Boo. First off, I apologize once again that real life has gotten in the way. Every day I think "I really need to sit down and write on the blog" and then the day goes by and once again, I'm a little further behind. I last wrote on April 3, mad at JJ's dr. Well, on Tuesday he goes back to the dr, so we will see how his three weeks without milk and cheese has helped him (or not).
We finished the rest of that week with nothing extraordinary happening. I was still cleaning, going through boxes, shredding stuff, and throwing stuff out. JJ was out of school on April 6 (Good Friday), and it was a rainy day. We spent the day inside, hanging out, watching movies. Friday evening, I started feeling a bit achey, but I thought it was the weather, raw emotions, and having not done anything that day. Saturday, we woke up and decided to head to Golden Corral for breakfast. I was still semi-achey but had no fever. We got home, and I progressively felt worse. I put back on my pajamas and a sweatshirt, and pretty much vegged out the rest of the morning. Hubs and JJ decided to go outside to work on JJ riding his bike. He had only worked once before with Hubs and Grammie, and JJ still wasn't sure he wanted to be riding without training wheels at this point (I think it was in December.) Well, Saturday, April 7th, JJ was ready. They weren't outside very long at all before Hubs hollered for me to come out. So, I walk out as fast as my achey body will let me. And there is JJ riding around and around in our circle. He still needed help getting started, but even the few minutes while I was out there, JJ "got it" and started by himself as well. It totally helped that he was a bit too tall for the bike and could just put his feet down if he felt unsure at all. It helped give him the confidence because he wasn't falling over in the beginning. He and Daddy rode their bikes up and down the street most of the day.
I started running a fever and was pretty useless for anything. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was getting the flu, but I had gotten my flu shot in January. But I definitely had aches, fever, chills, hot flashes...and plain just being miserable. I was trying to drink lots of cold water to regulate my temperature because I just didn't know what I could take for a fever with my high blood pressure and the medication I am taking. I got through the weekend feeling awful. I tried to stay away from the boys because I wanted to get over my sickness and keep them from feeling as bad as I was feeling. My temp got as high as 102.4...I finally called Momma and asked her what I could take to help the fever. She told me the name of the medicine, and Monday morning, we all packed up and headed to walmart to find the medicine that I needed plus get cough drops. I couldn't find the medication I was looking for, so I went up to the pharmacy and noticed that it was behind the counter. I bought the medicine for flu and cold because it helped with aches, headaches, and fever. I kept taking the meds in the morning and in the evening. I believe it was Tuesday evening, I finally broke the fever. It was gross. I was all hot and sweaty, but my fever was only 99. I kept drinking the fluids and taking the meds. By Thursday, my temp was normal, but Hubs was now sick. I still had this awful cough; my chest hurt, my throat hurt...it was awful. Hubs and I pretty much grunted and groaned at each other all week. Thank goodness we knew what the other was trying to say. JJ was so confused.
I hated that we were sick all Spring Break. Thankfully, JJ never got sick. And he was able to go out and ride his bike on his own. Because Hubs and I were good for nothing parents.
So, between cleaning the week before and then being sick all spring break, I just stayed away from the blog. I didn't feel up to sitting in front of the laptop for any extended amount of time.
The end of spring break, Hubs and I received some news. It was good news, but the timing for us to receive this news wasn't good. It upset us both, and our emotions are raw anyway, so we have spent some time trying to not be so raw about the news. It's not our news to share, so I won't share :) (in other words, don't ask, LOL.) So, in dealing with my raw emotions, I took another week away from writing. I was afraid I would write something and feelings would get hurt, and I was truly of the mindset "Who cares if feelings are hurt? This is MY blog, and it's how I deal with stuff." It doesn't mean that I don't WANT to be happy for the news. But you just have to understand. You have to.
Hubs and I didn't get to make the trip over spring break, which turned out to be a blessing since we were both so sick. But in not making the trip, we were unable to see his family and have time to grieve with his parents. We had wanted to make the trip and have the time to properly grieve because I don't think everyone will be "over" the grieving part until this can be done. We had the chance to grieve with my Momma and Grandmutter and JJ because they were here the day we got the news. Then my parents came back up the next day. Hubs has talked to his parents over the phone, but a phone call isn't the same. Sometimes you just need to feel your Momma's arms around you and have a good cry. I am fully aware of this. We didn't want the first time we saw his parents to be the weekend that his brother gets married. I wanted that weekend to be a happy weekend. Even if it would be hard to put on a happy face, everyone deserves their own special day to be all about them. We are hoping to get to town early on Friday and send the kids to play so that we can have a few moments with his parents to grieve. We want to be able to spend the rest of the weekend surrounded in the happiness and love of adding a new Aleman to the family.
We got 2 more boxes off to goodwill this week. I have one more box almost full. We've moved JJ's bed back to his original room. We weren't able to make the trip to get the bed from SC. We bought a new vacuum cleaner the week before spring break, and during spring break, we vacuumed the living room. It was nasty. Hubs vacuums once a week, and the amount of stuff that our old cleaner wasn't picking up was just plain gross. Just from the living room, he had to empty the catch twice. Then he did the furniture and had to empty all of the cat hair. I am hoping we continue to notice a difference in JJ's breathing now that we have a vacuum that is REALLY picking up the dust and cat hair. We did JJ's room today, and again, gross. I wish we didn't have carpet. It would be so much easier to keep the dust and cat hair under control. One day....one day...
Hubs finally did hear from the job. He had to get a physical and a shot, and then had to wait for an appointment for a psych evaluation. Hoping that all goes well with that on Tuesday, he should hear back with a start date. Please pray that the results come back quickly so that he can start work soon.
I am still cleaning. :sigh: Not sure it will ever be done. But I feel good about what we've accomplished. We haven't done our Friday pizza/movie night in a few weeks because of sickness and being out of town. Today we are having our pizza and movie night. We will be watching New Moon. Girls, I know you are jealous that you don't have boys as awesome as I have. :)
Plus, when I am sick, they take such good care of me. Monday, I had an appointment to check my platelet count. They were up to 112k from 53k the previous visit!! I was very happy, as was Donald the lab guy. I saw the dr on Wednesday morning, and she was all "your counts are finally over 100...still not great, but better than they have been." Well, boo to your Ms. Blood dr. Donald and I were VERY happy with my numbers! So there. But on Wednesday afternoon, around the time that Hubs went to pick up JJ, I could feel a headache coming on. I got off of the computer, stayed away from the kindle, and tried to head the pain off before it became unbearable. (I am no stranger to migraines which I have unfortunately had since my pregnancy with JJ.) The migraine came on pretty quickly along with the getting sick because it was so bad. I was pretty much bedridden the rest of the afternoon except for running to the bathroom. I kept trying to come back to the living room to be with my boys, but I would run right back to the bathroom. Awful. I truly thought I might be dying. So, I prayed that I would feel better and no longer be in pain. and that I would be alive. I felt the need to add in that last part because you never know when God will give you exactly what you ask for but not what you were expecting. I sent the boys to dinner, and I went to sleep. The next think I knew, JJ was giving me hugs and kisses good night. I had been asleep from about 4:30 to 8:00pm. He brushed his teeth and then gave me more hugs and kisses because "Your head is broken, Momma and you have a migraine. I know you don't feel good, so I gave you extra hugs and kisses so that you will feel better!" And he proceeded to kiss me all over my face. I love my kid. Off to bed he went. I checked my alarm; it was set for 0645, and I went back to sleep. I ended up waking up about 1am, but really are you surprised? I had been sleeping since 4:30 in the afternoon!! I felt so much better, but boy was I thirsty. So, what do I do? I drink my diet mountain dew sitting on my dresser that I had poured earlier to try to keep the headache away. Because I thought it might be from not having any caffeine that day. I drank the whole glass. Then I drank a bottle of water and tried to go back to sleep. Nope. I tossed and turned until sometime after 4. And I lay there thinking "Why did I drink that mountain dew? I KNEW better than that!" Next thing I knew, I was waking up because Hubs alarm was going off. My alarm never went off. I sat up looking at my phone, feeling delirious. I was SURE that I had checked it and that it was set. I even pulled the alarm back up and it showed that 0645 was the time it would go off. At least I knew I wasn't completely crazy. Hubs got JJ ready for school, and I finally got out of bed. Hubs got us breakfast on the way home from taking JJ to school. I was so hungry! I lost 3 pounds the day before. I mean, I know I need to lose more weight, but that is NOT how I want to lose it! Later, I mentioned to Hubs about my alarm, and how I thought I was going crazy, and he told me he had turned it off before he went to bed. He wanted me to have a chance to sleep in, and he had planned to get up with JJ and get him showered, dressed, and ready for school. Have I mentioned I love my boys? They might make me think I am going crazy sometimes, but they always have the best of intentions :)
We had gotten a note home before spring break that awards day would be April 20th (today). JJ came home from school one day the week before his break, all excited because #1. his teacher told him he was above his AR goal and #2. his teacher told him that he had raised the most money in his class for the jump rope for heart, and he would be receiving an award and a gold medal. He.was.so.PUMPED. It's all he kept talking about. How he would get an AR (accelerated reading) award this awards day because he was above his goal (and he was...he was 174% of his goal for last nine weeks) and he would get to go to the AR party....and he would get an award and a medal for his jump rope for heart stuff. This week, we kept waiting to get a note letting us know what time the awards were being held, and we never received anything. But JJ kept talking about how he was getting an award because "Mrs. M told me." So this morning I went in to the office to ask, and it was at 8:30. I went back to the car to get Hubs, we signed in, and off we went to the cultural arts center. I told Hubs that JJ should be getting 2 awards, possibly only one because the prizes may not have come in yet for the jump rope....but that he had DEFINITELY reached the goal for the AR award. No. JJ didn't receive a single award. At least now we know why we were never told a time. Only the parents who have a child receiving an award are told what time to be there. But why would you make it a point to tell my child that he is ABOVE his goal if he is not going to receive the award. Now, I could care less about the piece of paper. I KNOW I have an awesome kid, and I know how well he is reading. But my awesome kid? That piece of paper means a lot to him. He wanted that affirmation that he was doing a good job with his reading, that he had met his goal, and he wanted his friends to know how well he was doing. I just wish the teacher wouldn't preach to the kids about reaching the goal and getting an award on awards day...because even if there was a mistake...it won't mean as much to JJ because he didn't get to go up in front of everyone and get the award. :sigh: End Rant.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Great Things Are Coming Up
Things have just been N.U.T.S. around the Aleman household. On top of interviews for Hubs, we've had dr. appointments, car servicing, and cleaning. Oh.The.Cleaning. We have been talking about getting our garage organized for a while now. It had been something in the plans to "be done by July." Then, with everything, we found ourselves putting it off. Well, Friday, we started on the garage. I feel so accomplished! All three shelving units are put together, and the pile that once was everywhere is now only in the very middle and is very small.
