Hey everyone,

Just wanted to pop in and say a quick hey! As with everyone else, things are crazy busy around here.

We have started our homeschool year again. B in Kindergartne and E in 2nd grade. They are doing really good and seem to be enjoying it. We usually spend our mornings doing school and then play all afternoon. I've been trying to come up with at least one art project each week or more. Those are hard for me to come up with but I know it makes school time way more fun than sitting and doing worksheets and reading. So, we try and add games, books, movies, art projects, science experiments, etc. whenever we can.

Work is good, busy. We are getting ready to launch a 3rd service that will be identical to our other 2. This service will be on Sunday night- something we've never done before. So, this is huge. I oversee the entire volunteer base. So, I'm building all new teams of greeters, ushers, parking teams, bookstore workers, coffee bar, tour guides, etc. It's a lot of work, but it's going good. I love my job. I'm just figuring out the balance of work and being a mom to little ones. I was just reading in a book that was given to me by my pastor called "Gifted to Lead" by Nancy Beach. It's all about women in ministry. It's awesome! It was talking in there about how there is no way to have it all, all at once. You know, the perfect mother syndrome. It talks about not trying to balance or juggle things, because eventually you'll drop the balls and feel like a failure. Instead you should listen to the still, small voice of God and know when more attention needs to be paid to one area of your life and less to another. And adjust as the seasons pass in life. I loved that idea instead of trying to be perfect at everything (work, mom, wife, friend, etc.) instead work on being great at one thing, while pulling back from some others. Then switch your focus as needed. It's truly what it means to walk with God daily in your life and follow His lead at each moment. Fortunatley, I have an amazingly supportive husband, who is a great dad. So, I couldn't do this without him. I admire and respect single mothers more than I can articulate.

The boys are going to grandmas this weekend. Grandma had double knee replacement 8 weeks ago and is ready for her ramp to be taken down. And the boys want to help with that. So, they offered to have them stay the night. So, that is awesome!

I also talked with my good friend that has kids the same age as ours and we are going to begin swapping babysitting with each other so we can each get a free date night in once a month. I'm so looking forward to that.

Well, I hope this finds you ladies doing extremely well! Have a great day!

I realized from Virginia Lady's question that I need to update my signature.... Ha! I'm actually 29 now. But, yes, married young. When you've found the one, you've found the one!

Hey,

I have a few minutes. The boys are in bed and dh is sleeping as well. This seems to be the thing lately as he has been getting up extremely early for work and I'm a night owl. It works out good. So, I thought I would drop you an update on what's happening around here. (Thanks for the push, news!)

Well, last you knew Eli slammed his finger in the door and off to the med center we went. Well, his finger is healing nicely, his new nail is growing in and all is good there. He did his softball and loved every minute of it! For the first 2 games he was the "bat boy" and he loved that just as much as playing. Since the teams were made up of 6 and 7 year olds this was their first time playing and no one really knew how the game worked. So, it was fun to watch them progress each week. It was very laid back, which I was happy about. For the first few weeks they didn't even count outs. They just enjoyed hitting, throwing, running, etc. Then, they began to count outs just to get the kids used to doing so. They still were able to run the bases and they didn't switch teams after 3 outs. Everyone got their turn to bat and then they switched. It was just right for a beginning team. We will look forward to doing that again next year, too.

Ben is still getting his allergy shots. It's hard to say if they are working. We began to back off on some of his allergy meds for about a week and it seemed to be ok. Then, he started getting congested and runny again. We thought something must have bloomed and we re-upped his meds. But, now Eli has come down with the same thing. I think Ben may have just had a cold, not necessarily allergies. Hmmm, we may need to back down his meds again and see what happens. The hope with the allergy shots is that eventually he will not need ANY allergy meds anymore. That would be a miracle. But, I am praying that way for him.

Dh and I just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We enjoyed a night out by ourselves having a wonderful dinner at a fondue restaraunt called the Melting Pot. It was a nice, slow, quiet dinner for the 2 of us. It was so nice. Although, that is always short lived when you have kids. As we were enjoying dessert we were interuppted by a call from the babysitter saying we had a sick child. It was Eli. We wrapped up our dinner and headed home. He was ok. We got him to bed and enjoyed a movie together. It was a nice night.

This coming week is our staff retreat on M-W. Dh gets to come too. The boys have a babysitter that is coming to stay with them while we are gone. My parents were going to watch the boys but my mom recently had double knee replacement surgery and obviously they can't watch the boys now. But, this babysitter will be so much fun. She just asked last week if it would be ok if she took the boys to a family friend's dairy farm so they could feed the calves. So, they will have a blast with her while we're gone. Then, dh is taking the rest of the week off too and we will spend Th-Sun together as a family. I am really looking forward to that. We don't have things planned out yet. We were thinking of doing fun stuff around home- bowling, movies, camping in the backyard, mini golf, watching the stars, staying up late, etc. It should be a great time.

So, that's the update on what's going on with me and my family. I wish you sisters all the best.

Hey ladies,

Can't stay long, it's almost 2am and I need to be up before 7. But, I couldn't stop watching those darn olympics! The gymnastics was so exciting tonight!

Anyways, I wanted to let you all know that it is my 2 year hysterversary today! I feel soooo good! I can't imagine still dealing with all the bleeding and life interupptions. Yuck! Thank God for healing me and giving me my life back!

I hope you are all doing great. I still think of you often even when I can't get on here to say hi very much. Love you all!

Yesterday, Eli (6 yo) slammed his finger in the door! OUCH! He was coming in from outside and just goofing around he wanted to slam the door as hard as he could. Well, I guess he slammed it a little too fast. He ended up catching his pinky. The door was completely closed on his finger. Dh had to open the door to let him out!!! I was at work and I got this frantic phone call from dh telling me that he needed me home- now! And I could hear Eli screaming in the background! So, I cancelled the rest of my evening and rushed home. When I got there we took him to the Urgent Care Center and he ended up needing 4 stitches. His finger nail was almost completely off. So, they stitched it back on just to protect his finger until the new one grows back in. They took xrays but it wasn't clear if he had a small fracture or not. We are waiting to hear from the radiologist after they can read it. Eli was so brave! What a trooper. He is now all bandaged up and staying on motrin for pain and antibiotics too. We go to our dr. tomorrow to have them remove the bandage and evaluate where to go from here. He was supposed to start softball (for the first time ever) tomorrow and he was so looking forward to it. We'll see what the dr. says about that tomorrow too.

Hey, It has been forever but I'm still around. I occassionally hop on and check how you all are doing. So, I'm trying to keep up a little at least. Sorry for being AWOL. I know you all understand. Thanks.

I had an amazing weekend followed by a crumby week.

My weekend... Saturday we held a membership class and welcomed 35 new members to our church. This area falls under my responsibility and I was so excited with how this whole thing went. Then on Sunday our small group ministry was the focus of the entire service in the morning. Afterwards we invited anyone that was interested in learning more about connecting to a group to join us in one of the classrooms for more info and to sign up. From that we had almost 60 people sign up to join a a group and 7 people step up and want to lead new groups! Again, this is my responsibility so I was so excited!

After that amazing weekend, then my week hit...

On Tuesday I found out some news about the membership class this past Saturday that threw a curveball at all of the people that attended. Without going into it all, no one knew this until Tuesday, but we just found out that there is something each one has to do before becoming members. It's not a big deal, but it just required me to send a letter to each one and call each one to talk about it. I just felt like this gave us less credibility as we launched this new membership style. Bummer.

Then on Wednesday I was completely blindsided by the fact that one of my top 5 directors on my team (that I have been working on building all year) resigned. Basically, his wife doesn't want him spending so much time at the church. He was so upset about it. The role that he had was an absolutely perfect fit for him and he loved every minute of it. He said he and his wife would fight about this and he just couldn't do it anymore. I agreed with him that if it's causing trouble at home, then no, he shouldn't be doing it. But, I am crushed. He was one of my best. He will still be involved, but not a director on my top 5. I think the saddest thing for me is how sad he was about giving it up. This guy is a body builder type guy- big guy- but a total teddy bear. He was crying as he told me he had to step down. Man, that was hard! I think he is growing in his relationship with Christ and in his love for the church and wanting to serve. And he is really frusterated that his wife isn't at the same place in that. That is hard. But, I told him that his wife is what's important right now. He can still serve in a smaller capacity and that it doesn't mean that someday he won't be back in this role. But, to be completely honest, I'm heart broken that I've lost this amazing leader. This was so out of the blue. I never saw it coming. This happened yesterday and I'm still reeling from it. I'm really praying for him and his relationship with his wife. I don't want him to resent her for making him do this. And I also am praying for clear direction and guidance as I move this ministry forward. I was so discouraged. I have been building my top 5 and finding the right people for the right places all year. This IS my job. I had just added by 4th one, only 1 to go. And now I'm back down to 3. But, I am trusting God through this. It's making me realize (again) that it's only through His power that this ministry is going to happen. That I can't make it happen. But, that I need to lean on and trust Him for guidance and wisdom in where to turn next. I know it will work out. Right now I'm just discouraged.

Thanks for listening. I needed to get that out.

I love that I can be gone for a while and still return and pick back up right where I left off. Thanks for being those kinds of sisters. Love you all!

Hey Sisters,

It's been too long! I had a few minutes so thought I would pop on and say HI! I read up on a couple of journals but not all. I'll try and get to more later.

MoonMab- I hope your dad's recovery is as quick as can be and that he is feeling better soon!

News- I hope everything goes ok with your in-laws (or outlaws as I like to think of them!) Your mom is a wise woman.

I have our elder's meeting at our house this month. It is on Wednesday. I will have about 10 people over for a sit down dinner and then afterwards we have our meeting. It's always a nice time. I enjoy these meetings. I am trying out some recipes on the fam tonight to make sure they turn out good for Wednesday. Lucky family gets to eat good tonight! We're having baked chicken marinated in Italian dressing, Salad with dried cranberries, walnuts, feta and vinagrette dressing, green beans and red potatoes. On Wednesday I'll also add rolls and strawberry tarts for dessert. Yum!

Work is going great! I'm still loving it. I have made a lot of progress so I'm really proud of what's happening there.

Easter is this weekend so this is like our Superbowl weekend at church. We have 5 services over the weekend from Friday to Sunday. It is going to be awesome! We had our first full rehearsal on Saturday and seeing it all together was great! It's going to really move hearts! We have several people coming on Friday and Saturday and then we'll have them over for dessert afterwards.

The boys are doing great, too. Homeschooling is wonderful. I am loving it! Today E was working on a story that he is writing and he was so excited he didn't want to stop! That was great to see. We actually called and cancelled some plans we had today so that he could do more on his story- he was that into it. It was awesome!!! He is writing a story about him and our dog going to a waterpark together. It's really cute. He's entering it into the Reading Rainbow contest. B is working on reading and doing a great job. He loves it! Dh is still wonderful, too.

Love you all!

It's been a while. Thought I'd pop in to say hello. Things are pretty normal around here. Nothing out of the ordinary to report on. I guess that's why I've been AWOL. I've been researching vacation options for dh and my 10th anniversary this summer. We've talked about doing something all-inclusive carribbean- my kind of vacation! Now we're wondering about doing some home upgrades and scaling back the vacation. We're talking about adding hardwood flooring the the bedrooms in our house. I would also like to repaint the main floor and downstairs of our house. The other things I'd like to consider are getting rid of the dresser in our room (we dont' use it for anything except a tv stand) and replacing that with a chair and nice tall lamp to make a nice reading area. Our tv in there went kaput a while back so we would need a new one anyways. We've talked about getting one that we could hang on the wall. That way we could put it up above the chair to save space and still get me a nice reading corner. I would also like to get some nice nightstands. Right now I'm using a tv tray! Ha! We brought that in from when I had my surgeries and it was so handy I haven't taken it out. I would like 2 large, pretty matching ones with nice lamps for each of us. So, that's all that we're really kicking around at the moment. We won't be able to do it all, so it will be a matter of deciding what is most important to us now and what can wait. I think the wood floor in the boys room is a must with B's allergies, so I'm sure we'll do that sometime. I think I may take the boys to some stores today to look around at some options. We'll see.

B is to his maintence dose of his allergy shots! Woo Hoo!!! So, now we only have to go in every other week instead of 2 times a week. He is excited about that. Since he has made it this far and we're in the middle of winter we have brough him down to his lowest doses of his medicines. We've been doing this for over a week. Just yesterday his appetite began to decrease. He seems to feel fine, just not hungry. I'm not sure if he's getting a little cold or something (it is flu season after all) or if he is draining again because of the lower dose of meds. We'll keep an eye on this one and try to figure it out.

Hope you are all doing great. The boys are watching a 30 minute DVD while I'm supposed to be in the shower. So, I guess I'd better get in there if I want to get a shower today! Ha!

I must start by saying it sure is good to see some more familiar faces around here. I totally understand things getting busy (I mean, I was gone for a while, too) and it is so nice when old friends pop back in to say hey! Thanks, birky and kuhio!

The conference was good. We didn't really learn anything new but it was a great time of bonding with the lady I went with. She is an aquaintence of mine and is a director on my team. And it was good for us to get some time away. It was truly a team building time for us. And we really felt God affirm the direction that we were heading with our ministry. So, that was worth it right there!

At church we are reformatting our midweek service (it's only once a month) and our big kickoff is on Feb. 6. It has a whole new part where we will do 30 minute breakoff sessions of volunteer training, which is my responsibility. Well, when we started planning this the sr. pastor and I started dreaming up some really cool ideas for the service as a whole. Because of that, instead of just the volunteer training portion being my responsibility, the whole thing has kind of become my baby. Not sure how that happened. But, it's ok, I'm really excited about it. It's just adding more to an already full plate. So, here's the plan. The service starts at 7pm. At 6:30 our coffee bar will be open serving pizza and beverages so families can come and have dinner together before the service in our cafe. Then, at 7, in the auditorium, there will be worship and communion. From 7:30-8 there will be a teaching. Then, from 8-8:30 we will have breakout sessions all throughout the building. These will be volunteer trainings, ways of getting more info about different ministries, info about classes our church offers, a Q and A time with our senior pastor, and also a breakout where we go deeper into the teaching we just heard at 7:30. So, there is a breakout for anyone that comes. We are also adding childcare, the bookstore will be open, etc. So, we've really made some great upgrades to the service. An all church letter will be sent out today to 1200 people from our pastor building excitement for this. And all directors should be sending letters, emails, phone calls to their teams to make sure they are there. It should be great! I'm really excited about it.

Nothing on the calendar today! Wow! That's awesome. That's rare. Friday is supposed to be my day off but it seems like there is always something (usually something personal- I'm good about keeping Friday my day off from work stuff) Weird to have a completely blank square on my calendar. Whatever shall I do with myself??? Ha! I'm sure the boys and I will have a lazy day together and then we'll have a fun family night. Dh and I tivo-ed Lost last night. We wanted to watch the Lost special from Wed. night and hadn't so we watched that last night. And will watch the season premier of Lost tonight. Man, that's a good show!

Have a great weekend, ladies! LYLAS

I am going to a conference today and tomorrow on the other side of the state. It's a small group conference for church/work. It will just be me and my new small group director. She is tons of fun so it should be a good time. I hope the weather cooperates for driving. It looks like it should. S is driving instead of me which I'm happy about. She has a navigation system and she has been where we're going whereas I have not. We're just spending one night and we'll be home tomorrow evening. It should be good. For some reason, though, I'm just not looking forward to it. Not sure why. It could be that our church is in the middle of undergoing some major changes in the way we do small groups and I'm not sure the conference will apply all that much to our new situation. It could be that it's all new territory for me. I've never been the point person for representing our church at a conference. It could be that I just don't feel like being gone. I don't know. But, I do know I need an attitude adjustment. I'm sure it will be fine. The power of positive thinking.

The boys and dh are going to my bil surprise 40th bday party tonight. That should be fun for them. Then, I'm not positive what dh has planned for the time I'll be gone. He usually comes up with something fun. Usually they'll go to a local play place or the children's museum, bowling, etc. He makes it fun when mom's gone. I really appreciate that. He's such a good dad.

I'm thinking the weather will be nice on Sunday which means we'll be able to go to my parents. I hope so. It feels like a long time since we've seen them. Them living far away is such taking some adjusting. We'll get it. It's just taking time for me to realize they aren't 5 minutes away and I can't just pop in for a minute. But, they are almost 1 hour away and we have to make plans to be there on a day our calendar is empty.

Hope you ladies have a wonderful weekend. LYLAS!

It has been so snowy here! Man, we've had inches and inches. And it's SO cold! Today all the schools were closed. I have to say I was shocked that they weren't closed yesterday. There were accidents everywhere! My dad, a teacher, was one of them on his way to school yesterday morning. He is fine. He was on the expressway going about 45mph in his sport utility when a lady in a car came flying past in the fast lane. Mind you, it was 6 degrees yesterday. So even with the plows being out the salt didn't stand a chance of working. Well, she lost control right in front of my dad and started doing donuts. He moved to the other lane to try and miss her but his front corner hit her. He was very lucky that he didn't go in the ditch and that no one behind him hit them. He called 911 immediately and there were so many cops out because of all the accidents there was a cop there in under a minute! So, luckily no one was hurt and he was on his way again in about 20 minutes.

My brother's friend was also in a car accident on Saturday night. He rolled his car down a huge ditch (it was icy and he lost control and over-corrected). The car rolled about 5 times. He is going to be ok. He messed up his face pretty badly, though. My brother is an awesome friend and has been with him a lot. I think he went home from the hospital today. So, ladies, be careful out there. Even if you're driving careful, there are a lot of crazy drivers out, especially if you live somewhere cold. Take it easy.

Today I decided that since all the other kids were home on a snow day that we would do some fun snow day things. We still did school (that's the beauty of homeschooling!) But, I made the boys a surprise breakfast of snowman shaped pancakes with chocolate chips for buttons and a face with hot chocolate to drink. Then, we played some games and did school. Then, I played on the computer with E and played "firefighters" and trains with B. Then we all played Sorry. It was a good day.

I had to put off all my running around (groceries, B's allergy shots, bank, etc) today because I didn't want to be out on the roads. So, now I need to do that tomorrow. Shouldn't be a big deal. I just hope the roads are ok. My van needs new tires and takes a little bit to get going from a stop. I'm the little old lady driver in the winter with that thing! Ha! Oh well. I love my van!

Ladies, have a great night! LYLAS!

The cold has set in. It is 10 degrees here this morning with a wind chill of 5 below zero! Brrr! It's supposed to stay this cold for a while it sounds like. We were thinking of visiting my mom today but now I'm not sure if we want to drive that far with it being this cold. The roads are not great. We'll see how it is this afternoon.

My mom is doing really great. She is feeling good. Just tired when she does too much. We can all relate, can't we? She is doing good following drs. orders, at least from what I can see. So, that's good. She has off from work until the end of this month.

Today E has a cane clinic at karate. That is where he learns to use a cane as a weapon. Cool. He is growing up so fast. He is really excited about it. I'm kind of bummed that I won't be able to see him. It is right during my Saturday morning practice. Maybe if I'm done early enough I can go out and see some of it. He has already learned a single and double stick. Pretty darn good for only turning 6 in Dec. Little B just learned the single stick and he's only 4. Their teacher is so impressed with them. He brags about them all the time. And I guess, I do as well! Ha!

Last night was so nice. We ate dinner together, then the boys took a bath, I made a cake (and E tried to put some in his Easy Bake Oven- it almost turned out), then we had game night. Such a nice family night. Then, dh and I began watching "Roots" but I was so tired I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm sure we'll watch more tonight. Since we may not be going to my mom's today we may have another day like that again today. That would be nice.

Hope you all have a great weekend! LYLAS!

I got my groceries today using the Grocery Game. I spent more than normal today, but man, did I get a ton of stuff!!! At Walgreen's I spent $20.96 for $44.61 worth of stuff. That's a 54% savings! For that $20.96 I got:

- 2 jars of almonds ($4.50/each regular price)
- 8 bottles of various household cleaners (each $3.49 or more each regular priced)
- pull ups (almost $11 regular price)

At my regular grocery store I spent $144.97 for $249.50 worth of stuff. That's a 42% savings! Here are just some of the things I got for that $144.97:

- shampoo
- 2 deodorants
- 2 excedrins (I only spent $0.44/each on these!!! Regular is $5)
- 6 lbs of ground beef
- 2 lbs of ground turkey
- brats
- 2 wisk laundry detergents (regular $6/each)
- 20 lbs of chicken breasts
- 4 pizzas
- tons of organic products (which are hugely expensive at regular price)
- all my regular groceries (usually spend $100/wk without cleaners, etc)

Pretty great, huh? I love deals! My cupboards and freezer are stocking up nicely.

Today is the MI primary, as you all know. I have to say I am so frusterated with this process. Because MI chose to move their primary up before Feb. 5 my vote will basically not count for anything! Arg! It violated some rule that they have for the primaries to move the date and even some candidates have pulled their names off the ballot in protest! So now our state, instead of having more of a say in the primaries, will basically have NO say! I will still be voting today as I truly feel this is our priveledge in this country. I am so frusterated, though, that my vote will basically go in the toilet when I'm done. Oh well. What do the little guys do?

I have kind of a busy day today. B needs his allergy shots, we have groceries to get, voting, and the bank. Plus, normal school work, etc. And I have meetings today from 3-6pm and I have to present something in one of them. It should be good. Just busy. Dh is going to start playing his guitar with some guys every so often and tonight is his first night. That should be fun. He should get out more with his friends. Work is just starting to get busy again for him (which means more OT- yea!) but that also means more work for him, obviously. It will be nice for him to get out and have some "me" time.

And a side note on groceries... Have you ever heard of the grocery game? It's online. It's awesome! It's a way of having the game compile a list of all the sales in your store and combine them with all the coupons to give you the absolute best deal! If you are looking to save money on your groceries, this is it! You can try it for $1 for a month. Then, it varies based on how many stores you sign up for. Check it out! I did this a while ago and stockpiled so much stuff it barely fit in my house. I stopped because it did take some time to do and I had so much stuff I didn't need it anymore. I just started up again and I'm so excited. I always used coupons and always bought things based on what was on sale at my store that week. But, this is so much better. It finds deals that I never would have thought about and tells me which ones are really good deals vs. ones that just "look" like good deals! It's great! I'll let you know all the good deals I find after I go today!

