Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog!

If you aren't familiar with the nursery rhyme I am quoting in the title of this post, here's the full rhyme:

To market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity jig. To market, to market to buy a fat hog. Home again, home again, jiggity jog.

I thought the title was appropriate not only because we just got home from our Spring Break trip to Las Vegas but because I am officially a stay-at-home wife again! It felt extremely weird the last two days dropping Robbie off at the Dental School then proceeding back home to do stuff around the house. It felt like I was playing hooky from work!

For those of you who are just discovering my blog, I have worked at the Dental School for the past year and a half. We are due with our first child in mid-May and I decided to leave work a little early to have some time to prepare before Baby comes. It felt bittersweet leaving my job as I've met so many wonderful people and have loved the extra time I got with Robbie during the day. (Not to mention we will slightly miss that paycheck I was getting each month!)

It really does feel incredible to be back at home again, though! When I picked Robbie up yesterday he jokingly asked if the house was clean and if I had gone grocery shopping. Surprise! Yes I did actually clean the house and go grocery shopping, Mr. Marin! You are welcome. :) Robbie also pointed out how much happier I seem the last few days. It probably has more to do with not having to get up at 5:30 and trying to pack enough snacks to keep me fed the whole day and that I can drink water whenever I want (we aren't allowed to have drinks in the clinic area). Aside from those reasons, I do get a great sense of satisfaction out of making my home feel like a home. I love having the time and energy to have meals ready when Robbie gets off, too.

In no way do I feel like there is an expectation that I need to be at home. If anything, I feel that society has swung so far in the other direction that now it devalues women who decide to stay at home because they aren't properly "contributing to society." Because a paying career is the only thing that gives people value and purpose, don't you know? Okay, rant over. Back to happy thoughts.

Like I said earlier, we just got back from Vegas. I guess the term Babymoon applies since it will be our last trip before Baby comes. We stayed at the Trump Hotel which was wonderful. We did end up doing a lot more walking than we had planned so that was exhausting (especially at 7 months pregnant). Here's a few snapshots from our trip:

Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay

Of course had to take a few mermaid-y maternity photos

Panoramic view from the Bellagio

Visiting Carlo's Bake Shop (any Cake Boss fans out there?) in the Venetian

Lobster tails!!!!!!

It was the most delicious thing ever!

Waiting for the Tournament of Kings dinner show to start in the Excalibur Hotel. You eat with your hands!

You can't visit Vegas without watching the Bellagio fountains at least once

Have a wonderful week! Now that I'm home I hope to be able to blog more. Until next time!

Highlights of Year 2, Semester 2

So I know we just finished Year 2, Semester 3 and I'm a little behind on this, but I don't want to forget some of the great moments of Robbie's spring semester! This blog is, after-all, somewhat of a journal for us to look back on someday.

1) THE WHITE COAT CEREMONY
I wrote about this in a previous post, but Robbie received his White Coat in a ceremony marking the transition from student to Dental Care practitioner. His parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephews were able to come as well as my parents and one of my sisters. We celebrated afterward by going to a delicious Mexican restaurant called Ajuua!

2) GETTING NUMBED UP BY ROBBIE
I know this probably sounds crazy (especially to anyone not married to a Dental Student) but letting Robbie practice numbing me up for the first time was freaking awesome! It made me realize just how much I trust him and I experienced first hand one of the many skills he is gaining in school. What a long way he's come from those first days when he was filling in shapes with wax.

And he did such a great job, too! A tiny pinch but no real pain!

3) PRESENTATION FOR A.O.
Robbie joined a Dental Fraternity this year called Alpha Omega. They asked me to give a presentation about the rules of clinic, infection control, etc. because of my position as a Dental Assistant at the school. I had a great time prepping a PowerPoint and overall felt the presentation went pretty smoothly. I even threw in a few witty jokes for good measure.

4) BABY HENRY WAS BORN
Yes, I do indeed have another nibling! He was born in March to my third-oldest sister and he is absolutely adorable! How could you not love a baby who smiles so much?

 Are you overwhelmed by the cuteness yet?