The trash went out last night, so that was awesome. Our trashcan was overflowing. And we had stuff beside the can. I'm anxious for the recycling to go out. That would be Thursday night though. Our bin is full, and we have a box full of broken down boxes, plus 5 huge boxes from the shelves and some of the boxes we have emptied. And I have two boxes in the living room that are going out with the recycling. One may go out the next week because I am using it to empty my shred stuff in as well. Needless to say-I am so pumped about the progress that we have made. We have a goodwill box started again, so I can start going through our clothes. I took picture of the train wreck that was our garage, and once we get it completely organized, I will take pictures again to share.
There was yarn hidden all over the garage. Not purposely hidden. Like, I didn't buy it, and then go and stash it somewhere so Hubs wouldn't know. No. It was in "project" bags, and when we had cleared out our guest room earlier in the year when we had company, it all got shoved where it would fit...and then was covered and got forgotten. Poor, poor yarn. LOL. I promise. I won't need to buy yarn for a good long time.
I found pictures everywhere. My plan is to get all of my candid shots scanned into the computer and saved on disks, and then use the original copies to make scrapbooks. (No worries-I have most of the supplies already. I'll just have to buy the actual scrapbook with each one that I do. And since it will probably be a long term project, I can buy one, work on it until it is finished, and then work on the next one. Then I won't have a bin with only pictures in it. Yes, that person is me. Anyone that scrapbooks wanna come and show me how? I've only done one, but I feel like I need someone to show me how to scrapbook to get the full use of my supplies.)
I also found a ton of wallet sized pictures of different family members and friends. I plan to do some sort of project to get them framed and hung on the wall. We are finally getting pictures hung, and that makes me very happy!
When the garage is finished, the next room I plan to tackle is JJ's. I need to pull everything out and dust from top to bottom...go through the toys and clothes (which is a never ending process!) Mostly, I just make sure that the toys are not broken...if they are, into the garbage they go. If the clothes don't fit, out of his room they go. I was getting him ready for school yesterday, and he told me his underwear were too tight. I was telling Hubs that we needed to buy him new underwear, and he asked if they were the right size. I didn't realize we had kept some of his old underwear when we bought his new underwear at the beginning of the school year. I promptly went through his underwear, got out THREE pairs that were too small, and made JJ put on a pair that fit. Then the small undies went into the garbage. That was easy.
I know we have a long way to go to be completely clutter-free and organized, but we are definitely on our way. And it helps that we are both on board. And we set our shredder up next to the desk instead of in a back bedroom or a corner that we never see. Now we can shred every day and empty it when needed instead of having a pile of shred stuff that we rarely take the time to sit down and shred. One less thing to take over our lives. And it is such a small thing-you would think we would have done this years ago instead of letting things pile up. Well, it's been started now :)
I will most likely take before and after pictures of each section (except the dining room since I didn't take before pictures before we put the shelves up.)
We are waiting on a phone call for Hubs (sometime this week) about a job; as of right now, we don't know how that will change our spring break plans. We still have to make a trip to SC to pick up the bed we are getting for JJ, so it may be just a super quick trip for that. We will see.
Yesterday was six weeks postpartum. It was a sad day, just because. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was just hard not to think about. Hubs and I had several talks throughout the day, and we made it through. Thank you for the continued prayers. Thank you for the kind words. Thank you for the offers to talk. Ya'll are wonderful. I am doing better. I do still cry sometimes when Hubs and I talk. I do wish things had been different. I do wish that people would sometimes think before they open their mouth, but I would wish that even if this hadn't happened.
Today, JJ had an appointment with his asthma/allergy specialist. We usually see the partner, but this time, we saw the main dr. We didn't care for him very much. First, at each appointment (and with his pediatrician), we have asked if we needed to worry about his weight. He is tall and obviously weighs more than most kids his age. We were told that as long as he was still getting taller, not to be concerned about his weight because his height and weight were proportional. If we started having weight gain and no height change, then we needed to monitor diet and exercise. In six months, JJ has gained about four pounds and has grown approximately three inches. With the allergy season coming earlier and being a little heavier this year, we have been battling congestion majorly and coughing...oh the coughing. Well, this dr (Mr. Main Guy) looked and listened and told us that we were not doing everything we should be doing to keep his symptoms under control. He said before he prescribed more medicine, we were to increase the daily inhaler from two times a day to four times a day. So I told him "The other dr only prescribed him to take two puffs once daily, in the morning because he takes the Singulair at night." Mr. Main Guy looked skyward (can't decide if he was asking for patience or rolling his eyes, either way he was exasperated) and then basically told us that it was no wonder that JJ was sick and congested because we weren't even giving him the right doseage of medication. He repeated his instructions of 4 puffs, 4 times a day for 4 days...and then after that, we were to begin the correct dose of 2 puffs 2 times a day (in the morning and in the evening.) Then he said "Now, we've taken care of that. On to the next thing that concerns me. This." And he doesn't point. No, he takes both hands and grabs JJ's belly and jiggles it. Now, I don't know how many of you have seen JJ lately. He is by no means a fat kid. Mr. Main Guy then proceeded to blast Hubs and I and tell us that were to COMPLETELY cut out milk and cheese from JJ's diet and give him a citrical vitamin daily. "Because he will then get all of the calcium and cut the calories. And don't let him buy school lunch. Pack his lunch every day. If you let him get lunch from school, you are only half helping him." So we finish the appointment (we're to go back in three weeks so the dr can monitor his weight and see how his congestion is), we take JJ to school, and then I blow up. First, I understand the weight is an issue. That is NOT what upset me. What upset me is the completely unprofessional way that Mr. Main Guy went about telling us. You don't grab a kid's belly and jiggle it around, and then say "Your son is 6 years old and weighs XX." You then do NOT lecture us on the eating habits of Americans in general. I don't care about the rest of America and their eating habits. I care about my husband and my kid. How is cutting milk from your diet completely help a growing kid? I understand cutting back or cutting out cheese. But completely cutting out milk and telling me to give him a medication that is usually taken by women who are in danger of osteoporosis? He takes a multivitamin every day. I checked at walmart. It doesn't contain any calcium, but it does contain the vitamin d needed to process the calcium. (Because kids usually drink milk, eat cheese and yogurt, so they don't need extra calcium.) I looked at the citrical (and every other calcium supplement), and ALL of them contain calcium and vitamin D, but no other vitamin or mineral. So up to the pharmacy I go to question the pharmacist if it is ok to give him both. She tells me no because while the multivitamin that he takes has no calcium, it has 400 mg of vitamin D...and the citrical has 500mg of vitamin D, and it is a vitamin that your body stores, and it can be toxic if given too much. For three weeks, we are going to do as the dr asked. No cheese or milk. Citrical. (And no multivitamin). Once we have that appointment at the end of the month, we will most likely eliminate the citrical and go back to the daily multivitamin and give JJ a glass of milk in the morning and at night. I do agree that school lunches are NOT the most nutritious and do not aid in keeping a child in their correct weight range, but I do not think he should skip the milk. I can cut back on the cheese. Heck, **I** need to cut back on the cheese. But he should get his dairy from foods, not from a supplement (unless he had a food allergy, which he doesn't!) Parents get blasted because they watch what their kids eat and get upset when they gain weight. "This is how eating disorders are started." But it's ok for the dr to grab a belly and jiggle it? I.Don't.Think.So.
We are now hanging out. JJ spent most of the afternoon/early evening outside playing with his friend across the street. He broke his shoe (and it snaps back together, but one of the pieces came off, and he couldn't find it)...he was very sad about that. I don't know if I can fix it without the piece, and JJ won't make a stink about it. He's funny that way. He KNOWS the piece is missing, so he will say "but my shoe is still broken" even if it's back together. OCD much? Yes, yes he is. But this is the JJ that I love with all of my heart.
Oh. And Julie? JJ is eating some feet chips (leftover from his Subway friend yesterday.) Let me tell you how spoiled this kid is. We go to Subway every Monday because of karate, and the last few weeks he has asked for spicy nacho Doritos, which they do not carry. He gets nacho cheese instead. Well, last week, his Subway friend (the one that writes him notes on napkins) told him she would have a surprise for him this week. He forgot all about it until we got there, and another guy (his friend wasn't there) told him that his friend left him something. He went and brought him a bag of chips.
He was excited :) Even left him a message to have a nice day. Then after we had ordered and were about to sit down, the phone rang, and the guy answered...and then he laughed and said "JJ, the phone is for you!" HAHA....we were at Subway, and JJ is getting phone calls! He was able to talk to his friend after all. They are so funny! Fun stuff. Fun stuff.
The trash went out last night, so that was awesome. Our trashcan was overflowing. And we had stuff beside the can. I'm anxious for the recycling to go out. That would be Thursday night though. Our bin is full, and we have a box full of broken down boxes, plus 5 huge boxes from the shelves and some of the boxes we have emptied. And I have two boxes in the living room that are going out with the recycling. One may go out the next week because I am using it to empty my shred stuff in as well. Needless to say-I am so pumped about the progress that we have made. We have a goodwill box started again, so I can start going through our clothes. I took picture of the train wreck that was our garage, and once we get it completely organized, I will take pictures again to share.
There was yarn hidden all over the garage. Not purposely hidden. Like, I didn't buy it, and then go and stash it somewhere so Hubs wouldn't know. No. It was in "project" bags, and when we had cleared out our guest room earlier in the year when we had company, it all got shoved where it would fit...and then was covered and got forgotten. Poor, poor yarn. LOL. I promise. I won't need to buy yarn for a good long time.
I found pictures everywhere. My plan is to get all of my candid shots scanned into the computer and saved on disks, and then use the original copies to make scrapbooks. (No worries-I have most of the supplies already. I'll just have to buy the actual scrapbook with each one that I do. And since it will probably be a long term project, I can buy one, work on it until it is finished, and then work on the next one. Then I won't have a bin with only pictures in it. Yes, that person is me. Anyone that scrapbooks wanna come and show me how? I've only done one, but I feel like I need someone to show me how to scrapbook to get the full use of my supplies.)
I also found a ton of wallet sized pictures of different family members and friends. I plan to do some sort of project to get them framed and hung on the wall. We are finally getting pictures hung, and that makes me very happy!
