It's a BOY!!! :-D

Monday of this past week (the 23rd) we got some fabulous, wonderful, oh-so-good news. We're going to have a SON! He's perfectly healthy, very muscular, tall, and his kicks are getting stronger each day. He was just so very nice to see on the ultrasound monitor. Both Andy and I were silent when the nurse showed us what we recognized to be the lower half of our SON! We were so surprised and excited and moved beyond words. I, personally, couldn't hold back the tears. Finding out his gender made him all the more real to us. We now have a SON to look forward to this January!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the ultrasound:

Ten perfect little fingers waving hello! (future musician??)

Our boy's got muscle! (future athlete??)

Profile and cute, little nose.


We just loved seeing our little BOY and are already busy planning his nursery, flipping through lists of boy names, and picking out adorable outfits for the little guy. Andy's been busy researching cloth diapers and this weekend we spent time in Babies 'R Us trying out all the different types of strollers. So many options!!

I'm doing pretty well, although still struggling with "morning" sickness which lasts all day on rough days. My growing pelvis is now pushing on a nerve that causes burning pain in my right thigh when I stand/walk, so I spend more time sitting than I'd like. Being over halfway through the pregnancy, though, has changed my attitude for the better. Seeing our sweet baby boy on the screen and feeling his kicks each day reminds me that this is an overwhelming blessing. I am so very thankful that God has given us this child and if my temporary discomfort will ensure that he is born healthy and happy, it is all worth it! :-)

Thanks for being a part of our journey to parenthood. We are beyond thrilled to meet our son in January!

The Challenge

I have been challenged to a duel - a blogging duel. My dear friend S has started writing a blog once a week and somehow discovered my outdated blog here. She wants me to "keep up" with hers. Well, Ms. S, I accept your challenge!

The new goal is to write once a week about the happenings of our lives. Let me introduce us properly:

ANDY is a software engineer with Raytheon here in Colorado. His job took us on two TDY adventures in the past 2.5 years of our marriage. The first was to Seal Beach, CA (we lived ON the ocean!) and the second was to Alexandria, VA (yeah DC!). He loves, loves, LOVES cars and anything having to do with speed. He currently drives a lovely Subaru STI that he is continuously modifying to his heart's delight. Andy was born in CA but grew up here in CO (almost native) with his six siblings. He attended the CO School of Mines, loves our Vizsla puppy, and is looking forward to the adventures of fatherhood.

JOY is a secondary English teacher who just got her M.Ed. degree and teaching license from George Washington University. She was born and raised in beautiful Virginia where she attended the College of William & Mary in Colonial Williamsburg (gotta love waking up at 8am to the sound of canon fire!). She loves music, writing, teaching, travel, VW's, and anything having to do with the UK. Joy is an only child and loves being a part of the huge Getz clan. She also enjoys playing with the Vizsla puppy and tuxedo cat, and can't wait to become a first-time mom in January!

LANI is our sweet Vizsla puppy. She is 1.5 years-old and still very much thinks she's a puppy. Lani's favorite trick of the moment is to jump through a hoop, which we encourage her to do regularly to use up some of her effusive energy! She loves people and will chase any bird or bunny in sight. We recently took Lani to the lake at Cherry Creek State Park where she learned how to swim. Let's just say it was quite entertaining. She's still trying to win the affections of our dear cat.

SIMPSON is our affectionate tuxedo cat. He is 11 years old and has been on a diet for the past 2.5 years. Simpson's favorite spot to sleep is by the window and he especially loves cool fall days when he can spend afternoons out on the deck. He has slowly warmed to Lani and will tolerate just a bit of her licking. Simpson was Joy's family cat and became hers when she moved out to Colorado. He has loved the change of scenery and is the perfect, cuddly lap cat!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

As I sit here in Virginia, missing my Andy, I also can't wait for what the future holds. I am finishing up my very last class for my master's and technically graduated on Sunday with my M.Ed. degree. Two years has come and gone so quickly and yet not without stress and some struggle. Two years ago I started this journey to enter a field I thought would provide job security and much personal fulfillment. Now, as I wait to hear back from my fourth job interview, I can't help but laugh at the state of our economy and how scarce teaching jobs are.

I have learned a great deal in the process.

Perhaps we'll start a new, grand adventure once this degree is through...

The first post...

The first post always makes me a little anxious. I place too great an importance upon the first post of our new blog. Do I have enough interesting things to say? Will anyone actually read this thing and reflect upon our musings? Does it matter?

Suffice it to say that I'm (Joy's) in a contemplative mood while reading a wonderful book about a fellow late twenty-something in pursuit of herself and of deeper meaning along the circuitous journey of life. She writes beautifully, starts a blog, wins a readership following, and pursues what started as a solitary goal into the blossoming of herself and her potential and embraces life through risk, courage, and plenty of determination. I think people who set goals for themselves are the true dreamers of our society. Dreamers can appear to flop about their adulthood from one idea to the next, but in reality could they be the ones who truly suck the marrow of this life for all the experience that it is worth? Dreamers are doers, doers who refuse to settle into the commonplace routines of existence and instead march forth into the unknown with the light of a solitary idea, an idea that when nurtured may grow into something profoundly meaningful.

Now I apologize if I sound too philosophical. I promise I'm not talking about the miracle of life here. I just can't help but feel so small in this world full of dreamers. I respect the dreamers. I admire and envy them - not their success, I applaud them for it, not their dream for it is theirs to hold - I envy their courage and determination to follow through with something that started as a great risk, a single step forward along the tight rope walk between the sane and the crazy. I respect those who chart a new course for themselves with whatever resourcefulness they can muster.

Too often I think people get caught up in themselves, in their feelings, in the incessant waves of emotion that threaten to engulf you when you're in your twenties and you can't quite figure out whether or not you're satisfied with the postgraduate life you're living. Some of us go ahead and leap ahead into the quarter-life crisis, change our jobs a handful of times, move states, travel, date, explore as many new interests as we can stomach. Others of us contine the plodding, satisfied with our choices and are somehow free from the downtrodden threats against our contentment. If you haven't noticed, I'm the one who leapt off the plodden path and moved across the country... now three times... shifted jobs like loose change from one pocket to another... and enrolled in two different master's programs... about to finally finish one... the one.

Andy and I have experienced a great deal in this past year and nine months of marriage. We've grown closer together as a couple. We've grown individually into more flexible yet focused people. We're adventurous yet still deciding when we want to do that settling down thing. We've moved around a lot and have no idea where we'll end up once I finish my M.Ed. degree. Our families are across the country from each other. Do we pick one to live near? Split the distance? Go with a cool job someplace new? We're both kinda tired of feeling isolated from a community of friends. The Northern Virginia scene doesn't exactly lend itself easily to community unless you're willing to drive 45 minutes in any direction (plus traffic) to get anywhere. But it's glorious being so close to the nation's capital with its great monuments and history and pomp. I look forward to spending a week at the Outer Banks, where my mother's side of the family will come together to live, laugh, and revel in the oceanfront beauty of North Carolina. Then, I'll be looking to the fall when the leaves are ablaze in my favorite colors of autumn. Next spring I'll be student teaching (finally!) and then will have completed my one goal of having my career path and master's degree set. YES!

In the meantime, keep reading to learn more about what we discover along the way. It's the journey not the destination that's important, right? Thanks for reading!

~Joy