Weird thing... my aunt, whom I rarely see, called me last night at 11pm!!! Man, if the phone rings after 9pm I think someone must be in the hospital! Well, needless to say, we were both almost asleep so we jumped a mile! I ran down to answer the phone and it's my aunt. She says, casually, "Me and Aunt S are going to start visiting people on Tuesdays. Are you around tomorrow night?" WHAT??? No one's dying? Why are you calling me now? And what does that even mean? She could tell I was super confused and not with it. Then she realized how late it was! She had no idea, I don't think. She then said, "Oh, should I call you sometime when it's earlier?" Yeah, that would be good. I couldn't even think straight. That was weird. I think they just want to see the family more since everyone's getting older and they don't get to see us as much. I think. Not sure exactly what they are trying to do. That is a nice idea. But, please, don't call me at 11pm!

Have a great day, sisters! LYLAS!

My mom had surgery today. She had a sling put in for her bladder. She is home and resting right now. My dad has tomorrow off of work and will be with her tomorrow. Then, I will be with her on Thursday and Friday. My mom doesn't ask a lot of questions of her doctor and therefore never has much info to tell us. So, I know some of you ladies have had this same type of surgery done. What are some things that she should expect in recovery? She had a vag hyst a few years back (probably 10 or so) so she was younger then, but do you know how this should compare. The doctor told her 2-3 weeks for recovery so it should be much easier. Although, I just want to know what she should expect during this early phase of recovery. I know she bounced back from her hyst so fast that if she doesn't from this she'll be really discouraged. So, just looking for some insight so I can help her during this recovery period.

Today at work I was supposed to have a day full of meetings and they were cancelled because our senior pastor is sick. That meant I had a day that I wasn't planning on getting any of my work done that was now free. So, I did some much needed organizing that has been sitting and waiting for me for at least a month! It felt so good to get to it. I'm almost done. I'll be able to finish tomorrow I think! Yea! Organization! At last!

The boys are in the tub and it's almost bedtime. Thank goodness. It's been one of those days with E. Both boys are always so good that when one has a bad day it seems overexagerated probably because I'm not used to it. E is getting older where he is starting to get an attitude with me or just be plain rude to his little brother. I wont' tolerate it and I feel like I spent all day telling him to stop. Ugh!

Just got off the phone with my mom.... She is feeling really good. She said she has no pain and is just tired. I told her to stay ahead of herself on the pain meds so she doesn't get caught with pain. But, she sounded really good. So, that is great!

Have a great night, sisters! Love you all!

OMG, it has been forever! Sorry I haven't been on here in a while. To be completely honest with you, sisters, with the holidays and all my Crown Jewels membership expired and I couldn't journal. I finally today renewed my membership. So, I am BACK!

Christmas and New Year's were really fun. We had the family over for Christmas and New Year's Eve we had my parents over to play games. Then, New Year's Day we went to my parents new house and hung out. It was nice. I had almost 2 weeks off work for Christmas vacation and it was so nice to have uninteruppted family time. It was time that we had no plans, no agenda, no schedule. Just time to hang out together and do whatever we wanted. We went sledding, to the movies, and just played games and watched movies at home, too. So nice and relaxing.

Yesterday was the first day back to work for me. It was actually good to get back in the swing of things. It's always nice to have a break, but also nice to get back into a routine.

Let me update you on the family since it's been so long:

E is doing really good. He turned 6 beginning of Dec. We had a party at the roller skating rink with friends. He's getting so big! We took some time off from school for Christmas break and we're just starting back up with that again.

We had B's allergy tests run and he is allergic to dust mites, mold, dogs, cats, trees and grass. So, lots of stuff. We decided the best course of action for the little guy is allergy shots. We have been going 2 times a week. And he is a trooper. He is so brave. We wanted to just pound through these shots to get him to the maintenence dose where he only has to go in one time every other week. So, that's what we're doing. Probably another month or so of going twice a week and we'll be there. At that point is when we might start to see some effect from all the shots. We sure hope so. After he is on the shots every other week for a while, he will then go just once a month. He will continue that for at least 3 years. But, 80% of people are CURED of their allergies with this. Here's to hoping!

Dh is sick. He came home from work today feeling awful. I think he has a rotten cold. His throat was hurting and he was achey.

My sister and I are going to have a girls weekend with my mom tomorrow and Saturday. (Sure hope dh feels better) My mom just moved to her new house which is 45 minutes away when the weather is good. Her house is gorgeous! I'm glad she is happy out there. But, I still hate that they are so far away. I just don't get it. Oh well. This weekend should be lots of fun. They got a new ping pong table so I'm sure there will be lots of tournaments going on!

Hope you are all doing well. I've been reading your journals off and on while I've been away. I will be back more, I promise. I love you sisters. And have missed you terribly. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year!

I am sitting here this evening in a very reflective mood. This coming Saturday will be the anniversary of my cervix removal, the day I almost died. Reading through my old posts and remembering what that experience was like is getting me emotional. I am so grateful to be here. I am so grateful for my dh and that he was still with me when I collapsed in my hospital room. If he hadn't been there who knows how long I'd have been on the floor before a nurse found me! With a bp of only 47 over 20 and half my blood in my abdomen I don't think I would have lasted long on my own with no intervention. I am so thankful for the nursing staff that took care of me. And mostly, I'm thankful for my amazing dr that came in and performed emergency surgery on me at midnight. He was the most caring, compassionate, genuine dr I have ever had the priveledge of caring for me. I still have such a special place in my heart for him.

And, ladies, I'm so thankful for all of you. I looked at the comments from my very first journal entry (writing of my ordeal) and the comments were all made by sisters that are still journaling and whom I value and cherish my friendships with very, very much. Thank you, sisters, for being with me from the beginning. You are amazing! I love you all!

I know it's early but I've started my Christmas decorating. I figured this year instead of rushing to get it all done the weekend of Thanksgiving I would pull things out and do them slowly as I get to them. Then, I'm not rushing and driving everyone crazy and making myself super tired. And the weather has been just beautiful lately. Today I brought the boys outside in the afternoon without our coats on! So nice. I put some lights on our new trees. We won't turn them on until Thanksgiving, but at least they are up while the weather was warm and not trying to do it in the snow. It was really a relaxing afternoon. I am putting white lights on the two maples and the boys want colored lights on the blue spruce. I need to go get some more lights tomorrow, though. So, we'll go get those sometime tomorrow and hopefully get time to put them on before the weather turns cold again. The inside of the house I'm just taking my time with. I did the boys room today. They just have a little Christmas tree that sits on their dresser and a light up present and a nutcracker in there. I figured the more light the better. B has been a little afraid of the dark lately. I'll probably do more on the downstairs/family room tomorrow. And I can work on the main floor as the week progresses. I know, it's super early. But, with work and all, I really want to keep things easy while still being beautiful. So, early it is and relaxing, too. I have to say, I'm really liking doing it this way. And on Sunday I cleaned out the entire basement when we started pulling things out of there. I just got going and turned into a cleaning machine down there. Things got organized, dusted and vacuumed. Boy, it sure needed it! Ahh! That felt so good. Now, if only I could get dh to clean up his work room side of the basement. Yeah right. I think I'm dreaming. LOL

Ladies, have a wonderful rest of the week. Love you all!

The boys had their yearly check ups at the doctors on Monday. Everything is good. They are both growing so big and so stinkin' smart. (If I do say so myself!) B's allergies are getting so bad that even while being on the highest doses of 3 allergy prescriptions and 2 asthma medication he is still 80% blocked with all his allergies. We are being sent to an allergist. I'm really glad for this. I'm sick of him suffering with this and being on all these medicines. And whenever he gets even the slightest cold it turns into a whole big event of bronchitus, etc. His body is spending all it's time trying to fight the allergies that there is no immune system left to fight off normal viruses that he should be able to fight with no problem. So, big sickness ensues. I'm sure we'll be heading down the allergy shots road with him. But, if that will help him feel better and get him off these meds I'm all for it. We see the allergist in a couple weeks for both the initial consult and the allergy testing. I hope B does ok with all of that. I'm a little nervous for him. I'm sure he'll be fine. He had to get 5 shots at this last appointment and he did it like a champ! So, hopefully he'll do ok with just one shot at a time for his allergies. Keep your fingers crossed for us. If he doesn't this will be a long road for us.

Today we're going with my sister and her boys to a dog show. It should be fun. But, I need to get in the shower and get the boys ready so we're there on time. So, I'll talk with you all later.

I have hired a small groups director!!! I'm so excited! It's someone that I just love and am excited to have on my team. She will be wonderful and I look forward to working with her! Yea!

Then on the same day I got someone that will start something brand new for our church that we've been wanting to start. We are going to start doing tours of the church on Sunday mornings before and after the services. This will allow for people to feel more comfortable if they are new, see what happens "behind the scenes", and also see opportunities for serving as the building will be bustling on Sunday mornings. I'm really excited about it. And I asked a guy that I know who just loves our church, is a very professional people person to be our tour guide. He agreed on the spot!!! And he didn't just agree to help out sometimes, he agreed to help out all the time and for all the tours! That is what I am looking for... commitment! I told him I would be building a team (I dont' want him doing this alone, he will burn out) and he was willing to be the point person for the team and train them (under my direction).

Boy, I had a good week! 2 yes's in one week is worth celebrating!!! Party time!

The guys are hunting this weekend so it's just me and the boys. They are in bed now so I'm going to go have some "me" time. See ya!

Thanks, Marta, for the advice. I have actually gone back and made my old entries with names, etc. private. That way I can still read them and see them if I want to look back. If there's anything any of you ladies ever needs to see or wanted to see again, please just ask. I am more than willing to share info with you guys.

The karate halloween party was tonight. I thought it was at 6:30 but wasn't positive so asked dh to call our neighbor and confirm with her. I had a meeting today from 3-5pm. So, the plan was for me to go to the meeting then come home and help get the boys ready and all go together. Well, while I was in the meeting dh called and left me a message that the party actually went from 5-6:30!!! AHHH! It didn't start at 6:30, it ended then! And since I didn't get the message until after the meeting it was about 5:15 by the time I got it! I ran out of there and hopped in the car. Luckily church is just across the street from our neighborhood so I was just about home. I was sure dh had taken the boys but thought I'd better stop there just in case they waited. They hadn't, which was good. They were able to get there by 5 and not miss anything. I showed up around 5:45 so was there for some of the games and for dinner. So, it was good. The boys had so much fun. E won a prize for his costume. And both boys won door prizes which were discmans!! Those were some pretty good door prizes I would say! During dinner I was so worried they were going to spill on their costumes and I would have to get them all washed before tomorrow, but they did great!

Tomorrow the boys were supposed to go to the other ladies house for one last time. I'm not sure what happened there but I talked to her tonight and she said she was bringing her boys to the IMAX theater to see the dinosaur movie at 1:30 and asked "Would that be too scary for B?" Uh, yeah! And I have a 1pm meeting (hopefully a final interview) with my lady that I want to be our small group director. So, I can't change that. I'm kind of irriated. But, what do you do? Dh is going into work early and will pick them up at 12:30 and come home for the day.

Did I tell you guys that we aren't bringing the boys there anymore? It's nothing about anything like what's going on tomorrow. It's partly to save some money, but in all honesty, we (dh and I) and the lady just have very different personalities. She is awesome with the boys and they like going over there. I just can't take so much exposure to her. That sounds horrible and I don't mean it as bad as that sounds. She was really helpful in this tranisition time for us and I am so grateful for her. But, my meetings have changed and I don't NEED to have her anymore, so I figure why pay someone? And it will be nice not to have to drive out to her house before and after work on Wed. And when you have such different personalities it's hard to do the chit chat thing (which she always wants to do for at least 15 min. on each end) each time. Just not a fun way to start and end the day for me. That sounds so selfish. Sorry, I'm not meaning it that bad. We are just different people. We can't be expected to like everyone, no matter how good of people they are, right? I'm sure you all have people in your life that aren't your favorite even though they are good folk, right? Ok, I'm going to stop right now with explaining this because I feel like I'm getting myself in trouble.

Anyways, hope you all have a safe and happy halloween! Love you all!

Well, the boys seem to be doing much better. E came down with an ear infection too so they are both on antibiotics. But, they are doing a ton better. B isn't a fan of his nebulizer but he's doing good. One more week and they both have their yearly checkups. Hopefully then the dr will say he can either go back to just his inhaler or stop altogether with his asthma meds. We'll see what she recommends then.

The boys have a halloween party tomorrow night at karate. It sounds from the journals that there are lots of parties tomorrow night. Have fun everyone! I need to bring something to the party. I was thinking spider cupcakes like I brought last year but then I remembered I don't have any licorice or pretzels for the legs. So, I'll hop on Kraft's website and maybe some others to see what I can come up with using things I have on hand. I'd like something relatively easy to make, something the boys can help with, and something cute for halloween. I don't want much, do I? LOL I'm sure I'll find something. The karate party is always so much fun. The teacher does such an awesome job. They have 2 locations and all the classes are combined and it's just a party day. They have food and lots of fun games and prizes. I've been so impressed with it. They really go all out and make it such a blast for the kids.

E is going to be a police officer and B keeps going back and forth between a doctor and "Goliath" the lion from the tv show "Jo Jo's Circus". We have both costumes as E was both of those things in the past, so whatever he feels like wearing, he can. E's hat is a little floppy so I stuck some dry washcloths inside it and I'm hoping it will help give it some shape before he has to wear it. And the rim of it is this cheap plastic that is all bent. I keep pulling it straight hoping that the more I do it the more likely it will be to stay there. Who knows? Hopefully it will stay. Either way, he doesn't care. He just wants candy and fun!

We will be visiting my mom before trick or treating on Wed. My sister and her boys will go over there at the same time. Its something we've done each year so we can get pictures all together before going our separate ways for trick or treating. We will then go to our church's Trunk n Treat. If you're not familiar with that what that is is when you put the candy in your trunk and park in the church parking lot. Then, the kids trick or treat through the parking lot. There will be face painting and a costume contest and maybe some other fun things too. It should be lots of fun. Then, if there's time we'll make sure to hit some of the neighbors homes to do some traditional trick or treating too.

I'm tivo-ing "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" tomorrow night. The boys love that book and they've never seen the movie so we'll make sure to watch that sometime in there too.

My job... I think I may be really close to hiring a small group's director!!! I'm so excited! I have 5 main areas under my direction, 1 being small groups. This is a huge area (well, all 5 really are) and I've been doing them all. I am supposed to be finding people to direct each of the 5 areas, but that's easier said than done. And I just met with someone today for the 2nd time and she would still like to pursue this farther. I have set up an interview between me, her and the sr. pastor. I think it will be more to answer questions she has, etc. There are no issues with her that I can see. So, hopefully this will be a go! Then, I'll hae 4 directors left to place. sigh. That's ok. One down, 4 to go. I can do this!

Have a great, happy, and safe halloween, ladies!

Thanks for all the support. I really needed it. Yesterday was a rough day. I just felt yucky all day. I'm pretty sure it's just normal good day, bad day recovery stuff. So, hopefully today will be better. I really love you all more than I can express. I appreciate your kindness and affirmations. This surgery is hard. I knew it would be, but it's even harder than I thought. So, a little more patience on my part is going to be needed. I don't have my nephew at all next week, but starting Tuesday it's me and the boys alone. I'm a little nervous. I'll just put food where they can reach it and it will be a tv day, I'm sure. And I need to keep telling myself that's still 4 days away and 4 days can make a big difference this early in recovery. I seem to do ok sitting, but standing is the pits. I can't stand up straight, which I knew going in, but i didn't realize how bad that hurts my back. I can't stand for more than 1 minute without HAVING to sit down. My back just physically can't do it. I should be getting 1 drain out on Tuesday afternoon so that should help me feel more normal, too. But, thank you ladies for being here for me.

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with your journals. As I'm getting myself off the heavy meds and can concentrate longer I will get caught up.

Love you all! Thank you!

I saw my PS today. He took off my binder and all my bandages except the tape going across my long incision. He checked my drains (one isn't draining right, it's leaking). That kind of hurt. Then he gave me a new binder to wear home and said I could now shower and wash my current binder. So, we got home and threw that in the laundry. It took a couple tries, but we got it clean. It hurt to put it back on after having it off and my body swelling up a bit going without it, but now that it's back on it's way better. The support is great feeling. I had my dh wash my hair in the bathroom sink before we left this moring so I havent showered yet. As good as it sounds the appt this morning wiped me out. Dont' know that I could do that. I'll either take one tonight after the kids are in bed or tomorrow sometime.

I really haven't felt like there was anyone to talk to who was excited about this surgery (except my dh) and that was kind of bumming me out. My sister is trying to be supportive, but you can hear it in her voice that it's very forced. So, calling her to talk isn't fun. And my mom is weird. She just bought a new car and she is way more excited about that than anything else. She's a little selfish that way. So, it's no fun to talk to her about it either. No one seems excited with me. However, my neighbor (a good friend of mine) just stopped by because my boys wanted to play with her son and she asked my dh "Did Kelly have surgery?" What a strange question!!! How did she know??? I called her right away and she said because she hadn't seen me outside, hadn't gotten any emails, and my dh was home this week. She just wondered. So, I told her and I'm so glad I did. She is so excited for me. Now I feel like I have someone that is genuinely supportive and excited!

You ladies are fabulous! Thank you for all your support too! I love you all!

Brenda- I had lipo done on my thighs Figured if I was under they might as well do it all.

All I can still say is OUCH!!! I've heard the first week you feel like a mack truck hit you and I do! I know it will get better. Just waiting for that. I see my PS tomorrow morning. I'll try and let you know how that goes.

Love you all.

Surgery is over. Ouch! I am pretty doped up, but wanted to check in and say hi. I made it. I've only seen my binder so far and WOW I'm flat, my thighs look little and my waist (so my dh says) is tiny! I'm so excited! I'm in so much pain, though! Which is why I'm so doped up. I'lll keep you posted as I get down to the computer. I'm supposed to be up more often, so Ill try to talk soon. Love you guys!

Well, my tummy tuck is tomorrow. I think we are just about ready. We just woke up from a nap (conference is catching up with me!) and dh took the boys outside to play. I threw some laundry in and finished some light picking up (it was still pretty good from yesterday's massive cleanup) I'm on my way outside to enjoy the rest of the day with the boys before I'm laid up in bed for a while. We do still need to get groceries tonight, but we can do that all together as a family. I will shower tonight so I don't wake the boys up in the morning. My SIL is coming to watch the boys as 630am. Bless her heart for coming here with my nephew that early!!! I have the be to the surgical center at 7am, and surgery will be at 8am. It should be about 3-4 hours long. Then, a couple hours in recovery. I'm planning on being home between 2-4pm. I'm feeling really good about it. Still nervous and wondering how much pain I'm going to be in and how hard it will be to sleep for a while, but other than that I'm feeling really good about it. I appreciate your prayers. The nurse told me to drink a lot of water today so that I'm well hydrated tomorrow. So, I need to go grab another bottle of water (#5 for today). I'm hoping to down another 6-8 before bed. Ladies, thank you for your thoughts, prayers and kind words. You all mean so much to me. I will update you as I can. Love you all!

I can't sleep. I've been laying in bed for 1 hour and finally decided to get up. I think I was bugging dh with all my tossing and turning. I'm tired, but just laying there. I hate that.

Conference finished up today and it was another great day! Now that that is behind me I'm focused on surgery. Maybe that's why I can't sleep. 2 more days and I'll be going in. I'm excited, but it's still a big deal so a little anxious. I guess that's what you'd call it. I don't think I'm nervous so much. More just can't stop thinking about it and wondering what it will be like. How much will it hurt, how long will I have drains in, when will I feel normal again after this one, etc.

During naptime dh and 3 yo slept while I took 5 yo to garage sales. There was a neighborhood sale just down the road. I found one house that had tons of school stuff! The woman used to teach 2nd grade and was now a stay at home mom and was selling all of her things. I got a milk crate FULL of worksheets, project ideas, etc as well as flashcards and magazines of fun seasonal projects for only $11!!! Woo Hoo! What a great find. And I found a great pillow at another garage sale for my recovery. Doesn't sound like I'll be laying flat for some time after they pull me tight so this one I found will be just awesome for staying propped up comfortably. It was a great garage sale day!

We went to Red Robin for dinner tonight and about 1/2 way through the meal the waitress brought me a refill. I was drinking their "freckled lemonade" which is just strawberry lemonade with real strawberries in it. I picked up the new full glass to take my first drink out of the full glass and the glass broke!!! The entire bottom just fell off it!!! The whole thing went all over me! I was covered. My pants looked like I had dumped an entire pitcher on my lap and my shirt had it on it too. My purse was covered (luckily it was zipped closed tight). I was not happy, but tried to be nice. It really was no one's fault. A total accident. Still, I was soaking, cold and sticky. They covered the cost of our meal and told me that I could bring the cleaning bill to them for compensation. Although we were headed to Costco afterwards (to pick up stuff for after surgery) and that is right across the street. But, now we had to go home and change then come back. By the time we made it back the samples were done. That is the boys favorite part of going there so they were a little bummed. But, we got all our shopping there done. So, that's out of the way. I just hope the stains in my clothes come out. It was all strawberry. I had on a white shirt, which I should be able to bleach, and my favorite pair of khaki capris. I'm hoping the strawberry comes out of those. Guess we'll know in the morning. I was in too much of a hurry when I came home and changed to put them in the washer and when we got home I forgot. And now, I don't want to wake anyone up starting laundry. So, in the morning I will put them in first thing. Hope it's not too late. Any suggestions for me for getting the stains out? Can I wash it and then if it doesn't come out bring it to the cleaners to see if they can do it or should I just bring them straight there? I never use the dry cleaners so have no idea.

Well, that's about it for today. Hope you all had a great day! Love you all!

