Hello, Nice to Meet You...

Today's Girl Chat linkup with Emily is about Reintroductions! I've met several new "friends" through Instagram the last few months, so I thought I would join in today and post a little about me and us! 

My name is Erica, I'm 34 (still can't believe that) and I was born in and have lived in the same middle Tennessee town all those years! I'm a Supply and Inventory Coordinator for a large regional hospital; I'll soon celebrate my 8th anniversary there and for the most part, (because let's be real every job comes with its bad days) I genuinely enjoy what I do. 

That goober is my husband, Stephen and....

those crazies are our girls. 

Stephen and I were married on September 28th, 2013. Does 5 years call for a celebration or maybe at least an overnight trip this year?! Please say yes! you can read more about our wedding here and all the links at the end of that post. 

We bought our first house 8 months into married life and still call our little second house on the right our home! (Hence the blog name!!) If we ever move, I'm afraid that will be a stipulation to our realtor, "Um...yes, our must have's include: a white kitchen, a large laundry room, storage space, and it must be the second house on the right."

We're extremely close to our families and our nephews, Riley & Colin, who often make appearances on here. They are now 11 and almost 9. Being their aunt has been one of my very favorite privileges in life. 

I could spend several days talking all about my friends, but I won't bore you. Just know they are favorite parts of my life. Period. Each relationship is different and cherished more than they know! 

Because I was 30 when we got married, we knew we wanted to try and have a family sooner rather than later. We started trying in August of 2014 and found out a few months later we'd have several obstacles to overcome. After the help of fertility meds, I became pregnant but unfortunately lost our first baby at around the 9/10 week mark. The miscarriage lasted a painful and long 45 days. We decided to take a break from trying and meds until January '16, when we started a new med and treatment plan. We became pregnant the very next month and found out immediately. Because we were being watched so closely, we also found out very quickly we were having twins and paternal twins at that. Modern technology is unreal! 

I had an extremely smooth and easy pregnancy which blew our doctors' minds. We firmly believe that God was taking absolute best care of all 3 of us! 

On Sunday afternoon, October 2, 2016 our girls made their early and QUICK debut. You can read more about their birth story here. The Cliff Notes version is, I was fine, we went to church, we went to SAM's Club after church, checked out at 12:22 per what our receipt said, headed home only to turn directions to head the hospital when feeling my water break in the car.

Amelia Gentry was born at 2:47pm and Mae Parker was born at 2:49pm. 

After a 2+ week stay in the hospital for average preemie problems, we were finally a family of 4 in our second house on the right! 

Everything you've ever heard about babies don't keep, it goes by so fast, don't blink...ALL the cliches are true. Because just like that we had one year olds. Read about their birthday bash here. 

Life has been a blur these past 15 months. One big blessed blur. That's the very best way I can describe it!! Not a day goes by that I'm not in awe at what God has done in our lives..what He has given us...how He loves us. 

I'm a fan of the occasional Dr. Pepper, a good Netflix binge, all four seasons, HOLIDAYS!, UT football (GO VOLS!), Predators Hockey, beach trips, Country music, cooking and baking, having my hair done, lazy rainy (or snowy) weekends, Instastories, a good nap, hilarious memes and GIFs,  a solid credit score, my grandparents' backyard, and I'm pretty sure if I had to delete all but two apps on my phone I would save Pinterest and Instagram...buh-bye Facebook. 

These days my posts are mainly centered around the happenings of our little family. I like to think we lead a simple life, but it's quite hectic most days. Some days are just pure survival mode, and honestly, that's ok too. Thanks for stopping by, I can't wait to meet more of you!