day, but this week has taken it to a whole new level. Let's see, in bed since 4pm on Tuesday... that's about 100 hours laying on that tempur pedic. Roughly two weeks of sleeping time for me. (I'm a nerd, remember? I love numbers, patterns, analysis....)

It all began on a cold, rainy Sunday morning.....

No, no, not really.

But I do have pneumonia. How the heck did that happen? A healthy, active, thirty year old. Who knows. Guess someone decided they wanted to give me a week's vacation.... IN BED.

So today is Saturday... (special shout out to my brother, Nick, who turns 27 today, and whose birthday dinner I am so sorry to be missing right now)... I started feeling sick this past Sunday. Fluish type symptoms. Headache, kinda tired, chills, blah. I chalked it up to needing some sleep. I went to work on Monday. Delivered a stellar presentation in front of about 65 people (standing, no podium, no notes, ick). Still not feeling so hot. Wake up on Tuesday morning pretty convinced I have the flu but had two meetings so went to the office from 11-3 and then had to go home and curl up in a ball in bed, and pretty much have been there ever since!

It kind of went downhill and got progressively worse from there. Fever went up to 102-103, literally couldn't move, worst headache of my life, cough started, the whole nine yards. I EVEN MISSED an important meeting at work on Wednesday afternoon (1) because my boss and colleagues wouldn't let me come in and (2) because I physically couldn't take a shower or drive to the office. By Thursday morning, I whimpered for Paul to take me to urgent care to see what was going on. Worst doctor's office visit ever. I know, what should I expect from an urgent care, but ever since we switched insurance, I haven't found a good primary care doctor for Paul and I that I like. Whatever. I'll get back on that quest soon. So the doctor gives me a flu test, which is what I was expecting, but surprisingly it came back negative. Obviously the doctor saw how sick I was. I couldn't even open my eyes to look at him because the lights hurt too much. He listened to my lungs, looked me over, and chalked it up to a virus but gave me some antibiotics just in case and told me to go to the hospital if I got worse or wasn't any better in 24 hours. I should mention that I was so sick that I didn't even turn on my laptop and I barely checked my blackberry. Now THAT means something is wrong. I felt too terrible to even focus, think, or use the energy to type.

I about had Paul take me to the ER on Thursday night because I had a migraine strength headache for about three hours. Here I am laying in bed, all lights off, fan on high, cold washcloth over my face, in agony while I listen to Jake and Paul sleep. I guess I finally dozed off for at least a little bit.

Paul called in to work on Friday morning to tell them he was taking me to the ER. We dropped off the boys at school and went to the (amazing) Heathcote Health Center (aka: Haymarket ER). This is the same place I took Josh about a year ago when he had the 105 degree fever and also where I took Paul just a couple of weeks ago due to his episode of swollen tonsils and not being able to breathe (strep throat). This place is the BEST. Not that I hope anyone has to actually ever go there but it is top-notch. It's brand new, clean, fast, quiet, and has extremely nice staff, nurses, and doctors. The in-take nurse took my pulse, blood pressure, and temperature, walked me to the back, and told the nurse on duty that I was going to need an IV. The doctor came in to see me within about 15-20 minutes, listened to my lungs/chest and immediately said that he thought I had pneumonia (how did the urgent care doctor miss that?). They took me back for a chest x-ray, then pumped me with an IV of fluids (I was pretty dehydrated from the fever) and gave me some fantastic pain killer for my headache (and some anti-nausea meds). The persistent little booger of a headache didn't want to go away though. After about 20 minutes of relief, it came back. Another dose of pain killer. This wasn't just your typical percocet or vicodin. This was something that made me feel nice and loopy. (Ask Paul, I started talking about silly stuff.)

So the doctor comes back and tells me that I do definitely have a pretty good case of pneumonia going on, that I am going to feel crappy for another 5 days or so, that I can't go back to work for 5 days, to do a lot of resting, and drink a lot of fluids. They gave me a heavy duty dose of the antibiotic to start me off (over 90 minutes through the IV), got some ativan in the IV to see if THAT would help with the headache, and then discharged me. So we got there at about 8:30am and left at about 12pm. Not too shabby at all.

I slept for most of the day but managed to get up and play a game of Candyland with Jake and Paul and then passed out again. The headache was still pretty bad this morning (even two vicodin wouldn't kill it) but as of a couple of hours ago, I am starting to feel a little better. I even put a load of laundry in tonight.... to get started on the 12 loads that need to be done :-)

I really appreciate my family and friends who sent their get well wishes and the offers for help with the boys. It means a lot. Thanks to my parents and brother who sent flowers, my 'gang' at work who sent flowers, Paul's mom for making my favorite casserole and watching the boys this morning while Paul did some work stuff, Gretch & Ally for coming over tomorrow to hang with the boys and help me with some laundry, and everyone else who has been wishing me well. You guys are awesome.