We had our first day of our conference today. It was awesome!!! The crowd was so into what we were doing! It made it so much fun! They were so excited and eager to learn how to do church more creatively and effectively. I got to talk to a lot of people and it was so much fun! So, this is just a quick pit stop to update you. The boys are eating supper, dh is at church helping change a set for tomorrow, and I have rehearsal for tomorrow in less than an hour. So, I need to go iron my shirt for tonight and get the kids ready. They want to go watch dad working at church. They love seeing the set team work (I mean, they're on the big stage AND using power tools!!!) Does it get any better??? Ha!

Talk to you ladies later! Love you all!

I have to agree with you ladies. This new site is.... well, different. I'm sure I'll get used to it and love it. But, for now, it's hard to find what I need. Pretty soon we won't even remember the old one, will we? And this one is very nice looking.

Today I've got to make lunch for 20 and get it to church by 12 noon. So, I'll be throwing 3 lasagnas in the oven this morning and then going to the store. I forgot to get croutons, dressing, ice, pop and water. And I still need to look for one more shirt for the conference (dress rehearsal is tonight so I'm running out of time) Then, me and the boys will take the lunch to church. I'm hoping they will run around quietly while I set things up. Then, home for naps. I will finish learning my music and picking out my clothes for the conference while they sleep. Then, hopefully we'll have some down time until rehearsal tonight at 7. Tomorrow is conference! I can't wait! What a fun week!

The dog has been acting weird since yesterday. Something is off in her tummy (or there's an animal she's after outside) because she keeps whining and pacing to go outside. Who knows? I'm sure she's ok, I'm just trying to figure out what it is. Is she sick (from always stealing our food?) or is she following her hunting instinct and on the prowl?

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Exactly one week from right now I will be in bed (probably wondering what the heck I got myself into) recovering from my tummy tuck. I am SO excited! It is right around the corner! Ahhh! I feel like it's going to be a whirlwind week. Especially with the fact that this week is the week of our huge conference at our church that I am a really big part of. It's that creative conference I was telling you about. We are planning on over 400 people from all over the country coming on Thursday and Friday to learn and see how to do church more creatively. I am a lead vocalist so have a lot to do with it. I'm so excited for that, too. It's going to be a great week. And that will be a good distraction to keep me from going bonkers this week with my upcoming surgery next Monday. So, this week looks like this: tonight- hair appt. Tues- watch my sisters kids in the evening, Wed- bring lunch to the staff at the church (I offered to do that since they will be so busy that day I thought it would be nice) and then dress rehearsal will be that evening from 7-11. Thur- conference all day, Friday- conference for half day, Sat and Sun- get ready for surgery. Monday- surgery!!! I've made a list of things I need to do this week to prepare (both for conference and surgery). So, I'm getting things crossed off, but seem to be adding as quickly as I'm crossing off. Doesn't that always happen? Oh well, I'll get things done.

Wanna hear something sweet? My dh and I bought new pillows and new mattress pad last night. We were changing the sheets when we got home and my dh asked me which ones were my favorite sheets. He wanted to make sure we didn't put them on now so that they would be clean so we could have them on the bed when I come home from surgery next Monday for me. Isn't he the best???

Mother's Day was great. After church we went to Red Lobster. The wait was long, but the weather was great so we just waited outside in the sunshine and breeze. After lunch we went to my mom's and hung out for about an hour on the deck. Then we went to my MIL's. We visited there for about 30 min. Then, off to the park with the boys. After the park we went to the ice cream shop and the boys got hot dogs for dinner (and ice cream for dessert, of course). Then we went to Target and just walked around. Then, it was bedtime for the boys. After they were in bed, dh went and got us a movie and some Chinese food. It was a great, unplanned, unscheduled, relaxing day. I love those kind of days. I hope the rest of you had wonderful mother's days, either as the receiving mom or the giver to the mom. You all deserve a great day! Love you all!

5 you went to his appt. at the hospital today. He did really good. His platelet count today is 79,000 and Monday was 84,000. So, we are going to see the dr. again in one month and until then we are going to get bloodwork done 2x/week instead of just once. That way we can keep a better eye on his counts. We will know a little better how he's doing and if he starts dropping we can see if it's gradual or fast a little easier if we are going more often. So, that's the plan. No problem, there. The dr. was wonderful. Very reassuring of everything I thought was going on. So, I have a handle on it really well, which makes me feel good that I understand it. There are really no restrictions on him if his counts are between 50,000-100,000 (except maybe tackle football or ice hockey- but, hey, he's 5!) When they are over 100,000 they don't give any restrictions at all. So, for a normally active 5 yo boy, if he is over 50,000 he can basically do anything he wants. So, that's nice. So for now, it's just twice weekly bloodwork for the next month. Hopefully it all works itself out. The dr. said it just takes some bodies longer than other to reset itself after this. So, 5 yo's is still working on it. It will figure it out. We just need to monitor it in the meantime to make sure his body doesn't take a down turn. Thanks for all your kind replies and thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them all!

Well, we got the sinus xray back and he STILL has sinusitis! Can you believe it??? I was so surprised. So, we're back on 21 more days of antibiotics. So, hopefully between the stronger allergy meds (which they said the allergies not being controlled properly probably contributed to his not getting rid of the sinusitis) and the antibiotics we will knock all the drainage out of him so his tummy can be cleared out and make room for food. I'm glad to find issues so that we can correct them. I don't mean to sound like I want him to be sick, but I sure am glad there is something that we can pinpoint the vomiting on. So, for now, this is our course of action. We aren't going to the Prevacid or anything right now. We really think it's a drainage thing and not reflux-type of thing. So, we'll know more in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted if anything else comes up. Thanks so much for your replies and suggestions. I love the suggestion of "dry" snacks to mop up the drainage from the tummy so it's not all just sitting there waiting for trouble. I'll have to try that. And I just really appreciate you all letting me know that we're not alone in this and that you've experienced the same type of thing, either personally or with a child. It makes us not feel so alone in this. I love you, ladies. You've come through for us again. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

5 yo has his dr. appt. at the hospital this afternoon. I'll let you know how that goes later.

We saw the dr. today and here's what she is thinking. He has allergies (seasonal) really bad. So, he's been on Claritin year round. In the winter they were helping immensely. We could see some major improvement. Well, now that it's spring, it's not working. She said from his exam she would categorize his allergies as "severe" right now. And he's on a daily Claritin. So, obviously, that's not working. So, he's been upped to Zyrtec. There is about a 10% chance that he'll develop a side effect from it (either drowsiness or excitability) but we'll know that by tomorrow already if it's going to happen. Hopefully if we stop the drainage from going into his tummy, we'll stop the vomiting. We also did another sinus xray to make sure the sinusitis is gone. She said she would be shocked if 21 days of antibiotics didn't kick it to the curb, but it's worth double checking. We also did a strep test and that was negative. So, hopefully it's the allergies. And once we get it under control he'll be fine. What's weird is just how sporadic it is. There is really no rhyme or reason to it. He likes to keep us all on our toes, I guess. She also said that if this doesn't do the trick that she will start him on Prevacid. He had an upper GI test that looked normal, but she said maybe he still has some sort of reflux-type thing (not exactly reflux). But, hopefully that won't be necessary. If that is necessary and the Prevacid works, then she is sending us to a GI specialist. They will need to scope his tummy and do a biopsy to make sure there is nothing more serious lurking around in there. So, I'm hoping (and I really think it is) allergies. Once we get them under control, that should help, I think. She wants me to call her early next week to let her know how it's going. She said it should be working within 2 days. So, if after 2 days he vomits again, it's not working and we'll go from there. So, I'm really, really hoping it works! I'll keep you posted.

5 yo will go to see the dr. at the hospital tomorrow afternoon for his one month checkup. Don't know what all that entails, but hopefully that all checks out good too.

We're going out with our small group from church tomorrow night. Olive Garden and then Rock N Bowl at our local bowling alley. I'm really looking forward to it. It should be lots of fun!

On another note, I just found out that a friend of mine's house got foreclosed on. I feel so bad. I don't even know where they are living or how to get a hold of them right now. I'll see her at church on Sunday. I'm wondering how to help. I thought about grocery and gas gift cards. Do you ladies have any other suggestions of how I can help. I'm sure she's embarrassed so I don't want to make a huge deal, but I want to help them out in some way and let them know I'm there for them. They have 3 kids (ages 11, 9 and 1). It must be so hard.

Well, ladies, have a great night! Love you all!

I called the nurse back today about getting in another time than the 17th for my 3 yo. She could get me in today at 2:30! So, I'll keep you posted on that one.

Went to the bank today and on the way home stopped at a garage sale. I got a bike for myself for $5! I thought that was a real steal! I'm the only one in the family without one so thought since the boys are getting bigger it was time to get one so we can all go ride together. I'm not a huge bike rider, but maybe I will become one now that I have one. Now, we'd like to find one of those bike carts that you pull behind a bike so 3 yo can ride in it. Then, we can ride to the tennis courts together. He doesn't like riding too much yet. Lots of work for that little guy. He'd rather ride on his buns. Can't say as I blame him.

3 yo has been vomiting again. Nice way to start my journal today, I know. But, I'm so confused. I think I've written about it before. He is NOT sick. He only does this occasionally. I can't find any food correlation. He will do it in the middle of a meal or after just a couple bites. He's done it 5 times in the past 7 days. We did an upper GI test in April and that was fine, no reflux. We did a stomach x ray and all was fine. We did blood tests for allergies and those were fine. We did a sinus x ray for sinusitus. He had that and went on 21 days of antibiotics which we just finished last weekend. Now he's starting this again. He doesn't do it all the time, either. It's so random. He can go a month or so and not do it at all then he can have a week like this. I'm not sure if he has a quick gag reflex and once he starts he can't stop himself (like if he takes too big of a bite, food is too far back in his mouth, or he doesn't like the food) or what the problem may be. I called my dr. office again today and wanted to get in with his dr. (who you can't see or get into quickly- she doesn't do the sickness appts, the other drs. do the same day things- and she is incredibly hard to get in with, but she is the one who knows his history so I don't want to see anyone else) So, I went into her nurses voicemail and told her what was going on and asked if she could talk to Dr. K and squeeze us in sometime before my surgery on the 21st. She called back and we can get in on the 17th! If I would have just talked to one of the appt. maker girls, there's no way that would have happened. So, that's great! Although, that is one of the days of our big conference at church and there's no way I can be there. DH can take him, but I want to be there. I think I may call back tomorrow and ask really nice if there is any other time. If not, we'll keep this but it's worth a shot. I just want to know if there is something we are doing that is causing this, if there is an underlying condition that we aren't catching, or if it's nothing to be concerned about. It's so weird and so random. There just is no rhyme or reason about it so I'm baffled.

On another note... we cleaned out the garage this past weekend. Make a mental note, ladies- don't ever store leftover bark in your garage!!! This spring we bought bark for our landscaping. We bought too much. So, we just put the extra (a big pile) in our garage so we could use it in the back yard when we finished that up nicer later this summer. Well, I was ready for it to be out and to clean out the garage good. So, my dh starts using a pitchfork to dig the bark up and put it in a wheelbarrow to bring to the back. As he does an entire FAMILY of mice came scurrying out!!! Yikes!!! I did not do so well. Always thought I would think- no big deal. Not so much! I was so disgusted that those little varmints were in there I had to leave. I took the kids in the front yard while dad cleaned out the rest. He got everything out and we hosed, soaped and scrubbed that garage. Needless to say, it's cleaner than it's ever been. Well, now I'm worried about putting trash in the garage. (We used to just set it in the garage outside the door until the next time we went out) So, I emtpied the trash today and set it in the kitchen until I could put it in the big trash can outside. Well, I forgot about it and went to a meeting I had tonight. Oops. Dh said when he got home from karate with the boys the dog had strewn it about the entire house! Yuck! Sorry dh! He was nice. But, I'm sure he wasn't real happy about that one.

Well, have a good night, ladies. Love you all!

5 yo platelets are at 84,000 today. So, good news. The steriods they put him on Thursday and Friday must have done enough to bump them at least a little. Hopefully they keep going in that direction and stay there this time. We see the dr. at the hospital this Friday afternoon. So, we'll see what he has to say and, of course, get more bloodwork.

Yesterday was such a great day. We had my SIL's baby's baptism so we went to her church in the morning. It started at 10:45 so we all just woke up as we pleased (well, slept until the kids came in). Then, we went to Perkins for breakfast. It was so nice to have a day where my dh didn't have to work so we were all home in the morning together. That is rare. He works M-S usually and then on Sundays I sing at church so I leave before the rest of them. So, it's very, very rare for us all to wake up together and not have to have someone rushing one way or another. I had eggs benedict at Perkins. Yum! The boys got rainbow pancakes (pancakes with sprinkles on top), and dh had pancakes. Then, we went to SIL's church. Not my cup of tea, but it was nice. I was really missing my church!!! Then, we went to SIL's house for lunch after. They had Subway and cake. Yum! We went home and all took nice long naps. We didn't wake up until 4pm. Then, we decided to try playing tennis and seeing if the boys would do good riding their bikes and playing on one of the other courts so we could play. So, we had to find somewhere where no one else would be playing. We found a great place. And the boys loved it! 5 yo could ride his bike all over and 3 yo chased after him. They thought it was great. And we loved it because we got to do something fun together and the boys were occupied and with us, too. After one set (almost) 3 yo was sick of playing in the courts. So, we stopped and went to the playground. (We were at a school) On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. Then, went home and put the kids in bed while dh and I watched Grey's Anatomy that we had tivo-ed. It was such a nice day hanging out together as a family.

The boys are at karate with dh right now. I decided to stay home today so that I could make dinner and we could eat as soon as they get home. It gets late otherwise. We told the boys that we could go play tennis again tonight. It's so nice when they think we're doing something special for them and really we're doing something special for us, too. So, we'll eat when they get home at 6:15 and then we'll hit the tennis courts around 7 and still be able to be home and have the boys in bed by 8 or 8:30. Another good day!

Love you ladies! Have a great night!

The fact that the platelets have remained stable is why I am so excited! I really expected (from the sounds of the nurse on Friday) that they would have dropped from the 52,000 enough that we would be in the hospital again (they admit at 20,000). So, I'm ecstatic that they have remained level. Although, they are still very low (not so low that we have to limit activities- at least not much anyways) which is why the steriod treatment at home for 2 days. Hopefully, Monday's bloodwork will show an increase and we can go from there. If it is still stable (or even if it increases) I don't know what the next step will be. Hopefully, just more monitoring through bloodwork and no other treatment will be necessary. However, whatever needs to be done to keep him safe is fine by me. Hope that clears up why I'm excited that his levels are still in the 50,000's. I can see why that would be confusing. Ha! Sorry. Have a great day!

We had to get more bloodwork done this morning as 5 yo platelets had dropped so significantly in just a few days. On Friday they were 52,000 and today they were only 51,000!!! Yea! That is such a huge answer to prayer! Thank you, Lord! And thank you, ladies for all your prayers. The doctor didn't need us to come in and do anything (which I was really expecting another hospital stay- although, I figured the numbers would be WAY lower!) The dr. just wants him to be on his steriods for today and tomorrow since he did declined quite a bit in that short time before today. Then, we will head back on Monday to do more bloodwork and go from there. I am so happy! I know it's an answer to prayer and that's the only way to explain it. Even the nurse on Friday said she wouldn't expect them to remain level or go up. So, this is huge!!! Yea God!

That means.... we can go garage sale-ing tonight! I don't usually do too much of that, but I think it's fun occasionally. And with having to live on one income soon I better start getting used to doing it more! Ha! There is a neighborhood sale that my sister (veteran garage saler) told me about that starts tonight. I guess there are over 40 houses in this neighborhood that participate. So, that should be fun. The boys are looking forward to it too!

I have made up my mind, though- no more toys! I went through the toys (again) yesterday with the boys. I laid them all out on the living room floor- ALL of them! Then, I told them they could pick (one at a time) and put toys back. Once the toys chests and bins were full- that was it! The rest were leaving this house for good. They were totally fine with it! I was shocked! I told them mom and dad would reward them for doing so good by taking them to Chuck E Cheese and bowling soon. They were all over that. This time went so much better than previous times. I think the fact that I had them pick what they wanted to KEEP instead of what they were willing to get rid of really helped. My house is getting organized! Yea!

Love you ladies! You are in my prayers each day! I thank God for my hystersisters friends. Who knew you could find such great support and friendship from women you've never even met??? It's crazy and wonderful all at the same time!

Some of you have been asking so here is some info on 5 yo condition:

ITP stands for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Pupura. Idiopathic means "no known cause" so it is unsure what is causing this. It is commonly seen after a virus or as a reaction to a medication. The immune system goes into overdrive and while it attacks the virus it gets confused. When the virus is gone it doesn't stop and continues attacking it's own body's platelets. The platelets are what clot your blood so the fear when they drop too low is spontaneous bleeding. If they are below 20,000 the main worry is internal bleeding in the abdomen or brain. So, you must be careful not to bonk, but it can happen spontaneously if it goes too low. There is no cure for this. Usually your body will cure itself within 6 months. The reason for intervening with IV meds or steriods is to help make sure that in the meantime your platelet count doesn't go too low where it could be dangerous. So, the weekly (or more, right now) blood checks are important to make sure the platelets are in a safe place. It isn't uncommon for the platelets to fluctuate during these months until they finally start going up on their own and stay there eventually. 5 yo does amazing with all the pokes. He really is a trooper. He doesn't get scared at all. It's just like part of life right now for him. Now, if we have to go back and get another IV that may be another story. This condition is typically a one time thing for people, but can be a chronic condition. It's considered chronic if it doesn't resolve on it's own in 6-12 months. In some rare cases a splenectomy (removal of the spleen) is necessary. That will cure, depending on where you read, 60-90% of chronic cases. That is because your platelets get filtered through your spleen, but with this condition your spleen rejects them before being able to filter them. Or the spleen could actually be making the antibodies that are attacking the platelets. The surgery would be rare though. I just read yesterday that this affects about 4 in every 100,000 children a year. So, not something everyone runs across. For some reason it hit us. So, that's the basics. I hope that helps you understand it a little better. I appreciate all your prayers and concerns. I am doing surprisingly well with all of this. Since we may be needing to do a second time of intervention I am a little nervous. Not for the hospital or the meds, etc. but more for just making sure that they didn't miss something the first time and wondering if this isn't something more serious. So, I am praying now that it really is ITP. That is something we can handle and live with for now (or even deal with in the future should this turn out to be chronic) but something more serious, I just can't imagine. So, I'm praying that it is nothing more serious and the drs. were right the first time and this is just a normal thing with his ITP. Love you ladies. Thanks again for all your responses and kind words and prayers.

Thanks for all your comments, ladies. I can always count on you guys for support and encouragement. Any time something comes up that is big I can't wait to get on here and put in my journal. I always wonder what you will say and who will say it. I love you ladies. You are a really great part of my life. Thank you.

I paid for my tummy tuck today. The full payment is due two weeks beforehand and we are at 20 days until D-day. It is so real now. I am spending a lot of time reading on tummy tuck and plastic surgery sites. There are plenty of message boards, etc. But, none as great as here. This is such a clean, nice, considerate board and it is awesome! I so appreciate you all!

Well, 5 yo had to get more bloodwork done today because his counts had fallen quite a bit on Friday. The Friday before they were 202,000 and this past Friday they were down to 101,000. Today they were only 52,000. Yikes! They are going the wrong way here, little boy! So, we are going for more bloodwork Thursday morning. We are pretty much assuming they will continue to go down (bummer) but they might go up- some kids do. But, since they have gone down so quickly we are thinking they will probably still be down even farther on Thursday. Then we will see if we need to do anything to intervene. I'm thinking we will. I don't know if that means back to the hospital or just on a medication. I'm guessing back to the hospital. The nurse said that if we do the bloodwork Thursday instead of Friday that will give us more leeway in our schedule if they do have to intervene. I think what she was saying was that we will have more control over when we go in to the hospital vs. Friday afternoon getting the results and having to rush up there right away because the weekend is coming. So, keep your fingers crossed that his numbers go up and we won't have to do anything else. Or that he will be ok with us going back in if we need to.

My dh had a date night tonight. My sister and I are trading babysitting once a week. And this week was our week. The weather was great and we wanted to do something free so we borrowed my parents tennis rackets and went and played tennis. Wow! It was so much fun! We'll definitely have to do that more often. It was nice to get outside and do something active with my dh. It was a nice change from the usual dinner and movie or shopping. I love this time of year.

Have a great night, ladies! Love you all!

it was wonderful!!! It was really amazing! She said a friend of hers had just made a decision to quit her job and be a stay at home mom. She called my SIL and told her if she would ever need someone else to watch my nephew that she could do it. She lives a lot closer to my brother and SIL. My SIL said that she just had lunch with my brother and they were talking about it- today! They were going to keep bringing him here, but they were going to give us the option of bringing him to her friends if we needed a break or a way out. It was really weird how this all fell into place. I guess it really wasn't weird, that's how God works. I have been praying that they would be prepared to hear what we had to tell them and that they would be able to find somewhere else to bring him and it happened!!! Wow! God is so amazing! My SIL's friend will be quitting in June so I just told her whenever it worked for them to be done and start there was fine. Just so long as we were done by the fall. I also mentioned that if they wanted to slowly transition (maybe 1 day there, 4 days here. Then, 2 days there, 3 days here, etc.) that that was completely fine with us, too. Or if they want to just switch that's fine. And June or all the way until August, it doesn't matter what they choose. I personally would prefer sooner rather than later just so I can enjoy the summer months with just my kids, but if that doesn't work out as good that's totally fine, too. I also offered to fill in on any days that her friend is sick or on vacation, etc. So she will always have a backup. We can do occasionally, we just can't do everyday anymore. I am so excited! It couldn't have gone better. I didn't expect it to go badly. I just couldn't believe how wonderful it went and all the great answers to prayer there were just over this weekend. Amazing!

Have a great night, ladies!

