A Little Soap Box To Stand On

This has been a challenging week for my patience. Not bad, just challenging. Ruston found out that he wasn't accepted into the Dominican Republic externship through the dental school again this year (this was his third time applying). It's bittersweet because it would have been a few weeks after the baby is born. But I'm a little ticked because the students in charge actually had the nerve to tell the applicants that everyone would be chosen from a hat due to the high demand for this opportunity. Not surprisingly, the people who were chosen are the same people that have gone the past three years - and they are all close friends. I wouldn't be so mad if they would just tell people how it would be from the start, but to get people's hopes up and make them think there's a chance is just wrong. I'm half tempted to have a little chat with the people in charge, but I wouldn't want to embarrass Ruston. I just want people to be more honest. Is that too much to ask for?

My other complaint is that I have been looking forward, for weeks, to going to our local "Boo at the Zoo". I told Ruston to plan on going - no matter what. I got Elli all dressed up in her adorable ladybug costume and even taught her to say "zoo". We drove almost an hour to get there tonight and, after waiting in bumper to bumper traffic forever, turned into the zoo - only to see sign that said all tickets were sold out and no new people were being admitted. Now I realize this isn't a huge deal, but I was mad. I had checked the website AND called them earlier today to get details and not once did anything say I had to pre-purchase tickets. They should have been more considerate of their customers. We had no choice but to turn around and go home. It was too late in the evening to go anywhere else. Poor Elli, the whole way home, kept asking "zoo?" to know when we were going to get there. It broke my heart! I'm going to try to pre-purchase tickets for next weekend, but believe me they are going to get one ticked off mother telling them the hassle we just went through tonight.

Sorry this is such a negative post. Really life has been good (other than those two things). I had a doctor's appointment this week and my doctor was totally pleased with everything baby-oriented. I'm 28 weeks now (less than three months to go!) The baby should be around two and a half pounds and a foot long. It would be able to survive if born now - but that's not going to happen any time soon. My due date is still Jan. 8th and I don't expect to be more than a day early, if not later. But I'm okay with that!

Elli is still learning new things everyday. She got invited to her first Halloween party this week and, while she didn't actually play with anyone, she had a great time. (Kids don't usually start playing with other kids until closer to three). We've started going to more parks lately and she's had fun playing around other kids. It's funny to watch her in these early developmental stages. She is so sweet!

Well, we head to Orlando in a week for vacation. If I don't post anything before then, I'll be sure to put some great pictures on the blog when we get home. Keep checking back! I love you all!

No News Is Good News...I Guess

Okay, so this time I took forever to update the blog because our internet has not been working for several weeks. As you can see, we fixed it today. But to be honest not much has been going on anyway. Ruston is busy studying (yes, I said studying) for an upcoming exam. Elli is still learning new words and getting more adorable by the moment. And I just keep getting bigger, well, my tummy does anyway. I promise I will get a picture of my tummy's profile up on the blog soon. Ruston has just been too busy and obviously Elli can't hold the camera yet. So keep checking back.

I thought this school year would fly so fast, like last year. But actually it has dragged on so long. Here we are in the beginning of October...still! I suppose the second half will go faster, after the baby is born and we know if Ruston's getting into a residency program. But all this waiting is getting exhausting! It's like our lives are put on hold until January. That seems like an eternity from now.

Actually things should start picking up in a few weeks. We decided that now would be the best time to go on a family vacation to Florida. We probably won't come back this way after Ruston graduates (at least with only one kid!), so at the end of this month the three of us will fly to Orlando and spend some time seeing the sights and enjoying the great weather there! We figured it would be cheapest now since Elli isn't quite two yet we don't have to pay for her flight. And we got a great deal in a timeshare condo. They aren't even making us take a tour or listen to a sales pitch because they already know we are too poor. So we just get to have a relaxing weekend as a family. Don't worry, we'll take lots of pictures!

This weekend is general conference for church, so we probably won't be doing anything very exciting - or at least worth writing about. I'll shoot for next weekend to update the blog again and see how that goes! Thanks for reading! I love you all!