When the garage is finished, the next room I plan to tackle is JJ's. I need to pull everything out and dust from top to bottom...go through the toys and clothes (which is a never ending process!) Mostly, I just make sure that the toys are not broken...if they are, into the garbage they go. If the clothes don't fit, out of his room they go. I was getting him ready for school yesterday, and he told me his underwear were too tight. I was telling Hubs that we needed to buy him new underwear, and he asked if they were the right size. I didn't realize we had kept some of his old underwear when we bought his new underwear at the beginning of the school year. I promptly went through his underwear, got out THREE pairs that were too small, and made JJ put on a pair that fit. Then the small undies went into the garbage. That was easy.
I know we have a long way to go to be completely clutter-free and organized, but we are definitely on our way. And it helps that we are both on board. And we set our shredder up next to the desk instead of in a back bedroom or a corner that we never see. Now we can shred every day and empty it when needed instead of having a pile of shred stuff that we rarely take the time to sit down and shred. One less thing to take over our lives. And it is such a small thing-you would think we would have done this years ago instead of letting things pile up. Well, it's been started now :)
I will most likely take before and after pictures of each section (except the dining room since I didn't take before pictures before we put the shelves up.)
We are waiting on a phone call for Hubs (sometime this week) about a job; as of right now, we don't know how that will change our spring break plans. We still have to make a trip to SC to pick up the bed we are getting for JJ, so it may be just a super quick trip for that. We will see.
Yesterday was six weeks postpartum. It was a sad day, just because. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was just hard not to think about. Hubs and I had several talks throughout the day, and we made it through. Thank you for the continued prayers. Thank you for the kind words. Thank you for the offers to talk. Ya'll are wonderful. I am doing better. I do still cry sometimes when Hubs and I talk. I do wish things had been different. I do wish that people would sometimes think before they open their mouth, but I would wish that even if this hadn't happened.
Today, JJ had an appointment with his asthma/allergy specialist. We usually see the partner, but this time, we saw the main dr. We didn't care for him very much. First, at each appointment (and with his pediatrician), we have asked if we needed to worry about his weight. He is tall and obviously weighs more than most kids his age. We were told that as long as he was still getting taller, not to be concerned about his weight because his height and weight were proportional. If we started having weight gain and no height change, then we needed to monitor diet and exercise. In six months, JJ has gained about four pounds and has grown approximately three inches. With the allergy season coming earlier and being a little heavier this year, we have been battling congestion majorly and coughing...oh the coughing. Well, this dr (Mr. Main Guy) looked and listened and told us that we were not doing everything we should be doing to keep his symptoms under control. He said before he prescribed more medicine, we were to increase the daily inhaler from two times a day to four times a day. So I told him "The other dr only prescribed him to take two puffs once daily, in the morning because he takes the Singulair at night." Mr. Main Guy looked skyward (can't decide if he was asking for patience or rolling his eyes, either way he was exasperated) and then basically told us that it was no wonder that JJ was sick and congested because we weren't even giving him the right doseage of medication. He repeated his instructions of 4 puffs, 4 times a day for 4 days...and then after that, we were to begin the correct dose of 2 puffs 2 times a day (in the morning and in the evening.) Then he said "Now, we've taken care of that. On to the next thing that concerns me. This." And he doesn't point. No, he takes both hands and grabs JJ's belly and jiggles it. Now, I don't know how many of you have seen JJ lately. He is by no means a fat kid. Mr. Main Guy then proceeded to blast Hubs and I and tell us that were to COMPLETELY cut out milk and cheese from JJ's diet and give him a citrical vitamin daily. "Because he will then get all of the calcium and cut the calories. And don't let him buy school lunch. Pack his lunch every day. If you let him get lunch from school, you are only half helping him." So we finish the appointment (we're to go back in three weeks so the dr can monitor his weight and see how his congestion is), we take JJ to school, and then I blow up. First, I understand the weight is an issue. That is NOT what upset me. What upset me is the completely unprofessional way that Mr. Main Guy went about telling us. You don't grab a kid's belly and jiggle it around, and then say "Your son is 6 years old and weighs XX." You then do NOT lecture us on the eating habits of Americans in general. I don't care about the rest of America and their eating habits. I care about my husband and my kid. How is cutting milk from your diet completely help a growing kid? I understand cutting back or cutting out cheese. But completely cutting out milk and telling me to give him a medication that is usually taken by women who are in danger of osteoporosis? He takes a multivitamin every day. I checked at walmart. It doesn't contain any calcium, but it does contain the vitamin d needed to process the calcium. (Because kids usually drink milk, eat cheese and yogurt, so they don't need extra calcium.) I looked at the citrical (and every other calcium supplement), and ALL of them contain calcium and vitamin D, but no other vitamin or mineral. So up to the pharmacy I go to question the pharmacist if it is ok to give him both. She tells me no because while the multivitamin that he takes has no calcium, it has 400 mg of vitamin D...and the citrical has 500mg of vitamin D, and it is a vitamin that your body stores, and it can be toxic if given too much. For three weeks, we are going to do as the dr asked. No cheese or milk. Citrical. (And no multivitamin). Once we have that appointment at the end of the month, we will most likely eliminate the citrical and go back to the daily multivitamin and give JJ a glass of milk in the morning and at night. I do agree that school lunches are NOT the most nutritious and do not aid in keeping a child in their correct weight range, but I do not think he should skip the milk. I can cut back on the cheese. Heck, **I** need to cut back on the cheese. But he should get his dairy from foods, not from a supplement (unless he had a food allergy, which he doesn't!) Parents get blasted because they watch what their kids eat and get upset when they gain weight. "This is how eating disorders are started." But it's ok for the dr to grab a belly and jiggle it? I.Don't.Think.So.
We are now hanging out. JJ spent most of the afternoon/early evening outside playing with his friend across the street. He broke his shoe (and it snaps back together, but one of the pieces came off, and he couldn't find it)...he was very sad about that. I don't know if I can fix it without the piece, and JJ won't make a stink about it. He's funny that way. He KNOWS the piece is missing, so he will say "but my shoe is still broken" even if it's back together. OCD much? Yes, yes he is. But this is the JJ that I love with all of my heart.
Oh. And Julie? JJ is eating some feet chips (leftover from his Subway friend yesterday.) Let me tell you how spoiled this kid is. We go to Subway every Monday because of karate, and the last few weeks he has asked for spicy nacho Doritos, which they do not carry. He gets nacho cheese instead. Well, last week, his Subway friend (the one that writes him notes on napkins) told him she would have a surprise for him this week. He forgot all about it until we got there, and another guy (his friend wasn't there) told him that his friend left him something. He went and brought him a bag of chips.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Spring Cleaning, Allergies, And My Boys
Wow. It has been so long. I didn't mean to abandon this. Do ya'll remember me?? LOL.
Friday was such a big day. For me. For Hubs. First, I got my maternity clothes packed away. All except one shirt, but as soon as I come across it, it too will get packed. I may have to recheck the bin to make sure I didn't get it in there absentmindedly. I washed the ones that needed washing, and they were packed in the bin. Not as many clothes as it seemed, but enough that they were everywhere, and now they are away. Getting those put away and finally looking at the pictures were the two biggest steps that I needed to take...or at least I think they were. I guess I'll find out, huh?
Hubs interview went awesome! He started out with brownie points because he even bothered to show up for the interview. The two people scheduled before him never bothered to show up or call to reschedule or anything. In fact, his interview went so well, that he was able to have a second interview before he left. It was for a seasonal job, but Hubs wants to do something until the call comes in for the job he really WANTS.
The positive interview really brightened his spirits. Today's economy really bites, and even the "not-forever-job" kind of jobs are hard to get. We decided to get some lunch, and on the way, I started pointing out cloud shapes. Hubs and I were giggling like little kids as I pointed out things...I saw a lobster with his pincers in the ready position. I saw a whale with water spouting out. I saw an alligator with his mouth wide open. I saw the Snuggle bear hugging a pile of laundry. I saw Perry the Platypus standing on a rock. I wish I had my camera with me so that I could share the clouds. I kept looking for more and more shapes. (Friday was the day to cloud hunt. It was before the rain, and there were clouds EVERYWHERE!) I even saw a cloud that looked like JJ when he lies on his back with his arms crossed and one leg crossed over. Like I said. Hubs and I were cracking up. Once we got to where we were having lunch, Hubs just bubbled over, telling me about his interview. He could barely eat for talking. He was sending a text to arrange a time to get Lydia on Saturday, and a call started coming through. He picked up without meaning too because he didn't recognize the number; and thank goodness he did! It was from the job he WANTED, scheduling an interview. :whew: And I thought he was bubbling over BEFORE that phone call.
After lunch, we headed to Target to pick up some more shelves (like the ones I used for my yarn) to go in the garage. I am super serious about this spring cleaning stuff this year. We are determined to get control of our clutter, reclaim our garage, our closets, our space. The shelves are on sale, and there was only one set out. We had an associate help us, and he went and got two more sets out of the back. While we were standing in line, Hubs said that we were spring cleaning/organizing our garage, and the guy looked at him and said "Are ya'll hoarders or something?" [Uhh...no...if we were hoarders, we wouldn't be able to organize. It's a serious sickness that people have. It made me think of a friend because we had recently talked about not being able to watch and entire episode of the TLC show Hoarders because it truly grosses us out. ] So, I tell him, no, we just have a lot of stuff that's never been unpacked, and it's taking over our garage (because that is the truth.) And now that Hubs is no longer in the military, we can't use the excuse of "well, we'll just leave it in the box because we will move again in a year." While we will definitely be making at LEAST one more move in our lives (when we buy a house), we don't think we'll be making that move for about a year. :) Now is the perfect time for the TRUE spring cleaning...purging...organizing. Pinterest will definitely be of use to me as I look for inexpensive ways to organize and "create" more space. (Don't be surprised if I steal some of your organizational ideas!)
We left Target and headed to the school to pick up JJ. JJ had such a good day at school, but he was so congested. Pollen is our enemy. Everything we love about spring is his enemy. Poor kid is allergic to outside. Trees, grass, pollen, weeds, ragweed...plus dust, cats, and dogs. :sigh: He loves to play outside, now that he has a friend across the street. We are dealing with the congestion. He sounds so miserable though. I have been to walmart several times for sudafed, but they never have any. And of course, because it's a control substance thanks to all the meth users, I have to go to the pharmacy to ask about it. And of course, the same little old man is there working the register every.single.time.I ask about them having sudafed. And he always tells me that they only get about 10 total boxes in on their shipments, and they are gone that day. :sigh: A lot of good that does JJ, right?
So we've been able to turn the heat off and leave our front door open and the back sliding glass door open. But only in our living room so that the pollen doesn't infest JJ's bedroom. We are sitting around before dinner, and it is so hot. Our house was 85*!!!! JJ's been coughing a deep, rattly, asthmatic type of cough, so we shut the doors and flip on the AC to cool off the house. We really have to watch his cough and his allergies or it causes his asthma to flare up.