We have made a decision. We are going to stop watching our nephew. I'm going to tell my SIL today when she comes to pick him up. Pray for me. I'm not sure how to start a conversation like that. The reasons we are deciding to stop is that as we look at really getting into homeschooling more with 5 yo that will be doing 1st grade in the fall I will have more to do and it will be way easier without a 1 yo in tow. Also, I feel like I'm starting to jip the boys of their mom. I have to tell them no to fun things because we have nephew here. I don't like that. They are getting to the age where we can just up and go to do things and we can't always with the little one. I won't tell SIL this: but I'm starting to resent him. I don't want him to come anymore. My boys don't want him to come anymore. That's no way to spend everyday. My kids are only little once and I don't want to miss anymore of it. I will tell her that we need to be done for sure bythe fall, but whenever they find someone is fine. And we will always be able to watch him if they ever need someone to cover, etc. I just can't do it everyday anymore. This will be the first time EVER that we've lived only on dh's paycheck, so that will be a transition. But, I feel like God is moving and giving us this discontent, so He will provide. So, I just need to be obedient and trust Him. And that's what we're doing. I'll let you know how it goes.

5 yo platelet counts were back down on Friday. 101,000. So, we have to go back tomorrow for more bloodwork (instead of waiting until Friday) to see where they are then. They didnt seem concerned, but I'll feel better after seeing where they are tomorrow. I hope we dont have to do anymore IV treatments.

I'm going to be spending this week trying to get the garage cleaned out. We would like to have a garage sale and the only weekend before the tummy tuck that would work is this coming weekend. So, we have a lot of work to do this week if that's going to happen. If it doesn't, we probably just won't have one and we'll put our big things in an ad in the press and donate the rest. So, the weather is supposed to cooperate, so hopefully we'll get lots done this week. We bought a shed and got that up this weekend, so now there's room to move things out of the garage. So, hopefully we'll get that all done. Here's to hoping!

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

The dr. office said I could stop giving 5 yo his medicine. So, that's a step in the right direction. We will still have to continue checking his bloodwork. We'll do that tomorrow morning again. So, hopefully his counts are still up and things will continue looking good. He got up from his nap (after being in there for 5 minutes- he usually just has a quiet time, doesn't always sleep) and had a bloody nose. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get it to stop. Then, he started telling me that his tummy hurt. Now, he had eaten a HUGE lunch today. So, I figured that was the problem. I let him lay on the bed with me. Then I figured he probably just needed to have a bm to feel better. He did. So, that was good. But, there sure was a part of me that was worried that we were in the beginning of another long day/night. So glad it didn't turn out to be anything more than that.

We visited one more school today. This is actually a school for homeschoolers. They meet on Thursdays only and go like a regular school year. They have all different classes ranging from J Hi and HS level classes to art, PE, spanish, etc for 1-12 grades. And it's near our house. We wanted to see it just to see what the school and students and teachers were like. It will definitely be something we really need to think about. I got a little bit of a weird feeling at first from the principal, but then she got really nice. So, I don't know what that was about. We'll keep thinking and praying and we'll see what happens. We have plenty of time to decide. And this school will have next year's schedule done in the middle of May. So, I'll be able to look and see how that works for our family then, too.

Other than that, not much going on here. I made beef stew, and it was so yummy, for dinner. I was scheduled to bring a meal to 2 different families this week (one just had surgery and one just adopted 4 kids!) So, I worked it out to bring them both a meal today. Then, I just tripled my recipe and made 3. I dropped theirs off and came home to have the same thing ourselves. Yum!

The boys just got out of the bath and they are having their bedtime snacks. Dh is at church helping build some set stuff for the creative arts conference that we're hosting in May. It's coming so soon! I just can't wait! But, the boys are about done with their snacks- or at least they should be (I may need to do some prodding along) so I should go get them in bed.

Have a great night, ladies! Love you all!

5 yo has been doing good. I think I'm going to try and not give him his medicine today. The dr. said she would call and see how he is doing on Sunday or Monday and I haven't heard from her. Didn't think to call her yesterday. Maybe I'll call down there when they open this morning. They don't open for another hour. I don't want to keep him on a steriod for no reason and I don't want to stop it prematurely either in case he still needs it. I can't imagine he does, though.

5 yo will be testing privately before his karate class for his purple belt that he wasn't able to test for last week. He's excited. Should be a good day!

My nephew isn't here yet. He's supposed to be here 45 minutes ago. He hasn't been on time barely at all since my brother started working for himself from home. They kind of just stroll in when they get up (usually between 8-9, instead of 7:30) Not really a big deal, but I do set my alarm to be up in time if he does come at 7:30. That's a little annoying. And you know the one time I don't set my alarm, they would be here on time. We considering not watching him anymore. Just isnt fun anymore. It seems more like a drudgery. I don't know why. He still a really good kid. Just different when it's not your own, ya know? Or maybe I just need a break here soon. That always helps my perspective. Either way, we are trying to really live on dh's check only and put the daycare money aside to make sure we could really live on just dh's checks.

We visited another school yesterday. It was awesome!!! I'm really excited about this one. My dh and I had a great feeling leaving there. The principal was fabulous, the teachers were so nice and I really liked the school as it was smaller and I liked the philosophy of it, too. They were really open to working with a homeschool family and tailor the day to what we want, but also wanted to make sure that whatever teachers we would be working with were fully on-board as well. I really liked that. I liked that the principal was protective of his teachers wants, as well. It wasn't like he was just trying to woo us to get us to come there. He was looking out for the best interest of everyone involved. He is going to talk to both 1st grade teachers and talk about what we discussed and get back to me with specifics of what he thinks would work and what times/days, etc. Right now we had talked about doing music, art, and pe (3 afternoons a week) Then, if he wanted we could stay either 30-45 minutes after or before those classes too. Then, he would be with that actual class and teacher for some things too. Music, Art and PE are all taught by specialized teachers. So, it would be kind of nice for him to be with an actual first grade teacher and class for a little bit too. They were thinking that would be for stories, finishing up some things from earlier that day (although it could be something separate enough for him to still participate in) or some other fun extra activity. We were really happy with this place. If we were going to send our kids to a regular school and not homeschool (and if we could afford it) we would send them here hands down! It was that great! So, now we just need to decide exactly what we want to do. We will probably meet with the principal again soon after he talks with the teachers and then we can talk a little more seriously about things. They also have a 4 yo preschool for my other little one. He could go 2 or 3 mornings a week. I'm thinking 3. That way he'd be gone from 9-11:30 on MWF so I could do schoolwork at home with 5 yo. That would be nice.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

One of the side effects of 5 yo medicine that they gave him in his IV on Monday night is headaches a few days after. They put him on a prescription after we came home to prevent that. He was only on that until Thursday, as that should have been long enough to prevent them. Well, Saturday afternoon he said he had a little headache. I gave him some tylenol (all he's allowed to have right now). About 3 hours later he was almost crying asking for more tylenol. It was too early to give him more. I waited a little and gave him some about 30 minutes early. Then I called the on call hemotologist at the hospital. She said I could go ahead and give him motrin since his platelet counts were up and to go ahead and do that now. While on the phone with her 5 yo threw up. She said that was probably from the headache being so bad. She was also calling in more of the prescription we had him on earlier in the week. I headed out to pick it up while dh lay with 5 yo on our bed. When I got home dh said that 5 yo had thrown up again. I gave him his medicine (which is a pill so has to be crushed up in a spoonful of pudding). 20 minutes later he threw up again. I called the dr. back. She said I could give him another dose of the medicine and just to keep him laying down so that we can try and keep this dose in him long enough for it to be absorbed without throwing up. (That's all he'd been doing anyways. He felt horrible. Haven't seen him just laying around in the dark, crying like that before) I gave him more and 20 minutes later he threw up again! I called the dr. back and she said that it sounded like we would be doing this senario all night long if they didn't intervene. So, we should come in so they can do an IV of the headache medicine (to give him relief) and also some nausea medicine, and fluids. Off we went. He felt so yucky dh had to carry him to the car. By the time we got to the hospital he was feeling better. Some of the medicine must have gotten into him before he got sick each time because he said his headache was gone and he was acting normally. I felt like the person that brings their car into the mechanic because a light on the dash is on and when you get there the light goes off. "I swear he was really, really sick!" So, we went up to our room. They had one waiting so up we went. I figured better safe to have them look at him than not. We get up there and the nurses were fabulous! So nice! We played some games we brought with while waiting for the dr. In comes a resident- ugh! She starts going over all these really stupid questions. She was asking me things like what kind of treatment did he get for his ITP when he was here on Monday. I wanted to say, "If you flip the chart a couple pages it will tell you that answer." Then, she tries to tell me it could just be a stomach virus! What???? Did you not hear the progression of things this evening and what the REAL dr. told us on the phone? She says a virus will usually have diarreah and a fever, though (which he does NOT have). Hello!!!! This is a rebound headache from Monday's treatment, lady! She says we should keep him overnight for observation. I asked (nicely), "To observe what exactly?" She couldn't give me a real answer. Just, "Well, you're here so you should stay" WHAT??? She got another resident (I think she could tell I was not happy to stay for no reason and since she couldn't give me a medical reason for staying I wasn't going to) The other resident comes in and says "We have 2 options: We can give him something to eat and see if he keeps it down. If he doesn't I'll be obligated to put in an IV and keep him overnight. OR we can just keep him overnight and watch him". I said there was no way were going to stick food in him just to make him sick (he's been vomiting 20 minutes after putting anything in his tummy! Duh!) :burning: just so they have to keep him overnight. And I didn't want to just stay here because it was late. That was silly. I could easily drive 15 minutes and everyone could sleep in their own beds. I told them I would be fine with giving him sips of water or sprite to see how he does. He'll need fluids whether we're here or at home. And if he couldn't keep them down I was ok with staying for the night. But, if he can, then we're outta here! So, he had 4 oz sprite in about 30 minutes (all the while playing games and laughing- he was totally fine!) and he had no issues. So, home we went. The residents finally called the on call dr. that I'd been talking with all night and she agreed with me that there was no reason for us to stay. And she was so nice about making sure to tell us that if there was anything else we needed in the morning- or anytime- just to give her a call. She was so helpful and nice. So, we got home about 1am. He slept really good and hasn't had a headache since. He was on the prescription when we got home from the hospital the first time (to prevent the headaches) 2x/day. Now she has him on it 1x/day and so far so good. No headaches yesterday and he doesn't have on this morning either. So, once a day seems to be working. I'm just not sure how long he'll need to stay on it. We'll probably talk to the dr. today. She said she would call Sunday or Monday. So, luckily it was no big deal after all. But, Saturday sure was another ordeal. He was a trooper, though. I'm just glad the headaches are gone and we were able to get rid of them without an IV (when he heard that he was really scared- can't say as I blame him!) And I'm glad we were all able to sleep at home.

That playset is almost put together. Enough that the boys can play on it. So, they have been having fun out there. Yesterday we got some KFC and had a picnic at the park. It was gorgeous out! This week is supposed to be a little cooler (still warm- in the 60s) but today is supposed to rain. Bummer. Oh well, we'll find plenty to do, I'm sure.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

We just got a call from the dr. office and we got great news!!! 5 yo's platelet count was at 203,000 today!!! They were hoping they would be at 50,000-100,000 today so he could be a little less restricted in his activity and these counts are normal so he doesn't have any restrictions anymore!!! I couldn't be more excited. I went outside and told him and the first thing he did was go on the new trampoline! So cool! We'll still be checking his counts each week to make sure they keep going up, but this is such an answer to prayer! Thank you, Lord!

The last couple days have been pretty boring. But, that's just what we want after Monday and Tuesday being in the hospital. We've been trying to keep 5 yo calm and not do much roughhousing. Boy, that's tough. And he's acting so good it's almost easy to forget that he's not supposed to do that stuff. We went in for more bloodwork today so we'll know this afternoon if his counts are up enough to play outside on the new trampoline and the new playset (that is almost together- should be by tomorrow). This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous so I hope the news from the dr. is great for him! I'll be so sad if it's not high enough for him to get out and enjoy all the fun of this weather. He did so good getting his blood drawn this morning. We went in and I asked him if he could just sit in the chair by himself (so I could hold 1 yo without him getting into everything or trying to run away) and he said he would. So, we get called back and the lady says "You're going to want him to sit in your lap". I told her that we already talked about it and he would be fine to sit alone. She looked at me like I was nuts. I then told her that if I put 1 yo down he will be touching all your buttons everywhere and that 5 yo was just in the hospital getting all kinds of pokes so this was no big deal. Then she realized he would be fine. And he was. He didn't even flinch and it was a peice of cake. He's kind of milking it now saying that he shouldn't bend his elbow or anything. It's really cute, actually.

We let 3 yo take his karate test for his purple belt on Wednesday night. He passed. He was so stinking cute. We had thought about having both boys wait until they could both do it together, but we talked to both boys and 5 yo was fine with 3 yo testing and just coming with to cheer him on. So, off we went. I'm glad we did that. Then, 3 yo got some extra attention this week too. So, he is now a purple belt! Watch out! He could be dangerous! 5 yo will go in and test privately after dr. clears him for that.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Monday we got the results of the blood tests for 5 yo. The total blood count was good, but his platelets were low. Those are the things that clot your blood. They were 19,000 and should be 150,000-400,000. So, the rash and bruising were actually bleeding below the skin and broken capillaries and pools of blood under the skin. He was admitted to the hospital Monday night. He was diagnosed with ITP. That is when your immune system goes into overdrive (usually after a viral or bacterial infection) and instead of stopping making antibodies that kill the virus it continues making them and they attack your platelets (confusing them for the virus). So, his body was making platelets but they were being eaten up just as fast. So, the fear when your platelet count gets low is that you could have internal bleeding (especially if you fall or get bumped). So, they started him on an IV med that is supposed to stop your body from attacking itself. The medicine had to run for about 5-6 hours and then we just waited for his numbers to start climbing to know that it worked. We got to the hospital at about 6pm and didn't start the meds until about 12:30. They have to get you into your room, the recheck your bloodwork, wait for the results, then wait for the people to mix the meds, give IV meds of another sort beforehand to counteract the side effects of the needed drug, etc. So, by the time they finally got the drug in him it was 12:30. He finally fell asleep then. Mom stayed the night and slept in his bed with him. We played it off like we were having a slumber party and we watched a movie and had pizza from the cafeteria. He couldn't fall asleep with all the noises and new things to see but as soon as they gave him benadryl (to counter any allergeric reaction) he fell asleep almost immediately. He was out for most of the night even though they came in to check his vitals ALL THE TIME! For the first hour they were in every 15 mintures, then every 30 minutes for a while and then every hour. They were really good at it though. I think he only woke up once during all of it, and I even slept through a couple of them. In the morning they took more blood. The tests came back all the way up to 35,000! So, that was amazing! The meds can take up to 24 hours to start working so the fact that they were already up that morning was great! They ran other tests to make sure it was nothing more serious and those all came back clean! So, no need to do any bone marrow testing or anything like that! Yea!!! We went home about 12:30pm on Tuesday! He had a few visitors on Monday night and Tuesday morning so he thought that was really cool! And we even had a VCR, DVD player, radio, etc. in our room. There was a room full of movies for us to watch and a playroom. So, even though he was in the hospital he still had a little fun! We are now home and we have to take it easy for a few days as his counts are still very low. So, there is still concern for internal bleeding if there is a fall or too much roughhousing. So, I need to try and keep him a little calm while here for the next few days. Friday we will go back for more bloodwork and see if the numbers are up enough for him to do more normal stuff without so many restrictions. Then it will be weekly bloodwork to make sure his numbers continue to climb. We will go back to the hospital in one month to see the hemotologist and make sure things are on the right track. We are so glad to be home, but I'm not looking forward to trying to keep him still. He already bouncing of the walls after being in the hospital for a day. He wants to play! We got him some games that we can just sit and play, but 3 yo is not into that. So, it will be a bit of a challenge to entertain both at the same time. But, we'll figure it out. And at least I have two healthy boys and we are home!

Thank you for all your responses regarding school. I am thinking that the closer school really is impractical. Neither me nor my dh were excited about it, so that ones off the list. I'm still unsure about the drive to the other one. I have emailed the principal of another school near here that is partnering with a homeschool family currently and am hoping to meet with him soon. And I have heard about another school near here that partners with homeschoolers as well. So, I'll be contacting them as well. I'll keep you posted.

5 yo has a really weird rash. He's had it for about a week now. It's just red small dots. It's not raised or itchy and he's not sick at all. No cold or fever, no nothing! I called the dr. office last week and the nurse said it sounded viral but if it gets worse to come in. So, we're going in this morning. He has also gotten these weird small round bruises. He had one on his shoulder that was a blue bump under his skin and the next day the bump was gone and the blue spot had kind of expanded a little bit (like dime or nickle sized) and that is just starting to fade today. Yesterday I noticed another one starting on his forehead. And then when I was looking him over really good he had another one under his chin. None of the bruises hurt either. I'm glad that he is not in pain or sick or itchy but I have no idea what's causing this. The rash is on his trunk and a little bit in the inside of his elbows and backs of his knees. He also has had bloody noses in the past and hasnt had one in a while, and he's had 2 in the past week. Don't know if that's connected or not, but I will mention that too. I hopped online last night and put in "rash with bruising". I shouldn't have done that. All the things I came across were serious conditions. So, I got an appt first thing this morning as soon as the phones opened. So, we're going in at 11:20am. I will keep you posted as to what happens.

We got our playset and trampoline (the old ones) taken down last night. Our new ones are going to be delivered sometime today. Luckily the weather is supposed to be pretty nice this week so we'll be able to get started assembling the new ones. Yea!!

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

We went and talked to the principal of another school today to see what they offered. They haven't worked with a homeschool family in the past couple years, but they have in the past. I'm not sure yet what to think about the set up. 5 yo would go 4 days/wk for 1 hr. During that hour he would do phys ed 2x/wk and art or music on the other days. He could also come just before that and have recess with the kids if he wanted. They also would offer a preschool for 3 yo (would be 4 then). We would like to talk with one more school before making any decisions, though. The other school is a little less expensive (not much) and it sounds like they have at least one homeschool family that they are working with this year. So, I will call there on Monday and see how soon we can set something up to meet. I'm not sure what to think about all of this. 5 yo really liked going to the school, but I'm not sure he NEEDS it at this age. It would be fun for him to be around more kids once in a while, but it's a lot of money for phys ed. Although, it would be the same kids every day so he would get to know them and he would get some great art projects to do and music as well. And even though he is in karate 2x/wk now and will continue to do that, he's not learning any other physical skills (besides rough housing with 3 yo) So, lots to think about.

I have never been a fan of preschool. I've always felt it was unnecessary. I think 3 yo may really enjoy it, though. And I figured while he was there I could get some great quiet work time with 5 yo to work on our school work. But, then I figured I could easily do that during nap time as he will still be napping then. So, more to think about.

We are also considering not watching our nephew anymore. We've talked about it before but have always decided that it was worth the money. I worked the budget last night to see if we could even do it on my dh's income alone. And we can, but it would be really tight! I mean, NO MORE BIRKY'S!!! That would be a major adjustment for us. But, it may be worth it to have the freedom to do what we want, when we want, as our own family without worrying about a baby. I know that sounds harsh, but it's getting tougher and tougher. And as I think of really starting school with 5 yo it's getting more daunting in my head and it just seems easier without him in the picture each day. Right now we do very little, it's just Kindergarten so it takes 30 min, 3x/wk or so. And I do that while the other 2 are sleeping. But, as we jump to 1st grade next year there is a lot more that we'll need to be doing. And it will take much more time. I'm just trying to figure out what you do with a 1 yo during school time. I guess he could be napping too, right??? See, more stuff to think about. My brother and sil have told me that they just found out that a friend of theirs would be able to watch my nephew if I ever wouldn't be able to anymore. So, I think they would have a backup. I'm just wondering if it isn't worth just sticking with it for the money. And someday if they don't need or want me to do it anymore at least I know we could. But, then I wonder about doing something just for the money. That's not what I'm about. So, we'll see. There is lots of heavy duty praying in my future!

We're also considering not doing the deck like we were talking and planning on (or at least scaling WAY back on it if we do do it). That way we would have more money in savings (if we don't watch nephew anymore) or for schooling or whatever.

So, keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try and make the right decision for our family in this juncture. We really want to do what's right by God and our family.

Have a great night ladies! Love you all!

Well, 5 yo school visitation went amazingly. He loved it!!! When leaving he said to me, "Can we come back? I want to keep coming here." I'm so glad he had a good time, but when he talks about "his" school I have to keep reminding him that it was just a school he visited. We're not sure we're going to keep going. And even if he does he won't go until after summer is done.The teacher he had (he was put with the 1st and 2nd grade class) said he was a great reader. She was very impressed with him. He loved that at recess the teacher and another kid played monkey in the middle with him. We had to play more of it when we got home. So, now the question becomes- what do mom and dad think of it? Well, dad wasn't able to go so I'll just tell you what I'm thinking. First of all we got hit with a winter storm yesterday and the roads were terrible! And it was 25 minutes away anyways. So, I packed up the 3 yo and 1 yo (along with my 5 yo) in all their winter gear and loaded them up. Then, I white knuckled it all the way to the school. Then, we drove- slowly- back home so the little ones could sleep. Then, I had to wake them up before they were ready to go and pick up 5 yo on time. And take the yucky drive back home. Winters are long here in MI and I'm not sure I want to drive that 2x/day 2-3x/wk. So, that's my first thought of the whole thing. But, if it's what 5 yo really likes and we think is best I will do it. My next impression was the rigidness of the school. They were uniforms (including the teachers) and it's very, very structured. I don't know why I didn't expect it to be so rigid (I knew they were a classical school and wore uniforms so should have expected it) but that threw me a little bit. Not that that's bad. It may be good for him to be in such a structured atmosphere after every other aspect of our life being so laid back. I'm not sure yet. The teachers and principal (headmaster) were fabulous! You can tell they really love the kids and the school. So, that is great. It's really small- right now they are meeting in a church. They have the upstairs where they have actual classrooms, then they have a lunchroom for all the kids, and they did recess downstairs in the open rec room (it's usually outside, but it was too yucky out yesterday). They are so small that 2 grades get taught together. There is K, 1 and 2 are together, 3 and 4 are together, and 5 and 6 are together. So, 4 teachers. We go tomorrow to talk to the principal of a private school that is in our little town (so a 5 minute drive). I'm really excited now that I've seen how much 5 yo liked it! I'm anxious to see what they offer and for how much money. I think he would like any school setting and I sure would like to see him closer to home (for my ease). But, we'll see what happens tomorrow. Tomorrow is just a meeting with the principal to talk about things. Then, if it's something that sounds like it could work, I'm hoping to set up a time for him to visit so he can see the teachers and other kids. I've also contacted another private school near here and there are a couple more I could look into too. So, exploring our options, but after seeing how much her just LOVED it I think it's something we should seriously consider. As a mom (this being my oldest) I have such mixed emotions. I'm so glad he had fun, but I'm almost sad that he's getting that big and independant. I know, it's part of raising kids, but it's still a little hard. I just need to keep reminding myself that even if we do this, it will only be in partnership with my homeschooling of him. I'll still get to have him with me most of the time!!! After all, he's my baby!

