Progress...

It's funny how, in life, things seem to stall out for a time and then will suddenly develop in leaps and bounds.
That is of course the way of it with childhood development and growth. Orion, for instance, has been experiencing a growth spurt recently and has been eating like a little piggy. He's 'filled out' quite nicely and has been awake and alert more and more often. His sight is also rapidly improving and he gazes a things that catch his eye in complete wonder. He seems to really like the star lamp in our bedroom and the prayer flags in our living room best of all.
Then there's the type of progress that refers to organizing and planning, etc. We have two major things we need to accomplish; the most immediate of which is getting my car fixed. I have a bad wheel bearing, a blown head gasket, and may as well replace the timing belt since the engine has to be removed to fix the head gasket. The local auto place quoted the job at about $2,500 for all three repairs - the amount would be hard for me to handle if I were working, which I'm not, so my poor car has just been sitting idle. We hatched a plan to take it to my old hometown mechanic in Siler City, who would hopefully give us a better price, and would allow me to apply for a NAPA card (which has a one-year no interest deal). We still were going to wait until I was back at work to do that, however, as we'd have to start making payments right away and that was still out of our budget. However, while we were waiting to enact these plans, our good friend John recommended a friend of his who does auto repair work on the side. Danny quoted the head gasket job at $800-$1,000, roughly $700 less than the place we to her initially. Obviously this is a good route to go - and on top of that my dad offered to help us pay for it, so now we're in business and I may actually have my car back soon! This thrills me to no end, as being stuck in the house all day has made me pretty stir-crazy. And anyone who knows me well knows how much I love to travel and that I enjoy driving in general. Plus I adore my Subaru and hate to see her out of commission!
We've also made some great progress as far as wedding planning is concerned. We've been engaged since early March, but as of a few days ago we hadn't managed to pick a date or even a season. Folks keep asking us when we're getting married, and we've been explaining that with having a baby, wedding plans were set aside. But now I'm spending a lot of time just hanging out at home with Orion, and could actually accomplish a certain amount of planning from my couch via the 'net... But we still were having a lot of trouble settling on any kind of idea. Granted we've got the time, as it's just not possible financially for us to get married in 2010, not to mention a bit too much to pull together with a newborn in the house as well. After much discussion and idea proposals, we decided that we definitely wanted to have a beach wedding, we just weren't sure which beach or what it would look like. I stumbled on the idea of having the ceremony at one of the NC Aquariums, focusing first on the one at Fort Fisher, which is the only location I've ever been to. But then Kevin, the wonder-dad (and now proud grandpa), put me in touch with a friend of his who owns a beach house on Emerald Isle. Said house is only eight miles from the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium. Some dates in May seem like they will work well for all involved, and Austin even offered us a deal on the rental. Couple that with Kevin's quite generous offer to help us pay for the house rental, and suddenly our ideas are coming to fruition! Though we haven't settled on anything just yet, we have the beginnings of a great wedding plan here that also includes a beach vacation and Orion's first birthday. I like that, as it will allow for our families to celebrate with us as well! So it's possible that we'll be at Emerald Isle from May 18-25, the wedding would likely be Saturday the 21st, Orion's birthday is Sunday the 22nd, and Kevin's birthday is the 24th - a stellar week and plenty of reasons to celebrate!
I, for one, am glad to have an idea - even if it's not the one we ultimately go with. It was stressing me out a little bit that we just had no clue what to do, although Russell assured me that we'd figure out just the right thing for us. He was right - and I always appreciate his confidence when it comes to stuff like this. There are a lot of reasons that I'm excited to marry him, and that's what's important anyway!