The End of an Era

In an earlier blog post I may have made it sound like Micah already finished his PhD work, but in reality THIS IS THE FINAL PUSH!  Although he did the presentation portion two months ago, he has been editing his thesis since we moved to ABQ and we are both soooooo excited for him to finish!  The thesis is due Wednesday whether he is 100% satisfied with it or not.

Over the last few years he has often worked on his PhD doing research or writing until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.  Although that may not seem late, one must take into consideration that he usually wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. to go into work (be it his office at CU or Sandia).  Many nights Micah went to bed with me around 10:30 p.m., but in the morning I discovered that he could not sleep and that he had gotten up and worked for a fews hours until he got tired.  Through the years I have hardly ever heard Micah complain about the amount of work and the hours the PhD required.

Here is Micah in front of his computers in the office in our house in ABQ.  Yes, those really are all of his computers - I have my own computer on my desk :).  Oh, and our cat is sleeping next to him in her bed like she usually does!

Although I know that Micah will always work hard as he is passionate about his work and he is a very hard worker, I am very excited for him to be finished with the craziness of the PhD!

Micah - I am so proud of you!

Not Quite Ready

Most of the blogs and Facebook posts I read these days are about babies and children.  My friends and relatives all have absolutely adorable little ones who are doing adorable things and it is fun to read about, but I have to admit it often makes me a bit jealous.  When I read these posts or look at cute baby pics I feel like I am missing out and I'm not "part of the club," BUT then I remember that my life would be COMPLETELY different if we had kids right now.  Here are some reasons why I am THANKFUL we do not have children (yet....):

• Moving: It would be really difficult to move if we had kids - especially if they were school age.  It has been hard enough for us to adjust to our new surroundings.
• Flexible Morning Schedule: I do love having a routine but with our move it has been impossible!  I am waking up at different times every morning depending on if I want to go for a run, get Starbucks on my way to work, eat breakfast, etc. 
• Flexible Evening Schedule: I like to run errands after work or go for a quick run, which wouldn't be possible if we had to worry about daycare or school pick-up. 
• Travel: Okay, so we haven't traveled that much, but we did just go to India!
• Going out to eat: Since we are living in a new city we are going out to eat more because we want to try new things.  Plus, we have been exhausted so it has been a lot easier just to go out.
• Climbing: We have joined a climbing gym in ABQ and we hope to start going 3 times a week.  That would be a lot of babysitter hours!
• Traveling for the Holidays: Plane tickets are EXPENSIVE for Christmas, and it wouldn't be fun to buy more seats.

I am sure there are more things throughout the day that I don't even realize will be more difficult when we have kids, but the main thing is, right now we can do what we want, when we want!  

[Disclaimer: We do want kids someday and I think it is great that many of our friends have started their families.  I am simply trying to remind myself why it is great for us to have waited for 5 years (and counting).  Also, my 28th birthday is next month and I guess I always imagined having children by now.  BUT I believe it is best to live in the moment and enjoy the time we have with the two of us right now.]

Oh, and if any of my friends or family members with beautiful children want to add to my list of why NOT having kids right now is perfect for us, it may help :).

Our "New" House!

Micah and I were fortunate to find a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a 2 stall garage (very difficult to find in ABQ!) in Nob Hill (the neighborhood we wanted to live in!).  We have a 6 month lease, but we have the option to stay longer if we want.  It is an old house - probably built in the 40's - but it was recently remodeled so we have brand new appliances and bathrooms!

The movers came last Monday and we worked on setting up the house every night for the last week.  Although I do love to organize, it is EXHAUSTING to unpack an entire house of stuff!  On Monday I unpacked our bedroom, and Micah set up the desks in the office.  On Tuesday I unpacked the kitchen, and Micah set up the computers in the the office. On Wednesday I worked on the kitchen some more (I just kept finding more boxes!) and Micah continued to work on the office.  On Thursday I started arranging the living room, and Micah worked on the office.  On Saturday we went shopping to buy items we needed for the house - my main goal was a microwave and Micah's main goal was convertors so we could plug our 3 prong computer plugs into our 2 prong outlets in the office.  On Sunday I put everything away in the bathrooms and linen closet, and Micah finished setting up the computers in the office.

What I realized this week was that we unpack our house in the order we find most important.  I started with our bedroom as I appreciate having my own bed to sleep on and my clothes organized, then I went to the kitchen as I enjoy having food in the house and being able to cook meals, then I went on to the living room as I value relaxation, and lastly I worked on the linen closet and bathrooms as I just find that stuff annoying to unpack.  I do understand that Micah must finish his PhD thesis in the next couple of weeks so his computers are quite important to him right now, but I also found it quite amusing that I set up the entire house in the time that he set up the office!  To his credit, he did help me move boxes and furniture when I asked, but really.... one room!  Luckily, I really do like to organize :).