We're having friends over for dinner again tonight. And we're making meatblobs again. And I'm going to attempt that brownie pizza that was such a disaster last time. I'll start that this morning, just in case. I'm sure it will work this time. We'll just make sure to not use the mixer!

Oh- I can't remember if I already told you all this or not, but my SIL is able to watch my boys on the day of my surgery!!! So, she is going to bring my nephew (her son) here on that morning to watch all the boys here at our house like I usually do! I'm so excited that worked out! I didn't even have to ask my mom or sister. I'm so thankful she was willing to do that. Let's see how excited she is to do it when she has to show up at 6:30am at our house! Ha! Just kidding! She already knows that. I let her know up front about that.

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

My 5 yo is going to check out a school today. We homeschool and are checking out a school that does a homeschool partnership. I'm not sure if this is something we even would want to do, but they have a homeschool visitation day today so we thought we'd just check it out. IF this is something we liked and thought was important he would start in the fall and just go 2 afternoons a week for lunch, recess, latin, science and art. We're checking that exact schedule today from 11:15-2:35. He's actually excited about it. I was surprised about that. He always says he does NOT want to do regular school. And he does not do change well. So, I'm pleasantly surprised that he's excited! I think he really wants to eat lunch and do recess and that's really why we would do this. It would be nice to get him with more kids once in a while. And if they do art and science that leaves less mess for me to do at home. And latin is just a great basis for everything. So, we'll see what we think after today. Then dh and I will talk and we'll go from there. This school is about 25-30 minute drive. So, we're also speaking with the principal of a local private school on Friday (that would only be about a 5 min drive) to see what they offer for homeschool partnerships. I think at some point (whether that means this coming year or farther down the road) that it would be nice for my boys to be able to play with a large group of kids every so often. And this may be a nice way of doing that. The school we're going to today is newer and really small. They don't have a building yet so they are meeting at a church. The school we're seeing on Friday is a school that has been around forever. So, I'm not sure if that really matters to us or not. We'll see what happens today and what mom's first instinct is and also 5yo and how he likes it. Then, we'll compare on Friday to see what we're thinking. Again, we're not even sure this is something we're doing now or at all. But, since they have the special visitation day today, we're at least looking at all the options available to us.

That's about it for now. We'll talk to you ladies, later. Love you all!

Easter was fabulous! We had our Friday service and 2 Sunday services at church and God did such amazing things. So many people came forward to either commit their lives to Christ for the first time or as a recommitment. It was beautiful. The pastor had tables on the stage and each person was given a tealight candle when they came in. The whole message and service was about the light of Jesus and having the light of Jesus in your life. Then, at the end he invited anyone that wanted to give their lives to Christ or recommit their lives to Christ to come up on the stage and a stagehand would help them light their candles to show that they had found the light of Jesus and had it in their lives. It was so pretty with the candles glowing, knowing that those were people that had found the TRUE light. It was so exciting! My parents came which I was very excited about. They haven't been going to church in a while so it was cool that they showed up. Then, we all went out to brunch afterwards. It was really yummy. We tried a new place and we were pleasantly surprised. We'll definitely be back!

This morning 3 yo had some medical tests. It was all for his allergies and also he's been throwing up a lot. He's done that for a while and long story short he throws up at least 2x/month. Usually at a restaraunt, of course. Which is loads of fun for mom and dad- not to mention the waitstaff! It's usually after he chugs the chocolate milk while waiting for his food to come. Then first bite and.... well, you get the picture. So, last time we went to talk to the dr. about his allergies I mentioned the vomiting to her and she wanted to check on a couple things to rule them out. He also hasn't been gaining weight. Not losing, but not gaining either. So, just ruling things out to make sure it's nothing we need to be concerned about. It could just be allergies combined with a quick gag reflex. But, this morning were all his test. We had to be down to the hospital by 7:45am (which I requested first thing in the morning because he had to fast beforehand- meaning no breakfast) On the way there there was an accident and I got stuck in traffic for 25 minutes before turning around and backtracking to a different on ramp to the expressway. :steer: We finally got downtown and I had no idea where to go. We were running late so I grabbed the little guy and we ran to the info desk to find out where to go. We got there only 5 minutes late... mom was booking it!!! They did an upper GI test to test for reflux and look at his internal organs and make sure everything is in the right place. The only thing that looked off was that his bowel was mostly on the right and it should have been on his left. But, they waited 30 minutes after giving him some shake-like stuff to see if his bowels moved after drinking it. Then, they took a stomach x-ray. They also took a sinus x-ray to check for sinusitus. Should have those results by the middle of this week. Then, we went and got some bloodwork done. We tried doing that at the hospital lab, but they were so rude we left and went to our dr. office instead. When we walked up to the lab registration desk in the hospital there was no one there. There was a bell to ring for service, though, so I rang it. No one came. I rang again. The woman came out and abruptly said "just sit down, there's someone ahead of you". (There was no one else in the waiting room) When I asked her if she had any idea how long (remember, 3 yo hasn't eaten at all yet today) she said she had no idea and started walking away. So, I asked her "10 minutes? or an hour?" and she said "I DONT KNOW!" and walked out. I was so ticked! :burning: So, not very quietly, I told 3 yo that we were going to leave and go to our dr. office where they are nice. We went there and he did amazing getting his blood drawn. He sat on my lap and didn't even flinch when she did it! She was awesome! So good with him and so friendly. Then, I took him out for breakfast just him and mom for doing so good. Luckily my dh was able to take the morning off work so I could just go with 3 yo and not have to take 5 yo and 1 yo nephew, too. That was so nice!!!

Well, it's time to put the rugrats down for their naps. They just finished lunch. So, I'll talk to you ladies later. Love you all!

Diverchick- my tummy tuck is May 21.

We have had a fun morning. We made easter baskets from 2 Lt. pop bottles. We cut off the tops (just using the bottom part) and decorated them with paint, puffy paint, glitter, and hot gluing foam shapes and sparkly pom pons. Then, we took a pipe cleaner and threaded them through 2 holes that I punched in the sides of the "baskets" to make a handle. We dyed our easter eggs yesterday so today we put stickers on them and put them in our new baskets. I even let the one year old help. He was so excited! Then, while I popped the big boys in the tub I cleaned up all the glitter and continued on cleaning the entire main floor. It feels so good to have a clean house. I was drowning in clutter!

I went and did my "Easter Bunny" shopping yesterday. I told the boys that mom had to go out for a while and would be back soon. They both wanted to come with so I told them I had to go talk to the Easter bunny so they couldn't come. On Sunday our dog had a bit of a national geographic moment. She caught a bunny!!! She brought it up on the deck as if to say, "Look what I caught mom and dad. Arent you proud???" I guess that's nature in action, huh? So, I told the boys that I was going to tell the Easter bunny that it was ok to come to our house- that I would talk to the dog and warn her that he was coming and not to eat him. The boys totally fell for it. When I got home they were asking all about it. Did I go to his house? Where is his house? Were there bunnies everywhere? It was so cute! Wasn't expecting all those questions so I had to think fast on my feet! It's almost as bad as Christmas with all the hiding and sneaking around I have to do. They're getting a little too observant.

We start our Easter services at church tonight. We have one tonight and then our regular 2 on Sunday. They will all be the same. And they are going to be amazing! We had rehearsal last night and I can't wait for the services. I know God is going to do amazing things through them. I wish you all lived closer so you could come and see them. You are all my friends and I've invited all my friends that live around here to come. I so wish you all could come too. If you're ever in Michigan, make sure to look me up, ok???

Well, I'm going to go decide what I'm wearing tonight to make sure I have time to wash or iron anything that may need it.

Have a great Easter weekend, ladies! Love you all!

I just told my SIL about my tummy tuck. I figured since I was asking for even more time off from watching my nephew (I remembered to ask for recovery time off but forgot about the day of surgery ) I should fill her in on what's going on. She was really supportive and thought it was great! That was a relief. After telling my sister and her negative reaction I think I've been a little gunshy of telling anyone else. She also said that if she could get that day off from work, she would just watch my boys that day for me. That lifts a huge burden, as you all know, because I wasn't sure where I was going to send the boys on that day. So, her offer was amazing! Now, I just need to make sure she can get the day off.

That's all for now. I took my iron pill before breakfast instead of after and my tummy hurts. So, I need a break for a little bit. Talk to you all later.

You all have been so encouraging about my diet. Thank you. Although, you may have spoken too soon. I waited way too long to eat dinner last night and didn't make a very good choice when doing the birky last night. We went to Red Robin which was a bad choice anyways and then I didn't even try to be good. Big burger and fries. I did do good when we got the boys some ice cream on the way home. I didn't get anything. I truly wasn't hungry so didn't order. That's good, I guess. Then, I had those gummy worms I was telling you about yesterday for a snack at night. Ok, back at it- AGAIN!

My newest dilemma is trying to figure out what to do with the kids on the day of my tummy tuck. It's 6 weeks away so I have time. My dilemma is that I haven't told a ton of people about my surgery so there's not many people I can ask to watch them. They would all want to know why I needed them for a full day during the week and I'm not comfortable lying to them. I want to ask my mom to take a day off of work. She is really weird about her days off. She guards them like diamonds. And it's always "just in case" she might need them. (Can you tell that frusterates me???) She is gone for spring break (my dad's a teacher) so I can't talk to her about it until she gets home next week. I will offer to pay her whatever she makes a day to make up for it, though. I'm hoping she will be ok with that. That will work out the best for me. Surgery is on a Monday morning. I need to be there at 7am for my 8am surgery. I was hoping to have the boys spend the night with Gram on Sunday. Then, they can just wake up whenever they want and hang out all day. Otherwise, I either have to find someone to watch them at 6:30am (yikes!) or bring them with. I really dont' mind doing that, either. It would just be nicer for everyone if they had someone to stay with. I don't feel right asking my sister (although if my mom won't do it, I'll have to) because she has made it very clear she doesn't support this surgery. So, I don't want to ask her. I love her, but I dont' want to ask her to help me out with this surgery. Does that even make sense? I thought about bringing them with my dh that morning of surgery. They'll just wait with dh until I am done getting prepped and then pop back to say goodbye. Then, my dh can take them to my sisters (as a last resort) or maybe his sister's (if we tell her) while I'm in surgery. Then, he can come back and get me and bring me home. He could pick up the boys after I'm home in bed. So, mom would be the best solution to this. But, we'll figure something out if we have to. Can't wait for mom to get home so I can ask her.

Just ordered some homeschooling materials that are on sale 20% off in April. I called to order on Monday and the shipping was going to be $90!!! Yikes! They're just books, people! I could ship a large item by freight truck for that price! When I asked if the sale was going on in the store they said no it was only in the catalog direct from the company. Well, this morning I got an email from the homeschool bookstore in our area telling me that all those products ARE 20% off this month! So, I cancelled my order this morning and saved us $90!!! Woo Hoo! So, now it's off to that store to make sure they have what we want. They open at 10am and we'll be there shortly after that, I think. If they don't have what we need I can always call back and order it. But, I think they will and if I can save on shipping, I will at least try!

We went shopping last night. I love the Buckle so we stopped in there. My dh took the boys down to the carousel and then came back. I was just about done. When I went to pay I spent more than I realized. It was stuff I was looking for, though, so went ahead with the purchase. They punch your punchcard for every $10 you spend and I got the rest of my card filled up. We went to the ice cream shop last night and I took the card out of my wallet to get to something else. My dh says "Whoa, how much did you spend? That card wasn't that full last time!" I couldn't believe he noticed my card the last time OR this time! I just laughed and said "Enough". He laughed and said "Naughty, naughty". It was funny! I was just shocked that he even noticed something like that! Boy, he's more observant than I give him credit for! Well, $10 off next time!

Well, I wasn't planning on writing so much. Didn't think I had much to say. Guess I was wrong.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Noni- I don't mind you asking at all about the tummy tuck. It is sort of the same recovery as the hyst, although I can't imagine quite as bad. They are only dealing with surface stuff, not any internal anything. My paperwork says you are off work (depending on what you do) for 6 weeks. The first week it doesn't sound like you do much. Then gradually you can do more. You would have drains in place in your incision for 1-2 weeks. You have lifting restrictions, too. Although, I am a stay at home mom of 3 and 5 yo boys. And we watch our 1yo nephew. And I was told I'd be fine to watch them alone (and lift the little one) by 1-2 weeks. (So not sure where the 6 weeks off of work would apply if not to watching that brood of little ones!) They really want you up and doing stuff ASAP as it helps the healing process. I am hoping for the best in recovery. I will have my dh home the first week so I can do nothing. Then, I will not have the 1 yo the second week and I will watch my 3 and 5 yo alone. Then, by week 3 back to normal. You also have to wear a binder for 6-8 weeks. So, by July I will be out of binders and looking good for summer! Woo Hoo!! So, I'll miss June a bit (only because of wearing the binder so no swimming or shorts for me- no big deal from my end- I don't do that anyways without this surgery). So, I'm just looking forward to being able to swim and wear shorts without feeling so out of place.

Today is a pretty normal day. Not much going on. I did manage to get all my lofty goals for the day done yesterday- laundry, homeschool, cleaning, sticking to the diet, etc. It's amazing how quickly our bodies adjust to what we eat. I was feeling really good eating so healthy and then was off for a few days. And yesterday getting back on track I had a headache by the end of the day that I think was from being a little hungry. I did good though. While my dh sat eating gummy bears (my favorite) I had strawberries and a 100 calorie pack or Oreos. Hope to do that good again today.

Have a good day, ladies! Love you all!

I went and read my diet journal on another site and I had to laugh. Every Monday (today is no exception) I have written that I'm really going to stick with it this time. The weekend was a disaster, but I'm back now. Duh!!! You'd think I'd catch on. Time to stop pulling "Birky's". I am very careful about the food I buy in the grocery store. Mostly healthy stuff. (If it's not in the house, I can't eat it, right???) Well, I've found a way around that- it's called eating out!!! Hopefully this week we will be ordering our deck and then we won't have as much money just floating around. Not that we do now (it's supposed to be for the deck, but it sure is a lot easier to spend when it's in your account) So, if we order that we won't have a big balance in our account any more and it will hurt a little more to eat out. So, maybe that will stop us (at least a little!)

I told my boys that if they went through their toys and found a box full of stuff to throw/give away, they could each get one new toy. Well, they got rid of 3 boxes!!! So, off to the toy store we went. 5yo got this piano with a bench and microphone. He's playing it right now. So cute! And 3 yo got a cookie monster/elmo vacuum cleaner. So, needless to say we got rid of a bunch of little junk (yea!) but got 2 big annoying toys (ugh!) Oh well, getting the little stuff out is the hardest part. And they helped and worked together really good deciding what to get rid of and what to keep. So, they deserved it.

We're trying to get back on track with homeschool. With the boys getting sick and nephew being sick it's really easy to get off track. My tummy tuck is coming up in 6 weeks so I planned all the lessons for the next 6 weeks. Then, we will take a break. It will be almost summer time anyways. We'll probably do some stuff in the summer, but not everyday. So, I am feeling much more prepared. Now, if I can just stick with it.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Here's the recipe for the dessert I destroyed! I promise... It's awesome! I've made it many times without incident!!! Enjoy!

1 pkg. (21.5 oz) brownie mix (plus ingredients to make brownies)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 bananas, sliced
1 c. strawberries, sliced
1/2 c. nuts, chopped
chocolate ice cream topping

1- Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Cut a circle of parchment paper (this step is crucial or you will have a major mess in your oven!!! The parchment paper keeps the brownie from running off the stone.) to fit a flat round stone (like a Pampered Chef pizza stone). Pour brownie mix onto parchment paper in a 14 in. circle. Bake 15-18 min. or until brownie is set. Do not overbake. Cool completely.

2- In small bowl, combine cream cheese, pineapple and sugar. Spread over brownie.

3- Arrange fruit over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle with chocolate sauce. Refrigerate.

Note: If you cut the brownie into slices before putting the cream cheese mixture on it will stay pretty for serving. That way you're not cutting through your pretty design, you just have to serve. It's already done!!! Enjoy!

I love the term "doing a birky". We're doing one tonight! I was going to make a stir fry, but my parents are leaving for vacation tomorrow so thought we would go hang out with them one more time before they leave. So, my mom just made reservations at her favorite restaurant. That's a good excuse not to eat at home, right???

The meatblobs did turn out very good. I'm putting that recipe aside for another time. So easy and fun for the kids. And what kid doesn't like spaghetti and meatblobs??? So, another meal I'm guaranteed they will eat! Gotta love that!

Had a disaster making dessert yesterday afternoon for our friends that were coming over that night. I was going to make a banana split brownie pizza. One of my favorites! And I've made it many times before with no incident. Not yesterday!!! Ready to laugh??? I just got a new hand mixer (nothing fancy, my old one just broke). Well, 5yo loves it and wanted to use it. You make the brownie from a box and put it on a flat pizza stone. You use parchment paper on the stone to hold the brownie in place so it doesn't run over the edge. (This works like a charm!) So, you end up with a brownie pizza crust then you top it with a cream cheese, pineapple mixture (that's the pizza sauce) then top with sliced bananas, strawberries, nuts and chocolate sauce. So, we're making the brownies and the directions say to stir (with a spoon) but 5yo wants to use the mixer. I figure that shouldn't be a big deal as long as we use it on low. WRONG! We used the mixer and it turned a lot more runny and thin (think cake batter, not brownie batter) I still thought it was ok and started pouring it onto the stone (with no edges remember) It was getting close to the edge, but had stopped spreading. I thought if I put it in the oven now it will spread a little more while baking and then it will start to set up and should be fine. It only had to be in for 15 minutes. After 4 minutes I looked and OH NO it was running all down the sides and all over my oven!!! I opened the oven door and smoked just BILLOWED out!!! We had people coming over in 1 hour!! I opened every window in the house (luckily it was half way decent outside) and sprayed air freshener. Ha!!! The whole house stunk. It did mostly dissippate (sp?) by the time our friends got here, thankfully!!! But, there was no way I could clean it out before they came so there was no garlic bread and dessert was from the store! We had a good laugh at that one! This morning I scraped all the hardened gunk out of the oven and turned on the self cleaning button. That smells so we left the house and went to Costco and lunch with dh. (Hey, another birky!)

We ate at McDonald's and I really wanted a Big Mac. So, I got one. Totally not diet approved! But, what was cool was that just from eating good for the past couple weeks my stomach has changed. I couldn't even finish the Big Mac. And I used to eat (hold on, ladies- I can pack it away!) the Big Mac, large fries, large drink (not diet), and an apple pie! And now I couldn't even eat the whole sandwich before I felt so full I was going to burst!!! That was awesome! So, I was naughty, but not as much as I thought I would be!!!

Tonight we're getting bark for the landscaping in the front and then dinner with mom and dad. Should be a fun night.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Birky- I laughed right out loud when I read your last comment. That is me and my family to a T! I don't feel like eating anything we have here... Wanna go out??? Glad to hear I'm not alone in that. Ha!

My nephew is a little under the weather this week. Don't know if he has the same thing the boys had last week. I don't think so. It's not really going in the same direction. He didn't come on Tuesday and I had them pick him up early on Monday because he had a pretty high fever and was not acting like himself (very cuddly and didn't want to be set down). Then, they brought him yesterday thinking he was fine and he didnt' have a fever but was still really crabby and fussy, cuddly, sleepy and no eating. So, he's not feeling good. Not sure with what, but I really don't want my boys getting sick again. They both just got over this nasty cold that lasted almost 2 weeks and ended with an ear infection for both. So, I'm being a little paranoid right now, but I don't want him here. But, I can't really tell my brother that he can't bring him if he doesn't have a fever or any cold symtoms. I can just tell that he's not himself, ya know. Oh well. The joys of doing daycare for someone I guess. I'm just venting a little, sorry.

The boys had karate last night and we just found out that they are going to test for their purple belts next month! They are so stinking cute! I can't wait!!! We'll be practicing for the next month to make sure they're ready. They will be. The teacher said he doesn't ever set anyone up to fail so he won't have them test unless he's positive they will pass. And they both just got word that they can test next month! Proud mom moment!

We're having some friends over for dinner tonight. Spaghetti and meatballs (new meatball recipe in the crock pot today) Hope it turns out good. The boys helped me make the meatballs so they aren't really round, but they should taste the same. LOL

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

Boy, it's been a while again...

I went back to Dallas this weekend (just Saturday and Sunday) with some people from our vocal team. We went down to show some of them the church that we just went to their conference (the church is called Fellowship.) It was such a fun trip! I want to take my dh down there sometime to show him both that church and another one, called The Potter's House. You may have heard of that one- it's on tv. It's a huge multi-cultural church in Dallas. It is so fun!!! So, would love to take dh and show him both churches and just have a fun weekend away! I am going to try and plan something the next time my parents are able to watch my boys for the weekend.

Other than that, not too much going on. Diet is going ok. Didn't stick with it at all on my trip- didn't even try. And I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting back on track now that we're home. I do really good for breakfast and lunch, but dinner is hard. I'm having a hard time finding low calorie recipes that aren't just chicken breasts. I'm really sick of chicken. I've had a few other things, but am starting my search today for more things. I've found some and went to the store to get stuff to make them (spag and meatballs, beef and broccoli stir fry and a chicken bake) so that will help. I just need to take a more active role in my dinners so that I'm not left at 4pm wondering what we're going to have. Just need to start planning ahead better.