5) OUR SPRING BREAK TRIP TO PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO
Jeez this is making me realize how behind I am on this blog. I didn't even write a post about our Spring Break trip! We went to Puerto Vallarta for 5 days and stayed at an all-inclusive resort (a first for me). Robbie's favorite thing by far about all-inclusive vacations is the unlimited quantities of food he has access to. And the hotel we stayed at did not skimp on the variety. Every day was a new buffet of deliciousness. We also got to go kayaking, shoot a little archery, soak in the sun by the pool, and even get a massage right on the beach.

The view from our hotel room

Yes, I am wearing a Little Mermaid shirt.

It had a swim-up bar just to the right of the picture.

The massage hut. It was glorious.

I honestly can't get enough of this guy! He is my favorite travel buddy!

6) SEARCHING FOR OUR FIRST HOME
Technically we didn't close on our house until the beginning of Summer Semester, but our search took up almost all of Spring Semester. Let me just tell you that the process of buying a home was a steep learning curve. I had no idea what a Conventional Loan was compared to an FHA loan. I had no idea how competitive and stressful the whole process would be. In the end it was well worth it and I feel like I am a little better at handling stress now.

I've posted this before, but this is right after we closed on our home.

Our cute little kitchen. The margarita glass was left by the previous owners when they abandoned the place.

Ah, this room. There have been some major improvements to this room since we moved in. I hope to write a post about the transformation as soon as I'm all done. The previous owners obviously let their child go nuts with paint in here.

The best improvement that was done before we moved in was having all new carpet put in. The former carpet was covered in mystery pet stains and wreaked like you wouldn't believe.

It was a hard semester-- probably the hardest of my life. But I'm beginning to see some of the ways God used it to mature us as a couple and we now are reaping the benefits of owning our first home.

Puerto Rico, Part 3

I just realized I never finished posting about our Puerto Rico trip back in August! If you missed the first two parts to this series, here they are: Part 1 and Part 2. Mostly I just want to make sure that when I look back on my blog a few years from now, I didn't leave out any important/fun parts of our experience during Dental School.



On our final day in Puerto Rico, we decided to head to Old San Juan in the morning to explore the shops and grab breakfast. By this time we had become public transportation experts and hopped on the right bus after making a quick stop into Walgreens for some cookies "sin gluten."

We ended up in a little cafe called Cafeteria Mallorca that I had read about online.

They are actually famous for their namesake pastry, mallorcas, which are little sweet-bread rolls covered in powdered sugar (kind of like a donut) but since Robbie couldn't eat them I opted for a more classic breakfast as well.

And by classic breakfast I mean cheesy scrambled eggs, two pancakes, and... cocktail weenies? The pancakes were perfection.

Robbie had an omelet that came with french fries instead of hash browns.

 After breakfast, we took Mary Poppins' advice and fed the birds.

They didn't seem to mind gluten free cookie crumbs.

I told Robbie that I would be okay with him opening a practice in Puerto Rico when he's done with school.

This Starbucks looked small from the outside, but it just kept going back and back with room after room of sitting areas.

Starbucks Support Center: for coffee addicts perhaps?

After a fun morning in Old San Juan, we decided to head back to our hotel and change to go to the beach. On our way, we passed by the Capital.

My dad let us borrow his GoPro camera so we had fun playing in the waves with it.

The surf was a little too rough for getting underwater shots since it was kicking up so much sand.

After a few hours of swimming, we settled in to the bar at The Atlantic Beach Hotel where they had an amazing Happy Hour.

Our view of the beach was fantastic!

In total, we had three pina coladas, a daiquiri, three mojitos, and an order of french fries over the course of several hours and our total bill was only $20. Talk about an awesome Happy Hour!!

It was so relaxing and romantic to watch the sun go down as we enjoyed our drinks.

 After a long day at the beach, we headed back to our hotel and freshened up to go out to dinner on our final night there. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant called "Cielito Lindo" or "Pretty Little Heaven." The owner was awesome and actually had a whole conversation with me in Spanish (something I had been wanting to do the whole trip). Overall I would say this was definitely the best trip Robbie and I have gone on together, by far! I definitely recommend visiting if you have a chance!