The house finally cooled, and we watched Stuart Little 2. Great family bonding time. No pizza because we had gone to Cici's the night before. Hubs grilled burgers and dogs, and I made a potato salad. Yum. That is all.
Hubs went out to close the grill and ended up walking around the house instead of coming back in the sliding glass door. He called me to the front door to see something, and there was this brilliant bright green tree frog hanging out on the siding. Be still my heart!
Of course, my camera does NOT do this little guy justice, but he was amazing. For those that don't know, I love frogs. All things frogs. I collect frogs and frog stuffs. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! I told Hubs I was going to catch him and keep him. I got the "you're so crazy" look. Then Mr. Tree Frog hopped to the corner and started catching the nasty skeeters. I decided he was perfectly fine right where he was, eating all the bugs he wanted!
OH I forgot to mention. When we got home from picking JJ up from school, there was a letter for Hubs in the mailbox. It was another place requesting an interview!!! (For the same job we got a call about at lunch, just a different location. He was able to put in for three different locations and has heard back from two. FINALLY. In the same day.) Did I mention that Friday was a really good day?
Saturday was a mostly busy day. Hubs and JJ went to pick up Lydia and brought her back to the house. She was able to open her Christmas presents from Hubs' family. She seemed to like everything. Especially the huge pack of lip gloss. We had to open so that she could put one on :) Then we got everything packed in a bag and got loaded in the car. We headed for the mall because that is where the dress that Maggie had liked best was...I had been roaming stores looking at the Easter stuff, sending her random pictures of different dresses...or dress stuff for JJ, trying to figure out what to get them for Easter and the wedding. We found this amazing dress, and I didn't know what size to get...and I wanted Lydia to try it on because department store clothes fit differently. We find the dress. In the smaller sizes, they had 6, 8, and a 12. Then they started at size 14 and went up from there. I knew she wasn't an 8, but she also wasn't a 14. I was thinking more of a 10. I grabbed the 12, and off we head to the dressing room. There is only ONE dressing room open. With 2 stalls. And 2 girls with out 30 different Easter dresses each. And for every ONE that they try on, their mom brings in another 3. :sigh: So, Lydia and I get in line, and I send Hubs off in search of another dressing room. He finally finds an associate who opens another dressing room. We try the dress on...SCORE. It was a little big, but I could tie the bow in the back tighter, and it gave plenty of room for growing in the next month. I will share a picture after the wedding :) Don't want to ruin any surprises! I told Lydia that all we needed now was a pair of white shoes to go with the dress. She said she was wearing a size 3, and they fit her and felt good, so we didn't need to measure her foot. I told her we would probably measure anyway, just to be sure. Off we head for lunch at Red Robin. We had a very enjoyable time all together. After lunch, we head to the shoe store. We have Lydia's foot measured, and it comes in at a size 4; the associate tells us to get a 4 1/2 so she has room to grow. We try on several different styles in 4 1/2, but they are all way too big. I can put 2 fingers in the shoe behind her heel. I know her foot won't grow THAT much before the wedding, and I don't want her feeling like her shoe is going to fall off! We tried on a size 4 shoe, and it fit very well. Not too tight, but not slipping off when she walked either. I was sad because I had found a style that was SO.PRETTY in the size 4 1/2, and they didn't have the same style in the smaller size. We ended up getting the shoe we tried on, which was a similar style to the one I really liked. It was pretty also, but I reeeaaallllly liked the bigger shoe.
From the shoe store, we head to Target to do a little shopping. We had decided as our Christmas present for Lydia, we would buy her several outfits for the wedding weekend. I think overall, she was very excited with the clothes that she tried on. She can't wait for the wedding so that she can wear all of her new stuff :) While I was checking out, I sent Hubs and both kids to Pet Smart. It started drizzling while we were inside. When we left Pet Smart, they wanted to go into Gamestop, but I wanted to go to the car. So, I sent Hubs and the kids in while I went to the car. I was just tired. It had been a busy day. It was muggy outside because of the thunderstorms looming in the sky. It started raining pretty hard, and then Hubs and the kids were running towards the car. Lydia's mom picked her up, and we headed home.
I really can't tell you what we did for the rest of the day. I think we just hung out. Hubs finished reading The Hunger Games. I played games on the kindle after that. We didn't stay up too late because we had to drive to Wilmington so that Hubs could get fitted for his tux for the wedding.
I woke up pretty early on Sunday and started reading Catching Fire. The boys woke up, and we all got ready to head out. We had decided to get breakfast out so that we had a good meal before travelling. (JJ sometimes gets car sick, so we do what we can to make sure that he doesn't get sick...full belly, sprite or some sort of drink...and don't let him get too hot!) I had talked with Hubs a bit about feeling anxious going to Wilmington. It's our first time back since leaving the hospital. While it may not seem like a huge thing, for me, it FELT like a ginormous thing. The drive was fairly uneventful. I did some reading, and JJ played his DS. Then I let him play Angry Birds. Around the point that I gave up the kindle, we passed the Hardees where Hubs and I stopped to get ourselves together before heading home that day. I reached out and held Hubs hand for a long time. I could feel the tears trying to come, but they never did. We made it to the tux place. While Hubs was getting fitted, JJ played Angry Birds, and I looked at the shirts and ties. We got done and walked over to the bookstore. JJ and I went to the kid section so that I could read him a couple of books, and then we decided it was time for lunch. We drove to Zaxbys. The food is great, but I forget how long it takes for your order to be ready. And they were packed. Boo. The drive home, I read a couple chapters, and then I let JJ play Angry Birds again. The kindle died right about the time we hit town. I plugged it in once we got home, and then we all got in our comfy clothes. The rain had started right before we got home...and it was NUTS. It wasn't so bad once we were home though. Only while we were driving, LOL...I finished Catching Fire and went straight into Mockingjay.
Monday, Hubs had an appointment, and I decided to leave right after he did and get some prescriptions filled for myself and JJ. It didn't take as long as I had thought it would, so I had plenty of time to go sit at the school and read. I got home and helped JJ with his homework, and then he got ready for karate. Hubs was finishing up some schoolwork. We went to Subway, talked with JJ's friend, and then headed out. We got to the school, only to find a note taped to the door that they were having karate at a different location. So, we look it up on the GPS, and off we go to find this other elementary school. We get there just in time (we weren't late, the instructor pulled in behind us!). Hubs gets JJ checked in, and then we head to get gas. I go to read my book, and my story would not load. It kept telling me it needed wi-fi (which it shouldn't need because the book is loaded, it's not a game.) I ended up letting Hubs play Angry Birds, and I worked on a baby hat. I had gotten a tiny loom to make hats for people who have situations like ours...where they have to deliver and are given a memory box with photos. Our memory box includes a hat that the baby wore when presented to Hubs. The hat didn't take long at all to finish. For my first try at this size, I thought it was cute. I will definitely have to work several before I figure out the correct number of rows needed.
I picked one of JJ's smaller toys as a model, then used the Flintstones glass to give you an idea of how small the hat is. Today, I just did not feel motivated to get going at all! I somehow got JJ ready for school, and Hubs got him there early to take his AR test. He scored a 5/5!!! We were being bums at home though. Hanging out, just not motivated for anything. I finished Mockingjay. SUCH a great series! We can't wait to watch the movie. Hubs decided he was going to play video games. I went to finally get dressed. And the power goes out. There is an outage in a fairly large area, so we hang out for a few minutes before leaving to pick JJ up from school. The lights are out, the shopping center is out...Nuts. People don't know how to drive around here anyway....The police were directing traffic. We get on Piney Green and see a sign that says local traffic only. We keep going because we are local and heading to pick JJ up from school. No. What the sign should have said is "Mandatory detour ahead. Road closed." We follow traffic, but we have no idea where we are headed. The road goes on forever. We finally end up on Old 30, and I say "OH! We will come up by the guy with the hot dog stand." It takes forever, but that is exactly where we come out. We go to turn, and the policeman tells us that the road is only open to Hunter's Creek...which is where we needed to go. We get to the school about 3:10, and there are no kids out anywhere. They decided to keep all of the kids in their classes working on homework or whatever since the traffic was so backed up that the buses hadn't even arrived yet at the school. Parents were going in to check out their kids, and it was a crazy process. Hubs went in, and was gone forever it seemed. Finally, it comes over the intercom to please take the car riders to their designated areas....this was about 3:20pm. JJ and Hubs finally make it to the car, and off we go...the long way home. Traffic was so ridiculous. But there was no sense in getting crabby about it. It wasn't going to change anything. We tell JJ that the power is out, so once his homework is done, he should go out and play. We notice that the shopping center has lights and the stop lights are working again. We get home and still have no power. But when I had called, the recording for outages said that the power should be back up between 5:30 and 6pm. JJ got his homework done, and off he went to play outside.
I grabbed some bags and a stack of papers and sat down to go through them.. I had four piles: shred, recycle, keep and trash. Most everything went into the shred or recycle (all of the shred ended up in the recycle); only the staples, or plastic parts of the envelopes went into the trash. We had schoolwork from kindergarten, stuff from first grade....we even had our lease from the apartment we had in Georgia. The box was almost completely gone through. Hubs went through and got the trash stuff out. There is only small stuff in the bottom now. Tomorrow after my appointment, we are going to re look at what is in the bottom and find new homes for everything. One box down!!! I never know where to start and end up starting everywhere and nowhere looks "done." We've mostly done the dining room now, so I think I will finish in there and then tackle the garage. I think once that is gone through, then the stuff from the other rooms that needs to go out in the garage will have a home, not just thrown on top of the current stuff residing all over. I will definitely take before and after pictures. I have no clue how long this will take. We have boxes that have been following us around since we were first married that I'm not sure have ever been completely unpacked. The good news for today is that one box is 99% completed, the shredding is 100% completed, and everything that can be, is in the recycling bin. I know this week and probably next week our recycling is going to be over flowing. But for tonight...our house is breathing a little easier....
Friday was such a big day. For me. For Hubs. First, I got my maternity clothes packed away. All except one shirt, but as soon as I come across it, it too will get packed. I may have to recheck the bin to make sure I didn't get it in there absentmindedly. I washed the ones that needed washing, and they were packed in the bin. Not as many clothes as it seemed, but enough that they were everywhere, and now they are away. Getting those put away and finally looking at the pictures were the two biggest steps that I needed to take...or at least I think they were. I guess I'll find out, huh?
Hubs interview went awesome! He started out with brownie points because he even bothered to show up for the interview. The two people scheduled before him never bothered to show up or call to reschedule or anything. In fact, his interview went so well, that he was able to have a second interview before he left. It was for a seasonal job, but Hubs wants to do something until the call comes in for the job he really WANTS.
