O'Neal Summer

It’s hard to believe that August is here. Where did the past 3 months go?   Richard and I have had a fairly busy summer in addition to our big news. We’ve done some traveling and had a great time in all of the places we’ve been.

May

May was pretty busy for both of us with work. Richard’s schedule was jam packed and at my office we had a lot of admissions plus more home patients.  We attended a wedding of a sorority sister and went to Disney World with my family.  The wedding was beautiful with lots of familiar faces. Disney (as always) was a blast. Our first night there, we had dinner plans at one of our favorite restaurants. It was there that we told my family about our big news. My dad had a birthday coming up, in addition to father’s day so we brought him a birthday gift. My sister is expecting a baby as well, so on the very top of the bag,  we gave him a mickey mouse onesie. We said that is for “baby Blankenheim” and they thought it was adorable. My Dad commented on there being other things in the bag and I told him to read the card first. The card was for “Grandparents-to-be” and inside we had written “surprise…when it rains, it pours”.  Below that card was an additional onesie for a newborn.  He held up both of the outfits and everyone was very excited. People in the restaurant had been watching us through the windows and one girl asked me if we were having twins! It was a perfect spot (one that means a lot to my family) for us to share such exciting news with them. Absolutely this was one for Bruce family history books. It was a wonderful trip and the parks weren’t crowded yet.  The only struggle was that as an “expectant mother” your rides are limited. I made friends with quite a few moms-to-be in little sitting areas while we all waited for our family members who were on the rides.  We ate so much good food and rode almost everything we wanted to (minus the Rockin Roller-Coaster which was shut down). It's hard to believe that on our next trip to Disney, there there will be 2 little Bruce grandchildren in tow. 

June

June was not as busy as the majority of things that we had scheduled had to be cancelled due to the awful 1st trimester fatigue. I didn’t move from the couch most weekends in June as even little things exhausted me. Richard did a great job taking over dinners and encouraging me to sleep as much as I felt that I needed. In very early June, we were able to tell Richard’s parents about our big news. As a little boy, Richard had a Mickey Mouse fishing rod, so we bought Richard’s Dad a Mickey Mouse fishing rod and give it to him. We told lots of Richard’s family within the same 24 hours as everyone lives in Rock Hill and we wanted to be able to tell as many people in person as possible. We were so happy that we had that opportunity to tell everyone in person and share in the excitement with them.

July

Over the 4^th of July weekend, we had some very close family friends visit for the weekend. Noah (the son) was the ring bearer in our wedding and since 2012 has grown so much. Dylan (his sister) is also so big and they loved the idea of us having a baby...or as she said it “a little cousin”. They brought sweet baby gifts that they had taken time to pick out with purpose and they were so excited for us to open them. It really warmed my heart.  The following weekend, my best friend got married. It was extremely hot in Charleston for the wedding week/weekend but that didn’t bother anyone associated with the group. Seeing her in her wedding dress with a huge smile on her face brought me so much joy. Brooke is someone that I have known for over 20 years and consider a sister. I loved being there to witness her beautiful marriage to an awesome guy.

Finally, we ended the month by going to Lewisburg for a very quick weekend (Drove ½ way Thursday, arrived Friday and drove home Sunday).  A dear friend from middle and high school got married. The groom is Irish and his family came from Ireland for the week. It was so fun to finally meet the groom, to meet his sweet family, to see a real Irish blessing (in Gaelic), see the bride marry her special guy and to visit with friends from high school that I have not seen in forever.  It was the first time in about 2 years that we had gotten to visit Lewisburg and it was great to be able to spend time walking around my parent’s property and seeing the sights of the small town. Luka absolutely loved running around such a big property and having free reign of the farm. It confirmed with us that someday we’d love to get a nice piece of property that our family and animals can run around on.

Upon arrival home, Richard and I quickly went to bed because his alarm was set to go off at 430 am. The relaxing elective month had come to an end and the busy hospital month was beginning. Richard became an upper-level resident in July and on his new rotation is responsible for teaching and looking after the interns who began July 1.  We enjoyed our busy summer months and loved getting the chance to celebrate so many great things with our friends and family.