Thursday, October 14, 2010

happy days

Hello world!

Three blogs this month so far, amazing I know! ;) Few things have gone on since I last blogged. We are still adjusting to losing Leo :( I keep feeling like we've lost a child, I guess in a way we sort of have since we love all our animals like they were our kids. I finally made myself clean out Leo's cage this week, Kiah just sat on her pot and watched the whole time :( Poor little girl, she knows something is wrong and that he isn't there, but we've been trying to cuddle her and give her lots of love so she doesn't get too lonely. She kind of clammed up for a little bit and quit coming out and night and quit making noises at night, shes starting to come out of that a little more lately though which makes me feel a little bit better. Danny's been holding her a lot more lately and seems to be warming up to her, I think it makes him feel a little bit better that she cuddles up to him. Its cute watching them bond :)
On a happier note, work has been going amazingly lately. The only thing that could make it better would be getting more hours and being full time haha. I've started training to become a veterinary assistant and I'm almost finished learning everything on that list, I just have to be more comfortable with everything on it, and be able to answer the phones regularly and check in the patients. Both things I've seen done plenty of times, I just need to work on it on my own so that I can do it myself! Hopefully if I work really hard I can get to the point of a vet assistant before we leave for christmas break and come back in January as a vet assistant :) I really love getting to learn all this new stuff though, it makes me enjoy work so much more than I did just cleaning everyday. I love getting to actually work with the animals and do more technically things like drawing up vaccinations and doing the blood work. Makes me feel much more official :)
I'm also excited because I finally get to take Danny on our surprise date this weekend :) I've been waiting since like last month! We are going to a little pumpkin patch here in town to get our first pumpkins together :) and I'm going to pack a picnic for us to have there after we get our pumpkins hehe complete with home made caramel apples :) assuming they turn out anyway! lol I'm going to make sure to bring our camera too so we can take lots of pictures :) Hopefully it doesn't rain on our parade!! :D


<3
Mrs. Goodding

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Leo






RIP Leo, we will miss you
<3 Danny, Laura and Kiah

Friday, October 1, 2010

Good things for October

Hola Everyone!

I'm procrastinating going on my run today, and what better way to procrastinate than updating my blog!!! Woo!! I've got some exciting things to talk about!! Hooray!!! First of all, no news yet on Kiah having babies. Supposedly sugar gliders will act differently towards people when they are pregnant, act more crabby and not want to be held as much, and stay curled up in their nest more. I haven't noticed any changes at all in Kiah's behavior...Danny says he has and that she has been more temperamental towards him, (between you and me I think its just that shes tired of him instigating her and trying to irritate her), but we will sees out of l. Sugar gliders have an internal gestation of 16 days and then after that the baby is born and crawls into the mom's pouch and develops there for 3-4 months. 16 days would put the baby being born October 4th which means we probably wouldn't even notice the baby in the pouch until the end of October or November since they will be about a few centimeters long when they are born. They are super tiny!!! You rarely ever see the baby being born, the only way we'll know if shes pregnant is if we see a little jellybean lump thing in her pouch as the baby grows. We'll see though!!
Danny and I have both been doing really well, still adjusting to life here in Texas and definitely still getting used to managing funds together. Its difficult when you've never had to share a bank account before, but we are getting used to it, especially because our budget right now doesn't let us do a whole lot extra we are really getting used to watching what we spend together and keeping each other informed of what is spent. Although we both got paid today, so we decided we both need a haircut badly haha. I haven't had mine cut since before the wedding!! I'm so excited!!! Oh the little things in life haha.
We both have had some really good news come our way lately too!! Danny has been offered a research assistantship for the following spring semester and fall semester of next year working through a local company here in town that wants research done on a riverway near by their facility. Research on how their facility is effecting the enviornment= good PR for them = money and a summer job for my husband = win win for everyone!! :) Luckily the research the company proposed to have done is pretty similar to the research topic Danny had chosen to do his thesis on so he will be able to kill two birds with one stone. The really great thing about all of this is that 1. this company will be paying for Danny's school tuition 2. They will be paying him a few hundred dollars more a month than what the school was paying him to be a teaching assistant and 3. He can publish the research he does for this company in a scientific magazine which will be a really great thing for him to have going into his doctorate program. He is also pretty much guaranteed a job with this company in the summer that pays pretty well too which is good because his stipend from the school wouldn't have covered the 3 months he was off of school in the summer. He is really happy about it and I am so proud of him that he was able to do this! :)
My bit of good news is that I found out yesterday that I will get to start training to be a veterinary techinician at my work!! I have been wanting to go to vet tech school soo badly ever since I started working there so that I would be able to do the things that the techs are doing there and be more involved in working with the animals. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for the position I have there and I have gotten to observe and help with so many things and I have learned so much being there in one month than I ever did at any of my other jobs, but I have a really hard time staying high spirited about it when my main duty is to help keep the clinic clean, mop and sweep the floors and clean the windows. I went to college and got a degree so I wouldn't have to mop and sweep floors all day. Regardless I just told myself to work hard at making a good impression and it looks like I did! I am so excited that I finally get to do this without having to go to school for it!! :D I can't wait!!
Things are finally starting to cool down here in Texas..and by cool down I mean lower 80's upper 70's still haha. Although it does get pretty chilly (50's and 60's) at night and in the early morning. Its funny because I feel like 60's should feel good to us and not chilly but we have gotten so used to it being 90 and above that it does feel cooler than 60 haha. Oh no we have completely acclimated to Texas weather!!!! ;) I'm so excited its October though because that means I get to take Danny on a surprise date that I have been planning since last month :) Theres this little pumpkin patch near by that I thought I'd take him to where you take a hay ride out the the field and pick your own pumpkin and all that fun stuff. I'm going to attempt to make caramel apples for our picnic there too haha. We'll see how they turn out!! I've been so excited about it and wanting to do it for so long I"m having a hard time being patient haha. I want to go like this weekend and get the pumpkins but theres no way they would last until the end of October haha so hopefully I can hold out a few more weeks!!
I can't believe that its already October, it feels like time is going by so fast! Even still, I can't wait for it to be December so we can go home and see our family. It will be about 5 months that we've been gone and have seen our family by the time we get back so it will be really nice to see everyone and spend time with everyone again! :D Hopefully we don't freeze to death from not being used to the winter tundra that is Iowa from Dec to March haha.
Ok...I think I've put off running long enough!! Time to get my lazy butt out of the house!!! Bye!!

Mrs. Goodding <3
(hopeful grandmother of sugie babies!)