The positive interview really brightened his spirits. Today's economy really bites, and even the "not-forever-job" kind of jobs are hard to get. We decided to get some lunch, and on the way, I started pointing out cloud shapes. Hubs and I were giggling like little kids as I pointed out things...I saw a lobster with his pincers in the ready position. I saw a whale with water spouting out. I saw an alligator with his mouth wide open. I saw the Snuggle bear hugging a pile of laundry. I saw Perry the Platypus standing on a rock. I wish I had my camera with me so that I could share the clouds. I kept looking for more and more shapes. (Friday was the day to cloud hunt. It was before the rain, and there were clouds EVERYWHERE!) I even saw a cloud that looked like JJ when he lies on his back with his arms crossed and one leg crossed over. Like I said. Hubs and I were cracking up. Once we got to where we were having lunch, Hubs just bubbled over, telling me about his interview. He could barely eat for talking. He was sending a text to arrange a time to get Lydia on Saturday, and a call started coming through. He picked up without meaning too because he didn't recognize the number; and thank goodness he did! It was from the job he WANTED, scheduling an interview. :whew: And I thought he was bubbling over BEFORE that phone call.
After lunch, we headed to Target to pick up some more shelves (like the ones I used for my yarn) to go in the garage. I am super serious about this spring cleaning stuff this year. We are determined to get control of our clutter, reclaim our garage, our closets, our space. The shelves are on sale, and there was only one set out. We had an associate help us, and he went and got two more sets out of the back. While we were standing in line, Hubs said that we were spring cleaning/organizing our garage, and the guy looked at him and said "Are ya'll hoarders or something?" [Uhh...no...if we were hoarders, we wouldn't be able to organize. It's a serious sickness that people have. It made me think of a friend because we had recently talked about not being able to watch and entire episode of the TLC show Hoarders because it truly grosses us out. ] So, I tell him, no, we just have a lot of stuff that's never been unpacked, and it's taking over our garage (because that is the truth.) And now that Hubs is no longer in the military, we can't use the excuse of "well, we'll just leave it in the box because we will move again in a year." While we will definitely be making at LEAST one more move in our lives (when we buy a house), we don't think we'll be making that move for about a year. :) Now is the perfect time for the TRUE spring cleaning...purging...organizing. Pinterest will definitely be of use to me as I look for inexpensive ways to organize and "create" more space. (Don't be surprised if I steal some of your organizational ideas!)
We left Target and headed to the school to pick up JJ. JJ had such a good day at school, but he was so congested. Pollen is our enemy. Everything we love about spring is his enemy. Poor kid is allergic to outside. Trees, grass, pollen, weeds, ragweed...plus dust, cats, and dogs. :sigh: He loves to play outside, now that he has a friend across the street. We are dealing with the congestion. He sounds so miserable though. I have been to walmart several times for sudafed, but they never have any. And of course, because it's a control substance thanks to all the meth users, I have to go to the pharmacy to ask about it. And of course, the same little old man is there working the register every.single.time.I ask about them having sudafed. And he always tells me that they only get about 10 total boxes in on their shipments, and they are gone that day. :sigh: A lot of good that does JJ, right?
So we've been able to turn the heat off and leave our front door open and the back sliding glass door open. But only in our living room so that the pollen doesn't infest JJ's bedroom. We are sitting around before dinner, and it is so hot. Our house was 85*!!!! JJ's been coughing a deep, rattly, asthmatic type of cough, so we shut the doors and flip on the AC to cool off the house. We really have to watch his cough and his allergies or it causes his asthma to flare up.
The house finally cooled, and we watched Stuart Little 2. Great family bonding time. No pizza because we had gone to Cici's the night before. Hubs grilled burgers and dogs, and I made a potato salad. Yum. That is all.
Hubs went out to close the grill and ended up walking around the house instead of coming back in the sliding glass door. He called me to the front door to see something, and there was this brilliant bright green tree frog hanging out on the siding. Be still my heart!
OH I forgot to mention. When we got home from picking JJ up from school, there was a letter for Hubs in the mailbox. It was another place requesting an interview!!! (For the same job we got a call about at lunch, just a different location. He was able to put in for three different locations and has heard back from two. FINALLY. In the same day.) Did I mention that Friday was a really good day?
Saturday was a mostly busy day. Hubs and JJ went to pick up Lydia and brought her back to the house. She was able to open her Christmas presents from Hubs' family. She seemed to like everything. Especially the huge pack of lip gloss. We had to open so that she could put one on :) Then we got everything packed in a bag and got loaded in the car. We headed for the mall because that is where the dress that Maggie had liked best was...I had been roaming stores looking at the Easter stuff, sending her random pictures of different dresses...or dress stuff for JJ, trying to figure out what to get them for Easter and the wedding. We found this amazing dress, and I didn't know what size to get...and I wanted Lydia to try it on because department store clothes fit differently. We find the dress. In the smaller sizes, they had 6, 8, and a 12. Then they started at size 14 and went up from there. I knew she wasn't an 8, but she also wasn't a 14. I was thinking more of a 10. I grabbed the 12, and off we head to the dressing room. There is only ONE dressing room open. With 2 stalls. And 2 girls with out 30 different Easter dresses each. And for every ONE that they try on, their mom brings in another 3. :sigh: So, Lydia and I get in line, and I send Hubs off in search of another dressing room. He finally finds an associate who opens another dressing room. We try the dress on...SCORE. It was a little big, but I could tie the bow in the back tighter, and it gave plenty of room for growing in the next month. I will share a picture after the wedding :) Don't want to ruin any surprises! I told Lydia that all we needed now was a pair of white shoes to go with the dress. She said she was wearing a size 3, and they fit her and felt good, so we didn't need to measure her foot. I told her we would probably measure anyway, just to be sure. Off we head for lunch at Red Robin. We had a very enjoyable time all together. After lunch, we head to the shoe store. We have Lydia's foot measured, and it comes in at a size 4; the associate tells us to get a 4 1/2 so she has room to grow. We try on several different styles in 4 1/2, but they are all way too big. I can put 2 fingers in the shoe behind her heel. I know her foot won't grow THAT much before the wedding, and I don't want her feeling like her shoe is going to fall off! We tried on a size 4 shoe, and it fit very well. Not too tight, but not slipping off when she walked either. I was sad because I had found a style that was SO.PRETTY in the size 4 1/2, and they didn't have the same style in the smaller size. We ended up getting the shoe we tried on, which was a similar style to the one I really liked. It was pretty also, but I reeeaaallllly liked the bigger shoe.
From the shoe store, we head to Target to do a little shopping. We had decided as our Christmas present for Lydia, we would buy her several outfits for the wedding weekend. I think overall, she was very excited with the clothes that she tried on. She can't wait for the wedding so that she can wear all of her new stuff :) While I was checking out, I sent Hubs and both kids to Pet Smart. It started drizzling while we were inside. When we left Pet Smart, they wanted to go into Gamestop, but I wanted to go to the car. So, I sent Hubs and the kids in while I went to the car. I was just tired. It had been a busy day. It was muggy outside because of the thunderstorms looming in the sky. It started raining pretty hard, and then Hubs and the kids were running towards the car. Lydia's mom picked her up, and we headed home.
I really can't tell you what we did for the rest of the day. I think we just hung out. Hubs finished reading The Hunger Games. I played games on the kindle after that. We didn't stay up too late because we had to drive to Wilmington so that Hubs could get fitted for his tux for the wedding.
I woke up pretty early on Sunday and started reading Catching Fire. The boys woke up, and we all got ready to head out. We had decided to get breakfast out so that we had a good meal before travelling. (JJ sometimes gets car sick, so we do what we can to make sure that he doesn't get sick...full belly, sprite or some sort of drink...and don't let him get too hot!) I had talked with Hubs a bit about feeling anxious going to Wilmington. It's our first time back since leaving the hospital. While it may not seem like a huge thing, for me, it FELT like a ginormous thing. The drive was fairly uneventful. I did some reading, and JJ played his DS. Then I let him play Angry Birds. Around the point that I gave up the kindle, we passed the Hardees where Hubs and I stopped to get ourselves together before heading home that day. I reached out and held Hubs hand for a long time. I could feel the tears trying to come, but they never did. We made it to the tux place. While Hubs was getting fitted, JJ played Angry Birds, and I looked at the shirts and ties. We got done and walked over to the bookstore. JJ and I went to the kid section so that I could read him a couple of books, and then we decided it was time for lunch. We drove to Zaxbys. The food is great, but I forget how long it takes for your order to be ready. And they were packed. Boo. The drive home, I read a couple chapters, and then I let JJ play Angry Birds again. The kindle died right about the time we hit town. I plugged it in once we got home, and then we all got in our comfy clothes. The rain had started right before we got home...and it was NUTS. It wasn't so bad once we were home though. Only while we were driving, LOL...I finished Catching Fire and went straight into Mockingjay.
Monday, Hubs had an appointment, and I decided to leave right after he did and get some prescriptions filled for myself and JJ. It didn't take as long as I had thought it would, so I had plenty of time to go sit at the school and read. I got home and helped JJ with his homework, and then he got ready for karate. Hubs was finishing up some schoolwork. We went to Subway, talked with JJ's friend, and then headed out. We got to the school, only to find a note taped to the door that they were having karate at a different location. So, we look it up on the GPS, and off we go to find this other elementary school. We get there just in time (we weren't late, the instructor pulled in behind us!). Hubs gets JJ checked in, and then we head to get gas. I go to read my book, and my story would not load. It kept telling me it needed wi-fi (which it shouldn't need because the book is loaded, it's not a game.) I ended up letting Hubs play Angry Birds, and I worked on a baby hat. I had gotten a tiny loom to make hats for people who have situations like ours...where they have to deliver and are given a memory box with photos. Our memory box includes a hat that the baby wore when presented to Hubs. The hat didn't take long at all to finish. For my first try at this size, I thought it was cute. I will definitely have to work several before I figure out the correct number of rows needed.
I grabbed some bags and a stack of papers and sat down to go through them.. I had four piles: shred, recycle, keep and trash. Most everything went into the shred or recycle (all of the shred ended up in the recycle); only the staples, or plastic parts of the envelopes went into the trash. We had schoolwork from kindergarten, stuff from first grade....we even had our lease from the apartment we had in Georgia. The box was almost completely gone through. Hubs went through and got the trash stuff out. There is only small stuff in the bottom now. Tomorrow after my appointment, we are going to re look at what is in the bottom and find new homes for everything. One box down!!! I never know where to start and end up starting everywhere and nowhere looks "done." We've mostly done the dining room now, so I think I will finish in there and then tackle the garage. I think once that is gone through, then the stuff from the other rooms that needs to go out in the garage will have a home, not just thrown on top of the current stuff residing all over. I will definitely take before and after pictures. I have no clue how long this will take. We have boxes that have been following us around since we were first married that I'm not sure have ever been completely unpacked. The good news for today is that one box is 99% completed, the shredding is 100% completed, and everything that can be, is in the recycling bin. I know this week and probably next week our recycling is going to be over flowing. But for tonight...our house is breathing a little easier....