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

Well, you all seem to want to know about my new dishes... I am so pleased with them! They are from Target so I'm sure most of you will see them the next time you are there if you are there as much as I am! Ha! They are just plain white and square. I love them! I wanted something sleek and simple. And I'm picky about how thick my dishes are. I know that sounds weird, but I like thin ones. And these are thin, but not cheap. Nice and heavy duty, but not thick!!! So, check them out next time you're in Target and let me know what you think.

DS's dr. appt went good. We initially put him on the Claritin because he hadn't gained any weight from his 2 yr. to 3 yr appt. and his history of when we had brought him in being sick really coincided with allergy season. So, we think he has seasonal allergies all the time. So, the claritin is what we did. Also, she thought maybe he wasn't eating much because he had mucus in his tummy from the drainage so maybe doing the claritin would clear that up and he would eat more- thus gaining weight. Well, his weight still isn't up. He's not tiny, just not a big guy either. And the fact that he hasn't gained at all is what she wants to figure out. She checked his nasal passages and last time (In Nov.) they were 80% blocked and this time they were only 20% blocked. So, the claritin does seem to be working. But, she said just because it's working in his nose doesn't mean it's working in his body (or that his body is reacting to it enough) So, we are doing some blood work to check some level of something that will let us know that. We are also checking for other allergies with that blood work. And a thyroid level just in case (since we've got the blood anyways). Then, I mentioned that he vomits really easily- mostly after chugging chocolate milk. (We've learned not to let him have it all at once!) So, we are also checking a milk allergy- which would be horrible- chocolate milk is his favorite!!! And we are doing a GI test to see if he has reflux. She thought maybe it was getting worse with milk and that's when we see him vomit, but maybe it's there all the time and just not as bad. That could be why he doesn't eat much. She is also checking on a sinusitus to make sure the drainage (that we think is there) isn't from a sinus infection and not allergies. We are doing all these tests to rule out all these things. If they all come back negative, then I know I just have a child with seasonal allergies that's a picky eater with a quick gag reflex. But, at least we'll know that's all it is and that it's nothing to worry about. I really like her aggressive approach. I would much rather rule things out than hope it's nothing more serious down the road. So, our GI test isn't until April 9 (we'll do the sinus infection test- an X ray- then too since we'll be at the hospital for both) And the blood work I'll do whenever we have a morning that works for me and all the kids to get out. The lab tech (who is really good) at the dr. office is only in until noon each day. So, since our appt. was in the afternoon we missed her and will need to go back. But, we'll know more in April and then be able to know how to proceed from there. For now, we're continuing the Claritin (which I'm fine with since it's working)

We went and looked at decks today. We're waiting for the guy to call us back with a quote. We should have a price on Thursday. We had him price the most expensive of what we liked. That way if it's in our range, we can get what we really want. And if not, we can always scale back. I really hope it's in the ballpark. I've already got patio furniture shopping on the brain! I know, it's a vicious cycle!!!

We had our dance class tonight. We learned the rumba. It was really fun. Next week is our last week.

As for the diet... We have our date night on Tuesday before dance. We usually feed the boys and then go eat out. But, we really want to stick with the plan so we ate home with the boys and decided we would just walk around Costco or something from 7 until our class started at 8:50. We forgot Costco closes at 8. So, we needed something to do. We were both ready to just sit for a while and went to Outback to share some dessert. We got cheesecake! Yum! So bad! But, we shared it. That helps, right??? I will be good all week, I promise! :hidekey:

Well friends have a great night! Love you all!

Birky- I did weight watchers after my first son was born and I really works!!! The only reason I didn't do it this time was I wanted a plan that included exercise. I know I can exercise on my own with weight watchers, but I do better with someone telling me what to do. I like to stick to a plan. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Noni- Good for you for doing it on your own! I hate when diet recipes are full of weird ingredients. You can't be expected to live on those things for an extended period of time without going bonkers.

We went to the store yesterday and I talked my dh into letting us get new dishes. We only have sets of 8 (although 4 different sets!). So, we decided that if we got a set of 12 I needed to clear out ALL the rest. So, I did! I'd been meaning to go through the cupboards anyways and spring clean and get some things ready for a garage sale this spring. And this was perfect!!! It feels so good to have clean, organized cupboards and all that extra stuff downstairs in boxes just waiting for the garage sale!!!

We ate out last night. We went to Chili's. I was proud of myself. I printed out all their nutrition info before leaving home and brought it with. I didn't want anything on their Guiltless menu, though. So, I got a Chicken Fajita Pita. (450 cal) It was ok. Not something I'd order again, but I felt very proud of myself for sticking with my calorie plan. I even asked the waitress not to bring the fries- get that temptation out of sight right away!!! So, doing well.

My ds has a dr. appt. today to recheck his allergies. He's on a daily claritin (which is ok, but I'm not a huge fan of medicating a 3yo every day). I'm hoping she'll say that he is doing better and we can take him off it. We started it because he wasn't eating good and based on his history he has seasonal allergies 3 out of 4 seasons. Her thinking is that during the seasons he has allergies (every season but spring) he is having drainage into his tummy and that's making him feel full. But, the claritin that he's been on for a few months really isn't helping his eating. I think he's just not a huge eater. We'll see what happens today. I truly respect and trust my dr. So, I'm curious to see what she has to say about it today.

Have a great day! Love you all!

Hey ladies,

It's been too long. Sorry. The whole clan (except me- knock on wood) was sick. The boys had ear infections, my nephew got the nasty cold and so did my dh. And you know how men are when they are sick! So, it was busy here. (well, for me!) Ha!!! Everyone seems to be on the upside of things. My boys are still coughing a little, but they seem to be feeling better so that's good. And my dh went back to work today. I'm sure he'll be milking it for a while yet though.

My nephew isn't here today. Didn't know that until this morning when I was telling my dh how they hadn't shown up yet and I was getting worried about them. His response... "Oh... sorry... I forgot to tell you." Arrgg!!! Oh well, what's another half hour of sleep?

I took the boys to the grocery store today so that worked out to be one child less today. I had to get food for 12. I am an elder at my church and we have monthly meetings (including dinner) and this month it is my turn to host. So, lots of food for lots of hungry guys. I'm the only lady. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I've been an elder now for almost a year. But, this is the first time it's been my turn to host. We have 8 elders, but the pastor's assistant comes and the finance director. And we get to choose a couple to honor each month at the dinner. So, that makes 12. I'm really looking forward to it.

I just joined Denise Austin's online weight loss program. I really like it. The website and discussion boards are not nearly as good as here, but they are ok. There aren't many people on the discussion boards (at least it doesn't seem like it) so it takes a while to get a response to a question, etc. I'm just used to hystersisters!!! We are the best, aren't we??? Anyways, my dh is doing this with me. We both could stand to lose some pounds. And I already mentioned that I want to lose some before my surgery in May. So, here we go! We're on a 1400 cal/day diet (the lowest she offers) and also you exercise for at least 30 minutes 6 times a week. It's actually been going good so far. Granted, I'm only on day 5. But, I haven't really been hungry. Her menu ideas (which are just suggestions, you can do what you want) are really easy, yummy and filling. So, far I've lost 4 lbs. I'm sure a lot is water weight so I'm waiting for that to go back up. And that's ok. But, it's still encouraging to see the scale going down. Anything has to be better than what my dh ate before this! We usually ate large portions and lots of junk throughout the week. And my worst time is nighttime. I love to snack. And on junk!!! So, that is my hardest time, but I save my snack from the day for nighttime so at least I get something. So, that's helpful. I'll keep you posted as to how this goes.

I hope you're all having a great day! Love you all!

Hi Ladies!

My dh and I were trying to decide how much to spend on a new playset before our appt yesterday. So, I emailed him and told him what we had to work with (we want to get a deck, too) and asked him to chew on it during the day and we could talk when he got home. I reminded him that we needed to use that money for my tummy tuck in May too. But, we had talked about financing that so we could pay it off with our HSA and had just not gotten around to calling the medical financial place to see if we qualified for it. So, I called the to see how much (if any) we would need to pay for out of pocket in May. The phone call only took about 5 minutes (which I was thankful for with the boys being sick) and we were approved. It will cover 80% of my surgery so now we only need to pay for 20% of it with this money. The rest will come out of the HSA money that is just sitting there. That is fabulous news! Then my dh called and said he cashed in some of our stocks. I thought we had already done that so that was a welcome surprise to me. Didn't know we even had that money there. I though he did that already. The day was looking good.

So, now we decided to set aside money for taxes, my surgery balance, and then we had to decide what we wanted to do with the rest. We decided how much we wanted to spend on a playset and off we went to our appt. The salesman (one of the owners) was so helpful. Not pushy at all. He even talked us out of a more expensive model. That's integrity! We got one with a playfort on top, playhouse underneath, money bars, 2 swings, a trapeze/buoy ball, rock wall, and wave slide. We got a wooden roof and wooden floor in the playhouse on the bottom too. And he gave us such a good deal that we were able to get a new trampoline too!!! Ours is as old as my dh! It was his when he was a kid!!! Ha! So, it's about time for a new one, don't you think? And these were at the Home Show too (I told you that place was dangerous for me!!!) But, they are so cool. They are spring-free. So, the trampoline goes right up to the safety net. There is no way a foot could slip through the springs or anything. So, I won't spend my summer saying, "Be careful, stay in the middle, OH I CAN'T WATCH!!!" I'm so excited.

I emailed the deck guy today to see if he can give us a rough estimate. I'm hoping it's in our price range. That would leave us some money to just set aside in a savings account. I like that feeling. So, yesterday was a day of surprises, in a great way!

Now that I feel so much better about the cost of the tummy tuck (20% out of pocket is great with me!!! Especially when I was planning on all of it!) there is no way I'm cancelling now! That was my biggest hang up and it's figured out so we're on! But, now I should probably spend the next 2 months losing those last few pounds so the tt is as good as it can be. I'm not paying money for results that could've been better had I just worked a little bit beforehand! So, here goes some dieting :hidekey: and exercise Wish me luck! I bought a yoga dvd last night (which I have wanted ever so badly!) so I'm hoping I like that. I enjoy walking on the treadmill but I'm not as consistent as I like and it will be nice to change things up a bit. Now I have motivation!

The boys are doing ok. 3yo is on his way up (fever is breaking, cough is still lingering) and 5 yo is in the middle of the worst. He woke last night right when his motrin wore off and had a 102.1 fever (with an ear thermometer) and his throat hurt and he had a headache. He seems ok this morning. Acting fine anyways. But, it will be another pj and tv day.

Ha ha! I'm going a little emoticon crazy today!

Love you all! Have a great day!

Both boys are sick! I can't wait for summer when there won't be as many things going around (or at least when we can get outside more). DS (3yo) has a yucky cough and fever. His colds always go straight to his lungs. So, as soon as he gets one we start him on his inhaler and nebulizer (from when he had bronchitis) on dr. orders. And my other DS (5yo) is coming down with it now, too. Today will be a day of chilling out in our pj's and watching movies. The only thing we have to do is go and look at playsets at 5pm. We have an appt (after store hours) to look at them. And the specials from the home show only run until tomorrow. So, if we're getting one we need to go. But, I figure the boys are fine when they have their medicine in them. So, we'll give them a sandwich in the car and let them watch a movie in the car too (it's a 45 minute drive). That way they'll get to chill out in the car too. then, they can play on the playset that are set up (if they want to) or just chill out with us while we figure out what to buy. They will like being there, I'm sure. What kid wouldn't be excited to have mom and dad be buying them a new playset??? We've decided to stay home from our dance class tonight too. With having to go to the playset appt we don't want the boys all riled up with the babysitter (they love her and telling them to not play wouldn't be very nice) So, we'll just stay home and them to bed early tonight. My 5yo is actually still sleeping. He would've normally been up for a good 1 1/2 to 2 hours already. Sleep baby! Get those germs out of you!!!

On another note, my back has been killing me! I dont' know what I did. For about a week it's hurt and it's getting worse not better. So, I pulled out my prescription ibuprofen from my hyst. Hopefully that will help. Aleve didn't do anything.

On a good note, it's supposed to hit 62 degrees here today!!! Woo Hoo!!! (So, it's supposed to snow again later this week, what's your point!) We are enjoying it while we can. I'm sure the boys will want to go out after naps today and the fresh air will do them some good I'm sure. I'm really looking forward to that!

Well, my 5yo just woke up and I need to get him some breakfast. Have a great day, ladies!

I got my echocardiogram test results yesterday. They were the same as always. Still have the mitral valve regurgitation, still have to take antibiotics before dental visits, etc. That's good. Doesn't explain any of the dizziness, though. Oh well. It's not like I haven't had this for years. I'll just wait and talk to my dr. this summer when I have my physical.

We had the dessert auction at church last night. It was a lot of fun. The bids didn't seem to go as high as last year. I think we were missing some of our "big hitters" from last year. We actually bought our pastor's wife's pecan pie. Last year that sold for $400. We got it for $70. Now, that's a bargain. (I even had some for breakfast this morning- shhh don't tell!) I guess when you spend that much on one pie you better enjoy it while it's fresh. The night was really fun. I think they could have done things in a way that would have gotten some higher bids, but I think they did really well. They had one table which was the live auction and one which was a silent auction. I think they should have announced the winners of the silent auction first so people knew what they had won and how much they had already spent so they could do more in the live auction. And they saved the pecan pie (which was the big one last year) for the end. But, the room had thinned out a little bit by then and most people had already bought something. There were actually 2 cheesecakes that sold for over $200 each! But, all in all it was a great night and I'm sure they raised a lot of money for the teens. It was a fundraiser for the youth. There is a team going to New Orleans over spring break to work in the 9th Ward with Habitat for Humanity.

This afternoon I am going to shoot a music video. You all know I sing at our church. Well, every spring we have a creative conference in which we have churches from all over the world come and see how we do church. We teach how to be creative in ministry and think out of the box. It's great. This will be our 4th year. It is always amazing!!! Well, part of what we are doing is making music videos. Just like on tv (but good). We have some amazingly creative people on staff and volunteers. They always turn out great. So, I'll be shooting one today called "Rebirthing" by a group called Skillet. Then, when we perform it live I'll be singing it on stage and the music video will play on the side screens. It all gets synced up with the drummer so the live performance and the video stay in time. It is so cool! And it's one of my favorite things to do! So, I am really looking forward to today. It's a lot of work, but so fun! If I could do this for a living I would in a heartbeat!!! If any of you or people from your church would be interested in checking out the conference it is May 17-18. Our church is called Daybreak. The conference is called "Fizz". I can't put web links on here or I would. We are in Hudsonville, MI. If you want to see the website and check out the church or the conference it's www. (the name of the church) then .tv

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

We finally had dance class again last night. It's been a while. They had 2 weeks off for some reason (scheduled from the beginning) and then we had one snow day. So, it's been 3 weeks since we've been there. We started learning swing last night which was so fun!! We laughed harder than we've laughed the whole time! We caught on really quickly and were able to goof around a little bit. The teacher saw that we were doing good and tried to show us a more advanced move- where I would jump on my dh's leg and then jump off. Are you kidding??? I wasn't about to try that, especially in front of anyone else!! Ha!!! Maybe we'll give it a whirl at home sometime, but I don't want to hurt him!

Our church service tonight is a little different. So, I don't have to sing and dh doesn't have to play guitar. So, we get to go and just attend. It should be nice. It's been a while since we've been in the audience. I'm looking forward to a relaxing night. My dad is coming to watch the boys (there is no childcare on Wed. nights at church and it's kind of a pain to try and keep them in there). They love when he comes and he loves it too. He may even come and watch the boys in their karate class before supper, too. That would be nice.

Tomorrow we have a dinner at church. A team of teens is going to New Orleans during spring break so this is a fundraiser for it. After the southern dinner will be a dessert auction. That is so fun! Our pastor's wife's pecan pie has been known to sell for over $400!!! That's one pie! It must be amazing! Word has gotten out how good it is so it sells big every year! It's so fun to watch the auction. I'm hoping we'll be able to contribute and get something. But, we'll see. It will depend how quickly the bids go up.

Ladies, have a wonderful day! Love you all!

This week has been incredibly crazy with our schedules. It seems that every night we have had something going on with either me or my dh. So, we haven't had a night home as a family in a while. Last night I was supposed to go out with the girls (we try and go out once a month) but I called and told them I couldn't come. We made pig in the blankets and rented a movie. We watched "Open Season" with the boys. It was a nice night home with them.

On Thursday we took the boys out to dinner and then to the Home and Garden Show that's in town. It was fun to just walk around and look at all the displays. Although, that sure can be a dangerous place.... you always leave thinking there's something else you "need". I've been thinking about our deck lately. I just read an article about arsenic in wood that is from before 2004. In the summer me and the boys are on the deck a lot! So, I'm now on a mission to get a new deck. We are looking at the maintenence free decking and I'm hoping we'll be able to do that this spring. So, that's kind of why we went down to the show in the first place. Well, while there we saw some great playsets for the boys. We got them a cheap one from Toys R Us a few years ago and it's really getting questionable whether it's sturdy enough to hold the boys as they get bigger and rougher. So, now we're looking at getting a playset too! Yikes! I should just stay away from those shows, don't you think?? Just kidding. I really like looking around. And it's something different to do. So, I really like that.

My dh and I went out tonight for a date. We were supposed to see a movie with friends but we got started late on our night and hadn't had dinner yet so asked to reschedule with them. They said that was fine so we tried a new restaraunt and had a great relaxing night. My dh is taking the babysitter home now and getting us another disc of "House" to watch from Blockbuster. So, that will be a good end to our night. We really like that show. Now that we're all caught up on "24" "House" is our new show we're into. It's fun.

Have a great night, ladies! Love you all!

Thank you, again, ladies for all of your advice and support. I had my echocardiogram this morning so should hear in a week or two what's going on with that. I'm not expecting to hear anything surprising. I guess if this comes back normal (except for the mitral valve stuff we already know about) then I will just wait until my physical in August and talk to my PCP about it. I truly respect and admire her so really just would like to chat with her about it and get her 2 cents. And now that all these tests have been done, she'll be able to go over them all with me and tell me what things to watch for and what things are nothing to worry about whatsoever. Until then, I will just watch my caffiene intake and try keeping a really good diary of my symptoms. But, I will keep you posted on the results.

On another note, I have been going back and forth on my tummy tuck for quite some time now. I have it scheduled for May and I am really excited about it. It was kind of one of those things that we were going to do as a surgery just for me. After all the other ones, this was going to be one that I was doing for me. Something I've wanted for a long time. Well, we have the money set aside and now, the responsible side of me, is thinking it's a lot of money to spend on me. My dh says to do whatever makes me happy. Either way, he's on board. He does not make me feel guilty for wanting to spend money on this, nor does he make me feel like I need the tummy tuck. So, he is fabulous. I am just making myself crazy. I know this is something we set this money aside for and now as we get closer I worry that we could be doing something more responsible with it. I don't know. I think I just worry about spending it all for me. Weird, I usually love shopping for me!!! ha ha! So, today I got a great idea! I dont' know why I hadn't thought of this before. We have a health savings account that is funded by my dh's work. We can use it for any medical related expense, even those not included in our deductible. So, I'm thinking that if we use one of those medical financing plans we could finance the tummy tuck and make monthly payments from the HSA. Then, we could set the tummy tuck money aside in case we ever needed it for other things. That way we are accessing the medical money that is just sitting there waiting to be used but still have money set aside in case we need it for actual needed medical expenses. I'm thinking we would only use about half the money each month that was put in the account, leaving the other half for regular medical bills, etc. In a normal year (not counting last year with my surgeries) we wouldn't come close to meeting the deductible. But, if something came up and we needed to, we would still have the original tummy tuck money there to use for that. Sounds good to me. That really is helping me feel more like the tummy tuck is a good thing and a responsible (financially) thing, as well. Does any of this make sense? I don't know if I'm explaining it well on here. Basically, use the HSA money that is being given to us by dh's company for the TT, and use our own money for regular medical bills that exceed our leftover HSA money. So, I am feeling a lot better about it now. Now, we just have to get the financing and approval. Hopefully, we can for the full amount of the surgery.

You ladies are awesome! Have a great night!

Well, it sure has been a while. Sorry. I went to Dallas last week and we had a wonderful time. It was a really fun trip and the conference was awesome!!! Our flight from Dallas to Chicago was delayed which meant we missed our connecting flight and instead of getting home at 7:30pm we didn't get home until after midnight. The boys were pretty bummed not to be able to pick me up at the airport, but other than that, the trip was perfect. We're actually going to go back in a couple weeks with some of our vocal team at church so they can see this church too and hopefully we'll get some good staging ideas, etc. So, the end of March we're going back. I'm really looking forward to it.

I haven't had any more bowel issues, so hopefully that was just from the food I had eaten.

I go in tomorrow morning for an echocardiogram. The holter monitor didn't show anything conclusive and I'm not sure I'm ok with that. I am scheduled for an echo this year anyways, but instead of waiting until my physical in August we're going ahead with it now. I'm glad for that. I'll let you know what they find out there too. I'm hoping nothing, but a part of me is hoping they find something so we can figure out why I'm getting dizzy. It happened again last night. I don't like that feeling. I either feel like I'm having a heart attack, panic attack or that I'm just going to be sick or pass out. And I wasn't doing anything. I was laying on the couch watching tv. So, who knows? I'll keep you posted.

Have a great day, ladies! Love you all!

Hey ladies,

Well, I had a really embarressing issue arise yesterday. I had some bowel incontinence. Yikes! Not major, but what is that about??? I'm hoping it was just something I ate that didn't agree with my system or something. But, I was mortified. Luckily I was home and it was morning before anyone was up yet. But, still. I couldn't have been more embarressed! I think I'll just see what happens before calling the dr. about it. I'm really hoping it was a one time thing.