Poor Paul has done so much hard work this week taking care of the boys, the dogs, and the house on his own. INCLUDING driving to Woodbridge this afternoon to take Josh to an urgent care (that was actually open; the ones by us were closed) and to go to my brother's birthday dinner. What a sweet guy! He'll be enjoying his well-deserved day "off" tomorrow by mountain biking with friends and getting a massage. He has been so sweet and patient every step of the way. I know it's been hard at times.

Luckily Josh man just has an ear infection (well, yet another one) and he's on antibiotics now. We were worried that he could have something worse since he's been exposed to me. He has a bit of an icky sounding cough but his fever isn't too high so the doctor felt pretty confident that he should be fine after a round of the good old pink stuff.

Oh and I celebrated finally feeling a little better tonight by eating a steak. Most food I have eaten in about a week!

And finally, when I woke up this morning, I saw the boys' dinosaur dude positioned in exactly the pose that you see below. Thus my immediate first thought this morning was, wow, that's how I feel! Too good to miss!

Fantasy Playground

This weekend we took the boys to the Fantasy Playground in Lake Ridge (a couple miles from my parent's house). When my brother and I were little, my dad helped build the all wood playground and being there with the boys brought back such fun memories. And of course, they had a blast!

October 25 - 29, 1989
1400 volunteers
Amazing
Now Paul and I are starting to look into resources for trying to do something like that in Haymarket/Gainesville.

My first attempt at a photo collage online below, from the playground. Pictures ended up a little blurry in the collage but you get the idea :-)

NYC!

First time riding on the train, first time in NYC, first time seeing a play on Broadway -- Paul sure did know how to make celebrating my 30th birthday memorable and exciting!

For about two months, I knew there was a surprise trip planned for my birthday weekend but I had NO idea where we were going. He arranged all of the travel plans and for his parents to watch the boys for the weekend. On the Thursday evening before we were to leave, I came home from work to birthday roses and two cards -- one from him and one from the boys. I opened the one from him first and as soon as I opened the card, it started singing, "New York...". Wow! I started to tear up just from that amazing surprise. Then I opened the card from the boys and it had tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway. Really?!? Tears enter here... For those of you who know me, you know how much I LOVE the Lion King so the opportunity to see it on Broadway in NYC was beyond words. Love that man.

So our adventure began early on Friday morning with riding Amtrak up to Penn Station in NYC. We hopped a taxi to our hotel -- the Marriott Marquis Times Square -- right in the heart of all the action! Just the sight of Times Square was breathtaking. The view from our hotel room (on the 33rd floor) had a direct shot of the ball that drops on New Year's Eve. The bright lights and constant hustle and bustle were crazy. Even at 10pm at night, it looks like 4pm outside because the lights are so bright.

After settling in and grabbing a late lunch, we headed to Ground Zero. We both very much wanted to visit this historic sight and pay our respects. Since it has been almost 10 years since 9/11, the area was mainly a huge construction site but we saw the plaques and tributes to 9/11 and to the FDNY firefighters who perished that day. It doesn't matter how long it has been since that day, the emotions never fade. We saw the plans for the 9/11 memorial that they are building. It is going to be beautiful, with cascading waterfalls falling down into the "holes" that were once the site for the two towers.

We then talked around the financial district, Wall St. etc before venturing to Shula's Steakhouse back in Times Square for my birthday dinner. Delish. The next morning I slept in while Paul brought my coffee and breakfast in bed and then we walked over to Rockefeller Center. We saw where they film the Today show and decided to take the NBC Studio Tour. It was about 90 minutes and we saw where they film MSNBC, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Dr. Oz, and the set for SNL! (Daney Carvey was the host for that night and things were in full-swing getting set up for the evening.)

We started to walk around 5th Ave/ Madison Ave to do a little window shopping but it was a cold and rainy NY day so we hopped a taxi to Madame Tussauds wax museum (note slideshow of photos below from just our trip there) -- so fun! It was touristy and a little cheesy but we shared some good laughs and were amazed at how some of the wax statues looked so real!

We decided to have dinner at one of Gordom Ramsay's restaurants (Hell's Kitchen) called Maze. It was spectacular. It was probably the best dinner I have ever had. Seriously. Worth every penny. Then it was time for The Lion King! I wish we could have taken pictures during the show but they probably wouldn't have done the beauty any justice. The costumes, set, music, everything was magical. I probably was sitting with my mouth wide open in awe when I wasn't signing along to the songs.

Truly a magical weekend. We were only there for two days but I felt like we were able to see and experience so much. It was so relaxing and just time for the two of us to be together, laugh, smile, and hold hands. I can't think of a better way to have spent my 30th birthday!

(Slideshows below from the weekend!)

More Ski Liberty!

A more inclusive slideshow of pictures from the boys' first ski trip to Ski Liberty in PA. Jake keeps asking to go back!

Jake's 1st Time Skiing!

Liberty Mountain (PA), 1/22/11

What's Good with the Gunnings?