Friday, March 23, 2012
I'm Making Progress
Random thoughts:
1. I love my kindle fire. I was a bit skeptical when the kindles first became all the rage because I like holding an actual book. I still like holding a "real" book, but I think for travelling purposes, the kindle is awesome. Now I don't have to pack an extra bag just for my books. I also have wi-fi, so when we stop for meals, I can check facebook, if I feel the desire to do so. I love the games. I'm also enjoying The Hunger Games (finally!)
2. The purple box is still mocking me. I want to open it; I really do. I want to see my baby. I must take baby steps though. First, I will get my maternity clothes packed away. Then we will see. It's only been a month. Not really that long in the big scheme of things.
3. Early release days at school drive me nuts. Not because I'm not happy to see JJ sooner; I just feel rushed my entire day. Four hours of school is crazy. Today we have to return our books to the library, and I think we are going to get those extra bins from walmart (if they have anymore!) I SOOO hope they have more so that I can get the rest of my yarn put away.
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We survived Wednesday. We made it to the library, but not to Walmart. We went to Walmart on Thursday. I found the two extra bins I needed (thankfully they had restocked!!), and we had to buy a kite for JJ because today is kite day at school...or at least for his class. We had to choose between Cars, Spiderman, and Transformers. Normally, I would have just gotten Cars because he still loves any and all things Cars, but Hubs thought we should get Transformers since that is his new favorite cartoon on the hub. He'd have been happy either way, LOL, but we got the Transformers. Hopefully it is a breezy day so that the kids can get their kites in the air. We had also run to CVS and the post office, but then we headed home.
Now, I don't know if I am trying to get a cold or if I am having a reaction to the pollen. I've been sneezing like crazy, and I am super congested. I can't blow my nose, but it will randomly start dripping. Gross, I know. I've taken my temperature because I feel warm to myself, but the thermometer says normal temp. I had a bit of a headache yesterday afternoon, but I have no idea if it was a sinus headache or what.
When we got home, I was able to get the two bins filled with my yarn, which left me two bins completely empty. I decided to use one for all things crochet and knitting: my needles and hooks, books and printed out patterns, and my looms. The other is for "all other" craft items: ribbons, glue, pompoms, scrap booking stuff. It feels super good to have it all in one central location instead of all over the house. And not taking over my closet. So, I have one wall organized now, LOL. Our boardgames are all together, and my crafting needs are all together. I have two huge empty bins now (that were in my closet and possibly will return there but filled with clothes instead of yarn) that I am going to put my winter stuff in and my maternity clothes. Today is the day. I know that I can do this.
Hubs left to pick up JJ from school while I was getting some last minute things on the shelves, so I stayed home. I sat down to take a breather, and I looked at the purple memory box, and I knew it was time. I grabbed it before I could change my mind, and I opened it. I sat for just a moment staring at the contents, and then I slowly began to remove everything. The folder with the pictures was at the very bottom, so I took that out, opened it, and removed the envelope. I stared at the date written "2/20/12" and thought about all that has happened since then. Then I opened the envelope. The pictures were face down, so I could have changed my mind, but I took a deep breath and flipped them over. I went slowly through the pictures. My heart was very sad; as I sat there looking, I could help but think what might have been...and I couldn't help but think that Baby Aleman was beautiful and would have grown up to be just as beautiful as JJ. But I didn't fall apart. It didn't make me want to curl up in the bed, under the covers, and never leave. That's what I had been afraid of: if I looked at the pictures, it would be a setback for me instead of a step forward. But it wasn't a setback. Looking at the pictures, I knew I had made the right decision by not viewing the body while at the hospital. I would have wanted to hold the baby, and I don't know that I could have let go when the time came. As I was looking through the pictures, I was amazed by how developed the baby was. I was also amazed that the body was NOT bloated looking; I'm not sure I think it had even been a week. There were little hands and little feet, complete with fingers and toes. The skin was thin, for being so young, but otherwise, the baby was beautiful. The baby was just small, and for whatever reason, died. I didn't have a miscarriage because my body held on to the baby. The baby died in the womb, and I still had to deliver.
Hubs and JJ got home, and they got started on homework. JJ went to play outside, and Hubs was reading book one of The Hunger Games. (AWESOME read, by the way, if you feel the need to pick it up, borrow it, whatever.) I played games on Facebook for a bit, then it was time to get JJ in and cleaned up so that we could go to Cici's for dinner. They were having another give back night, where they get part of the proceeds if we mention the school when ordering. JJ was happy to see several kids from his school. We went to Catos afterwards so that I could get a top to wear for Easter and for the wedding.
Once we got home, it was a rush to get JJ ready for bed, medicated, teeth brushed, and hugs and kisses. He got to bed, and Hubs and I sat in the living room together. I hadn't told him yet that I had looked at the pictures, so I told him. He was surprised that I had done it by myself instead of waiting until he could be with me; I told him that it was just something I needed to do on my own and that I was ok. We talked about the pictures for a bit, and then he continued reading The Hunger Games, and I played on the computer.
I talked with my Person for a little while, but I needed to get to bed. As it is, it was 12:30am when I finally went to bed. Hubs has a job interview this morning, so please say a prayer or two that it goes well. While we are doing well with what we have, a full-time job would be awesome!
If you can spare an extra prayer for me, please do. Today is the "big" day. I'm packing away maternity clothes; finally closing that chapter. I am still healing. Baby steps.
1. I love my kindle fire. I was a bit skeptical when the kindles first became all the rage because I like holding an actual book. I still like holding a "real" book, but I think for travelling purposes, the kindle is awesome. Now I don't have to pack an extra bag just for my books. I also have wi-fi, so when we stop for meals, I can check facebook, if I feel the desire to do so. I love the games. I'm also enjoying The Hunger Games (finally!)
2. The purple box is still mocking me. I want to open it; I really do. I want to see my baby. I must take baby steps though. First, I will get my maternity clothes packed away. Then we will see. It's only been a month. Not really that long in the big scheme of things.
3. Early release days at school drive me nuts. Not because I'm not happy to see JJ sooner; I just feel rushed my entire day. Four hours of school is crazy. Today we have to return our books to the library, and I think we are going to get those extra bins from walmart (if they have anymore!) I SOOO hope they have more so that I can get the rest of my yarn put away.
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We survived Wednesday. We made it to the library, but not to Walmart. We went to Walmart on Thursday. I found the two extra bins I needed (thankfully they had restocked!!), and we had to buy a kite for JJ because today is kite day at school...or at least for his class. We had to choose between Cars, Spiderman, and Transformers. Normally, I would have just gotten Cars because he still loves any and all things Cars, but Hubs thought we should get Transformers since that is his new favorite cartoon on the hub. He'd have been happy either way, LOL, but we got the Transformers. Hopefully it is a breezy day so that the kids can get their kites in the air. We had also run to CVS and the post office, but then we headed home.
Now, I don't know if I am trying to get a cold or if I am having a reaction to the pollen. I've been sneezing like crazy, and I am super congested. I can't blow my nose, but it will randomly start dripping. Gross, I know. I've taken my temperature because I feel warm to myself, but the thermometer says normal temp. I had a bit of a headache yesterday afternoon, but I have no idea if it was a sinus headache or what.
When we got home, I was able to get the two bins filled with my yarn, which left me two bins completely empty. I decided to use one for all things crochet and knitting: my needles and hooks, books and printed out patterns, and my looms. The other is for "all other" craft items: ribbons, glue, pompoms, scrap booking stuff. It feels super good to have it all in one central location instead of all over the house. And not taking over my closet. So, I have one wall organized now, LOL. Our boardgames are all together, and my crafting needs are all together. I have two huge empty bins now (that were in my closet and possibly will return there but filled with clothes instead of yarn) that I am going to put my winter stuff in and my maternity clothes. Today is the day. I know that I can do this.
Hubs left to pick up JJ from school while I was getting some last minute things on the shelves, so I stayed home. I sat down to take a breather, and I looked at the purple memory box, and I knew it was time. I grabbed it before I could change my mind, and I opened it. I sat for just a moment staring at the contents, and then I slowly began to remove everything. The folder with the pictures was at the very bottom, so I took that out, opened it, and removed the envelope. I stared at the date written "2/20/12" and thought about all that has happened since then. Then I opened the envelope. The pictures were face down, so I could have changed my mind, but I took a deep breath and flipped them over. I went slowly through the pictures. My heart was very sad; as I sat there looking, I could help but think what might have been...and I couldn't help but think that Baby Aleman was beautiful and would have grown up to be just as beautiful as JJ. But I didn't fall apart. It didn't make me want to curl up in the bed, under the covers, and never leave. That's what I had been afraid of: if I looked at the pictures, it would be a setback for me instead of a step forward. But it wasn't a setback. Looking at the pictures, I knew I had made the right decision by not viewing the body while at the hospital. I would have wanted to hold the baby, and I don't know that I could have let go when the time came. As I was looking through the pictures, I was amazed by how developed the baby was. I was also amazed that the body was NOT bloated looking; I'm not sure I think it had even been a week. There were little hands and little feet, complete with fingers and toes. The skin was thin, for being so young, but otherwise, the baby was beautiful. The baby was just small, and for whatever reason, died. I didn't have a miscarriage because my body held on to the baby. The baby died in the womb, and I still had to deliver.
Hubs and JJ got home, and they got started on homework. JJ went to play outside, and Hubs was reading book one of The Hunger Games. (AWESOME read, by the way, if you feel the need to pick it up, borrow it, whatever.) I played games on Facebook for a bit, then it was time to get JJ in and cleaned up so that we could go to Cici's for dinner. They were having another give back night, where they get part of the proceeds if we mention the school when ordering. JJ was happy to see several kids from his school. We went to Catos afterwards so that I could get a top to wear for Easter and for the wedding.
Once we got home, it was a rush to get JJ ready for bed, medicated, teeth brushed, and hugs and kisses. He got to bed, and Hubs and I sat in the living room together. I hadn't told him yet that I had looked at the pictures, so I told him. He was surprised that I had done it by myself instead of waiting until he could be with me; I told him that it was just something I needed to do on my own and that I was ok. We talked about the pictures for a bit, and then he continued reading The Hunger Games, and I played on the computer.