I'm leaving this afternoon for Dallas. There is a conference there that I am going to for my church. It should be a lot of fun! I'm a little nervous, only for what happened yesterday. I'm really hoping I have no more issues!!! I will be back Friday night. So, a short trip, but it should be good.

The dr. office called today with my heart monitor results. They said overall it all looked normal. There were a couple times when my heart raced and a couple times when my heart had an extra beat, but they didn't think anything of it. I hate that. Why wouldn't you think anything of it? So, I told the girl that now I was really confused. Why would my bloodwork and heart monitor come back normal if there's nothing wrong? I don't see my PCP until August for my physical and I know I'm due for an echocardiogram this year (I get them every 3 years) so she said they would just schedule that right away instead of waiting until August to even get it scheduled. So, they should be calling me when I get back to let me know when I go for that. I really hope that brings some answers. Not that I want something to be wrong with my heart, but I just want some answers. It's frusterating to have people tell you you're fine when you're not. If I could just get a solid answer as to why I get lightheaded so often that would be good.

Ladies, have a wonderful rest of the week!

We left Friday after my mom got home from work. We dropped the kids off at their house and the plan was for them to take them out to dinner and go back to our house. The boys have never slept over anywhere. They tried once (at Gram and Gramps) and ended up back at our house at 11pm. They ended up staying over at Gram and Gramps both nights!!! They are getting so big and brave! They loved it. They sure felt big! Gram and Gramps took them to the Children's Museum and out to eat a lot! They love hanging out with them. My dh and I went downtown to the hotel after dropping them off. We checked in and registered for the conference. The conference started at 7pm and we got there about 6. So, we didn't really have time to eat dinner by the time we got things to our room and registered, etc. Our room was really cold so we cranked the heat and we thought we would check out the conference. It was really good. But, we have a really strong marriage and didn't think it was something we really, really needed this weekend. We figured with 2 little ones this is such a rare thing for us to get out for a weekend ourselves so we should take full advantage and do fun stuff just for us. So, we left the seminar at about 9pm on Friday (it was scheduled until 10) and went upstairs to drop our books off in our room. Our room was still cold. So, we called down to the front desk and asked them to check it out while we went to dinner down in the sports bar downstairs and got burgers. They sent someone right up. We got back and didn't notice we had a message on the phone. The room still felt cold, but we thought maybe they had just left and it would take a little bit to get warm. So, we waited a while and watched a movie. It wasn't until we turned the lights off that we noticed the phone blinking with a message for us. It was the front desk. They were unable to fix the heat and wanted to switch our room. They sent someone up with our key and to help with our bags. They upgraded our room (it was bigger, up on the 17th floor with a 180 degree view of the city) and gave us breakfast vouchers! I thought that was way worth it! It really was no hassle.

Saturday we woke up about 9. (that was fabulous- I'm always up at about 6:30!) We leisurely got up and got ready then had breakfast at one of the restaurants downstairs. I had eggs benedict. Then, we went shopping (some of my kind of stores and some of my dh's) We went to a movie and then had reservations at my favorite restaurant for dinner. We had the conceirge at the hotel make reservations for us and that was well worth it. The restaurant had menus that were personalized to us ("Our staff, and so and so at the Amway Hotel, welcomes "our names&quot So cool! And then we realized the ours was the only table with fresh flowers on it. And we got a free dessert! I guess it pays to use those conceirges!!! We went back to the hotel and watched another movie.

Sunday we got up and had breakfast downstairs again. I had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream (my favorite!!!) and then checked out. We picked up the boys at my mom's and went to church. Then grabbed lunch and went to small group.

It was a fabulous weekend!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too. Love you all!

Tomorrow morning we have a babysitter coming to watch my boys and my nephew. We are going to the funeral for my friend's step dad. I don't think I told you what happened. He was only 53 and died unexpectedly. So sad. He hadn't been feeling good for a couple weeks and had a headache. Then, while on vacation he started throwing up (for about 2 days). They just thought he had the flu. In the middle of the night one night he had a seizure and never regained consciousness. They had been waiting and waiting to hear from the hospital on a cause of death (one couldn't be determined before his wife came back to MI) and they just heard tonight. There really is no definitive cause. They just said the seizure blocked oxygen to the brain for too long. They were initially thinking that he had an annurisym (sp) or brain tumor that they weren't aware of, but that didn't turn out to be the case. So, there was nothing he could have done preventatively or anything. He had just had a physical (he's a pilot so gets those regularly) and he was in good health. He ran everyday. Isn't that weird. It seems like you hear more and more about seemingly healthy people dying unexpectedly- you know, the ones that eat all the right foods, exercise, see their doctors, etc. Weird. My friend is doing ok. And her mom is just in complete shock still. So, she is just coasting through all of this. It must be so surreal. I can't even imagine.

My dh and I will be gone this weekend. We are going to still be in town- just away for ourselves. There is a marriage conference in town is at one of the nicer hotels in the city so we signed up for that. If the conference is a snooze-fest, at least we got a good rate on the hotel room and we'll go do our own thing this weekend. I'll let you know when we get back how much of the conference we actually go to. I'm hopeful that some of it will be good and worth going to. But, we'll see. We're both ok with going or not going. We'll see how we feel this weekend.

So, I will talk to all you ladies next week. Have a great weekend!

I returned the monitor yesterday afternoon. It sure was nice to take that thing off and get a nice hot shower. I scrubbed and scrubbed and still have some sticky on me from where they were attached! Yuck! I keep picking at it all trying to get it all off. I was red when I got out of the shower and my skin hurt from all the rubbing I was doing. I may need to get some alcohol or something to help get the rest off.

My dr. office called and all my bloodwork came back normal. (which I expected) I am staying on the iron for a while, though. My CBC was in the normal range and my iron was in the low side of normal. So, I'm going to stay on the iron for 3 more months. Then, we'll recheck everything and go from there. In my bloodwork they also checked for Hep C and HIV since I had a blood transfusion. Those came back negative- thankfully! I didn't expect any differently, but still glad to hear confirmation. I will get that check at my 6 mo. mark and also again at 1 yr.

My dh and I had our date night last night. We went to a really great fondu restaurant. It was so much fun! I had been there one time with some girls but it was his first time. It was so delicious. Four course: 1- Cheese with apples, veggies, and breads. 2- Salad. 3- Entree: We had filet, seasoned steak of some sort, chicken, seasoned chicken, shrimp, lobster tail, ravioli. 4- Chocolate with strawberries, bananas, pineapple, brownie, pound cake, cheesecake, oreo crusted marshmallows and graham cracker crusted marshmallows. Yum!!! It was all so good. And what a cool, different dinner. It was definitely a splurge, but well worth it once in a while. It really felt like a nice "date". Then, we had dance class. Fun again! It was review night and last week was cancelled because of the snow so it was good. Honestly, some of the things I didn't even remember learning! Ha! So, it was a good night.

I have to babysit tonight for a friend's 1 yr old. Their step dad passed away unexpectedly last week and they have the visitation tonight. So, I'm going to watch the baby so they can go there the whole time. She doesn't know me at all, so I hope she does ok. I think it will be fine. I go at 6:15 and they said she goes to bed at 7 or 7:30. So, should be really easy. I'm sure I'll get to just read or watch some tv most of the night. This couple is in our small group from church. They are a very special couple to us so we want to help in any way that we can. We'll be going to the visitation tomorrow night and the funeral Friday morning.

This weekend my dh and I are getting away for the weekend. We've had it on the calendar for almost 6 months. We arent going out of town, just getting a weekend away. Should be good. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with him without thinking kid's schedules and just focusing on and doing what WE want!!! Yea!!! My parents are coming to stay at our house with the boys. They almost forgot! Yikes! I mentioned it to my mom this past weekend and she looked like a deer in the headlights! I reminded her that I asked her at least in September if not earlier so she should have it on her calendar. And she says to me, "I dont have a 2007 calendar in September!" like it was my fault that she forgot!!! Anyways, they are going to do it. I'm glad they were available. They have plans to go away themselves the following weekend. Good thing we didn't plan those the same weekends. We would have been stuck without a babysitter! Ahhh!!!

Have a great day sisters!

First, I have to just say that you ladies are the best. The encouragement that I've gotten from you for this little heart monitor that I have to wear for just this one day- is amazing!!! Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and support!

Well, I did end up wearing the fleece to church last night. I don't think one person even thought anything about it. And I was nice and warm! The monitor really isn't that bad. Sleeping went good last night. I had a bit of tossing and turning and it was a bugger not sleeping in my normal position, but I was tired, so not a huge deal. I just put the little box part next to me on the bed and if I needed to roll over I just grabbed it and put it on the other side of me. Not as bad as I imagined. So, that's really good! I have to wear it today until 3:00pm. Then, I can take it off. I will then jump in the shower. We have a babysitter coming at 4pm today. It's our date night so we're doing Valentine's tonight instead of tomorrow. We have reservations at a fun fondu restaurant and then our dance class. We have to leave so early because I have to return my heart monitor before 5 and it's a 30 minute drive away and only about 5 minutes away from the restaurant we are going to. So, we called the babysitter and are having her come in time for us to go out there to return it and not have to come back home then all the way out there again. So, we'll have a nice long time out this evening. Should be fun! I will keep you updated as I hear any results from this test. It may take a little while until I hear back, but I'll let you know what they find. I have been a little dizzy so that's good. I can't say I've had any big dizzy spells, but at least some lightheadedness, so that's something, I guess. Weird to want do feel dizzy, but if it can help pinpoint what's going on, that would be great.

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

I got the heart monitor this afternoon. It's not too bad. Sleeping may be an issue tonight, though. I look like the bionic woman when it's not all covered up. (You should have seen the kids eyes when I came home and lifted up my shirt so they could see! So cute!!!) I have 7 electrodes stuck to my chest- 3 going across the top of my chest (right, middle, left) and then 2 under each breast. Each one has a different color wire and all the wires are hooked to a small box. The box is about the size of a cassette. It goes into a little pouch and it can go on my belt or a belt that they provided. I can't shower with it on. But, only have to wear it until tomorrow afternoon- 24 hours. Then, I just take it off and drop it back off to the place I got it. They will then read the results and send them to my dr. It's not uncomfortable, but I'm just wondering about sleeping with all these wires and having to have that box thing by me somehow. I'm kind of a crazy sleeper so it may be a long night. But, we'll see. I'm hoping for the best. Not stressing over any of it. No point! (I don't stress too easily). The only thing I can really even feel right now is the stickers from the electrodes under my breasts. It just feels like my kids put stickers all over me! So, not a bother otherwise. I'm just wearing a big fleece zip up so you can't really notice it. I have a tight shirt underneath which is keeping all the wires in place so they aren't dangling around- they taped them all to me at the dr. but that was way uncomfortable! So I took the tape off and am using a my shirt to just keep them in place. I have to go teach a class at church tonight and didn't really want to wear something so frumpy, but we'll see what I can find that will conceal the monitor but still look nice. Who knows? Maybe I'll be in the fleece! It's a casual class with only a few people in it, but I just like to wear something a little more dress/casual since I'm teaching. Everyone who comes will probably be in jeans, sweatshirts, etc. So, no big deal. It's just not how I like to look when I'm teaching. I could easily show up in the casual stuff I'm wearing right now and no one would bat an eye. So, I just might need to. I think I'll at least go check my closet and see what I might be able to come up with before resorting to that. Ha!!!

Talk to you sisters later! Love you all!

I go to the heart place today to get my holter monitor. I will have to wear it for 24 hours. I hope it's not too bad. I don't think it will be. It sounds pretty easy to manage. And I think I can handle 24 hours. I'm hoping I get another dizzy spell(s) like I've gotten before so that we can see if it's heart related. If I don't and this shows nothing, I dont know if they'll have me wear it for longer or just have me watch and see. So, I'll let you know how it goes.

On another note... we took my dog to the vet last week for a regular checkup. While there and holding her my dh felt a bump on her side. So, we had the vet look at it too. It's small (about the size of a bb). It's hard and it moves around. The vet thought maybe it was her microchip migrating. So, she brought in the scanner and her chip was where it was supposed to be. So, that wasn't it. She wondered if we had any mean neighbors that would do something like shoot her with a bb gun. But, no. Nothing like that. We live in a neighborhood and our neighbors are nice. And she's not out unsupervised long enough for something like that to happen anyways. So, it makes me nervous. We had a dog before we had kids that at the age of 3 developed bone cancer and had to be put down. So sad. So, I'm worried that it's something like that. It's unlikely with her being so young but we've had personal experience with that so it makes me nervous. The vet said we could wait and see (seems to be a theme with drs), try and get cells from it and see if that tells us anything (which it may or may not), or remove it. I'm leaning toward removing it just because it's so little and isn't causing her any problems so far. So, God forbid, if it was something like cancer we could catch it before it spreads. The vet gave us an estimate on the 2 options and the removal is not expensive (relatively speaking) but my dh wants to wait and see. I don't like the wait and see game. I want guarantees that she's ok, ya know??? And the removal would be an outpatient procedure so she would be home that same night. I'll keep you updated as we decide things.

I called the dr. office this morning about my dizziness. They wanted to see me and could get me in in 30 minutes with the PA. I knew there was no way I was going to get into see my dr. She is always booked solid. The PA is really nice and he's done a great job with the boys when they've been sick. I trust him, too. I was still in my jammies (so were the boys) so I hurried to get everyone ready and out the door. We made it! And we got right in. I've had dizzy symptoms before and I can't attribute it to anything. There is no activity or food or anything that I can associate with it. So, the drs are always confused and unsure of what is causing it. I haven't had these dizzy spells in a while, and especially not one so severe. So, hadn't really looked into it much. But, now they seem to be coming back again more often. He ordered blood work to check for anemia (I'm on an iron supplement since I was anemic after my surgery) but he doesn't think that was it. He said it could be vision migraines (even without a headache). He said to see if they get worse and if any headaches do accompany it. He also did an EKG and that looked normal. Since I've had an MRI and I get regular (every 3 yr) echocardiograms he didn't feel it necessary to continue that. He did order me to get a 24 hour halter monitor to monitor my heart for 24 hours to see if I have an arrythmia (sp). So, I'll be getting that on Monday afternoon. He wasn't hugely concerned but I'm glad that he's ordering things to get it checked out and not just telling me it's probably nothing and just to keep an eye on it. That makes me feel better. At least if I know it's nothing I can be reassured that we've checked and it's nothing serious. He said if the 24 hr monitor doesn't show anything (because of how sporatic my dizziness is- I may not get it in those 24 hrs) he said they can have me wear one for 30 days. Although, that seems like overkill at this point. So, we'll start with 24 hrs. and go from there. So, that's where we're at. I already feel better knowing that things are in motion for figuring this thing out.

Feeling lazy today. Don't think we'll do school today (or maybe just a little bit- we'll see how the Spirit moves later) The boys are enjoying some tv right now while my nephew sleeps. I'm sure I'll be napping today when they do. I had a weird night last night. I just felt "off". I don't know if it was me reading an article on women's heart health in a magazine yesterday and making myself have those symptoms, or what! I felt dizzy (light headed/fainting type- not actually fainting, though), had some weird vision things (just kind of blurry), and then some weird pains. They were very intermintent and all over. Mostly in my stomach. And all day yesterday I had a strange aching in my lower back (I was thinking where my kidneys would be). I'm not sure if I was getting myself more nervous thinking about it and working my body up more or if all the symptoms were true. I'll probably call my dr. today just to see what they say. I have a nagging feeling (and always have) that I will have a heart attack some day. I know that's morbid, but it's in my gut, ya know. I'm so young so I know it's not probable. I have a small heart murmur with mitral valve prolapse (the kind that requires antibiotics with invasive procedures and dental work) and my dr. has me get an echocardiogram every few years. I've also had an MRI for some strange headaches I've had, but that was at least 5 or more years ago. When that came back normal my headaches and associated symptoms stopped. I really think that the knowledge that I was ok really helped. I stopped working myself up when I'd get a headache and therefore it would go away instead of getting worse. So, I sometimes wonder when I have these dizzy symptoms if it's not the same type of thing. Nothing major but I get myself all nervous and my body responds by feeling worse. Who knows.

We are going out tonight with my mom and dad to dinner and then to see a Christian comedian. My dh and I saw him a year or two ago and he was hilarious!!! So, we are really looking forward to it!

Have a great day!

My nephew didn't come at all yesterday. So, I had a day off. My brother did get his furnace fixed so that's good, but my sil had gone to her mom's and so her mom just offered to watch him for the day. So, we went and met my mom and dad (he's a teacher- so had the day off!) for lunch. The roads were ridiculous! But, we made it. We just went really slow! We had fun and it was nice to get out of the house.

My dh and I didn't have dance class so we just went to dinner and did a little shopping. Then, we came home and vegged in front of the tv. We like that. It's relaxing.

We did have another good day with the boys and I think I'm off to another one. My nephew is sleeping, 3 yo is playing nicely by himself, 5 yo is working on some school, so while they are all occupied I'm updating my journal. After my 5 yo is done, we'll probably do some reading and watch an educational video. I got some from our local PBS station that is getting rid of all their VHS inventory for $5/each. So, I just got about 5 of those. And each one has between 4-8 segments of instruction on them. Then, we will bake an apple cake. Apples were on sale this week so we have lots to use up!

Well, my 5 yo is done with his worksheet so I need to get him going on something else. Talk to you later, sisters! Love you all!

Hey Luvzdogz- how are you?? I have been wondering about you? It was so nice to hear from you.

All the schools are still closed around here, which means no dance class tonight. We meet in a school gym and if the school is closed, dance is cancelled. We will still go out. (We have a babysitter lined up- we might as well!) We might see if she can come a little earlier. She can't come until 6:45 because she has tennis lessons, but I'm thinking those are probably cancelled too. I'll call her later and see.

My nephew isn't here yet. He's usually here at 7am and it's 8. My sil called and said that their furnace went out last night just before midnight! Brrrr!!! So, they spent the night at her dad's house. So, now my brother is trying to fix the furnace. She wasn't going back there with my nephew until it was fixed and she wasn't going in to work until she could get home and get ready. So, he'll probably come later today (at least we hope so- that means the furnace got fixed). So, a little bit of a different day here today.

Did I mention that my kids and I came down with the cold that my nephew had last week? Me and my 5 yo got it on Thursday night. I took Airborne and I gave my ds Zicam. We had both but had never used either. My ds likes that Zicam that melts in your mouth and I would rather drink airborne. So, we tried 2 different methods of knocking the cold out before it could get really bad. Mine worked. Not my 5 yo. By Saturday, I was fine!!! Friday was a full blown, yucky cold. I took the airborne every three hours like it said and by Saturday I was fine! Airborne is amazing. My dh started feeling it a little after I did and he started Airborne too and he never really got it. My 5 yo still has it. It's just a stuffy/runny nose and then a cough (but mostly just at night). So, during the day he does pretty good. And at night I give him cough medicine, but in the middle of the night he needs more because he can't stop coughing. Poor thing. Now my 3 yo is starting with the runny nose and a little cough. He doesn't like the airborne, so good luck getting him to drink a glass of that every 3 hours! Hopefully, he won't get it too badly.

Yesterday I had such a good day with the kids. And it was all in how I handled things and paid attention to them and not my things I wanted to do. We did school (we homeschool) and my 3 yo wanted to "do school" too so we let him do some coloring, reading and a game with us about safety in the kitchen. Then, he played while I finished with my 5 yo. After school we baked some bread together, played with blocks, played games, did computer games, made lunch. Then, we are learning about serving others this month and they picked up my nephew's toys even though they never even played with them so they could serve him! It was so cute. So, then we had to do some art projects so we could make a sign to hang on the wall that we will put stickers on each time I "catch" them serving in some way.

Well, I should go so I can have another one of those good days with my boys. Have a great day, sisters!

Well, it's officially a blizzard here. It's all of 10 degrees outside and there are inches and inches of fluffy white snow on the ground. It really is pretty if you can look at it from the comfort of your heated home. Driving in it is not a good idea. It all started Friday night. Saturday everything was closed or cancelled. We were supposed to go to see "Clifford the Big Red Dog Live on Stage" on Saturday afternoon, but it's a 45 minute drive when the weather is good. So, there was no way we were going. The boys took the news rather well, which kind of surprised me. The police were even shutting down highways, etc. because of accidents. So, we really should not have been driving anyways. The highways were the worst too. The wind is so strong lately and the snow is so light and fluffy that it makes white-out conditions. Not good. We did take the boys out to breakfast yesterday morning just down the road a couple miles and to the grocery store right next door to that and that was enough driving for the day. My parents came over last night for dinner (they don't live far and have 4 wheel drive) and then played with the boys. We then played games with them after the boys were asleep. It was a lot of fun.

Today we had church. Most churches in the area were cancelled due to the weather, but we have never cancelled a Sunday morning service. So, away we went. Luckily, church is literally across the street. There weren't a ton of people there this morning, maybe half of usual. Then, we cancelled our family service that follows our regular services and our youth services that meet in the evening. My dh and I also cancelled our small group Bible study that was supposed to meet at our house in the afternoon. Everyone lives really close, but we had lots of babysitters cancel because they didn't want to drive there. Don't blame them one bit. So, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. The house was clean because we were planning on having small group. So, we just napped and played. Then we went to my parents for the SuperBowl. Driving there was a nightmare. They only live about 5 miles away but it was sheer white. I couldn't see more than a car length ahead and couldn't tell if I was on or off the road. The problem was that everything was so white you couldn't see the edge of the road so you didn't know if you were on or off. And when someone would drive by they would make a cloud of white snow/dust that would make it impossible to see anything. Scary. Driving home was no big deal at all. When it was dark it was actually easier to see! There was contrast between the sky and the road and you could see where you were going. Also, there wasn't anyone on the road so there was no blowing snow to block your view. Much better.

There are already schools that have cancelled classes for tomorrow. My dad is a teacher so he can just relax and enjoy sleeping in tomorrow. So nice! The winter storm warning has now expired so now it's just dig out time!!! Luckily we hire a plow service to do our driveway, but our neighbors were stuck in today. Their snowblower stopped working and the snow drifted about as high as their cars across their driveways! Yikes! So, now we just have the cold temps to deal with. It's supposed to get colder yet right now. But, I'm not sure if more snow is expected.