Stealing a phrase from Paul for the Title of this post ("What's good, y'all?"). Ahhh. If you haven't done so already, take a moment for a quick pause, deep sigh, ahhhhh. The holidays are over! Don't get me wrong, I lovelovelove Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it naturally brings stress over lack of time and of course, the money factor! (Lucky for me, I love my family and in-laws and we all get along so I don't have to worry about the family stress.)

I feel like I have reached a pivotal milestone. I find myself with "down time". Gosh I almost feel like I am jinxing myself to actually put that out there, but it's been a trend. At least for January (so far!). Now that I am working from home 2-3 days a week, I have plenty of time between answering emails and taking conference calls to do laundry, pick up the rec room, make the beds, do more laundry, pay bills, and take care of other miscellaneous household chores. That leaves a lot more free time in the evenings and on the weekends.

Paul has started a new job with ProTech, a pest control company, as a sales rep. He actually has a normal Monday-Friday 9-5 job. (For the first time in the 7 years I have known him.) He just started last week but he's been coming home anywhere inbetween 5:30 and 7:30pm so him being home to help with the boys in the evening has been such a treat as well. Using tonight as an example, we had eaten dinner, done the dishes, and had Josh in his PJ's by 6:30pm. Whoah. When I am coming home from work at Booz Allen in Tysons Corner, I don't even get in the door with the boys until 6:30!

So what am I thinking about doing with this newfound "spare time"? I must admit that I have been spoiling myself by doing nothing. Yes, nothing. Just sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of hot tea, and watching whatever mindless TV show is on (or waiting for me to watch on the DVR). Eventually I know I must do something more productive. Another baby? Perhaps. Still working on trying for #3 (a girl) with Paul. I promised we'd wait another year. Until then, I have decided to do a little "going back to school". I'm not ready to commit to an entire graduate program but I have enrolled in a graduate certificate program at Georgetown University. At the end of the courses, I will have my Change Management Advanced Practitioners (CMAP) certification. (Four more letters to add to the end of my name, after the PMP). I'm excited to do something different, get back into the school routine, and the topic is very much of interest to me as well. I deal with change management in my role at Booz Allen every single day so I will have a lot of real life application of the course work and case studies. (Oh and maybe one of the best parts? Booz Allen pays for the entire thing, to include travel expenses and books. The classes take place during the day, during the week, and I get paid for attending, so it's a win-win situation.)

The boys? Oh the boys are terrific. Whenever anyone asks, my typical response is, "oh they're great, so sweet, and growing up so fast". That doesn't really even begin to cover it. Bursting with pride, love, and devotion is probably more like it. As they get older and their little personalities start to shine through, I love both of them, and enjoy time with both of them, for different reasons. I know 99% of all parents love their kids more than words describe (obviously I am one of them), because there is something so special and magical about that first smile when they wake up in the morning, their hugs when you pick them up from school, and glimpses of their unconditional love and dependence on you.

Jake fully carries on entire conversations and immerses himself in "pretend play". The things that come out of his mouth are hyterical. "Mama, don't wash your face, you take too long!". "Just five more minutes." "Daddy, I need to take my bear to school today and put it in my cubby." "C'mon, Josh, let's use this chair to jump on the couch. We can climb this wall!" Whoah, wait, what?!? Have I mentioned how he insits on dressing himself now? Yes, sir. Every day. Shirt, underwear, pants, socks, boots, jacket, the whole nine yards. It takes a little extra time but he's pretty darn good at it. One day he went to school with his pants on backwards, but hey, that's okay for a 3 1/2 year old. He attends speech therapy twice a week at the local elementary school. He gets to take the big yellow school bus from preschool to speech and back to preschool. He thinks that is just about the coolest thing that has ever happened to him (well maybe since Handy Manny came into his life).

Josh is my chubby cheeked little bruiser. He is going through a bit of a "hitting phase". I think its his only mechanism for defending himself against his brother. He's not a "mean hitter" so to speak, but he has a little defiance in him. Right now he's battling a bout of bronchitis and an ear infection. Comes with the territory of being 1 1/2 and in daycare. At least he's building his immunity now; Jake went through the same cycles. He's even sweet and laid back when he is sick. Josh absolutely adores his big brother. He wants to do, eat, and play with anything that Jake is doing/ has. This means that there are frequent battles over tools but they are both learning the fine art of sharing, and usually we help to negotiate a compromise between them. Josh talks. A LOT. I don't know exactly how many words he says but I'd say he is upwards of 50-75 or so. Mama, Daddy, Jake, Joshy, BoBo, Bailey, yes, no, wawa, cup, juice, cheese, bread, straw, bye bye, thank you, please, cow, cat, dog, book, night night, help, up, down, light, etc, etc. His attempt at communicating in full sentences is comical. He's trying so hard but it sounds like he is speaking a foreign language.

So that's all that is good for us for now. I must include a big congratulations to our good friends, Trevin and Rachael, who welcomed their second child (daughter Kendall) to the world yesterday -- on 1/11/11 at 11pm! Amazing timing by Rachael! (And reminds me about getting back on my quest to have a little girl!)

A picture is worth a thousand words....