I talked with my Person for a little while, but I needed to get to bed. As it is, it was 12:30am when I finally went to bed. Hubs has a job interview this morning, so please say a prayer or two that it goes well. While we are doing well with what we have, a full-time job would be awesome!
If you can spare an extra prayer for me, please do. Today is the "big" day. I'm packing away maternity clothes; finally closing that chapter. I am still healing. Baby steps.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Skies are blue...
Yesterday, Hubs and I spent most of the day out. We went to Target for shelves. We had seen some in the Sunday sales papers while at Momma's, and I wanted to see them in person. We liked them, so we picked up one wide set and one narrow set. We may go back for a smaller set later. From Walmart, we went to Lowe's so that Hubs could check out the weed eaters, then we headed to Staples. I had decided that I wanted a kindle and wanted to pick one up. We got one, along with a pretty purple case, an amazon gift card, and a warranty. I told Hubs it would be my gift for the next three years. :) I am so excited. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could plug it in to charge and search for books and different games.
We went to walmart next to get some storage bins for my new shelves. One set is for boardgames; the other set is for my crafting stuff (read: ALL MY YARN). We had been gone all day, and it was time to head to pick up JJ. We stopped at kmart to get the weed eater that Hubs wanted, along with an extension cord, then headed to the school to pick up JJ.
Mondays are always hectic because of karate. JJ could not get going on his homework, and we were having to keep on him. He finished and just had time to get changed into his uniform and his new karate shoes. We went to Subway and saw his friend :) Last week, she had some dental work done, and we had made her a get well card while we ate dinner. Yesterday, when we walked in, she handed JJ a thank you card. :) He was so happy. He had diarrhea of the mouth the entire time we were ordering. Just talking talking talking...about what he had done at school, playing with his friends, going to Grammie's house over the weekend...anything that could pop into his head, he told her about. She was laughing so hard at him at how excited he was. You'd have thought he had just eaten a bucket of chocolate. It was NUTS.
On the way home from karate, there was a rainbow in the sky. It seemed to follow us the entire way. It was a nice reminder of God's Promises. He will always be there for me. He will always love me. He will always take care of me. He will do the same for anyone...
Today, my plan had been grand. 1. Have Hubs get the shelves together. 2. Get stuff on the shelves. 3. Pack maternity clothes away. It's the first day of Spring-time for spring cleaning and organization...time to take control of the clutter. Hubs got the shelves together. Check. I put boardgames on the narrow set. On the second set, I filled four of the six bins with yarn. I realized we need at least two more bins, so I put a halt on the rest of the yarn sorting. That's the reasoning I used anyway. Really, I knew that when the tub I had the majority of the yarn in was empty, I was going to use it to put away all of my maternity clothes. I have maternity clothes E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. I have them in my closet. I have them in the dresser in the guest room. I have them in a pile on the floor outside of my closet. Anywhere they were before February 17th, they have remained. I have avoided them like the plague, yet they stare at me. Mocking me. It's time for them to get put away. For real this time. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to finish the yarn sorting so that I could get this done.
The whole spring cleaning/purging is hard for me this year. We had such grand plans for getting the nursery ready and making sure that we had room for Baby Aleman and all of the new stuff that would include. We were going to move JJ to the guest room and turn his current bedroom into the nursery. In fact, when Julie was here, we moved JJ's bed to the guest room so that part was already done. It was just a matter of moving everything out of the closet of the guest room and moving all of JJ's clothes and toys into the "new" room. Then we were going to put all of our baby paraphernalia into the room so that we could see everything we had and what else we would need. We had already dug most of the stuff out of the back of the garage and put it either in the living room or the front of the garage for easy moving. JJ is still sleeping in the guest room. We are getting him a new bed to put back in his old bedroom. Hubs and I decided against switching rooms; I didn't want an empty nursery...even if the plans have changed, and it's no longer the nursery but the guest room...just keep things the same. Hubs and I have been saying for a month now that we need to grab a box from the garage and just start going through it. I can't speak for Hubs, but for me, I haven't wanted to because it just hurt too much. Holding on to stuff isn't helping me though. We took the first steps today; we got the shelves up and the boardgames and my yarn (mostly) sorted. We will get the extra bins. I will finish the sorting. I will get the maternity clothes put away. We'll get the new bed, and JJ can reclaim his bedroom. And slowly, box by box, we'll get through everything. My recycling bin is half full from clearing old papers; my shred bag is getting full, so I will sit down and get the shredding done. A bag of trash went out today. Already the house is breathing a little easier because that is a little more stuff that is no longer adding to the clutter. We will take charge of our lives. We will get control of the clutter. We will continue to heal.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4
Yesterday, Hubs and I spent most of the day out. We went to Target for shelves. We had seen some in the Sunday sales papers while at Momma's, and I wanted to see them in person. We liked them, so we picked up one wide set and one narrow set. We may go back for a smaller set later. From Walmart, we went to Lowe's so that Hubs could check out the weed eaters, then we headed to Staples. I had decided that I wanted a kindle and wanted to pick one up. We got one, along with a pretty purple case, an amazon gift card, and a warranty. I told Hubs it would be my gift for the next three years. :) I am so excited. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could plug it in to charge and search for books and different games.
We went to walmart next to get some storage bins for my new shelves. One set is for boardgames; the other set is for my crafting stuff (read: ALL MY YARN). We had been gone all day, and it was time to head to pick up JJ. We stopped at kmart to get the weed eater that Hubs wanted, along with an extension cord, then headed to the school to pick up JJ.
Mondays are always hectic because of karate. JJ could not get going on his homework, and we were having to keep on him. He finished and just had time to get changed into his uniform and his new karate shoes. We went to Subway and saw his friend :) Last week, she had some dental work done, and we had made her a get well card while we ate dinner. Yesterday, when we walked in, she handed JJ a thank you card. :) He was so happy. He had diarrhea of the mouth the entire time we were ordering. Just talking talking talking...about what he had done at school, playing with his friends, going to Grammie's house over the weekend...anything that could pop into his head, he told her about. She was laughing so hard at him at how excited he was. You'd have thought he had just eaten a bucket of chocolate. It was NUTS.
On the way home from karate, there was a rainbow in the sky. It seemed to follow us the entire way. It was a nice reminder of God's Promises. He will always be there for me. He will always love me. He will always take care of me. He will do the same for anyone...
Today, my plan had been grand. 1. Have Hubs get the shelves together. 2. Get stuff on the shelves. 3. Pack maternity clothes away. It's the first day of Spring-time for spring cleaning and organization...time to take control of the clutter. Hubs got the shelves together. Check. I put boardgames on the narrow set. On the second set, I filled four of the six bins with yarn. I realized we need at least two more bins, so I put a halt on the rest of the yarn sorting. That's the reasoning I used anyway. Really, I knew that when the tub I had the majority of the yarn in was empty, I was going to use it to put away all of my maternity clothes. I have maternity clothes E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. I have them in my closet. I have them in the dresser in the guest room. I have them in a pile on the floor outside of my closet. Anywhere they were before February 17th, they have remained. I have avoided them like the plague, yet they stare at me. Mocking me. It's time for them to get put away. For real this time. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to finish the yarn sorting so that I could get this done.
The whole spring cleaning/purging is hard for me this year. We had such grand plans for getting the nursery ready and making sure that we had room for Baby Aleman and all of the new stuff that would include. We were going to move JJ to the guest room and turn his current bedroom into the nursery. In fact, when Julie was here, we moved JJ's bed to the guest room so that part was already done. It was just a matter of moving everything out of the closet of the guest room and moving all of JJ's clothes and toys into the "new" room. Then we were going to put all of our baby paraphernalia into the room so that we could see everything we had and what else we would need. We had already dug most of the stuff out of the back of the garage and put it either in the living room or the front of the garage for easy moving. JJ is still sleeping in the guest room. We are getting him a new bed to put back in his old bedroom. Hubs and I decided against switching rooms; I didn't want an empty nursery...even if the plans have changed, and it's no longer the nursery but the guest room...just keep things the same. Hubs and I have been saying for a month now that we need to grab a box from the garage and just start going through it. I can't speak for Hubs, but for me, I haven't wanted to because it just hurt too much. Holding on to stuff isn't helping me though. We took the first steps today; we got the shelves up and the boardgames and my yarn (mostly) sorted. We will get the extra bins. I will finish the sorting. I will get the maternity clothes put away. We'll get the new bed, and JJ can reclaim his bedroom. And slowly, box by box, we'll get through everything. My recycling bin is half full from clearing old papers; my shred bag is getting full, so I will sit down and get the shredding done. A bag of trash went out today. Already the house is breathing a little easier because that is a little more stuff that is no longer adding to the clutter. We will take charge of our lives. We will get control of the clutter. We will continue to heal.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4
Monday, March 19, 2012
Has It Really Only Been A Month?
This weekend was super busy; it kept me from thinking too much. Friday, we drove to Momma's house to spend the weekend. We had to find JJ an Easter/wedding outfit. (Remember the one I wanted was too small?) Friday we just hung out, had tacos for dinner, worked on some hats, and spent time visiting.
Saturday was St. Patty's day...we all had our green on. (My Friday nail painting session even included me painting my tips green and sparkly!) We stayed super busy, and I am so thankful for that. We went to Hammricks, Kohls, Target, and ended up back at Walmart. We found a suit we mostly liked at Hammricks; only it was pinstriped, and we really wanted plain black. They had another one with an orange shirt (go Clemson!) but the pants were brown. JJ really wanted the orange one. So, we put the pinstriped on hold and continued shopping. We went to Kohls but found nothing. The pants in the size he wears at walmart...would not even fit him. Can you believe the clothes at Kohls are made smaller? I didn't think anyone made their clothes smaller than walmart. We went to Target. I don't normally shop at Target. The clothes there were made a bit smaller as well, BUT the pants we had to get had the adjustable waistband. So even though we had to get him a bigger size than normal, we had to pull it tight on him. The length was crazy long on him though. We got the black dress pants and some shorts. Off we head to walmart. We ended up finding a green shirt with a tie (which is what I had wanted all along!), so we bought that. We had also gone to the shoe store, and JJ got three new pairs of shoes. I couldn't remember if his current dress shoes still fit him, so we bought another pair. Plus we got him a pair of slip on canvas shoes for karate and a new pair of tennis shoes. He was so pumped. We finally headed home after being gone all day; it was 2:30pm! At home, Momma started dinner, and we sat around working on hats, talking...just hanging out. I didn't want to sit still...I needed to keep my mind off of everything. I didn't want to talk about it though, so I never mentioned to anyone, although I can't imagine that no one else thought about it. Dad came home, and we all hung out. Dinner was early: yummy St. Patty's day meal-corned beef brisket, steamed cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We weren't sure JJ would eat it; he proved us wrong. He LOVED the corned beef. Hubs and I had plans to visit with my honorary big sister that evening, so we set a time and headed over around 7. We ran our mouths all evening. We didn't leave until 11:30pm. I was pretty tired, so I was sure that when we got home, I would fall right asleep. I got ready for bed and got snuggled in, but then my brain started working overtime. Has it really only been a month since that life-changing ultrasound? Am I going to think about this the 17th of every.single.month? So much has happened in the last 30 days. Thoughts were just running through my head over and over.