I hope the rest of you are staying warm!

Well, not much new going on here, but I am trying to stay updating as much as possible.

Pretty normal day today except that my nephew (who has a huge, full blown cold) was here and I was trying to keep my 2 boys away from him while keeping them all entertained! I kept the little one out of the downstairs and the boys played down there all morning while I occupied the baby on the main floor. After nap time the boys were not into being down there anymore, so I let them all be together on the main floor. Hope my boys don't catch it.

We went sledding this afternoon. It was a first for the boys. They had so much fun! The 3 yo was nervous and only went down 1 time then we had to go trudging through the snow (which he thought was sooo much fun!). My 5 yo LOVED it!!! He and me (or my dh) would slide down and climb up the big hill. I didn't walk on the treadmill today knowing we were going here and it would be a good workout in and of itself. I was right! Then right before we left, the 3 yo decided he wanted to go down one more time. They were so cute. Then we grabbed some Chinese for dinner. (I know, not quite on our plan- but we were running out of time).

Have a great night, sisters!

I have been so tired lately. I am on an iron supplement for being anemic after my last surgery. It's a 21 day on and 7 days off regimen. I had some samples that my dr. gave me before filling my prescription (maybe 12 pills or so) and then started the 21 day cycle. I made it go 23 or 24 days (by starting the next pack) so that I could be off for 7 days while on vacation. Then, I started back up when I got home. I am so tired, though. And my tummy hurts sometimes again. Do you think this is normal? I am about 9-10 weeks post op. Could I just be recovering from a high energy vacation? Could this be the anemia still? Could this be normal for post op yet? I'm not sure what to think. I was feeling really good before vacation. Now, I can't keep my eyes open. I sleep at least 8 hours a night and I take about an hour nap almost every day. (Didn't do that on vacation) I'm not sure what to think. I keep telling myself that it's from vacation and probably still a little post op stuff. I hope that's all. I feel like my 3 yo that is still sleeping a lot after vacation without any naps! Ha!

My dh and I had dance class last night. We are doing the foxtrot now. We missed last week while we were in FL, so we were behind last night. But, we caught on quickly and were up to par in no time! My dh is doing really good. He's getting it. We still laugh a lot, but we're doing good. We were talking about an Oprah episode that I saw while walking today (I record it- so it was one from last week) and she was talking about 5 words that describe your marriage. Dh and I are trying to save money so instead of going to dinner before dance last night, we just got coffee. While having coffee we talked about the 5 words that describe our marriage. We each wrote down our own words and then shared with each other. It was cool. All of our words were positive! It was awesome! We used words like happy, good, fun, supportive, comfortable (in a good way), relaxing, committed, focused.

We are going to have lunch with dh and my mil to show her some Disney pictures. Should be fun. My nephew has a yucky cold. I'm hoping none of us get it! Here's to hand sanitizer!

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

We are back! Boy, I missed you ladies! I was thinking about you while I was down there. And thought of many of you as we rode the rides you recommended and told me were your favorites. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to ramble on a little about the vacation (for my own journaling memories) so if you aren't interested in all the gritty details hop to the bottom!

We left Friday morning. Got to the airport and through security (which isn't an issue where we live- it's a little airport). Got onto the plane. The boys did amazing! They were pretty indifferent which I was surprised at. I thought they would be all into it. It was interesting and cool for a little bit, but then they got bored. Not in a bad way, just not as excited as mom! I am just like my dad. We both love flying and could just sit at an airport and watch the planes take off and land all day! So, while I was super excited and pointing out every plane that moved, the rest of the gang was content to just hang out! The boys did amazing the whole plane ride. There was a little girl about 2 or 3 yo in front of us that screamed at least half the plane ride! Yikes! I felt bad for her parents! So glad my boys didn't do that! They were little angels! (As always!) Got off the plane and found our luggage almost immediately. Went outside and there was the shuttle for the rental car. Didn't have to wait or call for the shuttle. Got to the rental car place and our car was waiting and ready. No hassles whatsoever! Found the hotel with no problems! What a great day of travel!

Our hotel was beautiful! We stayed off Disney property so we could have a 2 bedroom suite where the kids could have their own bedroom and we could still watch tv after they went to bed. It was really nice. We had a full kitchen and living room and 2 bathrooms. They served a full, hot breakfast buffet every day, too! It was so yummy. The boys had Mickey Mouse shaped waffles every morning! Gotta love vacation! The hotel had a pool, hot tub, game room, everything you could ever want! I was so impressed.

Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom. Wow!!! So fun! The boys (and us) had a blast! It was sunny and in the high 60's so perfect park weather. No one was too hot or too cold! Perfect! We did the Dumbo ride, It's a small world, Peter Pan, the carousel, Mickey's Philharmagic 3D movie, Winnie the Pooh ride, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, teacups, Goofy's rollercoaster, Buzz Lightyear ride, Astro Orbiter, Jungle cruise. We had lunch at the Crystal Palace and ate with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. We met so many characters- Buzz Lightyear being the highlight! We went back to the hotel and ate McDonald's and it was bedtime.

Sunday it was in the low 80's so we took advantage of that and went to the water park, Blizzard Beach. They had a great kid's section. Small versions of the big rides. They even had a kid's tube slide and body slides. The boys loved it. We checked out the adult part for a little bit, but most of the rides on that side are pretty extreme and the little ones couldn't do them. We did the lazy river, but there is one part that you get wet (there was no getting around it) and the boys didn't like getting water in their faces. And the lazy river was cold! We went to Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney for dinner that night.

Monday we went to Animal Kingdom. My camera's battery died just as we started the safari! Darn! And this was the first day I didn't bring the extra camera stuff along so needless to say I didn't get any good pictures at that park. The safari was amazing! The animals were all out and so close! Cool! The smaller kids section of Animal Kingdom is fun! They have a dinosaur ride (just like the Dumbo ride) and a bunch of carnival games that you can win stuffed animals. The boys each one one and my 3 yo won 2! They had so much fun there! We ate at the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. And we got Chinese takeout back at the hotel for dinner.

Tuesday we went to Epcot. We went to the Imagination section and rode the ride with Figment the dragon as the tour guide. He brings you on a ride where all 5 senses get used. As one point he sprays you with a skunk spray and you can really smell it. It was really gross, but really cool. Then we were able to make pictures of ourselves and edit them to look funny, etc. and email them to friends. So, we sent some to Gram and Gramps. We took a boat ride and did the Finding Nemo stuff. We rode Spaceship Earth (I think that's the name- the one inside the big ball). We walked all through the countries of the World Showcase and tried foods from almost every country. The boys got musical instruments from Morrocco. They were loud, but they had so much fun that- who cares??? They met Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner.

Wednesday we went to MGM. I wasn't sure how much there would be for the little ones to do there, but wow- they had a blast. We met Donald Duck and Daisy. We hadn't found them yet and we saw them right away. We were first in line. We saw Playhouse Disney Live On Stage. Playhouse Disney is the preschool Disney channel so it was all their favorite tv characters. They also met Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars. They had actual cars painted like them and running. They were loud and we have pictures of the boys in front of them, plugging their ears and smiling! They love Cars! We saw the Indiana Jones stunt show and also the Extreme Stunt Show- Lights, Motors, Action! They were awesome! Again, the 3 yo plugged his ears for the whole show, but smiled the whole time! They loved it! Cars almost crashing and things blowing up- total boys! It couldn't have been cooler. My little one's favorite part was when the motorcycle driver actually caught on fire and they used fire extinguishers on the man! Did I mention- they are all boy??? That night we went to the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue. That was one of my personal highlights of the whole trip! It was so cool! So much fun! I was actually taken up on stage and was part of the show for a bit, so that was so cool!!!

Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. That was everyones favorite park so we thought we'd head back for one more day there before we headed home. We did all our favorite rides again and stayed for the fireworks that night. What a great end to our vacation! The fireworks are amazing! Our local 4th of July fireworks don't compare to that and they do that every night! So cool!!! You just can't compare to Disney!

Friday we headed home. The travel day was again uneventful- thankfully! My dad picked us up from the airport and we met my mom for dinner at the Olive Garden. Then, home to crash! It was nice to be home. Our poor doggie was so love starved! Poor girl! We had one of our babysitters stay here and take care of her, but I don't think she was here very much. Oh well, the dog is ok and will get lots of extra loving this week, I'm sure.

Saturday I had to get groceries. We had no food! I threw out (well, gave away) tons of food before we left. We are really trying to eat healthier. Not necessarily for dieting or weight reasons, more just for general health- although some weight loss wouldn't be a bad side effect. So we're using Dr. Mehmet Oz's book "You on a Diet" as a guide. So, out went anything with high fructose corn syrup, enriched flour, sugar, or chemical type stuff in the first 5 ingredients. I have been wanting to do this for a while. If I don't have it in the house it can't get into me and my family as easily. Now, I won't be so crazy worried about it when we go out, etc. But, I don't want it in my house anymore. And with our new budget we're starting this week, eating out isn't happening much. So, we'll be eating home a lot more and therefore eating more healthfully more often. Sounds like a good plan anyways. So, when I got groceries yesterday I made sure to stick to my plan with everything I bought. So, only real foods in my house right now. Yea! I've wanted this for a while!

It has been fun to read up on some of your journals. I still have more to read. But, I'm looking forward to it! I love you ladies! Have a great night! 's to you all!

Today was spent getting packed and cleaning the house- doing all the things necessary to get ready to leave the house for a week with a 3 and 5 yo and make sure everything's ready for the dog sitter here. I think we are just about there. A few things to do tonight. (Unfortunately my pedicure isn't happening) I will just have to paint my toenails tonight myself. Oh well, at least they'll still look pretty. We're going out to dinner so as not to mess up the just cleaned kitchen. My dh needs a haircut. And then we have to borrow some more luggage from my parents and finish packing tonight. Tomorrow, we'll wake up, pack up the toiletries we need in the morning, and off to the airport!!! Yea!!! We're so excited! Disney- here we come!!!

I will miss hearing from all of you as I won't have a computer down there. But, will check in when I get back in a week. Love to you all! Have a great week!

I just went back and re-read a lot of my journal. That is so fun to do sometimes. Ya know, it's really cool to see how far I've come. Just reading through the physical healing is great. But, what I really loved was the mental and emotional hurdles I've come through in just 8 weeks. It's amazing to see my online friends offering support and just to see how God has been working in my life. It's so cool to actually take the time to look back and see where we've been and how far we've come.

Last night my dh and I had our 2nd dance class. It was so fun, again! We did really good. We were laughing again for the whole hour, I think! So fun!!! We were just telling my sil about it and I think she was jealous. Her dh is kind of a jerk. So, I felt bad for her. It's like she was trying really hard to be happy for us (especially the part about us laughing together for a whole hour) but she just couldn't be. I hope she is happy with her dh. Everyone should be! We all deserve happiness.

Today I'm cleaning and doing laundry before we leave for vacation. I have a meeting at church tonight so am trying to get some stuff done today and then pack, etc. tomorrow. I also need to get a pedicure before we leave. That will probably have to happen tomorrow, though. I didnt shave this morning and don't feel like jumping in the shower just to do that. I will shave in the morning and go after my dh gets home from work.

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

Thanks for all your suggestions for the plane. I broke down and bought a portable DVD player. We've been talking about getting one and I found one for right around $100 including a case and battery. So, I thought that was a good deal. Now, we can bring movies and that will keep them good and entertained for a while. I also bought some of those crayola color wonder books and markers. They only draw on the paper that comes with it so they are mess-free. So, that will be good too in case they get bored watching a movie. (The 3yo usually does!) My 5 yo should be fine with the movie and the fact that we are on a HUGE FLYING MACHINE!!! It doesn't get better than machines for that one! So cute!

Well, I've got to go get ready. We need to pick up the babysitter in 20 minutes so we can get dinner and go to our 2nd dance class!!! Yea! I'm really looking forward to it! Talk to you all soon!

Have a great night! 's to you all!

We leave for Disney World this week!!! Woo Hoo!!! We are all so excited! I have a lot to do to get ready, but even that's fun! I'm a list girl, so I have lists all over! I keep adding to them as I think of things and crossing things off (which I love to do!) as I get some things done! I think I have everything purchased that we need. Now, I just need to make sure bills are paid, go to the bank, pack, clean the house and make sure all is set for the dog sitter. We leave Friday morning, so I have plenty of time to do all of it! We had a big storm overnight with ice and snow (it's about time, really. It's the middle of January and our first real snow!) Now, as long as it's not like this on Friday. It makes me nervous flying in snow. I've never done it and I don't really want to start! So far, the weather is calling for 40% chance of snow on Friday. But, we'll see what happens as we get closer.

The boys have never flown before so this should be so fun! The oldest is totally into machines, etc. so I think he'll love the plane! Just trying to find things to keep them occupied on the flight. It's nonstop which is nice. It will be about 2 1/2 hrs. I'm thinking books and colors of some sort. What other ideas do you ladies have for us? I am open to suggestions. Would love to hear what you've done and what's worked and what hasn't. This is new territory for us!

Hope you all are having a good Monday! 's to you all!

I can't begin to explain the peace I am feeling. I have had so many thoughts buzzing through my head lately. They all seemed so big and daunting, and yet seemed to almost contradict one another. I couldn't get my head around them all and it was one of the first times in my life that I didn't feel like I knew what was next for my and my family's lives. Well, yesterday I really felt like I was starting to get a handle on things. Yea! I've been trying to figure things out about the tummy tuck I have scheduled in May, debt, and also the lesson I learned from this past surgery about living life to it's fullest. I'm really learning that you never know how long you are going to have on this earth and you can't keep saying "Well, someday I'll do this or that" You don't know that you will have "someday". So, I was struggling with what to do next. We have a chunk of money set aside that we were going to use for the tummy tuck. Well, we've racked up a bit of debt (don't we always?) too. And now I'm struggling with using that money to take vacations and see the world while we are still able to do so. Well, I saw my Plastic Surgeon again yesterday and I had a big talk with him about everything. I also talked to a friend of mine on Wed. about everything too. When I got home from the PS my dh and I had (another) big talk. He truly is supportive of whatever I want to use this money for. So, I've decided to stick with my original plan of doing the tummy tuck in May. Then, we rearranged our budget so there isn't as much eating out, etc. and we can live only on my dh's 40 hr. a week. Then, any money I get from watching my nephew and any OT he gets (which is usually at least 4 hours a week and can be as much as 20 hr/week when they are busy) will go toward debt. Then, we will use our tax returns for vacations and fun "living life to the fullest" stuff. I just feel like we have a much better plan and that I have a handle now on all the different thoughts that have been racing through my head for the last month or two. What a relief. I really feel good about our decisions. And I really like the new budget that we made that lets us live only on my dh's 40 hr/week. That way, if someday we decide we dont want to watch my nephew (or they decide they dont need us anymore) we're not in a financial bind. That will just have been extra debt payoff money.

Thanks for listening, sisters. I know I can always count on you! Love you all!

Oh, dance class was so fun!!! We weren't the only younger ones in there which was nice (both of our parents have taken these kinds of classes so I figured it would be all middle aged/senior folks- which would have been fine, but we had a good laugh on the way thinking about how young we would look!) Although, you don't really even see the other people you're so worried about getting your own steps right. It was one hour and we learned a waltz. We will work on more of the waltz next Tuesday, then move on to something new every two weeks. I'm really looking forward to this! It was a great time of laughing (a lot!) and just being with my dh- touching and trying to both accomplish the same thing. He liked it, although I think he felt like he wasn't any good. Normal male fears I think. He did great! I keep telling him that and will continue to. It's good for his ego! (And it's true!) I think he's a little intimidated. I taught dance (ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop) for 11 years and have been dancing my whole life. This is completely different, but I think he's got some complex about that or something. He did so good, though! I'm having to really remind myself that the man leads in this. With my dance background and my strong leader personality, this will be good for me to turn the controls over to him. It will be good for both of us to have him leading- even if it's just dancing, still a good lesson for both of us. I am really looking forward to going again. And even practicing. It was so fun just being with my dh and holding each other, laughing and trying to remember what in the world we were supposed to do! Ha!

Have a great day, sisters! Love you all!

Pretty normal day today. My nephew is back. I took all 3 boys to the grocery store today. Not something I normally do, but just wanted to get out of the house- and we needed milk, so figured I'd just get everything while I was there. It actually went really good. They are all good boys so I didnt really expect any less. You just never know with 1,3 and 5 yo boys!

Tonight is date night for me and my dh. We are starting a ballroom dance class tonight through community ed. It should be fun. We've never done anything like this before and didn't know if my dh would be up to it. Although, he's pretty laid back and up for anything. So, here we go tonight! We've been trying to come up with different things to do on our date nights besides just dinner and a movie, or dinner and shopping. This is definitely different! I'm excited for it, though!

Have a great day, sisters! Love to you all!

Again, Thanks for your replies. Just to clarify- I wasn't trying to apologize for my faith. Although, reading through it again, I see it coming out that way. I agree with all of you that it is a huge part (the center) of my life and feel no need to apologize for it!

Today my nephew isn't here. My youngest got sick yesterday and my brother and sil didn't want to chance bringing my nephew over today. Although, I think my 2 boys are fine today. So, kind of a day off. I'm really concentrating on enjoying each moment. Finding the positive, keeping my cool. I'm trying to get my internet stuff done first thing so I can spend the rest of the day playing and doing kid stuff! I have a little addiction to my computer! Ha ha!!! You ladies are just too great!!!

I hope you all have a great day!

Went out with dh last night. Dinner and then a funeral. Not a great "date", per se, but we really had a good time at dinner. Lots of talking which we really needed. I have been so emotional lately and I needed to express why so he would understand better. Not only the sense of loss over my dr. but also I just have SO many things running through my head. This is the first time in my life that I've felt so not in control of where my life is headed next. I have about a million things in my head that I just can't seem to straighten out- thoughts about my future and that of my family. None need immediate attention, but it's driving me crazy that I can't come up with a clear cut answer for any of them. I know I will figure it all out with God's help. I want to do things His way, not mine. So, I need to spend more time listening to Him so He can tell me the answers and I can have peace about the things I'm thinking about.

I was listening to a song this morning called "Give it all away" and it could have been written straight from my heart. The words are:

"Search my heart, search my mind, search my soul,
Make me clean, make me new, make me whole.
All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before your feet,
All of my time, all that was mine, I now submit to your design,
'Cause you are the one, the only one who dared to give it all away for me,
You dared to give it all away for me."

So beautiful- and truly the cry of my heart! I love God so much and give Him my whole life. I know He can and will sort out the thoughts in my head and make my plans and dreams be as they are supposed to be if I give them to Him and let Him do so.

A verse in the Bible that keeps coming to my mind is in Jeremiah. It says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." I love that verse. It has been my mantra for the past year or so. I have such faith in my God. I know He wants good things for me, not bad. He promises me that in the Bible.

Didn't mean to start preaching. God is the center of my life so talk of Him is bound to come out in my journals. Thanks for listening. Have a great Saturday, sisters! Love to you all!

Thanks for all your kind replies to my last entry. I really appreciate being understood. I knew you ladies would be the only ones who truly would.

I have sent my wonderful dr. and the amazing nurses at the hospital gifts/flowers right after the surgery that saved my life. And I sent my dr. a long thank you note at Christmas explaining how much he means to me and how grateful I am for him. So, that's all done. He thanked me for it when I was in there yesterday and said it something he will keep and pull out on days that are bad to help pick him up. I'm so glad. That was the point behind it. I wanted it to be something he could look back on and be encouraged by. I did ask about him doing my yearly exams, but since he is a specialist, it's not really what he does. He really just works with specialized, more complicated cases. My PCP is fabulous and I love her! She is the one who referred me to this dr. and delivered both of my boys. So, I know she is well qualified and if there was ever reason in the future, she would send me back to him in a heartbeat. So, I guess, I'm just mourning the end of this chapter of my life. Thanks again for your quick responses. You are all wonderful! 's

I had my 6 week post op today. Everything went great. I am healed and the cervical cuff is closed and intact! Woo Hoo! I've been cleared for all activity!

I should be super happy about all of this, but on the way home I was so sad. I can't share this with anyone but the sisters and I don't even know if you all will understand. Here's what was making me so sad. I will not need to see that dr. again. I have such an amazing connection to him and it really made me sad to think that this was the end of our relationship. I even had to stop at McDonald's on the way home just to get a coffee and sit in my car and decompress before I got home. Didn't want my dh or kids to think mom had gone to the looney bin. Although, I felt like I had. I really needed to deal with those feelings then and there because if I didn't they would have gotten put on the back burner and I don't know if I would've ever let myself mourn that loss of relationship. I sat in the parking lot and cried! What is that??? I mean, I should be really happy that my body is physically healed and I'm doing great! But, I was sad! I'm dealing with it and realize this is all part of the process- being released back to your PCP- but I'm still very sad at the thought of never needing him again. He saved my life and now we're done! Weird! Anyways, like I said, if anyone is going to understand this, it's you ladies. Thanks for your listening and understanding.

I guess we've gotten busy. Well, I'm back for a moment today. When you start feeling well it's easy to stop coming here every day. I never believed it when people said that before. I thought, "How rude! This place got you through such tough times and now you abandon the site!". I guess, I'm doing it too. So, my apologies. I will do my best to continue coming here often and journaling and offering support to those who need it.

My dog is doing better. We took her bandage off yesterday and she did really good with it. We used the Bitter Apple spray for the first day or two and she didn't care. She would lick and chew right on it! Yuck! Pretty soon she just stopped. It was no longer new and interesting to her.

It's nice to be back in routine again. My nephew wasn't here at all last week so things were different. We did lots of stuff out of the house. It was really fun! Now, back to the normalness of life. I like that. Sometimes hard to get motivated after a week off, but we're getting there.

I have my 6 week checkup today. Can't wait to see my dr. He is wonderful! I'm thinking he'll ok me for intimacy with my dh. I hope so! I'm looking forward to that again! I love him so much!

Sisters, have a great day! Love to you all!