Sunday morning, I think we were the last ones to wake up. I felt like I had been run over. I know I slept, but because my mind was working overtime, I kept waking up. For silly things. One time, I opened my eyes (around 5:30am or so) and heard the rain. Then I thought "Did I set my alarm to go off at 6:30? Do I need to check it or will Hubs alarm go off at 7:00 so we aren't late waking up JJ for school.?" I actually sat up in bed, then saw the outline of the window and realized we weren't even home! It was only Sunday, and we were still at Momma's house.
We went to lunch with my parents and Grandmutter. At home, Grandmutter, Momma, and I watched JJ play some games on the Wii. I kept dozing on the couch. I finally went to make sure that our stuff was packed and mostly ready for whenever we decided to leave. We laughed at the antics of Anabel and Sam. We left around 5pm to head home. We said our good-byes and headed off. We listened to our story. We are halfway through the final disc (disc 16!) I am so glad that we are going to be finished this week so that we can return it to the library. We had a good trip home. Traffic wasn't too bad and we didn't run into any rain.
I played on some games; I didn't want to start writing this, and then go to bed. I figured I should get it all out in one sitting. They were having a Harry Potter-thon on tv. (de-ja-vu, anyone?) We watched the ending of Goblet of Fire, and then it went straight into Half-Blood Prince. At 9, I had told Hubs he could have the computer for schoolwork. I felt restless. I started trying to crochet but ended up pulling it all out. All I could think of is that things were almost the exact same as they had been one month ago. Only I was at home. And I was no longer pregnant. And I had already gone through this nightmare once. I wish I could hit a rewind button and watch my life as it happened and figure out what went wrong, so I could change it. I still lie in bed some nights and wonder if it was something that I could have helped if I had known. I try not to; I know it will just make me crazy. It's the reason we declined an autopsy. I was afraid if they found nothing wrong, then it would make me crazy for the rest of my life trying to find out why and what had happened.
I ended up going to bed to read a bit, and this quote at the end of the first chapter says it best: You never know how strong you can be until strong is the only choice you have.
Saturday was St. Patty's day...we all had our green on. (My Friday nail painting session even included me painting my tips green and sparkly!) We stayed super busy, and I am so thankful for that. We went to Hammricks, Kohls, Target, and ended up back at Walmart. We found a suit we mostly liked at Hammricks; only it was pinstriped, and we really wanted plain black. They had another one with an orange shirt (go Clemson!) but the pants were brown. JJ really wanted the orange one. So, we put the pinstriped on hold and continued shopping. We went to Kohls but found nothing. The pants in the size he wears at walmart...would not even fit him. Can you believe the clothes at Kohls are made smaller? I didn't think anyone made their clothes smaller than walmart. We went to Target. I don't normally shop at Target. The clothes there were made a bit smaller as well, BUT the pants we had to get had the adjustable waistband. So even though we had to get him a bigger size than normal, we had to pull it tight on him. The length was crazy long on him though. We got the black dress pants and some shorts. Off we head to walmart. We ended up finding a green shirt with a tie (which is what I had wanted all along!), so we bought that. We had also gone to the shoe store, and JJ got three new pairs of shoes. I couldn't remember if his current dress shoes still fit him, so we bought another pair. Plus we got him a pair of slip on canvas shoes for karate and a new pair of tennis shoes. He was so pumped. We finally headed home after being gone all day; it was 2:30pm! At home, Momma started dinner, and we sat around working on hats, talking...just hanging out. I didn't want to sit still...I needed to keep my mind off of everything. I didn't want to talk about it though, so I never mentioned to anyone, although I can't imagine that no one else thought about it. Dad came home, and we all hung out. Dinner was early: yummy St. Patty's day meal-corned beef brisket, steamed cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We weren't sure JJ would eat it; he proved us wrong. He LOVED the corned beef. Hubs and I had plans to visit with my honorary big sister that evening, so we set a time and headed over around 7. We ran our mouths all evening. We didn't leave until 11:30pm. I was pretty tired, so I was sure that when we got home, I would fall right asleep. I got ready for bed and got snuggled in, but then my brain started working overtime. Has it really only been a month since that life-changing ultrasound? Am I going to think about this the 17th of every.single.month? So much has happened in the last 30 days. Thoughts were just running through my head over and over.
Sunday morning, I think we were the last ones to wake up. I felt like I had been run over. I know I slept, but because my mind was working overtime, I kept waking up. For silly things. One time, I opened my eyes (around 5:30am or so) and heard the rain. Then I thought "Did I set my alarm to go off at 6:30? Do I need to check it or will Hubs alarm go off at 7:00 so we aren't late waking up JJ for school.?" I actually sat up in bed, then saw the outline of the window and realized we weren't even home! It was only Sunday, and we were still at Momma's house.
We went to lunch with my parents and Grandmutter. At home, Grandmutter, Momma, and I watched JJ play some games on the Wii. I kept dozing on the couch. I finally went to make sure that our stuff was packed and mostly ready for whenever we decided to leave. We laughed at the antics of Anabel and Sam. We left around 5pm to head home. We said our good-byes and headed off. We listened to our story. We are halfway through the final disc (disc 16!) I am so glad that we are going to be finished this week so that we can return it to the library. We had a good trip home. Traffic wasn't too bad and we didn't run into any rain.
I played on some games; I didn't want to start writing this, and then go to bed. I figured I should get it all out in one sitting. They were having a Harry Potter-thon on tv. (de-ja-vu, anyone?) We watched the ending of Goblet of Fire, and then it went straight into Half-Blood Prince. At 9, I had told Hubs he could have the computer for schoolwork. I felt restless. I started trying to crochet but ended up pulling it all out. All I could think of is that things were almost the exact same as they had been one month ago. Only I was at home. And I was no longer pregnant. And I had already gone through this nightmare once. I wish I could hit a rewind button and watch my life as it happened and figure out what went wrong, so I could change it. I still lie in bed some nights and wonder if it was something that I could have helped if I had known. I try not to; I know it will just make me crazy. It's the reason we declined an autopsy. I was afraid if they found nothing wrong, then it would make me crazy for the rest of my life trying to find out why and what had happened.
I ended up going to bed to read a bit, and this quote at the end of the first chapter says it best: You never know how strong you can be until strong is the only choice you have.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
...
I did NOT want to wake up; I am not used to waking up after having so little sleep the night before. I would do it all over again to talk to my Person :)
After getting JJ off to school, Hubs and I were eating breakfast and watching tv when my phone rang. It was my OB calling to touch base with me, let me know how some of my bloodwork came back from the last appointment, and to find out when I was seeing the hematologist again. Last week, they took blood to test numerous things, one of which was my insulin levels or my glucose...I don't know. It was something to check if I needed to do a 2 hour diabetes glucose test. My hemoglobin came back at 5.something...6.something is full blown diabetes. She told me I was pre-diabetic, but she felt that with some weight loss, I would be able to nip that in the bud. My next appointment is at the end of the month; we will see then if I need to continue the blood pressure meds (I'm suspecting I will need to stay on them until I lose another 30 pounds at least.)
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing because I had an appointment at 1:40pm. That appointment went well. My blood pressure was up, but my temp was normal this time. I had lost a pound from the week before. And my platelet count was up. Last week it had been 47k; this week it was 60k. The dr wanted to have me come back in two weeks to check my platelets again, and then see her again in four weeks. She's hoping that my platelets will continue to increase on their own without the need for steroids. Please continue to pray that my health continues to improve!!!
I honestly can't tell you what happened the rest of the day. I know I cooked dinner, and I know that Hubs and I hung out in the living room after JJ went to bed. The main part of my day was the phone call from the OB and the results of the hematology appointment.
Today, we spent the day mostly out. I finally went and got measured for a bra :cringe: It actually wasn't as traumatizing as I had led myself to believe it would be. I was wearing the right cup size, so that didn't go up, thank goodness. I just had to find a bra with better support. I ended up with a new outfit as well, but I am contemplating returning it. I didn't really need a new outfit; I only went in for bras. We went and got Hubs two pairs of shoes.
I finished that book, What We Do For Love. It ended up being really good, even though I teared up quite often while reading. I could see lots of things that I do, but then I could see things that I hope I never do. I am trying not to shut anyone out. Sometimes I just don't want to talk about things.
After getting JJ off to school, Hubs and I were eating breakfast and watching tv when my phone rang. It was my OB calling to touch base with me, let me know how some of my bloodwork came back from the last appointment, and to find out when I was seeing the hematologist again. Last week, they took blood to test numerous things, one of which was my insulin levels or my glucose...I don't know. It was something to check if I needed to do a 2 hour diabetes glucose test. My hemoglobin came back at 5.something...6.something is full blown diabetes. She told me I was pre-diabetic, but she felt that with some weight loss, I would be able to nip that in the bud. My next appointment is at the end of the month; we will see then if I need to continue the blood pressure meds (I'm suspecting I will need to stay on them until I lose another 30 pounds at least.)
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing because I had an appointment at 1:40pm. That appointment went well. My blood pressure was up, but my temp was normal this time. I had lost a pound from the week before. And my platelet count was up. Last week it had been 47k; this week it was 60k. The dr wanted to have me come back in two weeks to check my platelets again, and then see her again in four weeks. She's hoping that my platelets will continue to increase on their own without the need for steroids. Please continue to pray that my health continues to improve!!!
I honestly can't tell you what happened the rest of the day. I know I cooked dinner, and I know that Hubs and I hung out in the living room after JJ went to bed. The main part of my day was the phone call from the OB and the results of the hematology appointment.
Today, we spent the day mostly out. I finally went and got measured for a bra :cringe: It actually wasn't as traumatizing as I had led myself to believe it would be. I was wearing the right cup size, so that didn't go up, thank goodness. I just had to find a bra with better support. I ended up with a new outfit as well, but I am contemplating returning it. I didn't really need a new outfit; I only went in for bras. We went and got Hubs two pairs of shoes.
I finished that book, What We Do For Love. It ended up being really good, even though I teared up quite often while reading. I could see lots of things that I do, but then I could see things that I hope I never do. I am trying not to shut anyone out. Sometimes I just don't want to talk about things.
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